I don't know if you knew this but podcasting is hard work. The past 6 months, I've been doing a weekly show (and we haven't missed a week!) here in Norway called Rad Crew. It deals with games, retro-gaming and other nerdy shit.
We're finally up to a few hundred downloads a week. Not hugely impressive compared to the Bombcast's 100k per episode, but we literally started from nothing and we have a much smaller, norwegian-speaking market.
Some bits and bobs about how we do the show:
The gear: I spent way too much on this shit but it was kinda worth it! 1 Behringer 12-channel mixer, 4 sE electronics condenser microphones, 1 Zoom H4n recorder to actually record the thing through its XLR inputs, and a laptop for piping sound effects and audio clips into the mixer.
Here we are on the bottom left in the (Norwegian) iTunes Music Store. In good company I should say!
The format: we try to not just be a "dude-chat" podcast so we spice things up with amusing or interesting clips we've found that are suitable for radio, as well as snippets of video game music. We also do a weekly Top 5 because believe it or not, people like lists.
The studio: my living room. We try to mask the room acoustics as much as possible.
Getting listeners: Having a facebook-page is helpful, but other than that you just have to BE REGULAR and try to not miss any dates. Deadlines are important. Listeners expect regularity. It makes you seem less amateurish than you actually are if you can release episodes on the same day every week. Prioritise the show, don't half-ass it. Also spend some time on editing.
The guests: We've managed to attract some guests to the show. People from national broadcasting, other video game podcasters, fighting game enthusiasts, stuff like that. Guests break things up and keep us from getting stale. Skype is great for guests who can't physically join you. We just pipe Skype directly into the mixer on a separate channel.
Knowing your audience: We went with our native language because the competition in english-speaking podcasts is FIERCE. There is no use trying to compete with the Bomcast, TalkRadar, IGN, people like that. I haven't regretted our decision even once.
You know what, I'm really glad to have played it, and I really enjoyed it. It does feel like a early Xbox 360 game most of the time but I didn't mind too much. You can tell it's kind of made up of stitched together set-pieces occasionally though!
I have zero regrets about playing it and even with its flaws and cobbled-together nature I still thought it was a breath of fresh air to have some politically incorrect nonsense in an FPS. Same way I felt about Bulletstorm (a better game).
I'd be hard pressed to find anything I would've done differently. Maybe make it an XBLA/PSN title with superior visuals but to be honest it looks fine already.
The campaign is a blast to play, the multiplayer seems solid, there's absolutely nothing majorly wrong about this game. It's a really well crafted package in every way.
Although - the nightclub scene gave me a really bad 90s flashback when I discovered all the "dancers" were actually 2D sprites. Almost made me offer a dollar bill and utter "shake it baby". I fucking hate 2D sprites in 3D games. But that's my only real complaint and I struggle to find more! I hope it sells tons of copies!
Starcraft II's in-between mission scenes are straight out of Wing Commander 3 and 4. In the Wing Commander games it was a fantastic way to flesh out the story and characters, and I don't know if it's a conscious decision from Blizzard but in SC2 they basically do the exact same thing. It's such a nice feeling to see a callback to an old franchise like that. Makes me wish there was a Wing Commander 5. (Prophecy don't count son)
Anyone else notice the connection? I've seen people mention Mass Effect but I don't really think it resembles those games because the conversations are mostly pre-determined.
It's so awesome to feel excited about PC games! I feel like running outside and buying an expensive rig RIGHT NOW.
Sure I won 3 out of 5 placement matches, but that doesn't mean I have SKILL. Two of them were one using the trick where you build a pylon in the enemies base, then start mass producing Photon Cannons. The third win was "fair and square" and I won using a squadron of Vikings.
But yeah, I don't think I should be in the Gold League. We'll see how long this silliness lasts before I'm in Copper where I belong. I'm expecting to be thoroughly trounced in the next proper match.
I finished the Starcraft 2 campaign and I've started playing the multiplayer now. I'll keep going as long as it's fun. My guess is it'll stop being fun around the same time that I need to memorize build orders and learning the crazy SC-lingo I've been seeing on twitter. At that point I'll probably just go back to playing against equally incompetent real-life friends instead of braving the battle.net waters.
I wonder how many people are actually gonna try and get GOOD at Starcraft 2. Personally, with the kind of games that require signing away your soul to reach a certain level of proficiency (Street Fighter is another one of these), I just end up plateauing fairly early.
Someone messaged me here on the site about which Sega Master System games I owned. I think most of them are stored at my dad's house.
Anyway I think this is about it: Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Mickey Mouse Land of Illusion (not to be confused with Castle), Donald Duck: Lucky Dime Caper, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, California Games, Super Monaco GP, Sonic The Hedgehog 1 and 2, Krusty's Fun House.
The crown jewel is obviously Wonder Boy III, an amazing game.
This E3 put into sharp relief a rather strange development that's been a long time coming. Since 2006, in fact. What we have on our hands is a situation where Nintendo, seemingly realising who their FANS are, stepped up their game and revealed a coming DELUGE of hardcore titles as well as the most appealing handheld console since the first Gameboy!
On the other hand you've got both Sony and Microsoft desperately fighting for the motion control scraps left in the wake of the Wii the past three years. What the reasoning behind this strategy is, is a complete mystery to me and I'm sure a lot of actual developers too. Do Sony and Microsoft really think they're gonna capture the hearts and minds of families and "casual" gamers everywhere?
Because it's great, that's why! I've written about it before and I'm not oblivious to its many faults but it's still a GOOD game. Most importantly it's FUN.
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