Let's Play

My friend Dan and I both love video games, and we’ve recently been pondering the idea of starting our own Let’s Play channel on Youtube. For those who don’t know, a Let’s Play is a series of videos that follow a player’s run through of a game, often including insightful or humorous commentary.

Our first mission is to figure out a way to capture footage; we considered capturing from a computer in a Park editing suite, but because we want to record multiple videos per week, we feel using a capture card may be more suitable. A well-known LPer going by the name NintendoCapriSun has a fairly affordable setup with a capture card that is a possibility: a Diamond VC500 with S-Video output.

This video shows NintendoCapriSun's setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdQ395PdNn8

The second challenge with starting our Let’s Play is figuring out how to record clear audio for commentary. An obvious option would be to rent out a Zoom recorder from PPECS as it is a readily available and cheaper than buying another device; a Zoom H4n can run for about $270. After doing some research online, I found that many LPers record audio using a USB microphone, such as a Logitech desktop mic. While more expensive than the Logitech, a high quality alternative would be the Blue Yeti USB microphone.

Once we get set up, our goal is to produce four simultaneous LPs: a main game, a side game, a co-op game and a versus game. While this may seem daunting, many LPers record multiple LPs at once. For example, the Game Grumps produce daily videos, normally rotating between a series of three to four games. Additionally, the famous LPer Chuggaaconroy has a main LP on his own channel and a cooperative side LP on a collaborative channel. 

Dan and I decided that Super Mario Sunshine would be an entertaining main game, but we still have to decide on our side game, co-op game and versus game. If anyone has suggestions on games to play or ways to capture footage and audio, we would be very appreciative!