What 2025 taught us about games

The good, the bad, and the trendy

Art by James Bareham/happicamp.com

This week on Post Games: the final listener mailbag of 2025!

• Act 1: Questions about video games

• Act 2: Questions about the industry and the culture

• Patreon bonus: Questions about the nitty-gritty of gaming

• Act 3: The news of the week

This week, I emptied the Post Games mailbag and tried to answer as many questions as I could muster. The result is one of the longest episodes to date, with the AMA spanning three acts and over 60 minutes!

Plus, a very special extended news of the week: I chatted with Phil Salvador from the Video Game History Foundation. The VGHF has preserved the Sega Channel, the 1990s predecessor to PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass. How the hell do archivists preserve such a thing? Listen to find out!

Now, I’d say this is the final episode of 2025, but that’s not entirely true. Next week, I’ll be sharing a special Patreon-exclusive mini-episode, reflecting on my personal favorite games of the year, along with a few small surprises. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

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On the Patreon - Only $5!!!

• Early access to ad-free episodes

• Weekly bonus segments

• Video episodes

• An archive of monthly Patreon-exclusive bonus episodes

• Expanded newsletter and show notes

• All of that and more for only $5 a month!

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Act 1: Mailbag - The Games

• Angeline Era (Steam)

• Absolum (Steam)

• The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF)

• Detchibe - Video game historian and media preservationist (Detcihbe)

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Act 2: Mailbag - The Industry and Culture

• How Flash Games Changed Video Game History (GameInformer)

• Armor Games (armorgames.com)

• Evony (Wiki)

• 2025’s scariest game recreates the site of a real tragedy (post.games)

• Cuba: Where underground arcades, secret networks and piracy are a way of life (Polygon)

• Class of 2012 John Edward Jones Memorial Award (UVA)

• Can I Play That? accessibility reviews (Can I Play That?)

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Patreon Bonus: Mailbag - The Nitty-Gritty of Gaming

• Bonus links available on Patreon.com/PostGames

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Act 3: The News of the Week

• THE SECRETS OF SEGA CHANNEL: VGHF RECOVERS OVER 100 SEGA CHANNEL ROMS (AND MORE) (Video Game History Foundation)

• Lost Sega Channel Games Saved In Latest VGHF Project (GameSpot)