Some thoughts on the Halo remake, then almost an hour of total nonsense that we will never, ever speak of again.

This week's music is from the Halo: Combat Evolved by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnell.

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How many ideas get saved from the original game when you're making a sequel? Does it cost more money to make a follow-up? How do you make sure an indie sequel doesn't vanish without a trace?

Our returning guest Jay Baylis answers these questions while discussing his next game with Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts 2002.

This week's music is from the Cassette Beasts soundtrack by Joel Baylis.

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Stepping outside our 2000s comfort zone, this week we're sharing our two top 10 lists from 1997 in the first of a new quadrilogy of pods. Expect 1998, 1999 and 2000 episodes in the coming months.

This week's music is from The Curse of Monkey Island soundtrack by Michael Land.

You can get us, as ever, at backpagegames@gmail.com.

Videos referenced in this week's episode: the German bloke touring E3 in Atlanta, Howard Lincoln talking about Rare, Nintendo's Space World, Games World's segment from the Sega booth at E3 1997 and B-roll of the games shown at Space World.

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What if IO Interactive made an Austin Powers game? Which game has been called overrated and underrated so many times that it's now just 'rated'? And why do some big games only get 1-page reviews in magazines?

All that and more as we melt to death in the endless UK heatwave.

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Our monthly attempt to make a normal video games podcast.

Games played this week: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Duskfade, Super Scram Kitty, Dimhaven - The Lost Source, Virtue and a Sledgehammer (mistakenly referred to by Samuel multiple times as 'Virtue is a Sledgehammer', the buffoon).

Here's the thread on naming games by Hannah Flynn, as discussed at the end of this episode.

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The worst format in podcasting is back, fresh from the Castle Island Backrooms. This time, we've got even more moral conundrums for Judge Castle to figure out.

Find the image referenced in this episode here.

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Our irregular GTA series reaches its finale with the most recent game in the series: 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5. From the heists to the torture mission, what holds up well in 2026?

This week's music is from the GTA 5 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

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10 categories, 30 picks – time for another draft, this time about first-person shooters and related games. Vote for the winner here. We'll update this post with who picked what later today.

These are the 10 categories:

1. Single-player shooter
2. Multiplayer shooter
3. Sim (including immersive sim)
4. Game with emphasis on movement or platforming
5. Narrative or horror game
6. Game from the last 5 years
7. RPG
8. Free pick
9. Wild card (has to be below 80 on Metacritic)
10. Game with notable first-person animations (either involving your hands or the faces of other characters)

This is the Deus Ex: Invisible War-like game Jeremy referenced during this episode.

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