Hey you. Steve Vice!

Thanks for the comment on GameHounds Episode 11.

However, this is not our site anymore. It's just where our RSS feed goes.

If you actually want to comment where everyone else is, and where everyone else looks and reads comments on our podcasts, you need to go to the main GameHounds site.

 

GO AWAY! YOU SCARE US! SHOO! SHOO!

Actually, if you're looking for GameHounds Podcast, you're looking in the wrong place.

We don't live here anymore.

We live at our new site: GameHounds.net.

This site is now dead and will soon be completely gone.

Later, ladies.

Yes, the sunflowers are ghey.

This is not the final site.

We are slaving behind the scenes, and we changed the template
to better facilitate our export of our old blogposts on this site
so that we can transfer them to the new site.

Trust me, there are no flowers on the new site.

You've been having problems with this website. I know.

And lord knows I have been having problems with it too.
You just have to read it.
Imagine me, completely inept when it comes to anything that has
to do with HTML, SQL, DNS, and
any other TLA (three-letter acronym) you can think of that
has to do with building a website.

But there is a reason it's been particularly wonky lately.

We are in the process of making a completely
and wholly different site. As in differently hosted
and actually a fully functioning website.
Just like the old days, but... working properly.

So please be patient. These changes won't affect you being able
to download the podcasts. Just, for the moment,
you'll have a little problem reading this blog.

Right now, I'm sitting in the press room of GDC.

Let me give you a mental image of what it was like leaving this morning's Microsoft keynote presentation.

Remember in the movie "Airplane!" when all the reporters run into the bank of payphones?

Yeah. Like that.

Bottom line: It's a very good time to be a 360 owner right now.

If you haven't already heard, MS has some big news for the next year. First and foremost, XNA is going to finally completely open up to the little people. Games will soon be easily accessible to homebrew developers like you and me, and they will be downloadable to not only the XBox, but also the Zune. All you will need is a peer-review process to give it a thumbs-up and it goes on Live to download it. Theoretically, there are four games up right now for you to download.

And no, Hawkes, there was no mention of how developers will get paid, how much MS will keep or any monitization info. That will apparently be filled in later.

Second, yes.... Ninja Gaiden II looks freaking amazing. Although I see a potential problem with it. And I will go into that in detail on my special GameHounds episode tonight. Yes. Tonight.

Third, the interwebs sometimes do not lie. Gears of War 2 coming November 2008 as an XBox exclusive. Cliffy B. said nothing else, and although there was a trailer, I really don't put much credence behind trailers. I can make a trailer of my mom's cellulite thighs and make it look good. Doesn't mean I want to play with them.

Fourth, looks like you'll be playing Fable2 a couple of weeks before the game comes out. The gambling mini-game, which allows you to increase your wealth in-game, is actually a separate XBox Live game and your coin is migrated into your Fable2 world. Peter "I Love You, You Crazy Bastard" Molyneux announced that the mini-game will be released to the XBox Live Marketplace a few weeks before Fable2 comes out, so be ready to start the game day one and find everyone is richer than you and completely tricked out in super-leet gear. Groan.

Keep yourself tuned today to GH, as I will be uploading a discussion between me and Joe Chagan of SPOnG talking about what happened this morning with Microsoft.

I wanted to drop you all a quick bit about GDC day one.

The first day at GDC is pretty much like the first day of Burning Man. Most of the cool stuff is half built (the booths aren't even up and equipment to show demos aren't even plugged in yet), everyone's not quite in the swing of things. There's a few events going on, but the major stuff is due later in the week.

And, most importantly, nobody really gets in the mood until the first night of heavy-duty partying.

Yesterday, until about 4 p.m., things were pretty useless. Then the first official GDC free-booze-and-food-a-thon began, courtesy of Zeemote.

Now I make it sound like all we did (and by "we" I mean me and my trusty sidekick, Joe from SPOnG) was get hammered, puke in someone's lap and wander off.

In truth, we were some of the few journos who actually hunted down the Zeemote girl to ask her about the product.

While you'd think Zeemote would make sure the actual star of the Zeemote party would be, well... the Zeemote. But, in true GDC fashion, in fact the party's grande dame was a 3-foot-tall ice sculpture with the word "Zeemote" frozen inside and a tube down the center through which one could pour drinks. The drink of the night was Zeemotinis -- a wicked concoction of rum, cranberry juice and fairy dust.

