Genshin clone or great on it's own? Beck and Chris played a bit of Tower of Fantasy, and, much like the rest of the internet, they have opinions. In the news, Unity gets an offer directly competing against their ironSource merger attempt, and a talk about the circumstances surrounding the swatting of trans streamer and political activist Clara "Keffals" Sorrenti.

In upcoming games, a cinematic indie-pop biopic E.P. and a Bloodborne/Sekiro inspired souls-like that we assume is an accurate representation of a day in the life of a plague doctor (we didn't fact check, but we're pretty sure turning into a bird and clawing out spectral weapons from someone is how you cure the plague).

If you'd like to donate to Clara Sorrenti's GoFundMe, click here.

We're back! After a week off, we've returned with Chris' GenCon 2022 experience! Plus, Tencent wants a majority stake in Ubisoft, Indonesia's internet regulations are boxing out gaming platforms, and EVO 2022 had some great announcements. In the upcoming games: a stylish roller-skating shooter, a lamb cult, and more!

Note from Chris: Hey everyone! You may hear some issues with the audio quality. Returning this week, both my internet and PC worked together to make this week's recording extra difficult. I apologize for any sound-related issues, things should be back to normal next week.

In gaming news this week, Neopets got hacked despite what must certainly be the most advanced security system a 20-year-old children's site can provide. Also, more job action from ActiBlizz employees, including unionization from QA workers at Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions) and a walk-out from employees across America for gender equity and workplace improvements.

For the upcoming games, a game with Shonen Jump characters (but you probably only know like one of them), trains, Digimon: the Visual Novel, and Xenoblade Chronicles (but 3).

This week, a conversation about Bayonetta 3 and the concept of adjustable censorship, the Bandai Namco hack and what we know so far, and Russia considers producing a state-owned game engine amid major companies ceasing ties with the country in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Also, Unity's back in the news for a merger with a company that was once known for installing malware on people's computers. And, as always, the upcoming games for the week, including a cute spoopy game of tag and the Live-A-Live remaster.

Today, we ask ourselves the question: is a successful game a good game? Also, Riot's raising the prices on microtransactions, Gamestop really wants to do NFTs, and... No, Hideo Kojima didn't assassinate former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. Plus, a look at the upcoming games, including several sidescrollers and a... "cat adventure game."

SGDQ is over, so we're talking about the highs and lows, as well as some of our favorite runs of the week. After that, we're talking a look at Spellbreak's shutdown and the subsequent news of developer Proletariat being purchased by Blizzard. Plus, Unity layoffs seemingly out of nowhere.

CORRECTIONS:

Around the 6:00 mark, Chris mentions the Twitch Chat integration for the Ocarina of Time beta run. The term used was "Here together", NOT "Hello Together"

Around the 10:00 mark, when talking about Mekazarium's post-run speech, Chris says that people thought it was a very "Miyazaki" speech. He meant to say "Kojima".

In light of these mistakes. Chris will subsequently be incinerated and replaced by a (hopefully) less accident-prone robot.

Last episode was all about Next Fest games, so this week we're catching up on what we didn't cover last week. This includes the Dragon's Dogma 2 announcement, which prompted us to try out the game and give our impressions on it. Plus, Heroes of Newerth is gone, Activision Blizzard is at it again, and some potential closure on the Destiny 2 copyright strikes that hit the YouTube community a few months ago.

And, from this week: Summer Games Done Quick is in full swing, and we talk about what we love about these events, and what speedruns we're looking forward to. And finally, The Day Before developer Fntastic has an... "interesting" take on employment.

This week was all about the recent Next Fest! We've rounded up a few demos we played, including some we're looking forward to, some that have potential, and some that are... "unique." Check it out!

We took a week off, and we took it off at the VERY beginning of Summer of Gaming 2022, and boy-howdy, did we have some catching up to do. Plus, last episode we talked about some games, and this episode we PLAYED those games, so we've got our thoughts on V Rising, Diablo Immortal, and the latest Genshin Impact update.

After a couple of announcements involving some upcoming conventions we'll be in attendance for, we take a look at some quick news for the week, including an update on the Dark Souls PC server issue, a new game from the Game Grumps, and some updates on the aftermath of the GameStop stock surge from January 2021. Plus, we take a look at some games we missed from last week, including a Slay the Spire meets Fire Emblem game with a fantasy/retro-tech fusion aesthetic. And for our upcoming game of the week, a Limbo-esque underwater-horror simulator, complete with freaky fish-warging.