We actually had a bunch of topics planned but we ended up spending the entire podcast chatting about movies, books, and comics instead.
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There was a Nintendo Direct this week. What else is there to talk about?
0:00 – Andrew talks about the various problems he had with his first two hours with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
36:36 – We discuss the recent Nintendo Direct
1:31:58 – Yep, time to talk Smash Bros.!
Leave a CommentAndrew has caught the flu so it’s an EZK solo show this week!
On the agenda, Trump is meeting with the games industry next week, but no one told the games industry and the ESRB has added “In-Game Purchases” to the list of non-content descriptors.
1 CommentIt’s like they’re trying to piss us off.
0:00 – Monster Hunter World’s DLC is grossly overpriced.
10:18 – YouTube’s recommendations algorithm sucks.
28:38 – Game developer uses malware as DRM. It goes about as well as you’d expect.
41:34 – ESA doesn’t want you to enjoy anything it can’t make money off of, bemoans it sees no revenue from admission fees of museums displaying video games that have long since been end-of-life’d.
56:28 – Konami is monetizing extra save slots. Seriously.
1:02:38 – Assassin’s Creed: Origins’ educational spin off saddled with unnecessary censorship.
1:09:26 – Politicians are being dumb about video games. Again.
Leave a CommentIt seems like it has been years since video games have been blamed for violence and tragedies. Since the 90s, video games had been under fire for causing youth violence. This swelling of outrage became a tumult after Columbine and continued to rise each time a major shooting involving a youth happened after that. Laws had been passed trying to ban the sale of violent games to minors and each of those laws had been struck down by the courts, ending with the US Supreme Court ruling that video games are protected speech and can’t be regulated in such a manner.
There were plenty of good things to come from all this commotion though. The ESRB rating system was a direct result of this outrage and has been used effectively for years by console manufacturers to give parents control over what games their children can play. It resulted in video game retailers denying the sale of M rated games to minors nearly 90% of the time, even while movie theaters and movie retailers retained a terrible track record for R rated movies.
After the Supreme Court weighed in on the issue, it had seemed that things were pretty settled. Only the very fringes of would blame games after a tragedy since then. That is until the Parkland, Florida shooting. It isn’t clear what made this particular tragedy different from those that came before it, but it sparked an outcry of blame against violent movies and games. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin blames violence in movies and games for school shootings. Kentucky suffered its own school shooting in January. In Rhode Island, Representative Nardolillo plans to introduce a bill to tax M rated games an additional 10% to fund mental health programs in schools. Even President Donald Trump called out violence in games and movies calling for a “rating system for that.” Finally, NewsOK is reporting that Representatives Mullin and Russell have both put the blame on video games for the recent tragedies. There is a lot to unpack in this but let’s give it a try.
1 CommentEveryone but the video game industry saw this coming.
20:30 – Loot Boxes and potential legislation
59:56 – Publisher banned from Steam for strong-arming employees to review their own game
1:07:20 – What do we think about the upcoming Five Nights At Freddy’s movie?
Leave a CommentGermany’s rating board fails gamers once again.
16:54 – Gal*Gun 2 denied classification in Germany
32:29 – Harley Quinn animated series character breakdowns
47:58 – Child’s Play TV series
Leave a CommentFlesh-eating monsters roaming the streets and stalking the living are no reason you can’t still find love!
19:08 – Kaz Harai steps down as Sony CEO and Andrew floats a silly conspiracy theory!
27:40 – Yakuza 6 is delayed but gets a demo!
44:52 – Song of Memories is a dating sim with a setting so unexpected, I’m almost tempted to play it!
Leave a CommentEZK is out sick so Andrew rambles about Monster Hunter World, the end of Miitomo, video game pricing and more Monster Hunter World.
3 CommentsEven if the games suck, the DIY cardboard stuff is neat!
25:35 – We think wannabe Steam competitor Robot Cache is DOA
39:13 – Nintendo Labo: super cool. Super overpriced.
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