Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Streamlining Levels

<v Speaker 1>You'll be got be baer. It's the Internet. You're busy.
<v Speaker 1>Let's do this from March fifth, twenty twenty five. For
<v Speaker 1>the next hour or so, let me help you sort
<v Speaker 1>through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live
<v Speaker 1>with me Jeff Grub Today, will a big change change
<v Speaker 1>in Tony Hawk's pro Skater three plus four Upset fans
<v Speaker 1>and tariffs may discourage publishers from releasing physical games in
<v Speaker 1>the United States. But first, please join me and welcoming
<v Speaker 1>today's co host the Game Mess Mornings. It's Lucy James.
<v Speaker 1>Games everybody, Lucy, how are you joining?
<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you, I'm back.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you're back. How was your trip?
<v Speaker 2>It was great? Thank you? Yeah. I didn't get I
<v Speaker 2>haven't had a holiday, like an actual holiday in years.
<v Speaker 2>So this trip came up for exhision thirty three and
<v Speaker 2>I was like, well, I'm going all the way to Japan.
<v Speaker 2>I might as well text today.
<v Speaker 1>That's the way to think about it, That's the way
<v Speaker 1>I would atteckt Tech that situation. Uh So you got
<v Speaker 1>to like, especially in thirty three in Japan, that gives
<v Speaker 1>me in French, why was why they come to Japan?
<v Speaker 2>That French game made entirely by a French team, but
<v Speaker 2>so it was because the game is so heavily inspired
<v Speaker 2>by Japanese games like Final Fantasy eight Sakoro, and so
<v Speaker 2>we kind of pitched them a while ago on shooting
<v Speaker 2>a kind of basically like a giant Bomb travelog where
<v Speaker 2>we walk around things like Tower records, we go to
<v Speaker 2>Super Potato, and we talk to developers, and we also
<v Speaker 2>have a very fun interview that's kind of unexpected pop
<v Speaker 2>up in the middle of it. So that's being edited
<v Speaker 2>right now. And yes, again I wish, oh my god,
<v Speaker 2>imagine if she'd been in Tokyo while we were there.
<v Speaker 2>But it was a really fun trip work wise. And
<v Speaker 2>then yeah, I met up with my friend who lives
<v Speaker 2>in Taiwan in who I haven't seen in ten years.
<v Speaker 2>So we just hung out for the weekend.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's fun. Yeah, I saw saw some of your pictures.
<v Speaker 1>It looked like a great trip. Glad you got to
<v Speaker 1>do that.
<v Speaker 2>I went to the most giant bomb place ever ribera steakhouse. No,
<v Speaker 2>it's called Muscle Girls and it's full of muscly women
<v Speaker 2>and you can pay them to slap you.
<v Speaker 1>Oh okay, well, yeah, Jan we gotta go to Japan.
<v Speaker 1>We gotta get a trip going, and we gotta get
<v Speaker 1>I have to. I can't just pay a woman to
<v Speaker 1>slap me. I need to expense it through work. That's
<v Speaker 1>that completes the whole thing.
<v Speaker 2>So I got a They they lift you up like
<v Speaker 2>they do a honeymoon carry and I've never felt so safe.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get slapped, I didn't go to slap. I
<v Speaker 2>didn't get but I didn't get to carry. I know.
<v Speaker 2>But also it's all you can drink for like eighty minutes,
<v Speaker 2>very specifically eighty minutes in and out. The girl were amazing.
<v Speaker 2>It was really really fun and it kind of inspired
<v Speaker 2>me to go to the gym now. I want to
<v Speaker 2>be a musclego.
<v Speaker 1>I believe in all of our abilities to be muscle
<v Speaker 1>girls on this show. Absolutely let's explain what we do
<v Speaker 1>here most weekdays, I Jeff Grubb, will help piece your
<v Speaker 1>gaming life back together. That includes breaking news and maybe
<v Speaker 1>even some of our own original reporting. For all these topics,
<v Speaker 1>I'll get the input of a bona fide expert who
<v Speaker 1>will make me look smart. If you were watching live
<v Speaker 1>on Twitch, welcome, you can always listen to the show
<v Speaker 1>later on podcast Speeds by searching for Game Mess Mornings
<v Speaker 1>or find the RSS on giant bomb dot com. You
<v Speaker 1>can also catch the show later with chapters and timestamps
<v Speaker 1>on YouTube. Hello YouTube. All right, we have a lot
<v Speaker 1>to get into, so let's start the Morning Mess with
<v Speaker 1>tariffs threatened the future of physical video games and analyst warrens.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Jordan Midler at VGC. After weeks of threats,
<v Speaker 1>Trump has now imposed twenty five percent tariffs on goods
<v Speaker 1>that have been imported from Mexico and Canada into the
<v Speaker 1>United States. In addition, Trump announced at a further ten
<v Speaker 1>percent tariff on goods from China, on top of the
<v Speaker 1>previously announced ten percent tariffs that already went through. The
<v Speaker 1>tariffs on Mexico and China will likely have a significant
<v Speaker 1>impact on the video game industry due to both regions
<v Speaker 1>playing a large part in the physical production of both
<v Speaker 1>physical video games and game consoles themselves, as well as
<v Speaker 1>well as like accessories in any number of other things.
<v Speaker 1>Posting on Blue Sky Circana, analysts Matt Piscitelli suggested that
<v Speaker 1>the increased cost to import physical goods from Mexico, which
<v Speaker 1>is where the vast majority of discs from North American
<v Speaker 1>physical games are produced, could see publishers move further away
<v Speaker 1>from physical games. And response to Nico Partner's analyst Daniel
<v Speaker 1>Ahmad noting that the twenty percent of China tariff impacts
<v Speaker 1>on consoles and the twenty five percent Mexico tariff will
<v Speaker 1>affect physical game manufacturers, Piscatella added, very small piece of
<v Speaker 1>all this, but it wouldn't surprise me to see physical
<v Speaker 1>games that would be subject to tariff's simply not get made.
<v Speaker 1>With publishers moving to an all digital strategy. What a mess? Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know, like, let's just put ourselves in
<v Speaker 1>the shoes. If someone has to make these decisions, right, Lucy,
<v Speaker 1>if you are producing, you already have it set up,
<v Speaker 1>so you produce the games in Mexico. You do it
<v Speaker 1>there because it made a lot of sense. The labor
<v Speaker 1>is affordable, relatively speaking, and then you can ship it
<v Speaker 1>into the United States in a way that was also
<v Speaker 1>affordable because there were neighbors, So it made a lot
<v Speaker 1>of sense. You set all these things up ready to go,
<v Speaker 1>and now to do that the same exact thing, you
<v Speaker 1>have an automatic added cost of twenty five percent added
<v Speaker 1>on top of what you plan to sell. Those goods
<v Speaker 1>for that, and you know, you can take as much
<v Speaker 1>of that hit as you possibly can. But what these
<v Speaker 1>companies always do and what anyone would do. I think
<v Speaker 1>that's why I'm saying put ourselves in the shoes, is well,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna that's an added cost. Now we have to
<v Speaker 1>tack that onto what we charge for the product. So
<v Speaker 1>you kind of are in a situation where you can't
<v Speaker 1>super do that with video game prices, right Lucy, where
<v Speaker 1>people will, like, notice if their games go up twenty
<v Speaker 1>five percent when you ship a physical game into the country,
<v Speaker 1>So they're locked here a little bit. And that doesn't
<v Speaker 1>mean they can't raise the prices some. They probably will,
<v Speaker 1>But I think the more likely scenario for a lot
<v Speaker 1>of companies is, you know, for the vast majority, for
<v Speaker 1>like anything that other than the biggest games, will be
<v Speaker 1>let's just stick to digital and we'll figure out physical
<v Speaker 1>later if we can, like maybe sell a special addition
<v Speaker 1>that costs even more, and that's where we'll factor in
<v Speaker 1>the price increase. What do you think?
<v Speaker 2>So? I also, I mean, I think Matt is an
<v Speaker 2>amazing follow on Blue Sky. I think everyone can tend
<v Speaker 2>to be following him. He was also posting that kind
<v Speaker 2>of within the context of this is that spending is
<v Speaker 2>going down in video games, especially amongst Gen Z. They
<v Speaker 2>just don't have, yep, the buying power, even our generation,
<v Speaker 2>the millennials, Like buying is going down. An increase in
<v Speaker 2>prices of upwards of like maybe twenty five percent is
<v Speaker 2>just going to hit games so so hard. And yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean I'm not really a physical media collector anymore,
<v Speaker 2>but many, many people are and it's just just very
<v Speaker 2>sad and frustrating and yeah, pricing out of customers when
<v Speaker 2>the industry is already struggling. I mean, who's who realistically
<v Speaker 2>is immune from this?
<v Speaker 1>GTA, GTA get family games for families, Nintendo some of
<v Speaker 1>their games specifically, apparently Chris String wrote on Blue Sky
<v Speaker 1>that you know, while eighty five percent of Space Marine
<v Speaker 1>twos and this is in the UK, but eighty five
<v Speaker 1>percent of Space Marine two sales were digital in the UK,
<v Speaker 1>other games like Astrobot fifty five percent were physical. So
<v Speaker 1>it's like there there are pockets of audiences out there
<v Speaker 1>that want to be able to buy a thing to
<v Speaker 1>hand to someone like that is that's crucial to how
<v Speaker 1>that that that that side of the business operates for
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people because they are buying something for
<v Speaker 1>someone else, and by digital gifts is just a little
<v Speaker 1>bit different than buying someone a physical game. But excuse me,
<v Speaker 1>but that is only you know, going to go so
<v Speaker 1>far in the decision making process for these companies when
<v Speaker 1>they are still deciding, Hey, okay, yeah, sure that audience
<v Speaker 1>is out there, but we might like lose money selling
<v Speaker 1>to that audience now based on how much these or
<v Speaker 1>we might make more money when we kind of put
<v Speaker 1>it side by side with Okay, we'll sell fewer if
<v Speaker 1>they can only get it digitally, but we're going to
<v Speaker 1>make more money from each copy, so we should just
<v Speaker 1>do that the you know the alternative here, Lucy's game
<v Speaker 1>prices go up across the board, right because you know,
<v Speaker 1>these companies might be able to be able to say, hey,
<v Speaker 1>because of tariffs, we are now the base price for
<v Speaker 1>video games is eighty dollars, and also for the digital version,
<v Speaker 1>it's eighty dollars because we want to match the prices.
<v Speaker 1>We want want to make sure that retail and digital
<v Speaker 1>are matching as close as possible. That's what we've always done.
<v Speaker 1>We're going to continue doing that. And you know, having
<v Speaker 1>the increased price that isn't quite twenty five percent on
<v Speaker 1>the physical version, but having that then also tacked onto
<v Speaker 1>the digital maybe add those together that kind of makes
<v Speaker 1>up the difference a little bit for these companies. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, but I get the sense that these publishers
<v Speaker 1>are not gonna want to wait as long as they
<v Speaker 1>did last time to raise prices from you know, we
<v Speaker 1>went from fifty to sixty when I was a kid,
<v Speaker 1>when we went from you know, Xbox two was at
<v Speaker 1>Xbox three sixty, and then we went to sixty to
<v Speaker 1>seventy just recently, and now it's like that was a
<v Speaker 1>very long gap. There was a long time between the
<v Speaker 1>fifty to sixty, from the sixty to seventy. I think
<v Speaker 1>they are probably gonna want to raise prices again here
<v Speaker 1>relatively soon, and this might serve as an excuse to
<v Speaker 1>do that, which goes back to what you were speaking
<v Speaker 1>about when we first started the conversation of there is
<v Speaker 1>an audience, a younger audience that looks at this hobby
<v Speaker 1>and sees the way that we used to do things
<v Speaker 1>or the way that we still do things with consoles
<v Speaker 1>and buying games, and says, this is expensive. I'm just
<v Speaker 1>gonna keep going play. I'm gonna keep playing my free
<v Speaker 1>to play games on my phone.
<v Speaker 2>Gonna keep playing roadblocks on my phone.
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna keep playing roadblocks like on these older devices
<v Speaker 1>or these devices that I already have. So it feels
<v Speaker 1>like the downward spiral of of the way this business
<v Speaker 1>operates continues, all right, exactly.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, No, it's just another piece of shit on the shoe.
<v Speaker 2>I guess.
<v Speaker 1>It's uh, it's frustrating. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I love to be an immigrant in this country.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, We're good to them, that is what I've heard. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's it's I think that people can also hear this
<v Speaker 1>and be like, well, you know he's already talking about
<v Speaker 1>bringing away the terrorist from Canada that he just added
<v Speaker 1>the other day. Uh.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So the thing is about is I I just can't.
<v Speaker 2>I just can't do it. I can't keep up with
<v Speaker 2>it because everything you're not so frequently.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you're not supposed to keep up with that. That's
<v Speaker 1>the whole point. It's the zone strategy. Steve Bannon came
<v Speaker 1>up with it, and Trump is following it. Absolutely are
<v Speaker 1>flooding the zone with too much information for people to
<v Speaker 1>keep up with. It's you know the line from and
<v Speaker 1>or it's easier to hide behind forty atrocities or whatever
<v Speaker 1>than just one big bad thing. That's what they're doing.
<v Speaker 1>And so yeah, that that is. That also speaks to
<v Speaker 1>the point though that these companies also can't keep up
<v Speaker 1>with it. They don't know what to expect. The uncertainty
<v Speaker 1>has certainly come home to roost now. You can look
<v Speaker 1>at the stock market's reaction to the news recently, and
<v Speaker 1>all of the gains from when Trump was elected from
<v Speaker 1>the stock market from nihilists who believed that was going
<v Speaker 1>to be a good thing for their for their portfolio,
<v Speaker 1>all that's been wiped out already in the last couple
<v Speaker 1>of days, the last few weeks. So that is and
<v Speaker 1>that comes from not like necessarily the actions that are
<v Speaker 1>being implemented. It is from not knowing what will happen next.
<v Speaker 1>And you know Nintendo PlayStation, Microsoft EA, all the big publishers,
<v Speaker 1>and then anyone who is like a small company that
<v Speaker 1>is like started manufacturing games in like China or maybe
<v Speaker 1>Vietnam or something like that. They don't know what to expect,
<v Speaker 1>so they might have to just increase prices to build
<v Speaker 1>in a guard, a buffer between them and what could happen.
<v Speaker 1>Whether or not it actually does happen, who knows, because
<v Speaker 1>no one knows. He doesn't know what he's gonna do next. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>all right, let's keep going here. Tony Oaks pro Skater
<v Speaker 1>three plus four is streamlining goals, but no one knows
<v Speaker 1>what that means. Is from Will Nelson at PC Games
<v Speaker 1>in Tony Oks pro Skater three plus four is about
<v Speaker 1>to bring back some of the best games from the
<v Speaker 1>entire series, and it's poised to be quite a nostalgic
<v Speaker 1>blast from the past. I still fondly remember gliding around
<v Speaker 1>Toniosk pro Skater forwards college level, exploring the parking lot
<v Speaker 1>and making my way onto the rooftops at my own pace.
<v Speaker 1>That said, there's been some confusion as to whether or
<v Speaker 1>not three plus four remake will work the same way. Basically,
<v Speaker 1>they put out a statement here that says that three
<v Speaker 1>plus four will feature streamlined goals Lucy in the two
<v Speaker 1>minute format. Let's yeah, the streamline goals in the two
<v Speaker 1>minute format along with some new parks to expand your
<v Speaker 1>skating options, is how they phrased it, and so people
<v Speaker 1>are reading that. As for those who don't know TONYOKX
<v Speaker 1>pro Skater three did use that two minute format. TONYOKX
<v Speaker 1>pro Skater four did not have a time limit in levels,
<v Speaker 1>so you could explore it your own pace. As Will
<v Speaker 1>Nelson here at PC Games and explained, it sounds like
<v Speaker 1>for a three plus four this remaster, this remake, that
<v Speaker 1>they will be changing that so that three and four
<v Speaker 1>worked the same way both with a two minute timer
<v Speaker 1>and that you know, so they will fundamentally have to
<v Speaker 1>change the way that the goals and maybe even the
<v Speaker 1>levels worked in tony oks pro Skater four. We don't
<v Speaker 1>know for sure exactly what that looks like, but it
<v Speaker 1>sounds like that's very likely. Here, Lucy, I'll just say,
<v Speaker 1>as someone who liked four a lot this one, it
<v Speaker 1>doesn't scare me too much. I like have I feel
<v Speaker 1>like they can probably make this work pretty easily, but
<v Speaker 1>some people are like, certainly, like, hey, I liked not
<v Speaker 1>having a time limit. I wish that was here. We
<v Speaker 1>could sympathize with that, right, Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I thank god. I barely remember three and four because
<v Speaker 2>I was like a one and two girl, and I
<v Speaker 2>don't think I played much three and four, but I
<v Speaker 2>was a big fan of Underground and American Wasteland because.
<v Speaker 1>Well the Underground worked that same way right where there
<v Speaker 1>was no time limit and like you could see like
<v Speaker 1>as they were going on, this would be more difficult
<v Speaker 1>to do to sort of like change it back into
<v Speaker 1>the two minute format. For they probably can make this work,
<v Speaker 1>I think so, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I mean I'm intrigued to see how the
<v Speaker 2>community react to it. Like, where's Jake get me? Jake
<v Speaker 2>Baldino on the phone, Yeah, what was he think about it?
<v Speaker 2>But I I think I've left Tony Hawk's pro Skater
<v Speaker 2>in the past.
<v Speaker 1>Sadly.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe I'll dip back in, but it's not something that
<v Speaker 2>I saw this announcement coming and I was like, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna I'm gonna hop on that. I think. I
<v Speaker 2>hope it finds a new audience because it was such
<v Speaker 2>an iconic series of games. But sadly they kind of
<v Speaker 2>ran it into the ground a little bit. What was that?
<v Speaker 2>What was Tony Hawk's Ride.
<v Speaker 1>Tony Ook's Ride was the motion control one that came
<v Speaker 1>with the board. Did it come out for we and
<v Speaker 1>you like inserted that we were probably not. I think
<v Speaker 1>I never actually played ride.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't play it. But now the other the other
<v Speaker 2>Tony Hawk news. Dan reik it immediately, I have my
<v Speaker 2>ride Controler ready to go. Is the Margerra might not
<v Speaker 2>be returning? You see this?
<v Speaker 1>Oh it was that one of the bands or whatever,
<v Speaker 1>Bam Margera, Oh Ban Margerre. I thought you said Margero.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like mar I'm like yeah, yeah, Ban Bargeria is
<v Speaker 1>not going to be in this game. Yeah. No one
<v Speaker 1>wants to give that guy money.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's very sad. Wece did a very good documentary
<v Speaker 2>a couple of years ago about Bam and it's a
<v Speaker 2>very very sad watch.
<v Speaker 1>But it is.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's a good watch. Yes, band band God.
<v Speaker 1>Damn, Yeah, I would listen to that. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I it's Cky.
<v Speaker 1>That's the name of the of the show.
<v Speaker 2>His brother is in the band.
<v Speaker 1>Right, We're on fire today. Tony Oks for Skater four
<v Speaker 1>is uh is definitely one that I'm a huge fan of.
<v Speaker 1>Still I do play that game quite frequently. I will
<v Speaker 1>just go back to that game if I wanted to
<v Speaker 1>work the way it used to work before. I also
<v Speaker 1>think that they will continue to find an audience because
<v Speaker 1>that Tony Oks pro Skater one plus two was the
<v Speaker 1>best selling Tony Hawk game ever. Uh, and skating is
<v Speaker 1>more popular around the world than it's ever been. I
<v Speaker 1>think this game with Activision seeming to treat it like
<v Speaker 1>a big deal and kind of treating it as a
<v Speaker 1>big launch, to me, that's a good sign that they
<v Speaker 1>can be able to they'll be able to reach those
<v Speaker 1>pockets of skaters around the world that maybe weren't you know,
<v Speaker 1>they were not born yet, they weren't even close to
<v Speaker 1>being born yet, their parents probably were might not have
<v Speaker 1>been born yet. They're like, yeah, skif these skaters are
<v Speaker 1>twelve years old doing nine hundreds and ten eighties and
<v Speaker 1>U yeah, they've probably not played too much Tonyawk, although
<v Speaker 1>I bet they know a bunch of memes about it
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that. So hey, this will be here
<v Speaker 1>to serve them as an opportunity to actually get in
<v Speaker 1>and try these games out. All right. PlayStation lays off
<v Speaker 1>more developers. This is from George Yang at GameSpot. PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>has conducted another round of layoffs, this time impacting the
<v Speaker 1>visual arts team as well as its Malaysian studios. Several
<v Speaker 1>now former employees of PlayStation have taken to LinkedIn to
<v Speaker 1>share that they've been let go. The roles include lighting
<v Speaker 1>material environmental and animation artist in Nauti Dog alumnus who's
<v Speaker 1>nowt Nvidia, said that those were laid off were integral
<v Speaker 1>to the development of Uncharted and the Last of Us.
<v Speaker 1>One of them was a senior project manager in Malaysia
<v Speaker 1>who worked on Concord and The Last of Us Part
<v Speaker 1>two remastered. He said it was a tough start of
<v Speaker 1>the week for us at PlayStation Studios. Visual Arts group
<v Speaker 1>was a wave of workforce, workforce reduction and unfortunately I'm
<v Speaker 1>no longer part of the brand. According to Kataku, those
<v Speaker 1>in acted we're working on recently canceled projects such as
<v Speaker 1>the ones from Diggs days gone developer Bin Studio. However,
<v Speaker 1>the cuts reportedly reached further than that and affected those
<v Speaker 1>who also worked on internal art and technical support for
<v Speaker 1>PlayStation's first party studios. People that might not be aware
<v Speaker 1>of Visual Arts is a group inside of PlayStation that
<v Speaker 1>provides a lot of art and support work for various
<v Speaker 1>major games from PlayStation first parties. And then when a
<v Speaker 1>Naughty Dog was entering that phase where they finished Last
<v Speaker 1>of Us Part two and there was like, hey, what
<v Speaker 1>should we be doing with Uncharted? What should we be
<v Speaker 1>doing with the Last of US. Visual Arts I think
<v Speaker 1>stepped up and was going to be somewhat involved with
<v Speaker 1>maybe taking over Uncharted in some way, or maybe if not,
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't Visual Arts itself. The leaders of that group
<v Speaker 1>were going to do that. They definitely pitched that idea.
<v Speaker 1>It didn't come it didn't actually happen, and Naughty Dog
<v Speaker 1>kind of stayed in charge of those things, and that
<v Speaker 1>led to some people from Visual Arts leaving. But they
<v Speaker 1>did actually get involved with the Last of US remakes
<v Speaker 1>and remasters and helped out with those. But I guess
<v Speaker 1>they've kind of run out of that work, at least
<v Speaker 1>as far as Sony's concerned. And then obviously Sony's also
<v Speaker 1>canceling some of these live service games, so they're looking
<v Speaker 1>to save costs after mismanaging and making decisions that are
<v Speaker 1>not paying off. How do you feel about all this, Lucy.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, it's more layers in the industry. It's
<v Speaker 2>incredibly sad PlayStation. I mean, we're coming up to the
<v Speaker 2>end of the financial year. I really worry about just
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, I feel like we're still going to
<v Speaker 2>feel the repercussions of everything that happened in the last
<v Speaker 2>couple years of PlayStation cancel, the cancelation, but also the removing,
<v Speaker 2>the deletion of cong Ko, the shustering of studios. I
<v Speaker 2>think we're still going to feel that. I hope I'm wrong,
<v Speaker 2>but I feel like I'm probably not going to be.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's a really horrible time. Yeah, And I mean,
<v Speaker 2>like that's the thing. It's like, if you think about it,
<v Speaker 2>like first part, you always used to seem like the
<v Speaker 2>good bet right as you were part of the platform
<v Speaker 2>hold up.
<v Speaker 1>But no, it is especially you know, annoying because Sony's
<v Speaker 1>last financial report from from last quarter was really well done.
<v Speaker 1>Or they had a lot of money, is what I'm
<v Speaker 1>trying to say. They've made the most most money that
<v Speaker 1>they've ever made before from the PlayStation brand, something along
<v Speaker 1>those lines. And it's like, Okay, yeah, we get that
<v Speaker 1>the big bets you made are not paying off, but
<v Speaker 1>you're making money from everything else, and it kind of
<v Speaker 1>feels like you should be able to roll with these
<v Speaker 1>punches a little bit better. Why does it have to
<v Speaker 1>be so drastic each time? Why can't you take these
<v Speaker 1>people give them something else to work on when you
<v Speaker 1>clearly are making enough money to be able to expand
<v Speaker 1>in other ways other than just live service. So a
<v Speaker 1>little bit, a little bit frustrating that that Sony continues
<v Speaker 1>to lay people off even though they are making more
<v Speaker 1>money than they've ever made before with PlayStation. Okay, let's
<v Speaker 1>take a quick break, and then when we come back,
<v Speaker 1>we will talk about Sega wanting to reinforce its course
<v Speaker 1>studios and why was Miyazaki visiting ten Cent. Well, we
<v Speaker 1>have an answer to that as well. Right after this,
<v Speaker 1>all right, we're back into it. Sega wants to reinforce
<v Speaker 1>its course studios, but don't expect new games soon. This
<v Speaker 1>comes from Jim Norman at Nintendo Life. Sega has just
<v Speaker 1>released its latest financial report for Q three of the
<v Speaker 1>current fiscal year, and the accompanied Q and A with
<v Speaker 1>a company vice president Bakodo Takahashi and director Nobuaki Yoshi
<v Speaker 1>gives a neat little insight about what the team has
<v Speaker 1>planned for the future. After what has been a pretty
<v Speaker 1>busy twelve months for Sega, releasing the likes of Super
<v Speaker 1>Monkey Ball, Banana, Rumbole, Sonic, Sonic, Cross Shadow Generations, Metaphor, Refontasio,
<v Speaker 1>Like a Dragon, Pirate, Yakuza, and Jwai. The company's investors
<v Speaker 1>were keen to know what comes next. Sega basically said, Lucy,
<v Speaker 1>we're not gonna have as many games this upcoming fiscal
<v Speaker 1>year as we did the last fiscal year. A lot
<v Speaker 1>of our studios are reloading. But they did say that
<v Speaker 1>they are not like shrink shrinking back away from like
<v Speaker 1>doubling down on a lot of their studios. In fact,
<v Speaker 1>they said the opposite when asked about like how they
<v Speaker 1>prioritize their studios to make sure like one studio gets
<v Speaker 1>support when they need it. Sega's like, we're not really
<v Speaker 1>doing that. We want to make sure everybody's getting the
<v Speaker 1>support they need, and it says we have not set
<v Speaker 1>any order of priority. Particularly for example, Atlas is an
<v Speaker 1>important studio for us to expand Japanese IPS overseas, and
<v Speaker 1>we think it is necessary to strengthen it. And the
<v Speaker 1>studios involved in the Sonic and like a Dragon IPS
<v Speaker 1>are also short of staff and we are looking to
<v Speaker 1>reinforce personnel through additional hiring an m in a so
<v Speaker 1>mergenc and acquisitions. Hey, maybe a little bit of the
<v Speaker 1>opposite of what we've been here and recently got off
<v Speaker 1>a layoff story and Sega talking about, Hey, we want
<v Speaker 1>to build up these studios because they the strategy is working.
<v Speaker 1>And I guess, like as far as Sega is concerned
<v Speaker 1>that it does feel like the strategy is working, right,
<v Speaker 1>Like that Sonic Shadow Generations game, people like that quite
<v Speaker 1>a bit. So even Sonic is working. And then clearly
<v Speaker 1>Yakus is working, and very clearly what Atlas is doing
<v Speaker 1>is working. So Sega's got a pathwork, pathway forward, right,
<v Speaker 1>I really hope.
<v Speaker 2>So I I obviously want to see growth, but I
<v Speaker 2>wanted to be sustainable and not this over hiring. I
<v Speaker 2>wanted to be sustainable, make sure that the projects are
<v Speaker 2>adequately supported. It is kind of funny that it's like,
<v Speaker 2>don't expect more games, like way more more games. We
<v Speaker 2>just want to make sure that the ones we are
<v Speaker 2>making are like staffed adequately. But I also think it's
<v Speaker 2>funny that they've released you know, like four like a
<v Speaker 2>Dragon games.
<v Speaker 1>And RGG is not slowing down right, the fighter happening
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, there's a lot of stuff happening all of
<v Speaker 1>that studio.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, and that's the thing when you let a
<v Speaker 2>studio like like the Persona team, you let them cook
<v Speaker 2>two because I guess you've got it P zero, which
<v Speaker 2>is where Harsha now and sojian Ma went, and then
<v Speaker 2>you've got the PERSONA team. Is that right? Like they
<v Speaker 2>kind of spun off to do metaphor and then there's
<v Speaker 2>whatever PERSONA teams.
<v Speaker 1>Do generally, right. Yeah, I don't know. I think they
<v Speaker 1>might have been split off for a while, but yes,
<v Speaker 1>that's generally correct.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And so I'm just like, just let them cook.
<v Speaker 2>I just want to see you. I want to see
<v Speaker 2>Persona six. But yeah, I guess finish.
<v Speaker 1>I still have to P threeh the P three remake. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>do you think we see Persona six this year? I
<v Speaker 1>think it might. I think it probably doesn't happen this year,
<v Speaker 1>but maybe early next year.
<v Speaker 2>SGF feels soon. I wonder if it would be I
<v Speaker 2>wonder if it would be a Game Awards reveal if anything,
<v Speaker 2>kind of still giving metaphor that space. Actually, it was
<v Speaker 2>quite nice to see so much metaphor stuff in Japan,
<v Speaker 2>which was lovely.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>P four remake, it would be the one thing that
<v Speaker 2>I'm also really really gunning for. I think because I
<v Speaker 2>think I think, you know, if I had to enforce
<v Speaker 2>it to my head P three joke, I would have
<v Speaker 2>to say P four is my favorite and so I
<v Speaker 2>would love to see that remade in them, like with
<v Speaker 2>more modern sensibilities in terms of its gameplay, because it's weird.
<v Speaker 2>Going back to P four after playing P five is
<v Speaker 2>very very difficult just in terms of yeah, well, I
<v Speaker 2>mean there's a lot more resistance there, whereas P five
<v Speaker 2>they streamlined so many of the systems to make it
<v Speaker 2>just really enjoyable.
<v Speaker 1>In the term. Persona is like so ever present that
<v Speaker 1>I don't really keep the timeline in my head, but
<v Speaker 1>it is Persona four, the one that was a PS
<v Speaker 1>three game, originally two Persona four. It was on PS two.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, and then it was Veta for Golden Jesus.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, Yeah, that's that. That's where That's why it
<v Speaker 1>always gets me every time I think about this. I
<v Speaker 1>don't keep this in my head, and then every time
<v Speaker 1>I remember it, it like what that It just feels
<v Speaker 1>like Persona four was like, yeah, that was a couple
<v Speaker 1>of years ago. Uh, that's nuts. Okay, So could definitely
<v Speaker 1>benefit from and they're they're going to do this. Persona
<v Speaker 1>three remake worked really well. They built the technology they're
<v Speaker 1>going to get around to remakeing some of those other games.
<v Speaker 1>Persona four would be the obvious next one. I wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>be a smart as eventually they like, let's take this
<v Speaker 1>and actually just remake PERSONA one and two from the
<v Speaker 1>ground up.
<v Speaker 2>Kind of in this very interested because I never I've
<v Speaker 2>never even touched P one or two.
<v Speaker 1>So this is a lot three in twenty sixteen. That
<v Speaker 1>that is, That's right, that's nuts.
<v Speaker 2>So this is obviously all about Japanese studios. Do we
<v Speaker 2>know what their plans are for creative Assembly?
<v Speaker 1>Well, because they do. They did they.
<v Speaker 2>Get they offloaded?
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah it was the Van Studio. Yes, not Remedy,
<v Speaker 1>the team that did Company Heroes Relic. Thank you. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>they unloaded Relic. Is creative assembly still under them. I listen,
<v Speaker 1>we know what, we know what the their feeling was.
<v Speaker 1>It was kind of deprecating themselves from a lot of
<v Speaker 1>Western studios. That's why they sold off Relic. Uh so
<v Speaker 1>they are a little bit less. I think you're are
<v Speaker 1>interested in fully backing those studios. It is about, Hey,
<v Speaker 1>we have these teams in Japan. That's where our focus
<v Speaker 1>is at. That's what's worked. And you know, Sega has
<v Speaker 1>bounced back and forth between like relying on Western studios
<v Speaker 1>a lot there, Like in twenty eleven, they became a
<v Speaker 1>huge publisher on PC thanks to a lot to their
<v Speaker 1>companies like Relic and Creative Assembly, and that really buoyed
<v Speaker 1>them for quite some time. But now it clearly is
<v Speaker 1>about you know, Persona over there at Atlas and then
<v Speaker 1>like a Dragon. These these are their their core brands
<v Speaker 1>now outside of Sonic and.
<v Speaker 2>We've got the we've got the Old Million sequel.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. Yeah, that's that's right. That is the thing that
<v Speaker 1>you're right, So they are working on that, and that's
<v Speaker 1>probably still a ways off though, right, because that team
<v Speaker 1>was mostly focused on hyenas for a while, or you
<v Speaker 1>know that the whole entire staff was focused on that.
<v Speaker 1>They canceled that and probably shifted a lot of resources
<v Speaker 1>over to this Aliens game. Okay, all right, here's what
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna do. Now, we're gonna move on to the
<v Speaker 1>next story. Ten Cent increases stake in Katakawa, owners of
<v Speaker 1>From Software. This is from Alberto Garrido at Game Reactor.
<v Speaker 1>Although Tencent has recently reduced its foreign investment in video
<v Speaker 1>games to focus more on studios and developments in China,
<v Speaker 1>it still has multiple multi million dollar investment deals with
<v Speaker 1>companies such as Ubisoft, Katakawa and more. In fact, Tencent
<v Speaker 1>has recently increased its investment in Japanese and the Japanese
<v Speaker 1>giant from six point eight percent to seven point nine
<v Speaker 1>to one percent of kata Kawa's total value, as reported
<v Speaker 1>by the nie K. This is very likely the reason
<v Speaker 1>that people saw pictures of Miyazaki, of the you know,
<v Speaker 1>creative lead of from Software visiting ten Cent over the
<v Speaker 1>you know, over the weekend the last couple of days
<v Speaker 1>he was. He was there, uh, and there's you know,
<v Speaker 1>some kind of candid photos of someone who works at
<v Speaker 1>ten Cent just being like, oh my god, it's Miyazaki,
<v Speaker 1>just taking pictures of him, like in the elevator, and
<v Speaker 1>there's something that photo the four photos, the last one
<v Speaker 1>is just Miyazaki looking right at the camera like I
<v Speaker 1>could see you taking pictures of me. It's it's pretty good.
<v Speaker 1>So that I think that hit like the from soft
<v Speaker 1>Reddit or whatever, and there was some anxiety, some concern,
<v Speaker 1>I think as always, cause there are plenty of examples
<v Speaker 1>of big names going and starting new studios at these
<v Speaker 1>at these at these various companies. That's not what's happening here.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's very unlikely Miyazaki ever leaves from software.
<v Speaker 1>Seems like he's got it good there and Kadakawa uh
<v Speaker 1>has just continually, uh kind of increased the amount of
<v Speaker 1>money they are they're pouring into from software. So I
<v Speaker 1>don't think he's feeling that. It feels the need like,
<v Speaker 1>oh I, I got to go somewhere else to really
<v Speaker 1>stretch my legs. He's going to get to do that here.
<v Speaker 2>Sorry, this last picture of him holding the cup of coffee.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yes, I just caught deer cotton headlights.
<v Speaker 2>Oh I knew me a zachy react image.
<v Speaker 1>It's pretty good.
<v Speaker 2>Good. Uh yeah, I mean sowet I thought Sony, I
<v Speaker 2>feel like I'm way behind on this. Was Sony not
<v Speaker 2>interested in the Kakawa.
<v Speaker 1>Sony is interested in kata Kawa. But like those conversations
<v Speaker 1>happen all the time. I think the reporting was they
<v Speaker 1>were having conversations, and the way I remember it is
<v Speaker 1>that Sony was trying to just get certain aspects of
<v Speaker 1>kata Kawa, which would have been like the anime in
<v Speaker 1>the anime in the video games, and kata Kawa is like, no,
<v Speaker 1>it's all or nothing, and that was the impasse. And
<v Speaker 1>so the story at the time the news story was, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>they are beginning to make inroads into solving this this problem,
<v Speaker 1>this obstacle. But it also just sounded like, no, they're
<v Speaker 1>having conversations about it, and maybe they can figure it out,
<v Speaker 1>maybe they can't. Maybe they can arrive at the right
<v Speaker 1>number to make it all make sense, but there's many
<v Speaker 1>reasons why that would continue to fall through, and it
<v Speaker 1>sounds like that's just continues to be maybe only a conversation.
<v Speaker 1>Although we'll see, Hey, Sony loves investing in anime. They
<v Speaker 1>see that as a crucial thing to have, a valuable
<v Speaker 1>asset to have going forward, because they can exploit that
<v Speaker 1>for movies and TV, video games going forward, merch all
<v Speaker 1>kinds of stuff, and they have plenty of streaming platforms
<v Speaker 1>that stream anime already that they could bolster with that stuff.
<v Speaker 1>But that you know, you can't just buy the manga
<v Speaker 1>from Katakawa. You have to also buy all of their
<v Speaker 1>other businesses, all right. Assassin's Creed Shadows boasts a thirty
<v Speaker 1>to forty hour main campaign. This is from tom Ivan
<v Speaker 1>at VGC. Assassin's Creed Shadows players will be able to
<v Speaker 1>finish the game in thirty to forty hours that's according
<v Speaker 1>to the titles creative director Jonathan Dumont, who also held
<v Speaker 1>the same role on Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Following twenty twenty
<v Speaker 1>threes Assassin's Cream Mirage, which was more of a streamlined
<v Speaker 1>action adventure game in the vein of the early series,
<v Speaker 1>Entries Shadows is a more expansive RPG akin to the Origins,
<v Speaker 1>Odyssey and Valhalla games. An interview with Ginky, Dumont also
<v Speaker 1>said completionists should expect to spend an excess of eighty
<v Speaker 1>hours with the game, seemingly puts the game's scope roughly
<v Speaker 1>in line with twenty seventeen's Assassin's Creed Origins. Yeah, Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed games are big. This sounds about right, thirty to four.
<v Speaker 1>When I hear thirty to four forty hours to complete,
<v Speaker 1>that usually to me, that's like, oh big game, That
<v Speaker 1>is what a big game. They Yes, So I'm not
<v Speaker 1>surprised by this. This is what Assassin's Creed is. You
<v Speaker 1>think this is what this is what people this phantom wants.
<v Speaker 1>I think, I know, I know a lot of us say, hey,
<v Speaker 1>we want the more streamlined stuff, But I think Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed fans really there's a lot of them, and they
<v Speaker 1>just want as much Assassin's Creed as possible. It seems
<v Speaker 1>like to me a lot of times.
<v Speaker 2>What do you think, Yeah, I think it's it's a
<v Speaker 2>weird kind of schism in the fan base because you
<v Speaker 2>have these people who like these larger RPG experiences, and
<v Speaker 2>then you have the other part of the fan base,
<v Speaker 2>which I'm in, which is I want the more streamlined approach.
<v Speaker 2>I want I want thirty to forty hours to be
<v Speaker 2>the completionist time.
<v Speaker 1>I want it.
<v Speaker 2>I want to take experience. I also don't think Assassin's
<v Speaker 2>Creeds narratives have ever earned that run time, and so
<v Speaker 2>that's kind of like, yeah, I just I hear the
<v Speaker 2>thirty forty main campaign. I'm just like, well, yeah, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I just I just but the thing where it's like,
<v Speaker 2>if you get enjoyment and satisfaction from the actual gameplay itself,
<v Speaker 2>and you like mopping up the map and you're like
<v Speaker 2>doing everything like the I was gonna say black box missions,
<v Speaker 2>but I don't even like that.
<v Speaker 1>Back.
<v Speaker 2>If you enjoy all that, I'm not gonna yuck, you're yum.
<v Speaker 2>I think there'll be plenty for you in a sudden
<v Speaker 2>Screen Shadows. But I'm I'm the kind of person where
<v Speaker 2>it's like I can't just keep doing the same thing
<v Speaker 2>over and over again. I needed a narrative to pull
<v Speaker 2>me through. And from what I played of Shadows a
<v Speaker 2>couple of months ago, it did. It was really doing
<v Speaker 2>it for me at that time. I maybe if I
<v Speaker 2>played it within the wider context, I would have enjoyed
<v Speaker 2>it a bit more. So we'll see, I'll give.
<v Speaker 1>It a go. I yeah, I'm I think I'm mostly
<v Speaker 1>with you where Yeah, narrative definitely give me some some
<v Speaker 1>like propulsion to get me through the content. But I
<v Speaker 1>did it was I don't think it was Odyssey. It was. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>maybe it was Odd it wasn't it was Odyssey. It
<v Speaker 1>wasn't Origins, it was Odyssey, Valhalla. I tried all three.
<v Speaker 1>Odyssey is the one I really got into and was
<v Speaker 1>had fun exploring. And it's what happens with all the
<v Speaker 1>Assassin's Creed games that I get into. It worked the
<v Speaker 1>same way, despite the format changing. I just really liked
<v Speaker 1>the setting and liked exploring. Yeah, and so you know,
<v Speaker 1>the game facilitated that, and I think I that's what
<v Speaker 1>does happen with these with a lot of these fans
<v Speaker 1>who enjoy exploring the very big, very large assassin' screen
<v Speaker 1>games is it becomes sort of a uh tourism simulator.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, hey, I want to like.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well they do that, they do that history. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it usually gets added, you know, post release, And
<v Speaker 1>what we're talking about for people who don't know, is
<v Speaker 1>that they kind of a even lower difficulty than like
<v Speaker 1>story mode. That is just like enables people to go
<v Speaker 1>walk around the world and see the various pieces of
<v Speaker 1>architecture that the developers recreated in the video game.
<v Speaker 2>And also I think don't they have little pop up
<v Speaker 2>so it tells you how people would live and uh everything.
<v Speaker 1>Might Yeah yeah, I think it's.
<v Speaker 2>A little more involved than just sort of walking around.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah uh yeah, probably kind of like a pop up
<v Speaker 1>little thing where they kind of give you information about everything.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's neat. I would have loved that with the Brotherhood,
<v Speaker 1>right that was was that Florence or Rome? I can
<v Speaker 1>never remember that was Rome.
<v Speaker 2>I think Brotherhood was the Borgia in Rome, I.
<v Speaker 1>Believe, Yes, I really enjoyed that, and then too, I
<v Speaker 1>think it was Florence and I enjoyed exploring that as well. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>either way, this game is okay, it is what it is,
<v Speaker 1>and you know, one of these big RPG style assassin's
<v Speaker 1>creeds that have had a lot of success and some
<v Speaker 1>of them have kind of missed a little bit, but
<v Speaker 1>it is it's more of that. But it's you know,
<v Speaker 1>it's finally going to Japan, finally giving players the chance
<v Speaker 1>to explore that region. I don't know what's your latest
<v Speaker 1>sense on this game coming out this month, on its
<v Speaker 1>ability to meet expectations and be the game that Ubisoft
<v Speaker 1>needs it to be.
<v Speaker 2>It's I really hope it is the game Ubisoft needs
<v Speaker 2>it to be because of the amount of people who
<v Speaker 2>work there and who needed to be this big. Ubisoft
<v Speaker 2>as a company has gone through some strug and that's god,
<v Speaker 2>that's the overarching narrative of games, right. But I think
<v Speaker 2>Ubisoft is in a lot of trouble. They see ten
<v Speaker 2>Cents swirling around, and so I really hope it's good.
<v Speaker 2>I hope it's good. I hope it sells. I never
<v Speaker 2>wish for anyone or any studio to be struggling in
<v Speaker 2>that way, but it's it's it's very difficult because I
<v Speaker 2>feel like, and this is my own perception I'm sure
<v Speaker 2>there are plenty of people who are still excited about
<v Speaker 2>Assassin's Creed, but for me, I am just kind of
<v Speaker 2>exhausted by it at this time. And so for me,
<v Speaker 2>like when you said it's out this month, oh.
<v Speaker 1>Shit, is it yep? Because it's they shipped the butt
<v Speaker 1>and everyone's been playing it.
<v Speaker 2>Apparently, yeah, And so I don't know, It's it just
<v Speaker 2>doesn't feel like the fire is there for me anyway.
<v Speaker 2>Like I think the problem is for me is that
<v Speaker 2>Ghost of Sushima came out, and Ghost of Sushima was
<v Speaker 2>a really, really enjoyable game, and so it feels like
<v Speaker 2>the Assassin's Creed set in Japan that I was waiting
<v Speaker 2>years for, I've already been satiated because I've played Ghost
<v Speaker 2>of Sushima, whereas actually, actually, yeah, I was gonna say,
<v Speaker 2>and actually the Assassin's Creed that I'm excited for now
<v Speaker 2>is Hex, which is because I'm getting really into Middle
<v Speaker 2>Ages history for some reason.
<v Speaker 1>The Holy Roman Empire, yeah, kind of.
<v Speaker 2>Commission it, yeah, witch hunting and all that, and so yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that's the kind of stuff that I'm really interested in
<v Speaker 2>because I want it to go dark. I think that's yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I want it to be dark. I wanted to.
<v Speaker 1>Be people in Aligned witch Hunting. But if they look
<v Speaker 1>look around, do you see any witches? It must have worked.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 2>Actually, on TikTok, alarming amount of witches. There's a lot
<v Speaker 2>of them.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, I'm not alarmed. I'm proud of them. I'm happy.
<v Speaker 1>I'm happy person.
<v Speaker 2>But no, I yeah, it's Assassin's Creed and I'm just
<v Speaker 2>I think I'm just kind of exhausted by the Ubisoft
<v Speaker 2>formula in Chen.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean I think that is the thing working
<v Speaker 1>against this game and all of you be soft is
<v Speaker 1>they have driven the formula into the ground, across the
<v Speaker 1>board and at a certain point being like, hey, it's
<v Speaker 1>finally that version of Assassin's Creed you're asking for, and
<v Speaker 1>then as you point it out in a post ghost
<v Speaker 1>world that that has even less of an effect as well.
<v Speaker 1>They're just playing with their still the deck is stacked
<v Speaker 1>against them. And so I am. I'm in the mood
<v Speaker 1>for this one. I want to play this one. I
<v Speaker 1>want to see what it's like.
<v Speaker 2>But I wouldn't to be good.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but I just don't think that is going to
<v Speaker 1>be enough to win over and unless the game is
<v Speaker 1>very good, clearly if it's very good, if it's a
<v Speaker 1>Game of the Year caliber game, then all this stuff
<v Speaker 1>doesn't matter. But that's what we're talking about. That's sort
<v Speaker 1>of the bar that they actually have to clear to
<v Speaker 1>get this game to where they maybe need it to be.
<v Speaker 1>It has to be a Game of the Year caliber game,
<v Speaker 1>and I you know, maybe not a lot of faith
<v Speaker 1>that it's going to turn into that. All right. We
<v Speaker 1>got a little of a breaking story here. Apparently Neil
<v Speaker 1>Druckman talked to a variety and was asked about the
<v Speaker 1>possibility of the Last of Us Part three, and here
<v Speaker 1>is what he said about that. This is a quote
<v Speaker 1>from Neil Druckman to Variety in a story that came
<v Speaker 1>out today. I believe shout out to Warrior sixty four
<v Speaker 1>for gathering this. I guess the only thing I would
<v Speaker 1>say is don't bet on there being more of the
<v Speaker 1>Last of Us. This could be it. Yeah, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>so they are working on intergalactic planetary planetary intergalactic Yes,
<v Speaker 1>so that is the big thing right now. And that
<v Speaker 1>doesn't have a date right even they didn't say they
<v Speaker 1>did even say twenty twenty six, right, but it probably
<v Speaker 1>is twenty twenty six, So and that was the big
<v Speaker 1>original thing that they've been working on for quite some time.
<v Speaker 1>And I think the assumption was and maybe I feel
<v Speaker 1>like it was maybe even said that, oh, there's a
<v Speaker 1>story for the Last of Us Part three ready to go,
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, we're making another game, but we're gonna get
<v Speaker 1>around to that eventually. At least that was the implication
<v Speaker 1>that I remember like receiving into my head. So does
<v Speaker 1>it surprise you to hear, oh, maybe there won't be
<v Speaker 1>more the Last of Us?
<v Speaker 2>I was waiting for this question, Drugman says, sighing. I
<v Speaker 2>guess the only thing I would say is that don't
<v Speaker 2>bet on there being more of Last of Us? This
<v Speaker 2>could be it. Is he referring to the show or
<v Speaker 2>the game here? I think he's like, he's definitely, it's
<v Speaker 2>definitely a game.
<v Speaker 1>Think you talk about the game, you talk about three
<v Speaker 1>or something? Yeah, Because I mean I think they've already
<v Speaker 1>like said, the show is maybe four seasons, right, they've
<v Speaker 1>a stabled and.
<v Speaker 2>They were just yeah, yeah, I mean, honestly, it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>surprise me. And I'm kind of glad he did say it,
<v Speaker 2>because I feel that Last of Us one and two
<v Speaker 2>is a jeology, is.
<v Speaker 1>You Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to see part three. I would definitely
<v Speaker 2>see other stories told within that universe, but I'm done
<v Speaker 2>with Ellie and Abby and everyone, like, I don't need
<v Speaker 2>to revisit their characters. I'm not sure. Obviously I'm not
<v Speaker 2>a game ryer, but like, I'm not sure where they
<v Speaker 2>would go, so I'm okay with it. I'm also intrigued
<v Speaker 2>by Intergalactic. I know you haven't really seen that much
<v Speaker 2>of it, and it's not just because Nine Inch Nails
<v Speaker 2>are doing the soundtrack.
<v Speaker 1>But I wasn't hurt.
<v Speaker 2>Doesn't it great song?
<v Speaker 1>Though it was good? It was really good. I honestly
<v Speaker 1>an intereglectic really intrigued me. I know everyone's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>the the product placement. I'm like, I don't know. I
<v Speaker 1>think it's good. Actually they did good product placement where
<v Speaker 1>it like fits a tone and has a cool style
<v Speaker 1>to it. So I'm into it, but no.
<v Speaker 2>Sort of I'm I'm in this day and age. I
<v Speaker 2>am very up for creators saying, look, I told the
<v Speaker 2>story I want to tell I'm not doing anymore. I'm
<v Speaker 2>not going to pump out sequel after sequel just to
<v Speaker 2>appeace shareholders, and you know, hey, maybe this will be
<v Speaker 2>egg on my face if it does come out that
<v Speaker 2>they make Last of Us Part three or the PlayStation
<v Speaker 2>takes it and gives it to another site while they're
<v Speaker 2>doing Intergalactic or something. You know, I don't know they've
<v Speaker 2>also released the Last of Us. How many times has
<v Speaker 2>the Last of Us Part one and Part two have
<v Speaker 2>been released? Like, there's like PS five versions.
<v Speaker 1>Five provision five hundred times.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I think I think you've can You've squeezed
<v Speaker 2>a lot out of those two, those two games in
<v Speaker 2>that DLC. So I think, yeah, if you're finding the
<v Speaker 2>Last of Us and you want something new, you have
<v Speaker 2>the TV show to experience stories in there. I yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I'm fine with it.
<v Speaker 1>I I get the sense maybe that there's multiple, multiple
<v Speaker 1>factors here, and they include making a game that takes
<v Speaker 1>seven ish years to produce and multiple hundreds of millions
<v Speaker 1>of dollars. It's got to be maybe one of the
<v Speaker 1>most one of one of the more stressful jobs out
<v Speaker 1>there in terms of like having that many people relying
<v Speaker 1>on you getting something right. And then you get to
<v Speaker 1>the end of that project and you put it out
<v Speaker 1>and you know, people look into it and they're like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>the subtext here makes me think that you're kind of
<v Speaker 1>shit and and you know the kind of people that
<v Speaker 1>you would like if you're making something and you're like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>here's my art. He like, can you you get what
<v Speaker 1>I'm saying? And people like yeah, And I think it
<v Speaker 1>means that you're a zionis WEIRDO? I bet it's he's
<v Speaker 1>not in the mood to do it anymore. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not complaining, but I bet it wouldn't be. I wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>be surprised if he's like, what is is? This isn't
<v Speaker 1>worth it? All this time and effort I put into
<v Speaker 1>this to just put it out and then get criticized.
<v Speaker 1>And he strikes me as a guy that doesn't like
<v Speaker 1>to be criticized. So why go through all that effort
<v Speaker 1>when you can just kind of stand in the background
<v Speaker 1>make TV shows. I don't know. I wouldn't be supprised
<v Speaker 1>if he kind of wants to move on from that
<v Speaker 1>period of his life where he is spending that long
<v Speaker 1>overseeing a video game only to then kind of get
<v Speaker 1>into a stressful period of a people are mad at
<v Speaker 1>you about the story, you know. I say this like
<v Speaker 1>that's the biggest thing he dealt with the biggest thing
<v Speaker 1>he obviously dealt with is people being mad at him
<v Speaker 1>for having a strong woman in his game kill the
<v Speaker 1>main character from the previous game, right, So he tries
<v Speaker 1>to do big, bold things as far as storytelling is concerned.
<v Speaker 1>And also it's just hated for that. So yeah, why
<v Speaker 1>do all this for gamers? It's probably I think his
<v Speaker 1>thought process a little bit, and I bet a lot
<v Speaker 1>of people in this position feel similarly similarly. But also
<v Speaker 1>they don't have the choice that he does, which is, oh,
<v Speaker 1>I can turn this TV production career that I just
<v Speaker 1>had into a new thing that I do and work
<v Speaker 1>in Hollywood now if I want so.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, But also I mean I couldn't imagine working on
<v Speaker 2>the same property for fifteen.
<v Speaker 1>Another factor, absolutely.
<v Speaker 2>I don't like working on the same thing for fucking
<v Speaker 2>I know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well it was like set up the shows I'm
<v Speaker 1>doing now, so I can just do whatever I want,
<v Speaker 1>whenever I want and then get instant feedback and move on. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I can see like being like, hey, I fifteen years
<v Speaker 1>on the last of us is maybe enough time to
<v Speaker 1>retire that idea and maybe we're tire or that way
<v Speaker 1>of working for myself.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, another break in another breaking news. Oh please, Uh,
<v Speaker 2>the Until Dawn remake studio allegedly shut down. Oh really,
<v Speaker 2>ballistic moon.
<v Speaker 1>Huh man. There's so many stories like that of games
<v Speaker 1>just coming out and then the studio is immediately closing.
<v Speaker 1>It used to I guess it used to be like
<v Speaker 1>that all the time, where a game would come out
<v Speaker 1>and Matt the swaths of teams would get laid off
<v Speaker 1>because it's all right, well we you know, we got
<v Speaker 1>the labor we need from you. Time to move on
<v Speaker 1>from you and stop paying you so we can make
<v Speaker 1>as much money from your labor as possible. That's that's
<v Speaker 1>a shame real quick. Going back, Uh, I bet we
<v Speaker 1>get The Blessed of Us Part three. I bet that comes out.
<v Speaker 1>I bet that game gets made and comes out and
<v Speaker 1>it comes out like within the next you know, six
<v Speaker 1>seven years. All right, let's see here, last couple of stories.
<v Speaker 1>Charge are shaped. Cheetos sells for like seventy five thousand
<v Speaker 1>dollars or something like that. Dane. It used to be
<v Speaker 1>uh like burnt in pictures of Jesus, and now we
<v Speaker 1>get Charizart instead. And I think this is much better. Personally,
<v Speaker 1>this is better.
<v Speaker 2>I think so this is so much better, don't get
<v Speaker 2>me wrong. Oh wow, it really does look like Charizar. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I wasn't sure what I was expecting.
<v Speaker 1>But does it seventy five or seventy two thousand dollars
<v Speaker 1>look like Charizard?
<v Speaker 2>No, nothing does, not even a cod would be not
<v Speaker 2>worth that much money. Sorry to get Pokemon card players.
<v Speaker 1>I know that there were always weird things like this
<v Speaker 1>that would pop up on eBay that people would spend
<v Speaker 1>a lot of money on, But I do want to
<v Speaker 1>put this into context of where we're at today. Of
<v Speaker 1>rich people have so much money, so much money that
<v Speaker 1>they could spend much what you would like in your
<v Speaker 1>wildest dreams, would kill to have as a down payment
<v Speaker 1>on a house on one cheeto. That's what we're dealing with, everybody,
<v Speaker 1>and it's only going to get worse. It's only getting worse.
<v Speaker 1>So hey, I honestly, this should probably make you mad.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, I don't I don't know what else
<v Speaker 1>to tell you. And and then God of More composer
<v Speaker 1>Baron McCreary wants to make a Mega Man's soundtrack. That's
<v Speaker 1>there's some good news that.
<v Speaker 2>Story and stories like that are so funny to me
<v Speaker 2>because I could say I want to make a Mega
<v Speaker 2>Man soundtrack, Like what if I just tweeted that out
<v Speaker 2>and then if people people run that as a new story.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I mean, now, no offense, Lucy James, You're
<v Speaker 1>no Bear McCreary. To be fair, I could be.
<v Speaker 2>You don't know.
<v Speaker 1>You're right. I have not been over to listen to
<v Speaker 1>your new CD, no matter how many times you keep
<v Speaker 1>asking me. All Right, I'm busy that day. I'm sorry. Uh.
<v Speaker 1>I love Bear McCreary, I do too, but amstro Galactica? Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>And Carnival the theme song the Carnival. Those are where
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, who's this guy, Baron McCreary. That's an incredible name,
<v Speaker 1>and then years later being like, oh he did the
<v Speaker 1>God of War soundtrack. He also said that he would
<v Speaker 1>work with Sony Santa Monica again. So well they invited
<v Speaker 1>him come work there, you know what, And I bet
<v Speaker 1>that was something that probably does happen as well. You
<v Speaker 1>get Baron McCrary, you probably want to get him back.
<v Speaker 2>Oh he did the Rings of Power soundtrack, that's right,
<v Speaker 2>but not the theme that was how Schaw.
<v Speaker 1>Oh it was really okay cool?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, they got they got Howard shaw back to
<v Speaker 2>do the theme and then did the school.
<v Speaker 1>Very cool. All right, that does it for the headlines.
<v Speaker 1>I got a pull question. Let's get to that right now.
<v Speaker 1>And by that I mean, let me refresh this, make
<v Speaker 1>sure we have all of the most updated information here.
<v Speaker 1>This is from yesterday or from Monday? Excuse me? Which
<v Speaker 1>March release are you most looking forward to? Getting? A
<v Speaker 1>two point museum has ten percent of the respondents saying
<v Speaker 1>that's the one they're most looking forward to. Then twenty
<v Speaker 1>three percent of the vote went to sweaek it in
<v Speaker 1>one and two HD remaster, thirty one percent said split Fiction,
<v Speaker 1>and thirty five percent said Assassin's Great Shadows. And yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I think that that looks pretty right to me, honestly,
<v Speaker 1>real good showing for split Fiction.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm excited to play I I'm gonna playing some
<v Speaker 2>time tomorrow actually on h on Twitch on right on here.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, that's right and part of the part of the
<v Speaker 1>block of content. Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching some
<v Speaker 1>of that. I Lucy, have you played You have played
<v Speaker 1>it right, you went to the event, but have you
<v Speaker 1>played it since then?
<v Speaker 2>No, Because the person I was going to play with
<v Speaker 2>like chop the top of his thumb off, which is
<v Speaker 2>a gamer pretty tough to.
<v Speaker 1>What the hell? All right?
<v Speaker 2>He's he didn't actually talk about It's just like a big.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, I'm sure. Yes, Well, I hope they recovered. That
<v Speaker 1>sounds like a terrible injury for a gamer. I uh
<v Speaker 1>was stolen Jan and Dan and Mike that I want
<v Speaker 1>to play with my eight year old, and they all
<v Speaker 1>they all seem to think that that could work.
<v Speaker 2>I think so. I mean it was a little it's
<v Speaker 2>a little tougher, I would say, then it takes two.
<v Speaker 2>There is some there are some points that were I
<v Speaker 2>wonder if they've changed it because I think a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people at the event had issues with this one
<v Speaker 2>particular segment where in a pinball situation. Uh so we'll see.
<v Speaker 1>I but I think an eight year old gonna handle it. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>You know, she plays a lot of Astro and most
<v Speaker 1>of that game. You know, she definitely needs help sometimes.
<v Speaker 1>But now I'll be right there to help her. So yeah, yeah, okay, Well, but.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you can be there to help
<v Speaker 2>her because you have to be doing your thing at
<v Speaker 2>the same time.
<v Speaker 1>Thing, right, But I can, like, you know, helping her
<v Speaker 1>a lot of times. Can just mean like given or
<v Speaker 1>a pointer about what's supposed to be happening.
<v Speaker 2>So people in chat saying that Patrick's kid is also
<v Speaker 2>eight and they have been like.
<v Speaker 1>After asking that. Uh, Dan and jam both mentioned that,
<v Speaker 1>and so I want to go look into that and
<v Speaker 1>notice them. I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful. I'm gonna give it
<v Speaker 1>a show, and I want to. I never played. It
<v Speaker 1>takes too because it's hard for me to like, line up,
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna go take up another person's time, and what
<v Speaker 1>if in the middle of that something happens me and
<v Speaker 1>I have to like abandon them and I would feel
<v Speaker 1>bad My kids right there all the time I wanted
<v Speaker 1>to play games with me. I think that can work.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm looking forward to it. Yep, I will. I
<v Speaker 1>will report back to everybody about how it goes.
<v Speaker 2>Wait are you gonna play? It takes two of your
<v Speaker 2>kids because there's a bit with an elephant that's I
<v Speaker 2>have traumatizing.
<v Speaker 1>It's specifically not played. It takes two with my kids
<v Speaker 1>because one, I don't want them to learn about the
<v Speaker 1>concept of divorce from Joseph Ferris and two, uh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that the elephant thing that I think it's specifically the
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing that wouldn't bum out my kids.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, yeah, it was uh look, as a child
<v Speaker 2>of divorce, I found it takes two quite refreshing to play,
<v Speaker 2>to be honest, not.
<v Speaker 1>Going to like protect them from it or anything like that,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't know, it should always feel like I
<v Speaker 1>haven't played it myself. I kind of want to like play.
<v Speaker 2>I really enjoyed it. But apparently apparently if you're looking
<v Speaker 2>for gameplay variation, there's more of it in split fiction.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I mean, I'm I'm all in on split fiction.
<v Speaker 1>Sounds excellent.
<v Speaker 2>This is doubtfire is a better lesson for divorce. I
<v Speaker 2>have some questions about that.
<v Speaker 1>That's what most divorces, that's how they go down for
<v Speaker 1>the most part. Yeah no, all right, new poll question
<v Speaker 1>here at a second. In the meantime, Lucy James, why don't
<v Speaker 1>you tell people where they can find you on the
<v Speaker 1>internet if that's something you want? What else you have
<v Speaker 1>going on? All that good stuff?
<v Speaker 2>So we're doing we're recording Berserk tomorrow morning. We have
<v Speaker 2>begun the Berserk guid in shout out to Jeram Bacala
<v Speaker 2>posted the new show art, but Jeram drew us as
<v Speaker 2>if we were in the Berserk universe and it's sick Google.
<v Speaker 2>So we've got a new podcast art. We're recording the
<v Speaker 2>episode tomorrow. I am just gonna be streaming with Tam
<v Speaker 2>ten ampt Tomorrow from the stew from the studio.
<v Speaker 1>The studio. Okay, fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So I hope I am there by ten because
<v Speaker 2>we're recording Berserk eight till nine and then I only
<v Speaker 2>have an hour to get in. But I'm sure it's
<v Speaker 2>gonna be fine.
<v Speaker 1>We got some leeway there. You can start a little
<v Speaker 1>bit later. It won't be the worst thing in the world.
<v Speaker 2>And then I think we're doing in the Game Sports
<v Speaker 2>show after that, and what else are we go going on?
<v Speaker 2>I think that's it for this week. I think that's
<v Speaker 2>that's a.
<v Speaker 1>Good deal, all right. New pole question which style Tony Hawk?
<v Speaker 1>Do you prefer time limited two minute sessions like Tony
<v Speaker 1>ouks pro Skater three or open with no time limit
<v Speaker 1>like Tony UKs four Skater four. Jan of those responses
<v Speaker 1>too long? Are you good? Looks like you're posting it
<v Speaker 1>right now, so looks like it's gonna take so yeah,
<v Speaker 1>go ahead and respond to this poll by going to
<v Speaker 1>YouTube dot com slash at Giant Bomb. Click on the
<v Speaker 1>community tab there you'll find it there, your vote will count,
<v Speaker 1>we'll get the results, and we'll talk about it here
<v Speaker 1>on Games Mornings on Giant Bomb tomorrow speaking a Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 1>Exuse I'm talking to the microphone speaking a giant bomb.
<v Speaker 1>We have the Grubs Gimmicks is up next. I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to play two point Museum. So Night at the two
<v Speaker 1>Point Museum with Jeff Grubb begins here in a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>so stay tuned if you're watching live. And then after
<v Speaker 1>that Blues Brothers two thousand, Blake Club, My Blake, My
<v Speaker 1>Blakeaning Round continues, and yet it persists. It's four episodes
<v Speaker 1>in on my I have been playing My Blatanting Round game, Lucy,
<v Speaker 1>I think longer than you to play through your King
<v Speaker 1>Kong game. So really, yeah, they just did a bad
<v Speaker 1>job of picking a blataning Round game and I did
<v Speaker 1>certainly have not helped myself either by forgetting to save
<v Speaker 1>a couple of times. But it's the real issue, The
<v Speaker 1>real crux of the problem, Lucy, is the game is
<v Speaker 1>you can only complete it by being a completionist. You
<v Speaker 1>have to get every collectible in the game, which is
<v Speaker 1>just the antithesis of a blatning round game. And yet,
<v Speaker 1>and yet it's at least more interesting than a lot
<v Speaker 1>of my recent blatant blake club games. So I'm like
<v Speaker 1>hesitant to even complain. It's fine whatever, Okay, Yeah, that's
<v Speaker 1>what's happening. Plenty more happening on the website here pretty soon.
<v Speaker 1>We continue running the blocks of content every day. So
<v Speaker 1>if you tune into this show, just leave us on
<v Speaker 1>hang out with us. Someone cool is gonna be on
<v Speaker 1>your screen doing something fun. And that's our promise to you.
<v Speaker 1>It always has been, always well, will be all right,
<v Speaker 1>Lucy James Games, thank you so much for hanging out
<v Speaker 1>with me today and talk about video games. I really
<v Speaker 1>appreciate it, of course.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I gotta bounce. I gotta go to one on
<v Speaker 2>one so I'll see y'all later.
<v Speaker 1>Bye, Lucy, thank you all for watching. You're the best
<v Speaker 1>audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one,
<v Speaker 1>take care of yourself, and goodbye.