Shows
7 MinutesSeason 2, #2: Easy Money: Licensed GamesAngela, Robert and Zack drop all pretense of being a general purpose video game podcast and talk at length about licensed games of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (but especially the 1990s).Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing, with longer comments on Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Wordle, Shenmue, and Halo Infinite.41:14 - Introducing the topic.46:01 - Movie tie-in games.56:16 - Licensed games for long-running IPs.1:33:51 - Superhero games in particular.2022-02-152h 007 MinutesSeason 2, #1: Plastic Graveyard: The Rise & Fall of the Rhythm GameIn our second season debut, Robert, Zack, and Angela take on rhythm games, a genre that burned bright in the late 90s and throughout the 2000s, and is now a faded ember. From narratively focused titles like PaRappa to cover band fantasies like Guitar Hero to fitness-adjacent spectacles like DDR, we talk about it all.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.26:58 - A brief topical discussion of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard.35:55 - Angela’s and Robert’s introduction to rhythm games, and how we categorize the genre.43:22 - The lost hey...2022-02-011h 377 Minutes#21: Season Finale: 2001 & 2011 Time CapsuleWe’re closing out our first season of 7 Minutes with a look at the games we loved from 10 and 20 years ago. 2001 saw the discontinuation of the Dreamcast, the dominance of the young PS2, and the release of several new systems, including GameCube, Xbox, and GBA. 2011 was a decidedly mid-generation year, with the only notable hardware release being the 3DS. Finally, rather than just talk about what we’ve been playing since our last recording, we reflect on our favorite experiences with the games of 2021. Join us for one last season 1 ride, and we’ll see you next year.Time...2021-12-301h 457 Minutes#20: Straight From the Pros: Nintendo Power and Game MagazinesGames journalism has by its nature always been bound up with games marketing, but in the NES/Game Boy/SNES era of Nintendo’s uncontested industry dominance, the biggest Nintendo-focused magazine was not only endorsed by Nintendo but actually produced in-house. Zack, Angela, and Robert discuss that strange and charming cultural artifact, Nintendo Power, and drift into talking about other game magazines past and present too.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing9:31 - The history of Nintendo Power.31:19 - Features and oddities of Nintendo Power.44:04 - Other game magazines of Nint...2021-12-071h 287 Minutes#19: Little White Box: The Wii Turns 15While home consoles have always tried to differentiate themselves from the competition with Blast Processing, Emotion Engines, and other chimeras of engineering and marketing, no home console did so much to differentiate itself from its competitors and predecessor as Nintendo’s weird little Wii, which turns 15 this month. Robert, Zack, and Angela talk about their Wii memories and the console’s legacy.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.17:10 - The birth of the Wii and the death of many a hapless TV screen.29:29 - Miis!36:16 - Motion controls, novelty, and the st...2021-11-231h 267 Minutes#18: It Only Did Everything: The PS3 Turns 15After its uncontested dominance in the PS1 and PS2 eras, Sony started the following console generation on the backfoot, beaten to market by the 360 and outshone by the wildfire success of the Wii. Still, even if eclipsed by competitors for much of its lifespan, the PS3 was a great little (or not so little) system with a number of selling points. Fifteen years after its launch, Angela, Robert, and Zack talk about the Spider-Man 3 font for an hour and a half straight.Timestamps:0:00 - What we’ve been playing.33:13 - Our introductions to PS3 and ou...2021-11-091h 357 Minutes#17: How About Some Gwent?: Witcher III: The Wild HuntSix years after its release, Witcher III: The Wild Hunt is still frequently held up as the benchmark for both RPGs and open world games. Listeners know this game is a favorite of both Angela and Zack, who take the opportunity to talk at length about it. Robert fans will be heartbroken to know he couldn't join for this episode, but he'll be here next time. Warning: major spoilers for Witcher III and its DLC!Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.11:26 - How we discovered Witcher III.18:26 - The world of Th...2021-10-272h 267 Minutes#16: Game Setting Match: Our Favorite and Least Favorite Settings in GamesWhether we're in search of an escape, a virtual vacation, a comfortable set of genre tropes, or just some pretty lights to look at, the setting of a game can enhance, define, or completely undermine its appeal. Robert, Zack, and Angela tour the wide world of game settings, from forests to cities to space.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.9:50 - Deserts.14:48 - Modern day Japanese high schools.16:41 - Steampunk.17:29 - Postapocalyptic.20:46 - Japanese horror.22:46 - Tropical, water-heavy settings.27:13 - Winter areas.29:33 - Cities.35:17...2021-10-121h 067 Minutes#15: Fit With the Stuff: Favorite Heroes & Villains in GamesThere’s no accounting for taste, but that doesn’t stop Angela, Robert, and Zack from taking turns trying to express and explain our love for our favorite video game characters, heroes and villains and little oddballs alike. Fair warning that due to its nature this podcast will potentially contain spoilers for every character discussed, with the exception of Final Fantasy XIV’s Emet-Selch, who is discussed only vaguely.Timestamps0:00 - Introductions and what we've been playing (Hotline Miami, Murder By Numbers, Great Ace Attorney, Silver Case).13:53 - Heroes!14:28 - Samus (Metroid series) (Robert...2021-09-211h 53
7 Minutes#14: Super Family Reunion: The SNES Turns 30Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on console gaming in the NES era, to such an extent that in the 90s "Nintendo" was a colloquial term for games in general. By the time they rolled out their 16 bit successor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the world had started to change around them, both in terms of stiff competition from Sega and the proliferation of unofficial resources and devices, from GamePro to Game Genie. Thankfully, developers stepped up to the challenge with some seminal titles that are still revered today, like Super Metroid, Earthbound, and ... Cool Spot? Zack, Angela, and Robert...2021-08-241h 307 Minutes#13: Nintendo’s Red-Headed Stepchild: Metroid’s 35th AnniversaryAdam finally gave us permission to release our 35th anniversary Metroid podcast, so here we are. Robert, Zack, and Angela methodically bomb jump their way through the canonical series. Superfans of Metroid Prime Pinball, Metroid Prime Hunters, and Metroid Federation Force are advised to look elsewhere for their fix.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions, what we’ve been playing, and our first experiences with the Metroid series.17:49 - The original Metroid.36:49 - Metroid II: Return of Samus.41:15 - Super Metroid.48:29 - The years between Super and Prime.52:56 - Metroid Prime.1:03:18 - Metroid Fu...2021-08-101h 467 Minutes#12: The Old Ways: Reconsidering Supposedly Bad Game Design TropesThere’s a lot of received wisdom among both gamers and the games commentariat regarding what counts as good or bad game design, and sometimes the line between a real flaw and a pet peeve is extremely blurry. Angela, Robert and Zack run through a hit list of classic “bad design” complaints and talk them out.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.6:39 - QTEs.14:38 - Slow walking quasi-cutscenes.19:53 - Audiologs, datalogs, and other world-building clutter.30:47 - Tutorials, menu design, and ways to teach the player.49:50 - Grinding.1:04:08 - Limite...2021-07-271h 257 Minutes#11: EASTMOST PENNINSULA: The Secrets Held by Old GamesFrom cheat codes to hidden items to entire inverted castles, games have always been saturated with secrets. In the era before the Internet, these were slowly propagated via playground blacktop, print magazine, and BBS. GameFAQs changed the game by giving an entire Internet’s worth of weirdos a gathering place for sharing discoveries, and secrets have become much harder to hide, although vague patch notes and live service games add their own wrinkles. Zack, Angela, and Robert shine a light on the history of secrets in video games.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been play...2021-07-131h 097 Minutes#10: Man in the Mirror: Quantifying Who We Are as PlayersFor our giant-sized episode the group turns the camera around and discusses different types of gamers, what makes us tick, and what we get out of games. Robert, Zack and Angela take two tests of gamer psychology/motivation and discuss the results. Play along at home!Bartle’s Taxonomy of Player Types: https://matthewbarr.co.uk/bartle/Quantic Foundry Gamer Motivation Profile: https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/surveys/start/gamerprofile/Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.25:10 - Introducing the two tests.28:08 - Zack’s Bartle Taxonomy results.32:44 - Angela...2021-06-291h 487 MinutesBonus: The 8th Minute #1: Our Reactions to 2021's Summer Games Fest and E3Welcome to the first bonus episode! While our podcast is not a reaction-heavy “news of the week” roundtable, Summer Games Fest and E3 were sufficiently packed with announcements that we had had quite a bit to say and decided to inflict that on our listeners rather than just each other. Because this is an unusual approach for us and a bit shorter than our regular episodes, we’re counting this as our first bonus episode.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.10:33 - E3, Summer Games Fest, and our reactions to them.2021-06-241h 007 Minutes#9: For Fun / For Glory: Multiplayer GamingThe gaming landscape has included multiplayer experiences for as far back as anyone can remember or bother to document — Tennis for Two (1958) and Spacewar! (1962) are among the oldest works in the medium, older even than game consoles, arcade games, or personal computers themselves. Angela, Robert, and Zack are all at least a little introverted when it comes to play habits, but would be remiss to ignore the wide world of multiplayer.Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.8:09 - Our histories with multiplayer.31:08 - Headgames, the unexpected, and hunting the most dangerous game...2021-06-151h 217 Minutes#8: Attract Mode: E3, Hype, and Games Marketing30 years ago, being informed about upcoming video games largely meant looking through monthly magazines or getting the information in those magazines secondhand. Those magazines, though, were getting their information from PR professionals, trade shows, and so forth, and for most of the last 30 years the biggest event in video game news has been E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Zack, Angela, and Robert discuss their own histories with E3 and other industry events (including time spent working both sides of the booth), and also talk about how games marketing and cycles of hype have changed over time.Timestamps2021-06-011h 177 Minutes#7: Paradise Lost: Arcades in the Modern DayArcades and arcade machines haven’t disappeared, but they have grown less culturally prominent since their Space Invaders/Pac-Man peak, as console games, computer games, online games, mobile games, and streaming culture have all risen in relative prominence. Robert (ROB), Zack (ZAK), and Angela (AMM) talk about formative arcade experiences, the unique value of arcades, and how the scene has changed.Of special note: while dedicated spaces to gather and play arcade games are much scarcer than they used to be, they’re still around, and we have a local place in Alameda that has been on the...2021-05-181h 317 Minutes#6: Deep in the Tall Grass: 25 Years, 932 PokemonFrom Pog to Tickle-Me Elmo, many 90s sensations proved to be short-lived fads, but 25 years on Pokemon still has more than a few diehards, to say the least. Angela (Fire type), Robert (Fighting type), and Zack (Bug type) wander through the history of the storied Pokemon franchise and, because this is a more laid back podcast, decline to add the accent to the name of the series in this podcast description.Timestamps0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.5:13 - The original games and the era of Pokemania.20:44 - Changes across generations, for be...2021-05-041h 187 Minutes#5: The Wolf Among Us: The Legacy of Okami, 15 Years LaterGame designer Hideki Kamiya is known for tense, challenging, and rewarding games like Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 2, The Wonderful 101, and Bayonetta. It's easy to expect certain strengths and design priorities from the games he has helmed as a result, but Okami stands apart. A long and bucolic game known more for its art style than its combat systems, Okami was critically lauded but so commercially underappreciated that it earned a Guinness World Record for "least commercially successful winner of a game of the year award." Unlike Clover's other games (God Hand, Viewtiful Joe), though, Okami has remained well-loved...2021-04-201h 367 Minutes#4: "Not Enough Cash, Stranger": Gaming on a BudgetFor almost any hobby, budget is a limiting factor, but gaming is unusual in that it's a hobby often carried from childhood into adulthood. Even as free time shrinks and incomes grow, gaming itself can remain a constant. Angela, Robert, and Zack swap stories of getting gifts as kids, saving up for their first purchases, seeing what other kids' households were kitted out with, learning how to prioritize purchases ... and blowing a bunch of cash that they probably shouldn't have.Timestamps: 0:00 - Introductions and what we’ve been playing.11:13 - Childhood constraints: minimum money, maximum ti...2021-04-061h 167 Minutes#3: Advanced in Age: The GBA Turns 20Zack, Angela, and Robert look back at the the last of the legendary Game Boy line on its 20th anniversary. Is it fair to call it a portable SNES? Not exactly. Is it unambitious compared to its wild successor, the DS? Only sort of. Do the games hold up? Absolutely. And who reigns supreme when Zack puts the GBA trivia knowledge of the Marrujo siblings to the test?Timestamps:0:00 - Introductions and the GBA’s unique legacy as the last scion of 90s gaming.12:35 - Marrujo Trivia Showdown Part 1.17:22 - GBA hardware revisions and wh...2021-03-231h 297 Minutes#2: New Year, New SKU: Ports, Remakes, and RemastersSome games are so nice they release them twice, yet almost never unchanged. Sometimes the creators only make small tweaks like adding save states or a concept art gallery, and sometimes they make an entirely new game with the same story and premise, and there's a lot of variation between those two poles. Robert, Zack, and Angie discuss their own experiences with ports, remakes, and remasters, and can't resist broadening the conversation to talk about game preservation and history.A discussion of Final Fantasy VII Remake from 34:03 - 37:29 includes some spoilers for that title.Timestamps2021-03-091h 367 Minutes#1: "Hey! Listen!" The Legend of Zelda's 35th AnniversaryThe Legend of Zelda was first published 35 years ago this month for the Famicom Disk System, and has been one of the medium's most storied sagas since then. Angela, Robert, and Zack reminisce about the series and recount their own personal highs and lows with the franchise. They also discuss the trauma of lost save games and hardware failure, and more or less introduce themselves in this inaugural episode.Timestamps0:00 - Introductions4:45 - The 35th Anniversary and our favorite Zelda games36:38 - Least favorites and vocabulary lessons1:08:07 - Lost saves and dying consoles2021-02-241h 17