This week’s podcast is brought to you by my Twitter word cloud (I’m @TheBlogadin over on the bluebird site, if you’re into that kind of thing). Games is the word I most often use on that thing…go figure! In any case, this week I chat up Chris Leder about his latest game & Kickstarter campaign, Trainmaker, plus I bring you the latest news & notes from the week that was. Also, I chat briefly on the drama that happened this past week in the hobby gaming world regarding sexism, and how to not use Twitter.

Fair warning – next week’s show will be streamed while I’m in Las Vegas for the GAMA Trade Show. I don’t yet know if I’ll be pre-recording the entire thing or if I’ll be doing a portion of it live, but I DO know two of next week’s guests are The Doubleclicks, as well as Raven Gregory and Autumn Ivy from Broken Butterfly Comics & their new comic book, Widow’s Web.

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Topics

xx:xx – BGGCon Registration is open

xx:xx – Sony announces Ghosbusters for guys

xx:xx – MLP CCG’s 4th expansion releases in May

11:30 – Pretty Pretty Smash Up now available in stores

12:35 – Valeria: Card Kingdoms Kickstarter campaign

17:53 – Interview with Chris Leder

• Trainmaker Kickstarter 
• Titan Series

38:40 – Sexism, the gaming world, and how not to use Twitter

Songs

13:15 – Black Lab – “Without You”

Hey, a new episode! Where have I been all your li…errr, for the past few weeks? Whelp, I did actually record an episode two weeks ago, but it’s only up on my Mixlr show reel (because life, and I’ve been a touch lazy). Other than that, it’s just life and busy-ness that’s kept me out of the studio. But now it’s back to business!

This week’s episode has a number of tidbits from the week that was, plus I dive into a topic that I’ve been avoiding for over a month now, but we need to talk about.

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Topics

07:30 – The Doubleclicks return to the Valley

• The Doubleclicks’ #NerdNightOut tour

09:40 - Kittens went ‘splodee all over the Kickstarter recordbooks

• One author claims the creators aren’t making much money
• I disagree w/the author, and so does this guy

12:58 - Blood Rage hits Kickstarter, funds in 2 minutes

18:07 - Blizzard introducing subscription items into World of Warcraft

21:40 – Broken Butterfly Comics launches Widow’s Web Kickstarter

• Raven Gregory’s website

28:18 – Help The Kids!

• Nick’s Epic Battle with osteosarcoma
• Zach’s Defensive Line against osteosarcoma
• Ally’s (Winning) Battle with osteosarcoma
• Phoenix Children’s Hospital Hope Fund

Songs

24:38 – Nick Black – “Sorry”

This week I ended up talking with some fantastic guests – Mike Selinker & Gaby Weidling from Lone Shark Games, and Chris Leder from Calliope Games. Fortnuately their personality and talent made up for my recurring lapses in focus. As a semi-amateur (you know, the step between amateur and semi-professional) web radio host I do try to keep some semblance of professionalism during the show. Being that this isn’t my day job, however, and I’m a nerdy fan like many of you, sometimes it’s difficult to keep that focus when you’re talking with guests who you’re a fan of. This was just one of those weeks. Mike “The Muffin Man” Selinker kept me on my toes, but man was it a great time trying to keep up with him! It sounds like all three will be back on the program at some point – Chris will probably be on sooner than later, as he’s got a couple projects being let out of the bag fairly shortly. Stay tuned for more info!

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Topics

06:07 – AOL pulls the plug on all enthusiast blogs, including Massively.com

• Blog lives on as MassivelyOP.net
• MassivelyOP Twitter Feed
• MassivelyOP Podcast

08:30 – Character cast of the live action Teen Titans show announced

13:03 – New game announcements from Stronghold Games and AEG, now with 100% less Kickstarter!

17:55 - Interview with Mike Selinker and Gaby Weidling

• Lone Shark Games
• Holiday Bullshit 2014 Puzzle
• Harper Lee to release sequel prequel to To Kill a Mockingbird
• Unspeakable Words Kickstarter campaign

46:55 - Interview with Chris Leder

• Calliope Games
• Roll For It
• Titan Series

Songs

15:06 - The Doubleclicks – “Will They or Won’t They”

41:49 – American Heartbreak – “Rotten Apple”

The Titans Meeple – Image Courtesy of Calliope Games

After months of anticipation and weeks of recording, planning, waiting, and general impatiented-ness (I can make up words because I have a degree in English), Titans Tuesday is finally here! Or, more accurately, was here, because now it’s Titans Thursday! This week I talk to Ray Wehrs, President of Calliope Games, about their upcoming line of gateway games, the Titan Series. Additionally, I chat a little bit with one of the game designers tapped to make a game for the Titan Series, Paul Peterson. Both of those interviews, plus all the news of the week from the nerd and hobby gaming world – and there was a plethora of it!

(Note – During the interview with Ray, you’ll hear him refer to me as “Scott”. He was introduced to me by my middle name. What can I say…my mother liked ice skating.)

(Note 2 – Calliope Games announced yesterday that the Kickstarter campaign for the Titan Series has been rescheduled.)

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Topics

02:32 – Exploding Kittens blew up on the Kickstarter and hobby gaming scene

05:18 – Tiny Epic Galaxies continues to do well on Kickstarter, sets Gamelyn Games records for backers and funding

07:26 – Fun to 11 collaborates with AEG to bring Epic PvP: Fantasy to Kickstarter

10:40 – GenCon’s housing portal pulls a whoopsie this weekend

13:12 – Enterplay announces new organized play formats and bans for My Little Pony CCG

15:25 – Enterplay’s Sr. Game Developer Trevor McGregor (@OriginalTMac) spoiled a MLP:CCG card

15:44 – Fox announces plans for a live action X-Men television series

22:20 – Titan Series overview

24:20 – Interview with Ray Wehrs, President of Calliope Games

48:30 – Interview with Titan Series game designer Paul Peterson

Songs

17:49 – Lily Sparks – “Stars”

45:23 – Superbeing – “Down in Flames”

This week we talk about deflated footballs…err, wait, no we don’t. Okay, maybe a little bit. This week it ended up being all news and notes from the week! There were simply some huge stories that broke from Wizards and Marvel on Monday and Tuesday, all of which warranted a good amount of attention. And don’t forget that next week’s show is Titans Tuesday, where we discuss the big Titans Series Kickstarter campaign from Calliope Games and talk to some of the people involved with the effort, including Ray Wehrs, President of Calliope Games, and game designer Paul Peterson of Magic and Smash-Up fame. Can’t wait!

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Topics

08:55 – Renegade Game Studios teams up with Foxtrot Games to co-publish Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

13:20 – Wizards makes a major update to the Magic: The Gathering banned/restricted list

23:19 – Wizards announces the next Dungeons & Dragons storyline & related products

33:35 – Marvel announces Secret Wars, the end of everything, and the genesis of Battleworld

Songs

18:48 – Valley Lodge – “Naked City”

They called you undeserving. They called you an underdog. Now they can call you something else. #justdoit pic.twitter.com/2EU87yezZR

— Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 13, 2015

THE Ohio State University Buckeyes…national football champions!!!  Mmmm…can you taste that? That’s the taste of victory right there! Since we won the game, this week’s show – as promised – features a heaping helping of Ohio State marching band music, so don’t be alarmed by the lack of the normal riffs, and feel free to use the slider to move along to something more appealing if band music damages your finer musical sensibilities.

As for topics, we bring to you Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games and publisher of Tiny Epic Galaxies (currently destroying the universe in Kickstarter – if you haven’t pledged for it yet, do it now!) – an interview that came together twelve minutes before the show went live thanks to a spam filter or other email assassin somewhere in the ether, but when you have an opportunity to get a guy like Michael on the show, you do it! As it turns out, both of us had been trying to communicate with the other for weeks, but for whatever reason, emails simply weren’t making it back and forth between the two parties. Many thanks to him for appearing on the show, for being persistent, and for ultimately being gracious to me when the interview finally came together! I also chat about some significant changes to GenCon housing and registration, and how labels in games may be more damaging than helpful.

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Topics

05:55 – Gencon announces registration and housing changes

10:10 – Marvel’s Star Wars #1 debuted 1/13, already is best selling comic of 2015

10:30 – Mesa Comics

14:12 - Interview with Michael Coe, President of Gamelyn Games and publisher of Tiny Epic Galaxies

35:15 – Labels in gaming

Mysterium by Portal Games

First, my apologies for not updating the site in so long! On one hand, I desperately needed the break; on the other, I do have a commitment to you – my listeners and fans! – to keep the content coming. Hopefully I can be forgiven for taking a holiday hiatus. That brings us, of course, to the first show of the new year – Happy New Year!

Today’s show features a review of Mysterium by Portal Games and a preview of the Dungeons Defenders 2 video game (currently in pre-alpha), as well as the usual news of the week (or, in this case, month).
 

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Topics

06:05 – I won Quantum from Passport Game Studios thanks to your votes!

10:55 – The release date for Gambit has been announced

11:15 – Cards Against Humanity Holiday Bullshit Puzzle was solved

• The CAH Puzzle Page
• Reddit CAH Puzzle Central
• Explanation of the puzzle in its entirety and all solution contents
• Thank You video from Mike Selinker
• Hawaii2 LOA Community

21:44 – Preview of things to come on The Blogadin Webcast

28:53 – Mysterium from Portal Games

36:29 – Dungeon Defenders 2 from TrendyNet

Songs

17:35 – Granian - “Mark My Words”

“Are you nervous, Alex?”

That’s how Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest started for me. I had roamed the underbelly of University of Phoenix Stadium until I found the Fiesta Bowl Digital Media Room where the fans-create-a-comic sessions were going on, starting with the “A Hero is Born” panel. Brian Augustyn headlined the panel with a walking cane as his sidearm. Accompanying him on the panel were newly-published local novelist Amy K. Nichols and creator Sean “Cheeks” Galloway of Spectacular Spider Man and Teen Titans fame. I arrived about ten minutes late but thankfully nothing had started yet. After another ten minutes of nothing the moderator & panelists decided to go ahead and get started.

The delay was understandable. I was the only attendee.

If you’re wondering if that’s as awkward as it sounds, it absolutely was. And it’s a damn shame, too – here’s a rare opportunity for consumers to collaborate with creators and make something representative of themselves and the Valley of the Sun, and its going to waste!

Instead of a crowd, it’s only me. No pressure, Alex. You’re just representing the thoughts of an entire state.

Continue reading →

Image Credit: Phoenix Comicon, Copyright 2010, 2014

This week brings us Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest 2014 at University of Phoenix Stadium – yay! To help get us prepared for the event, Jillian Squires from Phoenix Comicon dropped in to talk a little bit about the upcoming festivities. Also, I continue a discussion about whether or not Magic: The Gathering belongs in the pantheon of “classic” games. Also, congrats to Arizona’s first Preliminary PTQ winner – Zack Freeman – with his Abzan Reanimator deck!

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Topics

04:18 – Arizona Preliminary PTQ discussion, including the PPTQ coming up on Saturday, 12/13 at Play or Draw

05:35 – Emergents: Genesis DBG Kickstarter

06:08 – Modern Masters 2015 / Grand Prix Las Vegas

09:48 – Cards Against Humanity Holiday Bullshit Puzzle

13:26 – Casting of Suicide Squad

19:40 – Is Magic: The Gathering a “classic” game?

33:57 – Interview with Jillian Squires, Director of Public Relations for Phoenix Comicon

55:30 – Game night at the Casa Del Blogadin

Songs

15:53 - Jesse Malin – “Prisoners of Paradise”

28:18 - Sex and Patriotism – “Fit 2 b Tied”

50:38 – Dead Against the Rest – “White Ace”

A while back I recorded a video entry for Passport Game Studios’ Holiday Jingle contest (you can see my entry above). In short, they called for people to write new lyrics to a holiday song, and in those lyrics we were to mention Passport Games along with as many oftheir game titles as possible. The entries were whittled down to three, and whoever receives the most votes will get all the games they mentioned in the video.

Santa’s elves have aparently taken pity on me, for my entry broke through to the finals! Now I need your help. More specifically, I need your votes in the form of clicks and tweets. This will only take a few moments and won’t cost anything.

(Also, please note that if I win, I’ll be donating over half the games I receive to charity OR using them to help raise funds for chairty. If you have no desire to help me, do it for the kids! THE KIDS!!!)

(Seriously, though…charity.)

Votes are being accumulated on both Twitter and Facebook, and you can vote using both platforms. Here’s what I need you to do – and please do all that apply:

If you use Facebook

Navigate to this voting site, answer their brief questions (you DON’T have to “like” their page to vote), and vote for Finalist Number 2 – The Blogadin!

If you use Twitter

1) Navigate to this site and register to vote in the contest.

2) Retweet this tweet

If you have friends or family

Have them come to this page and make them follow the instructions provided above.

Thanks for all your help with this, folks! I truly appreciate each and every vote you’re able to provide!