Layoffs at skate Studio

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to Game Mess Mornings with Me Jeff Grub,
<v Speaker 1>your host from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for
<v Speaker 1>tuning in. In this episode, we're gonna be talking about
<v Speaker 1>more terrible news for Bloodborne fans and a bundle of
<v Speaker 1>superhero classics making a return. It's gonna be a good
<v Speaker 1>one because we have Jana Choa on the show. Jan
<v Speaker 1>how are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>I was doing great, Grub, I was doing actually okay
<v Speaker 2>given circumstances of life. But then Twitch just decides to
<v Speaker 2>continue to detest me for whatever reason.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't make any sense. We got the YouTube feed
<v Speaker 1>looking perfect, Twitch being a little just nasty little boys.
<v Speaker 1>What it's being. It's being a little shithead. I wish
<v Speaker 1>we could just like it should be as easy a
<v Speaker 1>slipping a switches. That's what we do, and then Twitch
<v Speaker 1>take the feed make it work.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, what do we have to do for a little
<v Speaker 2>peak hind the current folks. We used to use restream
<v Speaker 2>as a way to distribute the stream to different service providers,
<v Speaker 2>so that would go to our internal stuff YouTube, Twitch,
<v Speaker 2>and I don't know the occasional time we try on
<v Speaker 2>TikTok or Instagram. We've since stopped using that and are
<v Speaker 2>using a different plug in that our dear friend from
<v Speaker 2>Kind of Funny, Barret Courtney showed me. So we removed
<v Speaker 2>Restream from the equation because Restream and Twitch did not
<v Speaker 2>like talking to each other. And this works better for
<v Speaker 2>us because we can send a different bitrate and use
<v Speaker 2>a different codec to send to YouTube, so those videos
<v Speaker 2>look better with the live stream archive, and then Twitch
<v Speaker 2>we can send a specific bitrate, specific kind of bitrate
<v Speaker 2>as well over there. But they're still unhappy with me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I does Twitch support av one?
<v Speaker 2>I know?
<v Speaker 1>YouTube? Does?
<v Speaker 2>I like?
<v Speaker 1>Okay? No, yeah, that would be handy.
<v Speaker 2>They don't support av one. Why would they support a
<v Speaker 2>video codec that is ultimately better the viewer and.
<v Speaker 1>Would save the money, you would assume, because it's like
<v Speaker 1>I'd streaming a much lower bit rate on YouTube because
<v Speaker 1>we use av one, and it's like, oh, this still
<v Speaker 1>looks Great'd be nice to be able to do that
<v Speaker 1>on Twitch. All right, Well, we'll keep throwing stuff at
<v Speaker 1>the Twitch wall and see what sticks over there. How
<v Speaker 1>you doing otherwise?
<v Speaker 2>Jan I am hanging in there, Grubb. The fog seems
<v Speaker 2>that it has returned to the Bay area. We were
<v Speaker 2>having a lot of race.
<v Speaker 1>Visited, it visited me, and it went back to you. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so I think that's what happened there, Like did a
<v Speaker 1>little Cleveland vacation. Now it's back home enjoying the domestic life.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, we we all desire a little Cleveland vacation once
<v Speaker 2>in a while.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh of course. Yeah. Listen, it's magical out here. Also, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I was on CBC. The National is the name of
<v Speaker 1>the show. Yeah, I reskeeded the clip on Blue Sky,
<v Speaker 1>So if you want to just check that out. It's
<v Speaker 1>a it's a brief little thing, but I talked to
<v Speaker 1>them for a while and kind of gave them a
<v Speaker 1>lot of background about what it's doing to games. And
<v Speaker 1>you can see a lot of that stuff in the story.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, go check that out everybody. It was a
<v Speaker 1>lot of fun, cool. I love I love my Canadian
<v Speaker 1>friends in Canada. Shout outs to see y'all. You guys
<v Speaker 1>are good. Let's explain ourselves though. This is giant bomb
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<v Speaker 1>I Jeff Grub will help piece your gaming life back together.
<v Speaker 1>That includes breaking news and maybe even some of our
<v Speaker 1>own original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the
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<v Speaker 1>Hello YouTube. All right, we have a lot to get into,
<v Speaker 1>so let's start the Morning Mess with Blue Point almost
<v Speaker 1>made a remake of Bloodborn and a spinoff of Ghost Ofsushima,
<v Speaker 1>at least according to some rumors going around. Let's get
<v Speaker 1>into it. This is a roundup from Instant Gaming News
<v Speaker 1>after the announcement last week, and insider Detective Seeds has
<v Speaker 1>provided new information about the events that led to the
<v Speaker 1>demise of Bluepoint Games. As a reminder, the developer will
<v Speaker 1>be closing its doors next month. Four employees of the
<v Speaker 1>studio discussed the following details. Of course, it is difficult
<v Speaker 1>to know if these details are entirely true. Sure. First
<v Speaker 1>of all, it's important to note that there are various
<v Speaker 1>reasons why Bluepoint Games moved away from remakes. Firstly, the
<v Speaker 1>new version of Shadow of the Classes, released in twenty eighteen,
<v Speaker 1>lost money for Sony despite its undeniable qualities. In addition,
<v Speaker 1>a large part of the team wanted to move on
<v Speaker 1>to completely original projects. However, after the release of Demon
<v Speaker 1>Souls on PS five and twenty twenty, Bluepoint expected to
<v Speaker 1>be given the remake of Bloodborne. A design department with
<v Speaker 1>one or two people had even been set up. However,
<v Speaker 1>the project was never approved due to a relationship between
<v Speaker 1>Sony and From Software, which has been described as fragile.
<v Speaker 1>Sources even say that such a remake will never see
<v Speaker 1>the light of day because of these issues between the
<v Speaker 1>two companies. Count me as one of those sources. I
<v Speaker 1>don't think it's ever going to happen. So yeah. Then
<v Speaker 1>after being acquired in twenty twenty one, it's supporting Sony
<v Speaker 1>Santa Monica on God of War Ragnarok. Bluepoint began working
<v Speaker 1>on a new episode without knowing that it would be
<v Speaker 1>a games a new episode new game, without knowing it
<v Speaker 1>would be a games as a service title. At the time,
<v Speaker 1>PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan wanted to model the God of
<v Speaker 1>War franchise on Assassin's Creed by exploring different mythologies. No
<v Speaker 1>creative doctor had been appointed for the project, and several
<v Speaker 1>designers and key members of Santa Monica joined the team. Ultimately,
<v Speaker 1>the partnership gave rise to tensions, and when the staff
<v Speaker 1>was informed of the game's game as a service nature
<v Speaker 1>of the title, seventy five percent were against the idea.
<v Speaker 1>Due to deadlines, the project was canceled in early twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty five. Subsequently, Bluepoint reportedly proposed a remake of Jack
<v Speaker 1>and Daxter and one of Resistance, and even a remaster
<v Speaker 1>of the original Shadow of the Classes with a new
<v Speaker 1>content or restored cut content, so a bunch of the
<v Speaker 1>bosses would have been back in the game. Bloodborne was
<v Speaker 1>even back on the table for two to three months
<v Speaker 1>before being rejected again by Sony. And then there's some
<v Speaker 1>other stuff here where they started, maybe some original licenses
<v Speaker 1>and a potential spinoff of Ghost of Sushima. So this
<v Speaker 1>is a lot of information.
<v Speaker 2>Jan Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And I'll say, when we get a spray of information
<v Speaker 1>like this, I would bet like some of it is
<v Speaker 1>more true than others. So let's keep that in mind. Mostly.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, what's happening after this is the blood Board.
<v Speaker 1>Fans are not taking it well yet again. It is
<v Speaker 1>there like it's another Bloodborn. L is what people are
<v Speaker 1>saying on the internet.
