Blog Yellek

Podcasts: 10 of the best

yellek — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:37:01 +0000

I listen to podcasts a lot. In the car, on the way to and from work and even at home when I have to do something mindless like cleaning. With all the podcasts on my list though there are those that I will always listen to as soon as they come out, those that I wait for each week because I know that I will enjoy every minute. Here then are 10 of my favorite podcasts (in no particular order):

The Spiel. Talking about boardgames these guys just deliver every single fortnight. They are funny and informative with consistently good content. Their show is segment based with each segment focusing on specific games as well as a news and notes and a feedback segment. This is my favorite podcast and comes highly recommended. The Spiel also has some really interesting contests including some really hard puzzles to solve.
The Java Posse. This long running technology podcast about the Java programming language alternates between news and interviews. It keeps me up to date and entertained so I can do my job. My gut feel is that this cast isn’t as interesting and fresh as it used to be but it still makes my must listen to list.
The Two Chris’s. This political podcast is taken from a segment on the morning program my local ABC radio station and features Christopher Pyne and Chris Schatt who debate the issues of the day from Liberal and Labor perspecives respectively. I find this a really good way to keep up to date with the Australian political landscape both nationally and in South Australia.
The Dice Tower. Though a little less consistent in quality than The Spiel The Dice Tower still offers quality boardgame listening with top ten lists and contributions from a number of greater or lesser celebrities in the boardgame world. They also have some good contests. Lately they have been replaying some of their older episodes in between their fortnightly new material.
This Week in Tech. The one word that I would use to describe this cast is slick. Professionally produced TWiT is like a PC magazine built for radio. The content tends to be lighter as Leo Laporte and guests discuss the week’s technology news.
Joyce Meyer Radio Podcast. One of the two Christian podcasts on my list the Joyce Meyer Radio Podcast serializes messages from prominent Christian speaker Joyce Meyer. Produced every weekday you get to hear sections of messages that Joyce preaches at various conferences and gatherings around the world as well as a few interviews. The content is really good but I find the advertising intrusive so I generally skip it. I find that if I skip the first 30 seconds of each podcast and then skip to the end when Joyce stops speaking I get the best results.
Geeks and God. These guys talk on some serious technical topics aimed at helping churches and ministries with technology. The content, however, is relevant to a wider audience. Their series on Drupal was fantastic. Currently on a long break I am looking forward to when these guys return.
Garrets Games and Geekiness. Hosted by Doug Garrett and his wife Shelley this boardgame podcast covers games that Doug has played in various locations as well as a number of really good roundtable discussions and interviews. I like the conversational style of this cast and Doug certainly manages to get some interesting guests.
On Board Games. A relatively new boardgame podcast hosted by Scott Nicholson (of Boardgames With Scott fame), Donald Dennis and Eric Dewey. The podcast uses a segment based format with one segment devoted to a boardgaming topic of interest referencing various gamers and then a number of game reviews. The game reviews use a “stop light” system (red, yellow, green) which I find really useful.
Have Games Will Travel. A long running boardgame and role playing game podcast hosted by Paul Tevis. Paul covers some interesting topics and ventures into the role playing game world in a way that is most entertaining and informative. Paul uses his experiences in improv theatre to relate to being a GM of a role playing game and manages to discuss some really interesting psychology around social contracts in gaming as a result.

Finally Catan

yellek — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 12:17:33 +0000

Yesterday MeLo and I went over to a friend’s place to finally get a game of Settlers of Catan in. I had heard so much about this game as one of the all time greats of Euro Gaming and so it was great to finally get it on the table after all this time. My overall impression was that it was a game that I definitely wanted to play again. We played for 2 hours but it didn’t feel that long and, if we hadn’t had something else planned, I think we would have played again. I had originally thought that being restricted to 4 players might reduce opportunities to play Catan without the expansions but all that means is that Catan is an ideal 2 couple game which was how it worked out.

Initial starting positions are critical in this game and, going last to select a start position, I don’t think I made the best of the limited opportunities that were available. I always seemed chronically short of both wood and bricks which hampered me a lot during the early game. I managed to take the longest road card off of the player who seemed to be the biggest threat at the time not realizing that some subtle politicking was going on to make him seem like the threat whilst his partner went on to win the game by surprise, very well done I thought in hindsight.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Review: The Dice Tower Podcast

yellek — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:56:15 +0000

The Dice Tower

Category: Tool / service

Topic: Boardgame Podcast

Year created: 2005

Overall rating: 5 out of 5

Content rating: 5 out of 5

Design rating: 5 out of 5

Navigation rating: 5 out of 5

I recently picked up a new podcast: The Dice Tower as I have been getting more and more into boardgaming of late and I wanted to learn more about the hobby I am returning to after so many years.

The podcast is produced by 2 Americans living in Korea Tom Vasel and Sam Healey. They post new episodes weekly. There are a number of regular segments each week many of which are contributed by other people in the gaming world. Moritz teaching us the German words for common gaming terms so we can feel comfortable playing Euro games was a real hoot!

The content includes in depth reviews, interviews with luminaries in the gaming industry, game comparisons, brief overviews, the infamous top ten lists gaming news and competitions. Did I mention the competitions, the current competition as I write this has a first prize of games to the value of 1500 US Dollars! Wow! I hope I win .

The tone of the podcast is light and funny with a real camaraderie between Sam and Tom that has them kidding around with each other a lot. Chuck Norris anyone? Both of the hosts really seem to know their stuff and they obviously play games a lot which helps. They appear to be quite well plugged in with the gaming industry as evidenced by the number of games they get sent to review and they also get reports from a number of the major North American and European games conventions.

I would recommend this podcast to anyone wanting to know more about the boardgaming hobby. 5 stars.

Tags: boardgame podcast review