Episodes
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If you were lucky enough to have lived through the 7th console generation as a young adult with enough disposable income to buy a couple of games per month, you ate damn well. You probably have countless fond memories of each big new watercooler game that the studios of the day were firing out with alarming regularity, and you had no idea what the hell "games as a service" meant. Bliss.
What wasn't blissful, though, was how unreliable the machines were. The Xbox 360 of course was blighted by the Red Ring of Death scandal, a vast and expensive tech design and consumer rights blunder that cost Microsoft billions to put right. The PS3 similarly had the Yellow Light of Death, which wasn't as bad or as widespread as Microsoft's issue, but still affected a lot of people and is pretty much a guaranteed certainty if you're still lucky enough to have a working PS3 Fat: clean that thing religiously and change the thermal paste. Honestly. Do it. It will die eventually whatever you do, but don't tempt fate.
Not that the 7th gen was the only era with widespread tech issues. Every generation of games machine has had some kind of common problem, usually caused or exacerbated by excessive heat, and therefore often associated with games that drive the hardware particularly hard. So which of these system-busting games is the best one? Well, that's what we're here to get to the bottom of in this panel show, featuring Jim Trinca as your host, Tom Orry and Sherif Saed as your regular panellists, and Ian Higton from Eurogamer as a Special Guest (he's my favourite, very handsome, doesn't smell usually).
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Inspired by the recent release of Star Wars Outlaws, this week's podcast is all about what makes Star Wars, something we're exploring via the unorthodox path of picking a bunch of things that aren't Star Wars and pointing out the ways they are like Star Wars. Confused? Don't be, it's just an excuse to have arguments.
Star Wars is a massive media franchise that's had so many ideas chucked into it by various writers, directors, showrunners, and every other type of creative over the years that it's hard to really pin down what its true essence is. Which is what makes the question "What's the best Star Wars game that isn't a Star Wars game?" such a fun topic: you can conceivably make an argument for anything. Yes, even Football Manager.
So what does our panel most associate with Star Wars: is it laser swords and space wizards, or a beleaguered resistance movement against a tyrannical empire? Is it the things that famously influenced the young George Lucas, such as Flash Gordon adventure serials, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and living through the Vietnam war?
Special guest Ian Dransfield from Games Media joins host Jim and regular panellists Connor and Mark. No Tom this week cos he was on holiday.
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Missing episodes?
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Sometimes video games include the most random things, but who doesn't love that stuff? We all get excited when you can flush a toilet or turn on a tap, even though these are the most mundane actions possible in the 'real world'. Jim, in his wisdom(?), decided that these neat little features are pointless and made everyone pick the most useless of all found in the best video game. How did this go? Well, you'll find out when you listen to this week's episode of the Best Games Ever Podcast.
To help make these 30 minutes or so more tolerable we are this week joined by everyone's favourite dated video game journo d-lister, Steve Burns. If you know who he is, brilliant, if you don't, he's hard to explain so we won't bother.
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Video games are great, but sometimes you just have to admit that some of them are only available on consoles that, well, aren't great. Rubbish, even. You can guarantee an argument if you ask people to pick the worst games console, so that's what we did. But what is the best game on this worst console? Who showed their ineptitude and picked a game on a great console? Who picked something so perfect it could never be argued with? Did Jim say anything of interest or just stir things up?
Truth is, depending on your exposure to certain consoles you're likely to have different views on this to everyone else, but we had to make a definitive choice over the best game on the worst console. It absolutely won't annoy anyone!
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Video games are unparalleled in recreating real and fictional experiences. Only when both are channelled well, with love and passion, can a game transcend its place as merely a product and become art. For this reason being able to take a piss in-game is paramount to the merits of the medium. Where would we be without Norman Reedus widdling onto the grass in celebrated Art Game Death Stranding? Or that bit in Postal 2 where you can take a wizz on Gary Coleman, and he gets really cross with you? God rest him. Anyway.
Fact is, there are loads of games which, for some reason, include the act of doing a Big Wee as part of their suite of player interactions. But which of these games is the best? To find the answer, listen to the latest episode of The Best Games Ever show: a podcasted parlour game about arguing over metacritic scores.
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It's time for another episode of the Best Games Ever Podcast. This time we've got a great topic as Tom picked it. Join Jim, Tom, Connor, and Sherif as the gang ponders such a brilliant topic and attempts to come up with suitably amazing answers. Spoiler: Only Tom has a good answer.
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It seems like nothing will convince Biden to step down and let someone else run against Trump., but we don't care about any of that because we're a video game quiz show. Unless...
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You wait years and years for something to finally be over, and once that day comes, you’re left not with a sense of joy, but with a deep-set anxiety about what comes after. Bereft. Unable to enjoy the simple joy of being free, because you’ve been around the block a bit, and you know how these things go. Sigh.
But enough about finishing Morrowind. Recently the UK had an election and kicked out some of the worst people to ever be in charge of anything, replacing them with a default option that nobody actually likes that much. Which is rather like when you finish a video game. Except it isn’t. It’s nothing like that. It’s not remotely like that at all. Forgive the rubbish conceit, and please enjoy The Best Game You Were Glad To See The Back Of, a podcast episode which you can watch or listen to on this very web page and/or app!
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Most games age like milk in the hot sun. But some are so bold, so brilliant, that they transcend their contemporary era, remaining relevant and highly playable for years or even decades following their release. But which of these has most aged like a fine bottle of fermented grapes, mashed between someone's manky toes? To find out you'll simply have to knock back a tall glass of The Best Games Ever podcast episode 104: The Best Game that has aged like a Fine Wine via the methods handily listed below. Or not, it's up to you, I'm not your mum.
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There's now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247.com paid subscriber - check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don't worry if that's not for you, the main show will always be free.
Still inspired by last week's topic, we thought we'd flip it on its head an ask perhaps an even more pertinent question in an age of decade-long marketing campaigns: what's the best rubbish game that had a great reveal trailer?
Baffled by the concept of how a rubbish game can be "best"? Listen, don't worry about it. Games media is full of this contradictory rubbish. We often say things like, for example, "a good 7/10 game is better than a bad 9/10 game". And it makes a perverse sort of sense. Except when it doesn't.
Speaking of perverse, this week we're lucky enough to welcome Eurogamer's Ian Higton onto our humble little show. He's only the second person from Eurogamer we've managed to snag, because those guys are usually too busy coming up with cheap puns, but his showdown with Tom in his debut episode is one for the ages. We're also joined by Connor, who seemed determined to sabotage himself this week but blame it on Jim (me). Typical.
To find out why Connor lost, and who won out of Tom Orry and Ian Higton, you'll just have to watch or listen to this week's excitig installment of The Best Games Ever podcast via one of the handy methods below. And no, we don't know why Jim is once again wearing sunglasses and a bandana. Apart from the fact that he's a riddy.
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Many great games have suffered from poor marketing. Sometimes they’re advertised to entirely the wrong demographic. Other times, they’re partnered with uncool or problematic brands. A lot of the time they’re just hard to explain, and need to be experienced to properly understand, so unless you can get a significant number of people to try a demo you’re going to struggle. This, incidentally, is why our much maligned profession still has value for consumers in the age of YouTube. At least that’s what I tell myself at night when the existential dread kicks in.
But sometimes there are good games that are just hobbled by a botched first impression. A pre-rendered reveal trailer, perhaps, that contains no actual scenes or assets from the game in question and doesn’t even work as a tone piece. The recent reveal trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which inspired the theme of this episode, seemed like one of these. Indeed, some people initially wondered if it was some kind of Fortnite tie-in, given how removed it felt from the Dragon Age they knew. However, a proper twenty minute gameplay reveal the following day has, thankfully, eased a lot of people's concerns. Phew.
So, what have our esteemed panel come up with for good games that had crap reveal trailers? Find out in the latest edition of The Best Games Ever Podcast, handily presented to you right here on this web page or app that you’re reading this on.
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It won't have escaped your notice, dear viewer or listener, that the last episode - our incredible two-part 100th episode special quickfire edition - featured six contestants instead of the usual three. It may have escaped your notice, however, that 50% of them were not actually VG247 staff. This has caused certain ripples at VG247 Towers. Realising I may have triggered a full-on staff revolt, with its ire pointed squarely in my direction, I felt it wise last week to pretend to be ill and get Tom to host the podcast instead.
Tom, being the great mediator that he is, not only stepped seamlessly into the host role but also managed to get everyone to calm down and thwarted a live mutiny attempt during the recording. With everyone suitably placated, we'll back to normal next week.
But what's the best game where everyone's mad at you even though you've done nothing wrong? To find out, you'll have to listen to this.... unorthodox edition of The Best Games Ever Podcast. The extended bit for subs only is *very* special this week, so if you want in on that, become a Bestie for just £2.99 a month!
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To recap: for the 100th episode we decided to come up with 100 episode topics and blow them all on one huge quiz round, with individual buzzers and everything. Inviting some favourite guests to return (Owen, Richie, and Burns) with the promise that, yes, however many points you score in this mammoth episode will be added to your overall total for the series. This has caused some friction at VG247 Towers, which you'll get to enjoy the fallout from in Episode 101: The best game for losers.
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One-hundred episodes. 100 weeks of The Best Games Ever podcast. I can scarcely believe it. On a personal note, it's been wonderful to host this stupid, daft, funny, sometimes even informative show about games past and present, with its mad politics and meta-games, running gags, plot twists, special guests, and so on. Tom asked me to host it on a freelance basis at first, and it was working with the brilliant VG247 team on this ad-hoc basis that convinced me to snap up the opportunity when he later invited me to put throw my hat in to replace the brilliant Dorrani Williams as VG247's Video Person. We're definitely not the biggest gaming podcast in the world, or England, or Basingstoke, but we are as far as I'm concerned one of the best.
Onto business, then. For the 100th episode we decided to come up with 100 episode topics and blow them all on one huge quiz round, with individual buzzers and everything. Inviting some favourite guests to return (Owen, Richie, and Burns) with the promise that, yes, however many points you score in this mammoth episode they will be added to your overall total for the series. If you want to know who came out on top, you'll have to wait for part two next week. But this here part one that you can watch or listen to below is, in and of itself, an extremely fun time that we hope you enjoy listening to as much as we enjoyed recording it. Prepare for bickering. Prepare for petty arguments and appeals to a non-existent rulebook. Prepare for Connor managing to score some points despite technically not even competing. Here's to another 100!
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Ahead of our big 100th Episode Quickfire Special Featuring Steve Burns, which is going to irrevocably change the scoreboard forever, Tom and I decided to do another one of our Best Games Ever Podcast audits, where we review everyone's picks in the last few months, reveal who ranks best in overall wins and win percentages, and maybe... just maybe... Tom will successfully lobby to get the scores changed.
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Realistic water and wetness were seen for years as a litmus test for photorealistic graphics, but by the PS3 generation, developers had it nailed: water shaders had become so sophisticated that Nathan Drake would emerge from a full dousing of seawater and slowly dry off, with his clothes soaked, and skin glistening. It was a mesmerising effect: it’s difficult to describe to younger people how incredible it was to see this mundane environmental phenomenon happening, in real time, to a video game character.
Of course, now these graphical effects are so commonplace that they scarcely raise an eyebrow. Aloy’s clothing dries off at varying rates, does it? Who cares. Seen it, mate. But given that, I thought it would be a challenge for our regular panel to come up with the best game ever where your character gets wet and stays wet for a bit. To find out how they got on, you’ll simply have to watch or listen to this week’s Best Games Ever podcast.
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Whatever your attitude to guns in real life (for the record, they’re awful and civilians shouldn’t have them), it’s hard not to become a sort of virtual gun nut when you’re a gaming enthusiast because, inevitably, our primary interaction with game worlds is shooting bullets into them. Even games which emphatically are not shooters often feature guns as a tool or special attack. And sometimes – not hugely often, but more regularly than you might think – we get games which have fully developed shooting mechanics and a range of guns that you don't even get to use until many hours in. Perhaps making you wait until the final act before it grants you the right to bear arms (note: nothing to do with bears, see previous episode).
There’s always a very good narratively justified reason for this. Perhaps the game is set somewhere where firearms are naturally scarce, like The Past, or Shropshire. Perhaps the developers are making a clever point about the instant, maximum violence that automatic weapons afford vs the nuanced, patient art of having to stab or punch people instead. Whatever the reason, this week our esteemed panel of professional game enjoyers are tasked with deciding which is the best of these rare treats.
If you want to know what they came up with, there are handy ways to watch or listen to the show below. What a coincidence!
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Hello and welcome to episode 97 of the Best Games Ever Podcast. As is traditional, let us give you some information about the show. This week we are looking for our contestants to think of the best game in which you fight a bear. Let's see if anyone decides to subvert the topic in ways that cause mutiny within the ranks.
As ever, host Jim Trinca must decide who has picked the best game by judging on an unknown list of criteria he most likely makes up as he sees fit on the day. A true professional.
If you want more of the Best Games Ever Podcast, we have an extended edition in which Jim picks a game and the rest of the team tells him how much of a terrible choice he's made. You can get this by becoming a paid member. Head to VG247.com and click on the "support us" section in the top right (in the menu on mobile) for all the details.
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You can’t say anything these days! Is what silly people say, a lot. You can actually say whatever you like. You can say, for example, and with confidence, that there are certain things you could get away with in gaming thirty years ago that simply wouldn’t fly now. Like… racing games with only one track. Platformers with a length of 20mins if you’re good at them. Games with terrible representation of anyone who isn’t a straight white male.
Attitudes and expectations change with time – sometimes it’s progress, sometimes it’s regression. But whatever the reason, it does lead to a lot of otherwise good games being cast into the shame cupboard of history. Games which would be a tough sell or borderline offensive now, but play great.
So what’s the best one of those, according to our esteemed panel? This week Tom and I are joined once again by Richie Morgan from I Hate Doctor Who and Owen O’Donnell from The Infinite Review, two people who also remember the past.
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Inspired by the (frankly excellent) Fallout TV show, this week on VG247's Best Games Ever podcast I've tasked my colleagues with finding the best game where a family member ditches you. With the prerequisite understanding that none of them are allowed to pick Fallout 3, the quintessential "dad's buggered off" simulator.
As it turns out, being forsaken by a family member is a fairly common scenario in video games, especially if you widen the concept of family out to any sort of fraternity or gang. Which didn't stop racer-obsessed Mark trying to crowbar in a racing game, of all things. Or Tom from bringing up the usual guff. To find out which specific guff, you'll have to listen to this, which is presumably what you're doing here in the first place, which means I've essentially wasted the last five minutes of my life typing this out. Thanks for that. Thanks. I could have spent that doing something nice, like cradling my laughing child, or eating crisps, or any number of things that we do while the reaper waits.
Anyway, watch Fallout, it's good.
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