Some Patches Required Aaron & Zak

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the latest episode of Consolidation Watch - a show where we puff out our proverbial chests and celebrate all of the excellent acquisitions that mega-corporations have completed recently! This week, we've got a doozy for ya' from the world of games media, where IGN successfully ate up the Gamer Network, home of mainstays like GamesIndustry.biz and Rock Paper Shotgun!Clearly this is all for the best, and won't in any way damage the media landscape at large by wi...

This week, Zak and Aaron chat with Josh Bowlby, a UI/UX designer (user interface and user experience, for the neophytes out there) who has experience at companies like Virtuix and Wayfinder developer Airship Syndicate, among others.Not only was he kind enough to speak on some of his experiences in that space, but also his active role in the Austin, TX, game development community. From tips on networking to thoughts on how to get through a rough layoff, Josh proved to be a font of wisdom and g...

War. War never changes... but the media landscape sure does. With Amazon's new Fallout show dominating headlines and streaming charts alike, Zak and Aaron returned to the vault this week to dust off an old favorite topic: video game adaptations. This time, the question at hand isn't the program's quality (spoilers: it's pretty good), but rather what its success means for the future of some of your favorite IPs. Namely, are we moving towards a world where successful games will be forced t...

Ahh, Apple. Creators of the smartphone, pioneers of industry, the gold standard for excellence, the last bastion of inspiration in a world that's gone dull, and... an illegal monopoly? That's what a recent set of lawsuits allege - and they're gaining traction.Between an all-out assault from Epic Games' Tim Sweeney and an 88-page treatise on illegal practices from the US Department of Justice, Apple's lawyers almost certainly have their briefcases full to the brim. But what does any of this me...

Rejoice, RPG fans, for Dragon's Dogma 2 is finally here! The reviews are in, and the consensus is... well, complicated as hell. While critics are stoked overall, fans seem to have some grievances — and they're quite happy to share them. This brings Zak and Aaron to the ever-relevant topic of review bombing, or the practice of leaving droves of negative reviews on a product as a response to some real or perceived slight at the hands of its makers. The whole endeavor is a political, econom...

When you think of AAA games, does your mind fill with excitement imagining what spectacular worlds dedicated artists have crafted for you with the benefit of near-limitless resources? Or do you imagine boardrooms filled with disinterested people demanding endless compromises in pursuit of maximum profit?This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to politely inform you that option A is likely a nice dream you once had, while option B may very well be playing out somewhere right now. With high-profile f...