FunFactor

Video Game Fantasy Draft with "My Life in Gaming!" [S1X3]

Four people, five rounds, and all the best video games of 1995-1997! Coury and Try from My Life in Gaming join us to snake-draft our way through the Generation Gap--building four 'teams' of five games each released across all game systems and regions during our first-season time period.The competition was friendly but fierce, with plenty of you-took-my-picks and even more surprise curveballs! We all walked away with at least one new must-play game for our backlogs.And, as always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!-----Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

NEXTGen's "Are You Hardcore?" Quiz, with Retrograde Amnesia [S1X2]

ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/NextGeneration38Feb1998QUIZ LINK: https://forms.gle/9cFPG8EsJesFAEB59BILLY BAKER’S 2007 BOSTON GLOBE PIECE ON HIS WIFE SECRETLY BEING THE WORLD’S BEST TETRIS PLAYER: https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/08/19/bizarro_world/Our Season 1 wrap-up extravaganza has never been more extravagant: Chris and Eric from Retrograde Amnesia join us to take NEXT Generation’s “Are you Hardcore?” quiz! Thanks to Josh from the Still Loading Podcast, we were able to see and take the whole quiz for the first live via Google Form–and hey, so can you!Back in February 1998, the staff of NEXT Generation issued a challenge to their readership with a 200-plus-question quiz determining whether they’re truly hardcore. This being 1998, some of the questions were more about whether you were an actual dirtbag, and many of them assumed you were a North American male of roughly GenX age. But most of them were great fodder for telling stories, claiming points of pride, and owning points of shame.As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!-----Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

Audience Q&A! - "Generation Gap" Season Extras [S1X1]

We told you to ask us anything, and you did! Our Season 1 wrap-up continues with a special AMA/Q&A. From assembling our own ultimate mid-90s gaming mag Voltron-style to talking through how we handle offensive/problematic content, we answered all the questions you submitted via Discord and Bluesky!As an extra-special treat, Ty also reveals the (published!) letter he sent in to Game Players back in the day. Cringe level: MAXIMUM.As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! -----Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

Season 1 Finale - Every Final Fantasy VII Review [S1E24]

The grand finale of Season One is here! Our coverage of the 1995-1997 “Generation Gap” ends with a blowout review of (nearly) every (English-language print) review of Final Fantasy VII that we could find.Starting with a quick look back at the first year of FunFactor, and discussion of what’s coming next, we then re-looked at the magazine we debuted the podcast with nearly a year ago, PSM No. 1. We then went on to review, well, all of these reviews:PSM 1: https://archive.org/details/PSM_Issue_001_September_1997/mode/2upUltra Game Players 102: https://archive.org/details/Ultra_Gameplayers_102_October_1997_U/page/n83/mode/2up The Duelist 21: https://archive.org/details/duelist-21/page/n105/mode/1upThe Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 1: https://archive.org/details/Official_US_PlayStation_Magazine_Volume_1_Issue_1_1997-10_Ziff_Davis_US/page/n85/mode/2upEGM 99: https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902NEXT Generation 34: https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_34/page/n53/mode/2upGameFan Vol. 5, Issue 9: https://archive.org/details/GamefanVolume5Issue09September1997/page/n3/mode/2upGamePro 46: https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_099_October_1997/page/n49/mode/2upEDGE 049: https://archive.org/details/Edge_Gaming/Edge%20Gaming%20vMagazine%20051/page/n65/mode/1up Game Informer 53: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997Campus Life Magazine (partial text archive): https://cmnexus.org/magazines/Campus_Life/issuesAs always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! -----Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

Game Informer 53 - GoldenEye 007 [S1E23]

ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997/mode/2upEGM DOCUMENTARY BY MY LIFE IN GAMING & GAME SACK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E010OPY1TzwEverybody’s favorite* N64 game ever is here: GoldenEye 007! But did Game Informer’s weird four-voice feature review system capture all the excitement at release?*if you didn’t have a PC capable of playing first-person shooters online, that is. Did Game Informer’s review capture the skepticism Aidan and Ty had of it at the time?Longtime EIC Andy McNamara’s letter from the editor takes shots at other magazines that allegedly don’t really play the games they’re reviewing, and we dig deep into who he could possibly have been talking about.We also shared our best, brightest memories of that “new console smell,” the console acquisition and unboxing experiences that have stuck with us most.As always, streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! -----Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!