NPR's Gaming Podcast

Via Joystiq and Kyle Orland comes the news that National Public Radio is going to be hosting a gaming-related podcast. The show will be hosted by Kyle (of VGMWatch), stand-up artist Ralph Cooper, and All Things Considered games reviewer Robert Holt. From the article: "Kyle - 'You really need to know what art is before you can determine whether video games are art.' Ralph - 'I feel like a lot of video games, at least right now, they're not really trying to make statements.' Rob - 'When I was in Grand Theft Auto ... I was driving through the city and listening to the radio and I drove over a hill and I saw ... this huge moon rise over the horizon, I was just in it at that point. I just knew that this was not your normal game. Of course, I could have just been beating up hookers...'"

Comments

If yuo want a good gaming podcast....

[gkhan1]

....get gamespots The Hotspot. It's a little silly, but they do have the by far best insights and discussions of any gaming podcast I've listened to. That, and it's really fun :P

Re:If yuo want a good gaming podcast....

[interiot]

Lots of them are good... 1UP's, IGN's, PC gamer's, and maybe G4's. Lots of gaming goodness for MP3 players.

Of course it is art

[WinEveryGame]

Frankly, I find most of these discussions which try to argue whether a particular thing is art or not, a bit silly. Everything has a component of art in it. Of course, games with all their visual components are certainly art..

Re:Of course it is art

[laxcat]

Of course it is art

It's not as simple as all that. I too agree that the "what is art?" discussion is pretty tired. (I endured years of it in college getting my degree in Visual Arts.) However, I really encourage anyone who is even a little interesting in art and/or games to give this first episode a listen. They make some points that I hadn't thought of and give some really good arguments for different ways games could be seen as art, and how someone in the general public might be convinced.

Here are three guys who all of whom are three things you rarely see in combination: very intelligent, well spoken (they all have backgrounds in journalism), and gamers. To hear people who are truly passionate about gaming having a meaningful discussion about video games' roll in society is not only interesting, but an important step for gaming. I don't mean to disparage other gaming podcasts/sites/whatever, but to have NPR dedicate an amount of time (albeit a small one) to a serious discussion about games is very significant. This is National Public Radio, for crying out loud. Think about that.

It doesn't sound as if every episode will deal specifically with the argument of the artistic merits of gaming, but it does sound as if this will be focused more on the cultural significance of games and gamers and not news and reviews, which is something not found yet many other places, and cirtainly not with this kind of focus.

Re:Well I won't be listening...

[gkhan1]

You obviously arn't listening to any good ones! NPR has some great ones, such as Wait, wait, don't tell me! (funny as hell) and NPR:Books, which is great if you're interested in books an literature. Slate's daily podcast is also very, very interesting. As for gaming, Gamespot's The Hotspot is great. TV Guide hosts TVGuide Talk a great podcast on television. If you're a super-nerd The Word Nerds are alot of fun. That's just naming a few of my favourites.

The greatest one of all however is Filmspotting (formerly Cinecast), a movie podcast which frankly is the best reviewers in all of media. A normal review contains what, 3-4 minutes of discussion, maybe 6-7 if it's an article. The Filmspotting guys routinely talk for seventeen (17!) minutes about a movie, incredibly smart and intellectual discussion that really dives deep into actors, scripts, direction, theme, etc. of every movie it reviews. That is what makes podcasting great, by not being contrained by a corporation, people are free to create their own formats, and have complete creative control. Most often that means it's gonna suck, but when it doesn't you get something like Filmspotting which is frankly unparalelled in quality.

Who's going to listen?

[seriv]

I somehow doubt many people are going to listen to this podcast from NPR. I am guessing that much of the show will be typical of NPR, which I don't think would appeal to the average gamer. I can see people listening to a review of a game on NPR, since most NPR listeners are not gamers and would have some interest in games, but they would listen to a specialized podcast. I do not listen to gaming podcasts, but I doubt many discuss the artistic qualities. I doubt this podcast will be successful.

Re:Well I won't be listening...

[OECD]

I personally won't trust the opinions of anyone who thinks podcasting (shown to be massively overhyped by the media compared to usage) is the next big thing, when most evidence points to it not being...

I can only speak for myself, but almost ALL of my interaction with iTunes is D/Ling podcasts. I can't stand the drek that the music companies push these days.

As for podcasts themselves... Some are terrific ("This Spartan Life", "Macintosh Folklore Radio") some are not-so-much (no need to mention names.)

Is Supply exceeding demand? Absolutely. Does that hurt me as a consumer? Absolutely not. Sure, some of the good ones will go away despite my support (anyone remember the TV show "Fast Eddy?") Some of the bad ones will stick it out regardless (anyone watch anything else on network TV lately?) I'll sift through the mud and remove the gems and hope that, in the future, the mud-to-gems ration will decline.

I just wish "Red vs. Blue" would podcast...

Why?

[Tufriast]

I'm sorry, but I don't see this as something the NPR Audience latching onto. I'm a longtime listener...but I just can't see it being a strong, and solid fit. Are folks who game really going to get their info from NPR? It might neutral, and it might be factual, but the gaming audience doesn't want that from what I can tell. I DO want that, but overall I see editorials with lots of slant, and sexed up marketing chants. NPR is NOT that, and I'd never want it to be.

Do I count?

[edremy]

I listen to NPR. I even donate to them every year- they make my commute tolerable.

I also game.

Then again, I don't listen to podcasts. Hmm, maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

NPR's Podcasts

[Noodlenose]

Being normally rather a healthy sceptic when it comes to the American media (who can blame me: look at the Fox network), I find NPR's programmes on par with auntie BBC's Radio4. They might not have the same sort of humour as those doyens of British culture, but podcasts like 'living on earth' and the accumulated 'technology' podcast are excellent (check out my homepage for podcast reviews).

This just shows that Americans can actually produce something worthwhile when they really want to. A rather hopeful notion, isn't it?

Re:NPR's Podcasts

[shawb]

I think it more goes to show that Americans can produce something worthwhile when it is not an advertiser pays for-profit system.

It really really makes sense. In traditional transactions the customer is the entity which pays for the transaction. In advertising supported media, the customer would therefore be the advertiser. What is the advertiser purchasing? The viewing time of the audience. So, this means that the audience is the PRODUCT rather than the customer.

It makes sense that a company will do its best to provide the best product it can to the customer, so advertising supported television will do it's best to provide the best audience to the advertisers. What sort of people make the best product then? Those easilly swayed by advertising. That means it is fiscally irresponsible for an advertising supported media company to produce intelligent, thought provoking material. Profitable shows have to be able to appeal to the lowest common denominator, if they appeal to more discerning audiences that has very little effect on the bottom line, and indeed makes for a more inferior product. The TV show/radio broadcast/etc is simply used to ensnare viewers, they are more like the machines in a factory that actually make the product the customer buys. It makes sense that TV and most radio appeals mainly to the lowest common denominator, and in fact creating programming that makes the audence dumber, or at least puts them in a trance-like state where in theory they are more susceptible to advertising. Ever look into the eyes of someone who has been watching TV for a while? Usually a complete blank stare. And it takes a little time to shake the haze off once their concentration is broken from the tube.

So, in advertiser supported media you may occasionally get a smart show that appeals primarilly to intelligent, discerning people but this is expected to be a fluke rather than the norm. If you want good quality stuff, you either have to go the routes audience supported rather than advertiser supported: either a donation based model such as public television/radio or college radio, or you go with an entirely subscription based model as HBO or Showtime does. Not that everything on audience supported media will be good, and not that everything on advertiser supported media will be good, but audience supported media will carry a much higher proportion of quality programming even if the advertisements themselves are omitted.

Re:NPR's Podcasts

[kkiller]

He's right tho'. Most of NPRs news broadcasts are devoid of any kind of humour or witticisms, and are very dry when compared to Radio 4's Today, Broadcasting House, or PM.

Re:Well I won't be listening...

[SmittyTheBold]

Seventeen minutes? I may as well just watch the movie myself!

=P

Re:Well I won't be listening...

[tddoog]

Thanks for the good podcast recommendations.

Don't forget about Science Friday and NPR: All Songs Considered.

There is also Car Talk which is not free.