polygon_monkey
Member
All the best Shawn. You've given me many laughs over the past year. You should totally try get an Edge column gig.
FartOfWar said:Jeff's blog almost made me cry. Gonna go call him now.
It could be like Player One Podcast; all they have to do is make sure not to talk about anything work-related on the show, right?Gino said:Brodeo 2 staring you, Jeff, and Luke... that would be awesome except for the fact that PR people would keep you from saying anything interesting.
KHarvey16 said:On one hand it sucks a little that your intro to living in Boston will be fall/winter, but it'll sure let you appreciate spring and summer when they roll around.
keanerie said:fall/winter are THE best seasons in Boston, or New England, for that matter, imo. for someone who grew up in the one-season-a-year SF Bay Area, living in new england was pretty amazing.
look forward to the autumn, shawn - it's a beauty.
Not to mention the insane windchill.KHarvey16 said:Leaves changing and football and all that is nice. I mean the -20 degree windchills and sloshing through dirty slushy ice water on your way to the grocery store. That makes me appreciate sunshine and dry sidewalks.
polygon_monkey said:All the best Shawn. You've given me many laughs over the past year. You should totally try get an Edge column gig.
polygon_monkey said:You've given me many laughs over the past year. You should totally try get an Edge column gig.
Jeff's blog said:And I'll take an erratic genius, sometimes teetering on the brink between genius and stupidity, over yet another bland, ineffective, unthinking, unchallenging, untalented "web journalist" any fuggin' day of the week.
The End of GFW Radio
Posted: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:34:49 PDT
I've been learning a lot about programming this year. Not computer programming -- I abandoned that idea my second year of college. (Too much math.) But programming of the television/radio variety. What types of shows to create, what makes a show segment interesting or boring, the chemistry and interaction of people, how to get good answers out of interviews, when to publish things, how long people pay attention to what's being said...and countless other factors that influence decisions made while wearing my "producer" hat.
The most difficult of these decisions, of course, is when to pull the plug. Yesterday, we recorded and published the final episode of GFW Radio. When Jeff told me he was leaving for EA a couple weeks back, I knew the future of the show would be in jeopardy because of the change in chemistry. I didn't know how Shawn, the de facto co-host, would want to proceed, and if Ryan, Anthony, and Robert would still be on board. Having gone through a similar thing with 1UP Yours -- with Luke, then John, then Mark, then Bryan... -- I knew that it was possible for GFW Radio to adapt and survive. So when Shawn, Ryan and Anthony all expressed interest in rebooting the show, I was happy to start planning the next iteration. New people, new music, new approach...even a new name.
But we all agreed that it would be dependent on Shawn. If he was going to stay, then great. If not, we go back to the whiteboard and start planning again. When Shawn told me that he was leaving for Boston, I was thrilled for him...and 2K Boston. Like he says, he'll have a lot to learn about the realities of game development -- things us writer types probably incorrectly assume about how a game is made. But I'm certain he'll bring to them a fresh and unique perspective...the same ideas and enthusiasm you guys heard every week on the podcast. Like Jeff wrote on his new blog, we'll miss Shawn not just as a fun and highly interesting presence in the office, but as an irreplaceable member of our editorial team.
So while I was happy for him, it also ruined my weekend -- which seems to happen every time we lose a person on my podcast team. I actually did go back to my whiteboard in the empty storage room I commandeered as a podcast planning/recording office (which we have since dubbed "Podcastlevania"), scribbled down the current 1UP podcast schedule, and stared at the new gaping hole on Wednesday that we have to deal with, hoping the answer would just materialize.
In terms of PC-specific coverage, that answer hasn't appeared yet. In the interim, we're expanding 1UP FM to officially include PC content and stories, and when we bring in a new PC-focused editor, we'll take another look at where we stand. But we're not going to force anything: everything we publish now, from 1UP Yours to Sports Anomaly to Legendary Thread, started organically. That's how we do things here, and that's why it hurts so much when someone who is a key component of a show moves on to the bigger and better.
(As far as Wednesdays go, I had an interesting chat with Jeremy this morning. Look for Retronauts to evolve a little next week...)
And CGW/GFW Radio? Like you guys, I'll miss it terribly. It's true, when John Davison gave the orders a couple years ago that to go along with 1UP Yours each of our print publications should start doing regular podcasts, they were the most resistant. I saw a bit of a "black sheep" attitude emerge in the early days of the show, starting fake fueds with the Retronauts and sniping at the 1UP Yours crew. But slowly and surely, they found their collective voice and approach, and the breaking point came the day Shawn sent me his first Whiskey Nerd intro. I went into John's office with my laptop and said "you have to hear this." That creativity was rewarded with a steadily growing and fiercely dedicated listener base, and the additions of Robert Ashley and Anthony Gallegos helped even more. GFW's audience increased a lot over the past year -- which is why it's so depressing that we have to bring it to what seems like a premature close.
But it is the right time to disband, because you know and I know -- and Ryan and Anthony and Robert know -- that it just wouldn't be the same. The archive of shows remains, and while I'm sad to see it go, I'm incredibly thankful and fortunate to have had the 2+ years of CGW/GFW Radio to listen to and learn from.
And with that knowledge, our program continues...
Fucking this.666 said:Oh man, this well and truly kills 1up for me... I'm just gonna be totally selfish and say FUCK YOU MAN! You and Jeff were the reason I gave a shit about games journalism and podcasting, so I guess I should be thanking you from not having to hide the fact I listen to a games podcast from my friends and family...
But seriously, congrats, all the best, you'll be maaaaad missed, son.
Yeah, that was a great blog. Thanks for the heads up. Damn if the point that this was the last Brodeo didn't come through any harder as whatever's playing in my mp3 player, the name of the program scrolls left to right... And seeing it say "GFW Radio: The Final Brodeo", aww man. I'm really gonna miss this show, man...voltron said:great blog from skip: