Editor's note: I'm glad to see Matt (and all the Area 5 guys) doing well post-1UP. In a way I'm surprised that no one else is trying to do what these guys do...and in another way I'm not, because it's hard as hell. -Demian

Internet video is in the middle of an explosion. It's becoming one of the most popular mediums for content online. Only thing is, no one has nailed down how to do it. Is it bite-sized clips from any yahoo with a webcam? Is it long-form shows that use external clients and plugins? Maybe the beauty of the Internet is that anyone can get away with anything.

Matt Chandronait isn't trying to get away with anything. He and his co-workers at Area 5 are dedicated to translating videogame journalism into an innovative and entertaining product. This is not a new idea, but hardly anyone can say that another outlet provides the level of quality offered by Area 5. Formed after the fallout of 1UP's mass layoffs, the team went independent and began distributing their re-imagined 1UP Show, now called CO-OP, through Revision3 with barely a hiccup.

In line with his work with Area 5, Matt is also a regular member of Rebel FM's Game Club, a podcast that does everything games journalism doesn't do: take a holistic and thoughtful look at games using multple points of view. They take old games, play through them over a period of time as long as a month, and discuss not only what they were, but what they meant to the industry and to the player.

It is not hyperbole to say that Matt is at the forefront of a new games journalism that will change not only how games are covered, but how they are played. He was kind enough to lend me a few minutes for an interview....

Andrew Hiscock: Your first foray into podcasting was as a member of 1UP FM's Backlog segment. What was it like to play games and discuss them on the podcast? How is it different from normally playing a game?

Matt Chandronait: The big, important difference for me is that you don't have to remember everything you want to say about a game post-completion. Taking it and talking it up in sections with big-brained cohorts (the biggest benefit to having worked at 1UP!) really colored my experiences further into the game as each Backlog week went by. It drew me into thinking about the games we were playing on more philosophical grounds rather than just technical considerations -- which, unfortunately, tend to the fore when you're doing a review; not that I've got a ton of experience with reviews in their written form!

AH: After being a regular on the segment for sometime, you were a part of LAN Party, the podcast that followed GFW Radio (AKA The Brodeo) in 1UP's podcast lineup. Did you encounter any difficulties in being, perhaps unfairly, the successor of such a popular and unique podcast? What efforts did you and the other members take to establish your own style?

MC: The short answer as to suffering "difficulties" is: yes. I can't speak for the rest of the LAN Party crew, but for me I felt like I was stepping into a role I couldn't possibly fulfill. Shawn Elliott? Robert Ashley? Anthony Gallegos? Jeff-motherfucking-GREEN?! I knew right off that there's no way LAN Party could equal The Brodeo, it would have to be something different, so I think we all determined right off not to emulate but to just let come what may. I was encouraged by the former GFW team to just let it work out naturally. They told us stories about how, at first, the podcast was a chore to them but that it gradually grew into the favorite part of their job as they all found their mutual voice, and the show found its "style."

I just hoped that we'd eventually fall into our own "thing" that people would digg and that they wouldn't hate us too much for taking over the slot in iTunes. It helped us a lot that the audience was extremely supportive. More supportive than I had a right to expect, and for that I think we mostly owe the previous cast for building up such a stockpile of good will. The community immediately spoke of giving us a chance to find our voice the way our predecessors did and, bitter-sweetly, I thought that just as it all came crashing down we were really beginning to do exactly that. Could we ever equal GFWRadio? No way, but we had a lot of potential to be our own thing and I feel proud that we were evidently on our way to doing exactly that!

AH: You played a major role in delivering the 1UP Show every week, and now your team is independently producing CO-OP. These shows are distributed in the same way that podcasts are, but there was a short gap once Area 5 started. What was the feedback from your audience during that time?

MC: The gap was REALLY short. On the order of around two weeks, I think. We knew right off that we had to act fast and ride the wave of fan-support into our next venture. The brief hiatus was understood, by and large, by the gamer community and we used that time to solicit feedback about what the peeps dug and despised about The 1UP Show. The biggest surprise that we heard -- often enough to take to heart -- was that The 1UP Show covered games "too soon" and that people felt forced to skip segments in order to avoid spoilers. This was good news as we'd now be responsible for getting our games ourselves, and more often than not we were likely to have to wait until retail. It was also kinda scary.

AH: While video podcasts and audio podcasts are usually lumped together, web video has advantages that the audio format does not, namely a wider reach through services such as Hulu and your partners Revision3, to name a couple. Is there a difference in the types of audience that consume audio and video formats, specifically among videogame enthusiasts?

MC: There really isn't. Most the people that comment on our site or that we meet at industry events are consumers of all forms of game media and are as familiar with our show as they are with gaming audio podcasts. I learn more about new podcasts from fans of our show than I do from fellow gaming-media-types. Video is WAY harder to do, which makes it comparatively rare, but as the means of production get cheaper and more "networks" like Revision3 start popping up, I think we're a lot likely to see more experimentation in the gaming-video space. I mean, I HOPE we do, we all want to watch them :)

AH: Going back to the early days of Area 5, your team produced a incredible two-part show featuring many former 1UP editors, some who were laid off along with you, some who had left earlier. What was recording this event like? Did the fact that you were all together producing videogame-related content, despite a healthy lack of jobs, add anything to the proceedings, or was it more a social "reunion" like any other?

MC: It added what any group of friends getting together adds: camaraderie and chemistry. It allows people to speak easily, conversations to flow better, and, for me personally, it reminded me of how lucky I was to get my one, meager little year at 1UP before the Vorpal Blade of Buyout +5 severed our ties. And yeah, it was a pretty hefty reunion-type thing as well, though with considerably less alcohol than most 1UP/EGM/Ziff events I can recall.

AH: From the sounds of your blog and your appearances on Rebel FM, all six of the Area 5 team are incredibly busy. Why do you take the time to contribute to Rebel FM? Is there anything in particular about the show or the audience that keeps the show running even after the fallout has subsided from the 1UPocalypse?

MC: I do it because it's run by friends of mine that are gracious enough to have me on and because they always feed me dinner when I come by. My heart is directly linked to my stomach and therein my love for Rebel FM knows no bounds. Also, it's fun! I miss Nick and Phil like mad, but Anthony, Arthur and Tyler are just fun to hang with and this gives me an all-too-ready excuse to do so!

AH: You and Area 5 are attempting to create a business out of video distribution through the Internet. What challenges are you facing? How is the form of your company different from conventional advertising-based business models? Are these differences responses to challenges?

MC: The challenges right now center almost entirely around us not being big enough to make the big advertisers pay attention, but being big enough to see a bright future ahead. There's a Gore-ian "tipping point" that we're reaching for which we hope will really set things in motion and establish us as indefinitely viable. For now, contract work is a big part of what we do, financially, and we have some more projects in the works that should get announced in the coming months that might surprise some people. It's all baby steps as opposed to leaps-and-bounds, but I think they're the right baby steps.

As to the advertisers, it's a tricky space for us as we're doing contract work for some companies which means we can't, in good conscience, cover their games on our show. The "integrated" nature of the advertising Revision3 sells for its shows also presents similar problems as we've then become the writers, producers, and actors in ads for products that we would otherwise have then included in the criticism part of our show. We're still not sure how to handle this. Is "full-disclosure" enough or will our fans always see us wearing money hats whenever we cover/critique a game that we've done an ad for as well? Perhaps we should just not cover those games at all, either? Tough questions and we're going to have to make some tough decisions, but I'm confident in our ability to do what's best for our content and what's best for our fans. Hopefully they agree.

AH: Finally, I can imagine working independently (as opposed to being part of a larger outlet) offers an entirely different set of freedoms and restrictions. How is the production of the actual content different? Where do you see CO-OP (and any other projects you have up your sleeve) going in the future?

MC: The day-to-day production is still handled in much the same way as we did at 1UP, but now we don't have to sit through meetings that don't mean anything to us, we can take a trip out to see Brüno at 11 a.m. without asking permission, and we're not tied to anyone in particular which means we can finally include all of our friends in the industry.

There are great minds at every gaming outlet and being able to pull from all of them has been the greatest pleasure of doing this gig. There's the belief out there amongst fans that the editors of various gaming websites all hate one another due to the competition inherent in the medium, and while there are certainly animosities just as in any community, the broader truth is a lot more respect, friendship, and mutually-assured-intoxication go around than the audiences are inclined to believe.

I'd like to thank Matt Chandronait again for the interview.

CO-OP can be found every Tuesday at Area5.tv and Revision3.com and right here on Bitmob.