Game Awards Winner Predictions 2025 - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

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Kinda Funny Gamescast: Game Awards Winner Predictions 2025

Date: December 10, 2025
Hosts: Tim Gettys, Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Blessing Adeoye Jr., Andy Cortez, Snowbike Mike

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Episode Overview

The Kinda Funny crew unites for their annual Game Awards Winner Predictions, dissecting every major category to decide what will walk away as 2025’s victorious games. Unlike previous years, Snowbike Mike joins the full crew after last year’s absence, bringing fresh perspectives on anticipated contenders like Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and much more. The tone is classic Kinda Funny: irreverent, insightful, and peppered with friendly banter and bold bets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap of Past Predictions (08:01)

• 2023: Blessing was the big winner with 20 correct predictions.
• 2024: Blessing and Greg tied at 15 each; Tim and Andy at 16 each.
• Mike's joining the prediction panel for the first time.
• Every host is aiming for the elusive “sweep” this year, with Expedition 33 looming as the big favorite.

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2. Expedition 33’s Dominance (09:23, 10:10, 13:44)

• Nominated in 12 categories (the most in Game Awards history).
• Multiple hosts confidently predict an "8 or 9 category sweep," with Greg noting:

  “This game is beloved, man.” (10:20, Greg Miller)

• Debates whether it's deserving of every award, but panel focuses on predicting likely outcomes, not personal favorites.

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3. Anticipated Game of 2026 (11:06 – 16:01)

Most Anticipated Game

Nominees: 007: First Light, Grand Theft Auto 6, Marvel’s Wolverine, Resident Evil Requiem, Witcher 4

• Unanimous Prediction: Grand Theft Auto 6 (12:22).
  Andy:

  “A Rockstar game is a once-in-a-generation type thing... that’s a big technical feat that I’m super excited to see.” (11:59, Andy Cortez)

• Personal excitement varies—Greg prefers Wolverine, Mike and Blessing hold a torch for Witcher 4 (despite its distant release).
• Memorable Exchange:
  Greg:

  "What is this description? Most anticipated game. Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward… It's just the game you are most excited to play. Call it what it is!" (12:32, Greg Miller)

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4. Best Adaptation (17:06 – 18:31)

Nominees: Minecraft Movie, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell, Death Watch, The Last of Us Season 2, Until Dawn

• Consensus Pick: The Last of Us Season 2—despite mixed reception, the panel agrees the voters will favor it.
• Mike rides for the Minecraft movie’s surprising positivity and box office.
• Pizza bet initiated: Will there be a “Chicken Jockey” reference during the show? (19:18, Andy/Greg)

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5. Best Multiplayer (20:31 – 25:28)

Nominees: Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, Elden Ring: Night Rain, Peak, Split Fiction

• Split Fiction receives the plurality from Tim, Andy, and Greg.
  Tim:

  “It Takes Two won Game of the Year. People voting on this love so much value in co-op… I can see that happening here.” (23:07, Tim Geddes)

• Blessing puts his chips on Arc Raiders, noting its late-year momentum.
• Mike goes with Peak for its "friend slop" style and wild popularity but critiques the lack of a standalone “co-op” category.

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6. Major Category Predictions

(Timestamped selected highlights for each, deepening where notable debate arose)

Best Sports/Racing (25:28)

• Mario Kart World Rematch is the overwhelming pick.
  • Mike: “Unfortunately, it will be Mario Kart...” (26:32)

Best Sim/Strategy (26:39)

• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivelisse Chronicles gets most votes.
• Blessing goes with The Alters, betting on voters rewarding innovation over nostalgia.

Best Family Game (29:38)

• Donkey Kong Bonanza is the likely winner, but Greg holds out for Mario Kart.
• Blessing: “You gotta play the game. It’s the Game of the Year contender.” (30:57)

Best Fighting (31:08)

• 2XKO is the group favorite, though Blessing and Mike go with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, citing a weak field.

Best RPG (33:05)

• Expedition 33 vs. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
  • Andy and Mike predict Kingdom Come will get recognition here.
  • Tim, Greg, and Bless pick Expedition 33.

Best Action/Adventure (35:00)

• Hollow Knight: Silksong is called the surefire winner by the whole group.
  • Blessing admits: “I really want to say Death Stranding 2 because that’s my personal pick, but Hollow Knight’s too powerful.” (35:39)

Best Action (39:49)

• Hades II receives unanimous praise and prediction.

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7. VR/AR & Mobile (40:45 – 45:02)

• VR/AR is a toss-up.
  • Most initially lean toward Ghost Town and Midnight Walk.
  • The group highlights how little impact the category seems to have overall.
• Best Mobile Game:
  • Umamosumi Pretty Derby splits picks with Wuthering Waves. Blessing and Tim go for the Derby front-runner due to its summer buzz.

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8. Indie, Community, and Ongoing Games

Best Debut Indie & Best Independent Game (45:02 – 47:46)

• Expedition 33 clean sweep in both categories (though Blessing almost caves to Hollow Knight: Silksong).

Best Community Support (47:46)

• Split between Baldur’s Gate 3, Helldivers 2, and No Man’s Sky.
  • Mike: “I’ll go with Helldivers 2, Tim.” (49:32)

Best Ongoing (49:38)

• Marvel Rivals (Mike, Tim, Blessing) and Fortnite (Greg) take most votes.
  • Andy zags for No Man’s Sky, impressed by years of continuous updates.

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9. Special Categories

Games for Impact (51:24)

• Picks are scattered: Consume Me, South of Midnight, Despolote.
  • Greg: “I think Consume Me wears its message the most—like, that is what this game is.” (52:53)

Innovation & Accessibility (54:12)

• Assassin's Creed Shadows is favored; Greg chooses Adam Fall; Mike goes for South of Midnight.

Best Performance (56:12)

• Jennifer English (Claire, Obscure: Expedition 33) is the runaway prediction, though Mike supports Ben Starr:

  “It’s her game for sure.” (57:35, Tim Geddes)

Best Audio Design (58:09)

• Battlefield 6 gets the majority.
  • Mike: “That team blew it out of the park... best audio design of the year.” (59:27)

Best Score/Music (59:56)

• Expedition 33 predicted to win, though hosts lament the “stacked” category snubs—especially Mario Kart World.

Best Art Direction (61:13)

• Most pick Expedition 33, but Greg stands by his love for Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Mike backs Death Stranding 2.

Best Narrative & Game Direction

• Expedition 33 is the consensus pick for narrative, direction, and ultimately Game of the Year.

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Game of the Year (64:00–64:50)

Nominees:

• Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2
• DK Bonanza
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Unanimous Prediction:

“Expedition 33.” (64:17, Greg Miller)

Blessing jokes if DK Bonanza won, it’d be like Macklemore winning over Kendrick:

“If DK wins, it would be like the year where Macklemore won best rap album over Kendrick.” (64:25, Blessing Adeoye Jr.)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Greg, on anticipated games:

  “GTA has been awesome since GTA 3. My order expected the moon from everyone. Haven’t gotten it.” (13:34)

• Pizza Bet on Minecraft ‘Chicken Jockey’:
  Andy: “Does Jeff Keighley make a reference to chicken Jockey?” (19:18)
  Greg: “I’m saying yes.” (20:07)

• On category fatigue:
  Andy:

  “You zig and you zag. I’m going to zog. I want to go with no, man.” (50:34)

• On Expedition 33 winning everything:
  Tim Geddes:

  “Let’s just be real.” (47:16)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 08:01 – Previous years’ prediction recaps
• 09:23 – Expedition 33’s nominations/historical context
• 11:06 – Most Anticipated Game Discussion
• 17:06 – Best Adaptation category
• 20:31 – Best Multiplayer debate
• 26:39 – Best Sim/Strategy
• 29:38 – Best Family Game
• 31:08 – Fighting/Action Game special debates
• 40:45 – VR/AR Mobile & Indie
• 47:46 – Indie & Community categories
• 51:24 – Games for Impact
• 54:12 – Accessibility and Performance
• 58:09 – Audio/Score/Art
• 62:57 – Best Narrative/Direction
• 64:00 – Game of the Year predictions

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Closing Remarks

Kinda Funny’s predictions for the 2025 Game Awards show strong consensus on Expedition 33 sweeping top honors, with brief zig-zags in contentious categories like Best VR, Indie, and Community Support. There’s continual reflection on how voting patterns and category quirks shape outcomes, along with Kinda Funny’s signature blend of argument, admiration, and punchlines.

Hosts Sign Off:

“Stay tuned for tomorrow when we live react and see which one of us was right. One of us will be the winner. Find out who tomorrow!” (66:43, Tim Geddes)

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Transcript

[Mike]

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[Blessing]

So if you've been living in the

[Mike]

white can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe. And every single one is Zero sugar. Tap the banner to learn more. Are you dreaming of the perfect prom? But there's just one thing holding you back.

[Greg Miller]

Speak English, Mom.

[Mike]

Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Modification.

[Andy Cortez]

What is this place?

[Greg Miller]

We help you reach your true potential.

[Andy Cortez]

How are you feeling? It's good to be Hawaii. Hey, new girl. Hey.

[Tim Geddes]

Look at what you've done to yourself.

[Andy Cortez]

For a new plant to grow, the

[Greg Miller]

seed has to die.

[Mike]

Slanted Rated R Only in theaters March 13th. Side effects may occur.

[Tim Geddes]

This episode's brought to you by Storm Lancers. Fight together. Rise together. Storm Lancers is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch 2. What's up? And welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Of course. I'm Tim Geddes and the boys are back again. Yesterday we did Our Game Awards 2025 announcement predictions and today we winner predictions, of course. I'm Tim Geddes. I'm here with blessing at AOYA junior.

[Blessing]

Good day, Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

Snowbike, Mike.

[Mike]

Morning, Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

Greg Miller.

[Greg Miller]

Hi, Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

And Andy Cortez.

[Andy Cortez]

Hi, Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

How you feeling, Andy?

[Andy Cortez]

I'm all right, man.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah? You seem like you're going through it a little bit.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm all right.

[Greg Miller]

Something's up. I offered to hug him in the parking lot. He walked away real quick.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike]

I gave him the heart when I drove past him in the parking lot yesterday and he shooed me off. He said, get out of the way.

[Greg Miller]

What's happening?

[Andy Cortez]

He's like, you sent me to an early retirement for Elder Ring Night Rain. And I said, no, you're streaming Expedition 33, so I'm gonna play Elder United Rain solo. I don't like that you're making me quit the game.

[Tim Geddes]

I don't like that.

[Mike]

Push me out of the game that I love.

[Greg Miller]

Don't push him out of it.

[Andy Cortez]

You said the game. You love that you said on multiple occasions. I'm done with this.

[Tim Geddes]

Oh, man. I'm sure we're gonna be talking a lot about Expedition 33 today, Mike. Anything you want to say just off the top right now about your journey so far, Tim?

[Mike]

It's been a fantastic journey. I'm A true believer. This game is amazing and I cannot wait to talk about game of the year nominations and most importantly talk about my journey. Maybe here on some piece of content soon enough because I'm going to finish it tonight. Tonight, tonight I will be done and I will know the full ending of this.

[Tim Geddes]

I'm very, very excited to check that out. Don't be the chat everybody. This is the kind of fun games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube spot or Apple podcast to get all of our shows ad free and a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be part of this show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. What are your game awards winner predictions and what are the games that you were really, really really hoping win but you actually don't think are going to pull it off? Let us know in the YouTube super chats. A little housekeeping for you. There's no holiday party like a kind of funny holiday party. Celebrate the season with this incredible premium collector item by Panda Musk available exclusively. No, no.

[Greg Miller]

Wrong image. Wrong image.

[Tim Geddes]

Not doing that. Barrett, you can go to patreon.com kind of funny until the month ends to get this incredible premium collector.

[Blessing]

Look at me. When Queen the rabbit came up I

[Mike]

saw you give a little bit of a smile. I saw you smirking.

[Blessing]

Just you know, that's why I look coming off the end of last year, you know.

[Tim Geddes]

Oh my God. The entire kind of funny team made by Panda Musk. The dogs are here. It's fantastic.

[Mike]

I want to know what Roger's doing in the background, why he's smirking like that.

[Tim Geddes]

What's he up to?

[Mike]

What's he up to?

[Greg Miller]

He's thinking about some shirt he just ordered. You know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

You got him.

[Barrett]

What game Andy and I are playing Wrong answers.

[Greg Miller]

Only. Wrong answers.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't like that.

[Barrett]

Had a full boyfriend.

[Greg Miller]

It's clearly hollow knight

[Tim Geddes]

stress going on.

[Andy Cortez]

I see that.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Give you a little puzzle. Little puzzle moment.

[Tim Geddes]

We're 11 person business. All about live talk shows. Today's games daily was all about Laran's new divinity game and a horrifying update on Franklin the turtle. Then the stream is going to be Greg playing a little bit of that mega dimension Pokemon Z dlc. Greg, you want to give a little tease of your thoughts so far.

[Greg Miller]

It's A lovely addition to the game.

[Tim Geddes]

You'll have to watch for more. There we go.

[Blessing]

I don't know if that's a tease.

[Tim Geddes]

If you're a cat, a funny member. What's today's Greg Way? Greg?

[Greg Miller]

Well, it was going to be on the way in one night of Pokemon's out because I played obviously last night. I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait. I had to get in there. Mega Dimension. You know what I mean? Let's go. What's up? The Hyperspace. Lumiose City. This shit's black and white. I gotta eat a donut to go inside. Why wouldn't I like this? I'm not making it up. You can see why I'd love it. But then I was like, okay, well then there was the rumors of maybe Supergirl was gonna happen today, right? Because they started Te teasing the teaser. And I was like, okay, here we go. So I was like, I'm not going to do a Greg Way on the way to work because I'll probably have more to say about Super Go when that's all done. And then of course today's tease is just the tease that tomorrow there's a teaser and it's like, well, we already knew that. That was already rumored. I didn't that so Greg Way.

[Mike]

I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

I feel like this stream's gonna cover what I feel about Mega Dimension dlc, right? So I don't need to do that for Greg Way Blaster Goblin wrote in like he does with a. A dump of questions. I might go through there. I. I haven't checked my Spotify comments from yesterday. I might get some questions. There'll be a good Greg Way answering some questions.

[Tim Geddes]

I like that. Stay tuned everybody. And also stay tuned to tomorrow. A little more housekeeping for you. Of course it is Game Awards. So of course we will be live reacting, doing a little pre show. Of course we'll be doing a gamescast post show as well. In addition to that there will be a Games Daily, but that's going to be a little bit later. We're going to start at 3pm A lot later actually. Our normal start time, 10am tomorrow, 3pm A little prelude getting into our pre show for the Game Awards and then of course the Game awards itself. On top of that, of course we're going to live. Not live, react. We're going to react to the Supergirl trailer. But because we've learned movie trailers have caused a lot of problems when we do them live, we're just going to pre record that and then post it as a vod. Y' all will be updated. You'll see everything happening. But just remember, 3pm tomorrow you're going to want to be on Twitch TV kind of funny games or YouTube.com kind of funny games to hang out with us all night long. And then a little reminder for every year I'm dressing up, not saying everyone else needs to dress up, but I'm gonna.

[Andy Cortez]

Don't do this to Mike.

[Greg Miller]

So what are you doing, Mike? What are you thinking?

[Mike]

You know, I have been alerted by the kind of funny best friends. In the comments from yesterday's video, they said, mike, we love you. Don't forget, Tim and the gang are gonna dress up. You need to dress up. So I will dress up. I will wear a blazer and a sweatshirt.

[Andy Cortez]

How much is the blazer?

[Mike]

Yeah, I don't know where that blazer is, but I'm gonna find it.

[Andy Cortez]

That the one that you're upset about buying?

[Mike]

Oh yeah. Look at me now wearing it for a second time.

[Greg Miller]

He's making money off that now.

[Tim Geddes]

Making money. Everybody, let's get to the topic of the show. Game awards winner predictions. 2025, we're going to go through all the categories that we feel equipped to predict who we think the winners are going to be. But before we do that, I want to take a little bit of a time traveling adventure back to 2023 where Mike wasn't with us. It was Andy, bless me and Greg. And that was true last year as well. I'm very happy to have you here, Mike.

[Mike]

Thank you for having me this year

[Tim Geddes]

for your first time.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, last year you were sick, right?

[Tim Geddes]

Yes, that was.

[Blessing]

That was definitely.

[Greg Miller]

I was like. Yeah, you took off. You were so sick.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, he was like gone like 22 days. Yeah.

[Blessing]

Does it happen yet?

[Mike]

Not yet.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Be careful though. Watch out.

[Tim Geddes]

2023 was the year that Baldur's Gate 3 won game of the year. Andy got 15 predictions correct. Oh no. Greg got 16 predictions correct.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, shit. That means somebody else.

[Tim Geddes]

I got 17 predictions correct. And Blessing Adioia Jr. Had 20 predictions correct.

[Blessing]

I never win.

[Tim Geddes]

You won that one. You won that one. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Or bless.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

You had a couple that you went off the beaten path compared to everybody else and that racked you up a couple extra.

[Blessing]

What are some examples so I can repeat that?

[Tim Geddes]

Forza Motorsport for innovation and accessibility when the rest of us said Street Fighter 6 and or Spider Man 2, but in there a little bit you had a couple that you went Zelda where others didn't as well okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Tim Geddes]

2024 looks a little bit different. We have Blessing and greg Tied at 15. Correct prediction.

[Greg Miller]

Tied poppies.

[Blessing]

Tied Poppies.

[Tim Geddes]

And then me and Andy tied to at 16. Wow. So no definitive winner this year. Who will it be? Will it be Snowbike Mike in his rookie appearance? We'll have to see. I'm excited.

[Blessing]

I got a prediction. Five way tie. I think all of us.

[Tim Geddes]

Five ways.

[Greg Miller]

Five way tie.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, we'll see.

[Mike]

Like that.

[Tim Geddes]

Let's just have the conversation before we even get into it. Like, we know that Expedition 33 is

[Greg Miller]

up for 12 awards, the most in game awards history.

[Tim Geddes]

Two of those are in the same category, so it's impossible for them to win 12. How much of a sweep are we we think in here without looking at the categories, just like thinking about what we kind of know about this because I think it's going to be a substantial sweep.

[Blessing]

Agreed. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

So 10 categories then, right?

[Greg Miller]

Okay, 11.

[Andy Cortez]

Because you said two of them are in the same or.

[Greg Miller]

So three of them are in the same.

[Andy Cortez]

Only one category has like multiples, right?

[Tim Geddes]

Is it three?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, there's three of them for English

[Barrett]

performance and Charlie Cox.

[Andy Cortez]

Charlie Cox.

[Tim Geddes]

Charlie Cox, that's right. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So there's 10 possible.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Mike]

I put Gustav in that.

[Andy Cortez]

I. I think they win. I think they win maybe eight or nine.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I'm going with at least nine out of ten of those.

[Tim Geddes]

I. I think I'm with you.

[Greg Miller]

I would say at least nine as well, but I wouldn't be. Think it's impossible to take them all. This game is beloved, man.

[Tim Geddes]

Let's get into it because I'm interested.

[Greg Miller]

I wonder what.

[Blessing]

Do y' all agree with that, by the way? Just to make it spicy, you know what I mean? What that, like, does it deserve all them?

[Tim Geddes]

Well, here's the thing. As we go through each of these categories, we can kind of give our thoughts too. But like we are predicting what we think is going to win, not what we want to win. Right. So just keep that in mind. Multiple conversations will be had. But the answer we're locking in is what we predict will win despite our thoughts on the game or whatever. So let's start with Barrett, if you will, bringing up the game awards nominees website. The most anticipated game is where I would like to start.

[Greg Miller]

Most anticipated, mainly because that's where we

[Tim Geddes]

started that last year.

[Greg Miller]

Got it.

[Tim Geddes]

You know what I mean? We have 007, First Light, Grand Theft Auto 6, Marvel's Wolverine, Resident Evil Requiem, and the Witcher 4.

[Andy Cortez]

These are all a bunch of Woke Fest games.

[Tim Geddes]

Damn dude, I'm not voting GTA 6.

[Blessing]

This would be so much more exciting without GTA 6 here.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

So is anybody not saying GTA 6?

[Andy Cortez]

Can we. Will we end up knowing the percentages for everything? Cuz what if we voted for second place? Like will it tell us, you know,

[Greg Miller]

did they show that though?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Does Keely end up showing the percent? I don't know if he does. I don't think so.

[Barrett]

I don't think he does at the show. I think this is one of those like weird pre show ones where they like announce like three or four just

[Greg Miller]

shouts out a bunch of stuff while an ad rolls by.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

So we all say GTA 6, correct? Correct. Personally though, where are y' all at?

[Andy Cortez]

It's hard to not say GTA 6 just because I'm. I've seen so many of the other games exist before and a Rockstar game is a once in a generation type thing and we haven't seen them do anything since Red Dead 2. And it's always just like that's a big, that's a big technical feat that I'm like I'm super excited to see what they're doing.

[Greg Miller]

What is this description? Most anticipated game. Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, right there.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Most anticipated game game you are most excited to play. Call. What the. Yeah, yeah. I mean for me I've talked a little bit about this on Greg way before. Right. Like I think GTA 6 obviously is the answer but I if clear my mechanism my mind and you know, look at this. I would go Wolverine. It's not that I'm not excited to play gta. It's not. It's just more like I haven't had a Wolverine game and I know it sounds stupid in a long time. Gta. I've played a lot of GTA games. I love gta. I know what I'm getting out of gta. I expect to some degree like I just don't expect it to. It's going to be fucking so technically impressive. It's going to. What's exciting for me about GTA will be watching the world react to GTA and the news reports and it's shutting this down and people's reactions and the tick tock and the crazy this. If you stay up at 3am and you look at the moon like all that kind of stuff gets more exciting than the game which is going to be awesome. But GTA has been awesome since GTA 3, my order expected the moon from everyone. Haven't gotten it.

[Andy Cortez]

GTA 6, number one, Witcher 4 at number two. And then I would go probably, Wolverine, first light. Requiem.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, so I would go, then Wolverine, gta, Witcher, Resident Evil, first light.

[Mike]

I enjoy the game of, like, let's take GTA out of this equation, because we all agree on that. And I do go to the Witcher. Right. I think it's very exciting to see what CD Projekt Red will bring to this franchise. It's been over 10 years. You have the cyberpunk debacle, Slash Rebirth, the rise of a Phoenix of, like, how much that grew and got better. You have the TV series that found a new audience, that brought it to a whole new group. Like, I cannot wait to see what they do with the Witcher. There's been so my.

[Greg Miller]

Michael, before you even jump, what I. My question is, when do you think you're actually playing the Witcher 4?

[Andy Cortez]

We'll be voting on this a year from now.

[Greg Miller]

I was going to say, but are we doing it the year after that? That's my question. Are we getting. Is it a 2027 game?

[Mike]

2027 game. GTA will a window. That would be the Witcher 4 if they were to do Holiday. But like, yes. I don't think it's ready to turn 27. If they were to be like, yeah, Greg, it is ready. You would look at and be like, well, GTA's here. Like, let's hold that because it's a great game and let's not get lost in it.

[Greg Miller]

But I think 2028 earliest.

[Andy Cortez]

I go eight earlier. Yeah, 2028 earliest. Especially because that the demos that we've seen aren't even demos. They're just. They were.

[Greg Miller]

This is made for test.

[Mike]

This is what we're doing.

[Blessing]

This is what it's like in Unreal.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Mike]

But I'm excited for what is Witcher 4. Right. You've seen open world games now from Baldur's Gate 3 bringing in decision making. You saw what Dragon's Dogma 2 brought in with different crew members and what that can look like in a cast system. The idea of now Siri at the forefront. This is going to be a whole lot of fun. I can't wait to see that game.

[Blessing]

Yeah. If we're removing GTA from the equation, I have a hard answer and a mind answer. My mind answer is the Witcher 4 just based off of what it is coming from CD Projekt Red. Everything Mike just said, as far as the journey of that studio. Me and Andy sitting down and watching whatever unreal presentation they did where they showed off Siri walking through a little town and showing how crazy that game looks like. I think that is going to be a technical achievement. My hard answer is 007 first light because I love I Interactive. I love what, what they've done with Hitman, and I even, I even enjoy the trailers that we've gotten so far for 007 first light. Of course there are things in there where it's like, man, why does this look like it's running rough? Like, you know, what, what's going on here? But in terms of the ethos of that game, in terms of what their direction that they're taking it for a 007 game, I'm super excited for it.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah. My personal answer here for most anticipated game is actually kind of a surprise to even me, where the obvious answer is Marvel's Wolverine. Like, I know I'm going to adore that game just because I've loved everything Insomniac has done. And I love Marvel, I love Wolverine. Like, that is just such a surefire hit for me. But my answer is Resident Evil Requiem. And if it was Resident Evil Village, that would not have been the case. I would have picked Wolverine over it. But every single thing I've seen of Requiem is like tailor made for what I want from a Resident Evil at this point. And I'm very happy about that because the last couple years when before this game was announced, I was kind of talking about how fatigued I am on the series. But so far they're just like really kind of hitting on every note I'm looking for. And after I was playing it, I'm like, dang, man. Like, I. I really will be kind of let down by this game if it's not the best Resident Evil. And that's very, very high expectations. But that is what I think that they're going to pull off here. So that's my answer. But let's get into the more actual award things here, starting with best Adaptation. Adaptation, A Minecraft movie, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell, Death Watch, Last of US Season 2, and Until Dawn.

[Greg Miller]

Until dawn with a bullet through the head.

[Tim Geddes]

Oh, man.

[Andy Cortez]

Last of Us.

[Greg Miller]

I'm not a coward. I'm saying Last of Us Season two.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, it should be Devil May Cry. I really want it to be Devil May Cry. But yeah, I think Last of Us Season two, just for who's voting and how this all goes. Although, like, that season was very mixed received at best yeah.

[Blessing]

So.

[Tim Geddes]

And I think the people voting on this are the people that were loudest about that and maybe not loudest, but no,

[Andy Cortez]

I did.

[Blessing]

I. I kept getting like last list Reddit things where like, apparently there's like. I don't know what it's called now, but there are last verse 2 Reddit that if you look at the name of it, you would think that it's just a regular Reddit, but then it would show up in my feed and I'm like, man, every single thing here is so mean. And that I realize I'm the hater. Reddit.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

God.

[Tim Geddes]

Hilarious. Andy, yesterday we were talking about like, who Jeff's already announced is going to be part of the thing. We forgot Evanescence, who will be performing the Devil May Cry theme song.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, very cool.

[Mike]

I ride hard for Minecraft. I had a great time with Minecraft. I'm glad to see that there was such a positive response to that. I think that group was fun. I think they did a good job with it. It also sold a bunch.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Mike]

It made a lot of money. But I do agree. I think when I think of the jury on this and who is voting, I believe the last of us will be the one.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Bullshit Sonic 3 is not here. Bullshit twisted metal is not here. But that's a different story.

[Blessing]

Sonic 3 should be here because that'll be my personal pick. But I. Last list is my prediction. I didn't love the last season of the Last of Us, but I also wouldn't say it's as bad as until dawn or like, you know, I. I didn't watch the Minecraft movie. It's hard for me to take last was season two and go, oh yeah, this is so bad. I'm going to put it below other things.

[Andy Cortez]

No, Borderlands is crazy.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, exactly.

[Barrett]

Do you.

[Greg Miller]

Was that really this year?

[Andy Cortez]

I think so.

[Tim Geddes]

Right early. No, that was.

[Blessing]

That was August last year.

[Tim Geddes]

Was it really? Dude, I get all messed up with this stuff.

[Blessing]

What am I thinking of me?

[Tim Geddes]

Mike and Nick had the worst night of our lives.

[Andy Cortez]

That was 2024.

[Mike]

That was.

[Andy Cortez]

Ah. I.

[Greg Miller]

Wait, why was it the worst night of your life? Just.

[Tim Geddes]

Just that bad?

[Mike]

It was bad. And I don't say but.

[Greg Miller]

Jamie Lee Curtis, jlc.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Does anybody want to take part in a pizza bet right now?

[Greg Miller]

I'm interested.

[Andy Cortez]

Hear me out. Does Jeff Keighley make a reference or is there a reference to chicken Jockey?

[Mike]

Oh,

[Blessing]

in the real. When they're showing the different. Actually, no, they don't. Do they do that?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's in the movie.

[Blessing]

So what do they have the real when they announce the categories?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, I don't.

[Tim Geddes]

It depends on if this may just be a full show like with a presenter or if it's just like a quick thing.

[Mike]

This will be a pre show one.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, maybe not.

[Tim Geddes]

No.

[Mike]

He's gonna bring out some big names for this.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, you're right.

[Blessing]

Chicken Jockey would make such a good. Like, that's the clip that they show for Minecraft.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know if they have that Oscar style, like presentation.

[Greg Miller]

So are we. You're saying, will there be a reference to Chicken Jockey anywhere in the show, pre show to end of it all? A comment, a clip of Jack Black saying it?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, yeah. Like in reference to the.

[Greg Miller]

I'm saying yes.

[Tim Geddes]

I think if you're including the actual clip, definitely.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

If it's Jeff referencing it, I'm a little more 50. 50.

[Andy Cortez]

I'll say no. Pizza bet.

[Tim Geddes]

I love it. Keep things spicy, everybody.

[Greg Miller]

You can track that @Pizzabets app. Did you see this?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

A kind of funny best friend made a pizza bet website that can like track everything. So keep track of it.

[Tim Geddes]

I love that. All right, locking in GTA 6 and TLU 2. So far we have not had any different answers. Next up, best multiplayer. Best multiplayer looks like this. Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, Elden Ring Night Rain, Peak and Split Fiction.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna jump off the first because I'm not. I'm brave. All right. I'm gonna say Split Fiction.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn, I was gonna say the same thing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Mike]

This is probably gonna be one of the most fun categories to really talk about because you could go any which way. You gotta probably put your shoes more in the jury here on what they're voting for. But man, oh man, Arc Raiders made a massive splash on the scene this year. It was very late on the entry side of things when you think about its release date and when Jeff had all these nominations come out. So who was really playing that? What were the jury vibing with that game? Battlefield 6 had one of the best Battlefield 6 or Battlefield launches ever for that franchise. Right. It brought Battlefield, put it back on the map. It's a big deal. Elden Ring Night, Rain. Right. Having that team from fromsoft actually make a multiplayer focused game and it be good, if not great, which is a ton of fun to play. It has everything that you want from a souls like experience, but packaged into a really fun fast game for you and your friends. Peak being the now new term friend slop games being the face of that Having such an incredible experience with that and coming from such a small team selling bonkers numbers. Right. And then split fiction. I'm not a big fan of split fiction. This is a Snowbike Mike personal take here. Not a big fan of split fiction. Being in the best multiplayer category. I think there should be a different category for a co op experience like that. But I know we don't get that many yeah every year but like right here now you're starting to talk about like multiplayer games and a couch co op experience with only two players. That is a shared like campaign. Not I hear you multiplayer.

[Greg Miller]

And I I it's one of those like they're for me personally if I was going to cast my vote I would go Arc Raiders in terms of how much fun that has been. What a not being extraction shooter person. The fun memes that have come out of that not and that's not taking away from peak another amazing game. I just think when you look at the voting pool and you get down here so many more people who would have been turned off to an extraction shooter or a souls like or whatever would be in line with Split fiction and how well it works. The design of that being and I understand I totally get your vibe here of co op versus multiplayer and being a different thing but it being what's the game you had the most fun playing with somebody else. And I could see Split Fiction pulling a lot of votes that way.

[Tim Geddes]

I'm torn between Split Fiction and Arc Raiders mainly because it takes to one game of the year. So the people that are actually voting on this love so much value there. Right. So I can see that that happen in here and I boosting it over these others. The thing about our creators is I would have definitely bet on it because multiplayer and what that game is and like just it just feels more right. But for as loud as the fan base of Arc Raiders is they did put out that like players choice thing that everyone thought like oh my God it's it's gonna prove the the jury's Wrong that the Six Games of Game Awards the Game of the Year 1 the Arc Raiders should have been one of them. I said that in the worst way.

[Andy Cortez]

They didn't show up for it and

[Tim Geddes]

they just didn't show up.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

So I'm like I I don't know. I'm going Split Fiction locking it.

[Andy Cortez]

My guess is Split Fiction as well. And also well here's the thing in you know in our creators Greg. Yeah we did that stream that one time and that one guy didn't even know what the game awards was.

[Greg Miller]

Didn't know who Greg Miller was. Prox chat.

[Andy Cortez]

No. There's a moment to him where he was like, do you know who Greg Miller is? The guy's like, no. He gets back on the mic, he's like, well, you're gonna be red faced

[Greg Miller]

when you google him now. For anybody not there for context, it was because Mike was like, everybody will know. Every you turn on voice chat, you say you're. I'm like, no one will know who Greg Miller is.

[Andy Cortez]

Michael's like, everybody's gonna know who you are, man.

[Mike]

This one guy important to me.

[Andy Cortez]

And then I was like. And we're like, are you gonna be watching the game Awards? He's like, no, no, probably not. He's just a guy that we kind of recruited on the way. And I was like, so I mean like, you play Spider Man? Like what kind? He's like, no, I just play this in Battlefield 6. And I was like, all right, man.

[Greg Miller]

Do you think rap.

[Tim Geddes]

Bless.

[Blessing]

I want to shout out. This is probably my favorite iteration of the best multiplayer category. All five of these games are games that I got to play this year. And I think all of us, for the most part, going to play most of these games this year and they're all great. These are all fun ones and it actually makes it really tough to choose one because of how each of them do something unique and different.

[Tim Geddes]

I'm.

[Blessing]

My prediction is arc Raiders. I think the. I think it hit at the right time. I think for it to come through and be what people, what a lot of people would say one of the best games of the year, hitting around that voting season, I think that's probably going to matter a lot for it. And you know, even today, right, you look at the concurrence and there's a lot of people that are into arc raiders.

[Mike]

So Tim, I'm gonna go with peak. Oh, I do agree with all of you. I think split fiction will get a lot of the vote, but I will go with peak.

[Tim Geddes]

All right, best sports slash racing game. Let's check this out. We have EA Sports FC 26F125, Mario Kart World Rematch and Sonic Racing Cross Worlds. I'm going to start this off with Mario Kart World.

[Greg Miller]

Tim, you might as well just copy and paste Mario Kart World into Greg's pick as well.

[Andy Cortez]

Tim, you may as well just copy paste Mario Kart World from Greg's pick into Andy's pick, please,

[Mike]

to make it a fun discussion.

[Greg Miller]

Here we go.

[Tim Geddes]

Do you want to say it?

[Greg Miller]

Bless.

[Tim Geddes]

Do you want to just do it?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Do you want.

[Andy Cortez]

I want you to just say it.

[Mike]

Because there was a game down for Mario Kart World.

[Andy Cortez]

All right, Mike, you got to be brave.

[Mike]

And there was a game that came out that wasn't. And of course, last year, EA Sports FC did win. And we talked about how college football was the best sports game of the year last year. And then we all agreed that it's a worldwide vote. Worldwide, Mike. Remember that. And worldwide football doesn't matter, right? But it was still the best sports game of the year. You have Sonic Racing, Crossworlds came out a lot of positivity.

[Blessing]

Lot of positivity.

[Mike]

Fifu. Rematch had a moment. People really liked Rematch.

[Blessing]

Rematch is still the most fun I've had in a video game this year.

[Mike]

Unfortunately, it will be Mario Kart.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Yeah. No, let's be real.

[Tim Geddes]

All right. Best sim slash strategy game. We have Final Fantasy Tactics. The Ivelisse Chronicles are six here.

[Blessing]

They just pick and choose.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Jurassic World Evolution 3. Sid Meier's Civilization 7. Tempest Rising. The Altars Two Point Museum.

[Andy Cortez]

Did they sneak in Tempers Rising. What is that? I don't know what that is.

[Greg Miller]

Mojo Rising.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know what time is Rising.

[Andy Cortez]

This is a tough one. My heart. Of course, I love the altars. I think it's criminally underplayed. It is such an. An amazing story experience with finding, you know, creating clones of yourself and having all these crazy story moments, but also just this, the management of it all, making sure that they don't argue. Trying to find, like, common ground between all of these different versions of yourselves that just disagree with you was like, such a freaking blast. But I could see something just with. I could see this being, like, what sold the most sort of award.

[Tim Geddes]

I think that this is. You got me hyped on the altars. Like, you got me high on it, thinking, like, okay, maybe it has a chance. I think that this is an easy Final Fantasy Tactics. Like, we're talking about one of the best games ever made. They had a remake that. That a lot of new people played for the first time and fell in love with. The reviews were so high. So I'm going. I'm going Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Andy Cortez]

I honestly hate that it's here. I hate that that things is here.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah. I'm with you, Tim, if you want to put me down for Final Fantasy. And I'm with you, too. That just Andy in the altars, like, I want, you know, it's. It's a December game for me.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, please.

[Greg Miller]

It's on there. I gotta knock out my Nintendo 3 and then I'm right to that.

[Andy Cortez]

I think you'll really dig, like, just the bonkers, the permutations. Yeah, I would say. I know Sid Meiers is very, very underwhelming and it really kind of me on fantasy criticism, but that it just kind of feels like a which game sold the most for me sort of category.

[Blessing]

Put me down for the alters.

[Greg Miller]

Oh,

[Blessing]

I think what's gonna happen is that the people voting, they're gonna do the thing where they look at the category and go, which game did I love this year that I recognize? I don't think it's gonna be all the sim slash strategy people voting for this category. I think the Altar sticks out in that regard.

