Kevin is Right! Football: The Secret Best Gamer Hobby

What if I told you about half of my gamer friends ignore the best game there is?  It is a game that has more strategy than Magic, more tactics than X-Com, more excitement than the most tense dice rolls in D&D, requires more physical skill than Starcraft, and despite being over 100 years old, challenges the top minds in the game to bring out new innovations all the time.  Now, what if I told you that game was football?

Some of you get it.  There are some of you that don't.  Every year, right around this time, I fall right off the edge of the traditional nerd Venn diagram.  I have friends say to me, "Dude, I don't get it."  I start cosplaying as my favorite football player, and start breaking down film instead of watching MTG Draft videos.  Do I miss being a nerd?  Not even a little bit.  The reason is this: I'm in full-on nerd out mode.  Let me show you the game for jocks and meatheads in a whole new light.  Let me show you the game of football.

What Happened to Mechwarrior Online?

Heady Times for Robots

You should have been there, man.

Mechwarrior Online, published by Infinite Game Publishing (IGP), and developed by Piranha Games Interactive (PGI) was not a splashy AAA title with a huge marketing budget when it was announced in November 2011.  It was going to be free to play, and used a grassroots strategy of exposure to the press, targeted advertisements, and the strength of the battletech/mechwarrior brand to get the word out.  

I've mentioned it on the podcast before, but as a huge fan of giant stompy robots, particularly of the Battletech variety, I will never forget the moment when I first saw the banner ad, attached to the Penny Arcade Report article about modeling the mechs, and found out that I could be part of the closed beta.  The ecstasy was palpable.  Finally, a convincing, online multiplayer, beautifully and lovingly rendered modern Mechwarrior!  I had been waiting for this moment since my mid-teens, when AOL cancelled Multiplayer Battletch: Solaris.  I had prepared for this moment by reading the mostly god awful licensed novels, filled with the sort of  fetishistic descriptions of lasers melting armor that George R.R. Martin reserves only to describe comestibles.  I could not throw my $60 at "The Founders Program" fast enough.

An example of when you can, pretty much completely, judge a book by its cover.

I was not alone in my revelry.  Indeed, I was exceeded by the individuals who volunteered to make it rain to the tune $120 to become "Elite Founders" within the ranks of IGP's independent kickstarter-like funding program.  Indeed, they made 5 Million fucking dollars off of it.  The times were heady.  Mech Romney was not only president, he was a king.  The enthusiasm was grand.  Communities were popping up, with ridiculous vim and vigor, wanting to stomp around in robots, pretend they are the great houses depicted in the works of great literature mentioned above, and shoot mans in robots-erm, excuse me, Mechs.  The forums were frothing with joy.  People were loving it. I was screaming about how awesome the game was on the podcast.  To sum it up succinctly, I had never seen a more enthusiastic pre-launch community for a game.  Like I said, heady times.  

Off With Their Heads!

I'm telling you now:  This community is now in open rebellion against PGI.  Hostility is set to maximum.  Accusations of "LIES!", boasts of "Holding PGI Accountable" and outright jabs at the competence of the developer occupy the permanent and public banners that represent forum user signatures.

What caused everything to change?  Find out after the break.

Doctor Who Now?

The time has come for Matt Smith to leave the TARDIS for a final time. Most fans are already aware that the Doctor will now be regenerating into Mr. Peter Capaldi. Personally I am not troubled with the choice, even though I was hoping they might do something more surprising, like when the Watcher became the 5th Doctor. Sadly my idea of River Song becoming the 12th are over, for now. Some are also saying Capaldi is a ruse, which I don't think is the case at all. Why? Well he is a respected actor and I don't think the BBC is into pulling peoples chains. Personally, I wish they had left it under their hats until the actual reveal in November for the 50th Anniversary special (Look at my face. Do I look bothered? Yes, a little), but my guess is that it is that between the rapid growth of the brand, especially in the USA (the land where spoilers and reveals abound), and the summer Who drought, they wanted to keep people engaged. The rapid growth of Doctor Who might not be the best thing though (It feels like a nerdy pre-crash housing market but, so instead of houses it's Time Lords, Super Heroes, and Internet Memes).

 It has taken a long time for the Doctor to sink it's claws into the greater American pop culture, unless everyone was screwing with me when I talked about Doctor Who during Tom Baker years as a kid.
Those years were great though. Crazy adventures, crazy aliens, crazy robot dog, crazy scarf. Watching that show was a blast. Mostly on account of the very refined story and fabulous high end effects, I kid, really the titular Doctor Who was truly the keystone to the series for me (I guess that's why he got top billing). At that point the only Doctor I knew was Tom Baker but, since then I have come to enjoy several of the others. All for their unique creations that embody the doctor. So I look forward to the new.

Cool Beans 8/5

America isn't the only game in town when it comes to Super Squeal Syndrome.

I would actually like to see this, since I find international heroes to be really interesting.  

This might be an ad for the next iPhone OS assistant.
Also don't fuck your phone. Seriously, this looks like it might be pretty good.


The idea of celeb walking a con floor by incognito cosplay is fantastic.
Bryan Cranston even went to his panel as Walter White mask.
But check out Adam Savage rocking the floor as Ackbar.



Ever wonder what it;s like to work the customs desk in a 1980's dictatorship.
Wonder no more by playing Papers, Please.

Loaded Dice Cast Season 3 Episode 3: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOADED DICE!

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Holy shit, we've been podcasting for a year now! Look at that! Our little podcast is growing up! This podcast, featuring Evan, Derek, Dubs, and Kevin celebrates the one year birthday of Loaded Dice Cast! Party horns, Whiskey chugging and dick jokes abound. We also get in a pretty great conversation about the phenomenal summer movie Pacific Rim. We manage to talk about the deep visual and textual symbolism of robots punching monsters, and, perhaps more impressively, at no point do we slip into Freudian discourse. I guess we are growing up.

Oh, we also draft inappropriate 1st birthday party themes for our podcast, so....probably not.

Hope you enjoy, and thanks for sticking with us through a whole year!
P.S. Remember to reach out to us with your topic and draft ideas. Derek has those card hunter beta keys just burning a hole in his pocket!

Podcast Notes:
Kevin's Article on Pacific Rim
Evan's Article on Zombies
Mighty Titans Hobbies and Games

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HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Holy shit guys, guess what? Today is the first birthday of Loaded Dice Cast. Time to chug the brown liquor in celebration of the anniversary of this slime covered corner of internet audio coming bursting into the world, genetically endowed with the basic traits of poor audio quality, explained jokes, a slightly over the top fascination with dicks, and friendship. So, hooray!

Well, it's been hilarious, from what I can remember.  I'd like to thank everyone who has given us a listen, read or share over the last year.  We've had a great time, and although, we would probably be doing this sort of nonsense even if no one listened, you people give us meaning and make the whole endeavor infinitely less pathetic.

We're proud to still be standing.  What we lack in audio quality and subtlety, we like to think we make up for in persistence.  We hope to be bringing you dick jokes, nerd topics, and booze fueled rants about nothing in particular for many years to come.

If you would be so kind, feel free to leave a "Gift" (of the imaginary, flight of fancy, hilarious joke description) for us in the comments section.  What would you give Loaded Dice Cast for its first birthday?

For those of you feeling nostalgic, here is our very first episode, in all of its malformed glory:

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And now, let's celebrate!

Cool Beans 7/29

Freaking nerds, you gotta love'm.


I have have no shame about the fact I love Jackass. So to put it simply, I am super excited
that Knoxville will be up to some Bad Grandpa mayhem this october.



A comic about Brooklyn, how hip.
This is only a few pages but it does have promise in it's four color style.

Really cool interview with Alexey Pajitnov the man who helped us all improve our spacial
reasoning. If you love video games you need to take a moment and watch this.



Holy online multi-player Batman!
Just a quick look and run down of Arkham Origins multi-player mode.



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