The Ghostcrawler led MMO has a setback. We have some more union labor strife. Playstation ups their game streaming offering. When is a patent not a patent and we have some nomination for video game of the year. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

The MMO being led by former WoW and League of Legends designer Greg Street looks to be dead as his studio officially closes after NetEase ends funding https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/the-mmo-being-led-by-former-wow-designer-greg-street-looks-to-be-dead-as-his-studio-officially-closes-after-netease-ends-funding-while-wed-love-to-make-our-game-our-first-priority-is-to-help-our-developers-find-employment/

Rockstar, the developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, reportedly fired between 30 and 40 employees in a move that the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is claiming was "blatant" and "ruthless" union busting. https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-dev-rockstar-accused-of-union-busting-in-sudden-firing-of-dozens-of-staff https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ah-shit-here-we-go-again-gta-6-developers-speak-from-the-picket-line-about-rockstar-north-union-busting

PlayStation is rolling out cloud streaming as a full feature for the Portal. Starting today, PlayStation Plus Premium members can stream thousands of games via the cloud on a Portal connected to WiFi. https://gameinformer.com/2025/11/05/cloud-streaming-available-on-playstation-portal-starting-today

Remember our story about Nintendos patent on summoning NPE's to battle, In a stunning development attributable to the public outrage and reflecting concern over implications for the reputation of the U.S. patent system as a whole, USPTO Director John A. Squires has personally ordered, at his own initiative, his organization to take another look at Nintendo’s patent. https://gamesfray.com/huge-blow-for-nintendo-head-of-u-s-patent-office-takes-rare-step-to-order-reexamination-of-summon-subcharacter-and-let-it-fight-in-1-of-2-modes-patent/

The Video Game awards happen next month but last week there was another announcement of nominations of game of the year from the Golden Joystick awards and well, anything about video games with joystick in the name must be good. https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1onju3g/golden_joystick_awards_2025_vote_for_your/

.Sorry for the bad audio and lack of intro music at the beginning. I had technical difficulties and it sounded dumb to have the music just lead into us talking

... We have some microsoft XBox news on multiple fronts. We learned some pokemon news by nefarious means. We take a look at another phycological study on video games and attention span in children. and finally we take a look at what the designer of Grand Theft Auto 5 has been up to lately. http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

Recently, a rumor swirled online that Microsoft was canceling its next-generation Xbox plans, but that is apparently not true or the full story. Microsoft said in a statement that it is "actively investing" in future first-party consoles and devices that are "designed, engineered, and built by Xbox." https://www.gamespot.com/articles/future-xbox-consoles-not-canceled-microsoft-says/1100-6535237/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D15200795;date%3D100625;lctg%3Db3a7b738bd17d2fa16eb5ab92783891fb0c35bd6f93fb6c92ad5b2d8754d0c30

Game Freak suffered a data breach and it had some very interesting Nintendo Pokemon information in it. The breach seems credible because it had some very acurate information about Pokemon Legends ZA. So let's look at what was in the data. https://thegamepost.com/pokemon-gen-10-leak-game-titles-theme-region-setting/ https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-wind-waves-leak-gen-10-game-freak/

It's understandable if Xbox users feel a little skittish about the future of the console, given the recent price increases for Xbox consoles in the US, as well as formerly exclusive titles heading to PlayStation 5. Over the holiday weekend, there were so many anecdotal rumors about Target, Walmart, and other US retailers pulling Xbox consoles and games that Microsoft decided it was necessary to debunk these reports. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-shoots-down-another-hardware-rumor/1100-6535401/?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=category%3Dnewsletter;name%3DGameSpot-Report;id%3D15298898;date%3D101525;lctg%3D20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065

A psychologist tells us all about several studies dealing with video games and attention span in children. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/video-game-health/202507/do-video-games-cause-attention-problems

Leslie Benzies is well known for his work at Rock Star Games on Grand Theft Auto 5. Only the best selling game of all time. # years after it's launch He left to start his own studio. Here's what happened. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzn34gwvwo

... We have a large game developer go private. Nintendo doing more nintendo things and what makes a good remake?

http://www.joystickandmouse.com http://shop.joystickandmouse.com

Show Notes

Electronic Arts has recently confirmed that an investor group composed of Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will acquire it for around $55 billion. This consortium will acquire 100% of EA, which will no longer be listed on the stock market after the transaction is finished. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/electronic-arts-go-private-55-billion-deal-with-pif-silver-lake-2025-09-29/ https://gamerant.com/electronic-arts-acquired-saudi-arabia-private-55-billion/ https://www.google.com/search?q=games+produced+by+ea&oq=games+produced+by+ea&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTINCAEQABjwBRieBhjIBjIICAIQABgWGB4yCAgDEAAYFhgeMggIBBAAGBYYHjIICAUQABgWGB4yCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEINjQ0OWoxajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 In a world filled with remakes, remasters, ports, and mods, the quest for a truly definitive version of a game is a lost cause--and yet, that's precisely what makes the medium so interesting. Let's discuss if it is OK to change a game during the remake. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/is-there-a-right-way-to-play-a-video-game/1100-6535092/

Last week, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company received a U.S. patent on summoning a character and letting it fight another. Yep, you heard that right. A system that has been in video games for years was just pattened by Nintendo. https://www.gamesradar.com/games/pokemon/this-nintendo-patent-was-apparently-granted-without-a-patent-examiner-looking-at-a-single-game-ip-expert-says-concerns-hundreds-of-games-could-be-affected-by-pokemon-summoning-patent-granted-amid-palworld-lawsuit-are-valid/ https://gamesfray.com/last-week-nintendo-and-the-pokemon-company-received-a-u-s-patent-on-summoning-a-character-and-letting-it-fight-another/#397patent

The latest Nintendo Direct was filled with a ton of exciting announcements for both Switch and Switch 2, and it also gave us a glimpse into how Nintendo will be celebrating Super Mario Bros.' 40th anniversary next year! Here's all the announcements. https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-september-2025-live-updates-everything-announced https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/heres-everything-announced-during-todays-nintendo-direct/