Podcast
Total Playtime
Hosted by Total Playtime · EN
Total Playtime is a podcast about videogames, mostly, hosted by games industry veterans Alice Bell, Nate Crowley and Jon Hicks. Join them for discussion of the latest and most interesting PC and indie games, grumbles about the state of games media, and impromptu quizzes dredged from the unknowable depths of Nate's brain. Public episodes are released every two weeks, and if you support us on Patreon you'll get weekly episodes. Send us questions, ideas and feedback at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com, and follow us on BlueSky if you like.
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16episodes
Episodes
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Episode 34: The Hot Ones
1w ago00:48:31Tap to summarizeThis week Alice and I gathered in hot rooms to have hot takes on the main news stories of the week, chiefly the end of Destiny (and perhaps the employment of many of its developers) and the start of the Disco Elysium sequels. We also attempted to understand the Warhammer Skulls Showcase without Nate to guide us, which didn't get very far but we are quite taken with playing as Skaven.We've also been playing some games, reading some books, and watching daft videos on the internet, all of which we have curated for our discerning audience. You can get still more of this rare insight by backing the show on Patreon (or subscribing to Jank) which gets you two extra episodes a month, and means you join the hallowed ranks of those who make this podcast happen. If you're one of them, thanks: we got this hot for you.Additional thanks to God Ribbon for the music, Marsh Davies for the artwork and Alix Attenborough for the editing. Please send things that aren't Disco Elysium takes to totalplaytimepod@gmail.com.Links!Penny Arcade was problematic because of the dickwolves. Bungie had this comic hanging in their lobby when Jonty visited in, god, 2013. Fond Destiny 2 memories by Nathan Brown and Dom Peppiatt. Rob Fahey on service games ending and The Final Shape. People are not okay about Zero Parades. Nic's review on Jank. Nate explained Warhammer for our Patrons last year. The hench chicken is in Project Windless. Brendy's review of My Summer Car. Jonty's Jank post about Mon Bazou.Games!Destiny 2, Disco Elysium, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, Esoteric Ebb, Times and Galaxy. Mon Bazou. My Summer Car.Recommendations!The Princess Bride, Yesteryear, Auto Parts City.
Transcribe →Re-Run: Let's Fix This With Product Placement
3w ago01:01:41Tap to summarizeI regret to say that we were unable to record a regular news episode this week. Everybody was away or ill or both, with the exception of Brendy who is a new parent and thus is going to be preoccupied, exhausted and/or covered in body excretions for the forseeable future.To tide our regular listeners over, we are resurrecting a former Patreon-exclusive episode: Episode Q, which previously aired in October 2025. In it, Alice and I are once again bedeviled by Games Satan, and compelled to save a series of well-known videogame franchises from oblivion thanks to financial support driven by product placement. The twist is that Nate Games Satan chose the products, which lead to some previously unforseen partnerships between triple-A videogame brands and small-to-mid-size service companies in the West Midlands.There is no way this sort of analysis would exist without the backing of our Patreon supporters, to whom we extend our gracious thanks. You can join them over on Patreon to unlock another year's worth of this sort of thing. Further thanks to Marsh Davies for the artwork, God Ribbon for the music and Alix Attenborough for the editing. Comments, questions, branding decks and spicy mashed potato recipes are all welcomed at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com; Alix recommends adding blended curry leaf, garlic, chilli flakes and coriander.Patreon backers will be blessed with a new episode next week. For everybody else, we'll be back regarding the news on the 28th, shortly before Saint Geoff blesses us all with a bunch of new trailers at not-E3 in June.Games!Minecraft, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Dark Souls, Mass Effect, Yakuza 0, Fallout New Vegas, Team Fortress 2.Links!Nate is the Honda City with optional Motocampo and Alice is the Honda Beat.Recommendations!The Mitchells Vs The Machines, The Tour De France: A Tale In Hotels, and The Puzzle Wood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 34: Five or Six ETs Could Tear Joe Rogan Apart
May 100:49:53Tap to summarizeIt’s an emergency episode this week: both Alice and Brendy were away, so I had to dial in from Vegas to assist Nate in judgement of the main news events. This lead to some sub-optimal audio and a diminished runtime, for which I can only beg your forgiveness. Other errors include misrepresenting how mobile game advertising works and incorrectly saying that Frank Oz puppeteered ET, when in fact ET was played by three different actors. Just a shining example of what happens without Alice there to organise things, really, although we do nail the segues so we’ve got that going for us. You can listen to the episode right here, or find it on your podcasting platform of choice.iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWAcast: https://shows.acast.com/total-playtimeThanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen, to Marsh Davies for our art, God Ribbon for our music and Alix Attenborough for our editing. Send us your preferred endings and ET at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Enjoy the benefits of our partnership with jank.cool. If you like the podcast, please leave us a positive review on your podcast platform of choice: it helps other people discover it,and think how much fun they’ll have.Links!Barry Manilow can be seen at the Westgate every month this year. Hades 2 changed the ending and that’s fine actually because mythology. Microsoft Gaming is Xbox again. Game Pass Ultimate is a bit cheaper and won’t have new Calls of Duty in it. Jonty wrote about Samson for Jank. Boiling Point’s patch notes are rightly famous. The NYT on Dwarf Fortress. Ea-nāṣir achieved immortality. Games!Horizon: Zero Dawn. Mass Effect 3. Turns out somebody made a game based on bad mobile game ads but not in the way I thought. Dwarf Fortress on Steam. Recommendations!Make some blood bread and watch One Battle After Another. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 33: Wee Butt Mode
Apr 1601:13:49Tap to summarizeIn a rare treat this week’s episode is not talking about layoffs, but I contrived to introduce them as additional context for Pete Hines being savagely critical of what happened to Bethesda, so the narrative thread is maintained. Otherwise this is quite a good-natured look at the latest PC gaming happenings, including what turned out to be some extremely inaccurate guesses at what hackers had stolen from Rockstar, and what will doubtless prove to be extremely inaccurate guesses at what’s in Epic’s Disney-character extraction shooter.Other highlights this week include Brendy driving up some hills and becoming troubled by them, Nate establishing himself as our resident Jeff Kaplan correspondent, and the ease with which you can Mandela Event yourself into believing just about any idiotic Gamergate-y conspiracy theory is a real thing because they’re all so ridiculous as to be plausible. Plus: troublesome dogs, IRL Pope beef, some very ill-advised rake-stepping on the topic of classic Square Enix games and our judgement of three recently-released videogames, which is a lot rarer than it should be given that’s what the podcast is supposed to be about. We make no promises as to if this will continue. Thanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen. You can join them to unlock more episodes at https://www.patreon.com/c/TotalPlaytimePodcast. Thanks also to Marsh Davies for our art, God Ribbon for our music and Alix Attenborough for our editing. Tell us why rental cars don’t have automatic gearboxes and why Jonty and Nate are wrong about Kingdom Hearts at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Enjoy the benefits of our partnership with jank.cool. If you like the podcast, please leave us a positive review on your podcast platform of choice: it helps other people discover it, and think how much fun they’ll have.Links!Jeff Kaplan revealed that Blizzard did not amend the size of Tracer’s butt. Rockstar was hacked again but didn’t even care, and since we recorded the episode it was revealed that the data was just proof of how much money it makes from GTA Online, the leaking of which actually caused Take Two’s share price to increase so yeah that all checks out. GTA 6 is coming out on 19th November FYI. There was some IRL Avignon pope beef. Pete Hines has some opinions about what happened to Bethesda, which is not entirely surprising. Bloomberg reported that Epic is making an extraction shooter with Disney characters. Jeremy Peel talked to the Samson devs. Games!Jeff Kaplan’s new game is The Legend of California. Kingdom Hearts 4 is coming. Tlatoani: Aztec Cities. Samson. Moves Of The Diamond Hand. Exit 8. Recommendations!Exit 8, War Machine, Takdaneh Natural Sour Cherry Juice, Primal and Rosie Cheeks Slime Shop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 32: Mr Beast Big Naturals
Apr 300:59:08Tap to summarizeThis week we have fun (for a given value of fun) discussing Epic's mass layoffs, Sony's dynamic price testing, and the difficulty in reviewing Crimson Desert, maybe. One of these results on an extended discussion of the world's favourite glassy-eyed YouTuber. Please note, Jimmy, that the title is a lighthearted joke; I beg, do not turn your eye of Sauron upon us. Plus! Brendy gets unaccountably upset at us for saying things about mining but in a way that sort of implies we find mining sexually arousing. He genuinely seemed upset during recording as well. I don't think it was a bit. iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067Acast: https://shows.acast.com/total-playtimeThanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen, and to Marsh Davies for our art and God Ribbon for our music. Send in what your regional time for woodlice is to totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Make the most of our partnership by viewing Jank.cool.Links!Epic shitcanned a thousand people, and the Fortnite team are a bit like 'WELP'. Chet Falizsek went on a tear about it. Rumours abound that PlayStation are testing dynamic pricing. Now maybe spotted in the wild? Crimson Desert for some reason became the latest saviour of single player games (I think off the strength of one cool trailer maybe??) and then was distinctly mid. Paul Tassi wrote about how the review build was significantly different to the retail version.Games!Reanimal, Slay The Spire 2, and Hardspace Shipbreaker (and Edwin did write an article about the unionisation aspects!)Recommendations!The UK series of Last One Laughing, the sci-fi movie Project Hail Mary, and to look up and attend any of your local amateur dramatics societies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 31: Stoatal Playtime; Our DLSS 5 Is ON
Mar 1901:00:06Tap to summarizeThis week we bring you an accidentally AI-themed extravaganza, as Krafton lost their Unknown Worlds/Subnautica 2 lawsuit for the funniest reason possible: they asked ChatGPT what to do. But just before that, Nvidia unveiled their new Super Sampling and its more like Super SLOP, am I right? Many came out to mock the TikTok-beauty-filterfication of Grace from Resi Requiem. And just before that, Jeff Kaplan, formerly Jeff from the Overwatch team (he's always the Queen from the Overwatch team of our hearts) dealt with some residual C-suit trauma by going on a podcast. Not this one, though. Maybe one day.You can listen to the episode right here, or find it in your podcasting app of choice:iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067Acast: https://shows.acast.com/total-playtimeThanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen, and to Marsh Davies for our art, Alix Attenborough for our editing, and God Ribbon for our music. Do not email me about Disco Elysium at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Make the most of our partnership by viewing Jank.cool.Links!ARC Raiders is replacing some of the genAI, and Digital Foundry saw Nvidia's DLSS5 and thought it was great, but everyone else made fun of it. Nvidia's CEO says we're all wrong; Kotaku asked a bunch of devs and they all hate it too. The Subnautica 2 lawsuit got weird (apparently it's coming out in May now, a decision Brendy describes as 'SUSPICIOUSLY fast'), Jeff Kaplan had a bad time.Games!Nate clamped his own mouth shut rather than talk about AoEII again, but Brendy has been playing Slay The Spire 2, and Alice has been playing Esoteric Ebb! They wrote about them on a website. Alice also got to play the demo for the upcoming Darkside Detective game, Backside of the Moon. She was very excited.Recommendations!1997 Australian comedy The Castle, Death Rider by Rhuairidh James, and commissioning an independent artist (specifically, this one) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 30: The Phil Spencer Xbox Explosion
Mar 501:01:07Tap to summarizeIt’s a quiet one this week, as Alice is away doing mysterious things and Nate is away on a secret mission which you’ll have to hear about in two weeks’ time. It thus falls to Jonty and Brendy to ruminate on Xbox without Phil Spencer, games journalism without humans, and deciding which Pokémon starter would be the best restaurant starter. You can listen to the episode right here, or find it in your podcasting app of choice:iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067Thanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen, and to Marsh Davies for our art and God Ribbon for our music. Submit your Pokémon recipes at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Make the most of our partnership by viewing Jank.cool.Links!Phil Spencer left Xbox, along with Sarah Bond. Everybody except Brendy regards him as a lovely bloke who knew a lot about games. The new boss is a creation of pure business and maybe that’s for the best. Metacritic pulled the Videogamer’s Resi Requiem review for being written by AI after nearly all the staff were laid off. Clint Hocking has left Ubisoft again. We would only eat one of the new Pokémon starters. Games!The tooth-cleaning game Jonty couldn't remember was Shark Dentist. Brendy loves Airframe Ultra; you may also consider Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Deathgrip. The other games we played were The Ratline, Beyond Words, Word Play and Resident Evil Requiem. Marathon is out today so you can find out yourself if Jonty’s just really bad at it.Recommendations!Werner Herzog’s Instagram and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 29: Extremely Online Beef People
Feb 1901:08:05Tap to summarizeThis week it's a conspiracy theory special, as Alice develops increasingly outlandish theories about the forces and decisions that shape the games industry, the pharmaceutical industy and the world, and Jonty and Brendy try and talk her down. Plus, layoffs again, pondering the ideological opposite of Rivers Cuomo, why the AI era is dumb and stupid, and a truly inspired Alien: Isolation mod idea.You can download the podcast right here, or find it in your podcasting apps:iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067Thanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen (join them here!) and to Marsh Davies for our art and God Ribbon for our music. Submit to the Sausage Mailbag at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Make the most of our partnership by viewing Jank.cool.Links!AI is eating all the RAM. Component shortages are coming for routers. If you want to read 10,000 words about OpenAI being a scam then Ed Z has you covered. Rob Fahey on how consoles left families behind. Lots of Highguard devs got laid off. Do not post on X. Some industry lessons from the Highguard launch, one of which is that the world can change a lot over the course of a game's development. There are some wildly disparate voice actors in Mewgenics and Edmund McMillen swears that's intentional. He also went on Post Games.Games!Mewgenics. Super Meat Boy. Relooted. South of Midnight.Recommendations!Glen Baxter. This game engine is from the 90s. Columbo is on Channel 5 in the UK and a number of episodes are up on YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →Episode 28: Bugpunk
Feb 501:03:44Tap to summarizeIt was claimed that Sydney Sweeney was excited about the Split Fiction movie, and that’s an excuse for Alice to be absolutely livid about the Split Fiction game, so please strap in for ten uninterrupted minutes of her choking on her own bile. After that, we manage to find time to discuss the nature of Morrowind, people choosing not to go to GDC, Highguard’s doomed pact with Geoff Keighley, the most Alan Partridge thing Alice has ever said, and more.You can download the podcast right here, or find it in your podcasting apps:iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKWRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067Acast: https://shows.acast.com/total-playtimeThanks to all our current Patreons for making the podcast happen, and to Marsh Davies for our art and God Ribbon for our music. Share your recommendations of games and shrimp at totalplaytimepod@gmail.com. Make the most of our partnership by viewing Jank.cool and perhaps joining the Discord.Links!Syd is not actually hype about the Split Fiction script. Bruce Nesmith reckons Morrowind doesn’t hold up. Nate never visited the Crab Palace. Lots of people said they’re skipping GDC this year but the organisers say it’s fine. Highguard’s debut went badly which the dev considers “risky in hindsight”, although they’re trying hard and the 5v5 mode is now permanent. Please enjoy MerritK’s post in the Jank newsletter, and the rest of Jank.cool come to that. Iron Lung is in cinemas now. Brendy reviewed TR49. Games!Split Fiction. The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. Highguard is free. Everything Is Crab. TR49. Recommendations!Moldovan Rara Neagra, Shitstorm by Fernando Sdrigotti, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Andycruns on BlueSky. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →FREE TO ALL: Text Adventure: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Feb 301:33:46Tap to summarizeThis episode was previously exclusive to our Patreon backers, but we're making it available to everybody to show what you're missing behind the paywall. You can get access to more Text Adventure plus a year of other subscriber episodes, at patreon.com/TotalPlaytimePodcast.Text Adventure is our videogame book club, in which we and a guest read a videogame novelisation and try very hard to like it. In this episode we are joined by Johnny Chiodini to read Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, which turns out to be story about a neocon Alan Partridge who's totally devoid of emotional intelligence and incredibly bad at stealth. Which is quite close to how we played Splinter Cell but not, we suspect, the outcome they were aiming for for. Music by God Ribbon, art by Marsh Davies and our entire existence care of our Patreon backers. Please consider joining them and enabling us to continue our quest to find a games book that isn't absolutely terrible.Games!You can still buy the first Splinter Cell game, but the remake is out soon(ish)LinksThis is the book most of us read and this is the one Nate read.Recommendations!Going to the charity shops in the most fancy area available to you, London Centric's snail farmer mafioso article, thermal instant cameras, and the Realms Unknown podcast which has featured our own Nate! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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