Between The Joysticks

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...

We have dueling demos this week as a classic Ubisoft franchise returns with The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and the other JRPG of February, Granblue Fantasy: Relink (Not to be confused with the fighting game, like someone on this show did). We give our impressions of both. We have to wait until 2025 for the next season of The Last of Us but we have some big casting announcements to discuss. F...

Jon and Nick have both spent time in Valhalla and completed it so they take the time to review the surprisingly story heavy God of War Ragnarok DLC. It has been 6 months since we revisited our Top 10 PS5 games and it is time we make some replacements. We then continue our coverage of 2024 by taking a look at all the games vying for our attention in the first 3 months of 2024. Finally we of course...

2023 is over and now we look into 2024. Will this year be an even better year for gaming than last year? We talk about our most anticipated games of the year and do our best to remove the fog of war around 2024 and predict what might happen. Jon has gotten his hands on a PlayStation Portal and we get to hear what he and our listeners have to say about Sony’s bizarre new handheld. Nick has survived...

This is it. 2023 can be widely considered one of the greatest years of gaming and the PlayStation Pals look back and talk about the good, the bad and so much more. With that done we go into all 9 of our GOTY categories. All of the big outlets have released their winners but what do THE PlayStation Pals think of it all? Tune in to find out! Thank you all for listening to our first full year of the...

You played a lot of video games in 2023. But how much exactly? We dig into your year-end wrap-ups and spill all the dirty details on how you spent 2023. How is that Last of Us multiplayer project doing? Not good? Oof that is a bummer and we talk about it. Finally we touch on the “Official” death of E3 and on the return of our Video Game Character Battle Royale! Thanks for listening! Intro: Alan Wa...

The biggest night in gaming has come and gone and The PlayStation Pals hot off their reaction video have finalized their thoughts on the entire show. What did we think of the winners and losers of the award show? Did Spider-Man 2 get snubbed? We also touch on most of the “World Premieres” shown off at the show. You can find out which ones got us all hot and bothered. All this and much more in this...

THE GRAND THEFT AUTO 6 TRAILER IS HERE. I cannot believe it. You better have watched it. We return to Florida to get a glimpse of what Rockstar Games' next entry in the biggest franchise ever will look like even though we will have to wait for it. In more news we have the next big television adaptation, Fallout, getting a trailer. Fortnite is making some new game modes developed by some historic d...

The podcast gets taken over by its rivals, The Xbox Chums. So I hope you are ready for a lot of Xbox talk. This is mainly due to us discussing the week in news for Microsoft and the Xbox as things look dire. The Xbox Chums believe it is the darkest before the dawn as they look at ways Microsoft can improve the Xbox brand and console sales while debunking the theory of an “Xbox Tax”. After that we...

What if I told you depending on how you listened to this podcast you would unlock different endings? Would that be exciting or stress you out? It is a podcast so that does not happen but it does happen in the video game world and some of the best games over the past few years have different endings based on your in game choices. We talk about it. We also talk about that game we predicted just last...

You would think in a week where we finally got all of The Game Awards nominees that nothing could top that in this week of news, but two stories are wild enough that we barely believe it. We have confirmation that a Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer is coming and Nintendo is making a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. No joke! We talk about that and predict what “World Premieres” will show up and tea...

The PlayStation Pals are suited up and swinging into your ear drums to give you a SPOILER HEAVY discussion of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. What did we think about the events of the story? Were any of our predictions correct? Finally and most important question - which suit is the best? Find all that out and more as we look into the future of the franchise from here. Thanks for listening! Intro: Marvel’s...