You'll be like a dummy beer. It's the internet. You're busy. Let's
do this for November eighth, twenty twenty three. For the next hour or
so, let me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess
Mornings Live with me Jeff Grebb. Today, this is me a moto and
we have major grand theft Auto six news, a shocking announcement from Nintendo,
and a tease for a beloved franchise that is still years away from an actual
new entry. But first, please join me and welcomeing today's co host to
Game Mess Mornings. It's tomorrow. Who's saying everybody? Tam, how are
you doing? I am doing okay. I know people on Wednesday tune in
to find and hope to see Lucy, but unfortunately you get me today.
I'm a poor fac simile for Lucy, but I will you know what,
I'll do my best and hopefully that is enough for everyone. It's all British
to so I can't tell I literally can't tell you part just and not even
couldn't begin to tell you the differences. We have a shorter week uh here,
so so we wouldn't be doing dregs day, uh Tam? This couldn't
be more the opposite of a dregs day. I have fun. I finally
caught some good luck, the opposite of a dregs day for once. A
what's the opposite of dregs day? I don't know. It's uh an everything
day. It's it's just everything is happening, all the news is happening.
It's a it's a certified pop off. That's what we call. Yes,
we are popping off, calling it a pop off for sure. I don't
know how you been though, you like I know you are busy doing a
million different things. Last time we talked last week last Friday, so it's
not been even been a full week. We were talking about our struggles keeping
up with games in general. I'm still right there. I'm still there.
I'm still and you'll be surprised to learn that I've played. I've completed zero
games in the times since I have be more aware. But that hardly counts
because you can beat that in a sitting. So yeah, but that's my
latest one, so I'm gonna count it as a win. I've been playing
Thirsty Suitors, which is real fun. Yeah, it's a good time.
I want to make time to that I've been playing Humanity. That's been my
like one of my clean up games for the year, and I've been enjoying
that a lot. But that's like going way back, and then these new
ones like Thirsty Shooters comes out. Okay, this one looks like it's worthy
of my time, so we'll see. I'm gonna try to fit it in.
It is Actually when I look at the time of oh, you know,
really three four weekends before we're deciding a lot of this stuff, that's
that's not enough time. That's scary. That's scary. So uh yeah,
BG three is still the thing I am trying to fit in enough time with
so that I can speak to it and when I know everyone else is going
to want to speak to it. So we'll see. That's the tough it's
gonna be. It's gonna be fun though. Game of the Year is going
to be exciting. We have been working on it for so there's two scenarios.
Either it goes exactly as we plan right, and it's gonna be fantastic.
Second scenario, it goes completely as we planned and it will still be
fantastic in a different way. Yes, yes, you guys will all enjoy
how it doesn't go fantastic. Yeah, Jins and chat all caps grub.
It's not gonna happen for us with Balder's Gate three. I know, man,
but we'll still have those co op sessions. Jam will always have that.
No one could take that away from us, except for Dan Riker,
who did definitely try to take that away from us. All right, you
know what, let's let's get into this news. There is a lot to
talk about, so 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. Tiny bit of that
today for all these topics, I'll get the input of 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 Best Mornings,
or find the RSS on giant bomb dot com. You can also catch
the show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello, Hello YouTube.
All right, we have a lot to get into, so let's start the
churning out one a second. Hey, you know, don't pay attention to
me when I talk. I'm not all right, Grand Theft Auto six trailer
is coming in December, and that is confirmed by Rockstar Games themselves in a
tweet, this series of tweets, and in a press release they send out
this morning to our emails, Sam Hauser from Rockstar Games. Who is Sam
Houser. This is Sam Houser, he says, blah blah blah. Next
month, this is twenty fifth anniversary of Rockstar Games. He says, we
wouldn't be anything about without the fans. The pertinent bit of info here for
most people is going to be We are very excited to let you know that
in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft
Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all
of you. Thank you, Sam Hauser. That reads like he always wait,
let me let me see the original thing. Always get someone to double
check what you're saying, because it reads like we look forward to many many
more years of sharing the experience of giving you trailers. I mean what we
want. It's actually not what we're in this for. Thank you, Sam.
Though, copy of it, copy of it, copy of it.
You got a dingly modifier there? Best thing everything up? Hey? What
I mean, listen, this game has to come out eventually, but why
are they sold to send an email? I don't know, I mean about
this trailer. Why would they just drop the trailer? I mean, I
mean like the elaked of course, like or to a degree like like Shryer
reported it yesterday, but he reported that they were going to say this exact
thing. We're going to say this, yeah, yeah, I mean like
there's also various other factors, like business things that go behind it. People
are now already being like game old games, which is like, come man,
I don't think so, I don't yeah, probably not, but they
just don't need to. So there's two scales of like I would love to
say again once that would be amazing, but like separate from that, there's
two like now, be outside of showing it at a place like Game Awards,
you you have two like echelons. Either you're big enough like a Nintendo
where you host your own thing and you put on a direct yeah, and
that is what draws everyone to you, or you're even bigger like Rockstar and
you just put it on YouTube and it kills everything compared to it, Like
Rockstar is so big that they can like just just put it on wherever they
could put it out on, Like if they put it on MySpace tomorrow,
it would revitalize MySpace for the next ten years. Like that is that is
the power that that rockstar has, so they could they I feel like this
is them just being like, yeah, man, we're just gonna do our
thing. Well, we're flexing on these release hose and we're out of here.
It does it does seem that way. I mean, it's we'd be
remissed and point now. Hey, Take two's stock price is up seven percent
this week on this. I wonder why. Yeah, I could have called
the right So I mean, listen, Take two is not going to hate
that they're out there talking about this. That definitely is going to move the
markets. Uh, it's you know, to what end, Like, hey,
whether that the price the stock price goes up now versus the stock price
goes up in December when the actual show the trailer. Uh maybe you know,
maybe they're hoping for a double dip there. I don't know the stock
price is going up from now until that thing is out. Yeah, exactly
right, it's built in now. Yeah, it ain't going anywhere. Yeah,
Yeah, that thing is up and it will stay up or the only
thing will knock it down is like some wild ship, like some real like
economic shit or like well, I mean some you think, let's kill the
man on camera. Yeah, but it's like this is their way of insulating
themselves against bad news that might be coming. Again. I'm just like that.
This email just feels strange to me. But I think you're you're probably
right that they do things their own way. They can get away with it.
Hey, we're going to be doing that. This is the twenty fifth
anniversary. We're in a market in some way, and why not tell them
we're doing a trailer next month. Let's just hurt Yeah, yeah, next
month. She's like yeah, I mean, like I don't want to speculate
on anybody, So like this is I'm taking it for a ways, which
is a good thing, right now. What the what in the world sweet
Io Interactive wants to make more than one Bond game? Yes, yeah,
So I think what is happening here is like they just taking the classic strategy
and just making it a little less chaotic for people, you know, because
like previously there would just be like rumblings of a thing happening and then and
like maybe a site appears where you know, people are watching a countdown for
a little bit and then it just breaks everything in the Internet. So now
that's just like, hey man, we're going to do this. Yeah,
don't worry about it. So just like priming people, it's still very much
the same, but it's it's still in line with their classic strategy, which
is, yes, girl, give us nothing up until give us something.
