Geek Syndicate

Join Barry and Amaechi in this special episode as they interview Tom Champion, Community Manager for the Eurogamer Expo. Tom tells us all about this years upcoming Expo and what games, developer session and new additions attendees can expect from this years show.

• The Wii U is about to get an officially release date but will any of the team be buying one
• Resident Evil 6 brings a whole new meaning to limited edition games bundles and Call of Duty Black Ops gets its own limited edition bundle
• Popcap to tricker treat free copies of Plants vs. Zombies
• 2012 Golden Joystick Awards voting opens
• Microsoft reveal poor Summer of Arcade sales
• The first review for Borderlands 2 hits the net

The Life-cycle of Software Objects is a story by Ted Chiang about our relationship with artificial intelligence and what it means to be alive. It's kind of a peculiar read but well worth it, as we quickly discovered. Joining Dion and Phil to discuss the tale is our guest host, the delightful Dee - otherwise known as 'Faint Dreams.'Now, don't go skipping straight past. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'I've never heard of it, never read it, so why listen to the podcast?' Well, Firstly we're bloody brilliant. Honest, guv'nor. Secondly, it's actually a pretty quick read - a novella rather than a book (Around 60 pages.) Thirdly, The Life-cycle Of Software Objects is available right here for free, and Fourthly it's an absolute corker. We've all had ideas and questions exploding in our brains long after we finished reading it.So you're not going anywhere, right?Right :-DYou snuggle down and start reading, I'll just sit here and... I dunno, tweet or something.Dum de dum... de dum... de dum...Ready? Brilliant.For those of you interested in reading more of Ted Chiang's work, there is a round-up of his stories at Metafilter, all free and perfectly legal. Some are in text, some are audiobooks. Here also is a separate link for the story that Dee mentions right at the end of the podcast, called 'Liking What You See: A Documentary.'

Want to know a little more about Artificial Intelligence? You could listen to Dissecting Worlds (cheap shot) or have a look at this wikipedia entry. Most edifying.

As ever, feedback is appreciated. You can tweet @Dion_Scrolls, @Phlambler or @FaintDreams, e-mail us at [email protected] or share your views with everyone in the Comments section below.We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.Keep reading.

They're Back! After an unscheduled most-of-Summer break, Amaechi, Barry and Ant return to discuss the latest gaming news. This month: the boys talk about Amaechi's weariness with hackers, the switch in payment model for MMORPGs and discuss the forthcoming Halo web-series amongst other stories.

As a feature, they discuss Co-Op gaming: its rise, fall and rise again while talking about some of their favourite co-op game memories. Finally, a brief look at the game releases for September is presented.

In Geek To Geek Issue 5 the Scrolls team contributed a little segment on Flash Fiction, defining it and discussing the attraction of this growing form story-telling.It will surprise none of our regular listeners when I tell you that the conversation went on for an awful lot longer than the 18 minutes previously released. Here,for the first time, you can hear the full discussion (clocking in at just under an hour and a half.) Furthermore, for your listening pleasure, we present recordings ofno less that ten Flash pieces scattered throughout the episode. There is some bad language used by the team and there are elements of horror in several of these Flash pieces, varying from the visceral to the psychological. Whilst we do not always think to put a Parental Advisory warning on our podcasts, you should think twice before playing this episode in the hearing of children. I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributing authors here in the order in which their stories appear: Rebecca Bohn - 'One Night' - a tale of mythic wonder - read by Dion Winton-Polak Lily Childs - 'A Stitch In Spine' - an erotically charged delight - read by Lily Childs Absolutely*Kate Pilarcik - 'Stop This Merry Go Round, I Want To Get Off!' - a natty, nuanced noir - read by Brenda Kirk Anthony Cowin - 'Corridors Of Meat' - a visceral fight for survival - read by Phil Ambler R.R. Kovar - 'Golden Gate' - creepy lore from the carny folk - read by Dion Winton-Polak Phil Ambler - 'Gone' - a cry from the aching gulf of grief - read by Phil Ambler Dion Winton-Polak - 'A Vampires Salvation' - a sonnet to love, loss and redemption - read by Dion Winton-Polak John Xero - 'Retribution' - a post-plague chiller - read by Phil Ambler A.J. Humpage - 'Naked' - Hackett displays a terrifyingly artistic side - read by Lily Childs Lily Childs - 'Spangles' - a dizzying murder mystery with a very unusual killer - read by Lily Childs Click on the author links above to see their home pages and read more of their work.Brenda did an ace job reading Kate's story. Why not pop across to see her at Geektress to support their site as well? (hint Etsy hint) A few more links you may be interested in are flagged up during the course of the episode, so keep your ears peeled. A pen and paper may be handy - if not to write down links then to start working on your own pieces of Flash Fiction. It's a joyously addictive hobby! Join us...

Yee-haw,

The pair of desperadoes known as Kehaar & Matt are joined by Matt Mitrovitch custodian of the work of boundless energy & love which is the AH Weekly Update: (http://alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.blogspot.com)looking at that popular alternate history topic of the American Civil War in the course of which they look at

* Harry Harrison’s Star & Stripes series, the Trent affair & options for European intervention

* Harry Turtledove's 191-timeline & the romanticisation of both sides of the ACW

* The appeal (and consequences) of Balkanised America

* Alien Space Bats & South African nazis

* Captain Confederacy!: http://captainconfederacy.blogspot.com

* Race in America and its legacy in fiction and reality

Matts writing blog is http://mitroauthor.wordpress.com/

He has a story in Jake's Monthly-Alternate History Anthology: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/180165

Saddle up, enjoy & feedback :)

00:00:00 Geek to Geek with Monts and Nuge – David Montieth and Barry Nugent bring you their monthly slice of pop culture madness. No script, no preparation and but hopefully some hope that you will enjoy the experience

00:55:39 Minster of Chance Audio Drama - Episode 3 Trailer more info on the series here.

00:57:06 The Scrolls team discuss Flash Fiction with Lily Childs

01:14:56 Scarifyers Audio Drama - The Nazad Conspiracy trailer. More info here

01:15:59 Montoya and Silver Fox from Trailer Trash Two check out the lastest film trailers

01:33:49 Notes from Nuge: Avengers theme played on Violin by Taylor Davis

01:34:56 Woman in Black Book Reading by Dion(Scrolls)

01:37:33 Dark Knight Returns Trailer

01:39:04 A look at early horror with Matt (Dissecting Worlds), Keharr (Dissecting Worlds) and Phil (Scrolls)