Baldur's Gate 3 Studio Responds to AI Backlash - Kinda Funny Games Daily 12.17.25

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1:54This episode is sponsored by Once Upon a Galaxy. It's a new card game that I'm having a delightful time with. You can download it right now for free on Steam or mobile at kindoffunny.com slash galaxy. This episode is sponsored by Ark Raiders, where you and your squad can explore future Earth and brave killer robots to secure the best loot on the planet. Ark Raiders is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X slash S, and PC. Today's stories include Larian's boss response to AI backlash Sucker Punch's studio head is stepping down And bad news about video game hardware sales We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily

2:44What's up and welcome to Kind of Funny Games Daily for Wednesday, December 17th, 2025. Three days remain before winter break 2025. Of course, I'm your host, Tim Geddes. I'm joined today by Andy Cortez. I'd like to thank Aaron made you laugh for 100 months. Shout out to Aaron. A subscription on Twitter. That's so cool. Yeah, very, very nice. Hey, you know what? I forgot to make a little holiday set. Oh. We'll have to wait for next year. Yeah, it'll come next year. Yeah, a lot of stuff we worked on. A lot of stuff. What's your plans for the break? You looking forward to this? I mean, I look forward to seeing family back home, but I don't look forward to the travel.

3:24I don't look forward to the time. You know, I won't have my gaming PC with me. I'll have this laptop, which does decently enough, but I won't have my setup, you know? Do you have your eyes on your heart on one thing? Is there a game you're playing, something you're going to watch with your dad? So, okay. You know, sometimes some promises are made. Some promises may be broken, Tim. No promises left to keep. This winter was meant to be like, all right, I'm actually going to play Kingdom Come Deliverance, too. Okay. We'll see if that happens while I'm back home. Yeah. I don't know, Tim. I just don't know.

3:57And also, right now, we're deep in night rain. Had some really, really sad losses last night with Stonebike Mike and Melissa with a Y. I think I have the solution if they're out there listening. I do have a relic that gives me more attack power, Tim, whenever we beat an Everjail. Do you know how Everjail is spelled? Everjail. I'm going to say E-V-E-R-J-A-I-L. Good guess. E-V-E-R-G-A-O-L. Okay. It's an old, like, sort of way to spell. You can't just call them fucking potions. No, they have to be flat. They have to be cerulean tears and crimson tears, Tim. So, like, we're getting back into the flow.

