Slightly baffled about positive write ups of Screenbound after playing the Steam demo. The relationship between the 2D screen and the 3D world just doesn't seem at all interesting - one just reveals invisible parts of the other, like a Metroid visor. Looks flashy in trailers, I guess.

Why the hell would Next Fest recommend this to me?

Because they're often tied to award seasons, actors roundtables have that icky air of a group job interview, where everyone is quietly trying to come out on top and lead the conversation. Or worse, try to slyly insert themselves into someone else's moment to ride their good vibes. Seems like hell.

What other show would have the guts to drag out a scene like the family tree lesson in the latest Widow's Bay? Made by people with a great instinct for what they can and can't get away with.

I'm best friends with James Bond now. (I'm not, but he seemed nice.)

Baffling to me that people think Nintendo are playing it too safe, as if Bananza, Kirby Air Riders, Tomodachi Life, Yoshi And The Mysterious Book aren't all deeply strange games or unexpected sequels. Even Pokopia takes a beloved series into an entirely new genre. The Switch 2 is only a year old.

Also, you earn the right to thumb wrestle on a stream for several minutes when your name is on 10+ masterpieces. Until you can match that record, shut the fuck up.

If NGamer was still going we'd get ten pages out of that Ocarina teaser.

Of all the showcases so far, the Story Rich Showcase had the biggest hit rate for me - heaps of treats going on the wishlist.

It's kind of wild how easily you can wipe out Mina the Hollower's initial difficulty with (what feel like) early trinkets. Get the Vascular Syrup on the go and bosses become a button-mashing race between two decreasing health bars.

Surely Capcom can take a sliver of all this money they're making from endless bangers and put it into a new Ace Attorney.

Get as much First Light out before Amazon go and ruin it.

Please be Mission Impossible or Cheers.

Bill Pullman's gravelly but slightly meandering voice in The Burroughs sounds like Trump at times.

They are seriously fucking with Jack Quaid getting him to mocap a cube.

Sorry, Stuntman??? Are we bringing back Herdy Gerdy, Haven: Call of the King and Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter while we're at it?

Get your game out before GTA6 challenge.

Turns out the new Yoshi game is a complete horrorshow.

What I hate about the Fable delay is the reasoning that you can play Halo, Gears and CoD instead - Fable is meant to be a charming alternative to those grimmer outlooks. It ain't a one for one. Play horrible CoD instead! No thanks!

Terrible news for my Fantasy Critic chances.

I'm probably being reductive here, but I'd love to know if IOI's (excellent) choice for Q, Alastair Mackenzie, ended up on their casting radar to due his role in legendary Danish drama Borgen.

First Light was announced just as we started the pod, so it really feels like one of the games that has defined our five years of podcasting. Exciting to get to talk about it with Sam (we kept it spoiler-free, as we'll be doing a Patreon deep dive that goes weapons free).

Love the audacity of resetting this to straight detective work after the madness of season one's ending. Pleased to have this strange show back: youtu.be/WJMbHySi5eQ?...

"At the start it has to go 'Da-da-DAH! Da-da-DAH! Dadada-dah-da.' But, like, with trumpets."

A tip for those about to play 007 First Light when it becomes available later. Once the TacSim unlocks, go in and do the first two escalation missions, they teach you a lot of combat moves that you can then use in the main campaign.

I'll admit, I felt incredibly pandered to by this one, but I couldn't resist it. As a collection of action and stealth mechanics it's uneven, but as a Bond experience it's absolutely fantastic. There's a music cue in this that had me levitating from the couch. www.theguardian.com/games/2026/m...

Kiryu: I didn't choose the gangland lifestyle, within which violence is just an unfortunate means to an end Also Kiryu: I've started yet another new gang, whose goal is to win the violence league

Spielberg's Lincoln is the Smash Bros. of American character actors. Just astonishing stuff.

A great bit from Rich on a first-hand experience of seeing exactly how those vultures at Roblox go after younger gamers, both taking them for a ride and (arguably as bad) poisoning their general relationship with games as a medium. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

Widow's Bay is so good it even managed to do something interesting with a 'bad drug trip' episode. Is there anything this show can't do?

Would a woke podcast put God of War 3 so high up the greatest PlayStation games of all time list? It's a horrid game for horrid boys!

Bit heartbreaking to hear the new Koreeda film ain't all that. A dose of him at his best can carry you for a year.

W3 is obviously the industry-conquering thing it is, but I still think the choices I made in 2 were the richest/most difficult I've faced in a game. A truly brilliant story about compromise and the mucky business of picking an imperfect side.

Getting absolutely thumped in this draft. No more heart picks from me ever again. And no more helping make the case for people who've clearly forgotten about their own (allegedly beloved) picks.

I've got a terrible cold, we just watched Schindler's List and now I'm watching Katharine fail the Xenoblade 3 DLC final boss three times in a row. All-timer nightmare evening.

Thought Larry Dean's Louis Theroux impression on SNL UK was pretty legit.

Kinda glad OXM didn't last long enough to have to enforce this in the style guide. There was a period we had to capitalise all of Super Mario 3D World in ONM and that was ghastly enough.

I'm nothing if not predictable.

One day I hope to play a game that makes me feel the way the IGN reviewer felt about Rayman 2 on Dreamcast.

A great piece this, really capturing the buzz and energy around the show.

With the state of things today, where do people find the mental bandwidth to get instantly cross about throwaway videogame announcements? Fast losing my appetite for this kind of stuff.

Grim to read about kids being given Chromebooks that push them towards AI for every piece of homework. Back in my day there were no machines to help you. If you wanted to punch up your history coursework you had to get your mum to do it.

Enjoyed what I played of Bond. IO could have very easily made Hitman with more of a moral compass, but they've reshaped their excellent stealth in neat ways and taken a good swing (sometimes with a novelty mug in their fist) at boisterous action and set pieces. www.theguardian.com/games/2026/a...

I take it back. Series was ultimately a huge bust. Could only keep the is he/isn't he tension for three episodes and then spent the second half unloading mountains of nonsense to explain it all.

Gotta spend those Patreon funds on something.

Surprised not to see Drops Duchy mentioned in more Titanium Court reviews. Grid-based puzzle round that sets up a battling round - not a million miles away.

I love that even my Mii is dealing with the fallout 20 years later.

DTF St. Louis is a weird show. Has a worthy underlying point about male loneliness and the struggle to address it face on, but by nesting it in a hooky murder mystery ends up being exactly the act of obfuscation it's rallying against.

A fun format this: people submit their least favourite bits of game design and we - with the insight of an actual designer (the wonderful Jamie Smith) - decide whether to banish the idea for good. Much more nutritional value than me guessing at the worth of pre-owned games.

Opus Prism Peak looks like it's going to be a lovely game, but runs like absolute ass on Switch 2 😭😭😭.