Eurogamer Podcasts

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss January's PlayStation State of Play and the latest game announcements. Sony showed off what's to come this year, including looks at Stellar Blade, Judas, and Silent Hill, plus reveals of Sonic x Shadow Generations, Until Dawn and Metro Awakening.

Perhaps most exciting is the return of Hideo Kojima with not one but two games. We got a proper look at the forthcoming Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, as well as the announcement of a new action espionage game and movie project that definitely won't be called Metal Gear Solid. Ahem.

Here to talk all things State of Play are the Eurogamer news team: Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy, and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss today's statement from The Pokémon Company that confirms it will investigate Palworld for possible intellectual property infringement.

It's an unprecedented move by Pokémon to publicly call out Palworld as a game worthy of inspection - after 25 years of rip-offs and clones that have been quietly nuked or ignored. But it also feels inevitable, due to Palworld's enormous spike in interest - seen by its Steam success, and also the sizable controversy swirling around it. The game had simply become too big to ignore.

So, what happens next? On the one hand, you'd think The Pokémon Company would be keen to act if any evidence of infringement can be found - it has to protect its intellectual property, or risk even cheekier Pokémon-style games trying harder in future. On the other, this announcement only feeds the controversy wave Palworld is riding, and risks blowback on Pokémon if the genuinely popular Palworld is unceremoniously removed from millions of people's Steam libraries. With me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct 2024, our first look ahead at the year to come from one of the big three console makers.

The big draw was Indiana Jones and The Great Circle from Wolfenstein maker MachineGames, a blockbuster action adventure clearly set up to be Microsoft's answer to Uncharted. But there was also the brilliant-looking Hellblade 2, the eye-catching sequel from Ninja Theory we've been looking forward to for years.

Then there's Avowed, a fantasy RPG to satisfy those waiting patiently for the next Elder Scrolls and who might prefer a bit more colour to their role-playing than in Starfield. Finally, we saw Visions of Mana from Square Enix and Ara: History Untold for PC. But was this enough to make for a satisfying show - and more importantly, set the tone for what is hopefully a better year of Xbox first-party launches than in 2023? I'm joined by Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan to discuss.

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Ho ho hello! Christmas may already seem a distant memory, but we have gathered in our finest festive gear for one final treat - the Eurogamer Newscast News Quiz of the Year 2023.

A now annual tradition, the news quiz sees us look back at some of the year's more oddball news headlines and argue over who deserves the most points for remembering them. From 50 Cent to Heinz ketchup to a video game breaking the Geneva Convention - 2023 has had it all. But do you remember why?

Play along at home as we set Eurogamer's news elves - Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan - 23 questions looking back over 2023. Good luck to you all - and a very happy new year!

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You know her best as Amicia from the Plague Tale series. Charlotte McBurney was just 16 years old when she was cast in the first game, and everything about the recording experience was new. She would run home from college so she could fit a few hours of recording in.

Jump forwards a few years to the sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem, though, and French developer Asobo is now well aware of what McBurney can do. So it expands her role. It makes it more emotionally demanding. And McBurney rises to it, delivering one of the standout performances in games in 2022, earning herself a BAFTA nomination in the process.

With a Final Fantasy 16 credit also now to her name, McBurney has cemented herself as a future talent. Here, Bertie finds out how she ended up doing this, what it was like recording A Plague Tale, and what's next.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the first ever trailer for GTA 6 which was finally released following a tease from Rockstar, after the trailer leaked online ahead of schedule.

That means we've got a look at the game's two protagonists, its modern day Vice City setting, and the general vibe of the game's story. We also know it's set for release in 2025 across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, with no news yet of a PC release.

So what did we make of the trailer and the news? What are we hoping to see in GTA 6? And what's the future of GTA Online? Tom's away, so this week's podcast is hosted by me. I'm joined as ever by Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan, as well as GTA Online expert Marie Pritchard from the Eurogamer guides team.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss this year's various video game remakes and remasters, including the recently-announced The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, which is headed to PlayStation 5 in January.

While TLOU2 was launched on PS4, it's still just three years on from that game's arrival. How do we feel about there already being a "Remaster", and are its DVD extra-style additions worth a £10 upgrade?

We also discuss some of the other remakes to arrive (again) this year, including the excellent new versions of Dead Space and Resident Evil 4. It's good these games are finding new audiences, but are we in danger of focusing too much on the past, and on safe, known franchises? Joining me to discuss all that and more are Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we share our hopes and fears for Nintendo's now-officially confirmed The Legend of Zelda live-action movie.

The internet has leapt upon the announcement to suggest various names for Link, but who can you really see in the role - and can it not be Tom Holland, please? And definitely not Mark Wahlberg as an aged Link from the future.

We also discuss the Zelda film's potential story, and whether we think it will adapt any particular Zelda legend or simply follow the Mario movie's example and go through the usual plot beats. Plus: the inevitable references Nintendo must include. And also... live-action Tingle? Joining me to discuss all that and more are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we share our warp pipe dreams for Mario Kart 9, as the final wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC gets its release date.

Nintendo has elongated the lifespan of its Wii U Mario Kart creation to last the entirety of the Switch era - and now we've reached the point where pretty much every track from the series worth playing has been crammed inside. So what's next, if Nintendo can't simply go bigger? Fresh ideas are needed, we feel.

When will the Mario Kart series get a course creator? Is this the time - so that Nintendo can hand over some creative control to the community, and run the game as more of a live service platform? How about changes to the game's characters, with special abilities to make different racers feel unique? And what about the idea of turning Mario Kart into more of a Nintendo Kart, with additional crossover franchises? Joining me to discuss are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss this week's Xbox Partner Preview showcase, which featured around a dozen intriguing titles coming to Microsoft's console in the near-ish future.

Tomorrow's Alan Wake 2 got a final airing and it looks just as creepy as we'd have hoped. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth has an Animal Crossing mode, and Liv in particular is delighted. Oh and Still Wakes The Deep - the spooky game from Everybody's Gone To The Rapture set on a Scottish oil rig, looks great.

Opinion is a little more mixed on Metal Gear Solid Green Triangle: Snake Eater, with the visual style critiqued by some quarters of the internet today. Joining me to discuss the rest are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss what's next for Microsoft and Activision Blizzard now they have finally tied the knot.

This week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer sounded a note of caution over how quickly we'd see the fruits of Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Blizzard acquisition for ourselves. There will be no immediate drop of Activision classics on Xbox Game Pass, and no sudden insertion of Master Chief in Call of Duty.

Long-term, though, Spencer is keen to hear from Activision's teams about what they want to make - whether that's a return to Guitar Hero, Skylanders or Tony Hawk games, or something else entirely. We also ponder Microsoft's plans for a mobile game presence, driven by Candy Crush maker King. Could Gears of War turn up on mobile? What about Viva Piñata? Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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Giles Goddard is one of the few westerners who've worked inside Nintendo HQ in Japan. He went there as a young adult in the early 1990s, to help make Star Fox and the SuperFX chip that powered it, and he stayed ever since.

Goddard worked at Nintendo for more than decade, and was instrumental not only in SNES games like Star Fox and Stunt Race FX, but also the creation of the N64. He made the Zelda 64 demo that wowed crowds at a Japanese game show in 1995, and he made the Mario face you pull around at the beginning of Mario 64. Goddard also made 1080 Snowboarding, which is a game idea he's come back to a couple of times over the years.

Today, Goddard works at Chuhai Labs, a company he founded -as Vitei - many years ago. It's best known for Cursed to Golf, but is currently working on a new, multi-year game fans of Star Fox will apparently love...

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss Sony's newly-announced PlayStation 5 "Slim", which is set to launch in the US next month.

Repeatedly leaked, the PS5 Slim's existence was not too much of a surprise, though word that its digital version would cost more in the US and that you now need to splash out £25 to stand the console upright still managed to raise some eyebrows.

Rather than a proper mid-gen refresh, the Slim is more of a redesign - with no real incentive for existing PS5 owners to upgrade. Still, is a good resdesign? Does it position the console's digital edition as the PS5's main version? And most importantly, is standing your console vertical better? Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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Today is World Mental Health Day. This annual event is all about raising mental health awareness, with the aim to drive positive change for everyone's mental wellbeing. And, not that there ever needs to be an excuse to talk about mental health at any time of the year, but it is also a good opportunity for us to do just that.

So please, join me, Victoria Kennedy, as I sit down with our own Bertie Purchese and Eurogamer alum Johnny Chiodini. In this episode, we swap stories about our own mental health journeys, the role video games can play in helping us understand mental health, and the games that soothe our souls on those days that can be harder than others. I hope you enjoy it.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the topic of video game industry layoffs, something that seems to be rarely out of the headlines over the past few weeks and months.

Layoffs are nothing new, of course, but this year in particular feels like a particularly tough time, at companies big and small. From tech giants such as Microsoft and Epic Games down to development studios such as Telltale Games, the bad news just keeps on coming.

We discussed the job losses at Creative Assembly last week following the cancellation of Hyenas. Since then, we've heard of deep cuts at Team17, and more job losses on Dragon Age. We consider these examples and more, and consider whether each is part of a wider pattern, or a more individual example. Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we bid farewell to PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who has announced his departure from the company after almost three decades of service.

We look back at Ryan's tenure at the top of Sony's console business, which included the launch of PlayStation 5 and the acquisition of Bungie. Sony has seen huge sales successes, of course, but is this down to the company's continued direction or simply an open goal from the last console generation?

Announced just before we recorded this week's show, we also discuss the shock cancellation of Hyenas, the loot shooter from Sega's UK studio Creative Assembly that was being demoed to the public only last month. Such a last-minute scrubbing of a game launch is startling - we discuss why the decision may have been made.

Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing what feels like the biggest leak of Xbox gaming news in history, which has left Microsoft's plans to launch new hardware in 2024 and a new console generation in 2028 exposed.

Next year's redesigned Xbox Series X is digital only, according to documents from 2022 that Microsoft presented to the FTC this year. It does not appear to boast a bump in processing power - something that gels with what Xbox boss Phil Spencer told me at Gamescom last month - but also ditches the ability to play older games on disc. How does that square with Microsoft's push for game preservation?

Looking further ahead, Microsoft has pinned 2028 as the year we'll finally see the Xbox Series X's proper successor arrive. Is that too late? And what does it mean that the console will support "cloud hybrid" games?

Joining me to discuss all that, along with leaked emails about buying Nintendo and the Xbox Game Pass release black hole left by Starfield's delay, are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss today's report by Eurogamer that Nintendo is showing Switch 2 tech demos to developers, including at Gamescom last month. The new hardware from the Big N now feels closer than ever - but when exactly will it arrive?

More importantly, perhaps - for any Nintendo console - is what Nintendo game will it launch alongside? Will Switch 2's beefier specs be a smart time to finally launch Metroid Prime 4? Or does Nintendo go with the more mass market approach, and tap up its 3D Mario team?

Finally, since it's out and it's probably going to be the biggest game of the year, we discuss the opening moments of Starfield - beyond the hour we all spend in the character creator. Joining me this week to share their thoughts on all that are Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're back from Gamescom and scurrying around trying to let you know everything we saw. We chatted to Phil Spencer, we saw Starfield, we played Sonic and much more. But what else caught our eye?

We sat down this week to chat about what we saw and ended up honing in on some of our personal favourites - games which may not have caught the headlines as much as that big new RPG everyone's going on about. Games which appealed specifically to us - because they felt authentically British - like the wonderfully Yorkshire Thank Goodness You're Here and the North Sea oil rig horror Still Wakes the Deep.

I adored The Plucky Squire. Ed loved Black Myth: Wukong. Together with Victoria Kennedy, who held the news fort brilliantly back home in Blighty, we chat about the best of what we saw last week in Cologne.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we look ahead to the rest of 2023, and everything on the horizon we can't wait to play. Turns out, there's a lot to get excited about!

Can you think of the top three games you're looking forward to over the rest of the year? It's a question three of us try and answer while juggling this autumn's bulging release schedule - from Starfield to Super Mario Wonder.

Joining me this week are Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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Newscast: Is Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition now a done deal?

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we look back at a week of headlines from Microsoft's time in court arguing its case to buy Activision Blizzard with the FTC.

In the video game industry, courtroom drama does not get much bigger than this. Microsoft's Phil Spencer and Satya Nadella, Sony's Jim Ryan and Activision boss Bobby Kotick have all given evidence as the US weighs up whether to allow Xbox's enormous Call of Duty buyout to procede.

The week has brought us some eye-opening opinions from these top industry execs, as well as a treasure trove of emails to pore through - and some badly-redacted documentation. Today, we recap the biggest stories of the week, including who else was on Microsoft's studio shopping list, and why Bethesda is upset at Call of Duty not being platform exclusive. Joining me this week are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss yesterday's Mario-packed Nintendo Direct and Microsoft's suprise price rises.

For Nintendo, yesterday's online extravaganza acted like a shot of adrenaline to the Switch's aging heart. There had been questions around how much Nintendo might still have for Switch, post Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Now we have answers - and a release schedule busier than either Microsoft or Sony's for the remainder of 2023. Switch 2 certainly now feels even longer away.

Microsoft, meanwhile, took advantage of the Elephant Mario in the room to announce it's long-suspected price rises for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Series X. It was an oppurtune moment for Microsoft to deliver the bad news, with the value of Game Pass demonstrated last week at its well-receieved Xbox Game Showcase. Still, was it really necessary? Or could it just get away with it because PlayStation blinked first? Joining me this week are Ed Nightingale and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're back to wrap up the end of a tiring but intriguing week of Summer Game Fest and not-E3 announcements, which offered us the usual mixed bag of presentations, CG trailers, and the occaisonal musical interlude.

What were our favourites? There was a real variety of things on offer, from Dont Nod's Jusant and Compulsion's stylish-looking South of Midnight to blockbusters like Star Wars Outlaws and Fable. And then, of course, there was the inescapable Starfield - which after nearly a full hour deep dive I still feel like we've only seen a small portion.

Microsoft did well, I thought. Ubisoft did pretty good. Capcom... put in an appearance to delay Pragmata. But what were our favourite games on offer, and how convinced were we by Todd Howard's marketing spiel? Joining me to discuss all that are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we react to last night's Summer Game Fest opening livestream, which offered us a first look at new Sonic and Prince of Persia games, plus a mouth-watering glimpse at Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.

What didn't we see? A little oddly, Square Enix decided not to showcase Final Fantasy 16 - the one which actually goes on sale in a couple of weeks. Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty was also missing, as was host Geoff Keighley's best pal Hideo Kojima. Once the conference concluded, discussion online focused on the lack of any women on stage, following appearances by a string of male developers - and also Nic Cage.

On the upside, no one unexpectedly walked on stage and got arrested. So, how do we feel about all that, and how would we rate the conference overall? Was it a satisfying alternative to E3? Or are we hoping for more now from Xbox, Ubisoft and Capcom over the coming days? Joining me to discuss all that are Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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Darkest Dungeon as a series grew out of one central and refreshing idea: "Being an adventurer is a shit line of work." What if all those horrors and killing your adventurers saw took its toll on them? What if they became stressed out and developed afflictions - both mental and physical - because of it?

In this episode of One-to-One, we hear from Darkest Dungeon co-creators Tyler Sigman and Chris Bourassa about the creation of the series and the ideas behind it, and about their decision to make a sequel that is - at the time of recording - days away from being released.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss Sony's PlayStation Showcase event, and offer our thoughts on everything that was shown - and not shown - last night.

We got an extended look at Spider-Man 2, and announcements of the much-rumoured Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, Bungie's next game Marathon, Haven's first title Fairgame$, and something called Concord. Actual gameplay and firm release dates were thin on the ground, however. And many of the games shown during PlayStation's event will also be available on Xbox.

Was this a good games event, even if it wasn't a great PlayStation one? How do we feel about Sony's game roadmap now? Joining me to discuss all of that and much more are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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I wonder sometimes whether BioWare will ever do another trilogy of games again, because the more time that passes, the more I appreciate what an ambitious idea that was, with Mass Effect. Three games that would tell one story and that you could carry one hero all the way through - that's not just bold, that's borderline outrageous! Especially when you consider all the choices and consequences typically in one of the studio's games. And it's only now, really, when I see no one else attempting to do the same thing - not to that degree, anyway - I realise how special it was.

Perhaps it was so hard to do, BioWare never wanted to do it again. It's a thought that leads me down a rabbit hole and to someone I've dubbed Mr Mass Effect - Mac Walters, the writer who spent 19 years at BioWare, and most of it writing and making Mass Effect. Here's the making of a trilogy, and beyond, through his eyes.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we discuss the latest headache for Microsoft - Redfall's negative launch reaction - and the eye-opening comments made by Xbox boss Phil Spencer as he subsequently discussed what went wrong.

We also look beyond Redfall at the pressure now on Microsoft to deliver with Starfield, following various first-party delays and disappointments over the past few years. As Xbox takes stock of its progress this console generation, big questions remain over how it competes in the years to come - with some potentially gloomy (for Microsoft) answers.

Joining me to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we discuss the fallout from today's dramatic decision by the UK to block Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Blizzard deal, and whether an appeal could still turn things around.

With the UK regulator issuing a stern warning over how it sees the deal impacting competitiveness among cloud gaming companies, it remains to be seen how much more Microsoft could do to reassure the UK without structurally changing the deal. Or does, perhaps, Microsoft say the UK should not have given up on this so easily, by saying a block on the deal was simply the most straightforward option?

So, do we think an appeal could still succeed? And what will it take? Joining me to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast it's all about Zelda, and the many burning questions we still have surrounding the upcoming Tears of the Kingdom.

Despite all the details to be found in Nintendo's final Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer, there's still so much we don't know. How much has changed in Hyrule since Breath of the Wild, and how many new areas are there to explore? Are there proper dungeons in the game this time around? What are the Tears of the Kingdom?

With less than a month until launch, it's time for one final round of theorising - as the internet begins to entertain some wild theories that Ganon is actually good, or maybe just pulling a Thanos. Joining me to discuss it all - and place bets on whether Zelda really is playable - are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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Do you know how Vikings used to work out who'd die of their wounds and who wouldn't? And I mean internal wounds here, not obvious external ones.

Onion soup.

The Viking healers would feed the warriors really stinky onion soup and then, if the healers could smell it, it probably meant the stomach had been perforated and old Bjorn was on their way to Valhalla.

Zoe Delahunty-Light told me that - Zoe who you'll know from the Eurogamer YouTube team. Not that she talks about morbid things there - but on TikTok it's a different matter. There, morbid history is entirely Zoe's jam, or um, grave wax as the case may be. Understanding Zoe's penchant for darker history goes a long way to understanding Zoe, which is why I'm telling you about it. And I found out about it while talking to Zoe here.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the bleeding-edge technologies on show this week at GDC 2023 - from Epic Games' eye-popping Unreal Engine to Ubisoft's intriguing new Ghostwriter dialogue tool.

Last night's startling State of Unreal presentation by Epic revealed a swathe of new features coming to the company's suite of game development tools - such as photo-realistic procedural generation on a massive scale, and the ability to translate iPhone video footage into pretty slick performance capture. Earlier this week, Ubisoft also showed off Ghostwriter, an "AI"-driven tool to suggest script lines for use in background dialogue.

But are these advancements the future of video game development, or are they an encroachment by AI into the kinds of work previously the domain of human writers and animators? Or both? Joining me to discuss all that are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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That's it. Potentially the most prestigious TV adaptation of a game series has ended, and what an impact it made. But did HBO and Naughty Dog manage to get the balance right? Did it work when the series veered away from the games? Here, we assemble a mixed panel of people from Eurogamer who've all seen the show, some of which have played The Last of Us games as many as five times, and some who haven't finished it once, to see what their impressions of the TV series were.

This episode is hosted by news reporter Victoria Kennedy, who's been writing detailed breakdowns of each episode of The Last of Us each week, and she's joined by deputy news editor Ed Nightingale, senior guides writer Jessica Orr, and senior staff writer Bertie Purchese.

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When we introduced our supporter programme about a year-and-a-half ago, we knew it might take some time to get right. That's why we've made some big changes to it, and the biggest of all: we've significantly lowered the price. Now, for the new price of £2.99/$2.99 a month, or £29.99/$29.99 a year, you get everything on offer. That includes Eurogamer without any adverts, exclusive articles - including a brand series by Eurogamer favourite Emma Kent - discounts on merch and tickets, and even free games. Yes, we've got a brand new Hitman key giveaway coming.

Here's everything you need to know about it.

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When Hitman 3 recently changed its name to Hitman World of Assassination, it fulfilled a plan that had been 10 years in the making at Danish studio IO. A plan that had survived management buyouts and near bankruptcy, and which ended up making Hitman better and more popular than ever before. To call it a turnaround feels like an understatement: IO is in a completely different place now to five or 10 years ago.

Here, IO Interactive co-owners Christian Elverdam and Hakan Abrak reflect on their remarkable achievement, and look ahead to James Bond and what's next.

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This interview podcast was recorded a few years ago now, at the end of 2018. It features author and game-lover Stuart Turton who, at the time, had just won an award for his debut murder mystery novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. He's since gone on to write a second novel, called The Devil and the Dark Water, and is not far off releasing a third.

In this interview, Stuart Turton talks about his lifelong love of games, and how, unknowingly, that passion bubbled over and influenced his work.

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Dana Nightingale is the campaign director at Arkane Lyon, the celebrated studio behind the Dishonored series and Deathloop. She's known for her work designing the Clockwork Mansion in Dishonored 2, and for fixing down the critical path in Deathloop - as in, who you have to kill and when - and how to track across a time-looping game and how to present it to you. Without her, we would have been lost. In other words, Dana Nightingale knows her stuff.

Here, she talks about Arkane's secrets of level design, as well as the challenges she faced making Deathloop, and how a broomstick saved Dishonored 2 expansion Death of the Outsider. She also charts her roundabout route into games, and talks about why she loves level design in the first place. She says maps, or levels, are the vehicles or vessels for everything you do in a game. Cool, huh?

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss Microsoft's next steps to get its $68.7bn Activision Blizzard buyout past regulators and over the finish line.

Earlier this week, Microsoft went to Brussels to argue its case with the European Commission, one of three major regulators still needing to be convinced - and Eurogamer was in attendance. It had agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia in its pocket, but only an unsigned contract with PlayStation. Was it enough? And if not, what else must Microsoft now do?

Does Microsoft still need to offer further concessions around Game Pass? Could we even see Microsoft let COD go onto PlayStation Plus to ensure full parity? Joining me to discuss all that and share our thoughts on whether we think the deal will finally get done are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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Hello and welcome to the Eurogamer Newscast, which this week looks ahead to everything on the horizon for Nintendo Switch - and Nintendo itself.

Of course, we recap last night's Nintendo Direct and discuss what we thought about Pikmin getting a dog and whether Zelda really will be playable in Tears of the Kingdom. But with the knowledge that Nintendo itself admits Switch is now firmly on the decline, the company skipping E3 this year and rumours of new hardware in 2024, we also discuss where Switch is now headed.

For fans of Nintendo, there's plenty still to enjoy - even if it is now slanted to nostalgia, such as with Game Boy games, Metroid ports and a Baten Kaitos remake. But where does this leave Nintendo later this year, and next? Joining me to discuss all that and more are Ed Nightingale and Liv Ngan.

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Hello and welcome to the Eurogamer Newscast, which this week is all about the best (and worst) video game adaptations. We've all been watching The Last of Us which has become a properly massive TV event - but it's not the first great video game adaptation by any means.

Is it the best? It's certainly up there - though there's strong competition already from things like Netflix's Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and The Witcher series, and the wonderful League of Legends animation Arcane. Beyond those? We have some personal favourites - you'll have to listen to find out which.

Joining me to pick out our highlights and lowlights are Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy, and yes, the Chris Barrie-starring Angelina Joie Tomb Raider film does indeed get a mention.

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UK charity SpecialEffect helps physically disabled people play games. Through bespoke equipment and software, it's changed lives. It's why Microsoft and Sony asked SpecialEffect for help while making their Xbox and PlayStation accessibility controllers, and it's why the charity has become a leading speaker in the movement for better accessibility in games.

But really, fundamentally, it's about play. "A lot of the people we work with have had a lifetime of not being able to do things that they're capable of doing, that they want to do and they're seeing their brother and sister do, and they're seeing all their mates do, but they're unable to actually join in," SpecialEffect founder and CEO Mick Donegan says. "A lot of people come to us like that, and a lot of them have actually given up all hope. Their self image, basically, is of somebody who says, 'I can't do this.' And it's been going on for years.

"It's that moment when, for the first time, they're actually able to play a game that they want to play for the first time; that moment. And you can see it on their face: it's the moment when it changes - that their self image changes from 'I can't do this' to 'I got this'. It's that moment. It's like you've helped them open the doors to this wonderful world of gaming, having just been looking in through the window for years and years and years."

You can find out more about SpecialEffect on its website: https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/

(Note: an earlier version of this podcast has been intentionally replaced by this listing.)

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Hello and welcome back to the Eurogamer Newscast! We're already almost halfway through January 2023 and the video games industry is stirring. There are huge games on the horizon and plenty to look forward to - and look forward we will.

2023 promises to be a stellar year for video games, full of proper current-gen console exclusives, awesome indies and more than a few titles held up from last year (and the year before). The next 12 months should see all of these and more splurge out onto the scene for you to try. But where to start?

Joining me to pick out our highlights for the year are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan - and there's some surprising picks in there, as well as Pikmin 4! Apparently some new Final Fantasy game is coming out too, and Zelda's up to something. Beyond video games themselves, there's also The Last of Us TV show to look forward to - that's out next week! - and hopefully some recommendations from us for some lesser-known gems also waiting in the wings. Thanks for watching!

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Game director Kevin Choteau recounts the entire development story behind acclaimed action adventure series A Plague Tale. He recalls how the original game was a mess and nearly ended in disaster, and how the original idea was formed. He also talks about the decisions surrounding the powerful ending to the sequel, and whether or not there will ever be a third game.

You can read a written version of this story over on Eurogamer: https://www.eurogamer.net/how-a-plague-tale-came-back-from-the-brink

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Ho ho ho and welcome to the Eurogamer Newscast News Quiz of the Year 2022! As the video games industry begins to hibernate over the holidays, we're still here for one last look back at the biggest headlines of 2022 - and of course, as we're all about games, we turn this into a game as well.

From Microsoft's attempted Activision Blizzard takeover to Sony's PlayStation 5 price rise, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 hack to the return of Silent Hill - we cover it all, with some Elden Ring underwear too.

Going head to head in the Eurogamer Newscast News Quiz of the Year 2022 are our faithful news elves - Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan - and of course, if you're listening or watching at home, do join in. The format is simple! 22 questions on 2022, all based around news stories we've reported over the year. How much can you remember? We're about to find out!

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, it's the morning after the night before - and what a night. While The Game Awards 2022 dominated the news, Microsoft's $68.7bn Activision Blizzard takeover faced a major setback with the FTC and Diablo 4's big release date announcement was superseded by serious claims of mismanagement and crunch.

The awards ceremony was an eventful affair, even without its climactic and rather concerning stage invasion. The typical array of trailers for games like Final Fantasy 16, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Street Fighter 6 came thick and fast, alongside big announcements for things such as Death Stranding 2, Hades 2, Horizon Forbidden West PS5-only DLC and Armored Core 6.

Did Geoff Keighley keep his pledge to make this year's ceremony speedier? Not really. Somewhere, Christopher Judge is now on the second day of his acceptance speech. So, here for you today is a recap of everything we thought was really worth your time - and what we think Death Stranding 2 should actually be titled. Joining me this week are Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Wesley Yin-Poole.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing the PlayStation 6 - specifically, Sony's concerns about Call of Duty not being available on the upcoming platform, which we now know will debut sometime from 2027 onwards.

It's been another week dominated by news of Microsoft's $68bn Activision Blizzard takeover attempt, which is currently being scrutinised by the UK's anti-competition regulator. Partially-redacted documentation from this process has now been made public, revealing some eyebrow-raising arguments from Sony - which is trying to block the deal.

Both Sony and Microsoft have gone on the defensive to make themselves look the smaller fish - with Microsoft admitting Sony's exclusives are better and Sony saying any loss of Call of Duty would leave itself "extremely vulnerable", particularly if the series was made available through the popular Xbox Game Pass. So, should Sony be worried - or is this all just performative theatrics? Joining me this week to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan.

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One thing I've always loved about the work I do is hearing about people's lives. I like hearing their stories, I like hearing about the things that shaped them, because they not only relate to me as a fellow human being but inevitably, they are the things that end up shaping what they make. The games they make. The games we love.

It's a privilege to be able to focus on this in my podcast One-to-One, and I've had some wonderful guests. But few struck me the way Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer - the lead mind behind Pentiment - did.

Sawyer was not what I expected - and I say this as someone who's met him a few times. But on those occasions I got only a glimpse of him. He demoed a game, or we traded pleasantries while thinking about what work we were doing next - it was that kind of thing. But this time I got a chance to sit with him for a chunk of time and hear about his life, hear about who he is. And there's much I didn't know.

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I can't believe it was six years ago that I met Doug Cockle, voice of The Witcher (Geralt) in the video games. He was a teacher back then, leading the acting course at Arts University Bournemouth - such an ordinary place to find a bonafide video game star.

But a lot has changed since then. Doug Cockle no longer teaches there; he was debating a return to full-time acting when we talked, and shortly after, did exactly that.

Meanwhile, The Witcher became a household name, propelled into the mainstream by the Netflix TV show. The star of that show, Henry Cavill, turned out to be an open admirer of Cockle's work, too, being a keen game-player himself. He even invited Cockle to the season one premiere in London, to hang out. And they did, as Cockle tells me in this episode of the One-to-one podcast show, now available everywhere and for everyone (search for "Eurogamer Podcasts" wherever you listen to them).

We talk about a great deal of other things as well. In find out what Doug Cockle has been up to in these six years, and how his move back into full-time acting has gone.

We talk about the games he's been lending his voice to - he has apparently just wrapped recording on something he thinks we'll find very exciting. But it's not The Witcher 1 remake because he hasn't been called up for that - yet.

We talk about the films and TV shows he's been in, and the stage show he recently appeared in. And we talk about the many appearances he makes at conventions around the world, the most recent being MCM Comic Con in Birmingham, where he hung out with the voice actors for Triss, Dandelion and - and I love this - Eredin from the Wild Hunt.

We talk about the craft of voice acting too, what it's like, and how Doug knows he's delivered something good. He is, as I think you'll agree, a lovely man and very entertaining and thoughtful to listen to.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing the now-widespread leaks of new Pokémon designs from the upcoming Scarlet and Violet games.

Pokémon details always leak - often months before launch, but especially in the last few weeks as retail copies begin appearing in the wild. Should you look at spoilers? For some, uncovering the many unannounced creatures as they play is a core part of the games. For others, knowing what your new Starter Pokémon will eventually evolve into is a big deal.

Whichever side of the debate you're on, there's no doubting the level of interest in new Pokémon designs - seen this week when the final evolution of Starter cat creature Sprigatito sparked an avalanche of dubious fanart after an image was posted by a leaker. Joining me this week to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we react to Sony's eye-watering announcement of its PlayStation VR2 pricing, alongside Eurogamer's resident VR superfan and advocate Ian Higton as a special guest.

The PSVR2 is a high-end device and it was never going to be cheap, but its £530 cost (£570 if you actually also want something to play) have placed it out of reach for many console players. Of the many headset options available, Sony's was expected to be the most likely to attract a wider audience and grow the budding VR scene. But with that price, and a line-up of games you can mostly play elsewhere?

Join me, Ian, Ed Nightingale and Ishraq Subhan, as we discuss why the headset costs so much, what Sony could do to sweeten the deal, and what future we think PSVR2 now has at that price point.

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I must admit, there was an element of selfishness involved in this podcast. I'm currently doing a creative writing course in my spare time (rather than in my news stories, ho ho) and one of the things I'm struggling with, weird as it is to admit, is the idea that I can write anything. I don't have to be bound by the rules of this world, or any world, or any rules. I can conceive of something totally and utterly new. And that's... I still can't quite wrap my head around it.

But my guest on the podcast today, Cassandra Khaw, has long made their peace with this, producing works of - usually - pitch black horror that I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to imagine. The most famous of their pieces is probably the novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth, which was a USA Today bestseller when it came out roughly a year ago. 

So I wanted to find out from Cassandra, who seems to imagine new stories at the speed other people think of things to eat for dinner, where their ideas came from and how to shape them from there. I also wanted to find out where their life-long love of horror came from - and I was treated to a wonderful real-life Malaysian horror story when I asked.

Cassandra isn't only a horror writer, though. They've written for Eurogamer and now they help write games. They've contributed to games like Fallen London and Sunless Skies and Falcon Age, and more recently were working at Ubisoft Montreal on Hyperspace (and some undisclosed projects) and, to get us right up to date, Gotham Knights. Cassandra's already gone on to two new game projects they're not able to talk about yet.

They sound busy, right? Well, let's not forget their debut collection Breakable Things, coming out on 8th November. We talk about it in this podcast and it sounds great; it revolves around a theme of people pushing back against the world, like a werewolf out for revenge, or mermaids - who were pulled out of the ocean by humans, and impregnated - doing the same. There are some quieter explorations of grief too, including one tale that's personal and close to Cassandra's heart.

They have two other books coming out next year, too. One is a twisted mermaid novella called The Salt Grows Heavy, due May 2023, and the other is a collaboration with Richard Kadrey called The Dead Take the A Train, due March.

"Pathologic workaholic" is how they'd describe themselves, and on this evidence, I'd have to agree! Incidentally, the scary Malaysian film Cassandra mentions at the beginning is Impetigore, and the book recommendation is The Least of My Scars, by Stephen Graham Jones. Oh and apologies for a bit of keyboard clacking at the beginning of the recording - we relocate quickly to a quieter area.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're chewing over last night's Silent Hill: Transmission broadcast, and Konami's big plans to relaunch its survival horror brand.

Silent Hill has lain dormant ever since Konami cancelled Silent Hills and unreleased Hideo Kojima's PT demo. The question is, will anything announced last night live up to that? There was plenty on offer - a remake, a new game, several spin-offs and a movie - from an array of developers. Still, it often felt like we were seeing little in the way of concrete details - release dates and actual gameplay footage.

Will Konami's sudden onslaught of Silent Hill bring about a fresh start for the series? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy discuss.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're back discussing Microsoft's big Activision Blizzard deal and the latest developments in the ongoing saga of the $68bn buyout being finalised.

Yesterday, Microsoft leapt upon the latest concerned update from the UK's deal regulator and repeatedly tried to minimise its own importance in the video games market. Microsoft stated it was far from the leader in terms of console share and PC games sold, and lacked any real presence on mobile devices. In a particularly eye-opening claim, Microsoft even said PlayStation's userbase would be "significantly larger" than Xbox even if every COD player ditched Sony. At the same time, Microsoft also criticised the regulator for appearing to take Sony's own complaints about the deal at face value.

Is this fighting talk from Microsoft, or squeaky bum time in Redmond over real concerns the UK will block the deal outright? Tom Phillips, Victoria Kennedy, Ishraq Subhan and Liv Ngan share their thoughts on whether the deal will go through, what changes Microsoft could make to get it over the finish line, and whether it should go ahead.

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How much do you know about horses? I don't know very much. As far as I'm concerned, they really can do press-ups like Roach in The Witcher 3, or double-jump like Torrent in Elden Ring. 

Alice Ruppert knows a lot more about horses than I do. She's been obsessed with them ever since she was a child. She would draw them, play games about them, and many years later she would eventually make games about them. 

How she got her horse-break in games makes for a great origin story. The way she tells it, she complained so much about bad horse representation in games that eventually someone gave her a job and told her to do better, and that's what she's doing now, making Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch, which is coming out really soon.

A lot of that complaining - her word, by the way, not mine! - happened over on her brilliantly named website The Mane Quest. There, she looks in depth at horse games, points out some common mistakes they make, and offers tips on how they can do better.

To hear her at full gallop - ahem - tune into Episode 24 of One-to-one.

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It's Overwatch 2 week but not quite the week Blizzard will have imagined. The servers haven't worked, there are huge queues to play in the evening, and even when people can log in, there are overly complicated character unlock systems and bolshy Battle Passes to contend with. It's not entirely clear what's new in this second game when you can play it, either.

Overwatch 2 is overwhelmingly Overwatch. It's the same conclusion Edwin Evans-Thirlwell came to in a quick impressions piece published this week while he works on his full review. And it's hard not to agree with him. Faced with the same maps and the same characters, Overwatch 2 feels like the same game so many of us will have played so many times before. The differences are there, though, and given time, they make themselves felt. 

Overwatch 2 is the talking point of the week, then, and I've invited Edwin onto Weekly to talk about it. My other guest this week is news reporter Victoria Kennedy, who joins us to talk about Gotham Knights, Moonbreaker and CD Projekt Red as well.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we're discussing the avalance of announcements to come from CD Projekt Red, maker of The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077.

Taking a leaf out of Ubisoft's recent playbook - when it lay the entirety of its Assassin's Creed plans on the table - CD Projekt Red has done similar, discussing projects which we'll see release across the whole of the next decade. There's going to be a new trilogy of new Witcher games, a Cyberpunk sequel, a new IP and various other spin-offs - though there was no word on Cyberpunk's standalone multiplayer portion, and still no firm date for The Witcher 3's long-awaited current-gen console update.

With questions still to answer about what we'd known was coming, how likely is it we'll see any of these fresh projects soon? And if not, why announce them now? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan share their thoughts.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we're discussing the failure of Stadia, and why Google's cloud gaming gamble struggled from the start.

The announcement of Stadia's demise came as a shock to some - including many developers with titles only weeks from launch - yet still feels like it was on the cards for some time. After a rocky launch and the closure of Google's internal game development studios, what future did Stadia have left? Eurogamer editor-in-chief Martin Robinson weighed in earlier today with his thoughts.

Could Stadia have been a success? What does this all mean for game preservation? And if Google failed, with all of its billions, what future does cloud gaming have elsewhere? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, and Liv Ngan share their thoughts.

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Were you fortunate enough to make it down to EGX London this year? It was this past weekend, and, if you ask me, there was a nice vibe around the place. It was nice to be back playing games together relatively unimpeded by the pandemic, and the show is feeling much more like its old self again. But what caught our eye there?

That's what I'm talking to my two Weekly guests Martin Robinson and Liv Ngan about today. What did Liv think of Wo Long, did Martin like Street Fighter 6, and why was everyone talking about new card game Wildfrost?

Elsewhere in today's show, I catch us up on some of the reviews we've missed while we've been away - sorry for the gap in our programming, but I've had some time off - before getting onto what will probably be the hot topic of the week: the FIFA 23 review. It's the final FIFA-branded game, and there's a lot to both like, and loathe, about it.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we're discussing video game leaks, following last weekend's devastating hack of Rockstar Games which saw almost an hour of in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 footage spilled onto the internet and promptly dissected by the masses.

The sheer fact Rockstar had been hacked in this manner was itself shocking - but the damage felt worse due to the negative comments this work-in-progress content then received. The hack has robbed Rockstar of its oppurtunity to show the game on its own terms - and for what benefit? We discuss.

After that, we turn our attention to the YouTuber who accidentally outed themselves as being behind an "insider" Twitter account after posting under-wraps information they had been given by Ubisoft. Join Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan for their thoughts.

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It's been nearly 10 years since my guest today started working at Eurogamer. And when they began, their mission was simple: make YouTube happen. We had barely an audience there at the time. Oh, we'd tried video - you might remember Johnny Minkley and Eurogamer TV - but we missed the YouTube wave. So along came Ian Higton, my guest today, to make it right.

He didn't solve YouTube alone or overnight of course - to do that he would need a team and time. But it was his tireless work, largely alone for two years, that laid the foundation for what was to come. And his continued work has helped shape Eurogamer on YouTube into the channel it is today: a popular and welcoming place Ian is super proud of. Listen to him talk about it in the podcast - it's lovely.

I didn't realise how long he'd worked in TV beforehand, though. I knew Ian had worked for a shopping channel, which is brilliant, but I didn't realise he was there for 10 years! He even rose quite high up. And he once dressed as Skeletor to covertly appear on camera for a Halloween special, and it was recorded so you can watch it too. That's the cheeky Ian we know!

But it was Ian's lifelong love of games that tempted him away from TV and towards, I'm thrilled to say, Eurogamer, where he's remained ever since - and I hope will do for a long time to come. So here's to Ian, the king of jorts, and one of the most entertaining people I know.

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We're back again this week for another Eurogamer Newscast, focusing on the recent Nintendo Direct and PlayStation State of Play, plus the week's big news on the Yakuza franchise and what's next from Xbox Game Pass. It's been a busy week - full of Zelda, Pikmin, God of War and Yakuza 8 - but some corners of the internet are disappointed.

True, we didn't see some of the things we had expected might materialise. This week was not when we saw Wind Waker on Switch, Silent Hill on PlayStation, or got some kind of assurance Nintendo remembered what Metroid even was. But that's not to say there isn't plenty to look forward to.

Join Tom Phillips, Victoria Kennedy, Ishraq Subhan and Liv Ngan for our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom theories, thoughts on new Switch hardware, and our expert opinion on where to start with Yakuza.

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Ubisoft has announced an array of new Assassin's Creed games, and Eurogamer has exclusive details on how Ubisoft's flagship franchise will be shaken up by the arrival of its ambitious new Infinity platform, which will redefine the scope and ongoing story of future releases.

Outside of the Animus, this past weekend was also a major moment for Ubisoft itself, as it emerged from a period of relative silence following a bruising few years of scandal, takeover rumours, and further discontent surrounding its NFT plans. If you missed it, I spoke with Ubisoft boss Yves Guillmot about all of that.

Ubisoft Forward seemed aptly named, with a look over the horizon to a brighter future for the company. But questions remain - as Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss.

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Take a break with a quick recap of the things you missed on Eurogamer, plus a bit more discussion on them. It's our Weekly podcast show.

Joining me today are returning-from-holiday editor-in-chief Martin Robinson, who tells us all about Splatoon 3, which he's just reviewed. Why didn't he give it an Essential like all the other Nintendo games he reviews, hmm? With the help of news reporter Victoria Kennedy, we put him on the spot.

Elsewhere, I talk about A Plague Tale: Requiem, which I played a healthy chunk of this week for a preview and have reservations about, though I'm still looking forward to it coming out next month. And we think about going back to Cyberpunk 2077 for Phantom Liberty, the newly announced story expansion that should be - if Witcher 3 expansion Blood and Wine is anything to go by - impressive.

All that plus an excited look ahead at this weekend's notable events: the Disney and Marvel showcase, which should feature Amy Hennig's new game, whatever that is - Fantastic Four, reckons Victoria. And then on Sunday, the big Ubisoft bonanza, where we'll learn about the future of Assassin's Creed - and our Tom Phillips is all over it. He's travelling to France to be a part of it and will bring you all the news you could possibly want.

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Our Chris is back from Gamescom and he's pooped, yet despite that, it sounds as though he had a nice time. Who needs all the hullabaloo when a quieter event allows smaller games some air? 

In today's episode of Weekly, Chris takes us back there, to Gamescom 2022, sharing what it was like on the show floor, as well as the games that caught his eye and the gossip he heard. It's particularly entertaining to hear about his meeting with Callisto Protocol boss Glen Schofield, who seems to have left quite an impression - an impression Chris delightfully re-enacts.

We also dive into the big review of the week, Immortality, which Chris wrote. This is the new game from Her Story and Telling Lies developer Sam Barlow, so it arrives with anticipation. And it seems it dazzlingly lives up to it. And here we hear why.

Also on Weekly: Liv Ngan, our work experience reporter, making her show debut. She tells us what she thought of Gamescom - she's a huge Dead Space fan so she's excited for Callisto Protocol - and what she thinks of working at Eurogamer. Gulp.

All that plus a speedy look around the site at everything else going on. It's The Last of Us - Part 1 PS5 remake week, so there's loads of coverage to be had.

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I was hoping they'd be on their boat while conducting the interview and they were! Bobbing along. They're super-keen boaters you see - well, not so much boaters as adventurers, which is absolutely appropriate and you'll know why when I eventually get around to telling you who they are. They've sailed across the Atlantic ocean on their own! They've sailed across the Bering Sea up near Alaska, though they took an experienced navigator to help them there. 

In fact, if it weren't for the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that came with it, they'd probably still be boating and wouldn't have returned to games at all. But being landlocked meant they got bored and so decided, eventually, to make a game again.

That, in and of itself, is a remarkable thing, because when these two people left games in the late 90s, they completely left. They didn't so much as look at a game in the two decades that followed. They didn't play a game, didn't keep up to date with the industry - nothing.

That's doubly-remarkable when you consider who they are: Ken and Roberta Williams, founders of the original mega-publisher and game-maker Sierra On-Line. They were responsible for so many games through the 80s and 90s, not least the King's Quest series that would enshrine Roberta Williams as a game-design legend - see what I mean about adventuring being very on-trend? 

To go from that - 1000 people working for you and being the biggest business around - to nothing, well, it blows my mind. But then, they are a refreshingly unconventional pair, as I discover for myself here. It's part of the reason why their new game - a remake of Colossal Cave, the game that started it all for them - intrigues me so much, because they'll do it their way, whether we end up liking that or not. And have they still got what it takes to make a great game? I don't know! That's what's so exciting; it'll be nothing less than unique.

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Sony has announced a shock price rise for the PlayStation 5, and in a Eurogamer Newscast special, we're here to discuss why the company has pulled this undoubtedly unpopular move - and why it's likely to get away with it.

Will Sony sell fewer PS5s as a result? It seems unlikely. But it's more pressure on PlayStation, which has already had to defend its £70/$70 price point for games - including the upcoming The Last of Us: Part 1 remaster - and just this week announced an expensive-looking new PlayStation 5 controller.

At a time when all of us are looking at our bank balance's bottom line, an extra £30 to buy a PS5 marks not just an unprecedented decision by Sony, but a troubling sign of the times. Will Microsoft now feel emboldened to follow suit, or soak up any extra costs as a point of difference? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan discuss.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're picking out our favourite bits - and not so favourites - from this week's big Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase.

It's a relatively quiet year for Gamescom - though it is lovely to see the show back on its feet and filled with sweaty attendees - and it's fair to say this was reflected in last night's showings. We got a big reveal for Dead Island 2 - which is not set on an island - and a release date for Return to Monkey Island, but otherwise, surprises were thin on the ground, and there were a lot of CGI trailers.

Those aside, and ignoring Kojima shilling his podcast, we still got an array of interesting games to look forward to over the next 12 months, even if not all of them were AAA-sized or from franchises you might have heard of. I particularly liked the look of Moonbreaker, Atlus Fallen and Where Winds Meet, games I'd never heard of before last night. But what did everyone else think? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss.

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It's another Weekly, the podcast show where we - the writers of Eurogamer - recap what's been going on on the website for you. 

Joining me today are news reporter Victoria Kennedy, who you'll recognise from the Newscast, and the Strandmon of features, Christian Donlan.

This week, we're revelling in the superbness of Roll7's new game Rollerdrome, we're delving into musical episodic adventure We Are OFK, and we're wondering about the accessibility potential of the PS5 DualSense pad and the fancy rumble features. We're diving into Sea of Thieves, splash!, years after release, and then whizzing around the bigger headlines this week. 

Relax as we bring you up to speed - gosh that sounds naughty - on Eurogamer goings-on. See you again on Friday!

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Imagine getting a phone call from a guy called Gary Gygax in America and he's reading a newsletter you wrote for a games business you're running out of a messy flat in London, and he likes it so much he wants to send you a copy of a new game he's working on called Dungeons & Dragons.

You end up loving the game and he likes what you're about, so he grants you exclusive rights to introduce Dungeons & Dragons to the UK, and to Europe, and to sell it there for three years. You can only afford six copies but it doesn't matter much: soon you'll be able to afford a lot more. 

That's not even the best story my guests today have! They've done so much and created so much. That games business they were running? Games Workshop, a business that would change the face of tabletop gaming. Not content, this pair would work well into the night to create a series of game books called Fighting Fantasy, making themselves best-selling authors in the process. The series has sold more than 20 million copies today.

And that's not all: from there, they'd go on to sign video games like Tomb Raider and Hitman, and create studios like Lionhead and make beloved series like Fable. They'd receive awards and knighthoods - even be tasked by the government to evaluate the industry to see where it could do better.

Without Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, my guests today, games simply wouldn't be the same. But it's about Fighting Fantasy in particular we talk today, on this, it's 40th anniversary - for which they've both written new books. It's eye-opening to hear how the original book didn't sell very well, and to hear how they actually put the complicated, labyrinthine game-books together. I hear about their favourite books, their favourite deaths in the books, and everything in between. 

One quick note: there were some technical difficulties with the recording platform that meant Steve had trouble joining us, though he did get there eventually, and that resulted in some odd audio glitches later on. There's nothing I can do about them but I am sorry in advance.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're talking The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Middle-earth in general - as the rights to Tolkien's world are gobbled up by game publisher Embracer.

It's another huge get for the Swedish conglomerate, which owns an increasingly enormous share of the video games industry. It also means Embracer will soon be in charge of the Middle-earth film and TV rights - and it's already talking about a fresh set of spin-offs and sequels.

But what does this mean for Lord of the Rings video games? Will Embracer put some/many of its 100+ studios to work on Middle-earth projects? And what kinds of games would we like to see - and by whom? Tom Phillips, Victoria Kennedy, Ishraq Subhan and Liv Ngan discuss.

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Today on Weekly, the show that recaps the week for you, we hear from news reporter Ed Nightingale about Two-Point Campus, the new management game in which you run a university. And he likes it. And we hear from features editor Christian Donlan about the adorably stylish action RPG Cult of the Lamb, which he reviewed, as well as the game he's currently reviewing: Arcade Paradise. And it's Arcade Paradise he sounds particularly excited about. It's a game about running a laundrette but also about running an arcade within it. Sounds unusual? It is. But also, potentially, brilliant.

That plus a rundown of all the other features and videos and news around the site that caught host Bertie's eye.

That was Weekly. We'll see you next week.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the ongoing fallout from Microsoft and Sony's squabbling over Activision Blizzard and it's blockbuster franchise Call of Duty.

If you've been living under a rock for the last six months, this all stems from Microsoft's intent to buy Activision for 68.7bn, which Sony isn't too happy about. Recently we've heard arguments from Sony offering some of its views on the deal - that it would be bad news for PlayStation, essentially - and now Microsoft itself has hit back.

Microsoft has reiterated that it does not want to make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive - for now, at least - and even said it would be an unprofitable move if it did so. Even more remarkably, it has also hit out at Sony for suggesting the Microsoft-Activision deal would stifle competition - and claimed PlayStation itself pays out money to block games coming to Xbox Game Pass.

But will any of this actually impact Microsoft's buyout plans? Is any of this even remarkable, in an industry fuelled by competition and game exclusives? Or is this simply business as usual - as usual as deals worth $68.7bn get? Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss.

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Everything starts somewhere, and when the games industry began to form in the UK, back in the '80s, Gary Penn - my guest on the One-to-one podcast today - was there. A young adult passionate about games, he was propelled to micro-stardom, as he puts it, when he won a competition to find Britain's best gamer and ended up writing for Zzap!64 magazine. It was a magazine that changed the face of games journalism, injecting passion and charisma and a sense of fun.

After Zzap!64, Penn would go on to win awards for The One magazine, before leaving editorial and side-stepping into consulting and ultimately, producing games. And it's then that he would cross paths with the most famous game series of all: Grand Theft Auto. Except, it wasn't called GTA at the time and it wasn't very good. In fact, Race n' Chase as it was known then, was "awful", according to Penn. But fate - and Penn - ensured the game wouldn't be cancelled and GTA would be released, paving the way for the series to become the cultural phenomenon it is today.

But by the time GTA3 was in development, Penn had had enough. He had severely burnt out and didn't want to work around the clock any more. So, along with some other DMA Design people, he would make a new studio called Denki to create very different kinds of games. Hundreds of these would be interactive TV games, but as time moved on, the studio ditched those in favour of games like Quarrel, which we loved on Eurogamer - a mash up of Risk and Scrabble.

Then, in 2019, the studio found success with Autonauts, a chill game about creating and managing a settlement by automating everything in it. It's that game Denki is building on now with the release of Autonauts vs Piratebots this week - Thursday, 28th July. That game adds, among many other things, an eye-patched, peg-legged, parrot-toting threat to the game, pirates, which you will have to defend your settlement against.

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Another Friday, another Weekly - the show where we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. Remember, premium supporters listen from Friday whereas everyone else listens from Monday.

Today, we've got former Eurogamer writer Emma Kent back! And it turns out that since moving on from Eurogamer, she's rediscovered a passion for football. And she's thrown herself so fully into it that she'll soon be in the FA Cup! 

She's also been turning out some great pieces for us, including two two State of the Game pieces - one on Valheim and one, more recently, on Red Dead Online. And it's that that we dive into first today. 

We hear more from Christian Donlan about the two games he reviewed this week, Hindsight and Hard West 2. Hindsight being the exploration of memory and grief that follows a woman returning to her family home following her mother's death; and Hard West 2 being the cowboys meets XCOM game with a few formula-exaggerating ideas of its own. And they're both great.

I talk a bit about South of the Circle, meanwhile, the game with superb acting that impressed me this week; we get into MultiVersus, the Smash Bros.-alike with Warner Bros. characters; and I really like the look of The Mortuary Assistant, which Zoe and Ian take a closer look at this week. All that plus our thoughts of Fortnite years on, an exciting Star Wars Jedi Knight 2 VR remake, and a rundown of the news that stood out to me this week.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, it's all about Pokémon, following the franchise's huge announcement livestream that divulged fresh details on upcoming games Scarlet and Violet.  The star of that show? Well, obviously it was Fidough - a freshly-baked dog  Pokémon made of bread, whose popularity has now set the internet ablaze. But, dear viewer, we have questions. If Fidough is bread... can you eat it? Should you eat it? Why wouldn't you eat it? And how does it evolve? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss all of this and show off our own two-minute art challenge concepts for whatever Fidough evolves into (...and you might want to check the video version of this podcast over on Eurogamer itself for that).

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Another week ends, meaning it's time for another Weekly, the quick-talking podcast where we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. Remember, premium supporters of Eurogamer get episodes on Friday whereas everyone else listens from Monday. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe

Today on Weekly, Martin Robinson dives into Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a game he's just rated Essential and spent the last month playing. What's so good about it? And can I play it if I haven't played the others? We hear it from the horse's mouth. (Note: Martin is not actually a horse.)

Christian Donlan, meanwhile, takes us into the world of Rollderdrome, which looks to be another banger from London-based OlliOlli developer Roll7 - how does it do it? This game is a rollerskates shooter where you need to pull off tricks to power your combat. Donlan is very into it. 

He's also quite into GTA Online, which he dipped into yesterday to try the new Paper Trail missions.

Also: I recall what it was like meeting Zzap!64 and GTA legend Gary Penn, who has some incredible stories to tell; and I give my thoughts on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2, which was re-released with some improvements this week. We also talk Grand Theft Auto 6, following the Bloomberg/Schrier exposé earlier this week; and about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the remake of which has been postponed, seemingly, forever.

All that plus all of the other features, news and videos from around the site that caught my eye this week. This was Weekly and we'll see you next week.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing GTA maker Rockstar Games. An eye-catching report has discussed positive changes for employees and suggested a new company outlook could also be reflected in Grand Theft Auto 6, whenever it finally arrives. How important are these changes, and could the industry as a whole benefit? Or should we be calling some of these things out as long overdue, and simply just a bare minimum?

We also touch on the Nier: Automata secret church/door - the apparent existence of which has been puzzling fans and the wider internet. Is it a very clever mod or an incredibly elaborate marketing ploy? Join Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Ishraq Subhan and Liv Ngan as we try to explain.

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It's a genuine pleasure to introduce one of the most well known faces of the UK games industry to you today, and more than that, someone who's helped bring among the biggest and most beloved game series to our shelves. I'm talking about the likes of The Witcher and Dark Souls - and they don't come much bigger than that.

I distinctly remember talking to this person around the launch of The Witcher 1, in fact, back when no one here knew what it was. Then several years later we were in a Scottish castle together at a lavish play test event for The Witcher 3 - an event they had a large hand in organising.

They've also had a significant hand in delivering many other games here, from Enslaved: Journey to the West to Ni No Kuni, and from Enter the Matrix to Pac-Man. There's a good chance they've been involved with many of the games you like in the more than two decades they've been promoting and marketing them.

Introducing Lee Kirton, once a receptionist at GT Interactive - doubled as a tips-line operator (his idea) - and most recently marketing and communications director at Bandai Namco UK, via Infogrames and Atari along the way. His is a story of hard work and a love for games I didn't realise ran so deep, and of course the many adventures he's had along the way.

The wonderful Lee Kirton, who's favourite game of all time is GoldenEye, and favourite movie is True Romance. The conversation also comes at a time of change for him, as he leaves Bandai Namco after more than 20 years, in the pursuit of something new.

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Well look who we've got on Weekly today: it's Ian Higton all the way over from YouTube land, where everyone communicates in video. He's here to talk about virtual reality as often as he can, as well as tell us about changes on the Eurogamer video team. Aoife, if you didn't know, is off on maternity leave. Good luck, Aoife!

Also joining me today is guides editor Lottie Lynn who reviewed the game everyone's meowing about this week: Stray. Have you and your pet played it yet? 

Meanwhile, I talk more about the other big game that came out this week, As Dusk Falls, which I really liked, and we dig into Valheim 'a few years later' following Emma's State of the Game piece about it.

That plus some Saints Row chat, some Stanley Parable chat, a bit of Halo Infinite co-op chat, and a rundown of all the headlines that caught my eye around the site this week. Can Ian resist buying a Lego Atari 2600? We find out.

Weekly is a roundup show that catches you up with the week on Eurogamer and discusses some of the bigger topics in more depth. Premium supporters of the site get the episodes first, on Friday, whereas everyone else listens from Monday.

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Square Enix has sullied its brand with Final Fantasy 7 NFTs, while Minecraft has taken a stand and said the technology has been banned on its servers.  After so many companies have tried and failed to convince us that NFTs are a thing, why others persisting? Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss.

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It's Weekly time, the podcast show where we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. Remember premium supporters get these episodes every Friday, whereas everyone else listens from Monday.

To find out more about becoming a premium subscriber, head over to Eurogamer: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe

Today on Weekly, I'm joined by editor in chief Martin Robinson and features editor Christian Donlan. We talk about the amazing space pictures pumped back from the James Webb telescope this week, which Christian is very excited about, and we dive into the Mothmen legend and new game Mothmen 1966, which again, Christian is very excited about.

Elsewhere, we take a look at the hulking beast that is Grand Theft Auto Online, we dip into Company of Heroes 3, and talk about the upcoming cinematic game As Dusk Falls, which I'm very excited about. And of course we whizz through all the other videos, features and news that stood out on the site this week.

I hope you enjoy the show.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast it's all about Nintendo Switch, which is quietly having yet another brilliant year.

The last few days have seen confirmation of a new Kirby game and a Bayonetta 3 release date (finally!), adding to a solid year so far and a strong end to 2022 which will also see the likes of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It's a bumper crop - especially compared to this year's lack of first-party launches on PlayStation and - most of all - Xbox.

At the same time, the way Nintendo is detailing these games is changing. Notably, there's been no big E3 week Nintendo Direct this year, as the company keeps information on Zelda and Metroid under wraps. Is this leading to an even bigger 2023 - perhaps with new Switch hardware too? Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale and Ishraq Subhan discuss.

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Welcome to another Weekly, the show where we recap Eurogamer for you.

Remember, premium supporters of Eurogamer get these episodes every Friday, when they're freshest. Everyone else listens from Monday.

Today on Weekly, I'm joined by reviews editor Chris Tapsell and managing editor Matt Reynolds - no relation to Ryan Reynolds - and our major talking point is our brand new State of the Game series. Maybe you've seen Chris' League of Legends piece, or the Final Fantasy 14 piece we published yesterday.

The idea is to revisit games that have seen a bit of life, been out in the wilds of the world for a few years - or many years as the case may be. How have they changed? Are they better? What state are they in? They are the kinds of questions the series hopes to answer.

It's a great opportunity for us to dive into games that sometimes pass us by - games like League of Legends, which Chris has been itching to write about for years, or games like Final Fantasy 14, which is somehow, eight years into its life, having its most prosperous era ever. And there are plenty more.

Elsewhere, we take a closer look at Pokémon Go (an ideal candidate for that State of the Game series), which turned six years old this summer. Can you believe it? I still remember the excitement of spotting people playing it in the park. People, outside, playing video. It was, and still is, remarkable.

Matt Reyolds knows the game very well. He can still remember the shambolic first Go Fest event he went to in Chicago. But Go Fest returned after an extended three-year COVID break this year in Berlin, and our Tom Phillips went to see what it was like.

I also talk a bit more about being a judge for the Green Game Jam this year, which I really enjoyed and I was encouraged by, but I'd love to see more big gaming companies taking part next year. 

All that plus a whistle-stop tour of the news - God of War: Ragnarok is actually coming out this year! - and other features, reviews and videos, that caught our eye on the site this week.

I'm Bertie, this was Weekly, we'll see you next week.

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Today on the Weekly show, we're talking Pride Week, as well as recapping the rest of Eurogamer for you.

My guests wrote some of the wonderful pieces we've published as part of Pride Week. They are show newcomers Ed Nightingale, a news reporter on Eurogamer - who you'll recognise from the Newscast - and, all the way from tabletop land, Dicebreaker senior staff writer Alex Meehan. Alex often writes the Dicebreaker Recommends posts you see on Eurogamer each month.

Ed helped organise Pride Week this year so we begin with his thoughts on it, before moving onto his interview with the first openly trans eSports caster, Eli "Captain Fluke". She's blazing a trail in the Rainbow Six Siege and Valorant worlds and helping power a self-fulfilling loop of change there.

Alex, meanwhile, wrote about how a visual novel game called Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers provided her with a safe space to enjoy her sexuality away from the preconceptions and pressure sometimes attached to it. She also wrote about loud and proud tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians, calling it "a glorious escape from inhibition".

Pride Week has been brilliant and there are still some pieces to come. My  podcast interview with BioWare/Dragon Age legend David Gaider is among them and will be made available to everyone later today. A big shout out to Matt Wales for putting the whole week together, and to Lottie Lynn and Ed for helping him.

Also on Weekly, we talk about super-exciting new Devolver game Cult of the Lamb, which I've just fallen in love with; we take a closer look at  timeline-altering horror game Eternal Threads, which Vikki has just reviewed; and we whisk through the recent Nintendo Direct, singling out the announcements that stood out to us. Ed manages to also talk about Lady D stepping on him again as he looks forward to Resident Evil Village DLC Shadows of Rose. That, plus everything else that caught my eye around the site this week.

I'm Bertie, this was Weekly, and we'll see you next week.

Eurogamer supporters get Weekly episodes every Friday, ahead of everyone else. They also get One-to-one episodes two weeks early, plus a whole host of other benefits. To find out more about becoming a Eurogamer supporter, head over to the Eurogamer website: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe

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(Apologies for this episode's recording quality.)

I don't think David Gaider needs much of an introduction. He, affectionately, is mister Dragon Age. He was the one tasked with dreaming up the entire world and everything in it. We talk about it in this episode of One-to-one. BioWare's James Ohlen apparently gave Gaider a historic atlas and an "off you go".

But how did he go about creating it - where do you even start with something like that? And what did the original vision for Dragon Age look like? Well, I can tell you it didn't have any Darkspawn in it, which is wild, considering Darkspawn were the main threat in the game and featured heavily in the series thereafter. And get this: originally, you weren't going to be able to cast any offensive magic spells in the game either - imagine that!

Gaider was also a key figure in the rise of LGBTQ+ representation and same-sex relationships in BioWare games, and is the creator of arguably the studio's most famous characters in this regard, Dorian. Curiously, though, it wasn't Gaider who started the same-sex relationships push but someone else, in Jade Empire - he doesn't remember who. 'Whaaat we can do that?' He remembers thinking when he saw it, and the rest was history.

But being gay was a side of himself he kept pretty quiet at BioWare, feeling it wouldn't gel with the "frat boy" atmosphere he felt around him. It wasn't until Canada legalised same-sex marriage and a wedding email thread went around, garndering many enthusiastic replies, that he realised he'd maybe worried for no reason, and relaxed.

Gaider has had a remarkable effect on BioWare and its games. And to think that he initially turned down a job offer there because it seemed like a scruffy company with an uncertain future, compared to his managerial post at a hotel nearby. I know: he wasn't even working in games! But he did live in games, having played Dungeons & Dragons since it began and in writing parlour LARPS of his own.

BioWare and Dragon Age were quite a long time ago for Gaider now, though. He talks me through his reasons for leaving and how he felt the company was changing. Fast-forward to today and he lives on the other side of the world in Australia, where he helped co-found a studio making a brilliant-sounding role-playing musical called Stray Gods: An Adventure Musical. But how does a musical RPG work? David Gaider tells me a lot more about it.

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She is Lottie Lynn and much to our benefit, the coin she flipped landed on 'writing' instead, something that's been a driving passion in her life since forever. She's published short stories and is even working on not one but two novels at the same time, as you do. Moreover, she's one of the only people I know to still write a lot of this by hand. She fills piles of notebooks with meticulous handwriting, even while sitting by her computer in the office - a hybrid approach, I suppose she'd call it.

So how does that land her in guides? Well, I was surprised to discover she'd written some as a teenager for GameFAQs, though they don't exist any more. Apparently she'd always had an eye on games journalism, and when working as a farm labourer (!) wasn't quite ticking the box, she gave herself a year to pursue a dream instead. And look how it turned out.

Lottie is a font of knowledge on all things guides, of course. She talks me through how they come together, what makes a good guide, and shares lots of really useful advice for anyone considering that avenue into games.

Lottie is also a font of knowledge about RuneScape, a defining game in her life, one she's played for 16 years now. It's even partially responsible for jump-starting her career. And it's a curious game, one I'll admit I didn't fully understand, as I looked down my nose at it from my other-MMO background - not until I started to appreciate the way people actually play it. Lottie, of course, explains it better.

So this is Lottie Lynn and this is episode 17 of One-to-one (the series formerly known as The New Eurogamer Podcast). I hope you enjoy it. 

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It's Weekly time, which means strap in while we recap Eurogamer this week for you. All you have to do is press play. I know, I know, we're spoiling you - you don't even have to read the site any more (note: you definitely do).

My guests today are Martin "the chief" Robinson and Chris "the brain" Tapsell, and we've got a lot to talk about. There's the whole PlayStation Plus relaunch, for starters. Is it any good? Chris has thoughts, as you might have already read, and Martin has plenty too. 

Chris also has plenty to say about a game he reviewed this week called Milky Way Star - The Vampire Prince, which is a niche kind of visual novel but sounds fascinating when explained. Meanwhile, Martin explains the charms of musou games, as we talk Fire Emblem: Three Hopes, then tells us about his candid interview with DICE about what's next for Battlefield 2042 after its disastrous launch. He's a big fan and suffice to say, he's enthused.

