Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Leisure EN ↓ 297 episodes

Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games and their years covering them professionally. Our logo is by John Strike, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch on Twitter). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author

Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

Category

Leisure

Podcast website

www.buzzsprout.com

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

The PS2 Games Mega-Draft 17.01.2025

The PlayStation 2 is arguably the greatest video games console of all time. Over 44 competing picks for the system's best games, Matthew, Samuel and two other Giant Men – Dave Scarborough and Ashley Day – will prove why. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord. This week's music is from the Katamari Damacy soundtrack by Yuu Miyake, Asuka Sakai, Akitaka Tohyama, Hi...

Games Court Is Back For 2025! 10.01.2025

Games Court is back! 23 listeners' pre-owned purchases go on trial in front of Judge Castle. Only the pathetic attorney Samuel Roberts can save them (or help send them to their deaths). This one is strong in the first half, drags for its third quarter, but brings the energy back for the final part. A net gain, for our great podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2025 Gaming Predictions 03.01.2025

One hour of totally unfounded waffle and pointless commentary. This week's music is from the Super Mario Odyssey soundtrack by Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii and Koji Kondo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Best Games of 2024 27.12.2024

Two top 10 lists of our favourite games from 2024. This week's music is from the Balatro soundtrack by LouisF. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Alternative GOTY Awards 2024 20.12.2024

Silly awards from silly men, ahead of the real GOTY pod next week. Thanks to this year's guests, too, for providing insights on their favourite games of 2024. This week's music is from the FF7 Rebirth soundtrack by Mitsuto Suzuki and Masashi Hamauzu and the Helldivers 2 soundtrack by Wilbert Roget II. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sub-80 Metacritic Games Draft 13.12.2024

Each host must pick the best 10 games that have a score of 79 or less on Metacritic! But who will win out with that tricky criteria in mind? And what gold (if any) lies within the amber ranks of the reviews aggregator? Vote for the winning selection in the Discord announcements channel for the next week. Some rules that might be handy to know: A game needs to have scored below 80 on at least one o...

Christmas Games Mag Quiz + Mailbag 06.12.2024

The quiz part goes on for far too long. The mailbag bit has some low energy answers. But: it is an episode of this podcast. This week's music is from the No More Heroes soundtrack by Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Best Games on Every PlayStation Console – PlayStation Turns 30! 29.11.2024

Our favourite first and third party games on every PlayStation console, just in time for its 30th anniversary. This week's music is from the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 203: The Death and Life of Games Magazines (with Caspian Whistler) 22.11.2024

In part one, hear us discuss what it's like to work on a games magazine when it's closing down, the rise of prestige games mags, and why crowdfunded independent media is so hard to get off the ground. A Profound Waste of Time founder Caspian Whistler joins us for part two. Hear about the creation of this successful prestige print project – and check out APWOT issue 5's Kickstarter here , which end...

What We've Been Playing (Dragon Age: The Veilguard, COD BLOPS 6, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Mario & Luigi: Brothership) 15.11.2024

Beefy games chat this week on all of the above – plus The Rise of the Golden Idol, FF7 Rebirth and Apex Legends. Thanks to Matthew 'Big Matty C' Castle for the edits this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 201: Backlogeddon (with Jay Baylis) 08.11.2024

We all have too many games to play. One of our favourite guests, Jay Baylis, joins us to discuss how we all gathered massive backlogs – and what can be done to cure it. Matthew had a cold for this one. But he still went through and edited out all his coughs, bless him.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 200: Behind The Back Page 01.11.2024

Only Jeremy Peel can save The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two Giant Men Play Perfect Dark (Patreon Sampler) 25.10.2024

We need an extra week to work on episode 200, so enjoy this great episode we made for our wonderful Patreon subscribers earlier this year. Support us at Patreon.com/BackPagePod, and get more great episodes like this one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Games Journalism to Blumhouse (with Louise Blain) 18.10.2024

One of our favourite returning guests, Louise Blain (last on the pod in October 2021), discusses her current role as Creative Lead at Blumhouse Games. Their first published game, Fear the Spotlight, is out on October 22nd. It's short but sweet! But next week probably won't be... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What We've Been Playing (Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom) 11.10.2024

Matthew is zagging on the new Atlus RPG, is surprised at how much he's enjoying Silent Hill 2, and is at odds with Samuel on the merits of the newest Zelda game, Echoes of Wisdom. You'll laugh when you get to our predictions of the critical response to Metaphor... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The PS4 Draft 04.10.2024

Returning guest Dave Scarborough (who?) joins us for our next three-person draft, focused on the PlayStation 4. Vote for the winner in our pinned tweet. This week's music is from the Persona 5: Royal soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Thank you to Matthew 'Mr Basil Pesto' Castle for the edits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What We've Been Playing (UFO 50, Astro Bot with spoilers, Tactical Breach Wizards) 27.09.2024

A true mix of stuff this week, right up until the final minutes : UFO 50, Astro Bot (this time with spoiler chat), Tactical Breach Wizards, Peglin, Marvel Vs Capcom: Fighting Collection and Sumerian Six. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The PC Gaming Draft: 2010-2019 (with Jeremy Peel) 20.09.2024

The draft is back, this time with unofficial third host and PC gaming expert Jeremy Peel! Listen to 30 competitive picks from an amazing decade for PC gaming, then vote on the winner in our pinned Twitter poll @BackPagePod. This week's music is from the VVVVVV soundtrack by Magnus Pålsson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What We've Been Playing: Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, Star Wars: Outlaws, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club 13.09.2024

So many good games to discuss this week! Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, Star Wars: Outlaws and the new Famicom Detective Club game. An array of treats, right up until the last few minutes of the episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Japanese Games Have Thrived Since the Xbox 360 Era (with Jay Baylis) 06.09.2024

Cassette Beasts dev Jay Baylis returns to discuss how Japanese games have been perceived and discussed in the West since the 360 era. This week's music is from the Persona 3 soundtrack by Shoji Meguro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Star Wars Outlaws First Impressions, Gamescom 2024 and an Emergency Mailbag 30.08.2024

In this oddly lengthy grab bag of an episode, Matthew talks about the first few hours of Star Wars Outlaws (about 25 mins in), Samuel explains what he ate at Gamescom 2024, and both of us answer questions from the listeners.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writing the Book on Alien: Isolation (with Andy Kelly) 23.08.2024

With Andy Kelly's book on Alien: Isolation out this month, we grilled him on the game and his hottest Alien movie takes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What We've Been Playing (Anger Foot, Ace Attorney Investigations, Thank Goodness You're Here, Nobody Wants To Die) 16.08.2024

Is Astro Bot out yet? No? What about Star Wars: Outlaws and Space Marine 2? Not right now? Still ? Fine. Then here's what we've spent our respective summers playing: an array of indie/double-A games ranging from disappointing to good. These include Anger Foot, Nobody Wants To Die, Another Code: Recollection, Thank Goodness You're Here and Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. Plus, hear Matthew tal...

Nintendo Top 50 Part 3 – The Final Countdown 09.08.2024

Here's the final part of our Nintendo top 50 list. Find the full list to read at your leisure on Patreon.com/backpagepod! This week's music is once again the Wii Shop Channel theme by Kazumi Totaka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nintendo Top 50 Part 2: Assembling the Longlist 02.08.2024

The Godfather Part II of podcasts is here! In this episode, we fire through every major Nintendo series and compile a longlist of games to populate our top 50 first-party list. Tune in next week for the third and final part – The Godfather Part III of podcasts, perhaps, where we'll arrange the top 50 on air. Does this mean that Sofia Coppola is Wario? Possibly. This week's music is from the Last W...

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