The Bobby Blackwolf Show

We attempt to do two hours of gaming talk in one hour, so buckle up! The ROG Xbox Ally is the handheld Xbox, announced at Summer Game Fest. Geoff Keighley misled at the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Showcase by claiming that dev teams were smaller than they actually were - erasing the many outsourced parts of the game development process. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is coming from Digital Eclipse, but is not Gold Master Series #4. The Nintendo Switch 2 is both plentiful and hard to find, depending on who you ask. We then talk about the transfer process, gameshare, clip sharing...

I was at MomoCon working with the Momentum 2025 speedrun marathon! I will be back at Summer Games Done Quick 2025 as a host! SAG-AFTRA is now pushing back over Fortnite's use of James Earl Jones' voice to say generative AI voice lines instead of trying to work with existing voice actors who have taken over the Darth Vader character in other games. There are a few games that can't run on the Switch 2, but it's really not as surprising or bad as you think. Then we talk to Rob about how we're going to be at the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo in...

We start off remembering friend of the network Kurt Boutin, who went by "VOByKurt" in our community and on TikTok. Fortnite introduced Darth Vader and utilized an AI trained on James Earl Jones's voice with permission - however this made Vader say some very naughty things. Hideo Kojima wants a game that forgets what it was doing the longer you step away from it as a player. Then we talk to Rob about forgetting things after putting games down, and how to effectively parry in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

We start talking about what was actually leaked regarding the internet cult film Kung Fury, and why you shouldn't be holding your breath for it to come to theaters anytime soon. Giant Bomb has bought itself from Fandom and has become an independently owned media outlet once again. Nintendo has released a new EULA that gives them more power to go after people who engage with piracy. Then we talk to Rob about Super Nintendo World and the Mario Kart ride's seat sizes.

I spent a week on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady cruise ship, which actually has an impressive board game collection on board. Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed to May of 2026 in a tradition that has been happening since GTA3. EA lays off 300 employees and cancelled the upcoming game in the Titanfall universe. Polygon has been sold from Vox Media to Valnet, and lays off 2/3rd of their staff. Valnet claims that it will still be the quality that is best for Polygon, despite all of its other sites being click-farms. Fandom abruptly shut down all Giant Bomb livestreaming...

The Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders will finally go live, and while the console hasn't gone up in price, the accessories have. Greater Than Games, the producer of the board games Sentinels of the Multiverse and Spirit Island, is suspending operations in the face of tariff uncertainty in the US. An Atlanta-area game developer is finally entering early access with their retro-styled platform brawler, so take a look at Elemensional Rift. Then we talk to Rob about the Switch 2 prices and preorders.

Nintendo is assessing the tariff situation, and made a statement that the Switch 2 price was not made with the tariffs in mind. The 46% tariffs on Vietnam were paused for 90 days, but the 10% tariff went into effect. If you ask Google and Reddit, the physical version of Mario Kart World is $90 in the US - however, if you ask Nintendo, it is only $80. The confusion is because the internet is broken. Then we ask the multi-million dollar question - how could Mario Kart World's price have been lowered? You probably wouldn't like the answer as a consumer - but it's a...

The Nintendo Switch 2 was announced on the same day the United States announced sweeping tariffs across every other nation on the planet. This caused the initial pre-orders for the Switch 2 to be delayed in the US. Vietnam, where Nintendo moved production to from China, had come to the negotiating table as of the recording of this show, and after recording this show, the reciprocal 46% tariff has been paused for 90 days (however the initial 10% still remains.) Board Games designed in the US are affected, too, because there just isn't the manufacturing capability or capacity in the US to do the specialty...

Before the Switch 2 reveal, Nintendo revealed the Virtual Game Card system, a solution to a problem not many people were having - which caused confusion. We break down who it's for and why it might not be something you would use, since you can opt out of it. Game Informer is back! At least the magazine and staff is - thanks to a crypto company. No word on the amazing Game Informer Vault, though. Sony is preserving PlayStation history on tape backups in a cold storage vault at an undisclosed location, but it's not for researchers - only for internal...

Yakuza is leaving Game Pass and it's all one of our listener's fault. The United Videogame Workers union has started to help the game industry unionize. Standard accessibility labels are coming across several online storefronts. SNES's are faster now, and it's because of Nintendo skimping on a resonator, so it speeds up over time. Portal is getting a new pinball machine courtesy of the Multimorphic P3 platform. Then we talk to Rob about Arcade1up and how it sounds like they are about to go under - and how our TRON cabinets are now worth a lot of money.

