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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 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
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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.
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
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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.
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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
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
The metaverse! What is it? How does it work? How do we start living a world like Ready Player One? Why should we be so excited (or terrified) about this? There's lots to unpack as we look at the evolution of this metaverse - most importantly, how this affects games. We're going to talk about all of that and more on this episode of Joystick & Mouse.
Show Links
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been making news lately by talking about the “metaverse.” Zuckerberg says it’s the future of Facebook — and the internet. So what is the metaverse?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QfprVOtEUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OmJAA-7KM
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3637952/will-zuckerbergs-metaverse-change-everything.html
This idea of a metaverse screams potential for gaming and creating a single place where gamers can collaborate and play. So what are the plans for it in the context of gaming?
https://hackernoon.com/gaming-101-what-is-the-metaverse
There are A TON of players involved with developing the metaverse. There is a push for this to be an open platform, but with this many players, can it actually be truly "open"?
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/metaverse-market-map/
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-whistleblower-shocked-companys-investment-metaverse-rcna3725
How does this all make sense economically? NFT's and play to earn games are a big focus for how it's possible. Let's talk about what they'll do for the metaverse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ClJxjuRvw
https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-metaverse-play-to-earn-and-the-new-economic-model-of-gaming
Full Stream Ahead
VR headsets these days are powerful. But they're not powerful enough to bring the next generation of the internet to life. Turns out, cloud computing might be the answer.
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/gaming/streaming-vr-and-ar-content-google-cloud-nvidia-cloudxr
Thursday Oct 21, 2021
Thursday Oct 21, 2021
Nintendo looses its crown. Game developers are finding new, more creative ways to enhance their brand recognition. XBox has some news on that Fable game we've ... oh, wait. No they don't and an huge update (the last free one) is coming for our favorite island. We break it all down for you on this episode of Joystick and mouse. Oh yeah, one last thing. JAYDIMES IS BACK!!!!!
http://www.joystickandmouse.com
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Show Links
The Nintendo Switch loses its crown as the king of consoles but it has been a hell of a run and should we honestly be surprised that a new console has outsold a 3 year old one even if it does have a fancy new screen.
https://kotaku.com/playstation-5-ends-switchs-three-year-run-as-best-selli-1847885112
Free-to-play gaming companies like Roblox can monetize users in various ways, one of which is by displaying ads. However, no one really likes their game being interrupted by a 30-second video. Therefore, companies have to straddle a challenging line between optimizing income and keeping users happy.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/10/18/the-new-creative-advertising-strategy-video-game-c/
This past Sunday, the official Twitter account for Xbox Game Studios Publishing posted a tweet which appeared to suggest Fable news was incoming.“We’re excited to kick off something special tomorrow,” it said, adding “just give us one more day to prepare the chickens” with a chicken emoji. “We’d call it our Fable Anniversary, but that name was already taken.”
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-apologises-for-confusion-after-seemingly-teasing-fable-news/
You know that island you haven't looked at in over a year? Well it might be time to fire up the ol' Switch and stomp the cockkroaches becasue there is HUGE update for Animal Crossing coming in November. It's sort of like a list so we'll take a look at it and see if it's enough to make us jump back into the game.
https://www.imore.com/everything-announced-october-2021-animal-crossing-direct
Full Stream Ahead
In his latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman hinted that Apple was considering maybe, possibly but not now having a cloud gaming service to piggyback on its Apple Arcade service. An interesting concept but, would it fly?
https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/17/report-apple-has-considered-launching-a-cloud-gaming-service-alongside-apple-arcade/