Archive for June, 2010

[Episode 34] The Triple E

Ordinarily, we’re not a very news-oriented show.  We’ll occasionally mention something that’s been making its way around the internet if it’s of interest to us (or if it’s really terrible, harp on it for weeks on end – hi, Infinity Ward and Ubisoft!), but generally speaking we figure you don’t want to hear a week later what we said about something that was already a week old when we talked about it.  There are a couple of exceptions, though, and E3 qualifies as one.  So here it is: the E3 show.

With our newly expanded crew, a fair amount of time is given to catching up with each others’ gaming, and you’ll be hearing about mods like I Hate Mountains for the original Left 4 Dead and Sacrifice of Angels 2 for Sins of a Solar Empire, indie games like Fractal and Mount & Blade: Warband, some console games we wish were on the PC (or at least, we wish we could play there… Ubisoft), a little pseudo-MMO discussion in the form of the APB beta, and a whole lot more.  Once we finally get around to talking about E3, you can look forward to our confusion over the Valve reveal, our concerns about Obsidian taking back the Fallout license, our hopes and fears about the accelerating trend towards “free-to-play” MMO pricing, and other things I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention.  Also, listener mail!

It’s a pretty meaty show, so dive in.  There’s something for everybody at The Triple E.

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

Want to talk about the show?  Come discuss the episode over at Colony of Gamers.

[Funcast] Introduction and Indoctrination

As time marches on the time comes to look for new voices, opinions, and experiences to add to the Immortal Machines Podcast which is coming up on its 34th edition and has been posting for over a year and a half now. To that end, I am proud to introduce two new participants, Chris [Hawkzombie] and James [Vigil80]. Both are avid PC gamers and will bring some interesting prospectives to the podcast.  Clayton [Voodoo] and Trebor [Robert] join in the introduction and indoctrination of Chris and James as we discuss what have we been playing on our PCs of late. We then move into a discussion of game playing experiences of the newbies and then finally wind things up with what we would like to see in the future of PC gaming. So go ahead and stream or download away as you get to meet the newest additions to the Immortal Machines cast.

[Modcast] TorchLeech

To many of us, using mods with PC games helps enhance the playing experience.  On one hand the installed mod can make just minor changes to the game.  On the other hand a mod can completely makeover a game.  But what happens when you add many mods with the expectation of being able to play the game.  It can turn into a crap shoot because you do not know if the game will even run until you click on the desktop icon.

Would it not be nice if there was a mod manager that would check that for you before you ran the game?  And would it not be twice as nice if that same mod manager would pull off the Internet what the latest and greatest mods, maps, items, skins, and sounds for that game are?  And would it not be three times as nice if the mod manager ran in a self contained small sized app that has an easy to read layout, the ability to download and install those mods on the fly?

Say hello to TorchLeech a mod manager for the action RPG Torchlight and trust me when I say that using it will redefine how you play that game. So come venturing  Robert [Trebor], Eric [Ravenlock], and Clayton [Voodoo] as we explore all the features that TorchLeech has to offer.

Ever wonder why you have all those old PC games stored away in shoebox?  Is that shoebox buried in your closet next to the pile of antiquated PC pieces and parts?  Have you ever thought to yourself about building a retro game machine and play those classic, [and not so classic] DOS games of old on media that no one uses like the 3.5″ or even 5.25″ floppies?  Well we, Robert [Trebor], Eric [Ravenlock], and Clayton [Voodoo], feel your pain.  We understand that even after the glory days of Ultima I, TIE Fighter, Red Baron, and more, that you just can’t make yourself throw away what for all intents and purposes is just worn out plastic ready to be recycled.

What about that collection of computer hardware?  How many of you still have the first 3D accelerated video card you ever bought still kept in an anti-static bag?  How about your first 1 GB hard disk drive which is now only good as an over-sized paper weight? Well join the club because so do we. However this is not the “pity party – what will I do with my old PC game and parts” podcast, no sir! We also discuss ways you can donate or recycle those aging memory SIMMs, CRT monitors, or even whole PCs if you have a PII 266MMX powered Compaq laying around. We even discuss some ways you can donate your old PC games too.  But for some of us we “Just Can’t Let Those Gaming Memories Go…”