YoVideogames!

Was today's (feb 15th) extra special Xbox podcast with Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sara Bond as important as anticipated? No. No world changing news.

Was it a nothingburger? Also no. There was valuable information and insight to be had.

So let's jump into it together!

Sony had a special State of Play for FF7 Rebirth and dropped a demo. Plus EVO announcements came out. Lots to be excited about!

Well, everyone's cards seem to be on the table now. Did our predictions for Sony stand up? Let's find out.

Xbox put all its cards on the table right away this year. Let's talk about their Developer Direct, and then jump into what we hope/expect to see from Nintendo and Sony.

Chances are you have a favorite voice actor and may not even know their name. Voice acting can sometimes be treated like the step child of acting, but the truth is: good voice acting transcends and evolves the medium, just as good film acting, or stage acting expands their mediums.

Here's a few of our personal favorite Voice Actors, some you most certainly know, all of whome you have heard before.

Shine on!

As a fun retrospective of the games that stuck with us over time, we decided to do an episode about the last decade. Our personal Top Game from each year going back to 2013. We surprised ourselves with several of these. There are of course expected picks for regular listeners but anyone new may be thrown for a loop.

Shine on!

Happy New Year! We're starting off strong by having an extra long and extremely cool conversation with musician and composer Alex Moukala all about game music. He gives us a peak behind the curtain on the process of composing for games, as well as how he analyzes music he loves to inspire his own compositions.

Projects Alex calls out during the episode:

Game Music Foundation - https://gamemusic.net/gamemusic-foundation/

Chrono Trigger Main Theme Cover by Tournament Arc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYK8M9DUbdc

Second Stone: Legend of the Hidden World (gameplay and in game music) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdLMCtAPwmM

If you want to learn more about music in games, composition, or just hear more of Alex's work - he's on YouTube (AlexMoukalaMusic) and Twitter (@alex_moukala)

We don't want to talk about the leaks, so we won't, but one conversation that the recent leaks have started is very interesting. Are game budgets getting too big? What exactly is making them jump so high? Maybe it's time to cut the games in half and get smaller games out more often.

Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, or what not! Here's a two hour episode all about our particular favorite games that game out this year. If you're traveling home and need something to keep your mind off all the inane and invasive questions you'll get asked at dinner - we're here to help!

2023 was an all time incredible year for gaming. So much so, that Matt actually had a top 25! Expect an extra episode for Patrons only coming later this week!

More layoffs, more studios closing, and E3 declares themselves dead (finally). Let's talk how things might be reborn moving forward!