Poor release apology statements, released as images, are so prevalent these days that they are their own category of meme. It seems like once a month we see a statement with a remix of "we're sorry - we'll do better!" Currently, the response is to bully studios over the poor releases, but someday we will have to start voting with our wallets and stop buying new releases altogether, I guess.

Sony brought out an expansive number of announcements and trailers, but very little  concrete release dates and even less actual gameplay. I wouldn't say this blew my balls off, though there was still a decent amount to be intrigued, or even excited by. Let's get into it!

This week's episode is wide ranging and inspired by how seemingly pointless the reviews are for Tears of the Kingdom, both positive and negative. Between reviewers  often pumping out inane, sometimes bought and paid for reviews, and review bombing - do things like meta critic even matter anymore? Do critics matter in general, anymore? The big questions.

We've talked about story before, and how in the past story was seldom important to a game - often an after thought. We've changed our opinion on that over time, especially in recent years as games have become more story driven and cinematic. But does gaming have auteurs? As games become more and more like films, will we see more game directors emerge with distinct styles, and voices? And have there really been many in gaming's past?

New data suggests that the $70 price tag for next gen games has actually hurt overall sales and could lead to decreased profits for everyone. So, are games worth the money? Is the market too saturated or capped? When games like Redfall or Jedi Survivor are being released in a rough state - are AAA games a gamble for the first couple months?

Looks like Sony has lost and the Activision Microsoft deal is all but done. So, what are the possibilities? Yeah, okay, sure. We know they are going to mostly pump out COD year in and year out til they get their ROI. BUT what if they didn't? What if those ten studios they are getting brought back old IP or made some new stuff? Let's just imagine!

Nintendo had its Indie World Direct this morning and presentations like this are always good windows into where the Indie world is going. We believe there's two types of indie devs - chargers and chasers. Chargers are the guys who seem to be in the right place, at the right time with an idea lots of people wanted and they didn't even know it. This is your Stardew Valley, or your first Battle Royale. Chasers are the guys who are making games that, while possibly wonderful, are chasing the trend established by the other guys but in their art style. 

This might be the best time ever to be an indie dev, no matter which type you are. There's more tools, and platforms for your game than ever. That should be wonderful for us as consumers too, right?

Is it here?! Super Mario Bros dominating at the box office. Last of Us crushing it on streaming services. Are we finally having our Marvel moment for video game adaptations? And if we are, what comes next?

So, E3 is truly and wholly dead this time, right? With nothing on deck to replace it, and no one left to save it. Plus RE4R was fantastic, but maybe some changes took away more than they added. Add to that: Lily Gao is being harassed by the worst of the RE community over her performance.

This week is a round up of mini topics because it seems like so much happened in the last week.

Community driven creative development is always a big win! If only because it means the industry is seeing what people actually want, but also because it increases the longevity of a game when you have a community that can, and is, building new content for it. We saw this with Counterstrike, Far Cry, Crysis, and even the birth of the Battle Royale from Arma 3 mods. Now that the Unreal Editor has been released - are we on the verge of new game genres like the moba or battle royale?