Bargain Bin Gaymers

Mitch is back from the moving boxes (now officially a Fitzroy/Collingwood gay) and reunited with Davey for a proper catch-up, a Summer Game Fest debrief, and a full reaction to the 2026 Gayming Awards. Fresh off last week's solo interview with Gayming founder Robin Gray, the boys react to the winners of queer gaming's biggest night, brought to you by World of Wonder, hosted by Erica Ishii and Drag Race favourite Dawn. In this episode:
What we're playing: 007 First Light (Davey finished it in one weekend), Breath of the Wild on Switch 2, Lego Batman, and a surprisingly good Bleach gacha game
Summer Game Fest debrief: Final Fantasy VII, a Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake, Alien: Isolation 2, two new Cuphead games, Palworld 1.0 and a TMNT: The Last Ronin reveal from the Bayonetta team
Gayming Awards 2026 reaction: Date Everything, South of Midnight, Trixie Mattel, Jennifer English, Dungeons & Drag Queens and more
Why this year's awards are absolutely worth watching back, even now, you know who won
A Pride Month message: don't just repost, show up
The Release Radar (and a heated discussion about why Star Fox has a double chin)
Now the ceremony has aired, head over to Gayming's socials for the full winners list and watch the show back at gaymingmag.com.
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Mitch is moving house, so Davey is flying solo this week with a guest who needs no introduction in queer gaming circles: Robin Gray, co-founder of Gray Jones Media and the founder of Gayming Magazine, the world's leading LGBTQIA+ video game publication, reaching over a million readers a month. Recorded on a Friday morning Robin's time with the Gayming Awards just around the corner, this is a wide-ranging, generous, and very funny conversation about building queer media against the odds. In this episode:
The 90-minute train journey in 2019 that turned into Gayming Magazine
A behind-the-scenes preview of the Gayming Awards 2026 and the World of Wonder partnership
Trixie Mattel, Dawn, Erica Ishii, Rock M Sakura and Farrah Moan are building (and giving away) a gaming PC
The Gayming Foundation and what "ethical capitalism" looks like in practice
The hard stuff: industry layoffs hitting diverse staff hardest, the collapse of corporate Pride support, and why Robin is genuinely considering going back to print
Why Robin is a proud champion of Easy Mode (and would call his own podcast that)
The Sims, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead 2 are the games that shaped him, plus the open letter to Rockstar that actually changed GTA
Depending on when you press play, the Gayming Awards may be days away or freshly wrapped. Either way, the winners go up on Gayming's socials, and Robin makes a great case that the show is worth watching regardless.

Follow Robin and Gayming at gaymingmag.com and @gaymingmag.
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Two husbands. One Nintendo-themed game room. 25,000 Instagram followers. And it all started with a first date on Animal Crossing during the COVID lockdown. This week, Davey and Mitch are joined by Connor and Nic, the couple behind @iconnicgames — the wholesome corner of gaymer Instagram everyone's been forwarding to their partners — from across the ocean. The boys swap origin stories, gaming room envy, and what it really takes to build a content creation career as an out gay couple online. In this episode:
The Animal Crossing first date that turned into a marriage (and a picnic on a log)
How a Mario Party x Squid Game meme racked up 6 million views and changed everything
Pride, followers, and the post that cost them 400 of them — and why they don't care
Building a Twitch community 
The dream: going full-time as Nintendo and Pokémon ambassadors
Each of their most influential games (spoiler: one of them learned to read because of Ocarina of Time)
The Pile of Shame confessions
Plus: Davey's review of Mixtape, the South of Midnight Switch 2 port, the Switch 2 price hike, Delta Goodrem getting robbed at Eurovision, and the Release Radar from 26 May to 9 June.

Follow Connor and Nic on Instagram: @iconnicgames
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Australia's most iconic LGBTQIA+ gaming radio show turns 12, and we got its co-host to tell us the whole story. Elliot from Checkpoint Gaming on Joy 94.9 joins Davey and Mitch at the Bulldog to share the origin story, the standout moments, and what 12 years of putting queer voices at the centre of gaming actually means.

Checkpoint Gaming pioneered queer gaming media in Australia, and this is the story of how it happened. In this episode:
How Checkpoint Gaming came to exist on Joy 94.9, and why a queer gaming show on the radio felt like such a radical idea in 2013
Elliot's journey from fresh-out-of-university superfan to running content at the station
The moment Checkpoint won a National Broadcasting Award and went national on the Community Radio Network, now heard on 20+ stations across Australia
Getting flown to LA to preview LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
The PAX Australia moment that reminded them why it all matters, and the mother and child who changed Elliot's perspective on the show's impact
Why queer gaming media still matters in 2026, and how the industry has changed (and hasn't)
Elliot's three most influential games.
His pile of shame: every single BioWare game he's never finished (Mass Effect fans, brace yourselves)
Plus: Davey shares how hearing Checkpoint on Joy 94.9 while driving into Melbourne in 2017 was his first introduction to queer Melbourne, and why that moment stuck with him.

And the Release Radar covers everything landing in the next fortnight, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2, Subnautica 2 Early Access, Forza Horizon 6, Darksiders Remastered, Paralives, and the Star Fox 64 remake announcement.

🎙️ Find Checkpoint Gaming: checkpointgaming.net 🎙️ Listen on Joy 94.9: joy.org.au/checkpoint
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Mitch is in his element this week as Bargain Bin Gaymers dives deep into Pokémon Champions — Nintendo's brand new free-to-play competitive battler. With a lifetime of competitive Pokémon behind him, Mitch brings the expert take while Davey plays devil's advocate, putting the community's biggest criticisms to the test. They cover everything you need to know before you download:
What Pokémon Champions actually is — and why competitive Pokémon finally has a home of its own
The free vs paid breakdown — is the $10.50 AUD Starter Pack worth it, or is this secretly predatory?
The tiny Pokédex problem — only 186 out of 1,025 Pokémon available at launch
Performance issues — why is a turn-based game struggling at 30fps on Switch 2?
The identity crisis — is this game for newcomers, casual fans, or competitive veterans?
Why fan-made Pokémon Showdown still beats the official product (Mitch's controversial take)
The live service trap — will Pokémon Champions still have players in 12 months?
Plus: a roundup of every notable game releasing before the end of April 2026 — including Diablo 4's Lord of Hatred expansion, Saros on PS5, and the surprise hit Inkonbini: One Store, Many Stories.

🎮 Download Pokémon Champions free: https://champions.pokemon.com
💬 Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/fqC2FeHSUr
❤️ Support the BQN Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bqn
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