RIP Vince Zampella - Kinda Funny Games Daily 01.06.25

Summary

Podcast Summary: RIP Vince Zampella - Kinda Funny Games Daily 01.06.25

Date: January 6, 2026
Hosts: Blessing Adeoye Jr. & Tim Gettys (with Kevin)
Podcast: Kinda Funny Games Daily

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Episode Overview

This episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily kicks off 2026 with a somber reflection on the passing of legendary developer Vince Zampella. Blessing, Tim, and Kevin balance tributes with deep-dive industry news, including the fallout from AI in indie game development, shifting 2026 game release dates, and rising tech costs due to AI’s industry impact. The team also shares engaging banter, listener questions, and the latest industry headlines—delivering a mix of analysis, personal stories, and signature Kinda Funny energy.

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1. Remembering Vince Zampella (00:48–10:05)

Key points:

• News broke that Vince Zampella, co-founder of Respawn Entertainment and former Infinity Ward lead, died tragically in a car accident at 55.
• The hosts reflect on his immense impact on franchises like Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends, and the Battlefield series.
• Community and industry reactions are overwhelmingly positive, highlighting his legacy as a leader and visionary who genuinely cared for his teams.

Notable Quotes:

• "Vince was a titan and legend of this industry, a visionary leader and a force who shaped teams in games like Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends, Star Wars, and Battlefield... We'll remember Vince for how he showed up every day, trusting his teams, encouraging bold ideas and believing in Respawn and Battlefield. Most importantly, he championed what he believed was right for the people behind those studios and our players because it mattered." — Respawn statement (04:32)
• Tim: “Vince is one of those guys that, like, I never heard a bad thing about. Everyone I know was glowing about him. He's one of those guys you want to be around.” (07:47)
• Blessing: “There are so few expert level—been-at-this-for-decades, doing-this-at-a-high-level game devs. There aren't that many of them.” (09:37)

Memorable Moment:
The hosts emphasize road safety as a heartfelt reminder in the wake of Zampella’s accident and share the emotional impact the news had on their community.

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2. Indie Game Awards: AI Disqualification Controversy (10:06–20:52)

Key points:

• Claire Obscure: Expedition 33 was stripped of its Indie Game Awards for using generative AI assets, discovered after the ceremony.
• The devs swapped the AI content out with a patch post-release, but the rule breach led to official disqualification.
• The team debates intent vs. action, the practicality of policing AI content, and the ripple this will have as AI usage becomes more common in game development.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “The Indie Game Awards, them’s the rules. They make the rules. It’s their award show... It’s just that the AI stuff is such a hot topic, lightning rod thing.” (12:57)
• Tim: "If you want to fight against generative AI, you have to stand on business. And a lot of people aren't going to stand on business." (19:27)

Memorable Moment:
The hosts break down the nuances and challenges of new tech ethics in indie games and how quickly “non-stories” can explode in the news cycle.

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3. Major Game Release Changes in 2026 (22:52–31:35)

3.1 007 First Light Delayed to Post-GTA 6 Slot

• IO Interactive’s James Bond game is delayed to May 27, 2026—originally GTA 6’s launch date before Rockstar pushed their game to November.
• The hosts analyze the importance of avoiding GTA’s enormous shadow and discuss their hopes and reservations for the Bond title.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “It's the type of game that needs as much potential to succeed as possible because it's not a guaranteed slam dunk win no matter how good it is.” (26:53)
• Tim: “As IO, do you have the stuff to pull this off? That's the big thing I'm nervous about.” (30:33)

3.2 Industry Move Comparison

• The conversation includes reflections on similar IP gambles (Indiana Jones, Hitman, Spider-Man) and what makes a transition from niche to blockbuster successful.

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4. AI’s Ripple Effect on Hardware Costs (31:35–39:43)

Key points:

• ASUS confirms component price increases due to industry-wide AI demand—impacting memory, DRAM, and SSD costs.
• The panel discusses consequences for PC gaming, console manufacturing, and long-term consumer buying power.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “More and more people backing out of where the money isn’t. And if the money isn’t in gaming, that means less gaming support. It starts with ‘it’s more expensive to build a PC.’ Soon, PlayStation, good luck getting anything.” (33:30)
• Tim: “It's only going to get worse. My real advice is: you should have done it three months ago. And that's going to continue to be true.” (36:59)

Memorable Moment:
Blessing shares the personal pain of buying RAM during price surges: "I literally spent three times as much money as I would have three months earlier." (36:58)

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5. Quick News & We News Channel (44:17–52:03)

A rapid-fire segment covering the latest industry headlines:

• Kojima Productions is partnering with ASUS for a branded gaming tablet (45:00)
• A Fallout Shelter-inspired competitive reality show is coming to Prime Video (45:56)
• January 2026 Game Pass adds: Little Nightmares, Resident Evil Village, Final Fantasy (47:09)
• Former Zenimax Online Studios head resigned after his passion project was canceled (47:54)
• Witcher 3 rumored to get a new expansion over a decade after release (40:56, discussed further at 42:56)
• Indie game showcase New Game Plus to focus on updates to previously announced titles (47:55)
• GOG returns to its co-founder after acquisition from CD Projekt (49:17)
• South Park coming to Fortnite; EB Games closing all New Zealand stores; Amazon’s Tomb Raider series cast revealed.

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6. Community Banter and Super Chats (53:17–61:50)

Key moments:

• Discussion of “Um, Actually” trivia show featuring Kinda Funny hosts.
• Super chats spark talk about recent PC upgrades, console cycles, and the Bond vs. Indy question.
• Hosts debate whether James Bond’s video game will outperform Indiana Jones, speculating on platform impacts and IP strength.

Notable Quotes:

• Blessing: “Indiana Jones feels like a main installment. James Bond feels more like 'that's not James Bond.'” (60:39)
• Tim: “I want to make a pizza bet that 007 sells 3 million more [than Indiana Jones].” (61:05)

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7. Correction Segment – “You’re Wrong” (61:50–End)

• Listeners clarify that Sophie Turner, not Sigourney Weaver, is playing Lara Croft.
• RAM requirements for upcoming games put into perspective.
• Clarifications on AI asset removals in other games (The Alters).
• ESA, not NASA, is behind Aphelion.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Blessing (on news cycles): “People made it big news to where all the big outlets talked about it. I saw it on my timeline nonstop for a week and it's almost like people thought that it was the Game Awards that did this.” (14:18)
• Tim (on industry leadership): “Vince Zampella is one of those names where if you see it attached to a project, you immediately have a level of comfort.” (09:20)
• Blessing (on AI): “Intent is important, but also, I think intent is just a piece of it. What was the action that you did? ...Hey, you used it. It ended up in the final thing. ...That breaks the rules.” (18:56)
• Blessing (personal PC build advice): “It was legitimately do it three months ago. ...You’re going to be like, fuck, this part was cheaper, this part was cheaper.” (36:18)
• Community moment: “You know what? Fuck you, Raymond Hessel.” (21:26) (in good humor responding to a super chat)

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Useful Timestamps

• [00:48] – Announcement: Vince Zampella’s passing; moment of remembrance.
• [10:06] – Disqualification of Claire Obscure: Expedition 33 and generative AI debate.
• [22:52] – 007 First Light delay; GTA 6’s release date shift.
• [31:35] – AI’s impact on hardware prices and the future of PC and console gaming.
• [40:56] – Witcher 3 rumored expansion.
• [44:17] – Start of “WE News Channel” quick news.
• [53:17] – Super chat and audience Q&A segment.

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Tone & Style

The hosts maintain a conversational, empathetic, and occasionally comedic tone—moving between industry analysis, personal anecdotes, and community engagement. The episode seamlessly blends journalistic reflection on big industry shifts with authentic reactions, tributes, and lighthearted debates.

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In Short

A heartfelt episode bookended by the loss of Vince Zampella, this Kinda Funny Games Daily is packed with industry reflections—from the ethics of AI in indie development to the shifting tectonics of game releases in a volatile market. Dozens of small news bites and community-driven questions keep things lively, sharp, and deeply in touch with the modern gaming landscape.

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For fans and newcomers alike, this episode is both a primer on 2026’s biggest gaming news and a touching communal moment celebrating the legacy of one of gaming’s greats.

Transcript

[Blessing]

Boot.dev takes your coding from beginner to expert the fun way through a hands on RPG like experience. Go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your first year on the annual plan.

