Free Play Podcast

Help Support LTN in 2025: lovethynerd.com/giveAs a part of the LTN Giving Tuesday Ex-Stream-aganza, Kate returns to reunite with Matt & Bubba to talk about what they've been playing, reading, watching in nerd culture, learn some weird fun facts, and debate Thanksgiving side dishes.

This podcast has been going for 6 and 1/2 years and today is the final episode. So what are our hosts doings? Basically flying by the seat of their pants like the good ‘ol days. They talk about nonsense, have some laughs, and play 2 games that Radio Matt put together.  Thank you so much for giving this show a great run these past several years. Everyone involved had a blast with all of you and can't believe you actually listen to and enjoy this hot mess of a show that brings chaos on the regular.

In the penultimate episode of Free Play, Bubba, Matt & Kate go through the BAFTA list of the Most Iconic Video Game Characters of All Time and see if the list lines up with their opinions. Who's in the number 1 spot? It's not who you think.

Do we ever truly outgrow our nerdiness or is it a “once a nerd always a nerd” type thing even if you're not actively engaging in anything nerdy? The power of nostalgia is more real now than it's ever been and people are coming back to their old love of games and nerd culture, but what about the ones that don't?

On this chaotic installment of Free Play, the gang get to play a special game created by the one and only Radio Matt, where they take a deep dive into the history of Free Play to remember Kate's quotes from past episodes.

We gave you, our dedicated listeners, the chance to ask whatever questions you wanted as part of our final season and the things you submitted were... Let's just say “on brand”.

On the Final Season premiere (yes... final, we'll get into it), Bubba, Matt & Kate bring even more chaos and unhinged vibes to kick things off for the 10th season! They recap what they've been playing throughout the season break, what's next for them, and their deep-dive random thoughts into the Super Bowl, half time show, commercials, and predictions for 2025's halftime show.

In our season finale, Matt, Bubba, and Kate end Season 9 with the usual foolishness and introduce a new segment called “Do We Need ‘Em?”, where they look at some items and decide if we need them or not. Today, they're looking at reboots of Harry Potter, the original Star Wars movies, and the concept of a new Marvel movie featuring original cast and characters that may no longer be part of the Marvel universe if you know what we mean.Matt is back on Twitch! Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 2pm ET on twitch.tv/lovethynerdRadio Matt's Christmas Album: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkkAaUNBQYbVaDwLXSk6blfN4J9-FYSHAFollow us on Instagram and Twitter: @freeplaypodcast Become a Community Content Producer for us! Submit a topic you'd like to hear us chat about! lovethynerd.com/producer

In an episode that is unhinged chaos, even more than usual, Kate updates us on the latest challenge issued to Matt and Bubba from her uncle's nerd friends about a Dice Throne competition.

This week's episode is jam packed with even more chaos than usual. Drama arises between Kate's uncle, Matt, and Bubba over a single game of Marvel Dice Throne that took 4 hours to complete. Is it fine to just let someone play a game even if it's not correct or when gameplay is stalled by analysis paralysis?

It's been a wild summer and the gang is so glad to finallyyyyy be back at it on the illustrious Free Play podcast which will be more unhinged than ever this season, guaranteed. Matt, Bubba, and Kate catch up on what they've been into, the art and value of collecting nerdy things, the new direction of this show, and of course, the chaos that usually occurs when they try to do anything.

In the season finale of Free Play, Matt & Bubba talk about the PlayStation Showcase - and the Handheld that is much more reminiscent of the WiiU controller than the Switch. 

Tears of the Kingdom is out and making waves in the gaming world. Matt & Bubba give you their first impressions in the penultimate episode of this season.

Many odd things have happened since Elon Musk took over Twitter. The latest has been the upheaval of the verification system which had really helped in separating the trolls from the rich and famous. Now…. not so much. When you have verified accounts tweeting about Russia/Ukraine bombings and celebrities trying to get rid of their blue checkmarks, you know things are going off the rails. Is verification something really worth having? What was the point before Elon and what's the point now?

What if I sent you a link to an awesome song that was just released on Spotify by Drake and The Weeknd. It sounds just like their voices and just like their production. Turns out, it's a song created by an AI who has been trained to emulate music by the two artists and Universal Music Group is rallying to get it removed from the interwebs. If a song is created completely by an AI, then who owns it? The people it's “inspired by” even if it's not them singing?

Tears of the Kingdom is releasing in a few short weeks and Free Play is discussing Matt's hopes, dreams, and fears about this long awaited experience. There are so many theories about what this game will mean for the Zelda franchise when it comes to story, gameplay, and beyond and no one wants to miss out on the hype. Kate also put together what she thought would be a fun segment at the end of the show that she will never repeat: Zelda trivia.

With Matt out of the office for the day, Bubba and Kate chat about reading people's texts over their shoulder in airplanes, if deviled eggs are good or not, and most importantly: their thoughts on the Super Mario Movie and the brilliantness of Jack Black. Also, do critic's thoughts matter about the movie if they literally have no idea about anything Mario?

There is a lot happening in the world of Free Play this week. Matt recaps PAX East and his disappointments with Nintendo's lackluster Zelda presence. E3 is canceled. They'll talk about the new Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios and throw together some ideas for a Zelda theme park that are pretty dang good. Matt and Kate also introduce a new segment about celebrity coffee orders that blew Bubba away.

In this lost episode from the earlier days of the Free Play Podcast, Bubba, Matt & Kate discuss the contenders for Game of the Year for the 2018 VGA's. The likely reason this never made it to the podcast feed was due to the length, coming in at just under 17 minutes, recorded after multiple failed attempts from computer issues.

Season 1 of the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us wrapped this past week and as fans of Naughty Dog and Sony's original games, Bubba, Matt & Kate wanted to chat about it. HBO really set the bar high for future gaming IPs turned into live action shows and movies. They cast some ideas for seasons 2 and 3 of the show, the possibility of a Last of Us Part 3 game, and how much Pedro Pascal is TOO MUCH Pedro Pascal. If that's even a thing.

We're celebrating LTN's 5th birthday and can't believe how fast the time has gone. So much has happened in the past five years and looking back brings up a lot of memories. Kate took the time this week to come up with some hard hitting questions to interview Matt, Bubba, and herself about LTN's future and some things that they hold near and dear to their hearts from the past five years. HBD Love Thy Nerd!

Every once in awhile, Bubba sends something Kate's way that she's actually interested in. This week, it was a link to The Last Kingdom Board Game Kickstarter from Gamelyn Games. The Last Kingdom Netflix series is one of Kate's favorite shows, so she was super pumped to see this even though tabletop games aren't her area of expertise. That got them curious about other Netflix IPs that have been turned into tabletop experiences.

E3 has had a rough time the past couple years with cancellations and the event held online. 2023 marks a return to in-person for both the press and the public but Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox won't be attending. Without E3, these big companies have figured out that releasing their announcements on their own schedule without relying on a once a year expo probably works out way better. What will E3 look like without the Big 3? Is this marking the end of this expo as we know it?

Welcome to Season 8 of the Free Play podcast! During the break, Bubba, Matt & Kate watched Kaleidoscope, Netflix's non-linear streaming experience where you can watch the episodes in any order, except for the last one. Netflix automatically randomized the episodes based on viewers location. Engaging in non-linear storytelling isn't exactly new to us as nerds, so what makes this experience different? Plus, catch up on what's been going on over the break and what they've been playing and watching.

Free Play's “cut-man”, CJ Burroughs, suggested Bubba, Matt & Kate chat about some of their memories about nerdy Christmas gifts that they received as young nerds way back when. They also want to cover the 2022 Game Awards Game of the Year nominees and throw their guesses out ahead of the award show next week. This is the Season 7 finale!

Some people, like Bubba, look upon the impending era of our AI overlords with excitement and joy. Others, like Kate, are a little unsure. And stories with headlines like “Someone turned their imaginary friend into an AI microwave and it wanted to kill them” do little to change her opinion. This story was submitted by community content producer Ryan Eighmey and sparked a conversation about whether or not the experiment was real or a cautionary tale about our AI focused future.

Have you had a disappointment in the game space that really bummed you out? Never fear, the Free Play Podcast is here to help you recover and move on. After Kate had an underwhelming God of War Ragnarök release day, they're talking all about gaming disappointments they've had and how we can all get to a better place.

LTN Con is one of our favorite weekends of the year here at Love Thy Nerd. It's a time of coming together as a community, playing games, and learning how to love and serve our nerdy neighbors better. We had some incredible keynote and breakout sessions, vendors, and opportunities to extend our online relationships into real life. Bubba and Kate were there, had an absolute blast, and wanted to recap the weekend with all of you. That's what they want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Nintendo finally reveals a teaser trailer for the Super Mario Movie at New York Comic Con. Fans are protesting online about Chris Pratt's performance (even with barely a sentence uttered). Bubba and Kate nerd out about what we loved from the trailer, what they're looking forward to with the movie, and speculating about what some of Nintendo's goals are along with the partnership with Illumination and Universal.

Twitch has taken creators by surprise in a bad way with their latest announcement. They stated how revenue splits for bigger streamers will go from 70/30 to 50/50.This information has the Twitch community up in arms. As it should because this information isn't exactly fair.Will Twitch's mistake be the first step in leveling the playing field for competition and innovation for streaming platforms?

Well nerds, it's the moment Matt has been waiting for. For 6 whole years. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will allegedly be released on May 12, 2023. It's it TEARS of the kingdom as in crying? Or tears of the kingdom as in ripping? The internet debates. We cover what we know so far about the new game and Matt rants about how Kirby got an anniversary party while the Zelda series got the cold shoulder.

In this lost episode from the earlier days of the Free Play Podcast, Bubba, Matt & Kate welcome Justin Bowers to discuss games perfect for family gatherings - ones that you can play easily right out of the box.

When both social media and nerd culture have placed an emphasis on live streamed gaming content, what happens when an industry giant like Facebook/Meta begins to shut down its connection to gaming bit by bit starting with it's Facebook Gaming App? Do we even need Facebook in this aspect of gaming when we have industry giants YouTube and Twitch?

Bubba, Matt & Kate discuss the internet argument over whether T'Challa should just be recast or not, following his death in 2020. Plus, what we've been playing AND we don't know how to count.

This might shock some of you, but Matt, Bubba, and Kate have been co-hosting a podcast together since 2017! Before the Free Play Podcast with Love Thy Nerd, they hosted the Arcade Podcast with GameChurch, the place where they all met and started this crazy journey. Over the course of these two shows, they've done just over 200 episodes together! In this show, they share some favorite memories from the past 200 - and some of yours too.

Survival shows have become super popular with a specific demographic of folks. Bubba and Kate just happen to be in that group. What is it about these shows that makes them nerd out on people's suffering? Do shows like Survivor and Alone take what is supposed to be a game way too far? That's what they want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast for the Season 7 premiere.

E3 used to be the summer's most exciting time for video games with all the press conferences from the biggest developers, but over time it's slowly gone downhill with this year having no E3 at all. From going from an industry only show to one that's completely open to fans and having some disappointing announcements, it seems like companies just didn't want to be a part of it anymore. Who will fill the vacuum that the show has left behind? What are we hoping to hear more about this summer? That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast season finale.

Why do people play games these days? What's their motivation and reason? Community Content Producer FrostByte4 sent in a topic about how games like Halo used to drop with no updates, DLCs, or things to grind for and everyone loved it. Now, people NEED something to keep them coming back. Is there reasoning in nerd psychology that can explain some of this?   That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast.

Bad Bunny, reggaeton superstar and WWE wrestler, has been cast in the lead role in Sony's Spiderman universe stand alone movie, El Muerto. Who is Bad Bunny and who is El Muerto? Why make a movie about a character who's been in two comic books with someone who isn't an experienced actor? We take a look at the info available on this upcoming project and that's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

When the Kate is away, the boys will play and this week we do just that with our good friend, chef, artist, maker, and fellow streamer, Asiathegirl. What does she think about bento boxes, name changes and what might be in store for Discovery's buyout of Warner Bros. Media? Well, that's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Apple has announced so many attempts to competitively get into the gaming space with many of those either never happening at all, not living up to expectations, or falling through as Apple moves onto the next idea. What's happened in the past, and where does that leave us with the next big ideas of Apple VR and Apple Glasses? That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

We don't often delve into this side of pop culture, but the Oscars this year ushered in a new level of... Chaos. Something we can relate to here on the Free Play Podcast. We submit our own nominees for random Oscar categories (picked by me) which you can vote on this week on our Twitter account @freeplaypodcast. As long as Kate can remember to post it. That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

Playstation's subscription service is supposed to launch really soon (it could even be out now) and we're curious about what benefits and services it'll offer. Will there be PS5 exclusives available? Or will they just combine Playstation Plus and Playstation Now under one name and call it a day? We make some guesses and predictions. We wrap up this week's show with a story that blew our minds: spinach can send emails when they detect explosives. That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast

Community Content Producer Andy - aka Prodigas - asked us our thoughts on review bombing, why people feel the need to score games 0 out of 10 that haven't even been released or give 0 or 1 scores to balance out the ratings of popular games with high ratings.  Horizon Forbidden West is one such game that got hammered by negative reviews before it was even out yet. What about the idea that art is subjective? And can you share your experience with something in a review in a constructive way, even if it wasn't necessarily a good experience? That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast.

There is massive potential for games to be able to teach us new skills, especially as technology gives developers and designers new ways to be creative. Community Content Producer Kyle Matthews sent us Overisles is a tabletop RPG currently on Kickstarter to teach sign language and promote deaf awareness. The game is developed by Hatchlings Games along with the deaf community and a high school D&D team. We dig into the details about Overisles and other games that can teach valuable skills this week on the Free Play podcast.

If you know us here at Free Play you know we don't normally do big brain topics that require thinking. But we got a topic submission asking about what it's like to have a partner that doesn't play games as much as you do and if we had any helpful tips/tricks. We asked our community to share their thoughts and experiences and talked about our own lives. That's what we want to talk about this week on the FreePlay podcast.

Hold onto your butts because this week Free Play is teaming up with Moviga to bring you a cross-promotional, 2-part episode LIVE from Tantrum Con 2022. So get ready for laughing, media coverage and a boat- load of inside jokes this week on the Free Play podcast.

Netflix makes a move into the mobile game business with games we've never heard of like Bowling Ballers, Asphalt Xtreme, Krispee Street, Dominoes Cafe, and Hextech Mayhem Netflix Edition. Why are they getting into gaming? We chat about this, experience Netflix gaming in real time, and turn from haters to believers. That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

This week Matt found a Kickstarter for Marvel Zombies - A Zombicide Game and the highest tier that included ALL the good stuff was over $600. He was crushed. The Kickstarter was also finished, so he had no chance anyways. But it made us think: is there a price limit to Kickstarter FOMO? Is a $600 ask a good business decision for the developers and reasonable for the consumer? That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play podcast.

Tabletop games have been making a move to the digital world through Tabletop Simulator and digital versions of tabletop games you know and love.  Physical games offer the benefits of in-person experiences and the ability to use the cards and pieces the developers created, but digital games have an advantage of letting people play together during the time of COVID and the ability to demo games in a cost effective way. What do we think about these two approaches to tabletop gaming?  That's what we want to talk about this week on the Free Play Podcast.

You've probably heard all about Microsoft's in-progress acquisition of Activision/Blizzard where Microsoft could come to own franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch. We wanted to take a look at what this could mean for the video game space as well as the effects of gaming turning into a push for content over consoles. That's what we want to talk about this week on the Season 6 premiere of the Free Play Podcast.