The VGBees Podcast

With John on the International Space Station, Niki and Lotus talk all things Gamescom 2025, including: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Black Myth: Zhong Kui Resident Evil Requiem World of Tanks: Heat Ghost of Yotei World of Warcraft Midnight UNBEATABLE John Carpenter's Toxic Commando Hollow Knight: Silksong LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Plus, a big, big dive into why Lotus is DONE with Marvel R...

This week, Niki and John are joined by Lotus , who has a lot of smart ideas about how messy the "reporting" around itch.io has gotten, frozen alcohol, and whole word comprehension. Also: the breakdown of "games journalist" as an idea Hardspace Shipbreaker goes to Blackbird 100% common core math drinking in parking lots Frankenstein shoes adult braces getting addicted to going to the hospital We al...

Niki and John had a great time talking about the Nintendo Indie World Showcase this week on the show right after they spent twelve minutes talking about a thing that's embargoed! When will you hear about it? Next week! What remains is still a rip-roaring two hours of video game bliss, including: Mage Arena Merge Maestro Primal Planet Fortnite 's new Power Rangers/Halo season Puzzmo and more! Also,...

This week, John and Niki discuss the latter's big media day with Battlefield 6 , the game that's aiming for 100,000,000 players! Do they think it can happen? You'll have to listen to find out. Also: The stranger side of big PR gaming events Terri Schiavo (really) Ray Romano's net worth Nintendo Partner Showcase Donkey Kong Bananza Which eight Capcom games outsold Monster Hunter Wilds this quarter...

Hi there! This week, Niki and John went super long and recorded three solid hours of discussion, including: College Football 26 Donkey Kong Bananza What if the Switch 2 Lite has an OLED? The simple brilliance of Tennocon What other PR teams miss about the process of making games They also go very deep on this week's payments processor crackdown on adult Itch.io games and the government's continued...

Niki's live from London, Ontario this week at Tennocon while John's getting up at the crack to podcast. What a show, too! We're absolutely loving Donkey Kong Bananza and John might be obsessed with the Horse Girl Game???? Also, we discuss the rise of fascism as expressed via: Roblox verifying the identities of children via AI Financial transaction companies cracking down on Steam's adult content T...

Niki is IN JOHN'S HOUSE this weekend. Wild stuff. They grabbed lunch at Hurtado BBQ and ate a truly irresponsible amount and then decided to podcast! Smart? Not really. But here we are! Discussion points: AEW All In Texas The Steam Summer Sale Peak Rematch Songs/games of the summer Seasonal/weather-specific games We also answer your HIVE QUESTIONS from Discord .

On a very special public bonus of the show, John is joined by fellow disabled games media person Grant Stoner (IGN, Polygon, VGBees) to celebrate Disability Pride Month! How do they celebrate? By regaling each other with tales of crippledom from yesterday and today! Also: The importance of sources in investigative journalism Advice for disabled writers working in the field The most out of pocket i...

This week, Niki and John are joined by perhaps the greatest games media talent scout in the industry's history, Endless Mode's Editor-in-Chief Garrett Martin . He hung out to tell us about the new site, what to expect from its amazing writers, and, of course, theme parks! Also: nearly half an hour of AEW All In Texas preview discussion (sorry non-wrestling fans) Kotaku's sale to Keleops Microsoft'...

This week, Niki and John go deep (again) on Mario Kart World and its most head-scratching design choices. Tired of us talking about that? Okay! We also talked about: Andrew Wilson's obscene pay bump at EA Microsoft's upcoming massive layoff Peak sells 2m copies Nintendo "fixes" something everyone thought was fine in Mario Kart World the dark corners of Cyberpunk 2077 and much more! Also, we answer...

John returns to the podcast after spending last week in the hospital and joins Niki to talk about the second full week of Switch 2 as well as: the indefinite Marathon delay 3rd party titles apparently lagging on Switch 2 historic sales figures for Switch 2 Xbox's core strategy Mario Kart World Donkey Kong Bananza Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 Poxel FBC: Firebreak Deltarune Also, we answer your burnin...

This week, John was zooted in the hospital recovering from surgery (he's fine!), so Niki and Lotus took the reins and delivered a banger of an episode, featuring: Summer Game Fest swag Sonic Racing: Crossworlds Lumines Arise MindsEye Mario Kart World the rise of fascism and incompetence of our oppressors Nintendo Switch 2 first week sales figures and much, much more Also, we answer your burning HI...

John broke his ankle in a car accident so couldn't make it out to SGF this year, so instead Niki attended the planned VGBees Mixer and we decided to set up a little area for John to digitally greet guests. And then we decided to make it into an episode. Smart? Not really! Jordan Mallory, our intrepid producer, did a marvelous job making this at least listenable, but conceptually it was not smart....

Niki and John are riding solo this week while we prepare for Summer Game Fest. Included in their hangout: Coverage expectations of Geoff's big show EA's cancelation of Black Panther and the closure of Cliffhanger Memories of E3 Battle Aces shutting down Tencent's recent catalog Xbox moving away from proprietary handheld (for now) Elden Ring Nightreign 's PC problems getting paid to hate a game Als...

This week, Niki and John are joined by one fifth of the owners of Giant Bomb , the unfathomable Dan Ryckert ! Yes, wrestling comes up. Yes, fast food brands are discussed. Yes, extremely local minutia is mentioned. Also: Joe is Hungry Tommy Tallarico owning a business like owning a car? Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown To a T Deliver At All Costs Star...

Hello Hive! This week, Niki and John are joined by extremely talented and funny video essayist, streamer, and podcast host Jenna Stoeber ! In addition to a lively discussion of whether can is barrel, the group discussed: Jenna's PAX East Karaoke go-tos Ending our time with Blue Prince Nintendo Switch 2 colliding with Summer Game Fest The non-story of Kingdom Hearts IV 's screenshot drop Bungie pos...

This week, John and Niki ride as a duo to talk about the big American Pope. Also: big questions about how independent games outlets can survive killing Avatar Aang in Fortnite flying an X-Wing in Fortnite glitching a car out of existence in Fortnite the genius of Fortnite nearly eight years in the act of play in Despelote grounding yourself when you're disappearing into games (or whatever, frankly...

This week, Niki and John were supremely lucky to have Jeff Gerstmann on the show to discuss the shocking sale of Polygon to Valnet (laying off the vast majority of the team there) and the implosion of Giant Bomb, the very website Jeff cofounded 17 years ago. We did not plan Jeff's appearance like this! We promise. Niki, as of this recording, was still technically under contract there! Very wild an...

This week, Niki and John are joined by game developer and former colleague (and current friend) Fūnk-é Joseph to discuss the Nintendo DS! That's it! That's all! Just two hours of Nintendo DS! Actually, you'd probably be totally cool with that, but we did move onto other topics, including: the Nintendo Switch 2 preorder mess Donkey Kong Bananza's clear connection to Red Faction how Mario Kart World...

This week, Niki and John are joined by the wonderful Jessica Cogswell of Gamespot dot com. We talk hot neighborhood gossip including a harrowing tale from Jess right from her own back yard. Of course, we also talked about games, including: The reveal of Bungie's Marathon New Mario Kart World details The good and bad of Blue Prince, one of the year's most polarizing games Leaving the bloat behind i...

This week, John & Niki are joined by former Fanbyte colleague and current social media manager at System Era, Lotus ! We started by getting caught up on Starseeker , the next game from the makers of Astroneer , one of the many titles affected by the odd YouTube technical issues during the Nintendo Direct. Also: More tariff changes More Switch 2 preorder delays The GameCube controller has bizar...

Only two short days after the announced details of the Nintendo Switch 2 and about twelve hours after we recorded this week's main VGBees Podcast episode, Donald Trump's trade war with the rest of the world created the environment responsible for Nintendo announcing the delay of US pre-orders for their new console. I decided it was worth recording a public feed bonus with my friend and former coll...

In this supersized episode, John and Niki are joined by Game Informer Associate Producer Charles Harte to unpack the 60 minute Nintendo Direct for Switch 2 and all of the accompanying (and globally relevant) stories coming out of the event. Including: The console's price point Mario Kart World 's features & $80 price point What $80 Nintendo games mean for the industry Why Switch 2 costs what i...

This week, John and Niki are joined by the wonderful Ben Pack to discuss this week's fascinating, funny, and sometimes confusing Nintendo Direct ! The strange (reported) rollout plan for Switch 2 Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Eternal Life of Goldman Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Rhythm Heaven Groove Marvel Cosmic Invasion Nintendo Virtual Game Cards (?????) Also discussed: Cristiano Ronaldo joining F...

Texas, my home, has been a battleground over the soul of the American Dream as it pertains to immigrants from around the globe. I want to use whatever platform I have to educate myself and my audience about things that matter to me. Right now, our laws are eroding around us and immigration attorneys like my guest in this bonus episode are part of a group fighting for the vulnerable every day. Kate...