So that's that's what it is. I think. Uh okay. Well,
then for Theft Auto six trailer debuting in early December, almost certainly not at
the Game Awards, on its own, what do you want from it?
Do you have? I want I want them to show the exact same footage
that got leaked, like nothing changed, and they're just like, you're right,
man, this is what we got. See. I'm a little bit
bummed that they didn't tell or that their tonus that it's coming, because I
would love for them to do a bait and switch where it's like the rock
Star logo, everyone freaks out and then it does just start up with that
exact same GTA five trailer like that we've seen twenty times in various forms since
it came out, and then it's like from the makers of GTA five and
then finally going to GT six, just that Whip Last would rule. That
would be so good. The thing is, like, it's hard to really
gauge what this game is going to be. I don't remember what the rumors
were, but like, I feel like it's it could go either way.
Like you, I feel like the technology that they came up with for the
multiple protagonist element of it conventional with them traditional thinking says that that will be
some sort of core element to the new one. It's like a foundational element,
right, Like it's you don't put that much time effort and get it
working that well to just throw it away, I feel But then Rockstar is
exactly the kind of company that would throw it away and be like we came
up with something entirely else. I feel like that element of it will still
be there to some degree, maybe not in the three character or four character
two character approach. I feel like it will be utilized in some other fashion,
and that's exciting for me. As for what else you're going to know,
there's that there's that rumor it's going to be a female protagonist, which
is like, sure, man, whatever I don't. I just don't care.
I'm not one of those weird in cell people on land that's like,
no woman, Yeah, I'm down for that. I would listen. We
live in an age of I'm to put my dumb, dumb speculation hat on
and just just get crazy to do it. We're living in an age of
shared universes. Okay, everyone is putting everyone else in their games. Okay,
and for the longest time, there's been you know, a lot of
love for a character that was a rockstar character that was born on the PlayStation.
Okay, a little miscreant that has been knocking around schools. Huh.
Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, and I love this
idea. Who do you think it is? Well, okay, I was
good now and you're gonna put a fast on me. Bully the Titcher Jack
is back Jack Fuck no Roman Bellck spin off, That's what I'm now.
Yeah, Jimmy from Bully Protagonists for the new I think you see that would
be I think a cool way to do it with multiple characters. Now,
so you can have the female protagonists, you probably have a male lead as
well, and then I think, like a teenager in high school and they
are working on something together and and each of them has to get things in
place in their own sphere. And yeah, I don't know, I would
appreciate that. I mean, I think that's pretty similar to what they did
with five. But I think having different kinds of characters in vastly different settings
could be very cool. I wouldn't even like hate like a little bit of
a different time settings because I think this the rumors like they're doing some Vice
City eighties stuff again. Yeah, but maybe maybe like you, yeah,
yeah, life, like you like to play a different eras of that character
and it's jumping between them, you know, paulp fiction style or something like.
That's that's how they bring back that like character switching mechanic. When you
switch you switch eras, yes exactly, instead of like characters that would be
so sick. It's like, oh, I'm going to switch to this character
in the future or in the past, and then you get a different version
of that city or like you get a different version of your whatever surroundings,
and that would be pretty sick. Real Quick did leak under Steam early,
and I'm see if I can download it real quick. No, it doesn't
work anymore. If people were able to get it for a little bit.
I was in the shower in this s happen, and I forgot to get
it as soon as I got out. My man was getting clean when PERSONA
five was being accidentally released. Yeah, getting a little dirty and on steam
ah okay. And then as for the you know, the humor, the
style, the writing of GTA six, everyone everyone, It's difficult, right,
but whatever. That's why I'm I'm most interested in seeing, like how
how does Rockstar adapt to the times, because I know, I mean,
like I think one of the houses said this before, like the stuff that
they put in that game, in that series is no longer parody, Like
real life is much more ridiculous than anything a writer writing parody kind of material
could ever conceive of. You know, it's it's wacky in ways that are
like what do they keep going on the extreme or they do they try a
more like grounded actual, you know, do a Godfather style tale where it's
like, oh, this is going to be one of those big ones,
you know, those kind of like we're trying to add to the mythos of
you know, the mafia or whatever it may be, the life of crime
thing. I feel like it's still going to have that cheeky Rockstar tone at
the end of the day. I'm just I hope that it's not as previous
games have been slightly immature, like in the way that they in the way
that they approach it. I feel like GTA five was much better about it,
but they're still kind of like enough rope for them to hang themselves with
by being like childish and appealing to that kind of like immature dude bro humor.
But I trust Rockstar to be better than that, especially having come off
like Red Dead too. So it's like, yeah, this, uh,
last point for for this story. Uh, this will be the first Grand
Theft Auto game without Dan Hauser, not Dan Housen. That's a different that's
a wrestler, it's a different guy. Dan Hauser is moved on, has
his own studio doing a thing I don't know if we know much about it.
And also Leslie Binsay's who basically made Grand Theft Auto Online like with his
own team, completely separate from the Housers, who weren't interested in it until
it started popping off after release, and then they sort of you know,
took ownership of it at that point. So it's gonna be interesting to see,
you know, but you know, this is a slightly different team.
You know, Sam Hauser is still there, but uh, you know,
the creative makeup could be slightly changed, and it will be interesting to see
if we can glean any sort of effect of that in this trailer. Probably
not, it's probably can get grand Theft auto trailer. Yeah, I feel
like, you know, the houses are a core part of it, and
more so than other like aute situations where you slowly learn that, oh,
it's actually just more of a team effort than we most people realize. Like
that is still very much the case, but the houses definitely had a more
noticeable impact on the games as as a duo. I don't think that completely
goes away when one of them leaves, you know, I think the more
interesting. I feel like the rest of the team that has been there a
really long time does a lot of that same work to you know, make
a GTA game what it is. There's a lot of people that work hard
to make that thing. I think more interesting. Aspect of it is like
rock Star had to change in a lot of ways post Red Dead Redemption too,
when there was a lot of revelations that were not entirely surprising about corporate
culture and like the the balance of work life and too from for all based
on reports like they have been improving that sayignificantly. So I'm interested in seeing
how that impacts the studio and whether I mean, like we barely hear from
Rockstar employees, so but like they will find a way, Like news will
definitely come out about what it's like there. But yeah, how much of
that kind of manifests in the next cycle is going to be interesting because once
you open the door to a GTA game, it's not like just that it
like you will hear every more things about Rockstar. You more hear more things
about the game. You'll probably hear more things about the process as well.
Ideally, So yeah, it's it's an interesting time for for for Rockstar and
us as games people. But I wish it was in decetbook. Uh and
Jack Thompson, you think we'll hear from him? Remember that name? I
hope so, man, I hope he comes back because like I feel like
the Internet has been in the hyperbolic time chamber figuring out how to like clown
on weirdos on the internet. So like we are like now more than ever.
If he showed up, it would be yes, he's already be We
would just be dancing on his grave and oh my god, it would be
so funny to watch this man get like absolutely wrecked by modern day like just
says anything and just like bombarded with L L l L you fell off,
you fell off, you fell off, turn him into a TikTok ai.
This man's done, He's never he's never coming back. Jeck Topson was the
lawyer that that brought those lawsuits against the game for causing school shootings or whatever.
Jack Thompson was a failed lawyer that had no fucking prospects that clung to
relevancy by trying to vilify video games. And sadly, the American legal system
is built in a way where it allows fucking morons to just wreak havoc for
extended periods of times. That's what That's what. He was played by Bill
Pax in the movie where Dan Daniel Radcliffe played I think Dan Hauser. I
think he played Dan Hauser. And then uh, that thing is have I
have that on my Plex server? Because they Rockstar headed destroyed off the Internet
and you can't watch it anywhere on BBC's ship. There is a tweet about
it. Oh fuck, what is this? Uh? I think it's like,
what is this basil brush bullshit? But it was like you could tell
it was one of the houses got the keys to the to the the Twitter
account and tweeted some wild ship. It's like it's basically saying, like,
what is this Willy won Cup bullshit from the BBC? Yep, exactly funny.
I think that movie is really weird and fun. Just the idea of
Bill Paxton playing Jacktop what do you what did he say? He said was
basil brush busy? What exactly is this random made up bollocks? And that's
at BBC from the Rocks from the main rock Star Games account and then and
then I think they shoot the BBC and had it, or they at least
did Ceases and Sisters. So I'll send it to you on on Select just
so people know that we're not joking, but like, honestly, it's one
of the most impressive and hilarious flexes I've ever seen on the internet. Just
someone taking the corporate account is just like, what the fuck? Shut up
all really bring that up here quick. And then, uh, versus the
obs. But yeah, it's it's it's exciting, Like I'm glad that we're
finally at the stage where we're going to see the game. That's the worst
part of the lead up to all of this stuff, where it's like people
just making it up in an escalating fashion until like, you know, we've
got these wild ideas for what a video in the next ETA is. Yeah,
I think that they are probably going to just keep doing their own thing,
and the game is going to look and feel very expensive and probably has
some really great, great tech in it, and it'll set its own expectations
and then we'll see if it can overcome those. So what do you what
do you reckon for GTA Online? Yeah, that's I mean, that is
the big question, right, Like can they do they reset the clock?
Do they go GTA online too and say everybody move on to this. I
think they probably actually do, but but you know, I also I wouldn't
be surprised if they are like, oh, you know, gt online continues
here, it's a complete refresh and and we'll slowly move everyone over, but
it's still the same basic client. I could see them doing that, but
I think Rockstar's gonna want to go big and and try to do their whole
whole new thing they now, right dead Redemption Online might have scared them away
from that, but I don't know, I feel like they I feel like
they create more of a kind of distinction between them by not having them,
you know, trying to message them concurrently. Yeah, I feel like that's
a big part of like the initial when GTA online it was first announced,
it was like kind of competing against itself in a lot of ways around GTA
five as well. So I feel like I feel like they just do the
thing where it's like we're going to talk about the main story campaign and some
multiplayer elements, and then we'll come back to gt online and another point they'll
say something generic like the future of GTA Online is looking bright and we've got
some major plans for it. And then they eventually do the full overhaul thing
where it's like, hey, we we redid this. We got a brand
bunch of brand new shit, We're dropping all the new assets in there.
Let's let's go. Do you think there's a chance that they kind of from
software it a little bit and have online functionality in your single player campaign where
you flip on a switch and now you see other players doing things at the
same time as you, maybe not necessarily ghost form, but maybe in form.
I think I think that there I had there has to be some elemental
I think that it feels like necessary at this point community. Yeah, like
especially in this like you think about it, like what's the next stage of
this crime fantasy? Like it is like having a gang and and being like
actively present around them in a way. I mean, they could do that
with AI, but I imagine that they'll figure out some way to represent like
other people, clans or whatever it may be in the game, whether they
have like I don't think they'll have an active impact on your world, Like,
yeah, that seems wild because people do the wackiest shit in DTA games.
You can't be in the middle of your your your mission and someone's suddenly
like driving a car off a roof and rocket launching it or car jacking you
like you're supposed to be the power fantasy. Yeah yeah, uh yeah,
you know what. Okay. GT six will know more in about a month,
so we'll we'll talk about it then. I'm sure there'll be a lot
to speculate on between now and then. And then we'll see what the lead
up is to the actual games release, but seems like that's going to be
happening relatively soon after this, within the year after this gets announced. That
seems to probably what we can expect, all right. The new Mass Effect
teaser finally confirms what we've all been guessing. This is from Kenneth Shepherd at
Kotaku, the New Mass Effect Game. Yes, Shepherd, the next Mass
Effect game. I think I don't know if that's a pen name, but
I know that Kenneth Shepherd is a big Mass Effect fand the New Mass Effect
game has been shrouded in mystery since its twenty twenty Game Awards reveal. November
seventh is in seven day when by War and fans celebrate the science fiction RPG
series, but this year's is a little different. The studio gave us a
couple teasers for the next game at the same time as laidoff QA workers are
picketing the company's demand while demanding severns. The teasers finally gave us some solid
clues regarding what the next Mass Effect is going to be about. The December
twenty twenty two suggested it would take place long after the original trilogy while returning
squad mate Learra to Sony, making an appearance but looking notably older than her
youthful age of one and nine in the original series. Yeah, this is
a Kenneth Shepherd is a fan. I think BioWare developers also hinted on social
media that the next game would be a sequel to both the original trilogy and
mess Effect Andromeda. Now, the first teaser is a five second well it's
five seconds long. They actually have piece these all together now at this point.
But while this story got written while they're piecing it together still, and
it had related texts associated with it that said things like Epsilon, which is
the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, so the fifth Mass Effect game.
And then they would say maybe the most notable line is Andromeda distress signal detected.
No, boy, that game was distressed for sure, but oh man,
Andromeda definitely made me. I was sending out many playing Andromeda. I
took time off to play that game, and at one point there was what
the fuck's the Krogan's name? Oh shit, I can't even remember. It's
not a grunt, it's I don't know. I walked into a room and
there were is it drags drags? Yeah? Yeah. I walked in and
there were three of them, just Rex wait Rex no, no rexes no,
Rex is the good one? Drack okay? Is it crack drag drag?
That's why we got there. I walked into a room and there was
three of them. One of them was like, one of them was like
it was so funny, one of impressive. Actually, one of them was
leaning on like a railing and looking cool. The other one was just staring
at a wall. And there was a third one just kind of like sitting
on the ground clip through, and I was like, this is distressing,
distressing, distressing. I got to point in that game where I was in
whatever their makeo was called, and I'm supposed to be driving it up to
this big place on a hill and it's like you could drive all the way
around this hill to find the way up, and I drove around it three
times without finding where I was supposed to go, and there was no waypoint
to help me. No wh was saying anything, and I was like,
I'm never fucking playing this game again. I had that such a mad sense.
I had this amazing moment where you go to whatever those dungeons were the
way you'd go inside one of those weird like structures. And I got in
there and I was doing one of the platforming challenges and like fucked it up
and went into a pit and I respawned, and it respawned. The car
with me in this little in this little like very small space, and I
was like, hell, yeah, I'm doing this. I got in that
car and I was driving around one of these places that was not built to
have a car in it. I'm just like, it was so fucking dumb.
