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The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

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Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games…

by Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

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The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

About The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games and their years covering them professionally. Our logo is by John Strike, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch on…

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Episodes

New episodes usually drop on Fridays.Latest 200 episodes in the feed
  1. Oct 30, 2026 · 1 hr 36 min

    Episode 300

    We start with some difficult news... Cheers to everyone who has supported the podcast, past and present. We're delighted you're still along for the ride. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Oct 23, 2026 · 2 hr 33 min

    The Best Games of 1998

    No, not the episode 300 you were promised. For a (hopefully) obvious reason. Instead we fire up The Back Page time machine once again, setting the dial for 1998. Many call it gaming's greatest ever year. Ocarina! MGS! Half-Life! Gran Turismo! StarCraft! There's no arguing with that lot. Or is there? Find out as two contrarian chrononauts break down the main events of the year, recap the highs and lows of E3 and…

  3. Oct 16, 2026 · 1 hr 33 min

    What We've Been Playing (Ocarina of Time remake, Gears of War: E-Day, Control Resonant, Valor Mortis)

    Matthew flew to Germany and played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which is rather a nice surprise. Games discussed: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gears of War: E-Day, Control Resonant, Valor Mortis, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Dicevaders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Oct 9, 2026 · 2 hr 6 min

    Patreon Freebie: Two Giant Men Play Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS4 Pod Coming Monday!)

    We're off this week, but here's our MGS2 episode from August. Support us at patreon.com/backpagepod if you enjoy what we make! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Oct 2, 2026 · 1 hr 28 min

    An Irrelevant Mailbag Foolishly Recorded at 7.30AM

    Probably the least relevant and most tangent-heavy mailbag episode to date, and that's saying something. Here's Samuel's piece on game names for PC Gamer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier episodes (195)
  1. Sep 25, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Marvel's Wolverine, Silent Hill: Townfall, Orbitals)
    Our third and final attempt to tackle the big games of September reaches Sony's biggest release of the year and the latest Silent Hill entry. The developer of Orbitals is Shapefarm, not Shapeform as Samuel incorrectly stated. Duh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  2. Sep 18, 2026 When Mainstream Media Started Caring About Games (with Mike Diver)
    Been quite a while since we did a 'games journalism craft' episode – this is one of those, as we're joined by former music journalist and Vice senior editor Mike Diver for a lively chat. Hear about the time Mike met Paul McCartney! Sadly, it wasn't about his terrible Destiny song that Matthew rather likes. Mike's book, Aliens: The Video Games , is available now.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
  3. Sep 11, 2026 Nintendo Direct Reaction + What We've Been Playing (The Blood of Dawnwalker, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, VHOLUME, MGS: Ghost Babel)
    Emergency Nintendo Direct chatter, powered by the reveal of sequels to two of our favourite Switch games (Metroid Dread and Kirby and the Forgotten Land), then another pile of games from the September 2026 mountain.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  4. Sep 4, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Star Wars: Zero Company, Guns of Eschaton, Super Mario Sunshine)
    The September release schedule avalanche begins. Games discussed: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Star Wars: Zero Company, Guns of Eschaton and Super Mario Sunshine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  5. Aug 28, 2026 A Few Game Design Crimes More (with Jamie Smith)
    From outlawing the L3 and R3 buttons to combat-oriented games with bad platforming sections, our listeners have submitted 12 more possible game design crimes for Room 101...sorry, Room 64 (double copyright infringement!). Our returning guest, actual game designer Jamie Smith, helps us judge the innocent and guilty. Want to submit a game design crime for a future episode? Head here to the relevant Discord channel,…
  6. Aug 21, 2026 The Nintendo DS + 3DS Mega Draft (with Dave Scarborough and Ashley Day)
    Four giant men select their favourite DS and 3DS games in our latest 3-hour draft episode. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into both consoles. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of our Discord server . These are the categories: Game featuring Mario Game featuring Link 90+ on Metacritic Game with novel touchscreen controls Game made in Japan Game made outside Japan Port or re-release Wild card (has to…
  7. Aug 14, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Splatoon Raiders, Denshattack!, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Onimusha 2)
    More of the games we've been playing recently, before the September avalanche of big titles crashes into Back Page headquarters. Samuel's games: Denshattack!, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Motorslice (a tiny bit) Matthew's games: Splatoon Raiders, The Message from Deep Space, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  8. Aug 7, 2026 Two Giant Men Play Halo: Campaign Evolved + Backseat Design the Next Halo Game
    Some thoughts on the Halo remake, then almost an hour of total nonsense that we will never, ever speak of again. This week's music is from the Halo: Combat Evolved by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  9. Jul 31, 2026 How to Make a Sequel to a Successful Video Game (with Jay Baylis)
    How many ideas get saved from the original game when you're making a sequel? Does it cost more money to make a follow-up? How do you make sure an indie sequel doesn't vanish without a trace? Our returning guest Jay Baylis answers these questions while discussing his next game with Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts 2002 . This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis.  Hosted on Acast.…
  10. Jul 24, 2026 The Best Games of 1997
    Stepping outside our 2000s comfort zone, this week we're sharing our two top 10 lists from 1997 in the first of a new quadrilogy of pods. Expect 1998, 1999 and 2000 episodes in the coming months. This week's music is from The Curse of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land. You can get us, as ever, at [email protected] . Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta ,…
  11. Jul 17, 2026 Mailbag
    What if IO Interactive made an Austin Powers game? Which game has been called overrated and underrated so many times that it's now just 'rated'? And why do some big games only get 1-page reviews in magazines? All that and more as we melt to death in the endless UK heatwave.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  12. Jul 10, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove)
    Our monthly attempt to make a normal video games podcast. Games played this week: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Duskfade, Super Scram Kitty, Dimhaven - The Lost Source, Virtue and a Sledgehammer (mistakenly referred to by Samuel multiple times as 'Virtue is a Sledgehammer', the buffoon). Here's the thread on naming games by Hannah Flynn, as discussed at the end of this…
  13. Jul 3, 2026 Games Court – Judge Castle Decides Edition
    The worst format in podcasting is back, fresh from the Castle Island Backrooms. This time, we've got even more moral conundrums for Judge Castle to figure out. Find the image referenced in this episode here .  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  14. Jun 26, 2026 Two Giant Men Play Grand Theft Auto V
    Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026? This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  15. Jun 19, 2026 The First-Person Draft (with Jeremy Peel)
    10 categories, 30 picks – time for another draft, this time about first-person shooters and related games. Vote for the winner here . We'll update this post with who picked what later today. These are the 10 categories: Single-player shooter Multiplayer shooter Sim (including immersive sim) Game with emphasis on movement or platforming Narrative or horror game Game from the last 5 years RPG Free pick Wild card (has…
  16. Jun 12, 2026 Our 10 Most Anticipated Games from Summer Games Fest 2026
    We all survived another week-plus of marketing livestreams! These were our picks of the best upcoming games, including our thoughts on the PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo showcases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  17. Jun 4, 2026 Mina the Hollower, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight + Mailbag
    Bond is done! Now for some other great games that landed in May, plus the new Onimusha demo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  18. May 28, 2026 Two Giant Men Play 007 First Light
    It's here – the James Bond game we've been waiting almost six years for! How much Hitman is in First Light? And how successfully does IO borrow from Naughty Dog? We discuss these subjects and many more across almost two hours. We've done our best to keep this episode free of spoilers. You'll hear about none of the major story beats in this one.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  19. May 22, 2026 Forza Horizon 6, Mixtape, Titanium Court + Mailbag
    A What We've Been Playing and Mailbag combo episode, also featuring our own personal versions of a Mixtape-style music compilation. And a profane joke about chimneys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  20. May 15, 2026 The N64 + GameCube Mega Draft
    The four-person draft is back! Returning guests Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough fight Samuel and Matthew for the best picks across two beloved Nintendo consoles. And this time, Dave is on the booze (but for your sanity, we cut 30 minutes of drunken monologues out). Vote for the winner in the Discord 's Announcements channel. This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack by Koji…
  21. May 1, 2026 What We've Been Playing (007 First Light, Pragmata, Vampire Crawlers, Tides of Tomorrow, Titanium Court, Replaced)
    Matthew played IO's Bond game! Some other games are discussed, too.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  22. Apr 24, 2026 The Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and WiiWare Draft
    Our first two-person draft in ages! Listen to the picks, then vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord . This week's music is from the Sonic 4 soundtrack by Jun Senoue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  23. Apr 17, 2026 Game Design Crimes (with Jamie Smith)
    New podcast format time! 10 of our listeners' biggest gripes with games get litigated in a Room 101-style format (except legally distinct), from tailing missions in open world games to mandatory stealth sections in non-stealth games. Joining us once again is designer Jamie Smith! The very last entry was provided by SAFC_Jack91, which Samuel forgot to write down in the original episode plan.  Hosted on Acast.…
  24. Apr 10, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Crimson Desert, PS5 Pro, Tomodachi Life, Raccoin, Returnal, The Ratline)
    Is Crimson Desert good? It's complicated, but not quite, according to Matthew Castle. Plus: Samuel apologises profusely for buying a PS5 Pro. Samuel's games: PS5 Pro (Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Rebirth), Returnal, Raccoin Matthew's games: Crimson Desert, Tomodachi Life, The Ratline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  25. Apr 3, 2026 Mailbag
    What Matthew thinks of Crimson Desert, new DLC for old games, how 360-era classics would score now in reviews, dream Helldivers 2 warbonds and more nonsense in the latest mailbag episode. This week's music is from the Deadly Premonition soundtrack by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi and Hiromi Mizutani. This is the From Russia With Love PS2 clip mentioned in the episode.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy…
  26. Mar 27, 2026 Unsung Aspects of Video Game Design (with Emma Kent)
    Former Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent is our guest this week! What's it like doing actual journalism, rather than just dropping hot takes about Uncharted and Mario? That's what we ask Emma about in this one. You can sign up for the (free) Eteo Archetypes newsletter discussed in the second half of this week's episode here . This week's music is from the Valheim soundtrack by Patrik Jarlestam.  Hosted on Acast.…
  27. Mar 20, 2026 The Best Games of 2018
    Two top 10 lists from an amazing year for video games. This week's music is from the Tetris Effect soundtrack by Hydelic.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  28. Mar 13, 2026 Becoming Pals with Hideki Kamiya and Other Stories (with Andy Robinson)
    VGC's Andy Robinson is this week's guest. Andy discusses his days on PC Zone and CVG, and why he's made the effort to built relationships with Japanese game developers in the last few years. This week's music is from the Yooka-Laylee soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, David Wise and Steve Burke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  29. Mar 6, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Reanimal, Marathon, Dark Auction, Yakuza Kiwami 3, Romeo is a Dead Man, PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid's Curse, Denshattack!)
    What we've been playing lately that doesn't feature Leon S Kennedy. Games discussed: Reanimal, Dark Auction, Marathon, Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties, Pokémon LeafGreen, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined, Romeo is a Dead Man, Wild Blue Skies, Denshattack!, Dusk Index Gion. The two Pokémon-themed media projects mentioned in this episode – Matt Reynolds' One More Catch and James…
  30. Feb 27, 2026 Two Giant Men Play Resident Evil Requiem
    A deep dive into the year's first big game (sorry, Mario Tennis). Section one is spoiler-free, and the much shorter section two has clearly marked spoilers. But, you still might want to listen to this after you've played the game if you want to experience everything fresh. Pretty much everything discussed in the first hour is in Capcom's marketing materials for the game.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy…
  31. Feb 20, 2026 Games Court 2026
    Judge Castle tackles listeners' moral dilemmas in the return of podcasting's worst format. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  32. Feb 13, 2026 The Video Game Levels Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)
    Our first draft episode of the year is here! Who can pick the best levels out of Samuel, Matthew, Dave and Ash? You decide. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Discord . This week's music is from the Sonic 2 soundtrack by Masato Nakamura, the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson, the Super Mario 64 soundtrack by Koji Kondo and the Mario Kart World soundtrack by…
  33. Feb 6, 2026 Writing the Book on Nintendo + the Top 10 Most Underrated Nintendo Games (with Keza MacDonald)
    Five years later, The Guardian's Keza MacDonald returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, Super Nintendo ( UK link here , US link here ). We then close out with Keza's quickfire list of the 10 most underrated Nintendo games. This week's music is from the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack by David Wise.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  34. Jan 30, 2026 Three Giant Men Play Grand Theft Auto IV (with Jeremy Peel)
    Having conquered GTA III (kind of), Vice City and San Andreas (plus Bully , which is sort of a GTA), it's time for the definitive Back Page podcast on 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Joining us to dissect the first HD GTA is beloved third host and freelance writer extraordinaire Jeremy Peel.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  35. Jan 23, 2026 What We've Been Playing (Skate Story, TR-49, POPUCOM, Wheel World, The Case of the Worst Day Ever, The Berlin Apartment)
    A mop up of some neat games we missed from 2025, plus Matthew's thoughts on the newest game from Inkle. Games discussed: TR-49, Skate Story, POPUCOM, Wheel World, Earthion, Routine, The Séance of Blake Manor, Demonschool and The Berlin Apartment.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  36. Jan 16, 2026 Mailbag 2026: Review Scores, the Death of VR Games, How Games End Up Bad, Favourite NPCs and More
    What makes a 9/10 game not a 10/10 game? Why do video games end up bad? Which NPC would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? What food do they serve at the hypothetical Matthew Castle-themed cafe in Shibuya? These are some of the questions tackled in our first mailbag episode of 2026. Feel free to submit future mailbag questions in the Discord , or to [email protected] .  Hosted on Acast. See…
  37. Jan 9, 2026 2026 Gaming Predictions + Fantasy Critics Draft
    26 (or so) predictions about 2026, based on nothing whatsoever. Plus: our 2025 predictions revisited, and our 5 picks for this year's fantasy draft. This week's music is from the Trauma Center: Second Opinion soundtrack by Kenichi Tsuchiya and Shingo Yasumoto.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  38. Dec 26, 2025 The Best Games of 2025
    Two top 10 lists of the best games from 2025. This week's music is from the Promise Mascot Agency soundtrack by Peter McCaughan and Ryo Koike. Want to play Matthew's number 3? Head here .  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  39. Dec 19, 2025 The Alternative GOTY Awards 2025
    Need a video game awards show with dumb categories no company would ever sponsor? We've got your back, once again. Thanks to all our returning guests from this year for dropping in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  40. Dec 12, 2025 The Top Emotional Moments in Games (with Lucy Blundell)
    This episode is all about the games that hit players with emotional gut punches. You get 50 minutes of nice preamble with returning guest, indie developer Lucy Blundell, then 1 hour+ of our combined 15 top emotional moments in games. After the 50-minute mark, this episode features spoilers (some light, some heavy) for these games: Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth,…
  41. Dec 5, 2025 Top 5 Metroid Games (with Jay Baylis)
    Cassette Beasts developer and all-round great video game thinker Jay Baylis joins us once again! In time for the release of Metroid Prime 4, Matthew and Jay each share their top 5 games in Nintendo's series. This is the Critical Hit article Jay mentioned on Metroid's possible influences. This week's music is from the Metroid: Zero Mission soundtrack by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano. Hosted on Acast. See…
  42. Nov 28, 2025 The Back Page Episode + ARC Raiders (with Phil Savage)
    The podcast eats itself! The Back Page finally dedicates a whole episode to its namesake. How do back page jokes go wrong? And what about the less frequent times when they go well? Returning guest Phil Savage, Global Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, helps us examine the creation of these gags. There's also a 20-minute bit on ARC Raiders near the start if that's your sort of thing. This week's music is from the Yakuza 0…
  43. Nov 21, 2025 The 16-bit Games Mega Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)
    The drafts return! Four giant men compete to pick the best games on the Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're American), SNES and Neo Geo across 8 categories – plus a 9th bonus category specifically for the Amiga. This week's music is from the Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro and the Chrono Trigger soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda (not Rick Astley).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
  44. Nov 14, 2025 The Oral Histories of Video Games (with Matt Leone)
    This week's guest is Matt Leone, former Special Projects Editor at Polygon. Hear all about his new website Design Room, and his work on the oral history of Final Fantasy VII and and Shadow of the Colossus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  45. Nov 7, 2025 Two Giant Men Play Super Mario Galaxy
    A deep dive into an all-time classic on Wii. We'll do this again on Monday for Super Mario Galaxy 2, exclusively for Patreon XL Tier members! This week's music is from the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  46. Oct 31, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4), Mailbag + The Worst Zelda Quiz Ever
    Games discussed: Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4, Hell is Us. Then, Samuel butchering a bunch of Zelda quiz questions. It has to be heard to be believed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  47. Oct 24, 2025 Episode 250: 10 Games We Enjoyed During Steam Next Fest – Plus a Handful of Duds
    A deep dive on the demos we tried during Steam Next Fest, hopefully giving you a few things for your wishlist consideration. Samuel's games: Reanimal, Birdcage, Lumines Arise, The Killing Stone, Evil Egg, Skate Story, Ambrosia Sky, Cairn. Matthew's games: CiniCross, No More Work For Ito, Opus: Prism Peak, The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time, The Seance of Blake Manor. We won't list the duds, but…
  48. Oct 17, 2025 The 'Games Set in Japan' Hall of Fame (plus Absolum and Ball X Pit)
    Following our moderately good episode about games set in Britain earlier this year, we assemble a list of the 10 key games set in Japan. Did we get it wrong? Probably. Plus: a mini 'What We've Been Playing' episode about two recent download games we've been digging! This week's music is from the Persona 4 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  49. Oct 10, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Ghost of Yotei, Silent Hill f, Baby Steps, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Revisited)
    Matthew has Covid! Poor chap. At least he got through all six seasons of Justified while recovering. Here are the games discussed this week: Silent Hill f, Ghost of Yotei, Baby Steps, No, I am not a human, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the latest Golden Idol DLC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  50. Oct 3, 2025 Reassuringly Finite (with Jon Denton)
    Music podcaster and former games journalist Jon Denton is our guest this week! Hear about Jon's journey from gamesTM to being pals with The Weeknd. This week's music is from the Super Mario World soundtrack by Koji Kondo.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  51. Sep 26, 2025 The Best Games of 2017
    A massive year for games, a bleak year for at least one giant man. One of our oldest and most popular podcast formats is back, more than two years after our 2016 episode! This week's music is from the Yakuza 0 soundtrack by Kensuke Inage and Yoshihiro Arai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  52. Sep 18, 2025 Mailbag
    It's another mailbag. Topics discussed: Mr Kipling's Angel Slices, why Tomb Raider keeps needing reboots, Nintendo's struggles on the GameCube, Steve Martin and matching sandwiches to video games.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  53. Sep 12, 2025 Two Giant Men Play Rockstar's Bully (Patreon Sampler)
    If you enjoy this episode, consider supporting us so we can make more Two Giant Men episodes just like it! As voted for by the listeners, we revisit Rockstar Vancouver's 2006 ode to high school life – as well as our own cursed teenage years. This week's music is from the amazing Bully soundtrack by Shawn Lee, which we neglected to talk about in the episode. Thanks to Michael 'BanyaBat' for the edits. These are the…
  54. Sep 5, 2025 007 First Light Reactions, Plus: What We've Been Playing (Mafia: The Old Country, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Hollow Knight, Kirby on Switch 2, MGS Delta: Snake Eater)
    The stack of games we've been chewing through lately, plus our reactions to the 007 First Light footage released this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  55. Aug 29, 2025 The All-Star Japanese Game Developer Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)
    Our quarterly four-person draft is here! The Two Giant Men are joined by two further giant men as we compete to pick the best 11 games from some of our favourite Japanese game developers. To mix things up, expect a couple of twists on the usual draft format... This week's music is from the Street Fighter 2 soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura and Isao Abe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  56. Aug 22, 2025 Two Giant Men Play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    The Back Page's road to GTA 6 – a borderline-unviable series of playthroughs of older GTA games – continues! You don't need to have revisited San Andreas to enjoy this episode. We give you a nice overview of everything going on in the story and missions. We dig deep into the game's early '90s Californian setting, the ways it pushed the GTA mission formula forwards, and why its Definitive Edition solves many of the…
  57. Aug 15, 2025 The First Ever Metacritic Game
    With 750 Metacritic 'points' each, who can pick the best 10 games based on their critical averages? A panel of judges will decide, and we'll talk about who won in a future episode! Let us know what you think of this episode format in the comments. It resulted in at least one incredibly wild choice... This week's music is from the Binary Domain soundtrack by Hidenori Shoji and Mitsuharu Fukuyama. Hosted on Acast.…
  58. Aug 8, 2025 Three Games Court Episodes In One Year? In This Economy?
    More pre-owned game purchases go on trial in Judge Castle's Games Court. It's a fun one! We welcome more entries for future Games Court episodes, if you have them, at [email protected] . This week's music is the Games Court theme by listener Adam Saucier. Cheers for your fine work! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  59. Aug 1, 2025 Ghostbusters Games and gamesTM Memories (with Dave Scarborough)
    Matthew is away, lying in a hot tub in Scotland somewhere! So, this week Samuel is paired up with his former gamesTM colleague and draft menace Dave Scarborough. You get 45 minutes of magazine memories, then around 80 minutes on the history of Ghostbusters in games (spoiler alert: many of them are rubbish). Apologies for the slight headphone bleed you'll hear in this episode – our audio engineer, Matthew Castle, is…
  60. Jul 25, 2025 Two Giant Men Play Donkey Kong Bananza (which *has* to be better than Astro Bot)
    The main event of the Switch 2's post-launch period is here. But does it have the juice, the sauce or the gravy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  61. Jul 18, 2025 gamesTM vs Edge (with Matthew Handrahan)
    Former gamesTM features editor Matt Handrahan is our guest this week. Having spent a decade working on GamesIndustry.biz, he's now Portfolio Director at Kepler Interactive. The most recent game he worked on? Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which you might have heard of. This episode, though, gets into the far more important business of discussing the price of pints in Bournemouth's Sixty Million Postcards pub circa…
  62. Jul 11, 2025 The Art of Video Game Character Customisation (with Jen Simpkins)
    A delightfully unusual episode with a guest we like a lot. Matthew Castle lore fans are in for a treat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  63. Jul 4, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Death Stranding 2, Rematch, Date Everything, MindsEye)
    Matthew is fetching koalas for Chvrches in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, while Samuel is having year 11 lunchtime PTSD in Sloclap's football game Rematch. It's another WWBP episode! Games discussed: Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Rematch, Date Everything, MindsEye, Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Helldivers 2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  64. Jun 26, 2025 Two Giant Men Play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
    Finally, after a belated PS5 release, we dive deep into MachineGames' 2024 GOTY contender Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The first half is spoiler-free, then the second half goes deeper into the story with some fun bonus nonsense to boot (wait until you hear Matthew's pitch for The Fugitive tie-in game). This week's music is from the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle soundtrack by Gordy Haab.  Hosted on…
  65. Jun 20, 2025 Mailbag – Two Giant Ben Edition
    It's a bloody mailbag! Please save your shrugs for the end. Thanks for all the questions, as ever. This week's music is from the Hotline Miami soundtrack by Perturbator.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  66. Jun 12, 2025 Two Giant Men Play the Nintendo Switch 2
    A new Nintendo console is here. Matthew is truly submerged in the Switch 2 experience, while Samuel has merely dipped a toe in the water. Here's how we're finding it so far. This week's music is from the Mario Kart World soundtrack by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda and Yutaro Takakuwa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  67. Jun 6, 2025 From N64 Magazine to Gamesmaster to Games Publishing (with Geraint Evans)
    It's Matthew hosting the pod solo this week, and his guest is Geraint Evans, formerly of N64 magazine, NGC and Gamesmaster. These days, he's working at the publisher PQube. This week's music is from the Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 + 2 soundtracks by Hideaki Kobayashi and Fumie Kumatani.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  68. May 30, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Doom: The Dark Ages, Blades of Fire, The Hundred Line, The Siege and the Sandfox)
    Matthew has almost finished the new Doom game, while Samuel has done about half of it – so that's the focus of this week's episode. Matthew also explains his appreciation of the new MercurySteam game, Blades of Fire, and digs deep into his never-ending playthrough of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy on Switch. This week's music is from The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy soundtrack by Masafumi Takada and…
  69. May 23, 2025 The Best Games of 2005
    57 minutes and 13 seconds – that's the timestamp you want for all the game chatter, including two top 10 lists of the best games of 2005. Skip all the bullshit! For everyone else? Enjoy tales of college woes and secret freezer politics. Nonsense podcasting awaits. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
  70. May 16, 2025 GOTY 2025 Check-In
    Our guest cancelled! Gah. Well, here's an episode we airlifted out of our collective asses. Hopefully it's not too bad with two days' notice to plan it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  71. May 9, 2025 Games Court – Castle Island x Blue Prince Edition
    20ish listeners' pre-owned purchases go on trial before Judge Castle, as Games Court returns! We also talk about this week's GTA 6 trailer, with a brief section on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, too. Do get in touch if you have any future Games Court entries, and we'll keep making them. This week's music is from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Lorien Testard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  72. May 2, 2025 Mailbag (sandwich + game pairings, writing cover features, console launches, other nonsense)
    It's time for another round of listener questions as we each recover from the 50 hours of games we played for last week's episode. Did anyone need 100 minutes of mailbag questions? Probably not, but as ever: it happened. Note: we recorded this week's episode before the Polygon and Giant Bomb layoffs if the tone around the games media chatter seems off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  73. Apr 24, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Promise Mascot Agency, Tempest Rising)
    It's catch-up time, as a spring wave of fantastic games hit at once! All of the above, plus Bionic Bay and some Metroid series chatter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  74. Apr 18, 2025 The Xbox 360 Games Mega Draft
    Much to the chagrin of Matthew, who had to edit it, the four-person draft is back! This time, Samuel, Matthew, Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough are fighting over the best games on Xbox 360 (note: some of them may not be the best, but that's for you to decide). This week's music is from the Fable 2 soundtrack by Danny Elfman and Russell Shaw, plus the the Bayonetta soundtrack by Helena Noguerra, Bart Howard, as well…
  75. Apr 11, 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Games – Played!
    Later than usual, but hopefully worth it: Matthew plays all the Nintendo Switch 2 demos (except some ports no one cares about).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  76. Apr 3, 2025 Two Giant Men React to the Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal
    Here are our thoughts on the new Nintendo console so far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  77. Mar 28, 2025 Atomfall and the Best, Worst and Most Iconic Games Set In Britain
    After 30 minutes of chatter about Rebellion's new Game Pass survival game Atomfall, we try to pick the 10 games that best represent Britain as a virtual setting. Finally, we cap things off with a low-nutrition awards ceremony of British 'stuff' in computer games past and present. This week's music is from the GoldenEye 007 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate, Grant Kirkhope and Robin Beanland. Hosted on Acast. See…
  78. Mar 21, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Assassin's Creed Shadows, Split Fiction, Avowed, Pirate Yakuza, Threshold)
    Matthew has played 20+ hours of Assassin's Creed for this episode, while Samuel turned it off after three and played Avowed instead. It's another 'what we've been playing' extravaganza! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  79. Mar 14, 2025 The Nintendo Switch Draft (with Katharine Castle)
    Who can pick the best 10 games on the Nintendo Switch? Eurogamer's Katharine Castle joins us to help figure this out, and to celebrate the hybrid console's healthy lifespan in our latest draft episode. Vote for the winner in our Discord's announcement channel . This week's music is from the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe soundtrack by Shiho Fujii, Atsuko Asahi, Ryo Nagamatsu, Yasuaki Iwata and Kenta Nagata. Hosted on…
  80. Mar 7, 2025 Mailbag
    We answer a heap more of your questions, including a really daft one about HP sauce on a pizza. Thanks for sending them in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  81. Feb 28, 2025 We Play Monster Hunter Wilds – and Dive into the Series' Massive Success (with Joe Skrebels)
    Matthew finished Monster Hunter Wilds! Samuel didn't. This week we're joined by returning guest Joe Skrebels to discuss the newest game in Capcom's idiosyncratic series, as well as its meteoric rise in the West over the past decade plus.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  82. Feb 21, 2025 Video Game Guns and the Best Warhammer Games (with Dave Jewitt)
    This week's guest is Dave Jewitt, formerly of GameSpot's brilliant Firearms Expert Reacts  series, and newly of the channel EXP . He joins us to talk about how this great series of videos came to be...and ends by sharing his favourite 10 Warhammer video games (to the 15 sickos who kept asking for this, please enjoy). Find them at Patreon.com/watchEXP if you'd like to support the work of Dave and his…
  83. Feb 14, 2025 The Best Games of 2004
    We rewind the clock to 2004, and discuss some of the most important and influential games ever made (plus the demo of Mashed) across two top 10 lists. This week's music is from the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack by Michael Hunter, and the Final Fantasy X-2 soundtrack by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  84. Feb 7, 2025 From N64 Magazine to Crime Fiction (with Tim Weaver)
