New home for The Jurassic Hour
Y'ALL.
One more technical update today, but first, check out this BRAIN-KICKING LOGO I MADE IN PAINT.
Done looking? Is that even possible? Okay, onward.
While I've developed some very modest Internet skills over the last few weeks, bad things still happen, and I will continue to ascribe them to circumstances beyond my control.
Case in point: a casualty.
The Jurassic Radio RSS feed didn't survive the server switch, and no amount of elementary hackery is going to bring it back. I tried .htaccess 301 fixes. I tried XML-level redirects. I brought the feed completely up to standards-compliance, which, given how sloppy I was with it over the last year, was no small feat.
But it was for naught. So I tried the nuclear option.
We have a new podcast feed for The Jurassic Hour! It's here. Spelled out, that's http://www.gameosaurus.com/hour/feed.xml. And we're up and running on iTunes already. You can check that out here.
If you click, you'll notice that the feed includes only the first three episodes of The Jurassic Hour. That's by design. The Jurassic Radio episodes will endure, but you'll have to click here to get to them. Spelled out, that's http://www.gameosaurus.com/podcasts/feed.xml.
I've got 150 GB of server space, and the 40-odd Jurassic Radio episodes we recorded comprise only about 4 GB, so they'll live on in perpetuity. If you ever want to leaf through them and can't find them, drop me a line. It's very basic, occasionally dull stuff, but it represents roughly a year of enthusiasm and fairly hard work. And there definitely were some good moments along the way — our New Year's show comes to mind, as does our October chip-sampling expo at Alex's house — so I'm preserving all of it.
Now get subscribed, and if you love me, go comment on iTunes!
State of the site, end of the podcast?
(I was going to craft a new narrative for all of this, but I spent a lot of time making sure the following e-mail to the other guys was as truthful and diplomatic as possible. So, with a few edits, here is that document.)
To: Gameodactyl, Gamegnathus
CC: Benji, Gameratops
Re: Podcasto (Spanish for podcast)
New plan -- no podcast today, as (UNNAMED GAMEOSAUR) hasn't started the book nor played FFXIII much, and they're the only two things I really was planning on talking about. I want to discuss both of them at some serious length -- took two pages of notes on the book for discussion questions, etc.
So we'll catch up again next week. Unless either of you have something you'd really like to discuss this week, in which case I'm totally game.
One other thing, and as a foreword, I know I share responsibility for this:
Editing together the last five or six shows, it's become fairly clear that we're going through the motions. I really appreciate everybody's involvement and the enormous amount of time each of us obviously has sunken into this project, but if I'm pulling teeth and creating a hassle for you guys, I'd just as soon not do it. And if I'm creating a financial hardship for people by harassing them into buying things they otherwise wouldn't, thereby draining checking and savings accounts and pissing off spouses, well, I really don't want to be doing that, either.
I trace most of this back to the fact that a) we're still trying to do too much too often, and b) we really don't know who we're talking to. We DO know that we're not talking to many people. Even after Pat courageously pelted the entire FFXIII launch crowd with business cards Monday, this week marks our lowest podcast and Web traffic since the first week of February.
Whomp whomp.
So the stakes are pretty low every time we get together.
Here's my proposal: I'm writing two posts today -- one for FFXIII at the 13-hour mark, one for the state of the site. In the state of the site post, I put it to readers that we intend to make episode 48 our last WEEKLY show, as that would bring us to precisely one year since we started the podcast. And then we bang out five really solid episodes.
But that's with one caveat -- if our listenership of roughly 25 people can get our weekly audience to 50 by the last episode, we'll continue doing it weekly, setting audience benchmarks as appropriate.
If not, we'll keep the feed running, and I'll find reasons to record occasional pieces of audio.
The site will continue, of course, and you're all welcome to continue contributing. Starting sometime in April, I'm moving to the copy desk at work, which means I get a raise and 7½-hour days back. That's down from 11-ish, which means I'll have much more time to myself, and I won't be completely burned out by already having spent the entire day writing and lifting. And in September, I technically hit four years with the company, which means my salary jumps by about one-third. That allows for considerably more resources for things like recording and video capture equipment.
I'm trying to prod Alex into mocking up a new design for $200 or so. Something super minimalist. One fat column spanning about 800 px, completely for body text. At the top, the logo; one Gameosaurus twitter feed that anyone can contribute to, much the way Drunken Gamers does it (@DGRadio); an ABOUT US link, a link to back episodes of the podcast; and a search util. The rest is content, all the way to the bottom.
