Category: Blogs

Blogs, Facts of Life, Shaun1 Comment

Mute Baby’s New Era

Shaun

Mute Baby has chosen me to be his official spokesperson.

Mute Baby knows the public believes that Mute Baby is very happy as the guest star and co-mascot of the At The Buzzer show. Mute Baby wants the public to know that they are wrong. Mute Baby has been oppressed and treated unfairly for too long. Mute Baby, in association with Gerber Baby Food, has Mr. Kitten Mittens’ favorite pillow. Mute Baby promises to shear this pillow in half unless his demands are met. Mute Baby wants the world to know he is serious.

The list of demands is as follows: Continue reading “Mute Baby’s New Era”

Blogs, David, SportsLeave a comment

Picked up

David

If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you know how much basketball is my favorite sport. Just last week I devoted my space to the lockout that no one cares about. While watching basketball is always a great time, my real love of basketball comes from playing it — constantly.

Since my dream of playing NBA basketball died when I was about 15 years old, I’ve been playing pickup basketball as my fix for over a decade now. (The last organized league I was in was all the way back when I was 17.) Pickup games come together anywhere that there’s a basketball hoop and people.

Despite the varied people and places that pickup ball consist of, the rules tend to remain the same.  Shots are worth 1 or 2 points, call your own fouls, and games are to 15 points, win by two. If you win, you stay on the court. People on the court are as colorful as Dennis Rodman’s hair.

Continue reading “Picked up”

Blogs, Chris, Sports2 Comments

Foresight

Chris

Once upon a time, I was a pretty avid golfer. I played at least a couple times a month, and I got to be pretty decent. You know, practice makes perfect and all that.

Then a funny thing happened: I started growing. For some reason, I doomed my professional career in each and every sport by quitting basketball before I grew and picking up golf after. When I tried out for the golf team my sophomore year of high school, I was still below 6 feet tall. Two years later, I was 6’6″ and none of my equipment worked anymore.

Since graduating from high school, I’ve kind of lost track of the game completely. But in the past couple years, I’ve been trying to claw my way back. Continue reading “Foresight”

Blogs, Facts of Life, Shaun2 Comments

Vote Shaun in 2012

Shaun

I interrupt my normally scheduled article for this important announcement. Ladies and gentlemen of America, if you’ve been following the show, you know that I’ve made an important announcement. I’m running for president in 2012. I think I stand a good shot, but my campaign strategy is critical. So here it is. I’ve made a realization: I’ve been playing it safe. I just made a drive across the country with a dollar in my pocket, and yet I continue to post conservative gaming columns like I work at Conservative Gaming Monthly. Well, no more; I have a presidency to think … Continue reading Vote Shaun in 2012

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Locked out

David

It’s October 19th…do you know where your NBA is?

I do — it’s in the hands of bickering billionaires and millionaires. I’m a huge fan of the NBA, and lately it feels like I’m one of about 10 people who care that the NBA most likely won’t play a game until January. What’s going on here? There are two important sides to this travesty, the players and the owners.  You have no idea how often I’ve heard, “So what are they arguing about, do the players want more money?” That drives me nuts.

Blogs, Chris, Facts of Life1 Comment

Sucker bet

Chris

Full Tilt Poker owes me $120.

That’s not a very exciting story, is it? In fact, it sounds more like a text message or a random conversation starter than an actual story.  Quick aside: Maybe it’s just the Twitter generation getting to me, but I feel like putting our life’s activities into 140 characters is slowly killing us for two reasons:

  • Nobody cares that you had a sandwich for lunch
  • Life’s experiences should take up more space than that

But we’ll save a digression on the demerits of Twitter for another time (or as we like to say on the show, stay tuned!). This story is about why you should never gamble through an unregulated system, kids. Continue reading “Sucker bet”

Blogs, Shaun, Video GamesLeave a comment

Sexism in gaming

Shaun

Recently, a major company went on record stating they were no longer going to feature female leads in their video games because they believe there is a correlation between poor sales and women protagonists. The company claimed it’s not a question of gender bias or inequality, just the bottom-line. According to the company, games are getting more and more expensive to produce, and if there is an element that could put a dent in profit margins, it’s only natural to remove it.

This statement is just the latest thread in an ongoing issue regarding sexism in gaming, a problem that is not isolated to the medium. The Bechdel test, named after 80’s cartoonist Alison Bechdel, paints a pretty clear picture of the industry trends regarding males and females. In order to pass the Bechdel Test, a television program or movie must be able to answer “yes” to the following three questions:

  1. Are there two or more women in the film that have names?
  2. Do they talk to each other?
  3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?

While there are numerous instances where a Bechdel test would directly violate the thematic structure or historic fidelity of a program (Saving Private Ryan, for example), the sheer number of productions that fail this test is startling, and gaming is heading down the same road.

So both game developers and Hollywood execs have convinced themselves that a feminine influence in their products hinders the bottom line, but the more I try to analyze the problem, the more I am left wondering if the whole thing is a “chicken or the egg” conundrum. Is sexism a problem because we as consumers fail to buy into anything feminine-related, or do game developers cater to the male crowd because of preconceived notions of our bigotry? Continue reading “Sexism in gaming”

Blogs, Jason, Video GamesLeave a comment

The Mass Effect Universe, and why you should care

Jason

NOTE: David is out of town dealing with a family emergency, so Jason Hagerty (a guest on Episode 012 of the show) is filling in this week.

Let me start off by saying that I didn’t get around to playing the first Mass Effect until quite some time after it was released. I’d seen promos here and there, of course, but at the time I wasn’t a huge Xbox fan and nothing about the game’s advertisements really drew me in. A nondescript male space marine saves the galaxy from alien invaders — tell me if you’ve heard THAT one before. But eventually, after being told how good it was time and time again by people who HAD played it, I saddled up and bought the Game of the Year edition.

Thank God I did.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that playing Mass Effect was a “life changing” experience, I’d definitely say it’s one of the most defining games of my lifetime. Now don’t get me wrong, the game is by no means perfect; but the combination of RPG elements, third person shooter combat, and a thrilling story line about the first human Specter (think U.S. Marshal, but in space) drew me into a universe that I would gladly go back to over and over again.

If you haven’t played the games yet, consider this a piece on why you should. Only, I’m not going to focus on gameplay or graphics or any of that stuff…that’s what reviews are for. I’m going to focus on the strength of the setting itself, and why the Mass Effect Universe is one of the strongest Intellectual Properties of our time. Continue reading “The Mass Effect Universe, and why you should care”

Blogs, Chris, Video GamesLeave a comment

Review: NBA 2K12

Chris

2K Sports had every reason to mail it in.

They won, after all. Not only was NBA 2K11 one of the most critically acclaimed sports titles in video game history, but it also managed to wipe EA Sports’ series from the face of the earth in the process. EA’s NBA Elite was a glitch-ridden, buggy mess, so bad that the company canceled development of last year’s title and didn’t even bother with one for 2011.

So no one could really fault 2K for resting on their laurels and giving us the standard roster update. After all, Madden’s been doing it for years.

Instead, they took the definitive basketball experience and made it even better. Continue reading “Review: NBA 2K12”

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Remembering Steve Jobs

Shaun

After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs has passed. And in his death, the world has lost one of their greatest visionaries. Many of you received the news of his death on devices that he shepherded, perhaps the greatest testament to his impact on 20th century technology. His genius transformed Apple into a globally recognized symbol of innovation. The man was a pioneer, and it is staggering to think how different the world could be right now without his brilliant legacy. The iPod, iPhone, and iPad have completely revolutionized technology and changed the way we listen to music, … Continue reading Remembering Steve Jobs