Thanks For Playing

Join Matt and Hyalet as they dive into AC: Black Flag! And hear about the amazing Blizzcon experience LIVE from Lucas! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Matthew, Chambers, and Hyalet as they go down memory lane and draft THE MOST ICONIC GAMES THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER! What was first pick? Who cooked? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas and Chambers as they dive into the amazing open world sci-fi adventure game Outer Wilds! Let's find out if the game holds up after nearly 8 years! And is that DLC worth playing? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Matt, and Hot Mickey as they dive into the big news of the Summer and catch you up on everything you may have missed – and stuff we missed! Are the hype trains still running for GTA? Are we still going to play Wolverine this year? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas and Hot Mickey as they talk about Season 1 of the latest World of Warcraft Expansion Midnight! Is the game in a good spot? How's the class diversity? How are the systems? Is the game even fun?? Find out now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Matt and Hyalet as they dive into the latest thriller from IO Interactive! From the developer of the beloved Hitman series comes a new James Bond game ready to dazzle us or let us down. Did IO Interactive pull off a game worthy of this IP? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Mickey, and Chambers as they dive into the classic game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. Does it hold up 25 years later? Is it everything we remembered? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas and Matt as they talk about all the recent new announcements and hype from Summer Game Fest 2026! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Matt, Lucas, and Chambers as they dive into the entire history and cultural impact of HALO 3. One of the most iconic games ever made on one of the most iconic consoles to ever exist. Did this game change the landscape of online gaming or even gaming as a whole? Does the gameplay still hold up today? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Matt and Chambers as they give into the latest news from Xbox and their quest to right all their wrongs! Speaking of wrongs, did anyone else see this new Starfox game?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join us for a special announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Chambers, and Hot Mickey as they dive into some of the latest news out there. Private servers dying is always sad but this time does it mean something more? Is there a new golden age of emulation upon us? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Matt, Hot Mickey, and Chambers as they dive into the giant behemoth movie, the sequel to one of the biggest commercial successes of all time Super Mario Galaxy! Did it suck? Do we hate it? Is it the best movie of all time? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas and Hyalet as we talk with Grace Schroeder, who has been conducting research on the effects of videogames in the therapy/counseling space. How can video games enhance our ability to communicate freely with our mental health professionals and what can we learn from all of this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas and Matt as they give their official review of Resident Evil: Requiem! The latest and greatest in a long line of amazing survival horror games – some might say the great horror video game franchise ever! Did they love it? Was it too scary? Is Leon really that hot? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Lucas, Matt, Chambers and Hot Mickey and they pick from one of the greatest and deepest catalogues ever – Mario games! Who will have the best lineup and who will pick the secret sleepers? And what really is the best Mario game of all time? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Thanks For Playing, we’re diving into a little bit of everything. We kick things off with our Oscars 2026 reactions, including thoughts on Sinners, Best Actor, cinematography, and why some of this year’s biggest nominees left us a little split. If you love movie talk with strong opinions, this one’s for you. From there, we jump into gaming and esports, including the new USA Esports Alliance and whether esports can ever really capture the same magic as traditional sports. We also get into Jeff Kaplan’s revealing comments about Overwatch 2, Blizzard’s messy decision-making, the rise of AI-powered graphics tools, the weird reality of Pokemon Go data helping train delivery robots, and the frustration around RuneScape’s latest membership price increase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Matt, Timurhan, and Lucas as they talk through the failure of Highguard and the future of hero shooters + Rumor has it Sony has been testing out dynamic pricing on their shop, how dare they! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Matt and Lucas as they dive into The Seance of Blake Manor. A surprise critical success visual novel mystery game developed by Spooky Doorway. Are visual novel mystery games back?? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Thanks For Playing, Matt and Hot Mickey run an abridged history of the console wars—from Atari’s boom-and-bust (yes, E.T.), to Nintendo’s NES “seal of quality,” Sega’s edgy Genesis era, Sony’s PlayStation pivot that changed everything, and Microsoft entering the chat with Xbox Live, LAN parties, and Halo nights. They also debate what console wars even look like now: fewer exclusives, crossplay everywhere, Steam remote play, and a future that might be more “subscription/cloud wars” than plastic boxes under your TV. Plus: first consoles, legendary gamertags, and one extremely dangerous Wii Tennis household memory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices