Those questions—and several much stranger ones—come up on AwesomeCast 794 with Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar.

Xbox Finds a New Use for the Game Disc

One of the episode’s biggest discussions centers on Microsoft’s Xbox Discs to Digital initiative.

The concept offers an interesting middle ground between physical and digital ownership. A supported Xbox disc can be authenticated and connected to a player’s digital library, potentially giving players digital access while the disc itself continues to function as the transferable proof of ownership.

That last part is important. If the disc is sold and authenticated by somebody else, the digital access moves with it.

For Sorg, who has stacks of Xbox One games and a console with a failed optical drive, this could solve a very practical problem. It also opens possibilities for finding inexpensive used Xbox games at stores such as GameStop and turning them into accessible digital titles.

There are still questions surrounding Xbox 360 compatibility, licensing, sports games, delisted games and publisher participation, but it is a fascinating attempt to bridge two very different eras of game ownership.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/your-discs-now-also-digital/?ocid=Platform_soc_omc_xbo_fb_Photo_lrn_8.26.2

Gamers Say They Want Physical Games. Are They Buying Them?

That question carries directly into this week’s ChachiSays Video Game Minute.

Chachi points to figures showing U.S. spending on physical video games falling to levels not seen since physical-game statistics began being tracked in 1995. Nintendo represented a sizable portion of the remaining physical market.

The contradiction is hard to ignore: gamers regularly criticize publishers for abandoning physical media, but those products need enough buyers to justify continuing to manufacture and distribute them.

https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/console-gaming/us-console-sales-fall-39-percent-in-july-as-memory-costs-push-average-price-to-542

Generative AI Comes to Gamescom

Chachi also discusses reports of generative AI being used during development of multiple titles connected to Gamescom 2026.

The larger concern is not simply whether AI tools exist inside game development. The segment focuses on how companies disclose that use, what work the systems replace, and whether developers are being transparent with their audiences.

Project Zeta, Aion 2, Train Sim World 7, Crimson Desert and Crazy Taxi: World Tour are among the games brought up during the discussion.

https://kotaku.com/opening-night-live-2026-genai-slop-games-geoff-keighley-2000728477

Roku City Quietly Remembers Three Entertainment Icons

Katie highlights a much more thoughtful use of technology: the little visual Easter eggs hidden inside Roku City.

The screensaver incorporated imagery referencing Dolly Parton and Tim Curry along with an Optimus Prime-inspired tribute to Peter Cullen.

That leads the crew into memories of Cullen’s massive voice-acting career and the strange experience of realizing, years later, just how many familiar childhood characters were voiced by the same small group of performers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcrPR8alYG3/?img_index=1

From Hubble to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Dave’s Awesome History segment turns toward NASA and astronomer Nancy Grace Roman.

Roman played an important role in pushing space-based astronomy forward, helping lay the groundwork for what ultimately became the Hubble Space Telescope.

The telescope carrying her name represents another enormous leap in what astronomers can observe. The hosts discuss its much wider field of view, the search for exoplanets, dark matter and dark energy, as well as the unusual orbital environments used by major observatories.

https://www.planetary.org/articles/the-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-launch

It's Already LEGO Advent Calendar Season

Katie has an annual public-service announcement: if you want a particular Advent Calendar, buy it when you see it.

LEGO’s 2026 calendars are already appearing, including traditional Christmas offerings alongside Star Wars, Marvel and Disney sets.

Waiting until December is how you end up frantically checking every store in town for the one calendar somebody decided they absolutely had to have.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/search?q=advent%20calendar%202026&suggestion=true

The $100,000 Keyboard

Dave then discovers a corner of technology that makes even premium mechanical keyboards look inexpensive.

A social video begins with keyboards priced in the hundreds of dollars, moves into models costing thousands, and eventually reaches one sitting around the $100,000 mark.

At that point, calling something a “computer accessory” may no longer adequately explain what is happening.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1593262308558803

Brütal Legend Honors Tim Curry for 666 Minutes

Double Fine found an extremely appropriate way to honor Tim Curry by making Brütal Legend free for 666 minutes.

The Xbox 360-era heavy-metal adventure stars Jack Black and features Curry among its memorable cast.

Sorg recently returned to the game and found that, despite showing its age in places, it remains surprisingly enjoyable.

https://www.ign.com/articles/double-fine-productions-makes-brutal-legend-free-for-666-minutes-to-honor-tim-curry?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=6a905803b9a113000189638d&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

Donkey Kong Country: CGI From Another Time

Speaking of things that have aged differently, Sorg rediscovers the computer-animated Donkey Kong Country television series from the late 1990s.

The show provides an incredible time capsule of early television CGI: stiff animation, questionable lip synchronization and character models that can occasionally drift into nightmare territory.

And yet there is something fascinating about seeing what creators were able to accomplish with 1990s rendering technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWpI4vahfIY

Sort the Nintendo eShop From Cheap to Expensive. You Have Been Warned.

There is another kind of digital archaeology available right now.

Go to the Nintendo Switch store. Sort everything from lowest price to highest. Start scrolling.

The result is a journey through inexpensive retro games, indie releases, zombie games, cat games, simulators, dating games, suspiciously AI-looking artwork and enough shovelware to keep the AwesomeCast crew entertained far longer than expected.

There are legitimate bargains hiding in the pile—but finding them is part of the adventure.

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/sales-and-deals/#show=0&p=1&sort=pa&f=priceRangeFilter&priceRangeFilter=%240+-+%244.99

Commodore 64 Meets Cyberpunk

The episode’s final major retro-tech rabbit hole comes courtesy of a Cyberpunk-themed Commodore 64.

The unusual crossover sends Katie and Dave back into memories of the original beige Commodore machines, while Dave recalls using GEOS for word processing and schoolwork long before the modern Windows experience became standard.

https://commodore.net/store/commodore64/

Plus: Giant Medals, Slow USB-C Cables and Video Game Wrestling

Dave also shows off the giant magnetic medals earned through the Pro Football Hall of Fame virtual race series.

https://runsignup.com/Race/OH/Canton/HOFRaceSeries

Katie introduces what may become a recurring feature, “What Is Katie Labeling Now?”, after discovering one of her USB-C cables was charging her laptop dramatically slower than the others.

And before any of that, the crew revisits Sorgstock and its real-life video game wrestling match, where the performers recreated all of the awkward movement, button mashing, missed attacks and controller confusion of playing a wrestling game when nobody remembers the controls.

From the future of game ownership to 1980s computers and $100,000 keyboards, AwesomeCast 794 once again proves there is always something wonderfully strange happening in technology.

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The crew also discusses a travel app that automatically tells stories based on your location, the staggering first imagery from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Kevin Mitnick’s legacy in cybersecurity and several troubling decisions from the video game industry.

Stories, Gadgets and Topics Discussed

• Katie’s Brother P-touch label maker: Katie shows how she is using built-in symbols—including cameras, computers and warning icons—to organize and identify equipment, drives and other technology.
• The Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveals an enormous view of the universe: Dave follows up on the observatory’s 3.2-gigapixel LSST camera and an image containing approximately 650,000 galaxies. The hosts discuss the astonishing detail available when zooming into tiny sections of the image, the observatory’s planned decade of data collection and how AI could help scientists examine datasets too large for humans to process manually. See the Vera C. Rubin Observatory imagery
• Wrinkles turns city exploration into a location-aware audio tour: Katie introduces Wrinkles, a travel app that automatically shares historical facts, local stories and hidden details as users walk through supported cities. The app uses AI-generated voices, but its information is drawn from curated sources such as historians, museums and local organizations. Creators and tourism groups may also be able to build their own tours and experiences. Explore the Wrinkles travel app
• A PC gamer creates physical Steam cartridges: Sorg examines a DIY project that stores individual Steam games on inexpensive 128GB, 2.5-inch SSDs. A script detects the drive when it is inserted, connects the game to the owner’s Steam library and launches the title—creating something close to a modern PC game cartridge. The discussion considers storage costs, portability and whether physical presentation can make digital collections feel more permanent. See the DIY Steam cartridge project
• Kevin Mitnick and National Social Engineering Day: Dave looks back at famed hacker-turned-security-consultant Kevin Mitnick, whose birthday on August 6 inspired National Social Engineering Day. The hosts explain how attackers can bypass strong technology by manipulating employees, customer-service representatives and other people into revealing passwords, resetting accounts or granting access. Learn about National Social Engineering Day Read Kevin Mitnick’s congressional testimony
• ChachiSays Video Game Minute—“Doubling Down on Dumb Decisions”:
  • Sony acknowledges the backlash surrounding its move away from physical PlayStation discs but plans to continue moving in that direction. Read the Sony physical-media story
  • Electronic Arts reportedly rewarded its CEO with a major compensation increase following the success of Battlefield 6 while developers responsible for the game faced layoffs. Read about the EA compensation and layoffs
  • August Interactive is working with NASA on Moonbase Y, a game designed to encourage children to plan, collaborate and invent solutions for a future lunar colony. Learn about Moonbase Y
• Xbox considers converting physical games into digital licenses: A reported Xbox disc-to-digital program could allow owners of original Xbox and Xbox 360 discs to access compatible digital copies on newer hardware or PC. The hosts discuss game preservation, license transfer, resale and whether Microsoft’s approach inspires more confidence in the long-term future of an Xbox library. Read about Xbox’s reported disc-to-digital plan
• Fitbit data can finally sync with Apple Health: Fitbit users can now consolidate more of their fitness information inside Apple Health. The hosts discuss the convenience of keeping activity, blood-pressure readings and medical information in one location, while noting that some measurements—including heart-rate variability—may not transfer yet. Learn how to sync Fitbit with Apple Health
• A SpaceX rocket stage is headed for the Moon: A roughly 9,000-pound piece of space hardware is expected to strike the lunar surface. Although the collision is accidental and likely will not be visible to the naked eye, lunar orbiters may be able to document the crater and debris, turning the impact into an unexpected scientific experiment. Read about the lunar impact
• Fruit Love Island and the strange appeal of AI reality television: Sorg introduces an AI-generated dating show starring anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables. The hosts examine its bizarre character designs, inconsistent AI visuals, audience voting, reality-show storytelling and surprisingly organized production workflow. They also debate whether projects like this are disposable “AI slop” or useful experiments in storyboarding, character consistency and accessible video production. Watch Hasan Minhaj react to Fruit Love Island Visit Fruit Love Island Watch the Fruit Love Island video

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Support AwesomeCast: Tech and Gadget Talk

The crew also gets into Pittsburgh technology history with plans to preserve Westinghouse’s Atom Smasher, the impressive Commercial Street Bridge replacement, and the accessibility origins of the modern audiobook.

Then the geekery kicks into high gear: Xbox expands its classic-game preservation efforts to PC, Hasbro combines Transformers with Jem and the Holograms, LEGO brings Smart Play to Star Trek, Robosen releases an Optimus Prime robot designed to reopen childhood wounds, and Universal plans movies based on ten Atari properties.

Plus, Chachi has gaming headlines involving Hasbro, Steam Deck and Atari, and the crew discusses the backlash surrounding a $58,000 humanoid robot proposed for use in a New York school district.

It’s Pittsburgh technology, AI creativity, retro gaming, accessibility, robots and pop-culture nostalgia on AwesomeCast 789.

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Katie brings a larger, easier-to-open pill organizer that solves real daily medication frustrations. Dave recommends Dell Refurbished for affordable business-class computers, and Sorg shares how Aeroplay brings NVIDIA GeForce Now streaming to Apple TV, with a few login caveats.

The crew also highlights Herman Hollerith for Disability Pride Month, reacts to Sony’s reported physical disc and digital library controversies, explores functional LEGO F1 cars, checks out Pittsburgh’s upcoming Science of Speed exhibit, watches a Waymo drive through fireworks, and discovers the surprisingly adult world of Fisher-Price Little People collector sets.

Get geeky. Get awesome.

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