New Dad Gaming

We are officially entering our 11th year, making New Dad Gaming the longest-running fatherhood gaming podcast on the internet! To celebrate, we’re skipping the usual intro poem and taking a deep dive into the current "State of Dad Gaming." How do your gaming habits change when your kids shift from watching you play Mario Party to setting up their own Steam LAN parties? We discuss avoiding FOMO, re...

The internet is on fire over the official pricing for the new Steam Machine, and we have thoughts. Is the $1,500+ price tag a symptom of the hardware apocalypse, or a massive misstep by Valve? We break down the specs, compare the costs to building a PC, and predict where the console market is headed. Plus, Jeff attempts to validate his "gamer" status by playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time...

Nintendo just did the unthinkable: a full remake of Ocarina of Time - the game so many call "perfect" - and it's coming exclusively to the Switch 2. Trevor and Jeff unpack the announcement, the Final Fantasy VII "permission slip" theory behind it, and whether one game is really enough to make a busy dad drop $800 on a new console. Plus: the strange new milestone of your kid going EASY on you (a "v...

Clear the dust off if you have an iPod, Final Fantasy could sometimes use an extra clothing mod. Who knew that a Steam Deck was an asset to invest, And streaming games turns into the great friendship test. - Just because you became a dad, doesn't mean it's game over. - Connect with New Dad Gaming: 🎧 Subscribe to New Dad Gaming on your favorite podcast app: 📝 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.appl...

Welcome to New Dad Gaming, where the adult beverages are poured, the kids are (mostly) asleep, and we’re figuring out our gaming lives! This week, Trevor and Jeff read an amazing email from a fellow "Rad Dad" and Less Than Jake fan, proving that passing down your musical taste to your kids is a beautiful—and sometimes surreal—experience. Then, things get a little savage. Have you ever absolutely d...

What music do you put on your kid's FIRST MP3 player? Trevor lost sleep over the answer. This week opens with the universal dad experience: "watch this, Dad!" — followed by the kid's setup that NEVER works on the first try. Trevor and Jeff swap stories of standing patiently as 8-year-olds reset Roblox stages and 13-year-olds re-rig the table for the perfect WWE 2K24 finisher. It is, as Jeff puts i...

Can your kids finish the classic parent threats? Jeff and Trevor find out — and the answers are heartwarming.   This week starts with a social media trend we couldn't resist: parents asking their kids to finish old-school sayings like "as long as you live under my roof..." and "I'll give you something to..." The kids have absolutely no idea. Trevor and Jeff test their own recall against the trauma...

Jeff's mid-combat in Kingdom Come Deliverance when everything goes blocky. A quick router check reveals his teen is downloading 100 gigs and pulling 10x the bandwidth. Then comes the plot twist: Trevor secretly set the router to prioritize gaming traffic — meaning his kid's download got VIP treatment because of dad's own settings. Self-own of the year. From there, Trevor reveals he has a retro con...

Jeff survived the family plague (barely), and this week we're recording live — poems and all. This episode kicks off with a live poem creation featuring the Steam Deck and Skate 3. From there, Jeff shares how the Steam Deck was his lifeline while sick on the couch: full Steam library plus PS5 streaming, all from under the blankets. We compare it to the consoles that shaped our lives — the Game Boy...

The New Dads dive into a great listener email covering why it's time to kick Roblox to the curb, the magic of the Steam Deck on snow days, and fan-made Pokémon ROM hacks. We also debate the perfect birthday gift for an 8-year-old (Switch 2 vs. Meta Quest 3), discuss whether the Pokémon TCG Mobile app is just a digital pack addiction, and look ahead at the massive hype surrounding Crimson Desert. F...

Welcome back to New Dad Gaming! This week, Trevor and Jeff are surviving the wild energy of their kids—who are currently acting like Red Bull-fueled boars at a banquet. With the family adjusting to life down in Medellín, the guys discuss bribing the kids with $100 to learn Spanish on Duolingo and how this educational "loophole" is racking up screen time. We also dive into the beautiful peace of a...

This week, Jeff is hustling as an Uber driver for his kids and subtly suggests they buy Skyrim VR, Trevor finished Hades 2 and is caught between endgame content and some retro fun with Pokemon Fire Red, and Trevor pulls a fast one as the dealer during a game of Flip 7 for a good cause. Subscribe to the Podcast!   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-gaming/id1107330772 Spo...

What happens when your teenager gets caught playing a bootleg version of Balatro on school computers? Do you ground them, or are you secretly a little proud? 😂 Plus, Trevor is moving his family to Colombia for the winter and had to make some heartbreaking choices about what gaming gear makes the cut! Welcome back to New Dad Gaming! In Episode 383, Trevor and Jeff are breaking down the ultimate tr...

We are back for 2026! After a year-long challenge of purchasing zero new video games in 2025, Trevor and Jeff break down the aftermath. Did we survive the FOMO? What is the first game we bought in 2026? In this episode, we dive into the "Dad Dust" of getting back behind the mic, the joy of finally playing Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Hades 2, and the promising horizon of 2026 releases like Fable...

Welcome to Episode 381 of New Dad Gaming! The 2025 "No New Games" challenge is finally complete, and the floodgates are open. In this 2026 kickoff special, Trevor and Jeff break down the massive list of games they denied themselves last year and the upcoming titles they can't wait to pre-order. We discuss the shifting landscape of 2026, including the looming release of GTA 6, the slump in console...

In this final episode of 2025, Trevor and Jeff wrap up their year-long experiment: The "No New Games" Challenge. We break down whether we succeeded in clearing our backlogs or if we just stopped playing altogether. We also dive into the chaos of Christmas morning—from the quantity vs. quality gift debate to why one dad opted for a retro handheld emulator over a PS5. Plus, we discuss the "dark side...

Are digital currencies like Robux and V-Bucks ruining the magic of Christmas morning? In this episode of New Dad Gaming, Trevor and Jeff discuss the struggle of buying gifts for kids who only want digital skins, the sadness of not having physical games to unwrap, and the controversial reason Jeff is considering banning Roblox from his house entirely. Plus, Trevor is moving his family to Colombia f...

The New Dads review this years nominees for Game of The Year - a fun experience given they've played none during their year of no games. However, if nothing else it helps fill out their wish list once their self imposed exile is over. 🎧 Subscribe to New Dad Gaming on your favorite podcast app: 📝 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-gaming/id1107330772 🎧 Spotify: https:/...

It’s full-on dad mode: both households hand out no-game punishments after kids try to sneak Roblox and skip chores, sparking a conversation about clear consequences, consistency, and what it means when your kids don’t even argue the punishment - because they know the rules.   On the gaming front, Steam drops a bomb with three new hardware announcements:   A redesigned Steam Controller built from S...

Arc Raiders is the hot new extraction shooter everyone’s talking about… and the community is actually nice?! 😅   This week on New Dad Gaming, Trevor and Jeff crack open the last of the pumpkin beers, dive into the surprise hype around Arc Raiders, and unpack the controversy around AI voice acting and what it means for real voice actors and future games.   From there, it’s full-on dad mode: Trevor...

This week the dads discuss expensive Fortnite skins, introducing Breaking Bad to an eldest, and dream a little dream of games they will have. This week features some solid pumpkin beer to boot! 👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes on fatherhood, gaming, and the chaos in between. 📝 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-gaming/id1107330772 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/sh...

The Dads are back with pumpkin in their beer, With notes from listeners they definitely hold dear. Breaking the bank with a skin from Fortnite, And will a kid save for a Playstation? He just might. 👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes on fatherhood, gaming, and the chaos in between. 📝 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-dad-gaming/id1107330772 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.co...

Trevor and Jeff kick off October with a live taste test of a 10% pumpkin ale (it goes… badly), celebrate the pure joy of Hades II (with “God Mode” as the ultimate dad setting), recap a wholesome Hollow Knight all-night kids’ sleepover, and confess to using Final Fantasy VIII cheats to finally experience the story—25 years later. We wrap with a classic “beat your kids (while you still can)” dad-rac...

We did it: our once-a-year in-person episode! Trevor and Jeff awkwardly remember how to record without Zoom, swap Toronto trip stories, and dive into dad-mode gaming topics: Hades II’s launch, whether it breaks our “no new games” pact, accessibility/difficulty debates (Hollow Knight: Silksong, Elden Ring), letting a 15-year-old buy games on Steam, and the most dad-brained Fortnite setup ever (Xbox...

Welcome to New Dad Gaming, the show where Trevor and Jeff prove that becoming a dad doesn’t mean game over. 🎮👨‍👧‍👦   This week, the dads dive into:   Broken controllers & kid chaos – how one “dad-only” controller didn’t survive. No Man’s Sky resurgence – the dads revisit the galaxy, ship-building, and VR. Hard root beer & craft beer picks – Prairie Fairy Blackberry Wheat Ale & Craz...