All that plus some chit-chat about Creative Assembly's new game Hyenas, which we're on the fence about; Yuji Naka hanging out with Michael Jackson, which, yeah; plus lots more feature, news and video talk besides.

Weekly is released every Friday for supporters and everyone else listens from Monday. I hope you enjoy the show. We'll see you next week.

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PlayStation Plus is now available in the UK and mainland Europe, and we now know all of the games included in its catalogue at launch. It's enough to hit Sony's promises, certainly, though there are still odd omissions - while the lack of 60Hz for some PS1 games (for now) points to a rather rushed release.  What can Sony do to build on this launch and improve the new PlayStation Plus Premium further? Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy are on hand to discuss.

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It's episode five of Weekly, our podcast show in which we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. We know you're busy so don't worry, we've got your back.

Remember, premium supporters of Eurogamer get these episodes every Friday, whereas everyone else listens from the following Monday. Find out more about supporting us here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe

My guests this week are features editor Christian Donlan and guides editor Lottie Lynn, and Donlan's cat Milton who wasn't invited but came along anyway.

In episode five we take a closer look at the PC Gaming Show and Capcom Showcase, which came at the tail-end of the Summer Game Fest bonanza, and we dive deeper into our thoughts on remade Turtles game Shredder's Revenge; the superb new Olli Olli World expansion Void Riders; and we get all catty about Stray, a cyberpunky game about a being cat and which is shaping up to be one of the most promising titles this year.

On top of that, we talk a bit about our reviews for Neon White, Please Fix the Road, and Deathrun TV, concluding that good grief, games are really good at the moment; we take a look at what the Eurogamer Video team has been up to; we try to understand what Digital Foundry has been up to; and we take a look at all of the other headlines that have stood out to us this week. Warning: contains the words "Fallout 5" and "Movie adaptations of games".

All of Eurogamer's Summer Game Fest coverage is here: https://www.eurogamer.net/e3-2022-guide-conference-schedule-times-dates-streams

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Starfield dominated Microsoft and Bethesda's E3 event, though praise has not been unanimous. It looked like a Bethesda RPG - to the surprise of people apparently expecting something else. Was it really as disappointing as some have said? Finally, with not-E3 done and dusted, we talk about 2023 - when both E3 and Summer Game Fest return as in-person events. What will that look like, and will things be less messy in 12 months? Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan discuss.

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Welcome to weekly, a show where we recap the week in games on Eurogamer for you, whisking through the reviews, news, features and videos that stood out.

This week we look back at Summer Game Fest, the moment the Xbox/Bethesda conference wraps. We talk about what's been announced and what our highlights have been. And we're joined live from LA by Martin Robinson who's been at the physical incarnation of the show. Features editor Christian Donlan also joins us for the show.

Don't forget to check out our written round-ups of everything that happened at Summer Game Fest over on the Eurogamer website: https://www.eurogamer.net/e3-2022-guide-conference-schedule-times-dates-streams#section-8

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My guest today wrote all of those and she's currently writing three more. She actually finished writing the Halo cookbook a year ago, though how she pulled recipes from a world like that I don't know. What does Master Chief even eat? Can he eat? He can't want to be caught short in that suit. 

My guest immerses herself in game worlds to create a kind of extension of them. Check out our piece on the Destiny cookbook to see what I mean. These books include characters and lore from the games as well as something like 70 recipes to cook. They're more than just food. 

She didn't always want to be a cook, though. Once upon a time she wanted to be a stormchaser, which is super cool. In the end, though, she studied 3D animation and found herself at a company making user interfaces for NASA, of all places, and even designed software used on the International Space Station. 

But games and food were passions in her life that wouldn't quit, and one fateful day she realised she could combine them to powerful effect. Fast forward 10 years and this self-taught chef is now a full-time professional, and has been for about a year now.

It's my pleasure to introduce the lovely Victoria Rosenthal to you. She works under the name Pixelated Provisions online, which is her blog where you can find hundreds of video game-inspired recipes from all kinds of games. Fancy some Animal Crossing carrot scones or some Hell Stew from Yakuza: Like a Dragon? Rosenthal has got you covered. 

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

👉 You can find Victoria Rosenthal on Twitter: @PixelatedVicka

🤗 And you can find us in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/inside-video-game-cookbooks-with-one-of-the-bizs-top-chefs

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Summer Game Fest brought plenty of announcements though few genuine surprises.  Eurogamer's news team shares their favourites, rates the night overall, and provides you with their best impressions of the Clickers from The Last of Us. Tom Phillips hosts, joined by Eurogamer news reporters Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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We keep coming back to puppetry as a running theme, and that's because, much to my surprise, Citizen Sleeper creator Gareth Damian Martin is a trained puppeteer. When they ran out of time to apply to art college, they chose puppetry instead, which would eventually take them into a career in theatre design, where they learned lots of valuable lessons - one of them being dealing with un-moveable deadlines by planning only what can be done in time. That's how they made Citizen Sleeper in two years, and how they were able to plan a break before launch so they could return refreshed for it. So that's how I find Damian Martin today: refreshed, calm and smiling.  

They've got good reason to smile of course: Citizen Sleeper appears to have been a big success. Because of Game Pass, it's being played by many, many more people than Damian Martin's previous game, In Other Waters. But it's been bought by more people too, both on console and on PC, which is obviously gratifying - and it means Damian Martin can comfortably make games for the foreseeable future. And there are more Citizen Sleeper plans they're already working on.

But what really fulfils Damian Martin is the feedback they're getting about the game: the heartfelt messages from people who feel seen by the new sci-fi role-playing game. It's a game that thinks a lot on othering and the idea of belonging, all against the backdrop of a fairly brutal capitalist reality, and clearly it's striking a chord with people. It's also interesting seeing the same themes pop up in Damian Martin's life, as they walk me through the many twists and turns it has taken so far. Growing up in the Orkney islands and playing among ancient burial sites sounds awesome.

This, then, is Gareth Damian Martin, creator of Citizen Sleeper and In Other Waters, as well as the Heterotopias games zine. And they're someone who has a lot of interesting things to say.  

Episode 15 is now available to all. Incidentally, the show has been renamed One-to-one in order to differentiate it from the other shows we now publish to the podcast feed: Newscast and Weekly. The name "One-to-one" actually better represents what this in-depth interview series is all about, anyway. The umbrella title for the podcast feed has also changed, moving from The New Eurogamer Podcast to, simply, Eurogamer Podcasts. It makes more sense.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

👉 You can find Gareth Damian Martin on Twitter: @JumpOvertheAge

🤗 And you can find us in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/gareth-damian-martin-on-their-life-citizen-sleeper-and-whats-next

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It's the third episode of Weekly, our newish show where we recap the week on Eurogamer for you. We look at reviews and features, news and videos, and pull out some of the talking points from the week.

Those alking points this week are the PlayStation Plus relaunch, which we don't dwell on because the Newscast tackles it in much more detail. But we do dwell on the new Evil Dead game, which we've been playing, and Warner Bros.' new Smash Bros.' (how many brothers can there be?) game Multiversus, which we've also been playing. Are either of them any good?

My guests this week are Eurogamer editor in chief Martin Robinson and, for the first time, the wonderful Christian Donlan, our features editor here.

Eurogamer premium supporters get these Weekly recaps first, every Friday, and everyone else listens from the following Monday. We hope you enjoy the show.

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Weekly is hosted by Eurogamer veteran Bertie Purchese and features a rotating roster assembled from the Eurogamer team and beyond.

Supporters of the Eurogamer website get these episodes every Friday, a few days before everyone else. See the website for how to subscribe.

Talking points this week:

• Starfield delayed: https://www.eurogamer.net/starfield-and-redfall-delayed-to-2023
• EA ditching the FIFA brand: https://www.eurogamer.net/after-almost-30-years-ea-is-officially-ditching-the-fifa-brand-1
• Nintendo's Indie showcase: https://www.eurogamer.net/all-the-big-announcements-from-nintendo-indie-world
• Microsoft's brilliant new accessibility peripherals: https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-unveils-new-accessibility-focused-adaptive-accessories-range
• Unconvincing Gotham Knight footage: https://www.eurogamer.net/new-gotham-knights-reveal-debuts-nightwing-and-red-hood-gameplay
• Ian plays Elden Ring in VR and it's as eye-popping as you expect: https://www.eurogamer.net/exploring-elden-ring-in-first-person-vr-is-a-real-game-changer
• What's Microsoft going to do about Xbox DRM that stopped people playing games they owned? https://www.eurogamer.net/microsofts-dodgy-drm-comes-into-the-limelight-and-no-ones-smiling
• F1 breaking America is great, but it raises big questions for the sport and series going forwards: https://www.eurogamer.net/codemasters-f1-series-faces-the-same-balancing-act-as-the-sport
• Loot River is great: https://www.eurogamer.net/loot-river-review-the-dungeon-crawl-reconfigured

For everything else, see:

• Eurogamer video: https://www.youtube.com/c/eurogamer/videos
• Digital Foundry: https://www.eurogamer.net/digital-foundry
• And Eurogamer: https://www.eurogamer.net/

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This week, we're talking about FIFA - or from next year, EA Sports FC. The breakup of FIFA and EA has sparked numerous headlines this week, as both sides have claimed the deal is good for them.

But behind all the bluster, what do we think EA Sports FC will really look like in future? And does FIFA stand any chance of coming up with a rival game developed in time for next year? Joining me to discuss all of that are Eurogamer news reporters Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan, plus resident footy fan Wesley Yin-Poole.

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Weekly is hosted by Eurogamer veteran Bertie Purchese and features a rotating roster assembled from the Eurogamer team and beyond.  

Supporters of the Eurogamer website get these episodes every Friday, a few days before everyone else. See the website for more information about how to subscribe: https://www.eurogamer.net/

Some of the talking points this week:

• Square Enix sells studios and IP alarmingly cheap:  https://www.eurogamer.net/square-enix-sells-off-western-studios-and-ip-including-tomb-raider-and-deus-ex
• The old Tomb Raider trilogy was great: https://www.eurogamer.net/remembering-crystal-dynamics-original-tomb-raider-trilogy
• Reggie Fils-Aime doesn't like GameBoy Micro but we do: https://www.eurogamer.net/game-boy-micro-was-a-nonstarter-reggie-fils-aime-warned-nintendo
• What the hell is weird pub game Toads: https://www.eurogamer.net/the-joy-of-toads-and-the-fight-for-east-sussexs-world-championships
• Ian plays Elden Ring upside down for some reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kviGIQeP1ak
• Citizen Sleeper review: https://www.eurogamer.net/citizen-sleeper-review-a-gentle-cerebral-game-of-belonging-and-survival
• Switch Sports review:  https://www.eurogamer.net/nintendo-switch-sports-review-online-or-local-its-a-treat
• King Arthur: Knight's Tale review:  https://www.eurogamer.net/king-arthur-knights-tale-review-nice-ideas-cant-lift-a-trudgy-core
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Demonhunters review: https://www.eurogamer.net/warhammer-40000-chaos-gate-daemonhunters-review-rich-raucous-space-marine-strategy

For everything else, see Eurogamer. Thank you. See you in a week.

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My guest today started their own label five years ago in the hope of doing things differently - and things have gone very well. Today, No More Robots employs 13 people and is responsible for notable small-team games like Hypnospace Outlaw, Descenders, Not Tonight, and Yes, Your Grace.

The recently-announced Hypnospace Outlaws spiritual sequel Dreamsettler apparently became one of the company's most Wishlisted games. Not bad for a project Rose apparently suggested because he wanted more Hypnospace music.

But once upon a time, it was just Rose. Rose taking a punt on a Dutch downhill biking game behind closed doors at Gamescom 2017 - and apparently Descenders looked very different then. But his keen eye has helped build a great portfolio since then and even allowed the company to branch into internal game development. He did once pass on Overcooked, though, because he didn't think local co-op would take off again, so you know, it hasn't always gone to plan.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

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👉 You can find Mike Rose on Twitter: @RaveofRavendale

🤗 And you can find us in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/what-its-actually-like-being-a-game-publisher

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It's into this position of responsibility Chris Tapsell stepped last November when he became Eurogamer's new reviews editor. And in the few months since, he's had to oversee one of the biggest starts to a year in a gaming in memory, with massive games like Elden Ring and Horizon to contend with.

To hear what it's like in such a role, and how he got there - and where he plans to take reviews in the future - tune into Episode 13 of The New Eurogamer Podcast now.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

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Such is the popularity of the book that it's going to be adapted for TV. And there will be a follow-up book called Consumed that he's writing right now. And he has a deal for a third, standalone, unrelated book he's also writing right now, as a kind of creative relief from Consumed.

But that's not all Buchanan has got going on. He recently announced he will be one of the writers on the new Dark Souls tabletop RPG. It's - as I find out in this episode of The Eurogamer Podcast - one of his favourite series of games, and he has a lot of interesting things to say about it (and Elden Ring).

Games run strong in Buchanan's veins, you see. It's actually through gaming we got to know him after he added a proper story to No Man's Sky. He's also published a couple of pieces of interactive fiction, themed around the controversial topics of Brexit and the American Trump election, which you can play for free now (we mention these briefly in the episode).

Either Buchanan is a rising star or he's up in the night sky beaming already. Either way, he seems destined for big things. So join me in Episode 12 of The New Eurogamer Podcast as I get to know him better. 

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

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A few years later, that Combat Wheelchair add-on for Dungeons & Dragons is on a third edition and has reached right around the world. It got the attention of writers working for D&D maker Wizards of the Coast, inspired bespoke miniature models and was featured by mega-popular Critical Role host Matt Mercer.

That's not all Thompson is known for, though. Thompson is a Witcher encyclopaedia, having been employed to work on the tabletop RPG for R. Talsorian Games. And it was this knowledge which led to a discussion about Geralt of Rivia having a disability, and the discussion went viral, eventually attracting the attention of Witcher Netflix showrunner Lauren Hissrich herself.

These two events propelled Thompson into the public eye, but in between, they've been hard at work on a number of tabletop role-playing games, including Pathfinder, Starfinder, Cyberpunk and many more. They're someone on the stormy cusp of progress, pushing disabled representation in games forward. And this is their story.

Here's a link to the article on Geralt's disability that we talk about: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-11-24-geralt-of-rivia-a-disabled-protagonist

Here's a link to Sara's Combat Wheelchair D&D add-on: https://twitter.com/mustangsart/status/1441390363298570243

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It's with great excitement, then, that I introduce today's Eurogamer Podcast guests. They are the two people who founded Inkle just over 10 years ago. The two people who once met working on a curious game at Sony about the cycle of a person's life - a game that would ultimately never be made. But they became friends, dreaming together about what kind of games they would make, and then one day, dreams became reality and Inkle was born.

They are Joseph Humfrey and Jon Ingold, and this is their winding tale.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

🤗 Or you can find me in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

👀 Find out more about Inkle's work on its website: https://www.inklestudios.com/

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-03-07-the-story-of-heavens-vault-maker-inkle

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But what is life really like in that role, in the public eye? To see her and the video team surrounded by fans at shows like EGX makes it seem like a dream job. But is it? What about the responsibility that comes with people looking up to you? What about the pressure of being in the public eye? There are some misconceptions about the role, about the glamour of it, and about the amount of work done behind the scenes.

In Episode 9 of The Eurogamer Podcast, now available to everyone - either here on on all major podcast platforms - Aoife lets us in on the reality, as she shares her story of how she got here and what she's learned along the way.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

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🎥 You can find Aoife on the Eurogamer YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Eurogamer

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-02-18-podcast-eurogamers-aoife-wilson-on-life-in-video

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They are Dan Marshall and Ben Ward, the eponymous heroes and funny men behind the Dan and Ben series. See them in such daring adventures as Ben There, Dan That; Time Gentleman, Please; and Lair of the Clockwork God - the latter of which was one of my favourite games of 2020. 

Dan Marshall is also known for superb burglary platformer The Swindle, among other smaller games like Gun Monkeys and Behold the Kickmen. And while these are games he didn't ostensibly make with Ben Ward, they are still concepts and ideas he absolutely ran past him and asked for his feedback on - and apparently he's hard to please!

The two of them are never happier than when giggling over ridiculous ideas encamped in a pub. Or, while on a writing retreat, which is what they actually call it, spending a week in a cottage somewhere that has a hot tub. What began with writing comics while they were supposed to be working in class has flourished into a lifelong friendship and collaboration. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did.

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👀 Find out more Size Five Game's work on its website: http://www.sizefivegames.com/

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-02-07-swindle-dev-dan-marshall-reveals-new-spacefaring-game-in-the-eurogamer-podcast

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It's a simple game, a game about unpacking boxes, and it was inspired when co-creators Wren Brier and Tim Dawson did exactly that: moved together. It was an idea that struck Brier almost immediately but she struggled mustering the confidence to build it out. With Dawson's encouragement and help, though, she managed it, and years later, here we are. Unpacking is a rare game that resonates quickly and deeply with nearly everyone.

Today's special guest on The Eurogamer Podcast, then, is Wren Brier, and this is the story of how Unpacking was made (on Windows 7 would you believe?!) and more. 

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

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This, then, is my final chance to sit down with Oli before he leaves, to hear about his life and how he came to be in this job; to hear about what it's like to be an editor of a high profile games website; and to find out more about his decision to leave and what comes next.

Some pieces we mention during the episode:

• The one about the light switches: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-11-20-someone-should-make-a-game-about-light-switches
• Oli's infamous Metal Gear Solid 4 review: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/metal-gear-solid-4-guns-of-the-patriots-review
• Oli's Fez review: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-12-fez-review

Supporters of Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more on the Eurogamer website: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscribe

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🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-12-27-sitting-down-with-departing-editor-oli-welsh-in-the-eurogamer-podcast

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There's a lot of love that's built around Coffee Talk in the year since it's been out, and it's  not terribly hard to see why. It really is that warm and relaxing drink Fahmi intended (and this, incidentally, is an ideal time of year to play it). Low-fi beats lounge in the background while beautifully pixel-drawn characters sit down to talk with you. There's no stress, there's no rush, there's just you and them, words and lives. And there are some potent pops of wisdom along the way too. I will never look at arguments in the same way again.

But as if releasing one game wasn't enough, Fahmi went ahead and released another in 2020, a smaller one called What Comes After. It's a game about a young girl at her lowest ebb in life, who one day drifts off on a train home only to wake and find herself in a spirit world. It's quite Spirited Away but that's intended. And it's from these spirits Vivi rekindles a passion both for herself and the life she still lives. It's moving, and there's a very touching intention behind it, as you'll discover in the episode.

My guest this week, then, is the lovely Indonesian writer and narrative designer. To hear about what it's like developing games on the other side of the world, and to hear a bit about his new game Project Heartbreak - oh, and about the literal dozens of cats he looks after - play Episode Five of The New Eurogamer Podcast now. That's an order!

Remember, supporters of the Eurogamer website get this podcast two weeks before everyone else. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

🤗 Or you can find me in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

👀 Find out more about Fahmi on his website: https://fahmitsu.com/

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-12-13-get-to-know-coffee-talk-creator-fahmi-in-the-new-eurogamer-podcast

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My guest on The Eurogamer Podcast this week is someone who's a key part of that community. He's someone whose writing for Eurogamer has helped bring awareness to the accessibility challenges he faces, as someone with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and many people face. "With great accessibility comes great inclusivity," he said to a Discord full of cheers during the Games Accessibility conference. He is Vivek Gohil.

• You can learn more about Vivek on his Uncanny Vivek blog: https://uncannyvivek.com/
• And you can learn more about the SpecialEffect charity that changed Vivek's life - something we talk about in the Podcast - on its website: https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

🤗 Or you can find me in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

👀 Find out more about Fahmi on his website: https://fahmitsu.com/

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-11-29-talking-accessibility-with-vivek-gohil-in-episode-4-of-the-new-eurogamer-podcast

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One thing the old Eurogamer Podcast was really good at was giving our writers a way to show themselves outside of the pieces they write for the site. I think this provided an opportunity for you to get to know them - us - beyond the words, as people, which we are, horns and tails and hooves aside. And I didn't want to lose that with the New Podcast, because it's nice to show you who we are, and there aren't many opportunities for it. That's why I want to steadily pull in members of the Eurogamer team and talk to them the same way I would any of my guests, and have them share their lives and experiences and build a picture of who they are. And my guinea pig for the first of these is someone who has been - and will continue to be - front and centre of Eurogamer for years: newly appointed Editor-in-Chief Martin Robinson [this podcast was recorded before his new appointment], who celebrated his 10th anniversary here this year. 

We love Martin for his reliably contrary views and unrelenting passion for racing games. And it's actually that passion for racing I wanted to really dig into in this episode, because it's a theme which winds way back into his formative years and, I think, goes on to define him in some way, and the things he loves doing now.

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She is - drumroll - Meghna Jayanth, and this, in roughly an hour, is her life.

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👀 Follow Meghna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/betterthemask

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Yes, the Eurogamer Podcast is back! But it's slightly different to what you might have heard before. Long-time Eurogamer writer Robert "Bertie" Purchese joins the show as host, and brings with him a new, more intimate, interview approach. Every fortnight, he'll find another interesting person from the world of games to talk to, and explore their life and career in the industry we love.

First in the chair is Sujoy Roy, a name you might well recognise if you were part of that Quake scene more than 20 years ago. But if you weren't, it doesn't matter, because here's what you need to know: Sujoy Roy was a legend. He was the UK's first professional gamer. What a bizarre thought it is now, with major esports stars and tournaments so prevalent around the world. But there was a time when the prospect of being paid to be really good at a game was not a thing. Someone, then, had to forge a path.

So let's travel back to Cambridge University in the UK in the1990s, to a time of dial-up modems and computer mice with balls in them, and to a dorm room where a star pupil has made a discovery - of a game, a community, and a way of life.

🎉 Subscribers to Eurogamer get these episodes first. Find out more here: https://www.eurogamer.net/subscriptions

🙋🏽‍♂️ You can find me, Bertie, on Twitter: @Clert

🤗 Or you can find me in the Eurogamer Discord: http://discord.gg/eurogamer

👀 Find out more about Sujoy on his website: http://sujoy.com/

🎬 Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-10-19-episode-1-of-the-new-eurogamer-podcast-now-available-to-all

🌎 Our lovely website: https://www.eurogamer.net

💬 Our Eurogamer Twitter account: https://twitter.com/eurogamer

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