My ears are burning.

or The P-List

or Gaming Podcasts I listen to, and why.

I love to listen.  I grew up being read stories by my Dad before bedtime, later on I graduated to books on tape (mostly on 45s tbh), where you turned the page when you heard the bleep.  In high school I discovered open line AM radio, specifically the great broadcaster Ted Teaven, naturally, as well as Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell.  When the internet took off I found hours and hours of audiobooks, and eventually discovered the dulled magic of old time radio dramas.

Then one day I decided to try out World of Warcraft.  My friend Mark had been bugging me for months to try it out, and when I saw a 14 day demo dvd for 1.99$ as an impulse item at the cash of a local store I bought in.  This would have been a few months after the Burning Crusade expansion had launched.  I loved the game, but had missed out on so much of it, in trying to catch up with that 9million headed hydra that is WoW I discovered podcasts.  The instance was one of my first favorites, along with a couple other wow shows that soon stopped being updated, as podcasts are wont to do.  Shortly after I found the Legendary Thread podcast, which was part of a bigger podcasting series put out by 1up.com.  In short order I heard the antics of the OneUpYours and GFW podcasts, and finally felt like I had found shows that were worth listening to even if what they were talking about wasn’t of immediate relevance to my particular gaming interests.   I essentially didn’t feel the need to look past the 1up line of podcasts til that site reached it’s unfortunate demise rebranding…

I was homeless.  Thankfully threads on 1up led me to personal blog sites and twitter feeds for those journalists that I had felt a connection with, and soon enough people were starting their own podcasts and more importantly, showing up as guests on other podcasts I had never heard of.  The 1up set of podcasts had left me with a hunger, and hours of web-searching and podcast listening ensued.  I’m sure there are still great podcasts out there that I am missing, I would love to know of them, specifically shows that come from a different perspective than that of southern california.  I got to the point where I had about 20 hours of new podcast material to listen to every week, and too much of anything is bad for you.  So I have trimmed down the list of shows that I listen to regularly.

Without further ado, here is my list – in no particular order.

Brainy Gamer Podcast: This is the kind of show I could see myself making one day.  The host, Michael Abbot, has a NPR quality voice with the wit and knowledge to match.  It’s the kind of podcast where guests say things like: “the game is broken, in the parlance of our time”.  And when Mr.Abbot described a Little Big Planet level he is thinking of making for a co-worker as a retirement present I couldn’t help but get a little misty.  While I have only recently discovered this show/site, it is of such a high quality level that I am happily listening to the 20+ old broadcasts available through itunes.

Gamers with Jobs Conference Call:   Smart discussions about a wide variety of games, these guys are no dummies and have recently been leaving room in their show for one discussion topic they can cover in depth, which has often been very informative.  Couple that with a strong community feeling, the occasional guest appearance from Shawn Elliott, and a bias towards relevant discussion as opposed to more quotidian headline stuff makes this a great show.

Joystiq.com Podcast: Much like the site, this podcast is mostly dedicated to news of the day.  The occasional interesting guest and a new ‘review roundtable’ segment add some legs to the content, but the usual 3 hosts have a great dynamic set up already.  I especially like to hear Ludwig Kietzmann’s view on things from South Africa where he is based.

Giant Bombcast: While I didn’t pay much attention to Gamespot, there were a few weeks where the word Gerstmanngate was on everybody’s lips.  A few months later I find out that he and a group of co-workers started their own site, and created a pretty great podcast to go along with it.  Part of this shows appeal to me is the street smart nerd humour that abounds.   Know this: Any show that can take a Big Daddy Kane reference and tie it in to Wii NPD numbers is worth checking out.

CAG cast:  These two, Cheapy D and Wombat, remind me of some of those old comedy duos like Wayne and Shuster, they have good back and forth discussions and are very forthright with their likes and dislikes.  Recently, in lieu of game coverage, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding their private lives – doctors appointments, bad backs, problems with the maid.  In my opinion the show is best when their game discussion is informed and complemented by their personal anecdotes and not the other way around, but I think I may be the exception among their fans…

Listen Up is the revamped and toned down version of the old OneUpYours show, you still get the occasional strong guest as well as Johnny England‘s insights (without the kiddie scope).  You can find Listen Up, Retronauts – a show that specializes in covering old classic series/games, one at a time, as well as the back catalogue of all those great GFW shows here.

RebelFM and The Geekbox: Two of the better podcasts to form out of the EGM/1up restructuring of last year.  Rebel FM are doing a good job of trying to cover an interesting subject in depth each week, and the Geekbox has really allowed ex-GFW editor(?) Ryan Scott to take the tangential discussions they used to have on GFW radio and make an entire show of it.  Each episode has more comic book, tv and movie coverage than game coverage, but if you grew accustomed to Ryan’s voice you’ll want to hear it here (he talks a lot more now).

Out of the Game: Another podcast with EGM/1up ties is Out of the Game.  This show features 4 ex-ziff employees. Robert Ashley, Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green and Luke Smith along with video game writer/thinker extraordinaire (and also a fellow Canadian) N’Gai Croal.  Robert, Shawn, Jeff and Luke were, to my mind, the most interesting people on the 1up podcasts, so to see this line up together working on one podcast is thrilling.  After listening to the first podcast, audio issues and all, I am ready and willing to put it on the P-list.

While you are at it, you should check out Robert Ashley’s radiolab/this american life-esque A Life Well Wasted radio show.

Finally, the mecca of games sites: Gamasutra, has a somewhat occasionally updated podcast / set of great old GDC lecture audio available here.

There are a few others I listen to from time to time, but these listed above are the ones I would recommend.  Still though, I am afraid there are great podcasts out there I am missing.  For instance the First Wall Rebate podcast I just learned of via Brainy Gamer.  Feel free to post some suggestions in the comments for other great podcasts.  Also: I’ll probably do individual posts highlighting an exceptionally good episode of any of these shows when I come across one.

EDIT: Just listened to the Left 4 Dead episode of the First Wall Rebate podcast and I am duly impressed. I’m looking forward to digging through their back catalog of shows.