Speaker 1: Welcome to Game Breaking News with Me Jeff Grub, your
Speaker 1: host from Giant Bob dot com. Thank you for tuning
Speaker 1: in on this episode. We're going to be talking about
Speaker 1: a massive decline in gaming hardware sales and developers are
Speaker 1: uniting around the industry. We have Janet Show on the program,
Speaker 1: so it's going to be a good one. Let's get
Speaker 1: right into it with Janet Show and jan how are
Speaker 1: you doing?
Speaker 2: I am doing marginally better than yesterday. I can sit
Speaker 2: in a chair.
Speaker 1: Fine.
Speaker 2: Uh, the back is still okay. It still feels like
Speaker 2: a group of fur grade horses trampled over it. I
Speaker 2: don't know if that's an actual classification of horses.
Speaker 1: But here we are. I mean, listen to me. It
Speaker 1: sounded like insane lyrics from my red Hot Chili Pepper song.
Speaker 1: So you don't want that happening in your back. You
Speaker 1: don't want red Hot.
Speaker 3: Chili Pepper songs happening back here there in those muscles.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, I'm at like Beck level lyrics. Uh huh,
Speaker 2: with the help of my back, which which is safe.
Speaker 2: We're not crossing the RHCP.
Speaker 1: Bridge yet. We're under it. Yeah, we're under it.
Speaker 3: Boom Okay. Jane how you do it.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, video games are coming out grub I popped into
Speaker 2: Assassin's Creed yesterday.
Speaker 1: Holy smokes, I'm enjoying that a lot. Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker 2: It's pretty good. You and Sean checked it out on
Speaker 2: the website yesterday, and that inspired me to like, all right,
Speaker 2: I want to I want to check out this bamboo
Speaker 2: that that Dan is talking about that he's so high
Speaker 2: on good bamboo. Good bamboo. Maybe the best bamboo of
Speaker 2: the year so.
Speaker 1: Far, I think. So. Yeah, you know, there there was
Speaker 1: a time in all these open world games where they
Speaker 1: would simulate everything and you could like shoot the trees
Speaker 1: and the trees would fall down, and I think they're like, well,
Speaker 1: the wider audience doesn't care about that. They just care
Speaker 1: about having way points to go to h and then
Speaker 1: so you your stuff went in that direction. I think
Speaker 1: they're like realizing now that having all that extra cool
Speaker 1: stuff in there was important, even if not everyone was
Speaker 1: engaging with it. So yeah, I'm glad that we're like
Speaker 1: kind of they seem to be dipping their toe back
Speaker 1: in it. It's like I said on that thing with Sean,
Speaker 1: it's not far cry to levels of interactivity with the
Speaker 1: world in that game, but you can chop up the
Speaker 1: bamboo and it looks real nice.
Speaker 3: And that one, that's one where it's like, well.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. You have a sword, there's bamboo in
Speaker 1: front of you. You want to be able to chop
Speaker 1: it up and have it look nice. But at least
Speaker 1: they did actually do that. Yeah, I've been playing that.
Speaker 1: It's it's been pretty good. Got some other stuff. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to to hopping into here pretty soon. Gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna play some thirty three Immortals today. I played some
Speaker 1: of that last night. That's strange. It's interesting, strange to
Speaker 1: say the least. Yeah, I kind of got in the
Speaker 1: flow of it though, so it will kind of we'll
Speaker 1: show it off here in a little bit not long
Speaker 1: after the show today. It is that thirty three player
Speaker 1: online cooperative rogue Light games. It's Hades, but thirty three players.
Speaker 1: You can have a crew of four and really you're
Speaker 1: just kind of a crew of four in an instance,
Speaker 1: working together with other crews, trying to accomplish an overall
Speaker 1: goal on any floor.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I was enjoying myself, so yeah, looking forward
Speaker 3: to playing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I dipped into that a little bit as well this morning.
Speaker 1: And you're right.
Speaker 2: I don't enjoy the bow that they start you out with.
Speaker 2: And I also didn't like that they started you out
Speaker 2: with one of those instant that you have to fail missions,
Speaker 2: just because I spent too much time actually trying to
Speaker 2: play and win but totally wound up switching weapons. And
Speaker 2: it is an interesting premise kind of being dumped with
Speaker 2: a bunch of other people playing at the same time
Speaker 2: reminds me of I Guess Destiny in some ways.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. It's definitely like taking some of the
Speaker 1: that field of feelings of playing a game like that
Speaker 1: and applying it to a hades. And I think it's
Speaker 1: a cool thing to do with a popular genre right now,
Speaker 1: like oh, haites something there, like a lot of indie
Speaker 1: developers are aping. That's great, that's fantastic. I would probably
Speaker 1: be I'm like interested to see, Okay, what spin can
Speaker 1: you put on there? And this is a pretty good spin.
Speaker 1: All right, let's explain what we do here most weekdays,
Speaker 1: I Jeff Grub will help piece your gaming life back together.
Speaker 1: That includes breaking news and maybe even some of our
Speaker 1: own original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the
Speaker 1: input of a bona fide expert who will make me
Speaker 1: look smart. If you are watching live on Twitch welcome,
Speaker 1: You can always listen to the show later on podcast
Speaker 1: feeds by searching for Game Best Mornings, or find the
Speaker 1: RSS on giant bomb dot com. You can also catch
Speaker 1: the show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube.
Speaker 3: Hello YouTube.
Speaker 1: All right, we have a lot to get into, so
Speaker 1: let's break some game news with February's twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: US video game market highlights from Matt Piscatella over at Sircana.
Speaker 1: As he does each month, he dropped a bunch of
Speaker 1: tidbits about what's going on around the industry in terms
Speaker 1: of performance and sales, and for February twenty twenty, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, projected US consumer spending on video game hardware,
Speaker 1: content and accessories. It declined six percent when compared to
Speaker 1: a year ago to four point five billion dollars. Spending
Speaker 1: so far this year is eleven percent lower than twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four year to date, which hit nine billion, no,
Speaker 1: excuse me, nine billion dollars. Even This is mostly due
Speaker 1: to a dip in hardware, but it's kind of across
Speaker 1: the board. We see everything's down. Content was down despite
Speaker 1: a lot of new games launching in February. Video game hardware,
Speaker 1: though specifically down thirty five percent, it is from like
Speaker 1: seven hundred and twelve million dollars spent on hardware in
Speaker 1: the United States last year all the way down to
Speaker 1: four hundred and sixty one million. You know, the biggest
Speaker 1: culprit with this continues to be the switch is at
Speaker 1: the end of its life. People are not buying switches
Speaker 1: the way they once were. They're not buying switches the
Speaker 1: way Nintendo even thought they could maybe still be. So
Speaker 1: we know that that is like the main culprit. But
Speaker 1: PlayStation and Xbox. Every time we kind of get this
Speaker 1: info from from Mattisktela, at least throughout the last several months,
Speaker 1: it's often been both of those systems are down double
Speaker 1: digit percentage wise because they are on the other side
Speaker 1: of the hump. When we had Matt on two months ago,
Speaker 1: now one month ago, whatever that was, he explained, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we are past the tipping point of the current console
Speaker 1: generation where the Xbox and the PlayStation should start dipping
Speaker 1: in terms of reaching new people to sell consoles to,
Speaker 1: although he did mention that it's dipping faster than he
Speaker 1: would have anticipated and faster than it typically does at
Speaker 1: this point in the generation. That's continuing, so you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: whatever's happening there. I mean, we'll get into all of
Speaker 1: it here in a second, but I guess let's hit
Speaker 1: the top best selling games for the month. Like I said,
Speaker 1: a lot of new games launched in February, so that
Speaker 1: was not like the thing holding the industry back, and
Speaker 1: the top four on the chart were all new games,
Speaker 1: and really the like six of the top eight are
Speaker 1: new games. So number one was Monster Hunter Wilds from Capcom.
Speaker 1: Number two Kingdom Come Deliverance too did very well. Number
Speaker 1: three was Civilization seven. Number four is PGA two or
Speaker 1: two K twenty five. Then NBA two K twenty five.
Speaker 1: It was back on the chart at number five. Call
Speaker 1: of Duty Black Ops six was number six, and then
Speaker 1: two other new games avowed at number seven and number
Speaker 1: eight is like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, And
Speaker 1: then the rest of the chart is a lot of
Speaker 1: the familiar faces, starting with Grand Theft, Auto, Madden, Minecraft E,
Speaker 1: Sports Football Club twenty five, things like that.
Speaker 2: How is how is Hogwarts legacy still on this chart?
Speaker 1: I mean it's it is, it has become one of
Speaker 1: these games where I think we talked about the hardware
Speaker 1: not selling. I think the hardware when it does sell,
Speaker 1: it is getting picked up by people who are like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna finally get that Hogwarts game, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: Grand THEFTD five again for the third time on this
Speaker 1: new hardware and Minecraft or something like that. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: very familiar games and then the one new one that
Speaker 1: has sort of entered into that pantheon.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I think I got some improvements
Speaker 1: on the Switch not too long ago, and so it
Speaker 1: was selling there again. But yeah, it's it's definitely just
Speaker 1: has become one of these ever selling games, right, there's
Speaker 1: kind of no denying that. Hey, Astrobot though still on
Speaker 1: the chart at number twenty. That's great to see as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fantastic. You know, the story with this gen I
Speaker 1: think we've had this conversation million times now, is Hey,
Speaker 1: Grand Theft out of six and switch To are coming.
Speaker 1: And I think switched to probably does solve the hardware
Speaker 1: sales thing, and then that may be snowballs and helps
Speaker 1: with software.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people are waiting
Speaker 2: for Nintendo's next moves to kind of plan out financially
Speaker 2: the road ahead. I think with people that have already
Speaker 2: bought a console, or we're on a fence of buying
Speaker 2: a PS five or an Xbox are unfortunately waiting for
Speaker 2: GTA six to come out this year or not. And yeah,
Speaker 2: because I don't believe there's necessarily any if you have
Speaker 2: been on the fence of picking up and joining this
Speaker 2: new generation that is what four or five years old now,
Speaker 2: and there hasn't been that killer app or a killer
Speaker 2: game to convince you to jump ship from PS four
Speaker 2: or the Xbox one. Then because you can still play
Speaker 2: your Fortnite, you can still play your Call of Duties
Speaker 2: or your war Zone or whatever else have you, then
Speaker 2: you're obviously at this point waiting for GTA six, or
Speaker 2: you're waiting for I don't know, something like Kingdom Hearts four,
Speaker 2: or you have no interest in adopting this next or
Speaker 2: joining this current consule jen and you are waiting for
Speaker 2: that switch to So I can see why hardwell hardware
Speaker 2: sales are down overall, on top of just people being really.
Speaker 1: Tight with money right now.
Speaker 2: Just because right now, just because of the rising costs
Speaker 2: of everything else, I mean groceries, we don't need to
Speaker 2: get into it. But like I saw a roadside sign
Speaker 2: as I was driving yesterday that says, yo, we got eggs,
Speaker 2: and it was like a local farmer selling eggs astronomical prices.
Speaker 2: But hey, they're taking advantage of what's going on right now. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know. Do you think with an Xbox handheld
Speaker 2: this year that could spike hardware sales as well? Or
Speaker 2: are people kind of just waiting for GTA six or
Speaker 2: just waiting for prices to go down across the board,
Speaker 2: or just waiting for the switch too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think switch to is the big one, clearly,
Speaker 1: And then I think something like an Xbox handheld is
Speaker 1: the tip of the sphere of introducing this kind of
Speaker 1: hardware to a new audience of people that maybe did
Speaker 1: not consider handhelds before, or maybe didn't consider video games
Speaker 1: because it wasn't convenient to them. And maybe the Xbox
Speaker 1: One could be Hey, this is like a console that
Speaker 1: I've heard of, but now handheld I can go for that.
Speaker 1: Excuse me. And they're promising that all the games that
Speaker 1: work on that system, the things I've heard of as well,
Speaker 1: Fortnite can work on here. But I think we've seen
Speaker 1: with the Steam Deck, which I think has been in
Speaker 1: you know, an unqualified success. It's at like five million ish,
Speaker 1: six million ish. That's not like it's just nothing close
Speaker 1: to what the consoles do, even the Xbox. So I
Speaker 1: just I just think the handheld is going to have
Speaker 1: to establish itself as a new tier off to the side,
Speaker 1: and the Xbox Handheld is part of that lineage along
Speaker 1: with the Steam Deck and everything else, and then the
Speaker 1: Switch continues to be in its own little gully over
Speaker 1: there doing its own thing. But yeah, I mean hardware
Speaker 1: is just you mentioned it. People are tight with the
Speaker 1: purse strings right now. I think the uncertainty, you know,
Speaker 1: just absolutely you know flooding the economy right now definitely
Speaker 1: has caused people to be like, let's just hold off
Speaker 1: on any you know, unnecessary spending, and consoles are just
Speaker 1: squarely in the unnecessary spending zone for the vast majority
Speaker 1: of people. And so I'm not surprised that it's it's
Speaker 1: getting hit a little bit hard, and it's hit harder
Speaker 1: than it's been for quite some time. I'll read here
Speaker 1: more from Matt Piskutella February Video Game hardware spending fell
Speaker 1: by twenty five percent when compared to a year ago,
Speaker 1: to two hundred and fifty six million dollars. This is
Speaker 1: the lowest February total for video game hardware spending since
Speaker 1: the one hundred and eighty four million dollars reached in
Speaker 1: February twenty twenty, which was you know that that would
Speaker 1: have been before the new consoles, like right before the
Speaker 1: new generation of consoles, So they've kind of gone back
Speaker 1: to people are waiting for the new thing, That's what
Speaker 1: they were doing in February twenty twenty. And then on
Speaker 1: top of that, there was the looming uncertainty of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: which people were beginning to recognize at this point. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously the economy really shut down in art, but there
Speaker 1: was definitely people going like, wait, what's happen? Why do
Speaker 1: I keep hearing this every day on the news? Is
Speaker 1: this really going to hit us like a wall? So yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you know, the consoles came out later that year,
Speaker 1: and then of course people were at home and wanted
Speaker 1: video games and things popped off. But you know, maybe
Speaker 1: that same thing doesn't quite happen, and that's not going
Speaker 1: to happen this time, people are not going to be
Speaker 1: rushing to get games in that same way, except for
Speaker 1: if they really want to switch to other like notes
Speaker 1: here from Matt. Monster Hunter Wilds was the best selling
Speaker 1: video game of February, instantly becoming the best selling title
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five so far. Launch month dollar sales
Speaker 1: of Monster Hunter Wilds more than double the total of
Speaker 1: Monster Hunter Rise achieved during its March twenty twenty one debut,
Speaker 1: and Monster Hunter Wilds was the best selling game of
Speaker 1: February February across the PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam ecosystems, the
Speaker 1: Steam accounting for more than half of the title's total
Speaker 1: dollar sales. So that's that's interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's pretty substantial. Who knew grub launching on everything
Speaker 2: would boost sales perhaps.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like to the point where people are like
Speaker 1: choosing the PC version and I mean more than half
Speaker 1: of dollar sales we're just on Steam. It's like, that's
Speaker 1: just not how these breakdowns normally happen. It's PlayStation is
Speaker 1: like forty percent, and then Steam is thirty percent, and
Speaker 1: then the other the thirty percent.
Speaker 3: Is maybe Xbox, and you know there's given.
Speaker 1: Take there, But yeah, I think that this game has
Speaker 1: just clearly shown that, oh, there's a huge audience everywhere,
Speaker 1: and the PC gamers now are ready to show up
Speaker 1: for this thing right away. And yeah, the right choice
Speaker 1: to get this thing out everywhere. I mean, and we've
Speaker 1: heard this from every publisher now, being like, we just
Speaker 1: want to be everywhere we possibly can be. That seems
Speaker 1: to be the strategy that works best. And yeah, this
Speaker 1: is proving it, which maybe is like, Okay, hey, that
Speaker 1: next Final Fantasy when Square Enix decides let's put that
Speaker 1: out everywhere right away as soon as it's ready to go,
Speaker 1: does it have a chance of popping off in a
Speaker 1: similar way. It's obviously not could do Monster Hunter number
Speaker 1: it just isn't, but it could be a much different
Speaker 1: story than the ooh, how's it really doing that we've
Speaker 1: been saying with Final Fantasy sixteen and seven Part two remake. Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Wonder if the multiplayer component is a big factor in
Speaker 2: this doing so well on PC as well, where folks
Speaker 2: and even on console where folks are thinking like, all right, cool,
Speaker 2: I don't have I'm getting tired of playing and I
Speaker 2: hate to constantly bring it up, but Fortnite or Warzone
Speaker 2: with my friends or we've already gone through a season
Speaker 2: of whatever multiplayer game we're doing together. Now, is this
Speaker 2: the one we're investing in because we know that we
Speaker 2: can spend a lot of time in Monster Hunter and
Speaker 2: we will get DLC in the future. So I'm curious
Speaker 2: if that plays a big role versus if the new
Speaker 2: Final Fantasy, like the third seven remake game or the
Speaker 2: next mainline big numbered title would do well since it
Speaker 2: would be a single player game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's so many, so many factors there,
Speaker 1: but it's I mean, one of the big things holding
Speaker 1: them back just was this idea that the money from
Speaker 1: PlayStation was worth it. And I think they've they've said
Speaker 1: now it wasn't. It is not. It is a hindrance
Speaker 1: on the long term success of these franchises, and really
Speaker 1: seems to be a hindrance on the immediate success as well.
Speaker 1: They want to sell as many copies of those games
Speaker 1: as they possibly can, and they weren't. They just weren't.
Speaker 1: And and you know whatever reason that, you know, the
Speaker 1: PlayStation audience didn't completely glom onto it, whatever, that's maybe
Speaker 1: the game's fault. But being able to like find the
Speaker 1: kinds of people that want to play this game elsewhere
Speaker 1: while you held that back yourself, excuse me by just
Speaker 1: taking the bag from PlayStation. And it's being like, okay,
Speaker 1: well we got money upfront.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 1: It's like yeah, but it seems maybe it is steering
Speaker 1: Final Fantasy into a little bit of a relation.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, Colonel Sanders twenty one in the Giant
Speaker 2: Bomb Chat poses an interesting pipeline where kids are kind
Speaker 2: of clamoring or asking for PCs more than they are
Speaker 2: asking for consoles. And I wonder if those that generation
Speaker 2: of iPad kids or kids that we grew up with
Speaker 2: screens don't want a console and they want a PC
Speaker 2: because maybe they grew up watching Roadblock streamers, Minecraft streamers,
Speaker 2: Fortnite streamers, and they were all playing on PCs. So
Speaker 2: maybe they aren't going for a console that can just
Speaker 2: do the one thing and play the games. They're looking
Speaker 2: for something where okay, well I can not only play
Speaker 2: this game, but I could stream this game. There's discord
Speaker 2: on this PC. It's easy to link up with friends
Speaker 2: this way. Yeah, who knew. Maybe at your local job
Speaker 2: fair or bring your your career day grub we can
Speaker 2: be bad YouTubers and be proud of it.
Speaker 1: That's right. Maybe finally uh weird pride. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that feels like, Yeah, yeah, gross, I yes, I
Speaker 1: mean they start maybe started playing Minecraft on a hand
Speaker 1: me down phone, but then that led them to, like
Speaker 1: you said, watching streamers, and those streamers are all going
Speaker 1: to be doing things like playing with mods, like setting
Speaker 1: up their own custom games. Stuff that is just much
Speaker 1: easier and like sort of standardized and the default on
Speaker 1: PC and so you know, and like every time you
Speaker 1: if you were watching on these streamers, it's it's probably
Speaker 1: hard to go through an entire stream without someone and
Speaker 1: chapping like what kind of PC do you have? And
Speaker 1: then they talk about that, and people just so absorb
Speaker 1: that stuff through osmosis and like, if I want to
Speaker 1: be like this person who is my favorite content creator,
Speaker 1: I shall have a PC. And I think it kind
Speaker 1: of has shaken out to the to the point where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, that had a massive sort of shift
Speaker 1: on the entire landscape of where people play games. And
Speaker 1: you know, it seems like it's not necessarily been at
Speaker 1: the complete expensive consoles, but a little bit of the
Speaker 1: at the expensive consoles here As we get to the
Speaker 1: end of this generation and people that may have been like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll hop in now, like now they already have PCs
Speaker 1: because they were able to justify that by hey, this
Speaker 1: is a multi use thing that I can use for
Speaker 1: all kinds of different stuff, including maybe making money one day,
Speaker 1: and so I don't need a console and a lot
Speaker 1: of those console games now are on PC. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wonder if in the long run, this future generation
Speaker 2: of cameras will eventually hurt the console market. But oddly enough,
Speaker 2: I feel like the Switch and Nintendo, not that they're
Speaker 2: impervious to it, grub, but I feel like they just
Speaker 2: they're just so far in a different lane that they
Speaker 2: don't really worry about how PlayStation and Microsoft are necessarily
Speaker 2: doing hardware wise.
Speaker 1: It's a similar lane, but you're right, it is different,
Speaker 1: right because it's it's still kids. We're talking about families. Now.
Speaker 1: This is not like, oh, what is the kid's hobby?
Speaker 1: Should we get them a he sees so we can
Speaker 1: facilitate the hobby. It's like no, no, like this is
Speaker 1: something we're going to get for the entire family, and
Speaker 1: that kind of spending. It just people underestimated all the time.
Speaker 1: It is very, very powerful and It's like, if I
Speaker 1: spend this one dollar on this form of entertainment, it
Speaker 1: will pay dividends, and that it is something for the
Speaker 1: entire family can get joy out of. The Switch is
Speaker 1: just the thing in that butter zone there to take
Speaker 1: advantage of that. So yeah, I just think that it's
Speaker 1: it's still actually quite a bit of a different thing,
Speaker 1: and it's a protected thing. It's it's shielded from all
Speaker 1: this other guff happening because nothing else is really threatening
Speaker 1: to switch his position in that in that zone and
Speaker 1: Nintendo's position specifically. All right, here, here's some more news.
Speaker 1: Dan Record cut his mouth slit in an et mask
Speaker 1: so he can eat candy. So look forward to that
Speaker 1: later today. And you don't have to wear the costume. Now.
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's addicted to it. He
Speaker 1: put it on, and I expect him to be wearing
Speaker 1: this costume from now on. Okay, Zeno Blake Chronicles X Definitive.
Speaker 1: It got an eighty seven on Open Critic, which is
Speaker 1: higher than the original version, which I think got like
Speaker 1: an eighty four around that range. Now, selection bias that
Speaker 1: people like the game probably did review the game, but whatever,
Speaker 1: this is eighty seven still a hard number to get.
Speaker 1: Got a nine out of ten from George Yang, who said,
Speaker 1: and the silvered IgM Xena Blake Chronicles X was already
Speaker 1: one of the we use best games, and this Definitive
Speaker 1: Edition does more than enough to justify another trip to
Speaker 1: Planet Mira ten out of ten from Stephen Mills at
Speaker 1: Destructoid Monolith. Soft Wind went the extra mile and added
Speaker 1: meaningful new content and quality of life features that actually
Speaker 1: improved on what was already a masterpiece experience. The Definitive
Speaker 1: Edition treatment makes Xena Blake Chronicles X Definitive Edition one
Speaker 1: of the best JRPGs on the Switch and a must
Speaker 1: play for fans of the genre. And then will row
Speaker 1: Over at Digital Trends gave it four stars, said Zena
Speaker 1: Bla Chronicles X Definitive Edition gives a great RPG the
Speaker 1: second chance it deserves.
Speaker 3: Are you have you ever played X?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: The first Zeno Blade Chronicles I got into was the
Speaker 2: most recent one other than this three yep, and I
Speaker 2: dug the hell out of that game grub because the
Speaker 2: original Zeno blad Chronicles X that launched on the WI
Speaker 2: You Yeah, that's right. I did not want to be
Speaker 2: anywhere near the WEU, of course not. So I am
Speaker 2: very psyched for this to review well, and I'm very
Speaker 2: psyched to check this out, especially given how weird this
Speaker 2: universe is and how how tied to space drama and
Speaker 2: space opera it is. And I just eat that stuff
Speaker 2: up grub.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I think this is the one. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: most interested out of the Zeno Blade games because I
Speaker 1: have played some Chronicles three and I enjoyed myself. I
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty good. I didn't play a ton
Speaker 1: of it, but I played some of it. This one is,
Speaker 1: I guess more. It has more of an emphasis on exploration,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's the tech that was the under
Speaker 1: tech for this game was what they eventually kind of
Speaker 1: used for Breath of the Wild, and I like just
Speaker 1: running around Breath with the Wild if I can kind
Speaker 1: of get something slightly similar, but there's more GRPG stuff
Speaker 1: in there. I'm okay with that. I'm gonna I want
Speaker 1: to shuck it out, So I think I'm gonna play this,
Speaker 1: give it a shot. Also, I just want a couple
Speaker 1: more reasons to play the Switch one before it's all
Speaker 1: said and done, and I'm gonna I'm gonna take this
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to do that, Grub.
Speaker 2: I've seen the sentiment of people even in our chat
Speaker 2: saying like, all right, I'm glad this game came out,
Speaker 2: gonna wait for the switch too, And I'm almost on
Speaker 2: that wavelength too. Sure, I get it, and I, for
Speaker 2: whatever reason, I'm still semi compelled Grub to buy an
Speaker 2: o led Switch one just so I can take this
Speaker 2: like final victory lamp on the switch and have everything
Speaker 2: look great before the Switch two comes out.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm on the fence. And I feel that same way
Speaker 2: about Pokemon Za as well. Of waiting for the Switch too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that one feels like can we get
Speaker 1: a date for that? I feel like that was like
Speaker 1: later than we were anticipating, so like that the Switch
Speaker 1: too should be well out by the time we get
Speaker 1: that thing, although it will be a Switch one game
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's it's tough.
Speaker 1: Like I I'm happy with my Olet, although my kids
Speaker 1: have kind of beat it up a little bit. And
Speaker 1: I did find myself at Target the other day, man,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, look at the Mario Wonder bundle.
Speaker 3: I own Mario Wonder and I own an Olet already.
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, I'll walk away, but I did like
Speaker 4: consider it for a half second. But we are I mean, god,
Speaker 4: we could. Now we can like just count the days,
Speaker 4: all right. I'm just gonna count them.
Speaker 1: We are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
Speaker 1: fourteen days exactly two weeks. So it's gonna be, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Wednesday, two weeks from now that we will be
Speaker 1: getting that Nintendo Direct for the switch to on April second.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think everyone pumps the breaks. Most
Speaker 1: people in chat are already in that zone. They're pumping
Speaker 1: the brakes, like, let's just wait to see what's going
Speaker 1: on with the switch too, and then maybe I'll pick
Speaker 1: up some of these final Switch one games for that.
Speaker 1: We don't know what the enhancements are going to be, Like,
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to us there will be some
Speaker 1: enhancements for games coming out in this general area, this
Speaker 1: general date range.
Speaker 2: Greb, can I can? I will you come with me
Speaker 2: on a thought train real quick?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Please?
Speaker 2: All right, choo chow, everyone get on board. John Cena,
Speaker 2: big fan of Metroid correct Yeah, the biggest Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Nintendo notorious for delaying games because of real life, world
Speaker 2: events A good point, right, So perhaps you know they
Speaker 2: did delayed the Advanced Wars re release. They delayed another
Speaker 2: thing because the queen died. Now of the Kingdom here, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: Tears of the Kingdom. Oh my god, wow, what a
Speaker 2: what an event in history. Now, what if they potentially
Speaker 2: delay Metroid Prime four because John Cena is is now
Speaker 2: a bad guy?
Speaker 1: You can't be seen as rewarding keel John Cena the
Speaker 1: bad guy, no matter how much he's tries to explain
Speaker 1: it away by giving him a Metroid, the thing he
Speaker 1: wants most in the world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like you know, he was talking about how we
Speaker 2: take and take and take. Now, what if he takes
Speaker 2: Metroid Prime four away from us?
Speaker 1: I mean that would be Dan luck as someone who
Speaker 1: counterpicked it in uh fantasy critic if it got if
Speaker 1: it got delayed because of John Cena, I mean he
Speaker 1: could be in cahoots with John Cena and making this happen.
Speaker 1: So he's very devastated.
Speaker 2: He was already in the switch chamber. Who knows what
Speaker 2: he's doing in the switch to chambers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what that. They are trying to build a
Speaker 1: switch to prison strong enough to hold heal. John Cena.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think they're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 3: All right, let's keep going here.
Speaker 1: Game Developers launched North America's first industry wide union that
Speaker 1: anyone can join. This is from Ethan Gotch at Kotaku Games.
Speaker 1: Game industry unionization efforts that exploded across SEGA of America, Bethesda,
Speaker 1: and others have recently been on pause. A new initiative
Speaker 1: by the Commune indications Workers of America could jumpstart things again.
Speaker 1: At the Game Developers Conference twenty twenty five, happening this week,
Speaker 1: the group announced the founding of the United Video Game Workers,
Speaker 1: a new sister organization that hopes to enlist developers from
Speaker 1: all different disciplines and studios in broader labor battles across
Speaker 1: the industry. The uvwcwa's mission, per a press release reported
Speaker 1: by IGN, is to not only build a community and
Speaker 1: solidarity amongst video game workers, but also to build large
Speaker 1: scale education campaigns about labor organizing in the video game industry.
Speaker 1: Unlike individual union shops, which bargain contracts with employees, the
Speaker 1: direct joint model functions more like a voluntary trade group,
Speaker 1: where paid dues and resources are pooled to help with
Speaker 1: various labor fights across the broader market. The announcement comes
Speaker 1: as sag Aftra game actors entered their ninth month of
Speaker 1: striking for AI protections while publishers experiment with digital replicas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is I'm like surprised this is actually happening, because
Speaker 1: it's like this felt like the one step they actually
Speaker 1: wouldn't do, like do the equivalent with the equivalent of
Speaker 1: the United Auto Workers or SAG after things like that.
Speaker 1: Something that just applies to the market broadly, the industry broadly.
Speaker 1: Whether you work at one studio or another, you could
Speaker 1: still join this union and have protections and maybe maybe
Speaker 1: at a certain point down the line. I don't know
Speaker 1: health benefits even between jobs, because you know the way
Speaker 1: the industry works. It's similar to the way Hollywood works, right, Jambertz.
Speaker 1: You're on one project and then when that project gets
Speaker 1: done filming, you're done. Were contracted to do that. So
Speaker 1: what do you do about healthcare? Well, the healthcare comes
Speaker 1: through the union, at least in some unions in the Hollywood.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, and I don't have total insight
Speaker 1: into that, but I know that's how it works for
Speaker 1: like actors and things like that. So can video game
Speaker 1: workers get something similar because they are often laid off
Speaker 1: as the project project ends. I would hope so, and
Speaker 1: maybe this is a step toward that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this would be absolutely amazing because I mean, there
Speaker 2: are different trades out there, grub like you mentioned, that
Speaker 2: protect you from job to job, or especially protect you
Speaker 2: from gig to gig. And having this type of protection
Speaker 2: in an incredibly volatile industry arguably more volatile than the
Speaker 2: entertainment industry is right now. This amount of protection, whether
Speaker 2: it is in between getting unfortunately laid off and then
Speaker 2: joining another studio or perhaps venturing out into a solo
Speaker 2: project or a smaller indie project, this would provide so
Speaker 2: much protection, and I think then I would start to
Speaker 2: feel okay recommending seeking or going into the games industry
Speaker 2: as a career with the safety net of a potential bigger,
Speaker 2: wider industry union. I would give this as much support
Speaker 2: as possible.
Speaker 1: Yep. You know, as Ethan points out, we've heard a
Speaker 1: lot about unions starting up across different studios, but none
Speaker 1: of those studios that have unions, or I should say
Speaker 1: none of the unions within those studios have actually been
Speaker 1: able to successfully negotiate new contracts with their publishers and
Speaker 1: the parent companies. That stuff is like still either happening
Speaker 1: or on pause or where nothing's happening. There is like
Speaker 1: a lot of roadblocks between actually finalizing those those conversations
Speaker 1: to the point where like a collectively bargained contract is finalized.
Speaker 1: You know, really you need more pressure, and the pressure
Speaker 1: has been building, but you need more pressure, and something
Speaker 1: like this could be the kind of thing where it
Speaker 1: really puts things over the top and forces these companies
Speaker 1: to do what needs to be done and actually come
Speaker 1: to the table and collectively bargain with workers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm with anarchist Mike Minatti here. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe let's topple topple our overlords here, and at least
Speaker 2: for game devs or other folks eating game develop mentor
Speaker 2: that side of the fence. I want them to have
Speaker 2: as many protections and as many things as possible to
Speaker 2: help them continue doing their jobs, because ultimately, at the end,
Speaker 2: they're the ones making the games and not these shareholders.
Speaker 2: I couldn't care for the shareholders at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, ge whiz, can I just borrow the means of
Speaker 1: production there? Real quick?
Speaker 2: Buddy, she whiz. We'll see it ourselves, all right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, this is this cool.
Speaker 1: GDC is the kind of place where this can really
Speaker 1: get a lot of traction, really take off. It is
Speaker 1: there's always a lot of these vibes there of Hey,
Speaker 1: we're in this together as game developers. That is the
Speaker 1: point of GDC. They come there to share knowledge with
Speaker 1: each other openly, despite you know, working on products that
Speaker 1: are ostensibly competing with one another, because they know that
Speaker 1: the medium grows when they all come together and share
Speaker 1: that passion. Well, let's you know, share in the the
Speaker 1: risk with one another of arguing with the companies that
Speaker 1: you work for, and maybe you can prove things to
Speaker 1: the point where as you said, Jan, everyone begins feeling
Speaker 1: better about recommending this industry to new people. So we
Speaker 1: can keep getting new cool stuff and new cool ideas
Speaker 1: from new cool people. And those new cool people can
Speaker 1: feed themselves, house themselves and maybe you know, start families
Speaker 1: or do whatever they want with their hoot, it's their money,
Speaker 1: they should be able to do it.
Speaker 3: I know it's crazy, all right, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, plenty more to talk about, including
Speaker 1: a new Xbox adapted Joystick that is available now.
Speaker 3: All right, let's get right back into it.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned Xbox, you know who already had that
Speaker 1: one big adaptive controller now is basically put out a
Speaker 1: nun chuck version of that. You could plug in there,
Speaker 1: and it's available now. I think it's just called the
Speaker 1: Xbox Adaptive Joystick. This comes from Darren Bonthus at game Spot.
Speaker 1: The Xbox Adaptive Joystick has officially launched, giving users a
Speaker 1: new accessibility option for playing games, bearing a stri striking
Speaker 1: resemblance to the Nintendo Wheeze Nunchuck controller. The Xbox Adaptive
Speaker 1: Joystick is priced at thirty dollars and could be purchased
Speaker 1: from the Microsoft Store. It's compatible with PC and Xbox consoles,
Speaker 1: although I think they're always trying to add more support
Speaker 1: for other platforms with the stuff. Microsoft says that this
Speaker 1: wired controller was designed in collaboration with gaming and disability
Speaker 1: communities so that the users with limited mobility have access
Speaker 1: to a device that can meet their needs. They show
Speaker 1: an image of someone tucking it into their shoulder and
Speaker 1: using their chin on the analog stick, like, oh look,
Speaker 1: we're kind of like thinking about the ergonomics of that.
Speaker 1: There's like rubber on the back to help it stay
Speaker 1: in place. Things along those lines is what they're thinking here.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it is really just a nunchuck. It has
Speaker 1: a few more buttons on there. But you know, something
Speaker 1: ain't broke, you don't have to fix it. It seems
Speaker 1: like a pretty good idea. I think the nunchuck did
Speaker 1: have some popularity with accessibility people, but that had the
Speaker 1: proprietary Nintendo switch. Can we connector God, this will have
Speaker 1: just USB, can plug it into anything, and or it
Speaker 1: might even have the the like phone adapter thing that
Speaker 1: they use for a lot of accessibility stuff that like
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of those ports on the back of
Speaker 1: the one adaptive controller. Either way, Like this is part
Speaker 1: of an ongoing effort by Microsoft and a lot of
Speaker 1: people in the industry to make gaming more accessible. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I approve for one.
Speaker 2: Jan making it easier for everyone to play games. Why
Speaker 2: would you anyone have any issue with that. I do
Speaker 2: like that it has adopted the kind of nunchuck style.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed the controllers that the Meta three had, So
Speaker 2: I don't know. It might be a nun chuck convert crub. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I might be a chucker.
Speaker 1: Man, I knew you were such a chucker out here,
Speaker 1: always chucking with Gianna Choa. Yeah, it's uh like it
Speaker 1: looks comfortable, it looks nice, and I think it is
Speaker 1: going to really it's just one option. Yeah, So it's
Speaker 1: like like if someone like sees this thing, like, how
Speaker 1: would this work for the specific problems that I have. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, people in these communities know
Speaker 1: that they like a lot of the stuff is still
Speaker 1: going to be custom built, and that's what the adaptive
Speaker 1: controller supports. Supports like you plugging in whatever you want
Speaker 1: into that thing, and there's probably gonna be a way
Speaker 1: to get it to work. But this is just like,
Speaker 1: let's standardize one thing for something that could serviace a
Speaker 1: lot of people in the community. See if we can't
Speaker 1: help out a little bit by putting out products that
Speaker 1: are reasonably priced and well designed, and we'll work with
Speaker 1: the stuff just by in a plug and play way.
Speaker 3: That's nice to see. And Microsoft's not the only one
Speaker 3: doing this now.
Speaker 1: A bid dou has their like here's all the buttons
Speaker 1: just on the face of this controller, including the shoulder
Speaker 1: buttons and things like that. So you could just kind
Speaker 1: of find it on this on the surface of the
Speaker 1: pad and press it. And I think Sony's got some
Speaker 1: of their own stuff as well. So this is a
Speaker 1: good movement that has been happening in gaming. And it's
Speaker 1: at a certain point it's like, you know, they're not
Speaker 1: just serving Oh how many people are that are that
Speaker 1: have disabilities or playing games. It's like, you know, at
Speaker 1: a certain point we all are going to encounter injuries
Speaker 1: or aging that put us in a situation where it's
Speaker 1: like if people, if people are solving these problems now,
Speaker 1: it could benefit you later, even if you're not even
Speaker 1: thinking about this at all in this moment, and that's invaluable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, I know that we don't see a lot
Speaker 2: of hardware specific stuff on the Sony side, or at
Speaker 2: least like as much as we do from Xbox, but
Speaker 2: I mean I remember like the Last of Us Part
Speaker 2: two having an insane amount of accessibility options. So that also, yes,
Speaker 2: coming through on the software side is fantastic to see,
Speaker 2: especially when you have games like Final Fantasy fourteen or
Speaker 2: World of Warcraft really allowing for customization in terms of
Speaker 2: hot keys and everything. That goes a long way in
Speaker 2: terms of accessibility for people that can't use the keyboard
Speaker 2: or find a control to be more up their alley
Speaker 2: in terms of what they're able to use. So applause
Speaker 2: across the board for really increasing the visibility on accessibility.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's a the old saying from ron
Speaker 1: A Reagan about economics of the rising tide lifts all boats.
Speaker 1: And we know that that was like the trickle down
Speaker 1: bullshit that that wasn't real. But when you raise, you know,
Speaker 1: the rising tide of carrying about all communities everywhere where
Speaker 1: they are, that actually does benefit everybody. Like actually doing
Speaker 1: the work to help marginalized groups really does make a
Speaker 1: difference for everyone in the end. So thinking about these
Speaker 1: problems make it sure that you know they where we
Speaker 1: are putting every accessibility option we could think of in
Speaker 1: the Last of Us Part two. There might be one
Speaker 1: thing in there for someone who does not consider them
Speaker 1: themselves part of that community. But oh wait, this does
Speaker 1: actually help me a little bit, and uh, you know
Speaker 1: it closed captions for me, I'm like, that is an
Speaker 1: accessibility thing that I use all the time. I need
Speaker 1: that it helps me process information better. And that's that's
Speaker 1: the same thing. It's part of the same lineage. There
Speaker 1: all right, let's keep moving. Hey. An update on this one,
Speaker 1: skate Story adds PS five version. It's also kind of
Speaker 1: getting a little bit more of a release date info.
Speaker 1: This comes from Salamano at Gamatsu. Skateboarding adventure game Skate
Speaker 1: Story will launch for PlayStation five alongside it's previously announced
Speaker 1: PC Steam version. In twenty twenty five, publisher to Bolver
Speaker 1: Digital and developer sam Ing announced they're saying this game
Speaker 1: should be coming out in summer. It continues to look
Speaker 1: really cool. I'm hoping that this thing actually does hit
Speaker 1: here pretty soon. And I think maybe the good news
Speaker 1: is it was originally just kind of announced for Steam,
Speaker 1: and now getting a console version makes it feel more
Speaker 1: real someomehow where it's like, oh, they've been having conversations
Speaker 1: with Sony about getting this game out there, and Devolver
Speaker 1: Digital's still out there talking about the game. So that's
Speaker 1: pretty exciting for a game that I just think looks
Speaker 1: so stylish and so slick.
Speaker 2: Skating's back on the menu, baby.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean we know that just by looking
Speaker 1: at the skating culture or it's popping off more than
Speaker 1: it has been forever, but video games being like ready
Speaker 1: to catch that excitement and do something with it. Is
Speaker 1: has always traditionally been very important to skateboarding, so love
Speaker 1: to see that. Now we're gonna get the Tony Hawk,
Speaker 1: we're getting skate and we're getting sort of the Tetris
Speaker 1: effect equivalent of skateboarding with this game.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, yeah, let's do that. That sounds great.
Speaker 1: And I guess for people that aren't watching visually, skate
Speaker 1: story is you know, a shimmery man on a skateboard
Speaker 1: skating through a digital health scape or something like that
Speaker 1: while cool music and special effects happen, it just looks
Speaker 1: very stylish. I mean, honestly Tetris effect, but for skateboarding
Speaker 1: maybe isn't so far off from a gaulation of what
Speaker 1: this thing is. Yeah, I think that's a good shout out.
Speaker 1: Perhaps a res or Aluminez as well. Yes in that zone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is Fanta Vision. Yeah, the Fantavision for skateboarding.
Speaker 3: Hey, that's overdue. We should have got that a long
Speaker 3: time ago.
Speaker 1: Personally, in my opinion, this was like not the only
Speaker 1: thing that was popping off from like some indie game
Speaker 1: announcements that Sony had, but this was the biggest one
Speaker 1: I saw from them.
Speaker 3: But there's some other stuff happening with indie games over
Speaker 3: at PlayStation.
Speaker 1: Let's get to this next story, though, College football players
Speaker 1: will be paid more to appear in College Football twenty six.
Speaker 1: This is from Nicole Carpenter at Polygon. Ahead of College
Speaker 1: Football twenty five, EA Sports paid college football players six
Speaker 1: hundred dollars and a copy of the game to license
Speaker 1: the player's likenesses for the game. That's being up to
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred dollars per player for college football twenty six,
Speaker 1: according to a report from The Athletic. EA Sports just
Speaker 1: said in an email to players on Tuesday for the
Speaker 1: report that name, image and likeness in IL payments would
Speaker 1: increase and.
Speaker 3: That players will still receive a copy of the game.
Speaker 3: From the beginning.
Speaker 1: We've designed our and I Help program to be accessible, direct, voluntary,
Speaker 1: and equitable for all, offering the same base level compensation
Speaker 1: to every FBS athlete that ops in using the one
Speaker 1: team platform encompass inil app. EA Sports Vice president of
Speaker 1: this this development, Joan O'Brien said in a statement to
Speaker 1: the Athletic, this approach empowers each athlete to make their
Speaker 1: own decision. College sports are growing and changing, and our
Speaker 1: focus at EA Sports is on continuing to put athletes
Speaker 1: first as we bring them in game in college ball
Speaker 1: twenty six and beyond.
Speaker 3: And we all know, we know that's all.
Speaker 1: Bullshit, right, It's like, that was so much bullshit, Ye,
Speaker 1: so much bullshit. You putting the players first? My god,
Speaker 1: get a grip you want like you're doing no such thing.
Speaker 1: You're giving them pennies for a game that makes hundreds
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars. I mean that first game in
Speaker 1: a long time. Last year's game maybe on its own
Speaker 1: made a billion and a half dollars. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: it might have made more than that. It was a
Speaker 1: massive success, huge success, and six hundred dollars for each player.
Speaker 1: Last year, I was like, and I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't know how you license all these people. That's so
Speaker 1: many people. That's got to be a nightmare. And now
Speaker 1: they do kind of put a little bit of an
Speaker 1: explanation here, is it's a portal that the player can
Speaker 1: just go to and volunteer and then they get to
Speaker 1: see themselves in the game. They get fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 1: this year and a copy of the game. What kid's
Speaker 1: not going to do that? And the one kid that's
Speaker 1: not going to do that. Were the handful of guys
Speaker 1: that ended up on the cover right that did not
Speaker 1: go this route. They were the arch Manning or whatever
Speaker 1: and Travis Hunter from Colorado, guys that were held out.
Speaker 1: I think arch Manning himself specifically held out until he
Speaker 1: got a deal and then he ended up in one
Speaker 1: of the commercials, which is going to pay a lot
Speaker 1: more money than any of this. So this is a
Speaker 1: way of like still depressing wages for people's likeness in
Speaker 1: some ways. But I mean, the company is also there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people to license, so we're of course
Speaker 1: we're doing that, although we're gonna lie and say we're
Speaker 1: doing it for the benefit of the student athletes.
Speaker 2: Yeah there, y'all could do a little bit more for
Speaker 2: the student athletes.
Speaker 1: Do more?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so please do more. That being said, I guess
Speaker 2: a little bit more of a payday is nice.
Speaker 1: For clearly it is better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, these student athletes, I hope they got a free
Speaker 2: copy of the game.
Speaker 1: Last year they did.
Speaker 2: Six hundred dollars a free copy of the game. That's right, great, great, cool.
Speaker 2: Maybe a second copy of the game to give to
Speaker 2: a friend perhaps, Yeah.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 1: I mean I wonder if it's like, would one percent
Speaker 1: of the games by revenues split up among all these
Speaker 1: players be more than fifteen excuse me, more than fifteen
Speaker 1: hondred dollars.
Speaker 3: I bet it would be. I bet it actually would be, even.
Speaker 1: Despite the fact that there are hundreds I think probably
Speaker 1: more than a thousand players, maybe a couple of thousand
Speaker 1: players across all of the schools that they are licensing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that would be you're splitting up a small
Speaker 1: piece of the pie, but it's very it could be
Speaker 1: a very, very very big pie. But you know, EA's
Speaker 1: not going to offer that. Ever, that would require require
Speaker 1: players to do something like have a student player union,
Speaker 1: something that happens in the pros, and they probably negotiate
Speaker 1: better deals than this, for like the the NFLPA than
Speaker 1: the NFL Players Association, where that's how they usually go.
Speaker 1: That's the route they go. They talk to the NFLPA
Speaker 1: or the NHLPA or whatever, and then they Okay, we're
Speaker 1: gonna offer a deal to you, and then you offered
Speaker 1: to all the players and see if anyone, if everyone,
Speaker 1: wants to sign, and I think those players get probably
Speaker 1: a little bit more than fifteen hundred dollars. At the
Speaker 1: same time, there are fewer of those than there are
Speaker 1: student athletes, so I see both sides. But I mean,
Speaker 1: let's be clear. Ea, this whole explanation is just a
Speaker 1: bunch of bs. How many people do you need on
Speaker 1: a college football team? Grub Yeah, I mean like four five?
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: All right, there's you, there's me, there's Dan Minatti, Nikki Turbo,
Speaker 2: Shawn Lucy GiB University, gb University baby coach with coach Bakalar.
Speaker 2: We can all get an easy fifteen hundred and a
Speaker 2: copy of this game.
Speaker 1: Pound the Rock, says Bacalar. Uh. Yeah, I would. I
Speaker 1: would enjoy that.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1: I could use fifteen hundred dollars. I gotta replace my
Speaker 1: front door, so that'd be great. All right, Hey, college
Speaker 1: football twenty six probably still will be massively successful.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be the breakout.
Speaker 1: Hit that college football twenty five was, Right, there was
Speaker 1: so much pinned up demand. Yeah, that's a lot of
Speaker 1: that was the explanation of how that game did so
Speaker 1: so so well. Although you know, college all more popular
Speaker 1: than it's ever been, so that still will do very good.
Speaker 2: That's very true. I am curious to see how the
Speaker 2: second game will be received, if it will be as
Speaker 2: is sell as well as the first one from last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's going to probably be the best selling
Speaker 1: sports game again. I think in the United States. Globally,
Speaker 1: that'll still be FIFA. In the United States, it'll probably
Speaker 1: still be this and it could be you know, number two,
Speaker 1: number three on the best selling Game of the year
Speaker 1: list for from Sircano, Matt Piscatel puts that out.
Speaker 3: But if Grand Theft Auto comes out, it's not going
Speaker 3: to like outsell that like it might have last year.
Speaker 3: All Right, keep pounding the rock on this show.
Speaker 1: In Zoi, price, free, update, plans and roadmap revealed just
Speaker 1: before launch. This comes from Eddie McCoo at GameSpot. The
Speaker 1: life sim game in.
Speaker 3: Zoi, which is how I'm gonna say that, I don't
Speaker 3: know if that's right.
Speaker 1: Is coming this month, and the games developer has finally
Speaker 1: confirmed additional key details, including the price of the game
Speaker 1: at launch. Game director hing O Jeong Kim said during
Speaker 1: the Enzoid Global showcase that the game will debut on
Speaker 1: Steam in early Access for forty dollars. According to PC Gamer,
Speaker 1: He said the game still has a lot to improve on,
Speaker 1: which is part of the reason why it's launching an
Speaker 1: early access This is the very like realistic looking SIMS like.
Speaker 1: It is the very you know, shiny wife wu Husbondo
Speaker 1: SIMS game, which I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: craving and have been to you for a long time.
Speaker 1: And so it seems like this is on the precipice
Speaker 1: of being a breakout game this year as long as
Speaker 1: it does a few basic things right. And I think
Speaker 1: people are going to be especially people who are into
Speaker 1: this genre jan right. They're used to it coming in hot,
Speaker 1: not being complete, and so it's an early access game.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to deter them. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think so either.
Speaker 2: The sims Can Unity is a scary and interesting community
Speaker 2: that yes has been has been slowly building and doing
Speaker 2: things on their own side of the Internet for quite
Speaker 2: a while now. I know Abby Russell educated a lot
Speaker 2: of us here on Giant Bomb as to the wonders
Speaker 2: of the SIMS, but it turns out it goes even
Speaker 2: deeper than that. But I do want to share that
Speaker 2: Bailey spoke to I think the producer of the director
Speaker 2: of Enzoy last year at games Come and he and
Speaker 2: he himself is a gigantic fan of the Sims and
Speaker 2: wanted to just make a game that his son could
Speaker 2: play easier or an easier playing experience.
Speaker 1: So I.
Speaker 2: Would have some hope for Enzoy coming out and being
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that even if it is like
Speaker 1: mediocre middling at first, I think the look of it,
Speaker 1: and maybe if they maybe making some promises and being
Speaker 1: like we are in early access for the specific reason
Speaker 1: of you tell us what you are reviving with the
Speaker 1: most and what you need the most, and we will
Speaker 1: work on that. If that's the plan, then I think
Speaker 1: this game continues to stand a really strong chance of
Speaker 1: popping off and being like the other game in this genre,
Speaker 1: like nothing is actually going to replace the Sims. The
Speaker 1: SIMS is like the Pokemon equivalent in this space, where
Speaker 1: it no matter what else anyone else produces, even if
Speaker 1: it's going to be like this is going to be
Speaker 1: the new pal World, it's not going to displace Pokemon,
Speaker 1: and this is not going to displace the Sims, but
Speaker 1: it could very easily be like, man, this is a
Speaker 1: game that made a ton of money, found out a
Speaker 1: huge audience, just quietly over there, humming along with you know,
Speaker 1: ten million players or something like that.
Speaker 3: Easily that could happen forty dollars price tag.
Speaker 1: I mean that to me sounds like they're going to
Speaker 1: do the business model of the SIMS as well, instead
Speaker 1: of making it like free to play, making all the
Speaker 1: cosmetics paid for. I think that might also.
Speaker 3: Be welcomed by this community as well.
Speaker 1: It's so used to that, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, having like a that forty dollars entry ticket be
Speaker 2: pretty low and then everything else on top of that
Speaker 2: just a little bit more. I think that is an
Speaker 2: easier pill to swallow. That being said, I'm still terrified
Speaker 2: of the SIMS community. I don't know their spending habits.
Speaker 1: I do have.
Speaker 2: A couple of friends that have gone very into the SIMS,
Speaker 2: and then they wind up knowing more about modding than
Speaker 2: I thought they would.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. It's the kind of thing that gets people
Speaker 1: like this. One of the things were like, Hey, I know,
Speaker 1: I need a PC so I can play the real
Speaker 1: version of the SIMS with all these nods and do
Speaker 1: whatever everyonet. And yeah, I'm gonna buy all the packs
Speaker 1: as well, because some of the mods require those packs.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna make this game my own because I
Speaker 1: mean the sims. That is what the sims is, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you find your own ways to have fun. If that
Speaker 1: means you're killing your friend Janetcho and Dan Reikert on
Speaker 1: the website, and that's what that means.
Speaker 2: It happens, you know, I avoid the fugu if possible.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's see here a couple more headlines. These were
Speaker 1: the most popular characters in the Sonic Racing Crossworld's Network test.
Speaker 1: Jan They tested this and they reported back with which
Speaker 1: the characters people wanted to play as the most. The
Speaker 1: top two are not too surprising, do you know what
Speaker 1: they are?
Speaker 2: I spoiled myself and I saw the news story, so okay,
Speaker 2: it is Sonic and Shadow.
Speaker 1: Sonic and Shadow.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The number three is Cream and I guess it's Cream
Speaker 1: and cheese. And she's just like one of the chows
Speaker 1: or whatever they're called, who hangs out with Cream. But
Speaker 1: they're like a pair that work together on a cart
Speaker 1: or something like that.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1: That's not her whole name. That's not her whole name, grub.
Speaker 3: Oh, what is her whole name?
Speaker 1: Cream the rabbit, Cream the rabbit. Okay, you know, Cream
Speaker 1: and cheese. And then Cream the Rabbit, and cheese. I
Speaker 1: like to just to like go with the shorter name
Speaker 1: to make it sound better, but okay, Cream the Rabbit,
Speaker 1: which just sounds like a weird statement. I am still
Speaker 1: excited about this game because I like those some of
Speaker 1: these Sonic cart racers I've been actually did go back
Speaker 1: and play some of Racing Transformed after this got announced
Speaker 1: and be like, Oh, everyone's right, this is a very
Speaker 1: fun game. Looking forward to this, But I'm hoping they
Speaker 1: can like branch off in the way that they once
Speaker 1: did with Transform and have more of these characters other
Speaker 1: than just the Sonic freaks. Although people seem to be
Speaker 1: happy with their cream ands and cheesons.
Speaker 2: People love cream and cheese, cream cheese grub, that's fair enough.
Speaker 2: I think the boomers watching and listening this aren't ready
Speaker 2: to accept that no one likes or no one even
Speaker 2: cares about Big the Cat anymore. Yeah, where's Big the
Speaker 2: Cat exactly? We're all about Cream the Rabbit.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Everyone that grew up and played Sonic Advanced three and
Speaker 2: they introduced Cream, They're like, oh, that's a fun character
Speaker 2: to play as I've just gotta run.
Speaker 3: That's what this is. Bring back Big the cat. That's
Speaker 3: for real, men.
Speaker 2: I will not stand for this cream the rabbit slander.
Speaker 1: Cream the rabbit seems fine, but I guess I'm surprised.
Speaker 3: Number three.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, what about Sonic's girlfriend Amy or something
Speaker 1: like that, or Tails? Who cares a cream the rabbit?
Speaker 1: All right, fair enough, if all you degenerated your cream
Speaker 1: and cheese out there, you get your cream and cheese.
Speaker 1: A last story here, this is weird from Twitter the
Speaker 1: at Game Informer page. I hope this is not just
Speaker 1: that CEO being an asshole, but there's a little video
Speaker 1: here that seems to be teasing something happening with Game Informer,
Speaker 1: and I got to say, I am personally getting my
Speaker 1: hopes way up because that could be really cool. Although
Speaker 1: it's okay, so it says March twenty fifth, twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: so something will be happening by then. I just hope
Speaker 1: it's not like that zombie version of EGM or something
Speaker 1: like that, where they brought it back and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is not the same thing. And even when they
Speaker 1: brought people like cool people like Patrick kleppikin, you could
Speaker 1: tell he's like, wait, this is not what I thought
Speaker 1: I was signing up for it just was a shell
Speaker 1: of its former self. I mean, who knows what what
Speaker 1: this actually means. But as I get my hopes up,
Speaker 1: I hope, man, I just hope something awesome is happening
Speaker 1: with Game of Form and Former again, because we are
Speaker 1: poorer for not having Game Informer. I mean every month,
Speaker 1: and I you know, they opened up subscriptions there at
Speaker 1: the end, and I subscribed, and it was so awesome
Speaker 1: to get those magazines in the mail again. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that that could just continue. That would be ideal.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. I guess we're gonna get the answers
Speaker 1: here early next week, and maybe they'll steal the spotlight
Speaker 1: from switch to But yeah, I don't know what what's
Speaker 1: your speculation.
Speaker 2: It looks like I've been seeing the skeets on Blue
Speaker 2: Sky and former staff members are posting it.
Speaker 3: Confirmed it all right, Well that's happening. They're coming back everybody.
Speaker 3: Oh well, okay.
Speaker 1: Lots of former GI people are signal boosting it on
Speaker 1: Blue Sky, and it does seem like they are a
Speaker 1: lot of those people that seem to work there are
Speaker 1: pointing to this and be like this is a good thing.
Speaker 1: So we'll see exactly what that looks like for them.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited. But yeah, okay, I but here in
Speaker 1: rumblings that some people that used to work at Game
Speaker 1: Former are having happy things happen to them. So good, good, Again,
Speaker 1: the industry's gonna be better off with Game and Former back.
Speaker 1: That would be fantastic. Okay, yeah, I was, I was not.
Speaker 1: I was lying to the audience. I'm sorry. What I know.
Speaker 1: I'm a bad person. I'm a bad person.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, we'll get all the details.
Speaker 1: For that on market.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, hold on, though, Vitelli had posted about this
Speaker 2: on Blue Sky and this is actually the most amazing
Speaker 2: thing for me personally. But if Game Informer comes back,
Speaker 2: does that mean we get a Game in Former twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five video game release calendar? Because I hope, So
Speaker 2: theirs is the best?
Speaker 3: Or was it was the best? Now?
Speaker 1: I think that was like tied into the game stop API,
Speaker 1: so maybe not so maybe not. Yeah, I'm not exactly
Speaker 1: sure if that's how that worked, but I think I
Speaker 1: remember hearing something like that was the case. All Right,
Speaker 1: we got to pull a question from Monday. Will you
Speaker 1: be excited if Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic is more
Speaker 1: like elden ring Yes or no, Let me.
Speaker 3: Refresh that, make sure that it's fully up to date. Here, yes, okay,
Speaker 3: there we go.
Speaker 1: Thirty nine percent said yes, sixty one percent said no.
Speaker 1: I think that's you know, that's about right. There's just
Speaker 1: so much trepidation around making a change like that or
Speaker 1: or chasing a trend, right, Like, you don't want your
Speaker 1: favorite developer to be like, well, we're gonna chase the trend.
Speaker 1: Although I don't think that's how Naughty Dog would approach it.
Speaker 1: I personally am excited by this prospect because I think
Speaker 1: they will take the best parts of it and make
Speaker 1: it work with the best parts of what they do
Speaker 1: to make a very good video game. And I think
Speaker 1: Intergalactic looks interesting. Yeah, I'm a.
Speaker 2: Little bit on the fence grub. I, uh, what if
Speaker 2: a game? What if games were.
Speaker 1: Just the easy? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what if having a deal with souls and running
Speaker 2: back back to my graveyard?
Speaker 1: I could just play you the game? Yeah, I wonder
Speaker 1: if they They They definitely have talked previous with how
Speaker 1: they like the openness and the exploration and making the
Speaker 1: adventure feel more like your own. And I wonder if
Speaker 1: they're able to do that while maybe not going full
Speaker 1: from soft difficulty. Yeah, they probably would want to because
Speaker 1: they you know, they make broadly appealing games. But like
Speaker 1: The Last of Us Part two is a game that
Speaker 1: you always hear like, hey, but I played no other game,
Speaker 1: but I played this one, and I wish there were
Speaker 1: more games like this.
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, sorry, there's just not and now there
Speaker 3: won't be either because they are galactic.
Speaker 1: Sounds like it might be a little different as well,
Speaker 1: So sorry to those people.
Speaker 3: Okay, new pool question.
Speaker 1: Have that in a second before we get to all
Speaker 1: of that, jan Atchoa. What else do we have going on?
Speaker 1: What do you have going on? What should we tell
Speaker 1: the people all about?
Speaker 2: After this? On the Power Block, we're going to be
Speaker 2: checking out thirty three immortals come join us. Maybe we
Speaker 2: can all play in the same world's out now in
Speaker 2: game pass. I believe that's how, at least how I
Speaker 2: have it.
Speaker 1: I downloaded using the Xbox game Pass thing on PC
Speaker 1: and it worked just fine.
Speaker 2: There you go, folks. Later today though, ending the Power Block,
Speaker 2: we have the last round of the Blightening Round. Dan
Speaker 2: Reikert's turn, and he ready to phone home. Everyone is
Speaker 2: going to be playing et on the Atari twenty six
Speaker 2: hundred folks, tune in for some wonderful times tomorrow on
Speaker 2: the Power Block more game breaking news the Game Spots Show.
Speaker 2: We may have some stuff from GDC airing tomorrow as
Speaker 2: well as well as Voicemail Dump Truck Friday. Ending the
Speaker 2: week with more game breaking news. We have Mike Drucker
Speaker 2: on BCR this week, as well as UPF and more
Speaker 2: Game Spot after Dark, but also Grub before this. Folks
Speaker 2: may be wondering why game breaking news is pushed back
Speaker 2: by another hour than they're used to. The Stalker two
Speaker 2: documentary that the Game Spot team has been diligently working
Speaker 2: on for the past couple months is now out. If
Speaker 2: you miss that the premiere of that earlier today, I
Speaker 2: suggest you go check it out Labor of Love. And also, hey,
Speaker 2: turns out world events affect everything.
Speaker 1: Huh yeah, they seem to affect everything. Yeah yeah, especially
Speaker 1: if it's those world events are localized entirely in your country. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Turns out. So yeah, that was good work. They just
Speaker 1: those the guys over there crushed it on that documentary,
Speaker 1: so shout out to them. Really excellent work, all right,
Speaker 1: let's see new poll question, what do you want to
Speaker 1: play as in Sonic Racing Cross Worlds or who do
Speaker 1: you want to play as Sonic Shadow Cream or Danica Patrick?
Speaker 1: Those your options, Go ahead and vote. We get the
Speaker 1: results for tomorrow's show here on Giant Bomb, a new
Speaker 1: episode of game breaking News, and tomorrow we'll have a
Speaker 1: bunch of fun stuff popping off as well. Until then, though,
Speaker 1: Jianna Showa, thank you so much for hanging out with
Speaker 1: me today and talking about video games. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's the only way to start a Thursday. It's actually Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Don't worry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, those don't matter anymore.
Speaker 1: It's all just one big day and see y all
Speaker 1: soon for thirty three Immortals and Blake Club later today.
Speaker 3: Thank you all for listening and watching to this show.
Speaker 1: Until next time, have a good one, take care of yourself,
Speaker 1: and goodbye.