Scandalous Games

Scandalous Games is a video game history podcast that takes a closer look at video game related controversies. Every episode, historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story about a scandalous event from gaming's past to his friends who offer commentary on moral panics, ill-advised advertising campaigns, unusual figures, and any and all topics related to video game scandals and how they shaped the medium. New episodes drop on the first and third Tuesdays of every month! Check out more info, including show notes and sources, at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

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Scandalous Games

The NCAA Video Game Lawsuits, Part 1: The Grim Reaper Smiles on the Goalposts

September 03, 2024 • Scandalous Games • Episode 50

Hooray for our 50th episode! Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Phil Thomas. It's the start of the college football season in America, and we are weeks into the launch of EA Sports College Football 25, the first American college sports video game in 11 years. With that in mind, we start a deep dive into why it took so long to get a new college football game, taking a look at the history of college sports as a multi-billion dollar empire. In our first part, we examine the impact of college sports and go all the way back to their 19th century origins.

Topics discussed include: Summoning Clippy with eldritch rituals, Philly sports radio call-in guys, the 19th century equivalent of performance enhancing drugs, and the incredibly dangerous flying wedge.

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ)

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Be sure to also check out Andy and Phil's new podcast where they re-watch the 1990s animated series Beast Wars: Transformers, called So...We Were Talking About Beast Wars, wherever you get your podcasts!