And at that point, it's just an attractive blog (hopefully) with some audio every now and then. No expectations, no reason to fuss or feel stressed. Ben's welcome to get in on it if he wants. I'll still edit for grammar, but not for content. I'll just disagree with him vehemently 
(I confess that I was a dick during that whole process, but that was when I was plagued by delusions of relative fame and blissfully unaware of how few people we were reaching.)
Rambo, I continue to pester you about playing co-op Dawn of War II with me. I'm available all night.
Jurassic Radio #43: Suspension
Howdy! I hope at least some of you people are the ones the Gameodactyl confronted at a York County GameStop waiting in line early this week for FINAL FANTASY XIII. The three of us made and subsequently abandoned plans to hand out business cards at midnight launches to promote the site and the podcast, but Pat actually followed through. If you're new, welcome aboard.
NOW. LISTEN, SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES, RATE US THERE AND COMMENT HERE, DAMMIT.
In this week's show, the three of us get together in meat-space for the first time in a month to talk about how the Gameodactyl's nuts are recovering, whether SUPREME COMMANDER 2 and the Wii version of SHIREN THE WANDER are for babies, why CAVE STORY prime still rules and how BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 2 turned out.
In Winning Time, we tackle the first few hours of METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION, which I've played before but which ranks so far my favorite Winning Time title in the history of our little show.
Plus, our personal PS3 downtime calamity stories, which is to say, Pat's. Neither Gamegnathus nor I turned on our PS3s during the #apocalyps3, but I was still furious about it.
With music from New Order and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #43: Suspension
00:00 - 36:48 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- New Order, "Age of Consent"
37:21 - 1:18:27 -- WINNING TIME: METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION
ACT BREAK -- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, "The Stick"
1:26:11 - 1:44:48 -- The news, what's coming out
Jurassic Radio #42: On the Aisle
When I'm late with the podcast, as I am this week, I like to give you guys a peek at my excuse, if only so you can judge how inadequate it is.
This week, I blew our airtight Tuesday deadline because I was pissed at Steam. I had pre-ordered BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 2 and SUPREME COMMANDER 2, pre-loaded the latter and got out of work as soon as possible Monday night so I could play 'em the second they unlocked.
But Steam wasn't able to negotiate a midnight unlock with EA on BATTLEFIELD (presumably so EA's own online store could have a few hours of exclusivity), so that was pushed until 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday. And the SUPREME COMMANDER 2 unlock was a technical clusterfuck, failing to decrypt anyone's .exe for almost nine hours and locking me out of my bought-and-paid-for game for most of the day.
Making matters worse, a Valve employee suggested on a Steam forum that the cause could be a glitch with Steam's new beta UI. Getting impatient, I downloaded the install for the ugly, stable UI, but it couldn't roll back the beta. So I uninstalled Steam -- a process which, I realized too late, uninstalls every game you've downloaded through the service.
So I queued up 30 gigs of gaming, skulked off to work, came back on my lunch break and discovered that only two of my 11 games had downloaded and that neither of them were BATTLEFIELD or SUPCOM.
Fury. And all of this is to say nothing of Y2PS3, which, oh my God. The digital download train hit a cow or something Tuesday, and I got thrown the hell off. I want to take all my games and books and movies and go underground. Maybe store 'em in a bomb shelter alongside all those beans and peaches Viggo Mortensen and his kid were eating in "The Road."
I finally fixed everything by the time I went to bed, but of course -- OF COURSE -- EA's BATTLEFIELD servers are utterly broken. That's par for the course with DICE games, but for fuck's sake, I'd like to play my game, please.
Anyway, this week's show is awesome. It's a disservice to all involved to bury the lede so low, but I had to get that stuff off my chest.
My college roommate Alan and I kick things off by dishing some completely unnecessary Oscar talk.
The regular crew follows that segment with the lowdown on the Gameodactyl's testicles. Then, GRANDIA, CROSS EDGE, MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 2 and SUPREME COMMANDER: FORGED ALLIANCE. Yeah, we're partying like it's 2007. Or 1997.
But I talk about HEAVY RAIN for, like two seconds, and we do a roundtable on the "Halo Legends" anime compilation DVD.
With music from Jimi Hendrix, Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #42: On the Aisle
00:00 - 57:38 -- Pete and Alan talk movies
ACT BREAK -- Jimi Hendrix "Third Stone from the Sun"
58:01 - 1:25:43 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, "Ghosts of Reach"
1:26:11 - 1:44:48 -- WINNING TIME: "Halo Legends"
ACT BREAK -- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, "Jump with Me, Baby"
1:45:19 - 2:18:56 -- The news, what's coming out
Jurassic Radio #41: da na Na NA!
This week, you'll have to forgive or skip past what is likely the geekiest moment in the history of this program.
See, about 10 days ago, I did my taxes. I got a roughly $1,200 refund, which is awesome. Moments later, I'd spent it on my Newegg shopping cart, which included enough parts to make a quasi-godly computer.
Well, after some nearly catastrophic operator error, said computer has been assembled, and it's systematically destroying every other priority in my life.
So magnificent and so enduring is this feeling that I completely forgot to mention the outstanding THE MISADVENTURES OF P.B. WINTERBOTTOM on Xbox Live Arcade. I also checked out DARWINIA+, but you won't hear about that on this podcast. No, it's just me, my avatar and THE SIMS 3. That's one tremendously embarrassing confession, but heck, it's a tremendous game. I'll get to DAWN OF WAR II and DRAGON AGE just as soon as my pretend chess prodigy boyfriend Parker gets a job.
Fortunately, the Gameodactyl and Gamegnathus pick up my slack. Gameodactyl's been completely consumed by the reportedly fantastic MILES EDGEWORTH: ACE ATTORNEY INVESTIGATIONS, while Rambo is still hip-deep in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: CALL OF PRIPYAT.
(I can play that game, too! Cuz I GOT A COMPUTER, Y'ALL. But I'm going to finish SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL first, because I have that. God, computers are hardXcore.)
But that's not all! We wrestle with ethnocentric anxiety as we dissect Gogol Bordello's "Live from Axis Mundi" DVD, which you can find here or on iTunes for about $10.
With music from Team Teamwork, Four Tet and Five Iron Frenzy.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #41: da na Na NA!
00:00 - 34:07 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Team Teamwork, "Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg - Still D.R.E. (Getting treasure)"
34:32 - 53:07 -- Gogol Bordello, "Live from Axis Mundi"
ACT BREAK -- Four Tet, "Circling"
53:28 - 1:12:58 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- Five Iron Frenzy, "Third World Think Tank"
Jurassic Radio #40: R-P-Wha?
New stuff! We talk about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: CALL OF PRIPYAT, BIOSHOCK 2, KURULIN FUSION and TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM.
Old stuff! Pat Gann is grievously offended by CROSS EDGE, and I have the privilege of handing down the final word on MASS EFFECT 2. We also talk briefly about what makes an RPG an RPG, and we finish up our Winning Time of NO MORE HEROES. Thankfully.
Students of the show, will recognize that we've moved onto our fourth piece of unlicensed intro music in less than a year -- one of the few benefits of pulling in about 25 listeners a week. This time, it's Five Iron Frenzy's "Third World Think Tank," and I think it matches the show better than any track since the Chk Chk Chk song we used at the get-go. It sounds appropriately ... Jurassic, I think.
Also, yes, we know precisely how many people download the show now. Hello, lone South Korean listener! Thanks for tuning in. Tell your South Korean friends. In fact, tell all your friends. The two best ways you can help us expand our reach, feel better about ourselves and up our game is to bring in at least one new listener and REVIEW US ON ITUNES. That's not just for our egos -- it's an absurdly valuable metric that would boost our visibility on the iTunes store a lot.
I'm not begging. I'm demanding. Do it!
With music from Of Montreal and the Suicide Machines.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
00:00 - 44:30 -- What we've been playing
44:31 - 1:01:12 -- Really pondering great RPGs
ACT BREAK -- Of Montreal, "Wicked Wisdom"
1:01:54 - 1:32:48 -- Winning Time: NO MORE HEROES
1:32:49 - 2:00:44 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- The Suicide Machines, "Stand Up"
Jurassic Radio #39: The Cycle
Because we were snowed in last week (as we might well be this week, if the relentlessly snowy forecast is accurate), we did the podcast over Skype for the first time. And with the help of a free app that insists on encoding to MP3 on the fly, we recorded a pretty darn good show.
It's hard to say what sounds better; our usual shows don't sound nearly as telephonic as this week's does, but recording on individual mics almost completely knocked out the ambient crap we usually pick up, and our annunciation sounds much better as well.
In any case, the almost-40th episode brings more talk of MASS EFFECT 2 (and expect more yet next week), the Gameodactyl on IMMORTAL EMPIRE and THEXDER NEO, Gamegnathus on THE VOID and yours truly on CHIME.
In Winning Time, we take a look at Team Teamwork's incredible "Vinyl Fantasy 7," which has been cease-and-desisted but can still be found through simple Googling, or by clicking, say, here. And we gush about ONE BUTTON BOB, a pretty elucidating Flash game you can find here.
