If you listen to Born Again Casual, you’ve probably heard my complaints about the mean-spirited cynicism that seems to dominate the gaming scene these days. It seems like most podcasts and game blogs are having an unspoken competition to see who can be the biggest smart-ass. To hear a lot of these people talk you’d almost wonder if any of them actually like video games at all. Well there is one podcast out there that shines through like a beacon of hope…

Whattheyplay.com is a web site that is primarily geared towards parents who want to be informed about the games that their kids are playing. The site provides information about games ranging from E-rated titles for kids to the M-rated titles that often elude parents. Even though I’m a gamer parent with a knowledge of games that is beyond most of the other parents I know, I still get plenty of enjoyment from visiting the site. One of the best features of the site is the weekly ‘What They Play Podcast’.

John Davidson (formerly editor of EGM/1up, and co-host of 1UP Yours/ListenUP) has put together a podcast that covers all of the angles listed above and also has insightful discussion about current game industry news and releases. The podcast manages to do all of this in under an hour, something that most game podcasts seem to be incapable of. There are no long-winded rants or diatribes, everything stays on point and on topic. It really has a feeling of professionalism that I feel is lacking across the board.

Last week’s episode featured an interview with Brooks Brown, one of the kids who lived through Columbine and was a friend of the two shooters. This was a special all-interview episode to mark the 10 year anniversary of the shootings, which were largely blamed on violent video games. I won’t go into the details of the interview because I’d prefer you download it and listen for yourself, but I will say that it was one of the rare times when I was hanging on every word of a podcast. I highly encourage anyone who has an opinion of this issue to give this episode a listen.

So I guess this begs the question why would I, the co-host of a podcast that is struggling to expand our own listener-base, write up a post encouraging people to go out and listen to another podcast? Because I feel very strongly that a podcast with this level of integrity and professionalism deserves as much success as possible. I’d love to see more game podcasts out the elevate themselves above the crap that passes for journalism these days. Maybe if a podcast like What They Play serves as an example, it can actually happen.

You can check out What They Play and subscribe here: http://www.whattheyplay.com/blog/categories/podcast/