Me too. Any podcast could improve itself by simply being sure to repeat the title once every ten minutes.
ioticus
4702
I wish 3MA and JTS were longer. Only an hour seems very short. Come on guys can’t you talk for at least 2 hours?
The recent 3MA was great and timely on the topic of iPad games. But with a length of just over one hour it felt over before it really began.
Tony_M
4703
Nooo keep it short and sweet. I’d rather listen to two on-topic podcasts rather than one rambly podcast.
Guys, it’s not that hard to figure out what game they’re talking about at a given moment. They list the games in the show description.
Setting aside the possible problems with that approach mentioned above and the fact that not every game mentioned gets listed on most show notes, this technique doesn’t always work even in optimal circumstances, if you know nothing about the game. For instance, one of the casts was talking about Binary Domain the other week, and after naming it at the start, proceeded to talk about it for ten minutes without giving the name again. Before listening tot the cast I knew nothing about the game. It was only when they started talking about the surprising range of voice input that the game would respond to that I perked up, but they never named it again. I checked the show notes on my iPod, but couldn’t work out which game it was because I couldn’t eliminate enough possibilities, so then I had to spend a few minutes finding the point where they started talking about it.
Agreed. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rewind to find a game’s name.
The board gaming podcast Dice Tower takes the perfect approach – at the END of each brief discussion of a particular game, the host (Eric Summerer?) repeats the title. Then they move on.
An hour or a little over is really the sweet spot for most discussions, I think. I mean, we have done longer shows (80-90 minutes) for subjects that are interesting or if the panel is pretty big and everyone wants a say. Also keeping it to a tight time frame can make it much easier to schedule.
I wasn’t on the iPad show, but the topic is so open ended that it could have gone for two hours and petered out, ending weakly. I’d rather have a solid 60 minutes than 70 good and 20 repetitive. I am sure we will be revisiting the iOS world again. It’s an evergreen topic, and a lot of cool things are happening in that space.
But, like I said, we are open to longer shows from time to time. The shows I wish could be longer aren’t necessarily the ones that listeners want to be longer, of course. So it’s a tough call to make on the fly.
Thanks for wanting more of us, though! Always nice to hear.
Troy
Manresa
4707
Troy: if there’s a good discussion going, dont be afraid to let it continue. After all, you can always chop something out from earlier in the cast, or just not include it if it doesn’t go anywhere.
Otagan
4708
I would rather you take the chance and push it out to the 70 minutes of good material that exist and end up with some repetition at the end than to let that good intention inadvertently break up a good conversation. I recall on the CoE3 episode that you were already moving to wrap things up at just past the halfway mark on the episode timer, which did ultimately end up being premature. You all are busy people, and I’m just a listener with no involvement in planning, recording, producing or distributing the cast, but being overly dedicated to that 60 minute time limit just for the sake of it can sometimes prevent some good content and good opinions from getting out there. Those are content and opinions I would very much like to hear, all other things being equal.
Much love to you guys, though. Keep doing what you’re doing.
JM1
4709
2 hours would be too much for me I think. Especially if Troy is ill and apparently decomposing live on air.
Quaro
4710
Almost all the podcasts I listen to are as long (or as short!) as they need to be – I’ve got a skip forward on my iPod, it’s not you have to listen live. Don’t try and fill up an hour if you’re just filling air, but don’t worry about going way long if the conversation is crackling.
I listen at work, where Giant Bomb was filtered out because some reason or another for the longest time, and the show notes don’t show up in the feed. So, yeah - I’ve gotten twenty minutes into a discussion before about some game that I hadn’t been listening to very closely because, I mean, why would I care about Banana Rampage 17 or whatever, but then they mentioned something cool about it that I WAS interested in and I had to go back to track down what it is that they’re talking about.
I mean, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a problem they could possibly fix, but it’s an issue.
In other news, remember when all those game journalists quit their jobs journalisting and nobody knew what was going on for like three days and then it turned out they were all going to be journalisting together for Vox? They promised a podcast and they have delivered. I like the McElroys, so it’s pretty well engineered to be something I would want to listen to, but I also like the slight departure they’re taking from the standard format. Now, each person talks about one game each week (spoiler alert - probably going to be a new game, yo) and then they argue with each other about which one is the game of the year. Apparently, SSX is the game of the year for the past week because it means your daddy will never die.
I was put off by the combative tone of Besties (lots of high-falutin’ talk about gathering the best minds of the business at Vox and their first salvo into podcasting is a show where they’re forced to shoot eachother down for comedic effect?) but the justification they settled on for SSX was hoo-larious.
As anyone else here who worked in radio or communications can tell you, it’s a very fixable problem.
Jambe
4714
So, apparently Jennisodes hasn’t been recommended here yet (or I can’t search worth a damn). 'salright. She had the guys doing Building an Elder God on this most recent one.
Still lamenting the total lack of GDC Radio-like podcasts. Mega-lamenting.
I agree, although I’m starting to grow attached to the Tested podcast (even though it is not about games per se) - seems to have something similar as far as dynamic…
Seen numerous references today congratulating Giant Bomb crew about something that just happened with them and Whiskey Media…
…but no one actually tweeting or messaging what it was that happened.
Anyone?
Ok. Here’s what I got.
Whiskey Media, who had been parent company of Giant Bomb as well as Screened and Tested has basically been sold off. Screened and Tested and Anime Vice were sold to BermanBraun, a Santa Monica-based entertainment/online content company.
Meanwhile, Giant Bomb was sold to CBS Interactive, which is pretty huge news–and suddenly puts Gerstman and others under the same ownership umbrella as…Gamespot. Here’s hoping they keep on keeping on.
Not sure what was in the GDC Radio podcasts, but Idle Thumbs has done 2 podcasts so far from GDC.
So GiantBomb and ComicVine move into the CBSi building. They retain separate sites and editorial control but you know there will be cross over. They kick things off by having John Davidson and Jeff Gertsmann sit down today at 4pm PDT to discuss why Jeff got fired from Gamespot in 2007.
Oh, and the Tested are going to expand their interests and coverage and get some new co-workers so don’t worry about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WLG8_dfX9M
Yep, they’re moving into the Gamespot building, but have made (and report that they’ve been granted) assurances that they retain full editorial control.
We’ll see.
