Aftermath Hours

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley gather on the eve of Summer Game Fest – aka Keigh-3 – to discuss pre-show announcements and an investigation into the show itself. Turns out, it costs $250,000 to buy one minute of trailer time during Geoff Keighley’s summer advertisement extravaganza. And that’s just the beginning, with pricing tiers that go all the way up to $550,000 for 2.5 minutes. Is it worth it? Especially when SGF has historically underdelivered compared to E3’s attention-grabbing golden age? Then we talk about SGF-adjacent announcements like Dragon Age’s puzzling name change and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s long-awaited gameplay reveal. After that, we move on to a discussion of Bloomberg’s report on Suicide Squad’s fraught development, which culminates in the birth of a new segment: These Guys Should Not Be In Charge. Speaking of, we then segue elegantly into a conversation about Variety’s pivot (back) into games coverage, which mirrors Rolling Stone’s recent games renaissance – albeit with less Saudi money involved. Finally, we talk about Valve’s continued mishandling of Team Fortress 2’s bot crisis, a story that resurfaces about once per year because, well, Valve still hasn’t solved the problem! And if that’s not enough for you, we close out by getting mad about trains.      Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, & Riley MacLeod - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley huddle together after another week surviving the slow-mo media apocalypse, this time with (even) more AI. First we discuss Vox Media and The Atlantic’s mystifying decisions to feed their journalists’ work into OpenAI’s woodchipper, shredding years of credibility and goodwill in exchange for a quick buck. Then we talk about Sony’s Neil Druckmann interview, which the company ended up pulling after the Last of Us maestro revealed that he was egregiously misquoted. Maybe having people who are not journalists try to do journalism-coded content is… bad? After that, we make our predictions for this year’s Summer Game Fest, aka Keigh-3. Is Call of Duty gonna do 9/11? Absolutely. Is Geoff Keighly gonna mention games industry layoffs during his splishy-splashy hype fest? That is… less certain. Finally, we finish out by trying to decide who we’d replace Geoff with if we could pick somebody else to host every consequential video game event under the sun. Our picks may shock you (but they probably won’t).       Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, & Riley MacLeod - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by Janus Rose, author of Aftermath’s first-ever freelance piece (made possible by subscribers like you!). She tells us about what inspired her to write her piece, which focuses on parallels between Final Fantasy VII and real-world resistance movements in the face of imperialism. Then we discuss IGN’s purchase of The Gamer Network – which includes sites like Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz, and VG247 – and ensuing layoffs, which feeds into a conversation about media consolidation in general. Somehow, we also find time to talk about Scott Pilgrim and share some recipes we like.   Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, & special guest Janus Rose  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss the new Assassin’s Creed, Shadows, which is set in feudal Japan and stars two main characters: a ninja and a samurai. It looks more interesting than the past few games in the series, if nothing else! Of course, since the ninja is a woman and the samurai is black, a certain subset of gamers are Big Mad. We (begrudgingly) talk about that part, too. Then we move on to Animal Well, an unexpected Metroidvania-but-not hit that came out last week. Chris loves it, Riley doesn’t get it. (Gentle) fireworks ensue. We also discuss the recent flood of extremely good indie games and how triple-A publishers – who’ve chosen to go all in on a small handful of big hits, at the expense of everything else – have forgotten how to make these types of games that there’s clearly still a hunger for. Oh, and of course we talk about Hades 2 some more, because that’s just who we are. Then we close out by answering a very important question: Who would you rather be able to talk to? Animals or the dead?     Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, and Riley MacLeod  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita take stock of Microsoft’s no-good, very-bad week, in which the increasingly embattled giant shut down four studios, two of them – Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks – beloved by fans. More small games or big franchise hits? Microsoft doesn’t seem to know what it wants. Then we check in on Sony, which is having the opposite problem. After landing the biggest breakout hit of the year in Helldivers 2, it nearly fumbled the bag with a bunch of needless PSN sign-in nonsense all for what: to assert more control over the player base? To lure people into its ecosystem under false pretenses? Lastly, we discuss some things we’re actually enjoying in Hades 2 (it’s so good) and Crow Country. Oh, and we discuss ideal game length, which is of course 12-15 hours, 20 hours, or 35 hours, depending on who you ask.   Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, and Gita Jackson  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita ponder orbs. There used to be so many of them in video games. What happened? Where did they all go? And whose idea was it to replace the smooth, satisfying act of vacuuming up orbs with slow, tedious loot grinds? After that, we discuss Another Crab’s Treasure, a Spongebob-inspired Soulslike that’s surprisingly great (and surprisingly existent, considering that I just typed the phrase “Spongebob-inspired Soulslike”). Then we move on to a subject I’m sure you’ve already heard plenty about on other video game podcasts: Taylor Swift. Gita is working on a piece about her parasocial appeal and the rabid fanbase she’s cultivated, so we use that as a springboard to talk about modern fame, fandom, and eventually, the recent Drake vs Kendrick Lamar rap beef. Finally, we close out by reflecting on campus protests taking place across the nation and especially in our backyard of NYC. Solidarity forever.    Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, and Gita Jackson  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by IGN’s Matt Kim to talk about Stellar Blade, a culture war battleground that, as it turns out, is a perfectly alright video game and nothing more. Seems to happen a lot! Maybe we could all learn something from this. But we probably won’t. Oh well. Then we discuss the impending TikTok ban, which is a load of dumb bullshit that doesn’t seem like it will pan out the way the United States government is hoping, but it’s happening anyway, for some reason. Lastly, we round out this lighthearted episode by touching on NYU Game Center’s support of campus protesters and the conditionality of free speech in a country that purports to be rooted in it. Fun! But if that all sounds boring to you, we also talk about browser tabs.   Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, and special guest Matt Kim  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Riley and Chris are joined by games journalist Ian Boudreau. We start by talking about Riley’s stressful quest to get internet in a new apartment, before pivoting to the stressful quests of the Fallout TV show and what it does and doesn’t borrow from the games. Then, we discuss the drama around Marques Brownlee’s review of the Humane AI pin and how we can all avoid being conscripted into AI hype, which leads into a brief reminiscence about the ill-fated Juicero. We talk about the layoffs at Take-Two, a company that just said it wasn’t going to do layoffs, and do a bit of processing about our own layoffs. Last, we answer some reader questions about what we’ve been playing, where we think the internet is going, and what old tech we’d most want to find in a dumpster.    Credits - Hosts: Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and special guest Ian Boudreau  - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita are joined by New Blood Interactive founder and Fallout expert Dave Oshry to talk about Amazon’s new Fallout TV series, which just premiered. The general consensus: It’s good! But it’s also very Bethesda-era Fallout, heavily reliant on iconography and references (Stimpacks! Nuka Cola! The Junk Jet from Fallout 4!) in a way that can be distracting, bordering on nonsensical. Dave makes the great point, however, that Fallout embarked on this path even before Bethesda took the reins with Fallout 3, so perhaps things were always destined to end up here. We also discuss the evolution of Bethesda and the lessons the company will learn from Starfield (probably the wrong ones), and then later we – minus Dave – talk about how we all wound up in New York, The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World, Baybee. Oh, and we recommend some movies.    Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Gita Jackson, & special guest Dave Oshry - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Luke find themselves wandering a news desert, so they decide to discuss games they’ve been playing recently, almost entirely for the purpose of getting Luke to pronounce the title “Doronko Wanko.” It’s a great moment, worth the price of admission on its own. Then Nathan and Chris discuss Content Warning, a new Twitch and YouTube sensation that’s like Lethal Company but you play as incompetent content creators, before spending a long time digging deep into the nitty gritty of Dragon’s Dogma 2, a game that just absolutely rules. After that, the group Remembers Some Games. Do you remember Windjammers 2? I don’t, but Chris sure does. None of us remember Wii Play. Perhaps it’s for the best. After that, we close out by answering reader questions, which leads us to find out that some people do indeed invert controls horizontally (in addition to vertically). Wild. The world is full of wonder for those with eyes to see it.   Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, & Luke Plunkett - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath!   About The Show Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.