Game Awards Nominees 2025 Live Reaction - Kinda Funny Games Daily

17:06Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What a year, man. The nominees are Claire Obscure, Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2 on the Beach, Ghost of Yotei, Hades 2, and Split Fiction. And now it's the big one. Split Fiction might be getting the Game of the Year. Game of the Year nominee. Game of the Year, recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience. This year's awards, our global TGA jury has selected the following six games as the nominees for Game of the Year. Flair Obscure Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive Death Stranding 2 on the Beach from Kojima Productions Donkey Kong Bonanza from Nintendo Hades 2 from Supergiant Games Hollow Knight Silksong from Team Cherry and Kingdom Come There it is There it is That's a big one for Mikey I like that game a lot There you have it Your nominees for Game of the Year And now that those are official, you can anticipate Lauren Balfe and the Game Awards Orchestra playing their themes as part of our musical sleuth of the nominees live on December 11th.

18:17But before that, we need your help to decide which nominees can become the winners. Make sure to head to thegameawards.com to cast your ballot.

18:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And new this year, download your vote cards so you can share your picks on social media. There is still one more category where the nominees have yet to be revealed. Players' Voice, where fans 100 % select the winner from 30 nominees. We'll announce those nominees on Monday, December 1st. So set a reminder on the website. Did we hear the word Arc Raider? Yeah, we did. Oh, okay. The winners in all categories will be revealed live during TGA when it streams globally on Thursday, December 11th. And even Dispatch. Starting with opening act at 4 through 3. Yeah, but that kind of is like narrative or whatever.

18:54Yeah, those are the two that we had in discussion on Friday. We don't know where that lands. Is that weird?

18:59Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And live across every major video and social platform out there. Thanks for watching. That's all I can say. See you live on Thursday, December 11th to celebrate the best. I think you're at liberty to say whatever you want now, Wes. I think you in particular. The former future class. Yeah, you're right. Well, it's not a thing anymore. It doesn't exist.

19:19Nick Scarpino:Pass class, everybody. What's up? Welcome to Kind of Funny Games Daily, the real episode breaking down everything that we just saw. Each and every weekday, we run you through 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 or YouTube to get all of our shows ad-free and a daily exclusive show. For a chance to be part of this show, please YouTube Super Chat in. What got snubbed? What are the things that you wish were here that aren't? Or what are you excited to see?

19:48Nick Scarpino:Did some of your favorites make the list that you weren't so sure were going to? I want to know. Little housekeeping for you. Big, exciting announcement. On January 28th, we're doing a live, in-person, in-review event as part of San Francisco Sketch Fest. a very exciting thing uh what movie are we doing the missing link in our marvel in review ranking the marvel movie that began it all not iron man nope howard the duck that's right everybody adding that to our every marvel in reviewed ranked and recapped we have about we have less than 10 marvel movies total to have done every single one ever which is absolutely terrifying to think about but yeah we'll get one step closer with howard the duck have you have you seen that before Greg have I seen Howard the duck yeah I'll let you know I was like a sicko as a kid watching fucking Howard the duck because it was like both cool and then terrifying it was like a live action cartoon but at one point uh the principal from Ferris Bueller's day off who turned out to be a pedophile his tongue comes out because he's like an alien and goes into the cigarette lighter and I remember being fucking freaked out but I watched it all the time in VHS well I can't wait for this and if you can't wait on VHS it's like one of those you recorded off TV.

20:59Of course. My mom was like, I'm sick of renting this from Super America.

21:02Nick Scarpino:Go to Kind of Funny. Go to Kind of Funny.com slash Sketchfest to buy your tickets before it sells out. It's January 28th coming up. Today after Games Daily, you're going to get Gamescast. It's going to be Andy's review of Moonlighter 2. Exciting. After that, the stream is going to be checking out some new content in Ark Raiders. If you're a Kind of Funny member, Greg Way is going to be another live one on Patreon. It's going to be up for everyone later on. And thank you to our Patreon producers carl jacobs and delaney twine and omega buster i believe and omega buster uh for now let's begin with what is and forever will be the roper report it's time for some news we have two stories

21:45Nick Scarpino:the game award nominees are in what are our initial gut thoughts andy cortez um that recency bias can sometimes play heavily and stuff uh and now i don't know what to think with the popular votes anymore with yote be you know i think more people overall played kingdom come deliverance too but tim really had me convinced that yote would have been there just because of the sony kind of name and the amount of people that play the games but uh can become Leverance 2 was a you know overall higher rated game and I think more people played across more platforms so that's something I should have considered as well so where's the recency bias come in there uh well no these are two separate things recency bias talking about Monster Hunter Wilds I think that um if Monster Hunter Wilds came out more recently and didn't have time to die down like a lot of um you know live service games kind of go you know like jump in yeah sure it's the traditional thing I think with Monster Hunter Wilds when you look at it That game came out so early, had such a moment.

22:52Everybody's playing it, but it's been around so long that it's faded. People are like, well, it doesn't have the stickiness of Ark Raiders, which are in the mood for an hour. It doesn't have. And there's a lot of things to criticize. And, you know, Capcom has been out there of like, well, sales were soft. And that's like the narrative's gotten away from it in a way, right? Where that game's been gestating so much. And for the record, as somebody who loved it and was so adamant on streams with Mike, don't forget Monster Hunter. Don't forget Monster Hunter. It's not going to. I don't think it's going to be in my top five.

23:16I think it's going to be in my top ten.

23:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:That's what I was going to ask. I remember either last year or the year before we were talking about Monster Hunter Wilds coming up. And we were talking about like, oh man, 2025 is going to be a big year for video games. And we were doing Game of the Year predictions like even back then. And I remember Monster Hunter Wilds being a big conversation point. And even me being like, I don't know if Monster Hunter Wilds is going to be in our top five or whatever. Right? And like people were looking at me crazy. But I think that's coming off of Monster Hunter Worlds being such a big thing and so successful and all this stuff.

23:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Does Monster Hunter Wilds really, does that live up to what Monster Hunter Worlds did? because i feel like the conversation has outside looking in has died down real quick from it as a fan no i don't think it did i think monster hunter world uh was such an a breakout it was what i had wanted monster hunter to be for so long as somebody who played him on psp and played him on uh nintendo and you know did all these different games like that was such a holy shit look at this and it was monster hunter for so many new people i think monster hunter wilds arriving and being the sequel to that which is great and fun and really cool uh ran into some problems of still being having the monster hunter jank if i will mike of how you party up and how you progress through stories and then also at launch one of the big stories was it's too easy it's too easy it's too easy since then they've kept with what i think the world release schedule was a new event new monster you know now it's a six star now it's what like it's gotten harder and harder but you lose that zeitgeist you had they didn't come with a complete game that maybe that's too far but they didn't come with what i think their complete vision is as it is right now but even for us right now it's like as a monster hunter fan if somebody's gonna have it in their top 10 but probably towards the 10 i was sitting there and it's like oh halloween stuff dropped and it's like but i have arc raiders to play and i have this to play and i have that event to do and i have this single play like yeah there's so much other stuff that even getting me back into it's different and and anytime i've tried to write off the popularity of a game i it always bites me in the ass because i always think that like well this game will probably make it and then a game like monster hunter wilds which has an 88 a 90 and an 88 on metacritic across the platforms uh with about 160 critics reviews which is like way higher than a lot of games i'm like in my mind that just says like the math is on its side and it just wasn't which like it's not like i was rooting for monster hunter wilds i just thought the numbers would have really kind of vaulted in that space but shout out to kingdom come deliverance too for like breaking through yeah breaking through and being that game that uh you know at first i was like yeah this will probably make it and the ghost yote thing really sort of like threw my my predictions off there but um yeah um tim i'm shocked about monster or

25:50Nick Scarpino:about a mario kart world not being in soundtrack i mean i'm not shocked because like to me that's my biggest upset i've been talking about this me and blessed been talking about it a lot of how i I was like, I'm going to lose my shit if it's not there. Because I get the argument of people being like, it's a bunch of old songs. And to that I say, you're an idiot. You're an absolute goddamn moron. Because Mario Kart World doesn't feature a single song that is just an old track, an MP3 they're putting in. It's not like a Smash Bros. situation that, oh, it's just collecting all the music and it's just literally the song.

26:16Nick Scarpino:We were talking about brand new arrangements of classic songs from the entire history of Mario games. Almost every single Mario game was touched. There are songs that we have never heard since the original game they were in, arranged across pretty much every genre of music imaginable, featuring live instruments, like live performances. Some of the greatest arrangers and orchestrators and conductors, not conductors, composers of all time joining together. Like, this is an all-star squad situation. On top of that, this deserves an award for the new music it has, the new Mario Kart music. Every single new track that they had had a new song that was amazing.

26:52Nick Scarpino:And again, the road trip element to the game's kind of vibe and the whole point of Mario Kart World allowed it to have such a different thing. Mario Kart 8, it's all the jazz remixes. Every single thing is jazz, jazz, jazz. This has started with that, like, harmonica kind of road trip, like, bluesy type thing. And then every section of the world had a completely different vibe, whether it's the city pop of the Princess Peach area or just, like, so many different genres being represented. this is like the apex of what production value can be for music production in a video game and i understand people just might hear it and the untrained ear just like it's the mario song but it is so so so much more than that i want this all clear i think expedition 33 should win and i think it will win i just wanted this to get nominated because i just think it deserves a shout out we're talking about one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever and it's not just because it's a collection of things it is because of what this did for a soundtrack i agree evil east chronicles make an rpg kind of goes against the grain of why like like you saying well yeah they're not just old songs they are like completely redone evil east chronicles to me being in rpg when it got a new coin of paint coat of paint and voice acting is pretty surprising to me was that rpg or was that i think i was sims oh that was sims strategy okay so point stand yeah right and that that's always that weird thing that we've had the conversation a bazillion times about remake, remaster, where's the line, what are we awarding here?

28:20Nick Scarpino:Because Resident Evil 4 remake being up for game of the year a couple years ago, that's a similar conversation, right? And we can agree or disagree on what it is, but it's like, yeah, there is that precedent. I do think there is a difference between Resident Evil remake and Final Fantasy Tactics, but that's a personal thing.

28:37Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I mean, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 got nominated for Best Fight alongside Mortal Kombat Legacy, which is not even good. Yeah, a lot of people are complaining about it. Yeah, yeah. Like, a lot of people are mad about, like, the input lag and shit like that.

28:49Nick Scarpino:But that, I do think is, and we know this, these are the categories, right? They're not just going to not do the category because there's not five games. Maybe they probably should. But that's my thing is, like, I think it gets sticky, I guess, but you would assume there's rules for when you're nominating a game for game awards that you need to nominate X number. So I think so many people toss in, we're doing this, and when that came out this year and we reviewed it, we didn't like it, but I guess there should be a, not, I don't know. I don't know what the cutoff is. And I'm not saying it's Metacritic, but it should be.

29:19Maybe you don't need to nominate X amount of games. You can nominate just one. If you guys love one game, nominate one game.

29:25Blessing Adeoye Jr.:But I don't think that's the problem here. I think with best fighting game, the problem is that only four fighting games came out this year. Right? Like, well, that's my problem. That's what I'm saying. Oh, okay. Well, I'm saying like, we should have been, and I'm, I don't even remember what we nominated. I'm saying it exactly. I'm saying bless. should be able to say hey i jeff says you don't have to nominate x amount of games we nominate one game game stop spot nominates two but nobody's not feeling they have to make a quota to hit five so at that point you would end up with knock on wood yeah three games rather than five yeah i think it's the second thing where it's i think either solution they could have for dealing with these categories is probably gonna hurt them right because it's either you keep the categories the way they are and then you have situations where it's like all right this year is just a bad year for fighting games and so let's have two collections on the list one of them being bad or we revamp the categories but then you lose the prestige of having these categories reappear year over year over year over year because there are some categories in video games where i'm like but there are things that evolve there are genres that evolve where i look at best sim slash strategy and i go in 2025 should those be lumped into one category i think not i think what you get from the strategy genre and what you get from the sim genre sim is a completely different thing nowadays when I think sim games I am thinking of all the truck simulators that might be playing right I mean I think about like schedule one and like the card game shops and all that stuff and those games are such a big genre in video games nowadays that I think that kind of overtakes the strategy thing but now we have this weird thing where it is well the category has been best sim slash strategy because sim used to mean one thing now I mean something else I like I don't know what the solution is I would go in there and just fucking redo a bunch of shit but I understand that like That kind of ruins the prestige of shit.

31:02Can't believe Hunter got snubbed to us. I know, right? It's fucked up. Big fighting game snub right there. Greg, big takeaways. Glad to see Claire Obscure get the recognition it deserves. More importantly, I think I'm glad to see Kingdom Come get the recognition it deserves. Again, these are both games that I didn't connect with, but I know how good they are, and I can objectively say that. It always is that concern with something like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, a big lift, a not your average rpg right western rpg to jump into there's always that fear that people aren't going to play it so they aren't going to understand it so it is just going to be the most marketable the most mainstream the fact that they were able to break through both them and claire very similar to a balder's gate thing not as crazy because crpgs i think are even harder to jump people into and get them really excited about it's awesome to see them get that recognition especially after you know mike has pandered to the audience and really fallen in love with it yeah mike let's

31:54Nick Scarpino:get to you. What are your top level thoughts? You know what? I want to give a couple shout outs. Best family game, Lego Party. Wow. Hey, congratulations to that team. That's a really special game. A really fun one that I know we enjoyed. I mean, not seeing Mario Kart World up on the music, Tim. I was right there with you. Me and Andy on Friday. That was one I was banging the drum for. Also came to come deliver it, too. Some great music in that, but there's a lot of great games with some great music in it. My biggest snub of the nominees, of course, is Faker. Not best eSports gamer out there. Kid has won six worlds now in League of Legends.

32:30He went back to back to back. That's three times in a row. It's never been done before. That's pretty wild. I know we're not a big eSports audience, but given the flowers where those are due, that's definitely there. EA Sports, college football, has gotten better this year, which is crazy. It does go, as all of you say, of like, hey, it's an international audience. College football might not resonate with everybody out there, but the idea that that game came out last year was such a big bang, and then this year was better than last year is wild to see that not get nominated up there. But all in all, it kind of went as I expected it to.

33:08My big six are up there for the game of the year that I thought we would see. I do like seeing games when we get into, you know, best multiplayer. I didn't know if our graders was going to be there, Tim. We kind of had this talk about what's the cutoff, what's the cusp. you've seen a big large audience right now online really pushing for our graders right riding for that game so to see it get up there in the best multiplayer category that's great i'm happy to see some recognition there and for dispatch as well these are two games that are like right hot and just out so yeah all in all tim i'm pretty happy with everything bless yeah i'm very happy with

33:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:the game of the year category this is the six that i would have predicted as well right and i think this is the right six when you look at the scope of the year um you know i think it is tough when you're i look at games like split fixture and even go see otay that are probably like just on the outside looking in that i could have seen either of those getting in there but when i look at these six games that are nominated i i think these are the right ones um there are a couple categories that um you know i get sad about dispatch being one that got lost in the shuffle here it was nominated for one of these categories debut indie debut indie thank you but you know i I think when you are doing the episodic thing and like, again, like I think you have, when you have your game coming out over the scope of what is nominee season, I think you get lost to a few things.

34:27Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I could have seen that being nominated for even more categories, whether it be narrative, whether it be even performance. I think Aaron Paul in that game. Yeah. I think there's a lot of performances in that. Honestly. Yeah. Like I would have loved to see some of those sneak in. I think that's another one of running. I'm sorry. I'm trying to add, not cut off. Yeah. It's, you know, running up against that deadline where it is. There's so many games and you're coming down to the thing and it was a similar thing with us you know making time to review it and do a spoiler cast the day it came out right which was just last week like episodic's always hard so i think i kind of worked against them in this one specifically exactly and speaking of best performance of course shout out troy baker getting nominated for indiana jones that said i think troy baker also should have been nominated for death training 2 that performance is fucking incredible that he puts on in that video game um so yeah i think you know stuff like that it's like all right cool clear obscure of course had a lot of banger performances and clear obscure just has a lot of visibility this year as far as how good uh quality that game is across many different things and so seeing it seeing three different uh people get nominated from that game i'm like i get it but also man i would have loved to see some other people sneak one thing to toss out here too this is from the press release and i'm putting in bullet points as we go 12 nominations for clear obscure expedition 33 quote it is the most nominated game in the history of the game award wow hell yeah a little cool one as well shout to obsidian entertainment to our yeah that's a yeah a wild and they'll both lose they had a big year but avowed and outer worlds too you had grounded in the mix that's a studio that was absolutely cooking this year one more i'll say is that for best sports slash racing um we didn't see tony hawks pro skater three plus four we didn't see that period today yeah

36:01Nick Scarpino:i mean obviously that'd be the one category but yeah it should have been there like that was great but also i do think that in comparison to one and two it wasn't the same like i feel like It was not as complete of a package. And there were things that... It wasn't as good of a remake as 1 and 2 were of 1 and 2. Tony Hawk's looking at Mortal Kombat collection like, fuck that, why are you there? Why are you in your category?

36:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Oh, and also Keeper. I don't think we saw Keeper at all today. Oh, that is correct. Yeah, and I would have loved to see that for Best Art Direction.

36:27Nick Scarpino:Yeah. I already talked about Mario Kart, so you got that. But yeah, my big things are for adaptation, I think that we really dropped the ball as a people with this. Because Until Dawn sucked. That does not deserve this. and like no joke Twisted Metal Season 2 was awesome Season 1 was like hey by the end surprisingly good Season 2 was legit great and everybody that watched it felt that way and it should be here and you know what else should be here Bless? What's that? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Oh was that in the cutoff? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 didn't make this list and that's fucking bullshit Maybe we should get reminders about cutoffs Honestly yeah No that was like in the middle of the year Sonic 3?

37:04Wasn't it? No It was December Was that April? Oh it was December Oh whatever

37:08Nick Scarpino:Sorry, the Hedgehog 3 is on my mind at all times, but it deserves to be here. Like, and like they got a couple of things, right? Like there was only so many spots. So I get it. But man, until done, get the hell out of here.

37:18Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What I'll, what I'll propose to Jeff, even though I've been shit talking you a lot lately. Next year, put me and Andy on the team. We'll make a pamphlet. We'll make a December pamphlet of like, Hey, this is what happened December last year in case you forget. And we'll make it all pretty. Andy will handle the graphic design. I'll do the research. Door to door. Just canvassing. Don't forget December. Um, yeah.

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44:05Nick Scarpino:Look for the Loved by Guests badge and book today on the Vrbo app. If you know, you Vrbo. So here we are. Going category by category of the Game Awards nominees for 2025. Barrett, where should we start? At the bottom of where Kotaku has. Yeah, Kotaku's adding all the categories here. Developing story. We will refresh later. The Game Awards site cannot load. So you have to go in. Best Game Direction right now we have. clear obscure expedition 33 death stranding 2 ghost of yote hades 2 and split fiction anybody feel like something's missing or is this feeling good i'm happy split fiction got this nod

44:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:since it's not in game of the year right like again it being such a competitive year and split fiction being a game that i think coming after it takes two which one game of the year the year that it came out split fiction had a lot to live up to and i think for the most part it lived up to that game and gameplay even though the story i think might have lost people the story might not have been as inspired as it takes to even though it takes two was also kind of rocky story in places but um yeah like that's an excellent game that i think deserves thank you i can't i can't no anytime well as soon as any hazelite game comes around i go code you pointed at me and i was gonna go amicia yeah i i think um split fiction it's one of those where because we had seen something like it before and arguably better with it takes two and also a recency thing i think if split fiction came out last month or two months ago and a lot more people were playing co-op together and it sort of dominates the discussion i think it maybe is on the radar a bit more but i i generally hate this category anyway i think it needs to uh why do you hate what i called it last night on my stream was uh i want this to be a new category for direction and innovation and game dev or devs just doing weird shit and being weird uh little weirdos where it's like i don't at this point it kind of just usually is game of the year i wanted to also focus on like what's pushing like tech in a really weird way which i don't know if that's innovation a lot like yeah like maybe not even innovation but i think of um when we played viewfinder like viewfinder is an older game that came out a couple years ago with weird ass tech that was like this needs to get recognized and i to me game direction just like it's like best song and best out best record or whatever like it's they're usually almost the same uh nominees and uh like i i would i i think that a lot of the stuff that these games are doing are reasons why they are game of the year you know having said that i

46:51Nick Scarpino:do think split fiction belongs here like i think that if anything game direction is what that game does a thousand percent and for what you're saying about like doing something that is different like nobody does it like hazelite and this might not have been the best hazelite project in my opinion but i still really loved it and i do think that it deserves flowers for what it is achieving and how different it is and how awesome it is like that the idea of a co-op game and not just in terms of super fun gameplay changing it up constantly and you and someone sitting on a couch having fun but also the commitment to that experience and all the the ways that the team has made sure that i forget the game share or whatever it's called like yeah the pricing of it like it's just there's a lot of direction decisions about this game and like what it's supposed to be that i'm like yeah this deserves this is usually the thing that i think gets lost especially on today when people run through knobs and especially on the actual show right it's like the game ward site which is borked right now so i'm pulling from an old one does list what these all mean right and so for them best game direction at least this is from notes i had forever ago awarded to a game studio for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game design and game direction and design sorry i butchered that but you understand i'm driving at right where it really is on the shoulder of the judges us when we nominate and when we vote to come in and look at the games through that lens but i'm with you that it sounds so close to game yeah like inevitably it also ends up trying to just be game looking at this list it's like split fiction i would have that there i would have something like the altars there yeah with just being weird of like it's one actor acting as seven different eight different 12 different versions of himself and different characters and what it's doing with the simulation and the sort of choices you're making i wouldn't have hades 2 here because hades 1 did what hades 2 did and it's they're not adding like vr support to haiti story you know what i mean like creative vision and innovation yeah like direction and design yeah i wouldn't have yotei here even though death stranding 2 is a sequel to death stranding 1 i still might have it here just for as weird as it is i don't know but i agree with that i i would like to shine a light more on games and maybe just have it be a completely

48:58Blessing Adeoye Jr.:different category i'm surprised donkey kong bonanza is in here like i know we're talking about games i iterated on other games so dk bonanza it being a nintendo 3d platformer that has totally shifted the idea of no we're about destruction and like we're having these different materials and all that shit yeah i think to your point i look at that as more of a fit for this list than ghost of the lt or even hades but then you come back in right and i think you throw the word direction around right and what all these have in common as you look at them like we're talking about performance and story being and i don't get me wrong there's gameplay to all this as well but i think it is taking these complicated many and i'm not saying this is justified i'm just pointing out i think as you look at the list taking these complicated stories that the games are telling and how do you do right and how do you make that shake shake out uh that's what i think when i think of death stranding 2 clear obscure obviously as it goes on progresses and changes and evolves ghost of yote how do you want to tackle yes because yeah when i vote like when i look at the at the category i look at split fiction as like the a really good example of i'm not i don't want to spoil that game but there are moments in that game particularly the last level of that game where i look at and go nobody's doing it like this like this has such a vision this has such a direction this has such a and like most of that stuff for me is on the gameplay level of how they're able to execute on that um and i think for me is to the indie best song versus best record thing right like i think the technical difference is best record is more about like the writing and the construction of the song whereas best song maybe maybe more about like the final product and the impact i'm sure i butcher that but i look at that similarly here as far as how are you putting the ingredients together to make a game that feels like it stains out and is doing something fresh and different which maybe might be more clear if you rename it

50:34Nick Scarpino:innovation or something like that yeah yeah i mean again i've said this so many times like the point of these award shows is the conversation because it's like there is all of us disagree with the categories and what goes in and whatever but it's like if you were to make something people that you're like this is the perfect award show people are gonna be like no it's not like this is wrong and this is wrong and this is wrong and no one's ever argued our top 10 before having to vote for things and looking at what the categories are things like games for impact it starts to get a little cloudy of just like all right there's a couple that are clear yes but then it's like all right are we really just putting this game because it's kind of artsy in this category and i feel like with game direction to what you're saying it gets weird because what exactly are we trying to do here to mean something different to different people even no matter how much you try to explain it and be like this is what it means i don't know yeah i would also shout out

51:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:blueprints for this category as well like blueprints i think should get nominated and possibly win this category for that direction i agree yeah i agree uh let's move on best esports team any thoughts mike no i mean would i like to see t1 on there yes of course is t1 always nominated when you go back in the history of course right i think the cutoff i think that's a big one though yeah but then you could talk about the cutoff for last year right then people forgetting in december what happened at worlds right so it's like well they won last year right well yeah they won last year so like where's the cutoff right because if the cutoff was the year before that and then they won this year that means they should be nominated this year because you would want to highlight that but I mean this is a category where you got to have the right people voting on that knowing and the knowledge of that and if you don't know it's like well I'm not a part of that for sure and then

52:13Nick Scarpino:esports athlete same thing

52:15Blessing Adeoye Jr.:moving up well I want to shout out Menardee in that category Menardee that was cool he won the Street Fighter at Evo this last year and has been like dominating Street Fighter for the last couple years and usually I feel like for this category, you don't see the fighting game players make an appearance. And so I think that's a huge one to get in there. Had a great run at Evo this year. Great run at Evo. A really good storyline. Like that was one of those, if you were watching the finals there, that was a story that everyone was talking about and highlighting that. That was an awesome one. I feel like, I don't know how Sonic Fox has been doing recently, but I know they're usually on the list.

52:46Yeah. They won one, right? Yeah. Didn't they win one? Yeah. I'm looking past the past five years. I'm not even seeing Sonic Fox. I don't remember Sonic Fox being there.

52:53Blessing Adeoye Jr.:many of the nominations here. That's fucking cool. Maybe when they first popped up on the scene. But I remember some awards show. Was it... I could have sworn Sonic Fox went up in the mask. Yeah. I'm gay and I'm the best. But that might have been like 2019 or something. Because Sonic Fox has been dominant for that long. Yeah.

