Shared Bytes

by Andy and Justin

Episode 18 - Andy & Justin

Two man pod this week as Justin and Andy catch up on some of the biggest happenings over the last few weeks. They discuss Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil as Andy heartily recommends both that and Dreamworks’ Forgotten Island in theaters. The guys have an in depth chat about Marvel’s Wolverine on PS5 while Justin gives his first impressions of Valve’s new VR hardware, the Steam Frame. Also: Destiny 2 lives? And is it time to start thinking about games as art separately from business?

Episode 17 - Andy & Justin - State of Play 9/26 & Pokemon Worlds 2026

Andy go in depth on sharing their 3 day Pokemon XP and Pokemon World Championships attendance experience. The guys also recap the September PlayStation State of Play show and share their picks for best of show!

Episode 16 - Andy & Justin

Another beautiful day with a two man pod. Andy shares what it’s like to go to the Outside Lands music festival in SF as well as what it was like going to a pre release for the new Magic the Gathering The Hobbit crossover set. Justin talks the new Spider-Man movie and further adventures in parenting. The main topic for the week is cooperative gaming as the guys explore the different kinds of co-op game experiences and partners to play with. They go over recommendations as well as explore the ways you can broaden your diet of co-op game types.

Episode 15 - Andy & Justin

We’re back! Two man pod as we catch up on some summer activities. Andy shares trip highlights from Wisconsin including eating cheese curds and the fun mascot shenanigans that happen while going to a Brewers game. Justin talks about being a dad for the second time while sharing his latest gaming experiences with Pokemon Go, Splatoon Raiders, and more. The guys have a spirited discussion on the recent big news from Sony announcing the end of physical media for PlayStation in 2028 - they talk about why this is happening and also discuss some ideas on how we all can move forward. Physical media options forever!

Episode 14 - Andy & Justin

The guys catch up about summer sports and gaming, including the Destiny 2 final update, Forza Horizon 6, Marathon, and Mina the Hollower. They go over some of the Xbox Studios shutdowns and do a big overview of gaming's Not-E3 summer event reveals and keynotes from State of Play, Summer Gamesfest, Xbox, and more. Andy and Justin also give their picks for most anticipated games to play from these shows for the next year.

Episode 13 - Gavin Howell

We catch up with our former PlayStation colleague Gavin Howell, currently of Probably Monsters and reminisce about old times working together. Gavin gives some great insight on working in business development on both the platform and developer side along with some great career insight on what makes a successful BizDev person. We also have a fun experience share of some of the deep lored worlds of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive and Kane Parsons’s Backrooms while also discussing the age old debate of “are audiobooks reading?” Finally, the guys have an extended reflection/postmortem discussion on the upcoming end of Destiny 2 as all of us have over 2000 hours played in the game over 12+ years.

Episode 12 - Andy & Justin

Two man pod this episode again with Andy and Justin. We chat about photography inspiration, children’s birthday parties, film festivals, Matt Johnson having a recent moment as Justin is watching Nirvanna, The Show, The Band, The Movie, and obtaining passes for the upcoming Pokemon World Championships. Andy chats about finishing Pragmata while Justin gives his first impressions of Housemarque’s Saros. The guys also analyze some Steam sales data from Sony and Microsoft while speculating about how GTA 6 will do. Finally, there’s a spirited discussion on game discovery as well as shortcuts we use while leveraging critics and influencers to form opinions.

Episode 11 - Andy & Justin

The guys have another two-man pod and chat about experiences going to a concert from bands we liked 20+ years ago (The Format and RX Bandits) as well as experiences with family sleepovers at museums is like. We chat about our time with Pragmata, Marathon, and Pokopia gaming recently as well as the recently announced Microsoft Game Pass price changes and how compelling Call of Duty and subscription packages are worth. Andy gives a rundown as to WrestleMania and how WWE has over-monetized its product recently. The guys then continue the conversation on talking through a gaming “diet” by putting together a framework trying to understand why we play certain kinds of games and what kinds of cravings they fulfill, similar to how you would fill up your plate at a buffet. Andy’s newsletter: https://appropriatelycultured.net/

Episode 10 - Andy & Justin

Classic two man pod today as Andy catches up with Absolute Batman, Justin loses a week to roguelite coin-pusher Raccoin, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie asks us to find the line between what makes a movie “good” versus “enjoyable.” Hint: they don’t have to be mutually exclusive! We also take a nice little detour into the world of male fashion courtesy of a very sweet raffle win for a pair of Jordans by Justin, chat a bit about the new A24 movie “The Drama” and also start noodling on the concept of mapping out our personal gaming diets to start putting together a “Gaming Food Pyramid”.

Episode 9 - Chandler Wood

This week, we welcome Chandler Wood, video game marketer formerly of Avalanche Studios and PlayStation Lifestyle! Andy and Justin chat with him on how he helped build and manage the community for Hogwarts Legacy at Avalanche Studios, and what it takes to be an effective liaison between players and creators. Plus, we talk Marathon, Lucha Libre Wrestling, Project Hail Mary, moving to New York City, and more.

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