Spawn On Me with Kahlief Adams: A Video Game Podcast

I sit down with Mark Grigsby, co-studio head of Infinity Ward, and Geoff Smith, studio multiplayer creative director, for an EXCLUSIVE conversation on Modern Warfare 4. I've been trying to track these brothers down forever and I finally got them in the room.We get into why MW4 is the best Call of Duty in years, the DMZ nod inside the campaign, Price's "hero to zero" arc, the brotherhood between U.S. and South Korean Marines, why Wu-Tang HAD to be in that cold open, and the Batman Arkham-inspired first-person brawler mechanic.On the DMZ side: what Geoff wanted to fix from the first game, why the parachute became a consumable, how they're balancing sweats vs. new players, and the first look at XO1 — the spiritual successor to Building 21.After the interview, I come back solo with some real talk on the Gears of War $500M budget discourse, Jason Schreier's video breaking it down, and why players don't actually care about game budgets — they just want developers to not deserve the money they're making.

I'm back after nearly a month off and joined by my man, my mellow, the smoothest kind of fellow — Cam Hawkins of the Party Chat JRPG Podcast — to unpack a HEAVY few weeks in gaming.We open with the news that broke our hearts: BioWare is closing. After more than 30 years and franchises like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem, EA is shutting the studio down and ending development on the next Mass Effect project. We read through BioWare's farewell statement, talk about how this one hit different than other closures, and dig into the leaked Mass Effect trailer that showed us exactly what we were going to lose — including a middle-aged Liara anchoring a brand new trilogy.Cam and I get into:• Why BioWare's influence runs through Witcher 3, Baldur's Gate 3, and basically every modern Western RPG• The "save Mass Effect" campaign and whether any publisher could realistically pick BioWare up• EA's restructuring, the Saudi buyout, and the "open world football" direction that doesn't inspire confidence• IP fatigue, Expedition 33, and whether gamers really know what they want• The "too online" problem and how it distorts what success looks like• How Japanese studios develop talent differently from the layoff-heavy US modelThen we get into WHAT WE'VE BEEN PLAYING:• Valor Mortis — the Napoleon-era Souls-adjacent first-person parry game from the Ghostrunner devs (BioShock vibes, Atomic Heart energy)• Final Fantasy Resonance — Cam makes the case that THIS might be the JRPG for me, and I'm actually convinced• Toy Story Retro Roundup — Atari going HAM on nostalgia (and I admit I've never seen a Toy Story movie, send help)• Gears of War: E-Day — I'm calling it: the best Gears game ever made. Prequel done right, Dom finally gets his moment, locusts are terrifying again• Control Resonant — probably my GOTY. Smarter than the original, better enemy diversity, that ending is WILDHeads up: Mark Grisby, co-studio head of Infinity Ward, is coming on the show this week to talk Call of Duty. Stay locked in.— FOLLOW SPAWN ON ME —X / Twitter: @SpawnOnMeInstagram: @spawnonmepodcastTikTok: @spawnonmeYouTube: youtube.com/SPAWNONMETwitch (Live Wed 6PM PST): twitch.tv/SPAWNONMEAll links: campsite.bio/spawnonmeBusiness: spawnonmepodcast@gmail.com

Luc Bernard has been trying to make The Light in the Darkness for nearly 20 years. It's a graphic novel-style narrative game set in occupied France during World War II — where you play as a Jewish family, experiencing the Holocaust not through combat, but through helplessness, fear, and the slow erosion of safety. It's the first game of its kind. And on Episode 591 of Spawn On Me, I sat down with Luke to find out how it got made, what it cost him emotionally, and why the Director's Cut is the version the world actually needs to see right now.

Go behind the scenes of Marvel's Wolverine with Insomniac's Head of Technology, Mike Fitzgerald. Learn how the team tackles complex development challenges. In this episode of Spawn on Me, we sit down with Mike Fitzgerald to discuss the realities of game development at Insomniac Games. We explore the technical constraints of bringing a major title to market, the intricate process of building character deformation tech, and what it takes to create high-end visuals in modern gaming. This conversation offers a unique look at the engineering hurdles faced by one of the industry's most prominent studios.

I've waited on a Wolverine game like this my whole life as an X-Men fan, and after 20+ hours with Insomniac's take, I'm breaking down whether it earns a place next to Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 as one of their best.This is a spoiler-free review, but I get into the big-picture stuff: how Insomniac reimagines Logan's origin through Team X and gives him a more grounded, human throughline than we usually get from this character; how the combat carves out its own identity — close-quarters and brutal rather than the aerial mobility Spider-Man built its reputation on — and where that comparison helps the game and where it works against it; the DNA augment system and suit customization, and how deep that rabbit hole goes; and what might be Insomniac's most technically impressive work yet, a photo mode and deformation system that shows real-time damage across the entire model.I also talk about where the game stumbles — specifically the Nightmare gauntlet challenges — and where I think this universe goes from here if Insomniac gets a second shot at it, or expands it into something bigger.If you're deciding whether this is worth your time, or you've already played it and want to see if we landed in the same place, this is the conversation. Let me know in the comments what you think — is this the best superhero game we've gotten, or does something else still hold that title for you?

I've been wanting to have this conversation for a long time, and it did not disappoint. This week on Spawn On Me, I sat down with Mara Junot — the voice of Ikora Rey in Destiny, Storm across multiple Marvel games, and Queen Sindel in Mortal Kombat — and we went deep on everything from their origin story to what it actually takes to build a lasting career as a voice actor.

Mara gets real about starting out with zero voiceover resources in their area, teaching themselves through YouTube and podcasts, and spending nearly 8 years as a country radio DJ before discovering the world of voice acting. They break down what agents actually expect from you (hint: it's not 10%), why introverts can absolutely thrive in this industry, and why they ignored everyone who told them they couldn't do trailers.

We also talk about voicing Storm across Marvel Midnight Suns, Ultimate Alliance 3, and the new Marvel Tokon — and the deeply personal reason Storm means more to them than any other character they've played.

This is one of my favorite conversations of the year. Don't sleep on it.

We are the culture. 🎮✊

I got a chance to go hands-on with Silent Hill: Townfall at a private preview event in LA, and I have to say — this one is something special. Three hours with the game, a decorated hotel setup themed around the Scottish town of Saint Amelia, and a live Q&A with writer/director Jon McLennan from ScreenBurn and series producer Akimoto-san from Konami. Yeah, it was that kind of event.

This episode is my full breakdown of what I saw, what surprised me, and why I think this might be one of the most important Silent Hill games ever made.

We talk the first-person perspective shift and why it works, the CRTV mechanic that replaces the classic radio in the freshest way possible, the gyroscopic DualSense puzzle design, the 2.35:1 cinemascope presentation, and the five endings — including some secret ones. We also get into the combat, which is brutal and deliberate in the best way, and the stealth system that puts you in genuine danger at every turn.

3,200 Xbox jobs. Studios sold, studios cut loose, studios just gone. And PlayStation is telling us physical discs will be done by 2028. I sat down this week and gave you my honest, unfiltered take on all of it — not just the business moves, but what this means for the actual human beings living through this. As somebody who is currently laid off himself, this one hits close to home, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.This episode covers:- 📌 The Xbox Reset — Asha Sharma's "most significant restructure in Xbox history," the 3,200 jobs being cut, and the real-world chaos that's followed- 📌 What going independent actually means for studios like Double Fine, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs when runway and budgets are uncertain- 📌 The future of big IP — how do you make Elder Scrolls 6 or Fallout 5 when you just gutted the studios building them?- 📌 PlayStation ending physical disc production in January 2028 — and my take that's a little different from the hot takes flooding your timeline

It's Day 3 of Summer Game Fest 2026, and I sat down with content creator Cam Hawkins to break down the best games of the show.

We get into Cam's game of the show — Phantom Blade Zero and its razor-sharp parry combat — a stunning hands-off Onimusha demo (and how the two release just a month apart), the absolutely stacked fall release calendar around GTA VI, the Resident Evil Code Veronica remake, and Forever Ago, an emotional Annapurna indie about an old man grieving his wife on a road trip. Plus the games we missed (Clutch, Bub), the show's big horror lineup (Saw: Genesis, Silent Hill: Townfall, Alien: Isolation 2), the methodical combat of Stranger in Heaven, and why there were almost no sports games at SGF this year.

I got to sit down with Sean Krankel — GM of Narrative Games at Netflix and the co-founder of Night School Studio — to talk about *Unhinged*, the new immersive horror experience that drops June 30 and uses your actual phone as the controller. This one hit me hard as a horror fan, and after playing it, I had questions — and Sean had all the answers.We go deep on how Night School made the move to Netflix, why Unhinged was designed to feel more like living inside a thriller than playing a video game, and how they assembled one of the most stacked casts in gaming: Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker.In this episode:- The story of how Night School Studio became a Netflix studio — and what that call really sounded like- How Unhinged turns your phone into a flashlight, a receiver, and your only link to survival- Why the team called it an "immersive thriller" rather than a game — and what that creative decision unlocked- The dream cast: how Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker all came together- What it means to build experiences that anyone — gamer or not — can jump into— FIND US EVERYWHERE —YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/SPAWNONMETwitch (Live Wed 6PM PST):https://www.twitch.tv/SPAWNONMEX / Twitter:https://x.com/SpawnOnMeInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/spawnonmepodcastTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@SpawnOnMeSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7gu7BteqvEnhZAP0MM2AApple Podcasts:https://apple.co/3wuJxYtMerch:https://spawnonme-1-shop.fourthwall.comBusiness / PR:spawnonmepodcast@gmail.comKahlief on X:https://x.com/KahliefAdamsKahlief on IG:https://www.instagram.com/itskahliefKahlief on Bluesky:itskahlief.bsky.social

On episode 585 of the Spawn On Me podcast, Kahlief Adams is joined by content creator Cam Hawkins for a full post-Summer Game Fest 2026 debrief — the games that flew under the radar, and a candid conversation about where the industry is heading.

We dig into the overlooked games of the show — Erosion (an open-world roguelike with a wild mechanic where dyingages your kidnapped daughter), Valor Mortis (a first-person Souls-like from the Ghostrunner devs), Out of Words (a gorgeous stop-motion co-op game), and ProbablyMonsters' Crimson Moon and Nokomi: Nazi Hunter — then get into Xbox's rough week (layoffs, studio closures, the new leadership direction), whether Xbox should leave hardware, the industry's risk-aversion and the "death of the middle,' and the state of games journalism. Plus: the Knicks are champions.

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I got a first look at Saw: Genesis — and it's Bloober Team's first-ever multiplayer game.

It's a 3v1 asymmetrical horror game set just after World War I: one Judge (a brand-new villain, not Jigsaw) traps three Accused players in escape-room-style torture chambers. There's a constant co-op push-and-pull, brutal sacrifice mechanics — lose an eyeball, a hand, or a foot, and it changes how you move and what you can do — a “vulnerable killer” players can actually take down, and a ping system forcommunication. It's Bloober rethinking both multiplayer and the Saw IP, and I'm hyped.

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I stopped by Saber Interactive's booth and went hands-on with a stacked lineup — and it might be the most fun I had on the floor.

First up, Hellraiser — gory, gritty, and exactly what horror fans want. Then Stuntman, a genuinely fun revival of the classic arcade stunt-driving game with big set-piece energy(think Knight Rider and Back to the Future). And Turok is back, with co-op, a third/first-person blend, and class options (healer, melee, run-and-gun) that make it a blast to jump into. Fast, pick-up-and-play fun across the board.

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I caught up with Fallout 76's John Rush (Creative Director) and Bill LaCoste (Production Director) to talk about where the game is now — and thelong-requested feature that's finally coming.

We get into the boom the Fallout TV show created (bringing new and lapsed players back to a game that's had 68 ee updates), Fallout becoming a full-on cultural phenomenon, the new Infestations expansion that's out now, and how the team balances veterans and newcomers. Then the future: current-gen Xbox Series X|S and PS5/PS5 Pro buildsPlus PTS access for console players — and camp pets becoming true companions that follow, quest, and fight alongside you, from dogs and cats to hogs andeven deathclaws.

Enjoying the channel? Hit the Hype button to help more people find this one, and subscribe to Spawn On Me for developer interviews, previews, and reviews.

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Day 2 of Summer Game Fest 2026 was all about Xbox — and I got behind closed doors. In this recap I break down the Xbox showcase and the hands-off demos, including the game that stole the show for me: Fable.

Playground Games' Fable looks staggering — 1,000 individually crafted NPCs with their own motivations, deep reputation and relationship systems, and a lived-in world unlike anything I've seen. Plus Minecraft Dungeons 2 rebuilt on Unreal 5 with 4-player co-op, the hilarious cult-survival surprise Join Us (Cult of the Lamb meets Midsommar), Gears of War: E-Day, Crazy Taxi, new Senua/Hellblade, and the 25th-anniversary translucent green Xbox console. I close with what's coming on Day 3 — Capcom, ProbablyMonsters, and the new Tomb Raider.Enjoying the channel? Hit the Hype button to help more people find this one, and subscribe to Spawn On Me for developer interviews, previews, and reviews.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📺 SPAWN ON ME▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SPAWNONME🎮 Twitch (Live Wed 6PM PST): https://www.twitch.tv/SPAWNONME🐦 X: https://x.com/SpawnOnMe📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spawnonmepodcast🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@SpawnOnMe🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7gu7BteqvEnhZAP0MM2A🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wuJxYt🛍️ Merch: https://spawnonme-1-shop.fourthwall.com📩 Business / PR: spawnonmepodcast@gmail.comKAHLIEF ADAMS🐦 X: https://x.com/KahliefAdams📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskahlief☁️ Bluesky: itskahlief.bsky.social

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I went hands-on with Annapurna's lineup, and there's a lot to be excited about — starting with my most anticipated of the show, Silent Hill: Townfall.Townfall makes a bold move from third-person to first-person horror on Unreal Engine 5, with one-to-one scale, a CRT-style signal device, and a no-HUD design where your character's thoughts surface as on-screen text — and it looks gorgeous. Then The Lost Wild from Giant Ape flips the script on dinosaur games with an “anti-kill,” stealth-survival approach that treats dinosaurs as creatures rather than enemies, plus a supernatural twist. And Demi rounds it out as a cute, casual, Zelda-esque dungeon crawler.

At Summer Game Fest 2026, I sat down with Véronique Lallier, Chief Development Officer at IO Interactive, to talk about the explosive launch of 007 First Light — 2.7 million copies sold in its first week — and what's next for both James Bond and Hitman.We get into the 7-year journey to build the new 007, why First Light plays nothing like Hitman, reimagining Bond for a new generation while staying authentic, the star-studded cast (Patrick Gibson as the young Bond, plus Lenny Kravitz), launching across 14 platforms, Hitman crossing 1 billion eliminations, and the Wiz Khalifa Elusive Target coming to Hitman.Enjoying the channel? Hit the Hype button to help more people find this one, and subscribe to Spawn On Me for developer interviews, previews, and reviews.

At Summer Game Fest 2026 I got about 90 minutes hands-on with Control: Resonant — Remedy's return to the Control universe —, and I'm hyped.The big shift: it moves from gunplay to fast, melee-focused combat with real weapon variety, DMC-style combos and combo-enders, and traversal that feels great as you move through Remedy's eerie, atmospheric spaces. The enemies are no pushovers, the world-building is classic Remedy, there's a tease of the story, and the replayability looks ridiculous. Easily one of my most anticipated games.

Enjoying the channel? Hit the Hype button to help more people find this one, and subscribe to Spawn On Me for developer interviews, previews, and reviews.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📺 SPAWN ON ME▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SPAWNONME🎮 Twitch (Live Wed 6PM PST): https://www.twitch.tv/SPAWNONME🐦 X: https://x.com/SpawnOnMe📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spawnonmepodcast🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@SpawnOnMe🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7gu7BteqvEnhZAP0MM2A🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wuJxYt🛍️ Merch: https://spawnonme-1-shop.fourthwall.com📩 Business / PR: spawnonmepodcast@gmail.comKAHLIEF ADAMS🐦 X: https://x.com/KahliefAdams📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskahlief☁️ Bluesky: itskahlief.bsky.social

At Summer Game Fest 2026, I sat down with IO Interactive's Matias (Principal Level Designer) and Hilde Sunde (Lead Environment Artist) to break down 007 First Light — the new James Bond game from the studio behind Hitman.We get into how IOI reimagined Bond for a new era, why First Light plays nothing like Hitman, the ammo-scarce combat that forces you to keep moving, the eavesdrop spy mechanic, and the wildly contrasting worlds — from a luxury Vietnam resort to the rough Mauritania desert. Plus dream Bond locations and the team's favorite 007 films. (Sorry, Pierce.)

This week on Spawn On Me, I land an exclusive sit-down with the team behind NBA The Run, the upcoming 3v3 arcade basketball game from Play by Play Studios. If you've been waiting for a true spiritual successor to NBA Street since EA Sports BIG went quiet, you're going to want to hear this one.

I talk with the team about how a small, passionate studio went from building a fictional streetball game called The Run: Got Next to landing an official NBA license — and how a single LinkedIn message changed the trajectory of the entire project. We get into Mike Young's two-decade journey from NBA Street, FIFA Street, SSX, and Madden to leading the revival of a genre that's been collecting dust since 2007.

We dig into what makes NBA The Run different: the fast-paced 3v3 gameplay, the 32 hand-crafted NBA stars with hero-shooter-style personalities, the rogue-like rule modifiers, and why iconic streetball spots like Rucker Park and Venice Beach matter to the culture. I also push the team on the bigger questions — who is this game really for, how do they balance arcade fun with depth, and what does it mean to bring streetball back to the mainstream conversation?

NBA The Run drops June 9 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. Lace 'em up.

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