Don't be beer. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do this for
July twelfth, twenty twenty four. For the next hour or so, let
me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live with
me Jeff Grubb. Today is Microsoft already leaving the Xbox console behind in some
territories, and the switch has reached a historic milestone. But first please join
me and welcoming today's co host to Game Mess Mornings. It's two more.
Who's saying everybody, Tam, how are you doing? I am doing great.
I cannot see you Jeff Grub in this discord cold, but I don't
think that's not important. What are you talking about? But yeah, I
like people to be able to see me when they're doing the show. Make
some sense. I have a face something to look at. Yeah, you're
in a nice Zelda team. Were the original What do you think all the
chances that use all the echoes of whatever wisdom is game of the Year?
What are the chances of that It's not zero? Because I've been sitting down
and thinking, is there a Game of the Year contender right now that isn't
called elden Ring, Shadow of the Tree downloadable contemp from software. Yeah,
it's tough. It's not zero for Echoes of Wisdom after a link between rols.
I think we learned that now. I don't think it's very high either.
I think this will be a Zelda game made by Grezo, and it's
gonna be really good and solid and fun, and that's all masking for I'm
not I'm not gonna put that weight on that game. You're right, though,
what are the other contenders out there? Yeah, Like I've sat down
and thought about it, and I thought, like, maybe Balatro, I
think that that could be contender for us for sure. Yes, yeah,
a thousand times resist. Maybe you mentioned in Infinite Wealth, I mean that's
my top five Infinite Wealth I would I am a long time Yukiza or like
a Dragon fan. I think Infinite Wealth is a lot of fun. I
don't think it's a game of the year content. Yeah, it really hit
hard for me, and it's not my game of the year. It's not
there. It's very high up there. It's too it's built unfamiliarity, which
you could say about elden Ring too, But like the the the Yakis,
familiarity is very long tooth right now, yeah, you know, it's definitely
your trading on that for sure. Like that's the whole idea of that game.
You know what I've been playing that. I don't hear a lot of
people talking about maybe I missed it, but I'm having a hell of a
good time. Box Shot Roulette, Book Shot Roulette. Really okay, I
been meaning to check this out. I've not that it is so cool.
It is is act one of inscription. But that's what it looked like.
Russian Roulette is Russian Roulette, okay, And that's the base premise there is
like you're doing rushing wet with like a character across the table or something,
yep, and like you you have like weird items that appear that can let
you modify what you're about to do. Like you get, like, for
example, a blade which you can use to cut off the end of a
shotgun the shotgun so that the next time you fire it it does more damage.
So maybe you want to take off, you know, extra health from
the other person. It is. It is really cool. It's got like
a sawti ish vibe where it's like weird rusty metal and like dirty concrete flaws
and that kind of thing. But I think it's currently three dollars on the
Steam. Yeah, it seems highly comand up for me. Yes, yeah,
I've been playing a bunch of that. It isn't It isn't like super
long, and it hasn't doesn't have like a crazy amount of ideas, isn't
it. It's just fun and satisfying for a little bit. Yeah, I
was, I was. I was curious about it. I wanted to play
Sileco as well. That's that boomer shooter that everyone was Really that sounds shit.
That's how it goes. Hey, listen, it's best to just like
really be very insular and protect yourself and new things. Yes, exactly,
Like, haven't heard of it, don't want to hear about it, have
a best way to keep yourself safe. Absolutely, don't throw me with an
unfamiliar time exactly. Let's explain what we do here so you can be familiar
with us. Most weekdays, I Jeff Grubb, will help piece your gaming
life back together. That includes breaking news and maybe even some of our own
original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the input of a bona
fide expert who will make me look smart. I gotta trim this mustache if
you are watching live on Twitch Welcome. You can always listen to the show
later on podcast feeds by searching for game Mes Mornings, or find the RSS
on giant bomb dot com. You can also catch the show later with chapters
and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube, all right, we have a lot.
Hi. Hello, we have a lot to get into. Let's start
the morning mess with no Xbox, no problem. This is from Tom Warren
at The Verge, who wrote a lot this piece it's worth checking out over
on the Verge as part of his Notepad newsletter, but I picked out this
paragraph. In May, I received a tip that Microsoft is changing up its
Xbox strategy for the new financial year in regions like Europe, Africa, and
the Middle East. I haven't been able to fully verify this, but the
tipster claimed Microsoft will stop marketing Xbox consoles in certain markets in em EA and
focus only on game Pass, Cloud gaming PC, and Xbox controllers. Microsoft
has been struggling to sell Xbox Series S and x consoles in many countries across
EMEA, and the tipster believes Microsoft will now allocate less consoles stock to Europe
as a result. That isn't I don't think that would be too shocking if
this turns out to be the case. I think Tom also goes on to
say that he is not one hundred percent sure about this or I think you
said there, but he's like, she's looking for more people to confirm this.
I just wouldn't be, like I said, shocked to find out this
is exactly what's happening. It does seem like Xbox is struggling in Europe specifically,
and I bet that that is something that is also the case in places
like the Middle Eastern Africa. When you were in the UK, when you
were in Europe, the Microsoft, I think Microsoft is probably at its height
there, but I don't think that was ever anywhere close to PlayStation. I
don't know what was your read on at the time, And how do you
think it's going now. I mean Europe has traditionally so when I was in
Europe before we left the Union, disgusting freaks that children, I mean,
yeah, yeah, for as long as I lived there, Europe was a
PlayStation region for predominantly Jim Ryan. Yeah, Jim Ryan presents Europe. Obviously,
there was a lot of so there was a Nintendo and Sega were fairly
like well represented, but that felt like the entry point for video games,
Like when video games were popping off, Nintendo was like, you know,
the the major player. Everyone wanted to have a Super Nintendo or a Nintendo
Entertainment system. And then Sega had a fairly good foothold as well. And
then in the PlayStation era Xbox era, PlayStation era PlayStation was far and away
the kind of leader in terms of market share. It did I think a
briefly change with the with the Xbox three sixty. Nintendo we obviously I don't
count that because it was a sensation for that exactly, it is what I
would think, Yeah, three six, it seemed like, now, let's
doing all right. The three sixty did well through sheer force of will and
like it was like I feel like the season three sixty took over the world,
and the three sixty like had success in every region where it shouldn't have
success purely because it was a bit of an outlier. It was it came
out first, it was cheaper, I mean, it had the online,
good online features they had like Xbox Live Arcade. They were like cooking so
so hard with that console. I mean it was also failing every five minutes,
sure with the red ring, but it was a weird situation where the
Xbox was. This is how good the Xbox was. The Xbox was so
good that people had repeated red rings, and the thing that they did was
keep getting new Xboxes. Yep, that was the solution, which is insane
behavior. The thing keeps breaking, but you are so ingrained in it they
keep buying new ones knowing they're going to break. So that's how good the
Xbox was at that time, and that translated to a significant market share that
there was some regression where it was like I went back to PlayStation. Once
the PlayStation four hit, it went straight back to like PlayStation just dominating.
That's not to say like in Europe, it's it's like Xbox is dead.
I know plenty of Xbox or Xbox owners, and the Xbox has a good
kind of like foothold. When they say Europe, it's important to remember that
they are excluding the UK. Are likely yes, yeah, em The E
M E A is a for people that don't know M E A. It's
in the game, it's in the continent. It's that is a designator that
a lot of companies used to for a certain territory and it would not include
the UK. It's as Tam said, that's right. Yeah, so like
Europe makes sense. The Middle East is also a PlayStation pill to like a
crazy right, I'm driven by like I think football games, soccer games that
like just got one associated with PlayStation generations go now, And that's all carrying
forward when I when I worked in retail, we used to have especially I
used to work in Westfield Shepherd's Bush in game and during the Christmas period we
used to have people come in from the Middle East who are way too rich
for themselves and had no idea how to conduct themselves in a area of London
where people would roll up on you with a knife and be like give me
a ship. You are acting wild right now. And they would walk around
holding like wads of cash. Incredible, And I would be like, you
know what, I hope you get Robby, deserve it. Yeah, yeah,
you need to. You need to meet my homies. They are waiting
for you outside and let me tell you some of them met my homies.
But they would have people come in and and just like people are coming from
the Middle East and be like, how many PlayStation fours you have we'd say
like they'll be like give me all of them, yep, and they would
just buy every PlayStation and then they'll be like I want one of every game
okay wow, and they would like buy everything and then just leave and that
was it. And like they would buy out our stock of PlayStation every single
time, and it was purely to go back sell it and like all I
give it as like gifts and stuff, right, and it was it was
like PlayStation was number one. The demand was strong enough that that's something you
saw multiple times. Yeah that's oh no, that would happen multiple times a
week weeks on it. It was like that. It was like that.
Yeah, So like they would they eventually got to the point there where they
knew that we will increase the restock frequency and they would just come in every
other day and be like you have more PlayStations and the would just buy everything.
It got to the point where we had to be like you got to
stop this because everyone else cannot buy it, right, yeah, you get
right, there's got to be a better way. Guys. Some like kid
from from a kid's mom from like East London coming in trying to buy a
console and calmed by it because someone from like several times a week, yeah
eight hundred console and one of a Saudi prince came in. Yeah yeah,
okay, So I didn't realize it was like that. And I think that
colors this story a little bit where it shows like, yeah, I'm Xbox
was always fighting an uphill battle, and it's not, and it hasn't necessarily
been fighting it very well this generation or the previous generation, and it does.
I mean, to me, looking from the outside, feels like it's
lost its footing in some of these battles. And uh, I think Microsoft
has now decided the amount of effort it would have to put in to sort
of win over these these territories with the console and trying to sell the console
is probably not worth it to them anymore. That they would just be kind
of like take making market share back from Sony maybe, and that is not
maybe a strategy for growth that they're looking for' Like, hey, we
want to grow beyond the confine, so what of the traditional console audience.
You kind of can't do that by going back and fighting these same fights over
again. That said, I don't know if I think that focusing on what
do they say, game pass cloud and PC and then selling Xbox controllers for
people who want to play like on their Fire TV stick. I guess I
don't know. That doesn't seem like the solution either. Do you think that
this is mostly a retreat or mostly a brand new strategy that's going to be
shiny and interesting to people. I think it's mostly a retreat, but the
whole cloud element of it provides them with a good cover to retreat, is
good covering fire for them, and also I think it's an opportunity to really
stress tests and put through the cloud element, and like the weird non console
devices approach to having Xbox propagate in different regions to its you know, test
test that out and mess with it and really kind of figure that stuff out
in a region where there's not a lot of risk to it. So I
think it's they are clearly like, we're not We're not getting anything out of
this. The thing that is interesting to me is like they don't mention Japan
at all, which is I would love to know where they're at now with
with gone back a bunch of times. I also feel like even if they
like know if even if one person was buying, only one person was buying
Xbox stuff in Japan, they still would be like, no, we're not
getting out of there. Yes, It's like it's like one of those regions
where if you it looks bad, like it looks bad if you're like,
we're not selling consoles in Japan anymore. Japan is where the home of video
games what you're talking about, yep, like you know that kind of element
to it. But yeah, I think I think they're just like like,
this is a retreat, but it's a good retreat because they have ways of
being like, actually, we want to pioneer you know, cloud, and
to be fair, the cloud stuff is probably the best in the business.
I have been very impressed with how good like playing Xbox games overcloud it has
been, so it's a viable strategy. I just don't think like I would
be playing like, you know, the kind of games that I like to
play overcloud anyway. Yeah, I always have a rougher experience with that,
just waiting for the games to start, but that I have not used it
in quite some time. Yeah, I played most of Heaven the or the
Heaven, Hell's Hell's Blades, Hell Blades Jesus. My brain was like was
like I know what he's trying to say, but I can't think of either.
Yeah, heaven least right, that's why. Of course that's what happened
there for people about hell Blade, the makers of Heavenly Sword. Yes,
yeah, I played a bunch of that on it, and I also played
like a few other games on I think it's xCloud, and I had a
great time. I was very shocked, and I was like that I went
to the gym in my building and was playing like an Xbox game and we
had like no leg to it. I bet the I bet the Xbox Cloud
nodes in your area are better than some I would bet. Yeah, I
imagine, so, yeah, I will say. And when I tried to
do it like previously in a different part of the Bay Area, it was
a fucking dread Okay, yeah, so maybe maybe a crapshoot then. Yeah.
Either way, we do know this is their their plan. Someone in
chat mentioned after three year Summer Game Fest, they were sent out a letter
to employees at Microsoft and like every screen is an Xbox we know that they're
headed in that direction. I think that there is reasons to be skeptical of
people like being like, yeah, we buy into this, like consumers being
like, yeah, sure, of course, my TV's already an Xbox I'll
just put my controller up to it and start buying Xbox games through my TV.
Like I that is such a tough sell, I think because people want
to feel an ownership over the things, especially when they're spending you know,
forty to seventy dollars on a game. They want to be like, Okay,
no, it lives on that little box under my TV. I feel
good about that, even if it's digitally it doesn't really work that way.
Yeah, I really struggle. I I know, I personally haven't encountered an
audience that plays video games as apps on TVs right, so I don't know
where they are. Like Microsoft must have like metrics and data and telemetry that
tells them this is gonna work. But I just never have met a single
person that is like, yeah, I play Xbox games. I just open
the app on my Samsung phone, or like, open my app on my
Samsung LGTV, whatever it may be. It's just a very, very strange
an audience I've never encountered. I think. What makes me feel like this
is a strategy designed for like hotels where you go into a hotel and it's
like, oh, you can work and play Xbox on this, And I
don't know if that's the thing to be bet on. I think what happens
here is they see how many people are playing Minecraft on cell phones and they're
like, well, that's a real video game, and that's an audience that
is going to grow up and want other stuff eventually, and we should be
ready for them when they arrive. And a lot of them have already arrived
and started playing games. I think that. I think the problem for Microsoft
is that audience is like watching their favorite YouTube content creator and then they click
one video over and then they see all this stuff about and then here's all
these games you can play on PC and PlayStation, and the Steam culture so
ingrained that I just think that those people will naturally gravitate towards like what all
their friends are already going toward, which is a traditional ways of playing video
game. Yeah, and also like you will you can never You couldnot pay
me to log into like a random TV with my Xbox or Steam account.
They controller up to it and I'm like, I'm savvy to this stuff.
I know how to do it. I don't want to imagine it like basically
impossible. Yeah, Like I I think we were like we were in l
A for something, I think a summer game fest or something like that,
and I can't remember. I think it was Lucy trying to hook up a
steam deck to the Hotel TV and was like I had to do some mad
ship together and I was like, I'm just gonna play on my laptop.
It was Ellen Ring time and we're all playing other ring at the same time.
As I did have fun hooking up my my steam deck to my family's
TV up in Michigan. That was a good time. But Hotel TV seasons,
Yeah, no way, no, this is this feels like x cloud
and stuff like that and app something. It feels like something that could bear
fruit like five seven eight where it's like yeah, and I feel like something
awful needs to happen for it to be like, oh shit, we all
learned that to make the semiconductors needed to make consoles, we've been sacrificing five
humans like frommel alchemists, Like sure, and that's you know, we could
find that out tomorrow. That's Tom Warren's next story, humans being sacrificed to
make Xbox Chip. I think that a major disruption is required before this all
sort of snaps into place for Xbox. I think you're right. What that
is other than the human sacrifices, I really don't know, other than I
suppose the thing I keep putting the tentfoil hat on for it, which is
that they think regulators are going to force multiple stores onto any device that is
hazard chip and no more walled gardens. And if you have a PlayStation,
you have to let any store onto your platform, and that includes the Xbox
Store. That is something that is just such a long shot bet in a
gamble, if that's what you're going for, I don't know. That is
a crazy gamble. And oh my god, I feel like that is a
level of like non com compete that capitalism will not allow, if you know
what I mean, right, You're right exactly, You're right. Capitalism loves
like having these these companies sort of duking it out hard. I feel like
you need to. You did so many holes to like the hoops to jump
through before we get to that part of it where it's like you need to
and like the precedent that sets is wild at certain point the next step because
that happens the next step becomes, well, I think that the NFL should
be on every network. Then yeah, and that's not happening like you think
ESPN's or whoever it is going to be is going to be like yeah,
that's fine, na dude, like that is. It's a weird kind of
like you see but you see Microsoft talking regulators and regulators sort of moving in
this direction of like, we want, we want iPhone opened up, and
we want we want like you, we want we want Microsoft to be able
to put like the streaming store on there so that you can subscribe to game
Pass and stuff like that and be able to play it through your iPhone.
And then and then and then Microsoft goes, well what's the difference between an
iPhone and a PlayStation? And then no one has a good answer, and
then that's I feel But I also feel like most regions don't think of games
in the same way they think of like iPhones. Nobody knows, right,
someone right, Yeah, And so we've got someone in the legal field or
I can positions where of influence that would make these decisions, and you tell
them, hey, we want to make we we think that video game system
is gonna be like what you're talking about. I've never seen one of these
one hundred and eighty years old. I I'm basically the crip keeper sitting on
a chair with a gavel. Leave me alone. I don't know what that
is. But they see iPhones all the time, yep, Like through their
blurred, failing visions. I'm like, oh, yeah, well that's the
shiny box. Yeah, the games, the video games, and this is
gonna be like, yeah, yeah, man, take a kid shit away.
I got time for that. I'm trying to write. I'm helping my
friends get away with fucking text for it. This is why, and this
is why it's a long shot for Microsoft, because it doesn't necessarily apply one
to one in the eyes of many of these old fucks. All right,
let's get to the rest of the news. No Nintendo console has lasted as
long as the Switch without being replaced. This is from Andy Robinson at VGC.
The Nintendo Switch has now officially had the longest life span of any Nintendo
home console a pre successor, but you know, before a new successor came
out. Since it's worldwide launch on March third, twenty seventeen, two six
and eighty seven days have passed without the arrival of a successor console, meaning
switches lifespan is officially beaten Nintendo's previous longest lasting console, the Famicom or Nintendo
Entertainment System, which lasted two thousand, six hundred and eighty six days.
Assuming the successor to Nintendo Switch doesn't launch before March first, twenty twenty five,
Switch could go more than twenty nine and twenty days without the launch of
newer hardware. They got like a chart that the shows like how long everything's
lasted, And it's not like it's growing consistently. It's like, you know,
up and down. Some last longer than others. Obviously, we the
WEU A we had a short life span compared to some a lot of the
other consoles, and the WE had a slightly longer one. Things like that.
But I think this is indicative of a couple things. Switch very successful,
and also the march of technology has slowed down a little bit to the
point where it's like these companies don't feel the need to rush out new hardware
every five years. It was always going to take a little bit longer,
and then if you have a successful console, it takes even longer. You
surprised by this. No, No, I also feel like this is the
advantage of doing something calling out your on lane and having a piece of hardware
that literally has no other point of comparison, if you know what I mean.
There's no one else is doing what the switch is doing to the degree
that the switch is doing. I guess you could argue, oh, the
Steam deck is the same, but it is the same, but like it's
also a much niche product. It's almost sold on Steam. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. And like you can anyone can, any Tom Dick and Harry
out there in the world can pick up a switch and immediately know how to
play it, how to like move between two you know, set ups and
buy games, et cetera, et cetera. So I think they have their
own little corner of the market cornered, and they don't really have to.
The demands on them are different, are different from the demands that are placed
on other consoles. Like you, when people feel like that it's time to
move on from a play PlayStation fire they they make or everyone knows it,
like they're screaming about this. Generations over these games look like it's time for
a new one, et cetera, et cetera. But I no give a
ship about Nintendo. Nintendo puts out a game, it looks at us and
everyone goes, hell, yeah Nintendo still plays, still play again, Yeah
exactly. But yeah, I'm not surprised at all. And you know,
Nintendo marches to be of its own drums. When it feels is ready,
it will put out the new console. And also it will look at the
momentum of a console. It's very They're very, very very shrewd in knowing
how to time their consoles. So this this is like, I don't think
the switch gives off. It loses too much momentum, and usually when it
does, they do something to bring it back up. And their consoles are
weird because it, I think more than the other the other competitors, when
their new consoles come out, the old ones keep going for a weirdly long
time, like they still pop off in it for a long time. So
I think they they figured it out, they know what they're doing. They're
gonna put this new one out at the moment they feel like a dip is
coming. By the same time, they'll make it so the switch is still
very very viable. Yep. And it's uh and I think what you said
there about them trying to get away with as much as they can get away
with here, they are probably relishing that after the WEU force them into a
situation where it's like, man, we gotta launch something new now. We
cannot wait. We've got to get out there. Like the market is dictating
to us what we need to do with our successors, so we got to
go here. They're like, no, we can kind of dictate to the
market. That's how much power and sway the switch has. It has its
momentum, it'll keep making money. Let's go for it. And so I
think they are, like I said, relishing the opportunity to keep pushing back
to the launch of the successor now and enjoying the fruits of a really strong
generation. This is you put the other day where it was like, say
something nice about the Wiu or something like that, like tell me some things
about the Wu that you like. We did that in the past. I
don't know if I did did it recently. I think it was you where
you're like one of the best part of things about the Wiu or something.
Well, I do think about the a lot. I like the w U.
I think it's one of the stupidest things I ever created. Listen,
I don't disagree, but I like that controller. Well, we need to
really sit down and talk about that controller, because a fucking joke was pretty
good. If it would have worked in the bathroom, if I could have
taken it over, I would have been very into it. I love my
WIU. I think like it was. They had had a lot of good
I had. I said a lot. I didn't mean a lot. I
had a few good games on it. It had but control the library.
Yeah, that controller was I it's so embarrassing that I would rather have watched
porn in front of people, like just like and I was like, oh,
I was like I was. We put TV on with the wife,
and I'd be like, yeah, here we are. I'm getting my game
out. Looking I'm playing Mario cart Honey, Aren't I cool? It's a
video game? And I can see every individual pixel because they're so fucking huge
on this Fine, you're my chain here, Damn. I love that for
a screen. I remember when they were like, you can play with two
of these from that from launch date. They acted like they had never that
and they were like crazy right now brought into them. It is one of
the most prolific instances of gas lighting I've ever encountered. People like, we
never said that, I'd be like it says it right here, would be
physically impossible. In fact, you wouldn't say that. We would not that
stupid. You sound like a bunch of crazy assholes. That is what Nintendo
would say to me. Or how about putting it on the ground and having
the golf ball on the screen and using them to hit a golf ball?
No, no, I did put the control on the ground and then hit
it with an actual That was a great time. I like to weave you.
I can't help it. Uh, this is probably not going to be
replicated next generation? Do you think, like, no, it's it's probably
okay. My guess is switch to generation is pretty long compared to the rest
of these lines, or you know, it's up there with like some of
the longest generations, But it's not going to be as long as the switch
one. I don't think, right they know they're trading on the success.
It's going to feel like an extended switch generation. If if history is any
indication the pattern is if if, if they live up to the pattern,
Nintendo is about to do something really stupid, yes, which I'm so excited
about. I'm so excited, and I kind of hope that they do that.
We're about to get a wee U, which is I hope and pray
is what happens. And if that happens, then no, this is not
happening again. But if they like, if they like, it's it's weird
because they have to. They have to iterate on this idea and this console
enough for it to seem new and fresh, but not go crazy. And
that's what they had to do after the we and they fucked it up so
bad in both ways. The thing that they released was both not a major
step up and also the stupidest thing they could have come up with, and
that really messed them up. If they do that again, it would be
Nintendo has the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible, Nintendo Switch. You
could be an incredible moment for us. But I suspect that this is going
to be a very very very small step forward in a few spaces, and
the thing that we get is going to be largely the same concept, right,
which they came with a little more power, right, which they can't
like, sort of have the same excitement for which so it just means inherently
that wouldn't be able to last. So, I mean, you know,
we use one one possibility, Super Nintendo's another where it's like the Super Nintendo
did not sell quite as well as the NES. I don't think, yeah,
they had more competition. So it's like that situation where it's like,
yeah, that's Super Nintendo. It's a better Nintendo. And even in that
case where it was like this is the best case scenario, it didn't do
as well as the previous generation. Now that said, on this chart,
clearly it lasted longer than the Oh no, no it didn't. Know.
I'm looking at the Famicom to the to the Color TV game. Excuse me,
Yeah, the Super Famicom to the Famicom quite a bit shorter. That's
kind of what I'm expecting here. I think the Famicom line is pretty close
to the switch line. I would bet the switch to is going to be
around a two thousand days, maybe a bit more than two thousand days.
So we'll see. The thing hasn't even launched yet, we're already talking about
it being over, so we'll see what happens there. Let's take a quick
break. When we get back, a lot more news coming right at you.
All right, we are back and we're gonna get into it as promised.
Nintendo Switch Online ads didn't sets you know Starfie, didn't sets you know
Starfy two, and didn't sets you know Starfie three. This is from sal
Ramano at Kamatsu. Nintendo Switch Online has added the Starfee games, which are
which were never released in North America. They were Japanese only releases, or
at least never came out in the United States. This is one of those
games where I look at you like this looks like so stupid. But everyone
is gonna if I say that online people what you're talking about? You said,
no stuffy, How can you say that about dun sets and those Staffee.
If I see you in the street, I will kill you for what
you have said about. Like if if you were to attack Starfie, people
would hold it up me like this is what you're attacking this cute little guy.
Yeah, it is one of those ones where I always would see,
like you know, the ROM file or whatever. I would see it referenced.
I'd be like, well that looks cute. Why did I never hear
about this game or never play it. And I didn't even really realize it
never came out in North America. Kirby with a Star. It looks kind
of like Kirby, Yes, a little bit like Kirby with a Star.
Yes. Uh yeah. Starfee is wet, Kirby says, mento, oh
god, which I think we've always been that k isn't always wet. How
many times on the show have you said, I demand a wet Kirby.
It's kind of constant with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and non
stuff. I'm always saying it, give me a room of wet Kirby.
Uh so, yeah, these Starfee games always looked cute. I didn't realize
the rece even three of them, that's wild. But they are just straight
up releasing the Japanese ROMs onto Nintendo Switch Online service, so you can play
these games, and they must be simple enough that that doesn't matter. Although
in the trailer they definitely had like a chunk of like the these cut scenes
I guess from Starfe two, and it was just like, you know,
Japanese text, Japanese texts, Japanese texts. Okay, so there's plenty to
read. We're just not gonna be able to read that if you can't read
akanchi. Either way, though, this is interesting. I think I'm glad
that they are like putting games like this on Nintend to switch online, even
in places where these games never came out. That's something, But I think
it also speaks to they don't have some huge library of games waiting in the
wings. Even though these platforms had huge libraries, between like rights issues and
other complications, they probably aren't like waiting to bring out like some of your
favorites that haven't hit the service yet. Like there's probably several Square Enix games
that're like, no, we're just gonna sell those again. Don't worry,
We're not going to put that on your service. So yeah, I guess
go put Starfie on there or whatever. And that's exactly I've seen this before.
I mean, Smash Brothers a trophy and Smash right, Okay, I
get it. I keep texting you pictures of Starfi contant y yeah, yeah,
yeah stuffe oh yeah, I mean you could just say that sure,
yeah, you're right. That is something. I don't know what, but
it's something then that's in the stuffy is the funniest chocolate, stuffy, yep,
chocolate. That's a really good Olympus good album. Yeah yeah, all
right. Switch Light O led Motters showcases the stunning dinky screen in motion.
This is from Aali Reynolds at Nintendo Life a little while back. A little
while back, we reported on modern Takei Udon's efforts to install an OLED screen
into the Nintendo switch Light, and now he's back with a significant update.
According to Udan, the the debugging process is now almost complete, and to
celebrate the milestone, he's uploaded a video to showcase the OLED screen in motion.
At the moment, the system itself looks a bit gnarly, with the
screen sitting at a slight angle with wires poking out of it, but Udon
states that he should be able to install it fully in just a few days
time. Rather aptly, Udon has also opted to showcase one of the most
beautiful games on the switch, the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
This is something that I'm kind of interested in because I really want to justify
buying that new Zelda switch Light, but I really want to keep playing on
a switch O lead because the screen looks so good and for a while now,
this person tech You Doune's been promising to get this mod out there,
and I was like, yeah, people say that, I bet it doesn't
really happen, but he keeps progressing with it, and this is a recent
recent update, so I'm hopeful. Tam, do you want to help me
put a new screen into my switch light? Chill man, I hope you
do that. Yeah, I've got a steady hand. I consulta. I'm
good. I hope there's no soldering there probably probably will be, how I
think about it. Yeah, I hope it's also unsuldering and then resuldering.
Yeah, I and then I hope I do it in a poorly ventilated space.
That's that's the real way to get the best experience there. Yeah,
this is this is neat. I mean, obviously people might recognize tech you
down as a as a YouTuber who covers a lot of this stuff, but
recently they've been doing amazing stuff with like going. I think they're based in
China. I believe that's correct, but either way, they have very good
connections with people in China, and they've been planning to release a Mister competitor
that is going to be much cheaper. They're releasing a handheld mister. Uh,
so it's gonna be one of these FPGA consoles, but like with a
form factor of an analog pocket, which is also FPGA, but this one's
also going to be less expensive and look just as good. And then they're
promising to do another device that's going to like combine all these things and then
also be a placement for like a retro tank, so you'll be able to
upscale your games to work to look at best on on a TV, and
I'll be able to add all the filters and stuff like that. And then
once getting that trying to get killed by like eight different companies, it seems
like yes, yeah, they're like and the thing with that, with that
upscaler one, it's like, this is going to be like the most expensive
device he is selling, and it's going to be several hundred dollars less expensive
than a retro tank four K. And so I'm like, yes, let's
go. And I mean, and he knows what makes these things like good
because he's been covering him for so long. I think that's why he's like,
I'll just go do it myself. Uh and uh and yeah, so
I'm I'm hopeful, and I'm kind of on board with what with whatever he
wants to do basically, so I kind of even more interested in this O
LED screen for the switch light because of that. Let's say, you know,
I got the video right here. Let me I could show it to
everybody real quick. There you go. You can see it's kind of just
masking taped on right now, and the wires are sticking in through the back
and things like that. But uh boy, it looks real good and you
can know what I got. Actually, let me go and grab it.
Go ahead, you can on the video, everybody, you can kind of
see on the left hand side there's I think that's a switch oh lead and
on the right is a standard switch light. And you can see how much
better just on video the switch O LED looks in terms of being able to
have those blacks that are the black levels and things like that, it just
looks richer and god, it looks great. And it's not like the video
we're watching is even you know, we're gonna be able to represent that entirely,
so it's gonna look even better in person. Uh yeah, this is
the Franken switch. I'm excited I'm going to do this. I'm gonna get
this elder switch light and i am going to do it. All right,
what you do? You do? You know? Peter Brown? Yeah,
totally yeah. Former managing editor of game spot Work there for ages, currently
working at PlayStation. That's a very very good friend of mine. He loves
this stuff. He loves tinkering. He got me a game Boy. Oh
yeah, could you turn it on? I want to see that screen looks
that's great, that's so good. It's so nice. That's fantastic. So
it's a game Boy Advance, not for audio listeners, not an sp game
Boy Advance. You know, the plastic o G and it's really nice but
back lit screen. It's got the backlit screen. It's got a USB C
charging port, it's got a it came with like a flashcas with every single
game ever released for the game by Advance on it. Yep. It's got
the IPS modern screen. So it's it's so nice, yeah, really really
good looking. Yeah. I like, I have the game Boy Color here
and this is They sent a kit basically to put it together, and I'm
like, I might still take it apart and put it. Oh LED's screen
into this Gameboy Color because I think I am. I think I'm pretty sure
Peter does this himself, Like this wasn't one that he purchased. He made,
he like put this together, yes, exactly specifically for me. Yeah,
that's awesome, which is crazy. And I've been playing Metrofesion on it
and it's so much. Yeah, I feel like a kid again sometimes,
man. And that's the thing that was nice about this funny plain one is
it kind of gave me the conflicts to be like, oh I can do
that because this was just it was the kit of all the parts and I
had to put it together myself. And I'm like, this is not nearly
as complicated, and if I did have to do a little bit of soldering,
I think I'd be able to figure it out. So you didn't have
to do it for this one. But fair enough. It's so good.
I love it having like having this, like playing this at night at like
weird times. It makes you feel like a kid again, like that should
be should be asleep. But it doesn't get any better. You just crave
that more and more. All Right, external translators for Nintendo aren't being properly
credited. This is from Alex Hopley at Game Reactor, A good deal work
goes into translation. Considered how many of our favorite games would be nearly unplayable
without subtitles in our native language, or even a proper in some occasions.
However, certain external translators working on Nintendo titles say they've not been given proper
credit. Speaking with Game Developer, multiple sources who wish to remain anonymous have
stated that the Gaming Giant failed to credit them properly on big titles such as
The Legend of Zelda, Tiers of the Kingdom, Animal Crossing, New Horizons,
and more. One employee who has since gone freelance said they were credited
most of the time, but it could vary depending on developer. I do
remember one project where the company decided not to put the in excuse me,
in house testers in the credits. This was one of the Professor Layton games
by Level five. Nintendo of Europe handled the localization and publishing for the Layton
series at that time. The translators on that project protested strongly against the decision,
but the end the testers were not credited for this project. This continues
to stink the industry is bad about this. There needs to be a standard,
and the problem with the industry is that standard in Hollywood was driven by
unions, and this industry just does not have that same thing. So it's
going to continue to be a mess. It feels like, yeah, that
was a That's exactly what I was going to say. Like the union part
of it. I've been hearing about this for a really long time. Like
beyond like the stuff that's mentioned here, I've been hearing about her for years
and years and years where entire teams are not mentioned or they're credited as like
as a team the team name, which sucks because you can't happen in Hollywood
either. Yeah, it's and then everyone who worked at everyone networks on exactly
which is the way you do it. But yeah, I feel like until
someone holds video game publishers in major developers' feet to the fire, no one's
really going to do anything about it. Nothing will change. But like you
said, it's the union part of it, Like that is something that led
the way in Hollywood and movies, TV shows and that kind of stuff,
and there's real no impetus to do that right now. I mean, I
think it's slowly slowly changing the momentum could shift eventually if but like unions,
man, they are good for you. Yes, he is the means of
production. Yeah, And it's not like, well then everyone has to be
in union to get credited. It's like no, no, you just need
a few strong unions and they'll set the rules for everybody and they'll protect a
lot a lot of people, whether you're in the union or not. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean I worked at fed X and ups had a union,
and we got so much shit at fed X because they were so scared
of a union that they kind of basically gave us everything that a union would
have provided anyhow. So it was like that that can happen in gaming as
well. Yeah, I was a union. I'm a member of the union.
When I worked for London Underground and they they were very, very very
pivotal in making sure that the people were treating the people who worked there were
treated with some sense of dignity and and got what they need, which you
know, you leave. You know, people who work on Underground, they
are underground for the entire day, which means they don't see the sun for
months on end, which is how I what I went through. It was
like I didn't see the sun for so long. It was crazy. And
the union made sure that people were properly paid with that in mind, because
the company wasn't going to as that like has it paid like the impact it
has on you know, your mental and physical health like that is that's an
important thing. And the union is what took care of that and looked after
people and you know that kind of thing. And it's important that more industries
have a safeguard for the people who are the rank and file because the industries
themselves won't take care of them because it's not conducive to making more money.
How many jobs have you had in your life? Like just a ballpark?
I think like maybe five, five or six? Yeah, yeah, like
that we should I think we should all do a a exact voice smelt dumb
truck where we just answer questions about our history of employment history because I had
like twenty, I've had so many dumb shit jobs. Yeah I was,
Yeah, I was very employable, is what it was. People just were
I was in demand and I wasn't just a constantly quitting jobs because I was
a irresponsible piece of shit. Planet coasters slippery sequel lets you build your own
water parks. This is from Emma Roth at the Verge. Planet Coaster sequel
isn't just about building the best theme park anymore. It's about water parks too.
The sequel coming this fall will finally let you construct everything from wave pools
and lazy rivers to custom built water slides. It I'm trying to see there's
a date here. I don't know if they've announced a date yet, but
hey, this sounds cool. For some reason, I find this very appealing.
And I'm not even someone who like loves going to water parks. I
just love the idea of looking at them. They look so neat. That
means that they're gonna have to put like the someone piste in the wall.
Yeah, someone's taking a ship in the wall. Yeah, you gotta deal
with Oh no, it's just a Snickers bar, everybody, It's all right,
it's all right. That's funny. Yeah. I hope they account for
all of that. That would be fun. And then I just want to
design some fun water slides and like even just like the idea of a wave
a lazy river, designing like lazy river going through things and going underneath the
other slides. I would love that this is this is a genre that I've
never like. Same that's never worked for me. Well, I've never really
I've never really even like experimented with it much. Yeah, I guess so,
like I never got into theme park all that kind of stuff. Maybe
maybe we should sit down and figure this out. Yeah on a stream,
Yeah, I would love that. Yeah, totally. I think this could
be the one. So yeah, let's give it a shot. I'm very
curious. I've always wanted to and I've just never really taken the time to
do it. We should. We should make the official Giant Bomb theme park,
Giant Bomb Theme Park plus water Slide park. Yeah, building the official
Giant Bombs theme Park would be good as a serious all right, last couple
of stories here. Concord beta is starting today's kind of a PSA one pm
Eastern ten am Pacific time. It'll go live if you are a member of
PlayStation Plus. I believe you can get access to at least the PS five
version without having to do anything extra. If you pre ordered, of course,
you also get access to this beta. There's an open beta next weekend.
For this weekend, though it runs through from today through the fourteenth through
Sunday. I believe I'm going and then the next one, the open data
starts on July eighteenth, everybody, So if you want to wait for that,
go for it. We're gonna be playing this today on the site.
So for UPF, we'll be hopping into Concord. We're gonna be I think
we're gonna be playing on Steam so and I don't think there's pre load on
there, so we'll probably the first couple of minutes will be just downloading the
game and hop it in there. But that's UPF. That's how it goes
sometimes. But look out for that and then we'll let you guys know what
we think about it on BCR later today as well, Amazon Prime is giving
away three more PC games, including This is Why I include the story Suicide
Squad us from Andy Robinson at VGC. Amazon has announced three more games it
will be given away as part of its Prime Day event this month. On
Tuesday, July sixteenth. Prime members will be able to be able to claim
Suicide Squad, Kill, The Justice League, Chivalry To and Rise of the
Tomb Raider at no additional cost. I would recommend not claiming that. Yeah,
I mean, boy, it's rough that that game came out earlier this
year and is already in a deal like this. Yeah, and also didn't
they just delay the season possible like ten minutes before us, ten minutes before
like the like the like the day before they were like, here's all the
shit you're gonna be playing in like tomorrow, and never mind, we're actually
not gonna release it yet and we don't know when it's gonna come out.
Yeah, it's it's uh strange, but that's that's the story of Suicide Squad.
