One of Swords Podcast 081: Penalty Detention Homework

by Dan on August 10, 2011

The Call of Duty Elite beta is several weeks into its testing…now what? Chacko Sonny and Noah Heller return to the podcast for a status update — what they’ve learned so far, the status of PS3 data, what they know about Call of Duty XP, and why PC is not part of the beta after all. Real talk! Then, plenty of unreal talk with Hugh, Kat and Dan about Howard Stern, Prototype 2 preorders, sticky dogs, the death of DivX (1.0), Hugh’s heroic storytelling skills, portable Call of Duty, Bobby Kotick’s motivations for Moneyball, Bungie history, and — while it’s difficult to type this — Kat’s dreams about Hugh. Did everybody else just feel a shiver run down their spine?

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Special Guest: Chacko Sonny (studio head) and Noah Heller (product director), Beachhead/Call of Duty Elite

Co-host: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken
Co-host: Katrin Auch, graphic designer, bassist, photographer, light gun enthusiast, videographer, worgen mage, and inventor of Headshotmas

Soundtrack: Yameen – available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores

Relevant show links:

  • Anonymous

    I want to hear about digital rights management.

  • http://twitter.com/KatrinAuch Katrin Auch

    Ha ha, Hugh—you lose!

  • Anonymous

    Hugh was begging for someone to ask for more digital downloads “discussion”.

    I just like to listen to all of you argue while I work, regardless of the topic.

  • Anonymous

    This was a very entertaining podcast. Congrats on the new cat!

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    I think this is the ultimate truth for most people. I think it’s just fun to hear us disagree. :)

  • Anonymous

    I’ll make Hugh a jingle on two conditions:

    1) it has to be blues or metal in genre
    2) Dan would need to add drums for me

  • http://twitter.com/capnjunkie Cap N. Junkie

    Did anyone notice that Hugh tried to poison the results?

    3:59 Hugh: If we find one person…one person who would rather hear us talk about Digital Rights Management, next week’s, hold on, next week’s It Sucks To Be Hugh will be about Digital Rights Management. We find…if not one person comes through with that, I will tell a really good Hollywood story

  • Anonymous

    How about if Hugh’s jingle is a simple rip-off from the You Don’t Know Jack game?

    YoogattastikkitoothaDann!
    (whack!)
    HUGH DON’T KNOW JACK!!

    It’s short, punchy and Hugh gets the last word in. You know, for a change. :P

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Hey guys…the details for the Robot Chicken action figure giveaway for my cousin’s cancer run are finally up. All of the details are at:

    http://www.itsuckstobehugh.com/2011/08/robot-chicken-figure-charity.html.

    Long story short (not something I’m known for), all you have to do is donate $10 toward my cousin’s cause and make sure you mention that I sent you, and you’ll be among the names in our random selection to win the figure. Contest runs through October 2, when the race happens. Here’s the link to her site:

    http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/DetermiNation/DNFY11PA?px=22260434&pg=personal&fr_id=35316

    Thanks for the consideration!

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Well there ya go. Booth ruined it for everyone.

    And then he un-ruined it two hours later. Because even HE couldn’t admit that he really wanted DRM.

    Nyah nyah.

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Done.

    Dan–get to work.

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    Done.

    Dan–get to work.

  • Joey

    Why is it that the only people that win anything @OneOfSwords Knows them and some win multiple times not cool !!!!!

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    I don’t like what you’re insinuating, mostly because it does not make sense. 

    Why do I know the names or nicknames of people who win? Because they participate. Because they talk to me on Twitter, in email, or here on the site. Because I remember names like “Karl Cramer” and “Shortbusmitch” when they keep coming up. This is not nepotism, it’s just…memory. 

    More to the point: Kat screens ALL the Stick It questions. I do not see a single one of them before the show goes live; Hugh and I hear them for the first time when you hear them for the first time. There is no way for me to set it up and favor only the people who I want to win because I’m not involved in the process, and Kat does not know who I know/talk to on Twitter on a regular basis. And my methodology for non-podcast contests, like the ones I do here on the site, is very well established as a random draw — and thoroughly explained in this FAQ. I’ve been extremely transparent about how winners are chosen. 

    I am sorry you have not yet won a prize. That does not mean I’m running crooked contests and the suggesting is very insulting.

  • http://oneofswords.com/ Dan (OneOfSwords)

    Maybe I should tell MY Hollywood stories sometime. I worked with Mickey Rourke. Oh wait, we did that one. 

  • Anonymous

    Who were you in 9 1/2 Weeks, Dan? Did you bag Mickey Rourke’s groceries at the supermarket?

  • Joey

    I apologize i meant no offence,it just gets a little frustrating never winning anything when i put so much thought in to what i submit, and to hear oh i know mich felt like a slap in the face! I guess ill interact with you more on twitter in hopes you say you know me one day, Well i hope i didnt piss you off to much i do love your podcast and will keep listening if i win anything or not!

  • Hugh Sterbakov

    In addition to everything Dan just said, I want to doubly clarify…

    We don’t “know” Shortbusmitch. We recognize his name when it pops up on Xbox 360. I “know” Karl Cramer because he worked with people I’ve worked with, and because he posts on here and on my Facebook. But I’ve never met any of these people, have no outside relationship with them and wouldn’t rig a contest in their favor–even if I could, which I can’t. Because, like Dan said, it all goes through Kat.

    Keep trying, and I’m sure you’ll name will come up. :)

  • Infdiv2

    Hey Dan– Great podcast. BTW– how do I get into the COD Elite beta?  How many invites are they sending out?  Do you have to play a lot? Do people who play COD more have a better chance of being invited? Where can I get a very specific list of every single thing I will get included with the membership?  Does this mean I will have to pay for multiplayer now? Why does Activision hate little puppies? Huh? Huh? Huh?!

    Just kidding.  I got my invite for the Elite beta today and I am pretty excited! Now hopefully I can let even more people see how poor my K/D ratio is.

    …and Hugh…  I am am the guy that disagreed with you a few weeks back in the forums and you said I wasn’t a complete and total jerk. I am too poor to travel to CA, but if you want to come to IL I will totally treat you to lunch like Dan was treated previously(you just have to agree to tell my wife I am not a complete total jerk).

  • Infdiv2

    Hey Hugh– I was at Chicago Comic-Con this weekend and looked for the Freshmen trade at a couple of random dealers and they did not have it. Must be pretty popular.

  • Infdiv2

    I was thinking that maybe The Wrestler was really based on Dan’s secret life and Mickey needed to consult with him.

  • http://twitter.com/Auptyk Justin

    So while I understand the time constraint that is now on the team… it is a little disconcerting to know that the PC doesn’t have an Elite beta. This is not because “I don’t get to participate early”, but I am seeing the “delays” that they are having implementing this for the PS3 (Via the Elite and 1OS Twitter feeds) and think: 

    “Despite what they are saying in this Podcast I find it hard to believe that the PC will have the same quality product out of the gate as the consoles.” 

    Not this is not because I feel the Elite designers/engineers don’t have the ability ( wouldn’t/couldn’t know that) but simply the time and effort and testing that will have been done by MW3′s release for the PC platform. 

    I am one who wants to buy into Elite. CoD is my game of choice (yes even though I play on the PC) I buy all the map packs, I love stats, I love knowing everything there is to know about how the game works, strats, etc. But… when I am paying for it I want it to work. Especially where I am paying a subscription, I really don’t want to feel like I am in a “Buy In” Beta while the first month is basically the PC beta. 

    So I guess, despite my desire to buy into Elite, I am just a little hesitant that we are going to get the 100% product without the beta. 

    /I hope that this stays in line with your “3 Impossible Questions” post you recently made. I do not mean to fit into one of these categories.

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