The 2024 finalists for the Strong Museum's Video Game Hall of Fame have been announced, highlighting another selection of influential titles from across multiple eras. This week, we're taking a break from the doom and gloom of recent video game headlines to play Keep It or Kill It with the 40 games that have been voted into the Hall of Fame since i…

Shockingly, Nintendo has decided that it likes having a $1.3 billion grossing movie and would like another. On Mar10 Day, Shigeru Miyamoto graced the internet with the announcement that the company is hard at work on a sequel to the wildly successful Super Mario Bros. movie. But that wasn't the only news we got last week about video game film adapt…

For the last several months, it seems like video game news has been little more than a layoff-of-the-week carousel. With a fairly bleak release schedule ahead, upcoming projects getting canceled left and right, and the industry as a whole barely recognizable from the pandemic booms just a few years ago, it's worth asking... are we on the brink of a…

Lay Off Fest 2K24 continues as Sony announced on Tuesday it will be laying off 8% of PlayStation employees around the world, or 900 people. The layoffs will affect even major PlayStation studios (such as Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerilla Games, etc.) that are home to some of the company's most successful IP, like The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider-Man:…

With PlayStation's recent announcement that it won't have any new entries in its major first party IP this year and Xbox's big "business update" being little more than a meeting that should have been an email, it's time to admit it -- the console wars just aren't what they used to be. In fact, it seems like both Sony and Microsoft have different am…

A new report is shedding light on just how much EA invested in its single-player FPS Immortals of Aveum, which received mixed reviews and was deemed a financial flop, resulting in about 45% of the studio's workforce being laid off shortly after release. The studio's CEO blames the packed release schedule of 2023 that put Immortals of Aveum up again…

Rumors have been in circulation for weeks that Microsoft might publish some of its exclusive games on competing consoles. Microsoft has neither publicly confirmed nor denied the report, but on Monday, Xbox boss Phil Spencer posted on X, “We're listening and we hear you. We've been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forwar…

Sony's first State of Play of 2024 brought over 40 minutes of updates on more than 15 games coming to PlayStation consoles, including Rise of The Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Sonic x Shadow Generations, and more. We discuss all the biggest announcements from the showcase, including our favorites and... not so favorites. We'll also be ta…

Palworld, the game that's accurately been described as “Pokémon with guns” has been a punchline since its announcement in 2021. However, within three days of its January 18th release, it sold 5 million copies and became the #1 game on Twitch. With its derivative yet winning formula and plagiarized-ish art style, could this little game from an unkno…

Just in time for the rebranding of its subscription service to Ubisoft+ and the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft has found another way to make sure its name is at the forefront of gamers' minds this month. Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft, has stated "gamers are used to...having and owning their games. Tha…

CES, “the most powerful tech event in the world,” kicked off its 2024 event in Las Vegas on January 9th. While CES bills itself as “the only trade show that showcases the entire tech landscape at one event,” the gaming industry has already been getting its fair share of headlines. So for our main topic this week, we’re looking at a roundup of CES 2…

Once again, it's prediction time! As is tradition, we look at predictions from industry analysts for the coming year and review how well they guessed last year. Then it's our turn to grade our 2023 predictions before gazing into the crystal ball and making our own forecasts for 2024. We'll also be discussing the shocking revelation that a 13 year-o…

2023 was a blockbuster year for video games, the likes of which we'll probably not see again any time soon. So before we flip the calendar to 2024, let's take a moment to remember the best of the best of an absolutely epic year of new titles. We'll also be discussing how China is in damage-control mode after its crackdown on video games sparked an …

The year is coming to a close, and what a year it's been for video game news! We're joined by Patrick Brickhouse of the Retro Blast Podcast to remember the biggest gaming headlines of 2023, as well as discuss where we hope the industry goes from here. We'll also be talking about how the Insomniac hackers have made good on their threat to release co…

The Electronics Entertainment Expo was finally taken off life support earlier this week, its epitaph being a brief statement reading, “After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories.” It was a long time coming. Although no one who has been paying any attention can say they…

The Game Awards celebrated the technical and artistic achievements of the video game industry on Thursday night, ending with the naming of the role-playing adventure Baldur’s Gate 3 as game of the year. The awards show in Los Angeles also served as one long commercial for upcoming games, including a new look at Jurassic Park, OD (the a new horror t…

You may want to sit down for this one. Consulting firm Deloitte predicted this week that the landscape of storytelling is undergoing a monumental shift, and the convergence of film, TV, and video games is reshaping entertainment, blurring the boundaries between cinematic and game world universes. In other words, the future holds more video game ada…

Millions of gamers will be tuning in on Thursday, December 7, to see which games win which awards at The Game Awards 2023. However, it's safe to say that most are interested in which game will take home the coveted Game of the Year prize. We continue our cutthroat tradition from last year by competing against each other to see who can make the most…

Shigeru Miyamoto temporarily took over Nintendo’s Twitter on Tuesday to announce a Legend of Zelda live action film. Such a film has been rumored to be in development for years, and this is no doubt inspired by the success of Nintendo’s animated Super Mario Bros. However, the early announcements on who will be helming the film are leaving us... a b…

Xbox has released a patch that quashes various third-party accessories not explicitly authorized by Microsoft. Any device that Xbox doesn’t license will now receive a “0x82d60002” error code. Users then have two weeks before the Xbox disables it, permanently blocking the device (although Microsoft has said there "should" be no issue with players us…

Nintendo caused a stir across its competitive fanbase this week when it announced new guidelines regulating community tournaments, defining the terms that organizers would have to follow in order to qualify as a small-scale event (allowing for them to function without an official license from Nintendo). Reaction to the guidelines has been nearly un…

This year, Gamers Week was invited to host the Blockbuster World Video Game Championships IV at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2023! Now fresh off our flights home, we recap our entire crazy experience -- the good, the bad, and the unexpectedly heartwarming. We'll also be talking about how Sony has finally confirmed the heavily rumored PlayStation …

Things have come a long way since the original Resident Evil 4's infamous mobile version more than a decade ago, and now Resident Evil Village runs natively on iOS, bringing AAA console parity to the mobile gaming market. We discuss what this development might mean for the future of not only mobile gaming, but ALL video games. Are we (*gasp!*) fina…

Epic Games has announced its laying off roughly 16% of its workforce, resulting in around 830 employees losing their jobs. Epic president Tim Sweeney states that these departures will not come at the expense of game development and that Epic will still be hiring for “critical roles.” We discuss this mass layoff in light of other recent Epic headlin…

In what’s being cited as the biggest leak in the company’s history, Microsoft revealed a massive amount of information about forthcoming Xbox refreshes, next-gen systems, and more after uploading a series of unredacted documents to a court website as part of the ongoing Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft case. We discuss the headlines included i…

For years, the Unity Engine has operated with a royalty-free licensing structure, which meant developers incurred no extra costs based on how well a game sold. On Tuesday, however, the company announced a new fee structure that will start charging developers on a "per-install" basis. "We're not nickel-and-diming people," Unity CEO John Riccitiello …

With SAG-AFTRA members already on strike against films and TV shows, voting is now underway to authorize a separate strike against the video game industry. The guild’s leaders are saying that a dual strike, if it comes to that, “makes sense” because the issues at stake in both contracts (namely wages and unregulated AI use) “mirror” each other. We …

Starfield officially launches on Wed, Sept. 6, although players with the Constellation edition or Premium edition upgrade can get access five days earlier. But even though it’s not quite out yet, the headlines this week have been buzzing about Bethesda’s newest RPG. So for our main topic, we’re looking at a roundup of Starfield headlines, including…

Gamescom Opening Night Live has officially kicked off, bringing with it dozens of new trailers and deep dives into upcoming games, including Black Myth Wukong, Little Nightmares III, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and more. We go over the show's biggest announcements and discuss what we're most excited (and not so excited) to see in the year to come. We'…

A video by IGN claiming “Baldur’s Gate 3 is Causing Some Developers to Panic” has stirred up quite a buzz in the gaming world this week. The video (which suggests that game devs are unhappy about being expected to meet the high standard set by titles like Baldur's Gate 3) already has over a million views on YouTube alone. The idea has struck a cord…

Rockstar has been teasing a new announcement in the Red Dead universe for awhile now, and this week, the project was finally revealed: a port of 2010's Red Dead Redemption coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4/PS5. Not a remaster. Not a remake. A literal port. And it boasts a $50 price tag, very high for a 13 year old game that's not getting any signif…

According to anonymous sources, development kits for Nintendo’s next console are now with key partner studios, and the console's launch is planned for next year. Although specific details on the console are being kept closely guarded, Nintendo has previously stated that it wants to convert as many of the Switch’s 100m+ user base as possible to its …

This week, reports surfaced that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board is partnering with Yoti, a digital identity firm, to use facial age estimation tech to check the ages of users. Even though the ESRB later clarified that this technology is intended to be used on parents rather than children, concerns over the tech don't stop there. We discus…