I guess go get it if you want. I don't know. I
don't hate playing that game, but boy, I kind of feel bummed out
thinking about it. It was it was you know what, it's it's fun
if you want to see the cut scenes. Sure, I don't have to
play the games to see that. Yeah, aside Squad Sleep movie. Yeah,
there's some of those cut scenes all wildly good. Yeah. The detail,
I'm like, holy shit, I some crazy cacter models in there,
right, and thought I thought the writing was pretty good. Yeah, the
writing's fun, Like, oh god, this put well that game makes me
sad man, yep, bums me out. I don't even like thinking about
it. Yeah, what was there was another game around that time that came
out that kind of had a similar fate. Now I can't. It's like
so forgotten that I don't even remember it. It's completely memory hold alright,
uh, poll question, I got that right over here. Let me get
that set up all right? From yesterday? Are you curious about Nintendo's Emo
game? Thirty nine percent say yes, twenty five percent say no, and
thirty six percent say what is that? Have you? Have you been paying
attention to this at all? Yeah? E meo. Okay, So earlier
this week, Nintendo put a trailer on its YouTube page without like referencing a
developer or a publisher. It was just a man standing in front of a
wall with a paper bag on his head, and it had a smiley face
drawn on it, and then like there would be like flashes of like a
gnarly hand and it's like fifteen seconds long, and that's all we know.
Officially. The game has been rated in places like Australia, I think the
ESRB ratings out there, but it's it's getting like M ratings basically everywhere.
And is this a Nintendo M rated game? Is this you know? The
new No? Way? Well? I mean right, so that. But
the reason people think it must be from Nintendo is when they put the video
up, they're not saying it from this developer, so they must be taking
ownership of it. It's strange. I think we'll probably find out more soon.
I don't think they're going to make us wait too long. But do
you what are the chances is that this is a secret Hideo Kojima project?
Pretty high? Right? I mean I've been thinking about I love Kajima's games.
I think Kajima is a fantastic videome creator. My man has been posting
a lot of pictures of himself with celebrities, to the point where I'm like,
you've got any game pictures, mate, Like, what's going on here?
I think I think he is fully letting his freak flag fly. Yeah,
I get it, and I respect it, but I'm also like,
Homie, just chuck one death Stranding two screenshot in there, maybe just to
keep, you know, keep us on the hook a bit. But He's
just like, no, man, i I've got look at this person I
met, look at this. But it is the equivalent of like being in
a conversation with a repetitive name dropper. We're just like are you gonna say
anything else? No, he's not gonna say. This is his thing.
He likes. Like I said, I'm just I'm excited for death stranding too.
I want to see that. I don't want to see another picture of
Shafa's face or whatever whoever it may be. This time he was at the
magazine reveal or premiere and it was like, look me a goth. I'm
like, I don't even know who mea got? Is me a goth?
Canceled right now? I don't did she like kicks someone in the dick and
then just being like, no one's gonna believe you because I'm me a goth,
which is like, what are you doing? Man? And then he's
just like, I want to scan her anyhow. I don't give a ship
this is allegedly. Let me scan the alleged dick kicker. I uh,
he's earned a lot. If this is the life he wants to lead,
I know him. All I'm saying is that I still love you for making
video games. Yes, if you, if you're intending on continuing do that,
I would just like to see the said video game if that's okay.
If you if you're completely done with us, fine, like, move on
with your life. I'm happy for you, and I love him for the
real reason to love him. His tweets explaining how The Boys is a parody
of superheroes. I would not have known him. I mean the fact that
he got it, but there is a second number of Americans that did not
get it. You're right, and our shock is a parody. It could
be worse. You're right, going are you fucking people stupid? All?
All right? Newpaul question coming up here in a second before we do that,
dam why don't you tell people where they could find you on the internet?
What you have going on? There's you guys have a new video coming
out soon? What's up? Yeah? We have so Lucy put out a
new episode of Star Players, which you can go and watch. It is
with Aisha Tyler, which was fun. I was actually really nice studio for
that one, and it was it was really fun. Give that watch.
We have spot On coming out today. Yeah, that's about the Xbox Game
Pass subscription changes. We've got a quote from you for that as well.
Happy to help. Yeah, that was that was that'll be out later today.
There's gonna be a concord a ups I believe soon ish and then that's
pretty much it for this week. I'm excited to do less this weekend.
I'm so tired. Hell yeah, I am uh I'm right there with you,
after traveling til the last minute of last weekend, I am uh yeah.
Let's just take it easy, all right, new Paul easy one.
Are you going to play the Concord Beta? Yes or no? If you
say no and then you actually end up playing it this weekending, you can
always go back and change it because we're not going to get to the results
until Monday. Uh. Game this morning's here on Giant. But I downloaded
g t A five. I was just like, I'm gonna play GTA five?
What do you? What do you mean? Like? In what way
are you gonna play? You're gonna play g t A five? Are you
gonna play g t A online five? Okay? I want to play some
five? We should, uh, I we should just do more stuff with
GTA five in general, because I have been thinking about it more and then
I know, I know, Jan keeps bringing up like let's try some of
the new stuff online. I've never really played online at all. I've barely
played online submember. We could do some of that, but I also would
just like to like go through and play some shoot GTA five as well,
so same. Yeah, okay, yeah, well we'll sid summer. We'll
find time for that, all right. I said the pole question. I've
done all that. I have not said. Thank you Tam for hanging out
with me and talking about video games. Man, I really appreciate it.
I just got a cent a link which was to the Demolition Man pinball machine.
There's one being auctioned right now. It is currently one thousand, five
and fifty. That's not the thing is this one was owned by Sylvester Stallone.
What okay, it's got a stink on it. It's got his stank
on it. You're honestly, if you don't spend one thousand, five hundred
dollars on it, you're basically losing mine. I I really want to buy
this, but I think I don't have anywhere for it. I don't have
any I couldn't put this anywhere, and the sounds of pinball will piss off
literally everyone around me. Maybe maybe I'll hang on to it for you.
Right here, I got room right over there, I'm gonna send I'm just
gonna send this link to baccola and be like birthday present for me. Question
Mark. That's the way, that's the way to do it. Expense expense,
expense, all right, everybody, Thank you so much for listening,
Thank you so much for watching. You are the best audience in gaming.
Until next time, have a good one, take care of yourself and goodbye.