Gamers with Glasses Podcast
by Gamers with Glasses
Gamers with Glasses is a podcast by scholars, developers, artists, and fans of video games and tabletop games. It’s for people who like to think about play. We’re interested in the past, present, and future of gaming as art, entertainment, technology, and community. We’re interested in all kinds of players and experiences, from the most popular AAA action titles to the most meditative indie experiments. We like to bring the smart to the fun.
Episodes
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 35: Who Is the Donkey Kong?
In this episode Nate and Samantha set out to recap and wrap up our summer series on games, childhood, and nostalgia, and end up…somewhere else. We cover all the deep questions, like, “Does nostalgia have to be melancholic?”; “Are console generations a marketing lie, just like other generational...
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Special Interview Episode: Quantum Witch (NikkiJay)
In this episode, Nate interviews NikkiJay, developer of the just-released "plotformer" Quantum Witch. Come for the in-depth discussion about cults, conditioning, and choices - stay for the impromptu ukelele concert.
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 34: We're Not Making Chocolate Broccoli (Dr. Erik Verlage Interview)
We make learning fun! In this episode, Samantha and Luis interview Dr. Erik Verlage, a research scientist at the Ohio State University who works on interactive media and games in education. Discussion ranges from the use and value of games in education to GeoGuessr and the difference between toys...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 33: A Horrible Blurry Xerox That Is Being Taken As Fact (Oops No Games Episode)
We thought it would be fun to do an “Oops! No Games” episode, in which we try not to talk about games. Inevitably, we totally fail, to the degree that we even end up recommending games at the end. We were all going to bring a book and a movie to talk about, and that somehow inspires us to…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 32: The Majority of People on the Planet (Felipe Pepe Interview)
How do game critics contribute to Western hegemony, and what can we do about it? Nate Schmidt interviews Felipe Pepe, creator of The CRPG Book Project, on his recent essay, “The Gentrification of Video Game History.” Drawing on Mia Consalvo and Christopher Paul’s critique of the concept of “ real...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 31: Yoshi, Take Me Away
These are definitely times in which many of us could use...a break. Also, it's fall. So get that comfy sweater on and hear us debate the definition of video game coziness. Enjoy our wishful thinking about Tom Nook's lending practices, throwing apples at Pikachu, and those infamous Stardew Valley...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 30: A Bloodthirsty Man with a Beautiful Mustache
It's the Paper Mario episode! Man, when you look at him from the right angle, Mario is one bad dude. No wonder Bowser hates this guy. We love these games, but do we love them enough to buy them all over again so that we can play them on the Switch? Or is the GameCube an equally portable console?...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 29: Nobody Knows Murphy, But We All Know His Ghost
Our adventures in the world of Wizardry continue! We were so excited to all be playing the same game that we had to do a whole podcast about it. We uncover the finer points of the game's thoughtfully brutal dungeon design, and we think through the surprisingly deep narrative possibilities of...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 28: Meta Gear Solid
Nate, Samantha, and Luis do their best not to get lost in the hall of mirrors as they think through various types of self-referential games, covering everything from product tie-ins and Fortnite (it's bigger on the inside) to critical hits like Inscryption, The Stanley Parable, and There Is No Game.
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 25: Super Blast
In this episode, we finally lay out a firm and simple spectrum with which to rate all games, and it goes from narcissism to nihilism. Don delights in the pure semiotics of Akka Arrh. Christian plays Season, “non-dystopian, post-apocalyptic bicycle scrapbook game” in which anxiety over the future...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 24: Help the Queer Games Bundle Reach Their Stretch Goal
Join us for a very special episode of the Gamers with Glasses Show featuring Caroline Delbert and Taylor McCue, organizers of the Queer Games Bundle 2023. Tune in to learn about ways to support the queer games community (including but not limited to buying the bundle!) and for game…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 23: Into the Pocket Universe
In this episode, Roger starts a cult, and nobody even tries to stop him. It is totally his own original idea and has nothing to do with Cult of the Lamb. Don ruminates on the universe inside Kirby’s stomach in his sub-podcast, “Don Plays All the Kirby Games in a Year.” Someone has the gall to…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 22: Citizen Sleeper, Lego Star Wars and Unfunny Jokes
In this episode, we let loose about Square-Enix business practices, tell tales about bosses in Elden Ring, discuss the brilliance and limitations of the cyborg space noir game Citizen Sleeper, gush over the pleasures of Lego games (especially Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga), make knock knock...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 20: Elden Ring
We recorded an episode on Elden Ring forever ago, and here it is! What’s the difference between Elden Ring and Dark Souls? Who is George R.R. Martin, and what has he done to Miyazaki? Did FromSoftware invent a new IP for narrative reasons, or is it just a marketing move? How approachable and how...
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Interview with Jason Cordova, Creator of Brindlewood Bay & The Gauntlet
We interview game designer Jason Cordova, creator of the tabletop roleplaying games Brindlewood Bay and The Between, founder of The Gauntlet, and editor of the RPG magazine Codex. Jason’s games combine open-ended mysteries with horror and adventure. On the podcast, we discuss the difficulties of...
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Interview with Johnnemann Nordhagen - The Museum of Mechanics
We interview game developer Johnnemann Nordhagen (Dim Bulb Games, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine) about his Museum of Mechanics, “a browsable, playable collection of lockpicking mechanics from various games.” He talks about the origin of the project in a conversation about fishing mini-games…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 19: Puzzling Apocalypses
In Episode 19 of The Gamers with Glasses Show, we talk about how long we’re willing to grapple with puzzles, when we use walkthroughs/strategy guides, different kinds of open world games, and much more. Games covered include Death’s Gambit and its Afterlife expansion, Cozy Grove, Lost Judgment,...
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Interview with Noio (Cloud Gardens, Kingdom)
We interview Noio (Thomas van den Berg) about his recent game Cloud Gardens, his history in game development, the success of Kingdom, and his next big project! Thomas tells us how Cloud Gardens emerged from his attempt to make an MMO. He describes his personal history in game development, from…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 18: Deadly Birds, Zombie Parkour, and Lee Pace!
On this episode, we discuss the cute soulslike energy of Death’s Door, the thrill of zombie parkour in Dying Light, how Unsighted reinvigorates the metroidvania with its strange world and countdown mechanics, dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Encounters and Ruined Kingdom, and much more. We also gush...
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Interview with Dang! (Boomerang X)
In this interview, we talk with Dang!, the developers of Boomerang X. We discuss the genesis of the game’s genesis from a student project and a game jam); boomer shooters; the difficulty of porting it to the Nintendo Switch; the influence of games like Devil Daggers and shows like Samurai Jack;...
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Library of Babble, Episode 1: Dune
Library of Babble is our new sci-fi and fantasy book club! For the first episode, we discuss Frank Herbert’s 1965 classic Dune, as well as David Lynch and Denis Villeneuve’s film adaptations. We talk about the novel’s world-building, especially how it treats ecology (desert power!) and religion;...
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Noah Wardrip-Fruin on How Pac-Man Eats
In this special episode of the Gamers with Glasses Show, we discuss Noah Wardrip-Fruin’s excellent book, How Pac-Man Eats! Noah joins us, along with Patrick Jagoda (author of Experimental Games), to talk about why “models” and “logics” are more useful terms than gameplay or mechanics; how we can...
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Retronomicon, Episode 1: Metroidmania!
