The VirtuaBoy re-release is one of those things where the more you look at it, the dumber it gets, but also if it brings someone a lot of joy to own: who am I to judge? I hope it DOES make someone out there deliriously happy.

But all the games will be on the e-shop only, and only accessible via a subscription. And THAT is downright criminal. Because there will come a day when you lose access to that. Then, the VirtuaBoy becomes detritus that sits on your desk or in a closet. All of this to say the High Seas will be the only place to find these things and it'll be (insert company here)'s fault piracy makes the comeback it does.

Are we burned out? Probably yes. 2026 has started with 20 days of constant churning news.

But there are good games coming this year. Games we should be seeing lots of hype for. Instead it seems like the hype train has derailed. So, why is that? What brings the hype back?

Sony dropped a State of Play just for its Japanese Developers. Matt and I are split on this one. He feels it fell flat, I feel it says: Sony is finally waking up to the type of games it should be pushing harder.

Plus:

• We debate horror elements and their effectiveness. I love ambience and build up, he loves sudden unavoidable terror.

• We score the State of Play out of TEN.

• We talk Marvel Tokon and how maybe Sony didn't think this was going to get much attention (Kpop Demon Hunters all over again!?)

• And we close talking about alleged Rockstar Union Busting.

Xbox put all its cards on the table right away this year. Let's talk about their Developer Direct, and then jump into what we hope/expect to see from Nintendo and Sony.

Chances are you have a favorite voice actor and may not even know their name. Voice acting can sometimes be treated like the step child of acting, but the truth is: good voice acting transcends and evolves the medium, just as good film acting, or stage acting expands their mediums. 

Here's a few of our personal favorite Voice Actors, some you most certainly know, all of whome you have heard before.

Shine on!

As a fun retrospective of the games that stuck with us over time, we decided to do an episode about the last decade. Our personal Top Game from each year going back to 2013. We surprised ourselves with several of these. There are of course expected picks for regular listeners but anyone new may be thrown for a loop.

Shine on!

Happy New Year! We're starting off strong by having an extra long and extremely cool conversation with musician and composer Alex Moukala all about game music. He gives us a peak behind the curtain on the process of composing for games, as well as how he analyzes music he loves to inspire his own compositions. 

Projects Alex calls out during the episode:

Game Music Foundation - https://gamemusic.net/gamemusic-foundation/

Chrono Trigger Main Theme Cover by Tournament Arc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYK8M9DUbdc

Second Stone: Legend of the Hidden World (gameplay and in game music) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdLMCtAPwmM

If you want to learn more about music in games, composition, or just hear more of Alex's work - he's on YouTube (AlexMoukalaMusic) and Twitter (@alex_moukala)

We don't want to talk about the leaks, so we won't, but one conversation that the recent leaks have started is very interesting. Are game budgets getting too big? What exactly is making them jump so high? Maybe it's time to cut the games in half and get smaller games out more often.

Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, or what not! Here's a two hour episode all about our particular favorite games that game out this year. If you're traveling home and need something to keep your mind off all the inane and invasive questions you'll get asked at dinner - we're here to help!

2023 was an all time incredible year for gaming. So much so, that Matt actually had a top 25! Expect an extra episode for Patrons only coming later this week!

More layoffs, more studios closing, and E3 declares themselves dead (finally). Let's talk how things might be reborn moving forward!

Deep in the gaming doldrums we caught a bit of a breeze this week as the GTA6 trailer leaked early. And we finally have something that looks next gen. It's coming 225 (or later, let's be honest) and so 2024 continues to look ugly post Q1, but who knows - maybe TGA has some surprises for us!

Sweet baby Keighley stepped in a semi soft turd this week when he decided to defend TGA decision to categorize Dave the Diver as an indie game. He said "indie" can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but that can't be true, right? There has to be a definition of what makes a game independent... Right?

Do a quick google on Sony first party games coming out in 2024. Not seeing anything? Neither are we and that adds to what seems like a bit of a slide in outlook for Sony going into next year.

In the 90's tie-in games for movies and TV shows were pretty much BS. I mean most of the time they had little to nothing to do with the property they were tying into, and in the worst of cases actively made the original property worse by association (ET). Not to say that there weren't good ones, too. But more often than not, a tie-in game never raised expectations. That isn't true into the 00's and later though. So, we get to thinking, what would be an unlikely tie-in game for a movie, or tv show or book - whatever. And what genre/gameplay would the game have?

Golden Joystick, Game Awards, BAFTAs - what do they all have in common? Bullshit categories. Who picks them? How are they organized? Why is it seemingly nonsensical? Now that The Game Awards has announced its nominees - let's go through some categories and try to figure this out!

News broke that The Legend of Zelda will be adapted into a live action feature film. TLoZ will be directed by Wes Ball, who helmed all three Maze Runner films, as well as Kingdom of the Apes (releasing soon). He's a filmmaker with a background in VFX, so I think it is safe to say that the majority of this film will be green screen and visual effects heavy. But what else can we extrapolate about the coming film?

2023 has been a banner year for gaming and it isn't even over! It's a good problem to have, but it is almost definitely a result of the bullwhip from the pandemic. Sony especially doesn't seem to be talking about much coming in 2024. Add in the layoffs that have been happening and we have to ask: are we in for a weak 2024?

You ever play a game that is just... good? Good graphics, well made, nothing particularly wrong with it - but it's just... Fine? That's how Matt is feeling about Spiderman 2. Maybe it's because it is a sequel that came too quick, or maybe it's the realistic graphics. We're diving into what's missing. Oh and console wars. We are gonna talk about the banality of console wars some too.

Today was marred by the tragic news of fLoE passing. He was a well known personality in the FGC and a common sight at tourneys. He was taken too young, and our thoughts are with his family. As seems natural, while talking about fLoE we got onto the subject of icons in fighting games, which led into what makes a game iconic. How would you replicate that? 

A 10 outta 10 episode on 10/10 get it? 

I wish there was some cool story as to how this topic came about but it really was a "you're a ten outta ten" joke that made Matt go down a rabbit hole of ten out of ten games from ten different consoles. I did my best to throw at least a couple curve balls for the long time listeners while Matt brought the culture of retro games.

Matt's been shouting it from the rooftops and singing it on every corner, but if you've missed it: he loves Lies of P. The clever adaptation of Pinocchio into a grimdark soulsborne action fantasy has us thinking what other public domain stories could make for a great game - and what genres would they fit. 

Tokyo Game Show has just wrapped up. We talk about the surprises of the show, some news about exclusivity for 3rd parties, industry speculations, and Kamiya leaving Platinum.

We waited to record until we were able to read the big Microsoft Leak for ourselves. Personally, I feel it is a big nothingburger. And so far as I can tell, the only people hyping this as a big deal are engagement farmers on Twitter.

That being said: there is some value to what this confirms about how Microsoft, and by extension executives think about mergers, acquisitions and the future of gaming et al. So, let's dig into it!

It's my birthday episode! And the planned topic was "what makes a game 'cinematic' and what are the best cinematic games out there." But then a few big pieces of news dropped - and we knew we wanted to talk about that too. So, the first half of this episode is about Unity, Embracer Group and ESA (E3) news, while the back half is about the planned topic.

It sounds eclectic but it actually works pretty well.

Hey, so all these layoffs? Well, it means lots of projects are dead in the water. And that means we are going to see a serious dip in games coming to market. Will that be next year some time? Maybe the year after? And I hear you - AI is gonna solve this problem! But what if it doesn't? What if AI goes bust? No your highly profitable money printing game business is limping because you shot it in the foot.

Also, because it was fun we talk about theme parks and which, if any, are worth the money right now.

It's been a bit of a packed year for games. Maybe that's because the Pandemic caused a crunch that is only now whip lashing onto the market. Who knows but one side effect has been: many games, good games, have come out and been forgotten in the pack.

Bioware is on the chopping block if Dragon Age doesn't do well. It seems like a lot of third parties face oblivion when a single game isn't an over the top success, much less a failure. Are there certain genres that have become doomed for third party devs? A first party can pump out a triple AAA block buster single player game and if it is middling at best, that developer will probably get another shot. But if you're owned by EA? You might be in a soup line the next quarter.

*** I realize I misspoke later in the episode, when talking about THQ Nordic games I'd like to see - I say I'd like to see less games like BattleField and more mid budget single player shooters/3rd person shooters. I know THQ Nordic does not make Battlefield, I just had a jumbled train of thought. Oops lol

Maaaaaaaan there was some cool stuff shown for the opening night of Gamescom 2023, but there was also a whole lot of awkward, huh? This week we are talking about our favorite moments, bold trailers, and awkward interviews from the opening night live show kicking off Gamescom 2023!

This week we are talking about sequels and what we expect from a franchise as it moves forward. I also try to sell Matt on Baldur's Gate 3 but to little effect - THE MAN HATES FUN (kidding).

Everyone is back from EVO 2023 and by all accounts it was a big W for the FGC. I didn't get to go this year, so I had Matt fill me in on some of the best parts. Between new Tekken 8 fighters, MK1 news, and promising looks at Project L - the future looks bright for the FGC!

Yes - you should try to enjoy things. But also sometimes it's fun to talk about the stuff that is overrated in hindsight and maybe even some stuff that has been hated on so much that when you actually look at it... It's fine. Maybe even good! Who knows let's take a look.

Today I'm playing the inspiration for this episode - Amnesia: The Bunker. Matt sold it to me as a perfect shot of survival horror, coming in at 5-6 hours and never overstaying its welcome. But is that the perfect length for survival horror? And what is the perfect length for other games? As always, we have opinions :P

Larian Studios, makers of the Divinity games, have had a massive win with regards to Baldur's Gate 3! A triumph some may call it, and now: some fans say every RPG should follow its example. The thing is BG3 is the result of a perfect storm, and while we love that it has succeeded - not every game should, or even can, follow its path.

This week's episode ranges from 70's gay porn aesthetics (my mustache, we are talking about my mustache) to an intro to Xenogears lore. It's Matt's Birthday episode, so he gets to take us on a journey into any topic he wants!

Are critics out of touch? You look at Rotten Tomatoes for instance and critics give Indy 5 a 69%(nice) while the audience gives it 88%! Does that mean the critics are wrong? I say it means they are looking for different things and in todays media landscape an aggregate score means nothing. But that leaves out another class of pseudo critic - the content creator; whose whole brand can be built on loving or hating "the thing". 

And that presents a problem for audiences be it games or movies. If much of the content out there is built around tearing apart or overhyping - how do you just enjoy things anymore?

I liked the title The Freak Leak, but then who would click on it?

GameFreak had a leak. It was possibly an old school phishing scheme, which is sort of hilarious. That leak did tell us what games they are working on for the coming five years or so, but that isn't what we are interested in - two guess what it the games are though lol.

No they leaked GameFreak budgets and earnings for the last several games, and what that tells us is pretty interesting.

FF16 has been out for a few days now and overall it is getting a positive response. However, there does seem to be a portion of gamers who are mad the game isn't "true" open world, and it lacks traditional RPG elements. Some even claim it doesn't have classic Final Fantasy elements. We'd argue none of these points were promised, but also they are in fact in the game. And we'll go even further to say there's a strong case against open world in Final Fantasy, and maybe even games in general moving forward.

Every game should have a demo. Yes it means development might be a little longer but it already takes 5 years nowadays to complete a triple A game. Polishing a demo won't add that much to that kind of timeline and the benefits far outweigh that extra work.

All the showcases are done and now we get to say how we really feel! We feel... pretty good! There were shocking surprises, and maybe not enough gameplay for our tastes but overall it looks like 23/24 is going to be a very good time to be a gamer.

Square Enix is facing down some lack luster pre-order numbers for FF16. Granted, I don't think that means anything because in the digital age - do many people really care about pre-ordering a game? I'd say only your most hardcore audience. That being said, looking at previous sale numbers, it does seem like making FF16 a PlayStation exclusive will hurt the game long term, and if we know that, then why do it?

Poor release apology statements, released as images, are so prevalent these days that they are their own category of meme. It seems like once a month we see a statement with a remix of "we're sorry - we'll do better!" Currently, the response is to bully studios over the poor releases, but someday we will have to start voting with our wallets and stop buying new releases altogether, I guess.

Sony brought out an expansive number of announcements and trailers, but very little  concrete release dates and even less actual gameplay. I wouldn't say this blew my balls off, though there was still a decent amount to be intrigued, or even excited by. Let's get into it!

This week's episode is wide ranging and inspired by how seemingly pointless the reviews are for Tears of the Kingdom, both positive and negative. Between reviewers  often pumping out inane, sometimes bought and paid for reviews, and review bombing - do things like meta critic even matter anymore? Do critics matter in general, anymore? The big questions.

We've talked about story before, and how in the past story was seldom important to a game - often an after thought. We've changed our opinion on that over time, especially in recent years as games have become more story driven and cinematic. But does gaming have auteurs? As games become more and more like films, will we see more game directors emerge with distinct styles, and voices? And have there really been many in gaming's past?

New data suggests that the $70 price tag for next gen games has actually hurt overall sales and could lead to decreased profits for everyone. So, are games worth the money? Is the market too saturated or capped? When games like Redfall or Jedi Survivor are being released in a rough state - are AAA games a gamble for the first couple months?

Looks like Sony has lost and the Activision Microsoft deal is all but done. So, what are the possibilities? Yeah, okay, sure. We know they are going to mostly pump out COD year in and year out til they get their ROI. BUT what if they didn't? What if those ten studios they are getting brought back old IP or made some new stuff? Let's just imagine!

It's Microsoft.

Rumor has it that Microsoft wants out of the hardware business (surprise, surprise!) and that means Xbox may not have a new generation next year. But does that mean Xbox is dead? Maybe not. As we have seen: Xbox branded portable could lead into Xbox branded gaming PCs and so on.

So, if 3rd party is close to dead in the US, and Microsoft is considering taking up that mantle instead of 3rd party - where does that leave Indie Games?

Kickstarter. I've never been a huge fan of crowdfunding games (or movies to be honest) but it is undeniable that good things have come from the platform.

Nintendo had its Indie World Direct this morning and presentations like this are always good windows into where the Indie world is going. We believe there's two types of indie devs - chargers and chasers. Chargers are the guys who seem to be in the right place, at the right time with an idea lots of people wanted and they didn't even know it. This is your Stardew Valley, or your first Battle Royale. Chasers are the guys who are making games that, while possibly wonderful, are chasing the trend established by the other guys but in their art style. 

This might be the best time ever to be an indie dev, no matter which type you are. There's more tools, and platforms for your game than ever. That should be wonderful for us as consumers too, right?

Is it here?! Super Mario Bros dominating at the box office. Last of Us crushing it on streaming services. Are we finally having our Marvel moment for video game adaptations? And if we are, what comes next?

So, E3 is truly and wholly dead this time, right? With nothing on deck to replace it, and no one left to save it. Plus RE4R was fantastic, but maybe some changes took away more than they added. Add to that: Lily Gao is being harassed by the worst of the RE community over her performance.

This week is a round up of mini topics because it seems like so much happened in the last week.