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  

Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

Getting the Band Back Together

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

The Metaverse Episode

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/

JayDimes is Back!

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

”It‘s a-me, Mario!” (ft. David Luzader)

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

Video Game Philosophy 101 (ft. Scott Johnson)

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

19 Games During Covid 19, Coincidence? (ft. Brian Ibbott)

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/

Chinese Stir-Fry (ft. Searanex)

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/

Stop Humping Our Necks (ft. Rishi Bee)

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  

Intels New Arc Reactor (ft. SteveHNH)

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

Two Lists For The Price Of One (ft. theJEN)

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

Which Game Art Style Is Best (ft. Audie Norman)

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    

Ah Blizzard, What Are We Going To Do With You (ft. TvsTravis)

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  

Page 14 (ft. Monica Stone & Amy Frost)

Page 14

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/  

Show Me The Money (ft. Bobby Frankenberger)

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!

hubhopper

Joystick & Mouse | Video Games News & Reviews

hubhopper