Does anyone really wanna poke his belly?

In our latest podcast, Kyle talked about a man dressed as a DS asking people to poke his touch-screen-belly. Well, here he is strait from Megwin.

The Out-Cast: Episode 04 - Being a Gamer in Japan

Welcome to our fourth regular episode of the outcast. This one runs for a bit over three hours and we look in-depth at being a gamer in Japan and the PSP's 5th Birthday.

Download below and please leave us any comments on how we can improve this podcast. Thanks for listening.

Download: Mediafire
Streaming: Blip.tv


Introduction
00:00 Introduction

What you been doing?
03:13 Gywn

• Tokyo International Anime Fair
• Maaya Sakamoto Concert
• Monkeys/Nagano Trip
• Golden Week Movies

22:41 Kyle

• Bargains in Japan/360
• Halo in Japan/Halo Legends
• Lost Odyssey

37:37 Richard

• Nier
• Quantum Theory
• Psychonauts
• RE5: Lost in Nightmare/Desperate Escape
• Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo (The Japanese Japanese People Don't Know)

1:07:43 News

• Big Gundam is back!
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker J-Pop Music Video
• God of War 3 without English
• 3DS
  

1:29:26 Happy 5th Bithday PSP!

• Our personal PSP stories and favorite PSP titles
• DS vs PSP
• The Future of the PSP

1:56:57 Being an "International Gamer" in Japan
(Region Locking, Language Tracks, and Censorship)

• Playstation 3
• PSP
• 360
• DS
• Wii

2:36:37 Let's E-Mailing!

• How is Silent Hill viewed in Japan?
• Who is your most loved/hated Final Fantasy XIII character?
• Does Square care more about FFXI's Japanese player-base?
• Do Japanese gamers really have multiple DS systems?
• Where should I study in Japan?
• Why has there been a recent spike in Japanese PS3 sales?
• How can I help out the Out-Cast?
• What is the Out-Cast's release schedule?
• What would Mario's voice sound like?

Song List

Everywhere - Maaya Sakamoto

Koi no yokushiryoku - Nana Mizuki

Under the apple tree - FF7 Crisis Core

Movin' in Circles - Ridge Racer 4

Silent Hill theme - Akira Yamaoka

Kiseki no Umi - Maaya Sakamoto

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Review - Radical's Dreams

Heavy Rainbow!

Get it? Get it? Heavy Rain... RainBOW... Heavy Rainbow!


... ... ...

...my God I must be bored.

The Out-Cast: Episode 03

Welcome to our third regular episode of the outcast. This one runs for a bit over two and a half hours and we look in-depth at Yakuza 3 and 4 as well as into other gaming news from around the world.

Download below and please leave us any comments on how we can improve this podcast. Thanks for listening.

Download: Mediafire
Streaming: Blip.tv


Introduction
0:00 Introduction

What you been doing?
01:37 Richard

• Disappearance of Haruhi
• Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations
• Tomb Raider Underworld
• Heavy Rain
  

18:40 Gywn

• Fist of the North Star Dynasty Warriors
• Shoko-Tan
• Resident Evil 5: Desperate Escape
• Gundam Unicorn
• May'n Consent DVD
  

32:00 Kyle

• X-Box Live
• Bioshock
• Banjo Kazooie
• Fatal Frame 4
  
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• PS1 Archives: Metal Gear Solid/Grandia
  

47:45 News

• Tomodachi Collection
• Playstation Move
• Hatsune Miku

1:03:05 Final Fantasy XIII Western Release/Response

• Critics and complaints
  
• Linearity
• Cuts
• Names

1:11:28 SPECIAL GUEST!

• FFXIII and the process of making a game
• More on Linearity!
• The JRPG vs the Western RPG
  

1:26:30 Yakuza 3

• Cuts, boycotts, and the history of the series
• Is the west entitled to all Japanese games?
  
• Name of the game

1:47:54 Yakuza 4

• New features
• New characters
• Demo play-by-play
• Real to life?

2:13:00 Let's E-Mailing!

• How was XIII received in Japan?
• Why EoE name change?
• What's with the Asian peace sign?
• How is P3 different from P3 - PSP?
• How was FFXIII's Crystarium System?
• How does Japan compare to the west?
• What was the first song in Out-Cast ep02?
• Do we listen to 1UP podcasts?
• Have we played Dragon Quest IX?

Song list
Butterfly City - Zeebra
Don't Say Lazy - Shokotan (cover)
Encounter - Metal Gear Solid 2
Yakuza kicking yo' a$$!
Yakuza 4 tv cm
Miku Miku ni shite ageru - Hatsune Miku
God knows... - Shokotan (cover)

The Evil L-Word: A Look at Linearity in Gaming

My fellow Gamers, as the moon turns and the long foretold coming the Thirteenth of the Fantasies Final draws nigh, one word has been spat like a curse across the Realm. It is spoken of as the black death upon Gaming's soul, festering away at all the good and leaving not but an untouchable rotted corpse. Like the word “witch,” the mere accusation spreads like wildfire and becomes as to truth amongst our community. And lo doth any hapless victim receive this title for they shall forever be burned within the flames and hatred of their once most faithful of supporters. Yet, I stand here today, in the Grand Hall of the Internet and surrounded by this most fickle of counsels, to defend this “greatest of sins:” Linearity.

At the birth of our Kingdom, we were but a simple people, content to bounce our square balls and gather food from ghost riddled caves. Yet with time came complexity and with complexity, the birth of legends. Who here can forget the tales of the great Fixer-of-Pipes and his battles with the Reptile King? What child does not know of the adventures of the Blue Rodent and his Twin-Tailed companion? Do not forget my fellows, that even in that golden time, linearity was there. For both the Fixer-of-Pipes and the Blue Rodent could not move but right; forever right to victory. Lo! I hear you cry, “but what of the Hero of Hyrule and the Masked Hunter of Men?” Indeed, their legends can be told in many different ways. Yet, even their epics must be told in a certain order, lest they have not obtained the items with which to conquer their trials.

It was only after the stories of Crime Lords of Liberty City that linearity turned as to a poison. The people cried out for more open stories. More tales to be told in a thousand different ways. And so it came to pass that our myths became as unto an open desert, devoid of life and full of not but sand. Yet, even as we hungered for more and more of this “freedom,” the oft cursed linearity continued on in the stories from the Islands of the East. These tales drew all who would listen into the stories. We truly became the Time Traveling Youth and the Lost Soldier with his Giant Sword. And for a while, linearity had a haven and was loved again.

But this too changed with time as all things do. Our people adopted the tellings of the east, combined it with our open stories and a new style was born. No longer were we forced to become as the character in the stories. Nay, we forced the characters in the stories to become as of us. We chose their hair and skin, even their very anatomy. They acted as we wished and the story was forced to change around our actions. And with the Twelfth of the Fantasies Final, even the scribes in the fabled lands of the rising sun began to emulate our styles. Truly there was no place left for linearity... Or so we like to believe.

Even today, as this very counsel condemns linearity, they shout the praises of the most linear of legends. The adventures of Nathan Drake and the tales of the Hair-Witch are applauded, yet simply ignored is the fact of their linearity. As many follow the call into imaginary wars across the world and to the very stars, they too ignore the welcoming embrace of linearity as it directs their beloved legends. “Tis not the same!” Some shall cry. Mayhap that may even be true.

Perhaps it is not linearity in and of itself that causes such scorn among us. Perhaps if linearity is disguised well enough we feel it can simply be ignored as opposed to hated. Yet, cloaked or not, linearity is linearity. I charge you all now to rethink your position on our loyal yet hated friend. You hate unjustly. You hate only to mollify the feelings of your peers. Linearity needs not be in every great legend nor need it be shunned from them all. Linearity is neither good nor evil but rather like unto a knife. It can be used to butter ones bread or slit ones throat. It is all in how it is wielded.

Heavy Rain Review - Radical's Dreams

Apple To Intro 'Low Cost' iPhone, June?

Once again, rumors have broken out that Apple's next addition to the iPhone line will be a 'low cost' device designed to widen the gadget's appeal. AppleInsider reports that Katy Huberty, with Morgan Stanley, has claimed that price is the 'biggest barrier' to iPhone adoption. Thus, in June, Apple will launch an 'economically friendly' iPhone that 'potentially' includes new 'gesture-based' technology.

I wouldn't put too much stock in this rumor. People have been expecting a cheap 'iPhone nano' type gadget for a while. Once the iPhone 2010 launches, the 3GS will drop down to $99. What more can Apple do to reduce prices? It's not like the iPhone is more expensive than any other high-end smartphone.

Analysts will be rolling out predictions like this with greater frequency over the next few months. I wouldn't put too much stock in any of them. As a general rule, the devices that Apple actually launches have very little to do with whatever hyped predictions were made for them in the preceding months.

Apple will release its much-anticipated iPad tablet

Can the iPad tablet be as successful as the Apple iPhone?

The iPhone and iPod Touch are the fastest-adopted gadgets in consumer-tech history. Apple hopes that with the iPad tablet, lightning will strike twice.

In about a month, Apple will release its much-anticipated iPad tablet. This new device falls somewhere in between a smart phone and a laptop – small enough to tote around town without exhausting your shoulders, but big enough to feel like you’re reading a magazine instead of staring at a playing card.

Many computermakers have dived into the tablet market over the past decade – most landing in a belly flop. Some foresee a similarly soggy future for the iPad. It uses a virtual keyboard instead of real buttons, can’t load every website, and various models cost between $499 and $829.

But Apple has won over skeptics many times before. While slow to catch on, its iPod revolutionized the music industry, almost single-handedly replacing albums with digital tracks. And according to the investment firm Morgan Stanley, the iPhone and iPod Touch are the fastest-adopted gadgets in consumer tech history (see chart).

Maybe Apple’s signature polish can enchant shoppers once again.

Source: csmonitor.com

The Out-Cast: Episode 02

Welcome to our second regular episode of the outcast. This one runs for 3 hours due to our special guest Daniel Feit. Dan also lives in japan is a freelance writer for Wired|GameLife and regularly contributes to Bitmob and his own web-page, Feitclub.com.


Download below and please leave us any comments on how we can improve this podcast. Thanks for listening.

Download: Mediafire
Streaming: Blip.tv


Introduction
2:48 Interests in Japan

What you been doing?
5:22 Borderlands and PJM Encore
13:49 Valkyria Chronicles 2
23:42 Heavy Rain
34:07 Gundam Senki
37:19 Fate Stay Night and Haruhi Movies
42:09 Battleship Yamato Expo and Pachinko
46:58 Resident Evil 5 DLC
49:51 100-Man Ton Barabara
54:41 Xenogears
56:51 Miyazaki Movies and Speed Racer

1:01:12 News in japan

• Silent Hill Composer leaves Konami
• God Eater Released
• Final Fantasy XIII comparison screenshots
• Director responds to FFXIII western scores
• God of War III censorship is wanted!?
• Evangelion 2.2 Blu Ray
• Misinformation about Japanese interviews

1:30:26 AoU Arcade Show

• Metal Gear Arcade
• Booth Babes and Body Pillows
• Vocaloid Attack!
• Music GunGun and Gaia Attack 4

2:02:34 End Of Eternity - Part 2
2:13:57 Mailbag - We Reply to You!

• Demon's Souls in Japan
• White Knight in Japan
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII Impressions
• Playing Final Fantasy XI
• Playing XIII in English
• Getting Jobs in Japan
• Cultural Differences
• How is it in Japan?