The Console Wars Are Over - Kinda Funny Games Daily 10.27.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: "The Console Wars Are Over"

Date: October 27, 2025
Hosts: Greg Miller, Tim Gettys
Topic: The state of the “console wars,” next-gen Xbox, Halo coming to PlayStation, and the evolving video game landscape.

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Episode Overview

This packed episode dives headlong into seismic shifts in the gaming industry—most notably, the blurring lines between consoles and PCs, the symbolic end of “console wars,” and the shockwaves sent by Halo’s arrival on PlayStation. Greg and Tim blend major news with personal stories, cultural commentary, and plenty of laughs, making sense of gaming’s fast-shifting landscape for their passionate audience.

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Key Discussion Points

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[00:52–03:46] Banter, Life Updates & Marvel Animation

• Tim’s New Dad Journey: Updates on baby prep, sharing the stress and excitement of impending fatherhood, and joking about baby classes.
  • Memorable quote:
    • Tim: "I'm feeling the pressure every second of the day tearing away at me. But the baby room coming together very, very, very well." (03:00)
• Marvel Animation’s Rise:
  • Tim praises recent Marvel animated series (e.g., X-Men ‘97, Marvel Zombies), noting a turnaround from prior decades.
  • Marvel Zombies gets highlighted for its violence, R-rating, and solid voice cast.
  • Tim: “Marvel Animation sleeper hits kind of just came out of nowhere… What they've been doing with Marvel Animation Studios is very damn impressive.” (03:59)

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[07:19–09:16] Star Wars & Family Fandom

• Greg’s Star Wars Parenting:
  • Discussion of introducing his son to Star Wars, choosing Phantom Menace for its kid appeal and action.
  • Humorous recount of his son’s confusion with Gungan/JarJar dialogue and deeply enjoying the pod-racing scene.
  • Greg: “This is the best thing ever!” (his son, during pod-racing) (10:29)

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[13:28–22:17] The End of Console Wars & Next-Gen Xbox as PC Hybrid

Headlines:

• Next-Gen Xbox Hybrid ([13:35]):
  • A new report claims the upcoming Xbox will be a console/PC hybrid running Windows, with access to Steam (and PlayStation PC releases), Battle.net, and Riot’s launcher.
  • Greg: "Microsoft’s next gen Xbox…is allegedly a console PC hybrid that will play PlayStation games released on PC via Steam.” (13:48)
  • Both hosts express fatigue over repeated, unconfirmed leaks and wish for Microsoft to “just show us the whiteboard.”
• Console Wars Are (Finally) Over:
  • Debates the veracity and significance: “We’re saying the same shit over and over a thousand times.”
  • The lines between Xbox and PC are effectively erased.
  • Sarah Bond’s comments indicate the next Xbox will be a “premium console”—interpreted as moving explicitly toward high-end PC territory.

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[16:54–22:17] Halo: Campaign Evolved Comes to PlayStation

Details:

• News Recap:
  • Halo: Campaign Evolved, a full 4K remake of Halo: Combat Evolved with new missions and co-op, launches on Xbox, PC, and—massively—PlayStation 5 in 2026. (No multiplayer at launch.)
  • Cross-play and cross-progression support.
  • Tim’s Hands-On:
    • “I got to play this [remake] at Halo Studios…in the interview room, there was just a PlayStation 5 on. You’re like, whoa.” (17:47)
  • The emotional significance as a historical first:
    • “We’ve seen so many console wars…here we are still talking about Halo and PlayStation, right? But now it’s actually happening.” (17:59)
• Greg’s Reflection:
  • “The console wars are over to the point that by the time we got here, the hill I would have died on 10 years ago doesn’t even matter.” (20:09)
  • Tim speculates on the absence of multiplayer and possible future releases.

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[22:17–30:51] Xbox’s Business Strategy & Impending Identity Shift

• Game Pass on PlayStation?
  • Tim raises the scenario of Game Pass on PS5—but both are skeptical unless big third-party hurdles are resolved.
• Greg on Value:
  • “Game Pass is still the best value in gaming…The way you are able to say it’s the best value…is by going, 'Yeah, you can buy any of our games for $70, or you can be a Game Pass person and get it for $30 a month.'” (23:39)
• Is Xbox hardware still viable?
  • Both hosts conclude the hardware business is likely winding down; a high-end PC/console hybrid would only be appealing for a niche and is unlikely to move mass-market units.
  • Tim: “They’re so fucked…It’s not gonna sell console numbers. But they know that.” (25:49)
  • Discussion on Microsoft’s metrics for “success” shifting away from consoles to software and ecosystem.

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[30:51–44:08] Future Competition, Steam, and Xbox’s Brand Confusion

• Steam vs. Xbox:
  • Steam’s model wins for clarity and flexibility (“Steam is any box”). Xbox’s insistence on hardware causes messaging confusion and limits adoption.
  • Tim: “It shouldn’t be this messy. Steam selling 13 million Steam Boxes is an actual success. Xbox selling 13 million next-gen Xboxes is a failure.” (41:10)
• Console Experience Still Matters:
  • Both agree dedicated consoles will endure at the mainstream (PlayStation, Nintendo) due to their ease of use and exclusive content.
  • Greg: “It’s easy and it’s turnkey and it goes. That’s what it’s supposed to do.” (31:09)
• Tim’s Summary:
  • “The only way for [Xbox] to succeed is to drop the box…but I also don’t think that’s possible at this point.” (44:28)

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[34:03–40:15] Absurdity: The White House, Trump as Master Chief & GameStop’s Meme Play

• Political AI-Powered PR Stunt:
  • The White House posts an AI image of Trump as Master Chief, missing 10 stars from the American flag, to comment on the “end of the console war.”
  • GameStop and the Dept. of Homeland Security follow with memes using Halo imagery, stoking controversy given Trump’s anti-video game rhetoric post-2019 mass shootings.
  • Greg’s outrage:
    • “How short is our memory?...This guy fucking hates us and he doesn’t understand what he’s fucking talking about.” (36:40)
  • Tim slams misuse of gamer culture and the dehumanizing use of Halo for ICE ads.
    • “Disgusting. Absolutely vile, rotten stuff. And yeah, GameStop’s just supporting it. Like absolute freaking nonsense, man.” (37:26)
• Comic Relief:
  • Tim's airport story: TSA flagged his “blinged out” Halo energy sword as a weapon; hilarity ensued as his luggage was searched for a non-existent knife. (37:54–39:48)

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[45:58–51:25] News Roundup (“Roper Report” & “Wii News Channel”)

Battlefield Red SEC (Battle Royale)

• Battlefield’s new free-to-play battle royale launches Oct. 28. Both hosts are ambivalent but note it looks good and recognize the franchise’s multiplayer momentum.

Leaked God of War Multiplayer

• Screenshots leak from Bluepoint’s canceled God of War multiplayer project, once rumored to be live service and set in Greece with Hades’ return.
• Discussion of PlayStation’s struggle to find successful first-party multiplayer games.

Additional Tidbits

• Sales:

  • Pokémon Legends ZA had the best new retail launch week in the U.S. since Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
  • RV There Yet? hits 1 million sales in 4 days.

• Quirky News:

  • Slipknot’s “Clown” launches a Slipknot-themed Minecraft realm (“VernEarth”).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greg (on Xbox “hybrid” console):
  "They made a PC…They're hoping that Game Pass gets you to use the Xbox launcher more than the Steam launcher." (55:10)
• Tim (on the real shift):
  "Steam doesn’t need the one box and it never will have the one box…Microsoft is the box, and they're now trying to tell us it's a bunch of different boxes. That's the problem." (44:13)
• Greg (on GameStop/trump memes):
  “Why are GameStop and, like, GameStop has been trying desperately to get back in the conversation…Come the fuck on. This guy fucking hates us.” (36:38)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Marvel animation chat & Tim’s baby prep | 00:52–04:26 | | Greg’s Star Wars family stories | 07:19–10:38 | | Next-gen Xbox & console/PC hybrid news | 13:35–15:16 | | Halo: Campaign Evolved on PlayStation | 16:54–20:27 | | “Console Wars Are Over” (analysis) | 20:09–25:49 | | Xbox hardware, Game Pass, & future predictions | 25:49–30:51 | | Steam vs Xbox and brand confusion | 41:07–44:08 | | White House/AI Trump/GameStop debacle | 34:03–37:29 | | TSA/energy sword airport story | 37:50–39:48 | | Battlefield Red Sec & God of War multiplayer leak| 45:58–50:06 | | Sales, quirky updates (Wii News) | 51:31–52:24 | | Listener questions, superchats, closing | 53:55–end |

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

• Tone: Lively, irreverent, passionate, occasionally outraged, and always steeped in industry insight and community rapport.
• Takeaways:
  • The “console war” as we knew it is over; the future is cross-platform, service-driven, and increasingly platform-agnostic.
  • Xbox is shifting from console-maker to ecosystem provider, but its identity and messaging remain confusing and muddled.
  • PlayStation and Nintendo still have clear mainstream appeal via classic console experiences and exclusives.
  • The community and culture of gaming are being increasingly co-opted (sometimes clumsily and offensively) by corporate and political actors.
  • Listeners are encouraged to vote, fight for their rights, and continue supporting independent content creators.

