Third The Dirty Donkey

Attention, regular attendees of Yahtzee's Trivia Night (and non-attendees looking for the excuse to give it a go). We're doing something a little bit weird for this Monday's (the 13th) quiz. As implied by the image below, we're putting a bit of effort into making a really good prize pack, and we're going to give it away to whoever comes third. First and second will still get prize packs, of course, they just won't be as, you know, good.


Why are we doing this? For larks, mainly. Partly it's because I've been keen to experiment with the format lately, partly because while first and second place have a couple of stubborn recurring placements, third place tends to be more of an X-factor. Last time, an all new team won it. Perhaps that will be you, this time?

Oh yes, and just to make this even more of an X-factor, I'm not going to reveal the scores of any teams until the end. You'll only know how well you're doing, and how well whatever the team next to you is doing. That should keep things interesting, shouldn't it.

So come along to the Mana Bar on Monday, June the 13th any time before 7, be you regular or shy experimenting quiz pupae, and bring a team. Or just one other person, but you'd both better be pretty confident with each other's know how. Perhaps a victory could be just what you need to win over your quiz partner into full on mouth kissing, if that's what you've been hanging around them for.

Also: new Show & Tell podcast coming very soon; yes, we remembered to record this one

Ha Ha Whoops

ZPs: Mortal Kombat, Brink, LA Noire
XPs: Sequels again, finisher porn and TF2

Boy, you would have loved the podcast Gabriel and I vocalised yesterday. I say 'vocalised' rather than 'recorded' because after an hour we noticed that we forgot to get the actual recording device in on the action. Shame. It was a good one. You'd have loved it.

Show & Hell

ZPs: Portal 2 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, bizarrely
XPs: Innovation and sequels

But wait! Get ready to spooge yourself stupid because Gabriel and I have recorded another podcast. And this time, we even came up with a format for it. So, may I formally introduce the first official Show & Tell Podcast.

Basically, Gabriel and I both assembled two or three objects without the other knowing, and attempt to discuss them on topic for as long as we reasonably can. In this introductory episode, Gabe questions the role of print in gaming news and totally spergs out over Doctor Who, while my Melbourne adventures somehow segue to the subject of Osama Bin Laden and I bemoan how my neuroses have ruined my danish pastry experiences.

The Show & Tell Podcast 1 by yahtzee19

Well, while you're listening to that I'll also get out of the way the news that Yahtzee's Trivia Night continues to be on alternate Mondays. This Monday, as a matter of fact, May 16th. There's an LA Noire theme for the prizes and the general promise of a somewhat good time with very little browbeating.

Links Awakening

Alright, gonna be a bit of a linkstorm today. I do have a tendency to not update this blog for weeks, so in case anyone actually still reads it you should know that the best way to get the most up to the minute updates on my shit is to follow my twitter (@yahtzeecroshaw) or just check The Escapist regularly. But whatevs, here's the usual business, the ZPs and XPs since the last update:

ZPs: Yakuza 4, Crysis 2, the 3DS
XPs: 100 percenters, locations, invisibility

For those who liked that podcast between me and Gabriel in the most recent previous update, I should think we will be doing more, but in the meantime there's plenty of podcasty action featuring me to keep you going, because not only did I do one with Mikey Neumann for the Escapist, but I also guested recently once again on the Australian Gamer podcast while I was visiting Yug in Melbourne. Blimey, that's a lot of me talking.

In Mana Bar news, you'll all (ALL) be pleased to know that since you demanded it (or rather, a poll on Facebook indicated that you wouldn't mind), Yahtzee's no-holds-barred video game Trivia Night is moving to alternate Mondays, since the Tuesdays were having to be nudged around a lot for events and suchlike. The first quiz of the new regime will be this coming Monday, the 2nd. Bring a team of 2 to 6 people from 6 o'clock and a good time will be had be all.


Hm. That didn't seem like nearly enough links for a linkstorm. So let's recommend another Let's Play. Lately I've particularly been enjoying Let's Play Assassin's Creed by user Geop, who combines an entertaining commentary of the gameplay with interesting and extremely well-researched history lessons giving a little background to the events of the game. It's still on the SA forum so you might have trouble if you're not a member, but the game's nearly finished now so it should be on the LP archive soon.

Casting a pod

In case you weren't at trivia night yesterday and missed this, my next trivia night will only be one week away, on Tuesday the 19th, because there's been so much shuffling around lately and we're trying to get back to the regular two week schedule. So it's next week, and the one after that will be back to being two weeks apart.

Now. I've got a lovely surprise for you today. See, I used to quite enjoy recording podcasts with Yug and Matt but now they hardly do that ever, and I've been hankering to do a bit more unscripted stuff, so for those extremely valid reasons I recorded a test podcast with my friend Gabriel, with whom I frequently converse at the Mana Bar.

Now, full disclosure, this didn't exactly turn out to be the sparkling product I'd been hoping for, it does take a while to get going and when we do the subject does tend to stray constantly towards slightly blue areas. We didn't really have a list of topics or anything and I think if I pursued this then we'd definitely need a more defined structure to keep us in check in future. Also, there's a bit of an audio quality issue in that the podcast recorder was on the charger so there's a bit of an electric buzz in the background.

But for whatever it's worth, here's the experimental Yahtzee-Gabriel podcast. Topics include Gabe's recent trip to Japan, my new 3DS, which millionaire we'd most like to fight and the difficulties one encounters when attempting to bum guard dogs.

Yahtzee & Gabriel wreck a big train by yahtzee19

Dukeahontas

Yes, I can confirm that trivia night at the Mana Bar is this week, the 12th, from 6:30. I've got a poster for it now so there's no backsies.


There's Duke Nukem Forever-related prizes and the usual serving of fun to be had. Also, in an unprecedented move, because of the week delay we will be having the next trivia night one week after this one, not two, so there'll be less of a wait this time for the event that keeps your interest in the world alive.

Anyway, ZP was Pokemon White. XP was about Dragon Age 2 romances. And this week I also did a Q&A thing on Reddit because they told me to and I folded like a coward on an ironing board.

Keeping house

ZPs thus far: Two Worlds 2, Bulletstorm, Killzone 3, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Dragon Age 2 (phew)
XPs: Hybrids, Let's Plays, regenerating health, the BAFTAs and death.

I've also started doing a co-operative column with other Escapist contributors called Extra Consideration (I guess the Escapist like running with a theme). It started off between me and the two video creators who make a living from ripping me off, James from Extra Credits and Moviebob, but recent instalments have included Shamus Young and Graham Stark. It's like a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen tag team event for massive nerds.

EDIT - I previously mentioned here that there was going to be a trivia night this week, but apparently there actually isn't and some dafties forgot to mention that fact to me, so it'll actually be next Tuesday (the 12th) instead. Coh.

And I also wanted to give some update on an electronic edition of Mogworld. It's definitely on the cards but the question of when it comes about is one that only the publishers Dark Horse can answer, so your efforts would be better spent nagging them than me. They're working on the delivery method. In the meantime, the physical edition hasn't gone anywhere and is still just as available from all good online retailers, and carries a satisfying weight in your hands that an E-Reader lacks.

Now, one of the XP's listed above was talking up the Let's Play thing, which is a circle of internet hobbyists with too much disposable income to spend on recording materials who play games and make videos of them. I have a lot of interest in the practise, so I thought I'd start using this blog to give individual recommendations of good Let's Plays.

So for today's update let me draw attention to the adventures of helloitsdan and lithuanian dad, who never fail to amuse. Mercenaries 2 is probably their magnum opus to date, hosted on their own site unaffiliated with the LP archive, in which the slightly effete Dan attempts to play mother to the slightly reckless Dad and at one point discover the potential of tugboats as assassination methods. The pair are currently up to their elbows in Lost Planet 2 but you'll need Something Awful forums access to investigate that one, you scrub.