The Explosive Alan Podcast

Look! It's a blue moon! Must be time for another Explosive Alan Podcast! Apologies for our ongoing sporadic release schedule but, y'know, work and stuff. In this episode, we answer more of your pressing personal questions, celebrate news of the return of Micro Machines and LucasArts classics, create an unholy fusion of EGX and Blankety Blank, and hear what you have to say about Nintendo’s reliance...

We've discovered the secret to making podcasts the easy way: just get other people to do all the talking. We ventured all the way to a slightly different part of London to attend gaming expo thing EGX AKA TEFKA Eurogamer Expo, and asked a whole bunch of listeners and developers to chat away about the games they're playing and the games they're making. We still do a bit of podchat, including news o...

Despite the title, we don't actually cover Microsoft's potential buyout of Mojang in any meaningful detail. Misleading, us? We do, however, let our tongues wag over Destiny, surprising Sherlock cameos, and the uneasy relationship between the gaming media and its audience. We're kindly assisted by the seemingly omnipotent Matt Lees. Seriously, he manage to post seven Tweets, publish a 2,000 word bl...

Sorry we're so late on this one, but we were busy figuring out how to melt down Gareth and Ash into a single uber-presenter. Unfortunately we just plain melted them (apologies to their families) so we got Julia Hardy to step in until we figure out a way to reconstruct them from the gloop that remains. We've all been there. We mask our sadness pretty well while chitting the chat out of news of new/...

NOMINATE THE EXAL PODCAST FOR A GMA BEFORE 12TH AUGUST! http://bit.ly/gmanoms After all that exercise in Simon's takeover episode, normal service resumes as three-quarters of Team ExAl stay firmly on their behinds. And oh! The things we talk about. Destiny's friends-only raid policy, some fool trying to sue Sony, the re-return of Resident Evil, Yogsventures controversies, Simon not knowing who Dom...

Happy birthday to us / Happy birthday to us / Happy birthday dear us / Happy birthday to us. Hooray. We celebrate our first anniversary in style - and that style is curiously similar to the format of the previous 34 episodes. The flab four discuss Yogscast controversy (not that one, the other one) and the baffling success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, attempt to identify popular cartoons dubbed in...

Pull up a chair, dear listener, and eavesdrop on another hourish of candid chat between the Explosive Alan gang. We're a proper gang and all, with a base, secret handshake, bespoke bomber jackets and an arbitrary rivalry with another podcasting gang (Gardeners' Question Time). What have we got for you this week? Let's see... Hold on... Right. Something about Lindsay Lohan, a quiz all about Arnie a...

E3's almost enough of a distant memory to make any podcast dedicated to it seem totally redundant. Almost. The gang, this time joined by TotalXbox.com/OXM's Aoife Wilson, pick over the bones of the show and share their highs and lows. Is E3 best enjoyed from a distance, or up close and personal? Did workshy fop Dan have a better time than equipment-lugging workhorse Gareth? (Hint: yes) Do our list...

Our ongoing quest to get every member of Regular Features on the show continues with a special appearance from living human Steve Hogarty. We grill him about his trip to the annual EVE Online Fanfest in Iceland, pore over the latest news - including Mortal Kombat X, Battlefield Hardline and the Metal Gear Solid film - flagrantly rip off Just A Minute, and discuss the pros and cons of DRM. Intro Ly...

We were lucky enough to rope in Jon 'Log' Blyth (AKA Loggy B), recently departed Official Xbox Magazine writer and regular member of the highly irregular Regular Features podcast, before he departs for a new life as a publican. The whole gang is back together for the first time in what feels like forever too, so you really have no reason not to listen to this hot 'n' heavy five-man aural chatbang....

In a week where Nintendo has transformed from cuddly, family-friendly company to hate-coding bigots (depending on who you talk to you, anyway), we largely ignore that - for now - and put our collective mind to the latest Call of Duty, Project Morpheus' terrifying shark demo, the Amplitude Kickstarter, Nintendo's other big problem and an interesting challenge that combines storytelling with expert...

With Ash and Gareth swanning around the Windy City this week, we've had to bring in the big guns to compensate for their absence. Enter Kotaku UK editor Keza MacDonald, who did such a good job that we only noticed the other pair weren't there when the entire recording went by without a single dick joke. Lots of good stuff this episode, with talk of our encounters with Watch_Dogs, Tomodachi Life, D...

Watch the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct! Actually, listen to this podcast, featuring special guest Johnny Chiodini and talk of Super Smash Bros., Amazon Fire TV, the Assassin's Creed movie and MS & Sony's foray into TV shows, first, then watch the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct.

We defy you not to do THAT   whistle after reading that title (doing it in your head counts too). The Struggling To Get-Along Gang are joined by award-winning indie developer Mike Bithell, creator of the wonderful Thomas Was Alone. We quiz him about Volume, his upcoming reinterpretation of the Robin Hood legend and drag him into the rest of our nonsense, including a particularly tense challenge, a...

There's been a lot of talk about the "Conscious coupling" of Facebook and Oculus VR, and who are we to avoid jumping on the "we know the inner workings of a multi-billion dollar corporation" bandwagon? So yes, FacebOculus dominates the chatter this week, but there's still room for Assassin's Creed Unity, The Last of Us PS4 rumours and Star Wars news and a challenge based on gaming locations that D...

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has proved to be incredibly divisive among the gaming community, so we've predictably jumped aboard the controv-o-wagon to discuss Kojima's plans and what it spells for big-budget game development in general. Before all that though, we've got chat of Project Morpheus, Titanfall, Sim City finally going offline, Super Game Jam and, sigh, Sonic the bleedin' Hedgehog....

Believe it or not, this episode contains a world-exclusive announcement that, conveniently, actually relates to the episode number. Strange AND bizarre. The revelation comes courtesy of guest and long-time listener, not to mention novelist and scriptwriter extraordinaire  James Swallow. This episode tackles the week’s big releases Titanfall and Dark Souls II (in song, of course), news on everythin...

The original fab four (well, after the original fab four) reunite and it's like nothing's changed. At all. Seriously. You'd think a bit of time away would refresh things a bit, but no, it's just more of the same old, same old. Pfft. We guess it's alright if you like that sort of thing, but not us. We much prefer that Garderner's Question Time podcast. Still, you'll probably love all the news, chat...

Don't call it a comeback. Well, you can if you want; three weeks off is a lifetime in podcasting terms. We might as well have been dead, frankly. Anyway, Ash is still prancing around in paradise, but Dan's back and, after a short scuffle with Simon, is back in the driver's seat. This time, we discuss South Park censorship, test our knowledge of release dates and contemplate the death of triple-A g...

In our first episode without Dan Maher, Simon attempts to lead the pack through another minefield of questions, news, challenges and debates. Will he make it through without buckling under such extreme pressure? Find out*! We're also pleased to re-welcome games writer Chris Slight, who stands in for Simon while Simon stands in for Dan. *Spoiler: He doesn't, and dies midway through the show.

We were delighted (not to mention slightly surprised) to be joined by talented actor and all-round lovely chap Chris Jarman - currently singing about terrible things as The General in the superb West End production of The Book of Mormon. He sticks around for the entire episode as we cover all the usual bases and bring a gaming twist to the deeply depraved "party game for horrible people" Cards Aga...

We've listened to community feedback and taken a good, hard look in the mirror to ensure that The Explosive Alan Podcast 2K14 is the ultimate simulation of a gaming podcast. New features for '14 include: - Procedural presenter interaction! - Fully linear narrative with no moral decisions and just one ending! - 63% all-new jingles! - ShatChat(tm) authentic janky microphone emulation! - Sobriety!

Edited down from what felt like forever's worth of increasingly slurred ranting comes the festive Explosive Alan Drunkcast, featuring: -Our four-part Nativity play! -A full review of the year where we manage to forget about Rayman Legends! -Special guest stars including (and limited to) OXM/Regular Features laugh factory Jon Blyth and man of many jobs Matt Frost -Mid-episode presenter departures!...

There was a lot of booze left over from our office Christmas do, so we thought it best to attempt consume it all - for the purposes of clearing some room in the communal fridge, you understand - while recording our latest podecaste (the 'e's are silent). The funny thing is, this isn't even the Drunkcast we have planned for next week's actual Christmas special. Consider it a rehearsal. Some good st...

...And that's what you get when you democratise the episode naming process. We're sorry. In this episode we ditch a couple of regular features to share our games - best and worst - of the generation. And if you disagree with our choices well, to quote Jeffrey Lebowski, that's just, like, your opinion, man.