PPR 152

s real as Bobby Braddock’s melodic soliloquy "Time Marches On" gets, we are now on the other side of another digital sunset as Microsoft closes down the Xbox 360 Marketplace. The term "sunset" may not be the right choice here, though with all of Microsoft’s confusing cross-pollination between the last couple of Xbox generations, this “sunset” comes off more like a hasty “sweep under the rug” where front-end accessibility to the iconic storefront can still be accessed through weird exploits that are reminiscent of a secret-menu at your local drive-thru.

The latest episode of Press Pause Radio is a full round-table of PPR pundits as George, Andrew, Ed, and Sean pour their hearts out on a post-mortem look at the Xbox 360 Marketplace and the ups and downs of what the service did in its prime and the legacy it holds into this weird twilight-esque second life on the Xbox One/Series era of Xbox Live. We also wax nostalgic on all the choice cuts the store had to offer, whether it was a delisted Konami Arcade port, a SEGA gem, or the HD re-release of the only decent thing that Doug TenNapel has ever done with his miserable existence—we get heavy into the gems that players could only find on the Xbox 360 Marketplace, and explore how these games helped shape Xbox into the household name that it is today.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR 146

here are some events that we’ve come expect with the certainty of a season change. Whether it’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Super Bowl, or The Oscars—these annual institutions have operated for most of our natural-born lives, and won’t go anywhere anytime soon. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short, used to be one of those long-standing institutions, but has recently seen come rough days the couple of years, and has decidedly skipped out on 2023 altogether.

While writing has been on the wall, the language that E3’s parent company, ESA, has used over the future of the showcase is a little too ambiguous for comfort, and it’s likely that we may not see the event come back in the near future, or ever. Despite it going out with more of a whimper than a bang, there have been a ton of memorable years in Video Gaming where the event hosted some truly historical announcements, cementing moments that still occupy our headspaces to this very day, and we’re going to spend this episode talking about that, and so much more.

Join Andrew and George as they take you on a Post-Mortem of what George called the “Met Gala” of the Video Games Industry as they discuss the up’s and down’s of the yearly trade-show, and all of the notable footnotes it’s had in its run, bizarre pageantry and all.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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QCF: Battletoads (2020)

6 years is a long time ago—hell, I bet some of you reading this aren’t even 26 years old yourselves, and couldn’t have possibly imagined what the vibe was back then. Well, there was one thing that dominated the scene that time in contrast to the occasional sighting at your local laundromat, and that’s over-the-top Arcade games.

 Among all of the Final Fight’s and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle clones, however, was Rare’s last hurrah for their infamous Battletoads series with a coin-op gem that wouldn’t get a proper console port until 2015 with Rare Replay, a compilation that included it along with the original title for NES. Needless to say, it made an impression with players; between the success of their inclusion onto that collection, and the various cameos the characters have made on other popular titles like Killer Instinct and Shovel Knight, the fever for more toads had grown. Unable to ignore the interest for it any longer, Microsoft and Rare decided to formally bring them out of retirement with a brand new title for the Xbox One.

 Partnering with Dlala Studios after working with them on Sea of Thieves, the latest entry to the franchise is a reboot that’s starkly different from anything the Amphibians have ever done before—and thankfully it’s a step in the right direction, albeit a undeniabley clumsy one.

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PPR 116

019 sure is weird—we all knew that E3’s role in the industry has been dwindling by the year, but I don’t think any of us would have imagined how different the content was going to be now that both Sony, and Nintendo have bowed out of the expo this year.

Still, there’s plenty of scuttlebutt to get excited for, & we’ve got some predictions/news here in this episode for you guys to get excited over. While some of those rumors have already been confirmed during the production of this episode, there are plenty of other bits to discuss, like a new DarkStalkers, some Stadia exclusives, a Switch hardware revision, some proper Nintendo VR, additional details on the new Playdate console unveiled in late May, and so much more.

Join us as we take the chance to talk about E3 predictions, Canada’s exclusive television and cuisine, and many other details here in the latest episode of Press Pause Radio!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR 115

eing told that you’re not good enough to do something sucks; there’s no “if’s”, “and’s”, or “but’s” about it—it’s an incredibly damaging thing to hear, and an even shittier thing to say.

Yet, even though it’s a topic that’s been discussed ad nauseam, it’s still a conversation that the industry and culture of Video Games is struggles with in terms of a mutual resolution that could benefit all parties. To be clear; scaling the difficulty of a game’s challenge in the interest of accessibility has not, and never will, dilute the appeal of game’s charm, or the intended experience—at least when it comes to example of what a GOOD game is anyway.

So why is it that developers like From Software feel the need to clutch at their pearls, and dismiss any discourse surrounding the inclusion of “easy mode” as a misunderstanding of their design fundamentals? Why is it that in the year 2019 that Microsoft is the only leading force behind a customizable controller that can be configured to accommodate a large number of physical impairments for the differently abled? Bizarrely enough, why we still seeing developers throw up flashing epilepsy warnings for their title as it were some sort of backhanded slap to those who’re affected by this debilitating condition?

Join us Press Pause Radio for this important episode as we talk at length about the state of accessibility for player difficulty, and why the demographic for video games can’t just be aimed at the kid who can snipe posers with 360°-No-Scope action. We talk about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Division 2, Geppy X, Yoshi’s Crafted World, the Next-Generation Sony console, the NEC Super-Grafx console, Astroneers, Mortal Kombat 11, Raiden, the frightening concept of the Easter Bunny, and more!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Limelight: Sea of Thieves Beta

vast ye mateys and all that other crazy pirate speech and shit; we be here to stream you some gameplay of Sea of Thieves, the newest title from Rare developed exclusively for the Xbox One and Windows 10!

Toast will be surfing high water in hopes of pillaging all the booty and glory in the name of Press Pause Radio in this exclusive beta that he’ll be streaming in this latest edition of Limelight. All hands hoay at 7PM Pacific/10PM Eastern on our Twitch channel! Check it out!

Watch live video from PressPauseRadio on www.twitch.tv

QCF: ReCore

t’s bizarre to me that in a medium that spends so much time romanticizing its past through a modern filter for audiences both old, and new, that there’s this weird bygone era in video games that hardly receives the same kind of attention—the 3D Platformer. One could argue that the nuances of the side-scroller will forever stand the test of time in contrast with that of games like Banjo–Kazooie, or Spyro the Dragon, doomed to fall in line with a specific aesthetic or design, but I think the formula deserves more than that, and personally, that outlook always came off like a copout.

Which is why Armature Games’ ReCore is a refreshing experiment to that sentiment; an open-world action adventure title that embraces the age-old “collect-a-thon” conventions of the 90’s, within a large open world game that’s still designed with modern sensibilities in mind.

The refreshment doesn’t last though as the title has one of the most unstable game engines to have ever been released out of a first-party title, and will often reduce the charming experience that ReCore has to offer into a steaming pile of garbage.

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QCF: INSIDE

t isn’t often that the visual style of a game in motion can be so evocative to the mind, and on that same token, so indicative to the disquietude that lingers after your each, and every move on screen—it’s a feeling that’s eerie, yet fascinating.

Playdead’s latest venture for the Xbox One delivers that sort of vibe in every sense you could think of, and then some—the spiritual successor to LIMBO is an evolution in every aspect, from its enthralling puzzle design, to its chilling conveyance of atmosphere.

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