Nathan Grayson - Podcast Details

Shows

Aftermath HoursJoJo’s AI Adventure (With Ed Zitron)On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita engage in a savvy act of brand synergy by bringing on extremely vocal AI critic and friend of the show Ed Zitron to celebrate the release of Aftermath’s new “Destroy AI” shirt, which we made in conjunction with Kim Hu, an incredible (human) artist, and are very proud of. We eventually get around to talking about the extra-shimmery AI bubble, but first: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Ed got into it recently, and ⅗ of Aftermath have been obsessed with it for years, so obviously we’ve got to ramble like a runaway train...2025-05-091h 50

Aftermath HoursRIP Polygon and Giant BombOn a very special (for bad reasons) episode of Aftermath Hours, Nathan, Riley, Chris, and Luke convene to mourn the apparent – and horrifyingly sudden – passing of two games media institutions: Polygon and Giant Bomb. None of this was, strictly speaking, necessary, with the former an unqualified success in terms of traffic and regard while the latter boasted a dedicated audience drawn to its unique mix of personalities. But of course, execs decided to gut both – on the same day, no less – and now we’re left wondering what comes next. Independent, worker-owned sites like ours hope to pave a path towar...2025-05-022h 15

Aftermath HoursWeeb Been Watching Some Anime (With Isaiah Colbert)This week Nathan and Chris are joined by Aftermath’s first-ever regular contributor, Isaiah Colbert, to talk about the latter’s speciality: anime. It does not take long for this to spiral into a fittingly multi-part conversation about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but we also manage to at least briefly tackle issues pertaining to labor in the anime and manga industries and fans’ reaction (or lack thereof) to pervasive crunch at major studios. Then we discuss Nathan’s big, months-in-the-making report on OTK, a streamer organization headed up by Twitch stars like Asmongold and Mizkif which finds itself facing an uncerta...2025-04-181h 39

Aftermath HoursInside Baseball Week II (With Defector, 404 Media, And Hell Gate)To celebrate the return of Inside Baseball Week – during which we publish a barrage of stories about the lesser-known parts of game dev, the ins and outs of games journalism, and other topics so specific no other website would ever touch them – we put together a roundtable about worker-owned media featuring Aftermath’s Nathan Grayson and Riley MacLeod, Defector’s David Roth, 404 Media’s Emanuel Maiberg, and Hell Gate’s Max Rivlin-Nader. We go deep on all sorts of topics: What was the hardest part of starting a publication in this mold? How did you know when you’d found your sit...2025-04-111h 53

Aftermath HoursDonkey Kong Rap 2 (With Mike Drucker)This week Nathan and Chris are joined by special guest Mike Drucker, comedian and writer on shows like Adam Ruins Everything, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, to talk about his new book, Good Game, No Rematch: A Life Made of Video Games. We discuss how games and people’s relationship to them have changed over the years – and also the time Mike got shot in the dick with a paintball gun while working for Nintendo. Speaking of Nintendo, we then move on to the Switch 2, which the company finally revealed in earnest this...2025-04-041h 22

Aftermath HoursBig Boy Size Nathan (This Title Was Gita’s Idea)This week Nathan, Gita, and Riley briefly talk about their true passion, shirts, before elegantly segueing into a conversation about Ubisoft’s extremely eventful week: The embattled publisher announced that it’s spinning off its most successful series, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, into a separate subsidiary thanks to a $1.25 billion investment from Chinese conglomerate Tencent. What does this mean for those remaining aboard the Ubisoft mothership? And will this lead to even more heads rolling following layoffs and studio closures in December? Then we move on to the AI abomination of the week: an image...2025-03-281h 34

Aftermath Hours108 Out Of 10 (With Aidan Moher)This week Nathan and Chris are joined by freelance writer Aidan Moher to discuss his upcoming book about Suikoden I and II, a pair of sneakily influential JRPGs from the PS1 era that, yes, are very much worth writing an entire book about. Then we discuss news from the eye of the pre-GDC storm: Next week thousands of game developers will convene in San Francisco to network and exchange knowledge, but a growing number of non-US-based devs are dropping out due to Trump’s hostile policies and erratic governance. After that we talk about Sony and Microsoft both introducing ne...2025-03-141h 22

Aftermath HoursDry January For Waifus This week Nathan, Chris, and Riley overcome a slew of technical issues to bring you the latest news about guys who suck. First we discuss two Twitch dramas that broke containment and produced consequences that reverberated into the wider world: Several female streamers, Valkyrae, Cinna, Emiru, and Amouranth, found themselves in severe mortal peril during the same night and Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker was briefly banned for suggesting that if Republican lawmakers really wanted to act on their principles, they’d “kill Rick Scott,” a current senator and former healthcare CEO who oversaw what the Department of Justice called “the largest heal...2025-03-071h 28

Better OfflineHow Growth Is Killing Video GamesIn this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Gita Jackson and Nathan Grayson of worker-owned games site Aftermath to talk about how the growth-at-all-costs mindset is destroying games, how fandom culture naturally feeds extremism, how Aftermath does games journalism differently, and how despite everything, great games are still being made. Gita Jackson:https://bsky.app/profile/xoxogossipgita.bsky.social https://aftermath.site/author/gita-jackson Nathan Grayson: https://aftermath.site/author/nathan-graysonhttps://bsky.app/profile/nathangrayson.bsky.social Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Beh...2025-03-051h 13

Aftermath HoursRIP Monolith This week Nathan and Gita accidentally burst the dam on another wellspring of Riley Lore – perhaps the wildest yet – before we all move on to a discussion of more sobering matters: WB recently closed three video game studios, including Monolith, the makers of quietly revolutionary games like No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R., and Shadow of Mordor, as well as the upcoming (now-canceled) Wonder Woman game. WB, of course, has proven especially eager to dumpster promising projects beyond the world of games in recent years, but what portion of this sickness is specific to the company and wher...2025-02-282h 04

The Distraction: A Defector PodcastYour Kids Are Mid with Nathan GraysonNathan Grayson, co-founder of Aftermath and author of the new book Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen, talks to Drew and Roth about game streaming. Is Twitch a healthy company? Do the streamers like being on it? And how does this all feel in contrast to creating their worker-owned-journalism outfit? And as always, they dive into the Funbag, answering real questions from real listeners.Do you want to hear your question answered on the pod? Well, give us a call at 909-726-3720. That is 909-PANERA-0!2025-02-271h 02

Aftermath HoursExchanging (Opinions About) Avowed This week Nathan, Chris, and Luke find themselves champing at the bit to talk about Avowed, which they can’t stop playing, but first, The News: NetEase shocked the game-playing public by laying off members of the team behind Marvel Rivals, the biggest breakout success story to come out of the live service sector in years. What happened? Well, decaying relations between the United States and China, for one, but also a seismic shift in how Chinese companies are developing games. Then we discuss Microsoft’s new “Muse” AI, which it intends on shoehorning into game development projects – a plan you w...2025-02-211h 21

Aftermath HoursExchanging (Opinions About) AvowedThis week Nathan, Chris, and Luke find themselves champing at the bit to talk about Avowed, which they can’t stop playing, but first, The News: NetEase shocked the game-playing public by laying off members of the team behind Marvel Rivals, the biggest breakout success story to come out of the live service sector in years. What happened? Well, decaying relations between the United States and China, for one, but also a seismic shift in how Chinese companies are developing games. Then we discuss Microsoft’s new “Muse” AI, which it intends on shoehorning into game development projects – a plan you w...2025-02-211h 21

Giant Bombcast877: Revengeance | Avowed, Split Fiction, and more w/ Nathan GraysonGrubb, Dan, Tam, and Niki assemble to discuss their time with Avowed and the upcoming Split Fiction! They're joined by Aftermath's Nathan Grayson, who also discusses his new book about Twitch, Stream Big!Pre-order Stream Big here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Stream-Big/Nathan-Grayson/9781982156763 2025-02-151h 16

Aftermath HoursThe Downfall Of Civilization This week Nathan, Chris, and Luke convene on the eve – if we’re measuring in podcast time – of Nathan’s book release (Stream Big, available wherever books are sold) to talk mostly about other stuff. First up, Activision and former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick both got into dustups with CWA, the union that represents over 1,000 workers across Microsoft and Activision, with Kotick claiming that harassment suits against Activision Blizzard were “fake,” engineered to juice CWA membership, while – over here in the real world – CWA is working to get an Activision employee his job back after he was fired (allegedly) for talking abou...2025-02-141h 30

Aftermath HoursLovable Rascals (With Rowan Zeoli) This week Nathan and Riley are joined by special guest Rowan Zeoli of Rascal, an independent, reader-supported, worker-owned outlet for journalism about tabletop roleplaying games not unlike Aftermath. The site is celebrating one year of life on the increasingly tumultuous planet Earth with a subscription drive, so we ask Rowan how things are going (pretty well!) and then dig into a harrowingly powerful piece she recently wrote about roleplaying the January 6 insurrection in a Brooklyn warehouse. What can we learn from living out these moments in a controlled, game-like environment? And why don’t wargames recreate modern history more of...2025-02-071h 41

Aftermath HoursBioWare-fore Art Thou (With Kat Bailey) This week Nathan and Riley are joined by special guest Kat Bailey, former news director at IGN and current host of the Axe of the Blood God podcast, to discuss a news week that’s certainly been… interesting. First we talk about the entire staff of long-running video game site God Is A Geek quitting after its now-ex-priest owner threw up a Nazi salute at a pro-life conference. Guess you can only get away with that shit if you’re a billionaire. Then we dig into BioWare’s recent post-Dragon Age woes, with EA reshuffling some developers into non-BioWare teams an...2025-01-311h 21

The 42castThe 42cast Episode 225: Hitting the Mark (Invincible Edition)It was a title so good that we had to use it twice. In this episode we take a deep dive on Invincible. It’s a coming of age story about Mark Grayson, a teenager who has to navigate attaining super powers, his father’s secret, and getting into college. We discuss the phenomenal story and what makes it so unique at a time when we have so much superhero content. We also talk about the phenomenal voice work and the great care that goes into selecting each and every voice. Along the way we navigate the comic origins of t...2025-01-2700 min

Aftermath HoursWoke 2: Good, Switch 2: ??? This week Nathan, Chris, and Luke break down Nintendo’s long-awaited reveal of the Switch 2 – although we use the term “reveal” loosely. After months of speculation, we now know… what it will look like. And it looks like a Nintendo Switch! Some people, Chris included, are disappointed by this. Nintendo used to swing for the fences with its hardware ideas, but now it’s navigating a world of its own creation – one filled with Steam Decks and Asus Rog Allies. Can its Apple-like iteration strategy keep it at the head of the handheld pack, or is it already falling behind simply...2025-01-171h 29

Aftermath HoursThe Gaming Angle (With Chris Bratt) This week Nathan and Gita are joined by Chris Bratt of People Make Games – one of the best investigative outlets in all of video games – to discuss his new video about workplace abuse at outsourcing studios in southeast Asia. We try to get to the bottom of why big video game companies turn a blind eye to these sorts of incidents, which in this case include a manager convincing a subordinate to slap herself in the face 100 times as an act of penance. Yeah, it’s bad! Then we talk about how the wildfires currently raging in California – which are disp...2025-01-101h 42

Aftermath HoursDeck The Halls With Balatros Of Holly This week Nathan, Chris, and Riley convene just before the holidays for the final show of the year. We discuss a little of everything: Our favorite Game Awards reveals (Onimusha, an orb game exemplar, is back, and so is Okami!) as well as some that have us less thrilled (more Neil Druckmann nihilism in Intergalactic: The Heretic, Borderlands 4’s continuation of the series’ quiet identity crisis). Then we talk about SAG-AFTRA voice actors demonstrating outside the show and the potential impacts of a Trump presidency on their future prospects. After that, we briefly touch on cameras in games, which abso...2024-12-201h 28

