Beyond3D podcast

[Arwin]

A while ago I toyed with the idea of creating a podcast. I listen to podcasts all the time (as witnessed in another thread) as they are a healthier way to get my dose of gaming stuff - I can watch my kid, cycle to work, skate, hike, do chores, etc. in the meantime, rather than just sit there behind my computer developing an RSI, hernia, bad son, and angry wife.

Now I think there's space for doing a podcast that's a little more tech-savvy than most, and maybe also a little more European ...

What kept me back is that I only had my company laptop available, and its line in port suddenly stopped working altogether. Otherwise I had all the stuff I need - a good quality microphone, Audacity, a mixing board, etc. Actually its probably more than I need, because these days Skype is very good and comes with a plugin to record your conference call, so that's a really easy way to do it that doesn't actually need a lot of hardware at all.

Now however I got a desktop PC all of my own again and everything is set-up and ready to go!
So my question here is who's up for it? Anyone interested in being a regular? Anyone interested in being a guest? Anyone interested in being interviewed?

I'm not sure yet how to balance the podcast - maybe sort of devote the time according to postcounts in the various topics? And of course I don't even know whether it should bear a Beyond3D badge - I'll leave that to the people in charge. We can always add or remove 'un' before official Beyond3D podcast.

Anyway, please chime in if you're interested!

 

[digitalwanderer]

There are European members here?!? You let furriners in?!?

 

[willardjuice]

I bet it'll be ten minutes in before they start talking about soccer.

 

[digitalwanderer]

You mean football, right mate?

 

[Arwin]

Ok, let me rephrase that - I just want to make it more global. I don't care about fussbal myself (though FIFA over MADDEN anytime! ).

Seriously though, everyone is welcome, though having a microphone, skype and being able to speak audibly is definitely a boon.

 

[tirminyl]

Sounds like a good idea. I would definitely listen. It would be an audio version of the forums

 

[wco81]

First thing, get it on iTunes.

Second, differentiate. All gaming podcasts have a "gaming news" and "what have we've been playing" sections. What is going to set apart the B3D podcast from the rest?

Maybe more detailed discussion of technology? That might limit audience. Discussion of some of the more popular threads, like the next-gen technology threads?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Perhaps a B3D podcast should be to gaming what Top Gear is to motoring?

 

[tirminyl]

Perhaps a B3D podcast should be to gaming what Top Gear is to motoring?

So who will be The Stig?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The world's greatest game-player, who doesn't say a word? Perhaps whoever has the highest gamerscore?

 

[AlNom]

Dave?

 

[patsu]

Now however I got a desktop PC all of my own again and everything is set-up and ready to go! So my question here is who's up for it? Anyone interested in being a regular? Anyone interested in being a guest? Anyone interested in being interviewed?

I'd like to have:

* Balance and indepth talks with developers, B3D style. It should give developers a platform to clarify what other sites messed up constantly.

* Opportunities for people to call in and ask questions


Is this hobby only, or are you thinking of turning it into a business someday ?

 

[Iron Tiger]

The Stig is the guy that tests the hell out of everything. B3D's Stig would probably be grandmaster.

 

[tirminyl]

The Stig is the guy that tests the hell out of everything. B3D's Stig would probably be grandmaster.

I'm one of those people that believe that The Stig is multiple people. So you can have multiple players named The Beyonder. A little play on the site name and a marvel character.

 

[Cornsnake]

They say he'll do any mundane task for trophies or achievements, that he secretly hates the Wii, and that he can name every GPU ever made. All we know he's called the Beyonder.

 

[Arwin]

Sounds like a good idea. I would definitely listen. It would be an audio version of the forums

This is definitely one thing I would like to put on the programme: a kind of forum watch that bring the bigger topics discussed on the forum to light. But I would like to try to do everything with some level of quality - maybe have someone summarise, or identify a few sides of the story and let individuals on the podcast summarise the arguments into a compact semi-scripted discussion.

I'd like to have:

* Balance and indepth talks with developers, B3D style. It should give developers a platform to clarify what other sites messed up constantly.

That would definitely be cool, though it would overlap a bit with what grandmaster does. Don't want to annoy him or get in his way in any way, love his work on Digital Foundry. That would probably also limit his ability to contribute, though if there is any mutually beneficial way of working together I'd go for it.

* Opportunities for people to call in and ask questions

Is this hobby only, or are you thinking of turning it into a business someday?

Call in and ask questions is something that's becoming popular in podcasts, though it's very hard. The best thing is probably if people mail in questions in advance. They could then be added to the conference at some point. It´s probably hard enough just to get the regulars meeting up at the right time as it is.

From what I've seen, the only valid business in a podcast is basically people-adds. My current ambition is to get a decent podcast going on a regular business. Should be enough of a challenge for now.

Perhaps a B3D podcast should be to gaming what Top Gear is to motoring?

Heh, that would be cool to some extent, though I'm not sure that it necessarily fits the Beyond3D crowd. Still, it's an interesting thought to try and see if you could use that formula intelligently. Maybe you could do a Top Gear style section on car games once a month or so, since there are so ridiculously many. You'd probably need someone for each genre of games, e.g. Ostepop for FPS games or something, etc.

Actually, I'd have thought the Eurogamer podcast would develop into that, but it never happened. They do seem to fit that mould better though maybe.

For Beyond3D though, Quaz51 was for a while definitely The stig at least in one area. I'm not sure how we could have a Stig beyond that though - what would we test?

First thing, get it on iTunes.

Second, differentiate. All gaming podcasts have a "gaming news" and "what have we've been playing" sections. What is going to set apart the B3D podcast from the rest?

Maybe more detailed discussion of technology? That might limit audience. Discussion of some of the more popular threads, like the next-gen technology threads?

iTunes, yes, obviously, though ironically I hate iTunes and never use it. I've actually added all RSS feeds on my PSP and use that for both downloading and listening to them 95% of the time.

Yes, gaming news and what we've been playing are stablemates. They're not bad, but there are enough of them. That said, they are fun to do - it's fun to discuss a game with other people, and it's often interesting to listen to.

If I would do such sections at all, I would definitely try do them in such a way that they are clearly different. I think there is plenty of room for that - for instance using the forum's take on the news as the guideline, representing the topics they've shown up in an interesting way.

I would definitely do technology sections. I think there are enough people who are interested in the way things work. I've got plenty of experience explaining technical things in a non-technical way, so maybe we can keep things accessible enough.

Above all though, I want to try to do things with a modicum of journalistic integrity. No sensasionalist bull-shit, mindless copying of rumors on blogs, etc. If we would discuss something, I would like to try to have us prepare for that discussion by doing some actual research on it, come up with reliable sources, etc.

 

[Richard]

* Balance and indepth talks with developers, B3D style. It should give developers a platform to clarify what other sites messed up constantly.

It would help if developers would at least have the courtesy to refuse interviews. Instead, they seem intent on giving as much general and politically correct interviews to "mainstream" media that maliciously or ignorantly keeps stirring the hornet's nest.

 

[AlexV]

They say he'll do any mundane task for trophies or achievements, that he secretly hates the Wii, and that he can name every GPU ever made. All we know he's called the Beyonder.

No he's called Wavey...nice fellow really

 

[obonicus]

Well, maybe we could get SMM on to dramatize his Creature tales? Direct developer talk!

 

[Arwin]

It would help if developers would at least have the courtesy to refuse interviews. Instead, they seem intent on giving as much general and politically correct interviews to "mainstream" media that maliciously or ignorantly keeps stirring the hornet's nest.

I'm not sure you can really blame them for that though - they have to pitch in their share of PR.