FunFactor

Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
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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!

  1. 3 DAGE SIDEN

    Video Game Fantasy Draft with "My Life in Gaming!" [S1X3]

    Four people, five rounds, and all the best video games of 1995-1997!  Coury and Try from My Life in Gaming join us to snake-draft our way through the Generation Gap--building four 'teams' of five games each released across all game systems and regions during our first-season time period. The competition was friendly but fierce, with plenty of you-took-my-picks and even more surprise curveballs! We all walked away with at least one new must-play game for our backlogs. And, as always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! ----- 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!

    2 t. 30 min.

  2. 27. MAR.

    NEXTGen's "Are You Hardcore?" Quiz, with Retrograde Amnesia [S1X2]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/NextGeneration38Feb1998 QUIZ LINK: https://forms.gle/9cFPG8EsJesFAEB59 BILLY BAKER’S 2007 BOSTON GLOBE PIECE ON HIS WIFE SECRETLY BEING THE WORLD’S BEST TETRIS PLAYER: https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/08/19/bizarro_world/ Our Season 1 wrap-up extravaganza has never been more extravagant: Chris and Eric from Retrograde Amnesia join us to take NEXT Generation’s “Are you Hardcore?” quiz! Thanks to Josh from the Still Loading Podcast, we were able to see and take the whole quiz for the first live via Google Form–and hey, so can you! Back in February 1998, the staff of NEXT Generation issued a challenge to their readership with a 200-plus-question quiz determining whether they’re truly hardcore. This being 1998, some of the questions were more about whether you were an actual dirtbag, and many of them assumed you were a North American male of roughly GenX age. But most of them were great fodder for telling stories, claiming points of pride, and owning points of shame. As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! ----- 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!

    2 t. 19 min.

  3. 10. MAR.

    Audience Q&A! - "Generation Gap" Season Extras [S1X1]

    We told you to ask us anything, and you did! Our Season 1 wrap-up continues with a special AMA/Q&A. From assembling our own ultimate mid-90s gaming mag Voltron-style to talking through how we handle offensive/problematic content, we answered all the questions you submitted via Discord and Bluesky! As an extra-special treat, Ty also reveals the (published!) letter he sent in to Game Players back in the day. Cringe level: MAXIMUM. As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!  ----- 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!

    1 t. 21 min.

  4. 24. FEB.

    Season 1 Finale - Every Final Fantasy VII Review [S1E24]

    The grand finale of Season One is here! Our coverage of the 1995-1997 “Generation Gap” ends with a blowout review of (nearly) every (English-language print) review of Final Fantasy VII that we could find. Starting with a quick look back at the first year of FunFactor, and discussion of what’s coming next, we then re-looked at the magazine we debuted the podcast with nearly a year ago, PSM No. 1.  We then went on to review, well, all of these reviews: PSM 1: https://archive.org/details/PSM_Issue_001_September_1997/mode/2up Ultra Game Players 102: https://archive.org/details/Ultra_Gameplayers_102_October_1997_U/page/n83/mode/2up  The Duelist 21: https://archive.org/details/duelist-21/page/n105/mode/1up The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 1: https://archive.org/details/Official_US_PlayStation_Magazine_Volume_1_Issue_1_1997-10_Ziff_Davis_US/page/n85/mode/2up EGM 99: https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902 NEXT Generation 34:  https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_34/page/n53/mode/2up GameFan Vol. 5, Issue 9: https://archive.org/details/GamefanVolume5Issue09September1997/page/n3/mode/2up GamePro 46: https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_099_October_1997/page/n49/mode/2up EDGE 049: https://archive.org/details/Edge_Gaming/Edge%20Gaming%20vMagazine%20051/page/n65/mode/1up  Game Informer 53: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997 Campus Life Magazine (partial text archive): https://cmnexus.org/magazines/Campus_Life/issues As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!  ----- 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!

    1 t. 50 min.

  5. 10. FEB.

    Game Informer 53 - GoldenEye 007 [S1E23]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997/mode/2up EGM DOCUMENTARY BY MY LIFE IN GAMING & GAME SACK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E010OPY1Tzw Everybody’s favorite* N64 game ever is here: GoldenEye 007! But did Game Informer’s weird four-voice feature review system capture all the excitement at release? *if you didn’t have a PC capable of playing first-person shooters online, that is. Did Game Informer’s review capture the skepticism Aidan and Ty had of it at the time? Longtime EIC Andy McNamara’s letter from the editor takes shots at other magazines that allegedly don’t really play the games they’re reviewing, and we dig deep into who he could possibly have been talking about. We also shared our best, brightest memories of that “new console smell,” the console acquisition and unboxing experiences that have stuck with us most. As always, streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!  ----- 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!

    1 t. 35 min.

  6. 27. JAN.

    NEXT Generation 36 - The Sega Saturn S1E22]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_36 It’s time to review…the consoles?? NEXT Generation issue 36 marks the start of the magazine’s third year–and they’re not only calling winners and losers of the console generation the magazine was named after, this issue has leaks and rumors of the specs of the next-next generation! And then, wonder of wonders, they declare *the PC* the best console of the year! That said, they also declare Lara Croft *the most famous woman in the world*, and we unpack a deep (and deeply cringey) interview with one of execs of the developer who created her. Then we reviewed their review of the SEGA Saturn! Once again, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! ----- 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!

    1 t. 36 min.

  7. 13. JAN.

    PC Gamer 37 - Magic: The Gathering [S1E21]

    ISSUE LINK: https://www.retromags.com/files/file/6814-pc-gamer-issue-037-june-1997 One of the world’s biggest, hottest developers took an unprecedented dive into the rich fantasy world of one of their beloved gaming IPs, and pulled strings to get its beautiful, hand-painted art onto the cover of PC Gamer. So why didn’t it ever come out? PC Gamer’s huge feature preview of WarCraft Adventures: War of the Clans had great art, full professional voice acting, and young Aidan holding his breath for a game that would never be released. He and Ty talk about the pain of canceled games, and review PC Gamer’s review of Magic: The Gathering (known as “Shandalar”) for the PC. We streamed this live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! ----- 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!

    1 t. 23 min.

  8. 30.12.2025

    GameFan Volume 5, Issue 12 - Quake (Saturn) [S1E20]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/GameFan9700/GameFan%20Vol.%205%20-%2012%20%28Dec%201997%29%20Quest%2064/page/n112/mode/1up MOLLIE L. PATTERSON'S OLD LETTER TO DAVE HALVERSON (she's since said she's cooled down quite a bit, and they're on better terms): http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gamefan/fatbabies.txt Don't let the extremely long intro discussion on journalism, writing, and editorial mentorship--something both Aidan and Ty are clearly passionate about--dissuade you from checking out our look at the December 1997 issue of GameFan! It's a huge one for the magazine, as it's the one where founding/longtime/iconic/controversial editor Dave Halverson steps down to make way for David S. J. Hodgson. There's some clear leveling up of GameFan's fannish production from the first issue we did, but there are still plenty of wild decisions being made in pursuit of cramming the most magazine the staff at the time could.  It's also a huge time for our show, as we're wrapping up the first season and getting your feedback on what we're doing and where we're going next! Get on the Discord and let your thoughts be heard: https://discord.com/invite/5VBpWGSuz6 ----- 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!

    1 t. 35 min.
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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!

Oplysninger

  • Skaber
    Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
  • Aktive år
    2025 - 2026
  • Episoder
    35
  • Vurdering
    Anstødeligt
  • Copyright
    © Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
  • Websted for serie
    FunFactor

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