He'll be Gon'll be bait. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do
this for June seventeenth, twenty twenty four. For the next hour or so,
let me help you sort through the world of gaming on Games Morning's Live
with Me Jeff Grubb. Today, Nintendo finally confirmed the date for its next
major video game showcase. But what can we expect there? But first,
please join me and welcome you today's co host it to Game Best Mornings.
It's Emma Fife. Everybody, Emma, how are you doing? It's me.
I'm great. I slept for two days basically straight after the conclusion of
all the summer games stuff. I truly my body was just like, nope,
nope, we got to sleep. And now I'm getting back into work
and I got a cat who's trying to lay on my arm, and here
we are. Yep, that's the way to do it. Yeah. I
was pretty similar, got home, slept a lot. My I feel like
my sleep schedule is still pretty messed up, like still in West Coast time
in a lot of ways. I need to fix that. But but otherwise,
home happy. We had a good time. I thought the show itself
was good. I thought our shows were a lot of fun, and yeah,
it was, it was. It was a good time. Glad we
were able to make it all happen. Any like games, you're like that
you were finally able to talk about or do any one that. I'm still
the one that I got to play amidst all the Madness is still under embargo.
Okay, there we go. Yes, I got a couple that are
still under embargo as well, so we'll get to all those eventually. Well.
Yeah, in that case, then have you been playing anything recently you're
still uh plugging away? Okay, Yeah, I love it, having a
great time. I had forbidden myself to play it during the week of so
because I can get really, really really sucked in and suddenly three hours will
have passed and I thought it was twenty minutes. So yeah, yep,
absolutely, That's where I'm at. Yeah, I uh, I spent like
a lot of yesterday playing Sega Rally Championship for PS two, Sega Rally Championship.
Yes, I love that game in the arcade and it's uh, it's
it's really good. And then I saw it there was a documentary that came
out about it like that. It's four and a half hours long, and
I was like watching that, I'm working that, I'm like, well,
I can't, I gotta play it. So yeah, I tracked down a
copy of the game and put it on my Steam deck and I was playing
that yesterday and that's that's a still really good game and it's great. I
was very happy because for a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to
find like in my memory, I remember going to the Arcade and playing a
version of Sega Rally Championship that had a full motion simulator cap so like when
you would break, it would like jet you forward to make it feel like
you were like actually feeling the effects of the g's that you're pulling. And
I'm like, I can never find this machine. I don't even know if
it exists. I'm like, did I confuse myself? Is this something that
either mostly didn't exist or I made it bigger in my brain? I just
couldn't find any reference to it. And it's because and I discovered this last
night while like doing like downloading this stuff and watching this video. It was
Sega Rally Championship too, Sega Rally two, which is actually very small on
the marquee for that game, and then and then it says like Sega Rally
two Rally Championship or something, and that one, the deluxe model, was
the exact thing I was thinking of. So it was a relief to be
like, Okay, my childhood really did happen. I did not had.
I feel like I've definitely had things in my life come up to where I'm
like, did I hallucinate this thing? And then when you discover that it
is in fact real even though nobody else in your purview has actually heard of
it, it's a great feeling. It was. It was a great feeling.
Yeah. And then now I'm like, on this kick of I find
one of these machines because now I'm interested to play it again? Yeah,
could I track one down? I don't think they had this model at Galloping
Ghost, which is like the largest arcada in North America, if not the
world. They had a thousand machines a couple a couple of years ago,
and they're still growing. So I'm like, Okay, if it wasn't there,
where where would I be able to find one? Yeah? I don't
know. See what we can make it happen. Was it a Japan produced
game? Yeah? You know it was Yes, yes, Sega made it
and then they yes, absolutely. Okay, if it's anywhere it's an Ochaiahabra
okay, yeah they probably they probably do have it still, just trying to
find it. Would I go in August? Yep, it's either way.
I was very relieved glad it exists at at the very least. So hopefully
I'll be able to track one down, you know. If not, well
I'll just buy one. How much can it possibly cost to buy and then
maintain and repair an old arcade cabinet with moving parts? All right, let's
explain what we do here most weekdays, I, Jeff Greb 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 inplut a
bona fide expert who will make me look smart. If you were watching live
on Twitch, welcome. You can always listen to the show later on podcast
feeds by searching for Game mess 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 to get into,
so let's start the morning mess with this first one. The Nintendo Direct
has been set for tomorrow, June eighteenth. This is from Salramano at Gamatsu.
Nintendo will host a Nintendo Direct on June eighteenth at seven am Pacific time
ten am Eastern, featuring forty minutes of information focused on Switch games due out
in the second half of twenty twenty four. The company has announced there will
be no mention of the successor to the Switch, something they confirmed previously.
You will be able to watch it on YouTube and Nintendo dot Com probably Twitch
as well. Hey, yeah, there it is Nintendo Direct June eighteenth.
This is the date we've been hearing for a while. And excuse me that
disgrace leaker Madori also said j eighteenth, So I think they got one last
prediction in there before riding off into the weird sunset. But yes, this
is the show we've been anticipating, Emma, And that means what are you
anticipating to see? Well, I know that there's a conversation about this later
in the show run today, because I looked at the whole thing. Perhaps
a certain successor to a flavor of Metroid, shall we say, wouldn't surprise
me at all? Is that where you're at, It wouldn't surprise you at
all if metroc Prime, Like I'm kind of on, I'm kind of on
the Yeah, there is going to be a Metroid for Metroid Prime for something.
It could be as simple as Bass, you know what i mean,
Caesers I'm talking about where they just like show the moon and then a title
because I'm a little bit Look, there's a bunch of cozy games coming out
for Switch, but those are indies you know, that are going to be
coming to other titles as well. I'm certainly excited about ones that one that's
like the Little Yokai Spirit Village blah blah blah. And then there's another one
that looks like he's Delivery Service. But again, these are all indie titles,
and usually Nintendo is pretty forthcoming about like we're doing an indie showcase.
So yeah, what does what does Nintendo have? Yes, So what they
are setting up here, you're absolutely absolutely right that they are not necessarily holding
back expectations except for no Switch successor right that they're saying that, and then
they're setting no other real expectations in terms of you know, let's dial it
in clearly not an indie world. This is a real direct. But I
think, I mean, I think it's a real enough direct that you can
expect just about anything to pop up here. I think, you know,
this is the last chance for a big re reveal of Hollow Night's Silk Song
this summer. I think people are counting on that a little bit. We'll
see if that happens. I have no idea that would be be nice for
those people who really want that game and we're expecting it at the Xbox Show
and then didn't get it. But Metroid Prime Ford does seem to be the
one that I keep leaning on. Is like, if this thing wasn't going
to be in this show announced as a Switch one game, they probably would
have said something by now. So here we are at this direct. They
have a big hole in their schedule for later this year around the holidays.
That game would slide in that would fit in so nicely right there, and
then they could fill it out with a bunch of other things like the Zelda
remix. Sean's gonna get me killed with this Zelda blowout incoming thing up here.
This is gonna get screenshotted, and I'm gonna get shot on the street
again for promising Zelda. I am doing no such thing, but you're speculating.
Yeah, I would hear me out. The Zelda game that deserves a
Switch release is Twilight Princess. Okay, that's likely going to Princess, underrated
Zelda title. I agree. We gotta we gotta get it in there.
We gotta get her in there. I think so that Win Waker Twilight Princess
double HD pack the ones that got remade for you. Uh that that was
the rumor from years ago that this is a project they did, finished up
and now it's just been sitting there ready to go for a rainy day.
Well, they delayed the switch too, so this is the rainy day.
Why not just drop this thing. They had a big Zelda game last year,
They tried to have one big Bazelda release per year. Before that,
they had Skyward Sword, so they could go through this year without anything.
Well, no, they have these things they could drop, so I would
be excited about that. There's you know, several like the rumored Mario Baseball
game that could drop. There's the Summer Olympic Olympics this year. Sega and
Nintendo could team up again. For a Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
Uh, there's a whole bunch of things that could be at this show
that I would be. You know, the Fire album remaster, a Slash
remake, we keep caring about that. That's also Flash, right. If
they were to do a re release of there would it would take some tinkering
because it was a DS game, and it's always a challenge DS games because
you're dealing with the dual screens. But oh my god, if I could,
if I could just get a remaster with the same sort of graphical integrity
I don't think graphicles word integrity of graphical you know of Awakening, which was
my uh fire emblem gayway game, Oh my god, I'd be so happy.
I'd be so happy. Yes, I think the rumor is it's like
they're actually going back to the Fire Moon games. We never like OG's yeah
never, yea genealogy of the Holy War at least I was not paying attention.
So I really want to play genealogy with the Holy War because that was
one of the ones that had a big influence on Awakening, where again you
are dealing with those multiple generations. But yeah, yeah, Okay, yeah,
So, I mean, there's lots of stuff that could be there.
Is there anything in particular that you, like, like would think would be
like a long shot beyond any of these, or you just like, I'm
along for the ride. Whatever they got to like send out the switch and
style, I'm there for it. I don't think it's a long shot per
se. And this also wouldn't necessarily be a switch. It wouldn't be a
switch of the end. However, I do think that a lot of the
For example, I believe that we saw that there was going to be that
remaster of Tactics ogre for during a Nintendo Switch showcase. I may be wrong
and chat feel free to correct me on this, but like you know,
we're hearing about Final Fantasy Tactics, remaster, re release whatever, definitely happening.
So yeah, and those Final Fantasy like Final Fantasy nine and Final Fantasy
Tactics could both show up here. I wouldn't be surprised by that. Yes,
that would be very cool. I think squery Enix will more frequently show
up at Nintendo direc directs. It's not like they were avoiding them before,
but now that they are making it clear, that's like, no, we
are supporting all these platforms. Square Enix being as much part of the Nintendo
Direct as possible is going to be crucial to that strategy. So the final
Fantasy name and a Nintendo Direct is something that can can move things, and
I think they all recognize that. So yeah, this is tomorrow morning.
We'll talk over it. We'll find a way to get that done, even
though Jan's out. We'll talk over it, discuss it on the bomb Cast,
things like that. So that'll be our tomorrow. I'm looking forward to
it. So yeah, no, no switch to news here, we know
that not surprising. When do you think they talk about it then? Oh
the switch? Yeah? Yeah, like so we get we get through this
direct. There is no switch to news because there won't be when. Yeah.
Well, because historically Nintendo has not been a big presence at Achille related
events, correct, Yeah, that's true. Probably not the like Opening Night
Live at Games Come or no Show maybe yeah, you know. Yeah,
so that's like I always want to say that's in September, but I can't
remember. I believe it is September. Yeah, yeah, that rhyme,
I didn't mean it. Yeah, So I think this fall is like the
earliest, like we'll get through obviously the end of summer. They're not going
to talk about it this summer. That that that seems completely to make a
lot of sense. So yeah, I think this fall is the earliest.
It really depends actually on when this thing is going to come out, when
they want it to come out. There's still reason to think it could happen,
you know, by March, but really it's it's probably gonna happen a
little bit later than that now, it's feeling. But if it is,
if it is in the first half of next year still, then yeah,
I think we get to like September, October, maybe December at the latest
where they actually come out with a teaser of some sort to talk about it.
Maybe get on the other side of Metro a Prime four that would make
sense, unless, of course Metry Prime four is very cross gen, which
is also possible. We'll see, all right, there was There were some
more video game announcements happening at the end of last week. Shovel Knight's Got
a Sequel and sho Shovel of Hope DX are both on the way. This
is from Blair Marnell at Game Spot ten years ago. This month the retro
side scrolling action game Shovel Night made its debut to celebrate the anniversary Yacht Club
Games live streamed event that featured two big announcements. The first was a new
definitive version of the game Shovel Night Shovel of Hope DX, and the second
piece of news was confirmation that a Shovel Night sequel is also in development.
Shovel of Hope DX is coming to Steam and it features a number of enhancements
that weren't present in the original Shovel Night. To start, gamers can choose
between twenty playable characters from Shovel from Shovel Night and Shield Night to their adversary,
the Enchantress. Those aren't simply got cosmetic changes, as each character has
their own abilities in play style. The game is also adding a rewind function
as well as three hundred sheets that can be applied for a unique gameplay experience.
Additionally, Shovel of Hope DX will include challenge stages, Custom Knight,
and the Battle Ghost Arena, while as full stereoscopic three D online and local
multiplayer options are also supported. Shovel Knight I Think I originally played on the
three DS EMA so it's like, yeah, it would have three D support
built in. I wonder, like how anyone would take advantage of that other
than on a three DS but fair enough. The other thing was for the
sequel, where Sean Velasco, a designer for Yacht Club Games, said that
it will feature a groundbreaking innovative gameplay mechanic or mechanics excuse me, before adding
that it will bring Shovel Night into an entirely new dimension of gaming. So
they're teasing a three D Shove Night here. That's what I was going to
say too. Yeah. For a long time, I've been like, hey,
yeah, they should make Shovel Night sixty four. One of my favorite
things that any developers do is, here is a new franchise. Here's a
two D game that's simple and is a throwback to retroesthetics. Isn't that fun?
And I'm like, yes, that's great. And then they're like,
and here's the sequel. It's a three D first person shooter that builds on
that and still has retroesthetics, but from a few years later. I love
that. I really appreciate when developers can like have like we can tell a
story. It's one of the reasons that that UFO fifty game is so exciting
because they're like, yeah, we made fifty games, but it's it's from
a fictional UFO console that existed for real, and it has its own internal
like a logic to going from one game to the next, where it's like
the gameplay mechanics built on one top on top of one another. And some
characters show up in one game and they show up in the sequel or they're
making they make cameos and other games. I love that, uh. And
so I also just like the idea of a studio being like we made Shovel
Night, and now we could make more Shovel Nights and we have what would
be a big successor, and I'm like, yes, a three D game,
let's do it. Is this exciting to you? Oh? Totally in
the vein of a Mario sixty four, as you say, where it's like
basically again, you you've got And I like Shovele Night very much, and
I'm very excited about y'all. I love a rewind feature. Yeah, to
me, it is not it is not cheating. It is a you know
what, I don't feel like reloading this save. I'm just going to rewind
and correct my mistakes. The other thing that's really really helpful with rewind is
if you are learning to speed run, then using the rewind function is very
helpful for you know, constantly repeating stuff instead of having to create save states
that exist in a place where you're trying to pull off a particular maneuver.
But yes, I'm totally totally with you that this is the right move.
Give me those kind of blocky, pixelated N sixty four graphics and yeah,
three D. I mean, you know, we've we've talked extensively about how
a good three D platformer really slaps a la astro. So yeah, this,
this would be super rad. Yeah, it just I have a lot
of faith in the studio to know what makes Shovel Night's fun and being able
to translate that into three D. It'll be a challenge, and I think
they're up to and this is a team that also takes their time, so
I'm not expecting to say anytime soon. Speaking of which, both of these
projects do not have release dates. And I think Mina the Hollower or other
game that is like that Game Boy Colors Zelda looking game where you play as
like a little like vole or something that can like burrow under the ground and
pop out. It's a lot of fun. From what I played at I
think was the Game Awards or maybe Packs a few months back. Either way,
it's like I had a good time with that game. It was really
impressive, and I'm like, Okay, maybe that could come out in twenty
twenty four. Still, well, I don't think they gave it a date,
so so all of their things are still kind of in a holding pattern.
I'm glad they came out and announced these things, but I'm also glad
that they just take their time. Shovel Knight has been a very successful game.
I hope that they are able to turn that into them working at their
own pace. And so yeah, I don't expect to see Shovel Night sixty
four or whatever it turns into the three D game for several years now.
But yeah, I'm just kind of happy to hear that they're working on that.
That is, it gets me reinvigorated for Shovel Knight in general. All
right, let's get this next one. Todd Howard discussed his next Fallout game
and how Bethesta is in no rush to make it. This from Darren Bonteus
at GameSpot with a well received TV adaptation leading to a resurgence and popularity for
the Fallout video games. Twenty twenty four has been a pretty good year so
far for Bethesda, now that a second season of Fallout has been green lighted
and the expectation for Fallout five is higher than ever, but Bethesda's Todd Howard
says that there are no plans to rush out a new mainline Fallout game just
yet. Thanks to the ongoing popularity of Fallout seventy six, new DLC for
the game has just launched, the company plans to bring the franchise back in
a more meaningful way. Here's one of the quotes for other Fallout games in
the future. You know, obviously I can't talk about those right now,
but I would say sort of rushing through them, or we need to get
stuff out that is different than the work we're doing on seventy six. You
know, we don't feel like we need to rush any of that. Two
players right now, Howard said in an interview with Mister Maddy Plays shout out
to Maddie forgetting the end interview. The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche
in terms of the franchise and storytelling. I totally get the desire for a
new kind of mainline single player game. Look, those things take time.
I don't think it's bad. It's bad for people to miss things. We
just want to get it right and make sure that everything we're doing is yeah,
is good for the franchise, whether it's Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or
Starfield, and that those become meaningful moments for everybody who love these franchises as
much as we do. This is kind of where my expectations have been since
this whole fallout of research its has happened to Emma, where it would be
nice to have a new Fallout game, but let's let's be very realistic.
That is just not in the cards anytime soon. It's not right and what
they have. What they have is Fallout seventy six doing very well and growing,
and Fallout four selling a lot of copies, so it's not like they
didn't have anything. They are taking advantage of the Fallout TV show. They
are making extra money. Maybe it's not as much as if they had a
new one, but again, they just weren't going to be able to make
a new one right. No, and it's interesting the TV show at all
because you know, I've joked about how oh I bet they really wish that
they had a new Fallout game for people to play right now, and in
some ways, when the show first launched and there was this resurgence and interest
in follow if they had had a game to launch right then and there,
then that would have been the ideal situation. However, what they have instead
is that people are returning to the franchise, People are giving Fallout seventy six
another chance. The weird thing is, in some ways this almost is just
going to make them rest on their laurels a little more. You know,
the show was very well received, It's been renewed for a second season.
You know, they're keeping Fallout in the public conversation, so there's almost less
need for them to come out with a new Fallout game right away. Yep.
It's uh. I think that they were proven that, yeah, Fallout
seventy six is enough. It can fill that desire that players have for the
most part, and so we should just rely on that. That said,
like, Okay, they're not rushing into a new one. They're not going
to rush through and release a new Manlind one. But to me that answer
does not negate the possibility that they are fast tracking some sort of Fallout project
from somewhere right that's probably still happening. Yoh, yeah, I would think
so. I don't know, But again it's like, it is this really
interesting thing. As I say, they are in a nice situation wherein Fallout
is going to remain in the public conversation. So I don't know so much
if it's a rushing of it, as it is a it's staying in the
conversation. We're getting towards maybe eventually having news of its existence. And so
maybe it seems like they've kind of fast tracked things here because of the success
of the show. But who's to really say, yeah, right, it's
the kind of thing where you know, we've heard like, yeah, Microsoft
would love there to be a new Fallout much faster than the promises from Todd
Howard at the moment, and of course they would. They see the numbers,
They know how powerful and that that show has been in terms of a
marketing juggernaut, and they probably do feel like they were leaving money on the
table. But it's a big undertaking, and you know, even if they
started right away when they realized what was happening. We're talking four years before
they're able to get a game out that's any good at all. So so
yeah, I'm I'm curious to see, like when we look back in a
couple of years and we're like, oh, this is what they were doing
with the Fallout after the show came out. I'm very curious to get to
that moment because i want to see what that looks like, because I'm sure
that this has had ramifications on the decisions made appathest to and Microsoft recently.
It's just those decisions, aren't let's just like drop everything and make a Fallout
mainline sequel right away? At least according to Todd Howard. Yeah, again,
it's you know, we're talking about a company that makes a selection of
video games, all of them are very large, and I don't think they're
quite ready to give up on Starfield No, no, yeah, yeah.
They got that first DLC, which fans seem to be pretty excited about,
so Shattered Space, I believe. All right, let's take a quick break
when we get back. A lot more headlines to get into, including what
was the best selling game on PS five last May? Yeah, this past
May, it was an Xbox game. We'll get to that right after this.
All right, we are back and as promised, more headlines xboxes.
C IF Thieves was PS five's most downloaded game in May. I should say
this is from Tom Ivan at VGC. Microsoft's DF Thieves was the most downloaded
PlayStation five game in both the US and Europe last month. That's according to
Sony, which has published monthly top twenty charts for PS five and PS four
in both regions on the PlayStation Blog. While it already had a strong foothold
on rival platforms thanks to perennial bestsellers Call of Duty and Minecraft, Xbox recently
announced plans to bring additional titles to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, starting with Pentiment,
Hi Fi, Rush, CF Thieves, and Grounded. Last month's PS
five download chart in Europe and the US both included four Microsoft owned games in
the top twenty. In addition to chart topper CF Thieves, Grounded and Call
of Duty, moder War for three and Fallout four appeared on both lists.
Let's see Minecraft also topped the PS four download charts in both Europe and in
the US in May. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spitzer said he wouldn't ever want
to rule out any game coming to another platform, and it was recently claimed
that Xbox is considering bringing a newly remastered version of even Halo Combat Evolved to
PlayStation that's the most recent rumor. Yeah, we've had this conversation. But
this does feel like now we are fully on the other side here where the
numbers are undeniable, that you sort of can't put this twothpaste back in the
tube because this is too much money to ignore. Actually, if you're going
to have one of the best selling games, if not the most downloaded game
for the PlayStation five in the last couple of months, that yeah, they're
going to keep doing this right, Oh yeah, oh one hundred percent.
It's super interesting because a lot of the conversations have been around studios that have
had exclusivity with Sony bringing their titles to other platforms. But here we're literally
seeing Microsoft bringing their games to Sony platforms and them doing extremely well. So,
as you say, if they don't continue to do that, it's just
leaving money on the table, and they're simply not going to leave money lying
around that they could be making. Not these days. Yeah, there was
there was definitely a time uh several years ago, and then of course for
the multiple generations and consoles before that, where they're like, there that was
the cost of doing business, the cost of marketing your machine and making it
feel special. It was was exclusives, and both companies have seemed to lose
their their taste for that more and more to varying degrees. Obviously, the
Xbox much more like willing to put games on PlayStation than Sony is for putting
stuff at least on Switch. But you know, we did get Lego Horizon
Adventures developed by developed by Gorilla, not developed by Travelers Tales developed by a
first party Sony studio going over to Nintado Switch. Obviously we had the MLB
games have that happened before, but that was like an MLB initiative. This
year was like now, Sony just sees an opportunity and they I think they
got to themselves into a room and they're like, why would why shouldn't we
do this? Why wouldn't we do this? And they had no good answers,
and I think that is where we're at. There's no good answers for
keeping the off the other devices because it doesn't feel like it's going to change
the reality of how the consoles sell or perform. And then they had several
very good reasons, which were, we make more money. So yeah,
this feels like the experiment has worked so us getting to Summer Game Fest,
hearing Phil Spencer saying interviews that we would see this happen more with more games.
Just not very surprising. Do you think though, that they do Halo
Combat Evolved or any version of Halo on PlayStations That one feels a little weird.
That one. I'm more on the side of no, because to me
that this is going to be a very weird analogy. To me, that
feels like putting a Mario game on a non Nintendo. That's exactly how it
feels. Because I feel like master Cheap is the mascot of xbox Yep,
yeah, that's exactly right. So it is the one that feels the strangest
and and you know, not to defend like list war fanboys that argue with
each other constantly, but like there is something to be said for they buy
into the power of their system because they can say when I own it,
I'm special because I get access to these games. The console makes it makes
them feel special, and I think we've seen with the Xbox that sort of
fall apart because the games have felt less special because they are already available in
more places and now they're available on PlayStation. So, you know, holding
on to a couple of these franchises as this is still what makes Xbox as
a platform as a hardware platform special, that has value still, But does
that value overcome actual monetary value. I don't know, and I'm not sure,
right, and it's maybe maybe, Emma, they get to a point
where they're like, let's rip the band aid off, right, right,
Like, yeah, let's just say even Halo so that people know. And
then after after Halo goes over to PlayStation, this conversation's done. This is
just the way it is. Until that, though, It's like there's some
question of like, well, is there a red line that they won't cross?
And I, you know, I'm of the opinion that they'll cross any
line eventually if it makes sense for them financially. But then even like feigning
or suggesting that there is still a line can keep people guessing for a little
bit. But but yeah, I don't know, what what do you think
is more likely Halo? The bandit gets pulled off or they keep pushing kicking
that can down the road, and we get to the end of this generation
and Halo is still exclusive to Xbox. Yeah, I can't. This is
tough for me too, I really don't. It is a very tough call,
I am. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna swing hard here and say
that it's staying on Microsoft related platforms. They're not quite ready to give up
the console wars yet. Yeah. I think that they will find an oper
tune moment that where they can like minimize what though the perceived damage would be
or something. But yeah, I think that takes a couple of years.
You're probably right. Yeah, all right, let's see here. Next story,
massa Hero Sakarai says he's recorded his final YouTube video. This is from
Andy Robinson at VGC. Super Smash Brothers director Massa Hero Sakarai has recorded his
final YouTube video, he has said. Since twenty twenty two, the game
designer has run his own YouTube channel named mass Hero Sakarai on Creating Games,
in which he shares game design tips. At the time of publishing, the
channel has more than five hundred and eighty thousand subscribers. Earlier this year,
Sakari announced on social media that he would be winding down the channel after two
years of publishing videos now. In a further update shared on Saturday, the
designer confirmed that he'd recorded its final episode. However, Sakri said it will
be a while before the video is published. Or Earlier this year, Sakri
said he was still creating games for the time being, despite previously claiming in
twenty twenty two that he was a semi retired following the release of Super Smash
Brothers Ultimate Final DLC character As for me, I'm still creating games for the
time being, but I'm also making this YouTube channel. I've never done anything
like this before, so in a way you could say, I'm I haven't
exactly stayed put either. I am curious if we should be reading into this
anymore, Emma, as is this Sakarai getting back on the saddle for the
next Smash Brothers game. I hope so right. It's very easy to like
for us to create those links in our head and all that, and that
is where my brain goes first. The reality is he could just as well
be like this is it. I made the videos. I wanted to make.
I had a certain set of ideas I wanted to share. I have
now fully explained my process in my thinking, and I don't need to start
repeating myself for trying to drill down deeper on these topics. The content is
out there, channels done. I'm moving on to another project, and that
project isn't necessarily getting back into doing another Smash Brothers or making a game for
Nintendo. Even so, Yeah, at the same time, I mean,
it would make some sense. I don't know, I know, I know,
I mean, And he came from Kirby originally, so we got a
new Kirby game in the last couple of years, obviously, wasn't him because
he's been very busy with Smash. We were getting a lot of Kirby games.
Yes, Kirby Kirby seems to go on just fine without him at this
point. It is. He was like sort of champion kid it Chris there
on the three DS, and he was involved in k Icarus uprisings at the
name of that game, and that game could easily get a remaster at any
point too. That could show up at the direct Frankly, we'll see,
But I don't know if if Sakarai is like, hey, I need to
go back and make another Kid a Chris game after doing that three DS one,
or if I need to do another Smash Brothers after Ultimate, which he
very much positioned as this is the final expression of what this thing is going
to be. But he did say during the development of Ultimate that he didn't
really have time to sort of do a mentoring process for bringing up someone new
to oversee the franchise going forward. So I wouldn't be surprised if, like
he is moving on to a project where it is, yeah, I'm making
the next Smash Brothers game, but what I'm really doing is standing back and
letting other people learn some learn some lessons so that they can actually take that
franchise over going into the future and I can fully wash my hands of it.
I think I do believe that Sakari probably will get involved in that process,
but whether that's happening now or not, who knows. It would again
makes some sense because they probably want to get a Smash Brothers game on the
switch to in the next several years, and maybe they've already started that process.
They probably honestly already have started that process, and maybe now sacrist like,
Okay, I'll come, I'll come take a look at it and get
involved. I don't know, lazy. Yeah, I mean, as you
say, they're not gonna launch a switch To without some promise of a smash
coming in the near future. So that's certainly something that could be happening.
Yep. Yeah, and yes, Tom Pain says Super Smash Brother's Ultimate Deluxe
is almost certainly going to be what that Smash Brothers game on the switch To
looks like in the first year of that console's release. So yeah, and
they could They could ride that for as long as they rode Mario Kart eight
Deluxe, So we'll see what that ends us looking like still riding it.
Oh, yes, and they will be for a while. Embracer is closing
Alone in the Dark studio Pieces Interactive. This is from Tom Ivan at VGC.
Embracer Group is closing Pieces Interactive, the studio behind it's recent Alone in
the Dark reboot and an image published on its website. The studio wrote Pieces
Interactive twenty seven to twenty twenty four, thanks for playing with us. The
image was accompanied by a short history of the Sfulke, Sweden based studio.
Pieces Interactive released over ten titles on PC, console, and mobile since two
thousand and seven, both our own concepts such as Puzzle ged In, Fretneice,
Leviathan Warships, Robosurf, and Kill to Collect, as well as work
for hire titles such as Magica two and several DLCs for Magica. It said.
Our client list includes Paradox Interactive, Coe Techmo, Arrowhead Game Studio,
Coke Media, and Race Room Entertainment. In twenty seventeen, Pieces Interactive were
acquired by Embraser Group after working with the expansion for titan Quest titan Quest Ragnarok
and the third expansion for titan Quest titan Quest Atlantis. This is the latest
example of this happening across the industry. Of course, also happening under the
Embracer umbrella of a studio putting out a game it underperforming in that studio getting
closed down or you know, they've closed on several studios that even even haven't
had a chance to put out a game yet. So this is Embracer just
being like, Okay, we got to save on cost for cutting another studio,
and it stinks that that alone. In the Dark Game Emma, it
did come and go. I don't really know anyone who's played it, and
yet, excuse man, I don't know what the expectations were for that game
from Embracer. It is coming out into a world with Resident Evils and and
a kind of a resurgence of survival horror across several scopes. So, you
know, I don't know why they put big expectations on this thing. But
it thinks that the studio is closing down. Yeah, I mean, everybody
in chat is saying that game came out yep, yep, it really did.
I haven't. I never even really touched it. I meant too.
It's got you know, it had David Harbor in it right, like they
were going for something. But I clearly it didn't hit what it was going
for in terms of those expectations. But I just really wish that they would
have recognized that the expectations were alone and alone in the dark game that was
going to be mostly mediocre, just fine at best. We never couldn't have
have been that high. Oh yeah, as you say, unless you're going
ground up like Resident Evil two three four remakes, there's just the market for
an okay re release or even Death Space. There's just no market for a
fine reimagining, remaster, et cetera of a horror game. Yeah, a
game that's trying to like do what the Resident Evil games are doing right now,
but not nearly as well. There's obviously a lot of space in that
genre for smaller low five games that are that are interesting and look weird.
I think that's what we're seeing from Blumhouse, Like that is their whole mo
o, the announcing Blumbhouse Games. Here's a bunch of smaller titles, and
I think that could have worked for a Loone in the Dark. But you
know, Highsight twenty twenty, I get that, Like we're coming in here
armchair analysis for this one. Mostly mostly just feel bad for the studio.
Yeah, and I've been curious about this game. I might eventually check it
out. I was gonna. I was planning to check it out later this
year for Halloween. But we'll see. And then of course a similar story,
Wizard with a Gun developer Galvanic Games is also closing down. This is
from Jordan Miller at BGC Galvanic Games. The studio behind Wizard with a Gun
is shutting down, posting to x or Twitter. As some might still call
it. President and founder Patrick Morgan wrote, with a heavy heart, I
announced the closure of Galvinic Games. Despite claiming that Wizard with a Gun got
off to a promising start, sales of the title were not enough to sustain
the studio. I may never get over the irony of spending a decade building
my ideal team, only for it to end after our most productive year.
Morgan wrote, the dedication, creativity, and hard work of every person on
our team has been nothing short of extraordinary. Thank you for the support and
memories. We are grateful for the journey and hope that our paths will cross
again in the future. This is not an embrac or story. This is
the other story of like you could have a team kind of hitting their stride
putting out games, but it is so there are so many games being put
out that it's very easy for something to be like lost in the shuffle and
then in the past, not in the past. In the several years leading
up to the moment that we're in now, you could have been like,
well, look, this team is really working well together. Let's give it
a couple more gos. You could have found the money to keep that team
going. That is not happening now. The money is not out there.
Investment has dried up for a lot of these kinds of studios, and so
another team shutting down, and it's like, I don't know what the answer
is to any of this, Emma. If it felt like, oh yeah,
well, when they had cheap money to borrow, that at least gave
them a chance to keep it going and they could have another bite at the
apple. But here we are where it's like, Nope, this is the
way it kind of was before that low interest rate period for a couple for
several years, and then how we're back into like what seems like the natural
state of Boy, it's hard to make money making video games. I mean,
it's across the entertainment industry. It feels like we're seeing you know,
a lot of the conversation around the writers strike that happened last year, was
that a lot. You know, previously, when you were staffed on a
TV show, almost certainly that show would get a couple of seasons, it
would have some time to find its stride. But that just doesn't happen anymore.
And also, in the like Netflix framework of it all, they are
constantly releasing new shows. The vast majority of which never make it beyond a
second season. And it feels like now it's getting even harder to get that
second season. And the problem is they're not making these shows for no money.
It's the same thing with video games. They're not making them for no
money. Which is why looking at, as you mentioned earlier, the Blumhouse
model, they have specifically stated and this is Blumhouse's model for making horror films
as well. Right, none of those films have budgets of I think now
it's three million is their cap? Wow? Okay? And for I believe
in the very early days of Blumhouse their cap is a million. Yes.
So you're looking at these things that are giving people an opportunity to try something.
And the problem is is when you do have these independent studios. That's
the thing that's nice about Blumhouse is it's part of a bigger entity. When
you are an independent studio, you are beholden to your investors, and investors
are just like Nope, didn't make enough money by yep, and like you
know, they're there was a time where the promise of acquisition was so ripe
that these investors would be like Okay, well we're already pot committed. You
need more money. We are investing again, let's get a few more points
on our ownership here, so that when you do sell, we can expect
an even bigger return. It's just worth it to us because again we're pot
committed. That is also that's really greatly shifted. So the investors that we're
probably there before aren't coming back for a second round because they're like, acquisitions
have really cooled off. The money that people would have borrowed to make those
acquisitions is also hard to come by, just like it is for us to
actually give you money to invest in the first place. So all along the
stack it is sort of gone bad for these kinds of studios. So does
that mean that we can expect fewer indie games? I think that's the thing.
It feels like indie games get made because people have an idea and a
passion and a craving to make these things. So no, I think we're
going to continue to get a ton of indie games. So it's not even
like the thing that happens with inflation right where it's like, well, you
know, wages were going up a lot, and it's like, man,
that's great that's great. That's great anyway, but if it could be good
if it slowed down where it's like, that'd be nice if they like things
slowed down a little bit, because that means inflation might cool off, if
people stop getting pay increases. And say, Okay, well that sounds like
it sucks, but I get what you're saying. I understand why that is
also maybe a good thing. Here. It's like, well, maybe there
will be fewer indie games getting made, so the ones that do still get
made have a better chance of survival now that that is not going to happen.
So so it's going to continue to be a mess out there. The
indie Pocalypse is ongoing as always, and it will be a few games rise
to the top and everyone else sort of gets lost in the shuffle. And
there was a time where it's like you could have made the argument, well,
our next game, our next game, this team's really good, can
we get some more money. That's not happening anymore either, So it still
be like Elvana Kstagat has to shut down totally. I mean, it's exactly
what you're saying. There's and this is also kind of related to what we
were talking about with Alone in the Dark, that there are so so many
games that something's gotta click for you to get that kind of recognition because you're
in an insanely competitive market. Yep. Not every game is going to be
at the Bilatro, most are or not going to be far from it.
All right, I think that does it for the news. I have a
pull question coming up here in a second. Well, I get that ready,
Emma, why don't you tell people where they can find you what you
have going on all that good stuff? Well, you can find me at
my name on the internet. It's Emma Fife. I don't go on social
media a whole lot. And you know what, my life's so much nicer
for it. And you can find what is, in fact my cat laying
on the couch behind me. That's not the one who y'all usually see.
That's my other cat l That is not a conveniently placed pillow. That is
a cat. And uh yeah, you can find my face talking at you
on various dot fandom dot com wikis. I think right now it's about Bridgerton
and that's that's what's going on with me. Man. Hell yeah, like
you said, we have more embargoed games from Summer Game Fest that we'll talk
about somewhere eventually, probably on this show. If not BombCast proper or whatever,
we'll find some time for it. I'm realizing we didn't put up the
poll question because Jam's gone, So I'll put this up now and then we
will discuss it on Wednesday show because I'm still interested in the answer to this
one. Where are you buying Lego Horizon Adventures? Are you buying it on
PlayStation switch, PC? Or I'm not buying it? All? Right,
there is that's going up now. I've posted buying it though grub because you
know, you basically went super saying over it exactly. Yeah, I lost
my mind for that game, and I'm proud of it, proud Lego Horizon
Adventures. Stan. There's the pull question. Now, we'll get to that
on Wednesday's show. Oh nope, let me think care. Wednesday's Juneteenth.
We have it off, so we'll get to that on Thursday today. That's
right. But in the meantime, the site should have most of our normal
ongoings happening, where the BombCast will happen tomorrow. We will talk over that
nintend direct direct in one way or another, So look out for that,
see if I can get a crew together for that whole Shenanigan. Let's see
what else. Wednesday will be off, so I guess no Blake Club huh.
Thursday, though, we will be back. We'll have a voicemail dump
truck this week. We'll figure that come hell or high water, and then
of course Game US Mornings back for the rest of the week and we'll do
a upf. I think by the end of this week that Shadow the urg
Tree will be out, so maybe we'll do something with that. I don't
know, we'll see. Emma. Thank you so much for spinning today talking
with me, with me about video games. I really appreciate it. Thank
you so much for having me, and thank you to always be clothing.
I appreciate the gift with which I was bestowed at our live show. Thank
you so much everybody that came to that show. It was It was so
fun. It was so nice to see a big audience of people just ready
to hang out for what ultimately was pure Shenanigans. It was pure Shenanigans.
It was a good time. Yeah, ABC, thank you for my popcorn
bucket. You. Then I went to Disney and I bought another popcorn bucket.
So you've already you've turned me into a freak already. I got a
Millennium Falcon popcorn bucket from ABC. Was very nice. I know, I'm
like, am I about to start collecting Galaxy's Edge tiki mugs? Yet one
just came out, The lowcat one just came out. So yeah, yeah,
and that was that was one of the portions of my gift. So
thank you again, a good deal. Thank you so much everybody who did
come out. Yeah and uh and and shout out to everyone who made it
happen, especially Emma. Thank you so much. All right, let's uh,
let's get out of here. Thank you everybody for watching. You're the
best audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one, take
care of yourself, and goodbye.