VIDEO GAME GAME SHOW SHOW - THE DAY AFTER (Patreon)

Video Game Game Show Show was chaotic. Five of us on stage, plus Steve McNeil, plus a bellowing audience... up on stage, with hot lights in our faces, it was sensory overload, and a bit like being in a gladiatorial bear pit. I came away from it feeling a little frazzled. And very sweaty.

You must try and get to one of Steve's shows, or Wifi Wars; the audience get to vote on who they think will win each game, as well as play along en masse via their phones, so it's one of the most interactive events you'll ever go to. It's a technical marvel, courtesy of the genius Rob Sedgebeer (who'd even made a fully playable version of my Tiger handheld version of One Foot In The Grave).

Originally there were going to be four of us taking part - two teams of two, which ended up as Ashens/Gannon versus Larry/Octav1us - but we'd had a last-minute addition to the line-up, so I - as Digi's sort-of-ringmaster - got promoted/relegated.

I'll be honest... I slightly drew the short straw, in that I was - ostensibly - commentating. Albeit commentating on games I wasn't familiar with, and couldn't really see from where I was sitting. It sort of left me feeling a bit lost in the mix, but I suspect I wasn't alone. Not anyone's fault, but I'd probably have felt more comfortable being in the audience, and just letting the guys play the games, while Steve did the talking.

It's weird. I've become pretty relaxed doing live stuff, and kind of adept at just being myself in front of an audience or a camera, but I admit that last night it felt like I had to overcompensate for the noise, the number of people, and the fact I didn't really have a defined thing to do anymore. 

Steve clearly wanted me to shut-up a few times, especially when we were running over, but... I didn't really know how else to contribute, and neither did I just want to sit there like a spare part while everyone else played games. It slightly pressed on a button I have where I worry about coming across like an attention-seeker.  Not helped when I dropped my microphone. Although, that was funny. But also, I couldn't help feeling there was at least some truth in it when Steve told me not to bother picking it up! 

What can I say? You invite chaos... chaos is what you get. 

Anyhow. My favourite part of the evening was just seeing people I'd not seen for a while. All of Asperger's Are Us turned up - they're in town for a show tonight, and I highly recommend coming along if you can; they're brilliant. It's always lovely to see Ashens - one of my favourite people - who has promised to be in some Digi Minis soon. And then seeing some of you lot is too a pleasure. 

It baffles me in a lot of ways, that Steve would even think to do a Digitiser special, given he's a man off the telly, with a successful book, and regularly performs in front of huge audiences.

We're not the biggest website, or the biggest YouTube channel. Yet somehow we get invited to things like this, we sell-out a decent-sized theatre for a live show, we raise enough to crowd-fund series... We've literally become the cult thing that Digitiser used to feel like it was; if you love it, you really love it. I am honestly blessed by it all, and by all of your support.

So anyway. I might've felt a bit disappointed by my contribution last night, but it was the perfect warm-up for Digi Live. Which is, I have to say, shaping up extremely well. I've no idea how it'll turn out on the night - we're seeding unpredictability into the format - but it's feeling like Digitiser translates bizarrely well to a live setting. I hope - I think - it'll be a treat for anybody who enjoyed either Found Footage, The Show, or the Minis. Confidence is high! 

Paul