I'll be at the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo speaking on a panel about obscure games and hosting a panel with video game voice actors! A PSA if you have a Nintendo Switch 2 - update your controllers firmware! There is a firmware update and the console does NOT automatically update your controllers. The Switch 2 is now officially Nintendo's fastest selling device, and is most likely the fastest selling video game console ever. The SAG-AFTRA voice actors strike over AI protections has been suspended,...
Jun 29, 2025•59 min•Ep. 939
We attempt to do two hours of gaming talk in one hour, so buckle up! The ROG Xbox Ally is the handheld Xbox, announced at Summer Game Fest. Geoff Keighley misled at the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Showcase by claiming that dev teams were smaller than they actually were - erasing the many outsourced parts of the game development process. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is coming from Digital Eclipse, but is not Gold Master Series #4. The Nintendo Switch 2 is both plentiful and hard to find, dependi...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 938
I was at MomoCon working with the Momentum 2025 speedrun marathon! I will be back at Summer Games Done Quick 2025 as a host! SAG-AFTRA is now pushing back over Fortnite's use of James Earl Jones' voice to say generative AI voice lines instead of trying to work with existing voice actors who have taken over the Darth Vader character in other games. There are a few games that can't run on the Switch 2, but it's really not as surprising or bad as you think. Then we talk to Rob about how we're going...
Jun 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 937
We start off remembering friend of the network Kurt Boutin, who went by "VOByKurt" in our community and on TikTok. Fortnite introduced Darth Vader and utilized an AI trained on James Earl Jones's voice with permission - however this made Vader say some very naughty things. Hideo Kojima wants a game that forgets what it was doing the longer you step away from it as a player. Then we talk to Rob about forgetting things after putting games down, and how to effectively parry in Clair Obscur: Expedit...
Jun 01, 2025•59 min•Ep. 936
We start talking about what was actually leaked regarding the internet cult film Kung Fury, and why you shouldn't be holding your breath for it to come to theaters anytime soon. Giant Bomb has bought itself from Fandom and has become an independently owned media outlet once again. Nintendo has released a new EULA that gives them more power to go after people who engage with piracy. Then we talk to Rob about Super Nintendo World and the Mario Kart ride's seat sizes.
May 18, 2025•52 min•Ep. 935
I spent a week on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady cruise ship, which actually has an impressive board game collection on board. Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed to May of 2026 in a tradition that has been happening since GTA3. EA lays off 300 employees and cancelled the upcoming game in the Titanfall universe. Polygon has been sold from Vox Media to Valnet, and lays off 2/3rd of their staff. Valnet claims that it will still be the quality that is best for Polygon, despite all of its other si...
May 11, 2025•51 min•Ep. 934
The Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders will finally go live, and while the console hasn't gone up in price, the accessories have. Greater Than Games, the producer of the board games Sentinels of the Multiverse and Spirit Island, is suspending operations in the face of tariff uncertainty in the US. An Atlanta-area game developer is finally entering early access with their retro-styled platform brawler, so take a look at Elemensional Rift. Then we talk to Rob about the Switch 2 prices and preorders.
Apr 26, 2025•52 min•Ep. 933
Nintendo is assessing the tariff situation, and made a statement that the Switch 2 price was not made with the tariffs in mind. The 46% tariffs on Vietnam were paused for 90 days, but the 10% tariff went into effect. If you ask Google and Reddit, the physical version of Mario Kart World is $90 in the US - however, if you ask Nintendo, it is only $80. The confusion is because the internet is broken. Then we ask the multi-million dollar question - how could Mario Kart World's price have been lower...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 932
The Nintendo Switch 2 was announced on the same day the United States announced sweeping tariffs across every other nation on the planet. This caused the initial pre-orders for the Switch 2 to be delayed in the US. Vietnam, where Nintendo moved production to from China, had come to the negotiating table as of the recording of this show, and after recording this show, the reciprocal 46% tariff has been paused for 90 days (however the initial 10% still remains.) Board Games designed in the US are ...
Apr 13, 2025•56 min•Ep. 931
Before the Switch 2 reveal, Nintendo revealed the Virtual Game Card system, a solution to a problem not many people were having - which caused confusion. We break down who it's for and why it might not be something you would use, since you can opt out of it. Game Informer is back! At least the magazine and staff is - thanks to a crypto company. No word on the amazing Game Informer Vault, though. Sony is preserving PlayStation history on tape backups in a cold storage vault at an undisclosed loca...
Apr 06, 2025•55 min•Ep. 930
Yakuza is leaving Game Pass and it's all one of our listener's fault. The United Videogame Workers union has started to help the game industry unionize. Standard accessibility labels are coming across several online storefronts. SNES's are faster now, and it's because of Nintendo skimping on a resonator, so it speeds up over time. Portal is getting a new pinball machine courtesy of the Multimorphic P3 platform. Then we talk to Rob about Arcade1up and how it sounds like they are about to go under...
Mar 31, 2025•58 min•Ep. 929
Discord is in talks to go public, which means that we're nearing the time when the platform might become less usable as profits will become more necessary. Forza Horizon 5 on the PlayStation 5 will require an Xbox account linked to your PSN account to play. Classic game publisher Acclaim is returning! While everyone is talking about which games they could resurrect, the reality is only the trademark was purchased, and the new company doesn't own any of the former Acclaim catalog. There's a lot o...
Mar 23, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 928
We start off talking about preservation of television video from the late 90's and 2000's - and why it looks a lot worse today than we remember when it first aired. PEGI has reclassified Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord down to a PEGI-12 rating from a PEGI-18, which was given because it had elements of gambling. PEGI's statement described how it was modifying its rating rules to account for "fantastical elements" in games like Balatro. EA has released the source code for many of their Command &...
Mar 09, 2025•57 min•Ep. 927
Twitch is going to be destroying a decade of gaming history by limiting all Twitch channels to only 100 hours of highlights on their account, affecting only 0.5% of active channels, which apparently include everyone I know in the speedrunning community. An entire US based team of designers has been laid off by Chinese company NetEase, even though they worked on the hugely successful Marvel Rivals. Limited Run Games has put out a warning regarding some recently released NES cartridges that may da...
Mar 03, 2025•51 min•Ep. 926
A malware infected game was released for free on Steam and delisted - but not before a thousand gamers downloaded and launched it. Valve recommends you format your PC. The creators of E3 have a new industry trade show, and seem to be doing everything in their power to not make the consumers interested - which is great. Former Activision CEO claims that buying Bizarre Creations, the creators of Project Gotham Racing and Blur, was a "bad decision". Then we talk to Rob about if he bought Civilizati...
Feb 24, 2025•57 min•Ep. 925
I visited the Sonic The Hedgehog Speed Cafe pop-up restaurant in Atlanta - a place where you are paying for the experience and not for the culinary excellence. (But the food was fine!) We had a listener correct me on calling the Meta Quest 3 a "low-end" VR headset, and then point me to Arcade Time Capsule, a five story VR arcade. (Bring your own games!) Forza Horizon 5 is coming to PlayStation this year. Then we talk to Rob about the Video Game History Foundation and what he searched for when it...
Feb 12, 2025•59 min•Ep. 924
The first part of the podcast is actually about me getting two new kittens! It takes up the first 15 or so minutes. EA is retiring the Origin PC client, which means that they are no longer supporting DRM for titles on 32-bit PC's, so older computers won't be able to launch The Sims anymore. US spending on physical video games has halved since 2021, spelling doom for people who don't want to lose access to their purchases. The Video Game History Foundation has brought most of their library online...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 923
I was at the tabletop/board gaming convention Dice & Diversions this weekend, run by the same folks behind the Southern Fried Gaming Expo. The government ban on apps by Chinese-owned ByteDance included the popular mobile game Marvel Snap, which surprised its California based developers. The Nintendo Switch 2 was finally unveiled in a CG rendered trailer, with a full reveal occurring April 2nd. Gaming outlet Nintendo Life released a "Better eShop" after a week of development, and silenced man...
Jan 27, 2025•58 min•Ep. 922
CES was this weekend, but the big news were the leaks of the Nintendo Switch 2, which had not been formally announced at the time of reporting. Nintendo did, however, say that the Genki mockups shown at CES were not official. Meta is discontinuing their higher end Quest Pro headset, instead concentrating on the Quest 3 and Quest 3S line. Valve has announced that SteamOS is coming to other handhelds sooner than you think, with the Lenovo Legion Go S being the first device to get official support....
Jan 17, 2025•59 min•Ep. 921
We are back! It is now 2025, the holidays are over, and it's time to get back to talking about video games. I was in Las Vegas over the Christmas holiday, and went to AREA15 (along with Meow Wolf's Omega Mart as well as the Asylum Bar and Arcade) as well as the Pinball Hall of Fame. I also picked up Balatro. I won on my second game, and I will now retire from the game forever. (Or will I?) Apple has halted production on their Apple Vision Pro headset because they believe they have produced enoug...
Jan 12, 2025•58 min•Ep. 920
The indie game storefront itch.io was taken down by Funko earlier this week due to a fraud report by Funko that was executed after itch.io removed the offending content. We talk about games being inaccessible, and somehow this devolves to yet another love session for the racing game Blur. The Game Awards was this week, and we talk a lot about the winners and trailers. During this, we wonder aloud why College Football 25 was not nominated for Best Sports Game when it was such a cultural phenomeno...
Dec 21, 2024•57 min•Ep. 919
We start off talking about where Microsoft Flight Simulator gets its maps - and why the game may be years behind what you can find in the web version. iFixIt now sells official Xbox parts, marking another win for Right to Repair. EA has made 23 accessibility patents free to use for any studio. The Dragon Quest creator wants you to loan your copy of the HD-2D Remake to kids when you're done with it so they will appreciate the genre like we did when we were kids. Then, thanks to chat, we talk abou...
Dec 16, 2024•59 min•Ep. 918
I was on the Dragon Con Digital Media Track's "Be Awesome Together" livestream this week, go check it out! Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony after over three decades. Sony has officially announced that the PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units worldwide, keeping it as the best selling game console of all time. Microsoft will be removing the Xbox Avatars App from the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles in January of 2025 because nobody was using it. Then we talk to Rob about our previous gamin...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 917
We start off by talking about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and its current performance in VR, which has a long way to go to become stable. I finally went through Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series of Tetris Forever, and I loved it, but people who just want the games may not be feeling it. Sony has submitted a proposal to purchase Kadokawa Corporation, which owns many anime and manga companies, but also FromSoftware, the developers behind Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Steam has issued new rules...
Dec 01, 2024•56 min•Ep. 916
The second DLC for Atari 50 is out, about the first console war, and it has some interesting games - as long as you have a second player on the couch with you. Tetris Forever is also out now, and I give some early impressions of the games included and the start of the documentary portion. SEGA is delisting many classic games on all platforms, probably to sell them back to you at a higher price. Epic Games has said they are supporting the Internet Archive's hosting of Unreal and Unreal Tournament...
Nov 25, 2024•58 min•Ep. 915
I finally got to the part in Metaphor: ReFantazio with the mandatory stealth section...I don't like stealth. Nintendo has launched a new music app, and it has a feature that Spotify doesn't - extending the game loop for up to an hour. However, they don't credit the artists on any of the songs, and this is partially due to how Japanese companies work. Sony has closed Firewalk Studios, who made Concord, and Neon Koi, a mobile game studio, just two years after purchasing them. Then we talk to Rob a...
Nov 09, 2024•57 min•Ep. 914
If a AAA game studio is closed, was it ever a AAA studio? Netflix closed their AAA game studio before even announcing a project. The US Copyright Office declined a DMCA exception for Video Game Libraries looking to help researchers access their materials online. A Larian Studios executive made comments about Ubisoft's drive to be more subscription only after the new Prince of Persia was declared not profitable and the team disbanded. Then we talk to Rob about game preservation - which is a very ...
Nov 04, 2024•59 min•Ep. 913
There is a sad update to the new-to-me retro console that I acquired last week...Anybody have a disc tray for a Philips CDi 220? It was a slow gaming news week, but the Bluesky social media network got a lot of growth this week from certain gaming circles, so we talk about its pros and cons. A judge ruled that Google does not have to open up its Play Store to competitors yet, despite the judgment we discussed last week. Bandai Namco isn't exactly laying people off, but they have cancelled projec...
Oct 27, 2024•57 min•Ep. 912
I made my GDQ Commentary debut on Disaster Relief Done Quick, doing a part speedrun commentary and part voice actor interview for a run of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. I got a new toy - a Philips CD-I, and yes, it also came with Those Games that you're thinking of. Steam has already complied with a California law saying you must disclose that you are merely licensing digital content, not purchasing it to keep. Google must open its Play Store to competitors and not take a 30% cut as a result of the ...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 911
Microsoft has discontinued the HoloLens 2, which was only available to businesses, and have decided to merely support other hardware with their software. Ubisoft has listened to an activist investor, but instead of selling to private equity firms, they are looking into selling to Tencent. This goes into a discussion about art and risks, and why the safe bet is to remake things that already exist. Saudi Arabia is considering buying a larger stake in Nintendo according to a side comment in a podca...
Oct 13, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 910
