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

This week on Pause Screen, Kaz is out, so Kyle and William talk about playing Smash, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Hollow Knight. For news this time, we talk about new team composition rules in Overwatch League, the International, console unity against loot boxes, WayForward’s upcoming games, and more! Then, to finish up, we talk about the recent Stadia announcements and how terrible they sound. Come pause with us!

This week on Pause Screen: poor william and his grown up life doesn’t have time to play any games, Kaz is kinda in the same boat, just coasting along with Wow and Heroes. Kyle, our hero, played a lot: Momodora, Sky Force, Double Dragon Neon, Bloodstained and more.  On the Hype train we talk about Cadence of Hyrule which has been getting good reviews, Dota Underlords is now available in beta, and how Kaz needs to apply for Kaz Hirai’s vacant position at PS/Sony.  We also poke fun at the terrible choices that Pokemon Sword/Shield have been making and EA’s defense of their Loot Boxes. In our discussions we each pick out our top favorite things from this year’s E3. Do you have any excitement in common with the crew? Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Cadence of Hyrule came out, is apparently good
• Dota Underlords is definitely Auto Chess, was given out as a beta to Dota 2 Battle Pass holders. Is now in open beta on mobile and PC as of today!
• Kaz Hirai has officially retired from Playstation/Sony
• Everyone is in a tizzy about Pokemon Sword and Shield, mostly due to not including all Pokemon ‘for balance and cost reasons’, partly due to it being ugly and a little stale
• In an oral session with the UK Parliament, EA called loot boxes “surprise mechanics”, and compared them to Kinder Eggs, Hatchimals, or LOL Surprise (which is apparently a kids’ toy brand?). Yep. https://www.pcgamesn.com/ea-loot-boxes
• Microsoft established an Age of Empires studio on the down low https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/344426/Microsoft_has_quietly_established_a_new_Age_of_Empires_studio.php
• Microsoft is an official partner with CD Projekt for GOG 2.0, which probably means Game Pass integration https://www.reddit.com/r/gog/comments/c0h50i/

Discussion:

Bethesda has Orion, Microsoft has XCloud and Game Pass, Stadia is a thing, Ubisoft has their new service, and EA’s is still going strong. How do you guys feel about the all-digital future in this post-E3 2019 world?

After a short break, Pause Screen returns! Over the past month, Kaz returned to guest-star on the 3bit Gamer Show as well as play some WoW, Archero, and Tales of Vesperia, William has picked up Hollow Knight, and Kyle limits himself to talking about Mario Maker 2, Blazing Chrome, Rhythm Heaven Silver, Dota Underlords, and some Smash. On the Hype train, we talk about the Switch Lite announcement, Luigi’s Mansion 3’s release, SGDQ, Wind Waker’s new barrier skip, and more! To finish up, we have a discussion about the sleaziness that is all of G2A. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN – *toot toot*

• Nintendo announced the Switch Lite
• They also announced a new base Switch model. Starting in August, they’ll ship units with significantly improved battery life (2.5 hours for BotW to 5.5 hours)
• Luigi’s Mansion 3 is being released on Halloween
• Summer GDQ raised over 3 million, a new record! https://gamesdonequick.com/tracker/26 
• Barrier skip has been discovered for Wind Waker SD https://www.nintendoenthusiast.com/2019/07/07/barrier-skip-achieved-in-the-wind-waker-for-gamecube-after-17-years/
• Gamestop is going to renovate their stores https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/15/gamestop-store-renovations/

Discussion:

G2A would probably be a used car salesman’s persona