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Final Thoughts

Despite the bombshells, Greg and Tim find time for laughs, pop culture asides, and real talk about the gaming community’s evolving role in culture at large. All delivered with their trademark energy and camaraderie—a perfect primer for any gamer trying to make sense of the ever-shifting industry landscape.

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For more details and the next round of video game news, check out the Kinda Funny Gamescast and join the conversation!

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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

[Tim Gettys]

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

[Greg Miller]

Tim said I made my hair worse, so I'm trying to figure out. We're there now. Today in the nerdy news, you need to know about more reports about the next gen Xbox. Halo comes to playst in Battlefield's Battle Royale launches tomorrow. We'll evolve this in more and great hair because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily. What's up everybody? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Monday, October 27, 2025. It's your last Monday here in that beautiful Halloween jingle for quite some time. I'm one of your host Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30, a k a the second best baby blues in San Francisco. AKA the expectant father at Tim Gettys.

[Tim Gettys]

Lets him host tomorrow's I was wrong about saying last time that it was my final doctor's appointment for the baby. Very.

[Greg Miller]

Did you explain that to them?

[Tim Gettys]

No, I don't remember. Was that like a month ago?

[Greg Miller]

Tim was like, well, we got our final doctor's appointment for the baby. And I'm like, that's not how it works. You're supposed to be going everywhere weeks.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, this whole thing has been a surprise to me because it's like I feel like there's.

[Greg Miller]

How did you misinterpret that information?

[Tim Gettys]

See, I forgot what it was. They said it was the last of some specific thing and it was the last time that we saw this one woman.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

All right. And it turns out it was only the last reason or last time we saw her because she was is going on vacation. Like, it's like I had a lot.

[Greg Miller]

Of bad you're like, in the car, like, man, g, we're on our own for the next three months, huh?

[Tim Gettys]

It really felt that way. I was like, this is crazy. I mean, like, she seems prepped, so I'm like, I trust she ain't freaking.

[Greg Miller]

I'm not gonna freak out a bunch.

[Tim Gettys]

Of classes and stuff, but that's not doct. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Question, Are you doing the classes in person? Are you doing.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, we're doing them in person.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, we were still Covid. So, yeah, I got.

[Tim Gettys]

I have a whole week of like four hour classes. And I'm like, I'm already dreading it the way I dreaded college classes. Like, you know, some college classes are like, it's an hour five times a week and then somewhere like once a week, but it's six hours. It was like that.

[Greg Miller]

How are we doing on baby watch? Or are you feeling the pressure? Are you like a father?

[Tim Gettys]

That's all I'm feeling. Not like a father. I'm feeling the pressure every second of the day tearing away at me. But the baby room coming together very, very, very well.

[Greg Miller]

Excellent.

[Tim Gettys]

Excited to show that to people. I think people are going to enjoy it.

[Greg Miller]

You got that snoo? You got the snoo all set up yet? I know we got a baby's room that would be in your room.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. We got so much stuff. The chair's on the way. It's. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Wouldn't take my chair too good for my chair. Didn't want my hand colors.

[Tim Gettys]

When you see what we're doing, you'll get it, I'm sure.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I already know the vibe. I'm not gonna say anything, but I know is important. It was funny because, you know, you had told us the loose theme for your room. Yeah. So then Jen wants. Wants spoilers to make something.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Not. And not to force anything. She does the pottery and stuff.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And she's like, what colors? And I'm like. And she said what she thought it was, and I was like, no. So I sent her all these different, like, I googled image searches and I was. I'm like, this would be the mood boards.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I like that. I like that. I want to see the mood board. I bet you're right. Because, like, yeah, you get it. You know me. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I think it's just.

[Tim Gettys]

I want to almost something, though.

[Greg Miller]

Greg. I'd love to.

[Tim Gettys]

I had a good weekend. I finally got to set aside some time to watch Marvel Zombies.

[Greg Miller]

Oh.

[Tim Gettys]

Or episode show that was supposed to be a movie. But due to rights with Spider man, they call it a movie whole thing. And I just want to say Marvel Animation sleeper hits kind of just came out of nowhere because for decades we Obviously in the 90s, everyone loved Spider man and all that stuff. Right. But you. The common thought was Marvel movies better, DC Animated better.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And then you can even take that further of like Marvel Animation kind of sucks. Like Marvel Animated movies and like all those direct to vhs. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I don't even know.

[Tim Gettys]

Just, you know, it just. It always felt lesser than or like weird one offs or whatever. What they've been doing with Marvel Animation Studios is very damn impressive. Like, I feel like the worst project is what if and like that being the first one. Inconsistent. I'm a fan of what if but yeah, inconsistent. I understand it not being for everybody. I know the art style is not necessarily the best thing ever. But to follow it up with X Men 97, my friendly neighborhood Spider man, the Marvel Zombies. Now Eyes of Wakanda earlier in the year, like they're slowly just kind of putting out a lot of stuff that no one's watching, but the people that are are enjoying it quite a bit. Marvel Zombies four episodes. The first episode I was like, okay, but I mean, without spoiling too much, like, this is kind of just the premise of it. It is a follow up to what happened in what if season one, the. The Zombie episode. But fairly lightly. Like you, they. You don't need to rewatch it. They kind of remind you everything you need to know. But the coolest thing about it and the saddest thing about it in the sense of where we're. We're at with the mcu is it feels like the Avengers movie. Of all the phase four, five and six heroes like Shang Chi, Moon Knight. Yeah, yeah. All the characters that we've seen, they're like, when are they going to get together? It's here. And yeah, it's you know, an else world story or whatever. But like it was cool to see them kind of make that choice to like focus on these. These new heroes and have them all together.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Most. The voice ca. The actual voice cast, which was like very cool couple. Big surprises. Action scenes. Insane. And the wildest thing, straight up rated R. It is a rated R cartoon. No, but a lot of decapitations, a lot of blood. You see some heroes do some things. I never thought Spider man would do that, but. And it was cool. Yeah, very, very cool. I. I recommend watching it. Good Halloween vibes.

[Greg Miller]

Did you read Avengers. Vers, Aliens. Or are you reading it?

[Tim Gettys]

No, I'm waiting till it's done. It might already be done, but I.

[Greg Miller]

You know, I saw Bendis put up a. A couple grabs on Instagram. I was like, I want to read that. That's fun.

[Tim Gettys]

Apparently, it's really good. Yeah. Dying.

[Greg Miller]

We like AVP here.

[Tim Gettys]

You know, the first Predator Preferred Partner back this week.

[Greg Miller]

Badlands.

[Tim Gettys]

Killer of Killers.

[Greg Miller]

Killer of Killers.

[Tim Gettys]

Next one.

[Greg Miller]

Do I have to go to the theater to see Badlands?

[Tim Gettys]

Mm.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Monday.

[Greg Miller]

Monday.

[Tim Gettys]

Monday.

[Greg Miller]

Is that book thing okay?

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, I don't know. Move on.

[Greg Miller]

I had a good weekend, too.

[Tim Gettys]

How was your weekend?

[Greg Miller]

It was good. No, we don't have to be us around anyway. You did a great job there. I had a great one. I played a lot of video games, hung out. It was that weekend where I feel like we're finally on the other side of review season, where it's 900 reviews at once, where there was something I installed but I didn't get to, and I don't feel guilty not doing that. So I, you know, I went back and played more Pokemon. I went back and played more Outer Worlds, too. I had wild hairs and downloaded random ass things to the Rog or whatever. Had a great time out there.

[Tim Gettys]

We missed it yesterday, 25th anniversary of the place.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't miss it. I was there celebrating.

[Tim Gettys]

We celebrated. Yeah, we celebrated a part. We missed it on this show.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I was hoping it was gonna time out to be here, but 25 years, that's crazy, right? It's really crazy.

[Greg Miller]

More importantly, though, for you, and of course, the fact that I'm raising another you in Ben. He had been gassed up this weekend to where he's, you know, gonna be a Jedi. He's gonna be Luke Skywalker. He's. We're all. We got the whole family, costumes. Everybody's got something going on.

[Tim Gettys]

Well, who'.

[Greg Miller]

He's Luke. I'm Vader. Mom's Leia. Colby's. The dog that's down here in a bag is Yoda. Lucy James is a Stormtrooper.

[Tim Gettys]

I love that.

[Greg Miller]

And then we have a visiting toy from class. He's a bear. I forget his name, but he's. He's like, yeah, you send the bear home from class.

[Tim Gettys]

They give up on guinea pigs.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah, they don't. You know, nobody wants a live animal in their house. And he's dressing as, I think, R2D2 or Chewbacca. I forget which it is, but we have a whole family suit ready to go here. Whatever. But we, as you know, we've talked about this maybe in passing or maybe you've heard me on one of our award winning shows. There was a whole debate of how to start him on Star wars movies, where to go. I was like, I'll do traditional and I'll start with Episode four and we'll go that way, right? And we did Episode four and it wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, but it's just, it's slow and fell out of it. And so he plays the Lego games and likes that, likes Luke Skywalker, blah, blah, blah. But I, I, he, we went to library on the rainy day this weekend, picked up the, you know, complete history that's, you know, this thick. It's just a tiny kids book of Darth Vader, but explaining and showing. And I was like, he's like, what is this? And I'm like, this is fan. I'm like, we should, you would dig Phantom Menace. You like racing, you like the you know you want. And there's a kid and they start with lightsabers right away and they put it in the wall and it glows, melts and shit. And he was like, okay. And so Jen left yesterday for a work trip. So. For boys night. Yeah, we watched Phantom Menace. Oh yeah. Fucking In Defense of Menace. Phantom Menace did not lose his attention whatsoever with the.

[Tim Gettys]

He's a big politics guy.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, he loves this. I'm like, Ben, this is very much like Tariffs. You see what's happening here, you know. But no, no, there was this fucking aw, awesome moment of it where it's for the first time is in his four year old brain. It's always set up like this because of course my wife, her first language is French, so it's easier for her to keep up when she sees subtitles. And then now I've become a subtitle person that I need them on at all times.

[Tim Gettys]

Respect. Great.

[Greg Miller]

But today he caught, yesterday he caught on, he goes, what do the words say on the screen? And I'm like, oh, they're just saying what people are saying. You know, it's for people, you know, mom, it's me. If you can't hear whatever. He's like, okay, cool. And then it would be like, oh, you know, Sebulba's talking so I got to translate it or whatever, right? I'm actually reading the thing for it. Fucking Jar Jar Winx and every other goddamn dungeon is talking and goes, read what? Read it. What are they saying? I'm like, ben, they're speaking English this is a choice they made. I. I can't help you more than this. This is how it sounds to me too. Like he's upset. All right. Why is he shaking his head like that? I don't fucking know. Like they gave him a weird tick and stuff. I don't know. It's a fucking movie. Yeah, he was like falling. He was falling. I'm like, let's just. It's bath time. Okay. I'm like, but let's get through the podcast. Or pod racing. Yeah. And he's like, no, no, I don't need something. Like, you're gonna want to see this. And then it was like when they came around and like two more lengths to go or whatever. And he's like, there's more of my kid. He goes, this is the best thing ever. Yes, it is, man.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, good for you.

[Greg Miller]

But enough about Star Wars Episode 1. We're gonna run you through the nerdy news you need to know about in the video game world because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily each and every Weekday on Twitch TV. Kinda FunnyGames YouTube.com Kinda FunnyGames podcast services around the globe. We're here with the biggest stories in video games for your amusement. If you like that, watch live for free. Listen later on podcast services around the globe. Super Chat to be part of the show on YouTube.com kinda funnygames while we're live and spitting the facts. But if you really love us, pick up a kinda funny membership. YouTube.com kindafunnygames patreon.com kindafunny Apple Spotify. You toss us $10. You all of our shows ad free. You of course get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a series we call Greg Way. And you get good karma for supporting an 11 person small business in a constantly changing and terrifying media landscape. Housekeeping for you today. Remember, we're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. After Kind of Funny Games Daily, you're getting one of our monthly favorites. It's the Kind of Funny Games Cast where we go through every game coming out next month. This is your November edition. After Games Cast, it's power Wash Simulator 2 with Joey and Nick. If you're a kind of Funny member, today's Greg Way is going to be about Trump and Gamestop or Lily album, Lily Allen's new album and peloton. We will see how this episode goes and what we get into. I'm not sure if we get it. I want to say stuff but I don't know where we're going. Yeah, I Just like I would rather than say stuff in Greg way and repeat it here.

[Tim Gettys]

I want to hear your thoughts on Lily. So do that in Greg way.

[Greg Miller]

Fucking bomb.

[Tim Gettys]

Do it.

[Greg Miller]

What I mean, you know what I mean.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, I do.

[Greg Miller]

Because it turns out, man, you love gossip, period.

[Tim Gettys]

It's true.

[Greg Miller]

Full stop. I can't be bothered with it usually, like, you know, like, you know, I think a great example is Taylor Swift. You know, I'm a Taylor Swift, Die hard, you know, favorite musical artist of all time. I can't tell you what boyfriend the songs are all about in every reference because I'm not that kind of fan. I just like the music and the lyricist, you know what I mean? But like, when somebody's got dirty laundry to air and they're like, no metaphors, here's what it is.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm like, oh, fucking go.

[Greg Miller]

This Renee raps take people down. I don't give a shit. Thank you to our patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The song twining today were brought to you by arc raiders, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the Roper report. It's time for some news. Five items on the roper report. Baker's dozer. Calm down, Cole. It's just smoke. Number one on the roper report. A new report confirms details about the next gen Xbox. This is w y [e-mail] that's Wesley Ian Poole at the imagine games network. At this point. I'm Phil Spencer. I'm Sarah Bond. I'm just coming out and be like, here's the whiteboard. Here's what the. Here's what the next Xbox is. I'm sick of hearing like pieces of it. And Lincoln and this. This is what we think it's going to look like. Will it? We don't know. Take a drag off your cigarette.

[Tim Gettys]

Obviously so much talk about. We'll get into the stories and we'll get into the nitty gritty. But like before the show started, I looked at you, I was like, really? This is the headline and it's not our fault. It's simply not our fault. This is what the news continues to be.

[Greg Miller]

A new report has revealed details on Xbox next gen X. No. Microsoft's next gen Xbox console, which is allegedly a console PC hybrid that will play PlayStation games released on PC via Steam. This means the likes of Sony Santa Monica's God of war, insomniac's spider man and sucker punch's ghost of tsushima. And pretty much all other PC games will be playable on the next gen Xbox. In an industry first, Windows Central said that while users of the next gen Xbox can remain inside the Xbox ecosystem, if they want, they can exit to Windows, where the console acts like a traditional Windows PC. That means having access to PlayStation games on Steam and mouse and keyboard games From Blizzard's launcher, Battle.net World of Warcraft, and Riot's launcher League of Legends. Essentially, it sounds like the next gen Xbox will be as much a PC as it is a console. Perhaps it's more of a PC than a console. Microsoft is set to go up against PlayStation once again, with both Microsoft and Sony reportedly set to release their next gen consoles in 2027.

[Tim Gettys]

No fucking shit.

[Greg Miller]

It's a weird.

[Tim Gettys]

This is so weird. Like this being an actual article with like a source. It's like, what are we talking about here?

[Greg Miller]

Like we're saying the same shit over.

[Tim Gettys]

And over a thousand times. Like we not only do we.

[Greg Miller]

Did y' all think when they said that it was gonna be that it wouldn't run the PlayStation games on Steam?

[Tim Gettys]

Like, I feel like it's so weird.

[Greg Miller]

I turn on my Xbox. Ally. Ally. And I see the God of War and Spider man things if I have them on Steam. Like, what are we talking about?

[Tim Gettys]

That was. We're getting caught up in that super obvious. And yeah, again, it's already working on the Xbox. Ally. Yeah, this is happening.

[Greg Miller]

This is the ecosystem.

[Tim Gettys]

They've said as much. And anything they haven't said, we know.

[Greg Miller]

And it's the idea too, of course. Sarah Bond last week, just being unable to stop talking and talking about the fact of like, okay, the next one's gonna. It's gonna be a premium console. Right? Like you read between the lines on that. Yeah, PCs are expensive. Going to be a PC. And I assume that. What I haven't talked to you about it, which is exciting and so it's fun. You know, I'll. Let's wade in and bring in story number two, because it goes to the console wars are over, as you see on the headline. Kevin, put the headline above me. Thank you. Number two. Halo Campaign Evolved is a gorgeous remake that debuts on PlayStation 5 and Xbox in 2026. This is Tom Warren at the Verge. We have a trailer. Kevin, stop trying to put the headline above me. I appreciate you. Halo Studios has created something special for the 25th anniversary of Halo next year. Campaign Evolved is a full remake of the original Combat Evolved that launched alongside Microsoft's first Xbox console in 2000. One, it has a fully rebuilt campaign with 4K visuals, new weapons and vehicles, a 4 player online co op mode and brand new story content. And it's all coming to the Xbox Series XS, PC and for the first time PlayStation 5 in 2026. The iconic vistas in Halo have been rebuilt as well as the alien architecture and environments. It's really designed to be the ultimate remake of the original campaign that's both welcoming to new players and also built in a way that respects Bungie's original creation and story. Campaign Evolved includes three new bonus missions. There are also new mechanics and AI behaviors. Perhaps the most obvious is the ability to sprint in the game, which makes everything from combat to moving around missions feel a faster. Up to four people can play this campaign together online regardless of what platform they're on, thanks to cross play and shared progression across console and PC. There's also two player split screen co op local play on consoles just like the original game. The one thing that's missing from Campaign Evolved is the multiplayer, which I feel like as a non Halo guy is a big thing to not be there.

[Tim Gettys]

Dude. It's a huge conversation. So I got to play this. You did to go to Halo Studios and it was very wild to. I played it on Xbox Series X just like everyone else did. That was the only way to actually play the silent Cartographer demo that we got to do. But in the interview room when we walk in, it was like their play test room and there was just a PlayStation 5 on.

[Greg Miller]

And you're like, whoa.

[Tim Gettys]

You know what I mean? It just had this thing and you know, it's funny because it's like we've been covering this stuff for so long. Like Greg, you and I go back decades almost, right? Like over, like closer to two than one, right?

[Greg Miller]

Oh yeah, I'm about to hit two or you know, soon hit two.

[Tim Gettys]

And with that it's like we've seen, seen so console wars. Like I recently was going down a rabbit hole of old up at Noon episodes and I'm watching you and Altano and Joker act like, whoa, we got Brian Altano on, on the, the war fields of the console wars. Remember that? On the green screen and all that. And it was just like so funny that here we are still talking about Halo and PlayStation, right? But now it's, it's, it's happening. It's actually coming over the Campaign Evolved part of it. Not no multiplayer. Yo, we're gonna be talking about this for at least the next year. We don't know when this Game's coming out. We just know it is 2026. November 15th. Next year is the 25th anniversary of Halo, so that kind of would make sense. But potentially they put out Campaign Evolved earlier in the year. We. There's rumors that there is a multiplayer thing happening. Maybe that's November. The state of where the game's at from what it seemed for me being at the studio, I think this is a little ways out. Like, I don't think this is ready to go, even though I think strategically that would be the move. But that's strategy. You can only play with what you got, you know?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So I do think a multiplayer thing's coming, but it's in the name here. It's Campaign Evolved. They're focusing on the campaign and talking to the developers there. They really are focusing on, hey, we can't fuck this up. And this is like, let's get this right. Let's introduce the story of halo to the PlayStation 5 audience. And that's admirable. I get it. Is it the right thing? Is it the right time? There's a lot of questions that I don't know, but I do know Halo's coming to PlayStation and it looks amazing. And of course, that means a lot of people don't like it. A lot of people are like, it doesn't look the way it should. And that. That's valid as well. But I look at it, I'm like, I loved Halo 1. I loved Halo when I lived in Halo 1. Yeah. And I am not the type of fan that's going to look at this and be like, oh, it's too shiny. Oh, it's too. I look at him like, wow, this. They made Halo 1 look awesome. And you didn't have the best time playing through Halo 1.

[Greg Miller]

I did not.

[Tim Gettys]

And I do think that you'd enjoy this significantly more for a multitude of reasons. It's even more cinematic. The sprint button, like, makes it not feel like you're going through molasses. Waypointing works a lot better. It just feels modern, but it still feels classic.

[Greg Miller]

How crazy is it that by the time Halo gets here in 2026, I'm going to play my Xbox slash PC. Oh, that you're playing on his. That's insane. That they. The console wars are over to the point that by the time we got here, the hill I would have died on 10 years ago isn't even matter. Like, all right, well, I'm going to play it over here.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. So, man, that's. That is quite the wild Ride. We've been.

[Greg Miller]

We have been on quite the wild ride.

[Tim Gettys]

Excited that they announced this again. I think it's weird. They announced this campaign thing at the final Halo esports event for Infinite, the Halo Championship series. Like that. You'd think that'd be the place you announce a multiplayer thing. But hey, they're trying out here. They're moving over to Unreal Engine 5, which I think is again, story number one, story number two. We're just kind of repeating things that have been slowly happening for the last five years and now they're just kind of getting more official. But like, how many times was our headline like, we need to fix Halo. How to fix Halo, what's going on? And so much of that was engine based. So much of that was the. The slip space engine just simply not working, causing all these problems. And here we are. Now they are trying Unreal Engine 5. Will that be the answer? I sure freaking hope it is. I sure freaking hope it is. But I almost can guarantee that we're not going to see Halo Infinite or Master Chief collection come to PlayStation, despite how dumb dumbs like me would be. Like, just put that on this. Like, what are you doing? And it's because the engine, I think that they are dedicating to this Unreal Engine 5. And you know, that's that focus and that dedication might pay off for them, but it's going to be paying off on multiple consoles now. Like this Halo is going to sell very well. Just like Gears did, just like Forza did, just like Indiana Jones did. Right? Like, I got a question for you about this. We.

[Greg Miller]

Hey, Rick, I gotta ask you a question.

[Tim Gettys]

As we've been talking about this ongoing Xbox next generation becoming more of a PC Xbox putting all its games like, I, I'm still shocked that it's not just incredibly clear that every time Xbox announces a game, stay one on PlayStation 5. Because it's not. Still not. We still have questions. South of Midnight came out this year. Not on places. We still don't know when it's coming, if it's coming. I expect that it will at some point.

[Greg Miller]

So.

[Tim Gettys]

Right. And so worlds too, right now there's a couple games that are just like, like, okay, so their strategy is clear, but it's like. And I understand people, oh, they want to double dip. Get out of here. What are we talking about? We see the numbers, we know what's going on. Like, if I look at headline data.

[Greg Miller]

Last week, Sarah Bond said console exclusive. Gamers don't want exclusive.

[Tim Gettys]

So what are we doing? Don't do it then just like, let's move forward or else we're going to continue having this converse the same conversation, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So let's jump past that conversation. Let's talk about Game Pass a little bit. Right. So Game Pass, obviously so much of the value with it in the past has been the third party support, right? It is. It's the deals with Sega for Persona and all that stuff and Yakuza games and the final fantasies with Square and all that. The key big thing people are subscribing for though is the Xbox games. Do we see a future now where Game Pass can be on PlayStation 5 and Game Pass is just retooled where it's not the third party games? Because I think that's the big hiccup.

[Greg Miller]

No, I don't think you can. I think if you were to do that, you would have to blow it up and make a new service, which isn't maybe. I mean, Xbox doesn't mind complicating things in on PlayStation, it would then be easy. Hey, it's Xbox Game Pass, it's core Xbox, you know, it's only Xbox. I don't see the thing there. Because that. Here's the thing, let's kick the fucking beehive. Let's punt it through the uprights, right?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I hate it, to break it to you gamers, but Xbox Game Pass is still the best value in gaming. And I mean that strictly from a mathematical perspective of you want to buy this $70 game or spend $30 and play it this month, we can then get into the conversation of, well, I'm not going to play a game every month and I'm not going to do this. And there we start getting into all these different blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The way you are able to say it's the best value in gaming, you should be a Game Pass member is by going, yeah, you can buy any of our games for 70, $80 on PlayStation or you can be a Game Pass person and get it for 30 bucks. Are you gonna play it longer than a month? You know, that's up to you. And da, da, da. And again, I know this is where the conversation about what value means to you, again, as I've said, they fuck themselves into the ground by calling it the best value in gaming. Because when I think of value, I think of that goddamn McDonald's value menu where I roll up and I say, and I specifically say I want a breakfast burrito and then I want the other one for a dollar because I want Them to know I'm hip to the game. Don't overcharge me on these burritos. Like that's when I. Value equals cheap to so many fucking people.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So no, I don't think you do it in a way to get it on there. I think it's just too convoluted of right now. The value, whether you think $30 is highway robbery and you're fine with 20 or not. The value is the idea that, sure, buy Outer Worlds 2 for 70 bucks on PlayStation or come over here, pay us 30, get Outer Worlds to get Fallout New Vegas, get et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, enter into this ecosystem where we hope we win you over and you go, this is really good. And I can put, I can just. I don't even need to buy an Xbox. I can put the app on my tv. Awesome. Or that you do that and then two years from now you go, wow, they're launching a high end Xbox PC hybrid. That does sound great because I'm playing so much stuff over here already and I'd want the best bells and whistles experience.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh man, they're so fucked. They're just so fucked, dude. And here's the thing. They're fucked in certain ways, but they're so not fucked in others. They're about to make so much money from selling games everywhere, from just selling games on PlayStation. They're going to profit, they're going to win.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, but yeah, it's just so walking me. So let's jump in because we have not had the chance since all of these Sarah Bond quotes and these different things and da da da. They're so fucked.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

What do you think the next gen Xbox PC Hybrid is fucked or would. Yeah, okay, okay.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, I mean, yeah. And like fucked in the sense of like it's not gonna sell console numbers. It's not gonna. But they know sell Wii U numbers. Like congratulations. Yeah, they know that. Like that that's fucked. Like, just cause you know it doesn't mean it's not horrible news for your hardware.

[Greg Miller]

It's the normal. Well, yeah, but God, this is the whole conversation that is so hard to have because it is. What does Xbox count as? Wins. What does Xbox count as? Their future? Where are they really long. You know what I mean? Where it's like we're on the same page and it's that idea of like, oh, the rog ally is a thousand dollars. The Xbox version, fuck, that's a lot of money and so many people. But then you see them talking about it, they're like, no, this sold what we wanted. Right. We're in that PlayStation VR, PlayStation Portal range. Right. Of like, oh man. No, no, this did what we thought it was going to do. So then to go and build this thing, it is almost, if not totally a quiet exit from hardware. Yeah, we are still making hardware. We are making a premium Xbox. But it's like what that immediately screams is cool. The next generation Xbox is going to cost I think significantly more than a PlayStation 5, significantly less than the high end PC.

[Tim Gettys]

But you've then I don't know about.

[Greg Miller]

That alienated console people. I think then like the $4,000 razors and stuff like that.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that's what I'm okay, sure, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You know, for a turnkey, you buy it off the shelf. I think you're gonna. The console, there's a console group that's gonna go, well I'm not gonna go higher than this. And then there's the PC people are like, well I'm not gonna buy that thing because it's lower than this. And I. Is it. Can I change out all the parts and do all the different things? Which I imagine you could, but who knows?

[Tim Gettys]

It's just this shouldn't be this messy. Like I, I know that when you acquire 10,000 companies it's messy. There's just no way to like have that be a clean thing when. And then AI is coming around and you're not Xbox, you're Microsoft. But with all these things it's like, why are games not day and date on PlayStation 5? That's inevitable. Why don't we just start there? The longer this confusion lasts, the longer the expectation from gamers is that the Xbox is a console. They're fucked. That that is what I mean by that perception is they gotta change the narrative. And it's, they're. It doesn't seem like they're even attempting to. It seems like they're just very bullheaded about this vision that they have. But the vision on one hand is incredibly clear. It's just PC then just be a PC then just do that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Stop pretending you're something else. They're pretending there's something else. By having exclusives by, by doing any of this instead of just we're everywhere now and I know it's not that easy, but also your Microsoft at this point, like we go back to the Xbox One announcement to now, how many rakes did they step on? You know, it's like at a certain point it's like, let's look at where the wins are and just be like, this is what we're doing, and move on.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And they still haven't done that. So we're still having this headline.

[Greg Miller]

Where are we at? Chat, I need your help. And, Tim, maybe you have it off the top of your head. I remember we had this conversation. There was a bet blessing and I had about all games. Oh, no. Premium editions. Not the same thing. Strike that. Where are we at right now with every Xbox game going forward? Is day and day on PlayStation.

[Tim Gettys]

No, no.

[Greg Miller]

That we haven't said.

[Tim Gettys]

No, we haven't said that. I don't think that that's gonna be the case.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

That's crazy. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I guess Keeper wasn't right.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

How. Greg, how is keeper not on PlayStation? Like, what sense does that make to anybody at all?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Like, it doesn't. It makes sense if you're still trying to be a console, if you're still trying to compete. But they're not. They say that, and then their actions speak differently. They're the ones in control of this.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Muddy, it is.

[Tim Gettys]

You're right.

[Greg Miller]

You're. You're not wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. People are talking about South Midnight Indy. No, I know that. I was talking about going forward, but Keeper would be the immediate boom. There you go. That's fucked up. Because, again, to your point, and I don't know behind the scenes. Yeah. What that is and why that is. That's weird. Yeah, that is weird. Yeah. I'm with you. Of, like, I think if somebody who, you know, is playing out there on the PC and playing on the rock and doing all the stuff, like, I love what Xbox is doing in terms of what they're doing, and they're, like, letting me play and move my games around and stuff like that. But. But for stuff like this, where it is a. What are we doing? And again, it's like, even for me, where I'm at right now with my Xbox, with my PC, even with PlayStation as well, if I was on the outside and we get to 2027 and it's like, guess what? Here it is, this Xbox PC hybrid that more than PlayStation, less than a PC. I feel by the time we get there, I'm already gonna have made a PC to take advantage of the ecosystem I'm already living in. Right. Even right now with the razor blade that I love out there. And it's incredible. Like, it gets loud playing Triple A games. And so it is that thing of like, all right, I have this tower from work at home over here that I know has a good graphics card. Not the most late. What else would I have to do to that one to make that, like the, you know.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, man. Yeah. The jump from console to PC gaming is more convenient and more obvious than it's ever been for a multitude of reasons. At the same time, it's still not the answer. Console like PlayStation 6 is just going to dominate, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

There's a reason the Switch 2. There's many reasons why the Switch 2 is dominating, and it's going to continue to dominate. They need to produce 25 million more of those things. Despite people saying Mario Kart World's a disappointment, like, there's something to the console experience and like, I simply won't hear any different from people.

[Greg Miller]

It's just, oh, no, I'm right there with you. It's easy and it's turnkey and it goes. That's what it's supposed to do. And like, you know, me and Kevin were talking over the weekend, I sent Kevin a screenshot, and I was like, what if we were both dads? There's a million games to play, but what if. And it was just a screenshot of my Rog Ally downloading the Old Republic again, because me and Kevin, you know, I played so much of that on streams and whatever during COVID and then it was like I sat down in bed and I turned it on and I jumped in, and then I was like, wait, I read that controllers do work, but they're not working, but this, that. And I'm like, ah, fuck it. I don't want to do this. I just uninstalled, got out of there. Not gonna worry about that shit. Download Knights of the Old Republic. I'll do that eventually. You know what I mean? Of course I'm still playing Outer Worlds, still playing Pokemon. There's a lot of the games coming out, too. Speaking of things coming out, I want to talk about more of these console wars and the fact that the White House has now come in and said, oh, whoa, look, Kevin did it. Kevin went, Generated a newspaper there. The console wars overconfidently. 1027 International Moose Count underway. This is a visual gag, everybody. Thank you, Kevin, for doing that. We're not done talking about the console wars. I want to talk about the White House getting involved. But first, I'll of course, remind you that this is kind of funny Games Daily. Nerdy news each and every week. Dan, we couldn't do without your support. If you love us, we'd love you. To pick up a membership patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple, Spotify, wherever you can enjoy your shows. Go get the membership. Get us ad free. Get a daily dose of me in a series we call Greg Way. That adds up to four hours of exclusive podcasting each every month. And get good karma for supporting a small business. 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 Arc Raiders, a multiplayer extraction adventure game where most of humanity shelters underground. But raiders rise to the surface in search of something greater in the Rust Belt. Danger isn't the end of the story, it's the beginning of the adventure. Every journey above ground is a gamble against the relentless machines of Ark and rival raiders chasing the same dream. Explore lethal yet vibrant worlds scarred by old clothes conflicts and reclaimed by nature, where shifting conditions makes every high stakes run unpredictable. Adventure isn't a choice, it's the price of thriving. You've seen the boys playing Arc Raiders and they're absolutely loving it on all those streams. You can join them too. Arc Raiders pre order now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X S and PC.

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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

[Greg Miller]

And we're back reading from ign where WYP that's Wesleyan Pool says the White House wades into the console wars releases AI image of Donald Trump as Master Chief saluting in front of an American flag that contains a big mistake. Microsoft's announcement that Campaign Evolved is coming to PlayStation is the final nail in the coffin for the Xbox exclusive and for some marks the end of the console wars. Now the White House is weighted in with an AI image of Donald Trump as a saluting Master Chief that whether something very wrong about it for the uninitiated. Oh, we already ran through this. You know it's coming out we're just doing this, blah, blah. The idea of a Halo game on PlayStation would have been out outrageous before, say, a few years ago, yada, yada yada. Someone somewhere within the bowels of the White House saw that tweet and decided it would be a good one to jump on. The tweet in question shows the US President as Halo protagonist Master Chief, clearly generated by AI holding an energy sword and saluting in front of the White House and the American flag. But look closely at the flag and you'll notice the mistake. There's there are 40 stars where there should be 50. Has Trump as master chief teased plans to scrub 10 states from the United States map is a bunch of jokes here from Wesley. It's an especially especially odd collab from the White House when you consider Trump's prior comments on video games. In 2019, Trump suggested. In 2019, Trump suggested one way to prevent future mass shootings in America was to take a firm stance on violent video games. Quote, we must stop the glorification of violence in our society, he said. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is weight. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop our substantial or we must stop or substantially reduce this. And it has to begin immediately. Kevin kind of went through it on the Instagram feed. It's even crazier where the White House put up the AI generated thing and then shared GameStop's goofy press release where they declared the console wars were over. This is a press release went on and they're like, whereas two decades. And it's like looking like an official decree where it gets even grosser. Is that on this? Then fucking GameStop commented and said thank you for your attention on this matter. To which I had replied in there, of course, hey, as a reminder, everybody in 20 fucking 19 I had to write a goddamn op ed for Newsweek that was saying countering everything we just talked about with Trump blaming the Ohio and Texas mass shootings at the time on video games. What the fuck?

