Free Play Podcast

Welcome to Season 8 of the Free Play podcast! During the break, Bubba, Matt & Kate watched Kaleidoscope, Netflix’s non-linear streaming experience where you can watch the episodes in any order, except for the last one. Netflix automatically randomized the episodes based on viewers location. Engaging in non-linear storytelling isn’t exactly new to us as nerds, so what makes this experience different? Plus, catch up on what's been going on over the break and what they've been playing and watching.

Free Play’s “cut-man”, CJ Burroughs, suggested Bubba, Matt & Kate chat about some of their memories about nerdy Christmas gifts that they received as young nerds way back when. They also want to cover the 2022 Game Awards Game of the Year nominees and throw their guesses out ahead of the award show next week. This is the Season 7 finale!

Some people, like Bubba, look upon the impending era of our AI overlords with excitement and joy. Others, like Kate, are a little unsure. And stories with headlines like “Someone turned their imaginary friend into an AI microwave and it wanted to kill them” do little to change her opinion. This story was submitted by community content producer Ryan Eighmey and sparked a conversation about whether or not the experiment was real or a cautionary tale about our AI focused future.

Have you had a disappointment in the game space that really bummed you out? Never fear, the Free Play Podcast is here to help you recover and move on. After Kate had an underwhelming God of War Ragnarök release day, they’re talking all about gaming disappointments they’ve had and how we can all get to a better place.

LTN Con is one of our favorite weekends of the year here at Love Thy Nerd. It’s a time of coming together as a community, playing games, and learning how to love and serve our nerdy neighbors better. We had some incredible keynote and breakout sessions, vendors, and opportunities to extend our online relationships into real life. Bubba and Kate were there, had an absolute blast, and wanted to recap the weekend with all of you. That’s what they want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Nintendo finally reveals a teaser trailer for the Super Mario Movie at New York Comic Con. Fans are protesting online about Chris Pratt’s performance (even with barely a sentence uttered). Bubba and Kate nerd out about what we loved from the trailer, what they’re looking forward to with the movie, and speculating about what some of Nintendo’s goals are along with the partnership with Illumination and Universal.

Twitch has taken creators by surprise in a bad way with their latest announcement. They stated how revenue splits for bigger streamers will go from 70/30 to 50/50.This information has the Twitch community up in arms. As it should because this information isn’t exactly fair.Will Twitch’s mistake be the first step in leveling the playing field for competition and innovation for streaming platforms?

Well nerds, it’s the moment Matt has been waiting for. For 6 whole years. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will allegedly be released on May 12, 2023. It’s it TEARS of the kingdom as in crying? Or tears of the kingdom as in ripping? The internet debates. We cover what we know so far about the new game and Matt rants about how Kirby got an anniversary party while the Zelda series got the cold shoulder.

In this lost episode from the earlier days of the Free Play Podcast, Bubba, Matt & Kate welcome Justin Bowers to discuss games perfect for family gatherings - ones that you can play easily right out of the box.

When both social media and nerd culture have placed an emphasis on live streamed gaming content, what happens when an industry giant like Facebook/Meta begins to shut down its connection to gaming bit by bit starting with it’s Facebook Gaming App? Do we even need Facebook in this aspect of gaming when we have industry giants YouTube and Twitch?

Bubba, Matt & Kate discuss the internet argument over whether T'Challa should just be recast or not, following his death in 2020. Plus, what we've been playing AND we don't know how to count.

This might shock some of you, but Matt, Bubba, and Kate have been co-hosting a podcast together since 2017! Before the Free Play Podcast with Love Thy Nerd, they hosted the Arcade Podcast with GameChurch, the place where they all met and started this crazy journey. Over the course of these two shows, they’ve done just over 200 episodes together! In this show, they share some favorite memories from the past 200 - and some of yours too.

Survival shows have become super popular with a specific demographic of folks. Bubba and Kate just happen to be in that group. What is it about these shows that makes them nerd out on people’s suffering? Do shows like Survivor and Alone take what is supposed to be a game way too far? That’s what they want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast for the Season 7 premiere.

E3 used to be the summer’s most exciting time for video games with all the press conferences from the biggest developers, but over time it’s slowly gone downhill with this year having no E3 at all. From going from an industry only show to one that’s completely open to fans and having some disappointing announcements, it seems like companies just didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. Who will fill the vacuum that the show has left behind? What are we hoping to hear more about this summer? That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast season finale.

Why do people play games these days? What’s their motivation and reason? Community Content Producer FrostByte4 sent in a topic about how games like Halo used to drop with no updates, DLCs, or things to grind for and everyone loved it. Now, people NEED something to keep them coming back. Is there reasoning in nerd psychology that can explain some of this?   That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast.

Bad Bunny, reggaeton superstar and WWE wrestler, has been cast in the lead role in Sony’s Spiderman universe stand alone movie, El Muerto. Who is Bad Bunny and who is El Muerto? Why make a movie about a character who’s been in two comic books with someone who isn’t an experienced actor? We take a look at the info available on this upcoming project and that’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

When the Kate is away, the boys will play and this week we do just that with our good friend, chef, artist, maker, and fellow streamer, Asiathegirl. What does she think about bento boxes, name changes and what might be in store for Discovery’s buyout of Warner Bros. Media? Well, that’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Apple has announced so many attempts to competitively get into the gaming space with many of those either never happening at all, not living up to expectations, or falling through as Apple moves onto the next idea. What’s happened in the past, and where does that leave us with the next big ideas of Apple VR and Apple Glasses? That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

We don’t often delve into this side of pop culture, but the Oscars this year ushered in a new level of... Chaos. Something we can relate to here on the Free Play Podcast. We submit our own nominees for random Oscar categories (picked by me) which you can vote on this week on our Twitter account @freeplaypodcast. As long as Kate can remember to post it. That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Playstation’s subscription service is supposed to launch really soon (it could even be out now) and we’re curious about what benefits and services it’ll offer. Will there be PS5 exclusives available? Or will they just combine Playstation Plus and Playstation Now under one name and call it a day? We make some guesses and predictions. We wrap up this week’s show with a story that blew our minds: spinach can send emails when they detect explosives. That’s what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast