Enough has changed for me to do one of my semi-regular gaming podcasts wrap-up.  In no real order:

Player One Podcast (Up to Episode 250). Hosts: Greg Sewart, Phil Theobald, Chris Johnston. http://www.playeronepodcast.com/ 5/5

This is three gaming journalists who most notably came up in the "good EGM" era.  Each of them have since gone into gaming development.  Theobald still freelances, most notably for US Nintendo Power.  They keep up on the news fairly well, play a good range of games (usually) and have a good sense of humor. Theobald is particularly funny, Sewart has some droll Canadian sensibilities and CJ is, well he edits the show (kinda).  The best part of the podcast is that it is not too unwieldy in length (usually 60-90 minutes), the guys know each other well (some of them have roomed together) and they have a long history of playing games so their insights are usually pretty fair.

The Hotspot Host: Tom Magrino.  2/5

This is a podcast that has gone to hell, fast. With the exceptions of the contributions of Tom McShea and Kevin Van Ord (and very rarely Justin Calvert) the podcast has devolved into some pretty dull stuff this year.  Most of the time they have the new hires of Gamespot on, and their inexperience with games is appaling.  Why would anyone care what they have to say?  Carolyn (one of the new staff) tries her best, but her personality doesn't come through on the podcast.  Magrino, ostensibly a news staffer, often admits that he doesn't care about accuracy.  I used to listen every week, now I check the guest list before downloading. Brendan Sinclair no longer hosts.

The Hotspot UK. Host: Who Knows. 0/5

Good luck finding this on their site incidentally. This is the UK version of the The Hotspot. It is very stilted, long-winded and often inaccurate.  When they do finally get around to what they have been playing (usually at the end of the show) they reveal themselves to be nothing but iOS gamers.  Notably, when Guy Cocker is on, the show is certainly worth downloading. Yes, that is his real name.

Retronauts Live by 1UP Host: Jeremy Parish. 0/5

The theme of this podcast is that they take a retro game, talk about it for a while and then take live calls to answer questions about the games.  Three things are wrong with this podcast. 1. All the hosts seem greatly depressed and hate everything about their lives including their work and gaming. 2. They very rarely give any insight into the games they discuss. 3. They are complete dicks to the people who call them.  This podcast is a rambling and often infuriating listen.

Giantbombcast by giantbomb.com Host: Ryan Davies, with Vinny Carravella, Jeff Gerstmann, Brad Shoemacher and guest Ryan Kleppick (I think I spelt each of their names wrong). 4/5

As with the Player One Podcast the best part of this show is that the hosts all seem to know each other extremely well and have a lot of fun talking with each other.  Each of them have very different tastes in gaming and are able to articulate their impressions on a high level.  They have stepped back a little from the off-topic stuff, which is appreciated. Kleppick is also a good addition, he is a hard-ass about accuracy, particularly on the news.  The guys also give time to PC gaming, which no other podcast does.  Fortunately, they have dropped the boring 20 minutes of the show where they read WiiWare and DSiWare game descriptions.

8-4 Play Podcast by 8-4 Productions. Host: Mark MacDonald with Hiroko Minamoto, John Ricciardi. 5/5

A must-listen to podcast for Japanese gaming enthusiasts. McDonald and Ricciardi are old EGM writers who now, with the rest of the staff of 8-4, localize Japanese games into english (including some of your favorites, like Baiten Kaitos and Shadows of the Damned). Often funny, always informative.  The show is well paced and keep your interest.

The Game Informer Show by GameInformer.com. Host: Matt Helgeson 3/5

The podcast has plodded along for a while now.  They rarely do anything interesting, but they don't get much wrong either.  Content quality varies broadly depending on who appears.  If Tim Turi is on, get ready to scream. If someone like Reiner is on, then you'll learn something.  They often will give the entire show over to deveolper interviews, which are always extremely boring  with lots of, "we're not talking about that right now" and softball questions with no follow-ups other than a "that's cool".

The Eurogamer.net Podcast by Eurogamer.com Host: Tom Champion, with Tom Bramwell and Oli Welsh. 4/5

Tom Champion is a terrible host, but the content from Oli Welsh and Tom Bramwell make this a must-listen to anyway. Sadly, Ellie Gibson is no longer on, and since her departure the show has gone from a light-hearted formulaic format to a one or two issue discussion.  This new format is just as, if not more engaging.  The guests will provide a UK perspective on gaming that is interesting for foreign listeners.  When they have PR or developers on they ask tough questions that will make you wince.  Listen to them talk to Capcom PR or the Brink developers for a good example.

The Pressroom Podcast by thevgpress.com Host: Yodariquo, Dvader, Fooz and Darth Homer (No Score)

Since I edit this one, I can't really score it.  When you can get two of the hosts together it's a good listen, three even better. Four, it's the best.  Clearly none of these guys are doing this for a living, but they are passionate and knowledgable about gaming.  Some of the post-show content borders on the surreal, and the best shows are usually absolute train wrecks.  I do like that they will often spend time on games from anywhere from 1 week to 10 years old, no other podcast does that.

Trigames.net Podcast by Trigames.com Hosst: Austin and Al. 4/5

This is a podcast that has had it's ups and downs, with inconsistent scheduling, and posting old content weeks late but lately it is back in good form.  Austin and Al are both very thoughtful and long-term gamers who, like The Pressroom, clearly are not getting paid to do what they do (which is a good thing). Now that they are back to their two-man format the show is better.  Al always gives great details about the games he plays and honest opinions on the news.  Austin is a great thinker and can dissect goings on in the industry as well as anyone else.

Warning A Huge Podcast by wahp.jp Hosts: Shidoshi, Nick Rox and Casey Loe 5/5

Speaking of trainwrecks. This is a Japanese gaming focused podcast from the guys who used to write for Play, and before that GameFan.  These are three of the most articulate thinkers in gaming.  Nick Rox (Nick Debarre) is an exquisite writer (now working for Platinum Games) but is prone to hyperbole (and is sometimes inaccurate). Shidoshi has a great voice and does well hosting.  Casey Loe is the ultimate cool.  Okay, so now I'm the one being hyperbolic. These guys obviously have a great rapport and their knowledge on Japanese gaming is encyclopedic.  The best intro and interstitals in podcasting as well.  Warning though, this is a huge podcast indeed, and the guys will not think twice about burning four hours on a show.

Hey, thevgpress coves PC games too!

Great write up, but clearly "Retronauts Live" sounds like it should be the most entertaining!

Great work.  Thanks for this.  I only listen to the VGP ones, and not even all of those, but I will try to listen to more of them

aspro said:

I dare you to listen to this one:

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcast.the1upnetwork.com/flat/Retronauts/R060311.mp3

Challenge accepted.

Aproximate self-prommotion:

How would you rate these Aspro?

Britcast.

Americast.

6 hours podcasts FTW.

aspro said:

It's actually a pretty good length, about 90 minutes.

I'm over an hour into it now, I like it. Good conversationalists and balanced discussion. 3/5.

But those file sizes I won;t be downloading it again.  I'll subscribe to it and keep an eye on their file sizes.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for that.

It was on a piece of paper in front of me.

Hope some asshat comment won't lose Aspro to us, I know I have heard some asshat stuff here. But I get mad for a minute then its over.