The Nextlander Podcast 219: The New Rad
Added 2025-10-15 23:41:23 +0000 UTCApparently it's time to start talking in earnest about next-generation video game consoles this week, and we add to that discussion of Ball x Pit, Battlefield 6, Wildgate, Steam Next Fest demos like Skate Story and Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, and, yes, Death Stranding 2. Also, a Max Effect check-in, the shocking truth about those Pikmin shorts, and more!
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.
(00:00:09) Intro
(00:00:49) Turns out I bought a lot of dumb stuff in the years since I started cleaning out the basement
(00:10:36) Ball x Pit | [PlayStation 5, Mac, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch] | Oct 15, 2025
(00:27:32) First Break
(00:27:37) Battlefield 6 | [PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S] | Oct 10, 2025
(00:39:26) Skate Story | [Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac] | Dec 08, 2025
(00:45:02) Marvel Cosmic Invasion | [Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S] | Q4 2025
(00:49:46) No, I'm Not A Human | [PC (Microsoft Windows)] | Sep 15, 2025
(00:55:50) Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | [PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S] | TBD
(01:07:40) Half Sword | [PC (Microsoft Windows)] | 2025
(01:08:09) Wildgate | [PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S] | Jul 22, 2025
(01:14:43) Death Stranding 2: On The Beach | [PlayStation 5] | Jun 26, 2025
(01:14:48) [Warning: Possible Spoilers for Death Stranding 2]
(01:27:58) Second Break
(01:28:02) Let's talk about some rumors concerning the next consoles
(01:57:47) Those Pikmin animated shorts may have just been animated shorts
(01:59:38) Emails
(02:09:22) Wrapping up and thanks
(02:12:29) Mysterious Benefactor Shoutouts
(02:14:03) Nextlander content updates
(02:16:39) See ya!
Comments
I think this generation of consoles is the one where I dipped out. For me, it’s part increasing cost of everything associated with them when they use to be the “cheap” option, partly necessity of an online connection when I just want to pop in a disc or cartridge and play, and part that there just wasn’t any games that grabbed me from either console. I think the PS4 was the last traditional console I buy. I am even having trouble considering the Switch 2 when Nintendo is becoming increasingly weird and draconian about their stuff and the SteamDeck has taken over my mobile gaming time. Hell, on PC I am even at a loss on what to do because my work experiences tell me I want nothing to do with Win11 and Linux distros are still a hot mess. I had hope for SteamOS, but that seems iffy on anything but SteamDeck. Gaming is in really weird waters right now and it doesn’t look to be getting better.
swiftdraw
2025-10-18 16:33:07 +0000 UTCKojima discovered Pekora because he saw clips of her streaming MGS. Later, she posted about having met him in person because I guess she was a fan in return. This predated her nomination at the Game Awards by maybe a year? So I wouldn't be surprised if her nomination was influenced by Kojima liking her and him being friends with Keighley.
Zeemod
2025-10-17 23:33:50 +0000 UTCPart of the PS5’s Pro high price was because it was aimed at enthusiasts with a 2TB HD. The 2TB Series X goes for $800 now, despite having the same performance level as a launch Series X console.
Graeme Hobbs
2025-10-16 21:09:45 +0000 UTCWhy don't TVs and phones get the same criticism consoles do when it comes to not feeling ready for the next generation of them? You can choose not to buy this year's TV or phone if you aren't ready for the upgrade, same as consoles, except the cycle has been 7ish years vs the annual release of TVs and phones. The previous iteration of those things are also largely liquidated from stores not long after, so you are forced to always buy the newest and most expensive iteration. We weren't ready for this generation either but now personally I can't live without the better load speeds. I'm always excited for what comes next.
Cameron Meloun
2025-10-16 18:17:15 +0000 UTCWhat do you think of the idea that the Pikmin short is just a way to give practice to this new Nintendo Studios to eventually do their own animated movies so as not to rely on Illumination? Potentially following the early Pixar model of doing shorts first before venturing into feature films.
Brian Streleckis
2025-10-16 15:13:21 +0000 UTCAs one of the few players to have finished the Campaign in BF6 (5.9% had the achievement when finished it a couple nights ago), I feel I have the relatively rare ability to comment on it. I thought it was terrible and not even worth the time the guys spent discussing it. The only reason to do it is it unlocks some things if you collect all the hidden dog tags on a level, which are very hard to find. I recommend people find a guide of what the unlocks are, see if they like any of them, and play to that level with a second guide showing the dog tag locations to speed up the process. The story of thr campaign has two major strikes against it. First, it seems like they left half the story out of the game. Namely, the parts that didn't require a group of soldiers to shoot things. I had a lot of moments of "where am I now? Why am I here? What is happening? How does this make any sense?" Worse, it seems to have been written by a teenager who was really into Tom Clancy books, but didn't quite understand why they enjoyed them so much. There are a lot of soldier, CIA and betrayal, "geopolitical" (in condescension quotes) tropes strung together and none of them are original or surprising. Overall, generally a giant waste of time. However, I was able to scrape together a modicum of enjoyment in a semi-meta analysis of how the game designers used the levels to introduce the different character classes, different maps, weapons, etc. And overall, the shooting mechanics are solid and I found enjoyable. Plus, the AI soldiers are pretty stupid and squishy, so it was a real power trip outside of the multi-player mode where my life expectancy is, if I'm lucky, 10 seconds at a time. TL;DR: check out the campaign unlocks, play it if you see something you want, play on easy with a dog tags location guide to get in and out quickly.
ArtPro
2025-10-16 12:41:57 +0000 UTC
