The 3DS and Wii U eShops were set to close on March 27th. Sadly this podcast episode didn't make it out in time, but we talk about game preservation and how much it cost one YouTuber to preserve the entire catalog.

The FTC has finalized an order requiring Epic Games to pay $245 million back to consumers as a penalty for employing "dark patterns" to trick players into making additional purchases.

Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear has stepped down as CEO of Twitch after 16 years at the company. After this recording, Twitch laid off 400 employees.

Then we talk to Rob about 3DS and Wii U games to purchase before the store goes offline.

According to Activision-Blizzard, Sony informed ABK and Microsoft in front of EU regulators that they are not interested in a long term deal for Call of Duty, they just want to block the merger.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has been delayed, but it's not because they are changing the core mechanic like people hoped.

The Epic Games Store will no longer be a curated store of quality titles, as they are now allowing self-publishing to anyone that has $100 - but they are requiring multiplayer crossplay with all other PC platforms, which means they must use Epic's multiplayer servers.

Then we talk to Rob about Theatrhythm and No Man's Sky.

I start off by talking a little bit more about PSVR2 and my attempt to use eye tracking with a severe astigmatism.

Microsoft has been granted access to Sony documents regarding their third party contracts to see what their exclusivity deals are like.

Meta has dropped the price of the Quest Pro and the 256GB Quest 2 because nobody was buying them.

The International Olympic Committee is doing Esports again - but some of the games are ones that nobody plays but happen to be owned by IOC officials.

Then we take calls about the Olympics and No Man's Sky.

A chatter made me think the Ides of March was March 5th and not 15th. Excuse my ignorance.

This episode is all about PlayStation VR2 - a great piece of hardware that I really hope gets a large enough software library (with GOOD software) that can compliment it.

I discuss trying to set it up in a dark room, because the inside-out tracking needs a bright room with things in it so it can work.

There is a somewhat hidden setting that improves the tracking by putting a border on the TV screen which can help when your game is being paused constantly because the headset momentarily loses tracking.

I also discuss what it's like to use the eye tracking as someone with astigmatism. It works great for people with eyes that work, but people who's eyes don't work as well might want to avoid using it for things like targeting in Rez Infinite or using menus in Horizon: Call of the Mountain.

I talk about playing some of the demos of games that were part of the launch day lineup and what I thought of them. Many of them are already available for Meta Quest 2, so if you have that headset you've probably already played this.

Gran Turismo 7 is really something in VR, but know that it doesn't recognize the VR controllers at all, so you'll have to use either the standard PS5 controller or a racing wheel to play it.

This episode is all about Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, the new rhythm game filled with Final Fantasy music. It's fantastic.

While Square says that this is the last Theatrhythm Final Fantasy title, the developers did tell Spanish-speaking media that they are open to doing Theatrhythm style games for other franchises like Nintendo and the Tales series.

Earthworm Jim 4 has been supposedly cancelled, putting yet another nail in the Intellivision Amico coffin.

Then we talk to Rob about finding a PS5 in the wild. After this episode aired, I DID receive the PlayStation VR2 so that is what we will be talking about on the next episode!

There will not be a live show on February 12th due to a social gathering revolving around a television commercial watching event.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line has a demo out on Switch and PS4, and you get some item drops if you play on certain days during the demo period.

The Free Twitter API was originally being discontinued on the 9th (this changed) but when it does go down, there's a chance the console screenshot sharing functionality will cease to work.

I went to an XR Atlanta meetup this past week, and while there was talk of the "metaverse" (that nobody can define) there was a LOT of talk about how GPT-3 bots will make artists obsolete and there are plenty of people ready to hop on that bandwagon. Learn to prompt?!

The first true video game GRAMMY award has been awarded to Stephanie Economou for Assassin???s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok!

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are all skipping the more consumer-focused E3 because it just doesn't fit in with their strategy this year. Nintendo says it's because they actually don't have much releasing in the second half of the year.

Then we talk to Rob about video game soundtracks on both vinyl and CD.

Hi-Fi Rush is FANTASTIC, and it was shadowdropped this week on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass.

Following up on a story we had last week, Microsoft actually laid off all employees working in AR and VR, which means that Microsoft's investment in mixed reality may be coming to an end.

Several gaming media giants have laid off their employees as well, with the Washington Post laying off people "because they had to" and not because they were underpeforming.

Then we talk to Rob about how Forspoken isn't being talked positively about because Hi-Fi Rush and Goldeneye 007 have taken over the discourse.

Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden have come out for modern consoles and are available on Game Pass.

Microsoft is shutting down AltspaceVR and is transferring the technology and any remaining engineers over to Microsoft Teams...I bet Mixer fans can relate. Everyone's going to VRChat now, but I don't know anybody there.

Sony has announced the PSVR2 launch lineup, and there are some great games that are getting a new version to try to entice people to buy it.

Then we talk to Rob from OLR about how he is NOT excited about the PSVR2 launch lineup.

I was a host at Awesome Games Done Quick 2023 Online, which raised over $2.6 Million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

SGDQ will take place the last week of May instead of the last week of June, but no word on venue yet.

I go through all of the runs I hosted for this event, as well as some other runs that I enjoyed.

Google is shutting Stadia down this week, but they are unlocking the controller's Bluetooth antenna so people aren't left with a paperweight.

We start off talking about Awesome Games Done Quick 2023 and my hosting assignments.

We got a viewer comment about their games of the year for 2022.

Nvidia is relaunching the RTX 4080 12GB as the RTX 4070 Ti, something more fitting for the chipset.

You can get a PS5 now, according to Sony! The shortages are over.

Does Microsoft REALLY not know when Call of Duty first came out, as some articles have suggested? The answer is more complicated.

EA has stated that 60% of Madden Franchise saves were wiped due to a storage issue in the cloud.

Then we talk to Rob about Arcade1up cabinets and if he has beaten my Tron score yet again.