The VGBees Podcast

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This week, Niki, Lotus, and John played some great games and took a full week off from games news because there just wasn't anything to talk about! What's that? [holds earpiece] I'm being told there was a lot of news this week. Okay. Well. Here's what they talked about, I guess!
Sony testing dynamic pricing everywhere but Japan
EA conducting layoffs at Battlefield 6 devs
GDC will return to San Francisco despite everything
Resident Evil 4 director Shinji Mikami has a new studio
SAG-AFTRA issues "do not work" order for Mega Man: Dual Override
PEGI ratings getting overhaul targeting loot boxes and dark patterns
Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard after CFO gave him a nightmarish ultimatum
V-Bucks receive a significant price hike
Slay the Spire 2 is more of the same, yes, but it's also better than the first one
Lost and Found Co. is impossibly cute and a lot of fun
Pokémon Pokopia continues to delight and mechanically excel
Marathon is the pleasant surprise of the year
Your Hive Questions have us wondering what we'd teach Ditto

Thanks again for listening and please leave us a review and tell your friends about us!

This week, Niki, Lotus, and John reconvene to rejoice over what seems like a masterpiece in the Pokémon oeuvre. But first, lots of big news, including:
Nintendo sues the US government over tariffs
Yoshi gets a bobblehead night with the LA Dodgers
Netflix CEO thinks $16b will be cut at Warner Bros after Paramount purchase
Japan's labor laws obfuscate games industry turmoil
Unity cutting access to asset store to "Greater China Region"
The Sims 4 is getting a rev share UGC marketplace
US government allegedly looking at forcing Tencent to divest from American investments
Sony reverses PC porting policy
Asha Sharma tweets about Xbox's next console
Kalshi engages a minor in affiliate work
The joy of community in Pokémon Pokopia
Maximum everything in Terraria
Resident Evil Requiem features an all-time great voice performance
Marathon is pretty great, actually, despite all of Bungie's troubles

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

On this week's show, the crew deals with several major post-scripts from last week's jam-packed news discussion block. Fortunately, Lotus, Niki, and John are joined by certified GOAT Michael Higham to unpack it all.
Michael beat Resident Evil Requiem and John played it on Switch 2
The global storage shortage gets very real with Seagate and Western Digital allocating stock of hard drives through 2026
Valve is revisiting the timeline of their new hardware suite
Steam Deck OLED stock is out intermittently in major regions
Sony and Nintendo both evaluating delays and price hikes for hardware
TiMi's Montreal studio closing
Turns out we were right about pretty much everything we discussed regarding Tencent and Highguard last week
Microsoft Japan under investigation for monopolistic practices
Discord delaying age verification amid backlash
skate developer laying off unknown number of staff
New York Attorney General suing Valve over loot boxes
UK Advertising Committee issues enforcement over loot boxes
Eurogamer hit with layoffs
Blueprint pitched a Bloodborne remake before its closure
Pokemon Winds & Waves revealed for 2027 release
Michael and Niki played Marathon
Niki and John played Vampire Crawlers
Niki played Titanium Court
Michael played Cicadamata
The crew answers your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord

Thanks for listening! Join The Hive by going to vgbees.com/join today!

Support us by joining The Hive!
This week's show was packed to the gills with discussion-worthy topics and that was before Phil Spencer announced his retirement, Sarah Bond resigned, and Asha Sharma ascended the Xbox throne. From there, Lotus, Niki, and John discussed:
Sony shutting down Bluepoint
Tencent allegedly funded Highguard
Castlevania franchise and Metal Gear Solid V dev Shutaro Ida passed away at 52
Hideki Sato, "Father of Sega Hardware," passed away at 77
Open-source engine Godot overwhelmed by AI-generated change requests
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 ad banned in the UK
Substack and Polymarket partner up
Saudi fund takes full control of Evo

We played:
Overwatch
Moonrot

We also answered your burning HIVE QUESTIONS from our lovely Discord!

SUPPORT US BY JOINING THE HIVE
Folks, this week was VERY jam-packed with discussion-worthy games news and that was BEFORE we even welcomed Game Informer's Charles Harte to the show. Together, Lotus, Niki, John, and Charles discussed:
Mewgenics' blend of deep, enjoyable tactical combat and off-putting breeding mechanics
The, let's call them rancid, vibes of Mewgenics' central thesis
Mewgenics' commitment to not understanding a punchline
Mewgenics' bewildering cameo list

Sony's State of Play was very busy, as well, including:
A Return to PS2 Era of sorts
Kena: Scars of Kosmora
A new Dead or Alive game in a very different fighting game landscape
Is Control Resonant what we want? Does it matter? Are they even showing us much?
Star Wars Galactic Racer sure does look like a Burnout game (complimentary)
Marathon is actively lying about what it is, but maybe that's smart????
Metal Gear Solid 4 is breaking PS3 containment
God of War: Sons of Sparta looks kinda bad, but it's out now

And wow, the hits don't stop there:
Discord's age verification is going to get messy
Discord's Teen Council sounds like a waking nightmare
2XKO lays off significant staff because the game failed to hit its audience
Ubisoft employees in Europe begin three-day strike while the company explores "voluntary termination" option for 200 positions in France
Highguard team lays off significant staff just weeks after launch

We played/watched:
Mewgenics
Relooted
Tears of the Kingdom
Peloton
Iron Lung (the film)

We also answer your burning HIVE QUESTIONS straight from our lovely Discord and update you on big happenings at Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati.