Call of Duty, Fortnite, Animal Crossing.... The video game industry generates billions of dollars each year. But not so long ago, video games were mostly played by the programmers who made them. On our new season, we’re telling the story of how video games broke out of university computer labs and found their way straight to the heart of popular culture.You ... Show More
Aug 2020
Keeping Cool | A Chilly Reception | S31-E1
Muggy. Sticky. Miserable. For eons, that’s just what summer was. In fact, when air conditioning first became available, few people took advantage of it. Wasn’t summer supposed to be uncomfortable? This is the story of how people finally warmed up to the idea of keeping cool.You c ... Show More
38m 53s
Oct 2020
The Fight Against AIDS | The Epidemic Begins | S32-E1
In the early 1980s, a mysterious new disease spread like wildfire through the gay communities of major U.S. cities. Before it even had a name, AIDS had already killed over half its victims. Public response was hampered by ignorance, fear, and homophobia. This is the story of the ... Show More
42m 23s
Nov 2018
Video Games: A Tale of Two Pongs
Introducing our brand new history show, Forever Ago! Join host Joy Dolo and kid co-host Kai on an epic quest through history to figure out how video games began. With help from intrepid reporter Cari Spivack, they’ll visit the age of dinosaur computers, hear the sounds of early a ... Show More
34m 49s
Nov 2023
Fortnite, GTA VI, and the fate of AAA games
In episode three of our video game miniseries, The Verge's David Pierce and Polygon's Russ Frushtick and Chris Plante discuss the state of the industry's blockbuster games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite, and others — and what they signal for the future o ... Show More
1h 16m
Dec 2023
579: Writing About Video Game History
Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, Nadia Oxford, Stuart Gipp, and Kevin Bunch have one thing in common: They've published books about video game history. In this episode, they break down the work involved in making the magic happen. Retronauts is made possible by listener support through ... Show More
1h 44m
Sep 2018
Press Start: How Gaming Shapes Development
Before the terms 'open source' and 'internet' were even coined—there were gamers. They created proto-open source communities, sharing and building upon each other’s work. For many programmers, gaming led them to their careers.
In this episode, we explore the creative free-for-all ... Show More
27m 31s
Mar 2024
How do you make an addictive video game?
This episode will change how you look at games. We talk to Ben Brode, the designer behind Hearthstone and Marvel Snap, about how a creative person learns to make the things they love, and about the secret ideas hiding in games as simple as rock-papers-scissors.If you'd like to su ... Show More
50m 13s
Mar 2021
Nateland | Ep 36 - Video Games
This episode, we discuss the history of video games. We'll look at the first video games invented, share our own personal history with video games, and look at the future of video games. Of course, we also spin off into useless conversations about subjects like whether Walmart st ... Show More
2h 5m