Pretty Pixels Podcast

Do players dream of electric games? That’s one of the questions we ponder this week, though with less convoluted language and a lack of allusion to a classic science fiction novel. It’s… it’s just “do we ever dream of video games when we’ve played them a bunch.” That’s what I was… trying to… Anyway, we’re playing Video Game Twenty Questions again! We had some real nail-biters last time, so will we continue our streak and emerge victorious once again? Play along and let us know how dumb we are! There was a lot of interesting news this week, too, so we talk about Rockstar’s new GTA Online subscription, Breath of the Wild 2’s delay, E3’s cancelation, the new PlayStation Plus tiers, and much more. It’s a pretty jam-packed episode!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:54: Rockstar announces “GTA Plus” subscription service

00:04:20: Breath of the Wild 2 is delayed to 2023

00:10:36: E3 is cancelled

00:13:38: Sony finally unveils its upcoming PlayStation Plus subscription tiers

00:32:59: Judge approves Activision Blizzard harassment settlement

00:35:22: Joey’s still summoning his Persona in Persona Q and Arena Ultimax, plus he’s building Wayne Manor in Minecraft

00:36:15: Do we dream of games when we’ve played them a bunch?

00:41:17: Paul’s been hitting that Halo grind and is nearing the end of Cyberpunk 2077’s story

00:45:15: Ron’s also been Haloing just a bit

00:47:22: Video game twenty questions!

00:50:30: Game 1

01:11:11: Game 2

01:33:47: Game 3

01:47: Bella starts purring around here, so that lasts several minutes and I couldn’t bear to edit it out

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Pop some corn and grab a Bison Brand Soda™ for our conversation about the 1994 hit movie Street Fighter! “Hit movie?” I hear you ask, snide derision coloring your tone as you scrunch your nose at the notion. But, as we discuss in the episode, this movie made $100 million globally! And what a wild ride it is. Ming-Na Wen kicks some serious ass, Raul Julia chews some scenery, Jean-Claude Van Damme is on a ton of cocaine, and Kylie Minogue is a cutie patootie. There was so much to unpack with this movie, but we walked away with a greater appreciation for it than we’d expected to. We also announce the winner of our Hitman 3 giveaway, talk about The Batman for quite a bit, and Joey has a poop story you didn’t ask for and probably don’t want to hear!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:01:45: Hitman 3 giveaway winner! Congrats, Jeff!

00:05:15: Sony acquires Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios

00:08:23: CD Projekt Red announced a new installment in The Witcher series of games

00:19:00: Joey’s gross poop story

00:28:00: The Batman discussion [spoilers start now]

00:41:40: [End The Batman spoilers]

00:41:44: Paul’s still punking it up in Night City

00:46:55: Ron hasn’t been up to much

00:48:57: Joey finally finished Find Love or Die Trying and is continuing to plug away at Persona Q; he also started Persona 4 Arena ULTIMAX and has joined Tab in returning to Minecraft

00:56:10: Street Fighter (1994)! Our discussion is all over the place so timestamps seem… useless!

01:28:10: The Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1991/08/11/the-muscles-from-brussels/f7bbf6e8-8243-49b0-8a40-7ce5256ca4a3/

01:53:25: Ming-Na Wen on Conan: https://youtu.be/F-UCcEm6eGw

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

It’s spring break, party people, and we’re here to party it up by *checks notes* talking about video games and imagining what it would be like to go on actual vacations to fictional places! If you’ve listened with any regularity, you must surely realize now that we are sad people leading sad lives, so escape with us into fantastical landscapes as we do our best to find respite in the fantasy of beautiful seaside resorts, spacious castles, and sprawling metropolises. Virtually see the sights! Delusionally savor the flavors! Take in every Chocobo chirp and Bob-omb blast in these magical, completely made-up locations with us, and send us your fantasy video game vacation destinations, too! We’d love to read them on the show. We also plug a couple of timely itch.io bundles (links below), talk about what we’ve been playing, and more.

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:30: Details for our second ever official giveaway! Listen for how to enter a physical copy of Hitman 3 for PS5

00:07:30: The itch.io Bundle for Ukraine: https://itch.io/b/1316/bundle-for-ukraine

00:10:25: The itch.io Bundle of TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Texas: https://itch.io/b/1308/ttrpgs-for-trans-rights-in-texas (@ 00:12:30, Joey is thinking of Questlandia)

00:14:24: New Mario Kart 8 DLC maps and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax are out this week

00:23:56: Yes, the PXLS gang is still playing Halo Infinite

00:27:35: Paul is still cruisin’ the mean streets of Night City with his chooms

00:28:48: Ron has been truckin’ along in American Truck Simulator and l33t haxxing in Quadrilateral Cowboy

00:37:00: Joey’s been finishing up Horizon Forbidden West

00:39:40: Video game vacation destinations! Featuring:

00:40:02: Galdin Quay (Final Fantasy XV)

00:45:40: The American Southwest (Red Dead Redemption 2)

00:53:47: The Citadel (Mass Effect)

01:00:05: The Queendom of Zeal (Chrono Trigger)

01:07:50: Night City (Cyberpunk 2077)

01:15:12: Toussaint (The Witcher 3)

01:20:00: Castle Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)

01:24:15: Los Santos (Grand Theft Auto V)

01:32:23: Iki Island (Ghost of Tsushima)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

As Rafiki says in The Lion King, “it is time.” We announce the winners to our first official giveaway! “Winners?” I hear you say with a puzzled look on your beautiful face. “But I remember clearly from last week’s episode that you used the singular to describe the number of winners there would be,” you point out. You are correct, dear listener, but there is a plot twist! Tab has generously donated a code to the pot, so we have two codes that we give away on this week’s episode! We would name the winners in the show notes here but we kind of want it to be a surprise for them. To everyone who entered, and especially those who wrote nice, supportive emails, thank you so much! It’s been so much fun giving away codes to a game we love. We have another giveaway to announce next week (for a physical PS5 game), so stay tuned for more info on that. As for this week’s show, Paul and Joey lament the fictional romances that were not to be on a little segment we’re calling The Baes that Got Away. What’s the shelf life on “bae,” anyway? Are we already not using it anymore? Regardless, we’re chatting about characters in games with some kind of romance element (Mass Effect, The Witcher 3, Stardew Valley, etc.) that we weren’t able to romance. We also talk about the Sony State of Play, Joey’s Lady D print, and more!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:07:04: Joey gets a wholesome print from Lady D herself, Helena Mankowska

00:12:30: Winners of the Horizon Forbidden West giveaway!

00:16:46: Happy MAR10 day!

00:17:26: Sony’s State of Play, including:

00:18:08: Trek to Yomi

00:20:27: Exoprimal

00:23:35: Forespoken

00:25:16: TMNT Cowabunga Collection

00:29:00: Valkyrie Elysium

00:33:17: Perso- ahem. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle

00:40:43: The gang is still playing Halo Infinite

00:44:27: Paul has found love in Night City (Cyberpunk 2077)

00:44:55: Begin Cyberpunk 2077 side quest spoilers

00:58:26: End Cyberpunk 2077 spoilers

01:02:28: Begin romance spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077

01:08:17: End romance spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077

01:09:58: Joey has found more dino danger in Horizon Forbidden West

01:14:29: The Baes That Got Away!

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

It’s our first big giveaway, babyyyyyy! Should we be as excited to give away a code as we are? I can’t answer that. The fact remains that we are, in fact, very excited. We’re usually the gamers trying to win codes, not the ones giving them away! But here we are, with a shiny new download code for Horizon Forbidden West (PS5/PS4), ready to send it along to a listener. We cover how you can enter in the episode, but don’t worry: you don’t have to like and subscribe and smash any bells. We would appreciate those things (well, except the bells – there are no bells here), but our goal with this giveaway is for it to be easy and equitable. And to share a game we love, which we talk all about in this episode! Talking points include faces, fun robo dino stuff, air, and much more. It’s more interesting than it sounds! We also briefly chat about the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet announcement and more!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:06:00: Horizon Forbidden West code giveaway details

00:08:30: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are announced for later this year

00:14:37: Joey finally gets his sparkly purple armor in Halo Infinite

00:17:04: Horizon Forbidden West!

01:08:36: Slight spoiler about a side quest

01:10:08: End slight spoiler

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

It’s Who Knew That Review time, babyyyyyyy! Joey, Ron, and Paul team up once again to play one of our favorite games. As a reminder, Who Knew That Review is a game where we try to guess games based on their reviews. Each host will read a review from an old magazine or website, like EGM, GamePro, Nintendo Power, etc., and omit key words and phrases like developer, publisher, character names, locations, etc. We want you, the listener, to play along, so we hold our final guesses until the entire review has been read. We also announce a new game giveaway! Next week, Tab and Joey will be discussing Horizon Forbidden West at length, and to celebrate its release and our recent one-year anniversary, we’re giving away a code to the digital version of the game. Listen next week for details on how to potentially score the code, and we’ll have another giveaway soon! We also chat a bit about Street Fighter 6, Dragon Age, and what we’ve been playing!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:46: Horizon Forbidden West giveaway announcement!

00:06:19: Capcom’s countdown was for Street Fighter 6, but they’re also releasing The Capcom Fighting Collection this summer

00:13:45: BioWare says in a blog post that they are “right in the middle of the Production phase” on the next Dragon Age game

00:17:55: Paul has been cybering it up in Cyberpunk 2077… and shaking with excitement over the upcoming Elden Ring

00:27:10: Ron’s been playing “internet issues xtreme” and Haloing it up with the gang

00:32:18: Joey’s been playing Horizon Forbidden West and gives his brief thoughts on the Uncharted movie

00:36:17: Who Knew That Review!

00:38:54: Paul’s Game 1

00:45:49: Ron’s Game 1

00:54:15: Joey’s Game 1

01:06:34: Paul’s Game 2

01:20:15: Ron’s Game 2

01:32:05: Joey’s Game 2

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Tab’s back to celebrate one year of Pretty Pixels Podcasting with an indie swap! We each chose an indie game from itch.io that we thought the other might find interesting, played them, and now we’re here to report our findings. Tab made their way through the psychedelic and provocative The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena, by Fantasia Malware, and Joey shuddered through a bone chilling encounter with Babysitter Bloodbath, by Puppet Combo. Links below, to check them out! We also chat about the mysterious Capcom countdown, Nintendo shuttering the 3DS and WiiU eshops, new No Man’s Sky content, and more. Have an indie game you’d like us to play for a future indie swap? Email us!

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @RandomMox (Tab)

00:05:07: Capcom starts a countdown on their official site – probably something Street Fighter related, but Joey asks “what if…”

00:08:34: Cyberpunk 2077 next gen versions drop out of nowhere

00:11:27: “Nintendo Closing 3DS & Wii U Shops In 2023, Has 'No Plans To Offer Classic Content In Other Ways'” (via Kotaku)

00:14:18: No Man’s Sky gets another major (free) update

00:19:30: Tab and Joey are still fartin’ around in Halo Infinite

00:26:25: Joey struck his final killing blow in Hitman 3

00:37:40: Indie exchange intro!

00:41:54: Tab talks us through The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena, by Fantasia Malware: https://fantasia-malware.itch.io/the-life-of-saint-fiona-bianco-xena

00:57:15: Joey digs into Babysitter Bloodbath, by Puppet Combo: https://puppetcombo.itch.io/babysitter-bloodbath

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

With Valentine’s Day coming up, we thought it might be fun to play some short, cheap dating sims on itch.io! We each picked a game that seemed fun and was free or pay-what-you-want, played them, and are here to talk about them. Joey played part of Resident Evil 4: Otome Edition and almost all of Find Love or Die Trying, Ron played what’s available of Don’t Take It Personally, I Just Don’t Like You: The Camping Trip, and Paul beat Head Over Hooves: My Heart Bleats for You. They were fun! Links are below, if you want to check them out. We also talk through some of the very exciting tidbits from the latest Nintendo Direct. Chrono Cross! EarthBound! Soccer Peach! Switch Sports! This Direct was a feast for some Nintendo fans, so we gush over some of the games we’re most excited about.

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:01:50: Nintendo Direct (2/9/22)

00:04:03: Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

00:05:07: Kirby is doing disturbing things with his mouth

00:07:15: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC! 48 Tracks!

00:10:30: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

00:11:42: Splatoon 3

00:12:50: Nintendo Switch Sports

00:16:31: Mario Strikers: Battle League

00:19:45: No Man’s Sky on Switch

00:25:24: Portal Companion Collection

00:27:41: Klonoa Phantasy Reverie: Series

00:29:56: EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings are now on Switch!

00:37:50: Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers is an HD remaster of Chrono Cross with the previously unreleased Radical Dreamers bundled in! Woo!

00:41:45: Ghost of Tsushima getting an Aloy costume from Horizon Forbidden West (via IGN)

00:45:12: The PXLS gang is still desyncing it up in Halo Infinite and Paul had the best Halo match of his life; he is also zeroing in on Penny as a romance option in Stardew Valley!

00:55:50: Joey’s still chipping away at Persona Q and is very impressed by Hitman 3’s DualSense design

01:00:03: Ron’s Valentine’s Day pick: Don’t Take It Personally, I Just Don’t Like You: The Camping Trip, by DeCoster (also, Ron is correct: itch.io is independent, but Epic includes itch.io games on its storefront)

https://lockerkid.itch.io/dont-take-it-personally-i-just-dont-like-you

01:12:57: Joey’s Pick: Find Love or Die Trying, by Auden Jin

https://audenjin.itch.io/find-love-or-die-trying

01:20:45: Paul’s pick: Head Over Hooves, My Heart Bleats for You, by Blarfnip

https://blarfnip.itch.io/head-over-hooves-my-heart-bleats-for-you

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Some podcasters just want to watch the world burn. We just want to talk about Batman. With the newest Bat-flick coming in March, fellow mega-Bat-fan Paul and I wanted to walk through Batman’s history in video games. We do kind of breeze through the entire history of Batman games, but we focus most of our discussion on the games we’ve played (or that seem odd or important). We also talk more broadly about our own history with the character and universe, our favorite villains and Batman actors, toys, and all kinds of other Bat-details. We also talk about Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, which Nintendo character we think would start an OnlyFans, Hitman 2 and 3, and more.

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey)

The timestamps below are mostly only for major discussion points. There are a bit too many games and some we barely talk about. As mentioned in the episode, I’ve included links to emulations of some games from the Internet Archive.

00:04:00: New York Times buys Wordle

00:06:35: Sony acquires Bungie for $3.6 billion

00:18:11: Paul’s still on the prowl for a bae in Stardew Valley and the whole gang is still on its Halo Infinite trip

00:23:10: Joey’s drawing maps in Persona Q and *silenced pistol sound*ing his way through Hitman 2 and 3

00:27:40: Batman!

00:28:30: How we came to love Batman (early Batman movies, animated series)

00:44:07: Our favorite villains

00:49:50: Our favorite Batman actors

00:57:56: Batman (EU 1986, Ocean Software, for the Amstrad CPC and PCW, MSX, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum) https://archive.org/details/zx_Batman_1986_Ocean

01:00:27: Batman: The Caped Crusader (EU/NA 1988, Special FX Software/Ocean for the Amiga, Apple II, MS-Dos, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum) https://archive.org/details/zx_Batman_The_Caped_Crusader_Part_1_A_Bird_in_the_Hand_1988_Ocean

01:05:02: Batman (The Video Game) (EU/NA 1989, Ocean Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, GX4000, Amstrad CPC, MSX, ZX Spectrum) https://archive.org/details/msdos_Batman_-_The_Movie_1990

01:06:38: The Revenge of Shinobi (JP/NA 1989, EU 1990, Sega for Genesis)

01:09:50: Batman (JP 1989, EU/NA 1990, Sunsoft for NES) https://archive.org/details/batman-uprototype

01:15:32: Batman: Return of the Joker (JP/NA 1991, EU 1992, Sunsoft for NES, Game Boy, Genesis) https://archive.org/details/sg_Batman_Return_of_the_Joker_1992_Sunsoft_US https://archive.org/details/batmanreturnofthejokerprototype

01:21:06: Batman Returns (JP/NA 1992, EU 1993, Konami, Malibu Interactive, more for SNES, Genesis, Sega Master System, NES, Atari Lynx, Amiga, Game Gear, MS-DOS) https://archive.org/details/batman-returns-japan-sample https://archive.org/details/msdos_Batman_Returns_1993

01:29:10: The Adventures of Batman & Robin (NA/EU 1994, Sega/Clockwork Tortoise and Konami for Genesis, Game Gear, Sega CD, SNES) https://archive.org/details/gg_Adventures_of_Batman_and_R_The_1995Sega

01:31:47: Justice League: Task Force (1995, Sunsoft and Blizzard Entertainment for SNES, Condor for Sega Genesis)

01:34:45: Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (NA/EU 1996, JP 1997, Acclaim for arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows) https://archive.org/details/arcade_batmanfr https://archive.org/details/psx_batmanf

01:37:05: Batman & Robin (NA/EU 1998, Probe Entertainment for PlayStation and game.com) https://archive.org/details/psx_batnrob

01:40:30: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (NA/EU 2000, Kemco/Ubisoft for Game Boy Color, N64, and PlayStation) https://archive.org/details/psx_batmnbey

01:44:39: Batman: Vengeance (NA/EU 2001, Ubi Soft Montreal for GameCube, PS2, Xbox, Windows, GBA)

01:46:13: Batman: Dark Tomorrow (NA/EU/JP 2003, Kemco for GameCube and Xbox)

01:53:20: Batman Begins (NA/EU 2005, Eurocom for GameCube, PS2, Xbox, GBA)

02:00:35: Lego Batman: The Videogame (NA/EU 2008, Traveller’s Tales for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, Nintendo DS, PSP)

02:03:25: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (2008, Midway for Xbox 360 and PS3)

02:05:53: Batman: Arkham Asylum (NA/EU 2009, Rocksteady Studios for PS3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac)

Batman: Arkham City (2011, Rocksteady Studios for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Windows, Mac)

Batman: Arkham Origins (2013, WB Games Montreal for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Windows)

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015, Rocksteady Studios for PS4, Xbox One, and Windows)

02:24:42: Batman: Arkham VR (2016, Rocksteady Studios for PS VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive)

02:31:43: Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013, NetherRealm Studios for Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Windows, PS Vita)

02:39:05: Batman (2013, Specular Interactive for arcade)

02:44:30: Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014, Traveller’s Tales for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii U, PS Vita, Windows, 3DS)

02:48:30: Batman: The Telltale Series (2016, Telltale Games for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Switch, Windows)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Are you ready for some football? Well, you’ve come to the wrong place. We are, however, doing a fantasy video game draft this week, inspired by those of the football variety. We’re picking teams from a list of the season’s (year’s) hottest players (games). After our teams are set, we’ll track our games’ Metacritic scores throughout the year. At the end of the year, the games’ final Metacritic scores will be the “points” they’ve scored, and whoever has the most points, wins. If a game gets pushed from 2022, it’s considered an “injury” and no points are awarded. Who do you think has the strongest team? Email us and let us know! Also on this episode, we discuss changes to the Halo Infinite battle pass, Raven Software’s QA team unionizing, the newly announced EA Star Wars games, and what we’ve been playing.

Contact us: [email protected]

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:12: Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass will eventually include “premium credits” that can be used as currency to purchase shop items or future passes

00:08:25: Raven Software QA testers form union, Activision Blizzard ignores them

00:13:42: EA announces three new Star Wars games: a sequel to Fallen Order, an FPS, and a strategy game

00:21:33: More Halo talk

00:24:05: Paul has been teabagging it up in Halo Infinite (not really) and farming it up in Stardew Valley

00:29:50: Joey finished 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim and Metroid Fusion, started Persona Q and Hitman 2, chipped away at Pilotwings Resort, and failed at starting Secret of Evermore

00:41:19: Fantasy Video Game Draft 2022! The list of games we are drafting from:

Horizon Forbidden West (2/18)

Elden Ring (2/25)

Dying Light 2: Stay Human (2/4)

Martha is Dead (2/24)

Gran Turismo 7 (3/4)

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (3/18)

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (3/25)

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl (12/8)

Sons of the Forest (5/20)

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong (5/19)

Saints Row (8/23)

Starfield (11/11)

Bayonetta 3 (2022)

Skull & Bones (2022)

God of War: Ragnarok (2022)

Gotham Knights (2022)

GhostWire: Tokyo (2022)

Goodbye Volcano High (2022)

I Am Jesus Christ (2022)

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild sequel (2022)

Soup Pot (2022)

Stray (2022)

Hogwarts Legacy (2022)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (4/5)

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2022)

Session (2022)

Sifu (2/8)

Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals (2022)

Forspoken (5/24)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (3/25)

Redfall (2022)

Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022)

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2022)

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (2022)

Sonic Frontiers (2022)

Splatoon 3 (2022)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2022)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com