Play, Watch, Listen
156 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 556 ratingsJoin Alanah Pearce (game writer), Troy Baker (voice actor), Mike Bithell (game director), and Austin Wintory (game composer) as they talk about all the games, movies, TV and 'whatever else' that took their interest that week, from four unique perspectives in the games industry.
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Episodes
150. WE TURN ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!
April 12, 2024 16:00 - 1 hour - 121 MBFeaturing Rahul Kohli, and the return of Troy, AND we're all in the same room!?
149. This year's GDC
March 30, 2024 16:00 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MBThis week, Mike and Alanah chat about GDC, LinkedIn, business cards, and give great life advice.
148. TikTok Ban, Kate Middleton, Dune 2 & More!
March 18, 2024 16:00 - 1 hour - 113 MBA LOT OF TOPICS THIS WEEK, WE SIMPLY CAN'T BE CONTAINED.
147. Even More Games Industry Lay-Offs
March 04, 2024 17:00 - 1 hour - 87 MBThis week Mike and Alanah chat about the continued lay-offs impacting the games industry.
146. Games We Wish We Could Play Again for the First Time
February 17, 2024 17:00 - 1 hour - 100 MBIt's an Austin and Alanah special, and we actually talk about video games the WHOLE TIME!? This week, we talk about games we wish we could play again, and games that fundamentally 'change' however many hours in.
145. Zoom of Theseus
February 06, 2024 15:00 - 51 minutes - 70 MBThe title says it all, I don't understand what more context you could possibly need?
144. The Gang Has an Existential Crisis
January 20, 2024 17:00 - 1 hour - 118 MBApologies for the weird audio mix here. Regardless, this week we talk about Society of the Snow (a little), and then delve into the world of AI and capitalism. Again. Oh no.
143. What is "game direction", anyway?
December 26, 2023 17:00 - 58 minutes - 80.2 MBThis is publishing a little later than planned because of internet issues, but this week we talk about Cunk on Earth, game direction, and more! Thanks for another year of listening to Play, Watch, Listen, everyone!
142. The Lay-Offs (& Our Favourite Things of the Year)
December 10, 2023 14:17 - 50 minutes - 68.7 MBYou can't talk about good games this year without also talking about lay-offs, so hey, let's do both!
141. The Fall of the House of Usher ft. Rahul Kohli & Andy Grush!
November 19, 2023 04:37 - 1 hour - 138 MBThis week, Austin and Alanah chat to Rahul (actor) and Andy (composer and 1/2 of the Newton Brothers) about their work on The Fall of the House of Usher! Also, Stray Gods gets nominated for a Grammy, and the F1 Grand Prix debuts in Vegas. Apologies for the audio levels.
140. Unity's CEO Resigned
October 15, 2023 17:25 - 52 minutes - 96.9 MBAn update on the Unity system, and an important question: do you own any baskets? Why?
139. We Have Questions About Starfield's Design
September 25, 2023 12:01 - 1 hour - 111 MBThis week, Mike and Alanah go over some of the biggest question's about Starfield.
138. Explaining the Unity Engine drama ft. Rami Ismail
September 20, 2023 07:54 - 1 hour - 153 MBWe're back! This week Austin chats about Jacob Collier - apparently the best musician alive - and then Alanah asks Mike and special guest Rami Ismail all about the Unity drama.
137. The Games Industry and Communication
August 23, 2023 00:50 - 1 hour - 66.2 MBThis week, Mike and Alanah discuss some of the responses to Baldur's Gate 3's exceptional quality.
136. Taylor Swift and Stray Gods (ft. Liam Esler!)
August 17, 2023 06:33 - 1 hour - 75.1 MBWe have our first ever guest! Summerfall Games' Liam Esler joins Alanah and Austin to talk about Taylor Swift's enormous Eras Tour, plus, of course, the launch of Stray Gods.
135. Austin talks Stray Gods
July 30, 2023 02:05 - 53 minutes - 123 MBThis week, Alanah, Mike, and Austin are back to chat about Stray Gods, plus a little bit of Barbie and Oppenheimer at the very end.
134. Who is the Apple Vision Pro for?
June 10, 2023 10:47 - 58 minutes - 107 MBThis week, we talk about Apple's new Vision Pro and how it might assist with each of our vocations, as well as AI, again. Turns out it's still relevant. Who'd have thought?
133. Zelda and When Players Over-Think Puzzles
June 07, 2023 07:23 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBThis week (technically last week, the audio file just got stuck in processing and I didn't realise), Austin, Alanah, and Mike discuss The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and if players can be prevented from over-thinking puzzles.
132. Tron: Identity and Stray Gods
May 06, 2023 20:49 - 1 hour - 150 MBWe're back from a month off! And this week, we catch up on Bithell Games' latest release - Tron: Identity. Then Austin (and his dog Canvas) join to catch us up on a game he and Troy have been hard at work on, called Stray Gods. Turns out both games excell in player choice. Neat. Did I mention Canvas?
131. Physics in Zelda and E3 got Cancelled
April 03, 2023 22:33 - 53 minutes - 97.7 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike talk about what makes Zelda's recent physics so impressive, E3's cancellation, and the latest from Bithell Games - Tron: Identity!
130. Troy on playing James in The Last of Us
March 11, 2023 01:19 - 51 minutes - 93.9 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike aggressively interrogate Troy about his experience playing Joel in The Last of Us (spoilers).
129. Games Industry Networking & Rocksteady's Suicide Squad
March 08, 2023 05:46 - 29 minutes - 54.2 MBAlanah and Mike talk about DICE, and how alcohol is often encouraged at games industry events (but probably shouldn't be), plus why Rocksteady may have gone from making the Arkham series to making a game like Suicide Squad.
128. Austin on Why Assassin's Creed Won at the Grammys
February 11, 2023 04:28 - 50 minutes - 93.2 MBThis week, Alanah and Austin talk about The Grammys, and why/how Assassin's Creed: Valhalla won while games like Elden Ring and God of War were not nominated.
127. The Last of Us TV Show Episode 3
February 09, 2023 09:08 - 54 minutes - 99.4 MBThis week, all four of the Play, Watch, Listen horsemen are together to discuss the third episode of HBO's The Last of Us series. There are spoilers.
126. The Menu (again), Fine Dining, and The Last of Us Ep. 2
January 30, 2023 05:42 - 1 hour - 115 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike discuss The Menu, then Troy joins and the group talks about the fine dining experience and food as 'art'. Then, of course, we step into talking about The Last of Us episode 2.
125. Programming, The Menu (a little), & The Last of Us ep. 1
January 25, 2023 06:47 - 51 minutes - 95.2 MBThis week, Alanah asks Mike an impossible question about programming, we talk a tiny bit about The Menu, and then jump into our reactions of HBO's The Last of Us episode 1.
124. The Last of Us TV Show Premiere, Reviews, and Games as Movies
January 14, 2023 09:03 - 1 hour - 111 MBThis week, AUSTIN IS LATE! But Troy, Mike, and Alanah are there from the start to chat about The Last of Us TV show, plus successful game-to-movie adaptations.
123. AI Art (Again) & The Last of US TV Show
December 18, 2022 11:09 - 1 hour - 124 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike discuss AI art and it's inevitability, and then are joined by Austin and Troy who close out with a discussion on The Last of Us TV show.
122. Game Awards & The Mick Gordon Doom Eternal Situation
December 10, 2022 00:18 - 52 minutes - 96.3 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike chat about The Game Awards, which I cut short for the public version just because it was definitely a conversation we've had numerous times. Then, Austin joins and we get to chatting about the latest update regarding Mick Gordon and Doom Eternal's music.
121. Why You Can't Pause/Rewind Video Game Cutscenes
December 05, 2022 11:10 - 1 hour - 147 MBThis week, Mike and Alanah chat about Immortality, their picks for 2022's game of the year, and then get into details regarding why some oft requested features can't make it into published video games.
119. God of War Ragnarok Review Scores
November 08, 2022 10:41 - 1 hour - 154 MBThis week, Alanah reacts live to seeing the God of War Ragnarok metacritic score, and Austin joins to chat about review embargoes, scores, and Bear McReary.
118. Halloween Special ft. Andor
October 29, 2022 03:18 - 1 hour - 114 MBHAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE! This week, Alanah, Austin, Mike, and Troy discuss Andor, what TV shows to watch, and eventually... ghosts. Spooky.
117. A Mike and Austin Special
October 08, 2022 22:16 - 1 hour - 165 MBI'm pretty sure this is the first Mike and Austin exclusive episode, but I'll be honest, I don't remember. We've been doing this show since 2019. There are 117 episodes. I won't be held accountable for not remembering if there has been a prior Mike and Austin exclusive episode. Call the cops. I don't care.
116. Austin Scored Thai Cave Rescue
October 01, 2022 01:29 - 1 hour - 115 MBThis week, we chat about South Park, and then Austin talks about his experience in scoring the new Netflix show, Thai Cave Rescue.
115. Wishlist Tron: Identity from Bithell Games
September 17, 2022 05:52 - 1 hour - 85 MBThis week, we get to publicly ask Mike about something we've been privately asking him about for FOREVER! Also, it wouldn't be an episode of Play, Watch, Listen without a philosophical discussion, so: can AI create art?
114. Three Men Talking About Nothing
September 03, 2022 21:00 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBFor this week's episode, I did my best to scrub through and find a topic of any kind but I am not convinced one exists. Here's Austin, Troy, and Mike talking about nothing.
113. Pentiment's Text and Accessibility, plus GamesCom News
August 28, 2022 08:25 - 58 minutes - 107 MBThis week, Alanah found out some more details about Obsidian's Pentiment, plus we talk about GamesCom News and House of Dragons.
112. Batgirl's Cancellation Happens in Games, too
August 28, 2022 08:18 - 53 minutes - 74.2 MBThis episode got caught in a processing error loop, so apologies for the delay! We chat about Batgirl's cancellation and what's happening at HBO, plus the reality of late-stage cancellations in game development.
111. Let's talk about Prey
August 13, 2022 08:10 - 59 minutes - 109 MBThis week, Alanah and Mike talk about the new Predator movie: Prey! And then briefly about a new Forspoken trailer, but mostly about Prey.
110. The Offer, and Knowing if your Work is Good
August 08, 2022 07:16 - 54 minutes - 100 MBThis week, we talk about Troy lying about riding a horse, the TV show The Offer (for some reason?), and if any of us have ever known ahead of release if what we're working on is "good".
109. The Boys Season 3!
July 15, 2022 19:34 - 1 hour - 122 MBThis week, we are excited to GET TO MAKIN' MORE CREATIVE STUFF WITH PATREON! Plus, we stay shockingly on topic with discussions on The Boys season 3, completely spoiler-free.
108. God of War Ragnarok Got a Release Date
July 10, 2022 06:41 - 1 hour - 114 MBThis week, we spoke about fake leakers, swatting, and video game writing that feels like pandering.
107. BioShock Infinite, Floppy Disks, and Actors
July 06, 2022 09:59 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBThis week, the whole squad is here to discuss good vs bad game design, floppy disks, games being saved on cartridges, and actors.
106. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and the cost of Pixel Art
June 26, 2022 05:34 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBAlso, cows and fireflies, or something.
105. Fort Solis, Summer Game Fest, and Alanah's Directing Debut
June 18, 2022 04:53 - 54 minutes - 50.3 MBThis was a difficult episode to title because we spoke about 1,000 different things, so note that the title was an attempt but is not really a large focus of the episode. SORRY. I'M BAD AT PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
104. Troy on Love, Death + Robots
June 14, 2022 08:34 - 1 hour - 62.4 MBThis week, we largely talk about the episode of Love, Death + Robots that Troy is in, called Bad Travelling.
103. Black Mirror, Batman, and Obi-Wan
June 03, 2022 21:02 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBI guess we caught up on some MEDIA!
102. Elden Ring, Play-Testing, and Left-Footedness
May 21, 2022 01:32 - 1 hour - 61 MBFeaturing the point of play-testing, separating art from artist, Elden Ring, privilege, and "choice" in a workplace. But also feet. Sorry.
101. Gotham Knights and Shady Contracts
May 14, 2022 20:01 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MBThis week, we talk about Gotham Knights and then somehow rapidly progress into discussing games industry contracts, and their prevalence.