Hot Button
Technology
About
Chronicling strange and interesting stories in the world of video games.
Episodes
- Hot Button’s 2025 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 2
Part 2 of Hot Button's 2025 Game of the Year deliberations covers categories including Biggest Surprise, Most Disappointing, Worst Game, and the ranked Top 10 Best Games.
- Episode 124: My Bloody Valentine in 2-D - The History of Doki Doki Literature Club
Hot Button episode 124 recounts the development and controversial outcome of Doki Doki Literature Club, an indie horror dating sim that gained internet fame and became associated with real-world tragedies.
- Hot Button’s 2025 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 1
The Hot Button podcast's 2025 Game of the Year deliberations continue in Part 1, covering Best Aesthetic, Best Story, Best Character, and Best Moment or Sequence.
- Episode 123: Hot Button Year-Seven Edition
In the Year-Seven Edition of Hot Button, the hosts return after a hiatus to update listeners on topics discussed since 2018, specifically mentioning Peter Molyneux's current work and the price of Poop Slinger.
- Episode 122: “Hentai_Overflow” - The Time Bigoted Hackers Took Down LittleBigPlanet and Titanfall
This episode of Hot Button revisits 2021 to discuss the insecurities within online video game ecosystems. It examines how hackers infiltrated and disrupted major game titles, including LittleBigPlanet and Titanfall.
- Episode 121: Not Like This - The Sad Story of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5
Let us relive some trauma on this episode as we dig into the dark chapter of one of the absolute best franchises to ever grace gaming. Turns out that underfunding an inexperienced studio to tackle a major project in an unreasonable time fr…
- Episode 120: The Seven Deadly Sins of Dante’s Inferno
Who’s ready to party like it’s Easter Sunday, because this week we’re going to get blasphemous and explore what is probably the most elaborate and insane PR campaign for a video game ever. Seven full months of religious-infused stunts dest…
- Episode 119: The Joy of Sex - A Hot Button Guide to Love Making
It’s an 18+ adults only Valentine’s Day special today as we break out the worst console ever made, the Philips CD-i, and recount the true story of when a “sex manual” from the early 70s was bizarrely adapted into an interactive video game…
- Hot Button’s 2024 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 2
The discussions conclude as we find our answers to the four final categories: Best Surprise, Biggest Disappointment, Worst Game, and of course a collaborative list of the ten Best Games overall! Biggest Surprise 0:02:02 Most Disappointing…
- Hot Button’s 2024 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 1
This week begins our mission of naming the top of what gaming in 2024 had to offer. In our first half of the debates, we honor our picks for: Best Aesthetic, Best Story, Best Character, and (perhaps our personal favorite) Best Moment or Se…
- Episode 118: Hot Button Year-Six Edition
Woo lad! It’s been a whopping six years and nearly 120 episodes! You know what that means. Today we reinvestigate the back catalog to see what’s new with our topics. It’s honestly surprising just how much can change in the last 12 months.…
- Episode 117: “Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!” - The Curse of Berzerk!
We close out the spookiest of all holidays with the unusual tale of how a fun 80s arcade shooter came to be! That was before it killed someone, played a role in a homicide case, and found itself in the middle of multiple conspiracy theorie…
- Episode 116: This is a Brutal Blood Sport! - The History of Manhunt
Halloween season has officially started so this week we get our hands dirty with Rockstar’s found footage murder simulator… classic? From its controversial portrayal of a deranged man forced into the seedy underground world of snuff film c…
- Episode 115: Oh, Bugger - Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
It’s our most boob-filled discussion to date as we dissect the development and release of one of the biggest box office hits to ever be based on a classic video game! A blunder filled with interesting casting choices, over the top wire wor…
- Hot Button Movie Commentary: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Come join the crew in watching the 2001 action-adventure blockbuster hit starring Angelina Jolie! And trust us when I say that you won’t want to take on this task alone… because this film sucks! Weak characterization, sloppy editing, and p…
- Episode 114: Microtransactions #6
We got a fresh batch of weird little stories for the pod this week as we discuss the tangled web of digital music licensing, interactive cures to fight real world disease, and what happens when a public wedding proposal inside of a popular…
- Episode 113: The History of Valve Part 2 (Episode Two)
And we’re back with our deep dive through the Valve timeline! This week we take a step into the realm of virtual reality as well as explore the mega company’s most recent success following the release of their SteamDeck handheld series!
- Episode 112: The History of Valve Part 2 (Episode One)
Today we dig into Valve Software’s big foray into not only developing their in house operating system, but also their very own home hardware. Everything from the Steam Link, to the Steam Controller, to the Steam Machine and everything in b…
- Episode 111: The Failure of the Coleco Chameleon
What do you get when you combine a brand new retro-style system, a botched crowdfunding campaign, and a bunch of tricksters? Why you get the Coleco Chameleon of course! The cartridge based home console that never was, from a team now only…
- Episode 110: The Dumb History of Flappy Bird
Ten years ago, the popularity and drama of the silly little mobile app Flappy Bird was inescapable. On this episode we investigate its suspicious origins, controversies, bizarre release and unrelease, the ensuing wave of copycats, as well…
- Episode 109: Don’t Do the Do - The Perils of the 2014 MTN Dew Game_Jam
It’s a good ol’ fashioned reality show nightmare this week as we dig into the time America’s favorite soft drink sponsored a gaming television program full of popular faces and yet, production failed so hard that it never even made it to a…
- Episode 108: Suck It Down - The History of Diakatana
This week John Romero is about to make you his bitch as we explore the troubled development and release of one of the largest high profile blunders ever to grace our industry. So join us as we hop back to the optimistic days of the mid 199…
- Hot Button’s 2023 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 2
We’re back with our second and final part on the best (and worst) of 2023! Why not celebrate Valentine’s Day by listening to us argue four more awards categories, including… Biggest Surprise, Most Disappointing, Worst Game, and of course a…
- Hot Button’s 2023 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 1
With 2024 now upon us, what do you say we take a look back and discuss our top releases of last year. This week we kick it off with awards for Best Aesthetic, Best Narrative, Best Character, and Best Moment! Be sure to return for the remai…
- Episode 107: Unity Returns!
Sometimes something happens that we just can’t sit on. In perhaps what is likely THE most self-destructive move we have ever seen in almost any industry, today we buckle down and discuss the recent explosion of controversy from the folks a…
- Hot Button Game Awards 2023 Special Follow-Up
The annual VGAs have officially concluded. This week we give a play-by-play of the night’s events as well as our thoughts on every major reveal and announcement. This along with the tallying up the results of who in the podcast room made t…
- Hot Button Game Awards 2023 Special
Awards season is upon us! Today we place our bets and personal picks as we run through all the main categories set to presented at Geoff Keighley’s big show. Who’s chosen group of nominees will come out on top? Tune back in next time to he…
- Episode 106: Hot Button Year-Five Edition
Five years! Can you believe it? Take a trip through time with us this week as we check back in with all our past episodes and update a half decade plus of some of the biggest stories in gaming!
- Episode 105: Cruis’n Toward Bankruptcy - The History of Midway
Get over here! At long last, we cover the third great pillar of defunct American software publishers! From the arcade classics to seventh gen sleepers, we take a look at everything these dead kings of the “B” game threw at us. The hits and…
- Episode 104: Dark Horse - The Twisted Tale of Drowned God
Halloween is now upon us… therefore it’s time the podcast tackles what is likely one of the most distressing stories to ever find its way into gaming history. Today we explore the tragedy and mind of an artist faced with the unimaginable.…
- Episode 103: Bodies Bodies Bodies
In what might be the most unusual kick-off of our Halloween season, on this episode we examine five separate instances of when developers used actual real images of the recently deceased in their video games and why.
