This week’s episode of The Electric Hydra Internet Radio Show was a short one, but also a special one. For the first time, we broadcasted the show live over the Internet and a cool group of faithful listeners joined us in the festivities. Often in the show, we reference the real-time comments we received and switched up the discussion based on what was going on in that chat room.

We did hit a few big pre-planned bits. Anthony and I discuss our issues with “LA Noire” after our gaga “oh, Jesus, these animations look amazing” phase, I talk about the absolute failure that “Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale” was, and I think we touch on the issue of video game logic versus real world, hardcore logic. Oh, and the PlayStation Vita rumor. Give this latest pod a listen to just below, or hey, subscribe to us on Zune or iTunes.

52 – ‘LA Noire’ And A Touch of Other Stuff

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You clamored for a PC-focused Date Night and I listened. This Friday at 7:00 PM EST, we’ll be rolling huge in “Minecraft” on our own private server. If you’d like to join in on what is sure to be awesome, feel free to read our post on that subject. Basically, you’ll need to drop your name details into this thread and then you’ll be given access.

PLATFORM: PC or Macintosh
GAME: “Minecraft”
SERVER NUMBER: 62.75.149.88
WHEN: Friday, May 27, 2011
TIME: 7:00 PM EST

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(There are spoilers for A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords in this post.)

In the beginning of the second half of episode 5 of our book club, Brad and I discuss whether or not A Song of Ice and Fire could be labeled tragic in the traditional sense. Brad is outright dismissive of the idea, but I think it has some merit — it meets the nobility quota for sure.

After considering it further, I’m more inclined to agree with Brad, but with a few significant distinctions.

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We have a lot of incredible readers and listeners. Miles is one of them. Dude kept hosting our “Minecraft” server well after our old provider buried the original site, and he kept the server alive as we set the game aside to rebuild our Web site and infrastructure.

In fact, it had been so long since I set foot in those digs, that I forgot it existed. He calmly reminded me that the server was still alive when I solicited for a new one the other day on the Twitter. So, let’s hear it for Miles, an unbelievable dude who deserves some props.

If you’re not down for e-applause and e-back patting, perhaps the best way we can honor Miles’ dedication is by enjoying some more “Minecraft.” In the interest of freshness, we have wiped our old stuff, updated the game, and are now accepting new dudes into a new, presumably soon to be quirk-ridden world.

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It is my pleasure to once again direct you to a new episode of the Electric Hydra Book Club, the very best place to find Brad Nicholson making blow job noises on the internet.

Predictably, Brad and I were both titillated by the horse decapitation that opens “The Wolf and the Lion,”  episode 5 of the HBO series Game of Thrones.”  I tried to broach the subject of whether or not that scene — and perhaps the series in general — is gratuitously violent, but Brad told me to grow a pair. Truly, he is the Loras to my Renly.

The second half of the episode is of course dedicated to the lengthier task of delving through chapters 20 — 40 of G. R. R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings. It is, I think, a little more organized and structured than past episodes — I hope that means that you all get more content and less swearing and stalling while I fish for a new topic, but I’ll let you all be the judge of that.

As usual, you can grab the new episode from iTunes, the Zune Marketplace, or the link below. And if you’re still fighting the good fight, your next assignment is to read through chapter 60, Davos III, by Memorial Day.

Book Club – A Song Of Ice and Fire – 05

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No, you haven’t stumbled through a time warp — we’re going to play “Battlefield: Bad Company 2″ for a second time on Date Night. This Friday at 7:00 PM EST, I invite all of you to come join me on the Xbox 360 version of the shooter. All you need to do to get in is drop your GT into this forum thread. Later, I’ll put you on my personal list.

PLATFORM: Xbox 360
GAME: “Battlefield: Bad Company 2”
WHEN: Friday, May 20, 2011
TIME: 7:00 PM EST

I bitched and moaned earlier about “Brink,” but I still feel like I need to apologize for what happened last week. Let’s just stick to the games that we know work for the time being, eh? Rock on, dudes!

In 2004, Bungie changed the perception of matchmaking. It embraced automation, giving the seekers of matches a measure of control over the matches they played. It found the best possible matches based on connection speed, desire, and rank. It also gave users the power to enter into matches with friends, a first I think, for Xbox LIVE.

I think this was one of the least celebrated triumphs in modern online design. This new matchmaking system was brilliant, but more importantly, it worked. Well, in fact.

Studios are still struggling to create engaging online experiences. I suppose that is to be expected. But what floors me, however, is that a lot of new games in 2011 still lack the online standard-setting features of “Halo 2.”

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As our most faithful well know, we’ve had a problem figuring out what to do with our old episodes after the server switch. We’ve blasted a lot of pods over the last year, which makes it difficult to incorporate the content on our new host. We’re capped and strapped, so the obvious “just upload them” tact won’t work.

Good news: you can find the vast majority of our old stuff here via this Media Fire folder account thing. Just hit up the link, dive into the folder and get the content.

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In this week’s episode of The Electric Hydra Internet Radio Show, the cast and crew discuss this week’s hottest game, “LA Noir.” Perhaps that’s not fair. We talk with Jim about his thoughts on the game (which he reviewed this morning for Destructoid.)

The chat takes the form of an investigation, actually, of the game’s content. You’ll learn a lot about its structure and mechanics, as well as its overall quality. Plus, I’m pretty sure Jim never lied during the interview. At least, I didn’t see him scratch his nose, raise an eyebrow, or look at the floor.

In terms of other content, we manage to go off the rails quite a bit. At one point, we touch on Owen Heart, the idea of man-shaped planes in “Ace Combat,” and other stupid stuff that might or might not be related to VIDEO GAMES.

Give us a download just below or grab us on iTunes or Zune Marketplace. Subcribers are the best dudes on the planet, so I suggest that you take the time to subscribe. You want to be a “best dude,” right? I thought so.

51 – ‘LA Noire’-cast

One of the things you fret over when you’re the social dude at the reigns of a podcast is how to leverage content. We use the Twitter and the Facebook in coordination with our stuff and our outreach, but we haven’t used YouTube. That changed this week with the pilot episode of The Electric Hydra LIVE.

In a nugget, TEH LIVE will be a bi-weekly-to-tri-weekly live version of our fair podcast where we focus on you and what we’re doing right at that moment. We’ll stream it our page on Justin.TV and then after the fact, upload the content to YouTube and an audio version to our pod feed. This is a scatter-shot approach that kills three birds with a single stone. And though I’m writing as the marketer  here, make no bones about it — this is going to be an awesome show.

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