Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors

We brought Andrew "too many podcasts" Dickinson back to the podcast so that we could discuss the 2004 film: Resident Evil Apocalypse. This is one of Andrew's favourite entries in the series, and the last one that Jay had seen (having given up on the series after this film came out).

We did commit a cardinal sin in film discussion: we talked about the film for longer than the run time. As such, we've split this discussion into two parts, with part one coming out very soon (March 19th, 2021).

What's with the leg-foo usage? Just how over the top is the church scene? Why did they spend so long making Jill out to be a badass, if they were going to replace her with Alice? All these questions, and more, may not be answered when the episode drops on March 19th, 2021. So do subscribe today for free, in order to be the first (and coolest) among your friends to listen to it.

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page. Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

We had a chat with indie game developer Zachary Claxton this week (actually, we chatted with him back in November 2020) about his Zelda-like title with Shadow of the Colossus-like scale. We talked about the wonderful hand drawn aesthetic, how the game came to be, and where you can get the demo. We also talked about our recent games, some of which might surprise you.

Content Warning

There's almost a swear in the intro, at the 55-second mark, but it isn't really a swear.

Show Notes

Zachary Claxton joined us for a chat about his work-in-progress title Earthrend. A game that he described to us as a Legend of Zelda-like adventure, with Shadow of the Colossus scale. We played the demo, and he’s not wrong.

As I mention in every episode, we recorded this episode ahead of time (which is something we do for almost every episode). In fact, we recorded this episode on November 23rd, 2020.

The “other Zac” that I refer to is, of course, ZBoi. At the time of recording this episode, we’d just finalised recording ZBoi’s appearance on the Street Fighter the Movie episode (which was called "Street Fighter with Z-Boi"). But before we could get into all of that, we leapt headfirst into what we’ve been playing recently, in a segment called:

Recent Games

This is where we usually take some time to talk through each of the games we’ve recently been playing, and discuss whether we think it’s worth other people picking them up. And first…

Full Show Notes

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things. We've included a whole slew of links to extra content, and included some amazing screenshots of Earthrend for you to check out.

What do you think of the sound of Zac's new game? did you click through to the show notes to check out some screenshots? What do you think of the hand-drawn aesthetic of Earthrend? did you check out the demo?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

We had a chat with indie game developer Zachary Claxton this week (actually, we chatted with him back in November 2020) about his Zelda-like title with Shadow of the Colossus-like scale. We talked about the wonderful hand drawn aesthetic, how the game came to be, and where you can get the demo. We also talked about our recent games, some of which might surprise you.

Find out about the game, and what we've been playing recently, when it drops on March 12th, 2021. So do subscribe today in order to be the first (and coolest) among your friends to listen to it.

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page or on Twitter.

Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

FPGAs are Magic

This is The Waffling Taylors Raw with Jay, a series of shorter episodes that will be of indefinite length - we're gonna put these out as-and-when. These episodes will cover shorter topics which don't really fit well within the scope of the show or topics that I want to cover in my own way before we bring them up on the show. That's not to say that we won't cover these topics in the main show, but I'd like to take a whack at them here, first.

I can't guarantee that all of these shorter episodes will be as deep or technical as this one. But I wanted to start big.

This is a super complex topic, and I've intentionally kept the description to metaphor and analogy. But I've included a whole bunch of references in the show notes for this episode, so it's going to be worth clicking through and reading those show notes - because there are loads of books you can read, and web resources.

Do you prefer to run emulators or FPGA based hardware? Are you more likely to choose one over the other, having heard this episode? Would you like to hear more of these shorter Raw with Jay episodes?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page. Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

This is part two of a two-parter, folks. If you haven't heard part one, I'd take a moment to listen to that first. Unless you're listening in the past - if so, RUN!

Content Warning

At 25:43, Sean says:

Some folks may find that offensive, whilst some may not. Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

We’re back with Sean “Advent of Computing” Haas for this episode of the podcast. If you’re at all interested in the history of computers - both digital and analogue - then I’d really recommend that you check out Sean’s show. In the time between recording this episode (which was recorded on August 16th, 2020) and it being released, Sean released episode 48 of his show, and it was all about the history of Pong! - the episode is called Electronic Ping-Pong and is a must-listen for anyone interested in video game history.

Sean was also on the previous episode, which I would recommend that you all listen to as we jump straight back into the discussion on…

Colossal Cave Adventure

Colossal Cave, aka Colossal Cave Adventure, is a game that we ended the previous episode with but wanted to come right back to it, as Sean had some questions for Squidge, including

Whilst Squidge didn’t get a chance to play Colossal Cave Adventure before the show, he did check out a lot of YouTube footage of the game in play. And you can play it in your web browser here.

But it does sound like a great game. There are pirates, evil dwarves, dragons, and treasure. What else could you want from a game? Especially since the layout of the cave doesn’t seem to conform to Euclidean geometry.

Oh, and it was written in 1976. Which was shortly after something called ARPANET (which was what the Internet was built off of) was created. It was also one of the first computer programs to spread via the ARPANET, making it a federal crime to spread and play. This is because the computers at ARPANET were supposed to be used specifically for the following things:

• Research
• Government
• Military

I’m not sure that Colossal Cave fits into any of those, unfortunately.

Full Show Notes

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things. We've included a whole slew of links to extra content, identified a game that neither Squidge nor Sean could remember the name of, and included some video material for you to check out.

Had you ever heard of The Sword of Damocles before? No, no the Greek myth, or the song. What about Plato? And no, we don't mean the Greek philosopher. Would you have wanted a plasma screen back in the 1970s?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

We brought Sean Hass in to discuss some of the most retro of all retro games - the first video games ever made - and the technology surrounding them. He's an expert on all things from the advent of computing, as he hosts a podcast with a very similar name.

Sean took us on a journey which started in the 50s, went back to the 40s, then forward to the 70s, by way of the start of the 20th century. And on every stop along the way, he introduced us to some of the earliest video games ever made. You really can't get much more retro than this one, folks.

Find which games we talked about in part two, when it drops on Feb 26th, 2021. So do subscribe today in order to be the first (and coolest) among your friends to listen to it.

In the meantime, I'd recommend checking out Sean's podcast "Advent of Computing". Especially episode 48 "Electric Ping-Pong", as it's about how the classic Pong came to be - and it's a truly fascinating story.

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page. Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

This is part one of a two-parter, folks. And I'm sure that you'll want to hear the second part when it drops next week. Unless you're listening in the future - if so, how is everything?

Show Notes

We were joined by Sean "Advent of Computing" Haas for this episode of the podcast, and we wanted to talk about some of the oldest video games and video game systems. Sean is an expert at this kind of stuff, as his podcast is all about... well, the advent of computing - looking back at where it all started and how we got to where we are today. So it seemed only natural that we'd have him on the show, as he's a real font of knowledge on this topic. 

Sean's Podcast & Computer History

Before we get started with all of that though, we take some time to discuss Sean's show. If you're at all interested in the history of computers and computing, including things like certain applications, viruses and trojans, or even programming languages. I'd recommend subscribing to his show. It really is amazing.

We recorded this episode back on August 16th of 2020, and I put these show notes together as soon as the episode was edited and ready to go. But in the intervening time, Sean has put out an episode on the birth of Pong, and I really think that you should give it a listen. Here's a link to it: Episode 48: Electronic Ping-Pong.

Listening to Sean's podcast lights up parts of my brain which have been untouched since my Uni days. We studied the history of computing for a whole semester in the first year of my Computer Science degree, and it was then that I learned that touchscreen goes all the way back to the 50s.

I share this story on the pod, but if you want to know more about the history of the touchscreen, I'd recommend taking a look at the Wikipedia page for it as a starting point. Squidge mentions that it's the PDP-1 which was the first machine to have a touchscreen on it. And that reminded me that there's a wonderful kit out there to turn a Raspberry Pi into a working PDP-8.

Emulation and FPGAs

We talk about emulation, how great it's become recently, and about FPGAs and the MiSTer devices - keep an eye open for a future episode about the difference between emulation and FPGAs. And I take a wack at describing the difference between emulation software and FPGAs, and how it's completely magic

Recent Games, Thunder Plains, and Some History

We discuss what we've been playing recently, as we always do. One thing to note is that we recorded this episode quite some time ago, as such our "recent games" aren't really that recent. We take Sean to the Thunder plains, and he tells us about the games he would take with him (and at least one mod for them).

After that, it's off to the races with us discussing some of the earliest video games ever made. I can say for certain that neither Squidge nor myself had played this games before we approached Sean about this episode, and we're glad that we hadn't.

Full Show Notes

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things. Jay also went the extra mile and discusses OXO (Sean calls this "Tic-Tac-Toe" in the episode), the computer it was written for, and the reason OXO was written in the first place - the reason could really shock you, honest.

Had you played any of the earliest games that we cover? If so, what did you think of them? Had you ever killed the dragon with your bare hands before?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia

We brought Sean Hass in to discuss some of the most retro of all retro games - the first video games ever made - and the technology surrounding them. He's an expert on all things from the advent of computing, as he hosts a podcast with a very similar name.

Sean took us on a journey which started in the 50s, went back to the 40s, then forward to the 70s, by way of the start of the 20th century. And on every stop along the way, he introduced us to some of the earliest video games ever made. You really can't get much more retro than this one, folks.

Find which games we talked about in part one, when it drops on Feb 19th, 2021. So do subscribe today in order to be the first (and coolest) among your friends to listen to it.

In the meantime, I'd recommend checking out Sean's podcast "Advent of Computing". Especially episode 48 "Electric Ping-Pong", as it's about how the classic Pong came to be - and it's a truly fascinating story.

Find out more about the podcast, and how to subscribe here. You can listen to the show anywhere that you consume audio content. Here are some examples:

• Podchaser
• Apple Podcasts
• Pocketcasts
• Spotify

Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We're also on Twitch and YouTube.

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page or on Twitter.

Show Notes

We recently recorded an interview with Philip Oliver and kept the microphones going after Philip had signed off. We wanted to cover our immediate thoughts on the recording. This is a raw recording with only the intro and outro added to it - no editing was done.

This audio (and the interview) were recorded on the evening of Thursday, Feb 11th 2021. The interview with Philip is due to drop on April 9th, 2021.

We talked about Dizzy, the Evercade, The Mummy Returns, Fusion Frenzy, the Oliver Twins collection for the Evercade, and how we might finally have been sold on the device.

Music Credits

Because these will be the show notes for this episode, here are the credits for the pieces of music used in this episode:

• Intro music is Among The Stars, from the Cosmos Music Pack by Muz Station Productions
• Outro Music is I N e e d Y o u 私の側て by G.H (removed from BandCamp)

Getting In Touch

You can get in touch with us in a whole bunch of ways:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wafflingtaylors
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/wafflingtaylors
• Out brand new contact page: https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/contact/

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia 

Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page.

Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.

Content Warning

At 9:54, there’s a discussion of things jiggling, and whether they needed to be censored, but we keep it clean. 

Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

We were incredibly lucky to be able to grab some time with Mike Hermann back on December 12, 2020 (honestly, we really do record these ahead of time) and he agreed to be on the show again. His previous appearance was on episode 75, which dropped on April 17, 2020 (here’s a link to that episode).

Lot’s of things have happened since our last chat with him. Not least of which, a whole slew of new features and wrestlers have been announced. Also, we’re 14 days away from release. How exciting is that? Better get ready for a big pop.

We start things off by welcoming Mike back onto the show, and talking about the new release date; Feb 26th, 2021. We also talk about the amazing developer vlogs that Mike has been putting out, which document the development of the game. We also talk about how, in development at least, showing your progress more than once a week could be a waste of time. This is usually because not enough time has gone by for you to make any progress between each report.

Mike then drops the knowledge that Jay & Silent Bob will be in the game. At the time we recorded this episode, we were the first to know about this’ but because of the time cast pod machine wibbly wobbly-ness, we were the last to report it 😢

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things.

Are you looking forward to RetroMania Wrestling? Will you be looking to unlock all 39 achievements? What about the IIRcade, will you be getting one? Is Warhorse perfectly balance?

What other movies would you like us to cover? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.

The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia