Darren, Andrew and Craig are back on the mics! And don't worry, they won't fight this time. This episode is all about the games that define them, from Final Fantasy 7 and Kingdom Hearts (of course) to games like World of Warcraft, the guys delve into what makes them look at games the way they do.

Check out patreon.com/thegiftofgaming for loads more content and to help the pod out!3

Darren, Andrew and Chris sat down to watch The Game of the Year Award show 2025 until 4 in the morning. Listen in for a breakdown of all the awards, announcements and whether or not we enjoyed video games biggest annual show in 2025.

No post show today due to the extra long episode we have but post shows will be back next week!

This week's episode is all about news! Darren, Chris and Luke look at Rockstar's Union busting, Square Enix's use of gen AI and Valve's new lineup or hardware.

Looking for more content? Check out patreon.com/thegiftofgaming for even more news content. This week its all about game delays and Horizon's MMO.

Want to listen via Youtube? Head over to Youtube.com/@thegiftofgaming where all our episodes are now available!

News:

RockStar Union Busting

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/iwgb-accuses-rockstar-of-union-busting-following-reported-dismissal-of-over-30-employees

PS5 Cross Buy

https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-5-cross-buy-graphic-spotted-sparking-hope-that-sony-will-finally-introduce-dual-ps5-and-pc-purchases

Square Enix and AI

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/square-enix-wants-to-use-gen-ai-to-automate-70-percent-of-qa-and-debugging-by-late-2027

The New Valve Hardware

https://www.polygon.com/valve-new-hardware-steam-machine-frame-controller/

Darren, Andrew and Craig get on the mics to discuss, what was meant to be an episode on the games that defined them, but it quickly turned into a fiery debate on remastered games in the gaming industry. Don't worry, we're all still friends! So if you're interested in what our strong opinions are on remastered games, listen in!

FYI - Our debate was so fiery that the mics took a beating. We've done our best to manage the sound quality on this one but we're sorry its not up to the usual standard!

Looking for more? Check out our Patreon at patreon.com/thegiftofgaming where we talk about what we want to see from the Playstation 6.

Wanna let us know what you think? Message us at thegiftofgamingpodcast@gmail.com

Do you want to listen to the episodes on Youtube? You're in luck! Check out youtube.com/@thegiftofgaming for all our episodes!

Darren and Chris talk GOTY nominees as they come fresh off the press from Geoff Keighley himself! Which 6 games from 2025 make it to the coveted spot to be in with a chance to win Game of the Year?

Looking for more content? Darren and Chris give their own 6 nominations for GOTY over at patreon.com/thegiftofgaming

After months of nothing but negative news, Darren takes to the mic with Luke to discuss all the goings on at Xbox and what its future might look like, if there is a future at all!

Check out the Patreon at patreon.com/thegiftofgaming for today's post show where Darren and Luke let us know what it is they would do to try to steady the Xbox ship.

Its news week once again and Darren is joined by Chris and Luke as they discuss the Arc Raiders launch, PS6 and the new Xbox due date and Gold Joystick nominations for the end of year competition.

Check out patroen.com/thegiftofgaming for more news on Crash Bandicoot and a Manga based on the life of Smash Bros. creator Sakurai!

Want to watch on Youtube? All our episodes are uploaded on Youtube.com/@thegiftofgaming

It's here! Our review of Hades II. Darren takes the mic with Craig to discuss what they like, love and what issues they have with the newest success from SuperGiant. What are you own thoughts? Let us know at thegiftofgaming@gmail.com

Looking for more content? This week on Patreon, Darren and Craig discuss what games they might dip into for the remainder of 2025. You can check it out over at patreon.com/thegiftofgamiing to help support the podcast!