Retro Rebel Podcast: Episode 129 – Microsoft is shooting fish in a barrel

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Episode 129 of the Retro Rebel Podcast. This week, gamers were reminded we’re just fish in a barrel. Microsoft attempted to apply a 100% increase to the price of Xbox Live Gold.

Retro Rebel Podcast is hosted by Amanda Fox and Stacy Bishop. Each week they take a deep dive into the gaming industry and discuss news stories, the current games they are playing as well as the topic of the week.

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Intro Music – Final Impasse By Ground is Lava

What we’re playing

Amanda – I’ve gone back to Pokemon Go. I don’t know why really. Saw an advert on Facebook and thought, why not. I’m not getting enough exercise so maybe it will help haha.

Pokémon Go is a 2016 augmented reality mobile game developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices

Stacy- I finally canceled my World of Warcraft subscription. Let’s see if I can stick to it. In the meantime, I’m going to try to finish Jedi: Fallen Order! World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an action-adventure game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by EA. It was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019.

Gaming news

Valve Going in Big On BCI – Brain-computer interfaces could change a lot about how we game and Valve is all in. According to Road to VR, “Provided such a high-tech VR head strap could non-invasively ‘read’ emotional states, it would represent a big step in a new direction for gaming. And it’s one Valve clearly intends on leveraging as it continues to both create (and sell) the most immersive gaming experiences possible.”

PS5 Stock Issues Continue – TBH, Xbox Series X has no stock either, but now it looks like PS5 fans are blasting Sony on Trustpilot. According to this site, “Following the launch of the PlayStation 5, the Sony UK Trustpilot rating has dropped to just 1.7 stars. Reviewers have criticised Sony for bad planning, and for failing to communicate when PlayStation 5 consoles would be back in stock.”

Konami shutting it’s doors! The studio the brought us the Contra code and Metal Gear (as well as Silent HIll) seems to be closing the doors on video game production.

Main topic – Fish in a barrel

Microsoft attempted to apply a 100% increase to the price of Xbox Live Gold and; even though they reversed that decision, it got us thinking about all the ways we’re a captive audience for game giants. RRP’s, subscriptions, digital-only delivery, microtransactions, deluxe editions and DLC – we talk about why this should worry you and what you should do about it.

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Retro Rebel Podcast – Ep 127 Best games we played in 2020

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Monica Duarte

Born and raised under the California sun. Monica is the Editor-In-Chief at Temple of Geek. She also serves as Executive Producer of The Temple of Geek Podcast, Retro Rebel Podcast, and Portrait of a Fangirl. Lover of all things geeks but especially sci-fi like Doctor Who, The Expanse, Star Wars and Star Trek.