In this bonus episode, we let you join in one of our weekly social activities: Halo night. Shooting the crap while shooting the Covenant, we discuss some of the tools available to help the modern geek socialize with distant friends, as well as the history of such technologies, including BBSs and early MMOs.
Chuck…this is Trey. I need you to stop being so productive. Seriously, dude. I only have so much time in a day I can devote to podcasts. Now you’ve crossed over the line with what I can keep up with and get any actual work done. See, you’re at a Ten…we’re gonna need you at about a Seven, dude…
Have a great day!
-Trey
I think I figured it out: Chuck has been cloning himself. And every one comes out a little bit thinner.
I was invited to Halo Night once. It was an accident. sadtrombone.com
Re Xbox lan hack, you guys talking about Hamachi?
You guys both played trumpet? I played coronet back during the like last two years of elementary school. Stopped in middle school lol.
That was an interesting cast, great idea and nostalgia flashbacks from the early days of Quake and Quakeworld when I really spent way too much money and time playing online, yes kids we were billed a monthly ISP fee and price per second even for a local call (UK) but you know it was better maybe down to the much smaller community. The rise of the consoles and networks changed everything and I guess for the better in terms of overall audience and market.
This bonus podcast brought up sweet memories of LAN party I used to run with the original XBox. That was before Live and neither my brother nor I could figure out how to properly route this through our computers. We started with 2 machines that we’d hook up to 2 LCD projectors and big 120" screens set up at opposite ensd of a school gym I had access to. The 2 teams were basically back to back, far enough so that we they could not hear the other team’s tactics but close enough that we hear them complain after good shots or tactics. We’d play a couple of long games, then have a few refreshments together. Then back to gaming. We’d play once a month on Saturday starting at noon and stop at midnight. That was an awesome social experience between “older” gamers with families and responsibilities. As our group surpassed 8, we brought in more Xbox LANed through a router, projectors and screens and made it all the way to 16 gamers on 4 machines. Those games where the best games I remember playing. Then Live hit and we tried to continue online. But it is much harder to justify sitting in front of your tv for hours on end when the kids are running around, wanting to play and your spouse is riding your ass about some household chore you promised to do last month. The group eventually expired and, while trying to find a similar group on Live, I was forced to play with 12-14 years old who apparently knew my mother very well and were extremely fond of tea. I gave up the search and retired the box.
I don’t own a 360. I can’t justify the expense to myself. My brother and a few of my old buddies do own them. As much as they harp me to get one so we’d play again, none of them really play more than once in a blue moon and can’t really commit to a marathon-like gaming session. As social as Live can be, I find that it’s only good within your own group dynamic. It is really hard to break into another social group. So, I’d only consider it if we can actually get together in the gym and do it all over again.
Geek gear question: What gear would I need to connect the 360s together and how many will be the max? What is the max number of teams does Halo on 360 support, 2 (like the original), 4, 6, more?
I don’t know where is the proper place to suggest a topic for a Modern Geek Podcast. I have an iPod problem and I haven’t got any answers and its causing me to have a sour attitude toward iPods. Where can I make my suggestion for a Modern Geek topic?
Ethan
I guess I have no choice but to post my question here . . . So, here we go:
My brother came out to live with our family (MD) 2 months ago from staying at my sister’s house in AZ. When he left there, she gave him an iPod. The entertainment system in my brother’s car is only an iPod dock without even a radio function. The iPod was synced with my sister’s computer and if we try to sync it with our computers here, iTunes says it has to delete all the music before it can be synced. I want to keep some of the media on my brother’s iPod. What is the best way for me or my brother to keep the previous music on the iPod and still be able to connect it to our computers?
Please help.
Ethan