castmedium
Join us at our new home: Game Thing Daily and Tech Thing Daily!

Blog Archives

Mobcast

Mobcast 74:Gaming Memorabilia, Facebook Integration, Panasonic’s Jungle, and More

by Alex Martin in Games585 days ago

Rus McLaughlin, one of Bitmob’s newest staff writers, makes his first Mobcast appearance this week. He’s joined by Shoe, Demian, and Brett. First off, Shoe talks about the 15 Games in 15 Minutes activity on Bitmob. This is an open invitation to talk about memorable games, whether they’re just plain good games or whether they have a personal significance. The Panasonic Jungle is a forthcoming portable device aimed at MMO players. What does it do that a netbook can’t? Why only MMOs? They’re not sure, but they are sure...

Mobcast

Mobcast 73: Emotions Run High

by Alex Martin in Games592 days ago

The Mobcast is Aaron Thomas flavored this week, and he’s joined by GamePro’s AJ Glasser and GameXplain’s Andre Segers and Jimmy Thang. Aaron starts by asking the table for their biggest professional regrets. His is his Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction review. Insomniac weren’t pleased with it, and he still feels he could’ve more clearly justified his score. AJ regrets an inaccurate Kotaku post, and Andre and Jim similarly rue factual inaccuracies. Next, Andre invites them to share their most emotionally moving...

Mobcast

Mobcast 72: World Records, Old-School RPGs, Road-Trip Games, and More

by Alex Martin in Games599 days ago

Managing Editor Jason Wilson is a busy man — what with a child to raise and other editing work — but he makes a special appearance with Shoe, Demian, and Brett. As Jason is a connoisseur of vintage role-playing games, Shoe asks the crew for their favorites. They compare Final Fantasies, and reminisce over old series like The Bard’s Tale, Dungeons and Dragons, and Baldur’s Gate. With Firaxis attempting to make Civilization 5 a more welcoming game, Jason asks if the series is really so intimidating. It gives more helpful...

Mobcast

Mobcast 71: The Community Questions Episode

by Alex Martin in Games606 days ago

It’s a community topic special, this week on the Mobcast. Bitmob’s Aaron, Brett, and Demian, along with Screened’s Matt Rorie debate eight topics suggested by Bitmob readers. They start with their most awkward online moments before moving on to why there’s so much disdain for “casual” difficulty modes. According to Matt and Brett, that’s the way to play Red Faction: Guerilla, as smashing buildings is more fun when nobody can stop you. Fallout 3 players had the opposite attitude, which influenced Obsidian...

Mobcast

Mobcast 70: Motion-Control Showdown, Bitmob 2.0, and more

by Alex Martin in Games613 days ago

Carlos Rodela of Chemical Bun Productions (stick with it and he’ll explain that name) joins Shoe, Aaron, and Brett for four gamers, five topics. First, a simple question — PlayStation Move or Xbox Kinect? For those uninterested in their gaming applications, controlling Netflix and Last.fm by waving could be interesting with Kinect. Shoe’s interested in Move’s physical presence, and Brett is looking forward to games that mix traditional Xbox controls and body-tracking. Next, they wonder if Wii owners will upgrade to Move....

Mobcast

Mobcast 69: Failed Hardware, PR Gatekeepers, Gaming Dreams, and More

by Alex Martin in Games, Tech619 days ago

Jeff “Podcast Slut” Green’s tour bus parks outside Bitmob Towers this week. Inside, Jeff is hosted by Shoe, Demian, and Aaron for a nostalgic show. They start by reminiscing about the failed hardware they were fans of. It’s an excuse to rue the Dreamcast’s demise, but they also talk about some of the crazy peripherals they’ve been shown, as members of the press. After that, they look at print media. Shoe can’t see a future in it, even though everyone misses the time and care they invested in magazines....

Mobcast

Mobcast 68: Best/Worst In-Game Weapons, Real-Life Wars in Video Games, and More

by Alex Martin in Games627 days ago

A short episode this week — forty minutes of Bitmob’s Shoe and Demian, joined by Area 5′s Matt Chandronait and GameXplain’s Andre Segers. The first topic is a serious one — the treatment of modern warfare in games. Medal of Honor has caught flack for featuring the Taliban, and Six Days in Fallujah was dropped by publisher Konami for daring to deal with a war that isn’t over yet. Next, they talk about what makes games immersive. Although Andre and Matt like cohesive universes and good stories, they spend as much...

Mobcast 67: Halo: Reach, Best Indie-Dev Console, Fall Releases, and More

by Alex Martin in Games634 days ago

Active Time Babble host and freelancer Kat Bailey guests this week, hosted by Shoe, Demian, and Brett. First up, they choose their desert-island games from fall’s lineup. This is an excuse to talk about upcoming games like, Civilization 5, Fallout: New Vegas, Rock Band 3, and Halo Reach. Speaking of Halo Reach, Shoe’s almost as excited for that as he would be for a Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow remake. He tries to enthuse his mostly unenthusiastic guests and reads some responses to his tweet for opinions on Bungie’s last Halo...

Mobcast

Mobcast 65: Female Protagonists, Great Game Intros, and More

by Alex Martin in Games648 days ago

Bitmob editors Aaron and Demian host Micah Seff and Andre Segers, both of GameXplain. First, they discuss Activision’s aversion to female lead characters. Apart from the possible reasons for this, they talk about some of their favorite lead ladies. Aaron, whose house is apparently an arcade, asks what past consoles they regret not owning. They talk about what Nintendon’t and whether or not it’s worth picking up the consoles they missed. If you could travel back in time to the dawn of the video game era, what would you take with...

Mobcast

Mobcast 64: Starcraft, Virtual Pets, and More

by Alex Martin in Games655 days ago

Aaron hosts freelance writer Bethany Massimillia, Slide.com community manager Don Francis, and software developer Shanker Srinivasan on this week’s Mobcast. StarCraft 2 can be intimidating to newcomers like Aaron, so he asks if that intimidation is valid. Shanker doesn’t think the story is that special — but it does train you for the multiplayer, where dwells a host of newbies. They move on to other intimidating games, like World of Warcraft, which Shanker compares to smoking. As there are so many different gamers with different...

Mobcast

Mobcast 63: Fun With Reviews, Game Endings, and More

by Alex Martin in Games662 days ago

Robert Ashley (A Life Well Wasted), and Andrew Fitch (1UP) join the Aaron Thomas-Greg Ford hosting team this week. Robert and Greg are leaving California soon, so might be off the airwaves for a while. Robert, out of the games press for a while, asks how reviewing games affects their enjoyment of them. This segues into Fitch’s topic, asking for a unique voice in the games press. A Life Well Wasted approaches games culture from a unique angle, and Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw (Zero Punctuation) has his unique review style, but they can’t...

Mobcast

Mobcast 62: Virtual Reality, Living in Game Worlds, Wal-Mart: The Game, and More

by Alex Martin in Games669 days ago

Shoe and Aaron host returning guests Jeff Reitman and Adam McLaughlin. Despite their comedian background, Shoe starts by asking them a question with distinct Ebertian undertones — would they prefer a great movie or a great game? This turns into a discussion of Star Wars and Indiana Jones and the merits of the different media. Adam has the group pitching advergames and Jeff asks which game adverts misrepresented their products the most. Publishers don’t help buyers when their trailers are full of pre-rendered footage. As Shoe points out,...

Mobcast

Mobcast 61: Favorite Turn-Based Strategy Games, Kinect and Move Ideas for Hardcore Gamers, and More

by Alex Martin in Games676 days ago

Jake Kazdal (Haunted Temple Studios) brings a game designer’s perspective to this episode of the Mobcast with Dan Hsu, Demian Linn, and Matt Chandronait. Jake’s topic is favorite turn-based strategy games. His game Skulls of the Shogun is inspired by his pick — Advance Wars. Demian shares his love of the addictive hand-held strategy series. Shoe describes Heroes of Might and Magic 3 as a brightly-colored game that focuses on building, rather than combat. Someone had to mention Civilization, and Matt brings up Civ 4. To wrap up...

Mobcast

Mobcast 60: Annoying Fanboys, Series Reboots, and Gaming on the Cheap

by Alex Martin in Games683 days ago

E3 provided an opportunity for Bitmob’s writers from around the US to meet up. Editor Aaron Thomas hosts writers Mike Minotti, Jasmine Rea, Alejandro Quan-Madrid, and Rob Savillo. The Nintendo 3DS is a piece of radical new hardware, but will it be worth re-buying all the re-made classics it should launch with? The Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake will have a less sadistic water temple, but some announced titles will just be graphically enhanced. Next, they talk about franchises that produce the most annoying fans. Final Fantasy fans always find...

Mobcast

Mobcast 59: E3 2010 Wrap-Up

by Alex Martin in Games690 days ago

Although last week’s episode was released after E3, this Mobcast is the true E3 wrap-up with staff members Dan “Shoe” Hsu, Demian Linn, Brett Bates, and Omri Petitte. First, they ask each other about the games they missed. Omri tells the group about Portal 2′s wisecracking sidekick and new environments. Shoe didn’t think much of Rage but liked Vanquish — a Japanese shooter that speeds up the Gears of War formula. Demian also fields some questions about Deus Ex 3. Next, they name some games they saw but aren’t...

  • CastMedium Podcast

    Episode 092 - PTW ahoy!
    Games, tech, and the usual, for the last time. Hello Podcast Thing Weekly.

    Alternative content

    New episodes every Thursday!
    iTunes | Zune | rss
  • Recent Comments

  • Tweets