The Geek Bravado Ramble

I've now devoted several episodes to (rightly) addressing a lot of the problems with the Epic Games Store and it's general anti-consumer stance. Many have equated this to me just hating it because it's not Steam. That …

I largely avoided sounding off about the latest two mass shootings in the United States because I didn't know what I could say without just repeating …

An indie game going Epic Games Store exclusive is sadly nothing new and while I'm as sick of podcast about this as everyone else, the spectacularly …

A big bombshell was dropped in the streaming world today when it was announced that Ninja, one of the biggest streamers in the world, is leaving Twitch to exclusively join Mixer. No one saw this coming and while most …

A new documentary about the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal recently came out on Netflix. While I do recommend reading up a bit on how the scandal happened before watching it, I think it does a good job of …

On the morning of July 25th, the CBC published a story on two young fujitives who are currently running from accusations of murder. Despite them …

Every time I see a Reddit or Twitter thread bemoaning the modern state of video games, it's always talking about AAA titles like they're the only games that exist. Almost without fail, every time I try to point out the …

Indie Showcase impressions video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPMFUqbFnw

If you buy the game on PC and are OK using the Epic Games Store, use Creator Tag PXAbstraction at checkout to help support my content.

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The new AMD Ryzen 3000 line of CPUs has had a lot of hype behind it and based on reviews from its July 7th launch, it hasn't disappointed. However, …

In the time I've been making YouTube videos and streaming, the term "influencer" to describe someone who makes content and "networking" to describe the act of community building, have both become common parlance. I …

This is the audio version of a written blog post that you can find, along with some extra links and images at https://geekbravado.com/?p=1232.

CD …

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a new AA game from a small publisher and a studio that's known for mostly licensed games and it kind of came out of nowhere without a ton of fanfare. It's also my Game of the Year so far. …

Another year of E3 has come and gone and to my great surprise, a lot of people are calling it a disappointment. I talk about that, why I think E3's relevance is returning as we enter the age of the "influencer" and how …

To the great surprise and happiness of many Star Control fans (myself included), it was announced yesterday that Stardock and Paul Reiche & Fred …

Yet another cataclysm is upon the YouTube creator community, as a public spat between two outrage warriors on opposite sides of the political …

In a recent interview, Jonathan Blow, creator of indie hits Braid, The Witness and also many a controversial opinion, stated that he believes indie games have creatively stagnated. I believe this viewpoint is based on …

It's yet another podcast on Epic Games but talking about something a little different this time. Rather than discuss the company's latest screw-ups in their attempt to disrupt PC gaming retail, I'm talking more about …

I recorded this podcast around a week before publishing it because I wasn't sure if I wanted to put it out there but I've decided to. I suffer from Major Depressive Disorder and recently, had a major relapse due to a …

In the last while, I've taken it upon myself to remove some negativity from social media that was negatively impacting my mood and overall mental health. However, this week I realized that I was still getting a lot of …

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a really interesting company. They're one of the original developers and publishers in video games and are very …

The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was a terrible tragedy and though it's only a couple of days since it happened, wealthy people and corporations from around the world have already committed over a billion …

DLive is a new entry in the streaming world and it's taking a different approach by allowing people to earn units of a new cryptocurrency by both streaming and just watching streams. They also just got PewDiePie to make …

I had a chance to play the latest entry in Nintendo's series of casual, artful platformers with my lady friend this weekend. We had a great time and …

Rejoice, it's yet another podcast on the Epic Games Store! Well, kind of. With the announcement that Borderlands 3 will be a 6 month exclusive, a number of people have been review bombing the previous Borderlands games …

WARNING: If it wasn't clear already, this will spoil the story of Metro video game series!

My good friend WereTiger and I both recently finished Metro: Exodus, after replaying the Redux versions of Metro 2033 and …

Crackdown 3 finally released recently on the Xbox One, PC and on Xbox Game Pass. This new iteration was announced near the Xbox One launch and has …

PAX East 2019 has come and gone and even though it was only my second PAX (after South from this year, which I have other episodes on), it was an experience unique both for myself and probably for many others. I had the …

Have just finished Metro: Exodus, I got to thinking about the many games over the years that hardcore players fondly remember and that were made in former Soviet states. Games from these developers are very distinctive, …

I officially turned 40 the day I recorded this podcast. Many people make a big deal out of these milestone birthdays and I suppose I am too since I'm …

Yesterday, Google entered the game distribution ring by announcing Stadia, a new all-streaming based gaming service. It aims to differentiate itself …

My lady friend and I had Formula 1: Drive to Survive come up in Netflix recommendations and as both of us like cars and I had a new 4K OLED TV to …

A rumour came out of left field today that Sony might be buying Take-Two Interactive Software, parent company of 2K Games and more importantly, Rockstar Games. At time of recording, the rumour had been said to be likely …

Valve recently pulled a disgusting game a out rape from Steam before release, after a large scale condemnation. The problem is, it had been listed …

A scandal has rocked Canadian politics this week, involving a very large and powerful engineering company in the country, a bribery scandal and …

THQ Nordic PR did a really stupid thing yesterday: They decided to host an AMA on 8chan. Shortly after announcing this, the Internet Outrage Brigade …

Thanks to my friend Real Caustic being awesome, I was recently given a chance to upgrade to an SLI video card setup for free. It was so frustrating and useless, that I actually gave it back. Along the way, I also …

YouTube has once again found itself dealing with an advertiser pullout over a controversy that has received mainstream media attention. As usual, …