<v Speaker 2>Cham Yeah, I feel so bad for the Bloodborn fans
<v Speaker 2>out there, and it almost feels like Full Metal Alchemist
<v Speaker 2>style equivalent exchange, where we have one very niche internet
<v Speaker 2>video game audience appeased and happy now in the Silent
<v Speaker 2>Hill camp. So now we have to because they're happy,
<v Speaker 2>now we have to make Bloodborn fans incredibly unhappy, and
<v Speaker 2>I feel bad for them, especially as some of that
<v Speaker 2>really enjoys Bloodborne that isn't the biggest fan of Souls games.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you know, I think Fragile is correct for
<v Speaker 1>discretion being the relationship between Sony and From Software. That
<v Speaker 1>is to say that there is a relationship, and Sony
<v Speaker 1>is very mindful of not stepping on Frum's toes because
<v Speaker 1>From can go work with whoever they want to work with,
<v Speaker 1>and they are. They're working with a Nintendo, they worked
<v Speaker 1>with Activision on Secoro, and I think PlayStation's like, we
<v Speaker 1>want to work with from again, and we don't want
<v Speaker 1>to mess that up. And we get the sense that
<v Speaker 1>if we try to force the issue with Bloodborne, something
<v Speaker 1>Sony likely could do, like legally because it owns it.
<v Speaker 1>Sure they could do that, but they're afraid to do that.
<v Speaker 1>This is me speculating now that they would be afraid
<v Speaker 1>to do that because that would upset from Software, and
<v Speaker 1>from Software would then be like, you know what, We'll
<v Speaker 1>just go work with someone who respects us more. Sony's like, no,
<v Speaker 1>we respect you, We're not going to do this. So
<v Speaker 1>you know, to me, that says like, for sure, blood Borne,
<v Speaker 1>nothing's happening with Bludborne right now, and nothing is happening
<v Speaker 1>with Bloodborne right now, And I think I do go
<v Speaker 1>back to this idea that I don't think anything ever
<v Speaker 1>will happen with Bloodborne. It is kind of going to
<v Speaker 1>be stuck in the state forever.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think I've been with you Grub that I
<v Speaker 2>feel like Bloodborne, unfortunately, is caught in a limbo right
<v Speaker 2>now where any type of future support or work you're
<v Speaker 2>kind of going to get from the online fan mod community.
<v Speaker 2>And there are methods of playing Bloodborn sixty sixty FPS
<v Speaker 2>that are out there. It is not difficult to find.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, if I was Sony, I would not want
<v Speaker 2>to mess up this relationship with From especially with the
<v Speaker 2>Runway not Runaway success that elden Ring has had. But
<v Speaker 2>like the momentum that elder Ring has really carried over
<v Speaker 2>from other Soul's games. The parts of this slew of
<v Speaker 2>news with Bluepoint. That upsets me though, Grub is all
<v Speaker 2>the things that we've talked about since we've broke, since
<v Speaker 2>we talked about Bluepoint Games getting closed, is that, Hey,
<v Speaker 2>why not a Jack and Daxter remaster, Resistance, all these
<v Speaker 2>other ip that have been sitting dormant in Sony's catalog.
<v Speaker 2>Let Bluepoint do something with them. Let's like bring that
<v Speaker 2>back into like the modern day. Because even if the
<v Speaker 2>Shadow of Classus remaster wasn't profitable, that doesn't exclude the
<v Speaker 2>fact that a different remaster or different remake could be
<v Speaker 2>profitable for them. Mike brought it up during the BombCast.
<v Speaker 2>But the Crash Bandicoot Crash.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that collection did huge numbers.
<v Speaker 2>Huge numbers, And like, maybe that's because that was a
<v Speaker 2>more popular franchise, tapped into nostalgia. And I feel like
<v Speaker 2>Jack and Daxter could totally do the same.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yep. I think it would. I think it would
<v Speaker 1>do very well. And I bet they are thinking about
<v Speaker 1>bringing back Jack and Daxter. They're like, well, let's just
<v Speaker 1>do it at a cheaper studio so we make even
<v Speaker 1>more money. And I'd say, I, you know, at a
<v Speaker 1>certain point, getting it in the works, even if it's
<v Speaker 1>at a slightly more expensive place to make games, and
<v Speaker 1>that is Blue Point in Austin, Texas. I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>just get games out on the PS five so you
<v Speaker 1>could start making money from them. Jack A. Daxter would
<v Speaker 1>have made money from this team, Like, it would have
<v Speaker 1>been profitable. They would have been able to do it
<v Speaker 1>in a way where it's like, Okay, like maybe it
<v Speaker 1>cost the same as much the same, the same amount
<v Speaker 1>as Shadow of the Classes. Maybe less, but maybe it
<v Speaker 1>costs the same amount, but it certainly sells much more,
<v Speaker 1>I think because the appeal there for Jack and the
<v Speaker 1>nostalgia would be even more compared to what it was
<v Speaker 1>for Shadow when that came out.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, especially because like we don't get too many platform
<v Speaker 2>or games from so No, No.
<v Speaker 1>No, and that, and that's one that like you know,
<v Speaker 1>has the name recognition and now a bunch of time
<v Speaker 1>for people to have really built it up, and it
<v Speaker 1>would have probably looked amazing. Yeah, that would have been incredible.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's really unfortunate. I'm not sure how much Resistance
<v Speaker 1>would have made sense. Resistance is probably one where they're like,
<v Speaker 1>can we make that work again? Do we want that
<v Speaker 1>to be a big expensive remake? You know, we've kind
<v Speaker 1>of moved on from it, do we want to but
<v Speaker 1>like make people think we're going going back like Jack.
<v Speaker 1>I could see them going back to that and even
<v Speaker 1>making a new game if the if the remake does
<v Speaker 1>really well. Yeah, but yeah, uh so they Okay, let's
<v Speaker 1>just say that all of these games were pitched and
<v Speaker 1>thrown out. It's like, oh, I don't think there was
<v Speaker 1>anything they could have pitched to get to get green lighted,
<v Speaker 1>and that's why it got closed down. Sony didn't want
<v Speaker 1>to green light anything. It's there was no good answer here,
<v Speaker 1>there was no solution, and the only thing that Sony
<v Speaker 1>seemed to want here it was to cut its losses
<v Speaker 1>and run. So yeah, it really seems like Bluepoint was
<v Speaker 1>doomed at a certain point.
<v Speaker 2>It just doesn't make any sense to me, grub And
<v Speaker 2>you know this is me looking on the outside. Sure
<v Speaker 2>there's probably a million business reasons going on, but this
<v Speaker 2>really really doesn't make any sense to me, because why
<v Speaker 2>what basket is PlayStation or Sony putting their eggs in
<v Speaker 2>where like there we saw something like Concord not doing well.
<v Speaker 2>Marathon right now has a lot of hype and a
<v Speaker 2>lot of excitement built up for it, but initially, like
<v Speaker 2>the last couple months, very negative taste in people's mouths.
<v Speaker 2>And now with the God of War Sons of Sparta
<v Speaker 2>game again left a lot of negative taste out there
<v Speaker 2>in people's mouths. So why not just go appeal for nostalgia?
<v Speaker 1>Go?
<v Speaker 2>Would people already like and go do that?
<v Speaker 1>Yep?
<v Speaker 2>And I don't know, when you have such a reliable
<v Speaker 2>studio like Bluepoint Games, why not just go with them
<v Speaker 2>versus trying to go for the cheaper option that is
<v Speaker 2>maybe ultimately going to like further tarnish your rep out
<v Speaker 2>in the streets.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. It's I just think it would have been beneficial
<v Speaker 1>to Sony long term to keep the studio open, obviously,
<v Speaker 1>even if it would have been even if it would
<v Speaker 1>have cost them some money.
<v Speaker 2>Grub. That is the word, long term. And yeah, we've
<v Speaker 2>seen across the industry there's such a there's so many
<v Speaker 2>commitment issues grub. Uh huh.
<v Speaker 1>They're so scared of everything that certainty is just out
<v Speaker 1>the window.
<v Speaker 2>And no one wants to take that bet, No one
<v Speaker 2>wants to settle down, no one wants to put a
<v Speaker 2>ring on it anymore. Grub. They're all just scrolling through tiktoks,
<v Speaker 2>and they just want these casual flings grub.
<v Speaker 1>They just want instant dopamine response. That's all they care about.
<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah, Like even the spinoff of Ghost of Sushima, right,
<v Speaker 1>which you would imagine probably something along the line someone
<v Speaker 1>expand alone, a Miles Morales sort of thing. So that's
<v Speaker 1>I mean, that sounds pretty good. Why not try that?
<v Speaker 1>Like Sushima go? That Ghost series very successful and I
<v Speaker 1>bet more of that would go over very well. And
<v Speaker 1>it's like even that doesn't get the green lights. So
<v Speaker 1>uh yeah, it seems like it seems like Bluepoint was
<v Speaker 1>just always doomed and here we are, and I don't
<v Speaker 1>think it. I don't think Sony's going to be better
<v Speaker 1>off for it, even if it saves them some money
<v Speaker 1>in the in the short term and even medium term.
<v Speaker 2>I mean another common you know, I'll go through like
<v Speaker 2>different videos at PlayStation in Sonya's posted post closing Blue
<v Speaker 2>Point games or post announce it. Yeah we're closing it, right,
<v Speaker 2>and then all the comments are just talking about why
<v Speaker 2>are you closing Blue Point? But then before that there
<v Speaker 2>was a sentiment of like why do you close Japan Studios?
<v Speaker 2>And I feel like this is just going to continue
<v Speaker 2>to slowly haunt PlayStation. Agreed, and the general sentiment with
<v Speaker 2>some folks.
<v Speaker 1>All right, Skate Studios sees layoffs. This is from an
<v Speaker 1>EA blog post to our Skate community. They write, since
<v Speaker 1>launching early access in September, tens of millions of you
<v Speaker 1>have stepped into San van Amster Vansterdam. You have San Vansterdam.
<v Speaker 1>Your passion, creativity, and feedback have reinforced our belief in
<v Speaker 1>what Skate can become. As Skate continues to evolve or
<v Speaker 1>transforming as a studio, we're reshaping Full Circle, which is
<v Speaker 1>the studio, to better support Skate's long term future and
<v Speaker 1>focus the team on the things that matter most to
<v Speaker 1>you and making those things great. These shifts mean making
<v Speaker 1>changes to our team structure, and some roles will be impacted.
<v Speaker 1>The teammates affected are talented colleagues and friends who helped
<v Speaker 1>build the foundation of Skate. Their creativity and dedication are
<v Speaker 1>deep and ingrained in what players experience today. This decision
<v Speaker 1>is not a reflection of their impact, and we're committed
<v Speaker 1>to supporting them through this transition. Our work on Skate continues.
<v Speaker 1>We look forward to working with you as we move faster.
<v Speaker 1>Listen more closely and deliver constantly for all of you.
<v Speaker 1>Our commitment to Skate and to the millions of players
<v Speaker 1>who believe in it remains strong. Okay, so they're going
<v Speaker 1>to keep making more Skate like, That's not this announcement
<v Speaker 1>is not we're winding that down at least that's what
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to make it sound like. But they are
<v Speaker 1>laying people off, they're cutting the team so they can
<v Speaker 1>probably save on costs, and then they're trying to position
<v Speaker 1>that as we're going to be smaller, more nimble, and
<v Speaker 1>respond more quickly to what people are wanting from this game.
<v Speaker 1>My understanding, jan is people still most they want improvements
<v Speaker 1>to the style, the aesthetics, the visuals. They wanted they
<v Speaker 1>wanted to feel more alive, to feel like a just
<v Speaker 1>like a more premium looking game. And it's not that
<v Speaker 1>right now. So and they have it, doesn't. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>they've made some changes to that, I know early on. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, if they haven't kind of done that yet,
<v Speaker 1>how are they going to do that with even fewer people,
<v Speaker 1>and then how are they going to continue to grow
<v Speaker 1>this game beyond that?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? I whenever I hear the term or buzzword thrown around.
<v Speaker 2>We're going to be small and nimble that it almost
<v Speaker 2>feels like a deathknell grub where it's like, oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so the end is just going to come in a
<v Speaker 2>couple months. And it's really unfortunate because when we checked
<v Speaker 2>out Skate on upf we had a lot of fun.
<v Speaker 2>I wound up sticking around with skate and playing, playing
<v Speaker 2>around and having a lot of fun with it as well,
<v Speaker 2>and then the wrappings around it, for me, it was
<v Speaker 2>less of the look. It was more of like the
<v Speaker 2>world just feeling so empty, yeah, and me detesting having
<v Speaker 2>an AI assistant guiding me around this fake city where
<v Speaker 2>it's like cool skaters totally love AI, right, grungey punk
<v Speaker 2>skaters love being guided around by AI. That's cool. And
<v Speaker 2>it's unfortunate because I know that skate Flour was such
<v Speaker 2>a meme of like when is it coming? When is
<v Speaker 2>it coming? And EA was actually very transparent after a
<v Speaker 2>while when they announced Skate, of letting people in on
<v Speaker 2>these early access builds and showing progress on everything, and
<v Speaker 2>now seeing this and seeing more folks unfortunately get laid
<v Speaker 2>off for I don't know, probably to appease some shareholders.
<v Speaker 2>It's just such a fucking gigantic bummer, and especially in
<v Speaker 2>like the world of skateboarding games where there aren't a
<v Speaker 2>lot of them, right yep.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah no, And it's you know, you can imagine a
<v Speaker 1>world where this game came out as a game as
<v Speaker 1>a product and so of a game as a service,
<v Speaker 1>and it probably does quite a bit better initially right
<v Speaker 1>where it's like, hey, the people will like playing this game.
<v Speaker 1>It got okay word of mouth, let's go purchase it
<v Speaker 1>for sixty to seventy dollars. It's not what they did here.
<v Speaker 1>This is a free to play game. You have to
<v Speaker 1>buy cosmetics, and that means you've got to get like
<v Speaker 1>a critical mass of people engaged to a certain point
<v Speaker 1>where a percentage of them want to spend money. And
<v Speaker 1>we never knew if that was going to work for
<v Speaker 1>a game like this. We never knew if like an
<v Speaker 1>extreme sports legacy sort of game would be able to
<v Speaker 1>convince that audience and a new audience to come aboard
<v Speaker 1>and start engaging in cosmetics. So I think right now
<v Speaker 1>we don't know if that if that has worked, it
<v Speaker 1>probably has not because it maybe it just never hit
<v Speaker 1>that critical mass of actively engaged players. I'm glad that
<v Speaker 1>they found a way to get this game to exist
<v Speaker 1>in whatever form they could, because it's just like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I do remember a world where we got a million
<v Speaker 1>a million of these kinds of games a year, and
<v Speaker 1>then we got extreme like football and best football games
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that. Like that doesn't happen anymore, and
<v Speaker 1>it's because these companies can't sort of justify because they
<v Speaker 1>want to sell us cosmetics and sell the sales cosmetics forever.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm glad they were able to get it off
<v Speaker 1>the ground and at least release something, but it does
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if they've been able to navigate it
<v Speaker 1>past that point. Do you think that this is going
<v Speaker 1>going to be a long term going concern? Like, do
<v Speaker 1>you think this is still running a year from now
<v Speaker 1>and beyond?
<v Speaker 2>Unfortunately, Greb, I don't believe this is gonna be running
<v Speaker 2>a year from now. I mean when we see I mean,
<v Speaker 2>King of Meat is an odd comparison, but like when
<v Speaker 2>you see a live service game like that, like have
<v Speaker 2>a lot of hype and momentum built up, and then
<v Speaker 2>a couple months later it getting shut down or service closed.
<v Speaker 2>I can only imagine a bigger game at a bigger
<v Speaker 2>publisher like, Ea, that's going to it's gonna someone is
<v Speaker 2>going to pull the plug much faster because of whatever
<v Speaker 2>spreadsheets someone is trying to justify. And it's a bummer
<v Speaker 2>because I did, really, I do, really enjoy the skate franchise,
<v Speaker 2>and I thought that this was an okay entry that
<v Speaker 2>just needed a little bit more time in the oven yep.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you know, there's something about making one of
<v Speaker 1>these games a forever game that I think there's something there.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I think that they probably missed their opportunity
<v Speaker 1>with this one, and yeah, we will. I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>would love to be wrong and look back two years
<v Speaker 1>from now and be like, oh man, that's secretly one
<v Speaker 1>of the biggest games in the world. That could always
<v Speaker 1>happen with any of these It just doesn't necessarily feel
<v Speaker 1>like it's in the card this time around. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's take a break. We'll come back and talk about
<v Speaker 1>the rest of the headlines right after this. If you
<v Speaker 1>want to skip out on these ad messages, you can
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<v Speaker 1>will be right back. It's Game Mess Mornings. I'm Jeff Grubb.
<v Speaker 1>That's Janachoa. We are back at it. Let's get into
<v Speaker 1>the next story. In the US, physical copies of Resident
<v Speaker 1>Evil Requiem are pretty much sold out. This is from
<v Speaker 1>my Nintendo News. Those of you who haven't pre ordered
<v Speaker 1>a physical copy of the long awaited Resident Evil Requiem
<v Speaker 1>and live in the United States will seemingly have a
<v Speaker 1>hard job finding one at most retailers as they have
<v Speaker 1>sold out. The only retailer who had copies was Walmart,
<v Speaker 1>but checking the website now they are only offering copies
<v Speaker 1>in store. Amazon, best Buy, and GameStop are now all
<v Speaker 1>sold out across multiple multiple formats and multiple platforms. It
<v Speaker 1>might be worth checking if you can get a copy
<v Speaker 1>of Resident Evil Requiem in store when it launches tomorrow.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, if worse comes to worst, you can get
<v Speaker 1>a digital copy on the various storefronts. I think that
<v Speaker 1>this game is going to do all right, Jan. It
<v Speaker 1>seems like people are ready for this one. Oh yeah, Grub.
<v Speaker 2>Here, I am looking at my fantasy and just seeing
<v Speaker 2>the points rolling. But this is an absolutely fantastic game.
<v Speaker 2>If folks haven't checked out Dan's written review, it's up
<v Speaker 2>on the website, and also the Jeffs and Dan had
<v Speaker 2>a little review round table. I absolutely adore this game, Grub,
<v Speaker 2>and for folks out there that are scaredy cats as well,
<v Speaker 2>just like me and generally have a hard time playing
<v Speaker 2>scary games, this had its hooks in me in such
<v Speaker 2>a unique way that I couldn't stop and seven and
<v Speaker 2>Village I couldn't finish by myself because I got so spooked.
<v Speaker 2>But having the balance of occasionally switching off between the
<v Speaker 2>two different characters was enough for me to give me
<v Speaker 2>that wave of a relief of like, oh, thank god,
<v Speaker 2>le it's here. But also Grace is just such a
<v Speaker 2>great character. And I don't want to spoil anything else
<v Speaker 2>that you discovered throughout the game, but very very good
<v Speaker 2>fun time, Grub. Is the physical copies being sold out?
<v Speaker 2>Is that just an indicator that less games are being
<v Speaker 2>printed to disc.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a little bit of both. I think
<v Speaker 1>it's an indicator that they probably had a limited first print,
<v Speaker 1>but not like so limited. They know this game is
<v Speaker 1>going to be successful. And then I think demand is
<v Speaker 1>just off the charts for it. I think people have
<v Speaker 1>been waiting for the next event game. You know, there's
<v Speaker 1>only a handful of those, and everyone's been saying I
<v Speaker 1>think for a while now that the only next event
<v Speaker 1>game is Grand Theft Auto six, and it's like, oh no,
<v Speaker 1>that's not right. Resident Evil has cultural cachet, it has
<v Speaker 1>a long running reputation, It is currently at the height
<v Speaker 1>of its reputation, and this game is bringing back Leon
<v Speaker 1>and then a fun new character that kind of will
<v Speaker 1>have like be an exact through line to one of
<v Speaker 1>the recent better Resident Evils, the Resident Evil that sort
<v Speaker 1>of brought the series back. And so I think people
<v Speaker 1>are just everything is lining up to get everyone excited.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I said it when I was talking
<v Speaker 1>to Dan somewhere, there's there's nothing better than a good
<v Speaker 1>Resident Evil. When Resident Evil is good, it's just better
<v Speaker 1>than just about everything else. It's such a video game,
<v Speaker 1>massive video game, while also always exploring new ideas and
<v Speaker 1>then being really good at the fan service stuff in
<v Speaker 1>terms of both war and like a gameplay and being like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>we're going back to that here. Awesome, and so yeah,
<v Speaker 1>when it's when it's at the top of its form,
<v Speaker 1>it's a can't miss game for a lot of people,
<v Speaker 1>and I think that's I think that's exactly what's happening here.
<v Speaker 1>People are like, oh, I cannot miss out on this
<v Speaker 1>first weekend when everyone's going to be talking about it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, oh, one hundred percent. Also to just avoid spoilers
<v Speaker 2>and everything. I feel like with Resident Evil it kind
<v Speaker 2>of fulfills this similar spot for me grub with the
<v Speaker 2>New hit Man games, where it, yeah, knows how goofy
<v Speaker 2>and silly it can be, but it also delivers on
<v Speaker 2>the action. It delivers on the gameplay aspects, and also
<v Speaker 2>I feel like it respects my intelligence and my time
<v Speaker 2>as a fan of the games, but also just as
<v Speaker 2>like a a gamer. Yeah, just because it is like
<v Speaker 2>ticking off and it's like, hey, we know that you
<v Speaker 2>want this carrot on a stick, but surprise, surprise, it's
<v Speaker 2>multiple carrots on the same stick and a weird dude
<v Speaker 2>that kind of looks like madd I Moody from the Harry.
<v Speaker 1>Potter franchise a little bit. Yeah, give them another foot
<v Speaker 1>of height and yeah maybe yeah, yeah. It's it's a
<v Speaker 1>game made by people who like know what they're doing,
<v Speaker 1>because it is they know they have our attention and
<v Speaker 1>they know that we really care, and they don't You're right,
<v Speaker 1>they don't use that in situ way where it's like, okay, well,
<v Speaker 1>then we're really gonna get into our bullshit and make
<v Speaker 1>you spend a lot of time like doing stuff that
<v Speaker 1>we care about. It's like, no, we're here is a
<v Speaker 1>pickup an item and it has two paragraphs on it
<v Speaker 1>that tell you a little bit about the world, and
<v Speaker 1>then we're gonna move on from that very quickly, and
<v Speaker 1>we're not gonna hit you over the head with this stuff.
<v Speaker 1>It's like now it's we're just gonna we know we
<v Speaker 1>can get what we want to get across in a
<v Speaker 1>very succinct manner. And yeah, it feels very respectful of
<v Speaker 1>your time. So yeah, good, good, good good.
<v Speaker 2>The part that bugs me, Greb is like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm looking at Capcom and I'm just like really hyped
<v Speaker 2>and like, oh that's great. I'm bummed. Monster Hunter, Wilds, Worlds,
<v Speaker 2>Wilds Wilds. Yes, it didn't quite stick with me when
<v Speaker 2>it came out, but like I feel like everything else
<v Speaker 2>has and it's just been like home home run after
<v Speaker 2>home run, and I'm looking at these other big publishers
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, why can't y'all do the same thing?
<v Speaker 1>Yep, exactly. This is such a model of how things
<v Speaker 1>should be working for every company that's making games, and
<v Speaker 1>you know they're not always gonna hit. Yeah, Capcom is
<v Speaker 1>gonna have issues of its own, but overall, like you
<v Speaker 1>cannot knock the stre it's it's working and uh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm gonna replay it again. I think when I
<v Speaker 1>played on PC, because I played on switch To so
<v Speaker 1>far and say, I might as well go see what
<v Speaker 1>this ray tracing looks like, because apparently.
<v Speaker 2>It's phenomenal, I might do the same grub but the
<v Speaker 2>switch To.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it runs, it's it's really fun on the switch too.
<v Speaker 1>I was very pleasantly surprised, and like, I think it
<v Speaker 1>justifies its price. On the switch to you're not going
<v Speaker 1>to get a lesser experience, although if you have your option,
<v Speaker 1>of course you're going to get an even better experience
<v Speaker 1>on the other consoles.
<v Speaker 2>But also it makes me very curious for like these
<v Speaker 2>future Capcom games that are coming out, like Pragmata, of like,
<v Speaker 2>oh maybe I will choose to play it on the
<v Speaker 2>switch to you versus the PC.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yeah, Like I was wondering we weren't allowed to
<v Speaker 1>do a comparisons because of the embargo, but I was
<v Speaker 1>waiting for Digital Foundery to drop it, and they like
<v Speaker 1>the switch to version often looks better than the series
<v Speaker 1>s and that's I mean, I think it's just that
<v Speaker 1>comes down to I'm believing I haven't watched the video. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I would guess you could tell me if they say
<v Speaker 1>so in the video. The ray tracing hardware that's in
<v Speaker 1>the switch too, it's very good at handling some of
<v Speaker 1>that stuff, so at least the basic lighting aspect of
<v Speaker 1>ray tracing. So that's going to make a difference long
<v Speaker 1>term for the switch too, as more and more games
<v Speaker 1>choose that as the default technology for their lighting. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's keep going here. Valve being sued by the State
<v Speaker 1>of New York for promoting gambling to children through loot boxes.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Alex Hopley at Game Reactor. Loot boxes
<v Speaker 1>they might not feel as potent as they once did
<v Speaker 1>now that live service titles ensure you have to grind
<v Speaker 1>for your loot rather than rely on luck with battle passes,
<v Speaker 1>but there's still the chance to roll the dice in
<v Speaker 1>a lot of games, A lot of Valve Games. According
<v Speaker 1>to the latest post from New York Attorney General Letitia James,
<v Speaker 1>who is leading a lawsuit against the Steam owner for
<v Speaker 1>its use of loot boxes, They said Valve Valve, a
<v Speaker 1>video game developer, has made billions of dollars by letting
<v Speaker 1>children and adults illegally gamble for the chance to win
<v Speaker 1>valuable virtual prizes. James writes in a post on Blue Sky,
<v Speaker 1>these features are addictive and harmful. That's why I'm suing
<v Speaker 1>to stop valves unlawful conduct and protect and to protect
<v Speaker 1>New Yorkers. Valve has not yet issued a response to
<v Speaker 1>the lawsuit, which was compiled in a complaint first filed
<v Speaker 1>on Wednesday. According to Reuter's, Valves loot boxes are particularly
<v Speaker 1>pernicious because they are popular among children and adolescents, reads
<v Speaker 1>the complaint, stating that children introduced to gambling by age
<v Speaker 1>twelve are four times more likely to become problem gamblers
<v Speaker 1>as adults. Yeah. I love the idea of making companies
<v Speaker 1>answer for this stuff, because they have way more data
<v Speaker 1>than they've ever shared with us about how this affects us,
<v Speaker 1>about what it does, and Valve has been one of
<v Speaker 1>the companies that has not done anything about its loot boxes.
<v Speaker 1>A lot of others were like, oh man, we touched
<v Speaker 1>the stove, we got burned. We're changing things up. We
<v Speaker 1>are going to de emphasize loop boxes. Overwatch going to
<v Speaker 1>get rid of loop boxes now. A lot of Overwatch fans,
<v Speaker 1>including Mike Manatti, were like, the loop boxes were kind
<v Speaker 1>of better than the way it works now, like they
<v Speaker 1>found ways to make it worse, but maybe less outwardly
<v Speaker 1>obviously scummy. What do you think the result will be here?
<v Speaker 1>Because I think Valve try to say here's their argument. Usually, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's not gambling because when you spend money on gambling
<v Speaker 1>you can lose your money. Here, if you spend money
<v Speaker 1>on one of our loot boxes, you are one hundred
<v Speaker 1>percent of the time going to get something. Does that
<v Speaker 1>pass the sniff test for you? Jam?
<v Speaker 2>I if I'm having trouble with that passing the sniff
<v Speaker 2>test for me, I can't see that passing the sniff
<v Speaker 2>test for someone like Leticia James that is raising this
<v Speaker 2>case and agreed. The part that I'm curious about is
<v Speaker 2>will this start to extend to like epic right? Is
<v Speaker 2>this gonna eke in to Fortnite? What happens with like
<v Speaker 2>any gotcha style games or does this escalat to now
<v Speaker 2>talking about Apple because a lot of those gotcha games,
<v Speaker 2>those mobile games are sold through the app store? Is
<v Speaker 2>Apple also partially responsible?
<v Speaker 1>Yes?
<v Speaker 2>And the other aspect grub that I really need someone
<v Speaker 2>to fucking tighten up on or all of these betting apps.
<v Speaker 1>M Oh yeah, right, if we're talking about gambling, it's
<v Speaker 1>got a I mean, it's so speaking of pernicious, Like
<v Speaker 1>that's crazy, the idea that they know who's good at gambling,
<v Speaker 1>they know who's not, and they kick all the good
<v Speaker 1>gamblers on there, and they just keep the bad ones
<v Speaker 1>on there, and then they give the bad ones all
<v Speaker 1>the bonuses and reasons to come back. And it's like,
<v Speaker 1>this is just a giant scheme to extract value and
<v Speaker 1>extract money from people that don't know any better. The
<v Speaker 1>government's exact job should be to protect them from this.
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, it's protecting people from the from themselves. It's
<v Speaker 1>the nanny state who gives a shit, Like, we know
<v Speaker 1>it's the right thing to do. And if that means
<v Speaker 1>starting even here with introducing kids to gambling concepts as
<v Speaker 1>young as twelve, let's get some regulation in there. Let's
<v Speaker 1>make these companies to answer for that. I bet they
<v Speaker 1>know just as well, and they probably know even better
<v Speaker 1>the effect that this that these behaviors have on young
<v Speaker 1>gamers as they get older, and what it means for
<v Speaker 1>LTV lifetime value from these kinds of players. They absolutely
<v Speaker 1>know all that stuff. So let's get it on the record.
<v Speaker 1>Let's get it out there and answer for the ways
<v Speaker 1>that you've made billions of dollars Valve. I think that's
<v Speaker 1>completely fair. If on the other side of this, companies
<v Speaker 1>are even more frightened to put loop boxes in their games. Good,
<v Speaker 1>exactly good.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I would much rather have the option and
<v Speaker 2>Grub this is someone that really enjoys crane games. Okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I would very much rather enjoy the option for a
<v Speaker 2>kid out there or a paying adult to be able
<v Speaker 2>to just put the money down and buy what they
<v Speaker 2>want versus the dice roll the gamble of like, well,
<v Speaker 2>if I spend this much on this many loot boxes
<v Speaker 2>or this many mystery packs or whatever, then I might
<v Speaker 2>get the thing that I want. And you know, this
<v Speaker 2>extends to so many other aspects Grub that is broken
<v Speaker 2>about video games and video game adjacent materials like trading cards,
<v Speaker 2>grub like somehow the Pokemon card market is still incredibly broken.
