Gamers with Glasses Podcast

In this episode Nate and Samantha set out to recap and wrap up our summer series on games, childhood, and nostalgia, and end up…somewhere else. We cover all the deep questions, like, “Does nostalgia have to be melancholic?”; “Are console generations a marketing lie, just like other generational divides?”; “Do any of us leave childhood unscathed?”; and, “Isn’t Assassin’s Creed just Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoons?”

In this episode, Nate interviews NikkiJay, developer of the just-released "plotformer" Quantum Witch. Come for the in-depth discussion about cults, conditioning, and choices - stay for the impromptu ukelele concert.

We make learning fun! In this episode, Samantha and Luis interview Dr. Erik
Verlage, a research scientist at the Ohio State University who works on
interactive media and games in education. Discussion ranges from the use
and value of games in education to GeoGuessr and the difference between
toys and tools. Where’s the dividing line between a game and a simulation?
Why were Skyrim players willing to spend hours on the same thing at the
forge, even when it wasn’t fun?

We thought it would be fun to do an “Oops! No Games” episode, in which we
try not to talk about games. Inevitably, we totally fail, to the degree
that we even end up recommending games at the end. We were all going to
bring a book and a movie to talk about, and that somehow inspires us to
complain about AI a lot, but probably not enough, because it really is so,
so bad.

How do game critics contribute to Western hegemony, and what can we do
about it? Nate Schmidt interviews Felipe Pepe, creator of The CRPG Book
Project, on his recent essay, “The Gentrification of Video Game History.”
Drawing on Mia Consalvo and Christopher Paul’s critique of the concept of “
real games,” their wide-ranging conversation covers mods and mobile games,
the relationship between internet cafes and free-to-play RPGs, and the
emptiness of the stereotypical “nerd and jock” divide between
narrative-driven and sports games.