Game Mess Mornings 05/30/24

He'll be back. Don't be bad. It's the Internet. You're busy.
Let's do this for May thirtieth, twenty twenty four. For the next hour
or so, let me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game
Mess Mornings Live with Me Jeff Grubb. Today, Sony still wants you to
buy a PlayStation five, but it's also happy if you're still using that PS
four. But first please join me and welcoming today's co host to Game Mess
Mornings. It's Jane Cho everybody, Jan how are you doing? I am
doing great, got the pump on early this morning and I'm talking about lifting
weights. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. I was like intending to do
that last night, but the allergies were so bad I just went to bed
instead. And that's that's my life right now. You deserve that. You
deserve that after purposely gassing yourself, yes, creating a little lethal hot box.
Uh huh. It's it's a real toxic environment over here. It's listen,
the game scent. We're thinking the game scent hurt me everybody and cause
the alergies to be real bad. Because both Dan and I started having sinus
issues about a week after the game set was introduced into our lives and listen,
that's really strong correlation. I'm still not sold on the causation one hundred
percent, but it is unplugged. I'm not using it anymore. I will
clean it up. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like if it
was really happening, it's like steps at home all day with me. She's
completely unaffected. So I like, you know not that. I will say,
yeah, you have both of you have stuck your faces directly above the
game scent that has gotten a good whiff. That's true, one or several
times. The proximity could be a factor. I'm not denying that. Yeah,
I just don't want to feel this way anymore. That's my big thing.
And then throw that thing in the trash or mail it to Mike Manatti.
Yeah, I'm have to mail it to Mike Manatti. That's what I
have to I actually think the plan will be two. I'm gonna put it
in a containment zone like a black box and in my shed so it's out
of the house. And then the next time I am invited to Dan Reichert's
house, I will smuggle it in, hide it there, make sure I
connected. I'll reset it and everything, and I will remotely control it and
I will get my revenge. Now, does that make it worse knowing what
it does to people? Absolutely, But I think it has to be done.
I almost think we should sacrifice it at a Jeff, that's also a
good idea. Yeah, we should office space that jazz. All right,
listen, office spacing it. It does sound like a very cathartic experience,
so maybe we'll do that as well. Staring at it, it's making me
mad. All right, Yeah, how are you doing? Chi? How
are you holding up? This week? A shorter week here because we had
Monday off and that always it's nice to have the three day weekend, but
it always discombobulates me for the rest of the work week. Same. And
I'm uh, I'm real quickly realizing we will be in La this time next
week. Yep. By this time next week, we'll just be there.
Uh yeah, at this time in the morning, I think I'll be landing
actually, so likewise, okay, uh yeah, that's not a lot of
time to get ready for that, but it's it's gonna be a good time.
I'm starting to, you know, getting a little pre briefs here and
there for stuff that we're gonna see. And some of the games I'm seeing
I'm so excited about jan not like these are like, oh they Jeff Grubb
knows about some huge thing I've been waiting my entire life for like a lot
of new stuff. And but like a couple of games somebody, I cannot
wait to play that with the guys on the on the site. It's gonna
be so much fun. So yeah, I hope we come back from SGF
with like a million of those. That would be great. The thing I'm
most excited for is to see if Jeff Keely has another amazing tote bag to
give away to press. Oh of course, let me tell you. That's
that asgef toad bag from twenty twenty three gets a lot of mileage in this
household. That's what. That's what I always say aboutqu That bitch knows how
to tote he yep, yep, you see him in his kicks and like
that hitched be toting. He's bitched outing. All right, let's explain what
we do here? Wait, how do I do this? There? It
is most weekdays I Chef greblehelp Piecer gaming life back together. That includes breaking
news and maybe even some of our own original reporting. For all these topics,
I'll get the input of a bona fide expert who will make me look
smart. If you are watching live on twitch welcome, you can always listen
to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for Game Mess Mornings, or
find the RSS on giant bomb dot com. You can also catch the show
later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube. All right, we
have a lot to get into, so let's start the morning mess with.
Sony hopes to entice PC players to buy PS five by releasing tent pole games
for the console first. I'm gonna listen. Dan got to get down the
steroids. Should see if I can get that for myself. I could really
use those right now. I think this is from Tom Ivan at VGC.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has high hopes of enticing PC players to PS five by continuing
to release its ten poles single player games for console first. While it's live
service games will definitely be released simultaneously for PS five and PC, console players
will continue to receive early access to Sony's narrative driven titles Herman Holst and Hideaki
Nishino who will be the new joint CEOs of SIE starting on June first,
discuss the strategy during the PlayStation Business briefing on Thursday, basically Thursday, Japan
time. By delaying the PC release of sequels like Marvel's Spider Man two and
God of War Ragnarok, Sony hopes to attract the users who have played the
earlier games in those series off console to make the jump to PS five in
order to experience them sooner. Jan This is like the strategy as we've understood
it for quite some time. There's been some discussion about does this have some
wiggle room, like how are they going to go forward with things, especially
after the success of Hell Divers two, which, as a reminder, fastest
selling game this year has already sold twelve millie copies. In fact, it's
such a success that the PlayStation five version alone is the best selling game of
the year only, but actually only behind the PC version of Hell Divers two
on its own, so it's like that much of a success. But in
their opinion, they're like, Okay, yeah, that's worth it for the
live service games, the multiplayer games. We still want to have that gap
between PlayStation five and PC That still makes sense to me to a certain extent,
although I feel like there is a wiggle room in their answer here as
well, where it's like, hey, yeah, of course you're going to
do that, but that doesn't even the window can't get smaller, which is
my expectation. Still, what do you think I'm When you were reading this
story this it seemed a little bit odd because this feels like just their general
approach to the single player ten poll games that I don't know how successful it's
been in like that conversion rate of like a PC player that's getting in re
entering the Sony atmosphere because of these previous PC ports in that wetting their at
tight enough to be like, oh, okay, for the next Horizon,
for the next God of War or whatever other Sony exclusive, I'm going to
have to get that PS five so I can go play that game. I
don't see that conversion rate being that high, But if that window gets smaller,
I don't think that'll incentivized necessarily incentivize PC players either to go out and
grab a PS five. I think what may become a stronger possibility is a
possible future where there is a portable theme deck esque device PSP device that may
not be able to play your PS five games, so like its highest potential,
but like a scale down version sure lower price price point, and that
could be the thing that gets more people through the door versus like, oh,
I guess I can't go play the Last of Us part twelve, so
I'll I'll go get it now, because we haven't even seen that with folks
wanting to check out Final Fantasy seven Rebirth even yes, correct, and I
thought that would be a needle mover. Well, I think it's like the
opposite, right, It's it's not just that people on PC aren't like going
to get a PS five to play Rebirth. People on PlayStation are waiting on
Rebirth until it's like nah, I might wait until the whole series is out,
at least that's one of the theories out there. It's like people are
willing to wait for these games in a way that maybe they haven't been in
the past, or maybe we weren't aware of. And I think what we're
seeing is on PC people are happy to wait, and I think that's kind
of what we're going to continue to see. And so that's why I think
the window gets smaller, right, because it's like it's not having the effect
we necessarily believe it's going to have. It has some effect, some measurable
impact on getting people to make sure they keep turning on their PS fives,
which has a benefit to us, and then to maybe getting some people to
buy a PS five. And in the meantime, there is that audio that
we know is on PC that isn't going to get a PS five almost no
matter what, and we want to get to them sooner rather than later.
And I think that sooner will be even sooner as we go forward, and
even in our position, multiple times, whenever I see a PS five game
get announced, I'll think, oh, that'll be cool to play on PC
six I think later I do think that too, Yeah, I mean,
but part of that is having the Steam Deck. So I think you're not
wrong about the form factor having an alternative form factor. I think people can
sort of justify that where it's like, ah, yeah, that you know,
I'll get that PlayStation then because it's convenient, it'll fit in my life
different than my PC, where the PS five doesn't feel all that different from
a PC for a lot of people, and in some ways it's like inconvenient
because You're used to playing games one way, and now they want you to
kind of like shift over and do it in this completely other way. That
is going to get you basically the same results at the end of the day,
that a lot of people are not going to be willing to play ball
with that. I also wonder if you know that portable aspect and ease of
access to play your games not anywhere but in different parts of your house has
contributed to the surprise hit of PlayStation portal at all, if because of devices
like the Nintendo Switch, Basis Roger, and the Steam Deck. If that
is kind of like reintroduced the handheld form factor to a lot of gamers to
be like, oh, I really enjoy this. I want to do this
more often. Also, I wonder if, like for some PC players or
your your normal general gaming audience, if a PS five or a console is
really just exclusively tied to your living room versus like, are broken systems here
where it's like all daisy chained together in an office. Yep, yeah,
true, And like everyone's going to be different and have different scenarios and stuff
like that, and various people are gonna have different differing levels of comfort with
you know, connecting the PC to a TV and using it that way,
and that stuff could change over the time a little bit here and there,
but I think the like the fundamental blockers here are still just the same as
they've ever been, which is people choose something, they get used to it,
and then it's very hard to get them to change and if you want
their money at a certain point, and it feels like that point is is
just where these companies are at right now. And we can talk a little
bit more about that here in a second, but it's like, yeah,
where these companies are at right now is trying to get you to change so
we can like maximize the money we're getting from you. Is not maybe worth
it as much as us going to where you're at and just be more convenient
to you so you're more willing to give us a smaller amount of money.
It's not that much smaller either. And especially it's like, you know,
got to where Ragnarok is going to come out, probably do very well.
That's probably going to get announced for PC here very soon. It'll it'll you
know, be very popular. I got it. You gotta think though,
It's like, man, if it was even just like six months after the
initial release, where it could still like ride that wave of game of the
year talk marketing, it feels like it would all like all that stuff would
work even better. I don't know, you you think so oh one hundred
percent. And I feel like, especially with the stuff they've added into Valhalla,
it kind of feels like that any type of marketing almost came and went,
and you know, I to pay prices and have means to block a
bunch of ads grub, so I'm missing any potential TV commercials or whatever like
YouTube ads pop up. But it did feel like it was a big release
when it came out because there's a prize drop, and then it kind of
went nowhere afterwards, and there was still a little bit of hype after Valhalla.
But I think if they had sustained that a little bit of hype three
months maybe six months later and released it for PC, it could have maintained
like a steady climb versus it feeling like a definite dip an interest that we
have now. It feels weird that I want them to just do day and
date on PC. Also because it feels like they're not really competing with Microsoft
in terms of consoles anymore. It's just right now, just software and jan.
This is exactly the point I wanted to get to. So let's let's
go to this next story here and we'll talk about that. Sony says PS
four remains an important part of our business with fifty percent of users. This
is from Andy Robinson at VGC. Sony Interactive Entertainment has said its last gen
PlayStation four console is still an important part of its business nearly four years into
its successor's lifespan. During Sony's Business Segment meeting on Wednesday, SIES new co
CEOs shared an update on the PlayStation business and its strategies for the future.
Hideaki Nisho, who will start his new role as CEO of sie S Platform
Business Group this weekend, said that PS five isla PlayStation's most profitable generation to
date, with operation income close to eclipsing all others combined, so very close
to what Nintendo's done. However, he revealed that PlayStation four still makes up
exactly half of its monthly active console users at forty nine million. As you
could see, the PlayStation five user basis continue to grow significantly, driving half
of our monthly active consoles Nishuno said during a web call. While the PlayStation
four is still an important part of our business, our PlayStation five players are
even more engaged than in our previous generation, and we expect these trends to
continue. Jan they're not competing with Microsoft anymore. They're competing with themselves.
They're competing with entropy and sort of people coasting and momentum where it's like,
hey, we just want to keep using our PS four because it does everything
we want. This is where I watch Netflix, this is where I watched
Amazon Prime Video, and then when I want to play a game, it's
already on because I was just watching Netflix. So I'm just going to get
the game here, and that game is probably going to run just fine.
In my opinion, as someone who's maybe a a little bit more casual,
I believe him when he says the people on PS five are more engaged.
Of course, the people who would move on would be the ones who are
the most dedicated to gaming and want to make sure they're getting the most out
of it. Absolutely, it is strange to me to a point to see
that thing about Okay, hey, the PS five generation has made almost more
profit than all of our generations combined before, and yet at the same time,
there is still this sense of from PlayStation that there is some concern about
the future about like, hey, yeah, the PS five sales are going
to start trending downward and we're gonna have to start making more money by making
some changes, would you like look at it once again from the way investors
look at it, which is unfortunately what's going to fuel this entire thing.
It is they look at like, Okay, what's it going to do three,
four or five years from now? That growth needs to be obvious to
us, or else we're going to freak out and pull our investment and go
invest somewhere else. And it's like this business is so successful for Sony,
it has done They've done everything right, and yet it's still not enough,
which I think brings us back to the conversation we've been having for the last
couple of months. Jan It just feels like these big corporations are in a
place where they aren't the ideal like delivery mechanism for cool, new interesting games.
Yeah it I one hundred percent agree with that thought, because I will
more often than not lately my my appetite skews towards like indie experiences, indie
games, just because it is offering something radically different than what we've been foresed
or presented from these these big consoles. And it's uh. I think part
of the problem is the continued support for PS four because they don't want to
alienate that audience, initial supply constraints and how hard it was to get a
PS five when it launched, and also the habits that gamers have formed at
a PS four is completely fine to do everything that they want go to that
console for It's still play Call of Duty, can still play Fortnite or FIFA
or Madden, and like the demands of those games haven't been challenging where it's
going to like eventually create a bottleneck where that PS four it feels like it's
chugging on its last life. And at the same time, like if you
get a PS five, you're either have forgotten about it or you're trying to
get everything out of it at this point, and it's it's a I think
it's become a problem of the industry as a whole that Sony is just not
satisfied with where they're currently at. But also I don't immediately see a solution
to convert those PS four players either, because, as you said, habits
are formed. It's not just the call of Duty machine. It's not just
the Fortnite machine. Folks go there as they're Blu ray player even or as
they're streaming Box versus is going getting like an Apple TV or whatever. If
they go to their PS four just for Netflix or Hulu or whatever. That
habit has formed for a lot of folks. I've been at several airbnbs grub
where their media player is just a PS four. Yeah, yeah, I
mean it kind of became the default for I mean that's happened to a lot
of PlayStation consoles. Yeah, and when we've sort of hit a wall of
reasons to upgrade the device because of other mediums like like you know, DVD
and then Blu ray and streaming, it's people are pretty happy with the way
these things work, even though you know, PS four's interface could be lacking
sometimes in the fact that you're loading stuff of a hard drive is a pain,
but people are like, man, I'm used to it. It works,
and spending money is actually a much bigger pain. I was I did
watch like a video like from like I was kind of curious about like the
way investors think. And I was, I was watching the video, and
it's like they very plainly all say that they have their formulas, and their
formulas do not care about profit. They don't care about like what you've done
in the past. It is all based on And it's true. I guess
across the board from most professional investors that they're looking for the rate of growth
and that is it. So if you are a company like PlayStation that has
had this recent spat of amazing profits, and when I say like they did
everything right, it's like they solve their biggest problems, which was they would
have a generation gap, and then in that generation gap from like going from
three to four, from going from yeah, three to four, two to
three, they would have massive losses because the researching development was so expensive,
the marketing was so expensive, and then they would be selling games to a
smaller audience for several years. And it's like, well, then they shifted
to services and subscriptions and live service games and that completely fixed that problem to
the point where now they have had steady profit. It's throughout the PS four
to PS five generation. It's like it feels like that's the kind of thing
that if the system were worked in profit properly, that would be rewarded.
It's like, Okay, you had an issue with not making as much money.
You've figured it out, and now this is a solid business that is
going to generate a ton of profits going forward that we can rely and expect,
rely on and expect. And it's yeah, but the PS five is
going to like not sell quite as many units next year as it did last
year. It's like, yeah, but that there will still be more PS
fives out there than there were before. How is that not good enough?
And it's just it turns out, once again, the whole system is broken
and it does not serve exactly what we were expecting. I think there was
a time in the nineties and early two thousands where these factors didn't matter so
much because that technology was progressing so fast that it like the next growth spurt
was always right around the corner, and so like you could like ignore these
factors. Now it's like, again, we don't know where the growth is
going to come from. So these companies are always freaking out. That's it.
It's it's it's just a bigger problem because games are so expensive to make.
Uh, that's maybe the biggest thing that they need to actually figure out.
So they did everything right, maybe that's the next problem they're going to
solve and maybe they have some ideas for that. Yeah. Hearing about that,
Greb definitely puts into context the as as to why Sony had put out
that future of PlayStation trailer that we talked chatted about last week, where none
of the stuff seemed like uh reasonable or like anything to expect in the like,
Hey, investors, what if we played games everywhere? Yep? Instead
instead of realizing the reality that we do play games everywhere, right, Yeah,
they had to address it up as as making it look something so future
futuristic that it's like wow, that that that's gonna change every thing, and
not realizing that we're already there. You're right. Yeah, it's all kind
of a fugazi. Yeah, all right, let's move on to this next
story. PlayStation Boss very excited about upcoming mobile games. This is from Tom
Ivin at VGC. Sony Interactive Entertainment has provided an update on the status of
its mobile game division. Over the past few years, the company has successfully
expanded its business into to incorporate for PC games, but it's ambition to do
likewise on mobile has yet to bear fruit in terms of actual product releases.
During that time, Sony has quietly been building a team of experienced mobile talent,
hiring people from Apple, Kabam, Meta, ten Cent, Super Evil,
Evil, Megacorp, Samsung, Nyantik, Zinga, Riot and Moore,
and according to an active job listing, the company is looking to create a
new platform focused on free to play mobile games. However, last year,
it's mobile division lost two top executives weeks apart, Michael Katkoff, who worked
at Rovio in Zinga and Nicola Sebastini, who previously led Apple Arcade PlayStation boss.
Herm and Holst, who will become joint CEO of SIE on June First,
discuss the company's progress on the middle on the mobile games front during a
business briefing on Thursday. On mobile, we have been hard at work on
establishing a very strong, very seasoned, core mobile team, he said.
We are really excited to extend our experiences to new audiences in the mobile space
as well. We're taking a little bit more of a measured approach compared to
the more aggressive approach that you've seen on PC. That is because PC is
obviously more adjacent to the core audience that we've been developing. Blah blah blah.
This feels like we're working on it. Check back in on it,
and of course I'm very excited. But we'll let you know what's happening in
the mobile space. This is a space that if you're in gaming, you
can't ignore, Like Sody can't ignore that that this is why they've made these
investments. But the story is right to point out that there's been some like
stutters along the way, and now they seem to be but kind of back
where they started, where they made some investments, those didn't pay off off,
and some key people left, and now they're kind of starting from zero
again. At least that's the sense I get. But they are promising games
are coming. Do you believe that this is really going to be a big
part of Sony's gaming strategy going forward? I see it probably being a more
focused and sustained effort than Apple Arcade, where Apple Arcade is kind of silently
still growing and happening. They are interesting titles popping out on there, maybe
not all the time anymore, but every other week, every other month,
and I could see Sony having that shotgun approach now of like, all right,
we're going to get you on a console. We're still hitting you on
your PS four if you only have that. We're eventually going to get to
the PC because that works in tandem with what we're already doing. But let's
also get them on their phones. He'll Zone mobile. You heard it here
first, folks, y'all, Herman Ols is going to do another Horizon,
like another five Horizon games for you on mobile. Hey, there's like a
non zero percent chance that there's just like some Horizon card game for mobile in
the works. Okay, well maybe yeah, may get talk, Maybe we
can talk if hey, if they want to do a mobile game, grub,
maybe perhaps they just do a crossword puzzle, because that's what I go
to my phone every and every evening. Hell yeah, puzzmo. Yeah,
I big can of that. I'd be interested to see what they got going
on and like if they want to like continue to innovate in that specific market
or continue the growing trends. Like I don't see Sony putting together a Gotcha
style game right yet. I mean it feels very similar to kind of where
Nintendo was a couple of years ago, maybe more than that, where it's
like, you know, not the Nintendo's figured out mobile. They've had some
hits, but like Mario is not, wasn't much of a thing at the
end of the day. I think fire Umboom Heroes is still going. They
tried that new the new game that they made with their partners in mobile that
I can't remember the name of. I want to say dot Emu, but
that's not right. It's yeah, but whatever, So some Dragon game that
was a gotcha and uh, you know in the Animal Crossing, the mobile
game and Betomo, those social service most of these things have been like they're
okay, but you know, if you want the real Animal Crossing that made
the real money that happened on switch still and you know, so that's where
Nintendo's at. And yet Nintendo does feel like it's had more figured out and
mobile than Sony has. So it's like, okay, the approach that Sony
needs to take you right, They're probably still at this crossroads where it is
do we go in the direction of trying to do gotcha, trying to make
something that's very mobile, or do we try to translate the PlayStation experience to
phone, and that's it's a very tough thing to do, because yeah,
that's your strength. But at the same time, gotcha is the thing that
people gotchack like ideas Mobile gaming like ideas is what people expect and what works
well in that business model. But it's not like that is some cheat code
either, because you're still still going to probably hit a wall of there are
other games people are already already playing, and yours isn't that much better than
theirs, And and honestly, you don't have the institutional knowledge to be able
to, like, you know, use the dark patterns and manipulate and manipulate
people on mobile phone to get the most out of them anyhow, So you're
probably gonna hit that wall just as well if you were to try to make
a game like they do. So yeah, I don't think that Sony's gonna
have an easy road to hoe here, but I get why they have to
try, And this is something they need to be telling investors because this is
an area where if they do get something, it is a space where they
can grow that they haven't had any growth before, so it's fertile ground.
At the very least, you could totally poort over or create a smaller scale
back ratchet and clank experience on mobile. At this point, maybe like,
do some of like the classic PlayStation games on their PS one games over on
on mobile, create those porthos over, make a new type of experience.
Uh cookies and cream grub, what about cookies and cream Huh? There it
is. Yeah, I should have thought about that. I will admit.
When I was first reading through this story, uh, and I saw mobile
games, my heart fluttered that, oh, we are going to get a
PSP, and then I realized, oh mobile equals phone. Yeah, mobile
ecosphone these days. Yeah, that happened sometime ago. I know what you
mean. Though there was a time where it was like there would be like
best Mobile Game award for Game of the Year awards stuff, and it would
be referring to the Game Boy. But that was a very different time.
Uh yeah, I I I get it. I get what they're what,
you know, why they have to say this, But I do feel like
part of this is like, hey, you know him saying let me conclude
by saying that we're very excited about upcoming titles title releases that we can communicate
in the future. That is very much just biding time because you know,
like I've said this on a recent show, those people leaving does sound like
it was more tumultuous than they're letting on. Does sound like there was some
significant issues. This was alleged to me, alleged, alleged, allegend always
say that's the magic word. It was alleged to me that there was some
some toxicity at these companies from people potentially in leadership. And when that sort
of like brings the whole thing down, it's hard to like build it back
up. You kind of have to start fresh again. So that's why I
get the sense that they are starting fresh again, and who knows how long
that actually ends up taking. But I don't think that means they're a bandity
mobile. They'll do something in that space. Also, Greb, I feel
like part of the problem with maybe some mobile experiences, maybe Apple Arcade per
se, and why it hasn't completely taken off, is because those are full
last style games. When people are coming to mobile for like a quick fix,
like a crossword puzzle, round of Codon Mobile or whatever, mobile style
game is like popping off at the minute, and app Arcade even like has
the advantage of you know, I have that on my my MacBook Air that
I got recently. That's that's why I would play those games. And it's
like, you know, that's a computer. I could just plug a controller
into that thing and just or you know, connect a Bluetooth controller and just
go to town and play those games the way God intended. And even that,
it's like, yeah, people don't think of it that way. They're
they're they're looking for the mobile game experience. For the most part. That's
said Apple Arcades. I was pretty impressed by it. I don't think it's
not like a first to mind thing. It's not like when I wake up,
I think about games, and Apple Arcade does not occur to me very
frequently. I'll say, that's when I do like trawl those those halls for
for games. So there's some interesting stuff in here. Yeah, still I
still want to play that Hello Kitty game. We'll see. Uh. Do
you think of day Katana before you think of Apple Arcade? I do,
unfortunately, think of Dai Katana before I think of most things. It goes
children guy to get them to school, I gotta go pee. I should
eat da Katana in that order. Holy Trinity, all right, We're going
to take a quick break for our commercial sponsors. We'll get to more headlines
right after this. Let's get back into it with Hollywood News. There's a
Minecraft TV show coming to Netflix. This is from Eddie mcco at GameSpot.
In addition to the upcoming Minecraft movie, a Minecraft TV show is in the
works. Microsoft and Netflix have announced the partnership to bring Minecraft to TV in
the form of an animated show. Not much as known about the Minecraft series,
but it will tell an original story with new characters, showing the world
of Minecraft in a new light. Yeah. I mean this makes some sense
to me. I feel like people will go, well, you know,
it makes a ton of sense. You know, a show kids could watch
that. I've had an epiphany recently about this jan they don't care what you
know. You know, where there's a million hours of Minecraft or Minecraft like
content that they can go on, and they don't care about the quality.
It's called YouTube, and there are people making endless amounts of stuff related to
the things that they're interested in, Like my kid Super Gotten too, their
Indo Mario and inside Out right now, and she just will like, Okay,
I'm gonna type inside Out into YouTube. And there will be you know,
YouTube shorts of people explaining like what's going on in the movies. There
will be people like telling new stories where the characters using Plushi's and it's like,
yeah, it's all relatively low quality to what you would expect from a
Netflix show, but it's they don't care. They're watching it and they're they're
into it, and that to them that this is their entertainment, and I'm
like, yeah, I kind of get it. I think if I was
a kid, I would have felt the same way, where it's like people
talking about the stuff. I like, it's all right here, I can
watch that. So it's like when I see stuff like this these days,
Jan, I get a little bit more skeptical about, like who is this
for? Are you going to make this Froncraft TV show for kids or for
already converted fans? And then maybe it can pop off, you know,
you know sales at that Cuphead show. My kids watch that, and that's
still their only interaction with Cuphead because I won't let them play that. After
what happens to Bean, of course, I don't know. You Yeah,
just shot outs to Dan, are you excited about a Minecraft TV show?
No? I don't think I'm the target audience. Despite really enjoying playing Minecraft,
and now that you mentioned the kind of like YouTube barrage of content and
consuming related content, I don't immediately see who this is for other than just
putting this on in the background. And because kids are familiar with Minecraft want
to consume more Minecraft. Here's a little bit a higher production of Minecraft.
If you go through like Disney Plus and some of these other streamers, primarily
Disney Plus, you will see so many different Lego specials grub of Star Wars
of Marvel related things, and they're all actually pretty funny and pretty decent and
inner haining. But I do see it being like, Okay, y'all are
trying to get the kids back in because like they're familiar with the Lego games,
they're familiar with Marvel or Star Wars, and like this is a melding
of both, and we can get them in locked into this platform because you
know, you're a father grub. I have several friends that say, the
the Disney Plus only ever plays blue Yes, uh, the Disney Channel,
yes, the Disney Yes. It's like it's like Bluey and then the Spider
Man cartoon that they that ripped off PJ masks. Yes, yes, yes,
uh. And I guess this is a similar thing where Sony sees the
people on on on PS four still part of their major audience. If Netflix
sees you you're watching the Minecraft show repeatedly, we got you in there.
Yeah, But like, I don't know how much effort they should put into
this even right, it's exactly yeah, it is. It's a it's a
question mark. And I think that's where it goes back to, like I
think decide early on that like who this show is for, and I think
go after the fans that have been playing the game for several years and have
like sort of not aged out of but have like consumed a significant amount of
content from about Minecraft from YouTube or Twitch or whatever up to this point.
So they are kind of like, you know, I've had that experience.
Maybe what would it be like to get a very well produced, well written
show that has strong characters, that has continuity and all this stuff. Maybe
That's what I'm looking for now. So I think make it for that audience.
Scope it for that audience, and I think you can really you could
probably have something that's going to be just fine and makes a lot of sense
at the same time, you know, there's you know, I was gonna
say, there's a chance that doesn't actually get made. Feels like these the
Netflix shows usually do end up coming out. Yeah, I almost think that
the kids have already rediscovered machinema and everything, and like Bobbing character, it's
to properly animated stuff. I feel like Red versus Blue, that Rooster Teeth
joint could have had like a new life perhaps in like this TikTok age.
I almost feel like, Grub, here's what we do. We make our
own Minecraft show on on TikTok Yeah, and that's how we just blow up
there and then just imagine like, oh hey, it's it's me, mister
Creeper, and look at this new check out my TikTok shop for this tripod.
The kids will buy anything from mister Creeper. That's what I found.
Oh my god. Okay, Grub, we're gonna delete this part of the
podcast, Okay, yep. Trademark trademark trademark. Absolutely. Nikki got the
those lav mics that I that I influenced people on and they canceled their order
and they still send it anyhow, So it's a deal. Right there.
I hope I'll put them on blast, don't. I don't think TikTok is
listening. I think I think we're gonna be okay. All right, let's
with the Hollywood news. Universal Pictures is making a Just Cause movie. This
is from Jonas Mackie at Game Reactor. Where movie adaptations of video games used
to be something we often scofked at because of their poor quality, the situation
today is completely different. There are people or there are plenty of great series
being produced, including the Last of Us, fall Out in Castlevania, and
the Super Mario Brothers movie was a huge hit. As a result, Hollywood
is desperately looking for games to be filmed, and the next project from to
be in the pipeline is Just Caused. The film is based on Swedish developer
Avalanche Studio's action packed game series, and it will be Universal Pictures that has
the honor of landing the venture. The director has already been confirmed and it
will be Blue Beatle creator Angel Manuel and hell Manhel Soto who leads the film
adaptation and otherwise details are scarce. Yeah, is this a step up or
down from Blue Beetle? I like this director and Blue Beetle wasn't the best,
but it was okay in bits. I also really liked the kid in
that from Cobra Kai. Sorry, let me put up the Blue Beetles celebration
a scene. There we go, There we go. Yeah, yay,
this could be interesting. Yeah, it could be. I think it may
be on par if not a little bit better than the Uncharted movie. Yeah.
