Cover image of show Mind Controllers

Mind Controllers

Podcast by Brandon Craw

English

Technology & science

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About Mind Controllers

Welcome to a podcast about shining the light behind the psychological aspects of some of our favorite video games! Host Brandon Craw (MA Clinical Psychology) and guests dive deep into video games, exploring the background behind some characters, point out which parts of their traumatic life can be attributed to their potential mental illness or explain their behavior, and discuss the human factors behind video game design. Then, we like to chat about what we're playing now. Come join us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All episodes

86 episodes

episode Scatterbrained - Mixtapology artwork

Scatterbrained - Mixtapology

Slight Story Spoilers: Mixtape Brandon and Tim reunite to talk about the nostalgia-filled game: Mixtape! And the past is the theme of today’s episode as we chat about all of the retro consoles/games and try to answer the question: Why do we care about nostalgia? And I have another post credit surprise, courtesy of Tim. It’s a fun one! If you leave a review of the podcast on an app, screenshot it and send it to me via DM on any of the socials, I’ll enter your name into the Pizza Raffle! One lucky winner every month will get sent a digital gift card to a pizza spot of their choice! Retro/Nostalgia Discussion - 02:01 Mixtape - 44:36 Wrapping Up and Thank You - 01:00:39 Games we talked about this week: Mixtape Check out https://www.startmenu.co.uk/ [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/] , an awesome site Brandon is now writing for! And check out his latest review of Pragmata [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/home/review-pragmata-fly-me-to-the-moon]! If you are experiencing any sort of mental health distress, or just need someone to talk to, please call 988 contact some of these resources gathered on https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/]  Feel free to message us with suggestions for games or questions at our socials and we’ll respond to your question on the upcoming pod! Be sure to follow us on socials like Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindControllersPod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mindcontrollerspod/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/brandoncraw.bsky.social], Twitter [https://x.com/mindconpod], and Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/mindcontrollerspod].  Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast listening app! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/MindControllers [http://patreon.com/MindControllers] and get a thank you sticker! Tracks are:  "We Decide" by Tatami Podcast Art by @_forza_art [https://www.instagram.com/_forza_art/] on Instagram Check out Whisp band HERE [https://whisp.band/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Yesterday - 1 h 6 min
episode Scatterbrained - Digging Roguelike Expert artwork

Scatterbrained - Digging Roguelike Expert

Slight Story Spoilers: Saros Brandon and Courture are at it again, ranting way too much about our home city! Brandon tells us all about his time with Saros, the latest bullet-hell from Housemarque. Then Courture chats about his expertise in Digging based Roguelike games. We wrap it up with a quick Star Fox trailer check-in. No Article of the Week this week. Come hang out with us! If you leave a review of the podcast on an app, screenshot it and send it to me via DM on any of the socials, I’ll enter your name into the Pizza Raffle! One lucky winner every month will get sent a digital gift card to a pizza spot of their choice! Dome Keeper - 06:04 Saros - 19:38 Outworld Station - 37:40 Star Fox Switch 2 - 47:15 Wrapping Up and Thank You - 55:23 Games we talked about this week: Dome Keeper, Saros, Outworld Station, Star Fox Check out https://www.startmenu.co.uk/ [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/] , an awesome site Brandon is now writing for! And check out his latest review of Pragmata [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/home/review-pragmata-fly-me-to-the-moon]! If you are experiencing any sort of mental health distress, or just need someone to talk to, please call 988 contact some of these resources gathered on https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/]  Feel free to message us with suggestions for games or questions at our socials and we’ll respond to your question on the upcoming pod! Be sure to follow us on socials like Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindControllersPod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mindcontrollerspod/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/brandoncraw.bsky.social], Twitter [https://x.com/mindconpod], and Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/mindcontrollerspod].  Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast listening app! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/MindControllers [http://patreon.com/MindControllers] and get a thank you sticker! Tracks are:  "We Decide" by Tatami Podcast Art by @_forza_art [https://www.instagram.com/_forza_art/] on Instagram ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

8 May 2026 - 57 min
episode Scatterbrained - Don’t Forget to Pay the Goats artwork

Scatterbrained - Don’t Forget to Pay the Goats

Craw and Tim reunite to discuss at length the genre evolution of video games thanks to this week’s article! Then we talk about Titanium Court, the latest genre-blending game by AP Thompson. Don’t forget to pay your goats folks! If you leave a review of the podcast on an app, screenshot it and send it to me via DM on any of the socials, I’ll enter your name into the Pizza Raffle! One lucky winner every month will get sent a digital gift card to a pizza spot of their choice! Article of the Week - 02:24 Up Your Mental Game - 22:02 Titanium Court - 38:37 Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - 51:59 Wrapping Up and Thank You - 01:01:48 Games we talked about this week: Titanium Court, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, Vampire Crawlers Check out https://www.startmenu.co.uk/ [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/] , an awesome site Brandon is now writing for! And check out his latest review of Pragmata [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/home/review-pragmata-fly-me-to-the-moon]! Articles of the Week: A new look at the cognitive neuroscience of video game play [https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nyas.14295] If you are experiencing any sort of mental health distress, or just need someone to talk to, please call 988 contact some of these resources gathered on https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/]  Feel free to message us with suggestions for games or questions at our socials and we’ll respond to your question on the upcoming pod! Be sure to follow us on socials like Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindControllersPod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mindcontrollerspod/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/brandoncraw.bsky.social], Twitter [https://x.com/mindconpod], and Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/mindcontrollerspod].  Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast listening app! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/MindControllers [http://patreon.com/MindControllers] and get a thank you sticker! Tracks are:  "We Decide" by Tatami Podcast Art by @_forza_art [https://www.instagram.com/_forza_art/] on Instagram ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

1 May 2026 - 1 h 3 min
episode Scatterbrained - Sea Shanties Galore artwork

Scatterbrained - Sea Shanties Galore

Note: Listen to after the outro song for a little post credit stinger :) Craw, Courture, and Tim gather to chat about … sea shanties?! We start it off with not one but two articles of the week! Then we chat about our time with Windrose, but we kind of got sidetracked and spoke a lot about pirates throughout all of media. Come plunder the seas with us!! If you leave a review of the podcast on an app, screenshot it and send it to me via DM on any of the socials, I’ll enter your name into the Pizza Raffle! One lucky winner every month will get sent a digital gift card to a pizza spot of their choice! Article of the Week - 02:30 Windrose - 23:57 Slay the Spire 2 - 54:15 Sol Cesto - 57:19 Wrapping Up and Thank You - 01:06:58 Games we talked about this week: Windrose, Slay the Spire 2, Sol Cesto Check out https://www.startmenu.co.uk/ [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/], an awesome site Brandon is now writing for! And check out his latest review of Pragmata [https://www.startmenu.co.uk/home/review-pragmata-fly-me-to-the-moon]! Articles of the Week: Game On: Exploring the Potential for Soft Skill Development Through Video Games [https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/10/918] Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2871325/] If you are experiencing any sort of mental health distress, or just need someone to talk to, please call 988 contact some of these resources gathered on https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/]  Feel free to message us with suggestions for games or questions at our socials and we’ll respond to your question on the upcoming pod! Be sure to follow us on socials like Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@MindControllersPod], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mindcontrollerspod/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/brandoncraw.bsky.social], Twitter [https://x.com/mindconpod], and Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/mindcontrollerspod].  Don’t forget to Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast listening app! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/MindControllers [http://patreon.com/MindControllers] and get a thank you sticker! Tracks are:  "We Decide" by Tatami Podcast Art by @_forza_art [https://www.instagram.com/_forza_art/] on Instagram ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

24 Apr 2026 - 1 h 8 min
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