Aftermath HoursVideo Game History Hour(s) (With Frank Cifaldi) This week, Nathan, Chris, and Luke are joined by Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation, but not until near the end of the episode, because Frank had multiple other podcasts to be on that day (he’s very important). We discuss the unique needs of a video game archive – for example, remote access to games, something the US Copyright Office recently refused to grant after a three-year effort on the part of the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network – and what the Foundation has been able to accomplish this year despite a government and indust...2024-12-062h 08

Aftermath HoursThe Sky Is Bluer On The Other Side (With Ryan Broderick) This week, Nathan and Gita are joined by Ryan Broderick of the fantastic Garbage Day newsletter to discuss all the latest trends in the world of Online. We begin by talking about Bluesky and the potentially fatal blow Twitter has sustained at its hands. Or, well, more accurately, at Elon Musk’s hands, but Bluesky has far and away been the main beneficiary of Trump’s wannabe baby boy’s bumblings. Can the good times last, though? Or will Bluesky eventually become a massive crock of shit, just like every other social media platform? After that, we dig into the my...2024-11-221h 55

Aftermath HoursOne Year Down, One Million More To Go This week, Nathan, Luke, and Chris are, despite the state of the world, in a celebratory mood, because Aftermath just turned one! When we launched this site a year ago, we had no idea how it’d go – we thought it’d either crash and burn or succeed beyond our wildest dreams, neither of which have happened – but we’re exceedingly pleased with where we’ve ended up. We discuss lessons we’ve learned and our favorite moments from the past year, as well as some news – specifically, our own feature about how freelancers are propping up games journalism (and getting paid...2024-11-151h 57

Aftermath HoursThe Horse Is Back In The Hospital (With Mel Buer) This week, Nathan and Riley are joined by special guest Mel Buer of The Real News Network, a very good nonprofit newsroom, to discuss what we, as normal people, can do in the wake of Trump’s reelection and the rise of fascism in the United States. The short version? Organize! Not just your workplace, but also your local community. Meet your neighbors. Start a community garden. Put together a game night. The government isn’t going to save us, so we’ve got to. We also touch on the recent New York Times Tech Guild strike and the callou...2024-11-081h 33

Aftermath HoursMore Like Fan-Dumb [Loud Incorrect Buzzer Sound] This week, Nathan, Luke, and Riley lament the untimely end of Firewalk, the studio that made Concord to Sony’s specifications and then promptly got dumpstered for it. Once again, creatives are suffering for executives’ poor decision making, and everybody’s worse off for it. Will the industry actually learn from this? We can only hope. Then we move on to yet more media layoffs, this time at Fandom, which owns GameSpot, among other sometimes-baffling properties (TV’s Guide’s website? OK, sure, I guess). We then discuss this week’s largely idiotic Dragon Age review conspiracy theory and, more broadly...2024-11-011h 22

Aftermath HoursInterview With The (Person Making A) Vampire (Video Game) This week, Nathan and Gita are joined by special guest LB Hunktears, formerly of Fanbyte and Blaseball fame, who is now working on a reality show queer romance horror comedy game called Fledgling Manor. We discuss the reality TV shows that inspired it, as well as the strange lack of games about reality TV, given just how game-y those shows’ structures tend to be. We also rank every season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a show that has aged like a fine wine if the bottle contained a tiny man named Joss Whedon who you kept learning new terrible th...2024-10-251h 53

Aftermath HoursAll That Glitters Is Not Asmongold (With Nico Deyo) This week, Nathan and Riley are joined by a very special guest, the Aftermath Discord’s own head moderator Nico “Apple Cider” Deyo (who is also a longtime freelance games journalist), to discuss the trials and tribulations of Asmongold, a Twitch star who found himself in hot water this week when years of escalating reactionary rhetoric culminated in an ill-advised racist rant about Palestinians. This got him suspended from Twitch. Unlike many others who’ve found themselves in similar situations, Asmongold proceeded to post a seemingly sincere apology video and vowed to change. Can he stick with it, though? And is i...2024-10-182h 08

Aftermath HoursMetaphor Out Of Five Refantazio This week, Nathan, Chris, and Riley convene to increase their social links by discussing the latest basically-Persona game, Metaphor: Refantazio, which is – at least, so far – Metaphor Re(ally)fantastic. It’s Persona in a Shakespearean fantasy setting with a lot of irritating friction removed. Then we talk about an issue near and dear to Riley’s heart: Netflix canceling shows after a single season and basically foisting responsibility for their success or failure onto viewers like you. After that, we grapple with platforms’ viewership-at-all-costs model and how it has incentivized content creators to cling to their homes – instead of evacuatin...2024-10-111h 41

Heroes in the MomentWeek in a Flash: Dynamic Duo: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd Movie AnnouncedHey Heroes!In this weekly news episode, we're talking about the Dynamic Duo movie, the official title for Spider-Man 4, details for Obi-Wan S2 and much more! Hope you enjoy this one! We’ve launched a membership called Hero's HQ where you can receive exclusive access to premium episodes for a low monthly subscription. We appreciate your support a ton! Link here for more details. We have a new segment at the end our Week in a Flash episodes, called Hero’s Q&A! Shoot us a question with the link...2024-10-1032 min

Aftermath HoursStarfield And Friends This week, Nathan, Luke, and Riley do their best impression of that one meme where Jonathan Frakes asks you things: What’s going on with Starfield’s new, poorly-received DLC? Why is Star Citizen – a crowdfunded testament to one man’s hubris that’s been in development for more than a decade – forcing developers to crunch in the year 2024? In light of the upcoming TV show and yet another spinoff game, is the Yakuza series spreading itself too thin? And when is an early access game done, really? Then we answer questions about the psychic damage we sustain while trying to pl...2024-10-041h 57

Aftermath HoursWhat’s Wrong With The French (With Jacob Geller) This week, Nathan and Gita are joined by games and culture video essayist Jacob Geller ahead of his 24-hour stream to raise money for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. We discuss video game criticism in the age of drive-by culture wars on social media and conclude that – despite how bleak things might seem – there’s still a hunger for truly substantial, meaningful criticism, one that is not decreasing. We also learn about the ins and outs of creating heady essays on YouTube, specifically: Why do they keep getting longer? How do you write for a specific audience without becoming...2024-09-271h 58

Aftermath HoursGrand Theft Audible Sigh (With Tom Walker) This week, Nathan, Chris, and Luke are joined by comedian and streamer Tom Walker to discuss the latter’s self-made nightmare: an ongoing Grand Theft Auto IV playthrough in which traffic speed is cranked up to max. We talk about how livestreaming comedy differs from traditional forms of comedy like standup and how Twitch chat facilitates a unique sort of chaos that might involve, among other things, a naked person announcing that they’ve spilled wedding cake on their dick. Also, we get two separate Peter Griffin impressions, so you know this is a good one. Then we move on t...2024-09-201h 39

Aftermath HoursThe Back To School Week Special (With Emanuel Maiberg) This week, Nathan, Gita, and Riley are joined by Emanuel Maiberg of 404 Media – another fantastic worker-owned website – for a special episode tied in with the Back To School theme week we’ve been running on the site, which focuses on changes, nostalgia, and learning new things. First, we talk to Emanuel about 404’s first year of existence and all the highs, lows, and scoops that entailed. Then we discuss Back To School week more broadly, with a special focus on Luke’s piece about game developers who – faced with unprecedented layoffs and grim future prospects – are leaving the industry entirely and l...2024-09-131h 50

Aftermath HoursConcord’s Bad Fur Day This week, Nathan, Chris, and Riley marvel at the speed with which Sony pulled the plug on its latest live service offering, Concord, a game so focused-grouped for everyone that it ended up being for no one. Are live service games as a whole doomed? Probably not. But the way triple-A publishers approach them – toiling away for years and then releasing something that feels dated on day one – likely is. Then we reflect on the great Twitch vs YouTube livestreaming war, which seems to be ending with a whimper rather than a bang as big-name streamers YouTube signed to mult...2024-09-061h 33

Aftermath Hours[To The Tune Of “Vindicated” By Dashboard Confessional] Defenestrated This week, Nathan, Gita, and Luke discuss the first big game of the “fall” video game season: Star Wars Outlaws. Despite an enormous budget and a four-year development cycle, reviewers were given just a week to play the gargantuan game before embargo. Not ideal! We discuss how that impacts the way reviewers play and perceive games. Then we move on to Concord, Sony’s new team-based hero shooter that generated more buzz by flopping than by existing in the first place. Why are people so gleeful about tallying up its commercial failings, though? What about the modern internet has broken...2024-08-301h 11

Aftermath HoursDid You Myth Me (With Makena Kelly) This week, Nathan and Chris are joined by Wired’s Makena Kelly to discuss content creators at the Democratic National Convention. Was it a savvy move on Democrats’ part to give them press access? Did they do a better job of shining light on protesters and their causes than traditional press? And what was the deal with all the rumblings of conflict between creators and journalists? Then we move on to Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese action-RPG that’s taken Steam by storm, but not without its fair share of controversy. After much ado about sexist undercurrents at the studio...2024-08-231h 49

Aftermath HoursDeadlock On Arrival This week, Nathan, Chris, and Riley examine the aftermath (lol) of the drama surrounding Deadlock, Valve’s new hero shooter that hasn’t been officially announced yet, and one brave (read: normal) reporter’s decision to, well, report on it. Why, in an industry where regularly unreliable leakers amass hundreds of thousands of followers, did so many people object to a journalist writing about a game to which they obtained legitimate access and which they did not break any NDAs to write about? Then we talk about the live service death spiral that Helldivers 2 now finds itself in a mere s...2024-08-161h 56

Aftermath HoursRIP Game Informer This week, Nathan, Gita, and Riley gather to reflect on the legacy of Game Informer, a magazine whose 33-year run unexpectedly came to an end late last week when GameStop unceremoniously laid off its entire staff and took down its website’s archive. Then we discuss the parasocial pivots of both the Trump and Harris campaigns, with the former appearing on the broadcast of sycophantic Kick streamer Adin Ross and the latter embracing Brat Summer, a social media phenomenon born of resurgent popstar Charli XCX. After that, we welcome Borderlands into the pantheon of bafflingly bad video game movies by...2024-08-091h 59

Aftermath HoursHot Labor Summer: Video Games Edition This week, Nathan, Riley, and Chris tackle a very eventful week, beginning with news that broke mere minutes before we started recording: video game voice actors and mocap performers are going on strike. Major companies – including EA, Epic, and Activision – aren’t guaranteeing them necessary AI-related protections, so they’re taking to the picket line. We reflect on how things reached this boiling point and consider what might happen next. After that, we discuss Humble Games, which laid off its entire staff – replacing them with a third-party company – and had the gall to call it a “restructuring.” Then we talk about two b...2024-07-261h 38

Aftermath HoursYou’ll Kick Yourself If You Miss This One Nathan, Luke, and Chris gather to discuss a week that feels like it’s lasted ten years, largely due to an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the aftershocks of which have rattled every corner of the internet, including the world of video games. Almost immediately after it all went down, players of games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft began digitally recreating the scene. Companies, in turn, have moderated some instances of this and washed their hands of others. We reflect on what it all means. We also dig into some significantly more lighthearted topics, including the best kicks in vi...2024-07-191h 30

Aftermath HoursRotten To The Xbox Game Pass Core This week, Nathan, Luke, and Riley reconvene after a holiday weekend to discuss everybody’s favorite, inescapably pervasive topic: enshittification, defined by writer Cory Doctorow as the process by which "the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit.” This week alone, it happened to both Xbox’s Game Pass service and Apex Legends’ battle pass, all in service of making numbers go up on a balance sheet somewhere. Then we talk about the sudden death of Kotaku AU, a site which – contrary to popular belief – Luke does not and never has worked f...2024-07-121h 50

Aftermath HoursAnd He’s Not Even A Real Doctor (With Ash Parrish) On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by Ash Parrish of The Verge to discuss the reason behind Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban and how it finally came to light after all these years. We answer one of the major questions the recent torrent of information has produced: Why did it take journalists – some of whom had known the reason for years beforehand – so long to finally make it public? Why now? We also talk about the process of reporting out sensitive stories involving victims and what we think will happen next. Afterward, we move on to a dis...2024-06-281h 33

Aftermath HoursLink’s Awokening (With John Warren) On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by John Warren, formerly of Fanbyte and now of the just-launched VGBees. First we discuss John’s new reader and listener-supported website, which aims to provide a home to good writing about video games. The more the merrier, we say. Then we hop on the endless merry-go-round that is the question of what a game review should be, as inspired by discourse around Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. If said discourse makes you want to tear your hair out, don’t worry: You’re not alone! After that we talk...2024-06-201h 39

Aftermath HoursSummer Game Feast Or Famine On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by some guy they know named Ethan Gach to discuss the aftermath (lol) of Summer Game Fest. Ethan was on the ground at the show in LA, so he fields questions about the Geoff Keighley-powered husk that E3 left behind. We ultimately arrive at the same question people do after every single one of these things: Is an event like Summer Game Fest needed in a digital age where video game companies can spin up showcases whenever they want? Then we move on to our favorite games of the sh...2024-06-141h 50

Aftermath HoursKeigh-3: Day 0 On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley gather on the eve of Summer Game Fest – aka Keigh-3 – to discuss pre-show announcements and an investigation into the show itself. Turns out, it costs $250,000 to buy one minute of trailer time during Geoff Keighley’s summer advertisement extravaganza. And that’s just the beginning, with pricing tiers that go all the way up to $550,000 for 2.5 minutes. Is it worth it? Especially when SGF has historically underdelivered compared to E3’s attention-grabbing golden age? Then we talk about SGF-adjacent announcements like Dragon Age’s puzzling name change and Elden Ring: Shadow of the...2024-06-071h 42

Aftermath HoursCountdown To Keigh-3 On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley huddle together after another week surviving the slow-mo media apocalypse, this time with (even) more AI. First we discuss Vox Media and The Atlantic’s mystifying decisions to feed their journalists’ work into OpenAI’s woodchipper, shredding years of credibility and goodwill in exchange for a quick buck. Then we talk about Sony’s Neil Druckmann interview, which the company ended up pulling after the Last of Us maestro revealed that he was egregiously misquoted. Maybe having people who are not journalists try to do journalism-coded content is… bad? After that, we mak...2024-05-311h 42

Double DOS PodEpisode 86 - Y, Just YSend us a textIntroCeltics Win Eastern Conference (14:00)Inside NBA Gone? (30:07)Charles Leclerc Wins Monaco Grand Prix (34:30)DD 3’s (46:23)Things you may have missed (01:06:00)Rest In Peace Bill Walton & Grayson Murray (:01:20:23)Cheers!DRAMA OF SPORTS CLUB HATS AVAILABLE NOW:https://doubledospodcast.com/Logo by:@CalitriartHosted by: Rachel Eden (@racheleden_) & Nathan Silveira (@natesilveira)Don't forget to subscribe on Youtube @DoubleDOSPod Instagram, TikTok & Twitter (@doubledospod)2024-05-291h 25

Aftermath HoursPokémon Marx To The Polls (With Janus Rose) On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by Janus Rose, author of Aftermath’s first-ever freelance piece (made possible by subscribers like you!). She tells us about what inspired her to write her piece, which focuses on parallels between Final Fantasy VII and real-world resistance movements in the face of imperialism. Then we discuss IGN’s purchase of The Gamer Network – which includes sites like Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz, and VG247 – and ensuing layoffs, which feeds into a conversation about media consolidation in general. Somehow, we also find time to talk about Scott Pilgrim and share...2024-05-242h 06

Life on the West SideDying To Self(ies)Smartphones. Social media. Online living. It’s ubiquitous. It’s the new norm. And, at an alarming rate, it’s harming us. We need to examine the power of presence, shaping our space and managing our time for real encounters over unhealthy habits.The sermon today is titled "Dying To Self(ies)." It is the second installment in our series "Jesus At Home: Parenting In His Presence." The Scripture reading is from Romans 13:14 (NLT). Originally preached at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) on Sunday, May 19, 2024. All lessons fit under one of 5 b...2024-05-2038 min

Aftermath HoursYasuke, Queen On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss the new Assassin’s Creed, Shadows, which is set in feudal Japan and stars two main characters: a ninja and a samurai. It looks more interesting than the past few games in the series, if nothing else! Of course, since the ninja is a woman and the samurai is black, a certain subset of gamers are Big Mad. We (begrudgingly) talk about that part, too. Then we move on to Animal Well, an unexpected Metroidvania-but-not hit that came out last week. Chris loves it, Riley doesn’t get it. (Gentle...2024-05-171h 33

Aftermath HoursXbox Unalive On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita take stock of Microsoft’s no-good, very-bad week, in which the increasingly embattled giant shut down four studios, two of them – Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks – beloved by fans. More small games or big franchise hits? Microsoft doesn’t seem to know what it wants. Then we check in on Sony, which is having the opposite problem. After landing the biggest breakout hit of the year in Helldivers 2, it nearly fumbled the bag with a bunch of needless PSN sign-in nonsense all for what: to assert more control over the player bas...2024-05-101h 31 $Outdatedreferences\'s podcast$ Outdatedreferences's podcastOutdated References 168: Double Michael, Dog Meat and Grayson Russ, Adam, and Nathan catch up on Star Trek Discovery, Bad Batch, X-Men 97 and then Russ and Nathan covers Invincible and Fallout. Oh, Adam got a new dog, her name is Luna! --Nathan Apple Podcast Spotify iHeartRadio Libsyn Twitch 2024-05-071h 33

Outdated ReferencesOutdated References 168: Double Michael, Dog Meat and GraysonRuss, Adam, and Nathan catch up on Star Trek Discovery, Bad Batch, X-Men 97 and then Russ and Nathan covers Invincible and Fallout. Oh, Adam got a new dog, her name is Luna! --Nathan 2024-05-071h 33

Aftermath HoursScanning The Orb-ituaries On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita ponder orbs. There used to be so many of them in video games. What happened? Where did they all go? And whose idea was it to replace the smooth, satisfying act of vacuuming up orbs with slow, tedious loot grinds? After that, we discuss Another Crab’s Treasure, a Spongebob-inspired Soulslike that’s surprisingly great (and surprisingly existent, considering that I just typed the phrase “Spongebob-inspired Soulslike”). Then we move on to a subject I’m sure you’ve already heard plenty about on other video game podcasts: Taylor Swift. Gita is workin...2024-05-032h 09

Aftermath HoursSpeaking Of Things That Are Banned (With Matt Kim)On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by IGN’s Matt Kim to talk about Stellar Blade, a culture war battleground that, as it turns out, is a perfectly alright video game and nothing more. Seems to happen a lot! Maybe we could all learn something from this. But we probably won’t. Oh well. Then we discuss the impending TikTok ban, which is a load of dumb bullshit that doesn’t seem like it will pan out the way the United States government is hoping, but it’s happening anyway, for some reason. Lastly, we round out...2024-04-261h 28

Aftermath HoursLucy In The Sky With Deathclaws (With Dave Oshry) On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita are joined by New Blood Interactive founder and Fallout expert Dave Oshry to talk about Amazon’s new Fallout TV series, which just premiered. The general consensus: It’s good! But it’s also very Bethesda-era Fallout, heavily reliant on iconography and references (Stimpacks! Nuka Cola! The Junk Jet from Fallout 4!) in a way that can be distracting, bordering on nonsensical. Dave makes the great point, however, that Fallout embarked on this path even before Bethesda took the reins with Fallout 3, so perhaps things were always destined to end up here. We...2024-04-121h 45

Aftermath Hours[Australian Accent] Doronko Wanko On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Luke find themselves wandering a news desert, so they decide to discuss games they’ve been playing recently, almost entirely for the purpose of getting Luke to pronounce the title “Doronko Wanko.” It’s a great moment, worth the price of admission on its own. Then Nathan and Chris discuss Content Warning, a new Twitch and YouTube sensation that’s like Lethal Company but you play as incompetent content creators, before spending a long time digging deep into the nitty gritty of Dragon’s Dogma 2, a game that just absolutely rules. After that, th...2024-04-051h 27

HOPE Talks03/31/24- WBTX Program – Resurrection and New Life with Nathan Carr and Leah WolfeWe are joined on today’s broadcast of HOPE Talks by Nathan Carr and Leah Wolfe. Nathan and Leah are both returning guest to HOPE Talks, and both have amazing testimonies of life to death. They join us on today’s broadcast of HOPE Talks to share about their ministries, new life recovery and resurrected ministries. For more information about resurrected ministries, you can email them at Resurrected.Ministries23@gmail.com and for information about new life, recovery visit their website https://www.newliferecoverygcc.com/ We pray that today’s broadcast of HOPE Talks is a half hour of hope f...2024-03-3130 min

Aftermath HoursMore like A-Why? (With Ed Zitron)On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by writer, podcaster, PR guy, and former games journalist Ed Zitron to talk about, well, a lot of stuff. We begin by talking about “media being destroyed by idiots,” as Ed puts it, before discussing Nvidia’s pivot to AI and how it could crash and burn, taking countless jobs with it. Then we discuss AI NPCs in video games, which Nathan got to try out several different flavors of at GDC. The verdict: They can be fun to mess with, but the novelty wears off quickly, and then what’s t...2024-03-291h 59

Aftermath HoursRuin And Recovery In Games Journalism (With Jason Schreier) On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by their former Kotaku colleague, author and Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, for a special Inside Baseball Week episode of the show. True to the theme, they spend most of the episode discussing the state of games journalism: Are layoffs and site closures a sign that traditional games journalism is dying? Or is it just evolving into a more sustainable form and, in the meantime, shedding some unneeded flab? How can new websites hope to grow when younger audiences largely follow creators rather than websites? And to what extent does th...2024-03-152h 01

Aftermath HoursMuch Ink Spilled Over Sweet Baby Inc (And Sanrio)On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss the wild (and wholly inaccurate) conspiracy theory surrounding a small video game narrative studio called Sweet Baby Inc, which has recently taken the internet by storm. It begins with “wokeness” in video games and ends with multi-trillion-dollar investment company Blackrock, so buckle up – and if you feel your brain begin to melt, don’t worry, that’s normal. After that we dig into Chris’ long-awaited piece on Sanrio, the Japanese company that tried to create a film empire to rival Disney but mostly just ended up making a bunch of weird shit...2024-03-081h 38

Aftermath HoursBAH-lah-troh On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss the auspicious occasion of three different game development studios – Gearbox, Saber, and Toys For Bob – all escaping from beneath the thumbs of layoff-prone owners in one day. Then we soberly reflect on mass layoffs at both Sony and EA – the other side of the coin in a week that seemed determined to sum up exactly where the video game industry is at right now. After that we move on to our impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which is actually out now. It’s good! And weirdly janky for how beauti...2024-03-011h 34

Aftermath HoursJournalism Is Dead, Long Live Journalism (With Lin Codega) On this week’s episode, Nathan, Gita, and Luke are joined by Lin Codega of the brand new independent, worker-owned tabletop roleplaying outlet Rascal to discuss the grim state of journalism – Vice announced that it plans to shut down its website and lay off hundreds of people seconds before recording began – and the potential of publications like 404, Defector, Rascal, and Aftermath to build some kind of sustainable future. Then we move on to a truly illuminating discussion of the tabletop roleplaying scene, writing that’s been done about it, and the conflicts of interest that arise when developers are – more often...2024-02-232h 01

Aftermath HoursXbox’s Excess Of Excuses About Exclusives (With Ash Parrish) On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Luke are joined by The Verge’s Ash Parrish to discuss Microsoft’s weird podcast about its plans for a non-exclusive but still mostly exclusive future, which will involve dedicated hardware but will also circumvent the need for it? Look, it’s more weird decision-making from a company that seems to have a blurry notion of the point B it wants to arrive at but no idea how to get there. Elsewhere in the episode, we talk about Helldivers 2 – it’s rules, man, it rules so hard – and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s yell...2024-02-161h 16

Aftermath HoursDisney And Fortnite Sitting In A Tree, S-Y-N-E-R-G-I-Z-I-N-G On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, Luke, and Riley discuss Disney’s $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games for an even bigger slice of the Fortnite pie, as well as all the ways Disney has stumbled into gaming success (and failure) in the past. This gives way to a conversation about the sanitized Disney of the modern day and where, with corporations feeding them slop, kids now go for their necessary doses of weird. Then we talk about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Microsoft’s seeming shift away from Xbox-exclusive games, and IGN’s drive to become the biggest unionized video ga...2024-02-091h 19

Aftermath HoursDeath Discoursing And Suicide Squawking On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley share their thoughts on the new and characteristically over the top Death Stranding 2 trailer, which gets everybody talking about the industry’s favorite auteur: Ken Levine. OK, first they discuss Hideo Kojima and his place in video games as one of the only people who gets to do His Whole Thing at such a massive scale, but then they get to Levine, who also just debuted a trailer for his new game and serves as an example of how maintaining a Kojima-like cult of personality can go horribly wrong. After that...2024-02-021h 53

Aftermath HoursAn (Activision) Blizzard Of Bad News On this week’s episode, Nathan, Gita, Chris, and Luke were planning to talk mostly about Palworld, the new Pokemon-with-guns sensation that’s sweeping several nations, but then gut-wrenchingly massive layoffs happened across Microsoft and the gaming giant it recently acquired, Activision Blizzard. We discussed which parts of the company are most impacted and what it means for the video game industry’s future. Then we talked about our own experiences in a layoff prone-industry (journalism) and somehow finished by talking about our Taco Bell orders. Oh, and we managed to get a fair amount of Palworld chat in there...2024-01-261h 50

Aftermath HoursIndiana Jones and The Temple of Doomscrolling On the first-ever episode of Aftermath Hours, Aftermath's flagship weekly podcast, Chris, Nathan, Luke, and Riley discuss the recently unveiled Indiana Jones game, Ubisoft's vision of a subscription-based future and whether or not we truly own our video games (hint: we don't), and -- relatedly -- the death of series like Rock Band, which necessitates long-term, third-party game preservation efforts on the part of players whether companies like it or not. Then we move on to lighter topics like... the death of Pitchfork. It's not all doom and gloom, though! We promise! There are some jokes. And there's a...2024-01-241h 37

The MinnMax ShowPredicting Game Of The Year, Super Mario RPG, Like A Dragon Gaiden ReviewOn this week's episode, Ben Hanson is joined by Jacob Geller, Kyle Hilliard, Leo Vader, and Janet Garcia to talk about the list of nominees for Game of the Year from The Game Awards. What do you think will win between Resident Evil 4 Remake, Baldur's Gate 3, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Alan Wake 2? Then we talk about the return of Kiryu with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Kyle reviews Super Mario RPG on the Nintendo Switch before Leo talks about why he's enjoying...2023-11-162h 42

Total Jason (Audio)Tech News Weekly 311: Humane Launches Its $699 AI Pin The game industry has had a year with the consolidation of organizations and the formation of gaming unions. Jason Howell shares his review of the Pixel Watch 2. And OpenAI had its first developer conference. What was announced at the event? Nathan Grayson of the newly launched Aftermath news site to talk about how the game industry has been impacted by the consolidation of gaming companies and the formation of unions. Jason Howell has been using Google's Pixel Watch 2 for some time and shares his review of Google's latest update to its wearable device. Mikah shares details about Humane's...2023-11-091h 15

Total Jason (Video)Tech News Weekly 311: Humane Launches Its $699 AI Pin The game industry has had a year with the consolidation of organizations and the formation of gaming unions. Jason Howell shares his review of the Pixel Watch 2. And OpenAI had its first developer conference. What was announced at the event? Nathan Grayson of the newly launched Aftermath news site to talk about how the game industry has been impacted by the consolidation of gaming companies and the formation of unions. Jason Howell has been using Google's Pixel Watch 2 for some time and shares his review of Google's latest update to its wearable device. Mikah shares details about Humane's...2023-11-091h 15

The Games PressEpisode 16: Nathan Grayson & Riley MacLeod (Just launched Aftermath)Nathan Grayson and Riley MacLeod have just launched a brand new, worker-owned games publication called Aftermath, along with some other ex-Kotaku staff you'll recognise. As in, today, right now! Chris grabbed them for an interview a few days ago to talk about the challenges that come with starting something fresh, crowdfunding and what being "worker-owned" really means in this context."You know — and everyone knows — that 2022 and 2023 have been nightmarish for games journalism, and for journalism broadly, and also for games studios. And like, what else are you going to do? Where else are you going to go...2023-11-0757 min

Heroes in the MomentWEEKLY RECAP XLIX: Dick Grayson in THE BATMAN: PART TWOHey Heroes!In today's weekly news recap, we discuss the confirmation of Dick Grayson in the next The Batman movie, the possibility of Josh Harnett as Doctor Doom, multiple Marvel projects pushed back and more!Heroes in the Moment covers the universes of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Harry Potter and more! Our episodes are available on every major podcast platform, so feel free to check them out! All the movie and show reviews, trailer breakdowns, weekly news recaps, rumors and more delivered right to you!Instagram: @heroesinthemomentWebsite: https://heroesinthemoment.buzzsprout.com 2023-09-0714 min

My PodcastE3 My Brother In Law Graysonin this episode i have my brother in law Grayson on. we talk about sports, secret talents and how our relationship has grown over the years 2023-04-111h 23

2nd & Short2nd & Short | Ep. 35Congrats to Samurai Japan on winning the 2023 World Baseball Classic!Intro, NFL Free Agency Moves, NFL News, CFB News, College Football Mascot Draft, World Baseball Classic, and Do You RememberGrayson brought in Nathan as a guest host on this weeks episode to fill in for BrockJoin the new 2nd & Short Subreddit. R/2ndandshortMake sure you follow the socials to stay up to date on all things 2nd & Short and see all of our content. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and more. Visit https...2023-03-222h 20

HOPE Talks10/23/22- WBTX Program- Resurrected Ministries with Nathan CarrWe are joined on today’s broadcast of Hope Talks by Nathan Carr who shares a little bit of his testimony as well as about Resurrected ministries a recovery ministry that he is in the process of starting. Nathan hope to open a men's recovery home in the Shanandoah valley. Nathan is partnering with Virginia Mennonite Missions in launching this ministry. For more information you can visit their website VMMissions.org. We pray that today’s broadcast is a half hour of hope for your life. We would also like to invite you to take an anonymous six...2022-10-2330 min

The Road to AutonomyScaling Autonomous Vehicles with Precise LocationAaron Nathan, Founder, CEO and CTO, Point One Navigation joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss safety and scaling autonomous vehicles with precise location services. The conversation begins with Grayson and Aaron discussing how we can make cars safer today, due to a rising trend of speeding on roads that is leading to an increase in crashes and fatalities. One potential way to dent this trend is to solve for the issue is for companies to actively embrace and implement active safety solutions that can predict and act before an incident takes place. U...2022-10-0443 min

The Serf TimesWhat RESPONSIBILITES do Twitch News Streamers have to their Audience? (Talk w/Nathan Grayson)For more of Nathan Grayson dive into how news is covered on Twitch, go check out his video! https://youtu.be/01KCUSEMhjI If you enjoy what you hear please consider supporting this show at http://www.patreon.com/theserfs and we also stream live five days a week over at https://www.theserfs.tv/ or http://twitch.tv/theserfstv Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy 2022-03-1358 min

Uncharted Media PodcastEpisode 159: Most Anticipated Movies of 20222022 is shaping up to be a HUGE year for movies so this week Nate and Josh rank their top 10 most anticipated movies of this stacked year! They also breakdown the past week's movie news including: Dick Grayson being rumored to appear in Batgirl movie Warner Media and Viacom looking to sell The CW Pixar’s Turning Red no longer going to theaters, debuting on Disney Plus in March PIG director helming the third A Quiet Place film Be sure to like, share, and subscribe! Check out Uncharted Me...2022-01-121h 34

HOPE Talks11/28/21- WBTX Program- Nathan Carr Testimony/Open Table MinistryNathan Carr is originally from Tennessee where he was born and raised. Nathan is the leader of the men's addiction group for Celebrate Recovery here at Church of the Nazarene in Harrisonburg. Nathan joins us today on Hope Talks share about a new ministry that he is helping with called Open Table where they are ministering to men that have been Incarcerated.2021-11-2830 min

AIPT ComicsDustin Nguyen on Dick Grayson, watercolor, and 'Robin & Batman'Visit our Patreon page to see the various tiers you can sign up for today to get in on the ground floor of AIPT Patreon. We hope to see you chatting with us in our Discord soon!NEWSMarvel announces new one-shot 'Secret X-Men' #1 for February 2022Marvel releases ‘X Lives of Wolverine’ and ‘X Deaths of Wolverine’ #3 & #4 detailsThe 90s' Spider-Man spin-off team the Slingers returns in FebruaryMarvel teases Queen Goblin to appear in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ in February 2022Image sets ‘Step by Bloody Step’ fantasy opus for February 2022Creators for Creators grant recipients kicking off ‘New Masters’ #1Diamond, Alliance Hi...2021-11-1456 min

The Serf TimesBeing forced to the Forefront of a CULTURE WAR! (Interview w/ Video Game Journalist Nathan Grayson!)After listening about the bonkers beginnings of Gamergate, go give Nathan a follow! https://twitter.com/Vahn16 If you enjoy what you hear please consider supporting this show at http://www.patreon.com/theserfs and we also stream live five days a week over at https://www.theserfs.tv/ or http://twitch.tv/theserfstv http://www.weareserfs.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy 2021-10-2652 min

Soggy Pancakes PodcastEp. 34 - "We Got a Sound Board..."Episode 34 - Grayson and Patrick join us this episode as we explore the new sound board... which Wilson can't put down!2021-08-2134 min

Trailer TrashdEpisode 29: The BirdcageFlorida! We've made it to the east coast! This week we watched the Robin Williams, Nathan Lane classic: The Birdcage! Despite some techinical difficulties we danced our way through the episode. Follow us on Instagram: @trailertrashd--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/appSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/trailertrashd/support 2021-07-161h 01

Soggy Pancakes PodcastEp. 22 - "These Cryptocurrencies Are Getting Out of Hand!"Episode 22 - Our new guest Grayson joins us this episode along with Patrick (aka Atlas) for one of the weirdest episodes yet!2021-05-2943 min

Contractor RadioThe Appraisal Approach with Grayson WilsonIn this edition of the Contractor Radio Podcast, head coach Nathan Tebedo is joined by Grayson Wilson from 6060 Appraisal Group. Join them as they chat about the appraisal process and how it can be a valuable tool that contractors can use within their business.02:22 Meet Grayson Wilson05:00 6060 Appraisal Group - https://6060group.com/06:28 What is the Appraisal Process?13:40 The Benefits of Appraisal22:15 Does the Appraisal Process Ever Go Sideways?27:30 At what phase of the whole insurance process do you think initiating appraisal is best?32:12 Is there a certain size claim where...2021-05-1942 min