Videogame-industry veterans Mikel Reparaz and Chris Antista rally their colleagues for weekly discussions about games, the industry, and the circus of egos and information that surrounds it all.
E3 made a big splash this week, but we were too busy actually being there to record a show about it. We’ll be back with E3 impressions next week; in the meantime, please accept this short, Top 5-only show we… Read more
When a Japanese developer wants to dig up a long-abandoned franchise and market it to westerners, one common tactic is to outsource it to a western developer. Sometimes, especially in the 2000s, this came with a mandate to make the… Read more
Games crib from each other all the time, but sometimes, a new gameplay idea can be a huge hit with fans and still be widely ignored by the industry. With help from John Brandon of Square Roots Podcast, we’ll dig… Read more
Games tend to live in their own conveniently isolated universes, where the rules are different and only one hero’s journey can unfold at a time – but sometimes hidden webs of connective tissue link seemingly separate franchises. With help from… Read more
When wrestlers become actors, the results tend to be either wonderful or laughable – and wrestlers who act in video games are no exception. This week, Larry Niece of Pody Slam! joins us for a look at five standout performances… Read more
Underwater levels have a long history of being terrible, but underwater games? Those are something special. This week, we welcome special guest Cicero Holmes of Spawn On Me and Discovery Debrief as we dive into five of our favorite undersea… Read more
Last weekend, nerd culture was rocked by two huge battles on the big screen and the small one (we’re talking about Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones, naturally), so with help from PNB Podcast’s TL Foster, let’s dive into five… Read more
Avengers: Endgame is in theaters this week! What does that have to do with videogames? Plenty, because even if there’s no official tie-in game, Marvel’s Thanos/Infinity Stone arcs have been fueling games since the ’90s. With help from two very… Read more
We don’t usually let real-world tragedy make it into VGA, but the destruction at Notre Dame hit hard for us – and with medieval scholar (and Macworld editor) Leif Johnson joining us this week, we took the opportunity to honor… Read more
Game of Thrones is back this weekend, and if you don’t watch it, too bad! This week starts off with the Top 5 Game of Thrones games, with help from Thirty Twenty Ten’s Diana Goodman, so expect a healthy amount… Read more
Another April Fool’s Day is behind us, and this year brought a few fun, playable surprises our way, either showing up in familiar games or rolling out as entirely new ones. With PC Gamer’s Tyler Wilde in attendance, let’s take… Read more
With Mortal Kombat 11 revealing the return of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as (old) Shang Tsung, Jorge Albor of Experience Points rejoins us this week to talk about videogame heroes who’ve aged dramatically over the years, going from young rookies to old… Read more
With GDC in full swing this week, the core VGA cast assembles for a look at games that let you make their worlds visibly worse, twisting the landscape through your own misdeeds, apathy, or sheer force of personality. We then… Read more
With The Division 2 taking players to Washington, D.C., this week, we roped in Gamesradar+’s own Lucas Sullivan for a look at five other games that challenge you to literally fight for control of the White House. Then we switch… Read more
Reboots happen pretty frequently in entertainment; what’s much rarer is the “reboot” that later gets pushed aside so the original story can continue. This week, we’ll look at five of the best (and one of the worst), with help from… Read more
Competing game publishers don’t often let their characters out to play with each other, but when they do, the results are usually fun. This week, we celebrate five surprising crossover cameos in third-party games, with help from friend of the… Read more
When a game’s “bad” ending becomes the canonical one, interesting possibilities arise as its world and heroes continue to unravel. MacWorld’s Leif Johnson joins us this week to look at five sequels shaped by downer endings, after which we’ll plunge… Read more
Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone, so let’s bury it in style with a look at five of the best romances from BioWare games, as chosen by guest star Kayla Zumbaum of PNB Podcast. Things then take an apocalyptic… Read more