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Alright, no matter what we say in this episode you should absolutely NOT Google search "GamerGate." I'm serious.
You should, however, look up this week's guest, Jamal Michel. He's a poet and writer whose writing on games has been published all over the place.
You can read more about Jamal and his work on his website: jamalmichel.com.
THINGS MENTIONED
Jamal's article in the NYT about playing GTA as a kid: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/arts/grand-theft-auto-islam.html
Variety reports that a Split Fiction movie is in the works: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/split-fiction-movie-video-game-adaptation-1236344367/
A Forbes explainer on the recent Pokemon Go sale: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/03/12/niantic-just-sold-off-pokmon-go-so-what-changes-now/
Tori's on bluesky: toridp98
Nathaniel's on twitter:nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
Our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by@tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky@press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and other stuff at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
Have you ever played Disco Elysium? Would Family Guy clips or a Subway Surfers video alongside it help? That's not really what's happening to Disco Elysium but it's a funny mental image. And that's just one of the news items we're talking about this week!!
THINGS MENTIONED:
Eurogamer on Disco Elysium's new mobile port: https://www.eurogamer.net/disco-elysium-is-being-reimagined-for-mobile-devices-to-captivate-the-tiktok-user
Oh yeah and ZA/UM announced their next game: https://www.eurogamer.net/disco-elysium-studio-zaums-new-rpg-c4-is-part-espionage-thriller-part-psychedelic-sci-fi
Polygon on the latest Switch 2 rumors: https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/539639/nintendo-switch-2-analysts-launch-price-predictions
Check out this new Silent Hill trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNVffiRAqj8
And here's IGN on the impending Star Wars tactics game announcement: https://www.ign.com/articles/new-star-wars-turn-based-tactics-game-to-be-revealed-at-star-wars-celebration-2025
Tori's on Twitter: tori_as_always
Nathaniel's on Twitter:nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
Our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by@tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky@press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and other stuff at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
We're taking the week off, but we have a special treat for the feed: a recent episode of Video Game Podtimism where Noah and Tori got to gush about Kingdom Hearts 2.
Subscribe to Video Game Podtimism wherever you listen to our show. We'll be back next week!
Original episode description below:
***
Hey Podtimists,
This week we're covering Kingdom Heart 2, and we were graciously joined Press START's Tori and Noah. This game is so damn good and we couldn't keep that all to ourselves.
We love this game so please enjoy us gushing about it for about 2 hours.
Checkout Press START on social here &
Check out their podcast here!
---
Timestamps:
(0:00) - Intro
(4:43) - Some info about this game
(7:19) - Our histories with the series
(21:46) - My Sanctuary
(26:40) - Twilight Town
(39:23) - Nobodies
(44:10) - The Disney stuff
(53:21) - The combat
(59:24) - The big ol' fight in Hollow Bastion
(1:03:14) - The actual lore of Organization 13
(1:05:25) - The World that Never Was
(1:27:13) - How was the wait for KH3?
(1:32:44) - The end of the game
(1:41:36) - Themes of the games
(1:53:00) - Outro
We're joined this week by Gameboy modder, soldering iron wizard and all around cool uncle Marisa from the YouTube channel Your Cool Uncle Marisa. She talks us through her first modding projects, what she likes in a handheld and what she hates about one particular boutique game publisher.
Special thanks to listener Giovanni for recommending that we bring Marisa on as a guest :)
Follow Marisa on YouTube at Your Cool Uncle Marisa.
Tori's on Instagram: toridp98
Nathaniel's on twitter:nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
Our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by@tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky@press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and other stuff at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
Guys, I think we may have willed a new Tony Hawk remaster into existence. Oh and not that I actually think any of our listeners are big GameStop shoppers, but boy do we have some news for you...
THINGS MENTIONED:
New Tony Hawk remaster on the horizon: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/a-skater-claims-hes-in-a-new-tony-hawk-remaster-about-to-come-out/
Fuck Gamestop: https://gizmodo.com/gamestop-ceo-scapegoats-dei-for-company-troubles-2000565613
NPR on the impacts of Target axing its DEI policies: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/31/nx-s1-5277153/some-black-business-owners-say-target-boycott-over-dei-policies-could-hurt-them
Bye bye Switch game vouchers: https://www.polygon.com/nintendo/524774/nintendo-game-vouchers-switch-2
And here's Arlo on how they're killing the gold coins, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3biGMck-MHM
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on twitter:nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
Our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by@tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky@press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and your other stuff at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
If there's one thing we know how to do on this show it's cover a lot of ground. Strap in :3
THINGS MENTIONED:
Aftermath on the PSN outage: https://aftermath.site/sony-playstation-network-outage-psn-ps5-pc
Epic is going to keep giving out games you sort of own: https://kotaku.com/epic-store-free-games-stats-steam-mobile-fortnite-1851764053
PlayStation State of Play recap from Polygon: https://www.polygon.com/playstation/522584/everything-announced-sony-state-of-play-february-2025-trailers
Bobby Kotick vs unions: https://www.eurogamer.net/bobby-kotick-says-activision-blizzard-fake-lawsuits-were-simply-a-union-plan-to-drive-up-membership
YourCoolUncleMarisa on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcoolunclemarisa
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on Twitter: nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
As always, our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by @tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky @press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and whatever else at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
We're grinding and ollie-ing our way through the hottest skating game of 2004 — a game that came out when we were in Elementary School. Come for the skating, stay for the 2004 of it all, however unfortunate some of that may be.
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on twitter:nathanbased
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
BTW we don't own any of the music used in this!! Don't sue us!!
Our cool sounds and intro/outro music are usually by GEIST and our show art is by@tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky@press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and your other stuff at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
Left alone this week, Nathaniel had no other options but to record a podcast all by his lonesome (with the help of two very special guests). Lots of game news this week, buckle in :)
THINGS MENTIONED
Polygon: MultiVersus is dead for real this time: https://www.polygon.com/gaming/517406/multiversus-canceled-shut-down-date
Pokemon TCG Pocket is leaky as hell: https://www.polygon.com/news/515271/pokemon-tcg-pockets-space-time-smackdown-leak-datamine-weavile-bidoof
A fake PlayStation that plays real PlayStation games? It's more likely than you think: https://www.polygon.com/gaming/512589/superstation-one-pre-order-playstation-console
Polygon reports that the Switch 2 can expect some Xbox games: https://www.polygon.com/news/514398/nintendo-switch-2-xbox-games
Meanwhile, another Xbox exclusive is coming to PS5: https://www.inverse.com/gaming/forza-horizon-5-ps5
Elden Ring's multiplayer beta is on the horizon and people are losing it: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/co-op/elden-ring-nightreign-beta-invites-are-apparently-so-in-demand-scalpers-are-already-trying-to-resell-them-for-hundreds-of-dollars/
NintendoLife on the trademark battle Nintendo is waging in Costa Rica: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/01/random-local-supermarket-wins-trademark-battle-against-nintendo
PCGamer on the GOG dreamlist: https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/gog-just-brought-dino-crisis-1-and-2-back-to-life-and-wants-your-help-shouting-at-the-execs-imprisoning-your-favourite-games/
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on this podcast
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
As always, our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by @tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky @press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and your other data at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
Cancellations, whacky prices and more this week....
THINGS MENTIONED:
The team behind Celeste's new game is canceled: https://www.polygon.com/news/512505/earthblade-devs-celsete-followup-canceled
IGN on GTA 6 pricing rumors: https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-at-100-would-be-a-bridge-too-far-even-for-grand-theft-auto
New Xbox announcements: https://www.polygon.com/news/512692/everything-announced-xbox-direct-january-2025
A funeral for a friend: https://x.com/CultureCrave/status/1882882541931430402
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on this podcast
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
As always, our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by @tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky @press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and your other data at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
Yeah OK I guess Switch 2 announcement kinda overshadowed everything else this week, huh?
Also, sorry about my (Noah) audio quality. Had a mic issue, that's why I sound like the speaker on a Wii remote. It won't happen again.
THINGS MENTIONED:
Polygon on the Switch 2: https://www.polygon.com/opinion/510594/nintendo-switch-2-reveal-apple-iphone-comparison
This Twitter thread on the Silksong cakespiracy: https://x.com/pex_ton/status/1879982270737707078
Polygon on the canceled live service games from Sony: https://www.polygon.com/gaming/510511/sony-cancels-live-service-games-god-of-war
Rolling Stone: Marvel Rivals has a Trump problem: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/marvel-rivals-donald-trump-mod-ban-1235230261/
A look at the modded version of NBA Jam Nathaniel's playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJKvaLMfqPo&t=85s
This Bad Bunny track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdSGEvDGZAo
Tori's on Instagram: v.dominguez.98
Nathaniel's on this podcast
Noah's on Twitter: noah_hurts
As always, our cool sounds and intro/outro music are by GEIST and our show art is by @tristemegistus. We curate your gaming news together and Noah, Tori and Nathaniel take turns producing the show. You can follow the show on Twitter @Press_StartPod, on tumblr at press-startpod.tumblr.com and on bluesky @press-startpod. Email us gaming recs and your other data at [email protected]. We'd also appreciate if you left us reviews on your podcast app of choice! Good text reviews will be read out on the show.
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