BEAT.British Podcast Ep001

Our first podcast is up, check it out.

Comments to be emailed to:

theguys@beatbritish.co.uk

BD

Never judge a blah by it's blah.

What the Title “the importance of Being Ernest” means to me.

If I take the title literally, it shouldn’t really mean anything. It should have as much implication as “the importance of being Bob or John or Bill”. That is how we are ment to think in our new enlightened society, take things on their contents. We should believe in that idiom provided by some guy called William:

“a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet”

This is physically true, but a turd by the name of a rose would still smell like s***.

Personally I should believe there isn’t much in a name other than a description. But I have to admit, I am effected by names on a daily basis. I love the uniqueness of my name, would I be who I am if I was called Bob?

If honesty is my guide no. No I wouldn’t.

The irony of it all is that because my name has helped me become the individually minded person I am; I like to think that I am immune to the influence of the ‘cover of a book’ just like a name. Which obviously is bollocks.

If a rose was called s***weed, I wouldn’t buy a dozen for my girlfriend on Valentines Day.

(Which I realise in itself is doing something special because the day is named)

It’s it a tangled web of words we weave daily. S*** isn’t it?

What I have been doing lately.

These last few weeks has been a bit crazy, my girlfriend is in this amazing play at the Royal court and I'm on holiday. So I've been playing lots of Final Fantasy XII, and periodicly typing away in my Twitter feed what's going on.

It's such a shame that when we get older that we don't get the choice to enjoy computer games, like we used to. But i suppose that's what holidays are for. When I leave RADA I'm probebly not going to get many holidays. So i might as well enjoy them as much as I can.

Even if that does mean going on REAL trips to places rather than just taking a warp stone to Rabenastre. :D

The randomness...

The Tweleve Steps.

I really want Zelda, it is becomnig a bit of an obsession. I sift through fourms, I watch gameplay videos and I look at screenshots of bits of scenery. I'm fine with spoilers, anything, I just need more information on it. I've even watched videos of the hands of people playing zelda on the Wii. I am sad. I'll read Reviews good or bad.

But in the end I don't care. Even if Jeff Gerstman gives it a 1.0 . Even the man who gave Zelda: Ocarina of Time a perfect store. I want it. I want it! Even windwaker which was by far the most long winded game ever, it hasn't faulted my need for zelda.

Why is this? Trust (perhaps a mis guided trust). It's because I trust nintendo, they have a good track record. There arn't that many companies that have this effect on gamers (sorry Rich ;) ).

I can count the companies that i trust on one hand, but for the purposes of the internet (as you can't see my hands) lets assume I have five fingers on each hand.

Nintendo
Square-Enix
(These are ones that personally you may have others)

But this trust is misplaced, I will be the first to admit this. They do get it wrong:

Nintendo had the Virtual Boy.

Square-Enix had Bouncer.

But with all the mistakes I still purchase, I crave it. This is why I'll buy a Wii, this is why people will line up for days (weeks?!) for the PS3.

Because of track record, not because of lanuch line up; maybe innovation will bring new players to nintendo, but the current gamers buy because know what they like.

Good on nintendo for doing something different, but even if Zelda isn't the best game ever made, if the wii is just another gimic console. I'll still buy it. Because I have a problem.

The first step is admiting it after all:

"My name is Paris Arrowsmith and I have a problem: I am a nintendo fanboy"

ilogical Camping

It's something of a mystery, midnight launches. They do strange things to nerds and gamers (please excuse the word, I know It's blasfamy). In anyother industry (other than grand opening of ikea where three people died from being trampled ), it creates mass panic. Where is the logic? Logic. OK lets use Vulcan logic:

Vulcan Logic says that if you wait patiently you will be served. It also dictates that if you wait till morning to purchase the product (if you preordered it) you will get yours and that you will have had enough sleep to enjoy the console gaming experience.

Right. Logical, on the surface.

The real world truth is that OTHER people do not obey logic. OTHER people do. If loads of OTHER people go to a midnight launch then they will be sold out or all the good games will be anyway, OTHER people will already be further than me, in this game or will already be higher on the leaderboards online. Which is BS. So LOGICLY i'm FORCED to camp out at my local game.

This is deep logic based on chaos theroy and basic maths. Kind of.

I've camped out a few times, sometimes it's gone horribly wrong, but sometimes it's worked out ok.

When I camped out for the gamecube I waited outside dixsons from 5am, with my best friend at the time Nick, it was REALLY cold the shop said they 'might' open early but didn't open till 9.23 - 23 minutes late. To add insult to injury WHSmiths across the road opened at 8.30 and were selling the console. But I had preordered at dixsons, so I was screwed. --this was a bad experience, I had no entertainment other than banter (which only lasted 2 hours before the cold slowed the brain down).

The last campout I went to was the PSP, which was handled in a much better fashion. I was first in line and started camping oout at 9.45 for a midnight launch. My fellow attendees kept the line we talked lightly about accessories and cool upcoming games and ofcourse we speculated about the PS3. Which was fun. Near to midnight we were all asigned a number (i got number one) and were sold psp's in that order (which was a brilliant system). This is how it should be done I was in and out by 12.29 and home by 12.45. It was like a hot knife through butter, smooth and tasty.

Ok so that is a little silly, but seriously why do we camp out?

It's cold. it usualy rains. the staff are rude and someone always tries to cut in. Plus everyone always thinks they know more infomation than you and someone always starts the most stupid rumor imaginable.

But, when it all boils down, we love it don't we? It's the exitment the adrenaline hum as the minuets count down. The manager with his jangling keys, the random DS games we play. It's such a good feeling, it's an experience that has to be experienced.

So how do we make the experience better, faster, stonger? Simple.

1. First come first serve.
This does not mean all rush in! The staff at the store assign people a number and serve them in that order at the till!.

2. Security! Someone to clear arguements and break up fights.

3. Promt opening of the store 15 mins before midnight.

4. Outside storage heater. It's cold get a clue.

5. Free water. -you get thirtsy

6. To add to the last point the ability to stay in line while you go to the loo, water makes you pee.

7. Someone should get pizza. They deliver to launches if you ask nicely.



So Campingout needs to be researched carefully; it can work, it just needs a little Vulcan Logic and a little common sense.

Plus pizza, you can never have enough pizza.

Anyone out there on gamespot want to make a uk gaming meet union?

drop me a line.

Wiiexperience

http://uk.wii.com

enjoy people!

Podcast me a game!

Podcasting revolution revolutionised internet radio, could it do the same to games?

I've been podcasting for a while now, I love the Hotspot (shameless plug for votes, which won't work), i love the buzz report and I love watching On the Spot on my video ipod.

But I'm soon getting a Wii, and ofcourse I own a DS, (beautiful in black).

All those lovely rumors about the Wii downloading demos for my DS automaticly that I might be interested in. This sounds really fantastic, it could quite possibly be new evolution to portable gaming.

I can see it now.

I sign up with nintendo for the weekly demo, and every thursday or something I get a demo which i can download onto my DS. I play that demo on my way to uni and then during my free period or when I'm not needed. When I come home I load my stats (or achivements -you know It makes sence Jeff). This is free. (you hear me nintendo it's free. Or else)

But why should it stop there? What's the next level to this idea? Think about it.... I sign up to a episodic game which adds a new story or level every 2 to 3 weeks. which updates my DS cart. The possiblilities are almost endless..... new puzzles for warioware? New modes for Monkey ball? New patients in truma centre? New Metriod areas? new minds to play in Psychonauts (look at the interview with head of Double Fine)? the list is endless....



But the idea that I could subscribe to get regular updates for a game, good updates give me atleast a month of gameplay for £5 a month or like i don't know a one fee for the year say £39.99 (this is for ALL of my subscriptons eg more than one game). Is this reaonable? I think so.

What makes this different than episodic gameplay, is:

I'm not waiting six months for a new installment, i'm paying for a decent amount of content, it's downloaded automaticly and I'm paying to give good developers the chance to prelong a good franchise.

The important thing is it's downloaded AUTOMATICLY. It's subscribed to like a podcast, and it's for all kinds of games: portable and home consoles. It's for everyone, it's low cost, it's wiicasting.

Basicly I'm NOT paying £5 for horse armor. :evil:

Shewii -the curse of girlfriend gaming....

Wii. I find myself on a daily basis loving the name more and
more.

The crazy thing is I think I might have infected my
girlfriend with Nintendo fever.

So, I was playing New Super Mario Brothers (which I might add is fantastic). She looks over my shoulder and asks if she can have a go.

I didn’t see my DS for a week, I was woken up by a very frustrated woman wearing only my Nintendo DS t-shirt at 4am, “I can’t get past this thing Paris” to which I easily past the level (being in world one) half asleep. Suffice to say she was very grateful.

A month on and she has now her own white DS lite, and MY copy of super Mario bros. She is also in Bristol for 8 weeks, so can I play. No. Will I be able to play it when she gets back? No. When will I see it again? When she gets stuck. Which is fine because I love her.

Now we all want the women in our life to be interested in computer games, they
might understand you need to get ‘one more level’ or ‘get to a save’.
But, last night I woke up in cold sweats, the other side of the sword is
already drawing blood…

First it will be my copy of New super Mario Brothers, the only reason I got my
DS back is because she bought one for herself. But what happens when I get my
wii?

Here is the nightmare, my wii becomes my girlfriends wii, I get to ‘help her’ when she is stuck, I won’t have a wii anymore. It will become a shiiwii. She will by games on the virtual console and play them not leaving room for the titles I want, moving all my titles to the memory card, I’ll have to buy another wiimote because ‘she wants to accessorise hers and why should she buy a wiimote if she doesn’t own a wii?’ Death to my next generation (next evolution?) gaming experience!

Did I just, unleash a monster into the world? Is girlfriend gaming bad for mankind?

When will the suffering end?




Well at least I have a higher brain age than her…………….