I mean, I think they like it feels a little bit like an
open canvas to some extent where it's like it could just be an action movie
and and then you could have like some elements of the game and make it
maybe make it fantastical so it is like, you know, the character is
using a parachute to like fly around and stuff like that. Whatever. I
think if they like lean into that, it could be a lot of fun,
which is kind of all I would want from if I if someone's like,
we gonna see the Just Cause movie, my one hope would be it
better be fun. I don't care if it's like moving or emotional or tell
us a good story even, just be fun. And I think if you
go in there with your sights set on that, they could probably do something
pretty pretty decent. I just ask that there's like parachutes and grappling hooks out
the wazoo. I think you have to. I love I love Pedro pesqual
but plate please stay away from this one. Yeah, Pedro, you need
to. Yes, just take a break, take a vacation, my guy.
Yeah, yeah, I love you though, just like we that's how
much we love you. We want you to just go have some time,
you know, be under your own. Grapefruit tree and and vine? What
is they? What do they say in that Hamilton song? I think that's
what. No, yeah, that's what they say, grapefruit tree and vine.
Yeah, hey, good luck. This is Hey this one strong chance
it never comes out. I feel like it could come out, you could,
but this is this is this is the one that's like in that zone
of short short, short shore. Eh. It's like how long did we
hear about an uncharted movie and like the rumblings for it, Like I feel
like Dan Truck Blueberg was attached to that for a little bit even. Yeah.
Yeah, I also at the same time, grub I feel like there's
such an appetite for like video game related movies and that being like we're in
a new heyday of that being some type of maybe not cash cow but hype
generator. This could happen, and especially if it's like a mindless action flick
that this this grub What if this becomes the what is the Netflix Chris Hemsworth
series? Yes, well, what if this is an extraction? Like that
would be exactly what I would want from that, Like just there we go.
Make it so NonStop and intense that you kind of like can't help but
laugh at its. It's so absurd. Well, you know what, throw
Oscar Isaac it. That'd be good. That's good. Now he could be
the two most iconic video game characters because apparently he was gonna be cast as
a solid snake. And also just Cosmon, which I think is the character's
name. Uh Rico, Rico, just Cosmon. Uh Yeah, there we
go. That's that's gotta be it, you know, just make it.
Andy Samberg, Yeah, okay, I'm down now, just cause it feels
like, in a different era would have been the kind of game that U
V Bowl would have got his hands on. And it really really that way.
Oh, don't say that, it's just that. Say listen, we've
escaped his clutches. I think I think we're safe. Rip right did he
die? I don't know? Okay, all right? True? Why?
I don't care? You know what? Dad? Or alive? I don't
care? Sorry? V bowl uh Balder's Gape three CEO blames COVID for turning
Forgotten Realms into a quote horny place. This is from Rachel fight Us at
Dual Shockers. Balderskate three is jam packed full of exciting adventures, a diverse,
ragtag group of misfit heroes, and hours of turn based combat that keeps
D and D fans firmly glued to their seats. Even though that's usually enough
to keep players happy for days on end and prolonged episodes of touching any grass.
There is one key element in Bouldersgate three that draws a different crowd,
and that's, of course, its rampant horniness. Whether you went to Romance,
Carlac Starion or Shadow Heart, that's completely up to you. But Larryon
Studio's director has an idea about why Boulderscape three is Forgotten Realms is such a
frisky game, and he thinks it's all down to COVID. In an interview
with Game Pressure, which sounds like a horny website, I'm gonna be honest,
Okay. The developers from Larry and Studios, as well as its CEO
Spinviink, popped in for a chat about Boulderskate three, where everything from Monty
Python, the difficulties from locked Down, to Balderskate three's script and how it
kept its identity was discussed. In between all of the important topics, the
question naturally arose about the game's raunchiness and why the team thought it became one
of the horniest games around. Covid replied vin K, maybe semi jokingly,
but he probably does have a point here. As we all know, throughout
the lockdown period, many people were unable to be with family and friends,
losing out on vital human connections, and for many of us being home bound
meant powering up our PCs or consoles, and the period since many players still
seek out that bond. Vink echoes this by saying that he believes that people
get so engaged in companionship and that it's a testament to the work of the
team that's been doing it. They want to romance them. I get what
they're going for here, jan I think that this is just the human condition.
This is just human nature. That desire for companionship is just It goes
back a long way before COVID, and I think this game is just good
at expressing that. That's all one. I don't think this game is horny
because of COVID. I think it was always destined to be horny, right,
This was its fate from the very beginning of time. Mass effect was
never influenced by anything, right, A lot lot of stuff about mass effect
on there. Hey, let me tell you some popular searches on a certain
website. Overwatch is at the top of those all the time. It is
not related to any global disease. Yeah, I think it's just the human
condition. Grub. Also, I guess, if anything, what COVID plays
into that is the feeling of isolation. So when you are embarking on a
game where the relationships are super duper important and like you have very well written
characters, people are definitely going to flock to that and put more weight onto
that. But I see similar things happening with like Persona games, even Final
Fantasy seven Rebirth, where people were like flocking to people are flocking TIFA for
various reasons, but those various party members as well, and and you know,
similar experiences to how I felt about Infinite Wealth, where it's like,
oh, I love these this this cast of dumbasses, identify with them.
Yeah, I think it's that's right. It's like, uh, COVID maybe
amplified things or made people like realize how important uh the like having a safe
place to play around those emotions is. And and this game definitely provides that,
And and they probably capitalized on it to a certain extent. And I
wonder because of like how I was framed as a triple A title, because
like, you know, these experiences where like people do explore different varieties of
like the human experience and human emotions exists so well in the indie space if
folks that don't necessarily have the means to check out that those types of indie
games, because visibility is very very difficult for that. If Balder's Gate three
was like oh oh yeah type of deal and also tapping into the micmann An
audimentality of I can fix her exactly. Yes, Yeah, I think it's
there was definitely some like perfect storm stuff happening where I think a certain audience
of like sex positive people had grown loud enough that it's like, yeah,
like why why wouldn't you be able to fuck the bear? Like the bear
has needs? And then the game and then the game was like I have
need, Yeah exactly, and it's bears again. There there's This game had
a blaring sign before it came out of you can fuck the bear, and
everyone's like, one, that's funny and two that like is indicative. I
think of an emphasis on in dick in there indicative. There you go,
everybody. Uh, The emphasis is like, hey, you have a possibility
space to do what you want in this game, and we're gonna accommodate that.
Uh. And yeah, I think that it really was able to again
capitalize on that. You know, yeah, a lot of D and D
games, it's my understanding. I've never done tabletop role playing. They can
drift into hornness pretty quickly, so this game is sort of being there to
catch that audience. It felt like it was always destined to do this.
I feel like the cod factor isn't necessarily just isolated to like the horn you
knows of the game, or the relationships. All the free flowing yeah exactly,
the free flowing ability to make numerous decisions and play the game how you
want, especially after like you know, being regimented for most people to live
a certain way because of living through the pandemic. So you know a lot
of these folks will be like, you know what, I will do whatever
I want. I will seek a romance romantic relationship with this bear and immediately
get mulled by that bear instead. Exactly. I do think, you know,
for everything we've said here, there is a little bit of toothpaste out
of the tube where you can never if you're making a game, you can
never again be like, well, you know, we can't represent sex in
that way, and it's like, well, Boulderskate three did it, and
look at it. It's very popular in one Game of the Year awards.
So I think going forward that the industry will kind of be changed to a
certain extent. That doesn't mean like every game is going to try to do
what Ball just Game three did. I think most companies will be way fred
nor should they, yes, of course, but I do think it'll be
it will open up the opportunity for more games to have a more mature approach
to these things going forward, and that's that's something to be to be proud
of. I think, yeah, like, I don't see adding sex to
Starfield saving Starfield for me personally. No, no, definitely. I mean,
had I cared more about the characters that would have been sure, that
would have been good for that game for sure. But yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, that's I don't remember anyone's name, grub. There was
that cowboy that had the kid? Oh well? Uh. Harvest Moon Home
Sweet Home announced for iOS and Android. This is from Salamano at Gamatsu.
Natsume has announced the farming simulation game Harvest Moon Moon Home Sweet Home is coming
to iOS and Android and look, I was trying to say Harvest Home and
it came out. Boy, It's coming out August. They said they are
excited to bring a fresh, new Harvest Moon experience back to mobile gamers with
Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home. Hey, Harvest Moon used to be a really
big franchise, and now everyone would just play Starters Valley instead. I guess
I'm glad that they're still doing stuff with it, but it feels like,
man, could you put like this on switch as well or instead? I
don't know. I don't know if I'll ever try to play Harvest Moon again.
I would just play starvedu Valley instead, So I guess maybe they're right
to go for this different audience in the first place. Do you have any
affinity for Harvest Moon negative, other than it knowing that it has like an
adorable cow in the game. Yes, But if I were to seek out
a farming game first, I would redownload Disney Dreamland Valley and then you know,
just just check up on my crops there. But then i'd eventually if
I were to like go a whole hog and play a farming style game,
I would want to finally try and pick up Stardu Valley for the first time.
It's great, it's got a multiplayer mode, and yeah, and I
feel like that's just the move for a lot of folks at this point.
And even your casual gamer that may have like lapsed outside of Animal Crossing,
a lot of them will hear in their little circles, will hear of just
embarking onto Stardo Valley or going all the way into SIMS. Yeah, and
starting Value is on mobile as well, so it's like, yeah, Simms
is like creating a It's always had a very weird subculture and subscene, but
like even more so, I feel like that scene is getting loud. Yes,
yeah, it's like it's growing in terms of its ability to like amplify
and get get its sound out to other people. I think SIMS goes mobile
for SIMS five. I think SIMS five on PC, console and mobile doesn't
seem out of the realm of possibility, not at all. I feel that
translate very well to like an iPad. Yeah, there's no reason I wouldn't
be able to run on there. Yeah, oh my god, just create
daily quests for your SIMS and stuff. We're gonna cut this out of the
program as well. MT Yeah, I'm sure there is a mobile SIMS already,
but I don't think it's like it's not just SIMS four. I don't
think so. Stardo is also on Apple Arcade. You're right, yes,
yeah, totally, that makes that makes sense. I did triplaying when it
first came to Android. I played it a little bit. It's good,
it works all right. Last story here, Jeff Grubbs Summer game mess has
begun. It begins today with the PlayStation state of play at six pm Eastern
three pm Pacific time. I believe that a Marino has the full like chart
of when all these things are happening. I'll put that up on screen here
in a second if I can find it, but yeah, that's gonna be
thirty minutes, fourteen games. And then following that at seven pm there is
the Konami Silent Held Transmission. Updates on Silent Hill two, Silent Hill F
which is like the new entry in the series, and then Silent Hell tound
Ball, which is like an offshoot that they're doing with Anna Perna and that
developer No code. So hey, events are starting now, jan are you
hype? Yeah? Jay to ask you a question that's unrelated everything I just
said, and I was because I was about to say to work, but
I don't know what it means? What? What is? What's hyphie?
Ah? Hyphee is a state of mind. It's it's a way of being
grub It's like an energy. It's like mana that you tap into. Okay
ifee music. I also hyphie is like a genre subgenre of music, hip
hop music from the Bay Area. And it's just like you know, you
you activated a switch at me, and I was about to like actively started
like code switching and like start introducing other vernacular into the market. Oh hey,
you know what you cool off? Cool off. All right, you
take it easy. I was about to start tarfing, all right, miss
not on this show about man going dummy? Oh no, I feel like
you'd have a good fizz s face and everything. All right, Yeah,
folks at home ghost ride the whip, Baby, ghost ride the whip.
They didn't have these things in Ohio. Oh yeah. You want to talk
about confusing someone with words coming out of my mouth? Me going to Lexi
and telling her all of the Bay Area vernacular and just saying it shoot stone
cold face. It just be like, what are you saying? Yeah?
I would imagine a fun cultural exchange would be putting Lexi in a room with
Michael Hym and I talking to each other. I would I would very much
like to see that. That would be very good. We can make that
happen. Yeah, I would love that. All right, Summer game mess
upon us PlayStation, stay to play. We'll we'll talk over that one,
everybody. So we'll probably do voicemail, dumb truck, take a small little
break, and then we will talk over the state of play. You know,
expectations are I think in check there you got any like last minute hopes
for that one. I'd really like to see more astrobot stuff. Yeah,
pretty likely. I think we'll be good with that. Maybe they have opened
up ps VR two enough that like, hey, maybe we'll see a half
life Alex. I highly doubt it. I think what we will see,
though, is it's somehow more Horizon. Yeah, that Lego Horizon game hangs
over us like a sword of Dan Thecles and yeah, it's it's frightening.
I don't think we're gonna be able to escape it. I just have you
thought about that game at all anymore? Does it make any more sense to
you than when we first mentioned it? Lego Lego Horizon, Yeah, I
think it. You know, like they have a couple of at least one
Lego set, and I feel like, because of the look of the robotic
dinosaurs and other animals that could be fun in a Lego environment. I just
don't feel myself clam to that. I kind of feel like how people felt
when green Day rock band came out of like, oh cool, you got
a rock band of this one, all right, but for folks that are
fans of Green Day like fans of Horizon, right, it means the world
team you're eaten. Yeah, they're feasting. Yeah, today, Horizon one
in one baby, that's maybe one of the best like points of reference you've
ever made. Jan, I fully understand what you're getting across there. Now,
Yeah, same thing. Horizon is the Green day of video games?
All right? Here's the chart everybody, if you should, if you have
your time zone, if you're in New Delhi, for example, the state
of play is going to start at three point thirty a m. You know
time zones that have the half an hour thing messed up. That's so weird.
I don't do that. I know you got big countries, but weird.
All right, now I'm getting yelled at. No, it is not
the Green day of video games. Disagree? I disagree? All right,
let's get the poll question up. That's right here. I'm gonna hit that.
We'll refresh. Don't see what the results are. Are you excited about
the PlayStation state of play? Fifty percent said yes, fifty percent said no.
After three thousand votes. Wow, people don't trust state of plays anymore?
Jan, Yeah, I think and with a lot of people of thinking.
Well, all right, I guess we'll see what we got this year.
I'm always ready to be surprised and I'm always ready to be wrong.
But I don't feel a lot of excitement. Yeah, it's like I think
I know what state of place are at this point. And we've talked about
this on the show before, when we would have the state of play come
and then we'd have the round up and people are disappointed it was we'd always
point out that these things feel like contractual obligations almost certainly because that's what they
are. Where Sony gets these co marketing deals and part of the like,
hey, we're going to give you so much money worth of marketing. The
way they account for some of that is we'll put you in a state of
play which is worth this much money. And so that's why some games show
up in there that you're like not excited about. But it's like, nope,
Sony owed a deal to these people, so they had to do it,
and the whole thing ends up feeling like an obligation, which kind of
takes the air out of it a little bit. Yeah, I don't think.
I don't think Nintindo does the directs that way, which is maybe why
they feel different. Oh, one hundred percent, one hundred percent hard hard
heart agree grub. What do you think are the odds that we see some
type of Mijoyo game in this right now, not zero, honestly, Zenless
Zone zero is that the next one? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that's
that's honestly probably going to be there and no, totally one hundred percent.
And like you know, they shelling out the money to show up in a
state of play is chump change in terms of like what they're making on a
daily right, and those games are so big, I don't even maybe though
they don't even have to pay, I don't know, honestly, I'm I'm
not sure. So it's it's hard to tell. One of my best buddies
his PS four because he hasn't upgraded yet. That's just his Genshin machine.
Now, oh really yeah, I still never have played Genshin. July fourth,
it's win Zendless Zone zero launches. I'm gonna celebrate this nation the way
the founding Fathers intended with wife fus. I'm just assuming there's wife fos in
this game. I think that's a safe assumption to make. I think it's
a safe assumption as well if it is Mikoyo joint. All right, we
got a new poll question. We'll get to that in a second. In
the meantime, Jan, what do we have happening on this dang darn website.
We have voicemailed dumb truck popping off later today and then after that we
will be talking over the state of play. I believe it will be yourself,
Bacalar, Dan and me. Maybe we'll have some other hooligans in there
tomorrow another episode of Game Mess Mornings as well as UPF. Maybe just be
a good old grab bag of thangs. And yeah, and we're folks.
We are so close to the finish line for SGF until we actually start that
race BCR. It's planned, but again, folks, the card is subject
to change. Yeah, we are. We're at the whims and mercies of
fate and time and meetings and meetings, mostly meetings. There's a lot to
figure out still, So yes, poor Bacalar working on East coast time with
a lot of West Coasters. I feel so bad for Backlar. Everyone give
give a shout out to Jerff next time you see him on something, because
the man is working tiresly, just like this Jeff as well, round the
clock. We're gonna make it happen, though, everybody. Uh, we'll
let you know about BCR and all that stuff. In the meantime, here
is a poll question. How often do you turn on your PS four for
any reason? Daily, weekly, monthly, or I do not use my
PS four anymore? Actually I stopped using my PS four. Yeah that works.
That pole question will be up on the community tab on YouTube dot com
slash at Giant Bomb. You could vote in that. We'll discuss the results
on game as Mornings on Giant Bomb tomorrow. Once again speaking to Giant Bomb,
tune in today for voicemail dump Truck, and then we'll go right into
the state of play talkover. I'm looking forward to it. At the very
least, if they announce a new astro, I'm gonna be excited kind of.
No matter what I said, they're better to Please put those speed run
things in there, because that's really what I played. Please know that,
Like look at me, Herman Holst, Please do it. Don't don't let
it come out with that more speed run stuff. I need it. I'm
addicted, all right, Jan Thank you so much for spitting today talking with
me about video games. Man, I really appreciate it. It's my favorite
way to start a Thursday. I hope everyone out there is giggin after this
baby. Oh no, I really did activate him. I thank you all
for watching. I can't tell if you're mad because you don't like that at
compared Green Day to Horizon or Horizon the Green Day. We'll figure that all
next time. Until then, have a good one, take care of yourself,
and goodbye gaming.