The MinnMax Awards 2023 - The MinnMax Show

[@minnmax]

Unlock the full Game of the Year debate for 2023 (and the bonus "Pissy Zone") right now by supporting MinnMax at the $10 Backstage Pass tier. www.patreon.com/minnmax

[@jordandallford]

Hope everything’s okay with Leo and his family!

[@hermes_job_observer144]

I watch his live streams and he had said how these end of the year discussions were some of his favorite things he looks forward to each year. Hope he can at least make it for the 2 10's! I wanted to see his master plan to get Hitman to #1 come to fruition!

[@jonathananderson5135]

Yeah, legit, the greatest thing of 2023 would be if Leo’s family didn’t end the year on a heartbreaking note. The rest is fine.

[@noelbarrot]

PsychOdyssey being a deep examination of people who make video games takes on extra importance in a year where so many people have been discarded by the industry.

[@leorolando1924]

The one where Haley learns that life is truly unfair.

[@looler12123]

Little did they know that the real Dumbest thing would come just a few hours later in that same recording, when the Las Vegas Sphere beat out Herald of Darkness for the Greatest Work of Art of All Time hahaha

[@redlighte]

Herald of Darkness not being anywhere on this list is a crime #justiceforhaley

[@pkstarstorm8856]

Longer than The Game Awards, and no ads, lets goooooooo

[@starlight137yt]

(almost no ads ^^)

[@acquiescence5331]

One of the best things about approaching the end of the year are these videos. Can't wait to dive in!

[@mastershooter007]

Just want to let Ben know he was seen for the joke where he said “Layoffs” in the same tone as the old “Playoffs” meme clip

[@MrPokefan124]

God that lived up to the hype, ridiculously good start to Minnmax's end of the year content. Jacob and Janet championing the Vegas Sphere is truly the heel turn I didn't know I needed to see, that entire last hour was absolute hilarity. Can't wait for the bloodbath of the Two Tens!

[@MellowFelloh]

I do agree that "Best Moment" feels kinda cheap when the things that win is a whole boss fight and an ending cutscenes. Best Moment should be something like playing Venom for the first time and just mowing down enemies with your vicious attacks. The Master Sword Pull is another moment or in HiFi Rush when you get to play as the robot for a brief moment.

[@-nomi.-]

"don't worry, herald of darkness can get greatest work of all time instead" was the ultimate setup for the wildest fight

[@thewhitewolf4968]

It should of won. I mean the category itself is greatest art of 2023 and an ad sphere wins is so dumb. Also Janet saying because she wants something else that isn't videogames but not sticking to the actual meaning of the category is just silly and Ben should enforce it more but he also thought it should go there so ....

[@storyoptics4964]

time stamp?

[@JaxonUm]

​@thewhitewolf4968 the sphere is the ultimate encapsulation of 2023. It deserved the number 1 spot

[@thewhitewolf4968]

@@JaxonUm but not greatest work of art of 2023 on that list but it's fine I can agree to disagree

[@-nomi.-]

sphere isnt a good serious answer but "im going sphere" was the funniest minnmax moment of 2023

[@TinyPrinceGames]

Been crazy excited for this all week! Leo will be missed, but I hope he and his family are okay.

[@IchibanKasuga-6969]

Thinking of Leo

[@MysteriousMrL]

I appreciated Ben bringing up Cid from FFXVI, but there was another character that I was always delighted to see: Uncle Byron. A surprisingly wholesome character for that game especially.

[@vyris2663]

Jeff explaining the SM scene unironically made me like it more too 😂

[@KevinJennissen]

I feel like Jeff really misunderstood or misremembered that scene. It's not nearly as problematic as he's making it out to be. MJ brings up real complaints and Peter listens and validates them. He absolutely does not gaslight her or minimize her problems, nor does he dodge responsibility for his own mistakes. The only time he says "that's the symbiote talking" is when she says violent threats and things that are legitimately not her real feelings. The writers did not drop the ball the way Jeff insinuates.

[@burnout713]

JeffM brought the heat this episode! Also really got a kick out of Janet crushing Haley's dreams at the end with the power of the Vegas sphere. God I hate that city. Thanks also to Jacob for giving Final Fantasy XVI at least a tad of shine. Hoping Kelsey brings the fight for Octopath Traveler II in the two tens. That game was way better than I'm seeing it get credit for virtually anywhere.

[@lukemoonwalker8444]

I think if we get like 8th to 10th place for Octopath 2, that's a big W.

[@burnout713]

@@lukemoonwalker8444 Absolutely. Not holding my breath but at least I know I can trust Kelsey to bring it up and she's proven to be adept at getting stuff up there.

[@ChichiNaka]

Leo's words from last year "Here are all these unique great creative games, but here are THE REEEEEALLL GAMES" is still ringing in my head but I'm looking forward to this discussion. You guys are doing great things, it's really cool to have one of these types of channels be basically split down the middle between the two genders, its so easy for jaded 35+ dudes to dismiss like half the games I played growing up or this year and Minnmax has never fallen into that

[@OrangeLightning]

45:25 This is a myth. An original PS5 can play almost every physical game out of the box unless it specifies that a download is required or that it's online only. Console updates are installed directly from the disc.

[@joekaf]

The PS5 Slim requires a one-time online activation to enable the disk drive. I'm pretty sure this is the story they were thinking of and got it mixed up with a bunch of other unrelated situations.

[@OrangeLightning]

​@@joekaf Right that's why I clarified original PS5.

[@starlight137yt]

Welcome Haley 😂😂😂😂 The two tens are going to be unhinged, I love it.

[@realKryptic17]

So wait, you're telling me that if a journalist picks up and verify's the information that's been investigated regarding The Cometionist, that the facts that are right there publically available become more legitimate? The only person in the entire situation that has made it worse for themself is Jirard himself. I hope when it's not ongoing anymore we can get it in next year's news portion then. I'm sure Jeff's right on this. For sure. /s

[@jvaralves]

Yeah I don't understand why so many people are on the fence on this. It's so brutally clear that 1. He lied and misled people, 2. He is a giant A-hole

[@Draffut2003]

Always nice to get a nice short podcast in during lunch.

[@Jordan-gw7ct]

Sending thoughts and my best vibes to Leo and his family.

[@seangocongo8169]

They LITERALLY signed the contract. This is a momentous day.

[@mbillard]

Going in and out of worlds in Cocoon deserved to be on the best of 2023 list.

[@prettyhatemachine101]

Need to go back up to Best Thing and add JeffMs impassioned description of the Scream fight. 😂

[@chriscuevas5383]

Was Jacob poo-pooing the Jirard the completionist thing purely because it was brought about by amateur KZbin sleuths? Maybe the timing of this videos recording was more breaking than what I initially thought but the charity fraud thing seems like a pretty damning situation at this point regardless of who brought it about. Dudes career is likely done at this point despite his KZbin friends claiming it was just a mistake and it would blow over

[@joshread3740]

While there is definitely some speculation that I'm not totally on board with regarding the scam as a whole, just the fact that the Open Hand Foundation kept peoples' money for like ten years without donating it despite saying year after year that they were actively doing it is a big enough story in itself.

[@chriscuevas5383]

@@joshread3740 That's exactly what constitutes charity fraud. The supposedly missing money we can't really speculate on as that's something only Jirard and the IRS can really know. The fact that he kept taking this money for nearly 10 years, while telling people every year that his charities were doing such good work that they even were the "main benefactor" for one organization, and then claiming he only found out in 2021 or 2022 that the money wasn't being donated? Something fishy was going on. Either he was knowingly sitting on that money because he was tempted to use some of the funds, or he was unknowingly doing so and was the most incompetent custodian of a charity place ever. I find it very hard to believe someone who claims this was an issue so close to his heart would not know about this for nearly a decade while claiming to be helping the cause so much. It just doesn't add up.

[@bblovely7788]

Jacob defending Jirard was an interesting choice...

[@nc630]

Best thing is Killer Instinct coming back from the dead

[@niinakari3208]

Omg when I heard Bug Hanson, I thought Ben named his child "Bug" 😂

[@OMGLX]

That's absurd! Ben named his son Greg, because Greg Miller over at Kinda Funny named his son Ben. They worked out a cross promotional agreement years ago! 😋

[@ChickenTuesday]

Loved when Herald of Darkness almost slipped through as the min and nobody said sh*t 😂

[@Chicken008]

No Hbomber guy videos mentioned for best work of art!? Very strange!

[@mp-3441]

About the Nintendo debt guy: It was a very harsh ruling but it isnt Nintendo who decided that, its ultimate the U.S court(in particular the judge). And the judge said it was also a warning message for others, still I do think its unfair as a judge should give a sentence to what a person did not as a warning message to deter others from what sentenced person did.

[@haleyfax]

Deterrance theory in judicial rulings is legit one of the most confusing yet interesting things in the legal field to learn about imo. How much money/prison time fixes a wrongdoing? How can anyone ever calculate that? Yet the courts do it all the time. Nintendo loved that the court went with a deterrance objective for the piracy sentencing because that's exactly why they wanted to sue him in the first place. They don't really want his money, they want to make it a scary thing to infringe Nintendo's patents/copyrights which is excactly what they got. Gary Bowser just happened to be the person who could leverage that oppporuntinity for them, I think due to his seperate (and suscessful) criminal charges. We have to remember too that the FBI/Homeland Security etc. were the ones going after him in 2020 when he was jailed for 11 felony counts under fraud, conspiracy, pirating etc. Then Nintendo itself sued him for piracy (civil not criminal courts) and Nintendo saw an opporunity to latch onto and leverage his criminal charges to argue for more substantial civil punishments. In his criminal trail, Bowser himself even said jail is not a good detterance to stop hackers and issuing fines would be better (he said this of couse to not have as much jail time imposed on him, but I don't doubt for ONE SECOND Nintendo didn't use that quote in their sentencing factum asking for a detterance objective. They probably were popping champagne when he said that on record). Would love to see the sentencing report for that case to see how they decided on the civil remedies. (legal nerd rant over)

[@Uhcip]

Scavengers Reign is the best piece of media this year and its crazy that its not being talked about more.

[@cptclown2110]

Greg Miller in Spiderman 2 is absolutely the dumbest thing this year

[@eb2681]

Wait where is he?

[@MrPokefan124]

Yes! I’ve been looking forward to this all month!

[@fawkesandhound]

I just wanna say Sarah is my favorite and she’s always such a delight!

[@tyler2010]

"You're gonna learn to paint so you can weld it yourself from stone" - Janet Garcia

[@cptclown2110]

Missing Leo on the stream!! Prayers out ot him and his family

[@Maxbeedo2]

Stellar picks for all of these categories. Ya'll did an amazing job. 1:05:50 I love JeffM rants. Haven't played it but the reasoning made sense to me. 2:02:15 LOL, Kyle's 1st choice for Best Character was Dan Ryckert's choice for "Dumbass of the Year". 4:17:35 He read it, it happened!

[@TheFizzjunior]

I loved that Like a Dragon Gaiden ending. It was so damn strong and emotional. Not to mention you get the peak, like a Dragon action yakuza drama final battle stuff for the previous 2 1/2 hours leading up to the ending. And then RGG is like "Oh yeah, we do emotional scenes like really well too. You want one of those? Here you go!" And you're like "Damn, this hits like a truck." Amazing.

[@prettyhatemachine101]

Loved this episode! Janet played the villain beautifully, even if she spoiled my favorite (and Haley’s). She did it with such aplomb that I couldn’t help but feel good about it in the end. 😂 Thanks yall!

[@benexler]

I had no interest in RE4 until I found out about Leon Kennedy's shoulders

[@usedfuzzbox]

An awards show, ah before I settle down, any idea on how many adverts there'll be, and what awards will be quickly skipped over?? :D

[@ShujinPJ]

See I remember that Spider-Man fight very differently. I remember genuine pain in Yuri Lowenthal's portrayal of Peter as he admits his faults and how he hasn't been properly regarding a person's feelings. Can't defend the design, but I liked that too 😂

[@isaaccooper448]

It’s the most MinnMaxest time of the year!🎉

[@malcolmholliday9710]

Am I gonna rewatch a 4 hour podcast? Yes, yes I am

[@YourGoodTwin]

I just want to say how cool it is that we have so many women on this. Nice job, y'all.

[@OMGLX]

I thought the same! With Leo's (very unfortunate) absence this episode, it was a 50/50 split, which is... idk, 49.95% more than most podcasts in this space, I feel like? Hyperbolic, sure, but not THAT much. Anyway, it's great / refreshing to have this many women on a big, tentpole "end of year" podcast, let alone THREE with the upcoming Two Tenns episodes. 🧡

[@luisg.m.garcia6972]

Im guessing this was recorded before it exploded but the studio behind The Day Before shutting down 4 days after its release and Steam refunding every purchase definetly should have been on biggest news and one of the biggest contenders for dumbest thing

[@quiet451]

Thank you guys for a great year! Keep up the excellent work!

[@Vilis_Farthuk]

2:24:00 Sarah bringing the Warrior Poet Lae'zel back in here! Also great mention of Jaheira, they both need more love.

[@ogto]

one year for now, everyone's gonna be saying "actually lae'zel is the best companion", and we'll be there to yell at them WE TOLD YOU SO

[@carlosflores-gaytan1589]

I saw in person that Gran Turismo Review Standee Jacob is talking about, I did think that was insane!

[@abevigoda819]

Great stuff, as always!

[@GreatistheWorld]

I got the master sword way out of sequence like Sarah, but it was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in any form of media

[@carlosflores-gaytan1589]

4:17:57 In that moment, the lawyer in Haley could not be stopped from clarifying

[@mork_from_auck]

I want to see Harold of Darkness.

[@csCherry]

I know it's fun and games but the Sphere is mostly used to show disrupting ads. Like, that's not art :D

[@nogrannydontplays]

Need to update the list. Best Thing - Jeff M. Spiderman 2 spoiler section.

[@haleyfax]

Right?? My fav part of all the discussions probably lol

[@burnout713]

My man brought the heat. Lol

[@JonnyBriers]

When JeffM is really mad (or excited tbf) about something, it's always a highlight and this did not disappoint Also, I totally agree with him. I thought that whole fight was cringe as hell. In a game about superpowers, you have to try to make your story grounded by making these (ultimately quite silly) fights personal and about what the characters are going through. But it's not grounded to have a discussion about a book while one of them has turned into an alien freak and they're punching each other in the face. It's not believable at all, plus that fight wasn't very fun.

[@burnout713]

I agree with every word of that. Really enjoyed the game overall, but everything about that fight was lame. @@JonnyBriers

[@headjump803]

I was just enjoying this podcast so much and thought for the first half "hmm, they must have decided to not talk about the Jirard situation at all - because for me it was one of the hugest scandals this year and I was surprised that it wasn't mentioned. Then after 1:25:00 you start bringing it up at the "news" section just to the it being dismissed immediately because it was no "real classic journalism" and is still ongoing? 😱 That seems really strange to me - I don't know what to make of this to be honest. Dismissing it in a "gatekeeping" way because it was no "real journalism" sounds to me so similar to Jirard discarding the allegations because Karl and Mudahar are no financial experts!

[@eb2681]

Yeah, Jacob was acting a bit weird there. Alanah Pierce just put out a video on that situation and she didn't downplay the "youtube journalism" angle at all....and she was a legit games journalist for IGN.

[@adamstubbings2411]

Halfway through, not usually the biggest fan of Janet but last week and so far this week she’s been an absolute pleasure to listen to, as echoed elsewhere hope the Vaders are okay!

