The Casual Hour: Guilty Pleasures

This week I had the pleasure to join The Casual Hour for some amazing podcasting time! Enjoy!

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT:

In this week’s episode of The Casual Hour we are joined by our friend, Ryan Dampf. We have our usual discussion about the games we’ve been playing, but the real fun starts when we discuss our gaming guilty pleasures. Those games we know are bad, but love despite their flaws.

Speaking of flaws, you have probably noticed the garbage fire audio this episode. A lot went wrong, but the important thing here is to blame Johnny. Having said that, we are sorry for the inconvenience and promise our buttery smooth vocals will be back in full force next week! 

We hope you enjoy the show!

LET'S TALK!

We love fan mail, send us some! thecasualhour@gmail.com or www.thecasualhour.com/contact

You can follow our show on Twitter at: @thecasualhour

Enjoy what we have to say? Leave us a review on iTunes!

The Casual Hour is:

• Johnny Amizich - @jamizich
• Bobby Pease - @bobbypease
• Chase Koeneke - gamersonthego.com Twitter @chase_koeneke  

Our Guest This Week: 

Ryan Dampf - http://www.livingthenerdlife.com Instagram: @rzyn Twitter: @iamryzn

Love our theme music? It was created by Patric Brown. You can follow his antics on twitter @insaneanalog or check out more of his music and download our theme at www.insaneanalog.com

Flappy Golf 2 | Just Tap it in!!!

Flappy Golf 2

Developer: Noodlecake Studios Inc

Size: 115 MB

Release Date: Oct 31, 2016

Compatibility: Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Flappy Golf 2, yes the follow up to the smash hit Flappy Golf... Ok, I have know clue if the original Flappy Golf was a smash hit or not. However, I do know that Flappy Golf 2 is kind of entertaining. For me the early stages of this game are what made me enjoy this game, in fact if I'm looking for just a few minutes of fun I always go back to the first and 2nd stages. Not that the latter stages are bad or anything but those early levels fill my quick fix just perfectly. Check out some of my Positives & Negatives below. 

Positives

- Freemium! For the levels I play it is actually free!

- Flappy madness. Seems to be similar to Flappy Bird mechanics so easy to play

- Quick Fix. Have 5-10 minutes this game is perfect for you

Negatives

- Freemium, you know how that goes

- Later levels just turned me off due to how many things you have to do in them. Just too much.

Have any of you tried out this game? Or even the original Flappy Golf? What did you think?

Red Dead Redemption 2 | Trailer

Tetris Movie For Real

The Indoorsmen #023 | Sonic Stain

This Changes Everything | The Indoorsmen #22

We Cast the Legend of Zelda Movie! | Random Encounter #021

Why We Podcast | Random Encounter #020

Micro Talk #4 | Crashlands

We didn’t have to look far to find the topic of GOTG Micro 4: St. Louis’ own, Crashlands from developer Butterscotch Shenanigans. Ryan Dampf from Living the Nerd Life is back again to speak to this interesting take on the open world crafting genre. Be sure to listen to our last Micro episode on Don’t Starve too, as there is a lot of comparing and contrasting on display for these games. 

Show Notes:

Butterscotch Shenanigans has their own podcast if you’re interested in hearing more from the devs themselves. 

Wizard World Tapped as Exclusive Amateur Tour for TEKKEN 7

Wizard World Tapped as Exclusive Amateur Tour for TEKKEN 7 by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Featured Throughout 2016

Wizard World Tapped as Exclusive Amateur Tour for TEKKEN 7 by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Featured Throughout 2016

Tournament, Free-Play For Hugely Popular Fighting Game Franchise From BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Set For Wizard World Gaming Portland, February 19-21; Only Touring Event To Feature TEKKEN 7 In North America

Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. today announces that the arcade version of TEKKEN 7, the latest chapter of the popular fighting game franchise published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc., will be featured at Wizard World comic con, pop culture and gaming conventions throughout 2016.

Fans attending Wizard World Portland will have a thrilling opportunity to play TEKKEN 7 at a touring event in North America in 2016. The TEKKEN franchise has garnered a passionate and loyal following in North America and we’re enabling these fans to experience TEKKEN 7 starting in Portland. There, attendees will enjoy both free-play and a sanctioned tournament during the event that is taking place February 19-21 at the Oregon Convention Center.

“Gamers are anxious to get to play the next chapter of the famed TEKKEN franchise, and we couldn’t be more pleased that Wizard World is one of the few venues across North America where fans play it,” said John Macaluso, Wizard World CEO. “It is an early payoff for our attendees of Wizard World’s partnership with such a prominent name in gaming as BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment.”

“The BANDAI NAMCO gaming area at Wizard World New Orleans was a big hit, and we have a lot more surprises and activities planned throughout the year,” said Eric Hartness, Vice President of Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “We’re excited to take TEKKEN 7 on the road to enable fans across the United States to experience first hand the incredible fighting action of TEKKEN 7!”

As previously announced; BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. is the Official Anime Entertainment Partner for the 2016 Wizard World comic con and gaming tours, bringing BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment games to fans throughout the country.

TEKKEN 7 will be one of the marquee titles that BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America will have featured at Wizard World events all year. The gaming leader’s presence at Wizard World shows will be even greater in 10 key markets that will feature major gaming activations and an eSports tournament streaming stage (www.wizardworldgaming.com): Portland, Ore. (Feb. 19-21); St. Louis (April 1-3); Minneapolis (May 6-8); Philadelphia (June 2-5); Sacramento, Calif. (June 17-19); Columbus, Ohio (July 29-31); Orlando, Fla. (August 5-7); Chicago (August 18-21); Austin, Texas (September 23-25); and Pittsburgh (November 4-6).

Wizard World events bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, television, cosplay, comics, gaming, sci-fi, graphic novels, toys, anime, original art, collectibles, contests and more. The 2016 Tour schedule is currently comprised of events in major cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Cleveland and others.

Podcast | Random Encounter #16 | Gameception!

Podcast | Random Encounter #15 | When is the golden age of gaming?

Pass The Buck | Kickstarter

I had the amazing opportunity to check out Pass The Buck and let me tell you I had the time of my life! Pass The Buck is really simple, fun and interactive. It was only a matter of seconds before we were all laughing and Passing off our tasks to one another. 

Pass The Buck is a light game good for casual gamers or hard core gamers looking for a break and something fresh. The best thing about Pass The Buck is that it mimics corporate life to a T! Its super fun trying to get your friends to complete your tasks while trying to throw them off about the departments your in. 

The kickstarter is only 350$ away from being funded. The crazy thing is you can get Pass The Buck for only 15$ no I'm not kidding you! It is time you had this game in your life! Check out the kickstater now and back this game! 

Pixel Pop Festival | Sep 12-13

Pixel pop festival is finally here and we are crazy excited to be covering it all week end and hosting a panel on Content Creation Sunday at 3PM

Lots of our good friends are going to be at panels and showing there games of this week end here are a few of them!

Bloxels

Hive Jump

Flip Hue

Cards and Castles

Ninjevade

Master Spy

Feesh

Pass The Buck

Smuggle Craft

Super Push Adventure

For a full list of over 35 games going to be there this weekend go here!

If you can't make it this weekend no worries! we are going to be covering everything we can on twitter live and then will be posting a ton of panels from this week end on our youtube change next week!

GemPacked! Cards | Kickstarter

One of my biggest gaming surprises this year has been from Edo Baraf’s newest game, GemPacked cards. At first glance I thought the game was a cute looking app like game, something along the lines of bejewled or candy crush, a bit basic and uninteresting, a game that I would almost instantly lose interest in. I was so very wrong about that.