H Kenneth continues the big reveal Here is Andromeda. Andromeda to a stress
signal detected, confirming that the interstellar migration movement from the fourth game will be
part of the story. Buy Where tells next. Fans are speculatingly Area and
A crew might be responding to the distress to call, as it was confirmed
in and Andrameda she was in contact with the Initiative through their departure from the
Milky Way. Blah blah blah. The final trailer did come out and blah
blah blah. Mass effect. Law. Yeah, okay, all right,
you want to get in there, All right, let's go. What is
the distress call. It's not quite clear, but given that the cat invasion
was still happening at the end of Mass Effect and Drama Up, it's not
like that crew is lacking in danger of course. Uh. The actual video
doesn't show much beyond someone perhaps the Aura, walking through what looks like a
space station before it abruptly cuts to black. I have this video somewhere,
but basically the trailer is a small teaser of a person in a cool outfit
walking down a hallway and that's it. And people, you want some original
reporting, this game is just nowhere near coming out. This is not this
is oh no cha. I was told like so when they announced or when
they revealed Dragon Age Dreadwolf in twenty eighteen. Uh, this is similar in
terms of timeline where that was announced in twenty eighteen, and we're not getting
that game to maybe next year. So now do the math for that,
and we're talking twenty twenty nine for Mass Effects five Dog. This this game
is. But I'm thinking that as well. And this game is so far
away. It is so far away another galaxy right now, fucking know.
Uh, it's so hey, Tam, why they do this? Maybe you'll
find out and you'll hear a discussion about this on the latest episode of spot
On Game Spuffriend. We definitely will have a conversation about this. Yeah,
Like when I asked, it was just like, hey, is this just
because they thought they had to do stuff for n seven day? Yes,
for this, for this thing. That's exactly that's all this is. You
got to imagine like they would be having like they have to talk about like,
hey, is this a good idea? Who knows if they thought it
was a good idea or not. But it's a proof of life. It's
it's just proof of life we're supposed to Yeah, it's I think fans would
probably rather have it than not, right, Yeah, yeah, I think.
I mean it's annoying because like it is does it have. The thing
that frustrates me is it's a teaser that is mysterious, that presents no like
tangible kind of points to really connect to and go like, oh, this
is where we're at. Like I would like it if they showed something like
maybe I haven't scoured over the tea. I am a massive mass effect man,
but I haven't like poured over it yet and I will. But I
wish there was like give us something, let us know something right now.
It feels like smoke and mirrors, which is as a fan, the thing
that's worrying. It's like, if you if you're going to do the small
teaser, give me some insight into what's going on. And I feel like
the Andromeda thing is probably what they're what they're like pinning that on being like,
oh, we told you it's connected turn, but you told us that
before we knew that Andromeda was going to be part of it. To some
degree, Like, I feel like there needs to be something that tells us
a little bit more about this game, just so that you give us the
confidence that you're not like sitting there with a blank piece of paper and then
last minute coming up with a cool jacket, which undeniably call jacket. I'm
sure that you're going to charge me seven hundred dollars and I will consider paying
it and it will look absolutely awful fit me at all. Yeah. I
think also the other thing is like it needs to be a proof of life.
They have more reason than ever to need to do that from a developer
perspective and from a publisher perspective. By a way, had Layos obviously on
the Star Wars side, but I imagine there was those that impacted the studio
as a whole. By Way's reputation has sadly kind of tanked in a lot
of ways because you know, we haven't had a game from them in a
really long time. People have been exiting. The main names that people know
of have have like exited, and and people want some sort of indication that
they're still alive. And then also there's like the on the EA side that
the EA is not looking good right now again, layoffs this game protest against
their picketed and they need some sort of like, hey, we need to
show people we're still making games that people care about as opposed to Ultimate Team
Forever and whatever this thing is. So I feel like there's a lot of
reasons to have this beyond N seven. Whether those who are factored in is
another matter entirely. It could very well be that they wanted something to tease
people with on this day that is they've marketed as being a big deal for
them, But I suspect that it also had it plays like double duty for
EA and by Away to a degree. Whether it successfully improves the outlook of
those companies right now, I don't think so, like it's it's a you
need to give us something more than that. Like I'm not overly excited about
mass effect. And if you're not overly exciting me about mass effect, like
you're doing something wrong. I just I just don't. It's not enough to
make me go, oh, bye ways back, We're back, baby,
bye ways in this ship. Because you don't have dread Wolf. I've seen
little to nothing of dread Wolf. I don't know anything about mass effect,
and that has been that way for years. Maybe game or as we get
something more, but for now, fine, it looks like mass effect.
You've got the lens flair, you got a nice coat, looks kind of
likely are a nice one. Yeah, I think if they can, if
this teaser can eventually be a w if we do get a decent amount of
info about Dreadwolf soon game wards sounds right to me. They've done stuff at
the Game Awards before. I'm kind I'm expecting them to be there. If
they're not, better be soon after because red Wolf was. You know,
there's a there was a chance Dreadwolf could have came out this year. Obviously,
it did keep moving internally, as I've reported before, it's now look
they're looking at you know, by By the mid next year or something like
that. If that game comes out and is good, people get can they
look back at this teacher and be like, okay, let's start thinking about
mass effect. We can get excited about that. And then there's a couple
of years where we don't hear anything. It's like, yeah, mean,
yeah, the Dreadwolf came out and that's great, we're loving that, and
then they could start talking about mass Effect five in a little bit more terms
after that. So here's what they do. Game Ward's okay, black screen,
Okay, Jeff introduces the trailer. We have something new from byway Nee.
We get that quintessential mass effect moment. You know, they're light breaking
over the planet and it creates that curvature and was like slowly pulling out and
people are like, oh, hell yeah, it's it's it's mass effect.
Everyone knows that curving light thing. And as it pulls out, it's Soulless's
bald head from dragon Age. And then we get Dragon Age trailer and it
was like, all right, fair enough, it's perfect perfect, no notes,
all right, we're gonna take a quick break when we get back a
lot more news, including Nintendo announcing another movie. We'll talk about that right
after this. All right, we're back, and Nintendo is teaming up with
Sony to create a live action the Legend of Zelda movie. This is from
Jess Howard, a game spot. It's official. The Legend of Zelda is
getting the live action treatment. Nintendo shared the news via its official website earlier
today, writing that the film is going to be co financed by Nintendo and
Sony Pictures Entertainment, with the Nintendo veteran and the Legend of Zelda creator Shagiro
Miyamoto overseeing as a producer, alongside Marvel Studios and longtime like Sony collaborator collaborator
a vi Arod. According to the press release, Nintendo has already found the
Legend of Zelda's director in West Ball. Yeah go hit hit me. Fucking
Why do we Why do people keep saying avi Aard like it means something anymore,
like, yeah, this man was attached to fucking morbists. Yes,
we're talking about like the man's got more ls than w's at this point,
at least he's got enough big l's that people going like, oh, we've
got a vi Arod on board. Who knows that guy's name is a fuss
i name in the early days of superram movies because a spider Man, and
then after that, it's been really spotty record to me, as someone who
pays attention to movies to a degree, saying it's gonna have Avi Aard involved
is a bad thing. Yes, no, thank you, get him away.
