Silicon Sasquatch

By Silicon Sasquatch

An independent podcast covering the cultural significance of games.... more

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FAQs about Silicon Sasquatch:

How many episodes does Silicon Sasquatch have?

The podcast currently has 82 episodes available.

Silicon Sasquatch episodes:

July 11, 2014“Diversity? What Diversity?” – The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 46
There's a problem of diversity and representation in the games industry. It's widespread, ranging from development and publishing to marketing and journalism, and it's toxic.
Doug, Aaron and Nick talk about why this matters and what you can do to help make gaming a safe space for everyone.
Here are the articles we cited in the podcast, along with some other recommended reading:
Maddy Myers, “A GDC Epilogue: Powerful Games Journalist Men I Have Met” - 6/24/14
Giant Bomb hiring, an overview w/ tweets from female writers: “Giant Bomb Hiring Ignites Gender Issues in Games Journalism Debate” - 7/01/14
Giant Bomb, “Letter from the Editor - 7/02/2014”
Keza MacDonald, “What is the Point of Video Game Journalism?" - 6/25/14
Leigh Alexander, “What did they do to you?: Our women heroes problem” - 6/11/14
Sophia McDougall, “I hate Strong Female Characters” - 8/13/13
Kotaku, “You’ll ‘Want to Protect’ The New, Less Curvy Lara Croft” - 6/11/12
Jennifer Allaway, “The Reality of Sexism in the Game Industry” - 3/31/14
Polygon, “Ubisoft abandoned women assassins in co-op because of the additional work” - 6/10/14
Angelina Bonilla, “Unity's Lack of Female Assassins is Not Just Bad Business, It's Bad Form” - 6/17/14
Katie Williams, “I Can Be Just As Capable. Let Me.” - 6/18/12
Stephen Totilo “The Diversity Question” - 7/7/14
Robot Hyena “Wildstar, Character Design, Female Objectification, Sexual Dimorphism and Biology in Video Games” - 12/12/13
Leigh Alexander: “But WHAT CAN BE DONE: Dos and Don’ts To Combat Online Sexism” - 7/5/2014
As always, thank you for listening - please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and tell your friends!
Intro music: "humm ok" by Gablé (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Outro music: "The Beach! The Beach!" by Holy Coast (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
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1h 2min
June 19, 2014 "Death with Dignity" – The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 45

There's this theme that's essential to so many classic tales of warriors and knights: the ideal of the "good death." It's the pursuit of an ultimate sacrifice that amplifies the protagonist's deeds and echoes into eternity.
There's almost no such thing as a "good death" in games, mostly because player death is repetitive and often a crucial part of a game establishing its difficulty level.
But there is a series of games that takes its unforgiving systems and opaque, strange worlds and manages to create something wonderful -- something meaningful -- out of the concept of death.
In this week's episode, Aaron, Tyler and Nick share their experiences playing through the notoriously complex and unforgiving Demon's Souls and Dark Souls games and attempt to suss out what makes them so memorable and distinct from so many other games on the market. Spoilers are kept to a minimum, but please be aware that there is some discussion of late-game content from each of the games.
As always, thank you for listening - please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and tell your friends!
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52min
June 08, 2014 "Curse of the Blue Shell" - The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 44

We all make mistakes. What's important is having the humility to own up to them.
On this week's episode of the Silicon Sasquatch Podcast, Nick issues a mea culpa and embraces the fact that games like Mario Kart 8 can make for a great time even if they don't stray far from the mold. In fact, the whole gang is excited to see a Wii U game lighting up the blogs and Twitter for once, which leads to the question: what sort of trends should we hope to see on display at this year's E3, which is just hours away from beginning?
Baseless predictions and unabashed giggling over Luigi Death Stare memes abound in this episode. You're welcome/we're sorry in advance.
Thanks for listening - please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and tell your friends!

mario-kart-8-luigi-gif

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44min
June 08, 2014 "GameSpy Games Die" - The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 43

Here's an existential question for you: if a multiplayer online game loses its online functionality, is it still the same game?
The gang got together to try to draw some conclusions from the shutdown of GameSpy's online matchmaking systems, a move that has far-reaching effects for many first- and third-party game publishers -- even going so far as to shut down all multiplayer services on Nintendo's Wii and DS/DSi consoles. Do consumers have any rights or guarantees for service when they buy a game or a console? (Hint: Not really.) And perhaps more importantly, what implications does this attitude have for game preservation in the long-term?
We hope you enjoy this most recent podcast. As usual, please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and tell your friends!
Intro: "Griefclubbing" by T-O
Outro: "Sex, Drugs, Violence and Corruption" by Wootson
Background photo: "Wasteland" by Denis Defreyne. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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36min
May 24, 2014 "Dis-Kinect-ion" -- The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 42

Microsoft's vision of an interactive living room is forever changed: on May 13th, 2014, the tech giant announced it would offer a Kinect-free version of the Xbox One for a competitive $399. It bears mentioning that this news broke less than a year after the One's official unveiling, which lauded the advancements of the next-generation Kinect.
So what?
Nick, Doug, Spencer and yours truly came together to discuss the impact of such a major strategic shift by the house of Xbox. Are they circling the wagons against the crushing financial fury of the PlayStation 4, or is this simply a smart reaction to shifting consumer demands within a volatile market? Either way, we argue, an Xbox One without the Kinect casts doubt on the focus of every device preaching its new-generation gospel.
Listen as we dissect the facts through brilliant conjecture!
Intro: "An ever ending party" by MidiPunk
Outro: "Red On Black" by DiN RADiO
Header: Rain PNG by dbszabo1
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47min
April 15, 2014 "This Indie Life" – The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 41

Our very own Nick Cummings recently made a sharp left turn in his life. He left an established position with a prosperous company, moved 2000 miles to Seattle, and is now hard at work pursuing a lifelong dream -- the dream of making games. In this episode of the Squatchcast, Nick sat down with Doug Bonham, and the two talked about the realities of the indie ideal. Is it worth trying to break into the scene by your lonesome? Does the satisfaction outweigh the burdens of starving artisthood? Is it for everyone? (Spoiler on that last bit: probably not.)
Listen in on their conversation below!
Intro: "Tahiti totot" by Tesslesstess
Outro: "Away" by CANVAX
Header Image: "up in arms" by Alex
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47min
April 03, 2014 "Riftbook" – The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 40

Last week, Facebook announced its acquisition of Oculus VR, the Kickstarter-founded startup devoted to developing affordable and available VR technology. The public's response has been largely negative: some fear Facebook's intentions, some (including highly visible people like Markus Persson) feel disenchanted that a crowd-funded company would wind up taking in $2 billion just two years after thousands of enthusiasts chipped in to help launch the company.
Which of these views are valid and which are unfounded? And more importantly, what does this acquisition mean for the future of VR? Spencer, Nick and Doug dissected the details of the acquisition and attempted to better understand what this news means for the future of gaming — and for VR technology in general.
Intro: "Tough guy eh?" by BitBurner
Outro: "Narcotic" by Passionate Imperfection

Deal With It GIF Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Oculus VR Oculus Rift

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49min
April 02, 2014 "I Cast A Spell. It Drives Out Boring Pen and Paper RPGs..." -- The Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 39

Today we take a little diversion from our usual haunts in the world of digital videogames to visit our cousins in the tabletop pen-and-paper RPG world. Relax; they're your cousins, they're family, and they're not as gross and icky as those OTHER cousins you may have. (You know the ones.)
For this podcast, we have an interview with Dan Phipps from Cactus Cat Games. Full disclosure: Dan is a good friend of the site, and while we could pull a Giant Bomb and just say "Why is this guy on the podcast? Because he's awesome," we also want to get a good, relevant discussion going. Dan is working on a new pen-and-paper RPG called Arroyo that's attempting to solve the problems that come with traditional RPGs: learning curve, strict rules, lots of work for the game master. In short, too many books and charts and not enough fun.
Doug and Nick (full disclosure: Nick has helped work on this game!) chat with Dan about great moments in pen-and-paper gaming, about how he wants Arroyo to help change that, and about what happens when you playtest a game with improv actors.
Intro: "Mountain of Gold" by World Beyond
Outro: "Atlantic State of Mind" by mcGee
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40min
February 28, 2014 “Don't Cross The Streams!” — Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 38

Streams. Who doesn't love them? Not big enough to be rivers but still flowing bodies of water, often cutting through forests or grasslands. Whenever I see a stream, I know it's bound to be a peaceful little slice of nature nearby.
...wait, you mean we're talking about a different kind of stream? Oh. Right.
Jokes aside, the popularity of streaming your live videogame content has grown in the last few years. It's to the point where Twitch.tv, the web site carrying the banner for streaming videogame content, is one of the top bandwidth users in the United States during peak times. Wow!
On this week's podcast, the gang – Doug, Aaron, Nick and Tyler – discuss various groups that are using streaming in non-traditional ways. From the tyranny of the masses to virtual cockfighting and #2Kuality, we talk about some of the more unique uses for streaming videogames that we have seen.
Please give us a listen and comment below!
Intro: Stick With You by WJLP https://soundcloud.com/william-j-lepetomane
Outro: Skristi by Jovis. https://soundcloud.com/jovis
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40min
February 19, 2014 “Turnerization” — Silicon Sasquatch Podcast: Episode 37

Header image compares restoration of Spanish Ecce Homo fresco to updating of a certain Japanese RPG
The video game industry has more than 30 years of history now, so it’s only natural to look out for the future preservation of games we love. While old systems, emulators and re-releases are appreciated, there are always questions about what’s in the best interest of preserving a game. As platforms come and go, there are also updates of older games for newer consoles — including the recent Final Fantasy VI re-release for iOS — that make questionable choices about how to re-interpret a classic.
That’s what this week’s episode is all about. On Episode 37 I’m joined by Tyler, Nick and Spencer to discuss the trials and tribulations of preserving old games, and how some games have gotten it so wrong.
Please give us a listen, subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher, and feel free to leave comments below! We appreciate the feedback.
Intro: "Carpetbaggers" by The Jawa Warhol
Outro: "Comback Season" by ADmiral-_Gunna
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47min

FAQs about Silicon Sasquatch:

How many episodes does Silicon Sasquatch have?

The podcast currently has 82 episodes available.