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Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast
Outer Worlds 2 Disappoints, Obsidian Discusses Future - Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.03.26
01:06:04
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- [00:00]
A
Go to boot.dev and use the code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan. If you wanna get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows go to patreon.com kinda funny today in the nerdy news you need to know about. Obsidian opens up about their games last year and the troubles ahead. Ubisoft's Union wants the CEO to resign and PlayStation's craziest patent ever is here. We'll have all this and more because this is kinda fun and Games Daily Foreign. What's up everybody? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Tuesday, February 3, 2026. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller, alongside a voice I haven't heard in oh so long. She of course is the author of Super Nintendo, the game changing company that unlocked the power of Play. It's Keza McDonald's.
- [01:01]
B
Greg Miller, as I live and breathe. It's good to see you.
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A
As I live and breathe. Keza. How the hell have you been?
- [01:08]
B
You know, pretty well, pretty busy. Wrote a book. Wrote a book right there.
- [01:11]
A
Yeah, wrote a book, raising some kids, doing the whole thing, you know, you're just about town, doing everything. I miss you so much, Keza. Of course we worked together at IG and even then we were separated by the pond as the people.
- [01:24]
B
I know.
- [01:25]
A
But at least we get to see each other once in a while in E3 or something. Now I never see you and it turns out we. When you've been gone, you've been writing this book, Super Nintendo. Tell me all about it.
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B
So I wrote this book after 20 years of. Basically that's 20 years now I've been a games journalist. 20 years of interviewing Nintendo creatives. 20 years of playing Nintendo games. 30 years of playing Nintendo games. Actually if we're counting the non professional years. And I really wanted to write a history of Nintendo that kind of did it justice, you know that like really talked about not just how these games are made and who made them, what, which is information that's really hard to get and that Nintendo does not give out very much itself.
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A
Even these days when they announce the game, they won't tell you who's making the game. Half the time. You have to wait till the game of the credits.
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B
Yeah, and if you look at the Nintendo Museum, the version of its own history that Nintendo likes to present is this very product oriented version. And so I wanted to talk more about how we love these games and how we experience them and the place they hold in the world and in our hearts. So it's a lively cultural history and it's kind of my life's work so far. I'm really proud of it.
- [02:26]
A
I was going to say, yeah, talk to me a little bit about like the. I wouldn't know where to start even if you were like, let's talk about Greg. Write the history of PlayStation, something I know a little bit better since my IGN backing it would be. So like, I don't. I would call Shuhei, I guess when you wanted to do it justice and go make Super Nintendo, which is available now in Canada and the United States, available in the UK next week. It is up as an audiobook as well. You can get it wherever fine books are sold. Where did you start and like how long did you gestate on the idea to find out what you actually wanted to go do with it?
- [02:58]
B
Well, hilariously I started thinking about it like in 2016, so 10 years ago now. And it was because I just had my like 10th anniversary as a games journalist then and I started thinking a lot about why I'm still doing this and you know, what got me into games in the first place. And the answer to both those things was Nintendo, really. But then I had a small delay caused by having two children in a pandemic.
- [03:18]
A
Yeah.
- [03:19]
B
And then once I got my handle on those things, I started writing it properly in about 2023. And first thing I did was go and delve into all of my archives, my interview archives, because, you know, over the years I've spoken to Miyamoto, Aonuma, Fujibayashi, lots of other people who've worked at Nintendo on all sorts of different games over the years. And I ended up structuring it around the game franchises. Right. So there's a Mario Chapter, Zelda Chapter, Nintendo Labo, Splatoon, Animal Crossing. Some you wouldn't expect most that you would expect. And I'm kind of using those games as a way to get into telling something bigger about Nintendo and something bigger about video games as well. The Pokemon chapter was fun. That was a really fun one to write.
- [04:00]
A
Well, yeah, that was my favorite thing about getting the book and cracking it open. I wasn't sure what I was jumping into, where we were going and then to see on that front page. Yeah. I just laid out by the IP of what do you want to get into? Where do you want to go? And I like, obviously I read a cover to cover, but I like as an Animal Crossing fan, maybe I jumped ahead. Maybe I jumped ahead everybody to hop into Animal Crossing. And that's why? Like, one of the passages I. I want to know. What I love about the book is, of course, I think everyone's Nintendo story, any Nintendo fan story, if they're talking about Nintendo or even when we talk about video games in general. So much of it is wrapped up in your own personal story. And I appreciate how much of that is in the book. Even though it is super Nintendo. Right. There's a lot of kezze in here, as there should be. And I really appreciate here in the Animal Crossing chapter. I came to Animal crossing on the Gamecube in 2002. That Christmas, I had somehow persuaded my baffled family to get me a silver gamecube from Canada, where Animal Crossing had just come out. How did you get your family to import you an entire silver game? Like, I remember my mom when I wanted a Game Boy and she said, there is no way I am paying $99 for a video game console. How did you get the game imported?
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B
The lengths I went to were insane as a kid. Like, I would spend all this time reading about Japanese Nintendo games and looking at the tiny little screensh in the magazines and obsessing over how great these games obviously were because they only existed in my imagination. And then when, when the GameCube came out, by this point, I was a teenager, I just had to play Animal Crossing and it wasn't going to be released in Europe.
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A
Yeah, you did forever.
- [05:26]
B
Like, it was going to take years. So I. I saved up all my money for an entire year and then I kind of shoved that at my mom and was like, here's a link. Here's a link to this weird little Canadian import game shop that will send me a gamecube. Just take all this money and like, make up the difference and just press the button. And I actually stood over her shoulder, like, to make sure that she did it correctly. And then I ignored my family on Christmas Day to go hang out with my new Animal Crossing buddies. That was. That was how that worked out.
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A
Yeah, I had that highlighted too, where you talk about how, of course, the creators envisioned this game as a way for families to connect with each other while playing the game at different times. I proceeded to completely ignore my actual family for several days in favor of my new virtual friends and the new life in Lon Lon Town. I also thought it was very beautiful. The dedication to the book for my dearly missed mom, sue, who always supported my passion for video games. Parentheses, even when she didn't always understand it. I think that's another common thread of people of Our ilk here, including you, obviously, listener and viewer of parents who are like, I don't understand why you want a silver gamecube imported from whatever. Yeah, I'll do it for you. It'll make you happy. Okay.
- [06:30]
B
Yeah, that's something my parents were always pretty good at. Like, they were very strict about games actually. They made, they made sure that I wouldn't get too obsessed with them. Right. I was only allowed to play games on a Friday and a Saturday. So that worked. Like that completely suppressed my passion for video.
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A
Totally. Yeah. Yeah, it was a real good restrictor play.
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B
Really worked.
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A
Got you. What? You're also, you're also out there playing the sports. You're doing all that stuff too.
- [06:51]
B
Yeah, just I was outside like at least a few times a week. It was, it was all good. But yeah, they kind of realized I wasn't going to grow out of video games when I was about 25, I think.
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A
Oh, okay.
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B
That's the point at which they kind of accepted it.
- [07:02]
A
They gave up. Then they're like, okay, I like that. So then I guess, yeah. What's. Before we move on to the show here? Because of course you're an award winning journalist as well. I'm excited for you to go through the news of the day with me for Super Nintendo. What is the pitch? What does everybody need to know?
- [07:17]
B
If you are a Nintendo fan, you will read something that you don't already know. There's loads of really cool stuff from all sorts of creative figures from Nintendo's history, people who've worked at the company for decades. There's definitely, and I can say this with confidence because Nintendo Life reviewed it and they definitely read some stuff they didn't know. So there'll be something new for you. And if you're somebody who's kind of dabbled in Nintendo, then I think that it really tells you why it is that people feel so strongly about these games and what it is that make Nintendo games special.
- [07:43]
A
You joke about it, but I love that on the back cover you have, of course, friend of the show, Mike Drucker, who says, quote, I thought I knew everything there was to know about Nintendo before I read this book and I literally used to work there. So there's always going to be something in there for somebody. And I would go even a step further of like, I think Nintendo being so vital to our industry and so vital to video games overall, it's worth a read on that. Even if you're like, I've never been a Nintendo person, I think there's so much in there to figure out about how these ip, these franchises, these things that have gone so far beyond a home video game console. It's a great read Kez. Congratulations. I'm very proud of you.
- [08:17]
B
Thank you so much man. I worked really hard on it. I'm very proud of it.
- [08:20]
A
Super Nintendo available everywhere in US and Canada right now in bookstores. You can get the audiobook and then UK next week. I also want to give a shout out to one of my favorite podcasts on the planet post games that you were on just a couple weeks ago talking about the book and the history of Nintendo. Chris Plant, you had a dynamite discussion out there. Another great one to go pick up and support on Patreon and a million other places where you can get it. Even in Spotify, I think. Just like us because we're kind of funny. Each and every weekday we're here talking about the nerdy video game news need to know about. If you're watching live, be part of the show by super chatting on YouTube.com kindafunnygames of course we couldn't do this show without our Patreon producers. So over on patreon.com kindafunny so thank you Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some new six items on the Roper Report. One. Obsidian isn't making Outer Worlds 3, but will work on more games in the Avowed Universe, despite disappointing sales. This is Chris Scullion over at vgc. Obsidian Entertainment has no plans to make the Outer Worlds 3, but will make more games in the Avowed World, despite the recent entries for both series underperforming financially. In a Bloomberg interview with Obsidian head Fergus and then Urquhart. Does that sound right to you, Keza? You're smarter than me, I think. Thank you. It's implied that Grounded two was, quote unquote a big hit for the studio, but neither the Outer Worlds two nor Avowed met sales expectations. While the article doesn't directly quote him stating that both games sold less than expected, it claims that both games had, quote unquote, disappointing results, then quotes the Obsidian head as saying the results of each game made the studio quote, think a lot about how we think a lot about how much we put into the games, how much we spend on them, and how long they take. Rockhart also explained that both games were in development for more than six years and his role is to cut down on cut down to three or Four years per game going forward. Later in the article, it's confirmed that while Obsidian is working on added content for The Outer Worlds 2 in Grounded 2, as well as other entirely new games, there are no plans to make The Outer Worlds 3. The studio does, however, plan to, quote, unquote, keep making games in the Avowed universe. The article states. This doesn't necessarily mean avowed 2. It should be noted that Avowed was set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity. Obsidian's studio design director, Josh Sawyer, also addressed the fact that Obsidian released three games last year, stating that it wasn't deliberate and wasn't necessarily a good thing, despite Xbox hailing it as the year of Obsidian. Noting that the release of the three games meant the studio support teams were stretched thin, Sawyer said, quote, spacing those releases helps the company manage its resources and not burn everybody out. It's not good to release three games in the same year. It's the result of things going wrong. End quote. Of course, we did list this as required reading. The article from Schreier over on Bloomberg is titled Inside Xbox. A Game Studio Is Trying to Reinvent Itself. It is a long, amazing piece. These are just some of the tidbits pulled out by Chris over at VGC. Cousin McDonnell, I know you're a Nintendo expert, but you've been around the block with video games left and right. Where are you at with Obsidian when you think of Obsidian, what do you think?
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B
So, like, I think actually about the original Fallouts, because Fergus Urquhart was one of the guys who worked at Black Isle Games, which did like, you know, Planescape and a bunch of really nerdy computer RPGs in the 90s, which were held up as the very best, most intellectual games that were. That's actually what I think about, because most of those guys went on to Obsidian. But I also think about New Vegas, criminally underrated. Fallout, New Vegas, beautifully broken Fallout, New Vegas. I loved it. And I always get a little bit worried when Xbox buys a studio because I saw quite up close what happened to Lionhead. Yes, and also you can look at what happened to Rare. You know, like, obviously Rare have made Sea of Thieves, which is a great success, but there was a long time in the desert there where a lot of Rare's personality seemed to die a little bit. So I'm always a little bit worried. But Obsidian do seem to be kind of thriving, don't they? Releasing three games last year is unusual for any studio.
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A
Yeah, but then it gets to that concerning point again. If I'm Microsoft Not Xbox, Microsoft. And I come in, I look at the balance ledger here and I go, you bought this studio, you bought all these studios, and this one put out three games. And how many of them actually turned a profit? How many were actually successful? Like, you're not? Like, I really enjoyed the Outer Worlds 2 because of how deep I thought it went into being an RPG in terms of the mechanics and the bullet points and what you're using with your XP and yada yada, yada. But overarching the story didn't do it for me. In Outer Worlds one I also thought was under baked. So not getting an Outer Worlds 3 isn't a crushing blow to me. I just want to make sure Obsidian keeps making games. And what I've said before is like, avowed was another RPG last year that I played and that I have positive feelings on. But I also thought was underwhelming, but I enjoyed my time with it to the point that new game plus comes on February teens. Isn't it like the 17th? I think that's also the PlayStation 5 release date. I will drop in for a new game plus to see the new races, to see what things they've done to it. And it makes me just want to make sure Obsidian is still making those kind of RPGs. Grounded. I'm not a survival guy, so it's just not what I want to jump into.
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B
Avowed was really cool. I enjoyed a vibe. I didn't love it exactly. Like, this is the ironic thing, reading through this, reading through this article and everything that Urquhart and the other people who are running the store, running the studio are saying, they're saying the games are too big, they take too long. I would agree. If avad had been 20 hours long, it would have been probably one of my games the last year. But it just really started to drag after a while, you know, and this.
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A
Is something I go into all the time when we start talking about Obsidian Slash, start talking about these kind of RPGs, is that we really need to get rid of this idea that the RPG has to be this huge go anywhere world. And I want the RPG that is, hey, it's going to be 10, 12 hours and you are going to make choices in it that then make it radically different than what then you replay it again and you find something else that way. And these conversations and you, you do show up and you kill everybody. You're thrown in jail and the credits roll like that. That should be an option for what we're doing rather than feeling like it's gotta be all these different planets or all these different environments and biomes and, you know, avowed. I thought for me. And I always saw Andy and I talk about it too. It was the fact that for some reason, just none of the companions clicked for us. And so when you don't have that pulling you through, then it's like, okay, well, combat was great, the world was beautiful, but I didn't have a connection to what I was doing.
- [15:03]
B
Yeah. And it had a really awesome art style as well. Right. Like that annihilation vibe that it had. That was very cool. I would like to see something. I would just like to see smaller games in general, though, Greg. This is something I say all the time. I don't have 300 hours anymore, man.
- [15:15]
A
100%. And when you look at Obsidian, right. You think. I think of Pentiment too. Right. Which was such a. Hey, here's this thing we've been working on. Tinkering. You drop. And everybody loved it. And it was on Game of the Year list and it was all these different things and it was that, hey, here's a smaller scope. Let's take what works about RPGs and play with it and tinker with it and give you something that's digestible and ready to run through. I think they're such a talented studio and I'm fascinated to see what they do next. I'm just always worried about any studio getting to do something next in this world right now because it's kind of bleak. Because if you haven't noticed.
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B
Yeah. You know, the Beat. The Beat is not so. Not so happy at the moment.
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A
It's.
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B
It's kind of hardcore. Every week there's another studio closing or another. You know, I always worry about that 30% profit margin that Microsoft has been pushing on its studios. Like, 30% is a high profit margin for anything, let alone for a creative thing.
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A
Like, again, 100%. Yeah. So you have to really worry about where that. That goes. But I hope Obsidian's good. I like more in the avowed universe and Pillars. That's fine. I still think it is batshit fucking crazy that they haven't turned and said, listen, Todd, we love you. Keep making Elder Scrolls. You can make the next Fallout with a number at the end of it. But we're taking the. We're. We're giving Obsidian this Fallout Chicago. Just go do that. You know what I mean? Like the make New Vegas too. And I know it's not the same people, but it is the same vibe and DNA and Desire of like let's go have fun with that.
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B
Yeah, that would be great. And also if they knock that out in six or seven years, that would be fast by Bethesda standards.
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A
I know, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In the super chats, Gondor's Condor super chats, it says Shrier noted they want three year dev cycles. Now I do believe we talked a little bit about that. Getting it down to three or four was mentioned even in the VGC article here, which would be great. Which again I think would speak to smaller experiences. But I want smaller powerful experiences rather than these larger games that have that bloat, that have too many samey things in it that just don't work. Because again, as somebody who liked the outer worlds to a lot, what sticks with me was my character story in terms of the choices I made. To make a stealth build or make a really weak sickly build or to take on the flaw. It's not the overarching. I was an Earth director agent and here's where I was going, what I was doing. But I digress. Kids, what are you playing these days? You say you don't have much time. I know you're a parent, you're on a book tour, you're out there doing all what is when you have a free moment. What are you playing?
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B
I live for anything that I can play on my Steam deck or my switch to. Sure, sure, like it really. It just completely changes the game. But the most recent thing I played was Cairn, which is a climbing game.
- [17:53]
A
Did it resonate with you the way with everybody else? Yeah, okay.
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B
I loved it. It was really good. I mean a game about the nature of obsession that I can finish in 12 hours. Yes, perfect. I also really stubbornly spent most of the second half of last year playing Silksong. Just really stubbornly. And it was really hard to get through obviously. Especially if you have to play it in like 20 minute chunks or hour long chunks. Like I generally have to play games at the moment, but I got there in the end. I'm on that last boss. I'll definitely get it before next August. I've decided.
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A
Okay, great. I'm glad that's all. That's the hope that's where you're. You're going for is to be to before then. What do you. How do you. You know, I think of you of course as Keza, the video game journalist. All right. You're doing all the stuff, you're writing the books, obviously you've worked everywhere. We haven't really talked. You're, you know, you're at the Guardian like you're doing all this different stuff. You formerly ign, you've been all over the map for you on what I think of as the real journalist side of it, doing the interviews, writing the features. You're not the reviewer. So like, how do you choose what to play? Do you. Do you try to play a little bit of everything or do you just say I'm committed to Silk Song and I can interview people about it and I can pay attention to the things that are happening in the industry for story ideas? Or are you still hopping around?
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B
Greg, I lost you for a second version of that question.
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A
The quick version is with you being a real writer and a real journalist and not having to chase the review beat. What are you playing? Like, how do you decide what to play? Do you feel like you need to play everything or do you pick something you just play that?
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B
You know what's really good is that the Guardian I basically get to decide what I do for myself, which is awesome. It's really good. So I pick things that, yeah, I pick things that I find personally interesting for whatever reason, whether it's just something I want to play or whether it's because I've met the developer and I think they've got a cool story or whatever else. I mean, the things that I look for from games are sort of different now. And I also don't have. Because I'm not working for Kotaku, which was my most recent job, or IGN or any of the big games websites anymore, I don't necessarily have to be on top of, for instance, like High Guard coming out. Sure, High Guard came out. I was like, cool, I'll send someone else to play that. Not my thing. And I didn't have to feel like I had to have an opinion on it.
- [19:56]
A
Gotcha.
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B
Which was quite nice actually. But like I've played. I mean, I think I played 55 games last year and most of them were, you know, five or ten hour or even two hour games. And that's kind of how I'm. How I'm working at the moment. And then I'll have one or two really big things a year that I get properly stuck into. Like Silksong or usually a monster Hunter or it was Tears of the Kingdom. You know, something like that where it's like a big, big game that I can feel very engrossed in. But like my tastes really haven't changed all that much. What's changed is like the time, just the time and the Structure of my time. But yeah, it is cool working for a newspaper because, like, you know, there's always actual news going on, right? Yeah, like, no one's really paying that much attention to what's going on in video games. So I can just turn up and be like, hey, here's this cool thing I found here. This cool thing I've decided to show you guys. And it's like being an ambassador from video game world, I quite like it.
- [20:44]
A
So then call your shot right now. 2026. What is the one or two big things you think you're gonna get obsessed with?
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B
Well, I mean, it's gonna have to be gta.
- [20:53]
A
Yeah. Okay.
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B
Like, assuming we see it this year. Yeah, assuming we see it this year. But, like, I just. I will always make room in my life for a gta. The whole world will make room in their lives for GTA whenever one comes out. But I'm also just fascinated to see how that game's gonna turn out. Man, after all this time. And like, GTA. Reviewing GTA 5 at IGN was simultaneously one of the highlights and lowlights of my whole career. Like, it was so insane. I was locked in a room for a week, basically just playing that game and doing nothing else.
- [21:20]
A
Yeah.
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B
And, you know, it was. It was such a huge deal and it was such a. Just such a kind of massive moment in the culture. And it will be. It'll be very interesting to do it again, but, you know, years and years down the line and to see how. How it's evolved and to reflect on, you know, what games are now and how far they've come since that time, I think that will be. That'll be a real moment when GTA 6 comes out.
- [21:40]
A
Do you see yourself locking yourself in a room again? Or, like, are you going to. Are you going to have to enjoy this at your own pace?
- [21:46]
B
I'm going to have to lock myself in a room for that. You know, I'm going to have. How long are we going to get to review that? A week maybe? Like, there's no way you can. I can do.
- [21:54]
A
I've had this conversation over and over again, right, where it's like, okay, the rumor right now, right, is this thing of maybe it won't even come to retail because they don't want those to leak. And I think if Rockstar is in that mindset, I bet they don't do reviews. That's my prediction. My.
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B
I would be so. Can you imagine? I would be gutted. I would be absolutely gutted not to have go at GTA 6 when it was review time. I mean, I suppose it would be really cool discovering alongside everybody else, but you know, Rockstar have gotten incredibly secretive.
- [22:20]
A
Oh yeah.
- [22:21]
B
And also they're obviously embroiled in like a union dispute, a legal union dispute at the moment, so they're locking down even more. So that would be unprecedented. But I wouldn't put it past them.
- [22:32]
A
Yeah, I don't think they need it. I don't think they need to worry about the Metacritic from people buying it. So we shall see. Before we move on to story number two, super chats, Zeke Speak says, I love Obsidian and I really dig Josh Sawyer's content and ethos. Hope they keep afloat. Me too. And then Verm Deck says with prioritizing Game Pass, I hope that we don't see layoffs at Obsidian. Game Pass does impact hard sales of Xbox titles to some degree. I just hope this leads to positive change for the studio. And yeah, of course, the Microsoft directives changing what Xbox's vision is of course makes anybody out. Obsidian, I'm sure. God, geez, what are we going to get? Where is this going to go? We'll see.
- [23:11]
B
Yeah, I mean, you have two choices right now. You kind of struggle along trying to raise funds wherever you can or you have a corporate owner that may just shut you at any moment. Neither is a great choice really, is it?
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A
No, they both suck. It's not a great time. But keep buying games and supporting the devs and follow them and when they start new things, go support that too. And Kevin, keep writing about games.
- [23:30]
B
Spend money, spend money on games.
- [23:31]
A
There it is.
- [23:31]
B
Capitalism for God's sake.
- [23:33]
A
Not just Fortnite number two on the Roper Report. Ubisoft union representatives call for the resignation of CEO Yves Guillemont. This is Chris Kerr at Game Developer 2. Ubisoft union representatives have warned that it will be impossible for company management to rebuild trust with employees while long serving CEO Yves Guillemont remains in power. Speaking to game developer about the current climate at the French publisher, Mark Rutshell and Chakib Matawi, who both ply their trade at Ubisoft Paris and serve as union representatives for Solidarius Informatic. Jen would kill me for that. That was a terrible pronunciation in French, but I tried indicated staff at the company panicked and I'm sorry, staff at the company panicked and angry after experiencing what they described as betrayal from the top management. The union reps shared their views. Just weeks after the French publisher announced a sweeping reset that kicked off with studio closures, game cancellations the promise of more cost cutting and the announcement of a return to office mandate that will require staff to work on site five days. A Screenshots of internal messages viewed by game developer suggest the initial response to the announcement was one of widespread shock, disbelief and condemnation. Guillemon himself was also called out in multiple messages posted on the company's internal communications platform, with some employees questioning why he remains in charge after presiding over what will eventually be five years of downsizing when Ubisoft concludes its 500 million euro cost reduction plan in 2028. In the wake of the announcement, the union reps feel Guillemont must head for the exit if there is any hope of the company regaining the trust of its employees. Although Rutchelek doesn't believe Ubisoft's struggles are solely the fault of Guillemont, he explained that the CEO is ultimately responsible. It's his company at the end of the day, but everyone around him are just yes men. And that also is the issue during the sexual harassment scandal in 2020. Bless notes. This is also required reading and links over to the article we were just talking about at game developer from Chris Kerr. On top of that, in other news, Zach over Kotaku says Ubisoft Montreal lead David Michonne Crump has been fired just days after he was previously or after he previously published. A few days after he was previously punished. Not published. For publicly speaking out against the company's plans to force all employees to return to the office. Keza Ubisoft. What a shit show, yo.
- [26:08]
B
It's been a shit show for so long now.
- [26:09]
A
So long.
- [26:10]
B
Like, for so many so long. Like I remember the, you know, the sexual harassment scandal in 2020. I was like, whoa. But even before that, you know, when I think I saw, I saw a very interesting graph of Ubisoft stock price that showed 2018 as the last time that it had like, you know, a.
- [26:24]
A
Good, you know, we don't break, we don't bring up the Ubisoft stock here a lot. All right, you know, we don't bring up, you know, maybe, you know, we thought that it could only it was. Seemed so low that it seemed like a good time to buy it because then it would eventually go back up and that didn't happen. It didn't do the GameStop thing that I predicted. Well, you know, so we don't, we don't, we don't need to talk about the stock. The stock was a bad move. But the Ubisoft in general, they're the real problem. They're the real Problem. Not the people saying, buy stock. That's not on. That's not on them.
- [26:53]
B
I do think, like, you know, Ubisoft used to be this publisher that had had Rayman, right? Rayman. And it had even pre Assassin's Creed, it had like a lot of, it had a lot of, a lot of different games.
- [27:04]
A
Ub Arts. Remember when they did UB Arts, Valiant Hearts, Rayman stuff? Child of Light, Child of Eden.
- [27:10]
B
Child of Eden, Yeah.
- [27:12]
A
Wait, who's right? I'm wrong.
- [27:13]
B
I can't remember which it was I said, was that Ubisoft as well? They're both games. We've been doing this so long, the games all sound the same.
- [27:21]
A
Doesn't that suck? You know what I mean? I hate that.
- [27:25]
B
I, I. Greg, when I was researching my book, I quite frequently would Google a game, read two paragraphs about it and go, I did I write that?
- [27:31]
A
Yeah. Oh my God. The amount of times I'm like, I've never heard of that game. And then I reviewed it. Ign they are both games and they are both Ubisoft games, believe it or not. But we were both thinking of Child of Light, the, the artistic one, not this PlayStation Move game, child of Eden. That's not what we were talking about.
- [27:46]
B
That was made by the res guy. By Mizuguchi. It's like a PlayStation. Yeah. Anyway, but Ubisoft used to do all sorts of cool stuff, right? And I remember playing just loads of different, interesting little Ubisoft games and then it did the thing that every publisher did and consolidated everything into Assassin's Creed, essentially. And you know, I don't think they were probably expecting Avatar to. I thought they were probably expecting that to do much better than it did, which was stupid.
- [28:11]
A
That was stupid. If they would have talked to anybody who is not in company, apparently would have been like, no, nobody cares. That's not going to happen.
- [28:17]
B
No, nobody cares about Avatar. They just don't like, despite the fact that it's been this presence in the cinema forever, nobody actually. Do you know anyone who passionately loves Avatar?
- [28:27]
A
Just him. Just him. Tim Gettys likes him. He's the only guy I've ever heard talk positively about Avatar to that thing. But yeah, he, yeah, Ubisoft. And you bring all that up. I remember. I know you do too, but remember when they were fighting off the hostile takeover, right, from Vivendi, and it was like Eve's came out and he's like, we are, we, we need to turn this around. And it was such a success story that they did it and they Were going to still be family owned and be Ubiso. Like, yay. And then, yeah, just the everything's an open world checklist game and everything has this, you know, we're trying to figure out how to go on. Let's go. Oh my God. What are we doing in the. Cancel Prince of Persia. Yeah, now it's Prince of Persia. It's coming out so soon.
- [29:03]
B
That should have been a slam dunk. A remake of Prince of Persia. And it was nearly done. It just wasn't apparently, just wasn't that good. But yeah, like, I think like the consolidation of every single thing into two mega franchises or one mega franchise per publisher. This is another example of it just backfiring. Like you need stuff bubbling under. You need stuff that you can build upon in the future if you're just constantly hammering all of your resources into the same few games. Also, shouldn't Just Dance be propping them up?
- [29:28]
A
You'd think so. They just raised the prices, right?
- [29:31]
B
Yeah, I feel like Just Dance was. It was one of the undersung hits. I mean, everyone knew how well it sold, right? But it really did sell squillions of copies all the way through the 2010s. So I do wonder whether Guillermo perhaps is perhaps maybe needs someone who's more in touch now. And it would be a shame for Ubisoft. Yeah, it'd be a shame for Ubisoft not to be a family company, not to be the Ubisoft we knew anymore. But since when has it been though, Greg? Like when, when did it stop being that Ubisoft? At least five or ten years ago.
- [30:03]
A
100%, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the way, I did hit up Matt Piscatella from Circana Group when we were talking about Just Dance and the price hike a while back. And he, when we were off air, did follow up and was talking about it. He says, well, certainly past the peak of Just Dance, which is the case for the entire dance music genre really. But there's still quite a few folks keeping a wee around for Just Dance. And it still does okay on Switch. Doesn't have a ton of press. I don't have a ton of precise information on the franchise. These days we have to rely more on survey, blah, blah. Who could have seen a comeback if it. Who, who knows? Could it see a comeback if it made its way to the nex playground? Or if we start seeing a retro nostalgia boom for modern gaming, weirder things have happened. So Yves Gamma reads that. He's like, we can hang on, we can hang on to where I playground. That's how we'll get him. That's how we'll do it.
- [30:52]
B
Yeah, yeah, we're pinning, we're pinning everything to just dance on the playground. Never underestimate. Just dance. That's, that's the lesson from this.
- [30:58]
A
Because the thing I know that you see on the news side of it that we talk about in this show so much is I feel like since we started games daily and started talking about this weekly or daily, it's this idea that it's always like, we're always waiting for the other shoe to drop with Ubisoft, whether it be, hey, we're closing, selling, we're fixing it. What? It just, I can't believe that we're in 2026 still talking about Ubisoft being lost in the woods on who they are and what's going to happen next.
- [31:24]
B
Yeah, I mean, the thing is, I remember that when I was, when I was newer in this business, people said the same thing about Nintendo all the time. Oh yeah, of course, Nintendo, yeah. There was just years and years of Nintendo's Doom for one reason or another. It started with the GameCube and then it just kept going. And then when the Wii was announced, the DS was announced, it's like, oh, this is stupid. Nintendo's doomed. It's pivoted to people who don't really care about games. Then of course, it became more successful than it had ever been. But then the Wii U obviously was a genuine flop and there was always this undercurrent of like, they're doomed, they're doomed, they're doomed. And it's never happened. But then Nintendo has billions and billions in the bank and Nintendo has a very strong like, yeah, like there's no way. I mean, it's difficult. Nintendo's become now too big to fail. Surely Ubisoft is not too big to fail. Like, it has Assassin's Creed and it has Far Cry, but like it's kind of let everything else lose cachet culturally, like Rayman. No one knows who that is anymore. Prince of Persia, obviously. They've clearly not invested in that series. Like, I think they've just not. They've not invested enough in the kind of like long tail, like value, like cultural value of their stuff, you know, 100%.
- [32:31]
A
That's what happens when you don't invest in things like patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kinda funny games. Apple and Spotify. That's where you can pick up the kinda funny membership. And of course you'd get all of our shows ad free. You get your daily dose of me Greg Miller in a series I call Greg Way and you'd get good karma for supporting an 11 person 11 year old small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by boot.dev. are you ready to be a software developer?
- [33:00]
B
Kevin is My favorite feature is that you could find a solution that works but then afterwards you can hit solution.
- [33:07]
A
And see the way that they were.
- [33:08]
B
Trying to teach you to do it. That's really cool.
- [33:10]
A
Learn back end web development from start to Finish in Python SQL and go the fun way with boot.dev. it's an RPG like experience where you learn to code by building real projects, earn XP levels, achievements, complete quests and fight bosses while learning to code. All content is free to read and watch. A paid membership unlocks interactive features like hands on coding, progress tracking and game mechanics. Boot.dev has a 30 day no questions asked refund policy, a free demo of the interactive experience on every course, and a discord community with tons of real humans to help you. If you ever get stuck, go to boot.dev and use the code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan. That's boot.dev code kinda funny to get 25% OFF your entire first year of the annual plan. And we're back. Neither of us ran back on camera at a 10 second countdown. Don't worry about it, we're fine. Got more water? Nah, it's great. Let's talk about something incredibly stupid. Number three Sony Patents AI Generated Podcast voiced by characters from its games this is Chris Scullion and vgc. Sony has acquired a new patent for the creation of bespoke AI generated podcast starring video game characters. The patent, which was applied for in July 2024 and granted in late January 2026 is titled LLM based generative podcasts for Gamers. Quote Video game platforms currently lack the ability to provide unique and targeted content to gamers to update the gamers about things that are happening on the platform. The patent claims there are currently no adequate solutions to the foregoing computer related technological problem. The solution proposed by the patent is to generate a pod is to quote generate a podcast of news related to the data with the podcast presenting the news in a voice of a video game character of a video game played by the video game player. End quote. Kevin, if you can scroll down, you'll see the patent images. Its description depicts a scenario where the player starts up their console and are shown a message on the home screen informing them, quote, your personalized podcast is available today rather than a prerecorded podcast made available to all users. The podcast in this example are all individual to each user based on what they've played and may even star characters from the games they've been playing. It could even lead to potential crossover situations with the patent describing a character from one game potentially having dialogue with a character from a different game. As the patent describes it, the console would pull data from various elements including recent gameplay, friends lists and other consoles, level events and inform the player about them. In this podcast, in one example, the player is watching two AI hosts presenting the podcast. One host says, quote Jack Brown just won trophy 532 in Space Explorers. You should try your hand at that game. To which the other host replies, ha, if you think you have the skills. In another, the first host says, quote, in other news, there's a software update for Gen X, so update now. Their co hosts add also try a spin move on the boss next time. The patent also suggests that players would be able to customize the podcast to include or leave out certain information, including news about games they own, recommendations for games they don't own, yet their friends, achievements, moves they can try in games in firmware or software updates. In certain instances the audio may include a joke at the video game players expense. It adds fuck me Kaza.
- [36:59]
B
Do you want to be roasted by Parappa the rapper? Does anyone like, do you want to turn on your PlayStation and have Kratos just dress you down for not using a spin move on a boss? Is that what anyone in this world wants?
- [37:10]
A
Like it's just like does anyone want to be berated? All the shit you turn on your PS5 and Xbox, whatever, but you turn on your PS5 in this example, that fucking welcome screen where how charged your controller is and how what you know fucking Sean's playing and you just skip past every time to just get to the fucking game. Do you want all that Dr. Level driven into your fucking ears by two AI hosts talking nonsense? What are we doing?
- [37:34]
B
Have you ever have you ever used like the Spotify auto DJ with the auto DJ voice?
- [37:40]
A
Hey Greg, it's me, X. I got some new things. I've been seeing you playing Sabrina Carpenter, so I'm gonna fix that. But eventually and I'm like yo AI, shut the up and tell me this is my problem with all of it. Not all of it. But like in Spotify, tell me new music, I don't need to know what I've been listening to. When it's like, I got a country mix for you and it's, yeah, these are all songs I've listened to that I've. What is like this? That would be new. Why is AI the stupidest fucking shit of all time? Oh, this guy got a trophy. Fuck off.
- [38:09]
B
All. All it can do is reflect what you've already told it. Like that's, that's how the technology works. It cannot tell you anything new. It can't. That's not how it works. So all this is, is going to reflect. It's going to reflect whatever data it's given. Right? And that's why fundamentally, I'm not too worried about AI taking our jobs because they simply can't. Like language models cannot tell you anything new. They can't. And the idea surely is that you want to hear something new. I also think the idea of having one of Jammer Lammy or something like Toro, one of those Kuro and Toro, one of those really deep cut PlayStation characters just turn up and roast you and say your friends are doing better than you at all your games. There's just something very dystopian about that.
- [38:47]
A
I love this one, right? In another, the first host says, in other news, there's a software update for Gen X. So update now, motherfucker. You're the computer. Update, update. You, you know the update. You updated. Turn on and up. It pings and you, you updated. Why are you telling me to update? What the fuck?
- [39:09]
B
I'm not the computer.
- [39:11]
A
Jesus, man. We just keep. It's. They know. They know so many of us are against AI. They know we don't want it and we don't like it and yada. And they still come up with the dumbest fucking examples, trying to make you care about it. Like, why would anyone want this? What the fuck is this going to do? This is God Damn, man. Remember PlayStation? Remember when you got your shit kicked in and rocked on the PlayStation 3? And so the PlayStation 4, you came out, you said, you know what, sorry, this is all about the games. Games, games. Here's game. And everybody loved that. Stop putting more fat on the fucking goddamn meat. Just. You talk about games, just make games.
- [39:49]
B
I'm really half expecting PlayStation Home to make a comeback, except this time it's full of AI NPCs you can talk to.
- [39:54]
A
Yeah, just what I want. Thank you so much.
- [39:56]
B
Just. Isn't that, isn't that what we're all here for. Isn't that what we want billions of dollars to be invested in rather than, you know, making anything?
- [40:03]
A
They keep taking the money away from the video games that I want them to fun creatives who are making cool games. No, no, no. It needs to be a proven IP that we can monetize and annualize. And if it's not that, then we'll go and put AI into it because that's what you fucking want.
- [40:17]
B
Oh, dude. Every time I see a new like, oh, this AI company has just met a funding round of 100 million, $300 million or whatever, I'm like, how many games could that have funded? Exactly how many like really good indie games could that be instead of this like moonshot like funding company with a completely unproven technology that so far does almost nothing useful, at least not the useful things that they're trying to tell us that it does. Yeah, it drives me nuts.
- [40:38]
A
And super chats. D. Davis says I can see the voice actors for these characters having a problem with this. Shaking my head. Come on Sony. Yeah, of course when you know, even Sony flirted with showing Aloy using Gen AI stuff. It wasn't Ashley Burch's voice, but she came out against it and talked about it. And then you're gonna get India. What the SAG rules are right now for sag, AFRA and all that jazz, blah blah. Even beyond. What's really horrible and sad to say is that I'm sure by the time this would go the vo's they would have already signed. I'm sure even in the contract now there's somewhere where they've signed away their rights and whatever. There's some buried thing they could, some lawyer could figure out a way to use this for. I get into the more of like what's it going to be? Yeah. When And I know I'm we're talking in a very general sense about a patent. That prop patent shit gets patent all the time and never happens. But to sit here and be like what about when this is a bad example because it clearly it would be fine. But what about when Master Chief is sitting there talking to Kratos and like or and I again that's a bad example since Microsoft doesn't care that much. But what about when it is like a square character is sitting there talking to a Capcom character and they didn't approve that interaction and like what Again, they would have signed away their rights, I'm sure to get their game onto the platform. But the whole thing sucks.
- [41:49]
B
Yeah. You Know, the game characters are not just their image, right? Like, the people who perform these characters, it's obviously. It's an art. It's an incredible feat of performance. And to have that just completely decoupled from the character, like, we're going to just ignore it. Like the actor, the voice, the person who performed that is no longer actually relevant to this character, I think that's really very insulting to us and to the people who play who are game actors.
- [42:14]
A
100% kebab super chat says. Can't wait to turn on my PlayStation 5 for gen AI, crash and sackboy to talk about the cultural backlash around the last Last of Us 2's big twist. Instead of playing a video game Science Dog Official, y' all hear about the AI social media platform that GPT's made to complain about humans on? We need to pull the plug yesterday again. They're just gonna, you know. Ah, Jesus, you know.
- [42:41]
B
Yeah, I mean, I've forgotten what that's called, but basically the. The AI agents have all made a forum where they talk to each other. And, you know, I've read a science fiction novel or two.
- [42:49]
A
It doesn't end well for us in my life.
- [42:51]
B
It never, ever. It's like, oh, they've made a religion. The AIs have made a religion.
- [42:55]
A
Great.
- [42:55]
B
Well, this. Well, this is good. This is great. I feel very comfortable with this. Even though I stupid and can't do anything yet, I feel like making a religion. At that point, you should be pulling the plug.
- [43:05]
A
All this shit's happening in Nintendo. Won't even let me share a fucking screenshot of tomodachi life. All right, like, come on, where are the rules?
- [43:15]
B
I find it really endearing how backwards they've been on everything online, like, for, like, forever. It took them, like, literally 10 years. Like, when they unveiled game Chat for the Switch too. It's like, my God, have you guys ever heard of this chord? No, you probably haven't. Like, I genuinely believe you haven't. It's only been 10 years. It was very cute in a way.
- [43:32]
A
We jump to story number four, a serious one, as some of the most serious stuff happening in the news gets to video game land. Ex GTA veteran Leslie Benzies refutes Epstein files allegation. This is Ethan Gatch over at Kotaku. Longtime Grand Theft Auto producer and former Rockstar north president Leslie Benzies was one of the people whose name appeared in the most recent trove of Epstein files released by the Justice Department. It included an allegation by an alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim who accused Benzies of sexual assault. He denied the allegation via a spokesperson in a statement shared with Kotaku. These allegations are false. I had a three months consensual relationship with this person and I have never met Jeffrey Epstein, nor have I ever visited his island, his properties or traveled on his plane. Any suggestion otherwise is misleading, the statement reads. The mention of Benzies appears in a 62 page file released by the Justice Department that included Alex allegations from Sarah Ransom, who previously used Epstein and his longtime associate. Ooh, Maxwell. How do I pronounce her name? Maxwell isn't it is land Maxwell for alleged sex trafficking. Ransom was also. I'm sorry. Ransom also released a book in 2021 titled Silence no More, Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back. The released file was an allegation witness list Ransom appeared to be compiling. In it she accused Benzies of sexually assaulting her. At one point she also mentions Sam Houser, the current president of Rockstar Games, but not in connection with any allegation. There is no evidence that any of the claims in Ransom's documents were vetted by federal investigators. Ransom could not immediately be reached for comment. Rockstar didn't respond to a request for comment. Jelane, thank you. Anyways, back to this. This has been an interesting one Caza because these documents come out and there's so much heinous fucking shit in it but it's not getting reported on everywhere. And it was one of those like wait, why is this not happening? And then it was the idea that so much in this is unvetted information down to like this is like just the tip line for Epstein to some degree of things being reported that nobody's touching. Like the most salacious shit that's in there about Trump, about Benzies, the list goes on anybody connected or whatever. So it's interesting to see Leslie Benzies actually get on talk about it because we've had the conversation off air of over the weekend oh this broke. And then not seeing people have actual write ups on it. We're like why not? And I think it is that people are worried of like well what's a real thing and what's somebody just shouting something out and like trying to separate that wheat from the shaft. But I think we can both go on the record. I've been looking at the wrong camera. Kevin, you're throwing me off by the tally like not working and what. Anyways you both gone are going to have like Jeffrey Epstein very bad, Very, very bad, you know what I mean? And all the people who would fucking do this kind of shit, are the most heinous motherfuckers on earth and all deserve the worst punishment possible.
- [46:31]
B
You know, there's often a question of like, oh, why isn't the mainstream media reporting this? You know, whether it's. There's been a lot of it in the Epstein fall. Epstein falls and then, and then elsewhere. But like I think what people don't necessarily appreciate is the immense amount of legal restriction that is around like especially in the uk, but in the US to a lesser extent. But in the UK there's a lot of restriction. There's a lot of things you simply can't say in like a printed newspaper or online without open your opening yourself up to being sued for a libel. Right. And so if anyone's wondering why you know, there aren't write ups of every single thing in the Epstein files, it's because in order to confidently publish that, you'd have to independently verify it, of course. So you'd have to, you'd have to speak with people involved, you'd have to get like direct comment and like Kotaku has here, you have to get direct comment from somebody involved. You can't go about just, just putting, you know, just repeating stuff that you, that you read in this database or anywhere else. A lot of news organizations may seem like they're being reticent or may seem like they're not reporting things, but they're probably doing the work. Hopefully that's probably what's happening. Yeah, the good ones, they're doing the work behind the scenes to see what can be stood up and what can. But yeah, I mean, I mean seeing Coates in these files as well, man, it's just there's almost no kind of like rich person, powerful person in the world of culture media. Anything that isn't at least mentioned somewhere in this database, it is staggering.
- [47:47]
A
Crazy. We move on to story number five. Let's go back to video game land. All right. Quote the launcher sucks. Let's call it what it is. End quote. Epic Game Store boss says promising a big year of improvements for speed to speed, new forum type, social features and more. This is Chris Tap sell at Eurogamer. Epic has released its usual stream of annual stats for the Epic Game Store, including a big increase in third party spending and a confirmation of a notable drop in Fortnite playtime. But. But alongside that, the publisher, developer, engine maker and storefront owner is also promising some major improvements to the oftmaline store itself. The headline improvements come in the form of much better speed, more Features noticeably social ones from player to player and a cross platform library between your PC and your mobile phone. We have a lot of things we need to fix, admitted Epic Games Store Vice president and General manager Steve Allison said during an interview with Eurogamer. We have needed to fix them for years. We've been really focused on developer tooling and all the things we do there. But last year we finally started to point more of our resources toward player experience stuff. All the things that our players have needed, wanted and all critics rightfully take us to task on. We got a lot of stuff out the door last year and this year is going to be probably the best year for that stuff on the big rocks. Okay. And the big rocks are the launcher sucks. Let's call it what it is. It's really slow. He continues. It makes calls to our back end services to refresh every time you click around and depending on your connection, you'll have to wait a couple of seconds and that doesn't really feel good, especially when people are complaining. I'm sorry. Comparing contrasting and dual, using one that doesn't do that, end quote. Work on the Architecture started in November 2025, he says, and is making quote unquote great progress. We're basically pulling the guts out, putting new guts in. Those speed improvements should appear for players around May or June. According to Allison, the Epics and Epic's official press release states, quote unquote this summer, quote, it should start to feel good, be faster and people. And people be like, holy shit, it doesn't suck so much. And that will be a win for us. End quote. That will be.
- [49:57]
B
Firstly, is. Is the big rocks a phrase is that.
- [50:01]
A
I've never heard that I. I've never heard the big rocks. You know, but there's sometimes you say stuff around here. Keza. This is gonna. I'm out on a ledge here. I'm out on a ledge and I'm reaching out. You're. But I know we're across so maybe it doesn't work. You ever heard of the phrase boning up? I'm gonna. I gotta bone up on that before the.
- [50:19]
B
Thank you very much.
- [50:20]
A
Thank you.
- [50:20]
B
Educate yourself.
- [50:22]
A
Bless Andy and making like I'm making up words over here. Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate you, cousin.
- [50:29]
B
So do you use the Epic Game Store for anything?
- [50:31]
A
Fuck no. Like, I use the Epic Game Store when there's a free thing to download that I never use. You know what I mean? I have. I have the razor out there. So like when I needed to play Fortnite for Simpsons season. I installed it there. Completely mystified. When I was on Steam, I'm like, where the fuck's for. Oh, right, okay, go over there. It's the forgotten little one. But, you know, as much as I've come around on PC gaming, I'm still not a PC gamer. So, no, I'm not in the weeds on Epic Games Store, any. Any stretch of imagination. You.
- [50:57]
B
No. Also, no. I have used it exactly twice for Fortnite and then for a game I needed to review, ones that for some reason was only available through Epic. And I wonder, like, to what extent, like, there's a lot of people who presumably play Fortnite on PC through the Epic laundry, but outside of that, I do wonder if they've managed to make much headway in terms of, like, eating into Steam's market share.
- [51:17]
A
Not a chance.
- [51:17]
B
I don't think I know. I don't think I know a single person who doesn't use Steam. Which is bad. Like, just to be clear, that's bad. There shouldn't be a Monopoly.
- [51:23]
A
Yeah.
- [51:24]
B
And of all people, you'd hope Epic would have been able to make a. Make a go of it.
- [51:27]
A
Yeah, you would have thought they would have. When they announced it, you're like, okay, here's somebody who could actually rival it. And they just showed, no, we can't. Into the pack. Like, here we are, years and years later, like, yeah, all right, so it sucks. Like, it's. It's you. And I don't even know that it's slow as shit because we ain't using it. But it's like, God damn. Really? Is that bad?
- [51:44]
B
Yeah, like, maybe it would help if they didn't. If they didn't make something. They're admitting themselves that it sucks. You know, if they're admitting themselves that it sucks, then, yeah, surely there's work to do. I would personally welcome something that wasn't Steam because, you know, it's not good for one company to have the entirety of a platform. Like, it's bad in general, so it would be good if it didn't suck. At least they seem to agree on that front 100%.
- [52:08]
A
And when they fix that Speed Kezza, it's going to be big news. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?
- [52:18]
B
You would go to your last story, the Wii News Channel, where you cover all the small news items you need to know about.
- [52:25]
A
That's right, everybody, welcome to story number six, the Wii News. Nintendo Switch to software sales have been revealed to celebrate the launch of Kevin's Keza's new Nintendo book. Super Nintendo. Mario Kart World has 14.03 million sold. Donkey Kong Bonanza, 4.25 million sold. Pokemon Legend ZA. Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, 3.89 million units sold. Kirby Air Riders, 1.76 million sold. All right, didn't see that come. Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 17.37 million units. Nintendo Switch has now sold 155. 2.37 million lifetime. And then from GameSpot, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has still somehow sold another 2.3 million copies in the past nine months. Kezza, what's your read as my Nintendo expert on all these numbers? Nintendo good. Switch good.
- [53:14]
B
That makes the Switch. That means the Switch has overtaken the DS as Nintendo's biggest console of all time.
- [53:19]
A
Finally.
- [53:20]
B
It's finally happened. It's finally dethroned it.
- [53:25]
A
Good job. Good job. Switch keeps going. Keeps going.
- [53:29]
B
Deserve it, I think. Deserve it. Also, is there anyone in the world who doesn't own Mario Kart 8 Deluxe now?
- [53:34]
A
Apparently.
- [53:35]
B
I mean, they're like undiscovered tribes.
- [53:36]
A
2.3 billion. We're airdropping them into new places.
- [53:41]
B
What's.
- [53:41]
A
What's crazy about it is like, you know, my son Ben, 4 years old, plays video games with me, loves him. He keeps asking for Deluxe over world, which I think is such a damning condemnation of fucking world, where I'm like, you're four years old and you want that over? What's the difference to you? What do you know that? What are you talking about? We'll see.
- [54:00]
B
You don't know that. This is the new one. He doesn't care if you make the best game in history. Like, 8. Deluxe is the single best game. It's the single best game. They can't outdo it. I mean, they've really just made noose for their own neck there.
- [54:14]
A
Xbox Game Pass games for February have been revealed. On the third, you get set like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. On the fifth, Madden NFL 26 and Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels Championship. Ben will be stoked on the 10th. Reluded. And Blaze Blue, Entropy Effect X on the 12th, Roadside Research and Star Sand island on the 13th. High on Life 2, Kingdom Come, Deliverance on the 17th, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. There it is. Ubisoft. We're making waves. Wildlight has announced that Hyguard's 5v5 raid mode is here to stay. That's exciting for a lot of people. Good for them. Netflix will no longer be available on PS3 after March 2nd, if you can believe that. And then.
- [54:58]
B
End of an era.
- [54:59]
A
End of an era. I know, right? Everybody's still kicking there. Somebody was for me when they took away folding at home. That's when PlayStation 3 really started to tank. That's when you knew it was over. When I couldn't help cure cancer anymore. And then your final piece of Wii News comes from GTA 6 Countdown. Video game show host and industry journalist Greg Miller says they're in talks with Rockstar games to preview GTA 6. Quote, Andy's gonna be previewing GTA 6. I got some emails from Rockstar about that, but we'll leave that for another time. End quote. Okay, so they're linking to Kinda Feudy yesterday, the show where I gave away pickles on a fake game show. Okay, so. No, there are. No, no, the. The implication of the joke I made on the fucking show was that Rockstar emailed me angry that I gave away a GTA 6 preview that doesn't exist. So, no, Rockstar has not emailed me to. Not even angrily emailed me, let alone emailed me to be like, all right, now we're booking Andy. It was a show where I gave away pickles, Guys, the channel's called kind of funny. Like, you have to understand when it's not being a journalist part of it, right? Like we have to understand to some degree when we're not fucking being journalists. Right? Which for us is pretty much all the time. But if I said it like if I was here different st. But we gave away pickles. I gave away pickles on that episode. No, Rockstar hasn't. I'm sorry to break kayfabe on you, but no, Rockstar hasn't emailed me angrily or saying, let's book Andy now that he won this on the. He won it on the show before the pickles. No, no, don't worry.
- [56:40]
B
But if a man's holding a pickle, you shouldn't trust anything he says.
- [56:43]
A
Exactly. If pickles are the prize of a show, you can't trust it. And that's it for the Wii News. We move to see the super chats that have come in throughout the show that maybe weren't on topic about anything. Game Riot wanted me to confirm the Rockstar emails. It's confirmed for you. There you go. Alvaron says, call Gary. There are tanks coming to Hell Divers revealed in a new trailer. I will do no such thing. Joey says manifesting a capital wasteland tease for the Fallout finale tonight. And then uses the prayer emoji yes, Kaz? Have you been keeping up with the Fallout TV show?
- [57:14]
B
I'm about two episodes behind. I love it though. Isn't it good? Isn't it nice? That video game TV is good now.
- [57:19]
A
100%. My other question for you is, are you keeping an eye on this countdown thing? The countdown is supposed to happen. There's a. On the Fallout TV page map, whatever. There's a section that's counting down. And so many people are hoping that it's a game, a remaster or whatever. In my long shot, it won't happen, but if I'm dreaming is that this season ends tonight with them saying, we're going to the Capital Wastelands, or we go to the capital Wastelands for something and then they drop a remaster of Fallout 3 tonight. But that won't happen.
- [57:52]
B
That would be cool.
- [57:53]
A
That will not happen.
- [57:54]
B
They're making a new one and Obsidian. Obsidian's doing it and they're making a new one that's.
- [57:57]
A
That's even better than mine. Don't do that. Don't do that. Here we go. The Co Op Bros, a great YouTube channel we support here, says saw Keza here live and had to give a shout out. Read the book early and loved it. Gave it a shout out on our January Co Op Monthly. Congrats on the release. Of course, they're talking about Super Nintendo, available right now. North America, Europe, next week. You can get the audiobook as well. Go pick it up, pre order it if you have to. Whatever you need to do to get this book from Keza. Yelsing says the difference between Uesoft and Nintendo is that Nintendo experiments doing new and interesting things. Ubisoft loves old and stale.
- [58:41]
B
They did once love new and interesting things. They are French. Like there was. There was a Frenchness. The Frenchness has died. That was what precipitated the death of Ubisoft, was that the general Frenchness quotient just kind of declined over time, you.
- [58:53]
A
Know, Once they survived the takeover, then they were like, now we're just gonna make money. Now we have to make as much money as possible. And that has led to no art, no soul. Your final super chat of the day comes from Steven Pro Snick, who says, happy Tuesday, everyone. Make sure to play Valve's Deadlock this week, okay? I don't understand why, but we will do that. Everybody go play Deadlock, okay? There must be something happening in Deadlock. I don't know what's happening in Deadlock. That's a mic question. Mike pays attention to Deadlock. What I pay attention to is great literature, like Super Nintendo. Kez's new book. Go get it right now. Keza, thank you so much for hanging out today. Where can people keep up with you?
- [59:32]
B
You can find me on BlueSky. I'm Keza McDonald on BlueSky. You can also subscribe to the Guardians video games newsletter, which is called Pushing Buttons and which I've been doing for a while, which I really enjoy. And of course, you can buy Super Nintendo pretty much anywhere, I think. And if you really do love listening to me in my Scottish accent, you can download the audiobook because I got to sit in a room for five days and read it to myself. What was that whole thing?
- [59:55]
A
What was that? Like? I struggle to read every day on this show, so I can only imagine if I was like, I'm sorry, that ruined the take. Do it again, do it again.
- [60:03]
B
I know you could talk to a rock for three hours, Greg, but, like, if you're just by yourself in a studio, it's really very hard. You start to drive yourself and then you're reading your own writing, thinking, man, why did I make that sentence so long?
- [60:17]
A
You know, when you wrote it, you never thought through, like, you'd have to read it out loud. Yeah, exactly.
- [60:21]
B
Yeah, 100% exactly. I kept laughing over a line about Mario's nipples. I just couldn't say it. I had to take about 18 takes.
- [60:28]
A
I love that. The book's great, Kezzy, congratulations. I love you. I'm so happy to see you thriving out there.
- [60:34]
B
Thank you, pal. It's amazing to be part of the.
- [60:36]
A
Show when they stop abducting immigrants off the street, come visit us, come hang out. You know what I mean? Be a part of it.
- [60:41]
B
I will.
- [60:42]
A
Thank you.
- [60:42]
B
That's the prerequisite.
- [60:43]
A
That's it. Well, I just want you to be saf. Of course, everybody. Kinda Funny's a live talk show network all about video games. You can catch us with games daily starting today, each and every weekday. Maybe you're listening later, at which point I would tell you, guess what? You gotta go check out today's Gamescast. It's up next and it's Blessing sitting down with Suda51 to talk about that amazing career. The new games, the old games. Then we're doing a gamescast plays where we're jumping in there, where we're playing Romeo as a dead man. There's a lot of great stuff happening all around. That first question is though, do we say Suda 51 or Suda 5 one? That's the question. He's been instruction to ask. OK. Because there's been a lot of turmoil about this. Did you know about this, Kez?
- [61:20]
B
Yeah. 51 for me.
- [61:22]
A
Okay, cool.
- [61:23]
B
I refuse. Even if he says otherwise, I'm just sticking with him.
- [61:25]
A
You know what? We're going to get to the bottom of it today. We're going to figure it out. As Jessa says. Is it live? It is live. If you're live on Twitch, don't go anywhere. If you're on YouTube, of course there's a new link like subscribe share. If you love us doing amazing stuff like having all our friends come through to talk about cool things, of course, pick up a membership patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kinda funnygames Apple, Spotify get everything ad free. Get your daily dose of me. Of course, get good karma. After we do The Gamescast with Suda 51 after we do the Gamescast plays the Suda 51. We are still doing the Kinda Funny podcast and it's gonna be a banger. So until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.
- [62:03]
B
Thank you.
- [62:04]
A
Ken.