New Media Interchange

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Please subscribe, review and rate via iTunes 

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books, including the great business and productivity book, Getting Things Done by David Allen. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

See the complete show note at 3rdPass.media

Networks vs. New Media at the Television UpFronts”YouTube Stars vs Mainstream CelebritiesSome Amazing YouTube Stats from Syracuse UniversityNews Followups about Virtual Reality, Ubisoft and 4k video deliveryFinal Part of my interview with Michael Anderson, CEO of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization optonsNext entry in my Subscribed series where I share the great podcasts, YouTube Channels and blogs I’m subscribed to.

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Please subscribe, review and rate via iTunes 

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to New Media Interchange 4: Is Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books.Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King – a great non-fiction history book that explores the world of Michelangelo as he toils on the Sistine Chapel. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

See the complete show note at 3rdPass.media

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes 

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to New Media Interchange 3: Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – an amazing magical fantasy novel.  Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of many a New Media producer, The US Patent and Trademark Office invalidated a number of claims on podcasting patents that were held by the company Personal Audio. Personal Audio made a splash in the podcasting world a few years ago by claiming that they owned a patent on the various podcasting technologies and everyone — especially the big boys of podcasting including Adam Carolla, Leo Laporte and even CBS — either paid them licensing fees or face being sued. CBS even settled a lawsuit that was filed by Personal Audio in Texas rather than fight the claim. They might be wondering what they paid for now, though, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) effectively countered Personal Audio’s patent claims, leading the USPTO to invalidate key portions of the company’s patents. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Personal Audio, or others, won’t try to claim these patents in the future, but it certainly limits their options.

The USPTO ruled that the patent granted did not take into consideration the fact that the technologies and methods of podcasting were quite obvious at the time of filing and therefore not new, unique or patentable.This is a very common problem with patents in the US as it struggles to deal with technologies never even imagined when it was first set up. The New Media world will be continue to be threatened by “patent trolls” such as this due to the nature of the US patent system, and its inherent flaws, If people can find a way to exploit the system to their advantage, they will, until some of those flaws are corrected.

In an EFF Press Release, Staff Attorney Vera Ranieri said, “We have a lot to celebrate here. But unfortunately, our work to protect podcasting is not done. Personal Audio continues to seek patents related to podcasting. We will continue to fight for podcasters, and we hope the Patent Office does not give them any more weapons to shake down small podcasters.”

For my own part, in 10 years of podcasting I have seen many people attempt to make money on the back of content creators. Individuals and companies have tried to insert themselves as content gatekeepers, subvert podcasting content and RSS feeds to their own ends through portals and basically acting as “digital carpetbaggers” — attempting to extract income in every way but creating content themselves. Every new industry faces this particular type of intruder as it grows, so all New Media creators must be constantly vigilant of how they might be abused and how to stand up for themselves when issues occur.

You’ll find links to additional information, as always, in the show notes.

Read more at:

.com. .org. .edu .mil. These are all familiar endings to Internet domains we type into our browsers every day. They are called Top Level Domains or TLDs by ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. These are the folks that control a large part of the Internet, including domain name systems. For years, we lived with relatively few TLDs like those mentioned earlier, but lately there has been an explosion of new TLDs being offered including .tv, .guru, .tips, .events and even — as our own network 3rd Pass Media uses — .media. There are a host of reasons for adding new TLDs, even if the average Internet user still reflexively types .com when entering a web address. Companies and individuals want to reinforce their brand. I understand that. They are looking for web URLs that somehow better reflect the nature of their business. I have a variety of issues with one new TLD, though, .sucks.

Yes, you can now purchase a domain name like xyz123.sucks to host your blog and other content. As you might be able to see though, .sucks is different. Unlike other Top Level Domains, .sucks is almost universally derogatory and I believe, like a recent article on The Next Web declares, “This new domain is the future of trolling.” There are very few scenarios I see for someone purchasing a .sucks domain and none of them are pretty.

First, there will be the trolls mentioned in the article, buying well-known names in order to harass companies or individuals and generally make a pain of themselves. Trolls, spammers and other nefarious Internet users already cause a host of trouble. Do we really need to give them another weapon in their arsenal. While I can’t imagine DouglasEWelch.sucks being that popular, you can imagine sites like apple.sucks. windows.sucks and more have already been snapped up. This is inevitable with such a derogatory TLD. We are basically giving people the right to troll others in ways unheard of before. Sure people could have registered applesucks.com or some such name, but being able to use the new TLD certainly makes it easier to brand the site and for people to find it.

I am not sure what ICANN or Vox Populi — the company hosting and selling the new TLD — were thinking when they set up .sucks, but it sure feels like nothing more than a money grab.

It strikes me much like the old unlisted phone number scam used by telcom companies before the Internet. They’d sell your phone number to telemarketers so you could get sales calls every night of the week and then, when you looked for some relief from this, charge you for the privilege of making your phone number unlisted. Talk about double-dipping.

Not only will Vox Populi make money selling the TLD to discontented Internet trolls, they can also sell the .sucks domains to large companies and individuals in a peremptory effort to keep it out of the hands of these trolls. For me, this smacks of exploitation, if not outright extortion. “Buy your .sucks domain now or who knows who might snap it up and use it against you.” This same tactic has been used to sell nearly every previous TLD additions like .net and .info, but we have never had to face such a singularly derogatory TLD like .sucks. before. Those who might have been inclined to ignore previous calls to buy every permutation of their domains might be more inclined to buy when it comes to .sucks.

Some, but not all, it seems. In an interview with NPR, Adobe’s associate general counsel J. Scott Evans said, “I basically think it’s extortion. We are not going to participate in any kind of extortion scheme. I’ve told my people the best way not to get included is not to suck.” I feel much the same way and I’m glad to see someone standing up against the process.

Vox Populi stands to make a lot of money on .sucks, especially when allowing trademark-holding companies to purchase any pertinent domains during the so-called “sunrise period” before the new domains are sold to the public. Vox Populi is charging trademark holders almost $2500 per domain during this period, although the public will be able to register .sucks domains for around $25 when they are made available to everyone. Large companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google have reportedly purchased large numbers of .sucks domains in an effort to protect their trademark and brand.

For me, this points up a large problem with TLDs in general. While all new TLDs are promoted as providing some special cache, some special need, some special benefit, the end goal seems to be to simply make money, as quickly as possible. Derogatory domains like .sucks only ramp up the process and send companies and individuals into a frenzy of buying in what I consider a misguided attempt at self-protection. Are we going to see an escalation of these tactics into even more threatening TLDs like .die, .kill, .hate and more. I know it sounds a bit ludicrous, but after seeing .sucks approved as an official TLD, I’m not so sure.

Buying a domain so that it can never be used shouldn’t be a business and Internet content creators shouldn’t feel that it is required of them. This seems the very definition of extortion to me. “Buy .sucks now or we’ll sell it to some troll who will make you look bad.” Not cool. Not cool at all.

What’s your opinion on .sucks and other domain TLDs? Sound off in the comments or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast.

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A New Internet Domain: Extortion Or Free Speech?

A few months ago, YouTube floated the idea of providing a subscription service that would make all videos on the site free of ads. As a YouTube content creator myself, my first question was “Ok, if you remove ads, then how I am going to get paid.” YouTube monetization via Google Adsense is a main income stream for many well-known YouTubers, so I am sure that my question was echoed by many content creators around the world.

Lacking any additional information from Google at that time, I imagined the system would be similar to Amazon’s KDP Select Program for Prime Members, where I am paid from a collective fund whenever a Prime member downloads my books for free. Now that YouTube has updated their terms and conditions, it seems I was close. Subscribers who pay a monthly fee will see my videos without ads, but I will then receive a portion (which looks to be 55%) of the subscription proceeds based on my “share” of the audience — how many views, how many minute watched, etc compared to other channels.

