State of the North
Well,
it’s been a full year since I got a couple of my friends together and decided
to make a podcast about story-focused video games. The Frozen North has come a long way from
just 3 guys hanging out and talking about the characters and adventures that we
grew up with. I’d like to take the time
to address some of the highlights that we’ve had over the past year.
1.
Learning
to Cast
a. Honestly
the three of us had virtually no clue what we were doing at the start. I had done some minor recording sessions with
Marc a few years prior, totally for fun, and never released anything, but I
knew that The Frozen North was something I really wanted to try to make succeed
and share with others. I recently went
back and listened to episode 1, just to see how much we have changed since
then. All I can say is “Wow.” How anyone could have ever been a fan of the
show right at the beginning is still a mystery to me, and it’s amazing to see
how far we’ve come as a group. The three
of us have learned how to improve our sound quality, have cut down on the
“um’s” and “uh’s” by a huge margin, and really feel a lot more comfortable in
front of the mic. I can say that, with
confidence, we’ve come a long way from where we were.
2.
Other
Podcasts
a. We
have gotten shout-outs and mentions on several other shows, and been influenced
by quite a few of them. I’d like to take
a quick second to just mention a few of the big ones that have stood out to me,
and have never disappointed in entertaining and motivating me to make a better
show.
i.
The RPG Cast (RPGamer.com)
ii.
Terra and Lightning’s RPG Roundup
iii.
The Dice Tower
iv.
The Sean Widmer Podcast
v.
The Video Games Show
b. All
of these are fantastic shows that, if you haven’t checked them out, head on
over to iTunes and download their latest episode and give them a listen. You won’t be disappointed!
3.
Interview
with Ryan of the Suikoden Revival Movement
a. On
Episode #19, “Saving Suikoden”, we talked with Ryan, who is one of the admins
over at the “Suikoden Revival Movement.”
Marc and I just thought it would be cool to get in touch with a group
that is working to revive a series that he and I are both really big fans of,
but instead we got so much more. Ryan
talked to us about Suikoden such a great and memorable series, in addition to
the state of modern RPGs, the gaming industry, and the direction of
story-focused gaming. It’s one of my
favorite episodes that we’ve done so far, and the overwhelmingly positive
response that we got from listeners (even ones who had never played a Suikoden
title) was all the proof we needed to know that we had recorded something
special. I’m glad that I still keep in
touch with Ryan every now and then as well, because not only did I find someone
who could give us insight into a fantastic movement to revive a wonderful and
breathtaking video game series, but I also made a great new friend to keep in
touch with and talk about gaming every now and then. I can’t thank Ryan enough for taking the time
to come on our show, and anyone who has not gone to support their movement
needs to go check them out!
4.
Our
Own Website
a. Facebook
and Twitter have been great, but I’m so glad we finally got the website up and
running. Truthfully, I didn’t even think
that we’d be anywhere near getting an actual site within the first year. Well, to be fair, I wasn’t even sure we were
going to LAST a year if no one liked our show!
With the emails we were getting and the requests for a forum, we figured
“What the heck?” and gave it a shot. I
like what we have. I’m hoping to do a
lot more with it over the next few months, and hopefully we can get some more
traffic over there to get more people involved in the conversations we have on
the forum. I’m extremely pleased with
the way it’s working out so far.
5.
New
Addition(s) to the FN Family
a. After
creating the website, it was clear we wanted to start expanding. So we put the call out there for people to
join us as reviewers, forum moderators, and contributors. The first person to join the three of us here
at The Frozen North was Matt, a longtime friend of Marc’s and mine. Matt joined us as our first forum moderator,
and has been doing a great job so far.
We plan on bringing him on the show very soon as well, so that everyone
can get to know him better. We DID also
bring on one other person as our first official reviewer, but we are waiting to
announce that until a little further down the road. Needless to say, we are extremely excited!
6.
The
FN Podcast
a. Brian
i.
Brian has come a long way from when we
first started. He’s always excited no
matter what’s happening, and jumps the gun on giving every opinion he has,
usually before getting all the facts.
That’s why we love him. He’s got
personality coming out of his ears, and to listen to the way he talked in the
beginning and how he sounds on the show now, it’s amazing to think that it’s
only been a year. Without Brian, I think
the show would have gotten stale pretty quick.
b. Marc
i.
Simply put, there would be no Frozen
North without Marc. I have no clue what
I’m doing when it comes to the sound equipment, but Marc has taught himself
from the ground up, and has done a spectacular job making sure that our sound
quality is the best it can be with the equipment we have. What’s funny is (and he’ll hate me for saying
this), Marc is typically pretty quiet around people he doesn’t know, but if you
listen to the show, you’d never know it.
I’m so glad that the world gets to hear Marc’s wonderful personality,
and I’m extremely grateful to him for showing the same passion for the success
of the show as myself. The amount of
time and effort he has put in to the show has been invaluable, and I can’t
thank him enough.
Truth be told, I don’t
fully know what the road ahead holds for the show. I can tell you that I’m insanely excited to
find out though. We’ve got guests, new
segments and top 5 lists, reviews, and all of the crazy inside jokes and goofy
humor that you’ve come to expect from The Frozen North, planned for the coming
months. Again, I can’t believe it’s been
an entire year already. This podcast,
we’ve talked so much about all of the stories in these great games, gone over
our favorites, our least favorites, and everything in between. However, I’m writing this as a sort of log to
keep track of another story that I find compelling: Our own.
I can’t thank the fans enough for the overwhelming support we’ve gotten
in such a short time, and it’s already more than living up to my
expectations. Please keep the feedback
coming, we want to hear from you! If you
all promise to stick with us, I promise that we will do our best to continue
bringing you the best that story-focused gaming has to offer. Until then, keep on gaming!
Sincerely and Most
Grateful,
Joseph “JJ” Santaniello
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