This week is another two-hander, as Jonty and Nate are both away, so Brendy earns his keep by joining me as we have mild opinions about Rockstar delaying Grand Theft Auto VI, but stronger opinions about Rockstar firing a bunch of developers out of nowhere. We also discuss an interesting interview from Tomas Sala, developer of Bulwark and The Falconeer, AND, as a special treat, we've been playing some topical and current video games this week. 

A big thank you to God Ribbon for our music, Marsh Davies for our art, and ethical and sensible Patreon supporters for financing our silliness. You can share comments, suggestions, feedback, and union support to [email protected].

You can listen to the episode directly right here, or find it in your pod catching apps.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKW

RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067

Acast: https://shows.acast.com/total-playtime

Links!

GTAVI is delayed, but Strauss Zelnick is like 'no worries m8'. Rockstar has been accused of union busting and can suck it if this is indeed the case (since we recorded Rockstar are facing legal action). Tomas Sala on finding a sustainable dev life away from virality, via Eurogamer.

Matthew "Iggy" Kowalski needs a kidney.

Games!

Arc Raiders! Dispatch! The Séance of Blake Manor!

Recommendations!

Bronder recommends Gutshot by Amelia Gray, and I recommend A Very Vexing Murder by Lucy Andrew

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This week we're down a Jonty (not permanently, don't worry) but up a new chair, thanks to our Patreon pals! And it's been a week of upheaval elsewhere, as Microsoft and Xbox has been the focus of a lot of news. Halo is re-back, but also on PlayStation!? What do we think this means for hexboks? Nothing particularly encouraging, but Brendy is annoyed by some Halo rocks. PLUS Nate makes fun of AI, and Alice has been playing Bloodlines 2, as is her curse.

A big thank you to God Ribbon for our music, Marsh Davies for our art, and our very cool and majestic Patreon supporters for being the wind beneath our wings - a wind that allows for a new host, no less. You can share comments, suggestions, feedback, and strong opinions about Halo rocks at [email protected].

Links!

Xbox allegedly pushes for 30% margins, is unconcerned by other platforms, and is putting arguably its flagship product on the Sony box. Remember when the internet stopped working? That was because of one software bug, but best not to worry unless your bed bricked. EA signed a deal with Stability AI, and it's fun to laugh at bad AI, unless you're on dating apps, I guess.

Games!

Keep Driving! Bloodlines 2! PowerWash Simulator 2! Dawn Of War! Carimara!

Recommendations!

Make a kind of mincemeat toast instead of a mince pie, observe Stewthius, the perpetual stew, watch ish's terrifying Minecraft social experiments.

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Alice is unavailable so we are joined by another voice of podcasts past: James Archer, the RPS master of waring hard. He assists us in considering the latest collection of furious developer commentary and shares his judgement on the handheld Xbox thing, for which he is rewarded by being anointed Archbishop of Games Canterbury. You may think these freeform attempts at rolling our own belief system are unsustainable but we're British (derogatory), this stuff is in our blood.

Thanks to God Ribbon for our music, Marsh Davies for our art, and our beloved Patreon backers for funding the podcast and make it happen. You can share comments, suggestions and prospective papal edicts at [email protected].

Links!

Game File revealed that Ubisoft cancelled a Reconstruction-era Assassin's Creed game. Glen Israel left 343 Industries in an extremely portentous way. Halo already did an anime. The IWGB union published an open letter savaging the management at Build A Rocket Boy. The ROG Xbox Ally X.

Games!

Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry. Halos Infinite and 4. Prototype lets you punch people into spaghetti by design rather than graphical error. Everybody loved Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, eventually. Rimworld Odyssey. Dawn of War: Definitive Edition. There's an updated version of Red Alert in Command and Conquer Remastered. Battlefield 6. Cloverpit.

Recommendations!

Tenggar Cavalry, Kartuli and Peacemaker.

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Circumstances forced us to once again talk about serious things this week, as EA has (subject to approval, lol) been bought by a consortium of definitely not the worst people you don't know. Meanwhile, we got a first look at Insomniac's Wolverine game, and for a 'cat rescued from a tree' sorry of levity, Randy Pitchford posted through Borderland's 4's PC optimisation problems.

Thanks to our Patreon backers for making this podcast possible! Please consider joining them so that we can start our own ethically pure esports league. Our music is by God Ribbon, our art is by Marsh Davies and our inbox is [email protected].

Links!

Don't worry, universally beloved Andrew Wilson is staying on at EA (here's SuperJoost on the acquisition). Wolverine is exceptionally violent, possibly in retaliation for his being kidnapped and ransomed. Borderlands 4 works fine on PC, thank you very much, and Randy Pitchford is fine about it (more on this from HitPoints)

Games!

Borderlands 4 is fine on PC, stop asking! Marvel at the dynamically soiling onesie in Baby Steps, write your own jokes here about Megabonk, and go off the titular world in RimWorld's new Odyssey DLC. Plus: pleasing moments in Hades 2!

Recommendations!

The Woolwich Harbour ferry, the town of Cleethorpes, and the reboot of Matlock.

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Alice has been Nic Cage Wickerman'd by her own dog, a sorry state of affairs, but one that does at least tie in with talking about Hollow Knight: Silksong, a somewhat popular game, as we understand it. You know who else is popular? That Mario fella. He turned 40 this past weekend (sort of, if you start counting from Super Mario Bros. rather than Donkey Kong, which is technically Mario's first appearance even though he was called Jumpman at the time) [deep breath]. Also Nate torments us with a medieval bestiary and we conceive of a gritty Wind In The Willows reboot. What's not to love?

Thanks to our Patreon backers for making this podcast possible! Please consider joining them so that we can force Jonty to go to Gamescom as Business Arbiter. Our music is by God Ribbon, our art is by Marsh Davies and our inbox is [email protected].

Links!

Happy Underwhelming 40th Birthday Nintendo Direct to Mario! Including a tiny tease of the next Mario movie. Reviews are dripping out now for Silksong (including IGN, which hadn't drapt at time of recording), but hilariously the first patch made it easier. People are saying it's too hard, in fact. Three (mini) Kobolds In A Trenchcoat.

Games!

Silksong has been out a couple of weeks, the bugs are too sexy. Hades II has been out for longer, but the pretend kind of out where you get two releases, like the Queen. Strange Antiquities is a very lovely Purveyor Of Cursed Items simulator for fans of Strange Horticulture.

Recommendations!

Jonty makes the bold statement that The Usual Suspects is a good movie, Alice responds that so is The Ballad Of Wallis Island, and Nate double recommends Alien Earth and Blue Eye Samurai.

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Alice went to Gamescom and she's here to tell us all about it: games, German KFC, stealing from the Capcom booth and posing with the Farming Simulator tractor. A pretty standard Gamescom experience, all told, although she didn't go to the shitty bar that all the other Brits attend or get completely screwed by the German rail system so there's still room for improvement. Plus: the in-game currency for life, big worm, and forcing Jonty to cosplay as a militarised squid-dog.

Thanks to our Patreon backers for making this podcast possible! Please consider joining them so that we can force Jonty to go to Gamescom as Business Arbiter. Our music is by God Ribbon, our art is by Marsh Davies and our inbox is [email protected].

Links!

The Trap Door is available on YouTube. Legendäre Burger bei KFC. GameDiscoverCo. Why Silksong took so long to make. The Snyder Cut. We are blessed to know The Blorko Guy (who also has a podcast).

Games!

Silksong is indeed out now although you can't download it. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 does not exist in Alice's world. Hirogami is also out now. Resident Evil Requiem. Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Pragmata. NUTMEG! A Storied Life: Tabitha. The Séance of Blake Manor. Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road.

Recommendations!

The Van Gogh Museum, Deva Roman Experience and Star Trek: Picard - re:View.

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Nate's on deadline so it's just Alice and Jonty this week, considering the newly independent Digital Foundry, the not-at-all-newly-scandal-engulfed Roblox, the latest on the Subnautica 2 and Itch.io drama, and all the games we've been playing. Anybody would think this is a podcast about videogames or something.

You can listen to the episode directly right here, or find it in your pod catching apps.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKW

Art by Marsh Davies. Music by God Ribbon. Funding for this entire endeavour is by our Patreon backers and to them we are truly thankful.

Links!

Krafton vs Subnautica devs continues. Digital Foundry on going independent. Roblox banned vigilantes and Lousiana sued Roblox. Alice's new book. The Observer investigation into The Salt Path.

Games!

Rosewater, and Roger, Strange Jigsaws, Occlude, Word Play, Wordatro, Battlefield 6.

Recommendations!

Vivian Dies Again and What a Glut of New Oasis Books is Leaving Unwritten. Palm Springs is on Amazon, not Neflix, we regret the error.

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Alice was out of action this week, so Jonty and Nate met up to ponder Battlefield 6, cringe over Jonty's new collection of sex games, and reposition the Bioshock jar in the fridge. Plus: the thicc man of Europe, the best artillery in videogames, and another attempt at deal-making.

You can listen to the episode directly right here, or find it in your pod catching apps.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKW

RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067

Art by Marsh Davies. Music by God Ribbon.

Links!

Itch.io is re-indexing free adult content. Countess Lita played No Mercy. Tom Clancy's Tom Clancy was just a huge submarine nerd. GOG gave away a bunch of sex games for freedom. Ars Technica's deep dive on Battlefield and the misery of AAA development. Everybody was playing Battlefront 2 and EA couldn't have cared less. Splinter Cell Conviction at high framerate. God departed RPS and left some parting wisdom on games coverage.

Games!

Battlefront 6. Star Wars Battlefront (2004), Dawn of War, with Winter Assault DLC. Total Annihilation. GTA Online. Splinter Cell Conviction.

Recommendations!

Hit Points and Cells at Work!.

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In a first for us, this week we end up discussing a developing news story, which then further developed after we recorded on Monday night. Had we recorded after Itch also took down adult content we would probably have been less complacent and more angry. As it is, we're still pretty angry about payment processors leveraging their Victorian prudishness to censor the internet. We're also angry at the UK government, the wizard lady author, and Alice's older brother - but that's sort of not his fault.

In happier news, we're not angry at the game discovery app Ludocene, which is actually good, or you, the listeners, who have sent in some nice messages. We welcome further messages, which you can send to us at [email protected].

You can listen to the episode directly right here, or find it in your pod catching apps.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKW

RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067

Artwork by Marsh Davies. Music by God Ribbon.

Games!

Bollocks Pit.

Links!

Steam took down a bunch of sexy games, which a tedious pressure group claimed responsibility for. Waypoint took down a couple of articles about that, which Streisand-effected Waypoint into near oblivion. After we recorded, Itch delisted anything tagged to indicate it had adult content while it audits everything. Consider all this also in the context of, for example, the UK's tedious and ill-conceived Online Safety Act, which is why you have to give BlueSky your picture and niche cycling forums have closed.

In better news, Ludocene, the game discovery app in testing right now, is good! Alice endorses it.

Recommendations

Jonty recommends the YouTube channel 'British Movie Commentary Collection', which is exactly what it sounds like. Alice recommends the sitcom Such Brave Girls (also please send her pictures of your miniature painting).

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It would be nice to do an episode in which we don't talk about layoffs, wouldn't it, but it's once again the main news event so we have to. Jonty and Nate conferred to despair over Microsoft's cutbacks, consider potential comedy games, and commend some actually good news about games media. Alice is both unwell and furious, for unrelated reasons, but will return for future episodes. You can listen to the episode directly right here, or find it in your pod catching apps.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-playtime/id1790845149

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jPv8y9BRzqATFT7zXRxKW

RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6786cf573ceecdbe85eac067

Artwork by Marsh Davies. Music by God Ribbon.

Links!

Microsoft laid off another 9,000 people despite their roadmap "never looking stronger". Hat Trick are looking for comedy games. News Knight is regrettably still available. MindsEye does not need external saboteurs. Krafton was remarkably snotty about replacing the leadership of Subnautica 2. Kotaku was sold and Paste launched Endless Mode.

Games!

Perfect Dark. Forza Motorsport. Subnautica 2 (and Subnautica). Ark Nova.

Recommendations!

Nate recommends Jurassic World Dominion and Jonty recommends Overclocked: An Archive of Graphics Card Box Art.

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