#297 | There's No Magic When the Tricks Get Old

The last week in gaming has been a bit of a downer, no doubt. But we don't dodge the news; we lean into it. And frankly, it's not all bad. Quite the contrary: Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PC, Spider-Man 2 has finally received a major update, and the STALKER Trilogy is migrating to console for the first time ever. But then there's drama surrounding a random DEI-slanted consultancy called Sweet Baby Inc., the closure of the storied media brand Rooster Teeth after more than a decade of running in the red, and word that the publisher behind 2023's biggest commercial hit wants to abandon the model it followed for greener pastures. Listener inquiries help us round-out a strange seven days, focusing on topics like crossover fighters, Marty O'Donnell entering the political realm, Helldivers 2's newest patch, and one listener who was 'caught' playing an anime game, and had a lot of explaining to do at the dinner table. Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:31:15 - Gaming’s Three-Fifths Compromise 0:33:07 - Arby’s x LSM 0:35:31 - Copium around laxative-gate 0:43:06 - Games to take to space 0:51:05 - Doordash disgust 0:57:35 - META 0:59:14 - Helldivers 2 patch 1:02:30 - Horizon Forbidden West PC specs 1:04:49 - Balatro age rating issues 1:11:41 - Persona 3 Reload DLC 1:16:04 - Rooster Teeth closed 1:40:27 - What Are We Playing? 1:57:05 - Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PC 2:08:14 - India Hero Project 2:11:52 - STALKER re-releases 2:17:26 - Spider-Man 2 update 2:20:04 - A counter-argument on 1st Party 2:33:34 - What developers should collaborate? 2:42:54 - Warner Bros. Live service comments 2:49:53 - Sweet Baby Inc controversy 3:11:34 - Marty O’Donnel is running for Congress 3:16:18 - When your kid exposes you as a weeb  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices