Old Gamer’s Almanac

We've been teasing things for a few weeks now but we're finally excited to announce the future of Old Gamer's Almanac. We have a new format for the show incoming and a new way we'll be interacting with the list of 100 games. In addition to all of that, today's episode details new updates on the Patreon as well as some teasers to more 2024 seasons! To see the most up to version of the list and this...

Matt and EJ read two books by noted video game journalist Jason Schreier and we're here to tell you about them! Jason interviewed dozens if not hundreds of game developers on the front lines to put together two books about the trial and tribulations of the games industry. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels (2017) takes a close look, one chapter at a time, at the development history of numerous specific game...

Today is weird because we're pretty much only talking about one game, but we are not ranking it. Alan Wake 2 comes out soon and Hunter set aside time to replay Alan Wake. However, Matt has never touched it and still would kind of like to play Alan Wake 2 when it comes out. So Hunter is here to give Matt (and you) a crash course on Alan Wake and catch him up on the story so far. To see the most up...

We near the end of our first 100 games so before we finish we have to talk about the first game that was ever Art. That's right, until 2005 no other video game was Art, but then a team at Sony made a follow up to their 2001 platformer and Roger Ebert let us know we'd finally done it. Shadow of the Colossus is hailed by many as the greatest game ever made and it's our turn to put our ever-important...

We're 98 games into this list but we haven't talked about the red plumber since episode 1. Today we return to the Mushroom Kingdom to discuss the SNES follow-up to Mario 3, Super Mario World. It's one of the best launch titles ever, but does that mean it's one of the best game ever? Or is it even better than SMB3?! To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https:/...

We've finally come to some sort of finish line. Months ago we played Kingdom Hearts 1 and the Gameboy Advance sequel Chain of Memories and they left a sour taste in our mouth. But our memories held Kingdom Hearts 2 in a high regard...so it was finally time to refresh our memory and see if the door to our hearts is closed or full of light... To see the most up to version of the list and this season...

We were both almost done with Kingdom Hearts 2 but are adopting a new philosophy of late that means we aren't rushing the ending and thus negatively affecting our opinion on the game. So in the meantime, maybe we can talk about a bunch of other games we've played this year and games we're looking forward to! To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.g...

What is this? Linus Tech Tips? No, obviously not. We're far too stupid to give you an in depth product review. But we have been hanging out with new Analogue Pockets for just under two weeks and we wanted to talk about them. So that's what this episode is! Listen, the format of the show is whatever we want it to be and this week we wanted to talk about niche boutique electronics for old geezers. ...

No this isn't a 90's PC game. Up top we'll explain what's been going on with the show and tease a little bit of what's to come. After that, we just wanted to talk about The Witness! It's a puzzle game from 2016 about perspective, philosophy, and puzzles. At one point Matt said it was his favorite game of all time and we need find out if that's still the case before we reach 100 games on the list....

We've had a lot of beach episodes on the show but we've never had a hotel bed episode. 4 exhausted boys traveled to Indianapolis for a weekend of board gaming and at the very end of it made the unwise decision to fall asleep talking about Hollow Knight. If the energy level of this episode feels off to you, never fear. About halfway through we start talking about Elden Ring and everyone perks right...

Today is not your regularly scheduled OGA and in fact isn't even about a full game! Hunter and Sun sat down to have a prolonged discussion about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake DLC and end up, as they always do, talking about every Final Fantasy game ever, basically. Stick around to the end to hear their top 5 Final Fantasy games! To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, vi...

It's finally time to return to the Every Wheel which this time has graciously presented us with the classic platformer for the TurboGrafx-16, Bonk's Revenge. We are especially excited for this entry to the list because it was a great excuse for us to reach out to the internet's chief Bonk enjoyer Brandon Sheffield! We talk about the game some, but mostly we talk about the TurboGrafx and Brandon's...

We're going live now to our local adventure game correspondent Ezra Fox! Ezra what's the situation out there? "Well as you can tell we've got a puzzling situation that's going to require heavy use of saving and reloading. But the writing and art is solid, so its hard to be overly negative about it's chances." Listen, Hunter's not here and I'm capable of being negative about just about anything, so...

