The Codec Moments Podcast

EGX 2017 - Rebellion Interview

Rebellion are one of the most underrated studios in the UK.  Aside from the excellent Sniper Elite series, they’ve been responsible for Aliens vs Predator, Ground Control and Battlezone.  They also own 2000 AD comics which means they are working on print, TV and film as well as games.  The independent studio always manages to deliver what gamers want – entertaining, challenging and fun experiences.

At EGX 2017 we got hands on with the next two titles to come from the studio: Strange Brigade and Rogue Trooper Redux.  The first is a co-op puzzle shooter where the pedigree of Sniper Elite comes through to help construct a chaotic, intense but immensely satisfying 4-player action game.  The latter is a full remaster of an often overlooked 3rd person tactical shooter that originally released on the PS2.  We managed to pin down Robbie Cooke and Rich May from the Rebellion team to tell us more about them.

EGX 2017 - Wolfenstein II Interview

We’re big fans of the Wolfenstein reboot from a couple of years ago, as well as the standalone DLC that followed it up, so with no surprises whatsoever we’re getting excited about the next game coming in October this year.  During EGX 2017 we got the chance to tag along with Stuart Cullen and record his chat with Andreas Öjerfors, senior game designer at Machinegames, to find out what the intrepid Scottish Sun reporter was asking about with Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus being just over the horizon.  Would it all centre around the inclusion of a Scottish character, does Andreas want some Irn Bru, or how does Haggis go down in Sweden?  The interview may include at least one of those things…

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, developed by Machinegames and published by Bethesda, continues the story started in Wolfenstein: The New Order and has B. J. Blazkowicz picking up the mantle of freeing America from the oppression of the Nazis and is due for release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on the 27th October.  We’ll be bringing the review as soon as we can get our grubby mitts on a copy of the game.

EGX 2017 - Project CARS 2 Interview

At EGX 2017 we got hands on with the PC build of Project CARS 2, testing out the Nurburgring in some very quick racing cars.  Experiencing the new game from Slightly Mad Studios made us remember both the good and bad from the first game, but equally gave us hope that despite a smaller development team, we’d be getting a more rounded racing sim this time out.  To find out more on what’s different with the sequel and how they pulled together such a detailed game, we spoke to Rod Chong, the Chief Commercial Officer of the studio.

Project CARS 2 is out now on PC, Xbox One and PS4, is developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco.  Keep an eye on the site for insight from one of the racing drivers involved with development; tips on getting the best out of the controller pad options; and not least, our review.

Half a Podcast

We mentioned in the last podcast that there was an unused recording from December which we might pull some bits out of.  Well, in true Plain Lazy fashion, we’ve ripped big chunks and cobbled it together as if it was a brand new episode!  To at least give you some hope that we’re not fleecing your time with old, out of date rubbish, we got Stuart Cullen to come back and talk to us about Scotch Corner’s latest content.  Hit up the link to your favourite podcast provider or just go old skool and download it from here to find out what else we’re covering this time.

Listen to this episode of the Codec Call to hear:

• Matt’s thoughts on PlayStation VR
• A Glaswegian waxing lyrical about I Am Bread, eSports and Sniper Elite 4
• How Andy’s discovered the world of Skyrim
• Whether we’re seeking legal counsel over #CodecMomentum
• and some bad pretending that we’ve actually prepped for the recording (see the post closing theme reveal for what we nearly forgot to talk about)

Our Surprises and Disappointments of 2016

It’s been 3 months since we last put out a podcast, mainly due to insane amounts of work, then lack of work, and then technically not having anywhere to live… but we’re back!  It’s now the traditional time for the Codec Moments team to wax lyrical about the games that surprised and disappointed them over the previous year, and we try so hard not to talk about No Man’s Sky.  That’s not all either.  Hit up the link to your favourite podcast provider or just go old skool and download it from here to find out what else we’re covering this time.

Listen to this episode of the Codec Call to hear:

• What we’ve been playing with – yay for tech based Xmas presents!
• Our biggest surprises and disappointments from 2016.
• How we recorded a podcast in December and haven’t used any of the audio!
• Special guest Stuart Cullen managing to tell us about his Scottish Sun column without saying Halo 1,000 times (check out our Christie Doran interview also mentioned during the segment).
• Listener questions – they’re back!
• Some info on Virtuos Games opening up a Paris studio.
• And of course, our #CodecMomentum winners from the last few months.

Two Decades of Tomb Raiding

Next month sees the 20th anniversary of the release of the Original Tomb Raider and to celebrate, Matt and Andy are giving away a copy of the recently released Rise of the Tomb Raider on PS4!  See below for details.

Not only that, but they have also gone back through the Codec Call archive to 1996, to find what is believed to be the first episode of what was then called out net distributed audio programme.

Listen to this episode of the Codec Call to hear:

• Crisp, clean audio from 2016 topping and tailing the feature presentation
• Slightly dirty tape recordings from 20 years ago, definitely not modern audio with added noise and compression!
• Hear us talk about games from 1996, contemporaneously
• Two decades old gaming and technology news!
• Listener questions, some of which were anachronistic at the time, but seem prescient now!
• Tomb Raider

EGX 2016 - Queuing is the way I live…

In September we headed to sunny Birmingham to take in the sights and sounds of the NEC… well, EGX 2016 at least.  Currently the premier games expo in the UK, EGX showcases some of the biggest upcoming games, new tech and indie publishers to anyone who buys a ticket and heads in.  It’s rather good.  Being vaguely prepared, we took mics and recording equipment so that we could capture our thoughts and feelings during the day, as well as grab some interviews with any interesting people we bumped into – there were a fair few there!

Listen to this episode of the Codec Call to hear:

• Strange time-travelling editing techniques that make it sound like we actually did things in a sensible order
• Most of the Lapsed Gamer crew on their thoughts from the day
• An interview with the developer of Wizdish ROVR – a walking frame for VR tech that made Andy fall over
• An interview with the creator of MVR Ascend – VR for any game, on any console
• GT Sport racing pods
• PSVR and how Andy threw cups at his driver in The London Heist
• Hitman (because we just can’t stop talking about Hitman)
• Dishonored 2

No Man… Why?

The new Codec Momentum points system and league table have been a success, but we’re on the fence as to whether you can say the same about No Man’s Sky.  In this, the 25th episode of the Codec Call podcast, Matt, Andy and Graham talk about this and much more!

In this episode we discuss:

• What games we’ve been playing
• Metal Gear Survive announcement
• PS4 Slim leaked
• Battlefield 1 open beta
• No Man’s Sky (or No Man, Why? if you’ve not got the pun yet…)
• Inconceivably large number ‘Play Your Cards Right’ is the Codec Call Quiz!
• Listener questions
• Oh, and Codec Momentum

Codec Momentum - July 2016

We’ve finally done it, we’ve gotten round to updating Codec Momentum with a points system, league table, ranks and personalised banners and avatars for Facebook and Twitter.  Our latest podcast gives you all the details you need, at length, and in great detail too… so don’t skip the 20 mins we spend explaining a very, very simple concept!  We also lost track of time and Matt ran out of recording space whilst we were talking about which games we want to see in VR, listen out for him sounding like he’s phoning it in… literally.

In Got Momentum? we talk about:

• July’s Codec Momentum winner
• The lack of games we’ve been playing
• The new ranks for Codec Momentum
• Why are people still using VHS tapes?
• Which accolades we’re adding to the new Codec Momentum banners
• More Pokemon Go news
• Who’s topping our new Codec Momentum league table
• Andy’s progress with #RouteMaster
• Oh, and something about Codec Momentum.

Don’t Gotta Catch ‘Em All

It’s time for another Codec Call, and in episode XXIII Andy and Matt are dealing with the aftermath of the world wide phenomenon that is Pokemon Go.  One is excited for if, the other really not interested, and they both deal with your questions about the mobile monster chasing game.  Might be worth following this link on server stability too if you want some details on why switching them on might not be as easy as it sounds.

Pokemon Go isn’t the only topic though (even if it is in every news story going at the moment); check out:

• What games have they been playing?
• Andy’s horrific vault of death (see image below)
• Will anyone be surprised that Carmageddon isn’t as good as people had hoped?
• Southern Rail Tycoon allows you to become a train cancelling overlord!
• June’s #CodecMomentum winner and changes to the monthly completion badges.
• A special ice cream interval (if it’s not been edited out…)
• And what we think of digital vs physical prices.