PPR 9

So I think I should also mention that our blog, and all other major updates, are pretty late as well, and we apologize, as with all the other shit that we mentioned that went down with the last couple of weeks, but we have been on the up and up, so thank you all for bearing with us!

We'll soon be on Zune, and with some other big changes in the works; first off, we'll be having a new segment on the show, Quarter Circle Forward, which will be our Review segment to where we'll all take turns every other episode to review any number of games. We'll be starting off with Toast as he will be reviewing Brutal Legend, released by EA, and the latest and greatest software developed by Double Fine. The Quarter Circle Forward segment, or QCF as we will be calling it, and debuting it in this episode, as Andrew will be reviewing Brutal Legend. In future episodes, he will be reviewing all current Console and PC releases for the Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and, hopefully, soon, the PlayStation 3 when he picks one up hahaha. Paco's QCF will be focused on all portable gaming for the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and the Apple iPhone, and as for George, he'll be doing the QCF for everything and anything retro. So Quarter Circle Forward aside, we feel it's time we get down to the nitty gritty of the topic on hand for this week's episode—Oh, and we'll also be updating the Top 5 as well with it's own small blurb being as it was Paco's choice this Episode hahaha.

With the release of the Microsoft Xbox 360, among all of the new features that came with it, like built-in wireless connectivity, cutting-edge graphics, and a whole new interface and experience with Xbox Live, the new feature that stood out as the silliest bell and whistle in the list was the new "Achievement" system.

Every game released on the Xbox 360 would have hidden objectives related to direct gameplay of the game that could span a number of different categories, whether it would be time invested, a specific action performed, or a set number of collected objects, and when completed, would prompt an Achievement to unlock for your Gamer tag. These “cheevos” could be unlocked for any number of reasons the developer intended, with a skill level that would be inferred by the score attached to them, and prominently display on your Xbox live user name and account for pure bragging rights.

The new craze caught on so well with the gaming public that Sony introduced Trophies for the PS3, and Steam would also offer their own achievement system that would be implemented with all of its games available in their service for PC gamers. With Achievements and Trophies being at the core of all major online gaming communities, has it helped strengthen the relationships that we produce with other gamers online, or has it negatively affected the overall experience with unnecessary aggression and animosity in a rate race for fake awards from a contest meant for fun? Also, another point that we briefly touched upon is that with Valve including achievements on Steam after Microsoft and Sony have fueled the fire, how long is it going to be before we see a similar system done with Nintendo? We'll dive into the topic with much more intensity.

So please take the time to give the new episode a listen, and also if you were interested about the results of the Press Pause Radio Sega Dreamcast Giveaway, also give the new episode a listen, hell, we think you guys should give us a listen anyway. So we want to thank everyone who reads our posts and listens to our podcasts, and humbly ask that they also take the time to review us on iTunes so we can spread the word of Press Pause Radio! Thank you all again, and here's the episode!

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Win A Sega Dreamcast!

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast and because we at Press Pause Radio believe that everyone should have the opportunity to experience this great piece of hardware, we are giving one away to a lucky listener. What's the catch? Nothing really, all you have to do is listen to episode #8 of Press Pause Radio and near the end of the show we will reveal instructions on how to enter. It's that simple. So either subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, or listen to it right here.

And if you enjoy the show, why not submit a review on iTunes? It would be helpful to us and we'd really appreciate it. So good luck to everyone that enters, you can submit your entry in the comments section below, or email andrewhandshoe@gmail.com. Thanks!

The PPR Top 5 Week-09/20/2009 Top 5 2.5D Side-Scrollers

So this is also another new thing we will be doing with the Top 5 segment for Press Pause Radio. we've been posting up the choices & lists on our pages of course as well as discussing them on the episodes that we have done so far but now I have also decided to do some in depth looks at the choices that are made for each new episode & off course why they were chosen or what kind of light we felt that Press Pause Radio would like to have brough to it. We have already dont a few Top 5 lists since I introduced it back from episode 5 so with this being the newest list to start this new trend I figured I'd get the ball rolling with a bit of an off kilter list if you will about a sub genre that doesn't get the love that it deserves which is the 2.5D side-scrolling of games

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PPR 8

So, with the console reaching its 10th anniversary, we've been reading that some people were considering on snagging a Dreamcast while the anniversary fever is still fresh, as they lament missing out on the 128-bit beast in its prime and going with the PlayStation 2 instead. The entire crew at Press Pause Radio still have the Dreamcast hooked up to their console setups to this very day, and thought, yeah, why don't we do a Dreamcast retrospective! Please, if you haven’t purchased a Dreamcast and are at all considering purchasing one, we will be doing a one-time thing only after the next Press Pause Radio Top 5 segment that we think you're all going to enjoy! Episode 8 of Press Pause Radio will be going over a list of the ten must-own games for the Sega Dreamcast, along with sharing a ton of memories we've had with the system as early adopters.

