A leaked trailer has made Mass Effect fans angrier than anything BioWare has done recently. With the studio shut down and Mass Effect 5 cancelled, a petition is circulating to force EA to sell the franchise. Luke and Matt go through the whole sad run from Andromeda to Anthem to the purple Dragon Age game, and they ask whether EA might still have plans for the IP (probably involving microtransactions).

From there the show gets bigger. Anthropic reportedly lost $80.7 billion in the first half of this year. Matt is paying $20 a month for something that costs far more to run, and Nvidia is pre-selling RAM to companies that haven’t got anywhere to put it. Epic Games has gone AI-first on its Disney shooter after laying off 1,000 people. Matt, a senior developer, asks how anyone becomes a senior developer when there are no junior jobs. Luke’s answer is that people will be paid to play games again, and he says it with a straight face. We also try to work out whether Star Trek is a realistic model for universal basic income.

There’s a Congressional bill that would let you actually own the games you buy, and Luke’s plan for Microsoft to get rich by bringing back a feature it scrapped on the Xbox One. A Valve developer said ‘HLX’ out loud and got teased for it afterwards. Luke says Half-Life 2 was repetitive and will defend that position. Matt has been playing Little Kitty, Big City for his daughter, and he keeps putting off the chainsaw ladies in Resident Evil 4. Luke reviews Street Fighter and Other Mummy after two “private screenings”, there are rumours about the next James Bond, and Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie has been shelved.

• Rip Bioware Ea Shuts Down Storied Rpg Studio After Over Three Decades
• Mass Effect 5 Canceled as EA Shuts Down BioWare
• Leaked Mass Effect Universe Trailer Gives A Taste Of What Were All Missing
• Mass Effect Fans Call For Ea Boycott As Petition To Save Biowares Canceled Game Garners More Than 75000 Signatures
• Report Epic Games Goes All In On Ai For Disney Collaboration
• Video game ownership bill introduced in Congress
• Everybody Panic A Valve Developer Said Hlx In Public
• James Bond Screen Tests to Happen This Weekend: Finalists Emerge for Next 007 Movie
• Taika Waititi Says His Star Wars Movie Is On Ice

Luke went to PAX Aus! What did he do there? What does he hate about conventions? And what was Matt playing this week? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Topics discussed

• PAX Aus recap and Luke's pinball glory
• Board games over video games
• Con pet peeves, long lines and panel etiquette
• Pokémon, Pikmin Bloom and location-based games
• Con food and drink
• Alec Baldwin documentary follow-up
• You Can See Everything (Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos)
• Tesla's new Roadster demo and electric car competition
• Mike Flanagan and Stephen King remakes
• Strange Horticulture, Resident Evil 4 remake and Outbound
• AI mashups and Xbox

Links

• ‘The Trial of Alec Baldwin’ Review: Rory Kennedy’s Bold but Blinkered Doc Centers the Movie Star in the ‘Rust’ Tragedy, Nearly Erasing Halyna Hutchins
• The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second
• Carrie Showrunner Reveals Which Stephen King Movie Should Never Get A Remake
• Xbox is officially embracing the chaos of AI-powered game ports

It’s episode 666, so naturally we spent a chunk of it assigning the Seven Deadly Sins to the gaming industry’s worst offenders. Unity took Greed for trying to charge developers retroactively per install (still unforgivable). AI took Gluttony. Microsoft took… also Gluttony, basically. Luke took Sloth personally and voluntarily. Chris Roberts, who has been making Star Citizen since 2012, has taken over a billion dollars, and still hasn’t released the game, nearly got Sloth but ended up on Pride, which honestly tracks more.

Also in this episode: Luke bought a shirt in Vietnam that might have sea cucumbers on it. Matt went to a fake Warped Tour at a brewery and thinks the Green Day tribute band put in more effort than actual Green Day. The Witcher 3 Remastered looks incredible on an ultrawide with ray tracing. Luke wants Night Trap but can’t get it in Australia. Someone is selling bootleg 4K discs of The Abyss on Amazon. The Minecraft Realm still exists and nobody has logged in.

Oh, and the website has a new topics browser now: you can see that we’ve talked about Red Dead Redemption 2 fifteen times and Rogue One eighteen times. Which is a lot.

Topics discussed

• Matt went to a fake Warped Tour at a brewery
• Luke bought a bright sea-creature shirt in Vietnam
• Matt's been playing Graveyard Keeper
• The Witcher 3 remastered is out and looks incredible
• Xbox now has Mythic achievements
• Developers at The Coalition (Gears of War E-Day) are reportedly worried
• The 7 Deadly Sins of gaming and tech
• Bootleg physical media is apparently a real problem now
• Colin from Accounts season 3 is out on Paramount
• We're watching Ted Lasso season 4
• The Pokémon TCG printed so many cards in their new set that scalpers are stuck holding stock they can't flip for much profit. Extremely satisfying.
• Matt updated the Multiple Nerdgasm website with an AI-powered topics page
• Daylight saving is about to mess with their recording schedule again
• PAX Australia is next week

Links

• Paramount & Warners Become Skydance
• Report: Gears Of War: E-Day Developers Fear For Their Jobs And Bonuses - Kotaku
• The Witcher 3 Remastered Nintendo Switch 2 Can Be Unlocked For Free Even If You Borrow A Switch Physical Copy From A Friend
• Mythic achievements

Nathan Fielder moved into Elizabeth Holmes’ house for 10 days before she went to jail, made a documentary about it, and somehow it’s rated R for graphic nudity. We have no idea what’s going on and we cannot wait.

Also: Luke watched all of Silo Season 3 instead of going for a swim (the pool wasn’t warm enough), Matt went to see the Jonas Brothers and actually enjoyed it (being supportive, he insists), and Xbox had another rough week -Ninja Theory is being shut down after Microsoft couldn’t sell them, and Halo is now Activision’s problem.

George Lucas came out of his box this week to say his Star Wars special editions were necessary and justified. The Ewoks blinked their disagreement. Also he claims he had three more Star Wars movies planned… we’re pretty sure he did not.

Plus: the CEO of Nvidia doesn’t know his own address so kids don’t need to learn maths apparently, an AI actress glitched into Chinese mid-interview with Piers Morgan, and someone paid thousands of dollars in API fees to generate a garbage Counter-Strike clone. Good times!

Topics discussed

• Silo Season 3
• Wheel of Games on TrueAchievements
• Jonas Brothers
• Xbox Studio Closures
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
• Tilly Norwood, AI Actress
• Nathan Fielder's Elizabeth Holmes Documentary
• Activision making the next Halo
• Star Wars original theatrical cut returning
• Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Full show notes and links: https://multiplenerdgasm.com/665-no-jonas/

Luke goes full cinema hermit and catches two movies in one day — the 40th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie (verdict: fun but makes absolutely no sense, Hot Rod forever) and Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil (verdict: actually good, go see it, the padlock jokes are perfect). Meanwhile Matt is still playing Yoshi and the Mysterious Book with his daughter, who apparently blasted through the new Bluey game in a single weekend like some kind of toddler speedrunner.

The internet is mad about Wolverine because Mystique has clothes on. Sweet Baby Inc, apparently. Blizzard announced StarCraft and Diablo 5 at BlizzCon because they had nothing else — both are 4-5 years away, both trailers are purely cinematic. Level-5 admitted they used some AI art in the Professor Layton remake announcement and everyone lost their minds. 007: First Light got delayed again on Switch 2, almost certainly because nobody wants to ship anything near GTA 6.

Buffy’s 30th anniversary Emmys segment happened, it got complicated, and also we learned what gooning is. You’re welcome. Plus: a dolphin named Bubbles who has figured out that if you scare a fish enough it will throw up, and then you eat that. Luke has decided he no longer likes dolphins.

Topics discussed

• Transformers: The Movie 40th anniversary re-release
• Zach Cregger's Resident Evil review
• Zack Snyder's Escape from New York remake
• Wolverine game 'fart sniffer' scent mechanic backlash
• Wolverine game backlash over Mystique/Jean Grey designs
• Professor Layton remake AI-art backlash
• 007 First Light delayed again on Switch 2
• StarCraft open-world shooter announced for 2030
• Diablo 5 announced for 2029
• Doctor Who put out to tender, could return 2028
• Buffy 30th anniversary Emmys kiss request controversy
• Buffy in memoriam segment backlash over Nicholas Brendon
• Dolphin Bubbles' vomit-eating hunting technique

Full show notes and links: https://multiplenerdgasm.com/664-goon-squad/

Luke’s three VBs in not hungover this week, so prepare for some high energy discussion of the week’s going on!

• Bruce Campbell Says He Has Five Years Left
• Luke does not have the restriction on streaming
• Adventure awaits! Nintendo of America announces Customer Appreciation Sale - News - Nintendo Official Site
• The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable
• The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time Remake Fully Revealed
• Metroid Ravenous – Nintendo Direct 9.9.2026 - YouTube
• KALLAX STORAGEBORN, a free creation for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim™ from IKEA. - YouTube
• The Wolverine reviews are in
• ‘South Park’ Is “Changing Its Name” to ‘South America’ for Season 29 to Mock Trump
• The Just-Canceled 'Spider-Noir' Wins Some Posthumous Emmys

This week Microsoft quietly kneecaps Xbox Cloud Gaming with new monthly hour limits, and they’re also keeping the tariff refunds. The future of gaming may not be financially viable?

• ‘The Trial of Alec Baldwin,’ Rory Kennedy Doc About Titular Actor in ‘Rust’ Shooting Aftermath, Acquired by Abramorama (Exclusive)
• Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Soon Get More Expensive for the Players Who Use It Most
• Microsoft and Sony argue no obligation to pass on tariff refunds, file to dismiss consumer lawsuits
• The Witcher Remake Is On Hold Until The Witcher 4S Development Progresses Confirms Cd Projekt Red
• Playstation Claims Digital Games Are Not Really Owned By Players In Response To Class Action Lawsuit
• 12Tb Of Steam Files Leak As A Decades Worth Of First And Third Party Game Data Is Exposed
• James Pond Co-Creator Calls AI-Rife Remake 'Soulless'
• The New 'Star Trek' Movie Will Explore 'Bad Apples' in Starfleet
• Ridley Scott Wants To Help Alien After Romulus Was Better Than His Films
• Star Wars Effects Artist Phil Tippett Shutters Studio
• Tippet Stuff
• Nicolas Cage’s ‘Spider-Noir’ Canceled by Prime Video After One Season

Xbox's limited-edition green throwback console sold out in under a minute this week, and is now sitting on eBay for $3,300 AUD. Reasonable? You be the judge. Actually no, we’ll be the judge. That’s ridiculous.

• Squadrom 42 delayed... again. The scam continues! : r/pcmasterrace
• Apple's Polishing Cloth is back for $9
• Xbox Disc To Digital Insiders
• Ikea’s Xbox collection includes a giant thumbstick stool
• Canceled Iron Man Game Footage From Just Cause And Mad Max Developer Leaks Online
• PlayStation Blasts Out Poorly Timed Reminder About Digital Games
• The Witcher 3 Remastered Launches September Free Upgrade For All Owners
• The Witcher 3 Songs Of The Past Expansion Confirmed To Include More Gwent And Everyone Is Already Celebrating
• The Witcher 4 Confirmed For 2028 Release In Official Cd Projekt Gamescom 2026 Announcement
• "Avengers Endgame Encore" Is