A look at the deeper issues behind why so many video games involve killing things.

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Final Fight: Double Impact

This week we welcome Andrew J Smith, of Proper Games. Andrew was the designer for the recently released Final Fight: Double Impact on XBLA and PSN. One of the best Arcade ports we’ve yet witnessed. We talk to Andrew about the job of not only bringing the classic Capcom brawler to contemporary audiences, but also of delivering a level of polish and authenticity heretofore unseen.

Tony and I also talk Splinter Cell: Conviction, and since we’re three years old this week, there’s a bonus at the close; The best bits of Digital Cowboys; Episode One. Many thanks to our co-host Paul Shotton for his vocal stylings on that.
Tony also turned thirty this week, so it’s a double-birthday to be proud of.

And if you’re downloading or listening to this on or after the First of May, there’s a special song by Mr Jonathan Coulton.

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Ever hit a wall in a game and let that tarnish your whole opinion of it?

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Married Gamers Topic Buffet.

We welcome back Chris and Kelly Brown of The Married Gamers. Playing to our strengths, each of us has brought a different subject to the table.

Kelly is worried that the kids are already too desensitised to violence.

Tony is mourning the loss of the original Xbox Live.

Chris is frightened that joypads are becoming obselete.

Alex is exasperated by unwinnable games.

And stay tuned at the end for a drunken diatribe from Xibxang about showing respect for our ever-patient wives.

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The second audio article in the Gonzo Gaming series.

I figured since our main show is intended not to be political in nature I would air my thoughts on the recently instated Digital Economy Act 2010.

This is basically a bill that allows license holders to disconnect the internet of anybody in the UK that they even suspect is downloading illegally.

You can get the basic idea of it here and there are plenty of other similarly dissenting voices out there that you can go deeper on this with. We may even discuss further developments on the main show, leaving politics out of it.

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Our Life Without Games
James Batchelor of MCV joins us again for the first time since his appearence in Episode 130 where he ably defended the Nintendo Wii.

This week we’re talking to him about his recent foray giving up games for Lent. We go through the rules, restrictions, lowest points and mini-triumphs of this punishing ordeal.

Following that we asked our community what they would fill their lives with if gaming wasn’t a factor. We got some fascinating responses and manage to read out almost every one of them.

Then Tony, having just completed Final Fantasy XIII gets some things off his chest that he’s been storing up for weeks, maybe longer. Major fans of JRPG’s may need to bring something along to bite down on.

Many many thanks to James for his fantastic duties as a guest once again. You can find his blog; Games Journalism of Bust here.

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This is the first of a series of weekly articles in audio format. Think of it as a mid-week bonus podcast; A fifteen minute rant to tide you over until Fridays when we roll out the main event. Since I’ve decided to get back into writing articles I figured a good way to showcase them and reach the largest audience would be to put them on our main podcast feed.

So we kick off with an axe I’ve been itching to grind about Heavy Rain. It’s absolutely packed with SPOILERS so steer clear if you want to finish it first. We will doubtless be resuming a debate in the main show but we’ll be keeping that one spoiler free so everyone can enjoy it.

If you enjoy this monologue, you might also want tocheck out this excellent article from Games Radar on fifteen of the biggest Heavy Rain plot-holes. It was scathingly inspirational to me.

As for where to put your furious rebuttal, check out the forums and join the debate.

More Gonzo Gaming next week, along with a couple of oldschool written articles.

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You can download this from wherever you get your regular Digital Cowboys episodes. Go to iTunes, Zune or wherever and click ‘Refresh’.

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How to start a podcast: Part 2.

Continuing from last week, we round off the epic two-part lesson in how to start a podcast with advice on how to get guests, corral a community and promote yourself.

Once again our guests are Rob Borges of Gamers With Jobs and Steve Ridley of Sanctuary 4 Gamers.

For next week; the question for our community is “What would you be doing with yourself if you weren’t playing video games.?” Clean answers please and you can find the appropriate thread on our forum.

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How to start a podcast: Part 1.

We’re 150 and we thought rather than looking back on what we’ve done we’d give something back to you guys. This week we have on Rob Borges of Gamers With Jobs and Steve Ridley of Sanctuary 4 Gamers, two of the biggest independent podcasts on either side of the Atlantic to help us give every single one of you a crash course in podcasting. From our nine years combined experience, find out what mistakes we’ve made, what equipment and techniques we use and listen in on some sage-like advice on how to make what you say sound awesome.

From a personal standpoint, this is about the only thing I do really well and if I get hit by a bus tomorrow I’d like to pass it on to anyone looking to start their own show. Hopefully I can survive until next week because there’s a Part 2 coming.

To the vast majority of our listeners who don’t have any interest in doing your own podcast, it’s still damned entertaining stuff. You’ll find out just how much effort goes into our shows and maybe learn a few things about your diligent hosts that you didn’t before.

Here’s to 150 more episodes of DC. Many thanks to Rob and Steve for your tireless and first class guest-hosting, and I don’t say this nearly often enough, but thank you Tony.

This show wouldn’t exist without its heart.

Alex

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Additionally, here are those programs that we use.

Skype

Pamela

Audacity

Levelator

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In addition, here is Rob Borges’ article from Gamers With Jobs about this very subject:

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This week’s Community Intelligence question is: -

What would you like to know about podcasting?

Next week’s show to be recorded on Thursday 1st April is a special 150th episode where we will be digging deep into what it takes to put this little thing called a podcast together. This is your chance to ask us anything you’ve ever wanted to know about what it takes to make your weekly dose of DC possible. We should have two special guests joining us on this podcast so there will be multiple viewpoints, so get asking!