    Bestselling crime fiction author Tim Weaver is our guest this week. Of course, long-time print readers will know him best for his work on the magazines N64 and NGC! This is a Matthew-only episode, as the pair have known each other for years. Enjoy our deepest dive into '90s games mags yet. This week's music is from the Mario Kart 64 soundtrack by Kenta Nagata. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
  85. Jan 31, 2025 What We've Been Playing (Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Marvel Rivals)
    Our first 'now playing' episode of the year covers Dynasty Warriors: Origins, The Roottrees Are Dead, Neva, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Marvel Rivals and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2. This week's music is from the Dynasty Warriors: Origins soundtrack by Masato Koike. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  86. Jan 24, 2025 Arcade Machine Collecting and Making Videos (with Mike Channell)
    Outside Xbox's Mike Channell joins us this week to discuss his journey from magazines like PC Format and OXM to being very well-known on the internet. Plus, in the second part, hear about Mike's more recent hobby of acquiring and maintaining old arcade machines! This week's music is from the Daytona USA soundtrack by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  87. Jan 17, 2025 The PS2 Games Mega-Draft
    The PlayStation 2 is arguably the greatest video games console of all time. Over 44 competing picks for the system's best games, Matthew, Samuel and two other Giant Men – Dave Scarborough and Ashley Day – will prove why. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord. This week's music is from the Katamari Damacy soundtrack by Yuu Miyake, Asuka Sakai, Akitaka Tohyama, Hideki Tobeta,…
  88. Jan 10, 2025 Games Court Is Back For 2025!
    Games Court is back! 23 listeners' pre-owned purchases go on trial in front of Judge Castle. Only the pathetic attorney Samuel Roberts can save them (or help send them to their deaths). This one is strong in the first half, drags for its third quarter, but brings the energy back for the final part. A net gain, for our great podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  89. Jan 3, 2025 2025 Gaming Predictions
    One hour of totally unfounded waffle and pointless commentary. This week's music is from the Super Mario Odyssey soundtrack by Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii and Koji Kondo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  90. Dec 27, 2024 The Best Games of 2024
    Two top 10 lists of our favourite games from 2024. This week's music is from the Balatro soundtrack by LouisF. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  91. Dec 20, 2024 The Alternative GOTY Awards 2024
    Silly awards from silly men, ahead of the real GOTY pod next week. Thanks to this year's guests, too, for providing insights on their favourite games of 2024. This week's music is from the FF7 Rebirth soundtrack by Mitsuto Suzuki and Masashi Hamauzu and the Helldivers 2 soundtrack by Wilbert Roget II. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  92. Dec 13, 2024 The Sub-80 Metacritic Games Draft
    Each host must pick the best 10 games that have a score of 79 or less on Metacritic! But who will win out with that tricky criteria in mind? And what gold (if any) lies within the amber ranks of the reviews aggregator? Vote for the winning selection in the Discord announcements channel for the next week. Some rules that might be handy to know: A game needs to have scored below 80 on at least one of its original…
  93. Dec 6, 2024 Christmas Games Mag Quiz + Mailbag
    The quiz part goes on for far too long. The mailbag bit has some low energy answers. But: it is an episode of this podcast. This week's music is from the No More Heroes soundtrack by Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  94. Nov 29, 2024 Our Best Games on Every PlayStation Console – PlayStation Turns 30!
    Our favourite first and third party games on every PlayStation console, just in time for its 30th anniversary. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  95. Nov 22, 2024 Episode 203: The Death and Life of Games Magazines (with Caspian Whistler)
    In part one, hear us discuss what it's like to work on a games magazine when it's closing down, the rise of prestige games mags, and why crowdfunded independent media is so hard to get off the ground. A Profound Waste of Time founder Caspian Whistler joins us for part two. Hear about the creation of this successful prestige print project – and check out APWOT issue 5's Kickstarter here , which ends in a couple of…
  96. Nov 15, 2024 What We've Been Playing (Dragon Age: The Veilguard, COD BLOPS 6, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Mario & Luigi: Brothership)
    Beefy games chat this week on all of the above – plus The Rise of the Golden Idol, FF7 Rebirth and Apex Legends. Thanks to Matthew 'Big Matty C' Castle for the edits this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  97. Nov 8, 2024 Episode 201: Backlogeddon (with Jay Baylis)
    We all have too many games to play. One of our favourite guests, Jay Baylis, joins us to discuss how we all gathered massive backlogs – and what can be done to cure it. Matthew had a cold for this one. But he still went through and edited out all his coughs, bless him.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  98. Nov 1, 2024 Episode 200: Behind The Back Page
    Only Jeremy Peel can save The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  99. Oct 25, 2024 Two Giant Men Play Perfect Dark (Patreon Sampler)
    We need an extra week to work on episode 200, so enjoy this great episode we made for our wonderful Patreon subscribers earlier this year. Support us at Patreon.com/BackPagePod, and get more great episodes like this one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  100. Oct 18, 2024 From Games Journalism to Blumhouse (with Louise Blain)
    One of our favourite returning guests, Louise Blain (last on the pod in October 2021), discusses her current role as Creative Lead at Blumhouse Games. Their first published game, Fear the Spotlight, is out on October 22nd. It's short but sweet! But next week probably won't be... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  101. Oct 11, 2024 What We've Been Playing (Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom)
    Matthew is zagging on the new Atlus RPG, is surprised at how much he's enjoying Silent Hill 2, and is at odds with Samuel on the merits of the newest Zelda game, Echoes of Wisdom. You'll laugh when you get to our predictions of the critical response to Metaphor... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  102. Oct 4, 2024 The PS4 Draft
    Returning guest Dave Scarborough (who?) joins us for our next three-person draft, focused on the PlayStation 4. Vote for the winner in our pinned tweet. This week's music is from the Persona 5: Royal soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Thank you to Matthew 'Mr Basil Pesto' Castle for the edits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  103. Sep 27, 2024 What We've Been Playing (UFO 50, Astro Bot with spoilers, Tactical Breach Wizards)
    A true mix of stuff this week, right up until the final minutes : UFO 50, Astro Bot (this time with spoiler chat), Tactical Breach Wizards, Peglin, Marvel Vs Capcom: Fighting Collection and Sumerian Six. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  104. Sep 20, 2024 The PC Gaming Draft: 2010-2019 (with Jeremy Peel)
    The draft is back, this time with unofficial third host and PC gaming expert Jeremy Peel! Listen to 30 competitive picks from an amazing decade for PC gaming, then vote on the winner in our pinned Twitter poll @BackPagePod. This week's music is from the VVVVVV soundtrack by Magnus Pålsson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  105. Sep 13, 2024 What We've Been Playing: Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, Star Wars: Outlaws, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
    So many good games to discuss this week! Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, Star Wars: Outlaws and the new Famicom Detective Club game. An array of treats, right up until the last few minutes of the episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  106. Sep 6, 2024 Why Japanese Games Have Thrived Since the Xbox 360 Era (with Jay Baylis)
    Cassette Beasts dev Jay Baylis returns to discuss how Japanese games have been perceived and discussed in the West since the 360 era. This week's music is from the Persona 3 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  107. Aug 30, 2024 Star Wars Outlaws First Impressions, Gamescom 2024 and an Emergency Mailbag
    In this oddly lengthy grab bag of an episode, Matthew talks about the first few hours of Star Wars Outlaws (about 25 mins in), Samuel explains what he ate at Gamescom 2024, and both of us answer questions from the listeners.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  108. Aug 23, 2024 Writing the Book on Alien: Isolation (with Andy Kelly)
    With Andy Kelly's book on Alien: Isolation out this month, we grilled him on the game and his hottest Alien movie takes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  109. Aug 16, 2024 What We've Been Playing (Anger Foot, Ace Attorney Investigations, Thank Goodness You're Here, Nobody Wants To Die)
    Is Astro Bot out yet? No? What about Star Wars: Outlaws and Space Marine 2? Not right now? Still ? Fine. Then here's what we've spent our respective summers playing: an array of indie/double-A games ranging from disappointing to good. These include Anger Foot, Nobody Wants To Die, Another Code: Recollection, Thank Goodness You're Here and Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. Plus, hear Matthew talk about the HD…
  110. Aug 9, 2024 Nintendo Top 50 Part 3 – The Final Countdown
    Here's the final part of our Nintendo top 50 list. Find the full list to read at your leisure on Patreon.com/backpagepod! This week's music is once again the Wii Shop Channel theme by Kazumi Totaka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  111. Aug 2, 2024 Nintendo Top 50 Part 2: Assembling the Longlist
    The Godfather Part II of podcasts is here! In this episode, we fire through every major Nintendo series and compile a longlist of games to populate our top 50 first-party list. Tune in next week for the third and final part – The Godfather Part III of podcasts, perhaps, where we'll arrange the top 50 on air. Does this mean that Sofia Coppola is Wario? Possibly. This week's music is from the Last Window: The Secret…
  112. Jul 26, 2024 Nintendo Top 50 Part 1: The Art of List Making and ONM's Final Top 100
    Part one of our three-part effort to create a Nintendo top 50 list is here! This episode explores the process of making list features when you're working on a magazine or website, and the compromises and decisions that lead to the final result. Then, in the second half of the episode, we revisit the top 100 first-party Nintendo games from the final issue of ONM back in 2014, where Matthew explains the choices made.…
  113. Jul 19, 2024 Mailbag (Best Metroidvanias, Square Enix Dinner Party, Cheese Draft)
    From great Metroidvanias to an impromptu Cheese Draft, it's time for another mailbag episode.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  114. Jul 12, 2024 Episode 185: From The Miller Report to Wrestling (with Simon Miller)
    Our guest this week is wrestler, video personality, consultant and all-round good guy Simon Miller! Simon discusses his days running NRevolution magazine alone, working on X360 Magazine with Samuel, creating The Miller Report at VideoGamer and watching THQ burn from the inside in the early 2010s. It's quite a career! This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past soundtrack by Koji Kondo. Hosted…
