GamerDads Live

After all of the exciting announcements at E3, we couldn't wait to do this show. We hit some of the highlights of the show, including the Dashboard, Avatars, and new Gears of War 2 announcements.

Straight Up Dorkin It Podcast Episode 9-E3 Spectacular

Episode Links
Xbox.com E3 2008
Gears 2 Campaign footage
Microsoft Press Conference material

Exactly 24 hours ago I started watching the press conference for Microsoft at the E3 event and yet I can't stop thinking about it.
Every time I watch that single player Gears of War 2 campaign, Resident Evil 5 footage, think about the possibilities of the group chat, Fallout 3, etc. etc. I wet myself a little. And I'm ok with that.
In case you missed it, here's the link. http://e3.g4tv.com/e32008/press_conf_detail.aspx?pressconference_key=1

"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

Those are the timeless words of wisdom spoken by Darth Helmet. They ring true in some cases more than others, and this is one of those times.

We've let the evil of ingame collecting taint our good gaming experience. Why do game developers think we are in love with hunting down items in games to unlock cheap cheats/costumes/weapons or achievements? Seriously. When I buy a game, it is generally to kill things, not play "Where's Waldo" with orbs/canisters/comic book art/etc.

The best that I can come up with is that somewhere there is an executive who feels that according to his research that we gamers love hunting for the mundane and that it is more fun than playing the game. That's the only reason I can think of why a great game like Assassin's Creed would force you to spend more time hunting flags than it takes to beat the game... twice.

Nobody that I know bought Ninja Gaiden II saying "Dude, you have to find 30 skulls! Isn't that sweet?" I know not every feature in a game is a selling point, but this is lame. In most games, it's nothing more than an afterthought.

That's not to say that some games don't get it right, so here are my rules on how to do it the right way:

1. Keep the collecting to things relevant to the story (see BioShock). The audio diaries were a pain, but at least you got to hear more of the story and felt rewarded for finding them.

2. Keep the number down (I'm looking at you Hulk and Assassin's Creed). Nobody wants to have to collect over 200 items (over 500 in AC's case) when they really don't benefit or change the gameplay at all.

The above map is only 1 section of flags. Sheesh.

3. Have the collecting benefit your character (Crackdown's agility orbs). I don't mind collecting if it will make my character better and if it's not necessary for me to find every last one. Those agility orbs were plentiful enough that I got my character maxed out without finding them all. Works for me.

There are my 3 simple rules to take back gaming for the good of the gamer and not the ease of simpler programing. "All it takes for the evil of collecting to win is for good gamers to do nothing." I think that was from Churchill after trying to find that last "flying rat" in GTA 4.

This super-sized podcast will give you all you need to know about the hot (and less than hot) games of summer for the XBOX 360. This is your perfect 4th of July audio distraction, so download it now and learn about games, the difference between Gummi and Care Bears, and enjoy being reminded of what it was like as teen with braces!

Straight Up Dorkin It Podcast Episode 8-Summer Game Preview Special

Episode Links
Fallout 3
NCAA 09
Madden 09
NHL 09
Tiger Woods 09
Too Human
Soul Calibur IV
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Unreal Tournament 3

Our friends over at the Blue Skittle (click the title for the link) have given us the honor of being their featured podcast. Come read the interview and stay for the magazine!

We are back with a slightly longer episode, as we had a lot to catch up on since ethanjude was out with a busted computer.

Straight Up Dorkin' It Podcast Episode 7

Episode Links
LucasArts Layoffs

We have been waiting out the approval process, and it is now through. Our podcast is officially on the iTunes Store! Click the link below to subscribe!

Subscribe in iTunes

Now with more JarJar and Lucas hate. Covering Star Wars Force Unleashed multiplayer fiasco, and Nien convincing himself to give the new Indiana Jones a chance.

Straight Up Dorkin' It Podcast Episode 6

Episode Links
Bungie Says Goodbye to Frankie
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (IMDB)
Star Wars Force Unleashed-No MP for 360 or PS3 (Kotaku)

I hate the fact that I suck. I am a competitive guy, but my multiplayer skills are absolute rubbish and it drives me crazy. When a new game comes out I do well, but as time rolls on, everyone but me seems to get better at a game and I continue to get worse. I become a total jobber.

Like Brooklyn Brawler level.

