Are 'Marathon' and 'Pokémon Pokopia' What Sony and Nintendo Needed? | Button Mash

2026-03-07 · 110 min · 9 entities

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Asserted relationships

→ appeared on The Ringer-Verse podcast

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Host: Ben Lindbergh
→ appeared on The Ringer-Verse podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Guests: Matt James, Steve Ahlman, and Charles Pulliam-Moore
→ discusses TV & Film concept

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Feed category: TV & Film
→ hosted by The Ringer company

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Feed author/publisher: The Ringer

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concepts 3

mentioned TV & Film concept

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Feed category: TV & Film
mentioned Button Mash concept

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Are 'Marathon' and 'Pokémon Pokopia' What Sony and Nintendo Needed? | Button Mash
discusses TV & Film concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: TV & Film

persons 2

mentioned Ben Lindbergh person

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evidence rules-v5
Host: Ben Lindbergh
mentioned Matt James person

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evidence rules-v5
Guests: Matt James, Steve Ahlman, and Charles Pulliam-Moore

podcasts 2

appeared on The Ringer-Verse podcast

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evidence rules-v5
Host: Ben Lindbergh
appeared on The Ringer-Verse podcast

0.82

evidence rules-v5
Guests: Matt James, Steve Ahlman, and Charles Pulliam-Moore

companys 2

mentioned The Ringer company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: The Ringer
hosted by The Ringer company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: The Ringer

Episode description as stored

Gotta ’cast ’em all! First, Ben, Matt James, and Steve Ahlman form a fireteam to discuss Bungie’s long-awaited extraction shooter ‘Marathon.’ They forecast whether it’ll fare more like hit ‘ARC Raiders’ or flop ‘Highguard,’ examine the stakes for Sony’s big bets on Bungie and live-service games, and react to a possible revival of the PlayStation/Xbox console wars, followed by a “Rage Quit” rant about the backlash to promotional photos for video game adaptations such as ‘God of War.’ Then Ben brings on Charles Pulliam-Moore from The Verge to discuss the delights of Pokémon life-sim spinoff ‘Pokopia,’ its significance for Switch 2, and the Pokémon franchise’s 30th anniversary, evolution, and future, plus a second “Rage Quit” about the Trump administration coopting video games like ‘Pokopia’ to make memes. Email us at ringerversegaming@gmail.com! Intro (0:00) ‘Marathon’ first impressions (3:35) Live service games discussion (39:11) Are the PlayStation/Xbox console wars back? (43:56) Rage quit! (48:32 ) First thoughts on 'Pokémon Pokopia’ (57:08) Switch 2 discussion (1:19:25) The future of Pokémon (1:22:16) Rage quit vs. Trump (1:35:12) Outro (1:46:23) Host: Ben Lindbergh Guests: Matt James, Steve Ahlman, and Charles Pulliam-Moore Producer: Devon Renaldo Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices