God of War TV Show First Look REVEALED! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 02.27.26

27 Feb 2026 · 1 h 5 min · 22 chapters

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Kinda Funny Games Daily - Episode Summary (February 27, 2026)

Podcast Overview Title: Kinda Funny Games Daily: Video Games News Podcast Description: The world's most popular daily video game news podcast hosted by Greg Miller, Tim Gettys, and Blessing Adeoye Jr., covering the latest in PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and all things gaming.

Episode Highlights Introduction

  • Date: February 27, 2026
  • Significance: 30th anniversary of Pokémon and release day for *Resident Evil 9*.
  • Hosts share their excitement and thoughts on the day's topics.

Main Topics Discussed

  1. God of War TV Show First Look
  2. First official image featuring Kratos (Ryan Hurst) and Atreus (Callum Vinson) from Amazon's adaptation.
  3. Initial reactions are mixed, with concerns over the portrayal of characters and production quality.
  4. Discussion on expectations for the show and potential for character development over two seasons.
  1. Warner Bros Acquisition News
  2. Paramount Skydance wins the bid for Warner Bros, surpassing Netflix’s interest.
  3. Implications for the gaming division and anticipated layoffs as ownership transitions.
  4. Concerns over the impact on major franchises and the direction of Warner Bros Games under new management.
  1. RedOctane's Return with Stage Tour
  2. Announcement of *Stage Tour*, a new rhythm game from the studio behind *Guitar Hero*.
  3. Features planned include community involvement and evolving gameplay.
  4. Nostalgia for the rhythm game genre is expressed, alongside skepticism about its market viability.
  1. Highguard Dev Team Layoffs
  2. Report on Highguard's studio Wildlight, now reduced to less than 20 developers post-layoffs.
  3. Challenges faced after a poorly received game launch, including a dwindling player base and financial troubles.
  1. Criticism of Videogamer.com
  2. Allegations of the site using AI-generated content leading to reviews being banned from Metacritic.
  3. Discussion on the implications of AI in game journalism and the value of genuine critiques by human writers.

We News (Smaller Stories)

  • Backyard Baseball Returns: Announcement of a new game from Mega Cat Studios.
  • Resident Evil Requiem Reaches Player Milestones: The game achieves record player counts shortly after release.

Super Chats & Community Engagement

  • Hosts interact with listeners, discussing their thoughts on various topics, including their favorite Pokémon and experiences with gaming franchises.

Key Takeaways

  • Nostalgia plays a crucial role in gaming, influencing both community support and the viability of new titles.
  • Industry Changes: The acquisition of major studios and their effects on beloved franchises can have widespread implications, especially regarding layoffs and game development focus.
  • AI in Journalism: The reliance on AI-generated content poses a threat to the integrity of gaming journalism, highlighting the importance of human insight and critique.

Closing Remarks

  • The hosts wrap up the episode, encouraging listeners to support upcoming events and engage with their content.

Final Thoughts This episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily delves into significant developments in the gaming industry, blending excitement for new releases with critical discussions surrounding the business side of gaming and the importance of genuine media. The mix of nostalgia, industry news, and community interaction keeps the conversation vibrant and engaging.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Celebrating Pokemon's 30th Anniversary

0:45 to 1:10

Discussion on the significance of Pokemon's anniversary and personal favorites.

“It is the release day for Resident Evil 9.”

Personal Stories and Pokemon Favorites

1:10 to 2:30

Hosts share their childhood experiences and favorite Pokemon characters.

“Y 'all ain't ready for that one, y 'all.”

First Impressions of God of War TV Show

2:30 to 4:50

Hosts discuss the first look at the God of War TV show and their opinions on the characters portrayed.

“You know, Pokemon is very special to me.”

Character Design and Production Insights

4:50 to 6:20

Delving into the character designs and production details for the show.

“Like he did for R &B and ribs outside of Pokemon Day?”

Comparisons to Other Adaptations

6:20 to 7:30

Discussing how the God of War adaptation compares to other game-to-screen adaptations.

“to celebrate Resident Evil 9 with Blessing and Andy.”

Audience Reactions to First Look

7:30 to 9:10

Reading and responding to audience reactions and super chats about the show's first image.

“Yeah, okay, so I want to hear your opinion first.”

First Look Reactions to God of War

14:02 to 16:44

Discussion on the first look at the God of War TV show and audience reactions.

“And I think that people would have been super hyped by that.”

Warner Bros. Acquisition News

16:44 to 21:52

Analysis of Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. and its implications.

“after all, meaning Paramount is set to take HBO, Warner Bros.”

Concerns Over Media Consolidation

21:52 to 28:00

Concerns about the implications of media consolidation on various industries.

“And then they're like, Nope, we're not doing this anymore.”

Frustration in the Gaming Industry

28:00 to 28:31

Discussion on the current challenges and frustrations in the gaming industry.

“the forefront, and you've already seen it with Warner Brothers when they're trying to figure out how to sell.”
Show all 22 chapters

Stage Tour: The New Rhythm Game from Red Octane

29:43 to 36:27

In-depth discussion about the announcement of Red Octane's new game, Stage Tour.

“It's Mike, Roger, and Barrett giving you the nerdy news you need to know about.”

Challenges and Opportunities for Stage Tour

36:28 to 42:00

Analyzing the potential success and challenges that Stage Tour may face in the market.

“Fuser was the latest kind of big rhythm music-based game that we saw try to hit the market on a general casual scale.”

High Guard's Troubled Launch and Player Retention Issues

42:00 to 44:12

Learn about the challenges High Guard faced after its launch and the impact on its development team.

“up until the game's announcement at the Game Awards last December, which apparently came about at Jeff Keighley's urging after he enjoyed what he played.”

The Fallout from High Guard's Game Awards Announcement

44:12 to 45:56

Discover the consequences of the unexpected announcement for High Guard's development team and the gaming community's reaction.

“This can't be in, this is in the red and only going down for a minute.”

Videogamer.com Faces AI Content Controversy

45:56 to 48:29

Explore the revelations regarding AI-generated content on Videogamer.com and its effects on video game journalism.

“And then you look into it, and yeah, the Resident Evil Requiem review, first of all, is using an AI-generated image.”

Metacritic's Response to AI-Generated Reviews

48:29 to 49:42

Understand how Metacritic is responding to the issue of AI-generated reviews in the gaming industry.

“we will remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication upon an investigation.”

Backyard Baseball Returns: Excitement and Expectations

49:42 to 53:12

Get the scoop on the return of Backyard Baseball and what to expect from the upcoming game by Mega Cat Studios.

“Roger, that is huge news that AI Slop is making its way on the Metacritic, now getting the band hammer.”

Resident Evil Requiem's Launch and Features

53:12 to 56:00

Discuss the impact of Resident Evil Requiem's launch and its new gameplay features, including the co-op mode.

“After I fuck with the team and what they've been doing with the backyard baseball games, backyard sports, them also just releasing another game in the last couple of weeks that has lost me points.”

Marvel Maximum Collection Revealed

56:00 to 57:16

Learn about the new compilation of retro Marvel games and what it includes.

“Like Greg Miller's like, you can't fucking call it.”

Apologies to Greg Miller

57:16 to 58:26

Hear a heartfelt apology from Mike to Greg Miller regarding a broken embargo.

“I wish they had a shout out to X-Men Mutant Apocalypse for the Super Nintendo.”

Upcoming Resident Evil Marathon

58:26 to 59:27

Details about the upcoming Resident Evil marathon stream featuring Blessing and Andy.

“And give me the one And as the producer of The Buzz I take no responsibility And I will be titling the episode of The Buzz Snowbike Mike breaks embargo.”

Weekend Streaming Plans

59:27 to 1:01:23

Final thoughts on the weekend's streaming plans and what to expect.

“Oh, I mean, that's somebody definitely not scary than seeing Roger in the skirt.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Joey Noel:Cotton Candy 5-Hour Energy, the perfectly sweet and possibly nostalgic treat you're craving. It's all flavor, no fluff. Order now at 5hourenergy.com or Amazon.

