My annual months-late “Best of” playlist is ready! 2025 was full of career bests (Bad Bunny, McKinley Dixon), amazing comebacks (Clipse, Lady Gaga), and well-deserved breakouts (Geese, Ninajirachi), and below are my top 50 albums and songs. Threaded are my playlist links and honorable mentions!
There was a period in the late 2010s/early 2020s in which TV was my favorite medium. Not only has the quality in recent years lessened, but the price to enjoy it has increased exponentially. I can’t justify the cost of most of these platforms anymore.
The Golden Compass on PS3
Shoutout to my parents who were GREAT at picking what games to get me as gifts…this one was my fault. I just had braces put on as a 3rd grader, so my mom took me to Blockbuster and I bought a used version of this because I loved the idea of a warrior polar bear.
Let’s just say I was disappointed.
This is my dog Murph looking like Dr. Eggman on a very windy day in Kansas City. He’s my favorite menace.
Okay, this is the rare case where I'm MORE interested in a movie knowing the twist the trailer is concealing.
Turns out the marketing team was less "trying to protect the plot," and more "trying to protect the ticket sales."
YESSSSSSS!!! POP THE BUBBLE NOW !
POP POP POP POP POP
Love the article! I do think there’s a distinction between the intended meaning (or lack there of) and what a player/reviewer takes away from the experience. Criticism and analysis have thrived for centuries off of pulling meaning out of art where it often isn’t intended. It’s part of the fun!
I played 2-3 hours of the server slam and didn’t enjoy it (playing an extraction shooter solo is not my thing), yet every day I think to myself “Buy it, you might change your mind.”
That’s all because of how visually appealing it is. Damn cool looking game.
Another point of clarification: what if it’s the sequel in a reboot for the series (Tears of the Kingdom being a sequel to BOTW, Doom Eternal being a sequel to Doom 2016, or Rise of the Tomb Raider to TR 2013)?
Highguard deserved so much better. Was quite fun and felt fantastic to play.
I can’t overstate this - DO NOT show a multiplayer game without hands-on, unless you have the best trailer ever made. If you let the audience define the game before anyone knows what it actually is, it’s already over.
Not quite the same, but I’ll take any opportunity to recommend Rina Sawayama’s SAWAYAMA. Banger after banger, just like Emotion.
TLDR - Consumers should be smart enough to be able to read/listen/watch criticism, look at how long the game is, look at the price, and determine if it’s worth their $ and what they look for in games.
Really loved the episode and thought everyone killed it 💙 Appreciated the differing opinions!
I want to read your thesis on why a piece of art succeeds in its mission or fails in some regards. I want to hear about how the mechanics meshed with the themes. Don’t tell me the game is amazing, but it’s 2 hrs and $70, so I shouldn’t buy it. That’s separate from the game/art!
I agree with Roger that having discussions around a game’s price/length/value are important! I like to know if other people think a game is worth my money. I also prefer those conversations stay separate from the art of a critic.
This line blurs ALL the time, but I think there is a difference between a casual discussion about a game and the produced art of “games criticism”. I think having a conversation about length and price is important for the consumer, but “games criticism” shouldn’t require a value breakdown.
@blessingjr.bsky.social loved your take on reviews & video game prices! The onus of determining value doesn’t sit with the reviewer. A consumer can figure out if a game is worth their $ by using some personal formula like…
Reading/evaluating criticism + game length + price = personal value
Should the Dolphins eat all of Tua’s dead cap hit this year instead of spreading it across two years and commit to sucking super hard?
Why shouldn’t they do this? Genuinely asking as a Dolphins fan. The 2026 season will already be a lost cause, why not maximize its negative potential to make 2027 better?
I haven’t posted here in a bit, but @samscotmosher.bsky.social and I wrapped our pod with the 200th episode. It was a joy to talk video games for 5ish years, and I’m proud of our show.
We’ll be doing a final charity stream soon! Stay tuned, more info soon :)
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Jake and I published The Super Mosher Bros. Show's finale today. I'm so proud of the 200 episodes we made over five years, and I love that we ended the show on a high.
@jakewmosher.bsky.social and I will be back later this year for another charity fundraiser! <3
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Absolutely devastating for these devs, and I really hope the game isn’t shutdown in the next few days/weeks. Thought they had something really, really fun here. Sending love to those laid off - your work was fantastic ❤️
Character limit be damned, so I can’t get my full thoughts here, but TLDR:
Highguard (and Concord) doesn’t commit many of the live-service sins. It’s also free and keeps most of the cash grabbing stuff away from the player if you don’t want to engage.
Completely get being sick of the Apex-coded visuals. Apex didn’t click for me (not a big Battle Royale guy), so a game that feels just as a good in a different format is a W for me.
As a (former) passionate cheerleader of Concord, a game that was up there with COD, Destiny & Titanfall (s-tier) for how gunplay/movement felt, I can’t bear to see another game with so much potential be taken away so quickly.
A genuine thank you for being a cheerleader! I don’t understand the hate or disinterest around this game. I get it if it’s not someone’s thing, but so many F2P games feel like garbage to play, and the controls and gamefeel are absolutely wonderful in Highguard.
I’m not a GM nor have I played football, but hiring the guy whose defense collapsed in the wild card game and then hiring the QBs coach behind CJ Stroud feels like…poor decisions.
(still wish Ben Johnson went for 2)
This is unfair, and I admit that it's unfair, but in general I'm not a big fan of hiring the guy who blew a 21-6 playoff lead in one quarter.
As a Dolphins fan, I grow increasingly more worried every day that Hafley is gonna be the hire.
