Send us a text With PlayStation's recent announcement that it won't have any new entries in its major first party IP this year and Xbox's big "business update" being little more than a meeting that should have been an email, it's time to admit it -- the console wars just aren't what they used to be. In fact, it seems like both Sony and Microsoft have different ambitions altogether. We're joined by RedAuxPDX and Ducks in Disguise of Pixel Pond production company to talk about the future of consol...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 27 min
Send us a text A new report is shedding light on just how much EA invested in its single-player FPS Immortals of Aveum, which received mixed reviews and was deemed a financial flop, resulting in about 45% of the studio's workforce being laid off shortly after release. The studio's CEO blames the packed release schedule of 2023 that put Immortals of Aveum up against behemoths like Diablo 4, Tears of the Kingdom, and Baldur's Gate 3. But developers who actually worked on the game are telling a dif...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 25 min
Send us a text Rumors have been in circulation for weeks that Microsoft might publish some of its exclusive games on competing consoles. Microsoft has neither publicly confirmed nor denied the report, but on Monday, Xbox boss Phil Spencer posted on X, “We're listening and we hear you. We've been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.” As the internet predictably freaks out, we're ...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Send us a text Sony's first State of Play of 2024 brought over 40 minutes of updates on more than 15 games coming to PlayStation consoles, including Rise of The Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Sonic x Shadow Generations, and more. We discuss all the biggest announcements from the showcase, including our favorites and... not so favorites. We'll also be talking about how Microsoft’s Xbox brand is now reporting record growth following last week's mass layoffs, how searches for "Suicide Squ...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Send us a text Palworld, the game that's accurately been described as “Pokémon with guns” has been a punchline since its announcement in 2021. However, within three days of its January 18th release, it sold 5 million copies and became the #1 game on Twitch. With its derivative yet winning formula and plagiarized-ish art style, could this little game from an unknown Japanese indie studio become the superhit of the year? We'll also be discussing how Microsoft is once again being criticized for the...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Send us a text Just in time for the rebranding of its subscription service to Ubisoft+ and the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft has found another way to make sure its name is at the forefront of gamers' minds this month. Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft, has stated "gamers are used to...having and owning their games. That's the consumer shift that needs to happen." But does it though? We discuss this claim and whether there's any merit to it, as well as...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Send us a text CES, “the most powerful tech event in the world,” kicked off its 2024 event in Las Vegas on January 9th. While CES bills itself as “the only trade show that showcases the entire tech landscape at one event,” the gaming industry has already been getting its fair share of headlines. So for our main topic this week, we’re looking at a roundup of CES 2024 news, including how SAG-AFTRA has pulled a 180 and approved AI voice acting for video games, the newly announced MSI Claw, and how ...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Send us a text Once again, it's prediction time! As is tradition, we look at predictions from industry analysts for the coming year and review how well they guessed last year. Then it's our turn to grade our 2023 predictions before gazing into the crystal ball and making our own forecasts for 2024. We'll also be discussing the shocking revelation that a 13 year-old has "beaten" Tetris, how Square Enix's new years resolution is to become "aggressive in applying AI," and how Mario mastermind Shige...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Send us a text 2023 was a blockbuster year for video games, the likes of which we'll probably not see again any time soon. So before we flip the calendar to 2024, let's take a moment to remember the best of the best of an absolutely epic year of new titles. We'll also be discussing how China is in damage-control mode after its crackdown on video games sparked an $80 billion market meltdown, how researchers in Germany recently published a study that found video games may be able to help treat cog...
Dec 29, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Send us a text The year is coming to a close, and what a year it's been for video game news! We're joined by Patrick Brickhouse of the Retro Blast Podcast to remember the biggest gaming headlines of 2023, as well as discuss where we hope the industry goes from here. We'll also be talking about how the Insomniac hackers have made good on their threat to release confidential data (revealing big plans about upcoming Marvel games like Wolverine, Venom, X-Men, and more), how Bobby Kotick's reign at A...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Send us a text The Electronics Entertainment Expo was finally taken off life support earlier this week, its epitaph being a brief statement reading, “After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories.” It was a long time coming. Although no one who has been paying any attention can say they're surprised by this news, for gamers of the '90s and '00s, it still hits hard. We discuss the death of E3, what could have been, and ...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 20 min
Send us a text The Game Awards celebrated the technical and artistic achievements of the video game industry on Thursday night, ending with the naming of the role-playing adventure Baldur’s Gate 3 as game of the year. The awards show in Los Angeles also served as one long commercial for upcoming games, including a new look at Jurassic Park, OD (the a new horror title from Hideo Kojima), Rise of the Ronin, and Light No Fire (the new game from No Man's Sky developer Hello Games). We discuss the hi...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 19 min
Send us a text You may want to sit down for this one. Consulting firm Deloitte predicted this week that the landscape of storytelling is undergoing a monumental shift, and the convergence of film, TV, and video games is reshaping entertainment, blurring the boundaries between cinematic and game world universes. In other words, the future holds more video game adaptations for TV and film -- which is pretty obvious to anyone who paid even a glancing look towards pop culture in 2023. We discuss wha...
Dec 01, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Send us a text Millions of gamers will be tuning in on Thursday, December 7, to see which games win which awards at The Game Awards 2023. However, it's safe to say that most are interested in which game will take home the coveted Game of the Year prize. We continue our cutthroat tradition from last year by competing against each other to see who can make the most correct predictions for the winners. We'll also be talking about how Sony has confirmed it's delaying half of its planned live service...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Send us a text Shigeru Miyamoto temporarily took over Nintendo’s Twitter on Tuesday to announce a Legend of Zelda live action film. Such a film has been rumored to be in development for years, and this is no doubt inspired by the success of Nintendo’s animated Super Mario Bros. However, the early announcements on who will be helming the film are leaving us... a bit hesitant. We discuss our hopes and fears for the movie and make some early casting predictions (spoiler: it's not who you think). We...
Nov 10, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Send us a text Xbox has released a patch that quashes various third-party accessories not explicitly authorized by Microsoft. Any device that Xbox doesn’t license will now receive a “0x82d60002” error code. Users then have two weeks before the Xbox disables it, permanently blocking the device (although Microsoft has said there "should" be no issue with players using the Xbox Adaptive Controller). We discuss this sweeping, rather harsh new move by Microsoft, but come away with more questions than...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 11 min
Send us a text Nintendo caused a stir across its competitive fanbase this week when it announced new guidelines regulating community tournaments, defining the terms that organizers would have to follow in order to qualify as a small-scale event (allowing for them to function without an official license from Nintendo). Reaction to the guidelines has been nearly universally negative, with fans pointing out how the new rules that are meant to protect Nintendo's IP will ultimately result in the excl...
Oct 27, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Send us a text This year, Gamers Week was invited to host the Blockbuster World Video Game Championships IV at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2023! Now fresh off our flights home, we recap our entire crazy experience -- the good, the bad, and the unexpectedly heartwarming. We'll also be talking about how Sony has finally confirmed the heavily rumored PlayStation 5 slim for this holiday season, how Activision hired James Corden to host an employee meeting with Bobby Kotick, and how Super Mario Br...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Send us a text Things have come a long way since the original Resident Evil 4's infamous mobile version more than a decade ago, and now Resident Evil Village runs natively on iOS, bringing AAA console parity to the mobile gaming market. We discuss what this development might mean for the future of not only mobile gaming, but ALL video games. Are we (*gasp!*) finally onboard the mobile game hype train?? We'll also be talking about Elon Musk's doomed quest to turn Twitter/X into a Twitch killer, h...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Send us a text Epic Games has announced its laying off roughly 16% of its workforce, resulting in around 830 employees losing their jobs. Epic president Tim Sweeney states that these departures will not come at the expense of game development and that Epic will still be hiring for “critical roles.” We discuss this mass layoff in light of other recent Epic headlines (such as the company refusing to back down on its lawsuit vs Apple, offering 100% revenue to game devs who promise exclusivity, and ...
