News

Thanks to a great topic by MetroidMorphBall, we've got another podcast for you today. In his topic, MMB asks, "Are the best Squenix games coming out on handhelds?" As we all know, Squenix have thrown a lot of resources over the last few years into getting games in front of gamers on the go, whether it's on phones or tablets or a handheld gaming console, or whether it's a new IP or a port or a full-on remake. That gives us a lot to talk about, naturally, due to the number of permutations at play. Perhaps some folks like the old games on new platforms; perhaps someone prefers the brand new IPs on Nintendo and Sony handhelds; maybe there's someone out there who just doesn't like console games (or handhelds!) at all.

It's time to listen to the CoNcast to find out. And, of course, to learn more about Cookie Clicker, the game that never leaves Tiddles unsatisfied.

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, Original CoN Topic

While we fall behind on news, we keep up on CoNcasts, so that's something. Wait... no, we're a week late on this episode of the CoNcast too, aren't we? Well, isn't that fabulous.

This is lucky episode thirteen, and as luck would have it, we couldn't manage to get a full set of four this week. What's going on in the world? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Carrying on, though, Tiddles, lasz and I took it upon ourselves to put out a good show talking about some of the big hardware news that has come out recently, as well as the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. We cover the updated Playstation 4 release date in Japan, the announcement of the Vita TV, and the interestingly-shaped Nintendo 2DS, some of the big games we expect to see out of TGS, and we throw in a lot of silliness about fast food and other random topics.

To wrap up both this news post about the podcast and the recording itself, we announce the opening of the CoNcast mailbag. If you've got something to harass us about specific to the CoNcast, such as an argument against something we said, a topic you want us to cover, or a plea to join us on an upcoming episode, the mailbag is the place to do it. You can yell at us via email using [email protected]; of course, we'll be happy to take your feedback through any of our other points of contact as well, but the email address will be the most direct and noticeable way to make your opinion heard.

If you're feeling lucky yourself, download it now. If you're feeling less than lucky, that's probably all the more reason to hit that link.

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

In this episode, we're talking about sequels. It seems like every game is guaranteed a sequel these days, and some of them are warranted, and some are not. Of course, which ones are which are a matter for debate, so Neal, lasz, DP, and I spend some time talking about games that need more sequels, and games that instead need to be put on the shelf.

We even talk about Final Fantasy and Square Enix a bit, but, spoiler alert: nobody actually says that Final Fantasy should be a series that dies with a whimper. Why not? You'll have to listen.

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

As promised earlier today, we've got a nice little snippet of a podcast for you. It's shorter than usual, and probably a little more roughly edited, but we wanted to give folks some media to listen to both because it's a big day for us here at CoN, but also because I'm going on vacation soon and didn't want to leave our many subscribers hanging.

Today's episode, in honor of both CoNniversary and the relaunch of the Final Fantasy VI section, is just about how great Final Fantasy VI really is. Obviously, this could cover a great many podcasts (and over time, I suspect it will!), but for today we just wanted to talk a little, in broad strokes, about the things that made us all fall in love with it over the years. For this, we got the original CoNcast group together for the first time in a few months, and I, Tiddles, lasz and DP spend an afternoon touching on a few things that keep us coming back to the game.

This one is a nice quick listen, so if you've never tried one of our podcasts before, or just love Final Fantasy VI, you should give it a try in honor of the site's 16th birthday. Let us know what you think and we'll be back with a new episode in a few weeks!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

With last episode's experiment out of the way - at least for now - we're back to normal for episode ten. This time around, with TheSpeedGamers' Final Fantasy marathon still fresh in our minds, Lasz, Jav and I brought in a former CoN staffer to talk to us a bit about speedgaming. Folks here might remember him as Caesar, but nowadays he plays games very, very fast over at Speed Demos Archive under his real name, PJ.

We spend an hour with PJ talking about all sorts of things about gaming with pace, from how his background at CoN romhacking Final Fantasy V helps him in his gaming, to the games he likes best to speed through, to why more people don't try to speedrun Final Fantasy games. We even talk a bit about the competitive and cooperative aspects of speedgaming and how they share some connection to the rapidly-growing field of eSports.

We even wrap up with just a little talk about what's coming for this year's CoNniversary. That's next week! Holy cow!

Everyone that's heard an early version of this episode thinks it's pretty great, and that includes me. And I hate most everything! So check out the new ep right away, and make sure to check out SDA's summer marathon, Summer Games Done Quick, starting this week!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

Thanks to the holiday week in America last week, as well as the fact that we got a bit experimental with the CoNCast this time around, it's coming to you three days late. It's now available for direct download, however, and it will be cropping up in the RSS feeds (see below) and on YouTube pretty soon!

You might be wondering how we got experimental, and what on earth the title of this episode means. The first question is easy to answer; instead of just doing a standard radio show this time, we recorded ourselves playing a game and discussing it at the same time, using Twitch. The game in question is Seiken Densetsu 3, the game in Square's "Mana" series that was never released to the West. Knowing that, you might even be able to figure out the episode title, as one particular aspect of the game grabbed me as soon as I saw it.

I got together with Tiddles, Neal (a first-timer for the CoNcast!), and EvilEye to watch the former two play via netplay; the technical issues alone should create some entertainment for you, dear listeners, even without the video. However, we will soon be able to share with you the full video and audio on YouTube as well; the full gameplay session runs about 40 minutes longer than the hour-long broadcast we're presenting as audio.

Let us know how you feel about this idea. Like we said, it's experimental; maybe we never do it again, or maybe there are some games that might even work a bit better for this concept. Are there games you might like to see us try? We might well say no but you should ask anyway.

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes