Valve's Steam Machine reviews are in — and the verdict is brutal: by most measures it's slightly less powerful than a base PS5 while costing more than double. We break down the benchmarks, why Valve went semi-custom on the chips, and whether "access to the entire Steam library" is worth the price of admission. Before that, we go deep on Escape from Tarkov's first-ever season, Cord Breach — the new seasonal character system, the Path of Exile-style trait modifiers, the Kappa protocol, and whether this shakes up the Tarkov loop for good. Then it's War Dogs: the alpha impressions are rolling in, the hype is real, and the only "complaints" are people mad about camping in a large-scale warfare game.
Plus: Sony is killing physical disc production for new PlayStation games in 2028 — do you even own your games anymore? And one last Call of Duty story from our CoD heritage: Warzone's cheater problem has never been worse, to the point streamers are teaming up mid-match just to survive. Jake sees the upside, Raz calls it like he sees it.
0:00 - Intro & Happy 4th of July
1:26 - This Week In Gaming (the rundown)
2:33 - Tarkov's First-Ever Season: Cord Breach
9:22 - Breaking Down The Seasonal Traits
21:28 - The Kappa Question & Big-Ticket Perks
26:46 - Neutral, Season-Wide Modifiers
29:44 - The Negative Traits
39:18 - Verdict: Is Cord Breach Worth It?
39:32 - Seasonal vs. Permanent Characters
47:03 - War Dogs Alpha: The Hype Builds
1:00:31 - Sony Kills The Disc (2028)
1:10:26 - Do You Even Own Your Games?
1:17:06 - Steam Machine: Impressive Hardware, Baffling Price
1:22:26 - Benchmarks: Weaker Than A PS5 For Double
1:33:24 - How Chips Are Made & The Silicon Lottery
1:34:16 - One Last CoD Story: Warzone's Cheater Hell
1:39:55 - Landing The Plane
_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._
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