Episode 35 - The Cross-Gen Episode, starring Xbox One

The Joy of Gaming Podcast, Episode 35:

The Cross-Gen Episode, starring Xbox One

On this transformative episode of the Joy of Gaming podcast, we (Rich, Tim and Jordan) find ourselves in an interesting space – smack in the middle of two generations of gaming. The Xbox One and Playstation 4 have both been released now, and we’ve been playing some of the best those systems have to offer. But none of us are completely ready to abandon our “last gen” consoles either, as there are still some amazing games left to catch up on (Mass Effect 3, anyone?), and a few titles – South Park: The Stick of Truth, Persona 5, etc. – that will still be launching on 360 and PS3 in the year to come. We find ourselves in “Cross-gen” limbo, and I’ll tell you what – there are a lot of great games to play, and even more exciting things to talk about.

Up first, we talk about the games of “last gen” we’ve been playing, including: Assassin’s Creed 3 and 4, Lego Marvel, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, XCOM: Enemy Within, Disney Infinity, Deadpool, Device 6, Payday 2, Civilization V: Brave New World, and many more. We also cover a bit of gaming news, most notably Telltale Games’ announcements of Tales from the Borderlands and a new episodic Game of Thrones game, Atlus’s multi-tiered announcement regarding the future of the Persona series, and a bit of discussion about next-gen “definitive” editions of games, unofficially sponsored by Tomb Raider.

And then we turn our attention to the main event – our first forays into the brave new world of “next gen” gaming, courtesy of the Xbox One. We talk about all of our first impressions of the system, including the new user interface, Kinect and voice commands, the way achievements work, the new controller, the Netflix and Hulu experience, snapping, and a lot more. Then we discuss the games we’ve played so far, namely Dead Rising 3, Ryse, Need for Speed: Rivals, and Forza 5. It’s all very, very exciting.

The wait is finally over, the future is here, and it is a really good time to be a gamer. This…is the Joy of Gaming!