haha not my photo. jeremy retweeted it
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Retronauts Podcast Thread
- Thread starter krae_man
- Start date
haha not my photo. jeremy retweeted it
Meetup was fun for the hour I was able to hang out before I had to catch my flight.
Oh and FYI on the panel, Jeremy said they are going to try and make the podcast weekly(ie full episodes every week) and he's going to try and find some people on the east coast to bring on and expand the range of topics.
Patreon goals are also going to be redone and weekly episodes will become one of the new tiers.
Oh and FYI on the panel, Jeremy said they are going to try and make the podcast weekly(ie full episodes every week) and he's going to try and find some people on the east coast to bring on and expand the range of topics.
Patreon goals are also going to be redone and weekly episodes will become one of the new tiers.
I really liked Jeremy's Micro episodes. Hope that idea lives on, even if it's just a Patreon exclusive occasional thing.
They should do those instead of stickers or something. I don't need another red background, Atari joystick Retronauts logo sticker. If stickers are so expensive, they should pay themselves to produce more content instead. Put content behind the $5 tier.
Edit: The tiers have updated:
Hopefully there are more changes on the way to actively try and get everyone up to a minimum $5 monthly contribution. They could hit $4800 tier if most people go up to $5. Then again, it looks like they still have 40 people giving them $1/month and getting nothing for it.
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
I don't really see stickers, posters, etc. going away. People like to have physical rewards for their investment.
I have been contemplating ideas for a new, slightly higher tier that might nudge us toward the weekly goal. I have regulars lined up for the new weekly offshoot, so we just need to get funding to the level where we can pay the regulars for their time and afford the additional equipment/travel a weekly show requires.
I have been contemplating ideas for a new, slightly higher tier that might nudge us toward the weekly goal. I have regulars lined up for the new weekly offshoot, so we just need to get funding to the level where we can pay the regulars for their time and afford the additional equipment/travel a weekly show requires.
I feel like they are a holdover from the Kickstarter "we need to give everyone more and more expensive things each tier up they back us at" standard MO.
Kickstarter became about preordering physical goods, and Patreon isn't about that. It's about supporting arts. Giving $5 is more like a Netflix subscription then a Kickstarter backing on installments.
I don't think anyone is giving you an extra $36/year so they can get the same two stickers twice a year. I think you'd do much better if you gated content at more tiers then just the base.
Extra weekly shows: $5 tier(though that might be tricky since it replaces the micros)
Monthly episode gated at $5 and up?
Start a tier for "choose a topic" tier at $15/month or whatever number you want and limit the number of people who can sign up to 12/year or however many you want to do. At the start, some people will get a topic picked after a month two months etc but eventually you'll have to donate at that tier for a year to get your turn.
I don't know something other then a physical thing that eats a huge chunk of your after tax income that everyone never looks at again after they open the envelope.
PaulBizkit
Member
Where do i find 2012 episodes? The earliest entries in Retronauts.com date back to 2013.
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
Ray has moved along to his own passion projects and I wouldn't presume to deny him that for the sake of our own project.
Uncle Moe
Member
Fenster Mayhew
Member
This week's episode is all about the history of video game censorship: http://www.retronauts.com/?p=1496
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
I think development. But when someone manages to escape the hellpits of writing/talking about games in order to create them instead, it's cruel to attempt to drag them back down into the abyss.
Just finished the video game censorship episode. Nice work y'all. It's always funny to look back on the Night Trap controversy and Hot Coffee to see that we really have come a long way in terms of mainstream acceptance. It all feels so long ago now. Thanks mobile games!
I certainly wasn't expecting to hear about Kobe Child Murders during a game censorship podcast. That was an interesting, albeit dark, sudden shift in tone.
I know I know, I'm a jerk, and he probably just started taking Japanese classes recently or something, but Henry's over-pronunciation of Japanese words is a bit grating. It just sounds super awkward to attempt a Japanese intonation in the middle of an English sentence.
I certainly wasn't expecting to hear about Kobe Child Murders during a game censorship podcast. That was an interesting, albeit dark, sudden shift in tone.
I know I know, I'm a jerk, and he probably just started taking Japanese classes recently or something, but Henry's over-pronunciation of Japanese words is a bit grating. It just sounds super awkward to attempt a Japanese intonation in the middle of an English sentence.
The censorship discussion was very interesting. I did think the guys kind of glossed over Rockstar's obvious intention to get around the ESRB by leaving a fully functional mini-game in GTA SA that they knew would have pushed their game out of the M rating if they had disclosed it. They were also deliberately dishonest when people found Hot Coffee in the game, blaming it on "hackers".
In New Zealand the government does censor games in the same way they censor movies, and the R18 rating is as strictly enforced for either medium. Unlike the R rating in America, kids (including babies of any age) can't go to an R18 movie with their parents, and even in the home it is illegal for a parent to let a child play a game if they are younger than the age on the R label. I remember when I was buying my PS in 1996, there was kid trying to buy Resident Evil and the staff at the electronics store quickly shut him down. These little red stickers mean business.
In New Zealand the government does censor games in the same way they censor movies, and the R18 rating is as strictly enforced for either medium. Unlike the R rating in America, kids (including babies of any age) can't go to an R18 movie with their parents, and even in the home it is illegal for a parent to let a child play a game if they are younger than the age on the R label. I remember when I was buying my PS in 1996, there was kid trying to buy Resident Evil and the staff at the electronics store quickly shut him down. These little red stickers mean business.
Fenster Mayhew
Member
They might have been a little disingenuous when it came to defending themselves, but it's not unusual to see TONS of unused content left on a disc that's programmed out of the core game. And Hot Coffee might be functional, but it certainly isn't finished--unless everyone in San Andreas has the rare X-Men power to have sex THROUGH their clothes.
IIRC what was happening in Australia is some dude in the right position who didn't like violent games was just straight up refusing to rate them.
I don't think there was a law saying "unrated games are not allowed to be sold", It was just someone exploiting the system platform holders set up.
"Don't look at us, we don't ban games we just rate them"
"Don't look at us, we don't rate games"
I'd love to know why platform holders won't just let AO or unrated games etc on their systems provided proper steps were taken to make sure they were only sold to adults and just refuse to cert porn games or whatever content they don't want on their system.
I know there was the whole "because Walmart" thing but who cares if Walmart won't stock the game. Hell someone could release a AO game digitally only if no retailers were willing to stock it. What are retailers going to do? Does Walmart refuse to sell CD players because they can play explicit lyric CD's?
I don't think there was a law saying "unrated games are not allowed to be sold", It was just someone exploiting the system platform holders set up.
"Don't look at us, we don't ban games we just rate them"
"Don't look at us, we don't rate games"
I'd love to know why platform holders won't just let AO or unrated games etc on their systems provided proper steps were taken to make sure they were only sold to adults and just refuse to cert porn games or whatever content they don't want on their system.
I know there was the whole "because Walmart" thing but who cares if Walmart won't stock the game. Hell someone could release a AO game digitally only if no retailers were willing to stock it. What are retailers going to do? Does Walmart refuse to sell CD players because they can play explicit lyric CD's?
That wasn't Rockstar being disingenuous; they were lying thru their teeth.
http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=50636
You can read more about it here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502073
http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=50636
You can read more about it here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502073
Fenster Mayhew
Member
By "disingenuous" I did mean they were lying, but that's semantics for you. From my perspective, they needed a neat and tidy well to sell their story to the press, and the real answer was far too technical for an effective PR message.
Ultimately Hot Coffee was an unfinished mode left in the source code they assumed no one would be able to access. And, after looking at the content, I don't think that should merit an AO rating, unless clothed mannequins rubbing up against each other is somehow the most graphic sexual content you've ever seen.
Now let's start talking about things that matter, like how Pikachu is a gateway drug to Satanism.
Ultimately Hot Coffee was an unfinished mode left in the source code they assumed no one would be able to access. And, after looking at the content, I don't think that should merit an AO rating, unless clothed mannequins rubbing up against each other is somehow the most graphic sexual content you've ever seen.
Now let's start talking about things that matter, like how Pikachu is a gateway drug to Satanism.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
It was digital distribution that let me buy the AO uncensored Manhunt 2 through Direct2Drive (I believe) which was since swallowed by something else and now is part of... Gamefly... I think?
No doubt that original rating had a lot to do with Hot Coffee considering the content is actually pretty tame, particularly seen in today's context. Even then, Gears of War had you chainsawing locusts in half in full visceral detail within a few months of Manhunt 2.
I still have a running install but I'll have to check if I can even download that version still through them. Digital may be a plus in some regard when it comes to censorship, but it's a definite minus in others. Remember Michael Jackson Zombie from PvZ?
You'd have to keep an unpatched install or a console disc version to have this guy still around. It's not up to you, otherwise.
bishopcruz
Member
The game that really got screwed over by Hot Coffee was Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy. The game was rated M, with it's nudity sex scenes and all, and then got rerated to AO after the whole scandal. It was in NO WAY an AO game, and in fact, when the HD remake got released it got a M with the exact same scenes that were in the AO game. The best part is, that the uncensored original release is still AO to this day.
That is one of the biggest failings in the history of the ESRB, and Quantic Dream got the short end, bigtime..
That is one of the biggest failings in the history of the ESRB, and Quantic Dream got the short end, bigtime..
Don't forget that the sequel to Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude got delayed and became a game about driving a forklift.
I don't think the Magna Cum Laude ever got rerated. Everyone just forgot about it I guess. It had cheats to remove the censor bars which were what they used to stay rated M.
Elder Scrolls Oblivion got re-rated from Teen to Mature around the time the nude mod was released on PC. My copy of the Collectors edition has a M rating sticker on the box, covering up the T rating printed on it.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oblivion-rerated-m-for-mature/1100-6148897/
I also had a "Clean Lyrics" version of an Eminem CD, but mine was The Marshall Mathers LP. As a kid, I was shocked by some of the edits- they left in "Shit", and some non-sexual instances of "Fuck", but they took out words like Kill, Knife, and any reference to violence, sex, racial/sexual slurs, and drugs. The singles on the album were different from the radio edits of the songs in most cases. They also replaced the Kim track (the song where he murders his wife) with a South Park style song called The Kids where Em does his wonderful Cartmen voice that everyone loves
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oblivion-rerated-m-for-mature/1100-6148897/
I also had a "Clean Lyrics" version of an Eminem CD, but mine was The Marshall Mathers LP. As a kid, I was shocked by some of the edits- they left in "Shit", and some non-sexual instances of "Fuck", but they took out words like Kill, Knife, and any reference to violence, sex, racial/sexual slurs, and drugs. The singles on the album were different from the radio edits of the songs in most cases. They also replaced the Kim track (the song where he murders his wife) with a South Park style song called The Kids where Em does his wonderful Cartmen voice that everyone loves
PaulBizkit
Member
THANKS SO MUCH.
I downloaded the torrent yesterday. I don't know where to begin ! lol
This will make going to the gym way better.
Fenster Mayhew
Member
I remember the radio version of the Warren G song "Regulate" having some weird censorship--it blanked out innocuous words like "cold."
I loved watching movies on Fox and seeing how they worked around keeping in the plot critical swearing.
"sanctimonious ice hole"
"Yippie Kai Yay *brief pause* dirtbag"
Thankfully here in Canada as long as it was after 9pm, all the swearing and nudity stayed in. Occasionally a longer movie like Casino would start airing at 8pm and the swearing would be bleeped for the first hour, but once 9pm struck you got Joe Pesci in all his swearing glory.
"sanctimonious ice hole"
"Yippie Kai Yay *brief pause* dirtbag"
Thankfully here in Canada as long as it was after 9pm, all the swearing and nudity stayed in. Occasionally a longer movie like Casino would start airing at 8pm and the swearing would be bleeped for the first hour, but once 9pm struck you got Joe Pesci in all his swearing glory.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
lol Johnny Dangerously
PaulBizkit
Member
Listening to episode 18 (pokemon). This is a mess. Everybody talks over the other and it's not really informative like in the New Retronauts.
This should've been called The RetroNuts...
Please tell me you guys are now re-addressing all past topics.
This should've been called The RetroNuts...
Please tell me you guys are now re-addressing all past topics.
charlequin
Banned
BTW, Jeremy and Bob, the backer RSS for the podcast is actually getting indexed by google:
Someone at Patreon probably needs to tweak something on their side to fix that.
I think both of them have really hit their stride with the micro episodes lately. Jeremy's are like these nice, chill fireside stories or gently meandering discussions of what it's like to play a game -- the recent DQ7 was a standout for this. Bob's are like fun podcast bubblegum singles. This SFX quiz one was one of my favorites, even though it did leave me actually shouting "Golden Axe! GOLDEN AXE!" at my car dashboard while I was listening on my commute. I think this is working a lot better than the Retronauts Pocket episodes were.
Someone at Patreon probably needs to tweak something on their side to fix that.
I think both of them have really hit their stride with the micro episodes lately. Jeremy's are like these nice, chill fireside stories or gently meandering discussions of what it's like to play a game -- the recent DQ7 was a standout for this. Bob's are like fun podcast bubblegum singles. This SFX quiz one was one of my favorites, even though it did leave me actually shouting "Golden Axe! GOLDEN AXE!" at my car dashboard while I was listening on my commute. I think this is working a lot better than the Retronauts Pocket episodes were.
Fenster Mayhew
Member
Our Halloween episode about Fester's Quest is now live! http://www.retronauts.com/?p=1500
Sgt. Kabukiman
Banned
I've never played Fester's Quest but it was a great episode. Not being American, I had no idea the game wasn't directly related to the movie but was an adaptation of a New yorker comic strip / tv show.
I can't wait for the SMT episode I've just seen mentioned at the top of this page, there's so much to talk about and Soul Hackers on 3DS is one of my favorite rpgs.
I can't wait for the SMT episode I've just seen mentioned at the top of this page, there's so much to talk about and Soul Hackers on 3DS is one of my favorite rpgs.
They could easily dedicate a month to SMT games. Strange Journey is amazing, and SMT Apocalypse is sucking in me in recently. In the words of Shane Bettenhausen, it's Japan's secret best RPG franchise.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
In discussing censorship due to 9/11, it's worth mentioning that Eternal Darkness was on track for Gamecube launch window, but after the attacks Nintendo delayed it for significant edits.
A playable character, Joseph de Moley, a Knight of the Crusades, was removed. You can see this character at the start of Roberto Bianchi's chapter, he is the Crusader who can see Pious Augustus' true form. Also cut was a soldier character during the Iraq War (replaced with Michael Edwards the Canadian firefighter trying to put out the oil well fires), whom you can find dead on the ground surrounded by guns and ammo.
The game was nearly cancelled, before these edits. Even still, being forced to miss launch window was a blow, after the first nearly-complete version had been scrapped by Nintendo to move over to Gamecube and make that console's launch.
A playable character, Joseph de Moley, a Knight of the Crusades, was removed. You can see this character at the start of Roberto Bianchi's chapter, he is the Crusader who can see Pious Augustus' true form. Also cut was a soldier character during the Iraq War (replaced with Michael Edwards the Canadian firefighter trying to put out the oil well fires), whom you can find dead on the ground surrounded by guns and ammo.
The game was nearly cancelled, before these edits. Even still, being forced to miss launch window was a blow, after the first nearly-complete version had been scrapped by Nintendo to move over to Gamecube and make that console's launch.
Sharkey being sober, a woman being president, The Cubs winning the world series....
Truly the end of times is upon us!
Finishing up the Famicom boom kusoge episode, and really enjoying Frank Cifaldi and Dr. Sparkle talk about these games and developers within their context with Jeremy.
Dr. Sparkle must get a lot of shit about the pronunciation of Tose because he was coming off pretty aggressive about it. "I'll start worrying about my pronunciation when Japanese people start pronouncing words the way we do". Okay dude, lol. I guess it didn't help that Frank kept needling him about it.
Dr. Sparkle must get a lot of shit about the pronunciation of Tose because he was coming off pretty aggressive about it. "I'll start worrying about my pronunciation when Japanese people start pronouncing words the way we do". Okay dude, lol. I guess it didn't help that Frank kept needling him about it.
PaulBizkit
Member
Can you guys please speak louder or edit the volume? It was impossible to listen to this week's episode while on the subway. Specially one of the guests, i dont know who, but he was speaking to himself.
I'll see if i can listen to this on the car
I'll see if i can listen to this on the car
the audio tends to be pretty low on all retronauts episodes, compared top all my other podcasts
also the music interludes are usually at what i'd call a "correct" volume
i find myself turning it down when they kick in, and then back up when you guys start talking
not a huge issue, but hey if you can bump the volume going forward it'd be great
also the music interludes are usually at what i'd call a "correct" volume
i find myself turning it down when they kick in, and then back up when you guys start talking
not a huge issue, but hey if you can bump the volume going forward it'd be great
Fenster Mayhew
Member
Weirdly enough, I didn't edit this most recent episode but found it much louder than usual.
runnin_blue
Banned
I noticed the audio levels as well. Sometimes one person sounded quiet and miles away from the mic, but when another spoke, they were overly loud.
C'mon guys, it's not that hard to get the levels right. We know you've got good equipment, so that's not the issue. It's purely adjusting the mic levels before you start recording until they are consistent. You can even adjust individual levels after recording whilst your editing.
I've done podcasts. It's really shouldn't be this way for a group that have been doing it for this long.
Other than that, loved the last podcast subject. Very interesting discussion. Thank you.
C'mon guys, it's not that hard to get the levels right. We know you've got good equipment, so that's not the issue. It's purely adjusting the mic levels before you start recording until they are consistent. You can even adjust individual levels after recording whilst your editing.
I've done podcasts. It's really shouldn't be this way for a group that have been doing it for this long.
Other than that, loved the last podcast subject. Very interesting discussion. Thank you.
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
I normalized the audio levels after editing as we always do for every episode, so I have no idea why some people are experiencing this issue. It should sound the same as any other show we've done.
runnin_blue
Banned
Do you listen to the entire podcast as you edit? Because if you are just adjusting levels at the beginning and then skipping to certain points to make sure things are still in sync, you will always encounter problems you've missed.
It's annoying and time consuming but ultimately the only way to ensure that the podcast is consistent and problem free for the listener.