Halo Creators Respond to ICE Memes - Kinda Funny Games Daily 10.29.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily — October 29, 2025

Episode: Halo Creators Respond to ICE Memes
Hosts: Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller & Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Main Theme:
A fiery episode confronting the politicization of video game imagery—specifically, the use (and abuse) of Halo assets for U.S. government purposes. The crew discusses the ethical, cultural, and industry implications, alongside deep dives into breaking games news including Amazon’s New World closure, Remedy’s struggles, the return of NBA Street-style games, and more. Expect candid takes, industry shade, and a couple of pick-me-ups with new game reveals.

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Main Discussion & Headline Stories

1. Halo Devs Slam ICE & Trump Campaign’s Use of Halo Imagery

[12:17–23:10]

• Context:
  The Trump administration and ICE used Halo imagery for political recruitment and propaganda, referencing Halo's “the Flood” to describe immigrants. The AI-generated Trump/Master Chief image went viral, and the original Halo creators are not having it.

• Key Points:

  • Former Halo devs Marcus Lettow (Art Director, Combat Evolved) and Jamie Griesemer (Game Designer) publicly denounced the ICE social media post.
  • Lettow: “It makes me really sick seeing Halo co-opted like this.”
    — (IGN/gamefile, cited at [14:05])
  • Griesemer: “Using Halo imagery to call to destroy people because of their immigration status goes way too far and ought to offend every Halo fan regardless of political orientation… The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory for any group of people… It is despicable.”
    — (quoted at [14:48])
  • The hosts feel disgusted about seeing gaming imagery co-opted for racism, xenophobia, and political grift.

• Notable Moments/Quotes:

  • Greg: “As horrific as this ICE stuff is—fuck ICE—you then see gaming stuff tied up in it, and people assumedly eat it up.” [17:05]
  • Blessing: “People are very easily pandered to… years ago we were talking about how this [video games] was the cause for shootings, now we’re using it to pander for votes.” [19:55]
  • Greg: "Either you're telling me that you're idiots or you're telling us that you don't care. And guess what? If you don't care, that's even worse than being an idiot." [22:57]

• Big Takeaways:

  • Serious disappointment at Microsoft/Xbox’s silence on the misuse of its IP (“Microsoft, say something. Right. Xbox, say something…” [22:04])
  • Broader lament at the post-Gamergate fusion of toxic gamer culture and far-right politics.
  • The responsibility of corporations to not just “rainbow-fy” logos, but to stand for genuine values year-round.

---

2. Amazon’s New World Shuts Down Updates Amid Massive Layoffs

[23:14–31:40]

• Story:
  Amazon closes down new content for New World; active servers will only be maintained through 2026. This comes amidst Amazon laying off 14,000 employees, including in games.

• Host Insights:

  • Greg: “If you were to ask me… do you think the future’s bright? Absolutely fucking not.” [25:32]
  • The segment explores Amazon’s consistent struggles to break into gaming (with Luna and its failed online titles), and how major tech corporations underestimate what it takes to build gamer trust and sustainable games.

• Industry Reflection:

  • The episode situates this as part of a wider “post-gold-rush” reckoning in the games industry: “Video games, we just had a gold rush, and we're on the other side of it now… the bill always comes due.” [29:30, 31:40]

---

3. Remedy’s Firebreak Flops, Studio Refocuses on Alan Wake & Control

[46:30–53:42]

• Details:
  Remedy Studios reported heavy financial losses, CEO switch-up, and major resources diverted away from FBC Firebreak (multiplayer project that landed flat).

• Host Reactions:

  • Greg: “Who could’ve predicted a studio that makes great single player games probably shouldn’t have made a multiplayer game?” [49:18]
  • Concern for Remedy’s future: “A sense of urgency is never a great sign in a game studio…” [50:36]
  • Discusses the perils of trend-chasing in AAA and the need to nurture what makes studios distinct.

---

Pick-Me-Ups & Game Reveals

4. NBA Street Vibes Return: ‘NBA The Run’ Announced

[36:23–41:08]

• Announcement:
  Ex-EA devs are reviving the spirit of NBA Street with NBA The Run, which features rollback netcode and commentary by Bobbito Garcia. Officially licensed by the NBA.

• Host Hype:

  • Blessing: “There’s such fun to be had there… so I love there’s this team. That the NBA saw enough potential in it to be like, ‘Let’s give you the license.’” [38:31]
  • Greg: “We have to at some point sacrifice the polish of a AAA EA game for the spirit of the street game you want.” [38:41]

---

5. Chinese Indie Lulan: The Cursed Sand Looks “Insane”

[41:08–45:40]

• Reveal:
  Chilly Room’s Lulan: The Cursed Sand (PS5/PC) makes waves as a stylish Diablo-meets-God of War action RPG set along the Silk Road.

• Hosts Do a Live Reaction:

  • Greg: “This looks awesome. What the—” [44:06]
  • Blessing: “Compared to Diablo, how actiony it looks, almost like hack-and-slash.” [44:50]

---

Quick Hits & Lighter News

[53:42–64:17]

• Monster Hunter Wilds sales dropping:
  Greg notes, “I love this game, but it did not become the Everlasting Gobstopper… I’m not going back to it all the time.” [58:03]
• Backyard Baseball gets animated adaptation:
  Tiffany Haddish, Rick & Morty animation studio attached ([60:43])
• Hideo Kojima addresses Matrix pitch rumors:
  “Never too late, Hideo. Never too late. Matrix still hot.” [61:42]
• Other news:
  • Neon Doctrine merges with Raw Fury [61:47]
  • Sims creators protesting Saudi-backed EA buyout [62:10]
  • Multiversus devs form Airlock Games [62:13]
  • PlayStation Plus November: Stray, WRC 24, TABS [63:02]
  • Nintendo to release Breath of the Wild vinyl soundtrack outside Japan for the first time [67:48]

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Greg on kids listening to the show:
  “We gotta watch and listen to this shit all the time… [but] is kind of funny content appropriate for the kid yet?… No, not 12.” [04:04–04:20]

• Blessing on corporate responsibility:
  “Where’s Microsoft? Where’s Xbox? Why haven’t they said anything…?” [21:08]

• Greg on industry layoffs:
  “Every corporation wants a quick return on their bucks. Period. End of statement. We are long gone from ‘we’re gonna let creatives create and fund this and da da da…’” [33:17]

• Community shout-out:
  “Remember, of course, Kinda Funny is an 11-person small business… if you enjoy conversations like this and unfiltered opinions, go ahead and pick up a Kinda Funny membership…” [35:02]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Main news theme intro: [11:18]
• Halo/ICE/Trump meme segment: [12:17–23:10]
• Amazon/New World news: [23:14–31:40]
• Remedy/Firebreak woes: [46:30–53:42]
• NBA The Run announcement: [36:23–41:08]
• Lulan: The Cursed Sand live reaction: [41:08–45:40]
• Monster Hunter Wilds update: [53:42–58:12]
• Quick Hits (“Wii News”): [60:15–64:17]

---

Tone & Style:

Candid, irreverent, occasionally explicit, and often passionate—Greg and Blessing’s banter freely mixes humor with genuine industry commentary. They don’t hold back in critiquing both politics and the games industry status quo.

---

For anyone who missed the episode:
Expect honest, sometimes explosive conversation on the messy relationship between games, politics, and culture—plus a rundown of the day’s juiciest games news, some nugget-sized pick-me-ups, and a community that feels the love.

---

Memorable sign-off:
“Hang out with us all day… until next time, it’s been our pleasure to serve you.” [69:55]

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

When I was there, you had to have a knife. One of you's got to take turns carrying it up your rectum.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

That's the prison wallet. You'll never leave home alone.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

You have something protected around it, I'm assuming.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, or else you'll be bleeding out your coolo.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

I'm Mariana Van Zeller, and after reporting on black markets for my Emmy winning National Geographic show, trafficked, I'm launching a podcast. You're getting emotional on me. Intimate conversations with those operating in the shadows. The Hidden third is out now with new episodes every Wednesday. [e-mail] marianavanzeller Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Ad Read Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Arc Raiders, a multiplayer extraction adventure video game set in a lethal yet vibrant future earth. It's coming October 30, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC. Arc Raiders dot com.

[Greg Miller]

Today in the nerdy news, you need to know about original Halo devs. Hit out at Homeland Security Ice recruitment ad. An update on New World and it's not good. The return of NBA Street. We'll have all this and more because this is Kinda Funny Games. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Kinda Funny games daily for Wednesday, October 29, 2025. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller alongside Baby Bear and of course Forbes 30 under 30, aka leftover poppy, aka New York Game Awards nominated blessing Eddie oh ye Jr greetings.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Taste buddy.

[Greg Miller]

Taste buddy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, you don't know this one?

[Greg Miller]

No, I don't know. Taste buddy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, you gotta watch the ads from last week.

[Greg Miller]

It was a real good one. Was that what got me?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It was a real good one.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I subscribe with my kind of funny membership. So I don't hear. You know what I mean? That's how I get around it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You know, Last week was one of those ones. If you subscribe with the kind of funny membership. Turn it off and go back. Listen to last week's ad. It might be my favorite ad read I've ever heard on this company.

[Greg Miller]

Who did it? What was it? Oh, it was him.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And I think Arc Raiders was. It was either Arc Raiders or five hour Energy. I forget which one.

[Greg Miller]

You're right. It's five hour Energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And it's funny because I would see the chat reaction, but like when we play the ads, we're usually watching it on mute.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And so we don't hear what the person is saying. But I would See, chat every single day. Be like, taste buddies or like, you know, make fun of Tim or whatever. I'm like, what's going on?

[Greg Miller]

And.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And then finally on Friday, I was on a show. I was not on a show. I think I wasn't on kfc. And I listened to it, and the ad kicks in, and Tim, with, like, the most enthusiastic presentation is like, greetings, taste buddy, and goes into the ad. I'm like, this is fucking. This is hilarious. This fucking comedy right here.

[Greg Miller]

That's good right there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, that's good stuff.

[Greg Miller]

Blessing, how are you?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I'm doing good. How are you doing?

[Greg Miller]

I'm good. You look great in this new kind of funny sweatshirt. Mine is in my closet. I haven't put it on yet. Kind of funny Dot com. You got the Pokeball or, you know, whatever we're saying to avoid the lawsuit, but the Pokeball. Kind of funny. Smiley.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It's a ball.

[Greg Miller]

The pokey smiley, It's a monster ball. Kindafunny.com store. I mean, they didn't come for Pal World. They won't come for us. It'll be fine.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

They did come for Pal World.

[Greg Miller]

Shit.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, we're very, very hard, actually.

[Greg Miller]

Did Power get away with it?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

We're still figuring that out. What's up with the bear?

[Greg Miller]

Oh, this is Baby Bear. Maybe you've heard me talk on the show yesterday. I think it came up yesterday. I don't know. It's all a blur. But at Ben's school, Baby Bear is in the preschool classroom. And what Baby Bear does is he spends a week with every student, and so then he gets to live their life, and people take photos and they put it in a little picture book and explain what Baby Bear got to do. So Baby Bear has already been to swim. Baby Bear has already been to the dojo. The jujitsu that's been doing Baby Bear is with us on Halloween. So Baby Bear will get to dress as one of the Star wars characters. But I figured, why not bring Baby Bear here so that I can then take a photo here? And these kids, granted, you know, they're four years old, they'll be like, go home, mommy, Daddy. We got to subscribe to kind of funny. It's really fucking funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exactly.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You gotta watch and listen.

[Greg Miller]

We gotta watch and listen to this shit all the time. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, they gotta know the game news. Somewhere somebody's gonna. Somebody. I don't know. When it starts, they started sitting there going like, oh, my God, you hear what Phil Spencer Did. But they might as well get it from a straight source, you know, we know what we're doing here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

My sister asks me all the time. It is kind of funny. Content appropriate for the kid yet.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And I'm like, how old is he? And she's like, he's 12 now. And I'm like, no.

[Greg Miller]

You're like, absolutely not. But that is when a lot of kids start listening. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I'm like, we're getting there a little bit. But no, not 12.

[Greg Miller]

The fact that I know the power in quotes of what we do now and, like, how our words matter and affect people and how, like, we're still crazy, but, like, I. I'm very choosy, you know, I mean, like, we're saying the right things. We're doing, like we're standing for good causes, blah, blah, blah. And then I think back to what I was doing on podcast beyond or whatever. Just fucking unhinged nobody. Me and Damon, me and Jeff Haynes, whatever. Like, random Tuesday in the middle of the day, we're getting wasted for no reason. The kids, like, I started listening. Seven years old, nine years old. Like, you should not have. I love super knocking boots. I'm like, Jesus Christ, what the is wrong with you people?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It's the tough thing too. Where my.

[Greg Miller]

My.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

My oldest nephew, he loves YouTube content, so he's watched and he loves video games. So, like, I see him anytime. I'm hanging out in Texas with them. They are w. They have YouTube on just non stop. My sister's like, he wants to watch your stuff. And I'm like, not yet. Not. I said, come dumpster last week. Like, I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can expose.

[Greg Miller]

When I did the One Night with Greg Miller in Chicago presentation at Benedictine University, a Catholic university. Not that that mattered. I was like, can I curse? Like, sure. They. I don't think they expected me to open my show talking about Joe Millionaire and blowjobs.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And I like, I'm making all these jokes and I look out in the audience and I lock eyes with Po's mom and then Po's son. I like, yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

This.

[Greg Miller]

This was a. A choice to start here. I shouldn't have started here necessarily. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

So you're going to break out this clip and show. Show the.

[Greg Miller]

I'm going to screenshot. I think the opening where I introduce Baby Bear is probably safe enough to show, but we'll cut it off before we go any further.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You know, that's fair.

[Greg Miller]

And these kids go home, they Always. They. They don't understand. They won't be able to explain to their parents how to actually get to this content so they don't have to worry about them, the parents watching more of it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

They just type in Greg Miller. They'll just type in, who's Ben's dad? His name's Greg. Oh, okay. We'll type in that and then watch the episode and go, whoa. They said, come dumpster in front of.

[Greg Miller]

The little bear point. This bear is going to say the P word on this bear is going to come back and it's not going to be the same. Can you do me a favor? BKD Open. I know, and I know I'm asking you to do something out of the ordinary here. Can you give me an incognito Google window that we can show everybody and do a search so it doesn't pull, like, who we already are. All right. Is that possible?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

They're gonna find other Greg Miller's on Google?

[Greg Miller]

I. I'm going somewhere with this if you'll stay out of my way. All right, fair enough. When I went and did the dispatch interview with the cast, which is up right now on Ad Hoc's YouTube channel, I BS'd it. That's a blue sky, Tim. I shared it on Instagram. Great conversation. Laura Bailey's there. Aaron, Yvette. Great stuff. Whatever. I got to meet Mayana Baron, who is Coop in dispatch.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And now works on Ad Hoc or on the. Ad. At Ad Hoc. On the game when we were getting introduced, when, you know, she came into the conference and we were like, you know, getting seated in. People are getting dressed, we're eating food or whatever. And I introduced herself. She said to me, oh, yeah. She's like. And I'm so sorry. Like, I don't know. What do you do? Like, And I'm like, oh, you know, I do this. And she's. Thank you. She's like, oh, that makes sense. Blah. She goes, I tried to Google you, but I found a doctor. And I was like, it all happened so fast. I was like, that's got to be horse fucking shit. There's no. I know the other Greg Miller's. Greg Miller. Elvis impersonator. Greg Miller. Lock Picking for Beginners. Greg Miller. I have ruined this name. So I don't think this woman actually Googled me because this is. Yeah, this isn't it. Yeah. What do you mean? What do you mean? This is a chorus right here. That's. I've never seen that timeline before. That's crazy. That's really? That's weird. Anyways, I bullshit. She didn't. She didn't google me. Thank you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I mean, it's probably her cookies, you know, like, exactly.

[Greg Miller]

She had it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

She was googling for. She was trying to find.

[Greg Miller]

She had a goiter. She had a goiter. All right, that's enough of that, I guess. Everybody, we're not here to talk about baby bear. We're not here to talk about how famous I am. We're not here to talk about how good blessing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, everybody's saying that's being. We gotta get. We gotta go. Is being still around. There's no way being still Bing.

[Greg Miller]

I. I did it on purpose because.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It'S like everything else is conn our Google accounts. Yeah, but like, not if you do an incognito, right?

[Greg Miller]

Can you incognito bink. Somebody points out the Merryweather thing. Yes. My middle name is James. At some point I think I made a joke or somebody called me on a show Merryweather and someone updated Wikipedia. And now it's one of those things if you try to fix it, Wikipedia's like, no, can't fix that. So whatever.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

That's a lot. I would have swore they got away with or they got rid of being the same time they got rid of Internet Explorer. I feel like once we got Edge out there, which nobody uses anyway, but yeah, of course still got Bing.

[Greg Miller]

So what this is. This is now. This is the same thing. Yeah. Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

There's no doc without the timeline, though, which the timeline was a nice touch on the Bing side of things.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I did. Oh, that's what that was. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Hell yeah. That's really cool. All right. I digress. If you didn't know everybody. This is kind of funny Games daily, each and every weekday, we run you through the nerdy video game news you need to know about live on YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Twitch TV, kind of funny games and podcast services around the globe. If you like that, be part of the show while we're live. You can super chat on YouTube.com kinda funny games to be part of the show with all the breaking sweater stuff like Sergio who says, got my pokey sweater this week. Very comfy and cool. Then Jordan says, oh no, Paddington is going to be another Trump apologist rant. Somebody stop him. Oh, Paddington is going on another Trump apologist rant. Somebody stop him again. Baby bear would not be caught dead doing that. All right, this is a San Francisco bear. Don't worry about that. And I know something about San Francisco Bears. You see what I do.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Double entendre one sitting at this table.

[Greg Miller]

Of course, if you have no bucks sossary, no big deal. Like subscribe, share, ring the bell. Remember of course if you have Amazon prime, you have Twitch Prime. It gives you a free subscription on Twitch that doesn't auto renew. They don't want you to know about it. So when you're done with your UPS or FedEx shift today and you're done listening to the podcast or streaming the content, go ahead and link them up and give it to us. Of course, we'd love you to go that extra mile. Pick up a kinda funny membership, patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Apple and Spotify. You could give us $10. We'd give you 80 episodes a month of ad free content and of course your daily dose of me Greg Miller in a podcast series we call Greg way. That's 15 to 20 minutes or in today's example, 30 minutes of me just yakking it up for you. Let's get into some housekeeping. Remember we're an 11 person small business all about live talk shows. Today after Kind of Funny Games Daily you're going to get the games cast. It's 10 games to get to know me. But not me Greg Miller, because I'm not actually on it, it's everybody else. Then we're doing my 10 games later. I'm not on it because after Gamescast I'm playing the Outer Worlds 2 for a five hour energy sponsor stream. I cannot wait. As I said, if you're a Kind of Funny member, today's Greg Way is clocking in at 30 minutes is a whole bunch of stuff. It's talking about how I get, how we get invited. When you're invited to an embargoed preview event, what does that email look like? Do you sign an NDA? Do they just send you the information? Do you know where you're going? Then we move into talking about dead dogs then. Or I mean we've done that first and then we move into talking about extra life. So there's a bunch of stuff there in the 30 minute Greg way you'll get when I during ad breaks upload it to Cool Greg. Thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs. Oh and I also go to McDonald's because I needed a coffee so bad.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I feel that.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The Psalm Twining today were brought to you by Arc Raiders, but we'll Tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some new seven items on the Roper Report.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Baker's dozen. Wait, so they gave you a copy? A coffee and a soft drink.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, this. I mean, a couple. And I look like the fool now. A few weeks ago I made fun of Roger because it looks like he's drinking a Coke every morning.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And he's like, no, it's iced coffee. And then look at me now because I said, give me the biggest one you can and you get that green lid that we were making fun of yesterday.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Looked like a sprite in there.

[Greg Miller]

I don't like it. I ain't about it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Also, you don't like the coffee. The guy here.

[Greg Miller]

I do, but I like iced coffee. Oh. So that's my thing. And I didn't. I was out of iced coffee at home, so I was already dragging ass on the fucking thing. I had an egg, a headache because I'm addicted. You know what I mean? So I was like, I know that headache.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I know the headache well.

[Greg Miller]

I was like, I can get here and I can have a cup, but I'd rather have iced coffee. So I treated myself. Enough about that. Let's talk about bad things. Number one, Original Halo devs hit out at Homeland Security ICE recruit ad. This is the one, the only WYP at IGN that's Wesley Yin Pool at Imagine Games Network. Key members of the original Halo development team have hit out at the Department of Homeland Security's use of Microsoft's first person shooter to promote ICE with one saying, quote, it makes me sick. This week IGN reported on how the White House had waded into the console wars with an AI image of Donald Trump saluting a as master Chief in front of an American flag. With only 40 stars, it has been viewed 43.2 million times so far. It followed Microsoft's announcement of Halo campaign Evolved. The Trump administration then doubled down on the Halo AI images with the Department of Homeland Security using Halo to recruit for the Immigration and Customs enforcement website ICE. In a post on social media now viewed 26 million times, Homeland Security said, destroy the flood and finish this fight, referencing Halo's parasitic alien enemy and its long running slogan, the use of the flood. Here is a clear comparison to the immigrants ICE rounds up for deportation. While Microsoft has so far remained silent on the issue, parentheses IGN has asked for comments. Marcus Lettow, who was the art director on Combat Evolved and thus heavily involved in the iconic look of Halo itself, slammed the ICE post in an interview with gamefile. He called the ICE post absolutely abhorrent, adding, quote, it makes me really sick seeing Halo co opted like this. End quote Game File also spoke to Jamie Grease Meyer, right, Griesmore Griesmer, another one of the key development one of the key developers behind Halo who has most been involved in designing Halo's famous 30 seconds of fun gameplay loop. He was less bothered by the Trump post, but took issue with the ICE boat quote, using Halo imagery. The call to destroy people because of their immigration status goes way too far and ought to be an ought to offend every Halo fan regardless of political orientation, jamie said. I personally find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory for any group of people, end quote. He continued, I think Halo's world is rich and wide and has layers that reward a deeper look and it has an outsized impact on culture, so it is easy to read into it and see elements of current or historical events. But it was not written as an allegory to any specific religion or political party or movement. The prophets are not popes, the grunts are not Wahhabis, and the Flood are definitely not illegal immigrants. The Master Chief is not a Christ figure and Cortana is not the Virgin Mary, I guess. End quote. As for the Trump meme, the White House is claiming it is a the Trump meme. The White House is claiming it is about Trump claiming credit for ending another war parentheses in this case the console war, white House Deputy Press secretary Kush Desaix told reporter Alyssa Mercantile in a statement, quote, yet another war ended under President Trump's watch. Only one leader is fully committed to giving power to the players, and that leader is Donald J. Trump. That's why he's hugely popular with the American people and American gamers. End quote. Fuck me. There's so much happening I saw when Alyssa put it up on bs. That's blue sky Tim. This statement like Jesus fucking Christ.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I mean we're in a circus.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

So circus shit is happening. I it's obviously all of it is frustrating. I think the seeing video games getting looped into it in a bigger way is even more frustrating for how much of a circus video games already are, you know, especially when you're unconnected to the government and all this. But like in a weird way video games have already had that connection. Like I there's a deeper conversation. I know people have written articles and people have done deep dives on this already that I'm Sure. We can find, right. Of like the, I think, connection when you go from gamer culture, Gamergate culture, political culture, how that all kind of like can tie together how, especially when you talk about right wing, like grift culture, far right, grifting culture, and how that's fed into a lot of what we see on the political side as far as people really rallying for Trump and a lot of far right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

People in government. Like it all is connected. I think it's, you know, it's been like this for decades, maybe over a decade, I want to say.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Ever since Gamergate. I think to see it on this level, to see that it has grown onto, on the, into this level is something that I maybe couldn't have predicted a decade ago and something that is like disheartening to see, but I also just don't have much to say about it because it's like, all right, cool, we're here. You know, like, this is, this is insane.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I mean it is insane. Shit. I don't know how to wrestle with some of this and what to say about some of this. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like every day our, our worst fears of Trump being reelected become the reality that you live in and you continue to live in and it just keeps going. The worst fears were obviously not him co opting gamer culture or whatever to that degree. But I mean, as horrific as this ICE stuff is, fuck ice, you know what I mean? To then see gaming stuff tied up in it and people assumedly eat it up. It's one of those two where it's like the whole mo of this administration is you're with us or against us. So so much of it is thumbing the liberal gamer world in the eye to get them mad, to get them to talk about it, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? Where it's like all of this and you go back to Gamergate, all of this was a fire that if you gave oxygen got worse. And so there was the idea of ignore it and it'll go away kind of thing. But then people engaged with it and it's like, well, ignoring it didn't work, but did it? Is it because of the people engaged with it and how it went? And it's the same thing of like to look then at to what you're talking about of like Maga. Of like there used to be a time when you couldn't say this racist, bigoted shit in public, and now you say it all the time and you fucking make it into memes and you're winning. Hashtag. It's like, is it because we didn't call? Those people weren't saying it, so we weren't being loud enough. That. That's not fucking cool. And now that. And now people think that's cool, even though his, you know, I was looking at approval ratings yesterday, they're fucking in the tank for him. But it's like, it's too far gone and this is where we are. But then again, is it you making the most noise? And that's what it is. Then of course it's the grifter thing you're talking about, right? Or just these jilted white males who have just lost their culture. Oh, my God. You know, gaming used to be for me, let alone. And again, you apply that to just in general. America used to be for me, right? These fucking lies that don't make any sense and are stupid. And then to get to here and have it be like, Trump in this administration last time around was so anti video games, you know what I mean? I keep calling out the fact that like I had to write in 2019 a fucking op ed for Newsweek when they approached me refuting in the wake of two mass shootings at the time, and I mean, obviously hundreds, but two at the immediate doorstep in Ohio and Texas, right? It was this idea that like, Trump was trying to blame violent video games for it. And here we are six years later. This man stands for fucking nothing, of course. His administration stands for fucking nothing, of course. So they're using the same violent video games they talk shit about in this thing as they violently throw people out of our country and go street to street, no due process, no Miranda rights, just being assholes and invade liberal states.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

People are very easily pandered to is the thing, right? People are very easily like, you see, oh, there's a win. There's an easy win we can have here with the gaming community. Cool, let's lean into that. Even though years ago we were talking about how this was the cause for shootings and every. With every single shooting, instead of looking at the guns, we're looking at the video games and we're looking at any other excuse, any excuse that we can look at for these things. I think the conversation, as far as, you know, ignoring it, it gets bigger. Confront it, they get the attention that gets bigger, right? Like, I don't know if there is an answer for. For that. Like, I like to think that it is confronting it in the right ways. I think oftentimes when we try to confront people about their views, their whatever. Right. Like, it's. It almost feels impossible to get to a place where we're all like, all right, and we're here. Like, we've hit the. The place we need to be as far as, you know, finding a middle ground or finding a place to pull you out of that bigoted or, like, ignorant place. Right. Like, there's kind of a. Like a. A lock that people are in when it comes to those conversations. And I think it's tough. Like, I think it requires way more than that. I think part of it might require Microsoft or Xbox to come out and say, hey, we don't. We don't permit this, but guess what? They're not.

[Greg Miller]

Not a chance.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And I think. But I think. And I think that gets us around to where I think a lot of the bigger issues are, is when we talk about corporations, when we talk about the people who actually have ownership over these IP and the people that actually have the money, the power, the structure, the fucking size here. Right? Like, where is Microsoft? Where is Xbox? Why haven't they said anything about this?

[Greg Miller]

They're donating to the fucking ballroom.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And that's.

[Greg Miller]

That's the thing. Everybody fucking. Rather than any of these corporations that were all so fucking dei, this is the thing. Let's put the rainbow flag on our Twitter icon rather than commit to any of the values they had had for the past four years, if not more.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Then it was this idea of like, oh, fuck, we lost. The winds are changing. Let's all bend the knee, kiss the ring, and Tim Cook will bring this weird fucking thing to the Oval Office to give to Trump. Like, what? What the fuck? Yeah. You know what I mean? We'll beat the inauguration behind him. Even though we were talking shit, our platforms are all. Social media platforms are rotten or helping elect this man who's in the Epstein files, by the way.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. And so, like, with that, I guess my. I mean, the main thing I come out of this story with is Microsoft, say something. Right. Xbox, say something.

[Greg Miller]

Shout out to your fucking IP. The Halo. @ least the Halo creators who no longer work at Microsoft, being out there saying something.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Waving the flag. This is fucking abhorrent. What are we doing?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. Because it's so obviously important.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It's hard. Like, do you know how tough it is to look outside, to look at the news, to look at the clips and see ICE agents going after people that aren't even illegally here? They're just going after people of color. They're just looking. They're just going after people who just remotely look like, oh, okay, that's somebody who we can bully or that's somebody we can go after to at this point. Because we can. Right at this point, because we have the power and we're going insane with it, like to look at that and go, ah, there's nothing wrong with that. Ah, you know, we're not going to speak up about that. Like, you have to be fucking an idiot. Like you have to be a fucking fool.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And guess what? Like that stuff is being promoted with Halo IP and Microsoft and Xbox haven't said shit. Either you're telling me that you're idiots or you're telling us that you don't care. And guess what? If you don't care, that's even worse than being an idiot.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that's all I got. Okay, we can move on. Well said.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

But fuck them. And as the chat from Kyle. Exactly. Kyle writes in with super chat, says, for the record, f ice and F this administration. And if you didn't know, he means fuck ICE and fuck this administration. I know when you say it, sometimes people get mad at you. Remember the DICE Awards? It was great. Number two on the ROPA report, an update on the New World. And again, it's not good. This is a blog post from new world.com of course, yesterday there was all, you know, Amazon's laying off 14,000 people. That included a whole bunch of the games divisions we talked about. It didn't look good. New World confirms it is not good. As New World recognizes its fourth anniversary since launching on PC, we reflect on an incredible journey shaped by our dedicated player community. Your feedback and passion have been instrumental in evolving aternum into the world it is today and our team is deeply grateful for the shared adventure. After four years of steady content updates and a major new console release, we've reached a point where it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game. I'm not laughing at the closure. It's just like everything you did. Great. Great. And it's done. It's over. We're fucking done. We've reached a point where it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates. We recently launched season 10 and Night Haven Update will serve as. Oh, sorry. The recently launched season 10 in Night Haven update will serve as the final content release for New World on PC and consoles. It is only after much consideration that we've reached this decision to thank you, the New World community, for your support. Over the years. We have made the Night Haven release available to you for free. To ensure all New World players can experience this content, we also made Rise of the Angry Earth free to all PC players. In the coming months, we will provide more details on what to expect and other essential information. Rest assured, our intention. Our intention is to keep servers operating through 2026. Everybody put a pin in that one. Allowing our community time to continue their adventures in Aternum. Additionally, New World Aeternum will still be downloadable for PlayStation plus members. Extra and premium. Players of Aternum, your dedication and enthusiasm have made this New World adventure an unforgettable journey. We're deeply grateful for every moment you've spent helping build this extraordinary world alongside us. It has been our honor to share Aternum with you. Thank you for helping make this game something truly special.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Greg, you played New World?

[Greg Miller]

I did. I like New World a lot.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Is this something that surprises you?

[Greg Miller]

No. Well, man, great question. Bless. This is why you're a great interviewer. New York Game Awards nominated. Surprising. No, Like I. Even when they brought it over to piece to PlayStation and Xbox, right. Whereas where I really got more into it, it was that idea of like, oh wow, like I kind of forgot this game existed. And then you go, well, that can't be good for Amazon. Amazon's games division can't be crushing on that. But they did it. And then there's been updates and I'm constantly getting the emails of like, hey, this is the new update. Hey, this is the new update. And so it's one of those where it's like, man, they're really supporting. They're still doing stuff with this game. But if you were to ask me at any point getting those emails, do you think the future is bright? Absolutely fucking not. You know what I mean? Like, it's this giant MMO game that like clearly doesn't have. Like, what was Amazon's playing with all these fucking MMO online? You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Like, I was thinking about it of what are the. What were the other big Amazon games right now? Go back and there was that game Crucible that came out, that was kind of a hero type shooter that came out and like a week later released. Yeah, there was. I was trying to remember the name of it. I typed in Amazon Lost because I knew there was Lost in the title. And a few things down, it said Lost Ark. And I was like, yeah, Lost Ark. That was under a few other suggestions. The first suggestion being Amazon Lost Jobs, which I think should paint the picture of where we're at when. When it Comes to Amazon and when it's coming to Amazon's gaming shit, right? Yeah, man. You are one of the biggest companies on the planet and you have this big game division that we know you've thrown money into. And, like, we see it in Luna and stuff, right? And, like, what's funny is that Luna, I think, had and maybe still has, like, so much potential there. I don't know if they got a Snoop Dogg courtroom game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that's the thing, right, Where I think Luna is also on life support and will not make it. They did this whole thing where they changed what it is, right? They relaunched it, this whole thing. And I think it's even less enticing now, personally.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

But there are hints of. Okay, I can see what you're doing here. Okay. I can see what you're doing. This. There was that game Blue Protocol. That was a Bandai Namco thing that they got canceled too, man. Like, so many swings that just did not make it from Amazon.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And I think, as always, right, it's this idea of you come into this space, you're bullish, you're you. Video games. I was talking to Jen about this the other night where we were lamenting games and layoffs and where we're at and everything else. And it's, I think, not as focused because of how spread it is. But video games, we just had a gold rush and we're on the other side of it now. Where it was that people saw how popular games were, they saw how much money certain games were making and they rushed out here. Yeah, we are going to make our fortune. We are going to plant our flag. We're Amazon. We're going to make this thing, we're to invest this stuff, we're going to do this thing. And then you get in there and you realize how fucking hard it is to make money at video games. Make a lot of money at video games. Right. Way easier to do a small studio and then build from there. And, like, every game's a little bit more successful. But we're back to why isn't 12% profit good enough for you? Microsoft, it needs to be 30%. What are we fucking? And so I think that's the exact same thing that got Amazon here, where when it was boom and the economy was going and everything's fucking all right, cool. There's money to be made here. We're going to invest and we're going to try to make games here. The MMO lost arc. Like, it was just a weird. These were not genres I would Jump into that. That's what you're going to go do. But they did and they did support it for a while. Like, I mean, hats off to them. It's not like they launched a tournament and then never touched these.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

All free to play and like access via the Amazon store.

[Greg Miller]

No, that was the weird thing where chat. You're wrong. I have it open New World especially right was you had to pay for it and it wasn't part of Luna. Because when I was like, oh, they're getting ready for the console version of New World. I should go back and I opened Luna and it wasn't there. Like, what the fuck? And I know I had to go get that. I think I'm right on all that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Please let me there at least like an Amazon launcher. Like I guess I'm trying to figure out what is.

[Greg Miller]

No.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

What's the strategy that fed back into Amazon?

[Greg Miller]

I think it was just being just publishers. Yeah. Yeah. Just being a publisher of where you were going and then trying to get Luna off the ground and do this thing and da, da, da.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And so yeah, now you have this blowback and so like, is it surprising? No. Is it disappointing? Of course we're talking about people losing their jobs. This game was fun. It is fun. If you have PlayStation Plus, I would least kick the tires on it because I enjoyed it. I didn't get like hundreds of hours in, but I thought it was good. And it was one of those things where it was filling that gap of I want a kingdom of Zavamal or I want something where I'm just running through and getting XP for using my bow and arrow. Now I'm switching to sword. I'm getting XP for that. That's great. Like, that was fun about it. So, no, it's not surprising. And then of course it's not surprising. Based on yesterday's news, Amazon's laying off 14,000 jobs. You know the. What was the I got the IGN article where they have the Senior Vice president people and experience breakout quote. Some may ask why we're reducing roles when the company's performing well across our business. We're delivering great customer experiences every day, innovating at a rapid rate and producing strong business results. What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet. And it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before in existing marketing market segments and altogether new ones. We're convinced that we need to be organized, more leanly with fewer layers and more ownership to move quickly as possible. While again, their gaming division isn't making profit. Double digit, triple, whatever they, you know, I mean, like you're to the point now where it's what we always talk about with hey man, Xbox can't pick a fucking lane. Well, it's Microsoft coming down to them going like, yo, the experiment's over. Make money. We let you buy this fucking goddamn $69 billion transaction. Make fucking money. And I'm sure Amazon here is same thing. Hey, great, we tried. No one gives a shit about Luna and no one cares about these games. And I'm being broad brush, double digit, you know, year over year growth. No one cares about these things. We're not going to make money on games. We make way more money on games selling them on Amazon.com we should get out of this business. This isn't what it is. Yeah. And so not surprising. It was crazy to hear the story yesterday and be like, oh man, like I came in and worked over there while they were doing the story because I wanted to hear it live because I hadn't caught it yet. And then I walked out like, man, that's not good for New World. And by the end, I was on the car ride home and I was like, oh, there it is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Damn.

[Greg Miller]

So that super sucks. And like, you know, it's the world we live in, it's the market we live in.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And it sucks because I feel like in quite a few ways they're almost there. Like I feel like in a different timeline, you move a rock over and like maybe the video games industry isn't, you know, I guess evening out. I don't know if that's the right word. I guess matured in the way it is, right? Where there's still like the potential to try and do things. There's a timeline where I think Amazon ties together what they have with their store, what they have with Twitch, what they have with the games development is able in with Luna enabled to make all that play together. Because in theory I could see how that shit would work. Like blessing, see how you pull all.

[Greg Miller]

That absolute fucking lutely like it is as people who sit here and play games every day and talk about games every day, da da da da da. I can't fathom why can. But like, yeah, if. I hate to say it, but if Jeff Bezos walked me into a room and was like, explain what we should be doing. It seems so simple of like linking. Like the fact that Twitch is still like this. Look at Twitch it's still like this. I remember when Amazon bought Twitch and it was like, holy shit, this thing is about to be fucking off the chain. They are going to innovate, they're going to do this. It's going to be X. And this is still Twitch. It is still just Twitch. And that's good and bad in a million different things. And I'm not again. But I mean like I expect Twitch to suddenly be. Not suddenly year over year get better and better and become. It's still just Twitch.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You have all the money in the world now.

[Greg Miller]

Like what's the fuck? And again, because it's not making the money they wanted. People bought this thing with dollar signs in their eyes. We are going to be fucking rich, rich, rich off of this. And that is not the case. And it's the same case with trying to make video games, right? Like you needed to bring in people who are passionate about. And I shouldn't say that the people bring in people who are passionate about games, whether it's on the Twitch side, making games side and then listen to them and let them build the product they're trying to build and understand that you're making enough fucking money off of Amazon prime and every other mom and pop store you're putting out of business that you can, we can. It'll be okay that if the gaming sector is down one year up another, like let them make the thing. They need to be the place to be the fucking place. And rather than that, no, everyone, every fucking corporation wants a quick return on their bucks. Period. End of statement. We are long gone from we're gonna let creatives create and make stuff and fund this and da da da da da. It's a quaint conversation with Peter Moore in 2015 on the A kind of funny gamespot stage of like no, no. We make the money on FIFA and Madden so we can put out unraveled and not turn a profit. It's ok. That fucking line of that. That's why he's not in charge of EA anymore anyway. He's fucking working at a soccer club or whatever it is now. You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

World now.

[Greg Miller]

God damn, son. Come on, come on. We're awake today, everybody. We are awake and we are going to tell you about the kind of funny membership, remember? Of course, kinda Funny is an 11 person small business can say whatever the fuck they want to because you support us and you want that kind of content. You like that kind of media and we like you liking us because it means a lot that we get to do what we love doing over here. Thank you for it. If you enjoy conversations like this and unfiltered opinions, go ahead and pick up a kinda funny membership patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kinda funny games apple Spotify you give us $10 a month. We give you 80 episodes of ad free content and more than 4 hours of exclusive podcasting from me on a daily series we call Greg Way. But right now you're not using your membership benefits. So tell em all about it Baby Bear.

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[Greg Miller]

When I was there, you had to have a knife. One of you's gotta take turns carrying it up your rectum.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

That's the prison wallet. You'll never leave home.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

You have something protected around it, I'm assuming.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, or else you'll be bleeding out.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Your I'm Mariana Van Zeller and after reporting on black markets for my Emmy winning National Geographic show, trafficked, I'm launching a podcast. You're getting emotional on me. Intimate conversations with those operating in the shadows. The Hidden Third is out now with new episodes every Wednesday. [e-mail] marianavanzeller Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Greg Miller]

Hit it for the Dudleys number three New street basketball Title NBA the Run announced this is the one, the only the Don Imran Khan at Restart. The halcyon days of NBA street have long passed. Electronic Arts has mostly gotten out of the business of its street titles and has long since, after many failed attempts, abandoned basketball as a whole. A group of former EA developers, however, are looking to revive that legacy on their own break, bringing the mold of NBA street to a new new game titled NBA the Run. NBA the Run will be using Rollback netcode, a typical I'm sorry A type of netcode particularly popular in fighting games to make online play smoother, regardless of the connection disparity between the two players. It also features Babito Garcia, the former DJ who did commentary for NBA Street Volume 2, as the commentator for this one. NBA the run began life as the Run Got Next, a similar 3v3 basketball title focused on street hoops rather than NBA teams and players. During development, the game caught the attention of the NBA, leading to an official partnership with the NBA and the National Basketball Players association and a rebrand into NBA the Run NBA the Run is aiming for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X and PC with cross play between all three platforms targeting an undisclosed date in 2026.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

So I'm a huge NBA Street Volume 2 fan.

[Greg Miller]

Who is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I mean, who's not? That's actually a really good point. It's been a question of what the has EA been?

[Greg Miller]

Why are they not doing this?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Where's NBA? Where's the street brand? Where's EA Sports? Big. Like there's such a love for these things during the PS2 era. And of course time has changed, right? Like things have changed, time has gone, you know, trends have gone. But I, I feel like there's still been so much potential to go back to 100. Let's make an arcade style street game where you're doing tricks, doing game breakers. You're like, you know, having NBA players jump over the basket to do the big slam and all that stuff. Like there's such fun to be had there. And so I love that there's this team of people formerly EA that went off and we're like, yo, we're doing our own thing. And that the NBA saw enough potential in it to be like, yo, let's give you the license. Like, let's make that happen.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Is that going to end up being a fantastic, crystallized, like amazing game? I don't know. Who knows? Maybe probably not. Honestly, like the odds are against it if I'm going to be honest.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You know, but even what we see.

[Greg Miller]

There, the trailer looks kind of stiff. You know what I mean? Like the shitty mechanics don't look fluid. But it's also like we have to at some point sacrifice the polish of a AAA EA game for the spirit of the street game. You want that? Nobody's making.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. And I also think there's the question of what is the art style for an NBA street game in 2025 when we're on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Right. You look at the PS2 and it's all right. This is the. The NBA street art style for PS2 had exaggerated features, but they were still somewhat, I guess, realistic. Ish for what that era was. When you look at, like a realistic art style, I guess on the PS2.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

There's kind of like the meeting in the middle of it. I look at this and I'm like, this kind of is what the art style would be in 2025, in my opinion. Yeah. Like, you're looking at the characters. They're somewhat realistic, but there is, like a little bit of stylization there. And so I think they're on brand with the, The. The look of it. I think what they're going to need to nail, the biggest thing to nail is the gameplay feel.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

How does this game. How does this game feel to play? If I press square, am I doing the trick? Am I, like, how easy is it to do the alley oops and jump and get all the points? And is it. Are we still going full arcade with it? Because we need to nail what that feels like?

[Greg Miller]

100%. Yeah. I also love Street. I mean, those games are great. It was. Street has that, I guess, place in the, you know, hall of fame of games. In my head. Yeah. Of. It was the first game ever where it was the reverse role reversal where I had rented it from Blockbuster. I'd been playing it all day. Poe came over and somehow he was immediately better at me. Better at it than me. And I could not understand how. So that's always the joke when we play games. But, like, I loved Street. Street was so much fun. I loved NBA Jam. Right. So to get something in that vein, to have that coming through, I'm excited to try it out and jump in there and play and hopefully find that groove again. And more than anything, I'm glad people are doing it. I'm glad they're taking the shot. I'm glad they're finding. I'm glad you said it. I'm glad the NBA saw this. Like, oh, you know what? Like, let's actually do this. This.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. I feel like that's such a rare thing to happen. There have been attempts from other people in the past of this thing, but they've always. When I looked at them, I'm like, oh, this looks too cartoony. Oh, this doesn't look right. The fact that they have Bobido Garcia, DJ Cucumber slicing this, like, that's a. Oh, that's a win. You guys know exactly what you're going for here. The fact that they're talking about rollback net code.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

The thing I would think about for basketball games, that's the thing that's usually a fighting game thing and that's a, a marketing label label you want on every single fighting game from here on out. The fact that they're doing that for this one, I'm like, okay, well, it seems that they got a good head on their shoulders so far with the features they're including. Let's continue that.

[Greg Miller]

Let's continue that. Good luck. We'll be looking for you. NBA the Run. I don't know if I love the name, but I mean, it'll grow on me. It's fine, it's fine. Whatever. It's short. Number 4 Action RPG Lulan the Cursed Sand Revealed this is tin manual at RPG fame. Chinese indie developer Chilly Room has unveiled the first look at Lulan the Cursed sand in a new action packed trailer. The title is supported by PlayStation as part of the China Hero project which is set to release in the Future for the PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam in the Epic Games Store. As of now, a release window has not been announced. Lulan the Curse hold on a second. I'm looking at it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Should we do a live reaction? Because I was going to ask if you've seen this.

[Greg Miller]

No, I haven't seen it. No.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Kevin, can you roll this from the back and let's play it with sound.

[Greg Miller]

And actually like, let me finish the graphs and then we'll watch it. Okay, Kev.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Cool, cool, cool.

[Greg Miller]

Lulan the Cursed sand boasts a powerhouse development team who grew up gaming in the 80s and 90s. Several of them have previously worked on games from a renowned studio such as Santa Monica Studio FromSoftware and Platform Platinum Games. Game Overview Lulan the Cursed sand is an action RPG set along the ancient Silk Road in the western regions of China. It tells a tragic love story of an exiled royal guard who returns to the fallen kingdom of Lulan amidst the chaos of war defined his beloved princess. You play as the skeletal warrior known as Cursed sand, mastering a power of sand to explore and solve puzz in a perilous top down world. Engage in realistic melee combat against overwhelming odds. Defeat powerful enemies and confront the fate of your own cursed existence. Kevin this sounds like my shit. Let's watch Lulan the Cursed Sand.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

This game was making the rounds on Social yesterday and there's a reason why I put it like this high in the show. My love.

[Greg Miller]

My love.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Damn, I chained up.

[Greg Miller]

Welcome to Luland.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Pull the Sword out of the Ground has kind of like a Diablo Perspective here.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. That's what I caught when we were looking at it. You know, I love Diablo. Blessing. Do you know I love Diablo.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You love Diablo.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Combat's looking kind of crazy. Kind of reminds me of PS2, God of war a bit.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, totally. I could see that. Games are so cool, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Fade to black.

[Greg Miller]

Do you remember our promise?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Very pretty game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah. Style. It's got style. This is your endless fate. See the sands got Jason Momoa the cursing. Oh, oh. Do I take damage and become the skeleton?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Insane looking video game.

[Greg Miller]

Dude, this looks awesome. What the.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Like, he just turned into the skeleton.

[Greg Miller]

Does he have like, powers associated to skeleton only mode? Maybe.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Maybe.

[Greg Miller]

Damn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

You can wish list it.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna wish list it right now.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Game store Lululand. The Cursed sand. If you want to go check it out.

[Greg Miller]

More like Lulan the Wet Undies. I'm excited. You know what I mean? You got me going, Luland.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I like how like, I guess compared to Diablo, how actiony it looks, I guess, like almost like hack and slashy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

There's like a lot going on. It's way more fast.

[Greg Miller]

Well, it's funny because, you know, reading it and it was like, oh, you know, this action rpg. And then I looked and it was Diablo. I was like, oh, so there's multiple characters I'm doing. And then I was like, oh, no, it's narrative and it's. I'm the one guy and I'm doing the damn thing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, it's like if God. It's like if PS2 God of War was a Diablo game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm looking at the Steam page, see if there's any more information we can pull from it. Damn, that looks hot. Good job. Bless. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Of course. Of course. I needed. It's funny, these two stories between this and the NBA street or NBA. The run story I had at the bottom of the news and I was like, after the first two news stories, we're going to need a pick me up. I moved these higher because I was like, we need an energy shift in this. In this episode.

[Greg Miller]

Over here. Nitrogen Mustard said, who are the devs again? It is Chili Room Chili.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Have they made anything?

[Greg Miller]

World of Kung Fu Dragon and Eagle, it looks like is their other game. That's from that release to mixed reviews on Steam in October 2024. Make a name for yourself in this. Old school. We did this yesterday. Wuxia. Wuxia. Is that what it is? Wuxia rpg explore the chaotic lands of ancient China and engage in challenging turn based battles to change the world of Kung Fu forever. A very different looking game, a studio.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Based in China, which is another one in the thing of we've been seeing a lot more games coming out of both China and Korea as well. Of course PlayStation's China Hero Project is what's being is what's supporting this game. Right? But I feel like we're seeing a lot of a lot more games come out of both China and Korea that look insane and that come out and are insane. In the case of something like Black Myth, Wukong or even Stellar Blade.

[Greg Miller]

We move on to story number five. More good news following FBC Firebreak Flopping Remedy has a Sense of Urgency this is Mark Warren at the Verge. In their first set of financial results since issuing a profit warning and switching CEOs earlier this month, Remedy have revealed that they're moving resources away from FBC Firebreak amid quote, a sense of urgency and aiming to rely on established series Alan Wake and Control delivering hits which will shore up their commercial fortunes in the long term. In these latest financial results, Remedy reported a loss of 16.4 million Euro, right? Is it Euro? It throws me in.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh the this one. I thought zero.

[Greg Miller]

You don't fucking know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, because pound is like a yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, okay, okay okay. Yeah, that's the euro.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Just make sure be a whiteboard somebody.

[Greg Miller]

I'll draw them between July and September 2025 in contrast to the 2.4 million profit it made the same time last year. Yeah, that's not good. A loss is 16.4 million. Last year they made a 2.4 profit. That's real bad. When Alan Wake 2 had been out the door less than a Remedy co founder Marcus Maki, who stepped into the role of interim CEO last week replacing former CEO Taro Vertala not long after Firebreak sales disappointment, says his job has been quote to raise the bar and the sense of urgency across the organization and to drive stronger results. So given Firebreak sales have only gone up marginally as the studio have delivered updates, they're unsurprisingly shifting chess pieces elsewhere. Quote we continue working on features which enhance player value and which are justified by our updated long term sales expectations. The results doc reads quote we have moved development resources to our other in development titles while respecting our communicated roadmap to FBC Firebreak. End quote. As for what the studio are banking on to arrest their number slumpage, Maki says they plan on making big hit games that people like more Concretely, they indicated Remedy's focus is the short term and until 2030 is mainly to lean on the established series Alan Wake and Control to keep growing and delivering these hits.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

What are your thoughts on referring to a game studio in the plural?

[Greg Miller]

I don't like it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Did you hear me? Like, I'm like stumbling over the days.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

One studio. So it should be the studio.

[Greg Miller]

This is the whole fucking thing of like the. Like I remember at Ignition beating this into people's minds, reading it of like, no, it's an it a company, isn't it? It's singular. Like that was journalism school. So when I see somebody do it the other way and granted all the rules are out the window, who Fuck. But it's just like, it's still. It still catches me and makes me. Ah, I don't like that. But that's not the bigger thing here. Yeah. The more is. Who could have predicted this? Wow. Who could have predicted a studio that makes great single player games? Probably shouldn't have made a multiplayer game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Hey, do you like these great gripping single player narratives? What if you went with your friends and shot this guy who's made a post it notes?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

But like, what if I want more money though, you know, what if I want like way more money?

[Greg Miller]

I heard Fortnite's good and we love Remedy. They got a good head on their shoulders. This is always a bewildering choice of like, why are we doing this? But they've always been a studio that is making so many different games, working with different partners for the longest time, you know, grinding it out to stay afloat. And you really thought Alan Wake 2 was like, bam. Oh my God. Everybody gets how great Remedy is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

We are going to be in a new golden age. And for it to be fbc, it's like, oh. And again, this is the problem with trend chasing. This is the problem with how long game development makes that you can have Alan Wake in two and establish yourself and Game of the War, game of the year and as Sam likes dancing at the game awards and it's amazing. But then you still have this thing coming that's like, damn, is there a market for this? This is not the community we've built.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I mean, it's the same thing with kind of funny where it's like we used to take I think more shots in the dark with crazy seasonal shows or whatever. And now it's like, well, no, like you come here for this product. It's. I'd rather make these products better than go make a different product that then is not going to perform, not going to serve the audience, not going to do these different things. So scary. You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. I hope this doesn't like fuck up what they have going on with their other products.

[Greg Miller]

A sense of urgency is never a great sign in a game. In a game studio where it takes years to make a game. But we wish them the best. I do love Remedy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

The last paragraph is worrying, right? Maki says they plan on making big hit games that people like. More concretely, he indicated Remedy's focus in the short term and until 2030 is mainly to lean on their established series.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And they're talking about Alan Wake and Control there. But like, and I guess if, if they. I guess they know what they have, right? Like Control in, In Alan Wake 2, I assume they consider those big hit games. And so they're like, hey, we want to focus on making those at least as great as they were or at least do as well as Control 1 and Alan Wake 2 did then. Actually, I think that's a. I have confidence in that.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

There's no reason why the next Control and the next Alan Wade games shouldn't do as good as the previous ones. Unless they're just not as good, which I don't have that expectation of. But I almost worry that, like, how much are you banking on these next games do? Even better though.

[Greg Miller]

Remember, of course, they took a 15 million euro loan out from Tencent in September 2024. So the bill always comes due.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

So how do you think the next Max Payne, like Max Payne remix that they announced a while ago are going to do? Do the Streets? Are the streets ready for Max Payne?

[Greg Miller]

I think they are. I honestly think the Streets are. I think that's one of those franchises in a similar vein to Alan Wake. And I. I know this sounds. Might sound crazy, maybe I'm. I think it's gonna sound crazy. You're gonna be like, no, it makes perfect sense. I think Max Payne is a bigger franchise than Alan Wake. And I think that Alan Wake 2 brought Alan Wake up to another level. Of course.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But I think to be like, from the people who made Alan Wake 2, here comes Max Payne remakes, which you already know. You either, you know Max Payne from a bunch of old heads like us talking about him on shows and how great it was, you know, Max Payne maybe from shitty movies, you know, like Max Payne is out there in the ether. And I think to be like, hey, here's a remake that looks good, that you know, it has the. The hard boiled on Max Pain. Like, I feel like that's gonna hit. And I, you know, I hope so.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I. The one. The one thing I'll say, and maybe I might be the odd man out here. I remember when I was a kid, I was probably like in high school, I came to Max Payne late, but I Remember going to GameStop, looking at their $10 envelope in seeing Max Payne and going, oh, I. I remember playing that at Addison's house one time. And so I bought Max Payne, took it home to play, put it in my PS2, and I started playing it. And I was like, man, this game's kind of boring. I could see the cool things that it's doing, right. You got the diving in slow motion. You got the hard boiled. He's taking pink hills to the heels. All this stuff. Right. Like the comic book kind of cuts.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Going on. I could see there's a vibe to Max Payne that is so strong and concrete, and I could see how people would really vibe with that, at least on a cult following level. I wonder if a Max Payne One remake translates to mainstream, especially if they're keeping a lot of the same things of Max Payne 1.

[Greg Miller]

I don't, I haven't paid attention. I mean, we've done it here, but I haven't committed to memory. Have they said that, that they're remaking Max Payne and keeping it the same? Or is it one of them?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

They just said they're remaking Max Payne One.

[Greg Miller]

I think you'd make it modern. I think it would be a modern.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Dude if they remake it, but like modernize it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, that's. That's gonna kill.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Good luck. I hope we get there, everybody. Number six, Monster Hunter Wilds. Post launch sales continue to decline. This is Andy Robinson at vgc. Post launch sales of Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds, the sequel to its best selling game of all time, continued their decline in the company's latest financial results. According to Capcom's Results for the three months ended September 30, 2025, Wilds sold just 160,000 units during the period. That's fewer than in previous quarter when the game sold 477,000 units, which Capcom called soft and which introduced a drop in price, influenced a drop in Capcom's stock price. In terms of units, Monster Hunter Wilds only barely made Capcom's top 10 for the quarter, selling fewer copies than Street Fighter 6, Devil May Cry HD Collection, and even Monster Hunter Rise. However, these games have been heavily discounted leading to Capcom's highest ever catalog sales for the first half of a fiscal year. Overall, Wilds has been a hugely successful release for Capcom, breaking the company's launch record with a huge 10 million copies in its first month. It's also currently the best selling game of the year in the US in terms of dollar sales, according to Circana Data up to August 30th. However, the game's drop off since launch has been significant in the context of a follow up to the 28 million selling Monster Hunter World.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

What's the viable Monster Hunter Wallets. I forgot that came out this year.

[Greg Miller]

I haven't. You know, I adore it and loved it and played the shit out of it and was there for the first few updates. But now it's just that thing of we're awash in games, right? It's just all games, all media, you know, Xbox always like we're not company with PlayStation. We're kidding me with TikTok and YouTube. Yeah, that's all in the mix where, you know, in. You know how much I love Halloween. You know, we were once king and king of Halloween.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Of course.

[Greg Miller]

Like there was a. There's a Monster Hunter update with pumpkin heads and stuff like that. And it was that thing of like, oh, I'd love to go get that. That but I got to do this and I got to play that and skates over here and I gotta, you know, I mean like there's enough things going on that it's just like, I don't know if I ever come back to Monster Hunter Wilds. It's that same thing of like World was the same way for me. Like I loved World. Me and Kevin played the out of it when at launch and then they did Iceborne, but I didn't make it back for that. So it's like one of those that like I beat it and I got the armor I want and there's always things to grind for or whatever. But I just. It isn't the. Stick with me. I mentioned Skate a second ago. Right. Which I know some people love, some people hate. Whatever. What I love about Skate for me is that it is that game that so far I can check into. I don't. I don't feel like I need to commit. I need. I need two hours to play Skate. No, I can play whatever I'm playing for review and then pop in, collect whatever the daily free things are, see what the shop update is, maybe do a challenge or maybe not. Like last night I just turned it on to be like, oh, I like that pumpkin head. I'm getting that pumpkin. You know what I mean? Like, do that and bounce off. And like, I know I'll be back to skate in the same way Fortnite. I'm back to fortnite here. But skate I'm back to so far continually. Whereas like Monster Hunter, like, hey, do you want to get this pumpkin head? And I immediately know I do. It means that I'm going to have to run this mission at least four times. But I'm going to jump back in. Like, what was I. How do I play again? There'll be that moment of getting maybe and then how do I navigate the menus where it's like. Like it's not turnkey jumping and go. Which of course is usually the success of Monster Hunter. But like, for me right now, I'm like, that is a commitment. That is. I. I need. I need downtime. And I should play that for like a few days, a few nights or whatever. And with. As we continue to go, Review season's dead. Long live review season. The amount of games you and I currently have to play that. This shit looks awesome. And I want to go be a part of this. And maybe I get in there to get it. But I'm also. I don't buy that I'm going to have nobody here likes Monster Hunter like I do. You know, Goddamn Mike does not like PvE games. Drives me fucking crazy. So it's one of those, like, I don't. There's not going to be another resurgence here where I'm. I can force everybody to play it on stream. Joey will help me and play with me. You know what I mean? But it's not like there's a hunger to go home and do it. Plus fucking Arc Raiders tomorrow. Calm the fuck, you know what I mean? Like, there's so much going on right now that I look at this and I'm like, I just don't. I had so much fun with it. It's gonna be in my top 10 for sure. Like, I love this game. I love all this shit. But like, when's it turn off? Wednesday. What? November. Something a Wednesday in November. I'll be fine, you know, I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

Well, thank you so. I don't know. I love this game, but it did not become the Everlasting Gobstopper. I'm go back to it all the time kind of thing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Fair enough.

[Greg Miller]

So, yeah, and I. I don't know. I. I still have the Palabros podcast Out there. I'm still listening to Krabby Patty out there. Kind of funny. Best friend does a monster podcast.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Wow.

[Greg Miller]

It's Monster Hunter as a ip. Okay, good, good. Listen all the time. Love it, everybody. The pal, the Palabros. Find it on your podcast service choice. It is, it is. So I don't know. And they're always like, come play with us. But it's the same thing where it's like, ah, you know, my schedule's so hit or miss and this, that, the other.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah. I remember at the end of last year I hit a point where I was like, I gotta retire at least momentarily from playing 100 hour JRPGs and Tekken 8. Tekken 8 and Metaphor and Persona 3 reload sucked up 300 hours collectively of my game playing time last year. And I think for us, partly with the job, but also I think partly for how much I know we want to play different games and do all these things. It's like, man, if I sacrifice these three games, I can now play so many other things.

[Greg Miller]

In the chat, popping off for Krabby B. Patty, of course. Kind of funny best friend we all know well. And like I said, host of the palpables, Erdie Cooper says, greg, go play with Krabby. He's a nice boy. Lol. He's a great boy. Crabby. Hit me up and then come here. Just come to the office and stream with me. That would be the fix. There we go. We're done. We'll get me some pumpkin heads. We got to do it before November 12th, apparently.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Okay, well, Mike in chat mentions bless still hasn't played to XKO since launch. I actually have. I did a stream of 2xko, but that's another one where it's like, ideally, if I could have. In my way, I would play 2xko for 60 hours straight, right? I would play it for 3 weeks, 4 weeks, like however long, and fucking go all in on 2x scale. But I just can't do that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, of course. That's the whole problem with our life. Yeah. A lot of different games, everybody. Me going all in at a game again the chat already, Cooper, I'm going to tell. I'm telling him you said that. No, I'm serious. Crabby. Come stream Monster Hunter with me. Come do that. Come to San Francisco. I don't know where you live. I don't know where you are. Is he in the. Is he around? Whatever. We'll figure that out. You just come here and play the fucking game with me, okay?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

He's in bikini bottom.

[Greg Miller]

But Krabby coming here to play Monster Hunter Wilds movie would be big news. Some would say huge news. If I wanted smaller news, say the tiniest news I needed to know about, where would I go?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

We go to our last story, the We News Channel, where you cover all the small news items and nude items you need to know about.

[Greg Miller]

Say no more. Oh God. Number seven on the rope Report the Wii News from Deadline. Backyard baseball video game land's first ever adaptation, Sticky Situation, a 2D animated special from the animation studio behind Ricky and Morty and Bob Burgers. Bob's Burgers. The movie features Tiffany Haddish as Keisha Phillips and Arturo Castro as Pablo Sanchez.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Just the sentence featuring Tiffany Haddish as Keisha Phillips is that's a crazy sentence. If you're somebody who grew up with Backyard baseball.

[Greg Miller]

Backyard Soccer. Here's the log line quote it's opening day at Steel Stadium, but team superstar Stephanie Bubbles Morgan is in crisis. She's lost her. Gotta have it. Never played without it. Lucky bubblegum. With just 30 minutes until the game, the backyard kids embark on a wild mission to track it down and save their season. Season.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

No joke. I'm excited about.

[Greg Miller]

I'm sure you know Mike's on five, nine. I'm sure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

But like, man, this sounds from the Rick and Morty and Bob's Burger animation studio like, let's Go.

[Greg Miller]

From GameSpot. Hideo Kojima has responded to reports that the Matrix creators Lily and Lana Wachowski once pitched a game idea to Konami while he worked there. Kojima explained that there was no mention of an offer to develop a Matrix video game, and back then he was busy working on metal gear solid 2. QUOTE if someone had told me, maybe there could have been a way to make it work, kojima added. Never too late, Hideo. Never too late. Matrix still hot.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Kojima has like one game left in him.

[Greg Miller]

No, don't say that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Two, actually. I guess. OD and Fizzing.

[Greg Miller]

Oh my God, no. From Gamatsu, Neon Doctrine will merge into sister company Raw Fury, and Neon Doctrine's published titles will be managed by Raw Fury going forward. The companies have announced.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Okay, are they gonna combine their names? Raw Doctrine or Neon Fury? Like Neon Fury goes hard.

[Greg Miller]

If we were gonna make a developer, we should call it Raw Doggin.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I don't know if that's a good one. I don't.

[Greg Miller]

From IGN Game to open up with a Raw Dogging From IGN Content creators specializing in the Sims 4 content are leaving EA's creator network in Protest after EA confirmed it is to be acquired by an investor group composed of Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, the PIF Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's affinity partners. Good for you. Good on you. Fuck that. From Jared Kushner, 100% from VGC. Directors behind Warner Brothers canceled Brawler Multiversus have formed their own independent studio. Airlock Games is a self funded developer founded by Multiversus production director Justin Fisher and technical director Brock Feldman. PlayStation Play, PlayStation plus essential games for November 2025 are Stray, EA Sports WRC 24 and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

What a month. A game that we got on PS + two years ago.

[Greg Miller]

Tabs. Don't even worry about that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

And EA Sports WRC 24.

[Greg Miller]

The battle. The battle. Polytopia surpasses 25 million downloads on mobile. Mobile. God. Congratulations to them. And then Apple has been appointed to the Game Awards Board of Advisors. That's neat. And then final one is a blue sky. It's a BS Tim from Obsidian. Due to an ongoing Azure servage outage, The Outer Worlds 2 may be temporarily unavailable to purchase or install on Xbox Series Xs. The Xbox app on PC and with Xbox Game Pass ultimate or PC Game Pass. And that was today. A little more than a little. About an hour ago. There you go. That's a Future's here. The future is here because of an Azure service. You can buy out of it. Remember when AWS went down the other day and everything failed? God, not scary at all. And that's it for the Wii news.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

It's the fucking dei.

[Greg Miller]

You know. That was the problem. That was the problem.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Now it's affecting Azure.

[Greg Miller]

Let's get into some super chats before we kick you over to the Gamescast to talk about the 10 games that define people. Nightlife says Happy birthday tax. I adopted a puppy. Her name is Leia. It's her adoption birthday. Greg and blessing. Looking good kfam. You guys are great.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

Happy birthday to the puppy. I think. I think that's all together. That's the adoption birthday. Happy birthday no matter what it is. Chocolate McMuffin. Oh nine says bless. Say the P word for the kids.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Pussy.

[Greg Miller]

There it is. Gaming with Josh says birthday Tax. I turned the big three. Oh today got the day off. But thank to you guys for keeping me entertained whenever I listen at work. Happy birthday Gaming with Josh and congratulations on having the day off. Not sue you says my jabroni Snowbike Mic for president. He'd do a better job. He would be better. He would do A better job. And it would be.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I mean, we'd still be in a truck.

[Greg Miller]

Everything would be a disaster. But it'd be a fun disaster.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

He was talking about it yesterday of how he. I forget if this is on stream or off stream, but he was saying about how, like, how easy of a job it would be. You just get. But he. He did.

[Greg Miller]

He was saying he didn't lay it out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, he was like, just get the right people in the room, hear the perspectives and figure out what's the best way to go.

[Greg Miller]

That is 100%. You know what Mike Fair Foxy C says, hey, bless. I played the demo for into the Grid and can confirm it may have the sauce.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, no, I can't like all these games. Having the seance of Blake Manor apparently is Daniel Dwyer's game of the year. This is too much.

[Greg Miller]

Every time Jason Schreier pops up and he's like, I put 900 hours into this. Like, fuck, I don't have time for this. But I want to play that. The Portland Kevin we were talking about shows that we. That we make that aren't huge successes. He says, shout out to Debatable Jared Peter. And it's insulting that you say that when Debatable was hosted by Jerry Perry for two episodes before he fucking quit. And then me and Nick had to.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Make it at least 4.

[Greg Miller]

Limp on Ty. Ty Wilkins VO super chats and says Love Wilds fell off because of other games. The Omega Savage fight brought me back. I'm now back to playing regularly every night. Still amazing. Can't wait for the expansion. Maybe if Krabby Patty isn't a coward and comes here to stream with me, maybe I'm back. You know, Nightlife is back to say. Not sure my message went through. It did. Please stop giving us money. You don't have to do that. We love you, Nightlife. Last geek says me and my girlfriend are Final Fantasy 14 players and I'm tempted to get Monster Hunter to check out the crossover story. Would it be easy for me and her to play through the story together? Yes, I. Well, so it's actually complicated. Remember, I remember this being. I remember this being an issue where when Mike and Joey were doing the same things, it's like. Like they have to go get the story mission separately and then come together to do the mission. I remember it wasn't as easy as we wanted to, but you can make it happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm not wrong, Link. He's like, yes. Co op in the story is awful. Thank you and then Jay Peterson gets birthday text and says Turns I turned 29 today. Happy birthday, Jay. Your last birthday and you're not 30s. It doesn't matter. I don't know. I call that out. Just doing it to. Your wrongs are here. Super Tyler says. And remember, keep us on. It's kind of funny.com/your wrong missed part of the news. Twitch has also had key layoffs. Not a lot, but the specific people Amazon thinks they're going to replace with AI is pretty scary. Including the guy who built the fraud program.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

The frog program.

[Greg Miller]

Fraud. Fraud.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh, fraud frog. I mean frog would be Phil's frog, you know that wouldn't be the guy.

[Greg Miller]

Who built Froggers being reports.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, the frog guy. That seems like somebody who don't want to play off. I had a very good friend who got laid off from Twitch also, which broke my heart yesterday when he told us the news. And so I hate hearing this shit.

[Greg Miller]

Tundra boy has the finals. You're wrong. We news. Breath of the Wild is getting an official vinyl release. This is big news for vinyl fans as it's the first Nintendo game soundtrack to be made available on vinyl outside of Japan.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Really?

[Greg Miller]

According to Bill Trinen, the company is treating this as a test case and it could be the first series of. First in a series of, you know, vinyl soundtracks in the west is what I'll say.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

We got to get out our wallets, guys. We got to buy this. Damn, we got to get this. You got to make this thing sell out.

[Greg Miller]

Damn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

I'm gonna buy this. I need y' all in chat to buy this too.

[Greg Miller]

I'll remind you that Nintendo Music's a free app. You can get all the music for free.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, but vinyl is different though.

[Greg Miller]

It is. You can collect takes up space.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Yeah, I got that.

[Greg Miller]

I got a fucking crate of vinyls in my goddamn attic and a record player up there. I'm always like, jen, can we get rid of this? She's like, no. I'm like, fuck.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

How much space are the vinyls really taking?

[Greg Miller]

I'll show you some photos next time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

How many vinyls?

[Greg Miller]

I could put more Ghostbuster stuff up there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

They're like thin. You just fucking stack them side to side. And ladies, gentlemen, 180 bucks, everybody. Let's put away the wallets. Put your wallets back in your pocket.

[Greg Miller]

This is going to lead to more answers. Say no. No fucking magic eight ball out here for these kind of goddamn. Jesus, everybody. That's another episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily in the Books. Remember, each and every weekday we're here with you to run you through the nerdy video game news you need to know about. Live on Twitch TV. Kindafunnygames, YouTube.comt kind of funny Games podcast services around the globe. Zane gets one in the super late birthday tax turn 24 on the 6th of this month. But thanks for everything you do. I have you on at work. Thank you, Zane. Happy Birthday. Remember, if you want to support us beyond super chats that you can put in while we're live, get that Kind offunny membership. Patreon.com kind of funny YouTube.com kind of funny games Apple and Spotify get all of our shows ad free. Get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller. I got to upload today's Greg Way still. And of course get good karma for supporting an 11 person small business business. The programming day is far from over. It's going to be games cast where the boys talk about the 10 games that define them. And then 5 Hour Energy. Inspired. No, not inspired. Sponsored Outer Worlds 2 stream with me. I'm very excited about it. Can't be inspired.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

We got a whole bunch of five hour energy out there.

[Greg Miller]

I'm drinking them. I'm drinking one for sure on there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

Oh God.

[Greg Miller]

Oh yeah. Everybody. So hang out with us all day. Twitch, YouTube, you know it. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. It's Cybersecurity Awareness month and Lifelock has tips to protect your identity. Use strong passwords, set up multi factor authentication, report phishing and update the software on your devices. And for comprehensive identity protection, let Lifelock alert you to suspicious uses of your personal information. Lifelock also fixes identity theft, guaranteed or your money back.

[Greg Miller]

Stay smart, safe and protected with a.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr]

30 day free [e-mail] Podcast terms apply.

[Greg Miller]

When I was there, you had to have a knife. One of you's gotta take turns carrying it up your rectum.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

That's the prison wallet. You never leave home alone.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

You have something protected around it, I'm assuming.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, or else you'll be bleeding out your coolo.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

I'm Mariana Van Zeller, and after reporting on black markets for my Emmy winning National Geographic show, Trafficked, I'm launching a podcast. You're getting emotional on me. Intimate conversations with those operating in the shadows. The Hidden Third is out now with new episodes every Wednesday. [e-mail] marianavanzeller Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.