Between The Joysticks

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...

Jon broke and purchased the game that is more than just the sum of its protagonist's assets, Stellar Blade, and gives his early impressions. Xbox teams up with IGN for another showcase focusing on indie games and we highlight some of the games shown. Speaking of “indie games” Nick has completed and Platinumed the wonderful Dave the Diver and gives his review. Finally, we finish strong by talking a...

We follow up on our thoughts on the latest video game adaptation, Fallout before moving on to the reviews of upcoming Stellar Blade - does it live up to the hype? We then move on as another JRPG enters the fray for 2024. Nick has played both Hi-Fi Rush and Dave the Diver has opposite opinions on each. We also touch on the topic of death in video games, an integral mechanic. Finally we end our 3rd...

6 things to talk about? Woo-hoo! There is a television adaptation of one of video games most popular franchises, Fallout, and we have our impressions. Ubisoft shows off more of Star Wars Outlaws and manages to walk into a PR disaster with the pre-order options. Are gamers sick of gaming business practices or Star Wars? We argue about it. We discuss our backlog of video games and what we should be...

We cover an industry report that breaks down the numbers over the last few years in gaming. Is the industry truly in a doom and gloom scenario? We discuss it. Nick has finally completed Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and gives his full review of the game. How long will it take Jon to complete it? We start the show touching on a ton of news, including some prominent games coming to PlayStation Plus, the...

What term should we use for an all encompassing video game that sucks the oxygen out of the video game industry when it releases? We find the term to describe that game. We click in both joysticks as we both have played Stellar Blade. Since Judas is so high on our list of most anticipated games, we discuss the other 4 games that would inhabit that list.. Finally we start Round 3 of our Video Game...

We got to hear some impressions of Ken Levine’s long awaited next game Judas. Do the impressions of the game raise our excitement level? March 22nd was a big day for video games and we talk about the reviews (10 point scale of course) for all 3 games. Xbox exclusive Hi-Fi Rush has been released on PlayStation 5 and Nick gives his very early impressions of it because Final Fantasy VII Rebirth conti...

We listen to your thoughts on the show's review scale and make some changes. More leaks are out about the PS5 Pro and it looks to be the highest performing console ever. We talk about it and discuss if there is a market for this boutique console. Jon has been playing with Jokers in the indie hit Balatro and gives his impressions. We then break down what elements of video games draw us to them. Is...

We are late but back with another great episode. Nick shotguns the news of the week and we talk about the Xbox Partner Preview. Nick believes Rebirth is GOTY already while Jon struggles to talk about his impressions of Super Mario Bros. Wonder without using the word wonderful. We then get into an argument talking about review scales. Which one is correct? Finally the time has come for Isaac Clarke...

One of the biggest games of the year is out and Nick has seen the early hours of it as he spends time with Avalanche in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. We also continue gushing about our time giving insects a dose of freedom in Helldivers II. Jon brings another game out of left field with indie auto battler Brotato. Finally we continue battling our video game characters with a surprising matchup for ne...

We return with Episode 85 (Take 2) as we lost the original episode from last week. This leads us to catching up on the big stories of the week including both an Elden Ring trailer and Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty presenting the future of Xbox. Both Jon and Nick have been spreading Democracy in the wildly successful Helldivers 2 and give their impressions. We also give our impressions of...

We have a new name! Listen to us introduce ourselves (again). We have played a lot of video games including the demo for FF7: Rebirth, Foamstars, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Tears of the Kingdom. We then go into how to tackle your pesky backlog and finish with two more battles in our Video Game Character Battle Royale. Thanks for listening! Intro: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth 6 Things: - State...

The PlayStation Pals branding is coming to an end and holy cow what an episode to end it on! Rumors are swirling that Microsoft is considering bringing all of its major titles to PlayStation and that would bring doom for the Xbox hardware. Sony held a 40 minute long State of Play last week and we touched on all the big announcements including not one, but two Kojima games. Finally we continue even...

It is time to clash fists because not only has a classic fighting game returned in Tekken 8 but we move on to Round 2 of our long running Video Game Character Battle Royale. Last week we talked about the Xbox Developer Direct and now it is PlayStation's turn as we have a State of Play coming this week with some incredibly juicy rumors attached to it. We also give you a peek into our video game fan...

You would think in an episode in which we gush about The Last of Us Part II Remastered that we could prevent our rivals, The Xbox Chums, from taking over the podcast. This is mainly due to the GamePass game Palworld being a surprise hit and we also got a look at multiple games from Xbox, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, in their Xbox Developer Direct 24. Nick also has impressions of t...