So now you've all heard the big news - GameCola's final issue is out before it will be changing format. I've been working hard to bring you guys an all-new GameCola. It's coming, and it will be big. There's quite a lot of new features to look forward to. Aside from the fact that authors can post content at any time, meaning there's always something to look at (as opposed to our once-a-month format now), we're going to be breathing life back into some old features and bringing you some new features to look forward to.

As Paul said, we do have a timeline for the transition, but even today, nothing's perfect. We'll be bringing you updates routinely to let you know what's going on, right up until the final launch.

That said, out of my busy schedule, I've got a large block roped off just for GC. Of that, I've been spending a lot of time focussing on getting the new GameCola launched & ready to go - and I'm happy to say, there's been a lot of progress in that department. In addition to this, one of things I have had to do was move the GameCola Interactive (RSS, blogs, forums, comments) stuff over to a new server, to get it all ready to be integrated with the new GameCola. The downside to this, however, is that I've been so busy, and as a result I've been neglecting to keep up on some of the more routine stuff that I usually do. As a result, I am aware that there are some bugs in the older parts of GameCola that have surfaced recently. Some of the comment boxes have disappeared, some of the flash videos embedded in blog posts are no longer working and the forums are once again being spammed. (Although this is nothing compared to what some of you remember from the past when we've had to deal with forum spam). Any of you familiar with web programming may have also noticed that, at the moment, we're being visited by the notorious PHP escaping bug. (For those of you not up with the programming, there's some rude little backslashes barging their way into various posts, particularly around apostrophes and quotes). 

I wanted to take the time to apologise for these bugs, and let you know that I am aware of them, and I intend to fix the more severe ones as soon as I can. The less critical ones - these would be bugs that are annoying, but don't hinder use of the site - may have to wait until the relaunch, since that should rid us of any old bugs laying around. I ask that you bear with me while I deal with all these issues, old and new.

If you wish to help, all I ask is that you keep an eye out for anything I haven't mentioned, and if you see any bugs I'm not yet aware of, post on the forums and let me know, and I'll address them shortly. Additionally, if you see any spam on the forums, take 5 seconds and click the 'report to moderator' link, and I'll ensure it gets removed shortly.

Thanks everyone!

Kevin

UPDATE:

• The backslash/escaping issue should now be resolved on all future posts made.
• The issue that caused the comments on the blog to disappear should also now be resolved.
• No more flash/shockwave errors should appear when reading the blog page.

GameCola Podcast Mid-May 2009: The R-Rated Podcast

Section I: Witty (sort of) Banter

-Mike, Michael, and Zach talk about random stuff before finally getting down to business.

-Zach Rich hates Dragon Ball Z.

Section II: Video Game Moves (7.03)

-First up, the greatest movie ever, THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE!

-Next, THE WIZARD, where Michael and Zach make Mike feel really old.

-Michael is uncertain about the differences between men and women.

-Check out the Angry Video Game Nerd here: http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/

-For the record, the only drugs I’m on are for my allergies.

-Zach and Mike like Pokemon and its movies. Mike still watches it regularly.

-Michael has some interesting ideas on how to make a healthy relationship.

-Mortal Kombat movie vs. Street Fighter 2 movie. FIGHT!

-Check out Zack Huffman’s review of Tomb Raider here: http://www.gamecola.net/4-7.htm#oth

-Mike still has nightmares about the double Dragon movie. SPOILER: It’s terrible.

-Meteo is totally going to keep Michael from becoming a priest.

Section III: Final Fantasy VI

-Michael has a terrible sense of direction and is blind.

-Our recording went past Zach’s bed time.

-Michael and Mike expound upon the nature of the mythological ferryman of the dead, Charon. Mike is long-winded and rarely knows what he’s talking about.

-Michael has some ideas about how Final Fantasy VI will end.

-Mike totally think Final Fantasy VI has well defined themes.

Section IV: What We’re Playing, Banjo-Kazooie, and the GameFAQs game battle (48:15)

-For the record, we could do with a bit more organization.

-Mike has been playing Pokemon, MadWorld, Braid, Resident Evil 5, and PuzzleQuest: Galactrix.

-Zach loves Vangie, Michael fears her.

-Michael is playing Professor Layton.

-Zach is playing Banjo-Kazooie, Outrun Arcade, and Mario Party.

-Zach explains Stop N’ Swop in Banjo-Kazooie.

-Mike and Zach lament the outcomes of the GameFAQs “Best. Game. Ever.” contest.

   

It's Podcast #8, starring Paul Franzen, Michael Gray, Nathaniel Hoover, Elizabeth Medina-Gray and Zach Rich. Intro Segment: Michael sings "A Whole New World" (0:00 - 1:30) Segment One: Versus Mode. (1:30 - 10:08)

It's April 22nd, so Happy Birthday GameCola!

GameCola no longer does Best of Year Issues because nobody read them.

The podcasters attempt to kill all their listeners by singing the world's worst rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Can couples share a gaming system? Apparently, yes.

Videogame sales were down, compared to March/April of last year, but that's probably obvious because no big games have come out.

Peggle has been added to World of Warcraft. Now we shall never see Paul again.

Props to Christian Porter for his comments about 2D and 3D gaming in Quetion Three of Versus Mode last month. Segment Two: Speedrunning (10:50 to 18:16)

Visit the Speedrun Archive.

Did Metroid invent speedrunning?

Paul and Zach don't do speedruns.

Nathaniel and his friends do speedrunning competitions sometimes.

Michael speedruns Nancy Drew games sometimes.

Do speedrunners watch someone else's speedrun when plotting their own run? Yes.

We then do things speedrunning-style and go completely out of order by discussing how Michael is playing Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time here, instead of in Segment Four. Segment Three: Phoenix Wright: Case #2 (18:37 - 33:13)

Phoenix and Maya are partners, but not Partners in Time.

Reusing the same puzzle multiple times in a game? Paul and Lizo say "no".

Is it okay to kill an important character at the start of the game?

Michael gives the official explanation for the major character's death: the developers thought three characters in the Fey & Co. Law Offices was one too many.

Paul argues that Mia wants Phoenix and Maya to get together, while Michael argues that Mia wants to be with Phoenix.

We get into the weird territory of dating someone who's dead.

Who is Mia's type? Edgeworth? Gumshoe? Godot? Or is it Nathaniel Hoover?

How do you interpret Mia's phone conversation with Maya? Segment Four: New Game Releases / What We're Playing Now (33:42 to 54:15)

Zach is happy that Virtual-On is being released for the Xbox Live Arcade

Zach explains what Stop and Swap is, and how it works on Banjo-Tooie.

Fallout DLC is coming out, so Paul is playing Fallout again.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out! ...no longer featuring Mike Tyson.

Lego Rock Band plays "She's a Brick House".

We discuss IGN's list of overrated videogame characters

Excuuuse me, Princess!

Nathaniel is playing Final Fantasy Eight and Sam and Max Season One.

Lizo is too busy with schoolwork to play the second .hack game.

Zach is playing Wave Race 64, Fallout 3, Super Mario World and Super Metroid 3.

Paul is playing Quest 64 and the second .hack game.

Bosses should not be able to heal themselves.



   

New podcast is out!

Enjoy it guys.

---

This podcast is made up of four segments.

Segment One: Versus Mode (0:00 to 13:30)

New podcast is out once again!

Paul explains what happend to Carbonated News.

Miles Edgeworth is getting his own game.

We're not too excited about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Banjo-Tooie is being re-released. Nobody but Zach cares.

Final Fantasy is kinda lame. TestGame is cooler.

Segment Two: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (13:30 to 30:35)

Michael Gray summarizes the case because no one can remember it, and he played it recently.

Asking if Mia has a thing for Phoenix leads to a long discussion on various possible relationships in the Phoenix Wright series. Zach Rich doesn't participate in this segment.

Segment Three: Time Travelling in Video Games (30:35 to 47:20)

There are two concepts of Time Travel: Back to the Future and Dragonball Z.

Time Hollow randomly goes back-and-forth between those two concepts, which is confusing.

How does time travel work in Ocarina of Time?

Simultaneous events don't happen. We are isolated temporally.

How do you pronounce Saria?

Mario's Time Machine = Carmen Sandiego

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed made Zach Rich cry.

Segment Four: Games We're Playing Now (47:20 to end)

Michael is playing Fire Emblem for the DS.

Lizo is playing the first .hack game, despite the difficult final boss.

Paul is playing Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island

Zach is playing good games like Star Ocean Four.

No interesting games are being released in April.

---

Click play to listen:

   

New Podcast is out!

These are the notes, or so I'm told:

---

Hey folks, here’s the latest podcast from the GameCola crew. This time around we have:

-Michael Gray’s rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” along with some delightful little commercials.

-GameCola’s own editor-in-chief Paul “Mr. Wiggles” Franzen as a commentator.

-Discussions on the downloadable content, the state of the gaming industry, and how the gaming industry is viewed by society.

-BONUS: A SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY MICHAEL GRAY’S MOM!

Enjoy!

(P.S. Sorry for the beeping sound that occurs during a couple minutes of the podcast; there was a car alarm going off in the background and not all of it could be edited out.)

---

Click play to listen:

   

The new Podcast is out now, and this is what it's about from my understanding!

---

GameCola Podcast #4: Wind Waker Blows

The March GameCast is split up into three basic segments:

Versus Mode: The Podcast Crew talks about gaming news. (starts 2:30)
The two Michaels debate the quality of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (starts 16:45).
What's Coming Out Next Month and What We're Playing Now (starts 42:35)

Various topics discussed include:

Part of Your World.
The atlasphere in Dead Rising 2 is awesome.
Sony says the PS3 will take off any day now.
Watching movies on your video game system.
The podcast crew argue whether or not Shirley Temple would have done a better job in Wizard of Oz than Judy Garland did.
Let's Tap for Wii is coming States-side.
Bad economy means lame games.
Nintendo, cut your prices every once in a while.
Michael Ridgaway plays Pokemon one-handed.
It's possible to kill Ganondorf with an empty bottle.
The Michaels are confused by the lack of continuity in the Zelda series.
The Michaels want to see another Majora's Mask.
Michael Gray explains what slash fanfiction is.
The Michaels argue about whether or not it's obvious that Tetra is Zelda.
Michael Ridgaway thinks Michael Gray is lame.
The Michaels argue about Wind Waker Link's victory dance.
The Michaels argue whether or not the impossible jumping challenge is impossible.
Michael Ridgaway is tempted to play one of Tingle's games.
If you look at the Ocarina of Time Quote FAQ or Text Dump, Navi does not say all that much.
Beethoven thinks the GameCola podcast is awesome.
Michael Gray is trapped in the 1940's.
Buy Guitar Hero: Metallica so Colin can feed his kids.
A Thomas Edison impersonation.
Paul Franzen is stalking the male GameCola staff members.
Crystal Chronicles could be good.
Halo Wars could be good, too.
Michael Ridgaway wants to read The Miles Edgeworth Files.
Pokemon Plantinum is coming out, so no one will hear from Michael Ridgaway for the next few months. Pikmin Wii? Maybe it'll be good.
Nobody is surprised at how nerdy Michael Gray can be.
It's over now.

---

Click play to listen:

   

There's a new podcast out from the GameCola crew. I haven't listened to it yet myself, so I don't know if I should be as offended as I was for the last podcast yet or not! Apparently, however, the following topics were discussed:

   

As I'm sure everyone who has looked at the latest issue is aware, there are some big upgrades going on for some of the interactive GameCola features - in this case, comments and ratings. However, there have been some teething difficulties with these upgrades that have effected the following services in some way:

Well guys, the second podcast has been uploaded. You should go check it out at the podcast site or by clicking the play button below in this post.. I must say, I was quite insulted by this one, so if you would like to be insulted as well, have a listen! Lots of things were talked about, and there are surely some laughs to be had. Everyone who contributed and put it together did an excellent job, and I swear, I'm not a woman.




   

...Then have I got the cheatcode for that task!
[via Gizmodo]

There is now an RSS feed available for the, blog, so that you can see when there's new posts. The URL for this feed is http://gcfeeds.kevinsnet.com/blog.php -- add this to your RSS application (including Google Reader) and it'll automatically grab the full content of the latest GameCola blog posts. Combine this with the comments feed and forums feed, and you can automatically grab all the latest GC content that's not this month's issue!



The above image is an example of what the feed will look like once added to Google Reader. Useful, no?

Just to review, there are four GameCola RSS feeds:
Comments - http://gcfeeds.kevinsnet.com/comments.php
Forums - http://gcfeeds.kevinsnet.com/forums.php
Blog - http://gcfeeds.kevinsnet.com/blog.php
Planet GC - http://gcfeeds.kevinsnet.com/planet.php

Have fun!

Does anyone think we need an RSS feed of the 'blog? It's the next thing I'm considering putting in. The nice thing about it is that then, the GC writers can include the GC blog into their normal, non-GC blog (depending on what it's done in) or their FaceBook or something... It would also let regular 'blog readers subscribe to the feed in their news reader/mail app/browser/Google Reader to automatically see when it's updated ;)

Just some new updates to the blog and comments system:

And this is my announcement, people, the one you've been waiting for!