Eurogamer Podcasts – Details, episodes & analysis

How long have you been a Eurogamer reader for? Let me put that another way: how many different Eurogamer editors do you remember? The site has been around for a long time now - 25 years this week - so there have been a few different sets of hands at the tiller. I ask because, well, I've gathered those editors together again for a very special anniversary podcast, which you can listen to right now. With me on the podcast are Eurogamer's originating editor John Bye, better known to some as Gestalt, who edited the site from its foundation in 1999 through to 2002. Then we have Kristan Reed, who took over in 2002 and ran the site through to 2008, before passing the baton to Tom Bramwell who led through to 2014. Then Oli Welsh steered Eurogamer from 2014 to 2021, before Wesley Yin-Poole took over from 2021-2023. Unfortunately Martin Robinson and Tom Phillips - our more recent editors - were unable to join because they were at Gamescom when we recorded. We also have Ellie Gibson on the podcast, who was a hugely influential voice and personality on the site, and also briefly editor of it, in 2011.  It's been years since I've seen and talked to some of these people - I worked alongside almost all of them - and in most cases, it's been years since they've talked to each other, too. Despite that, it isn't long before we all settle into a familiar rhythm as stories are told and memories shared, and many laughs are had. I've missed these people. If ever you've been curious about the roots of Eurogamer and how the site became what it did, or if you just wondered what the former editors are up to now - or maybe you just want to reminisce - then I've got the conversation for you. A huge thank you to all of my guests both for joining the podcast and for helping make Eurogamer what it is today. Many happy returns! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Originally recorded for Eurogamer's 20th anniversary, five years ago, this podcast explores where the site's obsession with puns comes from. The podcast is hosted by Matt Reynolds and features Emma Kent, Wesley Yin-Poole and Christian Donlan - all of whom have since gone on to work elsewhere or as freelance. We'll be sporadically posting more podcasts from the archive as time goes on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the unannounced but widely-expected PlayStation 5 Pro, which looks set to launch later this year. With the PS5 Pro technical specs now out in the wild, there's been plenty of discussion around what these might mean for PlayStation games running on Sony's cutting-edge hardware. But even with improvements, are we tempted by what is likely to be a £600 upgrade? And how has it been four years since the regular PS5 launched already? And yet - we are now sitting at the likely mid-point of this console generation. For some, this is the best point to be thinking about console hardware, four years after the generation began and likely around four years from the "proper" next consoles arriving. And there will be those of course still yet to upgrade from PS4 at all. Is the Pro likely to be a tempting next step? Joining me this week to discuss are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Weekly time, the podcast show where we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. Remember premium supporters get these episodes every Friday, whereas everyone else listens from Monday.   To find out more about becoming a premium subscriber, head over to Eurogamer: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe   Today on Weekly, I'm joined by editor in chief Martin Robinson and features editor Christian Donlan. We talk about the amazing space pictures pumped back from the James Webb telescope this week, which Christian is very excited about, and we dive into the Mothmen legend and new game Mothmen 1966, which again, Christian is very excited about.   Elsewhere, we take a look at the hulking beast that is Grand Theft Auto Online, we dip into Company of Heroes 3, and talk about the upcoming cinematic game As Dusk Falls, which I'm very excited about. And of course we whizz through all the other videos, features and news that stood out on the site this week.   I hope you enjoy the show.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast it's all about Nintendo Switch, which is quietly having yet another brilliant year. The last few days have seen confirmation of a new Kirby game and a Bayonetta 3 release date (finally!), adding to a solid year so far and a strong end to 2022 which will also see the likes of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It's a bumper crop - especially compared to this year's lack of first-party launches on PlayStation and - most of all - Xbox. At the same time, the way Nintendo is detailing these games is changing. Notably, there's been no big E3 week Nintendo Direct this year, as the company keeps information on Zelda and Metroid under wraps. Is this leading to an even bigger 2023 - perhaps with new Switch hardware too? Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale and Ishraq Subhan discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another Weekly, the show where we recap Eurogamer for you.   Remember, premium supporters of Eurogamer get these episodes every Friday, when they're freshest. Everyone else listens from Monday.   Today on Weekly, I'm joined by reviews editor Chris Tapsell and managing editor Matt Reynolds - no relation to Ryan Reynolds - and our major talking point is our brand new State of the Game series. Maybe you've seen Chris' League of Legends piece, or the Final Fantasy 14 piece we published yesterday.   The idea is to revisit games that have seen a bit of life, been out in the wilds of the world for a few years - or many years as the case may be. How have they changed? Are they better? What state are they in? They are the kinds of questions the series hopes to answer.   It's a great opportunity for us to dive into games that sometimes pass us by - games like League of Legends, which Chris has been itching to write about for years, or games like Final Fantasy 14, which is somehow, eight years into its life, having its most prosperous era ever. And there are plenty more.   Elsewhere, we take a closer look at Pokémon Go (an ideal candidate for that State of the Game series), which turned six years old this summer. Can you believe it? I still remember the excitement of spotting people playing it in the park. People, outside, playing video. It was, and still is, remarkable.   Matt Reyolds knows the game very well. He can still remember the shambolic first Go Fest event he went to in Chicago. But Go Fest returned after an extended three-year COVID break this year in Berlin, and our Tom Phillips went to see what it was like.   I also talk a bit more about being a judge for the Green Game Jam this year, which I really enjoyed and I was encouraged by, but I'd love to see more big gaming companies taking part next year.    All that plus a whistle-stop tour of the news - God of War: Ragnarok is actually coming out this year! - and other features, reviews and videos, that caught our eye on the site this week.   I'm Bertie, this was Weekly, we'll see you next week.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the Weekly show, we're talking Pride Week, as well as recapping the rest of Eurogamer for you.   My guests wrote some of the wonderful pieces we've published as part of Pride Week. They are show newcomers Ed Nightingale, a news reporter on Eurogamer - who you'll recognise from the Newscast - and, all the way from tabletop land, Dicebreaker senior staff writer Alex Meehan. Alex often writes the Dicebreaker Recommends posts you see on Eurogamer each month.   Ed helped organise Pride Week this year so we begin with his thoughts on it, before moving onto his interview with the first openly trans eSports caster, Eli "Captain Fluke". She's blazing a trail in the Rainbow Six Siege and Valorant worlds and helping power a self-fulfilling loop of change there.   Alex, meanwhile, wrote about how a visual novel game called Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers provided her with a safe space to enjoy her sexuality away from the preconceptions and pressure sometimes attached to it. She also wrote about loud and proud tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians, calling it "a glorious escape from inhibition".   Pride Week has been brilliant and there are still some pieces to come. My  podcast interview with BioWare/Dragon Age legend David Gaider is among them and will be made available to everyone later today. A big shout out to Matt Wales for putting the whole week together, and to Lottie Lynn and Ed for helping him.   Also on Weekly, we talk about super-exciting new Devolver game Cult of the Lamb, which I've just fallen in love with; we take a closer look at  timeline-altering horror game Eternal Threads, which Vikki has just reviewed; and we whisk through the recent Nintendo Direct, singling out the announcements that stood out to us. Ed manages to also talk about Lady D stepping on him again as he looks forward to Resident Evil Village DLC Shadows of Rose. That, plus everything else that caught my eye around the site this week.   I'm Bertie, this was Weekly, and we'll see you next week.   Eurogamer supporters get Weekly episodes every Friday, ahead of everyone else. They also get One-to-one episodes two weeks early, plus a whole host of other benefits. To find out more about becoming a Eurogamer supporter, head over to the Eurogamer website: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Apologies for this episode's recording quality.)   I don't think David Gaider needs much of an introduction. He, affectionately, is mister Dragon Age. He was the one tasked with dreaming up the entire world and everything in it. We talk about it in this episode of One-to-one. BioWare's James Ohlen apparently gave Gaider a historic atlas and an "off you go".   But how did he go about creating it - where do you even start with something like that? And what did the original vision for Dragon Age look like? Well, I can tell you it didn't have any Darkspawn in it, which is wild, considering Darkspawn were the main threat in the game and featured heavily in the series thereafter. And get this: originally, you weren't going to be able to cast any offensive magic spells in the game either - imagine that!   Gaider was also a key figure in the rise of LGBTQ+ representation and same-sex relationships in BioWare games, and is the creator of arguably the studio's most famous characters in this regard, Dorian. Curiously, though, it wasn't Gaider who started the same-sex relationships push but someone else, in Jade Empire - he doesn't remember who. 'Whaaat we can do that?' He remembers thinking when he saw it, and the rest was history.   But being gay was a side of himself he kept pretty quiet at BioWare, feeling it wouldn't gel with the "frat boy" atmosphere he felt around him. It wasn't until Canada legalised same-sex marriage and a wedding email thread went around, garndering many enthusiastic replies, that he realised he'd maybe worried for no reason, and relaxed.   Gaider has had a remarkable effect on BioWare and its games. And to think that he initially turned down a job offer there because it seemed like a scruffy company with an uncertain future, compared to his managerial post at a hotel nearby. I know: he wasn't even working in games! But he did live in games, having played Dungeons & Dragons since it began and in writing parlour LARPS of his own.   BioWare and Dragon Age were quite a long time ago for Gaider now, though. He talks me through his reasons for leaving and how he felt the company was changing. Fast-forward to today and he lives on the other side of the world in Australia, where he helped co-found a studio making a brilliant-sounding role-playing musical called Stray Gods: An Adventure Musical. But how does a musical RPG work? David Gaider tells me a lot more about it.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I can't believe she flipped a coin to decide the degree she'd do. If it had fallen differently, she might have been on an archaeological dig somewhere now, in Egypt, looking at ancient bones. But instead she's here as the guides editor of Eurogamer, looking at ancient writers like me.   She is Lottie Lynn and much to our benefit, the coin she flipped landed on 'writing' instead, something that's been a driving passion in her life since forever. She's published short stories and is even working on not one but two novels at the same time, as you do. Moreover, she's one of the only people I know to still write a lot of this by hand. She fills piles of notebooks with meticulous handwriting, even while sitting by her computer in the office - a hybrid approach, I suppose she'd call it.   So how does that land her in guides? Well, I was surprised to discover she'd written some as a teenager for GameFAQs, though they don't exist any more. Apparently she'd always had an eye on games journalism, and when working as a farm labourer (!) wasn't quite ticking the box, she gave herself a year to pursue a dream instead. And look how it turned out.   Lottie is a font of knowledge on all things guides, of course. She talks me through how they come together, what makes a good guide, and shares lots of really useful advice for anyone considering that avenue into games.   Lottie is also a font of knowledge about RuneScape, a defining game in her life, one she's played for 16 years now. It's even partially responsible for jump-starting her career. And it's a curious game, one I'll admit I didn't fully understand, as I looked down my nose at it from my other-MMO background - not until I started to appreciate the way people actually play it. Lottie, of course, explains it better.   So this is Lottie Lynn and this is episode 17 of One-to-one (the series formerly known as The New Eurogamer Podcast). I hope you enjoy it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Weekly time, which means strap in while we recap Eurogamer this week for you. All you have to do is press play. I know, I know, we're spoiling you - you don't even have to read the site any more (note: you definitely do).   My guests today are Martin "the chief" Robinson and Chris "the brain" Tapsell, and we've got a lot to talk about. There's the whole PlayStation Plus relaunch, for starters. Is it any good? Chris has thoughts, as you might have already read, and Martin has plenty too.    Chris also has plenty to say about a game he reviewed this week called Milky Way Star - The Vampire Prince, which is a niche kind of visual novel but sounds fascinating when explained. Meanwhile, Martin explains the charms of musou games, as we talk Fire Emblem: Three Hopes, then tells us about his candid interview with DICE about what's next for Battlefield 2042 after its disastrous launch. He's a big fan and suffice to say, he's enthused.   All that plus some chit-chat about Creative Assembly's new game Hyenas, which we're on the fence about; Yuji Naka hanging out with Michael Jackson, which, yeah; plus lots more feature, news and video talk besides.   Weekly is released every Friday for supporters and everyone else listens from Monday. I hope you enjoy the show. We'll see you next week.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices