Max Neal 🎮

Hey, 👋 I'm Max Neal! (formerly MaxTheCatfish) When I'm not diving into dumpsters or mourning corrupted Gamecube save files, I'm working on Voxel - Conversations on the Art, Culture, and Future of Video Games. Find me here: 📺 @VoxelShow" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@VoxelShow 📷 instagram.com/HeyMaxNeal

@BustaSnutt Aww dude, thanks for remembering. ♥️

@HeyMaxNeal happy birthday!

Wow, the exact thing that I made a video about…people getting outraged by imagined corruption…happened in the exact way I said it would happen. Anyway, CA rotates candidate order precinct by precinct so all candidates spend an equal amount of time at the top.

Have you ever been contacted for an interview with a major gaming publication like IGN or PCGamer? What did they include in their contact to you that convinced you to speak to them or not speak to them?

(Oh, and we had to re-upload this video because ya boi left in the timecode burn-in into the first version. Do me a solid - if you've got some time today could you watch it through, or send it to someone who might like the kinds of conversations we have on the channel? Thanks) 🥹

A new video is out on Voxel! This week we're tackling the future of video game consoles and the challenges facing them today.

@Ri6hteous Thanks so much! A bunch of reasons - primarily because I started a new project called Voxel that I wanted to give my full attention! I won't lie though, I've flirted with the idea of rebooting the stream lately! @voxelshow" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@voxelshow

@HeyMaxNeal hey Max. I’ve found you through your AMAZING #stellaris tutorial on YouTube. I was wondering what happened to your channel? Why did you stop?

And hopefully, unlike Anthem, it's actually given a chance to redefine itself.

Concord is Sony's 'Anthem'. What the hell is going on in the industry these days? blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-…

@Minecraft "We've got to cash in on this "video game" fad. How can we give this genre-defining game the movie it deserves?" Hollywood: "The 'unwitting protagonists find themselves literally in the video game world' trope will do. Here's Jason and the guy who voiced the giant turtle. NEXT!"

Be There and Be Square. #MinecraftMovie - only in theaters 2025.

The PS4 era was phenomenal. Is Sony *really* struggling so much that they needed to divert to Live Service games? Destiny aside, Playstation has long been the platform for brilliant single-player narratives. Why change that now?

I'm always on the lookout for games doing something I've *never* seen before. REKA looks to be a dark, witchy, and...oddly-cozy survival crafter that I'm SUPER keen to get my hands on when it releases this September. store.steampowered.com/app/1737870/RE…

I'm officially ready for boot weather. Could we get some boot weather please?

So I've been sucked into Final Fantasy 14 for real this time - and I'm wondering if it's possible to work in content creation while playing an MMO. The past weeks of work on Voxel have been replaced with faux work in the world of Eorzea and I don't know how to feel about that...

@CraftComputing @davidnburgess I think that's the issue actually - companies (and investors) are growing increasingly intolerant of risk when there are more assured paths to profit. Frankly it's surprising more corporations haven't turned to Kickstarter to test the demand for new products.

@davidnburgess You're a multi $ Bn company with dedicated R+D departments and internal manufacturing. You can afford to make a product, even if it bombs.

Um... What the actual hell is Lexar doing launching a product on Kickstarter? I highly doubt a publicly traded company needs investment capital to start making a product 100% already in their wheelhouse.

Me today: recepy reciepe recepie recapie? recipy receipy rese- recipy

Today the Cartoon Network website officially shut down. I'm thinking back to my countless hours playing flash games and exploring my favorite cartoons. *Nothing* did cartoons as well as Cartoon Network.

@gameinformer Can't believe it honestly, I've been reading Game Informer ever since I first got into gaming as a young kid. This is the end of an era, but more importantly - the beginning of the end of quality gaming journalism.

The Final Level: Farewell from Game Informer 🕹️

@LeksiW That a way! Since starting FFXIV I practically haven't left my house for anything but walking the dog. 💀

@HeyMaxNeal While I don't hate on gamers, I do occasionally tell my viewers to touch grass. 🤔

Something I've noticed lately in gaming journalism (podcasts especially) is that hosts are firing SO many shots at gamers these days - you know...their own potential audience members. And you know what? They're right to do it!

This weekend "getting baked in Denver" will take on a whole new meaning. 🔥🥵🔥

I've never seen the gaming space this toxic. And maybe that's just the reality of a hobby that grows more and more populated every year. But I feel the need to prove that it doesn't have to be that way if I'm to retain my sanity working in this space.

In a sort of fascinating analogy, this follows a similar trend to recent RPG games that now not only give you a quest to go on, but then show you exactly where to go and tell you exactly what to do.

And that's leaving a lot of gamers feeling...lost. A lot of convos around games have disappeared because it's more successful to take an extreme stance and tell people *what they should think*, instead of presenting facts and letting gamers come to their own conclusions.