By RPS on September 25th, 2008 at 11:59 am.
Yes indeed, we finally did it. A podcast. Well, half of us did. Kieron and John got together in John’s squalid bedroom and recorded 45 minutes of the highest quality PC games-based banter you’re ever likely to hear (if you can understand Kieron’s hyper-speed Midlands-twang). They only made one mistake. They recorded it on a toaster.
So, be warned. What we’re linking to here is of utterly abysmal sound quality. No one in their right mind would be willing to put out something that sounds like two broken robots being drowned in a bathtub. Fortunately, there are no right minds here, so you get to hear it. But you’ve been warned. (And it’s all perfectly audible). So NO complaints about sound quality. Not one. We know. We know. We know. Anyone who complains will be put to death.
Below the jump is a running order of the inanity. Plus links to the potential RSS feed. This is all highly experimental at this point, and we’ve no idea whether it will all work. Definitely post if you’re having trouble getting it. BUT NOT ABOUT THE SOUND QUALITY.
Running Order
0:00 Pointless Rambly Embarassed Intro
2:29 John Walker loves that World of Goo.
7:02 Kieron spoils a World of Goo puzzle just to illustrate how amazing it is.
9:12 Kieron Gillen loves that Warhammer Online.
13:25 Kieron realises that he’s ranting, but it doesn’t seem to stop him.
17:00 John finally gets a chance to tell some anecdotes about Warhammer and visiting Mythic.
19:35 And that’s enough about Warhammer. Now, Multiwinia!
21:30 Kieron segues into the joy of Chaos on the Spectrum, before going back into Multiwinia.
23:30 John tries to get Kieron to say something about Subversion, but he doesn’t know nowt. Well, nearly nowt…
25:30 Kieron releases a new and ill-thought out theory: the renaissance of the puzzle game.
29:55 John tells the story about the Audiosurf Moneyhat.
32:25 The PC Gamer podcast, the PC Gamer showdown and slander about the PC Gamer staff.
36:10 The Eurogamer event – and a possible RPS event in London. Involving drinking.
37:20 Insulting readers 1 and 4, but loving 2 and 3. And the joy of the RPS TF2 server and guilds.
39:10 Kieron’s off to see LOTR:Online: Mines of Moria. John’s in Private Eye. And John explains Private Eye.
42:10 Our favourite podcasts.
43:55 John Walker tells a story involving incest and a major industry PR man.
44:40 And we decide to stop.
The RSS feed is here. Although there will obviously be a gap while we figure out how to record it so it doesn’t sound this poor. Direct mp3 download is here. We’ll be on iTunes in a bit – that’s just processing at the moment. Will edit in the link. EDIT: And here’s the link!
So, as well as complaints that it doesn’t work, please post your thoughts and feedback below. BUT NOT ABOUT THE SOUND QUALITY. Let us know if it’s too long, not long enough, too funny for your mind to cope with, that sort of thing.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget the One Life Left podcast, which we love very much.
25/09/2008 at 12:03 Schtee says:
Omgoshes. Direct competition with PCG podcast! I shall have to check this after work.
25/09/2008 at 12:05 James G says:
Yay! I shall listen this evening and be mildly annoyed that us mere mortals still have to wait for World of Goo.
25/09/2008 at 12:06 Seniath says:
Excellent, more quality* listening material for this weekends road trip!
*for given values of quality, natch.
25/09/2008 at 12:07 nabeel says:
Excellent, at long last! Downloading now.
nabeel
25/09/2008 at 12:08 Begging for Death says:
My, the sound quality is poor. </ohsoobvious>
25/09/2008 at 12:11 Kieron Gillen says:
Your mum is poor.
KG
25/09/2008 at 12:12 parm says:
Christ, even though you warned me, I’m still surprised about how bad the sound quality is. It’s even worse than TeamSpeak or something.
Other than that: Videogames: YAAAY!
And I like the sound of blogging whilst drunk. You should go into a pub, and start writing and drinking simultaneously. And we can then all laugh about how poor your writing gets.
25/09/2008 at 12:15 John Walker says:
Your mum’s quality is surprisingly bad.
25/09/2008 at 12:17 parm says:
My mum can use a microphone.
25/09/2008 at 12:17 Bobsy says:
32:25: Actually, since this is a published format, it’s libel, rather than slander.
Oh, but surely: “Rock Paper Shotcast” is snappier and sexier? Or “Rock Podcast Shotgun”? Maybe not.
25/09/2008 at 12:19 parm says:
You’ve sold World of Goo to me, though.
25/09/2008 at 12:19 Kerotan says:
This is epic, and yes I have room for this podcast and the PCG one in my life.
25/09/2008 at 12:20 Ragnar says:
I’m sure it’s top notch, but I never got into these kinds of podcasts (about the only talky radio/podcast stuff I listen is Just a minute) and prefer to read things instead
25/09/2008 at 12:21 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Wait, why is sound quality such an issue; I thought John used to work in radio (or the electric analogue wireless in RPS parlance)?
25/09/2008 at 12:22 Dan Milburn says:
Well done. 9 minutes in and I’ve preordered World of Goo.
25/09/2008 at 12:22 John Walker says:
Well, MRBP, when I left the radio station I worked for, madly I forgot to steal an entire studio and mixing desk. I know, hindsight!
25/09/2008 at 12:25 phuzz says:
I’ve got to drive all the way to the lake district tomorrow, so this will help pass the time (so if you could keep future episodes below 80mins so they fit on CD that would be just lovely).
25/09/2008 at 12:33 Meat Circus says:
I was disdainful of WoW and loving WAR too.
We are the new wave.
25/09/2008 at 12:33 Craigp says:
The double doors to my heart.
(obv you have to listen to the podcast to get that)
25/09/2008 at 12:35 Urael says:
John: “2Dboygoo” <- that’s amazing right there. Laughed my ass off. :D
Funniest thing I’ve heard all month, even if it has totally ruined the sombre, sober, nigh-on majestic images of you both I had lovingly crafted in my head.
25/09/2008 at 12:35 Meat Circus says:
Ooh, downloading at an average speed of 2.1 KB/s.
Go, go fat RPS pipes!
25/09/2008 at 12:37 Mr_Day says:
I like both WoW and War.
I am the new breed. I shall call myself WoWWar the Mighty, and play an Orc with sentimental feelings. Or something.
It ain’t easy, bein’ a homicidal killer trying to get revenge for the destruction of his clan in a worlde gonne madde, with elephants. Also, I appear to be made of Fungus. Also, For the Horde.
25/09/2008 at 12:37 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Why were Kieron and John both in the same bathbub? Why would anyone try to drown them?
That podcast better answer these questions.
25/09/2008 at 12:37 Matt says:
Too much MMO talk! Aside from that, enjoyable podcast.
25/09/2008 at 12:37 WoWWar The Mighty says:
See? told you I would.
25/09/2008 at 12:38 Urael says:
Meat Circus: Must be your connection. I got this on my work uber-pipe and it took seconds for the lot. ;)
25/09/2008 at 12:41 Acosta says:
Congratulations to Kieron and John for their new condition of Cyborgs, how do you feel being more than simple human beings?
(I had to do it!, I promise some constructive commentary when I have some time to hear it properly, is not that easy for us poor not native speakers).
25/09/2008 at 12:41 Man Raised By Puffins says:
@ John: Well I guess they are kind of heavy and pretty hard to wheel away on an office chair. I’ll let you off, this time.
25/09/2008 at 12:41 araczynski says:
isn’t podcasting a little 2006?
i.e. up there with blogging and google/flash advertising in terms of useless crap that spawned from the net?
25/09/2008 at 12:42 Kieron Gillen says:
Matt: I did ramble a lot about Warhammer – but it was the big game this week and all, so kind of expected. But still – a big ol’ rant.
KG
25/09/2008 at 12:44 John Walker says:
araczynski, your mum is a little 2006.
25/09/2008 at 12:47 subedii says:
Awesome. I guess I’m also sold on WoG now as well.
25/09/2008 at 12:47 King Awesome says:
You need one of those decent powered mics, they have an external power box type thing that you usually have to by seperately. I know because my housemate has one up in his room, improves the sound quality ten-fold.
I’m sure the Triforce and PCG guys have already let you in on that little secret though :)
25/09/2008 at 12:49 John Walker says:
We need to not make a big mistake, and then record, and then not be able to fix the mistake. That’s the secret to good podcasting.
But we figured, better to have this rather than nothing.
25/09/2008 at 12:49 Kieron Gillen says:
One Life Left and the PCG guys both record in proper recording studios too.
EDIT: And, yes, we’ll be looking into better solutions if we do another one.
KG
25/09/2008 at 12:53 Dorsch says:
Except for the ugly sound, this was a promising start. You may proceed. You have to, actually.
25/09/2008 at 13:05 The Sombrero Kid says:
can we stop calling it a podcast yet
25/09/2008 at 13:06 ImperialCreed says:
That’s aces RPS. I find the PCG podcast is just too damn infrequent. Might I suggest you guys start releasing eps in between their schedule? (You realise of course that now you’ve released one you’re going to have to keep doing it.)
EDIT: Also, putting something consistent in the mp3 ID tags would be nice.
25/09/2008 at 13:07 ste says:
the biggest problem with have with our contributors is finding a way of getting their mics working. it’s weird that this is a non-trivial problem in 2008, but so it seems. since we’re a radio show we sort of skip the problem which means i still don’t know enough about it. oops. sorry.
anyway, i’ve often fantasised about robot kieron making out with robot john so the audio quality here is fine for me.
25/09/2008 at 13:08 LewieP says:
Podcast is off to a great start. One little bit of feedback – if you follow a standardised naming format, it makes them easier to organise. Something along the lines of “YYMMDD****.mp3″, so “080925RPSpodcast.mp3″, it will mean that when organised alphabetically they will also be chronological. Not a big deal, but probably worth doing.
I remember playing the “Tower of Goo” tech demo years ago, and thinking “they really should make a proper game out of this”, glad to hear that’s what they’ve done.
I’ll be heading to the Eurogamer Expo, debate/drinking games sounds great.
25/09/2008 at 13:10 Dr_demento says:
Nice, very entertaining… someone’s already suggested this, but I want to add my vote to “you should do the verdicts in podcast form!”
25/09/2008 at 13:12 monkeymonster says:
I thought twas quite funny that you implied we (the readers/listeners) are youngsters when you two are in full gaming nerdfest flow (nowt bad with that, mind) you sound like a couple of enthusiastic computing students sipping your snakebite in a student bar after a long ‘sess’ … :) Keep it up though please as its always good to hear eloquent, well constructed arguments and digestive (biscuits) bites of good games! Hurrah and top marks for the Rock, Paper Soundbite (or Rocking, Pod Soundbite)
25/09/2008 at 13:12 The Sombrero Kid says:
@LewieP
if they follow the format rpspodcsast1.mp3 the same is true.
for the record guys you arn’t the symphony orchestra 8khz is fine!
25/09/2008 at 13:24 LewieP says:
Only for the first 9, after then, it would break. It would have to be “rpspodcsast01.mp3″, but then if they ever did more than 99, it would also break.
It’s just a sensible thing to do, not a big deal by any means.
25/09/2008 at 13:24 The Poisoned Sponge says:
That was really very good, easily on parr with every other gaming podcast out there that I’ve heard of, although with less jingles.
25/09/2008 at 13:33 King Awesome says:
I think Music Creator (which is the affordable version of that fancy sound package SONAR) will probably do what you are after and let you compose a funky ditto for an intro song.
This is the microphone preamp I was alluding to earlier. Its been pretty reliable so far and is cheap enough. Then you need one of those special recording mics that plugs into it.
I would listen to the actual thing now but I’m at work and they frown on such things.
25/09/2008 at 13:35 rumraisin says:
Love it! May we please have another?
25/09/2008 at 13:41 Feet says:
That was very amusing and informative.
25/09/2008 at 13:43 Paul says:
Great podcast guys! If you want to come to Sheffield I’ll record you in my home studio? Pristine audio quality! You haven’t heard how stupid your voice really sounds until you’ve recorded it at 96khz @ 32bit through an analogue desk and decent condenser mic. [/geek]
25/09/2008 at 13:43 MetalCircus says:
This is excellent – the obvious next step for RPS I think. Good show chaps.
25/09/2008 at 13:44 Andrew says:
The incest story is great.
25/09/2008 at 13:45 Kieron Gillen says:
I love that story so much.
KG
25/09/2008 at 13:50 Muzman says:
I didn’t think the sound was bad actually. You could hear what people were saying at inoffensive frequencies. Half of the ones you hear they might have fancy mics but they’re set up wrong or they’re mixed wrong or they’re all different and there’s no post and there’s ‘plosives all over and there’s some guy on the phone and its patched in badly and there’s a delay on the line and it’s causing all stilted and clashing conversation and even feedback and oho boy.
Much prefer something that’s at least fairly consistent.
This was cool. Just the two worked fine and you chat well together. Good luck with more guys; that could get crowded if you’re all the same. It’s annoying that you’re not monotonous social reprobates that I could feel slightly superior to after all, but that’s life I suppose.
25/09/2008 at 13:51 sleeper says:
Wow, your sound quality is as awful as my obese klepto dealer Mum.
25/09/2008 at 13:51 christopher hyde says:
I can’t listen to this until later, but this is GREAT news. Thanks for doing this, it’s very much appreciated.
25/09/2008 at 13:54 futage says:
I can’t tell your voices apart. Next time could you please use callsigns or put a comedy voice filter on one or both of you please.
(like my mum)
25/09/2008 at 13:56 Kieron Gillen says:
Sleeper: Your mum is an obese klepto dealer Mum with poor sound quality.
KG
25/09/2008 at 14:09 The Sombrero Kid says:
i distinguish them by thinking ‘johns the posh Englishman, kierons the not so posh Englishman(i’m Scottish and my girlfriends from Sutton so you both sound posher than her)
p.s. listeners not readers :P
25/09/2008 at 14:10 Meat Circus says:
My mother’s sound quality is excellent.
25/09/2008 at 14:33 Thomas Lawrence says:
The sound quality is lovely.
(Because my mum will appreciate the consequent compliment).
25/09/2008 at 14:34 futage says:
Sombrero Kid, so is Keiron the one with the slight East Midlands twang? Or am I imagining that?
25/09/2008 at 14:35 nakke says:
RPS podcast? RPS podcast! RPS PODCAST! RPS PODCAST! Wait, what? A RPS podcast you say? Madness!
Hey, btw, the sound quality is kind of bad.
25/09/2008 at 14:43 Therlun says:
Dont like podcasts either. Waste of everyone’s time.
25/09/2008 at 14:45 James G says:
@Therlun
Apart from of the people who like them.
25/09/2008 at 14:50 John Walker says:
No no, it was vital that we all knew Therlun’s opinion on these things!
25/09/2008 at 14:51 Nitre says:
Well, i liked it.
And i preordered World of Goo as well.
25/09/2008 at 15:05 The Sombrero Kid says:
@futage
i’m not sure about his twang it sounded a bit schizo but if i’d guess i’d say east midlands yeah.
i remember john aswell cause he sounds like my friend john who works for EA and is also funny, whose from Devon, therefore John’s from Devon and he know’s why and how they make it so creamy!
25/09/2008 at 15:13 futage says:
@Sombrero Kid
Yeah, Keiron’s twang seemed to vary between quite pronounced and not there at all during the course of the thing. Maybe he just enjoys doing tentative impersonations of someone from the East Midlands.
But anyway, I managed to separate them in the end and enjoyed the thing. I would like more of the arty talk, though. Much more of it.
25/09/2008 at 15:17 Okami says:
Well, I had my reservations about this and I’m glad that they were totally unfounded.
More please.
And the audio quality wasn’t that bad at all, if you ask me.
25/09/2008 at 15:24 Therlun says:
@James G; John Walker
Perhaps the content of this podcast is exceptionally interesting, but that doesnt make it a better medium.
The article asked for thoughts and feedback, I provided those from my point of view.
If you only want content-related comments you have to say so. :P
25/09/2008 at 15:34 futage says:
@Therlun
That’s the most ridiculous argument. You dislike podcasts as a medium? How about recorded speech in general? How do you feel about radio? Do you dislike speech in general? Both dialogue and monologue? How about if it’s realtime? Why do you prefer the written word, assuming the content is the same?
25/09/2008 at 15:37 The Sombrero Kid says:
the ‘vocal’ medium is better for somethings i.e. waffling about uninteresting things and is very good to listen to while doing other things like work, whereas i’m much more likely to get into trouble for reading a web page it’s better for pertinent information and explicit detail about interesting things.
so i say they’re both good.
p.s. Electronic Wireless show is a much better name than podcast!
25/09/2008 at 15:51 Therlun says:
@futage
“Speech” has its uses. My main point is that it not possible that “the content is the same”. If you listen to a text someone reads out it has more information (intonation and accentuation).
That may sound like and advantage, but in some cases isnt.
Written text allows not only to present condensed information, its also is easy to navigate, “scan” and archive.
Podcasts only offer entertainment value, but demand too much work by the creator and too much time by the listener in my opinion.
I’m not saying that there shouldnt be any podcasts or that people are not allowed to enjoy them.
I’m just saying that the effort is wasted on me… and I’m sure the rest of humanity will recognise what a waste podcasts are at some point. ;)
I think that fits in the area of “giving feedback”. :)
25/09/2008 at 16:02 tmp says:
Ability to search, skim the boring bits and easy copypasta.
There’s also potential issue of foreign readers having more trouble with understanding the content, be it either due to speakers’ accents, quality of the audio in general, less familiarity with spoken english, lack of automated translators and whatever else.
25/09/2008 at 16:09 SPEEDCORE says:
Atleast you numbered it right!
Ill listen to it later
25/09/2008 at 16:10 futage says:
@Therlun
That’s a fair argument, that first bit.
The rest. Not sure I agree about the time required to do an electronic wireless show – surely it’s the length of the podcast, which isn’t much. Plus a little overhead for organisation. I absolutely disagree that a podcast only offers entertainment – why do you think this is so?
I still don’t get why you’re dismissing the medium. I mean – dismiss an individual podcast, fine. Even dismiss most podcasts if you feel they tend to have the same failings. But dismissing a particular podcast you’ve not heard based on vague ideas about the primacy of text for certain modes of communication (which may or may not relate to the content of the podcast) doesn’t hold up. Surely the content and particular use of speech in this specific podcast matter a lot?
