Category Archives: AAK Podcast

AAK Podcast Episode 13

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

This week, Russ and Shawn talk Vegas, baby. Vegas. Plus the joy of shooting guns, Diablo III and (as usual) much, much more.

Russ Pitts is the Features editor for @VoxGames and the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist. Shawn Andrich is the co-founder of Gamers with Jobs. Russ and Shawn were previously co-hosts of GWJ’s acclaimed videogaming podcast Gamers with Jobs Radio. Shawn is currently host of the “Gamers with Jobs Conference Call” and “Striving.”

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
File size: 178 MB

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AAK Podcast Episode 12

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

Talking with mega-prolific writer and novelist Chuck Wendig about writing for a living, the role of narrative in games, how writers are changing the world and a few simple things you can do to dramatically improve your writing.

Russ Pitts is the Features Editor for @VoxGames, the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist and former producer of Tech TV’s The Screen Savers. Chuck Wendig is a freelance author, novelist and writer for games, film and many, many other things.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 56 minutes
File size: 111 MB

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AAK Podcast Episode 11

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

This week, Rus and Shawn shrug off the post-holiday laziness and talk about @VoxGames, cake mockery, the state of games media, Diablo 3, Saints Row the Third, SOPA, online communities & Iron Man vs. Robcop.

Russ Pitts is the Features editor for @VoxGames and the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist. Shawn Andrich is the co-founder of Gamers with Jobs. Russ and Shawn were previously co-hosts of GWJ’s acclaimed videogaming podcast Gamers with Jobs Radio. Shawn is currently host of the “Gamers with Jobs Conference Call” and “Striving.” Russ is currently taking some time off and watching a lot of TV.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
File size: 47.3 MB

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No AAK Podcast This Week, Will Continue Next

Due to the @VoxGmes announcement craziness, I didn’t have time to do an AAK podcast this week. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that my new job with Vox will not prevent me from continuing to do the AAK podcast. So look forward to more of those for the foreseeable future. Starting next week, when my good friend and polar opposite Shawn Andrich returns.

AAK Podcast Episode 10

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

This week, Russ talks to special gues Will Hindmarch, author and game developer about the weather in Sacremento and the rise of geek culture. Where it came from, where it’s going and what our place in it might be.

Russ Pitts is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist. Will Hindmarch is a Chicago-born freelance writer and designer with dozens of credits as an author, developer, and graphic designer. From 2004-2007 he was the developer of the flagship World of Darkness Storytelling Game, Vampire: The Requiem. Prior to that he designed numerous d20 System titles for several publishers, like Fantasy Flight Games, and served as developer of the cult-favorite action-movie RPG, Feng Shui, from Atlas Games. He has worked on numerous products honored with ENnie and Origins Awards, and designed the Outie Award-winning and fan-favorite book, the Requiem Chronicler’s Guide.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
File size: 47 MB

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AAK Podcast Episode 9

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

Russ Pitts and special guest Cory Banks discuss search engine optimization, advertising on the web, gamer grub, camping with technology, the death of videogame manuals, Dark Souls and the implosion of game media.

Russ Pitts is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist (and future … ?). Cory Banks is a freelance game journalist and contributor to the Gamers with Jobs Conference Call POdcast.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 13 minutes

File size: 34 MB

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AAK Podcast Episode 8

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

Russ Pitts and Shawn Andrich discuss Skyrim, Russ’s leather couch, controlling detsructive urges and using your large-screen TV to play games on your PC. And, of course, more.

Russ Pitts is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist (and future … ?). Shawn Andrich is the co-founder of Gamers with Jobs. Russ and Shawn were previously co-hosts of GWJ’s acclaimed videogaming podcast Gamers with Jobs Radio. Shawn is currently host of the “Gamers with Jobs Conference Call” and “Striving.” Russ is currently taking some time off and watching a lot of TV.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes
File size: 37.5 MB

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Back on the Chain Gang

I’ve been back from Texas for almost a week now and … yeah. Very hard to get plugged back in.

The trip itself was great. Lots of camping, lots of family, lots of food. I even worked in a run while I was away. And wrote about 4,000 words on business-y stuff, and a few thousand more on other things. And developed an addiction to Spell Tower for iPad. Good times all around.

One of the things I started writing while away was a story about the journey itself, which I think I have no other choice but to put up here. So look for that later this month. “Camping to Texas” is the title, and it should be fun.

As far as other writing, I have one more gaming-related feature story in the works at a major outlet. I’ll let you guys know when that goes up. They told me “later this year,” with all the specificity of a cable TV installation technician.

As an aside, and speaking of cable TV, I did finally break ties with Frontier Communications – sort of. My new 50Mbps Time Warner “Wide Band” service was installed just before I left for Texas and it is very, very fast. And so far the service has been about what I’ve expected from Time Warner, but they have yet to generate as colossal a customer service clusterfuck as Frontier, so fingers crossed. The Frontier DSL has been cancelled, but we’re keeping their landline telephone service for now. It’s hooked into our security system and we’ve learned the hard way that VOIP doesn’t work very well or reliably for that. Also, I kind of want to keep the account number active in case they do, at some point, turn things around. Maybe that’s a cop-out, but I prefer the term “diplomatic.” Aside over.

After that next story goes up, that’s it from me until next year some time. While I still can’t say yet what my new job is, I can say that in addition to being asked to not say what it is, I’ve been asked to not work anywhere else. Which, while perfectly reasonable, means I’ll be all but disappearing from the internet shortly and for an unspecified amount of time.

As far as the AAK Podcast, I’m slowly getting booted back up and hope to record a new episode this week sometime. Still a bit exhausted from driving 3,000 miles and all of the familial stuff that prompted that. Looking forward to unplugging again for my birthday (December 24th) and the Christmas/New Year holiday. Between now and then, however, I will do my best to get some AAK and other goodness up here.

As for what the new year holds … still don’t know for sure, but it’s shaping up to be awesome.

AAK Special Episode Peter Tangen Interview

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

For this special episode, Russ interviews Peter Tangen, producer and photographer who is one of the driving forces behind the Real Life Superhero Project, chronicling the exploits of actual men and women who wear costumes and do good deeds. Peter talks about getting to know the real life superheroes and how the experienced has changed how he looks at the world. Perfect fodder for this Thanksgiving holiday.

To follow the Real Life Superhero Project, visit their website or follow the project on Twitter.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 24 minutes

File size: 10MB

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AAK Podcast Episode 6

Gaming, internet, television. Repeat. It’s your life. We’re not judging.

On this week’s episode, we’re talking with Graham Stark from internet comedy troupe Loading Ready Run about comedy, becoming a web video success and Desert Bus, Loading Ready Run’s annual web-telethon fundraiser for the Child’s Play children’s charity.

To follow and participate in Desert Bus, visit the Desert Bus website.

For more information about the Child’s Play charity, go here.

Music by: Ian Dorsch.

Running time: 1 hour, 11 minutes

File size: 35MB

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