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Zenspath Podcast Episode 013 - EPIC Multi-Player Edition!

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Welcome to the first 4-person episode of the Zenspath Podcast as well as the first one that also has a contest for a free XBLA copy of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet!

In order to get the game, you need to listen to the podcast, register on the site, and finally leave us a comment about what you thought of the show and tell us what music we used on this episode. [EDITORS NOTE: Because of the difficulty some people are having with my choice, I will be giving more clues as time goes on. This is a SNES ACCLAIM game.] Once we get a correct answer that person will get the code directly from me either via email, or we can get together on Xbox Live and exchange it that way.  More games will be coming in the next few months as I can afford to do them, so please let people know so we can really get this little community going as well as what kinds of games or other give aways you would be interested in!  

Now onto the show notes.  We started things off with a very touchy and heated discussion about the whole Gamestop issue regarding them removing a code for a free copy of Deus Ex that Square-Enix had put into the retail PC copies of the game WITHOUT permission or even just letting Gamestop know about it before hand effectivly getting Gamestop to promote a direct competitor on their own dime.  Not cool on Square-Enix, but the situation was handled poorly on Gamestops side as they played damage control when then opened and removed the codes from each game Square-Enix sold them.  Eventually, after we recorded, they did issue a complete recall of the games and they have since been pulled from shelves until something can be fixed.

Other topics we covered:

* ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection bonus content
* Steel Battalion Heavy Armor for Kinect
* Battlefield 3 multiplayer
* New PSP in Europe with no Wi-Fi
* Resident Evil Revilations (3DS)
* Silent Hill HD Collection coming to 360 & PS3
* EA limiting physical and digital copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic
* Developers moving away from dedicated gaming systems
* PS3 price drop
* PS Vita games & Social Features shown off
* Playstation Home getting relaunched as an MMO
* New Devil May Cry
* Nintendo TGS event news and system rumors
* New Wii in Europe with no Gamecube support
* Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword releasing November 20th
* Kirby Wii coming October 24th
* Borderlands 2
* Canadian protest Valve
* Tekken coming to the 3DS and PS3
* Virtua Fighter V coming to XBLA & PSN
* Penny-Arcade making "The Decide-O-Tron"
* Minecraft wants to get some Quake on with Bethesda 

And finally we get into a debate about the classic Windows game "Minesweeper".  Neiko believes it to be a Strategy game, I (Jeremy) believe it is a Puzzle.  What do you think? Comment below and let us know what you think!

Jeremy Powers
Editor and Host of the Zenspath Podcast 

Click the link below to listen to the show, or right click and select "save as" to download the episode in a friendly little MP3 format for your very own!

Zenspath Podcast Episode 013

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Behemoth Interview - A Night Of Theater While Crashing A Castle

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Sadly this is one of my shorter interviews at Comic-Con this year...but I spent more time talking with these guys about their arcade machines than I think I did with anyone else.  Oh and I also got to see and play the upcoming Battleblock Theater...that's kind of important as well.

Almost the entire time I got to speak with Aaron Jungjohann (Lead Level Designer) about the upcoming game "BattleBlock Theater" and I have to say this game was a ton of fun to play and hillarious to watch.

The whole premise for the game is explained in the interview as best as it can make sense.  But I still find the idea of a cat run theater/prison that you are forced to perform in because your friend is possessed by a top hat.  

Yes...I am serious. (Amazing isn't it!)

So sit back and give this interview a listen and please comment so we know what you think either in the article, @Zenspath on Twitter, or email us directly at Zenspath.com@Gmail.com.

 Dacoon! (?)

(PS...any chance you at the Behemoth will use the name my son gave Aaron for this creature?  He named it a Dacoon (Deer + Racoon). He would LOVE if he got to name something.)

Jeremy Powers
Host and Editor of the Zenspath Podcast

BattleBlock Theater Aaron Jungjohann SDCC 2011 Interview

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Zenspath Podcast Episode 12: So...About Being On Time...

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Wow, guess that whole "we are on time thing" is out the window again.  But after this we will be trying to go back to the every two week schedule.  

Regardless, we have a great show hosted by myself, Jeremy Powers, and AJ who has been officially named our PC Editor as of late.  So we can look forward to a much deeper look into the world of PC gaming ranging from mods, free to plays, Steam, Origin, etc., etc. 

This episode also stars off with our first "bump" for the show by none other than Art Balthazar the creator and artist for DC Comics "Tiny Titans" along with the interview Jeremy Jr and myself did Art at the 2011 SDCC that plays right after the main show.

The music for this show is "Toxic Cave" from "Sonic Spinball" on the Sega Genesis

Please feel free to leave us a comment on the site, email us, or you can find us on Twitter (@Zenspath).

Editor Note: I have NO CLUE where I pulled the $199 PS3 price from and I already know I was wrong.  Ironically the system dropped to $249 right after this was recorded.

Jeremy Powers
Editor and Host of the Zenspath Podcast 

Click the link below to listen to the show, or right click and select "save as" to download the episode in a friendly little MP3 format for your very own!

Zenspath Podcast Episode 012

A Very Awesome GTA4 Mod

Here's a mod that's gaining some popularity in the PC community. It's called iCEnchancer (quite a few photos included in the link as well as news updates) and it was made to well "enchance" the visuals of Grand Theft Auto 4. It does the job clearly to full effect, but not without a few drawbacks as you will definitely need a gaming powerhouse rig in order to run this thing smoothly. When you can get it to run, however, it runs like a dream.

The current released version of it is 1.25, but he's nearly the completion of 1.3 which is supposed to fix a few things and increase the details even more. Make sure to follow the instructions in the readme file as it will show you how to install it and recommend the needed texture packs to reach it's maximum potiential.

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Better Late Than Never

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Good afternoon, boys and girls.  AJ reporting in.  I'm the new addition to the Zenspath team, and I'll be heading up the PC side of gaming.  I made my debut in a previous podcast, and I shall be in future episodes.

I hope to make this place a more lively and interesting one, so expect articles pertainint to unique mods, indie titles, as well as other items that probably need more attention than they already have.

My main focus is to hit games that have either been released, or have a really good chance of being released.  And finally my goal here is to have at least one article a week, so depending on how well they go, and how well they are received, I may do them more often.

AJ
PC Lead Writer

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This Is How To Make Shopping Not So Boring

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The eternal question...which cereal to choose?  Bothering man for generations and at the same time boring the crap out of us all.  Well, now we get to see what would happen if that choice had a bit of spice added to it.  Check out after the jump a new video from Freddie Wong (@FWong on Twitter) about what he does during a robbery while trying to decide what sweet sugary breakfast he will be enjoying!

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Zenspath Batman Arkham City Interview & Lots of Batman Suits!

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Batman: Arkham Asylum.  

Three words and you have brought up what I consider the greatest videogame adaptation of an existing comic-book in history.  Everyeone I know that played it fell it love with it.  From the voice cast of the 90's Animated Series returning to most of their original roles, to the amazing art design, the smooth fighting system that really made you feel like Batman, and the well designed ability to sneak around like a Dark Knight and drop entire groups without a sound.

What do you do after making something that highly regarded by both the comic-book and videogame communities?  Three choices really.  1: Let it be a one off we love and remember and move on.  2: Try and repeat the same thing and hope it flys. 3: Go all out making it bigger, smoother, and deeper than the original.

Thank you Rocksteady for choosing door number 3.

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Zenspath El Shaddai Interview with Shane Bettenhausen (SDCC 2011)

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Almost done catching up with all of the media from the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con and thankfully I am finally able to post about a game that grabbed my attention on the floor and hasn't let go since.

The game is called "El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron" which releases on August 16th for the Xbox360 and Playstation 3.  This game has an amazing art direction that feels like an expressionist painting come to life with an intriguing story to tell. The art carries over into character designs that feel like they fit into the world, yet at the same time feel greatly out of place.  This isn't a knock against the game but does go to show that not only the world feels almost like what I would expect an acid trip to be like.

Remember @Zenspath on Twitter!

Hey everyone, just a quick reminder that while the updates on the site are taking a bit to come together while traveling, our Twitter account (@Zenspath) is going strong. We are posting pics and updates when we can along with videos up on our YouTube page (Zenspathcom).  So keep an eye out and send us messages or questions because we would love to answer them for you.  Off to the final day of the show!

Jeremy aka Zen
Host and Editor of the Zenspath Podcast PS...these guys NEVER left character...FANTASTIC! (click on the thumbnail to view the full image)

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Zenspath Podcast Visits the Pacific Pinball Museum!

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Hello again to everyone and I apologize for the month long delay!

Me and N5omniac were spending some time in California for our jobs so it was a bit of a pain trying to get the podcast up and running between the long days and many other events we had.  But thankfully we did manage to sneak in a little time to further dive into a part of the world of gaming me and him greatly enjoy.

After a Long Day of Fun

On July 10th, we both headed over to San Francisco and Alameda where we dropped in on the Pacific Pinball Museum to see and learn about the history of such an amazingly simple, yet infinitely complex game. I grabbed a video which will be after the break that shows just a small walk-thru of this fantastic museum which covers over 100 years of this fine past time as well of the American ingenuity and creative spark to grow this from such a simple idea to what it is today.

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Where is everyone at!?! (California...)

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So yeah, I'm sure some of you have been worndering what happened to the page updates along with the lovely little podcast that we usually do over the past few weeks.  Well, I the answer is that I was sent to California for a month to get some work done and have had ZERO time to keep up with everything that has been going on, widdle it down to the important parts, and then produce the show while out here on the road.  Working 12 hour shifts for 6 days a week tends to do that to a person.  But, with that said I am starting to find some time to get things together and work out a battle plan to get a show going all the way from Sacremento California.  So please be patient with me while I work out the details...but don't rule me out.  I'm still here and kicking...just a little sleep deprived.

Jeremy Powers aka Zen
Host of the Zenspath.com Pocast 

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Zenspath Podcast Episode 011: It's Dangerous to Go Alone...Take This!

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It's Memorial Day 2011 and this episode of the Zenspath Podcast is hosted by the one and literally only Jeremy Powers!  Everyone else had prior plans for the holiday weekend so I am venturing out like Link and going this adventure all by my lonesome.  But fear not because this show I talk about Duke Nukem Forever finally going Gold, Call of Duty: MW3 trailer, Child of Eden being shown off, Forza Motorsports 4, Skype gets jacked to Xbox, Gears of War 3 trailers its story, developers have issue with free games, NGP may become PS Vita as well as loosing some spunk, PSP games grow up to be PS3 games, we see Dead Island, Batman gets a bird and a possible kid, Darksiders gets an expensive nerd toy, LA Noire kills some systems, and Capcom pulls a big FU to the buyers of their PC games.  Enjoy!

And remember to comment below, email us at Zenspath.com@Gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @Zenspath.

Click the link below to listen to the show, or right click and select "save as" to download the episode in a friendly little MP3 format for your very own!

Zenspath Podcast Episode 011

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Zenspath Podcast Episode 010: 3 People, 1 Girl...lots of NEW!

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Welcome back for Episode 010 of the Zenspath Podcast!  This episode we talk about the PSN finally coming back to life (took long enough), Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) both taken down by hackers and coming back up with the PSN in the span since last episode, Mortal Kombat is getting a Trilogy for PSN and XBLA...AGAIN..., Call of Duty goes for 3, and much more.  So enjoy this oddly short episode as we introduce two of the sites new co-hosts, Megan Edwards and AJ!

And rememeber to comment below, email us at Zenspath.com@Gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @Zenspath.

Click the link below to listen to the show, or right click and select "save as" to download the episode in a friendly little MP3 format for your very own!

Zenspath Podcast Episode 010

What Will We Look Back and Play in 20 Years?

The year is 2031.  You want to remember your younger days and maybe show your kids/grandkids what gaming was to you when you were their age.  Dusting off your old system and finding an actual tv screen at an old garage sale (since you can't hook  up your NES/SNES/etc. to your Brain-TV) you start to look for some titles to show off the way it was.  So here's the question...what would you go for?  What games would you choose that have come out so far that you believe will hold up gameplay or story wise in 20 years?  Even now in 2011 we will break out our old games sometimes or just download them onto a newer system to enjoy our gaming heritage.  Super Mario Bros. has survived for 25 years, Resident Evil has been around for 15, it's been 18 years since we first walked slowly around the world of Myst, and a short 14 years since we met Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII.  

And for a bonus thought about a later article, keep in mind the DLC that each title has and think about how the game would be without it available.  Does it render parts unplayable, a game not really finished, or maybe one of your memorable parts just happens to be part of an expansion?  Sadly the servers and systems that are around today for these conveniences will not be around forever. (look at the original Xbox as a good example of this today.)

I will post some of my suggestions below in the comments....let us hear from you as well by posting them below or @Zenspath on Twitter!

Jeremy Powers aka Zen
Host of the Zenspath Podcast

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Zenspath Podcast Episode 009...We're on Time!

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Wow, here we are posting the new show on time as well as keeping a host for 2 straight shows...it's almost a record! 

This episode we talk for a LOOOONG time about the PSN Outage, Marvel Universe MMO is announced, the Gears of War 3 Beta info, colleges asking for Crysis2 (actually the CryEngine 3), Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, Japanese Chuck Taylor Mario shoes, PopCap buying ZipZapPlay for Facebook gaming, Fantastic Four Pinball, more Project Cafe news/rumors, mine and N5omniac's top 10 personal favorite SNES games (and from a few listeners), Bit.Trip.Saga announced for 3DS, Mega Man Legends 3 news, Hulu Plus on Xbox360, Apple allowing for stolen games, Need for Speed: The Run announced, and finally our first ever Trailer Roundup! Yep...we talk a LOT. 

So sit back and enjoy this episode hosted by Jeremy "Zen Powers and Brent "N5omniac" Bass. 

Email us at Zen@ZensPath.com for questions, comment on any of the articles on the site, and follow us on Twitter @Zenspath!

Click the link below to listen to the show, or right click and select "save as" to download the episode in a friendly little MP3 format for your very own!

Zenspath Podcast Ep 009

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Your Top 10 SNES Games?

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SNES Designed Fake Wii

Well, more news has come up in regards to Nintendo's "Project Cafe" finally confirming that it will be shown and playable by the attendees of this years E3 in July.  One comment that I found interesting is the rumor from IGN that this new system will feature a "modernized" SNES design.  This got me and N5omniac thinking about our old Super Nintendo systems and then finally to working up our own personal top 10 games for that generation of Nintendo fun.  Brent will add his own later plus we will be talking about it on the next show, but here is a quick look at my own.  (And remember...this is MY personal top 10...not our top 10 all around).

 Jeremy's Personal Top 10 SNES Games:

  1. Super Metroid
  2. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  3. Donkey Kong Country
  4. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  5. King Arthur's World
  6. Super Mario All Stars
  7. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
  8. Secret of Evermore
  9. Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy
  10. Stunt Race FX

 So there you are with my top 10 favorite SNES games.  Comment below about the list (what you agree about, what's missing, etc.) or you can even post your own top 10 favorites for us all to see!

Jeremy Powers aka Zen

When Digital Goes Wrong

So after we recorded the podcast, me and N5omniac tried to see who had the highest scores in Pinball FX2.  During this, we noticed that the upcoming "Mars" table was listed, so being as we are, we tried to download it.  What came up surprised us as it was listed for -1 Microsoft Point.  Needless to say, we tried to purchase it.  It showed that I had to add more points and that I was 4,294,967,295 Microsoft Points short.  So if you feel like  helping us out and loaning us the points...we will make sure to get it back to you as SOON as possible.  Check out the pictures after the break of this hillarious event.

Jeremy Powers aka Zen
Host of the Zenspath Podcast 

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Zenspath Podcast Episode 008...We're BACK!!!!

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Holy crap will you look at that...we managed to pull our buts out of the fire and got the show back up!  This episode is hosted by Jeremy Powers and N5omniac and boy do we geek out with alot to cover.  We talk about everything from the rumors of the upcoming Nintendo system, Mortal Kombat coming soon, Comic-Con 2011, the 3DS launch, the announcement of the Sony NGP, Ocarina of Time 3DS, a bunch of Resident Evil news, a new Ninja Gaiden, Angry Birds creator thinks consoles are dead, THQ wants to step into Used Market, Marble Blast rolls off a cliff, Dead Rising 2 do-over, and much more!  Enjoy the show and let us know what you think by commenting below!  

We will be trying to move to an every two-week format barring any issues soon.  

Jeremy Powers aka Zen

Zenspath Podcast Ep. 008