Or so I was told.

Conveniently enough, once we had a good heater on, we wandered right next door to the Microsoft Casual Games party, which had almost exactly the same hors d'oeuvres and...

... a big ice sculpture with a big "Microsoft Casual Games" frozen in the center with a tube down the center, etc., etc., etc.

THIS frozen ice sculpture, however, dispensed vodka, Red Bull, and cranberry juice.

How trendsetting!!

The night finally ended with Joe dragging me probably 75 or 80 blocks (or at least that's what it felt like after six or eight drinks) to The Cellar, a classic, shabby-chic underground dive bar, for the Telltale Games party. Of course, it was by far the coolest. Zombie themed. Disco balls. And guess what? No ice sculpture! Score one to Telltale for breaking refusing to follow the pack!

Joystiq was at the Telltale thing as well, and took a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment. None of me getting sloppy with Joe, Chad from Destructoid, and a few others of the DToid team over at the Cool Kidz Bar, as we liked to call it.

Yes, I have photos, and I'll upload them later for your amusement.

Okay, back off to the Moscone Center. More later.

Now that Hawkes and I are back "on the virtual air," as it were, we've reconnected with a lot of our old fans from the old days.

And it's amazing how many of you are now doing your own podcasts!

How awesome is that. I feel like Betsy Ross or something!

If you're a fan of the old Edie and Hawkes days and you now have your own podcast, let us know. I'd like to give shout-outs on our podcast to all the fans who listened to us and decided (wisely), "Hey, if these two jackasses can do it, anyone can!"

Don't get me wrong. There's a certain amount of "I'm not afraid to throw myself off the cliff" mentality needed to start a podcast, and I want to pay tribute to all of you who are egotistical and crazy enough to put your opinions and voices out on the interwebs.

Send us your website details, or at least where we can find your podcast, to GameHounds AT gmail.com.

Now, I'm off to GDC.

-Edie

As you know, Edie will be at GDC next week.

And therefore, your chance to get personalized retrieval of gaming-industry information is nigh.

What information would you like to have her hunt down? Who would you like to have interviewed? What questions do you want answered?

You can post your requests in the comments section here, or you can email us directly at GameHounds@gmail.com.

Tonight is Saturday.

Thus: Tonight is recording night.

Yes, episode two is about to explode into your ears!

The problem is that we know what we want to talk about, but what do you want to hear?

Got any questions for Edie or Hawkes? We will answer just about anything you ask, although let us take care of a few obvious ones right now:

1. Briefs
2. Betty... totally Betty. Wilma was a ho.
3. 16, in the backseat of a 1980 Toyota Corolla.
4. Only once, but Hawkes said he thought it was a girl.

So there you go. Any other topics/questions you want from us? Emails us at Gamehounds@gmail.com.

Good news!

GameHounds.net is up and working properly, so you can just plug that URL into your Googlometer and you'll be right here.

Next big step: Being live on iTunes. Theoretically, that's coming, and when it does, we'll let you know so you can subscribe.

As always, anyone who has thoughts, ideas and suggestions for the new podcast, let us know by emailing us at GameHounds@gmail.com

Until our next cast...

GameHound OUT!

Hey all.

So it's 24 hours since we posted our first podcast, and it's fantastic how so many of our old listeners are sending us emails.

To keep you updated, here's where we are at the moment: We are waiting for our website URL to propagate through the internet, but when it does, we'll be found at GameHounds.net. NOTE: It's a DOT NET, not a dot com.

Also, we'll be redesigning this page very soon so it doesn't look like ass.

Third, and in response to some questions, our GameHounds theme music (sans the GameHound howls) is "Purple Girlfriend" by The Goldstars, a band I just recently found on the The Podsafe Music Network. You can download the song from the network or you can visit the Goldstars' site directly.

Finally, if you want to get ahold of either Hawkes or me, or if you have an comments, input or suggestions for topics, guests or overall general improvements, you can email us at GameHounds@gmail.com.

Expect Episode Two records Saturday night and should be up on Sunday or Monday next week, depending on how Ubercaster is treating us.

Good to be back!

Edie