We dive deep this week into the Wholesome Snack showcase, which aired on December 9 and was, per the usual, packed with absolute delights from beginning to end. From thrift store shop simulators and bug dating sims to summer camp as experienced through the eyes of non-verbal kids, Wholesome Games continues to champion some of the most meaningful indies in the space today.

Bonus: The last ten minutes are basically Colette losing her shit over the Rhythm Tengoku series AGAIN and forcing Matt to endure it.

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Valve surprises us (again) this week as we discover it's been nurturing the ingredients for a long-term plan that could potentially bring Steam games to every possible platform, including your phone. How it found time to do this while developing an entire ecosystem of new hardware, we'll never know. TL;DR - Gabe for president, please.

We also discuss Colette's very first foray into the vast universe that is Stardew Valley mods and whether it feels like fun or bad fanfic. Finally, for those of you unable to peel your eyeballs off Arc Raiders, Matt presents his thesis on the popular extraction shooter, which prominently features multiple cat tails. It can't be explained - only WITNESSED to be believed.

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With this year’s Golden Joystick Awards in the books and Sandfall Games winning a slew of awards for Expedition 33, as well as Megabonk’s dev “John Megabonk” withdrawing himself from a nomination, Matt and Colette dive deep into the “indie” darlings to question what exactly an indie game is, and what separates it from a traditional title. Is it still indie if there were angel investors or a trust fund backing the game’s creation?

We also discuss Vampire Crawlers, the newest chapter in what Matt has rightfully deemed the Poncleverse. Is mashing Vampire Survivors with the old dungeon crawlers of yore pure genius, or just a way to keep gamers interested in Luca Galante’s delightful brand of Italian gothic?

Finally, Matt realizes he can get Jeni’s ice cream at the drugstore and experiences a revelation. Tune in to hear it in real time!

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After months of rumors and leaks, Valve has officially announced 3 new hardware products that could transform console gaming and VR:

A new Steam Controller (modeled after the Steam Deck's form factor), a new Steam Machine console, perfect for couch gaming, and the Steam Frame, a new inside-out, wireless VR headset that can run games natively and stream them from your PC.

These three devices, on top of the handheld experience offered by the Steam Deck, along with years of updates and iterations to SteamOS and Steam Input, puts Valve in a fascinating position to completely upend what "console gaming" means in the next decade.

We discuss the specs, potential price points, and our excitement around the SteamOS ecosystem.

Plus: Rockstar Games apparently sucks.

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Matt Leone has been a video game journalist since he was 10 years old printing fanzines' on his grandparents' computer.

Very few people read those, but very MANY people have read his incredibly in-depth oral histories of the industry's most influential games and franchises: Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot, Morrowind, and more. In them, he tracks down everyone who touched development to recount the creative and business environments in which they were forged.

After a decade at 1up.com and 13 years at Polygon, he and a merry band of freelancers have taken the oral history project independent, with a subscription-funded site called Design Room.

Colette and Matt sit down with (other) Matt to discuss his career, the process of creating these rich historical documents, his latest piece about "Shadow of the Colossus," and what happens when video game devs don't want to talk — or worse: die without telling their stories.

Go read Design Room now! https://www.designroom.site/

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Colette embarks on her second playthrough of Silent Hill f, which she claims is the best Silent Hill since 2.

Meanwhile, Embark (the studio) launches Arc Raiders. Matt recounts his time during the server slam, and why this game could be the next big thing.

Also, remember ICQ?

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After years of mobile-first strategy, Netflix has announced its foray into game streaming with a focus on couch co-op party games - including a heavy hitter. We discuss why this makes a ton of sense for the streamer.

Plus: The lingering secrets in "Expedition 33," why the new side-scrolling beat-em-up "Absolum" hits so hard, and the triumphant release of dopamine generator "BALL x PIT," which mixes "Space Invaders," "Vampire Survivors," and "Breakout" into a perfect video game.

Watch the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/NbU_WbHZo6s

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So Nintendo uploaded a thing to their YouTube channel with ZERO context, and the Internet has been wondering what's the point. But details in the Nintendo Today app have new clues.

PLUS: We are hopelessly addicted to Megabonk, because it's Vampire Survivors in 3D with jumping!

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