The #NOTplaying Podcast

It all seems so long ago now, but this year's E3 was truly a blinder. So much went down in LA a couple of weeks ago that it's all we'll be talking about for the next few shows. In this first part, we'll be discussing the presence of VR at the show and indeed just before it at Oculus's own event, where they unveiled the first consumer version of the Oculus Rift, the new Oculus Touch Controllers and...

After the megatons that went off at last week's E3, this episode might seem a bit long in the tooth, since it's mostly covering the Assassin's Creed Syndicate reveal and some other bits from the Ubisoft investor call a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, we recorded it, so here is to listen to. We'll be back with a more timely E3 shakedown next week! Until then, enjoy! The division delayed to 2016 http:/...

So it looks like Oculus are finally ready to show their hand and release the first consumer version of their Rift HMD in the first quarter of 2016. The final hardware was unveiled at Oculus's own event in San Francisco last week, but before that we had details of the release date and the recommended system spec you'll need for what Oculus are calling 'the full rift experience'. On this show we dis...

With 2015's Electronic Entertainment Expo just a few days away, we thought it might be a good time to mention some of the rumours surrounding this year's expanded range of press conferences and cast our own predictions about what might go down therein. Rumours of a 20-30 min Fallout 4 presentation at Bethesda's debut event seem even more likely given last week's big reveal and PC Gaming is set to...

Finally! Geralt of Rivia is back in arguably the biggest and best Witcher game to date - and we've all been playing it! Hear us wax lyrical about how amazing it is before moaning about some of it's shortcomings. Bear in mind at the time of recording we'd only been able to sink a few hours into it, so this won't be the last we have to say about it! Patrick's also been playing Wolfenstein - The Old...

It's taken a while, but after multiple delays Grand Theft Auto V is finally out on PC and while Rob's not had that much time with it, Iain's been having a ball with GTA Online, Rockstar's fully featured multiplayer complement. Meanwhile Patrick's been checking out the early access Trine 3, Adam & Rob have been exploring Elite: Dangerous's recently introduced community goals system and Rob also doe...

On this week's show we contemplate what Telltale and Marvel working together might mean for gaming, we talk about the recent gameplay footage of Avalanche's two imminent open-world games (Just Cause 3 & Mad Max) and we discuss the rumours of which direction the next Mass Effect game might be taking. We also have some news on some games we most definitely will #NOT be playing any time soon.... (RIP...

On this week's show we look at some of the new game announcements and reveals from the past few weeks, including DICE & EA's Star Wars themed shooter, Battlefront, the next installment of the Deus Ex saga, the continuing cynical franchise shenanigans of the Guitar Hero and Assassin's Creed 'brands', the amusingly titled Totar War: Warhammer and a couple of indie kickstarter projects in Jotun and L...

On this week's show we discuss the controversy surrounding Valve and Bethesda's decision to monetize it's vibrant mod community and why they so quickly backpedaled on the idea. And we banged on for so long about it there was barely time to mention anything else, except perhaps a certain BBC Drama currently being made about the creation of GTA... all this and sadly not much more on a notably topica...

It's time once again to talk about some games we actually haven't #NOT been playing and we begin this week with Obsidian's Kickstarter-funded masterpiece, Pillars of Eternity, which has sent Rob into something of a nostalgia frenzy. Meanwhile, Patrick has been checking out platformer, Ori & The Blind Forest and Iain has stepped back into The Elder Scrolls Online now it's gone FTP ...and it's hardl...

Last month Rob & Patrick paid a visit to the Eurogamer Rezzed Expo in London, where they got to play a whole bunch of cool new indie games like the GearVR exclusive Omega Agent, Mike Bithell's 'Thomas Was Alone Follow Up', Volume & the Dungeon Master inspired VR dungeon crawl, Crystal Rift. It was also the same day and location of this year's Games BAFTAs, so we take some time to discuss the winne...

After last week's post-GDC wrap up, this week's news is all about the games. New games coming out soon (Wolfenstein - The Old Blood), DLC for games we've already played (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity), delays of games (Uncharted 4, Arkham Knight), innovative alternative payment models for MMO games (WoW) and our thoughts on some recently revealed footage of games (Final Fantasy XV)....

Not all that went down at GDC last month had occured when we last recorded, so on this week's show we're catching up on a few of the more technical/development/hardware-related stories that have happened since, including the controversy surrounding Nintendo's recent play for the mobile market, Sony & Valve/HTC's increasing VR profile and the demise of seminal Sim-studio, Maxis. All this and more o...

On this week's show Iain's been grappling with Techland's latest zombie romp, Dying Light, Adam's been exploring the galaxy in Elite Dangerous and Rob's been blowing shit up in Far Cry 4. All this and more on another #NOTplaying Podcast all about what we haven't #NOT been playing... Dying Light http://dyinglightgame.com/?lang=en_UK Elite Dangerous http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-05-elite...

Frequent listeners to this show may have noticed over the past 60 something episodes that some of us have become as enamored with the business of making games as we are about playing them, so we thought it would be rude not to devote an episode to some of the exciting news that came out of GDC earlier this month. The major highlight would have to be Valve & HTC's new VR system, Vive, which promise...

A promise from Peter Molyneux is something we've begun to value less and less over the years, yet his child-like optimism can still charm the most cynical of us. This was really put to the test a few week's back in the wake of a couple of press interviews that probably did even more damage than the controversy he was seeking to address. Now with the dust settling, here's our take on the unmitigate...

Bit of a rapid-fire news roundup this week, including the BAFTA Game nominations, some delays (GTA V) and cancellations (Shadow Realms RIP), a bunch of new game announcements (Trine 3 & more) and word of an alliance between Telltale and Lionsgate entertainment to create some kind of TV Show/Videogame original crossover IP Hybrid. Who knows what that could end up being? All this and more on an abso...

Not content with having the biggest smartphones ever made, Patrick and Iain now insist on wearing them on their faces. That might sound like a joke - and it is - but that's essentially what the Gear VR is, consisting of a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone with a HMD accessory to leverage that 1440p screen for the first untethered and commercial VR experience out there. Patrick and Iain both share t...

Despite still being knee-deep in Q4 2014 AAA Open World madness, we did manage to find a couple of hours to throw at Square's new episodic adventure, Life is Strange, which repurposes Dontnod's trial & error memory mechanic from their previous game, Remember me, into a time-travelling coming of age story. Also - Iain finally finished Pandemic Studios's 2009 swansong, The Sabouteur and Rob's been b...

This past week or so has been a sad time for the Videogame Industry, especially for the fine folk over at Joystiq, who have not only had to deal with AOL closing down their operation, but also the loss of ex-staffer Andrew Yoon, who died tragically in a lake accident on the 30th January. Andrew was a regular contributor on the late great Weekend Confirmed Podcast and if it weren't for that show (a...

So we're already into February, but it's still early enough in the world of videogames for us to be discussing what we're looking forward to playing in 2015. Sure, Dying Light and a few other things are already out, but most of this year's heavy hitters are still a ways off. Grand Theft Auto V for PC was recently delayed to March and The Witcher 3 moved to May, putting it in worryingly close proxi...

We're well into 2015 now so apologies for taking so long to get this episode out! Long term listeners will likely already have a good idea of what made it into our final GOTY conversation though. Read no further if you prefer not to be spoiled, our combined (and weighted score derived) #NOTplaying Top 5 of 2014 is as follows: 5. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter ( http://ethancartergame.com ) 4. Middl...

So many massive games came out at the end of last year that we thought we'd wait until we actually had time to play and digest some of them before we decided on our favourite games of 2014. So the votes have been counted, but you'll have to wait until next week to find out what actually made the cut. Here then, is a conversation about the games that didn't quite make it into our top 5s. The runner...

While it was always Geoff Keighley's noble intention to create an annual awards ceremony truly befitting the games industry freed from it's Spike TV origins, what it means most of all to us gamers is a first glimpse of what we might (#NOT) be playing in a year or so's time. Indeed, the number of trailers premiering at this and Sony's Playstation Experience event in Vegas the other weekend almost p...

On this week's show we journey into the heart of Thedas in Bioware's much anticipated fantasy RPG sequel, Dragon Age: Inquisition. Well, Rob and Adam do anyway. Patrick and Iain were too busy investigating The Forest's recently added Co-op multiplayer functionality. Also on the 'Early Access .Survive' slate this week is 'The long Dark' and there's just enough time to check out the Eskimo Plaform P...