I tend to load my iPod up with a ton of gaming podcasts that I’ve subscribed to. Usually I’ll take it with me to work and when things are slow or dull (or when opposing hockey players are chirping at each other between their penalty boxes) I’ll turn one on and relax while I watch pucks, press buttons, sometimes write and occasionally tell a few tense hockey players to shut the fuck up. I rarely ever listen to my podcasts at home; I almost always listen to them when I have nothing else to focus on, as I don’t wanna miss anything.

I have about four or five podcasts that I like to listen to regularly; These are my own recommendations. Hit the jump to find out who I’m listening to.

(All of the podcasts I’ve listed are available on iTunes.)

Sidescrollers
Probably the first “video” site I came across that was centered around gaming was Screwattack. At first I only really stuck with their featured videos on Gametrailers, but I occasionally went to the site and that’s how I eventually started listening to Sidescrollers. Stuttering Craig usually likes to keep each episode short and they feature one thing each week, along with a quirky segment or two and always followed up with listener questions. (Something that pretty much every podcast I listen to does.) The Screwattack guys have always done a great job with this podcast and although I don’t listen to it much, anymore, it’s always good to come back to.
iTunes

The Electric Hydra
After the end of Podtoid, a couple of current and former Destructoid editors came together to make this podcast, taking from their old podcast’s older format. Hosted by Brad Nicholson, the Electric Hydra’s hosts will usually talk about their gaming experiences in the past week, touch on a few news stories, and sidetrack onto other topics that tend to get cheeky or even influence future podcasts. (B-B-B-Balls!) This can be a fun podcast to listen to sometimes, especially if Jim Sterling has played a fairly mediocre game in the past week. Depending on availability, the Electric Hydra sometimes records twice a week, with an abridged midweek version dubbed “The Early-Ass Morning Show in the Morning” which is pretty much the same deal with different people.
iTunes

Sega Addicts
Recording on Fridays, this podcast as you might guess from the name is mainly all-Sega. Now, I’ve grown up as a Nintendo boy in my childhood so I don’t always know what they’re talking about, but the obvious things such as Sonic, Phantasy Star, and some other recent Sega talk I can catch onto. Always a fun one to listen to, though the podcast becomes subject to some injokes, (MALE THONG!) but they manage to keep things entertaining. I actually enjoyed listening them recap the history of both Sonic and Phantasy Star a few months ago.
iTunes

Sarcastic Gamer (The Red Show)
SG is actually a series of multiple podcasts, though the only one I listen to right now is the main podcast, otherwise known as the Red Show hosted by the ever funny trio only known as Doc, Dave and Lono. This is a more low-key podcast that focuses less on current events and more on their thoughts with some comedy mixed into it. This usually allows for 30-45 minutes of satisfying, funny game talk and is not easy to forget to listen to. As well, they also have their own iPhone app with extra content. (I’ll admit, I don’t usually approve of hiding extra content behind money, but these guys are too golden to resist it.)
iTunes

All Gen Gamers
This one, which was initially drawn to this show through HappyConsoleGamer, (whom I’ve met once at a meetup at Gamedeals a couple months ago) this podcast is produced by a few guys with some well-known game-related Youtube channels such as gamester81, theEMUreview and PeteDorr. Probably the longest of all the podcasts that I regularly listen to, the hosts will generally spend the time talking on a single subject for an hour or two, which actually becomes very interesting regardless of if you fully understand what they’re talking about or not, while wrapping up with their gaming experiences in their past week. It’s common for them to bring on a guest on the show, usually another big Youtube channel or even Stuttering Craig from Screwattack, and a lot of the time it’s a really interesting to listen to as they tend to cover a lot of the not-so-prevalent areas of retro gaming (such as the Neo Geo consoles) that not a lot of people remember.
iTunes

Those are my recommendations as to what podcasts really stand out in there, with an honorable mention to Gaming Union‘s podcasts, which I will usually listen to when a MiniGUP comes around. Of course, if you’re just into this for news you’ll find it faster by reading blogs, though listening to podcasts always tends to be more immersive.

The outcry started on Friday, when Namco America announced on its Facebook page that they had no plans to localize recent games in the series, including Tales of Vesperia on the PS3, as well as Tales of Graces, along with its PS3 port Tales of Graces f. The comment was immediately met with upset fans and long-time supporters of the series and retro-game developer, so much to the fact that people started petitioning to have both Vesperia PS3 and Graces f released in the US on playstation.blog.share.

Then again, today, Tales Union reported that another comment similar to Friday’s wall post had gone up on Namco’s facebook page, this time not only mentioning that Namco is not looking at localizing Vesperia PS3 or Graces f, but for the rest of the series as well.

The new post, which has since been removed, has been met with great hostility by the Tales of fanbase, with angry fans spamming Namco’s page, with comments varying from people trying to encourage them that they do have a fanbase on this side of the Pacific, to mimicing how various other Tales characters would do the same, to just downright berating the company’s decision to leave them out in the cold. Namco’s has been trying to delete some of the more outrageous stuff but they have not been able to keep up.

It’s really disgusting to be honest; I can’t blame the fans. Yes, sales of the series over here haven’t been great, but Namco Bandai really tried to bring up the community over here after Tales of Symphonia, which is probably my favorite RPG of all time. Seeing games like Tales of Legendia, Tales of the Abyss, and even going to Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. After Vesperia’s release, the only game they have localized in North America and Europe would be Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World back in November 2008. The other games released since then: Innocence, Hearts, Radiant Mythology 2, Vs., Graces, and new or in-developemtn games Narikiri Dungeon X, Vesperia PS3, Graces f, and a new PS3 game that was just announced today, have not even been considered for localization out of Japan.

It’s really unfortunate that it just had to come down to this. Will Namco see what they are doing and be swayed by this? Probably not. Will it leave a sting? I think so. Boycotting them obviously won’t do anything, but it’s always been on my mind from the time that I realized that we were probably not getting Graces.

I know the community isn’t taking this lightly, and neither will I.

Update: (Aug. 3, noon PDT) This grilling is still going on. No comment from Namco on the situation. People are starting to ask fans of the series to add a #talesfanunite hashtag onto their tweet when talking about the Tales Of series.

In this day and age, the Internet is bringing everyone together in new ways. From the days of usenet, to AOL chatrooms and IRC, followed by BBSes (now forums) we are now in an age where social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are commonplace.

For most of the past fifteen years, PC gaming has had its place online in one way or another. At the turn of the century, that started to spread to consoles, starting with the Dreamcast and XBOX. Today, every current-gen console and handheld is online and part of its own distinct service; XBOX Live for the 360, Playstation Network for the PS3 and PSP, and Nintendo WFC for the Wii and DS. Nowadays, many console games ship with multiplayer modes that are strictly online, where in the past we would have split screen. As time wore on, the Internet has reshaped the way we play games with other people.

However, this does not mean that the days of local multiplayer are gone forever.

The best example of that came today. Those that are in the know might have known today was the day that meetups for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies were held today at Gamestops across North America. Taking advantage of this, Gamedeals (the suburban Vancouver independent video game retailer you might have heard me talk about here) decided to have a DQ9 meetup of its own. This store is now twice the size that it was when I went there last, bigger than any EB Games or Gamestop that I’ve ever been in, and converted one of the back rooms into a lounge. A small group of people had gathered to play the game’s unique and somewhat revolutionary multiplayer mode. We all tagged up with each other to exchange maps and players, then split off into a couple of separate groups: A bunch of people tackling some of the more difficult treasure maps, and us lower level people grinding and working through the game’s story. The whole meetup, which was also attended by store owner Brian and the Happy Console Gamer, was a smashing success and reintroduced me what it was like to be surrounded by a bunch of other people, all playing the same game as you and having fun doing it.

It was a local multiplayer experience that you don’t see very often in this day and age, back in the days where kids like myself would be sitting out in the backyard with their Game Boys, or grabbing a bunch of friends and playing Goldeneye. (And if you haven’t heard, the Wii version will have split screen multiplayer, just like its predecessor, the way it’s MEANT to be played.) Back in the days, your specs or ping didn’t matter, only your skill. Your opponent was only across the room, not across the world, and trash talk was completely acceptable in some circumstances. (Though, not like the absolute bullshit trolling you see on XBL)

On the handheld side of things, though, I’ve been noticing a trend: A increasing number of games that are being released on the DS and PSP these days are going local multiplayer only. There are many games nowadays on both systems that probably would’ve worked nicely with an online multiplayer mode do not include these options; Everything is limited to whatever opponents you can find out there, though that’s not always easy. Then again, I’ve found that online multiplayer experiences on handheld games don’t tend to be of the same connection quality as you would see on a console. I tend to find more laggy people playing Mariokart DS than I do playing Mariokart Wii, and seeing how online races on the console counterpart can have triple the number of participants of its handheld descendant, that’s saying a lot. When you think of it that way, it was time to turn back the clock a bit. Even if the 3DS makes improvements in the online multiplayer area, handelds, and most video games in general, are still fit for the local multiplayer experience. It just brings a feeling that you can’t experience online.

And that was apparent in a back room at Gamedeals today, with people collaborating and talking strategy in order to take down a tough boss, or laughing when Zoma flattened half of an average-leveled party in no time whatsoever. Many people have talked about the collective experience, when people come together, for various things, and I think it was shown today in a new light how gamers can be reunited through the split screen.

A more interesting thing actually came out of that meetup today, and that was a group called the “Handheld Gaming Group” for Vancouver-area gamers. The plan is to meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and just play a game together for a few hours; All local multiplayer. Even today, where online multiplayer is prevalent, people are sticking to their roots, getting together and gaming together. Some people nowadays might ask “Why?” But I say “Why not?” It’s how I grew up.