The 2019 Rainbow 6 Invitational was this past weekend and I went with Real Caustic and WereTiger. This was the first E-Sports event that I've ever attended and more than that, I've just never really paid attention to …

Earlier this week, Colin Moriarty's CLS Side Quest YouTube series, posted an episode about the increasing calls for the video game industry to …

The new "Volume 2" of The Escapist gaming web site is on fire right now. A site whose previous incarnation failed drowning in controversy, it's once …

Earlier this week, EA and Respawn Entertainment launched a new battle royale game called Apex Legends, completely out of nowhere and to everyone's surprise. It's a game set in the Titanfall universe, except it doesn't …

The Anthem demo (which is still very much a beta) went open for everyone this past weekend. After having a miserable time with the "VIP Demo", I got to play through all the demo content with a good crew of people. I had …

A recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling decreed that in the case of a bankrupt oil company, cleaning up the oil wells they left behind should take …

#BellLetsTalk day is a social media initiative run by Bell, Canada's largest telecartel, to attempt to destigmatize mental illness. After talking a little bit about the initiative and how Bell's business practices …

RANT WARNING

Yet another big upcoming PC game release has gone exclusive to the Epic Games Store and as seems to be inevitable in gaming now, battle lines are being drawn between the people who dislike Epic's new …

The Anthem VIP Demo was available this past weekend for those who pre-ordered, had Origin Access Premier or knew someone in the beta who was willing to give up one of their 3 Friend Pass codes. I got to play a little of …

You've probably heard of the recent ad from Gillette that attempted to counter traditional stereotypes about masculinity and invited men to improve …

My first time at PAX is done and what a time it was! I ended up not being able to record with anyone else and did this episode after getting home (I explain why) and talk about some other developers I saw at the show …

In this very late night recording, I talk about my experience getting to PAX and my first day at the show, shilling hardcore to indie developers for theSHED. It's been an incredible couple of days, for reasons even I …

The day after I post this, I'm heading to PAX South, which will not only be my first PAX but my first gaming show in my new role as Developer …

Happy New Year!

Another crazy year is in the books and as I like to do around this time, I wanted to talk about games from the past year that I really enjoyed and that I think you might as well. I used to do a top 10 …

In a surprise announcement on January 10, Bungie announced that they are ending mutually ending what was supposed to be a 10 year publishing partnership with Activision for the Destiny franchise. Many erroneously assume …

I highly recommend listening to the prior episode on this first: …

On January 1, 2019, Ontario introduced significantly harsher penalties for distracted driving. However, they for some reason decided that only "using …

Star Control II from the 90s if my favourite game of all-time and recently, Stardock Entertainment released a spiritual successor called Star …

Twitch is currently facing heavy backlash from a lot of their creators and viewers because they are running pre-roll ads for Ninja's New Year's Eve …

Today, I awoke to an unexpected new controversy involving the discovery that a partnered Mixer streamer is apparently, a convicted sexual predator, …

This is the audio version of a YouTube vlog that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOuJ9j2dvbM. I talk a about the year that was and what my content plans are for 2019, including Mixer, YouTube, this …

A few major AAA game releases have failed pretty hard this year. As a result, many commentators and forum posters are hand-wringing about this being …

Facebook has had a near non-stop wave of scandals in 2018 and a growing number of poeple are telling people to quit the site. At the same time, a lot of these discussions inevitably turn to people going "Well you use …

The Canadian oil industry is in a crisis right now, due to plummeting crude prices, problems transporting their product to market and some major battles going on between different levels of government. Now our federal …

For a number of years now, we've kept hearing people say that the traditional gaming press web sites are dying, both because of the rise of YouTube and streaming and because their business model now largely seems to be …

Blizzard has made a number of recent business moves that have upset their user base. Their "Apple of Gaming" sheen is starting to tarnish and many see the influence of their previously arms-length overloards at …

This past week, Patreon banned controversial YouTuber Sargon of Akkad from their platform, seemingly without explanation. This has caused a huge backlash from their user base and it's hurting many creators with no dog …

The latest YouTube Rewind is the second-most downvoted video in the platform's history, on its way to being the most. I heard an interesting vlog on the subject and about the state of YouTube's constant attempt to …

The Toronto Police Service recently started publicly posted names of people who were charged with (but not convicted of) impaired driving and Ottawa …

Just a warning up front that this episode deals with some medical things and while not graphic or anything, if you're squeamish about that stuff, you might want to avoid it.

I got a vasectomy this week. I don't have any …

NOTE: Make sure to listen to the end as some more information came to light since the initial recording and there's an addendum that talks about it.

Mere days ago, I talked about the launch of the new Epic Games Store …

I decided to take this experiment a bit further and do a collaboration episode with my good buddy InfiniKnight. We chat about The Game Awards and …

I decided to take this experiment a bit further and do a collaboration episode with my good buddy InfiniKnight. We chat about The Game Awards and …

Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD and have been managing depression and anxiety for most of my life. In attempting to treat the ADHD, I was running into some major roadblocks. However, after talking with a …

Shadow of the Tomb Raider came out only a short time ago but has already been deeply discounted multiple times and seems to be somewhat of a flop. As …

The War Stories campaign in the latest Battlefield game has been shown to be taking some creative liberties with the historical record, seemingly in …

Epic Games surprised everyone by announcing that they're getting into the digital distribution game, with a new service that will give away free games throughout 2019 and offers a much better revenue split with game …

Welcome to the Geek Bravado Ramble! What the heck, PX is making yet more content and didn't even really talk about it beforehand? Weird, right? This is the pilot for a new experimental podcast idea I'm trying out. The …