Armstrong's Musings: Game Zone

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There were some surprising developments in video game news. We discuss Google Stadia, the new drama on the video game live streaming platforms, new games, and how another gamer fell victim to microtransactions and loot boxes. Let's dive into the news!

Narcos: Rise of the Cartels looks like an exciting addition to the turn-based tactical combat genre. If you love XCOM and want to experience Netflix's Narcos as a tactical game, then this game might be a perfect fit. It is being developed by Kuju who created Advanced Wars and Battalion Wars. 

Former Twitch employee reveals that Twitch does not use any bots to ban or suspend streamers. An employee gives every ban and suspension that happens on the platform. This piece of news begs the question of why the Twitch rules are being enforced unequally. The most recent example is cosplayer quqco has been banned for dressing as Chun-Li. However, other streamers have dressed as Chun-Li and not been banned from the platform. Twitch has an issue with unequally applying punishment. 

Mixer has rolled out ads for the video game live streaming platform. However, does it benefit the video game streamers? As of right now, it does not seem that the video game streamers will directly benefit from the ads. The streamers will not get paid directly for the ads put on their channel. Will this hurt Mixer's fight against Twitch?

Sony's State of Play will be airing on the twenty-fourth of September. As of right now, there will be no new news on the PS5. Sony will be informing us about The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. Richard and John speculate on what other announcements will happen at this State of Play.

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening released, and it appears to be a hit! The scores ranged from eights to tens, and the reviewers agree that is has improved on the older game. It is a perfect game to be released along with the Nintendo Lite. 

Link's Awakening

Amazon: https://armstrongsmusings.com/linksawakening-amazon

Switch Lite

Amazon: https://armstrongsmusings.com/switchlite-amazon

Walmart: https://armstrongsmusings.com/switchlite-walmart 

This week had another tragedy when it comes to a video game, putting a family into significant financial distress. The eighteen-year-old MMO game, Runescape, recently had a player who spent 62,000 dollars in microtransaction. The game is heavily monetized with microtransactions, a subscription, a Battle Pass, Treasure Hunter Chests (loot boxes), and other premium offerings. These type of stories will only grow as video game companies look at ways to monetize their games.

Our Showstopper is Google Stadia Founder's Edition has sold out in Europe and soon to be sold out in other countries. The Founder's Edition is being replaced with Premier Edition. The Founder's Edition comes with special usernames, a Chromecast device, three-months of Stadia Pro, the three-month friend pass, and the limited-edition Night Blue Controller. The Premier Edition comes with a Chromecast device, three-months of Stadia Pro, and Clearly White Stadia Controller. Does this mean that Stadia might have a fighting chance? Are you going to purchasing Stadia? Let us know what you think!

 Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

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Visit us at our website: https://armstrongsmusings.com 

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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This week provided a good deal of speculation, and we jumped into the stories! 

Disney Plus announced it includes the 90s X-Men and other Marvel Animated Series. The Apple TV+ Streaming service is launching 1 November, and it's beginning titles are compelling and exciting. Is the old and new content in both of the streaming services enough to compel customers to subscribe to the perspective services?

The Game Awards announced to convene on 12 December. We contemplate on what games might make the game of the year. Let us know what you think the game of the year will be!

Frequently, it seems we get endless stories of how GameStop is in its death throws. The most recent story is that GameStop closes up to 200 underperforming stores worldwide. Along with closing the stores, the company laid off exceeding 120 corporate employees, including members from Game Informer.

It has been a rocky and disappointing development for Anthem. The games beginning content was underwhelming and limited. Then Bioshock's release of new content underdelivered. The final blow may be that EA has moved the game to EA Access.

Apple Arcade is releasing at the price point of 5 dollars a month. Though the service is cheaper, one must ask who are they trying to target for this service? Are they trying to focus on casual or dedicated gamers? 

Our Showstopper conversation is the newly announced Ring Fit Adventure. It looks as if Nintendo is taking their fitness titles to the next level. They have incorporated an RPG story in the game along with an exercise free mode. If you're interested in the game, then it will release on 18 October 2019.

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

Visit us at our website: https://armstrongsmusings.com 

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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This week has been an exciting week for AM: Game Zone. We have published our website, and now we can be found at https://armstrongsmusings.com. We will still be on different directories, i.e., Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, Deezer, Spotify, etc.; however, having a platform we control gives us the ability to take our show where ever we want to go. We also upgraded to the Rodecaster Pro for the recording seasons. We are thrilled by the hardware and are looking forward to interviewing future guests with this fantastic tool. 

This week turned out to be a robust week for news! Starting, we touch base on Total War: Warhammer 2 Hunter and the Beast DLC, the incredible World of Warcraft Classic response, and the allegations against Chucklefish exploiting young developers. 

Amazingly, Electronic Arts received a Guinness World Record. Except, it was not the type of record you would ever want to receive. The record EA broke was that they received the most downvotes, 863,000 votes, on any comment in Reddit history! In response, they then offer up to 75% discount on Select EA Games.

The 04SEP19 Nintendo Direct dropped a truckload of information! There were updates for things we were expecting and some pleasant surprises! We touch base on Animal Crossing, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Luigi's Mansion 3, Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection, and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Overwatch's release to the Nintendo Switch is a great addition but is a shame that Blizzard did not create cross-save between platforms. This cross-save ability with the PC is possibly due, as shown by Divinity: Original Sin 2. If you don't have a Nintendo Online access and you are a Twitch Prime member, then you can get 12 months free. Nintendo released the new SNES app, and it is a great way to play many of the classic SNES games on the Switch. Banjo Kazooie is released, and Terry Bogard is announced to join the fight on Smash Brothers.

Our Showstopper for this Episode is the egregious and ridiculous implementation of gambling mechanics in NBA 2K20. The game looks like it is a gambling game with some basketball sprinkled throughout the rest. The game implements card packs, a roulette wheel, pachinko, and a slot machine. On top of it all, the ESRB and PEGI are doing a disservice to the consumer. By their standards, the game should be rated T for ESRB or 12 for PEGI due to the simulated gambling. Though I believe it to be gambling, these mechanics do not meet the legal definition of gambling because you are unable to cash out the in-game currency. However, ESRB has this game rated as E and PEGI has it rated 3. These ratings show a blatant attempt at manipulation of the consumer. The mechanics are not acceptable and are unwanted.

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

Visit us on our website: https://armstrongsmusings.com. 

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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Things are shaking up in the streaming community! Ninja has started on a new platform and has gained one million subscribers. We are excited about how Microsoft and Twitch, two tech giants, will compete and improve their services for the consumer. 

We discuss on this episode Swamp Thing and the DC Univers streaming service. Does Swamp Thing look promising and is DC Universe do enough to drive people to their platform? We dive into the rumors of why Disney is not using the iconic characters in the park and the films.

The Show Stopper is Ooblets and how it improperly handled their fans. The fans of their title had some legitimate concerns about how them being an Epic exclusive would affect their experience. However, the Ooblets developers had a tone-deaf response, which created an incredible controversy. Let's start a conversation about what they did wrong and how other developers can interact with their fans.

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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This week was a good week for news! We touch base on the Attack on Titan Season 3 Pt 2 Dubbed finish. We discuss the horrific first look at the Cats Trailer, and the Twitch Streamer Alinity abuses her cats. Then we congratulate PlayStation selling 100 million units.

Bethesda can not stay out of the limelight! We dive into the newest controversies with Bethesda and how they are not meeting their customer's expectations. The studio stumbles with the re-release of Doom. The game is a thirty-year-old tile but needs a constant internet connection. Bethesda then struggles with the poor reception of Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Bethesda's last issue is how their new patch release for Fallout 76 has broken the game, once again!

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

 Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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Welcome to Armstrong's Musings: Game Zone! This week was filled with Geek news that we are eager to cover. However, we need to start with the Kyoto Animation Fire. If you can spare money to donate, then please go to the GoFundMe page and donate to the relief fund/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal

We touch base on the Lion King mediocre reception, the Comic-Con 2019 Marvel and DC lineup, Fallout 76 continual debacle, and much more!

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

We appreciate you listening and hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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***We didn't timestamp the episode at the time of publishing***

In the digital age, we have moved away from physical copies and owning are media. There are multiple services that stream videos to our phones and TVs. However, is the market now ready for video games to be streamed? That is the topic we explore in this episode!

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

We appreciate you listening, and we hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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E3 2019 has come and gone. In its wake, E3 has left us a wealth of information to talk about and games to look forward to in the future.  Some parts of E3 were exceptional, dare I say, breathtaking. However, not all of E3 was outstanding. We dig into the good, bad, and ugly of E3.

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

Connect with us on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongsMusingsGameZone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmstrongsMusi1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armstrongs_musings_game_zone/

We appreciate you listening, and we hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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Welcome to Armstrong's Musings: Game Zone! This episode is the first of our video game and geek culture commentary podcast. We feel that there is not a better time to start this podcast series than with E3 around the corner.

We discuss what we predict will be announced and what we hope for E3 2019. The discussion includes EA, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, and Nintendo.

Thank you for listening! If you have an idea for an episode or a person of note in the video game industry, i.e., a developer, influencer, illustrator, etc. then let us know! Email us at:

[email protected]

We appreciate you listening, and so happy you are joining us on this journey. We hope to hear from you. Stay Strong!

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