Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to game Mes Mornings with Me Jeff Grub,
Speaker 1: your host from giant bomb dot com.
Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we're going to be talking about Microsoft
Speaker 1: wanting more of your money again again again, and the
Speaker 1: most Xbox three to sixty as series could return soon.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be.
Speaker 1: A good one because we have lex Luddi on the show. Lexi,
Speaker 1: how are you doing?
Speaker 3: Glub? I am so fucking tired. I arrived from Japan
Speaker 3: after a full day of traveling, more than a day
Speaker 3: of traveling, so I've been home for like less than
Speaker 3: twelve hours at this point. But I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 3: Japan was busy. It was a lot. I did a
Speaker 3: lot of the touristy things. I'm glad I did a
Speaker 3: lot of the touristy things. Went to the Nintendo Museum
Speaker 3: as you can probably see.
Speaker 1: Great sure wow fans of it's this disc system shirt
Speaker 1: for people who are ye fans.
Speaker 3: I bought this on a virtual discs shirsh and mugs
Speaker 3: for both of them.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 3: That was the majority of the merch I bart because
Speaker 3: it's like it's funnier to own these ones, and they
Speaker 3: were out of we and we you stuff weirdly enough. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and went to TGS for the first time. That was
Speaker 3: a lot of fun. That was extremely overwhelming. And went
Speaker 3: to the eight four TGS party, met some fighters, met
Speaker 3: them Gabe from eight to four. Yeah, those those people
Speaker 3: are awesome. Had a bunch of people recognize me from
Speaker 3: Giant Bomb stuff like, which was very weird. So that
Speaker 3: was cool. But yeah, it was a really good holiday.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling like reinvigorated to like cover video games. And
Speaker 3: the good news is, like the Sadian industry, it's it
Speaker 3: makes it easy to be enthusiastic about video games. Right now,
Speaker 3: let's go all.
Speaker 1: You know, blue skies and rainbows over here. It's just
Speaker 1: another but good stuff. Yeah you so you had a
Speaker 1: good trip. Did you have like and I understand you
Speaker 1: were there for Tokyo game shows, so you were doing work.
Speaker 1: But do you have any other works that you want
Speaker 1: to tell people about?
Speaker 3: Yes? I do. While I was gone. Right after I left,
Speaker 3: this arrived. If you can't see this, this is a
Speaker 3: really fucking big book. This is the latest lock on
Speaker 3: from Lost and Cult and I wrote a piece for this,
Speaker 3: which god, this book is heavy and yeah, you see there,
Speaker 3: I wrote this almost two years ago now, but I'm
Speaker 3: very glad that it is finally out there, and this
Speaker 3: is a piece on Birth of the Wild and myself
Speaker 3: and my own personal history with that game. I'm really
Speaker 3: proud of this piece. I'm really glad that it's out
Speaker 3: in the world. I will say, if you pick up
Speaker 3: this book, which you should, there is some incredible writers
Speaker 3: in there. There's some great interviews with different people who
Speaker 3: worked on Final Fantasy. There's a bunch of really cool
Speaker 3: ride in there. And if you want to read my section,
Speaker 3: I will warn you there's no content warning on my
Speaker 3: actual steff but the I'm going to issue a big
Speaker 3: old content warning on that for like mental health stuff,
Speaker 3: for eating disorder stuff, for gender dysphoyer stuff. It is
Speaker 3: not an easy read my section, but I've gotten some
Speaker 3: nice comments and feedback on it for the people that
Speaker 3: have reddish. But if you are going to be to
Speaker 3: just be aware of those things.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's very cool, very proud of you.
Speaker 2: I'm going to pick this thing up. I just I
Speaker 2: love the look of it always. It's so like just design.
Speaker 3: All of that, and like over five hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: pages of stuff that is.
Speaker 1: All that high quality yeah, they always get rid of
Speaker 1: like like you just flipping through there and like the
Speaker 1: burst the flashes of color as you like go from
Speaker 1: one one story to the next, and they all have
Speaker 1: their own feel. It's just it's enticing. Makes me want
Speaker 1: to hop into the book like that and just start reading.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but good enough that while I was gone, it
Speaker 3: alive to my parents' house and my dad has just
Speaker 3: been like leading random ones. Oh cool, and he's like,
Speaker 3: these are really good, like people can write some really
Speaker 3: good stuff about video games, And I'm like, yeah, wouldn't
Speaker 3: it be nice if everyone else knew that I want
Speaker 3: to get out of the way. At the end of
Speaker 3: the show instead of promoting my work I have around.
Speaker 1: Okay, fantastic, you want to get to that at the end,
Speaker 1: you're saying whatever you want to do that, I'll do that,
Speaker 1: all right, sounds good.
Speaker 2: Look win them over one at a time.
Speaker 1: Just send that book to random people and just let
Speaker 1: them casually pick it up like your dad did. That's
Speaker 1: the way we're going to do it, all right. Let's
Speaker 1: explain ourselves. We're Giant Bomb Video Game DUP. This is
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Speaker 1: if you can't, if money's tight, if you want to
Speaker 1: save your money, we get that.
Speaker 2: Tell a friend. That's also a great way to help
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Speaker 1: You know, we're doing the show you know Monday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Thursday and Friday. Tell them to tune in and then
Speaker 1: take it from there, and we would love to see
Speaker 1: some new people join the community as far as this
Speaker 1: show does go most weekdays, I Jeff Grub will help
Speaker 1: piece your gaming life back together. That includes breaking news
Speaker 1: and maybe even some of our own original reporting for
Speaker 1: all these topics. I'll get the input bay bona fide
Speaker 1: expert who will make me look smart. If you were
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Speaker 1: chapters and timestamps on YouTube.
Speaker 2: Hello YouTube.
Speaker 1: All right, we have a lot of mining on so much,
Speaker 1: so let's start the morning mess with game Pass price
Speaker 1: hikes announced again again again will cost thirty dollars a
Speaker 1: month for Ultimate. This is from Eddie McCoo at game Spot.
Speaker 1: Microsoft has announced another Xbox Game Pass price hike. We
Speaker 1: can just call these the annual Call of Duty price
Speaker 1: hikes at this point now Lexi with the Ultimate tire
Speaker 1: going up to thirty dollars per month. Microsoft is making
Speaker 1: this change just ahead of Call of Duty Black Ops
Speaker 1: seven's release in November. It follows a price increase on
Speaker 1: Xbox consoles that was announced last week. God that was
Speaker 1: only a week ago. For now, however, you could still
Speaker 1: get a one month game Pass Ultimate subscription for twenty
Speaker 1: dollars at Amazon.
Speaker 2: That's not going to last soon. I think the price
Speaker 2: is going up like right now.
Speaker 1: Microsoft is making the price changes as part of a
Speaker 1: wider claim excuse me that it's giving people more more
Speaker 1: than before to.
Speaker 2: Help justify the price hike.
Speaker 1: We know not everyone wants the same thing in their
Speaker 1: Xbox experience, so we're doing you a favor, and I'm
Speaker 1: matting that part. So we're evolving game Passed to offer
Speaker 1: more flexibility, choice and value to all players. Microsoft liede
Speaker 1: new plan named Seeing Here. Here's the details. Xbox Game
Speaker 1: Pass Essentials ten dollars a month. That's the basically Xbox
Speaker 1: Live Gold. Right, it does have some games in there.
Speaker 1: There's games that are partly like it's around.
Speaker 2: It's just north of fifty, I believe, right.
Speaker 1: Then Xbox Game Pass Premium also not day one games,
Speaker 1: but quite a bit more.
Speaker 2: You get like north of two hundred games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's one hundred two hundred games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1: And then Xbox game Pass Ultimate is thirty dollars a month.
Speaker 1: That that is day one games. They are adding some
Speaker 1: other stuff here, right, you know what we should.
Speaker 3: Just gluba, not including college.
Speaker 2: Not including Call of Duty, which seems notable.
Speaker 1: You'll need you'll but you will need one of these
Speaker 1: tiers to play online with Call of Duty.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's let's ride through here.
Speaker 1: For Game Pass Ultimate subscribers are now getting more Day
Speaker 1: one games than ever before. Along with access to Fortnite
Speaker 1: Crew and Ubisoft Plus Classics, members also get enhanced lay
Speaker 1: Cloud ca mane streaming quality up to fourteen forty p
Speaker 1: Fortnite Crew, which costs twelve dollars a month by itself,
Speaker 1: comes to game Pass Ultimate on November eighteenth. Fortnite Creue
Speaker 1: gives members the latest Fortnite Battle Pass, along with one
Speaker 1: thousand v Bucks each month each month in addition to
Speaker 1: other benefits. Ubisoft Plus Classics meanwhile cost sixteen dollars a
Speaker 1: month on its own. It includes a variety of Ubisoft
Speaker 1: games for PC, console and the cloud.
Speaker 2: It's going to be, you know, not necessarily.
Speaker 1: The oldest games. It'll just be games that are not
Speaker 1: like the newest, freshest releases. Another perk added to game
Speaker 1: Pass Ultimate is best quality streaming and shortest wait times
Speaker 1: for Xbox Cloud gaming. Additionally, you know, honestly like advertising
Speaker 1: that is insane because it was so painfully slow before that.
Speaker 1: Of course, like you're just kind of getting up to
Speaker 1: par at this point, but whatever.
Speaker 3: So I need to correck something. It is. Call of
Speaker 3: Duty is coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Game
Speaker 3: Pass Premium where they say game Xcox games will come
Speaker 3: within a year that does not include.
Speaker 1: Called Okay, so okay, So they're kind of warning people
Speaker 1: ahead of time, like don't get that, hopeing you'll get
Speaker 1: Call of Duty eventually.
Speaker 2: I guess all right. I was confused about that as well.
Speaker 1: Uh So the breakdown here is Game Pass Ultimate is
Speaker 1: they're trying to like get it up to thirty dollars
Speaker 1: a month, and then they're throwing at a bunch of
Speaker 1: a bunch.
Speaker 2: Of shit at the wall to sort of justify it.
Speaker 1: Call of Duty was going to be a big part
Speaker 1: of that equation for a lot of people.
Speaker 2: You'd be soft classics.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I guess some more games in there's good
Speaker 1: is better than nothing.
Speaker 2: And then Fortnite Crewe.
Speaker 1: God, I think if you want Fortnite Crewe, you already
Speaker 1: know and you probably already have it. I suppose that
Speaker 1: is another value in there. But uh hey, thirty dollars
Speaker 1: a month, I'm out.
Speaker 2: I'm done. I was. I was.
Speaker 1: Momentum kept me with twenty dollars per month on the
Speaker 1: Xbox over there. I will just if I will occasionally
Speaker 1: get essential to play games online on the Xbox. If
Speaker 1: I were ever to need that again, although I can't
Speaker 1: imagine that I will.
Speaker 2: I'm done, I'm out. How about you?
Speaker 3: Let me tell you something anecdotally. I thought I had
Speaker 3: already canceled this, and I went to double check, and
Speaker 3: turns out the page to cancel your Xbox Game Pass
Speaker 3: subscription having a little bit of trouble loading right now
Speaker 3: for people, and turns out I hadn't, so I canceled it.
Speaker 3: But I said this on Blue Sky the last couple
Speaker 3: of weeks. It feels like Microsoft, especially, but a lot
Speaker 3: of companies, they have turned off the music at the
Speaker 3: party and they are waiting for people to go home,
Speaker 3: like it feels like I've had this conversation. I've been
Speaker 3: at Gamescom, I've been at TGS, and the conversation that
Speaker 3: keeps on coming out is, hey, I think Microsoft are done.
Speaker 3: Like they are done being interested in this space. They
Speaker 3: are done growing in this space. They have realized that
Speaker 3: the death grip that they have on services in this space,
Speaker 3: with stuff like Azure and stuff like their platforms, means
Speaker 3: that people who would depend on them are already so
Speaker 3: dependent on them that they couldn't leave if they wanted to,
Speaker 3: And they are now just focused on monetizing who is
Speaker 3: there as much as they can, and they're doing all
Speaker 3: that so that they can fuel their AI bullshit. There's
Speaker 3: all been pent up. So if I like am going along,
Speaker 3: let me know. But this is something I've been thinking
Speaker 3: a lot and I've been talking a lot about with
Speaker 3: folks with This is really fucking dangerous what's going on
Speaker 3: right now because Microsoft as a company is like de
Speaker 3: emphasizing diversifying and is instead going we are just investing
Speaker 3: all of our stuff into AI at a time where
Speaker 3: AI seems less stable and like it is a bubble
Speaker 3: more and more and more and more, and you are
Speaker 3: having a situation where they are investing billions and billions
Speaker 3: and billions of dollars into AI, something that people are
Speaker 3: very aware is becoming more and more of a speculative bubble.
Speaker 3: And if that bubble is to burst, which it most
Speaker 3: likely is as the services stop showing the they continue
Speaker 3: to not show the rewards that were promised. But if
Speaker 3: that bubble does finally burst, I think, like Sam Altman
Speaker 3: was out there saying, like we still need this many
Speaker 3: billions and trillions invested in it, and it's like to
Speaker 3: see what profit, Like when are we going to see
Speaker 3: money being made back off of this. You are going
Speaker 3: to have a lot of very big companies that are
Speaker 3: very ingrained in the games industry and saddled with a
Speaker 3: lot of dish. And I think that when this happens,
Speaker 3: you are going to see one people on the gaming
Speaker 3: side pay for a lot of that that money that
Speaker 3: needs to be paid back through layoffs. And two, if
Speaker 3: it gets bad enough, like Microsoft have invested more money
Speaker 3: in AI than like pretty much any company except for
Speaker 3: open AI, and there is a non zero percent chance
Speaker 3: that like Microsoft needs a bailout, which is something that
Speaker 3: you would think of as impossible years ago. But you
Speaker 3: also look at the way that Microsoft positions itself to
Speaker 3: the American government right now, which is, hey, were your friends,
Speaker 3: and we love working with you, and we're a good
Speaker 3: company to work with. And so if you had a
Speaker 3: situation where the American government bailed out Microsoft, I think
Speaker 3: that would be pretty bad for let's say, things like
Speaker 3: free speech and things like independence of thought, independence of
Speaker 3: like media. So not to come on here and be
Speaker 3: a doomer instantly from my trip back, but boy, things
Speaker 3: are in a real precarious situation and it affects more
Speaker 3: than just games right now. And I think that we
Speaker 3: are seeing the telltale signs in the game sector where
Speaker 3: Microsoft has basically decided like they don't want you buying
Speaker 3: an Xbox anymore. They don't want you buying that hardware
Speaker 3: they want to sell you call a juicy on other
Speaker 3: platform because it's easier for them to deal with on
Speaker 3: other platforms. And I think that we probably will see
Speaker 3: that next Xbox just from inertia built up, but straight up,
Speaker 3: I think it is going to be dreamcast levels of
Speaker 3: how long that thing is on the markesh. If I
Speaker 3: were like making my early prediction calling my shash whatever
Speaker 3: the next Xbox is if it comes down twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 3: I think that was the rumor. I think within eighteen months,
Speaker 3: Xbox will be saying, hey, we're no longer in the
Speaker 3: console business. Because every single person you talk to at Microsoft,
Speaker 3: outside of Microsoft, within the industry, their vibe is Microsoft
Speaker 3: are done with video games. They are ready for it
Speaker 3: to instead of be something that they invest in, it
Speaker 3: to be something that they make reoccurring money off of
Speaker 3: through established things like college usual every year. They do
Speaker 3: not want new things out of games, They do not
Speaker 3: want new ideas out of game games. And I think
Speaker 3: I said this on the show a couple of months back,
Speaker 3: but like, I fundamentally believe that at this point, Microsoft
Speaker 3: is an unhealthy actor in the games industry because the
Speaker 3: money that it provides and the services that it provides
Speaker 3: is not good money. It's not stable money. It is
Speaker 3: money that is being funneled back into AI things and
Speaker 3: projects that are only going to long term destabilize several
Speaker 3: other industries. And yeah, this is one of the canaries
Speaker 3: and the coal mines of many and I think we've
Speaker 3: seen a bunch of them where that be everything from
Speaker 3: as small as Rare had their forshieth anniversary and they
Speaker 3: got eight bit dough to make the controller, which, like,
Speaker 3: you think about Microsoft, think about how many special edition
Speaker 3: controllers they have done over the years. Think about Xbox
Speaker 3: Design Labs, all of the money that they've spent on
Speaker 3: that one of their like in internal companies turns forty
Speaker 3: years old, one of the most historic companies in video games,
Speaker 3: and they go a third party can make the special
Speaker 3: edition controller. We don't really care. What does that tell you?
Speaker 3: What does that tell you about the state of Microsoft
Speaker 3: and Xbox. They are uninterested in the video game industry anymore.