[@danmiller9805]

Adore this time of year at MinnMax, thank you for all the effort you all put into this, and all year!

[@ElCriCri97]

Wooooow, FOUR HOURS!!! What a treat.

[@USMCbrantley]

Wowie Zowie its 4hours long.... This is gonna have to be a Saturday Watch/Listen. Hope everyone has a great Friday see yall tomorrow for this episode.

[@Harry_Two]

I'm high af & I'm being good having fun and let's going!!!!!

[@AscensionGod]

I completely disagree with Sarah when it comes to the Master Sword. I accidentally found it, and the excitement I felt from randomly finding it was so amazing

[@AscensionGod]

I had not done any of the Dragon's Tears yet, though. So the revelation of what the dragon represents was mind blowing to me.

[@AscensionGod]

I didn't find it for the first time until I already had enough health/stamina to get it, also.

[@Shadowbandit]

No I get her point. I got the sword for the ganon fight since I went straight there was pretty wack .

[@AscensionGod]

@@Shadowbandit I can see why it would be an issue. But, personally, I felt it was an amazing experience just randomly coming upon it before I had even made it to the 3rd dungeon. And then getting the drop that the dragon was Zelda was insane to me, since I had not collected even the first Dragon's Tear. And then seeing the story of how she sacrificed herself to fix the Master Sword as i gathered them, even knowing the ending, was awesome

[@howarda1000]

I'm so confused about this. The surprise of the 5th dungeon and master sword out of order meant more to me because it was out of order. I am baffled how many podcasts I have listened to that wanted it to all be laid out first. But thats why it's an opinion. Just interesting I haven't heard that from anyone else yet

[@Olafurh21]

Imagine picking up a novel you haven't read and starting on chapter 9. Would it be a surprise for you? Yes. Would every revelation suck without context? Yes. That aside... TOTK has some of the worst storytelling of all games and I mean that even if you play the cutscenes linear. I hope they skip the story in the next Zelda and just rename the next game Link's mod or something. Good riddance

[@Sizzlinpapaya1014]

Everyone really lost track of what dumbest thing was meant to be.

[@galacticmaui2]

For dumb you should have put Miles new suit

[@burnout713]

That is an excellent suggestion.

[@mrinconsistent5951]

my entire life has led up to this point

[@willymcfresh8937]

Look forward to these every year 🙏

[@homerfan2323]

Sending love to leo and his fam

[@TevorTheThird]

Shout out to... * checks notes * ...Shang Tsung. Seriously though, the actor who plays Shang this time around has the unenviable task to follow up after Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who isn't just "the guy from that old movie" nostalgia play, but a legitimate goated actor who seems to love actually playing Shang Tsung and came back to headline the Aftermath story mode from the last game. And the new guy, a Mr. Alan Lee, swoops in and absolutely crushes it. His Shang Tsung is just such a charmingly sinister and smarmy scumbag and it's delightful. Alan Lee does a way better job then he probably even needed to do and it's really quite impressive. To have a fighting game character even on the list with a bunch of RPGs characters, who have about a thousand times more page count to work with, is a feat in and of itself but I'd put him quite highly.

[@lukemoonwalker8444]

I would have worderd the Dumbest Thing as "Embracer trusting the Saudis solely on their word"

[@VoltaDoMar]

Ahti is the best character. Don't overthink it

[@jessetaylor5]

Justice for Herald of Darkness, the best gaming moment of 2023!

[@NMac30]

Been waiting all year for this one!

[@DFTNSHEXGRM]

JeffM’s rant about Pete & MJ is objectively wrong. He’s never gas lighting her as you put it. Peter is agreeing with everything she is saying to him because she is right and he knows it. You need to replay that section again, because your interpretation of it is quite skewed. Yes he’s trying to get the symbiote off of her, but the parts where he’s saying “thats the symbiote talking!” are when MJ is saying things that she obviously wouldn’t say. Not trying to be that guy, but if you’re going to rant about something for 5 minutes, make sure you’ve got all of your facts straight because your whole argument is based on a version of events that simply didn’t happen in the game the way you say it did.

