This week on Pause Screen: Kaz continues her journey back through Warcraft III: reforged and her Night Elf Hate knows no bounds.  Kyle give his review of Darksiders Genesis sans the Leviathan maze (screw that part), dabbles in the Bleeding Edge beta and shares his story on how he (almost) beat Hungrybox at Smash Ultimate.  William got to spend some quality time with Fire Emblem 3 Houses and he is very happy about it!  In the news we talk about the record breaking Sonic movie opening, the Animal Crossing Direct, Star Craft: Ghost leaked footage and more. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Sonic movie is now the biggest opening ever for a video game movie. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2490463/sonic-the-hedgehogs-director-cant-stop-wont-stop-celebrating-its-record-breaking-opening
• Nintendo had an Animal Crossing direct today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcsiD3nNzA4
• Half-Life Alyx has an official release date of 3/23/2020
• System Shock 3 is effectively dead, which is sad https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-02-09-report-system-shock-3-development-team-is-no-longer-employed
• A playable build of Starcraft: Ghost leaked, and it looks like it would’ve been half decent. Still a shame it died. https://kotaku.com/it-seems-an-playable-xbox-build-of-starcraft-ghost-has-1841731450
• Rumor mill says the PS5 costs $450 to manufacture, which puts Sony in a difficult pricing position https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-14/sony-is-struggling-with-playstation-5-price-due-to-costly-parts
• The Anthem team is officially going full development mode and reworking the core of the game. Maybe it’ll be good this time? https://blog.bioware.com/2020/02/10/anthem-update-february-10/
• Outriders got a full gameplay reveal and flew a bunch of people out to do some preview coverage. Looks decent, it’s basically Gears of War + Destiny, but without the never-ending loot treadmill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbC6GgCwFoA

It’s another episode of Pause Screen! Over the last two weeks Kyle’s been playing Children of Morta, The Surge 2, and MegaMan classic, William has barely progressed in Three Houses and Fate/Grand Order, and Kaz continues to build up her handheld collection. She’s also been playing Warcraft III Reforged, and we take some time to discuss the situation surrounding that game and Blizzard in general. As a twist, we finish up with the Hype Train, where we talk Final Fantasy VII, Platinum kickstarters, EVO lineups, shady mobile game practices, and more! Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• W-FF7 got another trailer, showing even more bosses, Red XIII, and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkXG08_WVsY
• KYLE-Platinum launched a Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101 on Switch/PS4/PC, and has raised almost $1.5mm in 3 days. I’d say that’s pretty successful. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/platinumgames/the-wonderful-101-remastered
  • It’s part of #Platinum4, which is a group of 4 announcements they teased shortly before the Kickstarter announcement. Can’t wait to see what else they have in store.
• KAZ-EVO announced their 2020 lineup, and it includes Marvel 2 https://twitter.com/EVO/status/1224896898827309056
• KYLE-Ori and the Will of the Wisps has gone gold! Woooooooooo https://twitter.com/OriTheGame/status/1222236350608371713
• W-FEH
• KAZ- Sega Europe is getting rid of plastic packaging, opting for recycled paper instead https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-30-sega-europe-rolls-out-fully-recyclable-packaging-for-all-pc-titles
• KYLE-Dan Houser is leaving Rockstar Games. For reference, he’s one of the founders and has headed up writing on all their games so far. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-02-06-take-two-stock-slumps-following-dan-housers-departure-from-rockstar
• KAZ-Rod Fergusson the studio head of The Coalition developing Gears of War is leaving for a job with Blizzard to oversee the Diablo Franchise https://twitter.com/GearsViking/status/1225198634112704512 

Discussion:

Warcraft 3 Reforged happened.

• Not everyone got the memo that they changed direction from a full remake like in the announcement to a remaster instead, which disappointed a lot of folks. Their advertising didn’t help with that perception either.
• They also updated the Warcraft 3 OG client, which broke its dedicated scene pretty badly by removing ladders, clans, various community tools, and even old saves from custom games by changing battle.net tag references
• Also, they changed the ToS to make all custom maps their sole property, including authorship (technical term is ‘moral’) rights. They didn’t want another DotA situation.
• They’re now offering automated no questions asked refunds within 72 hours of purchase, even if you’ve played it
•  I’ve heard it’s great if you want to play through the campaign again with a shiny coat of paint though!

This week on Pause Screen: In a shocking twist William admits he’s ready to uninstall Fire Emblem Heroes and sinks some serious time into grinding Fate/Grand Order. Kaz has been bitten by the retro collection bug and has a serious score in her new Gameboy collection. Kyle gives his review of several games he played this week: Moonlighter,  Slain: Back from Hell, and Children of Morta. He is also on a Megaman kick again and surprised us all by playing more Archero. In the News we talk about Byleth coming to smash, the xbox Series X and Left 4 Dead 3 VR leaks, Pokemon Go’s success and more.  We then hopped on the Sad Train to talk about all the major games that have been delayed so far in 2020.  For our thing of the week we talk about the weirdness around video game genres and how it got to be that way.  Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Byleth is coming to Fire Emblem Fighters Super Smash Bros Ultimate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aqVlLlKkcg
• The Xbox Series X got ‘leaked’ on Twitter. Looks pretty nice. https://twitter.com/Doug_DragoX/status/1219794270518947840
• Warcraft III reforged releases soon!
• HTC ‘leaked’ Left 4 Dead 3 for VR, Valve quickly clarified and said it’s not a thing https://www.ign.com/articles/left-4-dead-3-is-absolutely-not-currently-in-the-works-valve-says
• Pokemon Go made $900mm in 2019, the best year in the game’s history https://sensortower.com/blog/pokemon-go-has-best-year-ever-in-2019-catching-nearly-900m-usd-in-player-spending
• All Half-Life games are free to play on Steam until Half-Life: Alyx comes out in March

SAD TRAIN – *womp womp*

• Every video game coming out in the future got delayed
  • Final Fantasy 7 is now 4/10/2020
  • Avengers is now 9/4/2020
  • Cyberpunk 2077 is now 9/17/2020
  • Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 is now ‘later 2020’
  • Dying Light 2 is now ‘eventually’ https://twitter.com/DyingLightGame/status/1219288598920470529 
• Sony won’t be at E3 2020 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-11-playstation-will-not-participate-in-e3-2020

THING OF THE WEEK

Video game genres. What do you think about the way we describe game Genres?

It’s a new year, and Pause Screen is here! It’s been a long winter break, so both Kaz and Kyle have played tons of games, and William’s thought about games, or something, but there’s a lot to catch up on! In the Hype Train we talk about the ongoing AGDQ, the Pokemon direct, Platinum’s dealings with Tencent, and games workers unions. Then we talk about the interesting legal situation revolving around Star Citizen, and finish up with a couple of gaming resolutions for the new year. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Nintendo had a Pokemon direct today that announced DLC for SwSh, the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. Plus they’re remastering The OG Mystery Dungeon games as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, and it looks great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5afasEAiN0
• AGDQ is happening right now. The Mega Man 4-6 relay last night and the Zelda 1-3 relay the night before were a lot of fun!Also, that blindfolded co-op Punch-Out run was wild
• Continuing our China train of thought from a few weeks ago, Tencent has invested in Platinum, though the studio is continuing to operate independently. They’re using it to push into self-publishing! https://www.platinumgames.com/news-january-7-2020/
• A big union company is starting an initiative to unionize games workers, which seems past due https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-01-07/major-union-launches-campaign-to-organize-video-game-and-tech-workers

Discussion:

Star Citizen continues to be a dumpster fire. 

We had some interesting news this week courtesy of an ongoing lawsuit between CryTek and Cloud Imperium Games (CIG, the SC guys) over them breaching copyright and making two games with on CryEngine while only licensed for one—the single player thing they were doing and then SC proper. However, CryTek is filing to drop their lawsuit without prejudice, meaning they can re-litigate later if they want, and also meaning that the single player game Squadron 42 probably isn’t coming out before the court trial date of 10/13/2020. Also, the initial steps of this case forced CIG to admit it hasn’t switched engines to Lumberyard as they’d previously claimed.

Tl;dr: Star Citizen is still an amazing waste of money and time that people throw cash at for some reason

THING OF THE WEEK

Gaming New Year’s resolutions? Or even NYR in general?

This week Kaz returns! She tells of her experience with Tale of Verperia and Planet Zoo. William continues his internal battle with Breath of the Wild. Kyle Loved his time in River City Girls, but not so much with My Friend Pedro, but is continuing with Ring Fit Adventures.  In our discussions we talked about our favorite parts of the Game Awards and where it will go.  We talk about the new PS4 controller attachment and it’s PS5 implications.  To wrap up the year The three give their personal game of the year award.

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Game Awards stuff. They got a 73% increase in viewership year over year. Which is solid https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/1207346004938244096
  • Xbox Series X
  • Hellblade 2
  • No More Heroes 3
  • Bravely Default 2
  • Any others? Need to talk about those stadia commercials
• Sony announced this weird back button attachment for the PS4 controller. Paddles for the PS5 confirmed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FNOKSwkg5U

Discussion:

THING OF THE WEEK

GotY

Kyle- Outer Wilds

William- Fate Grand Order

Kaz- Planet Zoo

This week, the Pause Screen crew are getting ready for the end of the decade! William has jumped back into Zelda: Breath of the Wild to try and sort out his feelings, while Kyle’s been playing Remnant: From the Ashes, Control, Smash Ultimate, Heroes of the Storm, and buying way too many games. Then, in a relatively quiet Hype Train, we mention potential reveal leaks, Mario Maker 2, Snoop Dogg as a video game icon, Riot games, and more. Then we finish up with our discussion topic for the week: what we think the ‘Top 5 Games of the Decade’ were! Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• A Bayonetta/Vanquish HD bundle was briefly listed on the Xbox store
• Mario Maker 2 has a neat new update, including Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66vguSN8Rk
• Resident Evil 3 Remake cover art briefly appeared on the PSN. Get ready for a Game Awards announcement!
• Playstation is 25 years old as of last Tuesday
• EA added Snoop Dogg as a commentator in NHL 20 for some reason https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h58-GO32JEQ
• Jedi: Fallen Order came out and got good reviews
• Riot has made a settlement for $10 million on gender discrimination, pending court approval
• Riot also has a new publishing arm for single player games called Riot Forge. They’re making some big moves. https://riotforgegames.com/

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Microsoft held X019 in London today, and showed off some stuff.
  • Rare’s new property is called Everwild, they showed no gameplay. Looks like a co-op survival type of thing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWpcUH-tKEU
  • Age of Empires 4 got some in-engine footage, and it looks real nice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAbI0fewc7w
  • Games Pass continues to be incredible. Remnant from the Ashes, Rage 2, The Talos Principle, and more are out today, and they have a great lineup in the future, including pretty much every Final Fantasy after 7. It’s wack. https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1195088727057608704/photo/1
  • Plus, Kingdom Hearts is porting everything to Xbox too. As is Yakuza. They’re breaking
• Death Stranding was inflicted on the gaming populace
• Pokemon Sword and Shield got real solid reviews
• Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 got announced at Blizzcon, as did Shadowwhatevers, the latest shadow expansion for MMO lovers
• Sonic’s face no longer looks like an eldritch god’s backside
• Shenmue 3 is coming out next week, for all the weird Shenmue fans https://rpgamer.com/2019/11/shenmue-iii-gets-its-launch-trailer/

Discussion:

Kojima says he’s going to start making movies.

Will they be bad, or laughably bad? https://kotaku.com/in-the-future-hideo-kojima-says-his-studio-will-make-f-1839603527

Ubisoft took a huge hit after Breakpoint flopped and they pushed back 3 games.

It’s interesting to see them pivot so quickly after one poorly received game. Is it a wise move? Should more developers be this tuned in to their audiences?

This week on Pause Screen, Kyle talks Darksiders 3, GoNNER, the Dead Cells update, Creature in the Well, and Contra: Rogue Corps, while William continues in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Kaz is as ready as she’ll ever be. In the Hype Train, we talk Borderlands 3, Link’s Awakening, free games (for a limited time!), the Planet Zoo beta, and more. Then, to wrap it up, we discuss Valve cleaning up the community in Dota and the baffling E3 pitch document that was leaked. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Borderlands 3 came out and got good reviews
• Link’s Awakening and the Switch Lite come out tomorrow and are getting good reviews
• You can get 6 Batman games for free on Epic games store right now. At the very least, you all need to go play Asylum
• Similarly, Downwell is free for Android users for a week right now. I’ve heard good things.
• Planet zoo beta happens next week! Sept 24-Oct 8.  https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/planet-zoo-more-beta-information.521932/ 
• Apple Arcade launched this week, and I’ve heard good things
• Mega Man series producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya confirmed that they are in fact developing another Mega Man game right now https://www.rockman-corner.com/2019/09/next-major-mega-man-game-still-in.html?m=1
• Steam library got a redesign… competition is starting to work
• FF7 got a new TGS trailer and confirmation of a new ‘classic’ mode. https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/09/17/final-fantasy-7-remakes-classic-mode-is-a-loving-nod-to-the-past-but-it-wont-satisfy-purists 

Discussion:

Valve banned a bunch of players for life from Dota and is stepping up their matchmaking/smurf detection game. 

The ESA had their E3 pitch document leak, and it’s fantastic in all the wrong ways.

They’re positioning it as a ‘fan, media, and influencer festival’, complete with ‘experience hubs’ and a desire to create ‘exclusive/appointment only activations for select attendees who will create buzz and FOMO’. Yep.

William is out this week, but that doesn’t stop Kaz and Kyle from talking about their time with Deadly Premonition, Darksiders 3, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! In news, we talk about our new understanding of Death Stranding, dating fast food mascots, foiling bodybuilder dragons in Ring Fit Adventure, and Gamestop’s troubled future. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Capcom announced Project Resistance, a Resident Evil spinoff that is a hybrid of Left 4 Dead and Evolve. It’s a lot like ZombiU’s multiplayed mode, which was surprisingly fun; I’m cautiously optimistic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYTi1U9TC_A
• Borderlands 3 is out tomorrow, and is getting pretty good reviews
• Nintendo showed off Ring Fit Adventure, which is the game that weird ring thing is built for. It looks surprisingly fun. I mean, the bad guy is a bodybuilding dragon for goodness sakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1orju1NsN8
• Death Stranding had an extended gameplay trailer at TGS (50 minutes or so long), and it’s definitely a traversal based game. If you really liked climbing stuff in Breath of the Wild and want that but with inventory management, you’re in for a good time. The rest of us, maybe not so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG0iFysW-kc
• Speaking of Kojima, someone hacked the camera in P.T. and found that Lisa (the ghost lady) is actually always right behind you. Pretty awesome. https://twitter.com/manfightdragon/status/1170859463508557824
• KFC is putting out a Colonel Sanders dating sim https://noisypixel.net/kfc-publishes-i-love-you-colonel-sanders-a-finger-lickin-good-dating-simulator/
• Nintendo continues to raze the ROM distribution landscape by filing a massive lawsuit against RomUniverse https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/11/20860039/nintendo-copyright-trademark-infringement-rom-lawsuit
• Gamestop is set to close about 200 stores this year, though 95% of its 5700 stores are actually profitable. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-09-10-gamestop-to-close-180-200-underperforming-stores-globally-this-year

We’re all back and didn’t have any technical difficulties! The crew highlights some of the things we’ve been playing over the past week (month). Kaz is killing it in the mount hunting arena, Kyle is killing it the game collection arena, and William is very happy with Collection of Mana. After we highlight our favorite announcements from the Nintendo Direct, and make fun of our not-so-favorite announcements too. And in discussions we briefly talk about the Me too uprising in the Indie Game scene and the sudden departure of Ikumi Nakamura from Tango Gameworks. What is going on? Anyways, Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Nintendo Direct
  • All dat Smash goodness. Terry, another season of DLC, Banjo out now, Sans
  • SNES games on NSO, and you can buy an SNES controller for $30 to go with it
  • Doom 64 port (surprisingly nice. 64 is a completely different game and has never seen re-release)
  • Weeb Simulator Tokyo Mirage Sessions is getting a Switch port
  • Deadly Premonition is somehow getting a sequel (subtitle: A Blessing in Disguise)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles is getting a remaster that finally makes the game look nice instead of like everyone really enjoys vaseline
  • Trials of Mana release date April 24, 2020
• Reggie is going to teach at Cornell starting this year, which is neat.
• New Wii fit peripheral for the switch? https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/5/20851960/nintendo-switch-fitness-controller-exercise-video 

Discussion:

Many prominent figures in the industry have had abuse and other allegations levelled at them in the past few weeks.

I don’t know that we want to dwell on this one (particularly Alec Holowka), but a good 5+ prominent devs had victims step forward in the past couple weeks. Looks like it might be the start of a long ride.

Ikumi Nakamura has announced she’s leaving Tango Gameworks.

It’s a pretty big deal given her introduction by Mikami to talk about Ghostwire: Tokyo; she was clearly being set up as his successor. Details are sparse on why she left so suddenly in the middle of production on the game she was writing, directing, and everything-ing. It’s not even for another gig, she has a call for work in her resignation tweet. https://twitter.com/nakamura193/status/1169350900772564992