Overworld Weekly: A Wider View of Video Game News

By Brendon Bigley x Overworld.vgLeisure

Overworld Weekly: A Wider View of Video Game News episodes

January 02 The 50 Best Games of 2025
Turns out they made a lot of good video games last year. So many, in fact, that I felt the need to continue last year's move of celebrating 50 of them in an extremely chill manner!!
Thank you all for a great first (partial) year of Wavelengths, I hope you're as stoked for 2026 as I am!
Note: Wish I'd known about the Level5 CEO showing his whole tuchus before I said all those nice things about Fantasy Life i... a game that might have been made by artificial intelligence for all we know!!
Also note: Count the number of times I say “pound for pound” or “it’s a fascinating thing” or “check it out!!"
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1 hr 26 min
December 19, 2025 Disclaimer: This One's a Bummer
Trans rights are human rights.

Additional links:
People Make Games on the BDS movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybj10537yi4
No Games for Genocide: https://nogamesforgenocide.com/
36 min
December 12, 2025 The Game Awards Again With BB
Today's all about 2025's Game Awards! Who won, what got announced, and why was Divinity so disgusting? As I mention in the episode: I think going into this year's show treating it like "Winter Game Fest" was a much better move for my own enjoyment — and it created a show I felt generally decent about all things considered. There's still a lot to be critical of, but I found myself digging the show for the first time in years!

Additional Reading:

VGC on the Winners: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-game-awards-2025-complete-list-of-winners-as-clair-obscur-wins-game-of-the-year-and-sets-a-new-record-for-awards-won/

Gio's Interview with Bruce Straley: https://www.polygon.com/coven-of-the-chicken-foot-game-awards-announcement/
49 min
December 05, 2025 Analyzing Games Through Metroid Prime 4 and Sektori
Hello and welcome back to the show! It's been a light few weeks news-wise so I wanted to dig into some thoughts about Sektori and my first 90 minutes of the long-anticipated Metroid Prime 4: Beyond through the lens of game analysis and crit.

Before the end of the episode, we'll all be PC gamers.
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And more: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/itswavelengths
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51 min
November 28, 2025 Two Games That Are Healing Me
Hello! Thank you so much for being here, I am grateful for you. This week's a shorter one because my body won't let me talk for more than 15 minutes, but I wanted to shout out two GOTy-contender games I've been absolutely loving this week:

The first is Sektori, — a twin-stick arcade shooter with the aesthetic of Geometry Wars by an ex-Housemarque alum.

The second is Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved — a Famicom Detective Club-inspired mystery with gorgeous art, music, and stellar writing.

Both have been healing me.
13 min
November 21, 2025 Let's Talk About The Game Awards
Welcome back to Wavelengths! This week's main topic is about the nominees for 2025's TGAs, how weird they are, and how weird my feelings about the award show have become over the years. I also talk a bit about my own GOTY prep, some games I've been playing recently, and my thoughts a week out from the reveal of the Steam Machine.

Additional reading: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/nov/11/future-class-gamings-oscars-game-awards
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And more: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/itswavelengths
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52 min
November 14, 2025 The Steam Machine's Greatest Strength is SteamOS
Valve announced three products this week: A new controller, a new VR headset, and a new gaming console. This week's episode of Wavelengths is all about the interplay between these three devices and the thing that not only literally links them all together, but makes Valve's decade-long push towards making the PC gaming experience more approachable even work in the first place.
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Join the Patreon: https://patreon.com/wavelengths
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Feel free to follow me elsewhere!
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bb.wavelengths.online
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@brendonbigley
Blog: https://wavelengths.online
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wavelengths-with-brendon-bigley/id1677660078
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/x6p7ni3r
And more: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/itswavelengths
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50 min
November 07, 2025 Stephen Hilger on the State of Video Game Discourse
Hello and welcome back to Wavelengths! This week my guest is Stephen Hilger — my co-host on Into the Aether, a great artist and writer, and creator of the YouTube channel Memory Card Manuscript. I brought Stephen on to discuss a question sent in by a listener about the current hyper-polarization of video game discourse, from how to navigate algorithm-led spaces to not letting the media consume define your authentic being.

It's a far-reaching conversation, and I hope it's as interesting, thought provoking, and engaging for you as it was for me.

Find Stephen on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/stephenhilger.bsky.social
And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@memorycardmanuscript
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Join the Patreon: https://patreon.com/wavelengths
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Feel free to follow me elsewhere!
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bb.wavelengths.online
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@brendonbigley
Blog: https://wavelengths.online
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hmt3yHTovQmEcqzhZdl8T
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wavelengths-with-brendon-bigley/id1677660078
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/x6p7ni3r
And more: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/itswavelengths
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1 hr 26 min
October 31, 2025 A Tale of Three Handhelds
Welcome back to the show, folks. I recorded this one early as I'll be traveling to see family for most of the week, so apologies for not including any Animal Crossing news here! The short version: I'm excited about it!

What I did talk about was suddenly being inundated with three handhelds at once: The Miyoo Mini Flip, the MCON, and the AYN Thor. All three are hotly anticipated devices I had planned on reviewing separately, but now all three are in an attention-feud with one another. I talk a little bit about what all three devices represent and how I'm thinking about them going into my review process.
1 hr 1 min
October 24, 2025 A Cool Thirty Percent
Welcome back to the show! Unfortunately Xbox can't stop dominating the news cycle, so I dug a bit into their next, priecier console and apparently-strategic lack of exclusive games. Afterwards I felt like I needed to dig back into my feeling about Pokemon Legends Z-A having played a lot more since giving some first impressions last week.

Xbox's 30 Percent Mandate: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-23/microsoft-pushes-xbox-studios-to-hit-higher-profit-margins

Post Games: https://pod.link/1815131711
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Join the Patreon: https://patreon.com/wavelengths
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Feel free to follow me elsewhere!
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bb.wavelengths.online
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@brendonbigley
Blog: https://wavelengths.online
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hmt3yHTovQmEcqzhZdl8T
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wavelengths-with-brendon-bigley/id1677660078
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/x6p7ni3r
And more: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/itswavelengths
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Chapters:
0:00 - Welcome back to Wavelengths
1:05 - Zero Days Since Last Talked About Xbox
19:55 - Nintendo Switch 2 Games
29:05 - Even More About Pokemon Legends Z-A
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47 min