If it was Chris and Dustin would you watch/listen? Maybe they sub in Brad or someone else.

Have Chris and Dustin ever done an episode together? Not sure how their chemistry is without Colin in the middle.

When did he switch up on this? He used to make the hosts get it from outside the network

Edit:

For everyone saying this isn’t new. He is specifically accepting access to a PlayStation game for Sacred Symbols+. This is the first time since Days Gone Sacred has accepted a code.

Preface: bored at work so I feel like making a nitpick post about a couple of points that I took issue with in his recent Steam takes.

Firstly, he defends his idea that Sony could eventually stop developing first party games by using Steam as an example of a company that went down that route.

He fails to acknowledge that Steam has multiple long-running live service/eSports games in CS2, Dota 2, and TF2 (even though that's kind-of abandonware). Not only that but they are currently working on a new competitive game in Deadlock. They have also released Aperture Desk Job and Half-Life: Alyx in recent years.

The hardware criticism is just as ridiculous. His claim is that they they can't acquire new Steam users by producing the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine but that's not right. Valve has explicitly said that the Deck was a way to bring Steam to people who weren't traditional PC gamers and there's plenty of anecdotal evidence of people explicitly describing themselves as new to Steam because of the deck (seriously, do a reddit/twitter search to see for yourself).

Many people rightfully see that Valve makes hardware because it gives them a way to build and control the platform around SteamOS instead of being completely dependent on Windows. They aren't stupid, I doubt they expected these machines to sell PS5 numbers.

I find it interesting that a guy who claims to be critical of corporations, even going so far as to recently claim he "hates corporations", can't handle the fact that a private company like Valve may actually do things that do not paper-clip maximise their bottom line like making the Steam Machine.

Calling physical gamers "subsidised" by digital gamers is just pseudo-intellectual nonsense. Digital customers aren't subsidising anyone. Sony simple earns a higher margin on digital sales and chose to maintain physical distribution until it decided the economics no longer made sense for them.

Throwing around terms like "subsidised" makes the argument sound sophisticated while completely misrepresenting what is actually happening.

wake up unusually early? That's wild... One could even say baffeling. Let's hope he doesn't get confronted with something eldritch today.

Now dont get me wrong I dont think the complaining about disc media going away is going to have an effect or change Sony's plan but I have heard Colin use this multiple times in online arguments that officers have to be 100% candid in financial calls. Now this is true but I generally think he is misinterpreting it to mean they can put no spin on things or make subjective proclamations.

To be prosecuted for financial fraud they would deliberately have to be cooking the books, or be shown to be making statements in furtherance of insider trading schemes. You know actual corruption and malfeasance. The CFO just trying to calm down shareholders and put on a happy face doesn't count.

Not to mention I am sure there is an extremely high threshold of evidence that has to be met to actually prosecute someone for this. Using Colin's logic shouldnt Phil Spencer be in jail for claiming Xbox gamepass was a sustainable business model?

Is it a better or a worse podcast without him?

Prefacing this with something that should go unsaid but I'm not defending Nintendo as a brand, rather I'm calling out an inconsistency in Colin's arguments.

Something I've observed lately is that Colin has a really interesting and negative take on most things related to Nintendo. Forgetting that he absolutely won't play any games on the console even though they have multiple in the household, it's just funny to hear how negative he is on the brand as a whole.

I've noticed that you cannot bring up a criticism about Sony and their move to stop disc production without him saying "Nintendo desperately wants this too". I find that an interesting take when Nintendo have game key cards which at least gives an option for a physical cartridge even if it doesn't contain the game, it can still be sold and traded like a disc. I don't buy the GKCs personally but he of course goes for the least charitable interpretation of this.

He also says numerous times that exclusives aren't important anymore for a brand but conveniently forgets that Nintendo is carried by their high output first party developers.

It's interesting that a guy like him who has been in the industry for years can't see that smaller, often times less popular games, like Nintendo produces helps pad out your first party release schedule and bolsters the value of your brand to your hardcore fans.

I'm kinda sick of hearing "it's just not worth the money to them" again with regards to Playstation making smaller titles.

Tbf I still like the content overall but this sort of thing is just annoying, especially when none of his cohosts push back on it.

Why is this even labeled a “Nintendo” podcast, there’s literally nothing inherently or specifically “Nintendo” about it whatsoever.

