Video Games 2 the MAX

The big moment has finally happened: XBOX announced its huge restructure on Monday, laying off 1,600 employees effective immediately and another 1,600 throughout fiscal year 2027. They've also divested of four studios and already started the process to possibly do the same with Arkane Studios as well. Layoffs are happening all across their studios; IPs are going with the divested studios. XBOX CEO...

With the rumors and reports continuing to swirl regarding the bloodletting that is due to ensue next week from Xbox, even more information has been released this week, narrowing down the studios that could be affected even further. Not only that, but now XBOX is cutting funding to projects and even Xbox Game Pass third-party deals, plus they even raised console prices AGAIN. As XBOX evaluates ever...

After a very much unintended week off, Sean and Marc are back discussing the latest in what's going on in gaming and a few big stories from the week before, too. Valve not only revealed the Steam Machine pricing at an incredible $1049 (USD) for the 512GB version and $1349 (USD) for the 2TB version, but there are also official reviews out there for the set-top PC, and the thoughts are all over the...

Summer Game Showcase has officially come to a close, but at least there was one more of the big names left to show off what they were bringing for at least the summer and maybe a little further out, and that was Nintendo, which had its first major Nintendo Direct in close to 9 months. What did Sean and Marc think of the presentation, are there any games to be excited about? Was this more of a grea...

The other major showcase of Summer Game Fest is always the Xbox Games Showcase, and this is significant because it is the first one headed up by new XBOX CEO Asha Sharma. Sean and Marc give their reactions to the Xbox Showcase, the surprises, including the first teaser trailer for Persona 6, which will be Day One on Xbox Game Pass too. The exclusives are back as Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork R...

The Summer Game Showcase 2026 season is underway. Of course, the major one is the Geoff Keighley main show, along with Day of the Devs, the MIX Summer Game Showcase, Latin American Games, and Women-Led Games SGF Edition, and that's just what we've seen on Thursday and now Friday. There is more to come. Sean and Marc discuss their favorite games from the main SGF show. Did it deliver on surprises a...

Marvel's Wolverine and ended with the reveal of the latest God of War title, God of War: Laufey. What did Sean and Marc think of the showcase as a whole? Was there anything else that caught their eye? Not surprising but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was announced and is set to release October 23. Plus, Marc has more thoughts on 007: First Light, Fable gets delayed, Sony first-party games have dec...

On an unintended Wednesday evening episode, Sean and Marc discuss the big game release of the week with 007 First Light, as Marc has been playing it and has plenty of thoughts. Sean's also played a brand new indie Pokémon-like LumenTale: Memories of Trey. Should this be one to check out? Also, as we get ever closer to the summer of gaming chaos, we already know that Sony has a huge, possibly 90-mi...

Forza Horizon 6 from Playground Games, one of 2026's biggest releases, is finally out for everyone to play, and it's already setting critical and financial milestones. Although Sean didn't get to play it yet, he and Marc discuss the prospects of what this game will mean for XBOX, if it will make it to the Game of the Year table, and does it actually come to PlayStation this year or not? Speaking o...

They say controversy creates cash, and by-in-large that's mostly true but sometimes it can also just create a crapstorm on the internet as well. Of course, we are talking about Mixtape the newest title from Beethoven & Dinosaur that has made waves with critics and of course it has become a haven of hatred for gamers as well. Sean and Marc discuss the "it's not a real game" issue and the whole conc...

Apologies for the one-day delay, but Sean and Marc are here to discuss what's going on in the world of video games this week. PlayStation had one of their two major releases drop in Housemarque's Saros, and Sean's been playing it, and he has some thoughts. What does Sean think of the game, even though he didn't play their other title, Returnal? Should gamers who aren't fans of Roguelikes try it ou...

What a difference a week makes, after all the rumors, speculation, and talk, the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass has dropped to $22.99 and $13.99, respectively, and Xbox CEO (yes, the team is also called Xbox again!) Asha Sharma dropped a major manifesto that details what Xbox wants to do going forward. Could exclusives truly make a return? Xbox Series S & Xbox Series X will keep...

This is a huge week for gaming with notable indie releases in the last week and a major one from Capcom in Pragmata that already has sold 1 million copies. Marc has his thoughts on Pragmata and Sean has gone the indie route with impressions on both Mouse P.I. For Hire, Replaced, Dosa Divas, Rubato, and demos for Inkonbini and Neverway too. Also, could Xbox exclusives be returning in a meaningful w...

In a surprise announcement from Deep Silver and 4A Games, Metro 2039 will soon be announced on Thursday as part of an Xbox First Look at 1 pm ET. Are Sean and Marc excited about a new game in the series after an earlier game was canceled? Also, Asha Sharma has hit on a hot button topic not only for Sean, but for many gamers, that Xbox Game Pass is too expensive and it has led to speculation that o...

Gaming has certainly fallen into the same trap as Hollywood at least with a major part of AAA gaming where established franchises are king, and although movies also have the "indie space" they only really come up in the greater zeitgeist during award season. In contrast, with gaming, the indies are the area where originality has shined through more and more in each passing year. so it was interest...

Sometimes, there are those unfortunate weeks in gaming where it feels like the bad news just piles on top of each other, and this last week was almost the epitome of that, and for once, Xbox actually is not involved. But Sony, Nintendo, and Epic all took their swing at the crown. Sony announced major price increases for all formats of PlayStation 5 hardware with the PS5 Pro going up to a whopping...

If you thought we'd had the worst of the A.I. discourse, enter this past week, where NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5, which was supposed to be their next big innovation, has turned into a nightmare for online push back, with even developers themselves not only making fun of it but also stating they were left in the dark on its existence. Sean and Marc share their thoughts on whether this is a glimpse of wh...

Trying to get back on schedule with some holdover stuff from the last week as Sean and Marc look back at the Spring Showcase bonanza that was GDC week with Dames 4 Games, Kinda Funny & Mix, Future Games Show, and a few others all unveiled new trailers for a plethora of games. Sean gives out his favorites from the two major indie showcases. Also, since we will officially be into the next quadrant o...

The unintentional break has allowed for more time to gestate on the info given by Jason Ronald about Project Helix (the codename for the next Xbox) as Sean and Marc discuss the early details of the console and if they are convinced this is really going to deliver on the promise of Xbox and PC or if this is just sugarcoating the strategy that was already in the works before? Sean's also been playin...

One of the biggest releases of the 2026 gaming calendar, Resident Evil Requiem, is now out, and we had to bring back Randy Isbelle to discuss his most anticipated game of the year. It is so anticipated that he's already rolled credits on the game in the manner of a weekend! Is this truly the best RE game since RE 4? Marc also has thoughts on the game, albeit he hasn't gotten as far as Randy has. T...

Two huge surprises rocked the gaming world first was PlayStation with Hermen Hulst announcing out of nowhere that Bluepoint Studios has been closed down. The studio responsible for the Demon Souls and Shadow of the Colosus remake is no more, and the major takeaway from it seems to be changing circumstances and a new direction. Could this indicate that Sony is nowhere near down with live service an...

Back to our regularly scheduled day, Sean and Marc discuss what's been happening in gaming, which includes reports that the RAM shortage may, in fact, lead to Sony delaying the PlayStation 6 all the way to 2029, which may coincide with some major games being ready by then, too. Would this be beneficial for the industry and gamers? Or would that be too far out? Marc has been spending some time with...

PlayStation had its big one-hour-long State of Play with a lot of announcements including a whole section from Konami with some big surprises. Sony also showed off its slate with Ghost of Yotei Legends, Saros, Marathon, and Marvel Tolkon Fighting Souls. Third parties also had a major role too. Sean, Marc, and Randy break it all down. You can also watch this episode in video form on the W2M Network...

In hopefully the last time we have to move the episode to an early Friday morning, Sean and Marc discuss the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase and some of their favorite games from the event. Also, the Nintendo Switch officially becomes Nintendo's highest selling console. Sean also has impressions on the quirky indie Hermit & Pig, a Baldur's Gate TV show is in development, Overwatch 2 becomes s...

The slam of winter weather caused Sean and Marc to delay the podcast recording this week. Still, we are here discussing what's going on in gaming, which is predominantly focused on two entities, Xbox and Ubisoft. Xbox had its Developer Direct 2026 last week and showed off some interesting things for both Forza Horizon 6 and Fable, with one getting the rumored May 19 release date and the other stuc...