All Things Awesome

Hey all,Another minisode is up. This time, we cover Silent Hill: Homecoming, otherwise known as Silent Hill 5. In the first part of the show (about 20 minutes), we give a basic review of the game. In the second part of the show, we delve deep into spoiler territory and discuss the endings and symbolism of SH:H, and the implications of this game on the SH franchise. We're both Silent Hill fans, so we ended up rambling on about the story for a good 40 minutes.SPOILER WARNING! At around the 20 minute mark, you'll hear the Silent Hill sirens. If you don't want any spoilers on SH:H or other games in the series, stop listening!Download it here: All Things Awesome Minisode #2 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 10/5, hosts: Schmitty, Netta) duration: 1 hour 3 minutes, 30.1mb)Remember, spoilers start at about the 20 minute mark.

Hey guys,Trying something new here. Since all of the primary cast is pretty busy most of the time, it's tough to do podcasts more than once a month or so. As such, I've decided to launch some shorter, but more frequently updated minisodes that I'll be recording with my girlfriend Netta co-hosting. These will generally be somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes long probably, but I'm not sure how often they'll be recorded. They'll probably focus more on specific video games, TV and movies.This debut episode is our review and discussion of Maxis' new game, Spore. We cover what happens in each of the phases, how they play, and what we think of each stage and the game's creation options.Download it here: All Things Awesome Minisode #1 (right click and save as)(recorded: Monday 9/22, hosts: Schmitty, Netta) duration: 36 minutes, 17.2mb)Additional Links:Robin Williams Demoing Spore back in '06Feeding FrenzyAs a side note, this minisode isn't an indication of any changes to the main podcast. There'll be no cast changes or anything like that - the minisode is just a supplemental, it's not a replacement or change in direction, style or focus. It's just a way to keep the site active in between main casts, and get in depth into a few topics that we may not have time for in the main show. Thanks for listening!

Here's part 2.Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #6-2 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 9/13, hosts: Schmitty, Mike, Foz, Tim, Shawn) duration: 53 minutes, 24.5mb)The times listed in the show notes may be about a minute off.00:00 - 49:00: Force Unleashed demo, Too Human demo, story elements in these games9:00 - 54:00: Castle Crashers, looting in multiplayer games14:00 - 1:00:30: Rock Band 2 peripherals, EMusic, peripheral compatability20:30 - 1:06:00: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog, technology26:00 - 1:10:00: New movie lightning round! Bangkok Dangerous, Burn After Reading and other Coen brothers films30:00 - 1:16:00: Sam Jackson torments people as we skirt the edge of racism, Blindness and debating the quality of the Constant Gardener, Choke, grammar hour on ATA, Red Band trailers36:00 - 1:24:00: Saw V, Righteous Kill, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Tim doesn't know who John Cusack is, Zack and Mirri Make a Porno and assorted Kevin Smith stuff44:00 - 1:30:28: Max Payne movie, Schoenectady, NY, Body of Lies, The Departed, new Guy Ritchie movie, Ray Liotta in Narc51:00 - Quantum of Solace? and more Bond... SURPRISE ENDING!(What actually happened is the room we were recording in was apparently reserved by some sort of math club or something? So mid-recording someone came in and told us we had to vacate. We didn't have that much more to go, so we figured we may as well just cut it short at that point).

It was recorded last weekend. Then I fell into a time warp and so here it is almost a week later. My apologies if this podcast seems very disjointed. It wasn't our most well structured effort.NOTE THE SPOILER WARNINGS.Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #6-1 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 9/13, hosts: Schmitty, Mike, Foz, Tim, Shawn) duration: 40 minutes, 18.1mb)0:00 - 5:00: WotLK Beta talk: It's pretty! Robo-gnomes, DEHTA, Death Knights5:00 - 6:00: Spoiler Warning!6:00 - 13:00: Reworking of buffs in WotLK, WTF Core Hounds!, Training Dummies13:00 - 16:00: Beta Naxx info, Naxx story info16:00 - 17:00: Spoiler warning!17:00 - 23:30: Tirion Fordring, WoW Geekout Warning!: Naxx loot, WotLK release date: happy birthday Foz?23:30 - 28:30: WotLK collector's edition stuff, vanity pets, more DK discussion28:30 - 37:00: Class specific stuff: (more geekouts) Pallies, Hunters, Druids, Shamans, the new loot drama37:00 - 39:45: Raid accomplishments

And here's part 3, with an extensive discussion of 4th Edition now that's we've actually played the thing.Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #5-3 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 7/27, hosts: Schmitty, Mike, Foz, Tim, Shawn, Judge) duration: 55 minutes, 26.3mb)0:00 - 11:00: Tim's racism drives Schmitty off, is 4th Edition still D&D?, thoughts on the new power system - does it focus the game on "roll" playing?, is 4th too complex for newbies?11:00 - 20:00: Some praise for the new DMG, more role vs. roll playing discussion20:00 - 29:00: Love for the new D&D monsters, turn flow and death and dying in 4E, using power cards29:00 - 35:30: More monster talk - bemoaning the lack of flavor in the MM, stupid Gricks, Bulettes in the restroom35:30 - 49:00: 4E miniatures, individual highs and lows of 4E, 4E "blockiness" too intimidating?49:00 - 54:45: Some parting comments: why the lack of gnomes, etc.

Here's part 2 of episode 5, featuring lots of general video game/E3 talk as well as some WoW discussion.Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #5-2 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 7/27, hosts: Schmitty, Mike, Foz, Tim, Shawn, Judge) duration: 50 minutes, 22.8mb)0:00 - 9:00: Ambivalence for Final Fantasy XIII on 360, is Sony getting scared yet?, why bother with Lips when you could play Rock Band?, ambivalence about Gears II and FPS games, please let Mirror's Edge be better than Assassin's Creed9:00 - 16:00: Diablo III talk - it's got colors!, we lavish praise on Blizzard, PHYSICS!, how to break the WoW addiction16:00 - 20:30: Back to E3 talk with Fallout 3, some Spore talk, more drooling over Left 4 Dead20:30 - 26:00: GTA IV: The Best GTA IV yet, the no-PS2 club26:00 - 31:30: DS games: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2, The World Ends With You31:30 - 35:00: The Penny Arcade game is fun time (especially if you like dick jokes), Garfield is dead?35:00 - 42:00: WoW talk, MRS' first Gruul kill/25-man experience, why people like raiding, the evolution of instances42:00 - 49:50: Wrath of the Lich King discussion: the return of Naxx, gear changes post-70, excitement over the universal 10-man content, Blizz continues to polish class balance

Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #5-1 (right click and save as)(recorded: Sunday 7/27, hosts: Schmitty, Mike, Foz, Tim, Shawn, Judge) duration: 50 minutes, 22.8mb)Could it be? Our very first tecnnical issues-free podcast? Huzzah! Since we had a lot to catch up on and a big cast, we went pretty long this week, so we'll be dividing this episode up into 3 parts posted over the next few days. Stay tuned, and enjoy!0:00 – 1:00: We’re back! 1:00 – 7:00: Movie trailers, no one wants to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Watchmen trailer gave everyone giant boners, Zack Snyder done good? (well except making women in look dumb in 300) 7:00 – 16:30: Hollywood’s getting comic movies right… why?, the new generation of comic movie makers and fans, we need a hero ‘cause the world sucks? 16:30 – 22:45: Marvel remaking failed properties: new Hulk, new Punisher, etc., diluting the marvel brand name? Pushing the Avengers Initiative 22:45 – 32:00: Heath Ledger a shoe-in for a posthumous Oscar?, different takes on the Joker (check out the NPR In Character podcast), there were some other actors in The Dark Knight too… 32:00 – 36:15: WALL-E and other movies without much dialogue, environmental undertones dividing the audience 36:15 – 41:00: Indy 4 sucked!: our picks for worst parts, the power of Shia LeBeouf’s hair, George Lucas, please stop raping our childhoods 41:00 – 44:45: More Uwe Boll hating on the Dungeon Siege movie, Postal may be good?, pissing on Gary Coleman 44:45 – 50:00: X-Files’ anti-Catholic, anti-homosexual agenda, anyway, The Happening 2: What a Twist!, … annnd racism!

Yeah, beta. Our technical issues persist and this episode sounds frustratingly awful to my ears. For timeliness' sake, I'm posting a mostly unedited version up now, so some of the cuts before and after the breaks might sound strange.Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #4 (right click and save as)(recorded: Saturday 4/5, hosts: Schmitty, Foz, Tim, Mike) duration: 1 hour 13 minutes, 35.1mb)Show notes and properly edited version to come later.EDIT: Nope, not going to bother. Sorry guys, we'll get the next one right.