Yet somehow I keep convincing myself that it will only take 1 more game to finally have things click. Like I'm some kind of savant who has the all the skills of an MLG player, but they are lying dormant until that one "a-ha" moment.

So what I need to see more of, is a single player, multiplayer.

Perfect example: ShadowRun.

I could play multiplayer matches, by myself, against AI competition. I can train against the AI at different difficulty levels. It allowed me to get better in a montessori school fashion; at my own pace. Why do so few games do this? Got me, but I have to imagine that there is a world out there of gamers who would love to play these type matches where they can get better at the game without team killing, name calling, on mic chewing, excessive swearing, and general anger because I am the anchor on your team. That's a win/win/win situation.

On this weeks show we talk about the new features on Gears of War 2, Matt Damon, the book "Grand Theft Childhood", Matt Damon, the Halo 3 Tourney winner is announced, and more Matt Damon!

Straight Up Dorkin' It Podcast, Episode 5

More links from this episode:
I'm F'in Matt Damon (YouTube, NSFW)
GDL Party in Indy
Gears of War 2 Forum on GDL

I am an Old Skool gamer. I mean real old skool. If you've ever had to type "load" or "run" on a C64 then you as well qualify for that blessed badge of honor. When I started gaming, most games didn't have a point, or even an atainable ending. Look at Gauntlet. 100 levels with no real ending. ET, Pitfall, etc were all the same way. About the time that the NES came out there was a revolution. Suddenly there was a plot in gaming. Stories were told, no matter how abstract or thin the plot may be, it was there.

It was during this time that I became a hardcore gamer, I think I sank more hours into Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Metroid, Blaster Master, Bionic Commando, and Contra then anyone else I know. I feel in love with the single player mode, which was the only mode unless you had a friend over, be even then it wasn't nearly as fun as playing alone because not all of my friends were any good. I would have settled with average, but alas, their kung fu was weak.

More recently I've gotten into the multiplayer gaming. Admittedly, I was late to this party and only started playing online MP in the last 2 years or so. It's fun, all except for the usual reasons. Mouthy minors, team killing, and the general fact that I feel sometimes I shouldn't even own a controller any more after seeing the talent out there. Even still, MP was a mistress of mine that I secretly enjoyed her company.

Somewhere along the time line of modern gaming, someone who feels like me must of had the right person's ear, because a new breed of game was born. We're not talking bad cross breeding like Uruk-kai here, we're talking about taking the best of both worlds. Kind of like how Liv Tyler got the best of Steve Tyler and Jeri Hall.

When I first played Gears of War online Co-op, my jaw hit the floor. Perfection was actualized. I got to play with a friend online, and best of all, if a locust killed me, it didn't tell me to "suck" this, or teabag me. In fact, I always had a teammate who had my back. We were in it together. And we could use strategy! We could call out where we were and coordinate attacks. How cool is that?

Since then, co-op has reached new heights. In Halo3 you could have a 4 player game, and even with a little scoring meta game that put a little head to head competition in as well. Marvel:UA, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, Army of Two, even GTA IV has co-op in it. Upcoming mega hit titles like Fable 2 are incorporating a drop in/out system on their game, and it is an RPG.

So thank you, like minded game people who started co-op. Your love for SP and MP has created what should become (and already is fastly approaching) a main feature of all future gaming titles. Co-op gameplay, FTW.

This week on the show we talk about the Madden cover boy/athlete, online leagues and franchises, GTA IV, and the upcoming Ninja Gaiden II.

We have also added the ability to listen to the latest episode in your browser by just using the media player in the right hand column. Enjoy.

Straight Up Dorkin' It Podcast, Episode 4

Some links from this episode:

Madden 09-First Online League Details (ign.com)

With the NFL Draft coming this weekend and the gradual leaking of info on Madden 09 or as they are calling it XX, I thought I could address a component to the Madden gaming legacy. It is well documented that there is a "Madden Cover Jinx". It seems that it will be moot this year, at least on the football field. Sources state that Brett Favre will be the cover athlete this year. One could argue that he was pre-cursed with that awful pick he threw in OT against the Giants.

I actually think that a post-playing days Madden curse/jinx/voodoo could make for some interesting hi jinks in a family comedy setting. They could double dip and make it a "Single White Female" type story with an obsessed Madden going after Brett, dressing in his clothes...well maybe not. I digress.

The genesis of the Madden Cover Jinx is generally believed to be with Eddie George who was the cover athlete for Madden 2001. While that is true for the US versions there were two prior and lesser known players who had their own jinx issues; Garrison Heart and Dorsey Levens.

Here is the info on them, (until I looked up specs I was unaware of them, in terms of Madden, I knew who they were in a real world football context) and any info would not have any "real world" flavor from me.

From Wikipedia:

Garrison Hearst (1999)
Garrison Hearst was the first player to ever be featured solo on a Madden cover, appearing on Madden NFL 99. Hearst's 1998 season was the best of his career, rushing for 1,570 yards and seven touchdowns. He led the San Francisco 49ers to the playoffs and a wild card win over the Green Bay Packers, but on the first play of the divisional game versus the Atlanta Falcons, he suffered a bad ankle break and his team would go on to lose the game. He did not play again until 2001.
(It is worth noting that there are two versions of the Madden NFL '99 cover, one with an image of Hearst--primarily on European market PAL versions--and the more common one in North America with John Madden's image.)

Dorsey Levens (2000)
Dorsey Levens emerged as one of the premier running backs in football in 1997, rushing for over 1,400 yards and he also got into voted to the Pro Bowl. However, he injured his knee during the 1998 season and was never quite the same. He gained over 1,000 yards for the Green Bay Packers in the 1999 season, but was mostly used in a reserve role for the next two years. Levens was released by the team in 2001, used sparingly in a back-up role with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants after that, and was essentially out of football by the end of 2004.
(Levens was the cover athlete for the European PAL versions of Madden NFL 2000.)

I think it is strange that the Wikipedia article chose to have it listed under Madden Curse, rather than Jinx ( the other colloquialism used to describe this phenomenon). Curse to me evokes blood rituals, slaughtered animals and a wanton desire to do harm to anyone. While I do believe that many chickens (presumably deep fried) have been sacrificed to the Madden belly, I have a hard time seeing (or wanting to see) John hovering shirtless over a flaming pit with chicken blood dripping from his man boobs cackling that wrong be done to Eddie George and his career since he stole the cover from him. And curse, like it or not, brings that image to my head. From here on in I will refer to the common knowledge issues that player have after appearing on the cover as the jinx, and I will save curse for later.

So in terms of jinxing, it works. Players clearly have had sub par or injury riddled seasons after appearing on the cover.

Madden 2001 - Eddie George - Career high in fumbles including a costly "fumble-six" in a playoff game in a 2001 playoff game.

Madden 2002 - Daunte Culpepper - Back injury costs him the last 5 games, and it saves him from living what will become common place for him after the cover appearance...a lot of picks.

Madden 2003 - Marshall Faulk - Ankle injury and subpar team performance post appearance.

Madden 2004 - Michael Vick - 5 days after release of the game he snaps his ankle in a preseason game. It costs him the first 11 games. Those are fun, sodomy free ( at least in some ways I am sure) days that I am sure he wish he had about now.

Showing the Cube some love....Much Love

Madden 2005 - Rayenthal Lewis - He broke his arm at the end of the year and went from phenomenally talented ahole, to aging and slowing down ahole from that point.

Note: I could not find images but the back of the cover of this game had Ray destroying TO with a hit stick tackle;TO being the cover athlete for NFL 2K5. Not to be outdone in terms of pettiness 2K5 had an image of TO stiff arming Rayethal.

Madden 2006 - Donovan McNabb - Sports Hernia + TO issues...this was a rough one for me as I have ben a fan since his days at the 'Cuse

Madden 2007 - Shaun Alexander - Broken foot and sub 1000 Yard season for his cover year.

Madden 2008 - Vince Young - 1 to 2 TD to Int ratio and a quad injury.

Madden 2008 (en Epsanol) - Luis Castillo - Ankle Injury plus loss of roid supplier hurt him Peor que él anticipó.

Looks like he is posing as Robocop. How do you say " You're move, creep", en espanol?

So that is the gist of the Madden Cover Jinx. Now Curse, that is another ball of wax. Here are things that the cover athletes dealt with Post Madden cover that I think might have a prayer of falling under curse ( complete with Ritualstic half naked John Madden).

Madden 99 - Garrison Hearst - in 2004 he was caught up in a fiasco with anti gay comments, and had to make amends for them. In 2007 he lost an appeal to regain 44,316 in taxes that were tied into his signing bonus.

