Podcasts Rise Again
For a while now I’ve been noticing an interesting trend: game journalism, often stagnating in its written incarnation due to oversaturation of content and an excessive reliance on formula and votes, is now living a second life through audio and video podcasts. The same people writing in some of the most important media outlets in the world, once freed from the restraints of the review/preview formula, give some of the most interesting (and fun) insight on games that I’ve seen in years. So, when I heard the terribile news of the UGO/EGM buyout, I was definitely saddened by the news of an historical magazine being shut down for good, but I was even more bummed out because that meant the end for the amazing podcast produced by the 1Up team: 1Up Yours, 1Up FM., and the 1Up Show. I thought my gaming info would be much poorer due to the layoff of the talented people that made these show a reality, but it seems that, luckly, I was wrong.
After Rebel FM, now at its third episode, the spiritual successor of both 1Up Yours and 1Up Fm, the cast and crew of the 1Up Show are back with Co-op, a new video podcast whose goal is to pick up from where the 1Up Show left. The first episode is both melanchonic and inspiring: the whole crew is back, and while the intro shows the bulk of the team still recuperating from the massive layoff, we can see that they are very much up for sharing their insight into the best games of the past year with some cool choices (I got reminded that I need to pick up Dead Space). But what is most inspiring is the quality of the overall product and just how fast the team managed to recover from losing the support of a big company. Kudos, if this is a preview of more things to come, I’m pretty psyched.
The team is still considering what formula to adopt to turn this into a regular show: the podcast is not on iTunes yet because there is a chance that it will become a paid subscription show. Leaving all doors open is the best option right now, but the subscription option is one that seems quite risky to me: first off, that would make the show unavailable to many people outside US (I use the Italian store, and there is almost no paid video content on it, but I can download all video podcasts), and even if the bulk of their audience would come from the States, cutting off part of the potential viewership seems risky to me, it would encourage ripping, sharing and other illegal stuff that could harm revenue. I think the best thing those guys could try and do is to follow the Totally Rad Show/Geekbrief TV formula, free podcasts with sponsor support, possibly with some backing by a bigger website. But the problem is that the 1Up Show looked like a much more ambitious production, with more people involved compared to these two show: I don’t know if making it profitable can be that easy.
Anyways, the show rocks, and I really hope to see much more from these guys, soon. Subscribe to their show on Youtube, and good luck to the team!
