Happy Holidays

No episode of the Game Nutz Podcast this week. We hope that you had a very happy holiday season, and that Which Sucks Less worked well as a console buying guide. Have a happy and safe New Year's, and we'll see you in 2010!

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Episode 23

In the first episode in a couple months without the Which Sucks Less feature, Boter and FearTheClaw (again with StickyNugget absent, I wonder what happened to him) carry the show without any embarrassing retreads of some of their earlier attempts (though they're in Canastota again; yay, acoustics). They start off with a conversation about downloadable content timing, move on to PBS televising the Video Games Live concert this year and video game music in general, and some new Nintendo trademarks. Boter, meanwhile, talks about downloadable content for A Kingdom For Keflings on Xbox Live Arcade, beta testing the same game on the PC, and then introduces the Dark Void Grab Bag of Swag.

To win the Grab Bag of Swag, do as the man says. Tell your friends to listen to the podcast and have them e-mail gamenutzpodcast@gmail.com with your name. We will then send them a question pertaining to this week's podcast. Once they answer (confirming that they did actually listen), you'll be credited for them. The person who gets us the most listeners (whether they ultimately become a subscriber or not) wins the Grab Bag of Swag.

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Music is "Funk Rock 18", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 22

With the first episode from the new store (not an every-week occurrence, acoustics are bad, sorry) in Canastota, Boter and FearTheClaw tackle Which Sucks Less: PS3 Slim or Wii, and also go into a bit of news from the past two weeks. Some highlights include a rumor about a PSPgo UMD drive, a quick rundown of the best selling games in November, and a verdict on DS flash cards. They also manage to fit in some discussion about the tendency for current generation games to get patched after release.

View the final results of the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

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Music is "Funk Rock 17", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 21

Without Sticky, it's up to FearTheClaw and Boter to decide Which Sucks Less - the DS Lite or the PSP-3000. (A shame neither of them seem to speak English natively this week.) They reach a conclusion, bolstered by a message from Sticky, and continue on to such important topics as what market the PSP Go is moving into and Black Friday. This then go on to a large number of news topics, including Eric Estovillo suing more video game companies (in this case, Activision-Blizzard about World of Warcraft) and Nintendo's research tendencies.

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

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Music is "Roswell Rock", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 20

The second portion of this week's Podcast double header is the official Game Nutz Podcast Episode 20. Which Sucks Less discusses the PSP-3000 vs. the PSP Go. After that, apparently intent on making Boter's tagging job easier, Sticky talks about Modern Warfare 2, Claw talks about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Boter gets a word in edgewise about Empire 2.0 (whose name he forgot in the podcast itself).

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

Subscribe and listen (or just listen) to the podcast over at our FeedBurner page.

Music is "Rock 27" "Blues Piano 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Fillercast 2

As Claw got this in about half a week late, and Boter was still recovering from his trip, last week's Fillercast makes the first part of a Game Nutz Podcast double header this weekend! Give a listen as FearTheClaw, Schnazzy and Orlan Drake talk about Modern Warfare Reflex Edition on the Wii, Facebook on the 360, and some creative uses for the PS3. They then talk about Nintendo news and rumors and spend the last few minutes raging about the decision of DS Lite over DSi for Which Sucks Less a few weeks back.

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Music is "Techno 3", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 19 PS - Corporate Giant Hate

In what was originally going to be a small three-to-five minute rant, Boter (with a little bit of FearTheClaw thrown in) rages about Activision allowing GameStop to break street date on Modern Warfare 2 (which was later denied by Activision, as told in the PPS to this PS), making ample use of the new censor bleep for curses. It ran a bit long, but it's worth a listen for the point of view of an independent shop on unfair competition from national retailers.

Total number of bleeps: 13, just under one per minute. Direct link to Boter's comment (warning: language).

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"On Hold" music is "Elevator Music", © James Driscoll / Dane Petersen.

Episode 19 - Ultimate Flamebait Edition

In a special 45 minute episode of the Game Nutz Podcast, the crew skips ahead on the Which Sucks Less schedule so that Boter can participate in the Ultimate Flamebait Edition - Xbox 360 Elite vs. PlayStation 3 Slim. Who will win? Listen to find out!

After that, it's been a couple of busy news weeks and the crew talks about Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed: Lineage, and the Nintendo DSi XL. They wrap up the massive amount of topics with a dense burst of Halo and finally sign off.

R.I.P. Art Starkweather. We'll all miss you.

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

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Music is "80s 10", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Quickcast 1: DSi XL and a Note on Punctuality

Without a "real" episode this week, Boter signs on for a couple minutes for a "Quickcast", dropping the news of the new DSi XL, as well as explaining why we aren't always able to drop podcasts every Saturday night.

See you next week with a real episode!

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Episode 18

Which Sucks Less: DS Lite vs. DSi

StickyNugget and Boter argue for the DS Lite while FearTheClaw plays devil's advocate. Listen in to see how that conversation went. Afterwards, they discuss what could make Too Human 2 good and how Ubisoft as a publisher in general, plus Forza Motorsport, seem to be overtaking their respective competitions (no pun intended). Then it's more speculation on what they'd want in the upcoming Xbox Live Rewards program and talking about a few more upcoming sequels, Assassin's Creed 2 and Kane and Lynch 2.

The podcast falls a bit short this week; recording wasn't paused when a customer called (and got the answering machine and called again); a fair amount of dead time has been trimmed, but we were seconds away from our software cutting us off at 35 minutes.

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

Subscribe and listen (or just listen) to the podcast over at our FeedBurner page.

Music is "Funk Rock 6 and 7", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 17

Which Sucks Less: PlayStation 3 Original vs. PlayStation 3 Slim

The team continues Which Sucks Less with a landslide result as to which PS3 is preferred - but you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out which!

Sticky leads us from there into a discussion of a rumor of a new DS system (which will be referred to hereafter as the DSi Lite) and Claw talks about Jack Thompson's latest tirade. Boter talks about a couple of demos he tried out, and the team talks Halo for a minute or two.

FearTheClaw edited this week's podcast; I'll have to keep in mind some of the little bits for use when I get back to the editing.

. . .

Seriously, Claw? I was wondering why there was 45 seconds left at the end...

Okay, okay. Well played.

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

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Music is "Indie Rock Haze 1 and 2", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 16

Which Sucks Less: Xbox 360 Elite vs. Xbox 360 Arcade

This week, the team debuts its new feature, Which Sucks Less, designed to help you decide what console to get for your loved ones this holiday season.

Additionally, the team discusses maturity in video games, the Wii 4.2 system update and a couple recent releases. (And Boter, being sick, got lazy in the editing room and didn't trim as much as he said he would.)

Keep up to date on the Which Sucks Less 2009 brackets:
Which Sucks Less 2009: Home Consoles
Which Sucks Less 2009: Handhelds

Subscribe and listen (or just listen) to the podcast over at our FeedBurner page.

Music is "Dance 4", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Fillercast 1

With Sticky and Boter gone, FearTheClaw leads a few of his friends in the Game Nutz Fillercast. Topics include Sony as a company, the Metroid Prime Trilogy pack, Bioshock on the Mac, and how much it's worth to get the Wii.

(Nice stereo panning there, Claw. Maybe when we bring in multiple microphones we'll do the same thing. Also, we have a new bleep sound. Send that my way, Claw.)

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Music is "80s 8", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 15

With Boter gone (and then editing and posting late), StickyNugget and FearTheClaw admirably pick up the slack and talk about the third major console (the Wii) taking a price drop, Scribblenauts, expound on Batman: Arkham Asylum, and how the PSP Go affects retailers.

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Music is "Roswell Rock 1 and 2", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 14

Proving that last week wasn't a fluke, the guys keep it together and deliver another great episode. After some opening with a new Sega Dreamcast game and The Force Unleashed, the big issue this week is Kurt Cobain's appearance in Guitar Hero 5 and his ex-wife threatening legal action. After that stimulating conversation, other issues such as STGC FragFest (the upcoming LAN party in Utica), Toys "R" Us entering the used game market, and EVE Online banning illegal accounts and proving how much it helped the game are also brought to the mix, plus Sticky talking a bit about the League of Legends closed beta that he's a part of.

The microphone glitched early on during the Crysis conversation; the missing bit is Sticky giving the four graphic levels, which are Low, Gamer, Heavy and Enthusiast. And now you know.

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Music is "Funk Rock 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 13

This week, making up for last week, the three hosts are all present and make a mess of the tag cloud. Interested in what they're talking about? A random sampling: the Halo 3 ODST live-action trailer, the new PS3 logo, lower resolution requirements for the Xbox 360, the Children's Miracle Network Microsoft Game Room Giveaway, League of Legends and... SingStar Latino?

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Music is "8bit 2008 #1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Photo Bonus - Zombie 360

As additional apology for yesterday's podcast, here are photos of the Zombie 360 that was mentioned. Again, it flashes the red ring of death while still playing fine. Scary, huh? Turtles in Time last week, and Batman: Arkham Asylum this past week.





So, yeah. Next week's will be better. We promise*.

* We do not actually promise. We hope, though.

Episode 12

When Sticky unexpectedly doesn't show up and they themselves have very little to talk about, Boter and Claw are lost. They flounder for topics and hit upon topics of Batman: Arkham Asylum (with a spoiler warning) and various states of 360 death. Ghostbusters on the Wii and a quick comparison of 360 vs. PS3 comes up... and then just lots of grasping at straws for a topic, before giving up early and apologizing.

One more apology - when we switched seats and Claw sat closer to the mic, we didn't realize the volume difference. We promise not to do that next time. (And Boter's too lazy to tweak volume back and forth.)

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Music is "Ambient Techno 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 11

This week, Boter and Claw talk Sony's PS3 developments and the 360 in the near future (Sticky was unable to come in and say "I told you so", but we were expecting him) and beat the dead horse of backwards compatibility and older games. Boter lists off releases for the next few weeks, leading to discussions about Guitar Hero 5 and Batman: Arkham Asylum as well as the Xbox Avatar Marketplace.

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Music is "Roswell Rock", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 10

Microsoft has decided to celebrate the tenth episode of the Game Nutz Podcast by releasing the newest Xbox 360 update (hereby dubbed the Shiny Xbox Experience). They take a quick look at the slim PS3 rumor and discuss various impressive bits with music games. Jumping on the Activision Hate Bandwagon proves fun again, and Sticky loses track of what he talked about last week and talks about Fat Princess and 'Splosion Man. Meanwhile, Claw's been playing fighting games and has gotten re-addicted to Pokémon.

In the one concession to reaching double digits, the hosts each take a few minutes at the end to share their ideas about the idea of games eventually becoming accepted in the same fashion as movies, songs, and novels.

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Music is "Black Paint Rock (1 and 2)", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 9

For Episode 9, Sticky tries to restore faith in his PS3 by talking about a couple games he's played for that, plus Wii Sports Resort, then they both talk about various downloadable games. Boter then discusses a couple rumors and the crew generally keeps it low-key while trying in vain to come up with something awesome for the next episode.

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Music is "Rock 21", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 8

For Episode 8, the hosts got actual lists of things to cover, so there's too much to summarize here. Highlights are talking about Modern Warfare 2, coin the phrase "Sticky Stupid", and talking more about Halo. Scribblenauts, upcoming video game movies (which Boter has collectively dubbed "VGMs" while preparing the podcast), League of Legends, Ikariam, and Game 3 also get mention, while simultaneously racking up a tremendous amount of tags for the blog post.

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Music is "Indie Rock Haze 2", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 7

As Sticky takes another day off, Boter and FearTheClaw are left to celebrate making it to lucky number 7 episodes. By way of celebrating, Claw gets confused by time and Boter gets confused by developers. They follow up on BlazBlue and The Conduit from last week and then discuss new developments in Rock Band. They finish off with a discussion of EA as a publisher that seems like it's trying to break away from the massive sequel pattern and the holiday release pattern.

The episode starts with a huge thanks to the folks at 8-Bit Rocket, who do the music that we end up using in the podcasts. Swing by and give them a look-over.

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Music is "Rock 7", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 6

After a week off, the hosts get back to work and discuss such great games of our time as Ghostbusters and The Conduit. Sticky talks about his quest to convert the world to Civilization Revolution players and BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger displaces Fuel as the game that Boter just won't shut up about. They also wander off topic to talk about the play time of games and the finer points of earning achievements. Lastly, they make a feeble attempt at journalism by reporting on Modern Warfare 2's identity crisis.

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Music is "Indie Rock Happy", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License. "On Hold" music is "Elevator Music", © James Driscoll / Dane Petersen.

Episode 5

StickyNugget, Boter, and FearTheClaw all try to resist falling asleep by talking about Ghostbusters, co-op gameplay, and how Activision is running their Guitar Hero series into the ground. There's also some discussion on third-person shooters and their resemblance - warranted or not - to Gears of War.

Note: There will be no podcast on the weekend of July 4th. (Sticky and Boter discussed it; this is news to Claw. Eh, whatever, he subscribes. You should too!) Episode 6 of the Game Nutz Podcast will release the night of July 11th.

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Music is "Blues Rock 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 4

FearTheClaw joins StickyNugget and Boter for the podcast and fits right in, and the team talks about the possibility of a new Xbox 360, encourages Boter to keep talking about Fuel, and talks about the marriage proposal that was broadcast over Xbox Live with 1 vs. 100. The also discuss the possibility of Activision pulling support from the PlayStaion 3, Sticky talks about inFamous, and everybody discusses the ups and downs of moral choice systems and enemy artificial intelligence.

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Music is "Funk Rock 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 3

In this episode of the Game Nutz Podcast, StickyNugget and Boter take a breather and try to only cover five objects instead of five hundred. This lets Sticky ramble on about inFamous for almost ten minutes and both of them to wonder why the 360 sells more games than the PS3.

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Music is "Kick Ass Rock 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 2 - E3 Roundup Blitz

In this special hour-long episode of the Game Nutz Podcast, StickyNugget and Boter blitz through the E3 news they've gathered throughout the week, then likely go to take a nap to make up for all the sleep they lost in gathering all of it and trying to cram it into one hour. Nightmares will probably include Milo staring into their soul.

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Music is "Black Paint Rock (1 and 2)", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 1 - Introductions and Pre-E3

In the first episode of the Game Nutz Podcast, StickyNugget and Boter introduce themselves, ramble a bit, then dive headfirst into predictions for E3.

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Music is "Kick Ass Rock 1", ©2008 8-bit Rocket, used under Creative Commons Attribution License.