The crew dives into recently played games like Mouthwashing and FANTASIAN Neo Dimension before slagging off on the rise of AI in the gaming space.

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John, Derek, and Jeff talk about the handheld market and whether Microsoft or Sony's handheld strategies can carve much space for themselves. Discussion gets UNUSUALLY heated. But not before a far-too-long aside about Final Fantasy 14, as is tradition.

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Finn and Justin are riding high with Playstation's smash hit and GOTY contender, the simply-named "Astro Bot".

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With multiple rumors and possible leaks about new Nintendo Switch hardware flying around, we finally break our vow of silence and talk about what may be next for Nintendo. The Nintendo rumor scene has a pretty mixed track record, but ignoring all the leaks and rumors we think it's still pretty obvious that a successor is coming sooner rather than later. We talk about realistic scenarios for when we might see announcements and releases, and reasonable expectations for what it might be.

**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episodes 7 and prior of the 'The Last of Us'

It's once again Jeff, Justin and Sam discussing the big character developments in the latest 2 episodes of The Last of Us - Episode 6 'Kin' and Episode 7 'Left Behind', in which we get to see the vulnerable side of Joel and explore some Ellie's tragic past.

Brittney and John are here with the latest installment of Final Fantasy's beloved rhythm game spinoff series, and spoiler alert: it's nothing short of a masterpiece. It's a love letter to Final Fantasy, and to Square Enix in general, bursting at the seams with some of the best music in gaming history.

Review code provided by Square Enix. Thanks to Square Enix for the opportunity to review this game.

This 2D sidescrolling action game from workhorse developer Inti Creates might have slipped under your radar, but John ruminates on his time with it. In a sea of great to sub-par indie Metroidvanias, can Grim Guardians be worth your time?

Review code provided by Inti Creates, thank you for the opportunity to review this game.

**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episodes 5 and prior of the 'The Last of Us'

This week it's Jeff, Justin and Sam reacting to the explosive latest episode, one that sees us to the conclusion of the 'Summer' portion of the story.  Among the topics are our impressions of the extra screen time for Henry and Sam, Kathleen's further development, and those intense final scenes.

There was a massive Nintendo Direct and we're gonna talk about it. That's the only thing that happened this week that we want to talk about, so that's the only thing we talk about.

**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episodes 4 and prior of the 'The Last of Us'

This week's cast - Jeff, John, Dio and Sam - discuss what may be the first simply 'good' episode, following in the shadow of three great ones.  Topics on deck include the new leader of the bandits, Kathleen, the relationship between Ellie and Joel, and the setup work this one is doing for what will likely be an explosive next week or two for the series.

A ton of service games are being shut down, tech companies are laying people off, and gaming publishers have been bracing for a rough year ahead. But one major publisher thinks they're on track for their biggest year ever: Capcom, masters of the turnabout. We talk about some other stuff. Someone threatens to "thigh" someone else in the face, like as a verb. Normal Thursday night.

Britt and CJ come together to talk about a little indie game that's likely to be passed over in a storm of major releases, but which struck a chord with them.

Review code provided by Toge Productions.

Justin and Derek have beaten the much anticipated Dead Space remake, and frankly neither of them can contain themselves. How does the game improve upon the original without feeling too much like a beat-for-beat remake? We never do numbered review scores, but it's gonna be pretty obvious how we feel about this one.

Finn and Derek go over every game they saw, played, and otherwise took note of on the show floor and behind closed doors at PAX West 2024 in Seattle. From Monster Hunter to Dragon Quest to Infinity Nikki to indies galore, we've got the scoop on a ton of games you should be paying attention to.

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**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episodes 3 and prior of the 'The Last of Us'

Jeff, Derek, Britt and Justin reflect on the heartwarming yet gut wrenching episode 3 - "Long, Long Time", discussing how it services the story and characters in this world and why it's such a big moment for television and representation.

Derek and Finn come together to talk about Forspoken, the long-awaited and frequently-delayed project from Final Fantasy 15 developer Luminous Productions. Square Enix's latest title is a mixed bag with high highs and low lows, but it has more FF15 DNA in it than you'd think (for better and for worse).

Forspoken was reviewed on PS5 using a review code provided by Square Enix. Thank you to Square Enix for the opportunity.

It's our first traditional show of the year, and what other way to do it than to complain about Ubisoft's blaming employees for the company's mismanagement, and Microsoft taking part in the massive layoffs sweeping the tech sector? Good news. Good news would be a better way to do it.

