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Probably the least relevant and most tangent-heavy mailbag episode to date, and that's saying something. Here's Samuel's piece on game names for PC Gamer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our third and final attempt to tackle the big games of September reaches Sony's biggest release of the year and the latest Silent Hill entry. The developer of Orbitals is Shapefarm, not Shapeform as Samuel incorrectly stated. Duh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Been quite a while since we did a 'games journalism craft' episode – this is one of those, as we're joined by former music journalist and Vice senior editor Mike Diver for a lively chat. Hear about the time Mike met Paul McCartney! Sadly, it wasn't about his terrible Destiny song that Matthew rather likes. Mike's book, Aliens: The Video Games, is available now.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emergency Nintendo Direct chatter, powered by the reveal of sequels to two of our favourite Switch games (Metroid Dread and Kirby and the Forgotten Land), then another pile of games from the September 2026 mountain.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The September release schedule avalanche begins. Games discussed: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Star Wars: Zero Company, Guns of Eschaton and Super Mario Sunshine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From outlawing the L3 and R3 buttons to combat-oriented games with bad platforming sections, our listeners have submitted 12 more possible game design crimes for Room 101...sorry, Room 64 (double copyright infringement!). Our returning guest, actual game designer Jamie Smith, helps us judge the innocent and guilty. Want to submit a game design crime for a future episode? Head here to the relevant Discord channel, or ping us at [email protected].  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four giant men select their favourite DS and 3DS games in our latest 3-hour draft episode. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into both consoles. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of our Discord server. These are the categories: Game featuring MarioGame featuring Link90+ on MetacriticGame with novel touchscreen controlsGame made in JapanGame made outside JapanPort or re-releaseWild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)Free pickWas advertised on the telly by a celebrity  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More of the games we've been playing recently, before the September avalanche of big titles crashes into Back Page headquarters. Samuel's games: Denshattack!, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Motorslice (a tiny bit) Matthew's games: Splatoon Raiders, The Message from Deep Space, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some thoughts on the Halo remake, then almost an hour of total nonsense that we will never, ever speak of again. This week's music is from the Halo: Combat Evolved by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How many ideas get saved from the original game when you're making a sequel? Does it cost more money to make a follow-up? How do you make sure an indie sequel doesn't vanish without a trace? Our returning guest Jay Baylis answers these questions while discussing his next game with Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts 2002. This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stepping outside our 2000s comfort zone, this week we're sharing our two top 10 lists from 1997 in the first of a new quadrilogy of pods. Expect 1998, 1999 and 2000 episodes in the coming months. This week's music is from The Curse of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land. You can get us, as ever, at [email protected]. Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta, Howard Lincoln talking about Rare, Nintendo's Space World, Games World's segment from the Sega booth at E3 1997 and B-roll of the games shown at Space World.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if IO Interactive made an Austin Powers game? Which game has been called overrated and underrated so many times that it's now just 'rated'? And why do some big games only get 1-page reviews in magazines? All that and more as we melt to death in the endless UK heatwave.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our monthly attempt to make a normal video games podcast. Games played this week: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Duskfade, Super Scram Kitty, Dimhaven - The Lost Source, Virtue and a Sledgehammer (mistakenly referred to by Samuel multiple times as 'Virtue is a Sledgehammer', the buffoon). Here's the thread on naming games by Hannah Flynn, as discussed at the end of this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The worst format in podcasting is back, fresh from the Castle Island Backrooms. This time, we've got even more moral conundrums for Judge Castle to figure out. Find the image referenced in this episode here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026? This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.