The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast
Games media writers Matthew Castle (NGamer, Rock Paper Shotgun) and Samuel Roberts (PC Gamer, gamesTM, TechRadar) talk about video games and their years covering them professionally. Our logo is by John Strike, and our theme tune is by Barry 'Epoch' Topping (@nostoppingepoch on Twitter). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026?
This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.
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10 categories, 30 picks – time for another draft, this time about first-person shooters and related games. Vote for the winner here. We'll update this post with who picked what later today.
These are the 10 categories:
- Single-player shooter
- Multiplayer shooter
- Sim (including immersive sim)
- Game with emphasis on movement or platforming
- Narrative or horror game
- Game from the last 5 years
- RPG
- Free pick
- Wild card (has to be below 8...
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's here – the James Bond game we've been waiting almost six years for! How much Hitman is in First Light? And how successfully does IO borrow from Naughty Dog? We discuss these subjects and many more across almost two hours.
We've done our best to keep this episode free of spoilers. You'll hear about none of the major story beats in this one.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The four-person draft is back! Returning guests Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough fight Samuel and Matthew for the best picks across two beloved Nintendo consoles. And this time, Dave is on the booze (but for your sanity, we cut 30 minutes of drunken monologues out). Vote for the winner in the Discord's Announcements channel.
This week's music is from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack by Koji Kondo.
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Our first two-person draft in ages! Listen to the picks, then vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Back Page Discord.
This week's music is from the Sonic 4 soundtrack by Jun Senoue.
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New podcast format time! 10 of our listeners' biggest gripes with games get litigated in a Room 101-style format (except legally distinct), from tailing missions in open world games to mandatory stealth sections in non-stealth games.
Joining us once again is designer Jamie Smith!
The very last entry was provided by SAFC_Jack91, which Samuel forgot to write down in the original episode plan.
Is Crimson Desert good? It's complicated, but not quite, according to Matthew Castle. Plus: Samuel apologises profusely for buying a PS5 Pro.
Samuel's games: PS5 Pro (Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Rebirth), Returnal, Raccoin
Matthew's games: Crimson Desert, Tomodachi Life, The Ratline
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What Matthew thinks of Crimson Desert, new DLC for old games, how 360-era classics would score now in reviews, dream Helldivers 2 warbonds and more nonsense in the latest mailbag episode.
This week's music is from the Deadly Premonition soundtrack by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi and Hiromi Mizutani.
This is the From Russia With Love PS2 clip mentioned in the episode.
Former Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent is our guest this week! What's it like doing actual journalism, rather than just dropping hot takes about Uncharted and Mario? That's what we ask Emma about in this one.
You can sign up for the (free) Eteo Archetypes newsletter discussed in the second half of this week's episode here.
This week's music is from the Valheim soundtrack by Patrik Jarlestam.
Two top 10 lists from an amazing year for video games.
This week's music is from the Tetris Effect soundtrack by Hydelic.
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VGC's Andy Robinson is this week's guest. Andy discusses his days on PC Zone and CVG, and why he's made the effort to built relationships with Japanese game developers in the last few years.
This week's music is from the Yooka-Laylee soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, David Wise and Steve Burke.
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What we've been playing lately that doesn't feature Leon S Kennedy. Games discussed: Reanimal, Dark Auction, Marathon, Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties, Pokémon LeafGreen, Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse, Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined, Romeo is a Dead Man, Wild Blue Skies, Denshattack!, Dusk Index Gion.
The two Pokémon-themed media projects mentioned in this episode – Matt Reynolds' One More Catch and James Batchelor's...
A deep dive into the year's first big game (sorry, Mario Tennis). Section one is spoiler-free, and the much shorter section two has clearly marked spoilers. But, you still might want to listen to this after you've played the game if you want to experience everything fresh.
Pretty much everything discussed in the first hour is in Capcom's marketing materials for the game.
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Our first draft episode of the year is here! Who can pick the best levels out of Samuel, Matthew, Dave and Ash? You decide. Vote for the winner in the announcements channel of the Discord.
This week's music is from the Sonic 2 soundtrack by Masato Nakamura, the Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson, the Super Mario 64 soundtrack by Koji Kondo and the Mario Kart World soundtrack by Atsuko Asahi, Maasa...
Five years later, The Guardian's Keza MacDonald returns to the podcast to talk about her new book, Super Nintendo (UK link here, US link here). We then close out with Keza's quickfire list of the 10 most underrated Nintendo games.
This week's music is from the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack by David Wise.
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