New EVE Podcast Enters Pre-Pilot Mode

Late post today, but it's been a busy morning talking with my co-conspirators.

That's right, just a few days after my pre-pre-Alpha announcement, I have two very strong co-hosts on board to undertake this adventure with me. CrazyKinux and Alsedrech will be collaborating on EVE's newest, yet to be named, podcast. CK is someone who I have only met via the EVE community, and I have admired his blog work from afar for awhile now. We decided that things are firm enough to go ahead and make it public and semi-official. You can check out his thoughts at his blog, linked above. Alsedrech is an old friend of mine with loads of gaming experience. He is an unknown to the EVE community, but will be a great asset to the show both in terms of speaking ability and acting as the new player who keeps the vets in check.

We're working on a lot of ideas for segments, and not much is solid as far as final format. What is confirmed is that we will be laying down the initial format this week, and hope to have a pilot Soon (tm), probably in the next couple of weeks. I'm very excited about getting this going, and I know the other guys are as well.

What we still need is suggestions and thoughts on segments. If you have something that you'd like to see that isn't on the list, please share it.

We also lack a name. If you have any good suggestions, please pass them on. At some point, I may even institute a naming contest with a prize for the winner.

New EVE Podcast Entering pre-pre-Alpha. Input requested.

To my friends and readers out there, I know I promised to try to keep it to a post a day, but sometimes you'll just have to indulge me. Today is one of those days. I've been talking with some of the MMO podcasting personalities out there and gathering input and advice. I feel comfortable saying that I am willing to start putting a podcast in the works with the estimated pilot release date of *mumble mumble*.

I replaced my (frankly silly) placeholder poll with one that I want to use to get some input on what you are looking for in an EVE podcast. I'm definitely willing to take additional suggestions for segments, so if you have an idea, don't be shy. Also, if you think you have what it takes to be a co-host or contributor, drop me a line. I know there are people out there who are qualified, and a few read this blog. There aren't any guarantees for how many contributors I am looking for, but listener-submitted content is definitely something I want to explore.

Since this is the second post today, I'll keep it short. Also, I'm open to suggestions for naming. An EVE-centric name is fine, but I plan on having at least a bit of general gaming/non-EVE discussion from time to time as well.

As an aside on the polls, I'm not looking for people to check each one. What I am really after is peoples' thoughts on what the community needs right now. I have my own thoughts, of course, but since the blog has been getting some promotion from some very nice and prominent people, I figured I'd use the additional traffic to my advantage.

Snubbing of Fan-Created Podcasts and Blogs by "Professionals"

In episode 100 of his fantastic podcast, Virgin Worlds, Brent discussed (amongst many other things in the mammoth milestone episode) the fact that many fan-created outlets for game news, specifically podcasts, get little to no recognition by the industry's "professionals," in the form of groups like 1up, and GameSpot, as well as in podcasts by the game companies themselves, with the exception of SOE. Honestly, it's the sort of thing that I had never noticed, given that I am much more inclined to listen to honest fan creations that corporate schlock, but it is a bit vexing, particularly since I believe it is carried out for reasons guided by outmoded thinking.

I believe that these corporate podcasts might see an illusory conflict for market share from the grassroots material. It may be that they view referencing the merit of another podcast on the same level as referencing a competing company/game. This is ludicrous, of course, since most podcast listeners can and will listen to multiple casts per week.

It's not terribly surprising to me that this is occurring, given that I feel like the natural tendency of many corporations is to resist grassroots change. Institutional arrogance combined with this false sense of a market share is what I believe causes this artificial barrier and the radio silence on the corporate end. I'm glad to hear that SOE has their head on straighter than the rest. Maybe I can call off the blood feud I initiated when a certain patch hit a certain game based on a certain LucasArts IP...nah.

As an aside, if you haven't listened to Virgin worlds...do so. The Podcast Collective hosted there has a lot of good material to choose from, including the EVE-centric Warp Drive Active.