Jarret and Nick are back to talk about the latest video game news this week and they brought Kurabara from Dropping Spicy with them. Nick has been playing Fall Guys. Kurabara has been playing Among Us and Nick asks about how that works. Jarret has been busy getting Horizon Zero Dawn to run better on his pc and playing several other games including Final Fantasy XV.

Then the guys get right into it talking about Microsoft acquiring Zenimax, parent company of studios like Arkane, Id, and of course, Bethesda. They talk about how this gives Microsoft a fighting chance to compete in the realm of first party titles, and debate just how worried Sony should be. They discuss how Microsoft plans to leave Zenimax alone, and how the company may still be in the market to purchase more developers.

Sony also recently revealed the price of the PS5 while announcing some new games like Final Fantasy XVI and Hogwart’s Legacy. The guys talk about the presentation was received and what the price means for Sony. They also talked about how Sony appeared to be matching Microsoft’s Gamepass service but actually announced something different, and how their decision not to compete on that front could hurt them this generation. They also reviewed the slightly complicated Upgrade process for getting Spider-Man Remastered on the PS5.

The guys also debates if Microsoft and Sony did the job of selling consumers on buying into the next generation of consoles this year. Microsoft seems to have made the case for Gamepass. Jarret mentions that the XBox Series S is the console for now while the Series X is the console for the 4K future. Sony is still playing by the old model and may need to innovate.

Finally, Amazon announced their Luna cloud service and the reception was underwhelming, especially after the recent struggles of Google’s Stadia and Amazon’s own game studios.

Thank you for listening to the Mash Those Buttons show. Please reach out to us on twitter at @themashnetwork!

Hosts

Jarret Redding

Jarret is Executive Director as well as one of the founding members of Mash Those Buttons. He plays all types of games, but tends to lean more toward FPS, Stealth, and Combat games.

Nick Zielenkievicz

Host of WoW! Talk! and The Tauren & The Goblin. Sometimes known as the Video Games Public Defender. Wants to play more Destiny and Marvel Heroes but WoW is all-consuming. Decent F2P Hearthstone player. Sad that he lost the Wii that had Wrecking Crew on it. Would be happy if the only game ever made was M.U.L.E. Gragtharr on Skywall-US. Garresque on Ravencrest-US.

Cory Treadway

Cory has been gaming ever since he fished an NES out of a trash can. A broad gamer who enjoys everything from FPS, Racing, RPGs, MMOS, RTS, World Building, Puzzles, Dating, Horror, Cooking, Sports. If its a game I will give it a try.

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