Taking a break from the re-re-listen to raise awareness for Greg's Sewart's Extra Life campaign. For over a decade, Greg has been collecting money for the kids at the IWK Children's Hospital through Extra Life and the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. I have given each year, and ask you to consider doing the same:
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Episode 11 - Listened on 11/28/2022
Aired 01/07/2007
Hosts: Greg, CJ, Phil, Dan
- CJ said he wasn't going to buy a PS3 any time soon. He got a PS3.
- Dan says that people who throw their Wiimotes into the TV screen are "r-word idiots who should not be allowed to procreate."
- Phil is playing PSO2 to build up his achievement points.
- William Hung jokes.
- The guys are going to buy Crackdown to get into the HALO 3 beta. (Phil will end up loving Crackdown.) CJ calls it "Crapdown".
- E for All will replace E3. (It won't last). Dan hates it, Greg supports it, CJ says it won't happen, Phil doesn't care.
- Dead Pool Segment: Predictions of games that won't come out in 2007. I added the year they did come out:
* CJ: Halo Wars (2009), Gran Turismo 5 (2010), Warhawk (2007)
* Dan: Alan Wake (2010), Fable II (2008), Huxley (PC Beta in 2010, then canceled; 360 canceled)
* Phil: Super Paper Mario (2007), Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007), Final Fantasy 13 (2009), Banjo-Kazooie 3(2008)
* Greg: Metroid Prime 3 (2007), Duke Nukem Forever (2011), Too Human (2008)
- Guys talk about moving from games journalism to games development. Phil & Greg sound like it wasn't something they really enjoyed. CJ isn't at Adult Swim yet, so no comments.
Mike's thoughts: The opening up continues, as does the more relaxed feel. Dan doesn't gel, but I knew that already.
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Episode 10 - Listened on 11/27/2022
Aired 12/31/2006
- First show of 2007. Phil and Dan are there, and Phil asks if he is still called a special guest. He is. He'll be written out in Episode 15.
- 500 MG games took 4-5 hours to download in Christmas 2006.
- Dan said he's a World of Warcraft God and is plowing through the beta.
- 2007: A look ahead:
* Dan: Wants Metal Gear Solid 4 on the 360. (It won't.)
* Greg: Wants Third parties to build games ground-up for the Wii (They won't.) He wants a Six-Axis controller with rumble. (It will happen.)
* Phil: Wants XBox Live Arcade to get better (It won't) and more games to come to the Wii Virtual Console (They will for 2007, at least.)
He wants Saturn support on the Wii though he knows he won't. Greg of the Past says Saturn games don't hold up (again). Greg of the future should slap him on the back of his head.
Phil wants a Mega Man 9. (He'll get it in 2008.)
* CJ: Wants Nintendo to get away from friend codes. Keep waiting.
- Phil jokes about Saddam Hussein's execution and he's choked up about it. I think this is first non sequitur joke of the show.
How did we get into video gamin, oldest to youngest:
* Phil: Played games in 1980 with the Atari VCS. Phil (like me) didn't know about the '83 video game crash because games were plentiful and cheap at Zayre. He then got a Commodore 64 in 1985. It took 2 years of whining to
then get an NES.
* Greg: Also started on the VCS, but didn't get into games until he and brother begged their Dad for an NES. He called every store in the province to find one for sale and drove through a blizzard to pick it up.
* CJ: Started with a Magnavox Odyssey 2 with the voice module but was friends with Andy to play an NES and stopped playing with him when he got his own NES in 1988. He did buy a Genesis before an SNES.
* Dan: Started with a hand-me-down Atari 2600. Didn't get into video games until he played Chrono Trigger.
- CJ tells the story of Bubsy climbing to the top of the yarn ball.
Mike's thoughts: First episode where the guys open up a bit about themselves, which makes for a more fun listen.
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Episode 09 - Listened on 11/26/2022
Aired 12/25/2006
- First game of the year show.
- No Christmas song. We'll have to wait for Mike Phillips.
- Two special guests - Phil Theobald and Dan Dormer. Dan lives in Florida. That explains a lot.
- Phil is playing the three Burger King games. They have gone double platinum.
- Long episode with recap of each month's news.
- E3 is dying. Will it ever recover? (No)
- No Spanish-language countdown to games of the year. Mike Phillips isn't here yet. They do games by system, instead of top ten lists.
- Phil says he doesn't like military shooty-shooty games. (The others will follow suit as the years go on.)
- Game of the Year:
* CJ: Zelda: The Twilight Princess
* Greg: Gears of War
* Phil: Zelda: The Twilight Princess
* Dan: Viva Pinata
- System of the Year:
* CJ: XBox 360
* Greg: XBox 360
* Phil: Nintendo DS
* Dan: XBox 360
Mike's thoughts: Pretty low-key game of the year episode. The love of military shooters amused me, knowing that you never hear of them anymore on the show.
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Episode 08 - Listened on 11/26/2022
Aired 12/18/2006
- Two Words: Dan Dormer. He's no Phil.
- Dan likes to use the word "r*tard" a lot. Full disclosure, I don't like Dan Dormer on the show.
