On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by two popular political streamers, MikeFromPA and Denims, to discuss how the far-right social media landscape created and ultimately destroyed Charlie Kirk. How do content creation ecosystems on the right and left differ, and why does the political right uplift – and fund – extreme voices like Kirk while the political left distances itself from outspokenly leftist figures like Hasan Piker, despite their success? Why is mainstream media trying to convince us that we should feel bad that someone who spent their life regularly advocating for violence against marginalized groups met a violent end? And how, generally, can we combat a right-wing online apparatus rooted in bad faith, that will condemn violence out of one side of its mouth and then cry for vengeance from the other? And finally, the most important (listener-submitted) question: Should the United States break up?

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, & special guests MikeFromPA and Denims

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

- Subscribe to Aftermath!

About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by former Polygon writers Ryan Gilliam and Cass Marshall, who just launched a new worker-owned video game website, Rogue. It’s like Aftermath, but Polygonier. We ask them how the project came together, how things are going so far, and what their pie-in-the-sky goals are for the future. Then, after extolling the virtues of structures that don’t force us to always heap attention on the big game of the week, we heap attention on the big game of the week: Silksong. It’s finally out, and as expected, it’s more Hollow Knight! In other words, it’s good, but also very reminiscent of the first game in structure and feel. This puts it somewhat at odds with other Event Releases like Elden Ring, which garnered similar attention to curious non-fans at launch, but managed to offer them something legitimately new compared to Dark Souls. Will the un-Knighted masses bounce off this one, or will they find something to love despite a lack of attachment to the original? And as the video game industry continues to fragment, how many more all-consuming launches like this do we have in us? Finally, we invent a cool uncle who plays Warframe (Warfruncle).

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, & special guests Ryan Gilliam and Cass Marshall

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

- Subscribe to Aftermath!

About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke – remember him? – are joined by Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft to discuss the decision to delay Demonschool, a very promising-looking indie tactics RPG, from September to November in light of Silksong’s surprise release announcement. While Demonschool’s publisher, rather than development team, ultimately made the call, they’re far from alone in rolling out the red carpet for the long-awaited indie darling and then sprinting full force in the opposite direction. Will Silksong really suck all the air out of the room, though? Or are developers overreacting? Then we talk about two pieces of news in what has proven to be a banner week for unions: IGN workers, worn down after multiple rounds of layoffs, have resolved to do their jobs – and no more – for the next six months. Meanwhile, the hundreds-strong dev team behind Diablo has formed a union of their own, and they’re hoping to secure layoff and AI protections, as well as pay equity. Finally, we reminisce about the last time we dug a hole.

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, & special guest Brandon Sheffield

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

- Subscribe to Aftermath!

About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.