These Games Will Win at The Game Awards – Maybe!

Have we talked about the actual game award?

Have we talked about the award, the physical, tangible thing you get?

I don't think we have, and I have strong feelings about it.

Do you have an initial thought?

Yeah, sure.

Here's my first sort of, my first sort of thought.

It doesn't make any fucking sense.

What do you think?

It's a flying lady.

It's an angel lady.

It done in a sort of like, I don't know, Gatsby-esque, Art Deco.

Yeah, sure.

Sort of minimalist style.

One could argue that there is a polygonal sort of thing going on, and the angel is flying out of a bunch of pixels.

That's that is the silver statue that we are describing.

Yeah, apparently, it's a Weta workshop joint.

So, like, that's great.

Did they need to go to Weta?

Really?

They're gonna go to the cream of the crop for that guy.

It's a great, don't get me wrong.

It's a great statue.

It is iconic.

It looks amazing.

Is it a game award?

I don't know.

So, what do you you want, ideally?

Like, you want some hands covered in Dorito dust?

What you've just said is reductive to a degree that is offensive to me, but mostly I think our listeners, which is more offensive to me.

Yeah, yeah.

No, not hands covered in Cheeto dust, but like...

I said Doritos, but yeah.

Like,

you know,

the Triforce.

Oh, you want the Triforce?

Wouldn't that be cool?

You get the Triforce.

And you fucking hold it up like Link holds it up.

What if it's a sword?

What if the game award is a sword wait it's one sword or everyone gets their own sword what if it's a ribbon what if we do ribbons or plaques for this one

you know it doesn't always have to be a big trophy how cool would it be if and the academy award for best supporting actor goes to matthew mcconhey you get up there and it's a bowl it's like a little

an orb.

You get

fear.

No, here's the thing.

I like the ribbon idea because what's what's cool about ribbons is they get pinned onto the winner.

Cool.

So by the end, if you're fucking Matthew Buccanahey and you're taking it all in, if you're Elden Ring, you end up looking like a, you know.

Like a decorated war hero.

Yeah, you're like a general.

Oh, why not

war hero badges?

What do they call those?

Like the purple badge?

The purple badge you get when you get hurt.

Medals, yes, medals.

There's so many incredible ways to congratulate

your excellence.

Achievements.

That is it, isn't it?

Just a big cut-out cardboard of an Xbox 360 UI prompt.

And it makes the noise.

Cool.

We came full circle back to gamer shit.

We did.

My name is Griffin McElroy, and I know the games, the best games of the year, as according to the game awards happening tomorrow.

My name is Ross Rossik.

I have the best game of the week.

And this is the besties.

You don't need four on a podcast.

No.

You don't even need three.

No, I do a podcast rest with my wife, and that's two.

And you're not my wife.

Mm-hmm.

No matter how bad the internet wants that to be true.

You're not my wife.

I've made that mistake so many times.

You're not my wife.

Yeah.

But we are going to do a two-hander because both of our boys are out on assignment and the holidays get crazy for everybody, don't you?

This week, we're going to be talking about the game awards.

We're going to be talking about who's going to win all the different nominees, who's not going to win by as a result of that.

And what are some of the big announcerinos we are expecting to come down the pipeline?

There have been so many leaks.

Keely's trying to keep his fingers plugged in all the holes, isn't he?

But it keeps on juicing out.

He's got some big fingers.

He does have big meaty paws.

We're going to talk about Jeff Keeley's huge hands and the Game Award nominees and who we think's going to win right after this short break.

So I think last week when we were talking about this, we implied that the episode would go up the day after the Game Awards.

That's not true.

It's actually going up several days before.

The Game Awards are on Saturday, aren't they?

No, it's December 12th.

Oh, shoot.

Okay, well, then it's not tomorrow.

So we are, this is genuinely going to be a predictive thing, and you will be able to follow along to see how right we are after

we determine all the award winners.

And just to start off with, Griffin, if you could do me a favor, if you could read every

category as quickly as possible, that would be great.

You want me to read every category of

award?

Yeah, it's one award show.

How many categories could there be?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

For this fucking four-hour-long award show, we've got

Player's Voice, a Strong Start.

Player's voice, best esports team, best esports athlete, best esports game, content creator of the year, most anticipated game, best multiplayer, best sports slash racing, best sim slash strategy, best family game, best fighting game, best RPG, best action adventure game, best action game, best VR slash AR game, best mobile game, best debut indie, best indie, best community support, best ongoing game, best games for impact, innovation and accessibility, best performance, best audio design, best score and music, best art direction, best narrative, best adaptation, best game direction, best game of the year.

It's probably not best game of the year, is it?

It is actually.

Someone went a little bit best crazy there.

That's all of them, though.

You might be right.

That is all of them.

And people give the game awards a lot of shit for being just like a bunch of trailers, but that is a lot of awards, too.

It's not.

The problem isn't that there's a lot of trailers.

I love trailers.

Me too.

It's that there's a lot of everything, isn't it?

There's a lot of everything.

It is a ball of it.

It is a buffet of video game award giving.

Yeah.

And a lot of this stuff I don't care about.

And that's fine.

Like, it's not all have to be catered to me.

But I mean, if you want to start at the bottom and go up.

No, no, no.

No.

You want to start at the bottom.

At the bottom is the juicy stuff.

We got to save that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We got to save the juicy stuff.

But like, Russ, I'll be honest with you.

I have,

I think at this point, 17 years experience in the games industry covering it in

various ways.

I don't even know how to begin deliberating if the best esports team is going to be Billy Billy Gaming or Navi or Team Liquid.

Sure.

Team Liquid's the one I recognize.

I also recognize T1, so it could be one of those two.

Do you have any thoughts?

Well, we should be very clear.

For one thing, these are not, because I don't want to spoil the besties game of the year.

So what we're saying here is not what our picks are for each of these categories.

No.

So when we do the besties game of the year specifically for best esports team, it might not be Billy Billy Gaming.

No.

So like just to have that up front, which is to say best esports team, I'm going to have to go by funniest name, which is Billy Billy Gaming.

I think, yeah, I don't even know if we're pronouncing that right.

It's entirely possible we are not.

Spelled that way.

Can I just maybe we should skip some of the ones that

we aren't going to be able to say anything about.

Content creator of the year.

Again, no one I know got the nom.

Wait, wait, wait.

Let's see.

Let's see.

Because, again, we could.

Okay, so we have Keso, Ilawan, Techno Gamers with a Z, Typical Gamer, and Usada Pecora.

Yeah, I don't.

Apologies.

This is not a read on any of these people.

I don't follow anything.

So I don't know.

I like the Z and Techno Gamers.

That's my immediate thought.

I do like the Z and Techno Gamers.

So I think Techno Gamers are going to take it, but just because of the Z.

Let's do most anticipated game.

This is the one that maybe we can apply some level of logic to.

We've got Death Stranding 2 on the beach, Ghost of Yota.

We've got Grand Theft Auto 6.

We've got Metroid Prime 4 beyond, and we've got Monster Hunter Wilds.

Okay, this is probably the funniest category of all of them because, as we all know, Jeff Keely has a buddy.

He has a pal.

He has a compatriot in arms.

Yeah.

Oh,

you're saying that there's no way Keely can.

Well, first of all, there's a jury, I think, who decides the award winners.

It's not just Keylo himself.

No, no, I know, I know.

I do love the conspiracy theorizing that this one's.

It's not even a conspiracy.

I'm just saying,

you know,

i don't know he's there like kojima and if you were to look at best most anticipated games of years past i'm sure there's been some some kojima shit in there and i would say like i am excited for that game it's probably number two on this list of most anticipateds for me number one being grand theft auto six yeah so that's the one that's gonna win this award because it's grand theft auto six the only reason i think that is because it's grand theft auto six yeah is the only reason why i mean it is not coming out in 2025 not going to come out in 25 nope but it is anticipated We are anticipating it.

It should win, although if there's, if it's, okay, if it's Death Stranding, though, we're all going to look a little side-eye.

A little bit, right?

Well, especially if it is followed by him coming on stage and debuting a trailer for exclusive trailer for Death Stranding 2 on the beach.

I would love, I would love a new Kojima trailer.

We're due for one.

I think we're going to do it.

We are due.

I mean, it was this time last year that we got, I feel like, a glut of the

last VGS.

Isn't that when he announced the project with

Jordan Peele?

Yeah, the like OT or whatever that was called, like PT follow-up.

Yeah, let me see some of that.

Let me get some of that, please.

Yeah, that'd be great.

Multiplayer, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Super Mario Party, Jamboree, Tekken 8, Warhammer 40,000, Space Marine 2.

A wild list.

It's maybe the most diverse list in the bunch.

Thinking about it, I did not play

a lot of multiplayer this year.

The stuff I got into was like Sea of Thieves.

That game is very old and not a ton of people play it.

No.

I was swept up in the Helldivers 2 zeitgeist for a couple weeks there, for a few weeks there.

But I did not pick up the new Call of Duty.

Great campaign, but I did not play the multiplayer.

I think it's going to go to Helldivers 2 because I think everyone voting at least had a moment where they experienced it.

Yeah.

It is definitely the most, it is the most zeitgeisty of all of these, I would say.

And it is the one that I think people are the most sort of familiar with.

I also don't know if Helldivers 2 is going to thrive in any other categories.

Probably not.

So this would probably be.

I don't even know if it shows up in any other categories.

I think it does.

We'll see, though.

Best Sports Slash Racing.

We're not going to be able to.

F124, EA Sports FC 25.

I don't even know what sport that is.

FC is probably Football Club?

Ball Club.

EA EA Sports Football Club 25.

Which football, though?

Probably.

I mean, I don't know.

They don't call American football teams football clubs.

I think it's FIFA.

I think what used to be FIFA is now FC25.

Okay, I missed it.

And you listen to this podcast for our video game expertise, and now we just don't even know what the names of the games are.

Yeah,

there's the, I do love, there's a new expansion team in the NHL.

It's in Salt Lake City, and it's the Utah Hockey Club, which I do.

I like the simplicity of the story.

Are they going to stick with it?

The

Yeah, man, that's the

name.

NBA 2K25, Topspin 2K25, WWE 2K25.

Now, Topspin 2K25 did have that new backspin system for when you're doing a really powerful backspin shot.

And I think that alone might take it.

Agreed, Russ.

Some of the greatest advancements in backspin technology.

Also, a recognition of what a landmark year it's been in the sport of tennis.

Big names stepping down, big names stepping up.

We got challengers, which was so horny and made everyone so horny.

Yeah, big name.

Which I don't actually know if that came out this year.

Best Sim.

I think that Spider-Man was in it.

Yep.

Best Sim.

No, he wasn't.

Best Sim slash Strategy game.

Age of Mythology Retold.

Frostpunk 2.

Kunitsugami.

Path of the Goddess.

I know our own Chris Plant was a big fan of that.

He loved that game.

Manor Lords and Unicorn Overlord.

I played Unicorn Overlord.

Yeah, we played that for Obesties.

I have heard great things about Manor Lords.

I know that

our sort of merch lead uh mckay got got into manor lords if memory serves i don't know we're we're pretty far outside of our i would say we don't have like a big strategy fan in the show no we don't it's usually the one of the the genres we have to reach outside the show to get somebody to talk about i mean i like i mean

you know If Manor Lords gets the nod from the only person that seemingly cares about strategy games, I mean, it looks like

Tsugami because that game is too friggin' weird.

I played it.

It was weird as hell.

It might go to,

I mean, Unicorn Overlord.

Beloved by people who love those games.

Beloved by people who love those games.

And I don't know if Vanillaware has like a winning track record in the VGAs.

Oh, so you think people are going to look back and be like, they're due.

Maybe, but Frostpunk was such a big groundbreak.

It was like a big strategy game that dropped.

And I feel like I didn't hear as much about Frostpunk 2.

But again, I don't work for Polygon anymore.

And so my exposure to the day-to-day fucking heartbeat of this industry is so disconnecting.

I think it's fair to say we should just skip this category because skip it on over to Best Family Game.

We have families.

We are a family.

Best Family Game.

Astro Bot, Princess Peach Showtime, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, or The Plucky Squire.

Now, I will say that my son fucking loves Echoes of Wisdom because you can summon like 16 crows.

Henry finished it.

Henry finished that shit.

Henry cut his teeth on that game.

I was so proud of him.

He really stuck with it, even though it was quite, quite difficult at times.

Did Henry play Astrobot?

I think the Astrobot and Echoes of Wisdom are like the two that have the best shot.

Absolutely, of these five.

He has not played Astrobot.

He has asked about it, but Daddy's PlayStation 5 is on the third floor.

Yeah.

And he doesn't have to go.

The no-go floor.

The no-go floor.

In Beauty and the Beast when he's not allowed to go to that wing.

Yeah.

Daddy's Encased Rose, magic rose, is in his office.

I have been going back and playing Astrobot.

We have started the process of kind of like sharing our own personal like top tens to each other, not anything set in stone, but just so we know that

there's no me and you,

Chris and Justin,

have started sharing our top tens with each other so that we know there's no like, you know, big gaps in our kind of like stuff.

If one person like loved one game, everybody wants to make sure they've had a chance to play it.

So I've been going back and actually playing some more astrobot and uh i've been very much enjoying it that game rolls i i will say this one of these games is nominated for goady and one of them is not and the game that is nominated for godi is astrobot yeah there have been weird moments of like split votes but i think astro body is going to take it i think astrobot wins it yeah yeah i think so too um best fighting game should we just keep on going

I'm looking at this list.

Yes, we should.

Keep on going.

Wait, multiverses still exists.

Multiverses is still going still trekking still going it's nominated for a couple things i think maybe tekkin has a panda tekken does have a panda um best rpg now we are talking we are talking dragon's dogma 2lden ring maybe the most competitive category in the entire five hot ones five hot hot little guys dragon's dogma 2 elden ring shadow of the urt tree final fantasy 7 rebirth like a dragon infinite wealth metaphor refuntasio uh three of these are nominated for goaty elden ring Shadow, the Yurtree, Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth, and Metaphor are all nominated for Goti.

What a fucking banger year it's been for my favorite genre of video games.

Crazy.

I have been eating so good this year.

It's insane.

I also don't really understand the difference between action adventure and where that line gets drawn.

It's getting blurrier and blurrier.

Very confusing to me, but that's okay.

I mean, my...

I'm not going to get into My Drothers.

We'll get into My Drothers when we do our Godie list.

I don't think it goes to Dragon's Dogma 2.

I don't think it'll go to Infinite Wealth as tragedy.

Oh, that's interesting.

Why do you not think Infinite Wealth?

I think that that series is

beloved by many, including myself.

But I also think given the sort of like jury nature of how these things are selected,

it is going to go to either probably Elden Ring or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Interesting.

Yeah, I don't know.

I think Elden Ring, with the DLC nature of it all, I think will hinge on.

I think it goes to rebirth then.

Yeah, just a process of elimination.

I feel like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to win the game award for best RPG.

It does not win that in my heart.

Yeah.

But, you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I think that's a good assumption to make.

Now, now, best action adventure game.

Again, Astrobot, Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown.

Okay.

Silent Hill 2.

Okay.

Star Wars Outlaws.

And The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom.

Now, what is is the unifying characteristic of all these games?

Nothing.

There's fucking noise.

There's no unifying.

Between Legend of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom, and Silent Hill 2, there is nothing.

There is nothing.

Yeah.

Does Astrobot kind of

run the tables a little bit, do you think?

I mean, in this category, I think it fucking cruises.

There's some great games in this category.

Well, there's.

Again, it's Echoes of Wisdom and Astrobot, right?

Like, to

I think, I think Prince of Persia is up there in terms of quality.

I don't know about voting.

In my book, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't think that it's going to...

I don't think it's going to get up over Astrobot and Echoes of Wisdom, though.

Yeah, I think Astrobot's going to take this.

We could be so right.

We are basing these guesses entirely on how the VGAs have operated in previous years.

Well, but we can also narrow down.

Outlaws is not taking it.

Not a chance.

Simon Hill 2, a remake, probably not going to take it.

And Prince of Persia with the Lost Crown, I love, but

it's not fucking Astrobot.

And it's not a Zelda game.

I don't know that the Zelda name is going to be enough to get over.

I think Astrobot is a better game than Echoes of Wisdom.

I agree.

I think Echoes of Wisdom,

you know, is not Breath of the Wild.

It's not Tears of the Kingdom.

It's not some...

I mean, I can tell you, it's not in our top whatever.

Yeah, I don't think any of us sort of had it up in our top 10.

I think Astrobot takes it.

Yeah.

Best Action Game, Black Myth Wukong, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Warhammer 40,000 Space.

Stellar Blade,

surprising entry in here.

I didn't know that there was a lot of support for Stellar Blade.

Yeah, I don't think it's going to win it.

I think this one maybe is Black Myth Wukong.

So there is a very large contingent of Black Myth Wukong folks out there that

we've seen its appearance in a number of different categories.

And this is, I think, going to determine a lot about whether it's going to run the table in the categories, is how unified that the voting block is for people that love Wukong.

Is Wukong in the Goody

category?

It is?

Yes.

Yeah, I think it's going to take this.

I don't think

you could maybe Helldivers 2, but

I don't know.

I feel like Black Man Wukong has a much larger footprint.

I think Wukong is going to end up taking that one.

Let's go past best VRAR game.

Yeah, I I am.

Yeah, I haven't played Batman Arkham Shadow yet, but I really, really want to because it got great reviews.

Oh, did you?

Asgard's Wrath 2.

I love the first Asgard's Wrath.

I just haven't played my headset since we did that, whatever that Dungeons of

Whatever game was.

I really liked that one, but it's not nominated.

Best mobile game.

This one's interesting.

AFK Journey, Bellatro, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, Withering Waves, and Zenless Zone Zero.

Bellatro being on here,

I think is

unfair unfair yeah i don't think it's fair because bellatro came to mobile you know seven months eight months after it first came out sure and there's if we're considering all ports like i don't know i think bellatro makes this list because it's a smaller indie game right and so like i mean it's a really fucking good it's a really good mobile game yeah i guess so i don't know that we can like knock it because it came out on other platforms first necessarily.

Like it came out before the voting happened on mobile.

Yeah, I would say it's either Bellatro.

I think it's almost definitely Bellatro.

I think Zenless Zone Zero maybe has a chance of squeaking.

You don't think Pokemon?

I think Pokemon.

No, I don't think Pokemon.

