This week marks the beginning of the Lotus era at The VGBees Podcast. She joins John and Niki as the third permanent cohost of the show and immediately brings insight to the program like...what if Nintendo likes making money?

But also!

• the dense delight of Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• the apparent end of Hyper Light Breaker's development
• the rumor that AMD needed a 10,000,000 unit commitment for Xbox's dedicated handheld
• Nintendo's slide into Disneyfication
• Ubisoft's canceled Reconstruction Era, anti-Klan Assassin's Creed
• why is former Halo art director vagueposting on LinkedIn?
• Megabonk's relationship with cringe and Risk of Rain 2
• Shadow Labyrinth being itself, for better or worse
• Hades II's self-inflicted narrative challenges
• a thorough review of a new Windows PC
• Absolum's rapid ascent to many Best of 2025 lists

We also answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

This week, Niki and John have a lot to chat about in and around a busy few days in video games, including:

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's huge price hike
• interpreting the latest in Microsoft's non-plan
• Obsidian bearing the brunt of Microsoft's decision-making
• Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia are taking EA private
• Seumas McNally Award Winner Consume Me's greatness
• Wheel of Fortune on the PlayStation 5
• Hades II is simply wonderful to play
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles gets an apology from John
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 continues the odd but welcome tradition of cutting room floor direct sequels

All of this and your BURNING HIVE QUESTIONS from our Discord.

This week, Niki and John are joined by none other than Michael Higham on this, the very special 69th episode of The VGBees Podcast. In this jam-packed episode, we cover:

• Wolverine's profoundly bloody introduction
• the Returnal of it all of Saros
• a brief look at new Virtua Fighter Project details
• the impossible bigness of Ananta
• a conversation about remakes prompted by the perplexing Deus Ex remaster
• Forza Horizon 6 and how the game can recapture past magic
• Easy Delivery Co. and John unironically calling a game cozy in 2025
• Niki's evolving relationship with skate.
• Higham going long on Trails in the Sky and its new remake
• Baby Steps

As always, we also answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

This week, John regrets to inform you and Niki that Borderlands 4 is just more Borderlands, for better or worse. John thinks maybe worse. Niki's right, it's just 2K's Madden. Also:

• the very interesting misfire that is Skate.
• Dying Light: The Beast is apparently great but we can't get past the Hinterlands of Dying Light 2
• the poor PC performance of Borderlands 4 and Randy Pitchford's admittedly very, very, very funny (if wildly unprofessional) responses to that criticism
• the flatness of NBA 2K26
• Tears of the Kingdom two and a half years later
• Peloton's Lanebreak
• the inextricable link between Queen Elizabeth dying and our layoff at Fanbyte
• how free to play trains us to invest less

We, of course, answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

This week, Niki and John dive way way way into the mega-sized Nintendo Direct this week. Did you know that Super Mario is 40 years old??? Just like John! Wow! Also:

• paying for Super Mario Galaxy again
• Nintendo remembers Super Mario Galaxy 2 exists
• the new Mario movie is just Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Mario Wonder for Switch 2
• Mario Tennis Fever
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
• Virtual Boy on Nintendo Switch Online
• Samus has a cool bike in Metroid Prime 4 Beyond now
• Hades II is out SO soon
• Pokemon Pokopia
• Dinkum
• Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave
• Donkey Kong Bananza DLC
• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined
• and more!

Also, we answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

Hello! This week, John and Niki discuss the most explosive game release of the year, Hollow Knight: Silksong. 500,000 concurrents? Broken shops? Unfathomable discourse? You got it, baby.

That, and:

• The downfall of games crit
• The value of asking piracy forum dwellers to weigh in on the most popular game of the year
• 007 First Light gameplay
• Football Manager 26
• College basketball coming to NBA 2K
• Firaxis layoffs
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Switch 2

Also, we answer your HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

This week, John is back at full strength and here to discuss all the games Niki has played! Among the discussion points:

• Layoffs at Giant Squid & Rec Room
• Conversation boundaries and etiquette
• Sword of the Sea
• We Are OFK
• Circuits Royale
• Pokemon Red Rescue Team
• Pokemon Rescue Team DX
• Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta
• and more!

Also, we answer your BURNING HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord.

With John on the International Space Station, Niki and Lotus talk all things Gamescom 2025, including:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Black Myth: Zhong Kui
• Resident Evil Requiem
• World of Tanks: Heat
• Ghost of Yotei
• World of Warcraft Midnight
• UNBEATABLE
• John Carpenter's Toxic Commando
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Plus, a big, big dive into why Lotus is DONE with Marvel Rivals.

Also, we answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS directly from our Discord.

This week, Niki and John are joined by Lotus, who has a lot of smart ideas about how messy the "reporting" around itch.io has gotten, frozen alcohol, and whole word comprehension. Also:

• the breakdown of "games journalist" as an idea
• Hardspace Shipbreaker goes to Blackbird 100%
• common core math
• drinking in parking lots
• Frankenstein shoes
• adult braces
• getting addicted to going to the hospital

We also answer your BURNING HIVE QUESTIONS from our Discord.

Niki and John had a great time talking about the Nintendo Indie World Showcase this week on the show right after they spent twelve minutes talking about a thing that's embargoed! When will you hear about it? Next week!

What remains is still a rip-roaring two hours of video game bliss, including:

• Mage Arena
• Merge Maestro
• Primal Planet
• Fortnite's new Power Rangers/Halo season
• Puzzmo
• and more!

Also, we answer ALL your HIVE QUESTIONS from our Discord.