17: All Change! (Wed 23rd September 2015)
Well, what a difference a week makes, dear reader! The more astute amongst you will have noticed that this article has moved from a Friday to a Wednesday and there’s a very good reason for that. Well, there’s a reason for that. Whether you think it’s a good one or not is entirely in your hands.
Basically, I’ve had to juggle my workload as a result of some lovely new projects I’m involved in. Over the last few weeks I’ve often used this column to discuss games I’ve been playing for reviews, as that’s been a big part of my time recently. However, the original remit was to recount my ‘Adventures in Gameland’ and I’m delighted to say it’s been a busy one.
Firstly, we launched our podcast, Game Friends. By we, I mean me (obviously), Kotaku’s Ian Dransfield, Explosive Alan’s Simon Chong and my regular collaborator Chris Slight. Somehow, the show managed to find its way to the number two spot (so close!) on the iTunes ‘Games and Hobbies’ podcast chart with its very first episode, which was nice! I say ‘somehow’, everyone else involved is a stone-cold pro. God knows why they’ve let me be involved. (If you’d like to listen, it’ll be out each Friday and you can find it HERE.)
I’ve also just put the finishing touches to my first TV show, Minecraft: Digging Deeper. It’s six 30-minute episodes for Ginx TV (Virgin Media 290), and will begin airing on the 16th October. I wrote the whole thing, recorded the entire series’ voice-over and captured every moment of gameplay you’ll see in the show – it’s been a real labour of love and I can’t wait to share the finished product with you although, as a result of making it, I’m now sick of the game I used to love. (If you’d like a sneak peek, CLICK THIS!)
Lastly, Chris Slight and I had some good news – our twitch stream, “Two More White Guys” is a finalist in MCV’s “Games Media Awards”, in the ‘Best Streamer’ category. We had no idea we were even in the running! We only do the stream for fun and as a bit of a warm-up for our other broadcast work, so we’re surprised and delighted to find out they’re going to give us free food and booze before they formally announce that someone else is better than us.
In all seriousness, as someone who’s come to the games industry as an outsider (my background being comedy, as part of double act McNeil and Pamphilon) it’s been lovely to get this nod from the industry – everyone who knows about this sorts of stuff assures me it’s a “very good thing”.
We’ll officially find out that we’ve lost on the 14th October. Thankfully, Videogame Nation (the show I pop up in each week on Challenge TV) is also nominated, and there’s a great team of people involved in that, so maybe that’ll win something. If it does, I’ll no doubt drunkenly rush the stage and spoil it.
Lastly, for those of you who are heading to Eurogamer’s “EGX” event at Birmingham NEC this weekend, I’ll be co-hosting the evening ‘community party’ and having a play with some of the tech from my show ‘WiFi Wars’. If you’re around on the Friday or Saturday night, do come and say hi! We’ve got some great stuff lined up but I’m not sure if it’s been officially announced yet, so I’ll keep my mouth shut, just in case. It’s going to be fun though.
See you next Wednesday!
