2XKO Already Dead?! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.10.26

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily — February 10, 2026

Episode: “2XKO Already Dead?! – Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.10.26”
Hosts: Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller & Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Key Topics: 2XKO layoffs & future, Romeo Is a Dead Man review, Overwatch’s Anran redesign, Monster Hunter updates, and more.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the bombshell surrounding Riot Games’ 2XKO—with layoffs hitting weeks after launch, the hosts unpack what this means for the fighting game, community confidence, and Riot’s future strategy. They also share Blessing’s review of Romeo Is a Dead Man, discuss Overwatch’s response to controversy over the character Anran, and hit the latest updates from Monster Hunter and upcoming fighting games. The chemistry is high, the banter is lively, and the podcast brings both humor and a critical lens to today’s big news in gaming.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. 2XKO in Trouble: Major Layoffs and Confidence Crisis

[09:56 – 26:27]

• Riot Games lays off ~80 staff from 2XKO just three weeks after the game’s launch, citing lackluster momentum and the need to “reshape the team for a more sustainable path.”
  • [11:06] “The people who helped ship 2XKO poured years of creativity... Taking creative risks like this is hard... We are committed to supporting impacted rioters throughout this transition…” — Tom Cannon, via Greg Miller reading Riot’s statement.
• Community confusion: Even hardcore fans (and the hosts) struggled with whether the game was in “beta,” “early access,” or a true 1.0 launch.
  • [14:41] "From an outsider perspective... I’ve been very lost on: is 2XKO in beta, early access, a full launch?" — Greg
• Content shortfall: At launch, 2XKO had only 12 playable characters, which was seen as inadequate for a modern tag-based fighter, especially compared to competitors like Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8.
  • [15:23] “For a tag fighter, I think you want way more than 10 characters... for me it doesn’t feel like a damn, this is a big new fighting game.” — Blessing
• Marketing missteps: The staggered and unclear rollout (PC in November as a “beta,” then full console release) failed to build hype and a unified player base.
• League of Legends crossover flop:
  • [17:22] “The League bubble is probably the most insulated of all gaming bubbles… There was no way they were ever going to cross over to 2XKO.” — JBC (Listener comment, discussed on air)
  • [18:08] "It’s going to be so tough to try and usher an audience that is playing a MOBA [into] a fighting experience…” — Blessing
• Community anxiety: Players are now hesitant to invest in learning 2XKO’s systems, worried Riot may shut it down.
  • [20:07] “We are all waiting to see what they plan to do next. We’re not sure if we want to invest more hours if it’s going to be shut down.” — Claw Master (Listener)
• Gameplay & design criticism:
  • No-motion input controls divide the player base:
    • [21:35] “The no motion inputs was a weird one for me… it doesn’t click in my brain when I go from other fighting games to 2XKO.” — Blessing
• Hosts’ predictions:
  • Greg takes a “pizza bet” predicting 2XKO will be shut down within two years: [23:16] “I’d say the next two years, they shut down 2XKO. There you go, Herbie. I want my pizza.”
  • Blessing less certain: [26:06] “I think Riot has enough pride to stick this thing out for at least a little bit. Let’s get to Evo at least.”
• Memorable Moment: Greg and Blessing’s “Suda 51 5.5 cult classic game” gag in discussing niche versus mainstream. [61:29+]

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2. Blessing’s Review: Romeo Is a Dead Man

[30:34 – 41:36]

• Score: 5.5 out of 10 (“but I love it!”)
  • [31:59] "It is a 5.5 out of 10… and the 0.5 is the fact that I love it." — Blessing
• Why the mixed feelings?
  • Unrefined but packed with Suda51 weirdness. The game is buggy, visually rough, and recycles levels, but it’s memorable and “has more charm than a lot of 8/10s I’ve played.” [40:56]
  • [32:07] "It’s messy all over the place... but can’t describe how true [Suda’s] 'class clown' description is.”
  • Combat and pacing can get repetitive, mechanics like the “bastard” system are clunky, and performance issues abound (notably on PS5—see video shown at [36:39]).
  • But — frequent art shifts, comedy, and unexpected twists deliver classic Suda51 personality. [37:33]
• Summary: It’s a cult game through and through — not technically great, but worth it for fans of oddball indie games.
  • [41:21] "The sauce is over-seasoned...the sauce doesn't have much budget behind it. But it's hitting for me." — Blessing

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3. Overwatch Anran Backlash & Redesign

[41:36 – 46:41]

• Context: New Overwatch hero Anran’s model was changed from her older, fierce design to a younger, more conventional look — prompting fan and voice actor uproar about representation.
• Voice actor Faria lamented:
  • [43:22] “…an unspoken promise that said we’re going to challenge the beauty standards plaguing and ransacking the media these days…”
• Blizzard responds by promising a new redesign that’s more true to the original concept.
• Hosts’ take: Blizzard listened and are making the right move by addressing community and internal feedback. [45:16]

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4. Monster Hunter & Industry News

[46:41 – 49:32]

• Monster Hunter Wilds:
  • Capcom will announce a “large-scale expansion” this summer, akin to ICEBORNE or SUNBREAK. [47:56]
  • Blessing asks if State of Play is overcrowded—with Monster Hunter news likely going to Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest instead.
• Other news in quick hits (Wii News):
  • [52:21]–[53:26] Black Myth: Wukong’s latest showcase, Directive 8020 launching May 12, Ubisoft union strikes, Remedy (Control dev) appoints ex-EA exec as CEO, Control reaches 5M copies sold, Replace & Planet of Lana 2 demos incoming.
• Fantasy Critic banter: Ongoing fantasy league chatter about risky picks (e.g. Jonathan Blow, Disco Elysium devs, unannounced God of War by “Team Barrett,” etc.) [06:01–08:32]

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5. Marvel TuKun, Fighting Game Releases, and Upcoming Titles

[49:32 – 51:27]

• Marvel TuKun Fighting Souls: Launches with 20 playable characters (not enough for some given 4v4 format), 64-player lobbies, and single-player episode mode — details likely leaked early ahead of State of Play.
  • [50:41] “I feel like 20 characters might not be enough for this game. This is a 4v4 tag, you might have almost half the roster in one match.” — Blessing
• Upcoming PlayStation “State of Play” anticipated to be packed with news.
• [51:55] “Don’t be afraid to dream!” — Blessing to Greg on Metal Gear collection hopes
• [62:21] On why games with mass appeal (Mario Tennis) get more coverage than cult classics (Romeo Is a Dead Man): “We’re an 11-person small business trying to survive in a crowded media landscape.” — Greg

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [17:22] “The League bubble is probably the most insulated of all gaming bubbles…I don’t think League players care about fighting games…” — JBC & Blessing (on 2XKO’s audience challenge)
• [20:07] “Fighting games are work…If there’s doubt this game will be around in four, five, six months…that’s going to kill it.” — Blessing
• [26:06] “I don’t think this shuts down in the next six months. I think Riot is too…they have enough pride to stick this thing out for at least a little bit. Let’s get to Evo at least.” — Blessing
• [31:59] "It is a 5.5 out of 10…and the 0.5 is the fact that I love it." — Blessing
• [40:56] “As a game that I’m giving a 5.5 out of 10… it has more charm… and is more memorable to me than a lot of 8 out of 10s I’ve played.” — Blessing
• [41:21] “The sauce is over-seasoned… it’s just that the sauce is not that expensive… but it’s hitting for me…” — Blessing (describing Romeo Is a Dead Man)
• [62:21] “We’re an 11-person small business trying to survive in a crowded media landscape.” — Greg (on content decisions and coverage)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 2XKO Layoffs & Discussion: [09:56 – 26:27]
• Romeo is a Dead Man Review: [30:34 – 41:36]
• Overwatch Anran Redesign: [41:36 – 46:41]
• Monster Hunter & Quick Fire News: [46:41 – 49:32], [52:21–53:26]
• Marvel TuKun & Fighting Games: [49:32–51:27]
• Patreon/fantasy league/banter: various, [6:01–8:32], [53:36+]
• Community Superchat Qs & Extended Banter: [55:13–61:22]
• Wrap-up/Meta Discussion: [61:22–end]

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Tone, Vibe, and Flow

• Humorous, candid, critical—Greg and Blessing mix playful jabs and memes with thoughtful, industry-insider analysis.
• Deep dives into current headlines, always grounded in how player communities are feeling.
• Frequent asides on content creation, audience realities, and what it means to be a small media team.
• Lots of interaction with live chat and superchats—highlighting Kinda Funny’s strong community engagement (especially on fighting games, fitness, and industry in-jokes).

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Final Thoughts

A lively episode that captures the current moment in gaming: uncertain launches, shifting fan bases, the rise and fall of niche hits, and the ongoing drama of live service games. For fighting game fans, indie weirdos, and anyone following the pulse of game industry news, this episode is a can’t-miss.

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Transcript

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[B]

Ad free and our exclusive shows, go.

[A]

To patreon.com kindafin Funny today in the nerdy news you need to know about 2x ko seems to be in big trouble. Blessing reviews Romeo as a deadman and a new Overwatch character is getting a redesign. We'll have all this and more because this is kinda Funny Games Daily. Heart stopped in my chest there because as the words came out, a new Overwatch character is getting a redesign. I was like, is that right? Did I screw? Did I, Did I see the word old? No, I'm right. I know. I nailed it. It's just, you know, you'd think an old character is getting the redesigned kind of.

[B]

No, no. I mean, that's the whole story.

[A]

I know, it's crazy. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Tuesday, February 10, 2026. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller along side Los Santos. Poppy Blessing at a. Oh, yay, junior.

[B]

Good day.

[A]

Greg, do you want to answer to the allegations that you've been bringing in guns on Set. Because it's spreading like wildfire. In the comments on the Reddit, these two locked and loaded guns and the T shirts you're bringing to show them off. You know what I mean? What are we doing out here?

[B]

Bless. I haven't changed the T shirts. These are the T shirts I've always worn.

[A]

You're just filling them out now.

[B]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, shout out to the Red. I don't, I don't read the comments. And so I didn't know what they were saying. But yeah, yeah, I read the Reddit post. That was very nice. I saw it was one of those things where, like, I. The. The post was something along the lines of blessing should sit in the host chair more often.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I read it and I was like, I thought it was going to.

[A]

Be something about your hosting abilities.

[B]

Yeah. It was like, on an episode where I didn't feel like I did a good job, but, like, I clicked into it and everything was nice and I was like, oh, thank you.

[A]

The free weights are working out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How are we doing? Blessed. What's the word? How are we feeling? It's a big show for you. You were gonna host, Then you were like, yo, two weeks, KO problems. Hey, I got a Romeo review. You got a lot going on?

[B]

Yeah, I got a lot going on. I spent the entire weekend just playing Romeo is a Dead Man.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

After we did the episode with SUDA 51.

[A]

Check it out now Gamescast feeds.

[B]

One of the people in the chat was like. Or it was a few people, actually. A few people were like, yo, Bless, ask Suda how long Romeo's a Dead man is. And I asked him, he was like, oh, it's like 10 to 15 hours. And when he said that, I was like, maybe I will play through this game. Because I thought I was going to, like, pick it up, play a little bit, and then probably bounce off of it. Because in my mind, I thought it would have been, I don't know, over 20 hours, 25 hours. So I was like, I. When I. When I originally picked it up, when we got the review code, I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna play 25 hours of this game.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When I heard 10 hours, I was like, I can do 10 hours.

[A]

You know what?

[B]

I can do 10 hours of this. Yeah, exactly. So I did that yesterday. Picked up Mugenics.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

I started playing that a little bit.

[A]

Initial thoughts or what are you feeling?

[B]

I mean, I'm not far enough to have, like, any concrete thoughts. I will say I like the vibe.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was never a Binding of Isaac person and this is from the same developer as Binding of Isaac. It reminds me of playing games on new grounds back in the day.

[A]

Definitely. It's an art style. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. The fun Internet Flash game sort of vibe of it. It also just has a 2000s Internet attitude. Everything is weird and disgusting and gross in a way that I. I vibe with because I was on the Internet in 2008 in high school.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so yeah, I'm really liking it so far. I'm not really a grid based turn based strategy person and so that's the. If I bounce off of this game, that will be. Why? Because that's not really my my forte. But every now and then a Live Alive comes through. Changes my mind.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm sure Fire Emblem when that comes out later this year, that's one that I'll give a try to.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I. I've called this year tactical 2026. I don't know if you heard me say that.

[A]

I have heard you say that. Yeah.

[B]

And so I'm giving it a shot. I want to see more of it because the reviews are great. 90 on Metacritic.

[A]

Not. Not bad. Yeah.

[B]

Doing good for my fanny screen.

[A]

I was gonna say kind of funny.com league. You can follow along. That's a. A nice strong start for you out there. Oh yeah.

[B]

Picked up some more games over the weekend. Oh, for the famous critic.

[A]

Let's see.

[B]

Open up the Phoenix critic.

[A]

Kevin, can we go to kind offunny.com league where you can keep up with our fantasy critic shenanigans? The movers, the shakers. Me with 17 points off of Cult of the Land Woolhaven.

[B]

Oh, that's out.

[A]

I picked up Monster Hunter Stories three as well.

[B]

Ooh, I did that.

[A]

I'm playing that demo. I'm still working on the demo. I went back to it last night because Redacted is in fact Mario Tennis, which we'll be reviewing on Gamescast after this. I've been playing that nonstop for a week. But I was excited now that that review is ready to go that I could then switch back to Monsters under Stories 3 on that demo and keep going. My progress carries over. I'm into it. And hey, Shout out. I was guilting Capcom and I still am for it. Not looking great on the Switch handheld. When I did dock it, it did look as good as elsewhere. So. Okay. Oh yeah. Okay.

[B]

So I picked up two games.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Both maybe a little bit risky.

[A]

Bless. Can we scroll down to his team there? Yeah, there you go.

[B]

Yeah. I picked up zero parades for dead spies. Do you know what this one is?

[A]

Yes. It's shown up a couple times where we've seen it in other things.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But give me the elevator pitch.

[B]

For those who don't, it's the next game from Zaoum. I don't know how to pronounce.

[A]

Yeah, but Disco Elysium.

[B]

The Disco Elysium devs.

[A]

The Disco Elysium.

[B]

Ye. The team that made Disco Elysium. Even though there's been a lot of turnover and all that, I still think the game looks good. And it's one of those things where I'm like, if they're able to even scratch the surface of what made this elium good, then I think it'll be reviewed well. But that one is a risk.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The other one I picked up was Order of the Sinking Star.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

That's the new from Jonathan Blow. Of course, the Witness. I absolutely loved the Witness. He hasn't put out a big new game since then. And so does he still have the sauce? Who knows? Jonathan Blows, a weird kind of problematic man. And so it's another one that I view as risky. But both these are supposed to come out this year.

[A]

I was going to say my the Risk I. I would see with and I haven't been following zero parades as closely as I. And I'm not even following Sinking Star, but I've heard more about it is Sinking Star I could see not easily not coming out this year. It's the follow up to the Witness. It's Jonathan Blow. I feel like he's done fine financially. It could be like it's not where I want it to be. I know what this next game needs to be. This isn't where it needs to be.

[B]

The only reason why I did it was because they announced this is 2026 at the Game Awards. 2025.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So like if in December you're saying 2026, that's a little bit more fake than if you said it back in June or something like that. Makes me feel like, okay, this thing is maybe, like, maybe more ready than we would think than it's not. Okay. Yeah. But also, you know, now that Mutix has a great score, I feel more comfortable making those risks because that can just make drops if it doesn't come through.

[A]

You know, we'll of course give you updates throughout the year as we go, but so far we looking pretty good out there, right? With the exception, of course, Rog. Roger on team Barrett is my best friend. He got 15 points off Neo3. Then he went with his heart with his 4th pick for Yakuza, Kiwami3 and Dark Tides. I got him 6 points. You hate to see that. You hate to see that.

[B]

Also screw Barrett because Barrett picked up one of the ones that I wanted to pick up, which was the unannounced new God of War Greek project that people keep talking about.

[A]

Barrett picking up unannounced Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake unannounced new God of War Greek project unannounced, the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake, which is going to fuck him.

[B]

That one's not going to gonna come out, dude.

[A]

But if it does, I mean if it does. Oh my God, fantastic. Like I'm prepared. I've never lost my on a Nintendo direct. Yeah, if they remake Ocarina of Time and that's real, yeah, I'll lose.

[B]

What if they just port the 3Ds remake that they did?

[A]

Was that the. That was the port itself of the Master Quest or was that. You know what I mean? I don't remember that. No.

[B]

I think that was a ground up remake.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Oh, for a 3Ds.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

I could be wrong because I didn't.

[A]

I would be upset by that. I would be upset by that. I would not be happy with that. Shout out to Tim. With 15 points off Dragon Quest 7 reimagined, it's looking shaping up to be a good league. Lots of, lots of weeks left. Of course it is only February and since it is a day in February, it's a weekday. That means there's video game news. And that's what we run you through each and every weekday on Kind of funny games daily. YouTube.com kind of funny games patreon.com kind of funny YouTube, apple, Spotify, everywhere you could get a show, we're out there doing the goddamn thing. Remember, if you are live on YouTube.com kindafunnygames right now, you should be part of the show. Super chat with your thoughts, opinions. I already see JBC in here with thoughts about 2xko in the layoffs. Dexter super chats though and says bless, creep up. Keep up the great work at the gym.

