Pen Fights Gamepad

Dan Absalonson & Donald Conrad

Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Donald blogs about finishing his enormous back log of video games and creates graphic novels. Dan writes speculative fiction and self publishes it as audio and eBooks.

  • Pen Fights Gamepad has Podfaded
    Donald Conrad is still cranking out content over at his amazing video game website:  www.Did-Not-Finish.com
    and
    Dan Absalonson is still cranking out content over at his website: www.DanDanTheArtMan.com
    but alas they are simply too busy with so many little kids and other creative things they're trying to accomplish to continue this incredibly fun but incredibly time sinking podcast. It was REALLY fun while it lasted. Check out what they have going on at their websites, and thanks for listening everybody.
    21 March 2014, 12:34 am
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 13
    Download the .mp3
    Website for the podcast: www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Topics covered in this show: Donald is going to E3! Dan's a published author! Chewie with IBS, and lots of other stuff about games and movies.
    23 May 2013, 7:00 am
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 12
    Download the .mp3
    Website for the podcast: www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wives and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff.

    Sound Effects Attributions:

    DunDunDunnnExtreme.wav
    copyc4t
    http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/153405/

    76058_digifishmusic_Dramatic2.wav
    digifishmusic
    http://www.freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/sounds/76058/

    8 March 2013, 7:36 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 11
    Download the .mp3
    Website for the podcast: www.PenFightsGamepad.com
    Zombie+Santa.jpg
    Target+Shapes.jpg Click to Enlarge Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wives and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff.

    Topics covered in this show:

    J.J. Abrams Lens Flares
    YouTube Video explaining it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paPT4iHUjFQ

    More show notes to come soon.
    1 February 2013, 8:55 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 10

    Download the .mp3 Website for the podcast: www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wives and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Some of the Topics covered in this show:


    Dan once killed Bambi
    Moose like getting drunk on berries
    Children screaming
    Twilight is about pooping
    Moose mouth
    Donald's injured family - skull shaping, broken ribs, a broken wrist
    Poop grenade
    Poop waterbottle
    Farts are funny
    Video Game Giveaway - To celebrate the forthcoming STAR WARS movies from Disney, we are giving away Lego Starwars The Original Trilogy for the Gamecube!
    www.did-not-finish.com happenings:
    Warlords - a reboot of the classic Atari video game
    Assassin's Creed III: Liberation - PlayStation Vita
    Call of Duty Classic
    Ninja Turtles NES games
    Marvel Super Hero Squad and renting video games
    Epic Mickey 2 and little kids playing video games
    Food Parties!
    Kids asking Santa for video games
    FTL the space ship video game
    Letting newbies wind at video games leads them to try out for American Idol
    X-men and Baseball cards
    Where Ken Griffey Jr. Go?
    Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for the SNES
    Tiger Woods
    Shaq Fu for the Super Nintendo
    NaNoWriMo
    Dan hasn't been writing because he's been studying plot structure
    Donald gives Dan his thoughts and awesome ideas on Dan's science fiction novel after his third read through
    Dan explains a few things about the development of his novel
    Dan has a new Anthology for sale - "Danthology." A collection of all his short stories in one place for 99 cents
    eReaders, eInk, Barnes and Noble
    How our wives talk in their sleep
    Flashpoint the TV show
    Terra Nova on Netflix - it is so bad that it is kinda good?
    'Last Resort' Canceled - boo hoo
    TV networks concerned about how many people watched the Felix Baumgartner jump from space
    Disney bought Lucasfilm!
    New STAR WARS movies? We're excited!
    Thrawn Trilogy
    The Hobbit
    The Lord of the Rings book vs movies
    Will the new STAR WARS movies make a spike in Science Fiction books?
    Video Games making more money than Movies
    Black Ops 2 made 500 million in 24 hours
    The Avengers took around 5 months to hit a billion dollars
    The Hulk, the only movie Dan still needs to see before finally seeing the Avengers
    Good video game movies?
    Windows Phone 8, iPhone, Galaxy S3, Samsumg ATIV
    Mac VS Windows
    22 November 2012, 12:01 am
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 09
    Download the .mp3

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Some of the Topics covered in this show:


    What We’ve Been Up To

    Added a Facebook “Like” button to the posts of website

    Dan and his wife are doing Foster Care

    We’re On Stitcher! - Read Example 1 and Additional Info

    Donald generously gave Dan Torchlight

    Metriod Prime games

    DNF - I am playing Double Dragon Neon and enjoying it?
    Tokyo Jungle is amazing!
    Borderlands 2 is Amazingerest

    heyash.com

    extralife.org

    Dan is playing New Super Mario Bros with his wife and loving it!

    DDTAM - “Stuffed Monster” available in audio http://everyphototells.com/2012/10/episode-99-stuffed-monster/
    Movie Memories (ep 5 just went live)
    Dan has a story that is going to be published in an anthology by Five Rivers Publishing
    Dan is going to submit to the Inlander Short Story Contest again

    Wool

    Treasure Park

    Things We Need to Read, Watch, or Play
    Dan Added Assasin’s Creed because it’s on Steam for Mac -Donald is happy about this.
    Dan finished Batman: Private Casebook - great art, writing was decent

    Galaxy on Fire space game on iPod touch & iPad

    New Game from Chris Roberts creator of Wing Commander
    Trailer: http://www.playerattack.com/news/2012/10/10/wing-commander-creator-returns-with-star-citizen/

    Kotaku Article:
    http://kotaku.com/5950453/you-loved-wing-commander-now-meet-the-shiny-successor-that-will-bring-space-sims-into-the-21st-century

    Kickstarter!!!
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

    Brad Hates Games revisits Colony Wars and it reminds me of -
    Freelancer - the Chris Roberts game that Dan may not know about. - 
    opeing cinimatic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RsWPFUzxgRU#!

    gameplay
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NODc1lXn0ak#!

    Privateer Intro Video Part I
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP9LVXvRrT0

    Writing Excuses 7:33 starts at: 14:06
    How Lost did it wrong from last episode with Michael and Walt
    http://www.writingexcuses.com/wp-content/uploads/Writing_Excuses_7_33_Authentic_Emotion.mp3
    24 October 2012, 5:06 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 08

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Topics covered in this show:

    What we've been up to
    DDTAM-

    Stuffed Monster
    http://www.dandantheartman.com/2012/09/stuffed-monster.html

    Novel Experiment: The Ghost of Meadowhill
    http://www.dandantheartman.com/p/novel-experiment.html
    Do research on Napa school

    DNF-
    Xbox Glold is pissing me off. PS+ is making me happy
    Borderlands 2 excitement
    Assassinâs Creed Revelations
    Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

    Double Dragon

    Raptr.com

    Danger Joe video game

    Assasin's Creed for Kinect


    Zombie Carnival
    Positive reviews

    Truth about Zombies
    Praise
    Original idea VS current Idea

    We're Alive
    http://zombiepodcast.com/The_Zombie_Podcast/Main.html
    Donald am now listening in real time :(

    Walking Dead Episode 3
    Guess what? Things got worse.
    bing rewards

    Download the .mp3
    21 September 2012, 6:14 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 07

    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Topics covered in this show:

    We have our first guest on the show! David of www.glowpuff.com games!

    Introduce David of http://glowpuff.com/
    Glowpuff games interview.

    What we've been up to

    Talk about microphones of last two episodes and laptop dying.

    Did Not Finish Updates

    Did Not Finish question from Dan
    Dan asks if there was a game Donald wasnât looking forward to playing for Did Not Finish which surprised him and was actually pretty good.

    DanDanTheArtMan.com Updates
    The Truth About Zombies a reading of chapter 1
    http://www.dandantheartman.com/2012/08/a-reading-of-my-new-zombie-novel.html

    Start this video at 1:38



    Samsung loses in court
    Thoughts on how this will affect the phone market.
    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/24/apple-vs-samsung-verdict-samsung-guilty-of-willfully-infringing-apple-patents

    We're Alive audio drama fiction podcast
    http://www.zombiepodcast.com/The_Zombie_Podcast/Main.html

    Rotten Tomatoes on Lord of the Rings Movies

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    TOMATOMETER 92% | AUDIENCE 92%

    The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
    TOMATOMETER 96% | AUDIENCE 92%

    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    TOMATOMETER 94% | AUDIENCE 83%

    Download the .mp3
    31 August 2012, 4:41 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 06
    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Topics covered in this show:

    Batman The Dark Knight Rises

    The Hobbit being made into three movies?

    Star Wars Christmas Special

    Dan liked King Kong by Peter Jackson? Donald did not.

    Peter Jackson wants to be like Twilight and make several movies from one book?
    Dan's review of the first Twilight book: http://www.dandantheartman.com/2011/06/review-of-twilight-spoilers.html

    The first Underworld movie and how it was good a vampire flick

    3D being overdone in movies

    Dan pines for Original Star Wars trilogy, Donald has a copy on VHS


    Hear Donald talk like Bane from Batman The Dark Knight Rises!
    Bane and how his mouth is covered, acting, speaking

    Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises


    The Man of Steel trailer
    Listen to the guys watch the trailer and comment then discuss:


    Talk about the darker new direction that is hinted at.
    Is this the “Nolaning” of the Superman franchise?
    Are they trying to make Superman fit into the grittier Batman univers?
    Will JLA be better as a darker more serious film?

    G.I. Joe the movie

    Animated movies being better than the live action, Star Wars: Clone Wars

    Total Recall reboot - Dan hasn't seen the original, added to his list

    Superman teaser trailer left us wondering

    SNL skit of Superman where everyone knows who he is

    Things We Need To Watch or Read list is visited
    http://www.penfightsgamepad.com/p/things-we-need-to-watch-or-read.html

    1. Dan recommends a book to Donald: John Cleaver trilogy
    http://thedanwells.com/titles/ianask.html

    2. Dan finished the comic The Dark Knight Returns
    Making an Animated version of The Dark Knight Returns

    dark_knight_returns.jpg
    Batman The Animated Series and their voice actors doing a trailer for the new Batman live action



    Batman Arkham City Asylum game - Dan needs to play it

    3. Dan saw Captain America

    Tron Legacy, and Dan hasn't seen the original Tron

    4: Donald is enjoying a TV show "Breakout Kings" on Netflix. World may have stopped turnning for a moment.

    Dan remixed some music for a Glowpuff video game "Carnival Carnage" (the one starring Donald)
    Live play the Beta build of Carnival Carnage (because I have it!)
    Donald plays it live on the show

    DNF update
    Finished Duke Nukem Forever - I have some thoughts
    Expendables 2 game - I got it for free in a strange way
    Patapon 2 - Best game ever?

    Dan was on The Roundtable Podcast www.roundtablepodcast.com

    Dan gives a short reading from his Sci-Fi novel of the scene where Quickstar leaves his Captain dead or alive.

    Zzenya's+Illustration.jpg See more by this artist Zzenya Thompson here: http://zzenkinsein.deviantart.com/

    Download the .mp3

    10 August 2012, 4:09 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 05
    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. Topics covered in this show:

    - We talk taking young children to theme parks.
    - Donald went to a local theme park called Silverwood with his family
      - Tiny Toot Train
    - Dan talks about his recent trip taking his family to Disneyland
    - Water World stage show, Kevin Costner's fish wig, the movie Open Range
    - Vegas TV show
    - We talk about all the Reboots going on like Fantastic Four
    - Donald saw The Amazing Spider-Man movie in 3D, he liked it
    - Dan watched Iron Man 1 & Iron Man 2, he liked them
    - Tech in Iron Man vs what is available today
    - Dan saw The Expendables and really liked it
    - X-Men First class
    - Dan read more of Donald's graphic novel The Death of Don Hat
    - Dan's blog post on writing a prequel novel and writing the back story of a character and why Donald thinks it's a bad idea
    - Rogue archetype character breakdown, examples Han Solo, Aragorn
    - A Pen Fights Gamepad drinking game which we don't recommend you play
    - Firefly
    - Why Dan hates when cool looking animated characters are ruined by high pitched voices and why Mickey Mouse's gloves may be white
    - Breaking down the universe of Mickey Mouse and the speculative technology behind Mickey Mouse's helper character Tootles
    - Donald brought over his Playstation Vita and Dan finally plays Gravity Rush
    - How playing games, reading books, watching movies has been revolutionized with the ability to consume in bite size chunks whenever you have spare time
    - Donald talks about his PS Vita
    - Steam summer sale on video games
    - The Secret of Monkey Island (video game)
    - The Hitman games
    - Mission Impossible for the N64
    - Hitman: Blood Money cheap on Steam and awesome
    - The Crisis Collection (unique first person shooter)
    - Independant games like Terraria, Jamestown on steam
    - Indie musicians, authors, and how it's all been revolutionized from the days of the big publishers
    - Building and managing our website, web analytics
    - Wordpress VS Blogger
    - This is episode 5! Celebrate with us by sending us an audio recording, we'll play it on the show!
    - Why some people were gamers as kids, mostly females, but are no longer interested in video games but will still play old console games


    Website for this podcast:
    http://www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    Dan's Websites:
    http://www.DanDanTheArtMan.com
    http://www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan

    Donald's Website:
    http://www.did-not-finish.com
    http://www.twitter.com/ConManEd


    Download the .mp3
    25 July 2012, 7:19 pm
  • Pen Fights Gamepad | Episode 04
    Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff.

    main_toon.jpg Topics covered in this show:

    - We're back! And now we have a dot com! Our website is now www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    - We got featured on the ComixBox for our latest talk on comic books and superheroes. Link: http://paper.li/comicbox/1339621754

    Things Dan Needs To Watch or Read
    - Dan finished Kick Ass
    - Dan is over halfway through The Dark Knight Returns

    - GlowPuff games is making a new game starring our very own Donald Conrad! www.glowpuff.com

    - Donald watched the movie Transformers Dark of the Moon and hated it.

    - Donald watched the movie Chronicle and loved it.

    - Creatives making better stuff with restraints like a small budget

    - Star Wars original trilogy VS newer trilogy.

    - Darth Vader being a Jack Ass. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVPm2rIQO_c

    - The Notebook re-cut as a Horror movie trailer (There are many, YouTube it)

    - Flashpoint (One of Dan's favorite shows on Netflix)

    - 24 the TV show, and Jack Bauer

    - Donald is playing Duke Nukem Forever and he's not happy about it

    - Donald updates us on Did Not Finish - Call of Duty Classic

    - Ouya game system and their Kickstarter
    link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

    - Email received from James - "Why do you talk about writing? Shouldn’t you talk more about games on the podcast?” The hosts respond.

    - Hosts talk about Dan’s novel and recent blog post about it: http://www.dandantheartman.com/2012/07/my-first-show-my-first-novel.html

    - David Farland and his "Daily Kick" writing advice, www.davidfarland.net

    - Donald sticks it to Dan with some great feedback on his novel, and questions about why certain scenes are characters are they way they are

    - Dan shares some advice from Stephen King's book "On Writing" and how he should use the advice himself

    - Donald shares more ideas for improving Dan's book

    - Dan's web comic www.dyingwishcomic.blogspot.com

    - www.DanDanTheArtMan.com has published works by Dan available in audio and eBooks most for free

    - Donald’s Graphic Novel

    - Dan recommends an epic fantasy trilogy of novels by Michael J. Sullivan - Theft of Swords http://www.riyria.com/

    - Game of Thrones Show and Books


    Website for this podcast: http://www.PenFightsGamepad.com

    Dan's Websites:
    http://www.DanDanTheArtMan.com
    http://www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan

    Donald's Website:
    http://www.did-not-finish.com
    http://www.twitter.com/ConManEd

    Download the .mp3
    13 July 2012, 3:54 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App