Hot Button

And we’re back to ring in the new year with a lost episode of Microtransactions! This week it’s all about scams, conspiracies, and miscommunications, as we venture into the weird world of 3 controversies that likely flew under your gaming radar.

It’s our second anniversary so that means it's time for another recap! We cover not only the episodes from our second (and first) year, but also the insane 12 months that was 2020. Hear all about our switch to a bi-weekly schedule, the adjustment to remote recording, and our delayed plans for additional content. All this along our usual updates, fixes, jokes and discussion about past content. Also there may even be some hints at the future of Hot Button too! Join us, along with our producer Jason, in celebrating the past year as much as we could without getting too bleak!

With the launch of the Xbox Series X and S on the horizon, it’s time we took a look back at the story surrounding Microsoft's previous generation machine, the Xbox One. The tumultuous reveal, it’s shaky launch, the new Kinect sensor, GamePass, the One X, Project xCloud, and everything else in between. Listen in on the conclusion to our trilogy on the family of consoles that started all the way back at episode 6!

Note: This episode was recorded before major details were revealed, including price and release date. Tune in to our year-two anniversary to hear our thoughts on the Xbox Series X|S reveal as well as our first impressions on the console.

As promised, we are back for a trip around the digital campfire with the tale of Killswitch. A supposed video game made in limited quantities by the Karvina Corporation in 1989, except now it’s time for us to take a crack at its many curious mysteries. Could the file actually delete itself upon death or completion? Was it indeed made by a cult? Did the 5,000 unites produced exist? And did copy of it really sell at auction for a staggering $733,000? All this and more as our Creepypasta investigation continues!

In the electronic age, urban legends like Polybius have fallen by the wayside, but that doesn't mean we can't find another spooky story to tell. Enter creepypastas! Join us around the digital campfire as we tell the tale of Pale Luna, an old text-based adventure game lost to time. Afterwards we go an internet investigation into the validity of the tale. Is it fact or is it fiction?

What happens when Disney’s pantsless honey-loving teddy bear makes it into a Taiwanese psychological horror game? A lot actually! On our second episode of Hot Button’s 2020 Halloween special, we dig into just what the hell happened last year with cult-favorite Steam darling Devotion and why it continues to be banned from sale across the world.

Hot Button’s 2020 Halloween special begins today! In our first entry, we take a look at a lesser documented Japanese PC strategy title that shares quite a disturbing connection to a murderous cult. A group also known for it’s recruitment of young people interested in pop culture as well as it’s horrific coordinated attacks on the public. How does a video game come into play in all this? You’ll just have get into the spooky season with us and find out!

Ever wonder what happened to some of the old third-party publishers of yesteryear? This week we look into a heavy hitter as we pour one out for Acclaim Entertainment! Find out how running a company based around arcade ports and licensing The Simpsons, Batman, Cool Spot, and many more can only last for so long. Especially when combined with a bunch of questionable business practices and a whole lot of crazy PR stunts.

Modern smartphones have really streamlined quite a bit for us here in 2020, so it can be easy to forget what it was like back in the early 2000s when your pockets had to be loaded up with multiple different electronics to get through the day. Cell phone, MP3 player, game console. It was time for one device to finally come along and unite them all! This week we discuss Nokia’s short venture into the world of handheld gaming and side-talk about one of the industry’s most notorious failures, the N-Gage.