Game Mess Mornings

Game Mess Mornings is a video game news show hosted by Jeff Grubb, who introduces himself at the top of episodes as the host from GiantBomb.com. The shape repeats from one episode to the next. Grubb welcomes listeners, names the stories he plans to cover, and brings in that episode's guest with a quick check on how they are doing. In this recent run the guest is different every time: Eka, Janet Choa, Jason Finelli, Matthew Finneman, John Martin and Britton Peel each take the second chair. The teasers are part of the fun. One intro promised talk of 'Capcom nerfing cousin marriage', which left the guest baffled. Nintendo is a steady thread. The show has covered Switch 2 games leaking early, a forgotten Switch game resurfacing on Switch 2, and what Grubb called plenty of Nintendo news, with episode titles like 'Rhythm Heaven Groove Coming in July'. PlayStation and Microsoft get their share. One episode asked how anyone is still buying a PS5 after its price increase, and another looked at Sony's plans for the rest of the year. A conversation about Forza pointed to strong sales on PlayStation and asked how much now rests on Forza Horizon, with Forza Motorsport diminished and Turn 10 wound down. The holdup with GTA 6 on PC gets airtime as well. Titles such as 'Report Claims Marathon Cost Over $250 Million' and 'Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Dev Team Potentially Reuniting' reach past release dates into budgets and development teams. What sets it apart from a straight headline read is how much time goes to the people. Guests talk about what they are playing: a Star Fox kick that ended with beating the Super Nintendo original for the first time, a Pokemon FireRed tournament at an Easter party, a Pragmata review where the embargo held back certain details. One exchange turned to a spouse who spent hundreds of hours with Dragon Quest Builders and now seems headed the same way with Pocopia. Everyday life comes up too, from wallpapering and spring break to a theater group's opening and a heated rant about the medical system. The tone is casual and jokey, two people riffing rather than working through a script. A good first episode is 'Crimson Desert Review Round-Up', which Grubb introduced as a look at reviews for one of the most weirdly anticipated games of the year.