In this episode of Pause Screen we have a hard talk about terrible things that have been going on in several gaming communities. We need to talk about things more to help stop things like this from happening in the future.  In the news we talk about upcoming Limited Run Games, including some Game Boy Color games, Deadly Premoniton 2, NBA 2K21 use of Kobe Bryany and standard edition price, the next gen of games look and prices and the future of physical media and more.  Come pause with us! But in all seriousness, we can make our communities better, be kind, keep an eye out for red flags and keep each other safe. 

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Limited Run games had their “LRG3” showcase, where they announced a bunch of games they’re releasing physically. They have a lot of nice stuff coming, with Castlevania

Anniversary Collection and Shantae on GBC being my personal highlights. https://limitedrungames.com/blogs/news/lrg3-2020

• Deadly Premonition 2 came out and is performing exactly as you would expect it to, both critically and technically
• Game announcements
  • Crash Bandicoot: On the Run, a Temple Run ripoff phone game
  • Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
  • Steelrising, from the folks who did Greedfall https://twitter.com/PlaySteelrising/status/1280552156530016258
  • Superhot: Mind Control Delete https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov-ismbvR9g
• NBA 2K21 got announced, and will be $70 for the standard version. Think that’s going to be the new price for next gen? Also, they have a Kobe Bryant version for their expensive collector’s set, which feels real sleazy to me. Also also, you have to buy the collector’s edition to get the PS5 upgrade. https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/2/21311250/nba-2k21-playstation-5-xbox-series-x-versions-70-dollars-next-gen-price-increase-games
• Capcom says 80% of its sales are digital, and that number is rising https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-09-capcom-says-game-sales-are-80-percent-digital-and-rising
• We now know what PS5 box art will look like https://blog.playstation.com/2020/07/09/first-look-box-art-for-upcoming-ps5-games/

SAD TRAIN

• Turns out the entire competitive Smash Ultimate scene was made up of sexual predators and pedophiles. And sleazebags making false allegations against M2K. And even the Reddit megathread tracking everything got taken down thanks to mass reporting, so there isn’t a central source for all of this anymore. It’s a complete and utter disaster that will take years to rebuild from. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53308579
• On that note, EVO Online has been cancelled after all their announcers/games left when people came forward with accusations against Joey Cuellar, aka Mr. Wizard. He’s since been ousted, with Tony Cannon taking control, but it’ll be interesting to see how it impacts the event going forward.
• Reckful, a popular Twitch streamer and WoW player, took his own life earlier this week. It’s a sad reminder to take care of yourself as the world falls apart.

It’s time for another episode of Pause Screen! This week, Kaz has picked 3 Houses back up and watched some video game movies, William is stalled in Xenoblade and admiring the FGO engine update, and Kyle is playing Timespinner, Death’s Gambit, and all sorts of garbage on the Xbox 360. As for news, we talk about the Mixer’s sudden shutdown, a new wave of allegations, Cyberpunk delays and anime, Pokemon announcements, Crash 4 and more! Then to finish, we have an impromptu discussion about video game media and touch on how much we value gameplay and story integration. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Crash 4 got announced! After being almost completely leaked. Geoff Keighley looked sad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOGwx3Ju6QQ
• The Pokemon Company unveiled New Pokemon Snap (and Pokemon Smile, and cafe) last week, followed by Pokemon Unite this week. As always, fans are unhappy.
• The new Smash character is Min Min from ARMS. She looks like Incineroar’s worst nightmare. Also, there’s a Vault Boy Mii Gunner skin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NNyXaBW-I
• EA announced a new proper Skate game, though it’s very very early. The creative and game directors seem jazzed, though. https://twitter.com/EA/status/1273764835080024064
• Star Wars Squadrons got leaked and then announced, looks pretty decent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcfJ9uEwvs 
• The Last of Us 2 came out to critical acclaim and internet bickering
• There was a lot of drama about whether or not Spider-Man Miles Morales was a full game or an expansion. Insomniac settled it by citing Uncharted: Lost Legacy, just like we did two weeks ago. We’re so good.
• The Brothers and A Way Out people are doing another co-op story game that will EMOTIONS you, it’s called It Takes Two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blwlcwlAXwA
• There were a bunch of other trailers for a bunch of other games, but it’s hard to cover them all because not having E3 freakin’ sucks
• Gonna turn this into an anime podcast for a bit… Cyberpunk 2077 Edgedancers, TWEWY both getting anime
• 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim getting localised in September https://wccftech.com/atlus-upcoming-13-sentinels-aegis-rim-finally-dated-for-september-release/

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• There’s been another huge wave of sexual assault and other allegations through many communities, gaming included. Big names include Chris Avellone (game designer, working on stuff like Vampire 2 and Dying Light 2, worked on Fallout New Vegas and Planescape Torment, was co-founder of Obsidian), Tobi Dawson (Dota 2 caster), and Ashraaf Ismail (game director for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, Origins, and Valhalla), and lots of esports players(method Josh) in various communities https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-06-24/video-game-industry-rocked-by-outpouring-of-sexual-misconduct-allegations 
• Microsoft unexpectedly shut down Mixer on 6/22. Big bummer for that community, but it’s not surprising given that they had .2% growth year over year compared to everyone else’s 60-100%, and that’s after paying folks like Shroud and Ninja 8 digits to come over to the platform.
  MS worked things out to hand off to Facebook Gaming, which apparently is a streaming platform. They’ve since confirmed that there won’t be FBG integration into the Series X, though; I assume they’ll work something out with Twitch.
• Cyberpunk got delayed again to 2077 November 19. Seems like a good window for a console launch, doesn’t it?

https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/1274782037619048449?s=09 confirmed there will be no more warcraft movies. I am very sad

Things might be crazy, but Pause Screen is still here! Kaz is still working on the WoW gold grind, Kyle’s been playing Minecraft Dungeons,Yooka-Laylee, Kororinpa: Marble Mania, and Shovel Knight, and William begins to tell the tale of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. In the hype train, we talk Sony’s ‘Future of Gaming’ PS5 event, and a ton of the games that were shown. We also talk about EA on steam, Microsoft and mods, the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, and the sorrow of E3 being dead. Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Sony’s big PS5 event was today!
  • Opened with GTA5, which might be the worst choice I could’ve conceived of
  • The console looks like a fake one designed for a TV show, but it’s real. Comes in digital and physical versions, physical has this tumor of a disc drive on the side. Unclear if you can put it on its side, but I’m betting you can.
  • Demon’s Souls (sixth archstone?) fractured mode?
  • Horizon 2: Forbidden West
  • Stray
  • Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  • Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (now with OCs)
  • Resident Evil: Vil.l.age
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo
  • Returnal
  • Dramatic high school dinosaur people with hair
• Sony doubled down on their “we believe in generations” statement in the event. Thoughts? It has big repercussions on digital libraries, and I think it represents a big gulf in their thinking vs. Microsoft’s
• EA has been putting a bunch of its games on Steam, prepping to launch EA Access (their subscription service) on the platform https://www.gematsu.com/2020/06/battlefield-1-3-4-v-and-hardline-mass-effect-3-and-andromeda-and-star-wars-battlefront-i-and-ii-now-available-via-steam
• The Microsoft store on PC now allows for mods (in beta) https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-beta-store-pc-starts-adding-mod-support-games-includes-design-tweaks
• Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial-justice-and-equality

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• Man, this year’s E3 is great! Right, guys?

This week we’re Williamless, but Kaz and Kyle make up for it by playing World of Warcraft, Animal Crossing, Indivisible, Minecraft Dungeons, and more. On the Hype Train, we round up all the latest next gen rumors and news—from Xbox backwards compatability and HDR reconstruction to Sony’s rumored PS5 reveal next week. We close out by talking about Valve’s excursion to China, free Raymonds for the people, the possible return of a long-lost classic and more! Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• The rumor mill says Sony is going to have a PS5 conference on June 3rd https://twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status/1265645230973308929
• Sony had a State of Play about The Last of Us II. It’s definitely The Last of Us 2. Lots of cursing, very… squishy audio. Very pretty, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eML5icfq5VM
• Microsoft put out a big writeup on the backwards compatibility of the Series X. Highlights include that old games will run natively on the SX, HDR reconstruction that applies it to OG Xbox and 360 games, quick resume (game suspension) for old titles, and even special techniques to increase frame rate and resolution on select old games https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/05/28/xbox-series-x-next-generation-backward-compatibility/
• Game Pass has 5x the subscribers of Playstation Now, which could have some big ramifications for the next consoles https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-game-pass-is-much-bigger-than-playstation-now-2020-5
• A hacker is giving free Raymonds out to everyone in Animal Crossing, which is upsetting the black market https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/21/21266398/animal-crossing-new-horizons-raymond-hacking-nintendo-switch-villager-black-market-free-nook-miles
• Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition got good reviews
• Ubisoft and Brian O’Malley (the author of Scott Pilgrim) are teasing the game’s return. I’m betting Limited Run does a print of it this summer, they’ve been teasing it too. https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-potentially-teasing-return-of-delisted-scott-pilgrim-game
• The 3DS’s OS source code has been leaked and posted online along with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Look forward to near perfect emulation, I guess. https://www.resetera.com/threads/nintendo-leaks-ultimate-3ds-os-source-code-has-been-leaked-and-pok%C3%A9mon-d-p.211467/
• Remember that story about G2A offering to reimburse devs who could prove they sold illegally obtained keys and Wube Software (the Factorio people) took them up on it? Well, turns out they were right and G2A is paying them $40K, 10x the full value of the 200 keys their own internal audit found were illegally obtained/sold. Sounds like they’re trying to clean up their act, though. https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/20/21265275/g2a-confirms-it-sold-stolen-game-keys
• Valve has an alpha of their Chinese Steam client up. IT does things like block users from playing games between 10 PM and 8 AM, hides community content unless it’s been government approved, and shows the user a healthy gaming advisory upon starting any game. Everyone really wants that money. https://win.gg/news/4554/valve-quietly-releases-censored-steam-china-client-to-alpha
• 2K’s marketing spend is slated to be double its usual in 2024. People thought it was for GTA6, but they clarified that Rockstar would be handling those expenses and that these are for ‘commitments to third parties’. Any guesses on what would be this big for them? My money’s on a big Bioshock release or something to do with sports. https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-release-date-2023-2024

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• Blizzcon got cancelled, will likely have online stuff early next year instead https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/23434523
• Evo is online only and will now host tourneys for MK11, Them’s Fightin’ Herds, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, and Killer Instinct instead, with ‘special exhibitions and content’ from all the original lineup except for Smash. https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/14/21258675/evo-2020-online-dates-smash-bros-ultimate-lineup
• Amazon’s Crucible released to poor reviews https://opencritic.com/game/9471/crucible

It’s time for another episode of Pause Screen! In this episode, Kaz begins winding down on Animal Crossing, William is still slowly moving through Three Houses, and Kyle’s been playing Code Vein, Bravely Default, and Streets of Rage 4. On board the Hype Train, we talk about the surprise reveal of Paper Mario: The Origami King, Unreal Engine, poorly handled Xbox events, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and more! Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Nintendo unveiled Paper Mario: The Origami King today. Looks pretty good! It has a neat new ring-based battle system, but we don’t know if it has experience points yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX6DTLcWUdY
• Epic showed off Unreal Engine 5, which looks gorgeous. I doubt it’ll be quite as amazing as the tech demo, but I’m still excited for the improvements in the dev pipeline and visual fidelity. On top of that, it’s free until your game hits $1 million in revenue, which is also wild. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5KtatMcUw
  https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/gj0m4b/unreal_engine_5_revealed_nextgen_realtime_demo/
• Xbox had a big event they touted as the big gameplay reveal for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and other Series X stuff… but it was mostly cinematics that were supposedly ‘in-engine’, and nothing that looked like I’d be holding a controller and playing it. Almost all the games they showed off were pretty meh third party stuff too. In fact, Xbox’s head of marketing even admitted he screwed up.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwzQraW7K4
  https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/1258584474155053058
• Sony has created an umbrella brand of ‘Playstation Studios’ for all their stuff. Makes a lot more sense than the old divisions between Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica, etc., especially with their PC ports as of late. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-05-12-sony-unveils-playstation-studios-brand-to-launch-alongside-ps5
• Geoff Keighley announced Summer Games Fest, a thing that runs from May – August and seems to just be an aggregator of everyone’s not-E3 info dumps. https://www.summergamefest.com/
• Speaking of which, Ubisoft announced they’re doing UbiForward, their not-E3 thing, on July 12. https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1259876577506136064
• Activision announced a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remake! Looks great. Even has a lot of the original soundtrack. Color me hype. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0mNQxLUHyg
• Sony did an 18 minute Ghost of Tsushima State of Play presentation today. It is definitely a Sony game complete with lots of random resource gathering/crafting and combat that looks very Mordor-ish, but with samurai. Very pretty, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fMlkQy7r28

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• Phil Spencer says we’ll see big impacts on the gaming industry from coronavirus starting in early 2021. That first year new console slump is gonna hit hard. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/video-game-delays-due-to-coronavirus-early-2021-2020-5-1029183430

Join us again at Pause Screen for another episode in quarantine! Starting off, Kyle and William have a rousing debate about Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Bravely Default, and Megaman X 6, while Kaz waits patiently to talk about WoW and Animal Crossing. In the Hype Train, we discuss the Last of Us 2 leaks, the Ghost of Tsushima release date, WWE Battlegrounds, the surprise Indivisible Switch launch, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s reveal trailer, and more! Then, to finish up, we talk about the Nintendo account hacks. Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• The Last of Us 2 had a bunch of its cinematics leak from a dev build of the game, which correlated perfectly with a leak posted to 4chan a few months ago. People aren’t taking the leaks particularly well. Naughty Dog even posted about it on Twitter, encouraging fans to avoid the leaks, which basically confirms them. Also, it has a new release date of June 19th. https://twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/1254840504182665219
• Ghost of Tsushima is coming out July 17th
• After the dumpster fire that was WWE 2K20, the 2K21 game has been cancelled. They’re doing an arcadey game called WWE Battlegrounds instead, which looks kinda fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FowI9yms1NE
• Indivisible got a surprise launch on the Switch—even the developer didn’t know about it. They’ve rolled with the punches well, though, and are working to make it less sucky https://twitter.com/MikeZSez/status/1255065719932194816
  https://www.gamesradar.com/abrupt-indivisible-switch-port-was-a-shock-to-its-fans-and-developers/
• Maddy Meyers, the deputy editor at Kotaku, is also leaving
  https://kotaku.com/the-galaxy-is-at-peace-1843128956
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla got revealed. No gameplay yet, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYymfJDuNAM

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• Nintendo had a big hack—about 160,000 users had their info compromised thanks to the old NNID system being compromised. Nintendo has made it so you can no longer log in with NNIDs. They have 2 factor authentication too, so if you haven’t, you should probably go get that set up. https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/g76a3c/nintendo_confirms_about_160000_nintendo_accounts/

Wash your hands, it’s time for another episode of Pause Screen! Over the last two weeks, Kyle’s been playing a lot of games, including Doom Eternal, FFVIIR, Bravely Default, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Contra 4, and more. Meanwhile, Kaz and William have kept their focus more narrow; Kaz with Animal Crossing, and William with the Bravely Default 2 demo. Then for news and discussion, we talk the DualSense controller, Sony’s ‘Play at Home,’ Resident Evil 4 remake rumors, Kotaku, Chex Quest, the Epic of Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and more! Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Sony unveiled the DualSense, the new controller for the PS5. It’s definitely a PlayStation controller https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/04/07/introducing-dualsense-the-new-wireless-game-controller-for-playstation-5/
• Sony announced the ‘Play at Home’ initiative, where they’re giving away the Nathan Drake Collection and Journey to everyone for free. Not just PS+ members, which is neat. https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/04/14/announcing-the-play-at-home-initiative/
• The rumor mill says Capcom is working on a Resident Evil 4 Remake https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/resident-evil-4-remake/
• Jason Schrier is leaving Kotaku, meaning they will be useless once again. This continues the brain drain from the new management ever since they fired everyone from Deadspin https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/04/16/jason-schreier-is-leaving-kotaku-citing-go-media-reason/
• The epic of Cooking Mama: Cookstar
• The ESRB is now including a disclaimer for when in-game purchases include randomized items. They’re only like 2 years too late! https://www.esrb.org/blog/in-game-purchases-includes-random-items/
• Chex Quest HD got announced, is coming out this summer and will be free to play https://www.gematsu.com/2020/04/chex-quest-hd-launches-this-summer-is-free-to-play
• Switch update 10.0 – memory transfers and controller remapping!

SAD TRAIN

• John Conway (creator of the Game of Life) and Rick May (voice actor, did the heavy in TF2, Peppy and Andross Star Fox) have died due to coronavirus complications. 🙁
• Blizzard had a non-update about blizzcon. I’m betting it’ll ultimately be cancelled https://blizzcon.com/en-us/news/23371505

This week on Pause Screen, we’re all surviving the quarantine with the help of video games.  Kyle has been playing so many games including Doom Eternal, he has some salty beef with the game. Kaz is happliy stuck in Animal crossing and william has been playing another Fate: Grand order event and Bleach: Immortal Soul.  On the Hype Train we disscuss rumors of big plans for Mario’s 35th anniversary, a random Nintendo Mini Direct, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 9 mistake and more. Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• The rumor mill says Nintendo has big plans for Mario’s 35th anniversary, including remasters of 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, which are being treated as a Super Mario All-Stars 2 internally. Plus, we’re supposedly due a 3D World remaster and a brand new Paper Mario game that follows in the steps of the original and TTYD. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/super-mario-bros-35th-anniversary/
• In real news, there was a Nintendo Direct Mini that had updates on a few things:

-Xenoblade Definitive Edition trailer and release date 5/29

-Bravely Default 2 trailer and demo

-Other stuff no one cares about, like Borderlands, Pokemon DLC, Ring Fit updates, Panzer Dragoon, and so on

• Square Enix pushed an update to the PC version of Final Fantasy 9 that deleted the game from peoples’ systems, which is hilarious https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/ftlx0o/squareenix_pushed_an_update_for_final_fantasy_ix/
• Square also announced a remake of Nier Replicant, which is the Japanese one with brother Nier instead of Papa Nier. They’re also doing a mobile game, which will probably suck but be vital to the lore a la Kingdom Hearts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sdn1B0N4k0
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqGmbdO3u7o
• Resident Evil 3 comes out tomorrow, got good reviews
• Final Fantasy 7 came out 9 days early in Australia and Europe to make it so people got the game on time
• Rivals of Aether had a little direct, where they announced their Definitive Edition (free upgrade for all prior owners too), a card game, an RPG in 2022, and Rivals of Aether 2 in 2023, complete with 3d models https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7o_cf-sTjs

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• The Last of Us 2 got indefinitely delayed (as did Iron Man VR, but no one cares) https://kotaku.com/the-last-of-us-ii-delayed-indefinitely-1842646231
• Bethesda is not having a digital showcase this summer, even in the absence of E3 https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/1245353441435811841
• Gamestop is closing 320 stores, though many of them are close geographically from the EB Games and Funcoland purchases back in the day https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/360247/GameStop_to_close_at_least_320_stores_in_2020.php

We return with Pause Screen: Quarantine Edition. It’s been an interesting month and we’ve played a lot of video games. William’s still playing Three Houses and FGO, but his dreams have come true in the Trials of Mana remake demo. Kaz has finished up Warcraft 3 Reforged to move into some Fire Emblem of her own and finally started WoW raiding again. Kyle was able to play Ori and the Will of the Wisps before falling to games obscure and/or terrible. Then, finishing up with discussion and news, we talk about the Sonic movie’s performance, the newly revealed upcoming console specs, new game releases, upcoming Square JRPG remakes, cancelled events, and more! Come pause with us!

Discussion topics

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• The Sonic movie is the highest-grossing video game movie of all time
• PS5 and Xbox Series X had their specs revealed. Xbox is more powerful (and the presentation was a lot more entertaining), but we’re in for a good generation on both sides. Those decreased load times have me all hot and bothered.
• The digital version of Animal Crossing got released today (a whole day early) because fans whined a lot on the internet. It works sometimes!
  • But at the same time, physical copies ordered through Amazon aren’t being delivered until the 24th
  • It also got really good reviews
• Doom Eternal comes out tomorrow and also got some pretty great reviews
• Sabotage Studio (the The Messenger guys) announced a prequel JRPG called Sea of Stars. It looks pretty good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VJ8Zm648C8
• We aren’t all dead yet
• Razer is repurposing some of its manufacturing lines to make surgical masks; aims to make and donate at least a million of them https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3075994/keyboards-surgical-masks-razer-converts-production-lines-amid-covid-19
• The FF7 demo came out and was pretty well received. https://rpgamer.com/2020/03/final-fantasy-vii-remake-demo-now-available/
• The Trials of Mana remake has been getting tons of new info about battle skills and post game content as well as a demo as of yesterday! https://rpgamer.com/2020/03/trials-of-mana-gets-new-japanese-trailer-demo-classes/

SAD TRAIN *womp womp*

• You know that video games event you were looking forward to? It’s cancelled
  • Will E3 be able to come back from this?
• Gamestop is remaining open despite failing to provide locations with sanitizer or instructions on cleaning stores. They claim they’re an ‘essential business’ and plan to stay open until ordered otherwise—I suspect because they’re scared they’ll never open doors again if they close. https://kotaku.com/gamestop-we-can-stay-open-during-lockdowns-because-wer-1842415962

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