<v Speaker 2>I was at a grocery store yesterday. I just needed
<v Speaker 2>to get some food. There was a line of five
<v Speaker 2>dudes outside of a Pokemon vending machine, all talking about
<v Speaker 2>how they gained the system and how how much they
<v Speaker 2>are intending on selling the cards for.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, that's the you know, that's worth pointing out. It
<v Speaker 1>is happening here. What will really help in that argument
<v Speaker 1>of the idea that oh, if you spend money on
<v Speaker 1>a loop box you're going to get something makes it
<v Speaker 1>for sure. Gambling is that secondary market where you can
<v Speaker 1>then take items for counter strike and sell them inside
<v Speaker 1>of Steam for real value and then use that money
<v Speaker 1>to buy games. And then often people I use these
<v Speaker 1>third party markets to make transactions and then they get
<v Speaker 1>real money out of the system because it's like, well
<v Speaker 1>just you know, instead of trading for in games or
<v Speaker 1>for store value, I'll sell to someone else who's going
<v Speaker 1>to give me actual cash. And that is like this
<v Speaker 1>this market that Valve has absolutely sort of just kind
<v Speaker 1>of kept in the shadows over there as the backbone
<v Speaker 1>of a lot of what what creates value and counterstrike,
<v Speaker 1>and they are gonna have to answer to that, like
<v Speaker 1>they should have answered to that a long time ago.
<v Speaker 1>What does that really look like? What are what are
<v Speaker 1>the machinations of that? And uh, how does it affect people?
<v Speaker 1>And are kids involved in this? And are you aware
<v Speaker 1>of kids being involved in trying to get loot boxes
<v Speaker 1>so they could sell them on a third party market?
<v Speaker 1>Almost certainly, and uh, Tisa James should be able to
<v Speaker 1>get some answers on that. I'm hopeful that she will. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>God of War Sons of Sparta co op can now
<v Speaker 1>be accessed right away. This is from Blair Marnell at
<v Speaker 1>game Spot. As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, there's an
<v Speaker 1>old school way to reach the pit prior to unlocking it.
<v Speaker 1>This is how this is one of the things you
<v Speaker 1>need to do to unlock co op mode at the
<v Speaker 1>starting menu. Simply put in the following button sequence up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right,
<v Speaker 1>L one R one touch pad, so basically the Konami
<v Speaker 1>code or close to it, and then you'll get a
<v Speaker 1>co op right away, which is something that probably just
<v Speaker 1>should have been in there, because it feels like one
<v Speaker 1>of those things that might have helped this game with
<v Speaker 1>something for some people just made it more enjoyable throughout.
<v Speaker 1>I've fallen off of it, Jan I think I might
<v Speaker 1>still go back to it now that I'm done with
<v Speaker 1>Resident Evil, but I don't know again I want to
<v Speaker 1>see this What what do people mean when they say
<v Speaker 1>it keeps getting better as on Planex It's like I
<v Speaker 1>can kind of see that if it's a good metroid
<v Speaker 1>Vana underneath everything. Yeah, this this game, I think, you know,
<v Speaker 1>if we didn't have this headline here, we probably would
<v Speaker 1>not be talking about it again on this website right, Like,
<v Speaker 1>it just feels like it has missed the mark.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I don't really intend on checking it out, even
<v Speaker 2>for journalistic integrity and purposes. I know we're only in February,
<v Speaker 2>but then you know, doing the mental calculus of like
<v Speaker 2>I probably don't need to play that for Game of
<v Speaker 2>the Year. The baffling part that is now just coming
<v Speaker 2>to me Grub is that the game is called God
<v Speaker 2>of War Suns of Sparta, and for co op to
<v Speaker 2>be locked behind now just a code but before like
<v Speaker 2>a part of the game just feels very weird because
<v Speaker 2>just based off of the title alone, I'm under the
<v Speaker 2>assumption of, like, okay, are we is this a co
<v Speaker 2>op game. Are we switching between Credos and Credos B
<v Speaker 2>continues to be a very ODI.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's I think it's it's local co op only,
<v Speaker 1>so like, it's important to keep that in mind. This
<v Speaker 1>is not a game they are trying to position as
<v Speaker 1>some big co op thing. I think the co op
<v Speaker 1>stuff might be limited to the Pit of Agonies, which
<v Speaker 1>is kind of just a side mode, kind of like
<v Speaker 1>a light version of Hades. It's a it's a rogue light.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I just don't think people are going to
<v Speaker 1>fall in love with that, But I don't know. It's
<v Speaker 1>it's better to have that future than not, and it's
<v Speaker 1>better to give people a way to access it right
<v Speaker 1>away without forcing them to complete the game.
<v Speaker 2>Unfortunately, another bad thing for this game, calling something the
<v Speaker 2>Pit of Agonies just makes me think of the show
<v Speaker 2>The Pit that everyone will not shut up about.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yeah, that's that's just what they call Pittsburgh. The
<v Speaker 1>Pit of Agonies. Casting calls seeming that confirms Wolfenstein three
<v Speaker 1>is coming and reveals new character. This is from Andy
<v Speaker 1>Robinson VGC. Leaked casting details have allegedly corroborated that a
<v Speaker 1>third Wolfenstein game is indeed in production at the developer
<v Speaker 1>Machine Games. Last month, multiple publications reported that the Sweeten
<v Speaker 1>based but as the studio has started work on Wolfenstein
<v Speaker 1>three following the completion of Indiana Jones in the Great Circle.
<v Speaker 1>And now thanks to alleged casting details published by MP First,
<v Speaker 1>we have some potential details on what the third games
<v Speaker 1>could what the third game could look like. The details
<v Speaker 1>for a project co named Valkyrie are reportedly attached to
<v Speaker 1>the same performance and casting director who worked on the
<v Speaker 1>previous Machine Games titles. That's good news, assuming they're accurate.
<v Speaker 1>According to the casting call, the third game will feature
<v Speaker 1>a new character co named Sophia, who is said to
<v Speaker 1>be described as a Ukrainian orphan between the ages of
<v Speaker 1>eight and eleven, who, alongside her adopted dog Ralph, is
<v Speaker 1>said to form a bond with William and accompany him
<v Speaker 1>on his travels. That William, I'm I'm assuming it's the
<v Speaker 1>first name of bj Blaskowitz. Oh maybe be believe in.
<v Speaker 1>That's sure for William. The descriptions also just scribes the
<v Speaker 1>character's background. While initially suspicious and traumatized by Warshop, blooms
<v Speaker 1>under the care of the Resistance, possibly referring to the
<v Speaker 1>Chryso circle as a strong willed survivor. Okay, yeah, cool,
<v Speaker 1>I mean new character. All these details sure to me, Like, honestly,
<v Speaker 1>the key detail here being same casting director, same performance team.
<v Speaker 1>That's good news because a big part of the backbone
<v Speaker 1>of making Wolfenstein one and two the New Order in
<v Speaker 1>the New Colossus as good as they were is that
<v Speaker 1>they had these strong characters, strong performances, these amazing cut
<v Speaker 1>scenes that really built out the world and made you
<v Speaker 1>feel like you were a part of this team, this
<v Speaker 1>found family that is, you know, they're being bound together
<v Speaker 1>by their fight against the Nazis, and so keeping that
<v Speaker 1>energy and keeping that team together is important, so you
<v Speaker 1>could deliver similar quality. Sounds like that's what they're going for,
<v Speaker 1>and man, this thing is really starting to sound real.
<v Speaker 1>I am who getting excited.
<v Speaker 2>I need it, Grub. I need more media that encourages
<v Speaker 2>punching Nazis in the face. An under appreciated art of
<v Speaker 2>whether it is movies or video games, is the casting aspect, Grub.
<v Speaker 2>So I'm super happy that they are sticking with the
<v Speaker 2>same team because, like you said, a major component of
<v Speaker 2>wolf and Stein one and two is just like they've
<v Speaker 2>nailed that cast and how they all interact with each
<v Speaker 2>other and how they are able to unfold that story
<v Speaker 2>funny enough, like I don't generally won't go back to
<v Speaker 2>put on a full playthrough of a game or just
<v Speaker 2>like the cinematics just cut out.
<v Speaker 1>But sometimes yeah, I'll do.
<v Speaker 2>That with Wolf and Stein one and two.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and me get to that. Jimmy Hendrick saying, come on,
<v Speaker 1>that's that's good.
<v Speaker 2>Shit, It's it's overdone at this point, but you know
<v Speaker 2>the the meme of cinema. But really with Wolves Segn
<v Speaker 2>one and two and if you haven't checked it out, Gang,
<v Speaker 2>it will kind of release some tension that we've all
<v Speaker 2>been building up over the last couple of years.
<v Speaker 1>Uh, the Savvy the tour Feaster, I'm not sure. The
<v Speaker 1>Savvy says, am I Crazer is bj half ionic now, No,
<v Speaker 1>it's crazier than that. H. He's half a German super soldier.
<v Speaker 1>Now that's like one of the whole the core themes
<v Speaker 1>of that second game. We're spoiling it. Just deal with it, Honestly,
<v Speaker 1>if you know this, it's gonna make you enjoy the
<v Speaker 1>game more. H. He gets his head gets chopped off
<v Speaker 1>and they give him like a little repulsor thing so
<v Speaker 1>you can fly around his head. And then to give
<v Speaker 1>him a body back because his body has been destroyed,
<v Speaker 1>they put him on the body of these perfectly designed
<v Speaker 1>Nazi super soldier white bodies. And the point is is
<v Speaker 1>like he's like kind of dealing with the fact that, like,
<v Speaker 1>I have this body of a Nazi. Now does that?
<v Speaker 1>What does that make me? And everyone's like, it makes
<v Speaker 1>you you because it doesn't matter what body you have
<v Speaker 1>or what it looks like, or your jeans or any
<v Speaker 1>of this stuff. It's what you do with it. That's
<v Speaker 1>that fucking game, because it's the best. Shit. It's so good.
<v Speaker 1>It's so good. God, damn, I love that game.
<v Speaker 2>It's great, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Marvel Maximum Collection is a new compilation of retro eight
<v Speaker 1>bit and sixteen bit Marvel games. I'm pretty excited about this.
<v Speaker 1>Jan Konami and Limited Run have announced Marvel Maximum Collection,
<v Speaker 1>a new compilation of retro Marvel games. The compilation, which
<v Speaker 1>is coming soon to PS five, Xbox Series, X and S,
<v Speaker 1>Switch and PC, contains a total of six games, most
<v Speaker 1>of which have multiple versions, resulting in a total of
<v Speaker 1>thirteen here's the full list. X Men The Arcade game'd
<v Speaker 1>be great to have that again. Captain America and the
<v Speaker 1>Avengers for the Arcade, Captain America and the Avengers for
<v Speaker 1>Genesis and Super Nintendo, as well, Spider Man and Venom
<v Speaker 1>and Venom, Maximum Carnage for both Genesis and Super Nintendo,
<v Speaker 1>Venom and Spider Man Separation Anxiety for Genesis and Super Nintendo,
<v Speaker 1>and then Spider Man and X Men Arcades, Revenge for Genesis, Supernintendo,
<v Speaker 1>game Boy, and game Gear, and then Silver Surfer for
<v Speaker 1>the NES. At one point or another, jan I rented
<v Speaker 1>and played all these games, Helliet Carnage, Maximum Carnage. I
<v Speaker 1>might have just like like owned at some point because
<v Speaker 1>a friend left it over at my house, a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of a cousin game. But not all of them
<v Speaker 1>are great, but they all had like strong like voices,
<v Speaker 1>like strong personalities, and I have an affinity for all these,
<v Speaker 1>including the really difficult Silver Surfer for the NS.
<v Speaker 2>I'm I haven't checked any of these games out, Greb.
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure I actually have maybe checked out some of
<v Speaker 2>the X Men ones, But yeah, these, like you said,
<v Speaker 2>I peeped a couple of screenshots. They have just such
<v Speaker 2>a distinct art style to them, and I know a
<v Speaker 2>lot of them are just replicating that late eighties early
<v Speaker 2>nineties run of comic books. That's when I got into
<v Speaker 2>comic books. So I am all for that. We need
<v Speaker 2>more side scrolling superhero games, creb.
<v Speaker 1>Yes we do. I think I would. I would love
<v Speaker 1>for them to like treat this as a jump off
<v Speaker 1>platform to do more in this style. Just make them
<v Speaker 1>look like super Nintendo games, you know, like a throwback
<v Speaker 1>retro game so they can keep the budget down whatever,
<v Speaker 1>who cares, But more games than the style would be great.
<v Speaker 1>There are a couple more that I would like to see.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if these are Konami games. There's like
<v Speaker 1>an X Men game for the Genesis, and I'll always
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure I've mentioned this before. There is a point
<v Speaker 1>in that game. I've never done this, my wife did.
<v Speaker 1>She told me this story a bunch of times and
<v Speaker 1>I looked it up, and it's true. You get to
<v Speaker 1>a point in that game where there's a boss. I
<v Speaker 1>think you're fighting Mojo or something, okay, and the one
<v Speaker 1>of the other X ments like we have to reset
<v Speaker 1>the computer to defeat Mojo, and she couldn't figure out
<v Speaker 1>what that meant. And eventually they're like do you think
<v Speaker 1>they mean reset the Genesis and her sister's freaking out, like, no,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna lose all our progress. You can't do that,
<v Speaker 1>And eventually stuff did that and that's how you defeat
<v Speaker 1>the boss. That is actually the solution. Such a cool thing.
<v Speaker 1>It's Kojima esque. That's not in this collection. I kind
<v Speaker 1>of I need to play through that at myself at
<v Speaker 1>some point and see.
<v Speaker 2>That hell yeah, hell yeah, uh.
<v Speaker 1>This is they just said coming soon. And and as
<v Speaker 1>always now with limited run, I think there should be
<v Speaker 1>both digital and physical so you don't have to like
<v Speaker 1>get that digital the physical version. Although this would be
<v Speaker 1>a fun one to have in a collection. I bet
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be a really handsome.
<v Speaker 2>Looking seeing limited run success and also a studio like
<v Speaker 2>Night Dives success really grub. I just hope that the
<v Speaker 2>folks at Blue Point are able to splinter off and
<v Speaker 2>do their own fucking thing and then just show Sony
<v Speaker 2>it's like, fuck y'all you eediots.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, you hope, and like do exactly the kind of
<v Speaker 1>stuff they're good at and the stuff that they wanted
<v Speaker 1>to do, like do some remix at like as a
<v Speaker 1>work for hire studio and then deliver something original and
<v Speaker 1>new and kind of just show the world. You really
<v Speaker 1>hope that's the way it goes. All right? That does it?
<v Speaker 1>For the hell? Oh no, I'm sorry. One more I
<v Speaker 1>should bring this up. Sony apparently has Grand Turismo running
<v Speaker 1>on switch to. Just don't expect to see it. This
<v Speaker 1>is from me. I mentioned this somewhere, and then I
<v Speaker 1>feel like it was a couple of weeks ago when
<v Speaker 1>I mentioned this, and it got picked up like last
<v Speaker 1>night or the night before, and now a bunch of
<v Speaker 1>people are reporting that I said this, and thankfully, I'll
<v Speaker 1>say most people have accurately captured what I said, which
<v Speaker 1>is I heard that they had it running on a
<v Speaker 1>switch to, and then when I looked into it to
<v Speaker 1>see if if there's any chance that it was coming
<v Speaker 1>to switch to, which I never really thought there would be. No,
<v Speaker 1>doesn't sound like it's going to come to switch to.
<v Speaker 1>And everyone, for the most part, when reporting this did
<v Speaker 1>at least mention that pretty high up in their story.
<v Speaker 1>So thank you to everyone who responsibly kind of repeated
<v Speaker 1>what I said there. Yeah, it wouldn't. Grant Turismo just
<v Speaker 1>doesn't make sense on the switch too, because it doesn't
<v Speaker 1>have analog triggers, like that would be a weird game
<v Speaker 1>to have on there because it's a simulation game right.
<v Speaker 2>On undred percent grub for my education, I am sure
<v Speaker 2>that these types of tests and ports happen all the
<v Speaker 2>time that never do get reported and never do see
<v Speaker 2>the light of day. What is the purpose of it?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think I think there is always a desire
<v Speaker 1>for these teams to be up to speed on various
<v Speaker 1>technical like no how's for all kinds of platforms. I
<v Speaker 1>would guess that this is a combination of they do
<v Speaker 1>want to better understand the switch to so like this
<v Speaker 1>would be a good like and prolific Digital is a
<v Speaker 1>technical you know, a tech house that has a lot
<v Speaker 1>of expertise, and then there is probably a desire to
<v Speaker 1>know what it's like to downgrade one of your big
<v Speaker 1>games for a mobile platform because that is probably one
<v Speaker 1>of the future forks For Sony, They're going to have
<v Speaker 1>a PS six and they're probably gonna have a PS
<v Speaker 1>six handheld at the same time that's going to be
<v Speaker 1>less powerful. So like, well, let's let's you know, we
<v Speaker 1>can two birds one stone, maybe get ready for a
<v Speaker 1>future where we are supporting the switch to which I
<v Speaker 1>don't know if that's gonna come anytime soon, but let's
<v Speaker 1>get up to speed on that so we know. And
<v Speaker 1>then we also now know how to like take our
<v Speaker 1>game and shrink it down to the switch to and
<v Speaker 1>a PS six handheld you would assume would be even
<v Speaker 1>more powerful. So we've been through it before and we
<v Speaker 1>can kind of continue that expertise at that point. That
<v Speaker 1>would be my guess, But I don't know that. We've
<v Speaker 1>definitely heard other studios getting like Halo running on PS
<v Speaker 1>three before or something like that, like teams just do
<v Speaker 1>this sometimes.
<v Speaker 2>Cool.
<v Speaker 1>All right, that's it for the headlines. That's it for
<v Speaker 1>the headlines. Let's get to the poll question from yesterday.
<v Speaker 1>I have the results over here, but I am going
<v Speaker 1>to refresh one more time. Here we are, do you
<v Speaker 1>think Xbox will bring back its console exclusive games?
<v Speaker 2>Yes?
<v Speaker 1>Or no? I'm voting no, and so did eighty six
<v Speaker 1>percent of respondents. Fourteen percent believe yes. Man. It's I
<v Speaker 1>think it's really hard to like nail down how Xbox
<v Speaker 1>is talking about its future right now, because really the
<v Speaker 1>answer seems to be from Ashar from Asha. I can't
<v Speaker 1>remember her last name. I'm sorry, Sherma Asha Sherma. I
<v Speaker 1>think she said that I need to go learn and
<v Speaker 1>about everything and come back and tell you, And then
<v Speaker 1>she said a few things aren't off the table, and people,
<v Speaker 1>I think are running with this concept that exclusives aren't
<v Speaker 1>off the table. I don't know. She's given a couple
<v Speaker 1>of pretty straightforward interviews with with you know, Xbox fan
<v Speaker 1>websites and coverage that way, and so I don't think
<v Speaker 1>we've really had the full answers yet, and I don't
<v Speaker 1>think she's even ready to give those full answers. So
<v Speaker 1>it's pretty hard to read it. I think it'd be
<v Speaker 1>silly to assume we're going to get exclusives back, right jan.
<v Speaker 2>I can't see a world where we would, especially after
<v Speaker 2>all of the efforts to go acquire Activision and all
<v Speaker 2>these other acquisitions over the years of GREB, Like, what
<v Speaker 2>are we gonna is? The joke I see is are
<v Speaker 2>they going to put Minecraft two only on the Xbox right?
<v Speaker 1>No way, And there's no chance of something like that happening.
<v Speaker 1>And it's like it's not gonna happen with Call of
<v Speaker 1>Duty and Minecraft. Why force it onto these other franchises
<v Speaker 1>that could really use it to have, like they could
<v Speaker 1>really use having a larger potential pool of people to
<v Speaker 1>sell their game too.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, it's just like who wants exclusives at this point?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah it doesn't. It's it's just for arguing on the
<v Speaker 1>internet at this point. Yeah, it's it's weird. All right.
<v Speaker 1>We have a new poll question. We'll get to it
<v Speaker 1>here in a second. Actually, know what, let's do it now.
<v Speaker 1>Are you getting Resident Evil Requiem this weekend? Yes? No,
<v Speaker 1>not yet, but I will soon. Those are your options.
<v Speaker 1>Go ahead and go to Giant Bomb on YouTube YouTube
<v Speaker 1>dot com, slash at Giant Bomb, find the post tab.
<v Speaker 1>Respond there. We'll get the results to talk about it
<v Speaker 1>on Game Mess Mornings here on Giant Bomb tomorrow. Speaking
<v Speaker 1>of Giant Bomb, it is where we at. It's Thursday. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we're getting voicemail dump Truck. We're gonna be doing some
<v Speaker 1>more Marry me Tomadaci.
<v Speaker 2>Right, yes, Greb. We got new Legacy Incs and Deadlock's
<v Speaker 2>own John Blood joining us on the dump truck today.
<v Speaker 2>Shouts out to John Blood for sitting down with Dan
<v Speaker 2>and talking about WWE two K twenty six. Folks, if
<v Speaker 2>you missed that video that came out yesterday, I know
<v Speaker 2>we were caught up in the resident evil hubbub palooza
<v Speaker 2>of the review embargo coming out, but also go check
<v Speaker 2>out the WW two K twenty sixth video Dan edited
<v Speaker 2>that together. Fantastic video. Great job Dan, marry me, Tomodacci
<v Speaker 2>continues today, Greb, I'm so excited finally gonna be able
<v Speaker 2>to fall in love.
<v Speaker 1>She's good at this. And immediately my family started watching
<v Speaker 1>with me and they're like, I get this, and this
<v Speaker 1>is fantastic, fantastic. It's like, yeah, we needed a show
<v Speaker 1>like this. I'm so happy to get back to it today.
<v Speaker 2>I like, I will never stop singing the praises of
<v Speaker 2>Abby Russell because Abby Russell is the coolest motherfucking person
<v Speaker 2>in the world.
<v Speaker 1>I think so too. Yep, absolutely very excited to be
<v Speaker 1>doing a show with her. It's a miracle to watch
<v Speaker 1>her work. So yeah, tune in for that. Everybody become
<v Speaker 1>a Premium member so you don't miss out on it,
<v Speaker 1>especially if you can't watch it as we do it live. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>So then we got the rest of the week happening
<v Speaker 1>here on Giant Bomb. Hang out with us the rest
<v Speaker 1>of the week. Everybody go to Johnbom dot com to
<v Speaker 1>keep up with all the latest. In the meantime, we
<v Speaker 1>did the poll question, So Jan, I think I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>say thank you for hanging out with me today and
<v Speaker 1>talking about video games. Man, I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>It's the only way to start a Thursday grip.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you all for watching and listening in a big
<v Speaker 1>shout out, and our hearts with the people at Eurogamer
<v Speaker 1>who are experiencing layoffs. This is a tough industry and
<v Speaker 1>the corporations won't have us, so let's try to pick
<v Speaker 1>them up as best we can. Everybody, thanks for watching.
<v Speaker 1>Until next time, have a good one, take care of
<v Speaker 1>yourself and goodbye.