Are we spending more time chasing new releases than enjoying the games we already own?

This week, we discuss gaming FOMO, overflowing backlogs and the pressure to remain part of the latest gaming conversation. We look at why buying games can sometimes become more exciting than playing them, the appeal of patient gaming and why it is perfectly fine to miss even genuinely brilliant games.

Pixel Picks Replay also returns as we revisit GoldenEye 007. From its unforgettable multiplayer and brilliant soundtrack to its wonderfully dated character models, does this influential shooter remain worth playing in 2026?

We also reveal November’s Pixel Picks Replay selection and put yellow climbing paint on trial in Gamer Court.

What game are you deliberately taking your time with right now, and what are you choosing to ignore while you play it?

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#Gaming #PlayStation5 #Xbox

In this episode:

• Final Fantasy Resonance
• Nintendo Switch Sports Resort
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
• CONTROL Resonant
• Penguin Colony
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer
• Fire Emblem

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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GET BONUS SHOWS AND MORE BY JOINING OUR ALWAYS FREE PATREON (www.patreon.com/pixelparents)

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 Are we always chasing the next game?

00:51 Remembering Sir Patrick Stewart

05:19 What we’ve been playing

07:19 Penguin Colony

11:46 Fire Emblem

13:39 CONTROL Resonant

18:59 Star Wars: Galactic Racer

20:38 Modern Warfare 4

26:25 Final Fantasy Resonance

37:39 Nintendo Switch Sports Resort

43:00 Are we playing games or chasing them?

46:31 The pressure of running a gaming podcast

51:15 Time, money and buying new games

56:37 Are we addicted to day one?

59:35 When buying games is still completely fine

01:04:39 Preparing for the gaming winter

01:09:17 Pixel Picks Replay: GoldenEye 007

01:13:18 Does GoldenEye still hold up?

01:18:53 GoldenEye’s incredible soundtrack

01:23:55 November’s Pixel Picks Replay

01:28:00 Gamer Court: yellow climbing paint

01:30:54 Closing thoughts

—

COME FOR THE PODCAST. STAY FOR THE COMPANY.

Pixel Parents is more than a weekly gaming podcast. We're building a friendly, free community of grown-up gamers who love talking games, even when real life gets in the way.

Join our FREE Discord:

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Chat about what you're playing, share recommendations, join our monthly Pixel Picks Replay game club, submit a Gamer Court confession or help shape the conversation on the show.

Parent or not, everyone's welcome. No pressure, no paywalls, just good company.

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New episodes every Friday.

Which video game character first made you feel something beyond excitement and rage?

Smut Week has arrived, and we’re confessing our first gaming crushes, revisiting the characters developers clearly wanted us to fancy and discussing the game romances we took far too seriously.

From Chun Li, Nina Williams and Lara Croft to Solid Snake, Leon Kennedy, Shadowheart and the entire increasingly suspicious history of Hideo Kojima, prepare to learn far too much about us.

Before that, we give Gears of War E Day our verdicts, explain why Silver Pines could be one of 2026’s biggest horror surprises, discuss gaming on holiday and cautiously react to the latest unverified GTA VI footage.

We also return to GoldenEye 007 for Pixel Picks Replay before entering Gamer Court to discuss more of the most ridiculous takes in gaming

Who was your first video game crush? Give us the honest answer in the comments.

Review codes for Silver Pines were provided by Team17.

In this episode:

• Gears of War E-Day
• Silver Pines
• Main Topic: Smut Week
• Pixel Picks Replay
• Gamer Court

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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GET BONUS SHOWS AND MORE BY JOINING OUR ALWAYS FREE PATREON (www.patreon.com/pixelparents)

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 Smut Week begins

01:05 Welcome to Pixel Parents

02:06 Cabins and wedding hangovers

05:21 Housekeeping

06:46 What we have been playing

07:23 Gears of War E Day verdict

17:20 Mafia III for a fiver

19:15 The reality of holiday gaming

20:40 Control Resonant check in

23:09 Too many October games

26:06 Silver Pines impressions

39:05 GTA VI footage discussion

45:28 Entering Smut Week

46:49 Our first gaming crushes

53:19 Developers knew what they were doing

01:01:17 Personality over pixels

01:02:47 Romances we took seriously

01:09:27 The panic pause

01:10:53 Questionable character choices

01:13:31 Snog, marry or delete

01:15:56 GoldenEye Pixel Picks Replay

01:17:21 Gamer Court

01:20:46 Soundtracks over graphics

01:24:23 Gaming concerts outside London

01:27:18 Thanks for listening

—

Write to us: pixelparentspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on BlueSky: @pixelparents.bsky.social

Music & production by Sean Murray – barehandsdesigns.com

New episodes every Friday.

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Physical games were about more than owning a disc.

Game shops, midnight launches, manuals, trade ins and lending games to friends all helped make gaming feel like a visible culture.

This week, we ask what digital convenience has cost us, what today’s younger players may never experience and whether physical gaming is already beyond saving.

We also share our first impressions of Gears of War E Day, including its horror atmosphere, incredible opening act and why it feels like the Xbox game we have been waiting for, plus:

In this episode:

• Gears of War E-Day
• Ghost of Yōtei Echoes of Sekigahara
• Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave
• PES 6 Master League
• The Vale Lostbound
• Pixel Picks Replay
• Gamer Court

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 What we lose when games go digital

00:42 Butter in the beard

03:22 Welcome and housekeeping

04:25 PES 6 Master League

07:56 The Vale Lostbound

09:24 Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave

15:28 The value of comfort games

21:50 Ghost of Yōtei Echoes of Sekigahara

33:22 Moonlighter 2 and card shop life

35:18 Gears of War E Day impressions

42:18 Gears becomes survival horror

49:26 Why the Locust feel frightening again

57:26 What we lose without physical games

01:00:31 What physical gaming meant to us

01:08:08 Manuals, game shops and discovery

01:14:07 The death of midnight launches

01:20:01 What younger gamers may never experience

01:28:24 Is physical gaming already dead?

01:32:19 GoldenEye 007 Pixel Picks Replay

01:33:55 Gamer Court puts PT on trial

01:39:29 Was the seventh generation gaming’s peak?

01:41:39 Thanks for listening

—

Write to us: pixelparentspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on BlueSky: @pixelparents.bsky.social

Music & production by Sean Murray – barehandsdesigns.com

New episodes every Friday.

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What are the nine games that made you the gamer you are today?

Scott and Liam join the social media trend, but the grid only tells part of the story.

We explain how these games shaped our tastes, friendships, families and different stages of our lives.

These are not simply our nine favourite games. They are the games that made us.

In this episode:

• Minecraft Dungeons II review
• Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave
• Control Resonant
• Star Wars Zero Company
• FC 27
• The Witcher 3 Remastered
• The Last of Us Part I in Pixel Picks Replay
• October 2026 Pixel Picks Replay selection

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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GET BONUS SHOWS AND MORE BY JOINING OUR ALWAYS FREE PATREON (www.patreon.com/pixelparents)

Music licensed through Soundstripe.
Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 The nine games that made us

00:41 Welcome to Pixel Parents

07:06 Minecraft Dungeons II review

15:42 Onimusha and Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave

24:22 Control Resonant first impressions

30:18 Star Wars Zero Company

38:34 Is FC 27 worth returning to?

42:14 The Witcher 3 Remastered

47:00 Gears of War E Day review leak

49:26 Will we see more GTA VI?

52:30 Scott fights back against scam callers

55:52 The nine games that made us

57:44 The games that started everything

01:06:49 Games that shaped our tastes

01:11:11 Games tied to friendship

01:14:18 Games that helped us through life

01:17:09 Our most surprising choices

01:23:38 The final games

01:32:23 The games that missed out

01:35:37 Pixel Picks Replay

01:36:21 The Last of Us Part I

01:44:00 October’s game revealed

01:45:20 Closing

—

Write to us: pixelparentspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on BlueSky: @pixelparents.bsky.social

Music & production by Sean Murray – barehandsdesigns.com

New episodes every Friday.

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PlayStation is still the default place to play for millions of people.

But after an uneven PS5 generation, rising prices and a failed live service push, Sony appears to have lost some of its identity.

We look at what PlayStation still gets right, where its confidence has gone and the changes we would make before PS6. That includes more creative games, better communication, new franchises and a return for the studios and ideas that once made PlayStation feel different.

Liam also shares his early verdict on Marvel’s Wolverine. It is polished, violent and refreshingly linear, but does it justify its £70 price?

Elsewhere, Scott continues his Onimusha Way of the Sword obsession, Liam gives The Blood of Dawnwalker his final verdict and Folk Hero earns the highest possible recommendation. It is ideal for playing on the cludgie.

And of course, we’re back in the dock with this week’s Gamer court!

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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In this episode:

• The Blood of Dawnwalker review
• Marvel’s Wolverine Impressions
• Onimusha Way of the Sword
• Folk Hero Review
• Main Topic: Fixing PlayStation
• Gamer Court

GET BONUS SHOWS AND MORE BY JOINING OUR ALWAYS FREE PATREON (www.patreon.com/pixelparents)

Music licensed through Soundstripe.Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 This week on Pixel Parents

00:48 Scott returns

04:38 Onimusha Way of the Sword

09:27 The Blood of Dawnwalker review

21:27 Folk Hero review

27:24 Finding time for Fire Emblem

29:25 The return of Solitaire

30:33 Marvel’s Wolverine impressions

50:56 Fixing PlayStation

52:19 Where PlayStation stands today

57:24 The identity of PS5

1:07:19 Revive Japan Studio and Bluepoint

1:11:50 PlayStation, Kojima and Physint

1:16:18 The live service problem

1:23:26 PlayStation needs to communicate

1:28:29 How PlayStation gets its confidence back

1:33:17 The exclusive PlayStation needs

1:37:06 Pixel Picks Replay

1:37:34 Gamer Court

1:41:20 Are gaming subscriptions essential?

1:44:23 Closing the show

—

Write to us: pixelparentspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on BlueSky: @pixelparents.bsky.social

Music & production by Sean Murray – barehandsdesigns.com

New episodes every Friday.

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We all have gaming opinions that aged badly. Scott has six of them.

In this solo episode, he admits he was wrong about Fortnite, game difficulty, digital ownership, Nintendo, Early Access and video game remakes.

He also looks at how age, parenthood and limited free time have changed what he wants from games.

Scott also shares his first impressions of Onimusha Way of the Sword, reacts to Nintendo’s Ocarina of Time remake and the latest Nintendo Direct, and discusses Xbox stepping in to publish Hideo Kojima’s Physint after PlayStation cancelled its involvement.

#GamingPodcast #Onimusha #NintendoDirect

Subscribe for weekly gaming discussions from two adult gamer parents.

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In this episode:

• Onimusha Way of the Sword
• Nintendo/Zelda Direct
• Kojima Productions and XBOX partner for Physint
• Scott becomes Frasier Crane

GET BONUS SHOWS AND MORE BY JOINING OUR ALWAYS FREE PATREON (www.patreon.com/pixelparents)

Music licensed through Soundstripe.Code BMB591ST2JKNHXWE

#GamingPodcast #TheWitcher3 #GamingPodcast

—

CHAPTERS

00:00 Gaming opinions that aged badly

00:43 Scott takes over the podcast

03:08 Onimusha Way of the Sword impressions

14:57 The Legend of Zelda Direct

17:23 Ocarina of Time remake gameplay

22:13 Nintendo Direct reactions

24:37 Professor Layton and Metroid

29:18 Persona 4, Persona 6 and Kirby

31:45 Xbox saves Kojima’s Physint

34:09 Does the move actually matter?

36:33 PlayStation’s troubling direction

40:47 Gaming hot takes that went cold

43:08 Difficulty does not make a game better

45:34 Digital games won

47:58 Scott was wrong about Nintendo

50:21 Early Access and unfinished games

52:46 Remakes are not inherently lazy

55:13 Age and parenthood changed everything

57:38 September’s next big releases

01:02:23 Sign off

---

Write to us: pixelparentspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on BlueSky: @pixelparents.bsky.social
Music & production by Sean Murray – barehandsdesigns.com

New episodes every Friday.

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