The most popular video game in the world this week isn't Fortnite or Minecraft. In fact, you've probably never heard of it.

But 9 million people were playing it concurrently. For context, Steam had 11.5 million concurrent players across ALL GAMES that same day.

So, WTF is going on with "Grow a Garden," a game inside Roblox that a teenager whipped up in 3 days?

Also: Cloud streaming just got slightly better on your Steam Deck, and Colette sends an update from the front lines of Expedition 33.

Articles discussed in this episode:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/a-roblox-farming-game-made-by-a-teenager-in-like-three-days-had-8-9-million-players-online-at-the-same-time-steam-peaked-at-11-5-million-across-all-games-on-the-same-day/

https://overkill.wtf/native-geforce-now-app/

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Fortnite's current Star Wars season is a blast, and a chance encounter with Darth Vader allows you to converse with him via voice chat. His responses are synthesized with AI, and the voice you hear is that of James Earl Jones, whose estate agreed to the AI cloning.

The idea of a video game NPC responding to your actions and talking to you with context (rather than canned responses) is an exciting prospect for the future of games. But in this case, there are two problems:

Players and streamers immediately figured out how to get Vader to drop F-bombs and say racial slurs. And while the voice was generated with permission, it comes at a time when actors unions like SAG-AFTRA are in active negotiations with video game companies about the use of AI and the future security of their jobs.

The result has been an uproar about the ethics, legality, and future of the medium.

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After the sad news that Giant Bomb might be shutting down, we got the happier news that Fandom has sold the company to ... itself! Making the venerated site independent at long last. But can it survive in the current creator-driven marketplace?

Plus, the creator of "Katamari Damacy" has a new game on the horizon, the difficulty curve of "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" gets steeper, and why the new game from Blizzard ex-pats, "Wildgate," is Matt's new obsession. Now if only it would release.

Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/5xz84B9RRJ

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Email us with what you're playing and we'll read it on the show! HaveEnteredTheChat@gmail.com

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Our theme music is by Azure Flux: https://azureflux.bandcamp.com/

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