Pretty Pixels Podcast

Tab is off gallivanting, so join Joey and special guest Ron as we discuss backlogs! How did ours start? How have we managed them? Will we ever be free of the endless cycle? No. No, we won’t. But after talking about the news and what we’ve been playing, we walk through some of the most annoying and noteworthy games on our old and storied backlogs. Which of us has yet to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess? Is it Joey or Ron who has a bad habit of buying sequels to games that are already on their backlog? Could it be both? Just how many Silent Hill games can you miss before you can stop claiming you “love the series”? And will we be able to recruit Tab to help us finish Left 4 Dead 2? Only time will tell…

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:01:35: Xbox Design Lab is back, babyyyyy

00:05:50: Cyberpunk 2077 is coming back to the PlayStation Store

00:07:23: Square Enix and Cyber Group Studio are making a Final Fantasy IX animated series

00:11:28: Prime Day and other gaming deals (Joey buys Dragon Quest XI… again)

00:13:51: Ron’s playing Hypnospace Outlaw, Catherine: Full Body, Final Fantasy VII Remake

00:20:13: Joey finishes Mass Effect 3 and, thus, Legendary Edition, plays Resident Evil Village again (duh), and starts Persona 5: The Animation

00:26:15: Backlogs! After going through our backlog origin stories, we talk about some of the most notable or annoying games on our lists

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

E3 is finally here! If you’ve listened to the last two episodes, you’ll know that we’ve been super hyped for this year’s showcase and surrounding events. Well, if you could just skip this episode and remember us in the rosy glow of our anticipation, that would be great. Just kidding. Mostly. Okay, okay, so maybe this year’s E3 wasn’t the greatest, and maybe some of the publishers seemed to have forgotten what an E3 showcase looks like, but it wasn’t all a wash. Microsoft and Nintendo had great showings, and there are a metric crap ton of cool looking indie games coming out very soon. We cover a whole lotta games in this episode, so strap in and join Joey, Tab, and Ron as they navigate one of the most uneven and confusing E3s ever!

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:02:11: Battlefield 2042

00:09:21: Summer Game Fest (Death Stranding, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Elden Ring, etc.)

00:24:34: Guerrilla Collective/Wholesome Games (Lakes, Yokai Inn, Letters, Hot Pot For One, We Are OFK, Hunt for the Night)

00:35:37: Ubisoft Forward (Far Cry 6, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, etc.)

00:45:32: Xbox + Bethesda (Starfield, Halo Infinite, Stalker 2, Sea of Thieves DLC, Microsoft Flight Simulator, The Outer Worlds 2, etc.)

01:05:14: Square Enix (Guardians of the Galaxy, Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, etc.)

01:11:08: Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!

01:15:55: Ron joins Joey and gives his thoughts on some of the above games and more, including eSports Boxing Club, Atomic Heart, Get Packed: Fully Loaded, Skate Bird, and more

01:52:03: Bella is just begging to go out for like a minute straight. I’m not editing it out

01:55:00: Capcom (Resident Evil Village Lady Dimitrescu DLC… eventually)

02:02:25: Nintendo (Metroid Dread, Mario Party Superstars, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, Wario Ware: Get it Together!, Breath of the Wild sequel, and more)

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

*chanting* E3! E3! E3! Okay, so some people are saying that this E3 is going to be “subdued” or “lackluster.” For us, we like to go into every E3 with the ol’ adage, “Expect the worst, hope for the best.” And we have some hopes for this E3, rumors be damned. Where’s Skull and Bones? Will we see a new Tomb Raider? How much of Breath of the Wild will Nintendo show? How many times can Joey say “pie in the sky” before you want to put a “knife in his eye”? Will Tab be drooling over State of Decay 3 footage? Will Joey finally, finally, finally get to play Mother 3? Join us next week to hear us cry over how many of these hopes and dreams were shattered, with special guest Ron!

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:01:07: Joey’s still playing (and loving) Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Resident Evil Village, and Everybody’s Golf

00:03:04: Tab’s playing Who We Are Now, a romance/erotic indie visual novel, and Everybody’s Golf

00:06:25: E3 schedule pulled from a tweet by Saniya (@saniyaga)

00:07:30: Guerrilla Collective and Wholesome Direct (Campo Santo, ConcernedApe, Goodbye Volcano High, more dating sims, etc.)

00:12:12: Ubisoft Forward (The Division 3, new Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell refresh? Fingers crossed for Skull and Bones)

00:19:25: Xbox and Bethesda (Halo Infinite, Starfield, State of Decay 3. Elder Scrolls trailer? New Minecraft? Fingers crossed for Fable, Perfect Dark)

00:29:09: Say “pie in the sky” one more time *Samuel L. Jackson meme*

00:31:33: Square Enix (Life is Strange: New Colors. New Tomb Raider? Fingers crossed for Final Fantasy XVI. Far flung hopes: new Parasite Eve, HD-2D Final Fantasy games, anything Chrono Trigger related)

00:41:03: Warner Bros. (who knows, besides Back 4 Blood? Fingers crossed for more Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights. Far flung hope: Wonder Woman game)

00:42:42: Take-Two (Red Dead Redemption remaster/remake? Grand Theft Auto 6 tease? Far flung hope: Bully 2)

00:48:37: Capcom (Resident Evil Village DLC? Street Fighter VI? Fingers crossed for Resident Evil Re-Remake, or RE 4 remake)

00:52:15: Nintendo (Breath of the Wild 2? Bayonetta 3? Splatoon 3? Metroid? New Smash fighter hype. Fingers crossed for new Fire Emblem. Far flung hopes: Mother 3! Or EarthBound anything. Eternal Darkness revival)

01:03:41: Bandai Namco (Elden Ring? Far flung hopes: Tales of Destiny 1 and 2 remasters, Ace Combat 8)

01:05:45: Sony, whenever it happens (Horizon release date? God of War footage? Fingers crossed for new Uncharted and PS VR 2 full reveal)

01:11:05: Sega (New Sonic game reveal? Judgement sequel? Fingers crossed for Persona 6. Far flung hope: Persona 3 remake/remaster)

01:14:00 : EA/BioWare (Dragon Age or Mass Effect teasers? Far flung hope: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake)

01:16:24: Will we see anything from CD Projekt Red?

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

With all of the big announcements and gameplay trailers released this week, it sure does feel like E3’s come early, eh? We talk about Techland’s Dying Light 2 gameplay trailer, Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West State of Play, Dragon Quest’s 35th Anniversary live stream, and Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6 gameplay reveal. We also talk about what we’ve been playing, including going in-depth on two little indie gems we’ve recently uncovered (A Mortician’s Tale and Knife Sisters). Join us next week for some fun E3 predictions, and hit us up with what games you hope to see at the big show(s)!

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:03:24: Dying Light 2 gameplay trailer

00:12:55: Sony’s State of Play on Horizon Forbidden West

00:24:02: Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary stream (DQ XII, DQ Treasures, DQ X update and offline version, DQ Keshikeshi, DQ III HD-2D Remake)

00:32:00: Far Cry 6 gameplay reveal trailer

00:49:30: Joey’s been playing more Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, plus even more Resident Evil Village

00:52:24: Tab and Joey and co. have gotten back into Everybody’s Golf

00:56:20: Tab talks about the game Knife Sisters (2019, PC)

01:11:11: Joey talk about the short and sweet(?) A Mortician’s Tale (2017, PC/iOS/Mac)

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

We’re joined this week by our very first special guest: Ron! We’ve mentioned him often, both as a friend and as the composer of our theme music, and he joins us to discuss some of director Uwe Boll’s most notorious video game adaptations. We each watched Alone in the Dark (2005), BloodRayne (2006), and Postal (2007), and after many hours of crying and wondering why we subjected ourselves to this, we chatted about the many, many issues with these movies. We also chat about Twitch’s hot tub stream blog and new diversity tags, the upcoming Sony State of Play on Horizon Forbidden West, our experience with Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and more!

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:02:00: Twitch won’t take action against sexy streamers; they also introduce a plethora of diversity tags

00:04:02: Sony announces a new State of Play, focusing on Horizon Forbidden West

00:07:30: Kotaku posts a video about video game movies, includes Alone in the Dark and BloodRayne as two of their three “worst”

00:08:03: Tab and Joey have been playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition; Ron hates fun

00:13:45: Ron’s been playing Control, Wreckfest, and Cookie Clicker

00:20:39: Intro to our ill-advised Uwe Boll adventure (in which we watched Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, and Postal)

00:24:30: Alone in the Dark

00:42:07: Tab had a background issue with mowers, which is why they disappear for a bit

00:50:40: BloodRayne

01:20:05: Postal

02:04:11: Check out Ron on Instagram! @notbigbadron

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

What season do you associate with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? How about The Last of Us Part II? This week, we talk about games that we associate with certain seasons, whether it’s because the game “feels like” the season or we have specific gaming memories tied to a particular season. We touch on Persona 5, Harvest Moon 64, Fallout 3, and more! We also discuss the removal of humanitarian aid articles posted by IGN and Game Informer by their parent companies, John McClane and Rambo coming to Call of Duty: Warzone, and eBay’s new ban of adult video games and other “pornographic” material. Next week, we’re having special guest Ron on to discuss some of Uwe Boll’s infamous video game adaptations. If you’re interested in following along and sharing your thoughts, we’ll be watching Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, and Postal. Email or hit us up on Twitter and we might share your thoughts on the show!

Contact us: [email protected]

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

00:02:53: E3’s coming, babyyyyyyy

00:05:37: IGN and Game Informer have humanitarian efforts thwarted by their parent companies

00:11:00: Far Cry 6 releasing in September

00:13:08: John & John (McClane and Rambo) are coming to Call of Duty: Warzone along with the former’s Nakatomi Plaza as a playable map

00:14:35: eBay is banning adult content, including A and X/XXX rated video games

00:17:47: Tab’s playing Far Cry 5

00:18:21: Joey’s still playing Resident Evil Village and moving on to Mass Effect Legendary Edition

00:25:47: We talk about games that we associate with the seasons, including Stardew Valley, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Persona 5, and more

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

It’s Resident Evil Village week! After covering some news items, Tab talks about their time with the Steam game Adios and Far Cry 5, and Joey gushes about Arcade Spirits (again) before getting into the weeds about Resident Evil Village. Our primary discussion is on our experience with grad school anxiety and how video games helped us, in some ways, cope with the stress and mental burden of grad school. As we mention on the show, these are our experiences, and while we certainly know that other grad students encounter similar issues, we recognize that our experiences are just that: our own. We’d also like to echo again that, while video games helped us quite a bit with anxiety, we both also benefitted greatly from therapy and other treatments/approaches. We recommend you explore several avenues if you are struggling with stress, anxiety, or depression. Asking for help can be the hardest part, we know, but it was an important first step for us. Having said that, if you’d like to hit us up with questions about grad school or PhD life (we’re both in the English field), hit us up!

Contact us: [email protected]

Joey’s on Twitter: @Losperman

00:02:00: Epic offers Sony $200 million for PlayStation exclusives for the Epic Games Store

00:03:56: Resident Evil Village released, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition releases this week

00:05:07: Sony expects PS5 shortages to continue into 2022 L

00:06:27: Three founding members of the Giant Bomb Bombcast leave

00:07:53: Tab talks about a little indie game called Adios (Steam) and getting back into Far Cry 5

00:13:00: Joey platinums Arcade Spirits because he loves it and, of course, goes on at length about his time with Resident Evil Village

00:23:10: RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE SPOILERS START

00:30:43: Spoilers end

00:31:30: Brief thoughts on the Mortal Kombat movie

00:37:07: Grad school, anxiety, and gaming: our experiences

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

On this week’s show, a Resident Evil REtrospective! Get it? With the capital RE because… Resident… Evil… Anyway, we are very, very hyped for Resident Evil Village, so Joey tries his damnedest to give a synopsis of the storyline for the entire series to prepare us for the newest game, out this week. How much of it do you need to know in order to play Village? Probably not very much! But that’s okay. Please indulge me. *misty-eyed emoji* Tab talks about Returnal, Joey prematurely attempts to unbox his Mass Effect Legendary Edition Cache, and more!

Contact us: [email protected]

Joey’s on Twitter: @Losperman

00:00:30: Joey noisily, partially unboxes the Mass Effect Legendary Edition Cache

00:03:55: Sony purchases a minority stake in Discord

00:06:18: Capcom Japan’s adorable puppet-themed ad for Resident Evil Village: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Bq9nV-uHg&t=1s

00:07:42: Tab’s being bankrupted by lions in Planet Zoo and is plugging away at Returnal

00:16:43: [double Bella meow for you]

00:24:00: Joey finishes Fallout: New Vegas, skates through Sakura Succubus, and returns to Arcade Spirits

00:31:18: Joey’s Resident Evil Retrospective, including an overly lengthy series narrative recap!

00:34:32: [Bella purrs. She headbutted the mic at shortly after]

00:50:40: *Rebecca Chambers, not Valentine. COME ON, JOEY, ROOKIE MISTAKE

00:55:30: CLAIRE or Leon. Not Chris or Leon. Sigh

01:14:15: [Three meows from Bella. She sassy today]

01:16:19: [Bonk. Here it is. Bella bonks the mic. I don’t know why I leave this stuff in or add show notes for it. Don’t come at me]

01:21:57: Joey can’t. shut. up. He continues babbling, this time reflecting on his own history with the series that he loves so much

01:23:56: A very angry Bella grumble. She hongry

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

On this week’s show, we talk (maybe too long) about Sony and Microsoft’s recent financial reports, lament being too poor to “buy games when they’re new if you like them,” chat about what we’ve been playing (the Resident Evil Village Castle demo *drool*, Tender, Planet Zoo, Fallout: New Vegas), and we discuss each of our respective dissertations (see show notes for titles).

Contact us: [email protected]

Joey’s on Twitter: @Losperman

00:00:21: Boom. Bella purrs, right off the bat

00:02:25: Sony and Microsoft’s respective financial reports

00:13:33: PlayStation Plus’s May games and overall offerings

00:16:43: [Mreow]

00:17:10: Super Mario Party gets online play

00:20:00: Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new patch and Tab is hopeful

00:22:22: Mortal Kombaaaaaaaaaat is released. We want to see it

00:26:32: The “you should buy games at full price if you like them” debacle

00:30:58: Joey plays the Resident Evil Village Castle demo and some Fallout: New Vegas

00:35:39: We both play a lil indie game called Tender (iOS)

00:44:27: Tab’s still investing time in Planet Zoo

00:51:30: A brief/general overview of “the dissertation”

00:58:00: Tab’s dissertation: “Moderation as Resistance: A Study of Aggression and Response on Twitch.tv”

01:19:00: Joey’s dissertation: “Soft Power-Up: Japanese Video Games as Cultural and Rhetorical Exports”

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

This week: the latest Resident Evil showcase, Emily is Away