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The Zed to Zed Podcast: The Show For Xbox Achievement Hunters and Gamerscore Junkies

The show for Xbox achievement hunters and Gamerscore junkies! We discuss topics relating to Xbox gaming, Gamerscore, achievements, and Gamerscore. Did we mention Gamerscore?
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Now displaying: 2016
025.1 - Pre-E3 2016 Special
Jun 12, 2016

025.1 - Pre-E3 2016 Special

A short pre-E3 special show where the crew discusses their thoughts and predictions for E3 2016. “Short”. Yeah, thanks Brandon.

Show notes are always available on the Zed to Zed website

We are on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play! Please give us a rating or review, it will really help us and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us!

Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements.

Hosts:

0:00:00 - Brandon and Damien talk E3

1:42:13 - Tarragon, Jo and Crandy talk E3

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Songs and sounds that have been used in the show:

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms

 

025 - In Between a Frog and a Hard Achievement
Jun 8, 2016

025 - In Between a Frog and a Hard Achievement

Tarragon breaks tradition and buys a lot of games; Brandon yells at a cloud; Crandy does his best impression of Krang; we review brand new puzzle platformer In Between.

Show notes are always available on the Zed to Zed website

We are on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play! Please give us a rating or review, it will really help us and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us!

Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements.

Hosts:

0:00:00 - Intro

012:48 - Recap

  • Tarragon BALROG prep kicking off
  • Tarragon’s New Games
    • Greg Hastings Paintball 2 (EU)
    • Motorcycle Club
    • The Escapists (360)
    • Super Meat Boy
    • Just Dance Disney Party 2 Xbox One
    • Among the Sleep
  • Tarragon Ordered:
    • Tour de France 2015 Xbox One
    • MotoGP 15 Xbox 360
    • Transformers Devastation Xbox 360
    • Psycho Break (Evil Within) Xbox One
    • Zoids Infinity EX Neo (JP)
    • Super Robot Taisen XO
    • Army of Two: 40th Day (JP)
    • Overlord (JP)
    • Cross Edge Dash
    • Hokuto Musou (Fist of the North: Ken's Rage) (JP)
    • Double Clutch (Conflict: Denied Ops) (JP)
    • IHF Handball Challenge 14
    • Rabbids Invasion TV
    • Psycho-Pass
    • Diario: Reverse Moon Legend
    • Momotarou Dentetsu 16 Gold
  • Leap Frog
    • Freamwhole croaked - Project Spark let him down
    • Tarragon is planned to about 13.0
  • Playing Zeds: Crandy vs Fream
    • In Between: Crandy wins!
    • Achievements are backloaded - candidate for preloading?
    • Some glitchy achievements, counters are off
  • Playing Zeds: Community vs Fream or Crandy?
  • Fream played: Project Spark, In Between, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2,
  • Tarragon played: Among the Sleep, Minecraft 360, Killer Instinct, Rare Replay, Six Guns (Win8), Knight Squad, Factotum 90, Xbox Fitness, Blast ‘em Bunnies
  • GTASC: Tarragon’s team survived period 20 and cutoffs have changed

0:39:56 - Listener Feedback

  • WNBA Kirkland = Wife of NBA Kirkland
  • Burnah Bros: re: music
  • Jjaldana: State of Decay 2
  • Kaiba Chaos: should MS give up on Japan?
  • Big Ell: Crandy met his wife online, not on TA though
  • Saucy Slingo: $1 million to never see an ending of a game or movie ever again?
  • Saucy Slingo: topic - cross-platform unlocks?
  • Big Ell: Crandy sounds like Krang from TMNT, should have an alt account called Kraangdy

0:59:42 - News

1:34:02 - Leaderboard Update

  • Only covering top 25 from now on
  • Started tracking game completions and played
  • Shoutout to the Endless Bean Dive guys: Madeyepadeye, Montana97, seamonkeypowder
  • Game completions: 19% of people on TA have not completed any game, 25% have not completed a game including all DLC
  • Big news:
    • Celtic Force hit 2 million TA
    • smrnov hits 1.3 million GS
    • Stallion83 increases GS lead over smrnov ~7k, narrows TA gap to ~8k
  • Top scorer: Stallion with 40,344 TA and 24,732 GS
  • Other milestones
    • GS
      • 900k: jimmyhova
      • 800k: lucas1987, Minioger, Matt DB87
    • TA
      • 1.8m: Rand al Thor 19
      • 1.7m BIGSXY1
      • 1.6m red tanuki
      • 1.5m ChaosSlayerX187
      • 1.4m Sangriaz, Terrin
  • Battles to watch
    • GS
      • Last month: BIGSXY1 closing on RedmptionDenied for 5th spot
        • RedmptionDenied responded and widened the gap a bit
      • Last month: Spots 14 through 18 are all very close around the 850k mark
        • A lot of activity around this space, from 14 down to 25 almost everyone changed position
      • Matt DB87, currently position 1 on the Games Started leaderboard, is on the cusp of the top 25 for GS
    • TA
      • Fairly quiet month for the top 25
      • Womi lost two positions, and Spawnycher very close to overtaking Sangriaz

1:36:55 - Shovelware Cemetery: In Between

  • SANCTUARY

2:02:14 - Knobs and Discos

  • NBA 2K14 discontinued

2:03:00 - Zombie News Corner

2:06:00 - Outro

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Songs and sounds that have been used in the show:

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms

 

024 - Ell, Michelle, and a Proulx
Jun 1, 2016

024 - Ell, Michelle, and a Proulx

This week both Randy and Tarragon were away, so Big Ell, Matrarch, and Proulx join Brandon to talk news, gaming and achievements. And there was much rejoicing.

Show notes are always available on the Zed to Zed website

We are on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play! Please give us a rating or review, it will really help us and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us!

Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements.

Hosts:

Guests

0:00:00 - Intro

  • Fream is all alone today
  • Achievement sponsor: Hero of the Day from World of Tanks
  • Fream’s Dark Souls Twitch Stream
  • Random To-Do List officially starting soon
  • Tarragon’s list of new games:
    • Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing
    • Active Soccer 2 DX
    • Super Night Riders
    • Level 22
    • Shred It
    • Styling Garden Defense
    • Coffin Dodgers
    • Factotum 90
    • Krinkle Krusher
    • Reagan Gorbachev
    • Mega Coin Squad
  • Fream’s list of new games:
    • Zombie Army Trilogy
    • Rogue Legacy
    • The Escapists: The Walking Dead
    • Halo: The Master Chief Collection
  • Monthly challenges
    • Mostly a complete fail ;)
    • Fream will beat Tarragon on Project Spark due to the weekly achievement
    • Crandy beat Fream on Tomb Raider
    • Fream and Crandy equalized on 5/12 in Geometry Wars
  • Introducing segment: Playing Zed
    • Host vs host weekly challenges
    • First week: Fream vs Crandy - In Between
    • We welcome community vs host challenges!

0:13:47 - Guest Introductions and Recap

  • Introducing Big Ell, Matrarch and Proulx
  • Come back McLovin’, it’s only for one show ;)
  • Everybody still leaping in Leap Frog
  • What achievements are you proud of unlocking during Leap Frog?
  • What point did you start matching achievements to the Leap Frog requirement?
  • UNEVEN GAMERSCORE OH GOD MY OCD
  • Brandon:
    • Project Spark
    • Disney Infinity 2.0
    • PvZ 2
    • Quantum Break
  • Proulx
    • Disney Infinity 2.0
    • Killer Instinct
    • Halo: MCC
    • Mush (WP)
  • Big Ell
    • Shadow Complex
    • Halo: MCC
  • Matrarch
    • The Cave
    • Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
    • Letterquest

0:52:17 - Feature: Community Spotlight

1:24:41 - News

2:02:49 - Listener Feedback

  • Thanks for the review Tatey!
  • SaucySlingo asks about Hololens
  • Keith271179 asks about predictions for surprise game announcements at E3
  • NBA Kirkland asks about Xbox hardware updates, and clarifies free multiplayer suggestion
  • Kaiba Chaos asks why Big Ell hates leaderboards so much

2:21:08 - Knobs and Discos

  • Nothing … oh wait! Mural is back in Killer Instinct. Thanks Big Ell!

2:21:53 - Backwards Compatibility and Game Delays

  • New BC titles: Ducktales Remastered, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Hexic 2, Magic 2012, Domino Master, Unbound Saga, SSX

2:24:06 - Zombie News

2:27:36 - Outro

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Songs and sounds that have been used in the show:

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms

 

023 - Settling the (Musical) Score
May 25, 2016

023 - Settling the (Musical) Score

A news heavy show this week, with a tactical diversion into talking about game music (and music in general).

Show notes are always available on the Zed to Zed website

We are on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play! Please give us a rating or review, it will really help us and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us!

Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements.

Hosts:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:19:00 - Recap

  • Tarragon
    • Project Spark x2
    • Elite Dangerous
    • NERO
    • Rare Replay
    • Games update: Pixel Piracy, Unravel, Sniper Elite 3, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, State of Decay: Year One, Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek
  • Crandy
    • Geometry Wars
    • Saints Row 2 DE
    • Quake 4
    • Ghostbusters
    • DOOM
    • Grind Hero 360
    • Project Spark x2
  • Fream
    • Project Spark
    • Rayman Legends
    • Geometry Wars, joined the 5/12 club to equal Crandy

0:35:52 - News

1:15:07 - Listener Feedback

  • Do or do not; there is no try
  • Burnah Bros
  • Tatey and Proux re: Day One Xbox Ones
  • LordChabelo13: Dory DLC adding achievements to Disney Infinity
  • KinectKid33: All about MIDI macros for Guitar Hero and Rock Band
  • Arsenic 17: Gamerscore hunting a declining hobby?
  • The Nyghty: What’s your “out of this world” passion? Fream is Zombies …
    • Tarragon: psychological supernatural horror, e.g. Paranormal Activity
    • Crandy: dystopia
  • NBA Kirkland and JStryker416: best and worst endings in games
  • Madeyepadeye: How much is too much for a game?
  • R56CooperS11: Lootcrate?
  • Ozbundyboy: Woodchucks?

2:26:41- Feature Content: Music

  • AC/DC gym music
  • Fream likes Punk and Ska and Insane Clown Posse
  • Tarragon likes everything and nothing
  • Crandy is close to the metal and Vaporwave
  • Game Soundtracks:
    • Tarragon:
      • Halo - IGN Unfiltered with Marty O’Donnell
      • Quake (Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails)
      • C64 composers: Martin Galway, Rob Hubbard, JCH, Jeroen Tel
      • Portal 2
      • Silent Hill
      • Sword & Sworcery
      • Machinarium
      • Late addition: AirMech Arena by Front Line Assembly
    • Crandy
      • Dead Rising Mall Music
      • Bioshock
      • Syndicate
      • Saints Row
      • Killer Instinct
      • Party Hard
      • Tetris for CDi
      • Earthworm Jim
      • Sonic CD
    • Game Informer Podcast about game music
    • Brandon:
      • Dr Mario
      • Tetris
      • Life Is Strange
    • Guile’s Theme Goes With Anything
    • Soundtrack of popular songs vs a score
    • The Flame in the Flood
    • Fallout

2:51:17 - Shovelware Cemetery

2:58:03 - Knobs & Discos

  • Forza 3 servers are back?

2:58:44 - Backwards Compatibility

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops

3:00:23 - Zombie News Corner

3:08:52 - Outro

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Songs and sounds that have been used in the show:

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms

 

022 - DEFCON Spark Infinity Zed
May 18, 2016

022 - DEFCON Spark Infinity Zed

A couple of server closure announcements spark a flurry of action, before the achievements are lost to the infinite void. Randy talks with Karsten from indie developer Happy Tuesday.

Show notes are always available on the Zed to Zed website

We are on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play! Please give us a rating or review, it will really help us and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us!

Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements.

Hosts:

0:00:00 - Intro

  • Crandy’s Mug: Starbucks Paris
  • G.R.A.W. Update
  • Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” was inspiration for Butterfly Effect
  • Tarragon’s 300k achievement guessing contest: angelsk (Jo) picked it, prize still up for grabs

0:11:00 - News

0:53:24 - Recap

  • Crandy
    • Wordament Snap Attack
      • Wow, such glitch, many bug
    • Guitar Grind Hero Live
    • Geometry Wars
    • Tomb Raider
    • Saints Row 2 DE
  • Tarragon
    • The Park
    • Aquazone
    • Payday 2
    • Elite Dangerous
    • Project Spark Windows 8 and One
    • Games purchased this week: 0 - did buy in game currency for Elite though
  • Fream
    • Project Spark
    • Knight Squad
    • Geometry Wars
    • Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
    • Disney Infinity 2.0
    • Fable Heroes
    • Left 4 Dead 2

1:19:58 - Listener Feedback

  • Dan Tate - Day One Console is fine … oh wait
  • Montana97 - last full price game that didn’t trigger instant regret
  • NBA Kirkland, McLovinLegend1 on Fream’s bike accident
  • Handydarkness - Sega Mega Drive UC  and Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection will allow play of Sonic 1, 2, 3 and the delisted Golden Axe XBLA titles via Backwards Compability
  • Fream’s Feed: 130+ comments!?
  • Jjaldana - Australia Dark Souls
  • Big Ell, MightyMango - Crandy’s completion percentage
  • The Nyghty - Crandy, antisocial?
  • Big Ell - If everything could be unlocked like Fallout 3 PC, would you?
  • McLovinLegend1 - Assassin’s Creed Trailer
  • Leaderboard Feedback
  • Decoy1982 - Community Let’s Play

2:07:06 - Interview with Karsten from Happy Tuesday

2:52:28 - GamerScore Boot Camp: The Park

2:54:35 - Knobs and Discos

  • The Hight-Parking achievement in Trucking 3D (Win 8) fixed
  • Project Spark sunsetting August 12th 2016, delisted
  • Warning regarding Disney Infinity online and community achievements
  • Disney Infinity Toy Box (Win8) Disney account connectivity dead
  • Three/Fourths Home achievements completely broken now?
    • Thanks Tim Blair and KaibaChaos for the heads up

2:59:53 - Game Delays and Backwards Compatibility

  • Mass Effect Andromeda delayed to 2017
  • BC:
    • Frogger 2
    • Puzzlegeddon
    • Faery: Legends of Avalon
    • Final Fight: Double Impact
    • Deus Ex: Human Revolution

3:03:45 - Zombie News Corner

  • Dead of Winter: The Long Night expansion
  • Dead Island Retro Revenge
  • Undead Labs: State of Decay contest (ends May 15th)

: - Outro

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Songs and sounds that have been used in the show:

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms

 

021 The Forever 3/12 Club
May 11, 2016

021 - The Forever 3/12 Club

This week Fream joins a special club, Crandy and Damien review MagNets: Fully Charged, Tarragon delves into the TA leaderboards, and lots of other stuff as usual.

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

Please give us a rating or review on iTunes and in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success, and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements and zzUrbanSpaceman's blog.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Damien aka "Spazpol" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro

Fream’s Bike Accident

  • Learning how to ride a bike, Fream got a boo boo.

Crandy’s Canada Starbucks Mug

  • #suchahomer

Fream won $15 from NastyMastaDaddy

  • Cinco de mayo winnings
  • Fream purchased Geometry Wars

Facial la Fleur - Geometry Wars stuck at 3/12 forever club

Crandy - Still in school (no surprise there)

0:09:32 - Listener Feedback

Matt Quin - Dead Rising: Watchtower - looking forward to Endgame

  • Crandy may watch it instead of grinding Tomb Raider.

Decoy1982 - Thanks for the email, going thru the binge listening.

  • Alan Wake codes to give away

TheJoeDean - likes the idea of a community stream / group.  Twitch possibly?

  • Tarragon would have to go to work on the weekend :-(

TheTVirusTyrant - Resident Evil teaser this E3?

Decoy1982 - Life is Strange - ever seen the movie Butterfly Effect (the original one)

Montana97 - do you care about uneven GS?

ozBundyBoy - other gaming platforms

  • Brandon would own everything if money was no issue.
  • Smash brothers is awesome.
  • Tarragon owns them, but doesn’t use them because they lack achievements.
  • Randy would own them if money was no issue as well

Kursed Souls - When will Fream play Bioshock?

MattQuin - Tarragon’s game addiction update

Mighty Mango - Day One Consoles

SaucySlingo - Preview Program

Keith271179 - regarding Done Unlocking!

NBA Kirkland - Dark Souls DLC have no achievements

Mclovin Legend - Games to introduce to non-gamers

Jjaldana and ChiT0wnRedneck - E3

“Boycotts”

R46CooperS11 - COD: Spacefighting Bros

1:08:25 - News

Battlefield 1

Multi-Genres Feature on TA

X1 Game Management Update “Soon”

Mighty No. 9 gone gold - June 21st

Respawn working on a Star Wars game

Battleborn Weekly Balancing Tweaks?

Six new games added to Video Game Hall of Fame

1:30:28 - Recap

Leap Frog

Fream

  • Geometry Wars
  • Enslaved
  • The Escapists
  • Project Spark
  • Overwatch Beta

Tarragon

  • Project Spark
  • Elite Dangerous
  • Prize: Fruit Ninja Kinect code for the person to guess his 300k achievement

Crandy

  • Wordament Snap Attack
  • Tomb Raider
  • Saints Row 2 DE
  • Dead Rising 2

1:44:15 - Feature: TA Leaderboard Movements Update

1:51:30 - Shovelware Cemetery

  • MagNets: Fully Charged

1:58:34 - Knobs and Discos

  • Alekhine’s Gun - Chameleon to remain unobtainable?
  • Screen Cheat - Sky Captain fixed

2:03:08 - Backwards Compatibility & Game Delays

2:04:56 - Giveaway

2:05:30 - Zombie News

2:08:28 - Outro

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

 

020 That Ol' PAX Aroma
May 4, 2016

020 - That Ol’ Pax Aroma

Damien (Spazpol) joins us to talk about his experiences at PAX East 2016.

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

Please give us a rating or review on iTunes and in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success, and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements and zzUrbanSpaceman's blog.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

Gamerscore Boot Camp music: "Tally Screen" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! 2 developed and published by WayForward Technologies

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Damien aka “Spazpol” - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro

0:15:42 - Talking Zeds: Pax with Damien

  • Ｉｎｓｔａｎｔ  ｍｅｓｓａｇｉｎｇ
  • Aroma
  • History
  • Xbox booth
    • Cuphead
    • Gears of War 4
  • The Behemoth
    • Pit people
  • Gearbox
    • Panel
    • Battleborn
    • Rock Band is dead to me (and so is Gearbox and Harmonix [Rock Band 4 is still dead to me])
    • Borderlands 3 (what a surprise)
  • Jackbox team
    • PAX community Quiplash
  • Indie booths
    • Tinybuild - Speedrunners
    • Patching on Xbox is hard
    • Flinthook
    • Bad history with indie on Xbox 360
    • Piranaking - Lastfight
    • Deathstate
    • Forced: Showdown
    • Buy Madden, keep EA alive
  • Major Nelson Podcast (don’t ask about day one consoles)
    • Overwatch beta
  • Twitch lines - Midipaw
  • Lines to trade Pokemon cards with Midipaw
  • Midipaw
  • Overwatch demo - Midipaw?
    • Press vs. gamers
  • Capybara Games - Below - Xbox One (semi?) exclusive
  • Compulsion Games - We Happy Few
  • Daedalic - Air
  • Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick (Monkey Island devs) - Thimbleweed Park
  • Death Road to Canada
    • Shovelware Cemetery

1:32:10 - Recap

 

  • More notes to come

 

2:02:30 - News

2:34:55 - Listener Feedback

3:02:17 - GamerScore Boot Camp

3:05:05 - Knobs & Discos

3:06:20 - Backwards Compatibility and Game Delays

3:08:55 - Zombie News Corner

3:10:36 - Code Giveaways

3:12:10 - Outro

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

019 The Cost of Gamerscore? (So. Many. Toys)
Apr 27, 2016

019 - The Cost of Gamerscore? (So. Many. Toys)

This week we are covering an introduction to home mortgage refinance as it relates to trying to complete games in the Toys to Life genre.

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

Please give us a rating or review on iTunes and in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success, and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements and zzUrbanSpaceman's blog.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Show notes by Randy and Jo and Tarragon.

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Jo aka “angelsk” - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Damien aka “Spazpol” - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro

0:11:59 - Recap

  • Crandy (week 2 post GRAW)
    • Hexic (sort of)
    • Guitar Hero Live
    • Universe at War
    • Killer Instinct
    • Gears of War 2
    • Ghostbusters: the Video Game
    • Bioshock Infinite
    • Party Hard
  • Tarragon
    • Project Spark
    • Elite Dangerous (like project spark and/or drinking tea in space)
    • Mirror’s Edge Beta
  • Brandon
    • Battleborn
    • DOOM
    • Spongebob Squarepants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge
    • Destiny
    • Project Spark
    • Nobody has time
    • Stikbold
    • Mirror’s Edge Beta

0:43:15 - Listener Feedback

  • Thank you to: IXI Falcon IXI, SiNaCiDe IiI, Keith 271179, Mighty Mango, Big Ell, Facial Le Fleur, Daniel Proulx, Mclovin Legend, LordChabelo13, Arsenic 17, Daniel Tate, and everybody else that participated on our social media.
  • SiNaCiDe IiI - Live shows in the future?
  • Keith 271179 - What game from another platform would you like to play with achievements?
  • Mighty Mango - What is your favourite non-Xbox/pc game?
  • xxx420B1G 311420xxx - What are your favourite Xbox 360 and Xbox One launch titles?
  • We can’t spell Facial Le Fleur or say Daniel Proulx
  • Mclovin Legend - Elite Dangerous
  • New 24 hour long Zed to Zed episode
  • Daniel Tate - Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn (NOTE FROM JO: Seriously, does no-one read the show notes? I said this last week ;)
    • No-one has the Griffin as a national animal sadly :( - JC
  • Facial Le Fleur - Various comments

1:19:08 - News

1:27:40 - Talking Zeds - Toys 2 Life

  • LEGO Dimensions
  • Very important note: It is "LEGO" not "LEGOs" ;)
    • I DO WOT I WANT! :P -TA
    • It's a BRAND NAME - The LEGO company themselves have said DO NOT DO THIS :P - LEGO® - JC
    • LEGO doesn’t own the English language ;) I “google” things too. Google didn’t want that to be a verb, too bad. Language is used by people, not companies. RARAAARAAA! I have many legos. MANY. LEGOS. -TA
    • You have many LEGO® bricks! I have many LEGO® minifigs ;) - JC
    • Bah. Humbug. -TA
  • LEGO Dimensions Tracker - figure out your minimum number of packs required for various 100%s
    • Only need Starter Pack and Level Packs for 100% achievements
  • LEGO Portals:
    • Console specific for Xbox (one for 360, one for the One), but will be forwards compatible with new seasons
    • PS3/4 and Wii U are shareable
    • All level/ fun/ team packs are cross-platform - you only need to buy the starter pack multiple times
  • Disney Infinity Series
  • Disney Infinity Compatibility Guide - figures, bases, play sets, etc
  • Can get 100% achievements with starter pack/ base game
    • Easier if you have extra characters as have more choices of feats. Feets?
    • Also XP bonus.
  • 2016 is a year without a Disney Infinity release
  • Best to get Disney characters with ranged abilities (primary)
  • Windows 8 version can be done for free (as maps/etc cycle)
  • Skylanders Series
  • Portals (on the same platform) - newest game portal should work on the oldest game (backward compatible) - compatibility guide
  • Character Compatibility
  • Recommend: Teraffin and a giant
  • Can 100% achievements with base game/packs
    • But easier with more characters as more characters = more lives! (That's a cool way of doing it)
  • DI: Characters are locked out of content (in Story, not Toy Box), LD: You can have Gandalf in the TARDIS in the Portal universe, or Batman riding around on K-9 shooting the flying monkeys in Oz. *pew pew pew pew*
  • Lots of Gamerscore in this genre
  • Jo's full LEGO Dimensions Collection (some of collection with Portal)
  • Player 2 achievements? Best to check the achievement tags on TA. Most seem to be Co-op+, DI levelling is linked to your account
  • Use of the LD Portal is very cool
  • Metal Gear Solid controller trick

2:11:49 - Shovelware Cemetery

  • Featuring Damien (Spazpol)
  • Soda Drinker Pro
    • Even YellowLegoGuy (an 8yo) thinks this game is awful
    • VERY BURIED
    • Long loading times, particularly given...
    • Graphics are terrible, and there’s nothing in the levels
    • 5.5GB, why?
    • 3 years in development, and it shows. Wait, no it doesn’t.
    • Contains a secret game within the game called Vivian Clark
      • Probably the best part of the entire game
  • Party Hard
    • Really fun, simple concept that is executed well
    • Both Damien and Crandy really enjoyed this game
    • Relatively quick completion (12 hours or so) but mostly fun
    • 5.25 inch floppy disk for loading screen ++ - Crandy
    • Music is inspired by Rockit by Herbie Hancock: 80s cheesy beats
    • Has zombies! @Freamwhole
    • Some hidden people a little frustrating to find, needed to be looked up
    • Bugs: dead bodies flail around sometimes, not game breaking
    • To the Sanctuary! 

2:37:00 - Knobs and Discos

  • What are you laughing at Jo? :P
  • Halo 4 challenge achievements are discontinued: challenges have not updated for months, 343 has not been responsive to the issue.
    • Unsure how/if this affects Halo:MCC
  • Kinect Nat Geo TV series 1 and 2 discontinued
  • Party Hard Vivian Clark achievement unobtainable at time of recording
    • Appears to be fixed at time of writing these notes
  • Bike Mayhem 2

2:40:34 - Backwards Compatibility and Game Delays

  • Rayman: Origins
  • Mirror’s Edge Catalyst delayed … 2 weeks
  • Lumo delayed - thanks for the tip QuiCkz Ninja

2:42:44 - Zombie News Corner

2:46:32 - Outro

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

 

018 - Oh No… BETA!
Apr 20, 2016

018 - Oh No… BETA!

This week's show is all about betas. We look to have a good fruitful discussion about alphas, betas, server tests and the like. Maybe it'll even turn into a "de-beta" *groan*.

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

Please give us a rating or review on iTunes and in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success, and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements and zzUrbanSpaceman's blog.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

Break music: "Game Cool Dubstep Mode Logo" by Sparximer

Gamerscore Boot Camp music: "Tally Screen" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

Jo’s Review music: "Dalmation Station (It Gets Better Mix)" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Show notes by Jo and Damien and Jo and Tarragon…  

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Also featuring:

Jo aka "angelsk" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro

0:09:16 - Housekeeping

  • What do you think makes more sense: 'Fream Early Access' or 'Tarragame Preview Program'?
  • Great Random To-Do List (beta) - need some testers - sign up on the Leaderboard (exclusive): Zed to Zed Presents: The Random To Do List (Beta)
  • Dark Souls Fream-cast - April 23rd 10PM Central Time (Zed to Zed Twitch Channel)
  • Achievement Hound Community Show #100 featuring Fream - available to download now (Tarragon was on episode #98)
  • Game Trials you can earn achievements (incomplete, via Sinacide), also thanks to griffey95. Send the Z2Z crew your messages.
  • PSA: Dirt 3 VIP Pass is currently free (was GwG)
  • Donations of game codes from WaterDrip37 and BuckMarley155, thank you
  • Lots of codes to give away, keep eyes peeled on our Twitter feed

0:17:24 - Backlog and Recap

  • Tarragon
    • Elite: Dangerous
    • ZHEROS (local co-op) - non-stacking achievements, *boo*
    • Threes!
    • Tachyon Project
    • Whispering Willows
    • Elite: Dangerous!
    • Blast 'Em Bunnies
    • Project Spark
    • Elite: Dangerous (GRAW in space, Destiny with Spaceships)
  • Crandy
    • Not GRAW
    • Killer Instinct (Ranked matches)
    • Red Faction Guerilla (completion)
    • Perfect Dark Zero
    • Universe at War: Earth Assault
    • Pool Pro Online 3
  • Fream
    • Destiny (new patch) - you need to sleep!
    • Ben 10: Rise Of Hex (speed run walkthrough?)
    • Project Spark
    • Quantum Break
    • Stikbold (only the first player gets achievements, *boo*)

0:45:11 - Listener Feedback

  • Thanks to MattQuin89, KaibaChaos, angelsk, Supernova x360a, NBA Kirkland, Big Ell, KinectKid333, Planting42, Lucky32468, Seb/The Nyghty, McLovin Legend, Spazpol, Facial la Fleur, HandyDarkness, 1updan, James Vexed, SaucySlingo, smrnov
  • Appropriate age to start on TA?
  • Catch the achievement hunter bug when first visit TA.
  • 100k nice milestone, top 10% (ish) on TA
  • Community banter is good!
  • You know you're addicted to gamerscore when you play out your living room to fit Kinect when you move house :)
  • Runescape in space
  • Crandy has a problem. 365 days of play time on Runescape
  • *tongue-face*
  • This makes no sense. I am too old to have played Runescape.
  • Crandy's 99s
    • Attack
    • Constitution
    • Strength
    • Smithing
    • Defense
    • Herb Law
    • Ranged
    • Thieving
    • Cooking
    • Prayer
    • Crafting
    • Fire Making
    • Magic
    • Fletching
    • Wood Cutting
    • Farming
    • Construction
    • Summoning
  • Threes Solver - you need to build it - watch this space
  • Quantum Break - approach, start it on Hard, no guides (collectibles are easy)
  • KinectKid333 - Crandy, how do you make the MIDI Macros?
    • To be discussed in detail in a later episode.
  • Lucky34268 - How to clean up 0GS games like on the xbox 360?
  • MattQuin89 - Finally heard my shout-out.  What are your favorite ID@Xbox title? Mine is http://www.trueachievements.com/Stick-it-To-The-Man/achievements.htm
  • Seb/The Nyghty: Cross-play concerns
    • Some games (FPS) PC may be unfair against console gamers.
    • Concerns about mods.
    • Real time strategy (RTS) are just bad on console (Tarragon + Randy agree)
  • Christian Allen feedback:
    • McLovin Legend: Best interview so far. Been waiting to see which one of you would swear first :) [It was Brandon]
    • Spazpol: listening to the Christian Allen interview podcast at 15,000 feet!  Awesome in flight entertainment. [Don’t die on your race BTW]
    • Facial: Takedown: Red Sabre game on the grounds that he seems like a likable dude.
  • HandyDarkness: Wife is home and OK.  Suggests having a 4th person on standby to avoid 2 host shows.
  • Seb/The Nyghty: Facebook vs Twitter users [Randy needs to ask his mom to take off the parental controls]
  • Daniel Proulx @1updan: 3 hour show length is good.
  • SaucySlingo & Smrnov: Ducks vs horses.  The debate continues.
  • McLovin Legend: Randy needs a rant section

1:53:49 - News

1:57:34 - Talking Zeds: Beta Season

  • Oh No... BETA!!
  • Beta Release Schedule from MajorNelson
  • If it's broken, it's a Beta.
  • Usually; beta = Software that is feature complete but known to be buggy (beta to iron out the rest of the bugs). With games it's more of a stress test
  • Beta = a good way to cancel pre-orders :)
  • Rainbow 6 Siege beta
  • Gears of War Ultimate edition
  • Evolve
  • Homefront Revolution
  • DOOM - plays like Quake, not old Doom.
    • Leaderboard achievements like Quake 4? Hopefully not.
    • Season Pass - Crandy rant
  • Exclusivity from a beta? e.g Sonic 2 Beta cartridge (this is a promo copy, not a beta)
  • Mega Hype Train *choo choo*
  • "Betas are the problem of the people who play them" - Crandy
  • DOOM - If the game is coming out in 2 weeks, it's already printed…. So the demo isn't really going to change any features.  This is where the stress test comes in, it's tweaking the servers pre-launch. And hopefully any game-breaking bugs.
  • Destiny beta - balancing exercise in multiplayer
  • Halo 5 - missing some very key user interface pieces… this is more of an alpha
  • Huge response from the community on betas
  • McLovin Legend: Achievements? No, some demos do (as discussed) - but not betas.
    • Limits play time because no achievements :)  
    • We, as a community, do have bad habits when it comes to games that don't have achievements.
    • Preview program: Elite Dangerous, Arc, Solus Project
    • "We" are backlog junkies
    • Sometimes you can get perks in the preview/ beta releases
  • LordChabelo13: Waste of time for Achievement Hunters
  • AHP TheNyghty: Preview program, still in active development (Arc, DayZ)
    • Dev state not a bad thing
    • Minecraft - for years was essentially an alpha/ beta
    • More involved when in active development
    • 3 years is not long for a large game (e.g: Elite Dangerous) - you are seeing more of the development time than with triple As
    • People yelling at clouds
  • Kez001: Avoid betas…. Or maybe keep playing if they convince you not to buy games. Only play betas for games you are interested in.
  • Decoy1982: Wizards who come from the moon
  • spankyNspronkle: Battleborn
  • MightyMango: Why bother doing a beta if retail release is borked?
  • Facial la Fleur has a good response here.
    • Where do you go to report bugs? Sometimes not obvious…. Or they're not looking for you to find bugs.
    • PvZ:GW2 beta had a really good forum for reporting bugs (Jo)
    • Time commitment
  • Dead Rising Demo
  • Term "Beta" is a marketing tool (open vs closed beta)
  • Different expectations
  • Tons of people bought Crackdown for Halo 3 beta - balance testing and marketing… something has to be exclusive
  • Abundant codes are annoying
  • Bungie good with communication and betas
  • Big Ell: Betamax and LaserDisc

2:52:33 - Bootcamp: GRAW

  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
  • Not for completionists!
  • Cheats do not void single player achievements
  • 550 GamerScore available fairly easily
  • Avoid the multiplayer if you don’t like odd-achievement values
  • Multiplayer can mostly be done split-screen

2:55:16 - Jo’s Reviews: Final Fantasy XV

3:02:28 - Knobs and Discos

  • FIFA Street (2012): Friendly Publicity fixed
  • Project Spark (both versions):
    • Conker and Seph level 10 and level 20 achievements were broken for ages but have been modified by the developer - new criteria is based on number of times played through Crossroads, e.g. level 10 = play through Crossroads 10 times.
    • Rumours the Freamer (log in each day) achievements are buggy and not unlocking or updating progress - unconfirmed at this stage
    • Project Spark developer appears to be winding down, if you want to get the most of out Spark now is the time to do it!
  • Pure Pool: Maximum Break is fixed
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider (360): Witch Trials - currently unobtainable
  • Total Conquest (both versions) - level 30 achievement popped for someone at level 100, speculation is that the level 100 achievement may unlock at a higher level again. Huge grind to get there though.
  • Panzer Geekz: We Hear You was buggy but now fixed - thanks to Montana97 for the tip and a shout out to the #forgottengladiators of the Potentially Endless Bean Dive

3:13:16 - Game Delays and Backwards Compatibility

  • New to BC:
    • Garou: Mark Of The Wolves
    • Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
    • Sonic: The Fighters
    • DOOM 3
    • Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
    • (sort of new) Lego Batman JP
  • Lego Batman JP - a confirmed sighting of the non-working version in Japanese consoles? Thanks Sinacide for the tip.

3:16:03 - Zombie News

3:18:07 - Giveaway Time!

  • Congratulations! Alan Wake: American Nightmare code winners:
    • Facial La Fleur
    • @ShelbyGT5252

3:19:32 - Outro

  • Elite Dangerous
  • Thanks for all of your feedback! Sorry if we missed you.
  • Freamwhole is now a member of the Community Events Team on TrueAchievements. Sell out.

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

 

017 - The GRAW Special with Christian Allen
Apr 13, 2016

017 - The GRAW Special with Christian Allen

Christian Allen, CEO of Serellan LLC and lead designer for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (amongst many other things) joins us for a chat about GRAW, achievements, game development, and lots more. Oh, and Crandy finishes GRAW (spoiler alert!).

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

Please give us a rating or review on iTunes and in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success, and is a free, easy way to support the show!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on TrueAchievements and zzUrbanSpaceman's blog.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

Break music: "Game Cool Dubstep Mode Logo" by Sparximer

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Show notes by everyone!

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Guest:

Christian Allen of Serellan LLC

0:00:00 - Intro

0:02:52 - Talking Zeds: Guest Christian Allen

0:51:27 - Talking Zeds: Achievements Suck

  • GRAW Terminology - Cycle: Moving up and down four levels (In ranked matches)
    • Invisible XP points
    • Based on ELO system, not TrueSkill
    • Designed before Xbox and Microsoft knew what achievements were going to be - Gary Stelmack driving the show on achievements
    • Originally layered achievements for the leaderboard - before 50 achievement limit
    • Seriously?
    • Shipped with 890GS
    • First time doing a ranking system in Ghost Recon
    • Set up like Chess (LINK)
    • GRAW Terminology – Blocking: Intentionally trying to prevent others from climbing a leaderboard and preventing others from earning the achievement.
    • Kane & Lynch Blocking Clan
    • BAFTA Game Of The Year Win and Worst Achievement Awards

1:07:15 - How Have You Seen Achievements Change and How Much Do You Hate Them?

1:14:10 - Are You Surprised At The Lengths People Go Through For Achievements?

1:30:02 - Microtransactions according to Christian

1:43:40 - Voice Acting in Epsilon

1:47:45 - Talking Zeds: The GRAW Journal

    • Starflight
    • 5.25” Floppy Disk
    • The GRAW Journal
    • Boosting
    • ~300 traditional cycles for for team/solo leaderboards
    • Yes GRAW is still possible! (just extremely time consuming)
    • Time to complete GRAW ~five months playing eight hours a day
    • Christian Allen thought "achievements are stupid" on original pitch from Microsoft
    • GRAW consistently winning worst achievements ever
    • Committed (Multiplayer) was not supposed to be eight consecutive hours
    • What achievements have become
    • Christian Allen on gaming habits of a game designer
      • Arcade games
      • The Division
      • Fallout 3/NV/4
      • Dead Rising 1/2/3
      • Ryse

 

  • "I'll get to it after GRAW"

 

  • Crandy's post GRAW ratio dive
    • My Horse and Me 2
    • Hannah Montana
    • Monster High
    • Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue
    • Even more!
  • Christian Allen on Takedown: Red Sabre and Kickstarter
    • Gaming nostalgia
    • Social media harassment
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Ubisoft corporate training
    • "you-be-soft" not "oo-be-soft"
    • Toilet logo
  • Ad nostalgia in GRAW
  • Dodge® cars are good cover in GRAW 2

2:37:25 - Talking Zeds: Zombie Interlude

  • Zombie books
  • Threat matrix (includes zombie apocalypse planning)

2:40:46 - GRAW IS COMPLETED

  • 3389 days 21 hours 29 minutes later

2:43:40 - Shovelware Cemetery: Hotel Blind

3:10:10 - Shovelware Cemetery: GRAW

  • Too Brown
  • Looks like a ten year old game
  • Those achievements, wtf
  • Too many big maps
  • Can’t use rockets akimbo
  • Gunplay, damage and movement is “unrealistic”, unlike COD

3:15:43 - Talking Zeds: Wrap up

  • Brandon offering guided tours thru Destiny
  • Randy offering to play GRAW 2 (More Drinking!)

3:17:01 - Housekeeping and Recap

3:27:11 - Listener Feedback

  • iTunes Canada feedback from TheNyghty
  • AB0MINAT10N: Clarify power brick tangent from Randy
    • In short, throw out the power brick not from your region on your import console, and just use an in-country power adapter.
  • Randy & Brandon explain how not to fix a RROD…
  • Sinicide IiI
    • Brandon apologizes for butchering the name.
    • When do you release the show?
      • Wednesday night Australia / Wednesday morning US.
  • Saucy Slingo: Tarragon makes a guest appearance in OXENFREE
  • Griffey95: Comprehensive list of demo games with achievements?
    • Tron Runner
    • Kung Fu Panda: Legend of the Legendary Legends
    • Dead or Alive 5
    • Killer Instinct
    • Make a ZedtoZed list?
  • Montana97: Do I need to eject external HDD before disconnecting them?
    • Unknown if you pull it while in use.  Maybe turn off the console before you remove. Editor’s note: generally it’s probably fine to pull it whenever, but you may cause some hiccups if it’s saving a game at the time. Note that game saves are always stored on the internal drive and the cloud though.
  • GRAW (Drink!) Questions
    • Facial: Favorite game in the GRAW series? Excited for Wild lands?
      • Brandon has never played a GRAW game
      • Randy has only played the original GRAW (No substitutes)
      • Jury is still out for Wild lands, but skeptical.
      • Don’t give a company money in advance for 2 years in the future.  Finance 101.
  • xXxB1G311xXx: That guy?
    • Please stop mentioning GRAW? (Drink)… Doubtful.
    • GRAW has uneven Gamerscore (So you have to do the leaderboard to be even)
  • Salsbar: How can I get the leaderboard achievements to even up my gamerscore?
  • Anno Mundi: Would you recommend I try for the leaderboard achievements at this point? How much did it cost you for the gold subs?
    • Randy says “No”. Cost of 8 accounts with Gold. So apx $80 a month.
  • jjaldana: The leaderboard achievements takes about 6 months of playing all day everyday. This account for 8 hours of sleep days.
  • YODA12320: Yes what other than graw do you talk about..
    • Listen to past Podcast episodes.  ;-)
  • IXI B1G3L1 IXI: Since GRAW is rated T for Teen, when does your mom say you will be allowed to play games that are rated M?
    • Randy’s mom will allow him to play rated M games if he chooses, since he is such a big boy.
  • People are still pulling a Fream! (Marknocturnal, Damien, WebChimp UK: did it in Roblox and Project Spark)

3:50:51 - News

3:59:03 - Game Delays and Backwards Compatibility

4:00:50 - Zombie News

4:02:52 - Outro

 

Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

 

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