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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...
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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!
show less
New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
Transcribed
22 APR 2025 · TODAY'S ISSUE: https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_077_December_1995/page/n11/mode/1up
Ty and Aidan are two short white guys who don't play basketball--but do love sports, and sports video games. We've had quite few pleas from listeners to break down a good review of a bad game, and GamePro 77 has the goods.
Of course, there are plenty of other things to talk about in the issue, from the letters and ads to the Jim Davis re-draw of the GamePro rating scale featuring Garfield's face??
Here's that GDQ Virtual Hydlide segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpW1OVdBNGI
We also drop our first-ever Letters section, featuring YOUR comments and reviews! So if you want to be read on the air, just rate or review FunFactor wherever you're getting your podcasts.
And, hey: please consider supporting us directly by becoming a member at https://funfactorpod.com/!
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Sources include thehttps://archive.org/, https://www.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 http://millenniumfalck.com/
Transcribed
15 APR 2025 · Mike Drucker's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mikedrucker.bsky.social
Here's a teaser of the very first FunFactor ULTRA bonus episode!
It's our exclusive interview with Mike Drucker--the author of "Good Game, No Rematch: A Life Made of Video Games." We talk about the book, Mike's life as a gamer and writer for some of the most prestigious shows in TV (including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Full Frontal, and Bill Nye Saves the World), and what it even means to be a critic or commentator who writes out their words.
If you like what you hear, go to FunFactorPod.com and become a member to hear the full version (and another bonus episode every month, plus get access to the members-only ULTRA Lounge channels of our Discord)!
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Sources include thehttps://archive.org/, https://www.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 http://millenniumfalck.com/
Transcribed
8 APR 2025 · TODAY'S ISSUE: https://archive.org/details/game-players-issue-75/mode/2up
Ty and Aidan basically became friends over their shared love of Chrono Trigger, and everything it stood for as an artistic achievement in video games. Game Players was also their mutual favorite magazine--so Game Players No. 75, and its dual-writer review of Chrono Trigger, naturally looms large in the canon.
Ty and Aidan flip through the rest of issue, freak out about the pen-pal section, and talk about the console-launch dynamics of the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Then they go long on Chrono Trigger, the review, and what it means to watch a game you thought you were weird for loving become remembered by history as one of the universally agreed-upon classics.
Please rate or review FunFactor wherever you're getting your podcasts, and please consider supporting us directly by becoming a member at https://funfactorpod.com/!
-----
Sources include thehttps://archive.org/, https://www.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 http://millenniumfalck.com/
Transcribed
25 MAR 2025 · TODAY'S ISSUE: https://archive.org/details/PSM_Issue_001_September_1997
The very first issue of PlayStation Magazine went big on "independent" 'tude, and on Final Fantasy VII--including cover art, a massive walkthrough, and a five-star review of the game that would redefine a series, a genre, and arguably the top console of the 32-bit generation.Â
Ty and Aidan go deep on the conflicting tensions inherent in independent and official publications, and what those terms even mean in 2025. They also, of course, flip through the issue, talk about the various sections, and review the review of Final Fantasy VII. They couldn't help but run a little long talking about the significance of FFVII to their lives as gamers and creators--but hey, what else is a podcast for?
Please rate or review FunFactor wherever you're getting your podcasts, and please consider supporting us directly by becoming a member at https://funfactorpod.com/!
-----
Sources include thehttps://archive.org/, https://www.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 http://millenniumfalck.com/
Transcribed
14 MAR 2025 · Professional authors, journalists, gamers, and critics Ty Schalter and Aidan Moher introduce FunFactor: an insightful and incisive look back at the retro video game magazines that inspired them to do what they do.Â
In this trailer they play highlights from the first few episodes, discuss the passions that drove them to read about games as well as play them, and the impacts--positive and negative--they had on them as writers and people.
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Sources include thehttps://archive.org/, https://www.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 http://millenniumfalck.com/
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...
show more
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!
show less
New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
Information
| Author | Ty Schalter |
| Organization | Michael Schottey |
| Categories | Video Games , Books , Tech News |
| Website | www.funfactorpod.com |
| funfactorpod@gmail.com |
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