Casual Monday -- Spring is in the Air Edition

Oh Springtime! The scent of freshly cut grass coming through the open window where I'm comfortably sitting on a futon, thoroughly enjoying Mass Effect. The official Quarterplay review is coming soon (and incredibly late, by internet news standards) -- maybe we'll call it the Mass Effect postmortem. Either way, it's Monday again, meaning of course it's time to enjoy some more free casual fare, courtesy of your benevolent overlords friends here at QPHQ.

This week we present you, dear reader, with The Game of Disorientation -- a fresh take on top down platforming, coming to you from the folks (single dude?) at Jiggmin. You control a lonely fellow and guide his journey around a small, terrifying room, often filled with spikes, hairpin turns and most terrifying of all....doppelgangers. Yup, I said it. The piece of the puzzle that challenges TGoD's traditionalism is in it's camera views. As opposed to presenting the player with navigation challenges, the game tries it's best to confuse the hell out of you by switching the orientation of the camera, which in turn results in objects that are seriously distorted as well as your character orientation becoming more and more confusing. You can pick up the game and finish it in 10 minutes (and in as little time as 2:33, if you're so inclined to top a leaderboard.)

Though we're inclined to buck trends rather than proliferate them, it seems we have one on our hands here with Casual Monday's pimping of Kongregate.com. The service has simply blown up in popularity since we first spoke about it way back when and it even got a bump from WhatTheyPlay founder (and ex-EGM Editorial Director) John Davison on the infamous 1UP Yours podcast. We again suggest to you that you snag an account and start building those new achievement points -- though we should also warn you, we are meth addicts. At least for achievement points. We'll see you here next week folks, with more free gaming goodness for you. Try saying that five times fast!

Quartermann Can't Help But Spill the Beans

Those of you out there enjoying your weekend, what with all this beautiful weather, may have missed the latest 1UP Yours podcast -- though we can't feel responsible, as we do always remind you. Guest starring Geoff "Dean of Games Journalism" Keighley and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, the usual crew chat about some interesting topics, ranging from EA's recent rescinding of plans to charge for Battlefield: Bad Company weapons to Denis Dyack's vision of a "one console future."

While all these things were all well and good, with between 21 and 20 minutes left in the show, EGM Executive Editor Shane Bettenhausen simply couldn't help himself amidst talk of the upcoming Xbox 360 "waggle wand" and spilled some serious beans:

"Sony also has a waggle wand, not for PS2, but for PS3."

Continuing, he says:

"Specifically with the PS3 one, it's not just a waggle wand, it's some sort of transforming controller that has multiple configurations. Call of Duty 5's gonna use it. Resistance 2's gonna use it. Apparently it's real....It was gonna be for Quartermann but I couldn't sit on it, so, don't tell him I told you."


There you go "kiddies", as Mr. Bettenhausen himself would say. Too bad we don't have an MS Paint mockup of the one he's referencing as well. Stay tuned! It could happen any day! Stranger things have happened.

Week-End Podcast Roundup -- Won't Get Fooled Again Edition

April Fool's Day means nothing but bad news bears for suckers like me, a sucker who would allow himself to get fooled by a website he had never heard of none the less, and frankly, I'm glad it's over. The Spring rain has begun in a big way and with it, we've been relishing the opportunity to enjoy the indoors -- penning a review or two, analyzing Quarterman's latest rumors, and of course, listening to podcasts. Additionally this week, we're adding another Ziff Davis product, GFW Radio, not only to round out podcast coverage but also because it's damn hilarious. With respect and honor, we bring you this week's podcasts. "Weekend confirmed!"

GFW Radio (feat. Jeff Green, Shawn Elliott, Sean Malloy, and Ryan Scott)
The GiantBombcast (feat. Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis)
Joystiq Podcast (feat. Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justic McElroy)
The CAGcast (feat Cheapy D and Wombat)
The 1UP Show and 1UP Yours Podcast (feat. Garnett Lee, Shane Bettenhausen, ???, and Shawn Elliott)

The boys at GiantBomb aren't exactly shining in their latest bombcast and maybe it's the fatigue of building their site from the ground up on a daily basis, but it's also possible that they need a week off (and some more Alex Navarro) to liven things up a bit. Wombat (of UGO and CAGcast fame) goes as far as to call them out on ripping the CAGcast's style, though I think we'd all beg to differ on that one a bit. See y'all over the weekend! It's happy hour!

Week-End Podcast Roundup -- On the Road Edition

If we're bringing you this week's podcast roundup, that means it's Friday and you're about to head directly into the week's end. As Mr. Garnett Lee says, "Weekend Confirmed!" We're all running around like crazy at QPHQ, frantically spring cleaning and trying desperately to complete Crackdown (and maybe even enjoy some Call of Duty 4 multiplayer) before GTA4 releases on April 29th. Do you ever get the feeling that you're hyping up a game too much and that doing so will sour the experience when it does finally release? That happened to me a bit with Halo 3, finding myself not even having finished the Legendary campaign months after it's release. Shocking, considering I've read all the books and the graphic novel (maybe I shouldn't announce that on the internet.) Anyways, here's this week's podcast roundup, starting with newcomer Giant Bomb's "GiantBombcast", and finishing up with the ever dependable 1UP Show and 1UP Yours Podcast.

The GiantBombcast (feat. Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis)
Joystiq Podcast (feat. Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justic McElroy)
The CAGcast (feat Cheapy D and Wombat)
The 1UP Show and 1UP Yours Podcast (feat. Garnett Lee, Shane Bettenhausen, ???, and Shawn Elliott)

Though I usually take a long, warm bath, put on my smoking jacket, relax in the Barcalounger
and start a fire, for roughly four hours of podcast listening, this week it'll be nothing but my iPod and the Northeast Corridor of Amtrak. We'll see you later this weekend! (maybe...)

Week-End Podcast Roundup -- Out of O.J. Edition

The weekend is nearly here and that means two things here at QPHQ: no more orange juice and lots of podcasts. Though we're all quite sad about the lack of o.j. around these parts, the plethora of videogame listening goodness podcastiness bestowed upon us weekly helps to quell the "werewolf rage" building inside of me. Thirst for citrus drink rising...

(Making it's debut this week, from Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis [of GameSpot fame]):
The GiantBombcast (feat. Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis)
Joystiq Podcast (feat. Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justic McElroy)
The CAGcast (feat Cheapy D and Wombat)
The 1UP Show and 1UP Yours Podcast (feat. Garnett Lee, Shane Bettenhausen, ???, and Shawn Elliott)

The guys over at GiantBomb have yet to establish a real schedule for weekly releases of their podcast, though they certainly come out once a week, often earlier than later. If you're like us, you'll just set up all these on your iTunes and enjoy them when they come through -- no skin off our backs. Now have a good weekend, all you folks out there in the middle of these huge, crazy tubes. We'll see you bright and early Monday morning with a casual piece of enjoyment that will also benefit some folks who aren't as lucky as you or I. For now, good night, and good luck. (OH! We almost forgot! Send us orange juice! Not from concentrate please, thanks.)