Spawn On Me with Kahlief Adams: A Video Game Podcast

I sit down with Casey Baron, Senior Programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival's Games Program, for an exciting conversation about the newly announced 2026 Tribeca Festival Games Program.
Casey shares his vision for the festival's 25th anniversary edition, running June 3-14, 2026, and we discuss how the games program has become an early champion of titles that go on to critical acclaim and deeply resonate with players. We dive into this year's selections that showcase the incredible breadth and ambition of storytelling in games today, including immersive projects like "Escape The Internet: Part 2."
With over a decade of experience across the games and film industries, Casey brings unique insights into how Tribeca continues to serve as a launchpad for visionary creators who are redefining the possibilities of interactive storytelling. We explore his background as a programmer since 2022, his work on juries at NewFest and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, and his journey through gaming and film culture.
Join me for this deep dive into one of gaming's most prestigious festival programs and the future of games as an art form.
Follow Spawn On Me:Twitter/X: @SpawnOnMeInstagram: @SpawnOnMe
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This week, the internet did what it always does: took something good, something that clearly resonated with real people, and turned it into a battlefield. We're talking about Mixtape — the new game from Beethoven & Dinosaur and Annapurna — and why the so-called "controversy" surrounding it tells you more about gaming culture than it does about the actual game.
Because let's be honest: a 2-to-3 hour game with a 95 Metascore on Xbox, thousands of positive Steam reviews, and music from Devo, Joy Division, and the Smashing Pumpkins doesn't NEED the internet's permission to be good. But here we are. We're going to talk about why these faux controversies keep popping up, what they say about who gaming makes room for, and why some people just cannot stand it when a game dares to be an emotional experience without a fail state.
Then we get into Saros — Housemarque's spiritual successor to Returnal — and yeah, we have THOUGHTS. Arjun Devraj, Rahul Kohli going absolutely OFF in this performance, cosmic horror on planet Carcosa, and a roguelite loop that somehow got MORE accessible without losing the teeth that made Returnal special. Is it better than Returnal? That's a conversation we need to have.
We also sat down with Directive 8020 — the newest entry in Supermassive's Dark Pictures Anthology — which takes the series to space and has y'all fighting alien mimics in the void. Alien meets The Thing in video game form? The story and the Turning Points mechanic are genuinely doing something. The stealth sections though… we'll talk about it.
And to close it out: Double Fine — Tim Schafer's legendary studio, makers of Psychonauts and the recently released Kiln — has filed a petition to unionize with the CWA. 42 workers. Microsoft taking a neutral stance. This is big, and it's part of a larger wave rolling through the industry. Workers deserve protection, and this moment matters. We're gonna break it all down.
Let's get into it.

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On this episode, we talk about Xbox's Matt Booty's appearance on the Xbox Wire podcast — his discussion on the current state of their June showcase, Project Helix, and how teams are working together. I share my thoughts on how the Rockstar hack gives new insight into microtransactions, and I give my Pragmata review.
We close out the episode with an interview with the team from ballandgun.com to talk about their new game.

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The PS5 Pro just hit $900 and I've got a lot to say about it. This week I'm pulling the best clips from Kind of Funny's Xbox future breakdown and GamerTag Radio's conversation with industry analyst Mat Piscatella — then giving you my unfiltered take on what the industry is actually telling us right now about affordability, access, and who gaming is really being built for. Plus, I sat down with Whitson Gordon from ASUS ROG for a real behind-the-scenes look at how gaming hardware collaborations like the Xbox ROG Ally X and the Kojima Productions laptop actually get made.
This episode covers:
Mat Piscatella's data on gaming's affordability crisis and what it means for low-income families
The future of Xbox and PlayStation in an era of rising prices and geopolitical pressure
AI's impact on the gaming industry and what it means going forward
A deep dive with ASUS ROG's Whitson Gordon on brand collaborations and the art of connecting hardware with culture
What a $900 console means for the length of this console generation
We are in year 13 out of Brookago and this conversation is more necessary now than ever. Subscribe, leave us 5 stars, and find us everywhere below.
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I got to check out Sound System at GDC and immediately knew I had to get the team back on the show. This conversation with Echo Foundry's Lennon Lange, who worked on the original Guitar Hero, breaks down exactly why this could be the rhythm game revival we've been waiting for. We're talking about real innovation, not just nostalgia.• How Classic Mode and Pro Mode balance accessibility with hardcore challenge• The creator-focused tools that could transform how rhythm games work• Why having a Guitar Hero veteran leading this matters for the genre's future• What Sound System gets right about multiplayer and customization• The bigger picture of bringing rhythm games back to mainstream gamingSound System isn't just trying to recapture the past - it's building something that makes sense for today's gaming landscape. This is the kind of conversation that gets me hyped about where gaming is headed.— 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:[email protected] on X:https://x.com/KahliefAdamsKahlief on IG:https://www.instagram.com/itskahliefKahlief on Bluesky:itskahlief.bsky.social