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Video game news that reflects on the latest trends and cultural impacts brought on by gaming. From the perspective of a few guys who wish they had more time to play video games!
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Sony tries to play catch up with XBox, Blizzard is at it again. Theres a new handheld in town and WE HAVE A LIST!, on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
Show Notes
After months of speculation and reports, Sony finally unveiled its new PS Plus subscription service—previously referred to as codename “Spartacus”—which falls in line with the likes of Xbox Game Pass. The new service aims to streamline Sony’s offerings, effectively combining PS Plus and PS Now, with various options and benefits across multiple tiers.
https://kotaku.com/playstation-unveils-game-pass-competitor-shell-1848716609
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-25/sony-to-unveil-playstation-subscription-as-soon-as-next-week
https://www.inverse.com/gaming/new-playstation-plus-price-tiers-launch-games
A U.S. District Judge approved an $18 million relief settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today. This settlement comes months after Activision Blizzard originally agreed to settle with the EEOC on September 27, 2021. But those attempting to hold the game publisher to account are split on how much of a win this will ultimately be for the victims of Activision Blizzard’s “frat boy” culture.
https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-settlement-eeoc-dfeh-trial-call-of-1848719873
There's a new player in the handheld console arena. This week the playdate was released by Panic which previously was primarily an apple game developer. So what is it about this quirky little hand held that has taken the gaming wqorld by storm?
https://www.axios.com/panic-playdate-handheld-video-game-system-859797c6-a484-4397-9ee6-244089096810.html
https://www.ign.com/articles/playdate-review
Man we love a list and this one hits a nerve (or two). IGN decided to give their list of the 255 best PC games to play right now and we have questions.
https://www.ign.com/articles/best-pc-games
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Friday Mar 25, 2022
This is the week of "Oh, really, THAT happened this week. I hadn't noticed. The world of video games has taken a back seat to the Russian invasion of Ukraine but there was some news this past little bit as well as a very meh performance (again) by Sony. I guess they were saving the thunder for later.
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Show Notes
Amazon Luna, the retail behemoth’s cloud gaming service which launched in early access in October 2020, is now available everywhere in the mainland United States. Luna will offer à la carte subscriptions to five channels, and Amazon Prime members get access to a monthly rotation of games included with that subscription.
https://www.polygon.com/22956365/amazon-luna-release-date-price-games-list
Microsoft has announced that it will suspended sales of all its products and services in Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine. This seems like a no brainer and Microsoft wasn't the only one but how do we feel about the real world invading our sanctuary of video games?
https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-russia-sales-xbox
https://mashable.com/article/video-game-developers-publishers-russia-ukraine-war-sanctions
The news doesn't get any better for Activision/Blizzard/Microsoft as the parents of a female employee that committed suicide after being harassed filed a law suit against the company this week. Details of the suit were not disclosed but Janet and Paul Moynihan, parents of Kerri Moynihan, allege that sexual harassment was a “significant factor” in her death.
https://www.polygon.com/22962017/activision-blizzard-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-suicide
This past week Sony had a State of Play which was so Epic, I didn't even hear about it till after the fact. So here's what was announced and what we think looks cool or not so cool as the case may be?
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/news/1214033-playstation-state-of-play-everything-announced-march-9-2022
https://blog.playstation.com/2022/03/08/state-of-play-returns-this-wednesday/
In last episodes vein of everybody gets a develoment company, Sony doubled down after buying Bungie and snapped up Haven Studios. Who are they? Well they just happen to be the new studio of Jade Raymond. You know the one who was in charge (producer) of Assassins Creed and Metal gear Solid 4. So what is Sony up to with this buy?
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/03/21/playstation-acquires-jade-raymonds-new-studio-haven-studios
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
GPU's greater than posting. Stadia continues to dwindle in the rearview mirror. What Ubisoft has up its sleeve as well as everything announced ... and not announced at the latest Nintendo Direct on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
Show Notes
The company formerly known as Facebook got hammered this week and as such got over taken by NVidia in value. How and Why did a GPU manufacturer overtake the largest social media platform on the planet.
https://www.pcgamer.com/its-official-nvidia-is-now-worth-more-than-meta/
It wasn't by any means the final nail hammered into the Stadia coffin this week but it sure did seem like they were fitting the lid. Doe Stadia survive the latest Google move?
https://www.vg247.com/stadia-reportedly-deprioritized-inside-google-which-aims-to-secure-deals-under-google-stream-label
Ever wonder what Ubisoft was up to these days? We no, neither have I but IGN has and this week they published a list of all the games that Ubisoft is working on and there are some real gems on there.
https://www.ign.com/articles/every-ubisoft-game
The Nintendo Direct from this past week had a lot of interesting info as most do but was probably more noteworthy for what it didn't have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDFA_O7zNg
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-direct-switch-announce-news-metroid-mother-mar-1848510862
https://www.polygon.com/22926054/nintendo-direct-february-2021-biggest-announcements-trailers
Game Review
Horizon : Forbidden West
Thursday Feb 10, 2022
Thursday Feb 10, 2022
You get a development studio and you get a development studio everybody gets a development studio. At least it's felt like an Oprah christmas special episode lately in the video game world. Let's dig into the latest games studio acquisition and see what that means for gamers, workers and the industry as a whole on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
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Show Notes
This week Sony (We knew they had to respond in some way) purchased Bungie for 3.6 Billion. This come on the heels of theTake-two buy-out of Zynga (Farmville) and of course the Purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. So what does this mean and how does this affect us the gamers and what does it mean for the industry at large?https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/31/sony-to-buy-video-game-maker-bungie-in-3point6-billion-deal.html
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/features/four-giants-major-players-video-game-industry
Will any of this change now that Microsoft is in charge? Raven software is doing some shady stuff to try and "bust" the unionization actions that the employees are taking and it just seems like it is business as usual.https://www.inverse.com/gaming/raven-software-activision-blizzard-union-busting?utm_campaign=inverse&utm_content=1643312109&utm_medium=owned&utm_source=twitter
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/pc-xbox-labor-sexual-harassment-unionization-exploitation?fbclid=IwAR0q8sBIKtbAyfQb5vlNd33D6EQkBN3eMlRKpqEBH5vCThgit-P7FwO2iyg
Halo is getting a TV series and it is glorious but what is with non blue cortana?
https://www.cnet.com/news/halo-tv-series-gets-explosive-first-trailer/
Ah, it's the end of an era, sort of. Sega is officially getting out of the arcade game business.
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/01/28/sega-is-officially-ending-its-arcade-center-business
Game Review
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
There was only one real story this week in video game news and that of course was the acquisition of Blizzard/Activision by Microsoft for 69 billion freaking dollars. We'll talk about what this means for the gaming industry and what we hope comes from this purchase on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
Show Notes
The skinny - Initial thoughts
https://www.axios.com/microsoft-to-buy-activision-blizzard-c2e1fe64-c5f8-4c77-bfa6-2893668ad173.html
What does Microsoft get
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/list-heres-every-activision-blizzard-ip-xbox-now-owns-including-crash-bandicoot-and-guitar-hero/
What does this mean for other companies
https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/01/24/microsoft-activision-blizzard-deal-wont-hurt-sony/
What about the lawsuit
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/microsoft-deal-throws-obstacles-in-path-of-activision-organizers
https://www.polygon.com/22889580/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-bobby-kotick
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Welcome to our version of the 2021 video game awards where we give our take on the past year and look forward to the year to come. Oh and Alex drops a bomb.
Show Notes
Biggest News Story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_in_video_games
Best Narrative (Story)
Biggest Meh
Best Game
Favorite Game
Looking Forward to in 2022
https://www.gameinformer.com/2022
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
There was other news from the company that can't be named and in the Epic vs Apple ongoing saga but this week is dedicated to the Video Game Awards that were held this past week. Let's dive right in and let you know our thoughts on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse
Show Notes
The show as a whole
https://www.cnet.com/news-live/the-game-awards-2021-every-result-winner-announcement-trailer-and-more/
https://www.thegameawards.com/
The musical guests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Performers
The awards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Video_games
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/live/the-game-awards-2021-live-blog
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-game-awards-2021-winners-revealed
The announcements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards_2021#Announcements
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/live/the-game-awards-2021-live-blog
Video Game Review
Halo Infinite: Campaign
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Open mouth, insert leg. Yep, you know what company that is about. maybe Sony is finally waking up to the way people want to consume games and it's awards season on the video game front. These topics and some serious horsepower coming to a phone near you on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
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Show Links
I know you guys are tired of hearing about this and frankly we're tired of having to bring it up every week but Activistion/Blizzard just can't get out of their own way. When will they learn? This week they layed off 30% of their QA workforce form the CoD Warzone studio and to say it didn't sit well with the community and employees was an understatement. So where do we go from here with this company?
https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-warzone-devs-stage-walkout-over-layoffs-1848165716
Is Sony REALLY going to take on the holy grail of game subscriptions? This week they announced that they were going to do away with their current services (thankfully) and were going to create a new service similar to Microsoft's XBox Game Pass ... but will it. We take a look at the details of this announcement.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-03/playstation-plans-new-service-to-take-on-xbox-game-pass
https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/3/22816087/sony-playstation-5-game-subscription-service-xbox-games-pass-now-spartacus
The game awards are this week and their hype video brought back all the memories of the great games we got this year. So lets talk about those and what we are hoping to see during the show.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-game-awards-2021-hype-trailer-reminds-you-of-2021s-best-games/1100-6498622/
https://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-game-awards-2021-hype-trailer/2300-6456856/
https://kotaku.com/the-game-awards-wont-take-sides-on-activision-fallout-t-1848158706
Full Stream Ahead
if you have tried to buy a video card in the last two years you know what a chore that can be. If you can find one, they cost as much as a high end laptop. So with this arid landscape of video card availability, is this weeks Gefroce Now announcement of 3080 performance in the cloud the oasis in the distance .. or just a mirage?
https://www.techradar.com/news/is-nvidia-geforce-now-rtx-3080-the-next-generation-of-cloud-gaming
Friday Nov 26, 2021
Friday Nov 26, 2021
Blizzard is more of a slushy mess these days, Netflix and kill is a thing now. The boss of EA is clueless (we knew this already) and are NFT's really that bad? All that and Halo built in on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/
https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse
Show Notes
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Blizzard. You remember that really tone-deaf email written by Fran Townshend that was sent right after the lawsuit was brought by the state of California. The one Bobby Kotick agreed was tone-deaf? Turns out he should should know since He wrote it and had it sent out under her name. There is just so much wrong with this situation. Oh and turns out the whole equal pay thing was a farce too ... Blizzard, what are we going to do with you?
https://kotaku.com/bobby-kotick-actually-wrote-fran-townsends-deranged-co-1848069983
https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-scandal-bobby-kotick-jen-oneal-board-shareholders
https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-jen-oneal-mike-ybarra-equal-pay-after-resignation
The Netflix game service went live and as expected it was meh at best.
https://www.polygon.com/22759722/netflix-games-on-android
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/netflix-mobile-games-stranger-things-3-review/articleshow/87623388.cms
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/netflix-video-game-impressions/
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of NFTs and block chain. A dimension that the CEO of EA has no clue how we are going to get there. Why are we not surprised? So what does NFT and Block Chain mean for you, the gamer?
https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/11/05/ea-ceo-says-nfts-and-blockchain-games-are-the-future-of-our-industry-and-that-hes-unsure
Full Stream Ahead
Coming to a TV near you ... Halo?
https://www.gamesradar.com/xbox-is-working-with-tv-manufacturers-to-bring-cloud-gaming-to-your-screen/
Wednesday Nov 03, 2021
Wednesday Nov 03, 2021
The guys got together in person to record an episode and man it felt good. We talked about the latest developments at Blizzard. Sonys lackluster announcements and the joint venture between Sega and Microsoft. Oh and some spooky game that Alex was playing.
Show Notes
You know how people think their devices are listening to them, well it appears that ours, and facebook in particular is listening to us because Facebook decided this to rebrand itself as Meta focussing on the Metaverse.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/10/29/facebook-meta-rebrand-metaverse-video-games/
After months of mis-steps and tone deaf responses, Blizzard Entertainment this week FINALLY stepped up made some real changes at the company. Letting perpetrators go and renaming some characters and in game items is nice but the employees of Blizzard were looking for some tangible changes and this week the company announced a great first step in making the company an example for the rest of the industry to look to.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211028005446/en/A-Letter-From-CEO-Bobby-Kotick-Regarding-Progress-and-Commitments-Made-at-Activision-Blizzard
This seems a slap in the face though for the victims of the harassment
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/28/1041068091/activision-blizzard-strikes-an-18-million-deal-over-its-workplace-harassment-law
https://gamingintel.com/playstation-state-of-play-october-2021-recap/
Full Stream Ahead
Sega and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership to develop "large scale" games for the XBox platform. What does this mean and what games from the Sega library would we love to see a new installment from?
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-11-01-xbox-and-sega-announce-strategic-alliance-for-super-game-project