VDGMS PODCAST

Here is everything you need to know about Rogue Legacy 2 including out review, the top 5 changes from the original, the top 5 best classes, top 5 worst classes, top 5 relics and top 5 worst relics.

In the first half of the show we are going to be reviewing Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side Scrolling Beat-'Em Ups published by Bitmap Books and written by Dave Cook. In the second half of the show, with the long awaited follow up to Cuphead on the horizon, we take a look at just how much went into making the first game in a little mini series we are calling Overnight Success. This week on The VDGMS PodcastGo Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side Scrolling Beat-'em ups Book Review (00:23)Overnight Success: Cuphead (07:27)

On this weeks episode of The VDGMS Podcast we are talking about if a Halo BR makes sense and what the chances of the PlayStation exclusive, MotorStorm, making a return are.

This week on The VDGMS Podcast we are giving our full thoughts after finishing one of our most anticapted games on the year. Can this indie live up to the hype or is it all just cute looks?

What Nintendo system is the best? Well, thats easy, it's the Nintendo DS because it's the best selling Nintendo system ever with over 154 million units sold. Or maybe it's the Nintendo Switch because it's the best selling non dedicated handheld with almost 104 million in under five years. Maybe it's the NES, which brought gaming back from the brink of death and was likely many gamers first console. Although the NES sold 61.91, this was a system that was released in the mid 80's and the potential gaming audience is much wider now. Using an inflation calculator that would be roughly 159.21 million which would place the NES as the best selling Nintendo console of all time. The point is that to figuring out what Nintendo System is the best is like trying to figure out what is the best Legend of Zelda Game or what is the best Mario Game. There is no correct answer, because everyone has an opinion about which of these games is the best just like what Nintendo console was the best because that could be based on games, features, nostalgia or a combination of those ingredients and the great thing is there is no wrong answer.

Here's what you need to know from Nintendos Q3 FY22 Earnings Report:

Better late than never, as the saying goes and with that said here is our review for Death's Door from the Nintendo Switch, but it is also available on Xbox Game Pass

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Everyone that has Game Pass understands just how amazing the service is, but most people don't stop and smell the roses so for this list we are going to give you our choices for the top ten games that came to Xbox Game Pass in 2021 and how much money you saved by being on the service. This is just a simple how much did the games cost compared to how much you paid subscribing to the service. To simplify the Top Ten Best Games on Xbox Game Pass it seems easiest to break it down into three categories: First Party, Third Party and Indie Games. Now that you know the business, lets get down to it. This week on The VDGMS Podcast

Game 1 (00:53)Game 2 (05:04)Worthy Mentions (10:32)

Power On: The Story of Xbox is a six part series, with each part being around 40 minutes for a total run time of 240 minutes and 53 second which means it is over 4 hours long. The big question is should you spend your time watching it?

Wick and Skull Candles (01:38)Minimilist Art (04:45)Gaming Coffee Table Books (05:39)Backbone One (09:21)Switch OLED (11:32)Sony X90J (12:58)Waterfield Switch Case (16:23)Links to most items can be found here:https://www.vdgms.com/opinion/2021/12/1/what-gamers-actually-want-gift-guide

Games aren't cheap, but luckily sales happen and on this weeks episode, we try to figure out how long you can expect to wait before a game goes on sale.

Looking through Nintendo's Q2 FY22 Report

Who is the best indie game developer in the world? It's actually a loaded question because the term indie casts such a wide net across the gaming industry today. You have some indie studios that are only a few people like Mega Crit who made Slay the Spire and on the other hand you have a studio like IO Interactive who have recently reclaimed their independence and are closer to 300 employees. This is a very big difference and there are many studios like both. For this list we are looking at the more classical term for indie studio that will help keep the list tight and focused with only studios that are smaller in nature. Nearly thirty of the best and brightest indie game studios were taken into consideration, here are the best indie game studios.

There are gaming genres that are as old as time itself, such as adventure games like The Legend of Zelda or Platformers like Mario or RPG's such as Final Fantasy but every now and then a new game comes around that creates a new genre that takes the world by storm. In the early 90's you had the first person shooter craze, which still is dominant today. In the Mid 90's, real time strategy games or RTS took over with games like Command and Conquer, Warcraft, and StarCraft. We have continued to see it happen many times since then. There are new games and experiences being released constantly, so why did these games rise above the rest and become mainstream while others didn't. Is it an evolutionary or a revolutionary change that causes a spark?Let's take a look at some of the more recent genres that seemingly came out of nowhere, try to find patterns and see if we can deduce what might be the next big genre to take over the gaming world.

Having been sitting on the sidelines for nearly 20 years while many other games get credit for being the best 2D Metroidvania around including Ori, Hollow Knight, Shadow Complex and many others, the queen has returned to take her rightful place on throne she created, but is the seat still available or has Samus lost touch?This week on The VDGMS Podcast, we are giving our review for Metroid Dread.

There is a lot more to successful consoles than just exclusives and thats where third party studios come in the picture. Here are the Top 5 big budget Third Party Studios.

Diablo 2 Resurrected was developed by Vicarious Visions, who over the past few years have made a name for themselves as being a studio that excels at faithful and excellent remasters. Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2, kept the heart and soul of what made these original games iconic in the first place. What needed to be changed was minimal quality of life updates and bringing the visuals into the modern era. Diablo 2 Resurrected is no exception to the amazing work that Vicarious Visions have become known for. What made Diablo 2 special twenty one years ago is the reason that Diablo 2 Resurrected is as good as it is today and the what made Diablo 2 the game that it was twenty one years ago is also the reason that Diablo 2 Resurrected is hampered by the limitations of the original. Everything that you remember being here in 2000 is still here today for better or worse.

Noteworthy Studios (04:48)Top 5#5 (08:23)#4 (10:26)#3 (12:26)#4 (14:48)#5 (17:09)

This week on The VDGMS Podcast, we have a review of the current PlayStation 5 exclusive FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch. (also available on PS4) Full transparency, review code was provided, so a big thank you for that but more importantly as with all other reviews with codes provided, the end result will still be honesty but take it with a grain of salt if you prefer. With that out of the way, let's talk about the game.

Have you ever wondered, who is the best when it comes to PlayStation Studios? Wonder no more as we have thrown some math at the problem to figure out how Sony's internal teams stack up against each other.

The 90's are more popular than ever and reboots are less risky. We take a look at the potential of a full Quake reboot is, coming after Quake was remastered in celebration of QuakeCon 2021. We take a look at some of the great reboots from the past decade are, including two very comparable examples and some reboots that didn't go so well. We finally take a look at reasons why the Quake franchise is primed for a reboot.

This week on The VDGMS Podcast, we are taking a look and giving our review for the highly anticipated 12 Minutes. It is currently console exclusive on Xbox while being a day one Game Pass release and is also available on Steam. 12 Minutes is a Point & Click Adventure, Time Loop Thriller and Murder Mystery all blended into one game. Let's see if 12 Minutes is able to live up to the hype that many are placing on it.

Being such a huge fanatic of the first two entires in the Dead Space series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the third entry. More of a good thing is always good. Although when leading up to the release of Dead Space 3, there was a little cause for concern, not only on how quickly it was developed after the second game was released but also that it was being developed with co-op in mind. There could be many reasons for not liking the third entry in the series including internal and external forces. Who knows what was happening in my life at that time or maybe with the first two games being as excellent as they were, the expectations were too high and could have led to a disappointment that wasn't deserved. I wanted to revisit this game and see if maybe I was too hard on it in 2013. Lets find out.

Hello everyone welcome, on this weeks episode we are giving our first 48 review for Curse of the Dead Gods. This is not a super new game as it came out a few months back, but it is new to Game Pass and Game Pass makes it very easy to try games out. Curse of the Dead Gods is a rogue-lite, which are very in style at the moment and has been drawing comparisons to Hades among other titles. We will talk about how accurate the Hades comparison is and what we think of the game, This Week on The VDGMS Podcast.

With both Sony and Microsoft recently releasing some great news about their hard to find, new, next generation consoles, the spotlight has now shifted to Nintendo to see how the company is faring with minimal releases, basically since the start of 2020. Sony recently mentioned on the PlayStation Blog that the PS5 is the fastest selling console in the company's history dating back to the early 90's when the entered the gaming business. In just under 8 months, the PS5 has managed to sell over 10 million. In a different aspect of success, the Xbox Series consoles have also managed to sell quite well with estimated being around 7 million with most of their focus being on services such as Game Pass where they continued to see growth. Would Nintendo have more magic up their sleeve with next to nothing new happening on the console in a major way to move hardware and software. Here is our review of Nintendo FY22 Q1 earnings report.

