Episode 107: Best game that should have been an email

Inspired by the recent release of Star Wars Outlaws, this week's podcast is all about what makes Star Wars, something we're exploring via the unorthodox path of picking a bunch of things that aren't Star Wars and pointing out the ways they are like Star Wars. Confused? Don't be, it's just an excuse to have arguments. Star Wars is a massive media franchise that's had so many ideas chucked into it by various writers, directors, showrunners, and every other type of creative over the years that it's hard to really pin down what its true essence is. Which is what makes the question "What's the best Star Wars game that isn't a Star Wars game?" such a fun topic: you can conceivably make an argument for anything. Yes, even Football Manager. So what does our panel most associate with Star Wars: is it laser swords and space wizards, or a beleaguered resistance movement against a tyrannical empire? Is it the things that famously influenced the young George Lucas, such as Flash Gordon adventure serials, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and living through the Vietnam war? Special guest Ian Dransfield from Games Media joins host Jim and regular panellists Connor and Mark. No Tom this week cos he was on holiday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes video games include the most random things, but who doesn't love that stuff? We all get excited when you can flush a toilet or turn on a tap, even though these are the most mundane actions possible in the 'real world'. Jim, in his wisdom(?), decided that these neat little features are pointless and made everyone pick the most useless of all found in the best video game. How did this go? Well, you'll find out when you listen to this week's episode of the Best Games Ever Podcast. To help make these 30 minutes or so more tolerable we are this week joined by everyone's favourite dated video game journo d-lister, Steve Burns. If you know who he is, brilliant, if you don't, he's hard to explain so we won't bother. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Video games are great, but sometimes you just have to admit that some of them are only available on consoles that, well, aren't great. Rubbish, even. You can guarantee an argument if you ask people to pick the worst games console, so that's what we did. But what is the best game on this worst console? Who showed their ineptitude and picked a game on a great console? Who picked something so perfect it could never be argued with? Did Jim say anything of interest or just stir things up? Truth is, depending on your exposure to certain consoles you're likely to have different views on this to everyone else, but we had to make a definitive choice over the best game on the worst console. It absolutely won't annoy anyone! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Video games are unparalleled in recreating real and fictional experiences. Only when both are channelled well, with love and passion, can a game transcend its place as merely a product and become art. For this reason being able to take a piss in-game is paramount to the merits of the medium. Where would we be without Norman Reedus widdling onto the grass in celebrated Art Game Death Stranding? Or that bit in Postal 2 where you can take a wizz on Gary Coleman, and he gets really cross with you? God rest him. Anyway. Fact is, there are loads of games which, for some reason, include the act of doing a Big Wee as part of their suite of player interactions. But which of these games is the best? To find the answer, listen to the latest episode of The Best Games Ever show: a podcasted parlour game about arguing over metacritic scores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for another episode of the Best Games Ever Podcast. This time we've got a great topic as Tom picked it. Join Jim, Tom, Connor, and Sherif as the gang ponders such a brilliant topic and attempts to come up with suitably amazing answers. Spoiler: Only Tom has a good answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It seems like nothing will convince Biden to step down and let someone else run against Trump., but we don't care about any of that because we're a video game quiz show. Unless... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You wait years and years for something to finally be over, and once that day comes, you’re left not with a sense of joy, but with a deep-set anxiety about what comes after. Bereft. Unable to enjoy the simple joy of being free, because you’ve been around the block a bit, and you know how these things go. Sigh. But enough about finishing Morrowind. Recently the UK had an election and kicked out some of the worst people to ever be in charge of anything, replacing them with a default option that nobody actually likes that much. Which is rather like when you finish a video game. Except it isn’t. It’s nothing like that. It’s not remotely like that at all. Forgive the rubbish conceit, and please enjoy The Best Game You Were Glad To See The Back Of, a podcast episode which you can watch or listen to on this very web page and/or app! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most games age like milk in the hot sun. But some are so bold, so brilliant, that they transcend their contemporary era, remaining relevant and highly playable for years or even decades following their release. But which of these has most aged like a fine bottle of fermented grapes, mashed between someone's manky toes? To find out you'll simply have to knock back a tall glass of The Best Games Ever podcast episode 104: The Best Game that has aged like a Fine Wine via the methods handily listed below. Or not, it's up to you, I'm not your mum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247.com paid subscriber - check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don't worry if that's not for you, the main show will always be free. Still inspired by last week's topic, we thought we'd flip it on its head an ask perhaps an even more pertinent question in an age of decade-long marketing campaigns: what's the best rubbish game that had a great reveal trailer? Baffled by the concept of how a rubbish game can be "best"? Listen, don't worry about it. Games media is full of this contradictory rubbish. We often say things like, for example, "a good 7/10 game is better than a bad 9/10 game". And it makes a perverse sort of sense. Except when it doesn't. Speaking of perverse, this week we're lucky enough to welcome Eurogamer's Ian Higton onto our humble little show. He's only the second person from Eurogamer we've managed to snag, because those guys are usually too busy coming up with cheap puns, but his showdown with Tom in his debut episode is one for the ages. We're also joined by Connor, who seemed determined to sabotage himself this week but blame it on Jim (me). Typical. To find out why Connor lost, and who won out of Tom Orry and Ian Higton, you'll just have to watch or listen to this week's excitig installment of The Best Games Ever podcast via one of the handy methods below. And no, we don't know why Jim is once again wearing sunglasses and a bandana. Apart from the fact that he's a riddy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many great games have suffered from poor marketing. Sometimes they’re advertised to entirely the wrong demographic. Other times, they’re partnered with uncool or problematic brands. A lot of the time they’re just hard to explain, and need to be experienced to properly understand, so unless you can get a significant number of people to try a demo you’re going to struggle. This, incidentally, is why our much maligned profession still has value for consumers in the age of YouTube. At least that’s what I tell myself at night when the existential dread kicks in. But sometimes there are good games that are just hobbled by a botched first impression. A pre-rendered reveal trailer, perhaps, that contains no actual scenes or assets from the game in question and doesn’t even work as a tone piece. The recent reveal trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which inspired the theme of this episode, seemed like one of these. Indeed, some people initially wondered if it was some kind of Fortnite tie-in, given how removed it felt from the Dragon Age they knew. However, a proper twenty minute gameplay reveal the following day has, thankfully, eased a lot of people's concerns. Phew. So, what have our esteemed panel come up with for good games that had crap reveal trailers? Find out in the latest edition of The Best Games Ever Podcast, handily presented to you right here on this web page or app that you’re reading this on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices