One of our favorite books here at Power Button, Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation, is now a documentary streaming on CBS All-Access, so it's the perfect time to talk to the book's author and friend of the podcast Blake J. Harris and his co-director on the film, Jonah Tulis.  Join us for an hour of conversation in which we discuss topics such as how the book made the transition to the screen, the difficulty of clearing all of those archival clips for use, the visual impact of showing key moments in the story as actual archival video instead of just a textual description ("$299."), new material in the film that isn't in the book, and so much more.  Console Wars is a fascinating book and a fantastic movie, so I highly recommend that you experience both.  Thanks to Blake and Jonah for joining us this week! 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 Play, 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. 

Nintendo released a trio of F-Zero titles for the Game Boy Advance to diminishing returns internationally.  The second of the three, 2004's F-Zero: GP Legend, was based on the anime of the same name and included support for the e-Reader accessory exclusively in the Japanese version of the game.  These e-Reader cards were distributed through a combination of retail and Cardass card vending machines and added new tracks, racers, and course ghosts into the game.  You can probably guess what happened next; the cards were hard to find, then they improperly preserved in the online community, and it wasn't long until the add-on tracks and other scannables fell into obscurity.  Thankfully, F-Zero modder Guy Perfect has spent the past few years working on adding these e-Reader add-ons into all regions of the game (even those that did not originally support it such as the North American release) without the need for the e-Reader or the cards and eliminates the limit on how many courses can be saved to the game at once.  The mod is finally complete and ready for the green light.  Here's the breakdown of what's going on here from the mod's documentation:

This hack is a mod for all three versions of F-Zero: GP Legend (Japanese, North American, PAL) that incorporates all of the e-Reader content directly into the game. The modifications are as follows:

All versions
• Time Attack and Training are now permanently unlocked
• Card e+ is now permanently added to Time Attack and Training
• All 20 e-Reader courses are available in the Card e+ cup
• Challenge ghosts are available on select courses
• Existing save files will automatically be migrated on first boot

Japanese version
• e-Reader exclusive machines are now available if they were still locked
• The e-Reader+ option has been removed from the Link menu

PAL version
• The Card e+ cup menu has been localized for each language

The courses are available in the "Card e" cup for time trials and training modes and, having played them, I can say there are some bizarre layouts here that I've never seen in a typical F-Zero game.   There are courses shaped like a hand, a foot, and a bird.  Want to race through a lightbulb?  Here's your chance.  Take a look at these layouts.  The developers were having fun with these.

I love to see the fan community working to preserve this sort of content that would otherwise be lost to time.  I asked Guy to explain a little more about the work that went into the project.

Friend of the podcast Blake J. Harris is back on the show this week to discuss his recently released book The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality and chronicle the work that went into writing it. Join us for an hour and a half of conversation about the genesis of the project, how he was able to get in-depth access to Oculus, what happened with Facebook cut off that access, and whether or not Palmer Luckey ever got his trophies back from the Facebook campus. Plus we have some virtual reality stories for you that weren't in the book, information on what is coming in the second edition, and when we may just see History of the Future: The Movie coming to screens near you.   Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes and Google Play, 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. 

Our friend Blake J. Harris, author of The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality, is coming back to the Power Button podcast soon to talk about the new book and answer all of our questions, and we want to give you the opportunity to have all of your questions about the book answered too.  Post your questions and comments for Blake below as a comment before 8:00pm ET on March 30, 2019 and we will discuss them during the recording of the show.  Then join us the following week to hear the complete interview and learn everything else there is to know about the re-rise of virtual reality, Facebook's role in Oculus, and Palmer Luckey.  If you want to catch up on Blake's past appearances on the Power Button podcast, dive into the archive and listen to Episode 134 and Episode 160.

Flashing back to a classic episode of the old Kombo Breaker podcast from the now-defunct Kombo.com, this show focuses on the then-upcoming Tony Hawk: Ride for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.  We were joined by the president of developer Robomodo, Josh Tsui, and we were able to convince him to spill the beans about some of the details regarding the game's new rideable skateboard controller, how the Tony Hawk formula needed to be updated to avoid growing stale, and how a Tyrannosaurus Rex can ride alongside less reptilian players (honestly).  The original airdate on this one was October 12, 2009.   Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes and Google Play, 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.

We're very excited here at Power Button about the upcoming Pinball FX3 from Zen Studios.  The latest (and possibly final) pinball platform for modern hardware, the new title carries over many of our favorite tables from the Zen Pinball 2 / Pinball FX2 era and will launch with new licensed tables from the Universal vault of beloved properties.  New original tables from Zen are also due out before the end of the year.  It's an exciting time for pinball fans, so it's also a perfect time for us to invite Zen's VP of Publishing, Mel Kirk, back on the show to discuss the new features in FX3, what we can expect from the new tables, when we will get to play FX3 for ourselves, and how the last generation platform of ZP2/FX2 has been sunsetted.  Join us for an hour of conversation that will answer all of your burning pinball questions (seriously; we collected questions from the Twitter crowd and answered all of them).  Want to know about Nintendo Switch availability?  Game of Thrones tables?  Support for PSVR?  We cover it all.   Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes and Google Play, 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.

I'm making a guest appearance on Tom Tate's Power Time Podcast this week to talk about Nintendo memories and writing articles for Press The Buttons.

In this interview with Matthew Green we talk about an incredible NES origin story, writing about video games, early impressions on the Switch, a deep-dive on an unassuming Acro-Bat, and much more.

The episode runs thirty-three minutes and was a lot of fun to record.  I love talking about Nintendo and I love talking about myself, so what's not to enjoy?  Thanks to Tom for inviting me on the show.

Capcom has pumped up its Street Fighter brand with the recently released (and criticized) Street Fighter V for the Sony PlayStation 4 and PC, but the brand has also expanded into monthly comics courtesy of long-time Capcom partner UDON Entertainment.  On this episode of the Power Button podcast, we're joined by UDON publisher Matt Moylan to discuss the new comics, Street Fighter lore, and the future of Street Fighter V.  Go home and be a family man podcast fan!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, 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.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Press The Buttons and the fifth anniversary of Power Button, this week's episode of the podcast turns the spotlight on PTB itself as Blake Grundman asks me everything you've ever wanted to know about how this site came to be, how its grown over the years, memorable moments, and we even take some time to answer some questions from the audience.  Join us for eighty minutes and feed my ego.  Thank you all so much for continuing to read, listen, and be a part of the PTB experience.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, 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.

READY!  We've finally assembled three of Mega Man's comic book and resource material scribes together in the same virtual room to discuss all things blue bomber.  Welcome back to the show Ian Flynn (the writer behind Archie's Mega Man comics), Matt Moylan (Managing Editor of UDON Entertainment, publisher of blue bomber art books), and David Oxford (author of The Robot Master Field Guide).  You've heard them all separately on past shows, but this is the main mega event!  We have nearly two hours of discussion for you and we answer all of your audience-submitted questions.  Learn about the upcoming Mega Man / Sonic the Hedgehog crossover event, Worlds Unite, hear what UDON Entertainment is working on next, find out what it'll take to get a dedicated Mega Man X comic running, discover what's in store for the Mega Man 4 comic book story arc, and so very much more.  At five people, it's our largest podcast panel ever.  Get equipped!  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, 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. Next Time: Is The Order: 1886 as short as people say? And what does that mean for the future of short $60 games in general? We'll hash out the issues in record time.