Remap Radio

With Rob out for personal reasons and Danika down with a migraine, it’s time for Remap Radio to throw a pokeball onto the field and see what comes out. Join Patrick, Janet, and Chia as they react to the ray of political hope from this past week, before digging into a slew of gaming news, including PlayStation Portal getting proper cloud streaming, EA promising Saudi Arabia won’t erase queer people from its games, and Fortnite getting backlash by overly monetizing pets. Plus, we’ve been playing a lot of games, including Janet finishing Silksong, Patrick being super impressed with Dispatch, and Chia’s many hours spent playing online mahjong with anime girls.

Reminder: In early April, the a pro-Palestinian human rights movement BDS that’s pressuring Israel by promoting boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against the country added Xbox to its boycott list. Learn more here: https://www.bdsmovement.net/news/boycott-microsofts-xbox

Discussed: Mamdani Minute - 6:40

Playstation Portal Can Now Stream Games From The Cloud - 32:44

EA Responds to Concerns around sale to Saudi Arabia - 55:42

Fortnite Faces Backlash over new Sidekicks cosmetics - 1:05:53

Silksong - 1:37:50

Keeper - 1:47:21

Silksong - 1:50:07

Dispatch - 2:05:14

Vampire's Best Friend - 2:17:50

Mahjong Soul - 2:25:28

End of Year Wishlist - 2:35:32

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Once again, the Chicago Bears have been involved in a very weird football game. But once again, they have prevailed in a game that, in years past, they would have lost. Is this real? Are the Bears actually good? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, but amidst the stress, we’ll be thankful for the lack of heartbreak—for now, anyway. Plus, the World Series is over and it was incredible. Is Shohei Ohtani keeping the Dodgers from entering their villain arc?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Remap Crew really gets into the Halloween spirit, mostly by dying from laughter and being otherwise childish. After an appropriately somber news section discussing the massive Amazon layoffs, Microsoft's ridiculous profit margin targets, and moral at EA deteriorating after workers are forced to use AI, we try our best to talk about the games we've been playing, or at least, have tried to play. Chia finds a new obsession, Janet continues her Silksong journey, Danika can't stop herself from laughing while Patrick tries to explain Ball x Pit, and Rob finds himself being left behind by a Paradox game.

Discussed: Amazon hit with massive layoffs, including Games Division - 2:36

Microsoft Set 30% Profit Margin for Games Division - 33:03

Halo coming to PS5 - 46:15

The DHS Memes - 52:09

Internal Attitudes at EA Deteriorate around AI - 1:10:29

Silksong - 1:29:08

Pokemon Legends: Z-A - 1:37:53

What Chia Did On Her Flight - 1:39:37

Pokemon Legends: Z-A - 1:49:11.230

Ball x Pit - 2:02:48

Slots and Daggers - 2:16:07

Absolum - 2:18:43

Europa Universalis V - 2:24:35

Master of Command - 2:44:36

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 - 2:51:04

Battliefield: Redsec - 2:56:15

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re sad to report that Danika is struggling through the brutal norovirus at the moment, but fortunately, Janet’s returned from the whole “getting married” thing to join Patrick and Rob to chat about a recent slew of developments about how video games are using AI and how we should feel about it. We’ve also got Silksong updates from Janet (deep into act two) and Patrick (done!), while Rob’s trying to figure out his role in Battlefield 6. Plus, is Ball x Pit actually good?

Discussed:

1:55 - The Current State of "AI" in Games

55:31- Pokemon Legends ZA

1:11:12 - BallxPit

1:29:09 - Silksong

1:45:03 - Battlefield 6

2:04:21 - The Question Bucket

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's episode of Remap Radio, Danika's filling two pairs of shoes while Chia and Janet are out. Things get a bit unhinged as we veer into unexplored territory talking about jack-off bots. We also discuss Remedy's recent profit warning, friend-slop, game cancellations, the beauty and terror of palace intrigue, and more.

Discussed: Jack-off bots 00:57; Remedy's FBC: Firebreak 23:43; ESA Power of Play report 42:32; Discord age verification and leaks 53:00; Ubisoft's cancelled Assassin's Creed 1:04:50; Road to Empress 1:25:38; games we're playing 1:48:30; Question bucket 2:11:52

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scheduling issues were going to prevent a full Sports! Recording this week, but Rob and Patrick privately committed to hopping on a microphone for a little bit if things went sideways—good or bad—for their beloved Bears. Now, the only question on their minds is: how BACK are they?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What a joy to say these words: welcome back, Danika! On the latest episode of Remap Radio, our old friend Danika Harrod is here to make Rob feel uncomfortable, bring up sexy Labubu during unexpected moments, and plenty more. There’s also plenty of talk about Hades 2, managing frustration in games, the “best value in games” known as Game Pass, and more.

Discussed: Hot Wheels Unleashed 2:41, Gamepass price increases 32:29, Hades II 1:22:27, Persona 5 Royale 1:57:15 Question Bucket 2:21:08

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Where else to begin than trying to understand the wild news that Electronic Arts is becoming a private company largely because of Saudi Arabia? We live in…well, we live in times. We truly do. Join Patrick, Rob, Janet, and Chia as they try to understand the nature of modern soft political power, the future of EA, and more. Elsewhere, Patrick’s “finished” Silksong, at times it’s unclear if Chia will stay awake to finish the podcast (vaxxed??), and we have lengthy impressions of Baby Steps and Endless Legend 2. Plus, a fun dip into The Question Bucket.

Discussed: EA Goes Private and is partially owned by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund 0:47, Silksong 1:02:22, Games We May or May Not Play 1:46:01, Baby Steps 1:51:40, Endless Legend 2 2:11:45, Hell is Us 2:35:01, The Question Bucket 2:38:10, Outro and Announcements 3:09:20

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

While most people are talking about playing Ghosts of Yotei, we’re still trying to figure out why the head of Sucker Punch wasn’t prepared for a basic question about firing someone over Charlie Kirk. Join Patrick, Chia, Janet, and Rob as they wonder what it means for Xbox hardware prices to keep rising, plus (more) thoughts on Silksong, Hell Is Us, Silent Hill f, and more.

Discussed: Jimmy Kimmel Canceled, then Not, and the rest of the news from last week 2:32, Suckerpunch head responds to artist firing 7:19, Steam is abandoning 32 bit windows 29:42, Xbox hardware increased in price due to tarrifs 45:41, I'm Thinking We're Back 1:13:54, Silksong 1:26:20, Hell is Us 2:12:16, Silent Hill f, 2:30:17, World of Tanks 2:41:39, Outro and Announcements 2:57:43

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Despite Patrick’s best efforts, Rob doesn’t suddenly believe one dominant win over a pathetic Dallas Cowboys team means it’s Super Bears Super Bowl. Alas, we still find much to chat about when it comes to the institutional rot at our favorite sports team and the perhaps not-so-shocking amount of NFL teams that decided Charlie Kirk was worth making everyone try to feel bad about.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.