Podcast Topic: Life As A Raider

Each week on Matticast we will be featuring a topic driven by our audience. You can submit your comments on this post, or e-mail us with your thoughts. You can even send us an audio clip (mp3 format please). This is your chance to have your say on what we discuss on World of Matticus. Also don’t forget, if you have general questions you’d like answered on the show, you can send them our way. Remember we record on Sunday nights, so get your thoughts in before then!

A couple week’s ago we asked what your challenges were as a Guild/Raid Leader, now its time for the flip side. What issues do you have as a member of the general raid/guild population?Keeping up with raid attendance, dealing with the guild bank, unorganized raids? What frustrations would you like to vent to the leadership of your guild?

Related Posts:

• Podcast Topic: What Dungeon/Raid Bosses Are Causing You Trouble?
• Podcast Topic: Guild/Raid Leader Challenges
• Podcast Topic: Lightwell or LoLwell
• Podcast Topic: Cataclysm Healing Class Balance
• Matticast Episode 3

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Podcast Topic: Life As A Raider

Show 384: CES, Cruises, Ducks, M&M's and Eminem

Host: Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : e (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : lollip0p (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)
Co-Host: Stepto (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)

Name the Game
Xbox 101
and more....

Note: I’ve added the above show notes to the ID3 Lyrics data field. Check your device if this is supported

Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:

Book of enforcement (many steptos) video

John Rodericks AMAZING performance of The Commander Thinks Aloud

John's band's website

Link to jonathans recap of jococruisecrazy which contains the flickr feed link

www.skechers.com

http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/mandms.asp

http://xbox.com/live/avatars

http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment/ces-2011-second-xbox-live-arcade-house-party-starts-in-february-2011/

Do it yourself Sous Vide

Show Details:

Duration (approx):	1:27:37
File size (approx) :	40.2
Format:	MP3

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[iTunes]	Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) Listen in iTunes? Submit a review
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Or, copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MajorNelsonblogcast

Listen now:

Click the player below to stream this show to your browser and listen to the show:

Download Latest Episode-> Download the latest episode to your computer or preferred device

Comments? Questions? Email me

Note: This show was produced using improved audio processing techniques to even all of the levels out.
That means it should make it easier to hear all of our voices. Let me know in the comments what you think.

Show 385: Homefront, Coming soon to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and your Antarctica travel tips

Host: Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : e (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : lollip0p (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)
Co-Host: Stepto (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)

Interview: Double Fine's Tim Schafer and Lee Petty (38:12 - 52:49)
Name the Game
Xbox 101
Travel tips for Antarctica
and more....

Note: I’ve added the above show notes to the ID3 Lyrics data field. Check your device if this is supported

Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:

Homefront

http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/en/index.php#/home

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/17/call-of-duty-black-ops-first-strike-map-pack/

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2107

http://gamercard.xbox.com/en-US/major%20nelson.card

Shower on the A380
Texas, ESPN announce new network

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919388

Warning: Do not read THIS STORY if you are squeamish

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Heater-for-50/529/1

Dead Space 2

Show Details:

Duration (approx):	1:37:24
File size (approx) :	44.6
Format:	MP3

Subscribe:
Subscribe directly using your preferred podcasting tool:

[iTunes]	Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) Listen in iTunes? Submit a review
[Zune]	Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune

Or, copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MajorNelsonblogcast

Listen now:

Click the player below to stream this show to your browser and listen to the show:

Download Latest Episode-> Download the latest episode to your computer or preferred device

Comments? Questions? Email me

XNA Notes 001

Just a quick recap of things I noticed going on in or around the XNA community this past week. I’m sure there’s a lot I missed (it’s a pretty big community with lots of different parts to it) but these where the things I caught that I thought were pretty cool.

