Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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 ... http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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. The playstation VR is HOW much and is The Last of Us the best video game adaptation ever. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

2022 Video Game Year in Review http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Review Forspoken Demo - Diddi

This episode deals with the 2022 Video Game Awards and how Diddi sent his poop in the mail. Come give a listen and see if you agree with our takes. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-game-awards-2022-winners https://thegameawards.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards https://www.pcgamer.com/the-game-awards-2022-results-all-the-winners/

By the time this episode is posted the Video Game Awards show will have happened already but today we are going to take a look at the main categories and give our take of the nominees. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: 2022 Video Game Award Nominees https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-game-awards-2022-how-to-watch-start-times-and-what-to-expect/1100-6509600/ https://thegameawards.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Awards Game Review: As Dusk Falls - JayDimes

First, sorry for no episode. The Audio for 147 was corrupt and we couldn't recover it. Now on to the show. We discuss a couple of stories in the Microsoft XBox universe and we let you know if spending a lot of hours gaming is bad for adolescents. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: Microsoft waits until the beginning of each month to reveal the list of new games coming to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, but fans often know of at least a few games in advance. While some new Xbox Game Pass game additions are a surprise, other games are confirmed to be day one titles well in advance and November is going to be one of those months. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have Hello Neighbor 2, Chained Echoes, and High on Life to fill the time this month. https://gamerant.com/xbox-game-pass-new-games-coming-soon-december-2022/ A new study published by University of Oxford researchers in an open-access journal, JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting, shows that although many school-age adolescents are spending considerable time gaming, it is not having a negative impact on their wellbeing. The study found that 44% of adolescents who game heavily report a better sense of well-being than those who game less or don’t play video games at all. https://neurosciencenews.com/gaming-wellbeing-neurodevelopment-21908/ Microsoft has reportedly offered Sony a deal that would see the Call of Duty franchise remain on PlayStation for a decade. The Xbox maker told the New York Times that it had offered the 10-year deal to Sony on November 11. Sony declined to comment on the claim. As always there are twwo side to every story. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-says-it-offered-sony-a-10-year-deal-to-keep-call-of-duty-on-playstation/ Microsoft’s head of gaming has said that Xbox will struggle to continue as a global business if the company doesn’t establish a foothold in mobile. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/phil-spencer-says-the-xbox-business-will-become-untenable-if-it-remains-irrelevant-on-mobile/ Review: Pokemon Violet - Diddi

Video game companies spend lots of money on games but apparently not on voice actors. And we hoped the latest google service would buck the trend but nope, not gonna happen and why do we play these games anyways? http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: Video games are a nearly $200 billion industry. That’s a lot of money sloshing around an increasingly small group of notoriously secretive companies. Where does it all go? At least some of it is poured back into competing storefronts and subscription services like PlayStation Plus and Game Pass. Thanks to a new SEC filing, we now have some hard figures for what this new console war looks like, with both Sony and Microsoft shelling out millions over a single game. https://kotaku.com/game-pass-ark-ii-survival-evolved-ps-plus-ps5-xbox-sony-1849642722 The English actor who stars in the hit Bayonetta video game series has asked fans not to buy the latest release in the franchise, after revealing that she was offered just $4,000 (£3,500) to reprise the role. https://www.ign.com/articles/bayonetta-voice-actor-hellena-taylor-says-she-didnt-reprise-the-role-in-bayonetta-3-as-she-was-only-offered-4000 https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/oct/16/bayonetta-actor-hellena-taylora-boycott-video-game-pay-row Google is shuttering its digital gaming service Stadia, the latest ambitious project to get cut as the company looks to shed costs. The gaming service, which launched in 2019 and runs on phones and the Chrome browser, “hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected,” wrote Phil Harrison, a Google vice president, in a blog post Thursday. “We’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” he wrote. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/google-shut-gaming-service-stadia-ceo-continues-cost-cutting-efforts-rcna50054 There is a gamer in everyone. Some of us spend countless hours saving princesses, dodging bullets or burning tires in an online game. Others are modest gamers and only venture out to roll a dice in a board game. Whether you’re a fervent veteran or a contingent casual, there is something inherent to our being that keeps us coming back to these experiences. https://mobile.gamehouse.com/news/gravitating-towards-gaming-why-do-we-play-games/ Review: XBox Cloud Service - Real World - Tim

there were two big events since we last had a show and that's excluding the GTA6 leak. Sony held a Playstation State of Play event and later that same day Nintendo held a Nintendo direct. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes Sony held a short State of Play event and here was what was revealed. https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/playstation-state-of-play-september-2022-everything-announced/ https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-state-of-play-september-2022-everything-announced https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/09/13/playstation-september-2022-state-of-play-recap/ The other big event was the Nintendo Direct that happened later in the day and it did not disappoiont. Here's everything that was realed and announced during the presentation. https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-september-2022-everything-announced-including-the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom https://apptrigger.com/2022/09/13/nintendo-direct-nintendo-switch/ https://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2022/09/recap-nintendo-direct-september-13-2022.html Review Steamdeck - Diddi

We lose the first unionized game company. We answer that age old question, are video games good for you. Nintendo is apparently an awful place to work if you're a female and Ubisoft tells us all about their upcoming stuff. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes The first video game studio in the US to unionize is shutting down. On Wednesday, Beast Breaker developer Vodeo Games announced it had failed to secure funding to produce an additional release beyond its debut title. https://www.engadget.com/vodeo-games-shutting-down-213519398.html Video games can get a bad rep as being a time waste, but can they actually have positive effects on brain functioning? A study published in Neuroimage: Reports suggests that video games can lead to increased decision-making skills and improvement in brain activities. https://www.psypost.org/2022/09/people-who-play-video-games-tend-to-have-superior-sensorimotor-decision-making-skills-study-finds-63890 Even the wholesome family image of Nintendo couldn't save it from the backlash this week over a report that the culture there might have even been worse than the one that has been well documented at Activision Blizzard. https://kotaku.com/nintendo-of-america-sexual-harassment-sexism-aerotek-1849414921 Ubisoft held their Ubisoft Forward this past week where they announced all the upcoming games and news. If I can sum it up in a statement, I hope you like Assasins Creed and The Division because there is going top be a LOT more of them. https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-forward-2022-assassins-creed-1849522061 https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-biggest-games-and-announcements-from-ubisoft-forward-2022/2900-4324/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-says-its-big-aaa-games-will-now-be-priced-at-70/1100-6507403/

The EA saga continues. We wax poetic through an imaginary game world of http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes The best video games are imaginary. Often they exist completely in our heads, or in the dreamy space between their initial announcement and what we finally end up playing. This is where “Arkham World” exists. Born from a 2011 Video Game Awards gag, the completely fictitious entry in the massively popular Batman Arkham series is now all some fans can talk about. https://kotaku.com/batman-arkham-world-spider-man-gotham-knights-wb-1849436007 And just when you think it might be safe to back into the EA waters ... they release Madden 23 which should have been cause for celebration but in true typical EA fashion snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. So just what is wrong with Madden and why are gamers so pissed? https://www.gamespot.com/articles/madden-nfl-23-is-glitched-up-from-coast-to-coast/1100-6506729/ https://attackofthefanboy.com/gaming/madden-nfl-23s-pc-version-is-a-huge-disappointment-thats-missing-next-gen-features/ Fresh off the success of Uncharted and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 respectively, Sony and Sega are planning film adaptations of even more of their franchises. Deadline reports that Sony is developing Days Gone for the big screen, while Sega says it’s developing adaptations of Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone. https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/22/23316140/video-game-movies-days-gone-comix-zone Sony is facing legal action in the UK, with a new collective action suit claiming that the company has "ripped people off" by taking a 30% cut on all transactions made on the PlayStation Store. Sony, just like Microsoft and Valve, (and Apple) has long taken this cut from purchases on its store, but consumer rights activist Alex Neill is claiming that this is a breach of consumer rights. Speaking to Sky News, Neill explained that Sony is abusing its market share to impose unfair conditions on games publishers, which in turn is raising prices for consumers. ANd as if that wasn't bad enough, Sony announced this week that the price of the PS5 is rising. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-facing-5-8-billion-lawsuit-over-playstation-store-royalties/1100-6506722/?ftag=NLS-04-10aaa1d https://screenrant.com/ps5-price-increase-hike-region-sony-stock-playstation/

The recession is hitting everyone even video game companies. There will be no Muskstation or Overwatch loot boxes but there will be more games on NetFlix and we take a look at what a video game should cost. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: The giants of the video game world saw their sales slide in the second quarter, as initial tailwinds from the Covid pandemic faded. In the three months ending with June, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo each posted disappointing results in their respective gaming businesses. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/08/microsoft-xbox-sony-playstation-nintendo-video-game-earnings-round-up.html Elon Musk Explains Why He Won't Make Video Game Console to Compete With PlayStation and Xbox https://gamerant.com/elon-musk-video-game-console/ In general, we like to think we know how much something is worth. The decision is based less on logic and more on emotion, an intangible gut feeling. When it comes to video games we know when a game is under, or in most cases, over-priced. Unfortunately, that aptness in designating price to value is disrupted by inflation. So are video games really more expensive now? https://www.gamesindustry.biz/are-video-games-really-more-expensive https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/cost-of-gaming-since-1970s Netflix is accelerating its push into video games with plans to double its catalog of offerings by the end of the year, but for now, nobody cares. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/06/netflixs-video-game-push-sees-few-subscribers-playing-along.html Overwatch’s latest Anniversary Remix event — the game’s third and final such event — kicks off Today, giving seasoned fans of Blizzard’s hero shooter another batch of skins and a chance to revisit limited-time game modes. The Overwatch Anniversary Remix Vol. 3 event will also bring about the end of loot box sales in the game — Blizzard says that when the current event ends on Aug. 30, players will no longer be able to purchase loot boxes. https://www.polygon.com/23298533/overwatch-loot-boxes-sales-ending-anniversary-remix-event-date Review: World of Warcraft - Fated Raids/Dungeons

Stadia tries to up it's games. Typical week with Blizzard where they win some and lose some. Another game studio gets gobbled up and we have a list of games that fell a little long. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes Google launched click to play a couple of months ago but this week their Stadia offering ot a big boost. They launched 11 new games thaty you can try on their platform. https://chromeunboxed.com/stadia-9-new-click-to-play-game-trials Blizzard Entertainment is officially ending new content development for its MOBA Heroes of the Storm and will instead focus solely on keeping the game running smoothly with seasonal rolls, hero rotations, bug fixes, balance updates, and more. https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-officially-ending-heroes-of-the-storm-content-development "It's almost been 3 years since the last in-person BlizzCon in 2019. In 2020, BlizzCon was canceled due to health concerned raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this was replaced by BlizzConline in February of 2021. There has been no in-person BlizzCon since then and the BlizzConline 2022 event was also canceled. Many fans were hoping for a 2022 in-person but it was cancelled once again due to the filing of a DFEH suit. However, in the first news we've heard of an in-person Blizzcon since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Ybarra tells the LA Times that ""We are committed to bringing back BlizzCon in 2023.""" https://www.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-committed-to-bringing-back-blizzcon-in-2023-los-angeles-times-interview-327585?webhook Supermassive Games is known for its interactive horror narratives, including 2015's Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and, more recently, The Quarry. This week, Eurogamer reported that Danish company Nordisk Games acquired the studio. https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/07/12/the-quarry-and-until-dawn-developer-supermassive-games-acquired-by-nordisk-games Around here we love a good strory. Game play is important but without a good narritive to hold it all together the whole thing gets old quick. But what about the games that get old ... later. The ones that go on a bit too long or started good but just sort of fell off? Well here's a list of them put out by whatculture that overstayed their welcome. https://whatculture.com/gaming/10-video-games-that-overstayed-their-welcome Game Review Elden Ring - Diddi

Blizzard continues on with its tone deaf direction. We beg Kojima to please make the game he was thinking about making. Overwatch 2 is about to be unleashed on the world and we debate the greatest helmets in video game history on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes Bobby Kotick will get to keep his seat on Activision Blizzard's board of directors despite catching flak over the alleged role he played in creating the company's toxic workplace culture. At the video game developers' annual meeting of stockholders, investors voted on several proposals, as well as who gets to be on the company's board of directors over the next year. A total of 533,703,580 shareholders have voted to keep Kotick on the board, while on 62,597,199 have voted against it. As GameInformer notes, that means he gets to keep his seat until the next meeting in 2023. https://www.engadget.com/activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-board-seat-082314098.html Hideo Kojima has claimed that he recently shelved a project he’s been considering “for a long time” due to its similarity to the Amazon series The Boys. Speaking on Twitter, the mind behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding said that he “put it on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks),” to the Amazon show. “A buddy (male/female) thing with a special detective squad facing off against legendary heroes behind the scenes,” Kojima said. “I was thinking of Mads [Mikkelsen] as the lead.” https://gamerant.com/hideo-kojima-the-boys-similar-game-concept/ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/hideo-kojima-says-he-shelved-a-game-concept-due-to-similarity-to-the-boys/ If you missed your chance to play Overwatch 2 during the game's first beta test, your next shot at giving the game a whirl before it hits shelves this fall is here. The second beta test for Overwatch 2 begins June 28, and will feature the game's newest character, Junker Queen, as well as a new map. Even better, the servers will be open not only for PC players, but those playing on console as well. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-2-beta-begins-june-28-will-feature-junker-queen-and-a-new-map/1100-6504595/ https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/06/24/overwatch-2-will-replace-the-original-overwatch-when-it-enters-early-access Video game characters have all sorts of different fashion styles. Some like to don street clothes, while others prefer sharp suits. And many of them wear some form of armor, especially those in the more action-orientated genres. Strangely, though, not all of these characters utilize helmets. It's likely because developers don't want to cover up their faces. However, unique headgear can function as an identifier just as well as a character's face. In fact, the appeal of certain protagonists is enhanced due to them wearing cool helmets. As a result, these pieces of headgear have garnered as much fame and acclaim as the people wearing them. Lets take a look at the list that thegamer put together and see what we think. https://www.thegamer.com/most-iconic-helmets-video-games-ranked/ Game Review Slay The Spire - Tim https://www.megacrit.com/

It was an all Microsoft kind of week. From their little TV gem to the big presentation with Bethesda among others that just kept dropping bomb after bomb. We'll take a look at all the announcements and give our thoughts on what made us go wow, what we thought looked cool, what we are looking forward to and what we thought was just meh on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. Show Notes Maybe it's time for a TV upgrade. Microsoft announced this week that they entered into an agreement with Samsung that all 2022 smart TVs will have XBox Cloud Play built in. No external boxes. Just pair a controller with the TV (doesn't even have to be an XBox controller) and with XBox gmae pass of course, you can play any Microsoft game available in their cloud service. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/06/09/xbox-app-for-smart-tvs/amp/ "E3 might have taken 2022 off, but the show(s) must go on. Today’s big one is the annual Xbox showcase, which shares title billing with the one first-party studio that’s only released games on PS5 since getting acquired by Microsoft for the price of a presidential election. Over the course of 95 minutes, Xbox teased a ton of games from across its oeuvre. Some were new. Others have been previously announced. And, of course, the Game Pass logo was literally everywhere. All told, the show was…a lot. let's dig in and talk about all the things" https://kotaku.com/xbox-bethesda-2022-starfield-redfall-diablo-4-overwatch-1849051030 https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-and-bethesda-games-showcase-2022-everything-announced Game Review Diablo Immortal

We have twists and turns of a plot nature. We revisit hell and not the dumping a studio kind and we take a look at the future of the video game development work force. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes: In an internal all-hands meeting with Xbox Game Studios employees, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he would recognize Raven Software’s union. This came after the QA testers at Raven voted to form the first labor union at a major studio. Later Spencer said. “We absolutely support employees’ right to organize and form unions.” So what does tha mean for the Video Game industry? https://dot.la/microsoft-activision-union-2657041417.html https://kotaku.com/xbox-phil-spencer-raven-qa-union-activision-blizzard-1848982555 Last episode we told you that Square Enix was selling off it's western development studios. Well that deal dropped and frankly, they got hosed. For the paltry sum of $300 million the Embracer Group got game studios including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal. Embracer also purchased major intellectual properties from those companies, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain. In all, it got more than 50 game properties and 1,100 developers. https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-enters-into-an-agreement-to-acquire-eidos-crystal-dynamics-and-square-enix-montreal-amongst-other-assets/ https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/06/the-deanbeat-the-crazy-sanity-of-the-square-enix-and-embracer-group-deal/ Hell is about to be unleashed this week on PC and Mobile as the "You all have Phones don't you" game is finally released. Of course I'm talking about Diablo: Immortal. This game was imfamously announced at Blizzcon 2018 to a great deal of negativity. Well I played it at Blizzcon that year and if you like Diablo, you're in for a treat. https://kotaku.com/diablo-immortal-loot-boxes-crates-laws-release-belgium-1848996451 Everyone loves a good plot twist. One where everything you thought and were certain of isn't. Well in video games, what are the 10 best? We take a look at a screen rant list and see if they got it right. https://screenrant.com/shocking-video-game-plot-twists-in-history-ranked/ Game Review: Tiny Tina's Wonderland - Reviisited

Another game studio is for sale. Gotta catch em all... literally. Which game characters are making bank? Disney looks to try and create a more adult game and there be dragons on this episode of Joystick and mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Show Notes "Square Enix Selling Tomb Raider, Deus Ex & Thief (And Their Studios As Well) Let's see if the new owners can also be disappointed by great games that sell well." https://kotaku.com/square-enix-embracer-deus-ex-1848866849 Osceola County Sheriff’s Office deputies opened fire on four suspects believed to have stolen Pokémon cards and a pizza. One died after being transported to a hospital, while two others were charged with petty theft. https://kotaku.com/pokemon-card-police-shooting-florida-target-shoplift-vi-1848870113 Video game characters may be the acme of escapism, but most of them do still have jobs within their own worlds. Which ones are paid the most? Online gaming site Solitaired did some number crunching to see who the biggest earner in the gamesphere is. https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/the-highest-salaries-for-video-game-characters-13287293 New Disney Game Looks Perfect (For Disney Adults). Disney Dreamlight Valley definitely has its fingers on the fandom's pulse https://kotaku.com/disney-dreamlight-valley-gameloft-ps5-pc-xbox-switch-ip-1848851631 The biggest news of the week, and the worst kept secret of the year was that Blizzard announced the next expansion for wWorld of Warcraft. The heros of azeroth are headed to the Dragon Isles to help restore their poweres and fight an new emerging evil. https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-wow-dragonflight-release-date/ https://www.polygon.com/23031271/world-of-warcraft-expansion-dragonflight-wow-new-class-cinematic-trailer-release Game Review LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - Diddi - 9/10 https://www.starwars.com/games-apps/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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

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 http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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/

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750450/activision-blizzard-ends-forced-arbitration-bobby-kotick-paycut 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

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. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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

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 http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse 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/

You should have learned. I didn't learn, it's one of my issues. This famous line by Mario could have been said about Blizzard entertainment. What? Not Mario ... Oh yes it is. That and everything else announced at Nintendo direct on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Guest David Luzader - https://twitter.com/davluz Show Notes It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked about Blizzard Entertainment but I think we need to give an update. So looks like the feds are getting in on the act as the SEC announced that they are opening their own investigation into the gaming giant. Also it seems more folks are jumping ship as Blizzard lost their Chief Legal Council and the Executive Producer on Overwatch this past week. It's not all gloom and doom in Irvine though with the release of Diablo II Resurrected this week although that launch was very subdued. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-21/blizzard-executive-overseeing-hit-game-leaves-in-latest-exodus https://www.esportstalk.com/news/more-and-more-activision-blizzard-employees-quit-amid-legal-trouble/ https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039393895/more-on-the-investigations-into-video-game-publisher-giant-activision-blizzard Big goings on in the world of Mario this week as Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct to give us a glimpse into whats coming for the switch and ... well ... we have questions. What do we think about what was announced and yes, we'll get to that other thing later in the show. https://www.techradar.com/news/nintendo-direct-september-2021-all-the-biggest-announcements-you-need-to-know https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/the-nintendo-direct-made-me-finally-cancel-my-switch-oled-pre-order Aaaaaaannnd it's time for the other thing. During the Nintendo direct, Shigeru Miyamoto dropped the bomb that there was an animated Mario movie coming next year with the dinosour wrangling Starlord himself as the voice of the main character and the internet loved it ... Just kidding, as usual they hated it and threatened to burn the castle down. So what do we think about the movie in general and the star-studded cast that is voicing it? https://kotaku.com/the-internets-hateboner-for-chris-pratt-as-mario-in-nin-1847739685 https://www.cnet.com/news/a-super-mario-movie-starring-chris-pratt-is-coming-dec-21-2022/ Full Stream Ahead Nintendo also announced this week that The Forgotten City will be available on the switch via their cloud gamning service. Yes they have their own service and noI wasn't really aware of that either. As far as I can tell they have 3 whole games available. So it begs the question, Is Nintendo missing the boat when it comes to cloud gaming? https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/the-forgotten-city-is-coming-to-nintendo-switch-as-a-cloud-game-today-3053556

Going to take a dive into the psychology of gaming today and take a look at how we project ourselves into games. When we make a decision in a game what is it that drives us to make that decision and how does it affect us? Gamers will now be able to experience the "pleasure" of building IKEA furniture and XBox cloud gaming is loose in the wild on this episode of Joystick and mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Guest Info Scott Johnson - @scottjohnson GameCentral had an article where they interviewed psychologist and author Dr Rachel Kowert about why we make the choices we do in games, and why they’re usually good ones. But are they? https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/16/why-video-games-can-make-you-a-better-a-person-but-not-a-worse-one-15270237/ Holy Swedish Meatballs, Batman! IKEA is releasing a full lineup of gaming furniture and accessories. They have partnered with ASUS to come up with a ROG inspired line of gaming offerings including everything from desks and chairs to ring lights and phone holders. The big question is though, will it come with scratch and sniff mouse pads in Swedish meatball scent. https://www.spieltimes.com/news/republic-of-gamers-collaborates-with-ikea/ https://nerdist.com/article/ikea-gaming-furniture-line-asus/ Time. It is the single most important commodity in life and there never seems to be enough of it. There are so many things every day that vie for our attention and video games are one of them. So lets talk about how we select those games that we give our time to and how we can experience more of them. https://www.techradar.com/news/pressure-to-be-good-at-games-is-ruining-my-ability-to-enjoy-them Full Stream Ahead Microsoft released X-Cloud gaming to the masses this week. That's really cool and we'll see how that plays with people but along with it, the ability to stream your XBox to your PC. https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/xbox/158381-xbox-cloud-gaming-local-streaming-pc-windows-10

This week Sony held a Playstation showcase and reminded us who has the best line-up of games and why that $500 console is worth every penny. Let's dive into what was announced and look at our favorites and maybe some other angles of these announcements that weren't readily apparent on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Our Guest The one and only Brian Ibbott - @Coverville Show Notes Here's everything that was announced and shown at the Playstation showcase event. https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/9/22663238/sony-playstation-showcase-2021-ps5-trailers-spider-man-god-of-war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5VtfD2i3rc https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/09/10/uncharteds-amy-hennig-and-gary-whitta-are-working-on-forspoken We saw some real honest to goodness gameplay from the forthcoming God of War Ragnarok game and it was glorious. Behind the scenes though there was a change of directors. What did that mean for this game and what does a director for a game really do anyways? We'll take a look at that and maybe at some times where a director chage didn't work so much. https://www.ign.com/articles/god-of-war-ragnarok-eric-williams-cory-barlog-interview https://www.gameinformer.com/news/2021/09/11/how-god-of-war-ragnaroks-new-director-brings-a-different-perspective-to-the-series And in a surprise announcement Sony announced a new release from Rockstar games. Thats right folks were getting ... GTA5 on the playstation 5. Its OK, we were underwhelmed too. https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-5-playstation-5-reveal-backlash Sony killed it this week. With the last several announcement events being pretty meh, (Nintendo anyone) Sony finally put on a show that made us truley excited about some new games that were coming out and once again showed us what THEIR marketing strategy is. Having the best line-up of games is pretty simple but hard to execute but somehow Sony keeps doing it. https://kotaku.com/sony-brought-its-playstation-a-game-today-1847647997 Full Stream Ahead So a lot of us in the community were running around Aeternum chopping trees, killing wolves and any number of other tasks in the open beta for New World from Amazon Studios. Well this week it was announced that this new MMO would be available on Amazons cloud gaming service Luna. This got me thinking what does that mean for the game does it change our outlook for it? https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/10/22663690/amazon-new-world-luna-cloud-gaming

Get your woks out because we are going to stir up a couple of Chinese stories today. We'll offer that with side dishes of mashed no upgrades and steamed tutorial and end it all with big ol slice of 5G cloud gaming on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Our Guest Searanex - https://twitter.com/Searanex Story Links last week we told you about China's new law limiting minors to 3 hours per week of gaming but does that have unintended ramifications. Better yet will it help at all? This article gives another perspective on this new law and what it means for the Chinese gaming industry. https://www.ft.com/content/ffca0c80-b6b4-473f-9be2-c3a313e94f62 With that take on the China law in mind, should or could the western countries and companies do something similar? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/04/why-the-industry-should-heed-chinas-crackdown-on-video-game-players Well the honeymoon is over for folks that are holding off and getting that PS5 and are still buy triple a titles for their PS4. Sony announced this week that Horizon: Forbidden West will be their last game that gives free upgrades to the new console version. https://kotaku.com/sony-will-no-longer-offer-free-next-gen-upgrades-for-it-1847621301 Every game starts with them. We've all seen them .. we all hate them. Yes of course I'm talking about game tutorials. Some times they are done well and some times not so much so what do we think of them. Are there any that we remember as being really bad or really good? https://www.wired.com/story/the-case-for-video-game-tutorials/ Full Stream Ahead Indian telco giant Airtel conducted a cloud gaming test last week that may show the future of the technology. https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-cm/airtel-demonstrates-india-s-first-cloud-gaming-experience-on-a-5g-network-121090201005_1.html https://www.livemint.com/

It appears Blizzard goes full TMNT about the lawsuit ... (PSSST, Not that kind of Shredder) Pinky wonders what China is up to. Is it getting toxic in here or are we all just a little more salty now and what does cloud gaming hold for us on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Our Guest Rishi B - @rishibh Story Links Here's what you don't do when somebody sues you. You don't destroy the evidence and then deny that you destroyed the evidence. The state of California emended their lawsuit against Blizzard this week by saying that that is exactly what they did. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-blizzard-accused-by-california-of-shredding-abuse-evidence/1100-6495597/ https://kotaku.com/california-accuses-activision-blizzard-of-shredding-abu-1847550659 In this weeks example of lawmakers don't understand video games at all, If you live in China, and are under the age of 18, you can only play up to 3 hours of video games a week. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/china-cuts-amount-of-time-minors-can-spend-playing-video-games https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/chinese-state-media-slams-video-games-warns-addiction-children-rcna1584 Speaking of China, I'm pretty sure they are going full Brain on the video game industry and trying to take over the world. Well if they own it all maybe they can enforce that 3 hours a week thing. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/s-china-gaming-tech-giants-are-snapping-video-game-studios-rcna1536 I had an interaction this week that was less than pleasant. It got me thinking though and then this story crossed my feed so I decided to bring it up on the show. That question is: What is the most toxic game community. https://blog.unity.com/news/the-state-of-disruptive-behavior-in-multiplayer-games-2021 On this show, we talk lot about the future of cloud gaming and where it is going and wha that means for us as gamers. This story though presents a list of trends and futures for cloud gaming so you know we couldn't pass that up. https://www.datamation.com/cloud/cloud-gaming-trends/

Today we'll make you feel old. We'll talk about a company other than Microsoft trying to take over the world. We diverge a little bit and mention some big hardware news and then look to the future a bit. Now get off my lawn and listen to this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Guest Info Steve - @steveHNH Episode Links https://www.pcgamer.com/the-epic-games-stores-equivalent-to-steam-direct-is-in-beta/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/introducing-discrete-graphics-brand-intel-arc.html https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/16/22626912/intel-arc-gpu-brand-alchemist-codename-release-date https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-super-nintendo-entertainment-system-is-officially-30-years-old-today/1100-6495438/ https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/aug/23/best-video-games-autumn-2021-lake-metroid-dread https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tencent-cloud-powers-up-korean-application-mall-one-store-to-make-mobile-games-playable-on-pc-1030751007

So, you're looking for a job? Look no farther than a certain game development company in California. How do I know they are hiring. Ho, let me tell you about that, the latest stupid politician antics along with a couple of mostly wrong lists on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.patreon.com/joystickandmouse Our Guest theJEN - @thejensays Show Links https://www.axios.com/activision-blizzard-harassment-lawsuit-hr-da4f678a-510c-4975-9d64-f5d744aa5c02.html https://kotaku.com/what-really-happened-at-that-blizzcon-panel-according-1847408469 https://kotaku.com/democrats-are-already-bungling-new-call-for-laws-to-pro-1847457366 https://kotaku.com/the-best-video-games-of-2021-so-far-1847467401 https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/aug/13/the-15-greatest-video-games-of-the-00s-ranked https://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/steam-deck-xcloud-xbox-cloud-gaming-game-pass-ultimate-phil-spencer-confirmed-2511431

The first domino topples in the fallout from Blizzardgate, but will it help? You can now light up your life while fighting the pandemic and who needs sweaty crowds, lots of traffic and broken vocal tapes to lip-sync to when you and 45 million of your closest friends can jump in the mosh pit together virtually. We talk about this, Favorite game art styles and the latest way Microsoft is taking over the world on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/ http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Guest Links Audie Norman - @OddlyNormalOne Episode Links https://massivelyop.com/2021/08/10/blizzard-workers-address-the-drawbacks-of-boycotts-gamers-lament-wows-deep-decline/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/03/j-allen-brack-resigns-blizzard-lawsuit/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/08/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-women-sexual-harassment https://www.gamespot.com/articles/razers-rgb-mask-enters-beta-testing-heres-how-to-sign-up-to-try-it/1100-6494957/ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/07/no-limits-in-the-metaverse-video-game-concerts-big-business https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/9/22616664/ariana-grande-fortnite-rift-tour-worldbuilding-storytelling https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a37155885/video-game-animation-art-trends-2021/ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-08-09-xbox-cloud-gaming-launches-in-beta-form-on-pc-for-game-pass-ultimate-members https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/9/22616774/microsoft-xcloud-windows-xbox-app-xbox-cloud-gaming-beta

The torches were lit, the pitch forks were brandished and the angry mob set its sights on Activision-Blizzard. What to do in the face of an angry mob? Dr Frankenstein didn't know and frankly we don't really know either but whatever the right solution is, What Blizzard did this week was not it. We'll explore what they did do, what they should have done and maybe what some others are doing on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/ http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Guest Info @tvstravis Story Links https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-hires-union-busting-firm-as-workers-1847386654 https://www.wowhead.com/news/activision-zoom-meeting-with-employees-doubles-down-on-appalling-official-323563 https://kotaku.com/activisions-torture-apologist-executive-is-now-blocking-1847405007 https://www.wowhead.com/news/bloomberg-report-unveils-warcraft-iii-reforged-development-issues-323518 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-22/inside-activision-blizzard-s-botched-warcraft-iii-reforged-game https://www.vg247.com/2021/07/31/ubisoft-ceo-open-letter-response-employees/ https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/08/02/former-blizzard-dev-and-undead-labs-founder-calls-for-gaming-industry-to-unionize

Warning! This episode contains discussions concerning sexual abuse. There really was only one story this week in the video game world. The lawsuit filed by the state of California against Blizzard/Activision exposed the culture at the game development giant but maybe more importantly has started a conversation about the way women are treated in all corporations and even society at large. This week we have some very special guests (@Daniora and @WickedKitten13) to give their unique perspective and insights. We have the hard conversation about this uncomfortable topic on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/ http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Guest Info Amy - Daniora Monica - @WickedKitten13 Story Links https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/op1t7m/activision_blizzard_sued_by_california_over_frat/h62n78j/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://kotaku.com/some-gaming-websites-youtube-channels-halt-coverage-of-1847362179 https://i.redd.it/2edt72rfbyc71.png https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5dQzZp3f0&t=267s

Today on the show we answer these questions. Did we just get the Nintendo Switch killer? is it time for a new world? What are the game companies thinking and Where is cloud gaming going and is that the right destination? That's a lot of questions that need answered so lets get to it on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. (W/ Special Guest Bobby Frankenberger) http://www.joysticksandmouse.com/ http://shop.joystickandmouse.com/ Bobby's Info Twitter - @GMFunkytown Podcast - @allaroundsci (All Around Science Podcast) Story Links https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck https://www.pcgamer.com/everything-we-know-about-new-world-amazons-upcoming-mmo/ https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/1414952816188264460 https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/ok7wjl/insider_leak_on_the_current_happenings_inside/ https://gamerant.com/netflix-video-games-streaming-service-details/

The Switch pro is here, the Switch pro is ... what? It's not a pro? Guess we'll have to get something really exciting from the Sony state of play. What? Nothing really new from Sony either. Well then maybe we'll get a new game cartridge. They cost WHAT!? Well then let's go for the old tried and true and look at Microsoft trying to take over the world on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. bit.ly/jamtshirt https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2021-spec-analysis-switch-oled-model-new-display-old-tech https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/10/22570868/nintendo-oled-switch-joy-con-drift https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/07/round_up_what_was_announced_during_sonys_latest_state_of_play_livestream https://blog.playstation.com/2021/07/08/state-of-play-july-2021-all-trailers-and-complete-recap/ https://gizmodo.com/unopened-super-mario-64-cartridge-sells-for-record-1-5-1847271326 https://gamerant.com/xbox-game-pass-ad-playstation-4-controller/

The veil between life and death is further lifted this week as World of Warcraft FINALLY drops its first patch of the latest expansion. We dive into, are video games addictive and a use for that old XBox console on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://joystickandmouse.com T-Shirts! http://bit.ly/jamtshirt WoW Update https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-chains-of-domination-91-wow-korthia/ https://www.wowhead.com/news/official-patch-9-1-chains-of-domination-patch-notes-323035 Video Game Addiction https://www.wired.com/story/what-gaming-does-to-your-brain-how-you-might-benefit/ Xbox Consoles for XBox Cloud https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/22536418/microsoft-xbox-series-x-games-on-xbox-one-xcloud-streaming

It's all E3 this week and there's lots to get through. The guys get together and discuss what was great and what was just meh about the annual entertainment event on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://joystickandmouse.com/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/06/12/e3-live-stream-game-reveals/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2021/06/15/nintendo-direct-e-3-nintendo-switch-game-announcements/7698416002/ https://www.polygon.com/e3/22532052/xbox-bethesda-games-showcase-e3-2021-best-announcements-trailers https://www.polygon.com/e3/22532197/xbox-e3-2021-game-pass-announcements-starfield-halo-elder-scrolls

We open the door, throw the chicken nugget out the air lock and break down another useless but fun list as well as being thankful for the 5G nanobots that we were injected with on this episode of Joystick and Mouse. http://joystickandmouse.com/ References: https://screenrant.com/iconic-scenes-doors-ocarina-dark-souls-resident-evil/ https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/mcdonalds-chicken-nugget-shaped-like-among-us-character-sold-for/766886 https://www.denofgeek.com/games/e3-2021-conference-schedule-dates-games-news/ https://venturebeat.com/2021/06/01/5g-to-accelerate-cloud-gaming-expansion/ https://gulfnews.com/business/markets/uae-5g-users-spend-more-time-on-cloud-gaming-live-video---and-less-time-using-wi-fi-1.1623062255326

We're doing something a little different this week! Alex interviews a video game scholar, Dominic Myers, better known as GameStudies101 on TikTok. Dominic shares enlightening perspectives on video games; from the ways we build relationships with characters in video games, the state of the indie gaming industry, and how there is a budding scholastic focus on the ways video games affect people's lives. Check out Dominic's TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@gamestudies101?lang=en Website: http://www.JoystickandMouse.com Get Discounts on Video Games with Green Man Gaming: https://bit.ly/3aWZRsk

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! Well that's what Epic is saying as final arguments concluded in the court case between them and Apple. We break down what has been revealed and what it could mean for the future of video games as well as talking about a 9 ft victorian hottie on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.

And the oscar goes to ... a video game company? how did THAT happen? You know we love a list to dissect but this one just was like throwing out angry gamer bait. We take a look at Yahoo's top 30 video games of all time and tell them why they are wrong. That along with Sony trying to keep up with the Jones's on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.

Ahh, Sony is being Sony again and usually that's not a good thing, but in this case, a lot of people are quite happy. With their announcement about leaving old game system store open it begs the question ... who cares? Today we take on the topic of old game systems and their life expectancy and how old is too old as well as something new on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.

Tonight we take on the topic of cheating in video games. Is it ok? and if so when? What constitutes cheating and would any of us do it? That and does cloud gaming eliminate cheating on this episode of Joystick and Mouse.

The guys get together to talk about the possible acquisition of the popular gamer chat platform Discord by Microsoft. What does this mean for the platform and the Discord community? We break it down on this episode.