The podcast, name withheld, is hosted this week by Ray Barnholt who usually sticks to retro games, although this week he’s all “beards and big guns” in order to fit the mold of this show. Talk on the gaming front starts off with Scooter and Justin discussing Alan Wake, but differ in their opinions of some of the game’s quirkier features. The guys give their opinions on Picross 3D before moving on to Scooter’s opinions on Fallout: New Vegas which sounds promising. Justin has been playing Lost Planet 2, which most of the guys seem to have negative thoughts about. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker closes out the segment with Ray revealing that in stark contrast to MGS4, the storyline is very streamlined this time around.
Game Crazy closing down starts off news talk this week and no one seems to be all that choked up over it. Nintendo news rule most of the section this week with Super Mario Galaxy 2 in-game guides and the shocking announcement that although the DS has now surpassed the Game Boy in total sales, yearly fiscal profits were down. To be honest, the podcast kind of comes off the rails here and the guys descend into rambling and mom jokes.
Covered games and topics: Alan Wake, Picross 3D, Fallout: New Vegas, love box, Lost Planet 2, record DS sales, Mario Galaxy 2 for babies, in-jokes
This week, Ray Barnholt takes the helm, doing it “classic style” with just games and news. Jeremy Parish, Thierry Nguyen, and Justin Haywald join in to talk about Alan Wake, Fallout: New Vegas, Lost Planet 2, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and more, plus hitting up the week’s standout stories including Nintendo’s money problems (in a relative sense), a baseball gamer’s money solutions, Assassin’s Creed sequels, and so much more. “More” being lots of crass humor, of course.
Runtime – 1:49:56
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This one has gone downhill, miss the ol' crew.
It needs more conflicting personas …..
Warning: do not listen to this podcast after listening to Weekend Confirmed. It'll make this show sound like garbage.
It's amazing how good Weekend Confirmed has gotten: some might say it's even better than the Bombcast (though saying that is almost sacrilege). But this show was low-key, and ultimately nothing but mediocre. How can they justify getting rid of Frank Cifaldi for even one episode? He's been stellar for the last few shows, a gem, somebody interesting to listen to with enough knowledge and opinion.
He could have just been out for the week, who knows. I would ask him to start a new show; I think he could do a solid job. Barnholt almost certainly cannot. I enjoy his Sound Test show, and I like him on Retronauts, but keep him away from the hosting position in the current events/news type shows. 1UP's best podcast remains The Oddcast for my money. It's been in that position since the middle of last year.
They're doing what I assume to be a series of pilot episode for the next few weeks with this show. This week was Rays turn, I actually forget who it'll be next week but the week after it's going to be Alice Liang. They'll have different formats and styles, presumably they'll see what people respond to. Although personally I think a different host every week could be cool.
As a bit of a Ray Barnholt fanboy I pretty much love anything he does, this was no exception. He just has a way about him that I respond to really well .
I can't comment on this in comparison to Weekend Confirmed though, I haven't listened to that since like the second episode. I fast realised that without any of his 1UP coworkers to balance him out I really can't stand listening to Garnett Lee. Just a personal preference though, most people seem to love him.
I don't as much mind Ray as the host, but don't think he has the presence to do so. What I have been getting very annoyed with is CONSTANT grade school jokes between Ray and Justin. I love the dick and fart jokes as much as the next guy, but Justin especially lately has been forcing them in wherever he can.
I sort of agree with everyone, in a strange way. Matt is right on about Frank; I think he deserves a spot on the flagship podcast, for sure. I also agree that Ross in that Ray should have a spot too, though the hosting position isn't necessarily well suited for him.
The biggest problem with 1UP is channeling dominating presences that made the "good ol' days" the "good ol' days". I liked every person on this week's show, but they all seem to be a little too type B to strike a good balance.
I'm sticking to my original pick that Matt Leone would be a good choice for hosting the flagship show
Put me down for having Frank and Ray on the show with Matt in the hosting seat with a rotating 4th chair.
I also think Frank should host the show, even though I like Ray. I'm looking forward to Alice's show, I think that could be really unique. Whatever they do I just hope that they don't intercut interview segments. I hate that so much. I don't like it when any podcast interrupts the flow by inserting a segment that was recorded elsewhere, previously, or with other members. Jeremy seems to do that a lot. I'm a big fan of Jeremy too, but I don't think he's right for the flagship.
I'd love to see Frank, Sharkey, Matt and a rotating seat, with Frank as host.
While I'll agree that Weekend Confirmed has been better than 4 Guys recently, WC doesn't really do it for me, it just seems kinda bland and toothless.