Both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are currently on strike. The strike effectively puts a stop to most film and TV production in the US, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be letting up anytime soon. But this is just a Hollywood problem, right? Not quite. We di…

The FTC has moved to appeal the recent court order ruling not to grant the temporary injunction to block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard merger from moving forward. This news comes a mere day after Microsoft won its court battle against the FTC, with the court ultimately ruling that Microsoft's acquisition would not "substantially lessen competitio…

One of the more jaw-dropping leaks to come from the Microsoft FTC trial is the confirmation that both Horizon: Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2 cost Sony more than $200 million to develop. With AAA games getting bigger and bigger (and taking longer and longer to make), will there come a time when that bubble bursts? We discuss the possible …

Microsoft went to court on June 22nd to face the Federal Trade Commission in a five-day case that will determine the future of its $69 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Over the course of the trial, gamers have been treated to an array of insider info that would have normally remained under lock and key. So for our main topic thi…

A brand-new Nintendo Direct was shadow-dropped this week, and it just may be the best showcase of the summer. The show lasted a bit over 40 minutes and was filled with tons of exciting announcements, including a remake of SNES' Super Mario RPG, a remaster of 3DS' Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, a brand-new game starring Princess Peach, and the coup de …

The Xbox Games Showcase 2023 brought a ton of content, giving us a good idea of what to expect on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and PC for the foreseeable future. The Starfield Direct aired immediately after and gave us our first in-depth look at the game's exploration, combat, customization, and even a strange new power for the player character…

Summer Game Fest, the summer's premier gaming showcase, has officially wrapped up after dropping announcements for several new titles as well as in-depth looks at previously announced games. We discuss the show's biggest names, including Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Sonic Superstars, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and more. We…

The recent release date announcement for Alan Wake 2 came alongside news that developer Remedy Entertainment and publisher Epic Games currently have "no plans to release Alan Wake 2 on disc." In many ways, it's not that surprising. The number of players buying games on discs has been shrinking in the past decade, and physical releases have only bec…

After a nearly two-year wait, PlayStation Showcase is finally back to share what’s next for first-party, third-party, and indie games on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2. We discuss the highlights and lowlights of the presentation, including Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Sony's strange Project Q. We'll also be…

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has only been officially available for a few days, but Nintendo has already confirmed that it's the fastest-selling Zelda game ever. In an industry enamored with trendy titles that are online, multiplayer, free-to-play, battle royale, and riddled with season passes and microtransactions, should the massive …

Best-of video game lists usually offer predictable rankings of the greatest games of all time. GQ Magazine set out to do things differently by inviting industry "experts" to rank their top games based on their own individual criteria. We discuss the resulting list, including what titles we feel don't belong and which ones we think were left out. We…

Redfall has finally launched, but Microsoft may be wishing they'd left this one on the shelf. What was once anticipated as one of the biggest releases of the year (and certainly a crucial release for the Xbox platform) is instead being called the worst AAA release in recent memory. We"re joined by Rob from the Retro Game Club Podcast to discuss the…

If Nintendo continues its current pattern, the Gamecube will be the next console added to the Nintendo Switch Online service. As one of Nintendo's more underloved consoles, there's a wealth of excellent games waiting to be discovered by a whole new audience. We discuss the titles likely to make the service's launch lineup (if and when it arrives), …

Sega has officially confirmed that it is planning to acquire Rovio Entertainment, a deal that will see the video game company pay $776 million for the Angry Birds developer. Sega says that acquiring Rovio will allow it to strengthen its own mobile game portfolio, and at the same time, it'll be able to use its video game console expertise to help Ro…

In the past week or so, a few reports have emerged about Sony having a new handheld device in the pipeline. The commercial case for Sony re-entering that market is tough to make, however, Sony will never fully accept ceding the handheld space to Nintendo, especially in the company's native Japan. We debate the pros and cons of Sony's possible retur…

Since the first trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we've known that the game is basically going to be more Breath of the Wild. In fact, when it comes to selling audiences "more of the same," nobody does it better than Nintendo. But is that really a bad thing? We're joined by Kenny Thomas of the Leetist Podcast to debate the meri…

You know her for her roles in NBA JAM, the Aerosmith game Revolution X, and of course, the sacred role of the toughest woman in video games, Mortal Kombat's Sonya Blade. Yes, this week, we're joined by Kerri Ann Hoskins to talk about her history with video games, her behind-the-scenes stories of Mortal Kombat, and what she REALLY thinks about those…