Season 1 of the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us wrapped this past week and as fans of Naughty Dog and Sony’s original games, Bubba, Matt & Kate wanted to chat about it. HBO really set the bar high for future gaming IPs turned into live action shows and movies. They cast some ideas for seasons 2 and 3 of the show, the possibility of a Last of Us Part 3 game, and how much Pedro Pascal is TOO MUCH Pedro Pascal. If that’s even a thing.

We’re celebrating LTN’s 5th birthday and can’t believe how fast the time has gone. So much has happened in the past five years and looking back brings up a lot of memories. Kate took the time this week to come up with some hard hitting questions to interview Matt, Bubba, and herself about LTN’s future and some things that they hold near and dear to their hearts from the past five years. HBD Love Thy Nerd!

Every once in awhile, Bubba sends something Kate's way that she's actually interested in. This week, it was a link to The Last Kingdom Board Game Kickstarter from Gamelyn Games. The Last Kingdom Netflix series is one of Kate's favorite shows, so she was super pumped to see this even though tabletop games aren’t her area of expertise. That got them curious about other Netflix IPs that have been turned into tabletop experiences.

E3 has had a rough time the past couple years with cancellations and the event held online. 2023 marks a return to in-person for both the press and the public but Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox won’t be attending. Without E3, these big companies have figured out that releasing their announcements on their own schedule without relying on a once a year expo probably works out way better. What will E3 look like without the Big 3? Is this marking the end of this expo as we know it?

Welcome to Season 8 of the Free Play podcast! During the break, Bubba, Matt & Kate watched Kaleidoscope, Netflix’s non-linear streaming experience where you can watch the episodes in any order, except for the last one. Netflix automatically randomized the episodes based on viewers location. Engaging in non-linear storytelling isn’t exactly new to us as nerds, so what makes this experience different? Plus, catch up on what's been going on over the break and what they've been playing and watching.

Free Play’s “cut-man”, CJ Burroughs, suggested Bubba, Matt & Kate chat about some of their memories about nerdy Christmas gifts that they received as young nerds way back when. They also want to cover the 2022 Game Awards Game of the Year nominees and throw their guesses out ahead of the award show next week. This is the Season 7 finale!

Some people, like Bubba, look upon the impending era of our AI overlords with excitement and joy. Others, like Kate, are a little unsure. And stories with headlines like “Someone turned their imaginary friend into an AI microwave and it wanted to kill them” do little to change her opinion.

Have you had a disappointment in the game space that really bummed you out? Never fear, the Free Play Podcast is here to help you recover and move on. After Kate had an underwhelming God of War Ragnarök release day, they’re talking all about gaming disappointments they’ve had and how we can all get to a better place.