I promise this will be our last digital distribution episode.

Okay, no I don’t. I promise it will be our last one for at least a month? …We’ll see how we do on that, I guess.

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past several months extolling the virtues of digital distribution – the frequent sales, the convenience, the portability – and all of those virtues still hold true. It was time, though, to inject a little balance into the equation and start talking about one of the major downsides of digital distribution: you never really own what you buy anymore. Of course, as you’ll hear, maybe you never did to begin with, and it’s just more obvious now. Still, with the recent beta impressions of OnLive hitting the web, it was time to talk about purchasing games vs. purchasing access to games, and the path we feel the future will take. Join us, and see if you agree with our assertions.

Time is also given to Terry Cavanagh’s (if I may say so) brilliant VVVVVV in our indie segment, our retro gaming discussion starts off talking about Tomb Raider and ends up in places I can’t say I’m proud of (really, Warren? You wanted to see this naked?), and we take a look at the UT2004 mod Air Buccaneers, if you’re in an airship kind of mood.

Also, from our list of recently played games, allow me to direct your attention to the D1X-Rebirth mod for Descent, in case you want to lose your lunch in 6 degrees of freedom. Oh, and this. What the Hell, Dwarf Fortress. You blow my mind.

Immortal Machines presents… Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Hosted and Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are Robert [Trebor], Warren [Mayhem], Jeremy [Lord Don], and perpetual special guest J Arcane
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

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On this edition of the Immortal Machines Podcast your dedicated cast of Robert [Trebor], Eric [Ravenlock], Adam [Grifter], Jacob [MagGnome], Jeremy [Lord Don], Clayton [Voodoo], and now three time offender J Arcane return to discuss the crazy digital distribution sales than have been going on for the month of December. In Retro land, fond memories that were first though forgotten are recalled when discussing Funcom’s The Longest Journey. Backing into Indie games comes next with a very special review of Gratuitous Space Battles along with Tuper Tario Tros, and an update to Spelunky. And then a final wrap up with what we have been playing. So if you can stop buying games for a damn minute from Steam, GOG, or wherever, right click on the link and download this, that last IM podcast for 2009.

Hosted & Summarized by Robert [Trebor]
Participants are Eric [Ravenlock], Jacob [MagGnome], Jeremy [Lord Don], Adam [Grifter] and J Arcane as himself!
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

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On this edition of the Immortal Machines Podcast, your more awake than usual cast of Robert [Trebor], Eric [Ravenlock], Jeremy [Lord Don], and Clayton [Voodoo] have the delight and pleasure to talk to ISOTX’s Community Manager, Rhea Monique, about their first commercially released FPS/ RTS game, Iron Grip: Warlords.

The questions we ask – yours included! – are what you would expect from a bunch of PC game playing geeks, but the answers that were returned allowed for a much better understanding of the game’s background, play style, and what future plans are in store for the Iron Grip Universe to keep their fans excited for more. As usual, we have also included our famous / infamous “What We’ve Been Playing” segment, which is actually quite a full plate – and later, Eric gets to respond to a listener’s email concerning the purchase price of PC games on the Steam holiday sale. So get that right mouse button in motion, open that context menu, and download some!

Hosted & Summarized by Robert [Trebor]
Participants are Eric [Ravenlock] and Jeremy [Lord Don]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

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Well, it’s that time of year again – time to look back at 2009 and decide who’s been naughty & who’s been nice, and pay respects to those who are no more. We didn’t want to do any actual GOTY awards, since CoG staff and users have already handled that ably, but we did want to talk about the year in games, so that’s what we’ve done. Some genre specifics, pleasant surprises and disappointments are all covered, and then at the end we realize that we forgot to talk about MMO’s. The level of regret on this point is… low.

You’ll also get to hear about some neat indie stuff, both web-based and downloadable, as we run through Emberwind, Continuity and Dreamside Maroon. Our retro segment delves into the dungeons of the Sword of Fargoal, a trip I highly recommend you take. (The direct link to the Windows zipfile, until they get their site back in order, is here.) And I promised Jeremy I would link to Planet MULE, so now I have. Go… do the stuff one does on Planet MULE, after you’re done listening to the show.

Looking back, it’s actually been a pretty stellar year for PC gaming, and nobody in our group seems to be coming away disappointed. Let me take a moment to wish you and yours a lovely holiday season – we’ll be back just before the New Year to ring it in right.

Hosted & Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are Jacob [MagGnome], Jeremy [Lord Don], Adam [Grifter] and returning special guest J Arcane!
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

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