The Yogscast, incorporated as Yogscast Ltd, are a group of YouTube broadcasters who produce gaming-related video content, focused around their main YouTube channel, YOGSCAST Lewis & Simon (formerly BlueXephos), with additional content syndicated through a wider network of YouTube channels.
Yogscast Story
Who are The Yogscast?
Welcome traveller! Please take a seat and I will tell you a tale as old as time itself. Let me tell you about, The Yogscast.
So back in 2008 a young man named Lewis decided that he needed to share his best friend Simon’s charm with the world. From his back room he started a little YouTube channel called The Yogscast. They gained initial reknown for some of the most respected and entertaining World of Warcraft boss guides to-date. The duo then founded the #1 ranked podcast, the YoGPoD - a show featuring hilarious banter and tales with the occasional celebrity guest.
In 2010, Simon and Lewis showed YouTube viewers across the globe how to survive a night in Minecraft. This went on to form the basis of one of the most popular serialised shows on YouTube, The Shadow of Israphel.
Getting to this point had not been a two man job. They had received help from so many sources - Guildmates, friends, family and even complete strangers. Some of whom wanted help setting up their own YouTube channels, to which Lewis and Simon were only too happy to oblige. So The Yogscast started growing. Initially it was just the lovely Hannah, creative Duncan and magnificent Sips but soon many more were to follow. The Yogscast was no longer just a YouTube channel but now a whole family.
So now, 6 years later with over 20 million subscribers, billions of views and more than 20 channels in the mix, The Yogscast shows no sign of slowing down. No longer just sticking to uploading videos of the favourite games, mods and adventure maps they guys have expanded their content to include exceptional animations, music videos, tabletop games and live action pieces. Including the occasional tank, of course.
The Yogscast has grown to include some of the most talented musicians, animators, editors, writers, artists and business minded people around, but our aim still stays exactly the same… To always have fun with our friends.[1]
Yogscast Members
The Yogscast is made up of many members, but the most well-known ones are the YouTube Content Producers. They are, Lewis Brindley (Xephos), Simon Lane (Honeydew), Paul Sykes (Sjin), Duncan Jones (Lalna), Chris Lovasz (Sips), Hannah Rutherford (Lomadia), Martyn Littlewood (InTheLittleWood), Joakim Hellstrand (Rythian), Liam MacKay (Nilesy), Chris Trott (Trottimus), Alex Smith (Alsmiffy), Ross Hornby (Djh3max), Kim Richards (NanoSounds), Sam Thorne (Strippin), Keith Steinbach (BebopVox), Zoey Proasheck (Zoeya), John Cochrane (Panda), Dave Bagnall (DaveChaos), Steven Goates (Ridgedog), Matt Needler (iFirez), Phil Southam (BruteAlmighty), Toby Cottrell (SoTotallyToby), William Strife (Linkthe1st), Mark Turpin (Turpster), Ted Forsyth (Pyrion Flax), Alex Parvis (Parv), and Rick van Laanen (Zylus).
Also, a pretty big chunk of the Yogscast are staff members that, most of them, work at YogTowers. These members are, Mark Turpin (Turpster), Anya Ferris (MintyMinute), Ørjan Aarvik (Teutron), Harry Marshall (VeteranHarry), Rich Keith, Dave Boddington (Bodders), Ciaran Askew (Ceeraanoo), Nina-Serena, Adam Davis, Sam Gibbs, Colin Bassett, Tom Clark, Tom Perkins, Tom Bates, Si Melton, Alex Turner, Adrian Ruiz, Ben Edgar, Nathan Ditum, Rob Pearson, and Dave Jackson.
There are also Associates who are basically Yogscast members, but aren't YouTubers or Staff members who work at YogTowers. They are, Ferazhin, Dave Fayram (KirinDave), Tom Clarke (Sparkles*), Fred Malmhake (FredMalm), and Daryl Pendry (Reckreations).
Some of the original Yogscast staff have left or been fired. Peva, was the host of the Minecraft Servers and Website Creator and was fired due to a falling out between members of the Yogscast. Tinman was the website manager and was fired because he had stolen somewhere between $18,000 to $21,000 from the Yogscast Website by redirecting its advertising banners. GameChap and BertieChap used to be part of the Yogscast family, though they eventually severed ties with the Yogscast for saying uncivil things to Yognau(gh)ts on the Yogscast subreddit. Brent Copeland and Eric Fullerton left the Yogscast due to financial troubles and time-zone issues. They seem to be the only people who left the Yogscast on good terms.
Timeline of the Yogscast Staff
Etymology
The Yogscast's name comes from the acronym YOGS, which stands for Ye Olde Goone Squade, the largest European World of Warcraft Goon guild, in which the founding members met. As a WoW guild they were led by guild-master Mearis.
In 2008, Lewis began recording guild activities and posting videos to YouTube on his personal channel 'BlueXephos' under the title of The Yogscast', with "YOGS" being the name of the guild and "cast" referring to broad'cast.
Content & History
Apart from their stellar commentary, occasionally spectacular gameplay (which tends to quickly spiral to either ends of the spectrum), and incredibly amazing singing talents (especially seen from Mr. Simon Lane), the Yogscast also perform many of the production duties associated with their videos, podcasts, and internet content.
The Yogscast is supported by many of their friends who participate in various roles in quite a few of their videos, sometimes behind the scenes, and sometimes as a part of the production. Needless to say, the Yogscast wouldn’t be what it is today without their help and support.
The Yogs have been 'casting' now for almost five and a half years, and since they haven't killed one another yet, there's a good chance they will continue to flood the internet with their particular brand of raving, lunatic hilarity balanced by the occasionally insightful game review, at least until one of them is forced to get a real job.
Lewis started uploading videos in 2008, where he and other members of the "Goone Squade" would make 'How-to' guides doing the opposite of what they were supposed to do. While a more conventional WoW 'How-to' guide would teach you how to defeat a particular boss, or something similar, the Yogscast's guides usually involved Lewis talking with his guildmates, notably Simon Lane and Yohimitsu, about random crap whilst WoW footage and techno music played in the background. The Yogscast's off-the-wall comedy quickly gained them some hardcore subscribers and fans.
In February 2009, the Yogscast released their first non-WoW video - a review of the post-apocalyptic RPG game Fallout 3, in which Lewis and Simon talked about and praised the game. In the end Simon gave it 13/15 Yogstars and Lewis gave it 14. Simon said that he deducted two stars from the game because of the lack of multiplayer and because he found it depressing. Both Simon and Lewis said that they thoroughly enjoyed the game, and that they had received very little sleeping time because they had been playing it all night. Around this time, Lewis realised that he had enough audio recordings (taken from guild Ventrilo conversations) to make a podcast. A video was uploaded on the 10th February announcing the brand new YoGPoD. For the rest of the year, there wasn't much uploaded to the BlueXephos channel, as most of their content was put uploaded to iTunes in the form of their podcast. Most of the uploaded videos were WoW-based, with the exclusion of two game reviews a walkthrough of Tales of Monkey Island, three Aion preview videos, a video from Lewis' dad and a Saints Row 2 gameplay video. At the end of the year the (in)famous 'Arthas Baby' song was uploaded, featuring Hannah (whom we sure regrets partaking in it!)
In 2010, the Yogscast began uploading WoW Cataclysm Beta videos, where Simon and Lewis showcased things that were going to appear in the upcoming expansion. The videos were met with huge success and the Yogscast's viewer-base grew at a massive rate. It was revealed that they only managed to get into the Beta after two of their fans/friends pretended to be them and asked Blizzard for Beta passes. Due to the popularity of Simon and Lewis' videos, they were granted passes to the Alpha build of the game. Having gotten access to the Alpha of the game, the fans could no longer hold their silence and announced that they had gained access, and although they initially contacted Blizzard for personal gain, they gave their Alpha and Beta passes to Simon and Lewis, so that they could create videos on it.
By the end of the year, a new indie game was growing in popularity. Lewis and Simon uploaded their first Minecraft Survival video on December 2nd that year. The series would then go on to become the Shadow of Israphel series, which is perhaps the Yogscast's most famous series to-date. The first few episodes of the series just consisted of Simon teaching Lewis how to play the game, as he was already a veteran. The construction of their base and HQ, known as the Yogcave, began. After a few episodes had been uploaded, one of the members of the Yogscast had the idea to add another character into the mix. They began creating large, monolithic constructions around the map, such as otherworldly henges and pyramids. In the series, Simon and Lewis acted as if they had no idea where the constructions came from and discussed the idea of someone else being on the server. In the ninth episode of the series, they investigated one of the pyramids not too far from the Yogcave. Within the pyramid they found great riches and treasures. Further into the series they introduced their new character. A mysterious, pale faced, dark clothed figure known as Israphel. This figure began harrassing Simon and Lewis as they were constructing the Yogcave, by shooting arrows at them from above. Again, Lewis and Simon hinted that it could be someone else on their server and acted as if it wasn't a big deal. After a long pursuit with the figure, the series span off into a scripted fantasy tale, as opposed to the generic Minecraft Survival series. In the series they met characters such as Old Peculier and Daisy Duke, who were townsfolk in a village called Terrorvale. After the series climax, involving a massive battle with Israphel and his underlings, the first season of Minecraft ended.
Following the immense success of their previous Minecraft series, the Yogscast began preparing for a new series, under the name Shadow of Israphel. The wait between season one and Shadow of Israphel spanned one whole month, and to fill the time in between seasons, they created a second, filler season, where Simon and Lewis played the custom Survival Island gamemode for Minecraft, which challenges the player to survive on what little resources they have and create a sustainable resource system. The series lasted just 11 episodes and was accompanied with a number of custom/adventure maps created by Minecraft fans, which proved to be a very popular concept. In the end of the second season, Simon and Lewis' characters - Honeydew and Xephos - are picked up in an airship by Old Peculier and a new character named Skylord Lysander. This marked the end of season two, and the beginning of the third season.
Shadow of Israphel began on the 27th January 2011. The series followed a unique and interesting plotline with a number of rich characters and immense locations. Though episodes were initially uploaded on a regular basis, time was needed between groups of episodes for filming and building. As of July 2013, the series has yet to conclude, with the latest episode being part 42. 2011 proved to be one of the most important years for the Yogscast as their viewer-base grew immensely, with the year ending on over 1 million YouTube subscribers. The Yogscast also collaberated with the likes of TotalBiscuit and met with a number of other popular YouTubers, like Gunns4Hire and Athene. 2011 was also the year that a number of Yogscast members created their own channel where they uploaded content. The Yogscast2 channel was created mid-way through the year. At the start of the year, the channel was only really used to upload episodes of Lewis and Simon's YogTrailers series and Hannah and Simon's playthrough of Condemned: Criminal Origins. As the year progressed however, the number of YogTrailers on the channel decreased and it became solely a place for Hannah to upload her Let's Play videos.
As the year drew to a close, Lewis and Simon travelled to Germany for Gamescom 2011, which was the first time that Simon had travelled abroad. There they coducted a number of interviews with developers of upcoming games and met with fellow internet personalities, such as Athene, Swifty and close associate Mark "Turpster" Turpin. In October of the same year, Simon and Lewis visited the United States for a Battlefield 3 LAN party with hundreds of other gamers, aboard the USS Hornet, the battleship that collected Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins from their command module that splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. They met fellow gaming personalities such as Gunns4Hire and Spiderbite. At the LAN party they were given an extensive tour of the battleship by two volunteer restoration workers called Bob and Jim. They played a number of games, such as Orcs Must Die! and tested a 3D racing game.
They produce intermittent, irreverent, and often dazzlingly unfocused (but somehow startlingly poignant) podcasts, with no set schedule. They would like to be a bit more reliable, but so far Simon has resisted all attempts to be set on a regular schedule. The Yogs produce a veritable plethora of video content, released on YouTube via the BlueXephos Channel, which is focused somewhat like a lazer strapped onto the back of a Minecraft chicken (simultaneously sharp yet breathtakingly chaotic) - on the ever expanding world of computer gaming. They are proud indeed to contribute to an industry that is slowly but deliberately degenerating the intellectual capacity of youth throughout the world! The Yogscast have also spread out to other Yogscast related YouTube channels, such as Yogscast2.
Gallery
References
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