Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Rock Band Edition

Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.
Rock Band is a celebration of music. It lets players explore the bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, and/or vocals in detail they could only otherwise get by examinging the master recordings. At parties, it mixes game night with record-listening night. It's not musical performance, but it brings friends and music together to have fun. Isn't that what a band is about?

Sophist Radio Episode 40: What's a Kim Kardashian?

The Sophist crew kicks off its fortieth episode much like all the rest -- with some of the best video game discussion this side of the Internet. Call it "Winter Blues" or "Big-Title Fatigue", but something is zapping the energy of the show this week as the guys share their opinions on a few titles such as: Deadspace 2, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, and Majin and The Forsaken Kingdom. Harold lets it slip that he is playing Mass Effect 2, which leads into a small chat on his feelings about the game (Spoiler Alert: He really likes it). The guys do rebound a bit, and manage to talk about some happy things. Namely death. Harold, Aaron, and James give their thoughts on the apparent death of the music-game genre. Maybe the guys should call this episode the bummercast...or not.

Harold's Most Important Games of 2010

2010 was a very strange year in gaming, with the two high definition console makers (Sony and Microsoft) deciding to chase the motion control bandwagon as it speeds past hardcore gamers and right into the comfortable realm of soccer moms and old folks home. The selections of games available for the typical gamer were at an all time low.

I personally found myself digging deep into the bargain bins and Gamefly queue in order to find games that perked my interests. This year three games in particular strike a chord with me and I would like to highlight them here, in a little something I call “ Harold’s Most Important Games of 2010."

Sophist Radio Episode 36: Conad the Dildonian

In another jammed-packed episode, the Sophist Radio crew share their thoughts on Rock Band 3, which leads into a spirited dissuasion of the death and possible rebirth of the music-game genre. The relative ease of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and games such as Professor Layton, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Corporation Inc. are also discussed. Along the way, the guys manage to rename one of the hosts and decry the very idea of homeopathic medicine. Wrapping things up is a hearty discussion of games that would translate well into movies -- obviously, everyone's favorite video-game-movie director Uwe Boll is not on the table.