The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a MEGAHIT - Kinda Funny Games Daily 04.06.26

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a MEGAHIT"

Date: April 6, 2026
Hosts: Blessing Adeoye Jr. & Andy Cortez

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Episode Overview

This episode revolves primarily around the massive box office success of the Super Mario Galaxy movie, its cultural impact, and how animated video game adaptations are evolving. The hosts, Blessing and Andy, also share insightful takes on Nintendo’s game development strategy (with a particular focus on 3D Mario titles), the current state of video game movies compared to Sonic, major news about Take-Two's stance on AI, gaming hardware price hikes due to "Ramageddon," and the truth behind the State of Decay 3 trailer. The show is infused with their signature humor, pop-culture riffs, and candid commentary on industry trends.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s Box Office Success

• Segment: [08:13–22:13]
• The film saw a five-day international opening of $372.5 million, making it the only animated franchise to have two films open to more than $350M globally. Despite not surpassing the first Mario movie, its performance ranks among the top animated openings of all time.
• Memorable Quote:

  "Super Mario becomes the only animated movie series to open globally at more than $350 million twice. This is Chris Scolion at VGC." — Blessing, [08:13]

• Compares its numbers with films like Frozen 2 and the 2019 Lion King, marveling at how ticket prices and global demand have changed over the years.
• On the appeal to kids:

  "Mario still got it with the kids. The kids love Mario." — Blessing, [15:22]

• The movie’s visual spectacle, color, and action make it irresistible for children, but the hosts question its emotional depth and writing quality (especially compared to animated films like Pixar’s Onward or TMNT: Mutant Mayhem).
• On emotional impact (or lack thereof):

  "There's no sort of feeling like that from the Super Mario Galaxy movie." — Blessing, [21:00]

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2. Mario Game Sequels and Nintendo’s Choices

• Segment: [02:29–05:05, 05:14–06:09]
• Andy calls Super Mario Galaxy 2 “the best 3D Mario of all time,” highlighting how sequels can benefit from refining and focusing the fun.
• Blessing expresses disappointment that Nintendo hasn’t pursued Odyssey 2, referencing Nintendo’s tendency to iterate and improve—like with Breath of the Wild → Tears of the Kingdom.
• Quote:

  "Nintendo does best when they innovate and try new things, and then follow up on that experiment… but what happened to Odyssey 2?" — Blessing, [03:32]

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3. Donkey Kong’s Absence from the Galaxy Movie

• Segment: [05:05–07:56]
• The hosts joke about Donkey Kong not being in space, leading to a running gag about whether DK has ever “been to space” in any game.
• Audience and chat eventually clarify Donkey Kong has been to space in Jungle Beat and Donkey Kong Country Returns ([69:23–69:43]).

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4. Quality Differences in Game Movies: Sonic vs. Mario

• Segment: [30:15–31:34]
• Blessing stands by Sonic movies as superior in quality to Mario’s, though he feels they’re overrated and dominated by Jim Carrey’s presence.
• Andy is urged to watch with an open heart, but Blessing wishes Sonic would feature more of the game’s lore and less Eggman.
• Quote:

  "I feel like I’m getting more of a Jim Carrey movie than a Sonic..." — Blessing, [31:20]

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5. Take-Two Disbands Its AI Team

• Segment: [33:17–39:20]
• Take-Two has laid off its AI team despite industry trends moving toward AI implementation. CEO Strauss Zelnick maintains skepticism on AI’s creative capacity.
• Host Take: Andy believes it’s positive for a giant like Take-Two to buck industry trends and prioritize human creativity amidst concerns about AI replacing human developers.
• Quote:

  "For the developers of the biggest upcoming game ever to be the ones to do this, I think it's really awesome." — Andy, [34:08]

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6. Ramageddon: Hardware Price Surges Linked to AI

• Segment: [39:36–46:18]
• Severe price jumps for gaming hardware (e.g., Lenovo Legion Go 2 up $650) are blamed on AI’s insatiable RAM demand, impacting affordability and accessibility of gaming.
• Andy discusses “canvassing the normies” on Facebook, warning that AI’s resource drain is even raising prices on the entertainment meant to distract us from real-world woes.
• Quote:

  "The chase for RAM… are making all of the entertainment products that are meant to help you escape… now you can’t even afford to do that." — Andy, [43:08]

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7. State of Decay 3’s ‘Fake’ Reveal Trailer

• Segment: [52:41–58:45]
• The game’s 2020 cinematic trailer was developed before any real gameplay or systems were in place. The “zombie deer” shown will not be in the game; the trailer was more a concept pitch than a real product tease.
• Both hosts note this practice (pre-rendered trailers for unformed games) is widespread but rarely this egregious.
• Quote:

  "This is the most egregious form of this story that I've heard… that the game only existed in a Word doc." — Andy, [53:47]

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8. Writing and Substance in Mario Films

• Segment: [18:00–22:13, 65:52–67:09]
• The hosts echo criticism that the Mario movies lack substantial writing, character development, or memorable emotional moments, performing instead as a series of nostalgic references and kid-targeted spectacle.
• Quote (on writing compared to Nintendo RPGs):

  "We need to put more respect on the jokes in Mario RPGs, Luigi's Mansion, etc. Meanwhile, the movies feel like AI." — David O. Chart via Super Chat, [65:52]

• Andy speculates that Illumination’s anti-AI stance doesn’t prevent their scripts from sometimes feeling algorithmic or generated.
• Running Gag: Blessing considers writing a Substack called “What’s up with Bowser?” reflecting on Jack Black’s portrayal and the movie’s strange choices.

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9. Community Interaction & Kids’ Response

• Segment: [22:46–25:01]
• Blessing shares stories about his nephews’ reactions—his younger nephew in “full meltdown mode” when unable to get Mario Galaxy tickets; the older one outgrowing Mario and leaning into anime.
• The hosts question whether these movies will have staying power with kids as they age.

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10. Other Industry News (Rapid Fire)

• Segment: [59:07–60:45]
  • Slay the Spire 2 reportedly best-selling Steam game in March.
  • Rattatan Switch/PS4 versions cancelled; next-gen and PC continue.
  • My Hero Academia United Survival coming to mobile.
  • Genesis RPG Trasia arrives on modern consoles and PC.
  • RIP Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Kunio-kun & Double Dragon.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "You should want more… if you accept it, that's how you keep on getting mediocre things." — Andy, [22:13]
• "As a kid… I walked out of the Mortal Kombat movie… I was like, that should be an Oscar winner." — Andy, [15:27]
• "The movie goes for the bare minimum for humor… and like, you didn't really try to [appeal to adults] and that… sucks." — Andy, [20:08]
• "I think kind of Funny would have written a better… Mario movie… lock Greg out!" — Blessing, [68:31]

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Fun & Running Jokes

• Donkey Kong in space: Heated chat debate resolved via audience corrections ([69:23–70:08]).
• British vs. American ‘math(s)’: Spawns a brief cultural riff ([33:17, 71:51]).
• Lamenting lost Snap features on Xbox: Comic nostalgia for old, now-absent Xbox features ([48:04–48:52]).
• Hancock, Will Smith, and movie nostalgia: Running thread on films they loved as kids but got poorly received critically ([16:05–17:38]).
• Facebook ‘normie’ outreach: Andy’s attempts to alert the non-gaming masses about AI’s effects ([41:30–44:41]).
• What’s up with Bowser?: Blessing’s mock-Substack idea scrutinizing Mario villain’s film treatment ([66:38–67:09]).

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Important Timestamps

• 08:13 — Super Mario Galaxy movie smashes box office
• 18:00 — Writing, depth, & emotional beats (or lack thereof) in Mario movies
• 30:15 — Sonic vs. Mario movies, Jim Carrey debate
• 33:17 — Take-Two lays off AI team; industry impact
• 39:36 — Hardware price hikes & “Ramageddon”
• 52:41 — State of Decay 3 trailer was “basically fake”
• 59:07 — News roundup (Slay the Spire 2, indie updates)
• 65:52 — Writing in Mario RPGs vs. Illumination’s movie approach

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Tone & Style

• Language: Conversational, playful, mix of industry insight and pop-culture banter.
• Atmosphere: Lively, opinionated, deeply invested in the gaming community and culture.
• Listener Engagement: Multiple references to live chat, super chats, and ongoing community conversations.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a great snapshot of both the triumphs and travails of video game media in 2026. From celebrating Nintendo’s movie box office dominance and analyzing why sequels like Super Mario Galaxy 2 can surpass their predecessors, to scrutinizing Hollywood writing and confronting the ongoing AI debates within the games industry, Blessing and Andy tackle pressing news with humor and nostalgia. If you care about how games and movies intertwine, why gaming hardware is getting more expensive, and what really matters to fans (spoiler: substance, not just references), this conversation should leave you both entertained and informed.

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Useful For Listeners Who Missed The Episode:

• Recap on Super Mario Galaxy movie impact and community reception.
• Perspective on Mario game sequels, missing Donkey Kong, and the difference between nostalgia and storytelling.
• The influence of AI on industry layoffs and hardware pricing explained clearly.
• Fun banter and relevant news presented with the hosts’ trademark warmth and wit.
• Essential quotes and timestamps provided for deeper exploration.

Transcript

[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

to patreon.com kindafunny Today's gaming news stories include Take 2 lays off their entire AI team, State of Decay 3's reveal is basically fake and Super Mario Galaxy movie is a mega hit. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Monday, March 6, 2026. One of your host, Blessing Adioa Jr. Joining me is the nitro rifle, Andy Cortez.

[Andy Cortez]

Good morning, Blessing. Good morning.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good morning, Andy.

[Andy Cortez]

Good morning.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good morning. Good morning.

[Andy Cortez]

Good morning.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good morning, Andy. How's it going?

[Andy Cortez]

We're doing right now. I'm doing good, man. I'm doing all right, you know, just had a good weekend of gaming. You know, you and I were talking about some, some secret stuff.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Some secret stuff. Doing a lot of redacted this weekend,

[Andy Cortez]

but outside of that, a lot of other unredacted, you know. Like what? Well, just a lot of Deadlock. Yeah. Oh, you're playing a lot of Deadlock, man. I just can't stop, Blessing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

One day I'll get to Deadlock.

[Andy Cortez]

I can't stop.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Although right now I am locked into marathon. I can only do one multiplayer thing at a time.

[Andy Cortez]

When it finally gets announced though, that'll be the game's cast play.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, when they finally officially say Deadlock is a game that exists. When it gets the reveal trailer, when

[Andy Cortez]

we get a press release from Valve,

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

that's, that's, you know, when Jeff Keighley is like world premiere. It's a brand new game from one of the biggest devs in the world. Hasn't put out a big game. The creator's a half life. One, two, he does it and it's the deadlock logo, and we're like, oh, yeah. Thought that was Half Life three there. Damn.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, we've been playing. I've been playing that for two years, Jeff. I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

These games exist outside of that. Super Mario Galaxy 2. Oh, yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All your.

[Andy Cortez]

Let me. Okay, here's the thing. I'm like. I'm about 10 hours in. Okay. I'm already ready to call it. It's the best 3D Mario of all time. I'm ready to call it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So you.

[Andy Cortez]

So my favorite.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You're immediately like, this is better than Galaxy one.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Why?

[Andy Cortez]

I think it. I think it understands what it's doing a lot quicker. I think it gets to kind of, you know, when we talk about lessons learned with sequels, you know, maybe cutting out weaker levels, getting the strengths, all of the stuff that was the most fun about the first thing. Let's kind of double down on those here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, I've only really experienced one level that I'm like, I don't really love the gimmick of this so far, but it's fine. Right? Like, I feel like its weakest level is still like, a 6 out of 10. And everything else has just been like, man, this is so smart. This is so good. Oh, what a great little thing right there. What a great concept for this boss fight. I just. I loved it. This is my favorite 3D Mario game already.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I tell you, you saying that makes me offended that Nintendo never made Mario Odyssey 2. Because they think Nintendo does best when they, like, innovate and try new things and experiment and then follow up on that experiment. You know what I mean? Like, we get Galaxy, and then you get Galaxy 2, which is. Okay, we've learned, and we figured this out. We get Breath of the Wild, and then we get Tears of the Kingdom, which is like, oh, snap. Hell, yeah. Let's go. We get Odyssey, and it's like, all right, we follow up with Donkey Kong, which is even more experimentation, and I'm sure, like, donkey Kong Bonanza 2, if they ever make it, will be fantastic, just like Banza 1 will. Right? But, like, what happened to Odyssey 2? I feel like Odyssey 2 was, like. It was right there. You could have continued to make a 10 out of 10, you know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

As I'm playing it, all I'm thinking is, I want Galaxy 3, dude.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I also want.

[Andy Cortez]

That's where my mind is at. But, I mean, we know that there's one in development, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Do we? I don't know if we do.

[Andy Cortez]

I. I thought they were confirming like, hey Mar, a Mario game's coming later. Don't worry about it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't think, I don't think they ever said anything close to that. I mean, you always assume there's a Mario game coming later.

[Andy Cortez]

There's.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's always a Mario game coming later, but they never even like hinted toward a 3D Mario.

[Andy Cortez]

Is the big worry that just Bonanza took that slot, took that development time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, that's how I look at it. It's the same. The Mario Odyssey team made Don Kong Bonanza. So I think that is just what that is. I think we're gonna wait longer for a 3D Mario. I. Here's my thing is that the fact that we're coming off the Mario Galaxy movie gives me a little hope that we get Galaxy 3. But knowing Nintendo, I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

I'll tell you what's even more wild, you know, and this is kind of a. A spoiler, non spoiler. Where was Donkey Kong in the movie?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Where was Donkey Kong? You know, just where was Donkey. It's kind of.

[Andy Cortez]

He was busy in his spin off movie, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That they still haven't announced.

[Andy Cortez]

It's just kind of wild. Like, I was like, oh yeah, you weren't there at all.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I saw somebody on social media say that the absence of Donkey Kong is the exact reason why people are receiving this movie much worse. And I thought about it. I was like, you know what? That might not be a bad theory. Seth Rogen's Donkey Kong brought some.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, it's just, it's just kind of odd. I don't know. I just, like, it was a given to me. But then it's a given. I just like assumed, like, why wouldn't you be here? You know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

DK's never been to space if you think about it.

[Andy Cortez]

Remember though, in that one Planet of the Apes remake with Mark Wahlberg where they sent the monkey out to. To space.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What if I told you I'd never seen any of the Planet of the Apes movies? Oh, I wanted that for one of the NICKN reviews. I don't know if I wrote it down. I might not have written it down on the thing.

[Andy Cortez]

The. Oh, the most recent four go like. I mean, okay, maybe the first one with James Franco. Not like the most amazing, but it was still good. But like 2, 3 and 4.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'll put my film backlog.

[Andy Cortez]

Unbelievably good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I've always wanted to watch these Planet of the Apes though.

[Andy Cortez]

So good. Oh my God. Andy Circus that's where Nick started hating Andy Circus.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Really?

[Andy Cortez]

Too talented. Too talented. What is the second one?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

[Andy Cortez]

It's like, yeah, rise and then no rise is the first one.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Maybe it's the same naming scheme as Tomb Raider.

[Andy Cortez]

And then rise and then Dawn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Shadow.

[Andy Cortez]

Shadow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The plane of the ap.

[Andy Cortez]

Exactly.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's it.

[Andy Cortez]

Whatever that second one is is like phenomenal and like still kicks ass. I love all of them. I'll never forget seeing them. And then the fourth one comes out and it's like, oh, it's not directed by the same dude. Oh, it's this West Ball guy with. Watch the fourth one in theater. I was like, this boy kicks so much ass.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What is West Ball working on right now?

[Andy Cortez]

Zelda.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's what it is.

[Andy Cortez]

Come on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All right.

[Andy Cortez]

Come on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Bless. Come on. We're going to talk about some video game movies. We're going to talk about Super Mario Galaxy. I was trying to make a quick sick transition there, but I forgot where we were going. We're going to talk about Mario Galaxy much, much more. Because remember, this is kind of Funny Games daily. Also if you're watching live, be a part of the show by super chatting in over on YouTube.com kind of funny games. Shout out to our producers over on patreon.com kindafunny thank you to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining for now. Let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. It's time for some news. We have five stories today. Bacon dozen. But think about it. Has DK ever been to space? Like in any of the DK games that we played? I had to look it up. He's never been to space, right? Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm only getting like DK in space. But it's like footage of Smash Brothers.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Smash Bros would be the only scenario where he would be put in space.

[Andy Cortez]

It cuts to him like in a creative room. He's like, I don't do the travel like that. I don't fly.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I get very claustrophobic.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't do that spacecraft.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I like gravity. Story number one. Super Mario becomes the only animated movie series become to open globally at more than $350 million twice. This is Chris Scolion at VGC. The five day opening weekend Estimates, estimates. Estimates for the Super Mario I'm still waking up for the Super Mario Galaxy movie are in. And it looks like another blockbuster for Universal in Illumination. As reported by Deadline. The film which had a $110 million budget and was released on April 1, took in $372.5 million globally by Sunday, the biggest worldwide opening so far this year. As predicted, the film didn't quite manage to overtake its predecessor, the Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it wasn't far behind. The first film grossed $387.8 million globally over the same time period. The result means Super Mario is the first ever animated film franchise to have two titles, with a global opening weekend of more than $350 million. As well as making this Illumination's second biggest global opening ever, it's also the fourth biggest global opening for a US animated movie of all time, behind Zootopia 2, Moana 2, and the Super Mario Brothers movie. Damn, I didn't realize Zootopia 2 had it like that. And the fifth biggest global opening weekend in Universal's 113 year history. Domestically, the film grossed $190 million, making it the fourth biggest five day opening weekend ever, behind Moana 2 and the Super Mario Brothers movie. And Transformers. Revenge of the Fallen.

[Andy Cortez]

Nice.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I didn't realize Revenge of the Fallen

[Andy Cortez]

had it like that. N. Wow. Is that the second one?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't know. I think that was the third one.

[Andy Cortez]

No. Yeah, the last night. That's the one with Mark Wahlberg. Yeah. Oh, my God. Transformer.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I find Michael Bay movies so not memorable. I'm. I watch.

[Andy Cortez]

That's. Yeah, that's.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I know that's not like a crazy thing.

[Andy Cortez]

No. Yeah. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But like, I couldn't tell you about Transformers, and I definitely watched one of them. Shia laboose. Transformers.

[Andy Cortez]

I'll tell you what, when we did. When we did Bad Boys in review, I thought I was in for like, a banger. And I was so disappointed by those movies.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Really.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, I was going into it, I was like, this is, you know, this is gonna have like, an impact on me. I'm gonna love these. And they were just like, I'd rather watch Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, Bad Boys is like. I. Will Smith, one of my favorite actors pre and post. Slap. All right.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. I don't give a. I don't care. He didn't do anything post.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know if he's done anything. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Let me tell you.

[Andy Cortez]

I think it was on with, like, Kaisen at.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And I loved him then. I love King Richard. Let me tell you, I've seen, like, most Will Smith movies. I. Bad Boys is like, very much low on my list.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, It's. It's surprising. It was to me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm like, kind of bummed out by Black, you know, I mean, yeah, I. One that I'm surprised that isn't here is Inside Out. Like, Inside out one was pretty big. And then Inside out two just took the world by storm and that blew my mind.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This made me realize I do not have my finger on the pulse at all of, like, what are the biggest animated films? Because I would have said, like, I would have thought Incredibles too would have been super high or like Finding Dory or some like you, if you asked me. Right. Yes, I guess I would have named, like the Pixar sequel.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, yeah, yeah, okay. Monsters University or something like that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Maybe not University.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, I just like the game, the movie coming out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's kind of crazy.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm not saying it's a good movie. I'm just saying, like, it's following up. It's following up one of the. The biggest. The biggest Pixar movies, I would have thought. That's true.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I would have thought one of the Shreks would have been on here or Toy Story even. Yeah. How are there not five Toy Stories on this list? So right here, Bear has brought up the highest grossing animated films. I have never heard of that. Number one, the NASA 2.

[Andy Cortez]

It's on fucking. What's it called?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

HBO Max.

[Andy Cortez]

It's got incredible reviews and massive. I've been wanting to try.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, Frozen two number. That makes so much sense. See, I would have thought Frozen two would have been top three. Yeah, we don't count the Lion King, right? Unless. Wait, no. Is that the original lion king?

[Andy Cortez]

That's the O.G.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

oh, never.

[Andy Cortez]

Wait.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, no, it's the 2019.

[Andy Cortez]

That's insane. I mean, it is animated for most of it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, but it's, like, presented as live action. I guess it's all animated. I guess it is all animated.

[Andy Cortez]

It is. It. It all.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But it looks like it's. Yeah, I guess, whatever. I don't care.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't care that much.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm not gonna argue with you. Take a stand. There was that one point where Shrek 2 was number one.

[Andy Cortez]

Think about that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes, I would have said Shrek, but again, this is me thinking with my. Through my kid lens of watching these movies when I was a kid.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, I think a lot of it is not only just the popularity, but the price of tickets. And $350 million is a massive amount of money to hit with two movies with that IP with, you know, just things being way more expensive nowadays and 3D showings and. Well, I'll tell you one thing. I so pissed off about with Mario is that there's no. They took away the IMAX showings from Project Hail Mary.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Really?

[Andy Cortez]

And, like, messed up. I definitely shouldn't have waited that long. But every freaking showing that I would look at Project Hail Mary, it was like only the front row seats. So I was like, let me just wait another way. And then it's just gone. Mario took over.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, it's like that's. This is what I want to know from.

[Andy Cortez]

That's not an IMAX movie.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, is it though? Like, isn't it? Because the only reason you're watching that movie is for the spectacle in the visuals. And like lights.

[Andy Cortez]

What's that? Dolby. Get the best color.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I mean, I do love Dolby, you know, I would watch that in Dolby.

[Andy Cortez]

I need that 70 million. I need to see Ryan Gosling on a 70 millimeter.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I still have plans to see Project Hail Mary. I've not seen it yet. I'm really excited. That and then the drama. You've seen that. You heard of the drama?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Robert Patterson.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Robert and Zendaya.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Come on. I need to get around to that. This is what I want to hear from Chat, because I know how we feel about it and critics and all that stuff. Now that the streets have had an opportunity. When I say the streets, I mean you chat. Now that y' all have had the opportunity to see the movie, are y' all with it? Let me know in the super chats or just chat. I don't care. I'm just trying to get like a read on where people are because bam. I didn't realize Metacritic was this low for it. I haven't seen a red Metacritic in a while. 36. I was hanging out, my sister's in town, she has like a work gig. And so we grabbed dinner last night and I was asking her about, like, how the kids are doing all this stuff, right? And she was telling me about how. She's telling me about their Easter holiday weekend. And one of her kids, Ezekiel, apparently he had a meltdown because he wanted to watch the Mario Galaxy movie. And my sister couldn't find any seating.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Except for like the front, front, front row. And my sister's like, well, no, we don't want to do that. She's trying to explain to her 8 year old child, like, no, I'm not booking these, these front row tickets. Like, the thing is sold out. Like, we'll watch Mario Galaxy another time. He was having a meltdown, like, couldn't stand it, like, and I asked her, I was like, why did you let him know that the movies come out? And he's like. She's like, he just knows he has to be. And they have the ads on tube. I was like, oh, fucking.

[Andy Cortez]

To be. Shut up about it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. And I was like, all right, cool. Like Mario still got it with the kids. The kids, the kids love Mario.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, it's, it's a beautiful. It is eye candy. It is just, it's colors. It, you know, makes your brain feel good when you see everything kind of happening on the screen. It's great action, phenomenal animation with really, really likable characters. And that's, that's all you need. As a kid, like, you know, I walked out of the Mortal Kombat movie theater movie experience in theaters as a 10 year old. I was like, that should be an Oscar winner, you know, and it just like was an awful movie. Look at. I'll never forget my brother being like, no, that's a bad movie. My older brother telling me, I'm like, you're crazy. That movie's amazing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What movie was that for me? Because I definitely had that where I had like. Well, I walked out and I was like, that was incredible. And people were like, no, it might have been Hancock.

[Andy Cortez]

I think Will Smith, the Will Smith Defender.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You put Will Smith in there. And I'm like, I don't know, man. I think that was fine.

[Andy Cortez]

He's on another level, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He keeps getting these wins. I am legend. Pursuit of Happiness. This man can't lose.

[Andy Cortez]

Will Smith, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All right, 49. Hey, that's better than Mario Bros. Movie. Mario Galaxy movie. You know what I mean? And plus, you know what?

[Andy Cortez]

I was with you back then. I with Hancock.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I liked Hancock. It was a fun movie. We gotta go revisit Hancock and be honest with ourselves.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't think we wait. Go back to it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Bless or bear. Go back to that.

[Andy Cortez]

Written by Vince Gilligan.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No shot. Really?

[Andy Cortez]

Huh.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I didn't know that.

[Andy Cortez]

And Vincent. No, but Vince Gilligan being a co writer of Hancock, that's why we love it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We just. I think Hancock should be revisited by both us, the audience, but then also by the writers and directors because, like, we were almost there with some of these things.

[Andy Cortez]

You want it to have a speed racer like Renaissance, bringing it back to theaters 4k re release.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I want the director's cut where we just get a little bit more fleshed out backstory. Because like the back half of that movie where they try to explain things, they're like, oh, it's Angels and all this. It's like, no, we got too weird with it. You know, this was fun when it was about Will Smith being an asshole superhero. Like, when you start, when you try to explain the lore behind this character and his connection with Jason Bateman, the

[Andy Cortez]

less you know, the better.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I also love Jason Bateman. You put them two together in a movie, oh, man, it's box office goals. That's my. That's my shit right there. Y' all don't know about Ozark? I want to bring in some super chats for you. Raptor Face writes in and says, I understand what Andy said. You should want more. But the games don't have a coherent story. I guess I don't get why everyone is so critical of it.

[Andy Cortez]

But it's not a game. It's a movie.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

So, like, I. Again, when I said. When I kept saying you should want more, I said several times as a caveat, like, I don't even care if there's a good story. Just give me good, witty writing. Give me witty dialog that is like, oh, that's a creative little, like, back and forth right there. And there just wasn't enough of it. But, yeah, I'm not. I'm not expecting. You know, I think that was the number one response I kept getting on Twitter. People being like, yeah, but the Mario games don't have good stories either. It's like, okay, but those are games. Those are. Those are video games. And it's a different. I'm playing that. I'm. I'm experiencing and interacting with this medium.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And the. You're having fun playing that, but then, like, you know, translating that to the big screen. You want something there. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

At the very least, if I'm playing a Mario game, I get the joy and excitement of jumping around a world and collecting stars or getting to the end of the level and killing goombas and all these things. Right. Like, my.

