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The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games and their years covering them professionally. Our logo is by John Strike, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch on Twitter). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unsung Aspects of Video Game Design (with Emma Kent)

49 mins; March 27, 2026

Episode 270: The Best Games of 2018

183 hours 20 mins; March 19, 2026

Becoming Pals with Hideki Kamiya and Other Stories (with Andy Robinson)

118 hours 46 mins; March 13, 2026

What We've Been Playing (Reanimal, Marathon, Dark Auction, Yakuza Kiwami 3, Romeo is a Dead Man, PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid's Curse, Denshattack!)

114 hours 51 mins; March 05, 2026

Two Giant Men Play Resident Evil Requiem

120 hours 22 mins; February 27, 2026

Games Court 2026

112 hours 59 mins; February 19, 2026

The Video Game Levels Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)

176 hours 49 mins; February 12, 2026

Writing the Book on Nintendo + the Top 10 Most Underrated Nintendo Games (with Keza MacDonald)

74 hours 41 mins; February 05, 2026

Three Giant Men Play Grand Theft Auto IV (with Jeremy Peel)

167 hours 15 mins; January 29, 2026

What We've Been Playing (Skate Story, TR-49, POPUCOM, Wheel World, The Case of the Worst Day Ever, The Berlin Apartment)

84 hours 23 mins; January 22, 2026

Mailbag 2026: Review Scores, the Death of VR Games, How Games End Up Bad, Favourite NPCs and More

91 hours 45 mins; January 16, 2026

2026 Gaming Predictions + Fantasy Critics Draft

100 hours 4 mins; January 09, 2026

The Best Games of 2025

202 hours 10 mins; December 26, 2025

The Alternative GOTY Awards 2025

119 hours 5 mins; December 19, 2025

The Top Emotional Moments in Games (with Lucy Blundell)

150 hours 30 mins; December 11, 2025

Top 5 Metroid Games (with Jay Baylis)

119 hours 36 mins; December 05, 2025

The Back Page Episode + ARC Raiders (with Phil Savage)

122 hours 5 mins; November 28, 2025

The 16-bit Games Mega Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)

171 hours 18 mins; November 21, 2025

The Oral Histories of Video Games (with Matt Leone)

72 hours 49 mins; November 14, 2025

Two Giant Men Play Super Mario Galaxy

121 hours 31 mins; November 06, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Dispatch, Absolum, The Séance of Blake Manor, Ninja Gaiden 4), Mailbag + The Worst Zelda Quiz Ever

110 hours 40 mins; October 31, 2025

Episode 250: 10 Games We Enjoyed During Steam Next Fest – Plus a Handful of Duds

118 hours 28 mins; October 24, 2025

The 'Games Set in Japan' Hall of Fame (plus Absolum and Ball X Pit)

99 hours 36 mins; October 17, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Ghost of Yotei, Silent Hill f, Baby Steps, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Revisited)

101 hours 41 mins; October 09, 2025

Reassuringly Finite (with Jon Denton)

121 hours 51 mins; October 02, 2025

The Best Games of 2017

177 hours 28 mins; September 26, 2025

Mailbag

91 hours 5 mins; September 18, 2025

Two Giant Men Play Rockstar's Bully (Patreon Sampler)

112 hours 47 mins; September 11, 2025

007 First Light Reactions, Plus: What We've Been Playing (Mafia: The Old Country, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Hollow Knight, Kirby on Switch 2, MGS Delta: Snake Eater)

103 hours 59 mins; September 04, 2025

The All-Star Japanese Game Developer Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough)

168 hours 50 mins; August 29, 2025

Two Giant Men Play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

149 hours 39 mins; August 21, 2025

The First Ever Metacritic Game

104 hours 49 mins; August 15, 2025

Three Games Court Episodes In One Year? In This Economy?

107 hours 57 mins; August 07, 2025

Ghostbusters Games and gamesTM Memories (with Dave Scarborough)

128 hours 29 mins; July 31, 2025

Two Giant Men Play Donkey Kong Bananza (which *has* to be better than Astro Bot)

110 hours 1 min; July 24, 2025

gamesTM vs Edge (with Matthew Handrahan)

124 hours 28 mins; July 18, 2025

The Art of Video Game Character Customisation (with Jen Simpkins)

118 hours 49 mins; July 11, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Death Stranding 2, Rematch, Date Everything, MindsEye)

91 hours 19 mins; July 04, 2025

Two Giant Men Play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

122 hours 21 mins; June 26, 2025

Mailbag – Two Giant Ben Edition

110 hours 16 mins; June 20, 2025

Two Giant Men Play the Nintendo Switch 2

123 hours 37 mins; June 12, 2025

From N64 Magazine to Gamesmaster to Games Publishing (with Geraint Evans)

131 hours 27 mins; June 06, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Doom: The Dark Ages, Blades of Fire, The Hundred Line, The Siege and the Sandfox)

83 hours 28 mins; May 30, 2025

The Best Games of 2005

150 hours 14 mins; May 22, 2025

GOTY 2025 Check-In

79 hours 59 mins; May 16, 2025

Games Court – Castle Island x Blue Prince Edition

115 hours 20 mins; May 08, 2025

Mailbag (sandwich + game pairings, writing cover features, console launches, other nonsense)

100 hours 10 mins; May 02, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Promise Mascot Agency, Tempest Rising)

110 hours 42 mins; April 24, 2025

The Xbox 360 Games Mega Draft

177 hours 2 mins; April 18, 2025

Nintendo Switch 2 Games – Played!

95 hours 29 mins; April 11, 2025

Two Giant Men React to the Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal

100 hours 38 mins; April 03, 2025

Atomfall and the Best, Worst and Most Iconic Games Set In Britain

116 hours 20 mins; March 28, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Assassin's Creed Shadows, Split Fiction, Avowed, Pirate Yakuza, Threshold)

98 hours 3 mins; March 21, 2025

The Nintendo Switch Draft (with Katharine Castle)

144 hours 31 mins; March 14, 2025

Mailbag

95 hours 51 mins; March 07, 2025

We Play Monster Hunter Wilds – and Dive into the Series' Massive Success (with Joe Skrebels)

87 hours 29 mins; February 27, 2025

Video Game Guns and the Best Warhammer Games (with Dave Jewitt)

106 hours 41 mins; February 21, 2025

The Best Games of 2004

161 hours 46 mins; February 14, 2025

From N64 Magazine to Crime Fiction (with Tim Weaver)

126 hours 37 mins; February 07, 2025

What We've Been Playing (Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Marvel Rivals)

93 hours 13 mins; January 31, 2025

Arcade Machine Collecting and Making Videos (with Mike Channell)

99 hours 21 mins; January 24, 2025

The PS2 Games Mega-Draft

165 hours 59 mins; January 16, 2025

Games Court Is Back For 2025!

114 hours 45 mins; January 10, 2025

2025 Gaming Predictions

79 hours 45 mins; January 03, 2025

The Best Games of 2024

169 hours 54 mins; December 26, 2024

The Alternative GOTY Awards 2024

138 hours 28 mins; December 20, 2024

The Sub-80 Metacritic Games Draft

107 hours 8 mins; December 13, 2024

Christmas Games Mag Quiz + Mailbag

117 hours 10 mins; December 06, 2024

Our Best Games on Every PlayStation Console – PlayStation Turns 30!

121 hours 58 mins; November 29, 2024

Episode 203: The Death and Life of Games Magazines (with Caspian Whistler)

119 hours 46 mins; November 22, 2024

What We've Been Playing (Dragon Age: The Veilguard, COD BLOPS 6, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Mario & Luigi: Brothership)

85 hours 15 mins; November 15, 2024

Episode 201: Backlogeddon (with Jay Baylis)

78 hours 58 mins; November 08, 2024

Episode 200: Behind The Back Page

157 hours 34 mins; November 01, 2024

Two Giant Men Play Perfect Dark (Patreon Sampler)

122 hours 3 mins; October 25, 2024

From Games Journalism to Blumhouse (with Louise Blain)

58 mins; October 18, 2024

What We've Been Playing (Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom)

76 hours 43 mins; October 11, 2024

The PS4 Draft

141 hours 44 mins; October 04, 2024

What We've Been Playing (UFO 50, Astro Bot with spoilers, Tactical Breach Wizards)

91 hours 18 mins; September 27, 2024

The PC Gaming Draft: 2010-2019 (with Jeremy Peel)

166 hours 18 mins; September 20, 2024

What We've Been Playing: Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, Star Wars: Outlaws, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club

80 hours 36 mins; September 12, 2024

Why Japanese Games Have Thrived Since the Xbox 360 Era (with Jay Baylis)

98 hours 38 mins; September 05, 2024

Star Wars Outlaws First Impressions, Gamescom 2024 and an Emergency Mailbag

132 hours 31 mins; August 30, 2024

Writing the Book on Alien: Isolation (with Andy Kelly)

63 hours 41 mins; August 23, 2024

What We've Been Playing (Anger Foot, Ace Attorney Investigations, Thank Goodness You're Here, Nobody Wants To Die)

80 hours 22 mins; August 16, 2024

Nintendo Top 50 Part 3 – The Final Countdown

113 hours 54 mins; August 09, 2024

Nintendo Top 50 Part 2: Assembling the Longlist

127 hours 13 mins; August 02, 2024

Nintendo Top 50 Part 1: The Art of List Making and ONM's Final Top 100

84 hours 39 mins; July 26, 2024

Mailbag (Best Metroidvanias, Square Enix Dinner Party, Cheese Draft)

84 hours 37 mins; July 19, 2024

Episode 185: From The Miller Report to Wrestling (with Simon Miller)

81 hours 44 mins; July 12, 2024

The Back Page Election – Whoever Wins, You Lose!

82 hours 43 mins; July 05, 2024

What We've Been Playing (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Still Wakes The Deep, Mullet Madjack)

79 hours 50 mins; June 28, 2024

Episode 182: Games Court – Big Sammy European Extreme Edition

118 hours 8 mins; June 21, 2024

Episode 181: Top 10 Most Anticipated Games

89 hours 3 mins; June 13, 2024

Episode 180: The PlayStation Portable Draft (with Retro Gamer's Darran Jones)

180 hours 11 mins; June 07, 2024

Episode 179: From EGM to BitSummit (with James Mielke)

106 hours 52 mins; May 31, 2024

Episode 178: The '00s Games Magazine Quiz and Mailbag

85 hours 1 min; May 24, 2024

Episode 177: The Game Soundtracks Draft

158 hours 17 mins; May 17, 2024

What We've Been Playing (Stellar Blade, Animal Well, Pepper Grinder, Dark Forces Remaster)

87 hours 29 mins; May 10, 2024

Episode 175: From Mysteries To Metroidvanias (with Stuart Turton)

111 hours 18 mins; May 03, 2024

Episode 174: From OPM to Rolling Stone to IGN (with Rachel Weber)

81 hours 51 mins; April 26, 2024

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The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

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