MEW is here to stay, and it’s up to us to create compelling new content to grow this infant community. One of the ideas to do that is a Podcast. And so, at the start of February, we shall do this.
We need some ideas and comments about what the Podcast should be. There are a lot of things to consider and would love the input of the community. This will be a fully community-driven thing, but there must be some order. And so, I’ve prepared a list of questions that should be addressed before we can record our very first episode.
What should the podcast focus on?
Is there a specific structure you would like to see?
How long of a podcast would you like to listen to?
Can anyone assist in editing the episodes?
How often should the podcast be posted?
Can the podcast be posted here on MEW somewhere?
Do you have any recommendations from a technical aspect what we need to consider?
Do you want to be a participant in the on-air discussion?
The podcast should be gaming focused, gaming news, discussing latest games, and perhaps discussion of some games people may have forgotten. Also adding discussion about the SA gaming scene
The podcast shouldn’t have a formal structure and agenda, but more segments. These segments should be Gaming News, What Are You Playing, Do You Remember…, Indie Game Spotlight, etc.
We should start out with only 30 to 45 minute podcasts as a start
I can assist in editing the podcast
Once a week, preferably on either a Tuesday or Wednesday, with recordings done over the weekend
What Hammer said (games, gaming news, etc.) however I think we can include series and movies (current or upcoming) and maybe gadgets as well
I don’t think you’ll have a fixed agenda (ie up first is discussion about a game or two, then a movie, then what are you playing), however I think the structure should always be the same (i.e. if you are discussing gaming news this week, it should always be first, gadgets will always be second [if applicable], etc.)
I don’t listen to podcasts at all, mostly because the time/duration of them puts me off. I don’t always want to listen to other people talk for 45min to an hour+. So I’m not really sure; for me shorter would be better.
I’ve never tried but I can probably give it a shot.
Once per week is probably a good target, however once bi-weekly might be a more realistic target.
n/a
Whoever wants to participate will have to make sure they have a proper mic (shouldn’t sound like they are on the other side of the room, break up, unclear, popping a lot, etc.)
I can try, however it might be difficult with some kid sounds in the background, etc.
On my phone, so I’ll address point by point a little later. But for now: Polygon used to have a very good daily podcast that just summarized the most important news stories of the day in about 10 minutes, And then had longer special episodes for big events like the release of The Force Awakens, or the passing of Satoru Iwata. Daily is definitely overkill, but the format was good, short, and worked, for lack of a better word. Maybe give one or two episodes a listen for inspiration.
I think the length of the podcast should be more in the region of 15-20min. People enjoy short snappy media that doesn’t waste their time. Only someone as famous as Total Biscuit can get away with long videos.
I have an idea for a twist on reviewing a game. One person streams themselves playing a game while 2-3 other people watch the stream. The player then gives their thoughts on the game with the other spectators giving their input, asking questions etc. With this format the spectators will likely ask the questions that a potential buyer would like to know about the game before deciding whether to buy it or not.
A variation of this could be “Defend this game…” Where someone streams footage of a game they particularly enjoy but isn’t exactly perfect, they would be the defendant. The 2-3 spectators would then point out the faults of the game, with the defendant trying to argue why those faults don’t drastically impact the game, or why the game is worth playing despite those faults. For example, PUBG is still in many ways a bit of a mess but it still offers an experience that many people (according to the large number of daily players) find desirable. The podcast would then cast some light on why that is.
I should probably have mentioned that the Polygon podcast was called Minimap. D’oh! Also, a thing that I appreciated about it was that it kept me abreast of the news of platforms (read: consoles) and genres that I don’t particularly follow.
Gaming in general, movies, comics, local geek events, board games, TCGames, all things that might interest the Gaming crowd at large. We have a very broad scope, being a gaming community site, so we can fit a helluva lot in under our banner.
I think a large scale structure, or schedule rather, would be beneficial. A weekly 15 minute podcast that addresses the interesting news of the week, with a longer “feature” once a month, where the scope can be broader than with the regular episode, for example having a chat to some of the racing fanatics among us to find out what drives (hehe) them (us) to be geeks about their sport.
10-15 minutes for a news type show, 30 minutes for a feature type show.
I most definitely do not possess that skill.
It really depends on the availability of the people involved… I think once a week would be great, if enough interesting news can be found.
It should ideally be posted on the bigger podcast repositories, so that subscription to the podcast is easy, download is automatic, and it doesn’t take all of @SIGSTART’s bandwidth…
Mixing. Editing is one thing, but ensuring that voices and sounds are even is important.
I doubt I have anything interesting enough to say, but depending on the subject matter, I might join in.
Heeeeeeells no. I might seem charming on here, but I do not possess people skills; People would not watch that show.
I love podcasts. And it would be great to have a local one that is not cringy.
games/series/nerdom/the usual.
the new The Know podcast i feel is doing it right. it starts with a little what have you been playing this week, so you go through that. then a news section, then normally one prepared topic for the week to keep on discussing.
depends on the quality. i personally prefer longer since i have more listening time then. But i think the appropriate time is between 20-40minutes.
i can help with editing.
Once a week would be golden to work towards. while ironing out the kinks, maybe once every 2 weeks to start with.
What should the podcast focus on?
The first thing that came to mind is the news you might have missed @DieGrootHammer already writes, maybe discussing those topics would be interesting.
Is there a specific structure you would like to see?
