Random Vocal Nonsense - Episode 2

On this episode of RVN we talk about GTAIV and the Jack Thompson shenanigans surrounding it, the Team Fortress 2 update that Valve finally got around to releasing, a little rambling about some of the games we’re playing and a few other random tidbits. This episode had absolutely no planning put into it due to general laziness. You may notice that we have two separate conversations about TF2 in this show, which is the end result of technical difficulties that caused us to re-record some things and lazy editing that left some redundant content in. As usual, please note that RVN may contain harsh language so it’s not recommended that you listen to it at work or school unless you have headphones on.

As usual you can download the show at our PodBean page by clicking here. Thanks for listening and feel free to leave us comments here on PodBean, at the atrip.net forums or email Future Man at johnathon (.) brittain (at) gmail (.) com

Show Notes:

There are none. You know, that laziness thing… ¬_¬

Useful Software: TagScanner

Do you have a large collection of music and need a way to organize it without having to spend hours upon hours manually changing file names and tag information? Look no further than TagScanner, an extremely useful tool from developer Sergey Serkov. TagScanner can rename files, edit tag information, generate tag information from an on-line database such as FreeDB or Discogs, generate tag information from the file name and generate HTML playlists.

Random Vocal Nonsense - Episode 1

This week on Random Vocal Nonsense we ramble about various entertainment and gaming news items that have been floating around the intertubes lately. On the entertainment side we share our thoughts Iron Man, The Incredible HULK, The Dark Knight (or as Future Man would say, “The Mother Fucking Dark Knight”), and a few other movies. In addition to that we talk a little about the upcoming third season of the fantastic animated show “The Venture Bros,” which was recently previewed at the New York Comic Con (link in show notes).

On the gaming side of things we talk about “Unreal Tournament 3” coming to the Xbox 360 (without mod support, yay!), EA’s survival horror RPG “Dead Space,” “Fallout 3” collector’s edition, Interplay’s plans to return to the gaming scene, the new Mortal Kombat game, and a handful of other tidbits.

You can download the new episode from our PodBean page and links to everything we’ve talked about in this show can be found both on the PodBean and here on RTN after the jump. Before you tune in, please note that RVN may contain harsh language.

Thanks for listening!

Random Vocal Nonsense Podcast - Pilot Episode

Two of my friends (Dark Swordmaster and Future Man) and myself have decided to try our hand at making a Podcast. Last night we did a very haphazard test episode with practically no preparation, and with that in mind we feel it has some potential. A little more structure, less of Dark Swordmaster’s Maple Story clickity clack shenanigans, and less sounding like a couple of TB patients and we may have something that could get a few listeners.

You can download the new episode from our PodBean page and links to everything we’ve talked about in this show can be found both on the PodBean and here on RTN after the jump. Before you tune in, please note that RVN may contain harsh language.

Thanks for listening!

A tale of malice, misery, and mayo.

So I got off of work this evening hungry. Quite hungry. I thought, “Wow, Braums sounds quite good at the moment!” and so I headed right off to get me some.

Audiosurf Review

Audiosurf is a hybrid of a puzzle game and a futuristic racer (mostly the former) from developer BestGameEver, and one of the more unique games I’ve played in a while. The basic concept of the game is that you load up a music file of your choice and try to get the highest score that you can by collecting blocks (called “Cars” in the game) that are scattered along the raceway.

Doesn’t sound like anything new, right? Well, there’s one unique twist to the basic formula: every track you race (and I use the word lightly) on is generated by analyzing the music file you play. Each song has it’s own custom-tailored track, so if you have a large collection of music this unique feature adds a lot of replay value. In addition to that there are also online leaderboards where you can compete with other people for the highest score for each song spanning the games three difficulty modes. There are a few issues with the online features due to the game generating more traffic than the developer was prepared for, but they should be sorted out soon enough.

Free Music For All

Looking for some good music to listen to? Don’t want to support RIAA-backed record labels? Try grabbing some tunes from a Netlabel (a.k.a. online label, web label, or MP3 label). The name pretty much explains what they are: record labels that use the Internet as their primary means of distribution. The big difference between a Netlabel and a traditional one is that they offer their music free of charge. Music on these labels is generally released under a Creative Commons License that will allow you to listen to, distribute, display and perform the music for free so long as you make others aware of the terms of the license and give the original author credit. You may not profit from any of the music under the license terms that labels list their releases under unless you get the original authors permission, and you usually aren’t allowed to make derivative works of the music without the original authors permission. Please respect the artists wishes and obtain permission before doing anything prohibited under the CCL terms the Netlabel has listed on their website.

The types of music available varies, but the dominant style is definitely electronic music and all of its sub-genres. So if that’s not your cup ‘o tea you may have to do a little digging before you find something you like, but I’d definitely recommend looking around. There’s a lot of good free music out there waiting to be found, either created by artists who do it for the love of it rather than for monetary gain or who just haven’t been signed by a traditional label yet (if you see a button for donations or if the label has a store, please feel free to support the labels and their artists).

There are two websites that I know of that contain a directory of labels. One of those websites is called Netlables.org, they offer categorized list of labels and will surely prove useful in helping you find something you’ll like. In addition to Netlabels.org, you can also find a directory on the Internet Archive.

To get you started, below are a couple of my favorite labels along with links to some of the best artists featured on each.

Assassin’s Creed review

Assassin’s Creed is an ingenious game on paper. In execution however, it has more than its fair share of “inbred idiot” moments. But, again, the concept alone is almost cool enough to make these moments overlookable. Add onto that an interesting story and you’ve got yourself a decent 20 hours or so.

Hitting first on the aforementioned concept, it is indeed a great one. You’re a bad ass killing machine in flowing white robes who kills evildoers at will with the ability to parkour over massive historically accurate cities in pursuit of your target and in avoidance of their guards. Reading that alone may not get your taste buds salivating but if you’ve seen any of the pre-release hype material (especially that with the game’s cute, French-Canadian lead producer Jade Raymond) you’ve been drooling from day one.

Free For All: Part 2

Here’s my second list some of the better free games floating around the interwebs. This might be the last installment as well, as I’m considering just featuring a single game in each post from now on rather than a small collection of them. That way I’ll be able to space it out more, and possibly give a longer write up on each game.

Well, enough of that. On to the list!

Free For All: Part 1

There are times in life when the price of something does not directly relate to its quality. I’ve bought many games that were developed by big companies with huge budgets, yet they somehow managed to disappoint. That’s why I’ve decided to compile a list of free games that prove you don’t always have to spend a lot, or in this case anything at all for a quality gaming experience.