Poor release apology statements, released as images, are so prevalent these days that they are their own category of meme. It seems like once a month we see a statement with a remix of "we're sorry - we'll do better!" Currently, the response is to bully studios over the poor releases, but someday we will have to start voting with our wallets and stop buying new releases altogether, I guess.

Sony brought out an expansive number of announcements and trailers, but very little  concrete release dates and even less actual gameplay. I wouldn't say this blew my balls off, though there was still a decent amount to be intrigued, or even excited by. Let's get into it!

This week's episode is wide ranging and inspired by how seemingly pointless the reviews are for Tears of the Kingdom, both positive and negative. Between reviewers  often pumping out inane, sometimes bought and paid for reviews, and review bombing - do things like meta critic even matter anymore? Do critics matter in general, anymore? The big questions.

We've talked about story before, and how in the past story was seldom important to a game - often an after thought. We've changed our opinion on that over time, especially in recent years as games have become more story driven and cinematic. But does gaming have auteurs? As games become more and more like films, will we see more game directors emerge with distinct styles, and voices? And have there really been many in gaming's past?

New data suggests that the $70 price tag for next gen games has actually hurt overall sales and could lead to decreased profits for everyone. So, are games worth the money? Is the market too saturated or capped? When games like Redfall or Jedi Survivor are being released in a rough state - are AAA games a gamble for the first couple months?