Atari has acquired the Intellivision Brand and many games, but not the Amico console itself. IGN has bought several media properties of the Gamer Network sites such as Eurogamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, and already started laying off their editors. We do talk a little bit about Little Kitty Big City in this show, as well as do an exercise about scoring my favorite video game of all time, Katamari Damacy, on a recently released "objective" review card from a gaming website, only to find that, objectively, the game is a disaster in their rating scale, despite it being my favorite game of all time subjectively.
Warner Bros Discovery has announced that they won't retire Adult Swim Games published titles after all, instead they will transfer the store pages to the indie developers. New Tesla cars were going to get native Steam integration until Tesla learned nobody actually cared during the beta phase. The UK Government says game companies don't have a legal obligation to keep older games playable. Take Two says that they didn't actually close studios Roll7 and Intercept Games - they just merely laid off almost everyone who worked there. Then we talk to Rob about if we're about to see another video game crash like we did in 1984.
The requirement for Helldivers 2 requiring PC players to link a PlayStation Network account has been reversed - for now. The 2024 World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees have been announced! Microsoft closes four studios from the Bethesda/ZeniMax side of the house, including ones that released smaller scale award winning games. They say this is because they can't actually afford to run all of the studios it bought. Xbox says that they need more smaller scale award winning games coming out of their studios. There is a new John Wick pinball machine coming out - look for it in a local barcade (if you have any) in the next few months! Then we talk to Rob about the fact that it's my birthday and how I want to retire the running joke of me being only 29 years old.
We start off with some clarification from a listener about using the Meta Quest 3 wirelessly with Virtual Desktop to play PCVR games. Dave & Busters is going to be introducing a new feature that may or may not be legal in all states. Helldivers 2 was supposed to launch on PC with a requirement to link your PlayStation Network account, but was put on hold - until this weekend. (This decision was reversed three hours after this episode was recorded.) There was review bombing and even the game being pulled in 177 countries. Then we talked to Rob about Pikmin Bloom, of all things.
After the first six hours of Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, there are some early impressions...And why I may not continue. Meta Quest has once again partnered with Microsoft and the Xbox brand, but it does not mean that VR is coming to the Xbox console. Valve has closed a refund loophole with regards to games in Advanced Access. Then we talk to Rob about Eiyuden Chronicles and how it is very much an old school JRPG, for both better AND worse.
The Game Boy has turned 35 years old in Japan! I try my old Game Boy, as well as discuss how my entire Game Boy library was stolen by a classmate and we never caught him or got any of it back. (And also nobody believed me.) We talk about a viewer comment about having high fidelity VR in an untethered headset - as long as you have high quality equipment. Target is scaling back how much physical media it carries in stores - but it's not eliminating them entirely yet. Arcade1up has partnered with TaskRabbit to build your Arcade1up cabinets for you. Anyone who has tried to install a monitor in an Arcade1up cabinet understands why this is a good thing. Then we talk to Rob about our memories of the Game Boy.
Indie gaming studio Possibility Space has closed its doors, claiming it's because of questions from a journalist for an article that hasn't even been published yet. Star Wars: Outlaws will require an online internet connection to install the physical disc - which makes the game preservation aspect of physical media useless. We're still raising money for Make-A-Wish Georgia - we've smashed the original goal, so we just made the goal bigger. Then we talk to Orange Lounge Radio about their historic 1000th episode!
I'm helping raise money for Make-a-Wish Georgia with the Stream Atlanta meetup group this month - let's make some kids wishes come true! Gaming has reportedly fallen to pre-pandemic levels, meaning we aren't playing games as much as we were just a few years ago. Are emulators coming to iOS? Yes, but no - not in the way the media headlines want you to believe. Then we talk to Rob about our playing time and more about him not starting Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (and me not continuing with it often enough)
Kotaku is deprioritizing news in favor of guides - which leads into a discussion of "Evergreen Content" vs "Topical Content" when it comes to content creation. We go over the Game Developers Choice Awards - which is the awards show everyone wants when The Game Awards happen, but nobody actually watches. Sony halts production on the PlayStation VR2 headsets because nobody is buying them. Then we talk to Rob about evergreen vs. topical content.
We revisit the emulator settlement from last week with some clarifications from someone who is more knowledgeable in the inner workings of that scene than we are. Some emulator developers have gotten spooked enough to take their emulators offline, others have more resolve with more safeguards. Digital Eclipse's second entry in the Gold Master Series is out - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. It shows that Jeff is a master of the VIC20, but ends abruptly in 1994 - even though Jeff's story is still being told. The Museum of Play has announced the 2024 World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists - who would you vote for? Then we talk to OLR about Llamasoft games that we might have played as kids, and who we would pick for the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
We start off this episode by remembering Akira Toriyama and all of his contributions to gaming and anime. Happy MAR10 Day! Several Mario themed announcements were made, such as adding more Mario games to Nintendo Switch Online, and bringing some Gamecube and 3DS titles to Switch, and a LEGO Mario Kart set (a building set, not a video game) coming in 2025. However, earlier this week Nintendo and the Yuzu emulator team settled for $2.4 million, shutting down the emulator team that worked on Yuzu and Citra for the 3DS. Warner Bros Discovery has informed independent developers that published through Adult Swim Games that their games will be delisted, and the publisher has informed them that they will just delete the Steam pages rather than do the three clicks to transfer ownership to the indie developers. (The indie developers still own the IP and can republish, starting from scratch.) Then we talk to Rob about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and why I'm now burned out on it.
I finished Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and moved on to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and no, you don't actually know the story, so be wary of spoilers. (Not from me, though!) Octopath Traveler has been delisted temporarily from the Nintendo eShop, most likely due to the change in publisher. Toys For Bob, the studio that brought us Skylanders, is leaving Microsoft after the Activision merger. Sony Interactive performed a Reduction in Workforce this week, closing several studios and canceling other projects in flight. EA has also performed layoffs this week, cancelling several licensed games that were in development. The interesting part of their announcement is how much it actually costs to lay off employees and cancel license deals. This leads to a discussion about if games are really more expensive to the consumer or not, and if the rising game budgets are sustainable given inflation. Then we talk to Rob about how he hasn't started Final Fantasy VII Rebirth yet.
I tried the Apple Vision Pro at an XR meetup for three minutes, which means I'm an expert on it now - and I also met an Apple fanboy who actually believed that everything the AVP did was revolutionary and was never part of any VR device before it. (It was wild!) Sony announced that they are investigating making the PlayStation VR2 headset work on PC - which would be fantastic for the hardware. EA Sports will be paying college football players $600 plus a copy of the game if they opt in to EA Sports College Football 2025, but how will they stop people from creating players who opted out without running afoul of the law? Since there was no OLR, we chatted about JRPG lovers eating good between Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. We also talked about Multimorphic's new title for their modular pinball machine, this one based on The Princess Bride.
We start off talking about the return of EA Sports College Football 2025, because it was teased this week to be returning this Summer, and how it relates to one of the quotes in the show intro. Xbox is bringing four games to other consoles - Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded, to expand the reach of Xbox Games Studios franchises - but don't expect Halo to be on PS5 any time soon. Of course Phil Spencer says he'd love to see Sony exclusives on Xbox, but he's not holding his breath. He thinks it's in their best interest, though. This goes into an explanation as to WHY the console wars are "a thing" for consumers, even if it's not for the industry. It's because of the economic status of the loudest gamers - they can't afford multiple consoles so they want THEIR choice to be the correct one. Then we talk to Rob about the Xbox games going multiplatform.
I will NOT be wearing an Apple Vision Pro during a taping of this podcast, because I'm not buying it. This version, at least. I visited a new pinball arcade in Atlanta, and noticing a new trend in "Eatertainment" venues to bring back Third Spaces to society. Retailers are starting to drop physical releases, which means that game preservation is going to become much more difficult as time goes on for modern day titles. Spec Ops: The Line is an impactful military shooter that wasn't a commercial success, but now you can't buy it anymore as it has been delisted on all the digital storefronts. (Since it has a physical release, you can still buy a copy used, though!) Then we take some time to talk about Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload, since OLR was not happening due to a power outage.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is out, and has been taking up all of my evenings. While the game is great, there are some people that take issue with the fact that New Game Plus is locked behind DLC. Palworld is the new hotness, and The Pokemon Company had to make a statement saying they'd check to see if there was any IP infringement. Microsoft announced that they were laying off 1900 people from the Xbox gaming divisions, including many at the recently acquired Activision Blizzard. Then we talked to Rob about the game industry layoffs and how hard it is to be an enthusiast right now.
Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 raised over $2.5 Million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation! I was fortunate enough to be a host in-person for multiple games throughout the week, and I talk about my experience both behind the scenes as well as just attending the week long mini-convention in snowy Pittsburgh. Then we talk to Rob about all of the gaming news I missed, specifically the emergence of a game that wasn't known before I left for AGDQ - Palworld.
I'm going to be hosting at Awesome Games Done Quick 2024! I will be reading donations on Thursday night for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and on Saturday afternoon for Lies of P and Lost Judgment. I am already sick and tired of Steamboat Willie... A 13 year old gamer has "beaten" Tetris by getting it to soft lock - something only a Tool Assisted Speedrun has been able to do so far. A new injector called UEVR can make just about any game made in Unreal Engine work in VR natively. Then we talk to Rob about arcades and arcade scores.
Yes, it's an episode recorded in the afternoon of Christmas Eve and not posted until the new year...the holidays were a thing. I'm going to be hosting at Awesome Games Done Quick 2024! However, my schedule changed since the 24th, so be sure to check the GDQ website for my name to get my updated times. Insomniac Games had a lot of data leaked about their games and their employees, and there's been some interesting takes from media outlets who gleefully posted leaks of other companies that are not posting leaks from this one. Microsoft is deprecating Windows Mixed Reality support and will remove it from future versions of Windows. Consumers will no longer be able to use their WMR headsets after November 1, 2026. I got the Atari 2600+, which plays the old cartridges, and tested it out with their 10-in-1 cartridge, the 4-in-1 paddle cartridge, the newly released Mr. Run and Jump, the updated Berzerk, ET, and Halo 2600. It performed well for being an emulator that dumps cartridge ROM's and takes the original controllers! Then we talk to Rob about the end of the year.
Our December 24th show will take place at 2PM ET/11AM PT/7PM GMT instead of our usual Sunday night time! I was at DreamHack Atlanta this weekend, hosting some events on the Main Stage and playing some neat indie games. The Game Awards were before I left for vacation, and I have some thoughts that might go against what you've heard from others. The ESA has officially declared they are done with the E3 brand - something we all knew but they finally admitted to themselves. It's not for the reason you think. Then we talk to Rob about the demise of E3 and what really caused things to go south in the 2010's.