Some Patches Required

This week, Zak and Aaron are back at it discussing something that (for once) doesn't directly link to the dire state of the modern games industry - Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, and the question of game length. Is there such a thing as having too much game? How would you quantify "beating a game?" Are Zak and Aaron finally too old to have relevant opinions? All these questions...

This week, Zak and Aaron return to the burgeoning phenomena of old video games being resurrected and expanded through the lens of World of Warcraft: Forever. Much like The Witcher 3 with Songs of the Past , Blizzard has gone back to basics with its legendary MMO, and is essentially building on the blueprint laid down by WoW: Classic with new content and fresh mechanics. It's a fascinating mov...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back to talk about Sony walking into a PR landmine... again . This time, they seem to have unexpectedly dumped legendary developer Hideo Kojima and Physint, his spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid. In the wake of the title being scooped up ravenously by XBOX, all that's left is to discuss why... and poke some more fun at PlayStation's legendary streak of...

This week, Zak and Aaron draw a throughline connecting numerous recent episodes, and discuss the state of the games industry in general. Namely, the fact that many of its woes can be tied to the idea that games are now a mature market rather than a growing one. But that has no bearing on investors' insatiable need to see the all-important line go up - whatever the cost. Please, enjoy. Sources...

This week, Zak and Aaron return to the ever-growing trash heap that is Sony's failed foray into live service gaming to talk about its latest addition: Guerilla's Monster Hunter -like Horizon Hunters Gathering. Following less-than-ideal feedback from playtests spread across the year, the studio reportedly now has just a handful of months to impress executives as a more traditional co-op t...

This week, Zak and Aaron take a moment to discuss Sony's recent decision to discontinue the release of physical games in 2028, and what it means for the future of ownership in general. Just a heads up, its looking pretty grim out there. Sources: The World Is Turning On PlayStation - Bellular News The Death Of PlayStation Discs Was Decades In The Making - Jason Schreier Why PlayStation Is Kill...

This week, Zak and Aaron take a beat to address the thousands of layoffs that wracked many XBOX studios in recent weeks, and how that culling relates to Bethesda's newest move: just announcing or re-announcing every single thing they're working on all at once.  Beyond the evident smoke and mirrors, can the studio actually deliver for modern audiences? And exactly how much Fallout is too...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back to talk about the biggest event in the history of the games industry, and why it could still be considered a failure in the eyes of investors. That's right, Grand Theft Auto VI, the game to end all games and save manufacturers from languishing console sails, could absolutely flop. If its hotly anticipated online component doesn't just meet, but exceed th...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back at it with something potentially positive, for a change! Namely, that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is receiving a 12-years-after-the-fact expansion entitled Songs of the Past , bucking industry trends and further solidifying the base game as one of the most important RPGs of the last 20 years. Never content to simply enjoy good news when it comes, Zak and Aaron instea...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back to talk about Bungie again, but not exclusively because of Marathon this time. It would seem that the bell has finally tolled for the long-beleaguered Destiny 2 , as its studio is releasing one final content update before transitioning the title to maintenance mode. Perhaps more damning are the recent reports that a Destiny 3 has yet to be greenlit by Sony, and th...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back at it, talking about indie mega-hit Slay The Spire 2 and its evidently divided player base. You see, while the game has earned rave reviews almost across the board and attracted hundreds of thousands of players, it's also been the target of three separate review bombing campaigns, the largest of which earned the game more than 70 thousand negative reviews on...

This week, Zak and Aaron revisit a topic from earlier this season: the Stop Killing Games Movement! It's been a big couple of months for Ross Scott and the crew which has now grown into an official Non-Governmental Organization in Europe, presented its case in front of Parliament, and even thrown its weight behind proposed legislation in California. What does all of this mean for the movement...

This week, Zak and Aaron take a moment to discuss an online conflict that rears its ugly head with disappointing regularity — the divide between critic and audience review scores when it comes to games and movies. Specifically, our intrepid hosts delve into the cacophonous world of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is earning rapturous praise from casual viewers and drawing ample derision from c...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back to check in on Marathon , the latest title from Bungie and the latest shot by Sony to make a splash in the wildly oversaturated live service market. Rather than being an unmitigated disaster on the level of Concord or even Highguard, or a runaway success like Arc Raiders, Marathon is something of an in-bounds outlier - performance is perfectly middle-of-the-road....

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss some pretty massive changes over at Xbox, namely the retirement of long-time CEO Phil Spencer and the quiet disappearance of his heir apparent, Sarah Bond. In their place, we find Asha Sharma, a seasoned executive who most recently led Microsoft's CoreAI team. The why of it all is a bit murky at the moment, but that leaves plenty of room for specul...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to chat with Ashley Ruhl, the Narrative Director at Broadsword Online Games, currently in charge of  Star Wars: The Old Republic ! She was kind enough to tell us a little bit about her role working on SWTOR before moving on to the... ahem, meat of the conversation: romance! Specifically, romance in video games, how it can be approached thoughtfully, and where we&a...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss yet another curious case of misguided marketing — this time with fewer questionable hats. Highguard, which secured the headlining spot at The Game Awards 2025 thanks to Geoff Keighley's personal fondness for the title, launched last week to overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam and a rapidly dwindling player count.  How did this happen? Who&apos...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss how a series of PR... er, let's call them "miscalculations," arguably torpedoed Splitgate: Arena Reloaded (formerly Splitgate 2) before it even had a chance. This story has it all: politically-charged headware choices, petty Twitter arguments, $100 million investments, off-putting apology videos, and much, much more! Please, enjoy. Source...

This week, Zak and Aaron are back in hell to discuss the pending acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix. They touch on what the merger could mean for the future of movie theaters before diving into the main topic at hand: the fate of WB Games and its treasure trove of IP. Spoiler alert: things are looking bleak. Please, enjoy. P.S. Aaron recorded a portion of this episode while holding a sick pupp...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss Valve's new, ambitious hardware plans, especially the announcement's headliner: the brand-new Steam Machine. With the form-factor and convenience of a console and the hardware heft of a gaming PC, the cutely nicknamed "Gabe Cube" seems poised to disrupt the market as we know it... but will it? A better question may be, is it even mea...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to chat about another (increasingly rare) industry success story: the brand-new Telltale-style adventure Dispatch ! How, despite facing doubt from publishers over the game's fairly niche genre and episodic release structure, did AdHoc Studio's debut title release to rousing numbers and enviable review scores? Only one way to find out... Please, enjoy. Li...

This week, Zak and Aaron finally get around to discussing one of the most significant events in the recent history of the games industry — the $55 billion purchase of Electronic Arts by a consortium of private investors, including the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, among others. In addition to running through the myriad issues tied to such politica...

This week, Zak and Aaron are delighted to present a conversation with Chris Knight, a 2D artist based in Austin, TX. Chris was kind enough to share some insights from his career, some funny (and not-so-funny) stories, and his frank opinion on what it takes to succeed in the games industry – especially in an incredibly crowded field. Please, enjoy. Check Out Chris' ArtStation! Take a Look at P...

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to talk about Xbox GamePass' recent price increase... again! That's right, the fabled "best value in gaming" just saw a 50% jump in cost, barely a year after the last jump. What's more, there's a compelling argument to be made that the subscription service is actually removing value for players rather than adding it to compensate for...

This week, Zak and Aaron... actually have something positive to talk about for once! Namely, the predictably smashing release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, which, after nearly a decade in development, launched to platform-crashing numbers and fairly rapturous praise. On top of celebrating an indie success story, they discuss the game's refreshingly reasonable $20 price point and highlight the m...