On the Ship with Semenchuk - Episode #1 - Adventure Conspiracy

Classic friends talking about new things. Ben Semenchuk, Melbourne-based playwright, screenwriter and now barman, is recording a weekly podcast starting in December. Each ep will just be over an hour long as we discuss the week in pop culture, internet awfulness and plenty of idiocy to go around.

In this first episode, we discuss the finer points of Reddit and it's circlejerking

Games that are more time wasters than vaccination deniers

The history of Adventure Time

Other, better, funnier podcasts

9/11 conspiracies

and why America is so great

CULTURE, SELF-DEPRICATION AND IDIOCY - ON THE SHIP WITH SEMENCHUK - A quar-monthly podcast (that means four times a month) Now on SubjectHarrison
You can download it here or even torrent it!

Steam Summer Sale Day 03 - Two Sentence Review Guide

So, I spent the last 48 hours in an amazing little cabin on the outskirts of Rauma in Finland. No internet, no running water and a little electricity, so I made the best of my time, making fires, drinking cider and being a man. I returned to civilisation to find that not much had changed. Clocks still went clockwise and Steam was still having a large sale on cheap games, so let's get into the front page of Day 3. Standard review style, two sentences, humourous caption with image maybe something snarky. Also remember, I'm in a different region, so prices may vary slightly.

Also I come from a different time.

First to start with the community chosen sale item, LA Noire. 1950's Los Angeles where you play as a cop picking up clues left by killers and rapists. Don't bother driving in the city, just enjoy the stunning graphics and having Phelps freak out any time you doubt someone.
9 running perps out of 10
Price: $7.50

Who took the last fucking teabag of Earl Grey?

Now with the Front Page titles.
Borderlands GOTY. This FPS RPG is one of those rare games that you'll find putting in several hours into despite the simple premise. Traverse the wasteland, gain XP, get psyched for the sequel and if you've got some friends, have the time of your life.
10 screaming psychos out of 10.
Price: $7.50

You will never get tired of headshotting these things...ever

The JRPG and You

The following editorial was originally posted on QJ.net on the 29th of Decmember of 2011 and can be viewed here. The beginning was an original opening I was toying with and eventually cut due to it's overwritten nature, I've left it in because this is a blog and I needed something to entice a reader into possibly reading more...other than just the READ MORE button. In the article, I draw a comparison between the stories, histories and the genre of gaming, that are Western Shooters and Japanese Role Playing Games. Each a reflection on the cultural history on each country (American and Japan, respectively) and also a form of genre which has grown stale and how other countries/genre's have rectified it so.

It was written some time after I'd spent some time playing the 2009 game, Demon's Souls. The game was incredibly difficult and got me thinking about one of my least favourite genre's: JRPG's. Whilst I grew up playing Pokémon and one of my favourite games from a few years ago was The World Ends with You, I had felt that people had looked down on those who had not been playing Final Fantasy every year of their life, should not be playing JRPG's and considering I am quite time constrained, the whole genre kind of fell by the wayside in my catalogue of games. Like it's more social cousin, the MMORPG,  the time heavy and plot driven ideology, which JRPG's push often give off an air of the Greek epic such as those by Homer or the unconquerable Ulysses by Joyce. However, my adolescent experience, playing games such as Final Fantasy X, had left me cold and grinded down to a point where I'd never really want to play the games again. But Demon's Souls was a JRPG...why did I feel different playing this.


Let's explore shall we...