Your Move
Samuel McConnell
Subscribe
Board games. Video games. Anything but mind games. KMUW commentator Sam McConnell explores the latest (and the time-tested) world of games.Your Move can also be found on iTunes. Listen or subscribe here.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Dec 29, 2021
'Unpacking' left me with happy tears in my eyes
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says a new game is WAY more than what it sounds like.
playlist_add
Dec 15, 2021
'Unreal Engine' is just that
KMUW games commentator Sam McConnell says a new piece of technology really lives up to its name.
playlist_add
Dec 1, 2021
'Halo Infinite' is fun, even if I'm not any good at it
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says the rollout of the new game in a major series is pretty confusing.
playlist_add
Nov 17, 2021
The fifth 'Forza Horizon' game is polished and then some
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says a new video game sequel lets him indulge his fantasies just a little bit.
playlist_add
Nov 3, 2021
You can bring your old Game Boy up to modern standards
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says he has a way to inject new life into your old handheld game systems.
playlist_add
Oct 20, 2021
The first video game just turned 50 years old
KMUW games commentator Sam McConnell takes us back to one of the places where it all began.
playlist_add
Oct 6, 2021
The best-selling fighting game of all time is finally complete
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says we can finally play one massively popular game in its entirety.
playlist_add
Sep 22, 2021
Your Move: Your games can come with you, while they stay in place
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says he's found a number of ways to make his home gaming portable.
playlist_add
Aug 25, 2021
Your Move: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System Is 30 Years Old
This week on Your Move, commentator Sam McConnell looks back at a classic console on its 30th anniversary.
playlist_add
Aug 11, 2021
Your Move: Final Fantasy Remasters
Sam McConnell says part of one of his favorite game series is getting a little makeover.
playlist_add
Jul 28, 2021
Your Move: The Potential Of Steam Deck
Sam McConnell looks at what might be a major new option in portable gaming.
playlist_add
Jul 14, 2021
Your Move: The Historically High Prices Of Video Games
KMUW commentator Sam McConnell says it's starting to get surprisingly hard to pick up older video games.
playlist_add
Jun 30, 2021
Help Wanted: 'Destiny' Needs A Historian | Your Move
Are you an out of work historian? I have some good news for you. Bungie, the developer of the video game series Destiny, is looking to hire a historian. But the events this historian will be chronicling will not be those of the production of the game, but of the events that have happened in the world of the game itself.
playlist_add
Jun 16, 2021
Your Move: Announcements From The 2021 E3 Expo
Every year, game companies announce what will be coming up for the next year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, popularly known as E3. This year, it’s an all-online event. E3 for this year ended yesterday, and there were a lot of announcements.
playlist_add
Jun 2, 2021
Your Move: 'Pure Invention' Offers An Insightful Look At Japan's Impact On American Culture
For more than three decades, Japan has been a leader - the leader, in a lot of respects - in the global video game industry. Names like Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were the only names in video games for years, and even since Microsoft joined, Japanese companies still dominate the market. But of course these companies didn’t just emerge out of nothing, and Matt Alt’s book Pure Invention is a history of how Japanese pop culture exports shaped our culture, too.
playlist_add
May 19, 2021
Your Move: Beloved Games Re-released As 'Mass Effect Legendary Edition'
When I first played Mass Effect in 2007, I was immediately taken with the world that had been built for the game. Or, rather, worlds, as it takes place across our entire galaxy. There were dozens of solar systems to explore, and several alien species, each not only with their own unique relationships to humans, but to each other as well.
playlist_add
May 5, 2021
'New Pokemon Snap' Wields A Camera Instead Of A Gun | Your Move
The Nintendo game New Pokemon Snap, like its Nintendo 64 predecessor from 1999, is a first-person shooter, but is one of the rare examples of the genre that is non-violent. Instead of wielding a firearm, you have a camera.
playlist_add
Apr 21, 2021
Your Move: Is A Disaster Lurking In Your Video Game System?
Your PlayStation 4 is a ticking time bomb.
playlist_add
Apr 7, 2021
Your Move: Remembering The Neo-Geo MVS
In the mid '90s, there was a Burger King on East Kellogg. I was 12 or 13, and although I didn’t have any great love for the food there, very often it was where I wanted to go for lunch after church. The reason was a single, red and white arcade cabinet tucked into a corner. Of course, back then you could find arcade machines in any manner of place, including gas stations and laundromats, but this machine was special.
playlist_add
Mar 24, 2021
Your Move: Spend A Little Time In The Mushroom Kingdom
One of these days, we’ll all be able to feel comfortable going to places like theme parks again. While today is not that day, it seems like it’ll be soon. And for when that is the case, Nintendo has been working on something special at Universal Studios.
playlist_add
Feb 24, 2021
Your Move: A New Twist On An Old Favorite
A port of 2013’s Super Mario 3D World was recently released on the Nintendo Switch console. This is one of my favorite Mario games ever, but the fact that it was originally released on the Wii U meant that very few people had the hardware to play the game. Now, it’s on a much more popular console.
playlist_add
Feb 10, 2021
'Street Fighter' At 30: The Video Game That Changed The Face Of Its Genre | Your Move
The first Street Fighter game, released in 1987 by Capcom, was mostly unremarkable. The first version of the arcade game only had two buttons per player - but they were huge, rubbery buttons, and the harder you hit them, the harder your character on-screen would punch or kick. These often broke and were expensive to replace, so many of those machines were eventually retrofit with traditional arcade buttons. Also, you had no choice of character, you had to play as the Japanese karate master Ryu.
playlist_add
Jan 27, 2021
Preserving The History Of Video Games | Your Move
In early 1991, before Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the Sega Genesis, several magazines received a cartridge with an early version of the game. All the media coverage of Sonic before it came out was from this prototype, which had several big differences from the final version of the game. Most of these cartridges were returned to Sega, and for decades, this version of the game was lost. But on January 1st of this year, the demo was found and released for people to play on the internet. It’s unfinished, and many levels don’t work at all, but it's a fascinating look into the middle of development of the game.
playlist_add
Jan 13, 2021
Your Move: The New 'Indiana Jones' Game Is Backed By A Familiar Name
In 1983, George Lucas founded Lucasfilm Games, a video game development company to work alongside his Lucasfilm production studio. Although Lucasfilm is obviously known primarily for its Star Wars movies, the rights for making Star Wars games were in the hands of various other third parties.
playlist_add
Dec 16, 2020
Your Move: 'Cyberpunk 2077' Is Awesome... On The Right Platform
Cyberpunk 2077 is awesome. It’s a triumph of game engineering, features a huge, lively worlds, and is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played. It will certainly land on many peoples’ Game of the Year lists.
playlist_add
Dec 2, 2020
Your Move: The Hottest Gifts Of The Season
The hottest Christmas gifts this season are the new round of game consoles from Sony and Microsoft - the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, respectively. At least, I assume they are, considering every time they go on sale, they’re snatched up instantly.
playlist_add
Oct 21, 2020
Happy 35th, Nintendo Entertainment System | Your Move
Last Sunday, the Nintendo Entertainment System celebrated its 35th anniversary. On October 18th, 1985, the system went on sale in New York City, with a nationwide launch in the fall of ‘86.
playlist_add
Sep 10, 2020
Your Move: Super Mario At 35
Super Mario is 35 years old this month, and Nintendo is releasing several Mario games in the next year to celebrate.
playlist_add
Aug 12, 2020
Your Move: The First Virtual Reality Headset Worth Buying
Consumer-grade Virtual Reality headsets have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. The first model of the popular Oculus Rift headset was released in 2013. It was relatively primitive compared to today’s headsets, but it was many times cheaper than other head-mounted displays at the time. There have been several other headsets released between then and now, including models by Valve and HP. But aside from some cheap adapters that did little more than strap your phone to your face, the common element among headsets has been the requirement to connect them to an expensive console or gaming computer with a long cable.
playlist_add
Jul 29, 2020
Your Move: Phantasy Star Online
In 1999, Sega released their final home console, the Dreamcast. Among several features it had that were new to game consoles, there was a built-in modem. Few games used it, and even fewer used it well. But one used it phenomenally.
playlist_add