[B]

Thank you, Greg.

[A]

Suck it. Oh, that's mean. And I'm like, don't laugh at that, Kevin. I'm like, when he laughs at that. If you of course remember, we couldn't do this without our Patreon producers. Thank you from patreon.com kindafunny that's Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Somme twining for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some news. Six items on the Roper Report.

[B]

The Baker's Desert.

[A]

Number One an update on 2xko A post from Riot hey everyone, can I get some Michael Sarah on that? Hey everyone, I wanted to take a moment to share an important update on 2xko. This is a difficult update to share, but we want to be clear about what's changing and why Section called what's Changing and why After a lot of discussion and reflection, we are reducing the size of the 2xko team. I want you to know that this decision wasn't made lightly. As we expanded from PC to console, we saw consistent trends in how players were engaging with 2xko. The game has resonated with a passionate core audience, but overall momentum hasn't reached the level needed to support a team of this size long term. With a smaller, focused team, we're going to dig in and make key improvements to the game, including some of the things we've already heard you asking for. We'll share our plans soon. Our plans for the 2026 competitive series are unchanged. We remain committed to partnering with tournament organizers in local communities. Our focus will continue to be on supporting the events and organizers that already power the FGC blessing. What's that stand for?

[B]

The Fighting Game community.

[A]

Thank you. Ultimately, this decision reflects a shift in how we operate. This isn't a judgment on individual rioters or a signal that the journey is over. We're reshaping the team to give 2xko a more sustainable path forward. New subhead about the people behind the game I want to be clear about something that matters deeply to me. The people who helped ship two XKO poured years of creativity, care and belief into this game. Taking creative risks like this is hard and the work they did is real and meaningful. We are committed to supporting impacted rioters throughout this transition, including helping them explore opportunities within Riot where possible, and providing a minimum of six months of notice, pay and severance where it's not. New Subhead Going forward, I know this update will raise questions and concerns. That's understandable. We'll continue communicating about how things are progressing in the journey so far. We've been humbled and dazzled by the energy and passion you've brought to the 2xko community. That energy matters and it will help fuel us into the next chapter as we improve the game. Thank you for playing 2xko and caring enough to ask hard questions, and for being part of this community. Signed Tom Cannon. Blessing Greg, what the fuck's going on? Because that was a lot of word salary. Go to the fact people were getting laid off and losing their jobs.

[B]

Yeah, people were getting laid off and losing their jobs. This is such a. Such an interesting one because if you recall, 2xko came out three weeks ago and we're already at a place where they're making these decisions of. All right, we got to lay off the, you know, this portion of the team.

[A]

And what is that portion of the team? We go to game informer.com where Wesley LeBlanc writes Riot Games is laying off around 82 XKO employees. Two XKO employees three weeks after the game's launch. Back to you.

[B]

Yeah. And so this leads to, I think, many questions and many conversation points about what's up with. I mean, what's up with that? What's up with that 2x Ko? I think both on the fan reception side of it, but then also on the vision of the future side of it. I, I think the place I start from is from the marketing side of it because that, for me, that's the most visible aspect of it. We've been talking about 2xko for years with hype in our tones.

[A]

You like it?

[B]

I mean, I, I liked it when I played the beta. Yeah. You know, I think last year, maybe the year before last year when they first dropped the beta and me and Mike got hands on with. And we absolutely loved it for the two weeks that we played or maybe like the weekend we played it. Whatever it was, I didn't come back around to it when they actually launched it. Launched it because the launch felt weird and kind of confusing. And I didn't. I feel like there wasn't the big. And 2x scale is out. Everybody, you know, run two and all this stuff because it came out on PC in like November. Correct me if I'm wrong, anybody in chat came out on PC. I think they labeled it a beta. It didn't feel like a full 1.0 official release. Again, correct me if I'm wrong about that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then you get it announced for consoles. And that felt it should be a big deal. It should be a big deal. And that seemed like it was the 1.0 release for everybody. But I never, I never fully got that big splash of like, and now it's out. Now everybody go play to X scale. And so I think there's that side of it for me where I never felt like there was that moment where, okay, we're all Jumping into this now, this is the day that we're all playing to kind of thing separate from that because I don't think that's the biggest thing, but that was definitely a thing for me. The content in there doesn't feel as full fledged as you'd want a 1.0 fighting game.

[A]

Talk to me a bit about that because of course I'm not in the fighting game community. Fighting games aren't my thing. So I'm of the same breath of. From an outsider perspective and an outsider who reads the video game news each and every day and talks about games I've been very lost on. Is 2xko in beta, early access, a full launch? I don't, I haven't been paying attention because it's not my genre. But also I agree and I think it is part of the thing, the marketing of this. But talk to me about the game itself. Yeah. Why do you think it's not up to snuff in terms of what a 1.0, a full fledged fight?

[B]

I just don't think the content was. Was there. Right. The character count. I want to say they launched with about 10 characters. I was trying to Google it as you're. As you're talking, but I remember jumping in and being like, damn, for a tag fighter, I think you want way more than 10 characters.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We're talking about a generation where earlier on we've been talking about how this feels like the renaissance for fighting games between games like Street Fighter 612 says the chat 12 characters. Thank you, chat. Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive. You know, that might have been still in PS4, but either way it's been such a great display of fighting games delivering for the most part. Of course people will still have their problems with like the life service aspects of what these games deliver. But even still, you look at the character count, you look at the stage count, you look at the amount of content that these games are delivering and it's like, damn, all right. Like this is what you can expect out of a full fighting game release. I think with 2xko part of it being free to play, they kind of wanted to have this thing of building with the community, building with the audience, launching with less heroes or legends or whatever they call, I guess legends. Right. And you know, maybe trying to grow over time and have those microtransaction type stuff and make that stuff work. But when I hop into 2x scale, for me it doesn't feel like a damn. This is a big new fighting game for me. It feels like, okay, I'm logging in into a free to play thing and the content, like the. I don't have that many characters to choose from and they're not really speaking to me as much. And some of this is personal taste. Right. Just, of course, a lot of it just didn't vibe with me. You know, the, the feel of it, the. The look of it is good. I like the art.

[A]

Style is great. Yeah. I'm watching it right now. This is gorgeous.

[B]

Beautiful video game, but it's not one that I feel like I've needed to spend time with and stick around with. Right. Like, for me it's been a thing of. Oh yeah, I'll probably just wait until there's more characters out.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And now I hope we make it to where there's more characters out.

[A]

There's two super chats in there that I think are two different threads. So stick with me because I'm gonna give you both tracks. All right. You're talking about not vibing with it. And I think then the conversation becomes, well, okay, of course you mentioned Legends. This is League of Legends. Right. Riot. How do you get that audience to come over here? Right at the very beginning, JBC super chatted and said the league bubble is probably the most insulated of all gaming bubbles. There was no way they were ever going to cross over to 2x KO.

[B]

I agree. It comes back to. I know I've ran this into the ground when I referenced the ship of Theseus, but it really is my go to reference for.

[A]

God bless you, Wandavision. Thanks for bringing that to all of our attention.

[B]

Thank you so much. White vision. But like, it really is, I think my, like the. The easiest way to display. Hey, do league players care about fighting games?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The answer is no. Obviously there's some that probably play also. There's always that with any genre of video game. But I think it's going to be so tough to try and usher a. An audience that is playing a multiplayer online battle arena game. A top down, I'm putting, I'm clicking, I'm upgrading over time and got to have these lanes. Got to have these lanes, you know, killing ads or whatever. I don't know.

[A]

We don't know.

[B]

Yeah, but like you're telling me you're making a game that is the same IP and trying to appeal to some of that audience with something that is completely different. Not that kind of game. You know, I respect it because the thing that I see in that vision is that you have a good roster of characters.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I watched something like Arcane, which does work, right? Hey, this is a TV show. But, like, I think that's more translatable. Everybody watches tv. Yeah, I play League of Legends. Oh, you're telling me you're putting my favorite things in the tv. I'll watch that, sure. Yeah, that works. I think trying to convert any of those people into a fighting experience just is tough. But you have the characters there, so I think that works on that end. But it is the thing of. It's not going to be easy, though.

[A]

The IP isn't helping get somebody over necessarily.

[B]

No, I think the IP makes it so that making this game might be easier. Hey, we don't have to read. We don't have to, you know, build this thing.

[A]

We are a transmedia property, a trans genre property here. Riot with League. Yeah, let me bring in Claw Master then. Okay. Claw Master super chats and says 2xko player here currently. Current feeling from the fighting game community is that we are all waiting to see what. We're all waiting on what they plan to do next. Because we are not sure if we want to invest more hours into the game if it's going to be shut down, which I think now is the next jump. And really the headline we have in this, this article, this episode, right? Which is two XK already dead because you lay off team members. 80, you shift your focus here. And this is three weeks after launch. That is a flare. That is you shooting off the flare because you've hit the iceberg. And I'm not saying I wish ill on this team. I'm. No, nothing. I'm not saying they're fucked. I'm just saying, like, that is a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor you don't want to see right now. And to have that go off, I would imagine there's a lot of people like Claw Master who go, okay, well, wait a second. Am I going to commit to learning the meta, doing this thing, worrying about what they're rolling out, if it's never, ever going to get there?

[B]

Fighting games are work. Like if you're playing a fighting game at a higher level, especially for how important I'd say events like EVO are for fighting games. I believe 2xko is still slated for. For evo. I want it to make it there. Right? Because I think when you talk about that pro circuit, one of the things that we're talking about is longevity. I am playing this thing every day. I'm playing it all the time because I want to get better and better. Therefore, I can take it to Evo, go for that championship stage and have that, you know, be a thing that I am happy I invested in and competed in. If this game's not around, if there's a doubt that this game will be around in four months, five months, six months, even a year, right. If the community is dwindling so strongly in a year of this game, I think that's going to just, I think that's going to kill it completely because people aren't going to want to invest the time at least on that fighting game pro circuit side. I think that ripples down. The community follows that stuff.

[A]

Well, I was going to say, right, like I'm talking out of school, but I imagine the fighting game community and what you're seeing on stage and what they're playing, what they're training for and what they're streaming, what they're talking about, that does go, oh man, I love watching Marvel versus Capcom. I love watching my favorite streamer whoever do that or my favorite fighting game player do that, then I want to play that on my off time to try to do the thing I just learned from them or whatever. And yeah, if nobody's playing this you're talking about on that level, that's a problem. Gerald of Riviera super chats and says, I like 2xko, but it definitely had a lot of long term issues. The staggered, staggered approach to launch, constantly changing the game systems, doubling down on no motion inputs and a lot of bugs.

[B]

Yeah, the no motion inputs was a weird one for me. It still doesn't click in my brain when I go from playing other fighting games to hopping into 2xko. Essentially the idea, Greg, is that obviously in a lot of fighting games, yeah, you want to do like a quarter, quarter circle square to do a hadouken or something. Your special moves in 2x scale, you're using the triggers to like make it easier, right? Almost feels like smash in a way where it is just press a button, do the thing right, makes it easier. I, I think and I don't know what the balance of this is because obviously Street Fighter had their kind of like casual or modern controls. I think Tekken added like a modern control scheme. A lot of fighting games are adding more modern and auto control schemes here. This is the base scheme and I do think that there is something special about the more complicated inputs in fighting games. I think maybe it even is just the thing of we've all been trained that this is how fighting games work. So when I hop into 2 xko I hop in and I'm like, oh, man, I gotta relearn how to play this game now. I gotta figure out how to like hit R2 and do all like. I don't know how my supers work.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, like, there's kind of a weirdness with it there that I do.

[A]

Think could have worked. And yeah, maybe doesn't.

[B]

Maybe worked if it was an optional control scheme or a secondary control scheme. But I do think fighting games benefit from leaning into what the audience already vibes with.

[A]

Sure. In the Twitch chat. Not a super chat. Herbie Aragos says they will never shut it down. It will just have a lighter team. Kevin, run the pizza bet. Graphic. I'll take that pizza bet, Herbie. They will shut 2xko down at some point. And I'll give. And here's what I'll give you, Herbie. I'll give you. Because obviously every game will shut down at some point.

[B]

Sure, sure, sure.

[A]

I would say I think even in the next five years is too much time for this to be a spicy bet. I'd say the next two years they shut down too.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

There you go, Herbie. I want my pizza.

[B]

Here's what I'll say.

[A]

Herbie says, how much does the pizza cost in the U.S. wherever you are, you can just super chat in the money. And I'll take it from.

[B]

That's what I'll say. We live in. In the Bay Area and so it's bad. Yeah.

[A]

Especially with the doordash fees. I don't even want to say it because it's embarrassing.

[B]

I was gonna remove the doordash from it and say like, I don't know, $20. But we had doordash on top of it.

[A]

I wrote two pizzas for us for the other day when we were doing some stream. $90?

[B]

No. Where'd you order from?

[A]

Toto's really good pizza. Well, it's not even them, right. Well, I mean, it is them. Where it's like. It's like 30 bucks or whatever for that kind of pizza, man.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I want. I. I don't think it's impossible to turn it around. I will say this, this doesn't feel like the way to turn it around. I think laying off, laying off that many people isn't the first step to like making this three weeks in three.

[A]

You know what I mean?

[B]

That doesn't make me go, oh, yeah, you guys are going to turn this around and get it to where you want it. Want it to go. You know, maybe if you Have a lot of content already pre canned and you're going to roll out these legends and roll out like the features and stuff that people would request from it. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that does it. Maybe there's a shot in the arm during Evo season and people get to see the game on the big stage. Maybe that's it. But I do not have confidence in it as of now. Especially when you have Marvel to Fighting souls on the horizon. I know people might laugh at this, but games like Invincible versus in the Avatar Fighting Game that are coming out this year, like I know those aren't the most exciting things, but I think both of them have like a weird amount of promise behind them. Especially the Avatar Fighting game. Yeah, it's a tough space to exist in right now. And you also, you also have the street fighters and the Tekkens that don't go away. And so it's a competitive space. Yeah, I don't know.

[A]

Over in the super chat, Gary the third says it cannot be overstated how bad the name 2xko is. League Rumble League, Fight League, Arena League, or I'm sorry, Legend Fighters. Any of these are better names a million percent than 2xko. And in the super chats we have, I'm sorry the your wrongs [e-mail]. you're wrong. We have been getting corrected that it's not called legends, they're called champions in the universe. You're using that then like what's the.

[B]

Legend of League of Legends? Is the legend. Is that what you become when you win the game?

[A]

Exactly. It's you. You're the legend.

[B]

You're the legend.

[A]

You're the legend. Exactly right. Is a very nice one there too. Bander, super chat. This is a question I guess you threw out there, but I didn't catch it. Guilty gear strive was 2021, so PS5 generation, but it was on PS4. So you're right. Bless.

[B]

Yes. Thank you so much.

[A]

That's not a you're wrong. That's you're right. Congratulations there. We will wait and see. This is usually not a good sign. Of course. The silver lining flip of the coin, whatever is that Riot has a lot of money from League of Legends so maybe they are committed. So you know what we're going to keep doing? We're going to keep going on this.

[B]

I don't think this shuts down. Oh man. I don't want to say this and jinx it. This does not shut down in the next six months.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I think Riot is too not they have all the money, but I also think they have enough pride to be like, yo, no, we're sticking this thing out for at least a little bit. Let's get to Evo at least.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Kind of thing. But yeah, we'll see.

[A]

We will see everybody. And we'll be watching right here on Kind of Funny Games Daily because of your support. If you like what we do here, pick up a Kinda Funny membership. You go to patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Apple or Spotify. You can toss us $10. You can get all of our amazing pieces of content ad free. Of course you get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a series I call Greg way. That's 15 to 20 minutes of podcasting and video podcasting in my car. And of course you'd get good karma for supporting an 11 person, 11 year old small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors. Tired of the city grind? Leave the urban rush behind and escape to Star Sand Island, a radiant seaside paradise where you can finally rediscover life's simple pleasures, create your dream pastoral life, grow tropical fruits, decorate your villa, and hang out with adorable animals. Yes, there are cats, dogs, and even capybaras. It's all about living in harmony with nature. The best part? The freedom to roam. You can glide along pristine coastlines on a longboard, zip through lush forests on a retro scooter, or even sail to uncover secrets of nearby islands. Whether you crave speed or a slow scenic cruise, the island is yours to explore. And you won't be alone. The island is full of stories, build heartwarming friendships with the locals, complete quests, and as your connections grow, you might even find that special someone to share your life with. There are even mysteries, mysterious ruins, and combat for the brave. Star sand island launches in early access on February 11th. Click the link in the description below or go to kindafunny.com star sand to start your journey. This episode is brought to you by Factor. Cold days, big goals, no time to cook. Factor makes healthy eating easy with fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs. So eat well without planning your cooking. Why do I, Greg Miller use Factor Easy Lunches I make my choices. They come to the office and with those few minutes I have between shows, I have a delicious meal. Factor has 100 rotating weekly meals to keep things fresh and delicious through winter that are always fresh, never frozen, and ready in about two minutes. Factor uses quality functional ingredients including lean proteins, colorful veggies, whole food ingredients and healthy fats. But there's no refined sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and no refined seed oils. Factor has fed me for years and I bet you'll love it too. Head to factor meals.com kinda funny 50 off and use code kindafunny50OFF to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro with Factor. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. One free breakfast item per box for one year and we're back with story number two. Romeo is a Deadman Review Roundup Metacritic right now is 72 open critic is 73. We go to IGN where Will Borger gave it a 7 out of 10. I don't know if Romeo is a Deadman always works. I don't love how repetitive its action can be, and the story is both endearingly bonkers and hard to follow. I wish there was more depth to its combat. I wish it explained how crucial things like bastards were sooner. How crucial thing? Oh, I see. Bastards are like a It was more like I thought. Don't worry, it was more the crucial. Let me try again with the right inflection. I wish it explained how crucial things like bastards were sooner. I wish things like the Curry minigame mattered more. And I wish I'd felt compelled to do more of its optional content. Even after writing all of this, I'm not sure how I feel about Romeo as a dead man. Like the fractured universe Romeo is in, it's a whole lot of desperate or disparate parts that don't always add up to a coherent whole. But I'll be damned if I can't stop thinking about it. And I respect how it tells its story through its gameplay. Is it good? Maybe. Did I enjoy the act of playing it sometimes? Did I? Did it stick with me? Yeah, yeah, it did. Enough that I might go back and so we reach the end of the sphere and start again. James O' Connor from Somewhere gave it a 5 out of 10.

[B]

James O' Connor from GameSpot GameSpot gave.

[A]

It a 5 out of 10. Suda51 is an artist with a recognizable aesthetic, and his fingers fingerprints are evident on this game too. But what's missing is a sense of a larger vision of the game. Sometimes it's charming or funny, but these moments are fleeting, and artistic flair does not cancel out the tedium of the game's combat and exploration. It's not a tragedy on the scale of the real Romeo and Juliet, but this is one dead man I'm not inclined to mourn. That's a bar. That's good there. Good job, James. I like that a lot. And then Joe Chivers over at Games radar gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Said an oddly emotional game. Romeo is a dead man is suit 51's best in years. Marrying entertaining combat with pop culture references and constant creativity. Get through the game's somewhat flat start and you'll find auteur game design at its best. Idiosyncratic, strange, and thoroughly enjoyable. A smattering of reviews on the scale, but I say fuck those guys. I want to know what the one, the only the New York Game Awards nominated blessing at A. Oh Ye Jr. Has to say after how many hours with romeo?

[B]

After about 11 hours.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Romeo is a dead man. I beat the game. Finish it. Rolled credits and I'm gonna say something I never thought I'd say. I love this game. It is a 5.5 out of 10.

[A]

Jesus Christ.

[B]

It is a game.

[A]

Okay, lay it on me. 5.5 out of 10 that you love.

[B]

It's a.

[A]

Can I get the review scale up here?

[B]

It's a 5.5. And the 0.5 is the fact that I love it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The point five is the fact that I'm happy I played this game. And if I erase this game for my mind again and ask myself, currently reviewing it, should I play it again? I'd be like, yeah, play it. Play it. It's a. It's a Suda 51 game. Of course, if you listened to the interview that I did last week on Gamescast and the Gamescast plays that me and Greg did with Suda51, you would have heard us talk all about that, all about this game. One of the things that Suda51 mentioned during the interview was that this game feels like kind of like the class clown. It's like goofing off. Right. But like has a good personality to it, has a good energy to it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I can't describe how true he nailed that. He absolutely nailed that. I think this game is messy. All over the place. Messy. I think the game is kind of ugly to look at specifically when you're in like your third person action segments. The game has a lot of different things it does with. With art style. You know, we go from the third person action that is like a bit more, I guess, like realistic art style to then. Or like polygonal, I guess to then the eight bit or.

[A]

Yeah. Running around your ship that we got to see on the. Let's play.

[B]

Yeah. Which I Think those parts look fantastic. Sure, the game switches art style a lot, but in the main art style you're in, which is the 3D polygonal stuff, it just never really looks that pretty and feels kind of like. Almost like I can kind of see some of the Unreal Engine asset stuff in there. I also think that some of the systems in the game are unrefined. In fact, I would say even most systems in the game feel unrefined, whether it be the bastard stuff, which I ended up liking just for what is the bastard stuff. So you essentially plant seeds when you're back in your hub area and you grow bastards, which are these zombies essentially, that have special abilities, and you activate them when you're in combat. And so I had a bastard that was a sentry gun. And so if you press, you can have like 4 equipped at max. I press L1 square, I bust out my sentry gun. So now this zombie is just like shooting bullets at enemies. Add another one. That was a tornado. It's called green tornado. Press L1 triangle, bust out Green Tornado, and it spins towards enemies in combat. Pretty fun. But the systems around planting and harvesting bastards, not complex, just a little bit annoying. When it comes to going to each pot or each. What do you call the things that you plant?

[A]

Yeah, planters. Pots. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

I guess going to each thing and like, you know, harvesting them, It's a process to where I'm like, man, why can't I just harvest all? If I can harvest all at the same time and save myself two minutes of my life as opposed to going to each other. I think plot is what I was trying to say. Plot of land. Yeah, sure. One at a time and going, all right, do the thing. Press R2 to reach into the ground. Pull them out. All right, now I gotta name them. All right, on to the next one. When you have so many that you want to plant and then fuse and all this. Yeah, the vision is there, but the execution is off. And so much of Romeo's a dead man is that I think the combat's fine. I think the combat, if you're looking for something.

[A]

Did you get bored with it? That was my, my, my concern. Playing it where it's interesting of I just did the Gamescast plays available now on YouTube and of course there. And you obviously interviewed Suda while I did that. But it was the running around and killing the zombies in those areas. I was like, huh? This feels like this could get repetitive and I wouldn't vibe with it. And even the boss fight That I did, it was like, oh, okay. I thought I had to shoot you in a specific place, but that just gets me bonus points. I can shoot you anywhere. It was like, huh. But then it was everything surrounding it of the comic book, cutscenes being weird as fuck, the story being goofy, then of course hopping over and seeing the eight bit stuff where I was like, man, I, I from that taste of it, I totally understand where you're coming or saying it's 5.5 mediocre, but you love it.

[B]

But I love it. Yeah, don't get bored of it. Yes and no. I think the combat does get a little bit repetitive. It especially gets repetitive because a lot of the enemies are either the same enemies throughout or they kind of get annoying in ways where I'm like, I just, just want to kill this thing, get it out the way so I can keep going type of stuff. And the way the game makes itself more difficult is just by throwing more of the enemies at you with which in my opinion is makes the game kind of less fun and makes the game perform terribly. Like, Kevin, I have some videos you want to bring them up of like the game starting to chug over time of me playing it where this is toward the, I want to say, third act of the game. And like, this is how the game was actually looking as.

[A]

This is, this isn't like compressed or.

[B]

No.

[A]

Oh, Jesus Christ.

[B]

No.

[A]

I thought this was like a bad video.

[B]

No, this is not a bad video. This is how the game just started to look. And then after a while I restarted the game and then it looked better.

[A]

One of those fucking things.

[B]

Yeah, it's one of those things. But then like, again, later on in the game, as I played more, started to look worse again.

[A]

I'm like, this is a PlayStation 5.

[B]

This is on PlayStation 5.

[A]

Got it.

[B]

Yeah. I really want to point that out because it's not like I'm playing on a bad PC or whatever. I'm playing on a base. PlayStation 5 didn't try it out on a Pro. Maybe on a Pro it's better. Maybe on a better PC it's better.

[A]

I gave you a pro.

[B]

Yeah, but I played in my room. The pros in the living room. I wanted to stay in my room. I could have tested it out on the Pro, but Michael Hyam was in the living room for a lot of the whole thing. But yeah, no, this is what the game started to look like. And this is where I was like, I can't give this game anything more.

[A]

Than yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, for sure, for sure.

[B]

All that said, the game still has a charm and a flair to it that makes me still like it.

[A]

I love that.

[B]

Yeah, like the comic cut scenes that you called out I think are great. The pacing of it. When it comes to what they're throwing at you, the weird shit, there's like a level where the game turns into a survival horror, Resident Evil style game out of nowhere. And like I. That's why I love suited 51 games. It's for the weird shit, for the unexpected shit. And like this game, moment to moment feels so unexpected in moments that like it's hard for me to go to not recommend it. I. I think if you're somebody that either likes pseudo games or if you're somebody that watched the trailer and are intrigued, I would say if you have the means, if you feel like spell on how much the game costs but if you feel like spending.

[A]

I believe somebody in the chat said 50 bucks. I haven't confirmed that yet, but I'm trying to get that for you. I was more. Somebody else in the chat was like, why do people keep giving suit of money? I was like, well they self published this. So yeah, this was.

[B]

Well no, I think net. Oh yeah, no you're right, they did self publish. They're owned by NetEase. But also NetEase is a company with a lot of money obviously. I don't know how much money they gave for this game. Like this is one where I could see the cost cutting measures in real time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where it is, I'm in a level and it's not vo. It is like pop up text boxes that are happening in real time that do look good. But also I was like, man, I wish this is VO kind of stuff. There is levels to where when you're outside you can see that like you're just in a subspace area. Like they didn't want to, you know, make a big like skybox and fill out the outside areas that you're not going to explore. They're just like we're going to have you just have this area just take place in the middle of nowhere. That way we don't have to fill in the levels of things. There's a level 8 in the game. We're halfway through. I was like, yo, this is just a repeat of a level that I played earlier and for a second you.

[A]

Hate to see it.

[B]

I thought that I accidentally chose the earlier level. It's no, they just reused that same level. Like I can see the cost cutting stuff in real time. That said, still loved it.

[A]

I mean, it's. I think one of the things the reviews are speaking that we read there, right. Was talking about, you know, Joe here talking about it being an auteur game. Like, like Suda has that cult following. Like, I think, you know what you're. You that sounds, you know, what kind of game you're getting from him. And this is what that audience wants. And I think as goofy as this might sound, and I, I think we get so caught up in review scores, quality, this, that the other. Like, this is what we talk about with exploring the review scale. This is what we talk about. About how diverse games should be like a 5.5 that you love. I love hearing that. Like, I fucking love hearing that also because I love bad games all the time. But because it's like, like, yeah, that should be able to exist. We should. You should be able to look at me like, it should not repeat a level. It should not look and run like this at the end. But fuck if I didn't enjoy what it was doing and how it was going. And I love seeing that thread throughout these reviews, right? Where it's like, with the exception of James over at Gamespot, it seems like everybody's like, yeah, this is fucking weird as hell. But I enjoy that it exists as a.

[B]

As a game that I'm giving a 5.5 out of 10. It is. It has more charm to me and is more memorable to me than a lot of 8 out of 10s that I played.

[A]

Right. And a lot of. Right, right, right, right. Yeah.

[B]

Is it a better game than those? No. So many problems. But it's one that is going to stick with me because has just a lot that it's doing and that. That is entertaining. It just isn't refined. But for me that's okay. You know, I wish it was more refined, but hey, I. I wouldn't take back the experience that I had with this game despite this large amount of issues.

[A]

Fuck yeah. Yeah, I love hearing that. Bless. Nobody had it. Fantasy critic, did they?

[B]

No, I don't think so.

[A]

Nobody want to take the bet. Get burned. All right. Kobe says so does the game. This is super chat. Does the game have sauce but the sauce was unseasoned?

[B]

No, the game has sauce. The sauce is over seasoned. The sauce is almost like, man, I wish. Nothing that I wish.

[A]

I can't taste the food. I only taste the seasoning.

[B]

It's just that the sauce is not that expensive. Maybe that's more so the thing the sauce doesn't have that much budget behind it. And you can tell, okay, but. But it's one of the ones where it's like, yo, it's hidden. It's hidden for me. It might not hit for the next person, but you know, I'm putting the sauce in everything. I like it.

[A]

Number three on the ROPA Report. Overwatch director of I'm sorry. Overwatch director vows to redesign Iran following player and Voice Actor backlash this is Chris Scullion over at vgc. The game director of Overwatch has responded to fan backlash over the design of one of its new characters and has vowed to change their appearance. Last week, Blizzard announced a major content update for Overwatch 2, which will see the hero shooter dropping the two from its name, adding an unprecedented 10 new heroes, and kickstarting a new story driven era. One of these new heroes, a damaged character called Aran, has been the topic of much discussion among the player base after her appearance was changed from her initial reveal. Anran Onran, thank you very much. Back in August last year when it was introduced. What? Oh wait, I'm not even there yet. I'm not even there. I'm making sure I'm giving this right. Back in August last year when it was introduced the hero character.

[B]

When it was introducing the hero character.

[A]

And then Woo Young.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In an animated trailer, Blizzard also introduced players to his older sister Anran on Thank you. Who spars with him in the video. Now that Anran has been confirmed as a playable character in the game, however, her design has been completely changed, making her look younger, to the dismay of some players who now feel she look looks too much like other female Overwatch heroes. Things reached ahead when streamer Faria, who voices Omron in the game, took to X to say she didn't like the new design and that she, quote, got to mourn Omron. Between the design I had hoped for and the design we ended up with, end quote, referring to the original design, she said, quote, there was an unspoken promise that said we're going to challenge the beauty standards plaguing and ransacking the media these days. The Ozempic chic. Yeah. Thank you. Show me some photos. The Ozempic chic. The contour. Your nose. You have no nose. The tiniest nose. And I think because of that precedent, people feel understandably let down. Now Overwatch game director has posted a video on X stating that the team has heard the fan feedback and is planning to redesign Omron again. Quote the team is currently discussing what it will take to make Omron look and feel more like the fierce older sister that we all envisioned her to be. He said in his video statement. We are so proud of the work our team has put into Omron and the rest of the five heroes launching in season one. And we agree that she can be even better if we get this aspect of her right in game. We discussed sharing this with all of you last week, but wanted to wait until we had confirmation of exactly what we can do. We're hoping to make this update in season one, but I don't have specifics to share just yet. Our hero models are incredibly complicated, and we really need to test out what we can do. Blessing, what did you think?

[B]

So shout out to Kevin for pulling up the. The comparison of On Run when we saw the character in the animation last year, and then the current design that they have for. For On Run. If you're watching the video version, the current design is the one on the right to, like, really display the difference in design, especially when you talk about who the character is, the lore of the character, the older sister, kind of like fierce vibe that they're trying to get that. That the character seems to encompass and that that's lost in the new design. I think they're making the right decision here from Blizzard, especially because they're listening. Yeah. You know, there was a lot of outcry from the audience and from the. The voice actor who, you know, shout out to the voice actor for speaking up. Because I think that would be such a scary thing for sure. As somebody who, you know, like, you're. You're acting as this character. You are in the role in this role in Overwatch, one of the most popular games in the last decade.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And to see, like, the outcry and go, I'm gonna say something that's such a scary place to be in. You know, we want or. Yeah. Both of us actually watched Wonder man, like, in the first episode of Wonder Man. There's a great show. There's a moment where the main character who's an actor is, like, giving too many notes. And, like, as a viewer, you kind of get a little bit anxious about it. I think the studio had a similar thing happen in that show as well. And it's like, I think there's the tendency to be like, hey, I am here to just be this character and get out and do whatever you want to do with it. But I think this is a good change. I think because she spoke out, we're getting a better redesign of this character that is a bit more true to what the character is I don't know how you landed on the visual design you have on the right.

[A]

And so I like yeah, I agree that it does not being an Overwatch player, the comment in the article, right. That it makes her look too much like all the other females in Overwatch. I do see Tracer in that. Right. And I'm like such a Overwatch noob to be there. Like oh yeah, I see that. And not the person who is on the left. And yeah good for Blizzard for listening. You know. I mean like I think there's a very interesting conversation of you put somebody out in animated video maybe having the best intentions of putting her in the game eventually. Right. And then you go radio silent for a year. Whatever it was, work on it, do the whole thing, blah blah. And you know, whatever changes happen to make her look like that, you put it out there. I doubt it was ill intentioned. I doubt it. You know what I mean? So for them not to double down. Hate it. Listen to the audience. Good for them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Number four on the Roper Report. Good news for Greg. Capcom confirms it will reveal a large scale Monster Hunter Wilds expansion this summer. This is Andy Robinson at VGC who is kind of fucking up one of my predictions for the PlayStation showcase. That was one of. There's a few other that news have already come on. I'm like fox, shut up everybody just do what a PlayStation PlayStation say to play. Capcom has confirmed that it will reveal a large scale expansion for Monster Hunter Wilds this summer. Speaking during an anniversary video published on Tuesday, Studio producer. Said the expansion will be similar to Monster Hunter Wild's world's Iceborne release which added new monsters, mechanics and story content in a brand new map region. We are currently at work on a large scale expansion similar to Monster Hunter World. Iceborne in Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak for Monster Hunter Wilds. He said we plan to share more information with you this summer, so please look forward to it. I will. In the anniversary video he also detailed upcoming content for Wilds, including an anniversary event featuring a stories crossover. The latest installment of the spin off story series Monster Hunter Stories 3 Twisted Reflection will release on March 13th.

[B]

This excites you?

[A]

The large scale expansion?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Oh yeah. Monster Hunter Wilds. You know how much I enjoyed. I stuck around for a couple months doing the weeklies and the seasonals and the whatever else. I came back for the big festival, the Christmas one, whatever. But yeah, since then I've fallen off and I haven't seen the the reason to come back having no one here in the office playing with me, that's, you know, part of it. I used to force Mike and Joey to go in there, play with me. But a big media expansion, more story stuff. I'd be back for that for sure.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

And yeah, I'm enjoying the demo of monster stories 3. That's cool that there'll be a crossover there. I'll see what that is. Because that is one of the cool things about monster stories. I love the art style so much. I love the voice acting so much. I love the story they're telling right now. And I love being able to change up the characters and the looks and.

[B]

Stuff like that between this being announced and talked about this way. And to spoil one of the we news things. Right. Directive 8020 got a release date for May 12th. You know, two things that could have shown up in the state of play. Not showing up in the state of play.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you think it's the fact that State of play just has so many bangers? They're like, hey, we ain't got space for this. You know, maybe, yeah, announce it yourself. You know, we got the bangers.

[A]

I think for Monster Hunter Wilds, that sounds like you'll have an SGF thing, right? Because Capcom's tight with Jeff, so that'll be there. And I think it's. They don't. They aren't ready for this. And I think also Directive Right. I don't think it's beyond the possibility that there's a new trailer for Directive 8020 in the state of play. Try to double dip on the excitement, the news. Put it here and then do it. There's. But it also might be that PlayStation like, listen, you were in last year. So we. We did whatever marketing agreement we had for you. Directive 80 20. We'll see you when you come out. But we don't have to do anything for you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We move on to story number five. Marvel to Kun fighting souls to launch with 20 playable characters. This is the one, the only Sour Amano Edu Komatsu. Marvel to Con Fighting Souls will release a roster of 20 playable characters at launch, according to the game's updated Steam page. So far, the following eight characters have been Captain America, Steve Rogers, Dr. Doom, Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, Spider Man, Peter Parker, Star Lord, and Storm. Other newly revealed features include 64 player online lobby and a single player episode mode. Plus deep dive on each team with the single player episode mode to learn more about team dynamics and lore. This is another one you're priming the pump getting ready for the PlayStation State to play.

[B]

Oh yeah, this is for sure. Imagine a leak. Right. The story went up too early is the way I would read this.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so yeah, for sure. This is stuff that was going to be talked about on Thursday. Cool. 20 characters. I know we just talked about two XK launching with 12 characters.

[A]

Yeah. Not being enough.

[B]

I feel like 20 characters might not be enough for this game. This is a 4v4 task and so in one match you might have almost half the roster in there.

[A]

Crazy.

[B]

But like, listen, I'm not going to count it out till we get until we have in our hands we're able to play it for a long period of time. Here's the thing. This gives me more faith that it's coming out this year. Oh yeah, like all this info ready to go. The Steam page being updated this way. Like they're going to talk about it on Thursday. I don't know if they're going to say release date, but at the very least it's like, okay, cool. We know 20 characters. We're starting to get some concrete details. This feels like we are going to see this in the fall.

[A]

Well then, yeah, that'll be good for my fantasy critic team. Maybe be better than having no points, I guess. For sure that'll be better than that. I look forward to Thursday. See what happens there. State of Play coming up quick but blessing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When the state of Play gets here and we have so much fucking news just like this. Super chat. Aaron Lime. Who says, Greg, I'm going to gamble again. Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 2. It's state of play. It also has acid 1 and 2 because what the heck, get it all in there. Don't make me dream, Aaron. Don't make me. I again. You know how much I want it. Peace Walker. You just give me a Peace Walker. But it's like, don't. I don't want to dream. I don't want to dream. I don't want to dream. Somebody in the chat way earlier said, believe me, it's going to be there. I don't want this.

[B]

I don't want to dream.

[A]

Huh?

[B]

Don't be afraid to dream.

[A]

I'm afraid to dream of that right now. Okay. Finally being able to. Do we go over and play Metal Gear Solid four again? You know what I mean? Don't dream. Everybody stop dreaming. If that happens. If Metal Gear Volume 2 is at state of play this Thursday. Bless. That'll be big news. If I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news. I Need to know about. Where would I go?

[B]

You go to our last story, the WE News channel. Recover all the small news items you need to know about.

[A]

Number six, the Wii news. We got a six minute in engine showcase of black myth Zhang Zhanque. Yeah. To celebrate Chinese New Year. Did you. Was this impressive to you? Have you watched it?

[B]

I scrolled through it.

[A]

The fish?

[B]

Yeah, it's a fish. It's like a woman cooking.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

So content wise it didn't do much for me. It looks beautiful. But also yeah. Black myth Wukong's showcases looked gorgeous.

[A]

And so was the combat bad?

[B]

No, it's just not great.

[A]

Directive 8020 launches May 12th on Xbox Series piece PC and PlayStation 5. Ubisoft unions are calling for a strike on February 10th, 11th and 12th. If you want to learn more, you can go to B.S. that's blue sky, Tim. And look at st j v.fr Former EA exec Jean Charles Gershon has been appointed as the CEO of Remedy Games. Control has sold over 5 million copies and surpassed 20 million players. And Planet of Lana 2 and Replace demos are coming out in February 11th. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Come on.

[A]

A replaced demo? Hell yeah.

[B]

Hell yeah. Did you see the. I saw an IGN preview for it yesterday.

[A]

Yeah? Yeah.

[B]

Super glowing. They played like three hours of it.

[A]

They said can't wait. And it's on my fantasy team, so I took a chance. Yeah. But I'm stoked about.

[B]

I mean it's a good chance, you know.

[A]

Better be. I mean it's McCaffrey though. I don't actually. I think he was just sharing it. I was gonna.

[B]

I think it was Simon Carti.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say Ryan shared it though. That's why I stopped myself because I was gonna dunk on Ryan about it.

[B]

You don't want. You can dunk on Simon.

[A]

I am.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

But Simon Cardi, you can't trust him. He liked Avengers and he's British.

[B]

Is he Simon Carty?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't know what's nice he is.

[A]

I was fucking with you. I was fucking with you. I was fucking with you. That's it for WE News how we jump back to the super chats to figure out what y' all are talking about. J Overtron says yo ho ho mio ya black mug with the smiley logo. Ho ho ho. Is back in stock when. Ho ho ho yo me yo Jay. That black mug that you've seen occasionally on Kind of Funny Content has never actually been sold on kindafunny.com store. It's one of our Test things out here. So everybody should be going to kind offunny.com store every day and seeing what's up there because maybe it got added.

[B]

See, I'm not gonna lie. I thought this was one of those ones where it finally happened that we accidentally read the racist super chat. Yo yo. That black mug. I'm like what the fuck?

[A]

This is clearly a joke because I don't know where but rotating cast says Greg hates happiness. Kind of funny. Staff please strike soon. It was long before the Ubisoft thing. I think it was when we were talking about. I saw it come through. It didn't make sense to me then either. We were talking about Overwatch. Maybe. Maybe Romeo. I don't know. Don't strike you guys. Everybody else strike my guys. Don't strike Dexter.

[B]

I don't know if you get to decide that. That's all being fair to decide.

[A]

Dexter super chats and says can we have a Gamescast episode of Bless and tomorrow talking about fighting games. I'm not into fighting games but would love to know where to start more.

[B]

Ever played a fighting game?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Call. I don't think I have the number.

[A]

Oh, Jesus Christ. Demon hacker. Back to my pizza. Bet about 2xko being closed. Says Runeterra is still online. You might lose that pizza. We'll see.

[B]

But like they kind of moved on. They super moved on from Runeterra because now they have the. They have Riftbound. Runeterra was the card game. Right?

[A]

Chat pro just wants to see Tam bro.

[B]

Really does. I've actually thought about doing a round. Like a fighting game games media roundtable.

[A]

That'd be fun.

[B]

I had this conversation.

[A]

Mitchell Saltzman's got to be out there.

[B]

Mitchell Saltzman. I was talking to Will Borger who you read his review of Romeo's Dead Man. He's also super into fighting games. Runs a fighting game discord of press where they do tournaments all the time. What?

[A]

And the Twitch chat is gone now. Somebody said. Was quoting me and said striking for the. Not for me CEO Greg. That's good.

[B]

But yeah, like that'd be fun to do. I don't know if it would fit it like here or like I don't know what how to do it. I don't know what the right setting would.

[A]

Games would be cool for that. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But like five people are going to watch that game.

[A]

Yeah, I know. Won't do numbers. But we don't have to. We don't. We can. I like serving vegetables.

[B]

I like when numbers go up.

[A]

I Do I like that a lot too. But sometimes we got to go about what we believe in, you know?

[B]

I feel you bird person.

[A]

And with a, with an inspiring speech like that, why would you ever strike? Don't strike. Baron Boss Bird person. Super Chat says birthday tax. Thank you all for being a beacon of light during dark times. You all never fail to make me smile. Happy birthday. Jay Overtron says, what are your best workout tips that changed the game for you?

[B]

Bless free weights. When I went to Seattle in November for Thanksgiving, my brother in law took me to the gym and taught me basically how to use different types of freeways because I was not doing that before. So that definitely changed the game. Also, wake up every day at 6:30 and go to the planet Fitness. And yeah, I, I had to change my whole routine is really what it came down.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

And like, honestly it. I think it started off as a bit of like, okay, I'm gonna wake up, I hate this. Within a week.

[A]

This is how it was.

[B]

It's just how it was. I feel better when I, when I work out before I come to the. Before I come to work. Yeah, I feel.

[A]

Do you shower at the gym?

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I go like, I wake up, brush my teeth immediately, go to the gym, come back home.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, okay. But I'm also, I also just, I live in a very good place to be able to pull off that skill.

[A]

Oh, for sure, for sure, for sure. Back to kiwami 3 Sid Hartha super chats and says, wait, no. Sid Harth. It's Sid Hart. Sid Harth. Is it Sid Saha5003? No, I know Sid Harth of the book. I remember reading that thing. Critics are being way too kind to Kwami 3. Even aside from the elephant in the room with the casting, they really gutted the game horrendously. Roger talked about it yesterday. He didn't give it a glowing review. Gamescast. Check it out. Science Dog official said, didn't Jonathan Blow say some fascist shit recently?

[B]

Jonathan Blow has said a lot of bad shit and not even just recently, just within the last decade. Yeah, he consistently seems like he has problematic views and so kind of sucks that he makes games that I really like. Puts me in a weird position of being like, man, the Witness is one of the best.

[A]

You want to separate the art from the artist, but here we go. Yeah, Give me one second. Okay. Bullshit about working out more or something.

[B]

But yeah, what else do I do? I. So when I get to the gym, the first thing I do, I hop on the treadmill I'll run for, like, maybe anywhere between a mile and two miles. I'm not always running. I actually hate running. And my stamina is terrible. But I will do the incline. And what I do, chat and people listening at home, podcast services around the globe is I bust open magic arena. I put that thing on incline and one or two matches, one or two magic games in. I'm sweating profusely.

[A]

I work.

[B]

And so that also kind of cracked for me where I'm like, oh, playing magic makes the treadmill walk fly by. Now I know what you're thinking. Couldn't you just walk faster or put the incline higher and maybe even do a better workout? Probably. But I'm being consistent and that's what matters.

[A]

That's all.

[B]

I mean, what do they call. It's the Pavlovian.

[A]

Pavlovian.

[B]

Where now I get even more excited to go to the gym because I know that's magic time.

[A]

Damn.

[B]

Yeah. If I go to the gym, I can play some magic.

[A]

The Gathering. See, that's been something I've done too, is I'm playing. I play my handhelds on my peloton. So it was a great way of, like, usually what had been getting in my way was like, well, fuck, if I. If I go put. If I work out, then it eats into the video game time. Right. Or it's already taking time away from hanging out with Jen. It's going to eat into the video game time as well. That sucks. I was like, wait a second. Do the video game on there. I'm ready to go.

[B]

Also neglect all your other muscles. Only do arms and chest.

[A]

That would help. Yeah, that would definitely get you working.

[B]

Yeah, I'm trying to be better at doing more core workouts because I to want. I want to look like Yousef McGee. I don't know if you ever.

[A]

Oh, my God, the pics where he like, yeah, no. How can you miss these? Yeah. Oh, my God. Don't even get me started on Yousef.

[B]

That's what I want. One time, one day, I'm going to invite shirtless Miles Morales back into the.

[A]

Oh, I like that.

[B]

And like, it's going to be a problem. It's going to be a problem.

[A]

And then the one one super chats and says, why Mario Tennis gets a whole games cast but Romeo gets only a Games Daily segment. It's messed up. Kevin, can you go to the one popularity. See, the red line is Mario Tennis and the blue line is the SUDA 51 5.5 cult classic game. We just Talked about serving the vegetables and stuff and you can look through the rest of the content we've done this week. In the last two weeks we've given you some vegetables which means about 9,000 of you showed up to watch them. So when Mario, Mario, Mario, the star of the video game movie Mario and the long running franchise Mario puts out a game, people tend to be like, well I need to fucking hear about that. That's something I want to do. And I think like 19 of us in this 11 person company have been playing it for two weeks. Suda51's weird ass Romeo game is me and bless playing it it. And again the people who would share there, you know, you really want to get angry. I'll let you know right now. The Romeo Must Die review was almost.

[B]

The headline Dead Man.

[A]

But we're like, nobody's going to click on that Dead man. I can't even remember the game's title. So I, I understand Juan, that you, you, you, you think I've offended you, but I have bad news. Mario from Nintendo is a bigger star than Romeo from Romeo is a Dead man. We're an 11 person small business trying to survive in a crowded media landscape.

[B]

Very crowded. Yeah, we had two Romeo's a Dead man headlines last week.

[A]

Where were you then, Juan?

[B]

We literally had video game superstar suda51 sit down with us and look at the views. But also, yeah, to your point, we had it on the schedule. I didn't think I was going to beat Romeo as a Dead man. That's the other thing is like, like if I had committed to it, maybe it would have ended up as a thing. But like last week when, when we had the meeting, I was kind of just like, I don't know if I'm gonna beat the game. And then the weekend happened and then I beat the game. But I wasn't gonna be like, yo, we should shift the whole schedule so I can talk about a game I'm gonna give a 5.5 to.

[A]

And then we go to your wrong kind offunny.com wrong. What do we screw up as? We screwed it up. Yeah, we already got that. Street Shadow didn't believe we would get to the Marvel Tokens news. He saw story number three and he's like, they missed it.

[B]

You don't believe in me.

[A]

They fucking missed it.

[B]

When I put together the show, you think I didn't see the Marvel Token Fighting Souls news.

[A]

Samson's here to argue about Runeterra and how it's not the same thing. I appreciate that. But I think it was a joke no matter what. And then here we go. Pronunciation Coach pops in and says, I will help Greg pronounce that name he couldn't pronounce because I'm gonna screw it up again if I say right there. So he doesn't bring shame to the kind of funny in the future. Now, what's hilarious, everybody, is, remember we had a whiteboard once where you came out and did all stuff. I forget everything as soon as I leaves my mouth and I walk off stage.

[B]

Well, we gotta do. Actually, I don't know what we gotta do.

[A]

Thank you for. So it would be Re. Ozo. Yeah. Ryozo is how I pronounce that. And then suji moto.

[B]

Correct. Which is a great way I was going.

[A]

And when I spell it out and I see it, I can see it. It's just when I'm in the middle of a show going, be fair.

[B]

You did nail Tsuchimoto when you said it.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

You just. You didn't nail.

[A]

I tried to be better actively. Everybody, really what it comes down to is I could use. I should read through the document before, but sometimes it comes in hot. This isn't me. No, no, I'm not casting.

[B]

But it's also the thing where, like, I. I don't struggle at least as much with Japanese names, but I will struggle with, like, a super European name.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think we all.

[A]

We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Yeah. Japanese has always been tough for me.

[B]

Is what we got to do. Me and you, we sit down, you.

[A]

Joke a little bit, but it is that idea of, like, when I, like the amount of times. And this is going to sound not. It's apples and oranges to a degree. But stick with me. The amount of times when I'm sitting there and, like, I would struggle over a Pokemon name and everybody makes fun of me. Like, how the do you guys know this? And then watching the Pokemon cartoon with Ben, I was like, ah, you all got. You've all grown up hearing someone say it. Whereas I'm playing a Pokemon game, reading it in my head, being like, I don't know. That's how I say it 1000%. Same thing when we were doing Yakuza yesterday where people were like, oh, Greg can't pronounce that. And he's calling. He calls him Kazuman. It's like, this is. There was no Vo in the game. The games I reviewed, no one cared at ign. How would I know any of this information?

[B]

All fair points, everybody.

[A]

This has been another episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily. We're here to entertain you and maybe inform you each and every weekday. If you like that, pick up a kinda funny membership patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple Spotify of course you can swing on in get all of our content ad free. Get your daily dose of me Greg Miller in a series we call Greg Way. And of course get good karma for supporting 11 year old 11 person small business. Of course we're all about live talk shows, which means our day is far from done. From here we roll into I'm so Sorry Juan, your Mario Tennis Fever review. We're all very excited to talk about it as we've been playing a ton of it. After that it will be of course the Kinda Funny podcast. After that it will of course be a gameplay stream with Mike, Andy and bless playing the new Overwatch stuff.

[B]

I cannot wait.

[A]

It's gonna be a fun day here. Of course if you're listening later and watching later, you can get all this stuff on YouTube, do kind of funny games or podcast services around the globe for free. Until next time though, it's been our pleasure to serve you.