Now that this missing piece has been filled in, we will probably see further movement towards this ad-free environment. As music services such as Pandora and Spotify have shown, people are willing to pay to avoid advertising if they can. As a long time podcaster, I’ve never really been convinced that traditional advertising was really the best way to earn a profit from my content. This move by YouTube could be part of an on-going trend to break out of advertising models and follow along the path of other subscription services available for Pandora, Spotify and Twitch TV and patronage systems like Patreon.

There is one major issue yet to be resolved, though. YouTube seems to be choosing to be a bit of a bully when it comes to enrolling people in this new program. If YouTube Creators want to monetize any of their videos in the usual way, they will also have to enroll them in the new subscription service or risk having those video set to “private” mode. This would still allow them to host the videos on YouTube, but make them virtually undiscoverable on YouTube itself.

While I can understand that YouTube wants to insure a large amount of ad-free content is available for subscribers at the start and simplify their placement of advertising on videos, it seems a bit extreme to force everyone to make all their videos available to subscribers ad-free. For small channels like myself, I probably would have registered with the new service anyway, but being pressured into doing so still doesn’t feel very good. Larger YouTube Channels might find that they can make more money outside of the subscription system and won’t like being forced into this program either. This could result in the exact opposite of the desired effect — reducing the number and quality of the videos available to subscribers. We won’t truly know how it affects YouTube Creators, though, until YouTube and Google provide more info.

Ad-Free subscriptions are just one way in which New Media can provide a service traditional television or radio cannot and yet another way for services like YouTube to build their — and hopefully content creators — profits. I know that I will eagerly watching for more information on this ad-free subscription service and how it will work for both the viewers and content creators.

Read more at:

 SFX: MediaTwits Opening Audio

In a followup to the media fragmentation story in the last episode, MediaShift from PBS has an online series on Cord Cutting — viewers who are abandoning cable television subscriptions in favor of over-the-top services like Netflix, HBO Now and Amazon Prime.

In their article, MediaShift writes, “Cutting the cord to cable has gone from a fringe action to a way of life for millions of Americans that have given up on expensive cable and satellite TV packages and built their own on-demand TV experience with streaming TV.”

I am a cord cutter myself, turning off my cable television subscription in favor of over-the-air broadcasts for those few mainstream shows I watch and a combination of Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Instant Video for movie rentals. We cut the cord when our cable television cost, along with Internet service rose above $100 per month. After a quick review, we realised how little television we were watching and how we would only ever watch a fraction of the channels provided. My son was aging out of the world of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and was focusing more and more on his YouTube subscriptions, so that made the decision even easier.

Some people warn that you can end up paying more for online subscriptions than you were paying for cable television. That said, even if you are paying a similar amount, I believe that the quality and quantity of content you receive is far more in-line with your entertainment wants and needs. You might be paying the same or more, but you are getting far more bang for your buck.

A recent edition of MediaShift’s companion discussion show, MediaTwits discusses cord cutting and the move of both HBO and CBS’ into the over-the-top streaming market. You can watch the entire episode of MediaTwits using the link in the show notes and their online article includes a large number of links for further reading on cord cutting in our New Media world. You’ll find a link in the show notes.

Cutting the Cord 2015: A Special Series on Streaming TV

 SFX: Theme for Harold (var. 3) by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetch.com) under Creative Commons License

SFX: Interview audio

Subscribed

Science @ NASA

A geek in one thing, a geek in all things. This is how I often describe myself. I can geek out on nearly anything — gardening, robotics, beekeeping, architecture, whatever. Since my earliest days as a student, I have also always geeked out over science in all its forms. This love of science means that I am always tuned in to what is happening at NASA and other scientific organizations. I even have a friend who works at JPL who helps to keep me informed and has provided me several opportunities to visit and hang out with the scientists there. Despite what many of us older folks may have believed in high school — science is cool!

One great way of keeping in touch with the many scientific projects and discoveries at NASA is by subscribing to their YouTube channel, Science @ NASA. Amazing and informative new content arrives nearly every week and recent episodes have included “How Desert Dust Feeds Amazon Forests”, “The Mystery of Nanoflares”, and “The Strange Way Fluids Slosh on the International Space Station.” Science @ NASA is a great way of feeding my geek needs and it is always a pleasure to see it pop-up in my YouTube subscription list of new videos.

