We haven’t been posting stuff for quite a long time obviously, and we haven’t been putting up episodes of any of our podcasts. Well mostly I will take the blame because I am now appointed podcast manager of the site and must do all the recording for Overheating and GSR and I have no excuses. So you are asking “What about the opened spot on GSR?” well there is a job opening and it’s involving both taking my place in GSR and posting up previews and reviews of upcoming games. Now there will be more details soon on that but Gaming Sigma Radio Network will be debuting a new daily news podcast called “The X Button (working title)” that will be my new home for podcasting. But just for you Overheating fans, the show will be live in September with the boys ready to complain about things going on. Also for the Overheating fans, bad news episode 2 is forever lost and we are sorry. Gaming Sigma Radio will slowly be making it’s way back onto to the air as usual but to make it much faster we need another Co-Host. In order to qualify you have to do this, send in a 300 word review on any game that has came out this year to gamingsigma@gmail.com and we will choose who has the best review. A review must include pros and cons about a game and the reason behind the things and a score, sounds easy?

Alias/Forum Name: Alec Masters

Title / Position at Fallen Earth: Lead Game Designer

What games have you played and worked on? Tons and tons of role playing games and card games.

How long have you been working on Fallen Earth? Three and a half years.

How did you get involved with your job position? Got brought up from being a writer. Became a writer by sending in my resume at just the right time.

What type of college courses or schooling did you have to prepare you for your position at Fallen Earth? I have a bachelor’s degree in English and Management Information Systems, but really my experience from freelance writing for years and years was more helpful.

What in particular inspired you to work in the gaming industry? I have to do something I like for my job, otherwise I get very surly. Or at least more surly than normal.

What games stand out in your memory for positive reasons? Well I’ve always loved the Fallout games and Wasteland before them for the great stories and interactions they presented.

What advice would you give to budding games / software developers? Go to school, but also do volunteer or freelance work as much as possible. I would rather hire someone with no degree who can show me quality work samples than someone who has a degree but can’t show me published writing credits, demo reels, etc.

On an average day, what do you do at Fallen Earth? Manage my minions, for lo they are legion.

What is your favorite

• Game: Fallout 2 probably, but it’s a hard choice.
• Book: The Guards series by Terry Pratchett.
• Song: Currently “Don’t Mess with Me” by Temposhark. Good supervillain song. Usually my tastes are less poppy, more a metal/Johnny Cash direction.
• Season: Spring.
• Past time: Archery aside from writing and gaming.
• Drink: Coke, possibly with Jack Daniels.
• Color: Green.
• Food: Pizza. I do love me some pizza.
• PnP: Spirit of the Century
• Faction: I do like all of them, but the Enforcers, CHOTA, and Vistas are probably my favorites.

Do you:

• roleplay? Lots. Mainly D&D 4E and Pendragon these days.
• have any pets? Two cats, Milla and Ponce de Leon.
• like beer or wine? Neither, whiskey.
• like coffee or tea? Neither, Coke.
• like cake or pie? Key Lime Pie.
• Coke or Pepsi? I grew up in Atlanta so Pepsi is a mortal sin in my eyes.
• Pizza or Hamburgers? Pizza.
• Chocolate or Ice Cream? Ice cream, especially gelato from the gelato place around the corner from the office.
• Boxers or Briefs? Boxers.

Have you ever styled/had a mullet? Nope.

If you could have one wish what would it be? Ergh, for the technology to make a non-polluting source of unlimited energy. Solve a lot of the world’s problems right there.

Name one thing you would take to an abandoned island and why? A bow and arrows. Keeps me entertained and can be used both for hunting and fishing.

Does the Landshark really exist? Other kids at school tell me it’s a lie. Other kids at school tell me it’s a lie. He exists Virginia. And on Christmas Eve he will fly across the world eating naughty forum members.

Are you willing to be bribed for an alpha spot and what would it take? Whiskey or pizza are a good start

(thx to forum guys!).

