Hot Button

Episode 76: Porto And Her Beloved Ghast - Investigating Killswitch

As promised, we are back for a trip around the digital campfire with the tale of Killswitch. A supposed video game made in limited quantities by the Karvina Corporation in 1989, except now it’s time for us to take a crack at its many curious mysteries. Could the file actually delete itself upon death or completion? Was it indeed made by a cult? Did the 5,000 unites produced exist? And did copy of it really sell at auction for a staggering $733,000? All this and more as our Creepypasta investigation continues!

Episode 75: 40.24248, -121.4434 - Investigating Pale Luna

In the electronic age, urban legends like Polybius have fallen by the wayside, but that doesn't mean we can't find another spooky story to tell. Enter creepypastas! Join us around the digital campfire as we tell the tale of Pale Luna, an old text-based adventure game lost to time. Afterwards we go an internet investigation into the validity of the tale. Is it fact or is it fiction?

Episode 74: Xinnie the Pooh - The Story of Devotion

What happens when Disney’s pantsless honey-loving teddy bear makes it into a Taiwanese psychological horror game? A lot actually! On our second episode of Hot Button’s 2020 Halloween special, we dig into just what the hell happened last year with cult-favorite Steam darling Devotion and why it continues to be banned from sale across the world.

Episode 73: The Story of The Story of Kamikuishiki Village

Hot Button’s 2020 Halloween special begins today! In our first entry, we take a look at a lesser documented Japanese PC strategy title that shares quite a disturbing connection to a murderous cult. A group also known for it’s recruitment of young people interested in pop culture as well as it’s horrific coordinated attacks on the public. How does a video game come into play in all this? You’ll just have get into the spooky season with us and find out!

Episode 72: Lights! Action! Acclaim! - The History of Acclaim Entertainment

Ever wonder what happened to some of the old third-party publishers of yesteryear? This week we look into a heavy hitter as we pour one out for Acclaim Entertainment! Find out how running a company based around arcade ports and licensing The Simpsons, Batman, Cool Spot, and many more can only last for so long. Especially when combined with a bunch of questionable business practices and a whole lot of crazy PR stunts.

Episode 71: Rules of N-Gagement - History of the Nokia N-Gage

Modern smartphones have really streamlined quite a bit for us here in 2020, so it can be easy to forget what it was like back in the early 2000s when your pockets had to be loaded up with multiple different electronics to get through the day. Cell phone, MP3 player, game console. It was time for one device to finally come along and unite them all! This week we discuss Nokia’s short venture into the world of handheld gaming and side-talk about one of the industry’s most notorious failures, the N-Gage.

Episode 70: Eat, Prey, Love - The Development of Prey

We already covered one 3D Realms game stuck in development hell, why not a second one? That's right! We're talking about Prey! Find out how a game that started as simply a "dark sci-fi themed title with a focus on alien abduction", turned into a cult hit shooter in just a decade of development. Also learn how it's planned sequel went from Mirror's Edge to System Shock in the same amount of time.

Episode 69: It Came From The 3rd Dimension - Development of the Virtual Boy

Oculus...Vive...Index...Boy? What happens when a veteran Nintendo engineer with a passion for re-purposing cheap tech gets swept up in the 90s VR craze? Join us as we discuss Nintendo's foray into the world of "virtual reality" for better or worse... OK fine, much worse.