  115. Jul 5, 2024 The Back Page Election – Whoever Wins, You Lose!
    Whoever wins, you lose! Vote for the winner in the Back Page Announcements channel. This week's music is from the Bayonetta soundtrack by Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani, Masami Ueda, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Rei Kondoh, Takayasu Sodeoka, Erina Niwa, Yoshitaka Suzuki and Naoto Tanaka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  116. Jun 28, 2024 What We've Been Playing (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Still Wakes The Deep, Mullet Madjack)
    Here's what we've been playing lately, featuring Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Still Wakes The Deep, Mullet Madjack, a little on Crow Country, and a bit on Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  117. Jun 21, 2024 Episode 182: Games Court – Big Sammy European Extreme Edition
    The worst format in podcasting is back! For the first time since 2021, Samuel runs his pre-owned purchases past Judge Castle. This week's music is from The World Ends With You soundtrack by Takeharu Ishimoto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  118. Jun 14, 2024 Episode 181: Top 10 Most Anticipated Games
    With a hangover from 90 June livestreams, Matthew and Samuel each deliver their 10 favourites from the hype season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  119. Jun 7, 2024 Episode 180: The PlayStation Portable Draft (with Retro Gamer's Darran Jones)
    Matthew gets a well-deserved week off! Samuel's former colleague, Retro Gamer editor Darran Jones, steps into the draft dojo to celebrate Sony's first gaming handheld device. You get about 30 minutes of Darran talking about his career, then an hour of background preamble on the PSP, followed by 90 minutes of draft. Apologies in advance for the length, but hopefully it's a good listen! Vote for the winner…
  120. May 31, 2024 Episode 179: From EGM to BitSummit (with James Mielke)
    US games media royalty James Mielke (EGM, 1Up, GMR) is our guest this week. Hear about James' journey from comic book artist during Marvel's bankruptcy to becoming a key editor on a host of important media outlets throughout the '00s. Bonus: this episode contains another excellent Hideo Kojima interview anecdote. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  121. May 24, 2024 Episode 178: The '00s Games Magazine Quiz and Mailbag
    We each try and guess five mystery games based on snippets from their reviews in '00s games magazines. Feel free to play along! After that, enjoy our considered answers to a whole heap of questions, from the Nintendo Switch 2 to the ideal game based on Thunderbirds.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  122. May 17, 2024 Episode 177: The Game Soundtracks Draft
    Two Giant Men, 20 categories, dubious rules! Time for another draft episode, this time on the subject of video game soundtracks. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Discord . Most of the music used in the episode is credited in real-time, but the track in the break is an orchestral Phoenix Wright arrangement by Noriyuki Iwadare. Here are the categories we select from: Album Categories 1. RPG 2.…
  123. May 10, 2024 What We've Been Playing (Stellar Blade, Animal Well, Pepper Grinder, Dark Forces Remaster)
    Here's what we've been playing lately: Stellar Blade, Animal Well, Octopath Traveler 2, Dark Forces Remaster and Pepper Grinder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  124. May 3, 2024 Episode 175: From Mysteries To Metroidvanias (with Stuart Turton)
    Matthew speaks to one of his favourite authors, Stuart Turton . Hear about his exhausting creative process (seriously, you won't believe it), and what it takes to write a novel – including his latest, The Last Murder at the End of the World. Then, in part two, hear more about Stu's love of video games, which runs incredibly deep. Samuel is away for this one. Matthew gets the name of the podcast slightly wrong…
  125. Apr 26, 2024 Episode 174: From OPM to Rolling Stone to IGN (with Rachel Weber)
    This week's guest is IGN Managing Editor Rachel Weber, who probably has the most varied and fascinating career in games media of anyone who's appeared on the podcast so far. Hear about her transatlantic journey from OPM during the PS3 launch days to GamesIndustry.biz , Rolling Stone's Glixel channel and GamesRadar, before she landed at IGN. This week's music is from the Lost: Via Domus soundtrack by Michael…
  126. Apr 19, 2024 Episode 173: Games Court Returns!
    27 listeners' game purchases go on trial before the morally dubious Judge Castle. Can the defendants' even more compromised lawyer, Samuel Roberts, get them off (not in that way)? The worst format in British podcasting returns. This week's music is 'PIMP' by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, as well as the Games Court theme by listener Adam Saucier. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  127. Apr 12, 2024 Episode 172: The Best Games of 2003
    Two top 10 lists of the best games of 2003, and loads of bullshit about Matthew's mini-fridge and Samuel's week of work experience in the fire brigade. The games chat starts at 1 hour and 27 minutes if you'd just like the lists without the nonsense. This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker soundtrack by Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi and Koji Kondo.  Hosted on Acast. See…
  128. Apr 5, 2024 Episode 171: What We've Been Playing (Dragon's Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin, Helldivers 2)
    What we've been playing lately, featuring Dragon's Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin and Helldivers 2, as well as some old Command and Conquer nonsense and listener questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  129. Mar 29, 2024 Episode 170: The Time Samuel Wronged A Freelancer (with Steven Messner)
    Former PC Gamer Senior Reporter Steven Messner is our guest this week! Hear about his epic reports of goings on in EVE Online and other MMOs – and that time the bastard Samuel Roberts betrayed him. This week's music is from the Harvest Moon 64 soundtrack by Tsuyoshi Tanaka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  130. Mar 22, 2024 The Best 7/10 Games
    We needed a sudden week off! Enjoy this 2022 episode on the best 7/10 games, the result of our amazing Patreon support. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  131. Mar 15, 2024 Episode 169: Two Giant Men Play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
    Matthew played 70 hours of FF7 Rebirth, while Samuel played a measly 14 hours. How's it going so far? Expect mostly spoiler-free chat in this episode – we explain how we approached spoilers right at the start to put your mind at ease. This week's music is from the FF7 Rebirth soundtrack by Mitsuto Suzuki and Masashi Hamauzu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  132. Mar 8, 2024 Episode 168: We Collected Another Edge Editor (with Alex Wiltshire)
    This week's guest is former Edge editor Alex Wiltshire. Hear about his era of the magazine, as well as his time working at Hello Games and Mojang. This week's music is from the New Super Mario Bros soundtrack by Asuka Hayazaki, Hajime Wakai and Koji Kondo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  133. Mar 1, 2024 Episode 167: What We've Been Playing (FF7 Rebirth, FF7 Remake, Balatro, Tomb Raider)
    Matthew has finally become a big FF7 head, ploughing through Remake in January and now being 50 hours deep into Rebirth. Hear his (spoiler-free) thoughts on the newer game in this episode. Plus! Samuel plays Balatro and the Tomb Raider remaster, while Matthew also squeezes some Helldivers 2 into this episode. This week's music is from the FF7 Rebirth soundtrack by Mitsuto Suzuki and Masashi Hamauzu. Hosted on…
  134. Feb 23, 2024 Episode 166: The PlayStation Draft
    Time for our first draft episode of 2024! It's the turn of the PlayStation, one of the most important consoles in history. Listen to the episode, then vote on who picked the best 10 games in the pinned tweet @BackPagePod on Twitter. This week's music is from the R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 soundtrack by Kohta Takahashi, Hiroshi Okubo and Asuka Sakai, plus the Tekken 3 soundtrack by Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe.…
  135. Feb 16, 2024 Episode 165: The Cursed February Mailbag
    After some dense episodes, allow us this brief respite to answer a slew of listener questions. Who should play Link in the Zelda movie? Which song would we sing for Hideo Kojima during karaoke? What happened to the mythical 'boys across the river'? Learn all this, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  136. Feb 9, 2024 Episode 164: How To Write A Feature About Games (with Jeremy Peel)
    Beloved guest Jeremy Peel drops by to discuss his new Patreon project, The Peel Perspective, as well as the art of writing a magazine or website feature about video games.  Did we nail this episode? Ack, not *quite*. As Matthew put it after the edit, it's fine . We didn't entirely have the right energy for it this week, nor did we have a tight enough plan to conquer such a big subject in the second half.…
  137. Feb 2, 2024 Episode 163: The Best Games of 2002
    Two top 10 lists of our favourite games from 2002 (based on UK releases)...and a slew of ridiculous anecdotes about working in Homebase and studying GCSE Drama.  This week's music is from the Super Mario Sunshine soundtrack by Koji Kondo and Shinobu Tanaka, and the Ico soundtrack by Michiru Oshima, Koichi Yamazaki and Mitsukuni Murayama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  138. Jan 26, 2024 Episode 162: Top 10 Sega Games (with Ashley Day)
    Returning guest Ashley Day tells us about his love of the Sega Saturn, then gives us his ten favourite Sega developed (or published) games of all time. Spoiler alert: Football Manager 2009 doesn't make the cut. This week's music is from the Shining Force 3 soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  139. Jan 19, 2024 Episode 161: What We've Been Playing (Suicide Squad, TLOU2 Remastered, Marvel's Midnight Suns)
    We've been playing The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Marvel's Midnight Suns, Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (just the demo, mind), Assassin's Creed Nexus and Foamstars in this far-reaching episode. Some nutritious games waffle to cancel out last week's nonsense mailbag episode. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  140. Jan 12, 2024 Episode 160: Dubious Mailbag
    After several solid episodes in a row, The Back Page crashes down to Earth with a mailbag crammed with irrelevant questions about food. But you do get to hear about the famous person Matthew went to school with... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  141. Jan 5, 2024 Episode 159: 24 Gaming Predictions About 2024
    After last week's belting return with the GOTY episode, it's time for something with far less meat on the bones as we roll out some bullshit gaming predictions for 2024. This week's music is from the Persona 3 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro and the Nier: Automata soundtrack by Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi and Kuniyuki Takahashi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  142. Dec 30, 2023 Episode 158: The Best Games of 2023
    Our biggest episode of the year is here! Two top 10 lists of the best games of the year. More than three hours of pod, slightly later than planned (sorry about that).   Thanks so much for your patience while we took a much-needed break – but now we're back! Expect a full plan of what we're making in January in the next few days, including the return of the XL and XXL episodes.  This week's music is from…
  143. Dec 22, 2023 Episode 157: The Back Page Holiday Special
    After a short break, we're back with a fun (allegedly) holiday special to see out the year – featuring special guests, our favourite Christmas-themed games and the Back Page alternative GOTY awards. This week's music is from Bayonetta Origins, Final Fantasy 16, Fable 2 and Bully. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  144. Dec 15, 2023 James Bond Movies Ranked (from the Patreon)
    From the XL Tier on Patreon.com/backpagepod – it's our rundown of the best James Bond movies. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  145. Dec 8, 2023 The Best Metal Gear Solid Moments
    The 25 best Metal Gear moments across the entire series, with listener favourite guest Rich Stanton! If you enjoy this episode, this is the sort of thing we cook up on Patreon.com/backpagepod. We'll be back with regular episodes in late December. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  146. Dec 1, 2023 Episode 156: Two Giant Men Play Final Fantasy 7 (Disc 1)
    It's Matthew's first time through the original Final Fantasy 7. Ahead of the release of Rebirth in 2024, he explains what the hell is going on in disc one of this 26 year-old RPG, right up to the death of Aerith (and to a lesser extent, Cait Sith). This is our last new podcast for three weeks! Thanks for listening all year – we'll be back soon. Free feed listeners can look forward to a couple of Patreon samplers.…
  147. Nov 24, 2023 Episode 155: The Licensed Games Draft
    Samuel and Matthew compete to pick the best selection of 10 licensed games, and discuss the wildly inconsistent history of games based on movies, TV shows, books and more. Matthew won this draft. This week's music is from the Blade Runner game soundtrack by Vangelis and Frank Klepacki. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  148. Nov 17, 2023 Episode 154: What We've Been Playing (Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Wonder, PS Portal)
    The latest on what we've been playing, featuring Alan Wake 2, Chants of Senaar, Super Mario Wonder, The Talos Principle 2, the PlayStation Portal and the Oculus Quest 3. Plus: the last mailbag of the year! Who knows how this one ended up being so bloody long. This week's music is from the Chants of Senaar soundtrack by Thomas Brunet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  149. Nov 10, 2023 Episode 153: From Jak & Daxter to Eurogamer (with Ellie Gibson)
    This week's guest is comedian, writer and streaming superstar Ellie Gibson, who talks us through her career at Eurogamer during the heyday of the PS3 and 360 era of games media. This week's music is from the Sky Odyssey soundtrack by Kow Otani. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  150. Nov 3, 2023 Episode 152: Three Giant Men Play Spider-Man 2 (with Dave Scarborough)
    A deep dive on the year's biggest PlayStation game with Dave Scarborough, sometime features editor of gamesTM. This week's music is by John Paesano from the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  151. Oct 27, 2023 Episode 151: Alan Wake 2 and the Games of Remedy (with Simon Cardy)
    IGN's Simon Cardy joins us to celebrate the history of Remedy's games, including Max Payne, Alan Wake and even Quantum Break, as Alan Wake 2 finally becomes a reality. There's also a lot of fun chatter about Simon's work on IGN that you'll hopefully enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  152. Oct 20, 2023 Episode 150: The Art of PlayStation List Making (with Rob Pearson)
    Rob Pearson of PlayStation Access is our guest this week. Hear about Rob's unusual journey to YouTube fame via print media, and how Charlie Brooker and Jon Blyth inspired his hugely popular top 7 features. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  153. Oct 13, 2023 Episode 149: The Best Games of 2001
    From GTA 3 to Silent Hill 2, 2001 was one of the best years in the history of games. In this episode, we each construct top 10s while sharing pointless details of our mixed fortunes as teenagers. This week's music is from the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  154. Oct 6, 2023 Episode 148: What We've Been Playing (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resi 4: Separate Ways, Cocoon)
    We've firmly entered silly season, and Matthew has finished Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Does it change his take on the CD Projekt RED FPS/RPG? Find out in this episode, along with his early thoughts on Assassin's Creed Mirage, Samuel's thoughts on Resi 4's Separate Ways DLC, and both our thoughts on indie sensation Cocoon. This week's music is from the Assassin's Creed Mirage soundtrack by Brendan Angelides.…
  155. Sep 29, 2023 Episode 147: Things You Only Realise When You Make Games
    People Can Fly's Jamie Smith tells us about his career and things you only realise about games when you actually make them for a living. Then, in the last section, Jamie poses a series of impossible game design questions to both of us – see how we fare as backseat game designers! This week's music is from the Call of Duty: Vanguard soundtrack by Bear McCreary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
  156. Sep 24, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 6: Quake Vs Half-Life
    PC Gaming Classics reaches its conclusion (for now) as Jeremy and Phil pit Half-Life against Quake in the longest episode to date. Phil won the Review Wars segment of this one. We hope you enjoyed this miniseries, and we're excited to see what Jeremy and Phil record next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  157. Sep 24, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 5: Jurassic Park: Trespasser
    The penultimate episode of Jeremy Peel and Phil Iwaniuk's PC Gaming Classics series finally lands on the free feed, investigating Trespasser: Jurassic Park, an all-timer Back Page draft pick. Thanks to Jeremy and Phil for their hard work on this one! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  158. Sep 22, 2023 Episode 146: Two Giant Men Play Starfield
    We've each played 25 hours of Starfield – here's what we thought. This week's music is from the Starfield soundtrack by Inon Zur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  159. Sep 15, 2023 Episode 145: eBay Games Court: The Mediocre Return of a Dubious Podcast Format
    Happy, you sickos? It's the latest entry in our bizarre Games Court format. 20 listeners submit their pre-owned game purchases (and lengthy life stories) to Judge Castle. Those found guilty will die...by Pikmin. This week's music is by listener Adam Saucier. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  160. Sep 8, 2023 Episode 144: The Nintendo DS Draft
    Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the 15 best Nintendo DS games – after an extremely long preamble. Vote for the winner in the pinned tweet @backpagepod on Twitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  161. Sep 1, 2023 Episode 143: What We've Been Playing (Sea of Stars, Armored Core 6, My House, Dredge)
    Matthew is ill! Forgive us while we delay the DS draft a week and take it easy with a 'what we've been playing' pod. Matthew has played 10 hours of Sea of Stars, so we discuss that, the Doom mod My House, Armored Core 6, Paranormasight and Dredge. This week's music is from the Doom 2 soundtrack by Bobby Prince. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  162. Aug 25, 2023 Episode 142: The Dreaded Mailbag
    We answer a lot of listener questions in this week's episode. It's fun for the first hour, it sags in the second, but gets it back just at the end. A 6/10 episode. Thank you for your polite tolerance! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  163. Aug 18, 2023 Episode 141: The Best Games of 2016
    One of our oldest and most popular episode formats returns as we count down the best games of 2016, a year that brought good news for everyone! Except Microsoft. And Nintendo. Everything from Uncharted 4 to Inside gets discussed in this bumper episode – alongside our (fairly dour) memories of the time working on magazines. Plus, hear all about Matthew's shattered knee at Gamescom yet again. Note that there's a…
  164. Aug 11, 2023 Episode 140: Old RPGs and Baldur's Gate 3 (with Jeremy Peel)
    With Baldur's Gate 3 taking over the world, genre expert Jeremy Peel returns to discuss how RPGs have evolved since the days of the Infinity Engine games. This week's music is from the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack by Inon Zur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  165. Aug 4, 2023 Episode 139: What We've Been Playing (Exoprimal, Pikmin 4, The Expanse: A Telltale Series)
    A simple but cheerful 'what we've been playing' joint this week, featuring Exoprimal, Telltale's comeback game The Expanse, 1998's Parasite Eve, Pikmin 4 and Viewfinder. This week's music is from the Pikmin 4 soundtrack by Kenta Nagata, Asuka Hayazaki and Soshi Abe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  166. Jul 28, 2023 Episode 138: Edge in the '00s (with Margaret Robertson)
    Former Edge editor Margaret Robertson joins us to discuss working on the magazine from 2003-2007 and her career in game development. It's a good one, but then we always say that. Check out Margaret's game in Fortnite, Fast Feud, at 2057-0506-7371, and follow her @marga_retro on Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  167. Jul 24, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 4: X-Com: UFO Defense
    Jeremy Peel and Phil Iwaniuk take on the original X-Com: UFO Defense – or UFO: Enemy Unknown – as it was known in Europe. This miniseries was funded by our pals at Patreon.com/backpagepod! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  168. Jul 21, 2023 Episode 137: The PlayStation 3 Draft
    Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the best 10 games (and one HD collection) that represent the PS3's somewhat inconsistent library. Voting is closed, but Samuel won this draft by around 62% to 38%. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  169. Jul 14, 2023 Episode 136: What We've Been Playing (Final Fantasy 16, Trepang2, Baldur's Gate 3)
    Kick back, take a seat! Pour yourself a tall glass of water. It's a simple update on what we've been playing lately, featuring Final Fantasy 16, Trepang 2, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code and Baldur's Gate 3. Plus: answers to a dozen or so listener questions. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy 16 soundtrack by Masayoshi Soken. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  170. Jul 7, 2023 Episode 135: Nintendo in the '00s (with Wes Fenlon)
    Our guest this week is PC Gamer Senior Editor Wes Fenlon, who talks to us about his career in games media, his newsletter Read Only Memo, and Nintendo during the GameCube/GBA episode. You'll also hear about some of the differences between UK and US games media, and a quick therapy session for Samuel's benefit. A lot of ground is covered in this one – enjoy! This week's music is from Cubivore, probably? Matthew…
  171. Jun 30, 2023 Episode 134: Two Giant Men Replay Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
    Two large gentlemen replay MGS3 and discuss where the upcoming remake could make improvements. Then, in section 2, we rank the bosses of this all-time classic. Spoilers follow for a game that's nearly 20 years old. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams and Hibino Norihiko. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  172. Jun 23, 2023 Episode 133: Top 5 Final Fantasy Games
    Samuel and Matthew revisit the classic Square Enix/Squaresoft RPG series this week. Well, the bits they know about, anyway. Plus, hear what Matthew thinks of Final Fantasy XVI, which just launched on PS5. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura, the Final Fantasy XVI soundtrack by Masayoshi Soken, the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack by Masashi Hamauzu and the Final Fantasy Crystal…
  173. Jun 19, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 3: Fallout
    On this month's PC Gaming Classics pod, Jeremy and Phil tackle 1997's Fallout, arguably the most important PC RPG of that decade. They delve into its creation, how its DNA filtered down to Bethesda's subsequent entries, and engage in another round of Review Wars (the voting for that one has closed, for those reading this on the free feed). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  174. Jun 16, 2023 Episode 132: Our 10 Most Anticipated Games From Not-E3 2023
    From Doordash ads to a game that looks 90% like BioShock Infinite, these were our highlights from the past week of game reveals. Forgive some tired podcasting as we melt slightly in British weather. This week's music is from the Persona 3 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  175. Jun 9, 2023 Episode 131: The Edge 10 Episode (with Chris Schilling)
    Edge Deputy Editor Chris Schilling joins us for this week's episode. Hear about his career in games media, as well as the creation of the widely respected magazine. And yes: we talk about what it means when Edge awards a game a 10. Enjoy. This week's music is from the Advance Wars soundtrack by Taishi Senda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  176. Jun 2, 2023 Episode 130: The Xbox 360 Draft
    Is the Xbox 360 the greatest console ever made? That's one of the questions we tackle on this episode before competing to pick the 10 best games on this celebrated platform across a variety of categories. Vote for the winner of the draft in our pinned tweet @BackPagePod. And remember, it's just a bit of fun! Except for the bits where we talk shit and take what the other person says very personally. Samuel won this…
  177. May 26, 2023 Episode 129: eBay Games Court is Back!
    More listeners' pre-owned purchases go on trial in this latest version of the much despised Games Court podcast format. Enjoy, and deepest apologies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  178. May 19, 2023 Episode 128: Two Giant Men Play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
    Matthew has played 40 hours of the new Zelda, Samuel has played 10. How are they getting on? Expect very light spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom in this episode, and expect us to revisit this Nintendo epic in more detail at a later date. This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom soundtrack by Manaka Kataoka, Maasa Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi and Tsukasa Usui. Hosted on Acast. See…
  179. May 12, 2023 Episode 127: What We've Been Playing (Jedi Survivor, Redfall, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC)
    Everything except Zelda is discussed in this week's episode! It's a 'what we've been playing' joint, featuring Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Arkane's Redfall and Mad Max (2015), among other things. We also answer a ton of mailbag questions, some of which we might've answered before – who knows! It's a low energy 6/10 pod, recorded on a Bank Holiday, but don't worry: next week's Zelda pod should be a good one. This…
  180. May 8, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 2: Blade Runner
    Episode 2 of our Patreon-funded miniseries is now live! Jeremy Peel and Phil Iwaniuk take a deep dive into Westwood's Blade Runner adventure game. Note that the Review Wars segment mentioned in this episode has already been voted on by our Twitter followers – hear about the result in the next episode in June. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  181. May 5, 2023 Episode 126: How To Make A Video Game (with Jay Baylis)
    Monster collecting RPG Cassette Beasts just launched on Steam via PC and Game Pass, and on May 25th it'll also launch on Xbox and Nintendo Switch. To celebrate, returning pod guest Jay Baylis (the cursed Sonic and Pokémon episodes) talks us through the creation of the game. This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  182. Apr 28, 2023 Episode 125: The Shinji Mikami Hall of Fame (with Rich Stanton)
    With Samuel away, Matthew and returning special guest Rich Stanton from PC Gamer build a hall of fame from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's body of work. This week's music is from the Resident Evil: Director's Cut by Makoto Tomozawa, Koichi Hiroki and Masami Ueda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  183. Apr 21, 2023 Episode 124: The Best Games of 2015
    Our popular series of best of lists returns with the 2015 edition, featuring two top 10s of the year's best games. Hear about Matthew and Samuel's burgeoning friendship during a press trip to Germany, and forgive us as we get tired towards the end of this episode since we recorded it on a Sunday night. This week's music is from the Fallout 4 soundtrack by Inon Zur and the Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number soundtrack by…
  184. Apr 14, 2023 Episode 123: The Best Star Wars Games
    Samuel assembles a power ranking of the video games based on the Star Wars movies, and Matthew politely humours him. This week's music is from the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic soundtrack by Jeremy Soule and The Force Unleashed soundtrack by Mark Griskey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  185. Apr 7, 2023 PC Gaming Classics Episode 1: System Shock 2
    We're taking a week off, but we're pleased to present free feed listeners with PC Gaming Classics, a miniseries funded by our kind Patreon supporters. Co-hosted by Phil Iwaniuk and Jeremy Peel, this first episode focuses on System Shock 2. We'll roll out the rest of the episodes each month, and we'll be back next Friday with an episode on the best Star Wars games. This week's music is from the System Shock 2…
  186. Mar 31, 2023 Episode 122: What We've Been Playing (Diablo 4, PSVR2, Tchia)
    In this week's episode, Samuel suffers from jetlag and Matthew suffers from living as we recount what we've been playing lately – everything except Resident Evil 4 Remake, anyway. Games discussed this week include Celeste, Diablo 4, Tchia, Resident Evil 1 Remake and a slew of PSVR 2 stuff. We'll return with our next regular episode on April 14th, though Patreon folk will get a new XL episode in the meantime on the…
  187. Mar 24, 2023 Episode 121: Two Giant Men Play Resident Evil 4 Remake
    We've both finished Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is out now! The original was an era-defining game for us, so what's the deal with this one? There are two parts here: a non-spoilery section then a more spoiler-y one. We hope you like it. This week's music is from the Resident Evil 4 soundtrack by Misao Senbongi and Shusaku Uchiyama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  188. Mar 17, 2023 Episode 120: From PC Zone to Writing Games (with Will Porter)
    Will Porter, former PC Zone editor turned game developer, is our guest this week. Hear about Zone's epic rivalry with PC Gamer and how it gradually died down over time, and learn about how Will ended writing for games like Alien: Isolation and Mafia: Definitive Edition. This week's music is from the Mafia: Definitive Edition soundtrack by Jesse Harlin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  189. Mar 10, 2023 Episode 119: The Capcom Games Draft
    The draft is back! Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the 10 best Capcom games from the developer/publisher's extensive and dazzling library. If you like fighting games, apologies in advance. Samuel won this draft. This week's music is from the Devil May Cry 5 soundtrack by Casey Edwards and Ali Edwards, and the Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny soundtrack by Taro Iwashiro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…
  190. Mar 3, 2023 Episode 118: Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Games Worth Grabbing Before The eShop Closes
    On this week's shorter episode, Matthew fires through a whole bunch of recommendations to check out on 3DS and Wii U before their respective eShops close on March 27th. The full list can be found on Patreon.com/backpagepod if you miss any of it. This week's music is from the Affordable Space Adventures soundtrack by Harry Damm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  191. Feb 24, 2023 Episode 117: The Wii U Hall of Fame (with Ashley Day)
    Our task this week is to construct a 10-game hall of fame (or perhaps hall of infamy?) for the Nintendo Wii U. Joining us to assemble the list is Team17's Ashley Day, formerly of Nintendo UK and gamesTM magazine. It's a good episode, and hopefully fair to a weird console that's rightly been mined to form the backbone of the Nintendo Switch's killer library. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  192. Feb 17, 2023 Episode 116: The Last of Us Revisited – and our Verdict on the HBO Show
    On this week's episode, we go deep on The Last of Us. We recall our original thoughts on the game from back in 2013 and give our verdict on the HBO show so far. Plus, Matthew talks us through his thoughts on the PS5 remake of the game. Apologies for the half-remembered bits. We'll explain the spoiler rules in the episode. This week's music is from The Last of Us soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. Hosted on…
  193. Feb 10, 2023 Episode 115: The Wii and DS Years of Official Nintendo Magazine
    Former ONM editor and Mobilegamer.biz founder Neil Long is this week's guest. Learn what it was like to run the official UK magazine during the dominance of the Wii and DS era – including a few horror stories he'd probably rather forget. This week's music is from the Dragon Quest 6 soundtrack by Koichi Sugiyama. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  194. Feb 3, 2023 Episode 114: What We've Been Playing (GoldenEye, Hi-Fi Rush, Fire Emblem Engage)
    Hi-Fi Rush, GoldenEye 007 and Fire Emblem: Engage are among the games we've been playing lately – those are the focus of this episode, along with a barrage of listeners questions that vary between insightful and nonsensical. This week's music is from the GoldenEye 007 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate, Grant Kirkhope and Robin Beanland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  195. Jan 27, 2023 Episode 113: The Best Games of 2014
    After a long break, we're back with two top 10 lists from a year gone by – this time, 2014. Expect a mixture of mag recollections and deep analysis of the games that mattered (and some that didn't). This week's music is from the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney soundtrack by Tomohito Nishiura and Yasumasa Kitagawa, the Kalimba soundtrack by Magnus Damgaard, Lennart Kiel and Asger Kirkemann…
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