The XNA Team

• Michael Klucher gave a list of books every gamer should read.
  • http://twitter.com/#!/mklucher/status/22313041135673344
• Shawn Hargreaves posted Nelxon Studio posting about a cheatsheet for converting 3.1 to 4.0
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/01/04/xna-3-1-to-4-0-cheat-sheet.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
• XNA Game Studio won the Frontline award for Programming Tool by GameDev magazine! Congrats to the XNA team!
  • http://www.gdmag.com/homepage.htm

XNA MVPs

• In January several MVPs were up for re-election, Jim Perry, Andy ‘The ZMan’ Dunn, Glenn Wilson and myself were all re-award a Microsoft MVP award for their contributions to the XNA/DirectX communities.
  • https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx?product=1&competency=XNA%2fDirectX
• A movement to get Michael McLaughlin an MVP award has started and you can join in too!
  • http://twitter.com/#!/theBigDaddio/status/22744458621620224
  • http://www.xnadevelopment.com/MVP/MichaelMcLaughlinMVP.txt
• Don’t forget you can nominate ANYONE for a MVP award, that’s how they work.
  • https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpbecoming

XNA Developers

• James Silva of Ska Studios hit 9,200 sales of ZP2KX and recommends you listen to Infected Mushroom.
  • http://twitter.com/#!/Jamezila/status/22538865357094912
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infected_Mushroom
• Noogy creator of the upcoming XBLA title Dust an Elysian tail posts some details into his art creation.
  • http://noogy.com/image/statue/statue.html
    

Xbox LIVE Indie Game News

• Microsoft posts acknowledging there was an issue with the sales data that has been addressed and apologized for not posting about it sooner.
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/71347/436154.aspx#436154
• Winter Uprising sales still chugging along and being updated by Xalterax (by those developers willing to actually share sales numbers. Thanks for sharing guys, much appreciated!)
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/70147.aspx
• Don’t forget about Dream Build Play coming up in February!
  • http://www.dreambuildplay.com/Main/Home.aspx
• The Best Xbox LIVE Indie Games December Edition comes out on NeoGaf
  • http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414485
• The Greatest XBox LIVE Indie Games of 2010 on DealSpwn – Congrats to DrMistry and MStarGames for his #1 spot with his massive XBLIG Space Pirates From Tomorrow!
  • http://www.dealspwn.com/xbligoty-2010/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Dealspwn+%28Dealspwn%29

XNA Game Development

• The future of XACT and WP7 has finally been confirmed and we finally know what our options are for looping audio seamlessly on WP7.
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/61826/436639.aspx#436639
• Super Mario 3 Design Notes is an interesting read for XBLIG developers, giving some insight to the training that natural occurs for players as they start playing the game. Good things for XBLIG developers to think about.
  • http://www.significant-bits.com/super-mario-bros-3-level-design-lessons
    

XNA Notes 002

This past week (much like every week in the XNA community) was filled with things happening and people doing cool things (and getting noticed for doing cool things!). You can definitely tell there are some Xbox LIVE Indie game developers starting to make some names for themselves. Can’t wait to name drop them at bars. Me- “Oh you played Game X? Yeah, I know the guy that made that. Pretty cool guy.” Yeah, I’ll be THAT guy.

Time Critical XNA News

• 30 days left to submit XBLIGs made in XNA Game Studio 3.1
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/xna/archive/2011/01/08/30-days-left-to-submit-xna-gs-3-1-games-to-app-hub.aspx
• Jeromy Walsh wants you to know his XNA 4.0 Winter Workshop starting soon, go get signed up! And the forum is now LIVE on GameDev.net
  • http://gamedevelopedia.com/
  • http://tinyurl.com/4gg2cfv

The XNA Team

• Per Nick Gravelyn, Aaron Stebner’s blog post is a must read for icons on Windows Phone
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/72022/439597.aspx#439597
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2010/10/01/10070507.aspx
• Shawn Hargreaves writes about Sprite Billboards in a 3D world
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/archive/2011/01/12/spritebatch-billboards-in-a-3d-world.aspx
    

XNA MVPs

• Andy “The ZMan” Dunn wants YOU to come to the MVP Summit and run a 5K
  • http://www.indiegameguy.com/blogs/zman/archive/2010/12/26/come-to-the-mvp-summit-and-run-a-5k-yes-you.aspx
• Jim Perry updates his forum signature just to make it clear that he’s not speaking for Microsoft or giving official information (LOL, thanks Jim, now if only people will take the time to read that...)
  • XNA MVP | Please use the Forum Search and read the Forum FAQs | My posts are not official info
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/70849/439613.aspx#439613
    

XNA Developers

• Robert Boyd (@werezombie) working hard at converting his RPG engine used to make Breath of Death VII and Chtulu Saves the World to XNA 4.0. If you haven’t done the upgrade yet yourself, might be useful to read back through his tweets and recent forum posts to see the problems/solutions he’s encountered.
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/71834/438099.aspx#438099
  • http://www.twitter.com/werezompire
• SpynDoctorGames is in the final phase before the release of Your Doodles are Bugged for the PC! Going to be interesting to watch as more XNA game developers explore the PC game market for their games.
  • http://twitter.com/SpynDoctorGames/statuses/24503173217521664
  • http://www.spyn-doctor.de
• @DrMistry shares some details of his next title YoYoYo
  • http://www.mstargames.co.uk/mistryblogmain/35-genblog/177-a-new-year-a-new-game-and-maybe-a-new-approach.html
• Travis Woodward (@RabidLionGames) has a blog post coming this weekend on Farseer and Mario-like platformer movement.
  • http://twitter.com/RabidLionGames/statuses/24992762021548032
  • http://www.rabidlion.com/
• S4G Interview with Radiangames
  • http://n4g.com/news/679492/s4g-interview-with-radiangames
• XBLAratings.com interviews Steve Flores (@DragonDivide) developer of Alpha Squad
  • http://www.xblaratings.com/developer-qaa/3621-alpha-squad-developer-interview

XBox LIVE Indie Games

• If you haven’t been reading the roundups on IndieGames by NaviFairy on GayGamer, you’ve been missing out!
  • http://gaygamer.net/2011/01/xbox_indie_review_roundup_1112.html
• Armless Octopus posts the Top 20 Games of 2010 Part 1
  • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/01/10/top-20-xbox-live-indie-games-of-2010-part-1/
• Armless Octopus posts the Top 20 Games of 2010 Part 2
  • http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/01/12/top-20-xbox-live-indie-games-of-2010-%E2%80%93-part-2/
• Xbox LIVE Indie Game Reviews
  • http://www.gamemarx.com/
• Don’t forget to be following @XboxHornet . That’s a great way to snag free copies of Xbox LIVE Indie Games
  • http://twitter.com/XboxHornet/statuses/24471103808208896
  • http://www.xboxhornet.com/wordpress/
• Xbox LIVE Indie Game Review posts the top 20 Xbox 360 LIVE Indie Games of 2010
  • http://www.xbox-360-community-games-reviews.com/top-20-best-xbox-360-live-indie-games-of-2010/
• VVGtv to Stream #XBLIG Again! Help out if you can.
  • http://vvgtv.com/2011/01/07/vvgtv-to-stream-xblig-again/
• Indie Gamer Magazine Issue 14 has a look at the Xbox LIVE Winter Indie Game Uprisiing
  • http://www.indiegamemag.com/issue14/
    

XNA Game Development

• Andrew Russell announced and asked for help in his development of ExEn: XNA for iPhone, Android and Silverlight
  • http://rockethub.com/projects/752-exen-xna-for-iphone-android-and-silverlight
• App Hub forums letting you down? Don’t forget about StackOverflow and the game development specific version gamedev.stackexchange
  • http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/xna
  • http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/xna
• Transmute gets an update from Aaron Foley (@slyprid) and you can now add and visually edit parallax layers to your 2D tile game.
  • http://twitpic.com/3nudj0
  • http://twitter.com/slyprid/statuses/23418379574448128
  • http://forgottenstarstudios.com/Transmute/default.html
• Webcomics Weekly #75 touches on some feelings I’ve seen people try to express (myself included) when talking about game development and what types of games should be released for XBLIG
  • http://www.pvponline.com/2011/01/05/webcomics-weekly-75-sour-oats/
• Setting up a new PC for XNA development? Here’s a site that helps you quickly build a installer for all the most common applications developers use.
  • http://ninite.com/
• Fun wew thread on the XNA forums asking XBLIG/XNA developers just what their Top 10 favorite video games of all time are.
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/107.aspx
• Christopher Hill (@Xalterax) stumbled across an entire community that does nothing but create box art. This is a great potential resource for Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers to get some awesome box art for their games.
  • http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/46582/441451.aspx#441451
  • http://www.vgboxart.com/browse/plat/360/
• Don’t forget about the XNA Wiki, fantastic community resource (and roll up those sleeves and contribute already!)
  • http://xnawiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

XNA Notes 003

Another week and another whirlwind of wonderful works coming from the XNA Community. I find it crazy just how hard it is to keep up with everything going on and knowing just how big the community has gotten recognizing just how much I’m missing as well. But here are the things I DID manage to catch…

XNA Developers

• @Chounard ponders whether he should port sfxr to XNA
• http://twitter.com/Chounard/statuses/27029053395439616
• And showing just how awesome the XNA commmunity @Chounard DOES (and in a day!)
• http://twitter.com/Chounard/statuses/27231943355535360
• http://xnasfxrsynth.codeplex.com/
• @Chounard says that along with feedback from the community on xnasfrx he would also like some feedback on Demina, his 2D skeletal animation thingamajig
• http://demina.codeplex.com/
• Simon (Darkside) Jackson (@DDReaper) gave an XNA session at NxtGenUG Manchester on Wednesday.
• http://nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=367
• Kris Steele (@kriswd40) is wrapping up his humor filled Trivia Game for XBLIG
• http://www.funinfused.com/TriviaOrDie.aspx
• XBLIG Developer Interview with Christopher Hill of Zombie Monkey Games
• http://vvgtv.com/2011/01/16/xblig-developer-interview-with-christopher-hill-of-zombie-monkey-games/
• The current state Zeboyd Games, their decision to release a PC version of their game and their fundraising efforts
• http://zeboyd.com/2011/01/17/kickstarter-fundraising-efforts-for-enhanced-version-of-cthulhu-saves-the-world-for-pc-360/
• http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/744735150/cthulhu-saves-the-world-enhanced-version-for-pc-an
• Justin Johnson of SindicateX shares what he’s been working on
• http://syndicatex.com/projects/whirlygig-building-collision/
• Going to GDC? Want to meet up with some fellow XNA developers? Then get in touch and let people know you're going to be there by posting in this thread.
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/72931.aspx

Xbox LIVE Indie Games

• Want to get an Xbox LIVE Indie Game mentioned on Joystiq? Now you can!
• http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/06/xbox-live-indie-gems-cthulhu-saves-the-world/
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/72605/443003.aspx#443003
• Somebody needs to start emailing this guy games to play…
• http://kotaku.com/5736038/xbox-live-indie-clips-the-charge-is-only-briefly-sexy
• Iridium Studios and their game Sequence got noticed and got an article on Kotaku. Congratulations!
• http://kotaku.com/5733939/this-xbox-indie-combines-rhythm-and-role+playing
• http://www.playiridium.com/sequence/
• Graeme Boyd (@AceyBongos) - Xbox Community Manager for Europe asks “How many of you play Xbox LIVE Indie Games regularly; and how many of you actually use or know how to use XNA?”
• http://twitter.com/AceyBongos/statuses/27028395976032256
• Definitely a good idea for Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers to look through the replies to that question and get to know what your consumers are saying!
• Xbox Indie Games Roundup for January 16th posted on Gamergeddon
• http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/01/16/xbox-indie-games-round-up-january-16th/
• Everyone should be reading 8Bit Horse, not only do they cover XBLIGs but they talk about all things 2D. Love that site.
• http://8bithorse.blogspot.com/2011/01/astroman-xbl-indie-games.html
• XNA Game released for free on Reddit for a limited time only
• http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/f3vls/im_an_indie_game_author_and_today_im_releasing_my/
• @mikebmcl reports The Joystiq 2010 Buyer's Guide on the US dashboard includes an XBLIG section. Go Xbox LIVE Indie Games!
• http://twitter.com/mikebmcl/statuses/27422669678845952
• Mommy’s Best Games is working on pumping up the difficulty in Explosionade. Read about the progress from Nathan Fouts himself!
• http://mommysbest.blogspot.com/2011/01/pump-up-difficulty.html
• Jean Snow posts “Just Gimme Indie Games” where he talks about XBLIGs, shock that Microsoft hasn’t pushed the service more (we’re shocked too!) and the one man indie gamed development machine that is Luke Schneider of radianGames
• http://snow-mag.com/2011/01/just-gimme-indie-games/
• Chester getting some press and attention for it’s upcoming XBLIG release.
• http://www.destructoid.com/indie-game-chester-has-a-signature-style-191770.phtml
• http://www.extraguy.com/2011/01/xblig-alert-hand-drawn-platformer-chester-in-the-works/
• http://videogames.rsscrawler.com/2011/01/15/indie-game-chester-has-a-signature-style/
• Sequence gets a Kotaku mention
• http://kotaku.com/5733939/this-xbox-indie-combines-rhythm-and-role+playing

XNA Game Development

• Christopher Hill (@Xalterax) posts some great XNA Community Tips
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/72512.aspx
• @SpynDoctorGames releases another round of updates and bug fixes to the Global HighScore component (it’s now been converted to XNA 4.0!)
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/60475.aspx
• http://spyn-doctor.blogspot.com/2010/12/global-scoreboard-component-for-xna-40.html
• Indiefreaks Gameframework milestone one should be reached this week!
• http://indiefreaks.com/2011/01/17/indiefreaks-sunburn-indiefreaks-game-framework/
• If you’re interested in XNA and in New York...
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/72753/443905.aspx#443905
• Need a cross-platform XNA compatible vector drawing library? @TehGrumpyDude has you covered with Agg.XNA , his AGG Lite port
• http://bnoerj.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Bnoerj.Labs&referringTitle=Home
• It’s an older tutorial, but I hadn’t seen it before noticing Joel Martinez recommend it in an answer on StackOverflow. Pretty sweet if you’re new to doing splitscreen in XNA!
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4722038/xna-creating-a-instance-of-a-game-in-viewport
• http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/viewports-split-screen
• Mr. Gooodcast posts XNA Essentials for Silverlight Developers Part 1
• http://www.pitorque.de/MisterGoodcat/post/XNA-for-Silverlight-developers-Part-1-Fundamentals.aspx
• (and don’t forget to go back and read Part 0)
• http://www.pitorque.de/MisterGoodcat/post/XNA-for-Silverlight-developers-Part-0-Why-should-I-care.aspx
• Helmut (@mrhelmut) is giving away a license for Toon Boom Studio
• http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/72817/444378.aspx#444378
• John Defenbaugh (@SigilXNA) had a fantastic discussion about particles and collision on Twitter. Here are two of the more key tweets on the subject.
• http://twitter.com/SigilXNA/statuses/27418787791765504
• http://twitter.com/SigilXNA/statuses/27419925219905537
• and the link to the GDC presentation he was talking about
• http://www.bungie.net/Inside/publications.aspx#pub15938
• Interesting post on thinking low level when you’re writing high level code. Doesn’t really apply to C# developers that much, but it’s still an interesting post and exposes one of my major weaknesses (I barely understand what they’re talking about in that post!)
• http://altdevblogaday.com/think-low-level-write-high-level-0
• In fact that whole blog is a fascinating read for game developers!
• http://altdevblogaday.com/
• New article/tutorial on using the scene editor of Unity 3D in other non-visual environments to create 2D or 3D games.
• http://lucjose.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/articletutorial-use-the-scene-editor-of-unity-3d-in-other-non-visual-environments-to-create-2d-or-3d-games/
• XNA Tower Defense adds Tutorial 12 - Adding a New Tower Type to it’s ongoing series of making a tower defense game using XNA.
• http://xnatd.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-12-adding-new-tower-type.html
• Microsoft Press announces that Rob Miles new book “Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0: Learn Programming Now!” has shipped to the printers and will be available for purchase in February
• http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/mspress/b/press/archive/2011/01/13/rtm-d-today-microsoft-xna-game-studio-4-0-learn-programming-now.aspx

Sugar Shout Out: Sundance Style Starring Zooey Deschanel, Kate Bosworth, and More!

• Sundance style: Elizabeth Banks, Kate Bosworth, and more dish about staying warm and chic


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• End of the (beer) line


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• Artist Richard Phillips captures Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson in his paintings


• Who said it: Michael Scott or Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino?


• Visit Pop tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. PT to watch the Oscar nominations live!


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• Weigh in: Would you rather give up the Internet or food?


• Savory, Spanish-style stuffed peppers


• James Franco gets into a hairy situation at Sundance!