25/09/2008 at 16:13 futage says:
@tmp
They’re problems with speech vs. text rather than with podcasts in particular. Which of course means they extend to podcasts but they’re not specific to that medium. I’m sure you don’t want to replace all spoken communication with textual communication? So I’m also sure that you’ll accept that spoken communication has its uses and unique abilities in terms of the communication of information. And given that no one is suggesting that the textual communications on this site be replaced with spoken ones, what’s the problem?
25/09/2008 at 16:21 The Sombrero Kid says:
@ futage
exactamudo! offer a choice and each man to his own, although i recommend you have a listen cause it really is very good, but don’t make time for it which i think is most peoples main mistake with this kind of thing rather listen while you’re working or washing the dishes/cleaning the house! you can’t read while you do those things and that for me is the point!
25/09/2008 at 16:22 Therlun says:
Futage,
My statement was perhaps a bit ambiguous.
Podcasts of course dont ONLY provide entertainment, but entertainment is the only thing where they have an advantage over other kinds of media.
An advantage that from my experience very rarely justifies the work and time involved.
25/09/2008 at 16:22 Lu-Tze says:
Your sound quality was my mum ¬_¬
In other related news, it’s nice to hear voices discuss this kind of thing and help shatter the illusion you are some kind of hivemind of omnipotent games journalistic power, and are just people who like talking about games a lot. And yes, I went away from it going “World of Goo then…”
25/09/2008 at 16:33 tmp says:
This is correct, after all the question i was answering was “why do you prefer text [over audio] given the content is the same”.
Is the transcript of this podcast available somewhere on the site? Because if it isn’t, it does in fact replace to some extent the textual communication. Very limited (at the moment) extent of course so it’s a limited problem, but nevertheless it might be seen as one.
25/09/2008 at 16:41 John Walker says:
Um, the podcast isn’t instead of anything else. People really do like to complain, don’t they?
25/09/2008 at 16:49 Therlun says:
Perhaps some people like to discuss… stuff.
Whats wrong about a mannered discussion about podcasts?
25/09/2008 at 16:50 The Sombrero Kid says:
@John Walker
That’s Outrageous, how could you possibly comment on such a thing as people complaining! Never heard of freedom of speach! yada yada lada tada your mum.
25/09/2008 at 16:54 tmp says:
People really don’t know what they want, do they?
25/09/2008 at 16:54 Alec Meer says:
That’s it. We’re turning off the website.
25/09/2008 at 17:05 Lu-Tze says:
I have a complaint about RPS being turned off…
25/09/2008 at 17:06 Lamprey says:
Love that shot of Costello being a big old nerd.
25/09/2008 at 17:07 droopy says:
That’s fine, so long as you podcast about it.
25/09/2008 at 17:09 Tim Edwards says:
The website is still up. Keep to your fucking promises.
25/09/2008 at 17:11 shon says:
Nice job guys. I usually detest podcasts but you guys sounded very natural.
25/09/2008 at 17:18 John Walker says:
tmp – I really genuinely wasn’t expecting people to tell us off for having made one at all, as if it were an affront to them.
25/09/2008 at 17:18 Paul Moloney says:
Did you use that free (crappy) mic that came with PCG a few years ago?
And yeah, my mum was free and came with PCG a few years ago (just thought I’d beat you to it).
Good idea though, please keep it up.
P.
25/09/2008 at 17:34 tmp says:
I guess it kinda spiralled there because some people aren’t big on the audio thing (due to mentioned reasons) but they’d like to read the equivalent of this podcast… so then they comment to such effect, then others respond with “what’s so better about text”, get response, respond with “ah but you aren’t losing anything” and so on.
For the record, and just personal view here… i don’t really have time to spend 45 mins listening to audio recording in hope for some interesting/funny bits, but i’d like to skim text version of it as it’s usually much faster. So not being able to do it does feel –quite irrationally of course– like missing out on some potentially good stuff. Transcripts are quite a work though and menial at that, so it’s just something to live with.
25/09/2008 at 17:34 Kieron Gillen says:
Droopy: I’m glad someone got it.
tmp: It’s one reason why we’ve ran the verdicts – it’s podcast like, but in the format of text. We’re certainly planning on continuing them.
AND WEST MIDLANDS, YOU BASTS.
KG
25/09/2008 at 17:51 Shawn says:
YES brothas, RPS..keep it going
@tmp
man, if you don’t like audio, don’t listen to it! There are a shitload of people that have long commutes to work and other reasons why audio works so well. RPS doing a podcast is the best thing to happen in recent times. The PC needs more podcasts, there’s a void. If you want to read text, just read the daily text here at RPS, as if you don’t have enough to read already.
25/09/2008 at 17:51 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
Simon Byron died a hero of Greece.