Ok let start this babby off with Fallen Earth! This is a MMORPG that is kinda crossed with an 3rd preson shooter. After downloading the whole 5.10 gigs i finally jumped into gameplay! The only game i could think to compare this to is Fallout 3. The level of character customization is unbeliveable for it to be in beta, and the gameplay is strong! The best perk of this game is that all the text is voice acted out! Also since i didn’ t get very far, maybe last mission towards the dam, but still was good. Also the story isnt half bad, You play as a lab rat who wants to escape the hover dam (kinda like the vaults in Fallout 3) and your being helped by a tech from the  Whitehorse(i believe thats what its called)company. now how this all started is simple. The shiva virus developed and killed millions, after countrys started accusing on another, the what do you know Nuculear Warfare! So its a Waste land. Overall once this game comes out i think ALL should try it, but note this game is in CLOSED BETA, (i just so happened to get in! )

We shall always remeber you, The king of Pop, Rest in Peace.

1 VS. 100

Written By:   ChillBilly

Alright as we all know the 1 vs 100 beta came out last week, and its pretty cool. First lets jump into the amount of detail that they put into the avitars. They run exactly as you would expect. Also they give all the avitars different emotes, or actions. From clapping, to dancing, and of course clapping. Now on to gameplay, since there are LOTS of people playing, it somewhat easy to get into a game. But there are times where you would think you will never play! Also, the question vary from many different subjects, as you would expect. All in All, from just playing the beta i think everyone should try it. Young and Old, Hardcore or Causal, Everyone can have a good time! Oh yea and before this ends, when primtime channel comes out and 1 vs 100 is full, you can play to win actual prizes! (MS points, Games, ect)

Hey peoples we couldn’t get around to making an episode of GSR for E3 so Elmarto and Laz decided to post their predictions of what possibly will debut at this year E3.

Microsoft:

Laz: Microsoft is my most look forward to keynote at the show. Why? Well they have been in the shadows for almost a year and whenever you ask them a question they will alway say “Wait till E3.” Lets get the most obvious things out of the way: Halo 3: ODST will be shown off at the show and people will cheer because it’s a new Halo and everybody loves more Halo. Assassin’s Creed 2 will be shown off at the Microsoft keynote. And last Splinter Cell: Conviction because it’s now exclusive  to Xbox. Now lets get to my predictions, some of them are going to be so out there that it will make you think ”Yeah that could happen.”: Rockstar just announced the name and the plot behind their next expansion to Grand Theft Auto IV called “Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony”, I wont go into the plot but I believe that they could show off the trailer to the upcoming expansion. But this prediction is going to be putten down because Rockstar says that they will not make an official appearance at E3. Next one is that they will show something that will wow us for Allen Wake. Gameplay, another trailer I dont know but the furthest they can go is to announce the release date which will win alot of people over because right now it looks like it will release when Duke Nukem Forever will get released. They wont go into PC gaming but it’s could be likely because it could come out for the Xbox as well, Half Life 2: Episode 3 will be announce which is another stratagy to win people over. Finally and the most drastic out of all my predictions is that it’s almost been 4 years when the current one was released. Could this year be the year that the rumored “Xbox 720″ be unveiled? It will be a massive announcement that beats anything Sony or Nintendo will be announcing no doubt and it could be the reason that Microsoft has been quiet for a year. Looking forward to tommorow’s keynote and all things that are massive will be announced at the end.

Elmarto: Halo ODST will definitely be the main showcase for Microsoft. I also expect that Modern Warfare 2 will be a major showcase for Xbox as well. I predict that Microsoft will take a great amount of depth in showing the future of Xbox Live Primetime since Microsoft promised this at last year’s E3 and haven’t shown much progress besides the upcoming 1 vs 100. I also predict major previews from Bioshock 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Dead Rising 2, and Lost Planet 2 (lots of sequels, don’t ya think?). However I personally believe that the major underdog for the Xbox will be Brutal Legend and this will probably be one of the best there at E3. As for the genre of music games I predict that there will be a major unveiling of  Rock Band: the Beatles, DJ Hero, and the newest Guitar Hero game. I don’t think that there will be much showing PC games except maybe The Sims 3 but i also expect a good showing of Rockstar’s upcoming addon for GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption. I do think that Microsoft’s will be the best of the show because of exclusives like Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction.  

Sony:

Laz: Sony has been having very good press conferences for the past couple of years now, but will the Playstation will sell this year? Last year, Sony lost alot of money and the games sold terrable but they get crittically acclaimed. Sony needs to fix that by announcing some well outstanding games that need to be 1st party and 3rd party. 3rd party games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Madden 10 will get better sales on the Xbox because of it’s online capabuilities and their exclusive content which the playstation lacks. Also all the things are predictable that happens at the press confrence for Sony, most of the games that will be shown off are games that we’ve seen before or we were expecting to see other than one game which is held till the end. Games like Heavy Rain, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, and MAG will be obviously shown including a number of games for the PSP and PS2 but we have to predict the mystery game. The most likely out of the pool of prediction is the unveiling of the next Kingdom Hearts game which could be Sony’s way of catching your attention but could that game be shown off at TGS. It’s really confusing but the other likely canidates are like Patapon for the PS3 which is highly unlikely it would most likely turn out to be a PSN game. But who knows they could just announce the next PSP and steal the show. Also lets not forget the hardware, Sony could also take the Microsoft’s Netflix capibuilty on the Xbox with partnership with Hulu and create a Hulu capabuility on the PS3 free of charge. Sony needs to unveil something big that will help them get back some of the losses of last year and it’s most likely going to be at this year’s E3.    

Elmarto: No doubt about this, but FFXIII will be most prominently unveiled for the PS3 although it will come to Xbox as well because it was first announced to Sony. I expect that the second biggest game unveiled will be God of War 3. I personally think that there will not be a great amount of difference between Sony’s showcase and Microsoft since most upcoming games will be available for both consoles. Major games that would be shown will probably be Uncharted 2, MAG, Dante’s Inferno, and Batman Arkham Asylum (especially because of the exclusive Joker challenge maps). I think though that the underdog for the PS3 will be BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. I also think that Square Enix will show off its two new non RPG games, Font Mission Evolved and Nier. I prdict that the biggest shocker will definitely be unveiling the next Kingdom Hearts game. As for the PSP I expect that Sony will show many games including Rock Band Unplugged but Final Fantasy: Dissidia will steal the show for the PSP. 

Nintendo:

Laz: Nintendo keeps on blowing off the hardcore audience with games like Wii music and Animal Crossing. The only game last year that was good was Super Smash Brothers and that pretty much made people buy a Wii again. Now the hardcore audience wants to know if Nintendo still loves them. And the answer is……. NO! The only games that you will hear this year is Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports Resort that we know of. But hey think about this, is this the year that Pikmin 3 will be finally shown off to the public? Thats the only way that Nintendo will win us over if Pikmin 3 is announced to the public, we know that they are working on it but they haven’t offically announced it and this could be the perfect time to do so. Another thing that we know that they are working on and we hope that they unveil is the next Zelda game. But Miyamoto says that E3 isn’t the right time to announce it. But lets finish this up with what is going to be shown off: New channel, Red Steel 2, Wii Sports Resort, Pikmin 3, mystery game.  

Elmarto: Nintendo, like last year,  will probably have a very lackluster performance. The only real game on the Wii that shows any hope and will probably be the main showcase will be Kid Icarus (which is still definitely better than last year’s god-awful Wii Music) . The only other game that might be shown will be Wii Resort. With this however they will also show the power of the Wii motion plus. Maybe the only game not made directly by Nintendo that might be shown will probably be Muramasa: the Demon Blade. Although there will probably nothing else that might be good Nintendo might surprise us by unveiling the next Mario or Metroid game on the Wii. I also expect little shown for the new DSi, but they will showcase Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks for it. There may be other games that will be shown like the new WarioWare game and other games that makes use of the DSi’s camera gimmick. I may also expect a new Castlevania game may also be shown here.

Thanks for your patience

-Laz