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Three weeks left, and suddenly everyone's quiet! Just the way J.D. and Jeff like it. Keep the surprises in! They'll have fun revisiting games on their to-do list and finally crossing them off, like the Breath of the Wild DLC, or that one really successful Kickstarter. Plus, news that reveals and supports Microsoft's neat push for accessibility, rumors and announcements on the realistic shooter front, and a big monkey coming back in a surprisingly cool-looking way.

What are some of these companies even going to show at E3, when they're dropping their reveals, their trailers, and their gameplay demos all a month before the show is even happening? Sony is at least keeping fairly standard, with their four first-party games, and Nintendo's promising something neither Jeff nor J.D. have too much hope for. Meanwhile, one studio closes, an unexpected spinoff releases, and Microsoft shows some love towards an often-ignored group of players.

Sometimes it isn't really until the end of a game that you look back and go "huh, this could have been a lot better." Playtonic's attempt to recapture their glory days has J.D. having one of those moments. In way more recent news, though, Nintendo announced precisely how their online service is going to work, sending people up in arms, and we have a few more special, savory details on when and how companies will present at this upcoming E3. It's coming so fast!

It's not that hard to make a good mobile game, or at least it shouldn't be. But why do they all suck so much? J.D. and Jeff ponder the mystery of Hogwarts in today's episode, just after they wrap up their thoughts on Josef Fares' couch coop contraption and before delving into the various updates and announcements that preface the month before E3. Will the new Tomb Raider be good? Will the new Nintendo President touch our hearts? These questions pondered and more.

And like that, news dries up. Companies are holding themselves on lockdown until June, meaning the best Jeff and J.D. have to feed on are crumbs. Instead of turning those few morsels into what could be the shortest podcast ever, instead we revisit a few games that came out a year (or more) ago, and talk about why they are better than people thought--or are just as mediocre. Plus Dark Souls!

The road to E3 approaches, but Jeff and J.D. are way too excited playing games that came out a year ago. Ghost Recon! Horizon! Yooka-Laylee! What, do they think it's E3 2016 coming on or something? Meanwhile, the real world moves on: Minecraft is deadly, Billy Mitchell is OUT, and Sea of Thieves... may have something you want. Or not. It's up to you.

There aren't a lot of news items about DLC that make Jeff and J.D. text each other in all caps, but last week somehow managed to surpass expectations with the appearance of just one voice. Who is it? Don't worry, Jeff will spoil it casually in the lead-in. Plus, we steal a bunch of GameInformer's thunder and give half of the new Spider-Man game's info in one go, J.D. picks some nits at Horizon: Zero Dawn, and we catapult back to the early 2000s for remakes, remasters, and resolution upgrades.

It's kind of the season of the remaster in video game news land, but as you know, J.D. and Jeff don't really have a problem with that, since it gives them an excuse to keep talking about some of their favorite games. On the way is Dark Souls, and we have a bunch of new news about what exactly this remaster entails. Plus we have ongoing changes for games released last year, like Shadow of War and Ghost Recon Wildlands, our impressions of this weird new co-op game, and rumors of a release date for Spider-Man.

Three weeks since the last podcast?! No way! That long of a break surely means Jeff and J.D. will have a two-hour long talk about news or something! Or, well, they'll mostly just talk about the multiple Nintendo Directs that have happened, and what games they've managed to cram in to a 21 day period. We're talking recon of ghosts, Thief Seas, and, yes, a little more Xenoblade. Plus: that Geralt of Rivea! Those Smashing announcements! And memories of Toys 'R' Us.

A loyalty reward system isn't that unusual. What is unusual is when the company receiving your loyalty dresses it up in coins or points or something else, and then pretends it's anything other than a cash back system. Don't worry: Jeff and J.D. are here to tell you why the way Nintendo is finally using those My Nintendo Points isn't really anything to get too excited or upset about. Plus, a look into their thoughts on the biggest game on Twitch, and rumors abounding about Blizzard's nightlight.

We've had a lot of really cool and great game remakes in the past few years, but somehow the latest Chrono Trigger re-release for PC (which came out of nowhere yesterday) is not only a minimum-effort remake, but a remake of the worst version. Jeff and J.D. are here to give you the simpel reason why. Meanwhile, a quick recap of the latest playthrough (Now on Youtube!), some points on why MGSurvive may not be an abomination, and the moves the ESRB are making for the first time in years.

It may be surprising, but an accurate remake of a game often hailed as a great example of video game art can sometimes manage to enrapture and entertain. That's Jeff's hot take on the new Shadow of the Colossus. Once he's done spewing there, there's some hot takes on the idea of Spyro the Dragon remakes, big reveals on what Sea of Thieves will actually have, and, in rapid succession, acknowledgement of Metroid 4 rumors, shooting down of Left 4 Dead 3 ones, and what Hat in Time means to Switch.

The excitement of 2018 is a bit of a dull roar compared to last year, but that doesn't mean ya boys can't have things to say about recent events. Like long-reviled video game record holders having titles stripped, or release dates from Rockstar which almost definitely will not happen. J.D., having finished up the JRPG epic of Xenoblade 2, has plenty to say on the subject of "small teams" and "minor interface improvements", while Jeff... tested out his new Xbox on a non-4K TV.

Nintendo made the only real news over the past week, when they announced a cardboard box peripheral for the Switch that you have to build yourself. The crazier bit is that Jeff and J.D. actually think this is an awesome idea. Before getting to that, though, they need to talk about the various games they managed to try out this weekend, including the new infuriating 2D fighter where you scream at each other a lot, and the new stealth/horde/zombie/crafting/survival game that's a spinoff of... whatever Metal Gear is. Stealth, I suppose.

When Nintendo springs announcements for ten or so new games, or at least games new to their system, you tend to end up talking just about those for your hour-long podcast. Or you mostly talk about Dark Souls, the Dark Souls rerelease, and what the Dark Souls rerelease means to the overall gaming psyche. Plus J.D. talks more Xenoblade, Jeff talks his latest VR experience, and, I guess, there've been other things that have happened in the past week. But Daaark Soooouls.

After hours of fighting enemies and each other, Jeff and J.D. are finally approaching the end of their Siamese twin-style Dark Souls playthrough. It's been a long journey, and they have a few things to say about it. Then the news is mostly about things Nintendo has NOT said, a couple of stuff from HTC this year, and... well, what WAS the deal with Odyssey's power moons? A debate unfolds once all parties are reminded of its existence.

There are some people whose opinions you respect, some people whose opinions you follow, but Jeff and J.D. know that what you really need are THEIR opinions. Let's go back over the year and pick out their favorite games played over 2017; some released this year, some re-released this year, and some played over and over and over. Also Jeff has yet another JRPG in his pocket, J.D. wants to talk about what's totally a normal visual novel, and Kojima may have something up his sleeve...

Just in time for the holiday season, the boys are back and promise they're only going to take another week off this year. With two weeks of summary to go, what do they spend it on? Why, rehashing minor quibbles with Xenoblade 2, and discussing what the heck was given an award in an award show you probably watched. Nose-bleeds notwithstanding, there's still plenty to talk about as the year wraps up, including a ton of games sliding down the shoot for spring. Is it that time already?!

Thursday is the Game Awards, the biggest, most serious take on video game awards that exists anymore, and while Jeff and J.D. have given their personal votes on the categories, there is always the question of if the judges will agree or disagree. Before that, though, there's the question of the epic new Monolith Soft game on the Switch, and just how much time they've even managed to sink into the cloud sea. Plus, From Software is a-stirring, the NVidia Shield gets more wierd games, and Mega Man gets an unexpected facelift.

Sometimes when there's a week off for a holiday we come back with a ton of things to talk about. Sometimes we come back and basically the only thing that has happened is yet more Battlefront II lootbox stuff. So instead of talking about that more (because come on), Jeff will tell you about Stardew Valley on the Switch, and J.D. will know way more about Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp than you. Is it worth it? You decide. Plus, Opus Magnum makes J.D. vomit.