I don't know if this ever happens to you, but have you ever loved everything about a game - the puzzles, the story, the environment - and then the combat sorta drags it down? Whole game a ten but you just don't care much for the combat? Today we are talking about games that are better without it.

Bayo 3 had a bit of a forced wrap up, or so it seemed to many fans. Just a quick bow tie outta no where. And this motivated our topic of the episode, how rare it is for game series to "end" at all. So, spoilers ahead if you haven't beaten Bayonetta 3, but join us for a talk about good endings!

Matt's got a heart ache. He's been feeling this way for a while... But he might, maybe, JUST MAYBE, be over Zelda. What does that mean? Does he hate it now? Does he hate joy? Is this like when he stopped liking Kingdom Hearts!?

Apparently it is the early 2000's again. We have Final Fantasy news, we have Silent Hill news and of course we have Resident Evil 4 (remake) news! Sure seems like Silent Hill 2 remake is made for Matt and I, because we haven't played the original (or at least I don't remember it much). As far as RE4R goes, we are both pretty excited. It looks like some of our favorite aspects of 4 have survived the serious filter, and the game visuals look incredible. 

Matt got in to the SF6 closed beta and today we are talking about his thoughts on the game. It sounds a lot like the dev team focused on what fans wanted (I know incredible concept). If the beta is anything to go by, this could be a big game changer for the series, but maybe for fighting games period.

A list of projects Sony has in development has leaked and while there is hub-bub about the Horizon Zero Dawn remake - there is plenty other stuff in there to talk about too.

Episode starts with some aside talk where I admit in an international bar fight I am choosing a Texan or an Australian - yes even over soccer hooligans. Not gaming related but important nonetheless.

Weird week! E3 is coming back and they are doing the exact thing so many people have screamed about. It's like someone ACTUALLY read what people want and thought "Yeah, let's do that!" 

Plus, Cyberpunk tie-in anime Edgerunners debuted this week and... it has actually spiked interest in Cyberpunk 2077 again? 

Hey doods! This week's episode is a bit special. We have Nicholas De Leon, from Consumer Reports, on the show to talk about his recent article. Matt has been in the market for a new chair, and of course he has been eyeing all the sexy gaming chairs out there. As chance would have it, one of our Patrons is a writer for CR and was working on a deep dive to figure out just what goes into a good chair, and what might make for a great gaming chair. This seemed like a really good opportunity to talk about an important bit of gaming paraphernalia that has used streamers and youtubers to great effect in targeting gamers. 

We reference two articles from Consumer Reports pretty heavily in this episode. You can read them here:

Best Gaming Chairs Deep Dive: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/gaming/best-gaming-chairs-a5718517198/

Best Office Chairs Deep Dive: https://www.consumerreports.org/office-chairs/best-office-chairs-a1524389651/

I said thank you maybe three hundred times this episode, mostly because every time we thought we were ending we would think of one last question, but ONE MORE TIME - Thanks Nicholas, it was great to have you on. You can pick his brain about gaming chairs, laptops, and routers even more by hitting him up on his twitter https://twitter.com/nicholasadeleon

We expected some announcements at TGS, but to have both a Nintendo Direct and Sony State of Play surprise announced, on the same day, within a few hours of each other? Wild. Add to that - both were pretty good presentations!

343 is having some Halo problems. Again. And they have broken their Co-op promise. Again. 

If you're a long time listener you have heard us say that story in games don't matter. This episode is about how that opinion has thawed. And actually, how AAA games especially, have changed my opinion totally. Games *might* be a top tier medium for storytelling...

Last night, Gamescom 2022 opening night occurred in Germany. And to celebrate? Keighley did two hours of trailers and announcements! While it wasn't a whole lot of gameplay - I have to say: There were quite a few games that piqued my interest. For that alone I gave it a solid B.

Inflation is really cutting into the profit margin for game consoles. So much so that Meta (Facebook) has increased their upcoming Meta2 VR headset by $100. This is especially true in Japan where the Yen is being hit very hard. Speculation there is that Sony and Microsoft may increase the price of their consoles. But what about Nintendo? Well, Nintendo will go their own way as usual.

EVO is finally back and under new management! Matt was able to go this year to meet up with many of the doods and be a part of Sony's first year running EVO. Let's get into the good and the bad - plus all the announcements!

Multiversus seems to really be causing a split in the fgc over the fate of free to play being good or bad. We've said in the past that it would probably be overall good for fighting games to go the f2p route - even though we don't typically like f2p.

We had been trying to move a little further away from news-centric episodes but today several delay bombs dropped and we had to talk about it. Does this point to a major hole in project management for studios?

We knew things were getting serious when Microsoft bought Activision (and that is being finalized now) but Sony buying Bungie, and for a staggering amount, has really kicked the buying war into gear. Tune in and follow us on a journey of what could be if all the big 3rd parties get snapped up.

Yesterday (7/11) Matt celebrated the second most important day of his life - that's right, his birthday! He's a man now and we decided to reflect on his favorite birthday gaming memories. Can you think of the best games you've ever gotten as a birthday gift?

Rockstar announced it has killed its remaster of GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption. A mixed bag because we both sort of looked forward to RDR coming back but we have mixed feelings about remasters and remakes in general. Is this a sign that remakes, remasters and the dreaded re-re-remasters are finally slowing down industry wide?

Today's episode is all about the Nintendo Partner Mini Direct to round out our Not E3 Gamer Holiday! The title is a reference to an old meme. Would you like to know more?

Welcome to Not E3 week! Last week Sony had a really great State of Play. This weekend is Summer Games Fest and Microsoft's event. So we are taking the downtime this week to reflect on E3 and how this time of year retains its importance even without an event to centralize the news and frenzy.

I'm sure everyone at Sony is pretty happy with how that State of Play went. Of course you had the big three announcements, but it is hard to pick out a weak showing in the entire half hour. Join us as we discuss our favorite announcements and speculate on what we might expect from these games as Sony finally takes the next gen seriously!