This week, a candid conversation with Bryan Jury of Epicenter Studios, the team behind the new Wii release Real Heroes: Firefighter. How did a tiny development team with an even tinier budget create one of the summer’s most original games? Why was the Wii their platform of choice? And does Bryan REALLY admit the graphics aren’t very good? I told you – he’s VERY candid. Our thanks to Bryan Jury for a fantastic interview. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, and Tim Spaeth.
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Topic and Game References:
- Call of Duty: Finest Hour Review
- Kids' games that DON'T suck: Critter Round-Up
- Conduit
- Interview with Epicenter Studios
Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.
Cleveland native Tim Spaeth grew up in a happy household – a household with a father whose major client happened to be an Atari games distributor. This led directly to Tim's first nickname: "The kid who got Atari games before anyone else." Indeed, he knew Pac-Man and E.T. were colossal bombs weeks before the rest of the world, and the resulting celebrity brought him great pleasure.
Through the years every aspect of Tim's life has been touched by gaming. He mastered typing thanks to Space Quest, honed his poker skills on The Sierra Network, and learned to hate after a particularly traumatic game of Tecmo Super Bowl.
Today, Tim lives in Chicago with his three kids and strives to find that perfect balance between family, career, and Warcraft. He enjoys broadcasting, martial arts, rock and roll, growing and shaving his beard, singing show tunes to the homeless, and losing at Mario Kart to his lovely, talented, and amazing girlfriend.
In late 2008, Tim became the producer and host of the GameCritics.com Podcast, and he's thrilled to be bringing GameCritics' unique editorial voice to a brand new medium.
Through the years every aspect of Tim's life has been touched by gaming. He mastered typing thanks to Space Quest, honed his poker skills on The Sierra Network, and learned to hate after a particularly traumatic game of Tecmo Super Bowl.
Today, Tim lives in Chicago with his three kids and strives to find that perfect balance between family, career, and Warcraft. He enjoys broadcasting, martial arts, rock and roll, growing and shaving his beard, singing show tunes to the homeless, and losing at Mario Kart to his lovely, talented, and amazing girlfriend.
In late 2008, Tim became the producer and host of the GameCritics.com Podcast, and he's thrilled to be bringing GameCritics' unique editorial voice to a brand new medium.
Latest posts by Tim Spaeth (see all)
- GameCritics.com Radio 2018 GOTY Celebration - January 12, 2019
- GameCritics.com Radio 2017 Holiday Awards Spectacular - January 13, 2018
- GameCritics.com Radio Episode 5: The Switch and Zelda - April 7, 2017
I’ve finally caught up and listened to all of your podcasts! Yes, even all three parts of the 10 year extravaganza. I did it all over the course of the last month and a half or so and it was a really great time. I thought that #19 was an outstanding addition to the collection. How much work is it to land these small developers for interviews? The conversation was a great introduction to the world of a small development house. I would love to hear more interviews like this. I also appreciated the pairing of the interview with the… Read more »
Well done guys. This podcast is right up there as one of my favorites. Nice conversation. I guess it helps that the interviewee is good with the words.
I had always imagined that interviews with indie devs and people in the industry would be a focus of the podcast. When you get the right guest, it really does shine.
[quote=Chi Kong Lui]I switched to a google based audio player and that appears to have fixed the problem.[/quote]Good find, Chi. I’ll also start putting the show length in parentheses at the end of the description since the player doesn’t make it readily apparent. We really do make a conscious effort to stick to the 45-60 minutes range, though we often fail spectacularly at that.
[quote=Boy]I wanted to say, that I like how this podcast (intentionally or not) works as a great companion piece to the We Hate Wii podcast.[/quote]Thanks. This was a total coincidence of scheduling but we were certainly conscience of the connection. Although Firefighter is certainly a game that deserves to be pimped, we didn’t want to devote an entire hour to pimping. Bryan’s candor helped us create an unintentional epilogue to that show. I’d love to have him on again to just talk about games in general.
[quote=Boy]I’ve been noticing that the podcast player has been displaying crazy lengths, like 142 minutes and whatnot, for the past few podcasts.
Is this known about/able to be fixified?[/quote] I switched to a google based audio player and that appears to have fixed the problem.
I wanted to say, that I like how this podcast (intentionally or not) works as a great companion piece to the We Hate Wii podcast.
In that one, you guys outlined exactly what your individual issues with the Wii were. Here, you’ve highlighted a game that works on the Wii, and why it works, and I feel like that was a pretty clever accident.
Thumbs up.
I’ve been noticing that the podcast player has been displaying crazy lengths, like 142 minutes and whatnot, for the past few podcasts.
Is this known about/able to be fixified?
I’m already used to it, but I know the first time I saw it I was like “woah I don’t have that time to devote, I’ll listen later”. I wonder if any potential listeners might be discouraged from listening for the same reasons?
[quote=Vince]I’ll have to see if Toys R Us has them on my next trip. (What? Doesn’t everyone go to Toys R Us and browse the action figure aisle?)[/quote] No, you’re not alone, but if anyone asks, I’m shopping for my 4 year old. ;-P
I totally know the toy line you’re talking about… i thought the same thing untl i played it. kind of a poor choice of title.
That’s not it. The toy line was based on ‘Real Heroes’. Policeman, Fireman, um, construction worker? They had the proportions similar to the Marvel toys I mentioned. I’ll have to see if Toys R Us has them on my next trip. (What? Doesn’t everyone go to Toys R Us and browse the action figure aisle?)
You are probably thinking about “Galactic Heroes” which are the stubby, kid-friendly Star Wars toys.
I thought something similar when I first heard the title and I was glad Bryan addressed it (primarily so that I didn’t have to ask the question….)
I was under the impression that this was a licensed title for some kiddie ‘Real Heroes’ toy line, the kind that look like Marvel’s Super Hero Squad. I tried Googling it and could find what I was thinking of but maybe you know what I’m talking about.
Good guest though. Very insightful podcast. Now I’ll be scouring the Net for an image of that female firefighter…