Sarcastic Gamer

Infobox Website
name = Sarcastic Gamer



caption=
url= http://sarcasticgamer.com
commercial = No
type = Video Gaming Blog/Podcast
language = English
registration =
owner =
author = Jeromy "Doc" Adams
launch date= 11 June 2007
current status = Active
revenue=
slogan = "Parody, satire, opinion, and occasional facts", "The second-to-last name in gaming journalism", "Sarcasm > Truth", "Now With More Credibility Than GameSpot"
"Striving for mediocrity in all we do." "A good idea gone horribly wrong."
alexa =

SarcasticGamer.com is an independent video gaming related blog and community site. A part of the [http://gamercastnetwork.com GamerCast Network] , a community of independent podcasters, the website focuses on parodying the latest events happening in the gaming industry. Although the website is best known for its satirical news articles and parodies, it also features reviews, news, opinions and rants. All articles, however, stay true to the "sarcastic" ethos of the site. [Various reviews, including the [http://newteevee.com/2007/07/20/sarcastic-gamer New Tee Vee] one and the ones at [http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/tag/sarcastic%20gamer Xbox 360 Fanboy] , strongly support this opinion] .

History

The site was founded by Jeromy "Doc" Adams in early June 2007 [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2007/06/what-would-jesus-do-blackmail-sony.html] the first SarcasticGamer.com article, written on 11th June, 2007] , after his first parody song, "How you killed your brand", gained popularity on YouTube. [The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R98qC0fd_1w fan-created video] for the song has been viewed 3,518,909 times as of May 9, 2008, and won the "Top Favorites (All Time)" and "Most Discussed (All Time)" YouTube honors.] As a result of the success, Adams created a website to host all his future parodies.

As the popularity of the parodies (and as a consequence, the website) increased, Adams needed to find reliable writers who could help him satisfy the growing demand for new material. First to be approached was Sean "Rothbart" Workman, a trusted GamerCast Network forums member, who agreed to start preparing new articles for Sarcastic Gamer. Shortly thereafter, Matt "Volkov" Schmidt offered his help with the blog. Adrian "Lono" Cherikos, who had met with Adams on Xbox Live a few months before Sarcastic Gamer was created, started writing for the site after his debut on the Sarcastic Gamer Podcast on July 13, 2007.

With the site traffic increasing daily towards the end of 2007, more writers were required, leading to the recruitment of Alex "SupaSlick" Shaw and Anthony "Yousty" Youst in September, along with Eric "PacManPolarBear" Ross, who joined the staff in October 2007. Writer Matthew "Animathias" Schramm and cartoonist Tim "MightyMutt" Hibbs joined Sarcastic Gamer in early 2008. Jon "Yamster" Brady and Alex "RaiseHavok" Saunders were recruited as writers in June 2008, and Ben "Eoco" Simmons joined the staff a month later.

The same traffic spikes that neccessitated the extra staff were the impetus behind the shifting of the site, in early 2008, from its original host service (Blogger) to its present self-hosting state with Wordpress.

As the site is non-commercial, rarely does the staff take part in gaming events and gatherings. The first event the Sarcastic Gamer writers participated in was QuakeCon 2007 [See the [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2007/08/quakecon-first-impressions.html SarcasticGamer.com relation] .] , the second and last one was Kane and Lynch Community Day [Relation and interviews on the [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2007/11/podcast-episode-16-the-late-late-late-show.html podcast] .] . However in July 2008, Jeromy Adams and David Cothran were able to receive E3 passes and attended the gaming convention.

In early December 2007, Jeromy Adams and Adrian Cherikos were invited by Microsoft to see the forthcoming device under development by the company, Microsoft Surface [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2007/12/microsoft-surface-hands-on-impressions-pt-1.html] The SarcasticGamer.com relation.] , thanks to the video parody of the device created by Adams. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY YouTube - Microsoft Surface Parody ] ]

Podcasts

Sarcastic Gamer Podcast

The first Sarcastic Gamer Podcast episode was released on June 28, 2007 and was hosted by Doc, Dave - whom Jeromy Adams met in May 2007 - and Drew, who left Sarcastic Gamer after Episode 6 of the podcast. As the podcast was gaining popularity, more people joined the hosts; on July 13, 2007, along with the second podcast episode, Lono joined the staff. On August 24, 2007 Sarcastic Gamer joined the GamerCast Network, opening the show to a wider audience. On September 24, 2007, as the 9th episode was aired, Alex Shaw became a co-host.During the 30 minute long show, the hosts discuss and argue about the recent video gaming news in an entertaining and friendly way.There have been 3 longer specials, including episodes 10, 20 (each 45-minute long) and 21 (60-minute long).As of Episode 25, Alex Shaw has not hosted, due to time constraints.
The show is referred to by the Sarcastic Gamer staff as the "Red Show", because of the site's logo and to help distinguish the different SG podcasts. The show, besides the usual podcast content, features "Sarcastic Gamer news updates" in which fake news published on the main site is read out by Paul Christie, assisted by pre-recorded clips of one of the hosts (usually Adams) performing a role in the sketch.

Hump-day Update

As of January 23, 2008, the Sarcastic Gamer podcast had become a twice weekly podcast. Released on a Wednesday, the "Hump-Day Update" was introduced to help the hosts deal with the weekly flood of gaming information. Usually a 10-15 minute overview of the events taking place in the video game world, the so-called "Orange Show" is hosted by Doc, Dave, and Lono, and is famous for its "predictions". Also, the "Super Duper Tuesday Stock Value Ticker", an audio recording of the occasional Tuesday feature on the blog by Matt "Volkov" Schmitt, which presents news in a satirical, stock-ticker style.

Sarcastic Gamer Playstation Podcast (SGPSP)

A recent addition to the Sarcastic Gamer family, the Playstation Podcast was launched in May 2008, becoming the third show in the Sarcastic Gamer Podcast lineup. About the same length as its parent (30-40 min), the so-called "Blue Show" is hosted by Sean "Rothbart" Workman, Eric "PacManPolarBear" Ross, and Joseph "Frawlz" Frawley, and deals with matters relating to Sony, and its gaming range.

Sarcastic Gamer Community Podcast

The Sarcastic Gamer Community Podcast is a new podcast designed to give the members of the Sarcastic Gamer Community (SGC - the forums) a chance to make their own podcast, and have it featured on the site. Anyone who is a member of the SGC can record their own podcast and submit the finished product to the the site. It will then be added to the SGCP iTunes feed, where it can be freely downloaded and listened to.

Sarcastic Gamer Pink

A more recent addition to the Sarcastic Gaber family. A podcast that is mainly for women that game. The hosts are Harlequin, Jax, and Lesley,who have experience levels from novice to expert. The podcast was launched in October 2008. They release weekly on Thursdays,between the Humpday Update and the Sarcastic Gamer Playstation Podcast. It's length(30-40 minutes)is enough to get in touch with your feminine side and go along with these great hostesses' dicussions.

Features

Parody songs

As it is primarily a parody and satire site, Sarcastic Gamer's parody songs form an important part of its appeal. At present there are ten songs including "How To Kill A Brand", "Halo 3 Hoedown", "Hey Mr. Thompson", "This Second Life", "Ring Of Fire", and an untitled Wii Fit song (commonly referred to as "Wii Fat" or "Wii Ain't Fit"), parodying various songs by The Fray, Plain White T's and Johnny Cash, among others.

There are also video parodies, namely the Microsoft Surface, Wii Fit, and Wii Music spoofs, which use original source videos with humorous voiceovers. They have been published on many other gaming [ [http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/11/05/sarcastic-gamer-takes-on-jack-thompson Xbox 360 Fanboy] , [http://kotaku.com/gaming/sad-but-true/sarcastic-gamer-sings-shadowrun-hate-293681.php Kotaku] , [http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/14/halo-3-hype-hoedown-satire-song/ Joystiq] among others.] and non-gaming blogs and websites [ [http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/microsoft-surface-one-day-your-computer-will-be-a-big-ass-table/ Engadet] , [http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/clips/microsoft-surface-the-parody-270782.php Gizmodo] and [http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/21/micorosft-surface-parody-video/ TechCrunch] among others.] as well as aired on gaming TV show, G4TV. This publicity has resulted in the parodies being downloaded and/or streamed more than 6 million times. The majority of them were written and sung by Jeromy Adams.

Broken News, Rothbart's Rants

"Broken News" is a part of Fiction Friday on Sarcastic Gamer, during which time almost every article is fake. They, along with the rants of one of the writers, Sean Workman, are common sights within the blog. All important gaming related news and events are covered (and often parodied) in the articles, making Sarcastic Gamer a reliable game information source.

The Top 100 Gaming Moments of 2007

Throughout December 2007, Sarcastic Gamer's staff posted a list of the hundred most important gaming moments of the year 2007, including game releases, important quotes, significant company mergers and breakups, and SarcasticGamer.com related events. [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/top-100 The Top 100 Gaming Moments of 2007 ] ]

Boycott

On March 29, 2008, [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/03/bfbcs-dlc-is-just-plain-bs.html BF:BC’s DLC is just plain BS. Boycott this game. | Sarcastic Gamer ] ] Sarcastic Gamer called for a boycott of the game due to news that consumers would be allowed to purchase additional weapons for the game which, though already complete (and included on the game disc), were to remain locked until the user paid a fee to access them. The general consensus of the hosts was that this was an attempt by EA to test public receptiveness to downloadable content of this sort.

Many websites from around the world got involved in or mentioned the boycott [Including [http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/04/07/weapon-purchases-result-in-bad-company-boycott Xbox 360 Fanboy] , [http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/08/yes-there-is-a-boycott-of-battlefield-bad-company/ Joystiq] , [http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/News-127858.aspx N4G] , [http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/04/08/boycott-of-battlefield-bad-company-spreads-through-internet/ PS3 Fanboy] , [http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/684001/Battlefield_Bad_Company_Boycott.html G4TV] and [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/04/so-you-say-you-want-a-revolution.html many more] .] making it very popular among gamers and eventually reaching IGN [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/865/865459p1.html IGN: Battlefield: Bad Company Boycott ] ] which contacted Electronic Arts, the publisher of the game, causing it to finally cease the idea of paid weapons [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/865/865549p1.html IGN: We Want Free Weapons! ] ] .

As a result of this, on April 9, 2008 Sarcastic Gamer announced [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/04/breaking-news-boycott-successful.html BREAKING NEWS: Boycott Successful? | Sarcastic Gamer ] ] that the goal of the boycott had been achieved and the boycott was lifted.

Forums

The Sarcastic Gamer forum community forms an integral part of both the main site, and the podcast. The competitions run by the site, while announced in the podcasts, can only be entered by registered users, and only forum members can post and reply to threads. Not only do the forum discussions concern the Sarcastic Gamer site, but the users often talk about other aspects of gaming as well as topics not connected with video games [ [http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/forums/index.php The Sarcastic Gamer Forums, clearly divided into "General Discussion" and gaming sections] ] .

Currently, the forums are moderated by six dedicated forum moderators (Joseph "Frawlz" Frawley, Mike "Ala Douche" Sutton, Bartosz "regua" Reguła, Damien "ShockwaveLover" Horton, Leigh "viatrophy", Jarred "pherstothelee" Humphrey), as well as the rest of the staff and podcast team. The forums and the main page are maintained by resident webmaster Derek "Captain DDL" Langley.

Comics

A recent addition to the SG lineup, the [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/category/comics weekly comic] has fast become one of the most popular features of the site. The work of Tim 'MightyMutt' Hibbs, it follws the (fictional) adventures of the 3 hosts of the the main show, Doc, Lono and Dave. Launched on March 27, 2008, the comic primarily covers issues and events related to the Sarcastic Gamer Community (SGC). A prominent example was the much hyped COD4 Tournament against fellow GamerCast Network podcasters, Gamer Tag Radio.

First Birthday

A major event on the Sarcastic Gamer calendar, the first birthday of the site was celebrated around the world on Saturday, 14 June, with parties planned in various American cities - namely Chicago, IL, Houston, TX, New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA - as well as London, United Kingdom and Ottawa, Canada [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/06/sg-birthday-pictures.html] , [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/06/hanging-out-with-a-bunch-of-guys-named-john.html] , [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/06/sg-party-london.html] , [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/06/chicagos-kick-ass-party.html] , [http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7259] ] . There also were online celebrations held on Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network [ [http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/06/eocos-gamer-day-says-happy-birthday-viatrophy-says-i-hate-you-all.html Eoco’s Gamer Day says ‘Happy Birthday’, Viatrophy says ‘I hate you all’ | Sarcastic Gamer ] ] .

References

External links

* [http://sarcasticgamer.com Sarcastic Gamer home page]
* [http://sarcasticgamer.com/forums Sarcastic Gamer forums]