Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first subscription at http://drinkag1.com/FRIENDS. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS.

Thanks to our friends Incogni for sponsoring this episode! Use code FRIENDSPERSECOND at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/friendspersecond.

Head to https://factormeals.com/FPS50 to get 50% off your first FACTOR box plus 20% off your next! Thanks to FACTOR meals for sponsoring FPS.

--

This week we're joined by two sets of guests. The first is Dom Mathews, Studio Head at Ninja Theory. They're set to launch Hellblade 2 this coming week, but much of the discussion around the game has been centred on Xbox's studio strategy and what 'success' now looks like for smaller games like Hellblade. 

In addition we were joined by Ryan and Joe from Airship Syndicate. Wayfinders hit the rocks when it launched into early access, which cooincided with publisher Digital Extremes shuttering their entire publishing division. Airship are now pivoting Wayfinder to be an offline (peer to peer coop) game with no microtransactions, so we chatted with them about the journey to that decision. 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:28 Xbox Talk

31:40 User Question 1

37:48 AG1 (ad)

40:22 Interview With Dom Matthews, Studio Head of Ninja Theory

01:10:57 Factor (ad)

01:17:16 User Question 2

01:24:24 Interview With Wayfinder Studio Airship Syndicate

01:55:56 Incogni (ad)

01:59:28 What We've Been Playing

02:22:41 Show And Tell

02:29:02 Wrap Up

--

Let's meet our hosts!

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter: @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 

--

Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: http://www.squarespace.com/skillup
--
Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code FRIENDS at https://manscaped.com ! That’s 20% off with free shipping when you use code FRIENDS. Thanks for sponsoring FPS!
--
It feels like Xbox is doing a soft-exit from the hardware business without saying it out loud, right? Alanah Pearce joins us for a discussion on the state of console platforms, plus we chat about Stellar Blade, No Rest for the Wicked, Dragon's Dogma 2 and more. We're also joined by Panic Co-Founder Cabel Sasser and famed indie developer Lucas Pope (Papers Please, Return of the Obra Dinn) to chat about the Playdate console and Pope's latest release: Mars After Midnight. 

Timestamps:
00:00 Catch Up with Special Guest Host Alanah Pearce!
13:19 The State of Xbox
33:46 User Question 1
44:23 Squarespace (ad)
45:52 Interview with Panic Co-Founder Cabel and Game Maker Lucas Pope
01:25:30 Manscaped (ad)
01:28:00 User Question 2
01:38:41 What We've Been Playing
02:14:31 Show and Tell
02:35:49 Wrap Up

Let's meet our hosts!
- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Head to https://factormeals.com/FPS50 to get 50% off your first FACTOR box plus 20% off your next! Thanks to FACTOR meals for sponsoring FPS.
--
Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first subscription at http://drinkag1.com/FRIENDS. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS.
--
We watched the Fallout show and can confirm that it's good (not X-Men 97 good, but still pretty good). Plus we're joined by Abubakar Salim to talk about his debut as a game director: 'Tales of Kenzaru: Zau'.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
04:21 What Have We Been Doing? (Jake Vacation, Lucy BAFTA Awards)
16:35 Fallout and Video Game Adaptation Discussion
48:00 Factor (ad)
51:00 User Question
1:00:00 Interview with Abubakar Salim, Creative Director on Tales of Kenzera: Zau
1:36:24 AG1 (ad)
1:38:32 Creating Our Dream Video Game Hot Ones Interview 
1:46:41 What We've Been Playing
2:06:54 Show And Tell
2:22:31 Wrap Up

Let's meet our hosts!
- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: http://www.squarespace.com/skillup
--
Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code FRIENDS at https://manscaped.com ! That’s 20% off with free shipping when you use code FRIENDS. Thanks for sponsoring FPS!
--
Oh shit - NakeyJakey is co-hosting while OG Jake is on vacation, plus we roll the secret CDPR we recorded while in Boston, chatting with Pawel and Gabe about what it's like to build an all new studio in Boston while also trying to build Cyberpunk 2. 

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:08 A Conversation with NakeyJakey!
53:13 User Questions 1
01:07:13 Squarespace (ad)
01:08:37 Manscaped (ad)
01:11:55 Interview with Gabe Amatangelo and Paweł Sasko of CD Project Red!
01:51:13 The NakeyJakey Takeover Continues with User Questions 2
02:00:14 What We've Been Playing
02:46:41 Show and Tell
02:52:10 Wrap Up

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to BUY RAYCON dot com slash friends TODAY to get 20% off your Raycon order, plus free shipping! That’s right, 20%! BUY RAYCON dot com slash friends to score 20% off and free shipping. 
--
FPS Exclusive! Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase exclusively at https://drinkag1.com/friends Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS.
--
Hello and welcome to a very special episode of the Friends Per Second podcast. Last week we were in Boston visting Ghost Story Games where we got to play 5 hours of Judas, followed by a deep-dive interview with legendary creator Ken Levine, whose previous works include Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. 

This is not a 'preview' - this is a 'pre-preview', in that the game is still very much in development. Our conversation is focused on what Judas is, why it is the way that it is and what Levine and his team are aiming for as they continue development. 

While we were invited by Ghost Story Games and publisher Take Two Interactive, we paid our own accommodation and airfare costs so as to ensure our editorial independence. 

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and Impressions
32:19 Raycon (ad)
34:28 AG1 (ad)
36:37 Interview with Ken Levine of Ghost Story Games
02:22:40 Wrap Up

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: http://www.squarespace.com/skillup
--
Big show this week! First up we're joined by Tamoor Hussain of Gamespot and Gene Park of The Washington Post for a deep dive discussion into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (spoiler free). We all love it to different degrees, but some pacing and story issues threw a few of us. We also spent some time comparing the many (many) things that FFVII Rebirth delivers that FFVXI didn't. 

Following that we were joined by Seth Rosen, game director for Pacific Drive, a game that both Ralph and Jake reviewed and loved. It was a great chat delving into how the game came about, the biggest challenges developing it and how the studio is responding to feedback since launch. 

#FinalFantasy #PacificDrive #Dune2
--
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
7:17 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Chat w/ Gene Park and Tamoor Hussain
01:03:07 Squarespace (ad)
01:04:45 User Question 1
01:14:17 Interview With Pacific Drive Game Director Seth Rosen
01:54:10 User Question 2
02:02:38 What We've Been Playing
02:16:45 Show And Tell
02:35:51 Wrap Up
--
Let's meet our hosts!

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspers...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FPS Exclusive! Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase exclusively at https://drinkag1.com/friends Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS
--
Thanks to our friends Incogni for sponsoring this episode! Use code FRIENDSPERSECOND at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/friendspersecond.
--
This week we take a good, long look at the state of the console business and the AAA releases that underpin it. For that conversation, we're lucky to be joined by Andy Robinson of Vidoegame Chronicle, regular news breaker and a former game developer. He brought an incredibly insightful perspective as someone who not only has worked as a game maker, but also soemone with a rich stable of sources to tap for inside info. 

Timestamps:
00:00 Check In
06:24 Console Crisis with Andy Robinson of VGC
01:07:10 AG1 (ad)
01:10:15 Incogni (ad)
01:13:07 Nintendo Direct Discussion
01:23:51 User Question 1
01:34:13 What We've Been Playing
02:13:15 User Question 2
02:18:00 Show and Tell
02:36:13 Wrap-Up
Let's meet our hosts:

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspers...

Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@friendspersecond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to BUY RAYCON dot com slash friends TODAY to get 15% off your Raycon order, plus free shipping! That’s BUY RAYCON dot com slash friends to score 15% off and free shipping. 
--
Oh boy - what a week. We thought Suicide Squad discourse would be top billing (and we did cover that off with special guest Greg Miller) but it turns out something bigger came along: rumours that Xbox are getting out of the exclusives business. We did a deep dive into that with special guest Parris Lilly. To top it all off, we checked in with Keen Games co-founder Antony Christoulakis to talk through the success of Enshrouded as it tears it up over on Steam. 
--
Timestamps:
00:00 Catch Up
07:42 Xbox with Parris Lilly from Gamertag Radio + Kinda Funny Xcast
49:02 Raycon (ad)
52:06 Suicide Squad chat with Greg Miller from Kinda Funny
1:25:48 User Question 1
1:35:02 Enshrouded Interview with Keen Games Co-Founder Antony Christoulakis
2:11:29 User Question 2
2:15:21 What We've Been Playing 
2:30:13 Show And Tell
2:41:07 Wrap Up

Let's meet our hosts:

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspers...

Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@friendspersecond
--

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code FRIENDS at Manscaped.com. That’s 20% off with free shipping at manscaped.com and use code FRIENDS. Because your grooming upgrade awaits, ready to charm your Valentine's dates!
--
Thanks to our friends Incogni for sponsoring this episode! Use code FRIENDSPERSECOND at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/friendspersecond.
--
And we're back - 2024 is here and while we don't expect it'll be quite as jam-packed as 2023, there's still plenty of stuff to look forward to. Here's a look at some of our top picks, plus a few things we're... less excited for.

Note: this episode was recorded before the news broke of 1900 Microsoft gaming staff losing their jobs. We'll likely cover that next episode.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:03 Games We’re Looking Forward To In 2024
01:07:01 User Question 1
01:14:01 Manscaped (ad)
01:16:50 Icogni (ad)
01:20:17 User Question 2
01:24:37 What We've Been Playing
02:03:58 Show And Tell
02:13:59 Wrap Up
--
Let's meet our hosts:

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at GameSpot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons.

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since.
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: http://www.squarespace.com/skillup
--
FPS Exclusive! Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase exclusively at https://drinkag1.com/friends Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring FPS.
--
Thanks to our friends Incogni for sponsoring this episode! Use code FRIENDSPERSECOND at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/friendspersecond.
--
Welcome to the FPS Podcast!

It's the last episode of the year, and rather than talk about videogames (again) we thought we'd just kick back and chill. It's been...a year, and it was nice to just shoot the shit for a bit as we farewell 2023. It's easily the least essential episode we've done to date, but we really enjoyed it and we hope you do, too. 
--
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:09 Jirard Update
02:29 General Catch-up/Updates
11:41 Questions For Each Other 
31:47 Squarespace (ad)
33:18 More Questions For Each Other
01:03:50 Incogni (ad)
01:07:11 AG1 (ad)
01:10:10 Questions For Each Other Round 3
01:15:05 User Questions
01:35:37 Wrap-Up
--
Let's meet our hosts:

- Jake Baldino (aka the Before You Buy Guy) is pretty much the most watched reviewer on YouTube across both Gameranx and his personal channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeBaldino). If you're obsessed with Delorians, The Mummy and Pizza you can discuss that stuff with him directly over on Twitter:  @JakeBaldino

- Lucy James is a Senior Producer at Gamespot and a Creative Producer at Giant Bomb. She's actually, like, experienced and credentialed and has real life skills and stuff, while the rest of the gang would be funemployed if the YT algorithm didn't kiss them for random, inexplicable reasons. 

- Skill Up used to work at McDonalds but he got fired for skimming too many chicken nuggets. He says he regrets it since he hasn't had a better job since. 
--
Listen to the Friends Per Second Podcast on your favourite podcast platform: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFPSPodcast

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendspers...

Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@friendspersecond
--

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices