The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast - podcast cover

The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castlewww.buzzsprout.com
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 Twitter).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episodes

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 collaborators, Chris and Adam. This week's music is from the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide soundtrack...

Feb 21, 20251 hr 47 min

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.

Feb 14, 20252 hr 42 min

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 information.

Feb 07, 20252 hr 7 min

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.

Jan 24, 20251 hr 39 min

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, Yoshihito Yano and Yuri Misumi, as well as the Gitaroo Man soundtrack by COIL, Tomohiro...

Jan 17, 20252 hr 46 min

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.

Jan 10, 20251 hr 55 min

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.

Jan 03, 20251 hr 20 min

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.

Dec 27, 20242 hr 50 min

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.

Dec 20, 20242 hr 18 min

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 launch formats to be eligible (so if it got 79 on Xbox 360 but 80 on PS3, it would co...

Dec 13, 20241 hr 47 min

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.

Dec 06, 20241 hr 57 min

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 weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Nov 22, 20242 hr

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.

Nov 08, 20241 hr 19 min

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.

Nov 01, 20242 hr 38 min

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.

Oct 25, 20242 hr 2 min

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.

Oct 18, 202458 min

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.

Oct 04, 20242 hr 22 min

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.

Sep 20, 20242 hr 46 min

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.

Sep 06, 20241 hr 39 min

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.

Aug 30, 20242 hr 13 min

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 redo of the Ace Attorney Investigations games and Samuel ramble about Apex Legends no...

Aug 16, 20241 hr 20 min

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.

Aug 09, 20241 hr 54 min
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