53:11Nick Scarpino:Then next up, we have best esports game, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Mobile Legends, Bang Bang. Every time. And Valorant. Feels like this is kind of the line that we normally see with most of the games, right? like who's making a splash in the scene you know marvel rivals tried to this year i don't think they really got the full ball rolling quite yet but like they had a small little impact that they were trying on this but i don't think there's anything massive that i would change on this list i i yeah i think i can't think of any other title that would i mean unless you're adding fighting games right but again this year in the evo oh well that's the thing less like thinking about at you being the most in tune to the fighting game thing obviously last year was like the fighting game renaissance like holy crap this year is a bit slower but in terms of player base in terms of esports game these are older games so do you think that uh there's any fighting game snub there i mean i thought street fighter was so hype man that's the thing is like

54:08Blessing Adeoye Jr.:you would have to look at evo and the hype of evo but like it's the thing of is it stand out this year versus previous years i feel like evo year after year you're the street fighter is always is going to close it and always going to be hype in the same way right Tekken is always going to be that second to last and it's always going to be hype and even i think this year Tekken might have had like some complaints slash like this year for Tekken and Evo the final two were ended up using like all the same characters type shit and i know like a lot of the people i saw that were popping up in chat and like online were like ah it's kind of whack all this kind of boring type shit and so like maybe not this year i could see next year if marvel token fighting souls hits in the first half of the year and makes a splash at evo and like gets that moment i could see that popping up but it's just the tough thing of when it's these same games every year i think you're going to go for more of the popularity aspect and a lot of these games are just going to be more popular than the fighting games andy kdg you're out you're out there listening somewhere katie katie g our statistician our uh the holocron keeper you better get our true not a funny game showdown right this year uh katie g's out there keeping the records bless for next year how many of those fighting games that you just mentioned yeah whether it's 2x ko yeah or invincible or marvel token fighting souls how many of those games if any sort of take these five or six spots away from what we're so used to seeing with dota and with league of legends and valorant and counter-strike eight so i think the best two that have the potential are Marvel Token and 2X KO, they would have to have a fucking splash at Evo.

55:44Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. Like, it'll have to be, like, viral videos coming out of Evo and, like, all that shit happening, like, firing off. I don't know if they do it. I think— You don't know if one of them can take the space of Mobile Legends Bang Bang. Yeah, that problem. Like, you're not taking down League of Legends or Dota, right? Those are the two largest esports in the world when it comes to tournaments and the eSports scene, right? And then Counter-Strike continues to just be a staple, right? So you're talking about, like, Valorant going up against itself, like with Riot Games. Riot has shown that they can really make a splash.

56:17Now with Valorant in that scene, 2X KO, they could do that for sure. Timothy Geddes from kindoffunny.com, you have a question?

56:23Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What is Mobile Legends Bang Bang? I've been seeing that name thrown around a lot lately. Does anyone know? No idea. No idea. It's become more popular. Mobile Legends Bang Bang is a direct comparison to why college football does not make the best sports game. It's a multiplayer online battle arena. That's a MOBA developed by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. It's free to play, monetized through Purchable's characters, cosmetic customization, primarily played on smartphones and tablets, iOS and Android. ByteDance is TikTok.

56:55Nick Scarpino:ByteDance is the one that was Marvel's not.

56:58Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Oh, so they begin them ads in. Yeah. That makes sense. I've probably seen an ad for this and just like blanked it out. Thought it was a fake game. Nothing beats a good MOBA. Yeah, we're going to get back to Deadlock. That'll be on there, Mike. In two years, Deadlock will be there.

57:12Nick Scarpino:First came out July 14, 2016. So that's another one that's just been around. Interesting. Let's move on to best sports and racing game EAFC 26, F125, Mario Kart World, Rematch, and Sonic Racing Cross Worlds. I'm so happy Rematch is there.

57:29Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Shout out to Sonic Racing. And shout out Sonic Racing. You know, come on now. Good job.

57:34Nick Scarpino:Mike, you were upset about something? I mean, I could go down the list of like, we continue to highlight EA Sports FC, the soccer game that everyone I know internationally, we all love a good soccer game but we complain every single year that all these games are copy and paste and then we continue to highlight it. It won last year so it's like alright well then they must be doing incredible things because every year we just continue to moan about the same things and so it is crazy that we're highlighting like an EA sports title that is the same as always. Mario Kart World, that's definitely walking away with this one.

58:10Rematch I thought really missed it and did not deliver the way it should have. I would slide in the A sports college football over rematch.

58:18Blessing Adeoye Jr.:You're saying that based off of the like live service-y aspects of it, right? No, I think just the gameplay itself as well, right? Oh, no. I think they had something there, but it was missing some sort of flavor. There was something missing out of that to make you want to play it all the time. I don't know what it is from a progression, a standings. there's something in rematch that is why it died off so quickly because something was missing yeah it wasn't the rocket league where all of a sudden everybody got it wanted it and got better at it there was something there that's like just missing that special ingredient i think there's two things i i want to i'll say i think the content was lacking especially when you look at a rocket league when a rocket league even at launch had all these different cosmetics had uh flags for all these different creators right you had the team fat flag in in rocket league at launch what a terrible idea you're kind of funny you can put a flag in the game yeah don't use our company logo put team fat in yeah rocket one of the most popular video games right so you have you had all that stuff you had single player content you know quote-unquote content and rocket league but you could play single player in that game um i think they just had a lot of stuff available to you and then they also had the post-launch content that was able to back it up and keep people in and keep people entertained and rematch was lacking in both both those degrees i do think though that the core gameplay of rematch is so fucking fun like me gary witta like a crew of us were fucking hooked on on rematch and i think that core gameplay is so good that it deserves the acknowledgement but i think this is the first and last time we see rematch right i still stand by i would have held that until the world cup right like we are one year away from the world cup where the entire world will be eyes on the screen glued to it football of course is a big international sport everybody loves that but there's something different in the air when it is a World Cup year.

1:00:04It's a World Cup summer. This game would have really benefited from that if we had that going on at the same time. I think it's the type of game that would have stayed, that would have been really, really popular in a year that wasn't so stacked with everything else, with people fighting for people's attention. As it stands right now, it has 3 ,000 people playing concurrently on Steam. But it is a Game Pass game. And it didn't launch with cross-play, right? Correct. And that was real bad. That was tough. and dumb. Do we think there's a world where Sonic Racing Cross Worlds wins this over Mario Kart world?

1:00:38No.

1:00:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm happy to see it nominated. That's a win right there for a great game. Everything I hear, Sonic Racing Cross Worlds might be the better racing game.

1:00:49Nick Scarpino:You're just around Roger a lot. That's really all that comes down to. Roger and Ben. There's a handful of people that are very loud about Sonic Racing Cross Worlds, and I get it. Congratulations. You all had a good game.

1:01:03Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Are you guys surprised that skate didn't make it in? No. Absolutely not. That's a serious question. I thought you guys liked it. Best feeling game around. Skate still feels great. It is still fun to play, but they absolutely missed the mark on what skate should have been and could have been. Do you think they have a rebound? No, never. Really? You will never be able to fix that. That's right. No, you won't be able to get the player base back to jumping into that. It doesn't matter how many updates it takes. You will not have the opportunity like you did to revive skate. You had one shot and you missed it.

1:01:37I feel like I missed a chapter. That's crazy. I didn't realize it was like that.

1:01:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:People were that down. Oh, dude, the skate fans hate skate. Oh, shoot. Yeah, I had to leave the subreddit because they were just so negative. And then the subreddit still shows up in my feeds because they know I like skate.

1:01:49Nick Scarpino:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will say I'm bummed that Tony Hawk 3 and 4 aren't there. I'm not surprised that they're not there, like I was saying earlier. but it would have been nice for them to get an arm just so that maybe one day somebody looks at it and goes, Hey, it was game awards nominated. The other one won the category a couple of years ago. Well-deserved. And maybe we should do thug and thug too. Maybe we should keep this going, but I'm still to this day surprised. We got the game, but sad to not see it here, but it's okay. Moving on. Best sim slash strategy game, the altars, final fantasy tactics, the Ivy lease chronicles, Jurassic World Evolution 3, Sib 7, Tempest Rising, and Two Point Museum.

1:02:30I was so stoked about the altars being there. I didn't realize Jurassic World Evolution 3 was there. So now pick one. You have them both. Altars. But I don't know if it wins, but I'm just so happy that the altars got nominated. That's a really, really cool game with an awesome narrative. Do you think it has a pretty good shot?

1:02:47Nick Scarpino:Because I feel like some people might not know about the altars. um well shout out to jan dolsky who i i wish was nominated for for best performance yeah alex i'm i think i'm blanking on his last name um but the altars is a game about you are an astronaut who crash lands on a planet and you are in a ship it's kind of think of like the martian where it's like matt damon's gotta just like fight to survive and live but you have this tech with you that you are able to clone yourself to help your uh your odds of survival because you have more bodies that can do more things and at multiple points in your life you are cloning like let's say let's say uh when greg was traveling uh you remember that one like horror story you told us on the on a road trip where you almost died like you almost like whatever now imagine like the version of of that greg that like actually did almost die yeah and then uh he got really into some genre of like science or something and like you helped cure yourself yeah and then at that point you would on this planet you would clone yourself at from that point yeah from the greg miller that almost died yeah and now that scientist version of greg now comes out and he's a different person different think multiplicity michael keaton good movie she touched my pippy good she touched my peepee.

1:04:07What's his name? I forgot. I don't remember his name. He calls it Pepe. Listen, he underrated Andy McDowell. Anyway, the game is like you creating clones of yourself at different big moments of your life that would have completely been altered. I really want to play this. It is such a cool game. The decisions that you're making, the things that are happening to you. It's basically a sim strategy game where you are just trying to get materials, trying to keep everybody happy trying to keep these clones from that have been brought into existence from like revolting against you and being like fuck you i don't want to be existing right now and in their mind they also had like a past life even though they didn't so like they have a future as well and it's like it's it is so trippy and so cool and creative and um i really hope it wins so yeah my question is do you think it wins because i don't get me wrong uh final fantasy tactics Jurassic World, Civ 7, Tempest Rising, Two Point Museum.

1:05:05I've heard good things about all of them. Usually people just bag on tactics because it's whatever. But like, Altar seems to be the one that kind of is the one that people are like, oh man, you've got to play that. That's something really cool. I really think that Final Fantasy Tactics still wins somehow.

1:05:20Nick Scarpino:And just to be real clear about this, people bagging on tactics, that's just me in your ear talking about not liking the art style of the remake. People love tactics. This game, it's like one of the best games ever, and it's a perfect remake. They fucking killed it. Roger's been playing it for the first time, and it's changing his life. Something's going to straighten that guy's life out. Fantasy Tactics, baby. I think that takes it. But Civ 7, though, I thought that was not well-received. It didn't launch well, which is, I feel like, usually the story with Civ, right? It really fucked me on Fantasy Critic.

1:05:48Yeah, that's how it goes. I ride for Two Point Museum. I think what the Two Point team did with Museum, making it so much fun to play, really welcoming, great onboarding. I'm riding for Museum.

1:05:59Nick Scarpino:Andy, is the Alters a contender for you? Yes, I think Alters makes my top 10 this year, yeah.

1:06:04Blessing Adeoye Jr.:If I could pitch a Smiley's category that is best game that we didn't finish, Alters would be up there for me. Nice. The Alters and Liza P. Overture. I'm so mad at you for not beating that.

1:06:14Nick Scarpino:Moving on from this, we have Family Game, Donkey Kong, Bonanza, Lego Party, Lego Voyagers, which I still need to play, Mario Kart World, Sonic Racing Cross Worlds, and Split Fiction. Man, that's a category. What a strong category. That's a category. right like great games here i think this is definitely one of the better best family game years uh because sometimes we look at this list and go what are we fucking doing category yeah so it's it's cool and you know mike was saying it but shout out to lego party that the game really really really did something special which is just kind of be like hey mario party you're not the only ones that can do this and in fact we can kind of do it better in some ways and it's really wild because lego party is a game that when it first was announced all of us looked at it and went this looks like shit like this looks like why like who's making this why are they doing this and it was a major surprise so congrats to that it's one we want to return to so badly yeah if you if you want to have a fun hour and a half of just watching something on youtube watch our last time playing lego party it's a fucking blast it's hilarious so when you look at this category though what does it come down to bonanza versus split fiction oh i think it's our world and donkey kong right i think bonanza runs away with yeah it's the two nintendo games gotta be up at the sea i think it's bonanza split fiction because i think world again a great game insane attach right yada yada yada but critically and i mean it did well but i mean i feel like everybody's like okay and everybody moved on it underperformed for a mario park mario mario kart critically okay yeah i got it whereas a split fiction of course it were follow-up to a game of the year and a game that is awesome and nominated for game of the year bonanza you know this thing that was so incredibly different yeah the Mario Kart conversation is very interesting I think that time is going to be a very interesting thing because I think the problem with it is it being the launch title for the Switch 2 and on the critic side but I don't think it underperformed compared to any other Mario Kart because it's like Mario Kart 8 like nobody gave a fuck it was on the Wii U right I'm saying 8 Deluxe yeah but even 8 Deluxe it's like obviously it was like we know what Deluxe is one of my favorite games of all time.

1:08:18Nick Scarpino:I give it the nod over Mario Kart World for sure. But I think that we over talk like how negatively received Mario Kart World is like I think critically it's that eight. Right. And it's just like expectations. We want it to be a nine or a ten. Yeah. I think that that's lofty for a Mario Kart. And I don't think that's going to really affect the wide critic appeal of the game. Having said that, I do think that there's tens on this list with right so it reminds me of what you were saying earlier greg uh about like the monster hunter wilds world where it's like it's a great game like i don't know if it lived up to its predecessor but it was a great time and yeah but i think the more we talk about it we we uh talk more about the things we didn't shortcomings yeah yeah that makes sense um but yeah otherwise i feel like this is just a these are all great games to some oh yeah yeah so split fiction i'm a little split on for best family game i can go back and forth on that okay but i guess i kind of have a mindset of like greg and ben right he's not handing him let's play split fiction together yeah but in five years i will rage there is but like when i look at those i'm like that's the one outlier to me where i'm like i get it but at the same time i don't think it's better than any of those when i think of family game i disagree entirely i think that like i was saying this earlier but split fiction that dedication to co-op you and someone else playing that is what a family is and i was gonna say how many people think of family as their partner too that come home and can share this game with their non-gaming partner yeah and not you know the split screen aspect of it all is also really nice you know what's the game awards definition of best family

1:09:51Blessing Adeoye Jr.:because i don't know if i'm buying best partner game for best family game uh for best game appropriate for family play irrespective of genre or platform is what i have a very very old document i don't got friends i got family and again i think you were talking about how critics go take that and then apply it to their life or whatever yeah i think that's a weird category then it's like we're doing awards based off of scenarios you know i mean like i don't know i think that's a weird one that's all that's all i got i think that's a weird

1:10:24Nick Scarpino:one then uh moving on to the next one we got innovation in accessibility assassin's creed shadows adam fall doom the dark ages ea sports fc26 and south of midnight this is one that i'm definitely out of my depth on where yeah this sucks because i'm trying to see if the game awards will load the page when it will load will tell you here's what you did accessibility wise like you can jump in adam fall if i can just start spitballing while i try to fill it find it or if it'll work for me uh adam fall when you talk about that one that was one that like one of the hooks of adam fall was it's one of those games where we tell you nothing find the clue figure it out go to the northwest but if you wanted to you could go in and change all that to be like no i want a guided take me there kind of experience i don't know if that's what they're talking to accessibility i'm out of my depth on that one yeah same thing for i mean south of midnight i you know talked a lot about their accessibility of you can skip battles you can do this you can go through unable to load nominees yeah so we're not going to get the information here why they're nominating it yeah if we get it later we'll come back to this one uh best action game battlefield 6, Doom the Dark Ages, Hades 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and Shinobi Art of Vengeance.

1:11:29Nick Scarpino:There we go. Is that for Shinobi? Yeah, baby! Any surprises here? Any snubs? Anything that you're like, how'd that make it? I mean, my pick was Battlefield 6. I'm happy to see Doom get some recognition there. I think Doom was one of those with the time it came out, how it came out. I didn't think people would still remember it, so nice to see both of those on there. Yeah, I'm super happy Doom is there. As I was going to my nominees last night, my predictions, it was the only time I could type it and felt right typing it. And I'm happy to finally be typing in Doom the Dark Ages because I think it largely got quickly not panned because everybody just said, oh, it's the worst of the three.

1:12:14And I don't even agree with that. I think the game starts off really, really awesome and then continues to excel and get better and better. And I had a great time with it. But yeah, it's super awesome seeing Shinobi Art of Vengeance there for sure.

1:12:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I was wondering if you'd see Liza P. Overture sneak into this category. This is like the one category I could have seen it popping up in. But I think it being DLC, of course, makes it tough for people to, I think, recognize it. That said, Ninja Gaiden 4, would you have a prediction of what runs away with this? it's a tough category though because i think hades 2 and doom the dark ages of course are also

1:12:47Nick Scarpino:standouts hades 2 is my personal pick i think it is an amazing game an amazing action game specifically but i do think because it's a sequel and i think it loses a little bit of the people be like oh i'm not gonna vote it for this i'm gonna vote it for something else type thing um but yeah shinobi art of vengeance like great to see it here i do personally think the ninja gaiden rage bound should be here as well uh but i also understand that it's it's not but ninja you got in four it's it's from an action perspective i've heard nothing but good things i know your guys's review you didn't necessarily love the game overall well i did yeah yeah well what'd you give it an eight okay i love i love the action of it that's and that's it yeah uh but i i would put uh i wish night rain were here as well like i know night rain also got nominated in multiplayer but i i do wish that we saw elden ring night rain here for just being an awesome action experience.

1:13:37I mean, it's all action, you know? I'm just happy Shinobi's at the table, and I'll take it, because that game's fun as hell.

1:13:44Nick Scarpino:A bunch of people in the chat pointing out that these are all sequels. Is there any non-sequel action game that we feel like could have made this list? Absolume. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. It's a weird one, because you don't think of it in that same direction, but combat is primarily what you're doing in that game. And I think that's my favorite combat this year, or one of my favorite combats in games this year. So I would love to see it here. But again, I'm happy to see it at the table that it got nominated for a different category. I think our creators could have a conversation here. Is that an action game?

1:14:22I mean, what's your definition of action game? Because it's now starting to really... We don't have an extraction category. And so there's not a shooter category. There's not an extraction category. It's action, right? And Battlefield 6 to me is action, right? The things that I get into in Ark Raiders is definitely action for sure. The way you play it, yeah, for sure. Yeah, the way you play it. I was going to say that, well, last night I came up with a mathematical, you know, equation. Scientific. That it has to be 78 % or more of action in your game in order for it to be an action. and if you're like at the 75 % mark and 25 % platforming, then you're an action-adventurer.

1:15:01Yeah, I like that.

1:15:02Nick Scarpino:I mean, the way they define it really is about the focus on combat and action-adventure does have a focus on platforming or exploration and stuff, and so it's like, oh, you motherfuckers, I get what you're doing, but I don't like it.

1:15:13Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Did we mention Elden Ring Night Rain in this conversation? Yeah, I was hoping to see it there, yeah.

1:15:17Nick Scarpino:Then next up, we have Best Fighting Game. We've talked about it, but let's go through it again. KX2, I'll never get this right, 2KXO. i hate this shit capcom fighting collection 2 fatal fury city of the wolves mortal combat legacy collection virtual fighter 5 revote world stage yeah i mean it's a weird one too because

1:15:36Blessing Adeoye Jr.:2x scale is also in early access it's in some kind of pre-release stage yeah it's not fully it's very recent too it's like very early access yeah everything else has been invited i kind of genuinely don't know what wins this category like i look at this and i mean either I think Fatal Fury takes it. I could see Fatal Fury, but that game's, it's cool. I like that game, but I don't look at it as like, oh, that's the best fighting game of the year, contender or whatever. But I guess in this year, probably. Yeah. For a fully released thing. I think. Maybe Virtual Fighter V even. I think 2XKO gets it.

1:16:09Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, with Riot Games behind that. I mean, the look, the style. But it's also like, you don't have that big of a character roster in that game yet. You have like six characters. Yeah. Like, I don't look at that as like a full fighting game release. I think we're just in a weird stage with this category.

1:16:23Nick Scarpino:Yeah, we really, really.

1:16:25Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I might say fuck it and give it to Capcom Fighting Collection too. Yeah. Yeah, Power Stone up in that thing.

1:16:33Nick Scarpino:Best role-playing game, Avowed, Clear Obscure, Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and The Outer Worlds 2. So shocked that Avowed is here. Just so shocked. Based on, like, you know, you don't always have to look at Metacritic, but it being probably the lowest reviewed of all of these, I was looking at, you know, the top rated games and going through that. And I, in my personal predictions, I had put one of Mike's favorite games of the year, Chales in the Sky. Sure. You know. How about Digimon? Yeah, surprise Digimon. Like, you know, we've heard so much good things about Digimon, you know, like all of this praise for this game.

1:17:15I'm surprised it wasn't here. yeah i'm so sad and not surprised at all but it's like you know one of my immediate contenders citizen sleeper didn't go anywhere and like i but the altar is also being such a a decision making thing and you know when i think of like role playing i just when i looked at like the top six games or whatever it's like all of these are all these have role-playing game elements We're just like really, really melding what these genres are. But yeah, I would say Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 may take the win here. You think over Claire? Only because I think Claire wins best.

1:17:55Best everything else. Best everything else. I think that I don't think it's going to stop people from voting for this. Sometimes you talk about that where you worry about going to the ballot. Well, I voted Claire and 15 other things. Why not? I don't think that's going to shake it up too much. We always talk about like the diversifying of like winners and stuff. and people think about that, it almost never shakes out. Exactly. We always get in our head about what actually happens when people step up to it. I'm more interested, and I guess like, none always call it out, so I'm just the odd man out.

1:18:21If I was nominating Monster Hunter Wilds, I would have put it into action like we were talking about earlier, more than role-playing, but I know this falls into, what do you define as role-playing? Da-da-da-da-da. The old definition I have from an old Game Awards thing says, for the best game designed with rich character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences. So I see it, and I'm not like, riled up about it but i was like oh that's an interesting one i'm with you that i know there's better rpgs this year than avowed but i think avowed we're back to mainstream that was a game that everybody could get their hands on it was i think out there for everybody a big push from xbox and a great combat system you know i didn't love uh the overall experience but like combat felt really good maybe it wore out over time i'm happy as a fan to see outer worlds to get it here obviously i don't i wouldn't vote for it in the category right you know i don't think it's going

1:19:07Blessing Adeoye Jr.:to win this category but it's cool to see it there at the table i want to shout out delta rune even though even based off of that definition greg said i don't even know if it would even be a fit in this category but like i look at delta rune as an rpg and it came out at least a part of it again came out this year but it's really structure is so weird that i'm not surprised to not see it pop up um and also mike what's the word with trails in the sky first chapter i just brought that oh you brought that yeah i i agree with that on andy's side on that that in Digimon, you could definitely have a conversation about sliding those in.

1:19:37Yeah, Digimon I know somebody will love. We gotta add like decision making too. When I think of RPG, I'm role playing as something. I'm making choices. What would I do in this moment? And you know, because every... Would you stab this monster? Yeah, but like, it's just like you know, we're just in that weird territory with genres, but like everything has a skill tree now.

1:19:54Nick Scarpino:But see, to that too it's funny because like I know there are in specifically this game, there are examples of it, but are you really making that many decisions in expedition 33 well that's i mean that's personally why i don't know if i had it on my initial list just think of like what the what inherently what the game is like but it is i mean i think inherently it's an rpg for sure but like i think the decision making thing like isn't necessarily like the thing the difference maker of what an rpg is it's kind of

1:20:23Blessing Adeoye Jr.:the difference between a western rpg and a jrpg like i i think that's why this category gets weird and again like we kind of had to go by what the overall thing is but yeah like for most jrpgs you're not making decisions like you are in avowed or kingdom come deliverance 2 or these all these other western rpgs i'm not saying you divide it that way but i think you could cut this category in half and be able to give games that feel more competitive against each other because like when we talk about trails in the sky for a chapter i don't compare that to outer worlds 2 those are different genres of games even though they're both rpgs well this is why whenever i open my fat mouth and I'm like, oh man, I love RPGs.

1:20:55I love Western RPGs. You know what I mean? You start getting down where it's like, yeah, I wouldn't know Digimon, right? I wouldn't go and play that idea.

1:21:02Nick Scarpino:Glenn Wilson says, about 100 % deserves to be here. The combat and parkour moment to moment was so good. Loved the story as well. Need a sequel. You're getting one, apparently. Moving on to Best Action Adventure Game. Death Stranding 2 on the Beach. Ghost of Yotei. Hollow Knight's Silksong. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Split Fiction. Fuck you, Greg. Hey, man, I didn't get game of the year, but I am impressed it made anything. Troy, obviously, very deserved. His indie was great, but I'm with the Death Stranding conversation from before, but I'll stop now. Another great category. But, I mean, when you stack these up, right, we're all thinking Silksong wins it?

1:21:42Right. You know what I mean?

1:21:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:There's a lot of great games on here to ride for. I think any of those top three. Honestly, I think any of these, funny enough, aside from Indiana Jones has a chance. Yeah. you think Yote has a chance I think so love Yote not taking a shot at it but I mean whenever you look at these categories Tim I start doing the guess who thing where I'm like knock you down knock you down like what else you know and so pretty quickly I'm to like Death Stranding song Death Stranding 2 is fucking amazing yeah didn't you tell Andy it was a skip the ending is a skip what the fuck you're a fucking idiot no it's not there's a moment there the ending is the best part of the game there's a moment One moment you weren't happy with.

1:22:23He was asleep, Chad. Oh, my God, dude. You're fucking crazy. That was when I was like, Kojima's back. Kojima is back. Everybody's doing this to him. We're all dancing.

1:22:35Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Awesome. And it was a fucking incredible. He was following. Go play 30 more hours of magic in a fucking dusty shot. According to the world, Ghost Yote is only like a 9 or 10 out of 10 game. So, like, going off of that, I'm just saying, it should win, shouldn't it?

1:22:49Nick Scarpino:Andy, what are your thoughts on Silk Song? um i think silk song takes it here i think but then when i look at um the game of the year i look at the lack of yote and wonder do people vote for yote because that's the only place they could vote for it here but then that goes with the sort of line of thinking of yeah but it's usually the more popular thing will win anyway i do think it's it's funny to look at this like obviously all these games fit the category deserve the category all that but action adventure on the 2D side and 3D side, I think like literally by definition, Silk Song and Ghost of Yote, right?

1:23:25Nick Scarpino:Like Ghost of Yote I think is like the most, not paint by numbers, by the numbers action adventure game. You know what I mean? The best action adventure game combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving. Yeah, like I do think it is an emphasis on both of those things in a way that Death Stranding 2, more on the adventure side, right? Indiana Jones, more on the adventure side. Split fiction, kind of a mix there I'd say, but I think split fiction is like kind of perfect for this genre just when it comes to like exactly what you're doing in the game but for me Ghost of Yote I just I as much as it feels like you're going on an adventure like you're not like you're climbing mountains because they that's what they're putting in your way to get to the next thing but like there's there's not a there's no challenge there you're just climbing it because it's an alternative to walking uh and but with silksong you have these platforming challenges where you are zipping and trying to get that perfect jump and trying to do the the pogo bounce off of an enemy to then go to the next thing and grab onto the ledge like that's what i feel like like that's nailing the adventure sort of platforming aspect in the description how's dk bonanza not in this that's based off of that conversation like dk bonanza

1:24:40Blessing Adeoye Jr.:is such the definition of action adventure when you think about it a great call because you know the middle chunk is you know because for families very very rich move up most anticipated game

1:24:55Nick Scarpino:double seven first light grand theft of 906 marvel's wolverine resident evil requiem and the witcher 4 it yeah it's interesting i think that this is always a funny category and like specifically it's going to be gta 6 because until gta 6 comes out it'll be gta 6 um but these are kind of the six games we know about like we are in a weird place right now that i don't think we know too many titles of of games coming out in the next year that are is the witcher for us next year or you know even just i don't think i don't think he categorized it as games period so i would have put a new infamous collection up no fable no marvel tokens bloodborne remastered hello campaign involved gears e-day you know there's a lot of cool games out there y 'all it's very exciting would you put a remake and a prequel uh yeah i mean it's gears of war gears were absolutely rocks you know so yeah i mean you could replace a thousand of these games with those six right there's so many games to look forward to shout out to 007 first light making

1:25:55Blessing Adeoye Jr.:it in i that's one that i i'm not surprised but i am surprised to see it like on this list with these older games that are you get to see more of it this week that show is running in like 20 frames per second let's move up content creator any thoughts on this mike you popped off for yeah i mean i i love the burnt peanut i'm a big fan of him i really enjoy him uh vtuber of the year as a streamer awards we'll see if he wins that but this is a content creator that made a huge splash on the scene this year coming from the escape from tarkov world that is so grindy it is such a small niche market and to kind of blast through that right now and be in the stratosphere of some of the larger creators is a pretty wild story to say right moist critical being so open and honest and doing what he's doing right now with his channel and also showing all the revenue the numbers breaking it down so people on the outside can understand the industry of this live stream content creation world is a wild one no one was doing that and moist critical went out there and had a conversation so charlie's up there and killing it in dispatch also like that's crazy yeah you could go down the list of everything that kai has done this year and you would be blown away right there are so many content creators and streamers out there that are doing things that like you would never believe that could be done right he had a whole streamer university where they took over a part of a college and brought in younger streamers to learn from a bunch of content creators he had this mafia thon where he brought in more celebrity guests into a streaming twitch world than you could ever imagine right lebron james showing up to sit on a webcam twitch stream is crazy you never would have thought that five years ten years ago and so we go down the list of all that and there's two others that i don't know but man that's a a wild deal of content does this lean towards gaming though what do you mean like when you're talking game award yeah Because when you're talking about Kaisenat.

1:27:54Because his audience would tune in to watch him win, right? That's the hope.

1:27:58Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. Does it lean into gaming? No. I think that's the thing. When I think of Kaisenat, I think of all the things that are outside of games. I know he does. He did Elden Ring marathon. But then if we're just talking about content creator, then Speed should be on there. Speed should be on there. Like Jason LeWene or Extra Emily and those people, I feel like. But our people voting know those people, right? Did they know Jason LeWene jumped out of a plane and live streamed him skydiving, right? Did they know that X-Family went around the entire globe this year and live streamed it? Did they know Speed put on multiple, hey, I'm in this country for 30 days, live streaming from the middle of China?

1:28:32Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Did they know that Mike and Roger were handcuffed together? Exactly. Like Speed was around the globe like he was a president. You know what I mean? Like he was meeting people. He's like a second post. He's the ambassador. When aliens come to Earth, we're going to be like, here's Speed.

1:28:46Nick Scarpino:That's a good call. It's funny though, everything you just said has nothing to do with video games. Yeah. At all. Well, I mean, what brings us all together is video games, right? Charlie plays video games all the time. Burt Peanut only plays video games, right? Kai Sinat started playing video games, and now his content has morphed from that, right? So, like, the VTuber there, I'm sure, is playing games. So, like, everyone is playing games still here, right? So, like, that's the glue that binds us all together is the games that brought us all together. And then your content grows. I just feel like the content creator of the year at the Game Awards should be about making content about the games this year.

1:29:20Nick Scarpino:These people are amazing. These people have done great stuff. Yeah, but the counter would be like, they all made content about games this year. But is that what they're getting content creator of the year? Like, was Kai Sinat? And who is, is my other question. Like, who did, out of this list, who did the most gaming content that deserves this? Burnt Peanut, probably. I think everybody's most critical streams games all the time. Probably the five only, except for Kai Sinat. But, like, Kai's put on larger streams with video games than probably all of them because of his size of the audience.

1:29:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:That's the only thing I'm putting out is, yeah, Kai Sinai, I think, out of these five, is the one where I think he's, obviously, he's one of the biggest streamers in the world. But I feel like his gaming content is such a small piece of the pie compared to everything else that he's doing. K-Drell is a League of Legends coach who I'm sure does a lot of streams based on, like, you know, teaching and review tapes, you know, like you ever seen. I'm sure Mike several years ago that there were a lot of content creators going like hey submit your clips or whatever and I'll guess what rank you are like that I assume that he's really big in the League of Legends world that's just being from a place of ignorance moving on to the next category

1:30:30Nick Scarpino:we have best VR slash AR game, Alien Rogue Incursion Arkham Age, Ghost Town, Midnight Walk and Deadpool VR happy to see Midnight Walk here I still haven't finished it but really excellent little game it's uh not only in vr you can also play it on ps5 super cool tim burton-esque art style like fun little puzzle game um but yeah otherwise don't have too much to say about this does anyone i only played alien rogue incursion with nick we had a nice smile on our face uh wasn't great but it also did a good job uh creating a cool world within alien that you could walk around and really feel like that but it didn't wasn't groundbreaking to me.

1:31:09I'm having to say that VR is thriving. Are you being a troll? Yeah.

1:31:18Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What are you going to do? And like your point, luminous arise. Yeah. Where's luminous arise? Yeah. It's crazy to me that like Deadpool VR, which isn't even out yet, but luminous that we like also had codes for earlier. I mean, again, to jump in here though, it's all about, uh i think people trying to play for nominations and getting stuff early not even that as much as i think pr making a big deal and this is a stupid thing because it's in the title but deadpool vr is a vr game luminous arise was a puzzle game yeah yeah you can play in a psvr but it's everywhere else too like it wasn't like how they're gonna drive for it but i hear you there next up best debut indie game blueprints claire obscure expedition 33 god damn it's not

1:32:02Nick Scarpino:fair uh despolote dispatch and mega bonk i mean look it's just wild like obviously we're going to talk a lot more about clear obscure as we go on but most nominations ever how much is it just going to run away like how much like if there's 12 nominations is it going to win 10 of them and you look at best debut indie game and it's like you'll want to give amazing games here despolote is the only one that i truly know nothing about dude it's good it's like it's like a documentary

1:32:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:game essentially about oh what's the country that takes mexico right no it's not ecuador yeah there we go ecuador i i beat it over the weekend oh cool yeah yeah yeah really cool ourselves this is first person uh i don't wouldn't say walking sim but almost like an interactive experience where you are playing uh as a kid in ecuador during a year where they're in the world cup they're trying to qualify for a slice a slice of a slice of life adventure about childhood and the magical grip soccer held over the people of quito ecuador in 2001 is this the one with the

1:32:59Nick Scarpino:art style where it's very like uh draw you looky yeah okay cool very cool um yeah but mike mentioning that he saw it at a museum yeah was that the moment is exactly yeah like kind of game it is yeah playing as i played it it takes about two hours to beat it's like this feels more like a just an interactive autobiography or like a documentary piece yeah cool and then yeah blueprints Do you want to speak to that?

1:33:25Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I mean of course Blueprints is a fucking masterpiece that I would vote for this category but Claire Obscure is going to take it That's a tough thing.

1:33:33Nick Scarpino:There's a conversation in the chat We've Lord saying Expedition 33 is not an indie. Here we go. But I mean like let's have a conversation. What's the argument that it's not an indie? The team's too big

1:33:42Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Team's too big. Budget is comparable to AA games. It's a AA game Yeah.

1:33:46Nick Scarpino:But it's like it is by definition an independent studio. 100 % So it's like that is They're not owned by anybody. Y 'all said fucking nothing when goddamn Dave the Diver was there last year, so shut the fuck up and strap in. You know what I mean? So it's interesting. By the way, for the argument I'm making, if you're new here, Expedition 33 is an independent game by definition, period. Dave the Diver was not. Dave the Diver was nominated because it looked like pixel art indie shit. Yeah. Not shit, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's just wild how you can look at all these different games. Expedition 33, you look at what that game is and calling it an indie.

1:34:19Nick Scarpino:It is an indie. That's crazy. it plays with our minds. It's the normal thing where, yeah, we can sit here and talk about it. Like we're talking about earlier, overthinking it. It'll win. Yeah. There's a chance other people could sit at this and go, what's the best Indy? And the go Expedition. I don't count that as an Indy that could happen. And there's a lot of great deserving games on there. I think Expedition will run away.

1:34:37Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, I think the conversation, if we're going to have a conversation in a bigger way, right? Like you could stretch this to be like, well, Larry and with Baldur's gate three, Baldur's gate three is an Indy game. Why didn't that get nominated? You can stretch that to even the Witcher does with Cyberpunk and all that shit. Right. Every year we get here, we have this conversation. This is a category that officially needs to be redone and be best small game team, a game made by a team, an independent team of only 50 or less or something like that.

1:35:04Nick Scarpino:And we're not even talking about best independent game. This is best debut independent game. So even if it was just best debut for a team, that gets a little complicated. But even then, I think that would make more sense where it's like I. right sony isn't going around making that many new studios right so even if they did and they were a great thing cool it's your first game off the thing you're in for best debut game yeah yeah that's probably a better i was recommending every dev has to send their financial books to jeff keely yeah and the other argument too of best debut game is the idea that like we look at the the other ones i forget what category i think it might have been shoot uh not shooters but action games were like oh they're all sequels like well good they want to be nominated for best debut game yeah barrett i think there's also like a weird thing with uh people thinking about indies in terms of art style and presentation as well because if you look at i went to kepler interactive which is the like publishing side of this game the other games that they uh published this year was bionic bay and rematch and i think if like you recognize those games as being smaller teams indie uh purely just because of like how they look but not clear obscure i think you also need to like kind of break down that barrier in the conversation as well of like well just because it looks like this certain thing doesn't mean it's triple a or double a or whatever and if you're not paying attention since we uh call this out of course uh earlier when we're talking about a little bit of numbers 12 for claire expedition kepler interactive has 13 nominations which puts it in second place to uh wait yeah sony interactive is 19 nominations across the combined portfolio kepler's in second place with 11 ea and microsoft are tied with 10 wow yeah i think the only way you

1:36:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:could shake it up to try and figure out how to make i guess a new indie category would be to go by team size or budget but that's just not feasible like those numbers those that information isn't available to everybody forever this is one of those things that's funny it's a great problem to have i to go back to being at ign and being like we need indie game of the year because they could never be game of the year right and when you got to that point where it was breakout indies are suddenly starting to sniff around game of the year or at least even uh genre awards that was crazy so now that we're here and we're and i understand trying jeff's uh the game awards in general and even dice or whatever trying to figure out how do you honor the small teams but not make it insulting and not have them just get run over but then the small teams or whatever independent studios are making boulders gate are making expedition 33 it's a team of 30 but they had their six friends also asked some people and then this will be the whole thing again where expedition 30 or 33 was 30 people or 50 people except for the hundreds of outsourced people they use which So many games do, so it's a whole thing.

1:37:40Yeah. Show your fucking books. Moving on.

1:37:44Nick Scarpino:We have best independent game. Absolume. I was like waiting to make sure. Did I get that right? Yeah. There we go. Ball Pit. Blue Prince. Expedition 33. Hades 2. Hollow Knight Silksong. Wrestling call and response.

1:38:02Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What a fucking list of video games. If we gave this an extra week, though, Dispatch would be right in there. And I mean, again, even more like banger after banger after banger.

1:38:14Nick Scarpino:Like, is this the best list of independent games we've ever had in this category? I thought Peek would have been there. Where's Peek at? I don't know. You tell me. I mean, Peek was fantastic. Right? I don't know where we missed that one. Tell me about it. You don't like Peek? No, no, no. I like Peek a lot.

1:38:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What would you take out to put in Peek? Absolume or Ball Pit. Those would be my two votes of like, I would say Peek could replace one of those two. Fair enough. This is not what I'm arguing, but while we're calling out a Peek, you said snubs, and it's one of those, I have to digest the list. One of the disappointments for me in this list, and not that I'm saying these lists are wrong, is the fact that Hell has us got nothing. Not even a tip of the hat somewhere as a nom. I'm just saying a nom, because I thought that game was doing something very, very special. I think it was criminally underplayed, yada, yada, yada.

1:39:02I don't think it should be here. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying what.

1:39:04Nick Scarpino:What, what just without what looking at the actual list and you're saying it has to replace something. What do you think it could have? That would have been action adventure, right? It would have been music and score and setting and sound. You know what I mean? Like that kind of thing. There's some, I just want to see somewhere that get, get a nom. Cause I think that did such a great job at making a really cool world to live in and explore. But yeah, best independent game. Like any Andy, what, what's this list do to your heart? well i mean peak was the on my original predictions list um i had expression 33 silksong blueprints peak and hades 2 uh i i think not only from the aspect of the amount of people playing it but how much it really dominated a lot and it wasn't just the flavor of the week it wasn't just one of those indie games that takes over for a little bit and then you never hear about again like it was around for a long time it had staying power and it kept on building and building audience and we're talking i think at this point 12 million plus purchases which is fucking crazy um i was i was pretty shocked to not see that there but yeah i mean looking at this list without peak being there it's like yeah these are all very very strong indie titles i'd agree with mike if i were to replace something on this list with peak it'd probably be ball pit or absolute yeah yeah so stoked to see Absolume here.

1:40:23Nick Scarpino:I'm still having finished it. I know Barrett's played a lot more than I have, but shout out to Dot Emu. They're really killing it, and I think that they've been doing such a great job with the license side of things. To see them come out with their own IP and have it be as good as this is, awesome stuff. I think that they're definitely a group to keep your eyes on, and I think that this won't be the last time that their games show up at a game awards. I love that they're nominated. I would love to have seen them. I don't think they're in Best Art Direction, but that's another game that I just think is so pretty, and if you like Beat 'em Up gameplay and uh really smart uh roguelike systems that you'd see in hades 2 like you owe it to yourself to play absolute ball pit tell me more i still haven't played it like i know everybody loves it but is it you gotta play it i i will at some point maybe not i don't know actually if i'm being it's a good time like it was it didn't knock my socks off in any way i think but i think i am in the minority in terms of how everybody felt about the game i think i gave it like at the time a 7-5 out of 10.

1:41:19I put in like 30, 40 hours into it. I really enjoyed my time with it. And yeah, it's a roguelite game where you start off every level and you pick a new little villager and each villager has a different thing about them that makes your brick-breaking experience easier or more different or more unique. And yeah, it had really cool progression hooks. I thought it was a really, really fun time, but I didn't see it like, I don't know if I would put that over even something like, I guess Megabonk is just 3D vampire survivors, but yeah. It's a lawsuit. It's another one of those games that I think is like really, really fun, but I haven't really thought about it a whole lot since I moved on.

1:42:06I mean, I just think of Bless when he brings up that category of like, there's something missing here with the sim games that you bring up from Powerwall Sim 2, Schedule 1, right? You talk about the king is watching. There's just, it's too many games, Tim. That's all it is. You go down the list and I could give you six best indie games that you would go and be like, those are good games. Those are good games too. Talk to me about Megabonk, Mike. I mean, Megabonk was hot. Megabonk is just vampire survivors with a 3D twist to it. So if you like that, you're going to love Megabonk. Megabonk is very fun.

1:42:39Nick Scarpino:Does it deserve a spot on best independent game list? I could definitely talk to you about Megabonk over Absolume or Ball Pit again. I don't know about the other four because I do really rise from Blueprints. Yeah, exactly. I could make a list of 10 right now that I would have added more onto for sure. Megabonk would be in that conversation. Repo could be in that conversation. Heat would be in that. Schedule 1. The pool simulator would be at Waterpark Sim. Powerwash Sim, wherever that falls, is going to be somewhere on this list. Yeah, there's a lot of great games. Moving on. we have best multiplayer arc raiders battlefield six elden ring night rain peak and split fiction you getting in here does that make you happy mike yeah i'm i'm very happy with peak in there um i circle back to split fiction i like the co-op nature of it right i look and go in my head were there other best multiplayer games i might bring up marvel rivals from last year that's that December one that missed the cutoff that comes into this right like what is a multiplayer game to you could be a lot of different things right in this category five of those are more than just two people right so do we lean a little bit on that of like hey let's get more multiplayer here split fiction uh split fiction is such a special case and yeah it is a multiplayer game that's that co-op nature something different when you look at the rest of them but I would probably

1:44:09Blessing Adeoye Jr.:have a conversation with marvel rivals here yeah i feel like marvel rivals would complete this list it's tough because i look at it i don't know what i would remove for marvel rivals but also like i think multiple of these categories have six options i think this is one that could have had six options here with marvel rivals making it in there because like that game had such an impact within the last year that game has stuck around within the last year we're still getting exciting updates right they just announced uh gambit and rogue um but you need me in blessing canvassing in your town in your local town yeah let us make the pamphlet hang and put them under the windshield wipers

1:44:39Nick Scarpino:exactly but dfd don't forget december yeah put them on your doorknobs yeah andy do you think arc raiders takes this um great question shit it's riding high right now yeah it has this is such a good they plant their flag at the right time it has such momentum right now i think planning their flag at the right time would have been maybe two weeks or a month prior only from the aspect of getting put in more areas, being nominated in more spots. But yeah, I think it's riding such a high right now that I could definitely see Ark Raiders taking it. I don't know how much of the industry will hold against the AI stuff against it.

1:45:22But yeah, I could definitely see it. I think you look at it and it's Ark Raiders Peak or Split Fiction. And I think when you start going in there and doing our little game of knocking things down, I bet I would bet Split Fiction wins because I think there's enough people who even I you know I don't like extraction shooters usually right I love Arc Raiders Arc Raiders brought me in that's amazing I still think the majority like who played in this critics judging category who played more I think Split Fiction probably had more people playing together having a good time I think you're

1:45:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:underrating Arc Raiders I hope so I want Arc Raiders to win yeah I mean when you look at the steam counts but I'm talking about judges but yeah yeah but I think judges are included in that right You're talking about such a big judging pool as well that votes within this. And Arc Raiders is one of the highest played games of the year. I'd be surprised if more of the judges haven't played Arc Raiders over Split Fiction. Battlefield 6? I mean, we're not talking about Battlefield 6. We're not, and we won't. Battlefield 6 is one of the best on this list, if not one or two, actually. It would be Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 leading this in the front here.

1:46:24Elden Ring Night Rain gets a nice little tip of the hat. Peak is very good. Peak would be my number three. Split fiction would be at five or six here. I do think that we are forgetting that Battlefield 6 came out and had a fantastic launch. Battlefield 6 nailed it after a 10-year just mishap of all three of those games that came out since Battlefield 4 and 1, right? Now you're talking about Battlefield 6 nails the launch. Then after that, you look at it. They nail the DLC right afterwards with a new map and a battle Royale. I mean, this is a game that like has taken over. I know it's a little bit cooled because our creators is the hot thing of the week right now, but like both of those games, that's where the votes will be going.

1:47:12Nick Scarpino:We'll see. Move on. Your games for impact. Consume me. That's below. Tay lost records. Blooming rage. South of midnight and wander. Stop.

1:47:23Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Great list I'm still so curious about Lost Records, Blooming Rage Like the reasoning of it being on this list Teenage angst, you know Impactful I feel like people just nominate What has an emotional story That's why I don't think it's in the running I think that was many people's Fifth write-in or whatever it needed to be I mean it has to be either Desi Voltaire consume me You don't think Here's what I would say I don't think you're wrong my heart says Despolote because I feel I've heard that narrative so much I still haven't played it myself Janet Garcia yells at me about it all the time understandably so I would say you know consume me being about an eating disorder Despolote being about this whole thing that you know there's more under the surface of the two hours yeah and then yes I think again though South and Midnight got in a lot of people's hands and people really did like that look at the Deep South and everything Hazel went through in that I don't know if it's enough I think of that tree I think of the tree man.

1:48:20I think of the tree man song. Tree man. I think more judges will look at this nomination list and go, what haven't I played? And if they haven't played this, but out there, they'll go, oh, it's only two hours. Play that. And I'm in that category. I'm like, I got to see that winning.

1:48:34Nick Scarpino:Yeah. Next category. No man's sky. Best community support. We have Baldur's gate three, final fantasy, 14, fortnight, held divers two, and no man's sky.

1:48:49simpsons and fortnite you know yeah no but i i guess i think fortnite more of like ongoing game i would say this is another weird one community and exactly it's like i don't follow their social media accounts i don't know whatever one last year probably gonna win this yeah next up

1:49:06Nick Scarpino:best narrative clear obscure expedition 33 death streaming 2 on the beach ghost of yote Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Silent Hill F. Silksong should be here. I agree. Yeah. Would you replay Siotak with it? I can't speak on Yote. You didn't play it? No, no interest. Yeah, I don't know. It's a tough one. I just think what Silksong does with its narrative and how it kind of rolls out its story, learning about the characters, learning about this society and this kingdom and all the stuff and then like the the character stuff uh character work that they do as well i think is fucking phenomenal i think this category is another one where it's like what are we even doing yeah expedition wins it's so easy

1:49:54Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and like i want to be like oh but that's raining too but like no it's clear i'm scared next category

1:50:02Nick Scarpino:best adaptation we have a minecraft movie devil may cry splinter cell death watch the last of us and Until Dawn. Jason Momoa was great in Minecraft movie. Let's just take a moment. Who saw Minecraft movie? Was it just Mike? Appreciate that the Minecraft movie made you smile and had a good time. Jack Black, you got Jason Momoa, they're running through laughing, having a good time. I'm riding with that.

1:50:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Dude, everybody in chat is saying Minecraft. Holy shit. Yeah, Minecraft was fun. It was good? Yeah, it was a fun time. I feel like I stepped into a different dimension. I could have sworn everybody was hating on Minecraft. I think more people. You're thinking about Borderlands. I guess, yeah, maybe I think more people were blown away that it wasn't awful, that it was like, oh, that wasn't a bad time. You know?

1:50:44Nick Scarpino:Yeah. I can't speak to that. I haven't seen it. I loved devil may cry. Very happy to see it here. Can't wait for season two splinter cell death watch. I haven't heard a single person that's watched it. That hasn't been like, it's fucking amazing. Roger specifically loves it, but it's not just him. Like the talk around this is high last of us. I, we all understand it was a very split season. You either liked it, loved it, hated it, everything in between. But I still think that it deserves a spot here. until Don does not at all deserve a spot on this list. Everybody's saying season two and definitely Sonic three deserves.

1:51:14Everybody's saying where's Sonic three? Where is Andy and blessing in your local town? Don't forget December. They brought up as well. I love that you're doing the Clinton Obama hand thing. They brought up chicken jockey. Do you remember how viral that was?

1:51:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I remember going to see a chicken jockey. What a time. I forget what movie it was. I saw some. It was Sinners, I think. I went to see Sinners and Owls in Line and just a bunch of kids were there for Minecraft. It was the most annoying... Stop selling popcorn and candy to kids. It was the most annoying leechoing experience I ever had. They re-released the you can fuck around and do whatever you want version. Like a sing-along or whatever. You can fuck around and do whatever you want. I was behind a group of kids in line and one of the kids turned around and was like, hey, I got these chicken tendies.

1:51:59Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Do you want these chicken tendies? And I looked at them and I was like, no. I don't want your half-eaten chicken tendies. Get away from me. I'm not here to talk to children. I want to watch Sinners.

1:52:08Nick Scarpino:Sonic got robbed. Moving on, we got best audio design, Battlefield 6, Claire Obscure Expedition 33, which made it simply for its Perry sound. Yeah. Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei, and Silent Hill F. Yeah, I was mentioning last night, as awesome as Claire Obscure Expedition 33 sound effects are, I think they are kind of poorly mixed in some spots with the volume and things like that. and I'm surprised that Ark Raiders did not make this list. I really thought that that could have and should have been a shoe-in with hearing shoes on the ground and footsteps. Sure, sure. And just the environment and explosions and sounds, like the 3D audio in that game is so fucking immersive.

1:52:51Nick Scarpino:Yeah, any thoughts on this, Mike? I know you're... I mean, it's got to be Battlefield 6 for me. Battlefield 6 is crazy audio design from everything that you experience throughout that game. Every single moment in a multiplayer match is just screaming in your ears. The audio was awesome in that game. So, yeah, I'll ride for that. Next up, we have Best Score and Music, Hollow Knight Silksong, Hades 2, Clear Up Scare Expedition 33, Ghost of Yotei, and Death Stranding 2. It's a tough one. Don't need to go over my Mario Kart thoughts again. I also think South of Midnight, if it deserved anything, it was Best Score and Music.

1:53:26Nick Scarpino:The fact that that game focuses on music so much and the entire narrative is through song, beautiful songs. Good point. Such a great story and narrative that, again, it's through the music. And I feel like it's a snub here where, like, that game, I understand not the best thing ever, but it did. Two-Toe Tom is amazing, right? And I really feel like it deserves a spot here. I mean, it's the top three here for me. Like, I could roll a dice and whatever it lands on, I'll understand and go like, yeah, that deserves it over, you know, whether it's Silksong, Hades 2 or Expedition 33. And anytime I lean towards one, I think about smaller moments in the other games that really highlight and go, oh, shit, man.

1:54:07I can't believe how crazy right now the Darren Korb is doing different shit near the end of these runs. And Expedition 33, I think about how awesome all those songs are and how diverse they are with genres. and suddenly you have this weird techno thing coming out of nowhere and then you have this instrumental thing with a dude screaming at the top of his lungs and then Silksong, I just think it's Christopher Larkin at his best. Like that's, this is going to be the one that like, when Christopher Larkin is accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, it's going to be like Silksong is the one where you really, really kind of brought it.

1:54:41Nick Scarpino:Hades 2 for me was, I mean, obviously Dan Corp going off, love it, but I wasn't personally like, I'm putting this on the list until the second half of the game like until i really started getting into more of the stuff and i beat the game a couple weekends ago and that cemented it i'm like oh my god this belongs on this list which is a very tough year because we have so many bangers but what they did with hades 2 to elevate the hades 1 stuff deserves so much praise in terms of presentation and production value they're so damn talented um holiday silk song like just doubling down on what Andy's saying like the score of that game is utterly phenomenal like it is more than just atmosphere and vibes it it does everything it needs to at every single moment like it creates the perfect kind of like bow on a package of like oh this is like a perfect video game in so many ways and I it just always makes you feel the way you need to and a lot of the music you can listen to outside of the game but it functions even better in the game and I always think that that's an important thing to keep in mind for me it is expedition 33 that takes this away because not only is this a new like composer that we haven't heard before knocking it out of the park for the first time what andy's talking about the various instrumentation and genres and all that but the i always talk about musicals and can you listen to this the soundtrack of the musical and know the story and know what's going on i feel like uh with expedition 33 it's not a musical that's a different thing but you can understand the emotion and of the story of that game through just listening to the soundtrack and the vocalist the the main female vocalist and the main male vocalist that are on so many of the tracks are so incredibly talented and the way that in so many of the songs they're fighting back and forth and it it almost doesn't sound good because it sounds like raw she's representing this he's representing this it's literally a fight between two characters they're representing these characters and that stuff is so fucking powerful like expedition 33 for me yeah the thing about the cogwork uh tower though andy like remember how sick that was underrated uh for audio design just going back real quick uh silksong to me playing silksong with headphones for all of the time because i never really played it off stream really um that that's that's the most 3d that a 2d game has ever felt like what they do with directional audio and where certain sounds are taking place and and how the world is reacting around hornet is really really crazy like the first when you like kind of walk into that first little village and all of the little like green bugs like flutter out and that was like one of those first moments where it's like oh the audio design is already kicking ass 10 minutes into this yeah yeah the audio design and holiday deserves a shout out for sound design absolutely yeah i definitely want to

1:57:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:double down on everything uh tim said because i agree 100 as far as uh clear obscure expedition 33 winning it but then also hades 2 and what they do with that soundtrack uh the variety there is fucking incredible it's not just the fact that there's a you know there's a i guess a range of like growth throughout the runs that you're doing but also just the amount of genres and like how hard they go in those genres is incredible i also don't want to sleep on death training 2 soundtrack because that game has a fucking immaculate soundtrack i was re-watching clips because of roger all because of roger bercorni and because of wood kid uh i was watching clips of that game yesterday and like even just the opening area where you're doing that first walk across minus 61 it's all it's so fucking good and then i think about certain cut scenes and certain character themes whether it be rainy whether it be l fanning's characters and like the specific themes they give to those characters the theme they give to l fanning's character specifically during certain scenes where it is fucking like oh shit y 'all are going hard here this is incredible stuff um yeah Death Stranding 2 soundtrack shouldn't be slipped on yeah and the last thing I want to say

1:58:29Nick Scarpino:about Hades uh you reminded me like um because I was mainly talking about the latter half of the game but without spoiling stuff this second boss in that game the lead up to the second boss and then the second boss itself that alone I think does would earn the game a part on this list like That stuff's so damn cool. Moving on. Best art direction. Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, Ghosts of Yote, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight Silk Song. I've said this a bazillion times. This might be the best example of this category we've ever seen. All of these are bangers. If I could remove something, I'd remove Ghosts of Yote and replace it with Absolume.

1:59:09That was more of a personal choice. not that I don't think Ghost of Yote does anything you know that you know would take it off the list in a real bad way or anything but I just really love the art style for Absolume.

1:59:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I think it's tough to take anything off this list but Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 looks fucking incredible. For the three and a half to four hours of that game I played I was shocked by how good the cutscenes look in that game one of the best looking games of the year by far

1:59:37Nick Scarpino:ZOVGM in the chat says South of Midnight not getting a nom here's the biggest snub of the show Oh, yeah. This is like Sifu not making the list that year. Dude, how the fuck is that? Put it back on this year, you know? Just give it something, you know what I mean? Or put Rematch just to make up for it. Dude, for real. What about the whales, Mike, in the space? You know, you could change your arenas. Like, that's your vibe. Shout out to Sword of the Sea. Not nearly enough people played it to get it any sort of nominations. I don't think it does anything, like, super new, which is probably another reason.

2:00:10but there is some like twists and turns from what you expect from the studio that did Journey that I thought was really really fun and really beautiful but I just want to give that a shout yeah so many times I just keep her I think I mentioned that during the live thing but man

2:00:22Nick Scarpino:yeah Hades 2 obviously what an amazing art design and direction but like that is also just following up what they did like I don't think that Hades 2 is particularly like I mean it's it's better than Hades 1 I would say but like I don't think it it necessarily like deserves it over it having said that hollow night silksong i do think is such a beautifully art directed game more so than hollow night and you look at them and there's a lot of similarities but the amount of depth in how much unique hand-drawn like beautiful locations and just everything about the art direction of silksong is like goddamn like i don't understand okay how their brains work on the flip side think of Dionysus and that big old bulge he's got.

2:01:05It took a lot of rendering for that bulge.

2:01:08Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Those key arts look incredible. We could have done a best Art Direction Part 2 category. Yeah, the chat called out. I think it was Karim said dispatch. And I do think, I mean, obviously. Yeah. It's like, sure, whatever. But I mean, also, it looks gorgeous, and it looks like you're watching a show, which I know is this, but it's a whole thing. But that was a well-directed art style that is throughout that entire game that I really loved. For me, it's between Exposition 33 and Death Stranding 2, even as somebody who has only experienced Death Stranding 2, through like the first couple of hours of playing it and seeing screenshots and clips in here and there it's like god damn like yoji shinkawa and just his hard surface design but like in terms of what they're doing visually and for me exposition 33 is kind of you know i was going to say every frame of painting which is like so on message for what the game is but like they do some awesome stuff with vistas and like every time you walk into a new area and you just sort of like oh i need a photo mode right now it's like looking at a beautiful piece of abstract art yeah where it is i'm looking at scenes in clear obscure and i'm like i've never seen this before but that said death training 2 would be my vote here with a bullet um yeah like you look at again talking about the opening scene where you're walking across the mountains the amount of fidelity in like the curves of the mountains that you're seeing from far far away and like when they pull the camera out seeing all of the detail looks fucking immaculate and then you get to other scenes like there's a scene with a bunch of fireworks that i've talked about even in my in the preview and you've seen in trailers where walking through that seeing the lighting for all that shit incredible the design of like the buildings and like the uh vehicles in that game it's all the oji shinkawa stuff i can't say enough good things and then also for the sequel right death draining 2 the way it follows up on death raining 1 with the amount of variety in the environments and you get snow you get a lot of fire you get like a lot of rain you get raising

2:02:55Nick Scarpino:tides and all that shit and all looks so good yeah moving on to best mobile game destiny rising persona 5 phantom x sonic rumble umma masumi pretty derby and withering waves anyone have any thoughts at all mike give it to us i mean i like pretty derby but i didn't play it on mobile i played it on pc i had a blast with pretty derby i think that was so much fun wait was that the the gotcha horse girl yeah I was the best horse girl coach there was and we went to the track and we can't he really was next category best ongoing Final Fantasy 14 Fortnite, Helldivers 2, Marvel Rivals so it did get somewhere here and No Man's Sky, any thoughts?

2:03:41I have seen a couple people say like why Final Fantasy XIV this year from some Final Fantasy XIV heads that feel like this year was like not the best year for that game, especially in terms of support and it being an ongoing game. So I just wanted to say more than previous years.

2:03:56Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I feel like I've heard the words Final Fantasy XIV less. Yeah. Yeah. The jig is up. Yeah. I mean, I don't think I've heard him talk about that. That's crazy. That's crazy.

2:04:07Nick Scarpino:Next up we have Best Performance Ben Starr, Charlie Cox and Jennifer English all for Expedition 33 Eric Ishii for Ghost of Yote Troy Baker for Indiana Jones and The Great Circle and Shimizu Hinaku for Silent Hill F Oh so here's an interesting thing Expedition 33 can't win 12 because it's competing against itself in one of the categories Hilarious Interesting here, we're going off of kataku's report uh the email pr blast from uh keely has uh konatsu kato from silent hill f on there not uh yeah interesting i don't know where the maybe that's the character i don't even know maybe but i don't know what's happening there great year i feel like obviously these are all great answers there's so many people that could have been here too i was uh rooting for milano we from hades 2 uh being on there but um my number my pick here is jennifer english i just refreshed it seemed like they fixed it gotcha great charlie cox i'm a little i'm not i shouldn't be surprised but he is so charming in that first third and for someone who like doesn't do video game stuff like again a big year for uh performers who don't typically do you know performance vo stuff for video games charlie cock and aaron paul like both killed it this year yeah um i was pleasantly surprised with charlie cox because let me just see if he shows up yeah what gave him so like i hey i did like a day of work i'm i'm glad people love it i don't think about it recorded for four hours well gave him the dub is is i'm here oh man yeah yeah okay like like that's really what got him uh the nomination here i i would um i i think for me when we're talking about the inconsistencies with the dispatch nominations.

2:06:00I understand it not being nominated for a lot of stuff because not all the episodes had been out, but enough had been out for me to say that like, I think Aaron Paul should have been nominated just because I was really impressed by his performance. I mean, it's constantly, you know, banging the same old drum, but I thought Laura Bailey was awesome in it as well. And I mean, I know Laura Bailey is just awesome in everything. And Jeffrey Wright as well. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Phenomenal.

2:06:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm not going to get over Troy Baker from Death Stranding 2 not being here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Tom McKay. Henry of Scalets from Kingdom Come Deliverance, too. Did a great job carrying that. What's the Latin thing he says? Oh, shit. What do they say? I don't remember. I mean, I played it. I don't remember what they think. Where's Jan Dolsky?

2:06:41Nick Scarpino:Obviously, shout out to Ben Star. Right. We kind of just like Breeze Passage just goes, duh, we fucking love him. And he killed it as Verso in this game. This motherfucker sang. That's insane. You know what I mean? He's out here at concerts now singing songs. so sick it's him or jennifer english for me yeah ah troy baker though i really liked his indiana jones he's a great indie yeah but he's i i still think that you're a better villain i yeah exactly yeah you're looking past death straining 2 he was so incredible eggs let's see the next one game of the year this is a big one big one clear obscure expedition 33 death straining 2 on the beach donkey kong bonanza hades 2 hollow knight silksong and kingdom come deliverance 2 i'm very happy with this list they think that uh kingdom come being here and ghost of yote not just for all the the just history that we've had with video games the games industry and the way people see it is changing and i think that's exciting like i think it's cool that it's not always going to just play by the same rules um so yeah great amazing list of games yeah i i look at this list And for me, it's, I think Expedition 33 runs away with so much of it.

2:07:54It just, it's just the story of the year to me. I think it just dominates all of the conversation. And when we talk, when we look back at 10 years from now, what games were like dominated the conversation. Expedition 33 is one of those that came out of nowhere and became some people's like top fives ever. Yeah.

2:08:14Nick Scarpino:I do think like game of the year, it's Expedition 33. for the most people the most quality the most things the most reasons why um and i'm saying that as somebody that i would give it a lower review score than some other games on this list um don't think about it and it's 80s 2 and probably even silksong um but i still think that for everything that does right it's importance how much i'm going to think about it for the rest of my life and like how much i it's part of my identity you know what i mean it's like it's a game that I'm going to reflect on as like being more important than just like my nitpicks and issues with the game critically and for it being their first game for us seeing the game a year ago when it was announced and being like oh my god this looks incredible but like I simply don't believe it and then it coming out and over delivering yeah crazy I agree with everything

2:09:06Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Tim just said even though I think I if I'm making a personal pick I would still go Hades 2 out of this list of six games just because it's the game that i look at that i think is the best right if i'm picking what i think is the best video games out of these bunch out of this bunch hades 2 is the one that sticks out to me but i think clear of scur is going to run away with it as it should because i think to the most people that's the one that stuck out any other thoughts i think uh we owe andy a round of applause uh katie g did write in with the pizza bet between andy and uh mike where Andy bet the Sixth Game of the Year nominees would be Hades 2, Silksong, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Death Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bonanza, Expedition 33.

2:09:46Mike Betts, Split Fiction, and or Blueprints will slide into one of the goatee slots. I still get half of it. If they're both wrong, nothing happens. Well, if you were watching, I said, I'll be the bad guy here because we both agreed on the six. We knew these were the six, but I said, I'll be the bad guy just so we can have a pizza. You made a bet. You made a bet. And now you need to buy pizza today, and I think you should buy some for me. Hey, let's be real. Would we like pizza? Yeah, let's do some pizza. Not Pizza Hut. Let's get real. Not Pizza Hut. Be real, big dog. Be real with us. I'll be in a pizza mood.

2:10:18It's either Toto's or Little Caesars with cheese in the crust, which I still haven't had. Remember when we ordered it, it wasn't the right pizza game.

2:10:26Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What about Pizza Hut, though? Where does that fit in the conversation? I feel like this is a Pizza Hut office now. We're ordering pizza. It's a great six right here. It's a very strong six. It's been a fantastic year of video games. You could slide in another hundred games in here that all deserve a little tip of the hat and the nom. But it will be fun to see when we get towards our predictions, right? And where everybody lies. Because that will be another fun pizza bet. I got a strategy for my predictions.

2:10:52Nick Scarpino:We have a ton of Super Chats that I want to kind of lightning through just to give the shout outs to people. Because this has been a great show. And we have so many of y 'all hanging out watching right now. So thank you for thinking of Kind of Funny. When big gaming moments happen, want to be here. I love this. I love the conversation we just had. So cool. I think that we get to add a lot of insight and experience of all this stuff. And so thank you all for hanging out. Remember reacting to Game Awards, obviously live here on Twitch and YouTube. And remember this week, reacting live to the Xbox Partner Showcase Thursday, 10 a.m.

2:11:20Nick Scarpino:JB says, I think I'd be most pissed if the eligibility is such that neither dispatch or arc raiders get nominated. Both did. I think lighter than they would have had the timing been different. But there's no way to get that right. No matter what, there's always going to be issues. I do think game of the year probably shouldn't tail the entire year, but that's just me. Mr. Jib says, uh, I'm running a battlefield six server battle with KFBF keen Omega, and I refuse to let him win. If you want to join a war between two consenting adults, add him on discord, check out Mr. Jib's two bees in that jib, baby.

2:11:49Nick Scarpino:Uh, Joshua Mitchell says, I've never been more torn on a category than I am with best performance this year. Not a single clear front runner in all, in my opinion, just all greats. Um, spilling the beans says Adrian Ray should have been nominated for South of Midnight. I agree about that as well. That is another snub. Her is Hazel I thought was incredible. Brandon Martin says Shinobi Art of Vengeance deserved an art direction nom. Yeah, man. That's a game that like you might see screens of it and be like, I don't like the way it looks. Play it. See it in motion. It is gorgeous. Stunning. Sergio's talking fucking shit out here saying Tim really wanted 25 plus year old songs to get nominated for score and music.

2:12:26Nick Scarpino:Old music's old, Tim. No, they deserved it. They fucking deserve it, Sergio. Damn, Sergio, you got owned. Um, recon awesome says, I know it's not going to win, but I'm so pumped that kingdom come deliverance to got nominated for game of the year. Hell yeah. Nice. Uh, we got King toast saying, I wish the King is watching was nominated for best indie Andy. Anything to say about that? Still one of those early access houses. I just don't know if enough people got around to it, but I would, I would love for when it finally comes out for more people to get eyes on it. Cause it, it is a contender for me.

2:12:57It'll be in my top 10.

2:12:59Nick Scarpino:Will Fredo says the Kojima tax is real. Shut up It's a very good game

2:13:04Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It's an amazing game It's one of the best games of the year It's a very good game

2:13:09Nick Scarpino:Riyad says what's more impressive game of the year or fan pick out of 30 games Game of the year Definitely I don't know if that's a serious question or not S'mores and Oreo says Henry and Hans VAs got snubbed for performance Oh those two are so good Are you yanking my pistol right now? He touched my pay pay Steve Good lord Kebabs says hype for DK Bonanza making the cut just to hear the credit song and the orchestra at the end. Kebabs, that's a great point that I need to look at. What is the game of the year six here? Why do I not have it? Man, we really got screwed with Final Fantasy 16. We did.

2:13:44Nick Scarpino:I think about that every day of my life, Andy. All right, yeah, we're going to hear music from Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, Bonanza, Hades 2, Silksong, and Kingdom Deliverance. This is about to hit so fucking hard.

2:13:57Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I might bust out a cigarette on screen. I'm going to start smoking her in a second. Andy, who's the little white lady that you fight in Silksong? What's her name again? Silk? Lace. Oh, Lace, yeah. One of the Lace boss fights songs needs to be used for Hollow Knight Silksong. It won't, though, because they're cowards. I just need Sherman to walk on stage. Yeah. And then DK Bonanza won't be the credit song. It'll just be the fucking. I want the one where he turns into a giraffe or something. I hope the Gillette Hydro-Shick man comes back.

2:14:32Nick Scarpino:forget melissa with a y says all 30 devs in clear obscure are going to need to hold a game awards trophy for all the awards they're going to win all 30 of them uh mural says glad to see kanatsu kato get the best voice best va nom for silent hill f is this the first time a non-english speaker got a nom at the vgas oh that's a good call i don't know a great question i would lean

2:14:53Blessing Adeoye Jr.:towards yes you think so i think so i don't think troy baker speaks english

2:15:00Nick Scarpino:uh joshy g says clear obscure expedition 33 nominations are insane uh spartan says no faker for esports player is wild um poogles shout out to your name says there's been only one game this year that's scratching itch i didn't know i had and it's blueprints yeah glad to see it but afraid of its competitive category i'm thinking portillo's for lunch what's he get greg i mean i I would do two hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, pickle, only a large cheese fry, a large Coke. There you go. Oak toasted says expedition 33 Indie. Wasn't it published by Kepler? We went through that. B Corbin says ghost of Yote was my hundredth platinum earned it over the weekend.

2:15:35Nick Scarpino:Hate to see it not nominated for a goatee, but this year stacked. So I get it. Many indie games have publishers.

2:15:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Go throw out there.

2:15:42Nick Scarpino:Bryce Jackson says south of midnight admitted from best scored music is the real snub, not just because the music was good, but how it was implemented in gameplay. Absolutely. I'm just a Billy says happy Monday. is there any worry about judges not playing nominated games just voting for the games they did play clear obscure game of the year love y 'all it is what it is these people were chosen for a reason and they're gonna play what they play and not play others there's no solving this problem yeah i mean in limited time right in terms of what goes on the argument you would think i think don't think so much when you say judges i think you worry a lot about one person think how kind of funny sits here and nominates and votes and all that jazz like there's a weighted thing that it doesn't matter that I didn't play X because you guys all played it and love it.

2:16:22So it's not like it matters that I'm the one emailing Jeff, like we're voting as a team. Yeah. It's a curse of the industry. Cause if you're an Oscars voter, you have to watch 10 or eight or whatever, two hour long movies. And this is just like a different beast. You know, you have to try to play these six games.

2:16:41Nick Scarpino:Resolute says Sonic Fox also snubs, uh, tied most Evo wins. Um,

2:16:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:let's see sonic fox wins so much though that is boring yeah every single time i watch mortal combat and evil i'm like i know that i know what's gonna happen yeah i mean that's fake or the goat too you know what i mean but like there's still a chance that's the underdog story it's like when you're just so good that people don't like people don't have people don't pay attention anymore even though you're still fucking that good remember when we went they had the alpaca they were hoping the alpaca the kid could do it god he couldn't couldn't do it kebab says this is

2:17:16Nick Scarpino:The ninth year in a row, a Sony game has been nominated for Game of the Year. Hopefully Wolverine can secure a decade streak next year. Anthro Metal says, sad to see Warframe not getting its flowers despite consistently being good. Crazy it's somehow under the radar after all this time.

2:17:31Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I also do want to shout out this one from Rat Avenue because Mortal Kombat is terrible. That's another thing I'll point out. Evo, Mortal Kombat is where Sonic Fox is killing it. Mortal Kombat is also not a highly viewed game at Evo. It's on night one. and so no offense to 9-1 but

2:17:47Nick Scarpino:Bandar SN says Sonic Rumble getting best mobile is a travesty. Sonic 3 not getting best adaptations a derelict of duty. We need to do better for December releases. Glenn says shot for rematch for real. Pretty Dude says not shocked but South of Midnight not getting a nod for best soundtracks disappointing. We don't get music from the South like that often in games. Kenny Pants says playing through it takes two and now split fiction with my 8 year old have provided some of my favorite gaming memories. Glenn Wilson says about 100 % deserves to be here. I need Sonic Fox to get really good at Street Fighter or Tekken probably Street Fighter because it's like the finale it's Shohei Ohtani coming to America to play in the major leagues over here and it's like how are you going to compete over here and then you do and you're the go to you're the best ever JB says let's stop capping and just accept the reality that Claire Obscura is about to have more game awards than Return of the King has Oscars it's going to be a big day for it Walker says isn't Valve technically an independent studio you could put Half-Life 3 on that list I mean well when Half-Life 3 is real then when it comes out conversation yeah uh Dispatch got robbed from Best Narrative says Karim uh the game wasn't out yet the game full game wasn't out yet what if the game just shit the bed in the final acts you know yeah and then the final one point uh a road Dotis Milododius says when do we get Snowbike Mike for content creator award oh my god can you imagine me and Roger on to make a push but don't worry next year we'll be even better here at kind of funny and we will make a push for best organization for content and best content creators.

2:19:16You can make that a promise. Best event stream as well for the streamer awards. Wait until you see what I got playing for 2026 with these two. Mike's going to tie himself underneath a semi truck and drive across the country. Don't put that idea on my head.

2:19:33Nick Scarpino:And real quick, I want to let you guys know that we just talked about a lot of very big things. Isn't that right? But, Greg, if I want to know about something way smaller, where would I look? You'd go to our last news story, the place with all the smallest news you need to know about, the We News channel. It's true. It's We News, baby. There's an Xbox Partner Preview on Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific. Of course, we will be live reacting to it and then breaking down everything we saw right after that. Xbox says, we'll show you an exciting first look at content coming to 007 First Light, an electrifying extended gameplay trailer for the upcoming Dark Fantasy Epic, Tides of Annihilation.

2:20:10Nick Scarpino:I can't wait. And a fresh look at Re-Animal, the new horror adventure from the creator of Little Nightmares. Among other great games, heading to Xbox consoles, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Game Pass. We got the first pics of the Zelda movie posted on the internet. Y 'all see these? Yeah. That's fucking Link. That's fucking Zelda. Let's go. That's a real location. There's no green screen. I'm feeling good, y 'all. He's wearing a green tunic and not a blue one. Green tunic, Link, baby. Well, where's fucking ball, man? Can't wait. Does he know ball? He does, baby. He does.

2:20:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Does that man speak right there?

2:20:47Nick Scarpino:Eurogamer. Yes. Eurogamer says despite its high price, Xbox Raj Ally X sales have exceeded even Asus's expectations as the handheld is in, quote, short supply. And that's it for We News, everybody. We did the Super Chats. I'm going to look at your wrong, but if you piss me off, I swear. Oh, shit. Fuck. I mean, having it. Come on.

2:21:12Nick Scarpino:No one says anything. Some people are just saying what should have been there, but that's not what that's for. Thank you all for hanging out with us today for this episode of Kind of Funny Games Daily, a very special one. Our day is not over. We're about to do Gamescast. We're about to do an Arc Raider stream, checking out all the new content. It's going to be a great time. If you're on Twitch, hang out. Stay where you are. If you're on YouTube, you've got to make the jump over to the Gamescast video. We'll be right back with that. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you. Goodbye.

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