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The Brits and Australians are killing it when it comes to casting; they are doing some amazing audio experimentations and short stories.

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Checkpoints #20 is up! Twenty episodes! I wasn't sure I'd make it to ten. 


Anyway, today's guest is the amazing Chris Crawford. Chris was a visionary creator in a time when the industry was still finding it's feet and when anything seemed possible. Many of his design ideas and principles are still taught and read by new developers, and his influence can be seen through the generations. Not least of which in the annual Game Developer's Conference which Chris founded in 1987. The first GDC was in his living room. 

His longing for video games to broaden their horizons and his desire for new ways of playing led him to leave the established community in 1992 to focus on pushing these boundaries himself. His mission was laid out in his now famous Dragon Speech where he implored Video game creators to reach for the impossible, and warned how cycles of refinement and redevelopment could lead to stagnation. 23 years later he continues his lofty task of creating games about people rather than things, with Siboot being the most recent example.

We talk about his beginnings in game design,  working at Atari during the Video game crash, how he's currently building a tank (!), what prompted him to make the Dragon Speech, how he perceives stories as algorithms and why he thinks maths is the key to the future of our civilisation. We touch on Pacman, Balance of Power, Gossip, Civilisation and Papers Please. Dream well.

 

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99% invisible has probably been at the top of my "next thing to check out" list for a few months now. It sounds right up my alley. I've just started listening to Cortex though, so we'll see if that works out.

 

I am unsubscribing from the Escapist Podcast now. I got real tired of it the last few months, and it just really hasn't been any good most of the time for the last year or so. It started dropping off shortly after Susan Arendt left.

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I'm loving You Must Remember This, but why for the love of god does she do ridiculous voices for the of the female stars. I listened to the Manson Family series first and i thought she was just making fun of the manson girls, but then i started at the start and discovered she does it for all of them. The Dory Previn episode was painful - there was actual footage of Dory in the episode, but the host still did a ridiculous voice for her. I'm still listening as the series is super interesting, but it really gets to me at times.

 

Also, hate to say it, but 99% Invisible quickly fell off my radar due to the wanky filler that ruins a lot of podcasts for me. 

 

I'm also subbed to The Splendid Table. I want Lynne to whisk me away, or at least whisk me up a meringue. (yukyukyuk).

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Also, hate to say it, but 99% Invisible quickly fell off my radar due to the wanky filler that ruins a lot of podcasts for me. 

 

What?  99% Invisible is one of my favs because the episodes are consistently short and tightly edited/reported.

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I often skip past the first three or four minutes and then stop listening three or four minutes before it ends because there's a lot of "thanks for listening please listen please make other people listen" shit.

 

I dunno if that's what he's referring to, but that does annoy me!

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Checkpoints #20 is up! Twenty episodes! I wasn't sure I'd make it to ten. 

 

These are great Declan, been really enjoying them. It's a bit shameful though that after 4 years at Glasgow uni it was the Idle Thumbs forums that finally got me to tune into Subcity Radio!

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I often skip past the first three or four minutes and then stop listening three or four minutes before it ends because there's a lot of "thanks for listening please listen please make other people listen" shit.

 

I dunno if that's what he's referring to, but that does annoy me!

 

I stop listening before the end as well. The people (and in particular the host) on the show are under the delusion they have comedic talent which can be annoying as fuck in an otherwise interesting episode. 

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I listened to the first three episodes of Limetown. I like it!

 

I am annoyed with myself that I get fixated and taken out of the story when I can tell it's delivered lines affecting interviewed speech and not off the cuff responses. Rather than enjoying how close and good it is, I notice it's not quite perfect. It's not their fault, it's mine.

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So, I've finished The Ancient World and The History of Rome, so now I'm craving something a little more modern.

 

Any recommendations for medieval history podcasts? 

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So, I've finished The Ancient World and The History of Rome, so now I'm craving something a little more modern.

Any recommendations for medieval history podcasts?

Here's a running list: http://www.medievalists.net/2012/10/05/ten-medieval-podcasts/

As far as I know, none of these are as good as the ones to which you've listened already. The British History podcast and Lars Brownsworth's two shows are enthusiastic but not very rigorous. If you find one that's actually good, let me know!

Actually, I've been tempted for years to do a History of Rome-style podcast for the Holy Roman Empire, starting with Charlemagne and ending with Hapsburg dominance, but I simply don't have the energy that'd take, I think.

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Here's a running list: http://www.medievalists.net/2012/10/05/ten-medieval-podcasts/

As far as I know, none of these are as good as the ones to which you've listened already. The British History podcast and Lars Brownsworth's two shows are enthusiastic but not very rigorous. If you find one that's actually good, let me know!

Actually, I've been tempted for years to do a History of Rome-style podcast for the Holy Roman Empire, starting with Charlemagne and ending with Hapsburg dominance, but I simply don't have the energy that'd take, I think.

 

I would totally listen to this.

 

I should stop being such a snob and start listening to some history podcasts. Are these all of the one person talking and telling a story format? I think I'd prefer a history podcast that was two people, with one expert telling somebody unfamiliar with the topic what it's all about.

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I should stop being such a snob and start listening to some history podcasts. Are these all of the one person talking and telling a story format? I think I'd prefer a history podcast that was two people, with one expert telling somebody unfamiliar with the topic what it's all about.

I think this would be great and would solve so many problems with history podcasts. I tried out a bunch but I couldn't get into History of Rome or China because as hard as the dudes tried there was just too much information flow. I've been doing ok with Revolutions and the History of Byzantium but I would definitely appreciate them more if it felt more conversational. I think that's why Hardcore History is so easy to listen to. It has the feel of a friend in a pub going through a clear detailed story more than it's an explanation.

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Bowery Boys is just two guys talking super conversationally about history, but as the title suggests it's all about New York history.

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And I've mentioned it before, but The Dollop is a comedy history podcast about entertaining stories from history read by an asshole to his friend who's going in blind. (This is particularly effective when the story is about someone involved in a famous incident - one recent show was about the Lincoln assassination, and specifically the guy who killed John Wilkes Booth, who was a nutter.) They did an Australian tour recently and had a whole bunch of stories from Australia which were great.

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I think this would be great and would solve so many problems with history podcasts. I tried out a bunch but I couldn't get into History of Rome or China because as hard as the dudes tried there was just too much information flow. I've been doing ok with Revolutions and the History of Byzantium but I would definitely appreciate them more if it felt more conversational. I think that's why Hardcore History is so easy to listen to. It has the feel of a friend in a pub going through a clear detailed story more than it's an explanation.

 

I think history podcasts work best when you already have some familiarity with the subject even if it is just the basic chronology. That makes it alot easier to take in all the information cause it's not just an endless stream of names of people and places particularly if those names are Chinese, Korean and Japanese and you aren't.

 

There is an emperors of rome podcast with the host asking a historian about roman emperors. Talking Italian unification is also a two person podcast as were some of the early episodes of the When diplomacy fails podcast. Some episode of the Samurai Archive podcast is the host interviewing someone about a particular topic

 

The Ottoman history podcast is the host interviewing  someone about a particular part of Ottoman history they are studying/writing about. It doesn't follow any chronology and does require you to have some familiarity with Ottoman history but the range of topics covered is really interesting. The history hub podcasts tend to be similar just with a far wider range of topics and more lecturer style

 

There is also an old podcast on Napoleon with a host (Cameron Reilly) talking with the former head of some global Napoleonic society. Very in-depth but also kinda one sided. Reilly is also  currently has a podcast doing the same about Caesar.

 

In Our time covers a fair amount of history with the host talking with 3 experts on the particular topic. Also Hightlights from talking history does the same.

 

The Ancient warfare magazine does a monthly podcast with 3/4 people talking about a particular topic from a past issue. If ancient military history is of interest to you the podcast and magazine are worth checking out.

 

I you have any interest in wrestling there is a range of multiple person history podcasts.  How2Wreslting and Attitude era podcast are experts and non-experts covering the WWE attitude era and the history of various wrestlers more generally. Butts in seats is looking at the final days of WCW as it turns into an increasingly desperate dumpster fire.

 

My History beats up Tour politics is a podcast focusing on using history to analyse current US politics as well as looking at the history of American podcasts such as the history of US-China relations and immigration policy and how the ruling that a child born in the US is a US citizen was decided on the case of a guy born in the US to Chinese citizens and how it could be overturned. He also did a two part series on Chamberlain and the Munich peace conference that was very enlightening in explaining why Chamberlain appeased Hitler.

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Here's a running list: http://www.medievalists.net/2012/10/05/ten-medieval-podcasts/

As far as I know, none of these are as good as the ones to which you've listened already. The British History podcast and Lars Brownsworth's two shows are enthusiastic but not very rigorous. If you find one that's actually good, let me know!

Actually, I've been tempted for years to do a History of Rome-style podcast for the Holy Roman Empire, starting with Charlemagne and ending with Hapsburg dominance, but I simply don't have the energy that'd take, I think.

 

 

That's a lot of info, thanks. Browsing through it, most of them seem very niche, while I was looking for something a little more broad.

 

History of Rome guy did on on civil wars.

 

 

 

 

I intend to listen to that at some point, but I don't like him so much as I like the narrative he presented. I feel like it'd be lost jumping from different parts of history. I basically want "The History of the Tudors" podcast, because everyone knows that the Tudors are the coolest royal family in history. 

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I basically want "The History of the Hohenstaufen" podcast, because everyone knows that the Hohenstaufen are the coolest royal family in history. 

 

Oh, totally. "Brood of vipers" and all that.

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