Welcome to The Gaming Outsider 2.0
It’s been a crazy week here at the Gaming Outsider, and I wanted to take a minute to do two things. First off, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your incredible patience over the past couple of weeks. While we went through some major changes, the kind words and support from the community have been very much appreciated. Without our fans, The Gaming Outsider would be nothing but a bunch of nerds sitting around geeking out about games. It’s become more than just about the games and more about the community. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your patience and willing to stick with us through these changes.
Secondly, I wanted to take a moment to give you some more details about the future of the podcast as well as the web site. To begin, our team of four is now a team of seven. No, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have seven people on the podcast each week. There will still be a core group of three that will be regulars on each weekly episode. The other four will being doing more behind the scenes work including writing editorials, producing the show, managing the web site, and even organizing community events. One of the four will take a fourth chair on occasional episodes as well.
So are you ready to meet your new Gaming Outsider crew? Let’s go ahead and get started with the first two members who will be sharing the airwaves with me on a weekly basis.
Zack Parkerson
Senior Editor
Zack is no stranger to podcasting. He is a regular host on a creative writing podcast called “Smirk“. Additionally, he’s been a guest on “The Hollywood Outsider“, and even teamed up with me on multiple episodes of “Remake This Movie RIGHT!” Much like me, however, his biggest passion has always been video games. Zack brings an expertise to the podcast the is perfect for his community. He’s run his own video game editorial web site called “We Love To Game“, which has given him an outlet to not only talk about his favorite hobby, but sharpen his writing skills as well.
Zack will be one of the regulars on the podcast with me. As Senior Editor, however, his primary role will be to coordinate all written content for the site. Not only will he write his own editorials and reviews, but he will also edit and post the rest of the team’s as well. Thanks to the addition of Zack to the site, you can count on much more written content.
Chris Owens
Finance Manager
Chris may not be able to take a picture without another person in it, but he’s one of the friendliest guys you’ll ever meet. We met over a decade and bonded over our love of games almost immediately. He’s been one of my closest friends since, and I’m proud to now call him a colleague. Chris was also my co-host on my first ever podcast episode back when we started a show called, “The Official Thread Podcast”. We’ve come a long way since recording from inside that closet, and I love that it’s finally coming full circle.
On top of lending his expertise and voice as a regular podcast host, Chris will also be responsible for keeping track of the all the financial transactions for The Gaming Outsider. He’ll also be informing the community of any video game sales and deals that come along. You’ll want to get to know his face, as he’ll be looking for the best ways to save you a few bucks. He’s a great asset to the team, and I can’t wait to continue our discussion about video games with a bit more purpose.
Chris Behrensmeyer
Special Ops Manager
When I started assembling my new team, I swear I wasn’t trying to confuse our listeners and readers. Yes, there are two guys named “Chris” affiliated with The Gaming Outsider. We’re throwing around the name, “CB” as a nick name, but it hasn’t quite stuck yet. We’re working on it. Anyway, Chris has the most extensive collection of video games I’ve ever seen in person. It’s almost as impressive as his knowledge of everything related to retro gaming. He’s practically an encyclopedia of gaming knowledge. On top of that, he’s also a family man with two boys who, I’m sure, will be avid gamers as they grow.
Chris’ role will be to coordinate and provide supplemental content for our Patreon subscribers. His plan is to release an episode each month dedicated to the simpler times of gaming, which will be called “Retro Grind”. He’ll also be in charge of organizing our Legacy episodes, spoilercasts, and “Games That Aren’t For Us” segments. I’m happy to have him on the team to help bring extra content to our supporters each month.
Bob Villarreal
Social Media Director
I’ve known Bob the least amount of time compared to the rest of the team, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. He’s an incredibly personable guy that you can’t help but like to be around. His love of sports and video games takes second place to only his two kids. In fact, Bob’s son is a top-ranked “Overwatch” player. Now that’s raising ’em right!
Bob’s personality is a perfect fit for his role as Social Media Director. He’ll be responsible for keeping the community updated with industry news, including the stories that we discuss on the show each week. On top of that, he’ll moderate the Facebook group, Twitter account, and any other social media we use. Bob also has plans to spearhead some local community events with gamers in our town. He’s a very welcome edition to The Gaming Outsider team, and he’s already proven himself in his position by kickstarting our Discord server.
Chad Cusick
Personal Relations Manager
I’ve known Chad for several years, and we’ve spent many late nights together on Xbox Live. He’s one of those guys that you can sit and talk about everything and nothing for hours. He’s also got two of the cutest kids you’ll ever meet, one of which has a Wii U tablet in her hands most of the time. Again, parenting done right.
Chad works in sales, which makes him a natural as our Personal Relations Manager. He will be in contact with developers and other video game insiders developing relationship between them and The Gaming Outsider. He’ll be assigning reviews to the rest of the GO crew and ensuring that the developers get updated when we discuss their games on the show or in written form. I’m very excited about how Chad’s talents will help us expand the scope of this project.
Kristina Flores
Digital Content Producer
As many of you know, I teach 4th grade when I’m not in front of my podcast microphone. Kristina’s son was in my class, and I met her at a parent/teacher conference. We became fast friends when we discovered our mutual love for The Legend of Zelda. No joke, I may have the Zelda collection on my shelves, but she has an impressive amount of clothing sporting the Triforce.
Kristina’s contribution to The Gaming Outsider will be a bit more behind the scenes. Not only will she be producing the show every week, but she’ll also be managing the web site to ensure that it’s running smoothly. She brings a tenacious work ethic and a fastidious attention to detail that I think our listeners will appreciate a great deal. She’s an incredible addition to the team, and I’m proud to be working with her.
The Future of The Gaming Outsider
So that’s everybody. You’ve officially met the entire team, and we’re all very eager to get started on the rebooting of this podcast and editorial web site. I ask that you give all of them a chance. We don’t have the luxury of three years of experience behind our microphones, but we all have the drive and determination to make this even more successful than it was before. This is an exciting time, and I hope you’re as stoked as we are.
If you’d like to learn more about the team, be sure to check out our updated bio page. There, you can also see bios from our former podcast hosts, who were all integral to the show’s growth from day one.
There’s one more thing I’ll ask you for: feedback. We want to provide the best content possible, so please let us know what you like and what you don’t. I’ll be creating a survey in the next few days to get a general idea of how our community feels about the show. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait for an anonymous survey. Hit me up via e-mail at feedback@thegamingoutsider.com, and I promise that we’ll take any constructive criticism very seriously. After all, this show is for you, not me. Thanks for sticking with me.
Oh, and don’t forget: there’s no such thing as a bad game, just games that aren’t for you.
