8 podcasts geek gamers shouldn't live without

For the past two years I’ve been watching and listening to a bunch of podcasts. But I only recently discovered one of the best tech shows out there, that pretty much everybody has known and loved forever. And I know you will all make fun of me for it, but still, it made me think that there are probably many of us who miss the big obvious ones because we aren’t reminded of them quite enough. So this is my attempt at bringing other idiots like me back into the fold by hammering it down one more time:

These are the podcasts you should absolutely be subscribed to: they are just that good!

That’s the one I’ve been passing by for two years. I met Tom Merritt at the New Media Expo last month, and it reminded me of that show that everyone listens to, and that really needs no introduction. So I went to try it out, and boy was I sorry I didn’t do that earlier. This show is fast, witty, well produced and pretty much everything you would want from a daily half hour of information / entertainment. Tom, Jason and Molly are just fantastic hosts, and this is very possibly the single best tech podcast out there. Yes, you heard me: maybe even better than TWiT. The only sort-of-issue is that there is too much of it! They do it every single day, which might be hard to follow. Listen when you can, you won’t be sorry.

  • Diggnation: Video, weekly, tech, fun, beverages.

If there were “sorta bad boy geeks” on the Internet, Kevin and Alex would be them: silly and adorable, they manage to mix a healthy dose of frat boy-like humor and jerking around with an endearing alchemy that will win over even the most rigid among us. They talk about “some of the weekly top stories from the site Digg.com”, which helps you keep in touch with what’s happening on the younger, more fun side of the net (and by more fun I mean more idiotic). The trick is that they do it in such an entertaining manner that when you’re done rolling your eyes at the singing dogs and the boob jokes, you’ll realize that two guys sitting on a couch and talking can make for a pretty damn good show.

  • TWiT: Audio, weekly, technology.

In the Internet’s family, Leo Laporte is like the lovely uncle that everyone thinks of and smiles. He’s just so nice and cuddly! And he also knows his stuff, as well as everyone worth knowing in the industry. He does about ten billion shows a week, all of which are excellent. His flagship podcast is “This Week in Tech”, and it’s unmissable. All the greatest people in the tech world come on and discuss the latest news. Interesting discussions and analysis about pretty much everything that’s been happening that week. If you’re not listening already, stop reading this now, go download it and come back. I’ll wait.

Ah, Lindsay Campbell… Even if she wasn’t so beautiful, I would still be in love with her for this show: intelligent, witty, both opinionated and unbiased, and not afraid to take you places you didn’t expect. A serious, short form show that will leave you smarter than it found you. This is what we need more of on the internets.

How no one thought of doing this show before they did, I’ll never know. Every aspect of our geek culture is covered in roughly fifty minutes every week. Alex, Jeff and Dan have an incredible group dynamic that will make you fall in love with the show instantly. You watch movies? Watch that show. You play games? Watch that show. You read comic? Watch that show. You… ok, you get it, just watch that show.

Every video game show out there does the same thing: “what have you been playing”, “the news”, and “the reviews”. The 1UP show departs from that format by giving you a high production value discussion about three games each week. The 1UP staff know what they are talking about and they are not afraid to disagree with one another, which makes it all the more interesting. Honesty is so hard to come by these days… They also take us along to conventions and conferences, which makes for a nice change of pace. Added bonus: the large video makes the game demos and videos a pleasure to watch.

Again, a video gaming show that does things differently. Colin, Gary and Chris are veteran journalists (Edge anyone?), and they spend about fourty minutes each week explaining and discussing the hows and whys of what’s happening in the gaming world. What’s hiding behind numbers, reasons for big announcements, strategies, trends, and more. If you’re looking for sparkling reviews, don’t bother. If you’re looking for intelligent commentary, this is the show for you.

So many Wow shows to choose from… Many are great, but I need to select one. The Wow Insider Show has the backing of the best wow editorial team on the web and the dynamic duo of co-lead Mike Schramm and Mark “Turpster” Turpin, which makes it one of the very best WoW podcasts out there. The “meat of the show” is a weekly recap of the most discussed articles on the site, which makes it a solid digest of what’s been making the news in our favorite game. A must.

Ok, I can’t choose just one Wacraft show. This is the only one that I wouldn’t necessarily recommand to every single person reading this: if you’re not a big wow geek, this is not for you. But if you are, World of Warcast is the oldest wow podcast out there, and it is a real pleasure to hear Starman and Renata’s monthly news reel. They occasionaly do other things (class round tables, etc), but if you want a place to get all the details of the upcoming patches and changes in the game, that is the place to go. Digressions about their personnal experiences in the game are also a nice “feature”.

Well, I guess that’s it. There are so many other shows I would like to talk about… But that would derail the whole article I’m sure, as the point is to give you the essentials. Nothing much left to say here, except: add all of these to your feed reader, and enjoy!

PS: I didn’t talk about any of the shows I’m involved in of course. Not only would it be a conflict of interest, but they would also instantly steal the top spots! I’m sure you know where to find them anyway…

September 5th, 2008