Best Videogame Arguments Podcasts (2025)

1
Julien Mailland on "The Game That Never Ends: How Lawyers Shape the Videogame Industry" 1:10:25

Play Pause

9d ago1:10:25

1:10:25

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Julien Mailland, Associate Professor of Media Management, Law, and Policy at The Media School of Indiana University Bloomington, about his book, The Game That Never Ends: How Lawyers Shape the Videogame Industry. The book examines key moments, beginning in the 1970s, in which legal decisions influenced …

1
Tiia Sahrakorpi on a Use-Based History of Electricity in Finland 1:20:25

23d ago1:20:25

1:20:25

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Tiia Sahrakorpi, Visiting Professor at Weber State University, about her interesting book project, Our Land: An Oral History of Energy, which was funded by the Research Council of Finland. The project, which was rooted in oral histories in three locations in Finland, takes a use-based perspective and ex…

51
E133: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1:55:28

26d ago1:55:28

1:55:28

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is without a doubt one of the most influential video games ever made. Unlike some titles that struggled with the transition to 3D, Zelda absolutely smashed it, setting the blueprint for what successful open world level design looked like for many years to come. It introduced (or popularised) many mechanics, incl…

1
Mary Bridges on US Bankers Abroad and the Making of a Global Superpower 1:08:10

1M ago1:08:10

1:08:10

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Mary Bridges, Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, about her book, Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower. Dollars and Dominion takes an infrastructural view of ba…

1
Savannah Mandel on an Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration 1:02:35

2M ago1:02:35

1:02:35

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with space anthropologist, writer, and Virginia Tech doctoral candidate, Savannah Mandel, about her book, Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration (Chicago Review Press, 2025). The book uses history, ethnography, participant observation in policy-making, and other forms of evidence …

1
E132: Parasite Eve 1:25:52

3M ago1:25:52

1:25:52

Resident Evil changed everything. When originally released in 1996, what was once a niche genre for enthusiasts was now a blockbuster staple in every second home. All of a sudden people were craving zombies, horrifying monsters and disturbing themes. It was so popular that Square, far more known for its more traditional JRPGs, decided to throw its …

1
Matthew Wisnioski on the History of the Idea and Culture of “Innovation” in the United States 1:33:16

3M ago1:33:16

1:33:16

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Matt Wisnioski, Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech, about his new book, Every American an Innovator: How Innovation Became a Way of Life. The pair talk about how the new book connects to Matt’s earlier book, Engineers for Change; how what Matt calls “innovation expertise” fir…

1
E131: Ico 1:21:43

3M ago1:21:43

1:21:43

Director Fumeto Ueda has been hailed by many as somewhat of an auteur of the gaming landscape. A creative whose style embraces minimalist desolation. Known best for his work on Shadow of the Colossus, Ueda's directorial debut took place in 2001 with Ico, a boy-meets-girl action-adventure released for the PlayStation 2. Born with horns in a small vi…

1
Ben Snyder on Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment 59:34

3M ago59:34

59:34

In this 100th episode (!!!) of Peoples & Things, host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Benjamin H. Snyder, Associate Professor of Sociology at Williams College, about his recent book, Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment (University of California Press, 2024). Spy Plane examines how the city of Baltimore, Maryland, came to adopt a corporate…

1
Beth Linker on Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America 1:19:53

4M ago1:19:53

1:19:53

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with historian Beth Linker, Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of the History and Sociology of Science, about her recent book, Slouch: Postural Panic in Modern America (Princeton University Press, 2024). Slouch examines the history of conceptions of “…

1
E130: Vanquish 1:17:08

4M ago1:17:08

1:17:08

Third person cover based shooters were all the rage in the late 2000s. Unveiled in 2003 in Killswitch and later popularised with Gears of War, they became an essential part of most third person action games. Coming in 2010, Vanquish sought to revolutionise this paradigm by giving the player an omnidirectional slide boost to move around the battlefi…

1
Helen Thompson on Disorder and the Analysis of Contemporary Geopolitics 1:13:20

4M ago1:13:20

1:13:20

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University and co-host of the great podcast, These Times, about her approach to geopolitical analysis and the centrality of energy geopolitics in that approach. The pair start by talking about Thompson’s book, Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st C…

1
Jessica Smith on Engineering and Public Accountability in Energy Industries 1:12:56

5M ago1:12:56

1:12:56

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Jessica Smith, Professor in the Engineering, Design, and Society Department and Dean’s Fellow for Earth and Society Programs of the Colorado School of Mines, about her work on engineering and public accountability in energy and mining industries. The pair discuss Smith’s long-held interests in mining and …

1
E129: Recettear 1:17:33

5M ago1:17:33

1:17:33

Video games usually place you in the role of the plucky adventurer. You are the wizard, the warrior, or the rogue, and it's your duty (and often destiny) to save the world. On your journey, one of the most important things to do is to acquire more powerful gear to make your character stronger. But who exactly are you buying that gear from? Enter: R…

