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Tag Archives: John Davison

GWJ Conference Call Episode 158

by Jonathan Downin in Games843 days ago

Brutal Legend legend starts off the game talk this week and it is characterized here in a way that seem extremely fitting after seeing the critical reception. The guys state the the gameplay is used as a story delivery system more than anything else. While it is fun, what really drives the game is the story and characterization. Uncharted 2 also commands a fair amount of time with a similar discussion revolving around the success of creating believable and entertaining characters through not just voice acting, but animation and character acting...

Listen UP: 10/09/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games854 days ago

It’s the final episode of Listen Up with Garnett leaving to head-up GameFly media. He has been a staple at 1UP since the beginning. In a lot of ways, the 1UP podcasts are what defined 1UP and brought them the community they now have so his departure will certainly have a significant impact. Garnett finally got around to playing Yakuza 2 and the group discusses that before moving onto Uncharted 2. Left 4 Dead 2 gets some time with David talking about some of the new modes. Pixel Junk Monsters Deluxe leads into a general discussion about the...

Listen UP: 09/18/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games875 days ago

Need for Speed: Shift is the first game up and impressions continue to be middling.  With Halo 3: ODST‘s release mere days away it gets a lot of discussion.  Jeremy is excited about the departure in mood and over-world structure of the game.  He does mention that this is probably not exactly what hardcore Halo fans are really looking for though. Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story continues to entertain with its light-hearted action and clever writing.  John has been playing Gran Turismo PSP and is unimpressed.  He cites the...

Listen UP: 09/16/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games877 days ago

The Listen UP panel that was recorded at PAX is finally here after word from Garnett that there were problems with the audio.  Things have not been completely smoothed out, but it is still listenable. After hitting 2 of the most talked about games at PAX, Brink and Shank, Shane points to the new Ratchet and Clank as one of his most anticipated games.  Assassins Creed 2 gets some love from Andrew as he points out that they have really taken the game design seriously this time around. The really interesting topics surprisingly start with the audience...

Listen UP: 09/11/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games882 days ago

Torchlight, a game from the team who brought us the ill-received Hellgate: London is the focus of the discussion at the beginning here.  Although Hellgate: London was not a huge successe for Flagship Studios and they were forced to disband, many of the main team members have gone on to pursue another game in the Diablo-style click and collect RPG genre.  In a surprisingly short time span they have delivered a $20, back-to-basics take on the genre.  Platforms are yet to be announced, but XBLA and PSN are targerts for the game’s release. John...

Listen UP: 08/14/2009

by Jon Cole in Games910 days ago

This week’s “Whatcha been playin?” is dominated by digitally distributed games, with Sam Kennedy spearheading the segment with an apathetic impression of Turtles in Time, a lukewarm opinion of Fat Princess, and a positive recommendation of Xbox Live indie game Veks and Silence.  Garnett follows up by retreading some ground with the previously mentioned PSN game Shatter and has an all too familiar hopeful but disappointed experience with Madden ’10.  John brings the first segment to a close by shining some light on the Wii version of Madden...

Listen UP: 07/31/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games924 days ago

David starts out this week’s cast talking about Shadow Complex.  He seems to be enjoying it a lot and for anyone with some nostalgia tied to retro Metroid or Castlevania titles, it sounds like a must buy.  $15 for a title like this is a steal. Borderlands continues to get good press.  It’s been said before, but the change in art style has revolutionized peoples excitement level for the game.  That doesn’t mean that the core mechanics weren’t good before, but don’t underestimate making a great game accessible with...

Listen UP: 07/24/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games931 days ago

Wii Sports Resort get a good chunk of time near the beginning here and it sounds like a home-run.  John puts it well when he says that Nintendo are the masters of making peripherals that ship with software that makes it really hard not to buy them.  Will this give the Wii its 2nd wind after the recent decline in sales? The World of Warcraft movie has “hit” written all over it.  Sam Raimi, like him or not, has proven he can make good/marketable movies.  Once you add Legendary Pictures and WoW’s 15 million current players into...

Listen UP: 07/17/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games938 days ago

Wii Sports Resort is proving to be more than just a simple Nintendo cash-in.  The game seems to offer a whole lot of fun that takes advantage of Wii MotionPlus well.  Don’t make the mistake of going into it thinking you will get a sports experience of a game that was dedicated to a specific sport and there is a lot of fun to be had. NPDs are the big news this week and the numbers are not too good compared to last year.  The games industry is down overall and looks to stay that way for the coming months.  Prototype did much better than...

Listen UP: 07/10/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games945 days ago

As you ca see from the covered games/topics list, this week’s episode is jam-packed.  Splosion Man was featured on this week’s 1UP game Night and it looks like a lot of fun.  It could just be one of the first games to recapture the fast 2D action of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games. The new Tales of Monkey Island episode is getting a lot of good press.  It sounds like it captures the classic games’ sense of humor, but you can only buy all of the episodes in a package on Steam.  This seems to defeat the purpose of episodic...

Listen UP: 07/03/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games951 days ago

Robert Ashley is on this week and even though he is a regular on a few podcasts at this point, he would be a strong permenant 4th chair addition to Listen UP. John shares a great story about a Sims 3 experience this week.  Although there is a strong stigma against the Sims franchize within the the gaming sphere, it really offers something that is unique and puts creativity into the player’s hands. The big topic this week is music in games.  The guys approach this topic from a lot of different angles and there are a lot of interesting points...

Listen UP: 06/26/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games959 days ago

Garnett and crew are back this week with a full-length edition.  Sharkey is on for the first part of this one, but he inexplicably disappears after getting pretty worked up over The Conduit.  It seems like he needed to go get some coffee if you get the drift. David has started playing through Shadow of the Collosus for the first time and he is talking about his impressions after recently finishing Ico.  If you haven’t played either of these, get a hold of a copy, you are in for a treat. Leading in with the news about Activision threatening...

CO-OP | Episode 201 – The Only Way to Fly–Prototype, Infamous, Red Faction: Guerrilla

by Jonathan Downin in Games963 days ago

And the new season begins with the whole Rebel FM crew sitting in on this one.  It’s always cool to see these guys on CO-OP. The first 2 games here, Prototype and Infamous, have been somewhat talked-out.  The opinions here are nothing that you wouldn’t expect.  Prototype is okay and has some decent action, but it’s probably not worth a full $60.  Infamous is tons of fun, has great core gameplay and excites about a potential future sequel. Red Faction continues to surprise.  This is a game that, by all accounts, shouldn’t...

Listen UP: 06/19/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games966 days ago

We get a rather concise episode this we and it is kind of nice.  There are not to many releases right now so the actual game talk is light. After the hoopla that erupted from last week’s episode in relation to a new Xbox, the guys are addressing it again with new information coming out of execs at Microsoft.  It sounds like something new is coming out of Microsoft next year, but how drastic it will be is still unknown. There is a lot of industry talk with the guys discussing the current flood of games and where the industry looks to be headed...

Listen UP: 06/12/2009

by Jonathan Downin in Games973 days ago

This is an absolutely epic episode of Listen UP.  Everything from E3 is covered here with the usual skew towards the business side of the games industry. Games the have been played this week fall into two main categories of good and bad this week with Red Faction and Infamous in the former and Indiana Jones off the deep end of the latter.  Unfortunately, Prototype seems to fall into the later as well to some extent. The whole middle section is taken up with they guys talking about the market strategies of the big companies and at this point it...

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

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