The Codec Moments Podcast

They’re Creepy and they’re Kooky

It’s the 31st October 2017 so that means it’s Halloween, and we are obligated under all rules of recording and publishing to put out an appropriately themed episode.  That doesn’t mean we have to churn out the same piece of content each year though, no.  We definitely wouldn’t do that ;-)… but we would hit you with bad puns galore in the first couple of minutes.  You have been warned.

In this special instalment of the Codec Moments Podcast, Andy and Matt talk about:

• their favourite spooky and creepy games
• that Andy’s a wuss when it comes to horror titles
• the demise of Visceral Games
• what we’ll be streaming on Halloween… hint, Andy will crap himself (again)
• and a seasonally appropriate quiz.

Let’s Hear Those Engines Roar

It’s been a good couple of months for racing games.  Whatever your passion there’s probably been something released that you can get into the cockpit of: rallying, Formula 1, karting, track racing, supercars, hypercars, normal cars… it’s all been put out there to satisfy your need for speed (and there’s another one of those coming soon too).  To celebrate this cacophony of cars we chatted with Ali Cornwall about Project CARS 2, Forza 7 and GT Sport, amongst other games.

In this episode of the Codec Moments Podcast, Matt, Andy and special guest Ali discuss:

• their love of racing games but the lack of time to play them (or skill in Andy’s case)
• Project CARS 2‘s hardcore approach
• Forza 7’s failings
• GT Sport being a very welcome surprise despite the woeful parts of the demo
• Mario Kart – because you can’t discuss racing games without the lighter side
• Japanese weirdness
• DiRT 4, F1 2017 and the awesomeness of Codemasters
• that there are other racing games available that they’ve not played.

Can you hold a Comic Con in Doncaster?

If you’re at a loose end on a weekend with young children to entertain, what do you do? Go to a specialist convention of course! The Codec Moments Podcast relocated to Doncaster for the Monster Comic Con on the 7th October, held at the local racecourse. There to sample the delights of merchandising, excellent cosplay, questionable food, and to find out just how easy it is to terrify a 3 year old with a Dalek, we’re going to give you our impressions of the day we spent there.

In this episode, Matt and Andy:

• head to Doncaster dragging their daughters with them to frighten them with cosplay
• talk to some panel guests including:
  Tim Plester
  Paul Davis
  Dolya Gavanski
  Robin Vidgeon
• discuss at length whether you should stay in character all day if you’re in costume
• ponder the dubious positioning of the Q&A panel
• try to work out if it was a good event or not
• debate whether it’s right to see all the comic characters dancing to S-Club 7…
• completely fail to mention the free Kevin Smith book and/or t-shirt that everyone got

 

Wir lieben die Werbung für Wolfenstein II

In dieser Episode des Codec Moments Podcasts ist es an der Zeit, sich mit der Neuen Ordnung zu beschäftigen und uns der Tatsache zu überlassen, dass wir wirklich die Art und Weise lieben, wie Machinegames und Bethesda die Wolfenstein-Spiele vermarktet haben.  Mit der Veröffentlichung von Wolfenstein II in nur wenigen Tagen werden Matt und Andy von Stuart Cullen begleitet, um über Werbung, Hype und die schreckliche Atmosphäre zu sprechen, die aus der alternativen Realität kommt, die vom Dritten Reich gesteuert wird.

In diesem Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Special sprechen wir über:

• woran wir uns über das erste Spiel erinnern
• Fergus und ein offenherzig nicht druckbarer Dialog
• jeder der Live-Action-Trailer – Sie können sie unten sehen
• der Comic
• Wie dunkel, störend und gut erkannt, ist die alternative Realität
• Warum Multiplayer spielt keine Rolle

Alexa vs Siri… FIGHT!

Here at Codec Moments after our thoughts on the new devices incoming from Amazon, we wanted to know who was the best between Alexa and Siri and decided to settle it the old fashioned way – duelling pistols at dawn.  Sadly, neither device has hands and is capable of working a flintlock pistol, and we didn’t have extension leads or WiFi signal in the middle of the woods, so we changed plans.  Instead, we set about asking the two virtual assistants a variety of questions to see who would give us the most useful, sensible or realistic answers.  We’d love to say it was a balanced and fully scientific experiment, but it was just more entertaining to find out which remained composed and consistent throughout, and which started to lose the plot a bit.

In this Codec Moments Podcast we find out:

• Alexa vs Siri – who can answer the most questions sensibly
• that Andy starts to fear things are going a bit Ex Machina with his AI companions
• that there can be only one

They’re no Jedi

Recently we all got hands on with the Battlefront II beta demo, getting the chance to sample the delights of the game that’s building above and beyond the 2015 incarnation.  It’s slick, fast paced, and faithful to the source material like no other film to game conversion we’ve had to date.  Is that enough though to sell Matt and Andy on picking the new version up?

In this Codec Moments Podcast, they talk about:

• the different game modes on offer
• how often they were killed
• the lack of team coherence in the early stages
• what Battlefront II does differently
• loot crates
• actually winning a game
• how Darth Maul plays
• and the terribly simple flying controls

Alexa, what’s new with the Amazon Echo?

Amazon hosted an event on the 27th September and surprised both the press and users with a raft of new hardware announcements for their Echo series of devices.  We’re big fans of the original Amazon Echo here at Codec Moments and the additional options and functionality got us talking about what we’d use them for, and whether we could buy into all of them.

In this episode of the Codec Moments Podcast, Matt and Andy talk about:

• Amazon Echo… a lot… it’s the point of the podcast after all
• the Spot, Plus, Buttons and 4K Fire
• connected homes
• Echo calling and the drop in feature
• how much they think they’ll be spending with Amazon on these in the future

Let’s Play… with the Logitech G29

It’s been several years in the making, but Matt has finally caved and gone all in for a steering wheel, pedals and seat setup to make the most of his passion for racing games… and that Project CARS 2 proved to be really, really hard with a pad.  Weighing up the options and deciding on the Logitech G29 and Playseat Challenge it was time to take it to the track.

In this podcast the Codec Moments team talk about:

• The racing kit
• The setup
• Furniture arranging
• Do they make you any better at games?
• How different driving games handle
• Does Andy want to go round and play?

Codec Momentum - September 2017

Did you take part in the last month’s Codec Momentum?  Have a listen to see if you got a shout out about your achievements.  Even if you didn’t join in the backlog clearing incentive scheme we run, have a listen anyway… it might help you decide to finish one of the games lurking on your pile of shame.

In this, the inaugural Codec Moments Podcast, Matt and Andy run down:

• Why they ditched The Codec Call
• Who completed their September Codec Momentum’s
• Who won the prize (let’s hear it, WWWOOOOOOOO!!)
• What they’re both pledging for October
• How the leaderboard is shaping up

EGX 2017 - Welcome to Carcast ’17!

It’s taken a while, but we actually got round to recording a new Codec Call… mainly because we were stuck in a traffic jam coming back from EGX 2017, and when you’ve a couple of hours stuck in a small metal box with nothing but your impressions of the show you’ve just spent 8 hours walking around, it’s pretty much the only sensible thing to do.  Having immersed ourselves in UK gaming culture for the day and satiated our desire for some new games to muck around in, it’s time to let you know what we made of it all.

In this long awaited episode we talk all about:

• Far Cry 5
• GT Sport
• Missing our junctions on the M42 and driving miles the wrong way
• Strange Brigade
• Stuart getting beaten by Keeley
• Project CARS 2
• Blocked motorway lanes
• The noise of passing traffic
• Andy’s terrible racing skills… karma after last year’s gloating
• Wolfenstein II interview
• eSports
• Is this the last Codec Call?
• Our total failure to spot the VR section until the end of the day
• and a quiz!