Gamer Podcasts

Rykin wrote:
bepnewt wrote:

Any recommendations for a Game Development podcast?

-BEP

I haven't listened to any of them yet but here is a list of Unity centric ones.

Great. Thanks.

-BEP

For gaming ones, I’m still up on:

Shut Up and Sit Down - boardgames that I’ll never play, but I really like hearing about
They don’t put out very often, maybe monthly. Their YouTube is more active.

How to Murder Time - general gaming, casual, some board game and miniature talk - I haven’t seen/heard an episode in quite a while, but they’ve slowed down a lot, recently. They also YouTube.

Space Game Junkie - a lot of indie dev interviews about upcoming games, weekly.

Watch Out for Fireballs - monthly(?), the Bonfireside Chat guys (an Undead favourite ), a lot of disections of mostly older games. I enjoy it, even for stuff I’ve never played (ie: most of what they discuss).

Plus the Conference Call, naturally.

Forgot if I mentioned this one before, but Context Free is two middle-aged guys talking board games and video games. Lotsa talk about what makes good games good, and what makes for a good game night.

I used to listen to the Bombcast and Beastcast a lot, but I've kind of dropped them in favor of other podcasts or audio books.

I still listen to quite a few, but they're nowhere near a long, and while some are weekly, some are way more sporadic.

-Conference Call
-3 Moves Ahead
-Axe of the Blood God
-The Business of Video Games by Paradox
-Nintendo Power Podcast
-and the occasional Waypoint, if the topic interests me/if Rob Zacny is on.

Over the summer my commute changed from 1.5 hours per day to ~15 minutes per day, so the amount of time I listen to podcasts each day dropped by pretty much the same amount. When that happened, I finally dropped Waypoint. I'd been thinking of doing so for a while but hadn't because I always found just enough of each episode to be interesting enough to keep listening.

With that gone, I'm down to:

- The Giant Beastcast, which is the main one I listen to while driving as it usually takes several days for me to get through. If I get through it before the next episode comes out, I'll continue to work my way through the Shut Up and Sit Down back catalog.

Then while running I listen to:

- Three Moves Ahead
- The Conference Call
- Old episodes of The Crate and Crowbar
- Old episodes of Daft Souls

Lately I've gotten into God is a Geek, finding the hosts both informative and entertaining. I'm also enjoying the mix of dialects from Great Britain and Ireland enhances my listening experience, since I hear them so rarely otherwise.

ccesarano wrote:

something stupid like Let's Fight a Boss on YouTube.

Stupid? You're the one that feel will stupid when The Missening becomes a boxoffice smash.

(I love Let's Fight a Boss - it's just a fun time.)

Also, serious question: why would you listen to a podcast on youtube?

Some ones not mentioned here:

- Retronauts: Jeremy Parish and company going over "old" games (although them looking at Wii/PS2 stuff is making me feel ancient)

- VGMpire: Fun gaming music podcast.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Also, serious question: why would you listen to a podcast on youtube?

Now that I work from home I don't regularly check subscriptions on my phone app (in fact, I don't think my new phone HAS a podcasts app), which means I just have a bunch of bookmarks I click on only if I feel like a podcast specifically. However, I check my YouTube subscriptions regularly, so I'm frequently informed when there's a new Let's Fight a Boss.

I'm still going on
Rebel FM
Giant Bombcast
8-4 Play

and three local (Aus) podcasts, Hyper PixelCast, The Fourth Player, and Action Points Podcast that all seem to be winding up. ( :'( )
Plus the obvious.

I really enjoy the energy of 8-4 and think Mark MacDonald is a great host. They are (mostly) a localisation outfit from Japan, and have guests you wouldn't hear anywhere else. They have a perspective few other podcasts have. A lot of the time they'll have lengthy stretches talking about some franchise I'm not interested in, but I'm totally ok with just letting that be "in the background" while I focus on whatever it is I'm actually doing. Also, they've had the most women co-hosts of any of the above in my post, though none currently.

My list has been the same for years. It's hard to want to add anything new when I'm way behind on what I've already got (just got past E3 in the timeline, and I skipped over Giant Bomb's @nite). I did used to listen at 1.3x speed, but recently I've felt that's too exhausting to keep up with, sticking with an "indulgent" 1.0x. I think the person's request in the tweet above isn't so outlandish, however I'd be considering matching the music to 1.5 and not 1.6.

Edit: pocketcasts has a neat shareable link for your podcast list. And you can choose which ones to include so you can hide your dirty secrets choose just the gaming ones if you like.

https://lists.pocketcasts.com/5e80bf...

Also, reminded me that 1UP Yours and GfW Radio used to make me laugh out loud, and that's something that rarely happens now. Leaves me wondering if that's down to changes in my life getting older, changes in the tone of podcasts I listen to (RFM has certainly lost the hot energy it had in the early days, which is 100% understandable and not necessarily bad), or a certain other difference with me since now and then.

I'm looking forward once I have my PC up and running again, to go back to those folders from years ago and see if I find the shows of yore entertaining or if I cringe. Looking back with rose-coloured ears certainly feels like those were the golden days of podcasts, where now it's a sea of the same rehashed arguments in topic sections and "here's the flavour of the week that I'm playing" on some casts. I wonder though, if I tried to seek out something that has the same feel as 2008 to it, whether I'd find it all too immature or what. Or maybe what I'm looking for has all moved to twitch and stuff now, which I don't have the bandwidth for. Hmm.

I listen to the conference call first of all, and also Three Moves Ahead. Others that I'll listen to if I have time are Rebel FM and Into the Nexus, even though I don't really play much Heroes of the Storm any more. I like to keep up to date with that scene and I used to play it a lot. Every now and then I like to hear Scott Johnson's voice so I check out an episode of The Instance. Reminds me of a simpler time and my first podcasts. I used to listen to Quarter to Three because I liked listening to Tom's opinions but the production values were quite low and the show got so irregular.

The ‘other’ gaming podcasts I listen to are:

3 Moves ahead - once the strategy gaming podcast, the quality of which has nose-dived over the last 18 months or so as Mr Zacny’s interests have move on to other areas and the increasing rarity of Fraser Brown’s involvement. They still come up with the occasional good episode however, and even though I’ll never play any of the war games he talks about, Bruce Garrick is always very interesting to listen too.

I appreciate that might be a slight controversial opinion but 3MA used to be the highlight of the week (alongside the conference call of course!) but very much these days feels more like a chore.

Also eXplorminate, which covers most of the major and not so major 4x games. It’s a little dry but they run through updates and development diaries each week for various games and what it might to gameplay etc. They also do occasional in depth discussion on a specific game, where it is and what they really think about it. It’s really good for picking up on slightly more obscure 4x games, and just what’s happening to the non-AAA titles that the gaming press rarely talk about. They don’t half get their knickers in a twist about Steam though, and occasionally start hilarious conversations about things they don’t really understand - their discussion around GDPR for example was mostly very wrong indeed.

Other than that I dip in and out of Waypoint Radio which is too overtly political for me - I only really listen when they talk about something I think I’ll find interesting, and also the Rock Paper Shotgun podcast which is very twee and British but does keep you up to date on current gaming news, and is also PC game focused.

I agree about 3MA to a certain extent. I don't think I'd use the term 'nosedive' but I do think their high was a purple patch where Rowan and Fraser were on nearly every week. Rowan is still on albeit less frequently, and I do like an appearance from TJ Hafer. The lesser spotted Fraser appears to be too busy doing one of those 'job' things at PC Gamer unfortunately.

I'm down to just two gaming podcasts these days - the Conference Call and Three Moves Ahead. I dropped Retronauts in the summer when I realized the only episode I had listened to in 2018 was the Tetris one and I was getting my Jeremy Parish fix from his videos anyway. I wanted to love Waypoint Radio because all the people there are awesome but even when it was just two episodes a week it was too much content for me and I just can't deal with much more about American politics these days.

At times I'll fall a few months behind GWJ but will work my way through them and it's like draping a cozy blanket around my shoulders.

3MA's still something I very much look forward to though I do think there's been a bit of a drop off in the second half of the year for me. I think part of that is there's a lot of games I'm not all that interested in, though I thought the film discussion this week was fantastic. But I am grateful they aren't leaning on the Paradox Game crutch too much and visit them about once a year.

I also think podcasts are an intimate medium and it takes a while to get to know people as a listener. I remember having a "who are these interlopers" kind of reaction at first to Rowan and Fraser. It also probably takes a while for people on the podcast to get used to each other. Rob's as good as any host at integrating everybody into the discussion while getting his points across without dominating things but doing things over Skype probably means it takes time for newer guests to get comfortable with the flow of conversation and getting their points in. Jon Bolding's well on his working his way into that comfort zone and Heather Alexandra's somebody I hope we hear more from.

I did neglect to mention that I still have 3MA in my feeds, but I only pick and choose episodes on games I have some interest in...

I love that my new pod catcher lets me play at a bunch of speeds 1/2x to 2x - I listen to almost everything at 1.5x - it’s fantastic.

I don't play PC games much anymore, so I was looking for a good PlayStation-centric podcast to replace IGN's Beyond! and the short-lived P.S. I Love You. Triangle Squared was the closest I could find to the old Beyond format, but they don't have the industry contacts like other outlets. Then Colin Moriarty came out with Sacred Symbols with Chris Ray Gun (he's a YouTuber, not a streamer). It's been pretty good so far - highly recommended.

+1 for Sacred Symbols. It seems real fashionable to hate Colin Moriarty but I for the life of me I can't understand why... I've heard a fair bit of him on podcasts and videos over the years and he's... fine. I'm not really sold on Chris Ray Gun though... he uses a lot of colorful hyperbole, such as "it's literally making my brain turn around in my head!" that gets a little old and he doesn't seem super knowledgeable about games

In other news, I'm done with Waypoint. I can't stand listening to that podcast anymore. I don't mind politics in discussions and i actually like more serious minded discussion and not just gaming fluff. Furthermore although I actually agree with their general political leanings and I believe diversity is a great thing in pretty much all avenues of life and should be encouraged and is a worthy cause to bring attention to and support. But man... not EVERYTHING is "toxic", "problematic" or "s#!tty" and not EVERY game/statement/action/company is just another case of "the man" trying to marginalize, take advantage of, disenfranchise or disrespect .

I started a new job a couple of months ago with a better commute, and that's put a kink in my podcast time. I also have a bunch of non-game podcasts in my queue, so I've had to cut back a lot on gaming casts.

These days I'm also listing to 3MA only when the particular game really interests me. It does seem to have lost a step somewhere. I'm hoping that the "Winter of Wargaming" helps. I don't *play* that many heavy PC wargames but I like hearing about them.

I generally approve of the politics of Waypoint but I agree that sometimes it's a little too much. It's another that I only listen to when the topic is particularly interesting.

Rounding out the Zacny trifecta, I do enjoy Idle Weekend when it comes out, though it's both exceedingly rare and barely a gaming podcast these days.

I also listen to most eps of Roguelike Radio- I like the in-depth analysis of the games and how to play and create them.

In the RPG space I gave up on all the 'actual play' podcasts. The only one I consistently listen to is On the Shoulders of Dwarves- their discussion and advice on RPGs is really good and helps me while I'm between games. I listen to spotty episodes of a few others; lately that's been in the Savage Worlds space since I backed their big Kickstarter and also the Crystal Hearts setting book (by one of the Dwarves crew).

I use Overcast for my podcasts and listen to just about everything at 1.5x or one notch above that, with "smart speed" on as well.

Qaraq have you tried the Glass Cannon for an actual play podcast? They are up to like 180 episodes and in the past year I have listened from the beginning and it was worth it. It is one long campaign so I recommend start at the beginning. Better than critical role or the second half of adventure zone for me.

Does anyone have any newish podcast they are listening to that are not gaming or true crime?

Meet My Friends the Friends. On its face a Friends recap podcast but actually an ongoing plotline comedy.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Does anyone have any newish podcast they are listening to that are not gaming or true crime?

That is a pretty broad question, is there a particular area you are interested in? Like I can recommend the Lowe Post if you want to listen to NBA stuff.

LeapingGnome wrote:
EverythingsTentative wrote:

Does anyone have any newish podcast they are listening to that are not gaming or true crime?

That is a pretty broad question, is there a particular area you are interested in? Like I can recommend the Lowe Post if you want to listen to NBA stuff.

WELCOME TO...

Here is a screen cap of all the podcast I am up-to-date on. I don't know what I want to listen to. Just something interesting and entertaining. Maybe this will give you an idea of what I like.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HxcSTOL.jpg)

There is the non-gaming podcast thread.

But otherwise listen to Behind the Bastards.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Here is a screen cap of all the podcast I am up-to-date on. I don't know what I want to listen to. Just something interesting and entertaining. Maybe this will give you an idea of what I like.

Got it. Based on that list I recommend All Songs Considered, Sawbones, Stuff You Should Know (big back catalog, pick topics that sound interesting).

Thanks. All podcast subbed and moved to the non gaming thread.

Oh wow, this thread has made me add a few more podcasts to my already packed queue. Might need to do some culling soon...

Shameless self-promotion but my buddy Steve and I did some speculation regarding AAA gaming in 2019. So if you're looking for something in the vein of bold predictions but not actually bold predictions then there ya go.

The Total War: Three Kingdoms episode of Three Moves Ahead was so, so good.