Author: Chris

Chris is the brains, brawn, and height behind most of At The Buzzer. He drinks four gallons of milk a week. Email him at chris@atthebuzzershow.com.
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Review: Street Fighter x Tekken

Chris

There’s never been much of a debate between 2D and 3D fighting games for me. I was a Street Fighter kid from the start.

My grandparents had an NES when I was little, so I got some playing time in with Mario 3, Dr. Mario, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Metroid and all the classics. But when the Super Nintendo came out and my dad picked one up, Street Fighter II was the first game I had for it — not Super Mario World like 95% of the rest of America.

SF II was interesting for a few reasons. It’s what got me started on the chess-like nature of fighting games. It was also the genesis (see what I did there?) for my love of video game music, as I would let some of the great stage themes play in the background while I worked on other things. Ryu, Ken, Guile and later Cammy’s stages became the accompanying soundtrack for life.

Why does all of this matter? Because Street Fighter x Tekken incorporates a long-standing 3D franchise into my 2D wheelhouse, and that’s just the way I like it. Continue reading “Review: Street Fighter x Tekken”

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Tales of Countdown

Chris

Once every four years or so, a new Tales game comes around. For fans of the series, you understand the excitement. For non-fans, well … go play Mass Effect 3 or something.

As mentioned on this blog before, the Tales series is one of my favorites. Part of the added anticipation is the waiting game Namco Bandai puts fans through for each and every release. Will it make it to the States? Will it ever be localized? How long could it possibly take to translate everything into English? Why does four years seem unreasonable?

But once a release date is finally locked down, that’s when the true countdown can begin. And for me, the countdown is down to exactly one week. Continue reading “Tales of Countdown”

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DLC You Later

Chris

Mass Effect 3 is due out on March 6, and some recent news has gamers on edge. Specifically, that Bioware will release DLC on the game’s launch date.

DLC has become something of a running joke in the gaming industry. When executed right, it can be both effective and fun. Left 4 Dead added a couple of campaigns that were well worth the money. Rock Band has one of the most successful models around with a huge collection of music from a variety of artists. Red Dead Redemption added an entire new chapter to the game, bringing John Marston into a world of zombies.

But when companies put together a DLC plan with only their own interests in mind, that’s when the whole thing starts to go downhill. Continue reading “DLC You Later”

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Number Three With a Bullet

Chris

Look, I know. It’s a copout. But it’s been a rough week. I’ve been working extra because someone’s on a vacation. I spent last weekend (and three days in the week) in Phoenix for my grandpa’s open heart surgery (which had a variety of complications, but he’s doing better now). All of that activity has me sick now, staring at another long work week.

So you get bullets. And you will like it. Continue reading “Number Three With a Bullet”

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At the Buzzer Focus Group

Chris

This week marks the one-year anniversary of At the Buzzer’s first episode.

It’s kinda surprising to look back and see that much ground behind us. That first episode (which was terrible, by the way) ended up leading into 30 more over the course of 12 months. More importantly, the quality and regularity got much better.

As we’ve continued to put up more shows, we’ve started getting a variety of letters and comments from listeners. All things considered, I’m appreciative of anyone who takes the time to do something with ATB, whether that means simply listening in or sending us something for Buzz In.

Still, we’re always looking to improve. With that in mind, I’m using the time after our first year of business to ask for something more. Consider it a survey of sorts, a poor man’s focus group, where you tell us what you like and don’t like in the show. Your input has made a difference before. For example, the intro used to be twice as long before folks said “hey, that’s dumb and you’re dumb.” But this is on a much bigger scale.

So I’m asking fans of the show to take a few minutes and respond to this questionnaire. If you’re diligent, you can answer every question. If you’re less familiar with the program or you’re leaving for a hot date in a few minutes, you can answer only the ones you feel strongly about. Or you can give some kid a dollar and let him mash on the keys for a while.

Once you’re done, you can submit your feedback in two different ways:

  • To our inbox at mail@atthebuzzershow.com
  • As a comment on this post (use the box below)

Your test begins … now. Continue reading “At the Buzzer Focus Group”

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Adventures in Video

Chris

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: We played golf in Phoenix this past weekend.

No, wait, don’t go! There’s a new twist this time: We took the opportunity to test out some video! Ooooooo, multimedia.

See, you can never have enough content for the show. Radio’s fun and all, but shooting some footage and uploading it to YouTube is easier than ever. So now you get our usual banter and nonsense mixed with ocular enjoyment. And it never hurts to put a face to the voice.

Here are the videos from this weekend. It’s like a test run. There’s also some more notes after the jump for those who may be interested. And to top it all off, the Photos page has been updated too.

Continue reading “Adventures in Video”

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Number Two with a Bullet

Chris

Sometimes you oversleep and you wake up and realize that you have a post to put up.

See, I got a new pillow-top mattress lately. And while the jury is still out on whether it’s good for my back or not, the fact remains that I’ve been sleeping way more soundly for the last week or so. That’s good.

Unfortunately, it also means I’ve blown through my alarm a couple of times. And when you’re the person responsible for putting up essentially every single thing on the site, that’s when mistakes happen.

So instead, here’s a bulleted list of little things that have been on my mind recently: Continue reading “Number Two with a Bullet”

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Heightened Senses

Chris

Last week, somebody asked me an interesting question. They said, “Do you even remember what it’s like to be short?”

My hopelessly witty and charming reply was something like “er…no.” I mean, I’m 6-foot-9. I’ve been tall for quite some time.

Truth be told, I do remember those days. I remember several things from when I was a kid, like Christmases, birthday parties, moments from my elementary school, and the day I was told about a certain divorce. And there’s plenty of other stuff too.

I also remember the day I was taller than my mom. Keep in mind, my mom is five feet tall. Sure, she’ll tell you that it’s actually 5 feet, 1/4 inch, but that doesn’t really stop her from falling into the short category. I’d been hovering around eye level for a while, but we were shopping one day in eighth grade when I noticed that I’d finally made the leap.

Passing my dad? That was a much bigger deal. Continue reading “Heightened Senses”

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Of Beds and Backs

Chris

I remember being a kid and thinking life was complicated. It wasn’t. Having to decide between a half pint of chocolate and regular milk in the lunch line was not a tough decision compared to the choices that lay ahead. But there were a lot of things that seemed more important at the time.

Decisions weren’t the only things that were easier back then. Once upon a time, I could sleep anywhere at any time. Stay up until 4 in the morning? No worries; I was up at 7 or 8 o’clock sharp feeling refreshed enough to go for another day. Hell, waking up at that time was almost automatic, regardless of when I went to sleep. And I slept in all kinds of weird places — random couches, an assortment of beds when jumping between staying with family members, even the floor on nights when parties got a little too raucous.

Last night I realized that those days are completely behind me. I have about three beds I can sleep in comfortably. Everything else is broken. Sure, some beds are still adequate for a decent night’s sleep, but there’s only a handful that don’t leave me with a sore back in the morning. And the most recent example was sleeping in Dave’s Tempur-Pedic bed when the ATB crew was in Phoenix this past weekend to celebrate his birthday. Continue reading “Of Beds and Backs”

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Taking Care of Business

Chris

This post is going to be a little shorter than most because I’m devoting most of my spare time this week to our new audio setup.

Going back through the archives, I think there’s a lot to like about what we’ve done with the show. But one of the things that makes me cringe is the huge dichotomy between our HD episodes in the studio in Phoenix, and the quality of episodes when we’re forced to use Skype.

What follows is a somewhat technical look behind the scenes at At the Buzzer. Come with me after the jump.

Continue reading “Taking Care of Business”