Topic: Episode 216: Made from Real Explosions

[NWR_Karl]

RFN moved to the #1 spot on my podcast list, a few months back.
 i see now that was a mistake. Not only did your Speacial guest have nothing to
do with nintendo, he admitted he doesnt even want to.
 that being said, instead of JIZZING on that idiot, how about interviewing
 people like Jools Watsham of Renegade kids or Matt Bozon of
 Wayforward. Those two for example not only develope for Nintendo
 but love pumping out awesome games for nintendo fans.
 
 After this show i never will buy a game from M.B.G. and encouage everyone
i know (admiitedly a small group) to avoid those titles.
 I have a 360, im not nintendo only, but i can go to itunes and subscribe
 to any of 50  360,PS3, or multiplatform podcasts.

Christ, I wonder why.

The funniest part about your whole spiel is that you seem to think that RFN talking about multiple platforms is something new. Hate to break it to you, man, but it's been happening for years. As Jonny so eloquently put, this is how we roll. You can come along for the ride or hitch your bitch-wagon elsewhere.

For the record, I don't speak for anyone on RFN, but you really have no idea how much work goes into that podcast, and how much they care about their audience. I noticed you actually had a couple of suggestions for guests on the show. Why not just suggest them without all of the hate? Nobody ran over your cat, dude, so calm the hell down.

[Halbred]

I like the fact that, despite the fact that MBG makes great Xbox games, and Hyrulian Guard HAS an Xbox, he's gonna tell everybody he knows (admiitedly a small group) to actively avoid them. And WHY? Because the dude was on RFN. No other reason.

Also, the jizzing comment? Seriously? Low-brow.

[Jonnyboy117]

Nathan Fouts appeared on our show at my request, and he was very gracious to do so, especially since we weren't really discussing his games specifically. Delete RFN from your computer if you want, send us nasty emails and forum posts if you want, but it makes no sense to punish this man who was just helping us out. Moreover, it's beyond ignorant to spread hate on his games when you haven't even played them.

[NWR_Neal]

I'm sorry. I missed what was going on. I was too busy having SO MUCH FUN playing Explosionade, Shoot 1UP, and Weapon of Choice, which are some of the coolest retro-styled games I've played in years.

[Halbred]

You shouldn't play those games, Neal. Why? Because Nathan Fouts was asked to appear on Radio Free NINTENDO and graciously accepted, then proceeded to discuss why WiiWare isn't a viable platform for small developers, thus giving Nintendo fans information on how that process works, something none of us are entirely aware of.

Clearly, he should face the gallows. And you should't buy his games. Or something.

[Kytim89]

If anyone should be pissed off at anybody it should be Nintendo themselves for sitting up the kind of shitty atmosphere that turns developers such as MBG and various other folks from developing on Wiiware. Although I do scratch my head at times when RFN discusses non-Nintendo related topics, but I then realize that part of discussing Nintendo's rivals is crucial to understanding how Nintendo is going to react with their games and consoles. As for other Nintendo podcasts, I have found several, but the quality was so damn cheesy that I easily found my way back to NWR and never looked back.
 
About a year ago I was ariting on the Bioware forum and I eventually found my way here to this forum. Of course everyone chastized me for my obsession with Rare returning to Nintendo(and they still do), but NWR is one of the best forums that I have ever written on and it would take a lot to make me leave this forum even though there are times when I get frustrated with a lot of the people on here.
 
I admire the way the podcasts of NWR are put together and I am very surprised that these guys do it all for non-profit. This is especially true when one notices the amount of sheer effort that goes into making these podcasts and the forum of the best quality possible. For example, the sound quality of RFN is superb, Greg does not have to put any effort into making the sound work, he would probably rather sit in his recliner and watch TV. He does it because he enjoys Nintendo.
 
On a side note, I wish the RFN team would bring on more third party developers and try to motivate them that the Wii is still a viable console. Also, I am pissed that such titles as Scott Pilgrim vs the World will never make it to Wiiware.   

P.S. Hylian Guard, if you do not like NWR or any of their podcasts, I dare you to start your own forum and podcast and do it better. I am sure that NWR would not mind having the competition(they would squash it like a bug).

[Armak88]

I for one appreciate it when the crew talks about games on other platforms. Although I sometimes feel that this can take up a little more time than I like, I generally find it helpful. I find that even when I am playing another platform, I am a nintendo gamer. I get a similar feeling from the crew of RFN (with the possible exception of Jon). I find the games they enjoy are games that a fan of nintendo games would enjoy. I find that my gaming tastes fall somewhere between Jonny and Greg, so I have a general idea about whether the games they are talking about would appeal to me. I only own a wii, but I get the chance to play other platform games every once and a while, and I may eventually pick up another platform. Thanks to RFN I have a shortlist of games that I feel a nintendo fan like myself will enjoy, and I don't waste whatever time I have with an aimless guessing game.

And if nothing else, being rude only discredits your criticism. The Retronaughts tribute made me think about a day when RFN is finished, and that will be a real shame as I have enjoyed it for a long time. I wouldn't have the podcast be any other way, and I hope it continues for a long time into the future. Keep up the stellar work guys, it is much appreciated.

[Plugabugz]

And finally, Greg is a Brit. And he sits up EVERY WEEK WITHOUT FAIL to stupid o'clock every thursday recording and spends upto/more than 24 hours A WEEK editing the podcast for our weekly consumption.

I don't know the average time spent (Greg, how often do you spend editing on average?) but just using the 24 hour figure over 100 episodes he's spent 10 DAYS editing. That's a hell of a lot for a person who still needs to eat, drink, sleep, have fun, travel and do all the other things that he does.

I don't know how he does it. He must be militantly organised to within a hair of his life.

[Sundoulos]

Nathan Fouts appeared on our show at my request, and he was very gracious to do so, especially since we weren't really discussing his games specifically.

Nathan Fouts appeared on our show at my request, and he was very gracious to do so, especially since we weren't really discussing his games specifically. Delete RFN from your computer if you want, send us nasty emails and forum posts if you want, but it makes no sense to punish this man who was just helping us out. Moreover, it's beyond ignorant to spread hate on his games when you haven't even played them.

I don't own an Xbox, nor have I ever had the opportunity to play one of Mr. Fouts' games, but I thought he gave a great interview.  I enjoyed his perspectives on game design, what interests him about game design, art styles, and thought it was insightful.  I design software for a living, and have always had a passing interest in game design, so I liked it.  Especially he brought up a number of Nintendo games during the interview (Mario Galaxy 2, Super Metroid, among them), I guess that I don't really understand the criticism.
 
NWRs podcasts have been on the top of my lists for nearly 3 years now.  I appreciated being able to listen to a bunch of guys who really love games, and who (usually ) appear to really enjoy participating in the podcast.  I can name a number of podcasts from professional sites that pale in comparison, and a lot of the time it's because it was very apparent that the participants didn't want to be there sometimes.  Enthusiasm makes a difference in the quality of the product.  In some cases, I just imagined that some of those guys were just recording podcasts because their boss was making them do it to attract website traffic (the IGN nintendo podcast (under various names, circa 2008 until Matt C. and Bozon left, I'm looking at you).  In the case of Retronauts, I suppose I had just attributed it to Jeremy Parrish's general mellow disposition.   

Man, I'm really going to miss Retronauts as well.  I found it relatively late into it's life, but it has been fun listening to old episodes.  I hope that someone somewhere will eventually take up that mantle in the future because I think there's still a lot of great old gaming material to mine for good discussion.

I'll also take an opportunity to state that aside from the techincal difficulties, the OOT and Super Metroid epsiodes are two of my favorites from any podcast.  I still have those episodes stored away on my mp3 player; I listened to the Super Metroid episode in my anticipation for Other M, and I'm sure I'll probably break out the OOT episode prior to the release of Skyward Sword.

[Yoshidious]

And finally, Greg is a Brit. And he sits up EVERY WEEK WITHOUT FAIL to stupid o'clock every thursday recording and spends upto/more than 24 hours A WEEK editing the podcast for our weekly consumption. I don't know the average time spent (Greg, how often do you spend editing on average?) but just using the 24 hour figure over 100 episodes he's spent 10 DAYS editing.

The average episode of RFN these days takes 3 hours or more to record and about 13-15 hours to edit. The only episode that took 24 hours to complete was RFN 150, which was exceptional for a number of reasons including 5 audio tracks, 3hr30mins of audio, and the splicing in of the clips extracted from previous episodes. 

That's a hell of a lot for a person who still needs to eat, drink, sleep, have fun, travel and do all the other things that he does.

I only do a subset of these things - feel free to guess which ones.

[Retro Deckades]

I am not a multiple platform owner and I'll admit that I am primarily interested in the Nintendo portions of RFN, but the game discussions on this podcast in general are so insightful and critically minded that they remain endlessly entertaining. I have unsubscribed from many other multiple platform-focused podcasts because the discussion severely lacked these aspects, instead resorting to descriptions of games and how they play.

Radio Free Nintendo's quality is unmatched.

[happyastoria]

I appreciate the feedback and criticism. Although I think your views represent a small minority of our listeners, it's important to hear those views, and we do take them into consideration. However, your tone is extremely off-putting. We are much more likely to listen to you if you treat us (and our guests!) with respect and politeness.

It seems you are new to this website in general, so let me tell you something about it. We are 100% independently operated and funded. Our entire staff works for no pay, and yet we strive for the same level of professionalism that you will get at IGN, Gamespot, 1up, etc. If you want to doubt whether we love Nintendo, ask the numerous staff members who have been doing this volunteer work for 7-8 years. We are adults, most of us with real jobs, and we have broad interests in gaming and beyond. We do what we do because we love doing it. That goes for the entire website, and all the podcasts as well.

Look around the web and iTunes for other Nintendo-focused podcasts. You won't find very many. Now consider how many of those are any good. Now filter out the ones that ever mention or discuss any non-Nintendo games/systems. I don't think you'll have anything left to listen to. If we only talked about Nintendo games and only answered emails directly about Nintendo games, the show would be less than an hour long each week. Furthermore, we'd have to specifically purchase a lot more Nintendo games to make up the difference, games that we may not actually care about... with our own money! Sheer economics demand that we can only talk about games we were going to buy/rent anyway. And all four of us on the show are multiplatform gamers, so obviously we want to play games on multiple platforms. That would apply to virtually anyone on our staff.

We made considerable efforts to keep Nintendo at the focus point of every episode. Even in this case, when we brought on an independent developer who makes Xbox games, we constantly referred back to Nintendo games. "Did you work at Geist?" "What are some of the Nintendo games that influence your games?" "Have you considered making WiiWare games?" "What makes exploration in Metroid games fun and rewarding?" "How do you design an upgrade like the Screw Attack?" ...and so on.

Find another podcast with 200+ episodes and more Nintendo content, on average, than our show. Go on, I want to see what you come up with. Make your case.

We love Nintendo. We talk about Nintendo, primarily and at length and in depth, on every single episode of this show ever produced. But we are not purists. We are not fanboys. We do not live in a vacuum. We know that Nintendo games are and should be influenced by what's happening in the entire gaming world, just as they continue to influence that world.

This is a Nintendo podcast for grown-ups. If you can't handle that perspective, find something that caters exactly to what you want. This is the Internet, after all.

Wow, you just cock slapped him! By the way I can only think of one other podcast that has as many, if not more than RFN, and it's called GoNintendo.

[happyastoria]

You know your right.
 I'm out.
 enjoy your XBX discussions.

LMFAO! He spelled "your" wrong. HAHAHAHAHAHA

[NWR_Neal]

You can always listen to NWR Newscast. We talk all about Nintendo stuff!

[Yoshidious]

You can always listen to NWR Newscast. We talk all about Nintendo stuff!

This might seem like a perfectly reasonable suggestion Neal, but if our chap Hyrulian Guard were to reach the "post-game" discussion of Minecraft in Episode 27 he'd probably flip out and tell all his friends to throw custard pies at Markus Persson's face or something.

[noname2200]

You can always listen to NWR Newscast. We talk all about Nintendo stuff!

This might seem like a perfectly reasonable suggestion Neal, but if our chap Hyrulian Guard were to reach the "post-game" discussion of Minecraft in Episode 27 he'd probably flip out and tell all his friends to throw custard pies at Markus Persson's face or something.

Don't forget the upcoming Polo-cast.  That game's not even on a console!

[Mop it up]

I've thought for a while now that NWR should go multi-platform, a lot of its current staff own and play other systems which they find ways to talk about, which includes podcasts and blogs.

[NWR_Neal]

You can always listen to NWR Newscast. We talk all about Nintendo stuff!

This might seem like a perfectly reasonable suggestion Neal, but if our chap Hyrulian Guard were to reach the "post-game" discussion of Minecraft in Episode 27 he'd probably flip out and tell all his friends to throw custard pies at Markus Persson's face or something.

Touche.

[Halbred]

You can always listen to NWR Newscast. We talk all about Nintendo stuff!

This might seem like a perfectly reasonable suggestion Neal, but if our chap Hyrulian Guard were to reach the "post-game" discussion of Minecraft in Episode 27 he'd probably flip out and tell all his friends to throw custard pies at Markus Persson's face or something.

Don't forget the upcoming Polo-cast.  That game's not even on a console!

...YET!

[greybrick]

I honestly just stepped into this thread to mention that the segment including Nathan was the best I had heard on RFN in quite some time, only to be greeted with the current controversy surrounding the interview.

I was going to mention how great it was to hear someone interested in modern 2d action games reflect with the RFN crew about where these games are going, and what can be learned from our favorite Nintendo titles.

Instead of just doing that, I will also say that if you had a problem with that segment, go make your own podcast. There is no institutional framework that allows you to change what RFN does. Sure, the methods to complain are in place, but there are no means by which a listener can make irrational and detrimental changes to an excellent podcast simply to suit their particular needs, because the RFN cast owes you nothing. In fact, all they do is give, their free time, their thoughts, and their mental effort.

Meaning you can enjoy making your own perfect podcast, and good luck measuring up to RFN. I know I try every time I sit down for a Newscast, but more in a Christian imitating Jesus kind of way- replication just isn't possible.

@ Noname: I compare the EO games to roguelikes because they are structurally similar. The quest for the amulet of Yendor is not all that far off from the quest to reach the bottom of the Yggdrasil labyrinth. Both genres also share a tendency towards difficult gameplay, and they are also ultimately about moving square by square through a dungeon.

 

[NWR_Karl]

RFN is, in fact, bigger than Jesus.

[greybrick]

RFN is, in fact, bigger than Jesus.

No its not, Jesus is important to millions of people, making you patently wrong.

I guess nobody will get that I'm taking a dig at James unless I spell it out.

[Halbred]

@Karl: I was about to type the exact same thing, except add a Beatles reference.

@Nate: You have to blatantly say YOU'RE WRONG or HE'S WRONG!

[greybrick]

@Nate: You have to blatantly say YOU'RE WRONG or HE'S WRONG!

No, YOU'RE WRONG. How was that?

We love you James, RFN wouldn't be as good without your largely entertaining and occasionally relevant input.

[noname2200]

@ Noname: I compare the EO games to roguelikes because they are structurally similar. The quest for the amulet of Yendor is not all that far off from the quest to reach the bottom of the Yggdrasil labyrinth. Both genres also share a tendency towards difficult gameplay, and they are also ultimately about moving square by square through a dungeon.

I suppose that's true.  I personally associate those qualities more with the classic dungeon crawler than with roguelikes.  To me, the roguelike stands out because of its randomly-generated dungeons and their tendency to completely reset you upon death: you may be wiser for the experience, but you're back to level one with no items.  I guess it's just a matter of perspective.