I enjoy the Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket.

I've collected them all.

I feel good about that.

And it's a good thing they're not releasing any more cards.

So you'll always have them all.

That's it.

I might just delete the game now.

So I don't have to keep pursuing it.

I got my rare Chase animated Mew card.

I'm not looking to you know lose my shirt um

okay best debut indie game animal well bellatro manor lords pacific drive the plucky squire okay i've seen a lot let's talk about bellatro bellatro's up for a lot of stuff

um including game of the year uh

and

i feel like this has happened a lot of times where there has been a game that has been nominated for a bunch of stuff, including Game of the Year, an indie game that also is is nominated for best indie game, that is also nominated for best debut indie game, and it gets all of them, right?

That is the precedent that has been set by the game awards.

It does happen usually because people just like, oh, I've locked into this pick, so I'm going to pick it every time that category shows up.

Yes.

What is the, what is the, I was reading the Polygon sort of guess on something.

Oh, yeah.

We've been doing, yeah, Ollie has been writing a great article series about predicting winners for each of the categories.

Yeah, so

Cuphead won independent game and then one debut as well.

So did Disco Elysium, Keenan Bridge of Spirits, and Stray.

So like this has happened quite a bit.

So to hop up to Best Independent Game, because it's somewhat, I mean, it's quite similar.

Yeah.

It's Animal Well, Bellatro, Lorelai, and the Laser Eyes, Neva, and UFO 50.

So like,

I really think there's a good chance of Bellatro

just going going ham.

Yeah, I think so too.

As much as I would want to like like see a split vote here and do like debut indie to like Animal Well and best indie to Bellatro, something like that, or UFO 50 for that matter.

I'd love a UFO 50 win.

But I don't think it is going to happen.

I think Bellatro wins best independent game, definitely.

Yes.

I think best debut indie game.

I think it's going to be Bilatro.

I think it's going to be Bellatro.

I would love an Animal Well win.

Yeah.

Okay.

Best community support.

I don't know.

Okay, so

the category name is kind of funny funny because it sounds like we're just like who which community manager was doing the best job but i think this is just like updating games yeah which is different from best ongoing game in no way at all yeah i don't know how wait are the category

these are two different categories categories i don't get it i don't know i don't know why why is this show so long

Why does the show have to be so long?

It is literally, it is unwatchable in a literal sense for me.

I can't sit and watch a three and a a half hour long awards show.

I simply can't.

I mean, here's what I'm going to say.

Epic gave its community with its support for its community Godzilla.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I mean, of these, it's Baldur's Gate 3.

I don't know what Baldur's Gate 3 is doing on this.

They've been doing free updates basically the whole year.

That's cool.

Why not in Best Ongoing Game?

Okay, Final Fantasy 14,

Fortnite, Helldivers 2, No Man's Sky.

Yes, Fortnite, I think.

Best Ongoing Game, Destiny 2, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 14, Fortnite, Helldivers 2.

I want to, you know, I think here, I'm going to, I'm going to take a step back.

Here's what I think the difference is.

I think community support is free updates, constantly updating the game.

And I think best ongoing game is the game itself.

Is the game fun?

That's my personal definition of it.

And if that's the definition, I think it's No Man's Sky for best community support and

probably Fortnite

for best ongoing game?

For best ongoing game.

That'd be my.

Yeah.

I mean, this is the...

Destiny 2 has never won this category and has been nominated for it, I think, most years.

Yeah.

Do you think it's going to be like the Emeritus?

No, I don't.

I don't think the VGAs work like that.

I feel like there's usually not an Emeritus chip in.

But this was a good year for Destiny 2, at least a good first half of the year when Final Shape dropped.

Now they're just taking naps.

I don't know what's going on over there.

I feel like sometimes they...

They got a new game.

I get glanced off of the side of like that community and it's like I see people get angry and I'm like, okay, okay.

So I think so much has changed over the years.

I think maybe Diablo 4 could take it just because a Diablo expansion is such a big fucking deal.

Yeah.

But yeah, my guess is either that or Fortnite.

Games for impact.

I don't

know.

The intent is, so let's go ahead and see.

Yeah, that one's just a guess.

Yes.

Also, I don't know the list of the accessibility features for all of these games.

I know they all included a lot of accessibility features, but I don't feel qualified to determine which was the best.

The most accessible.

Yeah, that's fair.

I'm just glad they all tried.

Sure.

Best performance, Brianna White, Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth.

Who was that?

Who did Brianna White play?

Brianna White played Eris,

I believe.

Or Aerith, if you will.

Hannah Tell, Life is Strange, Double Exposure.

Humberly Gonzalez for Star Wars Outlaws.

Luke Roberts,

Silent Hill 2, I'm imagining is the lead of that.

And

Melina Juergens for Sinwa's Saga Hellblade 2.

I mean, she was very good.

Of what I played, I didn't like the game at all, but her performance in Hellblade 2 was pretty through the roof great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that that is a game that is a...

that showcases performance maybe more than any other.

So I think that that is very likely too.

I guess as someone who has played Final Fantasy VII all the way through, which I haven't, rebirthed all the way through,

does Aerith like bring it at one point?

I mean, always.

It's a fantastic performance.

And I think that that is a hard role to nail the kind of like ethereal-ness, but also like.

She's got to get pissed sometimes.

What?

She's got to get pissed sometimes.

Yeah, like, yeah,

there's quite a bit of depth there.

And I think that that's, I think that she does a great job with it.

Yeah.

But I don't know.

I think Sin was talking.

It's like how there's Oscarbait movies.

Yes.

I feel like this is sort of like that in terms of these type of VGAs.

Best audio design.

I am not qualified.

It's Astrobot, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth, Sin with Saga, Hellblade 2, or Silent Hill 2.

I think Astrobot is fucking gorgeously

designed.

I also think Silent Hill 2 is a game that is maybe exclusively about audio design and not at all about visual design.

But how much of that was

majorly different from the audio design that was in the original game?

Well, I mean, you got to think about like the audio of the original game was like produced on a fucking eight track.

I'm sure they had to redo it.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't know.

I think that the, I think audio design, when one is having to like update it over,

you know, 20 years of hardware changes, I think it, yeah, I think that it counts again.

Yeah.

Best score and music.

Astrobot, fucking great.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, also pretty good.

