Millennium Edition is an original podcast from the Sound Stone Podcast Network, covering the GameCube, Dreamcast, and other games from the late 90s and 2000s. Join writer, teacher, and podcaster Sean Douglass, along with co-producers Gooey Fame and Darren Hupke, as they explore topics in video games from this turn-of-the-millennium period.
The new millennium was a unique time for video games. Graphical leaps led to new levels of resolution and fidelity, with games that showed off advanced water and lighting effects and detailed character models. Innovations like wireless WaveBird controllers and console internet connectivity changed the way people played, and with gaming in the third dimension no longer in its infancy, developers found ways to offer more polished and refined 3D experiences. Despite their age, the games of this era have aged particularly well and remain in high demand. The timelessness of these games, and this hopeful, playful technological landscape of the late 90s and early 2000s, is what this show is all about.
If you're a Nintendo or SEGA fan still enjoying the GameCube or Dreamcast today, or if you're someone just discovering games of this period for the first time, we hope Millennium Edition will be a fun and nuanced look back at a time that today feels both comfortingly nostalgic and surprisingly modern all at once.
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As temperatures rise, we're heading to the beach with the 2001 GameCube launch title Wave Race: Blue Storm. The third entry in the Wave Race series, there are perhaps few games that show off this console generation's famous water effects quite like Blue Storm, a Jet Ski racing game that is still a fun (and challenging!) ride today. For this episode, we have some familiar Sound Stone faces as Sean talks with Gooey and McKenna of Flashback 64, the chronological Nintendo 64 podcast. Together they discuss the history of Blue Storm, their experiences with the game, and how well it carried the torch for Wave Race into a new era of video games.
Questions or comments about this show? Feel free to reach out at soundstonenetwork@gmail.com.
Our 2000s-inspired theme music is by Duncan "PixelTea" Smith (https://duncansmith.carrd.co/), and our show art is by Andrew Elmore (https://bsky.app/profile/elmore.zone).
If you enjoyed this show, please consider following us in your podcast player and leaving a positive review. For any five-star reviews left with names, we will personally thank you on the show.
Millennium Edition is a Sound Stone Network original podcast. If you liked this show, we invite you to check out the rest of our lineup:
- Kirby Conversations: Air riding through over 30 years of Kirby and HAL Laboratory with Sean, Bridget, and WiKirby Editor-in-Chief Gigi
- Flashback 64: the chronological Nintendo 64 podcast with Gooey and McKenna
- Pixels and Polygons: a conversational video game podcast of short interviews from Darren Hupke
- ...and a weekly livestream on video game manuals from Nic McConnell, Instruction Derby
Our YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/@SoundStone-Network.