**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episodes 2 and prior of the 'The Last of Us'

Jeff, Justin, Britt and special guest Sam Tolbert dive back into HBO's adaptation with some detailed thoughts on episode 2 - "Infected".   Among the topics this week are the excellent prologue scene, the implications of changes to the way infected function, and that controversial Tess moment.  

The entire SDGC crew comes together to talk about each of our picks for 2022's Game Of The Year, as well as our runners up and some honorable mentions. The opinions are spicy, but the variety of games on display is very good.

**NOTE: Contains spoilers for episode 1 of the 'The Last of Us'

Jeff, John, Justin, and special guest Dio break down the debut episode of HBO's 'The Last of Us', based on the hit video game from Naughty Dog.   Join us for an in-depth discussion of episode 1 where we talk what we liked, the changes and similarities, and our overall impressions on the show so far.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Ben Starr, voice actor of Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive Rosfield, to talk about his experiences with acting and his love of Final Fantasy. But first, some casual weekly goofing off.

We regret to inform you all that we are returning for another year of this nonsense. Thankfully our year gets to start off right with the reveal of Playstation's new accessible input device Project Leonardo, and positive news for unionization under Microsoft. It doesn't feel right to have this much genuinely good news. We're feeling distrustful.

Derek and John have played Chained Echoes, an indie love letter to 16-bit JRPGs, and they've got quite a few things to say. It is frankly absurd that this game was made by a single person, and if you have any love for the SNES era of RPGs you owe it to yourself to pay attention.

This game was reviewed on PC and Nintendo Switch, with our PC code provided to us by the publishers at Deck13. Thank you to Deck13 for the opportunity to review the game.

CJ and John discuss the latest entry in the long-running Dragon Quest franchise. Can Dragon Quest Treasures keep up the series' trend of excellent spinoffs? This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a review code provided to us by Square Enix. Thank you to Square Enix for the opportunity to review this game.

The gang discusses everything wrong with the PS5 Pro, the ways PC gaming isn't the magic alternative, and cheer on the entire staff of publisher Annapurna Interactive for walking out over failed negotiations. Hot labor fall, babyyyyyy.

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The crew assembles for a chill weekly podcast where we talk about the sheer number of games that have released in the last few couple months. It's so much. Please give us a break (we won't get one).

Jeff is joined by John and Britt to give his impressions on the remaster of Square's prequel story to Final Fantasy VII - the PSP classic "Crisis Core", featuring Zack Fair. The crew talks about how the game holds up, the remaster improvements, and overall thoughts (spoiler-free, of course) on the narrative. This game was reviewed on Playstation 5 using a review code from Square Enix. Thank you to Square Enix for the opportunity to review the game. Make sure to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the track! Support SDGC on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/officialSDGC Follow SDGC on these platforms! Twitter - twitter.com/officialSDGC Twitch - twitch.tv/officialsdgc Soundcloud - soundcloud.com/officialsdgc Spotify - open.spotify.com/show/6TEFfCqJ7aHUVIk8eGnzES

We made a topic list for this show. We really did. We were gonna talk about Panda Global using Nintendo to shut down competition, crunch at FromSoft, maybe bs about the Mario movie. We mostly did that. John forced us to talk about FF16 I think. I barely remember. Please don't call the cops.

John and Derek discuss the first of the upcoming series of Front Mission Remakes. Is this the shot in the arm the Front Mission series needs for a comeback? Thanks to Forever Entertainment for providing us a review code.

Britt and Jeff have been playing Harvestella, Square Enix's new farming dungeon-crawling life-simulator RPG. Can this game offer something fresh and new to fans of farming-sim games? This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a review copy provided by Square Enix. Thanks to Square Enix for the opportunity to review this title.

Composer Mick Gordon, famous for his work on the DOOM and Wolfenstein franchises, comes forward with detailed allegations of mistreatment by Bethesda while working on DOOM Eternal. Plus, we take community grab bag questions.

A legendary SRPG, Tactics Ogre has a long and storied history spanning multiple console generations. And now at long last, the definitive version of a classic is now available on modern consoles for a whole new audience. Join John and our good friend Josh Fagundes as they tell you why Tactics Ogre Reborn stands the test of time and holds it's own as one of the greats. Thanks to Square Enix for the review code!

Our post-charity-drive episode, which was mostly focused on new game reveals and trailers that occurred during our short break. We also spend a lot of time just reminiscing about our get-together. It's a low-impact, feel-good episode. Apologies for the late upload, it's Derek's fault due to who they are as a person.

No show this week due to the Extra Large Charity Drive, so in its place we have an SDGC crossover episode of Castle Bravo (originally recorded and released earlier this year). SDGC host Derek and moderator Charlotte are joined by fellow SDGC host Justin to talk about one of the most highly regarded Godzilla films of all time: Mothra vs Godzilla (not to be confused with Godzilla vs Mothra, a completely different movie made 30 years later). The themes and comedic, family-friendly tone of the original Mothra film blend with Godzilla's larger-scale destruction and monster smackdowns to finally find the sweet spot that would define Godzilla for decades to come.

In a week relatively light on news, we're joined by friend of the show and overall ray of sunshine Veerender Jubbal to talk about what we've been playing, what we're looking forward to over the next few months, and answer some community questions from Discord and Twitter.

We're joined by friend of the show Veerender Jubbal to discuss Concord's shelf life being lower than most produce, as well as go over some of our favorite games and experiences at PAX West 2024.

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Derek had the opportunity to try Scorn as both a pre-release gameplay preview and as a final release. They explain to Justin where new players should set their expectations. Scorn was reviewed on PC using a review code provided by Kepler Interactive.

It's an unfocused show this week, but no we don't get to just talk about Need For Speed Unbound. Overwatch 2 has a messy and confusing launch, and the Super Mario Bros movie reveal leaves us in a fancasting round robin.

John and Derek discuss the latest game in the cult favorite Valkyrie Profile franchise, the action-RPG spinoff Valkyrie Elysium. It's not anything like what people might have expected. This game was reviewed on Playstation 5 using a review code provided by Square Enix.

Our main subject this week is the very unexpected and completely unforeseen shuttering of Google Stadia. We promise that there's only the necessary amount of sarcasm for this week.

We discuss the hacking of Rockstar and leaking of information/assets from Grand Theft Auto 6, as well as the messy ethical space of leaking information. There's a big difference between journalists exposing bad business practices and leaking assets for blackmail. (Apologies for the very late upload, I've been sick ~Derek)

Derek and John got early access to Square Enix's new strategy RPG The DioField Chronicle, and we break down where it succeeds and where it stumbles. Thanks to Square Enix for providing us with our review codes. The DioField Chronicle was reviewed on both PC and Nintendo Switch.

We're joined by regular friend Josh aka Anoriand to talk about an overwhelming week of game reveals, from huge announcements for the future of Assassin's Creed to a Nintendo Direct and a State of Play. We don't even have time to talk about what we've been playing recently!

We know a big thing happened. It happened the day of the podcast. We're not talking about it. You know what we ARE talking about? Sony's Jim Ryan playing crybully over Microsoft's proposed terms to keep Call of Duty multiplatform after they acquire Activision Blizzard.

Long-time friend of the show Anthony Agnello returns to talk about Gamescom's opening night presentation, how Geoff Keighley's format is wearing thin, and the difficulty for smaller devs to get attention in a world where the biggest publishers suck up all of the oxygen.

Derek and CJ break down our time with and opinions on the newly released Shin Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven Day Journey. It's a mouthful of a title for something we're fondly dubbing "the anti-game". For the sake of transparency, not only were review codes provided by the publisher, but two SDGC members played a part in the game's western release: Matthew Finneman was responsible for marketing the game in the west, and Derek Van Dyke provided voice over work for one trailer.

The Mana series is finally back with its first brand-new entry in nearly 20 years. John is joined by Derek and Finn to discuss this hotly-anticipated Action RPG, what this new game could mean for the Mana franchise, and what it might say about the future of Square Enix.

This game was reviewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher. Thanks to Square Enix for providing us the opportunity to cover this game.

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Stories of harassment and discrimination put Nintendo of America in the spotlight for a story we're getting awful experienced at telling. If we sound tired of talking about it, we are, but imagine how the workers feel.

On this week's show Derek gives us the rundown on the latest incarnation of the Evo fighting tournament, and the crew muses on the mostly bad buzz around Unity.

We're joined this week by streaming giant Gothalion for a show packed with topics and tomfoolery. From toxicity in fan communities, to surprisingly good news out of Rockstar Games, to even more surprising gaming hardware price increases, it definitely wasn't a slow news week. No "What We've Been Playing" segment this week, unfortunately. Apologies to those of you who prefer the filler.