Overly Positive

In great contrast to the lack of rant on a minimally visited site such as Overly Positive, Destructoid is a site filled with edgier writing, controversial op-ed pieces, and ranting galore. Once a smallish little blog, Destructoid has grown into the harsh, direct, yet intelligent voice of the gaming community. There are rules in the Destructoid community – ones that you would expect you would have on a gaming site – but the fast and loose moderation based on tenets such as “Thou shalt not suck” has been Destructoid’s trademark. The result is a community not afraid to speak their mind but who tends to think before they speak, lest the wrath of the community fall upon them. For Destructoid, this works to great effect.

Destructoid has several podcasts, but the flagship is called Podtoid – an hour or two of games discussion, banter about the hot topics of the gaming world, and responses to frequent listener questions. Of perhaps all the podcasts that currently sit on my iPod, Podtoid probably has the most diverse and opinionated set of individuals. There are wry and at times acerbic deliveries from Jim Sterling, whose English accent only serves to increase the novelty of his rather sharp criticisms. There’s Samit Sarkar, the podcast’s requisite punching bag, whose love of sports games and his tendancy to ramble are objects of great humor. Topher Cantler is an old school gamer who boils down his preferences to a few, simple concepts, most of which are in retro games. Aaron Linde, the show’s longest member, is a hardened veteran with equally well-traveled accomplishments – not the least of which includes the unintended contribution to a blatantly pornographic game which was supposed to be a joke. Finally, Anthony Burch rounds out the cast as the navigator and resident prison guard to this set of loveable inmates.

Podtoid’s charm doesn’t really lie in being controversial, raunchy, and raw for its own sake, but simply in the fact that these guys are gamers who feel the sort of things that gamers feel – ultimately, it’s greatest strength is its ability to connect with gamers on many levels. While Destructoid has exploded into a popular site visited by thousands under the watchful and savvy eye of its owner and founder, Niero, you never get the feeling that the site has lost where its roots were – as a gaming blog that had an unabashed, unfiltered opinion about anything and everything video games. Gamers you’ve run into at the store, at friends’ houses, at social gatherings, and in malls fall into at least one or more of the niches that Destructoid fills with its podcast. This means you get a podcast that is not just hilariously funny or dangerously rantish, but also full of content from hosts that feel passionate about their hobby.

So while Destructoid’s acidic opinions seems to run counter to my own sort of “c’est la vie” philosophy about geek topics, they’re more than worthy of a listen – if for nothing else, to hear that even they don’t take themselves seriously. Don’t believe me? Try checking out Podtoid 94, which is an MST3k-ish take on the awful Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia movie Street Fighter. Or what about episode 88, in which Jim Sterling talks about the ultimate in game design being the inclusion of, and interaction with, toucan birds? The latest episode, episode 102, jaws about the Prototype vs. inFamous fanboy gang war. No matter what your slant, Podtoid has something for you – just as long as you’re willing to leave that snooty standard of “professionalism” and “industry insider” at home.