The game of GemPacked deceives you into thinking it is more simple than it really is. This is how it draws you into it’s lair and puts you under its charm spell. What you find when you get into playing the game is that there is a challenging, competitive, and fun mental exercise that you can enjoy with your friends! 

When you play GemPacked your mission is to end the game with the highest value of Geminos. You will start each turn by acquiring two valueless pips of various colors. During the game you will be trading these pips in for squares and diamonds that are worth more points depending on what combinations are used. The trick is being able to judiciously choose which cards to trade for off the board in order to make great combinations and create more points.

There is not a whole lot of interaction between players in this game. Mostly you will be focused on what combinations you can put your Geminos in to get the highest supply of points. The exception to this is in the rocket and action cards.

Each game will have a small set of rocket cards that are very high in value. To gain these cards players have to spend the exact combination of Geminos shown on the rocket to gain them. If you are a highly competitive player like me you will be keeping an eye on your competitors to make sure they don't get the cards they need to complete these objectives and gain them for yourself.

The game also has some fun action cards that help shake the game up a bit. The Chomet card can destroy and replace the cards around it often laying waste to all your plans and forcing you to adapt to all the new options it lays in its trail of destruction.

Asteroid cards also come along from time to time sprinkling extra Gemino pips upon other players. These cards really help ramp up the game where there is a potential for staleness and gives a swift kick in the pants to the in game economy.

One other interesting tidbit is that Gem Packed is also available as an app version that has been released concurrently with its kickstarter launch. It is currently only available on IOS and as a droid user I have yet to have an opportunity to try the app version of this game but I'm sure that it could give you a glimpse at how well you might enjoy the tabletop version of this game.

The game plays well with both older and younger players and the game balances nicely to allow everyone a chance to win. It can also double as a great learning lesson to teach children the color wheel and a bit of basic math.

The math bit can be a double edged sword though. Even though trading things in and constantly upgrading can be a fun activity some players felt like the game was just doing the same bit of "color math" over and over. As a teacher of this game it falls on you to inject some theme and story into this game of collecting cute little gem people and potentially sending them off into space. Since the game has stellar graphic design and artwork but prefers to leave it's gameplay in abstraction this can be a difficult thing to explain.

The game could also benefit from offering some player aids. There was a good deal of rulebook passing as we all needed to study the conversion chart for certain Geminos. This process created a bit of a slowdown in a game that shines best when play is quick.

GemPacked cards is currently seeking funding on kickstarter and is moving along at a nice pace, sitting at 25% nearly a week into its campaign. The $25 dollar price tag is a bit close to what this would retail for in stores but I think it is still a very fair price tag and is worth backing to see this on store shelves. I think this game would thrive excellently in a retail environment but it needs a push from people like you and I to get it there.

I recommend backing this game. The charming artwork, quick play time, and simple yet challenging mechanisms click together well to form a great game that you can play if you want to idly kill a small amount of free time. It's cute theme will work well to introduce new and young gamers to tabletop gaming and it's small size aids in making this an ideal game to travel with for play in restaurants, flights, and hotels.

The kickstarter page can be found at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ebaraf/gempacked-cards/description

Thank you very much for reading this review! For more board game reviews, previews, and news follow Living The Nerd Life on all of your favorite social media services!

Also be sure to follow me on twitter @levithepirate.

Caveat: All images in this review are from a preproduction review copy of GemPacked cards! and are not indicative of final production values. This copy was provided free of charge to the reviewer in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of the game. No financial recompense was offered or accepted in exchange for positive or negative reviews.

PODCAST: Gamers On The Go #34 | Super Smash Bros for 3DS

Gamers on the Go platinum member, Matt Giguere returns to talk about the newest big Nintendo title on the 3DS. We chat about the series’ past, how the new game compares, how we imagine Amiibo working and discuss in a very calm and civilized manner about how the cutting of Lucas is a pure unadulterated travesty (OK, maybe Chase isn’t so calm about it.)

