First Show!
























Our long awaited first show is set to be recorded this Friday. We'll be recording sometime during the evening of the 2nd, so you can expect to see the first show online by at least monday. This, of course, will depend on how smoothly things go. Thanks again for all the positive feedback, guys! We're super excited to get things going, so stay tuned for Midwest Gamer Podcast Ep. 1!

Matt (MWG)

Braid....It hurts muh brains!














Just bought Braid today. I'm attempting to beat it without any guides or help. Not sure how long that's going to last, the demo definitely doesn't clue you in as to how insanely mind melting this game is. I've played Worlds 2, 3, and 4. I have World 2 cleared. I only need two more puzzle pieces in world 3 and I'm pretty sure I know how to grab them. We'll see how that goes. This is definitely one of those games that has me thinking even after I quit playing. The art style and score are amazing, and probably the only things that keep me sane as I play. Despite the difficulty, the satisfaction of working through the world and solving a puzzle is well-worth the time. This is, hands down, the most innovative game I've played in a long time. Definitely give the demo a try, if you haven't already.

Matt (MWG)

It's a merry midwest gamer christmas.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to wish you all a merry christmas before I disappear and don't post for a few days. Upon my return, I will most likely have news about our first show. So stay tuned!

So unfortunately, as a result of my buying a shload of games shortly after my birthday in November, I won't be receiving or buying any new games over winter break. Are there any games you guys are looking forward to getting as gifts or buying during the holidays?

I also wanted to give a shout-out to the guys over at Warp9 Gaming. They've been super cool since our startup a couple weeks ago, and we'll actually be doing some cool stuff in cooperation with them. Check out OverlordStrider's Game of the Year nominations as well as our nifty MWG banner on the sidebar!

Happy Holidays folks,

Matt (MWG)

On to Ravenholm!
























*possible spoiler alert*

As you may know from previous posts, I'm playing HL2 through for the first time. I'm really enjoying it and i'll delve further into my appreciation for this game on the first show. But Ryan's recent post over at KBpod inspired me to share with you the hellish, yet enjoyable experience I had recently with the Ravenholm area of Half Life 2.

So I had a feeling of what I was getting into the moment I saw leaping mutant silhouettes on the distant rooftops. But I wasn't nearly as prepared as I should have been. Ravenholm scared the pants off of me. At one moment a leaping mutant would be destroying my face whilst I struggled to equip my shotgun, and without warning, another would ninja sneak my science-loving ass and beat the living snot out of me. For the majority of the area, I was having a hard time conserving ammo, and at one point I cleared a large area but restarted it for the sake of getting out with more ammunition. To top it all off, Father Gregory is a total douche. I mean thanks for the shotgun, guy, but are you really going to make me wait for the cart that long? And then creep me out by laughing hysterically as you burn yourself? Not cool, I thought minister's had more class than that.

Despite my fears and frustrations, Ravenholm has been my favorite area of the game so far. I can't wait to talk about HL2 on the show next week.

Thanks for all of the great feedback, guys!

Matt (MWG)

My name is bud, i'm the sensitive one.

Hey errbody,

I have been meaning to post on here but I have no internet right now, due to the fact the my roomate wants to spend his money for bills on cheap women. Anyway, I picked up Mirrors Edge last night. I am already on chapter 6 and very pleased thus far. It's really nice to have a first person action game that dosent feel like the writers for the WWE designed it. I will have a full review for it by the first show. Also I was wonderin? Does anyone think that gears will EVER have a satisfying ending? Because its starting to feel like the LOTR trilogy to me. Well, thats all that I got for right now.

Everyone have a great holiday celebration.

Bud(MWG)

Eat Lead:The Return of Matt Hazard

Have you guys heard about this game? I just read a preview for it in this month's Game Informer. I absolutely love the premise. A good amount of humor in a game has always helped me easily stay connected to the story. If a game has a lackluster story i'll often feel obligated to stick out the cutscenes or dialogue just to get to the gameplay, or simply ignore the story all together (ahem, Too Human). But when a game's making me laugh, I can't complain either way. One game that did this particularly well was Paper Mario:The Thousand Year Door(GC). I played that game with no one around and found myself constantly laughing out loud at the dialogue. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris will be voicing the two lead characters in Eat Lead.

Regardless of gameplay details being relatively unknown, I'm definitely looking forward to this game.

Check out the trailer below and eatleadvideogame.com for more details on the "history" of Matt Hazard.




Matt (MWG)


First Show/Intro Song/Half Life 2

So we've made plans to record our first show somewhere in between next weekend and the end of december. We're still waiting on some supplies to ship, but unless something goes terribly wrong, we'll definitely make that deadline. Stay tuned for show schedule updates and our first show release!

Also, If anyone is musically inclined/has free time, we're in need of an intro theme song. We have a possibility right now, but if it doesn't work out, we'd be happy to consider submissions!

In other news, I started Half Life 2 (Xbox360) last night and stayed up way too late playing it. I'll talk more about my impressions on the first show, but I'm absolutely loving it.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Matt (MWG)

Gaming Goals for Winter Break

Exams are finally over for me, as of today, and I thought I'd post an excerpt from my personal blog about which games I'm excited to play over break.

-Complete everything I've been wanting to in Oblivion. (Mainly the mages guild quests/finish theives guild) because I know as soon as I start Fallout 3, oblivion will no longer be my massive RPG of choice.

-Finish Half LIfe 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1 and 2 on Orange Box. Possibly play through Portal again.

-Finish Be A Pro Season on NHL 09

-Play through Bring Down the Sky DLC for Mass Effect, possibly start another play through to get some more achievements, thats a big maybe though, that would be my third play-through.

-Purchase and play through Braid, I played through the demo the other night and absolutely fell in love with it.

-Play lots of L4D online, and finish Blood Harvest w/ Jordan and Bud.

-Games I want to start:
-Devil May Cry 4
-Gears of War 2
-Bioshock (i know, it's embarrassing)

What about you guys? What does your winter gaming list look like?

Matt (MWG)




Midwest Gamer Podcast - In the Beginning...

So for about 6 months or so, me and bud have been kicking around the idea of starting MWG. The idea originated after one of the many prolonged videogame phone convo's we tend to have, talking about the games we're playing. What we liked, what we hated, aspects of story/gameplay/etc. So, I thought and later exclaimed, "Hey, these conversations are interesting and informative, lets record/blog about them!" Ok, so it wasn't that well played out, but you get the idea.

It's been hard for us to find time to work on it, but finals are just now wrapping up for me, and winter break will be a good time to get things going. Once we have everything set up and the details worked out, we plan on recording, at the very least, every other week. That is definitely subject to change, as I would like to record more. But we're total newbs at podcasting and aren't sure how scheduling will work out, so we will start small.

Shows will cover everything from what were playing currently, impressions, concerns, industry news to game strategy, tips, and hopefully some community feedback(answering emails, events, listener submissions).

The blog will primarily consist of show notes, show releases, and keeping you up to date with our recording schedule. But there will also be regular game-related posts in between and leading up to each podcast. So stay tuned for our first episode and visit the blog for updates!

Matt (MWG)

Contact Us


Email


midwestgamer@gmail.com

Twitter

twitter.com/mwgpodcast
twitter.com/mattbrooker
twitter.com/cruddybuddy
twitter.com/G3NK1E

JTV

midwestgamer
mwgbud
mwgtravis