This week Tony is joined by Danny Russell and Scott Cameron. There is a conspicuous lack of significant GTA V talk – although a few sentences did make the cut – but the boys did have a good old chat about OTHER games.

• Danny still enjoys that he finished Super Mario Land
• Scott admits to a penchant for Indie games. Who knew?!
• Tony begins to realise that he’s become an RPG player
• Danny and Scott have a mild disagreement over X or Y and which is cooler
• Everyone is concerned over the delay of Drive Club, The Crew, and Watch Dogs
• And we lament the death of the Wii through a poem from Pocket Lint

Plus Scott skirts the law with his nefarious Arcade Machine and Danny risks incarceration by watching rubbish TV.

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This week Tony is joined by podcast virgin Dean Bowman and Gamewank’s Jim Trinca AKA Tam McGleish. Jim has been swashing his buckle through Assassins Creed: Black Flag and shares the experience and contrasts the current vs next-gen versions as he’s been lucky enough to play both.

ALSO

• Jim loves all of the individual pieces of Beyond: Two Souls but doesn’t think they fit together into a truly cohesive whole
• Tony thinks that Batman: Arkham Origins isn’t all that special and noticed that the voice actors from the other titles are missing too
• Dean is still addicted to to Diablo 3 and is enjoying his journey through Mass Effect 3
• Elder Scrolls Online is discussed and all agree that Elder Scrolls has always been a solitary experience and this doesn’t feel like an ES game. Tony also questions the £8.99 per month subscription
• CoD sparks a resolution discussion
• Dean is also looking forward to The Order and the wonderfully titled Whore of the Orient

Plus Tony mentioned a download-only trailer for KillZone Shadowfall and you can get that here: Killzone Shadowfall Trailer

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

This week Tony is joined by his new Dark Shadow, Simon Allen who will be lurking around for the foreseeable future. Alongside the new team is Mark Brown, former Ready Up alumni and now Editor of Pocket Gamer, so there’s a fistful of new perspective from him this time out.

THIS EPISODE

• Mark tells us about Tearaway on the PS Vita which allows you to literally poke the world from the back of the Vita itself
• Tony is enjoying Beyond: Two Souls having got hold of a copy from Producer John
• Mark describes the Moga Ace Power iPhone controller and why it’s so good
• Simon has acquired a PS Vita and is hitting a load of older PS titles really hard
• There’s a BIG Spelunky conversation including the Eggplant run
• Then it’s all Next-Gen
• But Simon isn’t impressed with the CoD: GHOSTS campaign..
• Simon wants to be stealthy in The Last of Us, but is frustrated by the ‘Am I, Aren’t I?’ cover available.
• Simon brings a game to the podcast – join in at home, kids!

PLUS!

Name Simon’s new game! Send us your game-based name ideas on twitter to @ReadyUp with the hashtag #namesimonsgame to potentially win worldwide praise, adulation and possibly some stuff we’ve got lying around – or at the very least a solid namecheck in the next Podcast.

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This week Tony and Simon lost a guest. A bit careless but with any luck the technology will allow us to reconstitute them for next time! Meanwhile the boys are all over the Xbox One and the PS4 having both between them. Hardware, system software and games are all dissected and scrutinised.

THIS EPISODE

• It’s pronounced For’t’za – who knew??
• Controller comparisons and Producer John’s gorilla paws
• “Xbox, play ‘Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-powered Battle Cars’” – would you feel stupid?
• Kinect IS cool – at least it reads QR codes well
• FIFA 14 – next-gen improvements – can they improve a football game?
• There should be a ‘cool’ button in every game which allows you to put sunglasses on!
• Auto-install is nice on both new systems
• Sharing pics and videos is good but falls short of where we ideally want it to be

PLUS!

James got to name Simon’s game this week so we hope you enjoy “Counter-Strike It Lucky!”
Got a better (or worse!) idea? Fling your ideas on Twitter to @ReadyUp with the hashtag #namesimonsgame.

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

This week Tony and Simon are joined by the Big Boss, Grand PooBah, Editor and Commander in Chief, Dan Bendon to discuss the Ready Up Awards 2013.

THIS EPISODE

• Best Story
• Best Graphics
• Best Multiplayer
• Biggest Letdown
• Biggest Surprise
• Best Portable Game
• Most Anticipated
• Best Game

PLUS!

Simon’s game is back, so we hope you enjoy “BeWitchered” – I have no idea…
Got a better (or worse!) name for Simon’s game? Fling your ideas on Twitter to @ReadyUp with the hashtag #namesimonsgame.

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon have almost recovered from the ‘festive period’ – giant Snickers notwithstanding – and are joined this week by Rob Bunce, Chief Editor at PlusXP.com to chat about things and also stuff!

THIS EPISODE

• Massive Snickers
• Pet Owls and magic zip lines
• AC4: Black Flag looks beautiful and plays very well but the Shanties are a bitch to catch!
• Max: Curse of the brotherhood – reviewed by Tony here – tricky enough to be challenging, not too hard to be fun
• Tony tried not to Starve in “Don’t Starve” but failed when searching for a carrot – I know!
• “Left Behind” Last of Us DLC – enjoyable even though you think you know the ending?
• Add Celine Dion and a naked Kate Winslet and EVERY story is a good one (according to Simon at least)

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name makes its shining return!

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back – we couldn’t keep them away any longer – and they’re joined this week by none other than Kirsten, yes OUR Kirsten – cool eh?!

THIS EPISODE

• Spelling related jokes – they don’t work on a podcast!
• Swimming pools and spider-legs
• Simon is struggling to get into Metal Gear: Revengance
• Remember Me, invokes an odd recall for Tony (Blue Boy anyone?)
• Everyone seems to be reverting back to PS3 / 360 while we wait for the new, new games to come out for the PS4 and Xbox One
• Simon is looking forward to The Walking Dead: Season Two – the first episode started well, apparently
• Kirsten had a fantastic weekend judging at the Glasgow event of The Global Game Jam and is SUPER excited about the future of gaming!

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name returns once again in the form of Fami-Wii Fortunes (Thanks to James H for that!)

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are, once again, in the house and joined in the Podcast Factory by the Frandroid herself Fran Shergold!

THIS EPISODE

• Goldschläger, Vodka and other boozy stuff!
• Jenny Jones inspires Fran to re-open SSX
• Simon dives back into Dark Souls (after complaining it was more like a second job in the past!)
• Fran is enjoying Skylanders, having started to play after initially just collecting the figures
• Tony reminisces about Sindy and other lost 80s stuff
• The team wonder about Flappy Bird and the logic of selling hyper-priced mobile devices with the, now withdrawn, game on them
• Bioshock Infinite splits opinions – Fran liked the Hummingbird
• Tony mixes up Edgar Allen Poe with W W Jacobs – it’s an easy mistake to make! (The Monkey’s Paw)

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name returns once again in the form of Krypton Frag-tor (Thanks once again to James H for that!)

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon escaped from the abandoned missile silo we threw them into, so we’ve another podcast for you! They’re joined by Deputy Editor and Fluffy Gaming Bunny Susan Marmito.

THIS EPISODE

• Who would win in a fight between Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Would Alfred with a switchblade tip the balance?
• Simon has gathered a grey big bushy list of the new releases and the team go through them to see what works and what doesn’t
• Much looking back at older games happens too, with new titles bringing back old characters and brands
• Tony suffers next-gen multi-player stress over TitanFall
• Outlast makes you jump… proof: Tony gets scared!

Glut of new games – some of which may not be FPS’s!

Lego Movie Videogame – everything – w/c 11/02/14
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – 360 and PS3 – 14/02/14
Strider – PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One – 18/02/14
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare – PC (360 and Xbox One one week later?) – 20/02/14
Earth Defense Force 2025 – 360 and PS3 – 21/02/14
Rayman Legends – PS4 and Xbox One – 21/02/14
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 – 360, PS3 – 28/02/14 (mixed reviews, between 4 and 8)
Thief – 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, PC – 28/02/14 (scoring badly)
South Park: The Stick of Truth – 360, PS3, PC – 07/03/14 (Censored in UK, abortion mini-games?!)
Titanfall – PC and Xbox One (360 28/03/14) – 11/03/14
Dark Souls 2 – 360, PS3, PC to follow – 14/03/14
Yoshi’s New Island – 3DS – 14/03/14
Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD – PS3, Vita – 21/03/14
InFamous: Second Son – PS4 – 21/03/14
Borderlands 2 – Vita – 21/03/14
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z – 360, PC, PS3 – 21/03/14
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls – PC, PS4 – 25/03/14
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – 3DS – 28/03/14
Elder Scrolls Online – PC (Xbox One and PS4 in June) – 04/04/14

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name re-surfaces in the form of “Video Game of Thrones” (we couldn’t stop him, sorry).

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back from the void. Simon lost hair and Tony gained a beard (of sorts) but at least they made it (Ed. Please try harder next time!). To provide some sort of contrast we’ve got Jonny Cox back on, he’s nice in a laconic and chilled sort of way!

THIS EPISODE

• Dark Souls is done and Simon is fatigued!
• Simon and Jonny both love South Park: The Stick of Truth with the gas and quest being VERY well wrought together
• Jonny’s dream TV – game tie in would be Thundercats, but we think his fixation with Cheetara may be driving that one!
• Why do some titles stick in the mind when others drop away – Uncharted and Gears of War spark this discussion
• Unicorns shooting gold, rainbow guns and Leprechaun DLC – no seriously, they talked about this stuff!
• ‘Share’ on PS4 still seem to have issues, Twitch on Xbox One is a welcome addition

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name bubbles up through the gloop in the form of “Going for GoldenEye”.

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon got the band back together and rock the podcast with special guest vocalist Dan Chequer! Now then, Dan’s a real life proper game developer and we’ve got him on because Tony and Simon BOTH played his game – wicked no!

THIS EPISODE

• Simon suggests that Dark Souls 2 is actually worth playing now the most frustration elements of the first have been offset.
• Tony got Titanfall (he had to justify the Xbox One purchase at least a little bit) but got a bit bored!
• Dan tells us all about the genesis of Squadron Scramble and how cool it is to have people like what you do!
• Dan also shares his current game playing - Luftrausers and the alpha of Elite: Dangerous – which we’re ALL interested in!
• Tony got inFAMOUS: Second Son and is very much enjoying it! If you liked inFamous 2 you’ll like this one as well. Cool visuals!
• Simon is wringing as much as possible out of MGSV: Ground Zeroes in the hope that he hasn’t wasted £20

PLUS!

Simon’s game-with-no-name is back (cheers) and is this week entitled “The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz”.

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are joined by Ready Up staff member Johnny!

THIS EPISODE

• Simon and Johnny share Dark Souls 2 tips and frustrations
• Tony plays Jenga with buses and a couple of cargo choppers - http://rsg.ms/1qnaKTA
• Simon got REALLY frustrated with FIFA14 Online
• Xbox 360 emulation on the Xbox One gets a roasting – but could it be a real thing?
• Tony spent some time in Monument Valley and really enjoyed it
• Simon shocks Johnny as he STILL hasn’t completed MGSV: Ground Zeroes

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” returns, can Tony finally push into the lead?

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are joined by Ready Up staffer James “Hambino” Hamblin whose greatest achievement in gaming was a 9:1 thrashing of a FIFA rival who rage quit the living room in front of an audience of friends!

THIS EPISODE

• Simon is a little bit sore…
• Football games show life reflects art (but only sometimes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYlqql38XkY)
• James has much love for Monument valley, which he got after Tony’s endorsement on the last podcast – which is nice!
• Simon suffers second regrets as he struggles with Fez and is in throwback mode with Final Fantasy 7
• Tony is motorbike crazy with Trials: Fusion and Trials: Frontier
• The team collectible want to BUY games, but has business pushed ahead of entertainment in the industry. Freemium games rely on a minute percentage of players for funding; only 1.5% actually pay and half of the revenue comes from 0.15% – Source: Article on Re/code
• James is enjoying the episodic Republique and is enjoying things, for the most part..

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” returns, after his defeat in the last episode can Tony redeem himself?

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are joined by Ready Up (relatively) new girl Gemma Hart whose greatest gaming achievement was a diving save - listen on for details!

THIS EPISODE

• Simon and Tony are both lurgy ridden!
• Gemma has been a-traveling and has been hitting Freemium mobile games hard as a result
• Simon has also been on the mobile trek, playing Wayward Souls and Hearthstone and realises he might actually like CCGs
• Tony is playing catch-up and has fallen into Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, he’s LOVING the world and the levels of interaction
• Gemma is finally playing Mass Effect 3 and is preparing herself for the end (Producer John makes an appearance here too!)
• The Mass Effect Trilogy next-gen rumours are put to bed – there’s nothing yet in production but Bioware are ‘discussing’ things
• The Ouya’s games sales figures are discussed and there’s a general view that it’s still a console looking for a reason to exist Engadget link

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” continues, can Tony finally get into the lead (and we can start planning the end of this season!)

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are joined by Jon (@jonfaec) Brady whose greatest gaming achievement was to roll his Katamari ball into a tiny cow… erm

THIS EPISODE

• Simon shares his ant issues – not gaming, but hey-ho!
• Katamari is discussed as a metaphor for the perfect life. (Really?)
• Jon tells us about the game which isn’t a game, “The Stanley Parable”. The Narrator is a big hit!
• Simon has been getting into Diablo 3 and LOVED getting his Legendary item during the “Week of Chance”
• Tony got Wolfenstein: New Order (got embarrassed too heh!) and was drawn to comparison with Resistance: Fall of Man in terms of colour palette and ‘feel’. He also wonders about the 5GB patch he had to download…
• Jon’s also been LOVING Titan Attacks, the glowing love letter to old arcade games from Puppy Games

Click here to view the embedded video.

• He’s also been Sticking It to The Man principally because he likes the theme tune, but found the gameplay a bit frustrating and ended up just sticking things everywhere to see what happened
• Jon spent some time with Octodad, not a ‘great’ game but one which carries you through with amusement
• Kinect is now an option and Tony is LIVID that his investment has not only been wasted, but that some of the core sharing functionality of the Xbox One has been compromised too.
• Google poised to buy Twitch for $1Bn (cue Dr. Evil impression) cause for concern?

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” continues, it’s all getting very tense in the studio…

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are once again joined by fluffy crafting bunny Susan who’s first gaming experience (at least that she can remember) was Arkanoid, loaded from tape!

THIS EPISODE

• Susan remembers old games and Simon remembers the hilarious (!) advert for Centipede on the Atari
• Simon talks about his current, up-to-the-minute gaming; Metal Gear Solid 2 on his Vita
• Mario Kart 8 arrives and Susan’s eyes are slightly melted with splitty, twisty, hovery, upside-downy tracks and fun overdoses!
• Tony has bought, and finished, Watch_Dogs and found it was… a good game. Some bits are cool, but some bits are less so.
• Comparisons are drawn between Watch_Dogs, Assassins Creed, GTA and others.
• Susan struggles with handling her vessel (oo-er) in Assassins Creed 4
• THANKS for listening. It’s been great bringing the Ready Up Podcast to you and we hope you’ll join us for Season 4 – coming soon.

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” hits its final round and a MASSIVE twist is revealed!

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back! After many failed court injunctions, a solid dozen assassination attempts and being exposed on video in the now infamous “Pizza Night” series, the Ready Up podcast returns for a magical fourth season. And who better to kick things off as our first guest that Kirsten Kearney-Bendon, Ready Up’s First Lady and soon to be… well you’ll need to listen to find out what.

THIS EPISODE

• The summer break gave the team an opportunity to roll through the new releases, or in Simon’s case dive back into the past.
• Tomb Raider is revisited and opinions revised
• Emergent gameplay gets a discussion and we discover there’s a balance to be found between the silly and the po-faced.
• Destiny gets a good going over and Tony has a few minor items on his wish list for improvement. Plus, does Destiny’s mix of Sci-Fi and Fantasy strike the right notes for FPS and MMO fans?
• Kirsten continues to enjoy Elder Scrolls Online and sees no end in sight for her enjoyment of that world
• Some games should NOT be ported to mobile devices, but it’s amazing which games can be!

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” returns! Tony is still smarting!

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back again – well Tony kicked things off and Simon arrived late in a flurry of violence! Dean Bowman joins the dynamic duo to talk about what he saw at EGX.

THIS EPISODE

• Simon engages in mindless violence
• Dean talks about multiplayer in Dragon Age: Inquisition and Tony discusses the value of teamwork in multiplayer gaming
• Shadow of Mordor has complex interpersonal relationships in the game – among the Orcs!
• Simon shares his LoTR jokes
• Elite Dangerous with Oculus Rift – ‘mind-blowing’ and also potentially stomach churning!
• Destiny – can it really last? Tony discovers a new layer of activity, but questions the grind…
• The Wearable Safe – this year’s ‘must have’ accessory?
• The merits of cardboard boxes are discussed -

Click here to view the embedded video.

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” continues its run, can Tony maintain his winning streak?

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back and are joined by “ThatGiloFella” Giles Armstrong, former RUpper and writer of the story bit in games.

THIS EPISODE

• Student and ex-student japes lead to injuries and embarrassment – Simon has never been the same
• Tony and the elastic nature of Destiny’s gameplay
• Shadow of Mordor delivers on many, many levels. It’s LoTR, but it’s also beyond that in terms of gameplay
• Giles is behind the curve, but enjoying Walking Dead season 2
• Endless runners? SpiderMan Unlimited is Giles’ game of choice at the moment.
• Velocity 2x and Narrative Design – the art of the story. Giles shares his professional opinion and how he got involved in the game.
• Zombie Nation – Simon and his girlfriend co-oped through it and had huge fun.
• Coach co-op is cool again – Sports Friends ahoy!
• Gang Beasts – a Giles hot recommendation for co-op fun

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” continues, Tony got a bit smug… pride before a fall?

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

Tony and Simon are back and are joined by Jonny Cox. He plays sport AND video games!

THIS EPISODE

• Jonny tells us about his gaming hero
• Simon spent a bit more time with Hotline Miami and Spelunky on his Vita
• Simon also bought FIFA 15 (after putting it off) and says it’s the best so far, Jonny agrees!
• Jonny’s move to PS4 means Destiny has been on his playlist – but has the game run out of useful challenge?
• The team ALL look forward to GTA-V on the next-gen with the bonuses and ‘extra’s that come with it – will we be able to buy THAT boat? Rockstar Announcement
• PS4 firmware 2.0 is out – Tony downloaded and updated. He likes it!
• PS4 sharing works and works well! Tony shares his experiences

PLUS!

“The Crash Bandicoot Memorial Quiz” continues, can Jonny draw the guests level?

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Ready Up Podcast theme music courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.