PODCAST: Gamers On The Go #33 | Shovel Knight

Yacht Club Games’ Nick Wozniak and Sean Velasco join Chase to discuss their love letter to Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom gaming, Shovel Knight. 

Hear how Yacht Club Games began, how Shovel Knight went from Kickstarter dream to award-winning reality, and how the game might’ve been different it it had just made its original $75,000 goal.

Show Notes:

Learn more about Shovel Knight and grab yourself a copy of the game at shovelknight.com

Shovel Knight is a pretty faithful NES game…except when it’s not. Read this great piece by Yacht Club’s David D'Angelo on Gamasutra about where it made sense to break from the authenticity.

Snag Shovel Knight’s awesome Jake Kaufman-composed soundtrack here. It’s pay what you want!

And keep up with Yacht Club games on their Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch pages.

PODCAST: GAMERS ON THE GO #30 | Record Run

Director of Publishing & PR @Harmonix and Project Lead on @RecordRun, John Drake comes on to talk about the newest mobile game from the music-minded developer.

John gives us a candid rundown of Harmonix’s history with handhelds, the story behind the timing of releasing Record Run during the Amplitude Kickstarter and definitively restates that no, no one is currently working on Rock Band 4 (yet).

Show Notes:

• Download Record Run on iOS or Google Play for FREE!
• VidRhythm is also FREE on iOS.
• This episode was recorded before the news of Harmonix’s restructuring. Read more about that on Polygon.

Relic Hunters Zero | New Release

So not only is Relic Hunters Zero a really awesome game you should check out but the team creating it Rogue Snail has also released the source code and github repository! Devs helping devs is something that always gets me excited! In this consumer based game we play called life it is so refreshing to see people not just willing to help here and there but straight out show everyone how they did it.

One of my favorite things about this game is the different classes. You can smash your way through all the levels with a melee class or play your keytar gun to victory!

This is a must play especially since its free!

Gen Con 2015 Wrap Up Thursday, Friday | Part 1

Greetings Nerd Lifers, Gen Con, America’s largest gaming convention has come to an end. I have spent the past few days meandering through narrow corridors lined with vendors and jam packed with over 61,000 people to bring you the latest news in exciting board games and card games! I have such sites to show you! Let us begin!

Mars Attacks Miniatures

Mantic games had an amazing scene set up for their Mars Attacks miniatures game. This set up gave a great example of what a little bit of scenery and and paint can do to bring a game to life!

Kitsune

Independant Gamers Alliance showed off Kitsune, a game about using different fox spirits to trick a bunch of dupes to gain points. Looks interesting and at times a little awkward…

Timid Monsters

Timid Monsters is a great little toy company making great little desk monsters! Check out their lower cost options on their etsy page!

Deep Wars

Anti Matter Games showed off their semi aquatic miniatures game Deep Wars. Their representatives touted that the whole game could be distilled down to a one page rulebook or played with a larger more complicated ruleset to accomodate different play styles. The amazing nautilus miniature was cool enough to get me interested in this very cool war game!

New Salem

Overworld games was offering demonstrations of their recent kickstarter success, New Salem. The game has different players taking on the roles of witches or puritans in New Salem, each trying to play sets of cards to create positivity or despair in their town. Being able to figure out who the witches are is important to winning the game. I love how the different cards line up to create a full picture in each set.

Artifacts Inc.

Artifacts Inc. by Ryan Laukat for Red Raven Games really impressed me! Everyone takes on the roll of 1940s explorers who search for various artifacts to sell to museums. Tight worker placement and drafting mechanics along with a little bit of dice luck and great artwork make for a very fun strategic game!

Warpo Toys

Warpo, makers of some very cool 70’s and 80’s style Lovecraftian action figures unveiled their newest toy in the line, a massive 12 inch Cthulhu!

Make sure to check back and check out what we found at Gen Con the rest of the week!

By: Levi