Player One Podcast

All Weak People Exist to Be Eaten

Phil Theobald — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:42:05 +0000

Check it out! An actual Player One blog post! An actual sorta-reason to come to our main page! Maybe now we won’t feel all guilty for asking people to go here during our show outro.

I was looking through some old backup CDs from my Ziff Davis days earlier this evening, and I found all sorts of crazy pictures/poorly-Photoshopped images that we used to amuse ourselves back on Expert Gamer and GameNOW. Many of them are extremely in-jokey, “you had to be there” kinda deals, but I figured that “outsiders” would appreciate this one.

There is a bit of a story behind it, though. Back in late 2001, there was a contest to design the movie poster for the then-upcoming Resident Evil film. Mike Vallas, one of the head art guys at Ziff, was a huge RE fan, and he jumped at the chance to design the poster. You might remember Vallas as the guy who told the show-stopping anecdote at the end of our Andy Baran tribute episode (#145).

Contestants were given access to all sorts of artwork, including logos and various poses of the movie’s stars. Most of the pictures were the standard stuff that you might expect…Milla Jovovich brandishing large guns, random zombies…that sorta thing. Among all the images, however, was one picture that really stood out. Instead of a grim-faced shot of Milla or Michelle Rodriguez in some sort of “action movie” pose, it was a close-up of Milla with a delightful grin on her face. It looked remarkably out of place–definitely not an image that would sell a zombie movie.

We all had a good laugh at the picture, and joked about how we should make a poster using that image to enter into the contest. Not one to let a good joke die, Vallas actually went ahead and did so after whipping up a trio of fantastic (and serious) posters for his own entry. This is what he came up with:

We were all extremely pleased with the results. At the risk of unintentionally taking any credit for this, I didn’t create any of it. The design and the tag line were all Vallas. Because Vallas wanted to enter his “real” entries (or maybe just one of them…I can’t remember if there was a limit to the number of entries one could submit), the idea was for me to enter the joke poster. Unfortunately, my laziness (and probably some hectic magazine deadlines) caused me to miss the entry date.

It’s a shame, really. For all I know, the movie producers would have loved the idea. They might have completely reworked the film to fit the poster’s aesthetic. Maybe that movie would have actually ended up being good (ho-ho!).

Bonus Trivia!: Unfortunately, Vallas didn’t win the contest. Strangely enough, however, the winner was another videogame magazine editor: Nick “Nick Rox” Des Barres, of GameFan and Play fame. I don’t recall the exact details of the contest, but Nick’s poster didn’t end up as the one used in theaters/on the DVD case (at least, not that I’ve ever seen). If memory serves, this is Nick’s winning poster.

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Episode 176 (03/08/10) – Is It Martika That Sang That Song?

Chris Johnston — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:06:38 +0000

This week! Action! Drama! Comedy! And games! We discuss game tapes such as Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, Lunar Silver Star Harmony, Leave Home, Toy Soldiers, Sega All-Stars Racing, and much more. Plus: PS3-pocalypse, Infinity Ward stuff (though isn’t that going to be run into the ground by every other podcast? We don’t spend a ton of time on it) and more.

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Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. You can leave us a voicemail by calling 713-893-8069 or you can send a comment via MP3 to our email address, playeronepodcast@gmail.com. Don’t forget to join our forums if you haven’t already!

Running time: 1:23:05

This week’s links:
Toy Soldiers XBLA
Match Defense: Toy Soldiers Facebook Game
Leave Home
Player One Podcast App

Direct download: 03_08_10-Episode176.mp3

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Episode 175 (03/01/10) – Hobosick Ocean

Chris Johnston — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:20:59 +0000

This week! Recorded before the PS3pocalypse occurred, we talk about games and gentler times. We talk about Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, Bioshock 2, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, Data East Arcade Classics, Transformers G1: Awakening, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Bowser’s Inside Story, Heavy Rain, Dr. Mario Online RX, and Personal Trainer Walking, among others. Yes, you read that correctly. Personal Trainer Walking.

