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Man, it's been a long time since we did a CoNcast. It can be hard to get folks together when there's so much going - work, gaming, laziness...

Well, anyway, here's a new one. We went the weird angle again, and Tiddles and I decided to blow a day and a CoNcast on Twitch-streaming a big chunk of the preeminent dating sim video game featuring birds, Hatoful Boyfriend.

Not familiar with this gem of a game? What, are you nuts? Bird-brained?! Well, here: learn more about why this is so appealing.

Also, check out this collection of weirdo stuff and try to trace all the ways we're able to struggle to connect other games and media to this incredibly odd experience. And, if not being able to see it yourself doesn't do the job for you, watch the extended experience on Twitch. Or, well, watch it when we figure out how to resurrect the thing since I forgot to store it.

We are on a roll around here.


Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

I looked, once upon a time, and discovered that it had been weeks since we'd done a CoNcast. Then, I forgot about it. Later, I looked again to discover it had been three freaking months since we'd done a CoNcast, and that was just not acceptable.

So, here's episode twenty-five of the CoN podcast for you. This time around, our panel is reviewing the subjectivity of "retro" gaming, particularly as it relates to Final Fantasy. The idea of what makes a Final Fantasy game "retro" is something that can change based on your own experience or lack thereof with the series, and to address that, we talk not only about what makes particular games in the series retro to our minds, but also what we as gamers can do to communicate effectively about the series to those who have a different perspective.

Do you agree with our thoughts on what makes a Final Fantasy a retro game, or which games fall into that bucket? What other games give you the feel of a classic, retro FF? Draw your own conclusions by listening to the newest CoNcast now!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

E3's 2014 edition is coming soon - it starts June 10, in fact. With that in mind, we thought we'd take a tip from last year and blow out a full episode looking forward to this year's show.

We spend some time touching on what the big three will or won't have around for E3, and of course we take some time to talk about what Square Enix might bring for their big franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex. Join Stiltzkin, Lasz, Tiddles and me for a (p)recap of the games you're going to be looking for soon.

As always, look for our coverage of E3 coming soon!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

Well, in reality, the show this episode is about the main characters of Final Fantasy, not all the characters. However, the alliteration of the title above was just too good to pass up.

A series like Final Fantasy - 25 years old, with twenty-plus games bearing the name - is sure to have an extremely diverse set of characters. Or, is it sure after all? Perhaps the series uses the same archetypes over and over again with slightly different twists. The CoNcast team spends 45 minutes dissecting the lead characters of the series and distilling them to work out the similarities and differences, as well as just the good from the bad.

This one's a little shorter than most, but we packed a lot into it. If you haven't heard a CoNcast before but have been thinking about trying one out, check this episode for a quick hit!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

For CoNniversary last year, we not only released a new Final Fantasy VI walkthrough section, we also recorded a CoNcast about how awesome Final Fantasy VI is. Because it is easy to say how awesome the games we cover are (it's circular reasoning - they're awesome because we cover them and we cover them because they're awesome), we decided to pick up that mantle for this episode and start to turn it into a miniseries. At least for the time being, we're following the order in which the games were added to CoN, and that means that today's episode is all about Final Fantasy IV.

Lasz and Stiltz joined me to record some words describing this phenomenon. We talk about the ATB system, the deliciously melodramatic plot, the fantastic soundtrack, and the fact that it's been released for approximately seven thousand gaming platforms. Hopefully, spending some time listening to us will remind you that FF4 is fantastic and you'll seek out a new playthrough (and/or buy a new copy through AmaCoN!).

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

While we might have bombed out of covering it on CoN news, you may have heard from some other, obviously mediocre site that there was a bit of controversy around the recent Western release of Bravely Default. In short, a few characters received slightly older canonical ages, and a couple female characters found their character models with more clothing for the US and Europe than they had in Japan. Naturally, the response to this news ran the gamut from those who found it pointless to those who seemed to have a much creepier viewpoint on the whole thing.

Naturally, this got us thinking, so I woke up the day after spending some time with an IV in my arm and grabbed Tiddles, Stiltzkin and Death Penalty to spend some time talking about this newest (minor) controversy and some of the history of censorship in Final Fantasy games, whether forced by Nintendo or willfully taken on by Squenix localization teams. Not only were some of the choices interesting, I'd wager there are some you hadn't even heard of, so it's worth a download right now!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes