GamesBeat Decides

We invent some good awards to give out to some of the best games of the year.

The Award for "Let's play this game so I can make a cool YouTube video"

The Missing Dungeon Master Award

Best Apocalypse of the Year

Best Boozy Game of the Year

Best History Repeating Game

Best Throwing Game of the Year

Best Mardi Gras of the Year

Best Mining Contraption

Best Chat with a God while being a Pirate

Best Izzet My New Groove Award

The best game for living gods

The "Oh, hello. OK, Bye!" Award

The Video Game Ass Video Game Award

The Stan Lee Memorial Award for Not Being Ashamed of What You Are

Best overshadowed retro game

The best Mega Man game since Mega Man 10

Best game I thought I would hate but didn't

Even after a life on the internet, the hosts of the GamesBeat Decides podcast discovered this week that a picture of Sonic the Hedgehog could still disturb them. On this podcast, co-hosts Jeffrey Grubb (PC gaming editor) and Mike Minotti (reviews editor) discuss the horrifying man limbs on Paramount Pictures' Sonic.

When not despairing at the unholy hedgehog, the GamesBeat Decides crew also talk about some December games. Mike discusses his review for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Surprise! He really likes it. Both guys are also enjoying PlayStation VR's Astro Bot, and Jeff has a lot of nice things to say about Return of the Obra Dinn.

In the news, we run down the headlines from The Game Awards. That includes some new games, DLC for Smash, and the Epic Games Store. 

Join us and enjoy.

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

Monster Boy

Jeff:

Paratopic

Starlink

Dusk

Return of the Obra Dinn

News

Sonic the Hedgehog abomination

The Game Awards

Epic Games Store

Joker is Smash DLC

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

Mortal Kombat 11

Dragon Age 4

Anthem trailer

The Last Campfire

Crash Team Racing

Journey

The Outer Worlds

Starbreeze raided

China has a new ethics board for rating games

Monster Hunter: World is getting an expansion

John Romero is making Sigil, which is a level pack for Doom

Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2 getting remakes. 

This podcast is brought to you by the producers of The Fast and the Furious.

The GamesBeat Decides podcast is back to talk about all of the games and news happening over the last week. That includes a check-in on Red Dead Redemption 2, trying to finish Spider-Man, and trying out The Missing.

In the news, GamesBeat Decides co-hosts Jeffrey Grubb (PC gaming editor) and Mike Minotti (reviews editor) dive into the Fallout 76 mess. Few people love the game, and Bethesda is making things worse with some unforced errors. For example, it sold people a special edition of Fallout 76 with a canvas bag, but then the final product shipped with the flimsiest nylong bag in the history of the world. 

The GamesBeat Decides crew also dives into some strong sales for Nintendo Switch, Casey Hudson teasing Dragon Age, and what's up with The Game Awards. 

Listen and enjoy, and maybe even learn something for once:

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Red Dead Redemption 2

Pokemon Go

Jeff:

Spider-Man

The Missing: J.J. MacField and the Island of Memories

News

FTC plans to investigate loot boxes

Fallout 76 is a mess

Nintendo Switch did well on Black Friday

Anthem is getting an alpha

Casey Hudson teases Dragon Age

The Game Wards will reveal 10 new games

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the fastest preselling Switch game

Nintendo kills its revenue-sharing program on YouTube, which no one liked.

Get hyped, and sue anyone who kills the hype.

It's time for Thanksgiving here in the United States, and that means it's time for naps and catching up on video games. Oh, and family or something. On this week's GamesBeat Decides podcast, we talk about all of that and killing Sean Bean.

On this episode, co-host (and GamesBeat reviews editor) Mike Minotti talks about how much he is enjoying Pokémon -- Let's Go. Fellow co-host (and PC gaming editor) Jeffrey Grubb tries to avoid the call of Pikachu because $60 is a lot of money. The crew also checks in on Overwatch.

In the news, Mike and Jeff break down the most recent NPD Group report for the gaming industry. Turns out that releasing a Call of Duty and Red Dead in October could lead to a lot of spending. And the GamesBeat team is even more skeptical than ever that PlayStation 5 is coming soon. 

I hope you will join us for an enjoyable Turkey Day and black Friday! 

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Pokémon -- Let's Go

Overwatch

Jeff:

Hitman 2

Bad North

News

October 2018 NPD

Discless Xbox One

Valve discontinues the Steam Link

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm expansion

Ubisoft reverses its decision to edit Rainbow Six: Siege for China

Activision is considering putting subtitles into Spyro: Reignited Trilogy

Let's go shopping!

Sony is skipping the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show next year. This is the first time PlayStation won't have a presence at the event since it began 24 years ago. On this week's episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast, hosts Jeffrey Grubb and Mike Minotti dig into this news. What does it mean for Sony? What does it mean for E3? We know*, but you'll have to listen to find out. (*we don't actually know.)

The Decides crew also talk about Tetris Effect, Hitman, and not playing Red Dead Redemption 2. In addition, Jeff -- GamesBeat's PC gaming editor -- has actually seen ray tracing working in a game. He paired Battlefield V with the $1,200 RTX 2080 Ti and the latest version of Windows 10. That combination enabled him to try out the latest lighting technology. The result? Some really good looking puddles. That's right. It's 2018, and we're talking about puddles in a video game again. 

Join us for this week's show, and don't hesitate to tell us what your favorite puddle in a game is by tweeting @GBDecides. 

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Spyro collection

Fallout 76

Tetris Effect

Jeff:

Tetris Effect

Battlefield V/RTX

Hitman 2

News

PlayStation skips E3

PlayStation's 5th anniversary

86.1 million hardware units shipped

777.9 million software units

X018

Crackdown 3 comes February 15

Xbox acquires Obsidian and InXile

Sunset Overdrive comes to PC

Phil Spencer promises to fix Microsoft Store for PC games

Spencer doesn’t think cloud will ever fully replace dedicated hardware

Xbox will still make powerful hardware

Nintendo wins $12 million lawsuit against couple that hosted illegal ROMs

Nintendo of Russia's president is a nightmare human

Soon, everything will be THQ Nordic

Telltale enters bankruptcy

Xbox One gets keyboard and mouse support

Play the outro music. No, the other outro music!

The GamesBeat Decides podast is back. In this episode, we talk about betraying the very rational and calm fans. We also go over all the news from BlizzCon and the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct. Have a listen:

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

BlizzCon

Jeff:

Red Dead Redemption 2

News

BlizzCon

Path of Exile comes to PlayStation 4

Sunset Overdrive is probably coming to PC

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 gets microtransactions

Respawn will have two games in 2019 ... Titanfall 3?

Ubisoft is changing Rainbow Six: Siege for China

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct

What's still coming out this year?

Tetris Effect (November 9)

Hitman 2 (November 13)

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (November 13)

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (November 13)

Fallout 76 (November 14)

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee (November 16)

Battlefield V (November 20)

Darksiders III (November 27)

Just cause 4 (December 4)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (December 7)

I'm with the fans!

It's our 100th-episode spectacular! To celebrate, we are doing exactly what we always do! That's right. This week's episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast is a power-hour of two guys pretending to know what they're talking about.

Co-host and GamesBeat reviews editor Mike Minotti has spent some time with Soul Calibur 6, and he tells us about the status of said soul vis-à-vis burning. Co-host and PC gaming editor Jeffrey Grubb, meanwhile, has had some hardware struggles that have kept him busy. The crew also spends some time explaining why they don't need to shoot anyone in BOBO (Black Ops Blackout) to contribute to the success of their team.

In the news, the Decides team talks about Rockstar's crunch problems. Finally, they discuss murdering Sean Bean in a completely consensual way. 

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

BOBO

Soul Calibur 6

The Legend of Zelda

Jeff:

Intel Core i9-9900K

News

Red Dead studio is crunching

Analogue is making the Mega Sg for Sega games

Sony fixes malicious PlayStation Network message

Hitman 2's first elusive target is Sean Bean

Black Ops 4 had the biggest digital day one sales ever, but it's stock is down

Discord Store is live

Discord terms of service removes right to join class-action lawsuit

BOBO-YOLO!

The country roads have lifted their embargo, and now GamesBeat reviews editor Mike Minotti can talk about them. He spends some time explaining what he found on this week's episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast. It turns out that we still have questions.

PC gaming editor Jeffrey Grubb joins Mike to talk about BOBO (Call of Duty: Black Ops Black Out), which still isn't doing it for him. Mike is also finally playing 2016's Hitman, and he's mad that Jeff didn't tell him how great it is. It's a shame that we don't hours of audio footage -- like a podcast, for example -- where Jeff repeatedly told him to play it immediately for two years. 

In the news, Mike and Jeff talk about Nintendo remixing its NES classics. They also wonder if a Zelda randomizer or Super Wario Bros. 3 could come to Switch next. The crew also spends some time exasperated at people who think we're getting new consoles in 2019. 

You should join us and listen along. 

Here’s everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Fallout 76

Hitman

Jeff:

BOBO

News

Nintendo's remixed NES classics

Sony CEO says PS5 is "necessary"

Hitman 2 gets multiplayer

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is doing well

Forza Horizon 4 had 2 million players

Microsoft might buy Obsidian

Skyboud is gonna save The Walking Dead's final season

PSN is getting name changes

But seriously, why would you possibly think we're getting new consoles in 2019?

The GamesBeat Decides podcast is so nuanced that it can see the silver lining of even the worst human tragedies. That's why on this week's episode, hosts Jeffrey Grubb and Mike Minotti don't shy away from talking about the new Mega Man movie. 

Mike also returns from West Virginia with stories of his time with Fallout 76 ... although he can't talk about Fallout 76 itself. But we can talk about Mega Man 11 and more Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Mike likes the latest adventure of the Blue Bomber, and Jeff's still happy with Odyssey despite a big flaw. 

In the news, the GamesBeat Decides crew wonders if the Mega Man movie will surpass Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog film. Probably not, how could it? Jeff and Mike also talk about what a new Nintendo Switch will include and name changes coming to PlayStation Network.

But why don't you click play and join us? 

Here's everything we talk about:

Games

Mike: 

Mega Man 11

Jeff: 

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

News

Mega Man movie

New Nintendo Switch

PSN name changes

Harry Potter game

More Telltale layoffs

FIFA Ultimate Team odds

No PSX this year

Google's Project Stream

Nintendo patents Game Boy case for phones

Same time next week? See you then.

It's time to podcast, y'all. The GamesBeat Decides crew is back for another week of news and games. 

On this episode, we have only the latest in entertainment. That includes ... Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda? Well, co-host Jeffrey Grubb has at least spent some time with Forza Horizon 4 and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. He dives into both of those, while fellow co-host Mike Minotti wastes his life with NES Nintendo Switch Online games. 

Before getting into the news, Mike and Jeff talk about the 5 bad PlayStation games they want on the PlayStation Classic. 

In the headlines, the pair talk about the tragic end of Telltale Games and unionization. Then it's a lot of PlayStation news. Sony is permitting crossplay now. The Vita is dead. And you can download PlayStation Now games. 

I invite you to join us.

Here's everything we talked about

NES Nintendo Switch Online app

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Forza Horizon 4

PlayStation Classic

The 5 bad PlayStation games we want on PS Classic

PlayStation Crossplay

Vita is dead

PlayStation Now downloads

Oculus Quest

Let's do this again next week!