[Kevin]

Today's gaming news stories include Vince Zampella has unfortunately passed away Indie Game Awards Disqualify as clear obscure and 007 first light takes GTA 6's original release date of all this more because this is kinda Funny Games Daily Foreign. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Monday, January 6, 2026. I'm on your host blessing. Adio. Yeah, Junior. Joining me is Lacroix, Poppy, Tim, Ma, Gettys.

[Blessing]

Oh man, there's nothing like the day after kind of funny day. Yeah, you know, it's. I'm so tired right now and it's not because we worked very hard yesterday. We did. I think I was on more content yesterday than like maybe any kind of funny day in history. That can't be true. Back to the original, original old days. But like in terms of the modern era, I was on the most segments for sure. For me.

[Kevin]

Yeah. We had to get all of Tim that we could get.

[Blessing]

I know, that's. I love it. I'm on a lot of things this week. At any moment I'm going to get that call and I got to go. So I'm trying to get it on as much as possible, but it wasn't even that. It's the thrill of going home and then just bathing in the, in the, the feeling, you know what I mean? And I get to look at all the comments on YouTube and social media and Reddit and everything and just kind of take it all in. And next thing I know it's 3:30am and I'm like, why did I do all of this? And then I had no way. You know, I mean that's the thing that got me. But how are you feeling?

[Kevin]

I'm feeling good. I. I try to be responsible. I have this thing where once I start to drink, I become very aware of the things that I need to do. I start drinking more water.

[Blessing]

Incredible.

[Kevin]

I'm the most responsible person. I might be more responsible when I drink than when I'm over.

[Blessing]

Very, very good value to.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I very much. I haven't had a, a hangover in maybe like a year and a half now.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah, congrats.

[Kevin]

I had a hangover so bad that like I was.

[Blessing]

You're like, never again.

[Kevin]

Now when I drink, I'm like, all right, Give me water. What time is it? How long do I need to sleep? When do I need to wake up tomorrow? Like I just become aware of everything. So I went home at 10:39. I'm well slept.

[Blessing]

I'm ready to talk. Amazing.

[Kevin]

How you feeling after yesterday though? Like in regards to the announcements, in regards to like everything going on this year, honestly thrilled.

[Blessing]

Like everything went, went so well. I, I feel like almost every year in the the as long as I can remember now it's like, oh, that was the best kind of funny day we had. At best might be for different reasons but like yesterday, man, we have such a great team. We just had fun. Like there was like no drama and there's rarely drama within the team. But like even just with the community, with the announcements, with just the energy overall, it's like, oh, we're just, we're just winning out here and it feels good to win, you know, I'm so excited to be back here doing games daily. It's been way too long and yeah, I feel like we've just take. Taken great content and made it just a little bit better. So let's get it going.

[Kevin]

Well, let's get right into it because remember, if you're watching live, you can be a part of the show by super chatting on YouTube.com kind of funny games. We have a lot to talk about today because all the news that broke over the break. So super chat in, have the conversation with us. Of course, we couldn't do this without our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. For now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. It's time for some news. We have six stories today, Baker's dozen, starting with our number one, Kevin.

[Blessing]

That was incredible.

[Kevin]

I know.

[Blessing]

Didn't that sound like he had like an actual effect on it?

[Kevin]

Yeah, like he's a dj.

[Blessing]

Very good story.

[Kevin]

Number one is a very, very sad one. Vince Zampella, Respawn co founder and head of Battlefield series, is dead at 55. I am reading from Wesley LeBlanc at Game Informer. Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment co founder and the head of EA's battlefield series has has died at age 55. NBC Los Angeles reports that Zampella was killed in a car crash on Sunday, December 21 on Southern California's Southern California's Angeles Crest Highway. Zampella founded respawn Entertainment in 2010 with Jason west, which has since launched games like Titanfall and Titanfall 2, Apex Legends and The Star Wars Jedi series. Before that, Zampella was a lead at Call of Duty Modern Warfare maker Infinity Ward. In 2021, Zella became the head of Battlefield 4 EA amidst wider franchise changes that included the creation of Battlefield Universe. Zappella alongside Battlefield Studios helped make Battlefield 6 an inarguable success for the series. A tweet from Respawn reads, quote, we're heartbroken by the passing of our founder and dear friend, Vince Zampella. Vince was a titan and legend of this industry, a visionary leader and a force who shaped teams in games like Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends, Star wars and Battlefield for our community in ways that will be felt for generations. His impact reached far beyond any one game or studio. We'll remember Vince for how he showed up every day, trusting his teams, encouraging bold ideas and believing in Respawn and Battlefield. Most importantly, he championed what he believed was right for the people behind those studios and our players because it mattered. We'll miss him greatly. Our hearts are with his family, friends and all who loved him. End quote.

[Blessing]

Obviously, this is like, such a sad story to cover and there's no proper way to without saying rest in, rest in peace and just to really, like, appreciate the fact that in a industry full of people that we can easily jump into, talking so much about and questioning their motivations and what they've done in their choices and stuff. Vince is one of those guys that, like, I never heard a bad thing about. Yeah. You know, and it's like, we know from so many personal accounts, whether it's Greg or Andrea or just so many other people, like, he, Vince was awesome and really did care for the teams and care for the people. And like, obviously this is very, very sad news, but it is pretty rare. And I think that we're kind of lucky that so far we haven't had major deaths in the video game industry, like, that many of them. And like, this is going to start to happen a lot more and for it to happen this way is so sad. There's no not sad way for it to go down, but be safe out there. You know, drive safe. Like, every single time you get into a car. Like, there's so many responsibilities that you need to be aware of. And I, I do think that all of these things are reminders to people to, you know, never push things too far, ever. Just stay in the lane. There's a reason that these laws and rules and everything exists. And don't speed. You know, you're putting yourself and others at risk. And in a Blink of an eye, this can happen.

[Kevin]

Yeah. Value your life.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Kevin]

Life is short. And I. I think that's a. This is another reminder of that, you know, him being 55 and. Yeah, like you put it, him going out in this way, super heartbreaking, especially when you. When we see the news pop on December 21st. Right. I think it was. Was a shock to us all, especially, like, seeing it pop up on the link on the KHD Slack. I think I originally actually saw it when I just opened up Reddit and I was like, no way, that's true. And I go to Twitter, I'm like, no way, that's true. And then I see pop up in the KHD Slack and I'm like, that's fucking crazy. Vince Sampella, who you mentioned. Right. We don't really hear bad things about. Of course, we don't know everybody. We don't mean. You don't know. I don't. Well, I don't know him personally. I don't know if you ever met.

[Blessing]

I've been. I've met him a couple times, but in a very, very professional setting where I'm pretty sure I was behind the camera every single time. Time.

[Kevin]

Yeah. And so a lot of what we go by is word of mouth, but that word of mouth that you hear about Vince Zampella tends to be positive.

[Blessing]

Exactly.

[Kevin]

Like, that's the thing is wild for a CEO.

[Blessing]

I'm not just saying that from the perspective of just like, oh, no one's ever said anything bad about him. I'm literally saying from my experience, which I have experienced, everyone I know was glowing about him. He's one of those guys you want to be around. Like, it's a Tim Schaefer type. You know what I mean? It's the type where you're just like, I love that guy. Like, you'd get all the. The positive stories from. So. Yeah.

[Kevin]

I also think it's rare to have somebody who worked on a franchise like, in such a pivotal way, like Call of Duty had such an impact. Right. And is still on an upward trajectory as far as the impact they're having on their current games. Because you go from, yeah, working at Infinity Ward, making Call of Call of Duty, Modern Modern Warfare, and now putting out Battlefield 6, but in between, killing it.

[Blessing]

Titanfall.

[Kevin]

Titanfall, Right.

[Blessing]

Like, I mean, you really got to think about that in the framework of video games and how we are so stuck on console generations where Titanfall was the Next Gen game. Like, that was like the first true Next Gen game. And like all gaming Media outlets were talking about it that way and it's like, yeah, to go from a defining game with Call of Duty the generation prior to then move on to Titanfall and then continue that and to help bring Battlefield back. Back.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

So many major wins.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Anyway, so much clear influence. Right? Clear, clear influence to. To very talented developers out there. And yeah, it's again, one of those.

[Kevin]

Names where if you see it attached to a project, you immediately have some. A level of comfort. Right. Oh, Vince Zella is heading up this team. Okay, cool.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Yeah. All right. I could see that. I could see that panning out. Right. Like, I think those are the names that are few and far between in this industry. And it's super tragic to lose one that early in his life in this way.

[Blessing]

Especially when there are so few expert level. They've been at this for decades doing this at a high level. Like we. There aren't that many of them. Right. And again, a lot of them we look at and we don't trust. A lot of them we look at and we're like, ah, man, this is going to mean XYZ and they're bad things. So it's like, yeah, this, this is very, very tough for the video game industry and obviously very, very tough as people.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Right.

[Kevin]

Another one that broke over the break. Story number two, a controversial one Indie Game Awards disqualifies clear obscure Expedition 33 due to generative AI usage I'm pulling from Mike Straw at Insider Gaming. The Indie Game Awards took place on December 18th and as many could assume, clear obscure Expedition 33 took home the awards for Game of the Year and Debut game. However, things have changed and the Indie Game Awards are making a big decision to strip Claire Obscure and the developer Sandfall Interactive of their awards over the use of Gen AI in the game. In an announcement made on Sunday or Saturday afternoon, 61 Indy, the creators of the show said that its removal comes after the discovery, after voting was done and the show was recorded. Quote the Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of Gen AI throughout the nomination process and and during the ceremony itself. The statement reads, quote, when it was submitted for consideration, representatives of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no generative AI was used in the development of Clair Obscure Expedition 33. In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of Gen AI on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clear Obscure Expedition 33 from its nomination. End quote. 61 Indy ended by thanking the community for being patient and providing feedback on the situation, quote, the organizational team behind the ceremony is a small crew with big ambitions and the Indie Game Awards can only grow with your help and support. They said we already can't wait for the 2026 ceremony. With Clare Obscure's disqualification, the awards will now go to the runner ups. That means the award for debut game goes to. Sorry, we're closed. While game of the year now goes to Blueprints. I added in, I want to add in a little bit more context from Polygon about what's going on with Clare Skier. So clear. Obscure Expedition 33 launched with what some suspected to be AI generated textures that as it clarified to El Pais, were then replaced with custom assets in a swift patch five days after release. Tim, I think my first response to this is to say, let's fucking go, Blueprints. We're up.

[Blessing]

I know we're getting. I knew I knew you Blueprints, baby.

[Kevin]

Kevin knows. Thank you for the special awards. Let's fucking go, Cody. Blueprints. We did it. Kevin and Tim.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Hey. I'm just proud. Yeah. I love you. I love that for you. I'll never forget ever. Bless. Getting off the airplane in New York, me, you and Raj about to go to the Nintendo Switch 2 event. And you just being like, tim, Jason Schreier put me on to this game called Blueprints. Let me tell you about it.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I was like, you're just ranting and ranting and ranting. I'm like, oh, bless us in love.

[Kevin]

Oh, dude. Yeah. The conversation had with Jason Schreier about Blueprints, I was like, man, dude, you telling me about a game that I'm falling in love with in real time. This is such a good time. There's a lot here, Tim, where do you want to start?

[Blessing]

There is. There is a lot here. I will say that I have, I have a lot of different thoughts on it. One to the Indie Game Awards. Them's the rules. They make the rules. It's their award show. And that's. That's how they're going to play this. Where it's like, yeah, those are the rules that they're going by and it's disqualified because of that. I do think that that's a very slippery slope of the fact of, like, all right, specifically this Expedition 33 with how AI was used in this specific case. All right, that is known. How many other games is that not known about? And if they were known, does that change everything? Yes, it does, because those are the rules. That's how it works. So it's like this. To me, this is almost a non story. It's just like, okay, this, an outlet has an award show and has rules that they're following and that this is how this all fell out. I just think that because the AI stuff is such a hot topic, like lightning rod thing, so it becomes like this bigger thing. And also shout out to the homies getting the branding of Indie Game Awards and people giving a shit. Y' all fucking did it. And that's kind of y' all fucking did it.

[Kevin]

The conversation where I agree with you, this is such a non story. But I guess for me it's the non story of knowing 6:1 indie, knowing what the Indie Game Awards is and knowing how such a small operation is. But over the break, people made it big news.

[Blessing]

They made it big news.

[Kevin]

People made it big news to where all the big outlets talked about it. I saw it on my timeline nonstop for a week and it's almost like people thought that it was the Game Awards that did this.

[Blessing]

But. But then I think there is that extra like pro there of like, it's not the Game Awards, it's the Indie Game Awards and they do things the way they're going to.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And I feel like that's going to speak to a lot of people in a way that they're now going to be aware of this Indie Game Awards and hopefully tune in and watch and learn about a bunch of dope games. Because maybe they heard you talk about blueprints, but maybe they haven't heard anyone talk about, sorry, we're closed. You know.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

So it's. I feel like there's so much value there. Obviously that team does amazing work. Like, yeah, I. Hats off to them. This is great. There was a moment here. Whether they meant to create it or not, it almost doesn't matter. It happened.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And they had rules that they are following. I do think that this gets incredibly.

[Kevin]

Complicated, but look, it's not my show. Yeah, exactly. What's going to happen as like the years go. That's why I'm happy that our Game of the year is so. It's very kind of funny. Right. It's based off of us podcasting, talking about things. Right. It's a different thing. It's about us and our passions and we don't have to super duper formalize it because we're not making a thing called the Game Awards or the Indie Game Awards or whatever. Right. I do not envy being in the position, being like, hey, we have to have. We want to Have a hard stance on a thing. How that evolves over the years. One, I think they should have the freedom to evolve. But also, like, people are going to get mad at them if they do evolve, if next year.

[Blessing]

It's like people are mad at them both ways anyways.

[Kevin]

People are mad at them anyway. Yeah. But, like, are more games over the years going to use Generative AI as place in assets or stand in assets? Yes, probably. Like, I think as AI becomes more and more of a popularized thing, unfortunately, I could see that happening. To your point, can you track that? Like, what does that look like? That's a whole conversation. The question that I will ask the audience, people online, you know, you, me, the Indie Game Awards, is how much are y' all willing to stand on business? Because guess what? The Indie Game Awards, they stood on business, and a lot of people are mad at them for standing on business. But all of us hate AI, Right? Like Generative AI specifically.

[Blessing]

Yeah. But having said that, though, like, I. And I. I'm gonna upset people saying this, but I don'. There I stand by this. This Expedition 33 thing. It's like, all right, cool. It was patched out five days later. There's two ways to look at that.

[Kevin]

Sure.

[Blessing]

Oh, they got caught, so they had to scramble to fix it. Or that clearly didn't align with their vision. And that clearly somebody on the team did something that the team didn't want. How many times has that happened in our lives? You know what I mean?

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

When someone on our team says some shit that I'm like, why did you say that? But now, now that represents us and we have to deal with it. And it's like, hey, how the team deals with it after, that's what matters. If Sandfile Interactive, their next game, has this problem again, okay. All. All the goodwill for me is gone. And you could say, oh, Tim, you just saying this because you like Expedition 33. If there was another game, I'd be saying the exact same thing. But also, I really just think it comes back to intent. As all things do in life, it comes back to really, where is this coming from? And I tend to fall on the side of the tracks here, that this was not a sweep it under the rug, like, they caught us. Yeah. Type situation.

[Kevin]

It's such a tough thing to navigate around in terms of the right and the wrong of it. Right. I think, sure. Like, somebody did a thing that maybe the rest of the team didn't agree with. It made it into the final thing, whatever. At the end of the Day they didn't align with the guidelines of the Indie Game Awards. But I think it's still like. I think if you want to fight against Gen AI becoming more of a popular thing, whether it is hey stand in assets. Because I think you can make the strong argument against that even right? Hey, you shouldn't have things as stand in that are AI. Granted, people are using fucking Google Images anyway or whatever. People aren't using their own assets. I think half the time when it comes to standin shit. Right. But either way, if you are against Generative AI, I think there's a strong argument against that as well.

[Blessing]

For sure. Bringing a super chat to that though. EJRPG says Exhibition 33 stated an interview they tried the Gen AI tools when they first came out in 2022. They generated a few assets determined they didn't like in the workflows and then they didn't remove an asset. It's like different time, different place when there's new technology. If you. If it's not inherently evil as the conversation point, like if it's early enough, it's like yeah, I'm with you on the stand on it, all that stuff. But it's like if this story is the case.

[Kevin]

But here's my thing, right? I. You're right, intent is important, but also I think intent is just a piece of it. What was the action that you did? Hey, you used it. It ended up in the final thing. Hey, I'm sorry. Like that breaks the rules, right? Like I. I've done things that I've got intended to do that were wrong and I had to apologize or I. That I will. I can't think of a time I got disqualified from something.

