Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

We are talking about the economic state of video games and what it all means for us the gamers. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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/

The cost of the PS5 is going up. The cops get digital and all about the Switch 2. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

more bad news on the video game developer front. We take a nostalgic look at some game systems that didn't make the grade. We discuss if genres have any meeting and discuss the latest news out of Nintendos camp. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com   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

One of the most successful mobile game developers finds a new overlord. Why do we even play games. A fake museum inducts some new members and Sony had it's big day since the last time we were together. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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/

Some new gaming hardware was "officially" announced. XBox showed off some new games and there was this big electronics show that happened and they talked about video game stuff while they were at it. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

What prompted Sony to purchase Naughty Dog. We take a look at the year ahead for triple A titles. It's good to be bad and what is the best video game of all time? 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/

... It's the end of he year and that means a whole bunch of end of year retrospectives. Well you know we love a list and we have several this week dealing with those. 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

No Blurb this week. Diddi was lazy. :) http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

... we have a sale. A familiar person is bucking to take over everything mouse. Somebody has a birthday and the nominations are in. 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/

We talk some news from Sony. What netflix is up to. Microsoft financials and the little decision we are making today. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

Epic 1, app stores 0. leadership changes at XBox. A new game announced from a new studio and our list of the week. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

A beloved streamer decides to call it quits. Nintendo does Nintendo things. Ubisoft does Ubisoft things. And we have a list ... of course we do.  http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

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

A video game industry icon is going away. We have several stories about actors in the video game industry and there is more guns and loot on the horizon. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com 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

Microsoft was thinking along the same lines as us when it comes to future consoles but that takes money to do. Ubisoft tries to piss off their Division fan base. Lets hope Salvatore's latest foray into video games fares better than his previous one and we have another list ... of course we do. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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/

The demise of the XBox console as we know it. Another studio forms a union and we take issue with a poll. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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 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

It's that time of year when the game companies put on their dog and pony shows to try an entice us (the consumer) to get enamoured enough with a game to plunk down our hard earned money on it at release. Well there were three of them since the last time we were together so we're going to wade through all of that as well as a quick story and some insight into one of our favorite topics, the state of the video game industry.  http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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/

Some news about the health of the video game industry. Sony tries to invigorate their VR offering and we have a couple of good lists to take a look at. Oh and we actually have a game review to go over. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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/

Apple relents on it's app store stance. The Microsoft/Blizzard merger starts to pay off and we have a list ... and another list. that's right, we have 2 lists for you tonight although they are on the same topic. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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

We are having another TV centric episode. We will discuss another huge video game based hit on streaming and we may even have a list based around TV shows. Beside TV we have another tone deaf statement from an ex Blizzard exec that sort of epitomizes how out of touch they were. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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/

Some sad new in the comic world. There's some Playstation news and we have a couple of great lists to take a look at. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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

Nintendo picks it's battles and the Game industry takes another hit. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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

... Labor strife in the video game industry. We discuss a pokemon wannabe as well as the future of micro transaction and oh yeah, another video game awards show and all the winners. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Show Notes 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

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

We're talking TV http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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

It's all about the game show awards so lets get to it. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Show Notes The game show awards took place last week and , well it's as good as a list so let's run down the winners for you and discuss the angst around this years show. https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/all-the-game-awards-2023-winners-revealed/2900-4977/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot-Report&date=120823&lctg=b3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30#12 https://thegameawards.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu2z5M4gmno&t=4s

Blizzcon returned and was epic again and we have all the details. IGN inadvertantly misses the mark and there were more layoffs in the video game industry. AND we have a list!!! Sort of. The video game award nominees were announced so we'll run down the games that were nominated. Show Note BlizzCon 2023 has happened and its opening ceremony was filled with big announcements, including Diablo 4's first expansion called Vessel of Hatred, three new expansions for World of Warcraft in The Worldsoul Saga, a new Overwatch 2 hero named Mauga, and much more. Here's all the info from the annual celebration of all things Blizzard. https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzcon-2023-everything-announced-and-revealed https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/world-of-warcraft/24022616/world-of-warcraft-at-blizzcon-2023-news-round-up?blzcmp=app   In our last couple of shows we've talked about layoffs in the Video Game industry and what that impact has been on the people and games. Well that tend has continued so let's take a look at the causes and ramifications of these layoffs. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-11-20/video-game-industry-layoffs     One of our ongoing points of emphasis on this show is to bring to light the plight of women in the video game industry. Well IGN lit up that light inadventantly this past week when they published a story celebrating their 30 years of covering the gaming industry with exactly zero women highlighted. https://www.inverse.com/gaming/pc-gamer-women-in-video-games https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/17vpjst/not_one_woman_in_30_years_not_one/ https://www.pcgamer.com/celebrating-30-years-of-pc-gamer/ Nominations for the 2023 Game Awards, recognizing the gaming biz's best games and creators of the year, have been announced. So lets take a look at the nominees in the more important categories and give our take. https://variety.com/2023/gaming/news/game-awards-2023-nominations-alan-wake-baldurs-gate-full-list-1235787390/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-game-awards-2023-nominees-announced-see-them-all-now/1100-6519120/   Mention Black Friday https://www.ign.com/articles/best-buy-black-friday-video-game-deals-ps5-nintendo-switch-xbox-series-x   https://www.ign.com/articles/black-friday-2023?utm_source=piano  

A week after the merger clears Microsoft decides to kill a good deal of that good will with it's latest policy update. Ragnar has had his hacker license revoked. Bungie and is the latest developer with financial issues The party of the year is set to take place in Anaheim and if you are going to play some of these older Ubisoft games you better get to it. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

Xbox gets a lot bigger ... officially. Heads roll over Unity pricing debacle. Lots of people want to build something the Starfield lead quest designer leaves to work on a new game. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: 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/

The king has returned. Epics force reduction is ... well ... epic. 3 strikes and your out and we have a new platform to stream to ... sort of. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

We are going to focus a bit on the business side of video games today with a small detour into the world of will they ever learn with a dash of back to the future with XBox. So lets get into it. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

It's all Gamescom this week. With the cancellation of E3 this year Gamescom became the big focus of the gaming world. We take a look at all the announcements and what got us excited. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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/

I didn't write an introduction this week ... bad host. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

More Microsoft - Activision/Blizzard merger drama. There's a new switch on the horizon. Politics invades our video game worlds and Xbox home screen gets a face lift. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

Black Panther finally gets a game. Another game developer has labor news. One of our favorite comics and TV shows makes a crossover appearance and everything announced at the Nintendo direct. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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 FTC goes full United States and sues to block the Microsoft - Activision Blizzard merger. Sony is ramping up it's cloud gaming game but the big event of the last week was the XBox games showcase which of course we'll dig into and give our thoughts on. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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/

In the UK the plot thickens as it pertains to the Microsoft acquisition of Activision/Blizzard. A new trailer was released for the telltale treatment of the Expanse. Apple turns to Sony and says "Hold my Beer" and what about the current state of the gaming landscape as we know it now will be cringe worthy when we look back on it. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

Microsoft/Blizzard moves a couple of steps closer to becoming a reality. Everyone is so angry at just about everything and everyone in the video game world but hopefully they won't be when they conviene in Anahiem later this year and there were soooooooo many game announcements this week. We have all that and a game review to talk about today. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

There's more Microsoft/Blizzard acquisition news and also some insight into the cost of making video games. Steam deck has a competitor and you can now invite a friend to play games with you in game pass ... sort of. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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  

Lots of Microsoft news and not much of it good. Those little flying crashing exploding birds get a new home and we may actually get to catch the snitch and whomp a bludger or two in an upcoming game. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ 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  

Microvision/Blizzard gets over a huge hurdle on its way to being approved. Continuing from our topic last show, here's another twist on the simulator games. Surprise, some players aren't happy with their FIFA ratings and there was this little conference this past weekend.  http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

Ghostcrawler is off to new endeavors. How do they pick what game to work on next. Lets go farming and immersion is all the rage. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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  

We have a very special episode today where we are going to hit on a news worthy game article and then go into our main topic which of course was the Super Bowl and specifically what was the best commercial. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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  

The nerd community lost a very talented actress. Blizzard paid a hefty fine but in the end it was just pocket change for them and the grammy goes to ... http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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  

Blizzard goes dark in China. The playstation VR is HOW much and is The Last of Us the best video game adaptation ever. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

2022 Video Game Year in Review http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Review Forspoken Demo - Diddi

This episode deals with the 2022 Video Game Awards and how Diddi sent his poop in the mail. Come give a listen and see if you agree with our takes. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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/  

By the time this episode is posted the Video Game Awards show will have happened already but today we are going to take a look at the main categories and give our take of the nominees. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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  

First, sorry for no episode. The Audio for 147 was corrupt and we couldn't recover it. Now on to the show. 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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

Video game companies spend lots of money on games but apparently not on voice actors. And we hoped the latest google service would buck the trend but nope, not gonna happen and why do we play these games anyways? http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

there were two big events since we last had a show and that's excluding the GTA6 leak. Sony held a Playstation State of Play event and later that same day Nintendo held a Nintendo direct. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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