For this episode we are very proud to interview writer Rhianna Pratchett. She has worked on some of our favourite games, and very specifically helped to craft some of the best female characters in the medium. Her experience includes Heavenly Sword, Overlord, Mirror’s Edge, BioShock Infinite, Viking: Battle for Asgard, Prince of Persia, Risen, Thief and perhaps most notably she was instrumental in transforming Lara Croft from Mary-Sue, gun-toting tit-machine to the far more real person she represents today in 2013′s Tomb Raider.
We talk at length about her past experiences and connections, the requirements for a writer in the world of gaming, female/female relationships in narrative, Conan the Barbarian, and of course Time Bandits.
Her website can be found here: http://www.rhiannapratchett.com/
Be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us.
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Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
This episode we delve into the video gaming market crashes of the early 80s and 90s and ask the questions: Are we already in the middle of another, and if so, what does that mean and is there possibly a bright side?
To lend maturity, research and acumen to these debates we have recruited Mr Gary Blower of the GameBurst podcast and Mr Chris O’Regan of The Sausage Factory.
Gary asserts that we’ve been crashing since 2009 and there is some very compelling evidence in favour of this. We also find out about how the earlier declines occurred, what caused them and crucially what pulled us back into a thriving games economy. Will everyone learn from their past mistakes or do they seem destined to repeat them?
Be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us.
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Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
It’s taken over a year, but Sharon has finally completed her read through of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy. This episode is a compilation of material from different shows to give you a full review series. In principle it’s a two and a half hour rant on her part about this skewed, uninformed and often just plain wrongheaded view of women, men, sex, relationships, hetero-normativity, wealth, worth and abuse, both physical and psychological. In execution it’s a blistering hellstorm of righteous indignation and high-pitched shrieking. You have been warned.
00.01.10: Fifty Shades of Grey (From DorkCast #5)
00.49.00: Fifty Shades Darker (From the DorkCast Fifty Shades Special)
01.25.00: Fifty Shades Freed (Digital Drift #6)
You will also hear Tony Atkins of Cane and Rinse with a reading from the first book at 37.40 which was originally on The Same Coin podcast episode #11. The DorkCast episodes were produced by and hosted by Leah Haydu and you will also hear a little of Matt Ramsey.
It goes without saying; very very obscene content!
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Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
This week we talk to two of the hosts of one of the funniest, most insightful movie podcasts we’ve yet heard; Andrew Jupin and Eric Szyszka of We Hate Movies.
As is discussed on the show, don’t let the name fool you. You’d be hard pressed to find a bunch of chaps who love movies more than these guys, and while they often cover well-known stinkers they most frequently mine comedy value from films nobody ever seems to talk about, which tend to be the obscure, the ridiculous and/or the terrible. For many years they have accumulated a vast archive of reviews and experimental tangent shows, so once you’ve heard this episode go ahead and mosey on over to www.whmpodcast.com and check out what’s on offer in the full collection. Then subscribe on iTunes and you’ll find a generous helping of their shows on there.
I’ll confess to being a little excited at getting these guys on our show as we take the opportunity to ask all about how they started out, their review style, why they focus on these forgotten, dubious gems and we get to showcase some of the funniest moments of the past few years, including…
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Jaws: The Revenge, Casper, After Earth, Star Trek: Insurrection and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
We also talk a little about my show for the benefit of newcomers, and why I haven’t yet covered the Transformers franchise. Five more episodes of We Hate Movies, I heartily recommend for my listeners
Bad Boys II, Batman Forever, Godzilla, Mrs Doubtfire and A Good Day to Die Hard (Because we sure as shit will not be covering that last one).
And for We Hate Movies listeners who want a nice selection of Digital Drift shows to catch up on, try our reviews of…
Alien Resurrection, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, and The Phantom Menace, Batman Returns and The Lord of the Rings.
Next week: The Fifty Shades Trilogy.
Be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/digitaldriftuk
Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
This week we talk to Chris & Kelly Brown of The Married Gamers. Since they’ve been a husband and wife podcasting team for many many years we have obvious reasons to want to pick their brains about how they have kept their show going so long. We also reveal the meaning behind the name Digital Drift.
This episode also marks the return of The Five Questions. We will be asking these of all our guests, moving forward and we want to hear your answers too. You can log your answers in the relevant thread on our forum.
1. What would your last meal and movie be?
2. Doc Brown turns up in the DeLorean, where and when do you go and how long do you stay?
3. Who in the world would you give a superpower of your choice?
4. Which recurring theme can you not seem to get enough of in your entertainment?
5. Which technological development do you most want to occur within your lifetime?
Next week we talk to the guys from the We Hate Movies podcast and the week after that Sharon tackles The Fifty Shades Trilogy, with explosive, hilarious results.
Be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us, and of course, jump onto the forum and declare your membership in the Digital Drift community.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/digitaldriftuk
Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
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This episode we’ll start with a word or two about this year’s community meet up, formerly the Gonzo Planetary Expo, or GPLEX, now rechristened as the first Digital Drift Convention, or ‘Drift-Con’. This will take place at The Doubletree Hilton in Lincoln on Saturday 3rd and Sunday the 4th of May. Lots more details in the show.
Following this we’re joined by Mark Saville and Gavin Tan from the video-gaming-related charity Special Effect. Longtime listeners may remember that this was the charity we sponsored last year at GPLEX, when we managed to raise £2,285 including Gift-Aid contributions. Today, we discuss what that money went towards and what this charity really is about.
In their own words, Special Effect use technology to enhance the quality of life of people with all kinds of needs, including stroke and road traffic accident patients, individuals with life-limiting conditions and injured soldiers returning from overseas. Their mission is to enable anyone, whatever their disability, to enjoy video games and leisure technology. But they’re not just doing it for the sake of fun. By giving disabled people the means to participate, they are kick-starting rehabilitation, self-esteem and, most importantly, inclusion.
Aside from the fact that it’s fascinating hearing the lengths they go to and the solutions they come up with there’s a very good reason why you need to listen to this one; These guys mitigate the knee-jerk public reaction and reveal the participating sectors of the gaming industry and extended community to be compassionate, progressive, inclusive and caring. This is thus the antithesis of Twitter-bullying and petulant rage over technical launch issues.
This is something very worthwhile. You can find them here: www.specialeffect.org.uk
And for everyone coming to Drift-Con, see you in May.
To coincide with the release of the 2014 remake, we bring you this journey into the flesh & metal heart of the 1987 original.
We were planning to cover the trilogy but the sequel bored us more than expected and the third movie (aside from a lunatic robot ninja chap) didn’t even have the decency to be amusingly terrible. Also if there’s no through-story or the sequels don’t even really observe the developments in the original is it not actually a trilogy at all, but a successful story and its licensed and incompetent copycats? A discussion for another time perhaps.
Joining Sharon and I to discuss Paul Verhoven’s riotously watchable and riven with subtext, cyborg Frankenstein retelling is Neil Taylor of GameBurst.
Again, we’re going to push social networking this time round so be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us. And of course be sure to jump onto one of the smartest, friendliest forums around and declare your membership in the Digital Drift community.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/digitaldriftuk
Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
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Welcome to the introductory episode of Digital Drift. With the first two volumes of my podcast, Digital Cowboys and Digital Gonzo now complete that makes this the 370th podcast episode I’ve put out. For the third volume I have recruited a new co-host to share the creative load; my wife, Sharon Shaw. She’ll be offering the show a second voice and a ton of perspective.
And we’ve decided to go right back to the beginning on this one with a prototype for the Gonzo movie reviews, released on the Digital Cowboys feed in May 2010 many months before I began the Star Wars Gonzo reviews. This was originally two hour-long episodes covering both volumes of Kill Bill. We’ve taken them, trimmed away the bits that didn’t work, added more clips and music and some additional segments with our views on the films four years on. You can hear how we were back then, what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.
We’ll be releasing regular episodes throughout 2014, interspersed with classic episodes of Digital Cowboys to give me room to write the book. Focus will be on more conceptual topics (much like the Fan Response show of Digital Gonzo) and while movie reviews will still remain, we’ll be doing a lot more interviews and shorter, discussion podcasts, bringing on the experts so that we don’t have to devote all our time studying absolutely everything.
Kill Bill is in both of our top three movies lists and by the time you get to the end of this one you’ll know why.
Next Episode: RoboCop
We’re going to push social networking this time round so be sure to find us, follow us, like us and email us. And of course be sure to jump onto one of the smartest, friendliest forums around and declare your membership in the Digital Drift community.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/digitaldriftuk
Twitter: @DigitalDriftUK
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.digitaldrift.co.uk
Forum: www.digitaldrift.co.uk/forum
Passed off as simply enjoyable dumb fun, and about nothing more besides enormous robots hitting big monsters, this movie proved to be absolutely perfect for the Gonzo style of analysis, being in fact deeply textured, nuanced and detailed.
I am joined for this joyful exploration of the lovingly crafted world of Guillermo Del Toro by Sharon Shaw, Joshua Garrity, Neil Taylor and Alasdair Stuart. We hope we can redress the balance on this and get my favourite film of 2013 recognized by a few more people as a modern masterpiece in visual storytelling.
This is the link to the Irrational games podcast interview with Guillermo Del Toro.
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Welcome back to the ninth part of the Middle-earth series of Gonzo podcasts. To any newcomers, the first episode was a prologue, focusing on the books and the animated films, the next six were two-part super in-depth reviews of the Lord of the Rings films, following that was a first impressions round-table of the then just recently viewed theatrical edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a tone we will be reprising with its follow-up, and the eighth was a Sound of Gonzo celebration of the music of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings scores.
If you are filled with apathy about these films or boundless spite towards their creators, these are not the podcasts for you. We like them.
With me once more are Chris Eason, of GameBurst and Sharon Shaw of Do Try This at Home.
Next December, if Gonzo is still around we should bring you a theatrical edition podcast of film three: There and Back Again, and the following December at the end of 2015, after the release of the last Extended Edition Blu Ray we will potentially be covering the whole trilogy again with the depth and familiarity we possessed during the Lord of the Rings shows, having had years worth of access to the appendices and a full overview of the trilogy as a whole. If that’s the case then you could count on a Hobbit Sound of Gonzo as well.
Fans of exciting prologues to epic book series’ would do well to go to Gonzo Planet and download the audio drama of The Cartographer’s Handbook.
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