Yo Videogames

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.

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.

What is the state of the gaming industry going in to Holiday 2025? Shockingly fragile. There is only one major third party publisher left in the US. Microsoft is backing away from hardware. Sony is facing down stagnation. And then there's Nintendo. Who's mostly fine. They aren't happy about tariffs, but for the most part they are weathering this storm exceedingly well? Why is that? Let's get into the State of Games!

Sony and Microsoft had their showcases this week for TGS 2025. We dive into what's exciting, what's confusing, and what is just plain bad. Join us for some musings on the next six months in gaming!

The price of gaming keeps going up. Sure, part of it for those of us in the US is tariffs. But gaming has become much more expensive world wide. Especially AAA gaming. However, with games like Clair Obscur and Silksong coming in well under AAA pricing, and punching far above their weight - we need to ask: will triple A games be worth the price next year?

Did Nintendo beat expectations? No. Well, according to Matt. While nothing was BAD in the direct, and plenty was GOOD: Nintendo didn't justify the new system or the cost increases (Tariffs not included). Personally, I was easier to please. Maybe because I know I am not going to buy a Switch 2 for at least a year. We gave the PS5 a year to try and justify itself, I think we need to be fair and give the Switch 2 the same amount of time. Positive side: at least Nintendo is supporting its platform. They have a slate of good games and a large one at that.

Game journalism is often derided as pointless or nonexistent. We ourselves have made those jokes in the past, especially when talking about the old school game magazines. But what happens when game journalism dies? Journalism in general is on its last legs, and game journalism seems to be on the very edge of disappearing. Content creators sometimes conflate themselves with journalists, or pretend they are doing the same job, and it is important to realize that much of the content we love could not exist without the work actual journalists do in investigating the business, and interviewing game devs.

Or "Old Men Yell At Cloud" There's a lot of great games. Honestly, there might actually be more good games than bad ones these days. But sometimes, even a good game, that people love, make us scratch our heads. We've talked about them here and there in the past, but now we are going to focus on them. For fun. Don't take this too seriously. Enjoy the goofs and hop in with some of your own. The more over the top, the better. You don't understand why people still love Mario games? Hell yeah, brother. Don't get how anyone could care about the new Shinobi game? Okay well, hey now... Wish people would shut up about Xenoblade? We're getting a little hurtful... Lets-- WISH PEOPLE WOULD JUST STFU ABOUT CLAIR OBSCUR!? Getting carried away boys!

I held it together and we recorded a little Gamescom talk. We didn't go super deep on any one game, but the biggest takeaway this year? Horror fans are gonna EAT. At least, in my opinion. Hop in, hang out, I only cough twice and never into the microphone. I was very brave: say it!

We're in the doldrums before Gamescom, so there is a tight lid on anything new and exciting. I just got back from a week of travel so bad I'm having flashbacks straight out of Apocalypse Now. And that means: we meander a bit this episode. We cover a bunch of small topics and tangents. Enjoy us in your ears as we cover industry panic, and the usual "back in my day" generational hate that corpos love to pump out whenever the newest punching bag is old enough to "kill industries".

Episode 500 is for the haters! We've been on a positive upswing for almost two years now, but it's time to return to our roots. We were born haters, and haters we shall remain! Actually, we've spent so long focusing on staying positive that we had sort of a hard time being too harsh - even when the games deserved it. But we still had fun and I bet you will too! So, jump in and enjoy the most trash games we ever spent our dollars on. Maybe, you also feel this way. Maybe, you played something worse. But if you say Blasto... Oh my momma if you say Blasto!

Something entirely new. Not based on an existing IP. Built from the ground up by a good team without the restrictions of making characters that match expectations. How do you do it? Matt brings out his Fighting Game Triangle: Content, Roster, Presentation and we dig into finding a balance among the three. He does not like my ideas. :P

Taking a suggestion from you guys: we decided to talk about games we hope don't get forgotten by end of year. And maybe a couple we know definitely will. So, let's talk early GOTY contenders, and a couple disappointments.

The reactions to Ghost of Yotei have been mostly positive, but one common complaint is that there was "no reason" to not continue Jin Sakai's story. In my opinion, it's okay that his story is done and it is more interesting to leap to a new time and new character. This provokes another conversation about sequels/franchises in general: do gamers want more of the same? Is there no market incentive for new ideas?

Microsoft has ruined all its goodwill from even six months ago. Is that Phil Spencer's fault? Probably not. In fact there is evidence that ol' Philly boy has done his best, but that doesn't help the thousands Microsoft laid off - so our sympathy is limited. I don't think Xbox is ever going to climb out of the hole it dug itself fifteen years ago. This may all just be the long slow death spiral. ANYWAY, it's Matt's birthday episode! Besides Microsoft we talk about Matt's strong thighs, Donkey Kong setting up for GOTY, Ghost of Yotei, and we fan-cast James Bond. 

Hey! Welcome back. You may have noticed a lack of episode last week, and that is because of not one, but three freak acts of nature. It is not an exciting story, but it does emphasize that I might be cursed. Anyway, the delay meant that I could buy and check out Death Stranding 2. I didn't play DS1. I had seen enough of it at several E3s to know it wasn't gonna be my jam. But it is a Kojima game. So, I'd be a liar if I didn't say I was always tempted. Now, here comes a sequel. It looks like Kojima has gone maximalist. The writing? Max Kojima. Now with more combat. More stealth. More weirdness. And it hadn't been shown to death at several conventions. So... I decided to go for it. Now, I am several hours in and I am beginning to think my initial instincts were right. This one isn't for me. If you liked DS1, though? You're probably going to love DS2. My yapping to Matt about it inspired the topic for this episode, because it turns out: Matt isn't sold on a coming sequel that everyone is amped for. So, what sell

2025 Sony State of Play, Summer Games Fest, and the Xbox showcase have come and gone. We've had some time to step back, come down from the hype, and think of what really grabbed our attention last week. So, what stood out to you? What got you hyped in the moment, but now that you've had a minute, the optimism has cooled? Was Not-E3 a major success? For us: it's looking like a good year. Let's talk about why.

This week we have a special guest on the show: Madfinger Games' PR and Comms Director - Rick Lagnese! Madfinger Games is currently developing Grayzone Warfare, an MMO FPS in early access, but has its beginnings in mobile games. You might think that is a huge leap, but there is a clear through-line from their earliest games to today. Developing and self publishing a AAA title is no easy feat and we get into what that means for the team and why early access is what makes it possible. Jump in, meet Rick, have good times with us!

Oh, okay Sony. I don't know why people are so hard to please these days, but this was a solid presentation. Went from one game on the horizon to now like half a dozen dropping just in September? Pragmata isn't dead? Romeo IS dead? Overall this is one of Sony's better state of play presentations - let's get into why!

It's that time of year where things slow down. The calm before the storm of summer announcements. E3 may be dead but the excitement of E3 week lives on. Unfortunately, it means this time of year - unless there is a major leak - is usually quiet. But that's okay because this episode we talk about areas of the world, mythologies and cultures that could come to prominence in gaming. With the US industry seemingly stumbling, are there other countries that could grow to dominate the industry? Also, at the end of the end of the episode I mention a great horror book, but couldn't recall the exact title: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Enjoy!