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FunFactor: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Ty Schalter & Aidan Moher
Ty Schalter (VICE, FiveThirtyEight) and Aidan Moher (WIRED, Vulture) review what rocked and what sucked about the classic video game magazines that inspired them to become professional journalists, authors, and critics—and what they can tell us about today's digital media and games.New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
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- 1 weeks ago1h 31m
What Killed the Sega Saturn? - Greg Sewart & Pandamonium UNLOCKED [S2B1]
NICK’S PATREON: PandaMonium | creating a Sega Saturn documentary series. | Patreon GREG’S PATREON: Greg Sewart | creating Generation 16 | Let's Read Videos | Retro Game Streams | Patreon Free ULTRA Review Crew bonus episode?! That's right: Aidan and Ty had holiday and start-of-school stuff get in the way of recording last week, so we decided to re-start our content pipelines by giving everyone a taste of what our top-tier members get: An awesome deep-dive into the disastrous 1995 surprise launch of the Sega Saturn in North America.We’re joined by two *incredible* guests: Greg “Stewy” Sewart, a former editor at EGM, and Nick “PandaMonium,” perhaps the Internet’s foremost Sega Saturn documentarian. We ask all the hard questions: What went wrong? Who’s fault was it? And–perhaps most importantly–could Sonic X-Treme have saved everything?———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- 3 weeks ago1h 46m
PSM 63 - Kingdom Hearts [S2E10]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/28f939d8-b160-47f0-92c6-e885159b5156THE KINGDOM HEARTS GOOGLE DOC: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQgJT19xfHJtEnIiZ-c55ClvAXn95ODUQBDYFtWF8GtPzHvTUTQhbH3brFk290zaQ/pubTHE KINGDOM HEARTS PRACTICAL COMPLETE ORDER (by Jackson from Abnormal Mapping): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQpUmDR18WWFRpzyPjh8Ivv8gAE4IzVdxY1bgbm7YgM/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.iqj61wtvro5dKingdom Hearts! Grand Theft Auto! This episode’s issue of PSM is stuffed with incredibly topical retro games, and Aidan and Ty dig right in to a preview and review of two very different games that had very, very different expectations and receptions—but mutually enormous commercial and creative legacies.But first, they expand on last episode’s discussion about IP tie-in games, and the best ones throughout the years. Plus, as always, answer your questions in the Letters section!———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Aug 12, 20262h 2m
Edge 113 - King of Fighters EX [S2E9]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/Edge_Gaming/Edge%20Gaming%20Magazine%20113/mode/2upPIXELS & POLYGONS QUARTERLY + ANNUAL COLLECTION: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darrenhupke/pixels-and-polygons-quarterly-2026-q4-and-annual-collection?ref=3opks3LIE OF CAELUM: SPIRIT KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lieofcaelumspirit/lie-of-caelum-spiritBEL’S FANFARE KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chibig/bels-fanfare/RETRO GAME FORGE KICKSTARTER: https://popgeeks.com/retro-game-forge-a-potentially-all-in-one-homebrew-development-kit-launches-kickstarter/Edge was doing it like no one else in 2002, and so we had to go longer than we ever have to talk about all of it!Before we review Edge magazine’s eyebrow-raising review of King of Fighters EX for the Game Boy Advance, we looked through all 130 pages of neutron-star-dense levels of thoughtful editorial—perhaps most notably so, an interview with Tecmo director Tomonobu Itagaki about pet project, Dead or Alive 3: Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Edge rightfully presses Itagaki on why he didn’t include any of the male characters, how much care and consideration was given to volleyball game mechanics, how it compares to other volleyball games, etc., and Itagaki just keeps artfully rephrasing the same admission: he just really wanted to make a boobie game to look at boobies.We also brought back our Letters section, answering questions from our awesome Discord members! GET ON THE DISCORD so you can join in next time!———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Jul 28, 20261h 43m
Pocket Games 7 - Mario Kart Super Circuit [S2E8]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/ebc34b2b-4088-4e7c-bc69-12e3a7a9f129Stop Skeletons From Fighting’s “My 2 Year Journey to Solve the 30-Year Myth of Faceball 2000” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2AG-gAuS-U&t=6058s Aidan’s back in the saddle, and he’s got takes about what Ty talked about with last episode’s guest-host Jess Voidburger–but not Sonic the Hedgehog, handheld games!Aidan talks about how well portable systems fit into his life as a tween and teen, and this issue of Ziff-Davis’s Pocket Games magazine shows just how deep and rich Nintendo’s handheld scene was in the spring of 2002, even while the AAA console tides had gone way, way out between Christmas 2001 and the following summer.In an issue full of reviews and previews of absolute bangers, we looked at Pocket Games’ review of Mario Kart Super Circuit–what it does well, what it doesn’t, and whether we agree. ———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Jul 14, 20261h 5m
Nintendo Power 154 - Sonic Adventure 2 Battle [S2E7]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/a8041ebf-095f-4bb9-b2bd-57702a22aff0SONIC ON THE COVER OF NINTENDO POWER??Special guest host Jess VoidBurger joins Ty to revisit Nintendo’s legendary in-house publication during its awkward tween years: still clinging to some of the looks and features of its 16-bit glory days, but starting to evolve to compete with the super-professional, grownuppy output of the Ziff-Davis and Future/IGN publications.With Sonic the Hedgehog on the cover and longtime “Publisher” (Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa) announcing his departure in the News section, Ty and Jess get whiplashed by the old-school/new-school dichotomy–and flummoxed by just how few games there are being released in spring of 2002.They discuss how it’s much like today, with AA and AAA publishers constantly scaling back release schedules and focusing on key franchises. But unlike today, reviewers back then didn’t have a robust indie scene to cover.And speaking of reviews, have Nintendo Power’s reviews gotten any more ‘independent’ or ‘unbiased’ since the last time we looked?———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Jun 30, 20261h 45m
GameNOW Vol. 2, Issue 4 - Super Smash Bros. Melee [S2E6]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/ac4194d5-23d7-46fe-b6e2-0f364600532aSuper Smash Bros. Melee is Nintendo’s tightest, deepest, most technically rewarding fighting game of all time, with an active playerbase and tournament scene still uncovering its secrets.But what did reviewers make of it in 2002, when “lets put all the characters and properties we own in one game” wasn’t an obligatory and trite cash grab, but a novelty?Aidan and Ty checked it out in “GameNOW,” an unfamiliar title for what turns out to be a familiar editorial crew. We kick the whole thing off with a discussion on whether selling our old games was an obvious thing to do, or *~breaching a sacred bond between player and game~*.———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Jun 17, 20261h 25m
XBOX Nation 3 - Panzer Dragoon Orta + World Series Baseball [S2E5]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/69555def-0cd8-4b5a-b4d2-3d324c7863f4Console exclusivity was the talk of this recent Summer Game Fest, and Aidan and Ty start off the episode with a discussion of their most badly missed-out-on exclusives from platforms they didn't have.And then, the issue: With Future Publishing/Imagine Media getting the "official" XBox magazine tag, Ziff-Davis launched an "independent" one--and they poached Simon Cox from Future/Imagine to lead it!The result was an ambitious, artistic, NEXT Generation/EDGE-looking publication that (perhaps a decade or two too early) pivoted towards a quarterly launch schedule, more original art and photography, and more rare and in-depth features and interviews--like the one anchoring their massive preview of Panzer Dragoon Orta, the capper of Aidan and Ty's discussion.And then...a review of World Series Baseball from actual-factual baseball writer of the time, Jeff Pearlman?? Of Sports Illustrated?? Who since written a ton of book and the Amazon series "Winning Time??" How would this non-games-writer do writing about games in 2002??———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
- Jun 3, 20261h 49m
Game Informer 101 - Final Fantasy X (FIXED) [S1E4]
ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-105-january-2002(sped-up audio was Ty's fault; it's been fixed!)FINAL. FANTASY. X. After the final PS1 release was a mechanical, graphical, and literary callback to the deepest roots of the series, the first PS2 release set the tone for what this series would look–and, to an extent, play–like for the next quarter-century of HD video and streamed digital audio.We also check out how Game Informer has continued to grow and change since we last looked–years away from it being a glorified store catalog, but also years from it being the best magazine in the business. The seeds of the final form are present in here; are there seeds of the former?Aidan and Ty kick it all off with a surprisingly timely-for-Bluesky discussion on which super-popular games they’ve disliked, why, and what it means when that happens.———Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!
About FunFactor
Ty Schalter (VICE, FiveThirtyEight) and Aidan Moher (WIRED, Vulture) review what rocked and what sucked about the classic video game magazines that inspired them to become professional journalists, authors, and critics—and what they can tell us about today's digital media and games.New episodes drop every other Tuesday!
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