If you've been following along the last few weeks you should know our top 10 games of 2023. What you probably don't know (unless you're a Patreon subscriber) is how we arrived at the final order for our list. 

Every year we record a Patreon-exclusive episode where Mikel, Matt, and Chris duke it out to decide on the order of our top 10. Patrons have had access to this episode for an entire week, but since it's the holidays and we're feeling generous, we wanted to give all of you a little taste of this exclusive episode that we like to call... THE ORDERING!

To access the full episode you'll have to go to Patreon.com/lasertime and subscribe. 

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in 2024! 

The wait is over! We continue with the second half of the GOTY countdown we started last week, and reveal our Top 5 Games of 2023! We've once again invited a rotating panel of guests to help out, including Jesse Cox, TL Foster, Tony Wilson, Brendan Hesse, Ryan Harig, Steve Guntli, and Jorge Albor. Did your favorite game make the cut? Listen and find out!

Question of the Week (Month?): What's your personal Game of the Year for 2023?

There's a lot of chat this week, so here's a quick timestamp cheat sheet if you'd like to skip ahead to unveil each entry:

8:48: #5 with Jorge Albor

29:33: #4 with Brendan Hesse and Steve Guntli

48:08: #3 with Steve Guntli and Anthony Abatte

1:09:29: #2 with Ryan Harig and Brendan Hesse

1:33:52: #1 with Jesse Cox, TL Foster, and Tony Wilson

A fantastic year for games is nearing its end, which means it's time for us to look back at the past 12 months and anoint our top 10 games of the year in a discussion so big, we had to split it into two shows. This week, we're joined by a rotating panel of guests including Tony Wilson, Brendan Hesse, Chris Baker, Steve Guntli, Woody Ciskowski, Jorga Albor, and Johnny Brandon. Check out our picks for 10 through 6 this week, and stay tuned for next week, when we'll kick it off with #5 and count down to our Game of the Year.

There's a lot of chat this week, so here's a quick timestamp cheat sheet if you'd like to skip ahead to unveil each entry:

5:27: #5 with Tony Wilson and Brendan Hesse

26:28: #4 with Chris Baker and Steve Guntli

50:02: #3 with Brendan Hesse and Tony Wilson

1:12:44: #2 with Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski

1:32:54: #1 with Johnny Brandon and Jorge Albor

The game industry thrives on remaking and reviving classic hits from the past, and as another year winds down, Tony Wilson of Framework joins us to talk about five of our favorite attempts to resurrect and repackage old games this year. Then we'll get into the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and your favorite DLC of 2023.

Question of the Week: What's your personal Game of the Year for 2023?

Break song is The Bullet or the Blade by Sam Drysdale (from Resident Evil 4 Remake)

We're in the last weeks of 2023, which means it's time for us to look back and talk about the best experiences from the year that was. This week, TL Foster rejoins us to kick things off with a chat about our five favorite pieces of DLC this year, after which we'll get into Batman Arkham Trilogy's arrival on Switch, the first glimpse at Amazon's Fallout series, and your favorite videogame soundtracks.

Question of the Week: What's your favorite DLC of 2023?

Break song is Phantom Liberty by Dawid Podsiadło and P.T. Adamczyk.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend! This week, we invite Anthony "BruceWayneBrady" Abatte on to talk about action games with chef protagonists, after which we'll get into Super Mario RPG Remake, Small Saga, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a roundup of Black Friday game deals, and the games that defined the PS4/Xbox One generation for you.

Question of the Week: Do you have a favorite game soundtrack? Like, one you’ll actually sit and listen to? Tell us about it.

Break song is Too Many Cooks by Shawn Coleman and Michael Kohler.

PS4 turned 10 this week, and Xbox One is about to do the same in a few days, so we devoted this week's Top 5 to the games that - for us - defined the console generation that spanned 2013-2020. Then we'll dig into The Game Awards nominations, Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, Backpack Hero, Remnant 2: The Awakened King, and your picks for the Triforce of actors who should play Link, Ganon, and Zelda.

Question of the Week: What game most defines the PS4 and/or Xbox One for you, and why?

The announcement of a live-action Zelda movie inspired us to return to the ever-giving well of videogame movie and TV adaptations - specifically five that don't have a whole lot to do with their source material. We'll then explore Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Spirittea, hcelebrate the long-overdue official announcement of Grand Theft Auto VI, and hear about the Spider-Verse characters you think deserve their own games.

Question of the Week: Which triforce of actors would you cast as Link, Zelda, and Ganon?

Break song is Maniac Mansion by Jane Siberry and Lou Natale.

Alan Wake 2 is out, and because both it and Spider-Man 2 feature two heroes you can swap between, we decided to dedicate this week's top 5 to dynamic duos you can switch out on a whim. Then we'll dig deeper into Alan Wake 2 (of course!), the Five Nights at Freddy's film, Jusant, Thirsty Suitors, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III's campaign, Atari buying Digital Eclipse, and your go-to games for spooky season.

Question of the Week: Which Spider-Verse character needs a spinoff game?

Break song is Friday Night from Yakuza 0.

As another Spooptober nears its end, we close things out with five games that will drive you mad, MAD... like, as a gameplay mechanic, with sanity meters and in-game hallucinations. Then we'll dig into the past week's bumper crop of new releases, including Mario Wonder, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Slay the Princess; look at the reveals from Xbox's Partner Preview, and the otherwise benign games that scared you as a kid.

Question of the Week: Do you have a go-to game or series you like to play during spooky season?

Break song is Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches.

We're still in the middle of spooky season, but with Mario Wonder and Sonic Superstars filling this week with color and cheer, we combined cute with creepy and got a top 5 about some of the biggest scares that Mario ever dragged us through. Then we'll get into Wizard With A Gun, Hellboy Web of Wyrd, Skull Island: The Rise of Kong, Best Buy phasing out physical media, and the real-world places you love to see in games.

QOTW: What seemingly benign videogame used to scare you as a kid?

We enter our second week of Spooptober™ with a look at how the happy haunts of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion have been portrayed in five different games — one of which turns 20 in a few days. Then we'll marvel at Forza Motorsport and the Robocop: Rogue City demo, scratch our heads at the PS5's strange new modular makeover. and hear about the abandoned game servers you've haunted in the past.

QOTW: Obviously, Matt and Chris geek out about Disney park appearances in games. What real-world location do you geek out about when it appears in a game?

Another spooky season is upon us, and this one arrives alongside a new Castlevania series! To mark the occasion, we've invited Mike Williams back on to revisit five of the worst-reviewed Castlevania games to see whether they really deserve their bad reputations. Then we'll get into Assassin's Creed Mirage, The Lamplighters League, the "official" pronunciation of Cait Sith, and the times you switched console allegiances.

QOTW: Have you ever “haunted” an old game server well past its prime? Tell us why and what it was like!

The one-two punch of Cyberpunk 2077 rolling out version 2.0 and Phantom Liberty inspired us to grab Brendan "The Crawl" Hesse for a look at five games that managed to win back hearts and minds after especially rocky launches. Then we'll dive into Resident Evil 4 Remake's Separate Ways DLC, Phantom Liberty, and El Paso, Elsewhere before talking about Jim Ryan leaving PlayStation and your favorite Mortal Kombat Fatalities.

QOTW: How many times have you switched allegiances and changed your primary gaming platform?

Mortal Kombat 1 hit this week, so we're starting this week's show with a look at five games that sought to recapture its blood-spraying, digitized-actor magic back in the '90s. Joining us are Steve Guntli and Woody Ciskowski, formerly of Wii Universe and Ultra 64, and presently (in Steve's case) of CinemArcade and Puppet Masters / Castle Freaks. Then we'll dig into MK1 and LIes of P, talk about some of the big stories from the Xbox leak, and hear about your favorite racing games.

QOTW: What's your favorite Mortal Kombat fatality?

Not too long ago, any publisher worth its salt had to have at least one major racing franchise - but somewhere along the line that changed, leaving us with a relative handful of big-deal arcade racers and sims for dedicated speed freaks. WIth this week's release of The Crew Motorfest and the first new F-Zero game in 20 years, let's take a look at five once-huge racers that retired long ago, after which we'll get way too deep into Thursday's Nintendo Direct and Sony State of Play, more Starfield chat, the Unity debacle, and the genres you think Bethesda should tackle next.

QOTW: What’s your all-time favorite racing game?

This is a massive week for RPG fans, with Starfield and Baldur's Gate III both hitting consoles - but before we get into that, Chris "cbake" Baker joins us to talk about five games that - despite being licensed from American comics, cartoons, and movies - never saw the light of day in the US! (He also plugs his new book, X-Wings, Lightsabers, and Scorpion Vader, available now on Amazon.) Then we'll dig into the aforementioned RPGs, a smattering of Nintendo news, and the games or series you think should get Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series treatment.

QOTW: Now that they've done fantasy, post-apocalypse, and sci-fi, what genre would you like to see a Bethesda-style RPG set in?

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon marks the landmark mecha series' return after a 10-year absence - so this week, Greg Moore joins us to talk about five other mecha series that are overdue for a return. Then we'll get into Armored Core VI (of course), The Making of Karateka, Goodbye Volcano High, Samba De Amigo: Party Central, Sea of Stars, the Switch outselling the Wii, and who you think the new voice of Mario should be.

Question of the Week: What game deserves The Making of Karateka/Digital Eclipse Gold Master Series treatment next?

Charles Martinet, iconic voice of Mario, is stepping down from the role - and whie it's difficult to imagine the character without him, he's far from the first actor to embody the plucky Brooklyn plumber. This week, Dave Rudden and Anthony Abatte join Chris and Mikel for a look at five other actors' takes on Mario, after which we'll get into Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Immortals of Aveum, a smattering of news from Gamescom and Opening Night Live, and the games you'd like to see get a Quake II-style glow-up.

QOTW: Who do you think should be the next voice of Mario?

When Mikel's away, Chris and Matt (and TL) will play - and we're not just talking about how much fun Chris had playing with the soundboard this week. In this episode, we stretch the limits of our format - and possibly your patience - to its utmost, as we forego individual game entries and talk about game design tropes that just won't die. Then it's back to business as usual as we break down the new Madden game, the surprise rerelease of Quake II, all the news from the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase, and more. Did we mention there's a soundboard? 

Question of the Week: What classic game deserves a Quake II-style glow-up rerelease?

This week, the incomparable Greg Moore joins us to talk about his experiences shadowing pro players at this year's EVO fighting-game tournament - and to keep the theme going, we'll talk about five characters from non-fighting games who somehow ended up as mainstays in fighting series. Then we'll go deeper into Baldur's Gate 3, EVO announcements, Nintendo patenting systems in Tears of the Kingdom, and your favorite mainstream actors who crossed into games.

QOTW: What famous character should be in a fighting game who hasn’t already been? 

This week, we said goodbye to a legend - Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman - and as has become habit when celebrities we like pass away, we're paying tribute with a look at five of his videogame roles. Then we'll get into Remnant II, Venba, Switch successor rumors, Glorbo, and the first game stories you remember getting invested in.

Digital Eclipse's legendary Chris Kohler joins us this week to talk about his upcoming The Making of Karateka interactive documentary, which delves into Jordan Mechner's groundbreaking classic of cinematic videogame storytelling like never before. It's also got a really annoying bird in it, so we'll also chat about five of the most frustrating bird enemies in videogame history, after which we'll get into Remnant II, Pikmin 4, and your favorite Xbox Live gaming memories.

Barbie and Oppenheimer turned movie counter-programming into a cultural event, so let's seize on that by inviting Ryan Harig of Zanzeezee Podcast for a look at five dates when two huge and/or weirdly dissonant videogames debuted at the same time. Then we'll get into Exoprimal, My Friendly Neighborhood, Gravity Circuit, more Microsoft/Activision drama and Game Pass news, and the long-lost games you'd love to see re-released.

Nintendo has generally done a great job of making classic Mario games widely available; no matter the system, you'll be able to play Super Mario Bros. and its sequels in some form. But not all Mario games get that kind of support, and in fact, there are a few that have been all but forgotten since their original release. This week, Jim Stormdancer (of Frog Fractions and Topic Lords fame) joins us for a look at five Mario games that never got a second chance at life, after which we'll get into Limited Run Games' showcase, classic games disappearing, Microsoft edging closer to finally gobbling up Activision, and your favorite movie-based games.

A new Indiana Jones movie has hit theaters, and that's all the excuse we need to grab Framework's Tony Wilson and devote a show to five of Dr. Jones' best starring roles in videogames. Then we'll talk about Six Days in Fallujah hitting early access, Blumhouse looking to make more videogame adaptations after Five Nights at Freddy's, and the games you're most looking forward to in the next six months.

The midpoint of the year means it’s time to decide what our five favorite games of the past six months are, and this week we’re joined by Jesse Cox of Chilluminati (among other projects) to help us count ’em down. Then we’ll dig into Sludge Life 2, unravel the latest knot of Activision-Microsoft news, and hear about your favorite games of the year so far.

The OUYA turned 10 this week, having fallen well short of its mission to reset the games industry as we knew it - so this week, we'll take a look at what went wrong, along with what happened to four other platforms that limped along or blazed out in the face of overwhelming competition over the past 10 years. Then we'll dig into Sonic Origins Plus, Aliens: Dark Descent, the wealth of Nintendo Direct announcements, and the pop-culture characters whose canonical ages make you feel old.

Summer Game Fest and a broad assortment of other showcases happened over the past week, unveiling hours of new trailers, gameplay footage, and announcements - so we're breaking format this week to focus on the news, pulling highlights from the deluge to talk about the reveals we found most interesting. We'll still cap it off with a look at new releases, including the Final Fantasy XVI and Lies of P demos, but there's a lot to discuss before we get there, so strap in!

Street Fighter 6 is out, and we're celebrating by inviting Emmett Watkins Jr. for a chat about five of the franchise's most off-kilter weirdos that we hope make a comeback in the very near future. Then we'll delve into Diablo IV, Killer Frequency, Bowser's canonical age, Apple's $3500 headset, and your favorite Street Fighter characters.

In 1992, Alone in the Dark pioneered the genre that would become known as "survival horror," with polygonal zombies and fixed camera angles similar to those that propelled Resident Evil to massive success a few years later. With a new Alone in the Dark on the horizon to remind us, we're dedicating this week's Top 5 to genre-defining games that got knocked aside by imitators who did it better. Then we'll talk about Street Fighter 6, the System Shock remake, a little Metal Gear Solid Delta news, and the E3-season announcements you're most excited for.

Sidekicks? Tag teams? Amateur stuff. This week, Greg Moore and Dave Rudden rejoin us for a look at five games that push you to move and be aware of two characters at the same time, with no help from another player. Then we'll put the pedal to the plastic in Lego 2K Drive, move fast and wreck stuff in Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun and Shinobi Non Grata, get into the raft of announcements from PlayStation Showcase 2023, and hear which Links are your favorite Links.

In Tears of the Kingdom, Link loses an arm but gains a shinier new one that lets him manipulate and fuse matter like a boss, enabling players to create everything from stick-and-rock hammers to functional mechs. That inspired this week's Top 5 about other heroes with cool prosthetic-arm superpowers, for which we're joined by TL Foster. Then we'll get deeper into TotK talk, plus Humanity, Mortal Kombat 1, the scaling-back of Overwatch 2's PVE plans, and your favorite videogame sequels of all time.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out this week, and it's one of only a few Zelda entries that could really be called sequels, continuing a story started in an earlier game. So this week, Ryan Harig of Zanzeezee podcast joins us to talk about five of our other favorite follow-up Zeldas, after which we'll get into Darkest Dungeon II, Ravenlok, Phil Spencer's Redfall mea culpa, and the most obscure Star Wars facts you know.

The ice planet Hoth was once one of the most ubiquitous levels in Star Wars games, and with more than 50 examples to choose from, some are bound to be kinda weird - so with Chris Baker on board to talk about his upcoming book, "X-Wings, Lightsabers, and Scorpion Vader," we'll take a look at five of the more unusual implementations of Hoth from across videogame history. Then we'll bite into Redfall and get further into Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, talk a bit about the real story behind the Gran Turismo movie, and hear about the times you took a punch to the face.

What if you could wade into a mob of the undead and, rather than being eaten, punch their lights out with your superior brawn? Last week's launch of Dead Island 2 got us thinking, so we re-invited Alex Faciane of Chilluminati and Super Beard Bros back for another appearance so we could talk about games that let you beat up zombies bare-knuckle style. Then we'll get into Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dead Island 2, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp, Cassette Beasts, the Street Fighter 6 demo, more Microsoft-Activision news, and the brands you'd want to turn into the next Pokémon Go.

What if all our stories of gods and magic weren't mythology, but sufficiently advanced technology? What if the world, nay, galaxy was seeded full of ancient future tech with a cool mystery to discover? Huh? What then? This week, Alex Faciane of Chilluminati and Super Beard Bros rejoins us to talk about five of our favorite long-dead but highly advanced alien precursors in games, after which we'll get into Minecraft Legends, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, reveals from the Nintendo Indies Showcase, and the secondary villains you'd promote to big boss.

This week sees the long-overdue return of erstwhile host Dave "Diamond Dog" Rudden to the show, to talk about five villains who rose from being secondary antagonists to the final boss in later games. Then we'll get into the remake of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, Kabaret, Tron: Identity, Ghostwire Tokyo, the Mario movie's huge box-office returns, and the dead gaming trends you'd like to see make a comeback. 

"Modern gaming" has been a thing, more or less, for close to 20 years now, and in that time we've seen a lot of hot new features, ideas, and trends become wildly popular and then fade out of fashion — some more quickly than others. With the Resident Evil 4 Remake excising one such feature from its re-imagining of the original, now seems like a good time to revisit an old topic and update it with five more dead modern-gaming trends,, after which we'll get into Dredge, Meet Your Maker, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a mini-review of the Super Mario Bros. movie, and your favorite memories of the 3DS.

Nintendo finally shuttered the 3DS (and Wii U) eShop this week, on the 12th anniversary of the landmark handheld's North American release, so this week we're paying tribute to it with a look at five of the best digital-only exclusives to have disappeared along with the storefront. Then we'll get into Resident Evil 4 Remake, Tchia, Have A Nice Death, new developments in the Microsoft-Activision-Sony saga, and the actors you think lend gravitas to any role.

Last week, the world lost an iconic and unique talent with the passing of Lance Reddick, an actor who - in addition to a number of film and TV roles - lent his voice and face to a handful of videogame characters. This week, we pay tribute by looking at five of them, after which TL Foster of Welcome to the Thing and Live From the Pool House joins us to talk about WWE 2K23, Resident Evil 4 Remake, more drama around Microsoft, Sony, Call of Duty, and Redfall, and your favorite games that started in Early Access.

John Cena is the cover athlete for this week's launch of WWE 2K23, and his silly catchphrase is enough of a reason to invite Ryan Harig of Zanzeezee podcast to talk about five games that give players cool invisibility powers. Then we'll talk about Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, Valheim and Anno 1800 launching on consoles, Nintendo's justification for Tears of the Kingdom's $70 price tag, and your favorite "forgotten" games from long-running franchises.

Sometimes, wrapping a trilogy leaves developers without a clear path forward - and sometimes, their follow-ups are weird outliers that are quickly forgotten once the series either fades away or finds its footing again. A certain 10-year anniversary this week sent us down a rabbit hole of these games, and once we're done talking about them we'll get deeper into Wo Long, explore Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, talk about Capcom Spotlight, and hear about the games you'd improve by adding pro-wrestling moves.

Wrestling and videogames have been closely intertwined since the early days - and this week, Jarrett Green of IGN and Welcome to the Thing joins us to talk about five non-wrestling games that nevertheless let you crush your enemies with piledrivers and powerbombs. Then we'll scratch the surface of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, chat about the validity and/or offensiveness of "JRPG" as a term, and look at the franchises you'd like to see recast their characters in new roles. 

Now that Super Nintendo World is bringing videogame aesthetics to Universal Studios, we're marking the occasion by inviting Emmett Watkins Jr. for a chat about five games set entirely in theme parks  — specifically the kind that characters are usually struggling to leave. Then we'll get into Like A Dragon: Ishin and Atomic Heart, Blumhouse getting into games, more about the Microsoft-Activision merger saga, and your personal stories of UFO encounters.

UFOs have been in the news a lot lately, and while they're most likely of the non-extraterrestrial variety, it seemed like a good time to grab Mike Williams of Fanbyte for a chat about five games themed around UFOs and alien abductions. Then we'll dig into Wanted: Dead, Wild Hearts, Blanc, Game Pass cannibalizing game sales, and the real and fictional places you'd like to see re-created in open worlds.

Open-world games, at their best, can be detailed portals to places we've always wanted to visit, whether real or fictitious - and this week, Anthony Abatte joins us for a look at five sandbox games that offer prime opportunities for virtual tourism. Then we'll talk about THAT game, plus Pizza Tower, news from this week's Nintendo Direct, and your favorite pieces of "idle" music.

Last week, the games industry defied licensing issues and rivalries to bring back GoldenEye 007 - and its banger pause-menu music, which inspired us to grab TL Foster for a quick Top 5 about our favorite pieces of music that play when we don't. Then we'll dig into the Dead Space remake, Hi-Fi Rush, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, Inkulinati, and the game dialogue you enjoy listening to most.

January is traditionally the dumping ground for movies that studios don't expect to do well, so before it's over, let's grab Chris Baker for a look at five movies that got game adaptations in spite of being obscure, deeply weird, and/or outright commercial flops. After that, we'll rocket straight into Forspoken and Fire Emblem Engage, The Avengers game sunsetting, a new episode of The Last of Us TV show, and the creators you'd like to see return to the games industry.

There's a lot of overlap between the videogame and animation industries, but it's always a big deal when a big name in 2D cel animation decides to apply their talents to something interactive. This week, we'll look at five standout collaborations between game developers and old-school animators, after which we'll touch on Colossal Cave, Persona 3 and 4 coming to Game Pass, the demise of Stadia, and the games you'd like to see "enhanced" by voiceovers and/or FMV.

The Sega CD (or Mega-CD) turned 32(!) last month, and it remains the home not just of questionable FMV games and music-video makers, but of some of the best and weirdest versions of 16-bit games that were popular on other consoles at the time. Along with Greg Moore, we'll delve into five ancient games that got unforgettably "upgraded" with speech and FMV cutscenes, after which we'll talk about Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, Borderlands movie news, the alleged end of PS5 shortages, and the upcoming games you're most looking forward to this year.

As a new year dawns, it's time to look ahead to the next 12 months (with help from Anthony "BruceWayneBrady" Abatte) and the five games we're most excited for. Will any surprise you? Probably not! But they'll be fun to talk about anyway. Then it's on to a few games we missed last year, including Sports Story, River City Girls 2, and Choo-Choo Charles, after which we'll talk about whether there's more story to be wrung from The Last of Us and your personal GOTYs of 2022.