With music from Project Majestic Mix and Supersystem and comedy from Aziz Ansari.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
00:00 - 25:01 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Project Majestic Mix, "Anxious Heart"
25:31 - 48:18 -- Winning Time: "Vinyl Fantasy VII," ONE BUTTON BOB
ACT BREAK -- Aziz Ansari, "Are White People Psyched All the Time?"
51:07 - 1:171:32 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- Supersystem, "Click Click"
Jurassic Radio #38: MAN THE MEAT
Okay, guys! Happy Thursday!
The show is late this week because I finally — finally — found a solution that lets me spy on you wonderful cretins.
Well, not actually. It tracks the number of podcast downloads. That data, coupled with our Google Analytics reports, should help us decide where we need to concentrate our considerable resources.
Right? Pfft. Rofl and stuff.
See, when we had this nebulous, hazy, quasi-idealistic view of how many visitors and listeners we had, we could labor under the fantasy that we were talking to people we didn't know. Hence all of the "Seeya guys next week" and "Tell your friends" talk.
Now I know — know — that we're basically talking to ourselves and our friends. Which is fine! That can help make us better, sharpen our focus and hopefully up our gumption where updating and outreach is concerned.
Oh, this week's show? It's good. MASS EFFECT 2, GLORY OF HERACLES and NO MORE HEROES 2, with another crack at the first NO MORE HEROES in Winning Time.
With music from The Get Up Kids, A.A. Bondy and Hot Rod Circuit.
Thanks again to the Gameodactyl for continuing to post while the other guy and I blow it. We love you!
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #38: MAN THE MEAT
00:00 - 28:54 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- The Get Up Kids, "Man of Conviction"
29:28 - 48:18 -- Winning Time: NO MORE HEROES
ACT BREAK -- A.A. Bondy, "When the Devil's Loose"
48:57 - 1:11:12 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- Hot Rod Circuit, "Let's Go Out"
Jurassic Radio #37: No, Eagles Suck
Woah.
*looks around*
Anybody here?
That's a joke at my own expense, obvi. Not since the earliest weeks of Gameosaurus.com have we had an empty week with back-to-back podcast posts.
I mean, there's MASS EFFECT 2, TATSUNOKU VS. CAPCOM and NO MORE HEROES 2: DESPERATE STRUGGLE to chew on this week. But that won't keep us from throwing up a couple first impressions posts and whatnot before the next podcast.
And to make up for our relative invisibility, this week's show is extra, extra-long. Like two hours and 17 minutes long.
This week, Pat finishes talking about games that came out 13 years ago, Pete R. and I compare notes on different versions of CRITTER CRUNCH, and I spend a few brief moments explaining the situation with the iPhone version of GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS.
We also take a close look at "Big Fan," the 2009 Patton Oswalt vehicle about a lumpy dude who's dangerously preoccupied with the New York Giants. Spoiler: it's awesome.
With music from Relient K, Reel Big Fish and Faces.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #37: No, Eagles Suck
00:00 - 47:34 -- Thomas, Centralia and what we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Relient K, "Hello McFly"
48:26 - 1:28:28 -- Media Roundtable: "Big Fan"
ACT BREAK -- Reel Big Fish, "Brand New Hero"
1:28:52 - 2:16:58 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- Faces, "Ooh La La"
Jurassic Radio #36: Potty Training
Like an idiot, I promise at the top of this week's show that we'll be in and out in under an hour. Pfft. The show weighs in at about 100 minutes, owing largely to our collective groans about NO MORE HEROES.
Don't get me wrong. The game is novel and deserves to exist, but its mechanics are so outrageously poor so often that it's hard to find nice things to say about it.
But it is our Winning Time game this week and well into the next few months, so we're stuck with it. It's like that time I started reading "The Stand," which I didn't want to finish but ... hey, didn't finish that one. But I did see the gillion-part TV miniseries starring Laura San Giacomo.
We say who, we say when, we say how much. FREE CYLON ACTION FIGURE TO WHOMEVER GETS THE REFERENCE.
So, we'll see how this goes.
With music from Mark Mothersbaugh, Nobuo Uematsu, Air and Save Ferris.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #36: Potty Training
00:00 - 41:33 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Nobuo Uematsu, "FFIV Main Title" (Celtic Moon arrangement)
42:12 - 1:07:32 -- Winning Time: NO MORE HEROES
ACT BREAK -- Air, "Femme D'Argent"
1:08:01 - 1:38:05 -- The news, what's coming out
OUTRO -- Save Ferris, "S.Y.L.S.B."