[Blessing]

That's what I'm. That is the thing though.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And again, this all goes back to more power to him for doing it. The Indie Game Awards. Like. Yeah.

[Kevin]

But I. I guess the thing that I'm wanting to say even more is that not just for the Indie Game Awards, but for other award shows as well or for whatever like formal institutions we have in the industry. If you want to be against AI, if you want to fight against Generative AI, you have to stand on business. And a lot of people aren't going to stand on business. A lot of people are going to realize, oh, everybody uses this. And so we're just. You're just going to turn the other cheek. We're just going to ignore it because guess what? All the video games are doing it. The biggest video games are doing it. The alters did the exact same thing. We got mad at the alters. Clear Obscure is doing it. And we're like, ah, shit.

[Blessing]

You know, like. But those are very different things, though, aren't they?

[Kevin]

I mean, I don't know if they are.

[Blessing]

Wasn't it, like, was the alters the same thing of, like, they had it and they took it out?

[Kevin]

Chat remind me of the alters thing was an accident or if the Ultra thing happened in the same way? Because I remember them having, like, an asset that made it in the game that people were like, this is clearly AI. I think. I think they patched it out, but I actually don't remember. Surely people are saying yes, though.

[Blessing]

Okay, I'm not up on that. And if that's the case, I feel the same about that.

[Kevin]

Yeah, this is the thing that's happening repeatedly. And to that, I'm just saying, like, hey, Indie Game Awards, they have a standard for it. We're disqualifying games that use it. If we're about it, that's the right move, right? Like, that's the right thing to do. Even as minuscule as it is in Clare Obscure, Even as minuscule as it is in these other games. If we're going to stand on business about this shit, I think we got to do what the Indie Game Awards are doing. Not us literally, but, like, we ha. We can't get mad at the Indie Game Awards for doing what?

[Blessing]

I mean. Oh, yeah, I entirely agree with that.

[Kevin]

Yeah. But we will see. There's gonna be a lot of situations like this as you go into the future. I want to bring in some more super chats for you. Raymond K. Hessel writes in and says, Ms. K.F. day, but been here since COVID I only listened on POD and thought Bless was a nerdy white guy. Jesus Christ. You know what? Fuck you, Raymond Hessel. Didn't realize until I saw his hair video. Also would love to see a Panet Bianco or Angry Joe collab in 2026. One love, y'. All. And I will miss Timothy when he leaves. One love, y'. All. Still. Fuck you. But also, man, I used to watch so much Angry Joe coming up.

[Blessing]

Did you really?

[Kevin]

I watched so much Angry Joe, I fuck with Angry Joe.

[Blessing]

I have nothing to say about him. I just don't know the content. I just know anything I've seen of it in the past, I've been like, this is not for me. I'm an angry video game nerd kid. You know what I mean? There was like a level of acting involved, like There was a level of I'm putting on a character in a specific way, talking about old shit. When it was Angry Joe talking about like relevant, current things, it always like just felt like negative in a way that I didn't like. But I also don't watch the content, so I could be speaking entirely out of.

[Kevin]

Listen, I'm talking as somebody who was watching angry Joe in 2013 when I was like 19 and Xbox did the whole fucking like E3 press conference where they announced the Xbox One and everybody was mad at it. Let me tell you, Angry Joe hit real Angry Joe was hitting for me. I was like, I was like, this man, he's like, he was like Zoran Momdonny to me. I'm like, he's reaching the gospel. We got to do something about Xbox.

[Blessing]

Got to do.

[Kevin]

You got to do something about it.

[Blessing]

Oh, man, here we are.

[Kevin]

Oh, man. Tim, got a lot more news to talk about. But before we talk about it, I want to talk to you about patreon.com/kind of funny YouTube.com/kind of funny games, Spotify, Apple podcasts. So many places you can go to get the kind of funny membership that allows you to get shows like this ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

[Blessing]

This episode's brought to you by boot.dev. if you're listening to this show, there's a solid chance that you, one, like video games and two, at some point in your life have been interested in learning software development. Boot.dev combines those things because they know that the smartest way to learn is. Is to never get bored. It takes your coding from beginner to expert, the fun way through a hands on RPG like experience. If you're ready to put in the time it takes like Kevin is.

[Kevin]

So I'm learning to code Python and the best thing about this is I don't have to read anything. It plays audio files for everything. It's awesome.

[Blessing]

With a curriculum designed for builders with gamer sensibilities in mind, boot.dev welcomes you to the most captivating way to learn to code. Bored learners quit. Smart learners never get bored. That's why you'll learn by doing what you'd actually be doing at a real job, building real projects. Go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan. There's no better time to give your coding dreams a chance. Just like Kevin Coelho's doing. Again, go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan.

[Kevin]

Story number three IO Interactive delays James Bond video game 007 First Light to GTA 6's previous release day this is Wes Yenpool at IGN. 007 First Light is delayed two months for further Polish developer and publisher IO Interactive has announced the James Bond adventure video game was due out March 27, 2026, but will now release May 27. In a statement published online, IO said the delay would ensure it was able to deliver the strongest possible version at launch. It's worth noting that 007 First Light's new release date is just a day after GTA 6 was due out to be released before its latest delay to November 19, 2026. Essentially, IO has snapped up the release slot left vacant by Rockstar's behemoth.

[Blessing]

Not a surprise at all, right? Like, I feel like we got a couple game releases earlier than GTA 6 as kind of like a hey, we got a lock in a spot if we want to release our game in 2026 because the moment GTA comes out at the end of May, that's not the end of it. It's not like other games. That's going to be like, all right, just two weeks surrounding it. It's going to be more like a couple months, if not more. Right? So I do think that especially for a game like Double oh seven that is in such a weird positioning where I would say that it is a very big deal in video games. We did a kind of foodie episode yesterday during the stream where we talked a little bit about this, but I feel like this is a major blockbuster title in video games for multiple reasons. 1 James Bond IP2IO Interactive Hitman that's critically going to mean something to to gamers, right? You combine those things. There's a lot of eyes on this, there's a lot of expectation. I'm not saying it necessarily looks great. I know that even personally some of the presentations so far haven't like got me thrilled about what the game looks like. But I'm still very hopeful and I still think that at the end of the day they could pull this off. But it's the type of game that needs as much potential to succeed as possible because it's not a guaranteed slam dunk win no matter how good it is. It's not necessarily going to be the biggest seller. Right? And I do think that as we see teams kind of evolve when we always talk about like Sucker Punch or Gorilla going from the games, they used to make to the games that they make now. This is kind of a big step up to a more mainstream plate for IO because of James Bond. Simply because of James Bond. Hitman, I think, has a gamer ceiling. Right. I know there's been movies and all that stuff, but, like, James Bond gives it kind of just this other level, and we need it to not be in Avengers. Yeah, right. It definitely can be an Avengers, but it could be a Spider man. And not literally, but like, more. More Spider man than an Avengers. Right. And so take the time you need, for sure. And the March date always felt a little too soon, and it definitely clearly now was because of GTA 6.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I'm, I. I'm very much anticipating this game. Of course. I'm an IO guy. I loved the Hitman series. Right. Specifically, the latest trilogy, I think is one of the best stealth experiences in video games. Point blank period. Shout out Paris. I'm also so nervous for this James Bond game. And I think it's to what you say, right? It could be in Avengers, it could be their Spider Man. And I think there's even a conversation about that as far as what that does to I.O. as a company, because I think the difference between who an insomniac was or who a sucker punch is before they had those breakout hits is IO has a formula with Hitman that has worked in such a unique way compared to everything else that it's formed the identity of their studio. They made Hitman One back in, God, what, 2015, maybe, correct me if I'm wrong, and launched it as an episodic thing. Right. Their vision was very much like a live servicey type of vision for Hitman, and that's that Drew and evolved. Hitman 2 launched with all the levels. Hitman 3 launched with all the levels. But even then, they continued to do, like, the. Oh, what'd they call it?

[Blessing]

Like, when Eminem assassinations. What was it?

[Kevin]

The targets. Elusive targets. Elusive targets. They continue to do the elusive targets. They continue to add in new features post launch. They did the whole, like, Freelancer mode that I'm obsessed with, which. Which is essentially kind of like a Rog Light style mode in Hitman, which is. Which honestly took the game to another level for me. That's the way they treated Hitman. I don't get that vibe from 007 as far as what they want to do with it. This seems like a. I won't say one and done. Maybe they can make dlc, but who knows? It doesn't. That's not A thing that they've promised though. Right. This isn't something I'm looking at as an. As an investment to the next 10 years of live service. 007.