Thank you, everyone, for allowing us to wax philosophic about Sega's amazing final console. Please comment or message any of your own memories about the Dreamcast. Feel free to do so by either contacting us at our website www.presspauseradio.com, or of course, our Myspace, 1UP, or Twitter for Press Pause Radio, and finally, please subscribe to us on iTunes.

Finally, we decided that doing a retrospective was not enough to really do the Dreamcast justice at all, so with more personal reflection and thoughts on what kind of impact that console had made on all of us, we've decided to do a contest where we will be giving away a Sega Dreamcast to one lucky winner! Here are the rules for the chance to win a Dreamcast episode of your own: We will take 27 responses total from the different individuals who submitted their answers to the three questions asked on the podcast, so if you haven't listened to it yet, be sure to give it a listen! We will choose the 9th response 3 times over until we hit the 27th response (get it? 09/09/09), and the three individuals' names who get chosen from there will then go into a drawing where one name will then be randomly selected out of a hat and contacted to win the Sega Dreamcast with a copy of NFL2K1.

Good luck, please check the contact info listed in the podcast blurb, and thank you for listening again to us on Press Pause Radio!

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Prince of Persia: A Press Pause Radio Retrospective

Before we begin, I’d like to answer some of the questions you may be having right now. Yes, I am writing about a game that was released late last year.  And yes, some people did like the previous Prince of Persia titles compared to this one. I’ll admit that this is the first Prince of Persia game I have played, and so I may have a biased opinion of this game. And finally, no, I will not spoil the game if you have not played or finished it yet. Ok so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way allow me to discuss why I enjoyed talking to Elika so much, and why Prince of Persia has stuck with me long after finishing the game and the Epilogue.

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So PPR wants to know!

Greetings,

So you may or may not already know that I am currently co-hosting a podcast called Press Pause Radio. If you have checked it out, thank you very much for the support. If not, you can find the episodes on iTunes, or on our website at http://www.presspauseradio.com. you can also contact us at our Myspace, 1up, & Twitter.

The purpose of this message has to do with our newest episode, which is about video game collecting. Do you have an extensive video game collection? Have you acquired multiple collectors editions and hard to find titles, or imports? Own many systems old and new? We at Press Pause Radio would love to hear about it. We are currently trying to establish a community within the site and podcast, and you are all enthusiast friends of mine.

What I would like to do is have a post on the website along with our next podcast that features the community's collection. If you have pictures or stories about your collection, please feel free to share by sending them through this site, or my email andrewhandshoe@gmail.com.

Thanks for your time, and I hope that you check out the site. We are currently re-designing the site and will have a message board coming soon. Thanks again!

PPR 7

We took this opportunity to go over a big aspect of the video game lifestyle, which is collecting games. We take a look at just why exactly gamers who collect take the concept of collecting to a whole other level (no pun intended at all.) We discuss personal memories and thoughts on what exactly possesses individuals to hold on to video games in numerous numbers, or search out niche games or platforms. Also being side-tracked with the release of Guitar Hero 5, where we voice out our opinions on whether or not to boycott it. Video game collectors hold themselves in a very strong community where they work hard to support one another and their hobbies as well, while also wrestling with the strong temptation of a rare find at the cost of spending those precious extra bucks to obtain that holy grail of a title.

Sometimes, there's the dilemma of deciding upon trading in your games for credit to obtain that game you've been looking forward to, and whether or not you'll grow to regret it later. As Toast mentioned, he's been catching up, collecting retro classics himself, through the advantages of the current generation, where there's heavy digital distribution abound with PSN games, XBLA games, and WiiWare/Virtual Console games. The instant-availability and low-cost entry of these digitized offerings of retro software to anyone interested in buying them brings up a whole new argument in and of itself on the question of whether or not re-investing into digital release of retro games will affect the value or preservation of their original releases for the coming years.

So please tune in to the episode, and while you're at it, we want you guys to send us a picture of your collection! photos or even to stories that we can share on the next episode, also we figured we'd throw in a name drop on the hilarious homebrew show series known as "Chuck Norris in Oblivion" and decided to drop the link here for everyone to check out, or just search it on Youtube!

Until then, we'll be comparing collector's editions to first limited prints, and all of that other nonsense here on Press Pause Radio episode 7!

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PPR 6

On episode 6 of Press Pause Radio, we take a deep look at the state and history of a genre known as the Japanese role-playing game, or JRPG, as it's most commonly referred to through the love of a nerd's acronyms.

We work to dissect the genre's humble beginnings in the west and industry's fevered attempt to appeal to North American audiences during a time where the gameplay style had dominated Japan, and practically printed money for developers and publishers in the East. In additon to extensively covering the genre, we also contrast it with Western RPG's and the consistent concepts of choice foudn in their offerings and the different pathways that move the story in a different directions under the guidance of a moral compass and the effect it can have on those choices, versus that of a huge over-arching story filled to the brim with lore and side-quests typically seen with a JRPG, and how the story flow focuses on intertwined story twists through an ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters.

So, without further ado, here's the latest episode of Press Pause radio! We apologize about the sound quality, as we will be using better equipment in the very near future, once finances permit, so thanks again, y’all, and stay tuned for the next episode!

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