As Sony doubles down on an all-digital PlayStation future, Adam considers what the industry is asking players to surrender in exchange for convenience.

Without physical games, consumers could lose the ability to buy used copies, lend games to friends, discover overlooked releases in stores and preserve purchases beyond the lifespan of Sony’s servers. The episode also explores the danger closed storefronts pose to indie developers and why digital games should include permanent offline access and transferable licenses.

Sony has the right to build an all-digital console. Players also have the right to decide that a temporary license is not worth the price of ownership.

Adam has never played a Splatoon game in his life, and Splatoon Raiders might be his game of the year. A look at why this single-player looter-shooter spin-off is the clearest argument yet for what the Switch 2 can actually do, how the grind hits that rare Pokémon-level joy that never becomes a chore, why the difficulty curve nails what recent Nintendo games keep getting wrong, and the one buried setting you need to change in the first five minutes. Turn off the motion controls and thank us later. A full 5 out of 5.

You can watch the first hour of Splatoon Raiders gameplay on the channel at youtube.com/@MWPNewsGaming

Adam dives into News Tower, an indie tycoon game about running a 1930s New York newspaper that turns out to be far deeper than it looks. Why the simple weekly loop hides three interlocking games, a newspaper sim, an HR-and-employee-happiness game, and a Factorio-style optimization puzzle, and why the faction-influence system, balancing the church, the mayor, and organized crime, is the smartest thing in it. Plus where it lands on the short list of comfort games that never get uninstalled. A full 5 out of 5.

Microsoft just cut thousands from its gaming division and pushed out four studios, and Adam argues it's the first crack warning of a coming collapse, like Bear Stearns to the industry's coming housing crisis. Why the "billion monthly players" mandate is structurally impossible and what it really signals, why games can't chase trends the way movies can, why a decade of failed Fortnite clones taught the industry nothing, and why an AI-background executive now running Xbox points toward the brand being wound down and sold for parts. Plus the case that the future, and the safe harbor, is indie, Nintendo, Steam, and a hard line against generative AI.

Another week, another new release, and this one's a pleasant surprise. Adam digs into Rhythm Heaven Groove, the first new entry in the series in over a decade, and finds a WarioWare-style collection of musical minigames that nails the feel even when the hardware fights it. Why the catchy, pick-up-and-play design is exactly the itch it sets out to scratch, the audio-latency quirk that makes your choice of headphones matter more than it should, and why forty dollars is the number that seals the recommendation. A short one this week, but an easy one to love.

Sony has announced it will end physical disc production for all new PlayStation games starting January 2028, and Adam has feelings. An extra episode on the slow death of ownership, why a license you can lose isn't the same as a disc that works for fifty years, and how Sony managed to argue against its own decision by delisting purchased movies the same week. Along the way: the delisting incentive that's quietly killing backward compatibility, whether games can be art if the companies making them won't let them be tangible, and the real opportunity hiding in all this, indie developers making new games for the old hardware you grew up with. If the PS6 won't play a disc, will you even buy one?

Nintendo has opened a console generation on an Ocarina of Time and a Star Fox 64 remake for the second time, and Adam dug into the new Star Fox on Switch 2 as a series newcomer. Why the remake's tutorials, voice acting, and cinematic story fill the gap left by the death of the instruction manual, how Falco, Slippy, and Fox finally feel like characters, why the tank level is still the tank level, and why a $50 price tag is a breath of fresh air in an $80 world. Plus a barrel roll or two. A full 5 out of 5.

You can watch about an hour of Star Fox gameplay on the channel at youtube.com/@MWPNewsGaming

GTA 6 finally has a price: $80 standard, $100 Ultimate, and a "physical" edition that's just a download code in a box. Adam unpacks why the number matters less than what it signals, why GTA's discount-driven history makes an $80 launch a tougher sell than it is for Nintendo, why the AAA industry might be too big to succeed, and why even a record-shattering launch could still set off alarm bells across the industry. Plus: why GTA 6 isn't competing with GTA 5, it's competing with twelve years of the version players built in their heads.

Adam reports live from Pier 57 at the Tribeca Festival, fresh off hands-on time with seven of this year's indie game selections. A modern 3D Zelda in Demi and the Fractured Dream, a gorgeous paper-airplane journey in DRIFTED, a speedrunner's dream in Rebounder, Devolver's sledgehammer-swinging Virtue and a Sledgehammer, and two out-of-nowhere standouts in Kidbash: Super Legend and the wordless, sound-driven LOFSÖNG. Join in for a quick on-site dispatch before sprinting downtown for X-Men '97.

A Nintendo Direct finally arrived, so join Adam as he breaks down what it actually means. The Ocarina of Time remake is real but shown without a frame of gameplay, Kingdom Hearts IV lands on Switch 2 at launch, and Square Enix turns up in force. So why does a stacked lineup feel so empty if you don't already own the console? Join in for a conversation about ports versus system-sellers, the conspicuous absence of Mario and the next Zelda, and the GTA VI-shaped hole hanging over the entire holiday season.

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