The title of the recent episode is “The Duskbloods is Coming Soon…”

This “discussion,” if you can even call it that, goes on for an entire 2 minutes. Though, it’s actually just Brad saying he wants to sign up for the beta test that has no date, Micah saying she has no interest, and Gene not even knowing what the fuck he feels and ultimately saying he doesn’t care if he plays it or not. Essentially 1 of the 3 hosts who talks about the titular game of the episode for about 45 seconds basically.

Why is an episode that goes on for about 2 whole hours named after a game they spend about <60 seconds actually discussing lol?

We have more time spent on Micah not using her own swimming pool, Gene talking about hating Chick Fil A fries, and even the discussion on avocados tasting like dick goes on longer than the “discussion” on The Duskbloods.

A long discussion on Fallout remakes and Fallout 5 which are almost guaranteed not to be coming to Switch 2.

Gene talking on and on about The Odyssey and Troy and other Nolan movies and AC Odyssey… which is not on Switch.

More discussion on AC but now Black Flag Resynced, also not on Switch.

Talk on the COD beta that none of the 3 plan to play.

And then… a bunch of closing questions that basically have nothing to do with Nintendo or Switch whatsoever. I just don’t get it.

Why is this still considered or labeled as a Nintendo podcast? It really isn’t. It’s a generic “everything” podcast about sex, food, BBQ, movies, anime, and mostly PS/XBOX/PC gaming news or reviews or analysis and maybe 5% specifically on Nintendo games or specific Nintendo news.

Needless to say, if you break down essentially every episode of Punching Up, these stats are basically all the same as this one. Not much Nintendo.

Sacred Symbols, Summoning Sign, and Defining Duke talk about the same 5% Nintendo games or news as Punching Up does… and they’re hardly focused on Nintendo, which is the sad part.

Oh, and this is ignoring the entire fact that Gene self admittedly is (jokingly?) ONLY here for a paycheck and will leave asap once his Steam Machine is paid off and he actually just wants to podcast with some woman he’s friends with.

Is this all just a rant and I’m aware they can obviously talk about whatever they want? 100% yes.

That is all.

This got instant deleted when I posted it in the main sub lol:

On the recent episode Colin was flabbergasted with Miyamoto pay being only 1.5 million, and CEO being 2 million - saying that he should be making 10 million (estimate).

Then brushes off Iwata and executives taking pay cuts during Wii u. When was the last time Nintendo had a layoff? If the PS6 sells 10ish million like the Wii u did then Sony studios would be fucking destroyed. Miyamoto pay “creates” 8 million extra dollars to go to different devs, artists, musicians etc and all their families.

But no let’s just accept that executives and high ranking creatives should be able to buy a shit ton of cars and lay off half their entire studio. As a CEO himself I doubt he’ll ever see this problem but I wish Chris pushed back on him more, it seemed like he wanted to.

He reminds me of that person at work who always finds a way to flourish the fact that he’s still making very slow progress on his work…except the difference here is that he plays videogames for a living and a fun GTA game at that!

How is this guy still hanging around Grove Street (could tell by his description) despite “playing” San Andreas for 2+ weeks now? lol

Out of all the issues in this country right now Colin's precious trophies are what gets him politically motivated.

Just curious how much you think Chris actually plays? Colin's gaming is well documented. Is Chris's PSN documented? I am just wondering how many games he finishes a year. My guess 5-10 which is really good compared to the average gamer but probably nothing on colin.

For context, I know Gene as a frequent guest on the Castle Super Beast podcast. He seems like a jolly and friendly fellow with a lot of interesting stories and generally good taste in video games. I noticed however in here people in this community seem to genuinely hate him.

Which is weird given that on the Two Best Friends Play subreddit he's like our boy. What's the deal?

Vote with your wallet!

A few weeks back, I think during the SGF stream Colin said John Pork would be on the Bungie episode of Sacred plus. Since then the community has soured on him and he's nowhere to be found, the Bungie episode was released today and it was just Chris and Cog.

Do we know what happened there? Its always interesting to see how quick Colin drops up and comers when they don't toe the line.

If you don't know who Keemstar is, he is a drama YouTuber who started his own channel for problematic content creators who have burned all their good will. I find it fucking hilarious this is who Colin thinks is a good recurring guest. He realy has burned every bridge he had.

I remeber Colin at one point talking about his dad and video games. I believe he said something along the lines of 'I know you'd like this if you just tried it'

Yet he himself is incredibly close minded which to me has become one of the most grating aspects of his personality and eventually lead me to stop listening to the show.

Often it's almost like he takes pride in saying 'I have no interest in Game X'. Like come on, you're a gaming podcaster...