1
Lauren E. Bridges on Fantasies and Realities of Digital Transformation and the Data Center Industry 1:11:53

5M ago1:11:53

1:11:53

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Lauren Bridges, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, about her work on the political, economic, and environmental politics of big data infrastructures. They focus on some of Bridges’ work on the disconnect between the promises made to localities around digital transformati…

1
Jeremy Braddock on "Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums" 1:07:10

6M ago1:07:10

1:07:10

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Jeremy Braddock, Associate Professor of Literatures in English and Coordinator of the Media Studies Initiative at Cornell University, about his book, Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums. The book explores themes of media and technology through nine albums ma…

1
Jeffrey Lee Funk on Unicorns, Hype, and Bubbles 57:23

6M ago57:23

57:23

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with retired professor, consultant, Discovery Institute fellow, and a winner of the NTT DoCoMo Mobile Science Award, Jeffrey Lee Funk, about his recent book Unicorns, Hype, and Bubbles: A Guide to Spotting, Avoiding, and Exploiting Investment Bubbles in Tech (Harriman House, 2024). The book provides readers …

1
E128: Baldur's Gate 2:45:57

6M ago2:45:57

2:45:57

In 1998 Bioware changed the gaming landscape with Baldur’s Gate, a Dungeons and Dragons inspired adventure. Taking cues from second edition D&D and the many stories written about it, Bioware wrote a low level adventure that jammed everything they could find inside it. They attempted to copy mage spells directly from the manual, and even added in fa…

1
Eleni Kalantidou on Design, Repairability, and Cultures of Repair 57:19

7M ago57:19

57:19

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Eleni Kalantidou, Assistant Professor at the Queensland College of Art and Design, about the volume of essays, Design/Repair: Place, Practice, and Community (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023), which Eleni co-edited with Abby Mellick Lopes, Alison Gill, Guy Keulemans, and Niklavs Rubenis. The volume examines bot…

1
Aure Schrock on Politics Recoded: The Infrastructural Organizing of Code for America 1:33:09

7M ago1:33:09

1:33:09

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Aure Schrock, an interdisciplinary technology scholar and writing coach and editor at Indelible Voice, about their book, Politics Recoded: The Infrastructural Organizing of Code for America (MIT Press, 2024) Politics Recoded examines the history and culture of Code for America, an organization that, as …

1
E127: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 1:26:43

8M ago1:26:43

1:26:43

The Ace Attorney games were an insane success, far beyond what Capcom could have predicted. After 4 mainline games in the series though, it was time for something new, and creator Shu Takumi refused to do anything normal. With a desire to explore characters in a far deeper way than was possible with Ace Attorney, he decided the only way to go about…

1
Gabriella Coleman on Hackers Cultures (Plural!) 1:22:48

8M ago1:22:48

1:22:48

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor for Digital Sociology at the University of St. Gallen in St. Gallen, Switzerland, interview Gabriella Coleman, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, about her long career studying hacker cultures. Topics include how hacking has changed over time, the di…

1
Marshall Poe on the New Books Network, Technology, and the Future of Academic Communication 1:16:35

8M ago1:16:35

1:16:35

Peoples and Things host, Lee Vinsel, is joined by guest host and Peoples & Things producer, Joe Forte, Media Projects Manager with Virginia Tech Publishing, in interviewing Marshall Poe, the founder and editor of the New Books Network, the largest academic podcasting platform in the world. The trio discuss how the New Books Network came to be; how …

1
Special Episode: Mike Sacasas on the Question of the Human, and the Question of Technology, Live at the Bradley Study Center 1:20:51

8M ago1:20:51

1:20:51

This special episode features a discussion between Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and Michael Sacasas, author of The Convivial Society substack newsletter and Executive Director of the Christian Studies Center of Gainesville, Florida. In the first part, Sacasas gives a presentation - riffing on the title of Martin Heidegger’s famous essay, “The…

1
E126: Tachyon: The Fringe 1:00:35

8M ago1:00:35

1:00:35

Space Sims used to be a vibrant and well populated genre. Back in the 90s they command shelf real estate, right next to the latest and greatest RTS and Point and Click Adventure games. Coming at the tail end of this era was Tachyon: The Fringe, released in 2000 by Novalogic games, well known for their regular flight sims and the Delta Force series.…

1
Joshua Brinkman on American Farming Culture and the History of Technology 1:27:40

9M ago1:27:40

1:27:40

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Joshua Brinkman, Assistant Teaching Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at North Carolina State University, about his book, American Farming Culture and the History of Technology (Routledge, 2024). The book provides a fascinating exploration about how American farmers–contrary to their image a…

1
E125: Mailbag 6 2:54:32

9M ago2:54:32

2:54:32

With another year done and dusted, Pat and James crack open another batch of listener questions. After curveballs like Killer 7 and Deadly Premonition, these should be a breeze. Right..? On this episode, we discuss: What are the best - and worst - smelling video game levels? Can you tell us the story of how y’all met and decided to start this podca…

1
Matt Beane, "The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines" (HarperCollins, 2024) 1:26:01

9M ago1:26:01

1:26:01

As part of our informal series on artificial intelligence, Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Matt Beane, Assistant Professor of Technology Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, about his book The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in the Age of Intelligent Machines (HarperCollins, 2024). Beane outlines the fascin…

1
Benjamin J. Shestakofsky on How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality 1:09:53

10M ago1:09:53

1:09:53

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Benjamin Shestakofsky about his book, Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality (U California Press, 2024). Shestakofsky is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is affiliated with AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture …

1
Anthony Kwame Harrison on Cassette Tapes and Hip Hop Culture 1:56:32

10M ago1:56:32

1:56:32

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Kwame Harrison, Alumni Distinguished Professor and Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech. Harrison records and performs under the moniker “Mad Squirrel” and has co-founded two groups—the San-Francisco-based Forest Fires Collective and Washington DC’s The Acorns—as well as releasing various solo projec…

1
Salem Elzway and Jason Resnikoff on Automation 1:19:24

11M ago1:19:24

1:19:24

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Salem Elzway, postdoctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at University of Southern California, and Jason Resnikoff, assistant professor of contemporary history at the University of Groningen, about the history of automation. The discussion takes as its launching point an essay Elzwa…

1
Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age 1:14:03

11M ago1:14:03

1:14:03

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Meryl Alper, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, about her recent book, Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2023). In addition to being a professor, Alper is also an educational researcher who has worked over the past 20 year…

1
Pamela O. Long on the Long, Long, Long History of Technology 1:09:40

12M ago1:09:40

1:09:40

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with MacArthur “Genius Prize” winning historian Pamela Long about her long career writing about the history of ancient and Medieval technologies. The pair use Long’s forthcoming book, Technology in Mediterranean and European Lands, 600-1600 (Johns Hopkins UP, 2025), as a launching point but also cover her pr…

1
Emily M. Bender on AI Hype 1:09:58

1y ago1:09:58

1:09:58

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Emily Bender, Professor of Linguistics, Director of the Masters of Science in Computational Linguistics program, and Director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at University of Washington, about her work on artificial intelligence criticism. Bender is also an adjunct professor in the School of C…

1
E124: Crysis 1:15:50

1y ago1:15:50

1:15:50

But can it run Crysis? This was the motto that surrounded every single PC build for literal years after the release of the game in 2007. Crytek were not satisfied with what they had achieved with Far Cry in 2004, and decided to push graphical hardware to its absolute limits with their brand new and shiny game. And boy, did they succeed, with a poor…

1
Raquel Velho on Disability, Infrastructure, and London's Public Transport System 1:26:08

1y ago1:26:08

1:26:08

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Raquel Velho, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, about her recent book, Hacking the Underground: Disability, Infrastructure, and London's Public Transport System (U Washington Press, 2023). Hacking the Underground provides a fascinating ethnographic …

1
Cyrus Mody on the Importance of Square (as in NOT COOL) Scientists and Engineers 1:09:56

1y ago1:09:56

1:09:56

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Cyrus Mody, Professor in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation and Director of the STS Program at Maastricht University, about his book, The Squares: US Physical and Engineering Scientists in the Long 1970s (MIT Press, 2022). Many narratives about contemporary technologies, especially digital…

1
Podcast 236: Geng Kubur Interview Special 1:29:25

1y ago1:29:25

1:29:25

This week’s podcast is a little different. To mark the arrival of Gavin’s film Geng Kubur on Netflix at the end of August 2024, we teamed up with the Geeks in Malaysia podcast for a special crossover episode! In this special podcast Nick and Amelia (from Geeks In Malaysia) and I interview some of the cast and crew of the movie including: Gavin Yap …

1
Benjamin C. Waterhouse on "One Day I'll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion That Conquered America" 1:23:35

1y ago1:23:35

1:23:35

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Benjamin Waterhouse, full-as-full-can- be Professor of History at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about his book, One Day I’ll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion that Conquered America (Norton, 2024). The book examines how the ideal of self-employment became so prominent in the United St…

1
Podcast 235: Deadpool And Wolverine 41:30

1y ago41:30

41:30

Only one man…ok two men could get us to record a podcast so soon after the last one, DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE! We weren’t going to miss the chance to talk X-Men, the return of Hugh Jackman, how was Wolverine’s hair and suit, whether Deadpool talked too much and of course share our thoughts on all references and cameos throughout the movie. Join us as…