Total Pebble Knockdown

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Epic has laid off nearly 900 members of it’s staff, 16% of it’s entire workforce. We’re going to talk about that and also do a little math on how much Tim Sweeney makes. Fun times. Epic Games is reportedly laying off around 900 employees | Eurogamer.net There’s an island full of kings and tyrants. Will you free them? Nathan ran across an interesting missi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What is happening with Embracer Group? First they buy up a bunch of game companies, then they lose 40% of their stock value, now they are selling off or shuttering the same game studios they bought. Let’s go over a timeline of unfortunate events and a cautionary tale of what large corporate investments could entail. Embracer Group Stock Drops 40% After $2...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We got a request to react to a video about creating a World of Warcraft expansion using AI, so that’s what we’re doing. Echoes of Azeroth is not actually an expansion to WoW, but how close to a real one does it get? I Made a World of Warcraft Expansion with AI - YouTube Nathan has been playing a little indie game by the name Starfield. The latest in Bethe...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What if I told you there was a multi-player horror game that you could pick up for the low low price of a million dollars? Great deal, right!? Developer Bloody Bear tried the strangest marketing strategy for their game Spooky Men and now we have to talk about it. New Steam Game Costs $1 Million (gamerant.com) Well, it took months, but after all the procra...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s time to talk about Baldur’s Gate 3. Alex has been playing Larian’s new CRPG and has some thoughts on what the game does right in addressing central problems that have plagued the genre. So, we will be discussing pacing, combat and inventory management. Recently, a Polygon article suggested that we should accept save-scumming as the best way to play R...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Dadam inquired into games that we should have liked but really did not. We discuss some of the games that work for us IN THEORY but do not IN PRACTICE. Get ready to hear about some Souls-likes, Metroidvanias and Cozy Games. Alex is very excited to discuss the first support spec for World of Warcraft and how it has affected the game. So much so that he bro...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: There has been more UnEarthed Arcana from Wizards of the Coast looking at updates to the One D&D character classes. We picked three we liked and get to discuss them on this episode as Wizards will be looking for feedback later in August. The UnEarthed Arcana for One D&D - Unearthed Arcana Playtest - Unearthed Arcana - Sources - D&D Beyond (dnd...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan used ChatGPT and now his soul is trapped in limbo. But before that happened, he asked the AI to come up with the best adventure hook and… it gave him something. Let’s see how GPT did and give some useful notes on “The Lost Relic of Ages Past”. Patrick H. Willem’s breakdown of AI filmmaking - A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It's a Grift. - YouTub...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan went back to play the Mass Effect Trilogy thanks to the recent Legendary Edition release. However, now facing the ending of ME3, he has gotten a sudden reluctance to finish the last leg of his journey. Why is that happening? What prevents us from finishing a game even when we really like it? You wander into town and your party goes directly to the...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Photorealism is coming to games near you with the advancements in engine technology. But, perhaps it’s a good time to ask if realistic graphics are what we really want in our gaming experience. We talk about where we are going and what genres will benefit the most of photorealism. Also, which ones would be foolish to adopt it? Virtual Bamboo Grove | UE5 [...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Imagine coming back from your epic adventure to find that you were a legend that existed 1,000 years ago. Now what do you do? Are your parents still there? Does anyone recognize you? What was the last quest you went on? We explore another adventure hook as Nathan leads Alex down a time trippy rabbit hole. What if you took Stardew Valley and smashed it tog...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We now move away from limes you can plug into a computer and try looking at tabletop hacks that might be useful. How good are they? Can we come up with some better alternatives? Which ones have Alex already done? What if your party wanders into a town and no one is there? No people, no monsters, no animals. Just a recently abandoned town. Alex ponders thi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Life hacks are everywhere these days. But have you ever heard of gaming hacks? Well, Nathan ran across a video from 5 Minute Crafts claiming to give us “13 Gaming Hacks You Should Know” and has tasked Alex with rating them from “Must Have” to “Kill it with Fire”. 13 GAMING HACKS YOU SHOULD KNOW - YouTube Sometimes we have adventure hooks that needed more...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: The Xbox Showcase was surprisingly good and made some big announcements. What Nathan really wanted to discuss, though, was the amount of new IPs presented from established developers. So, let’s talk about those, including the one that made him VERY excited. [4K] Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct - YouTube Space is very vast and so goes the games base...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Cyan recently released their new VR game, Firmament, and it was met with less than stellar reviews compared to their previous efforts. It has now come out that they used AI-assistance to develop the game. How far did that assistance go? Did voice actors get credit for their work? What role should AI even play in art moving forward? Also, did you see this...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: So… Five Nights at Freddy’s is getting a major motion picture. This is happening and you can’t stop it. The question remains: Who is this made for and will it make children cry? Five Nights At Freddy's | Official Teaser - YouTube Nathan and Alex saw the Tetris movie, which we quickly have to clarify is NOT a documentary but a docu-drama. Sorry Alex wa...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Unreal Engine 5.2 has now released and we are starting to wonder how blurry the line between reality and fiction is going to be. While impressive tech spurs the imagination, we’re taking a moment to ask how the outside observer could even tell the difference between a photograph and in-game engine footage. Will the advanced tools change how studios make g...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: They found the spoon! And it’s all thanks to Pokemon Go! No, you don’t get more context for that yet. Giant Spoon Taken From Arizona Dairy Queen Found Arizona Dairy Queen Searching For Missing Giant Red Spoon Redfall is the latest title from Arkane and really marks a troubling downturn in quality from a great studio. Nathan played, or at least attempted t...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What would you do if you won a free lifetime of GamePass? Well, someone did and turned it down because of taxes. If you live outside the U.S. this might confuse you. Welcome to our world. A Gamer Declines a Lifetime Xbox Game Pass Due to Taxes (80.lv) I Won Game Pass Ultimate for Life and Declined the Prize (AKA: Taxes are a Bitch) We recently talked abou...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Ark is asking players to pay for the next-gen upgrade while taking the previous servers offline. This is totally a good and customer-friendly business model that will absolutely go over well with the fans. Do I have to explain that was sarcasm? https://kotaku.com/ark-2-survival-evolved-2-delay-ps5-upgrade-servers-1850293672 https://kotaku.com/game-pass-ar...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Last week, Klaus Teuber, the legendary game designer who created Catan, passed away. So, we are talking a bit about Catan, specifically the differences between the board game and the dice game that came later. How did the mechanics change in the process and what had to get sacrificed to make the switch? Nathan finally gets to talk about this modern classi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: E3 2023 has been cancelled. But not for the reasons it had been cancelled the last few years and that might bode really badly for future conventions. Has the digital age completely changed how video game companies release information to the public? E3 Has Been Canceled - IGN Stay awhile and listen. We played in the Diablo 4 open beta and had some thoughts...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Do you actually need a dedicated healer in your party? Can other D&D classes fill the role outside of the cleric, druid, paladin, etc. that might fill that role? Also, is it even a good idea to have a dedicated healer or is that counter-productive? That is what we are discussing on this week’s Crit Think. The 18 Best Healing Subclasses In D&D (the...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: In a follow-up to our discussion on the PS6, we talk about the main reason for the Sony document that got revealed. Intriguingly enough, it has little to do with the PS6 and far more to do with Call of Duty’s future on Sony consoles. What if GamePass gets Activision/Blizzard titles? What happens if they become exclusive to Microsoft? We will look at some...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Epic has launched self-publishing tools for their game store, making them more competitive against Steam, but they're playing by a slightly different set of rules. Will these set Epic apart? And will they get more games on the platform? We don't know, but we'll speculate. Epic launches self-publishing tools, calls out Valve again: 'Steam has created a rea...