CORE - Core Gaming for Core Gamers

CORE - Core Gaming for Core Gamers

Hosted by podcasting vet, Scott Johnson, Jon Jagger and Beau Schwartz. Weekly, on the frogpants network. Video games and the issues around them every week! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

January 8, 2026 170 mins

January Releases: Let's mostly focus on Animal Crossing and FFVII Remake for Switch 2, plus Code Vein 2 and Highguard. (yeah, we kinda forgot about Highguard too.)


StarCraft Shooter coming to Blizzcon? It might be Blizzard’s third attempt at a SC shooter, reportedly an open-world project led by Dan Hay (Far Cry fame).


Other stuff: Awesome Games Done Quick, a Starfield Star Wars conversion, and FF Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles h...

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It's time for our anual personal and group awards for the games of the last year, and a few that are not. :) Join Scott Beau and Jon as they look back and forward and somehow up and down as well. Oh and this is the first time this gets called The osCORES. Big thx to Taz for the post art! Jump in! Full award notes: https://www.frogpants.com/corepicks2025 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

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December 26, 2025 155 mins

Diablo IV: Both Scott and Beau are back in for Season 11. Scott’s "Hot Take" is that the game is officially "very good now”, and he does not care who knows it. (Paladin to 46); Beau claims it’s the best season of "Diablo 3" yet. (lol)


Scott: Revisiting Overload (on sale), playing Escape Room Simulator 2, and starting Banquet for Fools.


Jon: Reached the new area in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and is impressed by the visuals.

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December 18, 2025 176 mins

Get your ‘500+ Episodes’ mugs at Frogpants.shop now before its too late!. We recapped The Game Awards: Jon loved Resident Evil Requiem, Scott is into Total War Warhammer 40k, and Beau liked Gang of Dragon. We mostly bounced off Highguard.


News: Steam Winter Sale is live. Fallout Season 2 has started. We discussed Netflix buying WB (details at core.show). Supervive is shutting down after 7 months.


Played: Scott is on Path of E...

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December 12, 2025 238 mins
Audio edition of our watch-a-long! Listen along with us! Video version will be up on CORE.SHOW shortly.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark as Played
December 11, 2025 71 mins
Welcome to episode 500! Finishing Dispatch, loving Split Fiction, playing Demeo DND, and the Hordes of Hel! Plus Shinobi is underrated, Divinity still has a lot of stuff on the ground, Witcher 3, and a LOT of prep for tonight’s Game Awards. (coming in a separate post.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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December 4, 2025 196 mins

🎉 500 EPISODE MUGS NOW AVAILABLE!

Get yours reserved before we hit the limit!

https://frogpants.shop 


⚠️ SPOILER POLICY CLARIFICATION

Going forward:

1. We'll do our best not to offer major spoilers on narrative elements

2. We'll give ample warning to pause, skip ahead, or come back later

3. We'll front-load discussions with spoiler-free content

- Scott will play BGM over spoiler sections for podcast listeners

- Jon is doing YouTub...

Mark as Played
November 29, 2025 212 mins

Scott dropped a Patreon vs Core.show support comparison video—check it at Core.show for the breakdown. Also posted an article about RAM prices going absolutely bonkers right now. The advice? Wait it out. Don't be the person overpaying because you can't control yourself. 


News Roundup: 

WoW: Midnight Gets Real

Jon brought the news: World of Warcraft's next expansion drops March 2nd, 2026. Mark your calendars, prepare your...

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November 21, 2025 214 mins

Main Topic: Game Awards Nominees. Megabonk dev withdraws "Best Debut Indie" nomination (made previous games). Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 breaks record with 12 nominations. Notable snubs: ARC Raiders, Dispatch, Sonic the Hedgehog 3.


Other News

Xbox Partners Showcase (Tides of Annihilation, Vampire Crawlers, Total Chaos)

Epic/Unity partnership for Fortnite integration

Krafton AI controversy re: Subnautica 2 bonuses

Dispatch skill re...

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November 13, 2025 230 mins

Valve has three new hardware options for you, and we talk about them in detail today. Plus all the news and stuff you can stand, as well as a visit from Bobby for a nice little WoW update! 


GAMES PLAYED


SCOTT

Tavern Keeper


JON

Dispatch

CyberPunk 2077


BEAU

Farthest Frontier

Jump Space

REPO

ARC Raiders

Vampire Survivors VR


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

Mark as Played
November 6, 2025 199 mins

All the details on CORE.show, and what you can get from it! WoW is not coming to consoles, says game lead at Blizz. Fortnite has all the cartoon dads now. Rockstar doing some devious firings. Your Steam Deck can now download while asleep! Warhammer Survivors is HAPPENING! Blizzcon tickets go up tomorrow. Playstation Portal finally does cloud. The return of Nexeopardy! All the games of the week and loads more.


SCOTT

Hoop Land

Mech ...

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October 30, 2025 249 mins

Nintendo wants you to feel like those happy pandemic times again with a big update to Animal Crossing on Switch 2. Also, all the games of November, the Amazon Games layoffs and the apparent shutter of New World. Civ 7 trying to fix things. Claire and Cloud together at last. All the games we played plus all the usual stuff Enjoy!


SHARED PLAY THIS WEEK

Slots & Daggers


SCOTT

Powerwash Simulator 2

Warside


JON

The Outer Worlds ...

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October 24, 2025 184 mins

How does anyone make a definitive list of the best games? It’s impossible, but we talk about the latest attempt anyway. Plus, Remedy losing their CEO after Firebreak did so poorly, and Vampire Survivors adds DLC to DLC. We also field a load of your questions this week, along with the usual dork-athon, and the games we played to boot! 


SHARED PLAY THIS WEEK

Battlefield 6


SCOTT

Superliminal (beat it!)

Battle-Suit Aces

Yet Anot...

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October 16, 2025 204 mins

Early reviews for the Xbox handheld are out, and it is a mixed bag to say the least. Understanding Fearless Drafts. Glen Powell wants in on E33 movies. EA employees not happy about the sell out. Quantic Dream is making a….free to play MOBA? Yep. Also, all the games we played and loads more!



GAMES PLAYED


SCOTT

Ball X Pit

The Exit 8.

Funguys Swarm

Soulstone Survivors

Silent Hill f


JON

Megabonk


BEAU

Battlefield 6

Hades 2

Pinbal...

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October 9, 2025 149 mins

Straight into Hades II gameplay talk! Covering the “rat boss,” progress paths, end-game challenges, and tarot upgrades, all leading up to some admittedly broad comparisons to ARPGs and roguelites. Design depth, storytelling, and character reactions, Greg Street’s studio troubles, praise for Megabonk. Not to mention the mess that the gamepass changes continue to be. Sackbird Studios has our hopes. Make your own VR headset at home an...

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October 2, 2025 203 mins

Scott & Jon’s Horror Video Game Fun Time kicks off Friday with Silent Hill f, running each Friday this month. Main topic covers October’s big releases like Ghost of Yotei, Battlefield 6, Little Nightmares 3, Pokémon Legends Z-A, Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2, Mina the Hollower and more. Other news: Microsoft hikes Game Pass, EA goes private, Fortnite pulls Peacemaker, Capcom coy on RE9. Dear Martha Gameshow returns with “F...

Mark as Played
September 25, 2025 232 mins

Happy ten years to CORE! Plus, Beau reminds us about a Kojima credit card coming soon. Highlights from TGS like Kojima’s new horror game OD and Capcom announcements including C. Viper in SF6, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, Pragmata, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword. PlayStation’s State of Play brought a bag of goodies: Saros, Zero Parades for Dead Spies, Flight Simulator 2024, a Deus Ex remaster, Mega Man in Sonic Racing, Dyn...

Mark as Played
September 19, 2025 197 mins

Nintendo Direct dropped big news: Metroid Prime 4, more Fire Emblem, a quirky “Ditto Crossing,” and even Virtual Boy stuff, plus Hades 2’s 1.0 launch date is September 25. Meanwhile, Randy Pitchford remains the industry’s baffling clown in an ill-fitting suit, Sega is back with some old-school “Ninten-Don’t” ads, and speculation heats up around Cyberpunk 2 possibly including multiplayer (though Scott was sure that was already confi...

Mark as Played
September 11, 2025 159 mins

Frogs, flies, and state borders! Keanu Reeves expressed willingness to bring back Johnny Silverhand in future Cyberpunk projects, fueling speculation about DLC or cameos. PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, hosts, and more. Exhibition 33’s concert tour selling out instantly, Halo Infinite getting Invasion mode, and Steam reviews for Silksong differing by language, with Chinese players criticizing localization. And LOTS more!


Shared Pla...

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September 8, 2025 50 mins
Scott sits down with Tanner Goodman, who just got back from the EU, and his time at Gamescom in Germany. They talk about everything he saw! Including the standout demos like Crimson Desert (beautiful but overloaded with systems), Silent Hill f (creepy immersive theater), Honor of Kings: World (surprise hit with fun elemental combat and raids), and Valor Mortis (first-person Soulslike with grotesque Napoleonic bosses). Also, reasons...

Mark as Played

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