The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

A delightfully unusual episode with a guest we like a lot. Matthew Castle lore fans are in for a treat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew is fetching koalas for Chvrches in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, while Samuel is having year 11 lunchtime PTSD in Sloclap's football game Rematch. It's another WWBP episode! Games discussed: Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Rematch, Date Everything, MindsEye, Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo, Helldivers 2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finally, after a belated PS5 release, we dive deep into MachineGames' 2024 GOTY contender Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The first half is spoiler-free, then the second half goes deeper into the story with some fun bonus nonsense to boot (wait until you hear Matthew's pitch for The Fugitive tie-in game). This week's music is from the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle soundtrack by Gordy Haab...

It's a bloody mailbag! Please save your shrugs for the end. Thanks for all the questions, as ever. This week's music is from the Hotline Miami soundtrack by Perturbator.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new Nintendo console is here. Matthew is truly submerged in the Switch 2 experience, while Samuel has merely dipped a toe in the water. Here's how we're finding it so far. This week's music is from the Mario Kart World soundtrack by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa Miyoshi, Takuhiro Honda and Yutaro Takakuwa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Matthew hosting the pod solo this week, and his guest is Geraint Evans, formerly of N64 magazine, NGC and Gamesmaster. These days, he's working at the publisher PQube. This week's music is from the Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 + 2 soundtracks by Hideaki Kobayashi and Fumie Kumatani.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew has almost finished the new Doom game, while Samuel has done about half of it – so that's the focus of this week's episode. Matthew also explains his appreciation of the new MercurySteam game, Blades of Fire, and digs deep into his never-ending playthrough of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy on Switch. This week's music is from The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy soundtrack by Mas...

57 minutes and 13 seconds – that's the timestamp you want for all the game chatter, including two top 10 lists of the best games of 2005. Skip all the bullshit! For everyone else? Enjoy tales of college woes and secret freezer politics. Nonsense podcasting awaits. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

Our guest cancelled! Gah. Well, here's an episode we airlifted out of our collective asses. Hopefully it's not too bad with two days' notice to plan it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

20ish listeners' pre-owned purchases go on trial before Judge Castle, as Games Court returns! We also talk about this week's GTA 6 trailer, with a brief section on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, too. Do get in touch if you have any future Games Court entries, and we'll keep making them. This week's music is from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Lorien Testard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

It's time for another round of listener questions as we each recover from the 50 hours of games we played for last week's episode. Did anyone need 100 minutes of mailbag questions? Probably not, but as ever: it happened. Note: we recorded this week's episode before the Polygon and Giant Bomb layoffs if the tone around the games media chatter seems off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

It's catch-up time, as a spring wave of fantastic games hit at once! All of the above, plus Bionic Bay and some Metroid series chatter.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much to the chagrin of Matthew, who had to edit it, the four-person draft is back! This time, Samuel, Matthew, Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough are fighting over the best games on Xbox 360 (note: some of them may not be the best, but that's for you to decide). This week's music is from the Fable 2 soundtrack by Danny Elfman and Russell Shaw, plus the the Bayonetta soundtrack by Helena Noguerra, Bar...

Later than usual, but hopefully worth it: Matthew plays all the Nintendo Switch 2 demos (except some ports no one cares about).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are our thoughts on the new Nintendo console so far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After 30 minutes of chatter about Rebellion's new Game Pass survival game Atomfall, we try to pick the 10 games that best represent Britain as a virtual setting. Finally, we cap things off with a low-nutrition awards ceremony of British 'stuff' in computer games past and present. This week's music is from the GoldenEye 007 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate, Grant Kirkhope and Robin Beanland. Hosted on...

Matthew has played 20+ hours of Assassin's Creed for this episode, while Samuel turned it off after three and played Avowed instead. It's another 'what we've been playing' extravaganza! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who can pick the best 10 games on the Nintendo Switch? Eurogamer's Katharine Castle joins us to help figure this out, and to celebrate the hybrid console's healthy lifespan in our latest draft episode. Vote for the winner in our Discord's announcement channel . This week's music is from the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe soundtrack by Shiho Fujii, Atsuko Asahi, Ryo Nagamatsu, Yasuaki Iwata and Kenta Nag...

We answer a heap more of your questions, including a really daft one about HP sauce on a pizza. Thanks for sending them in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew finished Monster Hunter Wilds! Samuel didn't. This week we're joined by returning guest Joe Skrebels to discuss the newest game in Capcom's idiosyncratic series, as well as its meteoric rise in the West over the past decade plus.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest is Dave Jewitt, formerly of GameSpot's brilliant Firearms Expert Reacts  series, and newly of the channel EXP . He joins us to talk about how this great series of videos came to be...and ends by sharing his favourite 10 Warhammer video games (to the 15 sickos who kept asking for this, please enjoy). Find them at Patreon.com/watchEXP if you'd like to support the work of...

We rewind the clock to 2004, and discuss some of the most important and influential games ever made (plus the demo of Mashed) across two top 10 lists. This week's music is from the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack by Michael Hunter, and the Final Fantasy X-2 soundtrack by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bestselling crime fiction author Tim Weaver is our guest this week. Of course, long-time print readers will know him best for his work on the magazines N64 and NGC! This is a Matthew-only episode, as the pair have known each other for years. Enjoy our deepest dive into '90s games mags yet. This week's music is from the Mario Kart 64 soundtrack by Kenta Nagata. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Our first 'now playing' episode of the year covers Dynasty Warriors: Origins, The Roottrees Are Dead, Neva, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Marvel Rivals and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2. This week's music is from the Dynasty Warriors: Origins soundtrack by Masato Koike. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Outside Xbox's Mike Channell joins us this week to discuss his journey from magazines like PC Format and OXM to being very well-known on the internet. Plus, in the second part, hear about Mike's more recent hobby of acquiring and maintaining old arcade machines! This week's music is from the Daytona USA soundtrack by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.