FunFactor
FunFactor
Podcast Description
Ty Schalter (VICE, FiveThirtyEight) and Aidan Moher (WIRED, Vulture) review what rocked and what sucked about the classic video game magazines that inspired them to become professional journalists, authors, and critics—and what they can tell us about today's digital media and games.New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on the evolution of video game journalism, the nostalgia associated with retro gaming magazines, and the influence these publications had on the hosts' careers. Specific episodes cover topics such as the impact of magazine reviews on game releases and the nostalgia surrounding iconic titles from the 80s and 90s, highlighting the contrasting elements of game culture then and now.
Ty Schalter (VICE, FiveThirtyEight) and Aidan Moher (WIRED, Vulture) review what rocked and what sucked about the classic video game magazines that inspired them to become professional journalists, authors, and critics—and what they can tell us about today’s digital media and games.
New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/Edge_Gaming/Edge%20Gaming%20Magazine%20113/mode/2up
PIXELS & POLYGONS QUARTERLY + ANNUAL COLLECTION: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darrenhupke/pixels-and-polygons-quarterly-2026-q4-and-annual-collection?ref=3opks3
LIE OF CAELUM: SPIRIT KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lieofcaelumspirit/lie-of-caelum-spirit
BEL’S FANFARE KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chibig/bels-fanfare/
RETRO GAME FORGE KICKSTARTER: https://popgeeks.com/retro-game-forge-a-potentially-all-in-one-homebrew-development-kit-launches-kickstarter/
Edge was doing it like no one else in 2002, and so we had to go longer than we ever have to talk about all of it!
Before we review Edge magazine’s eyebrow-raising review of King of Fighters EX for the Game Boy Advance, we looked through all 130 pages of neutron-star-dense levels of thoughtful editorial—perhaps most notably so, an interview with Tecmo director Tomonobu Itagaki about pet project, Dead or Alive 3: Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
Edge rightfully presses Itagaki on why he didn’t include any of the male characters, how much care and consideration was given to volleyball game mechanics, how it compares to other volleyball games, etc., and Itagaki just keeps artfully rephrasing the same admission: he just really wanted to make a boobie game to look at boobies.
We also brought back our Letters section, answering questions from our awesome Discord members! GET ON THE DISCORD so you can join in next time!
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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
For a complete disclaimer, please see our Full Disclaimer on the archive page. The Podcast Collaborative bears no responsibility for the podcast’s themes, language, or overall content. Listener discretion is advised. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for more details.