Vidjagame Apocalypse

With Ready Player Two out this week, we've decided to turn up the nostalgia dial to absurd levels by recruiting Greg Moore for a look at five videogames that, one way or another, were about nostalgia for videogames. Then it's on to some chat about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the holiday console-scalping epidemic, cloud gaming, and the open worlds you'd love to revisit.

We're coming back to the table this week with clearer impressions of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X - but first, let's take a look at five of the rare few open-world games that actually re-used their open worlds, with PNB's Kayla Zumbaum! Then we'll bite into Bugsnax, Demon's Souls, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Game Awards announcements, and your favorite third-party launch games.

IT'S NEW-CONSOLE WEEK! We're super-excited for the debut of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but before we get to those, let's grab PNB's TL Foster for a look at five times third-party games swept in and stole the show in a new console's launch lineup! Then it's on to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, early Xbox Series X impressions, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Prodeus, and the arcade classics you'd like to see return as Arcade1up-style replicas.

As November begins and we're faced with the mystery of who our next President will be, it's as good a time as any to lose ourselves in the fictional mysteries of our favorite detective games with Octobug developer Eric Bailey. Then we talk about Sega selling off its arcade business, Arcade1up introducing its first sit-down driving cabinet, and the historical settings you'd like to see horror games in.