FunFactor

Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
  • 5.0 (28)
  • Video Games
  • Updated Biweekly

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. 4h ago

    XBOX Nation 3 - Panzer Dragoon Orta + World Series Baseball [S2E5]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/69555def-0cd8-4b5a-b4d2-3d324c7863f4 Console exclusivity was the talk of this recent Summer Game Fest, and Aidan and Ty start off the episode with a discussion of their most badly missed-out-on exclusives from platforms they didn't have. And then, the issue: With Future Publishing/Imagine Media getting the "official" XBox magazine tag, Ziff-Davis launched an "independent" one--and they poached Simon Cox from Future/Imagine to lead it! The result was an ambitious, artistic, NEXT Generation/EDGE-looking publication that (perhaps a decade or two too early) pivoted towards a quarterly launch schedule, more original art and photography, and more rare and in-depth features and interviews--like the one anchoring their massive preview of Panzer Dragoon Orta, the capper of Aidan and Ty's discussion. And then...a review of World Series Baseball from actual-factual baseball writer of the time, Jeff Pearlman?? Of Sports Illustrated?? Who since written a ton of book and the Amazon series "Winning Time??" How would this non-games-writer do writing about games in 2002?? ——— 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!

    1h 25m

  2. Jun 3

    Game Informer 101 - Final Fantasy X [S1E4]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-105-january-2002 (sped-up audio was Ty's fault; it's been fixed!) FINAL. FANTASY. X. After the final PS1 release was a mechanical, graphical, and literary callback to the deepest roots of the series, the first PS2 release set the tone for what this series would look–and, to an extent, play–like for the next quarter-century of HD video and streamed digital audio. We also check out how Game Informer has continued to grow and change since we last looked–years away from it being a glorified store catalog, but also years from it being the best magazine in the business. The seeds of the final form are present in here; are there seeds of the former? Aidan and Ty kick it all off with a surprisingly timely-for-Bluesky discussion on which super-popular games they’ve disliked, why, and what it means when that happens. ——— 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!

    1h 50m

  3. May 27 ·  Bonus

    ULTRA BONUS TEASER: What Killed the Sega Saturn? - Greg Sewart & PandaMonium [S2B1]

    NICK’S PATREON: PandaMonium | creating a Sega Saturn documentary series. | Patreon  GREG’S PATREON: Greg Sewart | creating Generation 16 | Let's Read Videos | Retro Game Streams | Patreon  Please enjoy this snippet of our first Season Two ULTRA Review Crew bonus episode, where we're throwing it back to, um, the disastrous 1995 surprise launch of the Sega Saturn in North America?? That’s right–thanks to a production whoopsie by someone very silly (Ty), we very nearly lost this amazing bonus episode. But thanks to a crucial save from our guests, a little bit of elbow grease, and a couple of months of Season Two launch stuff coming first, we managed to get this incredible conversation cleaned up and in your ears. We’re joined by two *incredible* guests: Greg “Stewy” Sewart, a former editor at EGM, and Nick “PandaMonium,” perhaps the Internet’s foremost Sega Saturn documentarian. We ask all the hard questions: What went wrong? Who’s fault was it? And–perhaps most importantly–could Sonic X-Treme have saved everything? ——— 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!

    24 min

  4. May 19

    XBox Official Magazine 2 - Halo + Munch's Oddysee [S2E3]

    ISSUE LINK: https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/official-xbox-magazine/official-xbox-magazine-issue-2/ XBOX OFFICIAL MAGAZINE: MAGAZINES EVOLVED. We had to stay in January 2002 for one more episode this season, because we just couldn’t overlook XBox Offical Magazine’s massive walkthrough for Halo: Combat Evolved. We also couldn’t overlook the fact that Imagine Media/Future U.S. Publishing launched this magazine at the same time they were sunsetting NextGen–and there was plenty of overlap between the two staffs. Goodbye to think-y features for (real and aspiring) grown-ups, hello to world-exclusive previews, reviews, and digital assets obtained via first-party licensing. For everything XBox Official Magazine did well, though, we were rubbed very much the wrong way by its unholy union of Ultra Game Players’s 100-point review scale and NextGen’s five-star rubric. Even still, we came away (mostly) very impressed with eventual editor-in-chief Francesca Reyes’s review of the idiosyncratic Munch’s Oddysee. ——— 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!

    1h 31m

  5. May 5

    EGM 150 - Metal Gear Solid 2 [S2E2]

    ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/electronic-gaming-monthly-issue-150-january-2002/mode/2up January 2002 was all killer, no filler! EGM kicked off the new year by revisiting their Top 100 games of all time, and we take a look at the changes since their last attempt (which we covered last season)! But EGM also ranked their worst 20 games of all time, thanks to freelancer Seanbaby, and we start the episode with a discussion of the worst games we ever bought. We go back to the best-of-the-best with the review, though, as three EGM editors do a fantastic job with Metal Gear Solid 2–and as an extra-special surprise, the previews editor of the magazine at the time (and FunFactor ULTRA member) Greg Sewart jumped in mid-episode to share some incredible behind-the-scenes stories of how the MGS2 review came together! 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/! We'll 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!

    1h 37m

  6. Apr 21

    NextGen 83 - Pikmin [S2E1]

    ISSUE LINK: NextGen issue 85 at the Internet Archive SEASON TWO: RISE OF THE CORPOS has arrived! We've skipped forward in time to the dawn of a new era - where the dorky world leader in business software, Microsoft, has dropped a massive black-and-neon-green bomb on a gaming industry. Likewise, the games media's shift to both an older target audience and parallel online coverage means a lot of beloved magazines are dead or dying--including "NextGen," as it's been called for a couple of years. Blake Fischer takes over as the magazine's second, and final, top editor for its 85th--and final (!)--issue. But while this issue of NextGen reviews all 26 XBOX launch titles, Nintendo has also just launched the Gamecube; and our reviewed review is of its iconically iconoclastic launch title: Pikmin. 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/! We'll 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!

    1h 1m

  7. Apr 7

    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!

    2h 30m

  8. Mar 27

    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!

    2h 19m
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About

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!

Information

  • Creator
    Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
  • Show Website
    FunFactor

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