[@kevinanderson4500]

I just played that scene a couple of days ago and had no idea what he was talking about. I get the part that the book helping one person line was cliche, but everything else he said was way off.

[@TheLastDaysOfSorrow]

couldn't agree more. Also MJ bringing up Peters inability to hold a job being "justified" is just mind-boggling to me considering the fact that it's because he's saving the god damn city on a daily basis. That's totally an incredibly unfair notion the Symbiote got out of her.

[@voltronik9141]

Happy Holidays to MinnMax.

[@hermes_job_observer144]

@3:13: The Southern Oath 🤠😂

[@titicou]

I disagree with everyone and everything, I just don't want to argue.

[@yellowbat79]

it's so funny how they talked Alan Wake 2 out of the top 2 every time seemingly for no greater reason that "oh everyone liked that lets give it to one that is worse we'll give AW2 it's flowers later" while doing that later as well lol

[@vicjake8730]

The Screamer fight in Spider-Man was literally my favorite part of the game, that character design has been established for almost 30 years and saying Peter was gas lighting is absolutely absurd, figures when a story has something deep to say it has to get taken the completely the wrong way

[@danielmonteiro5543]

System Shock Remake was my goty

[@Zeouterlimits]

Best Moment chat was great ❤❤❤

[@edge1710]

Funny at the beginning of the year there was this sequence in Jedi Survivor that people including me had it locked as moment of the year, but is completely forgotten now. Personally my moment of the year was Shadowheart vs the Nightsong. (the "good" version)

[@mart8577]

Haha I had the bad version and it was also one of my favourites

[@jonathangibson3609]

The layoffs have been rough for people trying to get *into* the industry as well, I'm a recently graduated game programmer and it's impossible to get a job because there is ALWAYS someone who's more qualified but lost their job because of the layoffs. The fact these companies make so much money but still feel the need for these huge layoffs is absurd.

[@David-uc6sg]

The new PS5 model is not actually called "Slim." That's a name websites gave it.

[@rudyseidl7645]

I still don't know how the "Greatest Work of Art Of All Time" was not Jacob's glorious mustache??!

[@daredevilnb]

Work of art discussion was the best. Screw the ad ball!!!

[@hermes_job_observer144]

@1:33:15: I'mma make sure if I have a kid that I get them on record as saying they plan to be a billionaire mogul, lol! 😂

[@val4892]

A game that only one person beat winning best moment over a game that half the panel beat makes no sense.

[@kbkb4284]

Guys, you need to add hitting a vulnerable mech with a fully charged Pile Bunker in AC6 in there.

[@custard500011]

is there a written list of all these awards?

[@alexcrouch5245]

Giant billboard wins greatest work of art over herald of darkness is wild

[@aedof]

I think out of every single piece of art discussed in this episode, the glorified Vegas billboard is the only one absolutely devoid of artistic merit. Given the context of the reasoning for why it was voted as second greatest art piece, I think putting it in the 'dumbest thing' category would have been a better fit.

[@liquidocelot4118]

Ummm, guys...this is really good content.

[@DarkEggplant]

Oh, I've been waiting for this!

[@jcmclint]

I regret watching the video version. Seeing Astarion spelt incorrectly with no correction drove me crazy.

[@thatoneguy1821]

I absolutely cannot believe the Las Vegas sphere even made consideration for greatest work of all time. Impressive tech… I guess. But that’s about as far from my view of art as could possibly be. For what it’s worth, of the nominees, my vote actually would have been the Succession episode. It was entirely unique and effective and will be something that gets discussed anytime historic moments in TV are brought up, at least for the next 20+ years

[@dconrad]

What’s the context on Sarah’s big success on Reddit? Love these discussions every year y’all, thanks for doing these great videos! Best wishes to Leo and his loved ones 💜

[@imeanleafeon]

I think they were referring to her clip bashing the game awards that got shared on r/LivestreamFail

[@burnout713]

I would love to see that. @@imeanleafeon