Show Notes

The MMO being led by former WoW and League of Legends designer Greg Street looks to be dead as his studio officially closes after NetEase ends funding
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/the-mmo-being-led-by-former-wow-designer-greg-street-looks-to-be-dead-as-his-studio-officially-closes-after-netease-ends-funding-while-wed-love-to-make-our-game-our-first-priority-is-to-help-our-developers-find-employment/

Rockstar, the developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, reportedly fired between 30 and 40 employees in a move that the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is claiming was "blatant" and "ruthless" union busting.
https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-dev-rockstar-accused-of-union-busting-in-sudden-firing-of-dozens-of-staff
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ah-shit-here-we-go-again-gta-6-developers-speak-from-the-picket-line-about-rockstar-north-union-busting

PlayStation is rolling out cloud streaming as a full feature for the Portal. Starting today, PlayStation Plus Premium members can stream thousands of games via the cloud on a Portal connected to WiFi.
https://gameinformer.com/2025/11/05/cloud-streaming-available-on-playstation-portal-starting-today

Remember our story about Nintendos patent on summoning NPE's to battle,  In a stunning development attributable to the public outrage and reflecting concern over implications for the reputation of the U.S. patent system as a whole, USPTO Director John A. Squires has personally ordered, at his own initiative, his organization to take another look at Nintendo’s patent.
https://gamesfray.com/huge-blow-for-nintendo-head-of-u-s-patent-office-takes-rare-step-to-order-reexamination-of-summon-subcharacter-and-let-it-fight-in-1-of-2-modes-patent/

The Video Game awards happen next month but last week there was another announcement of nominations of game of the year from the Golden Joystick awards and well, anything about video games with joystick in the name must be good.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1onju3g/golden_joystick_awards_2025_vote_for_your/

... We have some microsoft XBox news on multiple fronts.  We learned some pokemon news by nefarious means. We take a look at another phycological study on video games and attention span in children. and finally we take a look at what the designer of Grand Theft Auto 5 has been up to lately.
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

Recently, a rumor swirled online that Microsoft was canceling its next-generation Xbox plans, but that is apparently not true or the full story. Microsoft said in a statement that it is "actively investing" in future first-party consoles and devices that are "designed, engineered, and built by Xbox."
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/future-xbox-consoles-not-canceled-microsoft-says/1100-6535237/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D15200795;date%3D100625;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30

Game Freak suffered a data breach and it had some very interesting Nintendo Pokemon information in it. The breach seems credible because it had some very acurate information about Pokemon Legends ZA. So let's look at what was in the data.
https://thegamepost.com/pokemon-gen-10-leak-game-titles-theme-region-setting/
https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-wind-waves-leak-gen-10-game-freak/

It's understandable if Xbox users feel a little skittish about the future of the console, given the recent price increases for Xbox consoles in the US, as well as formerly exclusive titles heading to PlayStation 5. Over the holiday weekend, there were so many anecdotal rumors about Target, Walmart, and other US retailers pulling Xbox consoles and games that Microsoft decided it was necessary to debunk these reports.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-shoots-down-another-hardware-rumor/1100-6535401/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D15298898;date%3D101525;lctg%3D20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065

A psychologist tells us all about several studies dealing with video games and attention span in children.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/video-game-health/202507/do-video-games-cause-attention-problems

Leslie Benzies is well known for his work at Rock Star Games on Grand Theft Auto 5. Only the best selling game of all time. # years after it's launch He left to start his own studio. Here's what happened.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzn34gwvwo

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

Electronic Arts has recently confirmed that an investor group composed of Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will acquire it for around $55 billion. This consortium will acquire 100% of EA, which will no longer be listed on the stock market after the transaction is finished.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/electronic-arts-go-private-55-billion-deal-with-pif-silver-lake-2025-09-29/
https://gamerant.com/electronic-arts-acquired-saudi-arabia-private-55-billion/
https://www.google.com/search?q=games+produced+by+ea&oq=games+produced+by+ea&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTINCAEQABjwBRieBhjIBjIICAIQABgWGB4yCAgDEAAYFhgeMggIBBAAGBYYHjIICAUQABgWGB4yCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEINjQ0OWoxajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
In a world filled with remakes, remasters, ports, and mods, the quest for a truly definitive version of a game is a lost cause--and yet, that's precisely what makes the medium so interesting. Let's discuss if it is OK to change a game during the remake.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/is-there-a-right-way-to-play-a-video-game/1100-6535092/

Last week, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company received a U.S. patent on summoning a character and letting it fight another. Yep, you heard that right. A system that has been in video games for years was just pattened by Nintendo. 
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/pokemon/this-nintendo-patent-was-apparently-granted-without-a-patent-examiner-looking-at-a-single-game-ip-expert-says-concerns-hundreds-of-games-could-be-affected-by-pokemon-summoning-patent-granted-amid-palworld-lawsuit-are-valid/
https://gamesfray.com/last-week-nintendo-and-the-pokemon-company-received-a-u-s-patent-on-summoning-a-character-and-letting-it-fight-another/#397patent

The latest Nintendo Direct was filled with a ton of exciting announcements for both Switch and Switch 2, and it also gave us a glimpse into how Nintendo will be celebrating Super Mario Bros.' 40th anniversary next year! Here's all the announcements.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-september-2025-live-updates-everything-announced
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/heres-everything-announced-during-todays-nintendo-direct/

... We'll take a look at a new wave of evidence-backed digital therapies. Nintendo is doing Nintendo things and we'll take a look at everything that was announced at Gamescon.
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Your therapist might not be a person anymore—or at least, not only a person. It could be a smartwatch that vibrates just before a nightmare consumes your sleep. It could be a video game that rewires your attention span. It might even be a headset that helps you rehearse exposure therapy in a controlled virtual environment.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/your-next-therapist-could-be-a-video-game-or-a-wearable-and-it-might-actually-work/

Nintendo has secured another payout from a lawsuit it pursued against a producer of products designed to help pirate Switch games. Already notorious for its hardline approach to piracy, modding, and emulation, Nintendo has been granted a monetary judgment against Ryan Michael Daly by a Washington district court.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/court-orders-man-to-pay-nintendo-2-million-to-settle-modding-and-piracy-lawsuit/1100-6534548/

While we were away Europes largest gaming convention happened. Gamescon was quite the event so here's the highlights of what was announced.
https://www.thegamer.com/everything-announced-revealed-gamescom-opening-night-live-2025/
https://www.ign.com/articles/gamescom-opening-night-live-2025-everything-announced
https://www.pcgamesn.com/gamescom/announcements-2025

Game Review

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Show Notes

Researchers have linked spending more time playing video games with a boost in intelligence in children, which goes some way to contradicting the narrative that gaming is bad for young minds.
https://www.sciencealert.com/playing-video-games-has-an-unexpected-effect-on-kids-iq-study-discovers

Quality assurance workers at Raven Software, one of the developers of Call of Duty, have officially ratified their first union contract with Microsoft three years after they first unionized.
https://www.ign.com/articles/call-of-duty-qa-workers-win-first-union-contract-with-microsoft-after-3-years?_gl=1*1ud8te6*_up*MQ..*_ga*NjgwNjE0MzAxLjE3NTQzNDk1NTc.*_ga_736S6FVMCL*czE3NTQzNDk1NTckbzEkZzAkdDE3NTQzNDk1NTckajYwJGwwJGgw

Game developers association decries 'financial censorship' amidst payment processor crackdown on NSFW games, calls for 'greater transparency and fairness in how adult games are moderated'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-developers-association-decries-financial-censorship-amidst-payment-processor-crackdown-on-nsfw-games-calls-for-greater-transparency-and-fairness-in-how-adult-games-are-moderated/
https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/australian-anti-porn-group-claims-responsibility-for-steams-new-censorship-rules-in-victory-against-porn-sick-brain-rotted-pedo-gamer-fetishists-and-things-only-get-weirder-from-there/
One of the Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, Nicolae Ștefănuță, publicly voiced his support for Stop Killing Games in a major win for the newly-minted EU Citizens' Initiative. On July 12, Ștefănuță posted a video on his Instagram story announcing that he had signed the Stop Killing Games petition and plans to continue helping the movement.
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/a-game-once-sold-belongs-to-the-customer-prominent-eu-politician-stands-up-for-stop-killing-games/

We have a list ... sort of. Let's take a look at the upcoming games for the rest of 2025 and see what we are looking forward to.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls565219437/

Game Review

Donkey Kong - Bananza

Show Notes:

Microsoft laid off more than 9000 employees this past week. Along with the devastating effect on the lives of those people the ripple effect across the tech landscape did not miss the video game world. So let's take a look at what was impacted by this latest labor cut and what the industry thought of it.
https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-canceled-games-and-studios-layoffs-2025
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/07/its-heartbreaking-the-pokemon-company-tech-vp-joins-industry-in-criticising-microsoft-layoffs

You buy a game on steam and it goes ito your library. You own that game, right? Well it doesn't seem possible but what if Steam went out of business? Can't happen, think Google Stadia. You would loose access to those games that you paid money for. Well a new online initiative called stop killing games aims to close that loophole.
https://wccftech.com/publishers-argue-stop-killing-games-proposals-would-make-online-games-prohibitively-expensive/
https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000007_en

In another instance of some people have way too much time on their hands, users of Nintendo Online believe they have figured out a future release for the Switch 2. How you say? By crossing their eyes and turning their head slightly to the side and staring at blurry pixels in the background of the site.
https://www.ign.com/articles/fans-analysing-blurry-pixels-believe-nintendo-switch-online-is-getting-super-smash-bros-for-its-n64-catalogue-and-now-the-hunt-is-on-for-more?_gl=1*e7vdzw*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTg4MTU3Mjc3LjE3NTE5MzE4MTE.*_ga_736S6FVMCL*czE3NTE5MzE4MTAkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTE5MzE4MTAkajYwJGwwJGgw

Game pass is a good deal and almost everyone I know has it. But is it a good thing? Raphael Colantonio--one of the co-founders of Arcane Studios doesn't think so. Let's look at what He has to say.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/arkane-co-founder-unloads-on-game-pass-calls-it-unsustainable/1100-6532991/

SHOW NOTES:

Mention the t-shirts and Patreon - shop.joystickandmouse.com
Are any of the game developers actually using AI for game development. You bet they are. According to a survey of over 300 respondents carried out by market research firm CIST, on behalf of game engine maker Unity. “62% of the studios we surveyed said they used AI in their workflows, mainly to prototype quickly and for concepting, asset creation, and worldbuilding,” Unity said in its latest annual market report 
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/almost-two-thirds-of-game-development-studios-are-using-ai-survey-finds/

AI or Artifiсiаl intelligenсe is trаnsforming numerous inԁustries, аnԁ the gаming inԁustry is no exсeрtion. So what can it do and how is it revolutionising gаme ԁesign аnԁ рlаyer exрerienсes аt а rарiԁ расe.
https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/how-ai-revolutionising-game-design-and-player-experiences/

https://www.coursera.org/articles/ai-for-game-development
Is the future of artificial intelligence in video games playing out in a cyberpunk ramen bar? Tech companies would like you to think so, but game writers aren't so sure. In a recent demo from the tech company Nvidia, a human player talked to two video game characters using a microphone — and the characters responded in real time using generative AI.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238111971/video-games-ai-artificial-intelligence-nvidia

You see the bad guy on the screen. Your brain processes that it is a bad guy and then tells your fingers to move to the X button to fire your weapon. The console or PC interprets that  button press and then tells the game that you fired your weapon. If you are like me that time it takes to respond and push the button is measured in slug years. Well what if the round trip to fingers and controllers was eliminated? That's exactly what a study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin is trying to do.
https://www.psypost.org/brain-computer-interface-utilizes-ai-to-adapt-to-users-allowing-them-to-control-video-games-with-their-thoughts/

Wizards of the Coast announced an exclusive publishing agreement with Giant Skull development studios out of Los Angeles to begin work on the next video game in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. No explicit details were released about the upcoming game, save that it is currently in development for PC and console, with more information to come at a later date.
https://www.cbr.com/dnd-moves-on-from-baldurs-gate-for-new-video-game/

More than 300 quality assurance (QA) workers at Microsoft’s video game subsidiary ZeniMax Media have reached a tentative agreement with the company, marking a first-of-its-kind contract for the U.S. video game industry.
https://uniglobalunion.org/news/microsoft-cwa/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/business/microsoft-video-game-union.html

The upgraded version of Nintendo Switch, the third biggest-selling video game console of all time, will be released on Thursday, June 5. The Japanese company hopes to match its earlier runaway success with Switch 2. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo... here's a roundup of the consoles that have marked video gaming history. 
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250602-%F0%9F%8C%9Fthe-bright-side-ahead-of-switch-2-release-the-five-best-selling-gaming-consoles-of-all-time

Video game movies are numerous, and rarely any good. In the TV realm, The Last of Us and Twisted Metal have shown that with the right creative team and storytelling, you can have successful live-action video game adaptations, but it's not always the case. Nonetheless, even the most poorly reviewed video game movies and flops can still outshine the worst video game from the series they're based on.
https://www.thegamer.com/video-game-movies-at-least-better-worst-game-in-series/

Show Notes:

Mention the t-shirts and Patreon - shop.joystickandmouse.com
In another sign of the hard times in the video game industry EA Lays off hundreds of employees and cancels a game in development.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/electronic-arts-lays-off-hundreds-cancels-titanfall-game-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-04-29/

It has been over six years since Epic started undercutting Steam's 30 percent revenue share for developers, asking for just 12 percent of sales on its then-new Epic Games Store. Now, Epic is going even further by reducing those fees to zero for a game's first $1 million in annual sales.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/05/epic-games-store-completely-eliminates-revenue-fees-for-smaller-developers/

Yay, we have a release date for Grand Theft Auto IV but it is later than expected. 
https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-6s-delay-just-affected-the-entire-video-game-industry?_gl=1*phkmq0*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgwMzY2NzUyMi4xNzQ2NDg1NjIw*_ga_736S6FVMCL*MTc0NjQ4NTYxOS4xLjAuMTc0NjQ4NTYxOS4wLjAuMA..

Following Sony's lead from earlier this year, Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week.
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/xbox-price-increase-bing-vs-google-windows-11
https://apnews.com/article/xbox-raises-prices-tariffs-microsoft-cd746a5aed59f3f5403ab262d6e149f0

So what do the tarrifs mean to video game prices?
https://www.theouterhaven.net/the-rising-cost-of-gaming-and-why-tariffs-are-just-the-beginning/

Show Notes:

If you still haven't purchased a PS5, you may want to do so in the very near future. No, it's not because of tariffs, well not directly anyways. Prices for the console are rising in several regions and it's probably only a matter of time before it hits the US. So let's talk about how much, where and when.
https://www.theverge.com/news/647869/sony-ps5-price-rise-uk-europe-australia-new-zealand
https://www.polygon.com/news/558161/ps5-price-increase-new-europe-uk

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-online-police-patrol-internet-denmark.html#google_vignette

Nintendo held another direct this past week. this time dealing exclusively with the Switch 2. Well here's all the things that were announced and how to order ... or not.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-switch-2-direct-everything-announced

Show Notes:

We try to keep you up with the state of game development and unfortunately the trend of the last couple of years continued this past week. Eidos Montreal and Myst developer Cyan had layoffs this past month.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/eidos-montreal-lays-off-75-staff
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/myst-developer-cyan-worlds-has-laid-off-half-of-its-workforce

We've all been there. you run out and buy that shiny new game console and it just falls flat and never goes anywhere. As the proud owner of an Adam computer system back in the day I can relate to this feeling. Well here are a few others that just didn't live up to the hype.
https://www.xda-developers.com/video-game-consoles-never-stood-chance/

What's in a genre anyways. Well kataku thinks they are all mixed up and it's our fault.
https://kotaku.com/genres-fps-hero-shooter-adventure-rts-action-opinion-1851772168

The Switch 2 looms on the horizon, and in less than a week's time, we'll learn more information about Nintendo's next console. Last week, though, Nintendo hosted a Switch 1-focused Direct, and it felt like a flurry of last-minute announcements for the record-shattering handheld hybrid console ahead of its successor. So here's all the things announced that will be irrelevant later this week.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-march-2025-everything-announced

Show Notes:

Niantic, the company that brought us Ingress and Pokemon Go hasn't faired so well with their follow up offerings. Harry Potter was an absolute flop and the few other games trying to recapture that wanderer magic have fallen flat. As such, Niantic is being sold and here are all the details.
https://www.nextpit.com/pokemon-go-sale-niantic#:~:text=Niantic%20Games%20go%20to%20Saudi,the%20development%20of%20mobile%20games.

Why do we play games? It's a fairly inocuous question that the answer is probably filled with a lot of nuance. Well a research company posed exactly that question and while simplistic, their answer opens up the discussion of why we do this at all.
https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/why-do-gamers-play-games-half-say-mainly-to-relax-but-things-are-different-for-the-other-half

The Strong National Museum of Play has announced their annual candidates for induction into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. I agree, who is that but it does bring up the concept of a hall of fame for video games and what games should be in it. Let's see if our list matches theirs.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/should-age-of-empires-and-quake-be-in-the-world-video-game-hall-of-fame-you-can-vote-for-them-to-be-inducted-this-year/
https://www.museumofplay.org/exhibits/world-video-game-hall-of-fame/finalists/

Sony's first big PlayStation State of Play for the year kicked off last night, bringing with it a host of announcements, both big and small, from first-party developers and third-party publishers. The stream lasted for a little over 40 minutes, and revealed new titles, remasters, and release dates for previously announced games. So let's take a look at all that was put on display for us.
https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/video-games/everything-announced-february-playstation-state-play-2030528
https://blog.playstation.com/2025/02/27/a-great-new-price-for-playstation-vr2/

Show Notes

Well the wait is over ... sort of. We got some information about the new Nintendo console in the works but not a lot of details. Let's take a look at what we did get.
https://kotaku.com/switch-2-reveal-trailer-date-nintendo-mario-kart-9-1851739487
https://www.polygon.com/nintendo/23899504/nintendo-switch-2-release-date-power-name-games

Microsoft held a XBox developer direct that showcased new titles from 4 different studios. Here's everything that was announced in this direct.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/everything-announced-at-xbox-developer-direct-showcase-live-2025/

This is where we are going to go off the beaten path a bit. CES happened since our last episode and while it is geared towards the latest in Television technology. (Well it sems that way anyways) There is quite a bit of new that is geared towards us gamers. So we'll take a look at those announcements. 
https://www.ign.com/articles/ces-2025-everything-announced

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

One of Sony's first developer studio aquisitions was Naughty Dog. At the time, we assumed this was because of money and the financial backing that Sony could provide. Well an article this week confirmed that but what really struck me was the numers of what it cost to develop a video game in the 80 as compared to today.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/naughty-dog-founder-reveals-budgets-of-original-games-and-why-they-sold-to-sony/1100-6528634/

2025 is looking like it will be a big year for video games and for triple A titles in particular. But what if those titles don't so well? This is shaping up to be a make or break year for the big name titles.
https://www.eurogamer.net/2025-will-be-a-make-or-break-year-for-triple-a-video-games-as-we-know-them

let's face it. Some times in a video game it's fun to be bad. Well here are the 10 video games that react best to that play style.
https://whatculture.com/gaming/10-video-games-that-react-to-you-being-a-scumbag

This is one of those lists that is VERY subjective. What is the best video game of all time? We have our favorites but let's look at what Rolling Stone had to say about it.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming-lists/best-video-games-of-all-time-1235215978/hades-2020-1235215983/

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes:

The end of the year is upon us and as always that means a series of end-of-year awards and community events. The PC marketplace Steam has announced its own slate of nominees for The Steam Awards
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/steam-awards-2024-nominees-winners/2900-6093/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D12059029;date%3D121724;lctg%3D20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065#1

Microsoft’s newest sales pitch to prospective gamers is that everything—your TV, computer, or phone—can be an Xbox. It’s part of a new strategy aimed at reaching more people, and potentially making a lot more money. It’s also a major shift for the millions of people who have been Xbox fans for decades now, and the company says it’s embracing that and yes, we told you so.
https://kotaku.com/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-ps5-exclusives-streaming-1851722886

The game award winners were announced, we'll get to that later, and during that show were a lot of announcements and trailers. So let's take a look at every thing that was announced.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-game-awards-2024-all-the-biggest-announcements/2900-6077/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D12022122;date%3D121324;lctg%3D20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065#1

All the winners.
https://www.google.com/search?q=game+awards+winners&sca_esv=1016bfdc9707f9f9&biw=1592&bih=1017&sxsrf=ADLYWIJt4EFkLGhSSC7AkvegM1BICkV2Qg%3A1734987903209&ei=f9BpZ-6vDNSo5NoP7tnG6Qs&ved=0ahUKEwiu66PN5b6KAxVUFFkFHe6sMb04ChDh1QMIEA&uact=5&oq=game+awards+winners&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiE2dhbWUgYXdhcmRzIHdpbm5lcnMyCBAAGIAEGLEDMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAESM4iUIAJWOIdcAF4AZABAJgBNaABgQOqAQE4uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIJoAKeA8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBcICDRAAGIAEGLEDGEMYigXCAgoQABiABBgUGIcCwgINEAAYgAQYsQMYFBiHApgDAIgGAZAGCpIHATmgB6Ur&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

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Show Notes:

NZXT is coming under fire for its recently expanded gaming PC rental service. A recent video from Gamers Nexus accused NZXT of running a bait-and-switch, sending people less powerful systems while claiming they offer higher performance. The video expose was posted over the weekend, but the company has only now released a statement that boils down to "we'll look into it," and gamers aren't having it.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2543936/nzxt-accused-of-predatory-scam-gaming-pc-rental-program.html
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/nzxt-accused-predatory-pc-rental-182756635.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL1VKNUxjWSTejTIRRjURbFafWhjv8R2B3W77BClzuC5RLVznanLo-yly7iABhuBZ9UdSYdPU-Dy1nyXGXoLe83gIb5X3r2IvQ6vt-KqjDw8dQVI6BZwNi3vlIACm0bq5LTaTPlaqGra5VJGfHX5stY3VHQMhlHjXWmgSePR_41E

Hundreds of thousands of Fortnite players are getting a refund after federal regulators found that the game's developer, Epic Games, "tricked" gamers into unknowingly spending money on in-game purchases. The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that it will send a total of $72 million in refunds to Epic Games customers who were duped into making unwanted purchases
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2024/12/10/fortnite-epic-games-refund-ftc/76881868007/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epic-games-fortnite-ftc-refund/

https://www.polygon.com/opinion/493536/luigi-mangione-among-us-news
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ironic-suspect-unitedhealthcare-slaying-played-video-game-killer-rcna183550

The pandemic hit hard and we are stilll feeling the effects of that in the video gme industry in the form of all the lay offs and the delay of games. Gamespot compiled a list of all the delayed games and you know how we like a list.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/every-game-delayed-right-now/2900-3741/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D11965166;date%3D120924;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30#1

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

Santa has come a little earlier this year, bringing a price cut for the PlayStation 5 Slim. This model usually retails for $449, but Sony just announced a price cut. The price is dropping down to just $380 until Dec. 24, just in time for the holidays.
https://www.cnet.com/deals/calling-all-gamers-ps5-gets-a-price-cut-this-holiday-season/

Disney is reportedly considering Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson as a successor to Disney CEO Bob Iger, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
https://venturebeat.com/games/disney/

Warcraft turns 30 this year and Blizzard held a direct this year instead of Blizzcon. Here's everything that was announced during the event.
https://www.ign.com/articles/warcraft-30th-anniversary-direct-everything-announced

It's that time of year again. Whiskey advent you say? Well yes but not what I'm talking about here. It's award time and the video game award nominations were announced this week so let's go through them and see who the nominees are.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-game-awards-2024-nominees-announced-see-them-all-now/2900-5956/

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Remember that game that Sony put out recently called Concord. No? Well neither do we but it's failure was colosal. Let's talk about the numbers and how bad they were. 
https://kotaku.com/concord-sony-biggest-flop-failure-box-office-1851676475

The PS5 pro comes out next week and the specs were released along with the updated games. Well here's the numbers and a few of the games that will get an update.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamernews/comments/1gjjyf3/sony_confirms_ps5_pro_specs_and_all_50_upgraded/

We've talked about Netflix getting into the gaming industry but one of those endeavors is being dumped already. Here's what's leaving and what direction Netflix is looking to head in the future.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/almost-every-interactive-title-is-leaving-netflix/1100-6527588/

Not a good look for Microsoft this week when it released it's annual report and there were some very interesting numbers in there.
https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-ceos-pay-rises-63-to-73m-despite-devastating-year-for-layoffs

As you may have heard there is a small important event happening today. If you are listening to this after release it already happened and you may know the outcome. But how will the election affect video games? Not at all? Well maybe not so let's look at how that could be.
https://www.ign.com/articles/how-the-2024-us-presidential-election-will-impact-video-games

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Show Notes:

We been following the story of Epic vs Apple as it pertains to allowing the Epic Game Store on Apple devices. Well that story took a turn this week when a judge ruled that Google's play store is an illegal monopoli and must allow third party app stores on it's devices. let's look at that ruling and discuss what it might mean for apple.
https://www.theverge.com/policy/2024/10/7/24243316/epic-google-permanent-injunction-ruling-third-party-stores

According to a leaked internal email, Xbox Game Studios will soon be led by Rare studio head Craig Duncan as current boss Alan Hartman is retiring in November. What if anything does this mean for XBox.
https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-game-studios-leadership-change-sees-rare-boss-take-over

Mike Morhaime and his new studio Dreamhaven announced the name and some details of their new game this week. Here's all the info so far.
https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/sunderfolk-video-game-blizzard-1236173545/

our list this week comes from Gameluster and is their ranking of the top 100 indie games of all time. We won't subject you to all 100 game but here are their top 10.
https://gameluster.com/our-100-best-indie-games-of-all-time/

Extra:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/blizzard-video-games-history-harassment-book-b2627402.html

Show Notes

A beloved figure of Skyrim's content creation scene says she's retiring from making gaming videos. Shirley Curry, better known as 'Skyrim Grandma,' posted a video this past week entitled 'No More Gaming Videos.' In that video, Curry, who is 88, said the decision "doesn't make me too happy" but shes retireing from playing Skyrim basically because she's bored.
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/after-hundreds-of-videos-over-9-years-88-year-old-skyrim-grandma-is-retiring-because-it-isnt-fun-anymore-im-tired-of-it-im-bored-to-death-with-it/

Oh Nintendo. In a show of complete lack of understanding of it's community the game giant decided to sue the makers of palworld for copyright infringement. Was this really necessary?
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/09/palworlds-japan-release-on-ps5-delayed-as-nintendos-lawsuit-looms
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/nintendo-s-lawsuit-against-palworld-isn-t-just-bad-for-the-industry-it-s-bad-for-nintendo/

Do we really own our games. What rights do we have when we buy a game digitally? A new California law aims to define that a little more but does it go far enough?
https://www.ign.com/articles/physical-copies-games-the-answer-when-nobody-owns-anything

It has not been the best of times lately for Ubisoft with layoffs and delayed Game releases and this past week they got a little more bad news. They cancelled their appearance at the Tokyo Game Show and postponed all press previews of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.The reason is so typical of the gaming community and frankly is infuriating. Ubisoft is facing back lash because of their DEI position and featuring a female as the lead character of their latest release. (Star Wars Outlaws)
https://www.fastcompany.com/91198344/ubisoft-anti-dei-backlash-video-game-maker-assassins-creed

Our list this episode is everything announced on the Sony State of Play this past month so lets dig into what was announced and what we are looking forward to.
https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/24/everything-revealed-in-state-of-play-september-2024/
https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-state-of-play-september-2024-announcements

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Show Notes

RIP James Earl Jones

A founding member of British synth-pop band Heaven 17 has alleged Rockstar offered the three writers of hit song Temptation $7,500 each for its use in Grand Theft Auto 6 — a figure he has flat out rejected.
https://www.ign.com/articles/rock-star-tells-rockstar-to-go-f-yourself-after-extremely-low-offer-to-use-hit-song-in-gta-6

At gamescon (we'll get to that later) Blizzard unveiled a 4d ride called "Escape from Dalaran" and it was freaking awesome.
https://www.wowhead.com/news/inside-blizzards-exhilarating-4d-ride-escape-from-dalaran-at-gamescom-2024-345989

While we were away Gamescon happened. This has sort of become the new E3 announcement venue and this year did not disappoint. So let's take a look at all the things that were announced.
https://mashable.com/article/gamescom-2024-everything-announced-line-up-so-far

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Show Notes:

Back before the internet, I remember going to the corner store and buying the very latest gaming magazine. It was our only source of information about upcoming games and how to beat that last boss in doom. Well one of the very first ones is closing its pages for the final time after a 33 year run. Gamestop is closing down its game-informer magazine. 
https://kotaku.com/game-informer-gamestop-meme-stock-gme-last-issue-1851611973

We all know that sex sells and video games are no different. A little jiggle and intimate interactions are no stranger to the video game world but what about the actors behind those scenes. Someone had to voice that line or motion capture that intimate moment. This week multiple actors complained that those scenes were done with little or no notice and called for changes within the industry.
https://www.eurogamer.net/video-game-actors-call-for-better-transparency-around-disgusting-mocap-work-not-disclosed-in-advance
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23l4ml51jmo

last year one of our big stories was the SAG-AFTA strike which impacted video games. Well technacally that strike never ended but the parties agreed to go back to work and negotiate in good faith. Well a couple of weeks ago those negoatiations fell apart over AI. So what does that mean for the near future of games.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-calls-strike-against-major-video-game-studios-1235957116/

Even with the under-performance of the Borderlands movie, Gearbox announced this week that they are definitely working on Borderlands 4.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/08/gearbox-teases-borderlands-4-again-following-movies-box-office-flop

Show Notes

We would never say we told you so buuuuut we told you so. A leak of a supposedly cancelled video game console that Microsoft filed a patent for was a slim line cloud gaming console.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/26/24186639/microsoft-xbox-cloud-console-keystone-patent-images

Xbox Game Pass Is Getting A Price Increase And Introducing A New Tier. So what's up with that?
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-game-pass-is-getting-a-price-increase-and-introducing-a-new-tier/1100-6524819/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D10417931;date%3D071124;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30

A month ago, Ubisoft announced that future seasons of The Division 2 would switch to a seasonal character model, meaning you start fresh, level up, gear up, participate in season-specific activities. In the history of The Division 1 and 2 there has never been anything like this, and it did not sound great. Now, it’s being walked back.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/07/15/the-division-2-deletes-diablo-4-seasonal-character-idea-after-player-revolt/

Renowned fantasy author R.A. Salvatore has joined forces with the newly established 3D development studio Tupelo Labs to bring his popular DemonWars Saga series into the world of video gaming
https://gamefragger.com/multiplatform/ra-salvatore-partners-with-new-development-studio-for-demonwars-saga-video-game-a26538#gs.boo28p
.

A lot of the video games we play take place in cities. These setting can leave an impression on us as players as we traverse our way through the game. Gamerrant put out a list of the most iconic cities in video games and of course we had to take a look and give our take.
https://gamerant.com/most-iconic-video-game-cities/

Show Notes

Here is the press release from Microsoft - At Xbox, we’re committed to bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone.  Today, we’re announcing a collaboration with Amazon where Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members in over 25 countries can play games directly from the Xbox app on select Fire TV devices via cloud gaming, giving people even more choice in how they play their favorite games.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/27/xbox-cloud-gaming-amazon-fire-tv/

We follow up that story with another that heralds the end of the XBox console as we know it. A leak from NVidea shows that users will be able to play games from GeForce Now on XBox consoles. 
https://www.videogamer.com/news/nvidia-geforce-now-app-allegedly-coming-to-xbox-consoles-according-to-leaks/
https://www.videogamer.com/tech/nvidia-geforce-now-games-list-in-2024/

Bethesda Game Studios Montreal has filed to unionise with the Communications Workers of America. The BGS Montreal union announced yesterday in a thread on social media that they filed for certification with the Quebec Labour Board.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bethesda-montreal-files-for-unionisation

The worst thing to ever hapen to our wallets is the Steam <insert season here> Sale. We've all done it. That game we've had our eye on goes on sale and it's too good of a deal to pass up. Thennnn it just sits there in our library. Staring at us every time we log in. Well we are not alone. According to a report this week users have spent $19 Billion on games that they have never played.
https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/pile-of-shame

Of course we have a list and man do I have issues with this one. BAFTA released a poll they did of the most iconic characters of all time in video games. let's go through it.
https://www.bafta.org/media-centre/press-releases/bafta-most-iconic-character-poll-results

Show Notes

A real quick mention of an article I ran across this week. EA Execs earned 60 million in compensation as the company laid off over 5% of it's work force this year. But that number doesn't tell the whole story so let's take a look at that.
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ea-execs-earned-60-million-in-2024-despite-layoffs-and-office-closures

The Ubisoft Forward 2024 is a wrap and the two big releases coming this year got a lot of air time. Let's discuss what's coming in the worlds of Star Wars and Assasins Creed.
https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-forward-2024-everything-announced
https://www.gamesradar.com/gaming/events-conferences/ubisoft-forward-summer-game-fest-2024-live-coverage-everything-announced/

After months of rumors and speculation fueled by the company's radio silence, Sony's latest State Of Play presentation took place on May 30. 14 games for PlayStation 5 and PSVR 2 were shown throughout the 30+ minute video, which included updates on Concord, Marvel Rivals, and God Of War Ragnarok on PC. Read on for a full recap of all the biggest announcements and games from the event.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/state-of-play-may-2024-all-the-biggest-ps5-announcements-and-games/2900-5435/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D10025581;date%3D060124;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30#1

There were big expectations for Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase this year, the first summer event since the Activision Blizzard merger in 2023. The Xbox Games Showcase included a slate of games from Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, Xbox Game Studios, and third-party developers. It did not disappoint. let's take a look at everything announced.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/09/xbox-games-showcase-2024-recap-everything-announced/

Show Notes

It's been a rough year for the video game industry. The games industry saw almost same number of layoffs in first five months of 2024 as in all of last year Take two is the latest company to have large cuts. Is the video game industry in a downturn?
https://www.vg247.com/take-two-reportedly-looking-to-sell-or-shutter-private-division
https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/06/03/over-10k-games-industry-layoffs-in-2024-so-far-vs-2023

Sony is trying to breathe some new life into their underperforming VR system. This week they announced a hardware solution to allow PSVR2 users to access their steam library. Will this revive the flailing system or will it just be another unutilized peripheral?
https://blog.playstation.com/2024/06/03/playstation-vr2-players-can-access-games-on-pc-with-adapter-starting-on-august-7/

We've talked recently about the adaptation of video games for television but gamespot came out with a list of the 12 shows that they deemed as awesome. let's take a look at their list and see what we think of it.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/12-video-game-tv-shows-that-were-actually-awesome/2900-5438/

Show Notes

Remember how we talked about Apple would never allow user to download games from an app store that wasn't apple, well under pressure from gamers and regulatory agencies, Apple has agreed to allow downloads from rival Epic's app store.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/apple-reverses-course-clears-way-epic-games-set-rival-iphone-app-store-rcna142741
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/apple-reverses-course-allows-epic-games-launch-fortnite-app-eu

Gamers reap their first benefit of the Microsoft aquistion of Blizzard. This week Microsoft announced that Diablo IV will be available on Game Pass. This is available on both XBox and PC. You can go grab that now.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2024/04/26/blizzard-announces-its-skipping-blizzcon-this-year
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/diablo-iv

We hear about the triple A titles all the time but this week Nintendo held it's announcement of upcoming Indie titles. Here's the list and a couple of them that really peaked our interst.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2024/04/17/everything-announced-during-the-april-2024-nintendo-indie-world
https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/News/Indie-World/Indie-World-1440347.html

Not to be outdone, Microsoft held it's Indie show this week. Here's what they announced.
https://kotaku.com/xbox-game-pass-palworld-vampire-surivors-1851444052
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/29/24144369/id-xbox-indie-showcase-april-2024

Show Notes

Oh Blizzard, here we go again. In a completely tone deaf message Mike Ybarra, former Blizzard president, said that gamers should tip developers when they like a game.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/tech/video-game-exec-slammed-suggested-players-tip-developers-always-put-burden-on-customers/
https://www.thegamer.com/no-we-are-absolutely-not-tipping-video-game-companies-blizzard-president-mike-ybarra/

We have another huge crossover hit as the fallout series on Amazon prime has taken the world by storm. It's just exception done so let's discuss the show.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-fallout-tv-show-gave-the-fallout-games-a-huge-player-bump-as-everyone-remembers-they-like-fallout
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-04-12/amazon-s-fallout-show-is-a-fantastic-video-game-adaptation

We had "Last Of Us" and now"Halo" and "Fallout" that have been huge hits. So what video games are out there that we would like to be turned into a TV series. Well The National News has a list so the's go through that and see what we agree with and which ones we aren't so hot about.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2024/04/13/video-games-tv-shows-adaptation/

Show Notes

The comic world lost a pioneer and inspiration when akira toriyama passed away this past week. His Dragon Ball comic is revered as one of the best animes ever. His creativeness and vision will be missed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/arts/akira-toriyama-dead.html

Some PS5 news. The PS5 pro specs were leaked (yes, there is a PS5 pro coming) and the PSVR2 production was halted. 
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-vr-2-headset-production-paused-report/1100-6521906/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/impressive-sounding-ps5-pro-specs-and-release-window-reportedly-leaked/1100-6521894/

One of the studios that has brought us some of the best games ever produced is Naughty Dog. Well IGN put out a list of all the games they have developed and well you know we couldn't pass up a great list so let's dig in and talk Naughty Dog.
https://www.ign.com/articles/all-naughty-dog-games-in-order

We love video games. We love the story and escape that comes with playing them but sometimes you just want to throw the controller at the damn screen. We all know that feeling. Which begs the question, What is the hardest game you have played? Well yardbarker came up with a list and well you know how that goes around here.
https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/the_25_most_challenging_video_games_of_all_time_031524/s1__38319193#slide_5

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Show Notes

Sony lays off approxamately 85 of its work force. This include the closing of a full studio in London a week after the CEO visited and said all is well. Just another in the blood bath that is the gaming industry this year.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/27/24084494/sony-playstation-layoffs-2024
https://fandomwire.com/playstation-ceo-jim-ryan-closes-london-studios/#:~:text=Jim%20Ryan%20shuts%20down%20London,hand%20and%20an%20uncertain%20fate.

Speaking of that gaming industry bloodbath, add almost 700 employees at EA to that total for the year. Along with a few other smaller companies that's over 2000 employees in February alone. So what is this all about and what does it mean for our games going forwards?
https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/03/04/game-industry-layoffs-over-2000-february-compared-to-2023

Just over a week ago, Nintendo sued the developers of the leading Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu, for “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale.” Now, it appears that Yuzu will give up without a fight — and give Nintendo everything it wanted. And it affects the Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra, too.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/4/24090357/nintendo-yuzu-emulator-lawsuit-settlement
https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/yuzu-shuts-down-to-better-emulate-video-game-industry/

The Last of Us was definitely one of the biggest and most talked about shows of 2023. Starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal it was an amazing adaptation of a video game and we now have the cast for season two that details the game sequal.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/the-last-of-us-season-2-cast

We've talked quite a bit about layoffs and force reductions in the video game industry lately but why is that happening? I think we have touched on our theories but this article from polygon looks into the current development industry and why these things are happening.
https://www.polygon.com/gaming/24074767/video-game-industry-layoffs-explainer

Take pokemon. Throw in Arc: Survival, a little rust and a smidgeon of Fallout and you have the latests game from Pocket Paire called Palworld. Some (well a lot) feel it's a rip off of Pokemon? But is it? Let's take a look at what's the same and well what's not.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/palworld-game-pokemon-response-rcna135687
https://screenrant.com/pokemon-palworld-survival-game-clone-rip-off-fakemon/

We all thought that micro transactions were the future of video game monitization. We have talked about this also quite a bit. We were wrong. Here's the future and it's bigger than we thought.
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-youre-wondering-why-diablo-4-has-a-horse-for-sale-with-dollar65-of-premium-currency-stuck-to-it-let-me-introduce-you-to-price-anchoring/

And yet another video game awards show. Here's the run down of winners.
https://www.ign.com/articles/dice-awards-2024-winners-the-full-list

Game Review

Palworld - Diddi

Show Notes

Embracer Group, the company attempting to forge one video game publisher to rule them all, has just presided over another round of layoffs. Eidos Montreal is letting go of 97 game developers and support staff, the company announced today on X.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24054659/embracer-eidos-montreal-layoffs-deus-ex

CES 2024 happened while we were away. The big kids at the gaming table tend to use their own events to announce their own devices. Microsoft isn’t going to announce a new Xbox in Las Vegas. Don’t expect a Nintendo Switch 2, either. That leaves the attention that is at the Consumer Electronics Show for the niche, weird, and decidedly enthusiast hardware. So let's take a look at the best gaming things announced at this years CES.
https://www.inverse.com/tech/best-gaming-hardware-ces-2024

Blizzard has been through some stuff in the last couple of years and the last couple of weeks were no different. Here's what is happening at our favorite company to dish on.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24049050/microsoft-activision-blizzard-layoffs
https://www.digitalspy.com/tech/a46558068/blizzard-odyssey-cancelled-microsoft-layoffs/
https://gamerant.com/blizzard-president-johanna-faries-announcement/
Halo looks amazing.
https://www.polygon.com/23984110/halo-tv-show-season-2-releaes-date-free-youtube

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Show Notes

It's award season and although the big emmy show is in a couple of weeks, there is a smaller show known as the Creative Arts Emmy Awards which has a lot of the awards such as best visual effects and prosthetics and the such. The last of us was up for several awards on this as well as the golden globes so let's get into who won and how the show did.
https://kotaku.com/golden-globes-the-last-of-us-succession-emmy-awards-1851148385
https://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/creative-arts-news-240106
https://edit.emmys.com/sites/default/files/press/creative-240106-v1.pdf
There are a lot of video games scheduled to be released in 2024, currently around 125. As much as we love a list that was still a few too many to go over so we needed a way to whittle that down a bit. Well Inverse came up with a list of the top 13 annd that seems like a pretty good number so here we go.
https://www.inverse.com/gaming/2024-video-games

OK, completely off topic here. Being the beginning of the year theres a lot of what's coming this year and this topic is no different. We are going to take a quick look at what gamespot says are the top 9 TV shows coming this year.
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/most-anticipated-tv-streaming-shows-2024/2900-5018/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot-Report&date=010624&lctg=b3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30#1

Show Notes

Show Note

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Show Notes:

