Developer Naughty Dog considers the Uncharted series to be over, but that's not stopping eagle-eyed fans from spotting what they think is a new Uncharted sequel in a recent Sony PlayStation 5 advertisement.  The ad features looks at a number of previously announced games and includes one that nobody recognizes.  Ethan Gach at Kotaku has the round-up.

In between vignettes for announced games like Spider-Man 2 is a brief clip of a woman carrying a torch through a cave, and fans think it might be pointing to a new Uncharted game starring Nathan Drake’s daughter, Cassie.

A post over at the PlayStation Blog even says that the new PS5 ad “hints at the breadth of extraordinary experiences” available on the console, and goes out of its way to dare players to see if they can “spot all the game references.” The woman in the cave, who at one point can be seen blowing dust off a mysterious artifact, appears to be the only part of the commercial that doesn’t correspond to a currently announced or released PlayStation exclusive.

With Uncharted recently becoming a successful film after years in development hell (and with a sequel on the way), there's definite money left on the table if everyone involved is truly finished with the series.  Naughty Dog is focused on their darling The Last of Us (a game so beloved by the studio that they've made the first game in the series three times already), but who's to say that Sony wouldn't hand the Drake keys to another proven studio?  I'm absolutely interested in more Uncharted, so I say bring it on.

By the way, the Kotaku article's URL is https://kotaku.com/uncharted-5-cassie-drake-naughty-dog-ps5-release-date-1850049001 which crams so much search engine optimization clickbait into itself (this game may not be Uncharted 5, it may not star Cassie Drake, it may not be made by Naughty Dog, and there's certainly no release date for it) that if they managed to work "free download" and "naked" into the link, Google would never need to refer anyone to any other web page ever again.  We're all desperate for traffic here, but let's be better than that.

After teasing the release late last year, Nintendo is ready to put the classic shooter GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 on its Switch Online service.  Releasing Friday, January 27, 2023 the famous game will return for old fans to enjoy and new audiences to discover.  As a new trailer from Nintendo points out (and someone had a lot of fun making that trailer, I bet), widescreen mode is enabled on this release and you'll be able to enjoy online multiplayer through the NSO N64 app.  Remember that if you're new to GoldenEye or just can't get your old muscle memory moving again, dip into the game's options to test out the multiple control options.  There's a control scheme for everyone including some that require two controllers with one in each hand.  I rented GoldenEye many times in the late 1990s and it was a favorite when friends came over, but I never owned a copy of my own.  I look forward to finally having all the time in the world to fully explore the single player missions and take on friends online in multiplayer.  No items, Fox only, Final Destination!  No, wait, that's not right...

Meanwhile, the game is also coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X consoles the same day with local multiplayer, achievements, additional control options, and widescreen 4K resolution. It's available free to anyone who owns Rare Replay and will also be featured on Xbox Game Pass. Enjoy this one, gang. Heaven and Earth had to move to get it back out there.

As we do every January, it's time to take a look back at our picks for Game of the Year.  2022 brought us a number of fantastic titles that we're still raving about including Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Stray, Sonic Origins, and many more.  Which game will take the coveted slot of our number one pick?  Join us for a supersized two hour discussion and find out!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

For those of you who weren't there in 1989, let me explain that when Mario and Luigi came to syndicated cartoons, it was a very big deal.  Our favorite characters were starting to prove that they were more than just pixels and beeps, and as the money machine took notice, they started to appear on school supplies and snack foods and cheaply-made clothing.  While Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 were the big stars of the day, Nintendo was also focusing attention on The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.  Remember that this was pre-SNES.  There was no Super Mario World or A Link to the Past yet.  Hell, in North America there wasn't even a Super Mario Bros. 3 yet!  The Super Mario Bros. Super Show featured cartoon tales of Link and Zelda each Friday in stories inspired by little elements of the two video games and, well, just about anything else the creators could come up with, as this was an era in which the creative folks did not analyze individual moments of the games for inspiration.  We were lucky if Link wore the correct colors and maybe you heard a familiar sound effect sometimes.  Nicole Carpenter at Polygon has interviewed some of the writers and voice actors from the old Zelda cartoon and given us a look into how the show was made, and I don't think you'll be surprised that much of it was not inspired by the games.

Rather than simply recreating the video game, The Legend of Zelda’s writers positioned the show more as a mix of action, comedy, and drama, taking specific inspiration from Cybill Shepherd’s and Bruce Willis’ ’80s show Moonlighting. Writers wanted Zelda and Link’s relationship to mirror Shepherd’s and Willis’ rapport as Maddie and David on the detective show — the same angry sexual tension, but goofier and lighter for the kid-friendly cartoon TV show.

As an adult I appreciate this show for what it was and am glad it's still available, but my inner eight-year-old who watched it in 1989 is still screaming into the void about how it didn't follow the "rules" of the games of the day. Don't worry though. I keep him hushed up.

New year, new news recap!  The end of 2022 means it's time for us to look back on the biggest video gaming news of the year and put it all in context one last time.  We have everything from Embracer embracing everyone to Sony relaunching PlayStation Plus with new tiers to FIFA and Electronic Arts parting ways and much, much more.  Join us for a supersized episode.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way.