Episode 233

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 233

Happy New Year!!

In this episode:

  • rush hour traffic, accidents, and stupid crazy drivers in northern NJ,
  • black ice and rubbernecking,
  • Grudge Match (2013) starring old men Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro,
  • getting a defective set top box from Verizon FiOS,
  • will we ever get an “a la carte” cable service?,
  • Tim Meadows gets mad at Saturday Night Live for leaving him off a new “Bill Brasky” skit,
  • really bad unsuccessful SNL skit-based movies,
  • Richard Dean Anderson returns as MacGyver in European car commercial “Crisis Averted”,
  • Bill Cosby’s Comedy Central stand up special,
  • Ed Helms starring in a reboot of The Naked Gun?,
  • the Angry Video Game Nerd agrees with us: Pit-Fighter is the worst SNES game of all time,
  • lousy video games made by LJN and Acclaim,
  • a Christmas Rob-view of The Family Holiday (2007) starring Dave Coulier,
  • celebrity deaths (Bum Phillips, Peter O’Toole, Paul Walker, and Nelson Mandela),
  • what’s the point of a “supercar”?,
  • Brian Jude developing a film The Miracle Man (IndieGoGo fundraiser),
  • Disney revamping Indiana Jones,
  • and Microsoft Xbox One officials are the Lame Idiots of 2013!

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Microsoft Xbox One

xbox_one The Paunch Stevenson Show Lame Idiot of The Year Award

The design, marketing, public relations, and executive team for the newly released Microsoft Xbox One console are the winner of The Paunch Stevenson Show Lame Idiot of 2013 Award. Granted the system has already sold quite well, but Microsoft went from being the dominant seventh generation system (everywhere but Japan) to Sony’s doormat.

Why did this happen? First there’s the price, debuting at $499, a full $100 more than the Playstation 4. That was thanks to the Kinect device, which all consumers are forced to buy whether they want it or not. Second issue was maybe the most vocal among hardcore gamers: DRM. DRM is digital rights management, and basically means that even though you physically own a game, you kind of don’t! The initial plan was that you buy a game, install it to the hard drive, but then couldn’t bring it to a friend’s house, trade it into a game store, etc., without severe restrictions. Despite highly negative reactions to rumors about this, Microsoft refused to discuss it and after the details were announced, refused to dump the policy for many months.

Hardware wise, the system (like PS4) comes with a 500 GB hard drive. However, unlike PS4, nobody has any idea how you can replace or upgrade the drive in an XBox One. Brilliant. Additional ambiguity is the need to have the system connected to the internet to function, something that isn’t possible for all users everywhere in the world. In one instance, an Xbox executive caustically admonished American military troops overseas for complaining that they couldn’t keep a system online like that in the middle of the desert. The executive told them “to shut up and keep playing the Xbox 360.” Not to mention certain privacy concerns.

Lastly, there’s the highly confusing name, Xbox One, which is what most of us have been calling the first Xbox released in 2001. Now Microsoft has relented on certain issues like DRM, and their mistreatment/draconian policies for Indie-game developers. But the damage was done. Lame!!!!!!!!

Episode 232

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 232

In this episode:

  • no longer needing to upgrade PCs these days,
  • Greg attends a taping of Ron Bennington’s Unmasked interview with Chris Elliott for SiriusXM (link to audio),
  • a John Stamos sighting,
  • the Razor Crazy Cart (commercial video),
  • our friends’ failed attempts at constructing home made go-karts and pedal cars,
  • what would long dead rockers look like if they were still alive today? (HuffPost link),
  • who’s your doppelganger?,
  • New Zealand comedian/singer Matt Mulholland (YouTube page),
  • HBO’s new series Hello Ladies starring Stephen Merchant,
  • and winning Eliza Dushku’s charity trip to Africa.

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58 minute MP3 file – 26.6 MB (right-click to save)

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Episode 231

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 231

In this episode:

  • listener reaction to Searching for Sugar Man,
  • shout out to Smidge Kurdlebaum of the GunkCast podcast,
  • should police officers wear suits of armor?,
  • Stan’s Rants on YouTube by Stan Lee,
  • our recap of season 9 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and season 5 of The League,
  • Nick Kroll’s Funny or Die “The Thanksgivukkah Movie Trailer”,
  • the upcoming Need for Speed (2014) movie,
  • our review of The Last Stand (2013) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger,
  • new Baywatch-esque show SAF3 starring Dolph Lundgren,
  • video on demand complaints,
  • JFK assassination anniversary, conspiracy, cover up, and obsession,
  • Greg’s video from the Jesse Ventura book signing,
  • sugar coated, revisionist, useless history books used in schools,
  • 1993-94 Boston Tea Party school project video,
  • today’s class warfare and the never-ending healthcare policy debate,
  • virtual reality discussion,
  • Oculus Rift, arcade games Beach Head 2002 and Vortek,
  • and the Old Jingle of the Episode (Baywatch theme song “I’m Always Ready” by Jimi Jamison).

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