In an apparent policy change, Microsoft has begun blocking “unauthorized” accessories, like controllers and adapters, from use with Xbox consoles. Users who connect an unlicensed third-party device to their Xbox are given two weeks to continue using it before it’s blocked from use completely.
https://www.polygon.com/23938582/microsoft-xbox-unauthorized-accessories-0x82d60002
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/30/23938206/microsoft-xbox-controller-block-unauthorized-accessory-error-0x82d60002

A hacker gang that breached various high-profile companies like computer component manufacturer ADATA and video game publisher Capcom within the last several years has been arrested by an international police force, according to law enforcement agency Europol.
https://kotaku.com/ransomware-gang-ragnar-locker-capcom-2020-hack-1850953547

While the scope of the job cuts is currently unclear, Bloomberg’s reporter Jason Schreier claimed Bungie CEO Pete Parsons informed employees that a company-wide meeting would be held on Monday to discuss the situation.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/bungie-is-the-latest-playstation-studio-to-be-hit-with-layoffs/

Upcoming this week or just happened if you are listening to the published podcast, is the long awaited return of Blizzcon. So with the aquisition by Microsoft complete what can we expect to find out at this years fan love affair with the irvine, California company.
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzcon/24021890/blizzcon-2023-broadcast-schedule-tune-in-live-november-3-4

Ubisoft has announced plans to shut down online services for nearly a dozen video games, including Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction. The games will lose online functionally on January 25, 2024.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-will-shut-down-online-services-for-10-games-in-2024-including-older-assassins-creed-titles/1100-6518764/
https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-assassin-s-creed-splinter-cell-servers-shutdown-1850974513

Video Game Review:
Cities: Skylines 2 - Diddi

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Its oficially official, after almost two years and sometimes contentious clashes between regulators and the companies, The Microsoft - Activision/Blizzard was finalized on October 13th. Lets take a look at what the means for the gaming landscape.

https://www.subscriptioninsider.com/type-of-subscription-business/subscription-gaming/microsoft-finally-closes-69m-activision-blizzard-acquisition
https://www.theringer.com/video-games/2023/10/13/23915767/microsoft-activision-blizzard-deal-acquisition-merger-takeaways

So what does Microsoft actually own now that the merger is complete? Well we have a list for that.
https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/2023/10/13/every-activision-blizzard-game-franchise-xbox-now-owns

Unity the world’s leading platform for creating and growing real-time 3D (RT3D) content, today announced that John Riccitiello will retire as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231009494331/en/Unity-Announces-Leadership-Transition

Minecraft already has the distinction of being the bestselling video game of all time. Today, it adds more down to that particular feather in its cap with the announcement that it has sold a staggering 300 million copies.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67105983
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/15/23916349/minecraft-mojang-sold-300-million-copies-live-2023

Will Shen was at Bethesda for nearly 15 years, serving as a designer on games including Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. He is now leaving the studio and joining Something Wicked Games, where he'll serve as lead content designer on its first game, the open-world RPG Wyrdsong.
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-lead-quest-designer-leaves-bethesda-to-work-on-the-open-world-rpg-wyrdsong/

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Show Notes

The king of MMO game development has returned to his castle after leading a successful quest into the gaming wilderness. That's right, the one and only Chris Metzen has returned to Blizzard entertainment to be creative director of World of Warcraft.
https://www.xfire.com/chris-metzen-returns-creative-director-world-of-warcraft/
https://www.pcgamer.com/chris-metzen-returns-to-blizzard-full-time-to-create-the-next-generation-of-adventures-in-world-of-warcraft/

Epic Games Inc., the company behind global megahit Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and the wildly popular Unreal Engine, is laying off 16 percent of its current workforce. This report, first coming from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, sees almost 900 employees losing their jobs.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/28/tech/epic-games-layoffs-fortnite/index.html
https://kotaku.com/epic-games-store-fortnite-unreal-engine-layoffs-1850882501

So in the two weeks since we last recorded, the SAG-AFTRA union voted to strike against the Interactive Media Agreement which is escentially the video game industry. The union did go on strike and earlier this week negotiations broke down without an agreement. So what is the current state and where does this leave upcoming titles?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-members-authorize-video-game-strike-1235598617/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sag-aftras-talks-with-video-games-industry-ends-with-no-resolution/1100-6518071/

Oh Elon, what are you up to? The pllatform formerly known as twitter ran a test this week that showcased a game streaming event. So how did it go and do we think we will be moving to X in the future?
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/twitter-x-live-video-game-streaming-feature-demo-8965109/
https://www.themarysue.com/x-streaming-is-twitch-style-live-game-streaming-coming-to-twitter-answered/

Just EA doing EA things in the most condecending fashion. FIFA 24 launches and players are up in arms about it already. Here's why.
https://kotaku.com/ea-fifa-24-fc-loot-box-ultimate-team-pack-odds-scam-1850891916

Last episode we talked about AI and how that will impact video games. Well those concerns came to fruition this week and although not in thee video game world, they will have impact on the games we play in the future.
https://www.ign.com/articles/tom-hanks-warns-fans-beware-dental-plan-ad-featuring-ai-version-of-him
https://www.ign.com/articles/robin-williams-daughter-calls-out-disturbing-ai-recreate-late-fathers-voice

Review

Steamdeck Revisited - Diddi

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Show Notes

Who is the most hated company in all of gaming? Activision-Blizzard? Nope. Its not Riot Games either and even though EA is notorious for its microtransaction nonsense (and recent layoffs at Bioware) its not them either. You could also argue that Konami, Apple, and Ubisoft all have a good reason to receive plenty of hate from gamers too. But despite reputation of those companies, the most reviled company in the game landscape right now is Unity.
https://www.themarysue.com/planned-parenthood-gaming-hated-company/
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/18/23879029/unity-pricing-model-change
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-18/unity-overhauls-controversial-price-hike-after-game-developers-revolt?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTY5NTA1NjI4MCwiZXhwIjoxNjk1NjYxMDgwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTMTZYUzFUMVVNMFcwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.TW0g4uyu_9WyNcs1sDARt9YUgkkzXQlA9BcsFmcr7pc
You might no think that the current SAG-AFTRA strike wouldn't affect the video game industry but that doesn't take in the big picture. See, a lot of the voice actors that bring the characters to life are members of the actors guild. Video games have been exempt from this so far but if they vote to strike in solidarity what would it mean for the video game industry?
https://deadline.com/2023/09/sag-aftra-president-fran-drescher-urges-members-approve-strike-authorization-video-game-companies-1235548504/

Oh, when will politicians learn? Haven't we had enough studies by now that prove that video games are not detrimental to youth development. Well someone should tell that to French president Macron because he spit out one of those ignorant statements earlier this year and had to back track this week.
https://news.sky.com/story/emmanuel-macron-backtracks-on-video-games-after-blaming-them-for-french-riots-12964322
https://fortune.com/2023/09/18/video-games-integral-part-of-france-emmanuel-macron-riots/

The Microsoft - Activision/Blizzard merger is the gift that just keeps on giving. Two little tid bits that have come from court documents are the next XBox console release date and a tripple A title that won't be shared with Playstation. Although neither one of these things is happening any time soon let's look at how this could impact video games.
https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-game-pass-gen-10-release-date-microsoft-1850849528
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-targeted-a-2028-launch-for-its-next-xbox-console/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/elder-scrolls-6-not-coming-to-ps5-and-wont-release-until-2026-at-the-soonest-microsoft-says/1100-6517794/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot_Report&date=091823&lctg=20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065
According to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, non-endemic companies like Netflix or Google are one of the biggest threats to the video game business today. Listing his top three concerns for the industry in the years ahead, he claimed that "consolidation can be an enemy of creativity," and that "rising costs in gaming are an existential threat to all of us." He then referred to non-endemic companies like Netflix, Google, Apple, and Amazon as "barbarians at the gate." Let's take a look at whether we think these companies represent a threat to video game business.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-playstation-boss-says-gaming-faces-existential-threat/1100-6517539/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot-Report&date=090723

Game Review

Starfield - Diddi

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Show Notes

Wow, just wow. Gamescom opened with a bang and long ass opening ceremony. There were a ton of announcements and trailers so here is the list. We'll see which one we were interested in.
https://www.lifestyleasia.com/bk/entertainment/gamescom-2023/
https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/gamescom-2023-all-the-news-trailers-announcements-2626965/
https://www.polygon.com/2023/8/22/23841795/gamescom-announcements-trailers-onl-2023

https://www.ign.com/articles/gamescom-2023-everything-announced

Geoff Keighley's Game Awards has become the defacto measuring stick of the best games of the year but Gamescom did come up with it's own list. Let's take a look at that and see what they came up with. 
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/2023-gamescom-winners-1235575636/

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Show Notes

Netflix is kicking off the first public tests of its cloud-streamed games. Beginning Monday, some Netflix subscribers in Canada and the UK will be able to check out Netflix games streamed to select TVs, connected TV devices, and on the web from Netflix.com.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/14/23829262/netflix-cloud-gaming-testing-tv-web

As you may remember, we brought you a story a while back about China restricting the amount of hours minors could play video games. Well there is enough data now to do a study and the results may surprise you ... nah they won't. As predicted the restrictions had little or no affect on players gaming habits.
https://scitechdaily.com/billions-of-hours-little-change-new-study-questions-video-game-restrictions/

AI is all the rage right now but the technology brings up some interesting questions, especially when it comes to the actors that voice our favorite characters. The current Hollywood writers strike brings up some interesting points concerning this dilemma so let's take a look at that and how it will impact or games of the future.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-08-14/actors-strike-voice-acting-games-ai-call-of-duty-activision-ea-sag-aftra-interactive-agreement

You know we like a good list around here and with the year being a little half over we figured we would take a look at the best games of the year so far. Well polygon had the idea first but we decided to piggy back on their idea. Mostly filled with remasters and sequels but the big new IP's are scheduled to hit later this year.  Lets see where we agree and disagree with Polygon.
https://www.polygon.com/23648669/best-video-games-2023

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Show Notes

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have agreed to extend their merger agreement pending the outcome of negotiations with UK regulators. Both parties will now have until October 18th to finalize the transaction, after missing last weeks original deal deadline. Microsoft will argue its case for its proposed Activision Blizzard deal to be reconsidered for approval to the UK this coming week using the details from the FTC failed attempts to block the deal.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/19/23797238/microsoft-activision-blizzard-merger-agreement-extension
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/31/23813956/microsoft-activision-blizzard-cma-argument-uk-regulator

Nintendo’s next console will reportedly be portable like the Switch and is targeting a release in the second half of 2024, according to a new report today from VideoGamesChronicle. VGC cites “multiple people with knowledge of Nintendo’s next-gen console plans” that reveal Nintendo’s Switch successor is aiming for a release in the second half of next year, to ensure there’s plenty of stock at launch. Nintendo wants to avoid the stock shortages that plagued the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S release for months (and years for some). 
https://www.gameinformer.com/news/2023/07/31/nintendos-next-console-will-reportedly-be-portable-like-switch-targeting-second
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-nintendo-switch-2-targets-2024-with-next-gen-console/

Russian propaganda is spreading into the world’s video games. In Minecraft, the immersive game owned by Microsoft, Russian players re-enacted the battle for Soledar, a city in Ukraine that Russian forces captured in January, posting a video of the game on their country’s most popular social media network, VKontakte.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/technology/russia-propaganda-video-games.html

Starting July 23rd, a new Home experience is rolling out to all Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. This update is designed from player feedback and makes it easier to discover new games, rediscover games you already love, connect with communities, and create a more personalized experience.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/07/26/welcome-to-your-new-xbox-home/

Video Game Review
Pikman 4 - Diddi

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Show Notes

In exciting news EA has just announced a new studio along with an upcoming game based on the Black Panther franchise. The studio is called Cliffhanger Games, and it's based in Seattle. It's made up of veterans of Monolith Productions, the developer which previously made both Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. There are also veterans from God of War, Halo, Call of Duty, and more on the dev team.

https://www.gamesradar.com/ea-black-panther-game-announcement/

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/10/23787287/ea-black-panther-game-single-player

There have been countless reports and allegations of low pay, long hours, and poor working conditions within the gaming industry over the past several years, especially when it comes to QA testing departments and other key areas of game development. As a result, a growing number of video game studios have decided to unionize, with some of the most publicized examples including Zenimax and Activision Blizzard. Sega of America joined those ranks this week as their members voted to unionize the workforce.

https://gamerant.com/sega-of-america-union/

He can fly. He can shoot lasers from his eyes. He is incredibly strong and bullets just bounce right off him. He also is one ... big ... asshole. Bet you thought I was talking about that other guy. Nope, we were describing the one and only Homelander , who along with Starlight and Black Noir are coming to Call of duty this week. You will be able to take on the persona of these characters to battle royal in the popular Call of Duty multiplayer games.

https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/07/10/the-boys-invades-call-of-duty-this-week

Nintendo held its summer direct presentation this past week and the 40 minute show had lots of reveals (well a few anyways) and lots of information about upcoming Nintendo games. So lets take a look at what was announced and see if we are intrigued by any of it.

https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-june-2023-everything-announced

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/21/23768463/nintendo-direct-june-2023-announcements-trailers-news

Video Game Review

So Much Great TV Right Now

The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block Microsoft from completing its deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard, the latest antitrust challenge to the proposed merger but one that could hasten a conclusion to the drawn-out dispute.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/12/ftc-to-file-injunction-blocking-microsofts-acquisition-of-activision-blizzard.html
https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-activision-blizzard-xbox-ftc-ab5dd455ed5a2785983d8373915e3531

The revamped PlayStation Plus is one year old as of June, and Sony Interactive Entertainment is observing the milestone with a 10-day stretch of activities and giveaways. More importantly, it’s begun testing cloud streaming of PlayStation 5 games, a big step for PlayStation Plus premium members.
https://www.polygon.com/23760883/playstation-ps-plus-extra-games-june-2023-premium-collection

Xbox brought a ton of games to the Xbox Games Showcase 2023, giving us a good idea for what to expect on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and PC for the rest of the year and beyond. Let's go through what they announced and see what we are looking forward to.
https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-games-showcase-2023-everything-announced
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/06/11/xbox-games-showcase-starfield-direct-recap-everything-announced/

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Show Notes
Microsoft could consider pulling Activision from the UK market as one extreme option to bypass the country’s block of its proposed $69bn acquisition. That’s according to a new Bloomberg report, which states that Microsoft president Brad Smith will meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt next week to voice his frustration over the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) decision to block the deal.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-could-withdraw-activision-from-the-uk-to-counter-acquisition-block-its-claimed/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-02/microsoft-s-smith-set-for-talks-with-uk-chancellor-over-deal-ban#xj4y7vzkg

Ever since this game was announced The Game Awards in 2021, I've been looking forward to it. A new trailer for The Expanse: A Telltale Series was released this week, detailing the upcoming game based on the hit TV series ahead of its launch on July 27, 2023, on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. It did not disappoint
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2023/06/the-expanse-a-telltale-series-video-game-trailer-reveals-a-choose-your-own-adventure-scifi-prequel.html
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/news/1292670-the-expanse-a-telltale-series-story-trailer-previews-video-game

You know that feeling you have when you are watching the rednecks spin a back hoe around with someone riding the tire attached to it? Well I had exactly that feeling today watching Apple reveal their new VR headset at the WWDC. That's freaking awesome and you are out of your minds.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23738968/apple-vision-pro-ar-headset-features-specs-price-release-date-wwdc-2023
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/apple-vr-and-mixed-reality-headset-release-date-price-specs-and-leaks
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apple-finally-reveals-long-awaited-ar-headset-vision-pro/1100-6514811/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot-Report&date=060523

Gaming has come a long way in the last few years. What was once a niche media platform strictly enjoyed by the sort of geeks you'd only find in a bad '80s high school movie has now become a form of blockbuster entertainment (and, in many cases, an art form) revered the world over by millions upon millions of players. Despite this, there's plenty of room for improvement. Gaming today is fraught with issues, and money-grabbing schemes by publishers are just the tip of the digital iceberg. These are the failures, the tricks, and the schemes that the industry — and all those who are a part of it — are going to really, really regret in just a few years.
https://www.grunge.com/93628/things-gaming-industry-will-regret-10-years/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_7633041&utm_content=1

Video Game Review
Diablo 4 - Diddi

Show Notes

The Microsoft aquisition of Activision/Blizzard took an interesting turn when China of all places gave it's OK for the merger to go ahead. This is on the heels of the EU's decision to approve the deal ... of course it isn't that big of a deal that China approved because the Chinese can't play any of the Blizzard games anyways. But Hey, there's always Candy Crush for them.
https://www.eurogamer.net/microsofts-proposed-acquisition-of-activision-blizzard-approved-in-china
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/china-reportedly-approves-microsofts-acquisition-of-activision-blizzard
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/37-countries-have-now-approved-microsofts-deal-to-buy-activision-blizzard/1100-6514380/
I noticed this lately and it seems so has someone else at Kotaku. Us gamers just seem to be really angry at just about everyone, all the time. So, is that true and if so why is that? 
https://kotaku.com/pc-gaming-gamers-ea-activision-steam-angry-mad-valve-1850397771

In one of the worst kept secrets in gaming, Blizzard announced that in person Blizzcon will return this year. The particulars are the same as far as time and place but no word on tickets yet.
https://www.engadget.com/blizzcon-returns-as-an-in-person-event-later-this-year-180934125.html
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23727227/blizzcon-2023-in-person-dates-anaheim

There was an idie round up this past week and well there were way too many games to mention them all but we'll includse the linksd so you can check them out yourselves. There also was another connect type event this week hosted by netease. Yes that netease. Here's what was announced and how we feel about them.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/05/round-up-indie-live-expo-2023-every-nintendo-switch-game-showcased
https://www.ign.com/articles/all-19-games-revealed-at-netease-connect-2023-justice-mobile-ashfall-and-beyond

Mentions

Race to world first - Liquid wins
Diablo 4

Game Review

Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom

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Show Notes

Despite recent signs that it was softening its stance on Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the U.K.’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has announced that it has decided to formally block the deal.
https://www.polygon.com/23698816/microsoft-activision-blizzard-deal-uk-cma-block

When the Asus ROG Ally windows PC gaming handheld was originally revealed, it seemed like just another quick cash-in on the popularity of the Steam Deck. The specs turned out to be quite impressive, however, and now the price looks almost too good to be true. The Verge reports the Ally will only cost $700, just $50 more than the most expensive version of Valve’s handheld.
https://kotaku.com/steam-deck-asus-rog-ally-price-windows-switch-gaming-pc-1850382546

One thing to come out of the Microsoft/Blizzard acquisition is that there has been quite a bit of information about the video game industry itself made public because of filings and court proceedings. Well one of those things has been just how much it costs to make a AAA title and as we expected, it is quite a lot. 
https://kotaku.com/microsoft-activision-blizzard-call-duty-gta-vi-halo-1850391113

Game Pass PC is full of great games, and a new referral program now lets you invite friends to play them with you free for two weeks. The new benefit arrives alongside Redfall, Xbox’s latest co-op shooter featuring an eerie open world and lots of vampires.
https://kotaku.com/xbox-game-pass-free-trial-redfall-minecraft-starfield-1850397083

Show Notes

In a low key move on April 6th, Microsoft shut down emulation on the XBox consoles. This had the small but passionate emulator community up in arms. It brings up the question for us though ... Why? what does Microsoft get out of this?
https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-emulation-ps2-wii-gamecube-piracy-1850309874

Sega looks to get into the mobile market by purchasing the Finnish company Rovio. If that company sounds familiar thats because they are the one behind the Angry Birds phenomenon. So what does this mean for our little sling shot bird friends?
https://www.polygon.com/23686123/sega-rovio-acquisition-angry-birds

So when I gave my review of Hogwarts Legacy, one of my gripes was, How do you put out an open world Harry Potter game and not include Quidditch? Well, that issue is about to be solved ... well sort of. This is not on Legacy but a new game is coming that allows players to play Quidditch. It's a stand-alone, multiplayer game that looks amazing and just what we wanted.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/harry-potter-competitive-multiplayer-game-quidditch-champions-announced/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/harry-potter-quidditch-champions-everything-we-know/1100-6513357/?ftag=NLS-04-10aaa1d

When Joseph Staten left Microsoft and XBox specifically earlier this year it signaled that changes in the Halo franchise were on the horizon. This week, that became very evident with the departure of Frank O'Connors. O'Connors was a long time fixture with the Halo franchise and it definitely signals that Microsoft is taking Halo in a different direction. 
https://www.ign.com/articles/longtime-halo-developer-frank-oconnors-departure-confirmed-by-microsoft

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Show Notes

In what could be a decisive tipping point for Microsoft’s chances of completing its deal to purchase Activision/Blizzard, the U.K. regulator — previously thought to be the most likely to block the acquisition on anticompetitive grounds — has indicated it is setting aside some of its main concerns, specifically around Call of Duty. The Competition and Markets Authority said March 24 that new data analysis indicated that making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox would not be in Microsoft’s interest.
https://www.polygon.com/23546288/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-deal-merger-ftc-latest-news

So remember how last show how we talked about simulation games and we wondered how they are so popular. Well I ran across another article this week that talks about these games but gives it a whole new wrinkle.
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/mar/25/flight-simulator-for-tractors-how-a-video-game-is-enticing-farmers-on-to-xbox

FIFA, for the very first time this year, included NWSL teams in the game. Some players weren't happy with their ratings though and well, frankly, that's nothing new.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/womens-soccer-players-take-issue-likeness-fifa-video-game-fans-say-glitch

PAX East 2023 was this past weekend, and this is usually the lesser of the shows where some smaller companies are highlighted. This year has all but abandoned the idea of the “AAA” hitter. You won’t find Microsoft or Sony, and while Nintendo’s at the show, they’ve elected to show attendees how to play the Pokémon trading card game rather than divulge Tears of the Kingdom details. More on that later. So lets take a look at what they did announce.
https://punishedbacklog.com/tag/pax-east-2023/

Review

Hogwarts Legacy - Diddi

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Show Notes

Citing a combination of personal loss and professional considerations, Greg Street announced that he has stepped down from Riot Games today. The former World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer has been at Riot for the last nine years, spending at least three of them heading the development a new MMORPG set in the League of Legends universe.
https://www.wowhead.com/news/greg-street-aka-ghostcrawler-stepping-down-from-riot-games-331704?webhook

Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann has explained the process the studio went through when deciding which game to develop next. This article wan't that informative and basically said NaughtyDog can do whatever they want because they were successful but it got me thinking about how do companies pick what game they are going to produce next. 
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/neil-druckmann-explains-how-naughty-dog-chose-its-next-unannounced-game/

Joysticks (Controllers) are the go to peripheral but what about some of those other ones over the years that we miss and would like to see back?
https://www.vg247.com/bring-back-incredible-video-game-peripherals-you-cowards

Why are simulators of boring activities so popular
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-popularity-of-mundane-video-games/

Picture this ... TIME IS RUNNING out inside the Gamebox, and you've got to jump or die. You're a contestant in Squid Game, the hit South Korean Netflix series, but in this interactive version, you're playing inside an illuminated cube measuring 12 feet in each direction. 
https://www.wired.com/story/immersive-gameboxes-irl-cooperative-gaming/

Review

Atomic Heart - Diddi

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Show Notes

Blizzard - Activision workers are mad at president Mike Ybarra after an all-hands meeting that was held last week. I though am going to take this as a positive because their complaints wern't about working conditions or abuse but were about the same thing that workers complain about in most of corporate America. AThings like oing back to the office, executive pay disparity and employee satisfaction survey results which as we all know, nobody looks at.
https://www.polygon.com/23604013/blizzard-entertainment-mike-ybarra-qa-meeting

Jay Dime's Philidelphia Eagles took on my brothers Kansas City Chiefs this past week in the penultimate American Football competition with the Chiefs coming out on top with a 38 - 35 victory on a last second field goal by Harrison Butker. 
https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl/event-info/
https://www.espn.com/nfl/super-bowl/

OK, on to the reason most folks watch the game, the commercials. Lets take a look at our favorites and which ones hit and which ones didn't ... rabbits anyone?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/2023/02/13/best-2023-super-bowl-commercials-voted-usa-today-ad-meter/11247208002/
https://www.cnet.com/culture/sports/super-bowl-commercials-2023-watch-all-the-big-ads-from-sundays-big-game/
https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl/event-info/archive/super-bowl-54-commercials
Mention this.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/02/21/microsoft-signs-10-year-deal-to-bring-call-of-duty-to-nintendo

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Show Notes

Acclaimed actress Annie Wersching has passed away at the age of 45 after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was best known for her role as Renee Walker in 24 but as I found out, she was alost the voice of Tess in the original The Last of Us video game. 
https://www.ign.com/articles/annie-wersching-the-last-of-us-game-and-24-actress-dies-at-45
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1156709/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Activision Blizzard will pay $35 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company broke government rules on whistleblower protection and investor disclosure. The SEC launched an investigation into the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty publisher months after California’s Civil Rights Department, previously called the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, filed its sexual harassment lawsuit lawsuit in 2021.
https://www.polygon.com/23584578/activision-blizzard-sec-settlement

Activision Blizzard has released fourth quarter financial results for the year of 2022, announcing record-breaking quarterly net bookings and the highest quarterly net bookings to date reported by Blizzard
https://www.wowhead.com/news/activision-blizzard-fourth-quarter-2022-financial-results-record-breaking-growth-331344?webhook

For the first time the Grammys had a category for music in a video game. This years innaugral award once again confirmed, just like the Oscars do every year, that the organizations that present these awards have no clue what america is really watching or listening to. We did learn though that Randy Rainbow (yes, that's really his name) does not play video games.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grammy-awards-listen-to-nominees-for-best-score-for-video-games-2022/
https://www.grammy.com/videos/assassins-creed-wins-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media-2023-grammys-premiere-ceremony
https://kotaku.com/grammy-grammys-video-game-score-soundtrack-valhalla-1850076648

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Show Notes

Today’s the day most Blizzard games go offline in China. After failing to reach a deal with publishing partner NetEase, Blizzard has shuttered most of its games in the country, including World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, and Diablo.
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-games-go-dark-in-china-with-no-return-in-sight-this-is-so-tragic-says-former-hearthstone-director/
https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/69664-netease-message-to-chinese-blizzard-game-players/
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/23/23567868/activision-blizzard-china-netease-world-of-warcraft

Sony put two new products up for presale this week and damn are they expensive. First off is the Playstation VR2 that starts at $549 and that's with no game. Next they drop a $200 controller on us. Do we think these are too expensive or about right?
https://blog.playstation.com/2022/11/02/playstation-vr2-launches-in-february-at-549-99/
https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/playstation-vr2
https://www.theverge.com/23564531/sony-dualsense-edge-wireless-controller-ps5-features-review

Since we last recorded, HBO's "The Last of Us" has aired and it is fantastic. So lets talk about what we like, don't like and what we want to see in upcoming episodes.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-star-anna-torv-on-that-horrific-episode-2-climax/1100-6510751/?ftag=NLS-04-10aaa1d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us

Review

Per Mrs Diddi (@Udella) - Dreamlight Valley

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Review

Forspoken Demo - Diddi

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Show Notes:

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-game-awards-2022-winners
https://thegameawards.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-game-awards-2022-results-all-the-winners/

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Show Notes:

2022 Video Game Award Nominees

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-game-awards-2022-how-to-watch-start-times-and-what-to-expect/1100-6509600/

https://thegameawards.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards

Game Review:

As Dusk Falls - JayDimes

We discuss a couple of stories in the Microsoft XBox universe and we let you know if spending a lot of hours gaming is bad for adolescents.

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Show Notes:

Microsoft waits until the beginning of each month to reveal the list of new games coming to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, but fans often know of at least a few games in advance. While some new Xbox Game Pass game additions are a surprise, other games are confirmed to be day one titles well in advance and November is going to be one of those months. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have Hello Neighbor 2, Chained Echoes, and High on Life to fill the time this month.
https://gamerant.com/xbox-game-pass-new-games-coming-soon-december-2022/

A new study published by University of Oxford researchers in an open-access journal, JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting, shows that although many school-age adolescents are spending considerable time gaming, it is not having a negative impact on their wellbeing. The study found that 44% of adolescents who game heavily report a better sense of well-being than those who game less or don’t play video games at all.
https://neurosciencenews.com/gaming-wellbeing-neurodevelopment-21908/

Microsoft has reportedly offered Sony a deal that would see the Call of Duty franchise remain on PlayStation for a decade. The Xbox maker told the New York Times that it had offered the 10-year deal to Sony on November 11. Sony declined to comment on the claim. As always there are twwo side to every story.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-says-it-offered-sony-a-10-year-deal-to-keep-call-of-duty-on-playstation/

Microsoft’s head of gaming has said that Xbox will struggle to continue as a global business if the company doesn’t establish a foothold in mobile.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/phil-spencer-says-the-xbox-business-will-become-untenable-if-it-remains-irrelevant-on-mobile/

Review:

Pokemon Violet - Diddi

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Show Notes:

Video games are a nearly $200 billion industry. That’s a lot of money sloshing around an increasingly small group of notoriously secretive companies. Where does it all go? At least some of it is poured back into competing storefronts and subscription services like PlayStation Plus and Game Pass. Thanks to a new SEC filing, we now have some hard figures for what this new console war looks like, with both Sony and Microsoft shelling out millions over a single game.
https://kotaku.com/game-pass-ark-ii-survival-evolved-ps-plus-ps5-xbox-sony-1849642722

The English actor who stars in the hit Bayonetta video game series has asked fans not to buy the latest release in the franchise, after revealing that she was offered just $4,000 (£3,500) to reprise the role.
https://www.ign.com/articles/bayonetta-voice-actor-hellena-taylor-says-she-didnt-reprise-the-role-in-bayonetta-3-as-she-was-only-offered-4000
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/oct/16/bayonetta-actor-hellena-taylora-boycott-video-game-pay-row

Google is shuttering its digital gaming service Stadia, the latest ambitious project to get cut as the company looks to shed costs. The gaming service, which launched in 2019 and runs on phones and the Chrome browser, “hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected,” wrote Phil Harrison, a Google vice president, in a blog post Thursday. “We’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” he wrote.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/google-shut-gaming-service-stadia-ceo-continues-cost-cutting-efforts-rcna50054

There is a gamer in everyone. Some of us spend countless hours saving princesses, dodging bullets or burning tires in an online game. Others are modest gamers and only venture out to roll a dice in a board game. Whether you’re a fervent veteran or a contingent casual, there is something inherent to our being that keeps us coming back to these experiences.
https://mobile.gamehouse.com/news/gravitating-towards-gaming-why-do-we-play-games/

Review:

XBox Cloud Service - Real World - Tim

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Show Notes

Sony held a short State of Play event and here was what was revealed.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/playstation-state-of-play-september-2022-everything-announced/
https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-state-of-play-september-2022-everything-announced
https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/09/13/playstation-september-2022-state-of-play-recap/
The other big event was the Nintendo Direct that happened later in the day and it did not disappoiont. Here's everything that was realed and announced during the presentation.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-september-2022-everything-announced-including-the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom
https://apptrigger.com/2022/09/13/nintendo-direct-nintendo-switch/
https://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2022/09/recap-nintendo-direct-september-13-2022.html

Review 

Steamdeck - Diddi

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Show Notes

The first video game studio in the US to unionize is shutting down. On Wednesday, Beast Breaker developer Vodeo Games announced it had failed to secure funding to produce an additional release beyond its debut title. 
https://www.engadget.com/vodeo-games-shutting-down-213519398.html

Video games can get a bad rep as being a time waste, but can they actually have positive effects on brain functioning? A study published in Neuroimage: Reports suggests that video games can lead to increased decision-making skills and improvement in brain activities.
https://www.psypost.org/2022/09/people-who-play-video-games-tend-to-have-superior-sensorimotor-decision-making-skills-study-finds-63890

Even the wholesome family image of Nintendo couldn't save it from the backlash this week over a report that the culture there might have even been worse than the one that has been well documented at Activision Blizzard.
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-of-america-sexual-harassment-sexism-aerotek-1849414921

Ubisoft held their Ubisoft Forward this past week where they announced all the upcoming games and news. If I can sum it up in a statement, I hope you like Assasins Creed and The Division because there is going top be a LOT more of them.
https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-forward-2022-assassins-creed-1849522061
https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-biggest-games-and-announcements-from-ubisoft-forward-2022/2900-4324/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-says-its-big-aaa-games-will-now-be-priced-at-70/1100-6507403/

Show Notes

The best video games are imaginary. Often they exist completely in our heads, or in the dreamy space between their initial announcement and what we finally end up playing. This is where “Arkham World” exists. Born from a 2011 Video Game Awards gag, the completely fictitious entry in the massively popular Batman Arkham series is now all some fans can talk about.

https://kotaku.com/batman-arkham-world-spider-man-gotham-knights-wb-1849436007

And just when you think it might be safe to back into the EA waters ... they release Madden 23 which should have been cause for celebration but in true typical EA fashion snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. So just what is wrong with Madden and why are gamers so pissed?

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/madden-nfl-23-is-glitched-up-from-coast-to-coast/1100-6506729/
https://attackofthefanboy.com/gaming/madden-nfl-23s-pc-version-is-a-huge-disappointment-thats-missing-next-gen-features/

Fresh off the success of Uncharted and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 respectively, Sony and Sega are planning film adaptations of even more of their franchises. Deadline reports that Sony is developing Days Gone for the big screen, while Sega says it’s developing adaptations of Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/22/23316140/video-game-movies-days-gone-comix-zone

Sony is facing legal action in the UK, with a new collective action suit claiming that the company has "ripped people off" by taking a 30% cut on all transactions made on the PlayStation Store. Sony, just like Microsoft and Valve, (and  Apple) has long taken this cut from purchases on its store, but consumer rights activist Alex Neill is claiming that this is a breach of consumer rights. Speaking to Sky News, Neill explained that Sony is abusing its market share to impose unfair conditions on games publishers, which in turn is raising prices for consumers. ANd as if that wasn't bad enough, Sony announced this week that the price of the PS5 is rising.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-facing-5-8-billion-lawsuit-over-playstation-store-royalties/1100-6506722/?ftag=NLS-04-10aaa1d
https://screenrant.com/ps5-price-increase-hike-region-sony-stock-playstation/

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Show Notes:

The giants of the video game world saw their sales slide in the second quarter, as initial tailwinds from the Covid pandemic faded. In the three months ending with June, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo each posted disappointing results in their respective gaming businesses.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/08/microsoft-xbox-sony-playstation-nintendo-video-game-earnings-round-up.html

Elon Musk Explains Why He Won't Make Video Game Console to Compete With PlayStation and Xbox
https://gamerant.com/elon-musk-video-game-console/

In general, we like to think we know how much something is worth. The decision is based less on logic and more on emotion, an intangible gut feeling. When it comes to video games we know when a game is under, or in most cases, over-priced. Unfortunately, that aptness in designating price to value is disrupted by inflation. So are video games really more expensive now?
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/are-video-games-really-more-expensive
https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/cost-of-gaming-since-1970s

Netflix is accelerating its push into video games with plans to double its catalog of offerings by the end of the year, but for now, nobody cares.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/06/netflixs-video-game-push-sees-few-subscribers-playing-along.html

Overwatch’s latest Anniversary Remix event — the game’s third and final such event — kicks off Today, giving seasoned fans of Blizzard’s hero shooter another batch of skins and a chance to revisit limited-time game modes. The Overwatch Anniversary Remix Vol. 3 event will also bring about the end of loot box sales in the game — Blizzard says that when the current event ends on Aug. 30, players will no longer be able to purchase loot boxes.
https://www.polygon.com/23298533/overwatch-loot-boxes-sales-ending-anniversary-remix-event-date

Review:

World of Warcraft - Fated Raids/Dungeons

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Show Notes

Google launched click to play a couple of months ago but this week their Stadia offering ot a big boost. They launched 11 new games thaty you can try on their platform.
https://chromeunboxed.com/stadia-9-new-click-to-play-game-trials

Blizzard Entertainment is officially ending new content development for its MOBA Heroes of the Storm and will instead focus solely on keeping the game running smoothly with seasonal rolls, hero rotations, bug fixes, balance updates, and more.
https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-officially-ending-heroes-of-the-storm-content-development

"It's almost been 3 years since the last in-person BlizzCon in 2019. In 2020, BlizzCon was canceled due to health concerned raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this was replaced by BlizzConline in February of 2021. There has been no in-person BlizzCon since then and the BlizzConline 2022 event was also canceled. Many fans were hoping for a 2022 in-person but it was cancelled once again due to the filing of a DFEH suit.
However, in the first news we've heard of an in-person Blizzcon since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Ybarra tells the LA Times that ""We are committed to bringing back BlizzCon in 2023."""
https://www.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-committed-to-bringing-back-blizzcon-in-2023-los-angeles-times-interview-327585?webhook

Supermassive Games is known for its interactive horror narratives, including 2015's Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and, more recently, The Quarry. This week, Eurogamer reported that Danish company Nordisk Games acquired the studio.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/07/12/the-quarry-and-until-dawn-developer-supermassive-games-acquired-by-nordisk-games

Around here we love a good strory. Game play is important but without a good narritive to hold it all together the whole thing gets old quick. But what about the games that get old ... later. The ones that go on a bit too long or started good but just sort of fell off? Well here's a list of them put out by whatculture that overstayed their welcome.
https://whatculture.com/gaming/10-video-games-that-overstayed-their-welcome

Game Review

Elden Ring - Diddi

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Show Notes

Bobby Kotick will get to keep his seat on Activision Blizzard's board of directors despite catching flak over the alleged role he played in creating the company's toxic workplace culture. At the video game developers' annual meeting of stockholders, investors voted on several proposals, as well as who gets to be on the company's board of directors over the next year. A total of 533,703,580 shareholders have voted to keep Kotick on the board, while on 62,597,199 have voted against it. As GameInformer notes, that means he gets to keep his seat until the next meeting in 2023. 
https://www.engadget.com/activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-board-seat-082314098.html

Hideo Kojima has claimed that he recently shelved a project he’s been considering “for a long time” due to its similarity to the Amazon series The Boys. Speaking on Twitter, the mind behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding said that he “put it on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks),” to the Amazon show. “A buddy (male/female) thing with a special detective squad facing off against legendary heroes behind the scenes,” Kojima said. “I was thinking of Mads [Mikkelsen] as the lead.”
https://gamerant.com/hideo-kojima-the-boys-similar-game-concept/
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/hideo-kojima-says-he-shelved-a-game-concept-due-to-similarity-to-the-boys/

If you missed your chance to play Overwatch 2 during the game's first beta test, your next shot at giving the game a whirl before it hits shelves this fall is here. The second beta test for Overwatch 2 begins June 28, and will feature the game's newest character, Junker Queen, as well as a new map. Even better, the servers will be open not only for PC players, but those playing on console as well.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-2-beta-begins-june-28-will-feature-junker-queen-and-a-new-map/1100-6504595/
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/06/24/overwatch-2-will-replace-the-original-overwatch-when-it-enters-early-access

Video game characters have all sorts of different fashion styles. Some like to don street clothes, while others prefer sharp suits. And many of them wear some form of armor, especially those in the more action-orientated genres. Strangely, though, not all of these characters utilize helmets. It's likely because developers don't want to cover up their faces. However, unique headgear can function as an identifier just as well as a character's face. In fact, the appeal of certain protagonists is enhanced due to them wearing cool helmets. As a result, these pieces of headgear have garnered as much fame and acclaim as the people wearing them. Lets take a look at the list that thegamer put together and see what we think.
https://www.thegamer.com/most-iconic-helmets-video-games-ranked/

Game Review

Slay The Spire - Tim

https://www.megacrit.com/

Show Notes

Maybe it's time for a TV upgrade. Microsoft announced this week that they entered into an agreement with Samsung that all 2022 smart TVs will have XBox Cloud Play built in. No external boxes. Just pair a controller with the TV (doesn't even have to be an XBox controller) and with XBox gmae pass of course, you can play any Microsoft game available in their cloud service.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/06/09/xbox-app-for-smart-tvs/amp/

"E3 might have taken 2022 off, but the show(s) must go on. Today’s big one is the annual Xbox showcase, which shares title billing with the one first-party studio that’s only released games on PS5 since getting acquired by Microsoft for the price of a presidential election.
Over the course of 95 minutes, Xbox teased a ton of games from across its oeuvre. Some were new. Others have been previously announced. And, of course, the Game Pass logo was literally everywhere. All told, the show was…a lot. let's dig in and talk about all the things"
https://kotaku.com/xbox-bethesda-2022-starfield-redfall-diablo-4-overwatch-1849051030
https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-and-bethesda-games-showcase-2022-everything-announced

Game Review

Diablo Immortal

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Show Notes:

In an internal all-hands meeting with Xbox Game Studios employees, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he would recognize Raven Software’s union. This came after the QA testers at Raven voted to form the first labor union at a major studio. Later  Spencer said. “We absolutely support employees’ right to organize and form unions.” So what does tha mean for the Video Game industry?
https://dot.la/microsoft-activision-union-2657041417.html
https://kotaku.com/xbox-phil-spencer-raven-qa-union-activision-blizzard-1848982555

Last episode we told you that Square Enix was selling off it's western development studios. Well that deal dropped and frankly, they got hosed. For the paltry sum of $300 million the Embracer Group got game studios including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal. Embracer also purchased major intellectual properties from those companies, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain. In all, it got more than 50 game properties and 1,100 developers.
https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-enters-into-an-agreement-to-acquire-eidos-crystal-dynamics-and-square-enix-montreal-amongst-other-assets/
https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/06/the-deanbeat-the-crazy-sanity-of-the-square-enix-and-embracer-group-deal/

Hell is about to be unleashed this week on PC and Mobile as the "You all have Phones don't you" game is finally released. Of course I'm talking about Diablo: Immortal. This game was imfamously announced at Blizzcon 2018 to a great deal of negativity. Well I played it at Blizzcon that year and if you like Diablo, you're in for a treat.
https://kotaku.com/diablo-immortal-loot-boxes-crates-laws-release-belgium-1848996451

Everyone loves a good plot twist. One where everything you thought and were certain of isn't. Well in video games, what are the 10 best? We take a look at a screen rant list and see if they got it right.
https://screenrant.com/shocking-video-game-plot-twists-in-history-ranked/

Game Review:

Tiny Tina's Wonderland - Reviisited

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Show Notes

"Square Enix Selling Tomb Raider, Deus Ex & Thief (And Their Studios As Well)
Let's see if the new owners can also be disappointed by great games that sell well."
https://kotaku.com/square-enix-embracer-deus-ex-1848866849

