Sony Sues Tencent Over Horizon Zero Dawn Rip-Off - Kinda Funny Games Daily 07.29.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast Summary
Episode: Sony Sues Tencent Over Horizon Zero Dawn Rip-Off
Release Date: July 29, 2025

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1. Sony Sues Tencent Over Horizon Zero Dawn Rip-Off ([07:12])

Hosts Greg Miller and Tim Gettys delve into a significant legal battle where Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has filed a lawsuit against Tencent. The suit alleges that Tencent's upcoming game, "Light of Motiram Moti Ram," is a blatant and unlawful clone of Sony's acclaimed Horizon series.

Key Points:

• Copyright Infringement: The lawsuit claims that Tencent's game misappropriates the tone, feel, sound, and appearance of the Horizon franchise, which has sold over 38 million copies worldwide.
• Character and Branding Issues: Tencent is accused of adopting Sony's branding strategies, including using a red-haired female protagonist, reminiscent of Horizon's Aloy.
• Previous Licensing Attempts: It was revealed that Tencent previously attempted to license the Horizon franchise in March 2024 to develop a mobile title incorporating Eastern aesthetics, which Sony rejected. Despite this, Tencent allegedly proceeded to develop "Light of Motiram Moti Ram" without authorization.

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller ([07:24]): "This is not completely different. This is very much the exact same thing."
• Tim Gettys ([10:43]): "They clearly were inspired. They clearly wanted the thing and didn't get it. The people that own it said no. So you're done unless you do something completely different."

Discussion Highlights:

• Impact on Tencent: The hosts express skepticism about Tencent's ability to navigate the lawsuit successfully, suggesting that the game's release might be halted or significantly altered.
• Comparison to Previous Cases: Tim draws parallels to previous instances where companies attempted to mimic successful franchises, highlighting the risks and potential legal repercussions.

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2. Warner Brothers Hiring for New Live Service Game After "Suicide Squad" Flop ([15:00])

Despite the underwhelming performance and fan backlash against "Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League," Warner Brothers Games is hiring for another live service project within the DC Universe.

Key Points:

• Job Listing Insights: The position seeks an Executive Producer to lead the development of a high-quality AAA game based on iconic Warner Brothers and DC Comics IPs, encompassing all phases from concept to post-launch operations.
• Concerns Over Direction: Greg and Tim express doubts about Warner Brothers' commitment to refining their approach, noting the disappointing outcomes of previous titles like "Gotham Knights."

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys ([16:45]): "I have no faith in Warner Brothers making decisions."
• Greg Miller ([23:08]): "I'm angry. Everybody."

Discussion Highlights:

• Company Struggles: The duo criticizes Warner Brothers' inconsistent management and decision-making, leading to repeated failures in delivering engaging DC-based games.
• Future Prospects: There's skepticism about whether Warner Brothers can turn around their gaming division or if they will continue to falter, potentially exiting the video game industry altogether.

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3. Atari Acquires Thunderfall ([35:44])

Atari's Acquisition of Thunderful Group marks a significant move in the indie gaming landscape, albeit met with mixed feelings from the hosts.

Key Points:

• Deal Details: Atari is set to acquire 82% of Thunderful Group's shares for approximately €4.55 million ($5.19 million), pending shareholder approval.
• Impact on Thunderfall: Concerns arise about potential layoffs and restructuring within Thunderful, especially following previous job cuts earlier in 2024.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys ([36:54]): "You're going to see this. And I can't imagine they get away with it."
• Greg Miller ([38:24]): "We've just been burned by this so many times."

Discussion Highlights:

• Legacy vs. Future: While acknowledging Thunderful's contributions to the indie scene with beloved titles, Greg and Tim worry that Atari's involvement might compromise the creative freedom and stability that's crucial for indie developers.
• Possible Outcomes: The hosts contemplate scenarios where Atari might impose cost-cutting measures, potentially leading to project cancellations or further layoffs.

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4. Mario Paint Added to Nintendo Switch Online ([30:41])

Nintendo's Nostalgic Revival brings the classic "Mario Paint" to the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) library, leveraging the Switch 2's new mouse functionality.

Key Points:

• Gameplay Enhancements: The integration allows players to use both Joy-Con controllers as a mouse or connect a compatible USB mouse, enhancing the creative experience of Mario Paint.
• Host Reflections: Tim Gettys shares a personal anecdote about his childhood interactions with Mario Paint, emphasizing its lasting impact on his creativity.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys ([44:03]): "I convinced my mom, like, it's educational... And I wasn't lying. Yeah, this ended up being a game that I played every day."
• Greg Miller ([51:33]): "That was very nice."

Discussion Highlights:

• Educational Value: Tim highlights how Mario Paint served as an early introduction to digital creativity, comparing it to modern tools like Photoshop.
• Nintendo's Marketing: The hosts praise Nintendo's effective marketing strategy for Mario Paint, noting its ability to evoke nostalgia while showcasing new features tailored to the Switch 2.

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5. IGDA Concerns Over Delisting Adult Games from Itch IO ([47:17])

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) voices serious concerns regarding the recent removal of adult-oriented games from platforms like Itch IO.

Key Points:

• Platform Policies: Itch IO's decision to delist NSFW (Not Safe For Work) games has sparked debates about content moderation and the extent of censorship on indie platforms.
• IGDA's Stance: The association calls for greater transparency and fairness in how adult games are moderated, emphasizing the need for clear guidelines to prevent unintended collateral damage to legitimate, non-adult titles.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys ([47:44]): "There has to be rules, there has to be clear cut things of this happens this way, this happens this way, and this is why."
• Greg Miller ([47:48]): "You're trying to go after a tumor, but you took out all this healthy tissue."

Discussion Highlights:

• Art vs. Censorship: The hosts discuss the thin line between protecting audiences from inappropriate content and stifling creative expression, advocating for balanced content moderation policies.
• Impact on Indie Developers: There's a focus on how indiscriminate delisting can harm developers who create mature-themed games without crossing into explicit content.

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6. Upcoming PlayStation Plus Essential Games ([49:06])

The latest PlayStation Plus Essential offerings for August 2025 include titles like "Lies of P," "My Hero 1's Justice 2," "Day Z," and "Five Nights at Freddy's."

Key Points:

• Game Highlights: These selections promise to deliver a diverse range of gameplay experiences, catering to different player interests within the PlayStation ecosystem.
• Hosts' Anticipation: Greg and Tim express excitement for these titles, particularly looking forward to the integration of Five Nights at Freddy's into events like Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights.

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller ([49:12]): "Yeah. Right. Now..."
• Tim Gettys ([49:06]): "Hollow Knight's going to be playable on this device at Gamescom. That's very cool."

Discussion Highlights:

• Diverse Offerings: The inclusion of both established franchises and horror staples underscores PlayStation's strategy to appeal to a broad audience.
• Community Engagement: There's an emphasis on how these game releases will resonate with the gaming community, especially in conjunction with popular events like Halloween festivities.

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7. Listener Interactions and Super Chats ([55:21])

Throughout the episode, Greg and Tim engage with listeners through Super Chats, addressing comments and questions from the audience.

Notable Interactions:

• Dexter's Gratitude: A listener named Dexter thanks the hosts for their support, mentioning his journey as a stay-at-home dad looking to re-enter the workforce.
• Book Recommendations: Rainz inquires about starting "Leviathan Wakes," the first book in The Expanse series, prompting a light-hearted discussion about the hosts' reading habits.
• Promotional Messages: Listeners like Virgil Golf and Oh Diddly Oh share their experiences and opinions on industry events and game promotions.

Key Points:

• Community Support: The hosts acknowledge and appreciate the positive feedback from listeners, highlighting the podcast's role in fostering a supportive gaming community.
• Humorous Banter: Greg and Tim maintain a light-hearted tone while responding to quirky and offbeat listener messages, adding a personable touch to the episode.