25/09/2008 at 17:52 Mr_Day says:
I liked the audio quality. Reminded me of when I was five and used to spout random drivel into a Fisher Price My First Tape Recorder.
Hilariously, it used to be about the games we had on our Amstrad 128k. “Jet Set Willy”, I would muse, “is a poorly titled game because I have not seen a single Willy. Or Jet”.
this makes me some kind of Pioneer. But of what?
25/09/2008 at 17:54 Raptornas says:
I enjoyed it, that is all.
25/09/2008 at 17:59 John Walker says:
Mr_Day, you must find these tapes and release them to the world.
25/09/2008 at 17:59 Nick says:
RPS Podcast Ate my Hampster
25/09/2008 at 18:05 Mr_Day says:
The headmaster of my school wanted ideas for a weird school radio thing. I submitted a tape.
I was very sternly told “no”.
Can’t imagine what the problem was. With such articles as “Jack the Nipper and why this kid is my idol” and “Starglider – Fact or Fiction? Imagine if spaceships shaped as giant eagles attacked tomorrow! That would be SO COOL”.
25/09/2008 at 18:20 SwiftRanger says:
Not bad, sound quality has something of an old, lost WWII recording to it.
And yeah, when asking about complaints I don’t think RPS meant posting arguments about why podcasts in general would suck (nothing is perfect of course but you can easily say the same about written articles).
I think the best parts in podcasts I’ve listened to (PCG UK, GfW, IGN Command Prompt, etc.) are dev appearances, memorable in-game stories or little newsbits you haven’t heard about yet, sometimes spoken words are just better to get a message out (English isn’t hard to understand I think), even when there are some bad language habits (American “you know” casts, I am listening to you).
25/09/2008 at 18:56 schizoslayer says:
It is now my ambition to be name-checked in every RPS podcast.
So far I have achieved it!
25/09/2008 at 19:04 Leeks! says:
I, for one, unreservedly appreciate you taking the time out of your days to add more free content to your free website, RPS. Please feel free to take a jab at my mum anyway, however.
25/09/2008 at 19:14 Nahual says:
I’m pleasantly surprised today, will be downloading it as soon as i get off work.
25/09/2008 at 19:19 cyrenic says:
More of this, please.
My only suggestion: as a dirty American reader, I have a hard time differentiating British accents, so I would sometimes loose track of who was talking. If you would use each others names more often that might have helped. It might have just been the sound quality, too, so fixing that may alleviate the problem.
25/09/2008 at 19:46 EyeMessiah says:
Or maybe all pick a comedy voice to use?
25/09/2008 at 19:48 Cooper says:
What with OLL, the PCG cast and now this – will I ever actually get to listen to music in my ipod?
25/09/2008 at 20:26 parm says:
Well, I’m impressed. That was very entertaining and nothing like as irritatingly self-indulgent or awkward or snickeringly nerdy as most other gaming podcasts. Hooray for this, and also, I hate you all for having played World Of Goo.
My mum liked it too (may be a lie).
25/09/2008 at 20:37 Will Tomas says:
The sound quality was fine, and this was much, much better than the PCG podcast. It actually was interesting, and had content worth listening to. Theirs is alright but it’s a bit too self-indulgent and rarely discusses anything in this sort of way. Good stuff.
25/09/2008 at 20:41 SZayat says:
please submit your Podcast to iTunes.
want to see it make it to the top 10!
cheers
25/09/2008 at 20:45 Sam says:
I’m the only person who didn’t even notice the low sound quality, aren’t I?
Well done – I actually laughed out loud several times during the Electronic Wireless show.
25/09/2008 at 20:47 Kadayi says:
Heh I knew my relentless badgering in the GFW thread would yield results. I shall hasten to the listening position directly and absorb the pontificating at length ;)
25/09/2008 at 21:04 flatHead says:
Very nice, but may I suggest adding ID3 tags and being consistent about them in future episodes? Cluttered media libraries are woeful things.
25/09/2008 at 21:16 CrashT says:
More of this sort of thing.
25/09/2008 at 21:18 Larington says:
I enjoyed that, and oh my Chaos, think thats the first game I ever played with anyone with multiple people using the same computer, and my word, was it class.
In other news, Jack Thompson has just had his disbarment affirmed if http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/25/disbarred#comments is to be believed, amusingly the sites getting hammered atm.
Back on topic, I thought the sound quality was quite sufficient actually though I do admit that the chances of a cascade scenario… err, where was I…
Though I do admit that improving the sound quality will certainly help with being able to differentiate between the different speakers.
Quite enjoyable I think, more please!
25/09/2008 at 21:48 graham says:
Brill, cant wait to walk the dog tomorrow as its my dedicated gaming podcast time.
The loss of GFW has left a hole, it’ll be great to substitute it with a UK based discussion.
