The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast

Returning guests Jeremy Peel and Wes Fenlon join us to revisit '90s PC gaming in a 38-pick draft extravaganza. Vote for the winner in our Discord announcements channel. Who picked what? Keep scrolling.
These are the categories:
FPS
90+ from PC Gamer (either UK or US)
Strategy
4X, sim or god game
Online multiplayer game
RPG
Expansion/add-on
Personal pick
Free pick

This week's music is from Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Sid Meier's Civilization 2, System Shock 2 and Space Cadet Pinball.

Subscribe to Wes's Read Only Memo newsletter here. Here's Jeremy on BlueSky, and here's Wes on BlueSky.

Here are the picks. Spoilers follow:

FPS
Samuel: Dark Forces
Matthew: Blood
Wes: Quake
Jeremy: Thief (stolen from Samuel)
90+ from PC Gamer (either UK or US)
Samuel: Civilization 2
Matthew: Grim Fandango
Wes: System Shock 2
Jeremy: Full Throttle
RTS
Samuel: Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Matthew: Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
Wes: Homeworld
Jeremy: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
4X, sim or god game
Samuel: Theme Hospital
Matthew: Theme Park
Wes: TIE Fighter (stolen from Samuel)
Jeremy: SimCity 3000
Online multiplayer game
Samuel: Alien Vs Predator
Matthew: Quake 3 Arena
Wes: Unreal Tournament
Jeremy: Worms Armageddon
RPG
Samuel: Baldur's Gate (stolen from Jeremy)
Matthew: Planescape Torment
Wes: Ultima 7
Jeremy: Fallout
Expansion/add-on
Samuel: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Matthew: Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Wes: StarCraft: Brood War
Jeremy: Half Life Opposing Force
Personal pick
Samuel: Grand Theft Auto
Matthew: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Wes: Space Cadet Pinball
Jeremy: Driver
Free pick
Samuel: Half Life
Matthew: Blade Runner
Wes: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Jeremy: Age of Empires
Kill tokens:
Matthew did not use either his kill or steal tokens
Wes did not use his kill token
Samuel killed Rollercoaster Tycoon (picked by Jeremy)
Jeremy killed Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings (picked by Samuel)
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After more than a decade of squandered potential, BioWare is no more. We eulogise the studio and explore how it became a cautionary tale for everything that can go wrong for a successful game developer.

Plus, at the end, you get some bullshit BioWare awards. We're still The Back Page, after all!

This week's music is from the Mass Effect 2: Overlord soundtrack by Christopher Lennertz.
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We start with some difficult news...

Cheers to everyone who has supported the podcast, past and present. We're delighted you're still along for the ride.
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No, not the episode 300 you were promised. For a (hopefully) obvious reason. Instead we fire up The Back Page time machine once again, setting the dial for 1998. Many call it gaming's greatest ever year. Ocarina! MGS! Half-Life! Gran Turismo! StarCraft! There's no arguing with that lot. Or is there? Find out as two contrarian chrononauts break down the main events of the year, recap the highs and lows of E3 and reveal their top ten lists.

This week's music is from the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck, and the Baldur's Gate soundtrack by Michael Hoenig.

You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com.
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Matthew flew to Germany and played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which is rather a nice surprise.

Games discussed: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gears of War: E-Day, Control Resonant, Valor Mortis, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Dicevaders
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