[Tim Gettys]

And then the Twitter's Even worse for GameStop. GameStop themselves posting AI images of Master Chief and Trump shaking hands and like this shit. J.D. vance is Cortana.

[Greg Miller]

Like, it's like, yeah, how short is our memory?

[Tim Gettys]

How, how, how?

[Greg Miller]

Like I see all these goddamn tech billionaires all the time bending the knees, like kissing the rings. Why are we here saying like, why, why? Why are Gamers. Why is GameStop and like GameStop has been trying desperately to get back in the conversation. And they, they were doing, you know what I mean, doing some funny stuff. Come the fuck on. And this guy fucking hates us and he doesn't understand what he's fucking talking about. Out.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it's. And you know the freaking. It also gets worse. They're the Department of Homeland Security. Put out another image using Halo. That's like stop the flood. And it's like an ICE recruitment and it's like following up a couple weeks ago, the Pokemon thing, it's like yeah, yeah. Disgusting. Absolutely vile, rotten stuff. And yeah, GameStop's just supporting it. Like absolute freaking nonsense, man.

[Greg Miller]

Boo. Boo all around.

[Tim Gettys]

And this is a weird segue, but I'm take it because it does make sense in some ways. Me and Mike went to Redmond, Seattle or Redmond Washington, near Seattle to play Halo and they, they gave us like some goodies, right? One of the goodies. I don't want to spoil it actually. Okay, well here we go. Is this Halo Energy sword? Bling.

[Greg Miller]

Bling.

[Tim Gettys]

All right.

[Greg Miller]

Blinged out.

[Tim Gettys]

Which like I think is obviously hilarious.

[Greg Miller]

You love you wearing it right now.

[Tim Gettys]

No, I'm not wearing it. You love now this is the type of thing. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

There's a line.

[Tim Gettys]

And I just think it's funny that this exists. I respect it. And haha. Get to the airport, go through tsa. My bag gets taken. I'm like what? Why? I've traveled with the same bag with the same things in it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So many times this year alone. No problem. The guy goes, there's a pocket knife in here. I'm like, I can assure you there's not a pocket knife in there. He's like, there is a knife. I see the knife. Yeah. I'm like, oh man. So he starts going through my bag. Greg, when I tell you I pack light for this trip because it wasn't that long.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So all my dirty ass underwear are in this bag. And this TSA guy, just one by one pulling out my undies, throwing them out. I'm like, this is wild. Like wild. And he's like, there is a knife in here and I'm going to find it. And I'm like, I. I'm telling you, there's a thing that maybe that. Whatever. And then he's like, it's in here. And he pulls out this box and I just start laughing and I turn bright red. I look over at Mike and I have to explain him. I was like, it's a, it's a bling. Of a Halo energy sword.

[Greg Miller]

The slack Mike sent that you were stopped about. It was funny enough to read, and then to open it up and find this image of, like, you mid conversation with him trying to explain it. Hilarious.

[Tim Gettys]

It was hilarious. I was like, dude. And he just started laughing and like, here's the worst thing. I walk off. Mike, of course, made friends with everyone around him. Literally, like the head of the TSA at the airport, Mike, he was just like, hey, Like, I'm sorry. Like, obviously it sucks. Your friend was like, like, stopped or whatever. And this is like a funny thing. He's like, yo, none of my people are being paid right now. They're all here. The government shutdown, Trump, and all this fucking shit. Yeah, these people aren't being paid and they're here trying to protect us. Looking through my bag because he saw a fucking pocket knife. Sure, it was an energy sword, but what if it was a pocket knife?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Thank God he was there. I don't know. Just fucking dumb little things of it all adding up of like, get fucked, Trump. What are you doing in our world?

[Greg Miller]

Well said, Timothy.

[Tim Gettys]

I guess. Not that well said.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I mean, no, get. Fuck, Trump. That's really all you got to say. Fuck Ice. Fuck this.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You know, fucking free Palestine. What else do we need to say right now as it just gets drowned out by fucking memes. AI memes that the White House is sharing. The White House is sharing.

[Tim Gettys]

The White House.

[Greg Miller]

The White House is sharing. Fucking knocking down the east wing. What the fuck is going on? Checks and balances.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

All we fucking heard about our entire elementary school.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Let's get some super chats that are about this stuff, but not about this stuff. Jordan White super chats and says once this hybrid Xbox comes out, the team choosing games to add to Game Pass will also have the entirety of Steam to work with as well. That could be beneficial to indie developers who only focus on PC versions of their games. No, that would be incorrect. No, no. Game Pass would still be just the Xbox and the Xbox PC options. In Windows games, you have access to Steam, but being a part of Game Pass wouldn't get you any benefits on Steam unless they worked out a thing with Steam, which I really doubt Steam would be down for, since Steam can just do whatever the fuck they want. Speaking of, Mateo Super Chats and says, hey, kind of funny. What are the odds of Valve taking Xbox's place in the console war, beating them at the PC/console hybrid game and giving Sony a real fight?

[Tim Gettys]

I think very high.

[Greg Miller]

You think so yeah, we're gonna get a real Steambox.

[Tim Gettys]

And again this is the complicated thing of like I think for Steam to. I think Steam selling 13 million Steam Boxes is an actual success. Xbox selling 13 million next gen Xboxes is a failure. And that it's because it goes back to Steam is a digital storefront. They have been making money hand over fist for decades. They've been building it. This whole future that Xbox has been talking about. Steam's just been doing it, but they just don't have that console presence. And I think that that is the hardware presence. Even they now have the hardware presence and we're talking about a much smaller part of the pie, but that part is just going to continue growing and they have zero confusion about who they are and what they're doing. It is completely clear. And those people are happy. Like the Steam users are happy as.

[Greg Miller]

They should be a great service now.

[Tim Gettys]

Whereas like yeah, the Xbox side of it, it's like a problem that they are never going to be able to get away from is Xbox is a console and has console history and lineage. And then there's the PC side that they're going to move into this hybrid, whatever the Xbox console games, PC games. It's too confusing and it's literally different. There's different game passes, right? Yes. That's so hard to explain. It's in fact impossible to explain and people don't get it. And if you do get it, congratulations, you're smarter than your average Joe. But it's all. The majority of people don't get it, don't want to get it. When you say this is an Xbox, that should mean what it sounds like when you say this is esteemed, this, this esteem that people are gonna know exactly what it is and it's gonna be that thing. But yeah, I don't think it's gonna compete with PlayStation in that way. But in terms of like market share over time and overall, yeah, when Steam games are a fraction of the price of PlayStation games, it takes a lot more know how and a lot more commitment. It's not as simple as back in the day, your mom saying I'll go play the Nintendo and you're talking about a PlayStation. Right. But it's like I do think PlayStation isn't going anywhere because they've committed to consoles and exclusives and this stuff matters. And I think that at a certain point there is a top to that and I think that they, at some point, if they haven't already topped that. Yeah, but they're still at the top. It's like they're still doing incredibly well. Right. And again, I don't need to bring Nintendo up again, but. Sorry, I'm rambling.

[Greg Miller]

No, you're doing it, though. You're living the damn thing. I still don't see. I shouldn't say don't see, but I just think Steam and Valve aren't as interested in getting a hardware box to rule them all, because they have the platform that rules them all and Steam Big, I think it's more likely like in the same way, you know, they want the Rog boots into Xbox full screen.

[Tim Gettys]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Steam OS is the future of like, build whatever fucking PC you want, load up Steam and it'll go straight to, you know, we can make it where it goes straight to starts this thing and stuff. So we don't need to box for you. Yeah, we don't need to make the box for you. I digress. We have more news, so let's go to that and get super chats at the end if we have time. Number three.

[Tim Gettys]

Sorry, sorry. Just real quick because you just said something that's like. That is the point I was trying to make, but you said it better.

[Greg Miller]

Than I did, as I do.