0:11Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Today's gaming stories include, we got our first look of God of War TV show, Paramount will probably be owned, will probably own Warner Bros. And Guitar Hero is back, sort of. We have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily.

0:37Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What's up, everybody? And welcome to your Friday edition of Kind of Funny Games Daily for February 27, 2026. It's the 30th anniversary of Pokemon. It is the release day for Resident Evil 9. And we have our first look of God of War. And I have many thoughts. We have a lot of thoughts today. A lot of feelings. You know what? I have a lot of thoughts about today. Oh, tell me. The Pokemon presentation, I got some thoughts on. Okay. Trapping Andy and Bless in a room playing Resident Evil for a marathon subathon stream, I have some thoughts on. Y 'all ain't ready for that one, y 'all. And, of course, God of War.

1:14Blessing Adeoye Jr.:We'll talk about God of War in just a moment, but before we do any of that, Roger, hello. Hi. Tell me, who's your favorite Pokemon? And, of course, happy 30th anniversary.

1:22Tim Gettys:Well, thank you so much. Thank you for saying happy 30th anniversary for me. I don't have a favorite Pokemon. this is my thing with me is that i watched the pokemon show as a kid but i watched it like any other show that i was watching as a kid where i was like oh it's like a fun little show and i didn't fall in love with pikachu i like honestly i liked like the characters of ash misty brock i like them more than i like the pokemon i like of course like officer jenny sure yeah nurse joy i

1:47Blessing Adeoye Jr.:like team rocket jesse and jane i love this i thought it was so if a meow with right meow meowth meowth meowth meowth meowth meowth that's how you actually pronounce it meowth uh i love

1:59Tim Gettys:them so then when i would go to school people had like their favorite pokemons or pulling out people that i didn't even see in the cartoon yet i'm like what are you guys talking about i'm like oh you guys are playing a video game that i just don't have like i don't have nintendo consoles and then now i'm at the point where i'm like i don't have a favorite pokemon really my brother did he actually got into them later on in his life like he got into like beedrill like he has like you know all these pokemon that he loves i don't have one so one day when pocopia comes out and I play it, hopefully I find my favorite Pokemon.

2:25Tim Gettys:Ditto. Ditto. Ditto can be anything.

2:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Ditto can be anything and anyone. You know what, Roger? I take you for a Ditto guy. I think you could be a Ditto guy. I think I actually might be a Mr. Mime guy. Is that his name? We won't go that far on that one. Okay. Mike, do you have a favorite Pokemon? Yeah. You know, Pokemon is very special to me. Looking back on 30 years, right, I am kind of that 90s kid. If you rewind the clock 30 years, I would have been five to six years old, So that's first grade and second grade and Pokemon hit like none other to me and all of the kids of my generation. Right. We're talking about the show. We're talking about the cards.

3:01Blessing Adeoye Jr.:We're talking about the games. I still remember when they took over the mall and they brought in the Pikachu Volkswagen Bug and it looked like Pikachu. It was promoting the card game. It was promoting, of course, the Game Boy games. I'll never forget mom buying me and my little brother both matching Game Boys and Pokemon Red and Blue. Watching the cartoon every day before going to school. Buying and trading cards with my friends out in the schoolyard. I mean, dreaming of one day seeing a 3D on the big screen Pokemon because it was always a Game Boy game for me. But then it came out with the N64.

3:38Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Pokemon Stadium to Pokemon Snap. Going to Blockbuster to get your Pokemon Snap photos taken. Hey, you Pikachu. the Pikachu N64 game. Roger, I grew up with Pokemon. And it's weird because I find myself, I think to myself like, oh, I'm not a big Pokemon guy. But like, yeah, Pokemon has been in my life for 30 plus years and it's special.

3:58Tim Gettys:Okay, so who's the favorite Pokemon?

4:00Blessing Adeoye Jr.:That was my question. Who's my favorite Pokemon? Well, if you ask me today, my favorite Pokemon is Wingle because Wingle got me through my first ever Pokemon Nuzlocke and Pokemon Ever. I love that. I love that seagull, okay? Me and Wingle have gone places and that's my Pokemon. If you were to ask Mike like three months ago, it would have been Jolteon. I love the Evolutions. I love Lightning. I love just the fiery like Pikachu Electabuzz type vibes. I like this one. But yeah, it would be Jolteon. Jolteon. I like that. Shout out to my boys, Alakazam and Haunter. Those are great ones. Yeah, Pokemon is just like that universal love that anyone can have a conversation about.

4:42Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm so excited for it to come to San Francisco with the Pokemon championships here. It's going to be a big deal.

4:48Tim Gettys:Do you think T-Pain will have some type of like ribs concert again? Like he did for R &B and ribs outside of Pokemon Day?

4:54Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Like he did for Super Bowl. No, but Waka Flocka Flame will show up and he'll sing. Just outside? Yeah. Not even a ticket at an event. He'll just be outside tailgating. Of course, today on Kind of Funny Games Daily, we will not be talking about all the Pokemon 30th anniversary news and announcements. You can go check that right now on the Bigs Gamescast, where Tim and Greg live reacted to Pokemon Day with the announcements to showcase. And then they talked all about it, breaking down the news. So if you want to talk about the starters, the new Pokemon game, Gen 10, you want to talk about Pokemon Champions, more Pokemon Sleep, cards.

5:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Roger, you're lucky I didn't do the news today, because I would have done all that. Greg spilled a coffee all over. Greg spilled a coffee all over. We recorded the buzz. We recorded the buzz. We have so much to talk about. But, Roger, let's talk about the news stories because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. Each and every weekday, we gather together to run you through the nerdy news you need to know about. If you're watching live on YouTube and or Twitch, don't forget, you can be part of the conversation by super chatting on YouTube.com slash Kind of Funny Games. Share your thoughts, opinions on today's news.

5:59Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And, of course, let me know who your favorite Pokemon is as we celebrate 30 years. We couldn't do this without you, so thank you to our Patreon producers over on Patreon.com slash Kind of Funny. Thank you to Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney the Psalm. Twining, before we jump into the news, one final announcement. Right after this show, we will be having a Subathon marathon stream to celebrate Resident Evil 9 with Blessing and Andy. You do not want to miss out. It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be a whole lot of fun.

6:28Tim Gettys:And again, everybody, this is not just on Twitch. This is on YouTube as well. So every dollar that you donate on Twitch and YouTube, including Super Chats, everything, after the stream goes, or after this podcast goes towards the marathon timer. So we want you to sub and super chat here. But also, if you want to save your dollars a little bit.

6:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Be there. Wait there. For now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. It's time for some news. We have five stories today. A baker's dozen. Story number one. We have a first look at Kratos and Atreus in the Amazon's God of War TV show. This coming from Wesley Yinpool at IGN. Amazon has revealed the first photo of its God of War series showing off Kratos and Atreus. I'm not even looking at the photo because I'm running through the... You got it. All right, let's just run it through, okay? Look at it. Oh, it's the Rizzler. You know, I would have been more happy to see the Rizzler's face on this image than I did this morning.

7:32Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Let's just jump right into it. Roger I open up social media this morning I give it a click and my first word out of my mouth is oh is this AI is what I thought like I did not like the look of this at all Roger let's uh let's

7:46Tim Gettys:actually put the real image and let's just talk about it before we even read out the stuff I mean this is the official image that they put out here uh of uh the the main actors of Atreus and

7:55Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Kratos this is Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson uh who will be playing Atreus down below Ryan Hurst will be playing Kratos right here. Yeah, okay, so I want to hear your opinion first. My opinion first here. Was it mad at Atreus? A little young for the portrayal of what I thought, you know, Atreus would be, but we do know that the kiddos grow up really fast, especially on camera, so this is probably the right age if we're thinking it's ready for two seasons. So, like, this kid's going to grow real fast in what we're seeing on screen. What I did not like is I zoomed in immediately on Kratos' face because I said, ooh, don't like the look of this one right here.

8:35Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Reminds me of the kid from Shameless, and he played the Joker in the Batman. Cameron Monahue?

8:42Greg Miller:Yeah, in the Jedi, the Star Wars Jedi. Yeah, and also Tron Ares.

8:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, I looked at him like, man, that forehead with the wrinkles and the eyes looks like Cameron Monahue. I don't think I'm going to be able to unsee it now. Yes.

8:53Tim Gettys:Now that you said that. Yeah, my first, I wasn't as negative, I think, as everybody immediately, just because I understand how these things work, right? Like, this is an in-production shot. you would assume this is not from the actual cameras that are, you know, this is not color graded. This is not like a final product that you're going to see in the show. You're not going to see this exact shot in the show, but it's not a great showing, especially when you have something that is so near and dear to people. And that is so cosplay to death. Right. So like to make it feel and look like cosplay when you have that first image is not a great look.

9:26Tim Gettys:I think that's my initial reaction is like, Hey, you look great. Like, of course the kid looks young, but also if the kid's acting and he, you know, he feels like Atreus, right? I don't think that's going to immediately go away from me. I don't think he's going to say Google Gaga, right? The kid's going to be able to act and I think it's going to be fine. And it's going to, you know, it's going to be whatever. This is just an interesting still because I know I'm sure he's bald. I'm sure he actually is bald. He's given me a little bit of the Walter White with the mega mind. You know what I mean?

9:53Tim Gettys:Like in El Camino. Like it just doesn't, something about it just doesn't look right. I'm sure he actually is bald. Maybe it's the angle. Maybe something's going on here. And that's also the issue. You give us one image, we're going to nitpick it to death.

10:04Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Let's go from the neck down for a second. Let's go shoulders down here. What do we think about the costumes, the outfits right here?

10:13Greg Miller:To me, I think they hit the mark for the costuming as well. That's what I want to hear. Especially his shoulder pad and everything. This is the basic look from the beginning of 2018. I would say the only big critique I have of Kratos is his arm band things, especially at the very beginning. Those are just the kind of like, I don't know what you'd call it, like gauze almost.

10:40Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, kind of like tattered bandages.

10:42Greg Miller:Yeah, and I feel like that's where you should be starting with this and not already having armor there. So that's my only critique of that.

10:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Okay, okay. Well, let me give you a quick write-up, the read down from Wesley Yinpool at IGN. Of course, Amazon has revealed the first photo of its God of War series showing off Kratos and Atreus announcing its God of War TV show is now in production. Amazon issued the image below alongside the tagline, their journey to the highest peak begins. The image shows Ryan Hurst, Kratos, and Callum Vinson as his son Atreus, who fans have already pointed out looks like a younger take on the character compared to what we saw in the video game. Production is currently underway in Vancouver with a two-season order setting showrunner Ronald D.

11:28Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Moore of Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek Deep Space Nine fame up for some time. So you got two seasons of this. Yeah, already locked in.

11:37Greg Miller:You got a first look here. So with two seasons locked in, I'm wondering what the production timeline of this is going to be. Something you brought up, Mike, is, yeah, kids grow up fast. This makes sense. I think we already kind of saw how that failed a little bit though from the last of a season one to season two uh where that actress who i'm uh blanking on yeah bella ramsey they the the difference between their age look wise between the two seasons wasn't a lot to really sell that four-year time jump i i don't i i worry about a season two if that is purely uh covering ragnarok um if this kid is actually going to look much

12:19Tim Gettys:older yeah i also wonder if they could if the first two seasons are the first game like if you're able to kind of spread out that story within you know so it doesn't need the biggest a time jump at all right you can just be like hey we're gonna do two seasons pretty much back to back and then we'll actually take time to write the ragnaroks because we have you know we can wait for this kid to grow up a little bit yeah age him up but you're right barrett of like there is a big age gap or age difference between you know what we're seeing here and what he ends up at in ragnarok where you know he becomes his own man right so it is interesting that they're they're going so much younger but again as as you're saying like that's what they're doing for harry potter right like they have to do these things so then they even like you see what happened with um uh avatar uh the avatar show that they did uh like he was way younger and then now we're at what season two or three now and he's like way older already right and that they were already they they built that cast out knowing that they're going to be able to do this and still didn't really work out as the way they wanted to so uh yeah i i am again i i'm not as negative as everyone else just because i know how these things work of like you see the in-camera stuff once it comes down to the editing the pacing you see a different angle of it it's going to all change it's not the greatest of of looks to have this come out here with i i think about like some of the best character reveals or at least uh reveals of costumes in recent memory and the one that i always go down to is uh matt reeves's batman i thought that was such a cool way to show that costume because it was cinematic it was it wasn't like here's the image of batman and him just standing there in the bright light or that's what this kind of feels like where it's like this doesn't have all of the filters on it to make it look cooler if you just saw kratos with just like he's backlit it's a little bit red it's like it's like atmospheric lighting and You see the axe glowing a little bit.

14:03Tim Gettys:Exactly. That's all you needed. And I think that people would have been super hyped by that. But just showing, like, here's everything. Here it is. And people are going to think, oh, this is what the show is going to look like in its final product. Kind of a missed opportunity there to kind of show everybody and say, hey, look, this could be something really cool. And let their imaginations run wild instead of being like, this is what this is going to look like.

14:24Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Maybe a better photo would have been from the back. Yeah, exactly. Letting us imagine what this looks like. Yeah, for sure. Let's jump into some super chats because some people have some thoughts and opinions on the first look of Kratos and Atreus. We have Mad Rocks who writes in and says, why does Kratos actor look like a bald Sam Levine? Okay, that's the kid from Freaks and Geeks right there. That one got you? Yeah.

14:54Blessing Adeoye Jr.:They need to stop making movies slash shows based around games that already have realistic graphics. and look like a movie already shake my head.

Read the full transcript

15:01Greg Miller:Yeah, that's my, with the whole cosplay conversation a lot of people have been having, I think no matter what you do, it is always going to feel like cosplay when you're adapting, granted, a different medium, video games, but video games that are being built to look so much like real life, you know?

15:19Tim Gettys:Yeah, for sure.

15:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And then Loyal Freak writes in and says, really hope God of War first look is like the Superman situation. Official first look wasn't great,

15:27Tim Gettys:but everything after that was amazing yeah exactly but even then with the superman one it was like such a deliberate choice to do it the way that james gunn did it right he didn't do the hey we're you know bright blue background you know here's the trunks here's everything it's him sitting down after you know being beaten up essentially and it's like wasn't in my opinion the best way to show off that character because i do think a lot of the marketing did lean towards the happier side of it so it was very confusing that that's what he chose but at least it was like a conscious decision of like we're doing the opposite of what you expected uh and people can kind of like nitpick and go in there but it was also like color graded and like it felt like it was part of like the actual movie when you watch you know superman you look at that photo you're like oh that is literally a scene that happens from the from the movie and you see the background you see the vfx uh again when you compare this to also a good example of this a recent one video game stuff is the legend of zelda one i thought that was great i thought that was a solid one you look at that it doesn't of course give you too much to go off of right because just their faces pretty much and it's not nothing too crazy.

16:26Tim Gettys:But, you know, it looks like it's in camera. You get the vibe and you're like, okay, cool. It's good enough for me. It's not like here's everything to nitpick immediately. So, yeah, it's interesting. And I'm not immediately going to be like, this is going to be cheap. This is going to suck. And also, it's Amazon. They're ready to spend a fuck ton of money on this.

16:42Blessing Adeoye Jr.:They're ready to spend some money. If it works, they'll spend the money. We saw Fallout. Fallout has done great. Fallout looks good. Let's move on to story number two. Netflix isn't going to buy Warner Bros. after all, meaning Paramount is set to take HBO, Warner Bros. Games, and the rest. This coming from Tyler Wilde at PC Gamer. A few months ago, it looked probable that Netflix was going to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Games, and much more. But a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance has won out. On Thursday, the Warner Brothers Discovery Board deemed a$31 per share offer from Paramount Skydance superior to the Netflix deal, and Netflix opted not to raise its own offer.

17:29Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Quote, we believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros. iconic brands and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S., Netflix said in a statement. But this transaction was always a nice-to-have at the right price, not a must-have at any price. Barring any more surprises, Paramount's Skydance will take the prize if regulators allow it and has agreed to pay a$2.8 billion termination fee owed to Netflix now that its pending deal has fallen through. Senator Democrat Cory Booker immediately renewed a call for Paramount CEO David Ellison to attend a Senate Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee hearing next week, deadline reports.

18:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:The already scheduled hearing would previously have focused on the Netflix Warner Bros. deal, which subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee has criticized. Roger we talked about Warner Bros games yesterday yeah and the focus on the big tentpole titles like Harry Potter Harry Potter Mortal Kombat and more of course DC being a part of that now we see we're talking a larger deal than just games here with Paramount Netflix and Warner Bros yeah I want

18:51Tim Gettys:to read the last part uh that uh we skipped over there because I think it is important to the conversation that I want to have of like this I'm reading from the IGN article uh Ellison and his father, billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, are allies of the Trump administration. According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal in December, David Ellison has promised the administration that he'll make sweeping changes to CNN, a frequent target of Trump's ire, should he win out. This is what this is. This is what this is. This is David Ellison, and more specifically, Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in the country and in the world, essentially buying out one of the biggest corporations out there so then they can own more of media uh sky dance uh was david ellison's baby which was a smaller uh media company that made i wouldn't say the greatest of film projects or any projects but they were in gaming they uh are also doing the publishing for marvel 1990 42 whatever that game is the amy hennie game also we also we all forget about this, that they announced a Star Wars game that is also written by Amy Henning, I think two or three years ago now, going on four years ago, actually.

20:02Tim Gettys:So they have that. They've had gaming side of stuff. They've done movies. They've done television shows. And David Ellison essentially parlayed that to now buying Paramount. And as soon as he buys Paramount, he looks around and starts the bidding war for Warner Brothers once he realized that that was on the table. And then that's what started all this, is that he was the lead. It was like, okay, I guess Paramount's going to get bought out by, sorry, Paramount's going to buy Warner Brothers. Netflix jumps in and says, no, no, no, we want Warner Brothers. A bidding war happened. Basically, Paramount was outbid by Netflix.

20:33Tim Gettys:And then out of nowhere, Netflix was like, I mean, Warner Brothers was like, actually, let's listen to Paramount's deal. They have a new offer. And then swooped in. This all comes the timing that I've been seeing of Ted Sarandos, who is the CEO of Netflix, coming in and going to, I believe, Washington, D.C., as of, I think, a day ago or two days ago, to what is reported, meet with people within and around the Trump administration and see the vibes of what's going on here. and there have been rumors that he met with Trump and basically the feeling and the vibes of the reporting were like whatever happens whatever he is signaled by the Trump administration if this is going to be something that is he's going to get through like if Netflix is going to actually get this through the FCC and all the United States committees that they need to get through if Trump is saying hey I'm going to let this through he'll fight for it if Trump is saying no, no, no, no, no.

21:26Tim Gettys:I'm going to back Paramount's deal. They're going to back out. And then immediately, as soon as Paramount's deal is accepted, and then they're like, Hey, Netflix, you want to give us more money? Netflix immediately says, no, we're good. We're not, we're not going to put any more money into it. And this comes literally of weeks and weeks and weeks of Netflix going on media, showing their entire ass pretty much to everybody and saying, no, no, no, no. We want Warner brothers. Like we're not going to, we want this product. This, we believe in this. We are the right person. We, we will fight for this thing.

21:54Tim Gettys:And then they're like, Nope, we're not doing this anymore. So what I'm saying, I say all that to give the context to say, this is very clearly the Trump administration looking at, uh, this deal. And after saying and lying to the public and saying, Oh no, we're not going to get involved, getting involved and saying, no, no, no, we're going to fight against you. Netflix. If you start to go in this direction. And if you try to go for this, so we're just going to, then they backed off and this is what happened. All that to say, I am not one of these people that believes that Netflix being buying out warner brothers was in remotely good for the any industry it would have been horrible uh these are both horrible options paramounts is incredibly bad for the political side of things i mean especially when you see what barry weiss over there who is now the head of uh cbs news uh she was the head of the free press uh which is an independent label that says that they're free thinkers the republican media now she is the head of cbs and they've been doing a lot of pretty shitty things out there where they are pulling stories they are changing narratives they are fucking with things that independent journalism that should be happening at cbs is now not so independent uh and now that's just going to extend extend extend so that sucks netflix being buying out warner brothers would have sucked because netflix even though they say they wouldn't have had massive layoffs or yada yada yada they would be the number one media company in the world by far and they already are so making that a monopoly would be horrible paramount now owning all of these programs owning cbs owning paramount owning skydance owning the entirety of the warner brothers portfolio including the games is bad i do think that they have more triple a experience when it comes to gaming if we want to connect that dots okay but also if you look at their games they're not great you know what i mean like they're not like the caliber that you would want these types of games to be at.

23:46Tim Gettys:I mean, again, they have the 1942, 1945, I forget, we forgot the title of it, Marvel game. They've had a few Walking Dead games, Saints of Sinners, Walking Dead Retribution, Skydance's Behemoth. I don't even know what game that is. Again, they have histories in this, but you know what that's going to lead to if they have a history in gaming. What David Ellison has always done with any of these properties is he takes his Skydance people and he throws it into the heads of these places that he's buying out. So he's taken all of his people from Skydance, and now they're the heads of Paramount, and now he's going to take all of his Skydance people from gaming, and I'm sure he's going to throw them as the heads of gaming.

24:24Tim Gettys:And you know what that's going to lead to? We talked about the story yesterday off camera of Warner Brothers saying, hey, in the next two years, we're going to have a lot of games that are coming out that are finally the fruits of our labor. Now there's going to be a shakeup internally inside of the Warner Brothers gaming lot. And what is that going to look like for gaming? right that that's just all going to be either going to shit or the plans are going to change and then we're going to have to wait another five years for those plans to figure itself out

24:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:uh roger very informative very well said great job on that one yeah roger to bring it back to i mean so much that you brought up and then on the gaming side of things you bring up yesterday during kind of funny games daily we talked about that right yes warner bros games says the real fruits will start coming in 2027 2028 when we return to some of our biggest franchises they also talk about getting distracted by too many ips with too broad a set of studios and so they started to focus on game of thrones harry potter mortal kombat and dc yeah man i i am very very

25:27Tim Gettys:skeptical i mean we talk about layoffs all the time on this video game in the video game industry you were going to see some of the biggest layoffs in entertainment history uh when paramount takes over from uh warner brothers they have already signaled it they've already said that they've there's gonna be a lot of redundancies and even when a company is going through they haven't even bought the company yet and they're already signaling that there's going to be layoffs you know they're going to be way worse than you can ever imagine it's going to be mass mass layoffs mass casualties in that sphere and gaming fuck man i don't even know their i don't even know what their thought process is there i clearly we clearly have not talked to them they haven't talked about gaming gaming is such a low priority in all these discussions uh but you would imagine they have all these properties now and they're going to have an abundance of ip what do you do with that right they own now tmnt they own you know star trek they own all these massive properties on top of warner brothers on top of all this stuff and all they also making a star wars game they're making a marvel game how what do you do with that i i don't think that they're capable or they have the thought process to actually make to actually like build a foundation to make video games that we would want to play because clearly skydance is not making games that people want to play oh so it's like now they're going to take it over now we have all these ips it's like

26:40Greg Miller:who gives a shit you know what i mean uh in a similar lane of just entertainment stuff i also worry about you know uh this group owning and being you know looking over james gunn's new dc universe especially with superman being such a clear um allegory for you know the you know real world politics and in commentary on that like i i fear a lot of you know artistic commentary on all of the terrible shit that's happened the last few years is probably going to get neutered

27:18Tim Gettys:yeah um but we'll see yeah i i am very very very skeptical of this deal i think everyone should be uh i think both of these deals were horrible uh horrible for different industries at least paramount is saying oh we'll keep movies movies and theaters we believe in movies how long until that lasts right like how long till that actually becomes a thing i'm sure eventually gonna be like oh we're putting out a bunch of movies we don't know how to make movies that are that are actually successful and oh we're gonna cut them and now we're doing paramount plus we're gonna see such and upheaval when it comes to entertainment, but then fucking video games are going to be forgotten.

