Are ’Marathon’ and ’Pokémon Pokopia’ What Sony and Nintendo Needed? | Button Mash

Gotta ’cast ’em all! First, Ben, Matt James, and Steve Ahlman form a fireteam to discuss Bungie’s long-awaited extraction shooter ‘Marathon.’ They forecast whether it’ll fare more like hit ‘ARC Raiders’ or flop ‘Highguard,’ examine the stakes for Sony’s big bets on Bungie and live-service games, and react to a possible revival of the PlayStation/Xbox console wars, followed by a “Rage Quit” rant about the backlash to promotional photos for video game adaptations such as ‘God of War.’ Then Ben brings on Charles Pulliam-Moore from The Verge to discuss the delights of Pokémon life-sim spinoff ‘Pokopia,’ its significance for Switch 2, and the Pokémon franchise’s 30th anniversary, evolution, and future, plus a second “Rage Quit” about the Trump administration coopting video games like ‘Pokopia’ to make memes.

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Intro (0:00)

‘Marathon’ first impressions (3:35)

Live service games discussion (39:11)

Are the PlayStation/Xbox console wars back? (43:56)

Rage quit! (48:32 )

First thoughts on 'Pokémon Pokopia’ (57:08)

Switch 2 discussion (1:19:25)

The future of Pokémon (1:22:16)

Rage quit vs. Trump (1:35:12)

Outro (1:46:23)

Host: Ben Lindbergh

Guests: Matt James, Steve Ahlman, and Charles Pulliam-Moore

Producer: Devon Renaldo

Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell

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