1up show's a no-go, game podcasts

I'd been meaning to do a write-up of the 1up show, 1up's downloadable game-industry-insider vodcast (video podcast? vodcast? camcast? No concensus on lingo here). Anyhow, I'd been meaning to do a write-up of it, but Robin beat me to it, and I couldn't have said it better myself:

• "The overarching in-club pose of this stuff just makes me ill. It’s so closed, so pointless… so niche. So name-droppy and needlessly self-directed."
• "I believe the gaming press has a serious job to do! It needs to educate and inspire our users so they continue to explore new games! New players need tools to help them appreciate execution AND experimentation alike, and to help them look beyond muzzle flashes, explosions and crisp sound - to the messages and experiences possible in this medium. How does spouting about PR visits, release dates or feature deadline drama help accomplish this???"

Couldn't have said it better myself.

And boy oh boy did I *want* to like it. With my new Media Center setup at home, I was hoping to set up a podcatcher to just download the latest shows as they became available, and just have them show up in my list of media like any other recorded show.

But alas, I shant be subscribing.

On a related note, I only became aware of the show (sorry, I don't frequent 1up.com) through a gaming podcast called the CAGcast (cheap ass gamer podcast). A while back I had some airplane time lined up so I downloaded a bunch of gaming-related podcasts to sample. Those I checked out were rough around the edges, but there is gold in them thar hills. Here's a short list for those interested:

• CAGCast: Two gamers, one located in NY, the other in Tokyo, collaborate virtually to produce a show that reviews game titles, HW, and media (mags, shows, and other podcasts). They even highlight sales and promotions at US and Japanese retailers or online, telling folks where to get a bargain. On the down-side, the humor is sophmoric (e.g. "heh heh... it sounded like you said Call of Doodie"), and one of the two podcasters (the one in NY) *regularly* doesn't do his homework. However, the guy in Tokyo definitely does, and it's overall a pretty good podcast and worth giving a listen to.
• Gaming Uncensored: Ugh. If the above review seemed someone wishy-washy, this one will seem downright bi-polar. On the plus side: It's gaming related, it's fairly well produced (maybe access to college radio equipment and resources?) and one of the podcasters is pretty savvy and well spoken. On the downside, the other DJ is *so* intolerably annoying that I just can't advocate listening to the show. He sounds like a college kid that's partaken of the wacky weed to a point where he thinks it will be funny to do a bad impersonation of someone afflicted with Down's syndrome. He sounds more like he belongs in Howard Stern's circus-side-show posse.
• GameOn! Chris Melissinos' podcast which I wrote a review of here. Chris has only done one so far, but I expect this at least to develop into a good podcast for those with a taste for retro-gaming, and at best to be a good place for discussion about the industry as a whole.
• [EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that there's another GameOn! podcast that has 50 episodes already, located here. I'll be checking that one out soon]
• Gaming Steve: Pretty good show. About a 50-50 mix of game reviews/commentary and game industry discussion. Occasionally some interviews with industry personalities as well. This is like a verbal mix of gamasutra and gamespot over audio. Only downside: An opening jingle/theme song worth of the worst of 70's sitcoms (think 'and then there's MAUDE!!!...' ugh).

Anyhow, I expect we'll see more over time, and that vidcasts will follow, and that some of them may actually be good.

Go ahead, the opportunity is out there for someone to become the Rocketboom of the game industry! It could be you! (Trivia: You can see half my head in a fraction of a second segment of Rocketboom's CES parody bit)