Metaphor Refuntasio.

I really like the music in that game.

Fucking great.

Silent Hill 2 has some music.

Too scary.

Jesus Christ, man.

That battle theme of Metaphor Refuntasio slaps pretty hard.

It's pretty great.

Every level I play in Astrobot.

Every level I play in Astrobot is like pretty funky.

So good.

It's pretty good stuff.

And I do think for Rebirth, I think they probably, correct me if I'm wrong, lean a lot on the score that was introduced in the the version.

It is very, very, very much so.

They do a lot of

it may be rebirth just in how clever they get with those adaptations sometimes.

Like the main battle theme is not the da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

It is a

battle version of the main Final Fantasy scene, the seven theme.

It's like a da da da da da da.

And you're going to be on stage, correct?

And I'll be on stage and I'll be doing that.

Okay, cool.

So, I don't know.

Probably Astrobot.

I think Astrobot.

Best Art Direction,

Astrobot, Blackmyth Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erd Tree, Metaphor Reefantasio, or Neva?

I mean, Astrobot is my probably art direction.

It has a lot of art in it.

Although, Shadow of the Erd Tree, I mean...

If it can't get this one, like,

all their games look so fucking sick man yeah um black myth wukong was a very like visually striking game but i don't know if it has is of the kind of scale uh of of astrobot or elden ring um so i'd say it's one of those two best narrative final fantasy seven rebirth i hope not like a dragon infinite wealth yeah dog i love it metaphor refantasio yeah sin was saga hellblade 2 uh and silent hill 2 um okay so i i think it's down to the top three final fantasy seven like a dragon and and Metaphor.

Man, is there anyone who liked where the story of Final Fantasy VII went?

I've spoken to a lot of people that are die-hard Final Fantasy people, not just Griffin McElroy, and it seems like none of them like the end.

Nobody likes it.

They're doing too much multiverse bullshit, and no one likes that.

So I don't even understand what it's doing here.

Man, this would be great for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth to get in there because it has my favorite story.

It does have a great story.

I am completely enraptured by that story.

So that would be my pick for this.

Yeah.

Best adaptation, real quick.

It's going to be arcane or Fallout.

It's not going to be.

I got to be real.

Let's take a second to give some props to Knuckles, which is Knuckles.

Great.

Great.

Great.

Fun.

A lot of fun.

Like a Dragon, Yakuza.

I haven't watched it yet.

Tomb Raider, Legend of Lorcroft.

I haven't watched that yet.

Arcane, Fallout.

It's one of those two.

Fallout was such a big deal, but Arcane.

I think it's going to be Fallout.

Arcane, people love Arcane, but I think, I feel like the season came pretty late in the voting process, like last month or so.

And Fallout just like dropped

a bomb.

Fallout, yeah, yikes.

Fallout like got its hooks in people outside of the

usual realm of people who would watch a video game adaptation.

I have heard Arcane is excellent.

I've watched half the first season and did not finish it.

But

the second season is excellent.

Best Game Direction.

We're coming into the final season

in the

fire.

Of course.

List.

Best Game Direction, Astrobot, Bellatro, Black Myth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Earth Tree, Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth, or Metaphor Refantasio.

It's literally gang.

It is literally gang.

The same exact nominees as Game of the Year.

So let's just do both of those, huh?

Okay.

And what is, I even want to know what is Game Direction.

We crank them on this every year, Russ.

And we're going to crank them one last time.

What the fuck do you mean, Jeff?

Tell us what you mean.

Should just be complicated games at that point.

Yes.

Just based on how big your studio was and how many like HR meetings you had to have.

That's what it should be.

We should get a list of like total headcount at each studio and be like, the fact that you all managed to...

Bellatro, get the fuck out of here.

You're a Viking guy.

Come on, stop it.

Yeah, I don't, I don't know.

Let's skip this game direction.

Game of the year.

Astrobot, Bellatro, Blackmyth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor Refantasio.

Okay, let's lose the ones that we think have no shot.

I think Erdtree has no shot.

I think Erdtree has no shot either.

It is the one that people are most fussy about its inclusion being here.

It's a very good game.

Bellatra would be a big upset, I think.

I think so, too.

I love that it's here.

Don't get me wrong.

I love that a game like Bellatro has been considered for Game of the Year.

I think if you look at sheer like time spent playing games this year, Bellatro would rank pretty high for me.

And so I do I do love it being here.

I don't think it's going to take it.

That leaves, I don't think Metaphor, Refantasia.

Yeah, I don't think so either.

I think that those are a little bit too niche.

That leaves Astrobot, Black Myth, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I think of those Astrobot probably takes it.

Yeah, it's really, I think it comes down to Astrobot and Black Myth, honestly, because I think Final Fantasy VII, whatever, the remake, I think got the nod that year, if I recall correctly.

And I think people want to mix it up.

And it's really just.

It would be surprising for me.

I don't understand the...

You know, we're trying to guess at this point the kind of like.

how the how the jury will vote and that is a really abstract concept.

So yeah.

There's just a lot of people that considered Black Myth to be a fine game, but not a great game.

And I think every single person that played Astrobot was like, oh, this is a great fucking game.

Yes.

Yeah.

I think Astrobot's going to win it.

I think maybe there's a chance FF7 Reverse sneaks in there.

The VGAs, you can never really guess what the Game of the Year is going to be.

That fucking divorce game won.

You remember that divorce game?

It takes two.

They turn into little dolls.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That one.

It was a good game, but like Game of the Year,

let's look at.

I want to look at previous year winners.

Okay.

We We get Game Award for Game of the Year on Wikipedia.

Last year it was Baldur's Gate, three.

Great pick.

Great pick.

And then year before that, Elden Ring, sure.

2021, It Takes Two.

Beats Death Loop, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet and Clank, Rift Apart, and Resident Evil Village.

Weird year, 2021.

That was a weird year.

2020, Last of Us Part 2.

2019, Sekiro, Shadows Die Twice.

Fuck yeah.

2018, God of War.

2017, Breath of the Wild, of course.

2016, Overwatch.

2015, Witcher 3.

And 2014, Dragon Age Inquisition.

So I don't know.

That didn't really help.

No, it didn't.

It didn't really help.

I think Astrobot.

But it is wild to think that Dragon Age got, like, blanked in this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No noms for Vailgard whatsoever.

