Podtacular
Podtacular is an unofficial HaLo-themed podcast that debuted on July 28, 2005. Podtacular later evolved to include a video podcast known as PodTV, and the Podtacular staff started Seasonal Tournaments that included many Halo and Xbox 360 related prizes. On September 25, 2008 the Audio Podcast returned as the prime media source of Podtacular.
History
Podtacular was created by Mike Funk (known by his online screen name FooMoJive) in June 2005, and the first episode premiered on the Podtacular website on July 28, 2005. Funk recruited co-host Cody Bromley, (known by his online screen name Spelchek), for the second episode which aired on August 3, 2005. Jose Betancourt, also known as JVB, made his first appearance on the Podtacular podcast on 10 March 2006, and was recruited as a co-host shortly after Bromley left the show.. Betancourt was selected as the new co-host because of his previous gaming community backgrounds, such as being on Seatag, Gamertag Radio, Uncle Gamer, and Controller Freaks. CapnKrunk was also recruited to add call-ins and voice mail for the Audio Podcast.
The Audio Podcast for Podtacular was brought back on September 15, 2008 by the community after being discontinued as of April 20, 2008. The podcast resumed its normal schedule with a new staff of "podcasters". Previous hosts Mike Funk and Jose Betancourt have not returned to the show as of the most recent episode. The new hosts for the audio podcast are Dust Storm and Cryptoflix of the Podtacular community.
Audio Podcast
The Audio Podcast was the main feature for Podtacular from July 2005 to April 2008, then from September 15, 2008 - Present, and was mainly based on discussion regarding Halo 2 (before Halo 3 launched) and then focused heavily on Halo 3. FooMoJive was The Primary host for all of the audio podcasts before April 2008, often joined by co-hosts such as Spelchek and JVB. Many members from the Podtacular community would appear on the Audio Podcast as guests to contribute to the discussions.
The Audio Podcast was also featured on the front page of iTunes for a short period of time.
The Audio Podcast had a set format of discussion depending on the week of the current month. Below is the format used by Podtacular as of the final podcast (April 2008):
- Week 1 - Map of the Month
- Week 2 - Customs and Creations
- Week 3 - Call-ins and Tales from the Foxhole
- Week 4 - Community updates
The Audio Podcast was mainly supported by listener submissions that related to that week's subject. Submissions would be read by the host(s) and guests to the listeners then discussed and commented on.
Video Podcast
The Podtacular video podcast, otherwise known as PodTV, is now no longer the primary source of media from Podtacular as of the return of the Audio Podcast. The video podcast followed the same schedule for its podcasts as the audio podcast, before it was discontinued (Schedule Shown Above).
Only three episodes of official PodTV were published between the Audio Podcast's retirement and reinstatement. As of the return of the Audio podcast, PodTV is used for video "runthroughs" of the Halo 3 campaign mode.
The video podcast is filmed on the Halo 3 engine via the Custom Games feature. The voice audio for the show is separately recorded on the Windows and Mac program, Skype. All podcast episodes are published via their website and their feed can be found via iTunes and Feedburner.
Other
The Podtacular Leadership Conference
During the time while the Podtacular audio podcast was discontinued the community slowly deteriorated, as people who stayed in the community for the show started to leave. In June 2008 Cryptoflix, who along with Freakinabox had been charged with running PodTV, sent out an email to several members in the community who were actively involved in higher places of the community. Eventually this lead to the Podtacular Leadership Conference. A monthly meeting of community members in leadership positions
The purpose of the conference is to meet and discuss matters in the community.
Bungie.net
Podtacular has challenged the bungie staff to two "Humpday" challenges. Podtacular's first challenge took place on June, 2006. Podtacular's final statistics were 2-0-1. The second challenge against the Bungie staff was on November, 2007. Podtacular's final statistics were 1-2-0.
Podtacular's Mike Funk (FooMoJive) was interviewed on Bungie.net for their "Community Spotlight" after the first "Humpday" challenge by Podtacular.
iTunes
Podtacular was featured on the front of iTune's Podcast front page as one of the most subscribed video game podcasts on iTunes.