Saturday, March 23, 2013

No Right Answer Crew Interview

The No Right Answer Crew, Drawn by Cory Rydell of the Escapist's Critical Miss
Today's interview and show is based on the Escapist's popular series "No Right Answer", where Chris Pranger, Kyle Martinak, and Daniel Epstein debate everything from Best Science Fiction Job Ever to worst Green Lantern weakness ever (wood or the color yellow (yes, those are actually part of the Green Lantern canon)).  The show is quite popular on the Escapist as the show's comedic writing and editing, along with interesting premises for each debate leads to quite entertaining spectacles.  

Chris (Left) and Kyle (Right) in a deep debate
It's also interesting to see the relationship between the three debaters.  Chris is more along the lines of the emotional, energetic comedian, while Kyle is calm and collected and Dan is somewhere in between.  

Chris, Kyle, and...sleeping Dan
In this interview, possibly our longest interview yet, Chris, Kyle, Dan and I discuss the origins of the show, the story behind the show's famous Jones's sodas, the Escapist convention, and other topics.  Enjoy!

LINKS
  • Apparently I reached the limit of minutes on Soundcloud, so I will be using various sites for now.  If anyone has any good suggestions of websites to which I can upload an MP3, that would be much appreciated.
No Right Answer's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/NoRiteAnswer
No Right Answer Collection at the Escapist: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/no-right-answer 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Interview with Grey Carter and Cory Rydell


Equal parts drama and comedy, the Escapist’s well-acclaimed webcomic Critical Miss has run for more than a year, with almost all of the site’s traffic addicted to every new comic.  The comic is composed of two types of comics: satirical jabs at the occasional idiocy of the video game industry, and a storyline of main character Erin, a internet game reviewer who sees and interacts video game characters that only she can see.  To put it plainly, both parts of the comic are a joy to read.  
An example of both humor and storyline.  One of my favorite comics.
Carter and Rydell’s mocking of the video game industry has the same quick wit and vitriol as Daily Show episode, and Erin’s story is intriguing, endearing, and entertaining.
A satirization of Killzone 3's..."interesting" villains.  Carter admits he strongly dislikes the game for it's "insulting" story.  
Rydell’s art can truly steal the show, for nothing can put a bigger smile on your face than watching Erin and Kratos from God of War sledding merrily down a snow-covered hill. 
Kratos can be a pretty fun guy if you get past the murdering...
In this interview, the two creators of the comic (writer Grey Carter and artist Cory Rydell) discuss the origins of the comic, their process, their interactions with fans, their future projects, and their views on certain issues in the gaming industry.  Both are eloquent and fascinating, and I greatly enjoyed interviewing them.  

Apologies up front for the background noise: finding a quiet spot on Georgetown’s campus is harder than one thinks.

LINKS
GREY CARTER'S FAVORITE VIDEO GAME MUSIC
As always, we like to give our interviewees a chance to list their favorite video game music.  Here are Grey's.  Enjoy!