Gaming Podcasts: A Thread about Listening to Others

[Nicktendo]

Alanah Pearce is the absolute worst 

[Julius]

14 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

Alanah Pearce is the absolute worst 

Tell me about it...which IGN podcast was she ruining/helping to ruin this time?

[Hero-of-Time]

 

On 4/14/2018 at 5:14 PM, Julius Caesar said:

Tell me about it...which IGN podcast was she ruining/helping to ruin this time?

I'm going to assume it was this weeks episode of Nintendo Voice Chat that @Nicktendo was referring to. She kept interupting people and trying to be funny. Every time she spoke I was like...

To be fair, it was a pretty bad episode anyway. They are really struggling to create a decent Nintendo podcast and i'm about ready to quit and stop subscribing to them. I hate how they've started doing the shows live. The whole asking the live chat for comments about what they are discussing doesn't sit well with me. If their own conversations were interesting enough then there would be no need to do this.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Yes to all of the Alannah Pearce dislike, my heart sank when they said she was a guest on this week's NVC (listen rather than watch).

She now presents the Daily Fix as well? I don't know if it's just us and the rest of the internet is fine with her, but she is an abject broadcaster, she's clearly had no training at it all and.

Back to NVC and the whole live thing, summed up for me when Filip asked a question about Wolfenstein 2, didn't credit the guy in chat who asked, and then asked the same question again (this time from that guy) before releasing he'd already asked it...and he's the host! 

We all make mistakes but...What a mess.

[Hero-of-Time]

14 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Yes to all of the Alannah Pearce dislike, my heart sank when they said she was a guest on this week's NVC (listen rather than watch).

She now presents the Daily Fix as well? I don't know if it's just us and the rest of the internet is fine with her, but she is an abject broadcaster, she's clearly had no training at it all.

It's probably just us old men. You just have to take a look at some of the popular streamers that are out there. Many are loud, obnoxious and unprofessional yet the younger generation laps them up. 

[Nicktendo]

Yeah it was NVC I was listening to. Switched off less than halfway through, probably gonna unsubscribe. Quality has dipped massively in recent months. I kinda miss Jose even.

Max Schofield and Brian Altano have a new podcast called weird heat. Unrelated to gaming, but interesting nonetheless. A nice insight into their personal lives. Worth a listen.

[Julius]

5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's probably just us old men. You just have to take a look at some of the popular streamers that are out there. Many are loud, obnoxious and unprofessional yet the younger generation laps them up. 

I can’t speak for you guys as I don’t know you personally, but I think I fall into IGN’s demographic quite nicely (I’m 19) and I’m not a fan of anything that they do anymore besides [some] of their reviews.

I used to love Beyond and NVC (that period between José leaving and Filip joining was great, as Peer is the right sort of guy to host and control a panel), and even Game Scoop!, but I unsubscribed to all of them a few months back because I had a real problem with how I wasn’t gaining anything (be it knowledge or even a chuckle) from listening to them as opposed to anyone else. 

I’m only subscribed to EZA (main podcast, Frame Trap, Tabletop Escapades) and Game Informer now for podcasts, as I other find myself learning something/developing my own opinions, or just having a good laugh.

I would listen to Kinda Funny, but every other sentence coming from them these days includes some form of profanity (I have a little brother, so I can’t really be playing that around the house). I’ve personally found IGN’s podcasts have become rather soulless over the past few years: no-one is willing to voice an unpopular opinion, they’re not that funny, and a lot of them can come across as uninformed or obnoxious. 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Julius Caesar said:

I can’t speak for you guys as I don’t know you personally, but I think I fall into IGN’s demographic quite nicely (I’m 19) and I’m not a fan of anything that they do anymore besides [some] of their reviews.

I used to love Beyond and NVC (that period between José leaving and Filip joining was great, as Peer is the right sort of guy to host and control a panel), and even Game Scoop!, but I unsubscribed to all of them a few months back because I had a real problem with how I wasn’t gaining anything (be it knowledge or even a chuckle) from listening to them as opposed to anyone else. 

I’m only subscribed to EZA (main podcast, Frame Trap, Tabletop Escapades) and Game Informer now for podcasts, as I other find myself learning something/developing my own opinions, or just having a good laugh.

I would listen to Kinda Funny, but every other sentence coming from them these days includes some form of profanity (I have a little brother, so I can’t really be playing that around the house). I’ve personally found IGN’s podcasts have become rather soulless over the past few years: no-one is willing to voice an unpopular opinion, they’re not that funny, and a lot of them can come across as uninformed or obnoxious. 

Maybe it's not just us old gits then?  

A lot of the younger people they have brought in to IGN, and this goes for all of their podcasts, just don't have the knowledge and experience about the things they are talking about. It baffles me that people are getting hired for these kinds of positions yet they don't have a clue about the subject matter. You just have to look on the likes of Era or even here to see that there are a lot of gamers who know more about gaming and the industry than the people who are getting paid to talk about it.

If you look at Beyond there's a HUGE difference between what gets talked about on it now then what used to be discussed when Greg and Colin were in charge. That worked well because both of them had a passion for Playstation. Then had a great amount of experience and incredible knowledge ( especially Colin ) about all Sony's consoles and handhelds. It's the same when Ryan starts talking about all things Xbox on Unlocked but the problem for him is that he doesn't really have anyone else to play off.

NVC has had issues for a long time but they are very clear now and i'm seeing a lot more people voicing the same concerns as ours. While the Switch is doing very well in sales I think it's still a hard machine to talk about on a weekly basis due to the console still missing out on the heavy hitting games that get released on the other consoles. What you're left with is a weekly show that is mostly about indie games. While the quantity of games is there on the eShop, the quailty is lacking at times. Nintendo haven't exactly come out guns blazing at the start of this year either, with most of their games being ports of Wii U titles. This means NVC are having to retread old ground when discussing these games, if they even bother to talk about them at all. 

You look at something like Radio Free Nintendo, a Nintendo fan podcast that has been going for years, and the difference in the quality of conversation between RFN and NVC is night and day. For instance, RFN went pretty indepth with certain WiiWare titles before the service went down and done this for a few weeks. Given the resources that IGN have at their disposal they could have easily had a podcast or two about WiiWare alone in the run up to the service switching off. Instead it got a quick mention here and there and then they went back to their tired old format.

EZA for me are head and shoulders above everyone else at the moment and have been for a while. The EZA podcast delivers a variety of news every week and also rotates the panel to keep things fresh. Each of the guys brings something to the table and the chemistry between them is fantastic. You then have Frame Trap which Ben does an amazing job on. Getting nearly 3 hours of gaming banter about the newest releases and what each of them have been playing is always a great listen.

Kinda Funny has always had an issue with their language, same as Giant Bomb. While it doesn't bother me, it would be nice of them to tone it down or not use such language at all. They really is no need for it. Again, it's another thing that I like about EZA. They've even said that they need to watch their mouths at times because there may be kids listening to it. Not that they swear a lot....well, outside of Brads final sign off.  

[dan-likes-trees]

How come you guys don't hop on the UK ign stuff? I find the IGN UK podcast / staff way more down to earth, funny, and pretty pretty honest in their views, even when they (frequently) juxtapose the IGN US reviews.

 

Agree on you guys on Kinda Funny. The swearing comes across as so cringe inducing and childish, can't stand it.

 

Full on team Frame Trap myself. Love how in depth they go on like.. every game that comes out. Ben's grown on me a lot. The Kotaku Splitscreen podcast is also pretty good these days, mainly because the two hosts are some of the only reporters doing actual journalism in the industry, and they get pretty good guests on as a result. Try dat!

[Julius]

This has put a smile on my face. Can’t think of a group more deserving of this, they’re absolutely some of the best in the business. I’m now so much more excited for E3.

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Hero-of-Time]

I caught the start of it last night before going to bed and knew they would easily get the money they needed. Great to wake up and see just how much they actually made. Well deserved.

[Ganepark32]

Had forgotten that EZA were doing that fundraising stream, gutted to miss it but really happy to see they smashed their target. While I'm not a Patreon sponsor, I've been watching quite a bit of their stuff since they came about 2 years ago and this boost for then was well deserved as the work they put in to their content goes far and beyond what many other sites do.

Their podcast and Frame Trap have finally filled a hole that was left when Invisible Walls ended at GT (there hasn' really been anything since that I thought matched that) and although I'm not keen on some of them (I've never been a fan of Huber and is OTT nature, Brad and his perpetual look of someone with an attitude problem and Damiani who I've never been a fan of since the GT day), it's been great to see them all grow in confidence, the quality of their work improve and their enthusiasm for games growing. Here's to many more years for them as an games industry without Brandon Jones narrating review would be criminal.

[killthenet]

I watched a good chunk of it last night, I don't often get to see them stream outside of E3 so was good to watch a couple of hours. They were on about $24,000 when I went to sleep with only a couple of hours to go so I didn't think they'd reach 30k but they even exceeded that. I can't wait to see how their E3 coverage looks and sounds now, I've always loved their content but their streams can feel a bit ramshackle when they're trying to juggle so much at once.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Ganepark32 I used to love Invisible Walls. I think that was the first podcast type show I ever watched/listened to. Marcus Beers was easily my fav out of all of them. Some of his rants were legendary.  

[Nicktendo]

I only started watching EZA after reading about them from @Hero-of-Time and @nekunando in this thread! Hands down, the best in the business. So pleased they smashed their target and can't wait for E3.