[Greg Miller]

But you don't think the Final Fantasy Tactics pops off the page of that? Maybe as well.

[Blessing]

But I think the Alters does something a bit more unique because it's not a remake, because it's not something that's coming back around again.

[Mike]

Yeah. Two Point Museum is the most fun game to play on this list and should be recognized as the best strategy game of the year. But it will not be because simply the name Final Fantasy Tactics will be selected here.

[Tim Geddes]

So are we Tactics across the board, except for Blessed with altars. All right, moving on to best family game. Donkey Kong Bonanza, LEGO Party, Lego Voyagers, Mario Kart World, Sonic Racing, Cross Worlds, and Split Fiction.

[Andy Cortez]

Mike, how was Lego Voyagers? You and Nick streamed it.

[Mike]

We had a cute little time with it. I would rec. I would definitely recommend it for a family setting or just a. A cute little co op couch session, for sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Did it hit the highs of the other Lego game, I wonder?

[Mike]

Well, me and Nick don't hit highs. You know what I mean? We talk over. We blabber over the beautiful moments.

[Andy Cortez]

Sure. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I feel like people were less high

[Barrett]

on Voyagers than the original from Correct

[Andy Cortez]

Builder's Journey or whatever.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, it's dk. Donkey Kong. He's the leader of the bunch. You know him well. He's taking this one.

[Greg Miller]

I'm voting Mario Kart again. I think. I think, you know, I would say I understand. I love DK. It's very, very high on my top 10 list. No spoilers. And I know how much fun Ben and I had, but I just think Mario Kart is that you want to play with somebody. I know. Of course there's the Pauline mode, but it sucks, so nobody's doing that. So it's like,

[Barrett]

as a reminder, Astro Bot won this last year, which is a pretty sure single player.

[Blessing]

Don't sway him.

[Greg Miller]

No, I mean, I'm locked on Mario Kart. You got to go left sometimes. You know? I mean, right.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna go with Bonanza as well.

[Blessing]

You gotta play the game.

[Greg Miller]

You know what I mean?

[Blessing]

It's. It's. It's a Game of the Year contender.

[Mike]

You gotta play the game.

[Blessing]

It's the one in this category. It's gonna win the category.

[Greg Miller]

It'll be Split Fiction,

[Tim Geddes]

Mikey.

[Mike]

Yeah. I'll go DK on this one.

[Tim Geddes]

D. All right, moving on. Best fighting this category. 2xko Capcom Fighting Collection 2. What are we doing here? Fatal Fury, City of the Wolves, Mortal Kombat Legacy, and Virtua Fighter 5 Revo World Stage 2.

[Greg Miller]

XKO for me. Tim?

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah. Did I say it wrong again?

[Mike]

No.

[Tim Geddes]

I think this is a roof seal.

[Greg Miller]

You said it. You said it.

[Blessing]

You said,

[Greg Miller]

sometimes.

[Andy Cortez]

Get out of me.

[Greg Miller]

What does he say? Sometimes.

[Blessing]

2 KXO.

[Greg Miller]

That's funny.

[Blessing]

This is tough.

[Greg Miller]

You know, It's Jake from State Farm fighting a big daddy fighting 2k. 2k stuff.

[Tim Geddes]

Is that.

[Blessing]

Well, you said it wrong.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm going with two xko.

[Blessing]

Let me think, let me think.

[Mike]

I'm gonna go different on that one. I will not go 2xko, even though that's what my heart.

[Blessing]

This is a weird category, man.

[Mike]

I'm gonna go with Fatal Fury. City of Wolves. City of the Wolves.

[Andy Cortez]

You have one game that's not even officially out yet.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You have two cat. Two collections.

[Blessing]

Two collections. One of them bad. You have a remaster, then you have a game that was okay. What do the judges think? I'm gonna go with Fatal Fury. Save the Wolves.

[Mike]

That's my man.

[Tim Geddes]

All right. Bless and Mike are both there.

[Andy Cortez]

You can't say that. They butchered this category. Dude, you're dead. Because, like, there just is no category. Like, there weren't, like, what games? Nothing got snubbed. Right?

[Blessing]

Like, I mean, if you want to. The. The option. The other option would be to pick games that are not that great. You know what I mean? Like, Hunter, Hunter, Net Impact, or I'm sure there's, like, anime Arena Fighters you can put in here.

[Tim Geddes]

So far, Andy and I have been completely aligned.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, wow.

[Tim Geddes]

Next up, we have Best rpg.

[Andy Cortez]

Typical San Francisco bubble, you know, that's

[Greg Miller]

why we call you Tending liberal bubble.

[Tim Geddes]

Best RPG Avowed Clear, Obscure, Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds and the Outer Worlds 2.

[Andy Cortez]

Stat category, Kingdom Come Deliverance. Too.

[Blessing]

Monster in the Wilds in this category

[Greg Miller]

is a tip of the hat. Just don't.

[Tim Geddes]

Don't.

[Greg Miller]

They wanted to give them a little bit.

[Blessing]

Take Final Fantasy out of the other category. Put it in here.

[Andy Cortez]

But they take it out because it's just a remake. And they.

[Barrett]

It's the same exact game plan. Doesn't push any of that further than what it did 25 years ago.

[Blessing]

Are you talking about monster and waltz tactics?

[Andy Cortez]

It's close between Expedition 33 and Kim become Deliverance.

[Tim Geddes]

For me it is. But I'm going. Expedition 33.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna go with.

[Tim Geddes]

I just said that.

[Andy Cortez]

I just said that Expedition 3 was 33 was gonna sweep everything. And now I'm like. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 may be the favorite here. Is Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 in the Goatee as well?

[Mike]

Yes, it is.

[Tim Geddes]

Ah. Makes it even harder.

[Blessing]

Could win Godie.

[Greg Miller]

Ah. I'm not gonna overthink it. I'm gonna say Expedition 33 because I've been overthinking.

[Blessing]

I gotta think about it. This is the only place where Kingdom Come Deliverance might win.

[Andy Cortez]

Guys. Think about it now. He's playing the game. He's playing the game. I'm gonna go with. I'm going to be a little Silly Sally and say Kingdom Come Deliverance.

[Tim Geddes]

I love it.

[Mike]

I love that. Andy. Congratulations to Obsidian for two nominations on both those games. Three games in one year. Congratulations on that. Yeah. For best RPG. This will be the category that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is recognized and wins and gets on the board. There is no RPG quite like it this year. Where you truly live and breathe in the game. It is something else. And they created a great masterpiece of an rpg for sure.

[Blessing]

Exactly. Very well said, Mike. Clear, Obscure expedition.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

Lessons right on the track.

[Blessing]

Because they.

[Barrett]

We always think they'll spread the love in different categories.

[Tim Geddes]

Nope.

[Barrett]

They never do.

[Tim Geddes]

Best Action. Adventure, Death Stranding 2 on the beach, Ghost of Yotei, Hollow Knight, Silk Song, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Split Fiction.

[Blessing]

That's tough.

[Andy Cortez]

Hollow Knight Silk Song with the bullet. Bam.

[Tim Geddes]

I agree.

[Mike]

Yeah. Put me down on that as well. Tim. They will run.

[Blessing]

Is this where I zig?

[Andy Cortez]

What a fucking game or zag?

[Blessing]

This is where Zach.

[Greg Miller]

You do either one.

[Blessing]

Y' all are all zigging. Do I zag?

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe we're zagging. You're zigging.

[Tim Geddes]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Zagging.

[Blessing]

Maybe I'll zig then. No, put me down. A Hollow Knight Silksong. I really want to say death rating too, because that's my personal pick. Fucking love that. Game but hollow nice too powerful I

[Barrett]

think this is the only category that silksong is in that doesn't also have

[Greg Miller]

claire obscure expedition 33 reggie yeah silks on did I want his ag and go split fiction? That's what I was debating. Here he goes the ote yeah well not this isn't me voting this is

[Blessing]

just you think it's better than Ghost Yote?

[Greg Miller]

That's crazy.

[Tim Geddes]

Best Action game After a word from our sponsors this episode's brought to you by Stormlancers. If you're looking for your next great co op obsession, check out Stormlancers, a retro inspired rogue light with anime energy and chaotic action. In Stormlancers, you and a friend friend crash land on a dying alien planet. Charged with unstable magic, it's fast, fluid and the action is non stop. But this Roguelite isn't about flawless runs. The devs call it Crash out co op because the real fun comes from those chaotic party moments. Like messing up, reviving your partner at the last second and carving up enemy hordes with your newly unlocked powers. Invite a friend for old school couch co op or team up online on PC and Nintendo Switch 2. Only one of you needs to own the game. Steam's remote play together and Switch 2's game share lets you hop online with a friend instantly. 1 copy 2 players Storm Lancers is live on PC and Nintendo Switch 2. Fight Together Rise together Repeat Play Storm Lancers now this episode is brought to you by Shady Rays. Let's talk gifts. Not the kind that get tossed in a drawer, but the kind that actually gets used and appreciated. The holidays are coming up fast and Shady Ray sunglasses are an easy win. Every pair is polarized, durable and lightweight. They've got a ton of great looking high performance styles that hold up no matter what you throw at them and the price way less than you'd expect for the quality. And here's what sets them apart if you lose or break your shades, Shady Rays has your back with their lost and broken protection. So whether you're picking up a pair for someone on your list or grabbing one for yourself, Shady Rays makes gifting simple, quality built looks great and actually worth it. Start your holiday gifting early and head to shadyrays.com using code funny for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Go to shadyrays.com use code funny for 35% off polarized Sunglasses Again, that's shadyrays.com use Code funny for 35% off polarized sunglasses. This episode's brought to you by Aura Frames. If you are a last minute shopper, don't worry at all. I have the perfect gift that solves all the problems you might be having. No lie or Frames are undeniably the best gift I've ever given. And I'm going to be sad when I run out of people to give it to because I'll never give a gift this great again. Families, friends, partners. Everyone loves being able to have beautiful frames showing off their loved ones and all of their favorite memories. And also, it's so easy to add the photos using the Aura app. It's set up to go right out of the box. There's unlimited storage, so you can add as many photos and videos as you can find. Just download the Aura app and connect to WI fi with no hidden fees for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting aura frames.com to get $35 off Aura's bestselling Carver Mat frames named number one by wire cutter by using promo code kinda funny at checkout. That Aura frames.com promo code kind of funny. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support our show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Let's get into Best action game. The nominees are Battlefield 6, Doom the Dark Ages, Hades 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, Shinobi, Art of Vengeance.

