God of War TV Show First Look REVEALED! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.27.26

Summary

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Kinda Funny Games Daily: God of War TV Show First Look REVEALED!

Date: February 27, 2026
Hosts: Mike (SnowBikeMike), Roger, Barrett
Theme: A packed news day—deep dive into the Amazon God of War TV show’s first look, mega-media mergers (Paramount/Warner Bros.), Guitar Hero’s spiritual successor Stage Tour, High Guard dev layoffs, and AI-generated reviews causing waves in games media. Plus, quick hits on Backyard Baseball’s return, Resident Evil breaking records, and more.

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Main Theme: The Intersection of Games, Media, and Adaptation

This episode celebrates the explosive convergence of video games, media adaptations, and large-scale changes in the wider entertainment industry. From the much-anticipated God of War TV adaptation’s first images to seismic changes in game and TV company ownership, the hosts bring their signature irreverent but passionate tone, blending critical analysis, humor, and lived gamer experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights:

1. God of War TV Show First Look Revealed

[08:05–17:39]

• Hosts react in real time to the first image of Kratos and Atreus from Amazon’s adaptation.
• Main cast: Ryan Hurst as Kratos, Callum Vinson as Atreus.
• Mike’s immediate, visceral reaction:

  “My first word out of my mouth is, ooh, is this AI? … I did not like the look of this at all.” (08:26, Mike)

• The team scrutinizes the image with lots of gamer-cosplay comparisons and speculation about why first looks sometimes fall flat.
• Roger’s measured take:

  “This is an in production shot… You’re not going to see this exact shot in the show. But it’s not a great showing. Especially when you have something that is so near and dear to people and that is so cosplayed to death.” (09:53, Roger)

• Costuming is praised—especially Atreus’ look and Kratos’ armor.
• Barrett’s critique:

  “The only big critique I have of Kratos is his like arm band things… I feel like that’s where you should be starting with this… not already having armor there.” (11:43, Barrett)

• The challenge of adapting games with cinematic visuals—will it always look “cosplay”? Is it possible to overcome first impression bias?
• Discussion of kid actors aging between seasons and how it might impact storytelling (comparing to Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us).
• Notable quotes from chat:
  • “Why does Kratos actor look like a bald Sam Levine?” (15:27, Mad Rocks superchat)
• Consensus: Wait and see; first-look photos are never the final word, but marketing should be more savvy with beloved properties.

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2. Paramount Set to Acquire Warner Bros. Instead of Netflix: Industry Turmoil

[17:39–29:16]

• Roger delivers a comprehensive explanation of the massive media merger shakeup: Paramount (via Skydance) is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery instead of Netflix.
• Political context: Deep dive into the influence of the Trump administration, Larry and David Ellison, and the potential future of media consolidation.

  • “This is very clearly the Trump administration looking at this deal... if Netflix is going to actually get this through the FCC… Netflix immediately says, no, we're good.” (21:24, Roger)

• Industry impact: Both outcomes (Paramount or Netflix) are described as bad for creatives, anti-competition, bad for journalism, and likely to cause massive layoffs.

  • “We talk about layoffs all the time... you are going to see some of the biggest layoffs in entertainment history when Paramount takes over from Warner Bros.” (26:24, Roger)

• Gaming angle: Paramount may install Skydance veterans to lead WB Games; worry that gaming will be deprioritized and misunderstood in the new media landscape.

  • “Gaming is such a low priority in all these discussions... it is such frustrating times right now.” (28:37, Roger)

• Barrett brings up concern for the future of James Gunn’s DC universe under new oversight.

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3. Guitar Hero’s Spiritual Successor: Stage Tour Announced

[32:44–42:33]

• Red Octane Games announces ‘Stage Tour,’ a new rhythm game aiming for a 2026 holiday launch—Guitar Hero fans take notice.
• Will it recapture the cultural moment of the plastic instrument era, or is the market too divided?
• Mike’s optimism:

  “I think there is an area to market for this… a nice plastic guitar in my studio, I think in people’s houses, maybe a drum set could go really far.” (35:30, Mike)

• The panel debates free-to-play vs premium model, the challenges of music licensing, the dominance of Clone Hero for hardcore fans, and whether new players can be drawn in.
  • "Content is king. It has to have the music, has to have the stuff you want to show up for." (41:42, Mike)
• Gibson’s official involvement signals higher ambitions.
• Barrett’s nostalgia:

  “Especially in the Guitar Hero days… in the DLC pack… you got like Trogdor from Homestarrunner. That’s the stuff that I truly yearn for in terms of designing a set list.” (41:06, Barrett)

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4. High Guard Layoffs: Live Service Burnout Continues

[43:40–48:39]

• Wildlight Entertainment’s High Guard shrinks from 100 developers to fewer than 20 after its rocky launch and Tencent pulling funding.
• The game fell from 97,000 peak players at launch to under 400 concurrent.
• Mike and Roger mourn another live service casualty and reflect on Jeff Keighley’s role in its launch timing.
• Roger’s empathy:

  “This is always… one of the sadder stories of the year. Like, I look at this and it was avoidable but it was also unavoidable… If Jeff Keighley were to walk up to us… you’re supposed to do a shadow drop—let’s throw this up there.” (47:03, Roger)

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5. VideoGamer.com Goes Full AI: Ethics and Fallout

[48:57–52:43]

• VideoGamer.com outed for publishing fully AI-generated reviews under fake personas—one even hit Metacritic before being removed.
• Metacritic responds with a ban and a stern message to partners.
• Roger’s passionate condemnation:

  “Do not go to VideoGamer.com. F*** that website. And we will never use [it] as a news article… it is clearly AI slop and it sucks.” (52:13, Roger)

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6. Quick Hits & Community Interactions: The "We News" Desk

[53:02–63:40]

• Backyard Baseball returns! Mega Cat Studios is reviving the childhood favorite with a 3D update—Mike’s unbridled excitement is infectious.

  • “When you close your eyes and think what would a backyard sports game look like in 2026? This is exactly what I want.” (53:47, Mike)

• Resident Evil Requiem smashes concurrent player records on Steam.
• God of War: Sons of Sparta gets a cheat code for the roguelite mode—“should have been there day one.”
• Marvel Maximum Collection brings 8 classic Marvel games together.
• Community shout-outs, fantasy critic drama, Mike’s Twitch commentator “gimmick” gets picked up in Spanish by El Camacho 24.
• Several minor news items and corrections from chat.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• [08:26] Mike’s honest reaction:

  “My first word out of my mouth is, ooh, is this AI? … I did not like the look of this at all.”

• [09:53] Roger on first reveals:

  “When you have something that is so near and dear to people and is so cosplayed to death… to make it feel and look like cosplay… not a great look.”

• [15:27] Mad Rocks superchat:

  "Why does Kratos actor look like a bald Sam Levine?"

• [21:24] Roger’s political context:

  “This is very clearly the Trump administration… if Netflix is going to actually get this through the FCC… Netflix immediately says, no, we’re good.”

• [26:24] Roger on layoffs:

  “You are going to see some of the biggest layoffs in entertainment history when Paramount takes over from Warner Bros.”

• [41:42] Mike, the rhythm game thesis:

  "Content is king. It has to have the music, has to have the right content. That’s the reason for me to jam for a little."

• [52:13] Roger on AI ethics:

  “Do not go to Videogamer.com. F*** that website… it is clearly AI slop and it sucks.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• God of War TV First Look Analysis: 08:05–17:39
• Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger Deep Dive: 17:39–29:16
• Guitar Hero/Stage Tour Discussion: 32:44–42:33
• High Guard Layoffs: 43:40–48:39
• Videogamer.com AI Controversy: 48:57–52:43
• We News Desk / Community / Backyard Baseball: 53:02–63:40

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Tone & Atmosphere

The dialogue oscillates between irreverent, nerdy excitement (“Take me back! Let’s rock on!”), industry insider analysis, and genuine community care. Mike is excitable and nostalgic; Roger provides reasoned context and industry depth; Barrett trades quick-fire takes and nostalgia. They include frequent chat interactions and superchat callouts, adding to the conversational, crowd-driven energy.

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For the Uninitiated

If you missed this episode, expect sharp, unfiltered banter, industry-level analysis, playful nostalgia, and a nuanced look at how gaming, TV, and media power tie together. The God of War reveal is met with justifiable skepticism; the future of big games and the media companies backing them feels more tenuous than ever. Yet, there’s still room for excitement about new games (and old franchises returning) and authentic indignation about AI’s threat to game journalism.

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End note:
Fans of gaming, adaptations, and the “business of games” should check out the full episode—or join the next live, interactive show for a daily shot of gaming culture insight.

Transcript

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[Mike]

Disney wants to know, are you ready?

[Roger]

Yes.

[Mike]

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[Roger]

Let's do this.

[Mike]

One of the best Marvel movies of all time is now streaming on Disney.

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[Mike]

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[Roger]

That's cool, man.

[Mike]

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[Mike]

Today's gaming stories include. We got our first look of God of War TV show. Paramount will probably be owned. Will probably own Warner Bros. And Guitar Hero is back, sort of. We have all this and more because this is kinda Funny Games Daily. What's up, everybody? And welcome into your Friday edition of Kind of Funny games daily for February 27, 2026. It's the 30th anniversary of Pokemon. It is the release day for Resident Evil 9, and we have our first look of God of War. And I have many thoughts.

[Roger]

We have a lot of thoughts today.

[Mike]

A lot of feelings. You know what I have a lot of thoughts about today?

[Roger]

Oh, tell me.

[Mike]

Pokemon presentation. I got some thoughts on. Okay, Trapping Andy and Bless in a room playing Resident Evil for a marathon subathon stream. I have some thoughts on.

[Roger]

Y' all ain't ready for that one, y'.

[Mike]

All. And of course, God of War. We'll talk about God of War in just a moment. But before we do any of that, Roger, Hello. Hi. Who's your favorite Pokemon? And of course, happy 30th anniversary.

[Roger]

Well, thank you so much. Thank you for saying happy 30th anniversary for me. I don't have a favorite Pokemon. This is a thing with me is that I watched the Pokemon show as a kid, but I watched it like any other show that I was watching as a kid where I was like, oh, it's like a fun little show

[Mike]

and you didn't fall in love with Pikachu.

[Roger]

I like. Honestly, I liked, like, the characters of Ash, Misty, Brock. I like them more than I like the Pokemon.

[Mike]

I, of course, like Sir Jenny.

[Roger]

Sure, yeah.

[Mike]

Nurse Joy.

[Roger]

I liked Team Rocket, Jesse and James. I love the last thing I thought it was so meow with, right?

[Mike]

Meowth.

[Roger]

Meowth. Meow with meowth. Meow with meowth. That's how you actually pronounce it. Meow with. I love them. So then when I would go to school, people had, like, their favorite Pokemons are pulling out. People that I didn't even see in the cartoon yet. I'm like, what are you guys talking about? I'm like, oh, you guys are playing a video game that I just don't have. Like, I. I don't have Nintendo consoles. And then now I'm at the point where I'm like, I don't have a favorite Pokemon. Really? My brother did. He actually got into them later on in his life. Like, he got into, like, Beedrill. Like, he has, like, you know, all these Pokemon that he loves. I don't have one. So one day when Pacopia comes out and I play it, hopefully I find my favorite poke.

[Mike]

Ditto.

[Roger]

Ditto. Ditto can be anything. Ditto can be anything in any one.

[Mike]

You know what, Roger? I take you for a ditto guy. I think you could be a ditto guy.

[Roger]

I think I actually might be a Mr. Mime guy. That his name?

[Mike]

We won't go that far on that one.

[Roger]

Okay. Mike, do you have a favorite Pokemon?

[Mike]

Yeah. You know, Pokemon is very special to me. Looking back on 30 years, right? I am kind of that 90s kid. I. If you rewind the clock 30 years, I would have been five to six years old. So that's first grade and second grade, and Pokemon hit like none other to me and all of the kids of my generation, right? We're talking about the show, we're talking about the cards, we're talking about the games. I still remember when they took over the mall and they brought in the Pikachu Volkswagen Bug and it looks like Pikachu. It was promoting the card game. It was promoting, of course, the Game Boy games. I'll never forget mom buying my. Me and my little brother, both matching Game Boys and Pokemon red and blue. Watching the cartoon every day before going to school, buying and trading cards with my friends out in the schoolyard. I mean, dreaming of one day seeing a 3D on the big screen Pokemon, because it was always a Game Boy game to me. But then it came out with the N64 Pokemon Stadium to Pokemon Snap. Going to Blockbuster. Hey, Snap. Photos taken. Hey, you. Pikachu. The Pikachu N64 game. Roger. I grew up with Pokemon and it's weird because I find myself, I think to myself, like, oh, I'm not a big Pokemon guy, but like, you know, yeah, Pokemon has been in my life for 30 plus years and it's special.

[Roger]

Okay, so who's the favorite Pokemon? That was my question.

[Mike]

Who's my favorite Pokemon? Well, if you ask me today, my favorite Pokemon is Wingull because Wingull got me through my first ever Pokemon Nuzlocke in Pokemon.

[Roger]

Say my first ever.

[Mike]

I love that. I love that Seagull. Okay. Me and Wingle have gone places and that's my Pokemon. If you were to ask Mike, like three months ago, it would have been Jolon. I love the Evolutions. I love Lightning. I love just the fiery, like, Pikachu Electabuzz vibes. Yeah. Yes.

[Roger]

I like this one.

[Mike]

But yeah, it would be Jolteon.

[Roger]

Jolteon.

[Barrett]

I like that. Shout out to my boys, Alakazam and Haunter.

[Mike]

Those are great ones. Is right. Yeah. And so, yeah, Pokemon is just like that universal love that anyone can have a conversation about. I'm so excited for it to come to San Francisco with the Pokemon Championships here. It's going to be a big deal.

[Roger]

Do you think Pain will have some type of like, ribs concert again like

[Mike]

he did R and B and ribs

[Roger]

outside of Pokemon Day like he did for.

[Mike]

No, but Walk a Flock of Flame will show up and he'll sing just outside.

[Roger]

Yeah. Not even a ticketed event. He'll just be outside tailgating.

[Mike]

Of course, today on kind of Funny Games Daily, we will not be talking about all of the Pokemon 30th anniversary news and announcements. You can go check that right now on the Biggs gamescast where Tim and Greg live reacted to to Pokemon Day with the announcements to showcase and then they talked all about it breaking down the news. So if you want to talk about the starters, the new Pokemon game, Gen 10, you want to talk about Pokemon Champions? More Pokemon sleep cards. Roger, you're lucky I didn't do the news today because I would have done all that.

[Roger]

Greg spilled a coffee all over.

[Mike]

Spilled a coffee all over.

[Roger]

We recorded the buzz.

[Mike]

We recorded the buzz. We have so much to talk about. But Roger, let's talk about the news stories because this is is kind of funny Games Daily, each and every weekday we gather together to get run you through the nerdy nerdy news. You need to know about if you're watching live on YouTube and or Twitch, don't forget you can be part of the conversation by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games. Share your thoughts, opinions on today's news and of course, let me know who your favorite Pokemon is as we celebrate 30 years. We couldn't do this without you. So thank you to our Patreon producers over on patreon.com/kind of funny. Thank you to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The Psalm twining. Before we jump into the news, one final announcement. Right after to after this show, we will be having a subathon marathon stream to celebrate Resident Evil 9 with blessing and Andy.

[Roger]

Yes.

[Mike]

You do not want to miss out. It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be a whole lot of fun.

[Roger]

And again, everybody, this is not just on Twitch. This is on YouTube as well.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Roger]

Every dollar that you donate on Twitch and YouTube, including super chats, everything after the stream goes or after this podcast goes towards the marathon timer. So we want you to sub and super chat here. But also if you want to save

[Mike]

your dollars a little bit, be there. Wait there for now. Let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. It's time for some news. We have five stories today.

[Roger]

Baker's dozen.

[Mike]

Story number one, we have a first look at Kratos and Atreus in the Amazon's God of War TV show. This coming from Wesley Yinpool at ign. Amazon has revealed the first photo of its God of War series showing off Kratos Anatreus. I'm not even looking at the photo because you run into the. You gotta just. All right, let's just run it through. Okay.

[Roger]

Look at it.

[Mike]

Oh, it's the Rizzler. You know, I would have been more happy to see the Rizzler's face on this image than I did this morning. Let's just jump right into it, Roger. I open up social media this morning, I give it a click and my first word out of my mouth is, ooh, is this AI? Is what I thought. Like, I did not like the look of this at all. Roger.

[Roger]

Let's. Let's actually put up the real image and let's just talk about it before we even read out the stuff. I mean, this is the official image that they put out here of the main actors of Atreus and Cray.

[Mike]

Yes. This is Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson who will be playing Atreus down below. Ryan Hurst will be playing Kratos right here.

[Roger]

Yeah. Okay, so I want to hear your opinion first.

[Mike]

My opinion first here. Wasn't mad at Atreus a little young for the portrayal of what I thought, you know, Atreus would be. But we do know that the kiddos grow up really fast, especially on camera. So this is probably the right age if we're thinking it's gonna, it's ready for two seasons. So like this kid's gonna grow real fast. And in what we're seeing on screen. What I did not like is I zoomed in immediately on Kratos's face because I said, ooh, don't like the look of this one right here. Reminds me of the kid from Shameless and he played the Joker in the Batman.

[Roger]

Cameron Monahue in the Jedi.

[Barrett]

Star Wars Jedi.

[Roger]

Also Tron. Yeah.

[Mike]

I looked at him like man, that that forehead with the wrinkles and the eyes looks like Cameron Mon.

[Roger]

I don't think I'm going to be able to unsee it.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Roger]

Now that you said that. Yeah. My first. I wasn't as negative, I think as everybody immediately. Just because I understand how these things work.

[Mike]

Right.

[Roger]

Like this is an in production shot. You would assume this is not from the actual cameras that are, you know, this is not color graded. This is not like a final product that you're going to see in the show. You're not going to see this exact shot in the show. But it's not a great showing. Especially when you have something that is so near and dear to people and that is so cosplayed to death. Right. So like to make it feel and look like cosplay when you have that first image is not a great look. I think that's my initial reaction is like, hey, you look great. Like of course the kid looks young. But also if the kid's acting and he, you know, he feels like Atreus. Right. I don't think that's going to immediately go away from me. I don't think he's going to say Goo Goo Gaga. Right. The kid's going to be able to act and I think it's going to be fine. And it's going to, you know, it's going to be whatever. This is just an interesting still because I know I'm sure he's bald. I'm sure he actually is bald. He's given me a little bit of the Walter White with the mega Megamind, you know what I mean? Like in El Camino.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Roger]

Like it just doesn't. Something about it just doesn't look right. I'm sure he actually is bald. Maybe it's the angle. Maybe something's going on here.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Roger]

And that's also the issue is like you give us one image, we're going to nitpick it to death.

[Mike]

Right. We're going to go from the neck down for a second. Let's go shoulders down here. Okay, I like that. What do we think about the costumes, the outfits right here? I mean, do I.

[Barrett]

To me, I think they hit the mark for the costuming as well.

[Mike]

That's what I want to hear. Yeah.

[Barrett]

Especially like his shoulder pad and like everything like this is the, the, the basic look from the beginning of 2018. I would say the only thing, the only big critique I have of Kratos is his like arm band things, especially at the very beginning. Those are just the kind of like, I don't know what you'd call it, like gauze almost.

[Mike]

Yeah. Kind of like tattered bandages.

[Barrett]

And I feel like that's where you should be starting with this and not like, like already having armor there. So that's my only critique of that.

[Mike]

Okay. Okay. Well, let me give you a quick write up. The read down from Wesley Yinpool at ign, of course. Amazon has revealed the first photo of its God of War series showing off Kratos and Atreus announcing its God of War TV show is now in production. Amazon issued the image below alongside the tagline their journey to the highest peak begins. The image shows Reinhardt's Kratos and Callum Vinson as his son Atreus, who, who fans have already pointed out looks like a younger take on the character compared to what we saw in the video game. Production is currently underway in Vancouver with a two season order setting showrunner Ronald D. Moore of Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek Deep Space Nine fame up for some time. So you got two seasons of this.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Already locked in first look here.

[Barrett]

So with two seasons locked in, I'm wondering what the production timeline of this is going to be. Something you brought up, Mike, is. Yeah, kids grow up fast. Yeah, this makes sense. I, I think we already kind of saw how that failed a little bit though. From the last of us season one to season two were that actress who. I'm blanking. Yeah. Bella Ramsey. They the, the difference between their age look wise between the two seasons wasn't a lot to really sell that four year time jump. I don't, I, I worry about a season two, if that is purely covering Ragnarok, if this kid is actually going to look much older.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Roger]

I also wonder if they could. If the first two seasons are the first Game like if you're able to kind of spread out that story within, you know, so it doesn't need the big a time jump at all. Right. You can just be like, hey, we're going to do two seasons pretty much back to back. And then we'll actually take time to write the Ragnaroks because we have, you know, we can wait for this kid to grow up a little bit.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Roger]

Age him up. But you're right, Barrett, of like there is a big age gap or age difference between, you know, what we're seeing here and what he ends up at in Ragnarok where, you know, he becomes his own man. Right. So it is interesting that they're going so much younger. But again, as. As you're saying, like that's what they're doing for Harry Potter. Right. Like they have to do these things. So then they even like you see what happened with Avatar, the Avatar show that they did, like he was way younger and then now we're at what, season two or three now and he's like way older already.

[Sponsor Voice]

Right.

[Roger]

And they were already. They built that cast out knowing that they were going to be able to do this and still didn't really work out as the way they wanted to. So yeah, I am. Again, I'm not as negative as everyone else just because I know how these things work. Of like, you see the in camera stuff, once it comes down to the editing, the pacing, you see a different angle of it, it's going to all change. It's not the greatest of looks to have this come out here with I think about like some of the best character reveals or at least reveals of costumes in recent memory. And the one that I always go down to is Matt Reeves's Batman. I thought that was such a cool way to show that costume because it was cinematic. It was. It wasn't like, here's the image of Batman and him just standing there in the bright light. Or that's what this kind of feels like where it's like this doesn't have all of the filters on it to make it look cooler. If you just saw Kratos with just like he's backlit, it's a little bit red and it's like, it's like atmospheric lighting and then the glowing a little bit. Exactly. That's all you needed. And I think that, that people would have been super hyped by that. But just showing like, here's, here's everything. Here it is. And. And people are going to think, oh, this is what the show is going to look like in its final product. Kind of a. A missed opportunity there to, to kind of show everybody and say, hey, look at this. Could be something really cool and let their imaginations run wild instead of being like, this is what this is going to look like.

[Mike]

Maybe a better photo would have been from the back.

[Roger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike]

Imagine what this looks like for sure. Let's jump into some super chats because some people have some thoughts and opinions on the first look of Kratos and Atreus. We have Mad Rocks who writes in and says, why does Kratos actor look like a bald Sam Levine? Okay, that's the kid from Freaks and Geeks right there, right? That one got you.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

They need to stop making movies sl shows based around games that already have realism, realistic graphics and look like a movie Already shake my head.

[Barrett]

Yeah, that's my. With the whole cosplay conversation a lot of people have been having, I think no matter what you do, it is always going to feel like cosplay when you're adapting. Granted a different medium, video games, but video games that are being built to look so much like real life, you know?

[Roger]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mike]

And then loyal freak writes in, says, really hope God of war first look is like the Superman situation. Official first look wasn't great, but everything after that was amazing.

[Roger]

Yeah, exactly. But even then with the Superman one, it was like such a deliberate choice to do it the way that James Gunn did it. Right. He didn't do the, hey, we're, you know, bright blue background, you know, here's the trunks, here's everything. It's him sitting down after, you know, being beaten up essentially. And it's like, wasn't, in my opinion, the best way to show off that character. Because I do think a lot of the marketing did lean towards the happier side of it. So it was very confusing that that's what he chose. But at least it was like a conscious decision of like, we're doing the opposite of what you expected. And people can kind of like nitpick and go in there. But it was also like color graded and like, it felt like it was part of like the actual movie. When you watch, you know, Superman, you look at that photo, you're like, oh, that is literally a scene that happens from the, from the movie. And you see the background, you see the VFX again when you compare this to. Also a good example of this, a recent one, video game stuff, is the Legend of Zelda one. I thought that was great. I thought that was a solid one. You look at that. It doesn't of course, give you too much to go off of, right? Just their faces pretty much. And it's not nothing too crazy. But you know, it looks like it's in camera, you get the vibe and you're like, okay, cool, it's good enough for me. It's not like here's everything to nitpick immediately. So yeah, it's interesting. And I'm not, I'm not immediately going to be like this is going to be cheap.

[Mike]

This is going to suck.

[Roger]

And also it's Amazon. They're ready to spend a fuck ton of money on this.

[Mike]

They're ready to spend some money. If it works, they'll spend the money we saw Fallout. Fallout has done great. Looks good. Let's move on to story number two. Netflix isn't going to buy Warner Bros. After all, meaning Paramount is set to take hbo, Warner Bros. Games, games and the rest. This coming from Tyler Wilde at PC Gamer. A few months ago it looked probable that Netflix was going to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Warner or owner of HBO Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Games and much more. But a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance has won out. On Thursday, the Warner Brothers Discovery board deemed a 31 per share offer from Paramount Skydance superior to the Netflix deal and Netflix opted not to raise its own offer. Quote we believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros. Iconic brands and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. netflix said in the statement. But this transaction was always a nice to have at the right price, not a must have at any price. Barring any more surprises, Paramount Skydance will take the prize if regulators allow it and has agreed to pay a 2.8 billion termination fee owed to Netflix now that its pending deal has fallen through. Senator Democrat Cory Booker immediately renewed immediately renewed a call for Paramount CEO David Ellison to attend a Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing next week. Deadline reports the already scheduled hearing would previously have focused on the Netflix Warner Bros. Deal, which subcommittee Subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee has criticized. Roger, we talked about Warner Bros. Games yesterday and the focus on the big tent pole titles like Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat and more. Of course DC being a part of that. Now we see we're talking a larger deal than just games here with Paramount, Netflix and Warner Bros. Yeah, I want

[Roger]

to read the last part that we skipped over there because I think it is important to the conversation that I want to have of like this. I'm reading from the IGN article. Ellison and his father, billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, are allies of the Trump administration. According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal in December, David Ellison has promised the administration that he'll make sweeping changes to cnn, a frequent target of Trump's ire, should he win out. This is what this. This is what this is. This is David Ellison and more specifically Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in the country and in the world, essentially buying out one of the biggest corporations out there so then they can own more of media. Skydance was David Ellison's baby, which was a smaller media company that made, I wouldn't say the greatest of film projects or any projects, but they were in gaming. They are also doing the publishing for Marvel 1990, 42, whatever that game is, the Amy Henney game. Also, we all forget about this, that they announced a Star wars game that is also written by Amy Henning, I think two or three years ago now, going on four years ago, actually. So they have, that. They've had gaming side of stuff. They've done movies, they've done television shows. And David Ellison essentially parlayed that to now buying Paramount. And as soon as he buys Paramount, he looks around and starts the bidding war for Warner Brothers. Once he realized that that was on the table and then that's what started all this, is that he was the lead, it was like, okay, I guess Paramount's gonna get bought out by. Sorry, Paramount. Paramount's going to buy Warner Brothers. Netflix jumps in and says, no, no, no, we want. We want Warner Brothers. A bidding war happened. Basically, Paramount was outbid by Netflix. And then out of nowhere, Netflix was like, I mean, Warner Brothers was like, actually, let's listen to Paramount's deal. They have a new offer. And then swooped in. This all comes the timing that I've been seeing of Ted Sarandos, who is the CEO of Netflix, coming in and going to, I believe the Washington, D.C. as of, I think a day ago or two days ago, to what is reported, meet with people within and around the Trump administration and see the vibes of what's going on here. And there have been rumors that he met with Trump. And basically the feeling and the vibes of the reporting were like, whatever happens, whatever he is signaled by the Trump administration, if this is going to be something that is, he's going to get through, like, if Netflix is going to actually get this through the FCC and all of the United States committees that they need to get through. If Trump is saying, hey, I'm gonna let this through, he'll fight for it. If Trump is saying, no, no, no, no, no, I'm going to back Paramount's deal. They're gonna back out. And then immediately, as soon as Paramount deal is accepted, and then they're like, hey, Netflix, you wanna give us more money? Netflix immediately says, no, we're good. We're not gonna put any more money into it. And this comes literally of weeks and weeks and weeks of Netflix going on, media showing their entire ass pretty much to everybody and saying, no, no, no, no, Warner, but we want Warner Brothers. Like, we're not going to. We want this product, this. We believe in this. We are the right person. We will fight for this thing. And then they're like, nope, we're not doing this anymore. So what I'm saying, I say all that to give the context, to say, this is very clearly the Trump administration looking at this deal. And after saying. And lying to the public and saying, oh, no, we're not going to get involved. Getting involved and saying, no, no, we're going to fight against you, Netflix, if you start to go in this direction and if you try to go for this. So we're just going to. Then they backed off and this is what happened. All that to say, I am not one of these people that believes that Netflix being buying out Warner Brothers was remotely good for any industry. It would have been horrible. These are both horrible options. Paramount is incredibly bad for the political side of things. I mean, especially when you see what Bari Weiss over there, who is now the head of CBS News, she was the head of the Free Press, which is an independent label that says that they're free thinkers, the Republican media. Now she is the head of cbs. And they've been doing a lot of pretty shitty things out there where they are pulling stories, they are changing narratives, they are fucking with things that independent journalism that should be happening at CBS is now not so independent. And now that's just going to extend, extend, extend. So that sucks. Netflix being, buying out Warner Brothers would have sucked because Netflix, even though they say they wouldn't have had massive layoffs or yada, yada, yada, they would be the number one media company in the world by far. And they already are. So making that a monopoly would be horrible. Paramount now owning all of these programs, owning cbs, owning Paramount, owning Skydance, owning the entirety of the Warner Brothers portfolio, including the games, is bad. I do think that they have more AAA experience when it comes to gaming, if we want to connect that dots.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Roger]

But also, if you look at their games, they're not great. You know what I mean, like, they're not like the caliber that you would want these types of games to be at. I mean, again, they have the 1942, 1945, forget we forgot the title of it. Marvel game. They've had a few Walking Dead games, Saints of Sinners, Walking Dead, Retribution, Sky Dance's Behemoth. I don't even know what game that is. Again, they have histories in this, but you know what that's going to lead to if they have a history in gaming. But what David Ellison has always done with any of these properties is he takes his Skydance people and he throws it into the heads of these places that he's buying out. So he's taken all of his people from Skydance and now they're the heads of Paramount, and now he's going to take all of his Skydance people from gaming and I'm sure he's going to throw them as the heads of gaming. And you know what that's going to lead to. We talked about the story yesterday off camera of Warner Brothers saying, hey, in the next two years, like we're going to have a lot of games that are coming out that are finally the fruits of our labor. Now there's gonna be a shakeup internally inside of the Warner Brothers gaming lot. And what is that gonna look like for gaming? Right. That that's just all gonna be either going to shit or the plans are gonna change and then we're gonna have to wait another five years for those plans to figure itself out.

[Mike]

Roger, very informative, very well said. Great job on that one. Yeah. Roger, to bring it back to, I mean, so much that you brought up and then on the gaming side of things you bring up yesterday during kind of Funny Games Daily, we talked about that, right? Yes. Warner Bros. Games will start coming in 2027, 2028 when we return to some of our biggest franchises. They also talk about getting distracted by too many IPs with too broad a set of studios. And so they started to focus on Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat and dc.

[Roger]

Yeah, man, I, I am very, very skeptical. I mean, we talk about layoffs all the time on this video game. In the video game industry, you were going to see some of the biggest layoffs in entertainment history when Paramount takes over from Warner Brothers. They have already signaled it. They've already said that they've. There's going to be a lot of redundancies. And even when a company is going through, they haven't even bought the company yet. And they're Already signaling that there's going to be layoffs. You know, they're going to be way worse than you can ever imagine. It's going to be mass, mass layoffs, mass casualties in that sphere. And gaming, fuck, man, I don't even know there. I don't even know what their thought process is there. I clearly, we clearly have not talked to them. They haven't talked about gaming. Gaming is such a low priority and all these discussions. But you would imagine they have all of these properties now and they're gonna have an abundance of ip. What do you do with that? Right? They own, now tmnt, they own, you know, Star Trek, they own all of these massive properties. On top of Warner Brothers, on top of all this stuff and all. They also, they're making a Star wars game, they're making a Marvel game. What do you do with that? I don't think that they're capable or they have the thought process to actually make, to actually like build a foundation to make video games that we would want to play. Because clearly Skydance is not making games that people want to play. Oh, so it's like, now they're going to take it over. Now they have all these IPs, it's like, who gives a shit? You know what I mean?

[Barrett]

In a similar lane of just entertainment stuff. I also worry about, you know, this group owning and being, you know, looking over James Gunn's new DC universe, especially with Superman being such a clear allegory for, you know, you know, real world politics and commentary on that. Like, I, I fear a lot of, you know, artistic commentary on all of the terrible shit that's happened the last few years is probably going to get neutered, but we'll see.

[Roger]

Yeah, I am very, very, very skeptical of this deal. I think everyone should be. I think both of these deals were horrible, horrible for different industries at least. Paramount is saying, oh, we'll keep movies, movies in theaters. We believe in movies. How long until that lasts?

[Mike]

Right?

[Roger]

Like how long to that actually becomes a thing? I'm sure eventually going to be like, oh, we're putting out a bunch of movies. We don't know how to make movies that are, that are actually successful. And oh, we're going to cut them. And now we're doing Paramount plus we're going to see such an upheaval when it comes to entertainment. But then fucking video games are going to be forgotten. There is no fucking way that video games become a major talking point in David Ellison's shake up here. There's no way that video games become the forefront and you've already seen it with Warner Brothers when they're trying to figure out how to sell video games. Fall, it's the back to the back to the back and it's just, it is such frustrating times right now. So yeah, that is this all sucks. And yeah, that's it.

[Mike]

Great rundown of the story there, Roger. Thank you so much for that. We will be keeping eyes on this story as it continues to progress as the deal gets finalized and locked in. And then most importantly, what happens with the games later on coming in months, days, years as well. But Roger, we have so much more stories to talk about and we're not going anywhere on today's Kind of Funny Games Daily. But we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

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[Roger]

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[Mike]

Welcome back to your Friday edition of Kind of Funny Games Daily. It's Mike, Roger and Barrett giving you the nerdy news you need to know about. Let's run through story number three, a fun one to switch up the vibe. Guitar Hero Studio Red Octane Returns with Spiritual Spiritual Successor Stage Tour this coming from Chris Scullion at vgc. It was announced last August that Red Octane, the company responsible for producing the Guitar Hero games, has returned as a new studio called Red Octane Octane Games, with veterans from the rhythm game industry joining the team. Now the studio has revealed Stage Tour, a new music title currently quote in active development, end quote with plans to release by the 2026 holiday season. According to the studio, Stage Tour will be a long term platform created in conjunction with the community and will continue to evolve following its release. It will feature new instruments as well as a controller and keyboard compatibility. For those who don't want to buy the instrument peripherals, a multi year partnership with Gibson has also been announced with the Gibson IF IP Phone and Kramer brands set to be integrated into the game. QUOTE stage2 is our love letter to rhythm Gaming, red Octane Games Head of Studio Simon Ebger said in a statement. We want Stage two are to feel familiar and authentic, but also fresh, utilizing modern technology to connect games with the music they love and enjoying a platform that evolves and grows over time. With new instruments and deep charting systems, we're raising the bar on what we believe a rhythm game can be, while also catering the catering to those who wish simply to enjoy a casual experience and have a good time. Closed alpha testing for Stage two OR will begin this summer with an experienced group of community fans from the rhythm gaming community providing feedback during the game's developments.

[Roger]

Interesting. I, of course, grew up with Guitar Hero 3. I sucked at it, but I played it all the time.

[Barrett]

That was the goat, right?

[Roger]

It was the goat, bro.

[Mike]

It was the goat.

[Roger]

It was awesome. I didn't with no Rock Band, okay.

[Mike]

No DJ Hero.

[Roger]

No, I didn't with that.

[Mike]

No mixer.

[Roger]

No. It's way too old. I I don't know. I I I want my perfect heart of hearts for this to work and for us all go back to a simpler time.

[Mike]

Hell yeah. Roger, take me back. Let's rock on.

[Roger]

I There's no way, right? There's no way that there's this like, like, influx of people that want this, right? Is there?

[Mike]

I think there's people that want this.

[Roger]

Like, is, is that community large enough to sustain a studio and a platform?

[Mike]

Well, let's get real really quick. Fortnite has their own little rock band slash Guitar Hero setup going on right now. We have seen them stabilize it and keep it going, but that's also on the back of a giant community that is Fortnite, right? I don't know those true numbers of how much that's playing, but it's still around.

[Roger]

It's around, right?

[Mike]

So, like, that's happening.

[Roger]

Licensing.

[Mike]

I think there are old heads like me in the community that look back on Guitar Hero and Rock Band with a lot of fondness and go, I miss that, right? You have people like Barrett who love a good rhythm game, right? And so I think there is a area to market for this, right? I think we are past the days of buying 20 different plastic instruments clogging up our house. But a nice plastic guitar in my studio, I think in people's houses, maybe a drum set could go really far away.

[Roger]

Yeah. Then my next question is, like, the hardcore of it, right? The hardcore is fed. Like, they're satiated with Clone Hero, right? Which is a free download that you can just put in your games. Community made, you know, sets and figure and people have done insane shit on Clone Hero. That is the way that most streamers that play Guitar Hero play. They play on Clone Hero. So that Is that's Community's eating or,

[Barrett]

or they're still on like Rock Band.

[Roger]

Exactly.

[Barrett]

Four or three or whatever. My one friend Chelsea has been continuing to play that for years and years and years.

[Mike]

I mean, they're fed. I don't think we're going after. We want them to come and maybe give it a try. We're going for the casual.

[Roger]

So then the casual has Fortnite. I, I, that's my interesting thing there.

[Mike]

They have Fortnite to an extent, but like, I don't think they have it. Like, hey, there's an instrument right here. We're going to show this off and it's going to be in your living room. Yeah, I think parents probably don't even know Fortnite has that. I think the kiddos know and they're probably hot enough on that. But I think there's like a generation of people my age that either have kids are still like just hanging out with their partners, are single, that are like, I would buy this, I would

[Roger]

go back and the issue with a studio like this. And again, I wish you all the best of luck because I think this is really cool. And it harkens back to a time and an era in gaming that I adore. And I love the art style of this. I think it is so it feels like the 360 era. It does not in the best ways possible.

[Mike]

Right.

[Roger]

It doesn't feel like this is low quality models. Like they're very much going for that art style. And I appreciate that they did it because when I saw that first screenshot, I was like, oh, is this actually from Guitar Hero 3? Like, no, it isn't. Like this is, they're building that up, trying to do that. I want this to succeed. I just very skeptical of the, hey, we're doing a platform, right? That is going to include licensing fees, which, you know, are astronomical and are ongoing. And then on top of that, we have a physical component which we now have to deal with, you know, vendors that are going to make these, these controllers and if they don't sell enough, and there's also a bunch out there that, you know, people can buy these things still to this day. I mean, there's new companies that made, you know, compatible things. I am just so interested in to see if, like, is this a free to play game, right? Is this a freemium game? Is this a, you know, paid $30 thing? And then you add on top of it, the business model, to me is the thing that's going to make or break them and if they were competing with Clone hero, right? And they say, hey, we're just like clone hero but we get more updates and you know, it's. You don't have to go on a weird website. It's on console too. Like there's some way to connect. Maybe there's some way to connect your. Your get your downloaded songs onto a PlayStation thing. Like if that's what they're going for, cool. But if they're going for like the license side of it, I'm just like, oof. That's like a. You either got to be a huge massive success or you're just slowly going to fall away. And then you're like fuck, I can't afford these licensing fees anymore.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's where my mind goes. Roger is like my mind goes to. I see this, I want this, right? I think there's an audience that wants this. They want to return to that feeling or they want to show their friends and family who haven't seen that how much fun it was. But my mind does go to like music is tough nowadays. Music is really hard to capture and hold on to. We see this all the time with the licensing fees. Like you brought up and like how do you, how do you do that dance as a smaller team, right? Who is backing you? What contracts do you have? You also brought up like. Like you gotta have the hits, right? You gotta have songs that I want to play and the problem is like those cost money. So then you get this weird blend of like songs that are kind of like mid tier and you're like okay. And I don't want to walk away out of this experience going like oh, they're just mid right? There's no. You gotta have five bangers, right? Like five mega chart topping songs where you're like this rocks. Then fill it up with the supporting cast, right? But like yeah, Roger, it's going to be very interesting the music side of things. My mind goes to Fuser, right? Fusion was the latest kind of big rhythm music based game that we saw try to hit the market on a general casual scale. And unfortunately I felt like that got killed due to Twitch and the DMCA crackdowns that they were having at the time. I feel like we're a little bit at a different time right now with Twitch and live streaming where music is a little more celebrated and not as hard. Crackdown where like Fuser was about to pop off and then just immediately died right away. I do think you have some room here to have some fun and enjoy

[Roger]

part of me does wonder if, like they did an old. I kind of missed the old school approach of like, you buy the game and then these are the games. Sorry. These are the songs that you have. And then if you want, they have DLC packs or they keep on doing another one every few years.

[Mike]

That's how my mind goes to.

[Roger]

I would love it. It's cool.

[Mike]

I see this as a. A premium title. Or like you said, a cheaper premium, like a $40 title. Right. And then here's your 10 to 15 songs off the bat.

[Roger]

Or it's like a mix and match thing where they have like, like 100 songs or whatever. You choose 30 of them and then that's like a dollar per song or something like that. I don't know. There's something there. I just don't. I just don't believe in, like the free to play model for. I mean, well, maybe I do. I don't know. This is just all messy, but I hope for it.

[Barrett]

And to speak to that, it felt like, you know, when you make it a premium model, you have a set amount of songs. It felt like I curated. This is the vibe we're going for. When we open it up to a platform where it's like, oh, now we can have endless streams of things. You start to lose a particular voice in that creativity that I think, especially in the Guitar Hero days was so important were, you know, in the DLC pack or like, maybe in one of the secret songs you got like Trogdor from Homestarrunner.com and stuff like that. Like, that's the stuff that I truly yearn for in terms of designing, like a set list almost.

[Mike]

And Langley M. Neely says it best, like, point blank period for this game. Content is king. It has to have the music, it has to have the right content. It has to have the stuff that you want to show up for. The idea of pressing all the buttons for a rhythm game on a guitar has been done. It has done in a very well way. This is going to probably be a layup for them to capture that. What it comes down to is like, you got to have the music. You got to have the reason for me to stop what I'm doing and want to go over there and jam for a little.

[Roger]

And you have to get the casuals. Like, that's the main thing. Again, the hardcore is fed and the hardcore is going to want to mod this thing. They're not going to want to play the games that the songs that you have, they're not going to be buying the dlc. They're going to want to play fucking sicko mode at 500 times speed. You know, I mean like that's the crazy that they want to do. They don't necessarily want to have the 10 to 15 songs that you randomly pick. So the hardcore satiated. You just need to figure out a way to kind of create a cultural moment. Good luck.

[Mike]

Hop H2O writes in and says excited to be part of the Charting team for stage tour. Been a kind of funny best friend for many years and incredibly proud of the small part of this game.

[Roger]

That's fun.

[Mike]

Shout out right there. Hey some fun.

[Roger]

The charting is pretty fun. That's cool.

[Mike]

Joshua writes in says harmonics are the true rhythm gods. I'm here for this but Rock Band remains king. Played it last night. Many people still hold on to Rock Band. I hold on to Guitar Hero. Yeah. Think this is a market that has an opportunity for a lot of upside. Remember when Phil got a hold of Activision Blizzard King? That was one of the like more requested things was the idea of bringing back Guitar Hero.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Stannis writes in and says having a Gibson brand feels or having Gibson brand feels big.

[Roger]

That's cool.

[Mike]

Feels like they have maybe more maybe incorporate real guitars at some point. Love the Kramer guitar. Very 1986 van.

[Roger]

That would be cool if it was like this kind of merge of Rocksmith mixed with this mix with that. It's like kind of like hey you go here and this is everything in one made by the people that made the original ones. That'd be dope. Dope.

[Mike]

Let's keep it going. Story number four High Guard reportedly has less than 20 devs working on it, working on its following mass layoffs at Wildlife. This coming from Rebecca Valentine at IGN sourcing Jason Schreier at Bloombore Bloomberg High Guard Studio High Guard Studio Wildlight Entertainment reportedly has less than 20 people remaining to work on the game following a round of devastating layoffs just weeks after the game's launch. This comes from a new Bloomberg report which tells the story of Wildlight's rise and fall since its founders first assembled the team back in 2021. Made up of respawn veterans, the group hoped to recreate the success of Apex Legends and Titanfall initially with a survival focused shooter. When that design didn't quite work out as well as they'd hoped, they scrapped it and pivoted to High Guard, leaving remnants of the original survival game in the final draft of what was now a hero shooter. As the game progressed, testers had positive Feedback that had the developers hopeful though notably they also said it was more fun on microphone with voice chat and the experience was too complicated and less fun without them. Sources speaking to Bloomberg say the studio largely had a positive culture and the team felt good about what they were making up until the game's announcement at the Game Awards last December, which apparently came about at Jeff Keighley's urging after they after he enjoyed what he played. The team originally intended to announce and launch High Guard simultaneously, but the Game Awards announcement that left a month and a half long silence between announcement and launch during which the Internet had a field day. The game the game launched to a celebration worthy number of Steam concerns but unfortunately was unable to retain players for very long at all, meaning it made very little money from microtransactions. Reviews were also poor though the developers at Wildlife believed they had financial Runway to improve. Financial backer Tencent suddenly pulled its funding and most of the hundred person team was laid off as a result. Fewer than 20 individuals remain to try to save Highguard. Those developers have recently reassured that a new patch is on the way after a website issue led players to believe the whole game was being taken down. The full story is at Bloomberg, which I read last night. Very good write up right there. Very interesting. Of course me, Andy and Bless previewed the game a while back and we actually spoke with the co founder and a lot of the team members and they were telling stories of hey, we were playing a lot of Rust. We loved this raid idea in Rust of raiding bases and that's kind of where this, the game started and came from. Right. And so it's an interesting write up of, of Jason talking about what happened there and then the Game Awards announcement and how that really changed everything for them right there. So yeah, great write up now. Only 20 people working on this game, Roger. Down from 100 to 20. A live service game.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

A game that has lost 97 of its initial more.

[Roger]

I mean look at it right now the 24 hour peak is 551 and

[Mike]

what was the number? What was the highest?

[Roger]

97, 000 was the highest. That was. Yeah, it's a, that's a tough number right?

[Mike]

Yeah. So insane drop.

[Roger]

Yeah. 400 people playing right now. Less than 400 people playing right now. Yeah, it's this is always becomes down. Comes down to like one of the sadder stories of the year. Like I look at this and it's like it's, it was avoidable but it was also unavoidable. Like I, I, I See what that was happening to that team of, like, if Jeff Keighley were to walk up to us and be like, hey, man, like, I got this great. I see your game, I want to show it off. You're, I know you're supposed to do a shadow drop. Let's throw this up there. And I think Jeff Keighley was super well meaning. He wanted to, to show this game on the biggest platform, give it this boost, right? And I, I, if I was them, I'd be like, yeah, that sounds awesome. Like, everyone's gonna, that's, that's prime placement. And then of course, the backlash that I don't think anybody would have expected. Even when I was watching that trailer, I was like, I was like, oh, this game was cool. Like, that's neat. It wasn't like the most mind blowing thing in the world, but I was like, oh, that's neat. I'm excited to try that out. And like, oh, it's only a few weeks away. That's sick. And then just the Internet just took that and just ran with it. It's if, I wonder what the alternate universe was. If they had comms team, if they had something to follow it up there, if they had some type of like, hey, we're going to continue to talk to the audience as these things are happening. So would that have, you know, quenched the fires a little bit or would that have just flamed everything even further? Right? You never know. It's just a Sad story. And 20 devs working on this game, it's like, yeah, under a thousand people, under 400 people playing right now that this is. Within the next few months, we're going

[Mike]

to see, of course, a model based off of being free to play, driven by microtransactions. So when you bring up on these 400 people playing, 20 devs trying to keep this alive right here on Steam. But I mean, Roger, like, how long really? Right, this can't be in. This is in the red and only going down.

[Roger]

Yeah, exactly. Within the month. Within the month or two.

[Mike]

It's, it's really sad, unfortunate stuff. A really great write up by Jason. Shout out to Rebecca Valentine for bringing that out. And so go check it out. Number five. Our final story of the day. Roger, be aware, videogamer.com has gone full AI slop. Roger. I don't know what's happening. Give me the rundown.

[Roger]

Yeah, I saw this popping up on Blue sky and Twitter over the last few days. And it's just, I was like, there's no way this is actually happening. And it is if you go to videogamer.com which I implore all y' all not to do, but maybe Barrett, if you would like to go there just as a curiosity, click to show the audience. It is rampant with reviews that on the outside and like journalism and all this stuff that looks on the outside like, oh, like this is like normal as is, you know, video gamers working out out as it should be. And then you look into it and yeah, the Resident Evil Requiem review first of all is using an AI generated image. It's like, okay, that's weird because there's a lot of, you know, press created images for key art that was sent out there. This is definitely not what from the game, especially that biohazard. Something like this is not there.

[Mike]

Yeah, Grace doesn't look quite right.

[Roger]

She doesn't look quite right. Her eyes are a little weird. This is not. It's sort of off, whatever. And then you look into it and you read the headlines as Resident Evil Requiem review. Capcom's gore, gore soaked series finale. Weird series finale. That's not what that is. And then you look at the person that wrote it. Brian Marigold. Okay, cool. Brian Marigold is an experienced I gaming and sports betting analyst with a deep appreciation for the innovation sharpening modern game gambling and entertainment. And it just goes on about this and then they link to his Twitter and they link to a bunch of other people's Twitters and it has one follower 41 following. And it was created in October 2025. It says lifelong gamer, passionate writer, adventurous reviewer. And it's just an image and we're like, this is definitely AI, right? And then somebody found that if you go to the original image that was uploaded to video gamer of this guy's profile and you go to like the, the, the link it says chat GPT. So this is clearly AI generated imagery of an AI generated article from an AI generated key art that they're using. And this review made it to Metacritic. This review made it to Metacritic. They have been since been banned from Metacritic and Metacritic. From what I've been seeing online, there's not official reporting on this or there was now, but whatever. There have been people that said like, hey, like Metacritic sent out to. I, I believe everybody that is part of the Metacritic family and has reviews up there basically saying, hey, you can't fucking post AI generated stuff. Yeah, sorry, yeah, you put it up there and I didn't read it. There it is. Alex Donaldson posted on Blue Sky. Metacritic has a reminder email to all game sites, editors and publishers, which is pretty strong and great. It reads our policy is that we will never include an AI generated review on Metacritic and that if we subsequently discover that one has been posted, we will remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication upon an investigation. So, yeah, good on Metacritic for like finding this out and then just being like, boom, you're out, you're done. What a horrible, horrible thing to see when you see, see the amount of games journalists, we see the amount of real people that are dedicating their lives to playing video games and you know, honestly, not getting paid enough. Not getting paid enough to play 50, 70 hour video games. Do entire walkthroughs, do dedicate their entire lives to playing video games and loving them and trying to express to everybody how much they love them to you. So that you can potentially figure out if you want to buy a game, if you don't want to buy a video game. It is such a labor of love that people are not appreciated enough for in the modern era, especially with the written word. And then now videogamer.com an establishment that I would go to all the time, is now just completely and utterly overrun with AI nonsense. They have not said anything about it. They're unapologetic about sucks. Don't go to videogamer.com fuck that website. And we will never use a videogamer.com website as a news article. And again, because it is clearly AI Slop and it sucks. So fuck that.

[Mike]

Fuck yeah. Roger. Great job on that one. Roger. That is huge news. That AI Slop is making its way on the Metacritic now getting the ban hammer. But if I need something smaller, I needed a palate cleanser. Where would we go?

[Roger]

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

[Mike]

Let's kick it with some WE news on a big one, a big deal. Backyard baseball is back with a brand new game by Mega Cat Studios. Bring up the images.

[Roger]

Yeah, so they have this trailer and it doesn't really show any of the gameplay. Right. It's like the cartoon style.

[Mike]

Yes. They had a big YouTube premiere that came out. Of course you got to watch you

[Roger]

on the live chat.

[Mike]

I was in it. I was enjoying the 22 minute episode celebrating backyard sports, all the kids that make it so special. And then Mega Cat Studios announces a brand new game coming in July. Pablo Sanchez. It goes 3D. It's exactly when you close your eyes and you think, what would a backyard sports game look like? In 2026. This is exactly what I want. This is what it looks like.

[Roger]

It looks good.

[Mike]

I'm excited. I cannot wait.

[Roger]

Shout out to Mega Cat Studios. Making so many different types of games the last few years.

[Mike]

I'm excited to talk with them. They brought back Vinnie the Gooch.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

On commentary, of course. Alongside the legendary, the incredible Sunny Day, which is awesome. There's 33 kids on this. By my count. There was only 30 kids on the. On the bleachers in the first backyard baseball. So what are the three kids that I'm missing? Let me know in the comments below if I'm missing three kids or if they got something special.

[Roger]

I saw something yesterday or today on Instagram of somebody doing your gimmick of the mic. Snow bike mic. Pretty much. They're doing their Twitch streamer and they speak Spanish.

[Mike]

It.

[Roger]

And they. And it had like 500,000 likes on Instagram and they're doing the whole thing. They're yelling at the kids and everything. And I was like, I know for a fact that it's just independent.

[Mike]

Everybody's doing it. Yeah.

[Roger]

Easy idea. But it is funny. I would like to think the idea. The guy saw this and it's like,

[Mike]

I want to do that. Yeah. Yeah.

[Roger]

But are you excited?

[Mike]

I'm so excited. I've been waiting for this for a long time. Since Mega Cat Studios really started to bring back all of the backyard sports that we wanted. Some modern platforms like Steam. Right. And of course, iOS. Right. Right. I think it's been a big deal. I'm very excited. I want to talk with this team. I want to get to know them more on what they've been doing. I think it's a really fun cause and a great way to bring an awesome brand back to life and celebrate sports in a fun way. I can't wait to see what they do with the 3D world. What does it really look like? How does it play open world? I'm thinking it's going to become kind of super mega baseball type vibes. If you've ever played that before, I think it will be very much like that. It won't be the click point and click adventure kind of games or sports games like they were. Right. But you have a wealth of fun. Hockey, basketball, soccer, baseball. Like football. Can't wait to see where they go back. If you need help, you call me. I'll be there.

[Roger]

You know, I mean, you.

[Mike]

You need. You need a commentator, a coach. I'll be there. Okay. I'll be there for free. I'll just Show.

[Roger]

No. Okay. Well, you don't need to say that part. Okay. We give them a day raid and a cup of coffee. Be nothing but imagine. Remember when call. When Snoop Dogg was part of Call of Duty? They had like the announcers pack and everything. You could be that guy.

[Mike]

It's Mike Pack.

[Roger]

$2.99. We'll give you $2.99 to download this.

[Mike]

We will pay you money to have in the game. It's right. I'm super excited about this, Roger. This is something I will be looking at and talking about for the months leading up.

[Roger]

Jason. The chat says fantasy critic pickup.

[Mike]

I'm already full up.

[Barrett]

But Roger may be after I I with the team and what they've been doing with the backyard baseball games, backyard sports. Them also just releasing another game in the last couple weeks that has lost me points. I don't know if I would advise you.

[Mike]

Oh yeah.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Oh yeah.

[Barrett]

Sons of Sparta is at a 67 right now.

[Roger]

So who counterpicked Pokemon?

[Mike]

I did, baby. Way to lock him in.

[Barrett]

Let's go. And so I. I don't know. With Mega Cat doing a lot of things. I don't know. I don't know if I would advise it. Think about it. Think about it.

[Mike]

Here we go. Via PlayStation. God of War. Sons of Sparta update adds a cheat code for players to access the Roguelite co op mode the Pit without having to finish the game. Nice. That should have been there day one.

[Barrett]

That should have been day. It shouldn't have been a cheat code. It should have just been an extra mode from the jump. It's such a weird choice to make that an unlockable that they don't even really point you to when you beat the game. It just kind of. They sneak it into the main menu. It's really freaking weird.

[Roger]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Via wario64 Resident Evil Requiem has already reached highest concurrent users for an re game on Steam. 246,000 players within the one within one hour of release. 320,000 players as of right now. Resident Evil 4 Remake make peaked at 168k.

[Barrett]

Wow.

[Roger]

Big deals.

[Mike]

Big deal.

[Roger]

Big deals.

[Mike]

This is a contender.

[Roger]

Yeah. You feel it. You feel the energy.

[Mike]

Mike and Roger have already played it. Roger was on the gamescast where they reviewed it with Tim, Greg, Madeline, Stanley and Roger. Yeah, I already beat this before for review. This is a contender. This is a gaming event. Drop what you're doing and go play.

[Roger]

That is the best way to say that it is a gaming event. I got. I get emotional talking about. I feel like Tim Gettys. I'm like, I'm getting so excited. So hype about it. What a fun time. And I love talking to people about it. Talking to so many people about it. So many people in my life love this game. Man.

[Mike]

I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks at the end. I'm so excited for like the die hard fans, what they think because there was a lot of questions going into this. There's a lot of excitement of course, but there was questions and I'm excited to see those get answered and see what they think because it's awesome. Vi Shinobi on Twitter Upgraded pssr.

[Barrett]

Yeah, call it by its Christian name.

[Mike]

P. So close to saying it.

[Roger]

I didn't want to say it. They know what they're doing.

[Mike]

Upgraded Pisser is coming to PS5 Pro starting today with Resident Evil Requiem. Latest co developed tech stemming from AMD and Sony's Project Amethyst collab. Six months of extra refinement for FSR4 enhanced pisser coming to more titles in March. System update in March allows PS5 Pro users to select enhanced Enhanced Pisser image quality settings.

[Barrett]

Piss or be pissing.

[Roger]

Pits or be pissing. It's better than ever.

[Mike]

Tried my best.

[Roger]

I like. Are you saying that like. Like someone is trying to stop you? Like Greg voice. Like you can't call it.

[Mike]

You have to call via Chris Scullion at VGC Marvel Maximum Collection. That's with a giant X in the middle of it. Collection is now is the new compilation of 8 of Retro, 8 bit and 16 bit Marvel games.

[Roger]

You don't need to read all of this, but there's a lot of games in.

[Mike]

I mean they have X Men arcade. I love that. Actually, I've never seen any of the other ones.

[Roger]

Okay, yeah, Captain America and the Avengers. I know that one. They got Separation anxiety. That's Venom and Spider man and then Spider man and X Men.

[Mike]

Are these any good?

[Roger]

I know the X Men one is good. I'm sure. I'm sure they're yes. The answer is yes because you don't want to say anything bad. Then people are going to be like, oh my God. Actually this is my favorite, the best one ever. Captain America and the Avengers. You can't forget that one. One.

[Mike]

There's a lot of games on this.

[Roger]

It's actually not that many games. The more I looked at it, Silver Surfer, NES is on there because it's just a lot of like different platforms that they were on, which is really cool. I'm very, very happy that video games are Getting re releases like this that are so, you know, hey, we're going to show you every version of it. Like the Mortal Kombat one which really sick and I hope they do that. Hope they do that for the PS2 games.

[Mike]

What up?

[Barrett]

I wish they had a shout out to X Men Mutant Apocalypse for the Super Nintendo.

[Roger]

I wish. That was huge year One day.

[Barrett]

One day.

[Mike]

Mad Rocks writes in and says the guy doing Mike's gimmick in Spanish is El Camacho 24. If we can bring him up. He's not doing my gimmick, but he's doing a fun gimmick, I'll give him that.

[Roger]

Well, let's find the timelines.

[Mike]

Maybe Mike and and Coach Camacho could come together and coach together. That would be a great experience. That's the end of we news. That is all the super chats. We will jump into you. You're wrong, of course. Remember, I need you to keep me honest as I struggle through today's game on a Friday. I apologize.

[Roger]

I love you. We did good today.

[Mike]

I upset Greg Miller and I want to apologize.

[Roger]

Let's apologize right now to Greg Miller.

[Mike]

I apologize. Greg Miller. I. Hey, Greg Miller, it's Mike. And I want you to know that I really messed up today and I apologize for breaking embargo and ruining your day. I want you to know that's very exciting and nobody will ever talk about it until it actually happens. So we're all going to be cool on the Internet. Everyone is going to pretend like it's a big deal. And I want you to know that I care and appreciate you and I will put on my active listening ears

[Roger]

from now on and give me the one. And as the producer of the buzz, I take no responsibility and I will be titling the episode of the Buzz Snowbike Mike breaks embargo. So yeah, that is what we are gonna do.

[Mike]

Let me see, let me see, let me see. Let me see. We got a lot of write ins. We got a lot of write ins. Okay, let me. Let me see what I got. Roger, tell my story really quick while I get.

[Roger]

I'm excited for today again. Of course. This is going to be the scariest marathon stream we've ever done. Is going to be blessing and Andy in a room together for as long as it takes to beat Resident Evil Requiem. I almost said Silent Hill. I'm still thinking about Silent Hill. Resident Evil Requiem. And we got some cool stuff going on there. A lot of fun stuff that Andy's been making and a cool little sponsorship there that we'll talk about in a

[Barrett]

second and and push them long enough so that they have to beat the game and then go into new Game plus so they can do all the

[Roger]

fun things that exactly.

[Barrett]

You usually think about with Resident Evil with that as well. So looking forward to that.

[Roger]

Solely Pest Pisces Soul Porpoise Soul Purpose. That's not. There's no r. Oh. I mean that's somebody definitely not scarier than seeing Roger in the skirt to great time. That was great.

[Barrett]

You can't just only include Roger in that sentence. Captain Slayer, Roger and Mike.

[Mike]

That was rocking the screw and you're wrong. Captain Slayer writes in says additional story number four info High Guard just released a new mode called Raid Rush that removes the looting phase entirely to try and draw more players in. There you go. Go give it a try. 5v5 now. Raid rush. Some new stuff going on in there. Fran will be all over it covering it on his Twitch channel. He will Roger, it's been a fantastic Friday. We have a lot of fun going on. We have a We've had one hell of a fun week and guess what? It doesn't stop now. We celebrated Pokemon 30th anniversary with Greg and Tim in the morning. You and I got to do kind of Funny Games Daily. Now we're gonna kick it into the lab for something truly terrifying, something truly spooky and fun. As Blessing and Andy are gonna set up and get ready for today. Subathon Marathon stream with Resident Evil 9 Barrett, say goodbye and take us away

[Barrett]

really quick for the Twitch audience. Because of how we had to set things up for today with the big marathon stream, we will be going offline for just a minute. But don't freak out. It's all part of the plan. We will be back shortly.

[Mike]

This has been kind of Funny Games Daily. If you love what we do, consider supporting us with that kind of funny membership available on patreon and on YouTube to get all of our shows ad free and get a daily exclusive show Greg way enjoy games cast after this. No, enjoy the stream and have a wonderful week.

[Roger]

And also just hang out and go to the stream. I know you're worried about spoilers. Just hang out for a little bit. We're not going to spoil everything in the beginning.

[Mike]

You don't want to miss out on what Mike and Roger see the beginning of this.

[Roger]

Hang out with us and then once they start the game you can leave. But throw some Twitch subs, hang out there and keep this fundraising stuff going. Love you Mike.

[Mike]

Been our pleasure to serve you. Goodbye.