External Monologues Episode 3: Max Hug Raiders

In today's episode, I finally implement a theme (Kyle Cox's Life Is Good)!  I talk about nosy grocery store cashiers, Clash of Clans, Reddit Gold, and X-Minus One.  Links are below!  

The podcast is for sure on iTunes now!

Full download link

- Clash of Clans

- Reddit

- X Minus One

- Backwards Compatible Podcast

- Anthology Podcast

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Titansgrave: Season 1 Short Review

Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana on YouTube

Season One of Titansgrave wrapped up (and hey, I learned after watching Episode 10 that there's at least another season planned) this week.  The final episode was pretty great, I think, and addressed some of the issues I had early on.  I definitely think you should watch this series - most of the episodes are under an hour in length and the story is pretty fun to follow - which makes the finale especially frustrating from a viewing standpoint (in a good way).

To expand on my point...one of my issues with the show originally was that I felt very disconnected during the battle sequences - they dragged on a little too long, at least from my perspective, because I didn't fully understand the game mechanisms.  At the end of the series, I still don't fully understand the system, but I think I've gained enough basic knowledge that I'd be able to pick up and play tomorrow if someone asked me.  And that's all from just watching the game being played, so job well done there.

But what specifically changed for the better for me in Episode 10 was the pacing of the final battle.  Granted, I think this was done specifically because it was the Epic Final Battle - but there was a noticeable change from the earlier episodes.  I hope Wil Wheaton has some behind the scenes material that will be released for the show, because I'd be willing to bet that there was a conscious decision behind the pacing change and it has to do with the gameplay mechanics & getting the viewer accustomed to how the game works.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the last episode except for the suckerpunch right at the end.  Thanks a lot, GM Wheaton.  I'm pretty sure I have spoiled 0% of the show for you, so if you haven't watched it - please go watch it now.

New podcast: Electronic Monologues Episode 2: Kilobyte

In this week's episode, I keep it short and to the point and drop the music from the show, resulting in an ultimate savings of 3 minutes. Not as short as I thought it would be in the end! Other things talked about: stuff I learned since episode 1; some new notebooks I picked up from Dollarama; my weight loss struggles; the Ottawa Champions; Pokemon Sapphire; and the nerdiest of all, Tasker for Android. Enjoy!

Direct MP3 Download

RSS Feed (It works this time, I promise!)

Fixing the Podcast Info

Alright!  So when I mentioned on Monday that I put out a new podcast, I listed the RSS feed...but apparently I have to hit "publish" on Zencast.fm for anybody to make any use of it.  Well, it's there now.  And it has a name.

I thought of a few names and came up with External Monologues.  Not that it really needs a name, but I thought it would be good in case anyone stumbled across it.  I'll stick to a Monday release date so if you were somehow hoping for a new episode with this post, you're out of luck!  I haven't recorded anything.

Until Monday, check out the link above for the MP3 link or plug this RSS feed into your favourite Podcast app: http://media.zencast.fm/steves-electroniccast/rss 

It's not in iTunes yet - waiting until I have a few episodes recorded before I submit it.

A New Podcast! Sort of.

So I got excited about a Thing and I decided to Make It Happen.  Recently I released a podcast entirely done on my cell phone using Spreaker - that got me really excited for possibilities with podcasts from my phone in general, and I started looking into things.

Well, it turns out that to do it for free, the mobile solutions are not very practical.  However I wanted to do an audio version of this blog (sort of) and doing it with my cell phone seemed like a very low-barrier-to-entry way of doing it.

tl;dr: I wanted to be able to just record & release as quickly as possible without worrying about setting up my recording studio and putting in tons of research, etc. so that I could just release something.

The end result is hopefully something akin to Radio Free Burrito, but probably not as good as what Wil Wheaton can do.  The first episode sort of introduces the concept (hence the title, The Concept) and gives you a taste of what's to come!  Link to the podcast is below, and below THAT, you'll find my write-up of what I think of TitansGrave so far.

Oh, it's not in iTunes yet.  It will be, once I get a title.  So you'll have to either play it here, or use the RSS feed.  Which will probably change once I get a proper title.

Episode 1: The Concept: http://media.zencast.fm/steves-electroniccast/1.mp3
RSS: http://media.zencast.fm/steves-electroniccast/rss

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TitansGrave Thoughts - "Five Gold & A Party"

TitansGrave: The Ashes of Valkana is a YouTube web series hosted by Wil Wheaton on the Geek & Sundry channel.

The basics: It's Wil Wheaton GMing an RPG with four actor friends.

What's cool about it:  All of the associated artwork and detailed story behind the series.

I've never played a tabletop / die-based RPG game before.  The show is letting me play vicariously through the players on the screen.

Actually, I'm more interested in the story than the gameplay mechanics.  That's good because I feel if there's a downside to the series, it's in the dice rolling and the battle sequences.

The battles are entertaining, but I feel like I can tell the game is benefitting from support staff helping to keep track of everything going on.

Still, it helps me to see how one might go about playing one of these games.  I never really understood how all of that worked (even though I sort of did some role playing online in high school).  It's probably something I would try sometime.

Vacation'd

I'm stealing this thread title from my podcast, because I can and who are you to stop me anyway??

Basically, as I start writing this, I have nothing productive to say; so I'm going to allow myself to just write what comes naturally.  Actually, I have some notes in a notebook that I could probably transcribe, but I think I'll do that on the weekend from the comfort of home.  So, bonus - you'll get some more stuff from me on the weekend.

Before I let my mind wander and forget to talk about it, the significance of the title is that for the last several weeks, I've been doing a combination of travelling up north to see Vanessa or her travelling to see me (if you don't know, she is working on a contract temporarily and is ~8 hours away).  As a result I haven't worried about sticking to any self-imposed schedules or doing anything creative.  I've sort of just...done things as I felt like it.  A little freeing!

Having said that, I think I'm going to not worry about my "schedule" I wrote about several weeks ago.  I think I've kind of reset my laziness and I'm not just sitting in front of the TV every night.  It doesn't feel as important to keep up with magazines, comic books, or TV shows right now.  I just want to have fun, and have fun creating things.  If there's something I want to do, and it doesn't get done...it's not a big deal (as long as it's not something actually important).

In my last podcast I released, I recorded it entirely from my cell phone.  It was pretty cool.  Which has led me to the notion of releasing a different podcast using just my cell phone.  I'm currently exploring methods of doing that; once I figure out a way that works to my satisfaction I will probably start doing that instead of writing here.  I just find it fun to do podcasts, and it comes easier than writing.

I think that's it for now.  Til the weekend!