On the Science @ NASA YouTube page, you’ll also found even more links to great NASA channels produced by installations like NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Kennedy Space Center.

You’ll find Science @ NASA’s YouTube channel at ScienceAtNASA or you can use the link in the show notes.

Science @ NASA on YouTube

SFX: Music Bed

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

Want to get each new episode of the show automatically? Be sure to subscribe via iTunes, the Podcasts app or Stitcher on your iOS devices or any other of your favorite podcasting clients. You can use the direct links in the show notes or search for New Media Interchange and look for the red, white and black New Media Interchange Logo

Some music written and produced by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com and used under Creative Commons License by the author.

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media network. For more information, visit 3rdPass.media. Do you have questions or comments? Send them along to [email protected] or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast .

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

***

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes 

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

I’ll round out the show with a book review of video game storytelling and the next installment of my Subscribed series.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Hobbit. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

SFX: Silicon Valley Trailer Clip

HBO’s Silicon Valley takes their show directly to the growing gamer audience via TwitchTV

A recent article in The Verge details how HBO is taking their newest comedy, Silicon Valley, directly to an existing audience that is probably predisposed to watch it — the viewers of Amazon’s TwitchTV streaming service that focuses on all types of gaming related content. These TwitchTV viewers likely already understand the joys of “cable-cutting” or freeing themselves from cable television subscriptions in lieu of “over-the-top services” like Twitch, YouTube, Netflix and now, HBO Now..

For me, this move makes a great deal of sense. Through Twitch, HBO can reach an audience that almost directly matches their desired audience. Through HBO, Twitch expands its programming beyond game play and into other aspects of their members’ lives. HBO also gets a chance to give Twitch users a taste of what they might be able to watch if they subscribe to HBO Now — content that was unavailable except via cable television until very recently. As The Verge article states, HBO is using “video games as a trojan horse” and getting their content in front of “roughly 100 million monthly active users” of Twitch. It is my bet that it will prove to be great promotion for everyone involved — HBO, Twitch and the users of both sites.

I imagine we’ll see more and more collaborations like this between all the players in what I call the “alternative TV” market. As the choice of content and services increases, discovery of exciting new content grows more difficult. Users can be overwhelmed with choice, but “giving them a taste” of content has always been a way to gather new viewers and it will continue to be important long into the future. Video content producers still need to find receptive audiences, as HBO has done here, but the opportunities for these collaborations in new and unique ways will continue to grow.

Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm

All this collaboration, cross-over and cooperation between various content providers continues to push the fragmentation of the television and online video content market and David Armano over at the Logic+Emotion blog has written posts detailing exactly how this is happening and the trends he sees being created. First came DVRs, then YouTube, then other online video services signalled the end of television’s stranglehold on video entertainment. It gave consumers more choice over the type of content they wanted to view and provided the technology to time shift entertainment so viewers could watch what they wanted, when they wanted it. They didn’t need to rely on the curation and control that was wielded by mainstream media anymore.

Once the technology advanced to a certain degree — with relatively easy-to-access high speed Internet and software — content creators and providers immediately saw the opportunities it presented. Once content was available in significant quality and quantity, users quickly began to explore and enjoy the viewing options they had and — despite claims to the contrary — began cutting the cord more and more frequently.

For myself, I haven’t had a cable television subscription for several years now, opting to use broadcast to watch the few mainstream shows I do watch and a combination of YouTube, Netflix and other online video sources for the remainder of my viewing. Even though I am older than the target demographic for cord cutting, I have no problems leaving the “vast wasteland” of mainstream television behind, now that I have plentiful options. I can imagine that younger viewers, who tend be be a bit more tech savvy find it even easier to explore the myriad of options available. For me, the fragmentation of the industry is a welcome change and one I think will provide more unique and diverse content than ever before. There is a whole new entertainment world out there and I plan on taking great advantage of it.

