We all encounter fleeting moments we wish could stick with us indefinitely while playing certain games—moments we want to define why we play. This week we’re joined by Conrad Zimmerman, news editor of Destructoid, as we dig in to the proverbial treasure troves of memories in search of such defining moments that showed us how games could tell a story or surpass personal expectations.

This week we would also like our listening audience to contact us with their own defining gaming moments; we will share our favorites on the next episode.

Finally in my stead of losing my voice, my wife Jacki offers her services to record the intro, outro, and unbeknownst to her, the post-roll. – Matt

Music from I Fight Dragons

This was the Moment [ 1:28:18 ] Play Now | Download

Terraria
The Darkness
House of the Dead: Overkill
Ticket to Ride
Culdcept Saga

Some stories are puzzles that require time and patience. Bits of narrative may be hinted at, but not brought to the forefront. In these cases it’s our job to piece together the hidden meaning—one that requires a special type of aspirational understanding.

On this episode we invite Michael Abbott back from his podcast and blog duties at The Brainy Gamer to help us understand the purpose of aspirational reading in video games, and how it affects how we view the medium. What kind of experiences can we create through the ludo-narrative, as told by gameplay rather than what’s written? What ownership do we take of our gaming avatars, and what does that roleplaying mean? From Red Dead Redemption to Suda 51′s auteurship, the conversation results in several interesting points (and moves to some unexpected places).

A special thanks again goes out to Michael Abbott for all he does to continue a deeper conversation about video games and our perceptions of them.

Featuring music from the VVVVVV OST by Souleye

Did you Catch That? [ 1:01:40 ] Play Now | Download

Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo
Cave Story 3D
Pushmo
Out of the Park Baseball
Stratomatic Online
Amy
Chrono Trigger

Soundtracks:
VVVVVV OST
Bastion OST
Osmos OST

Video games seem to have an aesthetic all their own. The medium demands the creator give up direction of their works to an outside audience; so crafting the visuals, sound, dialog, and story around this constraint has built a unique approach to developing a style all their own. We Skype-in Michael Abbott, better known as The Brainy Gamer, to explore the distinct method and examples of successful constructions of video game aesthetics. We are also inviting Michael back for the next episode to get to the topic we were unable to get to – aspirational understanding of video games that demand more than your passive attention. Be sure to check out Michael’s blog and podcast at www.brainygamer.com

As always, thanks to The Punk Effect’s support.

Featuring music from Saskrotch

A Picture, A Sound, A Word [ 1:15:13 ] Play Now | Download

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Yakuza 4
Ash
Bit Trip

In this episode we talk with Will Lewis and John Henrich, founders of the Portland Indie Game Squad, about the creation of their developer collective as well as the philosophy of what does—or does not—make a game “indie”. Whether an indie descriptor defines an actual genre, what constitutes an independent developer and the standard fifteen dollar price point are among discussion topics. (Skeletor also makes an appearance.) So, are AJBS snobs for only playing indie games? Well, maybe.

Featuring music from Chipocrite and Mechlo and the Bad Bits recorded at Micropalooza 2011

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the Micropalooza album, available soon!

PIGSquad's Indie Game Adventure [ 1:29:11 ] Play Now | Download

Game Dev Story
Binding of Isaac
Adult Swim Games
Gemini Rue

We here at the podcast carry on while Steve is enjoying his break in Australia. Things turn violent (not really) when we talk with Ethan Husted and Angel de la Paz of Portland’s game tourney organization Best Bout. We explore all that goes into competitive gaming, the benefits of couch gaming, how to effectively troll in Bomberman Ultra, and Angel mentions League of Legends like 50 times. Things get surprisingly friendly for a conversation about beating the hell out of people sitting next to you on the couch. Also, plenty of love for Atlus and all of the long, hard, brilliant gaming they bestow upon us. FIGHT!

Featuring music from Wizwars

Kicking Your Friends in the Face [ 1:28:26 ] Play Now | Download

We shopped, we played, we talked—another year and another successful Portland Retro Gaming Expo has passed. For our coverage from PRGE 2011, we talk with expo head Chuck Van Pelt about the challenges of organizing a retro gaming convention; game collecting legend John Hancock gives us some insight into effectively collecting video games from all eras, and Pink Gorilla‘s Gabe Hayward talks game retail and his experiences managing a game store in Seattle. Pat “the NES Punk” Contri also joins us to muse about the good and the bad that came out of the NES era (as well as his web series). Finally, we wrap up our expo coverage with Art Santana, friend of the podcast and manager of Portland’s premier arcade, Ground Kontrol . Go ahead, ask us what we bought.

Portland Retro Gaming Expo '11 Play Now | Download

Featuring music from Robot Science

Shout Outs:

The Wooden Arcade
Fangamer
8bit Craft
Dromstruction
I Play Winner

Photo courtesy of Cynthia Griffiths (shogungamer.com)

Matt and Steve are joined by 2 Player Productions‘ Paul Owens to recount their overall impressions and experiences with 2011′s Penny Arcade Expo. Among the topics discussed are Grasshopper Manufacture‘s new games, the indie-centric PAX 10, Nintendo’s first-party 3DS offerings (as well as the joy of Mii Plaza conversations) and 2PP’s time taking footage of Minecraft’s Mojang for their upcoming documentary.

Antichamber
Spy Party
Retro City Rampage
The Splatters
Jamestown
Word Fighter
Sine Mora
Black Knight Sword
Lollipop Chainsaw

Featuring music from Bit.Shifter

PAX Wrap Up [ 59:27 ] Play Now | Download

Spy Party

Day 2: A Jumps B Shoots’ PAX 2011 coverage continues with more indie dev interviews as Matt talks to the creators of Word Fighter, The Splatters, Spy Party and Retro City Rampage.

Featuring Bit Shifter’s Strange Comfort from Bit.Trip Flux (Gaijin Games).

PAX! Day 2 Play Now | Download

This week we sit down with Barry Hitchings, exhibition consultant for Game On, the Barbican Art Centre’s globally touring show on the history and culture of video games. On tour since the show’s inception in 2002, Barry talks both about his experiences working and traveling with Game On and Game On 2.0, as well as providing us some lesser known facts and anecdotes about various consoles and the gaming industry. The dueling sorrows of Demon’s Souls and Pokémon White are also lamented, while Matt talks about the virtues of the Humble Bundle and Rich compares El Shaddai to Xanadu.

Game On! Play Now | Download

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In keeping with the history lesson theme, music from this week’s episode comes from some our favorite game soundtrack composers—Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Yoko Shimomura (Parasite Eve) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill 2).

Extra Lives author and accomplished journalist Tom Bissell joins us to talk about his experiences in writing for video games, the current state of narrative in the medium and what can be done about about the inherent problems with storytelling in the industry. Tom also talks about penning a design philosophy-centric book for Gear of War 3‘s Epic Edition that examines the series’ legacy, and we have an in-depth discussion about the quirks of Japanese game design.

Featuring music from Sievert‘s album Beyond the Frontier

You Call This a Script? [ 1:44:20 ] Play Now | Download

 

 
We sit down with animator Graham Annable, creator of Telltale Games’ Puzzle Agent and Puzzle Agent 2, to talk about his experiences working as an animator with LucasArts, his time at Telltale, and his twisted indie comic universe, Grickle. Morbid senses of humor are encouraged! Featuring music from Note!

A Puzzling Conversation with Graham Annable [ 49:56 ] Play Now | Download

Colleen Macklin and Eric Zimmerman of the game development collective Local No.12 join us for part two of our New York series, discussing the present and future of their organization, dishing on personal projects and the creation of AJBS favorite the Metagame, as well as various ways to play you can play it.

The music featured in this episode are performances recorded live from Blip Festival 2011 by 10,000 Free Men and their Families, Chipzel, and Exilefaker.

Recordings taken from the Chipmusic Chronicle.

Local No.12 Play Now | Download

Last weekend, A Jumps B Shoots attended the Wonder NW convention with podcasting gear in tow. We set up a booth with stickers, pins, flyers, handbills, and a microphone for anyone to sit down and talk with us about what they had been playing recently or their favorite video games.

We kept the recording setup out for both of the festival; the response was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to share with us their stories, opinions, musings, and current news on video games. We honestly couldn’t have been happier with the turnout.

Then the day for editing came about—suddenly there were 5+ hours of random convention-goers talking to us about gaming culture to be cut down. We want to extend our sincere apologies to you, if your conversation didn’t make the final cut of the episode, or if it was cut short. It was the toughest audio editing session yet, because we wanted to keep it all. You all offered a great perspective and conversation about the games you love. We hope our final cut did the convention justice, it was a great time.

Music provided by the pirates of PDXYAR singing in the background. Thanks guys.

Live from Wonder Northwest [ 1:45:01 ] Play Now | Download

Just a quick reminder for anyone local to PDX—AJBS will be recording a live show at WonderNW on Sunday, May 15 at the Crowne Plaza (1441 NE 2nd Avenue) in Portland, OR. We encourage everyone to come say hi and jump on the podcast to tell us what you’ve been playing!

Also, A Jumps B Shoots will be debuting our merch at the show, so if you want to be the envy of all your friends, this is the only place to get it. See you there!

On this epsiode, we invite game journalist and friend of the podcast Jeff Matulef for an in-depth discussion on scoring systems in the game journalism community, as well as whether or not Metacritic is a good thing for the industry. We also talk about chip music, Sword & Sworcery and Portal 2.

Featuring music from Alex Mauer

A Solid 8 out of 10 [ 1:16:56 ] Play Now | Download

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Portal 2

Metacritic

For episode seven, we welcome special guest Tyler Bradford, board member Portland Geek Council for Culture and Commerce (PGC3) and owner of Portland-based Old Town Computers, joins us to talk about what he knows best: the personal computer. Is PC gaming dead? Or alive and kicking ass? Tyler helps us examine the state of the PC market, also taking a few minutes to talk about the PGC3—what it is, what they’re doing in Portland, and how to possibly start a similar organization if you’re not local to PDX metro. We wrap it up with some discussion about gaming with kids.

Featuring music from Chipocrite

Burn Your Computer [ 1:03:14 ] Play Now | Download

Das Racist – Who’s that Brown

Sierra On-Line

Desktop Dungeons

Everyday the Same Dream

On this week’s episode, we welcome our special guest Tayo Stalnaker, fellow A Jumps B Shoots contributor and co-host of the Dangerous Kids podcast. On the docket is a discussion of tasteless gaming, from its earliest beginnings on the anything-went Atari 2600 to more modern examples of games that aren’t just in poor taste, but are just poorly-made games in general. This evolves into an examination of whether video games can be an effective medium in portraying mature subject matter, an issue that draws some interestingly devisive lines.

Featuring music from Featuring music from Ovenrake

Grow Up,Guys [ 1:01:32 ] Play Now | Download

Bit.Trip series

M.U.S.H.A

Chiller

For this episode, Matt takes a trip to the headquarters of up-and-coming indie documentarians 2 Player Productions, talking with company heads Paul Owens, Asif Siddiky and Paul Levering about the various game-related projects they’ve been busying themselves with. Discussion includes 2PP’s ongoing behind-the-scenes coverage on Uncharted 3 and Minecraft, as well as the original InFamous, its sequel and finally the company’s critically-acclaimed chiptune documentary Reformat the Planet. Other games and arguments for championing local multiplayer are also thrown into the mix, as views on how games are covered in the media and marketing. Co-hosts Steve Haske and Rich Lau will return next
episode.
Also, if you care about legitimate coverage of video games (something AJBS feels strongly about), please don’t forget support 2 Player Production’s full-length documentary about Minecraft and its developer Mojang Specifications by donating to their Kickstarter fund here.

Featuring music from The Shortsleeves – Greenleaf – Go Motion

2PP vs. AJBS: Fight! [ 1:30:00 ] Play Now | Download

Reformat the Planet

Forsaken

Abuse

Blast Corps

On this episode, an awry Whatcha Playin’ segment breaks from its holding cell and takes over the whole podcast. This leads to an exploration on why Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are modern classics, followed by an in-depth discussion (and review) of Dead Space 2, at which point the conversation splinters off into ruminations on the state of the survival horror genre in general. We close the episode with our on-going wishlist picks for overlooked  games that deserve releases on Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, and the Playstation Network.

Featuring music from D & D Sluggers

House of A Thousand Tangents [ 58:50 ] Play Now | Download

Snatcher

Pocky & Rocky

On this episode, our special guest Switch from the Dangerous Kids podcast joins the fray. We talk about how 2 Player Production’s coverage of Uncharted 3 is a breath of fresh air from the “Mountain Dew-swilling bro” culture the game industry usually associated with, followed by a discussion of Indie Game: the Movie and the importance of a strong indie presence in the industry. Topping it all off is an impromptu debate over the state of nerd culture in America, which brings up varying interpretations of what it means to be a nerd.

Featuring music from Plain Flavored

The nerds we long to be [ 1:06:56 ] Play Now | Download

Pac-Man 2

Hydrophobia

Klonoa

Humble Indie Bundle