First on the menu, my favorite gaming podcast: Gamers With Job Conference Call. I’ve been listening to this podcast since it’s creation and even before, when it was called GWJ Radio. In fact, I’ve been listening to these guys for so long, that they kind of became old buddies. I really like the chemistry and the  “food for thoughts” discutions that they have about games.

Next one is a podcast I started to listen to only recently, but it skyrocketed in my favorite podcast list: Idle Thumbs. Those guys are funny, insightful and they know their shit. Plus there’s Wizards and Hot Scoops! It’s the gaming podcast that makes me laugh the loudest.

Next up is CO-OP, a Video Podcast. The former 1UP Show crew gathered to continue their great work. Super interesting discussions, some off-the-beaten-path indie coverage and some funny sketches, plus the production value is fantastic. You should check it out.

Zero Punctuation and UnSkippable. Go Watch Now! Enough said. Now!

Even though he often gets on my nerves with his stupid “trying-to-pry-more-exclusives” type of questions during interviews. Geoff Keighley puts up an high quality shows on GameTrailers TV and Bonus Round. Anyway, I already spend too much time on this site watching trailers.

A recent addition to my podcast list is Drunken Gamer Radio. So far, it’s a blasty-blast! Check it out.

What or Who am I?

Updated hints in italic

Here’s some of the best:

• Half Life: Nerd screws up at work. Goes on rampage with crowbar.
• Half Life 2: Unemployed nerd can’t talk to girl. Goes on rampage with crowbar.
• Metal Gear Solid Series: Dysfunctional family plays hide and seek.
• Katamari Damacy: Gay dad makes son play with balls.
• Gears of War: Lumberjacks go on killing spree.
• Lemmings: Good Samaritan Thwarts Suicide Cult.
• Nethack: Email symbol ethnically clenses rest of ASCII character set.
• HALO: Super soldier follows commands of voice in head.
• Shadow of the Colossus: Necrophiliac vagrant obeys invisible voices, slaughters indigenous wildlife.
• Bioshock: Man kidnaps little girls, assaults mentally ill.

And my favorite

• Pokemon: Children implicated in underground animal fighting ring.

While COD4 was a bummer, WoW has been a lot of fun. I dinged 80 early in march and started doing Heroic instances with some friend. That’s been a blasty-blast. And I’m super-surprised by the variety of those instances. I mean, one night, we get on skype and JS says we should go do The Occulus. So we get there, kill a bunch of trash mob, then JS tells me “Talk to this guy, he’s going to give you a drake”. So, I take the drake and then we proceed to continue clearing the instance and then engage in an epic fight against the final boss while in flight on the back of those drake. A lot of fun!

After getting a bunch of Epic upgrade in those instances, I got my first taste in 10 and 25 man Naxxramas raid. And so far, I’ve had a good and bad raid experience. I really like the challenge those raids bring. Some of those fights are hard and you need to know the strategies. Problems is, some people don’t have experienced friends like me, who can explain the fights, give pointers and help you getting gear to make sure you are ready for the challenge. Have to much ungeared, inexperienced people in your raid, and you have a recipe for a lot a wipe and a big waste of time. But when everything works, everybody is geared and know their jobs, raiding can be quite fun.

I finished Gears of War 2 early this month. What a fun game. Intense action, great cover system, good shooting and what kept everything together for me, excellent pacing. As soon as you may think you’re getting bored by killing the same monsters over and over, they introduce pace-changer, like “Betty”, “Horsey” or the Brumak. I tried some multiplayer, but of course, got my ass handed to me on a plate. The different game mode available seems really fun thought, I think that’s a game I’m going to go back to for some multiplayer fun.

I didn’t mention it last month, but I’ve still playing World of Warcraft, grinding my way to level 80. I’m almost there! I dinged level 79 yesterday, so shouldn’t be long :) So far I really like what they did with Wrath of the Lich King. They have a lot of “special” and epic quests where you’re riding a Giant or have some kind of special vehicle. Lot of silly fun quests or pace changer.

I picked up Street Fighter IV the day it came out. And I confirmed what I knew already: I suck at fighting games. But even if I suck, for some twisted reason, I really want to get better at that game. I don’t know if it’s the brand, the characters or fighting dynamic, but even if I get my ass beaten to a pulp, I always want to do another round.

TWL COD4 Season is well underway. So far my team (Team Omega, yeah we’re fancy like that, we give our teams Greek Letter names) is doing pretty good. We’re in 14th place, with a record of 3-1. To date, lot of great matches and lots of heart-pounding moments. A really good season so far. Oh and I also find it funny to note that I now have 500 hours of Call of Duty 4 recorded on my xfire profile. 500 hours! That’s what I call a 60$ well spent!

Player 1: I have a COD4 Practice at 8h30 and a TWL Match a 9h30, but after that I’ll be able to play, sure.

Player 2: Practice? Match? LMAO, It’s a game and you talk about it like it’s a sport. It’s not like your going to sweat while playing a game…

Player 1: An activity or a game doesn’t need to be a sport to be competitive. There is Rubik Cube Competitions and we can both agree that this is far away from being a sport. Competitions doesn’t require sweat, they require skills.

Player 2: Rubik Cube competitions is just as dumb as game competitions, it takes the fun out of the game. Practices at fixed hour, a match schedule. Looks like playing is now a chore, an obligation. Looks like you play just because you have to.

Player 1: Maybe you’re of the same opinion that playing Hockey or Football in a league can’t be fun. A game or a sports is designed to have fun playing them. We won’t argue about that right? But playing it competitively takes the fun too another level. It makes accomplishments much more rewarding. And, seriously, if you’re not playing competitively, you’re missing out.

My Take: It’s no secret, I’ve been playing Call of Duty 4 competitively, with the PMS|H2O Clan, for about a year now. So it’s sure that my take is similar to P1’s opinions. First off, let me say that Competitive Gaming IS fun. It’s exiting, stressful and rewarding. BUT, unlike P1, I don’t thing it’s for everyone and not for every game. Say you like hockey, you might play backyard hockey with your buddies, casually, just to have fun and that is fine. But if you really love hockey, you might start looking into playing in leagues and stuff. Same things goes for games. I certainly won’t play every game I like competitively. But those that I really love, those that I play almost everyday, why not test my skills against other really good player?

What’s your take?

Note: Graphics used are from Ctrl+Alt+Del. Go read it, it’s an awesome web comic!

After finishing Prince of Persia, I fired up Last Remnant. I haven’t play much, but so far the story seems disjointed. The combat system is interesting thought. I’ll surely go back to it after I finish Gears 2

With Last Remnant not really catching me, I started Gears of War 2 to see if I would continue playing Last Remnant or play GoW2. Sadly for Last Remnant, I’m hooked to manly killing locusts going from chest-high-walls to chest-high-walls. The action is intense, the shooting is good (for a shooter on console) and the cover system works really well. Oh, but the single player partner AI is REALLY dumb. Anyway, great fun so far. I’m also looking forward to play a couple of multiplayer match with members of the PMS|H2O GoW 2 Division.

Speaking of the PMS|H2O clan, with TWL League Season 4 starting, my Call of Duty 4 team is back in full practice mode. I get the feeling competition is going to be really fierce this season. I can’t wait!

Player 2: Here’s an advice for you noobs. If you want to break into the game industry, you already know that a portfolio is a BIG plus. But you may be wondering what you should work on, what you should put in your portfolio. Here’s the trick, if you want to be a real man, a real programmer, you need to stay away from easy technology like XNA or half-ass game building package like RPG-Maker or Verge-RPG. You need to stick with technology like C++, MFC, DirectX or OpenGL. That’s what they use in the game industry, that’s what you should use to build your portfolio.

You should build a 3D Engine from the ground up, with physics and an HDR lighting system. Things need to blow up. It need to be impressive. Oh and don’t forget about fog. People loves fog.

Player 1: It is a given that a portfolio is needed, but I don’t think the technology used matters, you don’t need to build something big for your portfolio, you just need to build something. It does not matter if it’s a small Tetris clone, as long as you can show you’re capable of doing something.

Doing the grunt work of building a 3D game engine is nice when you’re experienced. But starting from the ground up can be pretty painful. It’s hard to get to a point where you have a finished product if it’s hard to take the first step.

Player 2: Yeah but say we both send our resume at the same place and all you have is that skinny Tetris clone and I have my Triple-A 3D Game Engine. Sorry P1, but you don’t stand a chance.

Player 1: Sure, but if we’re given the same time-frame to build our portfolio. The time it take you to get that AAA 3D Game Engine somewhat functional. I’ll be able to have a polished product, almost bug-free. And I’ll probably have time to finish 5 other project.

I think that the worst thing you can do to your portfolio is to create some monster of a project that end up so crazily complex that you’re able to finish only a small part of it, being left with something that doesn’t work half of the time.

My Take: I don’t think that the scale of the project is important. Like P1 said, you just need to show that you’re able to create things. However, I think that P2 brings a good point on using, at least some, of the commonly used technology. Not because it is required for your portfolio, but it gives you experience that you’ll need during technical test or interview.

What’s your take?

Note: Graphics used are from Ctrl+Alt+Del. Go read it, it’s an awesome web comic!

Today, is the first day of my internship as a Game Programmer at Mistic Software. Today, I gained the right to charge a fee for a day of work as a Game Programmer. As of today, I am no longer a beginner, I am a Journeyman :D

At the meeting, I was happy to introduce Étienne with some people I knew. Étienne is a colleague and partner in crime (we’re currently working on a secret project together, more info on that soon). It made me remember how hard it was for me when I was a newbie at the IGDA, building the courage to move up to a group of people you don’t know and introduce yourself.

Oh and also!

Given the lower turn-out, we actually had a load of uneaten sandwiches. So, after the party, we brought them over to the Maison du Père. They were very thankful.

Man, it feel good being a volunteer for such a great organisation :)