BRBU Game Review Podcast

[Evil Cheese]

For a while now, I've been playing around with this idea of creating a game review podcast. Yes, I know there are about 200,000 other podcasts out there of a similar nature, but stick with me for a moment as this is one is a bit different. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of reading/watching/listening to traditional format reviews where one (or sometimes more) guy lists the features of a game along with impressions, usually some witticisms (or at least an attempt at witticism), and then slaps on a score at the end. What I am proposing is a deviation from those types of reviews in favor of a more round table discussion type review. A review that would mimic how us gamers talk about games in real life, in the same way you and your buddies discuss the positives and negatives of a particular game (I don't mean "Halolz reach around is for fgts" either). I realize this format probably isn't best for creating the quick reviews due the day of release that are expected from your average popular gaming blog/site, however this is the advantage of BRBU. Since we are a community of gamers first and foremost, we are not bound to those types of rules. We have the freedom to take a time to do something like this before publishing a review. We're also not bound to review every game that shows up on the market, only the ones we're interested in.

So this is my plan. I want to do a 30-45 min. podcast that reviews games in a round table discussion format. While I do want some amount of thoughtful discussion, I also want you guys to be yourselves and not be afraid to represent some of the craziness that is BRBU. For the first go I need at least three volunteers who have all bought and finished, at least once, a recent game. In IRC, Fallout: New Vegas came up which I think is a great suggestion, so let's start with that. Are there at least three people out there who have finished Fallout: New Vegas? I also need one person to act as "the host." Basically, the host is in charge of introduction everyone, transitioning the conversation from one topic to another, and making sure all of the conversation points are hit. If I get some positive feedback from you guys along with some volunteers, we can then start working more on the format of that podcast.

A conversation in IRC has lead me to believe that there may be some interest in this idea, so I thought I would throw it out there to get feedback from the rest of the community. I am willing to organize, record, edit, and find hosting if there seems to be some interest.

[Surf314]

Sounds good, if you are willing to handle the organization it will work.

[Spore]

I'll be on board for the Super Meat Boy review that everybody on BRBU will buy because they aren't retards.

[KarthXLR]

I'd be down for reviewing some games.

[Geoff]

when do we make the halo reach around podcast im SO IN

[Spore]

when do we make the halo reach around podcast im SO IN

Halo Reach is already old gam.

[Negate]

I suppose I'd be down for it.

[CaffeinePowered]

As with other previous attempts, someone just needs to take up the banner and organize it, probably 90% of the work will be bugging the shit out of people to get their segment done.

[[SiN] Merc]

I'd be alright with some contribution, if my assistance is needed in discussion.

[Surf314]

As with other previous attempts, someone just needs to take up the banner and organize it, probably 90% of the work will be bugging the shit out of people to get their segment done.

This, no matter what you may think will happen the reality is that most of the work goes in organization. Without someone doing that work it's not going to get off the ground.

[Dtrain323i]

If this is going to happen, then we need 4 or 5 people committed to it. Then we set up a dedicated day and time that we record. I like Cheese's idea of doing a roundtable discussion. I could see it being almost like Tough Crown with Colin Quinn if anybody remembers that show. We'd need a "host" then have the addition panelists. If it was individual people doing their own reviews it'll last about as long as the beer reviews.

Then we'd have to find games that all the panelists have or can easily get and play. It also has to be a game we'd all want to play. I sure as shit don't want to play one of the 1000 versions of pokemon. Then have enough of an opinion on to fill up 30-45 minutes. Which is actually 60-90 minutes of discussion and is edited down.

All of this has to be at least somewhat scripted. Othewise you'll run into something like this:

"So, what did you think about then end sequence of game XYZ?"
"eh, it was cool I guess"

then dead air. Which is boring.

So before it's recorded, we figure out what we want to say. At least get a rough outline of the flow of the conversation that we know how it's going to play out.

