Play, Watch, Listen: Recent Episodes
Alanah Pearce
Join Alanah Pearce (game writer), Troy Baker (voice actor), Mike Bithell (game director), and Austin Wintory (game composer) as they talk about all the games, movies, TV and 'whatever else' that took their interest that week, from four unique perspectives in the games industry.
This week, Alanah, Mike, and Austin sat down to chat to Tonda Ros - the director of Blue Prince. Apologies for Tonda's echo!
This week, Mike, Alanah, and Austin chat to co-founder of Stoic, the creators of The Banner Saga and, more recently, Towerborne!
This week, Alanah and Mike start out by talking about the lay-offs across WB Games, then jump into talking about Microsoft's newly announced AI "Muse", and then we - finally - get Alanah's thoughts on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
This week, Austin and Alanah sit down to talk to Mike Laidlaw, the game director of Dragon Age: Origins who most recently started his own studio and make ETERNAL STRANDS. Which Austin also worked on, because of course he did. He cannot be contained.
Apologies for the delay here - the audio file was corrupted! This week, Mike and Alanah are joined by Strange Scaffold's Xalavier Nelson Jr to talk about how the studio makes so many high quality games, and what it really means to be a good game director.
After a break due to the LA fires - which we talk about to begin with here - we chat about a recent 200-page document called "The State of Video Games in 2025" from Matthew Ball. If you'd like links to the charities we mentioned, please check those out on the YouTube version of the podcast!
Alanah left her job at Sony, and Mike got in trouble for saying something on Bluesky. We discuss the state of the games industry now that it's December 2024, and the notion that "indies will save" everything.
We're back from a brief hiatus! Immediately discussing: should Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree be nominated for GOTY even though it's a DLC? Also: Mike announced another video game!
This week, AUSTIN TURNS 40 (technically over a week ago at the time of publishing). So, we indulge him with almost an entire episode about Star Wars (Outlaws) and video game bugs.
This week, Alanah, Austin, and Mike discuss the economic state of the games industry and if game prices need to go from $60 to $70.
After a month off, we have returned to bring you TOP QUALITY VIDEO GAME CONTENT! But mostly, a lot of us talking about the TV show The Expanse. And Sex in the City?
Austin, Mike, and Alanah chat about Austin's demanding freelance schedule, the GamePass price increase (and GamePass' impact as a whole), and the Halifax Harbor Explosion. Note: almost all details of said Halifax explosion are, indeed, incorrect.
This week we talk about Summer Game Fest and, because we never stay on topic, music licensing! Also featuring Rahul.
This episode features journalist Nathan Grayson chatting to Mike and Alanah about the state of games journalism (and that side of the industry) in 2024. This comes after IGN announced multiple aquisitions.
This week, Alanah and Austin chat to one of the creators of the Fallout franchise, Tim Cain, all about the Fallout TV show. Includes spoilers.
This week, we talk to Abubakar Salim about his transition from actor to full-blown game director. How did he do it!?
This week, Mike and Alanah chat about GDC, LinkedIn, business cards, and give great life advice.
This week Mike and Alanah chat about the continued lay-offs impacting the games industry.
It's an Austin and Alanah special, and we actually talk about video games the WHOLE TIME!? This week, we talk about games we wish we could play again, and games that fundamentally 'change' however many hours in.
Apologies for the weird audio mix here. Regardless, this week we talk about Society of the Snow (a little), and then delve into the world of AI and capitalism. Again. Oh no.
This is publishing a little later than planned because of internet issues, but this week we talk about Cunk on Earth, game direction, and more! Thanks for another year of listening to Play, Watch, Listen, everyone!
You can't talk about good games this year without also talking about lay-offs, so hey, let's do both!
This week, Austin and Alanah chat to Rahul (actor) and Andy (composer and 1/2 of the Newton Brothers) about their work on The Fall of the House of Usher! Also, Stray Gods gets nominated for a Grammy, and the F1 Grand Prix debuts in Vegas. Apologies for the audio levels.
We're back! This week Austin chats about Jacob Collier - apparently the best musician alive - and then Alanah asks Mike and special guest Rami Ismail all about the Unity drama.
This week, Mike and Alanah discuss some of the responses to Baldur's Gate 3's exceptional quality.
We have our first ever guest! Summerfall Games' Liam Esler joins Alanah and Austin to talk about Taylor Swift's enormous Eras Tour, plus, of course, the launch of Stray Gods.
This week, Alanah, Mike, and Austin are back to chat about Stray Gods, plus a little bit of Barbie and Oppenheimer at the very end.
This week, we talk about Apple's new Vision Pro and how it might assist with each of our vocations, as well as AI, again. Turns out it's still relevant. Who'd have thought?
This week (technically last week, the audio file just got stuck in processing and I didn't realise), Austin, Alanah, and Mike discuss The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and if players can be prevented from over-thinking puzzles.
We're back from a month off! And this week, we catch up on Bithell Games' latest release - Tron: Identity. Then Austin (and his dog Canvas) join to catch us up on a game he and Troy have been hard at work on, called Stray Gods. Turns out both games excell in player choice. Neat. Did I mention Canvas?
This week, Alanah and Mike talk about what makes Zelda's recent physics so impressive, E3's cancellation, and the latest from Bithell Games - Tron: Identity!
This week, Alanah and Mike aggressively interrogate Troy about his experience playing Joel in The Last of Us (spoilers).
Alanah and Mike talk about DICE, and how alcohol is often encouraged at games industry events (but probably shouldn't be), plus why Rocksteady may have gone from making the Arkham series to making a game like Suicide Squad.
This week, Alanah and Austin talk about The Grammys, and why/how Assassin's Creed: Valhalla won while games like Elden Ring and God of War were not nominated.
This week, all four of the Play, Watch, Listen horsemen are together to discuss the third episode of HBO's The Last of Us series. There are spoilers.
This week, Alanah and Mike discuss The Menu, then Troy joins and the group talks about the fine dining experience and food as 'art'. Then, of course, we step into talking about The Last of Us episode 2.
This week, Alanah asks Mike an impossible question about programming, we talk a tiny bit about The Menu, and then jump into our reactions of HBO's The Last of Us episode 1.
This week, AUSTIN IS LATE! But Troy, Mike, and Alanah are there from the start to chat about The Last of Us TV show, plus successful game-to-movie adaptations.
This week, Alanah and Mike discuss AI art and it's inevitability, and then are joined by Austin and Troy who close out with a discussion on The Last of Us TV show.
This week, Alanah and Mike chat about The Game Awards, which I cut short for the public version just because it was definitely a conversation we've had numerous times. Then, Austin joins and we get to chatting about the latest update regarding Mick Gordon and Doom Eternal's music.
This week, Mike and Alanah chat about Immortality, their picks for 2022's game of the year, and then get into details regarding why some oft requested features can't make it into published video games.
This week, Alanah reacts live to seeing the God of War Ragnarok metacritic score, and Austin joins to chat about review embargoes, scores, and Bear McReary.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE! This week, Alanah, Austin, Mike, and Troy discuss Andor, what TV shows to watch, and eventually... ghosts. Spooky.
I'm pretty sure this is the first Mike and Austin exclusive episode, but I'll be honest, I don't remember. We've been doing this show since 2019. There are 117 episodes. I won't be held accountable for not remembering if there has been a prior Mike and Austin exclusive episode. Call the cops. I don't care.
This week, we chat about South Park, and then Austin talks about his experience in scoring the new Netflix show, Thai Cave Rescue.
This week, we get to publicly ask Mike about something we've been privately asking him about for FOREVER! Also, it wouldn't be an episode of Play, Watch, Listen without a philosophical discussion, so: can AI create art?
For this week's episode, I did my best to scrub through and find a topic of any kind but I am not convinced one exists. Here's Austin, Troy, and Mike talking about nothing.
This week, Alanah found out some more details about Obsidian's Pentiment, plus we talk about GamesCom News and House of Dragons.
This episode got caught in a processing error loop, so apologies for the delay! We chat about Batgirl's cancellation and what's happening at HBO, plus the reality of late-stage cancellations in game development.
This week, Alanah and Mike talk about the new Predator movie: Prey! And then briefly about a new Forspoken trailer, but mostly about Prey.
This week, we talk about Troy lying about riding a horse, the TV show The Offer (for some reason?), and if any of us have ever known ahead of release if what we're working on is "good".
This week, we are excited to GET TO MAKIN' MORE CREATIVE STUFF WITH PATREON! Plus, we stay shockingly on topic with discussions on The Boys season 3, completely spoiler-free.
This week, we spoke about fake leakers, swatting, and video game writing that feels like pandering.
This week, the whole squad is here to discuss good vs bad game design, floppy disks, games being saved on cartridges, and actors.
This was a difficult episode to title because we spoke about 1,000 different things, so note that the title was an attempt but is not really a large focus of the episode. SORRY. I'M BAD AT PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
This week, we largely talk about the episode of Love, Death + Robots that Troy is in, called Bad Travelling.
Featuring the point of play-testing, separating art from artist, Elden Ring, privilege, and "choice" in a workplace. But also feet. Sorry.
This week, we talk about Gotham Knights and then somehow rapidly progress into discussing games industry contracts, and their prevalence.
Join Alanah Pearce (video game writer), Troy Baker (video game actor), Austin Wintory (video game composer), and Mike Bithell (video game director) as they celebrate ONE HUNDRED EPISODES of Play, Watch, Listen! This was streamed live on Twitch earlier this week, featuring the first ever PWL trivia.
This week, the team discusses Spaghetti Westerns, inflated hours for game releases, and plans for EPISODE 100!
We actually mostly talk about government and religion, as is tradition every 25 episodes or something.
Journey turned 10, so this week we largely celebrate the release of Austin's new album, called "Traveler - A Journey Symphony".
This week, Alanah and Austin talk about, er, how they record audio for the show, the game-musical Austin is working on, the Oscars removing certain categories from the show, Epic Game buying Bandcamp, and Boba Fett.
This week, Alanah, Mike, and Austin are IN THE SAME ROOM!? We talk about how events like DICE are useful for those in the games industry, and what 'networking' really is.
This week, we talk about Nintendo Direct! Mostly, I think. I'll be honest, I wasn't there for the start of the episode and I haven't had time to watch it. They could've spoken about absolutely anything, which would be on brand. Idk, maybe this episode is about the definition of the word 'alacrity' and John Williams. Your guess is as good as mine.
This week, we mostly talk about movies that came out over a decade ago. And then Poker. And then Age of Empires! Thank God for Austin.
This week, for some reason (?), Austin, Alanah, and Mike delve into STATISTICS, discussing console sales and the percentage of hardware owners that end up buying first-party exclusives.
This week, it's just Alanah and Mike, ready to discuss what will undoubtedly be the biggest gaming news of 2022.
Troy tweeted something very pro-NFT, and trended on Twitter as a result. Here's us talking about that.
This week, we do such a good job of staying on topic. Wow. Amazing. Iconic. Flawless. We talk about The Matrix Resurrections, mostly. This isn't a prank! We really did!
Alanah is in a car, sorry about that. This week, we talk about our favourite games of 2021 (but not necessarily from 2021), and very vaguely touch on Spider-Man and The Matrix.
On this week's episode, we share an animated clip (that will be on YouTube when this publishes, if you'd like to go see it!), before jumping right into NFTs, and ending with some talk of Arcane.
This week, Austin and Mike discuss Game Awards until Alanah joins and suddenly it becomes about homelessness? Even I didn't see that one coming, and I am aforementioned "Alanah".
This week, Troy joins us from an airport and I am very sorry about it. But also, we discuss a headline choice (and subsequent article) regarding Call of Duty fans and their purchasing decisions, before diving into a discussion about if playing games is 'required' to work in the games industry.
This week, Austin and Alanah enthuse about Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Mike asks questions. Great interviewer, that Mike.
This week, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike attempt to dissect what makes games so expensive, versus the obvious costs that contribute to the expenses of filmmaking. It's a lot of Nespresso machines, turns out.
This week, Alanah, Mike, and Austin try to figure out what on earth is most likely to win 2021 game of the year awards.
We're back from break! And a little late, due to internet problems. We discuss returning to international travel, a little bit about Dune, Chris Pratt playing Garfield, and more.
A talk about slow burns in Midnight Mass (spoiler free, and featuring Rahul Kohli), archery (somehow?), and the combination of hard work and inherent talent. Video games are somewhat present, Alanah is not.
This week, Alanah, Troy, Mike, and Austin talk about demo disks in cereal boxes, game design, and Deathloop. An entirely gaming podcast from your favourite gaming podcast, wow. What a triumph.
Instead we talk about 9/11 and social responsibility. But there is a TINY bit of Deathloop, I really tried.
This week, we talk about how actors view good acting, why we like the performances we do, and the 'cost' of voice acting, for the actor and indie and AAA studios. It's an almost entirely on-topic episode - you're welcome.
And also we start talking about 12 Minutes. We said we'd continue it, which means we almost definitely will not.
We're back! Troy got a cool mask, there's some controversy surrounding a game called Boyfriend Dungeon, and what does "consent" mean in video games?
A discussion of Kotaku's recent headlines that, of course, somehow ends up getting existential and profound because we can't help being who we are, okay?
We didn't make a single joke about the episode number, but we did speak at length about the future of video game storytelling and narrative design!
This week, we talk about indie studios being bought up all over the place, and discuss how feasible it is to exist without a publisher. Also, more hotel etiquette, including an excessive use of towels.
The headlining topic is at around 45 minutes, and there are some spoilers for RE8 from this point onward. Otherwise, standing desks, dogs, and player agency!
E3 is briefly mentioned but this week's episode of your #1 video game podcast mostly talks about absolutely anything and everything else.
We talk about games we haven't played and feel guilty about, and the next God of War game being on multiple platforms. I don't know what happens after that, someone please let me know.
This week, join Austin, Mike, and Alanah to talk about the progression of E3 and how it's likely to change, and influence different facets of the games industry as it does. There's only one tangent and it's about... radio broadcast. I'm not sure why either.
This week, we talk about Mass Effect, Returnal (sort of, more next week, hopefully), Resident Evil and how single-player games have to be strongest in their earlier moments.
Honestly, I'm not going to lie to you, we mostly talk about a movie that came out in 1988.
We celebrate 60 episodes with a discussion of everything except for the actually trending Mortal Kombat topic.
This week, we talk about YouTube, performances, what to look for in a job, and Jeff Kaplan leaving Blizzard. Surprising nobody, it's a real grab bag. Also, next week's episode will be live-streamed on YouTube!
Apologies for the break last week, BUT WE'RE BACK! We don't have a Troy, but we do have discussions about what QA does, VR porn, and if social media is needed to get into the games industry.
This week's episode covers multiple perspectives on the audition process, specifically for voice acting in games. And that's pretty much it. No, really, we stayed on topic almost the entire time. This will never happen again. 57 will be spoken about for ages to come. All hail 57.
This week, we're dressed very fancy. You can't see that if you're listening to the audio version, but I felt you should know.
This week, we talk about the importance of conductors (for orchestras, though I'm sure both scientific conductors and train conductors are super important too), visiting the sets of Blockbuster films, game design, and how video games are in their 'teenage' years. Also, WE HAVE NEW MERCH!
I have had so many problems getting the audio for this episode to publish that I give up on re-writing the description again.
This week, Alanah, Troy, Mike, and Austin talk about this year's BAFTA nominees across most of the categories. We also delve into Point and Click Adventure games and our mixed thoughts on The Queen's Gambit.
No really, we mostly talk about science. And then a bit about what we consider a "scientist" to be, and then like the tiniest bit about TLOU casting at the very end. "Video Game Podcast."
We made it to 50 episodes, what!? This week, we discuss how CD Projekt's data breach may actually influence the company, and Warner Bros' decision to patent the Nemesis System from Shadow of Mordor.
This week, we talk about how we'd like to die, and naturally that leads right into physics in video games. Also, jumping on trains, Tenet (sort of), and what individuals can bring to a job in the games industry.
This week, we're almost definitely getting demonetized on YouTube because of explicit fish content. We also talk about The Last of Us Part 2 winning a whole lot of GotY awards, plus how COVID influenced us over the last year.
This week, Alanah wanted to talk about game demos but really we just ended up speaking about how much we like Hitman, and I0 Interactive.
This week, we try to talk about The Medium, but mostly end up talking about the coup on the Capitol building, and a whole lot of The Mandalorian Season 2 (no spoilers).
Aaaand we're back, hello 2021! This week, we talk about what we did over our Christmas break, a whole lot about video game music and composition thanks to The Pathless, and our thoughts on Pixar's "Soul".
But really we talk about almost everything else, including Seinfeld, Batman: The Animated Series, and Assassin's Creed.
This week, we talk about this year's Game Awards, plus Troy's hygiene, the shirt physics in the last of us, and juries.
We also talk about electric cars, Christmas movies, the most polarizing Star Wars films, Baby Yoda, neighbours having arguments, and... somehow more.
This episode was recorded live to celebrate 40 episodes of PWL, and also, in part, our one year anniversary! We share some of our highlights of working in the industry, and our love for the show.
This week, we talk about... toilets. Also a little on Alanah's new job, Austin's audition processes, and chasing awards.
This week, the boys go rogue and I am not responsible for any part of it. Also, cannibalism and open-world video games on the PlayStation 5.
TWO EPISODES IN ONE WEEK, WHAT!? On this episode of everyone's favourite video game podcast, we almost entirely talk about education, politicians, and social media.
This week, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike talk about video games, violence, and empathy. This is part 1 of episode 37, part 2 will be published as a bonus episode tomorrow.
This week, we're wearing costumes, so you should honestly very much go watch the video version on youtube.com/charalanahzard. That is all.
This week, we talk about agents, work ethic, and how to grow in competitive parts of the industry like voice acting, composing, and media.
ALSO: discussions of if people are excited about next-gen and what having multiple physical units means for developers.
The title says it all. Or does it? Probably not. Tangents. And I still don't think we talk about the topic until like 20 minutes in.
Mike gave a few people codes for his new game, Austin got a dog, and Troy took a really good shower!
On this week's episode, we talk about the Queen. And the government. But mostly Mike's new game, and the process of an indie in 2020.
This week, we do the podcast as a PAX panel that's full of trips down memory lane, our first Q&A, and also: why do people like Dune?
Mike's partner broke her foot. The PlayStation is probably getting a price tomorrow. Austin's name is now Steve. Why does Crysis look so bad? ALL THIS AND MORE, ON THIS WEEK'S PLAY, WATCH, LISTEN!
This week, we discuss David Blaine being suspended by balloons. And I guess also backwards compatibility and video game marketing.
This week, we... don't talk about video games. We discuss our impressions of The Batman, the passing of Chadwick Boseman, and dealing with death.
This week Alanah, Troy, Austin, and Mike talk about... God. For some reason. Honestly, a lot of things get covered here, and then about 30 minutes in to this absolute mess, they talk about Apple and Epic and what their legal battles could mean for game development.
This week, we start off by talking about the Nintendo leaks, and end up diving into what is 'off-limits' for journalists to report on, and crunch culture!
This week the PWL crew (Alanah Pearce, Troy Baker, Mike Bithell, and Austin Wintory) get... philosophical. We discuss an article from Polygon about video game characters being moral, ethical, and if games should be 'political'.
This week, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike discuss... patents, Sam Lake, Call of Duty campaigns, the "Transformers" of video games, Assassin's Creed, Alone in the Dark, Ubisoft, and... how do I title this episode, exactly?
Today, the AATM-team chat about a potential price increase for next-gen games. This was a live episode, so I sorry if the audio is a jumpy!
This week, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike discuss the length of video games, the importance of length to publishers, and the idea of 'editing' games down.
Sorry this episode is a little late this week, we had some technical issues! BUT, we're here to discuss the gameplay, level, narrative, and sound design of The Last of Us Part 2.
The title pretty much says it all okay I'm in a rush I can't write a description but I did want to apologise for the occasional audio interference in this ep - edited out as much as I could!
Aaaand we're back! This week Alanah, Austin, Troy and Mike talk all about the PlayStation 5 reveal conference.
Please watch or listen to Spawn On Me. Please consider donating to: The Innocence Project, Go Get It Tobacco, REBUILDTHEBLOCK - 4 Black Owned Small Businesses, Scores Sports Bar Mpls Rebuild, Access PR Small Biz Relief, Consignment Store, Rebuild Guns and Roses Boutique, Reclaim the Block, Northstar Health Collective, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Black Visions Collective, Black Disability Coalition, The Marshall Project, ACLU, Campaign Zero, or Advancement Project.
I'm going to be honest, there are a lot of very big topics covered here, and they're all great, but they are numerous. I don't even know what to write in the description, except that we are not sorry. (Also, Troy is back!)
Alanah, Austin, and Mike talk about Ghost of Tsushima, plus how games influence films and vice versa.
This week, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike talk about books, drugs (?), and next-gen gaming, including the Unreal Engine 5 demo.
This week, we chat about the controversy surrounding the Doom Eternal soundtrack (it is majority of the podcast, I swear, we just take a brief tangent at the start), as well as the difficulties of PR in the games industry.
This week we talk about remakes, why they're made, and if games are 'aging' faster than other kinds of media.
This episode, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike ARE LIVE! We talk about contract law, game design, the rules of writing and how different industries approach exclusivity.
This episode, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike accidentally talk about directing, and how that works for video games in terms of voices, composing, and overall game design, as well as some tidbits about editing. Also: apologies for the audio quality, we had some hardware issues on the recording side.
On this week's episode, things get personal, with stories of video games that helped us through tough times, as well as a lot of tangents, because of course.
On this episode, Alanah, Austin, Troy, and Mike talk about game trailers, including some of their favourites, and then devolve into a rant.
Apologies for the imperfect audio this episode, BUT, AAT&M talk about YouTube's restrictions on creators, as well as how they've reacted to people doing let's plays of games they've worked on.
A discussion of some games we love, but also a bit of a dive into how something like a pandemic, or the loss of E3, actually influences those working full-time in the games industry.
On this months episode of PWL, Alanah, Austin, Mike, and Troy chat about the Sonic movie, Coronavirus and how it'll influence the games industry... and ludo-narrative dissonance.
Austin, Mike, Troy, and Alanah talk about bugs, delays, sequels, and, of course, Star Wars.
After The Game Awards (but before Rise of Skywalker), Alanah, Troy, Mike, and Austin sat down to talk about the purpose of 'Game Awards', including their perspectives as recipients and voters.
For our very first episode of this actually not Star Wars-themed podcast, Alanah, Troy, Austin, and Mike dive into Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and The Mandolorian.