Running time: 1:56:08

Direct download: 03_01_10-Episode175.mp3

This week’s links:
Player One Podcast App

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Episode 174 (02/22/10) – The One Where We Never Get to What’cha Been Playing

Chris Johnston — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:53:39 +0000

This week! We have Sega’s Ethan Einhorn drop by as a guest and don’t even get around to the normal What’cha Been Playing segment. But it’s still an interesting podcast for a variety of reasons. We talk aboutwell, a lot. Digital downloads, game prices, iPhone games, XBLA, DLC, etc. Just listen.

Running time: 1:36:32

This week’s links:
Player One Podcast App

Direct download: 02_22_10-Episode174.mp3

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Episode 173 (02/15/10) – Tickets Please

Chris Johnston — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:14:03 +0000

This week! We talk about games such as Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, White Knight Chronicles, Aliens Vs. Predator, Splosion Man, TMNT Reshelled, 1 vs. 100, Zelda Spirit Tracks, Blaster Master Overdrive and Giana Sisters. Plus oh so much more in our tweets and voicemails section.

Running time: 1:41:20

This week’s links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
“Linus and Lucy” by hpizzle
The Caldor Rainbow: Toys R Us Design Timeline 1970s-1989

Direct download: 02_15_10-Episode173.mp3

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Episode 172 (02/08/10) – Blowin’ Cartridges

Chris Johnston — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:49:40 +0000

This week the lads discuss old timey arcades, favorite pinball tables, things you miss about the olden days of gaming, and the games they were playing this week. That just so happens to include Uncharted 2, Bayonetta, White Knight Chronicles, The Saboteur, Madden NFL 10, Assassin’s Creed, and more!

This week’s links:

Player One Podcast iPhone App

“Ana Ng” by Nestrogen

Direct download: 02_08_10-Episode172.mp3

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Episode 171 (02/01/10) – Not Playing What Everyone Else Is

Chris Johnston — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:41:52 +0000

This week! No Mass Effect 2, but plenty of other stuff, like The Saboteur, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Spelunky, .hack, Wolfenstein RPG. Plus: iPad, good things about bad games, Perfect Dark remake, exclusive DLC, new Pokémon games and more. Warning: if you don’t want to hear iPad talk you can skip between 6:30-21:15.

This week’s links:

Player One Podcast iPhone App
“You Can Call Me Al” by Nestrogen

Running time: 1:20:19

Direct download: 02_01_10-Episode171.mp3

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Episode 170 (01/25/10) – Sick Bay

Chris Johnston — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:21:30 +0000

This week! One sick Canadian and two reasonably healthy Americans discuss the game tapes they played this week. That includes The Saboteur, Dark Void Zero, Bayonetta, Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Hook Champ and Tumbledrop. And you won’t want to miss a live uncanning (or should that be de-canning?) of the US version of the Mega Man E-Tank drink! All that plus tweets, emails and voicemails.

Running time: 1:26:36

This week’s links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
Tumbledrop (iPhone App)
“You Belong With Me” – 7H3K1D
Pit Pat / GloboChem video

Direct download: 01_25_10-Episode170.mp3

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Episode 169 (01/18/10) – A Cross Between Other Podcasts and Zelda

Chris Johnston — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:46:04 +0000

This week! We talk about games! (Isn’t that every week? Yes it is. Stop asking questions.) Titles discussed include Batman Arkham Asylum, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, The Saboteur, Dragon Age (with a special guest!), Bayonetta, Words With Friends, Tumbledrop and much, much more. Plus, your tweets and voicemails. Well, just one voicemail. Because we ran out of time. Because CJ didn’t want to have to edit a two-hour podcast. And because Garageband keeps crashing on him.

This week’s links:
Player One Podcast iPhone App
Tumbledrop (iPhone App)

Running time: 1:45:15

Direct download: 01_18_10-Episode169.mp3

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Episode 168 (01/11/10) – I say we let him go

Chris Johnston — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:29:12 +0000

This week! It’s the second part of our top games-of-the-whatever; this time covering just 2009, and we go over our top 5 games of that year gone by. There will be laughing, crying, and surprises, no doubt. What are our hosts top picks? You will just have to put this podcast in your earholes and find out! Oh, and we do some voicemails, tweets and what’cha been playing. Next week we’ll be back on our regular schedule and format (thankfully).