Then, once this whole thing is put together, it needs to be marketed. We'd have to spread the word about our product and convince people to listen to it. Reddit would be a good avenue, as would twitter, facebook, and digg. (yes I know digg sucks but it's 5 guys bullshitting about a video game, you have to cast a wide net)



Then you have to repeat that process over and over until it has a dedicated audience.


ETA: Something I forgot to add. It goes hand in hand with the marketing part. The over arching question that has to be answered is "Why us?". Why should someone listen to the BRBU podcast over a different one? What would we offer the audience that isn't already being offered by someone else? OR What is being done by someone else that we could do better? This actually has to be answered before anything that I explained above can begin.

[Spore]

You can't really have a dedicated group of people doing it unless you make them all buy the newest games as they come out like some super expensive book club.

[Dtrain323i]

You can't really have a dedicated group of people doing it unless you make them all buy the newest games as they come out like some super expensive book club.

It doesn't have to be the same people every time. It can change but it would still need a dedicated core. You can swap out "guest hosts" as needed.

[Live-Free-Or-Pie]

I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

[Dtrain323i]

I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers? How many VG reviewers take it from those viewpoints? We have a couple members who play for the other team. Maybe one would like to contribute and be our resident GAYmer. (best pun evar)

[Spore]

[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5144.msg183060#msg183060 date=1289351660]
I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers?
[/quote]

What about them?

[Dtrain323i]

[quote author=Dtrain323i link=topic=5144.msg183062#msg183062 date=1289352286]
[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5144.msg183060#msg183060 date=1289351660]
I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers?
[/quote]

What about them?
[/quote]

read the rest of mah post

[Spore]

[quote author=Spore link=topic=5144.msg183063#msg183063 date=1289352475]
[quote author=Dtrain323i link=topic=5144.msg183062#msg183062 date=1289352286]
[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5144.msg183060#msg183060 date=1289351660]
I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers?
[/quote]

What about them?
[/quote]

read the rest of mah post
[/quote]

Or get the undertones of mah post. It would be best if gaming could get rid of tags like Girl Gamer or Gay Gamer to mean things other than girls and gays who happen to play games. That's a topic for discussion actually.

[[SiN] Merc]

[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5144.msg183060#msg183060 date=1289351660]
I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers? How many VG reviewers take it from those viewpoints? We have a couple members who play for the other team. Maybe one would like to contribute and be our resident GAYmer. (best pun evar)
[/quote]

A gamer is a gamer in my eye. I don't think we need a "queer eye for the gamer guy" panel, you know? They have ideas and the like that would be different and fun WITHOUT bringing in their sexuality in the mix. My two cents at least, maybe I'm lookin into it a bit much.

[Dtrain323i]

Merc link=topic=5144.msg183070#msg183070 date=1289354596]
[quote author=Dtrain323i link=topic=5144.msg183062#msg183062 date=1289352286]
[quote author=Live-Free-Or-Pie link=topic=5144.msg183060#msg183060 date=1289351660]
I'd be interested in contributing, but I try not to (re: cannot afford) to buy games new at this point.

Thanks to some bargain bin diving, I do have a big backlog of last-gen games i could dip into for some "out-of-left-field" content.

Most mainstream VG podcasts (I listen to Giantbomb and Weekend Confirmed) get advance copies and cover the same stuff at the same time, so a podcast that wants to stand out from the crowd would need to find a way around the early release advantage and a unique hook to stand out from the gaggle.

what about girl gamers and LGBT gamers? How many VG reviewers take it from those viewpoints? We have a couple members who play for the other team. Maybe one would like to contribute and be our resident GAYmer. (best pun evar)
[/quote]

A gamer is a gamer in my eye. I don't think we need a "queer eye for the gamer guy" panel, you know? They have ideas and the like that would be different and fun WITHOUT bringing in their sexuality in the mix. My two cents at least, maybe I'm lookin into it a bit much.
[/quote]

i'm just throwing ideas out there. I'm not saying we'd have to reinvent the wheel but if it were to be something that is successful, you have to have something that make it stand out.