Aches and Games

04/07/2025

It's the first Friday of the month, which can only mean one thing! Yes, it's the weekend tomorrow 🎉

Also it means our new monthly podcast episode is available on all of your favourite podcast places, and on YouTube and via our website!

This month we cover an absolute smorgasbord of vital topics, including why I was told to be a bilingual secretary and not an assassin, how hot two people can become whilst recording a podcast, why I can't win a graffiti tricks challenge against some mute 80s all-female crew and loads of the normal gaming stuff.

So if you want to hear about stuff and things and our views on the ten games we played between us over the past month you can't afford to miss it.

Pop to your usual podcast places as a matter of urgency or click on the link in the first comment!

30/06/2025

We've just recorded our July episode of the podcast and I can tell you - it's HOT.

Dropping (like it's hot) on Friday. Recognise.

29/06/2025

We did an Xbox special episode recently. Here is a clip from it.

What are your thoughts on how Xbox is developing as a brand rather than just as a console?

05/06/2025

If you've been struggling to sleep in anticipation of the latest episode of the monthly Aches & Games Podcast, I am here to put you out of your misery because it is now live on your favourite podcast platform. Woooo and indeed hooo!

So if you have a 1hr 15m hole that needs filling and you enjoy listening to 2 aching men talking about gaming, trips to Majorca, Lady Gaga tribute acts, French karaoke, Penguins, escape rooms, giraffes wearing ties, atomic sites in the Lake District and much, much more then I'd strongly recommend you click on the link below to discover all the many and varied ways you can listen to or watch us in action.

https://bit.ly/m/Aches-and-Games

You can also pop along to our website from there and discover the wonders of our recent game reviews and opinion pieces including Giles' hopes for the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase.

We hope you enjoy it and I look forward to seeing which random middle-aged person will choose to react to this post with an angry face emoji like someone does each and every month. It's what keeps us humble...

05/06/2025

With this year's Xbox Games Showcase coming up very soon, Giles gave his thoughts on what he would like to see, and gushes a bit about how good last year's one was!

Have a read below...

I have no idea how it’s June already and can only assume that I overslept by two months at some point last week. But, assuming this all isn’t some elaborate prank that the world is pulling on me – that does means that the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 is nearly here. So with that excitement in mind...

27/05/2025

If you fancy reading a mildly detailed review of Silent Hill 2, composed whilst lying on a sunlounger in Majorca, you now can!

I enjoy a nostalgic trip back into the past as much as the next guy, but this particular backwards stroll is particularly hazy as I never actually played Silent Hill 2 the first time around. I remember the hype and the legions of devoted fans at the time and obviously more recently the excitement si...

02/05/2025

First Friday of the month is fish day at Joshua's school, but it's also the day our latest Aches & Games Monthly Podcast episode drops like a potato from a rocket.

This month we talk about the mysteries of Blue Prince (which contains a lot of blueprints), vomiting monsters, the supernatural deep South, chipped baths, waving plastic boxes at trees, how much more exciting it is to Rage than it is to Bloom and all the things we're looking forward to playing in May (including our new play along game, Atomfall).

You can watch the full thing on YouTube below, which is handy for those who can't keep up with my fast talking as you can attempt to lip read or pop on the captioning.

Alternatively, if our faces aren't something you want to spend an hour staring at, you can find all the other places to listen by clicking this link instead: https://bit.ly/m/Aches-and-Games

As always, we'd love to hear from you and will feature any comments, emails, semaphore signals or pigeon-carried messages on next month's show.

Hi everyone! In May's episode of "Aches & Games monthly" we talk about the intriguing Blue Prince plus everything else that we’ve been playing, watching and ...

01/05/2025

It's the first Friday of the month tomorrow...

You know what that means!

04/04/2025

Another month, another exciting episode of the Aches & Games monthly podcast!

This month we talk about loads of stuff including how we got on with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Indiana Jones & The Great Circle, Avowed, Silent Hill and lots more and look forward to our new game of the month, Blue Prince!

We also give our initial thoughts on the Switch 2 announcement, have a look at some of our favourite upcoming releases on the subscription services and also spend 20 minutes talking about life stuff! There really is something for everyone - unless you hate games and life in which case there's no hope for you...

We also shout out two of our favourite gaming podcasts - Veteran Gamers and 1 Hour 1 Decision so once you've listened to our awesome podcast you can also check out their ones!

Find us in all the usual places or click here to find a handy list of all those places to save you hunting: https://bit.ly/m/Aches-and-Games

21/03/2025

****NEW LOGO KLAXON***

You've probably seen this in all the newspapers and online media outlets already but we've had a cheeky little rebrand!

Our new logo will now appear on all of our socials and YouTube and all the various podcast places so please look out for this new shiny one from now on instead of the original one. Exciting right?!

17/03/2025

Clearly miracles do happen sometimes - I've actually started our game of the month more than 2 days before we record our next podcast!

Anyone else playing along this month?

14/03/2025

Finally finished Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and got to admit it is an amazing game. Dark, confusing, disturbing, challenging and explores some really interesting subjects, particularly around mental health with the main character battling against psychosis.

As leading characters go, Senua is definitely one of the most interesting and captivating out there and with the amazing graphics and excellent binaural sound you can start to imagine a little bit about what she is going through in her own mind.

If you've never played this before you really should, but as with most games I enjoy playing it's a pretty challenging, disturbing and knackering experience!

We talked about it a fair bit on the podcast this month and no doubt there'll be a proper review on our website over the next few days!

If you've played it, let us know what you thought. I just need to build up the mental strength to take on Hellblade 2 now...