- Gamer points discussion. I forgot when those were a thing. Greg couldn't migrate his US game tag to his Canadian credit card account, and his game score is gone. Playing baby games to rebuild his score.
- The DS is outselling all home consoles in Japan and Dragon Quest 9 is coming to DS.
- These early episodes don't have names.
- OG XBox in memoriam:
* No one liked the Duke. The S controller came out in the US 6 months post-launch.
* First console with a built in hard drive. The beginning of the end of memory cards.
* They got universal online right with Live.
* Lots of talk about how it did great forward-thinking infrastructure decisions, but not the great love of the games themselves, unlike PS2 & GameCube where they gushed over the games they loved.
* Likes: Abe's Odyssey, Psychonauts, HALO, Tom Clancy games, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, & Forza.
Gaming Shames:
* Dan: Played 200 hours of Star Ocean 2 on the PS2. He also played 2600 ET.
* Greg: Sold off his entire Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and SNES collection to buy a 3DO and Wing Commander. He also never finished Legend of Zelda and he preferred Zelda II. (He still does.)
* CJ: Sold his entire SMS collection for $15 at a yard sale, including the 3D glasses. He also bought the code to Mike Tyson for $1 in 4th Grade.
Mike's thoughts: Dan Dormer. I knew this was coming again. In my first relisten I held back on my opinion of him because I though he was a friend of CJ and Greg and didn't want to be a jerk. He doesn't gel with the other two and I'll be glad when he's gone.
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Episode 07 - Listened on 11/26/2022
Aired 12/11/2006
- Phil is back. They are worried that Phil will destroy the podcast like he did video game magazines.
- The Trio joke about "baby modes" in games and they won't play at that level, instead mastering the way the game is supposed to be played. Wait till those fingers age!
- How can we play all of these games? CJ still hasn't played Rainbow Six. (I don't think he ever will.)
- GameCube in memoriam:
* CJ is still timid on his love of Luigi's Mansion. He would embrace his love of it later. Mario Sunshine was a good game, but not a great game.
* Can Nintendo continue being the second system you'd own and be successful? Greg doesn't think so. (They will.)
* Greg admits that Wind Waker is beautiful. He hated it when he saw the first demo. He called it the best game on the system. (He's right.)
* CJ hated StarFox Adventures. (He's right.) "God-damned fetch quest bullshit" - Greg.
* Animal Crossing and the Nintendo Puzzle Collection (import) were Phil's favorites. He had a Panasonic Q. Which is awesome.
* Greg's favorite was Paper Mario: 1000 Year Door.
Franchises that need help:
* Greg wants a good Sonic game. All the post-Sega CD games suck. (Keep waiting.)
* Phil wants a new Kid Icarus. (It happens on the 3DS.)
- CJ wants a console Pokemon game that is real Pokemon. (It will happen)
Mike's thoughts: A straight-laced episode where they stick to the outline. If you like them drifting into tangents, you won't find it here.
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Episode 06 - Listened on 11/25/2022
Aired 12/04/2006
- No Phil.
- CJ and Greg are having trouble agreeing on a time and day of the week to record. Perhaps they should try Sundays at 5:30 PM Specific Time.
- Greg continues his Vision Quest to play all the games in his library. He loved his Saturn back in the day, but it is such a dinosaur now and doesn't know if he'll go back to it. (He will.)
- CJ is not enjoying Call of Duty and is not sure if he will play it again. (He won't.)
- The Wii got to 1 million units sold in 14 days. The guys opine if the Wii will succeed. (It will.) Will EA throw support behind it? (They won't.)
- PS2 in memoriam: Greg says the PS2 is the greatest console of all time because of the breadth of its library. CJ likes how Sony really became a publisher with PS2.
- Kicker: Greg is playing with a Transformer as they record.
Mike's thoughts: You see the first hints that the guys will stop trying to play every genre of game as they get older.
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Episode 05 - Listened on 11/25/2022
Aired 11/29/2006
- Post Thanksgiving show. CJ went back to Chicago for the holiday.
- No Phil.
- Greg does not like Zelda: Twilight Princess. Bad graphics and control.
- 1 year anniversary of the 360. Their thoughts:
* Perfect Dark Zero was garbage.
* Achievement points are great and they like playing games to get all the achievements they can. (Obviously, they are childless in 2006.)
* XBox Live Arcade is unfocused and dying on the vine.
* Backwards compatibility is a joke.
* Downloadable TV and movie rentals are cool.
- The first mailbag segment. I wonder is listeners Blue and Andrew Drinkwater are still around?
Mike's thoughts: Bring back Phil. The duo were serious about their year 1 of 360 analysis. You can tell they are still close to their magazine days.
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Episode 04 - Listened on 11/25/2022
Aired 11/20/2006
- Special Guest Star, ex-GameNOW editor Phil Theobald joins the show. I hope he sticks around. The chemistry between the three works well. He and Greg's Laurel and Hardy act starts 60 seconds in.
- Phil tells his famous "World of Illusion" game is evil because of a woman who returned the game to BAbbages for it being Satanic.
- Greg talks about a father who was angry that Warez sites were full of porn banners.
- This is the famous PS3 launch episode. CJ waits in line and interviews people waiting in line. Only Greg bought one at launch. Phil was disappointed with the launch library and scalping.
- CJ bought an HD-DVD player for his 360. (I did the same.)
- Greg isn't impressed with the PS3 launch games.
- Forgot to mention that these early episodes have musical bumpers between segments and mention taking breaks.
- All three guys got a Wii, all of them upset they didn't get component cables. Phil wants Picross. He is correct. Waggle controls are imprecise.
- OPM went out of business. Another magazine bites the dust.
Mike's thoughts: Like Greg, Phil's voice has also deepened with age. Playing Satan without his modern voice modulator took its toll. Show really starts to click with the three bozos together.
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Episode 03 - Listened on 11/25/2022
Aired 11/13/2006
- Greg does the intro this week. I forgot that they use to alternate the intro.
- CJ bought a Wii, and stopped playing Gears of War. I don't' think CJ's played a Gears of War since then. Greg is and loves it.
- CJ also loves Zelda: The Twilight Princess, which is an opinion he still holds.
- Horrible flashbacks for me on how much I *hated* the waggle controls.
- Ex-GameNOW editor Phil Theobald who listens to the show is excited that Greg replayed the original Mega Man.
- Nolan Bushnell says PS3 will fail, and the guys agree. The lack of PS3 units at launch will kill them. Just wait for the PS5...
- The guys interview Hudson Marketing Director John Lee to talk TG16 games on the Wii. They promise this is the first of many interviews.
Mike's thoughts: Lots of talk about FPS'es that I listened to at 1.75x. We all got old.
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Episode 02 - Listened on 11/25/2022
Aired 11/06/2006
- Episode 2 means they are no longer a flash in the pan, and might keep going.
- The first appearance of the "What We've Been Playing" segment:
- Greg and CJ aren't enjoying Final Fantasy 12. They don't know they are getting older and will fall away from massive JRPGs
- Greg is enjoying LEGO Star Wars 2, even though "it is made for kids."
- Greg is a free-lance game reviewer and is playing "Strawberry Shortcake"
- Viva Pinata cartoon looks stupid.
- EA is selling microtransactions. Will it ever stop or will it expand to other publishers?
- Wii's Marketplace has a nice selection of Genesis games. Hopefully Nintendo won't trickle out future releases and you'll be able to transfer these purchases to future consoles.
- CJ & Greg allude to a magazine that would give favorable reviews to import games they sold, but won't name it. I will: Dave Halverson's GameFan!
- These early episodes have little kickers after the outro. Crispin would have meltdowns when he was snipped in Halo.
Mike's thoughts: The little outros are more like the modern version of the show, willing to go off on silly tangents.
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Episode 01 - Listened on 11/24/2022
Aired 10/30/2006
- CJ is broadcasting from Houston. Greg is broadcasting from Nova Scotia. He would later broadcast from a far-more generic "Canada"
- Game discussion: Phantasy Star Online 2 for 360. Greg doesn't like the price walled content that is on the disk.
- CJ is playing PSO2 with ex-GameNOW guy Phil Theobald. I wonder if we'll hear more about him?
- CJ is excited to play Rainbow 6 Vegas. This is a style of game the guys don't play anymore.
- PS2 launch memories -- It was cold, CJ peed in the alley, the first guy to get one lifted it above his head, and accidentally dropped it. They were no. 62 & 63 in line.
- The guys talk about scary games. CJ loves Haunting starring Polterguy. 16 Meg of Power!
- Outro: "Do you like being scared listening to podcasts? Well you're listening to the right one because we suck." - Greg
Mike's thoughts: Greg is still soft-spoken but swears a lot more in old episodes. You can tell there aren't three little Sewarts at home.
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Episode 00 - Listened on 11/24/2022
Aired 10/23/2006
- Greg is so soft-spoken while CJ writes about cartoon school girls with short skirts and white panties.
- Game discussion: Bully, is it really a Columbine simulator?
- Oh, young CJ & Greg -- You think system launches in 2006 are bad, just you wait...
- CJ says he won't buy a PS3 at launch.
- CJ bought his 360 from a guy in a parking lot in Houston.
- Greg says that Sony hasn't learned from Betamax or MiniDisc, and Blu-ray is a mistake.
- Greg says the Wii is overpriced (at $250)
- Companies have started charging for extras. Are microtransactons the start of a trend? The duo thinks so.
- The slow piano outro music has been around since the start.
Mike's Thoughts: How does CJ's voice never change as he ages? A much more serious sounding show than what it will become.
My favorite podcast is called The Player One Podcast, hosted by three former writers for Electronic Gaming Monthly and its sister magazines. They have been recording an episode weekly (with only a few skips) for the past 16 years. When I first got on Twitter, I did a re-listen of the then 500 episodes of the Player One Podcast and gave a quick recap of each episode. That was over 330 episodes and five (!) years ago now. With my Twitter feed gone, I decided doing it again without the character limits of Twitter.
I get no kickbacks for this. I am just a silly fan of the show.
Taking a break from the re-re-listen to raise awareness for Greg's Sewart's Extra Life campaign. For over a decade, Greg has been co...
