CORE - Core Gaming for Core Gamers

How games positively impact work and life patterns, especially Shapez. We played Deep Rock Galactic, with Scott immersed in Horizon Zero Dawn and ChillQuarium. Jon explores Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy X, and Sea of Stars, while Beau tries out MythForce and delves into VR with Dungeons of Eternity. "Dear Martha: This Day in Gaming History" and highlights news like Brian Cox narrating Tekken's story and updates on Final Fantasy XIV's Dawntrail Expansion. The new PS5 controller version and Season 2 casting for The Last of Us. Insights from a listener about Steam's private games functionality and a gameplay leak for Wolverine, along with a science question! And loads more!

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Square-Enix's plan to implement "aggressive use of AI" in 2024. We have thoughts. Square-Enix's lack of details in their announcements is a problem. Games we played this week were: Shapez, Horizon Zero Dawn, Slay the Princess, Red Dead Redemption II, WoW and Shadows of Doubt in VR. The "Dear Martha Reddit Review" segment explores a breakup over a favorite game insult. Other news includes a 13-year-old beating Tetris, Mickey Mouse going public domain for a horror game, Jack Black voicing Minecraft Steve, Guardians of the Galaxy free on Epic Games, a Heroes of the Storm remake mod, and a City of Heroes private server receiving an official license. Shoutout to a creator, Michael Betts, for his game "Tower Song"!! Emails and calls too!

GAMES WE PLAYED THIS WEEK:

SCOTT

Shapez (complete obsession now, cant stop wont stop)

Horizon Zero Dawn (yeah, you heard me)

(just started Pizza Tower)

JON:

Slay the Princess - Finished it

Red Dead Redemption II

Stacklands

Quickies: Baldur's Gate 3, Sea of Stars, Final Fantasy X, Yakuza: Like a Dragon

BEAU

WoW SoD continues

Shadows of Doubt

VR: Dungeons of Eternity with Crofton

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Well what do we have here? Our year-end MASSIVE round up of the best games of the year, including a load of categories you won't find anywhere else. Check the RSS feed or Patreon for a FULL text list of the games we covered. Can you guess our number one? Listen and find out!

Group Category #1 - Most Anticipated Games of 2024:

Scott:

Space Marine II

Shapez 2

Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League

Jon:

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Dragon's Dogma II (Honorable Mention: Hades 2)

Beau:

Like A Dragon 2: Infinite Wealth

Hades 2?

FF7 Rebirth

Group Category #2 - Biggest Surprises of 2023:

Scott:

Robocop

Death Must Die

The Finals

Lethal Company

Rogue Trader

Jon:

Remnant 2

RoboCop: Rogue City

Bang on Balls

Death Must Die

House Flipper 2

Beau:

WoW SoD

Dead Space Remake was actually really good

AR is better than you think (Quest 3 is awesome)

M$ actually bought ABK

WoW SoD

Group Category #3 - Best Non-2023 Games of 2023:

Scott:

Mark of The Ninja

GW2

WoW: Dragonflight

Jon:

World of Warcraft - Retail, Classic, & Hardcore

Octopath Traveler

Transformers: War for Cybertron

Beau:

Yakuza: Like A Dragon

Darktide

Stacklands

The CORE Crew's Top 5 Games of the Year:

Scott:

BG3

Phantom Liberty (yes it counts)

Starfield

Sea of Stars

Diablo IV

Jon:

Baldur's Gate 3

CyberPunk 2077 w/ Phantom Liberty

Final Fantasy XVI

Resident Evil 4 Remake

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Beau:

Baldur's Gate 3

Dead Space Remake

Like A Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name

Wartales

Diablo 4

CORE's 2023 GAME OF THE YEAR:

Baldur's Gate 3

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Steam Year in Review highlights gaming experiences, shared by Scott, Jon, and Beau. And we played The Finals, Lethal Company, and House Flipper 2 together. Scott played Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader and An Arcade full of Cats. Jon delves into Bang on Balls, Death Must Die, WWE 2K23, and Fortnite. Beau conquers WoW SoD BFD, VR adventures, BG3, and Diablo 4 winter event. Dear Martha: Steam Reviews! Other News: Bobby Kotick's departure, Insomniac's leaks, Steam's profile game hiding, and Sony's 50m PS5 sales success. Oh and the WoW 2024 roadmap is out and it's kinda great. Your calls and more!

SHARED PLAY:

The Finals

Lethal Company

House Flipper 2

SCOTT GAMES:

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader

An Arcade Full of Cats

JON GAMES:

Bang on Balls

Death Must Die

WWE 2K23

Fortnite

BEAU GAMES:

WoW SoD BFD

VR: Asgard's Wrath 2

VR: Arizone Sunshine 2

VR: Lego Brick Tales

BG3 Multiplayer Continued

D4 Winter Event

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Old gaming pleasures when your sick! Plus we do a Disco Elysium contest today! The big Day Before mess. The aftermath drama of the Game Awards. Twitch getting into and then out of the boobies game. E3 is dead...for real this time. Dyson Sphere just got a HUGE patch. And here are the games we played this week!

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All the announcements, all the reveals, and all the commentary you can stand from the CORE crew!

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Our ongoing World of Warcraft adventures, Guild Wars 2, Wildermyth, and StarCraft 2 campaigns. Upcoming game news, such as a massive Baldur's Gate 3 patch and Remnant 2 on Game Pass. Netflix gaming acquiring the GTA Trilogy and briefly touch on Fallout coming to Prime. Listener email praising Warcraft Rumble's early gameplay but expressing frustration with the difficulty spike at level 50, raising concerns about the impact of microtransactions.

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Welcome to CORE, where we could do the Konami Code in our sleep. Scott Johnson, Beau Schwartz, and Jon Jagger here. Playing a clip about microtransactions from an ex-Blizz guy sets the tone. The main topic is yet to be revealed, but our week in gaming features an abundance of World of Warcraft, with Scott hitting new levels and Jon exploring new features. Scott enjoys Lil Gator Game and Wildfrost on Steam, while Jon dives into Super Mario RPG on Switch and Death Must Die. Beau covers Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, The Expanse, Sun Wukong in Ravenswatch, and Starcraft 2. The break teases news like Valve's Half-Life retrospective and Walking Dead Destinies hitting Xbox bestsellers. Space Marine 2 is delayed, and Eminem is coming to Fortnite. Core-respondence includes an email confirming Beau's insight and a text about scary games, mentioning Martian Gothic.

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The Steam Deck 2.0 is a hot topic today. The main discussion revolves around Game Awards nominations like Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Spiderman 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Wonder, and Tears of The Kingdom. Our gaming week features WoW discussions, including a creative solution for Jon's night-time gaming issue. Scott delves into Diablo IV and Backpack Hero on Steam, while Jon shares WWE 2K23 highlights and a Nintendo Switch mystery game. Beau recaps a hardcore WoW Saturday and achievements in Diablo 4 and Like a Dragon Gaiden. Also there's news on Greg and Scott's Word on the Street debut, Baldur's Gate 3's physical edition, Dungeon Keeper 1's KeeperFX mod release after 15 years, Darktide's update, and Samwise Didier's retirement. A call about Inkbound's removal of micro-transactions and more!

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Greg Street doing something exciting! We spill some beans. How were our BlizzCon predictions? We find out. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and Classic, Diablo IV, and Robocop. Scott high lights the indie game Ooblets. Jon shares experiences with Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Powerwash Simulator, and previews Free-Per View 3 in FROG Wrestling. Beau talks about hardcore WoW, "For the King 2," and other games. "Dear Martha: Steam Reviews" segment, featuring a steamy review for Milfy City - Final Edition. Other news includes GTA VI's announcement, Nintendo's live-action Zelda movie, Valve's privacy update, and SteamDeck's OLED release. Texts and a call!

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