4:36Got our ass whooped a lot last night. It was very, a lot of devastating losses. I haven't beaten an ever-dark boss yet, Tim. What's an ever-dark boss? good question they're the harder versions of bosses that are that one spelled more uh d-o-q-l dark um it's an old like celtic thing uh but you know we're we're going after this ever dark boss and the sentient pest of course of course you know you have no stir you have get the hell out of here with those fartis no fortis or something like that fartis there are two bugs but then a third bug pops up and it's just like this kind of like phoenix sort of like bug and it like it's just an awful fight it's an awful fucking fight tim i've just it's been whooping my ass dude yeah but night rain was easily my number one most played game this year hell yeah i mean you were sending me clips over the last couple days that were so freaking sick they were just the y 'all locking in moments seeing the teamwork between the three of you was so cool this guy's throwing towers at you hiding behind the towers that boss is so sick that boss is ridiculous easily like one of the coolest from software bosses ever we're talking about the dreg lord but yeah looking at my steam uh recapped him night rain number one with 158 hours wow mike looked at my thing he goes oh 78 hours like no that's 78 play sessions oh my god we're yeah we're we're pretty high up there silksong was number two dune awakening number three speaking of silksong hey uh i wasn't here whenever they announced the dlc was like yesterday god time is moving yeah i think so maybe the night before but we talked about it i missed out on this did you i don't even know if you talked about it what are your thoughts my first thought is like okay don't put a year on it oh damn i mean you know that's just how can you not feel that way about a product from team cherry you were a late comer to hollow knight yes but were you by the time you got on was all the dlc already out yes okay okay yeah i because i i think i started it in 2021 so that was that that was definitely past the point of everybody's waiting on silk song to come out yeah so obviously we should be excited because it's more content yes yes but like is this sea of sorrow thing is this about to be like uh yo team cherries dlc are like expansions to the game or is it just like you're getting a couple new modes maybe like a boss rush maybe one new location or something that's where i'm definitely not the most educated because as i'm playing the game it's hard for when i'm playing through the game for the first time it's hard for me for me to even differentiate what is dlc and what's not and i do remember some bosses and going and you know chat saying yeah there's a dlc boss this is the second dlc this you know it's a lot harder for me to understand that though because you know games like hollow knight and games like dark souls you're not going into a menu and typing and going to the dlc bar like it is it is all kind of integrated into the world right and so it's a little it was a little bit tougher for me to to see but i do know that not all dlcs from team cherry are created equal and some fans feel very strongly about some of them being like well that one sucks and that one didn't answer anything lore wise but you know obviously this is going to be very exciting i forgot to tell you this tell me tim i was at uh at current's kids birthday this weekend when james burke was there and james burke showed me something that broke my heart he recently got the platinum in hades one right he then went on to get the platinum in hollow night okay original and then he went on to beat silksong love silksong he's like well now i need to platinum I'm like you don't need to do that James And he's like I think I have to And supply them that game there's two things he has to do That are kind of fucking insane One beat the game in under five hours Two 100 % the game in less than 30 hours Okay Whoa This motherfucker locks it And he goes I'm doing it So the night before he saw me He played Hollow Knight Silksong To try to beat it in under five hours he showed me a screenshot five hours two minutes no oh and that like that's almost too Lord of the Rings you can't just like start back up so what does he do he starts back up he fucking does it so now his next thing trying to 100 % it in under 30 hours he's insane that's ridiculous insane oh man i would give up gaming forever if i saw that five hours and two well but the thing is like it's all you always have that thing in your mind of like i can i can do it this next time yeah i could i see the spots of opportunity where maybe some time was wasted here or there whatever um the one thing i am super stoked about for this sort of all the hollow night news with sea of sorrow yeah is them kind of revisiting hollow night what i love the way they phrase it too i forget what it was called it wasn't revisited yeah it was like but it's also that's not in the name of the game they're just doing it yeah oh it's more of like the project name yeah where we're gonna give you 21 9 aspect ratio um we're gonna give you um obviously better visuals on switch and a free switch 2 version not requiring you to pay to upgrade to get the game to look and run better super refreshed refresh yeah i love it yeah all those little things like that's so great because guess what i want to play holiday one and that's the perfect timing for it but enough about all of that everyone this is kind of funny games daily each and every weekday we run you through all the video game news you need to know about live on youtube twitch and podcast services around the globe if you love what we do please support us with the kind of funny membership on patreon youtube spotify or apple podcast to get all of our shows ad free in a daily exclusive show for a chance to be part of this show submit your thoughts and opinions as youtube super chats as we go uh just like violet's archive said just did saying belated birthday tax happy birthday turned 46th on the 14th sorry it's so late anxiety is a cruel mistress and not the good kind of cruel mistress andy knows oh oh yeah know all about that shit a little housekeeping for you celebrate the end of my hero academia with mike and barrett as they watch the entire final season live for the first time this saturday at 5 p.m pacific uh live only on twitch.tv slash Kind of funny games.

11:06Go hang out with the boys. They're watching dubbed for all the episodes because that's what Mike likes. But the final episode will not be out dubbed. It'll be out subbed. So that's how that's going to end. And it's going to be hype and fun for everybody. Remember, we're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. Today, after games daily, you're going to get Gamescast, which is a Fallout season premiere review. After Gamescast is the highly requested follow up stream. Nick plays Dispatch Part 3. That's not true. Nick's on jury. Yeah, Nick is out now on jury duty. Nick got called in for jury duty, unfortunately.

11:34They don't want to watch him succeed. Yeah. It's really unfortunate. I can't believe he didn't get called in two days in a row, and then they called him in on the third day. I've never heard that happen. The justice system needs Nick Scarpino. They really do. Goddamn. If you're a kind of funny member today, Greg weighs 20-plus minutes about how much Greg hates story mode difficulty. Interesting. I want to hear that. I wonder why. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney, the Psalm Twining. For now, let's begin with what is it forever. We'll be the Roper Report.

12:03it's time for some news we have six stories today oh fingers uh oh Kevin got cut off for y 'all but he kept going story number one holy fuck guys we're not replacing artists quotes from Larry and Boss this is in response to the AI backlist this comes from Andy Robinson at VGC Larry and CEO Sven Vinkel has been forced to respond to online backlash following confirmation that the studio is using generative AI to explore some early game ideas. Speaking of Bloomberg, following its big Game Awards reveal of Divinity, Vinke confirmed the studio was using AI to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art, and write placeholder text, but insisted that no AI-generated art will make it into the final game and that everyone at the company is more or less okay with the way that we're using it.

12:57The comments drew criticism from players and former developers on social media, prompting Vink to post a follow-up statement of his own. Quote, holy fuck guys, we're not pushing hard for or replacing concept artists with AI. We have a team of 72 artists, of which 23 are concept artists, and we're hiring more. The art they create is original, and I'm very proud of what they do. I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of generative AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn't say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that, and they are indeed world-class artists.

13:28We use AI tools to explore references just like we use Google and art books. At the very early ideation stage, we use it as a rough outline for composition, which we replace with original concept art. There is no comparison. We've hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier. In a separate statement to IGN, Big Sidlarian is neither releasing a game with any AI components, nor are we looking at trimming down teams to replace them with AI. He adds, while I understand it's a subject that involves that invokes a lot of emotion, it's something we are constantly discussing internally through the lens of making everyone's working day better, not worse.

14:03And then as a follow up to this, Jason Schreier posted the full transcript of this section of the conversation that he had, which is the source of all of this stuff, just so people can read it, the words themselves to kind of decide what they think about all of this. Andy, what do you think about all of this? I just wanted to have fun talking about video games, Tim. We got to talk about this bullshit. Okay, so the first takeaway that I have from it is, you know, the mentioning of all of our artists seem to be okay with this. But I would ask, like, how true do you actually believe that is? How true is it when you are in a position of power and you are the boss in a, you know, in a workplace and I guess in a, you know, with the video games industry being so unstable, you have a certain amount of power and maybe people are a little bit more worried to speak out about stuff because it's like, well, shit, this is my only job.

15:08and I don't really know what the next job could be if maybe I get out of line or whatever. But I would seriously ask yourself, do my artists and people underneath me feel confident enough to speak out if they're not cool or comfortable with something? And if that is the case, then I can't really be too mad about these artists saying, hey, we're artists, we do this shit. We're okay with this use of it or whatever. To that point, though, isn't doesn't isn't what he's saying that the artists are the ones that get to choose. Then what you're saying is like it's then some artists opinions on other people, other artists.

15:48Yeah, I guess I would say like, you know, when he's asking his artists, everybody OK with this? And everybody's like, yeah, but it's like, are they really OK with actually with with any of it? Or are they just maybe a little bit too afraid to speak out? Or maybe they're just maybe some of them are newbies and maybe some of them are like, well, shit, you know, we got to use this because this is the job or whatever um i i can't really fault any artist who says like no we're the what we're using is totally fine and it's fine for us to you know we're going to be in it replacing all the content anyway so it doesn't really matter i can't really be too mad at that except for that slippery slope thing where it's like well once you invite a little bit of in once you let the devil stick his little foot into that little doorway then eventually the full thing is going to come in and then you start to get the real repercussions then you start to get tempted by the quick ease of use and replacing in case anything goes wrong and you know at the studio yeah and then you start to go oh shit well you know fucking katie and jonathan you know maybe aren't acting so great or maybe you know they're they're um the last couple of of meetings we had with him didn't go great and that one program is able to do this now And then you start to kind of get tempted by all of that.

17:08And that's where the silver is. So it is, man. And there has to be a line. I feel like there isn't a one size fits all line. The line has to be decided. If you're a creative group, it has to come from that group. They need to make their decision on what the rules are within the team that they have. And it, this is something that exists. It's existed for a very long time. Like the concept of AI, it's not one thing. It's so many different things. And it's like when I asked my Apple HomePod to change a song when I'm in the shower, it's using AI, right? When I ask it to, like, help me do a task, if I were to ask it to just do simple math or whatever, that's all okay.

17:45But the moment you're asking it to generate something, it's a problem. But what's the difference for the concept art of asking it to make something that you want to see compared to just Googling a bunch of images and putting them on a lookbook to decide, like, this is kind of the concept that we want? It's the same thing. there's the ethics of how much it's destroying the environment that's a different conversation right what i mean and i just feel like this is just such a lightning rod hot topic that it it there's no right answer except we're simply not using it at all which is a lie like i don't think there's any team out there that is not using ai because of how prevalent it is everywhere now and you would have to go out of your way to not do that in any way shape or form if you use photoshop Like how hard is it to use Photoshop these days without some form of AI in your way?

18:33In your face? Yeah. Like, oh, I mean, even Premiere popping up and saying like we can extend the music artificially. I'm like, what? Like, I don't even, I can't even concept what the fuck that is. But the, I would say that the only, if you were to ask me what is an okay solution for you, Andy, it'd be, all right, an okay solution for me. and I think something that maybe could be agreed upon by a lot of people who are worried about this taking jobs and taking over is whatever art is made here in our studio all of that is put into a library that we can use a program to say use all of our owned art everything made here at the studio for like scraping or whatever because when we talk about generative AI you are scraping off the internet from people's works that are not getting credit and they're just out there or whatever i mean well that's the thing are you because that's the problem is it's like gender if it is scraping from whatever you're giving it and if you own all that stuff it's still gender of ai that's the problem is like all these terms just that get bucketed and we're having these big broad conversations about stuff no i i think that they have an art uh they own a uh a concept art like where there's just a bunch of art like stock image stuff yeah yeah i think the biggest image is when you are generating and scraping from shit that you don't own stealing stealing that's the biggest issue straight up if you are if you are you know if i tell it make lava volcano fortress or whatever and then it knows to look for things that are in our library based on things that have been drawn in our past things that are in our own library that's one thing i think when you are out there and suddenly a castle piece pops in and then people are able to go hey that's the fucking castle piece from elden ring that's not what like i recognize that little part that's where you start to get into trouble that's where things start to get really worrisome um yeah i i hate talking about this shit there's no there's no the the right answer is completely stop using it i am slowly and slowly losing that sort of battle i feel like mentally i'm i'm so just drained by the everyday discussion of everything else happening in the world that like i'm just getting so tired of this one discussion and it's going to keep on happening for the next several years yeah and uh and it really does start to feel like the in a way that the death of art when we talk about people's jobs being taken away and these machines should be coming up with other things to do and we should be using them for other purposes and instead of taking away the last jobs that feel like can actually be done by humans uh when we talk about like you know automation was always a thing it was it was going to go for but the stuff that makes a human a human is also being taken away you know yeah and that's the that's the problem is the the like automation and this generative stuff it's like what are they talking about here that's not automation like specifically with this larian stuff right they're talking about powerpoints right right yeah you know they're talking about like artists being able to create concept art like vision boards yeah so it's like i don't know man it's just i understand i want to make sure that i'm clear i'm like my stance on this i understand why this is such a big deal and that like this has to be such a headline and such a conversation but it's just like it just seems so ridiculous that it feels like i'm gonna say a witch hunt to kind of like poke out every single person and like turn it into this giant story where it's just like the story should just be hey people shouldn't be using generative ai and here's why and explaining all that stuff as opposed to like i don't know this just all feels super icky to me in every single way and this happens all the time with with new stories like this and like it is what it is yeah like We need to talk about it or else people won't know because Joe Schmoes don't know about this.

