Total Playtime: Literacy Was Too High a Price to Pay

Total Playtime is the official Jank podcast, funded entirely by our paying subscribers (and formerly our backers on Patreon). This week’s episode is free, but subscribers get additional episodes every other week. You may join them by subscribing here, and you can find all previous episodes here.    

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 totalplaytimepod@gmail.com or leave a comment below. 

Links!
The GTAVI leaker returned 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.