The Bobby Blackwolf Show

Latest Episodes:

982 - 06/14/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Steam Stops Selling Physical Gift Cards, ESA Decries No Fakes Act Jun 21, 2026

Show notes

Valve will no longer sell physical gift cards in retail locations because of scammers using the cards to steal innocent people's money. Xbox has said that more layoffs and studio closures are coming to "reset" the business. The ESA says that the No Fakes act that is currently going through congress to regulate "digital replicas" will "destroy the game industry". This leads into a discussion of how much actors get paid - even in TV and film. Then we talk to Jamie from OLR about Dead by Daylight announcements.

981 - 06/07/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Summer Game Fest Recap, Switch 2 Getting Replaceable Batteries Jun 14, 2026

Show notes

Summer Game Fest was this week, so we talk about the games that Sony, Microsoft, and third parties showed at this Not-E3 week. Included in this is the whiplash of 1666: Amsterdam between the trailer and the playable prologue, the difference between Tupac's estate and his family, and my hopeful take on Persona 6's direction. Crazy Taxi: World Tour was also announced, but has a disclaimer that generative AI was used in the assets, which makes it a non-starter for many fans. The Switch 2 will get a redesign in Europe that allows for an easily replaceable battery due to new EU regulations. Don't expect this design to come to the US, but any new Switch (such as a lite or OLED model) will most likely have the same feature. Then we talk to OLR about Summer Game Fest.

980 - 05/24/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Sony Leaving PC Gaming, Library of Congress Inducts Game Soundtrack Jun 07, 2026

Show notes

The Doom soundtrack has been inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry! Stern Pinball has announced their new pinball machine based on the Transformers cartoon series, and why you don't need to spend thousands of dollars to play it. Sony has announced that they will no longer be porting their single-player games to PC, keeping them PS5 exclusive. Then we talk about more thoughts on Forza Horizon 6 as the seasonal objectives start coming in. Then we talk to Jamie from OLR about Momocon's vtuber meet and greet setup and the Transformers Pinball.

979 - 05/17/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Forza Horizon 6 and Mixtape Impressions May 29, 2026

Show notes

I played through Mixtape via Xbox Game Pass and I enjoyed it - but it's not going to be my GOTY and it didn't really reflect on my personal experience growing up in that time period. But you can wait for a sale - Mixtape's music licenses were agreed to in perpetuity, so the game will not be delisted. I then talk a lot about Forza Horizon 6, and how we've started to enter the roster update phase of one of my favorite game series. (But I'm still loving it) A bill in California has passed committee that will make it illegal for games to be sold that will be unplayable when the publisher shuts down online servers. Then we talk to Brad from OLR IIDX about Forza Horizon 6 and how it scales its difficulty levels.

978 - 05/10/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Steam Controller Early Impressions, Switch 2 Price Increase May 25, 2026

Show notes

I got the Steam Controller, and give my early impressions, as well as bemoan the fact that it can only be used in Steam and not in any other PC gaming content, such as games from Xbox Game Pass or Play Anywhere. Valve is implementing a reservation queue for future shipments of the Steam Controller due to the popularity of the first wave of orders. Nintendo has increased the price of the Switch 2 due to the AI infrastructure roll out - memory and storage is more expensive now than it was when the Switch 2 was initially manufactured. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that Xbox Copilot for Consoles is being discontinued, so there will not be an AI chatbot added to Xbox consoles as originally planned. Then we take a call from a blind gamer sharing how Civilization V is now completely playable for blind players thanks to a recent mod. Then we talk to Jamie about accessibility and how Dolby Atmos audio works.

977 - 05/03/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - New PlayStation DRM Check, Game Pass Drops Price May 13, 2026

Show notes

I was in Indiana visiting in-laws last week, and this led to a discussion of "third spaces", and a third space I wish was near me - a coffee and board gaming space in Greenfield, Indiana called Hitherto Coffee & Gaming Parlour. The Steam Controller went on sale the day after we went live (and sold out almost instantly) - but the trick is to get funds into your Steam Wallet beforehand so you're not hitting any payment processors. There is a new DRM check for PS4 and PS5 online purchases - but it's not as bad as everyone might think, and it might actually be a good thing for another pro-consumer policy. Xbox is dropping the price of Game Pass, with Ultimate going from $30 to $23 a month, and also removing the perk of having new Call of Duty's on the service from day one...but will people care? There is a new LEGO set for the Sega Genesis - and for once, it is a video game set that is not expensive! Then we talk to Jamie from OLR IIDX about Game Pass and third spaces.

976 - 04/19/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - BAFTA Pulls Game Trailer At Last Minute, New Retro Console Announced May 10, 2026

Show notes

Sorry this was uploaded weeks late - a lot of things happened. We're getting caught up very quickly, though! I was at a tech conference this past week and it was a dystopia regarding agentic AI...and the agents didn't even work properly! While I was in town, I visited the new Nintendo San Francisco store! On the flight home, I started playing Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, and I'm not as drawn into it as I was the original DS version. There is a new retro console that plays the original cartridges - the Neo Geo+ AES - and is also coming with 10 cartridge rereleases that work on the original hardware. An indie game trailer dealing with serious subjects was pulled from the BAFTA Games Awards while BAFTA talked about championing games dealing with serious subjects. Then we talk to Jamie about the Neo Geo+ AES.

975 - 04/12/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Mario Maker Levels Deleted Due To Hashtags, Luna Shutting Down Apr 22, 2026

Show notes

I was on Jury Duty on an 8 day case. Nothing about video games and nothing really juicy, but it was a drain on me. Amazon is shutting down parts of Luna, taking away people's access to games they paid for, and not offering any refunds. The indie developer behind Papers, Please has come out and stated that they will no longer talk about new projects because they are afraid that AI will take them and release something worse before he can be finished. Nintendo is deleting Super Mario Maker 2 levels because they contain hashtags for Mario Maker communities - claiming it is advertising and against the Terms of Service. A chatter says that they miss Video Games Live - but Video Games Live has several shows this year, including one this month. Then we talk to Jamie from OLR IIDX about cats and game streaming services.

974 - 04/05/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - Online Games Shutting Down For AI, Rec Room Shutting Down Apr 18, 2026

Show notes

Stormgate, an indie online multiplayer game, is shutting down its online servers because their provider, Hathora, has been purchased by Fireworks AI who are turning the online game servers into AI servers. Rec Room is shutting down in June, despite having over 150 million players. Snapchat's parent company has purchased some of Rec Room's assets and hired some of the talent to help them foster an online community. Then we talk to Jamie from OLR about April Fools jokes that didn't fool us this year.

973 - 03/29/26 Bobby Blackwolf Show - PS5 Price Increase, Fortnite Devs Laid Off Apr 13, 2026

Show notes

EverQuest Legends has been announced - a version of EverQuest that goes back to 1999 but adds features to allow the entire game to be soloable. Sony is increasing the PS5 price by $100 to $150 due to the AI infrastructure roll out taking all of the RAM and storage away from consumer products. Epic Games lays off 1000 Fortnite developers, including leads who were influential in Fortnite's continued success, because their legal fights with Apple and Google took more money than they thought. Then we talk to Jamie from OLR about our desired nostalgia bait.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected