Hello and welcome to a very special episode of the Player One podcast.

I am Player One podcast super fan, Rich Grisham,

400 shows, almost eight years into its existence. The Player One podcast has firmly entrenched

itself into the new era of video gaming. What started rather innocuously as a way for long-time

friends to keep talking about video games,

even as their daily lives separated them, has become, whether they like to admit it or not,

one of the most important and influential independent gaming discussions on the internet.

If you look at the top gaming podcasts out there, the vast majority of them are connected to outlets

whose main source of income is advertising from game publishers. Of course, if you look at the top gaming podcasts out there, most of them are connected to outlets whose main source of income is advertising from

game publishers. Of course, if you look at the top gaming podcasts out there, most of them have

ceased to exist. Coincidence? I don't know. But gaming sites and gaming podcasts come and go, a lot

these days in fact, but meanwhile, the Player One podcast soldiers on each and every week,

delighting its audience and inviting the community to come

together in ways that few if others do. Were CJ and Greg prescient back in October of 2006 when

they launched the show? Did they realize that the traditional ways of publishers communicating with

their audience were slowly and then quickly dying off? Did they know that thousands of people

would eventually gather around their listing devices

every week to hear the latest about Monsters 8 My Condo, Grand Turismo, Dynasty Warriors, and

Jurassic Park Builder?

Did they have any idea that screaming babies and ringing telephones would become beloved

staples of their shows?

No matter what, though, people like me have come to consider the Player One podcast as much a part

...