What's your stance on the AI rabbit hole in games? We dive into a healthy back-and–forth on all things mobile in this week's (New and Improved!) Pocket Gamer Podcast, where we chat about Netflix, 90s kids, and making sushi.

Iwan starts off all the excitement with the announcement of Dave the Diver coming to mobile, which spirals into discussions on cooking games and recipe accuracy IRL (plus shoutouts to Tales of the Neon Sea and Burrito Bison). There's also a lot of real-world stuff going on in Orange Pop!, which is intriguing enough given TV's Kenan and Kel are behind the match-3 puzzler.

Will talks about the legacy of these two 90s icons, including the charitable cause the game is connected to once it's officially launched. There are a lot of cheeky references in there too, especially when it comes to Kel's favourite drink (IYKYK). It's nice to see the seemingly wholesome energy here as opposed to just making a mobile game for marketing purposes. Is it possible the dynamic duo might want to appear in a future podcast episode to talk about Orange Pop? This is an open invitation if so!

In any case, we dive back into the catalogue of games on Netflix with Tomb of the Mask, reminding us that there's hope yet for the streaming platform and its growing library (Budget John Marston makes a comeback to the podcast too, whether we like it or not).

Iwan caps it all off by opening a can of worms, so to speak, as he goes into detail about the use of AI in Neural Dawn. Have a look at the trailer and let us know what you think - we'd love to know!

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Did you catch all the summer games reveals over the weekend? We dive into a healthy back-and–forth on all things mobile in this week's (New and Improved!) Pocket Gamer Podcast, where we're buzzing about all the new stuff that's dropped in the wonderful world of gaming.

I get the ball rolling with the announcement for Hidden Folks 2, which will be landing on mobile sometime in 2027. That might seem like it's still a long way to go, but I think it's definitely worth the wait given its lovely hand-drawn aesthetics and its mouth-based sound effects. This brings us to a discussion on hidden objects, pixel hunting, and blending in too well with the background, but before Iwan goes on a rant about that, he gets distracted by the latest round of updates for Vampire Survivors.

It's now being renamed as Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton, which goes hand-in-hand with the upcoming string of new developments that poncle will be launching around the brand. It's got Will and Iwan pretty pumped about its future on the platform, which is just one of the things that we feel works really well on mobile.

This reminds Will of Gigabash Mobile, a kaiju-based fighting game that's also been announced to arrive on mobile. We do ponder what it means to make more mobile-optimised ports, which leads us to Where Winds Meet, and Netease's upcoming third-person action-adventure, Blood Message.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to adapting stuff to the mobile platform and catering to mobile trends, which is why Will raises the important issue of whether or not it's healthy for games to push more limited-time events as opposed to more "traditional" DLC expansions. This will always be a point of argument for a lot of people - but what do you think, though?

Do you prefer your constant stream of monthly updates and limited-time perks, or would you rather just do the one-and-done thing of buying an expansion pack and going at your own pace?

Do you prefer going all-in on your mobile games, or are you content with the idle AFK life? We dive into a healthy back-and–forth on all things mobile in this week's (New and Improved!) Pocket Gamer Podcast, where everything from Mr Burns' Monopoly money to learning Japanese through swords pops into the picture.

The big news this week is Monopoly Go's epic collab with The Simpsons, which, whether or not you're a big fan of the long-running animated series, still means there's plenty of new content to discover (and a rivalry-filled animated short at that).

Do you feel like The Simpsons has overstayed its welcome, or is it still relevant? Much like The King of Fighters AFK, do legacy franchises still make the same impact today as they did before? Regardless, the RPG is a testament to the appeal of idle gameplay, whether it's an OG fighting game like Street Fighter or a big gacha like Summoners War.

Now, mobile conversions aren't always completely different from their original versions, as Will points out with Slime Rancher. It's enjoyable enough as it is, so, as they say, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Iwan moves things along with the announcement of Skeletor: Until Next Time, which is lovably campy, given the protagonist of the endless runner. We do wonder how big the fanbase for He-Man is at the moment, but still, it does seem to be a pretty fun runner that obviously doesn't take itself too seriously.

Endless runners will always be a thing, much like Survivors-likes on mobile these days, which is what WamojiSword is surprisingly about. It's meant to teach you a thing or two about Japanese culture and kanji, but having played it over the weekend, I realise it's also got an interesting mechanic that turns your name into a sword. It's worth giving a go if you're at all curious about Japan.

Things wind down toward the end of the episode, which Will hammers home by saying he's tired of survival crafting despite Once Human's cool new update. Does this fatigue affect you too? Or are you into big mobile endeavours like Where Winds Meet?