Well, here we are at the beginning of 2012. I know it crept up on me unexpectedly, but in one respect we are prepared: a ton of PC games came out in 2011, and as we are wont to do, we’ve gathered around the yuletide fire to praise and pillory them as we feel is deserved.

As was the case last year, this is one of our longer shows, and even with the excessive runtime I know we didn’t give everything the credit it deserves. That, dear listener, is where you come in. We’re running another IMmies Giveaway Giveaway this year, and here’s how it works. You either e-mail us (podcast@immortalmachines.com) or post in the thread over at Colony of Gamers, and tell us what your favorite PC games of 2011 were and why. We’ll pick one of you at random, and you’ll be able to gift one of your favorites to somebody else on our dime. You look like a hero, somebody gets to play a great game, everybody wins. So get on that, and we’ll announce our winner in the next episode.

So let’s dig in. There’s a lot to talk about. Without further ado, welcome to The IMmies 2011!

Hosted and Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are James [Vigil80], Roberts [Trebor] and Chris [JPublic]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

(Have you followed our Twitter feed? That’s a thing you could do. And if you want to join the discussion, come visit the forum thread over at Colony of Gamers.)

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No, this isn’t the episode where we talk about Skyrim.  Next time, guys.

So here’s what I wanted to do:  I wanted to record a Deus Ex spoilercast.  This is a game with some great story bits, and some well-thought-out callbacks to the original game, both explicit and subtle.  I love me some game stories, so I wanted to talk about all of that.  But here’s the thing:  I haven’t finished Human Revolution yet.

“That’s okay,” I thought.  ”I don’t mind having things spoiled as a rule, so I’ll just let the other guys talk about it, and I can chime in with my opinions even on the stuff I haven’t seen myself yet.  It’ll be fine.”  Well, here’s the other thing:  None of us have finished Human Revolution yet.

How does that happen?  This was easily one of the most anticipated games of the year, for all of us.  We were seriously hyped for it before it came out, and we were eager to buy it as soon as it was available.  And please don’t misunderstand, there’s lots of stuff we like about it.  In some ways it might be a better game than the original Deus Ex.  But none of us have finished it?  How does that make any sense?

So we talk about that.  And other stuff, too – you’ll hear what else we’ve been playing, you’ll get our responses to your e-mails and tweets, the usual.

Mainly, though, we’re talking about Deus Ex, and how We Never Asked For This.

Hosted and Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are James [Vigil80] and Robert [Trebor]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

(Have you followed our Twitter feed?  That’s a thing you could do.  And if you want to join the discussion, come visit the forum thread over at Colony of Gamers.)

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Given our enthusiasm in releasing the Bastion interview, among other things, this episode is a tad late. But, it’s nevertheless full to bursting. We’ve got classic games covered as Robert revisits the original Red Faction and experiments with Virtual Box for titles like Dune 2000, Stronghold, and Diablo. And I recount my time with SWAT 4, the Dungeon Keeper 2 release from Good Old Games, and the original Deus Ex. We’re on the cutting edge, too, with the (oft misheard) Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Clayton’s experience as benefactor of a public Minecraft server, a look at OnLive’s progress, and Eric’s shiny, new GPU.

Following the break, Eric and I can’t help but share our potent feelings about Ubisoft’s mis-management of From Dust for PC, and GameStop’s Deus Ex debacle. But, the good feelings flow again when Gabe Newell’s latest comments about piracy and Valve’s growth spurs us to take a positive look at the developing free-to-play scene.

There’s something for everyone as we run The Gamut.

Hosted and Summarized by James [Vigil80]
Participants are Robert [Trebor] and Eric [Ravenlock]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

Join the free-for-all and find show notes and links at the Colony of Gamers discussion thread. And check out @ImmortalMachine on Twitter for real time updates.

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Some games are simply a privilege to play.  From the moment I started Bastion, I had the impression that I was going to come away from it with that feeling, and after a playthrough and a half, it hasn’t waned on me yet.  I expect I’ll start a third playthrough, when I’m done with the second.

If you’ve played through the game, you know that the superbly sparse and evocative writing makes up a large portion of its appeal.  So we were thrilled to have the chance to interview Greg Kasavin, Bastion‘s writer and creative director, for this episode of the IndieCast.  If you haven’t played through Bastion, don’t worry, we stay almost entirely spoiler-free.  (But really, you should play Bastion.)

Our thanks to Supergiant Games for lending us some of Greg’s time, and for making such a phenomenal game.  It was a tremendous pleasure to get to talk to one of its creators, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.

We did ask for your questions, of course, and the vast majority of them are answered within.  And one of you won a free copy of the game!  Was it you?  You’ll have to listen and find out.

Hosted and Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are James [Vigil80] and Greg Kasavin of Supergiant Games
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

(Have you followed our Twitter feed?  That’s a thing you could do.  And if you want to join the discussion, come visit the forum thread over at Colony of Gamers.)

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