Cheers chaps
25/09/2008 at 21:48 Kadayi says:
Thumbs up on the podcast. Pretty good stuff overall (you’ve piqued my interest in catching up with the World of Goo news). I remember playing Chaos quite a lot, what a great game that was. I must admit I didn’t realise Julian Gollop designed it, I tend to remember him for Rebel Star Raiders (great game) and the like. Anyhows Huge Success and definitely an exercise to be repeated. GJ.
25/09/2008 at 22:31 edward blake says:
Top notch, I was laughing to myself all the way home.
Well done.
25/09/2008 at 22:39 Radiant says:
Good writers writing well is one thing but the danger with podcasts is that it is very easy to slip into hubris.
The Triforce pod cast [and website] is unbearable for precisely this reason.
The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast is a very good example of a podcast done very well.
Good structure, good humour and it clips along at a very good rate.
25/09/2008 at 23:09 Morningoil says:
Aww, I loved it. I laughed. And you’re both lovely. You know it’s a good podcast when you really want to go for a drink with the … the … podcasters? afterwards. Not like a sexy drink. Just a continuing-the-banter drink.
Oh and I like the lack of anyone to commit to issues. Ha ha. Yes. Quite.
25/09/2008 at 23:12 Aorawn says:
If you’re going to be on iTunes, you should consider getting your way into Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace as well.
25/09/2008 at 23:17 Zuffox says:
What recording device was used for the ‘cast?
And I say that with no animosity.
25/09/2008 at 23:30 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Just gave a listen to it. The stuff I managed to understand was great, but I’ve just been reminded of the differences between writing and speaking english. Presumably, the difficulty I’m having grasping some of the content is because I do not train spoken english at all anymore – making it hard to grasp a certain level of accent. This was also the reason why I often had to ask people to repeat themselves on occasion during my visit to the UK several years ago. Being the best at writing and speaking English in my class became an epic fail when people in the streets of London were playing guv’em up with poor old me.
Also, I wasn’t expecting John to have such an effeminate voice… Even moreso than mine! Oh dear. I hope that’s a side effect of the bathroom’s acoustic properties ;)
25/09/2008 at 23:33 Diogo Ribeiro says:
As for the text versus audio stuff, I have no qualms against audio. Of course, if some kind soul could also provide a textual component, I wouldn’t mind. But I certainly don’t need it as much with the RPS podcast as I’d need with, say, Zero Punctuation.
25/09/2008 at 23:40 Kieron Gillen says:
Zuffox: The dictaphone I had with me.
Yes, I know.
KG
26/09/2008 at 00:06 TooNu says:
I downloaded the podcast and have yet to hear it because it is fairly late here in Sweden but I just read the majority of these comments and have been laughing for ages. Please make more podcasts.
26/09/2008 at 00:08 Weylund says:
Podcast, god yes!
And: It’s… A… TOASTER!
For everyone who’s seen Scrooged, I hope you recall the scene.
That is all.
Edit:
@Mr_Day: “this makes me some kind of Pioneer. But of what?”
The yawning indignity of man?
26/09/2008 at 00:10 Davik says:
YAYS. New podcat to listen to on the bus!
Now, how does it compare to PCG? Only my brain will tell..
26/09/2008 at 00:21 Mickiscoole says:
Haven’t listened to it yet, but will. Good to see the mighty RPS empire expanding.
Also, another podcast that I listen to seems to use the microphones from Singstar to record their podcasts.
26/09/2008 at 00:29 Fumarole says:
Please do not call them podcasts. I neither have nor want an ipod. I will instead listen to your funny accents on my PC. You know, the same place I game.
26/09/2008 at 01:12 SenatorPalpatine says:
I want an RPS t-shirt!
26/09/2008 at 01:48 Chris Evans says:
This is awesome :D
Oh yeah, sound quality is good! Try transcribing an interview Will Porter’s (PC Zone ed) dictaphone, that was really poor quality. This is good!
I demand more, now :D
26/09/2008 at 04:46 neoanderthal says:
Ahhh, Midlands twang! Bedworth for the win!
This colonial really enjoyed the podcast, for one. Well done, well done. I’d love to hear the audio version of RPS Verdicts – comments about tea and masturbation included.
More! More!
26/09/2008 at 04:47 Matthew Gallant says:
I’ll wait until it goes up on iTunes, but I look forward to listening to this on the bus. I hope it becomes a regular thing!
26/09/2008 at 05:42 Brokenbroll says:
Great job guys! Kieron, to my American ears, you are nowhere near as hard to understand as you made out.
Thanks for doing this, and I look forward to both of you announcing your new positions as associate producers at large game companies.
26/09/2008 at 07:43 Nahual says:
@Brokenbroll
Hell, i’m not a native english speaker, nor do i use english in my daily life, but i had no problem understanding them.
It was a nice podcast, i hope you keep it up.
26/09/2008 at 08:06 Orin says:
Personally, I really enjoy this. I like to hear the fun as much as I like to read it.
26/09/2008 at 09:43 terry says:
I listened to this on the train and found myself nodding sagely/guffawing enough to terrify other passengers. I thoroughly support this “podcast” technology.
There’s no gooey blob in Multiwinia? :(
26/09/2008 at 09:45 Guy Cocker says:
PLEASE buy a MacBook and use GarageBand for the next one.
26/09/2008 at 10:05 Alec Meer says:
I’ve got one. But they didn’t invite me, the cads.
26/09/2008 at 10:09 Kieron Gillen says:
Post updated with the Itunes link.
We actually did have a MacBook there, but it wasn’t working for some reason.
KG
26/09/2008 at 10:11 Sören Höglund says:
I ejoyed it quite a bit, although Kieron almost sold me on WAR with his arguing for the combat not being shit like WoW. The Bastard.
26/09/2008 at 13:10 Mr_Day, Pioneer of Yawning Indignity of Man says:
Hmm. I kinda like it.
Got a nice ring to it.
26/09/2008 at 13:20 Zuffox says:
Gillen: What model? Just curious since I myself have an Olympus DC-30 and thought that it would do well for such a purpose.
And the quality isn’t nearly as bad, as people seem to paint a picture of; use any type of static and noise reduction processing filter, and the quality would already do great. At any rate it’s better than the abhorrent quality of Skype or phone participants seen in podcasts such as Gamers with Jobs.
I do, however, think the colloquial and brit-speedtalk with no aforechosen topics puts you at a disadvantage – with the static making it that much harder to decipher the words. Of course, the colloquialism and chit-chat seems to be an obvious point of the podcast, but it’d be fun with an In Our Time-esque formal psedointellectual parley at one point.
26/09/2008 at 13:22 Kieron Gillen says:
Olympus VN4100. It’s entirely possible I was recording it at too low fidelity – it’s a new one which I haven’t mastered yet.
KG
26/09/2008 at 13:42 Sucram says:
This was much better than I expected.
Shows what low expectations I have really.
26/09/2008 at 14:21 Coleman says:
I’m ready for episode 2.
26/09/2008 at 15:33 Rei Onryou says:
Good podcast. One PCG Podcast a month doesn’t satiate my appetite, so this is helping fill the spot. Could you just steal the studio PCG use to make their Podcast. They’d never have to know.
26/09/2008 at 16:01 Nahual says:
@Kieron Gillen
I thought Macs were supposed to “just work” :P
26/09/2008 at 16:27 Ixtab says:
Normally I’m not too much of a fan of these ‘podcast’ thingies, preferring a written article, but this one was quite entertaining. I had no real problem with the sound quality although sometimes I had problems telling who is who.
26/09/2008 at 17:24 itsallcrap says:
Your mum is a new one which I haven’t mastered yet.
26/09/2008 at 22:48 Rufus T. Firefly says:
The only thing missing is a description of how many Peggles each podcast will be to download. (Imperial or Metric Peggles, take your pick.)
26/09/2008 at 23:07 Kadayi says:
Of course the lingering question is who are readers 1 & 4 ..
I hope I’m in with a shout ;)
29/09/2008 at 10:57 Lacobus says:
Hilairious comments thread.
There’s no point in getting annoyed about complaints though RPS. You are a PC gaming website unfortunately, and that just attracts 14 year old geeks who KNOW EVERYTHING.
Maybe you should start charging a nominal fee for the right to comment? That’ll force the riff-raff to keep their uncontructive complaints and useless opinions to themselves. Ay?
30/09/2008 at 09:13 Dray says:
Excellent stuff gentlemen. Plus I think recording it on a hand-cranked dictaphone just adds to the enjoyment.
So, yeah. Keep it up!
30/09/2008 at 09:25 SofS says:
This is the first podcast other than my friend’s radio show I’ve actually listened to and enjoyed. The sound quality, not being grating, didn’t really matter at all to me (it certainly wouldn’t stop me from listening again or to another recorded in the same way). I don’t generally like listening to journalism (I’d rather read), but this totally justified itself to me with its energy and spontenaiety. I wish I could get my friends this excited about gaming. (It was also a great chance for this Canadian to play Guess The British Accent, which ranks below only drinking and mocking Americans as a national pastime around here.) I very much hope that you decide to do another one.
01/10/2008 at 03:52 Mono says:
Man, it’s great to get another PC gaming centric podcast. I’m one of those folks w/ a decently long commute, so this stuff is like gold. I’ll listen to this tomorrow, but and hope you find the time/rhythm to keep it going.