Speaker 1: Don't be bad. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do
Speaker 1: this for February sixth, twenty twenty five. For the next
Speaker 1: hour or so, let me help you sort through the
Speaker 1: world of gaming on Game Mes Mornings Live with me
Speaker 1: Jeff Grubb. Today, Konami is busy as a Newcastle Vigne
Speaker 1: may get announced later this year, and we may we
Speaker 1: do finally know when Metal Gear Salad Delta is launching.
Speaker 1: But first please join me in welcoming today's co host,
Speaker 1: the Game Mess Mornings. It's Jan A Joa. Everybody, Jan
Speaker 1: how are you doing?
Speaker 2: I am doing completely okay. I'm trying to fight off
Speaker 2: the sickness. So I'm just eating ginger now grub wa.
Speaker 1: You gotta fight off the sickness. I think that's how
Speaker 1: that song goes. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not getting down with it. I'm staying far
Speaker 2: away from shit.
Speaker 1: Uh pretty good though. That was a pretty good one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's every it's everyone. They canceled school again today, not
Speaker 1: because the teachers were sick this time, although I bet
Speaker 1: they still are just now. It's we're covered in ice everywhere,
Speaker 1: but I bet they are happy to have an extra
Speaker 1: day to let everyone sort of bounce back. The kids
Speaker 1: have gone from like upset tummies to like, you know,
Speaker 1: needing the bucket next to them all non stop, to
Speaker 1: fevers like that stopped and the fever started, and then
Speaker 1: the fever stopped, and now they're both coughing. So it's
Speaker 1: just one thing after another and walking walking pneumonia. So
Speaker 1: how you say that. I never know how to sit
Speaker 1: because there's ammonia and pneumonia and I don't know to
Speaker 1: see either one. Yeah, they either way. They are walking
Speaker 1: around with a lot of just flim and and all
Speaker 1: kinds of nastiness happening. So it's been fun over here.
Speaker 1: I so far have mostly ignored it. I've mostly been
Speaker 1: able to, like, I feel a little down in the dumps,
Speaker 1: but I'm fighting it off.
Speaker 2: So hopefully we get through this gin. We will get
Speaker 2: through this grub. I have a very short work assignment
Speaker 2: coming up, and I am not missing it.
Speaker 1: Yo, No, you're gonna make it happen.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna get sick, That's what it is. And
Speaker 2: I know that as soon as I said it, I
Speaker 2: up the chance of getting sick. But I'm eating so
Speaker 2: much ginger grub my throat is burning.
Speaker 1: Okay, and that's what you want. That's ill how you
Speaker 1: fix most things.
Speaker 2: If I got to pull out half a raw onion
Speaker 2: and eat it, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1: That just sounds tasty at this point, that sounds really good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's going over here, and I am like, Okay, the
Speaker 1: ice is outside, so I was gonna go for my walk,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, as soon as I stepped outside, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, I will die if I try to
Speaker 1: walk on this sidewalk. So back inside. It's been a
Speaker 1: rough winter. I don't know. I guess I'll just hang
Speaker 1: out and play video games inside. That seems to be
Speaker 1: working for me. Just fine. There's a lot coming out
Speaker 1: right now. Jan have you like picked a game recently?
Speaker 2: I picked up one thing on Fantasy Critic. I meant
Speaker 2: to pick up more, but then I'm realizing how I
Speaker 2: don't want to overload on games now. And yes, I
Speaker 2: just kind of went a wait for the rest of
Speaker 2: the year, but I did. I am checking out a
Speaker 2: game that is out today called Keep Driving. I've seen
Speaker 2: some folks in the GB chat chime in about this.
Speaker 2: I think this is a very grub game.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check this out.
Speaker 2: Imagine Oregon trail grub okay, inventory management allah, a resident
Speaker 2: evil all right, and just vibes and driving.
Speaker 1: Vibes, vibes and drives. Okay, I'm looking at this right now.
Speaker 1: Positive on Steamy cjy develop It Pixel Graphics, Atmospheric Adventure RPG. Yeah, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: look at this. This looks like a road Trip RPG.
Speaker 1: This was when I was a kid. I always was like,
Speaker 1: that's the kind of video game I would make if
Speaker 1: I were older. Seeing something like this that definitely triggers
Speaker 1: me in a positive way.
Speaker 2: I I know that we're we're standing right at the
Speaker 2: edge of the cliff with all the games coming out grub. Yes,
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, I feel compelled to try and figure
Speaker 2: out a way to play nineteen ninety one's I believe
Speaker 2: it's ninety one police knots Okay, yeah, we can make
Speaker 2: that happen, right.
Speaker 1: That's a Headao coach of a joint, right, yeah.
Speaker 2: It's a Kojima joint. I don't know why. Someone had
Speaker 2: said it in chat earlier this week somewhere, and then
Speaker 2: it just like it has just been infecting my brain.
Speaker 1: I've never played that or Snatcher, Yeah, that's those are
Speaker 1: the two that like they're like visual novels, slash f
Speaker 1: and v cut seene heavy like storytelling games. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter, you just want to play it.
Speaker 2: Huh. Yeah, yeah, it's vibes okay.
Speaker 1: I mean police snots always had a cool look to it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like it was from my head. I'm like, I think
Speaker 1: that was on Sega CD. I'm sure it was on
Speaker 1: a million other things in Japan though, So yeah, and
Speaker 1: I bet there are some like pretty good like modern
Speaker 1: fan translations and stuff of that, like that is that
Speaker 1: as well?
Speaker 2: Gotta be?
Speaker 1: Yeah, or we could just we could just learn Japanese?
Speaker 2: Why not both?
Speaker 1: Yeah? There we go. Okay, Well, I'm like invested in
Speaker 1: making this happen now, jan let's see if we can
Speaker 1: get on top of that. I would I would love
Speaker 1: to see it. In the meantime, though, let's explain what
Speaker 1: we do here most weekdays, I Jeff Grub will help
Speaker 1: piece your game in life back together. That includes breaking
Speaker 1: news and maybe even some of our own original reporting.
Speaker 1: For all these topics, I'll get the input of a
Speaker 1: bona fide expert who will make me look smart. If
Speaker 1: you are watching live on twitch welcome, you can always
Speaker 1: listen to the show later on podcast feeds by searching
Speaker 1: for Game Mess Mornings, or find the RSS on giant
Speaker 1: bomb dot com. You can also catch the show later
Speaker 1: with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube. All right,
Speaker 1: we have a lot to get into, so let's start
Speaker 1: the Morning Mess with porting powerhouse. Iron Galaxy is laying
Speaker 1: off staff in what is regarded as a last resort.
Speaker 1: This is from Ben Lions at Game Reactor. The layoffs
Speaker 1: waves a wave across the video game sector continues to
Speaker 1: affect more and more people. On top of the round
Speaker 1: of additional layoffs there are rumored to have been that
Speaker 1: are rumored have affected PlayStation again, which is another thing
Speaker 1: that's happened recently. Those are rumored, not really exactly sure
Speaker 1: what's happening there yet, but those are rumored to be
Speaker 1: happening while this is also happening. This other studio, Iron Galaxy,
Speaker 1: is doing this as what it calls a last resort.
Speaker 1: This time it's the porting experts in the sports studio there,
Speaker 1: most known maybe recently for Rumble Verse, but they worked
Speaker 1: on Killer Instinct. They were heavily invested or heavily involved
Speaker 1: in the Metroid Prime remaster. They've done a lot of
Speaker 1: work like that, but they definitely seemed to be in
Speaker 1: a situation and they kind of say it pretty bluntly here.
