Video Gameography

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we examine 343 Industries' first stab at the series with Halo 4.

Halo 4 was released on the Xbox 360 on November 6, 2012, and was a big return for Master Chief, who hadn't been seen since 2007's Halo 3. Development of the game wasn't perfectly smooth as Ryan Payton, of Metal Gear Solid 4 fame, initially pushed the team to experiment with Halo's sandbox. However, the game was still a massive hit. Join us as we talk about Halo 4's powerful story, the new Prometheans enemy types, Halo's obsession with the number seven, and what made the Spartan Ops multiplayer mode so disappointing.  

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves) and Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7) and IGN executive editor Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) as we unpack the history and impact of the first Halo game from 343 Industries. And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Check out the rest of our podcast on the Video Gameography hub. If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we examine Bungie's swansong for the Halo franchise: Halo Reach.

Halo Reach launched on September 14, 2010, for Xbox 360 and served as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. Set on the doomed planet Reach, players control a new member of the Spartan Noble Team as they valiantly defend the human-occupied world from a massive Covenant invasion. The time and setting gave Bungie creative freedom to introduce new characters and flesh out an event that had only been referenced in books, while the multiplayer introduced new (though divisive) mechanics such as armor abilities. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves) and Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and Polygon's Mike Mahardy (@mmahardy) as we unpack the history and impact of Halo's most emotionally charged entry to that point. And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Check out the rest of our podcast on the Video Gameography hub. If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we examine Bungie's smaller experimental entry in the series, Halo 3: ODST.

Halo 3: ODST was released on the Xbox 360 on September 22, 2009, and was intended to be a smaller project designed by a skunkworks team. However, the development of ODST has roots in Peter Jackson's aborted attempt to make a Halo film/game. For the next hour, we talk about ODST's relatively short development time, why the title changed from Halo 3: Recon, the innovative Firefight multiplayer mode, and Bungie's push to spin out from under Microsoft and become its own company again.

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves) and Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and former Game Informer editor Bryan Vore (@Bryan_Vore) as we unpack the history and impact of the first Halo game to not feature Master Chief.  And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Check out the rest of our podcast on the Video Gameography hub. If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

Happy new year! Season 2 of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast examines one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we unpack Bungie's epic conclusion to Master Chief's original trilogy of adventures: Halo 3.

Released with all the hype in the world on September 25, 2007, Halo 3 served as both the pinnacle of the series as well as its supposed swan song for Master Chief. Using the now iconic tagline "finish the fight," Bungie created Halo 3 under the agreement that it would part ways with Microsoft after a new set of Halo games. The third game was the first of this batch, and its creation suffered from internal studio conflicts, including creative heads walking out mid-development. How did Bungie cope with matching Halo 2's quality, migrating to a new platform in the Xbox 360, and delivering a conclusion that lived up to expectations? Tune in to find out. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and Game Informer video editor Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76) as we unpack the history and impact of Master Chief's grand sequel. And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Check out the rest of our podcast on the Video Gameography hub. If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. This week, we examine Bungie's blockbuster Halo 2.

Halo 2 was released on the original Xbox on November 9, 2004, and it was an even bigger success than the original. The lead-up to Halo 2 was full of anticipation, but its development was anything but easy. For the next hour as we talk about Halo's massive lore, the Arbiter's secret origins, Bungie's original grand plans for multiplayer, and how the studio was almost forced to release Halo 2 several years early.

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and former Game Informer video editor Wade Wojcik (@WadeWojcik) as we unpack the history and impact of Master Chief's grand sequel.  And for more Halo, be sure to check out our definitive ranking of every Halo game.

Check out the rest of our podcast on the Video Gameography hub. If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

After tackling Metroid in Season 1, the second season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast moves on to one of the biggest shooter franchises in existence: Halo. Over the next several weeks, we'll examine all of the mainline shooter entries up to Halo Infinite, so sit back and relax as we kick the season off with Halo: Combat Evolved.  

Developed by Bungie, Halo: Combat Evolved was positioned as the launch title for Microsoft's promising but unproven Xbox. Released on November 15, 2001, Halo redefined the first-person shooter and immediately solidified the Xbox as a must-own console. It's tough to imagine what Microsoft's place in the game industry would be today without Halo's success. Bungie became a household name, but the studio existed long before Halo and struggled financially prior to its launch. Twists and turns such as axing Halo's original PC exclusivity and going through bizarre working titles such as The Santa Machine are just some of the fascinating topics we'll unpack in this week's episode. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and Game Informer Editor-in-Chief Andrew Reiner (@Andrew_Reiner) as we unpack the history and impact of Master Chief's video game debut.  

If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

The first season of Game Informer’s Video Gameography has explored the history of the Metroid series, but it's time to wrap the season by talking about, arguably, the biggest Nintendo game of the year: Metroid Dread.

On October 8, 2021, Metroid Dread was released for Nintendo's Switch. Nintendo heralded the title as the end of an era for the series, but considering how well it's selling, it could also be the beginning of another golden age. Oddly, Dread might have one of the longest teases in history, as its name first appeared back in 2005. In this week's show, we talk about our problems with the game's controls, what we thought of the difficulty, and what its big narrative reveal means for Samus' future. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and special guest, soon-to-be-GameSpot-editor Jessica Howard (@awildjessichu) for the next hour as we explore Metroid Dread's lore, development history, and lasting impact. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

The first season of Game Informer’s Video Gameography explores the history of the Metroid series. This week, we're tackling the franchise's most reviled – or misunderstood – entry: Metroid: Other M. 

Released for the Wii on August 31, 2010, Metroid: Other M saw Nintendo pass the development reins to Team Ninja, the studio most famous for the 3D Ninja Gaiden games. With a new developer came a drastic new vision for the series. A considerable emphasis on narrative gave Samus her first real speaking role (and boy does she talk) and the tale fleshed out her past life with the Galactic Federation.  We'll examine this polarizing narrative along with the development decisions behind Other M's blend of 2D and 3D gameplay.  

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and special guest, MinnMax cohort and former GI editor Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) as we unpack the history and lore of Metroid: Other M. Is it as lousy as history has led us to believe? Tune in to get our takes. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

The first season of Game Informer’s Video Gameography explores the history of the Metroid series, and this episode is set to wrap our talk on Retro Studio's epic trilogy of Prime with a detailed discussion of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. 

Released on August 27, 2007 for Nintendo's Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is often considered one of the best games on Nintendo's unique motion-sensing console. During today's show, we talk about what made 2007 such a phenomenal year and why we Prime 3 often gets overlooked in the shuffle. We also talk about how Prime 3 might be the best entry in the Prime series thanks to it innovative motion controls and the Hypermode system, which allowed Samus to dish out some serious damage. Finally, we speculate if Samus is just an intergalactic version of Batman.

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and special guest, lead community producer at Twitch Zach Ryan (@ZachariusD) for the next hour as we explore Metroid Prime's lore, development history, and lasting impact. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

The first season of Game Informer’s Video Gameography explores the history of the Metroid series. We're knee-deep in the Prime era now, and we're tackling Samus' sophomore 3D outing, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. 

This sequel to the acclaimed Metroid Prime was released November 15, 2004 in the U.S. and upped the ante with Zelda-style dark world/light world exploration. Players traverse two versions of a labyrinthine map, solving puzzles that opened paths in the opposite dimension and enduring the damaging effects of the dark world. Samus faces off against Dark Samus for the first time, one of a series of challenging boss encounters that cemented Echoes as the most challenging entry in the Prime series – for better or worse. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and Nintendo Ambassadors/Metroid fanatics Ky and Kyle Parker (@CaptDangerous64, @admiralboogaloo) for the next hour as we explore Metroid Prime 2's lore, development history, and lasting impact. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected]. You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."