This generation belongs to YouTube, it’s true. Everyone from the wannabe shoutcaster to the money-minded company is going onto YouTube. They’re making videos, selling stuff to an audience they previously could never reach. But is Singapore and its gaming scene YouTube ready?
There are two YouTube channels for gaming news in Singapore right now: Rapture Gaming Network and Reviews, Previews and Game News TV or RPGN Tv.
Rapture Gaming Network arrived with poise at The Games Xpo 2011 (TGX ’11) earlier this year. Together with Blk A Pictures, they came with RED cameras, cranes, wireless mics and a professional host. The camerawork that took place during TGX ’11 was nothing short of jaw-dropping, since you rarely ever seen cranes broken out for local TV productions, let alone at a gaming event.
RPGN Tv, on the other hand, recently burst onto the scene with interviews, event coverage and a Halloween special. Led by two students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, it hopes to become an online channel that targets the regional gaming community in South East Asia. It’s a little less impressive than Rapture Gaming Network, even though their abbreviations are similar. (RPGN versus RGN) RPGN Tv is armed with very basic, prosumer equipment.
Rapture Gaming Network has churned out a whole bunch of gameplay videos to date, and they include little of the footage shot at TGX ’11. While the match coverage they offer is unbeatable, especially where sfx are concerned, John Ee, 20, an avid follower of the game Defense of the Ancients or DotA, feels that “the commentary is like talking,” and that it’s generally too unexciting for the gameplay.
On the other hand, there’s RPGN Tv with only five videos up so far. Their subject matter is more localised. Think coverage of a local League of Legends event, or an interview with local game publishers Garena about a new League of Legends game mode. However their production leaves much to be desired, according to 21 year old Raja T., a university student. “Why is there shaking and moving?” he asked, adding that the host could have done better with his choice of vocabulary. These two channels seem headed in very different directions, but even so, it remains to be seen if they are ready to typify the media coverage Singapore gaming deserves. YouTube maestros like day9tv and HuskyStarcraft will likely be the first milestones for RGN and RPGN Tv – if they can match Day9 and Husky, perhaps they will then be ready for the world.