22:31Joe Schmoes don't give a fuck. They might see the AI and they either don't know it's fake or don't care, right? I think it does hit closer to home when it is a studio like Larian. I think that's what makes it. Yeah, studios like Larian and Sandfall that have, I would say more so with Larian where, you know, Sandfall just had Expedition 33 come out. But Larian is a studio that for many, many years has seemingly done right by by artists and by creators. And for the CEO's fan to go up on the Game Awards stage and say, hey, you know, next year's game will be won by a studio that doesn't have corporate overlords and is treating its workers right and all of that.

23:18And we go, yeah, you know, fuck yeah, Larian, you're doing it right. this kind of feels like a slap to the face and where you're like oh no not you guys i expect this from ea i expect this from everybody with the corporate overlords in the in the c-suite area you know fucking buildings that are just trying to profit profit profit investors all that bullshit i don't expect it from larian and that's what kind of sucks it does but at the same time i feel like so much of that is just speculation to the point of like let's see maybe i'm wrong about this but 72 artists 23 or concept artists let's see in three years what that looks like for larian i don't think it's going to be less i think it's going to be more i think that they believe in artists they believe in this stuff right it's like they're saying that and it's like we're taking things from what they're saying and coming up with bad scenarios but it's like they're literally doing the thing that we want them to do which is have 23 concept artists but i also think if the reaction is not as vitriolic as it is, then you start to give the...

24:20You start to... The line kind of moves up. Absolutely, that's true. And maybe that's not, you know... Maybe layering is just that different. And maybe I should expect more from them and, you know, maybe it shouldn't be doom and gloom with them. But I think if the reaction is a bit more tepid, then you start to go, okay well you know what what else can we kind of push for what else you know what other grounds can we sort of start to go cover and that's where it starts to get a bit more worrisome yeah absolutely i fucking hate it don't use the shit it's that goddamn uh let's move on actually no we got a couple super chats here foxy steve says fenn should have read the room better you know how much of an issue generative ai is if you're going to mention the use of it then make sure you give a detailed explanation or not use it at all yeah i mean i think even like saying the words is is the lightning bolt like you you're bringing it all on you there's no amount of explaining that's going to please people that are upset about it uh sheffield says regarding ai i'm an artist at a big vfx studio in la and my take is that people need to accept that this is the future it isn't a one click done machine that coke ai ad took like 10 times more hours than cg that sucks do we know that i mean i don't know about that but that i'd 10 times more hours why then why'd you do it yeah but like okay 10 times more hours but how many less artists were working on it why are we doing this what are we doing yeah like i i just it it just feels so it feels so backwards man yeah did you see that ad the coke ad not the most recent one i was at a restaurant and it played on tv i was like i can't believe this is the world we live in yeah like it's it's just it's fucking it's ai and then there's the mcdonald's one that was even more egregious because that was like a live action like oh my lord dude i cannot watch tv or listen to podcasts without every ad sounding like it's ai without every voice being just this computerized voice and not like definitely several generations prior to where it's just like man this is ultra fake This sounds like, what?

26:34This just stinks. Story number two. Mickey D's one's just so ass. It's Anthro Metal. It's so ass, dude. My God. Story number two. Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming is leaving after 28 years. This comes from Vicki Blake at gamesindustry.biz. Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming is leaving the studio after 28 years. Fleming will be passing Sucker Punch studio leadership onto a new generation with Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley taking over as co-studio heads on January 1st. 2026. Sucker Punch has been part of the PlayStation family of studios since 2000. In a statement, Sony said, over the past year, Brian has worked closely with PlayStation Studios to ensure that Sucker Punch was in the best hands moving forward with a strong foundation for the studio's continued success.

27:16Brian's vision and leadership have shaped the studio's culture of creativity and collaboration and established a foundation that Jason, Adrian, and the entire team will build on as they look to the future. Fleming will stay at Sucker Punch until April to aid the transition, after which he wants to spend some time traveling with his family. He also hopes to explore more opportunities, some industry, some tech, some entertainment, and some advocacy slash politics stuff are all part of the space I'm thinking about. Is that what you and Greg plan on doing with Mike and Roger? Like when you leave, kind of funny?

27:47Uh-huh. Like do you plan on like... It's Mike and Roger, yeah. We're going to slowly warm you into the new roles. So that Greg and I can go off for advocacy and politics and stuff. That's 100%. Travel the world. Yeah, this is obviously an interesting story. Anytime we hear about these retirements at the top levels at big studios, the gut reaction recently is just like, all right, who fucked up and what happened, right? But we need to remember that that's not the way of the world always. And that sometimes, and how things used to be, you just do a good job for a long time. And then it's time to move on and just retire.

28:22And my read on this is that's probably one of the scenarios here, right? Oh, a thousand percent. Yeah, I don't even... My brain didn't even possibly go there when I, I, I think maybe I think that if it's a young, a much younger person in the role or if it's somebody who's only been there for a certain amount of time, you go, okay, well, it was just like a force, a forced sort of mover. But I mean, yeah, 28 years is a long time to be doing the same thing. And sometimes you just want something new. Sometimes you go back and you look and you go, man, I've kind of achieved a whole lot already. You know, there's a very, very popular and successful former defensive lineman named Aaron Donald.

29:00He's only like 33 years old. He could still play with any team and give them like five to six really, really good productive years of sacking the quarterback, getting in there, just disrupting. The dude's a monster. He's like, he was so damn good. And they're like, don't you feel like you could still be like, you'd be at the top of the, and he's like, I won this. I did this. I won a Super Bowl. i'm good yeah i i i achieved what i wanted to i'm ready to move on and this is exactly what this kind of just sounds like and when you have when you have really good competent um you know employees working underneath you people that have been there for a long time as well people like jason connell who's the art director for sucker punch and adrian bentley who i i checked in was a technical artist i believe or or technical engineer i'm kind of uh not quite sure on it what the exact role is but clearly there's a lot of trust there and this sounds great i'm stoked for the new leadership i'm excited to see what the future holds for sucker punch exactly man and yeah you tell me 28 years at sucker punch it's like wild like we're talking about one of the the studios that has been there from the beginning almost with playstation and seeing the kind of rise of the different types of games you made to ending up now with like uh game awards nominee uh ghost of yote right like it's just they've done so much and have had so much growth that i do think it's a great time to go out on top and be able to have a new generation come up and kind of see like what energy that brings but yeah shout out to sucker punch man they they've been really kind of just like killing it and i feel like they them along with uh gorilla right uh kind of and insomniac to an extent as well like really proved themselves the last console generation or so to be able to be like wow we are up there with the biggest dogs the naughty dogs sony santa monica's right it's just very cool to see it's also one of those situations where you see yourself in this role you've been in this role for so long almost three decades and with the turnaround time that there is now required to make games you go do i really got another four to five to six years in me like i I'm totally going to leave on this chapter with the success in Ghosts of Yote and you don't want to be three years into the job for the next game and going like oh man I really should have fucking retired like I this is going to be another couple years and I just don't know if I got that in me right now.

31:31Yep well congratulations to you Brian Fleming I hope that your retirement goes well and I hope that you get to do a little bit of all the things you want to do with all those opportunities out there. We will be right back everybody with more stories after a word from our sponsors. Guys, we had an indie company reach out to us hoping we could help promote their card game. I checked it out and I'm having a delightful time. It's called Once Upon a Galaxy. I downloaded it and it's really easy to get started. I instantly started finding crazy combos, developing my strategy and admiring the beautiful character art.

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32:44You can download it right now for free. Head over to kindoffunny.com slash galaxy to check it out. If you live for high stakes runs, tight teamwork, and that rush when the extraction timer is ticking down, this might be your next obsession. You've already seen us obsessing over Ark Raiders, the multiplayer extraction adventure set on a lethal future Earth where mechanized killing machines rule the surface, and humanity hides below. As a raider, you brave topside to loot, complete quests, fight arc robots, and extract safely if you can. Underground in Speranza, you'll upgrade your den, boost your abilities, and gear up for raids.

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34:36New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's HelloFresh.com slash KindaFunny10FM to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life. This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. Here's my holiday pattern. Tell myself I'll be thoughtful, panic at the last minute, buy a gift card. This year, you can skip the panic and give an Aura Frame. No lie, Aura Frames are undeniably the best gift I have ever given. and I'm going to be sad when I run out of people to give it to because I'll never give a gift this great again. Families, friends, partners, everyone loves being able to have beautiful frames showing off their loved ones and favorite memories.

35:13Multiple people at Kind of Funny have Aura frames on their desks and it's always a treat to walk by and see what fun memory is there. There's unlimited storage, so you can add as many photos and videos as you can find. Just download the Aura app and connect to Wi-Fi with no hidden fees. For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get$35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Matt frames. Names number one by Wirecutter by using promo code KINDOFUNNY at checkout. That's A-U-R-A frames.com promo code KINDOFUNNY. This deal is exclusive to our listeners and frames sell out fast.

35:48So order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. This Father's Day, do more with Dad and spend less with low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. Get him fired up with a new grill and accessories, like the Next Grill 5 burner for just$299, so you can spend more time together while he becomes the grill master he was always meant to be. Or build memories with savings on top brand power tools, so you can tackle projects side by side. Gift more and do more together this Father's Day with help from The Home Depot. Exclusions apply.

36:25See Homekeeper.com slash price match for details. Whatever your thing, it could be anything. Canva helps you make that thing a thing. Canva is a simple online tool thing. It's a way to design with our magic AI tool things. You can social media your thing, generate images or videos of your thing, make decks for presentations to show your thing. Whatever needs to be done for your thing, Canva can make it an even better and bigger thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds.

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37:47Love can be hard to find. So if you're lucky enough to find that person, never let go. A second chance at first love. Every year after. Now streaming only on Prime. You have one new message. Translating. Disney and Pixar's Hoppers is now available on Disney+. You could say that again. Critics are calling it Pixar's funniest movie ever and a wildly entertaining ride. Blizzard Potato. It's certified fresh and verified hot. Now we party. This is incredible! Wow! I am clear in the rest of the day. Disney and Pixar's Hoppers, now available on Disney+. Rated PG. And we're back with story number three.

38:30Hardware sales in the U.S. just had their worst month in 30 years. This comes from Eddie over at GameSpot. Serkana released its monthly sales report for November today, shining a light on how the North American video game business is performing. Hardware sales had a particularly difficult month, with sales falling 27 % from$949 million in November 2024 to$695 million in November 2025. November 25 represented the lowest hardware spending total for November month since 2005, which was$455 million. Which is interesting, because wasn't... No, Wii was the following year. 2005 was Xbox 360? And 2006 was PS3 and Wii, I'm pretty sure.

39:15A total of 1.6 million game hardware units were sold in North America for November 25, and that's the lowest since November 95, 1.4 million units. While total unit sales dropped, the average price paid for a new game console reached a new record high for November month, rising to$439 million, up 11 % compared to November 24. The higher average selling price is connected to the price increases that companies like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and others have implemented this year due to tariffs and other factors. For November 25, Sony's PS5 ranked number one for both unit sales and dollar sales, the first time the PS5 is back on top since the Switch 2 came out in June.