Everybody knew that the PS4’s built-in streaming would be used by thousands of people to share their gaming exploits with the rest of the world, but I don’t think anyone expected a call-in chat show.
A Washington-based (and expecting) couple have had the ingenious idea of using the Playroom demo to get a Twitch stream of their living room, and host a call-in show and give away a PS3 – the winner is literally calling in and asking to visit and come on the show in person. What’s even more remarkable is how it seems to have caught the imagination of thousands of people – nearly 30,000 overall viewers and at one point over 5,000 concurrently – with people regularly phoning in and chatting to the couple about the PS4, the show and, right now, just how early in the morning it is for them. It’s a ridiculous hour in the morning and they seem to be wrapping up.
Sony’s Adam Boyes even phoned in to say hello at one point, and Shuhei Yoshida tweeted that he was watching, a few hours ago, while pretty much everyone has started reporting on and tweeting about this show since I spotted the news story via Engadget a few hours ago.
Cool to dial in to the @thespartanshow even though I sound sick as a dog!
— ᴀᴅᴀᴍ ʙᴏʏᴇs (@amboyes) November 22, 2013
What inspired the show, though? Well, as I’ve been watching and typing this up, a crazy chap from Edinburgh decided to brave the international phone charges and phone in, and to this the husband (whose name I haven’t caught) who explained that the DualShock 4 was “hurting [his] thumbs, and that’s where this channel came from.” The original intent was simply to show off his DualShock 4 modification, which used the DualShock 3 thumbsticks in some way.
It’s fascinating to see it in action, with so many people saying that they’ve been watching solidly for the last 4 or more hours, all the time with the cute Playroom music and the floating robot helper buzzing around on screen and getting in the way. Will it stay as popular as it is right now? We’ll have to wait and see, but if you want to see what’s going on for yourself, you can check the stream out (when it’s up) at twitch.tv/spartanm, or watch it right here as he gradually considers wrapping things up for tonight, or more accurately, morning:
Watch live video from SpartanM on www.twitch.tv
Via Engadget
TSBonyman
I mentioned the potential for this a few days ago, b*stards stole my idea lol :)
double-o-dave
Yep, I remember someone saying this so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back :)
TSBonyman
Cheers, i was planning on doing a few mini-streams to get the point across clearer once i got my PS4 but my thunder has been stolen. I don’t mind though – i’m no ‘tv personality-type’ so it’s great to see somebody else doing it! :)
Stefan L
Someone’s phoned in to do a magic trick…
I don’t know what is going on.
XisTG
and it failed :P
djdustb
Wow this is just insane, I give it a day before there are multiple broadcasts of this type as everyone gets there 15 minutes of fame. I wonder what the Twitch rules are on NSFW as that will be sure to follow as a live stream.
double-o-dave
Andy Warhol must of foreseen the PS4.
cam the man
Mental!
sparkyscrum
This generation is barely days old and already going in crazy directions.
I can’t wait to see hat else people come up with.
sparkyscrum
What else not hat. Grrrrr.