Podtacular Episode 157: Finishing the Fight
for the week of April 8th, 2008
(hosts foo mo, jvb, chuckie j, capnkrunk, spleecheeks, foo mo wife)
introductions
The Story of podtacular
- brief history of podcasting
- (foo) story of how i thought up the podcast
- original dark blue blogger site
- show starts getting longer and longer with more people writing in with their additions to our tips. at this point every show is 2 or 3 segments and is the same format.
- we get all kinds of notoriety on HBO, bungie.net, Halo Planet, Rampancy, Gamertag Radio, all over.
- major nelson comes on the show!
- our shows were pretty crappy sometimes – bad audio, major problems with syncing audio due to early stages in the trial and error process, long uncomfortable pauses, etc. they got better. :)
- the clan system got some cleaning up: we required a level 15 or above to get in. a developmental clan was formed for those below that level called pod rookies.
- keep on fraggin’ trucks was born, along with plenty of other running jokes.
- shows started getting well over an hour long. we thought it would be a good idea to put each segment as it’s own show – 3 shows a week. bad idea. no one could keep up with all the shows we put out. the shows grew from 20 minutes to nearly an hour each also, which basically shot spelchek and foo’s entire afternoon and early evenings on sundays.
- podtacular all-stars were formed – the challenge team. We also split the rec clans up into multiple small clans and the pro clans into even smaller clans. bad idea. (explain why) these were eventually consolidated to two pro clans, then back to one, and today we have one pro clan with two factions that do battle once in a while. we did a similar thing with the rec clans – those are much more organized now.
- we finally switched to something like the current show format: one show a week but different subjects each show and rotating. it seemed to be a hit, and we got the least complaints with an hour long show.
- capnkrunk joined the team to turn our crappy blogspot site into a full-featured community site. he’s done an amazing job over the years… the community would not have been nearly as cool and vibrant without him.
- somewhere in there Freak in a Box started editing audio for us. He did this for a long time with no pay of course. We were and are eternally greatful for all his hard work. Ciclonic took up the reins when he was done, and also did a great job for a long time.
- pod tv just could not get off the ground for quite a long time, and became a running joke.
- dialpex joined the crew. he was passionate about helping make podtacular a great community. he was eventually named community director and set up lots of tournaments and oversaw the forums and clans.
- podtacular became mortal enemies (we kid) with dropshock radio: a halo podcast with lots of cursing, off-color and sexual jokes.
- one of the many villains at the podtacular community trashed one of the clans, told lots of lies, and ended up alienating himself from the halo nation. he even tried to join dropshock and was told to take a hike.
- one of the show types we had included podtacular yo momma jokes, you know you play too much halo if, and funny gamertags people found.
- after a while spelchek had a broken halo 2 disc and wasn’t into buying a new one. we were sad to see him go but he bowed out of podtacular. he brought a lot of great comedy to offset foo’s sometimes overly serious demeanor.
- spelchek has a reason to why he quit.
- jvb, who had found us on gamertag radio, called in shortly before to the voice mail and guest hosted on the show. he became the regular co-host and has done a crackalackin fine job.
- pod tv finally came out, headed up by freak in a box. later on cryptoflix took over, and freak in a box joined back up. now they’re poised to become the new podtacular podcast.
- quality jeverage put together a weekly comic strip called weekly porridge based on the goings-on in the community. he kept this up for a long time with over 50 issues. it was hilarious and included a bunch of members of the community.
- painkilla05 also started podtacular radio: music to frag by. it was some cool music he found on ocremix.org and other sources that weren’t copyrighted. he also kept this one up for quite a while.
- tons of events and group meetings took place on podtacular.com like custom saturdays, matchmaking mondays, podtacular marines, and more.
- chevelle65 started halo news, a hilarious machinima parody news show.
- podtacular was invited to face off against bungie in a humpday challenge. it was a great set of matches, and we won!
- the bungie podcast starts.
- dialpex hosts the first podtacular season. it’s chaotic but hugely successful with well over 100 players.
- podtacular wins 2006 listeners’ choice podcast of the year on podcastawards.com! they never sent us our prizes despite many requests. lol but the community was proud of what we’d done together.
- foo mo was featured in the community spotlight on bungie.net.
- brentgamer does the community heat lamp feature on podtacular.com – interviewing different podtacular community members for the front page.
- podtacular irc channel starts around this time. we thought the podtacular irc channel would be a good idea. turns out it’s unmoderated nature made for a lot of strife with the community. eventually capnkrunk said enough.
- the community pools their money and buys foo mo a 360! foo mo wife took pictures of his shock and awe and he was eternally grateful.
- JVB is nominated at gamertag radio for xbox community member of the year. He goes on to be an xbox mvp, be a leader at GTR, and start his own podcast: the post game report.
- people start writing “podfiction” – halo fiction from the podtacular community. cool stuff is written by infektion x, glewis, silent71 and others. lilkuke also writes the “podtacular adventures” which is a fiction series with characters from the podtacular forums.
- twest87 actually made the podtacular RPG: a PC RPG in a similar vein of podtacular adventures. turned out quite good.
- the show starts talking about other games and subjects in a round table show while we wait for halo 3. we talk about gears of war, the wii, even viva pinata.
- Review frenzy was started by GLewis and many other members joined the team to review games on podtacular.com and even on the podcast for a little while.
- Foo starts the Godtacular Bible study and soon realizes he doesn’t have time to do that and sleep. Chuckie J takes the reins and has been running great Bible studies in Halo lobbies for over a year.
- homo-cide sauce was born
- Glewis’ sweaty towel
- one is less than three face head
- face head’s mom interrupting the podcast to tell him to go to bed
- where does master chief hide his rocket launcher
- tiger buttplug
- jvb’s wife’s dumplings
- tyrone the leprechaun
- the squirrel belt
- anus armor
- nay-nay
- tubagablubah pronunstication
- secret admirer
- whats left for these hosts
Wrap up
- Thanks to Bungie for making such a great game series for us to talk about, for facing us in the humpday challenge, and to Luke Smith for appearing on the show and calling in to the voice mail for this show.
- Thanks to the Halo Nation and the greater gaming community for all of your support. We’ve been blessed to call many of you our friends.
- Thanks to all the guest hosts that have been on podtacular. You’ve been a part of something that has helped a lot of people in the Halo Nation.
- Thanks to those of you that have contributed your tips, maps, tales, customs, and the rest. I hope you realize you’ve written all the show notes for the past few years. You’re the writers for the show! It’s just as much yours as it is ours.
- special shoutout to halo fanatic because he really really wanted us to mention him
- Thanks to the podtacular community for putting together something really special on the podtacular.com forums, with the events, and with the clans. You guys are and will continue to be the backbone of podtacular. Two or three people are still joining every week!
- Be sure to check us out at Podtacular.com. We’ll still be there! And while you’re there check out the forums. There’s lots of events (like the 2008 spring season), projects, and ways to make friends and play Halo with cool people.
- Check out the other shows on the Gamercast Network: Gamertag Radio, Uncle Gamer, Sarcastic Gamer, Achievement Junkie, the GCN Video Game Show, and JVB’s show PostGameReport at talkingaboutgames.com
Until Podtacular returns in video format, I’m Foo Mo Jive (and this is)