A Light Hearted Look & Discussion About All Things Video Game Related

I'm Ben Rosenthal, and have worked in tv and radio in Australia since my university (college) days. My co-host Dan McGuiness owns Greenlight Comics in Adelaide, South Australia with our Millennial Brayden Dixon providing the live editing and off-the-cuff remarks.

Hack The Dino (Link: https://lnns.co/dy7qDlh8BE5) is a nonsense video game newscast where Dan and Ben provide a light hearted look and discussion about all things video game related.

Listeners are primarily from Australia, but those in the USA are quickly rising up to take first place from our countrymen. A majority are male aged between 24 and 45, although we would LOVE to have more of a female listener base soon, and are working on ways to make it so.

I listen to a heap of podcasts while I work (I'm a coffee roaster). I (Ben) initially started Hack The Dino as I missed the fun that comes with putting together a show from my radio days, and talking about video games to and with likeminded people.

We began Hack The Dino in 2017 with nothing but two SingStar microphones in a coffee mug. We have since upgraded to a fully functioning studio with industry level equipment.

Taking our cue from other successful podcasts, such as KindaFunny Games and IGN, we hope to be an Australian representation of the video games industry. To give a point of view of what the gaming scene (and game development) industry is like in Australia - while still having fun.

We dove straight in to the podcast game. Having worked in radio previously, I was aware of how to edit together a podcast and get it out into the ether. There has (and continues to be) much learning as we go, but am very happy at the turn around we got Hack The Dino up and going from its initial conception.

We are asked where we got our name from. A lot. To the point where we make up a different story about how we got our name each time. One day we may reveal (or have we already) which is the real answer - but I doubt we will ever let anyone know.

Our podcast goes up every two weeks. Eventually we will go weekly, but there are some goals we must reach before this is a viable option.

We fund the podcast primarily by ourselves, but also have a Patreon where lovely people go and support us with a small monthly donation to help keep the lights on...or the modems going. Whatever form that old saying takes on now.

Being a bunch of creatives, we get the satisfaction of knowing we are making something that people are consuming. There is nothing worse than having the desire and need to create, and having it fade into nothingness. We love to talk about games, and love it when the audience talks games with us.

We are open to sponsorship, but are very careful as to who we would want to take it from. At the moment, Greenlight Comics sponsors us, as well as local video game business King Kaiju Collectables.

All our guests thus far have appeared live while recording, often giving their own thoughts on the topics we discuss each show. With Dan being an artists, and Ben being a writer the two know a few other creative people who have been on the show. These include the developers of the amazing game HOLLOW KNIGHT, YouTube creator Mr A-Game as well as a former artist of Ren and Stimpy.

Show prep is undertaken by Ben, who develops a run sheet for each episode. Dan them finds the relevant media to play during the show, with it all coming together on the night of recording by Brayden who plays said media and records live. This in turn cuts down the lengthy editing process, meaning Hack The Dino is usually released within a few hours of recording.

As for equipment, the SingStar mics are nowhere to be seen! We use a Behringer Xenyx Q1202USB 12-Input Mic/Line Mixer w/ USB. For mics, Behringer Ultravoice XM1800S and a Blue Yeti.

Most of our downloads come from Apple Podcasts/iTunes, however other portals to that RSS feed are beginning to record more hits. Spotify is performing steadily for us, but have also noticed that links from our instagram profile also provides us with some promising results.

We are currently looking in to the best practice for marketing Hack The Dino, and may take out paid advertisements in the very near future.

My (Ben) advice for aspiring podcasters is the same advice I give to those who want to start writing - just start. It's ok if it is horrible - just get it out of your system, make your mistakes, own them and learn from them. See it as an opportunity to level up and go again. Don't dwell on download numbers - you're a speck of dust in a vast galaxy of people doing the same thing. Be consistent, be entertaining and don't focus on the dollar. Do it because you love it - do it because you NEED to.

To find out more about us, head to HackTheDino.com, find us on Instagram at @HackTheDino and also on Facebook at HackTheDino. We also have a video version of the show over at YouTube.com/HackTheDino, and Dan streams games weekly over at Twitch.tv/HackTheDino. If you just want to shoot us an email/death threat, you can do that via HackTheDIno@hotmail.com
Just search Hack The Dino - you'll find us. And also that offline browser game from Google.