Is this going to be a news thing or a lets talk thing, in other words how serious is the Podcast going to be ,
I used to be on a weekly local radio show and had to tone myself down for instance, you always need some form of structure but how flexible that is will determine what type or style of podcast
How long of a podcast would you like to listen to?
I listen to podcasts everyday to and from work, they average anything between 20min to 2 hours but I think to start with 20-45min
Can anyone assist in editing the episodes?
Not sure depends on various factors,
How often should the podcast be posted?
once a week at least, but to start with depending on resources every 2 weeks
Do you have any recommendations from a technical aspect what we need to consider?
Decent Mic’s , Decent internet.
Do you want to be a participant in the on-air discussion?
Sure
Topics? More interested to hear what other people have to say here. I’m happy with a simple focus on gaming and related culture, as described above.
Structure? Yes. Setting a basic structure for a podcast helps keep it tight and is more entertaining/engaging to listen to. I’m happy to provide on-the-job training for how to prepare a “runner” or “run-down” – the document producers use in live radio and TV that tells everyone exactly what’s going on in a given minute and gives a show its structure.
Length? 10–20 minutes
Editing? Yes. Splitting this responsibility would be ideal.
Frequency? Once a week.
Hosted on MEW? Yes we can try it and see what happens with the bandwidth. Can always spin up a separate server for it. We can also host it on archive.org — it’s free! (See our old podcast, Let’s Talk Geek.)
Technical tips? Many regarding preparation, hosting, posting, and editing. However the main thing is sound quality. We can’t compromise there. Luckily most gamers have good enough mics for Discord already. For remote participation and recording push-to-talk is a must. No breathing, coughing, or sneezing into the microphone.
Participate? Yes. This can (and should) rotate.
Host? Yes. This can (and should) rotate.
One last thing… The podcast should be called “Most Epic Podcast”
Has anyone here listened to the IGN UK podcast? That’s what a podcast should be. A group of people taking the piss And taking about whatever they are enjoying in life at that moment. I highly recommend giving it a listen.
Setup a list of topics worth discussing and just let it flow
1 hour is normally the sweet spot
I can (video and/or audio)
At least once a week
I’m pretty sure it can
Your audio setup is very important. If it is not going to be a physical gathering all participants should have proper mics/headsets so the audio is clear. If you do this right you will barely notice that it was done remotely.
I don’t mind at all. We’ve been threatening to start a podcast for years.
As an update, I have not forgotten about this, and I know I owe feedback. But if there are any other comments to be made, let’s keep this initiative in mind and get the ball rolling.
Aw no way this is going to be awesome. I love podcasts, listen to them while I’m driving and subscribe to a few of the video ones on youtube.
My 2c:
Obviously gaming and gaming news. I love the idea of the ‘nostalgia’ game. Also agree on any of the nerd topics included.
News. As I said the nostalgia game. Maybe once it grows, some interviews with some well known people etc.
From eveyone’s comments I know about the short podcasts you get, IGN and CNET do them, and then you get the TWIT ones of an hour at least. Generally 30-45min goes down well.
I’ve never edited audio
In my lacking opinion, once a week is going to be too often. By the time you finish this week, as day or two later you’re going to be working on getting the next one ready. It will never end and become a chore. Normally 2 weeks is good, unless you enjoy doing the work
NA
Discord, teamspeak, skype, etc. to get everyone together to do the chat.
I won’t say no, but I don’t know what I would be able to talk about
Right then, I actually spent some time and I’ve gone through all the feedback on the podcast. I think we have a good idea of how to start. From there it can/will change and morph into something else we see works.
So, to answer my own questions, which were…
What should the podcast focus on?
Is there a specific structure you would like to see?
How long of a podcast would you like to listen to?
Can anyone assist in editing the episodes?
How often should the podcast be posted?
Can the podcast be posted here on MEW somewhere?
Do you have any recommendations from a technical aspect what we need to consider?
Do you want to be a participant in the on-air discussion?
Do you want to host the show?
…here are the answers:
The podcast will start out as a gaming, movie, series and geek related podcast. The main focus will start out with gaming, but we will cover interesting topics of discussion in other geek related genres
the podcast will have different segments. There will be many different segments that will rotate in and out of the podcast. Each episode we start out with a news roundup and quick opinions on those. Then we will have 2 or 3 other segments in each show. Maybe those are reviews of games, talk about upcoming movies, discussion something that happened in a series etc. Each week the host can choose which 2-3 segments to add to the show they are hosting
Many different opinions dancing around the time frame of 30 minutes. The podcast will start out and aim for 30 minutes. We will see how things go and if we can get Soli to not talk so much…
We have 6 people that have put up their hand to assist with the editing of the podcast. The names are Hammer, @Blazzok, @Tom, @Talentloos, @SIGSTART and @MalicE
Lots of views for weekly, but with good arguments that we must start out with a fortnightly (ehe) podcast. So we will start doing one show every second week
For the start we will host if on MEW. We will also put it up on iTune, Spotify and other places once we get going.
The technical aspects are: get good mics, have good internet, remember the mixing when editing.
So far everyone has stated that they want to be on the podcast. And you will. Each week we will have a rotating roster of talkers, and that may depend on the host or the range of topics on for discussion. That way we’ll have everyone on the podcast at some point
Same as with the participants, there will be a rotating roster of hosts each episode. Everyone will get a chance to host that put their name up for it.
And that’s the feedback. Now, it’s time to plan and start the actual work. Also note one thing; thinking about it, we will start out and keep things PG at first.
