Video Games 2 the MAX

Another wild week in Video Games with another move in the "no fences and no red lines" from Microsoft as Forza Horizon 5 the multiple award-winning title from Playground Studios, is headed to the PlayStation 5, and you can go wishlist it now. At this point, does it even move the needle for those like Sean and Marc, who witness this every day? But it certainly seems PlayStation players are excited...

Microsoft and Xbox hit heavily in the last week with their annual Xbox Developer Direct showcasing their three known games and also announced the surprises of Ninja Gaiden 4 with Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo, and PlatinumGames, and the shadow drop of Ninja Gaiden II Black as well. Is this the best edition of the Developer Direct? How excited are Sean and Marc after seeing more on these games? Phil Spenc...

After all this time of waiting, the leaks were right, the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced on Thursday and it is certainly a bigger Switch 1 with some cool features such as the magnetic attaching joycons, what looks like joycons that can be used as a mouse, and Mario Kart 9 shown as the lone game. Does this satiate Sean and Marc for now? Is April 2 too long of a time to wait for more inf...

It's almost that time, the dawning of a new Nintendo console era is upon us, maybe? This is according to Nate the Hate who has a good track record with these things, the Nintendo Switch 2 is imminent as of this week, with a date of Thursday, January 16 being given for the full reveal. Although it is only expected to be mostly a hardware-focused showcase, if it is like the original Switch trailer,...

With 2025 literally one sleep away, we look forward to an absolutely packed 2025 slate of video game releases and give out our Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2025. We also address the two major elephants in the room: the Nintendo Switch successor and Grand Theft Auto VI. Without a doubt, the Switch successor will release in 2025 but its a matter of when? Sean, Marc, and Randy attempt to make the...

We are at the end of 2024, and it was quite a weird year in video games with a tremendous amount of varied and wonderful games released around a torrid industry full of layoffs, studio closures, and controversial decisions. And as is usual for our show, we will talk about some of the bigger news stories from 2024 in video games, but this special episode is here to showcase and discuss our favorite...

Welcome to our last regular episode of 2024, as we are so close to another year ending and 2025 beginning. Speaking of that, Nintendo looks to start 2025 on an amazing high note by finally announcing the long-awaited Switch successor. However, before we get to that, Sean and Marc go through Nintendo's 2024 and what is there to make of what feels like a whole year of waiting for information on hard...

The Game Awards celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and delivered some huge surprise announcements, awards, celebrities, and more. Last year had quite a bit of controversy, did the 2024 version rectify this? And which games are Sean, Randy and Marc excited about? There's plenty to discuss and review from the event, including whether this is the best edition of the Game Awards. Sean certainly...

In what has been a tumultuous year for Ubisoft already, the company delivered more bad news over the last week as not only are they sunsetting their live-service title XDefiant, a game that has been long-rumored to be in trouble on its own, but Ubisoft finally delivered the finishing blow and also issued several layoffs at studios involved in making the game as well. With more rumors swirling abou...

Although we didn't intentionally mean to take a week off, things fell in a way that forced us to, but at least it was only one week. At this time, Sony has made a few announcements and moves that may make for an interesting 2025 and probably beyond. Sean and Marc have quite a bit to talk about from the last few weeks. Sony has sent a letter of intent to Kadokawa Corporation for possible acquisitio...

Earlier today Geoff Keighley announced the nominees for the various Game Awards 2024 categories including Game of the Year. Sean and Marc discuss the nominees for several of the awards, who they think could win, and also bring up the biggest controversy which is the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC being included in the nominations for not only several awards categories but also GOTY as well....

In an interview with Famitsu, Toshihiro Nagoshi, a former SEGA director who was pivotal at RGG studio, which works on the Like a Dragon games, says that the "era of game size" being pivotal to a game is coming to an end. Although it doesn't seem to be the case with the amount of large-size games still releasing in 2024, but could this be true in the near future? Could the size of a game's world fi...

Unfortunately, this week is the culmination of a previous problem for Sony, as the company officially decided to put the final nail in Concord's coffin and subsequently close down the studio that made the game, Firewalk Studios, along with mobile game developer Neon Koi. Sean and Marc discuss who should share the bulk of the blame if it means Sony needs to abandon the live service push entirely. I...

The biggest release of the year as far as industry sales is here in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and it also makes its debut on Xbox Game Pass as well. As a result, Sean has played a fair portion of the campaign and he has impressions of it so far. He's also been playing Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered which he can now speak about and guess what? It's just as good as the original just now loo...

The bombardment of game releases continues, and it does not seem to be going to let up anytime soon. Although there are plenty of new games on the horizon, the glut of remakes and remasters seems to have become a larger piece of the gaming pie in recent years. Does gaming have a remake/remaster problem? Or is this a symptom of the greater issue with so much uncertainty in the industry? Where do Se...

The heaviest month in the calendar in terms of game releases rolls on as Sean and Marc try the best to keep up with the heavy hitters. Marc has impressions on Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Metaphor ReFantazio, and a big release from last month, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. There's also news from all over the place including Nintendo releasing an Alarm Clock called Nintendo A...

Late night on Sunday during the Halo World Championships a surprise video debuted showcasing a project from 343 Industries that showcases what Halo could look like on Unreal Engine 5 as they officially make the move away from the Slipspace Engine used in Halo Infinite. They also announced multiple projects are in the works and that 343 is now called Halo Studios. Sean and Marc discuss all of this,...

Tokyo Game Show has come and gone, and aside from Nintendo and another big publisher, pretty much everyone you would expect showed off at least something to be excited about. Whether it is the PlayStation State of Play, the Xbox streaming show, the Level-5 show, Capcom, Square-Enix, or more. Sean and Marc discuss some of their favorite games from many of these showcases with specific emphasis on t...

Sony finally unveiled the big promotions for the 30th Anniversary of PlayStation this past week and does it ever look enticing. Sean and Marc celebrate a bit themselves talking about the reveal, if they may pick up any of the accessories, and also give out their Top 10 Best PlayStation 1 Games at the end of the episode. Before that though, there are more current PlayStation matters to attend to, a...

Mark Cerny revealed the PS5 Pro last week and it was met with an immediate reaction of excitement and then an immediate shock at its retail price of $699 (USD) and even more in other regions globally. Not to mention, the extra cost of the vertical stand and the disk drive as well, adding an extra $110 to the price if these are things you absolutely need. What do Sean and Marc think of the announce...

Must Play Games are the rare title you'd encourage anyone to check out. A game that defines its generation, or perhaps even goes past that and could be classified as genre-defining or maybe even an all-timer? These are the sort of labels that Astrobot has garnered over the last week and Sean's been playing it. So he of course has some impressions. Does it live up to that crazy level of hype? Does...

The fall release season is officially upon us as starting from last week up to December there's a steady stream of major video games releasing for everyone to discuss, preview, review, or whatever. Sean and Marc kick off the fall season with impressions of Visions of Mana, the first brand-new game to hit consoles in the series in nearly two decades. How does it stack up? Should you pick it up if y...

Gamescom 2024 is fully in the rearview mirror, but the announcements don't stop coming as Nintendo is set for an Indie World and Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase very soon. However, Sean and the returning Marc Morrison take a look back at what was announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live and if there's anything they are excited about from the show. Not to mention, also going through some of their...

With this episode hitting right before the looming Gamescom where there are sure to be a myriad of game announcements, release dates, and gameplay previews galore, there's been quite a bit of this happening in the week leading up to it. Sean and Randy discuss some of the games that are coming between September to November, and some games that have been delayed too. Not to mention, the release of o...

In an out-of-nowhere situation, Hi-Fi Rush Survives being shut down along with the studio that made the award-winning game, Tango Gameworks, as the publisher of PUBG and Callisto Protocol, Krafton Inc., has purchased the IP and studio from Microsoft. Essentially, it saves the studio and invites its former employees to return as well. Sean is joined for one more week by Randy Isbelle to discuss the...