In 2016, I decided to keep a record of what media I consumed, sometimes with a short record of my thoughts about them (one or two sentences only).

In contrast to my other lists which aim to be complete, this is all the podcasts I listened to more than a couple of episodes of, so most podcasts I tried and didn’t get along with are not represented here.

I went from listening to a handful of podcasts in 2015 to listening to a lot in 2016. Some came recommended by H Giles, some by people on Twitter, some by mentions on other podcasts. For reference, I’m currently using AntennaPod as my podcast client.

This is part three of my 2016 retrospective. The other parts:

• games I made
• books I read
• podcasts I listened to
• films/TV I watched
• videogames I played
• boardgames I played

People talking about games

Crate & Crowbar
Some dudes talk about videogames.

Eurogamer podcast
Some dudes talk about videogames.

Idle Thumbs
Some dudes talk about videogames.

Idle Weekend
Not-all-dudes award. Their way of riffing off the ads squicks me out.

Not a Game podcast
Not-all-dudes award. I recorded a never-aired podcast with them back in 2015, and I think it was so bad so it killed the podcast - they came back briefly this year but it was never the same.

Shut Up & Sit Down
Some dudes talk about boardgames. Yay boardgames!

Unconsoleable
All-not-dudes super award! They talk about a lot of games that are not my jam, but I find them really valuable as a different perspective and as a way to keep up with mobile games news.

Video Games Hot Dog
Some dudes talk about videogames. I found it cliquey/impenetrable the first time I listened to this podcast a while back (to hear what they thought about Sokobond), but now that I’m friends with them all I enjoy it.

Waypoint Radio
Not-all-dudes award.

People interviewing other people about games

Beyond The Filter
Sometimes about media or games-adjacent things rather than games.

Bigsushi
They didn’t actually release many episodes in 2016, but I hope there’s more coming.

Checkpoints

Designer Notes

My Favourite Game
I like the in-depth discussion of one particular game, I’m less fond of the way the creator seems to put so much personal focus on lists of top 10 games ever.

Playscape: Los Angeles

Polygamer

Script lock

Three Moves Ahead
I’ll sometimes listen to this if it’s about a game I’m interested in, rather than subscribing to the feed and listening to everything.

Tone Control

Relationships/people

Close Encounters

DTR

Here Be Monsters

How To Be a Girl

Love and Radio

Love Me

Still Buffering
Some really interesting stuff in an early episode about teens & instagram/snapchat. Stopped listening after a while because I realised I wasn’t getting much of what originally interested me, but it was still pleasant listening.

The Heart

This is about (was Radiotonic)

Toku podcast
I feel like I don’t know Kate & Holly well enough to listen to this podcast (but I guess I do anyway).

Audiodramas

Alice Isn’t Dead

Archive 81

Friends at the table (RPG campaign)
I listened to season 2 (cyberpunk mech future) and then season 1 (post-post-apocalyptic fantasy) and I’m really looking forward to catching up and following along with season 3. Highly recommended.

Knifepoint Horror (standalone episodes)

Limetown
Good framing: it’s something apparently well known but it’s not inconceivable that you wouldn’t have heard of it. I would have preferred something more investigatory (like it suggests it will be) than action-y (like it actually becomes) though.

Lore (standalone episodes)
Maybe technically doesn’t belong in this category because it’s non-fiction, but it has the same vibe.

The Adventure Zone (RPG campaign)
Has some good highs but is infuriatingly slow and DnD-y a lot of the time. Friends at the Table is absolutely the better “listen to some friends play a RPG” podcast.

The Message
The artificiality of the framing of the show and the severity of the “current-day” events kinda take me out of it, but overall it’s entertaining.

The Truth (standalone episodes)

Podcast podcasts

99% Invisible

Benjamin Walker’s Theory of Everything

Crimetown

Longform

More Perfect

Radiolab

Reply All

Revisionist History

Serial (season 2)

The Memory Palace

This American Life

Working