OOOOOOOOOHHHHH CRAAAAAP
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September 2005 Archives
Podcast for Friday, September 30th
HEY IT'S A RADIO SHOW CHECK IT OUT. This is the torrent, .mp3 direct download to come later.
- The OTHER Weekly Geek
- Gaming community better protrayed article.
- Artistic history of webcomics.
- SNAKES ON A PLANE
- Mirrormask trailer
--Frodo
Podcast for Friday, September 23rd
Hey everybody! The show for Friday, September 23rd is online! Download the torrent here and the normal mp3 will be on its way shortly. In this show, The Geek and Frodo discuss many things, including We Love Katamari (because we certainly do), Penny Arcade in Nintendo Power, and Frodo says "Fuck" for the first time in Weekly Geek history. DON'T MISS IT.
- WoW plague
- Xbox 360 bundles sold out
- GBA SP new blacklit screen
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney special offer finger stylus
- Print your very own Revolution Controller
--Frodo
p.s. I apologize for the poor audio quality on The Geek's end, we are still trying to work out some technical bugs. It gets better after about 5 minutes, so don't worry.
A Gamer Scorned
I call myself a gamer. That is my label. I don't really think of myself so much as a nerd or a geek anymore, Gamer seems to fit just fine. This is why it pisses me off when I talk about mainstream gaming these days. This is something that I identify with, just like someone who enjoys attending plays calls themselves a thespian, just like how someone who enjoys gourmet cooking calls themselves a foodie. I am a gamer, I live to play video games. For people like me, our hobby has been under attack for a number of years now, at least since this last generation of consoles. Our gaming ideals have been swept aside, and our pleas for anything but another Madden game go unheeded. Hot on the heels of The Geek's last post, I am here to talk to you today about how game store managers hate you.
I went into my local EBGames the other day to pick up World of Warcraft (you may have heard this story on last week's podcast), and the instant I step into the store I get the feeling of dread. The feeling that I don't belong. The feeling of being in some sort of odd gaming graveyard. Behind the counter is the store manager, an overweight, unkempt man of about 40, who is balding yet still seems to manage to sport a ponytail of no discernable shade of brown. His polo shirt is tucked nicely over his gigantic belly and he gives me no better than a sneer as I walk through the door. The other store employee behind the counter, a tall disinterested guy in his mid 30's, is arguing with some crazy cracked-out lady about how much cash he can give her for her copy of "Pokeymans". I look over and literally she has 40 Gameboy Advance games stacked on top of each other, apparently trying to just cash them out. It looked like she broke in to some 12 year old's backpack and ran off with all his fun things in life. In the back of the store was the local uncomfortably unfortunate man, ranting about various games to himself and stinking up the place. He walks over to a stand of Everquest pre-paid game cards and yells "WHEEE!!!!". Does this sound like an environment you'd like to stay in for any period of time? This, in addition to the fact that if you want to trade in your games (which sounds like a great deal in theory), they only give you about a tenth of what they end up selling it for later. Game stores exist to rip you off. Why is this? Why can't we have a game store that exists because games are good? Why can't we just have a game store that realizes that they make enough money off of selling new games that they don't have to rip us off when we try to trade in our old ones? Why aren't game store employees fans of games and gamers and why do they keep trying to sell me the damned one-year guarantee on games? WHY WOULD I WANT TO BUY THAT?!
I walked into a Game Crazy yesterday to see if they had We <3 Katamari in on the release day. Games are released on Tuesdays, and most likely game stores should have them (even if some people say that that is just the ship date). The guy behind the counter looked at me as if he had never heard of the game, and told me that if I didn't preorder it, it wasn't there. They only recieve as many games as they have preorders for the day the game is shipped, and then it is about a week afterward when they get actual stock. No one had even preordered the game at the store I went to. What is wrong with people? The guy behind the counter was unwrapping a giant box of X-Men Legends 2, but no We <3 Katamari?
Today I went back to the first EBGames I talked about and they had three copies of We <3 Katamari. That was the extent of the stock they ordered.
It is up to the game stores to push innovation. The game stores are only interested in selling the next GTA clone or version of some shitty-ass sports title to some baggy pants wannabe asshole shithead who has too much money on his hands because mommy and daddy pay for everything. What the hell happened to my hobby? These were the people who used to pick on me because I played games, because I had Super Mario school supplies. Now because these people have gone to video games in droves, the gaming industry is no longer interested in courting me, the player who appreciates the games as an art form, the player who appreciates the games that challenge you, that innovate.
Hopefully Nintendo is going to save the gaming industry (again) with the Revolution. Say all you want naysayers, but the Revolution is going to be crazy amounts of fun no matter what. Nintendo is consistant, unlike other game companies, which is why I cannot fathom why people are saying things like "Nintendo is doomed" and "teh revolution controller sux". It is going to be amazing, and hopefully places like EBGames and Game Crazy put their full weight behind it to show people that it is beneficial to the gaming industry to try new things, and not fall back on old standards.
I just want to know, do any of you have a good game store near you that doesn't treat you like crap? Post it in the comments please, I'd love to hear your good game store stories.
--Frodo
Game store managers hate you.
Here's a thought I had regarding the Revolution (or the N5, which many people are calling it, since Revolution isn't going to be the final name).
Depending on the price and availability of NES, SNES, and N64 games for download, Nintendo could seriously undercut the used games market.
Could there be a backlash from major game store retailers such as GameStop? We all know that they make a fair chunk of money by ripping you off; buying your used games for a nickel and then selling them back to someone else for 40 bucks. If Nintendo's Virtual Console takes away from their bottom line, would they be motivated to "discourage" sales of the N5? I know that NES, SNES, and N64 games aren't the biggest part of their used game sales, but it's probably still a decent amount.
--Geek
Podcast for Friday, September 16th
Big news for the Podcast for September 16th, 2005. The Geek, Frodo and White Mage discuss the news regarding Nintendo's big TGS announcement, revealing the Revolution controller for the first time. They also discuss the release of Final Fantasy Advent Children and Blizzcon 2005. Download the torrent here, and the .mp3 direct download will be available later today. Remember to leave the torrent open to seed! Thanks!
Show Notes:
--Frodo
Final Fantasy XI Frustration
Yesterday was so frustrating. All I wanted to do was play FFXI and it was down. I had to satisfy myself with Halo 2, which isn't a very good substitute. Yes, it has killing, but no moogles, no chocobos, and no NewFunkAllstars (my linkshell). The frustration is always worse when you know in two days it's going to be down again for scheduled maintenance.
Over the past couple months, nearly every bit of unscheduled downtime has had the same basic explanation:
"After investigation, we have confirmed that the login difficulties are due to a continuous DDoS attack from anonymous third parties. This is currently affecting certain ISP (Internet Service Provider) users.We will continue investigating the issue and bring this matter to a speedy resolution. We will also inform you with any new updates when they become available.
If you cannot log into FINAL FANTASY XI, we ask that you please wait a while and then try again.
We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
With such frequent use over a long period of time, I am beginning to wonder if "DDoS attack" has become a blanket excuse.
I have been patient. I have been understanding. But, after last night, my patience and understanding is wearing thin.
--White Mage
Final Fantasy 7 Ad Nauseum
You may have heard reports that Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, the 100 minute long Square Enix movie based in the Final Fantasy 7 world, was leaked onto the interweb earlier this week. Yes, indeed, a very high quality DVD rip of the final version was leaked by a Chinese group called BiEN, and shortly thereafter English subtitles were created. Use your magical internet resources to find the torrent (I won't link it for fear of smiting and other nasty reprocussions from various allmighty sources). You'll be happy you did.
Remember the crap that was Final Fantasy Spirits Within? It was a fully CGI movie with big name voice actors set in a pseudo FF world that made no sense, wasn't very plot-heavy and nobody liked. This is not that movie. Square has become an entirely different company now that Enix swooped them up, and their new obsession with creating various Final Fantasy 7 spinoffs and turning them into movies, cell phone games and action shooters seems to be paying off. That is, if this movie is any indication of how well the other spinoffs are going to be, we fans are in for a treat.
If you aren't a fan of Final Fantasy 7, however, you may not like this movie. Much. The CGI is beautiful enough for anyone to look at, but that's just eye candy. So are the impressively choreographed fight scenes. Pure eye candy. It's the plot that drives a movie, and FF:AC is a bit thin unless you know what's going on. The movie itself starts out with a brief primer, but it is so filled with little treats and references (both musically and visually) that you will definitely be missing out on what is really good about this film if you hadn't played the original game.
