Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

It's Whiskey Advent Time

No Blurb this week. Diddi was lazy. :)

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Show Notes:

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

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

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

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

2024 Video Game Award Nominations

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

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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/

Video Games and the 2024 Election

We talk some news from Sony. What netflix is up to. Microsoft financials and the little decision we are making today.

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

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

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

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

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

Talk With A Lisp

Epic 1, app stores 0. leadership changes at XBox. A new game announced from a new studio and our list of the week.

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Show Notes:

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

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

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

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

Extra:

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

Don't Go Granny

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. 
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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

No, I am your father.

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Show Notes

RIP James Earl Jones

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

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

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

A Little Jiggle

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.

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Show Notes:

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

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

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

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

Microsoft Xbox Cloud?

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.
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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 XBox Console Is Dead

The demise of the XBox console as we know it. Another studio forms a union and we take issue with a poll.
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Show Notes

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

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

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

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

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

Ubisoft, Sony and XBox Oh My!

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. 
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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/