It’s the first episode of our new spin-off show, Retronomicon, where we cover older games, including classics and unfairly neglected games. To kick things off with a bang, we discuss Nintendo’s Metroid series, all the way back to the original 1986 Metroid up to and including Metroid: Dread. We…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 17: The Horror of Immersion
In Episode 17 of The Gamers with Glasses Show, we talk about flow, immersion, horror, power, dating sims, and more! What do we mean when we say we’re “immersed” in games? Who gets to be immersed, or what makes it possible for some people to get into the flow, while others can’t? What are the...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show: Squid Game Spoilercast
We’re joined by Professor Se (Seth) Young Kim, an expert on Korean and Japanese cinema and games, to discuss the Netflix television hit Squid Game (from director Hwang Dong-hyuk). We discuss how the show reinvents the genre of the battle royale, how it responds to capitalism and the financial...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 16: Trip The Glitch Fantastic
In Episode 16 of The Gamers with Glasses Show, we debate the virtues and vices of Arkane’s Deathloop (love the banter and the powers, not so much the thin storyline), discuss how Wario World does what Kena doesn’t, wish that the beautiful pixel art of Eastward were matched by some innovative...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show: Psychonauts 2 Spoilercast
It’s the Gamers with Glasses Psychonauts 2 spoilercast! We talk about how the game got developed, our favorite levels (the cooking level, the acid trip level), how the platforming in the sequel compares to platforming in the first game, the ethics and politics of diving into minds, how we feel...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 15: Everything Falls Apart!
No special topic this week, but much of the episode ends up revolving around entropy: everything falls apart (at some point)! We discuss whether the cyberpunk genre is played out, if Souls and Souls-like games have exhausted themselves, and what makes for an interesting post-apocalyptic game when...
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Interview with Shane Denson, Author of Discorrelated Images
We interview Shane Denson (Stanford University) about digital culture and technology, video games, film, streaming services, and his excellent scholarly book, Discorellated Images. We discuss how digital images and technologies change what it means to be human, whether or not we live in an age...
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Disco Elysium Spoilercast, Part 3: Communist Hustle
It’s the final episode of our three-part Disco Elysium spoilercast with our special guest, Jamie Woodcock! Not only we do talk about the game’s ending but we also discuss how the game handles money, plot structure, character development, and world-bulding. We discuss what makes a game political…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 14: The Deckbuilding Special
We discuss the games we’re playing, including Psychonauts, Demon Souls, Dorfromantik, 12 Minutes, Road 96, and Death Stranding. We then turn to our special topic, deckbuilding games: Are deckbuilding games really just math in disguise? What’s the sweet spot between simplicity and complexity in...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 13: The Zelda Spectacular
In this episode, we spend a little time talking about the games we’re playing, like Scarlet Nexus, Super Metroid, Pikmin 3, MLB: The Show 21, and Lenna’s Inception, before we do a deep dive into The Legend of Zelda series. We talk about what makes a Zelda game so Zelda-like: Is it the puzzles?…
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Interview: Heart Shaped Games, Creators of We Are The Caretakers
We interview Scott Brodie, co-founder and creative director of Heart Shaped Games, the indie studio behind Brave Hand and Hero Generations. We discuss their latest game, We Are The Caretakers, which is currently in early access. We Are The Caretakers is a tactics game, like XCOM or Darkest…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 12: The VR and Accessibility Episode!
In this episode of The Gamers with Glasses Show, we’re joined by special guest Dr. Amanda Licastro, Emerging & Digital Literacy Instructional Designer at University of Pennsylvania. Most of our discussion is focused on accessibility, virtual reality, and alternate reality games (ARG), but we do...
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Disco Elysium Spoilercast, Part 2: Clubbing and Organizing in the Ruins
In the second episode of our Disco Elysium mini-series (full of spoilers!), we talk about communist and neoliberal hustler character builds, branching narratives (can you play the game wrong?), optional locations (don’t miss the hidden cache of revolution-era weapons!), the coastal region of the...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show, Episode 11: Yes, Games Have Politics
In this episode of The Gamers with Glasses Show, we talk about what we mean when we say games are political, AA vs. AAA games (mid-budget vs. big-budget games), why sometimes lack of polish in a game can be a good thing (who doesn’t like a little jank?), the politics of game reviews…
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Disco Elysium Spoilercast, Episode 1
In this spoilercast, Roger Whitson and Christian Haines are joined by Jamie Woodcock (author of Marx at the Arcade: Consoles, Controllers, and Class Struggle) to discuss Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (ZA/UM). We talk about the game’s blend of gritty political realism and psychedelic fantasy; what...
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The GwG Show: NieR: Automata Spoilercast
In this special episode of The Gamers with Glasses, we do a spoilercast of NieR: Automata. We discuss the 5 different playthroughs needed to reach the true ending; how androids manage to emote so intensely; Yoko Taro’s fashion proclivities (why is there always a character in lingerie?);...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show Episode 10: The Ethics of Eating Pokemon: The Ecology Special!
In this episode, we’re joined by special guest Alenda Chang (author of Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games) to talk about nature, wilderness, and environmentalism in video games! We debate whether or not the Monster Hunter series really has an ecology, ponder the ethics of eating Pokémon,...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show: Episode 9: Sexy Robots, Time Loops, and Console Blues
In Gamers with Glasses Episode 9, we discuss the trend of time loops in recent games (Loop Hero, Deathloop), the sexy robots of Yoko Taro (Nier: Automata), the neoliberal hellscape of subscription services (or is it a new golden age?), what happens when an indie-loving PC gamer gets a Switch...
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Interview with Jesper Juul on Indie Game History
In this interview, we talk to Jesper Juul, a scholar of video games and a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He’s written books such as A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and their Players, which looks at how mobile games have changed where, when, how, and even why we...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show - Episode 8: Platformer Mania
In Episode 8 of The Gamers with Glasses Podcast, we discuss the games we’re playing: Bowser’s Fury, The Medium, Ghosts & Goblins Resurrected, Buddy Simulator 1984, Kentucky Route Zero, Fights in Tight Spaces, and Plead with the Mountain God! Our special topic this episode is platforming games…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show: Control Spoilercast
In this special episode of The GwG Show, we have a spoiler-filled discussion of Remedy Entertainment’s 2019 game Control. We (John Ferrari, Christian Haines, Brian Rejack) talk about Jesse Faden’s strange adventures in the Old House, headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, as well as the...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show - Episode 7: The Mental Health Episode, Part 2
In Episode 7 of The Gamers with Glasses Podcast, we discuss the games we’re playing, including Blue Fire, Red Dead Online, The Medium, We Know The Devil, Olija, and the 10mg collection. Our special topic is a continuation of our previous episode’s discussion of mental health, this time focusing…
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The Gamers with Glasses Show - The GameStop Stock Market Special
In this special episode of The Gamers with Glasses Show, Patrick Jagoda (University of Chicago), Christopher Breu (Illinois State University), and Christian Haines (Penn State University) discuss the GameStop stock market drama and its social, political, and economic contexts! They debate whether...
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The Gamers with Glasses Show - Episode 6: The Mental Health Episode
In Episode 6 of The Gamers with Glasses Podcast, we discuss the games the games we’re playing, including Hitman 3, Cyber Shadow, No Players Online, Pendragon, and more. The topic of the week is mental health, so we discuss how games have helped us cope with loss and anxiety but also the limits of...
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Interview with Triple Topping (makers of Welcome to Elk)
Interview with the Denmark-based indie studio Triple Topping, creators of Welcome to Elk.
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The Gamers with Glasses Show - Episode 5: The Indie Episode
In Episode 5 of The Gamers with Glasses Show, Roger Whitson, Christian Haines, Nate Schmidt, and Don Everhart discuss the games they’re playing, including Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Outer Wilds, Risk of Rain 2, Super Meatboy Forever, and more. The topic of the week is what makes an indie game indie.…
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About this show
Gamers with Glasses is a podcast by scholars, developers, artists, and fans of video games and tabletop games. It’s for people who like to think about play. We’re interested in the past, present, and future of gaming as art, entertainment, technology, and community. We’re interested in all kinds of players and experiences, from the most popular AAA action titles to the most meditative indie experiments. We like to bring the smart to the fun.
Hosted by
Gamers with Glasses
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