There's between like bad projects, failed projects, and projects that never showed
up. Like Avi Aard was attached to Metalkit wasn't he, Like where's that
movie at? Yeah? Was he? Yeah? Fuck? Like he's attached
to everything, like we get it, he made those he was part of
those Spider Man movies. Right, games industry and movie industry. The current
generation does not give a fuck about Avi a don't mention him, Like we've
got this old fart from the movie world who has put ed some really questionable
movies and recently dealing with the most beloved of video game properties of all time,
like one of them, and we've got this guy and he shambles in
like I made mobs a little morebs. The kids were talking about that on
the internet. Uh do you think he got this because his name because Avi
sounds like Navi. That's if he compan He's like, hey, listen,
great, I'll tell you that. Uh yeah, okay. So Avi Rod
producing west Ball directing Westball has done the Maze Runner trilogy, which I've never
seen. Some people hate him, some people think they're okay, he's just
he just finished Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which would be out
soon. No idea how that's going to turn out. I like those Planet
of the Apes movies, but this is his first one. Nintendo says it
will be deeply involved in the movie production, with the aim to put smiles
on everyone's faces through entertainment. By producing visual content on ninto ip by itself,
Nintendo is creating new opportunities to have people from around the world to access
the world of entertainment which Nintendo has built. Blah blah blah uh. And
then of course there was a tweet where Miomoto just said, this is me
Amoto. I have been working on the live action film of the Legendozelda for
many years now with a A Rod's son who has produced many mega hit films.
I've asked Avi San to produce this film with me, and we have
now officially started the development of the film. With Nintendo itself heavily involved in
the production, it will take time until it's completion, but I hope you
look forward to seeing it. Man, just Meboto loves making friends in Hollywood,
is what it sounds like to me. Everyone gives Kajiba shit for it.
Yes, right there too. I mean, like I it's gonna be
a billion dollar success probably, and it would be who knows. Like if
I had to, if you put a gun to my head and said is
this movie gonna be good? I would probably say probably not, probably not
fine, It'll probably be absolutely fine. It'll be like I'm expecting uncharted levels
of quality so common like personally mediocre. Yeah, we tried to make a
Lord of the Rings kind of style fantasy movie, but we made it colorful.
Isn't it cool? And like fifty percent of people who watch it are
going to be like, is this? Are these cosplayers? What's going on?
Yeah? Yeah, then they'll have really work hard to avoid that look.
So so I don't understand why they went live action. That's my big
question, Like why live action? Like you you do you play in the
anime, You could have played in the animated space and not alienate or your
entire fan base, Like I feel like having a Zelder movie is a difficult
ask from fans, like knowing that the yeah, we're going to make a
movie out this is difficult, especially with the way like I'm not being shitty,
I love Zelda, or but like the way the law is delivered is
it's tricky, right, Like it's it's hard to adapt to movies, but
like doing it in live action is a doubly hard pill to swallow. If
they had gone, we're making an animated, a CGI animated wherever it may
be, Zelda movie, it's going to be stylized. We've seen all the
success around into the Spider Verse. Across the Spider Verse, We're taking a
similar approach to the legend of Zelda to big screens. It's gonna be stylized.
Is again, it's a movie built entirely around grouse from Windwaka, You're
gonna love it. That would have been the move like and and that people
would have been like, Okay, they did Mario. Mario was decent,
it was fun. I trust them to go and do it again with it
with the other big puppy. But no, they went live action. I
just I've not seen a live action video game movie that I've been like that
was exceptional. I just I wonder if, because okay, so Sony co
producing, Avio Rod producing, I wonder if like Avi Rod and Sony approach
Sony Pictures approached Nintendo and are like, yeah, I mean, let's you
could do another animated feature film with universal and illumination for Zelda. But that's
like, animation is really good for family films, for action movies and and
and things that are more Uh, I don't know, dramatic like you would
want to make Zel you got to go live action. And I wonder if
they've gotten Nintendo's ear and convince them to that. I don't think I think
what you said is true. I think what you said about hey, live
or animated for Zelda could have worked because it's Zelda and it's Nintendo, and
their audience would totally show up for that. But I think Hollywood might not
believe that. They might have less of a faith in the ability for Nintendo
to win over that audience for something that isn't supposed to be a funny,
comedy, family thing that's you know, lighthearted or whatever. I think that
if that's the case. If that's what's happening here, that sounds like,
oh, that's troublesome already, because they are going are they going to try
to make this dark and gritty Zelda thing or something, because that would be
just the more I think about it, the more problems you create by going
live action, Like the costing now is going to be a complete boondoggle.
Right. They could get it very right, but they even if they pick
the most perfect person for link now, there's still going to be a massive
like pr and marketing wa to sell that, right. Whereas if you did
it animated or CG. You get the link that everyone knows, Yeah,
you get the point link that everyone knows and love. You get the young
link that everyone knows and loves. But instead you've got we've got like a
I just I Every time I see a movie from like an animated world or
or from a video game world being pitched as live action, I always think
of Shamalon's Avatar movie. And that's the only thing I can think of in
my mind. Every every live action, every live action adaptation of animated things,
comic things, not no comic things like among the Things and video game
things is just Shamalon's avata over and over again in my mind, and just
why did you do that? This was an unforced error. You didn't need
to do that. That's idea, That's that's the real fear here. Do
you have anyone in mind, like you know, fantasy casting or anything like
that. Do you care about that, because I'm like, at this point
in my life whatever link? Yeah for link, John Cena Jancene, it's
gotta be it, right, Yeah, yeah, Like he's built for for
that role. I think someone did your depatista for Gannon and I love that.
I really do love that. That would be really fun. Uh.
People also wants Elba for for Gannon, but now make eris elbow link link.
That would be sick. That would rule. I would I would watch
that version of of of Here we Go, Andy Samberg. Yeah, but
it's it's the it's the animated series. Link. So he's walking again.
We'll excuse, Can I get a kiss? H Jan points out it was
him who said depatista for for Gannon, so credit where credit is due.
I'm now sold on a live action z Elder movie that is a live action
movie based on the animated series. That is the one way that you make
that work and everyone goes, all right, you definitely is all movie based
on Zelder's Elder, not the one that we wanted, but you did it.
But yeah, Andy Samdberg, that's my pick. And Andy Samberg animated
link that's what I want. I think that's a beautiful thing. We all
deserve it. You know, had any guts, they would make that happen.
Can someone shown and I know he's watching this, he has to watch
this because it's part of his job. You get, like Andy Samberg,
any sort of shot from him and have the excuse me princess on there.
Somehow we need to mock together Andy Samberg as link. Simply listen, nick
you wanted to throw that up on Nicky, Nicky, you want to do
that, go for it, throw it up there. We need to put
that, We need to put that out into the world. Yes, it's
got to say, well, excuse me princess on this. Uh huh.
You just can't have him with his face from I throw it to the ground.
Just put a brain cap on there and you're good to go. Yeah,
it's it's a pot that he's throwing on the ground. That's exactly.
Yes, that's stupid and I like it. Okay, let's we got some
other Nintendo news here. Nintendo's share price jumps to its highest in two years
following the Zelda movie news, just because they one hundred percent is because they
said the ivy rod was in both. Oh yeah, it's not. It's
the obvious. I run. Oh yes, all right, let's see here.
I'll be the second kiddo just told on. I just want to point
out earlier your child, your gimmick came up and wiped the nose on your
sleeve, which was impressive. Look, she was just like, fuck you,
dad. Yeah, there's no regard. There's no respect, absolutely zero.
And I'm just at this point, I'm like, yeah, that's right.
I am just a tissue. I am just a walking cleanex That's fair,
all right. Nintendo share price jumps Zelda movie. This is from Chris
Scullion at VGC. Nintendo's share price has jumped in value following the announcement of
a Zelda movie that is in the works. The company's share price closed at
six thousand three two yen on Tuesday, after which Nintendo after when Nintdo made
the announcement, which reradi started again today the price immediately surged by such by
as much as six point seven percent. Not not too I guess, not
too surprising. I just it's always surprised. I guess it does a little
shock me a little that investors cared this much about big Hollywood movies. Here's
the thing, right, here's what I think whenever I see these kind of
stories about financials improving, When will I get some of that money? Yeah,
you deserve some of that money, because if you're telling me that you
have better shares and more money, unless unless I'm getting someone will give a
shit. That's okay, that's that's fair. The tam dibdends need to pay
off right now. Yeah, timp to you Vaan for a second. While
I help this kid. I'll be right back. So the fact of the
matter is like, obviously this is gonna go up. Shares are going to
go up. Anytime a company that's says they're going to do something that people
potentially want, shares generally go up. Unless you're I don't know, say,
the owner of a social network that you were forced to pay multiple billion
dollars for because you made a joke on that social network, and then you
have no idea because you've got literally one brain cell just bouncing around like a
single player pong game in your brain. Usually your shares will go up if
you say you want something, So it's something cool is gonna happen. So
unsurprising that Nintendo's shares go up. Also, isn't there like some stuff knocking
around about a switch potential two thing happening, like people are speculating again about
it or yeah there's been I mean they've gone back and forth, you know,
really so yeah, this elder news happened. But there's been a lot
of news stories a coming out of the late this earning support where Nintendo's just
like it, dude, we are doing real good. Like everything we're doing
turns to gold. In fact, that's our next couple of stories. And
Nintendo says many series games have grown on Switch and many are long term sellers.
It is from Nintendo everything. Nintendo talked about Switch software sales during a
financial results briefing today, and there are three key key takeaways. First,
mini series have seen an increase in sales with games released on the Switch platform.
A number of titles have also gone on to become long term sellers.
Finally, games like Animal Crossing and Kirby have seen more success outside of Japan
on the Switch. There's actually some data here. Let's bring it up here.
Starting with Zelda. Zelda saw dramatic growth in its A series sales.
In November two thousand and six, they released Twilight Princess on the Wii.
That game did about seven and a half million copies versus thirty one point one
five million for Breath of the Wild and already twenty million for Tiers of the
Kingdom. But you know, you, okay, yeah, are these games
just popping off? It's like, no, they are long term sellers.
Yeah. Breath of the Wild sold eight and a half million copies in its
first and second fiscal year, since then sold twenty two point six million copies
for a game that almost never goes on sale. Has been consistently sixty dollars
this entire time. And it's also up in every region they point out here.
The America's you know, four million for Twilet Princess, seven and a
half million in the Americas, things like that, But the other region and
Japan are way up there. Just to finding more people who care about Nintendo
in Japan somehow, and then they are also doing better around the world.
I bet most of that comes from China. This stuff is echoed for other
franchises where Mario Card eight Deluxe obviously a huge success. Mario Kart has always
been the best selling game on most platforms from Nintendo, but like thirty seven
point three eight million for Mario Kart Wii versus fifty seven million for Mario Card
eight Deluxe, Animal Crossing forty four million versus thirteen million and twelve million for
the previous three DS and DS entries, Smash Brothers at thirty two million versus
like, you know, the Smash Brothers Brawl for We was the highest one
before that, that was thirteen and a half million. So just in every
case, it's true for Mario as well. The switch factor really is just
popping off in a way that they have not ever really seen before, which
I think puts them in a situation where whatever they do next has got to
maintain this, right, Yes, yes, absolutely they need to. Well,
there's also the element of like an I'm gonna sound a bit this is
gonna sound kind of like negative, but I don't mean it in that way,
Like they make all the good games on that console. Oh, on
that device. Like I there's plenty of amazing game games and there's a lot
of great India major the games that you see on store shelves when you when
you go and buy a game or a switch, or the games that are
packaged with a switch when you buy on Nintendo games like the best games that
you are on the switch on Nintendo's games. So to some degree, like
a zung as, sales of the switch are healthy, sales of the software
are probably going to be somewhat correlating to that as well, because they just
make all the good games that are on that thing, so's that's a big
part of it as well. But as you said, yes, I feel
like the next thing that they make here now needs to maintain what they have
to kind of keep that momentum going. I they tried that before, and
I hope that they have learned their lesson from the WIU, because that was
what that thing was designed to be, right, But I feel like they
misunderstood a lot of like the the why people enjoyed the Wei and try to
do a weird thing at the same time as maintaining That's when Nintendo starts to
really like not fall apart but like that's when you're like it's just a good
idea, when it's like we've got a crazy idea, but we're gonna bolt
it onto the thing that is a success already. Yeah. I feel like
if they did the boring thing here, that's the smart thing where they just
crank up the power on a switch, add like a make all led screens
the default, add some little bit of features here in there, and just
put that out as a new version of the switch, like the switch to
switches back switch here. That is the move that that is the move that
gives them a little more road to work with without kind of upending the existing
interest in it. Yeah, they also seem like the one company that has
maintained a lot of the positive stuff that they got out of the pandemic,
which is establishing the Switch as this ever growing library that new people can come
to. And they aren't shocked that a game from a couple of years ago
is still sixty dollars. They don't think about in those terms. They think
about it like you said, come here for Nintendo games. The Nintendo games
cost us much. And so when they do have long term success and every
single one of these games that's on the screen right now, like Mario Kurt
Smash Brother, Zelda mar You want to see Super Mario, Party, Ring
Fit Adventure, Super Mario Brothers You Deluxe, and Splatoon two. Every single
those ones I just mentioned their first year sales have since been doubled, so
they or more than doubled. So they did, you know, really well
in their first year. But then they don't drop off. Even though they
don't go down and price that often, they continue to sell well into the
you know, for many years following that. And when that's the case,
it's like, Okay, Nintendo doesn't have to rush, they don't have to
over react, they don't have to think about what other people are doing and
freak out and and and have to adjust to the market realities. They are
building their own market onto itself, and that is something that you know,
Sony at the beginning this generation is definitely kind of eyeing, Hey, how
can we get closer to this and just establish Sony games as these things that
are going to be this price for a little bit longer and people are just
going have to accept the pay of them because they're that good and you can't
miss out on them. But Nintendo's been the one company so far that's been
able to figure that out. Yeah, for sure, Jeff, You know
that I am just full of just incredible ideas, as you know, like
I've given multiple ideas in this one episode of Game Mess Mornings that I feel
like our billion dollar ideas. Yeah you're an idea guy. Yeah, yeah,
here's the idea. Okay, what was the last huge successful Nintendo I
mean in terms of game releases or no hardware before the Switch? I would
say the WE or the three DS, the DS. Now, imagine a
switch with a switch hinges. You open a switch and you've got to switches,
the switch and the switch. I love that idea tam of just a
hinge like a door hinge on two switches and you cram them together and the
analog sticks are breaking, and shit, Yes, this is what we this
is what we need. Okay, the switch three DS hybrided that makes the
world just blow up with how much they love this thing. Oh god,
ny Luck, and Chat says, the sandwich. There you go, there,
you go. There, it's a billion dollar idea that's perfect people,
a sandwich. They'll do it. It will be incredible, and they still
won't play out and you metrid a game on it fucked. It's kids trying
to play Mario Odyssey and is getting frustrated because you can't leave the planet.