While YouTube, Netflix and the other current “big boys” of online video content will continue to thrive in the coming years, even they are seeing competition and fragmentation in the form of live streaming sites like TwitchTV, and smartphone apps that put streaming in the hands of anyone with a smartphone.

SFX: Music Bed

…and that thought leads us into our last story for this episode…

Meerkat and Periscope put live streaming in your hand

In the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion in the mobile live streaming space with first the indie app, Meerkat, exploding to life during this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference followed closely by recent Twitter acquisition, Periscope. Both of these apps all offer nearly one-touch live streaming from your smartphone or tablet and use Twitter as the main discovery and interaction source, with streams being announced immediately via Twitter and interactive chat messages, in the form of Tweets, overlaid right on the video stream. The release of these two services caused a veritable flood of live streams with everyone testing out the services and how they might be able to use them. Things have settled down considerably since launch, but I am still seeing quite a bit of activity in my Twitter stream.

For me, live streaming is a special use case. While I wouldn’t use it everyday, it can be dramatically useful during special events or breaking news stories to give immediate and alternative views a forum for the event. Other content creators thrive on live streaming. Both they and their audience love the immediate interaction via Twitter or chat room. it does indeed bring a much different feel to a show which is quite different from pre-recorded videos such as those on YouTube and elsewhere.

It will be a while before we see exactly where Meerkat, Periscope and other live streaming options fit into the overall online video market, but I think we can all be certain that we will see other, similar apps in the near future.

You can read more about Meerkat and Periscope in the articles linked in the show notes.

Is Meerkat winner-take-all?

Periscope, Twitter’s answer to Meerkat-style live streaming, is now available

The Race To Make Everyone A Livestreamer

Angry Joe and Nintendo

In a follow up on our story from last episode about Nintendo claiming copyright and advertising revenue from YouTubers who share their game play, it looks like the company finally forced one major YouTube personality, Joe ‘Angry Joe’ Vargas to give up on them entirely. Vargas boasts nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, a significant audience in the gaming space.

In a multi-part, self-titled “Rant” Vargas details how much money he has spent on Nintendo products and how much time he has spent sharing and promoting their devices and games and his extreme disappointment in the company’s YouTube policies. He has decided to totally drop the playing, recording and reviewing any of Nintendo’s devices and games rather than deal with constant copyright claims or joining Nintendo’s Creators Program which takes 40% of a YouTuber’s revenue for the right to post and share Nintendo games and doesn’t cover usage of all Nintendo games, only a portion.

You can find all of Angry Joe’s Nintendo rants, and all his other game reviews and game play videos on his YouTube Channel – AngryJoeShow.

YouTuber Angry Joe Swears Off Nintendo Videos After The Company Claimed His Mario Party 10 Take

Also in the news this week:

HBO Now Live on Apple TV

HBO’s over-the-top service HBO Now launched this week exclusively on Apple TV and Apple mobile devices for 3 months. Fans of Game of Thrones and other HBO shows can finally get them, legally, without a cable television subscription, for $15 a month.

Roku 3 Media Streaming Box adds new remote with with voice search

Along with Apple TV and Google Chromecast there are other streaming media players out there on the market, including the somewhat lesser known Roku 3. Press releases report the Roku has added a new remote to this device which allows you to do Voice Search to find shows over about 17 major apps, including Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu Plus.

Pixar’s Renderman released for free

Now anyone with a powerful enough computer can use the same animation software used to create PIxar movies like Toy Story for their non-commercial projects. This follows on the release of various gaming engines like UnReal Engine 4 and Unity in free non-commercial use versions. And also better licensing options that allow independent game makers to use the software for free up to certain levels of earnings.

Links to all these stories are in the show notes

SFX: Music Bridge – “Theme for Harold (var. 3)” by Kevin MacLeod (http://Incompetch.com) under Creative Commons License

Book Review: Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques by Evan Skolnick

Check out the book on Amazon.com

At first glance, an outsider to the world of video games might see little relation between a major motion picture and a video game. They seem to be different genres, different worlds, even when movies crossover to become games and games crossover and are developed into movies — often badly. The action, the interactivity, the immersion of video games can make their stories seem unlike a standard narrative program. Surely, due to the player’s control of characters, video games can’t be written in the same way as a television script. While that might be true in some regards, when you go deeper into the creation of story that drives the final narrative, there are more similarities between writing for film and video games than you might imagine. These similarities also mean that many similar challenges exist for these writers regardless of their genre.

Writer Evan Skolnik is an international speaker and educator who conducts workshops on storytelling techniques and has worked on large scale video game projects such as Star Wars 1313, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 and Spiderman 3.

The first half of Video Game Storytelling would be familiar to anyone who has ever taken a film writing course. It discusses the “three act structure”, “The Hero’s Journey” and the Monomyth that are the basis for many of our most classic books and films like Star Wars and Alien. Skolnick uses these well-known films to illustrate various writing concepts but then expands his examples with examples from well-known video games and how they also use these same techniques. These games include the Bioshock series, Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid. Thankfully, just as with movies, many scenes and playthroughs of these games are easily available via YouTube. This allows the reader to familiarize themselves with games they may have never played and fully understand the lessons Skolnick references.

While there is a good deal of video game examples spread throughout this first half, I found myself wishing for even more examples of how the traditional writing and storytelling rules applied to video games.

The second half of Video Game Storytelling details the many disciplines involved in creating a video game and how each of these affects — and is affected by — the narrative tools he has illustrated in the first half. For incipient video game developers this is where they will find the “meat” of the book and the majority of the author’s expertise. The information found in the first half might be found in any good book on screenwriting, but the detailed breakdown of all the video game development disciplines, their challenges and their relationship to the narrative of any video game should probably be required reading for anyone considering a career in video game design and development.

In the “In the Trenches” section, Skolnik details the responsibilities of each important discipline including Game Character Development, Level and Mission Development, Environments, Audio and several others. He also details how a video game writer needs to work with each of these disciplines in order to create a well-balanced, successful, and most importantly playable video game.

Throughout Video Game Storytelling you will see and hear a complaint common to any collaborative writing and creative enterprise — the lack of inclusion, if not outright respect, for the creator of the narrative of a game. There are several common mistakes in dealing with a writer, whether in traditional media such as television or film or the relativly younger video game industry. Skolnick lays out the biggest mistakes creative teams can make with their narrative experts i.e. writers. These mistakes can range from not hiring a writer at all for your game to hiring a writer but then not giving them the power and support to defend the narrative from the competing demands of all the disciplines mentioned above. Too often writers are given all the responsibility for the narrative, but very little power to defend that narrative. This can often translate into taking much of the blame for a less-than-successful game, even when many of the narrative decisions were taken out of their control.

Skolnik’s best advice when hiring a video game writer can be summed up as — hire as early as possible in the development process, integrate them fully and equally with all the other disciplines and teams, listen to their guidance about the narrative. A game developer is paying their writer for their experience, advice, and knowledge. They should then take it. Too often, though, that is not the case. The writer — and the narrative — get shunted aside by cool gaming mechanics, great explosions and intricate AI characters.

One of the main reasons I requested a review copy of the book from Blogging for Books is so I could better familiarize myself with game development and be able to discuss it more intelligently with my high school aged son, who is looking at a career somewhere in the game development industry. As I read the book, I found myself reading him some of the stories and ideas out loud and also encouraging him several times to read the book as soon as I had completed it. I think there is a great deal of knowledge to be gained from both sections of the book. The “Basic Training” section gives an excellent introduction into the world of the Three-Act Structure and the second half applies that knowledge in very concrete ways specific to video game development. It is a great starting point for learning about an industry — video gaming — that is rapidly becoming a huge entertainment industry on the level of traditional television or film.

SFX: Far Lands or Bust Opening Clip

Subscribed

Today in my Subscribed series is Far Lands or Bust. This series is where I highlight those Podcasts, blogs and YouTube Channels I subscribe to and watch regularly.

Years ago my son, Joseph, was just getting into online gaming and his introduction to that world was the now common gateway drug of Minecraft. In Minecraft and online in multi-user worlds he found a great collection of people. I was almost universally surprised and happy with the quality of folks he found there, which made me feel more comfortable with allowing him to play more video games as he grew up.

His interest also developed my own interest in Minecraft both as a player and viewer of Minecraft-related content. He shared his favorite YouTube personalities and their channels with me and they became — and remain — a significant part of my online video viewing. Far Lands or Bust and its creator, KurtJMac was one of my first subscriptions.

Far Lands or Bust is a series of Minecraft videos with a good cause. Like a virtual walkathon, Kurt is walking to the “Far Lands” of Minecraft and raising money for the Child’s Play charity. He has raised over $269,000 so far with his travels. The show is combination of various things. It’s a travelogue as he walks through his Minecraft world, a bit of a video blog, and as some people see it — an audio podcast with some pretty scenery. As he walk and has adventures in the Minecraft world, Kurt talks about gaming-related topics as well as his other interests including space exploration and astronomy.

Each season, Kurt hosts a marathon live stream as the culmination when he and the viewers reach their fundraising goal for Child’s Play. This brings in special guests, special live episodes of Far Lands or Bust, group gameplay in Minecraft and other games and, typically, a lot of fun and laughter.

Kurt also does a host of other video shows, some are Minecraft related but he also enjoys a variety of driving games and loves to check out quirky, artistic or just plain odd games from independent game publishers. You can find everything at FarlandsorBust.com or on his YouTube Channel KurtJMac. You’ll find links in the show notes.

Far Lands or Bust

KurtJMac on YouTube

SFX: Music Bed

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

Some music written and produced by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com and used under Creative Commons License by the author.

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media network. For more information, visit 3rdPass.media. Do you have questions or comments? Send them along to [email protected] or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast .

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

***

This is the first episode of my new podcast series, New Media Interchange. While I will probably be re-posting the podcast here, it will have it’s own feed via the 3rd Pass Media Network. I’ll announce that here, including subscription links, as soon as that site is live. I might be re-directing this domain to that site or maintaining this presence, but I’ll be sure to let you all know — Douglas

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos  and more!

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos  and more!

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

Nintendo wants a piece of that YouTube Money and plans on taking it out of the pockets of Let’s Play video makers, Netflix plans on spending over $5 billion on programming in 2016, and Tubefilter explains the best times to post your YouTube videos for maximum impact.

Will round out the show with some words about “Attracting Attention to Yourself” and end up with the first entry in my Subscribed series, highlighting the podcasts, blogs and YouTube Channels I am subscribed to.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Hobbit..

Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today. 

Gaming is the #2 category on YouTube, behind music, and you can find a wide variety of gaming reviews, recaps and a growing number of Let’s Play video series, where a gamer walks you through their experience of game from beginning to end. Some of these Let’s Play series can go on for 30 or 40 episodes as the gamer hacks and slashes their way through the zombies of Dying Light, works to save the fictional country of Kyrat from a crazed dictator or performs speed runs of amazing dexterity in Zelda or Mario Brothers. While many game manufacturers have a good relationship with Let’s Play producers — even providing them explicit license to play the game on video — the aged “big boy” of the gaming world — Nintendo hasn’t been playing nice of late.

Back in mid-2013, Nintendo starting claiming all YouTube revenue from many videos that included Nintendo Copyrighted content, like Let’s Play footage. They eventually backed off this wholesale money grab and last month created a “licensing” program that allows YouTube producers to continue sharing YouTube videos of Nintendo games in exchange for 30%-40% of the revenue according to articles from Game Informer. com.

While this certainly is a better deal than taking 100% of the revenue, I always look suspiciously at large companies taking money away from some of their biggest fans — turning off many of these fans from ever playing or sharing a company’s products in the future. Is this a sign that Nintendo is struggling overall and looking for a quick way to gain a quick cash boost? The company has been struggling of late, but I think trying to level out their balance sheet on the backs of fans might not be the way to do it.

What do you think? Are YouTuber’s getting a free ride on Nintendo gaming content? Is Nintendo making a desperate money grab? What does this mean for the thousands of hours of Nintendo gaming already available on YouTube and its creators? I’d love to know what you think. Send along a comment on the blog or via Twitter to @NMIPodcast.

Read More
Nintendo Updates Their Bad YouTube Policies By Making Them Worse

In our next story, courtesy of Business Insider, Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016…

Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016, more than everyone but ESPN, says Janney

I often comment to people how I am amazed to took so long for large, Internet companies like Netflix, Google and Amazon to get into content creation for their services. Living here in Hollywood itself, I have seen the production companies — those entities that do the actual nitty-gritty work producing a television show — don’t really care who pays the bills, as long as there is money to be made. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started to see services like Netflix, Google Play and Amazon as potential partners in content creation.

Therefore I see no surprise at all that Netflix is going to be spending even more in the future creating exclusive content. With critically acclaimed series like House of Cards, I think they can see a great potential for content beyond the traditional, mainstream, broadcast networks. I would expect to see even more players enter this market, both in the existing ranks of high-tech businesses as well as new startups focused on becoming the next, great, content network.

You can read the complete story using the link in the show notes. 

Finally, for all you incipient content creators out there, TubeFilter provides a detailed article on the best days and times to post your videos for maximum viewership. If you are looking to turn your content into an on-going moneymaker, information like this can be critical. Moving the number of views 5% upwards could result in a significant boost in advertising earnings. As a fairly casual producer of YouTube content myself, I tend to post videos whenever I have time and whenever they are complete. After reading this article, though, I think I am going to spend a bit more time and consideration on my video release schedule. All the detailed tables and charts are available in the TubeFilter link in the show notes.

Want To Know The Best Days And Times To Post YouTube Videos? Here’s A Yearly Calendar.

Attracting Attention Yourself!

Ever since I first heard George Carlin’s comedy album, Class Clown, a certain phrase has always stuck with me… (paraphrasing) The job of a class clown is…ATTRACTING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF! I call this “Carlin’s Law of Attraction!” Replace class clown with any other profession and you will see the universal truth of that statement. Replace class clown with “podcaster” and you can probably see where I am headed.

Podcasting offers anyone the ability to “attract attention to yourself”, your business, your cause, whatever is important to you. Sure, it can be difficult to rise above all the other folks who have already discovered podcasting, but the odds are certainly much better than they ever were in the traditional media.

Carlin’s Law of Attraction, also dictates that you want your media spread as far and wide as possible. This means posting your videos to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and any other spots where your audience might stumble across them. That said, each piece MUST have some links driving people back to your home site where they can subscribe to your content directly.

Everything depends on your ability to attract attention to your content. Scripts and books don’t sell themselves in your drawer (or trapped in your computer), art does sell when it sits in a closet and your podcast doesn’t attract an audience if no one ever gets to see it.

Apply Carlin’s Law of Attraction to everything you do, podcasting, writing, office work, whatever, and you will find that things just start to happen for you.

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media network. For more information, visit 3rdPass.media. Do you have questions or comments? Send them along to [email protected] or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast .

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

I sat down with George and Mary-Lynn over at Bigg Success recently and we talked about Overcoming business owners objections to creating video content.

Video content has become an important tool for reaching a wider audience, yet most professionals and small business people don’t use this form of media. Today, we’ll take on some of the biggest objections for not doing it with new media guru, Douglas Welch.

A complete transcript is available on the Bigg Success web site and you can listen to the podcast using the audio player below.

Listen to Bigg Success: Creating Video Content: Overcoming Objections

There is a lot of great content over on Bigg Success, so be sure to check out their site.

Part of the Dog Days of Podcasting Challenge

I interview my wife, Dr. Rosanne Welch on her recently published essay, “When White Boys Write Black: Race and Class in the Davies and Moffat Eras” in the collection, Doctor Who and Race published by Intellect.

Listen to this interview

[powerpress]

Read Rosanne’s interview with Doctor Who Producer and Writer, Russell T Davies for Written By Magazine.