Podcast Beyond

Podcast Beyond is a weekly podcast series (posted every Thursday on IGN.com reporting on Playstation news produced by the IGN Playstation Team. Beyond recently celebrated their 100th episode.
History
Founded on June 25, 2007 and still running to this day, Podcast Beyond currently features Chris Roper, Ryan Clements, Sam Bishop, and Greg Miller, although Jeremy Dunham (also known as Nostrodunhamus(from the Game Scoop podcast also on IGN), so named for his penchant for predictions in the future of the video games industry, many of which have proved to be alarmingly inaccurate) has been known to appear in a few podcasts, earlier on in the series. Podcast Beyond has commented on many high profile news stories, such as the Playstation Home controversy, the PSP's multiple upgrades(or new models as they are sometimes referred to), the quality of the Playstation Network, when compared to the Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live, and how Playstation can regain their former dominance over the market which they experienced at the height of the Playstation 2's life cycle.
What makes up Podcast Beyond
Segments
Podcast Beyond has a number of regular features and they are (in chronological order):
The Roper Report: This is where the editor-in-chief of the IGN playstation team, Chris Roper, details the biggest news stories of the week, relating to playstation news.
The official IGN list of upcoming Playstation software on all three platforms, by the IGN editors: (aka TOIGNLOUPSOATPBTIGNE) This is where editor Greg Miller details the content released for the following week on the Playstation Portable, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 entertainment systems.
The Weekly PSN update: This is where editor Ryan Clements reports on what new downloadable content is coming to the U.S. Playstation Store that week.
Pick of the week: This is where all editors present choose the best piece of content being released that week, either from the software releases on all 3 platforms or from the PSN update.
Trophy Tips This is where any editor present can comment on a playstation game trophy that can be easy to obtain.
Topic of the Week The editors discuss in depth about a particular topic relating to the playstation or playstation news.
Reader Mail: This is where the editors answer questions from the
public about videogames and the podcast.
Hit of the week This is where the editors pick a person with a special story or connection to the Podcast and give out their PSN username. Listeners are then encouraged to send messages to this person over the Playstation Network, and swamp this person with Beyond related messages.
Special Segment: Liar This is where one member of the podcast calls out a liar. The liar can be anybody (editor, celebrity, political figure, etc.). This segment is not done every week.
Podcast songs
Beyond Podcasts are also famous for including a song at the end of each episode, examples include:
Pata-pata-BEYOND song in , referencing to the Playstation Portable game Patapon.
Beyondian Rhapsody, featured in Episode 50A parody of the Queen song: Bohemian Rhapsody.
Beyond Mario, featured in . Greg Miller sings the word BEYOND to theme of the Mario Bros.
Beyond Portal, where Ryan Clements parodies the song "Still Alive" from the physics-based videogame Portal.
Don't Stop Beyonding featured in episode 116 , is a parody of the Journey song, Don't Stop Believing.
Members
Greg Miller
Greg Miller, also known as Game Over Greggy, was born on April 27 in Glenn Ellyn, IL. He joined the IGN staff in 2007 and since then has been heavily involved in many articles and organizing activities for the PlayStation community. Greg also hosted the podcast's, as Chris Roper was reported to be on paternity leave.
Sam Bishop
Sam Bishop is not only a freelance writer for IGN, but also the Editor-in-Chief for TotalPlaystation.com as well as work for other gaming sites such as Gamers.com However due to Bishop's busy schedule he is no longer a regular on Podcast Beyond, but has not left it officially. Bishop's first appearance on the podcast was in .
Chris Roper
Chris Roper, also known as just Roper, is the current Editor-in-Chief of the IGN PlayStation team. Chris was born on March 17, 1976 in Falls Church, VA. Joining IGN in 2003, Chris has been constantly involved in IGN and organizing events ever since. Chris turned to videogames and Saturday morning cartoons for entertainment. Needing to figure out how to create a DOS boot disc to save memory on needless CD drivers when playing 3.5" floppy disc-based games led him to learn the ways of computerdom and programming, which became his purpose in life. Chris currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife, Jennifer. Reffered to as "Roper" by the other IGN editors, Chris Roper is the host and father figure of the podcast. He claims that his favourite games of all time are: Rock Band, Gran Turismo and Sid Meier's Pirates!
Ryan Clements
Clements, an editor for IGN, is known for his love of anime-styled RPGs, singing, Japanimation, and banana phones. Clements also keeps a blog on IGN, gives the North American PlayStation Network store update each week, is regarded as the biggest Final Fantasy fan in the IGN offices and enjoys games such as DJ Hero, Final Fantasy Dissidia and also cites Final Fantasy 7 as his favourite videogame of all time; he has also expressed his belief that there may be a Final Fantasy 7 remake announced at some point.
Former Members and Special Guests
Jeff Haynes
Jeff Haynes was until recently, another one of the editors from the IGN playstation team. Jeff is known for peeing his pants, and has a blog to talk to his fans. Jeff left the IGN Playstation team in April 2009 to join the IGN PC team, where he currently is encountering approximately 4 BSoD's a day. Jeff's farewell show was on , ironically he was on vacation for this episode.
Jeremy Dunham
Jeremy Dunham, also known as Makaze, was born on September 14, 1976 in Portland, OR. Jeremy is the former Editor-in-Chief of IGN PlayStation, and formerly oversaw many of the gaming channels on IGN's associate websites and IGN itself, as well as being heavily involved in the IGN PlayStation team. Dunham no longer works for IGN and has gone on to pursue a career in videogame development .Dunham was also the host of the first episode of Podcast Beyond.
Colin Moriarty
Colin Moriarty is an IGN guides editor who has made several apperances on Podcast Beyond. Moriarty is best known for writing popular IGN strategy guides for games such as: Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect as well as having his likeness portrayed in Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3.
Jeff Rubenstein
Jeff Rubenstein is the Social Media Manager for the Playstation Blog who has made two guest appearances on Podcast Beyond, in and . He is also known to provide Ryan Clements with the North American Playstation Network Store update each week, under the alias of Zombie Blognak, who was originally reffered to as blognak, but the name "zombie" was added when Greg Miller shot Blognak dead. So, despite only appearing in person for two episodes, Jeff Rubenstein's influence can be seen in each episode.
David Hayter
Famous screenplay writer, Actor, Voice actor and a self confessed lover of the Grand Theft Auto series, David Hayter is best known as the voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid Series. He guest starred in of Podcast Beyond, where he answered questions, told anecdotes from his personal life, confirmed that he had screenplay credit on the film Watchmen and also recorded an answerphone message for all Podcast Beyond listeners to use. Being called the greatest thing of all time by Chris Roper, the message was as follows:

"Hello this is Snake, the person you are calling cannot come to the phone right now, because we're out hunting Metal Gear, please leave a message."
Mr. T
Actually a Mr. T quotes app for the iPhone, all podcasters aside from Greg Miller proceeded to use the app for an episode of Podcast Beyond with hilarious results that were disliked by some. In the following episode, on his return, Greg Miller, in a particularly bad mood, shot Mr. T dead (hypothetically), never to return again.
John Koller
Appearing in , John Koller is the marketing director for Sony Computer Entertainment America; he called in to the show to discuss matters such as the newly announced Playstation 3 Slim, the issues of backwards compatibility, the PSP Go, the PSP Comics, the PSP MiniS and the price points of all the aforementioned. During his interview, Greg Miller said to Mr Koller:

"Now it's commonly known that everyone on the planet owns 3 Playstation 2's at this point, right?"

This is a reference to the announcement that over 138 million Playstation 2s had been sold at that point. Koller replied:
"Haha, we wish that was true, the PS2 continues to sell well, but not that well unfortunately."
Amy Henning
Writer and Creative director of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Amy Henning guest starred on , interviewed at a launch party for the game, by IGN's Greg Miller. Calling Uncharted 2: Among Thieves a success, due to its increased story length, new multiplayer component and superior graphics and animations, Henning sounded very jovial throughout the interview. When asked by Greg about the possibility of Uncharted 3 starting to be developed, Henning said the following:
"Can't I take a nap first?"
Hal Milton
A designer on the Playstation 3 game, The Agency, Hal Milton guest starred in Episdoe 92 of Podcast Beyond, where he was interviewed by Greg Miller about The Agency, its release date and further details about the game. To download the episode click here. Also a lot of "Metal Gear?" jokes were made about Hal Milton, as his first name and appearance are almost identical to the fictional character: Hal Emmerich.
David Clayman
Editor in chief of IGN insider, David Clayman first guest starred on of Beyond.
Ryan Geddes
Appearing on of the podcast, Ryan Geddes is actually an associate editor for the IGN Xbox team.
Other information
Running Time
Podcast Beyond's running time usually lies within the 40-70 minute area, with the only major exception being the 100th episode, which ran for 2 hours, 4 minutes and 54 seconds approximately.

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See Also

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