Aftermath Hours

This week, Nathan, Gita, and Luke discuss the first big game of the “fall” video game season: Star Wars Outlaws. Despite an enormous budget and a four-year development cycle, reviewers were given just a week to play the gargantuan game before embargo. Not ideal! We discuss how that impacts the way reviewers play and perceive games. Then we move on to Concord, Sony’s new team-based hero shooter that generated more buzz by flopping than by existing in the first place. Why are people so gleeful about tallying up its commercial failings, though? What about the modern internet has broken our brains in this specific way? Lastly, on a happier note, we discuss Tactical Breach Wizards, the brilliant not-quite-XCOM-alike that recently rocketed to the top of our game of the year lists. 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, and Luke Plunkett

- 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.

This week, Nathan and Chris are joined by Wired’s Makena Kelly to discuss content creators at the Democratic National Convention. Was it a savvy move on Democrats’ part to give them press access? Did they do a better job of shining light on protesters and their causes than traditional press? And what was the deal with all the rumblings of conflict between creators and journalists? Then we move on to Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese action-RPG that’s taken Steam by storm, but not without its fair share of controversy. After much ado about sexist undercurrents at the studio that made it and streaming restrictions that asked content creators not to talk about “feminist propaganda,” the game is, like so many others at the heart of endless culture wars… fine. Then we wrap up by figuring out popular video game characters’ political affiliations (Sonic is an anarchist, Mario is center-right, and Zelda has probably overseen at least a handful of drone bombings). 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Luke Plunkett, and special guest Makena Kelly

- 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.

This week, Nathan, Chris, and Riley examine the aftermath (lol) of the drama surrounding Deadlock, Valve’s new hero shooter that hasn’t been officially announced yet, and one brave (read: normal) reporter’s decision to, well, report on it. Why, in an industry where regularly unreliable leakers amass hundreds of thousands of followers, did so many people object to a journalist writing about a game to which they obtained legitimate access and which they did not break any NDAs to write about? Then we talk about the live service death spiral that Helldivers 2 now finds itself in a mere six months after receiving near-universal praise upon launch. At what point does live service, as a model, become destructive? Are games – and gamers – worse because of it? Lastly, we discuss some cool games we’ve been playing, like Crush House, in which players must please reality TV-addled masses, and Doom, which might catch on someday.  

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.

This week, Nathan, Gita, and Riley gather to reflect on the legacy of Game Informer, a magazine whose 33-year run unexpectedly came to an end late last week when GameStop unceremoniously laid off its entire staff and took down its website’s archive. Then we discuss the parasocial pivots of both the Trump and Harris campaigns, with the former appearing on the broadcast of sycophantic Kick streamer Adin Ross and the latter embracing Brat Summer, a social media phenomenon born of resurgent popstar Charli XCX. After that, we welcome Borderlands into the pantheon of bafflingly bad video game movies by talking about all the other ones, of which there have been approximately one million. Paradoxically, though, there has been one good Borderlands movie: Tales from the Borderlands, a cinematic narrative game that came out years ago. Go watch/play that instead. 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, 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.

This week, Luke, Riley, and Chris talk news, sports, sports games, non-sports games, and geography. We start by discussing Wednesday’s layoffs at Destiny developer Bungie, which saw 220 people lose their jobs and other people and teams shuffled into parent company Sony. But throughout all this upheaval, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons has managed to hang on to his classic car collection. Then, we talk about how, instead of getting a new Sonic & Mario Olympics game, we got a crummy mobile game with an NFT attached. This leads us to reflect on the Olympics games of our youths, and how bad the battery life on the Game Gear was. Next, Luke raves about Cataclismo, Riley raves about Thank Goodness You’re Here, and everyone rants about why so many English town names get repeated across the world. Chris and Riley talk about their ice cream makers (ice cream showdown to come!). Last, we answer some reader questions, discussing what game genre we’d like to resurrect, how both we and our pets would do in the Olympics, fake cubes, a horrible new AI device we can’t believe is real, and what the Rashomon of games would be.

Credits

- Hosts: Luke Plunkett, Riley MacLeod, and Chris Person

- 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.

This week, Nathan, Riley, and Chris tackle a very eventful week, beginning with news that broke mere minutes before we started recording: video game voice actors and mocap performers are going on strike. Major companies – including EA, Epic, and Activision – aren’t guaranteeing them necessary AI-related protections, so they’re taking to the picket line. We reflect on how things reached this boiling point and consider what might happen next. After that, we discuss Humble Games, which laid off its entire staff – replacing them with a third-party company – and had the gall to call it a “restructuring.” Then we talk about two big wins that might protect other game workers against similar ravages: Hundreds of game developers at both Blizzard and Bethesda unionized, giving them leverage previously unheard of among rank-and-file employees at massive, multinational video game companies. Next we discuss Ubisoft’s decision to try to appease bad-faith arguments against the next Assassin’s Creed, and then finally, Chris tells us about Kunitsu-Gami, a game that just sounds neat. Also, we decide which animal – aside from apes – would be the best gamer. 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, and Chris Person

- 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.

Nathan, Luke, and Chris gather to discuss a week that feels like it’s lasted ten years, largely due to an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the aftershocks of which have rattled every corner of the internet, including the world of video games. Almost immediately after it all went down, players of games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft began digitally recreating the scene. Companies, in turn, have moderated some instances of this and washed their hands of others. We reflect on what it all means. We also dig into some significantly more lighthearted topics, including the best kicks in video games – all games should have a kick button, and if Nathan gets his way, they will – and Chris’ espresso-centric mad science projects. Then we, three people who are not licensed therapists, offer some extremely good mental health advice: log off.   

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, and Chris Person

- 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.

This week, Nathan, Luke, and Riley reconvene after a holiday weekend to discuss everybody’s favorite, inescapably pervasive topic: enshittification, defined by writer Cory Doctorow as the process by which "the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit.” This week alone, it happened to both Xbox’s Game Pass service and Apex Legends’ battle pass, all in service of making numbers go up on a balance sheet somewhere. Then we talk about the sudden death of Kotaku AU, a site which – contrary to popular belief – Luke does not and never has worked for. After that, we discuss some TV shows, one of which, The Boys, has really fallen off, and the other of which, The Acolyte, never really got going to begin with. Lastly: Cubes.

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, 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.

This week, everybody’s on break because of the Fourth of July, but we don’t intend on leaving you high and dry. A couple months ago, we hosted our first live event at Wonderville in Brooklyn alongside Merritt K, author of “LAN Party: Inside the Multiplayer Revolution.” We spent our time on stage discussing the golden age of LAN parties and why they (sadly) went away. Also Bawls soda, because you can’t have a discussion of LAN parties and the early 2000s without Bawls. Here is the never-before-released recording of… all of that. 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Chris Person, & special guest Merritt K

- 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 Riley are joined by Ash Parrish of The Verge to discuss the reason behind Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban and how it finally came to light after all these years. We answer one of the major questions the recent torrent of information has produced: Why did it take journalists – some of whom had known the reason for years beforehand – so long to finally make it public? Why now? We also talk about the process of reporting out sensitive stories involving victims and what we think will happen next. Afterward, we move on to a discussion of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, an expansion so divisive that it summons Chris Person from The Land of Shadow to share his misgivings. Lastly, we come up with a killer game idea based on the TV show Severance (call us, Apple). 

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, & special guest Ash Parrish

- 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.