Wanting to do a Let's Play sort of thing

[Ardent Fox]

Hiya gang, I've been wanting to do a Let's Play kind of thing for a while now and have friends who would gladly sit down with me as I play games in a marathon just to add colorful commentary. I don't expect a big thing to come of it but I think it would still be fun. Here's where I need help though.

I need a good capture software for the PC at least for starters until I can snag one for the other consoles. If it can at least capture video and game audio that's great but if I can get one that can also record voice while it's at it that would be a plus. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Looking to do this for free if possible, but if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg I wouldn't mind paying for something.

[Kizyr]

Fraps is sort of the standard--it was practically designed for this purpose. Unfortunately, the trial version only lets you record 30 seconds at a time; the full version costs money. But it's not too much (Jenner can tell you what the exact price is) and it's a pretty good piece of software.

The only free programs I've experimented with that actually do a good job are some desktop recorders for Ubuntu (so, Linux based). But I was never quite able to get those to record audio quite right. KF

[Jenner]

Let's Plays are not as easy as they let on.

Maybe I am just terrible at them, wouldn't mind helping you out though. Been trying to get a lot of insight from the Goons on SA because they know this stuff.

Fraps is 15-20 bucks its what I use to make those abominations.

[Kitdra]

I got the full version of FRaps but my comp. audio has wacky setting that the sound doesn't record right.... a simular on is also XFire and I belive thats free...

[Kizyr]

One thing I did that helped with my Let's Play (the demo from Japanese SSH) was to record audio to two separate outputs: one recorded the audio from the game (if it's on-screen then this is what should record your audio and video from the game), and one recorded audio from my speech. I synchronized them up later.

The benefit of having two separate feeds is that you can modify the game audio and your own audio, so you never have to worry if you're talking loud enough to be heard over the game clearly, or if you want to emphasize the game music then you can turn that up for a bit. It's what I plan to do for my Tokimeki Memorial and Magical School Lunar Let's Plays, at least. KF

[Ardent Fox]

I was going to record the voice over the game audio anyway, simply because it would be easier to control.