161: A Jedi Named Kyle

With Vinny out, Will Smith drops by to tell us about playing a few hours of Star Wars Outlaws, plus Earth Defense Force 6's giant bugs and Clickolding's, uh, fetishistic clicking, mass layoffs and a reorg at Bungie, SAG-AFTRA's game industry strike, the first trailer for Amazon's Yakuza series, the value of skill-based matchmaking, what to get an 11-year-old PS2 fan, and more.

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CHAPTERS

(00:00:00) NOTE: Some timecodes may be inaccurate for versions other than the ad-free Patreon version due to dynamic ad insertions. Please use caution if skipping around to avoid spoilers. Thanks for listening.
(00:00:10) Intro
(00:04:54) Star Wars Outlaws [PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S] on Aug 30, 2024
(00:26:31) Earth Defense Force 6 [PC (Microsoft Windows, GeForce Now), PlayStation 4/5] on Jul 25, 2024
(00:34:16) Clickolding [PC (Microsoft Windows)] on Jul 16, 2024
(00:47:25) Infection Free Zone [PC (Steam, Early Access)] on Apr 11, 2024
(00:53:49) News
(00:54:02) Layoffs and reorganization at Bungie
(01:04:20) SAG-AFTRA's video game strike
(01:14:52) Activision's skill-based matchmaking study
(01:25:43) The first trailer for Like a Dragon: Yakuza (the TV series) is out
(01:29:14) Emails!
(01:41:13) Wrapping up
(01:41:48) Mysterious Benefactor Shoutouts
(01:48:03) See ya!