You Can FINALLY Be Gay in this Nintendo Game! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 01.29.26

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily – January 29, 2026

Episode: “You Can FINALLY Be Gay in this Nintendo Game!”
Host: Greg Miller, Andy Cortez (with appearances by Kevin Coelho, Roger Picorny, Nick Scarpino)
Theme: Breaking Down the Nintendo Tomodachi Life Announcement (with LGBTQ+ inclusion), Major Industry News, and More

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Episode Overview

This energetic episode dives deep into Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Direct, focusing on its landmark inclusion of same-sex and non-binary relationships for the first time—a commitment long awaited by fans. The hosts discuss the game’s new features, reflect on Nintendo’s history regarding LGBTQ+ options, and debate the impact (and controversy) over new content sharing restrictions. Beyond the Nintendo story, they review industry pain points with layoffs, react to reviews of new release “Cairn,” and hit rapid-fire news across the gaming space, all peppered with the crew’s trademark banter and community engagement.

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Main Segment: Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life Goes Inclusive

(06:43 – 24:38)

The News: LGBTQ+ Inclusion Arrives ([06:43])

• Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (Switch release: April 16) confirmed players can now choose male, female, or non-binary characters and set any dating preference.
• Greg Miller ([07:36]):
  “You can make your Mii characters male, female or non-binary, and choose their dating preferences, confirming Nintendo’s previous pledge to make future Tomodachi games more inclusive.”

The History: 2014 Controversy & Pledge ([08:14])

• In the previous 3DS title, same-sex relationships were blocked, prompting global backlash.
• Nintendo faced petitions, mainstream media pressure, and eventually promised future inclusivity.
  — Referenced: John Oliver’s late night skit, ‘Miiquality’ campaign.

Panel Reaction & Praise ([11:05])

• Andy Cortez:
  “Nintendo… they did it. There’s still so much more to talk about and then fans are pissed about something else. But hey, shout out to this.”
  — Adds: “Doing what SEGA don't. Sonic's like gay? Never heard of it.”
• Greg applauds Nintendo for following through—especially the addition of non-binary options.

New Features & Gameplay ([11:53])

• Enhanced Mii creator (more facial parts, face paint, diverse hair, etc.)
• Island with new shops (food, clothes, customization), ability for up to eight Miis per house.
• DIY elements: “Pallet House” lets players draw pets, latte art, TV show stills, and more.

The New Controversy: Screenshot Sharing Ban ([12:44])

• Nintendo introduces strict limits on sharing in-game screenshots to social media—no direct sharing to phone/socials, only chat via game allowed.
• Immediate Fan Backlash:
  — Greg ([14:07]): `'Wow, they killed the game,' Nintendo fan Raccoon wrote…”
  — Fans argue viral sharing propelled the series, and it feels contradictory amid LGBTQ+ customization:
  “Sure, you can be gay and non-binary but you better not show anyone.”

Panel Debate ([15:16])

• Some audience understanding: the risk of problematic content (e.g., “Hitler Mii marrying Trump Mii”).
• Others (including hosts) believe the restrictions hurt the fun and meme-ability that made Tomodachi Life appeal in the first place.
• Andy ([22:07]):
  “That’s one that you’re definitely worried about the harm and… I feel like the possibility of good, amazing things far outweighs the bad stuff.”
• Greg points out that people determined to share wild stuff will always find a way—this only blocks average players from sharing wholesome/cute content.

Roger Picorny, Historical Perspective

• Guest Roger shares his 11-year-old video on the Mii same-sex marriage controversy (now privated), remembers being “just a kid talking out my ass” but glad to have sided with inclusion.
• Roger ([21:13]): “We won. And I’m very excited for this game. I’m gonna play it… This is very exciting for [my partner], and yeah, we’re gonna make so many gammies.”

Anticipation & Final Thoughts

• Both hosts express curiosity and excitement for the release, drawn by the new features and community streaming potential.
• Greg ([18:11]): “This seems like it’s going to be low input Sims… Looks goofy enough that I can get in, play for a while, leave, come back… I’m all for this. It seems cool.”

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Additional Featured Segments

Cairn Review Roundup ([27:09 – 36:47])

• Highly praised climbing survival game; scored 9/10 at IGN & GameSpot.
• Features poetic writing and deeply reflective gameplay.
• Highlight Quote:
  “Cairn would mean nothing without the journey, without the climb… I’ll remember the climb. I’ll remember Ava. Cammy asks Ava two questions: Who are you? Why are you here? Her answers are simple: I’m a climber. I came here to live.”
  (IGN’s Will Borger, [30:14])
• Hosts express new excitement to try after seeing rave reviews.

Industry Layoffs & Market Realities ([39:30 – 44:57])

• Report: Over 28% of surveyed game developers laid off in past two years; 48% still jobless.
• Andy ([40:14]):
  “There are few things less depressing than the killing of an art form when you are seeing it happen in real time… It’s so depressing we are still here.”
• Pandemic hiring surge followed by cost-cutting; execs blamed for “chasing fads” & sacrificing art for profit.

Meta Reality Labs' Losses ([46:13])

• Meta’s VR/AR division lost $19B+ in 2025; talk of inevitable winding down as company pivots to other tech.

Xbox Revenue Decline ([48:49 – 54:08])

• Xbox gaming revenue down 9%, hardware sales down 32% year-over-year.
• Game Pass predicted to keep growing, but no recent public numbers.
• Andy: “Of course you’re going to continue to lose money on that thing… Of course you’re going to see less and less units go out there.”

Dune Awakening Chapter 3 Update (w/ Nick Scarpino, [54:14])

• Major update will add late-game content and remove punitive base taxes.
• Nick: Will return, but yearns for the early days with an active server. “The first 200 hours of the game… were really, really fun. How much more game do you really want out of a game? … I don’t regret one single hour, except for the last 20.”

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WIIngs & Quick Hits ("We News Channel," [61:11])

• Nioh 3 demo live, progress carries over to full game, with special reward item.
• Splits movie (directed by Joseph Fares) update: script in, Sydney Sweeney “super chill” & invested.
• Disney Afternoon Collection comes to Switch Feb 26 (+2 new titles, 8 total).
• Rainbow Six Siege gets Metal Gear Solid crossover: Solid Snake as a new operator, reveal Feb 15 ([63:46] teaser played).
• IGN turns 30.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tomodachi Life's Inclusion:
  Andy ([11:12]): “Doing what SEGA don’t.” Greg ([11:17]): “Sonic’s like, gay? Never heard of it.”

• On Screenshot Restrictions:
  Fan quote via Greg ([14:07]): “‘Wow, they killed the game… Social media was going to shoot this into the stratosphere. Instead, they killed it. Very disappointing.’ Added Planet Smasher: ‘Wasn’t this like the reason people were into Tomodachi Life last time…?’”

• On Big Industry Layoffs:
  Andy ([40:14]): “Executives who have never actually worked as a dev are pulling up the boards on their ships, throwing people overboard and expecting these scuttled ghost ships to keep making infinite money…”

• On Xbox & Hardware Pricing:
  Andy ([50:49]): “It feels like self-sabotage in a way… I, like, I really want to be a fly on the wall just to hear what the actual discussions are, because we’re just going to see more and more of our friends get laid off.”

• On Cairn’s Review Twister:
  Greg ([31:31 – paraphrased]): “Karen, Karen, Karen. Just drop the N. Call it care… Why are we making words like this?”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Nintendo Direct & Tomodachi Life Recap: 06:43 – 24:38
• Roger Picorny on Tomodachi/Mii Equality: 19:39 – 21:32
• Screenshot Sharing Controversy: 12:44, revisited 22:07
• Cairn Review Deep Dive: 27:09 – 36:47
• GDC Industry Layoff Report: 39:30 – 44:57
• Meta Reality Labs Losses: 46:13 – 47:45
• Xbox Revenue Decline: 48:49 – 54:08
• Dune Awakening Chapter 3 (feat. Nick): 54:14 – 60:48
• Quick News / We News Channel: 61:11 – 64:41

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Tone and Style

The Kinda Funny crew’s style remains offbeat, irreverent, and community-driven. They deftly mix serious industry analysis (“the killing of an art form”) with inside jokes, self-deprecating humor (“I can’t talk today,” “Karen, Karen, Karen”), and a welcoming conversational energy. Listener superchats, past live event stories, and playful digressions keep it light even as they tackle heavy topics.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode marked a watershed moment for Nintendo and broader game inclusivity, celebrated with justified fanfare by both hosts and guests—though not without addressing new controversies and the frustrating reality that progress often comes with caveats. The panel’s blend of exuberance and critique, along with robust industry reporting and reviews, made for an engaging, in-depth look at where games (and the people who make them) are heading in 2026.

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Memorable Final Quote:
Greg Miller ([70:07]):
“I’ve said enough today everybody. This has been another episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily—until next time, it’s been our pleasure to serve you.”

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

Let Rocket money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] kindafunny rocketmoney.com kinda funny if you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows go to patreon.com kindafunny today in the nerdy news you need to know about. You can be gay in Tamagotchi life. Wait, Dachi not gotcha. Gotcha's the little thing, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Tamagotchi. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Tamadachi.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Nailed the word gay though. Missed on Tom a guy. Tom. Tom Odachi. Well, I want you to know. Go wide, Kevin. I want you to know, Andy, we have the. I couldn't talk out there because I was so tired from last night's live event and you said, oh, a long night. And in my head when I sat down, I'm like, if I can just nail the cold open.

[Andy Cortez]

The morning was you going? Was you going, all right, you know, brainstorm the title with me. You could be gay. Tamagami life. Tamagami. Tanagami.

[Greg Miller]

A new mountain climbing game is getting amazing review scores and Nick Scarpino's day has come. We'll have all this and more because this is kind of funny. Games Daily. Let rocket money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] kinda funny RocketMoney.com kinda funny if you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com kindafunny. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Kinda funny Games daily for Thursday, January 29, 2026. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller alongside the Hispanic heartthrob Texas treat Latino heat. Clicking heads and ripping them to shreds. The globetrotten head shotting three point shooting Rootin Tootin Nitro rifle from Twitch TV tv.

[Andy Cortez]

Andy Cortez to have Kevin. God, sorry. Somebody moved the button and then a little bit of sound. So we're all laughing and have Kevin go, fuck. I hate hearing Roger out there laughing.

[Greg Miller]

Kevin Coelho, welcome back to the office.

[Andy Cortez]

Hey, Kevin.

[Greg Miller]

Kevin has been sick all week.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Even last week a little bit. But he's here now.

[Andy Cortez]

A lot of questions about who's this mystery person in the studio. Alexio.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Alexio often helps out with large event streams.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. So when Kevin or Barrett goes down unexpectedly and we need it for a long time, Alexio's there to serve us. We didn't acknowledge him during his time in the office. Only when he's gone.

[Andy Cortez]

He asked not to.

[Greg Miller]

We don't look him in the eye. We don't talk to him. We don't do anything with that. Andy, we did the goddamn thing last night. We rocked Cobb's comedy with MCU in Review live as part of SF Sketch Fest. How are you feeling this morning?

[Andy Cortez]

I feel good. I mean, it was a packed house.

[Greg Miller]

Yep.

[Andy Cortez]

I was very surprised by that.

[Greg Miller]

When we were backstage and Andy's like, 90 people, that's how. Okay. I didn't expect that.

[Andy Cortez]

I. Yeah, I definitely expect around 15 to 20. Just with the amount of time we gave people. Sure. The fact that it's not Wednesday night. It's Wednesday night and it's not. We're not doing a panel at PAX where people are already in town for a gaming thing and they're going to come see our gaming thing. This is like a very weird kind of isolated incident of us reviewing Howard the Duck and adding it to our collection of MCU in Review.

[Greg Miller]

Shout out to the couple in the front who had no idea who we were.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

They just. They wanted to do something and they heard there'd be a comedy at Cops. Comedy. They bought a ticket.

[Andy Cortez]

Sf. They're like, SF Sketch Fest. We're in town. What's this kind of funny podcast? He had no idea what it was. And I still, you know, we didn't really get a review from them, which is what I would have liked to.

[Greg Miller]

I know on the meet and greet, there was. I think there was a group in the back, too. That was it. But there was the one couple that I was able. But a woman who was. Did say that I had no idea who you guys are, but I'm in now. So that we got that.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

Then there was some, like, drunk woo girls there at the end that walked out with the banner.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. There was. Yeah. Shout out to the. The two very sauced up women. I just assumed that they knew us because of how they were acting.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And they had gotten the banner that we printed out that had all the rankings on it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And she was like, like, kind of dancing with it. I was like, okay, this lady is, like, sauced up. You know, we're really excited to meet her. And then we're getting the photo. She's like, by the way, I have no idea who you guys are. And we're like, wait, you just.

[Greg Miller]

You.

[Andy Cortez]

You have no. She's like, no, I have no idea, but will I be here next time? But maybe not a lot of promises there, but shout out to them.

[Greg Miller]

It definitely felt like we had a alternate universe snow bike mic on our hands.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

She wanted the party to continue. She was like, what are y' all doing after this? I was like, okay. She's. She's looking for a fun time tonight. I hope she got it.

[Greg Miller]

Did you have a fun time? You just go right home, go to bed?

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, Yeah, I hung out outside a little bit, chatted it up. Didn't expect my lift to get there as soon as it did. Yeah. Hung out with a couple of the KFBFs and then, yeah, drove home.

[Greg Miller]

Nice. Yeah, I got a slice of pizza and I got home and my head hit that pillow. I was gone, just done.

[Andy Cortez]

I definitely passed out very, very quick. But it was a fun night. It was awesome. It's always spiritually rejuvenating to. To talk to people and what today's.

[Greg Miller]

Greg Way was about, because. Yeah, exactly. Oh, yeah. You know, you look at the comments, all you hear is, we're just up.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Every day, fun time. And they're saying, I'm up.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Can't say. Tom and Dachi, if you're watching, of course we want you to be part of this show. Super chat YouTube.com kindafunnygames with your questions, comments, concerns about the day's news. Of course, if you want to watch that in review, we did last night. It will be up as in review next week on Thursday. Of course, today's in review is back to the future as Nick Scarpino's in review rolls on Memo in the notebooks was there last night. They super chat right now and say thank you all for last night. I was such. Man, I can't talk, but Memo can't type. Oh, because it says yank, y'.

[Andy Cortez]

All.

[Greg Miller]

Last night I was 6 fan. I was such a fan before. Let's see if you're a fan now that I'm making fun of you. I was such a fan before last night and even more of a fan now after getting to meet y'. All. You guys rock and I hope to see you at one of my shows soon. We're always trying, Memo. We're always trying.

[Andy Cortez]

I always like Memo. And people like that know that. Like, I don't. I. I never go out to see stuff from close, personal friends of mine that I love in real life. So, like, you know, never counting it, but you never know. Shooting stars, right? Twice a day.

[Greg Miller]

That's not what that means. Of course, if you didn't know, we couldn't do this show without our Patreon producers over on patreon.com kindafunny so thank you, Carl Jacobs, Omega, Buster and Delaney. The Psalm Twining. Thank you for now. Let's begin with what is and forever will be the Rope Report. Time for some new seven items on the Roper Report.

[Andy Cortez]

Baker's Tazzle.

[Greg Miller]

This is good Kevin. I like that. Number one on the Roper Report Tomodachi Life Living the Dream Direct recap. We will go to Chris Scullion at vgc. We of course will be all over the map because I have another article interrupting the article. I will read you here, but stick with me. Ok Nintendo has revealed more information about its upcoming Life Sim sequel, Tomodachi Life Living the Dream. The information was shared during a 20 minute Nintendo Direct dedicated entirely to the game. The game will be released on Nintendo Switch on April 16th. There will be no specific Switch 2 edition of the game, but it will of course be compatible on the console. As in previous entries in the series, Tomodachi Living the Dream lets players add Mii characters to a town and help them live their lives there. Players can create their own Mii characters from scratch using an enhanced version of the Mii creators seen on a recent Nintendo console featuring more facial parts than before. They can also use face paints to draw on a Mii's face and make them look unusual. In the direct, Nintendo showed a bear like character. They can also make their Mii characters male, female or non binary and choose their dating preferences, confirming Nintendo's previous pledge to make future Tamagotchi games more inclusive. If you don't know what the fuck that's referencing, we go to ign.com where they are talking specifically about it. And Kevin, there's a twitter video here that I wanted to link to. That's specifically this. We will come back to the Direct.

[Andy Cortez]

A lot of hair options. Very exciting.

[Greg Miller]

You like that? We don't need the sound on it, IGN reports. While not specifically mentioned, the message here was clear that Nintendo has made good on its promise made back in 2014 to make the next Tomodachi Life game quote, more inclusive and something that better represents all players. End quote When Tomodachi Life Living the Dream launches for Switch consoles this year on April 16, it will be 13 years since the arrival of the series. Previous Entry arrived on 3Ds. Shortly thereafter, Nintendo found itself embroiled in a major controversy after Japanese fans alleged that Nintendo had initially developed, then removed, same sex relationship options for in game characters. Nintendo's Bill Trinen commented on the issue to IGN at the time and stated that while Nintendo had indeed updated the game, the update's intent had been to fix a data leak issue when importing characters from a previous game separate to this faction. Said some players had been using the same feature to import male Mii characters that could be designated female, allowing the appearance of two Mii characters of the same sex to marry and have a baby. Quote Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tamagotchi Life. Nintendo then said in the statement, did I say Gachi?

[Andy Cortez]

Fuck.

[Greg Miller]

I'm sorry everybody. For so many years you think of the little keychain guy. You know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

Sure do.

[Greg Miller]

The relationship options in the game represent a playful AL world rather than a real life simulation. We hope that all our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be whimsical and quirky, a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary. End quote. As fan complaints grew, a fan petition for me Quality, that's Me Inequality Shoved together I Like that was launched and the situation caught mainstream attention including a high profile skit by late night TV show host John Oliver who broadcast a skit featuring Mario and Mario and link snogging. Nintendo then issued a further statement with an apology for disappointing many people. And it was here that the company made a pledge to make a title that better represents all players should it release another Tamadachi title in the future. We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same sex relationships in Tomodachi Life, Nintendo said at the time. Unfortunately it is not possible for us to change this game's design and such a significant development change can't be accomplished with a post ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values and fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create the next installment of Tomadachi, we will strive to design a gameplay experience from the ground up that is more inclusive and better represents all players.

[Andy Cortez]

Nintendo.

[Greg Miller]

They did it. There's still so much more to talk about and then fans are pissed about something else. But hey, shout out to this Andy.

[Andy Cortez]

Doing what SEGA don't.

[Greg Miller]

Sonic's like gay. Never heard of it.

[Andy Cortez]

Sonic and Knuckles kiss man. Come on.

[Greg Miller]

Good on them for doing it. Yeah. Congratulations. And they suck to it. You know usually hear stuff like that but they went in the non binary ranch. You got the whole thing. Good job Nintendo. Now that was IGN reporting on that. I'm going to now go back to the VGC article to just wrap up what was happening in the direct so you can throw the direct back up. Kevin the game's island features a number of shops and other buildings which can be visited by Miis during their day to day lives. These include a grocery store called Fresh Kingdom where players try to find their Mii's favorite foods, a clothing store called where and where spelled differently.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

A new station called MNN, and a home supply store called T and C. Reno. Up to eight Mii characters can live in a single house, interacting with each other and building their friendships or relationships. There's also a shop called Pallet House where players can draw their own pets, coffee latte, art, TV show images, clothing, home exteriors, or the ground in the island. That all sounds cool, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Andy I love the idea that having eight people in a house, they had to include, you know, all sorts of different sexualities and because like inevitably the AI couldn't contain them from just like they're gonna start experimenting, you know.

[Greg Miller]

Life will find a way.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, we let this house run for two. Now look at it. You know, everybody's getting in everywhere.

[Greg Miller]

It seems like it's all good news, huh? Not so fast.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh.

[Greg Miller]

Tom Phillips at IGN say fans decry heavy image sharing restrictions for Tomodachi Life Living the Dream that Nintendo says are necessary to ensure, quote, fun and safe gameplay.

[Andy Cortez]

I think this is good news, actually.

[Greg Miller]

We'll find out. Nintendo fans have criticized the company's decision to heavily restrict image sharing from within Tomadachi Life Living the Dream following the conclusion of today's Tomadachi Life Living the Dream Nintendo Direct, the company posted an unusual statement to its support websites announcing that, quote, unquote limits would be placed on the ability to share screenshots from the upcoming social sim to ensure, quote, the world's players create remain fun and safe and that the game can be enjoyed comfortably by all players, end quote. While Nintendo's English language statement does not go further into detail, the company's Japanese support site has stated that this entails a block on the ability to directly share screenshots to social media or to a smartphone, though sharing gameplay via game chat will be allowed.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, that's weird.

[Greg Miller]

The immediate response to this decision from Nintendo and chats you're allowed to throw up the WNDS has been negative, with many fans contrasting the game's ability to create quirky, unexpected, and potentially very shareable social gameplay situations with Nintendo's refusal to let players actually share said gameplay socially. Quote, wow, they killed the game. Nintendo fan Raccoon wrote.

[Andy Cortez]

Time to get home in a tanooki suit.

[Greg Miller]

Why did this have to be the story today when I'm on the ropes? Tired?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Nintendo fan Raccoon wrote on the video game forum Reset era. Quote Social media was going to shoot Social media was going to shoot this into the stratosphere. Instead they killed it. Very disappointing. Added Planet Smasher. Quote Wasn't this like the reason people were into Tamagotchi life last time I say I said yachi.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn. Damn it sure did.

[Greg Miller]

Tomodachi life last time.

[Andy Cortez]

Put it on the counter.

[Greg Miller]

Like don't please. Like being able to share goofy images with friends. That was what made the play the game go viral in the first place. Some fans have gone further saying that they saying that they were disappointed to see these restrictions applied to a game that finally allows players to customize their characters with a more diverse range of genders, voice options and dating preferences. Quote sure you can be gay and non binary but you better not show anyone. Wrote another fan. Dupes. Oh that's the name another fan dude.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Greg Miller]

Tomodachi life Living the dream allows you to play as a me version of anyone alongside me versions of anyone else. Potentially people you know in real life. Like potentially people you know in real life. Celebrities or long dead dictators.

[Andy Cortez]

The potential for players this is not Nintendo's press release.

[Greg Miller]

No, no. They were writing here. We're editorializing. Or they are. The game systems to create bizarre and unexpected scenarios is huge and it's perhaps not surprising that Nintendo is acting cautiously. Quote I get why they don't want you having like Hitler me and Trump me hooking up and then posting that all over the Internet and people getting mad at Nintendo for it. Because that's exactly the type of thing Nintendo hates. Right? Wrote jph139 but that's also 99% of the appeal. So what? So not sure what they're expecting. I can understand they're being cautious. Agreed Pewce Pickman.

[Andy Cortez]

I just say, added another reader the idea of it's funnier.

[Greg Miller]

To do it this way. The idea of making me's of your friends and celebrities and having the do wacky things is fun, but the way it's executed in these games is innocent. But the concept of make avatars of other people and make them do things is more fraught idea in 2026 for a number of reasons. For those intent on sharing clips of the gameplay, this likely does not remove all avenues of doing so. There's no suggestion here that Nintendo has removed the ability to share screenshots saved on an SD card via PC or the ability to use capture equipment to record gameplay. And of course, you can still just film your screen with a smartphone instead. Nintendo statement suggests it is intending more to place a hurdle in place, curbing what it seems to believe is a potential for problems to occur.

[Andy Cortez]

Every time you hit the screenshot button, you just send a ping over to their servers. Like, keep an eye on this person.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, exactly. They're doing something. They're doing something here.

[Andy Cortez]

This is a roller coaster of a.

[Greg Miller]

You know, there's so much to digest as this goes. I don't know where you want to start. Because I'll start here. This is where I want to start. Andy. And leave this up. Kevin, you're killing. I'm glad you're back. Are you gonna play Tamadachi Life? Dachi. Not Gotchi.

[Andy Cortez]

Not Gotchi. Not Tamadami. Not Tanagami.

[Greg Miller]

Tommy Dreamer Life.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna give it a shot just because. Just out of pure curiosity, I want to see what this revamped character creator looks like.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm really excited to see new hair options. That was always one of my issues when recreating my me for my Switch 2. It's like, man, that we still got the same five kind of hairstyles and you've always been able to do a lot when it comes to customization for like, face and thing. Like, and we've obviously seen a lot of amazing recreations of pop culture figures or celebrities and. But it's just always been limiting in other ways. I am super stoked to get in there. I want to create all of us. I want. We're going to do streams of it.

[Greg Miller]

Going to be dope.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, we like. I generally love stuff like this and I never played the old Tomadachi Life, but I. I'm excited to see, like, what the buzz is about. Why is this franchise coming back after 13 years? That's kind of a long time for a game to be dormant, for Nintendo to re. To kind of release a sequel to it. So, yeah, I'm super stoked to at least see what the. What the curiosity is about, you know?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that's. I mean, obviously I am a fan of Animal Crossing. Everybody knows that about me. I'm a fan of the Sims from way back in the day. I like, I look at this and I go, man, this seems like it's going to be low input Sims, right? Like, Sims can get so not stressful, but there's so many systems going on and stuff that kept me Away from it. This looks goofy enough that I can get in play for a while. Leave it, come back, do the thing, yada yada yada. I don't know what the lasting power of that will be, but I'm in the exact same boat as you. I was like, yeah, I'm very interested in let's make me. Let's make Jen. Let's make a whole bunch of people. Let's drop them on. Let's get Admiral Ackbar in there like the old Wii days. Right, right. And really attempt go wild and around in bang, apparently. But also just chill and see. It seems neat. I'm stoked about it. I'm. I'm all for this. It seems cool.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. It does seem like one of those games that whenever it was re or revealed at that direct.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

A lot of people popped off.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And it's. It felt like such a niche. Like, okay, this probably isn't that big. We're probably just hearing a large amount of like the small community that, you know, enjoyed this game back on the 3ds, but I feel like it's going to be one of those that has the potential to pop off 100%. So then now is it a go go broke situation for Nintendo?

[Greg Miller]

No, because that's. I know, I know, I know, I know. But I, I feel like we are talking a lot about Tomadachi life.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

But it's time to bring our expert.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, shoot.

[Greg Miller]

The reporter who has been covering this story longer than anybody I know. Roger Picorny, the Tastemaker. Hello, Roger. How are you?

[Andy Cortez]

Wow, Roger, you want to get a stick? Mike sold 7 million on 3Ds. That's awesome.

[Greg Miller]

Grab. And he's. It's fine. Yeah, it's. Oh, a huge seller. Of course. Roger. Yeah. There you go. Crouch down. Good job. You're doing the thing. You're there. Kevin, can we throw up? Roger, who again has been out there. He's been doing God's work.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Greg Miller]

Is Tamagotchi life exclusionary? This is a video from your YouTube channel. Yeah. How old is this?

[Roger Picorny]

This is 11 years ago.

[Greg Miller]

So 11 years ago.

[Andy Cortez]

Since been privated, by the way.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Roger Picorny]

I have made sure to private it. I don't say anything bad in it, but it is 11 minutes of me being like, I'm not trying to get political, but they absolutely should have done it. But also I don't know anything and I just am talking out my ass. I clearly I did the Greg Miller thing of you said, hey, if you want to get in this industry, put on a camera.

[Greg Miller]

Just talk. Yeah.

[Roger Picorny]

Should I have done a little more research? I'm like, what this game was or anything about it, but I just. I'm literally there just being like, yeah, gay marriage should be in it. And I just start talking about Evo 2014 out of nowhere. I don't know where the fuck that came from.

[Greg Miller]

This is your shot, man. The camera is on. You had to do it.

[Roger Picorny]

I'm just talking in there.

[Andy Cortez]

Kind of covered. Yeah.

[Roger Picorny]

Literally.

[Greg Miller]

It's crazy that you're in my basement, my childhood basement, because this paneling looks so much like. It's incredible.

[Roger Picorny]

I miss it so much. But, yeah, that was me. And this is the thumbnails.

[Greg Miller]

We see the thumbnail Kevin, that Roger made for this video game, Marriage equality.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

How does it make you feel that the V is. Why is video centered but game marriage inequality or gimp?

[Roger Picorny]

I think I was using gimp back in the day. I didn't know how to use anything. So, yeah, this is where my vision was. And, you know, it's happened fine.

[Greg Miller]

Finally.

[Roger Picorny]

You know, it's not exclusive anymore. I. We won. And I'm very excited for this game. I'm gonna play it.

[Greg Miller]

So. And that's the. For real. I know that you and Leanne's a super stoked. Yeah.

[Roger Picorny]

Lianza loves.

[Greg Miller]

Loves.

[Roger Picorny]

That was one of the first bonding moments when she looked through my YouTube channel. We first started dating.

[Greg Miller]

She saw that. She laughed hysterically.

[Roger Picorny]

She loves Tomadachi life.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Roger Picorny]

So this is very exciting for her. And yeah, we're gonna make so many gammies. It's gonna be sick. It's gonna be awesome, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Hell yeah. Thank you.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. You know that the privatization of the video did happen.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And it's like Nintendo.

[Andy Cortez]

There were a lot of moments from Roger watching back the video where you were saying, send that link through. And Roger was watching it, and I just kept hearing a lot of no. Oh, I can't do this. No, no, no. But if we hit 3,000subs something to consider.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean? We get a hype train to level 19 right now. I'm excited. I think back to it wnds what a fucking stupid decision not to let you share stuff. That's stupid.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. That's gonna. That's one that you are definitely worried about the harm. And it's not that I don't see. It's not that I don't see their. Their standpoint. I just, you know, you let people draw whatever they want in splatoon.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

On their messages and those could be screenshotted. I, I just feel like the possibility of, of good amazing things far outweighs the bad stuff, you know, Like, I, I think you're also just missing out. You're also just missing out on a lot of humor, a lot of clippable, silly meme things that would likely, you know, get this game, you know, shooting up the charts even more than it probably is. You know, I, I don't know. I feel like they are worried more than they need to be 100.

[Greg Miller]

Like, guess what? The bad stuff's gonna get out no matter what. Everybody who's anybody these days. Right. I think the people who are going to make the Trumps and the Hitlers and the things and do that, whatever, like, they're probably already content creators to some regard. They're already gonna. A lot of that's gonna be streamed no matter what.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So it's like, what are you really. You're just making it so more people can't do it. When in reality more people would want to be like, look, I made me my girlfriend and now this happened, we had a baby and like, it's gonna be the fun. It's gonna be the good stuff rather than the bad stuff. The bad stuff's gonna exist no matter what.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And you're, you're preventing like the good from flooding the market, you know, and not just. And when I say good, I don't just mean, you know, wholesome. That likely wouldn't go viral. Like there's gonna be a lot of funny things that you're gonna miss out on, which kind of stinks. So hopefully they find a, you know, maybe they can revert that decision. But I definitely love that.

[Greg Miller]

You hear yesterday in the dispatch stuff?

[Andy Cortez]

No. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So my, the initial reason why when you brought up this story, I was like, actually, I think this is good news. I thought they were going to be restrictive with what you could draw on your characters faces because I just imagine.

[Greg Miller]

Oh sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Swastikas on people.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

But then the whole just, you know, you can still do that going into the back end.

[Greg Miller]

If you want to be a psycho white supremacist in your tomadachi life, you're more than welcome to. But you can't show anybody going into.

[Andy Cortez]

The, the back end and just disabling screenshots on the hardware is just a crazy decision. Like. Yeah, it's weird to get to. It'd be one thing if, if maybe you stopped the ability to go into like photo mode in the software. But to go into a hardware level thing and say like disable the screenshots on the hardware is a crazy thing to do.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Okay. Andy.

[Andy Cortez]

Hey Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Tomodachi Life is coming at us pretty quick, April. I'm looking forward to it. The pieces are falling in. Maybe there's a Nintendo Direct next week that talks about more games. Nobody really knows. Okay. But what I do know is we couldn't do this show without your support. You can pick up a Kind of Funny membership on YouTube.com kindafunnygames patreon.com Kinda funny Apple, Spotify, wherever you want to. And of course you get all of our content ad free. You'd get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller and a 15 to 20 minute podcast we call Greg Way. And of course you get good karma for supporting an 11 person 11 year old small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. Do you know how much money Mike was wasting on hidden subscriptions that he wasn't using? Well, it turns out Mike didn't know either until he started using Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. It monitors your spending and it helps helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money tracks your subscriptions and has the ability to cancel within the app with a few taps, saving time and avoiding charges. It automatically categorizes your transactions and tags them to reveal spending patterns and add context. Getting ready to buy the Steam Machine Rocket Money helps you save for big goals by setting budgets and getting personalized insights and regular reports. It consolidates checking, savings, loans and investments into a single dashboard to give you a clear view of your financial picture. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] kindafunny rocketmoney.com kinda funny. A lot of your wrongs already. Not about the.

[Andy Cortez]

Not about the screen.

[Greg Miller]

Tamagotchi. I'm nailing it. But I keep saying the Tamadachi but technically it should be Tomo Dachi.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh really? I didn't see it.

[Greg Miller]

There's O's there, there's O's there.

[Andy Cortez]

Instead of shout out to David Snake for the year Wrong that they're not disabling the screenshot feature. They are just saving the sharing of the screenshot.

[Greg Miller]

Which Correct.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, apologies. Thank you for the correction.

[Greg Miller]

That is. That's a good correction. If we get Started talking about that tomodachi band arrest. Super chats. It says low key. I think it's Biden island that caused this. Thanks, Joe. Remember that when there was the Biden island and Animal Crossing.

[Andy Cortez]

Remember that?

[Greg Miller]

Forget. Never forget. Let's move on to story number two. It's a review roundup for Karen. Right now it has a metacritic of 82. And you might say, what's it about? What is Karen? We go to Gamespot.

[Andy Cortez]

It's. It's Karen. Nobody at the studio has been saying it.

[Greg Miller]

I apologize. So what?

[Andy Cortez]

It's Karen. C, A, I, R, N. But Mike all week during the meetings was saying Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And that must have worn off on me.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. So the I and the R are flipped. Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Wait, so this is misspelled in the.

[Andy Cortez]

Thing here in your dog.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, I see what happened here.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

So it's like. Say it again.

[Andy Cortez]

Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Cool. And that's a. That's a hiking or. Not a hiking thing. A crawling thing on the wall thing, I gotta assume.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I think so.

[Greg Miller]

No. Well, no. Aren't these the things that you kick over in Uncharted. The little rock piles like that. There's a rock.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, look at that. Yeah, possibly. Let me look at the Google.

[Greg Miller]

Karen. Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Karen. Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I kept on here, you know when Roger said, oh, we're gonna. Yeah, we're gonna do a gamescast plays. We're gonna be playing Karen. And then Mike was saying, Karen. Yeah, I don't think it's right.

[Greg Miller]

This is one of those shows you show somebody new and they're like, how are these people paid to talk? How is this what they do every day?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Is a human made pile or rock stones? Nice. Great job. You knew that.

[Greg Miller]

I knew it from Uncharted. Thanks. Uncharted.

[Andy Cortez]

You knew that.

[Greg Miller]

All right, let's try again, everybody. Karen, you might say, what is Karen? We go to GameSpot's voices Tavares, who says in his review, Karen, a climbing Karen, a climbing and survival game from the game Bakers, Parentheses, Fury and Haven is an experience filled to the brim with small and big choices, whether the player knows they're making them or not. Where Will and I must say Ava, place her hands and feet when climbing a wall. Which route up a wall will you make her take when she comes across abandoned camps along the climb, will you prioritize scavenging climbing gear or raw materials to be cooked into a hearty meal down the line? And Kev, if you could just loop it, you're doing It. Kev's the man.

[Andy Cortez]

He's doing it.

[Greg Miller]

I have two reviews to read from, then briefly. Okay. IGN's Will Borger gave it a 9 out of 10, saying Cairn would mean nothing without the journey, without the climb, without the moments where I faced everything Cami had to throw at me. That's the mountain, by the way. From sheer cliffs to bad weather to climbing at night. Each time I was close to the top, I discovered the peak was farther off. And each time, I would tape up Ava's hands, cook whatever I had, and keep going. I knew what she could handle, what she needed, how strong her grip would be, where I could take my chances. My reward was always something wondrous. And by the end, I was so attuned. I'm sorry. I was as attuned to Ava's body as my own. But what I'll remember is the story of the mountain and the people on it. I'll remember the climb. I'll remember Ava. Cammy asks Ava two questions. Who are you? Why are you here? Her answers are simple. I'm a climber. I came here to live. And through her, so could I.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn.

[Greg Miller]

What I like about this game is Will Borg is a writer. It's inspiring poetry. And I put this up on bs. That's a blue sky, Tim. I put it up on the Quip on Patreon. I put it up on threads just to get it onto my Instagram story right over at GameSpot. Moises Tavares, former kind of funny best friend.

[Andy Cortez]

Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

Tavares.

[Andy Cortez]

Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

Tavares.

[Andy Cortez]

Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

What did I say?

[Andy Cortez]

Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

I put Tavar. Okay, Tavares.

[Andy Cortez]

Tavares. Thank you very much. There you go.

[Greg Miller]

Also gave it a 9 out of 10. But here's what I want everybody to do. I want you to go read Moises is review on Gamespot. It is legitimately the best video game review I've ever read. And I don't mean it's the best in terms of. Oh, man, he nailed reviewing a game. I mean, it's the best written video game review I've ever had. Like, it flows like poetry. It flows like a story. I was enraptured reading it. And so I'm gonna give you two meaty graphs that I'm sure I will just butcher because I cannot talk today. But I want everyone to go over there.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank you for that. Pity.

[Greg Miller]

That's a pity. You've been crushing it. You. My favorite part is, like, even with Roger yesterday, when he got to Read. And he was stuff up and I'm like all right, all right, cool. We're all the same.

[Andy Cortez]

Tamagami. Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Karen Tarveas. No, no, say it again.

[Andy Cortez]

Taveras. Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

Tavares.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, not Tavares.

[Greg Miller]

I apologize.

[Andy Cortez]

Ena. Swat.

[Greg Miller]

Moises. Karen. Well you got to admit that sounds stupid. Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen. Just drop the end. Call it care, you know what I mean? Like what are we doing? Why are we saying words? Why are we making words like this? Karen looks like a solo journey, but. But it really felt like a two hander with Ava and myself. I felt every bit of her perilous flight. I felt myself catch second winds after astonishing nail biting ascents. I felt every slip and hard knock that Ava took, but also every quiet moment of reflection brought on by a waterfall or the sight of a since passed climber who also came up here for answers. I felt every pang of defeat and every adrenaline high of an ordeal fell. Maybe it's because Ava felt so tangible and so human that I could map myself onto her with ease. Maybe it was just the. The trying again.

[Andy Cortez]

Entrancing.

[Greg Miller]

I'm getting there. Maybe it was just the entrancing physicality of Karen's. Karen's central climbing. And it just sounds like I'm powering.

[Andy Cortez]

Down Daniel Z. Daniel Z. And jazz it. I'm still hearing Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Central climbing and survival mechanics. But at some point, whatever wall existed between myself and the game came down and I was there with Ava as she was with me. Without one another, we couldn't have experienced the shared terror of weathering Mount Kami's harsh climate and sealed ourselves against it. We might not have hounded our demons to the edge of the world. We couldn't have discovered the relics of the long gone denizens of Kami and aided the other lost souls we met on our way up. Up. Without one another, I'm sure we couldn't have reached Mount Kami's peak and maybe achieved the clarity we needed to persevere. We couldn't say that a wall is just a wall and whether it's through, over or even under it that we would live to see the other side. Writing.

[Andy Cortez]

Yep.

[Greg Miller]

And of course just a shout out to us. I'll let you know. It's way easier to write than read. You know what I mean? People really think I was smart when I wrote it?

[Andy Cortez]

Ign oh really?

[Greg Miller]

When I try to say these fucking words?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean getting the words out in.

[Greg Miller]

The right order, I'll tell you. You know What I mean, yeah, it's out there. A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful review from Moises over on Gamespot. Go read it, please everybody. Give him the click. Send him some love on socials or whatever. And then this game. Andy, Karen, are you excited to play it?

[Andy Cortez]

Certainly now with all the reviews? Yeah, you know, I don't think this is something that I would have necessarily wanted to play if it came out and got a bunch of sevens from a lot of people that I respect in the industry. But this is getting nines across the board. This is getting, you know, in some cases tens from some outlets. And that's super exciting. I, I think that it's not. It was one that I always thought to myself whenever seeing it in previews, okay, it's going to be the death stranding of climbing. It's going to be this experiential sort of how are we going to gamify the climbing experience? But if it can nail these mechanics and also interweave a really awesome kind of story about, you know, self reflection and discovery, you know, I. Then, then they may have a hit on their hands. And now I'm certainly way more stoked about this because this is a game that I was going to play with Roger today for games cast plays and then probably never look at again. But now it's like, oh, okay, I want to see this through to the end after seeing everybody's glowing thoughts about it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, I'm in the same boat. I looked at it for previews is like another climbing game. Yeah, I've never been the climbing game guy. All these reviews are beautiful and sound cool. I just, I'll try it for sure. I wonder if I'll stick with it because it'll need to be the narrative pushing more than the climbing mechanics. That just doesn't sound like something I'm super stoked about and I think. But I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

But I also don't see it as a you have to be here for 25 hours experience.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, I mean I'm sure it's in some of the reviews. I'm fried today on how long it is chat. What, what are they saying for how long it takes to summit? Where are we going there?

[Andy Cortez]

I am searching right now.

[Greg Miller]

Fuck.

[Andy Cortez]

15 to 19 hours. God damn.

[Greg Miller]

Like, I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

I was close. I was a lot closer than I thought.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Snake Eater super chats and says literally playing Karen right now as I watch you guys Heart we Heart right back at you.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello, Snake Eater.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, heart to you. I'll be Interested? Try. More importantly, I'll be check out this Gamescast PlayStation. You guys jumping right in and seeing what's up?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, Roger had mentioned that he had already hopped in for quite a bit, so he will be kind of leading it while I play alongside with him. Yeah, I'm excited to see exactly how it looks, how it feels because we've seen it in trailers a bunch. This is one that I agree with some people in chat when I saw some chatters go by and say, I thought this game came out last year. I feel like we'd seen a lot about this game in the lead up.

[Greg Miller]

And obviously, well then Jusant is in the mix too.

[Andy Cortez]

Jusant is there and we had, you know, obviously Peak is a very different looking game, but there's climbing, there's a lot of different climbing. And yeah, it's easy to kind of get lost in the noise of all of it.

[Greg Miller]

A great way to break through is to have reviews like these scores.

[Andy Cortez]

Absolutely.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

For sure.

[Greg Miller]

Something to look at. For sure. Yeah. Okay. Gamescast plays, if you aren't aware, is one of our new things. It's a editorial product. Not it's a stream, but it's a show. So you can get it in your gamescast podcast feeds if you want that. But it's an editorial product where they don't just play the game, they talk about what's going on. So yeah, Roger has put hours into this. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of it.

[Andy Cortez]

Purposely doing our best to not, you know, it's a hot dog, a sandwich or whatever, but you know, you just.

[Greg Miller]

Got to keep Mike off. You'll be fine. Yeah, Krabby Patty super chats and says the climbing game looks cool. Looks like the devs put a lot of love and Karen in it.

[Andy Cortez]

Karen. Karen it Karen Tamadami, life.

[Greg Miller]

Number three. And there's so many more stories to go, I can't fucking read today. More than a quarter of the devs surveyed by GDC were laid off in the past past two years and half of them don't have a new job. This is Chris Scullion at VGC News. More than a quarter of game developers responding to a new survey said they were laid off in the past two years. This year's annual State of the Game Industry Survey, which is managed by the Game Developers Conference and surveys more than 2,300 games industry professionals around the world, asked its respondents a number of questions about layoffs. According to the survey, 17% said they were laid off in the past 12 months. While another 11% said they were laid off during the 12 months before that, making for a total of 28%. When limited to just US respondents, the percentages increased to 33. The survey also notes that the total number of layoffs could be higher than the survey suggests, as some respondents could have been laid off more than once in the past two years. Jesus. Of those who said they had been laid off, around 48% of them said they hadn't found a new job yet. Yet this wasn't exclusive to those recently let go either. Of those who were laid off one to two years ago, 36% said they were still looking for a new job. Half of respondents said their current company, parentheses or the one they most recently worked for, conducted layoffs in the past 12 months. And while 47% said they didn't anticipate future layoffs in the company in the next 12 months, 23% said they did and 30% weren't sure. When asked what they thought the reasons were for such widespread layoffs, a number of respondents gave their own theories. Quote, leadership failed to see that the COVID era boom was not permanent and the company went on an acquisition spree before being acquired. A senior programmer in India said, now money is a lot tighter because the goldfish with the money want returns yesterday so they can funnel it into the current fad. Parentheses gen AI I've never read a.

[Andy Cortez]

More accurate sentence in my life.

[Greg Miller]

Another one reads, executives who have never actually worked as a dev are pulling up the boards on their ships, throwing people overboard and expecting these scuttled ghost ships to keep making infinite money. A former designer in New York said. Meanwhile, the owner of an independent studio in Australia said, quote, we are coming up towards launch and if sales aren't good enough, there will be layoffs. End quote. Game developer Farin Noor, who has been tracking industry job cuts since 2022, estimates around that estimates that around 8,500 workers were laid off in 2022, 10,500 workers in 2023, 14,600 workers in 2024, and 5,300 workers in 2025.

[Andy Cortez]

It's an improvement. We're Ron, we're turning it around. Everybody around. It's. It's a cruel world, man. There. There's just there. There are few things I would say less depressing and less discouraging than the killing of an art form when you are seeing it happen in real time, when you are hearing about profits still going up in some spots or maybe they, you know, hey, we only made a million dollars more than we did last year. Big failure. It's like, well, that's not a big failure, though. But in their eyes and because of shareholders and things like that, it's, it's so, so it's so depressing that we are still here. And yeah, I think that sentence about the COVID era boom was not permanent is so true. When, when people were stuck in home, stuck at home playing a lot of video games, there were tons of studios going, oh, shit. There's tons of publishers and heads of, you know, you know, different businesses saying, man, this is an infinite money glitch. Yeah, let's start hiring again. Let's start, start, you know, green light, that sequel. Green light. And it's like that just did not last. And to not have the foresight, well, it doesn't matter if you don't have the foresight because you're not going to bear any of the consequences. You know, you're going to be totally fine at the end of the day. So it's always the workers and the people underneath that are going to be the ones to suffer. And you are going to just continue to kill and hurt this art form because those are the people that are the talent that make these dreams come to life. And all you're doing is telling them, all right, I'll go, I'll go off and work on something else that isn't even in the industry anymore because I'm tired of the industry now.

[Greg Miller]

The knowledge and the power and the brain drain we have when you lose these people and all their experience, that's sucks and it sets everything back.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, you hear about old animation Studios and how 2D animation gets phased out and now there's a lot of studios going and we don't even know how they did those techniques back in the day. Yeah, all of that, you know, you've, you've heard the, the, the AAVE phrase, like, we're losing our recipes and like we are going to lose the recipes from a lot of people in the industry that are just quitting because they're going, I can't do this anymore. I'm 50 now. I'm 45 now. I can't be moving across the country again for my next job because X and Y studio are requiring us to be all in studio again, which really just means we're hoping all y' all quit because you can't move over here or we're looking for a reason to lay you all off. It's just, it just continues to just beat down everybody and it's very, very sad.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. You know, we talk a lot on this show about all this. We talked yesterday at length about it again. Right. Of this fad chasing. And that's what we're seeing when we talk about Meta having these layoffs. We talk about, you know, know, Amazon shutting stuff down yesterday and all these mass layoffs. Right. It's. Well, the, the gamble here of going off and trying to chase the fat of VR or games in general, not wanting to make art, but wanting to make money. And then we entered the space to make money, not to make art. Not understanding what we're doing. Oh, this isn't getting the returns we want. Kill it. Let's throw it behind AI. Let's go this way.

[Andy Cortez]

Right. There was a great write up in story sometime near the end of last year where me and Bless were on a games daily. And the story it was was just facts written by Matt Piscatello doing his awesome reporting and talking about how only 18% of the industry buys more than two games a year. Only 18% of fan bases and gamers buy more than two games a year. And the constant urge that we need to. It's one of those like, call your senators type deal. But this is one of those like we need every head of a studio and every head of a publisher and, and the people with the money that could not give a lesser shit about the art that these artists are creating. We need them to know that you need to target just the 18% because the other 78 or the other 72% are just working or just playing Marvel, Rivals and Fortnite and Roblox and all the other free to play stuff. And you are building your financial futures as if all 100% are constantly buying shit. And that's just not how it works. Focus on the 18%. That's where the core of the business is.

[Greg Miller]

Set your expectations.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah. And don't, you know, Suddenly create a 250 person studio out of nowhere because you're just going to be, you know, laying those people off in two years, three years.

[Greg Miller]

Well, speaking of people losing their jobs, number four, Meta's Reality Labs is still losing a lot of money. This is eddie over at GameSpot Spot Parent Facebook parent company Meta has released its latest earnings report. And while the company made many billions of dollars in profit, not every business unit at the technology giant is profitable. The company's Reality Labs division, which comprises virtual and augmented reality, consumer hardware, software and content, continued to be a sore spot for Meta for the quarter that ended December 31, Reality Labs recorded revenue of. Drum roll please. $955 million, down from 1.083 billion during same period last year. Or gets worse. Income for the quarter was non existent. Reality Labs posted quarterly loss of 6.021 billion for the full year. Reality Labs pulled in revenue of $2.207 billion, which was an increase from the previous year's $2.146 billion. However, the increased revenue did not lead to increased profit. Instead, Reality Labs booked a $19.193 billion loss for the full year compared to of 17.729 billion during the previous year.

[Andy Cortez]

That is unfathomable. I can't even picture what that looks like.

[Greg Miller]

Although Reality Labs continues to be an ongoing miss for Meta, the company's other divisions are putting out strong numbers. Altogether. Numbers period. Altogether, meta posted about $201 billion in revenue for the full year with a profit of about 60.5 billion. Yeah, $60.5 billion. Meta ended 2025. Who the fuck cares about that part? Look at the current fiscal year. Meta said Reality Labs will continue to with operating losses expected to remain similar to what they were in 2025. In related news, Meta recently made drastic cuts to Reality Lab's division, shutting down the studios behind Deadpool VR, Asgard's Wrath 2 and Resident Evil 4 VR. The company also is said to have canceled the planned sequel to Arkham Shadow. Meta stock price, which closed at $668 on January 28, surged by more than 9% in after hours trading following the company's outperformance against its earnings projections. Andy, they're just going to close Reality Labs eventually, right? Or the VR portion of it. Augmented reality maybe they keep on when they're trying to do the Meta Ray Bans and all that.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I mean there. Well, there's got to be. There will likely be a closure and I'm sure they're going to look to hopefully move any sort of talent that they can to the AR stuff because they want to continue pushing into, you know, the glasses, Arkansas sort of thing. But yeah, I mean, you could just kind of copy paste what I said a little while ago and just put it here. So editors, can we do that?

[Greg Miller]

Well, save it, editors, because number five on the Roper Report, Xbox gaming revenue declines as console sales continue to slump. This is Hayley Williams at Gamespot. Microsoft has posted its earnings report for the latest quarter. And while it's been a strong period for the company as a whole, the Xbox gaming division is struggling though Microsoft posted an overall revenue increase of 17% year on year. Gaming revenue is down 9% with console sales making up a large part of that decline. Microsoft's Q2FY. That's fiscal year Tim 26. Results generally look great for the tech behemoth, with the company boasting a staggering $81.3 billion revenue, largely driven by its cloud and business divisions. But Xbox isn't looking so healthy right now. Now Microsoft's gaming Division revenue declined 9% as a whole, with a 5% decrease in revenue from content and services, which includes Game Pass. Microsoft explains that this decline can be mostly attributed to strong first party content the year prior and predicts that Q3 will see a similar decline in the single digits for the same reason it.

[Andy Cortez]

Wasn'T the price increases. Wow.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Crazy. Who would have thought.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, would have thought. Increasing the prices of the console and this very, very popular service.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, that.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow. That stinks.

[Greg Miller]

Xbox gaming hardware revenue has declined for the last three financial years and isn't set to break that trend anytime soon with a 32% decline year on year. Microsoft expects this trend to continue into 2026 too. Despite the downward trends, Microsoft expects Game Pass to continue to grow through the next quarter, though the company hasn't given a public update on subscriber numbers since it reached reached the milestone of 34 million subscribers in early 2024 and then of course jacked up the price.

[Andy Cortez]

I think back to our like, you know, gift guide or whatever and I still can't help but remember that little fucking motion box that people were buying at Target that outsold the X. Yeah, yeah. Which is still one of the. Like to me when the big three aren't Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox. It says crazy of an upset as you know, miracle on ice. That's something that you're like we could have never ever expected a random no name thing to suddenly outsell one of the big things, but when that big thing is, is six years old now. When did the Xbox One come out? 2021. 2020. Xbox One or I mean the Xbox series. 2020. Right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, 2020.

[Andy Cortez]

Like to after five years of it being out to raise the price of something that's already like outdated and getting older. Yeah, I like it just it. Of course you're going to continue to lose money on that thing and I know things are getting more expensive but you're going to just, you're going to see less and less units go out there.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And like I don't. It feels like self sabotage in a Way to. Hey, we got to lay off more people. Look at the sales going. It's like, well, yeah, you raised the prices on your services and the consoles. I don't know, man. It's. I, like, I really want to be a fly on the wall just to hear what the actual discussions are, because we're just going to see more and more of our friends get laid off.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I mean, I think this is all wrapped up in what we've talked about already on this show and throughout this thing. Right. Is. And I. It's the same beating the drum. Right. Of. I think Xbox as a division saw they were losing to PlayStation, made this bet on Game pass and Xbox being everywhere. And this will be great. And I think that's right around the time when the winds changed at Microsoft and it became, okay, fuck, we need you to. Everybody needs to be making money. You've seen. I forget at 30%. Is that what it was? Like the. The profit margin they want or whatever the fuck it was? I don't know. Throw it away because I don't have it in front of me from what it was. But it's like, then the AI boom is here, the AI fad is here. We're going to chase that with all this money. And that's what the power is. And so now we're mad at Xbox for losing money on top of that. So now we're going to crank the prices on that where it's going to piss people off and drive them away. And then I also think there is a very. It'll be interesting when Jason Schreier writes a book in 10 years about all this. And it is. All right, cool. Well, we're going to commit to making what people want, a console that's also a. It runs Xbox games, but it's also a PC that'll be really cool. Great. We're going to do that at the worst time to try to make that hardware switch as tariffs, jack up all the prices and as on top, get rid of the tariffs from the equation. Then it's just this fucking run on RAM that is happening right now where you can't get ram. Where like the rumor, right? We didn't get into games daily this week, but one analyst was predicting, like, PlayStation's not putting out the PS6 when they thought they were putting it out. They're gonna push that down the line because of this and all that. And so now you have Xbox who was, I think, scuttling, firing off all the series X's and S's right. Because cool. We're not worrying about that. We're gonna pivot to this next thing. And they've already. They called it premium before everything went to shit. Right. Sarah Bond was like, that's gonna be a premium thing. So it's gonna be outrageously expensive now for what they're trying to do. They're just rock hard place. And they also made a call when you can't predict anything in this world when everything went to shit.

[Andy Cortez]

And so it's like, yeah, I've never been the type to say like, no, get an Xbox or no, get a PlayStation. And we still get questions from, you know, people who are. Who love gaming, but aren't, you know, either, you know, financially ready to even buy one of the newer consoles. And whenever they ask, it's. It's always been a go where your friends are or go with whatever ecosystem you're comfortable with. And now it's not even a question to where I'm like, no, I don't think it's a smart decision to buy an Xbox.

[Greg Miller]

It's. Oh, yeah, it's just.

[Andy Cortez]

There. There's. It. There is. It makes zero sense to do that now.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You know.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Well, especially because you're in this. What's the next one? What?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Thing. I think play anywhere is awesome. But I love playing and I already had an Xbox.

[Andy Cortez]

But again, it's just. Yeah, the. The old thing is now more expensive.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

100. And you are going to be able to play a lot of those games on the PlayStation now or on PC, which is obviously a different discussion because that's way more expensive. But it's like. Yeah, it's just. There's no logical reasoning that I would recommend anybody to buy an Xbox right now.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Number six on the Roper report. Let's give you some good news. Hey, Nick, come here.

[Nick Scarpino]

Okay, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you, Nick. Everybody, welcome to stage. Nick Scarpino. Yay, Nick. Yes, Greg. Dune Awakening is getting big changes with Chapter three. This is Blair Marnell at gamespot. So I brought in our Dune Awakening expert. Last year, Dune Awaken developer Funcom promised fans that its free Chapter 3 update would arrive between January and March 2026. Now, the official date for Dune Awakening Chapter 3 has been set for February 3rd, and it's bringing a lot of requested changes to the game. On Funcom's developer blog, the team noted that Chapter three was designed to address fan demands for more endgame options. Additional content for the world of Arker, Arceus. Archicus.

[Nick Scarpino]

Arrakis.

[Greg Miller]

Arrakis.

[Andy Cortez]

This is A legendary episode and the ability to.

[Greg Miller]

It's Andy. It's just personified.

[Nick Scarpino]

He mispronounced it so badly. I was like, I don't know what this one is. Oh, Arrakis.

[Greg Miller]

I've seen the movies. I'm playing games. The ability to experience everything in the end game without ditching the player's preferred play style. With the arrival of this update, players will be able. Will be able to progress after reaching the sixth tier. Plan Stanium with enhancement. Plan Stan. Are you Plan Stanium?

[Nick Scarpino]

I mean, it's. I usually pronounce it like Plastonium. I'm not sure why that's spelled that way, but that's okay.

[Greg Miller]

With enhanced specialization in augmentation systems as well as quote, deeper choices, shared goals, and more ways for players to continue growing in late game. In late gameplay. There will also be 10 new locations on the overland map that have repeatable testing stations and boss encounters. Players can choose to make those boss battles easier or harder, although the latter will earn them more rewards than the former. Additionally, players will be able to accept except Lands Rad missions. Lands Rad.

[Nick Scarpino]

Good one.

[Greg Miller]

They nailed that one. Regardless of their preferred play style, these missions provide a new way to complete assignments and collect rewards. Chapter three is also allowing players to pick up where they left off by utilizing a base reconstruction tool and transferring their characters to another active world or Sietch.

[Andy Cortez]

Sietch. Nice job.

[Greg Miller]

Good job. I'm learning, guys. Yeah. I'm coming online to come back to you just in time. There are more incentives for lapsed players to come back to the game. Including. Including. That's what they wrote. Returning packages with valuable resources for anyone who hasn't been logged out of the game. Anyone who has been logged out of the game for 28 days. Available after chapter three. Taxes have also been dropped for all players.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Greg Miller]

And they can now expand their bases without getting gouged by the Emperor's tax collectors.

[Nick Scarpino]

Interesting, dude.

[Greg Miller]

Awakening's next pay dlc, Raiders of the Broken Lands, will debut in the first quarter of this year.

[Andy Cortez]

You don't have to pay the taxes anymore for us, Nick.

[Nick Scarpino]

I'm paying everyone's taxes too.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, man. Yeah. You still paying my taxes?

[Nick Scarpino]

Yeah. Lording it over. Thank you.

[Andy Cortez]

You.

[Greg Miller]

Are you still playing Dune Awakening?

[Nick Scarpino]

I dropped back in last week just to power my base back up with the intention of packing it up basically indefinitely until this next chapter came out. So I think at this point, I'll probably just wait if it's really going to drop on February 3rd. That's right. Around the corner, and I just paid my taxes and fueled up my generators. The big question is, like, what? I will jump back in for this. How long will I play? Because Chapter two, I was like, great, there's more stuff in chapter two. And I played for about another two or three days, and then it just felt kind of hollow and empty. I think the big problem for me is that when we first jumped in, all of our friends were playing. Right.

[Andy Cortez]

As were.

[Nick Scarpino]

There was maybe 10 to 15 other players in our specific server. And so the game felt alive. It felt like you were competing for resources. It felt like you would see someone struggling and maybe help them out or whatever, and you were all sort of in it together, but it felt like a real world. Now I jump in and I just look over and Gary's base has, like, one wall left, and there's no one else on my server. And I think for a long time they had talked about combining servers, which they absolutely need to do if they haven't done it already. You need to get.

[Greg Miller]

Get.

[Nick Scarpino]

This game thrives when you feel like it's there. Other players are really, really enjoying it. And I guess every game feels like that if it's like a mmo.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Nick Scarpino]

But this game specifically was so special. When you were, like, going across the desert and you look over and you see someone else, like, going across the desert, and you knew they felt the same anxiety you felt because you didn't want to get eaten by the worm. Right. Or like Andy and I would jump sources. Yeah, they're going for the spice. You got to get there first. They really did have a big problem with the end game in that by the time you got to the deep desert, you were just. It just felt kind of like there's nothing left to do. And I don't think they're going to solve that problem with this chapter. But candidly, again, I'm going to be one of those guys that says, hey.

[Greg Miller]

Man, there's never been a better time to play the way.

[Nick Scarpino]

Well, I honestly.

[Greg Miller]

And I'm going to.

[Nick Scarpino]

I'm going to tell you, because the first 200 hours of the game, if you're on an active server, are really, really fun. How much more game do you really want out of a game? That's the big question.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Nick Scarpino]

Like, I put 300 hours in. I don't. I don't regret one single hour of that, except for the last kind of 20, because they're a little depressing of like, I need to let this go.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Nick Scarpino]

Is that Funcom's problem or is that my problem? Like what are they on the hook for? Do they really need to give you thousands of hours of entertainment for this one time purchase?

[Greg Miller]

Sure, sure.

[Nick Scarpino]

I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I do know I love the game. I do know I love sharing the game with other players and I would love a compelling reason to go back to it because I have kept the base up.

[Greg Miller]

Maybe your dlc, maybe the DLC lanes will do that for you.

[Nick Scarpino]

Well, I'm going to jump back in and we'll play it.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to just shoot a big monster. I wanted like me and the squad to feel like a division boss or like Destiny boss. And that was the thing that the game was always missing for me, which is why people are like, man, you put so many hours into it. I think it may, I think it was second to maybe Elden Ring Night Rain for my most played game last year. They're like, you didn't put it in your top 10. It's like I90 of those hours are just building the house. Like because I just built, I built a lot of houses and I had a lot of.

[Nick Scarpino]

That game could be a base building game and I would like pay $20 to just do it.

[Andy Cortez]

It's just the rest of the game was lacking. Like I wanted RAID type stuff. I wanted a big boss that you had to figure out what the mechanics were. They, they just didn't really do that. It would always just be another humanoid because that's the world of Dune. You're not going to, you know, I, I feel like they're also really attached to the lore and they're not going to have you shooting down a big alien that they. Yeah, it's just, it's just dudes with jetpacks that like might have a different moveset but it's never what I wanted. Which I'm also. Also asking for something that just isn't Dune, you know.

[Nick Scarpino]

Well, they need to figure it out. That's though. They need to figure that out. They need to figure out a compelling. They need to figure out a compelling way to get me stoked, to get you, Mike, Gary, everything and all the Jabroni boys back in the game to do something and I just don't see them doing that. The, the Chapter two going on another mission. You go to this other space that you've already seen a billion times and they just built out like a wrecked ship and you're like, this is just more of the same, unfortunately. So we'll see what Chapter three brings for us.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you, Nick.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank you, Nick.

[Greg Miller]

Get ready for your screencast. Up next, talking about every movie coming out in February.

[Nick Scarpino]

I'm excited. I'm going to watch some trailers.

[Andy Cortez]

Trailers.

[Greg Miller]

He has no time to watch those. But if he did watch all those trailers and do his homework, that'd be big news. Andy, if I wanted to say the smallest news I need to know about, where would I go?

[Andy Cortez]

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

[Greg Miller]

Number seven. IGN reports a Neo 3 demo is now available on PS5 and PC. Any progress you make in the demo will carry over to the full game. But even better is the fact that you'll get a reward for completing the demo. The twin snake helmet. Gamespot reports a split fiction movie is in development with Sydney Sweeney, which we knew, obviously. But how is the movie coming along and will it actually get made? That remains to be seen, but game director Joseph Ferris gave an update recently, saying in an interview that he recently got the first draft of the movie script. He told Moviezine that even getting a script in the first place was not notable because, quote, there's so much talk in Hollywood for projects that have a lot of buzz but never materialize. But the split fiction movie is indeed moving forward with a new script. Also in the interview, Ferris said he met with Sweeney and remarked that she seemed, quote, unquote, super chill. Ferris added that it's his belief that Sweeney is, quote, unquote, hyped to make super chill. We'll see if that movie ever happens.

[Andy Cortez]

It's gonna be in the Gundam movie.

[Greg Miller]

Is that. Is that. How far are we into that? Like, is that the same thing here?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, no. Like, they. It's like it's gonna be filmed for Netflix. I believe her and Noah Centineo. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Cool.

[Andy Cortez]

I like him as like, there's a lot of like Scuttlebaugh on the Internet that she's. After all the real bad press she was doing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, that.

[Andy Cortez]

Trying to turn around public sentiment by just showing the girls.

[Greg Miller]

I saw a clip on Instagram the other day, like, what the. They're out. She was doing or whatever.

[Andy Cortez]

God bless.

[Greg Miller]

Another Wii news. This is press release. Get ready to travel Back to the 90s with your favorite Disney tunes. Atari and digital clips today announced the Disney Afternoon collection will launch on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on February 26th. The updated collection, exclusive to Switch and Switch 2, adds two new titles, bringing a total of eight Disney themed classic games to Nintendo consoles for the first time since their original NES and SNES releases. IGN reports Rainbow six Siege is getting a Metal Gear Solid crossover over as Ubisoft is teasing that Solid Snake will appear as a new operator in year 11. Kevin, can we see the teaser trailer here?

[Andy Cortez]

That's cool.

[Greg Miller]

I want to see it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, we gotta get. Okay. This is. This is exciting. This could get me, Mike and Bless back into it. Hopefully. Really hopefully. He's not listening.

[Greg Miller]

That's what we'll do for you. I mean, I love.

[Andy Cortez]

We really enjoyed Siege last year. Like when we. We played it, we streamed it for that one week and it was. It was awesome. It was like, wow, this game is still really, really great.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Yeah. And while Kevin preps that IGN also turns 30 this year and they've begun celebrating. You should go over there and show them some love. Can we get sound for this too? Because we got Kodak. I gotta hear the beeps.

[Andy Cortez]

Huh?

[Nick Scarpino]

Our window is closing.

[Andy Cortez]

We only get one shot at this.

[Greg Miller]

Suit.

[Andy Cortez]

That's fucking sick.

[Greg Miller]

It's the tease, baby. Watch the full reveal February 15th. That's fucking far away. What's the. Cool.

[Andy Cortez]

Is this video game still live?

[Greg Miller]

Of course. You think? Man, I don't know much about siege operators. Do they all have voices? Is it going to be David Hater? Is that going to happen?

[Andy Cortez]

They all have voices. Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. They all got their, you know, enemy over here when you ping stuff or whatever. They got their own little cutcenes, their lore. Okay, what was the game that got cancelled? The multiplayer? That's like asking. That's a very open ended question. Which Ubisoft game got canceled is quite the open ended question. But the one that was like Call of Duty X Ballistic X something.

[Greg Miller]

X Defiant.

[Andy Cortez]

X Defiant. There we go.

[Greg Miller]

And that's it for WE news. We jump to the one, the onlys, the super chats to see what's going on over there. Start from the bottom and we can go up. Kebab Super Chats and says Dune Karen of Arrakis. You're not going to get me toss a tomodachi life in there too. I'm ready now to do the show from the top.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, okay.

[Greg Miller]

All these words, that'd be great. Running back I Dion is I O says nice meeting you, Ian. There's no Ian in there.

[Andy Cortez]

You really pronounce the first name that is spelled I A N as I in.

[Greg Miller]

What are you talking about? ID I D on. What do you want me. What do you reading?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, that's so funny, because the second super chatter, you're like I and D. Oh.

[Greg Miller]

But no. So, see, on whatever page you're on, you're getting their user name and you're getting the name of their channel, and I'm getting their username.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha. Okay. Okay.

[Greg Miller]

You know, give me a handshake. Hey, is that. We both. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? So that's Ian, which does not show on my screen is Ian whatsoever. All right, Ian says, nice meeting you last night and FaceTiming.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, my God.

[Greg Miller]

Nice meeting you all last night and for FaceTiming my mom. Greg, I forgot about that, man. I thought I heard the poster lady. She was gonna post it up above her bed. She did say that. The poster lady who was one of the. Oh, yeah, but I completely Forgot that I FaceTimed your mom last night.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was. Yeah. Ian, last night chat was like, greg, every time my mom sees you on the tv, she's like, oh, that guy, his voice is so annoying, going. And he was like, so can I record it? Can I record a video of you, like, saying something to her? And he goes, no, facetimer, call her right now. And you did.

[Greg Miller]

He's like, I don't know if she'll answer. She.

[Andy Cortez]

And he cut a promo.

[Greg Miller]

That's what I do. It's why I'm so tired. I gave everything I had last night.

[Andy Cortez]

Think about every time you wronged me, ma'. Am. Psycho.

[Greg Miller]

This isn't a super chat, but BG in the chat says, huh. Interesting. No mention of the brutal dispatch censorship on Switch. We mentioned it this show when I mentioned it to Andy, and we also reported on it yesterday. So fuck you and go away.

[Andy Cortez]

Interesting.

[Greg Miller]

Unless you're a fan, you can hang out still. I'm doing this. Okay, wait. Last geek says, what's the best Mountain Dew? Also, chug the Dew.

[Andy Cortez]

Andy, the best Mountain Dew is Code Red.

[Greg Miller]

What about Livewire? I love Livewire.

[Andy Cortez]

Livewire is good, but I mean, Code Red is just. Code red. Voltage one and two.

[Greg Miller]

Kristoff, Christopher. 21. Andy, please do the snake voice again. Princess Dorkness says, another important piece of the puzzle on layoffs, I believe, is that the cost of living has continued to rise while wages haven't. That's a very big thing about why the economy's all fucked up right now. Cooper says my job at Bob's now has 10 to 18 week forced hiatus parentheses unpaid per year. So you either quit and take the unemployment with onboarding paperwork afterward, or just eat that Loss the noon norm. That fucking sucks.

[Andy Cortez]

Sick.

[Greg Miller]

Sam Godfrey says, I've lost all idea of what the game is called now. I think he's talking about Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Karen. Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Sky says, thanks for an amazing show last night. You guys were incredibly kind and I can't wait to be at the next one. Thank you, sky, for flying all the way out from Minnesota.

[Andy Cortez]

Thank you.

[Greg Miller]

Lesson review. Howard the Duck Zeke the Feek says I hey, I was the dude with the long hair, Bluey Roosevelt shirt. Team blue champion shirt underneath and hot wife by myself. Side.

[Andy Cortez]

He's a wife.

[Greg Miller]

Just to put a face with a name for y'. All, here's the next live event. That was a great thing you did in the meet and greet where everybody would introduce themselves and you'd go, but what's your. Your handle? What's your twitch name? What's your use?

[Andy Cortez]

I'm Blanket Fort. Oh, we know you, Blinker. I'm Fun Time. No way you're Fun Time.

[Greg Miller]

Fun Time just came.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm Eric Myers. 93. No like, that was awesome, dude.

[Greg Miller]

Fung time 94 in the super chat there says, love hanging out with y' all last night. Thanks for the bear hug. Also, Andy, when are you gonna watch heated rival? This is a hot topic discussion last night I gotta.

[Andy Cortez]

I gotta watch and or first I'll get there.

[Greg Miller]

The only special feature says the game Baker's other game, Haven was one of my favorite of all time. A beautiful romantic love story. So I'm so excited for Karen. It's also interesting because Haven was such a different game than Karen. I like people going out and expanding what they're doing. Do stuff.

[Andy Cortez]

What's a Russian gunship doing?

[Greg Miller]

V Super chats and says on the pot tax. Thank you very much for that. Eric Myers. 93. Thank you all for a great show last night. My wife and I had a blast. Y' all should have talked about Howard's wallet condom, though. That was why.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh my God, we forgot about Howard's wallet condom.

[Greg Miller]

Condom loose. It's a fucking loose.

[Andy Cortez]

It was a loose condom that you got to assume gets repurposed. You just roll that sucker back up. And also it was the shape of an egg. Like their planet was the shape of an egg as well.

[Greg Miller]

Ah, I missed the egg shaped condom.

[Andy Cortez]

Holy fuck. What a movie memento.

[Greg Miller]

In the Notebook super chats again. It says Barrett, did you get the gift I left with gre? Barrett came in. He's running the later shifts. So no, that's in my bag because I couldn't give it to Kevin Because Kevin's not Barrett. But I'll get it to Barrett. Don't worry about it. Trimbley Wimbley says in memos defense super chats in the app do this weird auto complete that makes it impossible to type. Also, Karen looks awesome. Excited to play it. Everybody's laughing. I'm just fucking. That's how you pronounce it?

[Andy Cortez]

Just pronounce it. You nailed it when you said it sounds like you're shutting down.

[Greg Miller]

Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Karen.

[Greg Miller]

Professor White. T. So awesome to see you. Meet you guys last night in person. I had the fattest smile on my face driving home and when Roger smiled at me and said, quote, unquote, how's it going before the show? Fangirl wave. We are happy you were able to come out and hang with us, professor yt. Thank you so much. Kebabs. Super chats from this way in the beginning, Nintendo really be like, quote, we'll let you be gay in our game. Just don't think any screenshots of you doing. And then Mac and Awesome says, nationwide strike tomorrow. That's right. There is a general strike being called for for tomorrow if you are able to participate. Participate?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. We got a. They got to plan these things, like, ahead of time. Like you got.

[Greg Miller]

I never want to critique anything.

[Andy Cortez]

Criticize.

[Greg Miller]

This is the movement.

[Andy Cortez]

Do it.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, for sure. But as I was ranting and raving last week about a general strike, if you. I was like, let's do it in February so we can. Like the end of the month so we can organize the nation. I don't think you can organize the nation in two days. But I. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm not saying don't do it.

[Andy Cortez]

You can do it.

[Greg Miller]

Dominator.

[Andy Cortez]

Dom.

[Greg Miller]

There's this general strike tomorrow. I had no idea. It's. I saw it surface yesterday morning. So it's. They're trying to get it going. I would have planned for more time.

[Andy Cortez]

Let's do ours. And you know, you know, like when people. When couples are like, if you go out on Valentine's Day, it's so packed. Let's. Let's do it on the 21st or something. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Let's get these last super chats out. People are still trying to get them in here. Nick says, greg, this might not be appropriate time or place. How did you get over your. Your breakup? I'm going through it. It feels like everything's falling apart. I don't know how to cope. I don't know what to do with myself. Well, Nick, that's you. That's when breakups happen. That's normal. That happens to a lot of different people. I'm sure. There's Greg ways about this. I'm not trying to push you off, but I also know that we shouldn't go on for 20 minutes. The thing is, if you're going through hell, keep on going. You got to push through this. You got to power through this. The good news, maybe you could take solace in is, like, you're not the only person ever to do this. This is everybody who goes through a traumatic breakup and misses their partner and is heartbroken about. About it. That doesn't make it easier. I know, but it is the truth. So lean on your friends. Lean on the kind of funny best friends, play games.

[Andy Cortez]

Play games, get angry about video games. You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's great.

[Andy Cortez]

I'll invite you to Deadlock.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Mike will make you angry for sure. Yeah, Mike like music, says Greg, saying Karen reminds me of the twin bugs in Silk Song. Karen. Karen.

[Andy Cortez]

Like. Oh, yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And the final question from now overly jammy question for Andy. Have you played Fury? That game has right up your.

[Andy Cortez]

I played Fury way back in the day when I was a developer, when I was working on the Ruby game. This was, like, way, way early before the idea of, like, indie action RPGs wasn't even really a thing to me, you know? Yeah, but it was like a way early, back in the day thing that had kind of like those telegraph boss fights. And I just didn't really understand what I was playing at the time because I had no concept or, you know, I just wasn't really aware that that sort of thing was existing as at the time then.

[Greg Miller]

And you are wrong. Two different people are popping in with a link from a VGC article. We'll cover tomorrow. Dispatch is censored on Nintendo Switch 2, and this might be the reason why they're getting to the bottom of this. Is this middle ear? No, it's Scully and Middler doesn't do work anymore. He just goes to Pokemon Openings. And then the right Hodalgo writes in and says, since we're all about pronunciations today, Andy, can you teach Greg how to say my last. My username, slash, last. Last name. Hidalgo. How do you say that?

[Andy Cortez]

Well, I mean, I don't think it's wrong for you to say Hidalgo. Yeah, like, but it's a county where I'm from, back home. I know a lot of. I mean, it's Hidalgo, like, but that's like, you know when you go like. I love it when you say, you know, frijoles. You know, it's like instead of beans. Yeah. It's like, you know, I wouldn't expect you to, you know, order something at a, at a Chinese restaurant and use the accent, you know, I think Hidalgo is fine. Fine.

[Greg Miller]

How do you want me to say it? The right. The right. Don't get me wrong, I will forget.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Every saying the H is silence. You want me to say right? Idolo.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You know, Dogo. You're an ill dog though. I've said enough. Today everybody. This has been another episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily. Your nerdy news you need to know about. We're here each and every weekday. Of course. We are kind of Funny. A live talk show to network. Which means the fun isn't stopping. From here you are going straight in to the Kinda Funny screencast. That's right. Today they are doing the rundown of every movie coming out in February 2026. After that is Back to the Future, our first time watching for Kinda Funny's in review series run by Nick. And after that it is going to be another episode of Games Cast Plays for Karen where it's our editorial product. You can get it on podcast service, you can watch it live, yada yada. Most importantly though, if you are over on patreon.com kind of funny you have a happy hour coming up today. That's if you go and Support at the $25 or above level. You can be on a call in show that's basically like a two hour long kind of funny podcast we do here. You call in, we talk to you, we have a good time. Everybody. Everybody's everybody's now. Now people are talking about the fucking GS, not people. The right ill dog though is I can't even do it. Everybody, this has been another episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily. Until next time time. It's been our pleasure to serve you.