Speaker 3: Sagionnedela has his new toy and the sixty nine billion
Speaker 3: that they spent. At the time, it seemed like, Oh,
Speaker 3: that's because they really care about the games industry. What
Speaker 3: it actually was was, Hey, Microsoft really wants to make
Speaker 3: sure that they have passive income in the game sector,
Speaker 3: and now that they have that passive income, they're done
Speaker 3: trying to get any other type of active income. And
Speaker 3: that's how it feels right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that when we are looking at Microsoft,
Speaker 1: it's a company that is just terrified as sticking its
Speaker 1: head out into the game space anymore. It's done it
Speaker 1: a bunch of times, and it's gotten whacked on the
Speaker 1: head a bunch of times when it's done that, and
Speaker 1: it's and I think, you know, I get the sense
Speaker 1: that the acquisition of Activision was Phil Spencer striking while
Speaker 1: the iron was hot and being like, I can get
Speaker 1: Satia's attention with this, and this can feel like a
Speaker 1: big play where like, we do have money sitting in
Speaker 1: the bank, we can move here. And while he was
Speaker 1: doing that, Ai popped off and it was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that Satia really gets
Speaker 1: horny for. And so we kind of have to just
Speaker 1: step back and do what we can with what we have.
Speaker 1: And and then I think they are as they step back,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh no, you are seeding more and more
Speaker 1: of of Microsoft's interest here and they and you're not.
Speaker 1: You're never You're never going to get it back, like
Speaker 1: they're never going to return back to the Xbox of old.
Speaker 1: It's just going to be Okay, what survives this call
Speaker 1: and and you know that's going to be obvious. It's
Speaker 1: going to be called Duty Minecraft. It's not going to
Speaker 1: be the Xbox hardware division that that. I mean clearly
Speaker 1: they are screaming at us not to buy one of
Speaker 1: those things.
Speaker 2: So so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're gonna say I gotta say because I've
Speaker 3: seen it in the comments a little bit when I like,
Speaker 3: you mentioned the BDS boycott every time we bring up Xbox,
Speaker 3: which is still ongoing, and people have been pretty negative
Speaker 3: around the Xbox brand, and there is still YouTube comments
Speaker 3: being like, I can't believe they're so biased against Xbox
Speaker 3: and this isn't biased against Xbox, this is Hey, I
Speaker 3: genuinely think Microsoft is doing some real permanent damage to
Speaker 3: an industry that I love, and I think you need
Speaker 3: to be aware of it. Ish, I think you need
Speaker 3: to be aware that what is happening at Microsoft right
Speaker 3: now is like tantamount to destruction of culture and destruction
Speaker 3: of the art form. And it's not good for any
Speaker 3: of us that they are carrying on like this and
Speaker 3: giving them a free pass in the name of like
Speaker 3: not playing into fanboy Wars or some shit like thath.
Speaker 3: That's not our job. We're reporters. Our job is to
Speaker 3: call out these companies when they do bullshit, and this
Speaker 3: is bullshit that harms everyone that likes video games, everyone
Speaker 3: that plays video games, everyone that wants video games to
Speaker 3: exist in ten years fucking time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know there there there are a lot
Speaker 1: of other companies, even like companies that are involved in
Speaker 1: gaming that have some form of BDS call against them,
Speaker 1: you know, Disney to a certain extent. We don't bring
Speaker 1: that up every time, and I would. I would explain
Speaker 1: that there's a difference here in that Microsoft spent seventy
Speaker 1: billion dollars to buy one of the biggest companies of
Speaker 1: on top of doing that multiple times for several other
Speaker 1: big publishers. They own a significant market share, a significant
Speaker 1: piece of the pie of video games is all them, So.
Speaker 2: We have to be more scrutiny.
Speaker 1: We have to scrutinize them more than anyone else at
Speaker 1: a certain point, and they are laying out a case
Speaker 1: in front of us.
Speaker 2: For reasons why that scrutiny is necessary.
Speaker 1: They they do feel like they I mean, they're turning
Speaker 1: off the light, they're turning off the music at the
Speaker 1: end of the party and it's over right.
Speaker 2: That feels like we're at the end of something.
Speaker 1: And you know, so that goes of course eas Selling
Speaker 1: to Saudi Arabia is a huge part of the Boy I.
Speaker 3: Feel great about. I feel so good about. That was
Speaker 3: a great fucking news story to wake up to in Japan. Boy,
Speaker 3: waking up in the morning and seeing that felt awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But like the other conversation that I've had being at
Speaker 3: these events, being at games, being at TGS, I gotta
Speaker 3: be And maybe this is because I'm one of the
Speaker 3: most fucking stubborn people in the world. Like the heat,
Speaker 3: death of the world, will of the universe will come
Speaker 3: and I will still be being like this space for
Speaker 3: an independent games media. But like I am certain that
Speaker 3: no matter how much these companies, these billion dollar companies
Speaker 3: try to fuck up the games industry. We are still
Speaker 3: going to get awesome video games because you talk to
Speaker 3: developers at these events, and these people are fucking stick
Speaker 3: those they need to create. They are artists, They need
Speaker 3: to create. They need to keep on making games like this.
Speaker 3: They need to within the art form that they love.
Speaker 3: Video games will continue to exist. The types of video
Speaker 3: games that you like will continue to exist, maybe in
Speaker 3: different forms with much smaller budgets, but those sickos will
Speaker 3: still keep making their video games. And I gotta be
Speaker 3: hopeful that there are people in this industry. I think
Speaker 3: there are because I've taken meetings with smaller publishers who
Speaker 3: are like we have realized that we need to make
Speaker 3: the publishing outlets that we want, publishing outlets that aren't
Speaker 3: billion dollar outlets. They are outlets that are making art
Speaker 3: that we like because we Likeish. I talked to eleven
Speaker 3: Bit Studios at Games Calm and they were very much
Speaker 3: so from the point of view, like, hey, we're Polish
Speaker 3: and we want the Polish industry to be alive and healthy.
Speaker 3: So we started a publishing label specifically to start in
Speaker 3: Poland and to slowly grow out from there, but to
Speaker 3: focus on making shorter games that are cool and are
Speaker 3: interesting and don't need to make a billion dollars each
Speaker 3: time because we like cool shit. And those are the
Speaker 3: meetings that give me hope for the industry continuing to
Speaker 3: go on. And I got to hope that there is
Speaker 3: a lot more companies like that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and you know, and in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: nothing new.
Speaker 2: You know, Microsoft has been.
Speaker 1: Afraid of making video games for more than a decade now,
Speaker 1: like quite a bit more than a decade. All throughout
Speaker 1: Xbox One. They they just didn't seem to care. They
Speaker 1: didn't think making video games was the answer. Something I
Speaker 1: would say back then. And then you know, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: game pass, maybe that changes that. And if it did,
Speaker 1: it changed it briefly for half of development, development cycling
Speaker 1: by the end. By the time they got to the
Speaker 1: end of making some of these games, like a Perfect Dark,
Speaker 1: it was like, no, this is in it either. We
Speaker 1: don't like making games that we just this feels bad
Speaker 1: to like take a creative risk like this.
Speaker 2: And what good are you.
Speaker 1: To me as someone who's into video games if that
Speaker 1: is your position that making video games is not a
Speaker 1: worthwhile investment and instead it's a bunch of other bullshit
Speaker 1: and nickel and diming people who you've already got in
Speaker 1: your pockets.
Speaker 2: It sucks, all right, We should keep moving here.
Speaker 1: It looks like Prototype could be coming back after a
Speaker 1: Steam update added new credits. This is from Jordan Midler
Speaker 1: at VGC. An update to the Steam version of Prototype
Speaker 1: has added new credits and references to Ubisoft Connect, which
Speaker 1: could point to a re release.
Speaker 2: Of the game.
Speaker 1: The surprise update has added references to ubisft Connect version
Speaker 1: of the game, something that doesn't currently publicly exist, suggesting
Speaker 1: the game could be re released on modern platforms. The
Speaker 1: update also adds credits for Iron Galaxy, the prolific studio
Speaker 1: behind several notable ports, including the switch versions of The
Speaker 1: Elder Scrolls five, Skyrim, Diablo three, and Overwatch. As pointed
Speaker 1: out by users on the game subreddit, the update was
Speaker 1: noticed after it broke the popular Prototype mod Prototype fix,
Speaker 1: which is designed to fix some of the issues encountered
Speaker 1: when running the game on modern PCs. A new test
Speaker 1: map has also been discovered within the PC version of
Speaker 1: the game. Well More new credits have since been discovered,
Speaker 1: largely attributed to other activision studios. So like that test
Speaker 1: map is like the Prototype character running up a wall
Speaker 1: and it's made of different materials, and it sounds like
Speaker 1: that they fix some of the sound effects or improve
Speaker 1: them and stuff like that. So when you're running up
Speaker 1: a glass building or whatever, it sounds different than a
Speaker 1: brick building. And that feels like the kind of work
Speaker 1: that Iron Galaxy might be doing.
Speaker 3: Now it was just one of the lumble verse expertise.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's say, that's some real shit right there.
Speaker 1: I think that this sounds like the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that would happen. We are like overdue for Prototype to
Speaker 1: kind of come back in one way or another.
Speaker 2: But yeah, at this point, would the surprise.
Speaker 3: You No, Jamie Hahen Twitch chat mentions that Prototype greater
Speaker 3: than Infamous. I super agree. Haven't played Infamous like the
Speaker 3: first Infamous I played last year on twitch stream. That
Speaker 3: game has not. That game sucks now, it's really rough.
Speaker 3: Every character in that seems like they were there on
Speaker 3: January sixth. Yeah, like Colma, Yeah, Colemagra's whole character arc
Speaker 3: is I want to get my dick wesh, that's it.
Speaker 3: That's his only characteristic. Yeah. But yeah, like I'm I'm
Speaker 3: I'm curious to see what a next gen version of
Speaker 3: Prototype would play like Hulk Ultimate Destruction is still fucking awesome.
Speaker 3: I don't think we will see a new Prototype because
Speaker 3: that is an Activision property, and I don't think that
Speaker 3: they are in the habish of making new video games
Speaker 3: that aren't called Call of Duty or World of Warcraft anymore.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think we will continue to see a
Speaker 3: bunch of remakes like this, and sure, sure why not?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Did it?
Speaker 1: Did a new Killer Instinct ever get announced? Because like,
Speaker 1: Iron Galaxy feels like the studio that would take that
Speaker 1: on for Microsoft. And I know there was a rumor
Speaker 1: a long time ago. I heard it the some evidence
Speaker 1: that Microsoft was curious about it, but they couldn't find
Speaker 1: a studio. That's back when Iron Galaxy was busy with
Speaker 1: Rumble Verse. I feel like that time in his past.
Speaker 1: Microsoft wouldn't be interested in that anymore and insteads like, well, hey,
Speaker 1: Iron Galaxy, come pitch us on stuff. Well you want
Speaker 1: to do something new, fuck you go remake some video
Speaker 1: games for us that we know has a have a
Speaker 1: certain audience to them.
Speaker 3: That was gonna be My counterpoint was like, do you
Speaker 3: think Microsoft is like, hey, we want a new fighting
Speaker 3: game right now? Like, do you think any anyone do
Speaker 3: you think feel like Sadi and Nadella is approvingsh of
Speaker 3: like oh yeah, a new FGC fighting game only on Xbox.
Speaker 2: No, No, unlikely.
Speaker 1: I yes, I really like the prototype games, at least
Speaker 1: that you know.
Speaker 2: I played most most of the first one. It's kind
Speaker 2: of the one I played a lot of and I.
Speaker 1: Thought it was It just feels like the most three
Speaker 1: sixty ash shit ever where it's It is stupid in
Speaker 1: a good way, and I would welcome it back a
Speaker 1: little prize to the activision would go and do this
Speaker 1: effort to get this stuff back. But I guess you
Speaker 1: know they've had success repeatedly now bringing back franchises. Maybe
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to shift it up from some of
Speaker 1: their old platforming stuff things like this instead, and again
Speaker 1: I welcome it. All right, let's take a break. We
Speaker 1: are going to come right back, get to more headlines.
Speaker 1: If you want to skip out on this, you can
Speaker 1: do so on the premium audio version of the show,
Speaker 1: the premium video version of the show by going to
Speaker 1: giant bomb dot com slash join become a premium member.
Speaker 2: But you didn't do that, so we'll be right back,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 1: We are back. We've got plenty more to talk about.
Speaker 1: EA says there will be no immediate changes to its
Speaker 1: workforce following leveraged buyout. This is from Sophie McAvoy at
Speaker 1: Games Industry.
Speaker 2: Dop is just what.
Speaker 1: Every girl wants to hear, right there's no immediate changes
Speaker 1: come into your workforce and the headlines mostly the story here.
Speaker 1: People have been wondering, Hey, what's the future for the
Speaker 1: jobs and our jobs at EA now that we are
Speaker 1: being acquired and taken private by a Saudi Arabian investment
Speaker 1: firm as well as other like Silver Lake and Jared Kushner.
Speaker 1: And the reason that they could say there's no immediate
Speaker 1: changes right now is because there is no real plan
Speaker 1: other than we have to service twenty billion dollars in
Speaker 1: debt that has now been saddled on ya, you know,
Speaker 1: through g JP.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if you yeah, I'm not sure if
Speaker 3: you saw has been labeled like what was it BUSS
Speaker 3: or B minus?
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean it's it's a junk bond. So yes,
Speaker 1: it's it's a b I think it's so. Debt for
Speaker 1: a company can be serviced in a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 1: In this case, JP Morgan is putting up that twenty
Speaker 1: billion dollars, but they intend to then sell that debt
Speaker 1: to a bunch of others through high interest rate loans
Speaker 1: or high interest rate Yeah, high interest rate payments.
Speaker 2: Because this is a it's rated, which is.
Speaker 1: Essentially saying to everyone who would invest in this, there
Speaker 1: is a strong chance that you won't get all of
Speaker 1: your money back here.
Speaker 2: So there's high risk.
Speaker 3: And why wouldn't they get all that money back Glove.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because the twenty billion dollars. I mean, just think
Speaker 1: about what happened Toys r Us. This is what's now
Speaker 1: happening to EA. Now, the good news again, I've said
Speaker 1: this before, EA is much more profitable than Toys r
Speaker 1: Us was. Toys r Us was struggling against Amazon. Now
Speaker 1: that does not mean Toys r Us was a failing company.
Speaker 1: It failed because of the debt, and that could happen here.
Speaker 2: The point is the reason it's.
Speaker 1: More likely today that for that failure to happen than
Speaker 1: it was when we were talking about this on the
Speaker 1: BombCast yesterday is because of that B rating. That means
Speaker 1: that the interest rates will be much higher. So EA
Speaker 1: is gonna have to pay even more than we are
Speaker 1: originally thinking it's gonna be bad, and how do you how.
Speaker 2: Do you pay for this? SLEXI?
Speaker 1: You cut jobs, You cut jobs and let AAI do
Speaker 1: the work, or at least that's what you tell yourselves
Speaker 1: so that you can justify that.
Speaker 2: And who's going to get bonus payments?
Speaker 1: All the people that put this deal together, fucking Jed
Speaker 1: Jared Kushner. I guarantee it's going to get a huge
Speaker 1: bonus pay multiple times out of this deal. They will
Speaker 1: extract the value out of the company and then and
Speaker 1: then watch it triple and die.
Speaker 3: I think he has gone a little bit under the
Speaker 3: radar with the other big names attached to this, because
Speaker 3: there's some real fucking assholes attached to this. But special
Speaker 3: shout out to Human Android Andrew Wilson, who like got
Speaker 3: a lot of shit over the years as like a
Speaker 3: pretty bad CEO and a pretty robotic presence in the
Speaker 3: games media. The idea of putting this deal together and
Speaker 3: then getting out in front of your staff and saying
Speaker 3: that there'll be no immediate changes, The idea of saying
Speaker 3: that you're still dedicated to making these video games, The
Speaker 3: idea that you wouldn't fucking resign in shame the second
Speaker 3: this happened, and that you're going to stay there a
Speaker 3: little bit longer to make sure that your golden parachutes
Speaker 3: is even more golden. Fucked you go to hell? You
Speaker 3: mean absolute asshole?
Speaker 1: Did his job though, right Like like his job he works,
Speaker 1: who does he work for? He works for the investors,
Speaker 1: and who's he making money for?
Speaker 2: Here?
Speaker 1: He is making money for the investors. The system is
Speaker 1: working as intended. The twenty five percent return on that
Speaker 1: stock price, that's huge. That's big stuff. Making video games.
Speaker 1: Taking care of your employees, that's a sucker's job. He's
Speaker 1: not interested in any of that. That's not what he's
Speaker 1: there there to do. That's the system. That's what That's
Speaker 1: how it would work at every single company. Something has
Speaker 1: to be done about the system. We have to change this. Uh,
Speaker 1: the incentives he pushed this in this direction. They're winning
Speaker 1: the game that they set up. It's what do we
Speaker 1: do about it. We don't go and try to beat
Speaker 1: this game. There is no winning this game. It will
Speaker 1: always end up here every single time.