[Blessing]

No, definitely not.

[Kevin]

I. It makes me wonder what the barometer for success is. Is this a thing that it has to do well at launch year one, have to hit for this game?

[Blessing]

I do think that that's the thing. When we talk about like the Spider man, it's like we're not necessarily talking about quality there. Spider man, one of my favorite games ever. But like when we're talking about it in comparison to some of the other Sony titles. Right. It's an 8 out of 10. You know, it's 8.5 out of 10. It's a. Whatever. Like I think as a general consensus from. From people, despite the love for it.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I think that with James Bond it literally is in relation to Spider man sales. Right. It's that sales difference between Ratchet and Clank and Spider man and the sales difference between what they would, I think, need from a Hitman to a 007. And that isn't a long tail. Let's get all the dlc. Let's get all of the like live services stuff. I do think it is this is a single player narrative game. It's trying to sell to Uncharted fans as much as it's selling to Hitman fans. I feel like they already got the Hitman fans dialed in. Being able to also sell to single player narrative game fans is a different type of audience potential for them. And the James Bond is the perfect carrot on a stick to be able to pull that off.

[Kevin]

Yeah. And I think that one of the things that I'm a little bit nervous about and I think they'll pull it off, but it is the idea that with Hitman, I'm buying into the world of assassination. I'm buying into that continuous experience with James Bond. I'm buying into this one and done James Bond video game that is taking elements of Hitman but is also doing things that I've not seen IO pull off yet. As far as those like big action set pieces or seeing him get into these driving action sequences. And I'm like, hey, this looks. This looks like what I'd want out of an Uncharted, which is fun. Right. And like moment to moment action, I think that's cool. But as IO do you have the stuff?

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Pull this off. That's the big thing I'm nervous about.

[Blessing]

We'll have to see in the chat's having conversations about like, does James Bond have it like that? And this is giving me a little deja vu back to a couple years ago, me and you sitting here talking about Wolfenstein to Indiana Jones.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And it's like, look how that all panned out. Yeah. Right. Like Indiana Jones was a massive success.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Like more than I even expected it to be. And that's based off an IP that I think all of us can look at and be like, who the cares about Indiana Jones except the olds? And it's like, well, turns out a lot of people. It might be a lot of olds, but there's new young. You liked it?

[Kevin]

I liked it, yeah. Yeah. But I, I honestly, I would have taken Wolfenstein over it.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Oh, I still liked it though.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Would you take Hitman over 007?

[Kevin]

I mean, maybe not at this point, maybe not at this moment, but yeah, that's, that's a good conversation. Whole conversation. We got another super chat in from AK98 who writes in and says, Happy belated 11 years. KF. Thanks for inspiring me to get into streaming and being some great friends. Thank you so much. AKA that's the homie.

[Blessing]

Hell yeah.

[Kevin]

Let's move on to story number four. ASUS confirms price increases starting January 5th as component costs surge yet again. We're sorry, dude, this is from Adam Hales at Windows Central. And I should shout out. This is a story that was from the break. And so when they say January 5th, they're talking about in the future. Even though we're reading this from after January 5th, it was likely only a matter of time given current market conditions and the growing influence of AI across the industry. Still, ASUS has now confirmed upcoming price adjustments in a private document intended for internal use and not intended for the public to see. The increases are set to begin on January 5, 2026, according to the document. While ASUS has not yet confirmed which products will be affected, it has made clear that this will not be a blanket price hike. Instead, the company says it is implementing targeted strategic adjustments across select product combinations. ASUS specifically states, quote, after carefully reviewing market conditions, supply stability and our commitments to product quality, and while continuing to invest in technical R and D. And ASUS plans to implement strategic price adjustments for certain product combinations starting January 5, 2026. This adjustment is a necessary decision after absorbing and responding to cost pressure over an extended period. The goal is to ensure stable supply, maintain quality and service levels, and continue supporting your long term planning for key IT investment. I love business talk. I love business talk so much. End quote. Because what did any of that mean?

[Blessing]

What did any of that?

[Kevin]

What did any of it mean? It just meant price go up. ASUS also mentions explicitly quote, upward pressure on costs for key components, particularly memory, DRAM and storage components. That's NAND and ssd. These changes reflect shifts in capacity allocation by upstream suppliers. End quote. Referencing that RAM and DRAM shortage driven by AI.

[Blessing]

Dude, it's wild. We're in a way that I don't think even the people that are trying to comprehend it are comprehending it like clearly at some point soon, ish. I'd say in the next year there's going to be the bubble burst of AI to some extent, but it's not going away, it's just going to be a different style, less focus on every single thing possible. Because at the end of the day, is there a use case or is there not? And is that use case accepted or is it not? In the industries and in the places and verticals that it's being implemented, there are so many examples of it working and it being in use and it's. That ain't going to change. When you look at health care, when you look at a lot of that tech space, it's like, that ain't going to change automation, all of that stuff. When you look, the generative stuff, obviously very different conversation. Where's the use cases, where's the acceptance level, all of that, the prices of this stuff, of how it affects every single piece of hardware. It's not just the prices, because the prices also mean, okay, well that's where the money's at. Which if the money's going somewhere else, guess what that means? More and more people backing out of where the money isn't. And if the money isn't in gaming, that means there will be less gaming, less gaming support. Which means right now it starts with it's more expensive to build a PC. Yeah, very soon it's going to be Apple's not able to get any chips for their phones, then it's going to be Buck PlayStation. Good luck guys. You aren't going to be able to get anything. Nintendo doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who you are. There's going to be less out there, it's going to cost even more. And then guess what that means it's going to cost even more for consumers to buy it. And at a certain point they're not going to be able to. It's just unsustainable. And if there's not a install base of Switch twos guess what's not being made? Switch 2 games. Yeah, it's just going to continue down that path. Kev, I send something to Assets. Destin Legari posted this yesterday. How much it costs to build my PC in 2023 versus 2026. Keep in mind my rig is overkill even today. And you look down to that bottom number. So there's the total. We can forget the bottom bottom number because that also includes storage, ssd. We can get rid of that. Yeah, we're talking about 30 $500 versus just shy of $6,000 for the exact same build three years later. That's using outdated things from three years. And it is that much more money. And then you look at the storage and it's similarly like, that's insanely more expensive for what the storage is there.

[Kevin]

What, what advice would you give to people that are watching and listening and want to get into PC gaming or I guess are trying to prepare for this? Is it, do it now.

[Blessing]

It was legitimately do it three months ago. And even then, it's actually six months ago. I mean, I. I haven't talked about this. I don't think on content. Maybe I have. I've been waiting for the right time. But like, I built a PC over the break. I've been building up to doing this for like the last year, getting pieces here and there. And I want to at some point get more into it because I'm very proud of myself. I did it all by myself. No one helped me.

[Kevin]

Wow.

[Blessing]

No Kevin, no anybody. And it worked. And I'm very. I'm surprised. And I fucking love it. Changed my life. Greatest thing ever. Having said that, I'm very lucky about when I acquired certain pieces over the last year. I am not lucky. When it came to ram, I literally spent three times as much money as I would have three months earlier.

[Kevin]

Oh, that hurts.

[Blessing]

And it fucking hurts, dude. And as. As I was buying it on Black Friday, the guy was looking at me like, I feel so bad for you, dude. He's like, I literally bought this three months ago for a very different price. And it's like, so I quote, unquote, lucked out by being able to do that. And it is only going to get worse. So what advice do I have? I mean, on one hand I'm like, yo, it's just not worth it. Don't do it. But my real advice is, you should have done it three months ago. And that's going to continue to be true over the next year. It's every three months. It's not even going to be that long. You're going to be like, fuck, this part was cheaper, this part was cheaper, this part was cheaper. And like I was saying, this is, it's already affecting consoles and hardware and other places. It's going to continue too very, very, very soon. And like this isn't like doom and gloom, like fear mongering.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

This is what's happening right now. And on top of it we're seeing companies pull out from making RAM period, for anything that's not AI use like data centers and all that.

[Kevin]

It's like, dude, is there, is there another side to the storm? Like, is there, do we get through this or is this just the new normal?

