The Insert Credit Show

Video Game Journalist Catherine Masters joins the panel to cover console prices, the Microsoft BDS boycott, and Bubsy helping Mario with something. Hosted by Catherine Masters, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

“If I had a game console, I bet I’d play it all day.”

Nintendo DS Lite

Dogz 2

Atari 2600

Intellivision

Sega Game Gear

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble

Intellivoice

B-17 Bomber

DualShock

Game Genie

Rumble Pak

Sound Blaster

Mike Mika

1: How much more expensive can game consoles get? (04:43)

Sony raises PS5 prices by up to $150

PlayStation 5

Popular Kids Console Nex Playground Gets $50 Price Hike

Nex Playground

PlayStation 4

Sony Reportedly Testing Dynamic Pricing on the PlayStation Store

Nintendo Switch

Demonschool

Halo series

2: Why do people treat a Steam release like “the” PC release? (09:51)

Steam

itch.io

GoG

Kingdom Hearts series

Epic Games Store

EA Origin

PlayOnline

UPlay

Steam Deck

Alanis Morisette - Ironic

3: After a year, what impact has the BDS Microsoft boycott had? (15:23)

BDS Microsoft Boycott

RC Cola

OpenAI

Entire Claude Code CLI source code leaks thanks to exposed map file

Anthropic

OpenAI just gave up on Sora and its billion-dollar Disney deal

4: What’s the deal with all these egg games? (19:05)

Fowl Damage

Egging On

Arctic Eggs

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

Egg Squeeze

Terry Kavanaugh

yolkfolk.com

Dizzy and Seymour

Dizzy

Bubsy

The Yolkfolk

Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk

Slender Man

The Backrooms

5: Alex Jaffe asks, what tattoo would you give to a tech bro asking for “gamer cred”? (24:55)

Offspring - Pretty Fly for a White Guy

Super Mario series

Triforce

Hylian Shield

Berserk

Master Chief

The cake is a lie

Skibidi Toilet

Lara Croft

SGMATRK

Warthog

6: What games could you rework from single player to multiplayer? (31:10)

National Videogame Museum (United Kingdom)

Twitch Plays Pokemon

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

No Way Out

Knuckles’ Chaotix

Super Mario Odyssey

IndieCade

Tetris: The Grand Master

Celeste

Mr. Bones

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 2p1c by LilAggy and parkenharbor

Games Done Quick

Bennett Foddy

QWOP

Baby Steps

7: What should Catherine do instead of watching Insert Credit this week? (36:17)

Giant Bomb

RndStranger

PC Engine

The Video Game History Hour

Remap Radio

Sega Saturn

Triple Click

8: What’s the juicy cotoure tracksuit of video games? (38:56)

Juicy Cotoure tracksuit

Lollipop Chainsaw

Ugg boots

Stellar Blade

Wet

Oneechanbara series

Super Smash Bros. series

Mario Kart series

MultiVersus

2K Sports

Fortnite

Candy Crush Saga

Love and Deepspace

Goddess of Victory: Nikke

Bejeweled

Juicy couture an Ed hardy collab photoshoot NYC fashion week

LIGHTNING ROUND: Pokedexperts (47:45)

Recommendations and Outro (56:33):

Catherine: Hire Catherine if you’re a reputable publisher, make plans to finish things, Memory Card, Catherine’s work at The AV Club

Ash: Pursuit of Jade, revolution now

Brandon: 1000 Women in Horror, Apocalypse Hotel, 東風 by Sawteeth, Frédérick Raynal’s kickstarter for Popcorn Duel + Spinner

Frank: You can just watch Star Trek whenever you want without paying anyone money

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Your Insert Credit Panel covers bargaining with publishers, sordid secrets of video game couples, and the Zohran Mamdani of esports.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Cookie’s Bustle

Linux

Steam Deck

Fleetwood Mac - Landslide

Stevie Nicks

“Nothin here except a stinkin’ pile of manure.”

Coke Zero

Looney Tunes

1: What’s your favorite cartridge shape? (03:19)

Atari Jaguar

Sonic & Knuckles

Game Boy

Game Gear

Sega Genesis

HuCard

TurboGrafx-16

WonderSwan

Game Boy Advance

2: As a game developer, how do you buy more time from your publisher? (08:21)

Ysbryd Games

Demonschool

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Yu Suzuki

Space Harrier

Hayao Nakayama

3: What are the most important skills people don’t talk about in esports? (13:16)

Esports

Zohran Mamdani

Holes Filled

SonicFox

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Sumo

4: Given recent drama, what are some other secrets of video game character couples? (18:55)

Capcom Addresses Street Fighter 6 ‘Incest’ Controversy

Alex

Street Fighter III

Bayonetta 3

Sonic ’06

Sonic

Princess Elise the Third

Shadow

Maria Robotnik

Tails

Mary Shelly

Frankenstein

5: What video game would you recommend to Mary Shelly? (27:15)

Date Everything

Elden Ring

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

Yume Nikki

Silent Hill f

Fatal Frame

Frankenstein: The Monster Returns

Monster Mash

Amiga

Guitar Hero series

Spooky Scary Skeletons

Final Fantasy XV

6: SteveWithaB asks, was there a time you remember being bullied for enjoying video games? (30:04)

Columbine High School shooting

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Sega Saturn

7: What is the waking up just a few minutes before your alarm of video games? (37:47)

Treasure Co., Ltd.

Ironic

Batman: Arkham series

Resident Evil: requiem

Crimson Desert

Grand Theft Auto VI

LIGHTNING ROUND: ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID? (41:26)

The inspiration for this Lightning Round

archive.gamehistory.org

Recommendations and Outro (58:38):

Frank: Kinetica, actually donate the stuff you set aside to donate

Brandon: Suddenly In The Dark (1981)

Ash: Out of the Closet Thrift Stores

Jaffe: Donate goods to Housing Works

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Our panel of experts discuss AI in game development, how to guide players, and Duke Nukem’s actual, real balls of steel. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Xzibit

Pimp My Ride

Titan Quest

Ep. 430 - Pac-Man 2cular

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Ghost Witch of Netor

Three’s Company

John Ritter

Will Eisner

“I awakened prematurely, and I have found nothing but filth and destruction.”

Pecan pie

Cherry pie

Pumpkin pie

Apple pie

Pizza pie

Nobou Umeatsu

Metaphor: ReFantazio

1: At what point is a production tool considered AI? (08:38)

GenAI

Claude AI

Linux

GrapheneOS

Unreal Engine 5

2: What are the benefits of setting a game in the post-apocalypse? (15:26)

Rage

Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon Blue Version

Star Wars

Cowboy Bebop

3: What’s the worst answer you’ve ever heard from a video game professional to a question? (20:43)

Naoki Yoshida

Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI has a medieval approach to diversity

PlayStation 3

Gamasutra

Shuhei Yoshida

Ouya

Simon Carless

GameDiscoverCo

4: What video game facts would you put on a Snapple cap? (26:16)

Snapple

Scrapple

Liverwurst

Pong

IGF

Gex series

Dana Carvey

Dana Gould

Viggo Mortensen Broke His Toe In ‘The Two Towers’

Donkey Kong series

K. K. Slider

Shigeru Miyamoto

Sonic the Hedgehog

Yuji Naka

Duke Nukem

Fushigi

5: LeFish asks, what are the best ways of misdirecting players in videogames? (33:49)

Yellow paint

BioShock

Kaizo

Dead Space

The Secret of Monkey Island

Zero Suit Samus

Final Fantasy XV

Cortana

6: What are historically the smallest decisions that have had the largest impact on video games? (40:30)

Magnavox Odyssey

Nolan Bushnell

Video game modding

Game & Watch

D-pad

Wii Sports

Reggie Fils-Aimé

Satoru Iwata

7: What is the realizing you were dehydrated when the water you drink is too good of video games? (45:56)

Artichoke

Super Mario series

Crow Country

Sonic Mania

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

Shōnen

Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Hunter x Hunter

YuYu Hakusho

Sega Dreamcast

LIGHTNING ROUND: Letters Delivery (51:26)

Recommendations and Outro (54:52):

Brandon: The videogame inspired by Philip Glass that nobody noticed, Demonschool is on sale (please rate and review), check out the library

Ash: Do whimsical things outside your normal routine,

Frank: Go out and find stuff

Jaffe: Stay indoors

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Necrosoft Games Director and Intrepid Reporter Brandon Sheffield interviews fellow developers and attendees of GDC 2026.

Hosted by Brandon Sheffield, with Brendon Chung, Tony Grayson, Laura Michet, Chris Pruett, Phil Salvador, and Antonio Uribe. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

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Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Brandon Sheffield

GDC 2026

Yerba Buena Gardens

1: Antonio Uribe, AKA Fáyer, creator of PancitoMerge and Dig! Dig! Dino!, on baked goods and making a Playdate game (04:14)

Fáyer

PancitoMerge

Arco

Dig! Dig! Dino!

