Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

Xbox Games Showcase 2023

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.
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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/

Apple Says ”Hold My Beer”

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.

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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

One Step Closer

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.
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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

Go Pound Rocks

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.

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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

 

Quidditch Anyone?

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.
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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

 

Fire Up That John Deere

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. 

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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

Bang Those Bongos

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.

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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

 

The Super Bowl

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.

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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

 

R.I.P. Annie

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 ...

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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

Blizzard goes dark in China. The playstation VR is HOW much and is The Last of Us the best video game adaptation ever.

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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