[Tim Gettys]

The Steam doesn't need the one box and it never will have the one box. The thing about Steam is it's any box and it'll just work. Microsoft, Xbox, it is the box. And they're now trying to tell us it's not just that box, it's a bunch of different boxes. That's the problem.

[Greg Miller]

That is the only way for them to succeed is for Xbox to drop the box.

[Tim Gettys]

I do. And I. But I also, I don't think that that's possible at this point. And unless, I mean, I can literally get rid of the Xbox branding, which they're not going to do.

[Greg Miller]

But I. I think, like I said, everything they've said about this premium console that's coming next, and it's a PC hybrid and all that stuff to me screams of like, we're not a hardware company anymore. We're doing this thing and it's there if you need it. If you need that bridge, you are an Xbox fan. You have this Xbox backlog. You love being able to just start an Xbox game and go, that's what this machine is. But it can also be a PC. And you're gonna. You're either gonna pay for that or you're gonna accept that. I think there'll be plenty of people go, I'm not gonna pay for that. I'm gonna accept that a PlayStation 6 is what I need to get.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But I think then there will be people who go the other way. But again, I feel like it's just they're trying to bridge the gap that works so well for me of like a console gamer who knows how good people.

[Tim Gettys]

You also don't have a backlog of Xbox games. You are a new Xbox fan. You are not an old Xbox fan. And that's the problem is they need to continue satiating the old Xbox fans that have been in that ecosystem for 20 years, 25 years, you know.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And that, that's the disconnect. And until they can figure that out, and I don't think it's even freaking possible. And by the time they do figure out some type of of backwards compatibility or some type of emulation or some type of thing that Xbox games, console games and Xbox PC games are the same thing, it's too little too late. But anyways, I digress.

[Greg Miller]

We shall see. Number three on the Roper Report, Battlefield Red SEC is a free to play Battle Royale launches October 28th. Hey, that's tomorrow. This is Eddie over at GameSpot. The new battlefield Battle Royale game has been officially confirmed. The game, called Battlefield Red Sec, will launch on October 28th at 8am PT. As rumored, it will be free to play. Battlefield Studios announced the Battle Royale game or mode Based on Battlefield 6 a long time ago and has allowed testers to play it already. But this is the first time the developer is revealing its name, release date and business model. All of these key details leaked already. The name Red Sec appears to be a shorter version of redacted sector based on the teaser arc. Red SEC goes live on the same day as Battlefield 6's season one update. So it's shaping up to be a busy week for Battlefield fans.

[Tim Gettys]

Pretty cool. You know, Battlefield 6 continues to enjoy a lot of success from the the players, which is a major win for a franchise that I think has kind of floundered a bit the last couple entries. I hope that this works. I think the name is interesting. Not. Not good that I would go with, but good them kind of trying to be like, we're just gonna get ahead of it. Let's just call it the thing that people will call it it. Will they? I don't know. What do you think about this?

[Greg Miller]

I. So it's so far outside of my purview of what games I like to play. I know Battlefield 6 seemed like it had a good. A lot of good momentum in terms of multiplayer. So I'm sure fans are excited about this, but as somebody who's been doing this for so long, Battlefield always seems like they do something interesting and then Call of Duty just rolls over them. So it's like, yeah, I don't know. This, you know, moves the needle. We'll see what the Gibroni boys say about it. Good for them. Bad name. Yeah, I don't think that's the way to go for it. But a free to play Battlefield, that's going to look good and play good, I'm sure. So yeah, go get them.

[Tim Gettys]

Go get them.

[Greg Miller]

Number four Leaked screenshots of canceled multiplayer God of War game Teaser return to Greece and an infamous former villain this is Vicki Blake [e-mail] Details and images of Sony's canceled live service multiplayer God of War game have leaked online. At the beginning of the year, Sony canceled two unannounced live service games that were in development at Bend Studio and Blue Point Games, with the latter thought to be a multiplayer God of War games. Now a number of screenshots reportedly taken from the canceled project have been published by mp first hinting that the game may have been set in Greece once again and feature a range of diverse backdrops including caverns and temples. Two screenshots purportedly of Hades Armory apparently show the same area in different states, one normal and the other seemingly infected by a curse or otherworld state with rust colored stains. Hades was introduced in 2005's God of War and appeared in God of War 2, but it wasn't until God of War 3 that he became a major antagonist before his brutal death at the hands at the end of the third installment. Spoilers Quite how bluepoint planned to explain his return in the game we may never know, but it does show Sony Owned Studio was moving beyond beyond the rebooted series here to Norse setting. Although there are some Norse like touches in the screenshots too, suggesting bluepoint was either intending to mix it up up or still experimenting. Timothy Yep. What do you think of this God of War?

[Tim Gettys]

This is what it is. But you know what I think is cool? God of War, Ragnarok, Valhalla.

[Greg Miller]

What a game.

[Tim Gettys]

Everybody boot that up. If you haven't you, if you for some reason wrote that off, it's like, ah, it's just a little deal. Play that. It's so damn good and it deals with the Greek story stuff so damn well. Adult brilliant gameplay. Come on. Good stuff. Yeah, this, I mean look, look. Canceled game. Is it something I would have gave any fucks about? No Because I'm not a multiplayer guy. This does seem like it was one of the, I guess, right moves to, like, actually use an IP people care about. But I think we're three for three there, right? With the last of us, Spider man, God of war. PlayStation's undeniably three biggest exclusive IP of this generation. And they all had planned, to some extent, multiplayer games that aren't happening.

[Greg Miller]

So you hate to see.

[Tim Gettys]

Can't be upset about this at this point. I just can't wait to see the rumored Metroidvania that takes place.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah, yeah, the 2D metroidvania forgot war. Yeah. You think that's still happening? I think that's still real.

[Tim Gettys]

I do.

[Greg Miller]

When do we hear about that?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, according to Grub. I think next year.

[Greg Miller]

Grab Grub. You think God of War. I'm sorry. Jesus. Game Awards. Or do you think maybe Game ward's coming fast? I get you excited.

[Tim Gettys]

Game Awards this year. I'm not, like, super pumped.

[Greg Miller]

I knew this kid would change you.

[Tim Gettys]

Nah, dude. Like, last year was the 10th anniversary, so we knew that was, like, probably gonna be a bigger one.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

This year, I think with. With Grand Theft Auto looming, like, there's. I'm, of course I'm excited, you know, but I'm not like, losing my. Especially with, you know, this year, for me, the switch to announcement, that was my big, like, oh, this is where.

[Greg Miller]

All the things are going to be.

[Tim Gettys]

I really care about. Yeah, I'm not expecting much from Nintendo at Game Awards. And then, yeah, PlayStation, like, they could have the Metroid or the God of War, Metroidvania, which I. Yeah, that'd be really cool. But we know so much about Xbox. We got Wolverine already. I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

You're crazy. Game Awards is always big. Yeah, but if I want something small, Tim, where would I go?

[Tim Gettys]

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

[Greg Miller]

Number five, the Wii news. Some more Pokemon Legends Za sales data via Matt Piscatell and Circana Matt on Blue bs. That's a blue sky. Tim says Pokemon Legends Za had a massive US launch at retail launch week. Physical unit and dollar sales of Pokemon Legends Za were the biggest for a new physical video game launch since the Legend of Zelda Tears of the kingdom back in May 2023.

[Tim Gettys]

That's awesome. But the chat reminded me I'm such an idiot and that I am so excited for the Game Awards. I was trying to find an excuse to bring this up on Friday and I couldn't find a good one with Andy. But yeah, Final Fantasy VII Part 3 Return. That's what I'm going with. Putting all my money in on Return.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

I think it'll be announced there.

[Greg Miller]

Wow.

[Tim Gettys]

And yeah, that's very, very, very exciting to me.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, good. Yeah. RV there yet? A game we have loved to stream here, kind of funny, has sold 1 million copies in four days.

[Tim Gettys]

That's awesome.

[Greg Miller]

Vampire the Masquerade Blood hunt ends service April 28, 2026 My Sims cozy collection is coming to Xbox Series and PS5 on November 18, according to Bill Bill Coon, who of course is a noted leaker. And then M. Sean Clown Karhan of Slipknot announces Vern Earth, an original multiplayer realm coming to Minecraft Java 1.2, 1.4. VernEarth is targeting the end of October. Built in Minecraft Vern Earth is a surreal Slipknot inspired multiplayer realm created by M. Sean Clown Karhan. Karhan is known as a founding member of Slipknot, filmmaker, and now a game developer. And yes, Clown himself will be playing alongside fans inside the realm. A PR friend hit me up with this one and I was like, yeah, I'll get it in there. Because he's like, you know, he like really is obviously super into it. Like he made it himself and did all this stuff. Like, that's cool. All right, cool. And that's it for. We knew. Cut the music. We have a lot of super chats to get through. People of course, taking care of us. Remember, if you want to be part of the show, live as we go. YouTube.com kind of funny games with your super chats. Just like Kobe did. Kobe says birthday tax. Thank you for all that you do. Cannot believe the console war is over. Lol. Shout out to Halloween baby. Shout out to Halloween babies in general. And happy birthday to you. Kobe Cheddar says late birthday tax. Just turned 23. First time chatter. Probably your biggest Apple podcast fan. Sad to see my champion getting washed in game showdown. Well, we don't need to talk about that. We don't need that. We didn't need that part. But happy birthday.

[Tim Gettys]

Happy birthday.

[Greg Miller]

There's been a lot of shenanigans, a lot of shenanigans on game showdown as of late. Oh yeah, that I've been the butt of the joke and I've had my confidence rocked. But I had a great idea this morning that I'm gonna unleash on YouTube.

[Tim Gettys]

Great.

[Greg Miller]

It'll. It will change the fate and I'll.

[Tim Gettys]

Still win.

[Greg Miller]

We'Ll see about that. Daniel Edmonds says post wisdom teeth surgery tax. Happy wisdom teeth day. I'm in so much pain. Thank you for entertaining me. We're happy to be here.

[Tim Gettys]

Good luck.

[Greg Miller]

That sucks, man. Wisdom teeth always. Pain in the butt.

[Tim Gettys]

Ver. Versh, versh, ver. Verse.

[Greg Miller]

Ver PhD. Happy no birthday tax. I turned 41 today. Hey, I discovered kind of funny in 2020 during COVID and I wish I found you guys sooner. Thank you all. Thank you for finding us in general. And happy birthday.

[Tim Gettys]

Happy birthday.

[Greg Miller]

Shane says my Xbox Ally X also has a wonky Y button. Sometimes it gets stuck. Sometimes it doesn't even depress, like something's under the button. Shane, in my experience, if you have a bad Y button, you lent it to Andy. So if that. If you have let Andy touch, get under there. There's probably some Cheetos crumbs, maybe some beanless chili, maybe just dried Mountain Dew. But as we all know, Andy Cortez does not respect electronics and he has sticky little fingers.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm sorry, man, that sucks. It's a thousand dollar product that does suck.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be that way. But again, weirdly, as I've said, I have not had it stick once since Andy gave it back to me. So I do think it's something about how Andy's little bony fingers press and.

[Tim Gettys]

Hold mine stuck in an egregious way.

[Greg Miller]

What did you do? What would you end up giving your stew? Mikey? Mike writes in and says, white House and DHS using Halo slash eliminate the flood imagery to promote ice. Super gross. And I'm curious. Microsoft will have a response. Shakes the crystal ball. Magic 8 Ball says, not fucking likely. All of them are cowards and are letting this administration do whatever the fuck it wants. They're donating. They're fucking donating money to this fucker. El Captain 22 says, what does Microsoft get when you buy a game on Steam? Steam gets their cut. PlayStation gets their car. Yeah. What? Yeah, it's not. Again, we need to stop thinking of it as a console and think of it as a PC. They made. They made a PC and so they're hoping that Xbox game passes value will get you to use the Xbox launcher more than the Steam launcher. But if you use the Steam launcher, yeah, you're just giving money to Steam and PlayStation. But you bought the box from Microsoft.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Again, as Sarah Bond told you, exclusives don't make sense anymore and they just want you playing on their hardware and doing These things. Adam says there are a number of important elections this November in a number of states, especially in Pennsylvania. Vote yes to retain the judges. If you're in one of these states, please register and vote. Democracy is on the line. An excellent call out from Adam. Yes, everyone, it is your civic duty to vote. And again, this is one of. It's not going to get the bells and whistles of the other elections. There are so many important races going on right now. You need to get out there and fight for what's right or we will all be living in an even worse timeline. Grand man says, you guys told me Xbox was dead. What the hell? Xbox is the Phoenix. All right? It dies, it rises. Is it what you want it to be? Who knows? Phoenix rises from the ashes.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I thought you said fetus. And I was like, greg, like, what are we doing?

[Greg Miller]

Xbox is the fetus. Sid Harth says console wars were over after PS3. The whole point of a bespoke hardware is to have specific hardware features that will allow gameplay innovation, man.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, it is. It is interesting to look at the console wars from the most pedantic point of view of like. And I'm not saying that towards you, I'm saying it like legitimately of like, if we are just talking about this as kids on the playground, like we used to do about what you cared about, Sega versus Nintendo and all this stuff. It's like, yeah, man, Xbox really, really lost like a long time ago. When you, like, look at what games came out on PS4 compared to the Xbox One, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And like, just every decision made and how we got here, it's like, holy crap. But like, that's not what this is. So many millions of people loved their experience, loved the, the hardware. There was a, a time that I was playing my Xbox One X way more than my PlayStation 4 and even PlayStation 4 Pro. Does that timeline add up? I think it does. Was because it was the best way to play Resident Evil 2. It was the only thing with Dolby Atmos. Like, there's so many, like, little use cases and wins. But from a console war perspective of if there had to be a winner and loser, we all know who the winner was. And we all know who the loser was.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Calvin Perez says my disappointment with Halo post Bungie has always been their aversion to reinventing the game. I hope we see more risk taking after this game. Hey, Tim, how do we save Halo? Because I feel like everyone's trying to be old Halo, but then they want to be new Halo.

[Tim Gettys]

But it feels like Halo again, but no multiplayer.

[Greg Miller]

Halo's fucking done, man. Virgil tipped or don't. No. Super chatted four bucks and just said for breakfast burritos and I thank you. I appreciate that. Delaney20 says Mike did Tim dirty justice for Tim. What did he do to you? Is that a reference to what we're talking about somewhere in there? I don't remember.

[Tim Gettys]

I don't know what that Motor world.

[Greg Miller]

Hype says Gamestop has reached peak pick me Energy, yes. Desperately hanging on trying to make something happen. Kelsey Dilla says birthday tax. Y' all can spend these tax dollars on a ballroom if you want. What is this timeline we live in? It's a fucked timeline. But happy birthday to you.

[Tim Gettys]

Happy birthday.

[Greg Miller]

Flying Penguin says Neuro exists on Steam made by one guy Tron and AC Vibes. Okay cool. So it's Neuro X U S. Look at that. If you want to see a game Z Kinetic says joining late. Are either of you getting the PlayStation Magic cards? I got the God of War ones this morning pretty easily and I don't even play. I don't even play but love God of War. I'm sure they'll be all over the office. We usually get all the stuff sent because Secret Lair and Magic are so good to us. Thank you very much, but I'm not clamoring for them. No, me neither. Mr. Straight Fire says with single dev indie games seeing so much success, do you see big publishers funding employee side projects in exchange for revenue share? No, I don't. I think that in some ways that would make sense. But then you get into a whole different ball of wax of the person's working on game A but they're making game X at home. So if they but you're taking a cut of it. So then are they working on it but then they're not getting done on game too much problems. What you're talking about is just what indie game devs already do. I work at a big studio. I go home and work on my game. When that game is ready to go, I release it. I try to find a publisher, I try to get my own deer. And then maybe that game is successful enough to get attention to get me out to fund my next project so I don't have to work at the day job anymore. And then the final one comes to Street Shadow. The console wars were so a cool time thought I think he means the.

[Tim Gettys]

Console wars were such a cool time though.

[Greg Miller]

There you go. Classic G4TV IGN the drunk beyond after PSN outage hack love that time. Oh what? Those were good memories. But I would beg to differ that even without the console war, those memories will be there. Idiots making content for your amusement will not stop if the console war stopped. Don't worry about that and don't worry about Kinda Funny. Of course, with your support on patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kinda funnygames, Apple and Spotify, you can pick up a Kinda Funny membership and make sure the lights and mics stay on. But if you got no bucks to toss our way, no big deal. Like subscribe, share. Because each and every weekday we're here with Kinda Funny Games Daily and the nerdy news you need to know about. And we kick off a live programming day that runs into the gamescast sometimes Game Showdown where I'm completely screwed over by Roger. We're always streaming video Game In Review is going through and talking about your favorite movie franchises. There's always something happening on Twitch TV, Kinda FunnyGames, YouTube.com Kinda FunnyGames and podcast services around the globe. For now, Kinda Funny Games Daily is over. We're moving on to the gamescast. Get get your Steam wish lists ready because we're about to run through every video game coming out in November. It's one of my favorite episodes we do each and every month. But if you're not making the jump to the new YouTube link, maybe you're listening in your car and you're gonna catch us later or whatever. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you. Oh yeah, when I was there, you had to have a knife. One of you's gotta take turns carrying it up your rectum.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

Wait, it's up your butt.

[Greg Miller]

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

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, or else you'd be bleeding out your cor.

[Mariana Van Zeller]

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