YoVideogames!

Starting on a positive note: Astrobot has really landed with us. Granted, Matt thinks there's places to improve, but even then - it's a 9 or 9.5 at least. Sony is going to take the wrong lessons from this win I'm sure, but for now let's bask in a great exclusive for the PS5... Annnnnnd it's gone. The PS5 Pro was announced and as far as we can tell it is an 800 dollar nominal upgrade. (800 because...

Not the record it wanted... But a record nonetheless. In a shock move, just 10 days after it released, Sony announced that Concord is being pulled offline, and the dozens who bought it will get refunds. Does this mean that it is dead forever? There's some debate. It could come back as F2P - but then it may also just get totally shelved. This is probably very bad news for Sony's next big Live Servi...

In a twist, Nintendo dropped a double-direct earlier this week. Combining a Partner Direct with an always fun Indie Direct for a show that had some stunners in it. A few people seem to have run away with it, though. Imagining that this direct double feature portends a Switch 2 announcement soon. We don't think that's happening. At least not in the remainder of this year. In this episode we talk ab...

Positive up front: there was some cool stuff announced here. Not much gameplay, yeah, but still cool things coming. We don't go game by game. Rather we talk generally about the showing and then go into some loves and hates specifically. Tiny bit of cynicism: Everything was very safe. Which adds to our fears that the next year or two will be rough for the industry and this is only the beginning. Mu...

In case you had a hard time following the two-ish hour Xenoblade One Lorecast featuring Nico B - we have gone ahead and recorded a bonus DEFINITIVE EDITION episode. We got it to just over an hour and still fit in several inappropriate jokes along the way. Plus I make an obscure reference to the latest Planet of the Apes trilogy. What could possibly be the context for that in this episode? Listen a...

Taking a wee break from lore-castin to talk about some of the latest news. Definitive edition episode of the Xenoblade lorecast is coming later this week. For now: let's talk about Switch 2 news, Tango getting bought, where Phil Spencer really dropped the ball and other stories!

This is it! We're at the final, and arguably most difficult, part to explain.   Klaus is dead. The conduit is gone. The two worlds are at peace. For now. 12 years after the conduit has disappeared it seems the two universes are no longer stable and can't be held apart. They are crashing back together and annihilation is on the horizon! But Melia and Nia have a plan to back everyone up onto an Ark...

This week we are tackling Xenoblade Chronicles 2! We're back in our universe, on our Earth, with what remains of Klaus and the Trinity processor. The planet has been killed, and the conduit has gone quiet. Klaus is overcome with guilt and seeks redemption... Can he build a better world then the one he destroyed?

In Act One we covered the ancient history, now in Act Two we jump to the new universe where half-man Klaus, and Galea are the only living beings to make the jump. One of the Trinity processors makes the jump with them and because Klaus and Galea are administrators to its system it serves them here; giving these two the powers of gods...

Oh shiiii-- Did you see this coming? Did you know we were gonna try and explain one of the most dense and convoluted games entailing 25 years of writing and rewriting? Yes! Yes? Oh. Well okay, I guess it's no surprise. We've wanted to do this for a bit, but now... We begin our tale with ancient history. The discovery of The Conduit. An impossible machine, long buried on earth, and with its discove...

To celebrate American Independence Day, we're doing a fun one this week: just chatting about the American games industry over the years. We also find out that I know maybe more about Rollerblading than any of us ever knew (even me).

We're back! I moved across the country and had to catch up on Nintendo's presentation, so what's the verdict? To me: pretty good. Maybe even great really. I swing back and forth on it. Matt likes it too, though he points out that clearly Nintendo isn't "firing on all cylinders". What does this mean for the back half of 2024? While not a banner year, it looks like 2024 will be far from the desert I...

While we wait on Nintendo's upcoming Direct - let's talk about the rest of showcase season. Did Xbox pull off a victory? Did Sony make a strategic decision to hold back their biggest announcements? Did Ubisoft show they still make big games besides Assassin's Creed? I was able to attend the Xbox Games Showcase in person and Matt was able to attend Summer Games Fest in person. And that let us form...

Keighley tempered some hopes this past Sunday, saying this years Games Fest was going to be smaller. Personally, I think it took some balls to say it outright, rather than trick people into expecting huge news. Though that does beg the question - if he is tempering expectations: just how little will be announced? Also we talk about expectations for Xbox, namely that they had better melt some faces...

Sony kept its promise and held their State of Play on the very last day of the month they said it would happen. That can't possibly mean anything. For some, there were delightful surprises. Let's talk about those...

We gather here today to celebrate and mourn beloved IP dead and gone. Maybe to return (probably not though, who are we kidding).

Is the cost/benefit of cross over marketing worth it? Are these hit shows, movies, book series etc leading to more game sales? Are they expanding the brand value? I would argue that that isn't their purpose, or at least not the main purpose. Let's talk about why!

Plenty of industry news this past week and little of it good. Each of the big three had there own storm to weather. With Nintendo holding off investors, Sony fighting an army it created, and just this morning Microsoft announcing further studio cuts - there are storms ahead for each.

Remember that time we said E3 is dead and it seemed we were nuts? Granted we called it a little early, but still... Well... Sure looks like exclusivity is heading that way too.

Matt doesn't love Bethesda gameplay in general but Bethesda Fallout games hold a special place in his heart as examples of mediocre at best gameplay. But the Fallout Tv series just recently inspired a massive amount of people to play the games... So the Fallout story must be pretty good... But does that make up for poor gameplay? Are there other examples where this is the case?

This week's episode is all about the newest industry trend: extremely short marketing windows. Have you noticed that the window between announcement/first trailer and release has been getting shorter the last year or two? Turns out - it's an industry trend. We discuss the details and speculate on the pros and cons while also talking about diminishing returns of exclusivity.

I love multiplayer games. So, the last 15 years or so have been pretty great for me personally. But it is getting hard to deny that they have cornered themselves. In many ways, multiplayer as a concept is getting a little tired and the methods used to make them the hyper profitable juggernauts they are today - are drying up. This week's episode we are talking about the possibility of multiplayer s...

It's all but certain that Nintendo is launching a Switch 2 in 2025. I'd like to hope maybe they do it Holiday 2024, but it's doubtful. An odd thing about Nintendo and the final year of each console generation? They're almost always pretty dry years... And if 2024 is any indication? Switch 2 is coming EARLY 2025 at the latest.

For most of us, the original Xbox was a bit of a blip. It had good games but compared to the other consoles it seemed bulky, inept, unrefined even. During its first few years most gamers would have argued it was a forgettable system - even if they loved Halo. But what if it had never happened? If Microsoft looked at the game industry in the late 90s and decided it wasn't worth jumping into? Would...

Continuing our What If series with another Nintendo Alt History: we're exploring the timeline where GameCube was a success. Do we get the Wii? The Switch? Does Nintendo pursue their "Blue Ocean" strategy at all? Does Xbox have the same level of success? All questions connected to Nintendo's less than stellar GameCube generation.