I'm going to try to teach her. Okay, go run over to your
ship. No, okay, you gotta throw the hat at the globe and
then you can select a different planet. All right, context, you sound
like an absolute crackhead of it. Oh yes, I'm in context too,
buddy. All right, let's let's get through some of these other stories a
little bit quicker. We're running out of time. Super Mario Wonders has sold
four point three million units in its first two weeks. That's more info kind
of coming out of their their financial report. That makes it the fastest selling
Mario games since they started tracking these sales. I don't think that's surprising that
at all. How about you, No Mario game does good? Where's my
cut the check for me? Uh huh? I remember what I said about
the sales earlier. Good job Mario selling Mario. Hey make a new two
D Mario game that is interesting. I wonder if it would do well.
Yes, I wonder if we do well? Oh surprise, Uh, there's
a series of bad news here for studios around the world, starting with Embracer's
times Splitter studio Free Radical, which is facing closure. Uh. This is
from Andy Robinson of VGC. Times Splitter's developer. Free Radical Design is at
threat of being closed by owner Embracer Group, just two years after it was
re established, sources have told VGC. For the past six months, Embracer
has been carrying out a restructuring program which is basically a panic we don't have
any money program, which has already seen some game studios closed and some projects
canceled. This includes the closure of studios like Sansor Developer, Volition and Campfire
Cabal, while others have reportedly been put up for sales, such as Borderland's
Maker Gearbox. According to people close to Free Radical Design, the Nottingham,
UK based studio has part of the evaluation and employees have now been notified that
it could close. That's required by UK employment law. Play on the embrace
Or division which runs Free Radical must consult employees for a minimum of thirty days
before making any redundancies, including exploring ways to avoid them. There remains a
possibility that the studio could remain open. Then should Embrace or receive interest from
third parties and interested in acquiring it. Yeah, I think this could be
more illustrative of where Embracer's at. Hey wouldn't be cool to buy time splitters,
get a studio, bring back free radical to make it. Is it
everybody excited about that? Yeah? Sure, let's is it going to be
good? Well, actually no, we're closing the studio before anything happens with
it. There's no vision except for old thing would be cool to bring back,
and that's going to make us money. And of course it's going to
be a bunch of people paying the price for some silly aside from a big
corporation. Yeah, it's kind of like this is the story of the modern
age with a big corporation thinks that it's gonna make the next billion dollar thing
happened by an overreaches and now it's paying the price, not itself but through
layoffs people, you know, the people who made no kind of had no
part in making those stupid decisions on now paying the price of it. Let's
just keep going with this report Sega Samy to continue belt tightening in Europe and
more layoffs at Creative Assembly is from Alberto Garrido at Game Reactor. While yesterday
we reported on Nintendo's healthy quarterly earnings in which it adjusted its Nintendo Switch console
figures and the million dollar sales of its games, and now it's the term
for its former competitor Sega with a much less enthusiastic balance sheet, in which
they advanced more steps of the restructuring in Europe that they advanced a few weeks
ago. In the document explaining the results report, there is a mention that
there is a mention of restructuring and actually more layoffs at studios, mainly Creative
Assembly, which had their their game Hyenas canceled a little bit ago. Uh.
There's also a downward forecast of their overall financial expectations. The report briefly
explains that the restructuring plan will be to focus on its best known and established
properties, something they've said before, and to reduce the number of active development
developments, as well as to open up to multi platform markets. You were
kind of waiting for us to get on the other side of like a lot
of this this bad news. I was kind of I thought, like,
hey, okay, they did some cuts a Creative Assembly. Uh, they
are stepping back and focusing on their biggest games. I thought it was done
the idea that oh, you know, they need to lay off even more
people, especially at a studio like Creative Assembly, like we said, we've
talked about last time Carried Carried Sega on its back, when all Sega had
was what it was, its successful PC games like the Total War series and
and and the other strategy franchises that Creative Assembly worked on. So just more
bummer news and you just wish there was some other answer to all of this.
Yep. I mean, I don't know what to say at this point.
Like it's the whole situation in this industry is bad, Like we talked
about this in on spot on last week, and it's just like why would
anyone want to be in this industry now, like come in into it,
Like even if you're like the most upbe aspirational person and you're like, I
want to make games, this surely is not enticing at all, Like these
kind of bad decisions that lead to and also like to a degree, the
economic changes that people can't predict. But this is this is leading to like
a real stagnation in the in the industry that I find quite scary. Uh
Sega so just says they're gonna going to combine their European and American publishing divisions
into one and that mobile games will be more actively explored, supported by the
recent acquisition of Rovio and then over at Ubisoft, the brutal year continues.
One hundred more people, actually more than one hundred more people have been laid
off. This is Eddie MCOO at GameSpot. Ubisoft is undergoing further restructuring that
will result in additional layoffs. The company confirmed a game Spot that it is
eliminating ninety eight positions from its Canadian workforce and one hundred and twenty four positions
overall in its latest headcount reduction. Twenty twenty three has been a year marked
by layoffs in the games development scene, and the trend is not stopping.
In a statement game Spot, a spokesperson for Ubsoft said, every team inside
Ubisoft has spent the past few months exploring ways to streamline its business. Layoffs
are a part of that. In this context, today we announced that we
are reorganizing our Canadian studios, general and administrative functions and reducing headcount in Highbride,
our VFX studio based in Montreal and in our global IT team, which
impacts one hundred and twenty four positions. Overall, these are not decisions taken
lightly, and we are providing comprehensive support for our colleagues who will be leaving
Ubisoft during this transition. We also want to share our utmost gratitude respect for
their many contributions to the company. It's for most of these studios, most
of these publishers, they are making probably enough money to make this all make
sense if it weren't for the fact that coming out of the pandemic, they
are like, Hey, everything's gonna keep going up. We're gonna make big
bets. And then of course the money markets tightened up and capital became more
difficult to come by because interest rates went up. Ye, And it's these
are things so far outside of the control of people who make games, and
yet the things that these people usually can control, they are for the most
part making pretty good games, and people want these games, and they're selling
pretty well. The last Assassin's Creed game was a big hit for Ubi,
soelf Assassins Cream Mirage did surprisingly well. It's just the disconnect between the games
that we're getting, the quality of games people figuring this stuff out and doing
really well with that side of things. So then oh, everyone's got to
get laid off because of some unrelated reason. It's very us straining to him.
Yeah, I again like this extension of what I was saying previously,
Like it is people. It feels like people are like dug themselves holes so
deep that even like the best case scenarios of games doing well do little to
nothing to improve the situation. And as a result, you know, the
developers, like as you said, that had no impact there and no decision
making ability in these giant swings that are now biting people or hitting people in
the back of their head, is had any impact on that are now suffering
because of it. It is part of like the kind of cruel cyclical nature
of video games where people think that they can go from being like, oh,
well this you know, very high revenue industry, but we need more,
like we always need more. We need more control, we need more
revenue potential, we need to take over more of gamers' lives, we need
to monetize every moment of it. It's just it's insidious, like in a
way that is like destructive, and the sad thing is like people who make
these decisions are often people that have little to know interest in the health of
video games. They are here to make that money, get out as quick
as possible, and then let someone else deal with the repercussions. I can't
think of a single person who I would genuinely say, like, this is
an executive or a person decision making a bity in video games that I honestly
maybe feel Spencer actually probably feel like that. I honestly believe cares about video
games and wants to do things to kind of improve the situation around them.
There are people probably I'm forgetting, like I don't know, like Reggie was
that kind of person as well, But these days I'm just like everyone just
feels like they are just really leaning into the like gross you know, CEO
stereotype, and whether they are or not, like it certainly looks that way
when you look at all these layoffs happening and these people earning crazy money at
the top just being like, sorry, we thank you for your contributions,
will take care of you. Maybe fucked up. Yep, uh, last
start here real quick. The Anta Crusis is launching out of early access in
December from Cameron Wooseley at Destructoid. After nearly two years of toiling away in
early access minds, developer Stray Bombay has announced that the Anta Crusius officially launches
this December. Of course, this is the slat master himself, Little Smith's
game. Uh, he's getting jiggy with it over there, making a left
for dead like they are taking it into one point zero in December. I'm
ready to check this game out again. They did a versus mode that when
this game launched it was just co op. I think a versus mode where
it's like some people can play as the the aliens that you go up against.
That seems like it would be a good thing to mess around with,
So we'll check I'm to check out as well. One more story that you
crossed off Blizzard president but leaves okay, yeah, okay, Like Blizzard president
Mike y Obara called out players for having no patience nowadays they expect content all
the time while also hoping that it reached a certain level quality. Why do
you think that is, Mike? Is it because maybe you fucking train them
to do that? Mike? You and everyone else like, is Mike really
their fault? Mike fucking Mike like a match people saying Welsh it right now,
I don't know, Like fucking Mike your bar is a very smart person
and from all from every from every like report like a nice guy as well.
But like that was a stupid thing to say. The industry literally reinvented
itself to make it so you're constantly drip feeding content and you're play turning,
turning the game on expecting something new there. This is your fault, all
right, don't blame the player. You've been making games like that for a
very long time for a reason. It always whenever people come out with and
speak about like the realities in the market. Also, like also, just
to be clear, game is all very entitled. Oh yeah, I agree.
I agree gamers we could say that, Mikey Barr. We don't want
to hear it from you. What we want to hear from you is how
is Blizzard contributing to the realities of how things work? That's what I was
gonna get at. So I was like, yes, exactly, Like,
if you are the executive of a company, you are in control of a
lot. Speak about the things that you control. We'll talk about hey,
as gamers, maybe we are entitled and all this stuff that we definitely are,
but let's just be realistic about our position in this space. And Mikey
Barrus is very different and probably could speak to some other factors that are causing
that. All right, whole question from Monday, Do you play Call of
Duty campaigns? Yes? Usually got thirty four percent. No, I don't
play Call of Duty at all got fifty eight percent, And No, I
just played multiplayer is eight percent. I went with No, I just played
multiplayer because that's what I ended up doing over the last several Call of Duty
games that I did play. Is I just played the multiplayer and didn't really
touch the campaign. So I guess you could see why Activision rushed out a
campaign for this game, because people claim to care about it even though it's
trash. It's probably still just a bullet point on the back of the box
and that's going to help them. But I haven't touched this yet, Tam.
Have you gotten around to trying out the campaign a tiny bit enough to
be able to verify our reviewer yet? And yeah, there's a real discussion
to be had about what Call of Duty is in this day and age,
Just as like Set the table because it's not one of the There was a
time when Call of Duty was this experience that you played because it was a
tight single player campaign that was awesome, like four hours, five hours,
and it was always like a hell of a great time. Now it is
not that at all. It is a repeatedly kind of iterated on online game
that has a single player desperately attached to it, and it's just pure gobble.
We have a new pole question we'll get to in a second. First
though, let's see what do we have going on in Giant Bomb and TAM
What do you have going on that we should plug? What do we have
going on? So after this, I continue playing Allen Wake two Yes,
Yes, and voicemail Dump Truck is happening later on and then yeah, that's
today. So Ed, Jeff and I are going to be recording spot on
Lucy's away for a little while. So I'm bringing in a ringer to help
me out. Young Jeff. Interesting, Jeff grub. Yeah, we're going
to talk about teasing video games, but we're talking about what the hell they're
thinking. Let's see, people are asking about b Light Club. Mikey's out,
So no blight Club today, obviously, but we were going to do
a B light club. But since we're off on Friday, we're moving things.
We're kind of like compacting the week. So we're doing Voicemail Dump Truck
on a Wednesday. We're doing a BombCast Revengeance on a Thursday. So I
figure we'll play Allen Wake two today. We'll get back to Blake Club next
next week. Uh, we have some ideas for a B light club.
There's just not enough time in a shorter week with the amount of people we
have working on stuff. But yeah, thanks to get back to normal next
week. Let's see that poll question. Grand Theft Auto six is real and
your options are look at us who would have thought and not me? I
know you should do a Grand Theft all six is real? Uh, and
then do yes. No, maybe we can do both. Let's let's see
here. I just want to to go No is real. You should do
Grand Grand Theft six main character Jimmy Uh, jim what's his name? Jimmy?
Is it Hopkins? Jimmy Bully? Yeah, Jimmy Bully, Uh,
Roman Bellick, Daniel Radcliffe. Okay, yep, no problem, thanks,
Oh yeah, you go get the other kid. That's fine. Yeah,
yeah, we'll get'll get a fan, don't worry, all right posting that
as well. We'll talk about both of those on the show tomorrow. Until
then, you won't. You won't see me on Fridays. No Dregs Day,
no Dregs Day this week, so yes, we're wrapping up the week
on a Thursday Dregs Day until then. Now, Tam, thank you so
much for spending today talking with me about video games. I really appreciate it
for having me as always. Until next time, everyone, take care of
yourself. You're the best audience in gaming. Have a good one and goodbye.
I did everything right and they indicted me.