- Episode 102: Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game: The Podcast
You’ve seen the motion picture, now it’s time for us to take a look at the video game… based off the movie… based off the video game? Today we examine the series’s most forgotten entry and why it failed to connect with fans. All three vers…
- Episode 101: Street Fighter: The Movie: The Podcast
This week we have returned to give a proper summary on what in the world we all just watched as well as a thorough analysis of how this wonderfully schlocky cult film made its way into theaters everywhere! For you it is the most important…
- Street Fighter: The Movie: The Commentary
It’s another Hot Button commentary track! Now with more schlock! Sit down alongside us and hear our real-time thoughts on the only 1994 kung-fu action flick to be based off of a premiere fighting game franchise from Capcom, and starring Je…
- Episode 100: The Life and Death of the Gizmondo
We did it, folks! It’s our 100th episode! And boy did we save one of the best topics to celebrate it, because it is time for us to remind the world of when a group of dangerous Swedish mobsters clumsily attempted to infiltrate our favorite…
- Hot Button Interview with Alyse Knorr on GoldenEye 007
You’ve heard the episodes! Now we go straight to the source! On a very out of the ordinary Hot Button this week, we sit down and have a chat with writer Alyse Knorr about her GoldenEye 007 entry for the highly regarded Boss Fight line of g…
- Episode 99: Welcome Back, 007 - The History of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 Part 3
The thrilling conclusion to our GoldenEye trilogy is here! Today we reflect on the powerful legacy it left behind and explore the future it built for everyone involved. From Perfect Dark to TimeSplitters to full-blown remakes and remasters…
- Episode 98: Welcome Back, 007 - The History of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 Part 2
We’re back to continue on with the tale of how one of your favorite childhood classics came to be! In our story’s middle chapter, we’ll take you through the rest of GoldenEye’s fascinating development as the crew at Rare prepares for its m…
- Episode 97: Welcome Back, 007 - The History of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 Part 1
Hot Button has returned with something truly special. This week we take a trip to the mid-90s, and in what is perhaps the industry’s unlikeliest success story, explore the time when a crack team of young designers turned a Hollywood spy fl…
- Hot Button’s 2022 Game of the Year Deliberations
It’s officially 2023! However before we return to our regularly scheduled programming, we’re first going to take a look back at these past twelve months and decide as a group what the absolute best (as well as worst) game releases were for…
- Episode 96: Hot Button Year-Four Edition (Kinda)
No, we’re not dead! Come hear where we’ve been! The hiatus may have been longer than expected, but that didn’t certainly stop the world from turning. And the news from happening. In this return special we got all the latest updates on our…
- Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 5
It’s the grand finale you’ve all been waiting for! Our definitive ranked top 10 list of the absolute best releases of 2021 as well as a shameful crown for the crappiest game! Timestamps: Worst Game - 00:01:36 Game of The Year - 00:39:43
- Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 4
We are almost there, folks! Today’s awards are a double dose of categories. What were the Biggest Disappointments and Biggest Surprises that gaming had to offer during the year? Which titles brought us up and which let us down? There’s onl…
- Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 3
We’ve reached the halfway point! Hot Button’s official Game of the Year deliberations continue on with Best Remake, Best Expansion, and Biggest Disaster! After we discuss what the Biggest Timesinks of 2021 were and then… Best Chelsie Game?…
- Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 2
It’s the spoiler-packed second chapter of Hot Button’s Game of the Year awards! On this episode we get into what we thought was the Best Moment or Sequence from a game, our favorite Best New Character, and which title featured the Best Nar…
- Hot Button’s 2021 Game of the Year Deliberations Part 1
2022 is here! That must mean it’s time for Hot Button to take a look back on these past 12 months of releases and host its first ever Game of the Year deliberations! In our opening batch of categories, we discuss our nominees and find winn…
- Hot Button Game Awards 2021 Special Follow-Up
It’s time we tally up the results and see who came out on top following the airing of this year’s The Game Awards! NFTs thankfully weren’t welcome at the event, however it did come jam-packed with trailers, announcements, and of course tho…
- Hot Button Game Awards 2021 Special
It’s awards season y’all! In this episode, we run through every category and nomination featured in Geoff Keighley’s big annual game of the year event. We then choose our picks on who we think will take home the gold and why as we play aga…
- Episode 95: Hot Button Year-Three Edition
It’s a full house this week as we celebrate our third birthday together. So join us in going back through every topic we’ve ever covered from the very beginning all the way to today! A near two and half hours of updating, correcting, and r…
- Episode 94: Microtransactions #5
Our mini-stories series is back! This week we super vary it up and get into the licensing around car manufacturers in racing games, the theft of some classic internet memes, and finally which deep secrets lay hidden behind the legendary De…