[Ronnie]

Filip was a lot better on the last NVC. Seems to be settling into the role a little more.

[nekunando]

1 hour ago, Nicktendo said:

I only started watching EZA after reading about them from @Hero-of-Time and @nekunando in this thread! Hands down, the best in the business. So pleased they smashed their target and can't wait for E3.

BEST IN THE BIZ!

I'm glad we could be of service

[Julius]

Easy Allies’ God of War Spoiler Mode will feature a very special guest...

 

[killthenet]

Wow, that's pretty incredible. I thought it was cool when he tweeted congratulations after the fundraiser, great to see them getting high profile guests now.

[Hero-of-Time]

Both he and his team are big fans of EZA. Cory has wanted to do something with the guys for a while now but the time was never right. Now that GoW is done and dusted the timing is perfect. I can't wait to listen to it. Hopefully I'll be done with the game before the show airs.

[Hero-of-Time]

I got through all my podcasts for the week and I needed something to listen to on my lunch break. I saw that Unlocked had done a Halo orientated podcast recently, what with it being number 343, and decided to listen to that.

It was great hearing all the memories that the Halo series created for each of the staff members on the podcast. Halo 2 seemed to be the main focus which I find surprising as I think it's the weakest out of the original trilogy. Saying that, the multiplayer maps on that game were outstanding. It was that, along with Phantasy Star Online and Star Wars Battlefront, that really got me hooked on Xbox Live and sent into motion my love of chatting with friends while playing online.

They briefly discussed the marketing campaign for Halo 2. While I do remember it, I do think that marketing campaign for Halo 3 easily eclipses it. The adverts they put out for that were some of the best the industry has produced. The first trailer from E3 2006 ( as seen below ) is one of my favourite ever E3 trailers. I remember downloading it on my 360 ( remember when you had to do that? ) and watching it over and over again. It's one of those trailers that never failed to give me goosebumps and that remains the same even to this day.

The Starry Night trailer and the Believe campaign also managed to raise hype levels, with the latter showing a different style of advertising that was quite new for the industry.

Man, I love classic Halo. Halo 1-3, Reach and ODST created some of my best gaming memories and certainly shaped my appreciation of the FPS genre. It's such a shame that 343 have yet to match the quality, both single player and multiplayer, that Bungie managed to dish out all of those years ago. The only thing that they have done with the franchise that I love is a single piece of music called Arrival.

Other than that i'm a big fan of the direction they went in with the series. Halo 5 was a bit of a mess and really done some damage to the franchise. I would love 343 to take the multiplayer back to it's roots, strip out all of the special powers and cards that have infested it and get it back to basics, with fantastic map design and solid gameplay. Sadly, I doubt this will happen.  

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I listened to this weeks EZA podcast this morning. I have to say, I didn't agree with a lot of what they said when they were discussing Microsoft's E3.

Brandon was so off the mark when he said that Gears 4 didn't end well and had no hook or mystery. The game had a hell of a cliffhanger, with Kait holding the necklace and what that represented. He must not be a fan of the series or have not been paying attention to not get what the ending was foreshadowing. I was happy that Ben at least remembered something big happen, even if he couldn't place what it was.  

In regards to their Halo talk, the series doesn't need to have a God of War style reboot, especially when it's 1 game away from finishing the second trilogy. What 343 needs to do is take the series back to its roots and make Halo 6 play like the older games did. The story needs to be simplified and has to be self contained. One of the big reasons 4 and 5 fell completely flat was because you had to read the books and comics to have any idea of what really went on. The fact that the Didact, the main antagonist from Halo 4, was actually killed outside of the games was a massive slap in the face.

As for the predictions, i've said before I think Splinter Cell will be shown off at their presser, along with shadow drops of the original Splinter Cell games being available on backwards compatibility. I think this is a no brainer and I would be shocked if it didn't happen. Also, I do hope that Perfect Dark returns. There have been rumblings about it for a while now and it would be great to get a classic Rare franchise on the Xbox platform. They had a quick mention of the Master Chief Collection. The update has been getting worked on for a couple of years now and I think E3 would be the perfect time to drop it, along with an announcement that it is coming to PC. 

How in the hell did Damiani think that Rare made Kinectimals?  I get the feeling that most of the EZA guys don't really have much of clue when it comes to the Xbox.

 

[Julius]

Gotta love the Huber Syndrome E3 Special  

 

[nekunando]

3 hours ago, Julius Caesar said:

Gotta love the Huber Syndrome E3 Special  

 

"It's like a Windows 98 screensaver.."

[S.C.G]

Huber Syndrome E3 Special has to be one of the best videos I've seen though all of E3.

It may well have been topped by one other video though... *drumroll*