Sep 29, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Send us a text In what’s being cited as the biggest leak in the company’s history, Microsoft revealed a massive amount of information about forthcoming Xbox refreshes, next-gen systems, and more after uploading a series of unredacted documents to a court website as part of the ongoing Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft case. We discuss the headlines included in the leaks and wonder...is any of it REALLY news?? We'll also be talking about how series creator Ed Boon promises that the widely pan...
Sep 22, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Send us a text For years, the Unity Engine has operated with a royalty-free licensing structure, which meant developers incurred no extra costs based on how well a game sold. On Tuesday, however, the company announced a new fee structure that will start charging developers on a "per-install" basis. "We're not nickel-and-diming people," Unity CEO John Riccitiello once memorably said. "When we say it's free, it's free." LOL. We discuss this deeply unpopular move by Unity and take bets on how long ...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Send us a text With SAG-AFTRA members already on strike against films and TV shows, voting is now underway to authorize a separate strike against the video game industry. The guild’s leaders are saying that a dual strike, if it comes to that, “makes sense” because the issues at stake in both contracts (namely wages and unregulated AI use) “mirror” each other. We discuss the issues at stake in this possible strike, as well as the ways this may affect our hobby in the years to come. We'll also be ...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Send us a text Starfield officially launches on Wed, Sept. 6, although players with the Constellation edition or Premium edition upgrade can get access five days earlier. But even though it’s not quite out yet, the headlines this week have been buzzing about Bethesda’s newest RPG. So for our main topic, we’re looking at a roundup of Starfield headlines, including the Starfield leaker who was arrested after allegedly stealing copies of the game, Todd Howard's claim that Starfield "doesn't really ...
Sep 01, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Send us a text Gamescom Opening Night Live has officially kicked off, bringing with it dozens of new trailers and deep dives into upcoming games, including Black Myth Wukong, Little Nightmares III, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and more. We go over the show's biggest announcements and discuss what we're most excited (and not so excited) to see in the year to come. We'll also be talking about the newly unveiled Atari 2600+, how Sony's handheld gaming device Project Q now has a proper name and a price,...
Aug 25, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Send us a text A video by IGN claiming “Baldur’s Gate 3 is Causing Some Developers to Panic” has stirred up quite a buzz in the gaming world this week. The video (which suggests that game devs are unhappy about being expected to meet the high standard set by titles like Baldur's Gate 3) already has over a million views on YouTube alone. The idea has struck a cord with gamers who are tired of the microtransaction-leaden glitch fests that make up much of AAA gaming these days. However, as is usual...
Aug 18, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Send us a text Rockstar has been teasing a new announcement in the Red Dead universe for awhile now, and this week, the project was finally revealed: a port of 2010's Red Dead Redemption coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4/PS5. Not a remaster. Not a remake. A literal port. And it boasts a $50 price tag, very high for a 13 year old game that's not getting any significant updates. We discuss this apparent cash grab move by Rockstar and wonder whether we can find any justification for the game's pric...
Aug 11, 2023•1 hr 11 min
Send us a text According to anonymous sources, development kits for Nintendo’s next console are now with key partner studios, and the console's launch is planned for next year. Although specific details on the console are being kept closely guarded, Nintendo has previously stated that it wants to convert as many of the Switch’s 100m+ user base as possible to its next system, although some third-party publishers are said to have expressed concern that legacy support for Switch games could negativ...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 15 min
Send us a text This week, reports surfaced that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is partnering with Yoti, a digital identity firm, to use facial age estimation tech to check the ages of users. Even though the ESRB later clarified that this technology is intended to be used on parents rather than children, concerns over the tech don't stop there. We discuss the issues surrounding this innovation and wonder... what problem is this really meant to solve? We'll also be talking about the news...
Jul 28, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Send us a text Both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are currently on strike. The strike effectively puts a stop to most film and TV production in the US, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be letting up anytime soon. But this is just a Hollywood problem, right? Not quite. We discuss the issues at the core of the strike and why gamers should be very much concerned with how these points play out. We'll also be t...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 11 min