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Conclusion

In this episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily, Greg and Tim navigate a broad spectrum of gaming news, from high-stakes legal battles like Sony's lawsuit against Tencent to the evolving strategies of major players like Warner Brothers and Atari. They also celebrate nostalgic moments with Nintendo's revival of Mario Paint and address pressing industry issues such as content moderation for adult games. Engaging with their community through listener interactions, the hosts provide insightful commentary and maintain a balance between critical analysis and enthusiastic anticipation for upcoming titles.

Notable Quotes Recap:

• Greg Miller ([07:24]): "This is not completely different. This is very much the exact same thing."
• Tim Gettys ([10:43]): "They clearly were inspired. They clearly wanted the thing and didn't get it."
• Greg Miller ([23:08]): "I'm angry. Everybody."
• Tim Gettys ([36:54]): "You're going to see this. And I can't imagine they get away with it."
• Tim Gettys ([47:44]): "There has to be rules, there has to be clear cut things of this happens this way, this happens this way, and this is why."

For those seeking a comprehensive overview of the latest in gaming news, trends, and industry insights, this episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily offers an engaging and informative listen.

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out if this email is real. I don't think so, but it looks like Twitter's trying to say or. Well, X now is trying to permanently ban me for my no Kings post.

[Tim Gettys]

That's not real funny.

[Greg Miller]

Anyways, it's time for Kind of Funny Games Daily. If you didn't know, we're gonna be talking about Sony suing Tencent for ripping off Horizon. Warner Brothers could be hiring a new live service or hiring for a new live service game. After Suicide Squad and Atari is acquiring one of the big indie publishers, we'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Tuesday, July 29, 2025. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller, alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka the second best baby blues in San Francisco, aka level 50 in Pokemon Go at Tim Gettys.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, it feels good.

[Greg Miller]

Does it feel good?

[Tim Gettys]

Every morning I wake up, open that app and I see that level 50. There's not even an experience bar anymore. I've done it.

[Greg Miller]

Can it go higher, though?

[Tim Gettys]

No, you keep getting experience.

[Greg Miller]

One day. One day they're gonna one day do the whole thing.

[Tim Gettys]

But no, for now, I'm at the top of my game. How you doing, Greg?

[Greg Miller]

I am excellent, Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Good.

[Greg Miller]

It's good to see you. I'm happy to do a show with you. I haven't done games daily in a while.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, you've been gone. I've been gone.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

A lot of people being gone.

[Greg Miller]

Here we are, you and I.

[Tim Gettys]

Give me a good episode. Let's talk about.

[Greg Miller]

There is a lot to talk about, as always, but what I need to know right now, Timothy Robert Gettys, is what are you playing? I haven't heard you talk about games you're playing lately.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think I can talk about the game that I'll be reviewing fairly soon.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, I was excited.

[Tim Gettys]

Vague as possible, but I am excited to talk about game, said game. Whether I like it or not, I can't say. But I'm excited about the conversation.

[Greg Miller]

I appreciate that. I appreciate it.

[Tim Gettys]

Also, Donkey Kong Country Bonanza. Also. I don't want to get into this too much, but Gia's little animal crossing habit. Oh, she's been using that switch and I've been seeing her bop around looking at other games, you know what I mean? So it's been a little.

[Greg Miller]

It's been fun.

[Tim Gettys]

I've been pulling things up, showing her some things, including Mario paint, that we'll Talk about later.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, I like that. That's a good one. That's a good one. I like that.

[Tim Gettys]

Good stuff all around. What have you been playing? Grounded.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Gratitude. We just did the review because Mike's got a jet down to play Battlefield. So. Yeah, we just did our Grinder 2 review. You can catch that on the Gamescast feeds. Yeah. And then Pokemon Violet, man, I'm all in.

[Tim Gettys]

I love it. You just keep texting me about this game. Yeah, it's awesome.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, it's the beginner things that, like, I wouldn't know. You know, I've gone. I'm deeper into a Pokemon game than I've ever been. So those questions come up. But, yeah, Jen was looking at me yesterday. She's like, saw me playing the game and then stop the game and then go. And she's like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I have an app where I can put in the Pokemon's name, see what types they are. Then I open up my camera app where I taken photos of Ben's little childhood magazine of like, all the different. Whose tax. What? Who's strong. I love that. I look at that. So you can just ask me. I'm like, I know, but you're busy doing your work.

[Tim Gettys]

That's great, though. Yeah, that's good. One day. I always stick for everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Nick. No, of course not for Nick. Yeah. But come on, I'm 20 times gamer. That and I've got to get ready for Zombie. I'm reviewing zas. You all know the agreement was if I go to the Pokemon World Championships, I can review za. So seems like a pretty easy. Take it to Anaheim and then I'll do it. I'll just do that and it'll be great.

[Tim Gettys]

Piece of shit.

[Greg Miller]

Well, you know, I'm sorry, Tim, that you've never fulfilled your dream, but I'm going to live mine. What?

[Tim Gettys]

Sonder Atelier says Tim's probably playing Metal Gear Solid Delta. I could tell you one thing, I'm not playing that game. I can tell you another thing. I looked at that, I was like, you silly, silly person. That game's not coming out for months and months. It's in August. August is days away.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I know. I wish we were playing Metal Gear Solid.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, Metal Gear. That's the end of August, correct? Yeah, I think so.

[Greg Miller]

20 somewhere exciting. It's close. Yeah, that is close enough.

[Tim Gettys]

Exciting.

[Greg Miller]

You have to get closer to that, which sucks, but we'll be there eventually. For now, I'll remind you, of course, that this is Kind of Funny Games Daily, each and every weekday on a variety of platforms. We run you through the nerdy video game news need to know about live on Twitch TV kind of funny games YouTube.com kind of funny games podcast services around the globe. If you love that, we'd love you to pick up the Kinda Funny membership. Of course. $10 on patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple or Spotify gets you all of our shows. That's more than 80amonth A.D. free. And of course your daily dose of me, Greg Miller and a 15 to 20 minute podcast we call Greg Way. That's four hours of exclusive podcasts each and every month. No bucks, toss away, no big deal. Like subscribe, share, ring the bell if you're on Twitch or not. More importantly, maybe you're listening on a podcast service and you have Amazon pr, you have Twitch Prime. That means you have a free 30 day subscription to give away each and every month. They don't remind you or promote it. So please give it to Kind of Funny Games. And of course set a reminder so you can do it each and every month. Of course, if you're watching live, you should super chat YouTube.com/kind of funny Games with your questions, comments, concerns about the day's news so far. John Van Pelt 6806 says, Did I already do Birthday Tax? Yes, I did. But you know, new show, new tax, also Dope ass jacket. Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Thank you and happy birthday again. John Van Pelt.

[Greg Miller]

Happy birthday again. Strong name, Very good name. Yeah, Pelt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds like housekeeping. We're an 11 person small business, all about live talk shows. You just got the Gamescast, which was our Grounded 2 review so far with Mike, Andy and myself. There is no stream today because we're preparing for something very cool. If you're a Kind of Funny Member, Today's Greg way is 15 minutes of Greg being on trial, the charge being a console contrarian.

[Tim Gettys]

Ooh, can you give me a little tease of that?

[Greg Miller]

This rappy has some dumbass wrote in. Yeah, Greg, you always cheer for the underdog. What's that all about?

[Tim Gettys]

What's that all about?

[Greg Miller]

And I take him to the woodshed. No, it's a very respectful conversation. I don't agree with the hypothesis, but I lay it on. Why thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The Psalm Twining. Today we're brought to you by Mood Factor and the Kind of Funny Survey. But we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some new five items on the Roper Report. Baker's dozen. Something's up with the fog machine. You know what I mean? Number one. Sony files a lawsuit against 10 cent for allegedly cloning Horizon series. This is Chris Kerr at game developer Sony Interactive Entertainment. That's SIE has accused Tencent of developing a slavish clone of its popular Horizons series in a new lawsuit. The lawsuit, shared online by Game File, was filed on July 25 in the Northern district of California and claims that Tencent's upcoming open world adventure title, Light of Motiram Moti Ram, Moti Ram is a blatant and unlawful copy of the Horizon franchise. We are looking at the trailer right now.

[Tim Gettys]

You see this trailer?

[Greg Miller]

I have not seen.

[Tim Gettys]

You've not seen this?

[Greg Miller]

No.

[Tim Gettys]

So we went through this yesterday. Being blessed.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You're looking at this and, like, would you think Horizon right off the bat?

[Greg Miller]

Not. No, now that you put in my head, yes. But not really, though.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it's kind of like, all right, cool. Like, whatever. And then you start and go like, okay, yeah, I'm not so sure. And then all of a sudden, it starts beating you over the head. You're just like, oh, this is a power world situation. Yeah, this is. Someone's getting in a lot of trouble. Someone. Someone's gonna have to pay. Someone.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, it's gorgeous. Of course. I mean, it's just a trailer, but. Okay. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Now, Kevin, can you skip ahead?

[Greg Miller]

Even though the tentacles coming out of the ground there, this looks like a vault. Of course. Sure. Where a God that blessed brought destruction. So, okay, yeah, that looks. That looks just like the armor. And. Yeah, that looks like Aloy riding a Met. Oh, That's Aloy. That's 100%. Yeah, you can see the problems here.

[Tim Gettys]

You can definitely see the problems. And then you see the gameplay a little bit, and you're like, oh, yeah, no.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah, no. Yeah. Somebody's getting sued. Understandably so.

[Tim Gettys]

And we know that somebody's here, and we know who's doing it.

[Greg Miller]

I'll continue reading. Sie explained Horizon has become one of its most valuable intellectual properties since debuting in 2017 and claims Tencent is attempting to benefit from that success by releasing a ripoff that misappropriates the overall tone, feel, sound, and appearance of the series. The overall impression conveyed by Tencent's adoption, in light of Motriam, of the same high fidelity post Apocalyptic visual aesthetics, blending lush natural environments, tribal culture, futuristic mechanical elements, and ethereal sounds primarily in the soprano register, is substantially similar to Horizon Zero dawn and Horizon Forbidden west audiovisual works, and infringes on the copyrights therein, reads the suit. Tencent is also accused of specifically adopting Sony's approach to branding by using a red hair female main character to market the title on social media. Sie claims it's a tactic that reflects a deliberate infringement on the Aloy character mark. In what is perhaps the wildest accusation in the lawsuit, Sie claims that Tencent previously attempted to license the Horizon franchise in March 2024 to create a mobile title that would expand the series by incorporating Eastern aesthetics. The PlayStation maker says Tencent's pitch was rejected outright and that it considered the matter closed. It also, however, believes Tencent only made that approach after starting work on Light of Motoram and continued to secretly develop the title even after failing to secure the Horizon license. Guerrilla's Horizon franchise has sold over 38 million copies worldwide, according to the legal complaint. It open and shut case.

[Tim Gettys]

No, straight up. I mean, look, here's the thing. They, they, they tried to license Horizon, like they were trying to make this Horizon, and then when they couldn't, they just. They made it like. Like Horizon, but like, too much like Horizon. If you're going to do it, you gotta. If you don't get the license, you gotta change up more than this. You just simply have to do that. Yeah, I, I mean, I like, that's. That's the end of this. And like, I feel like any disagreement about that, it's like, oh, everyone, even the key, they. They clearly were inspired. They clearly wanted the thing and didn't get it. The people that own it said no. So you're done unless you do something completely different. And this is not completely.

[Greg Miller]

This is not completely different. This is very much the exact same thing.

[Tim Gettys]

We see. We've seen this so many times and I am shocked at how successful some people have done it. We talked a little bit about this yesterday, but to go deeper into it, Power World, obviously the biggest example of them going against Pokemon and Nintendo. That's crazy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But like, good lord, looking at those things, there's certain parts of it that, like, unlike this, you look at Power World and you're like, all right, well, the gameplay of Power was nothing like the gameplay of Pokemon. Sure, right. It's a different.

[Greg Miller]

You do catch them, but.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah, but it's a different game.

[Greg Miller]

I know.

[Tim Gettys]

It's not the same game. It's like the same concepts for the game. The gameplay is entirely different. Genre.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But the look of the characters and all that stuff, like you're stealing these things. In fact, literally stealing the models of some of the characters, like the rigs.

[Greg Miller]

100%.

[Tim Gettys]

Then there's one of my favorite games the last couple of years. I'm going to say its name. Nico de Rico. The Magical World. I don't understand what's going on there. I love the game. Absolutely love the game. They stealing so much. Like, so much. And I don't understand how they got away with it. Besides the fact that I don't think enough people played for it to really register to anybody. But like, looking at that game, so many things about the specific.

[Greg Miller]

The specifics, yeah, 100%.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm like, huh? How are they getting away with this? And then here we have tense to doing this and it's like, all right, you're not getting away with this. Like you're getting sued. But, like, what's going to happen? Because you look at the power. They didn't stop power from existing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I think it'll be interesting. So I am not a legal scholar, as anyone knows. I think this one is stopped in its tracks and doesn't actually come out or there's some giant settlement or whatever. But I don't think Sony allows this to come out. Whereas Pal World came out. And that's really when it got the limelight thrown on it. Like, what the fuck is this? What are you doing? And then they've been sued and then had to settle within Pokemon company since then. Right. Like, I feel like this one you're nipping in the bud enough of like, you're gonna see this. And I can't imagine they get away with it. Like the court's got a side with them. And then, then you're into big companies. I know we're talking about 10 cent, this giant Chinese company, but like, clearly there's enough litigation across the ocean here to stop this and make it not happen. Or again, to send it back to the drawing board and do something dramatically different with everything.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. It's kind of shocking the balls that they would have to do this.

[Greg Miller]

Well, this is again the problem, and that's not the right terminology, I guess. But when you are Tencent, you're this large. Right. Like Tencent is humongous and has its tendrils in just about every other gaming company. Right. So it's like at some point you've got to start wondering what they think they can get Away with. Right. And that's what you come into this situation. It will be interesting to see legally what actually happens here.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it's pretty wild. I think they can get away with this, though. Like. Like this. That just is such a bullish decision in. In so many different ways. Like down to the ethereal soprano sounds.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And like, as silly as that sounds, it's like. Yeah. Like when you have all these elements when it. If it was just that you don't have a case at all. But when it's that and look at the characters and the gameplay and the.

[Greg Miller]

History of the pitch and like all.

[Tim Gettys]

Of it, it's like, oh, man, you knew this.

[Greg Miller]

You knew this world very well to come in and do this. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Rough.

[Greg Miller]

We'll see. I want. I'm more interested of when does the next beat happen? When do we get an update about this? I don't think they'll go to court. So do they settle? Does it just kill the game? Does it whatever. Because Even if I'm PlayStation, I don't think it's a money issue. Right. So it's like, I just don't want this to come out and harm the ip. I don't want this to come out and see people look at this and think it's Horizon and then be upset or one way or the other with it. Right. And have an opinion that we're losing control of the IP. So in PlayStation's best interests, this needs to die. So I don't know if you can do a settlement right. Where you actually come out of this. Unless again, you go back to the drawing board and you completely change the entire look of the game. Yeah, but even then, I feel like that would take too much time. But again, Tencent has deep pockets. Who knows? Outrageous.

[Tim Gettys]

Outrageous.

[Greg Miller]

Be interested to see how this one nets out. For now, we'll move on to story number two. Another outrageous story. Following Suicide Squad's flop, Warner Brothers is hiring for another live service game. This is Jordan Midler, the big man at vgc.

[Tim Gettys]

They learned. They learned the problems.

[Greg Miller]

Despite the high profile failure of Suicide Squad Killed the Justice League, Warner Brothers is hiring for a new live service game. Suicide Squad Kill. The Justice League was released last year, which is a. I can't believe that. Is that a true statement? Last year, Suicide Squad came out early, very early, and was met with middling reviews and fan backlash. Developed by Batman, Arkham Studio Rocksteady, the game's live service approach and take on the DC universe left fans unhappy, leading to weak sales and small player numbers. Now, a job listing for an upcoming project from Warner Brothers Games suggests the company isn't finished with its attempt to establish a live service title in the DC universe. The job listing for an executive producer says the successful applicant will, quote, lead the development of a high quality AAA game based on one of the iconic IPs from the vast Warner Brothers and DC Comics catalog, end quote. The job listing notes the role includes, quote, overseeing all phases of development from concept to post launch live operations, end quote suggesting a live service element to the mystery project. Timothy?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

This cannot be what it sounds like, right?

[Tim Gettys]

I think it is. Greg. Did you hear the news that Warner Brothers Discovery is rebranding back to Warner Brothers?

[Greg Miller]

Yes.

[Tim Gettys]

Again.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Because they're doing that when we went.

[Greg Miller]

Back to HBO Max, that was a good move.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly. Yeah. So what's old is new again. Yes, of course we're going back to this. It's the only way. I legitimately am not surprised. I am very disappointed. And I feel like there are so many messes going on over at Warner in almost every single kind of vertical that they have going on.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And it absolutely sucks to see the game side be hit so hard by those bad decisions. And at a certain point I have to question if it's too far gone. Like the conversations around Warner Brothers games with WB Games for the last 15 years has went from one of story pride and success to you are a laughingstock. You are. The expectation is the headline is going to skew incredibly negative and you're going to get piled on for rightful reasons of. You're doing dumb that people don't like. And this just seems like they're going to continue going down that path. Like what's their answer here? It's like, oh well, Suicide Squad, that was the problem. We'll do the Superman game. People are asking for a Superman game or it Batman.

[Greg Miller]

It's gonna Batman game.

[Tim Gettys]

Those. Let's just go back to what works. That was the problem with this. And then it's like, well, y' all did Gotham Knights as well. And we often forget about Gotham Knights because it was in such close proximity to Suicide Squad and Suicide Squad was the bigger bomb.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But Gotham Knights also didn't live up to expectations for any of those teams or the brand ip, all of that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Gaming in general at that point. Third party AAA gaming. And you look at this and I feel like finger on the pulse. It's a Batman live service game with Batman in the title.

[Greg Miller]

No, they can't be though. They.

[Tim Gettys]

Right. That's what it's going to be right. This is just hey, we fucked up. What lessons can we learn?

[Greg Miller]

But like couldn't the lesson couldn't the world couldn't. I feel like sometimes with these job postings, you put out postings and you put up what the role would require and you put and you kind of toss in a gajillion things that might not fit again. Our Underoos are in about a bunch here because overseeing all phases of development from concept to post launch live operations. I am not there writing the post. I am not the HR department. I am not part of the studio. I am what I couldn't post launch live operations just be a suit. We're launching as DLC tied into it. We're doing this some crossover with one of the 15 other mobile DC games nobody gives a shit about. Like couldn't it be that it doesn't need to be a battle pass and DLCs about 12 brainiacs and here's how we're nickel and diming you for this thing. It could just be to post launch live operations just after launch every game is still live for the most part. Unless even Outriders, which we said isn't a live service. They still do dlc. There's still a lot of things they need to worry about.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Greg Miller]

Maybe there's an online co op to this, an online component. Maybe that's all it is.

[Tim Gettys]

Maybe. And yeah, you're right. But I don't know if it's more alarmist to think that you're wrong or if it is just looking at the patterns that they've presented to us the last couple years.

[Greg Miller]

CJ splits on super chats and says couldn't it just be in Justice 3?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, yeah, it could be. It could.

[Greg Miller]

It could be.

[Tim Gettys]

When you look at the patterns of what they do. I don't think so.

[Greg Miller]

I know.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't think we're Getting an Injustice 3. I don't think we are. Because you didn't play on Justice 2, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Well, yeah, you stop making DC games that are fighting games.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You're getting an invisible game, Greg. I can't fuck odds. A fucking fighting game. Great, cool. Thanks Kirkman, for fucking nothing. Yeah, you know.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I don't know. But yeah, it's, you know, this isn't necessarily doom and gloom, but I'm telling you it's not good news.

[Greg Miller]

Do you think whatever game they're even working on comes out?

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

I feel like again Warner Brothers.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean that's the thing is like Legitimately, Like, I'm not trying to just be like, oh, the sky is falling. I had.

[Greg Miller]

The sky fell.

[Tim Gettys]

The sky fell. I have no faith in Warner Brothers making decisions. This has nothing to do about the talent involved or whatever. I mean, and at the same time, anything can happen. We haven't seen Batgirl yet. We got the, like, Snyder cut. They went back and shot and wasted so much goddamn money making the Snyder cut.

[Greg Miller]

It was good money to spend and.

[Tim Gettys]

And, oh, yeah, I'm sure, very healthy for the entire movie industry, comic book industry. All good decisions there. And then we have ACME versus Coyote. Coyote coming back. Miraculously. Anything can happen with this shit. Yeah, it doesn't matter. South park fucking is leaving HBO Max tomorrow. All right? Trump's naked on Paramount. Plus the world makes no fucking sense.

[Greg Miller]

Now, that's accurate, everything you just said.

[Tim Gettys]

But it all goes back to one thing. Warner, they fucked it all up. They continue to it up.

[Greg Miller]

I still feel like they're going to get out of the video game business as we've known them to be in it.

[Tim Gettys]

So I feel about that for so long. Right? Yeah, yeah, but like that, that's the thing is like, yeah, oh, they're going to be acquired by xyz. Over the last six years, I swear to God. We have as a unit kind of shifted from they're probably going to go here, so they're probably going to go here to they're probably just going to die to probably they're just going to sell off Nether Realms. It's like we've talked about every single permutation. Permutation. And any of them at any point were equally possible, and they still are because it's Warner Brothers. There's just. In the same way Nintendo makes weird decisions. Warner as a entity, I feel, has lost sight of control. And they make decisions that are based on what they need to do right in the second for all of their media empire. And it is plugging holes in dams, which means you're gonna see failures in a bunch of different spaces. Yeah, focus here causes problems there and it just keeps going. And I think they've done that so long that you look at the game side of things and I have just no faith in anything. Wonder Woman. Don't.

[Greg Miller]

Don't bring her.

[Tim Gettys]

Wonder Woman. Where is she? She's dead, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

She's dead. Everybody. Hey. Killed me. They couldn't do it. But that's why I just don't see. I just don't lead the development of a high quality triple A game based on One of the iconic IPs from the vast Warner Brothers and DC Comics catalog.

[Tim Gettys]

It's Batman. And that's not a bad thing.

[Greg Miller]

No, I'd take a Batman game. Sure would love Superman game, but I don't. I don't trust the current Warner Brothers to make a Superman game that isn't dog shit.

[Tim Gettys]

A big old problem, ain't it?

[Greg Miller]

Big old problem. Big old problem.

[Tim Gettys]

And not to make this a Marvel vs DC thing, but you look at Marvel games and the way that they've done things, and I'm not saying that every game they've done has been a runaway hit, but many have been, and they've taken swings that are interesting and try to do cool partnerships. Just hosting the Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

[Greg Miller]

Can't wait.

[Tim Gettys]

That game looks awesome. Tribute games. Hey, there's an idea here. There was an idea. Get a team together and put them in a 90s 2D side scroller. Beat them up. That's all you got to do. And it's gonna work. It looks freaking awesome.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

That for dc? Why not?

[Greg Miller]

You know you've been down on these mobile games.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I have not, Greg. Have you?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I download them all and I try them once and I delete them. As much a DC fan as I am, I can't get down with this. I'm sorry. I apologize.

[Tim Gettys]

It just. I feel like the management of the Warner Brothers ip, DC ip, the teams that they have, all of that is just off DC could be taking their characters and going out to so many talented developers and being like, let's make this type of game with these characters. It doesn't need to be this giant live action or live service triple A thing. That is not going to get the results we need. We can start building some blocks and steps and stones to get where we're trying to get so that we can put out a bigger thing that makes sense at one day. We're not there. You're not there. You lost this. You lost it. Wonder Woman's dead.

[Greg Miller]

Don't remind me. Kuma Bomb.

[Tim Gettys]

Bomb.

[Greg Miller]

Might be a year too early for an Injustice 3. Never Never Realm. Just finished development on MK1, although Ed Boone hinted at more balance changes for MK1. Remember, we're not saying it would come out this year. Were saying they're hiring people to help work on this game that's coming out and lead it into live service territory afterwards, whatever that may mean. Yeah, it's interesting because I hold out zero hope for DC games. You know what I mean? Like, every time we sit down and we're getting ready for a new showcase. A Jeff show. I believe Sky's the limit on Marvel. I don't know what they've proven.

[Tim Gettys]

We're getting a Marvel anime themed fighting game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

What? Yeah, it's Capcom has nothing to do with it's arc system works.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Incredible.

[Greg Miller]

Of course you're gonna get Captain America. Black Panther.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't believe that. I'm still iffy on that one.

[Greg Miller]

Or Amy. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Still if you on that. That is one of the things I hope I am so wrong on. And I honestly am kind of tripling down at this point more than I actually believe it doesn't exist. But I still don't really believe it's a video game.

[Greg Miller]

We'll wait and see. I don't know. It's just. But Marvel. I do believe they can do anything. They've shown it like even. And to your point, not every Marvel game is a hit. Not every game is good Avengers.

[Tim Gettys]

But it's their biggest one was a miss.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I mean it's because nobody supported it and wanted to support the vision like me. Go far. Timor Hussein did great. Sean Norton did. We had a great group there.

[Tim Gettys]

Nothing wrong with these guys.

[Greg Miller]

Not 100%. But anyways, at least they did it. I'll never ever forget going to see that Age of Ultron screening with you. And they debuted Marvel Games and Bill Roseman came out. Mike Jones came out.

[Tim Gettys]

Who?

[Greg Miller]

Mike Jones. And they said hey, here's what we're doing. Here's what the label is. I think the first thing they were they showed that day it was Telltale. Right. When they were doing Guardians of the Galaxy. And again various quality on what you think of that or whatever. I didn't. I never played past episode one. But what they've done with this partnership and not having an internal team is so brilliant. And I have no fucking idea how Warner Brothers can have their fingers so far off the pulse that they couldn't figure this out.

[Tim Gettys]

Even the more upsetting thing about that Greg, is while that's true, they have what Marvel Games doesn't, which is a slew of incredibly talented developers that they own. Like it is they. They have the IP and the talent to make the games.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. But then I think we're just back into what a corporate structure looks like and why this is all fucked by capitalism. And not just to be that guy, but then to explain it more of the fact that when you have that, you're just a cog in the fucking Warner Brothers discovery. I'm sorry, Warner Brothers Machine now. Right. And so if your department isn't making double digit growth over the next fiscal year, then they go, fuck what you're doing. Stop making these single player Batman games and go make something that can go do this and go make a live service and go make. And it's like you're going to get back, girl. You're going to get back.

[Tim Gettys]

You're going to get rooster teeth. You're going to get Wonder Woman.

[Greg Miller]

Yep.

[Tim Gettys]

And it's like the list goes on.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

That's so scary, man. And we're talking about dc.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Not a company, and this isn't Shaded Marvel, but not a company that licensed all their characters out in a weird way that then like everything's fucked up and you can't get them back and you can't do.

[Tim Gettys]

You have everybody you have they fucked up on their own.

[Greg Miller]

Just go. Except for the Schusters, they get in the way sometimes. But you know what I mean. I digress.

[Tim Gettys]

Superman in review everybody.

[Greg Miller]

I'm angry. Everybody. All right. We don't need to be angry anymore. We're gonna take a breath, we're gonna take a break. We're gonna remind you, of course we wouldn't be here without your support. You can pick up a kinda Funny membership on patreon.com kindafunny, YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Apple and Spotify to get all of our shows ad free and get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller, the series we call Greg Way. However, right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor.

[Tim Gettys]

This episode's brought to you by Mood. Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges. From sleepless nights to stress filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific health concerns with 100% federally legal team THC blends. They'll deliver them discreetly right to your doorstep and you can get 20% off your first [e-mail] with promo code. Kinda funny. I've been having a great time trying out their different gummies and am loving how each one feels. And each one is crafted using federally legal cannabis grown on small family owned American farms. No pesticides, no bs and they can ship to most states in the us. Best of all, not only does Mood stand behind everything with an industry leading 100 day satisfaction guaranteed, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code kindafunny. So head to mood.com browse their amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you are dealing with. And remember to use Promo Code Kinda Funny at checkout to save 20% on your first order. That's mood.commood.com promo code kinda Funny this episode's brought to you by Factor. Summer is here baby. That means more sun, more light, more but it should not mean more hours inside cooking. That's where Factor comes in. Factor's chef crafted dietitian approved meals are ready in just two minutes. Taking the hassle out of eating well. Multiple people here at Kinda Funny have been loving their experience with Factor and you can too. Factor Meals arrive fresh and ready to eat. Perfect for any active lifestyle over summer and Beyond. Beyond with 45 weekly menu options, you can pick gourmet meals that fit your summer gains and goals. Choose from options like Calorie, Smart, Protein plus Keto and more. Factor powers your day sun up to sundown with nutritious breakfasts on the go, lunches, premium dinners and guilt free snacks and desserts. Factor has your whole day covered. Enjoy more this summer. Get Factor if you want all the flavor and none of the fuss, get started at factor meals.com kindafunny50 off and use code kindafunny50 off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code kinda [e-mail] kindafunny50 off.

[Greg Miller]

For.

[Tim Gettys]

50% off plus free shipping we need you.

[Greg Miller]

It's been a few years since we've done a big ol audience survey to determine who watches our stuff, where you watch it, what sorts of products you're open to seeing. In terms of sponsors, we've boiled this down to a handful of simple questions that shouldn't take you more than five minutes to complete. Oh, and all of your answers will be completely anonymous and we want you to be as honest as possible. Head over to kindafunny.comsurvey to participate. Thanks. Tipping culture is out of control. Yesterday I tipped someone just for handing me a napkin. So when hotels.com gives me up to 20% off for being a member, I finally get tipped. And you know what? It feels good. Hotels.com members save up to 20% off at hundreds of thousands of hotels. And we're back. Of course you can super chat to be part of the show just like so many folks have. Of course Samsun XP says they should just make a WB Games management sim. I like that idea.

[Tim Gettys]

That's fun.

[Greg Miller]

Little game dev story out there. Nix8869 wrote this one in. I've read it three times in my head and it doesn't make sense. Maybe outlawed. It'll make sense. Remember Hogwarts? It went head to not a D.C. mobile game head with Call of Duty. Dot dot Call of Duty. So it went. He said making it went head to not. It didn't go head to head. It went head to not a DC mobile game head with call.

[Tim Gettys]

I think what he's trying to say is like Hogwarts wasn't competing financially with shitty mobile games. It was doing as well as Call of Duty. I think they're trying to imply that Hogwarts proves that WB Games is doing well and we do need to at least point out that yes, Hogwarts legacy is a major win for WB games and it is them using an IP that is incredibly valuable to them to across media. It is also tainted with a lot of people not wanting to engage with the IP at all for very evident reasons of J.K. rowling being a transphobe. And that is all controversy that you don't want around your top product. That is the one thing that's actually working for you.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

That doesn't take away from the fact that it's actually working. It is.

[Greg Miller]

And hopefully these Warner Brothers suits are taking a lesson from that. Let them go make the game of a dc. The thing with Hogwarts was like oh, this is a Harry Potter fans dream game. So go make a DC dream game.

[Tim Gettys]

A live service Suicide Squad game where you kill the Justice League's not your dream dc.

[Greg Miller]

It's shocking that that was what I wanted. And remember when that fucking game came out and I was on such a soapbox of I want to be the fucking hero and I want to be the good guy and I want to have fucking hope. And now everybody falling all over themselves talking about how great Superman was. I was fucking right. That's what the games need to. It's not that hard to do. God damn it. Nick says Tim is correct.

[Tim Gettys]

Shoot some purple stuff.

[Greg Miller]

A lot of purple stuff. We shot a lot of purple stuff. One more before we get out into the rest of the stories here. Dexter writes in and says thank you guys so much for all that you do. I've been a stay at home dad for three years and looking to get back to work. Parentheses Anyone have vacancy? Haha. And y' all have helped me when I felt alone. Thanks again. We're happy to be here for you Dexter. We hope we helped raise your children and or child. Do they call Me, Daddy. Dexter. Plant the 3 year old in front of the TV. Hey man, how you doing? It's me, Greg. Your fucking daddy. Look at Dexter. That's not your daddy. I'm your daddy. Look at the door. Run for it. Open it.

[Tim Gettys]

Come to me, my child. We're so screwed as a people like us. Like, I wonder how far little Dex.

[Greg Miller]

Got out, you know?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Number three on the rope report.

[Tim Gettys]

Just sprinting down the street. Follow my voice.

[Greg Miller]

Atari has agreed to acquire Thunderfall for around 4.5 million euros. Right. This is Chris calling at VGC. Atari is set to acquire Thunderful Group in a deal worth around 4.55 million euros, aka $5.19 million. As announced in a press release today, Atari has agreed to buy 82% of the Swedish video game holding company shares at a total price of SEK 50 million. The transaction is subject to shareholder approval. Quote, the transaction has received unanimous support from Thunderf's board of directors as well as from two of Thunderfall's existing largest shareholders. Atari's statement says, remember, if you are like Roger, unanimous means everybody. Everybody. Tim.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

For a long time you've been Thunder Full is doing awesome stuff. Thunderfool is on the come up. I love what Thunderfall is working on. How do you feel about this news?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean like all that remains Thunder Full, if you aren't familiar, like they are making hits. Like we, we are living in the indie era of video games and we've been here firmly for a while, right? I think that there was the early days of the Xbox Live Arcade opening up the indie space. Two consoles and we've clearly seen that we're at a point now that some of the most anticipated games of the year are Hades 2 and Hollow Knight. Like indie games, right? Like that almost is a badge of honor to an extent of like, oh, it's one of them ones, right? Thunderfold makes those games. Like maybe, maybe not. They haven't had their Hades yet. Yeah, but Planet of Lara, awesome, right? The Steam World Series is they, they have a franchise that has spin offs that are critically beloved and well received from the audiences and the communities. Like I look at Thunderfall and I look at a group that makes the right decisions. I, I, I see them as a new age Devolver and that's, that's not saying that they're better than Devolver.

[Greg Miller]

They're of course different.

[Tim Gettys]

But I love that we're seeing more of that, right? We have Annapurna. We have like these different kind of groups out there. That are kind of having a message of yo, we make indie games and they're dope as shit. Thunderful really goes out of their way to try to market their games in unique ways and to experiment and do cool fun stuff. This news is impossible to look at in 2025 and not see as a not be bummed. Bummer, right? Like, yeah, it's like, man, hopefully all that work that you did, like with all that goodwill made you the cash money you're trying to look for. Like, congrats to you. But I feel like as a gamer and as a fan of these games and as a fan of the communities of these games, I'm concerned, I think that a lot of what I just said isn't necessarily going to stay here. I look at Atari and I don't see them as the worst. I do see if I'm trying to be very hopeful here, putting a lot of blinders on. We're not talking about Tencent. We are talking about a company that has been trying to rebuild that brand and make Atari mean something again. And you know, from a very optimistic point of view, I find that admirable. I this isn't like a Tommy Tallarico in television situation. This is a. We can't let the Atari brand die.

[Greg Miller]

Missile Command, Delta. Yeah, we're going to come out and do that. That iRobot game, Breakout beyond, like, hey, let's take things we already have. Let's modernize them to some extent. Put them out and see if we can get something going for you.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. So Atari, I just feel like is it's a legendary video game brand. That doesn't mean that it's good, you know, but I feel like that from everything I've seen and again I could be wrong about this, but it seems like they've made good steps and good calls. So there is a world in which this is them just continuing to do that. And now it's just going to be more people with the more well known brand and maybe that means more. That's.

[Greg Miller]

It's just how many optimistic have we lived this? And it's the normal thing of like yes, right now it could be such a great merger, such a great acquisition. They're on board with what we do. They're not going to get in the way of what we do. We're going to be allowed to make bigger and better yet and then that's great until five years from now when Atari's financials are not where they want them to be and there need to be cuts and they do this. And what about redundancies? And yet it's a die like, and we've just been burned by this so many times.

[Tim Gettys]

You're wrong. Me, if I'm wrong. But I'm pretty sure I'm right about this. I'm pretty sure Thunderfall went through some pretty significant, significant layoffs in the last they did year as well.

[Greg Miller]

I remember that.

[Tim Gettys]

So was that just to get in position to be acquired here? That's the business that sucks. And we are once again having a very similar conversation.

[Greg Miller]

But, you know, I'm sorry. November 14, 2024 Game developer Thunderfall is restructuring its publishing division and cutting even more jobs. Thunderfall is restructuring his publishing business and laying off between 80 and 100 employees. This is the second restructuring program Thunderful has enacted in 2024, with the company previously committing to laying off 20% of its workforce in January to offset quote, over investments made in the last few years. So again, this is one of those other situations where good, bad, nobody knows what the future looks like. It could easily be though that if this move didn't happen, Thunderfold doesn't exist in three months, period. And they're already a whole bunch of jobs no matter what.

[Tim Gettys]

And that, that is, I think, another big bummer to this. The one of the biggest compliments I give to Thunderfall is there, for lack of better term, directs. Their showcases, they're so good, but they're expensive, they're artful, they felt like worthwhile content to watch that were actually also announcing very cool games. And that requires investment, that requires money and it has to come from somewhere. And if it's not making sense and if you're investing too much in these cool things that are actually building an identity in the brand, getting people like me excited about Thunderfall and like talking about it like, yo, they're doing something cool here, then the numbers still need to add up or else you're going to be in a bad spot. So maybe this helps the numbers add up, but again, I think that that's being way more optimistic than realistic. I think the reality of this is scaled back projects less from Thunderfall and more layoffs in the future.

[Greg Miller]

We will wait and see. We hope for the best for a brand we appreciate. For now, let's have some good news. Number four, Mario Paint comes in. Nintendo Switch Online. And you don't need a switch 2 to use the mouse functionality. This is Vicky Blake at ign. Mario Paint is the latest Nintendo game to be added to the Nintendo Switch Online library. An SNES classic Mario Paint encourages all forms of creativity, including art, music and animation, and up until now anyway, was entirely unplayable for anyone who didn't have the game and the console system from the first time around. Interestingly, the 1992 OG release permitted players to plug in a mouse controller, which could be why Nintendo has chosen to resurrect the long lost classic. One of Nintendo Switch 2's most hyped features was its new mouse controls, making this a natural and exciting game to add to the NSO library. Nintendo says that Nintendo Switch Online players. I'm sorry, Nintendo Switch players who haven't upgraded yet to the new system can also get involved if they have an OG Switch and a compatible USB mouse sold separately. That's very nice. Some additional stuff before you want to watch something. I know I do. Wario 64 reports Mario's super Picross now supports mouse controls on the SNES app for Switch as well as no bungas and ambition. So very cool to see this being pop.

[Tim Gettys]

Sorry, Nobunaga.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, I apologize everybody. Very cool to see these being added in there and dropped in.

[Tim Gettys]

Very, very, very cool. I know that this is definitely going to be some Tim Gettys nerd shit stuff, but I mean, we've been talking about Mario Paint a lot in the last five years because of the inspiration Mario Maker took from it. A lot of the imagery and sound effects and even like music cues and just kind of design aesthetic came from Mario Paint, which was to me a formative video game. This was a game that when I was like six or seven years old, I remember being at Toys R Us with my mom and dad. We were buying a present for some other kid. I wasn't supposed to get anything that of course, you know, classic. And I'm walking through, looking at all the games, like looking at all little slips like at Toys R Us. What a memory. And I vividly remember walking up to There was Mario 64 and oh my God, that was good. But I was never gonna get that. There was a kiosk for Mario Paint that had the mouse attached to it and we didn't have a computer at my house and wouldn't for many, many years after that, like a decade plus or I guess a decade. And I convinced my mom, like, it's educational, you know, And I wasn't lying. Yeah, this ended up being a game that I played every day, like me and my brother. Like, this was just like a staple at my house of messing around with this. And at its core it's just miss Paint it's kid pics. It's just a incredibly basic painting application that had the novelty of plugging a shitty Super Nintendo mouse into your TV and being able to play it that way. But it had the Nintendo magic. It had that Mario charm. And they let you do things. That opened my mind creatively. And I love how much reverence they have for this game right now because it is such great use of the mouse Support for the Switch 2 the Joy Cons. I played for about an hour last night.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, nice.

[Tim Gettys]

It was such a good time. Just nostalgic is all. Shit. But I loved how well it worked. This was the most responsive this game's ever felt. You know, use instead of using the old mouse. That literally was a ball mouse.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, I remember it so long. Preamble. For an even longer thing I want to show here. Nintendo put out about a four minute video announcing this. And this is just a slight tweak on how they normally announce these games.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But I think that this is incredibly effective marketing and I just want to give a shout out to Nintendo here for their take on how they did their July game announcement for the nso. Because NSO drops are normally like, hey, here's three games you never heard of.

[Greg Miller]

And yeah, Y.

[Tim Gettys]

Here's the sequel to the game that you didn't really like to begin with. Like, all right. Underwhelming stuff. We're just kind of at that point with the NSO library. The majority of things besides Donkey Kong 64 are on the console. Right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And the things that aren't there for licensing reasons we understand aren't going to be there.

[Greg Miller]

Probably.

[Tim Gettys]

Right. This. Let's just play it and just listen. The tone, the vibe. Old game is old. But I like that they tried to make this a worthwhile new experience.

[Greg Miller]

Check it out.

[Tim Gettys]

Can we get audio?

[Greg Miller]

It's Mario Paint. Copyright 19.

[Tim Gettys]

You ever play Mario?

[Greg Miller]

I. It was, you know, not being the Nintendo guy. Like it's something I think in a similar sense I around at kiosk or whatever or somebody's house. But I never actually invested time into it.

[Tim Gettys]

But like this is a game that. This trailer. And one of the reasons I love it so much is I think it just really does a great job of explaining the experience of playing the game.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Like you. It's. It's kind of goes through that. You start here, but by the end you're doing this.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Not sure why audio is not playing on this. I'm trying to figure it out.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Do you want me to. While I Do that. Keep playing the visuals or no. If anything, try to figure that out and then because it's without sound, it's useless.

[C]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

So we just keep going, going in the show and then it figures out.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Kevin, troubleshoot that. But don't even bother. I will move on to WE news. The smallest news you need to blah, blah. But you don't have to toss up the stuff if that's gonna. I'd rather see the audio. So cool. If you can do both, great. Number five, the Wii news. The smallest news items you need to know about from vgc, the International Game Developers Association. IGDA says it is, quote, unquote, seriously alarmed by the recent delisting of adult games from stores like Itch IO. Last week, indie digital game store Itch IO de indexed its ENT Safe for Work library from its store. A move with. With, I'm sorry. A move which comes as payment providers have started scrutinizing NSFW content on platforms such as Steam. In a new statement, the IGDA said it is quote, calling for greater transparency and fairness in how adult games are moderated and actioned across major platforms. End quote.

[Tim Gettys]

It's an interesting story. I'm. I'm happy that people with power like the IGDA are taking this seriously and trying to actually like get something going to be like, hey, raising the flag here. We got to figure this out, we got to deal with it. Because yeah, obviously there's opinions on different sides of this, but I think that the most important here is that there needs to be a call for greater transparency and fairness and how they're moderated. There has to be rules, there has to be clear cut things of this happens this way, this happens this way, and this is why.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Or else chaos.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. There was obviously, if you weren't following this, there was a ton of, I think unintended splashback damage on a whole bunch of games that weren't. They were NSF or whatever, but they weren't sex games. They were games that like used the proper warnings and tags, which then it was just. You excised all this. For lack of a better term, you're trying to go after a tumor, but you took out all this healthy tissue. And I'm not calling NSFW games cancer, but you understand, I'm saying in terms of like innocent games that have no reason to be taken away were taken away because of this, which is let alone to take a step back, I don't think this kind of censorship should be happening either. Especially just because of payments, especially because of this. But that's a bigger conversation to have. Some other time from Noble. According to Bilbil underscore Coon rag Xbox Ally Pre orders start Aug. 20. That's less than a month from now. Bilbil is saying the Rog Ally or Xbox Rog ally will be 599 Euros. Xbox ROG Ally. Actually, 899 Euros sounds about right.

[Tim Gettys]

I always get bad with the euro translation. But here's the thing. Bill Bilcoon trust them. They're. They're usually right about stuff. I love that. Following up on yesterday's story a bit, the. The Ally X seems imminent, at least in terms of us getting these actual numbers officially announced. I imagine Gamescom will be the space for that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Hollow Knight's going to be playable on this device at Gamescom. That's very cool.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Right. Now, According to Google, 899 puts it at a thousand ten thirty eight dollars here in the United States. Which is right on the money for where we were predicting. Based on earlier rumors, the PlayStation plus essential games for August 2025 have been announced. It's Lies of P My Hero 1's Justice 2 and Day Z Five Nights at Freddy's has been announced for the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. Halloween's so close. I can't fucking wait. We were in the store the other day, Costco, and they had Halloween shit out. I flipped that. I was so excited. Shimagami Tensei 5 Vengeance has now sold over 1 million copies. And that's it for the Wii news. So we turn our eyes back to Mario Paint. It sounded like Kevin did get the audio working. I hear it.

[C]

Hi there and welcome to the world of Mario Paint. This is a game that's all about creation and fun. In fact, you can even play with the game logo. See, this letter changes Mario's. And this one makes Yoshi appear. And then this one.

[Greg Miller]

Whoa. Quick.

[C]

Start the video.

[Tim Gettys]

Start the.

[C]

In this mode, you can select from a few existing pictures and color in each part using the fill paintbrush. You can also click on Mr. Crayon to swap between other color and pattern options. You can even fill in Yoshi with more Yoshis.

[Greg Miller]

What the heck?

[C]

That's your thing. Here is where you can create something entirely your own using the different available tools. And if you make a mistake, just click the undo dog icon to go bark. I mean, back a step is under me.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[C]

With the Nintendo Switch 2 system, you can use either a left or right Joy Con 2 controller as a Mouse to cultivate your creative creations, we gotta just have it.

[Tim Gettys]

If you have a Nintendo for like.

[C]

10 hours, plug in a compatible USB mouse. Oh, speaking of loose mice, let's go check out the break room. Welcome to the break room. Through the magic of neglect, our team converted a perfectly serviceable garbage can into a soggy, steaming pile of sickness. And, well, this is how you get flies. On the bright side, this is a great place to blow off some steam by slapping the proverbial paint off these bugs. Just watch out for King Waitinga. He's not in a good mood.

[Greg Miller]

What do you mean? That's not funny.

[C]

This mode is a personality and other objects.

[Tim Gettys]

It reminds me of Nintendo YouTubers making larger objects.

[C]

Fun fact. Do you know why it says special stamp in the frame? If so, please tell me as I didn't have time to check that before this video was due. Here you can animate your creations and really start to bring them to life. You can animate up to nine frames before they repeat, and then you can move them along a path.

[Tim Gettys]

This is crazy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Gotta get Ben on it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, no, honestly, that's exactly what I'm thinking about. Showing him this video so he can see what he can do with it.

[C]

You can select from 15 different sounds to help bring the song in your heart to the outside world. And yes, we do have a dog, cat, pig, goose and baby as sound options. In this case, let's compose something for our favorite pharmacological plumber. I call this piece that one Dr. Mario song I found within the Mario Paint Player's guide, or Fever for short. Now that we've combined all the elements, let's take a look at our completed scene. This looks great. So we're ready to save our work. Previously with Mario Paint, you had to visit this robot to save your finished creation. And you still can whenever you feel like jamming out to this sweet beat. But with a Nintendo Switch online membership, you can now utilize different suspend points to preserve four completed masterpieces.

[Tim Gettys]

This seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

[C]

Like Mario Paint catchy music. And you can enjoy those tunes on the Nintendo Music app, as those tracks will hit the service at the same time as the release of Mario Paint.

[Tim Gettys]

What a novel concept.

[C]

Does anyone know when do this all the time?

[Greg Miller]

Oh, thanks, Mario.

[Tim Gettys]

What a delight.

[Greg Miller]

That was very nice.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, it's just like. It just feels like such a slight little tweak, right? It's just a. A dev walkthrough type thing, man. Here's the game. Top level, but like the personality of it. I just feel like they nailed the vibe. There not gonna be for everybody. But that wasn't a direct. That was just a let's tweet this out and put this out there. I think it's a great way to show off this game that yes, is very simple. It's from 1992. You have a computer. You could probably just use Ms. Paint or whatever the hell you want to do. Maybe a Photoshop, you know A Photoshop. We all had elements back in the day. Allegedly. Okay. But Mario Paint personality baby. Make your own songs.

[Greg Miller]

So you can only see four things though.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, you really can only save one thing. But actually I don't know how many you could save in the game. But they were just saying that like you can like essentially save state.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But that's so one of the old days.

[Greg Miller]

You would create something and you would just walk away from it.

[Tim Gettys]

There was the robot and you can save like images, you can save bits and pieces, but it was a small little cartridge. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

I mean. Anyway, I guess if it's not. Well, you could save the video of your animation too. But you can screenshot everything that way, right? Creations.

[Tim Gettys]

I have so many let's plays on VHS's at home of me playing that shit, recording it.

[Greg Miller]

Please get.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean I'm on camera, I'm not talking, but it's just my gameplay.

[Greg Miller]

Show them now. Show them now. We can make him into that. Of course, we've already done we news. That's awesome. I'm gonna show that to Ben. Not tonight. I think I'm getting home late. But later on and we will see how he can create some cool stuff and color. The coloring will be what's cool for him. And it's a nice introduction, all that Photoshop. Because even me, who's. Don't get me wrong, I'm not good at Photoshop and stuff like that. But I remember when I had a website when AOL used to give you a free website when you would start or whatever. And so I did a bunch of stuff and it was learning in fucking Ms. Paint how to cut things out and how to paste things together. And it's all stuff.

[Tim Gettys]

The concept of animation, man. Like the understanding of music and like putting it in 3 3ths time or 33 time or whatever. Yeah, I don't know exactly what I'm talking about, but I learned for a bit, you know, little things. I know they're things.

[Greg Miller]

Let's jump into some super chats before we send you off on your day. Virgil Golf wrote in and said, pajama tax. Glad you wearing your pajamas. I'm glad you're still in your pajamas. Rainz. Rainz writes in and says, tim and Greg, have you all started Leviathan Wakes yet? The first book in the Expanse series. As you all know, I made this make of letting Tim be the one to order the books, and then I completely forgot about them. So I don't know where these books are. What's happening.

[Tim Gettys]

I have two copies of this book in my house. One I live.

[Greg Miller]

I live here.

[Tim Gettys]

I know.

[Greg Miller]

Bring me books.

[Tim Gettys]

I need to bring you the book. Like I put it. The one that I'm supposed to bring you is the weekend. And then like, it got moved by G somewhere into, like, near my shoes. And I see it often, but I'm always like, nah, today's not the day.

[Greg Miller]

For me to bring. Similar to me, I keep meaning to bring Kevin's son Henry, the potties that Ben no longer needs, but I still need to wash them. So it's like, I see when I'm getting ready, they're not discussing no, no, no. But it's like, I can't just send this thing.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it's not ready.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I did read the. The opening prologue or something, but that. That was a while ago.

[Greg Miller]

Bring it in because I got a vacation next week. I'd like to read it. Yeah, I mean, I'm just gonna play Pokemon, but I'd like to think about reading it. Inner jet scream says 10 cent is screwed. The Mecha bull fight shown in the trailer is crazy similar to the falling Star beast from Elden. Ring move, set and design alike. Well, there you go. It's gonna be another lawsuit there from this time. Oh, diddly oh says promotion tax. My company went through a restructure. There was a chance I could have gotten laid off. I was able to land a position and got a decent pay bump. Six figures. I work remote and watch you every day. Thank you for all you do. Congratulations and thank you. That's awesome. And then Kebabs writes in to say the hunter in Jumanji was called Russell Van Pelt.

[Tim Gettys]

Strong name.

[Greg Miller]

I'm thinking of Scott Van Pelt from espn. Just a heads up, that's where my mind went. My mind is your mind. And that's another episode of Kind of Funny. Games Daily. In the bank, everybody.

[Tim Gettys]

I didn't think we were going to finish this one.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't think so either. Especially after that DC News. If you didn't know everybody, this has been Kinda Funny Games Daily each and every weekday on a variety of platforms, we run you through the nerdy video game news you need to know about Live on Twitch, YouTube and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, make sure you like subscribe, share, ring the bell, tell your friends, follow. If you got Amazon prime, you got Twitch Prime. We need that subscription. You could always super chat when we're live, but most importantly, you could pick up a Kinda Funny membership anytime over on patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames and of course Apple and Spotify. You get all of our shows ad free and your daily dose of me Greg Miller so if you're bummed out that we're not streaming a video game this afternoon while we set the studio up for something special, why not go sub and watch 15 minutes of me being on trial about being a console contrarian, let alone what, roughly 10 years of other videos that have all been exclusive? If you're on Patreon. I know it's weird as well. It doesn't matter. For now we're gonna bid you ado. I'm gonna eat some lunch and start a million meetings. Until next time. It's been a pleasure to serve you.