🎮 EPISODE 386: PS5 Pro Now With More K This week on PS This Is Awesome , Fred’s still deep in the package life with Death Stranding 2 (62 hours and counting!), while Jake’s playing Lies of P. In the news: Ubisoft is bringing Ghost Recon into first-person territory, Moon Studios ditches Xbox for PS5, and PS5 Pro hits a milestone with its first native 8K/60fps game. We also dig into a nostalgic boost for Atari 50 , and a sneaky PS5 firmware update you probably already downloaded. Plus, we preview...
Jul 23, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 386
🎮 EPISODE 385 – Ghost of Yōtei Hype and the Future of PS Plus Fred’s 40 hours deep into Death Stranding 2 , Jake’s has finally ripped through Doom: The Dark Ages , Bought Death Stranding 2 and started Lies of P and we’re back with a fully loaded episode. We break down the biggest PlayStation stories of the week — starting with speculation around Cory Barlog’s next project. Is it more God of War or something entirely different? We also tee up the Ghost of Yōtei gameplay reveal and talk expectati...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 385
Fred’s neck-deep in Death Stranding 2 , Jake’s still playing Doom The Dark Ages. In the news: Neil Druckmann is stepping away from The Last of Us Season 3 to focus on Naughty Dog, but he’s still playing games— Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 blew his mind, and it might be a GOTY dark horse. Also: Forza Motorsport may have stalled out for good as Turn 10 gets gutted and GT7 keeps cruising. Helldivers 2 jumping to Xbox has the PS5 crowd split, and a new Mafia: The Old Country gameplay drop has serious...
Jul 09, 2025•50 min•Ep. 384
383 - PS6 is Coming, What We Know and What We Want. We're back after a short break—thanks for hanging in there with us! In Episode 383, we unpack Sony’s surprise PS6 confirmation and talk about what machine learning and local power could mean for the next generation of PlayStation. Fred shares his thoughts on Car Mechanic Simulator and dives into Death Stranding 2, which he is absolutely ALL IN on , while Jake’s used his Steam Deck while in Italy and played Super Mario World. We also break down ...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 383
Episode 382: Witcher 4 Shines, Gears Lands on PS5, and MindsEye Crashes Hard Fred wraps up The Lakehouse DLC for Alan Wake II and dives into the high-voltage chaos of Evil West , while Jake continues his trek with Doom The Dark Ages and also playing lots of different things on his Steam Deck, including the Hell is Us demoop[pop[p. We kick things off by thanking a longtime listener for a surprise gift, then dive into a wild week of PlayStation news. CD Projekt RED stuns with a Witcher 4 tech demo...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 382
Episode 381 – Summer Game Fest Things, Night Springs, and Big Swings Fred’s back in the spooky saddle after diving into the Alan Wake II DLCs—he’s completed Night Springs and has just cracked open The Lakehouse. Meanwhile, Jake rolled credits on Expedition 33 and while the ending didn’t totally land for him, the journey was strong enough to make it one of his recent favorites. He also dipped into Doom: The Dark Ages, because of course he did. This week, we take a deep breath and unpack Summer Ga...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 381
Episode 380 – “Gandalf, Game Fest, and Getting to the End” Fred finally put a bow on Octopath Traveler II , clocking in at a hefty 76 hours. He’s now stuck in that post-game limbo, unsure what to dive into next—and somewhere along the way, he saw Gandalf, which we’ll unpack. Jake, meanwhile, is still going strong in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , now 31 hours deep and not letting up. Listener feedback this week was short but sweet. Big Box gave us props for our thumbnail game, and 1blktalon chime...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 380
***AUDIO ISSUES IN THIS EPISODE*** We apologize in advance. Our recording software messed up. Listen to our other episodes to hear the quality we typically bring. This is not a representative episode. Apologies to our listener. Episode 379 – “Final Boss Breakdown” Fred’s well over 70 hours into Octopath Traveler II and stuck on the true final boss—his patience is wearing thin, and if this boss doesn’t go down soon, he’s threatening to leap off a cliff. Meanwhile, Jake’s still deep in Clair Obscu...
May 28, 2025•56 min•Ep. 379
EPISODE 378: Bungie in Crisis, Kojima’s Legacy, and a Ton of Games! Fred is 68 hours into Octopath Traveler II with just two storylines left to go, while Jake is still exploring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 . No listener feedback this week, but the news is pretty loaded. Bungie is facing some serious trouble with their upcoming game Marathon . They discovered plagiarized art assets in the alpha build, which led to scrapping the planned gameplay reveal. The team morale is tanking, and now there’s ...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 378
Fred’s now 63 hours into Octopath Traveler II, and Jake’s diving into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. No listener feedback this week—but plenty of PlayStation news to break down: Helldivers II continues to crush it with new content—this time, it's a full-on war against the Illuminate. Guilty Gear Strive grand finals at EVO Japan were derailed by an overheating PS5—hardware reliability in question. Fallout Season 2 hits Amazon this December, heading to the Mojave with major New Vegas vibes. Season 3...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 377
Fred is now 54 hours deep into Octopath Traveler II and also took the time to check out the Until Dawn movie adaptation. Jake's been messing with Rochard on the Steam Deck, though he's run into a glitch, and has started exploring the world of emulators on the handheld. No listener feedback this week, but there’s plenty of news to cover. Grand Theft Auto VI has been officially pushed to May 2026—coincidentally landing right on Fred's birthday. In a surprise announcement, Gears of War: Reloaded , ...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 376
375 - Steaming Pile of Oblivion Fred is back into Octopath Traveler 2 and has nearly clocked 46 hours, slowly but surely making progress. Meanwhile, Jake picked up the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remaster and has about three or four hours into it so far. Plus, Jake finally has a Steam Deck, and his first order of business was revisiting the classic Rochard . We didn't have any listener feedback this week, but there was plenty happening in the world of PlayStation. Oblivion Remastered officially laun...
Apr 30, 2025•54 min•Ep. 375
PS This is Awesome: Episode 374 - Doom Drops, Marines Rise, and Oblivion Looms Fred took a break from Octopath Traveler 2 this week, but he did boot up Space Marine 2 to check out the big new free update. We’ll dig into his thoughts on that later in the episode. Jake finally beat Robocop: Rogue City and shares with us his specs. He also started playing a game called Anno Mutationem No listener feedback this week—y’all must be as busy as we are. Let’s get into what’s going on in the world of Play...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 374
PS This is Awesome: Episode 373 Fred’s still plugging away at Octopath Traveler 2 , now around 38 hours in. Progress is happening, but it’s slowing down a bit—he’s feeling a bit under-leveled, which is making battles tougher than they should be. Meanwhile, Jake’s sticking with Robocop: Rogue City and still having a good time with it. We didn’t get any listener feedback this week, so let’s jump into the news. We finally got confirmation that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is heading to PS5 wi...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 373
PS This is Awesome: Episode 372 Fred is still clocking hours in Octopath Traveler 2 , staying steady at around 34 hours. Jake’s been making solid progress in Jedi Survivor , now about 20 hours in and still loving it. He also watched the director’s cut of Robocop this week, which got him pumped to dive into Robocop: Rogue City —and yeah, he’s playing that now too. As for the news, Bungie is finally ready to show off more of Marathon during a livestream on Saturday, April 12th. Hopefully this one ...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 372
Fred is still making his way through Octopath Traveler 2 , now sitting at around 34 hours in. Jake hasn’t had much time for games lately but is still chipping away at Jedi Survivor . In the news, Starfield is officially headed to PS5, though there’s no word yet on when that’ll happen. Tony Hawk himself hand-picked some tracks for the Pro Skater 3 & 4 remakes, which pretty much guarantees a killer soundtrack. Over on PS Plus Essential, April’s lineup is looking strong with Robocop: Rogue City...
Apr 02, 2025•54 min•Ep. 371
Assassin's Creed Shadows stormed onto PSN with the best day-one launch in series history, pulling in 2 million players in two days . Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is officially swinging onto PS5 on April 17, 2025 . Horror fans, keep an eye out for Dark Mass , a creepy underwater expedition thriller, arriving in 2026 . Darkest Dungeon 2 dropped new DLC, Kingdoms and Inhuman Bondage , both free for PS5 players. New Games This Week: Cypress Legacy (March 24) Breakout Beyond (March 25) Akatsuki...
Mar 26, 2025•25 min•Ep. 370
Fred wrapped up Astro Bot with 307 rescued Bots and took a detour into Inscryption , thinking it’d be a quick card game. 24 hours later , he finally beat it and has a lot to say . Jake is still on Avowed and started Jedi Survivor , appreciating its Dark Souls-like combat that demands patience over button mashing. So, there’s been a lot happening. Metro 2033 just hit its 15th anniversary , and 4A Games confirmed a new entry is on the way — though they’re taking their time, saying it’ll be “ready ...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 369
Fred is nearing the finish line in Astro Bot , with over 250 bots rescued out of 300. Meanwhile, Jake is still working through Avowed but feeling some burnout—the game’s economy is broken , leaving him stuck with the same weapon set for half the game. In the news: 🎮 Split Fiction is a massive success , selling 1 million copies in just two days . 🕵️♂️ Indiana Jones: The Great Circle might be hitting PS5 soon , with leaked pre-orders suggesting a March 25th start and an April 17th release . 🤖 ...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 368
Episode 367 - March On Fred has wrapped up Episode 1 of Bloom & Rage , but his enthusiasm is fading—it dragged on longer than expected, and with another episode dropping soon, he’s hoping the story picks up. Meanwhile, he’s back in Astro Bot and closing in on rescuing 200 bots. Jake, on the other hand, is still deep into Avowed . In the news: 🛹 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 remasters might be announced soon—if the rumors are true, this could be another great comeback for the series. 🎮 Rocksta...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 367
PS This is Awesome: Episode 366 Fred has officially conquered F.I.S.T. and completed every Contra game in the Contra Collection . Now, he’s diving into Bloom & Rage . Meanwhile, Jake has started Avowed and is digging into Obsidian’s latest RPG. In listener feedback, PrescriptN asked if we’ve checked out Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge , which is free on PS Plus Premium. Sounds like a great pick for Star Wars fans, especially with all the VR we’ve been playing lately. In the news: 💰 ...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 366
PS This is Awesome: Episode 365 Fred has been on a Contra marathon, beating Contra Arcade, Super Contra, Contra C (Japan), Contra (NA), Super C , and Route A of Contra: Hard Corps —with more routes to go. He’s also still playing F.I.S.T. and appreciating its level design. Meanwhile, Jake is deep into Kingdom Come: Deliverance side quests, playing more Resident Evil 4 Remake VR , and jumping back into Boltgun (though he wishes the music was better). In the news, we finally got a PlayStation State...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 365
PS This is Awesome: Episode 364 Fred went old-school this week, beating Contra and Super C on NES, then diving into The 7th Guest VR , which he’s loving. He also picked up Arizona Sunshine Remake for some VR zombie action. Meanwhile, Jake has been juggling Kingdom Come: Deliverance , Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Remaster , Eternal Strands , and Warhammer 40K: Boltgun . In the news, Sony is offering 5 extra days of PS Plus to compensate for last weekend’s PSN outage. There’s also a rumored State of Play ...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 364
Fred finally wrapped up Metro Awakening and is making serious progress in F.I.S.T. , while Jake is still deep into Kingdom Come: Deliverance and absolutely loving Resident Evil 4 VR2 . In the news, there’s a big PSVR2 sale on the PlayStation Store with deep discounts on Tetris Effect (75% off), Resident Evil Village (60% off), and more. Meanwhile, EA DICE announced Battlefield Labs , a new way for players to help shape the next Battlefield game through hands-on testing. On the shutdown front, Mu...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 363
PS This is Awesome: Episode 362 – "There's a Freeze Up" It’s cold outside, but the gaming conversations are heating up! Fred finally finished Final Fantasy XVI (congrats!) and has started F.I.S.T. Meanwhile, Jake is halfway through The Messenger but needed a break from a tough battle, so he’s been diving back into the medieval world of Kingdom Come: Deliverance over the past few days. In the news, Ninja Gaiden 4 is reportedly 80% complete and set to launch this year on PS5! This isn’t to be conf...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 362
PS This is Awesome: Episode 361 Fred is almost finished with Final Fantasy XVI , while Jake just wrapped up Trepang 2 ! Now he’s on the hunt for his next big AAA adventure. If you have suggestions, let him know! In this episode, we’re diving into The Future of PlayStation . We reflect on how Sony has shaped the gaming landscape over the years, from introducing 3D graphics and CD-quality sound in 1994 to championing indie developers and story-driven single-player games. We explore key innovations...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 361
PS This is Awesome: Episode 360 Fred didn’t make it back to Metro Awakening —talking about Final Fantasy XVI last week gave him the itch to finally finish it, and now he’s almost through. Meanwhile, Jake finally rolled credits on Metaphor: Refantazio ! He gave MediEvil a shot, but it didn’t really click. However, he picked up Resident Evil 4 Remake , The Messenger , and Trepang 2 —so plenty to dive into next. We’re also looking at what’s coming up, with new releases like Arken Age , DreadOut: Re...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 360
PS This is Awesome: Episode 359 Fred finally conquered Darkest Dungeon 2 and is diving back into Metro Awakening , while Jake is still deep in Metaphor: Refantazio . No new games for him this week—but big plans for next year. With 2025 just around the corner, we’re setting some New Year's Gaming Resolutions ! Fred is determined to finally beat Final Fantasy XVI , be more thorough with his playthroughs, and resist buying games just because they’re on sale. He also wants to pick up more games at l...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 359
PS This is Awesome: Episode 358 Fred’s been juggling G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra , Darkest Dungeon 2 , and nearing the finish line in Metro Awakening , while Jake took a nostalgic dive back into Sound Shapes on the PS Vita. This episode, we’re wrapping up the year with our 2024 Games of the Year picks! Fred’s favorites include the chaotic brilliance of Helldivers 2 , the brutal challenge of Darkest Dungeon 2 , and the charm of Astrobot . Space Marine 2 , Resident Evil 4 in VR , Metro Awakening , an...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 358
Fred’s nearing the end of Metro Awakening (Chapter 10!) and wrapping up his journey with Darkest Dungeon 2 , finally tackling the last confession. Jake? He’s still deep into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle —on Game Pass, naturally. This week, we’re diving into our PlayStation Wrapped for 2024! Fred and Jake both played 35 games this year, with Fred’s journey starting with Final Fantasy XVI and ending with Darkest Dungeon 2 . His top games include 90 hours in Darkest Dungeon 2 , 39 hours in He...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 357