Speaker 1: Once rumble Verse Went Sideways, which was an Epic Game
Speaker 1: Store PC exclusive. It was also on console, I think,
Speaker 1: but that's where I played it. Once that went Sideways,
Speaker 1: they definitely were reeling for a minute there, trying to
Speaker 1: see if they could get some other projects going to
Speaker 1: keep as many people employed as possible. That they've run
Speaker 1: out of run way there and now they are trying
Speaker 1: to basically save the rest of the studio by making
Speaker 1: these cuts. Jane, I always feel it's always weird to
Speaker 1: cover layoff stories because you don't know the reality on
Speaker 1: the ground, what these people have been through. Real people's
Speaker 1: lives are involved, and we can only sort of glance
Speaker 1: in from the outside and try to understand what happened.
Speaker 1: And my gut here is like, man, man, if Rumbleverirs
Speaker 1: could have just came to steam, maybe that would have
Speaker 1: had a better chance of succeeding. And I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: way more complicated than that. I am sure that the
Speaker 1: people that are affected by this hear that, and they
Speaker 1: like morbidly chuckle at like how little we fully understand
Speaker 1: about what they've been through and how to make how
Speaker 1: to make a business like this go. But boy, I
Speaker 1: wish they would have just have been afforded every opportunity
Speaker 1: to succeed with a game like that. And now I
Speaker 1: think this speaks more highly to a an industry that
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be spending a lot of money hiring
Speaker 1: up outside studios to do work lest they absolutely have to.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's support work that they've been like supplementing
Speaker 1: the income for the studio with. It's just not out
Speaker 1: there as much as it once was. So how do
Speaker 1: you read this?
Speaker 2: It's unfortunate, Greb, especially you know Dave Lang very close
Speaker 2: friend of the website and everything, and layoffs at any
Speaker 2: level are going to be difficult. This hits a little
Speaker 2: bit harder because for smaller studios you have to imagine
Speaker 2: that everyone feels the impact more so or like on
Speaker 2: a deeper level where you know. Unfortunately, if you are
Speaker 2: a bigger company like a Microsoft or a UBI Soft
Speaker 2: laying off two three hundred people, you can kind of
Speaker 2: just get rid of them and erase them from your mind,
Speaker 2: especially if you're at a CEO level like Eves. It's unfortunate.
Speaker 2: I at least appreciate the level of transparency that like, hey,
Speaker 2: we're trying to save the studio as a whole, and
Speaker 2: we have to make these cuts the port work. It's
Speaker 2: I feel like Ourn Galaxy is very good at what
Speaker 2: they were doing with the ports, So I think you're right, Grub.
Speaker 2: I think those bigger studios are tightening up the purse
Speaker 2: strings because they don't see the value or the money
Speaker 2: in importing an older game. They just want to continue
Speaker 2: taking stabs at live service games that will never get released.
Speaker 1: Yeah, or they're bringing that stuff in house. You know.
Speaker 1: I was having a conversation with my wife and her
Speaker 1: business relies a lot on like companies just kind of
Speaker 1: being like, Okay, we have some extra money to spend.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go hire this outside firm or whatever. And
Speaker 1: I think we're just kind of looking around me like
Speaker 1: that is. You know, if it's not dried up, it
Speaker 1: is certainly drying up. It is these companies are feeling
Speaker 1: less flush, And I don't know if they actually are
Speaker 1: less flushed. They probably do have the same amount of
Speaker 1: extra cash on the books. But the uncertainty in the
Speaker 1: global economy for every reason that we've talked about recently
Speaker 1: on the show. First and foremost, the state of the
Speaker 1: United States has I think spooked so many of these
Speaker 1: companies to the point where they are not investing, and
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that is just exacerbating foundational
Speaker 1: issues that have been there for a long time in
Speaker 1: how these companies want to spend money on games, and
Speaker 1: that's very likely that, like you know, they're Iron Galaxy
Speaker 1: is probably not laying people off because of the global
Speaker 1: economy in this moment. They are like, we've tried a
Speaker 1: bunch of different things recently for years and not you know,
Speaker 1: everything kind of had to go exactly right for us
Speaker 1: to be able to save everyone at the studio, and
Speaker 1: it didn't. So again, it's it's going to be complicated.
Speaker 1: I hope they're able to make this work. You know.
Speaker 1: A part of me is also like, God, weren't that,
Speaker 1: you know, wasn't Microsoft looking for someone to make Killer
Speaker 1: Instinct again? They would have been perfect for that, and
Speaker 1: it was always I imagined while hearing things that kind
Speaker 1: of filled in with a little bit of color. My
Speaker 1: understanding is like, you know, Iron Galaxy was busy with rumbolvers,
Speaker 1: so they couldn't do that, and my hope was okay,
Speaker 1: as soon as they get down with Rumble Verse. That's
Speaker 1: a shame. That game was very good, should have survived,
Speaker 1: should have had a better chance, but it didn't. Hopefully
Speaker 1: now they could just rush over to Microsoft and say, hey,
Speaker 1: we will take on Killer Instinct for you. But maybe
Speaker 1: Microsoft found someone else again. We don't know, So I
Speaker 1: begin wanting to rationalize and understand how these things happen
Speaker 1: and just try to imagine a world where the best
Speaker 1: case scenario could have happened, and come out of it
Speaker 1: feeling pretty naive a lot of the times.
Speaker 2: Jan Yeah, I feel the same way, Greb. It feels
Speaker 2: very easy to be on our side of the fence
Speaker 2: and just play armchair expert, yeah, and not knowing all
Speaker 2: the various different pieces that go into having to make
Speaker 2: gigantic decisions like this. Overall, I am bummed because Iron
Speaker 2: Galaxy was one of those places where it's like, all right,
Speaker 2: it's cool to be weird, and it's okay to be
Speaker 2: weird because you get something like Dive Kick and Rumble Verse.
Speaker 2: For as much as we and other people across the
Speaker 2: internet are talking about how great it was, I think
Speaker 2: legitimately if it was given the proper run way, it
Speaker 2: could have maybe not taken off to Fortnite levels, but
Speaker 2: at least continue to build a niche community. I mean,
Speaker 2: there is an absolute drop when it comes to wrestling games, right,
Speaker 2: we had the one AEW game, there's ww's kind of
Speaker 2: fixed things up now with two K and like those
Speaker 2: games are better now. But other than those two very
Speaker 2: lacking in wrestling game representation. And there's so much space
Speaker 2: for Rumble Verse to have partnered up with an AW
Speaker 2: or with a WWE releasing skins on skins on skins,
Speaker 2: or you know what, Rumble Verse could have teamed up
Speaker 2: with Stardom grub. We could have gotten our Joshi wrestler skins.
Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah, I mean honestly that you could. There's so
Speaker 1: many ways you could see Rumble Versus working if it
Speaker 1: just had been really given a chance.
Speaker 2: And perhaps like the partnership with Epic Right tied up
Speaker 2: a lot of that where they weren't allowed to reach
Speaker 2: out and it.
Speaker 1: Would rather close it than release it on Steam. Right,
Speaker 1: it was that was obvious. Again, who knows how much
Speaker 1: of that really is the culprit. Here in my head,
Speaker 1: it's like that's a big part of it. People point out,
Speaker 1: like you know, Iron Galaxy also hasn't had a perfect
Speaker 1: record with putting ports out Arkham one. The Arkham port
Speaker 1: that they did was plagued with issues. Now how much
Speaker 1: of that was their fault has been debated. I again,
Speaker 1: I imagine it's more complex than the Steam reviews would
Speaker 1: have led you to believe. And then they were also
Speaker 1: involved in a rough port of the Last of Us
Speaker 1: Part one. But they've also done so many great ports
Speaker 1: that it's like, Okay, they can do this, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it goes bad. So I bet it's once again more
Speaker 1: complicated than we understand, because hey, the team that worked
Speaker 1: on the Metroit Prime remastered port deserves all of the
Speaker 1: applause in the world and they were involved in that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I just think that this is something where
Speaker 1: we see them do this work and then companies keep
Speaker 1: going back to them to ask them to do more ports.
Speaker 1: So clearly they enjoy working with them and have seen
Speaker 1: positive results. You don't get that repeat business, that's not
Speaker 1: the case. I think. Really this just comes down to,
Speaker 1: excuse me, these companies are bringing more work in house,
Speaker 1: trying to save money, and this is something we see
Speaker 1: in times of uncertainty. That was one of the first
Speaker 1: things that happened in two thousand and eight as the
Speaker 1: recession was really starting to hit hard, was all these
Speaker 1: support studios that existed in Australia that we're holding up
Speaker 1: that entire country's video gaming industry all had their money
Speaker 1: pulled basically at the same time. Left everyone reeling and
Speaker 1: that was, you know, an entire country's worth of an industry.
Speaker 1: And I think we're kind of seeing that begin up
Speaker 1: once again. Maybe this is not like, oh, it's going
Speaker 1: to going to get that bad, but it feels like
Speaker 1: it is symptomatic in the same way that was symptomatic
Speaker 1: of a deeper uncertainty about video games overall. Either way,
Speaker 1: Iron Galaxy is still going. Hopefully they're able to figure
Speaker 1: some stuff out. A big part of this is obviously
Speaker 1: I do enjoy Dave Lang, but I think a big
Speaker 1: part of it also is these are people who are
Speaker 1: out of the like Midway Family and Midwest Gaming in Chicago,
Speaker 1: and you know, we saw it was a Deep Silver
Speaker 1: or the team that works on Saints Row they got
Speaker 1: hit with a bunch of layoffs as well, and they
Speaker 1: were also in the Midwest, and we're just we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of developers, big developers left in the Midwest,
Speaker 1: and part of me feels like this is a slow
Speaker 1: draining of all that talent and video game development in
Speaker 1: the Midwest probably will not recover from this. If it
Speaker 1: really goes away, it will just be smaller studios popping
Speaker 1: up here or there, and they will mostly have remote
Speaker 1: teams all of the world. Not that there's anything wrong
Speaker 1: with that, but the idea of like a big company
Speaker 1: you can go work at in the Midwest to make
Speaker 1: video games that is that feels like it's a dream,
Speaker 1: not long for this world. Volition. Thank you, Thank you, Chad,
Speaker 1: appreciate that. Yeah, Okay, let's see here, let's keep going.
Speaker 1: Medal Gear Solid Delta release date leaks via PSN. This
Speaker 1: is from Jordan Miller at VGC. A trailer for middle
Speaker 1: Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater has gone live early revealing
Speaker 1: the game's release date. The trailer, which is currently visible
Speaker 1: on the PlayStation store page for the remake, shows that
Speaker 1: the game will be released on August twenty eighth. According
Speaker 1: to the page, the game will be released, it will
Speaker 1: be excuse me PS five pro enhanced. The trailer also
Speaker 1: confirms that the snake versus Monkey mode from the original
Speaker 1: game will make a return in the remake. It's possible
Speaker 1: that the trailer was intended for Sony's rumored upcoming State
Speaker 1: of Play presentation. Medlegear Solid Delta Snake Eater's difficulty will
Speaker 1: change based on whether players use the game's new third
Speaker 1: person visual perspective or the original fixed perspective, and then
Speaker 1: Meddle Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater's modern perspective makes the game,
Speaker 1: which was originally reached on the PlayStation two, play more
Speaker 1: like middle Gear Solid five the Phantom pain rather than
Speaker 1: the zoomed out perspective of the original middle Gear Solid
Speaker 1: three release. That's very fascinating. I had not realized that
Speaker 1: I read some of those previews, but I must have
Speaker 1: glanced over that. If people mention that book for okay,
Speaker 1: August twenty eighth, that later than I was expecting. But honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, early kind of like I guess, it's like
Speaker 1: the heart of summer basically. That sounds about right. That's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. At least we don't have to wait until
Speaker 1: like November. I'm really looking forward to this one.
Speaker 2: Jan I am as well. I'm ready to shimmy around
Speaker 2: ducts and to hide in boxes all over again. Grub yep, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just I will. I think part of the reason
Speaker 2: I want to play Police NOTTS is I kind of
Speaker 2: miss Kojima's weirdness. Yeah, and he's been pretty quiet with
Speaker 2: Death Stranding lately. Well, I think we have a new
Speaker 2: story talking about that later, but I want the weird
Speaker 2: goofiness to grub Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean seeing the monkey Snake versus Monkey mode always
Speaker 1: does remind me of like, oh, how his goofiness really
Speaker 1: can infiltrate his games in a very obvious way. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the stories have a lot of quirks to them, and
Speaker 1: the characters are all pretty weird deep down and on
Speaker 1: the surface in many ways. But you're right, like this
Speaker 1: was just him kind of going ham and I'm glad
Speaker 1: that this game will be able to preserve that and
Speaker 1: showcase it in a new way. Yeah. I mean, Konami
Speaker 1: really going hard with this one. There was a chance
Speaker 1: that this game I thought could have come out even
Speaker 1: last year, so them taking quite a bit of extra
Speaker 1: time to really get it right. I think they have
Speaker 1: some confidence in it. I think they think that this
Speaker 1: can sort of reset Metal Gear and get people very
Speaker 1: much back into that franchise and help them establish a
Speaker 1: new platform to launch future Metal Gear related projects. I
Speaker 1: don't know how likely it is they start making new
Speaker 1: Metal Gear games, but if this hits really hard, they
Speaker 1: probably do go back and begin remaking a bunch of
Speaker 1: other Metal Gear solid games, which I think can hold
Speaker 1: them over for quite some time. And there's still we
Speaker 1: see there's a lot of appetite for that. Obviously, resident
Speaker 1: eval proving that.
Speaker 2: Let's see the Game Boy remaster remake of Metal Gear. Yeah. Also, hey,
Speaker 2: a lot of us had a lot of doubt with
Speaker 2: Silent Hill two's remake. It's right, I wound up being
Speaker 2: very very good. I had a lot of attention poured
Speaker 2: into that and love. So perhaps Konami may be doing
Speaker 2: something okay lately. Maybe they're getting their act together. Maybe
Speaker 2: they're the ex grub that wants to get back with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe they like improved themselves in like a real
Speaker 1: way and it's not.
Speaker 2: Just all a ruse to appear better.
Speaker 1: Maybe they actually do care about these games. Again, So
Speaker 1: when Chad asked like, hey, why this one? First, I think,
Speaker 1: and then someone answered here, I see this is first
Speaker 1: chronologically in the middle Gear Lore, So I think they're
Speaker 1: looking at it that way is we'll start with this
Speaker 1: and then we'll rem And also obviously part of it
Speaker 1: is this is primed for a remake because it is
Speaker 1: from that generation where, yeah, they need to update some
Speaker 1: of the gameplay and change some of the things, but
Speaker 1: a lot of the foundational work is there. If you
Speaker 1: go back and remake Medal Gear Solid one, it would
Speaker 1: take quite a bit more work to actually do that.
Speaker 1: We've heard other developers and other publishers talk about that,
Speaker 1: where it's like, hey, the PS two, PS three era
Speaker 1: a little bit easier to remake those occasionally. Yes, Speaking
Speaker 1: of konami, new cast Sylvania game apparently to be announced
Speaker 1: this year. According to rumor this is from my Nintendo News,
Speaker 1: it has been a long time since we got a
Speaker 1: big budget Castlevania video game, despite it being a huge
Speaker 1: franchise and having a successful animated Netflix show. Now a
Speaker 1: new rumor is doing the rounds online, suggesting that Konami
Speaker 1: is preparing to revive the franchise in the same way
Speaker 1: it is doing with the Metal Gear Solid series. Portuguese
Speaker 1: site geeking Out says a new Triple A game is
Speaker 1: in the Caslvania series is on the way and that
Speaker 1: it will be officially announced in twenty twenty five. As always,
Speaker 1: this is a rumor, so we'll have to wait and
Speaker 1: see how it actually pans out. Now, this is a
Speaker 1: rumor we've heard before Jan early on as Metal before
Speaker 1: Metal Gear Solid Delta was announced. Uh, there was rumors say, hey,
Speaker 1: a metal Gear remake is happening, a new Castlevania game
Speaker 1: is coming, and they're doing a lot with Silent Hill.
Speaker 1: Well we've heard, We've had all the Silent Hill announcements.
Speaker 1: Metal Gear Solid It's date just got released, and we've
Speaker 1: known about it like publicly for a long time. Castlevania
Speaker 1: has still been completely in the shadows. They have not
Speaker 1: confirmed that one way or the other at all, But
Speaker 1: this has all everything else is lined up, So those
Speaker 1: rumors have felt pretty solid, and I've been holding a
Speaker 1: torch for this one. I'm hopeful this rumor, Jan says,
Speaker 1: triple A game cool. Is that what you expect from
Speaker 1: a new Castlevania from Konami.
Speaker 2: I guess so, because this is one of their like
Speaker 2: ten pole ips that they could rally behind that I
Speaker 2: guess doesn't have any residual stink on it. Right, like
Speaker 2: Silent Hill has a silent Hill stay think mel Gear
Speaker 2: as well, with a complicated relationship with Kojima and his exit.
Speaker 2: Castlevania is like pretty okay, right, It's been on the
Speaker 2: up and up. The Dominant collection was good, the partnership
Speaker 2: with the Vampire Survivors was good. People like that, anime.
Speaker 2: My question for you, Grub, I see Triple A and
Speaker 2: I'm wondering, does that mean it is going to be
Speaker 2: a three D Castlevania versus the two D Castlevania.
Speaker 1: That's the implication I take away. Yeah, to me, it's
Speaker 1: like there's two D Castlevania or metro Vania style Castlevania,
Speaker 1: and that's the one thing that could possibly be doing.
Speaker 1: But you know the fact that the rumors have taken
Speaker 1: so long for us just to even like get to
Speaker 1: a point where they are going to maybe announce it
Speaker 1: this year, I guess that does suggest to me that
Speaker 1: maybe they're working on something bigger and triple A three
Speaker 1: D game. I mean, at this point, the road map
Speaker 1: is right there. You try to make a frump Soft
Speaker 1: style game.
Speaker 2: Now, as my next question, yeah, they make do they
Speaker 2: just make blood Boorn?
Speaker 1: I mean I think so, Yeah, I think Bloodborne and
Speaker 1: a lot of frum Soft games have always felt like, hey,
Speaker 1: these are three D versions of Castlevania games. In many ways,
Speaker 1: I think, if you just make Bloodborne but it is
Speaker 1: completely dripping in the style of Castlevania, that would I
Speaker 1: would love that, that would welcome that in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1: That would be amazing.
Speaker 2: Hey, as someone that for whatever reason chose the whip
Speaker 2: cane to start out as my starting weapon and Bloodborne,
Speaker 2: I'm all for it. I had a taste. I want
Speaker 2: the whole meal now grub.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, who knows how they would
Speaker 1: be able to pull this off if they have the
Speaker 1: team to do it, But I'm hopeful. And again, the
Speaker 1: roadmap is there. They know what they would need to do,
Speaker 1: and it's not like it's been impossible for someone to
Speaker 1: replicate what from Stuff is done, and Lies of p
Speaker 1: has done very well, and there's been a handful of
Speaker 1: others that have gotten pretty close. And I think if
Speaker 1: you then have the level of separation of being like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're taking inspiration from that stuff that took inspiration from Castlevania,
Speaker 1: but this is a Castlevania game, then that gives them
Speaker 1: the freedom to kind of go their way. In and
Speaker 1: a few like the boss designed doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: the most startling thing you've ever seen, like from soft bosses.
Speaker 1: They could be the familiar demons that have always shown
Speaker 1: up in Castlevania, and I would be like, oh cool,
Speaker 1: Death is here, A giant Cerebus is here. This this
Speaker 1: rules So yeah, I'm I hope that if that's the
Speaker 1: way they're going, that's what we get. At the same time,
Speaker 1: wouldn't hate another new metro Vania. Would love to see
Speaker 1: that too.
Speaker 2: Hey you know what, why not a Dante's Inferno?
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, sure, that's it's about It's about time we
Speaker 1: got someone brave enough to do that. All right, how
Speaker 1: do you say cerebis everybody? Is? Is it not Cerebus?
Speaker 1: That's I thought, that's how is it Cerebus? That doesn't
Speaker 1: sound right? That doesn't sound right and doesn't sound right
Speaker 1: to me? Okay, it sounded right. Would you say Cerberus? Okay,
Speaker 1: sound okay? Ies that sounds right. Yeah, I think I've
Speaker 1: definitely heard people say it the other way, but Cerberus
Speaker 1: does sound more correct to me. All right, let's see here.
Speaker 1: Nintendo reconfirms Pokemon Legends, Za or Za and Metro Prime
Speaker 1: four Beyond coming twenty twenty five. This is from my
Speaker 1: Nintendo News. Nintendo has reconfirmed in the recent financial report
Speaker 1: that the long awaited Metrod Prime four Beyond and Pokemon
Speaker 1: Legends ZA are destined to be released this year. Hopefully
Speaker 1: we will see both titles in action very soon more
Speaker 1: than that jan They've also basically said these are Switch
Speaker 1: one game still now, how that excludes them from switch
Speaker 1: to in any way? They have not said because obviously
Speaker 1: all Switch one games will be backward compatible. Also, that
Speaker 1: does not mean that they won't have some sort of
Speaker 1: presence as like, hey, Switch two is out now, now
Speaker 1: you can play these games in an enhanced mode immediately,
Speaker 1: because these are also basically Switched two games. But they
Speaker 1: are definitely going to be Switched one games, which I
Speaker 1: love because Dan counterpick Metro Prime four in our Fantasy Critic,
Speaker 1: which is very funny but also nice to like. Okay,
Speaker 1: they're they're telling us, hey, we will still be talking
Speaker 1: about these games very soon. And of course there is
Speaker 1: that rumored February direct and both those games probably show
Speaker 1: up there. And then of course Pokemon Day is also
Speaker 1: this month. Is it usually in February late February? I
Speaker 1: think I forget. I think I think that's right, and
Speaker 1: so we'll definitely get an update about that game at
Speaker 1: at that point. So, yeah, you still recent to play
Speaker 1: Switch one.
Speaker 2: Right, one hundred percent grub like they're they're still trying
Speaker 2: to break records with that machine. That being said, with
Speaker 2: us being on the cusp of the switch to launching,
Speaker 2: me personally, I think I might wait a bit at
Speaker 2: least to play Pokemon Za until more switch to news
Speaker 2: is revealed. Metrod Prime four, I'll check it out, But
Speaker 2: Pokemon Za as a Pokemon man, I've been burned. I've
Speaker 2: been burned by single frame animations for so long. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just need a little bit more juice, all right.
Speaker 1: This is a I mean, if you feel like they
Speaker 1: have finally gotten the message, but who knows if they're
Speaker 1: actually gonna follow through on that. You know, they pump
Speaker 1: those games out very quickly, and now they're all now
Speaker 1: they've always been making multiple games at the same time,
Speaker 1: and now the games are bigger than ever before, and
Speaker 1: clearly that has just caught up with them, and the
Speaker 1: tech is just has been like, hey, we cannot fully
Speaker 1: support the tech available to us without making major, major sacrifices.
Speaker 1: Sacrifices other developers simply would not make. Yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful that they are, like, just take a few extra
Speaker 1: months here and there on some of these projects, just
Speaker 1: just to fix them up enough and have a little
Speaker 1: bit more ambitions in terms of how you present them.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, though, you know, Legends the original Legends
Speaker 1: was really good. We also just don't know what this
Speaker 1: Legends ZA. How they're going to separate it from the
Speaker 1: main Pokemon games and the previous Legends game. Is it
Speaker 1: going to be like mostly played like that less Legends game,
Speaker 1: or as the trailer suggests, like have more city management elements.
Speaker 1: Like it was just a weird trailer, So I would
Speaker 1: really appreciate an update on what ZA is going to be.
Speaker 2: What if there's no Pokemon?
Speaker 1: Yeah, what if the Pokemon have all just retired? Yeah left,
Speaker 1: maybe they all got traded to the Lakers. That's probably
Speaker 1: most likely situation. That's right, Yeah, everyone or the worst
Speaker 1: at this point. That's kind of yeah, I'm okay with
Speaker 1: that one even really. Yeah, that was like, oh man,
Speaker 1: I don't know Jimmy, Jimmy Butler. I don't know about Jimmy,
Speaker 1: but I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm more so jazz grub for him bringing his coffee here.
Speaker 2: All right, well, are you more excited for the coffee
Speaker 2: that is basketball?
Speaker 1: I think I think that's You're gonna win on this
Speaker 1: one for sure. Okay, let's take a quick break. When
Speaker 1: we come back. Plenty of more to talk about, including
Speaker 1: how well Kingdom Come Deliverance Too has actually sold. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that right after this. All right, let's get
Speaker 1: right back into it. Kingdom Come Deliverance Too has sold
Speaker 1: one million copies. This is from Zoe Hannah at Polygon.
Speaker 1: After just a day on the market, the highly anticipated
Speaker 1: sequel to twenty eighteen's Kingdom Come Deliverance has sold one
Speaker 1: million copies. Warhorse Studios. Kingdom Come Deliverance two was released
Speaker 1: to a media and widespread critical acclaim and obviously mounds
Speaker 1: of sales. Impressive at any time, but particularly in a
Speaker 1: competitive month that'll see Civilization seven, Assassin's Creed, Shadows Avowed,
Speaker 1: Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in
Speaker 1: Hawaii released before it comes to an end. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a busy time. The massive sales numbers so close to
Speaker 1: other hugely popular releases. Just players are either dedicated fans
Speaker 1: who planned on buying Deliverance to no matter what when
Speaker 1: it came out, or that players intend to buy several
Speaker 1: games at the sixty dollars price point in twenty twenty five. Regardless,
Speaker 1: the consensus among game reviewers besides Polygond, unfortunately as we
Speaker 1: didn't get a chance to play the game before launch,
Speaker 1: is that this game kicks ass, especially for folks already
Speaker 1: invested in the franchise. The combat gets lots of praise,
Speaker 1: although are along with the faithful and direct continuation of
Speaker 1: the story from the first game and the game's signature
Speaker 1: realism and ray humor stays in this one too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the one thing I have heard complaints about is
Speaker 1: the is the combat. So I need to just play
Speaker 1: this game for myself and see rushing to one million
Speaker 1: sales as a big standalone, well sequel adventure RPG, open
Speaker 1: world RPG. I think this is It just shows this
Speaker 1: is one of the things that people really want, and
Speaker 1: it really puts the line I don't we don't have
Speaker 1: to immediately go to like EA, but immediately puts the
Speaker 1: lie like Andrew Wilson kind of talking about, hey, the
Speaker 1: mass or a veil Guard failed because that Dragon Age
Speaker 1: game was not live service, so well, that didn't seem
Speaker 1: to hurt Kingdom Come Deliverance Too, which is probably already
Speaker 1: at the sales that Dragon Age the Veilguard's at. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I just feel like some of these companies
Speaker 1: are so out of touch, and then some of these
Speaker 1: smaller studios are so in touch with what the audience
Speaker 1: wants that it's kind of obvious at a certain point
Speaker 1: why some games are succeeding why they're not, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Grub, there's like a gigantic audience for games out there, right,
Speaker 2: Not everything has to be a live service game, Not
Speaker 2: everything has to be a Soul's like obviously, if Kingdom
Speaker 2: Come Deliverance Too has already developed its gigantic audience with
Speaker 2: the original game, despite the controversies surrounding it, uh, and
Speaker 2: then this game can continue to do well despite a
Speaker 2: bunch of other Fallout or the original stink from the
Speaker 2: first one. You can make games like the other weird games, Grub. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't understand why that is. The these bigger studios,
Speaker 2: these Triple A studios are only chasing the other Triple
Speaker 2: A games rather than like, well that's working let's try
Speaker 2: and make one of those as well. Yeah, and I
Speaker 2: don't think the only take that I've seen grub that
Speaker 2: would have seen Veilguard is imran CON's take that what
Speaker 2: would have saved Veilguard is if they just called it
Speaker 2: Dragon Age Veil Guard instead of the Veil Guard.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that would have made a difference for me
Speaker 1: for sure. God, I hate the Veil Guard. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think that, you know, people are just kind of craving
Speaker 1: anything in this genre at all. Uh So anything that
Speaker 1: kind of comes in with some competency is going to
Speaker 1: be well well received. And then I think also this
Speaker 1: is a sequel that has learned a lot, and I
Speaker 1: think we also have just see that repeatedly in video games,
Speaker 1: where the first game kind of like gets most of
Speaker 1: the stuff right. But overall, it's a seven and eight
Speaker 1: if you're being completely fair, And if they had time
Speaker 1: to make a follow up to if they had time
Speaker 1: to let that institutional institutional wisdom build up and keep
Speaker 1: people on the same team working on the same kind
Speaker 1: of game for a long period of time and make
Speaker 1: them feel secure and like they have the ability to
Speaker 1: really see their ambitions through to the end, you get
Speaker 1: a sequel that really does pop off the page in
Speaker 1: the way that this one seems to be. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if publishers have the patients to even know
Speaker 1: that lesson, because I was going to say, learn that lesson,
Speaker 1: but they've learned it so many times. They're the ones
Speaker 1: that prove that model, and yet they seem completely disinterested
Speaker 1: in following through with that sort of idea now unless
Speaker 1: it is unless the game, like the first game, immediately
Speaker 1: sells like ten million copies, ten to fifteen million copies.
Speaker 1: Otherwise they're just not going to give it time. And
Speaker 1: it's like, how many times have we seen an idea,
Speaker 1: a show, a book series something like kind of like
Speaker 1: slowly build up an audience or slow or slowly have
Speaker 1: a small audience for a very small for a very
Speaker 1: long time, and then finally, after like a decade, all
Speaker 1: that comes together and it really finally does pop off
Speaker 1: and they get all the success. But I just don't
Speaker 1: know if modern day video game publishers are capable of
Speaker 1: that sort of patience anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think based off of how companies are built
Speaker 2: now grub, they intentionally do not give themselves enough runway
Speaker 2: to wait and see, right mm hmmm. Like we talk
Speaker 2: about something having a cult success and eventually spinning off
Speaker 2: into the mainstream, and that's like a lot of miscellaneous
Speaker 2: fandoms across across media, Like Doctor Who was originally a
Speaker 2: very niche series for uk A Booze to get into
Speaker 2: and now it's a big franchise on Disney. Plus similar
Speaker 2: ish thing with Twin Peaks. Just think of how RGG
Speaker 2: is able to take the existing tool sets that they
Speaker 2: have and spin off weird games like Pirate or Like
Speaker 2: a Dragon, Pirate, Yakuza, whatever we're calling it. Mm hm.
Speaker 2: But also the Judgment series. Like the Judgment Series, I
Speaker 2: don't know how well it's sold, but it feels like
Speaker 2: it has had enough success to build another cult like
Speaker 2: audience within their existing cult like audience that is h
Speaker 2: and Like a Dragon is now becoming a gigantic franchise
Speaker 2: with a big ass audience yep.
Speaker 1: And and over the time, like because they had to
Speaker 1: be so scrappy for so long, as you were saying,
Speaker 1: they figured out so many smart ways to get the
Speaker 1: most out of all the parts and the components that
Speaker 1: they use to make those games to the point where
Speaker 1: they can't have the stuff like Judgment games where it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is going to take place in that same setting,
Speaker 1: and it's just gonna have different characters and and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, different mechanics. But we have a lot of
Speaker 1: the resources ready to go to deliver this in a
Speaker 1: pretty quick way. And they already they've done two judgment
Speaker 1: games as this offshoot series, while having a bunch of
Speaker 1: other side games in the Yakuza series proper. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: to me, it's a model, but one that must be
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's difficult, but one that is
Speaker 1: scary I think to most traditional publishers, or not as
Speaker 1: enticing as the lottery ticket of a big live service
Speaker 1: game hitting. But I'm hopeful that as these publishers kind
Speaker 1: of get scared off of live service games, they will
Speaker 1: begin looking around for what is something that is a
Speaker 1: little bit more stable. I hope they like they like
Speaker 1: really prize stability going forward, and I think a model
Speaker 1: like what Yakus has done, and like what a lot
Speaker 1: of these smaller indie teams and relatively larger indie teams
Speaker 1: have done, which is, hey, we're going to really focus
Speaker 1: in on a genre that has felt you know, abandoned
Speaker 1: in some ways. So yeah, I'm hopeful, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think EA is definitely playing with fire a little
Speaker 1: bit when they talk about once again abandoning single player
Speaker 1: games or you know, having a hybrid only single player games.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of live service elements, because I
Speaker 1: don't think gamers feel like they need that kind of
Speaker 1: publisher anymore. There was a time where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: if we didn't have the EAS and the act divisions,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't get a lot of big games of any kind.
Speaker 1: And now, you know, any studios from Europe can put
Speaker 1: out a game that people feel is like the new Oblivion,
Speaker 1: and that that felt impossible at a certain point. So
Speaker 1: I don't I just like, if EA decides that they're
Speaker 1: done with us and they only care about the people
Speaker 1: that show up for the FIFA Ultimate Team and they
Speaker 1: only care about like the mobile space, I kind of
Speaker 1: would be like, all right, so long at a certain.
Speaker 2: Point, But even those audiences like aren't coming in droves, right,
Speaker 2: Like the football club is like it's down, it's down,
Speaker 2: and with some of the stuff that I'm personally excited
Speaker 2: for from EA or things that have like wowed me
Speaker 2: in the past, like it doesn't have a multiplayer component
Speaker 2: like Star Wars Jedi Survivor. I don't know how you
Speaker 2: ham fist any live service into that, or a multiplayer
Speaker 2: mode into that, maybe like a dueling mode, I guess,
Speaker 2: but like it doesn't need it, and that if correct
Speaker 2: me if I'm wrong, But I believe those games were
Speaker 2: very successful.
Speaker 1: Yes, especially the first one, but I think the sequel
Speaker 1: did really well as well, and they may started making
Speaker 1: a third one.
Speaker 2: I don't understand why they feel the need to like
Speaker 2: stay say weird shit, like, no, it would have been
Speaker 2: better if we had live service.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I just think, and you know, the
Speaker 1: hybrid model, it's worked here and there. I mean Hitman
Speaker 1: clearly worked, and that was a live service game in
Speaker 1: that there was always something new in the works or
Speaker 1: getting added, or a new mode, a new way to
Speaker 1: engage with the same content. They made that game feel alive,
Speaker 1: for sure, but they had to build the whole game
Speaker 1: around that like that, and uh, I just think, like,
Speaker 1: let's just take Dragon Age and then slap the stuff
Speaker 1: in there or try to make it work with that,
Speaker 1: and that was never gonna work. You have to build
Speaker 1: an entirely different kind of game, which maybe requires like
Speaker 1: hit man was maybe well suited to that, So maybe
Speaker 1: take a franchise that would be well suited that and
Speaker 1: apply this. But overall they probably need a lot of
Speaker 1: new ideas that can fit well into these new models.
Speaker 1: And in the meantime, what happens with the single player
Speaker 1: of games, Well, I think if you just made them
Speaker 1: interesting they would they'd probably be doing a lot better. No,
Speaker 1: I know, it's it's insane. I shouldn't shouldn't have said it,
Speaker 1: all right, we talked about Kochoma a bunch already. But
Speaker 1: as Kojuma teases a new trailer, Death Stranding two has
Speaker 1: been rated. This is from Jordan Midler at VGC. Death
Speaker 1: Stranding two on the Beach has been rated in South Korea.
Speaker 1: As Hideo Kojima teases that he's working on a new trailer.
Speaker 1: The upcoming game, which currently doesn't have a release date,
Speaker 1: has been rated by the South Korean Ratings Board. The
Speaker 1: rating warns that the game includes successive violence, vulgar language,
Speaker 1: direct to drug use, and more sounds of a party
Speaker 1: on the beach. While games are routinely rated several months
Speaker 1: ahead of release, it usually is an indication that the
Speaker 1: game is very close to completion. This coincides with several
Speaker 1: teases from creator Hideo Kojuma that suggests he could be
Speaker 1: working on a new trailer for the game. Gochumo, who
Speaker 1: famously edits the vast majorities of the trailers for his
Speaker 1: own video game projects, has taken to social media to
Speaker 1: tease a premiere pro timeline and several shots from what
Speaker 1: could be a trailer for the game. Yep, you know that. God,
Speaker 1: he loves that stuff.
Speaker 2: I needed grub, I need it.
Speaker 1: I know, I mean, I love that. That's still his
Speaker 1: favorite thing to do. It's just like man, I love
Speaker 1: making trailers, and he's good at it. He really is
Speaker 1: good at it.
Speaker 2: It's very good at it. When I learned that fact
Speaker 2: about him, I was very impressed, and then I started
Speaker 2: to understand his brain a little bit. Yep, more I
Speaker 2: what was the quote? Is it implied drug use or
Speaker 2: let's see direct to drug use? Okay, So that puppet
Speaker 2: is doing a line of call.
Speaker 1: Oh that that puppet is just such a coke head.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I've forgotten about the puppet. How do
Speaker 1: I keep forgetting about the puppet?
Speaker 2: Jan I, like LEAs said, do has like a scarf
Speaker 2: with hands?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Or it's like a hand scarf. Yep, I don't understand
Speaker 2: it any I think I want to play through Death
Speaker 2: Stranding again, Grub.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do too. I like that game fine, but
Speaker 1: I never really got into the director's cut. I should
Speaker 1: go back and really get a chance.
Speaker 2: I don't know how Amazon delivery drivers are in your neighborhood, Grub,
Speaker 2: because they probably just get on and off the truck.
Speaker 1: They're all just like Daryl from walking down.
Speaker 2: Well, but since I live in an apartment building, the person,
Speaker 2: the delivery person will generally have like a giant soft
Speaker 2: crate that they are carrying on their back, and our
Speaker 2: mail room is weird, so I generally have to like
Speaker 2: buzz them in. It is just hilarious watching them take
Speaker 2: out menestulate the crate twenty different little envelopes in this
Speaker 2: gigantic crate.
Speaker 1: Okay, I know they don't do that here because it's
Speaker 1: like we're the suburbs, so they're just driving around. I
Speaker 1: have not seen the crate backpack.
Speaker 2: Oh grab, I'm gonna take a picture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd love to see this.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna expense like twenty retro tinks from Amazon
Speaker 2: just so you can see this.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate that I did Backlar did let
Speaker 1: me expense my retro tank. So we have been playing
Speaker 1: my n sixty four looking forward to that.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what I can plug into a
Speaker 2: retro tink. I just bought twenty of them and just
Speaker 2: keeping that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dream like Lego, stack them together, build little houses.
Speaker 1: This would be awesome.
Speaker 2: I'll just daisy chain the retro tinks.
Speaker 1: This game probably shows up at that PlayStation state of
Speaker 1: play that is rumored to be happening around Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2: He's gonna he's gonna make it like a love trailer.
Speaker 1: I think there's a chance he could. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he would love to like do that. That would be amazing.
Speaker 2: I he Yeah, what are the odds grub that like
Speaker 2: he's been wicked pilled?
Speaker 1: Oh one, one hundred percent, Like there's no chance he
Speaker 1: hasn't been wicked pilled. It's a movie that came out
Speaker 1: of course he watched it.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that just like he one hundred percent ate
Speaker 2: up the musical sequence from Alan Wake two. Yeah, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: he's gonna add some songs to this girl.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be jealous that he doesn't have more musical numbers.
Speaker 1: And his stuff. Yep, I think. I mean especially in
Speaker 1: the trailers, Oh my god, because he'll he just goes
Speaker 1: crazy in those things, which is half the fun for me.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy his lead ups to releasing games because
Speaker 1: you know, they're not like, oh that's more interesting than
Speaker 1: the games themselves, but they're just also very cool. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to this. This will probably be like
Speaker 1: them getting started in earnest. We don't have a release
Speaker 1: for this game.
Speaker 2: Right, let's see negative.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I and I'm but it probably does come
Speaker 1: out this year. I think it's most people's expectations, So
Speaker 1: maybe we get a release date here. This feels like
Speaker 1: one that could be first half of the year still
Speaker 1: h and then maybe Sony has because this will be
Speaker 1: exclusive to PlayStation four some time, this would be one
Speaker 1: of their first half exclusives, and then maybe they have
Speaker 1: something else for the second half of this year. That
Speaker 1: kind of feels right at this point.
Speaker 2: Has has Hadeo Kujima acquired lin Manuel Miranda.
Speaker 1: Yet I don't know if he's added him to the
Speaker 1: collection yetka.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we have a way to ham fist
Speaker 2: that into happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think at certain points like we
Speaker 1: can No, we definitely have the connections to get that
Speaker 1: come fully completed. And I always love the stories of
Speaker 1: Hollywood people being told that he's going to contact them, Like, look,
Speaker 1: Deo Kojima is going to call you. He's a video
Speaker 1: game developer in Japan and he's a genius. Just just
Speaker 1: do whatever he says. And then they all just do
Speaker 1: whatever he says, which is fly to Japan, step into
Speaker 1: my chamber, and let me capture you like a Pokemon.
Speaker 2: I mean, hey, what, anything's possible. I'm sorry, Dan, Death
Speaker 2: Straining two will have a musical segment.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, for sure, Dan, if you want again, go
Speaker 1: watch The Apple because that's the dumbest musical ever and
Speaker 1: it's like it's fun to hate. So god, it's a
Speaker 1: that's a good one. Everyone should watch that new new
Speaker 1: Pickle draft A good moment in there and related to
Speaker 1: the Apple. All right, So let's see here, keep going.
Speaker 1: Sega files new Sonic Blitz trademark. This is from Ali
Speaker 1: Reynolds at Yes at Nintendo Life. Sega has filed a
Speaker 1: new trademark for something called Sonic Blitz, as revealed via
Speaker 1: Cheese Day Watch, which is, uh, they basically just track
Speaker 1: trademarks in Japan. Naturally, very is known about the trademark,
Speaker 1: but it covers all the usual categories you might expect
Speaker 1: from a company like Sega, Education and entertainment, machinery, ROM cartridges,
Speaker 1: programs for home consoles, optical discs, headphones, speakers, electronic circuits,
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah, basically everything that could potentially be
Speaker 1: linked to a major video game franchise. This feels like
Speaker 1: the new Sonic like universe for merchandise and animation and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and there might then there might be
Speaker 1: a game related to this as well. But this definitely
Speaker 1: feels like when we got like Sonic Boom and the
Speaker 1: big effort there was well there's a Netflix shown. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sure there's a game. It was trash, But this feels
Speaker 1: like that to me. I don't know it maybe is
Speaker 1: something else happening here, jan you can maybe pin down here.
Speaker 2: Whenever I hear blitz added to something, I just think, okay,
Speaker 2: this is going to be a mobile game. Perhaps it
Speaker 2: is a different platform, like you're saying grub or just
Speaker 2: to try and get everything underneath a neat umbrella. The
Speaker 2: Sonic Eye is very weird because I feel like the
Speaker 2: people out there that only consume the movies are a
Speaker 2: very different audience than the Sonic video game audience as well.
Speaker 2: Very different because, like the Sonic movies don't quite reflect
Speaker 2: everything that you could do in the game f at all,
Speaker 2: because other than going super Sonic, Sonic and Shadow aren't
Speaker 2: having super Saiyan battles on the moon from my memory,
Speaker 2: in the games at least, you're just getting the ebless trigger, right,
Speaker 2: that's right, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: I did watch Sonic three. That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: That's a fun movie. There's show and there's a there's
Speaker 1: a sand battle on the moon. Yeah, it's pretty good stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I think you're right that that this is
Speaker 1: them kind of maximizing the return on Sonic and making
Speaker 1: sure that, hey, the movies are chugging along, let's make
Speaker 1: sure we have other ways for people to engage with
Speaker 1: Sonic and kind of start a new initiative here, fresh
Speaker 1: and you know there, it's like the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles, right,
Speaker 1: there's always a new Turtles for the latest generation of kids.
Speaker 1: It's like Pokemon. Sonic really does have Pokemon like appeal,
Speaker 1: is what I've discovered. Kids just see Sonic and their
Speaker 1: immediate like, that is a cool dude that I am into.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2: Get it because I was once in those shoes of
Speaker 2: those children of like Sonic, is hella cool? He loves
Speaker 2: chili dogs?
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, and like today Sonic is the number one
Speaker 1: avenue through which children learn about the concept of chili dogs.
Speaker 1: I think that is a factual statement.
Speaker 2: So I didn't not know what a chili dog was
Speaker 2: until Sonic.
Speaker 1: My kids too, they start talking about chili dogs one
Speaker 1: day and I'm like, who showed you, Sonic? Who showed you?
Speaker 1: Son You tell me right now? Anyway, Sonic blitz trademark.
Speaker 1: All right, people just sent me this. Let's let's dive
Speaker 1: into this real quick. Forget E three. The ESA is
Speaker 1: back with a new video game conference for change makers.
Speaker 1: Oh no, this is from Chris Kerr at gamedeveloper dot com.
Speaker 1: Let me first accept the cookies. There we go. The ESA,
Speaker 1: organizer of the once revered but now dead E three Showcase,
Speaker 1: is returning to the event fold with the Interactive Innovation
Speaker 1: Conference or i icon econicon. Have fun with that one.
Speaker 1: A conference is being pitched as an essential convening for
Speaker 1: change makers across the industries, but will seemingly focus on
Speaker 1: those careening through the world of video games. It will
Speaker 1: take place at the Fontaine Blue Resort in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: from April twenty seventh through April thirtieth, twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: and they're inviting big players from around the industry. A
Speaker 1: number of high profile companies from the games industry have
Speaker 1: already confirmed their attendance, including Amazon Games, Disney Electronic Arts,
Speaker 1: Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix,
Speaker 1: Take to Interactive, You Be Soft, and Warner Brothers Games.
Speaker 1: The s a A claims Icon will unite a broad
Speaker 1: spectrum of sectors that converge with interactive entertainment. We're going
Speaker 1: to Vegas, Jan I'm sorry, are we going to Vegas? Jerome,
Speaker 1: Hey baby, Jerome will treat you right, Yeah, as you were.
Speaker 2: I need everyone to uh pull up the news story
Speaker 2: that Grub is reading, but I need you to put
Speaker 2: up the song from Jaden Smith called Icon with Will
Speaker 2: Smith featured on it, because I just as I'm hearing
Speaker 2: you say all those things, Grub, it just feels like
Speaker 2: nonsense and I'm being sold fish oil. But I am
Speaker 2: or snake oil. Sorry, fish oil is actually good for
Speaker 2: snake oil. And you know what, I've thrown the sunglasses
Speaker 2: on grub. I'm a pop my collar, I'm a light
Speaker 2: of cigarette, and we're all in.
Speaker 1: Baby, we're the.
Speaker 2: Big change makers coming in.
Speaker 1: Oh shit, change makers, right, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 2: I was talking earlier this week. I think last week
Speaker 2: maybe that I want to like maybe get out there
Speaker 2: and host more things ESA. Let me do it, Let
Speaker 2: me do it.
Speaker 1: Oh shit. I always played me and micro on that
Speaker 1: last D three we helped kill E three. They had
Speaker 1: a game games Beat Decided. Yeah, games Beat Decides. It
Speaker 1: was known then do like an hour long special for
Speaker 1: them that they just threw into the middle. It was terrible.
Speaker 1: So I got connections for you. I can get you
Speaker 1: connected up with the ESA. Yeah. Okay, So they're not
Speaker 1: promising a replacement of E three. They are shifting from
Speaker 1: La to Vegas. That's honestly a good idea. So much
Speaker 1: more room in Vegas to do stuff like this, not
Speaker 1: that they need a lot of space, but it will
Speaker 1: also be much cheaper. There's a lot of reasons Vegas
Speaker 1: is better, other than having to be in Vegas, which
Speaker 1: some people see as a negative. I think for us,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna just paint that town red. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be done. It'll be a good time. But I
Speaker 1: don't know what are they actually trying to accomplish here.
Speaker 1: I guess having a bunch of companies confirmed to be involved,
Speaker 1: but in what way. I don't like Nintendo says they're involved,
Speaker 1: Sony's involved. They're not going to have like a Nintendo
Speaker 1: direct at this thing right like they have in the
Speaker 1: past three three.
Speaker 2: Right, this this feels like a step lower than perhaps
Speaker 2: like a how a GDC is where there's not going
Speaker 2: to be major, big announcements coming to this. Everyone is
Speaker 2: already on like the cycle to prepare for the summer
Speaker 2: in the winter with like Akille's summer birthday, Achille's winter birthday.
Speaker 2: That why fludge with a cycle? Now? I don't think
Speaker 2: they're going to have a booth prepared for this. Maybe
Speaker 2: they'll just be there to take appointments and right out
Speaker 2: of buffet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this feels like Shadowy three exclusively, which is maybe
Speaker 1: the one thing that was most necessary to continue existing
Speaker 1: in some way. So I wonder if these companies I
Speaker 1: went to them, like, hey, we want your dues, but
Speaker 1: what do you want from us? And these comments? All right,
Speaker 1: I guess we'll keep giving you money, but can you
Speaker 1: please just make some way for us to connect with
Speaker 1: each other in a way that makes sense. We don't
Speaker 1: need shooting, we don't need a billion dollars spent on
Speaker 1: getting a bunch of people to fly out to LA.
Speaker 1: Just give us some way for us to convene. And
Speaker 1: that seems to be what this is all about.
Speaker 2: I mean, there is a utility aspect, right of, like
Speaker 2: all of these developers and publishers getting together in one
Speaker 2: location and being able to mingle, network and just shoot
Speaker 2: the shit. And maybe that is what the essay is
Speaker 2: going to facilitate. Having it happen in Vegas just seems
Speaker 2: makes it sound skeasier.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I think it's fully admitting how skezy it is.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm all for it, though, Lexi, you were young,
Speaker 2: You were young. Do not question Vegas. You need to
Speaker 2: welcome Vegas as a magical play.
Speaker 1: You need to be brave enough for Vegas and then
Speaker 1: and then then you can fully assess America and the
Speaker 1: video game industry. And then I got a perfect time
Speaker 1: for you to do both of those things all at once.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, jam what.
Speaker 2: To Las Vegas two years ago? Grub uh huh. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to leave. I did not want to leave.
Speaker 2: And it's not because of the gambling everyone, No, it's
Speaker 2: the shows. Yeah. Where else am I going to see
Speaker 2: the Blue Man Group? Angel?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, okay, never mind, there's only one cross Angel,
Speaker 1: the mind freak. April is around the time when they
Speaker 1: do WrestleMania, right, that's always when they do WrestleMania is April.
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's a chance that these could ever
Speaker 1: be back to back events or even like the same
Speaker 1: weekend that it's okay the week before, says Dan. It okay,
Speaker 1: it's yeah, April nineteenth and twentieth this year. I know
Speaker 1: they try to do different cities, but they've been doing
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff in the same cities recently,
Speaker 1: so I wonder if there's a chance that we could
Speaker 1: ever they come back to Vegas relatively soon, and then hey,
Speaker 1: change makers and superstars together in one city at one time.
Speaker 1: I want to see it. All Right, let's get over
Speaker 1: here to the poll question. I have that too, ready
Speaker 1: to do mostly nope, I just turned on Bomberman Music
Speaker 1: instead there we go. Okay, yeah, that was my bad.
Speaker 2: Okay, there is that, yes, Dan, they still do avin.
Speaker 1: Yep, and maybe we can have all three at one time,
Speaker 1: the trifecta, the real Cerberus, the real Cerberus. That's the
Speaker 1: three headed demon right there. All right, do you think
Speaker 1: Halo the Master Chief Collection will come out on a
Speaker 1: Nintendo switch to? Yes or no? Seventy nine percent say yes,
Speaker 1: twenty one percent say no. A lot of people are
Speaker 1: just like this one feels so obvious at this point,
Speaker 1: to the point, I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: expecting something Halo to be announced at like the April
Speaker 1: second event where it's like, no, Halo the Master Chief
Speaker 1: Collection will just be on switch to at launch. That
Speaker 1: that aggressive. So people are very much over like it happened,
Speaker 1: you know, it happens quickly, all at once, after several
Speaker 1: years of pain of people been like will they ever
Speaker 1: do this? And here we are kind of it all
Speaker 1: happening at once. All right, I have a new poll question.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that here in a second. While we
Speaker 1: get that set up. Jianachoa, what do we have happening
Speaker 1: on Giant bomb dot com?
Speaker 2: Later today, we will have an episode of Voicemail Dump
Speaker 2: Truck with special guest John Warren. Also, I think several
Speaker 2: of us are tagging out and it is just gonna
Speaker 2: be our dear coworker Jeff Backlar with Lucy James, Nikki Grayson,
Speaker 2: and I guess John Warren. Tomorrow we're gonna have another
Speaker 2: episode of Games Warnings as well as the Power Bomb
Speaker 2: Cast tomorrow taking place instead of BCR And then we're
Speaker 2: gonna try and do some type of upf type of
Speaker 2: jazz Delio.
Speaker 1: Yep, looking forward to it. We'll figure all that stuff out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you are looking for something to watch right now,
Speaker 1: we have some fun with Puck. It was a good time.
Speaker 2: Oh the finale of Blike Club finale of Blike clubs
Speaker 2: day Yep, that's right.
Speaker 1: So I am preparing myself to play some bad N
Speaker 1: sixty four game, as if such a thing could possibly exist.
Speaker 1: I'm getting that all set up once my retro tinkets here. Honestly,
Speaker 1: that might take a little bit longer in the week.
Speaker 1: I might have to actually get something else in the meantime,
Speaker 1: at least for the first episode, so we'll see just
Speaker 1: a cheap thing off of Amazon. But yeah, looking forward
Speaker 1: to that. Starting up next week. In the meantime, though,
Speaker 1: Janet Chow, thank you so much for hanging out with
Speaker 1: me and talking about video games. Man, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: It's the only way to start a Thursday grow.
Speaker 1: I don't think I did the new pole question, what
Speaker 1: do you want most from? A new Castlelvania, a new
Speaker 1: two D Caslvania or a three D triple a blockbuster Castlevania.
Speaker 1: Go vote now YouTube dot com slash at Giant Bomb
Speaker 1: there on the community tab. Thank you all for listening
Speaker 1: and watching. You are the best audience in gaming. Until
Speaker 1: next time, have a good one, take care of yourself
Speaker 1: and goodbye.