Filed under: Podcasts

We're in that weird space between PAX and TGS, and we've marked the lull with a heavy dose of gaming, everything from Dragon Age to Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Unfortunately, we don't talk about any of those on this episode. ... No, we do, we do. Just trying to mix it up.

Also, thanks to us for authorizing Alan Black to use his photoshopping powers on this image.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast in iTunes
[Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
[RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Hosts: Justin McElroy (@justinmcelroy), Ludwig Kietzmann (@ludwigk) and Chris Grant (@chrisgrant)
Music: "Gravity (Don't Let Me Go)" by Jon Black, "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer" by A.C. Newman
For fans: Joystiq Podcast Facebook group
New to the show?: Listen to Episode Zero
The Do It Line!: 1-(877)-JOYSTIQ

See all of this week's links after the jump.

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 152 - Not the bad one edition

Joystiq Podcast 152 - Not the bad one edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

PC gamers may have noticed their collective Spidey senses tingling earlier this week, as Activision quietly announced that the PC version of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions would not be releasing alongside its console counterparts. According to the launch press release, the PC version will arrive "soon." Speaking to Big Download, an Activision rep revealed that "soon" apparently means later this year. Stay strong, true believers, ol' Webhead will swing in eventually.

Spider-Man shatters the PC dimension later this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Despite the fact that Republicans in Congress have made reducing the deficit one if their signature issues this election season, they also have been arguing — without addressing the $700 billion cost — that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy should not be allowed to expire. Yet a new USA Today/Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans see it differently. “While 37% support keeping the tax cuts for all Americans, 44% want them extended only for those making less than $250,000 and 15% think they should expire for all taxpayers”:

Gallup notes the bottom line: “Democrats may not be putting themselves at great political risk by allowing the tax cuts to expire for wealthy Americans. In fact, the middle ground of extending tax cuts for low- and middle-income Americans but allowing them to expire for wealthy Americans — the Democrats’ most likely proposal — is the specific option the public prefers most.”

With less than two months until the midterm elections, all eyes are on what a Speaker Boehner would look like if Republicans take back the House. Just as important, though, are those GOPers who would head the House committees. Republicans have vowed that House committee chairmen like these will see their power increase if their party returns to power. With that in mind, it?s worth asking: Who are the House Republicans who would control national legislation in the 112th Congress?

A new report from ThinkProgress takes a closer look. The potential committee and subcommittee chairmen aren?t your run-of-the-mill House Republicans. Rather, those who could be in charge of our nation?s laws are the GOP?s right-wing extremists. Of the 10 right-wing extremists we profiled, eight have voting scores of 95 percent or higher from the American Conservative Union, seven are stimulus hypocrites, four are members of the Tea Party Caucus, and one is even a birther.

Those would control the House committees and subcommittees also may include:

– A Judiciary chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who has hinted at impeaching President Obama

– Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who opposes the existence of the global warming committee he would chair

– The subcommittee that controls monetary policy would be headed by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who has called paper money ?nothing short of counterfeiting?

– Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who apologized to BP during the oil spill for a $20 billion ?shakedown,? would control national energy policy

Click here to download a pdf of our report.

Explore the profiles of these right-wing extremists and decide for yourself: do you want these men in charge come January 2011?

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) not only voted against President Obama’s economic stimulus plan (the American Recovery Reinvestment Act), but he also rallied opposition to the bill within his caucus. As soon as the stimulus passed, Blunt went on a tour decrying the bill as an “absolute outrage.” Now as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, Blunt is trying to smear his opponent, Democrat Robin Carnahan, for supporting the stimulus. A campaign ad released yesterday by Blunt accuses Carnahan of being a “rubber stamp on Obama’s job-killing agenda.” As the narrator reads the script, the text “CARNAHAN SUPPORTS $814 BILLION FAILED STIMULUS” flashes on the screen.

But like nearly every other member of the Republican caucus, Blunt is trying to have it both ways. Despite Blunt’s assertion that the the stimulus is a complete failure, he has attended multiple groundbreaking ceremonies for stimulus-funded projects. Local Missouri papers have praised Blunt’s role in securing the projects, without noting his efforts to kill their funding. In other cases, he has sent out press releases claiming credit for stimulus-funded programs:

– In July 2009, Blunt attended a groundbreaking for the Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Neosho, Missouri. Earlier that year, the project gained two stimulus grants, one totaling $1.04 million and another for $100,000. Some local media outlets have reported the hypocrisy, while others have not.

– Blunt attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Ozone Disinfection System in the City of Springfield made possible by a $16 million combination low-interest loan and direct grant from the stimulus. As local blogger Jim Lee notes, Blunt’s ceremony unveiling the funding coincided with the one year anniversary of the stimulus. When approached about his opposition to the stimulus, Blunt simply smiled and said “no comment.”

– As FiredUpMissouri reported, Blunt’s office announced $942,000 for homeless assistance programs in Springfield and Joplin in February of 2010. The funds were provided through the stimulus, but Blunt made no mention of the funding source in his release.

As ThinkProgress has documented, Republican lawmakers and even GOP leadership have staked their political fortunes on lying to the public, claiming the stimulus failed to create jobs, while trying to take credit in their home districts for stimulus programs.

A federal judge ruled yesterday that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is unconstitutional. “The don’t ask, don’t tell act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,” the judge wrote in her opinion. She said the defendants “failed” to prove that DADT “was necessary to significantly further the government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion.” The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky has more coverage of the opinion.

The hate pastor behind the Quran-burning protest said the church will “rethink our decision” to cancel the event after he claims to have learned that there were no actual plans to move the Islamic center in New York. Asserting that a Florida imam “clearly, clearly lied to us” about the deal, Pastor Terry Jones said today that “he won’t go through with the burning if he can meet with the New York imam” on Saturday.

After being criticized for profiting off 9/11, a spokesperson for Glenn Beck announced he ?had always intended to donate the speaking fee from the event? with Sarah Palin on Saturday. Politico notes, ?Neither Beck nor Palin had previously said that they would not be taking a fee for the event.?

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) said he plans to help push through small-business aide bill that includes tax breaks, a move that would give the President and Democrats a key victory on the economy before the mid-terms. Voinovich said GOP obstruction was partisan “messaging.” “We don’t have time for messaging,” he said. “We don’t have time anymore. This country is really hurting.”

Yates Walker, the former communications director for the tea party group Liberty.com, has been fired for pushing an unfounded sexual rumor about a political opponent, and for failing to inform his employer that he had been accused of rape in college, as first reported by ThinkProgress.

The Ninth Court of Appeals in a 6-5 ruling dismissed a lawsuit against a company alleged to have assisted the CIA’s rendition program yesterday. The court said letting the lawsuit proceed “would present an unacceptable risk of disclosing state secrets.”

The current terrorist threat to the U.S. “is far more difficult to detect but less likely to produce mass-casualty attacks,” according to a report released today by former 9/11 Commission leaders. The report concludes that while nuclear or biological attacks are now unlikely, the U.S. is “ill-equipped to counter” the new threat of “radicalization and recruitment of Americans to terrorist ranks.”

“President Obama on Friday will promote a longtime economic adviser, Austan D. Goolsbee, to chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers,” who will serve as the replacement for Christina Romer. Goolsbee, who has served in the administration since its beginning, has known Obama since they both taught at the University of Chicago.

And finally: Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mocked former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin yesterday, tweeting from an airplane over Alaska, “Looking everywhere but can’t see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues.” Schwarzenegger included a picture of him looking out the window in vain.

ThinkProgress is hiring! Details here.

Believe us, Zangief, we're just as surprised! Apparently when fans aren't fighting in the streets, they're taking time to share their love of Capcom's series by painting the streets full of fighters. Here's just a few, courtesy of Shoryuken.

[Thanks, Terry]

Continue reading Here comes a new challenger: Street Fighter graffiti

Here comes a new challenger: Street Fighter graffiti originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Halo: Reach isn't even out in stores, but IGN has already found a way to exploit part of the game for the sake of easy Achievements. In this video, its outlines a surefire method for farming up a good amount of the game's cheevos by tweaking the customized Firefight system to be really hard and then giving yourself invincibility. Which means "you can basically shoot around in circles, and get massive amounts of points." Seems like fun ... we guess?

If nothing else, this shows off just how customizable the multiplayer system in Reach actually is. Bungie has made it so that the priority is coming up with fun gametypes with your friends, not just tweaking for as many points towards Achievement as possible. Not that we don't appreciate sweet, sweet cheevos, but that's not the only reason we're Firefighting against the Covenant, right? Right?

Continue reading Video: Halo: Reach Achievements made easy (and cheat-y)

Video: Halo: Reach Achievements made easy (and cheat-y) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell Robotics Lab have adapted an "on-screen joystick" for use on Microsoft's Surface table with Portal and Flight Simulator. The DREAM (Dynamically Resizing Ergonomic and Multi-touch) controller is activated by putting five fingers on the table. The joystick will then resize itself to the user.

The controls don't look nearly as efficient as a keyboard and mouse, or as comfortable as a gamepad, but it gives a good idea of the interface we may eventually use on the "iPad XL." Check out the video after the break for the full effect (and be prepared to mute the audio).

Continue reading Portal and Flight Simulator played on Microsoft Surface

Portal and Flight Simulator played on Microsoft Surface originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

During PAX, Rare unveiled another sport from its upcoming Kinect Sports: boxing. You can see a few snippets of it in the latest trailer, embedded after the break, as well as some new screens. Rare promises that more additional sports will be revealed at TGS next week. Our hope? Ribbon dancing.

Continue reading Kinect Sports trailer enters the boxing ring

Kinect Sports trailer enters the boxing ring originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments