One Life Left

We all know that the people who read this part of the podcast are more involved in OLL Lore than the average (Yo) Joe, so you might be able to answer a question that Team OLL have never been able to successfully do. Does a new season of OLL start after the Christmas break, or only after our summer holidays (like school)? Our methodology has changed over time, which means that we've been going for...

We're writing this in a rush so that the episode gets uploaded before half past. Therefore this will be a very short introduction. It's a full team episode with two Super-Special Guests. SSG One is Luke Williams from Bossa Studio talking about their new game - Surgeon Simulator 2 - that got announced at the Video Game Awards. And our Second Super-Special Guest (SSSG) was Sarah Brin, who took us on...

It's another full studio this week as Ann, Ste and Simon welcomed Leo Zullo and Gareth Williams on the show to not talk about their day jobs. Instead we let them tell us all about Safe In Our World, which is the charity they co-founded that has the aim to promote and improve mental health in the videogame industry. They've helped Emily Richards remaster her Bafta award-winning game Fractured Minds...

War? Huh? What is it good for? Giving videogame podcasts an easy introduction when they're a bit stuck for ideas. And now it's a good idea for a card game. We had Ivar and Gundi in from 1939 Games to talk about Kards (with a K), a card game based on World War II. It allows alliances to be made across the divide, and friendship is always the main aim of One Life Left. Just ask Keith Stuart and Simo...

It's literally a two man crew in the studio this week as Ann was away doing work stuff. And whilst Simon was back from Tenerife he sounded a little distant at the beginning. Luckily this meant that Ste could use this space to develop his range of videogame journalist impressions in his latest attempt to become Rory Bremner. Rory B-REM-ner, if you will, and you probably won't. We found out what Sim...

As the Team went into the studio they took a moment to do a quick roll call. Ste - check. Ann - check. CD with the theme tune on - definitely check. Simon - Simon? Anyone? Simon? Apparently Simon was in Tenerife, but it was unclear if this had been cleared with HR. If you tune in next week this mystery will definitely be solved (assuming we remember it). There was also no Super-Special Guest this...

The full team came into the studio with sufficient time for the show to start, only to find that the mixing desk didn't want to play fair. Was it upset that we didn't have a show last week? We may never find out. This did mean that this week's episode is one minute shorter than usual, but we increased the quality of the rest of the episode by 1.7% so you won't see any difference (statistic provide...

After last week’s transport trials we were happy to see the full team in the studio in time for the episode to start. But which one of us missed a flight in the past seven days? And which of us took advantage of the free cable cars that were available thanks to Extinction Rebellion? And did Ann get some shots? There was no Super-Special Guest this week, but we took that as an opportunity to clarif...

The full team was back this week for almost the full episode. But which of the team let us down and came in late? Was it Ann, who finally got to show Simon her new party trick? Was it Ste, who managed to get confused as to what skeuomorphism is? (It’s like Link’s Awakening all over again) Or was it Simon, who has had a terrible week in videogame baseball? The answer is held within this episode. An...

The episode was recorded on 07/10, or One Life Left Day as we always forget to say until the 9th, at which point the relevance of it has dissipated somewhat. Ah well. There’s always next year. It’s another Ann free week unfortunately as she was ill, but she had managed to send us the news so we were not as stuck as last week. Plus we also had a Super-Special Guest! George Perkins from Super Rare G...

With Ann being out of the country in Iceland how will Ste and Simon cope? Well, Simon became obsessed with sleep tracking so it was business as usual for him. Ste however went a little off the rails and this episode became his Simon Mayo confessional. We’ll get HR to give him a verbal warning for bringing the show into disrepute. We also spoke about unions, found out what game Simon launched the c...

What do you do when one of your co-hosts is off and another one is stuck in traffic? Ste showed one of the potential options available in this week’s episode. Luckily Ann managed to get to the studio before her text did, which meant that we’ll have to go back to solo Ste in a future season. No Simon meant that there was no Super-Special Guest, but Ste and Ann had lots to talk about. They made an e...

It’s a full team this week, but Simon is poorly so it’s more of a team 2.5. Except we had Jack Attridge on as a Super-Special Guest which boosted us up to 3.5. He was on to talk about Erica, which is also the name of his newest game. Or is it a movie? We try to work out the differences between the two. More importantly, is it a lean back or a lean forward experience? Even more importantly, what do...

So we’re back with season (BEEP). And we have been for the past three weeks, but we forgot to tell anyone. Included in that list was The Caretaker, which is why you’re going to have four episodes over the next two weeks. Aren’t you a lucky bunch of listeners? There was no Simon this week, which meant this episode was a bit Taylor Swift heavy. There was no Super-Special Guest either, which meant we...

The last day of radio term always sees a bit of giddiness among the team. The presenters don't wear their usual radio uniform, you can bring your board games and videogames into the studio (although Simon always brings his Switch in), and Lewis Schaffer brings in cakes for us all to enjoy. But one thing Team OLL never does on the last day of term is go skiving. UNTIL NOW. Ann decided that instead...

As we all know, One Life Left is recognised throughout the world as the longest running videogame radio show and also as one of the most modest radio shows. But sometimes we need some personal thanks. A little realisation that we've done a good job. And this week's Super-Special Guest Nicholas Lovell gave us some Super-Special Thanks in the acknowledgments of his latest book, The Pyramid of Game D...

It's a bit weird talking about yourself in the third person isn't it? Luckily this week's Super-Special Guest Ben Hall had no problems with that, but as he doesn't work in the games industry our interview with him went to places that we don't normally go to. If you need to know what the best train is in videogames, if you can get from Peterborough to Croydon without changing, and who would be our...

No Super-Special Guest this week means we get to look at the items that we've neglected for the past few episodes. A look in our collective spam folders shows that we had been missing out on other SSGs, genuine job offers, and opportunities to improve parts of our bodies. So if you've been really annoyed at us for not responding to an email we're sorry. Although if you're on The List you might be...

It seems that it was only last week that we had Ann Scantlebury on as a Super-Special Guest, and now she's performing stylish and professional jingles for one of the coolest radio stations around. That's what being on One Life Left as a Super-Special Guest will do for you, so feel free to let us know if you're interested. Being a presenter? The benefits of that are still yet to be realised. You'll...

With Ann missing at the beginning of the show and no Super-Special Guest booked, the lads took full opportunity to talk about football and if computer referees are better than computer-assisted human referees. It was actually more philosophical that it seems when we've written it down. However, Ann eventually showed up which gave us the opportunity to interview her about the latest developments at...

Only 379 episodes in and we finally get a Super-Special Guest in with the required knowledge of 90s boybands for Ann and Ste (plus a reluctant Simon) to talk about Busted and Westlife for at least twenty minutes. That SSG was Felicia Prehn from Nopia. She had flown in from Finland purely to be on our radio show, having the opportunity to finally see Westlife after over twenty years of being a fan...

After an episode with rave reviews across the board we shipped Sarah Brin back off to America (mostly because the reviews shipped Sarah Brin), brought Simon back for a full episode and allowed Ste in the studio. What will the reviews make of this episode? They’ll probably say it’s a bit too Muse heavy, that there weren’t enough live updates from E3 and that the chip music was slightly strange. So...

One Life Left is known for diversification and we have now moved into the True Crime category, as - one by one - our presenters slowly go missing during the show. Firstly, Ste fails to show up. Then, Simon vanishes at the halfway point. But who could the suspect be? Is it Ann Scantlebury, the HR director annoyed with the time off requests that the team make? Could it be Sarah Brin, the not self-pr...

After a two week absence from the airwaves for two of Team OLL, the full team was back in the studio. Ann had been in Scotland, Simon was in Sweden, and Ste… well it's probably for the best that you didn't hear what Ste was up to last week. Our Super-Special Guest this week was Ground Shatter's James 'J Parks' Parker, who has been a regular SSG on the show over the past few seasons. We spoke to hi...

After a break for Easter, the One Life Left team is back! And then going on holiday the week after due to May day. And maybe the week after that. It’s what you expect from us: Poor quantity over poor quality. But anyway, this week’s episode saw Ann play real life Neko Atsume, Ste talked specs-y to us, and Simon made throwing a stick even more fun than it already is. We also had more Red Hot Boscom...