Maximum Hearts

We're joined by new friend of the show 8bitDee to... I mean, basically talk about Final Fantasy XVI, and the Final Fantasy XVI pre-launch event, and the new Square Enix CEO introducing himself at that event, and other things along that theme. It's a one-game kinda show today, so you already know if you're in or out.

Justin and Derek sit down with the newly-released retro-style "boomer shooter" FPS and talk about the onslaught of Warhammer 40k games and the virtues of a dedicated taunt button.

Look man there's some games coming out this month, by posting time two of them will already be out, but when we recorded this they basically weren't. Anyway, no news we just talk about this loaded up June. Okay we find like 10 minutes to talk about the Playstation Showcase we missed covering the week before but whatever dude.

It's a Double Guest Spectacular as we're joined by journalists Grant Stoner and Veerender Jubbal to talk about journalism and activism and the often frustrating uphill process of trying to do either. Don't worry we talk about some fun videogame stuff too, a Zelda game just came out after all.

We're joined this week by longtime friend of the show Matt Storm to talk about how huge payraises for Capcom employees have led to skyrocketing success. Also, we toss out some ideas of what we might see and what we hope we see from the summer-long deluge of announcements and showcases.

We fail the "minutes til Final Fantasy" test HARD and spend a significant amount of time talking about the pixel remasters. Then, we discuss the current conversation about Redfall's poor reception and the future of Microsoft as a publisher, the tales of whose impending death we think may be a little overdramatic.

Now that the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters have finally hit consoles, John and Derek are ready to judge them as most people will play them. Can these remasters be for more than just diehard fans of the original 6 games? Which games in the collection are most worth your time? Can we actually make John talk about Final Fantasy 6 last?

These games were played and reviewed on PC, Playstation, AND Nintendo Switch. Thanks to Square Enix for providing PC and console review codes for these games.

We're joined by journalist and long-time friend of the show Sam Tolbert to discuss the CMA blocking Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. Also, we discuss the Verge's leaked information about the ROG Ally, and what impact it could have on the chunk of the market the Steam Deck carved out for itself.

This week it's John, Jeff and Justin joined by special guests and friends of the show, Cam and Darren, as the crew helps John celebrate the arrival of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters on consoles. Yes, you read that right - it's hard to believe it actually happened. Also on the tap this week are our reactions to the Street Fighter VI showcase, and some brief thoughts on the Super Mario Bros movie.

Calamity strikes minutes before the live show and the crew are forced to pull it together on the fly. Multiple people show up partway through. We run the intro two and a half times. Despite this nonsense, we actually manage to get some good talking time in about two of this year's most anticipated games: Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom, and Final Fantasy XVI.