Episodes

  • PlayStation Loses Even More Money on Multiplayer - Beyond 946

    PlayStation Loses Even More Money on Multiplayer - Beyond 946
    May 13 2026
    This week, we're talking about some extremely expensive big-ticket items in the world of game development. From Sony's recent financial earnings reporting a $765 million impairment loss (at least partially due to the underperformance of Destiny 2 and this year's Marathon launch) to SEGA's cancellation of its mysterious "Super Game" announced back in 2021, to reports of Grand Theft Auto 6's budget being over a billion dollars. Not all games can be GTA 6, though, and we're skeptical about Sony's continued pursuit of AAA live-service projects, rather than dusting off a few tried-and-true games from the vaults to earn a few bucks off our nostalgia. After all, there's a long list of PS3 games we'd be eager to revisit on PS5 while we're waiting for whatever the next big first-party projects are. Speaking of expensive things, we also unpack some other things that cost over a billion dollars, like the Burj Khalifa, Yankee Stadium, another Star Wars Trilogy, some Avatar movies, or an actual trip to space. 00:00 - Intro 00:40 - Games are Expensive 05:02 - Sony's recent financial earnings reporting a $765 million impairment loss 24:04 - JOIN THE DISCORD! 24:42 - Games are Very Expensive 25:54 - SEGA's cancellation of its mysterious "Super Game" 35:27 - PlayStation should invest into reviving classic games 38:03 - GTA 6’s Development Reportedly Cost $1.5 Billion, Here’s What Else That Can Buy This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville, Brian Altano, Jada Griffin, and is produced by Nick Maillet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Mortal Kombat 2, Resident Evil & The New Era of Gaming Movies - Beyond 945

    Mortal Kombat 2, Resident Evil & The New Era of Gaming Movies - Beyond 945
    May 7 2026
    This week, we’re talking about video game movies again! Specifically, Mortal Kombat 2, which we loved. Resident Evil’s trailer dropped last week, and the internet seems divided on it, but we’re willing to give it a fair shake given director Zach Cregger’s past work, and clear love of the franchise. We dig into what makes a good video game movie, reflecting on the past hits and misses, and looking ahead to a big one: A24’s Elden Ring movie, directed by Alex Garland. In other news, Vampire Crawlers has big sticky hooks and we can’t get enough of it, and Spell Brigade is better with a buddy. 00:00:00 - Intro & Mortal Kombat II Movie Discussion 00:18:51 - Resident Evil Movie Trailer Breakdown 00:46:20 - Vampire Crawlers, Spell Brigade, & Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • From Saros to Vampire Crawlers, What Makes a Roguelike We Rogue-Love? - Beyond 944

    From Saros to Vampire Crawlers, What Makes a Roguelike We Rogue-Love? - Beyond 944
    Apr 29 2026
    Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Resynced is officially real. Can you believe it?! Ubisoft has unveiled the AC Black Flag remake after weeks of leaks, and we're breaking down the full gameplay showcase: what's been remade, what's gone, and what big questions we still need answered before we get our hands on the open-world pirate game. We're also deep in PlayStation leak territory: the Spider-Man face model seems to be teasing Insomniac's next Spider-Man game (or a Venom spinoff?), and Sony Santa Monica's next God of War project is reportedly starring Deborah Ann Woll as Faye, pulling in deities from Chinese, Japanese, and potentially Mayan mythology. Will Marvel’s The Owl appear in either game? We hope not! Then there's Saros. Housemarque's PS5-exclusive cinematic roguelite shooter has gotten its share of reviews, and IGN's 7/10 puts it on the lower end of the critical consensus. We've all played it. The gunplay, the movement, the progression through Carcosa's biomes, all great. But its build variety leaves something to be desired compared to what we love about roguelites. That's got us dissecting what makes games like Vampire Survivors, Balatro, Dead Cells, and Spelunky work so well, and what Saros leaves on the table. Beyond! 00:00 - Intro 01:02 - Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Resynced is officially real 20:44 - Whole Lotta PlayStation Leaks 28:48 - The BEST Spider-Man Villain 32:24 - Saros - A Solid Shooter That Roguelite Fans Will Likely Rogue-love 01:03:39 - Vampire Survivors, Balatro, and More! This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville, Jada Griffin, and Brian Altano and is produced by Nick Maillet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • Is 2026 The Year Hollywood Finally Figures Out Video Game Movies? - Beyond 943

    Is 2026 The Year Hollywood Finally Figures Out Video Game Movies? - Beyond 943
    Apr 22 2026
    Well, maybe! So far, we’ve had Return to Silent Hill, Iron Lung and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which were varying degrees of successful depending who you ask, but still to come we’ve got the Johnny Cage-forward Mortal Kombat II, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, the totally bonkers Street Fighter movie. And, hey, if this isn’t this year, it’s not like video game movie adaptations are slowing down: 2027 has The Legend of Zelda, Helldivers and Sonic The Hedgehog and A Minecraft Movie sequels. 2028, meanwhile, will finally see Call of Duty make its way to the big screen, but more interesting to us is A24’s Elden Ring film. Alex Garland has given us some of our favorite genre media of recent years, between Ex Machinia, Annihilation, Men, Devs, Civil War, and of course, 28 Days Later and 28 Years Later. How will he handle a cinematic tour of The Lands Between? Hard to say, but Nick Offerman, Kit Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Ben Whishaw and Jonathan Pryce will be there, so we’re certainly intrigued. Beyond! This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville and Brian Altano and is produced by Nick Maillet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • Bloodborne’s Getting a Movie, We Have Some Questions - Beyond 942

    Bloodborne’s Getting a Movie, We Have Some Questions - Beyond 942
    Apr 15 2026
    A Bloodborne animated feature film is in the works from Sony Pictures and Jacksepticeye, which is a better Bloodborne-related announcement than… no Bloodborne announcement. In any case, we’re stoked no matter what, but we have a lot of questions: what will this movie look like, or sound like? How will it tackle FromSoftware’s infamously dense lore and approach to storytelling in a linear narrative? In other news, Mouse: P.I. For Hire and Pragmata are both out this week, offering extremely different ways to shoot stuff. Mouse is at its best when it leans into throwback slapstick boomer-shooter gameplay, but underwhelms when it veers into detective adventure territory. Meanwhile, Pragmata seems like another banger for Capcom, with great visuals and presentation, but most importantly, really gratifying gameplay that feels good, from combat to basic movement. 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Jada is BACK! 01:04 - Scan yourself into a PlayStation game...sort of 04:31 - Bloodborne’s Getting a Movie, We Have Some Questions 27:01 - Our Thoughts on Mouse: P.I. For Hire 37:59 - Our Thoughts on Pragmata 55:27 - Poll Results and IGN Live This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville, Jada Griffin, and Brian Altano. It was produced by Nick Maillet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • How Romeo is a Dead Man Uses Practical Effects To Melt Faces, Suda51 Interview - Beyond 941

    How Romeo is a Dead Man Uses Practical Effects To Melt Faces, Suda51 Interview - Beyond 941
    Apr 7 2026
    This week Max and Brian are joined by the legendary Goichi Suda, AKA SUDA51, and James Mountain from Grasshopper Manufacture, who’ll be translating! SUDA 51 is the director, designer, writer, and producer behind a ton of memeorable and often times weird (but in the best way possible) games such as No More Heroes, Killer is Dead, and recently Romeo is a Dead Man. We ask him all about the creative process of Romeo is a Dead Man, the direction he would take Grand Theft Auto in, his favorite games across all generations and much more. This is a fun one. Beyond! This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville and Brian Altano, and is produced by Nick Maillet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    26 mins
  • If a PS5 Pro is $900, What Does This Mean for PlayStation 6? - Beyond 940

    If a PS5 Pro is $900, What Does This Mean for PlayStation 6? - Beyond 940
    Apr 1 2026
    Once again, Sony has raised the price of PlayStation hardware, with a PS5 base model selling for $150 more than its 2020 launch price. The PS5 Pro, which had a hefty pricetag to begin with, is now 899.99. Usually, at this point in a console’s life-cycle, hardware is at least half the price it was at launch, but the PS5 has increased by almost a third. So, what does this mean for PlayStation 6? It’s supposedly still a ways off, and really, we can’t argue with that, but it makes us wonder if these current gen prices will come down, or if they’re just paving the way for a $1000+ next-gen console. In other absurd financial news, Sony and Honda’s PlayStation-enabled Afeela electric car has been officially scrapped ahead of its planned release later this year, and Capcom publicly audits the Resident Evil 4 Merchant’s business dealings, which don’t really seem like they’re panning out. Beyond! 00:00 - Intro 00:23 - Sony has raised the price of PlayStation hardware 16:44 - Sony & Honda Just Ain't Afeelin' It Anymore 40:14 - The RE4 Merchant Needs A Financial Audit 46:05 - Brian Went to Japan 53:31 - Final Thoughts This weeks show is hosted by Max Scoville and Brian Altano, and is produced by Nick Maillet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Looking Back At The Great PSN Hack, Fifteen Years Later - Beyond 939

    Looking Back At The Great PSN Hack, Fifteen Years Later - Beyond 939
    Mar 25 2026
    NOTE: due to some technical issues, this week’s episode is audio only. After almost 20 years, Sony is reportedly retiring The PlayStation Network’s name and logo. What they’ll call it now is anyone’s guess, but it’s as good an excuse as any to take a look back at the 2011 debacle that led to Sony getting hacked, millions of users having their data compromised, and the PSN being taken offline for almost a month. In other news, Valve made a weird change to Counter Strike 2 that not everyone’s wild about, which has us thinking about how much games are a moving target, from Crimson Desert’s rapid post-launch updates to Fornite’s gradual transformation since its early access days, before it was even a battle royale. Some games we’ve been playing include Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s shiny new PS5 upgrade, Romeo is a Dead Man, Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, and High on Life 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins