Welcome to the DSTE Christmas Spectacular!!
There’s no Joe or Jono this week so Sam takes over hosting duties and is joined by JT and Ste to talk all things games, TV, and film + books this week.
We have a Christmassy catch up before JT’s new section Joe-Schmo Rage Baiting’! We also take a quick look at the new Street Fighter film trailer, the 2026 reboot directed by Kitao Sakurai and starring Noah Centineo as Ken and Andrew Koji as Ryu.
Ste gives his obligatory World of Tanks update, the enduring armoured warfare MMO, and talks with JT about playing The Outer Worlds 2. This much-anticipated sci-fi RPG sequel from Obsidian Entertainment just launched this October, taking players to the new star system of Arcadia. JT played the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 game as we discuss the blatant rinse and repeat nature of COD (yet it’s still fun) and the campaign (or lack of) vs. online gameplay. The pod has an in depth discussion around how games are priced and marketed around free game models with season pass/DLC.
We then drop into Sam’s Steam Deck Corner, where he’s revisiting Trials Evolution, the 2012 physics-based racer from RedLynx.
Next, we open Ste’s Book Club to discuss Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi epic Dune and a Haruki Murakami marathon covering the melancholic Norwegian Wood (1987), the metaphysical Kafka on the Shore (2002), and the dystopian epic 1Q84 (2009).
JT sits us down to tell us all about The Chair Company, the new HBO comedy-thriller from Tim Robinson about a man who uncovers a corporate conspiracy after his chair collapses during a presentation. We also test our Duolingo language skills by watching foreign TV shows: Schlag Den Star, the long-running German celebrity competition; Deutschland 83, the stylish 2015 Cold War spy thriller; and One Cut of the Dead, the ingenious 2017 Japanese meta-zombie film by Shin'ichirō Ueda. Sam covers The Beast In Me, the new Netflix psychological thriller starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys, and we chat about the massive Netflix vs. Paramount bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, as the streaming giants fight over the future of HBO and the DC Universe.
The feature film this week that is unquestionable a Christmas Film - Jingle All The Way, the 1996 holiday classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger on a desperate quest for a Turbo-Man action figure.
Get in touch with us:
X - https://x.com/DSTEPodcast
Email - dontspoiltheending@gmail.com
Intro
00:00:00 - Christmas talk
00:03:05 - Joe-Schmo rage baiting + 2025 Comic book films
00:09:22 - Street Fighter film
Video Games
00:13:49 - World of Tanks
00:14:25 - The Outer Worlds 2
00:15:42 - Call of Duty Black Ops 7
00:18:55 - Control Resonant + Alan Wake
00:21:38 - Free game model/DLC/season pass discussion
00:27:46 - Sam’s Steam Deck Corner - Trials Evolution
Books
00:30:34 - Ste’s Book Club - Dune + Haruki Murakami / Norwegian Wood + Kafka on the Shore + 1Q84
TV
00:35:53 - The Chair Company
00:40:49 - Duolino chat
00:41:30 - Schlag Den Star (Beat the Star)
00:43:03 - Deutschland 83
00:48:45 - The Beast in Me
00:55:43 - Netflix Monopolisation
Films
00:59:07 - One Cut of the Dead
Feature Review
01:02:39 - Jingle All The Way