Osceola County Sheriff’s Office deputies opened fire on four suspects believed to have stolen Pokémon cards and a pizza. One died after being transported to a hospital, while two others were charged with petty theft.
https://kotaku.com/pokemon-card-police-shooting-florida-target-shoplift-vi-1848870113

Video game characters may be the acme of escapism, but most of them do still have jobs within their own worlds. Which ones are paid the most? Online gaming site Solitaired did some number crunching to see who the biggest earner in the gamesphere is.
https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/the-highest-salaries-for-video-game-characters-13287293

New Disney Game Looks Perfect (For Disney Adults). Disney Dreamlight Valley definitely has its fingers on the fandom's pulse
https://kotaku.com/disney-dreamlight-valley-gameloft-ps5-pc-xbox-switch-ip-1848851631

The biggest news of the week, and the worst kept secret of the year was that Blizzard announced the next expansion for wWorld of Warcraft. The heros of azeroth are headed to the Dragon Isles to help restore their poweres and fight an new emerging evil.
https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-wow-dragonflight-release-date/
https://www.polygon.com/23031271/world-of-warcraft-expansion-dragonflight-wow-new-class-cinematic-trailer-release

Game Review

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - Diddi - 9/10
https://www.starwars.com/games-apps/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga

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Show Notes

After months of speculation and reports, Sony finally unveiled its new PS Plus subscription service—previously referred to as codename “Spartacus”—which falls in line with the likes of Xbox Game Pass. The new service aims to streamline Sony’s offerings, effectively combining PS Plus and PS Now, with various options and benefits across multiple tiers.
https://kotaku.com/playstation-unveils-game-pass-competitor-shell-1848716609
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-25/sony-to-unveil-playstation-subscription-as-soon-as-next-week
https://www.inverse.com/gaming/new-playstation-plus-price-tiers-launch-games

A U.S. District Judge approved an $18 million relief settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today. This settlement comes months after Activision Blizzard originally agreed to settle with the EEOC on September 27, 2021. But those attempting to hold the game publisher to account are split on how much of a win this will ultimately be for the victims of Activision Blizzard’s “frat boy” culture.
https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-settlement-eeoc-dfeh-trial-call-of-1848719873

There's a new player in the handheld console arena. This week the playdate was released by Panic which previously was primarily an apple game developer. So what is it about this quirky little hand held that has taken the gaming wqorld by storm?
https://www.axios.com/panic-playdate-handheld-video-game-system-859797c6-a484-4397-9ee6-244089096810.html
https://www.ign.com/articles/playdate-review

Man we love a list and this one hits a nerve (or two). IGN decided to give their list of the 255 best PC games to play right now and we have questions. 
https://www.ign.com/articles/best-pc-games

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Show Notes

Amazon Luna, the retail behemoth’s cloud gaming service which launched in early access in October 2020, is now available everywhere in the mainland United States. Luna will offer à la carte subscriptions to five channels, and Amazon Prime members get access to a monthly rotation of games included with that subscription.
https://www.polygon.com/22956365/amazon-luna-release-date-price-games-list

Microsoft has announced that it will suspended sales of all its products and services in Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine. This seems like a no brainer and Microsoft wasn't the only one but how do we feel about the real world invading our sanctuary of video games?
https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-russia-sales-xbox
https://mashable.com/article/video-game-developers-publishers-russia-ukraine-war-sanctions

The news doesn't get any better for Activision/Blizzard/Microsoft as the parents of a female employee that committed suicide after being harassed filed a law suit against the company this week. Details of the suit were not disclosed but Janet and Paul Moynihan, parents of Kerri Moynihan, allege that sexual harassment was a “significant factor” in her death.
https://www.polygon.com/22962017/activision-blizzard-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-suicide

This past week Sony had a State of Play which was so Epic, I didn't even hear about it till after the fact. So here's what was announced and what we think looks cool or not so cool as the case may be?
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/news/1214033-playstation-state-of-play-everything-announced-march-9-2022
https://blog.playstation.com/2022/03/08/state-of-play-returns-this-wednesday/

In last episodes vein of everybody gets a develoment company, Sony doubled down after buying Bungie and snapped up Haven Studios. Who are they? Well they just happen to be the new studio of Jade Raymond. You know the one who was in charge (producer) of Assassins Creed and Metal gear Solid 4. So what is Sony up to with this buy?

https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/03/21/playstation-acquires-jade-raymonds-new-studio-haven-studios

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Show Notes

The company formerly known as Facebook got hammered this week and as such got over taken by NVidia in value. How and Why did a GPU manufacturer overtake the largest social media platform on the planet.

https://www.pcgamer.com/its-official-nvidia-is-now-worth-more-than-meta/

It wasn't by any means the final nail hammered into the Stadia coffin this week but it sure did seem like they were fitting the lid. Doe Stadia survive the latest Google move?

https://www.vg247.com/stadia-reportedly-deprioritized-inside-google-which-aims-to-secure-deals-under-google-stream-label

Ever wonder what Ubisoft was up to these days? We no, neither have I but IGN has and this week they published a list of all the games that Ubisoft is working on and there are some real gems on there.

https://www.ign.com/articles/every-ubisoft-game

The Nintendo Direct from this past week had a lot of interesting info as most do but was probably more noteworthy for what it didn't have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDFA_O7zNg
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-direct-switch-announce-news-metroid-mother-mar-1848510862
https://www.polygon.com/22926054/nintendo-direct-february-2021-biggest-announcements-trailers

Game Review

Horizon : Forbidden West

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Show Notes

This week Sony (We knew they had to respond in some way) purchased Bungie for 3.6 Billion. This come on the heels of theTake-two buy-out of Zynga (Farmville) and of course the Purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. So what does this mean and how does this affect us the gamers and what does it mean for the industry at large?https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/31/sony-to-buy-video-game-maker-bungie-in-3point6-billion-deal.html
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/features/four-giants-major-players-video-game-industry

Will any of this change now that Microsoft is in charge? Raven software is doing some shady stuff to try and "bust" the unionization actions that the employees are taking and it just seems like it is business as usual.https://www.inverse.com/gaming/raven-software-activision-blizzard-union-busting?utm_campaign=inverse&utm_content=1643312109&utm_medium=owned&utm_source=twitter
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/pc-xbox-labor-sexual-harassment-unionization-exploitation?fbclid=IwAR0q8sBIKtbAyfQb5vlNd33D6EQkBN3eMlRKpqEBH5vCThgit-P7FwO2iyg

Halo is getting a TV series and it is glorious but what is with non blue cortana?

https://www.cnet.com/news/halo-tv-series-gets-explosive-first-trailer/

Ah, it's the end of an era, sort of. Sega is officially getting out of the arcade game business.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/01/28/sega-is-officially-ending-its-arcade-center-business

Game Review

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

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Show Notes

The skinny - Initial thoughts

https://www.axios.com/microsoft-to-buy-activision-blizzard-c2e1fe64-c5f8-4c77-bfa6-2893668ad173.html

What does Microsoft get

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/list-heres-every-activision-blizzard-ip-xbox-now-owns-including-crash-bandicoot-and-guitar-hero/

What does this mean for other companies

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/01/24/microsoft-activision-blizzard-deal-wont-hurt-sony/

What about the lawsuit

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/microsoft-deal-throws-obstacles-in-path-of-activision-organizers
https://www.polygon.com/22889580/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-bobby-kotick

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Show Notes

Biggest News Story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_in_video_games

Best Narrative (Story)

Biggest Meh

Best Game

Favorite Game

Looking Forward to in 2022
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022

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Show Notes

The show as a whole

https://www.cnet.com/news-live/the-game-awards-2021-every-result-winner-announcement-trailer-and-more/
https://www.thegameawards.com/

The musical guests

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Performers

The awards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Video_games
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/live/the-game-awards-2021-live-blog
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-game-awards-2021-winners-revealed

The announcements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Announcements
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/live/the-game-awards-2021-live-blog

Video Game Review

Halo Infinite: Campaign

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Show Links

I know you guys are tired of hearing about this and frankly we're tired of having to bring it up every week but Activistion/Blizzard just can't get out of their own way. When will they learn? This week they layed off 30% of their QA workforce form the CoD Warzone studio and to say it didn't sit well with the community and employees was an understatement. So where do we go from here with this company?
https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-warzone-devs-stage-walkout-over-layoffs-1848165716

Is Sony REALLY going to take on the holy grail of game subscriptions? This week they announced that they were going to do away with their current services (thankfully) and were going to create a new service similar to Microsoft's XBox Game Pass ... but will it. We take a look at the details of this announcement.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-03/playstation-plans-new-service-to-take-on-xbox-game-pass
https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/3/22816087/sony-playstation-5-game-subscription-service-xbox-games-pass-now-spartacus

The game awards are this week and their hype video brought back all the memories of the great games we got this year. So lets talk about those and what we are hoping to see during the show.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-game-awards-2021-hype-trailer-reminds-you-of-2021s-best-games/1100-6498622/
https://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-game-awards-2021-hype-trailer/2300-6456856/
https://kotaku.com/the-game-awards-wont-take-sides-on-activision-fallout-t-1848158706

Full Stream Ahead

if you have tried to buy a video card in the last two years you know what a chore that can be. If you can find one, they cost as much as a high end laptop. So with this arid landscape of video card availability, is this weeks Gefroce Now announcement of 3080 performance in the cloud the oasis in the distance .. or just a mirage?
https://www.techradar.com/news/is-nvidia-geforce-now-rtx-3080-the-next-generation-of-cloud-gaming

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Show Notes

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Blizzard. You remember that really tone-deaf email written by Fran Townshend that was sent right after the lawsuit was brought by the state of California. The one Bobby Kotick agreed was tone-deaf? Turns out he should should know since He wrote it and had it sent out under her name. There is just so much wrong with this situation. Oh and turns out the whole equal pay thing was a farce too ... Blizzard, what are we going to do with you?
https://kotaku.com/bobby-kotick-actually-wrote-fran-townsends-deranged-co-1848069983
https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-scandal-bobby-kotick-jen-oneal-board-shareholders
https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-jen-oneal-mike-ybarra-equal-pay-after-resignation

The Netflix game service went live and as expected it was meh at best.
https://www.polygon.com/22759722/netflix-games-on-android
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/netflix-mobile-games-stranger-things-3-review/articleshow/87623388.cms
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/netflix-video-game-impressions/

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of NFTs and block chain. A dimension that the CEO of EA has no clue how we are going to get there. Why are we not surprised? So what does  NFT and Block Chain mean for you, the gamer?
https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/05/ea-ceo-says-nfts-and-blockchain-games-are-the-future-of-our-industry-and-that-hes-unsure

Full Stream Ahead

Coming to a TV near you ... Halo?
https://www.gamesradar.com/xbox-is-working-with-tv-manufacturers-to-bring-cloud-gaming-to-your-screen/

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Show Notes

You know how people think their devices are listening to them,  well it appears that ours, and facebook in particular is listening to us because Facebook decided this to rebrand itself as Meta focussing on the Metaverse.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/10/29/facebook-meta-rebrand-metaverse-video-games/

After months of mis-steps and tone deaf responses, Blizzard Entertainment this week FINALLY stepped up made some real changes at the company. Letting perpetrators go and renaming some characters and in game items is nice but the employees of Blizzard were looking for some tangible changes and this week the company announced a great first step in making the company an example for the rest of the industry to look to.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750450/activision-blizzard-ends-forced-arbitration-bobby-kotick-paycut

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211028005446/en/A-Letter-From-CEO-Bobby-Kotick-Regarding-Progress-and-Commitments-Made-at-Activision-Blizzard

This seems a slap in the face though for the victims of the harassment

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/28/1041068091/activision-blizzard-strikes-an-18-million-deal-over-its-workplace-harassment-law

https://gamingintel.com/playstation-state-of-play-october-2021-recap/

Full Stream Ahead

Sega and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership to develop "large scale" games for the XBox platform. What does this mean and what games from the Sega library would we love to see a new installment from?

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-11-01-xbox-and-sega-announce-strategic-alliance-for-super-game-project

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Show Links

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been making news lately by talking about the “metaverse.” Zuckerberg says it’s the future of Facebook — and the internet. So what is the metaverse?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QfprVOtEUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OmJAA-7KM
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3637952/will-zuckerbergs-metaverse-change-everything.html

This idea of a metaverse screams potential for gaming and creating a single place where gamers can collaborate and play. So what are the plans for it in the context of gaming?
https://hackernoon.com/gaming-101-what-is-the-metaverse

There are A TON of players involved with developing the metaverse. There is a push for this to be an open platform, but with this many players, can it actually be truly "open"?

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/metaverse-market-map/
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-whistleblower-shocked-companys-investment-metaverse-rcna3725

How does this all make sense economically? NFT's and play to earn games are a big focus for how it's possible. Let's talk about what they'll do for the metaverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ClJxjuRvw
https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-metaverse-play-to-earn-and-the-new-economic-model-of-gaming

Full Stream Ahead
VR headsets these days are powerful. But they're not powerful enough to bring the next generation of the internet to life. Turns out, cloud computing might be the answer.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/gaming/streaming-vr-and-ar-content-google-cloud-nvidia-cloudxr

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Show Links

The Nintendo Switch loses its crown as the king of consoles but it has been a hell of a run and should we honestly be surprised that a new console has outsold a 3 year old one even if it does have a fancy new screen.
https://kotaku.com/playstation-5-ends-switchs-three-year-run-as-best-selli-1847885112

Free-to-play gaming companies like Roblox can monetize users in various ways, one of which is by displaying ads. However, no one really likes their game being interrupted by a 30-second video. Therefore, companies have to straddle a challenging line between optimizing income and keeping users happy.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/10/18/the-new-creative-advertising-strategy-video-game-c/

This past Sunday, the official Twitter account for Xbox Game Studios Publishing posted a tweet which appeared to suggest Fable news was incoming.“We’re excited to kick off something special tomorrow,” it said, adding “just give us one more day to prepare the chickens” with a chicken emoji. “We’d call it our Fable Anniversary, but that name was already taken.”
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-apologises-for-confusion-after-seemingly-teasing-fable-news/

You know that island you haven't looked at in over a year? Well it might be time to fire up the ol' Switch and stomp the cockkroaches becasue there is HUGE update for Animal Crossing coming in November. It's sort of like a list so we'll take a look at it and see if it's enough to make us jump back into the game.
https://www.imore.com/everything-announced-october-2021-animal-crossing-direct

Full Stream Ahead

In his latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman hinted that Apple was considering maybe, possibly but not now having a cloud gaming service to piggyback on its Apple Arcade service. An interesting concept but, would it fly?
https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/17/report-apple-has-considered-launching-a-cloud-gaming-service-alongside-apple-arcade/

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Guest

David Luzader - https://twitter.com/davluz

Show Notes

It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked about Blizzard Entertainment but I think we need to give an update. So looks like the feds are getting in on the act as the SEC announced that they are opening their own investigation into the gaming giant. Also it seems more folks are jumping ship as Blizzard lost their Chief Legal Council and the Executive Producer on Overwatch this past week. It's not all gloom and doom in Irvine though with the release of Diablo II Resurrected this week although that launch was very subdued.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-21/blizzard-executive-overseeing-hit-game-leaves-in-latest-exodus
https://www.esportstalk.com/news/more-and-more-activision-blizzard-employees-quit-amid-legal-trouble/
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039393895/more-on-the-investigations-into-video-game-publisher-giant-activision-blizzard

Big goings on in the world of Mario this week as Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct to give us a glimpse into whats coming for the switch and ... well ... we have questions. What do we think about what was announced and yes, we'll get to that other thing later in the show.
https://www.techradar.com/news/nintendo-direct-september-2021-all-the-biggest-announcements-you-need-to-know
https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/the-nintendo-direct-made-me-finally-cancel-my-switch-oled-pre-order

Aaaaaaannnd it's time for the other thing. During the Nintendo direct, Shigeru Miyamoto dropped the bomb that there was an animated Mario movie coming next year with the dinosour wrangling Starlord himself as the voice of the main character and the internet loved it ... Just kidding, as usual they hated it and threatened to burn the castle down. So what do we think about the movie in general and the star-studded cast that is voicing it?
https://kotaku.com/the-internets-hateboner-for-chris-pratt-as-mario-in-nin-1847739685
https://www.cnet.com/news/a-super-mario-movie-starring-chris-pratt-is-coming-dec-21-2022/

Full Stream Ahead

Nintendo also announced this week that The Forgotten City will be available on the switch via their cloud gamning service. Yes they have their own service and noI wasn't really aware of that either. As far as I can tell they have 3 whole games available. So it begs the question, Is Nintendo missing the boat when it comes to cloud gaming?
https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/the-forgotten-city-is-coming-to-nintendo-switch-as-a-cloud-game-today-3053556

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Guest Info

Scott Johnson - @scottjohnson 

GameCentral had an article where they interviewed psychologist and author Dr Rachel Kowert about why we make the choices we do in games, and why they’re usually good ones. But are they? 
https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/16/why-video-games-can-make-you-a-better-a-person-but-not-a-worse-one-15270237/

Holy Swedish Meatballs, Batman! IKEA is releasing a full lineup of gaming furniture and accessories. They have partnered with ASUS to come up with a ROG inspired line of gaming offerings including everything from desks and chairs to ring lights and phone holders. The big question is though, will it come with scratch and sniff mouse pads in Swedish meatball scent.
https://www.spieltimes.com/news/republic-of-gamers-collaborates-with-ikea/
https://nerdist.com/article/ikea-gaming-furniture-line-asus/

Time. It is the single most important commodity in life and there never seems to be enough of it. There are so many things every day that vie for our attention and video games are one of them. So lets talk about how we select those games that we give our time to and how we can experience more of them.
https://www.techradar.com/news/pressure-to-be-good-at-games-is-ruining-my-ability-to-enjoy-them

Full Stream Ahead

Microsoft released X-Cloud gaming to the masses this week. That's really cool and we'll see how that plays with people but along with it, the ability to stream your XBox to your PC. 
https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/xbox/158381-xbox-cloud-gaming-local-streaming-pc-windows-10

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse

Our Guest

The one and only Brian Ibbott - @Coverville

Show Notes

Here's everything that was announced and shown at the Playstation showcase event.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/9/22663238/sony-playstation-showcase-2021-ps5-trailers-spider-man-god-of-war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5VtfD2i3rc
https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/09/10/uncharteds-amy-hennig-and-gary-whitta-are-working-on-forspoken

We saw some real honest to goodness gameplay from the forthcoming God of War Ragnarok game and it was glorious. Behind the scenes though there was a change of directors. What did that mean for this game and what does a director for a game really do anyways? We'll take a look at that and maybe at some times where a director chage didn't work so much.
https://www.ign.com/articles/god-of-war-ragnarok-eric-williams-cory-barlog-interview
https://www.gameinformer.com/news/2021/09/11/how-god-of-war-ragnaroks-new-director-brings-a-different-perspective-to-the-series

And in a surprise announcement Sony announced a new release from Rockstar games. Thats right folks were getting ... GTA5 on the playstation 5. Its OK, we were underwhelmed too.
https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-5-playstation-5-reveal-backlash

Sony killed it this week. With the last several announcement events being pretty meh, (Nintendo anyone) Sony finally put on a show that made us truley excited about some new games that were coming out and once again showed us what THEIR marketing strategy is. Having the best line-up of games is pretty simple but hard to execute but somehow Sony keeps doing it.
https://kotaku.com/sony-brought-its-playstation-a-game-today-1847647997

Full Stream Ahead

So a lot of us in the community were running around Aeternum chopping trees, killing wolves and any number of other tasks in the open beta for New World from Amazon Studios. Well this week it was announced that this new MMO would be available on Amazons cloud gaming service Luna. This got me thinking what does that mean for the game does it change our outlook for it?
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/10/22663690/amazon-new-world-luna-cloud-gaming

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse

Our Guest

Searanex - https://twitter.com/Searanex

Story Links

last week we told you about China's new law limiting minors to 3 hours per week of gaming but does that have unintended ramifications. Better yet will it help at all? This article gives another perspective on this new law and what it means for the Chinese gaming industry. 
https://www.ft.com/content/ffca0c80-b6b4-473f-9be2-c3a313e94f62

With that take on the China law in mind, should or could the western countries and companies do something similar?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/04/why-the-industry-should-heed-chinas-crackdown-on-video-game-players

Well the honeymoon is over for folks that are holding off and getting that PS5 and are still buy triple a titles for their PS4. Sony announced this week that Horizon: Forbidden West will be their last game that gives free upgrades to the new console version. 
https://kotaku.com/sony-will-no-longer-offer-free-next-gen-upgrades-for-it-1847621301

Every game starts with them. We've all seen them .. we all hate them. Yes of course I'm talking about game tutorials. Some times they are done well and some times not so much so what do we think of them. Are there any that we remember as being really bad or really good?
https://www.wired.com/story/the-case-for-video-game-tutorials/

Full Stream Ahead

Indian telco giant Airtel conducted a cloud gaming test last week that may show the future of the technology.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-cm/airtel-demonstrates-india-s-first-cloud-gaming-experience-on-a-5g-network-121090201005_1.html
https://www.livemint.com/

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse

Our Guest

Rishi B - @rishibh

Story Links

Here's what you don't do when somebody sues you. You don't destroy the evidence and then deny that you destroyed the evidence. The state of California emended their lawsuit against Blizzard this week by saying that that is exactly what they did. 
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-blizzard-accused-by-california-of-shredding-abuse-evidence/1100-6495597/
https://kotaku.com/california-accuses-activision-blizzard-of-shredding-abu-1847550659

In this weeks example of lawmakers don't understand video games at all, If you live in China, and are under the age of 18, you can only play up to 3 hours  of video games a week. 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/china-cuts-amount-of-time-minors-can-spend-playing-video-games
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/chinese-state-media-slams-video-games-warns-addiction-children-rcna1584

Speaking of China, I'm pretty sure they are going full Brain on the video game industry and trying to take over the world. Well if they own it all maybe they can enforce that 3 hours a week thing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/s-china-gaming-tech-giants-are-snapping-video-game-studios-rcna1536

I had an interaction this week that was less than pleasant. It got me thinking though and then this story crossed my feed so I decided to bring it up on the show. That question is: What is the most toxic game community. 
https://blog.unity.com/news/the-state-of-disruptive-behavior-in-multiplayer-games-2021

On this show, we talk  lot about the future of cloud gaming and where it is going and wha that means for us as gamers. This story though presents a list of trends and futures for cloud gaming so you know we couldn't pass that up.
https://www.datamation.com/cloud/cloud-gaming-trends/

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse

Guest Info

Steve - @steveHNH

Episode Links

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-epic-games-stores-equivalent-to-steam-direct-is-in-beta/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/introducing-discrete-graphics-brand-intel-arc.html
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/16/22626912/intel-arc-gpu-brand-alchemist-codename-release-date
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-super-nintendo-entertainment-system-is-officially-30-years-old-today/1100-6495438/
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/aug/23/best-video-games-autumn-2021-lake-metroid-dread
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tencent-cloud-powers-up-korean-application-mall-one-store-to-make-mobile-games-playable-on-pc-1030751007

http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse

Our Guest

theJEN - @thejensays

Show Links

https://www.axios.com/activision-blizzard-harassment-lawsuit-hr-da4f678a-510c-4975-9d64-f5d744aa5c02.html
https://kotaku.com/what-really-happened-at-that-blizzcon-panel-according-1847408469
https://kotaku.com/democrats-are-already-bungling-new-call-for-laws-to-pro-1847457366
https://kotaku.com/the-best-video-games-of-2021-so-far-1847467401
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/aug/13/the-15-greatest-video-games-of-the-00s-ranked
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/steam-deck-xcloud-xbox-cloud-gaming-game-pass-ultimate-phil-spencer-confirmed-2511431

http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Guest Links

Audie Norman - @OddlyNormalOne

Episode Links

https://massivelyop.com/2021/08/10/blizzard-workers-address-the-drawbacks-of-boycotts-gamers-lament-wows-deep-decline/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/03/j-allen-brack-resigns-blizzard-lawsuit/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/08/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-women-sexual-harassment

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/razers-rgb-mask-enters-beta-testing-heres-how-to-sign-up-to-try-it/1100-6494957/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/07/no-limits-in-the-metaverse-video-game-concerts-big-business
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/9/22616664/ariana-grande-fortnite-rift-tour-worldbuilding-storytelling

https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a37155885/video-game-animation-art-trends-2021/

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-08-09-xbox-cloud-gaming-launches-in-beta-form-on-pc-for-game-pass-ultimate-members
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/9/22616774/microsoft-xcloud-windows-xbox-app-xbox-cloud-gaming-beta

http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Guest Info

@tvstravis

Story Links

https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-hires-union-busting-firm-as-workers-1847386654
https://www.wowhead.com/news/activision-zoom-meeting-with-employees-doubles-down-on-appalling-official-323563
https://kotaku.com/activisions-torture-apologist-executive-is-now-blocking-1847405007
https://www.wowhead.com/news/bloomberg-report-unveils-warcraft-iii-reforged-development-issues-323518
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-22/inside-activision-blizzard-s-botched-warcraft-iii-reforged-game
https://www.vg247.com/2021/07/31/ubisoft-ceo-open-letter-response-employees/
https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/08/02/former-blizzard-dev-and-undead-labs-founder-calls-for-gaming-industry-to-unionize

There really was only one story this week in the video game world. The lawsuit filed by the state of California against Blizzard/Activision exposed the culture at the game development giant but maybe more importantly has started a conversation about the way women are treated in all corporations and even society at large. This week we have some very special guests (@Daniora and @WickedKitten13) to give their unique perspective and insights. We have the hard conversation about this uncomfortable topic on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.

http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/

http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Guest Info

Amy - Daniora

Monica - @WickedKitten13

Story Links

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_blizzard_sued_by_california_over_frat/h62n78j/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

https://kotaku.com/some-gaming-websites-youtube-channels-halt-coverage-of-1847362179

https://i.redd.it/2edt72rfbyc71.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5dQzZp3f0&t=267s

http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/

http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/

Bobby's Info

Twitter - @GMFunkytown

Podcast - @allaroundsci (All Around Science Podcast)

Story Links

https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck

https://www.pcgamer.com/everything-we-know-about-new-world-amazons-upcoming-mmo/

https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/1414952816188264460

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/ok7wjl/insider_leak_on_the_current_happenings_inside/

https://gamerant.com/netflix-video-games-streaming-service-details/

bit.ly/jamtshirt

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2021-spec-analysis-switch-oled-model-new-display-old-tech

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/10/22570868/nintendo-oled-switch-joy-con-drift

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/07/round_up_what_was_announced_during_sonys_latest_state_of_play_livestream

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/07/08/state-of-play-july-2021-all-trailers-and-complete-recap/

https://gizmodo.com/unopened-super-mario-64-cartridge-sells-for-record-1-5-1847271326

https://gamerant.com/xbox-game-pass-ad-playstation-4-controller/

http://joystickandmouse.com

T-Shirts!

http://bit.ly/jamtshirt

WoW Update

https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-chains-of-domination-91-wow-korthia/

https://www.wowhead.com/news/official-patch-9-1-chains-of-domination-patch-notes-323035

Video Game Addiction

https://www.wired.com/story/what-gaming-does-to-your-brain-how-you-might-benefit/

Xbox Consoles for XBox Cloud

https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/22536418/microsoft-xbox-series-x-games-on-xbox-one-xcloud-streaming

http://joystickandmouse.com/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/06/12/e3-live-stream-game-reveals/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2021/06/15/nintendo-direct-e-3-nintendo-switch-game-announcements/7698416002/

https://www.polygon.com/e3/22532052/xbox-bethesda-games-showcase-e3-2021-best-announcements-trailers

https://www.polygon.com/e3/22532197/xbox-e3-2021-game-pass-announcements-starfield-halo-elder-scrolls

http://joystickandmouse.com/

References:

https://screenrant.com/iconic-scenes-doors-ocarina-dark-souls-resident-evil/

https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/mcdonalds-chicken-nugget-shaped-like-among-us-character-sold-for/766886

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/e3-2021-conference-schedule-dates-games-news/

https://venturebeat.com/2021/06/01/5g-to-accelerate-cloud-gaming-expansion/

https://gulfnews.com/business/markets/uae-5g-users-spend-more-time-on-cloud-gaming-live-video---and-less-time-using-wi-fi-1.1623062255326

Check out Dominic's TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@gamestudies101?lang=en

Website: http://www.JoystickandMouse.com

Get Discounts on Video Games with Green Man Gaming: https://bit.ly/3aWZRsk