Speaker 3: So before I left for Japan, I we watched The
Speaker 3: Big Short for the first time since it came out
Speaker 3: and since I rewatched that I have felt like fucking
Speaker 3: the main guy in that just like watching the entire
Speaker 3: system and hearing these testimonials and hearing these people brag
Speaker 3: about how they are like conning the like fucking lay
Speaker 3: person and making so much money off of them and
Speaker 3: deconstructing the fucking industry that they are meant to be
Speaker 3: the leadership of and stripping it for parts, and holy shit,
Speaker 3: I feel like Anthony Bourdain after he went to like
Speaker 3: Gaza where he's like, I want to beat fucking what's
Speaker 3: his name to death with my bare hands. Yeah, I like,
Speaker 3: I don't know, this might sound bad, but boy, I'm
Speaker 3: fucking angry right now. I am, like, legit so angry
Speaker 3: at the state of the world, at the people out
Speaker 3: of running this shit, at the people that are deconstructing
Speaker 3: the hobby that I love, the hobby that I've found
Speaker 3: so much joy in that I know is so capable
Speaker 3: of so many great fucking things. You look at the
Speaker 3: video games that are coming out right now. There are
Speaker 3: so many fucking incredible video games. There are art forms
Speaker 3: that would die to have this level of creativity and
Speaker 3: this level of high production values, and like genuinely like
Speaker 3: emotional and affecting and like distructive and different ash inish,
Speaker 3: and we are pissing that all away because at some
Speaker 3: point we let the fucking people with the money books
Speaker 3: in and they took control of the industry. They can
Speaker 3: took control of the whole fucking thing. And I genuinely
Speaker 3: think that, like, if I log on to blue Sky
Speaker 3: on Twitter and I see one more fucking person give
Speaker 3: out about how woke is ruining video games, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: lose my fucking shit. Holy shit, holy shit, motherfuckers. They
Speaker 3: are fucking robbing you blind, right underneath you. They are
Speaker 3: stripping your the industry that you claim you love, that
Speaker 3: you're obsessed over, attacking people over and defec ending with
Speaker 3: your light wing bullshit, because they realize that if they
Speaker 3: make you angry enough, they can get you to like
Speaker 3: look at the jangling keys that they are shaking, and
Speaker 3: they can just love you blind. And Yeah, this sucks,
Speaker 3: This fucking sucks. I think everyone involved in this deal
Speaker 3: genuinely deserves to be like regarded as a fucking monster.
Speaker 3: Not from the point of view of like, oh, we're
Speaker 3: gonna get less video games. That sucks. That sucks for
Speaker 3: the industry, but they are going to fucking ruin so
Speaker 3: many lives with this.
Speaker 2: Yep. It is.
Speaker 1: I can imagine people tuning into this show and hearing
Speaker 1: us do our thing here, Lexi, and it sounds familiar,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like despair, and it is. And I
Speaker 1: have made a decision recently, like we got to offer
Speaker 1: up something alternative. We have to like kind of point
Speaker 1: people in the direction of, like, what do we think
Speaker 1: can be done?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: The sad thing is a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: these a lot of these things, not a lot we
Speaker 1: can do. But there is one specific thing that would
Speaker 1: be put a dent in all of this and could
Speaker 1: kind of bring things back into a balance a little bit,
Speaker 1: and that is taxing billionaires. This will be the thing
Speaker 1: I will just be bringing up forever now, over and
Speaker 1: over again. This is the if you want something to
Speaker 1: be done, if you want if you're sick of complaining
Speaker 1: and you want to do something going forward, we have
Speaker 1: to support people who are willing to tax wealth. Taxing
Speaker 1: billionaires can just they can then they can play their games,
Speaker 1: and then they still have to play our game, which
Speaker 1: is taxing billionaires and doing something about wealth inequality.
Speaker 2: And if that is it's the one thing. It's the
Speaker 2: only thing.
Speaker 1: And if if in that case, if they want to
Speaker 1: go ahead and steal the wealth from these companies and
Speaker 1: destroy something that has existed for a long time and
Speaker 1: produced works of art that are worthy of conversation and
Speaker 1: worthy of our time, fine, but we're going to get
Speaker 1: that money back on the in the end. And people
Speaker 1: will point out all the reasons why taxing wealth is challenging,
Speaker 1: and I don't like that's the reason to do it.
Speaker 2: We do tough things all the time. Let's do it toughly.
Speaker 3: That's why we fucking elected you. If it's if we
Speaker 3: were electing you to do easy shit, we wouldn't need
Speaker 3: to elect you. Motherfucker. Do your job. Instead of getting
Speaker 3: out there on blue sky and being like, well, they're
Speaker 3: sending the troops into fucking, uh fucking wherever. What if
Speaker 3: we just like got good healthcare, motherfucker. You have something
Speaker 3: to do right now, Just do it. You have your
Speaker 3: job to do, you have your mandas.
Speaker 2: Keep going here.
Speaker 1: EA was reportedly looking to sell off Mass Effect developer
Speaker 1: before Saudi acquisition.
Speaker 2: This from Jake Valentine at Dual Shockers.
Speaker 1: Yesterday came news of EA's deal with it came countless questions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, came with it came countless.
Speaker 1: Questions, one of which it was about the future of
Speaker 1: not just electronic arts, but the developers and properties under
Speaker 1: that umbrella. Fans were already worried about what this means
Speaker 1: for the future of Mass Effect and in that series
Speaker 1: and the developer. After twenty seventeens, Mass Effect and Dramata flopped,
Speaker 1: Developer by Away made the decision to let the franchise
Speaker 1: take a break for a few years. Several years later, however,
Speaker 1: came the news that a new entry in the series
Speaker 1: was in development, presumably taking place directly after the events
Speaker 1: of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Trilogy itself was remastered.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. A new report from Insider Gaming details
Speaker 1: that Ia reportedly looked to sell the studio, presumably following
Speaker 1: the release of Dragon Age the Veilguard. Obviously that didn't
Speaker 1: come to fruition, but it paints an ugly picture about
Speaker 1: the future of the iconic developer. Yeah, that feels like
Speaker 1: one where like they were trying to avoid the really
Speaker 1: bad pr that probably would have done a small dent
Speaker 1: in their stock price.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Oh, you can't even figure out how to handle BioWare
Speaker 1: that this is a high profile failure, so hey, can
Speaker 1: we just sell them to somebody and make some money
Speaker 1: and then investors will be happy about that. And here
Speaker 1: we are like this kind of solves that problem for them,
Speaker 1: although I don't I just don't think any of this
Speaker 1: is good news for the future of Buyoware. That feels
Speaker 1: like a game the rife for a idiot who doesn't
Speaker 1: know what he's talking about to walk in the room, like,
Speaker 1: can't we save money by giving a lot of this
Speaker 1: development over to AI?
Speaker 3: More than that, this is something I talked a little
Speaker 3: bit about on Blue Sky and just looking at the
Speaker 3: cultural IP that Saudi Arabia and the Kushners now own,
Speaker 3: you know, a like Kushner's that the what's his company
Speaker 3: called again, It's slipped my mind.
Speaker 2: His is Affinity Partners.
Speaker 3: Affinity Partners and is essentially like a financial branch of
Speaker 3: Donald Trump's personal wealth, like it is part of his
Speaker 3: ecosystem and it is designed to help make him deals
Speaker 3: that will financially benefit him. And it is also yea
Speaker 3: is now owned by PIFF, which is the Saudi government.
Speaker 3: And you look at the IP that they now own,
Speaker 3: and you consider the things that those two extremely conservative
Speaker 3: groups want out of its creative arsh what it wants
Speaker 3: out of its media. We are going to see levels
Speaker 3: of sport washing and military bravado and bullshit that we
Speaker 3: have as a industry truly unprepared for. I do not
Speaker 3: people think that people are prepared for like the level
Speaker 3: of you know, I bet Medal of Honor gets bought
Speaker 3: back in some form if this all goes through as
Speaker 3: some AI bullshit, and I bet new Medal of Honor
Speaker 3: has a very different tone than old Medal of Honor
Speaker 3: and has some very different things to say about war.
Speaker 3: I think that like new mass Effect, if it ever
Speaker 3: does show up, is not what Mass Effect once was.
Speaker 3: It is not telling the stories that it once was.
Speaker 3: And moreover, I think that if like the people who
Speaker 3: now own EA look at what Mass Effect is look
Speaker 3: at like, hey, this is our storyboards, this is where
Speaker 3: we're going with the game, They're gonna look at that
Speaker 3: and go, yeah, we're we don't want this company anymore
Speaker 3: because we don't fancy telling stories that even go near
Speaker 3: any of this stuff. And right, so, yeah, I think
Speaker 3: there's like the chances of a new Mass Effect actually
Speaker 3: getting out were pretty low as it was like they
Speaker 3: had an uphill climb as it was. And I don't
Speaker 3: I don't think they last more than six months. I
Speaker 3: don't think they get past the keys being handed over,
Speaker 3: like I think BioWare has gone before the keys get
Speaker 3: handed over and the company goes fully private.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think that there is excuse me,
Speaker 1: there's a chance that you know, when they when they
Speaker 1: gather up all these ips, they just look grounded, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we could make a movie based on mass Effect and
Speaker 1: some of the other stuff, and so maybe we do
Speaker 1: want a game like someone could sort of like fool
Speaker 1: them once and get that stuff done and kind of
Speaker 1: keep things going under those guys.
Speaker 2: Is that there is every chance that they does.
Speaker 3: Jeff as well, they don't do that with Mass Effect
Speaker 3: because you think of who the owners are now. The
Speaker 3: thing that they're going to want to turn into a
Speaker 3: movie is Battlefield, because you look at the story set
Speaker 3: up for the new Battlefield, which is, hey, America versus
Speaker 3: mysterious forces across the world who are somehow threatening American independence,
Speaker 3: and they go, that's the story we want to tell
Speaker 3: in our current political climate, because that's the story that
Speaker 3: rallies people to our side. It's the fucking James Bond
Speaker 3: thing that you talked about of James Bond was developed,
Speaker 3: was created when the British Empire was shrinking and English
Speaker 3: people needed to project that the British Empire was still important.
Speaker 3: The American empire is fucking shrinking at the moment, and
Speaker 3: the American corporations that need to project that America is
Speaker 3: still important. And now you have business yeah, yeah, Now
Speaker 3: you have the leaders or the brother of the leader
Speaker 3: of the American regime or not, but the law son
Speaker 3: in law and owning one of those companies. And there
Speaker 3: is no way in hell that they don't see that
Speaker 3: as a way to like create media that boosts American
Speaker 3: morale in the way that they want to boost ish
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I think you're gonna like, if we're lucky,
Speaker 3: EYA doesn't make any more fucking video games. If we're unlucky,
Speaker 3: they become a fucking arm of propaganda.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm yep.
Speaker 1: And we've already seen Saudi Arabia be willing to help
Speaker 1: with stuff like that, and we're like owning S and
Speaker 1: K and kind of just throwing some stuff into that
Speaker 1: game they've interfered. I don't think that that is a road.
Speaker 1: They stop walking down there. It just gets word.
Speaker 3: They're not a light touch owner. They are not especially.
Speaker 2: Yes, especially in this case.
Speaker 1: I don't think, all right, let's keep going here. The
Speaker 1: Silent Hill remake materializes out of the fog enters full production.
Speaker 1: This is from Claire Jackson at Kotaku. Silent Hill is
Speaker 1: a sind it once more. Following Bluebird Team's well received
Speaker 1: remake of Silent Hill to last year, the studios confirmed
Speaker 1: that a remake of the series's nineteen ninety nine debut,
Speaker 1: Silent Hill, has entered full production.
Speaker 2: So we kind of knew this was coming.
Speaker 1: They have finished Kronos and now they are moving on
Speaker 1: to this, and I think most people are happy to
Speaker 1: hear it at this point, even Kronos not being like
Speaker 1: a slam like a slam dunk or anything like that.
Speaker 1: It's a game that people generally are like, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is still an upper trajector if you take yeah, if
Speaker 1: you take Silent Hill two out of it, it still
Speaker 1: feels better than what they were doing before, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of what people want to see from this team.
Speaker 3: I beat that game. I actually super like that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of people do.
Speaker 3: It's really solid. It is kind of what I want
Speaker 3: out of horror stuff, which is one like different and
Speaker 3: two also it feels workmenlike and craftsmanlike. It's like, we
Speaker 3: know what we're doing. We are going to make one
Speaker 3: of these. It is going to have this tone. The
Speaker 3: other thing that I really appreciate it is that it
Speaker 3: is inherently Polish. It is very very steeped in the
Speaker 3: country and the politics of post World War two Poland,
Speaker 3: and it is all about that, and it's something that
Speaker 3: you wouldn't see. It is in a way that like
Speaker 3: Silent Hill, feels like something that is inherently made by
Speaker 3: Japanese people and their sensibilities. This is something that feels
Speaker 3: like it is stem steeped in Polish sensibilities and Polish politics,
Speaker 3: and I think that's really cool. I would love to
Speaker 3: see more lighting from Polish people aren't like what they
Speaker 3: think of that game. I would love to see some
Speaker 3: perspectives on that. But yeah, I think that they're the
Speaker 3: people to do these remakes. I think that these remakes
Speaker 3: have been This remake has benefited them as a studio
Speaker 3: as much as it's benefiting Gnami, and I think that
Speaker 3: like they they are definitely becoming more equipped to tell
Speaker 3: the stories that they wanted to tell from the beginning.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all right, up next, the foremost requested Xbox
Speaker 1: franchise revivals.
Speaker 2: This is from Eric Frederickson at Game Spot.
Speaker 1: I'm just this is such a silly thing because this
Speaker 1: is a Phil Spencer out there kind of talking about this.
Speaker 2: Let's let's go through it.
Speaker 1: With so many studios under one umbrella, Microsoft has one
Speaker 1: of the biggest back catalogs and game franchises in the industry,
Speaker 1: if not the biggest, and yet certain titles stand out
Speaker 1: among the countless many. In an interview with Igen Japan,
Speaker 1: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer talked about some of the most
Speaker 1: requested revivals among a variety of other topics. Spencer noted
Speaker 1: in an interview that the most highly requested titles from
Speaker 1: Microsoft back Microsoft's back catalog are Japanese RPG's Blue Dragon
Speaker 1: and Lost Odyssey. In Western titles Crimson Skies and Megassault.
Speaker 3: Why good news, We're never going to see any of
Speaker 3: them again. You are never going to hear from them again.
Speaker 2: Why is he still do this?
Speaker 1: I like, well, why go out there and still be
Speaker 1: the clown putting on the show being like, Hey, it's
Speaker 1: we're good. Just everyone sit tight, everything's about to begin.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get all your dreams and the gamers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's baffling to me that that just at a certain
Speaker 1: point stop talking, go make the games. If you're making
Speaker 1: the games, and then put the stuff out and then
Speaker 1: then we'll believe you.
Speaker 2: This just feels sick at this point.
Speaker 3: Going to TGS. That TGS fucking live stream was one
Speaker 3: of the worst live streams I've ever seen from the
Speaker 3: point of view of like, you clearly are doing this
Speaker 3: out of obligation and you have no interest. There was
Speaker 3: one game there that the Japanese market would actually give
Speaker 3: a shit about, and I was a Ninja Guiden four
Speaker 3: and every other game that you saw at that show
Speaker 3: was like nobody in Japan gives a flying fuck about
Speaker 3: this shit. They do not care about Call of Duty.
Speaker 3: They maybe you have some PC Japanese gamers who like
Speaker 3: Flight Simulator, but it is not like a big part
Speaker 3: of the market. I think Microsoft getting out there is
Speaker 3: still being like, oh big in Japan, We're making a
Speaker 3: play for Japan. Is like almost at this point, it
Speaker 3: seems like a self flagellation ritual. Like Phil Spencer must
Speaker 3: just enjoy the embarrassment because they had big fucking posters
Speaker 3: up at TGS with that this is an Xbox campaign,
Speaker 3: and holy shit, man, that country does not give a
Speaker 3: crap about Xbox games. The idea of getting out there
Speaker 3: and being like, yeah, I would love to bring back
Speaker 3: Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. No, you fucking wouldn't. You
Speaker 3: have no interest in doing business with Saka Gucci again,
Speaker 3: You have no interest in like spending money on getting
Speaker 3: one of those games off the ground and making a big,
Speaker 3: expensive RPG. Again, you don't stop lying to us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've heard rumors about Crimson Sky specifically, that seems
Speaker 1: you know, that was a long time ago, and I
Speaker 1: always chalked that up to sure, maybe people bring that up.
Speaker 1: But at this point, like after the latest round of
Speaker 1: layoffs and canceling projects, there's no way they're still making that.
Speaker 2: There's no wayment they're doing any of these things.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just if I were him, I would
Speaker 1: just be like, look, we'll let our games speak for themselves.
Speaker 1: Like I guest, he's got to still be rah rah
Speaker 1: rah and go to town do that stuff, but be
Speaker 1: rah rah rah about things that people can actually believe
Speaker 1: in at this point because I just don't believe anything
Speaker 1: is saying about this sort of thing anymore. It feels
Speaker 1: and it feels especially weird to still be doing this
Speaker 1: same sort of trick that he's done a million times before,
Speaker 1: as if nothing's changed. And I get he's not talking
Speaker 1: to us, He's talking to people that are going to
Speaker 1: spend one thousand dollars on the Xbox Roger l I X,
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: We still hear it, and I'm sick of it.
Speaker 1: Amazon's relaunch reimagined Luna game platforms, starting with an AI
Speaker 1: powered Snoop Dogg party game, just what everyone wants to hear.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 1: This is from Michael McWherter at Polygon. Amazon's cloud gaming
Speaker 1: platform is getting a big rethink. That's in quotes in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five the game. The company announced Wednesday, promising
Speaker 1: a completely redesigned and reimagined Amazon Luna that combines innovative
Speaker 1: social party games with amazing blockbusters.
Speaker 2: That's a quote.
Speaker 1: In addition to streaming hits like Hogwarts, Legacy, Indiana Jones
Speaker 1: and The Great Circle and Kingdom Come Deliverance too, the
Speaker 1: new Luna will include Game Night, a collection of family
Speaker 1: friendly social party games. Game Night will offer familiar favorites
Speaker 1: like Angry Bar, It's Exploiting.
Speaker 2: Kittens, Ticket to Ride, and Clue. It will also in.
Speaker 1: Developed by Amazon, including launch title Courtroom Chaos starring snoop Dog,
Speaker 1: which Amazon describes as a human built AI powered improv
Speaker 1: courtroom game where players invent outrageous characters, excuse me, spin
Speaker 1: wild stories, and do whatever it takes to defend their
Speaker 1: testimonies before judge.
Speaker 2: Snoop Dog, I have to play this. I gotta see this.
Speaker 3: Maybe you know we were talking about like video game
Speaker 3: industry will continue because it's passion that maybe we should
Speaker 3: all just go home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is Look, I guess does everyone know what
Speaker 1: Amazon Luna even was. It was Amazon's Google Google Stadia
Speaker 1: with a slightly more sane business model where it wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily about subscribe and then also buy the games stadium
Speaker 1: just made no sense. Amazon lun is a little bit
Speaker 1: more just like just buy the game and then you
Speaker 1: can stream it on Amazon Lune, I think, And it's
Speaker 1: like you don't have to buy a console. Look, if
Speaker 1: I'm running this cloud platform, I get that, like the
Speaker 1: only ground you can go to is like the most
Speaker 1: casual audience, the one that it would not buy a console.
Speaker 1: But if they're not buying a console, how moved are
Speaker 1: they going to be by any of this stuff? I
Speaker 1: suppose if you get a streaming hit or something like that,
Speaker 1: like a hit that's like very popular on Twitch, maybe
Speaker 1: that catches on people go, Okay, where do I play this?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: I can click this one button here on Twitch that's
Speaker 1: going to connect me to Amazon Luna.
Speaker 2: But this game sounds terrible, and there are like there's
Speaker 2: like an indie.
Speaker 1: Version of this, like a court Like I think there's
Speaker 1: a game where you play as socks, like sock puppets,
Speaker 1: and you have to like go into courtroom and kind
Speaker 1: of put on your case and stuff like that. And
Speaker 1: there is no AI Snoop Dogg, which to me sounds
Speaker 1: like a step up.
Speaker 2: I don't know, sounds like a nightmare over there.
Speaker 1: What do you think I'd rather not think about it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd rather just they stop, I I do. I kind
Speaker 1: of just need to see this for myself. I'm morbidly curious.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to play the Snoop Dogg as.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna wind up on your fucking top ten list.
Speaker 3: Don't lie.
Speaker 1: I know you probably probably yes. Is there a are
Speaker 1: there physics based objects in there?
Speaker 2: Then I'll be into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Fall Out seventy six ads Walton Goggins the Ghoul, or
Speaker 1: I guess Walton Goggins is the Ghoul in big New
Speaker 1: Vegas inspired update. This is from bro Biovanni col Antonio
Speaker 1: should be Giovanni col Antonio at Polygon. Fallout seventy six
Speaker 1: is getting its largest update since twenty twenty this December
Speaker 1: with Burning Springs. The new expansion to Bethesda's MMO takes
Speaker 1: players to Ohio.
Speaker 2: Is that like Yellow Springs?
Speaker 1: Reference Ohio for a new suite of content inspired by
Speaker 1: Fallout three in New Vegas. It will also tie into
Speaker 1: Amazon's Fallout series just in time for season two by
Speaker 1: adding the Goul to the game, fully voiced by Walton
Speaker 1: Goggins Fallout Vegas. Fallout seventy six does feel like one
Speaker 1: that is has made it work. I don't know if
Speaker 1: we ever get another one of these like this again
Speaker 1: from a company like Bethesda under Microsoft, where they like
Speaker 1: sort of brute force their way to a success with
Speaker 1: the game after having a rough launch. But they've come
Speaker 1: full circle here and they're delivering probably exactly what that
Speaker 1: audience wants, fun stuff related to the TV show that
Speaker 1: they like.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I have a friend who recently got back
Speaker 3: into Fallout seventy six and was like, this is after
Speaker 3: all of that updates, they really have, Like this is
Speaker 3: just a solid Fallout game. It is probably like more
Speaker 3: of what you want from a Fallout game than even
Speaker 3: Fallout four. Was Like, they have added more role playing
Speaker 3: in Tuish than Fallout four had in a lot of ways,
Speaker 3: because at what at some point when you have a
Speaker 3: live service game, adding role role playing elements is the
Speaker 3: thing that you do. You've added everything else, And like,
Speaker 3: I don't know, I'm glad Fallout seventy six exists. I
Speaker 3: think it now has the opposite problem of there's maybe
Speaker 3: too much content for me to get into wish, But boy,
Speaker 3: I wish there was a new Fallout New Vegas to
Speaker 3: play going along with that new season, or maybe a remaster,
Speaker 3: And that doesn't seem like that's near anytime soon. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yes, it feels like we are going to have to
Speaker 1: kind of continue to be in a holding pattern on
Speaker 1: anything else Fallout. Who was it Virtuos who did the Oblivion? Okay,
Speaker 1: so you know that's I think they had layoffs after
Speaker 1: they did Oblivion and micro metal Gear Solid Delta, which
Speaker 1: is virtual.
Speaker 3: See, yeah, I wrote about this. I wrote about this
Speaker 3: before it became a news story, and then it became
Speaker 3: a news story, and I was like, I wrote about
Speaker 3: there's a no noticed now that Virtuos was. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: was one of the companies that was like heavily affected
Speaker 3: by Microsoft stopping a bunch of contract projects. And the
Speaker 3: way that that was explained to me was, even though
Speaker 3: virtuals is very big and it has there's a lot
Speaker 3: of demand for its work, if a project that it
Speaker 3: is working on at this very moment gets canceled, you
Speaker 3: can't just fill that in. You can fill in things
Speaker 3: that are six, ten, twelve months away, because there's lots
Speaker 3: of people that will want you to work on stuff
Speaker 3: in twelve months. Most people don't have stuff that they
Speaker 3: want you to work on right now because they have
Speaker 3: already made their partnerships. So they wound up with a
Speaker 3: lot of employees with nothing that they could work on,
Speaker 3: nothing that they could be assigned to, and their only
Speaker 3: realistic option was to lay them off quietly. And so yes, Virtuos,
Speaker 3: it wasn't like oh, Oblivion underperformed and they had to
Speaker 3: do layoffs. Like No, that did fine for them. They
Speaker 3: got paid for that, that was a good contract. They
Speaker 3: had other contracts that they were working on and those
Speaker 3: got canceled along with get games and or work that
Speaker 3: they were supporting on other games that were canceled as
Speaker 3: part of thatsh like. I would not be surprised if
Speaker 3: Virtuos was one of the support studios on Perfect Dark
Speaker 3: or something. But when that stuff fell through, they suddenly
Speaker 3: had just a big hole in the spreadsheet and they
Speaker 3: had to lay people off.
Speaker 1: Yep, all right, that's going to do it. For the headlines,
Speaker 1: we have a poll question from earlier this week that.
Speaker 2: We should catch up on. Let's go ahead and get
Speaker 2: the results right now. I'm going to refresh the page
Speaker 2: make sure.
Speaker 1: We have the most up to date results for have
Speaker 1: you ever played Parasite eve?
Speaker 2: That was the question.
Speaker 1: Your options were yes or no, and thirty six percent
Speaker 1: said yes, sixty four percent said no.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's highly high. That's with four thousand votes. Now.
Speaker 1: Of course, a pull like this is always going to
Speaker 1: be self selecting. People who don't care about about Parasite
Speaker 1: will just skip the question entirely, but still thirty six
Speaker 1: percent is higher than I would have expected. I think
Speaker 1: that does say that, like, hey, the people that are
Speaker 1: doing that spiritual success or you're probably walking into a
Speaker 1: welcoming space of people who are looking to get more
Speaker 1: of that, because you know, you don't get the thirty
Speaker 1: six percent of four thousand people voting at a poll
Speaker 1: like this without having people going back to Parasite even
Speaker 1: be like I'm gonna go try that game relatively recently,
Speaker 1: And I think that just speaks to interest in different
Speaker 1: kinds of JRPGs and different kinds of RPGs in general.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm curious to see you like count how
Speaker 1: that shows up for that game. All Right, we have
Speaker 1: a new poll question. We'll get to that here in
Speaker 1: a second. Before we do that, LEXI, why don't you
Speaker 1: remind people about where they can find you on the internet.
Speaker 1: Tell them once more about that book? So did you
Speaker 1: do you still have your rant? Feel free to do
Speaker 1: that now go to town.
Speaker 3: Last and culled lock on check it out volume six.
Speaker 3: You can find me on Blue Sky at Lexloody do xyz.
Speaker 3: I wanted to quickly talk about something that I've had
Speaker 3: a lot of conversations with at Games Common TGS, and
Speaker 3: that is review coverage and codes. I've talked to so
Speaker 3: many pure and developers who are like, hey, we are
Speaker 3: really struggling to get coverage of our games right now.
Speaker 3: We are really struggling to get people games media to
Speaker 3: cover all games in a real fashion and it is
Speaker 3: affecting things. And let me tell you that almost made
Speaker 3: my mind explode because in the last month, I have
Speaker 3: had so many times where I have tried and tried
Speaker 3: and tried to get codes for coverage on either start
Speaker 3: Menu or Rewinder or pitching to other outlets as a freelancer,
Speaker 3: and I have been stonewalled. I've been told we don't
Speaker 3: have codes to send out right now, we don't have
Speaker 3: the ability to send out right now. And the reason
Speaker 3: that this has happened, and I've talked to our people
Speaker 3: about it, is publishers only want big hits right now
Speaker 3: when it comes to news beats, they only want stuff
Speaker 3: like Game and Former cover pages or IGN main spreads.
Speaker 3: They are not interested in the smaller hits.
Speaker 1: By the way, that's the list, by the way of
Speaker 1: the big things that they care about. It's like IG
Speaker 1: and Game Informer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and so boy I when Game and Former
Speaker 3: went away, it would have been real interesting to see
Speaker 3: what they would have done if it hadn't come back.
Speaker 3: But right now, games media can't stand out or doesn't
Speaker 3: stand out because it is essentially just issuing press releases.
Speaker 3: And like, that's what video game news is right now,
Speaker 3: is issuing press releases. And when it comes to sponsored
Speaker 3: content and streaming content, influencers have them beat. And what
Speaker 3: games media needs is to be able to stand out
Speaker 3: in some way for it to continue to grow. And
Speaker 3: I genuinely think that the way forward for games media
Speaker 3: is curation as a hey, this is what we think
Speaker 3: is good. This is stuff that we can recommend you.
Speaker 3: We can cut through the noise, we can tell you
Speaker 3: if that you were interested in this game. And games
Speaker 3: media acts as a curator by getting access to things
Speaker 3: for review, and right now a lot of games media
Speaker 3: isn't getting access to things for review. You saw this
Speaker 3: Borderlands for it had like Foshey reviews at release, and
Speaker 3: most of those were very selective codes that were sent
Speaker 3: out to outlets that Gearbox you would probably would probably
Speaker 3: give a good review. And I think that this is
Speaker 3: unbelievably short sighted by publishers. And it's something that PRE
Speaker 3: also knows because PRE understand that if games media doesn't exist, yeah,
Speaker 3: they don't exist. If there is no games media, there
Speaker 3: is no need for public relations or press relations. And
Speaker 3: so you have a situation where I am fucking begging,
Speaker 3: I am begging publishers to make codes available to smaller outlets,
Speaker 3: because right now you have Game Informer, and you have IGN,
Speaker 3: and you have a lot of other websites that are
Speaker 3: struggling and slowly shrinking or being bash or changing in
Speaker 3: some ways, and you have no one who is being
Speaker 3: grown from the ground up to fill in their spash
Speaker 3: in thirty years time. There is no outlet that is
Speaker 3: being given the support that Game Informer was given thirty
Speaker 3: years ago to build that baseline of content, to build
Speaker 3: that baseline of writers and in built knowledge and expertise.
Speaker 3: And unless game publishers and pure and developers make it
Speaker 3: codes and review codes accessible to smaller outlets to grow
Speaker 3: the next Game Informer, you will not have any curators.
Speaker 3: You will not have anyone who are able to direct
Speaker 3: people towards your content. And the only way that a
Speaker 3: game will ever get big again is if it has
Speaker 3: a big fucking Markus campaign, you will not have people
Speaker 3: being able to find games organically. And I genuinely believe this.
Speaker 3: I genuinely think that like games Media can Act and
Speaker 3: Daniel Dwyers out doing this with no clip to and
Speaker 3: indie games, they're doing a great job at highlighting some
Speaker 3: really cool stuff. I think that other outlets could be
Speaker 3: doing a way better job at it. But I think
Speaker 3: that if you want to start somewhere, you sat by
Speaker 3: sending smaller outlets review codes. You sat by understanding that
Speaker 3: not every review is going to be a positive review,
Speaker 3: and that is a good thing because that means that
Speaker 3: developers can look at those reviews and they can get feedback.
Speaker 3: The other big conversation that I had at all of
Speaker 3: these events with developers will start for feedback. Developers go
Speaker 3: to Japan because they specifically want to get Japanese feedback.
Speaker 3: They want to get feedback from a different segment of
Speaker 3: the market to where they are based. You of European
Speaker 3: developers going over there because they're like, we can't get
Speaker 3: opinions from Japanese people easily in Europe, and they every
Speaker 3: time I played a game at game at games Carmo
Speaker 3: TGS I had someone asking me, so, what did you think?
Speaker 3: And that's because they wanted feedback. They wanted to know
Speaker 3: how to make their games better because they love making
Speaker 3: video games. And if you have reviews, and if you
Speaker 3: have really good and critical and thoughtful reviews, you will
Speaker 3: be able to make better video games based on that feedback.
Speaker 3: And if you don't have that kind of stuff, if
Speaker 3: you don't have an healthy games press, then you have
Speaker 3: shit like the Silent Hill review that ran early because
Speaker 3: someone wasn't explained what an embargo was. And yeah, that's
Speaker 3: my rant. Make review codes accessible to smaller outlets, cheap
Speaker 3: games media live because it makes games better. And yeah,
Speaker 3: fucking support independent media.
Speaker 1: Yep, publishers, listen to your PR people. They know what
Speaker 1: they're talking about, and they usually have our back in
Speaker 1: the city. You're right, it is coming from the publisher
Speaker 1: side of things.
Speaker 2: All right, New pole question, have you ever played Prototype?
Speaker 2: Yes or no? Interested about this one?
Speaker 1: I bet this one is all so a fairly high
Speaker 1: split of people who have at least played a little
Speaker 1: bit of Prototype one or two. We'll get the results
Speaker 1: of this talk about on Games Morning's here on Giant
Speaker 1: Bomb tomorrow. Speaking of Giant bomb. Let's see today it's Wednesday.
Speaker 1: That means we return with Blake Club. It's back a
Speaker 1: new season. Dan Reiker will be hopping into his game.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know what it is, but you're gonna get
Speaker 1: to see the debut of his new outfit and his game.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a good one.
Speaker 3: Everybody question, is he gonna look cool?
Speaker 1: He's gonna he's gonna look He's gonna look cool. He's
Speaker 1: gonna look cool. Yeah, that's the word.
Speaker 2: Okay, I am.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to if that's at two pm Easter
Speaker 1: and everybody so about two hours from now.
Speaker 2: You know, we also have You want.
Speaker 3: To know what I watched on my flight for thirteen hours.
Speaker 3: At a thirteen hour flight, I watched the three episodes
Speaker 3: of Mike's BA Light Club back to back to back
Speaker 3: to back. And I'm sure I look like a fucking
Speaker 3: crazy person to the person sitting next to me, but
Speaker 3: stuck that person they were watching Howie Potter, don't give
Speaker 3: a show?
Speaker 2: Yeah, go to hell. Yeah gross quick looks, go to
Speaker 2: you take quick look.
Speaker 1: Will be happening. If it's not up now, it'll be
Speaker 1: up soon. Final Fantasy Tactics. I think we're gonna make
Speaker 1: some stuff happen there. Yeah, a lot more happening on
Speaker 1: the website. We'll be back with dumb Truck tomorrow. Mike's
Speaker 1: gonna play some Super Mario Galaxy two on the website
Speaker 1: tomorrow evening. So yeah, lots happening here on Giant Bomb.
Speaker 1: I will try to conquer the man breaker on the site.
Speaker 1: At some point, we'll see it's getting close to breaking me.
Speaker 1: But I got really, I got right there at the end.
Speaker 1: I just got to do it again and make that
Speaker 1: last couple of steps. We'll see, all right, I think
Speaker 1: all that out of the way, we can wrap up
Speaker 1: the show. LEXI, thank you so much for hanging out
Speaker 1: with me today and talking about video games as always.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm so glad that we could do this
Speaker 3: in coordinating shirts as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good thinking. Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad
Speaker 2: we were able to make that happen.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for watching and listening. You're the best
Speaker 1: audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one,
Speaker 1: take care of yourself, and goodbye.
Speaker 3: Oops bim bom bim bim
Speaker 2: Alrights