$80 Games & Broken Devs: The EA Boycott, Console Crisis, and the Death of Fun

Frank and Lilac Boots are back to break down the corporate crises that are defining the modern gaming landscape.The Sims Exodus: Following the Saudi-backed EA buyout, Simmers like Lilsimsie, Plumbella, and James Turner have quit the EA Creator Network over moral and ethical conflicts. Lilac Boots questions why the Sims dev team is using a massive November 4th bug-fix update as a crisis management tactic after the fact.The Console Crisis: Is it worth buying any console right now? We dissect the value problem: the PS5 is getting remastered filler, the Xbox is selling fewer units than the Xbox One, and Nintendo is recklessly pushing the $80 game precedent.The Noir That Wasn't: Lilac Boots delivers a scathing review of Tails Noir (formerly Backbone), calling its jarring, unearned sci-fi twist a creative failure that spoiled a beautiful narrative.Macabre Reviews: For Halloween, we review the morally dubious management sim Graveyard Keeper and the side-scrolling defense game Kingdom, and reveal which DLCs (Zombies! Co-op!) are absolutely essential to fix the base game's biggest flaws.Plus: Frank shares his thoughts after getting the Platinum for the incredible Ghost of Yōtei and we share our anti-stress gaming recommendations!