Quest 33 - What is happening in Virtual Reality?

Special Guest: Zach Mayer!

Quest 33 dives into the newly revived market of virtual reality. To celebrate we bring on our first virtual guest, all the way from Seattle!

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 02:00 - What is virtual reality?
  • 07:20 - Has anything shipped from Oculus yet?
  • 14:20 - Do you need peripherals to be engaged in VR?
  • 20:10 - Which game genres are VR applicable to?
  • 24:20 - What is the difference between augmented and virtual reality?
  • 27:10 - Are there any cool AR or VR gadgets coming out soon?
  • 33:00 - Which companies might be developing VR technologies?
  • 38:25 - Do we have any predictions for VR in 2015?
  • 42:05 - How long will it take to ship games for Oculus?
  • 46:30 - Wrap up and hot seat!

Links

Music

QQ News - January 2015

A fire hose of geeky news headlines for the month of January, 2015.

Headlines

  • Apple, the Camera Company (PetaPixel)
  • iPad Sales Slump Twelve Percent But Android Tablets Soar (Forbes)
  • Samsung Shutters Flagship London Store Amid Falling Sales (TheVerge)
  • Minecraft Creator Outbids Beyonce For $70 Million Mansion (IGN)
  • Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition announced (Joystiq)
  • Nintendo Will No Longer Sell Consoles or Games in Brazil (Kotaku)
  • She Hears A Nintendo Theme Once, Makes Beautiful Music (Kotaku)
  • Nintendo Shows off The Majora's Mask Skull Kid Pre-Order Statue (IGN)
  • OC Remix celebrates 15 years of remixes with more music (Joystiq)
  • Dragon Quest Heroes May be My Favorite Warriors-Style Game (Kotaku)
  • Instagram Hits 300 Million Monthly Users (TechCrunch)
  • Final Fantasy XV Features The First Female Cid (Kotaku)
  • Clock Tower successor 'Project Scissors' becomes NightCry (Joystiq)
  • Roberto Orci Won't Direct Star Trek 3 (IGN)
  • Commander Riker Would Love to Direct Star Trek 3 (EscapistMagazine)
  • Justin Lin to Direct Star Trek 3 (IGN)
  • League Of Legends Is Building Its Own Network To Kill Lag (Kotaku)
  • Liberal Education: At This College, Videogames Are a Varsity Sport (WSJ)
  • Destiny approaching 13 million players (Joystiq)
  • Sony: PS4 sales surpass 18.5 million following holiday boom (Joystiq)
  • Leaked Windows 10 Reveals Xbox, Cortana(EscapistMagazine)
  • Spartan Browser Features Revealed (IGN)
  • Paramount Cancels Team America Screenings (EscapistMagazine)
  • Experts Skeptical of Korea's Involvement in Hack (EscapistMagazine)
  • How Much Money did The Interview Make Online? (EscapistMagazine)
  • Related: Algebra (DaringFireball)

QQ Geek Out - January 2015

For their first standalone Geek Out session, Tom and Jordan review what they geeked out on in 2014...and inexplicably cover several 2013 topics while they are at it.

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 02:40 - What were the best movies of 2014?
  • 11:10 - What were our favorite games of 2014?
  • 25:15 - What were the best devices of 2014?
  • 35:50 - Was anything else worth noting in 2014?
  • 42:15 - Wrap up and predictions for 2015!

Music

Quest 32 - How was The Hobbit Trilogy in retrospect?

We're back, baby! Quest 32 is going on an adventure where we discuss The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and the trilogy as a whole.

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 03:00 - Was their finally closure for the first adventure in Middle Earth?
  • 08:50 - What are the best and worst parts of the third Hobbit film?
  • 16:45 - Should the previous movie have ended with the Smaug fight?
  • 20:55 - How much screen time did the assistant really need?
  • 25:20 - Did these movies set up the original trilogy well?
  • 30:40 - Was the romance subplot between the Dwarf and Elf necessary?
  • 33:55 - Why did the human characters not get a code?
  • 35:30 - How did we like the actually ending of the movie?
  • 39:05 - Wrap up!

QQ News - October 2014

A fire hose of geeky news headlines for the weeks leading to October 5th, 2014.

  • Mojang Joins Microsoft; Founders Leaving (EscapistMagazine)
  • eSports 'Not A Sport' Says ESPN President (Kotaku)
  • Forget 9: Microsoft Introduces Windows 10 (EscapistMagazine)
  • iPhone 6 Sales Pass 10 Million Mark In First Weekend (IGN)
  • iOS 8.0.1 Update Breaking Touch Id, Cellular Reception (IGN)
  • The Potato Salad Kickstarter Festival Actually Happened (Kotaku)
  • Nintendo Celebrates Its 125th Anniversary (NintendoLife)
  • Smash Bros Sells One Million Copies in Two Days (EscapistMagazine)
  • Sony Financials: $2.2 Billion Net Loss This Year (EscapistMagazine)
  • Woman Suing Disney: Claims Frozen Is Based On Her Life Story (IGN)
  • First Dragon Quest Game Heads to iOS and Android (Rpgamer)
  • Destiny Ships $500 Million (Joystiq)
  • League of Legends Completely Restarts its Lore (IGN)
  • Final Fantasy XV Director Leaves, Focusing on Kingdom Hearts III (IGN)
  • TGS 2014: Here's the new Final Fantasy 15 Trailer (IGN)
  • Final Fantasy 15 Director: Gender Bias Is "Not Healthy" (IGN)
  • The Man Who Saved Final Fantasy XV (Kotaku)
  • Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Adds Easy Mode, Cuts Co-op (Kotaku)
  • Final Fantasy 13 Trilogy To Launch On PC Starting Next Month (IGN)

Quest 31 - What are enemies of productivity for a Software Engineer?

Quest 31 shakes out a few things that reduce the productivity of Software Engineers (and really, everyone (but mostly software engineers)).

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 02:20 - What is Tom up to, or is the Walking Dead on Patreon?
  • 10:40 - What is Jordan up to, or is Apple his new Destiny?
  • 20:00 - Why do programmers need to be productive?
  • 21:45 - Are meetings really necessary?
  • 26:15 - How long should you schedule a meeting for?
  • 31:00 - What should be on your meeting agenda?
  • 34:40 - Do you always take action items from meetings?
  • 36:00 - Is it bad to read your email in real time?
  • 41:30 - How do you not forget about follow-up emails?
  • 45:15 - Are you sending the right emails?
  • 50:20 - How can new hires perfect help you optimize your process?
  • 58:20 - Why is automation the ultimate productivity tool?
  • 67:30 - Should you be time boxing more activities?
  • 78:15 - Wrap up!

Music