Discord is in talks to go public, which means that we're nearing the time when the platform might become less usable as profits will become more necessary. Forza Horizon 5 on the PlayStation 5 will require an Xbox account linked to your PSN account to play. Classic game publisher Acclaim is returning! While everyone is talking about which games they could resurrect, the reality is only the trademark was purchased, and the new company doesn't own any of the former Acclaim catalog. There's a lot of live investigation about who owns what rights to what games, with a lot of attention to...

We start off talking about preservation of television video from the late 90's and 2000's - and why it looks a lot worse today than we remember when it first aired. PEGI has reclassified Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord down to a PEGI-12 rating from a PEGI-18, which was given because it had elements of gambling. PEGI's statement described how it was modifying its rating rules to account for "fantastical elements" in games like Balatro. EA has released the source code for many of their Command & Conquer titles, which are fun to go through and will help the modding...

Twitch is going to be destroying a decade of gaming history by limiting all Twitch channels to only 100 hours of highlights on their account, affecting only 0.5% of active channels, which apparently include everyone I know in the speedrunning community. An entire US based team of designers has been laid off by Chinese company NetEase, even though they worked on the hugely successful Marvel Rivals. Limited Run Games has put out a warning regarding some recently released NES cartridges that may damage the cartridge or the console due to faulty voltage regulation. Then we talk with the chat about asset reuse...

A malware infected game was released for free on Steam and delisted - but not before a thousand gamers downloaded and launched it. Valve recommends you format your PC. The creators of E3 have a new industry trade show, and seem to be doing everything in their power to not make the consumers interested - which is great. Former Activision CEO claims that buying Bizarre Creations, the creators of Project Gotham Racing and Blur, was a "bad decision". Then we talk to Rob about if he bought Civilization VII, and about how No Man's Sky's previous expedition rewards got wiped...

I visited the Sonic The Hedgehog Speed Cafe pop-up restaurant in Atlanta - a place where you are paying for the experience and not for the culinary excellence. (But the food was fine!) We had a listener correct me on calling the Meta Quest 3 a "low-end" VR headset, and then point me to Arcade Time Capsule, a five story VR arcade. (Bring your own games!) Forza Horizon 5 is coming to PlayStation this year. Then we talk to Rob about the Video Game History Foundation and what he searched for when it opened its digital library.

The first part of the podcast is actually about me getting two new kittens! It takes up the first 15 or so minutes. EA is retiring the Origin PC client, which means that they are no longer supporting DRM for titles on 32-bit PC's, so older computers won't be able to launch The Sims anymore. US spending on physical video games has halved since 2021, spelling doom for people who don't want to lose access to their purchases. The Video Game History Foundation has brought most of their library online for research purposes - magazines, dev notebooks, and other things that aren't...

I was at the tabletop/board gaming convention Dice & Diversions this weekend, run by the same folks behind the Southern Fried Gaming Expo. The government ban on apps by Chinese-owned ByteDance included the popular mobile game Marvel Snap, which surprised its California based developers. The Nintendo Switch 2 was finally unveiled in a CG rendered trailer, with a full reveal occurring April 2nd. Gaming outlet Nintendo Life released a "Better eShop" after a week of development, and silenced many highly rated, award winning indie games in the process. Then we talk to Rob about the Better eShop and the name of...

CES was this weekend, but the big news were the leaks of the Nintendo Switch 2, which had not been formally announced at the time of reporting. Nintendo did, however, say that the Genki mockups shown at CES were not official. Meta is discontinuing their higher end Quest Pro headset, instead concentrating on the Quest 3 and Quest 3S line. Valve has announced that SteamOS is coming to other handhelds sooner than you think, with the Lenovo Legion Go S being the first device to get official support. Then we talk to Rob about other CES announcements, like a mini virtual pinball...

We are back! It is now 2025, the holidays are over, and it's time to get back to talking about video games. I was in Las Vegas over the Christmas holiday, and went to AREA15 (along with Meow Wolf's Omega Mart as well as the Asylum Bar and Arcade) as well as the Pinball Hall of Fame. I also picked up Balatro. I won on my second game, and I will now retire from the game forever. (Or will I?) Apple has halted production on their Apple Vision Pro headset because they believe they have produced enough units to meet the...

The indie game storefront itch.io was taken down by Funko earlier this week due to a fraud report by Funko that was executed after itch.io removed the offending content. We talk about games being inaccessible, and somehow this devolves to yet another love session for the racing game Blur. The Game Awards was this week, and we talk a lot about the winners and trailers. During this, we wonder aloud why College Football 25 was not nominated for Best Sports Game when it was such a cultural phenomenon this summer. Then we ask what YOUR GOTY was.

We start off talking about where Microsoft Flight Simulator gets its maps - and why the game may be years behind what you can find in the web version. iFixIt now sells official Xbox parts, marking another win for Right to Repair. EA has made 23 accessibility patents free to use for any studio. The Dragon Quest creator wants you to loan your copy of the HD-2D Remake to kids when you're done with it so they will appreciate the genre like we did when we were kids. Then, thanks to chat, we talk about the legacy of Dani Bunten...

I was on the Dragon Con Digital Media Track's "Be Awesome Together" livestream this week, go check it out! Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony after over three decades. Sony has officially announced that the PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units worldwide, keeping it as the best selling game console of all time. Microsoft will be removing the Xbox Avatars App from the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles in January of 2025 because nobody was using it. Then we talk to Rob about our previous gaming setups, including Bobby's dorm room in college.

We start off by talking about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and its current performance in VR, which has a long way to go to become stable. I finally went through Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series of Tetris Forever, and I loved it, but people who just want the games may not be feeling it. Sony has submitted a proposal to purchase Kadokawa Corporation, which owns many anime and manga companies, but also FromSoftware, the developers behind Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Steam has issued new rules about DLC and season passes which are very pro consumer but make things more difficult...

The second DLC for Atari 50 is out, about the first console war, and it has some interesting games - as long as you have a second player on the couch with you. Tetris Forever is also out now, and I give some early impressions of the games included and the start of the documentary portion. SEGA is delisting many classic games on all platforms, probably to sell them back to you at a higher price. Epic Games has said they are supporting the Internet Archive's hosting of Unreal and Unreal Tournament. GOG announced a preservation program that has them taking...

I finally got to the part in Metaphor: ReFantazio with the mandatory stealth section...I don't like stealth. Nintendo has launched a new music app, and it has a feature that Spotify doesn't - extending the game loop for up to an hour. However, they don't credit the artists on any of the songs, and this is partially due to how Japanese companies work. Sony has closed Firewalk Studios, who made Concord, and Neon Koi, a mobile game studio, just two years after purchasing them. Then we talk to Rob about the Nintendo Music App and the Like A Dragon...

If a AAA game studio is closed, was it ever a AAA studio? Netflix closed their AAA game studio before even announcing a project. The US Copyright Office declined a DMCA exception for Video Game Libraries looking to help researchers access their materials online. A Larian Studios executive made comments about Ubisoft's drive to be more subscription only after the new Prince of Persia was declared not profitable and the team disbanded. Then we talk to Rob about game preservation - which is a very hot topic for him. (Language alert!)

There is a sad update to the new-to-me retro console that I acquired last week...Anybody have a disc tray for a Philips CDi 220? It was a slow gaming news week, but the Bluesky social media network got a lot of growth this week from certain gaming circles, so we talk about its pros and cons. A judge ruled that Google does not have to open up its Play Store to competitors yet, despite the judgment we discussed last week. Bandai Namco isn't exactly laying people off, but they have cancelled projects and left a bunch of employees with nothing...

I made my GDQ Commentary debut on Disaster Relief Done Quick, doing a part speedrun commentary and part voice actor interview for a run of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. I got a new toy - a Philips CD-I, and yes, it also came with Those Games that you're thinking of. Steam has already complied with a California law saying you must disclose that you are merely licensing digital content, not purchasing it to keep. Google must open its Play Store to competitors and not take a 30% cut as a result of the Epic v. Google lawsuit. Microsoft has announced that Xbox...

Microsoft has discontinued the HoloLens 2, which was only available to businesses, and have decided to merely support other hardware with their software. Ubisoft has listened to an activist investor, but instead of selling to private equity firms, they are looking into selling to Tencent. This goes into a discussion about art and risks, and why the safe bet is to remake things that already exist. Saudi Arabia is considering buying a larger stake in Nintendo according to a side comment in a podcast interview. Then we talk to Rob about RetroAchievements and Randomizers.

I did my first speedrun commentary for Doronko Wanko at Multithon Rivals 2024! The Atari 50 DLC The Wider World of Atari is out, and has 19 new games and another chapter of video interviews and historical memorabilia. There's a new California law stating that digital storefronts must disclose that you do not own what you purchase, you are merely licensing things, and that the licenses can be revoked. An Activist Investor wants Ubisoft to sell to a private equity firm, and has the support of 10% of Ubisoft's shareholders. Then we talk about Astro Bot, the Metaphor: ReFantazio demo, and the Atari 50 DLC...

The Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are out, and this year's gaming console ornament is the original Xbox, and yes, I do have it. I'm doing my first ever speedrun commentary on Multithon Rivals 2024! I'm commentating a race of Doronko Wanko on Friday, September 27, at 7PM ET/4PM PT. Minecraft is dropping PSVR support on their PS4 version in early 2025. IBM has won a patent lawsuit against Zynga using patents for the old 1989 online service Prodigy - of which my family were founding members of and I have memories. Nintendo is finally suing Pocketpair, the makers of Palworld, in their own patent...

We start off remembering Andrew C. Greenberg, the co-creator of the Wizardry series of RPGs, who passed away earlier this month. The Crew 2 is $1 until September 23rd! Ubisoft has proclaimed that The Crew 2 and Motorfest will have offline modes before their servers are shut down. The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive quit earlier this week due to failed negotiations to become independent. Unity has cancelled their controversial runtime fees, and just raised the prices of subscriptions instead. Flappy Bird is supposedly back, but not according to DONG Nguyen (who I keep misnaming as Doug throughout the entire live recording, sorry...

We are back from Dragon Con, and I go over the activities I was involved with from a panel perspective. Be sure to check out VOG's YouTube channel for a much deeper dive into Dragon Con outside of video game talk! Tetris Forever was announced at the Nintendo Direct, and it turns out it is Digital Eclipse's latest entry in their fantastic Gold Master Series. SAG-AFTRA has made a deal with 80 game studios for an interim contract for voice actors seeking more protections from AI. Since we last spoke, Concord launched and was removed two weeks later, and players were...

I'm going to be moderating and appearing on panels at Dragon Con! Maybe I'll see you there? Amazon Games boss says that AI is okay because their games have no acting, and AI will only take away the boring work that junior employees use to train up to become senior employees. Atari has announced the 7800+ retro console, which has all of the same features as the 2600+ with a 7800 shell. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is closing down after 7 years of service, but Nintendo is doing the right thing for island preservation. Then we talk to Rob about mini retro consoles and...

My Dragon Con schedule is out! I'm moderating several panels on the Digital Gaming Track, moderating a Video Game panel with voice actors from Mass Effect, and I get to introduce a Doctor Who companion on stage! The Borderlands movie that bombed at the box office is going to be available on streaming before the end of the month. Nintendo has told developers that the successor to the Switch is not expected until April or May of 2025. This means it won't be announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live, but a lot of other games will be shown (and were shown...

We actually start off discussing the Olympics - primary the Breaking competition - and why I loved it and thought it was phenomenal, and why I am sad that it's not returning and all anybody saw was the Australian. Apparently the Borderlands movie wasn't that good? At QuakeCon, Doom and Doom 2 got both a 4K remaster as an update. Limited Run Games announced a new version of SNES Doom that even works with a new controller with rumble support. WB Games might be up for sale, as Warner Bros Discovery continues to try to save its shareholders money. Then we...

Gamestop has shut down Game Informer magazine, laid off all of its writers, taken all of its content offline, and used AI to generate a farewell post. Bungie has laid off or transferred another 17% of their workforce in what was described as "inevitable" due to previous spending. A popular resource for video game translations and homegrown fixes for classic games has been taken offline by its owner. We discuss if there is a lack of gaming news because there is a lack of actual gaming news sites, with consumers gravitating more towards personalities and influencers, while actual journalists leave the...

In a followup to a comment made in last week's show - there is a certain NES game actually listed in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition that we totally assumed would not be mentioned. The Xbox 360 digital store has closed - thankfully, it was still a console that had copious amounts of physical media. SAG-AFTRA has authorized a strike of video game voice and performance actors over concerns about AI. Not all games are affected yet, such as Grand Theft Auto VI, or any other game that is already in production - unless they need to renegotiate a contract. Humble...

It's Episode 900 and our 19th birthday! Episode 1 was recorded on July 24, 2005. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition released, and I have some thoughts on it from someone who is speedrun adjacent. I also (finally) tell the full story about how I was technically a city semifinalist at the Nintendo World Championships 1990. I was at the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo this past weekend, and talk about the pinball and arcade games that were there, as well as some of the panels I was on. Then we talk to Rob about Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition.

I'm going to be on a panel and hosting a Speedrun Showcase at the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo next weekend in Atlanta. Come say hi! I was on a virtual panel about doing solo podcasts on the Dragon Con Digital Media Track's "Be Awesome Together" podcast. Microsoft has hiked the price of Xbox Game Pass, and also made the tiers a bit more confusing than they used to be. The Switch is now the longest-running console in Nintendo history. Then we talk about VR and people's first experiences in VR - as well as an attraction called The Void that did...