Low Score Episode 55 "A Stack of Obligations"

Short but sweet, Bobby and J talk Rock Band 3, Fallout New Vegas, gaming in the Clinton years versus the Bush Jr. years, and THE LIST.

Though Black Friday came and went without much a stir, it did (to everybody's surprise) convince Bobby to buy Rock Band 3. But he wasn't the only one drumming away—J finished three of the New Vegas endings and closed the book on this chapter of the Fallout tale.

Inspired by a discussion topic on the Gamers at UVA forums, Bobby and J discuss gaming in the Clinton era versus gaming in the George W. years.

And THE LIST this week challenged us to pick five major games from 2000-2010 we missed out on.

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Low Score Episode 54 "Both Bandit and Ghost Trains"

A totally classic episode of the Low Score podcast. J and Bobby address the litany of games they've played, things in the news, and a Thanksgiving themed THE LIST.

The past few weeks have been anything but a lull in our game playing. Bobby somehow ended up with a copy of Black Ops, Bobby and J rocked through Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, Bobby, J, and Jimmy finished Halo: Reach on legendary, and J still managed to squeeze in a good number of New Vegas hours.

We talked Black Friday deals, addressed some sales numbers, pontificated over release dates, and came to the realization that we want a Lego Space game.

And the THE LIST! It's our five Dinner Sandwich games.

And remember what we always say about Thanksgiving: It's like Christmas!

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THE LIST (Ep 54) - Dinner Sandwich Games

Thanksgiving approaches! What will you do? Eat. A lot, hopefully. I love Thanksgiving—it's the one holiday solely about food. And giving thanks, I guess. But really it's about food. And so many delicious foods to choose from! Thanksgiving serves as the inspiration for this week's THE LIST.

When we were students at the University of Virginia, there was a food counter in the Pav called Cranberry Farms. It served the kind of hot meals you'd expect from a place like Boston Market: turkey, rotisserie chicken, sides. But you'd have to be crazy to get any of the combo meals, though. Why get a combo meal with all the elements separated on the plate when you could get them all between two thick slices of bread?

The Dinner Sandwich. Turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce sandwiched between two thick slices of white bread and drenched in gravy. It's all the elements you love separately put into a single package for your enjoyment.

This week we want to know your five Dinner Sandwich games. Games that combine two or more disparate elements into a single beautiful thing. For example, a fighting game dating-sim, or a crazy JRPG story packed into an RTS.

Give us your THE LIST in the comments!

Low Score Episode 53 "Makes No Sense"

Bobby, J, and Jimmy talk Rock Band 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Costume Quest, Reach, Greatest Games of the Decade, News, and THE LIST roulette.

Let's make this brief, shall we? We recorded a podcast and you're going to listen to it.

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Low Score Episode 52 "Eco-Friendly Demon Pits"

GFOTS Jimmy joins Low Score for talk of new Halo, new releases, new hardware, and old villains.

It's good to be back with another big episode of the Low Score podcast! In the past few weeks we've been playing Halo: Reach, Dead Rising: Case 0, Darksiders, Fallout 3 (again), and just a little bit of Minecraft.

Following the recently played portion of our show, we attend to matters of money and consumer spending, making important decisions about how our dollars will be used this Fall. We also discussed the pricing of the 3DS and make fun of the new Panasonic Jungle.

And it wouldn't be a big episode without THE LIST, so this week we piggy-packed on episode 51 and chose our five favorite videogame villains. You won't be disappointed!

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THE LIST: Your Five Favorite Game Villains

Coming off of our previous episode's discussion of the greatest villain battle (which GameSpot readers totally screwed up, by the way) we want to know your top five favorite game villains. You don't have to choose from the GameSpot battle, but you do have to let us know what makes your choices villainous. So, c'mon now! Get to it!

Low Score Episode 51 "Villainy"

In which we determine the greatest videogame villain of all time.

No fuss, no muss. In this big episode fifty-one we take a stab at the GameSpot All-Time Greatest Villain bracket to determine the most villainous villain of... well, all time. Granted there are some villains on there that we might not have chosen to begin with, but we worked with what we had.

Agree with our choices? Disagree? Let us know in the comments!

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Low Score Episode 50 "Big Episode Fifty"

After a six week break, Bobby and J are back with a fiftieth anniversary episode! Red Dead, The Saboteur, XBL Gold price hike, and FIFTY items on THE LIST.

Thank you for your patience. We have been gone a while. But we're back! And we're ready to do this damn thing again. And we'll prove it to you in this BIG episode 50.

J's finished Red Dead Redemption and Limbo, while spending time with Darksiders and Monday Night Combat. Bobby's quit Assassin's Creed once and for all, restarted The Saboteur and Final Fantasy VI Advance, and beat Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Despite being gone six weeks, there are only three major stories worth covering: the XBL Gold price increase, new Borderlands DLC, and Dead Rising Pre-LC.

But the best part of any episode of the Low Score podcast is THE LIST. And we've got five THE LISTs! That produces a total of fifty items on THE LIST to satisfy our big anniversary. We hope you enjoy!

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Low Score Episode 49 "One Versus 1 vs 100 "

GFOTS Campbell joins us for Persona 3 Portable, Starcraft II beta, Assassin's Creed, a discussion of sequels, news, and THE LIST.

We're glad to welcome back Good Friend of the Show Campbell to join us for another big ishdition of the Low Score podcast. Campbell's been spending time with Persona 3 Portable and wows us with tales of high school catching 'em all Personas. J spent an evening with the Starcraft II beta, and yo it's more Starcraft. Bobby dove off of a high building and into the world of Assassin's Creed—a game that's both satisfying and frustrating.

Speaking of Assassin's Creed with its sequel that takes care of a lot of the issues of the first, the gang discusses "the sequelization of mechanics" in games. There's also some news this week including Blizzard's attempt to implement Real ID on Battle.net and the forums, the retirement of 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live, and a questioning of Xbox's direction with their gold service.

This week's THE LIST asked for the five games we hope to share with our children and we got 15 different games between our three lists! We think you'll be surprised by the outcome. Share your own THE LIST here on the blog and we'll read the results on the air!

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Low Score Episode 48 "Highly Self Serving"

In this episode: Self-praise, Red Dead Redemption, Summer Bobby, bits of news, THE LIST.

Somewhere in this week we have a two-year anniversary of the Low Score podcast. Didn't quite hit that 50 episode mark to commemorate the occasion, but what can ya do?

Bobby spent the last few weeks playing an assortment of out of character games: Pokemon Trading Card Game, Torchlight, Colonization (1994), Might and Magic Clash of Heroes, and Ancient Trader. Meanwhile, J played a totally in character game of Red Dead Redemption and has pretty nice things to say about it.

We take a moment to correct some things from the E3 podcast and dive into a bit of news about Portal 2 and Xbox Dashboards.

Our THE LIST is a special combo list of Bobby and J's "Top Five Bobby and J Gaming Moments." It's a bit of reminiscing about the good ol' days. And when we say a bit, we mean a bit! We're hoping to keep episodes around 90 minutes from now on to make them more palatable.

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Low Score Episode 47 "Expo of Entertainment Electronic"

In this episode: Much discussion of E3 and an appropriately themed THE LIST.

What more can we say than this is going to be a podcast about the Electronic Entertainment Expo in the Los Angeles of California? We discuss the first five major press conferences and some other stuff that showed up on the show floor and then trickled into little brains courtesy Internet.

We've got an E3 THE LIST for ya too: Five Announcements You Wish Were at E3.

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Low Score's E3 Predictions

Bobby made the following predictions for E3 and Jimmy commented on them in the parentheses. J and Kevin's takes are audio only.

Microsoft

Project Natal

gets a name that's not Wave (agreed)

$119 price point (agree on price announced, but not certain on exact dollar figure)

peripheral only

NXE

Updating coming this Fall (agreed)

"Natal" Support (agreed)

Hulu (agreed)

New channels on the dashboard for small content producers

Redoing Indie Games Hub

Games

Fable III Demoed, (agreed, and PM says many many lies)

Gears 3 Teaser

Additional Halo: Reach modes

Sony
Kevin Butler! (agreed in video, not live-action)

Move

Priced at $129, comes with legit game

Pack-in PS3 Bundle announced

Big developer (not publisher) announces Move game

Probably EA Sports

Parade of Move games

3D

Headlined by Killzone 3D

Will feature 4-player drop-in-drop-out co-op

Ratchet and Clank 3D

Gran Turismo 5 3D compatible, dated (Nope.)

Parade of 3D Games

Previously announced

The Last Guardian gameplay trailer

New exclusives

Bungie Third-Person Action Game

Square Enix exclusive new IP (won’t be a true exclusive)

From Software new IP

PSP

PSP Go Price Drop

Appeal to PSP Go now that it's cheaper

Major IP getting a PSP version. Resident Evil, perhaps? (Uncharted?)

Nintendo

Wii

"Look at what Wii can already do!"

New games: Okami 2, (doubt it - Wii Okami not very successful, focus is on Okamiden for DS) Kirby, Nintendogs (no way), Legend of Zelda

Wii Fit + Vitality Sensor

3DS

Games: Mario puzzle-platformer (maybe paper mario?), Advance Wars, Pokemon

New Play Control DS? (Nintendogs?)

playable on the show floor (this is confirmed, per NYT quoting Ken Toyoda, Nintendo spokesman)

Stores

New Wii Ware and DSi store architectures including something to compete with the Apple Apps Store for submissions

Low Score Episode 46 "Mime School"

In this episode: Bioshock 2, Titan Quest, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Picross 3D, and more. Mortal Kombat "trailer" talk. E3 predictions. THE LIST.

Big episode 46 features two GFOTS Kevin and Jimmy. We've been playing a whole mess of games new and old, including Bioshock 2, Titan Quest, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Picross 3D, and Fallout 2.

Did you see that new Mortal Kombat trailer that's not actually a trailer at all but rather a pitch for a movie that probably won't be produced? Listen in as Bobby details the kind of Mortal Kombat fighting/beat-em-up hybrid game he'd love to see.

We've got E3 predictions galore which will be detailed in a subsequent post.

And of course, we have THE LIST. We wanted to know five games you haven't spent a whole lot of time with but got a lot of value out of anyway.

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Opening music by virt and featuring the new OneUps' Super Mario Kart album which you desperately need to buy.

Awesome album art by r4r3truffle.

THE LIST: Five Rewarding Games You Spent Only a Little Time With

This week's THE LIST comes in from Kevin:

Wording isn't perfect, but something like "Five games that you put very little time into, but got a lot out of." Since we normally qualify our enjoyment of games with having put a lot (time, energy, problem-solving acumen) into them, how about the opposite. What are some games that left you perfectly content with one quick play-through, games which were memorable even though you only ever spent 5 hours total playing them, or games that stuck with you despite only playing with friends a few times?

Keep up the work!

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin. Keep doing the work for us!

Low Score Episode 45 "Not In the Show Notes"

In this episode: Super Street Fighter IV, Bad Company 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Picross 3D; News of Bungie, Steam on Mac, paying for online; THE LIST.

We're happy to be back to doing the great ol' podcasting thing. Jimmy joins us to discuss the games we've been playing—a list that's grown exponentially since Bobby finished his semester and has been able to play games again.

Then we've got news! And for once, we'll share all our links: Bungie publishing deal with Activision?, the Humble Indie Bundle (and piracy), Steam to Mac, finally, the Black Wii you won’t buy, could Nintendo charge for online?, and EA to Charge Sports Game Used-Buyers For Online Access.

This week's THE LIST (good morning, captain!) is the five mechanics you'd like to see abolished from games. Be gone with you, antiquated design choices!

Spread the WORD and DON'T BE SHY NOW!

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Opening music by virt and featuring the new OneUps' Super Mario Kart album which you desperately need to buy.

Awesome album art by r4r3truffle.

THE LIST: Five Game Mechanics That Should Be Abolished

Games have come a long way in the past four decades. But even as we've developed more sophisticated methods of gameplay and interface, we'd be kidding ourselves to say that it's all for good. So, then, what are those mechanics that cause you to groan? We're using the term "mechanic" a little loosely here, so we'll accept answers ranging from block-pushing puzzles to capture-the-flag modes.

Hit us with your answers and we'll read them on the podcast Sunday night.

Low Score Episode 44 "Makes Me Feel So Fine"

In this episode: Discussions of game music and soundtracks. And that's it!

This Big Episode was particularly big in file size—twice what we normally end up with! So that means it's something special.

It took a month... but we're finally back with a new podcast to amuse and entertain. This week we discussed videogame music. We look at game music's history, examine what makes game music special, and talk about our favorite soundtracks and scores.

And this week's THE LIST gives us the cream of the crop of music tracks from games. We received a ton of submissions and play snippets on the air. You don't want to miss it!

Spread the WORD and DON'T BE SHY NOW!

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Opening music by virt

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THE LIST: Five Favorite Videogame Tracks

We're doing something a little different this week, so we're looking for your five favorite songs from videogame soundtracks. Give us the game, track name (or stage/level name if appropriate), and composer (if you've got it). Commentary is also welcome. We'll read your THE LISTs on the podcast and might even play a selection of choices on the air.

Low Score Episode 43 "All Those Four Score Games"

In this episode: Issues of game design innovation keeping up with technological innovation, stretching your gaming budget for the spring and summer, and five games you love but have trouble going back to.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: holy crap! All our episodes may be BIG episodes, but 43 is bigger than usual.

We haven't played a whole lot of new stuff, so we discuss briefly Final Fantasys XIII and V, Bad Company 2, Street Fighter IV, and Mega Man 10.

We quickly move into news, including the release of the Xbox Arcade, trailers for Metroid: Other M and the new Spider-Man game, and Nintendo's announcement of a 3DS.

This leads us into our first discussion topic: is technology moving faster than game design innovation? We talk 3D games, motion peripherals, and the lifecycle of consoles. We then move into ways you can stretch your gaming budget this spring and summer with TONS of advice. TONS.

And, of course, good morning captain to you as we do THE LIST "five games you love that you can't go back and play because you know (or are afraid) they won't hold up."

Spread the WORD and DON'T BE SHY NOW!

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THE LIST: Games That Don't Hold Up

For Big Episode 43, we're asking you for five games you love that you can't go back and play because you know (or are afraid) they won't hold up. Maybe there's an NES game that in retrospect is terrible, or the first entry in a series that has been made obsolete by better sequels. Give us your THE LIST and we'll read them on the air Thursday night!

C'mon Catch-A-Ride!

Low Score Episode 42 "Slippery Turkish Guys"

In this episode: GFOTS Campbell joins us for FFXIII, the Blur beta, ME2, discussions of recent news items, and THE LIST

A show so packed you'd think they were loading it onto a moving van! It's been a few weeks, so there's plenty of game playin' to talk about. J regales us with stories of Final Fantasy XIII, Bobby weaves a tales woe in Mass Effect 2, Campbell's been playing Miles Edgeworth for review, Campbell and J put in some Blur and SFIV time, and we've all been playing Borderlands DLC "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx."

We chose to focus on all the news from the past few weeks, including the Infinity Ward mess, more Rock Band, DLC on the disc, and the Sony Move.

Our THE LIST asked for five games you just don't care about, and the response was ironically overwhelming.

Listen and spread the word!

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THE LIST for Episode 42

Five games/series you just don't care about.

Sometimes, you just don't care. Everyone's talking about such and such game or some series from Japan, and you just don't give a damn. And it's not because you've played them and not liked it, and it's not because its a genre you can't stand. You just don't care! So this week we're asking you for five games/series you just don't care about.

Low Score Episode 41 "Candles, Candles Everywhere!"

In this episode: Dramatic Reading, WhatCHA Playin'?, Should Bobby Buy?, Items of Note, Let's Discuss and THE LIST

We kick things off with part four of our Castlevania II Worlds of Power novelization dramatic reading, in which we see mysteries solved, temptation overcome, and the rise of Lord Dracula! It'sa gonna be-a really-scary! I'm not-a kiddin' you this time.

Bobby has continued to play Mass Effect 2 in between sessions of Plants vs Zombies on the iPhone, and J picked up Assassins Creed.

Bobby asks J whether or not he should buy four different games, and J tells him to save his money for Rock of the Dead.

This week's discussion topic was videogame writing. That is, writing about videogames. We break down and describe the different categories of writers and discuss how they're relevant to the field at large. This bleeds right into THE LIST for episode 41: THE LIST: Recommend five people who write about games. If your THE LIST was not read on the air, we'll be reading it next episode. We got a lot of submissions after we recorded, but we owe it to you to make your voice heard.

Listen and spread the word!

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Opening music by virt

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THE LIST for Episode 41

THE LIST: Recommend five people who write about games.