[Blessing]

What if Mike, you didn't sing along?

[Mike]

Well, I was gonna join them with 80s caught me off guard. I thought I might be the only one saying 80s too, but I'm surprised. So. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the right call.

[Tim Geddes]

Was it.

[Greg Miller]

What a year for video games.

[Blessing]

Everybody Must have been how Carol felt in Pluribus. Guys, you'll get it when you watch it.

[Greg Miller]

I'm caught up.

[Blessing]

Oh, are you Such a good show. It's so good.

[Greg Miller]

Here's my thing is like, they talk about players. Yeah. Quick aside. Talk about blurb is no spoilers. I enjoy it. I'm not enthralled by it.

[Blessing]

Oh, really?

[Greg Miller]

Me and Jen are both like. We want them to take it to the next level. I feel like we've just been spinning

[Andy Cortez]

our thumbs around there. I'm around this like there's.

[Greg Miller]

This is such a cool concept and

[Blessing]

I'm here for every new rule they had. Man. I kind of want to say Ninja Gaiden 4 just because it's the most action game, but I gotta go with Hades too.

[Greg Miller]

Tomato, tomato.

[Tim Geddes]

Best VR slash AR game.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, no.

[Tim Geddes]

Alien, Rogue.

[Andy Cortez]

Incursion. The better question would have been, do you remember what the five nominees are?

[Tim Geddes]

Arkin Age, Ghost Town, Marvel's Deadpool VR, and the Midnight Walk.

[Greg Miller]

This is a fun one for us to jump into. We admittedly don't know much about these games. We're not a VR company. And so now you're like, okay, Midnight

[Tim Geddes]

Walk, Very well received. Yeah, but just by how many? That's the thing. Deadpool. There's a name there. Alien. There's a name there. Did people like those games? I heard literally nobody play Deadpool.

[Greg Miller]

No, no, no. I don't know if the Metacritic wasn't that Alien.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to say the Midnight how

[Blessing]

is Luminous Horizon on this list?

[Greg Miller]

Because nobody thought of it as a VR game.

[Blessing]

I did.

[Greg Miller]

I know you did, but you're wrong.

[Tim Geddes]

Rogue.

[Barrett]

Did Luminous get nominated for anything? Because I wonder if that was like

[Blessing]

a tight, tight turnaround.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

In terms of getting nominated.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I forget when it came out versus the cutoff. 76 for Marvel. Deadpool. On the old Metacritic, the Game Award.

[Tim Geddes]

74 for Alien.

[Blessing]

Damn.

[Greg Miller]

What about Midnight Walk?

[Blessing]

Say Game wars categories aren't really friendly to midnight walk.

[Greg Miller]

77. Ooh, VR.

[Andy Cortez]

But midnight walks, not even a primarily. Yeah, yeah, I'm still gonna say Midnight Walk, though.

[Tim Geddes]

I think Midnight Walk is primarily VR, but you can play the other.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, got you. Okay.

[Mike]

I'm gonna go with Arcanage.

[Tim Geddes]

Really?

[Greg Miller]

Mike knows something.

[Mike]

Say it.

[Greg Miller]

Mike goes home and just plays VR.

[Mike]

Do you know what that.

[Blessing]

Do you know what that is?

[Mike]

No idea.

[Blessing]

Has anybody heard of Ghost Town?

[Mike]

No idea.

[Greg Miller]

Cool art, though. She got headphones.

[Blessing]

I want to go with one of those.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to know more about her.

[Blessing]

Who is that?

[Mike]

Motivation.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm.

[Blessing]

I'm going to go with Ghost Town.

[Andy Cortez]

What's hunting her?

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, let's go in Ghost Town. I'm going to go Alien, Rogue Incursion.

[Mike]

Ghost Town. Very positive on Steam. It's a single player VR puzzle adventure.

[Andy Cortez]

O. I might play it saying that it's good and by a lot of people, like four.

[Greg Miller]

But Arkana Asia is an 84.

[Tim Geddes]

And you. You're going Midnight Walk.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna switch now to Ghost Town.

[Tim Geddes]

God damn it.

[Andy Cortez]

The chat's popping off about it.

[Blessing]

Stop telling him.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna go.

[Andy Cortez]

He's go Ghost Town.

[Greg Miller]

Don't go. Don't go Ghost Town.

[Blessing]

If you all go Ghost Town, I'll be so pissed.

[Greg Miller]

I am gonna go. Ah, man.

[Tim Geddes]

I gotta go with Arcanate. Yeah, okay.

[Greg Miller]

Be fucking Deadpool.

[Tim Geddes]

Best mobile game, Persona 5, the Phantom X. Sonic Rumble, Umamosumi Pretty Derby and Withering Waves.

[Blessing]

There's no way Wuthering Waves is out this year, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe on mobile.

[Blessing]

They launched on mobile.

[Greg Miller]

That's that action rpg, right?

[Blessing]

It's like another. It's a Genshin, like.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna go with Destiny Rising. I don't know. I'm just.

[Greg Miller]

Did you play it?

[Andy Cortez]

No, but I say I see Paul Tassie.

[Greg Miller]

Have we played any of these?

[Andy Cortez]

He likes it.

[Blessing]

I played Sonic Rumble. I played Derby is a. It was like a fall. Guys.

[Greg Miller]

How's Derby?

[Mike]

Oh, loved it.

[Blessing]

Oh, and I also previewed the Fandom X. I don't know if I ever talked about it.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, cool.

[Blessing]

It was cool.

[Andy Cortez]

Is it a. Is it kind of what

[Blessing]

it's like if you can genshinize Persona?

[Greg Miller]

Basically.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, okay. Never mind.

[Blessing]

Yeah, you're my characters. I wasn't really a big fan of

[Tim Geddes]

it between the last two because I just feel like Destiny, it's. It would have to be good to, like, kind of cross over that thing. Of all people are talking about it, so I think because people haven't heard it, they assume it's bad.

[Greg Miller]

It feels like a lot of people play Werthering Waves, so I'm gonna say Werthering.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Before I wither away, just looking at the release date for Woo down by the Bay.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a. I mean, it's a Player's Choice Award thing.

[Greg Miller]

Should I play Worth?

[Tim Geddes]

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go with the Pretty Derby one. That's your horse game, right? Yeah, that's why I'm doing it. Yeah.

[Barrett]

I had a moment over the summer. It was the game of the summer.

[Blessing]

Many were saying, also, put me down for a woman. Pretty Derby.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Blessing]

I was gonna say Wuthering Waves, but it's not a new game.

[Andy Cortez]

All right.

[Tim Geddes]

Best debut Indie blueprints. Clare Obscure. Expedition 33, despo lote or dispatch.

[Greg Miller]

There's only four games, remember, one backed out. Oh, yeah. I forgot about Mega Bonk. Yeah.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, clear, obscure Expedition 33. Yeah.

[Blessing]

Put me down for a clear, obscure expedition.

[Mike]

Yeah. Let's get real, Tim. That's definitely Expedition 33 to be blueprints, though.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, it's inarguably Claire obscure. So then it's just you sit there and you try to see if there's a reason to do the. This is what they give flowers. And I'll say, now it's gonna be Expedition 33.

[Tim Geddes]

Next up, best independent game, Absolum Ball Pit blueprints. Claire Obscure Expedition 33, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight. Silk Song could just be the goatee list.

[Blessing]

Yeah, it really could, honestly.

[Barrett]

Maybe it should.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna say Expedition here as well.

[Barrett]

Yep.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

If we meet up for Expedition, Expedition 33, like, at this point, like, remove the indie game category and just put a triple A game category because they need it.

[Greg Miller]

This would be impossible. But I wouldn't be against if the game award. We're game war judges, right? We're one of the 133 outlets and people that are doing it. If they gave us a discord where we could all, like. It could just be the deliberation room. Like, that would be great content, honestly, to have other sites and other people, and it'd be nonsense. You wouldn't be able to manage it. But to see how other people come at it. And if there is, it would be interesting if you and I know it's impossible to have that conversation with. Like, it'd be like the fucking Galactic Senate. We all, like, roll up in our little pods and come out. We're like, we have to honor. This is our chance to honor blueprints. It's more. It's. It's more indie than Expedition, even though that's also an independent. You know, make your arguments. I vote for a vote of no confidence in Jeff Keighley.

[Blessing]

I. So I so badly want to back out of my expedition 33 and say Hollow Knight Silksong, because I do think there's a strong chance.

[Tim Geddes]

I think there is a strong chance because of best independent game and people wanting to prove a point, but let's just be real.

[Blessing]

Yeah. No, I didn't.

[Greg Miller]

Dave the Diver win when it got nominated. Did it win that last year? I think it did.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Right. So, like, nobody's trying to prove a point out there.

[Barrett]

Was that last year or two years ago?

[Greg Miller]

I thought it was last.

[Blessing]

I came in here with a rule for myself, which is I would always choose Expedition 33. And so I'm gonna stick with it, man.

[Tim Geddes]

Andy Cortez, you're the last one.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's stupid and not say Expedition 33. Yeah, it really is.

[Tim Geddes]

Best community support stuff.

[Blessing]

No, just because. I'll put the. I'll put those other three, actually. Oh, never mind, never mind.

[Tim Geddes]

Baldur's Gate 3 Final Fantasy 14 Fortnite Helldivers 2 no Man's Sky Best community support.

[Greg Miller]

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive social media activity, and end game update slash patches.

[Tim Geddes]

Baldur's Gate 3 won last year.

[Blessing]

Good content.

[Tim Geddes]

Baldur's Gate 3. 1 in 20, 23.

[Blessing]

No shot.

[Tim Geddes]

That's what I have here. I'm gonna go Boulder Skate three.

[Greg Miller]

What are they still updating with that game? What's this?

[Blessing]

Yeah. What did they add this year?

[Greg Miller]

This is such a.

[Andy Cortez]

This is such a bizarre. Like, I feel like community support and ongoing game just need to be the same.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna say no Man's Sky.

[Greg Miller]

My argument there is why I think, honestly, what I would do is just kill. Best community support.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And it's not against the community teams that are doing great work. It's just like, such an insular thing I have. I follow Helldivers on stuff.

[Tim Geddes]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

I follow Sean Murray on stuff. I don't know what Fortnite is doing for community support, transparency and responsiveness. I don't. And I don't follow Baldur's Gate or Final Fantasy. So I don't know what they're. You know what I mean? Like, it's such a. You're looking through a keyhole to figure this out.

[Blessing]

Put me down for Baldur's Gate 3.

[Mike]

I'll go with Helldivers 2. Tim.

[Greg Miller]

And I'm going to say no Man's Sky.

[Blessing]

No Man's Sky.

[Barrett]

This is a quick aside. Sea of Stars won Best independent Game over. Dave the Diver.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, great. What am I thinking of? Whatever. It doesn't matter.

[Tim Geddes]

Sorry, Greg. What did you say?

[Greg Miller]

I said no Man's sky.

[Tim Geddes]

And then. Mike, what did you say?

[Mike]

Helldivers two, please, Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

All right, cool. Let's go to best ongoing.

[Mike]

Best

[Tim Geddes]

Final Fantasy 14, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, Marvel rival rivals, and no Man's Sky.

[Greg Miller]

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

[Mike]

Tim, I'd like to just jump right into it. Okay. Marvel Rivals, please. What a year it has been. December launch date last year came out strong. Has just an ungodly amount of new characters in that game. New maps, new content, new ways to play. That team absolutely delivered all 12 months out of the year. We're going to go with Marvel Rivals.

[Greg Miller]

Tim, you can lock in Fortnite for me. Riding that Homer Simpson wave. Sabrina Carpenter X, Y and Z. All the different modes. The update to Lego, they got Lego Ninjago like thing coming to Odyssey. All of a sudden they got Kill

[Blessing]

Bill up in there, too. Yeah, they made a movie.

[Greg Miller]

Maybe too late. Judges didn't know that Kill Bill was

[Tim Geddes]

going to be extended inside of Fortnite.

[Andy Cortez]

So.

[Greg Miller]

Starring PE.

[Andy Cortez]

You zig and you zag. I'm going to zog. I want to go with no, man.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, Mr. Tarantino. Seems like a great thing. It sure is. And Paul nano sucks. What the. Sorry.

[Tim Geddes]

What?

[Andy Cortez]

Guys, weak sauce.

[Blessing]

Marvel Rivals.

[Tim Geddes]

For me, I'm also going Marvel Rivals. Last year was Hell Divers 2, and the year before that was cyberpunk. So I kind of feel like they're. What's the new thing?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, no man's sky puts out. Put on an update. This year, you could just build spaceships. And every year, there's always just always, like, a new crazy cool logo with, like, all of this that they just keep on adding. It's like, you're never going to charge for this. That's kind of crazy. You just keep on putting out new. You're not a game as a service. You're not making money on, like, through, like. At some point, I stopped believing microtransactions.

[Blessing]

Like, they put out the updates with all the different bullet points. I'm like, you're lying. There's no way that possible.

[Tim Geddes]

Games for Impact Consume Me Despolote Lost Records Blooming Range south of Midnight and Wander. Stop.

[Blessing]

It's tough.

[Greg Miller]

You say it's tough. Who's it come down to? Who's the who's? That's why.

[Blessing]

Pain. Consume me.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Even though I did, I did love the social message of bloom and rage. Don't jump down the hole.

[Greg Miller]

Wait, you want to tell me again a little bit more about that?

[Blessing]

I just got to the. I never played part two. Nobody played part one, ended with a hole. And I'm like, oh, okay.

[Tim Geddes]

I mean, it's a personal bias for me, but I'm going south at midnight, and I'm sticking to it.

[Greg Miller]

See, for me, it's consume me or south of midnight. I'm gonna say consume me, I think. And here's one reason why.

[Mike]

Right.

[Greg Miller]

Let's go online. Consume Me wears it on its sleeve that it's about an eating disorder. Right. Despalote, I know, is this village around the soccer World cup finals and all that jazz. I know there's more to it, but that's how they sell the game. And I don't think it's. You got to play the game to understand the message. Wall strikers bloom and rage again. Yeah. It's women first. You know what I mean? Like, I don't. I did the demo, and I still haven't played the entire thing. South at Midnight, of course, is about, you know, being black. It's about being in the south. It's about the Southern folklore. It's great. There and then yeah Wander Stop was about slowing down. Right. Like the whole deal is that the heroine in it has to stop being a fighter, it's going to kill her kind of thing but it is that drive to keep doing it. I think Consume Me wears its message the most like that is what this game is.

[Andy Cortez]

South of Midnight has the most reviews out of any of these on open credit. It's got 100 and something want to stop has 76 reviews and the other games have like I think 30 or less.

[Greg Miller]

What's interesting too Post Games Chris Plant his podcast had Ollie Welsh on who's a beat reporter for about the Game Awards. Like his Beat is the Game awards. They have such an interesting discussion about it on the most recent episode or maybe, maybe there's been one since that but it was this week's episode and they talk so much about not only the diverse hey look at how how international the game awards are for judges and I'm gon get it wrong but I want to say it was something 33% American, 33% non English speaking or whatever and it then they Ollie was getting into the fact of like how many games and this is something blueprints has been public about and talking about don't get localized or can't get localized and independent. So like when you start doing that it is hard to not think about the reach of a Microsoft getting south of Midnight to everyone where whereas A consume me. I don't know what their whole shtick was in terms of getting everything Lock

[Blessing]

me in for Despote.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm going to say I want to say south of Midnight

[Tim Geddes]

Mike, I'll go

[Mike]

with Despote as well please.

[Tim Geddes]

I love South Midnight innovation and accessibility. We got Assassin's Creed, Shadows, Adam Fall, Doom, the Dark Ages, EA Sports FC and South of Midnight.

[Greg Miller]

Barrett, could you do me a solid and click on that learn about the nominees. We were talking about this at the announcement of it right where it was like they usually do a good job of telling you what the innovation in accessibility is in these things which we didn't have in front of us when we were talking. Yeah well Game wars who thought it'd be popular?

[Andy Cortez]

You know what I mean?

[Greg Miller]

Oh good God. Oh good Lord. I thought it'd be more broken down than that.

[Tim Geddes]

Looking at the previous years Blessing got it right with Forza Motorsport. We all got it wrong with Spider Man 2 and Street Fighter 6 and then last year we all guessed Dragon Age, Vale Guard and none of us got it right. I don't know what was the one

[Andy Cortez]

I'm gonna say Assassin's Creed Shadows.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I was also leaning towards that.

[Andy Cortez]

Ubisoft is just really good with having a lot of options for like, I think of Ubisoft whenever I think of. I turn the game on and it has the voice narration on the screen already. Yeah. And you sort of like hover around, you know.

[Barrett]

Is this one where there's a curated panel for. I forget.

[Greg Miller]

I don't recall like it should.

[Tim Geddes]

Can we see the category or the nominees again this one second?

[Mike]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

My personal vote is Doom the Dark Ages because I could change the color of the Perry icon anytime I wanted or the color of any icon whenever I wanted to.

[Tim Geddes]

Going Assassin's Creed. Greg.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna go Adam Fall. It's the one I've talked up when we talk about this before of the accessibility options. That could also be difficulty options. It could also be a bunch of different stuff.

[Tim Geddes]

Mike.

[Mike]

I'm gonna go with south of Midnight.

[Andy Cortez]

Tim.

[Tim Geddes]

Cool. Best performance. Ben starr, charlie cox, erica ishii, jennifer english, konatsukato and troy baker. I'm going jennifer english.

[Greg Miller]

I'm going jennifer english as well.

[Blessing]

I'm also going jennifer english. And I wish troy baker was nominated for the villain in destiny.

[Greg Miller]

Hell, yeah. Higgs.

[Tim Geddes]

What a stacked cast.

[Mike]

Go with ben starr.

[Tim Geddes]

Going ben starr.

[Barrett]

Verso,

[Andy Cortez]

man. Yeah. Jennifer English. It's too many numbers. Too many people played. Talking about, like a game that was Everywhere versus a PlayStation exclusive. I really, really thought Erica Ishii could be the one that. Where Claire Obscure breaks up the vote a bit. But I don't think I'm overthinking that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Jennifer English.

[Tim Geddes]

What about the Charlie Cox factor? Cox factor?

[Greg Miller]

Charlie Cox is all but said. Please pull me from this category. He should have pulled himself from the category if he even knew that was an option, I'm sure. I think Charlie Cox is great in the game. Ben Starr is great in the game. I think Jennifer English, if you've played that game and I mean, you know, I did the first two acts or whatever, and I was like, jesus Christ. Like, she's.

[Tim Geddes]

It's her game for sure. Yeah.

[Barrett]

Do we think there's a scenario where these votes eat each other alive and one of these others pull out in front?

[Tim Geddes]

I really don't. I think that this is like one of the bigger slam dunk categories.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And I think I look at the clear, obscure performance. I mean, I loved all these performances, but the clear, obscure ones definitely stand out to me and compare to the other ones. Troy Baker as Indiana Jones is The other one where I'm like, he does such a good job of being Harrison Ford. But even that, I still look at the three from Claire Obscure as the ones.

[Tim Geddes]

All right. Best audio design. Battlefield 6. Clari Obscure, Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2 On the Beach, Ghost of Yote and Silent Hill.

[Andy Cortez]

F. I have no idea about this one.

[Tim Geddes]

The Gun answers battlefield 6. Right. People like them shooty, shooty gun sounds. And there's a lot of money invested in making sure that it sounds good in a 3D audio space.

[Barrett]

My personal pick for this was. I was thinking about that, Tim. But you know, what else has that but is also kind of artsy? Fartsy? Death Stranding 2 on the beach.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

See, Death Stranding 2 would be my personal pick with a bullet. What sounds do they have in Clear

[Barrett]

Obscure that we're all like that Perry sound.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I feel like I can make that in my basement.

[Tim Geddes]

My vote for this is basement.

[Blessing]

I don't have a basement.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

Hollow Knight should be here. It's insane that it's not.

[Blessing]

Arc Raider should be here. Put me down for Death Straining two on the Beach. If we're saying the Perry sound is the best audio design thing that stands out.

[Tim Geddes]

It might be the best Perry sound in history, though.

[Blessing]

All right. Gotta play some Sekiro.

[Greg Miller]

I'm gonna say Battlefield six.

[Mike]

I will continue to ride with Battlefield. Sick, Tim. I do think that team blew it out of the park. I think that has the best audio design of the year. No doubt about it.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm also gonna go with Battlefield 6.

[Tim Geddes]

Me too. And just be clear, like, I don't think that Expedition should be here for anything besides the Perry thing, so.

[Blessing]

And I said. I said Arc Raider should be here. I take that back with the AI.

[Tim Geddes]

All right. Best score and music.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, man, this is a. A doozy.

[Tim Geddes]

So we got Christopher Larkin for Hollow Knight, Silk Song, Darren Corb for Hades 2, Laurian to start for Claire, obscure exposition 33 tomato for Ghost of Yote and Woodkin and Ludvig for Soul for Death. Starting to on the Beach. I'm locking in Expedition 33. But, Lord, this might be the greatest lineup of soundtracks we've had, and it's not even including what should be the winner. Mario Kart World.

[Blessing]

Amen. Oh, man. I came in here with a rule, and it's to always pick Expedition 33. Except for best audio. I'm going Expedition 33.

[Mike]

Yes. Even though 33 as well.

[Blessing]

For me, Hades 2 and Destiny 2 soundtracks. Oh, my God.

[Tim Geddes]

And All Night Soundtrack Blast I know you didn't play or get far into it, but like, God damn, you would adore. Adore the soundtrack. The thing is that we're talking about just a different level of Expedition 33. It's like, you know, Silk Song. It's more Hollow Knight. That's a great thing. Hades. It's more Hades. That's a great thing. Expedition 33 is charting on Spotify. You know what I mean? Like, this is like.

[Greg Miller]

It's different expedition.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, Expedition for me as well.

[Blessing]

What's the song? Where they're underwater and fighting.

[Tim Geddes]

Best art direction. Expedition 33. Best running two, Ghosts of Yote, Hades 2 and Hollow Knight. Silk Song in my heart. The answer is Hollow Knight, but I'm going clear obscure.

[Blessing]

My hot take is that I'll. I might pick any of these over clear obscure, personally, but I'm still going with Expedition 33.

[Andy Cortez]

I think at Expedition 33 is my pick. They do so much with the environment that I think is kind of easy to forget about when you're just kind of running around battles. But they're like every time you walk into a new area, it's like, holy. A lot of floating rocks.

[Tim Geddes]

My thing about this is the art direction, like for. My answer still remains. Paul. My personal answer is Hollow Knight. Just because I think that the game is just so well designed and the art is so much about that, like for the gameplay. But I think that with Claire Obscure, like, to Andy's point, it's like so much of the world stuff. It's not just about like, do I like how it looks? It's like it being backed up by the game and the story. And I feel like so much about Expedition 33 story wise, about the arts makes it a step above so that one.

[Andy Cortez]

Boxing and crazy.

[Greg Miller]

Dude, I'm going to vote Hollow Knight.

[Mike]

Death stranding on the beach.

[Blessing]

Hell yeah, bro. I needed somebody to say it.

[Mike]

I'm on it, big dog.

[Tim Geddes]

All right, cool. Next up we have best narrative exhibition 33. Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yote, Kingdom Come, Deliverance 2, or Silent Hill Fox. Expedition 33.

[Greg Miller]

Expedition 33.

[Andy Cortez]

Expedition 33.

[Greg Miller]

Michael, I want to know about you. Is Mr. Kingdom Come.

[Mike]

Yeah, I love Kingdom Come Deliverance too. I think it had a very good narrative and a great story. And man, oh man, did they wrap up that ending with a perfect Little Chef's kiss. But unfortunately I have now put on. I've been put on to Expedition 33 and they might have done it just a little bit better.

[Greg Miller]

Wow. Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Put me down for expedition as well, best game direction. Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yote, Hades 2, or Split Fiction. Expedition 33.

[Greg Miller]

Award for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

[Mike]

Expedition 33. Tim.

[Blessing]

Expedition 33.

[Andy Cortez]

Who am I kidding? Like, just stop lying to yourself, Greg.

[Tim Geddes]

Are you lying to yourself?

[Greg Miller]

It's a usual thing right where you start. Yeah. I go back to blessing of like, you just vote Expedition. Like you can argue and you can figure things out.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah, I'll say Expedition and then the big one. Game of the year.

[Greg Miller]

Good. Game of the year. Game of the year game.

[Tim Geddes]

I was gonna harmonize Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, DK Bonanza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight, Silk Song and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

[Greg Miller]

Expedition 33.

[Blessing]

If DK Bonanza wins, it would be like the year where Macklemore won best rap album over Kendrick.

[Tim Geddes]

That's very, very.

[Blessing]

After there, Nintendo sends a text to the French studio.

[Tim Geddes]

Does anyone not say Expedition 33?

[Andy Cortez]

I just dig like, bro thinks he's on the team meme.

[Blessing]

No, it's Expedition, Expedition, everyone.

[Andy Cortez]

Yes.

[Tim Geddes]

Expedition 33. There you go. We will live react to. Actually before we. And I do want to get to a couple super chats here.

[Greg Miller]

Super chats.

[Tim Geddes]

Kobe says. Has there ever been a true sweep at the Game Awards before? I looked at the Baldur's Gate 3 in Elden Ring years and even those titles didn't sweep. Could this be the first time? I think so. I think that there is the fact that it's in so many categories from like debut, indie, indie all the way up to game of the Year. It's like, all right, yeah, that's just going to kind of. It's going to kind of crush unless

[Andy Cortez]

people hold back points on game direction because of no radar thing about them. No mini map. They didn't have any direction enough to get it. Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

Alec Bobco says regardless of who wins Game of the Year, the medley is going to be the best in TGA history. That shit's about to pop off. Freaking wait, man. Fluke guy is back drawing. Oh, he got another one of those. The little things.

[Andy Cortez]

Got the card.

[Tim Geddes]

Got a card.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Tim Geddes]

And drawing your dream says Game awards. Judges don't deliberate in bafta. We have to deliberate for at least an hour minimum.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tim Geddes]

No. Very different system. I can't even imagine that I'd want no part of that.

[Greg Miller]

I want to see how many people. How does that work? You all get into a zoom call.

[Barrett]

You're assigned per category. So there's like a small panel of judges for each. Each unique category and then they have to agree to. I. I think Alana just actually recently made a video about this in her experience. But yeah, they have to dedicate to actually playing the games nominated or they want to nominate and then they do.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

Like an hour deliberation.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

So you're not doing every category.

[Blessing]

So I did it like either 2020 or 2021. And it's exactly that. It was a zoom call that we just all talked about.

[Greg Miller]

Got it. Yeah. Remember? Yeah. It's 130Some outlets here across the world, so it's a little bit different.

[Tim Geddes]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Voting on every category or the categories you want to. You can abstain.

[Tim Geddes]

All right, everybody, that has been our predictions. Stay tuned for tomorrow when we live react and see which one of us was right. I feel like we. We're pretty aligned on stuff, but I do think there is differences. One of us will be the winner. Find out who tomorrow. After this, we have a stream of Greg playing Pokemon legends. Za making. You mentioned. That scared me. That really scared dlc. We might need a minute because I need Greg to do something for me real quick. So stay tuned.

[Greg Miller]

What happened?

[Tim Geddes]

We'll be back very soon. Goodbye.