Whether you like it or not, advertising is everywhere, and it's always been everywhere--which is why the jingle for some now-nonexistent product has likely obliterated some important memory in your brain. And video games, being a product that's sold for money, have never been a stranger to advertising. On this first part of a two-part series, join Bob Mackey ... Show More
Jun 30
699: 30 Years of EarthBound
Good Giygas, EarthBound is 30 years old!? Yes, and because we gave this cult SNES RPG the standard Retronauts treatment nearly a decade ago, this time around, we'll be taking a slightly different approach. To celebrate three decades of EarthBound greatness, on this follow-up epis ... Show More
1h 36m
Jun 23
698: The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls
When is a prince not a prince? When he’s a frog or a snake! Diamond Feit, Christa Lee, and npckc laud one of Nintendo’s lesser-known games outside of Japan, The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls. Retronauts is made possible by listener support through Patreon! Support the show to enjo ... Show More
1h 44m
Jun 2024
Ridiculous Video Game Tie-ins, Part One: The Rise of Cool Spot -- and Fall of the Noid
Cast your memories back to the strange days of the 1980s and 1990s -- boy howdy, things were weird. At some point, marketing executives the world round realized that video games could be a new, powerful field of advertising. In the first part of this special two-part series, Ben, ... Show More
38m 18s
Sep 2022
NBN Classic: Mark Bartholomew, "Adcreep: The Case Against Modern Marketing" (Stanford Law Books, 2017)
This episode proved remarkably popular, so we're reposting it as an NBN classic for those who missed it the first time.Advertising is everywhere. By some estimates, the average American is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements each day. Whether we realize it or not, "adcreep"―mode ... Show More
1h 13m
Apr 2023
Money Talks: Will video games eat Hollywood?
Video game makers used to look to Hollywood for their inspiration. But in recent years, the market for games has grown to nearly $200bn, five times more than people spend at the box office and more, even, than they spend on streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. And that has ... Show More
41 m
Apr 2023
Money Talks: Will video games eat Hollywood?
Video game makers used to look to Hollywood for their inspiration. But in recent years, the market for games has grown to nearly $200bn, five times more than people spend at the box office and more, even, than they spend on streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. And that has ... Show More
41 m
May 2024
The commercial that changed advertising: 1984
Forty years ago, a Hollywood director, some tech revolutionaries and a group of London skinheads created a commercial that would rock the advertising world.Based on George Orwell’s dystopic novel ‘1984’, and launched in the same year, the ad was like nothing that had been seen be ... Show More
10m 4s