What are your favorite lofi lefty podcasts about videogames - and why?

February 13, 2022 10:59 AM

I've been playing more video games over the last couple of years and also listening to more podcasts! I'd like to expand what I listen to, but I've got some requirements.

1) Need progressive-to-anarchist values and if the folks are up front about that, all the better.

2) Prefer non-white, non-cismen hosts -- trying to broaden the voices I listen to.

3) Prefer podcasts that are choosy with their ads, if any (see #1 above)

4) Prefer that this is amateur hour! Lower production values, non-industry folks, et cetera. (listened to one ep of What's Good Games and some guest host was a PR flack for some company and talked about all the traveling he did during the pandemic and I wanted to break something)

I'm not as picky about whether they're focusing on The Big Release versus the stuff they find on itch.io. Queer/trans is a big plus, but not required.

If you think you've got an answer -- please let me know which of the above they tick, and what specifically about it/them you like. :)

posted by curious nu to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Have you tried Triple Click? Their politics are broadly socialist/pro-labor. (Maddy is queer. It is not ad supported. It is just the three hosts who are all journalists.)
posted by rustcellar at 11:51 AM on February 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

En Rogue. (all 4)
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 11:52 AM on February 13, 2022

My only videogame podcast (mostly for lack of searching) is Insert Credit. No ads. The main hosts are (I believe) white dudes but they've been bringing on many more diverse guests recently. They are not super political but definitely progressive. It's well edited but far from polished. A bit too much Japanese console esoterica for my tastes but overall the format (6-minute quiz/debate questions) works really well.
posted by ropeladder at 12:50 PM on February 13, 2022

Waypoint Radio. It's always been by far my favourite games podcast, like by a distance. Politics have always been very left. Representation took a hit with Austin Walker leaving but they've just brought on Renata Price as the full time replacment host. It's very insightful, funny, has opened me up to a lot of critical perspectives on games, and just has a... good hang vibe? I miss Austin on it ferociously but still like it a lot.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:03 PM on February 13, 2022 [4 favorites]

(it's not really lofi but it is outsidery - there is no way in hell that pr flack would have made it on, for example)
posted by ominous_paws at 1:04 PM on February 13, 2022

No Cartridge
posted by alsoran at 1:31 PM on February 13, 2022

It's not quite my thing, but All Gamers Are Bastards is "a podcast about video games and communism." One of the hosts is non-binary.
posted by Jeanne at 6:02 PM on February 13, 2022

It's been a while since I've listened and it doesn't tick many or any of your boxes, but I remember being blown away by the 7 episodes of A Life Well Wasted when they were released. It's about video games, but sometimes just tangentially. More in line with something like This American Life or Here Be Monsters, but circling around video games, some often obscure.

Radiotopia Showcase's The Polybius Conspiracy is narrative, mixes documentary and fiction, and touches on some LGBTQ issues, if I remember, and is about a video game that likely doesn't exist but was rumored to be part of a CIA plot in an urban legend.
posted by msbrauer at 6:22 PM on February 13, 2022

The hosts are men and the topic might be a little niche, but No One Can Know About This meets all your other requirements.
posted by telegraph at 4:49 AM on February 14, 2022