Sonic’s Ring

Scottish geeks talk mince about movies, games, TV and comics

David Whitelaw

Dave Whitelaw, Iain Watson and Ross Hendry wax lyrical - read; force their opinions - on every geeky topic on under the sun from movies and games to comic books and TV.

You can follow Dave, Iain and Ross on Twitter - @midi2304, @mentazm and @choobanicus respectively.

           

Search my Posterous

Audio Podcast 55 - Nuclear

Audio Podcast 55 - Nuclear  
(download)

A rather good episode if I do say so myself with myself, Ross and Iain discussing the following geekery;

Brothers
A Prophet
Princess and the Frog

Chuck (season 2)
Glee

A Boy and his Blob
Mass Effect
Modern Warfare 2
Infamous

Astonishing X-Men
When The Wind Blows
Journeyman / Powers TV pilots

Make sure and catch Ross' new podcast over at www.edinburghzombieclub.com.
Loading mentions Retweet
5 Comments
Posted on January 26, 2010

Audio Podcast 54 - Four out of One

Audio Podcast 54 - Four Out Of One  
(download)

At long last after failed mics and some idiot not recording himself properly, the three of us are reunited to discuss the following stuff;


The Road

Daybreakers

Up in the Air

The Hurt Locker


Chuck - season 1 & new season 3

Limmy's Show


Broken Sword: DS

Dead Space Extraction

Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Endless Migration

Magic: Dual of the Planewalkers

Zelda DS


If you like our show, make sure and check some new podcasts from other Consolevania forum homies;


www.worldswildestdudes.com - Willizak / Famicomuser

filmfaction.posterous.com - Doboworth

Loading mentions Retweet
1 Comment
Posted on January 18, 2010

Audio Podcast 53 - Blob

Audio Podcast 53 - Blob  
(download)

Ross and I take the time to set aside our differences on the Brown leadership contest to debate the following topics du jour;

Sherlock Holmes
Nowhere Boy
Star Trek

Doctor Who

A Boy And His Blob
Prince of Persia
Broken Sword: DS
FM2010

New Avengers: Breakout (TPB1)

Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on January 6, 2010

Audio Podcast 52 - Annual

Audio Podcast 52 - Annual  
(download)

Ross, David and Super Special Guest, Perrin Ashcroft from Stage Clear look back at the very best of movies, TV, games and comics in 2009.

Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on December 29, 2009

Audio Podcast 51 - Agreed

Audio Podcast 51 - Agreed  
(download)

Iain and I are largely in agreement on most of today's wide range of topics which include the following;

Avatar
The Box

Misfits
Dexter

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Assassin's Creed 2

Avengers: Disassembled

Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on December 22, 2009

Special Audio Podcast - Civil War

Special Audio Podcast - Civil War  
(download)

Myself, Ross and uber super special guest Phil 'evilninjaphil' Doyle dissect Mark Millar's seminal Marvel universe reboot, Civil War.

Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on December 11, 2009

The Death of a Lounge Lizard

I learnt everything I know about love from Larry Laffer. That's possibly why I haven't had any action in a longtime. You see Larry is worse than useless in that area as he demonstrated throughout the eighties and nineties in Al Lowe's legendary Leisure Suit Larry point-n-click series.

Originating from the seminal Sierra studio, Leisure Suit Larry was a  pioneer in gaming. With his creation Al Lowe broached a subject never  covered at the time, and rarely raised since, Sex. It's a tricky  subject. Bioware found themselves on the receiving end of a  nonsensical right-wing media campaign in the US last year. Their game  Mass Effect, one of the few to tackle sex maturely, was exposed as a  hot blue alien sex simulator that was corrupting precious teens.

Larry was corrupting teens two decades ago. Myself and several geek school-friends passed around the disk for our Atari STs, teaming up to answer the questions of the notorious test you had to pass at the start of the first game to prove you were over eighteen. That game taught us in our  formative years that women will rob you blind for nothing in return.  On the flip it taught us that we'd eventually find true love with the  help of a cheesy quip, an inflatable doll and an apple.

Lowe continued to entertain the faithful throughout the point-n-click  salad days, some excellent in the story department and some just okay,  but always funny. With the advent of 3D gaming Larry died alongside  his fallen point n click compadres like Guybrush Threepwood. Relegated  to the sidelines of gaming history.

If you are a regular listener to the cast you'll know of my love for  point-n-clickers.  It's been a personal joy for me to see the return  of my favourite dead genre in the past few years with episodic gaming  from Telltale with the Sam n Max and Monkey Island series leading the  way on the PC. The DS is a natural platform for the genre and Broken  Sword has led a revival on the number one handheld. The iPhone has received recent remakes of the  classic cyberpunk adventure Beneath a Steel Sky where every line of dialogue is acted out and spoken. Take that Dragon Age!

A couple of years ago I was happy to hear Larry was returning. I was very excited when I heard Team 17 now had the license. Team 17 released some of my all time favourite games on the Amiga - Alien Breed, Project X and Superfrog  - so I began to have some hopes it would be a good comeback.

Alarm bells started ringing when I heard Team 17 were eschewing the recent uprising in point n click episodic re-release in favour of a  more commercial sandbox environment. When I finally got my hands on it these fears were confirmed.

Box Office Bust jumps into the current day a where ageing lovable  lothario Larry has retired and past the Leisure suit on to his nephew.  A more annoying oink would be difficult to imagine. The characters are  empty soulless caricatures with none of the charm of the original  games. The imaginative and occasionally fiendish puzzles being  reduced to a handful of shovel-ware wii mini-games. I tolerated this  affront to Larrys good name for a few hours before my inner fanboy  begged me to stop.

Box Office Bust holds none of the subtle wit, emotional baggage or sheer desperation that made Larry so lovable, or most importantly funny. See, that's where the old point n clickers shone. They could dazzle with neither graphics or gameplay so relied on one of the hardest things to nail in gaming, humour. For that they should be celebrated and studied by today's studios and gamers alike.

Iain

       
Click here to download:
The_Death_of_a_Lounge_Lizard.zip (184 KB)

Loading mentions Retweet
3 Comments
Posted on December 10, 2009

Audio Podcast 50 - Demicentury

Audio Podcast 50 - Demicentury  
(download)

Myself and Ross are Iainless once again as we skip hand-in-hand through the following fields of discussion;

FAQ About Time Travel
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
The Descent: Part 2
There Will Be Blood (Bluray)

Top Gear

Assassin's Creed 2
Modern Warfare 2
Christmas video games
Travian

Echo
Marvel Universe

Loading mentions Retweet
3 Comments
Posted on December 9, 2009

Audio Podcast 49 - Medicalness

Audio Podcast 49 - Medicalness  
(download)

This week myself and Ross flirt outrageously using the following topics as a rubbish excuse to get closer;

Watching:

A Serious Man
Law Abiding Citizen

V
The Think Of It
Lie To Me
Fringe

Playing:

Modern Warfare 2
Assassin's Creed 2
NSMB

Reading:

Civil War
Incognito

Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on November 30, 2009

Audio Podcast 48 - Massature

Audio Podcast 48 - Massature  
(download)

Few wee sound niggles this week (looking at you Iain) but the three of us struggle through to spout some rubbish about the following;

Watching:

Paranormal Activity
Cold Prey 2
A Christmas Carol

The Prisoner remake
Misfits
Doctor Who

Playing:

Video Games Live
Modern Warfare 2
Dragon Age
Assassin's Creed 2
New Super Mario Bros
Bayontta / Demon's Souls reviews

Reading:

Ed Brubaker new stuff
Loading mentions Retweet
0 Comments
Posted on November 23, 2009
Theme by Cory Watilo.
More great Posterous themes at themes.posterous.com.