Samuel Roberts And Matthew Castle Podcasts

PC Gamer's Phil Savage rejoins us for an episode all about Bungie's Destiny. Hate Destiny? Fair enough! You may still enjoy the first 24 minutes of this podcast for general games chatter. For Destiny players, prepare for two hours of chatter from a genuine expert that goes deep into the series' history – including the top 5 Destiny 2 guns, and the …

Matthew is away this week! Returning guest Jeremy Peel kindly steps in to replace him, as we count down our 10 personal most anticipated games, based on whatever E3 was this year – from Redfall to Final Fantasy 16. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Samuel and Matthew each compete to pick the 10 best PC games released in the years 1990 to 1999 – and you can vote for the winner @backpagepod on Twitter in our pinned tweet. This week's music is from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert soundtrack by Frank Klepacki. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

Returning guest Andy Kelly joins us to discuss his love of Sega's Dreamcast, and his new Alien: Isolation book, Perfect Organism, which you can back on Unbound: https://unbound.com/books/perfect-organism/ This week's music is from the Shenmue soundtrack by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and Yuzo Koshiro. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informati…

The Centennial Case, Tunic, Gears Tactics, Eternal Threads and Little Cities are among the games we discuss in this week's episode, which was painfully recorded across three evenings. This week's music is from The Centennial Case soundtrack by Yuki Hayashi. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

This week's guest is Tim Clark, brand director of PC Gamer with a long history of working on the official PlayStation magazines. Get ready for another top-drawer story about Hideo Kojima, among many other tales from games media history. This week's music is from the Killer7 soundtrack by Masafumi Takada. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-ou…

In this week's episode, Samuel catalogues the Star Wars games that exist between simple notions like light and dark – these are the 6 and 7/10 Star Wars games that are nonetheless interesting in a bunch of ways. A full best Star Wars games episode is coming later this year, so look forward to that. This week's music is from the Star Wars: The Force…

Former Edge editor Jen Simpkins joins us to discuss some highlights of her years working in games media, and how she ended up working with the bright minds of the Dreams community at Media Molecule. Find the Playdate drawing Jen mentioned attached to the corresponding episode post on Patreon. Looksley's Line-Up is the DSi game mentioned early in th…

It's another mailbag episode, with about 20 minutes of what we've been playing at the start as a chaser. It's probably too long, yet again, but it covers everything from our favourite TV genres to trends in games that we miss. Enjoy! One factual error in this episode: Sunset Overdrive was released in 2014 rather than 2015. Our theme tune is by Barr…

On this week's episode, we revisit all three Max Payne games. Section 1 is about Remedy's creation of the third-person shooter series that popularised bullet time, while section 2 covers Rockstar's effort to contemporise the character in Max Payne 3. Hopefully you'll agree we do Max justice. Then, the final section has to be heard to be believed. T…

IGN's Joe Skrebels joins us for another round of indie game recommendations – and 20 minutes of very welcome Dragon's Dogma chat. 15 more games enter our hall of fame in this episode. Hopefully you'll hear about something you've never played before. This week's music is from the Thumper soundtrack by Brian Gibson. Our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch'…

Two top 10 lists of the best games of 2012, in our usual style. Love the podcast and want more? Head to patreon.com/backpagepod to unlock two additional episodes a month. This week's music is from the Catherine soundtrack by Shoji Meguro, and the Kid Icarus: Uprising soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yas…

The top 5 Kirby games, and detailed thoughts on Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch. Enjoy! This week's music is from the Kirby and the Forgotten Land soundtrack by Yuuta Ogasawara, Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa and Yuki Shimooka, and the Kirby's Epic Yarn soundtrack by Tomoya Tomita. Our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppi…

It's a simple 'what we've been playing' episode, featuring Ghostwire: Tokyo, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Tunic, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Monster Train – not to mention a ton of listener questions about random nonsense. This week's music is from the Tunic soundtrack by Terence Lee and Janice Kwan, and our excellent theme tune is by Bar…

Who can pick the 10 best PS Vita games in our latest draft episode? And who will pick the best PSone and PSP games to supplement their selections? Matthew and Samuel compete to build the best library for Sony's fan-favourite handheld device. This week's music is from Hotline Miami by Scattle, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping. See acas…

Judge Castle returns to decide whether 18 or so listeners must die as a result of dodgy secondhand eBay purchases. This episode is slightly too long, but hopefully you'll be amused. This week's music comes from Barry Topping, composer on the brilliant Paradise Killer — it's our brand new theme tune! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out inf…

Samuel and Matthew have played Elden Ring for a combined 37 hours – here's what they think so far. This week's music is from the Elden Ring soundtrack by Yuka Kitamura. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.By Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

Matthew's seen the Uncharted movie, which is a nice excuse for a deep dive into one of our favourite PlayStation series. This week's music is from the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End soundtrack by Henry Jackman, and the Uncharted 1-3 soundtracks by Greg Edmonson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

Jon Hicks, formerly of Official Xbox Magazine, joins us to revisit the 360 era through his experiences of the time. This week's music is from the Halo: Reach soundtrack by Michael Salvatori and Marty O'Donnell. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.By Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

Matthew Castle Productions and Big Sammy Holdings are each taking on Game Pass. Who built the best gaming subscription service? Matthew won this one. This week's music is from the Snatcher soundtrack by Konami Kukeiha Club, The Sims 4 soundtrack by Ilan Eshkeri and the Kid Icarus: Uprising soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada…

Dying Light 2, Windjammers 2, Resident Evil 4 VR, NEO: The World Ends With You and more are discussed in this episode about what we've been playing in 2022 so far. This week's music is from the Unpacking soundtrack by Jeff van Dyck and the Windjammers 2 soundtrack by Seiichi Hamada, Hiroaki Yoshida, Harumi Fujita and Sylvain Hellio. See acast.com/p…

Cassette Beasts co-developer Jay Baylis joins us to discuss the long history of Pokémon games, subjecting Matthew to his idea of torture. Hear about the best games in the series across different categories from a genuine expert. This week's music is from the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl soundtrack by Shota Kageyama, Junichi Masuda, G…

Another overly long mailbag episode is here! 25 of your questions about gaming (yes, and Bath restaurants) answered. This week's music is from the TimeSplitters 2 soundtrack by Graeme Norgate and The Secret of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land and Patrick Mundy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

Matthew and Samuel compete to pick the 10 best Wii games – the same game cannot be picked more than once. Samuel won this draft, by 67% to 33%. This week's music is from the Wii Sports Resort soundtrack by Ryo Nagamatsu, the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack by Mahito Yokota, Ryo Nagamatsu and Koji Kondo, and The Last Story soundtrack by Nobuo Uemats…

Samuel and Matthew each pick 11 predictions for the year ahead in gaming, all based on absolutely no information whatsoever. It's a light episode, and Samuel's audio is a bit crap. Sorry about that. This week's music is from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 soundtrack by Frank Klepacki and the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtrack by Ace+. See acast.co…

Our GOTY episode is here! Two top 10 lists of the best games released in 2021, with almost no crossover between the selections. Enjoy. This week's music is from the Bowser's Fury soundtrack by Daisuke Matsuoka and James Phillipsen, the Rhythm Doctor soundtrack by fizzd, Winston Lee and foxiand, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles soundtrack by Ya…

As The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie turns 20 years old, we revisit every game based on the films from Peter Jackson. From The Two Towers to The Third Age, there are some real gems in among the 7/10 tie-ins. This week's music is from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on GBA, based on the music of Howard Shore, and the Midd…

Back in episode 7, we made 21 gaming predictions about 2021. How right or wrong were we? In this episode, we put ourselves on trial, discussing everything from N64 games on Switch to PS5 haptics. It's a silly episode, like all of them. Enjoy. This week's music is from the Binary Domain soundtrack by Mitsuharu Fukuyama and the Kingdom Hearts: Melody…

What else we've been playing in 2021, including Luigi's Mansion 3, Resident Evil 3 Remake and more. This week's music is from the 428: Shibuya Scramble soundtrack by Naoki Sato, Hideki Sakamoto and Shingo Yasumoto and the Deus Ex soundtrack by Alexander Brandon, Dan Gardopée and Michiel van den Bos. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out inf…

In this episode, Samuel ranks the seven mainline Halo games to date, and both Samuel and Matthew weigh in on the wonders of Halo Infinite multiplayer. This week's music is from the Halo: Reach soundtrack by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori and the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack by Kazuma Jinnouchi. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out …

Who can build the best hypothetical mini console, Matthew, representing GameCube, or Samuel, representing the original Xbox? As both consoles have turned 20 years old, in this episode we'll revisit the libraries of each in a competitive format. Wondering who won this one? It was Matthew, with around 60% of the vote. This week's music is from the Su…

The latest in our series of flashback episodes focuses on a year that brought us Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Matthew and Samuel each pick their 10 favourite games from 2011, and throw in a whole host of honourable mentions. This episode's music is from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim soundtrack, the Pullblox soun…

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty released 20 years ago this week. In this episode, PC Gamer's Rich Stanton joins us to discuss the game's themes and legacy as a PS2 classic. This week's music is from the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams, Rika Muranaka and Carla White. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and …

In our episode 50 special, Matthew and Samuel talk through the entire process of making a games magazine from start to finish, including 15 things that can go wrong. Plus: our thoughts on the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, early GOTY chatter and much more. This week's music is from the Apex Legends soundtrack by Stephen Barton, the Metroid Dread s…

It's Halloween! Horror expert and presenter Louise Blain joins us to pick out 15 cool spooky games, from Eternal Darkness to Silent Hill 4: The Room. This week's music is from the Silent Hill 4: The Room soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka and the Stories Untold soundtrack by Omar Khan. Here's a link to the PC Gamer piece Samuel mentions in this episode: h…

Steve Burns, formerly of Videogamer.com, joins us to discuss Grand Theft Auto III as Rockstar North's groundbreaking open world game turns 20 years old. Hear about its impact on games at the time, its best moments and how GTA would evolve in subsequent entries. This week's music is from the Grand Theft Auto III soundtrack by Craig Conner and Stuart…

GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain kindly joins us to discuss his career from CVG to working in the US, and to help us rank the Batman: Arkham games to mark the tenth anniversary of Arkham City. This week's music is from the Batman: Arkham Knight soundtrack by Nick Arundel and David Buckley, and the Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Asylum soundtracks by Nick …

Judge Matthew Castle puts 16 of our listeners on trial for bad secondhand games purchases, and public defence attorney Samuel Roberts has been assigned to defend them. Who will live and who will die? Plus, hear about our favourite arcade games in this week's episode. This week's music is from The Testament of Sherlock Holmes soundtrack by Alexandre…

Our guest this week is journalist and author Simon Parkin. Hear how Simon broke the news of Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami, among many other fascinating industry stories, and learn how he turned reviewing GBA games into a career writing for The New Yorker. This week's music is from the Gunstar Heroes soundtrack by Norio Hanzawa, the Final Fan…

To mark the 25th anniversary of the N64's release in North America, Matthew and Samuel each compete to pick the 10 best games on the system for a hypothetical N64 Mini console. After you've heard our selections, you can vote for the winner @BackPagePod on Twitter until the end of September. Note that this episode was recorded before Nintendo confir…

We've finished Deathloop! Enjoy spoiler-free impressions of Arkane's latest game from Samuel, Matthew and our guest, the brilliant freelance writer Jeremy Peel. In hour two, hear about the history of the immersive sim, with chatter about Deus Ex, Thief and more games that defined Deathloop's lineage. This week's music is from the Deathloop soundtra…

Two very different top 10 lists from 2010, one of the best years of gaming in modern memory. The usual mix of magazine memories and news from the time. That's it! Enjoy. This week's music is from the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack by Bill Elm & Woody Jackson, the Halo Reach soundtrack by Marty O'Donnell, the Alan Wake soundtrack by Poets of the Fal…

Judge Matthew Castle will decide if defendant Samuel Roberts lives or dies over a series of dodgy games purchases! Enjoy this sequel to our 15th episode from back in March, and hear our thoughts on Deathloop (after 7 hours with a preview build) and No More Heroes 3. This week's music is from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories by Akira Yamaoka, the No …

Katharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun returns to the podcast this week, as we each recommend five indie games we like. That's 15 recommendations in total! Plus: another baffling listener question about Yuji Naka. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.By Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle

Dan Dawkins, former editor of PSM2 and current Content Director of Games and Film at Future, joins us to discuss his long history in games media. You'll hear some of the best games magazine stories on this podcast yet, including encounters with Hideo Kojima and how PSM2 (and later PSM3) popularised the Let's Play format in a pre-YouTube age. This w…

What if Sony released a PS2 Mini? And what if it was good? In this week's episode, Matthew and Samuel each pick 10 games to be released with a hypothetical PS2 Mini. Head to the poll on our pinned tweet @BackPagePod to vote on who picked the best games, and we'll announce the winner on a future episode! The winner of this episode was Samuel. This w…

It's a simple podcast about the games we've been playing in 2021 so far – both old and new. From The Last of Us Part 2 to Neo: The World Ends With You and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, we cover plenty of ground in this episode, and answer your questions about open world games and video game theme parks. This week's music is from the Judgment…

Take a spoiler-free dive into the Phoenix Wright series and its various spin-offs, as Matthew gives his verdict on the long-awaited The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and reels off the 10 best entries in this immortal Capcom visual novel series. This week's music: Phoenix Wright ~ Objection! 2013 (Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies), Investigation - The …

With Valve moving into the handheld market, we reflect on whether there's a place for a Switch-style PC in this episode. Plus! In a sequel of sorts to our Bad eBay Games Court episode, Big Sammy Holdings and Matthew Castle Productions are moving into the hardware market – hear us conceptualise the (fictional) perfect handheld games console. This we…

Matthew has played The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, which is out now. Does he still think it's worth an Edge 10 a decade later? Find out in this episode, and discover where it ranks in Matthew's list of the top 10 Zelda games to date. Expect lots of deep dissection of Nintendo's series from a genuine expert. This week's music is from The Lege…