Madden curse level - mild

Madden 2000 - Dorsy Levens - No dirt, seemingly unaffected by "The Curse". He was a pinch hitter for the cover due to Barry Sanders sudden retirement...perhaps he was not work the man boob scrubbing that comes with the ritual for Madden. ( Blood can be hard to get out of man boobs, or so I have heard).

Madden Curse level - none, so far

Madden 2001 - Eddie George - No dirt found, however SPOILER-----He played "Jones" in the Steven Seagal DTV seminal classic " Into the Sun" and gets killed before the opening credits.

Could only score the role of "Club Guest" along side current (hrmm) luminaries Mike Eruzione and Sebastian Telfair in the Dwayne Johnson, errr, Rock headed vehicle, The Gameplan. You might want to get a new agent my man...just saying.

Madden Curse level - middling..even Jesse Ventura made it several reels into Predator

Madden 2002 - Daunte Culpepper - The "Love Boat Cruise", ( he was exonerated for it, but it has haunted him, esp given multiple defense theories), blown out knee(triple threat ACL,MCL, PCL) and getting cut by Miami prior to a 1-15 season.

Madden Curse level - Very high, he must've taken a prime bite out of John's Turducken one year.

Madden 2003 - Marshall Faulk - Loses all class and attacks OCD-stricken Howie Mandel after the latter will not shake hands with him. He then laughs about it while talking with other boring talking heads.

Madden Curse level - For his level of class - high...in relation to Daunte's and the next idiots issues; very low

Madden 2004 - King of the scumbags, Michael Vick - If you don't know what he did you must live in a cave. On top of being a Godfather to Dogfighting he has had the Ron Mexico issue, the water bottle issue, the wanna be Bam Morris issue ( Two men were caught with a truck full of Mary Jane, oh yeah it was registered in his name), and the fact he is a scumbag of the highest order. It is hard to believe he is related to Marcus Vick.

Madden Curse Level - The king daddy of them all.

Madden 2005 - Rayenthal Lewis - I think he is a decent man, or at least he has become one. He does a lot of charity work and seems to have learned some life lessons the hard way. Still he was involved in a murder investigation in 2000 and indicted on obstruction of justice. He settled with the victims and families of the victims in 2004 for 1,000,000 to one child of a victim and an undisclosed amount to the other. These are clearly actions of a completely innocent man.

Madden Curse Level - Low, but you can almost feel Karma knocking at the door, and it is not for a social visit.

Madden 2006 - Donovan McNabb - TO, and the fact that someone actually believes that Kevin Kolb might be a better quarterback in the next decade...not much there..Then again I love Donovan. Stay healthy, man.

Madden Curse Level - Lower than Andy Reid's cholesterol, by a mile.

Madden 2007 - Shaun " Andy Stitzer" Alexander - Cut two years after MVP award. He really has had it easy , esp when you look at Mr. Mexico.

Madden Curse Level - Lower than Mike Holmgren's cholesterol, by a mile.

Madden 2008 - Vince Young - Quoted "You gotta respect the boss of the NFL but at the same time I feel like he wasn't convicted of anything so maybe he should've got a couple of games, 8 games, something like that. At the same time, you have the commissioner trying to keep guys out of trouble and trying to clean stuff up, so you gotta stay out of trouble and respect the stuff he's talking about." in regards to PacMan Jones

He defended PacMan...dumbass.

Madden Curse Level - Lower than Jeff Fisher's Mullet.

Madden 2008- en Espanol - Luis Castillo - nothing of note.

Madden Curse Level - Lower than Norv Turner's pockmarks. Was that wrong? Did I go too far?

The last four are dull in terms of the curse, but Mr. Mexico looked good for a while...watch out boys...

Straight Up Dorkin' It Episode 3 is up and ready for mass consumption. Join the team as they talk about chainsaw duels, GTA IV multiplayer, the Legendary Map Pack, and EA's Battlefield casualty.

GamerDads Live Podcast, Episode 3

Here are some of the links from this weeks show:

GTA 4 Multiplayer details
ethanjude beats Wheatious in H3 metagame
EA finally drops charges for Battlefield:BC weapons (Kotaku)

I am a loud, vocal anti-Gamesaver (a person who cheats in various ways to improve their gamerscore). I've been recently contacted by one of the OG, original gamersavers, named Shuckey. Although natural enemies like the Cobra and Mongoose, he came to me to tell his story. I opened my own blog just to cover his extensive story. It's a facinating look into the educated mind of a professional video game cheater. Have a look.

http://jdbuck1.blogspot.com/

*This article is to coincide with xenocidic’s piece on the history of the Gamerdads as a group.
See the link on the sidepanel for his post and personal blog.