We'll be discussing the way people write about games in Big Episode 41, so we want to know who you think are the best/important/entertaining writers out there. Major game websites, niche blogs, magazines, books... all are fair game. What matters is that that they're people you enjoy, respect, and would suggest to other readers and listeners of Low Score.

Low Score Episode 40 "As Long As It's Classy"

In this episode: Castlevania II Dramatic Reading, Mass Effect 2, Listener Questions, and THE LIST

Jimmy joined us for a truly BIG episode of the Low Score podcast. We kicked it off with part three of our dramatic reading of the Castlevania II Worlds of Power novelization, with Simon Belmont and Tim Bradley fighting monsters and solving puzzles.

Before we talked about what we're playing, we talk about what were playing. Bobby finished up Uncharted 2, Jimmy shares his impressions of Assassins Creed 2, and J picked up 'Splosion Man for five bucks.

But really, this is our Mass Effect 2 podcast. Jimmy and J beat it, while Bobby is half-way through. This means that it will contain some spoilers, but we did our best to keep the main narrative twists and sequences a surprise for you all.

Listen and spread the word!

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THE LIST for Episode 40

In Big Episode 39, J and I ran through the GameFAQs Character Battle VIII to determine the ultimate champion... but there were still a few characters missing who could have been strong contenders.

So, we're asking you for Five Great Characters Missing From GameFAQs Character Battle.

Don't be shy now, c'mon Catch-A-Ride!!!

Low Score Episode 39 "There Can Only Be One?"

Much like an after-school made for TV movie, this was a very special edition of the Low Score podcast. You'll notice we jump right into your favorite song, which can only mean one thing!

We're being vague on purpose, but we think you'll enjoy it.

Oh, and sorry about the sound quality at the beginning—Bobby's mic gain was too high and he sounded like ass. We've fixed it as best we can, and it does get better as the episode goes on. We promise it won't happen again.

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Low Score Episode 38 "And a Squeeze of Lime"

Thank you to our many Good Friends of the Show for contributing your questions to this week's episode of the Low Score podcast! We received a good variety of questions both videogame and not; we think you'll really enjoy it. Tune in for discussions of HUDs, two-peice snacks, MMOs, Mega Man, the Oscars, cocktails, and more.

But not without first talking about some of the games we've been playing like Dragon Age: Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Theives, and other games with colons and subtitles.

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Opening music by virt

Background music by the Bound Together project and the Doom II: Delta-Q-Delta project.

Awesome new album art by r4r3truffle.

Taking Questions for Episode 38

We're doing an all-listener question podcast this week, which means we need your damn questions!

Ask us anything! Want ask us for our answers to something for THE LIST? Go for it. Want to know more about our adventures in Azeroth? Bingo bango, baby.

We'll also take non-game questions too, provided we can balance them with enough game talk.

So what are you waiting for? Hit our gmail (lowscorepodcast) or comment here and we'll getchu rollin!

Low Score Episode 37 "In a Row?!"

The first real podcast of Twenty-Ten, and it's a doozy. What kind of idiots start buying games and committing to things like Dragon Age: Origins this close to the surprisingly packed Winter 2010 schedule? These guys, of course.

The bulk of our show deals with that exact subject. What games do you have in the queue, how are you going to make room for Mass Effect 2, and what are you looking (and not-looking) forward to in the Two Zero One Zero.

Which brings us to this week's THE LIST: "Five games you've earnestly been meaning to play but doubt you will." The answers may shock and offend.

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Opening music by virt

Most background music by the Bound Together project and Shael Riley's Nth Mile Soundtrack

Awesome new album art by r4r3truffle.

THE LIST for Episode 37

We want you to tell us the "Five games you've earnestly been meaning to play but doubt you will."

Don't be shy now, c'mon catch THE LIST!!!

Episode MAGFest "UUUAAGGHHHH!!!!"

We recorded a big MAGFest podcast while at the festival this year! That means not only do J and Bobby rattle off their Christmas gifts and other recent acquisitions, but a number of GFOTS stopped by the table to chat as well!

It wouldn't be a big episode without THE LIST, and it wouldn't be a doubly big MAGFest edition without two THE LISTs! We first asked folk for their favorite games they played in 2009 that came out before 2009, then demanded they tell us five videogame genres they wouldn't mind expunging from the face of the Earth.

You don't want to miss this one!

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Opening music by virt and Background music by the Bound Together project.