I didn't care for it, but

there's other games on this whole list that I didn't care for that did get nominated for stuff.

Super Mario Party Jamboree is nominated for two categories.

Cool.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

So I'm so tired.

We did it.

We guessed all the right answers.

Before we end the segment, I have a quick question for you, Griffin.

Sure.

What is going to open the show?

It's probably going to be a trailer.

What trailer is it going to be?

I don't know.

So Henry, we went to a toy store this past weekend, and Henry bought a magic eight ball and I grabbed it and brought it up to my office.

So I thought, like, if we wanted to like just check and see, okay, okay, you know, like our like Hollow Knight Silk Song, are we gonna get any hollow night silk song updates don't count on it yeah yeah that one's that one's obvious um new gta six trailer that's not gonna fucking happen but yes definitely according to the eight ball whoa confirmed i don't think that they would do that so no they're not going to the eight ball is wrong the credibility on that one is incorrect i think here's my prediction okay death strengthening 2 is going to open the show with a weird ass fucking trailer that would be great that i would love that i would love the tone of the the show to be set by a baby climbing out of someone's throat or whatever the fuck.

Let's take a break and I want to hear about what it's like to actually be at one of these things, Russ.

Oh boy.

We'll be right back.

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Okay, so for the people listening at home, and maybe watch, you know, maybe they watch the Game Awards every year.

Maybe they get excited and they see all the announcements and they see all the people having such a good time in the audience.

I thought that I would share as someone who's attended the Game Awards once what it is like to be in the audience of the Game Awards.

What was this?

What year?

Last year.

Okay.

I was there.

So this is very recent.

So here's the thing about the Game Awards.

The Game Awards happen, I think they start at like 4.30 or 5 p.m.

Pacific time, which is smack dab in the middle of dinner.

And you should know, if you happen to have tickets and plan on going, please, for the love of God, eat something before you go because there is very, very little sustenance in that theater.

So you're watching a lot of trailers and you got no

anything in your stomach.

Yeah, I mean, there's not a, there's not, I imagine, a snack booth.

Unless they have like a collab with Taco Bell where they're like hand and chaloop is out, like you're going to be really hard up.

Yeah.

So like as much, as thrilled as someone might be to win an award, they'd probably be more thrilled to be handed like a cup full of nuts.

Yeah.

That would be cool.

They should have, you know, Paul Rudd running down the aisles handing people bottles of water.

Yeah.

As he, as he loves to do.

That would be sick.

It's a.

It's a,

I don't know if it's because I'm jaded and I've been to award shows before, not the Game Awards.

That that was my first time at the Game Awards, but I've been to like GDC awards, which is fun.

But there's just like a ton of downtime when it's something that is broadcast.

Yeah.

Because you have to run ads and you have to, whatever.

So

it's not an experience that I would, you would have to be like really a die-hard fan to want to be in the room itself.

Because if you're not, you...

would be so much happier at home just watching a stream.

Yeah.

Who's it?

Who's it for?

Who's that for?

The people that are in the audience, you mean?

Yeah.

I think it's industry.

I mean, it's a lot of people that were like nominated for awards or companies.

You know, it's like a, it's like a networking rah-rah us kind of night, which is nice.

There aren't many.

There aren't many of those.

No.

I don't, I mean, again, the public can go, as far as I'm aware, their tickets.

They sell tickets.

I don't think they sell as many tickets as they used to to the public.

I think it's a lot of that room is sold.

But I don't know, man.

If you're in the back of the LA Live, wherever it happens, and you're just watching Jeff Keely on a big screen, like you could be watching Jeff Keely on your big screen at home, having a nice steak dinner.

Please don't do that.

We used to live blog these things.

Back when people live blogged these things.

Does Polygon still do live blogs?

Well, I wouldn't describe it as live blogging per se, but we'll certainly have reporters all night covering, you know, it's a huge news night.

It's probably the biggest news night of the year at this point, given that E3 has like gotten weird.

God, that's fucking weird, man.

Yeah.

So what was that experience like when you were live blogging it?

It was always pretty intense.

I remember there was one year Justin was visiting Austin and we live blogged it together from his like Airbnb that he was staying in.

We got a bunch of

got a bunch of burgers and fries from Peter's and tore those up and I got a tummy ache and then the show never ended.

Yeah.

And my wife at the time, Rach, I mean, she's still my wife.

I don't know why I said it at the time.

Well, she was at the time too.

Rachel was like, this is outrageous.

Because she watched it with us and she was like, why is it so, I don't understand why it is still going.

It's always been pretty long.

It has only gotten longer.

I would love a tight two-hour game award show.

Here's the slight edit that I would make.

And maybe Jeff is listening and he can slot this in.

If we could know.

the amount of money that changed hands for the placement of a given trailer, that'd be really helpful.

Because

sometimes you know, like, oh, this is not a trailer that they wanted in there just because editorially this is like a great moment for a trailer.

This is like, we're paying some bills right here.

And knowing, hey, this game is so shitty that they needed to pay $300,000 for a placement would kind of help.

Yeah.

Just from a watching standpoint.

I'd like, kind of like to know that.

I've seen some lists of like supposed leaked announcements that are coming.

Oh.

I mean, I don't like talking about those things because it seems like just complete.

Do you think it's spoilies?

Some spoilies, but

I didn't see anything on there that really blew me away.

Apparently, Keely, what has Keely said about?

I feel like Keely usually does try to couch.

He does.

He tends to be like, we're going to have a good night versus we've got 37 world exclusives.

Sometimes it's that.

But the whole industry is in a kind of weird

waiting period.

You're not going to see a bunch of Nintendo stuff.

You usually don't at the Game Awards, but you're not going to see any now, I feel like, until the Switch 2 gets announced.

Can you fucking believe if Keely pulled such a coup that the thing starts and big fucking Mario's face shows up on the screen and you're like pinching it like in Mario 64?

This is the Switch 2 announcement.

Yes.

Can you fucking believe if he pulled that off?

No,

he would be unstoppable.

He would be Thanos.

He would be Thanos, but he's not.

There's not going to be a switch to announcement at the at the game awards that is absolute poppycock i won't be party to it i know half-life three though half-life three for sure uh

what else we got going on we've got some reader mail do we want to do some reader mail real quick um jd cohen says damn it russ they're peppercorns okay so the pickle shapes that we discussed last week JD is saying that they're peppercorns.

I don't think, I mean, one of them might be.

The ball, the hard ball might be a peppercorn.

yeah but peppercorns aren't rectangles um

yeah no not traditionally no so most most like you know stuff that grows in nature is not a rectangle naturally there's very few natural rectangles about those those watermelons in Japan yeah again not a natural shape in nature are the cubed watermelons um for this is from

Slifer Jam thank you for anyone who enjoys the new Half-Life 2 commentary Valve also has full commentaries for Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2, Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life Alex.

So everything else.

Basically.

Basically everything else.

Are they missing anything at this?

I guess Half-Life 1 does not have commentary.

Probably technologically speaking, they couldn't pull it off.

No.

Wild that Half-Life 2 was last sort of on the list.

Well, they needed a justification for why they should spend time.

I do like the idea that someone would play through Half-Life Alex with commentary and just like you're slamming the VR headset on and you're like, I'm just going to listen to this guy talk about fucking shaders for a while.

Okay.

Interesting.

That's the dream.

Tim B's, my big heads up for the UFO50 on retro handhelds question.

Some of the games included in UFO 50 have slowdown, even on the better Linux-based devices.

I bought an RGB 10 Max 3 as my dedicated UFO50 handheld and games like Ninpec and the Townsend Grimstone run very slowly.

The developer of the port has confirmed that there's no slowdown on the new Retroid pocket devices that support Portmaster, but at that point you're spending like $200.

Russ, those new Retroid Pocket 5s look pretty hot.

Yeah, they do look very good.

I would say that it's probably not worth spending $200 just to play UFO 50 on one of those devices.

No.

What I played...

I didn't play all the games.

I just played a couple.

And what I played on the RG35XXH

was playable, but I did notice a little bit of slowdown.

So if you're looking for a fully perfect experience, yeah,

you should do rural research.

I think this is probably right.

The retro pocket devices can do it, but you would have to probably install Linux.

Those are Android-based, right?

Well, you can install Linux on those devices,

but it just adds to the complexity of it at a certain point.

You know, I've said this to you, Griffin.

My dream smaller handheld at this point

is something that can run Steam OS.

And right now, Valve does not allow third-party devices to run Steam OS.

There are some workarounds and some like shells that you can do that allow you to kind of do it.

But my hope is that, look, a fucking Switch Light form factor running Steam games, like bringing.

Oh, man, that Odin 2, the and the Odin 2, I think, portal is the

little one.

That's the big one.

It's like a bigger one.

Yeah, those look.

The Odin Pro, I think, is the one that I have now.

That I, like, when I got the hankering to play, like Dark Cloud 2 I wanted to like get into PS2 games and knock those out pretty well

did it it require like a lot of tinkering to get those quite a bit of tinkering to get some of those ps2 games to work yeah the time man to do that tinkering stuff yeah I don't know that I'm at the point where I want a new retro handheld bad enough to actually go out and buy it but it's getting close.

I can feel you're experiencing it.

This is how you should experience it, which is just like, oh, that looks really cool.

And then wait two weeks.

Literally, they are only getting cooler and stronger and better and smaller.

They're They're moving very quickly.

So yeah, I think there's no big rush in buying anything at the moment.

Hey, let's do honorable mentions.

Let's do it.

You've been playing anything?

Yeah.

So I've been playing through the GTA trilogy.

I've talked about it a few times.

This is the remaster trilogy.

I'm playing it on Steam Deck.

I am on to Vice City.

Okay.

Beat GTA 3.

Which still holds up, in my opinion.

It's a little rough.

I think the nostalgia was carrying GTA 3 a little bit, but it is fucking wild how much of a leap Vice City is over GTA 3.

It's insane.

Yeah.

And that game came out one year after GTA 3 came out.

Well, I think they learned a lot from GTA 3, right?

But a fucking year?

Yeah, I don't know.

Five to six has been, what has it been?

10 years?

It's been a million, billion years.

I realize the scale is a little bit different, but like, there is so much that they like, just quality of life improvements and gameplay features.

Only one person could drive a car in GTA 3.

You could never have more than one person in a car.

That's that's bonkers.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah.

Yeah, man.

I remember when Vice City came out, it

took me by surprise.

I was pretty plugged into like, I read most gaming mags.

Yeah.

But still, Vice City came out.

And I remember seeing it playable at like a demo station at EB and thinking like, what the fuck?

Like, how did this happen?

Yeah.

Well, because the game, GTA 3 came out in October of 2021.

No,

2001.

Yeah.

October.

And then in May was when Vice City got announced.

So imagine GTA 3 wins all these Game of Year awards, blows everyone away.

How the fuck is this possible?

And four months later, there's a fucking follow-up that's like dramatic.

I mean, it didn't come out then, but like one year later, it was out.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that they started development while, obviously, while GTA 3 was in development, but I think it was initially planned as an expansion pack.

And they were like, fuck it.

We can blow this out.

And they did.

It's great.

Anything else?

That's pretty much it

for us.

There's been a lot of illness in the household, so we're just kind of hanging in and hunkering.

I finished Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D Remake.

Oh, my God.

What's your playtime like?

How long that took place?

Oh, like 15 hours.

Oh, that's not too bad.

You can truck through that thing.

Yeah, that's not bad.

It's fine.

It's good.

It looks good.

It's, again, comfort food.

It is not going to crack my goody list, I don't think, but I enjoyed my time with it.

It chilled me out.

It was very much a vibe, but I don't think it.

Maybe we'll have an honorable mention category for whatever was the most vibe.

Yeah.

That one's going to be up there.

Still, I'm going to be playing UFO 50 for a long time, and I want people to go ahead and get used to that.

Just a quick cherry update, Seaside Drive.

Got that cherry just barely.

That's tough.

That's hard.

That is a tough one.

That is a hard one.

I think you have to get 30,000.

I got like 30,100.

It was.

Oh, my God.

I didn't realize there was a score requirement.

There's a score requirement on that one.

And a tactics, cherry bad.

And I'm nearly done with Warp Tank, which I really have been enjoying.

Warp Tank's cool.

Warp Tank is very, very cool.

Let me ask you, are you guiding a lot of this stuff before you start playing or how are you doing it?

Not well, because like Valbrace, for example, I know the cherry in that is like a little esoteric.

Yes, I did look up the cherry on Valbrace because I did not want to get, you know, 10 hours into it.

It's one of the few games, they call it an epic play where it has saved save states, essentially.

And I did not want to, you can fuck yourself over in Valbrace where you get to the last level and it's too late for you to do the things you need to do to get the cherry.

But no, for the most part, like a tactics is just you've got to get pretty good at it.

Pretty fast at Seaside Drive is you just got to fucking do it.

I have been kind of like going back and forth between games that are

easier to complete and get the cherry on

because it's just about like persistence and knowledge.

And like,

a block koala is just you have to beat every level, right?

You don't have to beat every level to beat the game.

You only have to beat like 40.

But if you want the cherry, you have to beat all 50 levels.

That's like doable because you just have to solve more puzzles.

Sure, yeah.

Whereas in Seaside Drive, it's like, or

Velgrass, I think is another one, or any of the like bullet hell shooters are like, you actually just have to be very good.

Yeah.

So I've been kind of like going back and forth between games like Nightman or which is pretty easy to cherry and then like a more twitchy game.

I still have not done Ninpek.

I have also been replaying with Henry Super Mario Odyssey.

Whoa.

What a good game.

What a very good game.

They should make another one of those.

Yeah, they should probably make another one.

It's been interesting.

and maybe i'll talk about this here because i don't want it it'll be so uh non-helpful in a game of the year discussion um i really enjoy astrobot i enjoy like the design of it and the tone of it and how lighthearted and clever it is

it has it has been unable to like hook me in a way where i am eager to go back and play more of it Sure.

Which is for me kind of like a huge thing.

It's kind of like a huge motivator

is to feel this like hook to keep coming back and playing more of it.

And I playing Odyssey has kind of illuminated, I think, a little bit kind of what I am not getting totally stuck in with.

And in Odyssey, just the amount, the sheer amount of tech and discovery in each of those gigantic worlds is so

exciting to me in a way that like hunting down all the little bots in each, you know, linear level of Astrobot has, has not, it's a, it is entirely, this is not to denigrate Astrobot as a game as much as it is a sort of structural preference.

Yeah.

Uh, in like, I love that Mario Odyssey is just, this world's fucking huge.

And if you find something, that's cool and exciting.

Whereas in Astrobot, if I find an Astro bot and then I see that when it joins the line, there's like two or three missing and I can't go back.

Fuck.

And I also just enjoy the tech of Mario movement of just like the

dive and all that being sort of like really, you can get so nasty with that.

Yeah, that was the, I think the one area that it's very clear, like Astrobot, I mean, they're going to make a fucking sequel.

And the one area that I could see them expanding on is like the Astrobot, just their movement options.

It feels good to move around an Astrobot.

It feels good, that laser hover jump, like it feels good.

It does not feel like I am the world's greatest platforming gamer.

And I can turn into a fucking ball whenever I want.

Yeah, exactly.

Henry beat Odyssey.

Now we're going back and like playing all the, you know, going back and looking for more moons.

But like I showed him in that final like Mushroom Kingdom level, like, actually, you can do this.

And I showed him like the hat dive down a hill into a ball, super speed roll.

And he was like, what in the world?

Yeah.

There's like, I don't know.

There's a skill ceiling in.

There's a skill ceiling.

I don't know.

All that stuff to me is sort of like very, very exciting.

And that game is just, I can't believe how good that game is.

It will will never not be astonishing to me that that game and Breath of the Wild came out in the same year.

Same, same, yeah, same few months.

Insane.

Totally insane.

I think that's probably going to do it for us.

Yeah, I think we did it.

I wanted to thank the patrons over at patreon.com slash the besties.

We have a new bracket battles episode up.

It is for best food in video games.

That's a good one.

Hey, gang.

It's a good one.

Actually, we can give you a clip right here.

Here's a clip.

who put in boiled crab because that one was early on the list and like it's that seems like a pretty outside choice okay such a funny icon i put both of them in uh i i entered both of them and the if you've played elden ring and you're a min-maxer like i am you would probably know that boiled crab as an item is one of the best items in elden ring as a consumable it provides a huge benefit to your uh damage reduction for a full 60 seconds which is usually enough for a boss fight And if you don't have 99 of them, you're doing it wrong.

Yeah.

How do you get 99?

You just buy them

crab store?

Yeah, there's a guy.

He's a vendor.

I killed him so that I could buy them from my main hub.

It was cool.

I felt bad about it.

It's like men have died for many worse reasons, Russ.

It's like you murdered Trader Joe so that you could get his stuff on Amazon.

You became a traitor to Trader Joe.

Yeah, we had fun with that one.

It just adds up.

If you

have

someone in your life that loves the besties but can't necessarily afford the Patreon, you can gift patreons to people.

We have a link.

It's patreon.com slash the besties slash gift.

And you can, you know, give a month or a full year subscription to besties content, which is great.

I also wanted to thank the following patrons.

We have Finneon, we have Mike S.

We have Brent, and we have Little Mel.

Thank you for being patrons.

Thank you to everyone else for being patrons.

Y'all are awesome.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

And by us, I mean just me and Russ, an intimate time for you, the listener.

Next week, though.

Next week, though?

It's going down for real.

The gang is going to be back.

We're going to be all four of us duking it out.

for part one of our game of the year spectacular

we're doing some different stuff with it we've discussed doing some different stuff with it i think yeah we change it a little bit every year and i think this year is no different um just looking at sort of our personal faves we're having listeners pick the final four how are we doing that's so we've i think shared the listeners uh our 12 which was determined off looking at our top 10 lists okay and then the final four will be uh listener picks that we will discuss which is not a

a different thing we've done that several years in the past uh so yeah go to part one Next week, join us as the battle begins.

And it's going to be a fun one, I think, just looking at the games we're all excited about.

It's a big range.

Looking at our shoes, our top tens is like not...

There's definitely crossover, but not as much crossover as there usually is.

No clear winner, not like,

you know, in years past.

So

it'll be a fun discussion, I think.

I don't think it'll get nasty this year.

No, it'll be nice.

Because we're all adults.

We'll hug.

That'll be great.

So join us next week for the besties because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?

Besties.