Mayor LaGuardia Topples a Pinball Machine

In this episode:
We offer up some extra footage from our visit to the National Pinball Museum. David Silverman discusses the longevity of the pinball industry in spite of some of the hardships manufacturers have faced over the years.

Please note: We are extending our hiatus until November 3, 2011. The first episode of Season Two will post on that day. So sorry for the delay; thanks for being cool about it!

Music Credits:

slumlord by lo tag blanco is licensed under a Attribution.

Filter by §įǷǷƔ�?ʗʯǷ is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

David Logan (http://dave-logan.com)

Update October 5, 2011: We are very sorry to announce that we are delaying the return of Playable Character for 4 weeks. We are not going away forever, and we are not going to extend our hiatus again. Our next episode will be posted on November 3, 2011 and it’s going to be great! We wanted to take a little more time to get things in order for Season Two so we are able to deliver the best podcast possible. Thanks for your understanding.

Hello everybody!

We have been on vacation. Well, not exactly vacation. We have been buffing up the podcast around the edges, lining up shows for the next season, scheduling interviews and hashing out ideas. We are working hard to brew up some stuff that will keep Playable Character unique and interesting.

Just so you know what the plan is: We intend to come back on October 6, 2011. That’s so soon! (There will never be enough time to get everything all ready for you!) We don’t want you to think that we’ve abandoned you or changed our approach. Surely not!

And don’t think that we think that you think that you have nothing better to do than to sit on your hands and wait for our next post. Not at all! We know you are very busy people who have all sorts of things to read and listen to. By way of holding your attention throughout the duration of our hiatus look for some Bonus! content to come along. We are digging out some extra footage, putting up soundtracks, and more. Hopefully those Bonus! posts will help keep us on your mind during the interval.

Thanks again for listening (and for reading). We look forward to bringing you some of the new cool things we have arranged. Expect Season Two to push the envelope even further in terms of what a gaming podcast can be, or at least what THIS gaming podcast can be.

As always, keep in touch with us on Twitter, or on Facebook. Give us a rating in iTunes. And tell all your friends to catch up on the back catalog before we begin the next wave of new episodes!

(Image courtesy Patrick Hoesly on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4253398867/)

In the last episode of season 1 Shawn Rider, Trevor Owens, and Shane Hinton take a look back at the previous episodes and chime in with our thoughts on some of the segments.

Music Credits (in order of appearance):

I dunno by grapes is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

Music by Dave Logan and DJ Funken Wagnalls featured throughout.

In this episode:

Nick Hagman on beating Ninja Gaiden with a dance pad, and his motivation for playing difficult games in impossibly hard ways. Watch his videos here, and check out his Facebook page here.

Trevor Owens of playthepast.org on Sid Meier’s Colonization and the chance to communicate by disturbing the player.

Shawn Rider reads “Finish Him: A Love Story”.

Sir Galahad’s Mortal Kombat 3 Compendium is still available online.

Mortal Kombat 3 sound effects came from SoundFXCenter.com.

Music Credits:

DJ Funken Wagnalls contributes yet again to the show.

The rest of our music was made available by CCMixter.org:

Boccherini’s Minuet by WestonWyse is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

Kaddish for Salinger by KarmaHackeR is licensed under a Attribution.

The Annual New England Xylophone Symposium by DoKashiteru is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

Faster Than the Eye Can Perceive by DJ Rkod is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

I dunno by grapes is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

Wayfarer by morgantj is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

In The Eyes Of You by KatazTrophee is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

Awaken by Gurdonark is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

Dub Baby by BonesUK is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

Seeking Human Love in a Robotic World by Gurdonark is licensed under a Sampling Plus.

In this episode:

Chris Avellone discusses Planescape: Torment, Fallout: New Vegas, and player expectations in RPGs. Find out more about Fallout: New Vegas and Chris’ other projects at http://obsidianent.com.

Ian Bogost tells us about the dangers of developing satirical social games and the impending Cowpocalypse in Cow Clicker. Find more from Ian at http://bogost.com.

Music:

Music during the interview segments in this episode is by Dave Logan.

Background music for the opening interview montage and hosting segments is provided by DJ Funken Wagnalls.

In this show:

We visit the National Pinball Museum and talk to David Silverman, the creator, curator and executive director.

Along the way we speak with museum visitors Alan, T-Man, and the Dillon Brothers.

Music Credits:

All of the music in this episode is by David Logan and used with his permission. Thanks Dave!

In this show:

Douglas Stanley talks to us about his piece, Invaders!, and the creative environment that produced it.

Trevor Owens of playthepast.org discusses collecting evidence as a digital historian in Fallout 3.

Marty Kraham (AKA TV Death Squad) tells the story behind the notorious video of his performance at the 2009 Game Core convention.

Music Credits:

The music in the first segment is “Like Analogue” by Monoiz and is available here.

Intro, outro, and transition music as well as the music in the second segment is by DJ Funken Wagnalls.

The music in the third segment is “Puncture the Skyline” by TV Death Squad and is available here.

Eco Defenders from Filament Games and The Jason Project

In this show:

We take an extended look at two sides of Games for Learning: teachers and developers.

Marjee Chmiel discusses using games in the classroom.

• Operation: Resilient Planet
• Her National Geographic Games
• Shawn mentions her graphic novel, Luci’s Let Down, at the end of the show.

Dan Norton discusses the challenges of designing games for learning.

• Filament Games website
• Eco Defenders
• Do I Have a Right?

Music

Transition music by DJ Funken Wagnalls.

Music for the two interview segments by Cobol Pongide, courtesy BeatPick.com.

End music is “The Crunk Alphabet” by Covert.

In this show:

Shawn Rider interviews Jamin Warren about the ideas behind Kill Screen, a game culture magazine.

David Carlton discusses ideas from his Minecraft blog about architecture and the perception of labor.

Trevor Dodge speaks with Michael Abbott of Brainy Gamer about the experience of teaching games as an art form.

Music:

Ttransition music by DJ Funken Wagnalls.

Kill Screen segment music is “Like Analogue” by Monoiz and is available here.

The Minecraft segment features music by C418 from the first Minecraft soundtrack titled Minecraft – Volume Alpha available for purchase here. Clips from these tracks, in order:

• “Wet Hands”
• “Dry Hands”
• “Minecraft”
• “Équinoxe”

The music in the Michael Abbott interview is by Minusbaby, titled “Algzèbres, Pts. N – Z” from the album Derecha and is available for free download here.

The outro track is “Bit Pop” by Shael Riley from the compilation, Rhyme Torrents vol. 3.