Between The Joysticks

We here at the podcast are big fans of the video game publisher Electronic Arts. We loved their decision to include loot boxes in many of their titles, including Mass Effect: Andromeda, FIFA and Star Wars: Battlefront II. We believe the original ending of Mass Effect 3 was masterful storytelling. Finally it was smart for EA to close legendary studios like Westwood, Visceral, and Bullfrog. Electron...

Jon is extra spicy this week. Be warned! We get into what makes him spicy as he dives deeper in GOTY contender, FF7 Rebirth. Speaking of that - what games will be nominated for GOTY? We dig into it. There is also some drama involving the new Dragon Age and of course we touch on it and Nick gives his early impressions. We are also 4 YEARS into this console generation - what do we think of it so far...

We return from our one-week hiatus to tackle all of the news and video games during that time. Jon and Nick tackle your emails to start things off. Then we get into the news items: Insomniac says no DLC for Spider-Man 2, COD has launched day-in-date on Game Pass and finally Xbox shows off some new games from developers in its Partner Preview. We then tackle multiple games including a L3 + R3 momen...

A 2 hour podcast?!?! Who approved this? Nick and Jon kick things off by answering listener emails - What games do we want sequels to? What games did we finish because we felt we had to? Then Nick visits the town of Silent Hill as Bloober Team’s well reviewed remake has its hooks in him. He also has read the new book about the inside workings of Blizzard Entertainment by Jason Schreier and gives hi...

Microsoft doubles down on the franchise that launched it into the console space, Halo, by rebranding its internal studio 343 to a more aptly named title. Ubisoft is having a rough year - Skull & Bones, Star Wars: Outlaws, a delayed Assassin’s Creed game, so what can they do to right the ship?. We then get into the first spooky game of October… which is a dating sim? Trust us as Doki Doki Literatur...

Fall continues to drop more big releases and we have our early impressions of two of them: Nintendo’s next Zelda title and the next game from the creators of Persona 5, Metaphor: ReFantazio. We also dig into the mailbag to talk about overcoming horror video games and PlayStations lack of first party titles. We then continue our Game of the Year Flashback segment with one of the best years of video...

Good thing we got ahead of it because a September PlayStation State of Play happened! We talk about all of the big announcements from the show: Ghost of Yoten, The Midnight Walk, Pal World and so much more. We also have tons of listener emails including questions about: franchises we want made into games, our video game turns ons and offs and how we got into PlayStation in the first place. For 2 t...

We continue the discussion from last week about PlayStation’s PS5 Pro reveal and how it will ripple through the console hardware space. Speaking of PS5 Pro, a lot of people will feel better if PlayStation “showcases” some games that will take advantage of it in the much rumored upcoming State of Play. Nick and Jon have some really solid predictions for it. Jon reviews Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: T...

The PlayStation Pals return in a very PlayStation centric episode. The worst kept secret, the PS5 Pro, is announced with an outrageous price. Astro Bot is out so Nick and Jon gush about the gameplay and homages in the highest reviewed video game of the year. We also tackle a listener email about the lack of PlayStation new IP’s. Nick has finished Star Wars Outlaws and reviews it. Finally, we get b...

Jon mentioned something drastic would need to be done last episode to save the fledgling Concord and who would've thought they would pull the plug on the 11 day old game. Nick has been busy in a galaxy far far away with the adorable Nix in Star Wars Outlaws. Nintendo runs back to back showcases of both its indie and third party offerings and we highlight the games we liked. Finally the show is onl...

We have a Gamescom hangover after our last episode but still find a way to talk about so many things. We talk about the 3 big upcoming games that showed more (or didn’t) at Gamescom. Two big releases are out and review poorly in Concord and Star Wars: Outlaws. Jon gets excited about PlayStations push in China, India and the Middle East. Finally lets get into the games we have been playing as Jon p...

Geoff Keighley invites you to the biggest video game convention in Europe, Gamescom, with his opening ceremony Opening Night Live. We talk about all of the big announcements - Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast, Mafia: The Old Country and more from the showcase. But wait there is even more! We answer listener emails, discuss a few games who got added to the Fall release schedule and talk about...

Nick invites you to Metropolis as his love of the developer Rocksteady could not keep him from their latest entry, the critically panned and commercially unsuccessful, Suicide Squad: Kill The Jusice League. Moving on we have another news heavy week to talk about. Krafton swoops in to save Tango Gameworks? Yes, that really happened. A new video game adaptation hits the big screen and bombs, spectac...

Nick invites you to the ridiculously silly town of Barnsworth in the newly released indie darling Thank Goodness You’re Here and gives his impressions and review. We have a lot of news to talk about too. Max gives a taste of Season 2 of The Last of Us. Microsoft’s release schedule causes them to delay Avowed. A big shakeup at Bungie causes more layoffs at the much lauded studio. Finally we are two...

We are back with an extra long episode to talk about so many things. PlayStation announces not one but TWO limited edition controllers. It is the end of an era as the industry defining Xbox 360 digital store is officially shut down. We also try to quantify what makes a video game successful as the goal posts adjust on a per game (and service) basis. Finally we touch on a lot of video games as our...

Firewalk Studios invites you to the Concord Galaxy this past weekend and this upcoming weekend to try PlayStation’s first entry into the live service genre. Nick and Jon have their impressions of what they have played so far. The Nintendo Switch passes an important milestone and the roller coaster ride of Xbox news hits a low point with some significant changes to its flagship service, Game Pass....

We have a stacked podcast for you today. Two free-to-play games come out on the same day and we have impressions of each. Jon has played a record setting 4 different games since we last recorded so of course we have to touch on that. This weekend is the closed beta for PlayStation’s first entry in its Games as a Service push and we go into what we would like to see from Firewalk’s debut game, Conc...

Welcome to Between The Weebs, an anime podcast. Not really, but we spend some time with Jon’s new obsession. So much to talk about this week! Capcom casually mentions the next entry in Resident Evil, Shadow of the Erdtree continues to dominate the landscape and remakes continue to be a hot industry trend. Finally we celebrate Independence Day and Canada Day by talking about patriotic video games....

Rest at a site of grace Tarnished. It is time to take a break from Shadow of the Erdtree to hear us talk more Shadow of the Erdtree! We talk about the highest rated DLC of all time. Nick dives into the indie horror game Signalis and gives his eerie confused impressions. Finally we give our awards for the winners (and losers) of this year’s “Not-E3” E3. We then put on our sneaking suits to answer a...

We are officially a centenarian as the podcast turns 100 episodes old! Nintendo helps us celebrate by continuing “Not-E3” E3 by having a surprise Nintendo Direct. Not only is the time of announcement to showcase a surprise but also Nintendo is not content with letting the Switch die a quiet death and surprising us with some Fall titles that look really good. With the “Fog of War” lifted for the Fa...

“Not-E3” E3 is here and while Summer Game Fest was not as good as we had hoped, here comes Xbox giving us a true E3 experience in one of the strongest video game showcases may I say… ever? We also have Ubisoft Forward giving us a look at its two big AAAA titles coming later this year in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws. We talk about all the highlights and musings we had during a HUG...

What a big week this is… because it is Jon’s Birthday!. We celebrate another year on this planet for our amazing co-host. Has anything else happened since last week? Oh right PlayStation surprised us with a State of Play! We go over the 14 games shown at the showcase. We continue our “Not-E3” E3 hype by covering the 5 showcases that will occur between now and Episode 99. What can we expect to see?...

Why not in Episode 97 talk about X-Men 97? Jon gets Nick to give his thoughts on the animated revival. We ditch our normal format to cover the video game industry. We cover the big news as Call of Duty is confirmed for Game Pass, Jeffrey Wright reprises his role in The Last of Us Television show and some juicy rumors including a new Doom and Astro Bot title. We then move into the games we have bee...

Where is that Sony Showcase? We touch on that. While Sony has been quiet the hype continues into this summer as we get a reveal trailer for the next entry in Assassin’s Creed while 2K is teasing something big at Geoff Keighly’s summer event. Rumor has it Microsoft plans to make a big splash this summer by having a big Activision title a Day 1 Game Pass game. They also just released the visually st...

Who had a worse week? Sony or Microsoft? We discuss the big events of last week and have an amazing discussion of each topic. Less than a month from now are a bunch of conferences that beg for your attention. What will this summer bring for video game announcements? An indie game makes a case for GOTY and Nick and Jon have impressions of Animal Well. We also talk about Hades II, Assassin’s Creed S...