Defining Duke: An Xbox Podcast

Defining Duke: An Xbox Podcast

Defining Duke is a weekly podcast dedicated to all things Xbox co-hosted by beloved YouTuber MrMattyPlays and Lord Cognito. Whether you're a fan and player of Xbox Series X|S, still hanging around on Xbox One, or have fond memories of Xbox 360 and the original Xbox, our show is for you. We go over the news, talk about the games we're playing, scour rumors and speculation, and much more. We publish each and every Sunday, and you can get the show three days early and ad-free by supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/laststandmedia We wanna make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4 For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/us/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20Policy

Episodes

October 5, 2025 212 mins
Xbox happened. Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro0:03:14 - Health Is Wealth0:10:02 - Are we still Xbox fans?0:26:22 - What’s happening with Forza Horizon 6?0:36:23 - Xbox Ally preorders are live0:48:50 - EA is going private in a $55 Billion deal1:05:47 - Ken Levine interview recap1:19:18 - Fallout 76 Burning Springs update1:20:14...
Mark as Played
Forza bros, rejoice! After plenty of speculation, rumors, and eventual leaks, Forza Horizon 6 has finally been announced at Tokyo Game Show 2025. Joining me is honorary Duke, Sir Bradley Ellis, to discuss all things Forza and more in the world of gaming! It has been long anticipated that Playground would take the franchise to Japan and now that it's finally happening, we have a lot to go over. Landing in 2026, this will be hitting ...
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Cronos: The New Dawn, Hell Is Us, Hollow Knight Silksong, Borderlands 4, Silent Hill F, Trails In The Sky Remake, and the list goes on. It's an overload of games right now and the Dukes are doing their best to keep up! Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro0:05:29 - Health Is Wealth0:45:32 - Dragon Quest 7 info0:50:36 - Is RE5 remake...
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September 14, 2025 213 mins
Much of the conversation surrounding Game Pass and its sustainability has been about whether or not it can turn a profit. The Dukes themselves have pondered on this very subject for dozens of episodes. At this point, Game Pass is here to stay. The conversation has evolved from how much money the service makes to whether or not it dramatically impacts how games are made. At first, PlayStation alumni Shawn Layden brought attention to...
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Today in news that we wish we never knew about: Xbox's reboot of Perfect Dark was nearly saved! Their dance partner? Take Two Interactive who serves as publisher of Rockstar. Yes, indeed, a recent report states that these two were working out a deal similar to Xbox selling off Tango Gameworks alongside the Hi Fi Rush IP to Krafton in order to help the company. Unfortunately, a falling out between both sides occurred over an IP owne...
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It's been a bit of a rough go for Obsidian as of late. Compared to their usual RPG triumphs, Avowed felt quite a bit less than that. However, not all of it was entirely their fault. At one point, Xbox chose to make this the $80 game that would lead the charge in a new era of high prices. After considerable pushback, they chose to drop the price to $70. While a welcome sight, some have debated if even that is a fair price point for ...
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Gamescom took place this week! On top of Opening Night Live which was home to many reveals, Xbox held their own show the day after. It's there that we finally got information on the Xbox Ally. Everything from its official release date to features, specs, capabilities, and so on. With the rumored price tag floating at $549.99 and $899.99 respectively, is this handheld doing enough to justify its enthusiast status? Despite everything...
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Contraband was announced back in 2021. Since then, we've seen just about nothing from the game. No messaging beats, no trailers, and even the Xbox executives didn't yap about this one! After four years of development, this collaboration between Xbox and Avalanche has come to a close. Adding it to the list of canceled Xbox titles, this one feels different to Dependable Cog and Choco Matty. Part of it is apathy, but it's also a new a...
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August 10, 2025 181 mins
The year of the Ninja rages on! Fresh off Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, we have more ninjas to talk about thanks to the new Shinobi demo alongside Ninja Gaiden 4. In a seemingly impossible move, Xbox brought together two legendary Japanese developers to reactivate a franchise that had laid dormant since 2012. There were still question marks even after a strong showing at this years Developer Direct. At the top of...
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August 3, 2025 193 mins
A new job listing over at PlayStation shows that more games are headed to Xbox. Naturally, the internet did its thing and we saw some crazy titles get tossed out as ideas for ports: The Last Of Us, Uncharted, Spider-Man, God Of War, and so on. Others have suggested that PlayStation is folding just as Xbox has. Have they? Joining me is Sir Bradley Ellis to dive into what ends up being a semi-painful reminder of the current state of ...
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Hell has frozen over! Xbox has moved the price of The Outer Worlds 2 down to $70 after fan backlash. What does this mean for the future of Xbox's lineup and the games industry as a whole? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00:00 - Intro0:21:27 - Health Is Wealth0:35:02 - Clarifying the Fable rumor0:39:57 - MachineGames has multiple projects in...
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Xbox saw Matty was slipping, so in a bold strategy to reel the Dukes back in, they have opted to greenlight Fallout 5. Despite what many will try and say to downplay this, there is a strong chance that Fallout 5 goes beyond the borders of Bethesda for the first time since 2010. Considering it's a mainline entry, this is a massive shakeup. It gets even more dicey when Obsidian Entertainment gets taken off the board. So, who makes a ...
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A conversation involving such dramatic shifts in the brand requires as much nuance as we can gather! Summoned to the realm of the Dukes are none other than Last Stand Media's own Gene Park and Rick Hoeg to help us sift through the fallout of last week's Xbox layoffs. Any single one of these stories could be our lead for the week, but let's get it started with Microsoft's $80 billion investment in their AI infrastructure. Sadly, it ...
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To be apathetic to something is to experience a lack of feeling or emotion in response to an event. For the Dukes, it's the word of the show. Xbox has been mismanaged for an entire generation and it has come at the cost of losing world class talents alongside studios. It was just in 2024 that we lost Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Games. There was also the formidable Toys For Bob that went indepen...
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It was supposed to be a slow news week, so naturally we talked for almost four hours on the latest in gaming. Heading up our show is a recurrent subject: layoffs at Xbox. Despite Phil's claims about a sustainable business, the cuts keep coming. Of course, that leaves us in a bit of a pickle. What parts of Xbox business are faltering? We're about a year removed from last year where Xbox began shutting down multiple teams, so it's no...
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The green team is sticking with making hardware. Consoles, handhelds, maybe even more. They're in! In a push to put their games in more places than ever alongside a massive decline in Series console sales, the understanding was Xbox has no place in the hardware business and may as well bow out. With today's news, it appears to be quite the opposite. Alongside this news presented by Xbox President, Sarah Bond, we also learned there ...
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The fallout of any Xbox showcase is always our favorite episodes to record as a duo! It gets us all involved and allows to pick with greater detail at whatever is on the community's mind as consuming so many trailers. Well, there's mostly one thing on Xbox fan's minds at the moment and it's if Outer Worlds 2 should be the second ever $80 game. There's no doubt about it that there are more to come, but should Call Of Duty have taken...
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Xbox has been the gold standard for showcases these last two years. Whether it be their summer showcases or Developer Direct, they just seem to have a death grip on the rhythm needed to put on a good show along with well timed announcements. Well, no one stays hot forever, so it was inevitable that Xbox would come down to earth at some point. The question is, when they do, where would they end up? Fortunately, it wasn't terrible! W...
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The Xbox Games Showcase 2025 is soon upon us and you know the tradition! It's Defining Duke. It's Xbox Two. It's showcase season! Compared to prior years, the pressure on Xbox feels a little lessened. The games are in full swing and mostly delivering, Project Latitude is far less controversial, and many are just hoping the company maintains the status quo for once. So, for the games: Is it time for Elder Scrolls VI? Does Halo make ...
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Much has been said about Xbox's multiplatform shift, but Xbox finally has games AND they're selling. It's truly a momentous occasion! The Dukes bend the knee as they assess a strong month for Xbox bringing four of the five best selling games to other platforms. What does this mean for the Switch 2 ports and Xbox's brand identity? Naturally, we unpack that. We also get into the thick of Bungie's latest plagiarism scandal. Just how d...
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