Passion for Pixels Retro Gaming Podcast

While we work on bringing you a new episode, we hope you'll enjoy this rebroadcast of our episode dedicated to Final Fantasy VII. Originally released in April 2014.

A full episode dedicated to talking about one of the most well known games of all time - Final Fantasy VII. Stian and Danny discuss the impact this seminal title has had on the gaming industry, dissect the story and consider modern remakes.

We talk about the game was originally meant to be set in New York. This and other early ideas for the game ended up in other Square RPGs.

How character designer Tetsuya Nomura's style differs from earlier Final Fantasy artist Akira Toriyama is another topic we get into in this episode.

Remember the materia system? We talk about how this fully customizable character system gave players full control of how they wanted to develop their characters, and how it is related to Final Fantasy V's job system.

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

Retro gamers seem to love collecting old games and consoles, so for this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we decided to sit down with Simon Pophale to talk about how he went about collecting 40 different video game systems, and nearly complete sets of several console's gaming libraries.

We go from Simon's first experience with video games on the ZX Spectrum, to almost completing a set of Sega Megadrive games and, talk about his latest endeavour, a complete Sega Saturn set, and lots more.

Simon gives his best advice on how to build your retro gaming collection and other retro gaming advice, like using old wine boxes to stack your systems.

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

We've made a lot of people very mad. On the previous Passion for Pixels episode, we talked about how Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye and Warcraft 3 were overrated. Now the people have spoken. And they say we're a bunch of clueless jerks. Or as one of our listeners puts it: "Overrated my ass". For this short update, we go through some of our listener feedback from our episode on overrated video games.

This is not a regular episode of Passion for Pixels, but we'll be back to our normal schedule of one hour (ish) episodes in two weeks!

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

On this episode of Retro Gaming Podcast Passion for Pixels, we talk about games that history have treated too kindly. Even though we love Nintendo, they have released games that have been unduly praised, and we take a look at why titles like Goldeneye 007, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Donkey Kong 64 need to be knocked down a few pegs. We also get into overrated PC games like Baldur's Gate, and we discuss whether Warcraft 3 is as innovative of an RTS as people seem to think.

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

The 8-bit era of videogames spawned many of gaming's greatest icons, like Mario, Link and Sonic. On this episode of Retro Gaming Podcast Passion for Pixels, we talk about why the simplicity of 8-bit graphics is still so dear to gamers, and why many think it has aged better than the more advanced pixel count of 16-bit graphics.

We also get into how the graphical limitations of the time forced game developers to think in creative ways that has since become obsolete, due to hardware improvements.

We discuss what we consider the best looking games of the era that was dominated by the Nintendo NES, the Atari 7800 and the Sega Master System, and get into smoothly animated ninjas, adventurous ducks, talking frogs and more!

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

Rune Fjeld Olsen is a Norwegian journalist with over a decade of experience reporting on video games. Recently, he's transitioned from his steady gig at VG (a major newspaper in Norway) to self-directed content on his YouTube channel. In this candid interview, Rune delves into his career in print, the trials of running a video game YouTube channel for a living, the state of game development in Norway, his thoughts on the future of the industry, and all manner of other topics!

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

Real Time Strategy (RTS) was one of the major gaming genres in the 1990s, with amazing titles like Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Dungeon Keeper, Age of Empires and Starcraft. What happened?

On this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we look into what defines an RTS, why they suddenly owned the PC gaming market in the 1990s, how well they play on consoles and what happened to Westwood, one of the most renowned RTS developers.

ALL OUR EPISODES ARE AVAILABLE IN ITUNES!

Subscribe to have our latest episode downloaded to your preferred device, and please leave us a review in iTunes!

Follow Passion for Pixels on Facebook to join the retro gaming discussion!

Have an opinion? Tweet us @passion_pixels or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

What happens when Batman and Superman, two of the most iconic superheroes, square off? We'll finally see how the action unfolds on the silver screen but no need to wait to find out how the respective video games of Superman and Batman stack up, because that is what we will get into on this brand new episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels. But how can this possibly be a fair fight when we struggle to even name three good Superman games?

Comparing the best overall, worst overall, and most interesting use of the characters - Stian and Danny tally the blows covering everything from 80's arcade games to Superman 64 to the Arkham series and beyond.

Have you ever wanted to squeeze more life out of your favourite game? Have you ever felt the compulsion to gather every last collectible strewn about the game world? Or maybe you've just wanted to a find a way to compete at a single-player game?

From completionists to speed runners, on this episode Stian and Danny dissect the unique ways to play games.

We also scratch the surface of modding and the fine line between enhancing an experience and breaking it entirely. Finally, why the hell did it take Nintendo so long to release Mario maker and who actually wants to play a level that plays itself?

The Atari Jaguar, the 3DO, the Philips CDi - the list of failed video game consoles goes on and on. On this episode of retro gaming podcast Passion for Pixels, we look at why some consoles fail, and why others suceed.

Does the Sega Dreamcast qualify as a failure? It sold almost 10 million units, which sounds like a lot, but when Sony sold 150 million units of the PlayStation 2, it wasn't enough to keep Sega in business as a console manufacturer.

We also talk about the obscure Halcyon system by RDI, makers of Dragon's Lair. The system sported voice activation, a Laserdisc player, a planned price tag of 2500 dollars in 1985, and was based on a famous and murderous movie AI. Does it sound like a good idea for a gaming console? Listen to the full story and judge for yourself.