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4 * ARTIST PROFILE 8 * ESPORTS EVOLVED: the future of competitve halo 12 * Franco scarcello interview 15 * Sarge diagram 18 * multipurpose gaming interview 24 * ailsarocks’ Top Rooster Teeth Fashion Tips 26 * make burnie-san 32 * RT SIDEQUEST interview 36 * ASK THE COMMUNITY 44 * CHANNEL RANKINGS 48 * ISSUE STATS CONTACT US:
CREDITS Pg 1 (cover): Illustration and design by James Perrett (JP) Pg 2: Illustration by Lewis Manuel Pg 4-7: Inter vie w by JP, art from Roger P Brunke, design by L e wis Manuel Pg 8-10: Words by Matthew VanDeZande, design by JP Pg 11: Illusration by Mark Stanton Pg 12-13: Interview by Matthew VanDeZande, design by JP Pg 14: Design by JP Pg 15: Illustration by JP P g 1 6 - 1 7 : D e s i g n by J P P g 1 8 - 2 3 : Int e r v i e w b y
bigbitemagazine@gmail.com Killerkel (Kelly.E), design & illustration by JP P g 2 4 - 2 5 : Wo r d s A i l s a C amp b e l l , d e s i g n by J P Pg 26-29: Words by Naomi Chicoine, design by JP Pg 30-31: Illusration by Eldi P g 3 2 - 3 4 : Int e r v i e w b y Joseph Dalton, design by JP Pg 35: Design by Something About A Beard Pg 36-43: Words and poll by Joseph Dalton, design by JP Pg 44-47: Research b y Ay a , d e s i g n b y J P Pg 48-50: Illusrations and design by JP
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From the second 343 Industries first unveiled the competitive side of Halo 5: Guardians with an exhibition match between Epsilon and Optic Gaming at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, fans and critics alike were praising the return of “true” Halo multiplayer. And when it was announced that Major League Gaming would be partnering with the Halo Championship Series, thus filling the Spartan-shaped hole left by Halo 4’s absence from the circuit and bringing the world of competitive Halo back to its beginning, it was clear that the prodigal son had returned. This was a running theme for 343 Industries this year as the release of Halo 5: Guardians loomed – bringing Halo back to its beginnings, first with the story and campaign structure (for our thoughts on that, see BIGBITE: Issue #2) and now with balanced, arena-style multiplayer a la Halo 2. Aiming to bring as many eSports fans as possible back to the Halo franchise is an intelligent business move in many ways. Of course, the more eSports attention the series garners, the more people will be exposed to the gameplay, and the more people will purchase the game. But eSports is an exponentially-growing industry, with an incredible amount of untapped potential as both a media outlet and as a revenue stream. Last year, the competitive gaming industry raked in roughly $200 million, according to an analysis from GamesIndustry.biz, and that number is expected to increase dramatically over the next several years. In this year alone, competitive gaming is expected to bring in $612 million, according to a May 2015 Superdata report, while sources from Newzoo anticipate a rise to $765 million in 2018 and $1 billion in 2020. Colin Sebastian, wildly more optimistic, expects that the eSports industry will hit the $1 billion mark as early as 2018, and predicts that the yearly industry’s revenue could surpass $1.8 billion by 2020.
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But should arena-style gameplay be the future of competitive Halo? It is a past that many fans and competitors longed for, and reverting to that style has surely garnered a lot of positive press. However there is nothing truly new about it – Activision’s loved-and-hated Call of Duty franchise has cornered the market on competitive console shooters for years, and verticality in first-person-shooters, which is Halo 5’s signature gameplay change, was revolutionized by Titanfall in 2013. Arguably, the new Halo 5 gametype “Breakout” – a small-team/small-map skirmish with close-quarters weapons, no shields, no radar, and single-life rounds – could be seen as a new direction for 343 Industries’ competitive scene, but even that (in spite of its name) breaks no new ground, as similar gametypes have been included, again, in the Call of Duty franchise and are a key feature of the Counterstrike series. Additionally, arena-style shooters, especially on consoles, are not the biggest trend in eSports at the moment. The most popular genre for competitive play these days is Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), a primarily PC-based genre, with League of Legends championships garnering the most views on Twitch, sporting the most extravagant prize-pools, and even being televised on ESPN. It is easy to see why – first, League of Legends’ matches, which generally last between forty-five minutes and an hour, while sometimes lasting as long as an hour and a half, are substantially longer than first-person shooter matches, which are generally capped at ten minutes. Additionally, there is progression in League of Legends and other MOBAs that allows players to build and become more powerful, unleashing bigger, stronger, and flashier attacks. In FPS matches, on the other hand, players generally have the same of everything and the game remains the same pace and tone throughout, thus failing to produce the sense of rising action and climax present in League games. So why did 343 Industries opt to take Halo, in a sense, backwards, and push so much to be an arena-shooter in a MOBA-dominated competitive world? Devolving Halo and bringing it back to its roots allows 343 Industries to begin the series’ evolutionary cycle all over again – a process that can already be seen in the new mode called “Warzone.” “Warzone” begins to bridge the gap between first-person-shooters and multiplayer-online-battle-arenas. The gametype features two teams of twelve battling it out to secure control points and overtake bases on maps at least four times larger than any map in any of the Halo games (even including the obscenely huge “Big Team Battle” maps from the computer version of Halo: Combat Evolved). The mode’s MOBA factors first come in the form of player-progression, through which teams gain Requisition Points to allow the use of more versatile loadout weapons (such as the battle rifle and submachine gun, which can be used freely once they are accessible); and armor abilities, power weapons, and vehicles (all of which can be used a limited amount of times and cost Requisition Points, which the players and teams must work to regain. Secondly, in MOBA-fashion, “Warzone” includes computer-controlled enemies and allies, which was off-putting to some. When it was originally announced that “Warzone” would include both friendly and enemy bots, it was instantly compared to Titanfall, which included bots that – love them or hate them – amounted to little more than cannon fodder. Luckily, that was where much of the skepticism for the new
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mode ended, as it quickly became obvious that the computer-controlled targets in “Warzone” would not be weak, by any means. 343 showed off standard Covenant and Forerunner Promethean enemies with intelligence on par with the Heroic campaign difficulty, and “boss” enemies with increased shielding, health, and weapons, who were capable of shredding Spartan fire teams. As I have begun to tool around in “Warzone,” it has also become painfully apparent that 343 Industries did not skimp on the power of the computer-controlled Marines who guard bases. While these enemies (and allies) are not shielded and therefore highly susceptible to being shot in the head, they are deadly-accurate with their assault rifles at close range and have on many occasions demolished unlucky Spartans who were too hasty when attempting to capture control points. From a competition standpoint, “Warzone” can be a great thing. Thanks to all of the new gameplay mechanics and an expansive plethora of ways to approach combat, it is rare that two matches of “Warzone” will play the same, even on the same map. This allows each instance to feel fresh and new, and prevents the eventual staleness present in arena-shooter tournaments. The lack of maps could be problematic in a tournament setting, and there would need to be balancing of which power weapons are available when and where, but what “Warzone” does that arena-play does not is truly embody the first-person-shooter playground that Halo has always aspired to be. From an eSports business standpoint, moving to “Warzone” as the premiere competitive mode would make sense as well. Some may argue against this on the grounds that the increase in team-size would reduce individual pay-outs at big tournaments. While this may be true, the increase in the number of players would provide for bigger competitions, wider viewership, and substantially more opportunities for outside sponsorships, especially in the wake of Optic Flamesword’s groundbreaking deal with Red Bull this past year. So while Halo has taken steps to regain past greatness, “Warzone” represents a step forward for the series. As a new gametype, it requires refining before it can be truly considered for a competitive environment, but doing so would make Halo the first-person-shooter that is best equipped to take the eSports spotlight away from MOBAs. It would usher in an evolution in competitive gaming the likes of which has never been seen, and this is a truly exciting time to be a Halo fan. Words by By Retrograder (Matthew VanDeZande)
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BIGBITE contributor Matthew VanDeZande got the chance to ask some questions to Achievement Hunter Five Facts editor, Franco Scarcello. Here’s what Franco had to say... Matthew VanDeZande: RoosterTeeth and Achievement Hunter are unique in their way of inspiring people to create their own content. Were you already creating content before you discovered them? If s o, what were you making and what was your inspiration? Franco Scarcello: I was not creating any content before I discovered Rooster Teeth. In fact, they were the main source of inspiration for anything creative I did from that point on! MV: How did you discover RoosterTeeth and Ach i e ve me nt Hu nte r ? FS: Rooster Teeth was introduced to me by one of my soccer teammates back in middle school. Following RvB eventually led me to Achievement Hunter and I’ve been hooked on everything RT related ever since. MV: What did it take for you to earn a job with Achievement Hunter? FS: The community channel is the best place to get recognized by the guys and gals if you want to work for them someday. I was consistently creating things for the channel when Ray invited me down to RTX 2012 to be on a panel. Afterwards, I spoke with Jack and Geoff and was hired before I flew back home!
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M V: W h at i s i t l i k e t e l e c o m mu t i n g t o A c h i e v e m e n t Hu n t e r ? H a v e y o u h a d a n y opportunities to go out to Austin for work? If so, what were those experiences like? FS: Telecommuting is great because it makes me feel like part of the group while still allowing me to finish my higher education here in New York. I’ve been to Austin 4 times, 3 for RTX and 1 to hang out at the office, and every time it’s a blast. I love the city, the people, and the food. I can’t wait to get back down there.
MV: In the first Five Facts video, you provided voiceover alongside Michael Jones. How was it organized, and how did he end up being the one doing the video with you? FS: Jack has been very supportive of the series since the beginning. He’s been my go-to-guy for organization and questions for 3 years and it all started with him getting Michael and I together for the first episode. It was a great experience and Michael was really professional and really personable at the same time. He’s kind of the coolest. Actually, they both are! MV: A few episodes in, commentary on the Five Facts videos was taken over by Jack and Geoff. How was that decided, and what responsibilities did you maintain as the creator of the series? FS: By the third episode, Jack mentioned to me that him and Geoff were going to do audio that week. At first I didn’t know how I felt about it, but then I realized they NSTANTLY made the show better. After that the only responsibility I gave up was doing audio. I still got to pick the games, the facts, the footage, and so on. It was (and still is) a great balance and I’m appreciative for all they’ve done for the show and myself. MV: How do you decide which games to cover? How do you find the facts you use and what is the process for deciding which five make it into each video? FS: At first I was covering my favorite games because it just made sense to do so. As time went on I decided to do games that weren’t necessarily my favorites, but ones that I knew people wanted to know about. Nowadays, it’s just a wide variety of anything I can think of. Luckily, people still enjoy that after 3 years! When it comes to the facts themselves, I spend a lot of time going through developer interviews and things like that. The facts that make me go “huh, never would’ve guessed that” or “man that’s interesting” make the cut. MV: The length for the Five Facts videos seems to go all over the place. Is there a specific timeframe you try to stick to with each video and how do you decide what content stays in the final cut? FS: Although Geoff and Jack have joked in the past about me cutting things out, I generally like to keep everything in. The length of the video
isn’t important to me because every single fact requires a different level of analysis and banter. The video lengths vary as much as the facts do. For the editing aspect of the show, the main things I try to cut out are blatant outtakes and spoilers. It’s my job to make the show flow smoothly! MV: This year you’ve added other videos such as Variety Pack and Fact Check to the series repertoire. What was the inspiration behind these variations and do you have any other ideas you can share with us? FS: I have always have loved game shows, hence the creation of the Fact Check videos. For the Variety Packs, I’ve learned that sometimes people don’t watch episodes based on the one game they cover. Variety Packs are a great way of attracting people with different gaming tastes to the same video! And as far as new content, I have one or two ideas, but would rather keep them a surprise! MV: Not including Five Facts, what is your favorite RoosterTeeth or Achievement Hunter series and why? FS: Okay, this might sound weird, but I don’t have a favorite series per say. I do have a favorite video, though. Back in 2010, Geoff did a video to show a test for USB drives on the Xbox 360. For some reason, I can watch that video over and over and over without getting tired of it. There are other videos from that era of Achievement Hunter that I feel the same way about. So if those could be put into one series, I guess it’d be that! M V: Yo u’v e r e c e nt l y s t a r t e d y o u r o w n YouTube gaming channel. What kind of content can we expect from Fantastic Franco? FS: I think the purpose of the channel is to give me a place to practice my presentation and editing skills while allowing me to build up my confidence. Any content that I think will help me with those things will go up on there! MV: How has creating your own Let’s Plays compared with your work with Achievement Hunter? FS: Creating my own content is really interesting because I can try different things and if they didn’t work I don’t upset a quarter of a million people. At least I hope not!
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Before we get started, we’d all like to congratulate What has been your favorite game to play for the Kdin and Val on your engagement! We wish you channel and why? many years of happiness! Kdin: Undertale. It was a surprise just how much Kdin & Val: Thanks! We really appreciate it! And heart and soul is in that game. thanks to everyone who helped make the proposal especially memorable. Caleb and Geoff were huge Val: All of the Fright Friday One-Off ’s so far have helps in keeping things under wraps and our friend been amazing! They’re my favorite mostly because Aibsterfied who put together a lovely art piece for as much as the games scare me, the fact that Tony the occasion!¬ and Kdin arn’t scared at all makes me laugh a lot more than I’m afraid. And of course Undertale! It’s For anyone who might not know, what is just too great not to love! Multipurpose Gaming? Tony: Undertale, it’s something new for me. Very Kdin: For me, Multipurpose Gaming is the cul- fresh and lighthearted in a sea of games that just mination of everything I’ve learned. Between my arn’t like that anymore. history as a gamer, my work in the industry, and my life experiences, MPG is all of these and more. Tony: It’s also a gaming channel! What inspired you all to start Multipurpose Gaming? Kdin: I missed making content, making people laugh, and connecting directly to an audience. Val: For me, I joined in because I wanted to give my full support in the channel’s creation! Kdin and Tony bring me a lot of laughs and I wanted to help bring that laughter to everyone else! Tony: Kdin asked me if I wanted to join in, and I was all in! Kdin and I had done this before, so it’s What has been your favorite moment from the more or less bringing back the fun! channel and why? How has the response to Multipurpose Gaming Kdin: It’s not out yet, but we have a “Barney’s Hide been so far? and Seek” video that had me in tears by the end of our recording! Kdin: I’m pretty blown away! After about a month of the channel being open we’re at nearly 2,000 sub- Val: My favorite moment so far? Playing Katamari scribers and 20,000 views across all our videos and Forever. It was my first time playing a game and it just keeps growing! We’re trying to keep to a very recording it and I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first regular schedule, and in doing so our growing com- time! munity of viewers have responded extremely well! Tony: “Fright Friday: Five Nights At Freddy’s”, the Tony: I think they like us! whole episode was gold for me! It was my first time playing any Five Nights game!
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What plans do you have for the Multipurpose What kinds of games do you like playing in your Gaming going further? down time? Kdin: Live streaming is a major goal, but it’s something that’s coming down to either “YouTube Gaming” or “Twitch” and I’m not sure which one we’ll be going with just yet. Not to mention I still have some tests I’d like to run before we get to doing streams. And I’d love to do some Nintendo content, but it’s proving to be a huge issue. I’m hoping to get in contact with some Nintendo representatives and possibly work something out. Val: I want all of our content to make people remember playing games should be FUN. A lot of times these days people just forget that and look at games as “work”. So I want people to view our videos as “sitting down in front of the TV with a bunch of friends and playing together” instead of just “some video to watch”. Tony: Multipurpose Gaming isn’t just going to be “playing games”, that’s why it’s MULTIPURPOSE! So we may be bringing some movie/game review videos to the channel as well as some crazy “Snack” and “Drink” videos where we will try wild and wacky foods!
Kdin: I’ve been playing Halo 5, Triforce Heroes, and Destiny lately. And with Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider around the corner, I’ve got an ever increasing backlog of games to get through! Val: Animal Crossing, Katamari, Kirby, and Killing Floor. Tony: League of Legends and whatever cheap games I got on Steam, I have too many. Kdin, does playing video games ever feel like a job? Does this interfere with games as a hobby? How does this affect Multipurpose Gaming? Kdin: Yes and no. Games have been my job in one way or another for the last decade, so there have been times where prioritizing the creation of content got in the way of enjoying a game. After being in the industry for this long I’ve more or less learned to balance the fun to work ratio, though sometimes it can still get to me. SPOILERS are the worst though, playing a game casually only to have the ending or major plot twist spoiled for me half way through almost entirely kills my desire to continue.
Any games you’re looking forward to playing for the channel? Are you bringing anything you’ve learned from Achievement Hunter to Multipurpose Gaming? Kdin: I have plans to play every Sonic game I can get my hands on for Multipurpose Gaming. I proba- Kdin: As far as editing? Yes. We’ll be bringing mulbly won’t be completing all of them, but I’ve made it ti-cam videos into Multipurpose Gaming soon a goal to play EVERY Sonic game I can and feature enough. Before Achievement Hunter I didn’t really them! have a full grasp of it, but now its child’s play to me. Not to mention my personal recording setup is Val: As many horror games as we possibly can. I essentially a miniature version of the setup we have love horror games, despite being scared by them, at work. So, for the most part, anything AH has the they’re just the best! To list a few probably Rule of ability to record with the setup at the office, techRose and Dead Space. Maybe some Castlevania and nically speaking, I have the ability to record in my God of War in the future too! home setup. Tony: Streets of Rage, all of them. It’s my favorite game series, especially Streets of Rage 2! That includes the fan-made “Streets of Rage: Remake”, that game deserved better.
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What about you guys, Val and Tony, what would Kdin: I’m still here. I never left. I’m wiser and more you say you’ve learned over the years that you’re determined now than I’ve ever been before. I hope bringing to Multipurpose Gaming? to bring you as many laughs and more than I’ve ever done before. Val: I don’t really play too many games, but the games I do like I really like. So I hope to feature What’s you gaming setup look like? games and stuff that most people have overlooked. I’m also the art director of the channel, so most Kdin: An absolute mess, but an organized one. of the design ideas come from me. The layout, colors, and such all came from months of work and Currently we are capturing with an Elgato Game discussions. Capture HD. Which records in 1080p at 30 FPS. I use this to record both PC and Console games. Tony: I bring the laughs! I will try and make anything funny, even if only one person laughs, that For console games we record directly to the Capture joke was just for them. Computer I built. For PC games I run the game on the Capture Computer and run the Elgato into my Editing Computer to capture the footage, as to not cause any delays or capture issues. I run all of our newer consoles through a HDMI switcher for easy access. As for our older consoles (PS2, GameCube, Super Nintendo, etc), I run those through an RCA to What lessons are you carrying to Multipurpose HDMI upscaler so I can continue to use the Elgato. Gaming over from your old work/channel? Though I’m not 100% on it, as it tends to stretch out the video from 4:3 to 16:9, which I have to fix Kdin: My overall goal has never changed; I want to in editing. make people laugh. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. Share my love of gaming with as many people as I I’d love to upgrade to one of the newer Internal can and create some good content and give people Elgato’s as well as get an external Game Capture the joy of laughter along the way. HD60. Not to mention find a better solution for recording more of the classic consoles, I’d prefer to Is there anything you might have done differently? preserve their original quality “as-is” and not try to “force it” to be in a newer aspect ratio. Kdin: Anyone who says they “wouldn’t change a thing!” in hindsight isn’t being honest. But for For recording Audio, we use an Alesis iO4, which me, when it became truly work is when I started to allows us to record four mono tracks simultanehave regrets and let quality slide in favor of quanously in Audacity. Similar to the setup in the AH tity. That’s something I won’t be doing anymore. office, which allows for a lot more than four. Our If I’ve learned anything it’s that if in the middle of microphones are two MXL 990 and one MXL 991. recording a video you realize that maybe “this isn’t And all of our commentary is captured on a third working”, that you need to stop. Don’t release any computer, solely setup for audio. video you don’t find funny yourself.
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If you could tell your old fans anything, what would you tell them?
My editing computer’s specs are as follows Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU: Intel Corei7 4xxx @ 2.50GHz RAM: 24.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. G751JY Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Storage: 238GB SAMSUNG MZHPU256HCGL-00004 (SSD), 931GB Hitachi HGST HTS721010A9E630 (SATA) And our recording computer’s specs are Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit CPU: AMD FX-4130 RAM: 16.0GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 677MHz Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-78LMT-USB3 6.0
Xrd -Revelator, Nier: Automata, Outlast II, Pokken Tournament, Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, Scalebound, Umbrella Corps, Resident Evil 0 HD, and Unravel...of the ones we assume are coming out next year...so far. I love video games, ok? Don’t judge me. Val: It was PT/Silent Hills. QQ ... Yooka-Laylee, Dead Island 2, Outlast 2, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, and Allison Road! Tony: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Far Cry Primal, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, Persona 5, and XCOM 2!
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions! We at BIGBITE are super excited for Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti the future of Multipurpose Gaming and wish you Storage: 931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA), the best of luck – you’ll always have MPG fans at 931GB Western Digital WDC WD1003FZEXBIGBITE! Whoop whoop! 00MK2A0 (SATA) What’s the one game you always find yourself going back to? Kdin: Golden Sun, Pokemon, Borderlands 2, Sweet Home… I honestly can keep going. I have way too many “Favorite Games”. Val: Resident Evil 4, I prefer the GameCube version, but I’ll play any version I can... except the Wii one. Tony: Streets of Rage 2. I’ve beaten it about a gajillion times. Chrono Cross, God Hand, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, Shinobi 3, and League of Legends. What’s your most anticipated game of 2016? Kdin: That’s a loaded question. Allison Road, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, Uncharted 4, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, We Happy Few, Yooka-Laylee, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, Persona 5, Star Fox Zero, Battleborn, Gravity Rush Remastered, Gravity Rush 2, Street Fighter V, Far Cry Primal, Project X Zone 2, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, Quantum Break, No Man’s Sky, Bravely Second, Fire Emblem Fates, Guilty Gear
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...for rocking your Rooster Teeth merchandise: - Jeans are safe to pair with RT shirts, but think about the colour and style of those jeans. For both guys and girls, my favourite look is the skinny black (or blue) pair with turn ups. Instant cool points. Feel too restricted in skinnies? Straight legs can be turned up too, or go full on flare for a trendy 70’s vibe! - Make it girly! It’s not just guys who like Rooster Teeth y’know! Tuck your tee into a high waisted skirt or wear it over a dress to make it your own. Or do what I do and customise your shirts to have boat necks rather than crew. Feel free to chop off those tee sleeves too! - Be practical. Are you meeting some RT Community pals for drinks tonight? Grab the smartest brogues or highest heels you own. Showing off your new RWBY shirt at a convention? Go for the comfy sneakers/ converse. There’s always a time to look glamorous, but a place where you have to stand up/walk for hours is not it. - Picking out colours. Match your whole look to your shirt! Wearing a black and orange Funhaus shirt? Swap out the laces on your black sneakers for orange ones, or an orange band in your hair. Go as bright or as subtle as you’re comfortable with! - Everyday cosplay. I wish as much as the next person that I could walk around in full cosplay to the local shops, but that’s not really practical. Look in your wardrobe for everyday items that you could use to subtly nod to your favourite show or character. Wear an icy blue skirt and your hair in a high ponytail with your Weiss t-shirt. Or pair your Yang shirt (or beanie) with yellow sweatbands on both arms for everyday gauntlets. - Be Yourself. This is the most important tip I can give. I strongly believe that everyone can rock RT gear their own unique way. If you don’t feel comfortable showing off your legs for example, then don’t! You’ll look your best when you feel you’re most confident, so be proud to wear RT merch your way! ...for stealing your favourite Rooster Teeth staff member’s style: - Check Twitter/ Instagram often. Most of the RT staff have accounts and it’s a great way to get a feel for their style. - Get a checked shirt. A favourite item of most RT staff is a checked/plaid shirt. Wear it all buttoned up or with a tie like Burnie or Jon does. Or keep it red like Miles, Jack, or Kyle! Layer it like Barbara or Patrick! Either way, you need one. - Check out Insertcoin clothing. It’s a favourite amongst many of the Rooster Teeth staff, especially Gus and Ryan. I’ve seen those guys sporting items from their Megaman, Assassin’s Creed and Jet Set Radio collections. - Be inspired. Don’t copy their look. You can add aspects of your favourite Rooster Teeth staff member’s style without losing your unique identity! For example, be inspired to find Meg’s latest choice of necklace, but don’t pore over the Internet for her exact #OOTD. Love her, but be yourself! I hope these simple tips and tricks will be helpful to you! For more Rooster Teeth Fashion, check out ailsarocks and Rooster Teeth is Fashionable. Use the hashtag #RTisFashionable on Twitter to share your tips!
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Our own Joe Dalton got the chance to sit down up earlier that year, called Rooster Feast, where with RT SideQuest co-founder Grady Bailey to see they went around to all the great restaurants that what’s going on with SideQuest! the RT crew mentioned on podcasts and journals, and did an eating-through-Austin kind of thing. So Dom created this plan to eat at all these places, like Homeslice, and Franks, and stuff, and that’s how it got it’s start. I got involved early on, because I wanted to get involved in the Rooster Teeth community, and saw the opportunity to get involved in this, because I was local to Austin and he lived in Canada, so I reached out to him to offer to help coordinate a schedule of meals and evening events, and it all sort of snowballed from there. JD: What events do you have a presence at?
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GB: Our goal is to go where the community is. That means that we want to have a presence at the major Joe Dalton: What is RT Side Quest? events that the RT community would be attending en masse, like PAX (all except PAX Australia), RTX, Grady Bailey: RT SideQuest is a community group SXSW, NYC Comic Con, and San Diego Comic that was founded initially to bring the Rooster Con. Teeth community closer together. It has grown into a charitable organization--we’re a 501 (c) (3) JD: What is your favorite event you’ve ever put on, non-profit--dedicated to connecting community and why? and charity. We work to bring the community together and raise money for good causes, specifi- GB: It has gotta be the RTX Afterparty that we did cally those that benefit children. this year, where we rented out all of Buffalo Billiards. Upstairs was just for people who bought our AllJD: How did RTSQ get it’s start? Access badges, but downstairs was where anyone with an RTX badge could come in, free of charge, GB: SideQuest was the brainchild of Dominic have some beers, and hang out with people. It was Dobrzensky--Count3D on the site--for the first Sunday night after RTX , and we weren’t sure how RTX in 2011, he saw that the original plan was many people were going to come in, if it was going that they were only going to sell 200 tickets, and he to be cost-effective, but a ton of people showed up. knew that there would probably be more demand When I got there, after wrapping up my Guardian than that, so he wanted to set up a way for com- duties, there was a line wrapped around the block! munity members to come down to Austin and hang Tons of people showed up, everyone had a blast. out together, even if they didn’t have tickets, and he There were sing-alongs that happened, the whole called this thing, “The Sidequest.” He was modeling bar was singing Bohemian Rhapsody, and it was so it after another RT community group that popped surreal-like something straight out of a movie. And
JD: Now, over the last several years, I’m sure you’ve had a number of interactions with RT cast and crew. JD: OK. You get a million dollars, but for the rest of What is one of your favorite stories? your life, everyone you meet at a convention farts the moment you meet them. And it’s toxic. Would GB: One of the things we did this year, is we started a you do it? series on our youtube channel called RT BiteQuest, where we take RT cast and crew members out to GB: I feel like I would, easy. I can just carry around their favorite places to eat in Austin, and talk about clothespins, and stop my nose up with that, no them. One of the ones we did was with Caleb and problem. And clothespins are cheap--they wouldn’t Jordan [Denecour]--they do Bro Gaming on the take up much of my million dollars! So yeah, I think Game Kids channel. We went to Amy’s Ice Cream, I would do it. and one of the things on the Specialties menu was called the “Mystery Box,” so Caleb asked them what JD: RTSQ does a lot of great charity work. What are it is. The girl who was working the counter said, some of the charities you support? “Well, basically, you tell us on a scale of 1-10 how crazy you want us to go, and we make whatever we GB: Currently, we have 5 partner charities, and we feel like making you.” So he said, “OK, give me a are currently talking about partnering with a sixth 10!” The girl proceeded to take a bowl, put some for this year. By partner, what I mean is that they are M&M’s in the bottom, then some marshmallows, a charitable causes that we have dedicated resources scoop of ice cream or two (I don’t remember which to, and we try to meet a certain goal. This year, it kind), and then she stuck a cake cone in that, put will be $5,000. Those charities are the AbleGamers some M&M’s in that, put a scoop of ice cream in Foundation, Child’s Play, Make a Wish-Central and that, topped it with sprinkles, then she took a wafSouth Texas, Operation Supply Drop, and Children’s fle cone, and stuck that inside of there, put another Miracle Network (through Extra Life). The one we scoop of ice cream on that, drizzled some hot fudge are looking to add is a charity called “Take This”. on it, put a bunch of sprinkles on it….it was insane! And then, Caleb ate it...and he wanted to die. We got JD: Of all of the charitable events and acts you’ve almost all of it on video for BiteQuest. Watching his done, which one has meant the most to you, and eyes as he saw it being built, and watching him try why? to eat it, and watching the aftermath is a moment I will probably never forget! GB: The charity auction that we do every year at RTX, because that benefits all of our partner charities. That event is so amazing. It’s a great way to kick off the RTX weekend, it’s the first place I usually see all of my friends, everyone’s all dressed up, we have tons of community-contributed art and crafts and all sorts of cool memorabilia and collectibles and all sorts of stuff that’s been donated. It’s just a really fun night! I was living it, watching it happen.
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JD: What’s next for RTSQ? GB: The next thing we have planned is our 24-hour live stream for Extra Life. It’s coming up on November 7th. We have our own team, and last year we raised just over $5,000! This year, we are shooting for that goal again. We’re getting together at Gamer’s Galaxy, a really awesome locally-owned game store in Austin. The owners basically donate their space, and we take it over for 24 hours. People come and go, play whatever games they want. This time around, we’re going to feature rhythm games, like Rock Band 4. We’re going to be streaming on Twitch, and we’re going to have a bunch of cool prizes and stuff, including a super-hard-to-get purple Twitch hoodie to the person on our team that raises the most money. It’s always a good time. Because Rooster Teeth is streaming at the same time, we put up their livestream and watch it together, as a community group. Every so often, RT people stop by. Last year, some of the Achievement Hunter crew stopped by, Ray stopped by. Who knows who will show up this year? We support them, they support us. It’s really awesome, because we exist solely to build up the community.
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JD: How can our readers find out more about RTSQ? GB: The best thing to do is to visit our website at RTSideQuest.org. Also, like and follow our group on the RT website at RoosterTeeth.com/group/ SideQuest. Follow us on Twitter (@RTSideQuest), Facebook (facebook.com/RTSideQuest), on Tumblr, Twitch, Youtube...pretty much if you look up RTSideQuest on anything, you’re going to find us. Also, a really good way to stay up to date is to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, The Quest Log (RTSideQuest.org/Quest-Log). We send out one email a month letting you know what we’re doing, what other community groups are doing, and it’s an easy way to stay up to date.
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Thanks, Grady! Don’t forget to check out what RT SideQuest has going on on their website, and be sure to check out their events at your next con!
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