Mitch is back from the moving boxes (now officially a Fitzroy/Collingwood gay) and reunited with Davey for a proper catch-up, a Summer Game Fest debrief, and a full reaction to the 2026 Gayming Awards. Fresh off last week's solo interview with Gayming founder Robin Gray, the boys react to the winners of queer gaming's biggest night, brought to you by World of Wonder, hosted by Erica Ishii and Drag Race favourite Dawn. In this episode:

• What we're playing: 007 First Light (Davey finished it in one weekend), Breath of the Wild on Switch 2, Lego Batman, and a surprisingly good Bleach gacha game
• Summer Game Fest debrief: Final Fantasy VII, a Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake, Alien: Isolation 2, two new Cuphead games, Palworld 1.0 and a TMNT: The Last Ronin reveal from the Bayonetta team
• Gayming Awards 2026 reaction: Date Everything, South of Midnight, Trixie Mattel, Jennifer English, Dungeons & Drag Queens and more
• Why this year's awards are absolutely worth watching back, even now, you know who won
• A Pride Month message: don't just repost, show up
• The Release Radar (and a heated discussion about why Star Fox has a double chin)

Now the ceremony has aired, head over to Gayming's socials for the full winners list and watch the show back at gaymingmag.com.
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Mitch is moving house, so Davey is flying solo this week with a guest who needs no introduction in queer gaming circles: Robin Gray, co-founder of Gray Jones Media and the founder of Gayming Magazine, the world's leading LGBTQIA+ video game publication, reaching over a million readers a month. Recorded on a Friday morning Robin's time with the Gayming Awards just around the corner, this is a wide-ranging, generous, and very funny conversation about building queer media against the odds. In this episode:

• The 90-minute train journey in 2019 that turned into Gayming Magazine
• A behind-the-scenes preview of the Gayming Awards 2026 and the World of Wonder partnership
• Trixie Mattel, Dawn, Erica Ishii, Rock M Sakura and Farrah Moan are building (and giving away) a gaming PC
• The Gayming Foundation and what "ethical capitalism" looks like in practice
• The hard stuff: industry layoffs hitting diverse staff hardest, the collapse of corporate Pride support, and why Robin is genuinely considering going back to print
• Why Robin is a proud champion of Easy Mode (and would call his own podcast that)
• The Sims, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead 2 are the games that shaped him, plus the open letter to Rockstar that actually changed GTA

Depending on when you press play, the Gayming Awards may be days away or freshly wrapped. Either way, the winners go up on Gayming's socials, and Robin makes a great case that the show is worth watching regardless.

Follow Robin and Gayming at gaymingmag.com and @gaymingmag.
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Two husbands. One Nintendo-themed game room. 25,000 Instagram followers. And it all started with a first date on Animal Crossing during the COVID lockdown. This week, Davey and Mitch are joined by Connor and Nic, the couple behind @iconnicgames — the wholesome corner of gaymer Instagram everyone's been forwarding to their partners — from across the ocean. The boys swap origin stories, gaming room envy, and what it really takes to build a content creation career as an out gay couple online. In this episode:

• The Animal Crossing first date that turned into a marriage (and a picnic on a log)
• How a Mario Party x Squid Game meme racked up 6 million views and changed everything
• Pride, followers, and the post that cost them 400 of them — and why they don't care
• Building a Twitch community 
• The dream: going full-time as Nintendo and Pokémon ambassadors
• Each of their most influential games (spoiler: one of them learned to read because of Ocarina of Time)
• The Pile of Shame confessions

Plus: Davey's review of Mixtape, the South of Midnight Switch 2 port, the Switch 2 price hike, Delta Goodrem getting robbed at Eurovision, and the Release Radar from 26 May to 9 June.

Follow Connor and Nic on Instagram: @iconnicgames
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Australia's most iconic LGBTQIA+ gaming radio show turns 12, and we got its co-host to tell us the whole story. Elliot from Checkpoint Gaming on Joy 94.9 joins Davey and Mitch at the Bulldog to share the origin story, the standout moments, and what 12 years of putting queer voices at the centre of gaming actually means.

Checkpoint Gaming pioneered queer gaming media in Australia, and this is the story of how it happened. In this episode:

• How Checkpoint Gaming came to exist on Joy 94.9, and why a queer gaming show on the radio felt like such a radical idea in 2013
• Elliot's journey from fresh-out-of-university superfan to running content at the station
• The moment Checkpoint won a National Broadcasting Award and went national on the Community Radio Network, now heard on 20+ stations across Australia
• Getting flown to LA to preview LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
• The PAX Australia moment that reminded them why it all matters, and the mother and child who changed Elliot's perspective on the show's impact
• Why queer gaming media still matters in 2026, and how the industry has changed (and hasn't)
• Elliot's three most influential games.
• His pile of shame: every single BioWare game he's never finished (Mass Effect fans, brace yourselves)

Plus: Davey shares how hearing Checkpoint on Joy 94.9 while driving into Melbourne in 2017 was his first introduction to queer Melbourne, and why that moment stuck with him.

And the Release Radar covers everything landing in the next fortnight, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2, Subnautica 2 Early Access, Forza Horizon 6, Darksiders Remastered, Paralives, and the Star Fox 64 remake announcement.

🎙️ Find Checkpoint Gaming: checkpointgaming.net 🎙️ Listen on Joy 94.9: joy.org.au/checkpoint
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Mitch is in his element this week as Bargain Bin Gaymers dives deep into Pokémon Champions — Nintendo's brand new free-to-play competitive battler. With a lifetime of competitive Pokémon behind him, Mitch brings the expert take while Davey plays devil's advocate, putting the community's biggest criticisms to the test. They cover everything you need to know before you download:

• What Pokémon Champions actually is — and why competitive Pokémon finally has a home of its own
• The free vs paid breakdown — is the $10.50 AUD Starter Pack worth it, or is this secretly predatory?
• The tiny Pokédex problem — only 186 out of 1,025 Pokémon available at launch
• Performance issues — why is a turn-based game struggling at 30fps on Switch 2?
• The identity crisis — is this game for newcomers, casual fans, or competitive veterans?
• Why fan-made Pokémon Showdown still beats the official product (Mitch's controversial take)
• The live service trap — will Pokémon Champions still have players in 12 months?

Plus: a roundup of every notable game releasing before the end of April 2026 — including Diablo 4's Lord of Hatred expansion, Saros on PS5, and the surprise hit Inkonbini: One Store, Many Stories.

🎮 Download Pokémon Champions free: https://champions.pokemon.com
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What actually makes a game a bargain? Davey and Mitch are fresh off their appearance on 94.9's Checkpoint Gaming — Melbourne's LGBTQIA+ community radio show — and it got them thinking about the very roots of Bargain Bin Gaymers: gaming on a budget.

In this episode, the boys break down every tier of game bargain hunting, from full-price AAA releases to 95% off Steam sales, and debate whether the price tag actually reflects the value.

They dig into:

• New release AAA pricing — is $110 AUD ever justified? (Pragmata, Pokopia)
• The digital vs physical debate and why physical media might be making a comeback
• When does a new release become a bargain? (Clair Obscure, Split Fiction, Fallout 4)
• Bonafide bargains of the moment: Red Dead Redemption 2 at $29, Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 at $29.68, and Resident Evil 2 Remake at $13.73
• Indie game pricing — what's fair to pay queer and indie developers?
• Why Nintendo first-party titles never, ever go on sale (and why that's outrageous)
• Where to find the real hidden bargains in Australian bricks and mortar retail

Plus: the boys recap their nerve-wracking live radio debut on Checkpoint Gaming at the Victorian Pride Centre, St Kilda — two pints of Dutch courage and all.

🎮 Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/fqC2FeHSUr ❤️ Support the BQN Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bqn ☕ Support BBG directly on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/bargainbingaymers

Is the Super Mario Galaxy Movie worth full cinema ticket prices — or is it a wait-for-streaming job? Davey and Mitch, your resident queer gaming critics, blast off into Nintendo's latest animated film to give you the honest verdict. In this episode of Bargain Bin Gaymers, the boys break down the Super Mario Galaxy Movie's visuals, story, character moments, and nostalgia factor — with a special focus on whether it justifies the rising cost of a cinema ticket in 2026. They dig into:

• Does the film deliver enough Galaxy-era magic to warrant a full-price ticket?
• Whether Rosalina, the Lumas, and the cosmic setting live up to fan expectations
• How the humour and pacing land for long-time Nintendo fans
• The cinema vs. streaming debate
• What Nintendo seems to be building toward with its cinematic universe

If you're on the fence about spending your hard-earned coins, this episode will help you decide. 🎮 Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/fqC2FeHSUr ❤️ Support the BQN Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bqn

Pokémon is officially turning 30 — and Gen 10 is on the way.
In this episode of Bargain Bin Gaymers, Davey and Mitch break down everything revealed at Pokémon Presents 2026, including the 30th anniversary celebrations and the first details on the Generation 10 Pokémon games launching in 2027. As the show’s resident Pokémon super fan, Mitch dives deep into what the announcements could mean for the future of the franchise, while Davey brings a more casual perspective — questioning what actually matters to longtime fans versus lapsed players. We cover:

• Every major announcement from Pokémon Presents 2026
• What Gen 10 could look like after Scarlet & Violet
• How Pokémon is celebrating its 30th anniversary
• Whether Pokémon is evolving — or playing it too safe

Whether you’ve caught ’em all or dropped off years ago, this episode breaks down what Pokémon’s next era means for everyone.

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Adaptory is finally here, and we got to sit down with the developer who made it happen. Davey and Mitch reunite with Jevon Wright (she/her), the solo developer behind Stormcloak Games, to celebrate the Steam Early Access launch of Adaptory: a cozy base-building colony sim inspired by Oxygen Not Included, RimWorld, and Dwarf Fortress.

In this episode, Jevon shares the full journey: four years of development, a baby, 9,500+ code commits, and a debut that hit #2 in Steam's Popular Upcoming charts within its first 48 hours.

We dig into:

• What Adaptory actually is — and why it's more nurturing than punishing compared to its inspirations
• What it's like to be a solo indie developer releasing your first commercial title
• Building a game with a diverse, procedurally generated crew and a story-rich world
• The road from itch.io alpha to Steam Early Access, published by indie.io
• What's coming next for Adaptory in Early Access updates

If you love indie games, cosy sims, or want to support a queer New Zealand developer doing something genuinely special — this one is for you.

🎮 Wishlist & play Adaptory on Steam: https://adaptorygame.com
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Davey and Mitch head to the movies to revisit one of the earliest video game film adaptations, Mortal Kombat (1995).

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BQN Podcasts are made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our Patreon patrons, whose support has been instrumental in producing the network!

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