Time StampsPS5 (00:28)Xbox (06:15)When to Buy Next Gen Console?https://www.vdgms.com/opinion/2020/5/18/is-it-better-to-buy-console-early-or-late

How does EA's conference perform when removed from the expectations of E3

Griftlands Review (00:36)Is Switch OLED worth it? (07:10)

Mario Golf Super Rush Review (00:57)Tunic Pre/Review (06:58)

(01:37) Metroid Dread (03:13) Advance Wars (04:47) BOTW2(0738) Switch Pro

E3 2021 and all the conferences that werent part of E3 but were basically part of E3 have all concluded. The results were mixed with some conferences being drastically better than others. In traditional E3 format there was a lot of overlap and a lot of filler content, all of Monday comes to mind as a day that could have been completely removed, making for a tighter more cohesive event. In our first recap, we covered the early parts of E3, and in our next E3 episode the plan was to go over the the Microsoft & Bethesda Conference alongside the Nintendo E3 2021 Direct, however after revisiting the Microsoft conference there was too much to try and also squeeze in the Nintendo Direct. Microsoft delivered a strong conference that should instil confidence in Xbox owners and should entice new people to the ecosystem. This week on The VDGMS Podcast.

Time StampsBF 2042 - (00:45)Elden Ring (04:42)Ubisoft Forward (07:42)Metal Slug Tactics (10:42)

Nintendo Predictions (01:07)EA Predictions (07:18)Live Service Predictions (11:11) Xbox Indie Predictions (15:12)

In between the second and third entry, we take a look at the state of The Dark Pictures Anthology.

Iwata was a very open book compared to the relatively secret and mysterious Nintendo that we have come to know. Iwata Asks was a series of interviews that featured openness between the President of Nintendo and key creators and developers behind some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. These are all still available online if you search Iwata Asks. Hundreds of interviews are translated in English ranging from topics on the Game and Watch, Wii, WiiU, DS and 3DS. If are a fan of Nintendo and their history then these are a nice deep dive into the other side of Nintendo that fans don’t rarely see. A big question you may ask before buying this book is if the milk is free then why buy the cow?

Another fiscal year, another quarter, and a whole lot of in game purchases. Thats the quick summary of the most recent earnings report from EA that entailed the fourth quarter of FY21 as well as some generalized data from the whole fiscal year. However, if you want to go a little deeper down the hole then let’s take a look at the data from the fourth quarter and the whole fiscal year to get an idea what we can maybe expect from Electronic Arts moving forward.

At the tail end of March 2020, as we were just heading into the pandemic and which feels like years ago at this point, Nintendo released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which in just a few days sold around 12 million copies and gave a good indication of how things were going to look during the pandemic, financially. Sure enough, 12 months later and we now have the results from the past 12 months of Nintendo’s financials, which range from April 2020 until the end of March 2021 and encompass their FY2021. Even after the massive surge that Nintendo saw during the last few months of FY20, their projections for FY2021 were still fairly reasonable and most projections initially were less than FY20 actual. Let's take a closer look!

With many publicly traded gaming companies recently releasing quarterly earnings reports for the first three months of 2021 and with many outlets doing features that focus on looking ahead for the rest of the year, I thought I would follow Nintendo’s lead and go to the blue ocean. This means that it is time to basically do an earnings report for video gaming as a whole or grade the first quarter. When trying to figure out the Report Card of Gaming for 2021 there will be many factors that contribute. We have had some fun announcements, there have been some high profile delays, both short and some indefinite and we have seen some great releases giving us great games to play. These are the factors that rose to prominence when trying to decide how to lay out the 2021 first quarter earnings report for video games.

Breaking down some sales data for Q1 and March 2021 in the Video Game sector.

These last 12-15 months have certainly been quite the journey for GameStop. A few weeks ago on March 23, GameStop reported their fourth quarter earnings for the three month period that ended on January 31st, 2021, however it’s clear that the roller coaster for the once wildly successful video game retailer is far from over. We dig a little deeper to see what changes GameStop has done in hopes to turn their fall from grace around.

It Takes Two Disco Elysium (08:13)

Monster Train - First 48 Review (01:03)Fights in Tight Spaces - First 48 Review (06:27)

LG OLED REVIEW (01:42)PS5 PS PLUS 2021 RANKINGS (07:30)https://www.vdgms.com/reviews/2021/3/13/are-lg-tvs-good

Maquette Review - First 48 Review (01:23)Monster Sanctuary - First 48 Review (05:00)Switch Pro News (10:09)

Past - Q3FY2020 (00:52)Present - State of Play (04:23)Future - PSVR2 (08:48)