faq
Frequently Asked Questions – UPDATED 01.20.12
[ABOUT THE PODCAST]
1: Who are you guys?
Technically, we are Chris Murdock, Brian Jones, John Krukoff, and Steve Walsh. Together we have nearly one hundred years of video game experience. Like we keep saying, we know a lot about video games and not much else.
2: What is this?
This is currently a (mostly) biweekly podcast covering console video game news and topics. We are slightly different from the hundreds of other video game podcasts as we go more into the obscure and import game scene (read: not mainstream).
3: Where are you doing this?
We all live and record the podcast in Colorado.
4: When does the podcast happen?
We record every other Monday and have it up on the web site usually by the following Monday (reality permitting). We will try and get the file up sooner if possible.
5: Why are you doing this?
After hearing several podcasts, we decided to do one because a lot of the stuff that was being talked about was very mainstream. We decided to do something we wanted to hear, and so here it is.
6: Why don’t you cover PC games?
We do cover PC games!
7: How do you do the podcast?
We use a mixer that takes in a signal from four XLR microphones. The mixer is plugged into a Mac where we use Garageband to record and edit the podcast. It’s not fancy, but it works.
8: I hear you guys are ending/have ended the podcast. Is this true?
Depending on when you are reading this FAQ, the last show to be recorded is show 120. We’ve been doing this over six years and we felt like we had a good run – so it was time to call it quits. We plan on keeping the podcasts up online until the registrar/web space time runs out.
[ABOUT THE CONTENT]
1: What should I expect when I listen to the show?
We go over any video game news or topics that interest us. There is a schedule of each and every show over in our downloads section.
2: What was the premise for “Gamer Under a Rock”?
Gamer Under a Rock was a feature done by our good friend Steve. Steve doesn’t keep abreast of current video games, so there are many games that everyone else has played, but Steve is just now getting to (or never even heard of). In the feature, Steve gave a review on a game that’s been out for about a year or so, but he was just now getting to it.
3. What happened to “Gamer Under a Rock”?
Steve’s been pretty current with games lately, so this feature has been put on hiatus until further notice.
4: What is Game Turkey?
Game Turkey is a feature done by our good friends at Vaguely Specific. In it we play a truly horrible game and record ourselves playing the game.
5: What is “Care or Don’t Care”?
Care or Don’t Care is a semi-regular feature we have in the podcast where we go over just released or upcoming video games and discuss whether or not we care about the game (we have interest in it), or if we don’t care (the game can die in a fire). When you hear one of these, you know we are padding out the show.
6: Is your show explicit?
It depends on your definition of “explicit”. We do use common four-letter words, and some of the news and topics we discuss may not be appropriate for children or within a professional work environment. We don’t throw out the f-bomb every two seconds, but please be aware that there may be some cursing as well as some “politically incorrect” material within the podcast. The show is tagged as explicit in iTunes for this reason.
[ABOUT FAMITSU]
(Please note: this is for the benefit of those who are listening to our older shows when we used to cover Famitsu scores.)
1: What is Famitsu?
Famitsu is a video game magazine that is published by Enterbrain, Inc. in Japan. The magazine that we refer to when discussing Famitsu is WEEKLY FAMITSU, a weekly magazine devoted to video game news and previews for all current video game consoles. There are also platform-specific versions of Famitsu available as well.
2: What’s the big deal about the Famitsu scores?
The people who score games in Famitsu are unmercifully tough. Famitsu scores are based on four different game reviewers; each one giving a game a score from one to ten. The reviewer’s scores are added up to a possible score of forty. There was a time where getting a 40/40 was considered rare, but not so much nowadays (especially if your game has “Metal Gear” somewhere in the title).
3: Why did you stop covering Famitsu scores in the podcast?
First, it disrupted the “flow” of the podcast. Second, the scores were not conducive to conversation. Third, there are many other places where you can find Famitsu scores. The last podcast we covered Famitsu scores on was show 009.
[ABOUT EDITING AND POSTING]
1: What is the editing process?
Once we have recorded the show, we use Garageband to edit our podcast. We must edit in the intro and outro music and edit various goofs, empty space, and/or content. We don’t edit too much content, any edits we usually do are mostly to maintain the flow of the podcast.
2: Why does it take so long to edit the podcast and get it on the website?
Please understand that the entire staff of Diehard Gamer Radio has full time jobs and other projects outside of the podcast on top of other commitments. As much as we would love to spend as much time as possible with the podcast, the reality is that we only have a few hours available per day and even less than that to work on the podcast. We will do everything in our power to get the podcast up as soon as possible, but please understand that we have busy lives outside this show. Currently, we record the podcast on a Monday night, and it gets edited during the week. The podcast usually is uploaded and ready to listen to by the next Monday. Please note that only one person does the editing and one person does the web site maintenance, so there may be a delay with certain features of the website (such as the constantly delayed uploading of the RSS feed).
3: Why does it take so long to update the RSS feed?
We cannot update the RSS feed until the show is fully edited, encoded, and uploaded. We need the file size (in bytes) for the RSS feed but we cannot place that information within the feed until the show is edited and encoded (as that changes the file size), and the show has to be uploaded to the server before we can upload the RSS feed (otherwise the feed will link to a show that isn’t there).
[ABOUT OUR RATING SYSTEM]
1: What was your old rating system?
We used a scale from one to five. Simply put, the ratings were as follows:
1/5 = Terrible. The game is very poorly designed, to the point of actually being unplayable.
2/5 = Mediocre. Can only be recommended as a rental for serious fans of the game or genre.
3/5 = Average. Nothing special, possibly worth a rental or purchase for casual fans of the game or genre.
4/5 = Very Good. The game may have a couple of faults, but it’s still worth buying.
5/5 = Excellent. A must-own game.
2: What is the rating system you are using now?
We tell you how much we paid for the game, and how much the game is actually worth. So for example, if we paid twenty dollars for a game, and we say it’s worth fifteen, it’s considered a good investment. Conversely, if we say a twenty dollar game is only worth five dollars, then you may want to save your money for something else.
3. Why the change in rating systems?
We wanted to do something different. Besides, the whole one out of five rating scale thing has been done to death. We started the new rating system on show 018.
4. Why did you stop doing reviews?
We felt that the reviews really killed the podcast. They were boring, and didn’t seem to help the overall pacing of the podcast. We decided that it was best to get rid of them.
[ABOUT DOWNLOADS]
1. How do I listen to your podcast?
Simply go to the “DOWNLOADS” page, and click on the podcast you want to listen to. The podcasts are .mp3 format, and you should be able to play them in most media players (such as iTunes, WinAmp, and Windows Media Player).
2. Do you have a RSS feed available?
Yes! You can click on the RSS 2.0 feed via our sidebar. You can also point your favorite RSS feed aggregator to http://www.diehardgamerradio.com/dgr.rss
3. Are you listed on iTunes?/Can I listen to the podcast in iTunes?
Yes! You can listen to us in iTunes (link will open up in iTunes if you already have it installed).
4. What if the file won’t play/doesn’t work?
Check to see if you are using the most updated versions of whatever software you are using to listen to audio files. If that doesn’t work, you may need to re-download the podcast file.
[ABOUT PODCASTING]
1. What is a podcast?
A podcast is an internet radio broadcast that you can download and listen to either on your computer or via an .mp3 player.
2. What’s with the audio quality?
Early on, we simply did not know what we were doing, so the early podcasts (and a few later ones) have some audio issues due to technical difficulties, encoding errors, and/or plain old human error. We’re now at the point where the quality of the podcast is fairly consistent, but please note that every so often we may get an audio hiccup in the podcast now and again.
3. Is there any other place (other than this website) where I can listen to your podcast?
Yes. Currently we have feeds at the following sites: iTunes, The Pod Lounge, and Podcast Alley.
[OTHER STUFF]
1. What’s the deal with Rise of the Robots?
For whatever reason, when we need to bring up the name of a truly horrible game, Rise of the Robots is usually the first one that comes out of our mouths. This game has become synonymous (to us at least) on how not to promote and make a game. It’s pretty much a recurring gag in the podcast. Well, that and Daikatana.
2. Who is “Angry John”?
Angry John is a friend of ours who comes on once in a while to either substitute for someone else, or chime in with a movie review based on a video game (or has something to do with video games).
3. Who is Roger?
Roger is a friend of ours who also substitutes every once and a while as well. He and his wife Emily run an awesome anime store called Gimme Anime. Seriously, spend all your money there.
4. What is up with video game news sites obsession with video game themed cakes and pastries?
We have no idea. You can rest assured though that you will not hear any cake or pastry related news in the podcast.
5. What’s with video game news sites obsession with unboxing new hardware?
Don’t know. We are not big fans of “hot unboxing action”.
6. What’s with all the video game themed papercraft models?
We don’t know. We are not quite sure when this became a thing.
7. What’s Trio the Punch?
Trio the Punch is an obscure Japanese arcade game that was made by Data East. The game is so chock full of glitches and poor collision detection, that we consider this game one of the worst games ever made.
8. What is Boong-ga Boong-ga?
It is an arcade spanking game. Seriously. We don’t have the time or the energy to make up stuff like this. We did a small writeup on this game over here.
[COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC]
1. Is Tetsuo truly dead at the end of Akira?
When the Espers appear at the Olympic Stadium and Akira appears from the shattered canisters containing his remains, it triggers an explosive energy sphere that envelops Tetsuo and Kaneda. The Espers tell Kaneda while inside the energy sphere that Tetsuo is being sent “away”. When we hear Tetsuo’s voice say, “I am Tetsuo.” it signifies that Tetsuo is not “dead” per se, but possibly not within our plane of existence. The implications at the end of the film suggest that Tetsuo may have become a god-like entity or a possible future evolution of humanity that resides within his own universe (the animation at this point looks like a big-bang type event).