Because that's what it's all about, really. It's fan service. Fans have been drooling at the bit, and getting more and more frothy as trailer after trailer was released. After the More Friends concert at this last year's E3 they even played a new, updated version of the main villain's theme One Winged Angel, making every fan wet their pants a little. I did, and I am not even a very big fan of FF7. Advent Children was filled with enough little treats for me that I found it highly enjoyable, even as a casual fan of the game. Granted, I am an FF nut anyway, so when a Moogle or a Chocobo is mentioned my head basically explodes. This is a condition that I have.
I won't spoil it for you, but the plot basically takes place two years after the events of the video game, and follows Cloud Strife and friend's journey to discover how to cure a deadly disease, and how to defeat a mysterious gang of Sephiroth look-alikes hell-bent on gathering pieces of their "Mother", JENOVA. The plot is well fleshed-out and never boring, with plenty of twists and surprised to keep your mind occupied. Especially for fans.
SE was smart to release this straight to DVD and PSP, and not go for a wide release, as FF:AC won't appeal at all to mainstream audiences. It might, however, create a couple of Final Fantasy converts, and it will definitely please hardcore fans who may have doubted FF:AC's credibility following the FF7 storyline.
Download it, or wait until next week to buy it. Either way, it's a good watch for any Final Fantasy, CGI film or action movie fan.
---Frodo
Show for 9-09-05
The first podcast-only version of The Weekly Geek is live! Check out The Geek, Frodo and White Mage talking it up like they have never done before. Well, they have done it before, but maybe you have never heard them talking it up. What is "talking it up" anyway? You can download the show here by either subscribing to the RSS feed and using it in the podcasting program of your choice (we recommend iTunes) and either listening to it in your favorite media player, or on your MP3 player. You will most likely need BitTorrent. Never before has The Weekly Geek been so easy to listen to. Here are some show notes for you:
- Nintendo Revolution Controller Mockups
- Topher Grace is Venom?!
- Zelda series changing forever
- Frodo's Comic
---Frodo
Edit: You can now download a non-bitorrent version of the show here. But I recommend the Torrent!
how do i maek poast?
Hi everybody out on the intertron! The Geek, here.
So this is our new webpage, huh? Pretty snazzy.
Well, the podcast of our first new show should be up sometime later today, so be sure to check it out.
And now I've also got this fancy little bloggy thing to talk to the masses directly. I promise I'm going to try to update it quite a bit more than my poor, neglected Live Journal.
In addition to our show now being released today, it is also Sci-Fi friday on the Sci Fi Channel. Probably one of the absolute best block of 4 hours on TV, especially if you're a nerd. You've got cult favorite Firefly, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and the highly acclaimed Battlestar Galactica (which I have yet to check out, personally).
SG-1 has just entered its 9th season and now ties The X-Files for longest running sci-fi TV series. And there's a good reason. The show is fantastic. They took the basic concept from the hit movie, Stargate, and just ran with it. With a great attention to detail and continuity, fantastic writing, and top notch acting, it's just seriously high quality stuff. I'm not completely up to speed on the show, because I didn't start in on it from the beginning. Starting last November, White Mage and I have been trying to get caught up, watching all the episodes on DVD from Netflix. We're all the way through season 7, but season 8 isn't available on DVD yet. In the mean time, we've been keeping up with Atlantis and taping each episode of season 9 so we can get caught up on that when season 8 is released.
And if you're interested in SG-1, I highly reccomend using the awesome Netflix service. Or, if you'd like to own all of them, Amazon has a sweet deal on the first 7 seasons. Plus, season 8 is finally going to be released on October 4.
So keep your browser tuned to this webpage and keep your eye out for our first podcast later today. And check out Sci Fi Friday tonight starting at 7:00pm e/p.
--The Geek
First post
Hey everyone, Frodo here. I am currently in the process of moving all our old reviews and some of our old downloads to this new fancy webpage, but for now it is just a basic blog. We are going to record our very first podcast-only show tonight, with a special guest host. Some changes to the show!
-No more commercials (being that we aren't associated with KCWU fm anymore)
-Less music (more talk is better anyway)
-Possible bi-weekly shows
-Frequent blog updates
So be sure to add our RSS feed to wherever you put those, and tell your friends that The Weekly Geek is back!
fresh podcasts
more podcastsnew chatter
- OOOOOOOOOHHHHH CRAAAAAP (1)
- Podcast for Friday, September 16th (1)
- Final Fantasy XI Frustration (2)
- A Gamer Scorned (3)
- Game store managers hate you. (1)
- Podcast for Friday, September 30th (1)
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