Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

After more than a decade of squandered potential, BioWare is no more. We eulogise the studio and explore how it became a cautionary tale for everything that can go wrong for a successful game developer.

Plus, at the end, you get some bullshit BioWare awards. We're still The Back Page, after all!

This week's music is from the Mass Effect 2: Overlord soundtrack by Christopher Lennertz.

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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.

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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 reveal their top ten lists.

This week's music is from the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck, and the Baldur's Gate soundtrack by Michael Hoenig.

You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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, or ping us at backpagegames@gmail.com. 

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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:

1. Game featuring Mario
2. Game featuring Link
3. 90+ on Metacritic
4. Game with novel touchscreen controls
5. Game made in Japan
6. Game made outside Japan
7. Port or re-release
8. Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)
9. Free pick
10. Was advertised on the telly by a celebrity 

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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

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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. 

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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. 

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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 backpagegames@gmail.com.

Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta, Howard Lincoln talking about Rare, Nintendo's Space World, Games World's segment from the Sega booth at E3 1997 and B-roll of the games shown at Space World. 

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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. 

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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 episode.

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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. 

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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.

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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:

1. Single-player shooter
2. Multiplayer shooter
3. Sim (including immersive sim)
4. Game with emphasis on movement or platforming
5. Narrative or horror game
6. Game from the last 5 years
7. RPG
8. Free pick
9. Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)
10. Game with notable first-person animations (either involving your hands or the faces of other characters)

This is the Deus Ex: Invisible War-like game Jeremy referenced during this episode. 

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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. 

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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 Kondo. 

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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.

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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. 

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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

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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. 

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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. 

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Two top 10 lists from an amazing year for video games.

This week's music is from the Tetris Effect soundtrack by Hydelic. 

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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.

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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 Batchelor's history of the series.

Music in this week's episode is from the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen soundtrack by Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda and Morikazu Aoki, and the Dark Auction soundtrack by Yuko Komiyama, Tsukasa Masuko and others.

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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. 

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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 Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda and Yutaro Takakuwa.

These are the categories if you need a refresh:

1. First-person shooter level (singleplayer)
2. First-person shooter level (multiplayer)
3. Lightgun stage
4. Multiplayer level (can't be an fps)
5. Platforming level
6. Mission in an open world or larger game
7. Bonus level
8. Boss battle
9. Worst level and location I'd doom my worst enemy to live in 
10. Free pick

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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. 

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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. 

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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 backpagesgames@gmail.com. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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!

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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, Final Fantasy X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Final Fantasy VII (and the remakes), Botany Manor, Ori and the Blind Forest (just the intro), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Fable 2, What Remains of Edith Finch, Halo: Reach, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

But...most of it is pretty topline, and it's well worth a listen. Find Lucy's latest game VIDEOVERSE on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.

This week's music is from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.

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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.

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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 soundtrack by Hidenori Shoji. 

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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). 

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