[Andy Cortez]

Otherwise, why make a movie?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. So, like, yeah, exactly. Like, I. I think the. The thing that you're saying. Yeah. Is like, yeah, don't make a movie if you're. If. If you're looking at a game that doesn't have a story and you go, well, let's just, you know, if the complaint of the story of the movie is going to suck or whatever, then, like, I think, yeah, you just land on, well, let's not make this into a movie. But they did make it into a movie, and so they should find a good story there. And I think I watched that movie and it's not like. I don't think the problem of the Mario Galaxy movie, in the Super Mario Brothers movie, by extension, is that the games don't have story because they find the outlines of a story in those movies. I think it's just the fact that they don't take a breath and let these characters sit with certain things. They don't let these characters develop in interesting ways. It very much is the problem with the movie is just it's paced at such a brisk speed because they're more concerned with selling you toys and selling you merchandise than delivering a compelling story to people.

[Andy Cortez]

Just get the writers in the Ninja Turtles movie. Get them to write. Oh, get them to write jokes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The TMNT mayhem.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, that movie is so damn funny. And yeah. That it also has an awesome story. But again, I don't Even if you gave me the same exact story here, but just filled it with, you know, moments of me laughing because again, the movie goes for the kind of the bare minimum for humor, where it's like a lot of slapsticky stuff that's gonna make kids laugh. But there's a lot of movies for kids that can also make. Enjoy adults enjoy them as well. And like, you know, you didn't really try to do that and that. That sucks because you could be better if you wanted to. I.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's. I was thinking about this this morning. I remember watching, Remember the Pixar movie Onward? Yeah, it was like 2020, I want to say. I remember in that movie, like, towards the end, there being an emotional beat between the brothers that had me like, so, like, man, this is. This touched my heart.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like this. And I still remember. I still feel that feeling so strongly. There's no sort of feeling like that from the Super Mario Galaxy movie.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think the thing is, if you ask me in a couple years, what. What was your takeaway from the Mario Galaxy movie? I probably am going to be like, oh, yeah, those Star Fox in it. Like, good references. Good references. But nothing that really tugged at the heart. Nothing that made me, like, laugh that hard. Right. Like, what is the core thing that is separate from just making references? Right. What is the core thing here that is making me go, damn, I love this. And I don't think this movie has that outside of just pointing to things from my childhood, which is fine. Like, I had fun during the Mario Mario Galaxy movie, you know, like, I enjoyed the ride so much, but I'm not going to sit here and be like, yeah, that was a. That was better than any Other of like the. When I look through the list that Barrett brought up of the highest grossing animated movies and I look at Frozen and I look at Shrek and I look at, you know, you mentioned tmnt, Mutant Mayhem, the latest Puss in Boots movie, Last Wish. Right. Like, there are so many much good substance there that has you like, damn, that made me cry. Damn, that made me laugh. Damn, that's a good story. Damn, those are good characters. And yeah, Mario Galaxy doesn't have that, which is fine for what it is, but it's. We're allowed to complain about.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And if you, if you accept it, that's how you keep on getting mediocre things. Like, if you, if you say, like, don't complain about it. And when everything else. When directors see that and go, oh, we can keep on putting out this stuff and still make money on it, like, that's. Or people aren't going to complain. You know, we're still gonna have a lot of people defending our lack of effort here, you know, in the writing area or whatever. Then that's how you're gonna keep on getting stuff that's gonna be below par. And you should want more.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I want the best for Mario.

[Andy Cortez]

You should want more. Yeah,

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

let's see here. We got more super chats for you. Zeke Speak says, interested to see if the kids grow up and still like it or. Or if they go, no, that sucked. Love the Bionicle movie as a kid. But now, see, I'm. This goes back to one of the conversations I was having my sister last night where she has two boys. Ezekiel was the one that was having a meltdown. Ezekiel is like 8 years old. Her older son, 11 years old, loved Mario Brothers movie, doesn't really care as much about Mario Galaxy. And I found that really interesting how, like, she's telling me, she's like, yeah, he's getting older. He's watching Naruto. And I'm like, oh, hell yeah. And he's watching One Piece. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he's starting. She was telling me a whole lot. He's starting to draw his own anime.

[Andy Cortez]

That's sick.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And like, my sister saw it and like, my sister was like, oh, you're drawing these characters, do you know that? Like, and she noticed that she's. He's not drawing black characters. He draw. He's drawing them the way that he sees them on the tv. She's like, have you thought about, like, just drawing the characters as black? And he was like, you can do that. And she's like, yeah. So now he's, like, drawing black anime characters and she's telling, like, I'm like, that's what I'm talking about. These kids are all right, man. Like, let's go. But he doesn't care as much about the Mario Galaxy movie, which I thought was really interesting.

[Andy Cortez]

Now it, I think a lot of that may have to do with just kind of just phases that kids go through, obviously, but, you know, is he playing the games at all? Does he care about Mario as an ip or was it a fun movie that he watched as a kid that maybe it just didn't stick with him as he grew up?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Because I, I gifted him a switch with New Super Mario Brothers and or whatever New Super Mario Brothers version came out. I forget. It was like the Wii U remaster thing they did for.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And I gave him Sonic. Let me tell you. I think he might like Sonic, but he did play through that Mario game. I know he loved it and, like, was obsessed with the Mario Brothers movie. And yeah, I think I, I, I think it's a phase thing, but I do think that, like, I think the movie was probably his main Mario interest. You know what I mean? Like, he wasn't in love with Mario outside of the movie as much.

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe Greg's got a point. He's just a plumber.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He's just a plumber. Yeah, maybe.

[Andy Cortez]

What is it with this man?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But Ezekiel, who's the younger one, who definitely had the same thing of, like, the movie was his. He's still in, and we'll see after he watches. I want to interview these kids after they watch the movie to ask, like, all right, what do you think?

[Andy Cortez]

Get a deep dive.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I might get a deep dive for you.

[Andy Cortez]

What I what I'm also going to ask of you, and this is totally not having to do anything with the Mario movie, but I would love for you to, for every 30 minutes that you are watching the Lord of the Rings movie, text me and just say, what's up with this? Okay, what's going on here? What's up with that? And I'll give you a little thing. I'll go, oh, well, so and so that's this and that. All right, cool. You know, just I got you kind of keep you present, you know, keep you present.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Cool.

[Andy Cortez]

I got you and Joey too, if you're out there watching Joe.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Let's move on the story number two. But before we do, I want to tell you about patreon.com kind of funny and YouTube.com kind of funny games where you can go and get the kind of funny membership which allows you to get shows ad free. And speaking of ads, let us tell you about our sponsors.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Andy Cortez]

Kinda funny this episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is when a

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

great movie hits the screen, you show up.

[Andy Cortez]

You stay glued, invested, part of the story, and without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to fandango.com to get tickets, stream or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

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[Andy Cortez]

needs, we understand what's needed from us to face each threat head on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We've earned our place in the fight

[Andy Cortez]

for our nation's future. We are Marines.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We were made for this. And we're back. I want to shout out the super chat from Zeke Speak who says can confirm all Ezekiel's are a piece of work. Let me tell you, my nephew Ezekiel, that kid is something. He's hilarious though. Really good at chess. Surprisingly not surprising, I guess for his age. Like he was making like some really good chess. We were playing chess during Thanksgiving and like he was, he was destroying his older brother chess. I was like damn dude, killing it. Nick Stanforth writes in with an interesting one. He says, bless, which do you back more as a movie franchise, Sonic or Mario Question, which is so funny because we were talking about this during the break a little bit. My answer is what do I back more as a franchise Sonic? I think the Sonic movies have been

[Andy Cortez]

more of higher quality.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Of higher quality. Even though I was telling y' all during the break that I think the movies are a little bit overrated.

[Andy Cortez]

I I told Bless. I said I still haven't seen two or three and he said go into it with an open heart.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Definitely go into it with an open heart. Because the, the reception of the Sonic movies surprises me that like people actually really like these movies because like, I don't know, they're just so. They're all Jim carried up. Okay. It's really what it comes down to. Okay, Jim Carrey. Got it.

[Andy Cortez]

Jim Carrey maxing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We're Jim Carrey maxing these Sonic movies. And I like Jim Carrey sometimes a lot of the time. One of my favorite movies is Truman show, so I like and I like Liar Liar. I like. I watched Eternal Sunshine, really dug that. But I don't like his Eggman. And they keep bringing him back. And every single time after every single one of these movies, he's like, all right, that's my last one. I'm going to retire. And I'm like, thank God. And then he comes back and I'm like, man, we're almost.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank God. Blessing it home. Like sending sending links out to family members. Like I hear it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He just does so much in these. And I know this Jim Carrey.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I'm like I. I feel like I'm getting more of a Jim Carrey movie than a Sonic.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I definitely am on like a island with that opinion. I feel like other people don't like

[Andy Cortez]

you're not the star of the show. This isn't the Eggman movie.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I'm like, give me more, Sonic. Give me more. Let's get to Chemical Plan Zone or something.

[Andy Cortez]

Omega Buster with a 50 dol to my birthday post. Thanks for another great year.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Kind of funny.

[Andy Cortez]

Happy Birthday Omega Bus.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Birthday Omega Bus.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank you so much for your generosity.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Let's move on to the next new story. Story number two Take two Lays Off Its AI Team I'm reading from Vicki Blake at Eurogamer. Take Two Interactive, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, has reportedly laid off its AI team, including its head of AI. Take 2 boss Strauss Zelnick has previously plainly stated that AI is incapable of creativity on its own, but this is his strongest message yet that Take Two's approach to AI bucks in an AI bucks Let me say that AI bucks, an industry trend that has seen more and more studios pivot to AI tools, most recently at the cost of human translators and human made in game artwork. Quote it's truly disappointing that I have to share this with you that my time with Take Two and that of my team has come to an end, Dicken wrote on LinkedIn. Before leading Take Two's AI efforts, Dicken ended his decade long tenure at Zynga as Senior Director of Applied AI. He has now established Ludic AI, a consulting service Quote around the best practice practice use of AI technologies for games adjacent verticals. End quote. As for Zelnick, quote Every entertainment business that was supposed to be destroyed by new technology hasn't been, he said recently. Quote When I was a little kid, calculators came along and parents were all up in arms that now Schools would not teach kids math because they had access to calculators. Well, people are learning. Hold on, I got to call something out. Who wrote this? Eurogamer. That makes sense. Yeah, because they're doing the thing where they're adding the S at the end of math. Math.

[Andy Cortez]

To say that there are different types of maths to learn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, but like they do it in like the, when you're writing an article where you do the brackets or whatever, I forget the the thing's called. But you put the S in there to. So to show that like, hey, I'm adding this in here as the editor. It's math. All right. He said math. Cuz that's how we say it, right? Don't just add the S. All right. Don't piss me off.

[Andy Cortez]

If you disagree with how he says it, then just say like sick or something. Ne next to it or something.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Why are we editorializing adding the S at the end of math? Euro gamer. Well, people are.

[Andy Cortez]

Vicky alone.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay, I'm sorry, Vicki, you're. You do great work. Well, people are learning math today even though there are calculators. End quote. Zelnick is very much an outlier though. Many other game companies, including Krafton, Square, Enix, EA and more have invested heavily in the new tech. So really, this is interesting one.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, this is, I would say, I would say if anybody could start the trend, if anybody could show other studios and kind of like be the people at the forefront and kind of like lead the charge to say we are not for AI replacing humans and, and you know, we're, we're okay with AI sort of automating and helping tasks and you know, the really kind of annoying, repetitive things to be a bit easier for employees. But for the developers of the biggest upcoming game ever to be the ones to do this, I think is really awesome. Oh yeah, like, I think it's, I think it shows a lot of other studios and for the amount of waves that Rockstar makes, for the amount that Rockstar is the Victor Wembanyama of the games industry. Okay, let me explain, let me explain. When Victor Wembanyama is in the plane, in the paint, defending, he's the San Antonio Spurs 7 foot 5 basketball player. He had. There's an orbit around him. And if anybody gets close to wanting to maybe think about shooting the ball.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And they see him, there they go. He affects everything around him. We've seen the way the whole industry changes based on whatever Rockstar is doing. We've seen the way that for the past two Years or so, the whole industry has moved according to what Rockstar does.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And this could be a really cool thing for the rest of the industry to take note of and say, hey, we've changed our release date two times because of them. Why shouldn't we also, like, we should also follow what else they're maybe doing out there. And I, I just think it's a really cool thing for, you know, still sucks that people are losing their jobs, obviously.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Of course. Yeah, layoffs are never good.

[Andy Cortez]

But when. When we're talking about AI replacing artists and replacing art, I don't fully agree with the statement here from Shaw Selnick saying, like, hey, everything that AI was going to replace, look at that, none of it's happened yet. I think that's like kind of a quick statement to make that isn't necessarily true because it's affected a lot and there have been been a lot of. I mean, look at the amount of commercials that are now just fully AI that would have otherwise hired, you know, a consulting firm or artists to make their commercial. Now. It's. You see a lot of AI stuff out there. So it is affecting it in a. In a large way. But I still think that this is like, pretty massive news to. For the largest studio that is responsible for one of the biggest games of the last generation and going to be responsible for the biggest upcoming game. To say, we don't think that this technology is worth getting in the way of our development.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. I want to 1000% agree with everything you said. I think, especially when you look into the future. Right. A successful GTA 6 that doesn't have traces of AI in its development and like, appearing in the final product is only a good thing. When you're talking about those ripple effects that you're talking about, everybody looking at them being like, all right, well, we got to emulate the biggest games. You got to emulate whatever. Whatever is most profitable. Looking at GTA and seeing like, damn, they did that without AI and they stood on business of not using AI in this thing and they're still the most profitable. What does that say about what we're doing, how we're operating, all that stuff?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And I also think it's great that whenever a studio does kind of have an AI controversy, that they're shamed, you know, that everybody will shame them. And you don't want that blowback. You don't want a possibility of anything kind of hurting chances for sales. And I do think that that does kind of matter. I think that narrative, especially you know, with Expedition 33 having that, you know, those. Yeah. Some things got through and, you know, we meant to replace them. Talking about Crimson Desert and even the altars, like, all of those things becoming stories, I think other developers and other teams go, let's try to avoid that. Let's.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I hope so.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, let's do our best to avoid.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's a lot of, like, the. The. The studios that I would regard as, like, damn, you're doing the good shit right now. You know, you bring up clarem scare, I'll bring in Larry into the conversation as well. Where they got into hot water because of what I think it was. Who was talking about what they were doing with it with. With AI. Right. Like, a lot of these studios who people regard as, like, damn, you're the ones right now are the ones that are also using these things. And so, you know, there's definitely a place right now where people have to actively push back. I'm fairly. I'm really surprised that Strauss Zelnick is one of those people. Like, usually it's never the CEOs, but, hey, like, we'll. We'll take it where we can get it. As far as people putting their foot down, being like, no, we actually don't believe in this thing or don't want to use it.

[Andy Cortez]

Or maybe there's. Yeah, maybe there's one or two really rich, successful people out there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

That say, like, hey, I don't. You know, what's an extra $1.5 million gonna do for us?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Especially when you put out. Especially when you take two.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And, like, you own GTA, Borderlands, NBA 2K. It's like, yo, we're rocking. We got money be.

[Andy Cortez]

So it'd be so much cooler if everybody just kind of felt that way.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Speaking of AI, story number three, Lenovo Legion go to suddenly costs $650 more. Fucking. As Ramageddon lays waste to gaming hardware. This is Sean Hollister at the Verge. Remember when we thought the Legion Go 2 was expensive at $1,000.99 or no, $1,099 and up? Those were the days. Best Buy is now listing Lenovo's handheld for $1,499 with Ryzen Z2 or $1,999 with a Z2 Extreme? The latter originally cost $1,349, so that's a $650 jump in just six months. And, yes, that means Lenovo's flagship may now cost twice as much as a $999. Microsoft/ASUS Xbox Ally X with the same AMD chip as much as a far More powerful GPD Windows 5 or not GPD Win 5 with AMD Strix Halo cost last year. But the way things are going, it's probably only a matter of time till Microsoft hikes its handheld Xbox price too. Quote for now, Asus rep Anthony Spence tells me there's no price increase on the horizon. So far as I can tell, at least in the US Ramageddon is coming for everything you care about. And gaming hardware in particular has taken a hit. Sony just hiked the price of the PS5 by $100 to $150. And speaking of Strix Halo, Ayaneo Ayaneo Ayaneo thank you or Ayaneo Ayaneo has canceled its $1,999 and up next two because storage prices made it unsustainable. Retroid has also discontinued the 12 gigabyte model of the RetroDroid Pocket 6 handheld due to the RAM prices.

[Andy Cortez]

I tried to get out there blessing and tried to, I tried to canvas.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Dude, I saw you on Facebook. That was crazy. I open up Facebook, which I thought I was the only person that ever opened up Facebook.

[Andy Cortez]

I open up Facebook once every two to three months.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And, and I realized that with how algorithms work, if you aren't clicking certain things, you're just not going to hear about certain things. And algorithms have made everything so much more insular. And you, your, your, your circle gets so much smaller because you're only clicking clips from Hancock, you know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah. Because you're only like this just fully Hancock click.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Right now it's Malcolm in the Middle.

[Andy Cortez]

Of course. And so algorithms just make everybody's worldview and, and what some people may think is the biggest thing in the world because they're seeing it non stop. They could ask nine out of 10 people and they go, I've never heard of that because that's not in my algorithm. Right. And so I, I got on Facebook who, you know, Facebook is a place that I rarely visit. Several, several months ago will go by before I'll visit again, most likely. And it's, it's to talk to the normie, it's to talk to people that I went to high school with. It's to let family members know and kind of like just kind of catch people up with what I'm doing. I think like every time it's my birthday, my dad will send me a text message and be like, hey, I posted about your birthday on Facebook and there's a lot of people like telling you happy birthday. So if you could just go in there and just say, hey, thanks or you know, okay, I always forget that that even happens, right? So I went onto Facebook and I canvassed and I said, hey everybody. Sort of one of those, you all don't know about this part of the universe. Some of y' all don't. You're seeing prices go up, but you don't really know why. And here. And you know, AI and the, the chase for ram. And all of these companies trying to buy up all the RAM that there is possible are making all of the entertainment products that are meant to help you escape the hellscape that the world is. Because gas prices are, you know, 680 a gallon now or whatever the hell here in California. Like things are not good. Video games are supposed to be an escape from that and now you can't even afford to do that. And I said the PlayStation 5 was 500 bucks and now it's 650. The Xbox was 500 and now it's 650. Let's stop generating images or videos of your favorite celebrities as babies and let's, you know, let's choke these companies out because they are only that they are only making things more expensive in the world. Even the stuff that is supposed to entertain you and supposed to help you escape from the bad out there. And, and I, I just need more normies to be aware of stuff like that. Like I again, if there, if it's on your algorithm, there's just a chance. You have no idea why this sort of stuff is happening.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And like what really bums me, bums me out about this Lenovo Legion go to thing is that was going to be my next handheld. I was just talking about this with Tim recently about, you know, I'm waiting for the next Steam deck. We'll see whenever that happens. But I can already feel where I'm not playing certain games because I know that seem to the scene that won't run them really well. And the Lenovo Legion go to that is coming out in June. It's already out right now running Windows. The June version is going to be running steamos and that's the one I want. Yeah, way more efficient. You're going to get more bang out, more bang for your buck because Windows isn't slogging down the machine's hardware. This is such a fucking bummer.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, this is.

[Andy Cortez]

I was already going like the amount of times I've been like Guys, I'm. I'm going to be spending eleven hundred dollars on this thing. Like, this is going to be awful. And now we're talking about a $650 price increase. And like, it just sucks. Every. It's just awful. Yeah, like, none of this is good. I don't know what sales are going to be. I got to imagine that this is just like, at the end of the day, blessing. This is just killing the industry.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh yeah. I'm surprised they opt to raise it to 650 as opposed to just being like, let's just stop. Like, because I think about, I think about the Steam machine.

[Andy Cortez]

That's still.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We don't have much information about that. And I'm like, if this is what we're looking at now and if it's only getting worse from here, do we see that actually come out?

[Andy Cortez]

I. I really wish that there was like some sort of Justice League of game developers that all kind of came together. Like, we informed them if all the heads of game develop, like of all the big game developers and you know, people at Microsoft and you know, and Microsoft actually wouldn't give a fuck, but people at Xbox or PlayStation or Nintendo were like, hey, this is hurting all of us.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All of our, like the big, big Avengers.

[Andy Cortez]

All of our sales are going to be affected by this. Yeah, we need to find a way to not let fucking, you know, Meta and Nvidia and ChatGPT and all of these companies that are doing this gigantic AI push. We need to find a way to stop them because it's going to kill our business and it's killing a hobby. Like straight up, dude. People aren't going to be able to afford video game consoles. Listen, it's insane.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We got to get the people that we know that care about games that have been in those executive positions, right. We got to get the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer. I'll fuck. He's gone.

[Andy Cortez]

We gotta get Reggie fees of me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No, he's not here either. We get. Oh, he's gone. Shoehead. Ah. Who's the X? Who's the Xbox prep? Oh, the former AI person

[Andy Cortez]

is she. She at one point said that like

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

she was saying that they're not gonna push for AI.

[Andy Cortez]

Talked about birth rates too, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

She's like, I forget what it was. But yeah, birth rate kind of weirdo

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

and how AI will fix it.

[Andy Cortez]

And also copilot is now on Xbox, right? What is co pilot?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I don't really know what co pilot.

[Andy Cortez]

Is that where they crash your plane?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Is that where they tell you talk to the thing. What happened to Snap? Can we get back Snap? I want to watch YouTube while I play my Xbox. Can we get. I missed out on that.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to be sitting down and go, hey, Xbox, Snap. Netflix. Yeah. NBA 2.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I be honest? 2011, I'd be honest, right? Because I, you know, Xbox One, Arrow, it was. It was a tough launch, right? But I would hear the streets talk about, like, yo, this Snap functionality. Functionality, though, is kind of. It was kind of sick. And like, I bought my Xbox One in 2016. There was like, a sale at Target where they, like, mispriced it. And I was like, now is my chance because I finally. I want to play scalebound. And I bought it and, like, they had already removed Snap from it. And I was like, damn, I was looking forward to Snap. At least I'll play scalebound. And they cancel Skill Bound. And so now I'm just stuck.

[Andy Cortez]

But, hey, bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Now you have a gaming copilot.

[Andy Cortez]

Your personal gaming sidekick with Xbox. Nobody wants this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Microsoft, shove it up your ass. No, we. Nobody wants this.

[Andy Cortez]

We don't care.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Nobody. We want it.

[Andy Cortez]

Use it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Because then we can use Xbox Player

[Andy Cortez]

numbers to add to the amount of

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Microsoft customers that are using Copilot so we can share to shareholders that AI is the future, and we're not destroying the future whatsoever. Don't look over there. Don't look behind the curtain. Everything's fine, and we're just going to keep making money.

[Andy Cortez]

Don't worry. Close your little eyes. Just go to sleep.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The only copilot I need, I need a Pokemon Leaf Green Copilot. Oh, I thought you were going to say, Jesus,

[Andy Cortez]

no. What if I want something bigger?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was playing a lot of Leap read over the weekend.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The amount of times I had to pick up my phone and be like, because I'm facing Elite four out of the amount of times I googled, what is Dragon Week 2? What is. What's Dragon Week 2?

[Andy Cortez]

Let me guess.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Guess.

[Andy Cortez]

Ice.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think ice is one of them. Also.

[Andy Cortez]

Dragon fairy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. But I don't think fairies in that gen. No.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, you're right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

We had a big issue with that during our play.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Dude.

[Andy Cortez]

We like the amount of times Fairy would get brought up. It's like, why is Fairy up on that list if it's not in this game?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And also, why are you a Dragon gym leader and you out. You're out here with things that aren't dragons? You know what I mean? Because he has. Who is it, though? I think he has an onyx.

[Andy Cortez]

What's his name? Blake? Oh, Lance.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Close.

[Andy Cortez]

It's close, right? There's an L in there. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I hate him.

[Andy Cortez]

Five letters.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Story number four state of the K3 trailer was basically fake his dev dashes fan hopes for Zombie Deer this is from Ethan Gotch at Kotaku. State of Decay 3 was first revealed back in 2020 ahead of the launch of the Xbox Series X, with a cinematic trailer that showed no gameplay. That teaser signaled loftier narrative ambitions for the Zombie Sandbox series, but the truth is that the game didn't even exist yet, outside of broad outlines and attempts to prototype what Undead Labs Next sequel would look like. Studio head Philip Holt recently confirmed that the trailer was essentially fake and said its zombie deer are not on the menu for the finished game. Quote so that trailer just dying in the background. So that trailer there wasn't. There really wasn't a game or game team when we were working on that trailer like it was so early, holt said in a new interview with Sunny Games after State of Decay 3's May 2026 alpha play test was revealed. Quote you know the game was in a Word document, he said, adding that the core development team was less than a dozen people at the time. Quote it was really the very beginning of the software, he continued. The trailer was done by Blur. It was all pre rendered. It represented I think, a concept, our thoughts at the at the time of what might be cool to explore in state of decay 3 and as we've had a chance to build a team and get going on the game, some of those elements I think are going to persist in the game that we were that we deliver and some of those things are just like we're not doing zombie animals. End quote Escotaku reported back in 2022, Microsoft is going around to its studios asking for trailers in 2020 to build hype for its next console generation. Current and former developers on the game said they were surprised by what was shown, including a zombie deer that that showed up in the trailer and led fans to believe infected animals would be one of the sequel's new features. The showcase included reveals for games like Rare's Everwild, which was later canceled, and Playground's Fable, which which is only scheduled to release this fall. Quote we didn't want to announce the game because we didn't even know what it was at that point, one State of Decay 3 developer told Kotaku at the time.

[Andy Cortez]

This is insane.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Which part?

[Andy Cortez]

Just, just like it existed in a word doc, you know, just make things up you know, usually when you Seems

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

like a really great company, the zombie deer is the part that gets me because why did you put that in there if you didn't know? It's like, I don't know. Was it like Blur's decision? Were they the ones that are like, you know, it would be cool.

[Andy Cortez]

I think they just.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Zombie deer.

[Andy Cortez]

I think they just said blur, go ahead and cook. And then Blur didn't fully know the rules of the world.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, it's.

[Andy Cortez]

It's. It's insane to me. This is a wild story that I know happens a lot, but it usually will happen while there are design docs and maybe pre Pro. And whenever that big trailer gets revealed and it's like it's not a full game trailer. It's. It's just a cinematic. Like we just saw what Blur does. There's still. There's still an unreal file that you could open with the world that is super proxied out and nothing is. Everything's 1% done. But it still exists in some way.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

This is the most like egregious form of this story that I've heard ever. That the game only existed in a word doc. That's crazy to me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I feel like this happens all the time. I feel like whenever we see a Blur trailer or like not even just Blur, because I like Blur trailers. Right. But whenever we see like a purely pre rendered cinematic trailer, half the time I'm like, all right, we'll see you in six years, bro.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, no, that is definitely the case. Like whenever we see a cinematic, we go. We didn't see gameplay at all. We don't know what that game is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But I'm like, I don't know if they know what that game is.

[Andy Cortez]

But this, but this. But the studio would have been in pre production for six months.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Has something that is not anywhere close to being shown off that if you were to show to people it would look worse than like the Wolverine leaks way back in the day where it's like, yeah, that shit looks bad because it's a game that's a year into development. That's why every game looks bad at that point. Yeah, this is the most egregious form of this to where they didn't even have a. They didn't have anything like. And a lot of it is, yes, let's hire, let's. That's what a lot of these, you know. Oh yeah. Whenever we see trailers it usually is for studio to try to hire and take talent.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think the context of this, though, makes it sound like now this is Xbox wanting something.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like push their new hardware, which I think is like, it sucks for the studio because you look at this, they give the example of Everwild had a trailer there too. Right. How far do you think Rare was with Ever Wild? Who knows? Seemingly. Probably not that far along as well. Like, this is the risk when you are a platform company that is trying to put together a thing just to hype the next console. I go back to PlayStation 5 reveal and like some of the games that were in that, like, Pragmata was in that initial PS5 reveal. It is 2026 and we're finally getting Pragmata. Or Pragmata, I should say. Don't let them bully you. Say. Just say Pragmata. No, I want to say it the right way. Pragmatic. Because it's not even bullying. This is me trying to self. Correct.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, I feel like this happens so often and we just straight up don't hear about it. Because I'd be like, I'd want to know, where were y' all at with Pragmata? Like, did the game really take six years or did you guys. Were you guys like a month into making this thing? Or like, were you guys. Was it just ink on a paper? You know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

To me, it's like, I don't know if you go through spending that much money on a cinematic if it's just a possibility.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, I don't know, we would need leaked stories. We would need studios to say, oh, yeah, we only. Yeah, we were just like them. We only had words on a word doc.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

But like, I feel like a lot of these studios still have the. The 1% of something in Unreal.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think the analog. I'll give this is this will actually fight against my own point. Right. Is I look at The Elder Scrolls 6 like that reveal and I'm like, you are still making Starfield. We're still years away from Starfield. What do you mean you're announcing Elder Scroll 6 or Cyberpunk 2077, which I forget if that had a trailer or if they just said they're making it. I forget where we were at.

[Andy Cortez]

It had a Cinematic.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Back in like 2013. 2013.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And admittedly those games way bigger than state of decay 3. So to some extent it's like Apples and Origins where by renouncing state of the K3 with a cinematic thing with zombie deers and the game does not even exist on a doc. Like barely exists on a Document that. I'm totally with you.

[Andy Cortez]

I think. I think it also makes me laugh. The thing that makes me laugh is, like. Yeah. I mean, well, we can't do zombie animals. Why not?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, that's a different thing. You can't just do zombie animals.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, that being the.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's a whole different system.

[Andy Cortez]

That being like the. No, that's our line. And Blur. You broke a trust.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I get it, though. It's like. But they still signed off on it.

[Andy Cortez]

They still put the okay stamp on it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think you say the words zombie animals and you're like, oh, that'll be easy. We could just. And then you try it, and it's like, how does a zombie deer sound? You know what I mean? What are the rules for Zo? Like, are. Do zombies only eat their own kind, or are all of these zombies eating humans? Hold on, let's. Yeah. What's up with the zombie deer in the trailer?

[Andy Cortez]

The zombies eating a wolf?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's how it sounds. Okay, you know what? I take it back.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Now, you know, that's crazy, though.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The zombie deer is the part that gets me where I'm like, y' all put that. Why'd y' all put that in the trailer? Then, like, you guys saw. You guys made state of the K2. Just look at the TR. Just look at what state of the K2 is and make a trailer that's just a cooler version of state of the K2. Don't add. If I'm the head of State of Undead Labs and I see that trailer, I'm like, what the are we doing here? Now? We got to make these animals. What's next? Zombie shark.

[Andy Cortez]

Watching the 2023 live, going like, there's a zombie deer. They put a zombie deer in there. We got it now.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. They're gonna think there's a zombie deer in the game.

[Andy Cortez]

Delete that one line in the dock, I wrote seven words.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I wrote, no zombie here, and now I gotta delete that line. Andy. State of the K3. It's happening. It's getting the alpha. We're gonna learn more about that game. And it'd be big if it had some zombie deer in it. But if I wanted something smaller, say the tiniest news I needed to know about, where would I go?

[Andy Cortez]

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

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What if it was like, we got the final game and the only zombified animal was zombie deer. They were like, ah, we gotta make the deer. But we don't gotta make anything else.

[Andy Cortez]

You gotta stay true to that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We gotta stay true to the. We promised the deer. We news from WCCF Tech. Slay the Spire 2 was reportedly the best selling game on Steam in March, beating second place Crimson Desert by over 3 million copies. God dang crazy. Sales for Sleep Aspire too. The Nintendo Switch and PS4 version of Rattatan have officially been canceled. It's still coming to Xbox Series X, PS5 and Switch 2. And it's already on PC Early Access. My hero, Academia United Survival has been announced for iOS and Android. And then Genesis RPG Trasia is coming to PS5, Xbox Series PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC on April 24th. And that is it for Wii News. I got an extra one here that I don't feel like was appropriate for WE News, but I also couldn't find a place in the Roper Report. But we do have sad news today. Kunyokun and Double Dragon creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto has passed away at the age of 64. And so RIP rest in peace of legend. Let's hop in to super chats, see what y' all are talking about here. Zarky Zarkly, 15, says please support Mega Man Star Force collection so we can get Star Force 4. Tell Andy to give these type of Mega man games a chance. He'll enjoy it. You know about that Mega Man Star Force?

[Andy Cortez]

I know that they exist, but I just like, if it's not Mega Man X, I'm not playing it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Damn, you're it. Banner SN says so they did this with Fable, Avowed Everwild, Perfect dark and Hellblade 2. All early CG games years out. Imagine if Xbox didn't buy Bethesda.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, but that's like, you know. Well, yeah, well, the Lakers only won because you had Kobe on your team. Okay, well, yeah, we had it like. And what's your argument?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, for me, it's like I didn't need the. I didn't need this state of the K3 story to tell me that that's what they did at that Xbox. Watch that Xbox showcase and think about where we're at now.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, you know what I mean?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yes. They announced all these games extremely early on with CG trailers because that's what these companies do. G Danner97 says Xbox asking a studio to write a check from a bank account assigned to. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I don't know what you're talking about here.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I don't know what this is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't know what that is.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know what the wording is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I don't know what the wording is.

[Andy Cortez]

When they get their first paycheck after high school.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You might need to rewrite that one because I. The way you have it written here, I don't know if I want to read that. Aaron Lime says, oh, what's up?

[Andy Cortez]

They're just saying, like. Like they're giving money to a. A kid when they get their first paycheck after high school. Like, they assigned to a child in preschool for when they get their first paycheck after high school.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Gotcha. There's a typo.

[Andy Cortez]

There's an unfortunate.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's an unfortunate typo in there that had me scared. Aaron Lime says, I don't trust the we're not pushing AI slop argument. Because even Nvidia says that they just think their own product isn't slop. I hear you. I agree with that, actually. Yeah. Silver J. Hawkins says we could be the Avengers. Andy's talking more so about, like, the people with power.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the people with power. Yeah. Like, the amount of times that I've had people tell me, like, you guys could take a stand. It's like you think way too highly of us on certain things. We don't. Look at. Look at what we do. Like, we may be a big deal to 17, 000 people on YouTube. 20, 000 people on YouTube.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

If we're doing a live reaction, maybe 80, 000. But, like, we don't got that kind of sway. Yeah. You know, but we need the people with the biggest bucks and the biggest amount of power to say, hey, we gotta stop this shit, because it's gonna kill our. It's gonna kill our bag.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This is what I need.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Because I think, you know, we. I don't think we could be the Avengers. I think we could be the small ripple. Ripple in the pond to get to the big ripple, the Defenders. Because I think who we need to influence is Geoff Keighley. Because I think Geoff Keighley might care enough.

[Andy Cortez]

The city level heroes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Street level heroes or street level, our connective tissue might be. Because, like, you know, Jeff knows us. Does he like us? I don't know. But he knows. He knows.

[Andy Cortez]

He's aware of us.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He's aware of us.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, he loves Snow White Mike.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

He loves Snow White Mike.

[Andy Cortez]

That's not like Mike. You're my best friend. He said that at the. I forget what event it was for.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But he said it was the day of the devs.

[Andy Cortez]

No, it was high guard.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, was it high yard? Really?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I took a video. My best friend Mike was talking to Jeff and I like, I snuck in a video just as evidence, you know what I mean? I was like, we gotta record this.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, he loves Mike.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It was very beautiful. But yeah, if we could like get to Jeff. Jeff cares about video games. Jeff wants good for the video games industry. Right. I think he then has the connections to be able to be like, all right, let's form the unit to really help define and regulate what we want video games to be.

[Andy Cortez]

This is a cool, super chat from Delaney Twining, who's been a longtime Patreon producer. Says my Mary Washington Eagles took home the D3 basketball championship last night. They won on a put back layup as time expired. It was the number one highlight on Sports Center. First championship in our school's history. That's so. Wow, that's so cool to have that on Sports Center. That's awesome.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Here's what I'll say. I'm salty at all college sports right

[Andy Cortez]

now because Saturday, Illinois.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, we're top four. We're in the final four. Lost. Broke my heart. I saw there was so much happiness I was seeing from my hometown, people posting on Instagram, all that stuff and I was very happy.

[Andy Cortez]

That's tough.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We lost. We got time for one more. We'll bring in one from Jordan White who says, everyone please check out modulum. Top down automaton game. No time limits or enemies. A deep regression system, challenges and amazing quality of life features Modulum.

[Andy Cortez]

Actually, I, I have one more to read from Millafello who says, I'd like to thank Annie for putting me onto Arkham Asylum. Didn't know it was so short. Started and finished it yesterday. It's one of the greats. I like putting a. I like putting, you know, a little interesting. Let's get people out there aware of games like Arkham Asylum because I'm the one out there talking about them.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Nobody else here has played Arkham Asylum.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, no one made an entire video

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

essay series about, you know, the entire series.

[Andy Cortez]

You're right. And nobody here definitely does, you know, 10 year anniversary streams for the entire series. Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'll do one more from David here. David O. Chart writes in and says we need to put more respect on the jokes in Mario RPGs, Luigi's Mansion, Etc. There's some clever stuff there. Yes. Meanwhile, the movies feel like AI. I don't like comparing them to AI. Because AI sucks, but I feel you.

[Andy Cortez]

And no, I think they're talking about just the writing like, you want. I'm not.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'll let that slide.

[Andy Cortez]

Dude, I'm not even. I'm not even joking to you. Like, during some of the scenes, I'm like, did a person write this? Because so many sequences, like, from scene to scene, or, like, so disjointed, like, what is going on here? It's like, I don't. It doesn't feel like a person wrote these sequences. They were just like, we needed him. Get from here to here and whatever happens in between. Who cares?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, I don't know, man.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This is what I want. If I ever get the free time, I'll. I might write an essay. It might be a. What's the website where people just post articles on substack? It might be a sub stack just called what's up with Bowser? Because that's my big question coming out of this.

[Andy Cortez]

Really kind of let us down.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What's up with Bowser? Jack Black. But then the writing and, like, what's up with Bowser? Yeah, just keep that in your mind. All right, Maybe I'll write the subs.

[Andy Cortez]

What's up with him?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What's up with Bowser? Because we could. That might get me on the AI argument of, like, who wrote this?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Why is Bowser behaving this way?

[Andy Cortez]

But I do know that Illumination is very anti AI illumination. Put out, like, commercials of the Minions. Like, you know, making fun of, like, people using AI and stuff.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, talk about the Mario movie, Shout out to the Midnight Boys, Ringiverse. And one of them is that.

[Andy Cortez]

What's his Face?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Van Lathan.

[Andy Cortez]

Van Lathan.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Van Lathan. Charles Holmes, you know, kid crew. And they were talking about how one person brought the thing of, like, every character in the movie is a minion. Like, what is an illumination minion? When you think about it, Yoshi is just Minions, Goombas, the Koopas, all them Minions, all the people. When you're in the. I don't want to spoil the movie, actually. But, like, when you think about, like, toads, Minions, like, they're all just minions, which is one of the main problems of the movie is that we have more Minions than we do. Than we do characters.

[Andy Cortez]

Nintendo's really gonna want the Pikmin to be Minions. Yeah, they're really gonna want that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Especially if you put them in the hands of Illumination. The Pikmins are all going to be Minions. It was A good observation.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm telling you what, dude. Like, I thought Nick Scarpino. I think Nick Scarpino wrote a better movie. During our interview, there are so many moments where Nick said things that he would change. Like, yeah, that is a much better change that should have happened. But as I'm watching the movie, I'm like, dude, get me in there. I would. I could, dude. I think I have this idea for this joke and it would have hit right there.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And you don't you, like, I think kind of funny. Would have written a better. Like, if we all combined our forces, me and Tim. Tim's Mario Nerdom. Nick's, you know, being Nick with the jokes. Like, we lock Greg out. I think we would make a banger script for a Mario movie.

[Andy Cortez]

I agree. I agree. Get us in there. Get us in the room.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Let me get into kind of funny dot com. You're wrong. Rewrite and let us know what we got wrong as we got it wrong so we can correct it. For those watching later on YouTube and listening later on podcast services around the

[Andy Cortez]

globe,

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

this is not a you're wrong. See, this is what happens, guys, when you keep editorializing in here. It clogs up the thing and makes it harder for me to go through. Oh, here we go. This is a good one. Jeppo writes in and says, donkey Kong has been to space. There's a space level in Donkey Kong jungle beat on GameCube and Wii. Thank you. That's a great year. Wrong.

[Andy Cortez]

And then they talked to him. He was like, never again will I go back.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like, that was.

[Andy Cortez]

It was the Jungle be moment.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Well, Xener Bits writes in also and says, don Kong has been to space, albeit briefly in an official game before. At the end of Donkey Kong Country Returns, he is sent into space and punches the moon on the way down. Oh, is this it? This is Jungle Beat. Jungle Beat.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. We'll be nice.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Okay. I'm learning a lot about Jungle Beat. I didn't know the game looked like this. I think I always completed Jungle Beat with Donkey Konga.

[Andy Cortez]

It's so. Yeah, me too.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I always. Are you playing that with drums? Do you know? I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

Is it a really.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think either way, this was GameCube and Wii era, which I did not own.

[Andy Cortez]

So I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm not entirely sure. Bullet Farm writes in and says, donkey Kong has not been to space, which is wrong, but Diddy Kong has in Diddy Kong Racing. The final world is located at Future Fun Land on Whizpig's home base in outer space.

[Andy Cortez]

That was like. They were just in the stratosphere. Actually, it wasn't.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

Space.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't know if we can call that canon, though. I don't know if Diddy Kong racing. Diddy Kong Racing is canon to the Banjo Kazooie universe, but I don't think it's canon to the Donkey Kong universe.

[Andy Cortez]

Blanket fort resubscribed for 108 months. It's so buck wild to me to see when people subscribe for like over a hundred months. Right? That's crazy. That's just such a long time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

One more from kebabs. I don't think this is. That you're wrong because I don't. We weren't wrong about this. Slash. I already knew this, but Kebab says maths has an S on the end because it's called mathematics, which is made up of multiple disciplines like geometry, algebra, and calculus. Nobody calls it mathematic kebabs. I live in the great country of the United States of America.

[Andy Cortez]

Things are going perfectly here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

All right, brother. We. We got. We don't have elk here, but it's okay. You know what I mean? We have a fucking psycho president. It's all right. You know, like, racism exists stronger than

[Andy Cortez]

ever, but hey, it's stronger than ever.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What I stand on is that we say math here. We don't put the S at the end of maths because it's weird for us to pronounce with our accents or something. I don't know. I just don't like saying it out loud. So. Yeah, it's got a bad mouth. It's got a bad mouth feel.

[Andy Cortez]

It does. It totally does.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't like saying math. If I had a British accent, maybe I'll say mats.

[Andy Cortez]

It's like I got a lift. Math.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, maths. It doesn't make sense for our mouths, so we say math.

[Andy Cortez]

When I say math, I mean the greater math.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. The royal math.

[Andy Cortez]

The royal math. Thank you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And that is it for Kind of Funny Dot com. You're wrong. And that is it for this episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily. Of course, right after this, we have Kind of Funny Games Cast where we're going to talk about our fancy critic. Do a fun little check in for you, Andy. You're going to be on that? Yeah, I'm going to be on that. It's going to be a fun time. Until next time, Game Daily. Lifelock.

[Andy Cortez]

How can I help? The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't. One in four tax paying Americans has

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[Andy Cortez]

What do I do? My refund though. I'm freaking out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Don't worry, I can fix this.

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[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm so relieved. No problem. I'll be with you every step of the way.

[Andy Cortez]

One in four was a fraud paying American. Not anymore.

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