On this week's TechRaptor Podcast, we dive into last week's Xbox Partner Showcase, which featured a lot of new gameplay footage, but we're not sure if a lot of it really stuck with us. Robert's been making slow but steady progress on Metaphor: ReFantazio, which is really living up to its name as one big metaphor, almost comically so. Stretch and Andrew also take a look at the recently released Super Mario Party Jamboree and all of its new opportunities for single-player gameplay. Also, are you getting the new Nintendo Alarmo? If so, did you know it needs software updates? It's not the only random device we discovered this week that needs software updates, though.

It's a big week for Japanese games! Andrew Stretch reviewed Metaphor: ReFantazio, while Robert Scarpinito reviewed Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. We dive deep into those games while taking a detour with Andrew Otton to talk about Deadlock, the latest MOBA from Valve.

Ubisoft has a lot riding on Assassin's Creed Shadows, and recent turmoil from investors and strike threats aren't helping. The future of the company isn't certain, but we look back on its past couple years to get an idea of where it's going. Andrew Stretch has also been playing Nintendo's newest, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and so far, it seems like the speedruns of the game will be absolutely bonkers. More from us: https://linktr.ee/techraptor

This week, Stretch quizzes Austin and Robert on their knowledge of PlayStation and PlayStation-adjacent franchises based on their Astro Bot appearances. We also spent some time debriefing Robert and Austin's time at PAX West, including a game that combines Gears of War with Overcooked and another that could be the next big Hades-like. Read more at https://techraptor.net

Our reviewer Erren Van Duine joined us for the TechRaptor Podcast to talk all about Star Wars Outlaws, the latest space opera adventure from Ubisoft. Overall, felt pretty positive about the game, with Kay Vess, Nix, and other characters being big standouts. Find out more on this week's show! Our Star Wars Outlaw Review: https://techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/star-wars-outlaws-review

Yesterday, Geoff Keighley unleashed two hours of video game trailers onto the world from the grand stage of Gamescom Opening Night Live. We loved some of it and were lukewarm on other parts of it, and we break down all our big highlights from Cologne.

Turns out, the Borderlands movie was a rough video game adaptation, with its Rotten Tomatoes critic score sitting at 9% at the time of writing. After a series of pretty good video game adaptations, like Fallout and The Last of Us, Andrew Otton, Andrew Stretch, and Robert Scarpinito take a look at what makes or breaks these IP when you swap the controller for a bucket of popcorn. We also talk about a potential Taskmaster and Dropout collaboration on the horizon, along with an attempted look at the PlayStation VR 2 adapter for PC. Looks like we've got lots of adaptation talk going on this week!

We've played the closed beta for Marvel Rivals, and it feels a lot like Overwatch but with Marvel characters. And really, that might just be all it needs to be right now.

After recent comments from Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair, we took stock of live service games as a whole, looking back at years of MMOs, mobile games, and competitive online games. What games do live service well? When do live service games go wrong? Is Skyrim a democratized live service game? We discuss all that and more on this week's TechRaptor Podcast. https://linktr.ee/techraptor

Xbox made a large fumble last week related to Game Pass and the increase in subscription prices. Stretch, Otton, and Austin break down the major missteps, analyse the continued mismarketing trend of Xbox over the past decade, and pitch how we would have done it differently. Gaming News: https://techraptor.net/news Gaming Reviews: https://techraptor.net/reviews Don't forget to follow us on Social Media! Twitter: http://twitter.com/techraptr Facebook: http://facebook.com/techraptor