Shane R. Monroe is out with a great new episode of his show Retrogaming Radio. As always, there's a lot of great content to enjoy, but this one covers a subject near and dear to many of us here at Armchair Arcade: videogame preservation! It might sound simple, but have you ever seriously thought about what we should be doing NOW to ensure that we can still play our favorite games ten, twenty, or fifty years from now? While there will almost certainly be ways to play Pac-Man or Super Mario Bros, what about lesser known shareware and public domain games favorites like Scorched Tanks? It's good stuff.

In the last segment of my interview with retrogaming's Howard Stern, Shane R. Monroe chats with me about the glorious days of the Amiga (and why it ultimately failed despite having the best tech), the illegal but inevitable abandonware black markets, the "sinister" and self-defeating DRM industry, and why he would have never made the Vita. He gets really fired up in this episode--classic Shane--and there's pretty funny moments.

Download the video here.

Episode 150! Even I'm amazed that I've produced so many episodes. So many reviews! So many interviews! So many bad jokes! Yes, it's time to celebrate. Besides a great interview with Shane R. Monroe--who I assume most of you are familiar with here, I offer up a special "thank you" in the form of an old school demo!

You can download the video here. Below are some thoughts on the show and reflections on 150.

Shane R. MonroeThere's too much content in this episode to cram into a subject line! Clocking in at three hours, episode 4 features an exclusive interview with retrogaming radical Shane R. Monroe and the talents of Mark Vasier (back with a vengeance!), Christina Loguidice, Chris Kennedy, Rob Daviau, Matt Barton, and Bill Loguidice. We also announce and read the winner of our one paragraph videogame back story contest.

Download the episode here (128K format).

Segments and approximate times below:

• Matt reads "Donkey Kong," the prize-winning short story by Craig A. Meyer (4:00)
• Mark talks about his first look at Duke Nukem Forever (6:58)
• Christina on active gaming (18:43)
• Rob reminisces about the ups and downs of being an Amiga fanboy in Canada (28:17)
• Chris reviews the recent Supreme Court case on videogame violence (52:40)
• Matt interviews Shane R. Monroe (1:12:28)
• Bill talks about a literally killer game, Sub Mission, complete with original cassette audio (2:18:52)