Episode 3 is up!Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #3 (right click and save as)(recorded: Saturday 3/8, hosts: Schmitty, Foz, Tim, Shawn) duration: 1 hour 38 minutes, 45.0mb)We had some more technical issues on this one. The quality came through better, but whenever Shawn talks, you can hear some crackling static. It's mostly just a minor nuisance in the first hour, but then gets horrendously bad. Unfortunately it was unfixable, so for some this will only be an hour show. Eventually we'll get all this crap worked out.0:00 - 11:15: Intro, Mike and Judge are dead, more importantly, Gary Gygax is dead, our role-playing beginnings and influences: Schmitty's Raistlin, Tim's middle-school D&D, Shawn's boxes (gotta catch 'em all), the legacy of Fosberry torment, "Juvenile" vs. "Mature" D&D11:15 - 22:00: Nerd Heroes: Jeff Hannes of Inquest, FRP vs. LARP, Joss Whedon, Monte Cook stories - he has real magic power22:00 - 31:40: Gamer rituals, Tim's annual/semi-annual Evathon (Neon Genesis Evangelion marathon), camping out, geek hierarchy, dark side gamers, why do we hate things that people like?31:40 - 40:00: Flavor vs. Mechanics vs. Style in games, Tim remembers to talk into his mic, Deadlands, Doomtown and HKAT, flavor in 4th Edition40:00 - 54:45: Flavor vs. Mechanics continued: Magic vs. Legend of the Five Rings TCGs, Tim grows as a person, lack of flavor and frustrating mechanics and WoW?54:45 - 1:00:00: Researching flavor outside of games, L5R's metaplot, Tim dishonors his family, AEG gets a thumbs up1:00:00 - 1:05:50: Flavor vs. Mechanics: Video game and movie edition: Silent Hill, Crackdown, From Hell, The Matrix, Sin CityAfter our second break, Shawn's mic issues intensify significantly and he sounds like a staticy robot. You can still understand him for the most part, and everyone else comes through clearly, but it may be unlistenable in parts, as Shawn does have a lot to say about 4e. Nothing we can really do for it at this point though. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again.1:05:50 - 1:21:00: More D&D 4th Edition talk from the D&D Experience, roll vs. role playing, Robo-Shawn attacks!, striking the balance between simple and interesting, Tim's guns, the CCG-ificiation and MMO-ification of D&D, Vancian spellcasting1:21:00 - 1:38:30: The problems of high-level D&D, "quest rewards" and magic items in 4th, the chicken-standard economy, more complexity concerns, 4th Edition and OGL

Hey everyone, Episode 2 is here!Download it here: All Things Awesome Episode #2 (right click and save as)(recorded: Saturday 2/23, hosts: Schmitty, Foz, Tim, Mike, Judge) duration: 2 hour 31 minutes, 69.1mb)This episode went on a bit too long, so apologies about that. I guess. I mean, it occurs to me that people like these things to be concise, but I don't really get the point of complaining about too much content. Especially when there's very detailed show notes on exactly what you can expect in each segment. But anyway, I'll stop trying to alienate you all now. Seriously, thanks for listening.We also had some technical issues and the sound quality isn't on par with the quality we had in the first episode, but we'll get that straightened out for next time.0:00 - 13:30: Beer!, I'm a girly man, first beer experiences, good beer, beer, bad beer, foreign beer, also... beer, Tim's sack13:30 - 17:30: Racism, revisited: an ATA PSA17:30 - 24:30: The writer's strike is over, what's it's effect on TV this season?, "Reaper" and other shows get the "Fox treatment," the strike's effect on the Oscars?, Bruce Vilanch sucks (except for in Ice Pirates), Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars again24:30 - 35:30: Oscar overview: Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Actor and Actress... and none of us have seen most of these movies, Johnny Depp love, Ellen Page and Diablo Cody love, Mike spoils Gone Baby Gone (maybe?), super brief book review of Cormack McCarthy's "The Road"35:30 - 1:03:30: Movies we dug in 2007: Die Harderest, Transformers was dumb but fun, the G.I. Joe movie is an affront to America, Tim spent his childhood in the 70s (despite being born in the 80s), tangents: 90s cartoons and Mark Millar takes over writing Fantastic Four, back to movies: Superbad, lots of Cloverfield: Mike's existentialist take on the film and ARG discussion, Shoot 'Em Up is ridiculous/awesome, Ocean's 13 = Ocean's 11 > Ocean's 12, fun with the hilariously bad Dragonlance movie1:03:30 - 1:36:00: Games we dug in 2007: love for Orange Box, Bioshock's awesome atmosphere and gameplay decisions, dissenting opinions on Crysis, Call of Duty 4, game length discussion, X-Box Live achievement pros and cons, Gears of War PC port1:36:00 - 1:54:20: Looking forward: games we're looking forward to in 2008, Left 4 Dead, Spore worries and the nature of Sim-games, what games work better on PC than console?1:54:20 - 2:11:00: Looking forward on movies: the new Indy, MPAA ratings, Tim's a Nazi sympathizer, Marvel movie universe, new Harry Potter, new Batman2:11:00 - 2:22:30: Board game discussion: Tannhauser2:22:30 - 2:30:00: More D&D4EThanks for listening,Schmitty