Questions this week: Let’s talk about the rebranding of Gamasutra to Game Developer. (03:43) What are the best video game postmortems? (10:41) What are the most common mistakes when someone first gets into video games? (15:24) Which video game characters have the most complicated morning routines? (20:46) What video game or game adjacent companies should be renamed? (25:54) Dirtbag MoxBagel asks: Is it possible to have fans take games less seriously as an identity and more seriously as creative ...
Sep 06, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 201
After Frank’s brief absences, the full Insert Credit panel reunites upon their two hundredth battle. The task? Their greatest foe yet: one hundred rapid fire questions from the more than 420 dirtbags at patreon.com/insertcredit . Each panelist has four skips, but will it be enough to survive your best? Find out now! Have you considered discussing this episode in the forums ? A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED: Hershers Pizza Ep. 19 - Interactacular Ep. 180 - Insert Credit 20th Anniversary Ep...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 200
Editorial director of Digital Eclipse Chris Kohler joins the panel to cover bug-free cartridge games, on air game history research, and a brutal round of Famicom Feud. Original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: Mathew Kumar asks: What are the “phantom games” in your collection? (03:59) Which areas of games are most in need of preservation? (10:36) What’s the line between stealing an idea and iterating on it in video game design? (16:26) What are some mundane activities that would make ...
Aug 23, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 199
Fan favorite panelists Ash Parrish and Liz Ryerson return triumphant to to cover Knuckles, vaporwave, and the multitude of things the hell wrong with video games. Questions this week: Let’s talk about Idris Elba as Knuckles (05:02) What are some cool video game collections you know about? (10:42) If you were in charge of a Fortnite music fest, who would you feature? (17:22) Are video games part of vaporwave? (23:00) Dirtbag Sleepy Nice demands: Name five metal genres, then assign five video game...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 198
Game designer, composer, and co-creator of Idle Thumbs Chris Remo joins the panel along with Mathew “Agent of Chaos” Kumar to cover the Honda Prelude, Crossword of the Dead, and live on-air cat noises. Questions this week: Jeff Gerstmann asks: What’s the coolest vehicle to ever appear in a video game? (04:54) Are the Myst games still good? What should people play instead? (10:55) What kind of feeling does acoustic guitar give to a game? (16:41) What’s better in a video game, an elevator or stair...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 197
Insert Credit Fighting Game Correspondent Patrick Miller rejoins the panel to cover questions from the world’s hottest editor and producer , as well as lightly flavored sparkling water, the hottest games in palladiums, $5 bets, and WEEEEEED, DUUUUDE!!! Original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: What game characters smoke weed, and what game characters are narcs? (06:11) What are some underrated gamer snacks? (11:52) What are memorable video game dreams? (17:42) Do you think Bayonetta a...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 196
Game journalist and Giant Bomb co-founder Jeff Gerstmann joins the panel to cover The Wheelman, phone phreaking, and Super Sushi Pinball. Questions this week: Rachel Weil asks: What are you favorite hidden gem video game reviews? (03:20) What does Frank have to report on his two-week absence to save video games? (09:20) What’s going on with the video game speculator market? (14:43) How and why did Giant Bomb become a wiki for video games, and hows that going? (19:57) Design a game about phone ph...
Jul 26, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 195
Artist and FEMICOM founder Rachel Weil alongside gamedev Lotte May join the panel to cover the Bally Astrocade, Jaffe’s favorite isekai, and Amethyst Princess of Gemworld. Questions this week: What’s the deal with the Steam Deck? (03:44) How does femininity best express itself in video games? (08:10) How can we translate the appeal of mahou shoujo into video games? (13:31) What’s the relation between video games and glitch art? (18:35) Excluding Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Sega, who are the to...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 194
Writer, game designer, and professor Ian Bogost joins the panel along with Kotaku and Insert Credit regular Ash Parrish to cover Hairizon Zero Dawn, Gex vs. Bubsy, and Sonic Actually Being Back. Original music by Kurt Feldman, including the all new Violence Island theme! Questions this week: From Liz Ryerson : What’s your favorite romhack? (06:04) Which video game metrics and features do critics tend to ignore? (11:17) Which games were most affected by ESRB ratings? (16:34) What are the best non...
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 193
Happy Canada Day! To celebrate, Brandon and Frank (American) along with writer, designer and Insert Credit regular Mathew Kumar (Scottish) and legendary game designer Bennett Foddy (Australian) determine the greatest British video games of all time. Original music by Kurt Feldman. The List, in order of discussion: Sonic R (05:51) Lemmings (09:02) Pipe Mania!! (12:03) Burnout Paradise (15:20) Alien Resurrection (17:29) Elite (21:27) Damocles (25:34) Where Time Stood Still (29:46) TxK (33:40) Skoo...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 192
Musician, writer, and Insert Credit regular Liz Ryerson returns to cover lawyer angels, Charles Martinet’s infidelity, and Le Console. Questions this week: Kelsey Lewin asks: What’s the recipe for the worst way to play Super Mario Bros.? (03:42) Has a spiritual sequel to a game ever surpassed it? (08:58) How would you commemorate a series 30th anniversary when you have no new games to announce? (13:16) Can listening to a game’s soundtrack spoil the game? (18:00) How have video games failed the q...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 191
Co-director of the Video Game History Foundation Kelsey Lewin joins the panel to discuss how weird the letter 7 is, the WonderSwan, and Metallica covers of Barney songs. Original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: Brandon Sheffield asks: What is the best video game console nobody actually plays? (03:56) What would be the best way for a disgraced indie developer to announce his retirement? (09:19) What are the pros and cons of controlling multiple party members? (14:14) What’s the next u...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 190
Questions this week: From Frank Cifaldi: What’s up with E3? (03:47) How is the Korean video game industry different from other parts of the industry? (09:45) What are the biggest headaches in the world of video game translation and localization? (14:38) What’s the ugliest video game hardware you’ve ever seen? (19:42) What video game eggs would make the best omelettes? (24:13) Dirtbag Kory asks: How do you define the Japanese use of the word ‘gear’? (29:45) Which two game industry figures have ne...
Jun 14, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 189
Questions this week: From Brandon Sheffield: How would you run a cafe-arcade hybrid, and what would you call it? (03:10) How would video games be different if Microsoft bought Nintendo twenty years ago? (10:33) What factors decide whether a video game should be first person view or third person view? (15:02) What historical video game hardware breakthroughs are bigger deals than people realize? (20:26) What scenes do you hope to see in the new restored version of the Super Mario Bros. Movie? (25...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 188
Washington Post Video Games Reporter Gene Park joins the panel to cover 3D growing pains, Magic: the Gathering card theft, and the return to that mountain of murder, Violence Island. Questions this week: From Mathew Kumar : What’s your “ol’ trusty” game peripheral? (03:34) Which franchise presented the more exciting future this week: Dragon Quest or Sonic the Hedgehog? (08:37) How has eBay’s recent reorganization impacted game history preservation? (14:04) Violence Island: Sonic’s Best Friend (1...
May 31, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 187
With our regular host recovering from vaccination, Riot Games’ Alex Jaffe steps in along with Insert Credit correspondent Mathew Kumar to dig into our Dirtbag of Patreon subscriber submitted questions. (Content warning: conversation takes a pretty morbid turn in question 5. Also it’s a Mathew Kumar episode, so there is some swearing.) Questions this week: What should Brandon do with all these copies of TV Sports Football and Hockey? (06:37) TheFragranceOfDarkCoffee asks: Whats the best heist in ...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 186
Translator and media critic Kazuma Hashimoto joins the panel to cover zabbing bloboids, the three hundred and twenty six pathways of Shadow the Hedgehog, and The Masked Tuber. Questions this week: Liz Ryerson asks: What’s the hot new genre of video game in the year 2050? (06:11) Is there a spectrum of quality for pachislot games? (11:02) What defining element of a video game series do you wish the developers would be more flexible with? (15:43) What were the most self-ruinous business decisions ...
May 17, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 185
Liz Ryerson triumphantly joins the panel to cover DDR dance pads, Batman games, and Burger Time Royale with Cheese. Questions this week: What are we learning about the video game industry from the Apple v. Epic court case? (03:52) What would be an interesting game series to play a Shuffler of? (09:04) Is there something you’ve wanted to see video games do for a long time, but once they finally did it you weren’t that impressed? (15:25) Which property-based video games take the greatest liberty w...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 184
Jim Stormdancer , developer of Frog Fractions and host of Topic Lords joins the panel to hearld/warn of the return of The Noid, how to craft an ARG, and The Insert Credit Greatest Game of All Time (ICGGOAT). (Content warning: This episode contains strong language.) Questions this week: We Need To Talk About The Noid (00:57) What game did you have to learn to like before liking it? (06:29) Is there a line between surprising players and not giving them the game they paid for? (09:34) What do we ha...
May 03, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 183
A half hour bonus episode of unaired material, previously exclusive to Patreon subscribers. Subscribe now for more like this! Original music by Kurt Feldman. (Ep. 175) Brandon explains who could potentially enjoy the film Pyscho Gore Man and talks about how incredible Mark Dacascos is. Special Guest Topher Docfuture Florence explains what he would have liked Batman: Soul of the Dragon to be and discusses Hong Kong filmmaking economics. Frank identifies which Daredevil comic Brandon is talking ab...
Apr 26, 2021•30 min
Fanbyte writer and podcaster merritt k sits with the panel to cover the darkness within Viva Pinata, Bad Boy Reggie Fils Aime, and an explanation of what Touhou actually is. Original music by Kurt Feldman. (Content warning: This episode contains strong language.) Questions this week: From Ash Parrish : Congress has a button to destroy all video games, and you’ve been brought in to convince them not to press it. What’s the worst game to present? (03:25) What are the most egregious cases of fallin...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 182
Game journalist and friend of the show Ash Parrish returns to cover Amiga AI, alien boyfriends, and pynball. Questions this week: From Heather Alexandra : What game has the tastiest potions? (03:53) What’s something you never want to see in a video game again? (08:27) What are the best achievements in video game AI development? (12:56) Which officially released video games are most transparently fanfiction of other games? (17:37) Design the perfect romancable alien RPG NPC, but make them distinc...
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 181
Twenty years of insertcredit.com , as remembered by past and present contributors. Featuring Vincent Diamante , Chris Woodard, Azurelore Korrigan , Patrick Miller , and more. Questions this week: What do you remember about the GP32, and how does obscure hardware fit in Insert Credit’s taste? (07:20) What are the best video game comeback stories? (11:42) If Insert Credit could secure the film rights to any video game, what would it be? (16:09) What gets changed when porting a video game? (19:19) ...
Apr 12, 2021•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 180
The panel opens the Dirtbag, joined by game developer and composer Tyriq Plummer . Also covered: petty attract modes, the steamy details of Wario’s parentage, and Bleomard Nimoy. Questions this week: David asks: What are your favorite home console attract modes? (01:33) Big Steve Lasanga asks: is the pursuit of “legitimacy” by prestige games a creative dead end? (04:46) Sam asks: Why aren’t there more genre mash-ups in video games? (09:22) Shun asks: what would a Quadruple A video game be like? ...
Apr 05, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 179
Special guests Kris Graft of Gamasutra and Mathew Kumar of Future Club join the show to rank the top 20.17 Xbox 360 games of all time, as well as discuss unconventional promotion techniques, vanilla cake, and living to see yourself as a robot. THE INSERT CREDIT XBOX 360 TOP 20.17: Deadly Premonition Left 4 Dead NieR Gestalt Dead Rising Bloody Checkers Halo: Reach Gears of War Mamotte Knight Pac-Man Championship Edition Rock Band Lost Planet 2 Lost Odyssey Bullet Witch Ridge Racer 6 Geometry Wars...
Mar 29, 2021•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 178
Double Fine’s Heather Alexandra joins the panel to cover Jerry Lewis, beating coins out of people, and The Ultimate MacGuffin. Questions this week: Previously on Insert Credit 20: You encounter someone who, quote, “plays video games for the story.” What games can you assume they own? (7:12) What does it mean to be a community manager for a game studio that mostly makes single player games? (12:35) What are the most video gamey things you’ve seen in real life? (18:04) It’s been one year since we ...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 177
Ash Parrish rejoins the panel to cover Final Fantasy XIV’s superiority, the Screaming Idea, and G4M3R5. Questions this week: Previously on Insert Credit 86: What games not originally designed for arcades would best make the transition to arcades? (01:58) What specifically makes Final Fantasy XIV the best MMO game? (05:17) Which games have benefitted the most from changing course during development? (10:37) What game features the greatest distance of quality between how good the music is and how ...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 176
Topher “Docfuture” Florence joins the panel to cover holographic divorce, appeasement of the Froot Brute contingent, and Lammypedia. Questions this week: Previously on Insert Credit 31: Design a game for the Star Trek holodeck. (06:36) Which games in genres with traditionally minimal or completely absent narratives have the most compelling stories? (12:05) What would Animal Crossing be like if Tom Nook were as villainous as internet memes say he is? (17:38) Which corporate mascot has the most po...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 175
Liz Ryerson joins your favorite 7/10 podcast to cover the secret origins of CapyGames, the true name of the Saturn, and misunderstanding pixel art. Questions this week: Previously on Insert Credit #12: Which video game soundtracks are notable for their use of uncommonly heard instruments? (05:07) What musicians would you have chosen to celebrate Pokemon’s 25th anniversary? (10:06) Which video games are the best at inducing claustrophobia? (15:28) Which is better: games about upward movement, or ...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 174
Content warning: Brandon says a swear at 53:03, but it’s justified. Special guest Lotte May joins a Tim-less panel to have a chill hangout. This episode is a Chill Version features three new lofi tracks from Kurt Feldman! Questions this week: Previously on Insert Credit #14: If you could send 3 portable games to everybody in the world, what would they be? Game Boy Color edition (04:26) How will strategy guides in the Library of Congress benefit future Americans? (09:37) Why are some games so muc...
Feb 22, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 173
