There are a lot of gaming streaming and subscription services out there today, and they're not all made equal. This week, we sat down to discuss which services we use, the pros and cons of each, how we'd like to see them improve, and what we think the future of these services looks like.

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So we've been gone. For a while. But we've been playing games (lots of them) and we're ready to get back into the podcast — and brought a new friend! Robert and Angela's cousin, Dominic, is our new cohost, and in this episode we're discussing our Metacritic 2023 Fantasy Draft. We've each chosen 10 games we think will be the highest-scoring this year and are competing to get the highest score. What games did we choose and why? Tune in to learn more and hear our inevitable segues into other gaming-related topics.

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Angela, Robert and Zack drop all pretense of being a general purpose video game podcast and talk at length about licensed games of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (but especially the 1990s).

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In our second season debut, Robert, Zack, and Angela take on rhythm games, a genre that burned bright in the late 90s and throughout the 2000s, and is now a faded ember. From narratively focused titles like PaRappa to cover band fantasies like Guitar Hero to fitness-adjacent spectacles like DDR, we talk about it all.

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We’re closing out our first season of 7 Minutes with a look at the games we loved from 10 and 20 years ago. 2001 saw the discontinuation of the Dreamcast, the dominance of the young PS2, and the release of several new systems, including GameCube, Xbox, and GBA. 2011 was a decidedly mid-generation year, with the only notable hardware release being the 3DS. Finally, rather than just talk about what we’ve been playing since our last recording, we reflect on our favorite experiences with the games of 2021. Join us for one last season 1 ride, and we’ll see you next year.

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Games journalism has by its nature always been bound up with games marketing, but in the NES/Game Boy/SNES era of Nintendo’s uncontested industry dominance, the biggest Nintendo-focused magazine was not only endorsed by Nintendo but actually produced in-house. Zack, Angela, and Robert discuss that strange and charming cultural artifact, Nintendo Power, and drift into talking about other game magazines past and present too.

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While home consoles have always tried to differentiate themselves from the competition with Blast Processing, Emotion Engines, and other chimeras of engineering and marketing, no home console did so much to differentiate itself from its competitors and predecessor as Nintendo’s weird little Wii, which turns 15 this month. Robert, Zack, and Angela talk about their Wii memories and the console’s legacy.

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After its uncontested dominance in the PS1 and PS2 eras, Sony started the following console generation on the backfoot, beaten to market by the 360 and outshone by the wildfire success of the Wii. Still, even if eclipsed by competitors for much of its lifespan, the PS3 was a great little (or not so little) system with a number of selling points. Fifteen years after its launch, Angela, Robert, and Zack talk about the Spider-Man 3 font for an hour and a half straight.

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Six years after its release, Witcher III: The Wild Hunt is still frequently held up as the benchmark for both RPGs and open world games. Listeners know this game is a favorite of both Angela and Zack, who take the opportunity to talk at length about it. Robert fans will be heartbroken to know he couldn't join for this episode, but he'll be here next time. Warning: major spoilers for Witcher III and its DLC!

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Whether we're in search of an escape, a virtual vacation, a comfortable set of genre tropes, or just some pretty lights to look at, the setting of a game can enhance, define, or completely undermine its appeal. Robert, Zack, and Angela tour the wide world of game settings, from forests to cities to space.

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