Gamerdads Live started out as an afterthought from the xbox.com Gamerdads thread. Every so often a new dad would pop in and say to us, "hey I like the group. Do we have a website?" The simple answer was "No, I’m afraid we don’t." One day work was really slow so I took half an hour and set up a simple free website. Attached to that simple free website was a simple free forum, so in essence in May, 2007 Gamerdads Live was born.

So with me manning the fort I took the reigns of the Forum etc. and waited until a few people showed up then left again until I was manning the place virtually for myself. Long months passed with only a fleeting glance at the site but still keeping it going hence it was free, we started having a second regular member by the name of ethanjude and the 2 of us had our own discussion board which was slowly gaining members.

mo moss's Gamercard

December came around and we had approximately 10 regular(ish) members, and I made a comment about maybe we could reach 1000 posts by the end of the year. We most definetly exceeded that. Then the biggie happened. Mo Moss had a gamer spotlight done highlighting the Gamerdads.
MO MOSS Gamer spotlight

More and more members joined. Shortly after that he was the first official spotlight featured on inside xbox in North America from the XBOX dashboard. Again, we had more and more members join. As you can probably tell we smashed that 1000 post target by some considerable margin.

Finally I decided enough was enough. The free website provider was doing my head in with various things they were doing. (Why yes, I do want a massive bar covering up my content) so in January I switched over to proper hosting and hence was back in control of what could and could not be seen.

March swung around and I decided to take the plunge and opened up a new forum (causing great confusion over sign up etc.) which we all now know and love as GDL.
So after 1 month of the “New” forums being up we arrive at where we are today same quantity of posts as we had for all of the last forum, we have pod casts going up (thanks Nien and ethanjude). We have this blog (thanks LA13). We host the DaDS Clan (thanks Birdman), we are holding a Madden league (thanks to CCJ), a HALO 3 Tournament (thanks again, Nien), as well as Fantasy Sports (thanks JD Buck).

I for one am proud to belong to this fine community and look forward to where it will take us in the future. Here is to being a Dad and a Gamer and a part of GamerDads Live.

* Translated from heavy Scotish to English by ethanjude. WINK.

Regardless of the reference of the title I was in now way influenced to write this article based on the recent actions of Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, or Randy Jackson. Paula is just too drunk all the time to consider her as a possibility.

I would like to start out just by saying I am very proud of our group and what it has become. In truth I have been proud since I first joined the original thread on Xbox.com. OGD, Original (somewhat) Gamerdad...anyways, I am proud of being associated with this group of men. What we do to help make Xbox Live a better place is commendable, and a core part of the group. To be above the fray and to make it a better place is a part of our mission statement. I believe that while we maintain that mission online we can expand that mission into the real world as a group. And that mission can start out small, with things such as the ideas below, and grow and expand as it is dictated by involvement and passion for this concept...if there is any.

That is it in terms of arcane references, well maybe not, but this will truly be one of my drier blog entries ever. It is something I have been thinking about for a while but never got around to addressing either on the website, or my own personal blog (Xeno Like plug, minus link). It stems from a thread on the gamerdad website and the subsequent friendly and agreeable as always discourse between "the Cho"* and myself. You can view that here.

* The Cho being the a$$ end of team Kokocho, coming to multiplayer of some ilk soon. BTW guys, best viral marketing since "What is the Matrix", lets hope you are more "The Matrix" and a lot less "Reloaded or "Revolutions".

For those who do not feel like they should have to "Let me explain---no there is too much, let me sum up". There was a thread about Circuit City and what it became was a brief debate, that turned into an agreement (between me and 'the Cho", say it is not so!!) that we should organize and let these corporate giants that we do not appreciate a lot of their labor or business practices. We will not just sit idly by and simply complain about what they do and let them know that we will not patronize their stores as long as they continue on said path, and let them know how much it cost them in the past year, and the projected loss of potential revenue from our group in the coming year.

I chose Circuit City due to this practice. It turns out that they are feeling the effects of that, see here. So I am open to suggestions if there are other more current practices by a company that merit our consumer wrath. I for one would not mind helping put the final nail in the coffin of Circuit City, but I am open to suggestions. I would ask only one thing; only join in this if you are committed to following through. I completely understand getting caught up in the moment, but you should only join in this crusade if you intend on backing the concept of a boycott. I want these numbers that I submit to mean something. This is not always easy. Since I first emailed Circuit City about my concern over the issue I have received a weekly discount email coupon. I have not and will not use it. I need to ask for the same stiff upper lip from anyone who would like to get involved in this project.

To accomplish this I would ask you send me:

Money spent on Video games in 2007.

Projected money that will be spent on Video games in 2008.

I will not post or give any information on who submitted what number. What I may do is give a report with $ per state to give the report more context. At that point I will draft multiple letters to the CEO, Members of the board and Regional Managers that fall within the parameters of the group who submit data telling them that we will not patronize them as long as they continue with the practice that we take umbrage with. I will be sure to post the letter on here in advance to get feedback.

I plan on letting them know that the "hard number" is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of impact as we will be sure to have a grass roots campaign to inform people of their practices and join us in our quest. Rather than simply grumbling on a website I think that we can make a difference in the way these companies do business, both with their employees and with us the consumer.

I have had another itch to scratch for a time, and this one may be a bit out there for some of you, but give it some time to sink in.

Have you ever taken in an old sports game or platformer and had the trade value come back, and have it be something that may not cover Chips and a Pepsi? I know I have, and I rationalized it and said, “well this will defray the tax", or "It's better than nothing, I guess". Well I am tired of that I have put a boycott of trade ins. There must be something better that we can do with these games besides send them to the "Island of Misfit Toys". Well I have an early concept, but I need help in fleshing it out.

My thought is that we can develop a program to send underused and unloved games to places where they might be needed. While this pales to a food program, I think it fits with who we are as a community and allows for things we have, and could do without and does something good with it. I am thinking after school programs, Big Brother/Big Sister houses, and long term care wards at Children's hospitals. Again, any other ideas you have would be great to add either here in comments, or in the forum post on GDL.

I think that we should choose one location where we have multiple dads, as a place to get started; Indy and Columbus come to mind. What I would like is to have one person head the project from that location. They would locate and contact potential places that would need donations, and take donations that the community sends them. While I appreciate that some people are collectors and like keeping their games, this gives and opportunity for those of us who aren't to get real value from our old games. If you are in my boat I urge you to think this over. I have about 3 360 games that I would be happy to contribute. Keep in mind we are looking for Teen and below.

I would think that we could at some point expand this to buying new games on the cheap and perhaps getting into sending those as well, but for now, let’s focus on putting our used games to good use. I will look into older consoles when I am visiting my parents next weekend. Nostalgia says keep them, you love them. The man in me says, maybe this could be put to better use...they are in your parent's basement right now, after all.

My oldest son just started his second season of flag football yesterday. He's 6 years old, but has the legs of Barry Sanders, the heart of Brett Favre, and all the flash of Ocho Cinco- Chad Johnson. I watched him play in practice yesterday and he is still faster and better at football then all the other kids, and he was letting them know with these little Sammy Sosa finger kisses aimed at the sky after each successful run where he left another kid eating the grass from his cleats as he ran away.

We had a refresher course on sportsmanship on the way home, and how even teammates don't like show-offs.

That made me think about my youth and when I played organized sports. I loved to talk smack. Especially in basketball. Never anything offensive or mean. In fact, I could usually get the guy who I was matched up against once or twice on the other team to laugh by making fun of something like, the way their head coach was dressed. But no matter what happened during the game, you could rest assured one thing happened at the end. Two words were exchanged between the teams: "good" and "game". Even the pros do that at the end of a playoff series, and these guys are paid millions of dollars to be the best at what they do, and yet they still share that "good game momment". Why? Sportsmanship and decency.
It's this mentality that I would love to see more over Live. I have handed out and received many severe beatings over Live, but after each one I have always said "good game". Why? It doesn't matter if they stink at the game played, the point is that it is a human on the receiving end of your words. Not mindless A.I. We're all cyberathletes here just trying to play a game and have some fun.

We have perfected the art of online trash talk, but neglected the sport of human decency and respect.

Let me be clear... racism, sexism, and sexual threats against someone's family members is not trash talk. It is dehumanizing and ignorant speach. We are discussing trash talk here.

I can tell you that hearing someone say "good game" or even offering a little tip is better than reminding someone one last time that they suck. Just as organized sports and leagues are a community of people with a common interest, so are we who play XBOX Live.

Kids say it because we teach them sportsmanship is more important than bruised egos. Superstar athletes say it because they respect their peers no matter how much better/worse they may be. So kids do it, as do adults and paid professionals. What is our excuse not to?

Here are a couple of video tutorials on subscribing to the GamerDads Live podcast feed through 2 of the more common pieces of software, iTunes and Zune.

Also, if you use any other software, or just want the RSS feed for any reason, the feed for the blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerdadslive.

Subscribing through iTunes

For this one, here are the basic steps.

Open up iTunes.
Click on Advanced, then click on "Subscribe to Podcast".
In the window, enter http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerdadslive and click ok.

Subscribing through Zune

Here are the basic steps for Zune.

Open up the Zune software.
Click Collection, then podcasts at the top of the window.
If you already have some podcasts listed, you will click the "Add a Podcast" button in the lower left. If not, you will click on "Add a Known Favorite".
In the window that comes up, enter http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerdadslive and click Subscribe.

If you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave them.

Episode 2 of the podcast is up and ready for download. You can download it over in the sidebar, under Podcast Episodes, by right-clicking on the link and choosing Save Link As or Save Target As, or you can do the same with the link below. Thanks for downloading, and we hope you enjoy the show!

GamerDads Live Podcast, Episode 2

I am a frequent poster in the xbox.com fourms. I like to browse the Unanswered Posts or Active Topics to see if an interesting topic started or if someone has a question I can answer. I was browsing two nights ago and found this post:

"My friend recently purchased a Core "arcade" console from the retail store TARGET about a week ago. He purchased it with a 3 Year Warrenty. My console has lost the ability to read discs so we are going to take back my console to the same store he purchased his and do a return to get a new one.Has anyone tried this and not have it work?

Either at a Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc?

Do these stores have some way to monitor that the console we are returning wasn't the original one in the box?"

My faith in humanity was restored a little when the majority of the responses, including my own were negative towards him by telling him this was stealing, lying, fraudulent, etc. However there was one who suggested trying Wal-Mart instead and gave him her reasons. She is an Xbox Ambassador and I know in her heart she was only trying to help out her fellow Community member. *sarcasm*

I informed him this was in fact stealing and was akin to wearing old shoes into a store, putting them into a shoebox on the shelf and wearing out the brand-spanking new pair out the front door.

After some verbal beatings he responded with this gem:

"lol, you people are acting like it's the worst thing in the world. It is no different then, say, stealing cable service, and that takes a lot more effort."

And this one...

"You think everyone in the world doesn't lie or steal? I bet majority of the people you look up to has, but that is besides the point."

Keep in mind in this moderated, public forum he has asked for advice from the Xbox Community to help him commit a felony or misdemeanor crime. In his head, the ethics and morality meter was turned off and so were some who responded. For him, perhaps since the victim is a big-box store, where's the harm? He did some classic justification of his actions and blame-reflecting, while trying to minimize his future crime by comparing it to things like stealing cable.

We adult gamers see attitudes like young man's seep into the games we love to play nearly every time we log on. People online constantly looking for ways to glitch or cheat the system and give the rest of us a headache. It's funny when kids jump out the map Gears of War or teamkill in COD4, right? Or they disconnect in the 4th quarter of a sports game they're getting spanked in.

Fairplay often goes out the window in online gaming and probably will never change. People have found the anonymity of the internet allows them talk to and treat people in a way they most certainly wouldn't do if you were standing in the same room. That's why people find solace in sites much like this one. Chatting and playing with people with similar interests despite different locales, ages, social status help keep our online sanity. Happy gaming!

I remember waiting in line at midnight last September waiting to get my hands on the final chapter of the game that got me to actually appreciate first person shooter (FPS) games: Halo 3. I got it and “finished the fight” in a few days, and enjoyed very much the way it ended. Perhaps I am already a bit ahead of myself here…

I started as an XBOX gamer because of Knights of the Old Republic, the best Star Wars game in a long time, but perhaps in another entry. My brother in law decided that he needed to introduce me to Halo. I played it once, and fell in love with it. It was a great single player game (if not repetitive at the end) and it introduced me to local versus matches. Incredible. It was a good stand alone experience but did not spend much time in multiplayer.

Fast forward to the release of Halo 2. My love for FPS games has begun to grow a bit. I was not quite to the point where I could do a WWII FPS (which was all you got from CoD at the time), but my love was building for that strong single player FPS campaign. Shortly after its release, a friend and I decided we were going to use our church’s fellowship hall for an all-nighter. The church fellowship hall was the right place, because I was in geek Heaven. We played 16 players on 4 projection screens until 5 am the next day. A multiplayer fan was born.

Fast forward again to the launch of the XBOX 360. I picked up 2 shooters that day: Perfect Dark Zero and CoD2. I don’t think PDZ got out of the shrink wrap for almost a month. I was enthralled by the single player campaign on CoD2. I never did the multiplayer modes as I still held out on a Live subscription for almost another 9 months. Once I did sign up, I began the world that is online play. I’ve never been that great at multiplayer, and I still don’t play it often, but I appreciate when a game gives me a good online experience.

So now, let’s get to the point here. I had Halo 3 and began playing it online shortly after finishing the campaign. I absolutely loved it. The game types, the weapons, customizing the characters. All of it was incredible, and don’t get me started on theater mode, forge, and bungie.net.

Then a month later CoD4 releases, and suddenly all my friends were gone to that game. I held off on my purchase of CoD4 because my wife wanted to buy that for me for Christmas. As I would chat with my friends online and at the forums over at xbox.com, I began to see more and more of this backlash against Halo. People saying it sucks, and its lame, and other forms of internet slander. I was confused. These were the same people I was in the trenches with in Halo less than a month ago. What changed?

Apparently, there is a mentality out there that has convinced people that we can only give our gaming hearts to one gal at a time, and most chose to give their hearts to CoD4. When I finally got my hands on CoD4, I knew what the big deal was about. It had everything out of a multiplayer mode you could ask for. Great game modes, the barracks system was fantastic, and you can customize several character classes with perks and by not having online achievements in there, it made for a better community. However, after nearly a month, something felt missing…
I put Halo 3 back in to play a little bit and enjoyed myself (though mother than once I dropped a bubble shield when I meant to reload, or zoomed in when I wanted to melee). Then the next day came along, and as I reached for my controller, I found myself faced with a huge dilemma. What do I play? This is a phenomenal problem to have. I remember the days of my youth where you may only get 2 great games in a year. Now I had 2 at the same time. That’s when I really started to wonder: “Why has a line been drawn in the sand? Why must I choose between these games?” Both games are great and different enough that they each scratch a different FPS itch, so why can’t I play both on back to back nights, or even in the same night? Why did I feel dirty for wanting to play both of these games, as though it were 2 relationships that I was trying to keep secret?

I've come to grips with the fact that it is ok to like both games. Why? Because they each set out to do something, and accomplished what they were after. Halo never pretends to be a realistic shooter, and Call of Duty never will give you ridiculous frags and matches that seem almost silly in their premise.

Both have incredible value, shelf life, and online communities. I could come clean with the games.
“CoD4 I want you to meet someone. Her name is Halo3. I love her, but I love you too. I think we can work this out.”

Let me propose an idea to all gamers out there who own both titles: If you haven’t played all the game types on Halo, why not give Rocket Race, Griffball, or for the more traditional experience, Team SWAT a chance? Then take your pics and pester your opponents with them.
Like these:

I completely fufilled my geek fantasy with a pic like this. It's from a Halo 3 Tournament that I am currently in.

If you have neglected CoD4, well, have you tried prestige mode yet? If you’ve flipped that a couple of times, then try one of Beezy’s patented TUFF modes? A headshot’s only match, or a knives only match. Both will make you a better player.
Which ever side of the debate you have taken, remove your prejudices. Come clean with the fact that you are a gamer, and admit that there are a lot of beautiful games out there who desperately want your attention, and that’s ok.

Episode 1 of the podcast is up and ready for download. You can download it over in the sidebar, under Podcast Episodes, by right-clicking on the link and choosing Save Link As or Save Target As, or you can do the same with the link below. Thanks for downloading, and we hope you enjoy the show!

GamerDads Live Podcast, Episode 1

Friday, July 25, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Monday, July 7, 2008

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Friday, May 23, 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Friday, April 18, 2008

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Friday, April 11, 2008

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Monday, April 7, 2008

Thursday, April 3, 2008

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