This week was supposed to be a Quake 3: Arena episode for the 90's PC game series, but as it turns out all 90's multiplayer FPS games are nigh unplayable. Sure, you can boot up Quake 3, but there is no discernible way to recreate the allure of what this game meant in it's hay-day and it felt like robbery to shortchange you on it. But, a commonly requested game on the OGA Discord has been last year...

Hunter bounced off the new Zelda so he decided to betray the promised list with an episode about a sweet little independent experimental narrative game from 2012! EJ and Hunter try to stay focused but they end up talking about a lot of unrelated stuff. Thanks for bein' cool.   A lit of things discussed in this episode: Thirty Flights of Loving Gravity Bone Matt's relationship with his dog Indiana...

Matt, Hunter, and the Sanders Not-Brothers have been sailing the Sea of Thieves and are here to regale you with their stories of plunder, piracy, and partying with buds. What makes a good multiplayer session? Does the game NEED to be good? Or are stupid games with stupid friends good enough? To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreads...

One of the biggest games of this season required an expert. To talk about the huge, dialogue-driven computer RPG Fallout 2, we got the help of ZA/UM writer and narrative designer Justin Keenan! Our #1 game, Disco Elysium, certainly has a lot of the DNA of games like Fallout 2, but are these old RPGs TOO MEAN to stand up to today's perhaps more inviting entries? Also, the Fallout universe stands al...

We're knee deep in our 90's PC Game season: Now That's What I Call PC Games, but today also feels like a sort of conclusion of a trilogy. You can draw a direct line from Doom, through Quake, and end up at Half-Life and tell a complete story, and today we finish that story. Valve changed the way many people think about story in games and "immersion," but how does it feel to return to that sense of...

An episode we promised for this season was an undetermined "Indie Game of the Moment," which was our way of waiting around until one of those Indie Games shows up that no one can stop talking about. Tchia isn't really that game, but it IS the indie game Matt most wanted to play and talk about. So come learn about New Caledonia with us and just chill out for a while, mmkay? To see the most up to ve...

Hunter has the week off while we bring in EJ to talk about the family friendly murder simulator Roller Coaster Tycoon. This game has it all: Windows '95 window layouts, Excel spreadsheets, 2d graphics, and theme park patrons drowning to death! Is it the greatest simulation game ever made? Why Roller Coaster Tycoon is a Game Development Masterpiece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESGHKtrlMzs To se...

It's back to back remake weeks! Capcom blessed us with a remake of it's highly regarded classic Resident Evil 4, prompting many people to ask how can you make one of the best games of all time better? To answer this, we employed the help of resident expert in all evil media, Jenna Stoeber! Is Resident Evil 4 even horror? Is it funny on purpose? If you need these questions answered, we've got somet...

We've returned again to the fertile ground of Final Fantasy 7. In the past, we have covered the original with mixed feelings between our hosts, but today we offer a unite front. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a good video game, a cool idea, and an important thing. At least for now, until they make it's sequel and completely botch the whole idea... To see the most up to version of the list and this seas...

One of the challenges of this season is getting old PC games to run on modern hardware. It's interesting that as emulation has improved, it seems our ability to play some old PC games has fallen by the wayside. But today's game was a surprise. Not only does it run well on modern devices, but it is perhaps the best it has ever been on the most modern of devices, the Steam Deck. Let's talk about how...

It's high time we returned to the wonderful world of LucasArts and classic PC adventure games. Grim Fandango marked both the ending of an era while also ushering in 3D graphics for the genre. But it's too hard for us to unpack the weight of this game without consulting some of the people who were there. First, friend of the show Ezra Fox is here to share his experience growing up with this game an...

This is one of the earliest games we'll be exploring in our 90's PC season, and yet Another World is perhaps the most timeless and important game we have to discuss. It is a game that in many ways feels like a modern indie gem made by one person, but instead it's an early 90's indie gem made by one person. It is also one of the most commonly cited inspirations for game designers, and yet it's a ga...