[Blessing]

Well, I do think that it's. Again, it goes back to. At some point the bubble's going to burst of just this like infinite growth and infinite. Put everything, put everything. The AI stockholders are already like, okay, but what's the use case? Yeah, like when you look at how much Apple has fumbled Apple Intelligence, like, I don't know how much you followed this, but like we're at a point now that it's essentially all but guaranteed that they're gonna have to partner with Google Gemini because Apple just can't get it together. And they're at this point where the last 18 months their whole like kind of push was Apple, Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence, Apple. It's coming, it's coming. The new series coming. You buy the thing because the new series coming, it's still not here.

[Kevin]

I didn't know that.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

As somebody, I use Android obviously just had Gemini for a very long time now.

[Blessing]

That's, I mean even Gemini is like the, the real Gemini is like a newer thing being like in its actual. What does it have 1.0 or whatever it's at now. But then there's Microsoft copilot. Like there's this battle happening right now and I think that groups are realizing what's the selling point to consumers with consumer products because they know what the selling point is to data centers and to, you know, the tech side of things. But that's the big hurdle of where are we, when is that? Are we going to pass that hump and what's that going to look like? I do think at some point that will bring costs down. But at that point who's still investing in gaming? Right? I think from the gaming perspective, I don't think it'll ever be the same again. But I do think there's enough money in gaming right now and they will continue to be that I don't think it's over. Okay, it is good.

[Kevin]

I don't think it's over being the final statement here. It's scary.

[Blessing]

I don't think.

[Kevin]

I don't think it's over. Story number five the Witcher 3 is also apparently maybe not over. It's reportedly getting a surprise new expansion this year. I'm pulling from Andy Robinson at Video Games Chronicle CD Projekt Red is planning to release a brand new expansion for the Witcher 3 this year, according to reports. Polish Noble securities analyst Matusano Scherzanowski said last month that he was expecting the next paid add on DLC for the Witcher 3 to be released in May 2026, according to a Polish website. The report follows similar claims from a Polish games insider, Boris Nispilak, who said last year that the new content was secretly in development at Fool's Theory. The same studio currently remaking the Witcher 1 for CD project Eurogamer has since followed up with them, who told and he told it that his information was verified by several independent sources. He also pointed to a comment in CD Project's recent financial report in which the CFO said that, quote, the there is a chance that new content hinted upon in recent calls and reports may see release in the coming year having an impact on our results, end quote.

[Blessing]

It'd be pretty damn cool if they did this.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

It doesn't seem real to me, but it seems believable.

[Kevin]

It's like, yeah, it's one of those things that's so weird that it's like why would people make this up?

[Blessing]

Yeah. And here is one other thing that I'm just connecting right now in my head and maybe I might be missing something. Is there a chance here that CD Projekt Red saw so much success with Cyberpunk launching on Switch too, the way that it did them. Key cards we're committing all the way we're doing this. We're going to act like this is a big thing. We're going to be right alongside the launch and be the, what, third highest selling or whatever it was. Could they be like we're doing the Switch 2 edition and if we're doing that, obviously let's add more than get that triple dip up from all the other consoles as well.

[Kevin]

I could see it maybe. Right. I was thinking also Cyberpunk 2.0 or like whatever, the big update for Cyberpunk where they added in a bunch of new features, had the DLC that was a big boom. Of course you've had Witcher 3 DLCs before with Blood and Wine and others. You also have like, you're already marketing the Witcher 4 and you've shown brief glimpses into that world, mainly engine stuff. But we've seen what the Witcher 4 looks like. The Witcher TV show still going on. So, like, maybe there is a way where you can have Witcher 3 DLC. That's the handoff in Witcher 4. I think that could be neat, but I wouldn't expect it to be anything major.

[Blessing]

I know Nvidia's had a lot of updates with. With Witcher 3 of making that game look great. So I just don't know if we've already hit that. The peak of just like it has all the fun features, it has all of the rtx. It has everything you could possibly need. But if they did, if they haven't hit that yet, putting out that update as well, I think could go a long way. People love excuses to replay Witcher 3.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Or even to just pop back into Witcher 3.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

You know, people love.

[Kevin]

People love Blood and Wine. Right. People love the Witcher 3. The idea of a Witcher 3 expansion. And so maybe there's something there. But I do find it odd. I do find it weird. Like the game came out in 2015. Like that's 11 years.

[Blessing]

And here's the thing though. It's weird because this rarely happens. But that's because we rarely see games that succeed a decade after their release. Witcher 3 is still selling, right?

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Every time a new Witcher season drops on Netflix, the game sells more. And you look at other games that have that type of long tail sales. Mario Kart 8. How weird was it when Mario Kart 8 announced its booster pack DLC stuff years after that felt possible at all? And they did that because there were 30 million Mario Kart eights in the wild. Right. So it wouldn't be crazy if they did this because they're one of the only people with. And this is one of the only games that that would make sense for.

[Kevin]

I'm doing a thing I'm looking up. I know this is obviously not comparable to like a multiplayer game or anything. I'm looking up the Steam DB for Witcher 3. Just out of curiosity. Damn. There's 30, 000 people playing Witcher 3, which is actually a lot now right now. 30,000 people for a single player game that came out in 2015 is actually insane.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

So, yeah, maybe there. Maybe that is. Maybe that is something, Tim. Witcher 3 DLC in 2026 would be big news.

[Blessing]

It really would.

[Kevin]

That'd be huge. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?

[Blessing]

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

[Kevin]

Somebody in chat makes a good mention of. That's just Steam as well. That's 30,000 people on Steam. Like there are console players for this game.

[Blessing]

Insane.

[Kevin]

We got a beefy wee news for you. Let's start with one from vgc. Kojima Productions is releasing its own gaming tablet in line of PC accessories in partnership with Asus Republic of Gamers. The ROG Flow Z13 KJP is a 2 in 1 gaming tablet designed by Death Straining and Metal Gear artist Yoji Shinkawa. Featuring visuals inspired by Kojima Productions Luden Mascot. Right now, Kevin's scrolling through the store page and let me tell you, I love this. I'm such a Yoji Shinkawa like fan. If you love Metal Gear, then you're a Yoji Chicago fan.

[Blessing]

I don't care if you love Metal Gear or not. If you're not. If you look at their art and don't love it, I don't like you. Yeah, I'm gonna go as far as saying that I with that.

[Kevin]

I with that energy. Cuz like whether it's Melo Gear or whether it's Death Stranding, Yoji Shinkawa, his art just shines. And I do like that some of these designs that they have for these accessories and like the quality. The tablet, specifically the tablet looks like a package from Death Stranding, which I think is hilarious. But also I just love it aesthetically. Did they take. They took these photos in the Kojima room with the Luden statue. That's cool.

[Blessing]

So cool.

[Kevin]

I love this so much. From discussing film via the Insider. A Fallout Shelter reality competition shows in the works at Prime Video. The show will follow competing players as they run their own vaults and must keep their citizens happy with food and other supplies.

[Blessing]

I love it.

[Kevin]

I love this idea so much.

[Blessing]

Keep on hating everybody.

[Kevin]

Although food. You might be pushing it with the food. Right? Because are these. You must keep their citizens happy. So these citizens are real people.

[Blessing]

Then they'll be real people. Bless. You can't. This is reality tv.

[Kevin]

But you can't be like, oh, your task is to keep your people happy with food. Right? You just go let them starve.

[Blessing]

Have you heard of the biggest reality TV show of all time?

[Kevin]

The Survivor? Yeah, but like people died on Survivor.

[Blessing]

People have gotten real close.

[Kevin]

Damn, it's crazy.

[Blessing]

No one's died.

[Kevin]

I'll watch the out of this, though. Especially if it's real people.

[Blessing]

Let's go.

[Kevin]

I hope. What I want, my big hope is I want the experiments. I want them to be doing weird weird in these walls. Look.

[Blessing]

Why are they doing this? Fallout is a success on Amazon Prime. Who's behind that? Todd Howard. Who's going to be behind this to some extent? Todd Howard.

[Kevin]

Todd Howard. I need you to these people. I need weird shit going on. More re news for you. Game Pass games for the first wave of January 2026 have been announced. On the 6th, you're getting little nightmares and bruise and bastards. On the 8th, you're getting Final Fantasy. On the 3rd, just Final Fantasy.

[Blessing]

Final Fantasy.

[Kevin]

There's no way that's real. On the 13th, you're getting Star wars outlaws. On the 15th, you're getting my Little Pony, a Zephyr Heights mystery. On the 20th, you're getting Resident Evil Village and Mio Memories in orbit. And then for premium, you're getting Rematch Lost in Random, the Eternal Die, Atom fall, and Warhammer 30K Space Marine Remastered. Another one from VGC. Former Zenimax Online Studios boss Matt. Excuse me, Matt Fire has confirmed he resigned from the studio and after Microsoft canceled its announced shooter Project Blackbird. Quote Project Black Blackbird was the game I had waited my entire career to create. And having it canceled led to my resignation.

[Blessing]

Wow.

[Kevin]

Heartbreaking.

[Blessing]

Wow.

[Kevin]

Piercing through the heart. That sucks. New Game Blush Showcase is happening this Thursday. Coming from the homie, Blue Thunder and some others. Blue Thunder DM me told me this is happening. Sick. So I want to share it with y'. All. Blue New game Game Plus Showcase is described as creator led. They got no paid placements. There's genuine excitement in conversation, exclusive game footage and interviews. And you're gonna have 45 games in this thing.

[Blessing]

One thing that I. I think is cool about this from what I've seen, and I might be wrong about it, but I think it's all games that we've already seen. Like, I think it's. There's. It's no. No announcements.

[Kevin]

Okay.

[Blessing]

So it's kind of just like, let's check in on joke games, which I think is a pretty novel kind of take on this, right?

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And I feel if they pull that off, that's kind of cool.

[Kevin]

I was scrolling through the new Game plus because they have a Twitter account, and I was just scrolling through to see what's going on there, and they had like, Developers and people and stuff, quote tweeting with like the imoji or being like, you know, might be here or whatever one of them was. Don't nod. Oh, they have the fucking NASA game. That's what it is. I know it's not NASA, but like they have the space rpg. That makes sense.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

So yeah, you're gonna get a lot of. A lot of games that you've heard about already. Get new looks. Hopefully they're cool new looks from Wario 64. Michael Katzinski, one of the co founders of CD Projekt and the co founder of GOG, has acquired GOG from CD Projekt.

[Blessing]

You'll love to see it.

[Kevin]

Love to see it.

[Blessing]

It's so cool, man.

[Kevin]

Arc raiders has sold 12 million copies and surpassed 3.2 million monthly active users.

[Blessing]

Wow.

[Kevin]

I know. Insane.

[Blessing]

Arc Raiders, man.

[Kevin]

One of the most popular games last year.

[Blessing]

Wild.

[Kevin]

Maybe what?

[Blessing]

12 million, dude.

[Kevin]

Top five most popular game. Top three most popular game last year. Insane from VGC. Sony has patented a new technology that would see PlayStation games play themselves with the help of AI from VGC. Former Naughty Dog boss Evan Wells is set to receive the Academy of Interactive Arts Sciences hall of Fame award at this year's Dice Summit. It's being awarded by Neil Druckman himself.

[Blessing]

Very cool.

[Kevin]

The Final Fantasy.

[Blessing]

I just got a shirt with the OG Naughty Dog logo. Can't wait to wear it.

[Kevin]

Wait, I'm trying to picture how that looks.

[Blessing]

Oh, it's the coolest dog of all time, man. He's. He is a naughty naughty dog.

[Kevin]

Let's go. Final Fantasy Tactics. The EVE Chronicles has sold a million copies. Cloud Head Games, who you know from Pistol Whip lays off 70% of its staff. Evo Creo launches January 7th on PC. What time is it? We got time, Kevin. If you can click this link, I have it in WE news. This is the link under EVO Creo. I want to. I want Tim to see this. I saw this over break and I was like, interesting. The Steam description reads, capture over 170 unique creo, explore diverse regions and that's Wail Lord and battle your way through a story. Rich, offline friendly monster catching rpg.

[Blessing]

That's fucking Reshiran. That's Hydrogen.

[Kevin]

Start your adventure in the world in the world of Zenith as you search your missing father and uncover the plot of a nefarious group Shadow Hive.

[Blessing]

Okay, cool, cool.

[Kevin]

How mad do you think the Pokemon company gets when they see something like this?

[Blessing]

I don't. It's just so much busy work for them to sue Everyone, you know what I mean?

[Kevin]

They're like, we're only going to sue you if you go. Become. Become successful.

[Blessing]

This is insane, though. But also, whatever, dude. What? Who the cares anymore? Let anyone do whatever they want?

[Kevin]

I'm not gonna lie. It's a lawless land because this comes out January 7th. Right? I told you yesterday. I was like, I'm. I'm thinking about Pokemon lately.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

I'm kind of having a craving for Pokemon. So when I saw the trailer for this, I was like, ooh, what if I play that? I was like, I can just go play Pokemon.

[Blessing]

Yeah. What are you doing?

[Kevin]

No, I can just go play Pokemon. Although I think this does look good for what it is.

[Blessing]

Fantastic name.

[Kevin]

I don't like the name. Evil Creole. Yeah. No, it's not good.

[Blessing]

No, it's not good.

[Kevin]

Not as good as Power World.

[Blessing]

Power.

[Kevin]

Power World. Nailed it. Power World was on. It was spot on. South park is coming to Fortnite January 9th.

[Blessing]

About time.

[Kevin]

Kevin's sad for it. I'm excited for it. From one news, EB Games proposes closing all news, all New Zealand stores. And then finally, last one for we news. Amazon's Tomb Raider series cast has been confirmed. They posted a post as a Reddit exclusive, which I. I know, I know people do. I've seen before. I know.

[Blessing]

That's the thing. But Jason Isaacs, dude, hell yeah.

[Kevin]

Yeah. You got Sigourney Weaver.

[Blessing]

You got Sigourney Weaver as Lara Croft is an inspired take. I don't know how it's going to go.

[Kevin]

And then. Do you recognize anybody else? Nobody. Nobody here jumps out of me. Nobody who I know.

[Blessing]

No, me neither.

[Kevin]

All right.

[Blessing]

Joey would probably know like four of them, though. Joey knows every actor.

[Kevin]

That's why I respect about Joey. Yeah, I've been using letterboxd more and I was like, now that I'm watching more movies I got, I get to talk to Joey more.

[Blessing]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kevin]

More conversations.

[Blessing]

Good.

[Kevin]

That's one of my New Year's resolution. Talk to Joey more. She just works in such, like, a weird part of the office, whereas she doesn't Facebook weird.

[Blessing]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kevin]

We need to, like, walk by each other more. I don't know. And that is it for we news. Before we get out of here, let's hop into super chats, hang out with the audience.

[Blessing]

That dog dude, look how cool he looks.

[Kevin]

Hold on, I gotta send something. Kevin, I need you to stand by because something just came out.

[Blessing]

Standby for Titanfall.

[Kevin]

Nobody say anything.

[Blessing]

Ah, Chat's already saying that's on it.

[Kevin]

Chat'S already saying it.

[Blessing]

Pretty cool.

[Kevin]

Hold on, hold on.

[Blessing]

Gotta watch.

[Kevin]

I'm dropping this into Assets. Kevin, it's a Blue sky video, if you can pull that up. It's a trailer for, actually, the new season Dropout on Dropout. I love trivia so much. Why would I dirty a beautiful answer with a little phrase such as I'm actually. Let's go, baby. Now I see how y' all be feeling when y' all be getting all those Star Trek questions, right? Oh, that is correct. Eat my dick.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I love that you did not say, I'm actually.

[Kevin]

Oh, that's. Come on. You should punch me in the face if I forget to say I'm actually. Oh, my God. This is not going well. No, that was the other one. That's the worst thing that's ever been said to me. Edg, my hero to Ultraman Zero. From Parks and Rec to Alan. Peg having sex. From Bruce Banner to Steel's Hammer. This is.

[Blessing]

I'm actually. You guys don't do, like, hints here. Found a loophole.

[Kevin]

I'm not powerful enough to understand this.

[Blessing]

Speed.

[Kevin]

This is hell. Actually, um, actually. Actually, are people good at this show?

[Blessing]

Yeah, I'm still in this.

[Kevin]

You got a game now. Sorry, yeah. Let's see if this was a mistake. Steak, steak, Steak.

[Blessing]

Hell yeah. Come on.

[Kevin]

Welcome to the Tournament of Champions. We will find out once and for all who is the principal pet baby star with Return of the King.

[Blessing]

Let's go.

[Kevin]

Oh, so this is how this game is gonna go. We're playing like that. That's how it. I'm always gone. All right, I'm sorry. Let me turn my brain on.

[Blessing]

Okay. So many cool people in this.

[Kevin]

That's awesome, people. This is next level. You can use that in the trailer if you want. So if you're an audio listener, me, Andy, are both going to be on actually this year.

[Blessing]

Very, very, very cool.

[Kevin]

Hell, yeah. We recorded it so long ago.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Andy, like, every now and then will turn to me like, yo, so when is that episode coming out? Like, it's coming out next year, which is hilarious. But, yeah, me, Andy, if you watch the trailer, of course, Alana Pierce is also in the trailer along with Xavier Woods, A bunch of homies and so. Been waiting for this for a very long time. Very excited to be on this season of them, actually.

[Blessing]

So cool.

[Kevin]

Hell yeah. Which I wanted to cut to because we got super chats in one from Danny. Excuse me, Danny Torelli, who says dope as hell to see KF folks in Dropout Congrats to y'. All. Can't wait to watch. There was one from Cameron Ken who also says bless. Congrats on them. Actually, let's go more for you. Oscar Navarro says bless. If you want a good Pokemon, like play Cassette Beasts. Have you heard of Cassette Beast?

[Blessing]

Yeah, that was a nifty little one that we saw a while back.

[Kevin]

I never played it, but the real washcloth says playing Bloodborne right now. Andy is right. This FPS is ass funny. Ed Reed Fan20 says missed we news asus cross xreal rog branded xreal glasses announced.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I saw that. Pretty cool.

[Kevin]

I didn't see that one.

[Blessing]

It seems like they're more specifically for like connecting to your desktop. Like, I haven't. I haven't fully looked into it, but there's like a little hub that it attaches to as well. So it's like. I think it's for like crazy PC gaming.

[Kevin]

G D97 says the actually trailer dropped. Dropped. Congrats to Bless and Andy hyped to see you guys on dropout Elk Captain says not sure if you guys will talk about the possible next gen delay, but I want to see. I want that PS6 handheld sooner than later. I'm sure we'll talk about all this as the going on.

[Blessing]

Yeah, real quick, that is just a addendum to what we were talking about earlier with this. It's. I do think that's the only quote unquote good news that might come from this is it will hit a point that PlayStation won't put out a new console anytime soon because it's. It'll be just doomed to fail. Like it will be just too expensive for them to make the thing, then sell the thing. So that means we're going to get more mileage out of the PS5. What does that mean for the games and everything? Hopefully good things, but that is being incredibly optimistic about all of this. But I think that without all of this, PS6 would be in the next two years. But like, this gives it a chance that maybe they make a business call to push it back, which I think overall would be a good move for people that own a PS5.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I mean, Mothman Jones says it's only been five years and five years might feel short, but the average console lifecycle is about seven, seven or eight years. And so theoretically we would be approaching it. But what Tim's saying, maybe we hang out here for a little bit. High Voltage says, I think Bond will do better than Indiana Jones. Bond to pause there. Bond will do Better than Indiana Jones. Continuing on. Bond is still a proven IP at the box office. Indiana Jones and the dollar Destiny was not that success might translate to video games.

[Blessing]

Do you think so?

[Kevin]

I think so, yeah. Bond's gonna do way better than Indiana Jones.

[Blessing]

I, I think that the. I don't know if Indiana console exclusivity stuff is like the one thing to get in the way of it for me. But like if things were one to one, I don't, I don't know that it's that me.

[Kevin]

Indiana Jones came to PS5 later, right?

[Blessing]

Yeah, later, yeah, exactly. So I think that's the one thing to get in the way of that.

[Kevin]

But, but I don't. I'm looking up Indiana Jones sales because I don't know if the sales were that crazy for Indiana Jones.

[Blessing]

I also don't think the sales are gonna be that crazy for 007. I. I don't think it's like I. All I'm saying is it's not like. Oh, I think. Yeah.

[Kevin]

Oh, interesting.

[Blessing]

I'm. I wouldn't really be surprised either way. Like I, I think that 007 is a more relevant brand to people movie wise and stuff. Now like the 007 movies perform better than Indiana Jones movies. But that's such a weird thing to even say. It's been one Indiana Jones movie.

[Kevin]

I think there's also the thing where I think the gameplay style of 007 is going to be a bit more approachable from like a mainstream aspect than Indiana Jones.

[Blessing]

Maybe Indiana Jones really. It's how much it leans into the Uncharted versus how much it leads to the Hitman, but we'll see.

[Kevin]

Yeah, but I think even Hitman, like Indiana Jones as a game is weird because it is a first person like immersive sim with melee combat where like half the time you're kind of running around doing detective work like it's such not a triple A action game. And the way that 007, even if it was more Hitman, would still I think be more mainstream leaning than what Indiana Jones was doing. Yeah, crack that whip. We got one more. Actually got a few more. I'll bring in one more from J. Dublin who Says built my PC in September as an early 40th birthday gift. I went crazy. My current rig would probably be 2 to 3k more expensive if I had waited until now.

[Blessing]

Yeah. For reals.

[Kevin]

Scary times. We're in.

[Blessing]

Last thing I want to say about and James Bond, I think that Indie feels like a main installment. James Bond feels more like that's not James Bond. You look at it, it's Harrison Ford. You know what I mean? You look at James Bond, it's like who the. This guy? This isn't real interesting. Feels lesser than.

[Kevin]

I don't know. See, I want to make a pizza bet, but I'm trying to figure out what they.

[Blessing]

I don't even know what it is. I don't know what it is. Yeah, we can think about it. Let's think about what.

[Kevin]

Because I want. I think the bet I want to make is that 007 sells 3 million more.

[Blessing]

OK, 3 million.

[Kevin]

3 million more than Indiana Jones. But then we had to talk about like time limit.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I know. And then there's Game pass too. Which you know.

[Kevin]

Chad, do we know, do we know the first month sales of Indiana Jones or like the first few months? Because if we can compare those two, I don't think it's going to sell 3 million more in the first month. Yeah, guaranteed it's not. But over time then.

[Blessing]

Over time and he's going to be ported to Switch 2 and other systems. I mean it's already on PlayStation, right? Yeah.

[Kevin]

I'm going to come back with it. Better.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Let's figure it out.

[Kevin]

We're going to figure it out. Let's hop into your wrong where you write and let us know what we got wrong as we got it wrong so we can correct it. For those watching later on YouTube and listening later on podcast services around the globe, Big Babooga says the alters used gen AI for filler computer text. It was meant to be temporary assets but ultimately made it into the final build and has since been removed. Let's see here. Missed we news from kebabs on the subject of RAM and prices. The PC specs for 007 for a site were revealed and the recommended amount of Ram is 32 gigabytes. I don't know a lot.

[Blessing]

32 gigs is the like I mean very not that long ago that was like the high end of like what we would need. People have 64 people have beyond that but like 32 was that like if you're trying to build a quote unquote top of the line machine. 32 is kind of like the. You want 32 gigs of RAM? Like that is the, that's the like I think the, the prosumer level of ram.

[Kevin]

Quite a few people wrote in saying Sophie Turner is Lara, not Sigourney Weaver.

[Blessing]

What?

[Kevin]

Sigourney Weaver is playing a new character, Evelyn Wallace.

[Blessing]

No fucking shit, guys. No fucking shit. That was a joke. Sorry.

[Kevin]

And then a European writes in. You know what's funny is that you said it. And I was like, he's unserious, but I can't tell if he was serious.

[Blessing]

According to.

[Kevin]

Yes. Which is why, which is why I didn't like respond. But like I. For me it was a 5050 chance of your joke. I wasn't totally positive.

[Blessing]

I mean she does play a 14 year old girl in Avatar. But that.

[Kevin]

I was like, he's not. I was like, he's not serious. But the way you delivered it sounded so serious. And then this last one comes from just a European who says blessing refer to Aphelion as that NASA game, but it's actually being made in collaboration with the European Space Agency. I know. That's why I said I know it's not NASA because I knew it was the esa. But you know, we talk here. We talk, we say a lot of words. We do here on this. We're podcasting. We're going to podcast more after this because. Right. This is a really exciting podcast. The games cast and we're going to do the fantasy critic draft for 2026. Let me tell you, there's a lot to talk about.

[Blessing]

I can't wait.

[Kevin]

I meant to set a slack to Mike, Mike and Roger before this. I'm just going to talk to them before but I want to basically tell them. I'm like, hey guys, let's make sure this is fun for everybody. Don't fuck this.

[Blessing]

I'll see everyone.

[Kevin]

Stay tuned. I just need them to not fucking.

[Blessing]

Who will be fucked? Find out in the next 10 minutes.

[Kevin]

I have. Oh man. Mike, Roger, if you're watching, don't fuck this. Until next time. Game Daily.