Ep. The Game Awards Predictions

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-sujnk-113e34c

It’s almost time for The Game Awards (December 9, 6pm CST) and we (Joey, Tab, Ron, and Paul) thought it might be fun to make some predictions! We’re not fancy, shmancy video game journalists, so we don’t have extensive experience with most of the games nominated. But we DO have opinions based on sometimes nothing more than a small picture uploaded to The Game Awards’ web site or the existence of a particular musical instrument in a game! Join us as we discuss every category, making predictions and talking occasionally about who we actually want to win these things. We’re a little critical of The Game Awards, but we do hope that game developers are actually honored by the awards they are nominated for and that these awards get better in terms of highlighting and awarding important games and voices. Check back with us after the awards to find out how we did, and if you want to send us your own predictions, you know where to reach us! We also continue to collectively shake our heads at Bobby Kotick’s BS, talk about what Harmonix might bring to Fortnite now that they’ve joined Epic, and what we’ve been playing!

Contact us: prettypixelspodcast@gmail.com

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey), @RandomMox (Tab), and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:42: Bobby Kotick drafted the infamous Fran Townsend email, then turned around and agreed with criticism of it and let her take the fall (via The Wall Street Journal and Kotaku). The audacity

00:10:04: Harmonix joins Epic Games, will make content for Fortnite

00:15:48: Tab and the gang are still mostly enjoying Back 4 Blood, plus we’ve been dipping our toes in the Halo Infinite multiplayer

00:23:39: Ron’s finishing up collectables in GTA III and he and Joey have delved into Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesiac Exhibition

00:32:26: Paul’s still blasting his way through Far Cry 6 and gettin’ stars in Mario Party Superstars

00:43:35: Joey’s been raising some dino babies in Jurassic World Evolution 2

00:45:10: The Game Awards predictions! Time stamps for individual categories and the points we’re awarding are:

01:00:43: Best eSports Event (1 point)

01:04:20: Best eSports Coach (1 point)

01:05:54: Best eSports Team (1 point)

01:07:29: Best eSports Athlete (1 point)

01:09:35: Best eSports Game (1 point)

01:11:40: Most Anticipated Game (1 point)

01:15:00: Best Debut Indie

01:16:55: Content Creator of the Year (1 point)

01:18:52: Best Multiplayer (2 points)

01:20:48: Best Sports/Racing (2 points)

01:22:48: Best Sim/Strategy (2 points)

01:26:39: Best Family (2 points)

01:30:16: Best Fighting (2 points)

01:33:09: Best Role Playing (2 points)

01:36:12: Best Action/Adventure (2 points)

01:39:03: Best Action Game (2 points)

01:43:05: Best VR/AR (2 points)

01:45:09: Innovation in Accessibility (2 points)

01:47:58: Best Community Support (1 point)

01:50:46: Best Mobile Game (1 point)

01:51:50: Best Indie (2 points)

01:58:25: Best Ongoing (2 points)

02:00:01: Games for Impact (2 points)

02:02:50: Best Performance (2 points)

02:06:07: Best Audio Design (2 points)

02:07:33: Best Score and Music (3 points)

02:10:38: Best Art Direction (3 points)

02:13:06: Best Narrative (3 points)

02:14:48: Best Game Direction (3 points)

02:18:11: Game of the Year (4 points)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Ep. 39: The Wizard (1989)

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-srank-11368b3

Now listen up, fruit flies! For the first time ever, we have all four videoheads (all of this rad 90s lingo will make sense by the end of the episode, I promise) together at last! We just couldn’t resist the siren’s call of The Wizard (1989), starring Fred Savage, Jenny Lewis, Luke Edwards, Beau Bridges, and Christian Slater. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It has 97 NES games and a Power Glove that’s – you guessed it – so bad. As we did with the Uwe Boll movies, we talk about themes, favorite lines, 80s fashion choices, one of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man’s mullet, and so much more. If you’ve never seen The Wizard and are down to join in on our exploration of Nintendo’s most successful movie featuring a Super Mario Bros. game, you can stream it on Hulu Premium (Starz), rent it from Amazon or YouTube for $3.99, or buy it on Blu-Ray from Shout Factory’s web site (https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/the-wizard-collector-s-edition?product_id=7300). Let us know what we missed by emailing us! Movie aside, we chat about Back 4 Blood, the GTA Trilogy, Far Cry 6 DLC, Mario Party Superstars, Metroid Dread, Jurassic World Evolution 2, the newest Activision/Blizzard allegations and non-apologies, the new Halo’s multiplayer mode and show trailer dropping, Xbox’s social media manager dropping the Xbox Twitter account (off the face of the Earth… for a bit), and the adorable new trailer for Little Kitty, Big City. Did you catch all that? I know! It’s a lot. So grab your Power Glove, press some buttons pointlessly, and let’s get to it!

Contact us: prettypixelspodcast@gmail.com

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey), @RandomMox (Tab), and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:02:07: The Xbox Twitter account disappears completely

00:03:18: Halo Infinite’s multiplayer mode drops early (and free)

00:07:56: A brief teaser for the new Halo drops, coming in 2022

00:10:06: Little Kitty, Big City is announced with an adorably cheeky trailer, coming to PC and consoles in 2022

00:11:43: *sigh* Ah, shit. Here we go again. New allegations of mismanagement and attempts to play down previously revealed sexual assault and harassment claims are revealed by The Wall Street Journal, naming CEO Bobby Kotick, specifically. Kotick and co. do not respond very well

00:18:49: Paul’s been playing Far Cry 6 and Mario Party Superstars (w/ Joey and pals)

00:24:27: Ron’s been glitching it up in the newly remastered GTA 3

00:32:41: Tab’s been exploring the mind of Vaas in the new Far Cry 6 DLC

00:38:51: Joey finished Metroid Dread and is currently loving Jurassic World Evolution 2

00:47:14: The whole gang has been playing Back 4 Blood

00:56:05: The Wizard, babyyyyyyy!

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Ep. 38: Just Chattin‘

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ijm88-112c3d3

Hello, friends, and welcome back. In the midst of a hectic final stretch of this academic semester (and some added academic uncertainty), Joey and Tab sit down for a casual, meandering chat. We touch on juggling multiple games, pre-orders, feeling overwhelmed, leaving and coming back to games, and a whole lot more. You might call it an… amalgame-ation of different topics. Get it? It’s like amalgamation but I snuck “game” in there. I know, yes, please you don’t have to say it – I am a comedic genius, but we’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to talk about games! Tab talks about their experience with Age of Empires IV and Forza Horizon 5, and Joey gushes a bit about Metroid Dread. We also talk about the Grand Theft Auto trilogy coming to a Nintendo console for the first time, the new Far Cry 6 DLC, Steam Deck’s delay, and the Uncharted trailer.

Contact us: prettypixelspodcast@gmail.com

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @RandomMox (Tab)

00:03:14: The Uncharted trailer dropped and no one told us

00:07:35: Far Cry 6’s Vaas DLC drops next week and Tab is hyped

00:14:55: Valve pushes back the Steam Deck’s release date by two months because of, you guessed it, the chip shortage

00:17:04: The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition releases today, marking the games’ first time on a Nintendo console

00:28:36: Just a couple’a bros, chit-chattin’ away (this is where we talk about balancing multiple games, feeling overwhelmed, pre-ordering games, and more)

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com

Ep. 37: Who Knew That Review? (A New Game)

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-mxakg-1122d81

Oh, hey, it’s you! Welcome back and thanks for joining us once again. This week, Ron joins Joey for an experimental game we like to call Who Knew That Review? Okay, okay, yes, we know. It’s a working title. Basically, Who Knew That Review is a game where we try and guess popular video games based on their reviews. We each select three game reviews from old issues of EGM and GamePro, then read the reviews and omit key phrases that might give too much away. The other person guesses at what the game might be. It was fun! If you want to send recommendations for games to try on future episodes, please avoid obscure or less popular titles! We would love to hear feedback either way. Aside from those fun times, we chat about amiibo, the new Microsoft Flight Simulator controller, Jen O’Neal departure from Blizzard. Joey also has thoughts about House of Ashes, and the boys have also been plugging away at Back 4 Blood and Phasmophobia, and Joey’s still slashing away with his friends in Dead by Daylight. Thanks for listening and please look forward to more games in the future!

Contact us: prettypixelspodcast@gmail.com

We’re on Twitter: @Losperman (Joey) and @bigbadron (Ron)

00:00:33: A brief and immediate tangent about amiibo

00:05:50: Turtle Beach is releasing a pricey Microsoft Flight Sim controller, and Joey’s inner and ancient child is amazed at his new Sega Genesis controller made by Nintendo

00:14:26: Jen O’Neal leaves Blizzard, which doesn’t seem like a good sign

00:17:33: Ron’s been playing Back 4 Blood and Phasmophobia with Joey, Tab, and Paul (B4B)

00:30:16: Joey beat The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes and is recently obsessed with Wallpaper Engine (Steam), plus he seems to talk Ron into some Dead by Daylight action

00:52:00: Who Knew That Review!

Theme song by lovers.tiff: loverstiff.bandcamp.com