The Crossbox Podcast is me, Jay (Fishbreath), and the editor here at the Soapbox, John (parvusimperator), gabbing for about an hour a month on topics of interest in the fields of gaming, firearms, and defense and foreign policy. Sometimes we delve into books, movies, and technology.
The most recent few episodes can be found below. Find an archive of all past podcasts here. Find the feed for new episodes here.
The Crossbox Podcast: Episode 22 - Sacred Cows Edition
In this episode, we talk about guns (lots of guns), and how sci-fi designers can’t design them; about Star Wars and space flight games; and about red dots on pistols, and how we can’t design experiments to save our lives.
Further reading
- As always, leave us requests for podcast topics and/or articles.
- The guns: stormtrooper blaster rifle, Captain Phasma’s rifle, Naboo Royal Guard pistol, The Next Generation phaser ‘pistol’, the ridiculous Voyager compression rifle, the Halo pistol, and the Halo assault rifle.
- I do see a trigger on all of the Halo assault rifle pictures I can find now, so ignore me when I say I can’t in the episode.
- For red dot pistol discussions, just search in the sidebar for ‘pistol red dot’. There are so many articles I’m not even going to bother linking them.
- Dolphin Ubershaders, a creative and awesome solution to a seemingly intractable problem.
(Download)
Visit the Soapbox for articles and commentary authored by the hosts of the Crossbox Podcast. Find back episodes of the Crossbox Podcast here.
The Crossbox Podcast: Episode 21 - 21st Episode Spectacular
In our mostly-uncommented-on 21st Episode Spectacular, we dig into what’s wrong with three-gun, why the current iteration of light carrier design studies will end up like all other light carrier design studies, and how Uncharted and other third-person adventure games grip us.
Further reading
The Bureau Gun
Fishbreath’s Old-School Two-Gun Run
Modular Handgun System analysis (there’s more, too, I’m just too lazy to link it all)
We take requests! If you want to see a podcast topic done, let us know in the comments. We also take article requests. Leave us a comment on a related article and, if we like the idea, we’ll get on it.
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Visit the Soapbox for articles and commentary authored by the hosts of the Crossbox Podcast. Find back episodes of the Crossbox Podcast here.
The Crossbox Podcast: Episode 20
In this first show of the official summer, we go back to our normal show. We talk about a 2000-era PC game near and dear to us both, the most likely democracy-vs-autocracy throwdown of the early 21st century, and the best Marvel movie we’ve seen lately.
Further reading
Korean artillery: this one is complicated. Check the footnote1.
Airplanes, Crimson Skies style
Crimson Skies on Amazon (Crimson Skies on Win10 guide still to come)
NATO vs. our Asian allies, in Polandball form
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Visit the Soapbox for articles and commentary authored by the hosts of the Crossbox Podcast. Find back episodes of the Crossbox Podcast here.
- So, the RAF dropped 2,660 long tons of bombs on Dresden on the night of February 14, 1945. This demolished about 6.5 square kilometers of Dresden. Not, as we hyperbolically said in the show, to the foundations, but it certainly reduced the city to rubble with some freestanding walls. The North Koreans are widely believed to have 500 to 700 artillery pieces emplaced in range of Seoul, with some 100 shells a pop, as well as about 4,000 rockets from multiple launcher systems ready to go. Assuming that all of that artillery fires exclusively at Seoul and exhausts all of its ammunition in so doing, the amount of ordnance is approximately similar—in the range of 2500 to 2600 metric tonnes. (Very back of the napkin here.) A couple of points, though: first, Seoul is much bigger than Dresden, and artillery fire hitting the city is likely to be more spread out. These are the simple facts of shooting artillery with no spotters at a range north of 50 kilometers. A square enclosing 6.5 square kilometers does not cover very much of Seoul at all. Second, Seoul is probably more sturdily built than Dresden was. Third, I would be very surprised if North Korea’s towed artillery, no matter how good its fortification, survived to fire all 100 ready rounds, and resupply seems a non-trivial problem in this case. ↩
The Crossbox Podcast: Episode 19 - Special Edition
For May’s episode, we dispense with the typical structure of the show to bring you something entirely different: a guest! Dave Williams of Jellyfish Games joins us to talk about Astrobase Command, an upcoming space station management game. Join us as we discuss everything from water pipes to the nature of personality and consciousness.
Further reading
Once you’ve listened to the episode, you’ll want to visit the Astrobase Command kickstarter. Go give them your support.
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Visit the Soapbox for articles and commentary authored by the hosts of the Crossbox Podcast. Find back episodes of the Crossbox Podcast here.
The Crossbox Podcast: Episode 18 - Monsters Among Us
In this October-themed episode for April, we talk monster hunting, monster-size reference books, and monstrous failures, with a side order of cheap beer and cheap Glocks.
Further reading
Spoilers on Resident Evil 7 from about 32:00 to 35:30.
Predictably, John was correct and Jay was not on a point of firearms trivia: the Remington R51 is a modernized Remington Model 51, an early-20th-century pocket pistol.
(Download)
Visit the Soapbox for articles and commentary authored by the hosts of the Crossbox Podcast. Find back episodes of the Crossbox Podcast here.