The Six (Mostly Gaming) Podcasts You Should Be Listening To

Mobcast. (bitmob.com) Kind of in the “iffy” category right now, bitmob has pedigree, a slightly different format and a lot of potential. Five video game people, five topics and about an hour of chat. Sometimes it’s a little dry, and they still haven’t quite figured out the best way to mic the room so that you can clearly hear everyone (plus there’s a lot of cross chat). It also usually features Robert Ashley, but there’s more about him later.

If you like the Mobcast. Try pretty much any other video game podcast on this list.

KEXP Song of the Day. (kexp.org) Free music isn’t always worth the download, and it seems like everyone and their dog has a “Song of the Day” feature. The difference is that KEXP actually has good music. Usually, before it’s big. Since I found out about it about a month ago, I’ve been checking the feed history whenever I hear about some hot, new band. Without exception, the band has always been featured as a song of the day. Usually a year or more before I’ve heard of them. (Yeah, I’m a little behind with music.)

If you like this podcast, try KEXP Live Performances.

Out of the Game. (mexicutedbyhepitacos.libsyn.com) Not, technically, a video game podcast, OotG is made up entirely of former video game press, who now work directly in the video game industry for well-respected companies. (Except Robert Ashley who is freelance games press.) Jeff Green works for the Sims Group at EA. Sean Elliott works for Take-Two, specially for Ken Levine’s (of Bioshock and System Shock fame) group. Luke Smith works for Bungie (the Halo/ Marathon company) and also hosts the Bungie podcast. N’gai Croal, formerly of Newsweek, is now a top consultant for games companies. And Robert Ashley, well, I’ll talk about him more below.

This podcast is decidedly higher and lower than most of the others. The cast and the lack of an official sponsor make it so that they can talk about anything. From stupid Internet memes to the part of the brain that controls decision making.

If you like OotG, you would absolutely like “The Brodeo,” the CGW/GFW podcast. Available on a torrent near you and featuring three members of the OotG crew.

A Life Well Wasted. (alifewellwasted.com) Clearly inspired by This American Life, but aimed directly at gamers. The podcast isn’t actually about the games, but about the culture that surrounds them. Whether it’s about collectors or the death of print media, it’s always interesting. And it’s clearly a labor of love for Robert Ashley (another veteran of the CGW/GFW). I just wish it were updated a little more often. (Although he clearly puts an instance amount of time and care into every episode.)

Ashley also just released an album under the band name I Come to Shanghai. Buy it, and he may have time to produce ALWW more often. (It’s also has some pretty good and/or interesting music.)

If you like ALWW, you will also like This American Life.

The Geekbox. (www.geekbox.net) It’s about a little bit of everything: Games, movies, books, comic books, TV, etc. A little bit of everything nerdy, I should say. But what makes it great is the fact that these are and aren’t you’re average geeks. Sure, it’s recorded in a comic book store and talks about all that nerdy stuff. The cast is what separates it. These just come across as being real.” There is also a ton of interesting, and insightful Lost talk (during the season). It also features another CGW/GFW alum: Ryan Scott.

If you like the Geekbox, you may also like something else like it. Although I’ve yet to find another “geek”-cast where the cast isn’t irritating, self-righteous or pretentious.

This American Life. (thislife.org) This is the gimme. Nearly always at the top of the iTunes Podcast rankings, TAL is easily the best, most interesting, most challenging and most compelling podcast you can listen to. Probably, you already listen to it. If not, there is something wrong with you.

If you like TAL, you may also like the Moth podcast. It’s shorter-format oral storytelling that is frequently sourced on TAL.