P.M. Edition for Oct. 31. Sudan’s civil war is taking a jarring turn in Darfur, where an Arab-led militia is now using state-of-the-art drones and execution squads to dominate the region’s Black population. WSJ reporter Nicholas Bariyo, who is based in Uganda, shares the latest on the conflict. Plus, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for federal food assistance benefits as the government shutdown continues. And across the U.S., a growing number of home purchases are falling through. We hear from Journal personal finance reporter Veronica Dagher about what’s driving the rise, and what it says about the U.S. housing market. Alex Ossola hosts.
Dan Houser is co-founder of Rockstar Games and is a legendary creative mind behind Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Red Dead Redemption series of video games.
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See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(01:29) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(11:32) – Greatest films of all time
(23:45) – Making video games
(26:36) – GTA 3
(29:55) – Open world video games
(32:42) – Character creation
(36:09) – Superintelligent AI in A Better Paradise
(45:21) – Can LLMs write video games?
(49:41) – Creating GTA 4 and GTA 5
(1:01:16) – Hard work and Rockstar’s culture of excellence
(1:04:56) – GTA 6
(1:21:46) – Red Dead Redemption 2
(2:01:39) – DLCs for GTA and Red Dead Redemption
(2:07:58) – Leaving Rockstar Games
(2:17:22) – Greatest game of all time
(2:22:10) – Life lessons from father
(2:24:29) – Mortality
(2:41:47) – Advice for young people
(2:47:49) – Future of video games
An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this episode by creating summaries that were based on Wall Street Journal reporting and reviewed and adapted by an editor.
Big tech earnings were the talk of the market this week and we covered a blowout from Alphabet, questions about Meta, and why Amazon has its mojo back. To finish the show, we play “Trick or Treat” and discuss the stocks on our radar.
Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Asit Sharma discuss:
- Alphabet’s big cloud quarter
- Meta’s AI questions
- Amazon and AWS growth
- Netflix’s surprising stock split
Companies discussed: Nike (NKE), On Holding (ONON), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta (META), Netflix (NFLX), Coinbase (COIN), Microsoft (MSFT), Chipotle (CMG).
Host: Travis Hoium
Guests: Lou Whiteman, Asit Sharma
Engineer: Dan Boyd
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After two years of war, Gaza is littered with unexploded bombs often hiding in the rubble of destroyed buildings. And they can be deadly even decades later. We go to Gaza to hear about one family’s encounter with an unexploded bomb and learn how long it might take make the territory safe.
In tonight's special Halloween episode, Ben, Matt, Noel and Super Producer Dylan lean on Ben's earlier experience with the paranormal. Tonight's question: Is it actually possible to sell your soul to infernal powers? Check this out: we learned how it works.
Plus: The flurry of Silicon Valley companies trying to build AI data centers is flooding debt markets. And Charter Communications profits fell in the third-quarter as its home internet subscriber base weakens. Julie Chang hosts.
The Etsy witch trend has taken witchcraft into the mainstream. These online witches are making their magical services available to anyone willing to pay for them. Want a job? Or a boyfriend? There’s a spell for that. WSJ’s Chavie Lieber explains why it pays to be a witch. Jessica Mendoza hosts.
Federal investigators examine whether missed warnings fueled the deadly Palisades wildfire, as lawsuits and a Senate inquiry advance. The Federal Reserve issues another rate cut amid a prolonged government shutdown and growing divisions inside the bank. President Trump suggests the U.S. may resume nuclear testing, prompting global concern. French police arrest more suspects in the Louvre jewel heist. The Dodgers face elimination after another home loss. The Lakers transition to new ownership. Gap launches a new beauty line to reset its brand. And Disneyland lays off about 100 workers as part of a post-pandemic recalibration.
It’s hard to find a better example of seizing the means of production than our government seizing an equity stake in a company—which Trump keeps doing over and over again. And what do the diehard Republican capitalists have to say about all this socializing of the private sector? Nothing, of course. But they definitely were up in arms over Bill Kristol saying he’d probably vote for Mamdani if he still lived in NYC, and that voting for Cuomo was ridiculous. Plus, the crypto-based bribery of Trump and his family is flourishing, SNAP cuts and Head Start closures will have a big impact on rural areas, businesses have been trying to find ways to lower their tariff burden since Trump won last November, and the potential ties between recent layoffs and the AI arms race.
The Bulwark’s Catherine Rampell joins Tim Miller for the Halloween weekend pod. show notes