27:51Tim Gettys:There is no fucking way that video games become a major talking point in David Ellison's shake-up here. There's no way that video games become the forefront, and you've already seen it with Warner Brothers when they're trying to figure out how to sell. Video games fall back to the back to the back, and it's just it is such frustrating times right now. So, yeah, that is, this all sucks, and yeah,

28:15Blessing Adeoye Jr.:that's it great rundown of the story there roger thank you so much for that we will be keeping eyes on this story as it continues to progress as the deal gets finalized and locked in and then most importantly what happens with the games later on coming in months days years as well but roger we have so much more stories to talk about and we're not going anywhere on today's kind of funny games daily but we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors come one come all step into a world

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29:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Welcome back to your first time. Friday edition of Kind of Funny Games Daily. It's Mike, Roger, and Barrett giving you the nerdy news you need to know about. Let's run through story number three. A fun one to switch up the vibe. Guitar Hero Studio Red Octane returns with spiritual successor Stage Tour. This coming from Chris Scullion at VGC. It was announced last August that Red Octane, the company responsible for producing the Guitar Hero Games, has returned as a new studio called Red Octane Games, with veterans from the rhythm game industry joining the team. Now the studio has revealed Stage Tour, a new music title currently, quote, in active development, end quote, with plans to release by the 2026 holiday season.

30:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:According to the studio, Stage Tour will be a long-term platform created in conjunction with the community and will continue to evolve following its release. It will feature new instruments as well as a controller and keyboard compatibility for those who don't want to buy the instrument peripherals. A multi-year partnership with Gibson has also been announced with the Gibson Epiphone and Kramer Brands set to be integrated into the game. Quote, Stage Tour is our love letter to Rhythm Gaming, Red Octane Games head of studio Simon Eberger said in a statement. We want Stage Tour to feel familiar and authentic, but also fresh, utilizing modern technology to connect games with the music they love and enjoying a platform that evolves and grows over time.

31:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:With new instruments and deep charting systems, we're raising the bar on what we believe a rhythm game can be, while also catering to those who wish simply to enjoy a casual experience and have a good time. Closed alpha testing for State's Tour will begin this summer with an experienced group of community fans from the rhythm gaming community providing feedback during the game's development.

31:47Tim Gettys:Interesting. I, of course, grew up with Guitar Hero 3. I sucked at it, but I played it all the time That was the GOAT, Rog

31:55Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It was the GOAT

31:56Tim Gettys:It was awesome, I didn't fuck with no rock band shit

31:58Blessing Adeoye Jr.:No DJ Hero? No, I didn't fuck with that shit

32:01Tim Gettys:No Mixer? No, it's way too old I don't know I want my perfect heart of hearts For this to work And for us all to go back A simpler time Hell yeah, Roger, take me back, let's rock on There's no way, right? There's no way that there's this like like influx of people that want this right is there i think there's people that want this like is is that community large enough to sustain a studio and a platform well let's get real really

32:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:quick fortnite has their own little rock band slash guitar hero setup going on right now we have seen them stabilize and keep it going but that's also on the back of a giant community that is fortnite right i don't know those true numbers of how much that's playing but it's still around It's around. Right? So, like, that's happening. Licensing stuff. I think there are old heads like me in the community that look back on Guitar Hero and Rock Band with a lot of fondness and go, I miss that. Right? You have people like Barrett who love a good rhythm game. Sure. Right? And so I think there is an area and a market for this.

33:03Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Right? I think we are past the days of buying 20 different plastic instruments clogging up our house. but a nice plastic guitar in my, you know, studio, I think in people's houses, maybe a drum set could go really far away.

33:17Tim Gettys:Yeah. Then my next question is like the hardcore of it, right? The hardcore is fed like they're satiated with clone hero, right? Which is a free download that you can just put in your games community made, you know, uh, sets and figure, and people have done insane shit on clone hero. That is the way that most streamers that play guitar hero play. They play on clone hero. So that is, that's,

33:39Greg Miller:community's eaten or or they're still on like rock band exactly four or three or whatever my one friend chelsea has been continuing to play that shit for years and years and years

33:48Blessing Adeoye Jr.:i mean they're fed i don't think we're going after them this is going to come and maybe give

33:52Tim Gettys:it a try we're going for the casual then the casual has fortnight that's my interesting thing

33:56Blessing Adeoye Jr.:there they have fortnight to an extent but like i don't think they have it like hey there's an instrument right here we're gonna show this off and it's gonna be in your living room yeah i think parents probably don't even know fortnite has that i think the kiddos know and they're probably hotting off on that but i think there's like a generation of people my age that either have kids are still like just hanging out with their partners or single that are like i would buy this i would

34:22Tim Gettys:go back and the issue with a studio like this and again i wish you all the the best of luck because i think this is really cool and it harkens back to a time and an era in gaming that i adore and I love the art style of this. I think it is so, it feels like the 360 era. It does not, in the best ways possible, right? It doesn't feel like this is low quality models. Like, they're very much going for that art style and I appreciate that they did it because when I saw that first screenshot, I was like, oh, is this actually from Guitar Hero 3? Like, no, it isn't. Like, this is they're building that up, trying to do that.

34:52Tim Gettys:I want this to succeed. I just very skeptical of the hey, we're doing a platform, right? That is going to include licensing fees, which you know are astronomical and are ongoing. And then on top of that, we have a physical component, which we now have to deal with, you know, vendors that are going to make these controllers. And if they don't sell enough, and there's also a bunch out there that, you know, people can buy these things still to this day. I mean, there's new companies that have made, you know, compatible things. I am just so interested in to see if like, is this a free to play game, right?

35:21Tim Gettys:Is this a freemium game? Is this a, you know, paid$30 thing? And then you add on top of it, the business model to me is the thing that's going to make or break them. And if they if they were competing with clone hero right and they say hey we're just like clone hero but we get more updates and you know if you don't have to go on a weird website it's on console too like there's some way to connect maybe there's some way to connect your your get your downloaded songs onto the playstation thing like if that's what they're going for cool but if they're going for like the license side of it i'm just like oof that's like a you either got to be a huge massive success or you're just slowly gonna fall away and then you're gonna be like fuck i can't afford these licensing fees anymore.

35:56Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, that's where my mind goes, Roger. It's like, my mind goes to, I see this, I want this, right? I think there's an audience that wants this. They want to return to that feeling or they want to show their friends and family who haven't seen that how much fun it was. But my mind does go to like, music is tough nowadays. Music is really hard to capture and hold onto. We see this all the time with the licensing fees like you brought up. And like, how do you do that dance as a smaller team, right? Who is backing you? What contracts do you have? You also brought up like You gotta have the hits right You gotta have songs that I want to play And the problem is like those cost money So then you get this weird blend of like Songs that are kind of like mid tier and you're like Okay and I don't want to walk away Out of this experience going like Oh they're just mid right there's no You gotta have five bangers Right like five mega chart Topping songs where you're like this rocks Then fill it up with the supporting cast Right but like yeah Roger it's gonna be very Interesting the music side of things My mind goes to Fuser, right?

36:56Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Fuser was the latest kind of big rhythm music-based game that we saw try to hit the market on a general casual scale. And unfortunately, I felt like that got killed due to Twitch and the DMCA crackdowns that they were having at the time. I feel like we're a little bit at a different time right now with Twitch and live streaming where music is a little more celebrated and not as hard crackdown. Where like Fuser was about to pop off and then just immediately died right away. I do think you have some room here to have some fun.

37:23Tim Gettys:and enjoy part of me does wonder if like they did uh an old i kind of missed the old school approach of like you buy the game and then these are the games sorry these are the songs that you have and then if you want they have dlc packs or they keep on doing another one every few years

37:37Blessing Adeoye Jr.:that's how my mind goes to i would love it it's cool i see this as a a premium title or like you said a cheaper premium like a 40 title right and then here's your 10 to 15 songs off the bat or

37:49Tim Gettys:it's like a mix and match thing where they have like 100 songs or whatever you choose 30 of them and then that's like a dollar per song or something like that. I don't know. There's something there. I just don't believe in like the free-to-play model. I mean, well, maybe I do. I don't know. This is just all messy, but I hope for it.

38:04Greg Miller:And to speak to that, it felt like, you know, when you make it a premium model, you have a set amount of songs. It felt like a curated, this is the vibe we're going for. When we open up to a platform where it's like, oh, now we can have endless streams of things, you start to lose a particular voice in that creativity that I think, especially in the Guitar Hero days, was so important were, you know, in the DLC pack or, like, maybe in one of the secret songs. You got shit like Trogdor from HomestarRunner.com and stuff like that. Like, that's the stuff that I truly yearn for in terms of designing, like, a set list almost.

38:40Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And Langley M. Neely says it best. Like, point blank period for this game. Point blank period. Content is king. It has to have the music. It has to have the right content. It has to have the stuff that you want to show up for. The idea of pressing all the buttons for a rhythm game on a guitar has been done and has done in a very well way. This is going to probably be a layup for them to capture that. What it comes down to is like, you got to have the music. You got to have the reason for me to stop what I'm doing and want to go over there and jam for a little bit.

39:08Tim Gettys:And you have to get the casuals. That's the main thing. Again, the hardcore is fed. And the hardcore is going to want to mod this thing. They're not going to want to play the songs that you have. They're not going to be buying the DLC. They're going to want to play fucking sicko mode at 500 times speed. You know what I mean? Like that's the crazy shit that they want to do. They don't necessarily want to have the 10 to 15 songs that you randomly pick. So the hardcore satiated, you just need to figure out a way to kind of create a cultural moment. Good luck.

39:31Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Hop H2O writes in and says, excited to be part of the charting team for stage tour. Been a kind of funny best friend for many years and incredibly proud of the small part of this game. That's fun. Shout out right there. Hey, that was some fun. The charting is pretty fun. That's cool. Joshua writes in and says, harmonics are the true rhythm gods. I'm here for this, but Rock Band Remains King played it last night. Many people still hold on to Rock Band. I hold on to Guitar Hero. Yeah, I think this is a market that has an opportunity for a lot of upside. Remember when Phil got a hold of Activision Blizzard King, that was one of the more requested things was the idea of bringing back Guitar Hero.

40:12Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Stannis writes in and says, having a Gibson brand feels big. feels like they have maybe more uh maybe incorporate real guitars at some point love the kramer guitar very 1986 van i would be cool if it was like this kind of merge of

40:30Tim Gettys:rocksmith mixed with this mixed with that it's like kind of like hey you go here and this is everything in one made by people that made the original ones that'd be dope let's keep it going

40:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:story number four high guard reportedly has less than 20 devs working on it uh working on its following mass layoffs at Wildlight. This coming from Rebecca Valentine at IGN sourcing Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. High Guard Studio Wildlight Entertainment reportedly has less than 20 people remaining to work on the game following a round of devastating layoffs just weeks after the game's launch. This comes from a new Bloomberg report, which tells the story of Wildlight's rise and fall since its founders first assembled the team back in 2021. Made up of respawn veterans, the group hoped to recreate the success of Apex Legends and Titanfall, initially with a survival-focused shooter.

41:26Blessing Adeoye Jr.:When that design didn't quite work out as well as they'd hoped, they scrapped it and pivoted to High Guard, leaving remnants of the original survival game in the final draft of what was now a hero shooter. As the game progressed, testers had positive feedback that had the developers hopeful, though notably, they also said it was more fun on microphone with voice chat and the experience was too complicated and less fun without them. Sources speaking to Bloomberg say the studio largely had a positive culture and the team felt good about what they were making up until the game's announcement at the Game Awards last December, which apparently came about at Jeff Keighley's urging after he enjoyed what he played.

42:10Blessing Adeoye Jr.:The team originally intended to announce and launch High Guard simultaneously, but the Game Awards announcement that left a month-and-a-half-long silence between announcement and launch, during which the internet had a field day. The game launched to a celebration-worthy number of Steam Conterants, but unfortunately was unable to retain players for very long at all, meaning it made very little money from microtransactions. Reviews were also poor Though the developers at Wildlight believed They had financial runway To improve financial backer Tencent suddenly pulled its funding And most of the 100 person team Was laid off as a result Fewer than 20 individuals remained To try to save Highgard Those developers have recently reassured That a new patch is on the way After a website issue Led players to believe the whole game was being taken down The full story is at Bloomberg which I read last night.

43:07Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Very good write-up right there. Very interesting. Of course, me, Andy, and Bless previewed the game a while back and we actually spoke with the co-founder and a lot of the team members and they were telling stories of, hey, we were playing a lot of Rust. We loved this raid idea in Rust of raiding bases and that's kind of where the game started and came from, right? It's an interesting write-up of Jason talking about what happened there and then the Game Awards announcement and how that really changed everything for them right there. So, yeah, great write-up. Now only 20 people working on this game, Roger, down from 100 to 20, a live service game, a game that has lost 97 % of its initial player base.

43:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I mean, I'm looking at it right now.

43:51Tim Gettys:The 24-hour peak is 551.

43:53Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And what was the number? What was the highest?

43:55Tim Gettys:97 ,000 was the highest. That was, yeah, that's a tough number right there.

43:59Blessing Adeoye Jr.:So insane drop-off there.

44:01Tim Gettys:Yeah, 400 people playing right now, less than 400 people playing right now yeah it's uh this is always becomes down it comes down to like one of the sadder stories of the year like i look at this and it's like it's it was avoidable but it was also unavoidable like i i i see what that was what was happening to that team of like if jeff kelly were to walk up to us and be like hey man like i got this great i see your game i want to show it off you're i know you're supposed to do a shadow drop let's throw this up there and i think jeff kelly was super well-meaning he wanted to to show this game on the biggest platform give it this boost right and i i if i was them i'd be like fuck yeah that sounds awesome like everyone's gonna that's that's prime placement and then of course the backlash that i don't think anybody would have expected uh even when i was watching that trailer i was like i was like oh this game was cool like that's neat it wasn't like the most mind-blowing thing in the world but i was like oh that's neat i'm excited to try that out and like oh it's only a few weeks away that's sick and then just the internet just took that and just ran with it it's if i wonder what the alternate universe was if they had a comms team if they had something to follow it up there if they had some type of like hey we're going to continue to talk to the audience as these things are happening so would that have you know quench the fires a little bit or would that have just flamed everything even further right you never know uh it's just a sad story and 20 devs working on this game it's like yeah under a thousand under 400 people playing right now that this is within the next few months

45:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:we're going to see of course a model based off of being free to play driven by microtransactions so when you bring up only 400 people playing 20 devs trying to keep this alive right here on steam but But, I mean, Roger, like, how long, really, right? This can't be in, this is in the red and only going down for a minute. Yeah, exactly.

45:35Tim Gettys:Within the month, within the month or two. It's really sad.

45:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Unfortunate stuff. A really great write-up by Jason. Shout out to Rebecca Valentine for bringing that out. And so go check it out. Number five, our final story of the day, Roger. Be aware, videogamer.com has gone full AI slop. Roger, I don't know what's happening. Give me the rundown.

45:55Tim Gettys:Yeah, I saw this popping up on Blue Sky and Twitter over the last few days, and it's just, I was like, there's no way this is actually happening, and it is. If you go to videogamer.com, which I implore all y 'all not to do, but maybe, Barrett, if you would like to go there, just as a curiosity click to show the audience, it is rampant with reviews that, on the outside, and, like, journalism and all this stuff, that looks on the outside, like, oh, like, this is, like, normal, as is, you know, Video gamers working out as it should be. And then you look into it, and yeah, the Resident Evil Requiem review, first of all, is using an AI-generated image.

46:27Tim Gettys:And it's like, okay, that's weird because there's a lot of press-created images for key art that was sent out there. This is definitely not from the game, especially that Biohizards. This is not there.

46:38Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, Grace doesn't look quite right there.

46:39Tim Gettys:She doesn't look quite right. Her eyes are a little weird. This is not. It's sort of off, whatever. And then you look into it, and you read the headlines. It says, Resident Evil Requiem review. Capcom's gore-soaked series finale. Weird. Series finale. That's not what that is. And then you look at the person that wrote it, Brian Marigold. Okay, cool. Brian Marigold is an experienced iGaming and sports betting analyst with a deep appreciation for the innovation, sharpening modern gambling in entertainment. And it just goes on about this. And then they link to his Twitter, and they link to a bunch of other people's Twitters, and it has one follower, 41 following, and it was created in October 2025.

47:16Tim Gettys:It says lifelong gamer, passionate writer, adventurous reviewer. And it's just an image. And we're like, this is definitely AI, right? And then somebody found that if you go to the original image that was uploaded to Video Gamer of this guy's profile and you go to like the link, it says chat GPT. So this is clearly AI generated imagery of an AI generated article from an AI generated key art that they're using. Uh, and this review made it to Metacritic. This review made it to Metacritic. Uh, they have been since been banned from Metacritic, uh, and Metacritic from what I've been seeing online. There's not official reporting on this or there was now, but whatever.

47:57Tim Gettys:Uh, there have been people that said like, Hey, like Metacritic sent out to, I believe everybody that is part of the Metacritic, uh, family and has reviews up there basically saying, Hey, you can't fucking post AI generated, uh, stuff. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. You put it up there and I didn't read it. There it is. Uh, Alex Donaldson posted on Blue Sky. Metacritic has sent a reminder email to all game sites, editors, and publishers, which is pretty strong and great. It reads, our policy is that we will never include an AI-generated review on Metacritic and that if we subsequently discover that one has been posted, we will remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication upon an investigation.

48:34Tim Gettys:So yeah, good on Metacritic for finding this out and then just being like, boom, you're out, you're done. what a horrible horrible thing to see when you see the amount of games journalists when you see the amount of real people that are dedicating their lives to playing video games and you know honestly not getting paid enough not getting paid enough to play 50 70 hour video games do entire walkthroughs do dedicate their entire lives to playing video games and loving them and trying to express to everybody how much they love them to you so that you can potentially figure out if you want to buy a game if you don't want to buy a video game it is such a labor of love that people are not appreciated enough for in the modern era especially with the written word and then now videogamer.com an establishment that i would go to all the time is now just completely and utterly overrun with ai nonsense they have not said anything about it they're unapologetic about it uh it sucks don't go to videogamer.com fuck that website and uh we will never use a videogamer.com website as a news article.

49:38Tim Gettys:And again, because it is clearly AI Slop and it sucks. So fuck that.

49:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Fuck yeah, Roger. Great job on that one. Roger, that is huge news that AI Slop is making its way on the Metacritic, now getting the band hammer. But if I need something smaller, I need a palate cleanser, where would we go?

49:54Tim Gettys:You go to our last story, the We News channel where we cover all the small news items you need to know about.

50:00Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Let's kick it with some We News on a big one, a big deal. Backyard Baseball is back with a brand new game by Mega Cat Studios. Bring up the images.

50:12Tim Gettys:Yeah, so they have this trailer and it doesn't really show any of the gameplay. Right? It's like the cartoon style.

50:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yes, they had a big YouTube premiere that came out. Of course, you got to watch. You were in the live chat. I was in it. I was enjoying the 22 minute episode celebrating Backyard Sports, all the kids that make it so special. And then Mega Cat Studios announces a brand new game coming in July. Pablo Sanchez. It goes 3D. It's exactly when you close your eyes and you think what would a backyard sports game look like in 2026. This is exactly what I want. This is what it looks like. It looks good. I'm excited. I cannot wait.

50:48Tim Gettys:Shout out to Mega Cat Studios. Making so many different types of games in the last few years.

50:53Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm excited to talk with them. They brought back Vinny the Gooch on commentary. Of course, alongside the legendary, the incredible Sunny Day, which is awesome. There's 33 kids on this. By my count, there was only 30 kids on the bleachers in the first backyard baseball. So what are the three kids that I'm missing? Let me know in the comments below if I'm missing three kids or if they got something special.

51:17Tim Gettys:I saw something yesterday or today on Instagram of somebody doing your gimmick of the snow bike mic pretty much. They're doing their Twitch streamer and they speak Spanish. it and they and it had like 500 000 likes on instagram and they're doing the whole thing they're yelling at the kids and everything and i was like i know for a fact that it's just independent it's an easy idea yeah it's an easy idea but it is funny i would like to think the idea the guy saw this and it's like i want to do that yeah yeah uh but are you excited

51:44Blessing Adeoye Jr.:i'm so excited i've been waiting for this for a long time since megacat studios uh really starting to bring back all of the backyard sports that we wanted to modern platforms like steam And of course, iOS. I think it's been a big deal. I'm very excited. I want to talk with this team. I want to get to know them more on what they've been doing. I think it's a really fun cause and a great way to bring an awesome brand back to life and celebrate sports in a fun way. I can't wait to see what they do with the 3D world. What does it really look like? How does it play? Is it open world? I'm thinking it's going to become kind of super mega baseball type vibes if you've ever played that before.

52:20Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I think it will be very much like that. It won't be the click, point-and-click adventure kind of games, sports games like they were, right? But you have a wealth of fun. Hockey, basketball, soccer, baseball, like football. Can't wait to see where they go back. If you need help, you call me. I'll be there. You know what I mean? You need a commentator, a coach. I'll be there, okay? I'll be there for free. I'll just show up.

52:45Tim Gettys:No, okay, well, you don't need to say that part. Give them a day rate and a cup of coffee. I need nothing. But imagine, remember when Snoop Dogg was part of Call of Duty? They had the announcers pack and everything. You could be that guy. Coach Mike Pack. $2.99. We'll give you$2.99 to download this.

53:01Blessing Adeoye Jr.:We will pay you money to have Coach Mike in the game. I'm super excited about this, Roger. This is something I will be looking at and talking about for the months leading up. Jason in the chat says, fantasy critic pickup? I'm only full up, but Roger, maybe.

53:16Greg Miller:After I fuck with the team and what they've been doing with the backyard baseball games, backyard sports, them also just releasing another game in the last couple of weeks that has lost me points. I don't know if I would advise. Lost you points?

53:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Oh, yeah. Yeah.

53:31Greg Miller:Suns of Sparta is at a 67 right now.

53:34Tim Gettys:Who counterpicked Pokemon? I did, baby. Good for you, bro. Way to lock him in.

53:40Greg Miller:Let's go. Awesome, dude. Let's go. So I don't know. with Mega Cat doing a lot of things. I don't know. I don't know if I would advise it. Think about it. Think about it.

53:48Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Here we go. Via PlayStation, God of War, Sons of Sparta update adds a cheat code for players to access the roguelike co-op mode, the pit, without having to finish the game. Nice. That should have been there day one. That should have been day...

54:01Greg Miller:It shouldn't have been a cheat code. It should have just been an extra mode from the jump. It's such a weird choice to make that an unlockable that they don't even really point you to when you beat the game. It just kind of, they sneak it into the main menu. It's really freaking weird.

54:16Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah. Via Wario 64, Resident Evil Requiem has already reached highest concurrent users for an RE game on Steam. 246 ,000 players within one hour of release. 320 ,000 players as of right now. Resident Evil 4 remake peaked at 168k. Shout out to them. Wow. Big deals. Big deals. This is a contender. You feel the energy in the air. Mike and Roger have already played it. Roger was on the Gamescast where they reviewed it with Tim, Greg, Madeline, Stanley, and Roger. I already beat this before for review. This is a contender. This is a gaming event. Drop what you're doing and go play this game. That is the best way to say that.

55:01Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It is a gaming event.

55:02Tim Gettys:I get emotional talking about it. I feel like Tim Geddes. I'm getting so excited, so hype about it. What a fun time, and I love talking to people about it. Talking to so many people about it.

55:10Blessing Adeoye Jr.:So many people in my life love this game. I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks at the end. I'm so excited for like the diehard fans, what they think, because there was a lot of questions going into this. There's a lot of excitement, of course, but there was questions, and I'm excited to see those get answered and see what they think, because it's awesome. Via Shinobi on Twitter, UpgradedPSSR. Yeah, you didn't want to say that. Call it by its Christian name, Pisser. I'm so close to saying it. I didn't want to say it. They know what they're doing. Upgraded Pisser is coming to PS5 Pro. Starting today with Resident Evil Requiem.

55:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Latest co-developed tech stemming from AMD and Sony's Project Amethyst collab. Six months of extra refinement for FSR4. Enhanced pisser coming to more titles in March. System update in March allows PS5 Pro users to select enhanced pisser image quality in settings. Pisser be pissing.

56:04Tim Gettys:Pisser be pissing. It's better than ever. Tried my best. I like how you're saying that. Like someone's trying to stop you. Like Greg Miller's like, you can't fucking call it. You have to call it.

56:15Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Via Chris Scullion at VGC Marvel Maximum Collection. That's with a giant X in the middle of it. Collection is now is the new compilation of eight, of retro 8-bit and 16-bit Marvel games. You don't need to read all of this, but there's a lot of games. I mean, they have X-Men Arcade. I love that. I've never seen any of the other ones. Okay. Yeah.

56:38Tim Gettys:Captain America and the Avengers. I know that one. They got Separation Anxiety. That's Venom and Spider-Man. And then Spider-Man and X-Men.

56:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Are these any good? I know the X-Men one is good.

56:46Tim Gettys:I'm sure they're yes. The answer is yes, because you don't want to say anything bad. And people are going to be like, oh my God, actually, this is my favorite game. This is the best one ever. Captain America and the Avengers. You can't forget that one. There's a lot of games on this. It's actually not that many games. The more I looked at it, Silver Surfer NES is on there. Because it's just a lot of different platforms that they were on, which is really cool. I'm very, very happy that video games are getting re-releases like this that are so, you know, hey, we're going to show you every version of it, like the Mortal Kombat one, which is really sick.

57:13Tim Gettys:And I hope they do that for the PS2 games. What up?

57:16Greg Miller:I wish they had a shout out to X-Men Mutant Apocalypse for the Super Nintendo. I wish that was here.

57:23Blessing Adeoye Jr.:One day.

57:24Greg Miller:One day.

57:25Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Mad Rocks writes in and says, the guy doing Mike's gimmick in Spanish is El Camacho24, if we can bring him up. He's not doing my gimmick, but he's doing a fun gimmick. I'll give him that. Well, let's find the timelines. Maybe Mike and Coach Camacho could come together and coach together. That would be a great coaching experience. And that's the end of We News. That's the end of We News. That is all the Super Chats. We will jump into You're Wrong. Of course, remember, I need you to keep me honest as I struggle through today's game daily on a Friday. I apologize. I love you. We did good today. I upset Greg Miller, and I want to apologize.

58:02Tim Gettys:Let's apologize right now to Greg Miller.

58:03Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I apologize Greg Miller Hey Greg Miller it's Mike And I want you to know that I really messed up today And I apologize for breaking embargo And ruining your day I want you to know that's very exciting And nobody will ever talk about it until it actually happens So we're all going to be cool on the internet Everyone's going to pretend like it's a big deal And I want you to know that I care and appreciate you And I will put on my active listening ears From now on

58:26Tim Gettys:And give me the one And as the producer of The Buzz I take no responsibility And I will be titling the episode of The Buzz Snowbike Mike breaks embargo. So, yeah, that is what we are going to do.

58:41Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Let me see. Let me see. Let me see. Let me see. We got a lot of write-ins. We got a lot of write-ins. Okay, let me see what I got. Roger, tell him a story really quick.

58:52Tim Gettys:I'm excited for today. Again, of course, this is going to be the scariest marathon stream we've ever done. It is going to be Blessing and Andy in a room together for as long as it takes to beat. to Resident Evil Requiem. I almost said Silent Hill. I'm still thinking about Silent Hill. Resident Evil Requiem. And we got some cool stuff going on there. A lot of fun stuff that Andy's been making and a cool little sponsorship there that we'll talk about in a second.

59:15Greg Miller:And push them long enough so that they have to beat the game and then go into New Game Plus so they can do all the fun things that you usually think about with Resident Evil with that as well. So look forward to that.

59:27Tim Gettys:Solely Piss... Pissor? Sole Purpose. Sole Purpose. That's not... There's no R. Oh, I mean, that's somebody definitely not scary than seeing Roger in the skirt. Great time. That was great.

59:42Greg Miller:You can't just only include Roger in that sentence. Captain Roger and Mike.

59:47Blessing Adeoye Jr.:That was rocking the skirt. And you're wrong. Captain Slayer writes in and says additional story number four info. High guard just released a new mode called Raid Rush that removes the looting phase entirely to try and draw more players in. There you go. Go give it a try. Five V five. now Raid Rush, some new stuff going on in there. Fran will be all over it covering it on his Twitch channel. He will. Roger, it's been a fantastic Friday. We have a lot of fun going on. We've had one hell of a fun week and guess what? It doesn't stop now. We celebrated Pokemon 30th anniversary with Greg and Tim in the morning.

1:00:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:You and I got to do kind of funny games daily. Now we're going to kick it into the lab for something truly terrifying, something truly spooky and fun as Blessing and Andy are going to set up and get ready for today's Subathon Marathon stream with Resident Evil 9. Barrett, say goodbye and take us away.

1:00:38Greg Miller:Really quick for the Twitch audience, because of how we had to set things up for today with the big marathon stream, we will be going offline for just a minute, but don't freak out. It's all part of the plan. We will be back shortly.

1:00:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:This has been Kind of Funny Games Daily. If you love what we do, consider supporting us with that Kind of Funny membership available on Patreon and on YouTube. We get all of our shows ad-free and get a daily exclusive show. Gregway, enjoy Gamescast after this. Now enjoy the stream and have a wonderful weekend.

1:01:05Tim Gettys:Yeah, and also, hang out and go to the stream. I know you're worried about spoilers. Just hang out for a little bit. We're not going to spoil everything in the beginning. Don't worry. Don't worry.

1:01:12Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I don't want Mike and Roger.

1:01:13Tim Gettys:See the beginning of this. Hang out with us, and then once they start the game, you can leave. But throw some Twitch subs, hang out there, and keep this fundraising stuff going. Love you, Mike.

1:01:21Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It's been our pleasure to share with you. Goodbye.

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Run of Show -
- Start - First Look at Kratos and Atreus in Amazon's God of War TV Show - Netflix isn't going to buy Warner Bros after all, meaning Paramount is set to take HBO, Warner Bros Games, and the rest - Ad - Guitar Hero studio RedOctane returns with spiritual successor Stage Tour - Highguard Reportedly Has Less Than 20 Devs Working on It Following Mass Layoffs at Wildlight - BE AWARE: Videogamer.com has gone full AI Slop - Wee News! - SuperChats & You‘re Wrong

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