Flash Point 54: BioWare Shock Infinite

flashpoint-podcastBack on schedule and faced with a huge bunch of talking points, we plough through as many as possible!

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Server merges
– Rise of the Hutt Cartel
– 2.0 planet commendations and the great currency converter telling you what you’ll get

Other
– LucasArts downsizing
– Initial Defiance impressions
– Marvel Heroes
– Assorted movie and game chatter

Please send us a question for discussion on the next episode!

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

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Flash Point 53: Strangling Ralph Malph

flashpoint-podcastAfter a 3-week hiatus we cover a lot of territory from SWTOR through to Tomb Raider and Defiance. We also invite you to submit your questions for answering on the show.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– State of the Game Update from Jeff Hickman
– ROTHC
– Double XP weekends

TSW
– ARG Final Prize

Other
Marvel Heroes launch date
– Hearthstone announcement by Blizzard
– Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm breaks 1 million sales
– SimCity also breaks 1 million sales in spite of server nightmares
– Defiance game/TV extravaganza
– Kristy’s Tomb Raider experience
– Postponements and cancellations: 1313 Star Wars, Clone Wars
Please send us a question for discussion on the next episode!

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 52: Squeezing Kidneys Out The Backside

flashpoint-podcastAnother podcast of wide-ranging discussion on everything MMO. If you’re after insights on everything from Egyptian ancient history through to John Blackman on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, we’re the go-to team.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Return of the Gree impressions
– PTS Testing of Game Update 2.0
– What subscribers get without purchasing Rise of the Hutt Cartel
– KOTOR movie rumours

TSW
– Funcom’s restructuring
Issue 6-12 roadmap

Other
– Kristy in Tera
– TF2 for oldies
– Firefall, Wildstar, Dust514, The Simpsons Tapped Out
– PS4 discussion
– WoW 5.2 and sucking as a healer
– SC2
– We’ll be at PAX Oz!

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 51: The Return Of The Boxes

flashpoint-podcastWe revert back to a more standard format podcast, with Simon, Kristy and David making up for a fairly quite MMO news period with some distinctly non-punchy conjecture on a range of issues.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
Game Update 1.7
– Star Wars spin-off movies

TSW
– DLC content changes
– Veterans reward system
– Why David is sucking slightly less in TSW

Other
– Marvel Heroes
Iron Man 3 trailer
– Spamful plug for our sister site – The Comics Herald
– Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm (Melbourne launch details here)
Defiance MMO

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 49: Cylon Meccano Shenanigans

flashpoint-podcastWe’re back after a Xmas / New Year break with lots to talk about and some laughs along the way.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Patch 1.6.2
– Rise of the Hutt Cartel
State of the Game Update

TSW
– End of Days event
– ARG event
– Issue #5
– Leaving Kingsmouth!

Other
– WoW pet battles
– Marvel Heroes closed beta
– Australia’s first R18+ game
– Steam Sale
– Tera goes F2P
– Walking Dead game
– Shout out to Sean Robinson for his comics coverage
– Shout out to Jemima again for her excellent WoW Achievement guides.
– Simon’s love for Comixology
– Episode 50 ‘preview’

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 48: Lawnmowers Farting Snow

flashpoint-podcastSimon, Kristy and myself are back to take a bit of a look back at the first year of SWTOR plus a closer look at The Secret World’s F2P move.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– 1.6 live
– Grade 7 spaceship upgrades
– Review of the first year of SWTOR

TSW
sudden move to F2P
– one of our most dedicated listeners views on TSW
– ARG game: ‘End of Days

Other
– Simon’s love for Firefall
– Kristy’s love for A Walk In The Dark indie game

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 47: Dim Sim The Dog Dies (On The Toilet)

MMO podcastWe get through a large number of topics this episode, which features Matthjew “Scope” Pearce as guest co-host to talk about WOrld of Tanks in addition to his encyclopaedic SWTOR knowledge.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Post F2p impressions
– more quickbar slots and character slots for preferred players
– cartel market discussion
– 1.6 on PTS, including PTS gripes and heroic space combat missions
– PvP / Battlemaster gear

TSW
– Issue #4 impressions
– Issue #5 hints
– toilet seat talk
– Albion Theatre fun (official forum link)
– brief cricket disagreement

WoW
– 5.1 Landfall impressions (nice overview here)
– WoW ain’t dead yet
– Project Blackstone
– ZAGGARAT – amazing zone by zone achievement guide by our own Jemima.

Other
– GW2 customer service
City of Heroes closing
– World of Tanks overview and discussion, Patch 8.1 and 8.2
Firefall beta
Comics coverage
– assorted brief snippets on Borderlands 2, Sim City, PS3 Home Tycoon, Weird Al Yankovic’s Albuquerque (must watch vid link)

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 46: Frozen Jawas On A Stick

We’re really pleased to welcome back Kristy, who’ll be joining the regular co-host team. Lots to talk about this episode as well!

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– 1.5 / F2P in-depth
– Cathar as first species on Cartel Market
– impact on subscriber numbers

GW2
– Seeking feedback on continuing GW2 discussion on podcast otherwise will cease covering it
– Lost Shores update
– Refer a friend

TSW
– Episode #4 overview and initial impressions (link for preview video)
– Discussion on Albion Theatre

WoW
– Monking around
– Project Titan

Other
Marvel Heroes Developer Update (where I repeatedly say the story writer is Mark Millar when in fact it’s Brian Michael Bendis – sorry!)

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 45: The Infinite Boxes

This week we have special co-host Kristy jumping on to the road to nowhere!

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Unexpected downtime last week
– 1.5 update on the PTS and where are the pre-mades for testing??

GW2
– Kristy’s Halloween stalker
– Halloween event
– General impressions on GW2
– Ask for feedback from listeners on whether we should continue GW2 coverage?

TSW
– Halloween event
– More pro-game raving

WoW
– MoP end-game
– 5.1 on the horizon
– confirmation of a further WoW expansion

Other
– Disney’s buy out of LucasFilm discussion
– Judge Dredd 3D mini-review
– Assorted pop culture chat

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 44: Impactions and Box-Wrangling

mmo podcastTime for another quality MMO podcast from Down Under, with our resident WoW-ophile Luke LePage joining us again. We also bid a temporary farewell to Ed and cover the big four plus some League of Legends, Marvel Heroes and more.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
1.5 on the PTS
– 12-hour downtime last week
Oceanic Server Merges
– Shout out for Scope’s One Shot One Kill Column
– Lore Update: languages and Galactic Basic
– falling for 2012’s James Cameron/George Lucas new Stars Wars Trilogy April Fool’s joke

GW2

– Halloween event
Dev Team Reddit AMAA

TSW

– Response to Joel Bylos interview
Halloween Event / Issue #3 content
– Reticle combat

WoW
– more impressions and kudos
– Blizzard as a continuing innovator
– 5.1 patch

Other
– League of Legends popularity
– Marvel Heroes beta invites
– New Rift player housing

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account and Simon’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 43: Blenders Bonking Ferrets

MMO podcast Following hot on the heels of our Secret World special edition Episode 42, there’s lots to talk about this episode, with all the content updates being released across a bunch of MMOs. Also a big welcome to guest co-host Luke LePage who writes our regular World of Warcraft column.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– 1.4 update
– BioWare Live Stream
– lack of communication on updates
– Lore Update: Cortosis

WoW
– Luke and David’s general impressions of Mists of Pandaria
– Early sales of MoP down?
– Favourite early levelling areas

TSW
– Issue #3 content update
– Joel Bylos interview
– 50% discount offer

GW2
account security
– general impressions

Marvel Heroes
– October 1st for Open Beta

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account and Simon’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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Flash Point 42: The Secret World / Joel Bylos Interview Special Edition

The Secret World Joel Bylos InterviewThis is a special edition devoted to our interview with The Secret World‘s Game Director, Joel Bylos. Episode 43 will be live tomorrow if TSW isn’t your thing, although it’s worth hearing a senior MMO designer’s ideas all the same. If you are into TSW then you’re in for a treat as Joel covers a lot of areas of the game and gives some hints on the future of the game. A big thanks to Joel for taking some of his valuable Sunday morning at a park with his family to speak to us.

Points of discussion:

– Joel’s journey from Australia to being game director at Funcom
– What being Game Director involves
– Question from The Angry Postman: promoting TSW outside the Alternate Reality Game niche
– Transparency of Funcom/TSW with the struggles over recent months
– Question from Ed Goldstein: scaling between zones
– Question from Belladawna: Does the new position mean Joel can outdrink Ragnar?
– Question from Belladawna: Plans for an official hi-res model viewer?
– Question from Hyperjumpgrandmaster: Making PvP more meaningful, open world PvP an option?
– Question from Voodoo Shark: plans for streamlining skills and mechanics?
– Question from Voodoo Shark: ongoing free trial offers?
– Any other teasers willing to be disclosed? (Yes – including a heavy hint on Issue #4’s auxiliary weapon)
– The impact of layoffs on the team and optimism for the future and bringing some people back
– Can the output of issues be maintained?
– Ability to change body-shape in the future?
– Lessons learnt from Age of Conan?
– Lessons learnt from other MMOs?
– Rift doing panda charity donations (and a lame joke from the host on funding a different type of panda)
– Comparing TSW, GW2 and WoW combat
– What’s a measure of success for TSW over the coming year?

Post your thoughts on the interview below – we’ll have a summary of Joel’s responses posted in 24 hours or so but nothing beats listening to the full thing – enjoy.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

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