Episode 45: Literacy Was Too High a Price to Pay

It’s another bijou two-hander this week, as Alice and I meet to pick over the remains of another week in PC gaming and get the latest updates on her dog and her neighbours, both of whom are making annoying noises. 

Annoying noises in gaming, meanwhile, come from the resurfacing of the GTA leaks guy (let’s face it, it’s almost certainly a guy) and the newfound union of Warner Bros and Paramount into a new games/movies behemoth. The latter now includes Bobby Kotick, about whom we have nothing bad to say. There’s also a bit of AI chat and some game recommendations, which tops up our quota just enough to merit another run of highly self-indulgent subscriber episodes plucked from the cauldron of Nate’s brain. 

If you’d like to experience those subscriber episodes (along with Discord access to both the hosts and your fellow listeners) you can do so right now by subscribing to Jank. Doing so will turn this from a fortnightly podcast to a weekly one, and instantly unlock over a year of previous episodes. The podcast only exists thanks to our subscribers and we thank every one of them. Our music is by God Ribbon, our art is by Marsh Davies (who also writes a great review) and our editing is by Alix Attenborough; you can send us feedback at [e-mail] or leave a comment below. 

Links!
The GTAVI leaker RETVRNED and seems to think there is more juice to squeeze. Bobby Kotick is also back, and we won’t hear a word said against him. Skydance unites Warner Bros and Paramount Games Studio, and the latter were at least quite keen on games.  Capcom announced plans to change their RE Engine into an "AI generation engine" but nobody who speaks English is entirely sure what they mean. The happiest man in gaming hates generative AI. Pony Island 2 is the latest Mullinslike and you can sign up to the playtest. The horse game lady is Alice Ruppert. Evil Trout accidentally specialised in bringing Itch games on Steam. 

Games!
Pony Island 2, The Archives of Trevosa

Recommendations!
Jack Tucker: Comedy Standup Hour and Vertical Slice.

What is Total Playtime?

Total Playtime is the official podcast of Jank.cool and is a conversation about videogames, mostly, by games industry veterans Alice Bell, Nate Crowley, Brendy Caldwell and Jon Hicks. Join them for discussion of the latest and most interesting PC and indie games, grumbles about the state of games media, and impromptu quizzes dredged from the unknowable depths of Nate's brain. Public episodes are released every two weeks, and if you subscribe to Jank you'll get weekly episodes. Send us questions, ideas and feedback at [e-mail], and follow us on BlueSky if you like.