Playdate

The Whiteout

Casual Birder

Fulcrum Defender

Into The Breach

Suika Game

Threes

Harvest Moon series

Stardew Valley

PICO-8

Itch.io

Game Boy Advance

Nintendo DS

Nintendo Switch

2: Phil Salvador, Library Director of Video Game History Foundation, on building a library (21:56)

Phil Salvador

Video Game History Foundation

Chuck E. Cheese

The Secrets of Sega Channel: VGHF recovers over 100 Sega Channel ROMs (and more)

William Volk Papers

Game Developer Magazine

archive.gamehistory.org

NeverDead

MLB SlugFest Rejected Audio

Activision 1994 Expense Report Form

3: Tony Grayson, Director of Antonblast for Summit Sphere, on platformers (36:08)

Tony Grayson

Antonblast

Wario Land series

Pizza Tower

Bonk series

Persona series

Peak

Highguard

2XKO

Fortnite

Apex Legends

Demonschool

Cuphead

It Takes Two

4: Laura Michet, Narrative Director of Blendo Games and writer of Skin Deep, on comedy in video games (50:05)

Laura Michet

Blendo Games

Skin Deep

The Substance (2024)

Riot Forge

Skype

5: Brendon Chung, Creative Director of Skin Deep from Blendo games, on signposting in immersive sims (01:02:03)

Brendon Chung

Skin Deep

Immersive Sim

Repo Man (1984)

System Shock series

Thief series

Deus Ex series

BioShock series

Dishonored Series

Prey series

Deathloop

Brigand: Oaxaca

Die Hard (1988)

Final Fantasy Tactics series

Into the Breach

Phantom Brigade

6: Chris Pruett, Director of Games at Meta, on modern horror games (01:17:35)

Chris Pruett

Robot Invader

Silent Hill f

Resident Evil: Requiem

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake

R.E.P.O.

Five Nights at Freddy’s series

Mouthwashing

7: Brandon Sheffield, Writer and Director of Demonschool, on AI and being home from GDC (01:29:00)

Tripuzz

Stahlfeder: Tekkō Hikūdan

AirGrave

Santos

Patrick Miller

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

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Our heroes convene to discuss the changes at Microsoft and Sony, the liberation of Cookie’s Bustle, and the Year of the Horse.

Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Ash Parrish, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman.

Watch episodes with full video on YouTube

Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums

SHOW NOTES:

Sunsoft

Plastic Man

Catwoman

Ragman

Sandman

Sgt. Rock

Sega Genesis

Game Boy Color

Batman Returns (1992)

Michelle Pfeiffer

“I love you! Don’t reject me!”

Mega Max X

Maverick

Jaeger

Guns N’ Roses

1: What does the landscape of console gaming look like now and in the future? (03:58)

Asha Sharma named EVP and CEO, Microsoft Gaming

Sony Has Reportedly Returned to Console Exclusivity

MindsEye developer announces more job cuts while alleging ‘corporate sabotage’

Highguard

Overwatch

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Pokémon Pokopia

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Mat Piscatella

2: When in a video game would you prefer to play as yourself, versus a character with a distinct personality? (12:45)

White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

White Men Can’t Jump

Atari Jaguar

Elena

Dark Souls series

Nathan Drake

3: If you had to lock in video game aesthetics forever, would that point be right now, or another time? (17:36)

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XIII

Yakuza series

The bread scene

Vagina Bones

Steam Next Fest

Street Fighter III

Scott Pilgrim EX

4: What was the endgame for the Cookie’s Bustle patent troll? (23:59)

We’ve freed Cookie’s Bustle from copyright hell. Here’s how.

Cookie’s Bustle

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Mr. Boop

Chiitan

4chan

Mr. Bones

5: Frank, talk about the weird NextFest experience you had (32:03)

Steam Next Fest

Fester’s Quest

HowLongToBeat.com

230 games came out the first week of 2026: An Investigation. (Jenna Stoeber’s video)

Apple Arcade

Steam Deck

6: The AV Club’s Catherine Masters asks: Happy year of the horse! What does a AAA horse game on the level of Forza or God of War look like? (41:34)

The Patreon.com/insertcredit Gacha Machine

Forza series

God of War series

Turbo

MLB The Show series

Red Dead Redemption II

The Mane Quest

The Legend of Khiimori

Horses of Hoofprint Bay

Shadow of the Colossus

Tina Belcher

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

7: The AV Club’s Catherine Masters asks, what would the Pink Pony Club be like as a place in a game? (48:52)

Pink Pony Club

Chappell Roan

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

Crazy Horse Too

LIGHTNING ROUND: Year of the Horse - Mane Six (54:56)

Twilight Sparkle

Fluttershy

Rarity

Applejack

Rainbow Dash

Pinkie Pie

Recommendations and Outro (01:01:06):

Brandon: The second Kekko Kamen movie, Riverbend (1989): 6K Restoration Kickstarter, The Caller (1987), don’t overexert yourself while exercising

Ash: Touch grass, move your body, look at the sky

Jaffe: Go to physical therapy

This week’s Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you.

Subscribe: RSS, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!