Podcast 9-3: Virtually Ballin’

Photo of Robert Allen Robert AllenDecember 6, 2011
103 1,585 Less than a minute

This week, chaos and hilarity ensue when one of the crew discusses their virtual reality pipedreams. Beyond speculating on what the future holds for gamers, DesertEagle, SeanNOLA, Samurage and BlueSwim offer impressions of contemporary titles, including Corpse Party, Heavy Fire: Afghanistan, Skyrim, as well as Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. As always, we also provide answers to your gaming questions.

Don’t forget to send your questions for our next mailbag, and subscribe to the Tech-Gaming Podcast on iTunes. Leaving a review would be an awesome thing to do and keep us from begging for feedback every show.

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Photo of Robert Allen Robert AllenDecember 6, 2011
103 1,585 Less than a minute
Photo of Robert Allen

Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

103 Comments

  2. Downloading now. The only thing I’m worried about is that most of the games you have already reviewed.

  3. Is that CES or E3 2006? Look at those sandblasted pants!

    Sean, you’re living in Pasadena now? Aren’t you too young for that town?

    1. I WORK in Pasadena – I live in Culver City. Fun fact: I could walk to Sony Pictures to sit through the VGAs. I won’t, but I COULD.

        1. We asked for invites last year, and they offered us “red carpet access” which meant that we could stand outside of the building and NOT watch the show. We didn’t bother this year.

          1. Whatcha want, Geoff Keighley’s pimped out playground?

            Just kidding…Forget the VGA’s. Beyond the trailers, which I can watch without the filler the next day, there’s no reason to watch.

            STRIPLE PACK, FTW!

      2. NOLA’s call for caffeine after Deagle’s bad joke was my first LOL moment in a week.

        (GF broke up with me)

        2. Breakups are always hard. I went through a major one this summer. But I would have probably never met my current Gf if the ordeal didn’t happen. Reach out to your guy friends, hang in there, and enjoy a few poopsock sessions.

    1. Ok, the guy got the game at Gamestop. Has anyone confirmed that an employee didn’t enter the code? Was the game factory sealed?

  5. The gaming gods have blessed us with a new show. Now if they answer my question I’ll be happy.

    1. I’ll probably try it out tonight. I just hope it is a bit more responsive. When it has to load all those damn ads, it seems a bit laggy.

      I’d appreciate some control over layout, but that’s about as likely as a new Monster Hunter in the states.

    2. So far, I’m not impressed. The way they have the main boxes laid out makes it more confusing than the NXE to find what you’re looking for. Some ads are bigger than the “Play Game” box.

      I wish I could customize the Dashboard. Don’t want this? Turn it off. Move this over there? You can! I want to be able to select what games show up in the Quick Play menu. If it’s not filled with the games in want to have in my Quick Play list, what’s the point of having it at all?

    1. A Sassquatch What: Reva-Who-Now?

      Nah, it just didn’t get sent to us, and wasn’t on any of our personal radars. There have been a TON of games out this month!

        1. Ubisoft decided to switch their methods for determining which sites get review codes the same week AC:R came out. Since they didn’t notify us of the change, we didn’t get it in. Yes, I was pretty frustrated.

          Despite that, we should be getting the game in very soon. Hopefully, I’ll have impressions on the next podcast and a full review to follow.

          I think Samurage is a fan of the series as well.

  12. Kinect 2 will not be able to read lips. My brother was deaf from birth and has been reading lips for 20+ years. He still makes mistakes often. There’s only a certain number of shapes the human mouth makes. Speech recognition is much more proficient, so this seems kind of pointless.

  14. The new Skyrim patch is two steps forward and one step back, but as long as they are progressing that’s good, right?

  16. You Californians are you’re cold weather complaining! Love to Michigan and then you may complain 😉

    good game impressions this week, but someone forgot to list Saints Row: The Third in the show notes.

  17. This week’s trivia was pretty good. If you guys ever sell the site, maybe you can get a job writing You Don’t Know Jack questions.

  18. No interview this week? I’d love for you guys to get someone from EA Sports on again.

  20. Nice to see comments from NOLA and Deagle. It would be even better to hear from the whole crew (hint, hint).

        1. I’m sorry, I’m in teh midst of some storrrrmy finals. Avast, I’ll be sure to post more, post finals!
          Cheers, Matey
          -S (I’m a pirate today, not sure why, but that’s how it was in my head, so there ya go)

  22. I must have missed where the VR discussion started. I might need to listen to the show again.

    1. Allow me to make less of a dick of myself. On more than one occasion, I have thought realistically about how one would make a Holodeck. My answers were always pretty close to Sage’s idea.

    2. I’m always a dick to Sage. It’s my thing. If I wasn’t, then she’d think I was being condescending or coddling. If I’m saccharine sweet to anyone, that probably means they make me uncomfortable.

    3. Thanks hypnotyze, but don’t worry, it happens. They’re just blinded by the awesomeness that is VR and also Angelina Jolie 😉 And Sean and I go way back, it’s true, so it’s cool.
      Cheers!
      -S

      1. I’m thinking if they make a Hackers sequel with Anne Hathaway, Deagle might get on board.

        1. oooh, now there’s a good idea. It’s funny, there are two movies credited as being sequels, the movie “Takedown” is sometimes also referred to as “hackers 2” and Anti-trust is sometimes referred to as “hackers 3”. I think these must be loose references; i haven’t seen takedown, but other than a similar style i don’t see anything about it that makes it a sequel. And anti-trust is just a movie that has hackers in it. But spiritual sequels or not, Hackers is still a great movie.
          Also there are two games called Hackers 2 and Hackers 3, the third being on arcade cabin, but i haven’t been able to check them out since I’m studying. If anyone knows about them, let us know.
          Anyway, I’m totally about the sequel with Hathaway. Maybe when i get to holleywood i’ll set something up 🙂
          Cheers
          Sage

          1. Takedown is garbage. Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoffknew (the authors of the book the movie is based on) knew nothing about Mitnick or his methods. Everything is that movie is a huge exaggeration.

  24. Sean and Blue, I was following your back and forth on twitter about PS3 Skyrim problems, 360 purchases, and review games. Hopefully, you’ll talk about this during the next show.

    1. If you’ll write a mailbag question about it, I’ll guarantee that it gets on the outline. 😀

      What’s your name on Twitter?

    1. The guys more likely to spend $40 on Skylanders figures than a tshirt I guess.
      Good for him.

      1. It’s more than just a t-shirt shop – it’s a community that funds itself through t-shirt sales. They have cruises and events and screenings all the time, and collectors go to get neat shirts and posters etc. It’s a weird group of like-minded folks who huddle around T-Shirts and 90s pop-culture references.

        Check out the poster that they gave out for their “Wizard” screening. Tell me you wouldn’t want this?

  28. Anyone picking up the Forza pack? I saw IGNs name in it and thought- well there’s quality. 😉 prove me wrong guys

    2. When I saw that pack on Live, I thought “if IGN is sponsoring pack, why isn’t it free?”.

      I haven’t purchased any DLC for Forza 4 yet. Too many cars in haven’t bought yet. The game needs more new tracks than it does new cars.

      1. “When I saw that pack on Live, I thought “if IGN is sponsoring pack, why isn’t it free?”

        That’s a damn good question. I’ll read their weaksauce reviews and even comment if they sponsored free content.

        With Jessica Chobot all over the dash, their videos and now these sponsored (but not really sponsored packs) how can IGN be unbiased when reviews MS games? They’re in bed together!

  29. You guys should try to build your own VR system. Doesn’t Sean do something like that on the side?

  30. Ads are bigger that the main functions? Man, I hate when marketing gets to developer UI’s. It screws up EVERYTHING.

  31. Question for Deagle and Blue- will The Witch and the Hundred Cavalrymen rock my socks off?

    1. Not counting rulebooks and Codices, I’ve only read 4:
      “First & Only” which is the 1st book in the Gaunt’s Ghosts series. It was very good, but follows Imperial Guard, so I had a hard time caring.

      &

      “The Space Wolf Ombibus Vol.1” which collects “Space Wolf,” “Ragnar’s Claw,” and “Grey Hunter.” I LOVED these books! They follow Ragnar Blackmane from before he became a Space Marine, all through training, and into his early days fighting for the Space Wolves. I loved these books so much that I started including Ragnar in all of my Army lists, because he is THAT BADASS!

    1. What games that were released during Oct-Dec did you overlook?

      Do think the push to put all the game out during that time is good or bad?

      1. NOLA, why you gotta Rickroll the readers?

        So id each of you was Super Smash Bros Characters, who would you be, and who would win?

      1. “Guys,” like “dude,” is not gender exclusive in my eyes. Gals are Guys and Dudettes are Dudes too. Although “Righteous Dudettes” are a class all their own.

    6. You always seem to mention (like other podcasts) how getting reviews copies can sometimes be difficult. Why is that? You seem to have a decent amount of readers, you’ve been around for a while, and you’re reviews and podcasts are better than sitting on a bicycle without a seat.

      Are places that picky? Or do they give you shit after a low score?

    1. No i think this is one of those instances of the game “telephone” occurring in real life. Someone HEARS one thing, which may or may not have been what was said/meant. From the current updated article, it sounds like Miyamoto is tired of being held to sit upon a throne and wants to get back into the trenches of development/getting his hands into it, while still performing his duty of overseeing quality. I support that for sure!
      Cheers~

      1. I call sloppy journalist on Wired. Confirm potentially earth-shattering (and translated) news before running the headline. Hell, I learned that in my junior college class.

  38. SNOLA, are you mad that Chris Paul didn’t follow you from the New Orleans Hornets to LA?

    1. He made it to LA, just, you know, with the Clippers.
      I’d’ve been happier if Katrina were to have followed me to the Lakers, because, you know….basketball…ick.

      2. With that distasteful comment you are expected to review NBA 2K13, NBA Jam, a new Mario Hoops and Babyz Basketballz League.

    1. Fuggit. Lets just hear thoughts on the Last of Us trailer. Can Naughty Dog pull off a game that feels fresh in the infected/zombie genre?

  42. Hey, I noticed the site got a makeover? Looks good. Logo is very cool. Kind of like the old GamePro one but better.

    1. Can I admit I wasn’t really a fan of the older logo. This one is cool, it’s got personality.

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