Marvel's Venom Game in Active Development Still

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to Game This Morning's with me Jeff Grub,
<v Speaker 1>your host from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for
<v Speaker 1>tuning in. In this episode, we're going to be talking
<v Speaker 1>about a huge unannounced PlayStation five game that might finally
<v Speaker 1>be leaking and Nintendo's unhinged pricing gets a lot of feedback.
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna be a good one because we have Rachel
<v Speaker 1>Kaser on the show. Rachel, how are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>Hello, Jeff. You knew what I was going to talk
<v Speaker 2>about today. You knew it because I sent you like
<v Speaker 2>a bunch of like all caps messages in the middle
<v Speaker 2>of the Nintendo Direct.
<v Speaker 1>Now here's the thing. I figured we could just start
<v Speaker 1>talking about it right here. I know what's in your heart,
<v Speaker 1>you know what you have the floor, so.
<v Speaker 2>You might have heard, like every time I'm on this show,
<v Speaker 2>even if it's I don't even have to have my
<v Speaker 2>face on the screen. If I'm just in the chat
<v Speaker 2>talking about Fire Emblem.
<v Speaker 1>Well, okay, let's be clear that ur Beyonetta one of
<v Speaker 1>the other fair But.
<v Speaker 2>You know I didn't get a new Bayonetta, but I
<v Speaker 2>did get a new Fire Emblem game. It looks good,
<v Speaker 2>and you better believe I was like rewinding and you know,
<v Speaker 2>going over the trailer like inch by inch, like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>what is this? Is this going to be in the
<v Speaker 2>same universe as Three Houses? Is this tying together multiple universes?
<v Speaker 1>Well, okay, so wait you you pay attention to that stuff.
<v Speaker 1>You're talking to a man who does not. That's not
<v Speaker 1>to say I'm not interested, Like I'm always curious when
<v Speaker 1>I'm not playing the game. When I'm playing the game,
<v Speaker 1>like get me to the tactics, but later I'll be
<v Speaker 1>thinking about it. Like there's some interesting characters in there,
<v Speaker 1>and they have like relationships and whatever. But the dragon
<v Speaker 1>lady that was in your head at Three Houses, she
<v Speaker 1>was in this trailer. They kind of like tease that
<v Speaker 1>at the end. What do you think that means? Like
<v Speaker 1>what is that saying to you?
<v Speaker 2>Well, it's the same voice actress, So that could be
<v Speaker 2>that could be a misdirect there. They don't actually say
<v Speaker 2>it's the same character. I mean, she has very similar.
<v Speaker 1>But it does look different, yeah, but not like so different.
<v Speaker 1>It couldn't be the same person.
<v Speaker 2>It could be the same person. So it could either
<v Speaker 2>be a prequel because she wasn't always a child. The
<v Speaker 2>small sothis her name, is the character's name, the person
<v Speaker 2>who is in your head in three Houses. She wasn't
<v Speaker 2>always a child.
<v Speaker 1>She has button disease. She goes back and forth.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, she I mean that'll happen when you're an
<v Speaker 2>immortal sometimes you're in a kid. It's it's the It's
<v Speaker 2>reminded me of that fairy tale where the fairy queen
<v Speaker 2>gets shrunk down and stuck at a flowery So of
<v Speaker 2>course I'm digging into my European folklore here. But yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so it's possible it could be a prequel as well.
<v Speaker 2>But there but there's a big arena at the opening
<v Speaker 2>of the trailer, and that is a setting that looks
<v Speaker 2>a lot like one in Awakening. So like the Reddit
<v Speaker 2>threads are a fire on our slash fire and Lamar
<v Speaker 2>just absolutely going nuts over the weekend.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, well, then let me ask when did you originally
<v Speaker 1>get into fire Emblom. Was it with Awakening? Did you
<v Speaker 1>kind of jump aboard with when everyone else? Because that's
<v Speaker 1>when I like finally really played that series. So rank
<v Speaker 1>the ones you've played like since then, like what are
<v Speaker 1>your what's your favorite, what's your least favorite? And then
<v Speaker 1>we'll go on with the show.
<v Speaker 2>My favorite is Awakening. My second favorite is three Houses.
<v Speaker 2>My third favorite is what's the one.
<v Speaker 1>The most engage?
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yes, I do like engage and uh well I well,
<v Speaker 2>I would say the Actually I would say no. The
<v Speaker 2>third one is actually fire emblum sacred stones. I like
<v Speaker 2>sacred stones. Uh. Fourth is fire emblom, blazing sword, fifth
<v Speaker 2>is fire emblem, shadow Dragon. Sixth is fire emblem. That
<v Speaker 2>is fire and woman engage. Actually so once I because
<v Speaker 2>there's a lot of fire and momen games, I'm having
<v Speaker 2>to go back in my register a little bit and
<v Speaker 2>like knock them down. Honestly. My least favorite is probably Fates,
<v Speaker 2>which sucks because I didn't really like Fates for a
<v Speaker 2>while and the cha yeah it walked so that three
<v Speaker 2>Houses could run. But at the same time, like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I really didn't like the way the world, like the
<v Speaker 2>fact that they didn't even have a name for the
<v Speaker 2>continent in Fates, like every other game in the series.
<v Speaker 1>Has made proper nouns.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, yeah, this one took place in Fodland. This one
<v Speaker 2>took place in Arkanea. And you know, it's a big
<v Speaker 2>motif in the series. You know, the the the overarching
<v Speaker 2>world that all of these little squabbles are taking place
<v Speaker 2>within and they didn't have that in Fates. It felt
<v Speaker 2>kind of like they didn't really commit to the bit.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I'm excited about this one. This one looks really
<v Speaker 1>like they are I don't know. It looks to me
<v Speaker 1>like they're stepping it up, like they're really going to
<v Speaker 1>go for it. They're going to take advantage of this
<v Speaker 1>thing coming out on the switch to I'm a big
<v Speaker 1>fan of Fire one, so we'll see what this game's
<v Speaker 1>able to deliver.
<v Speaker 2>There is a there's a lady with a gun in
<v Speaker 2>the trailer too. I don't know if you saw that.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't. I heard someone mention that, I like, I
<v Speaker 1>guess I didn't, like go back to look what kind
<v Speaker 1>of gun.
<v Speaker 2>It looks like it's a pistol. It's a small sidear right.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it moves a little too fast for me
<v Speaker 2>to be able to tell the make and model, but
<v Speaker 2>it's you know, it's enough to fit in one hand,
<v Speaker 2>and she's fighting somebody with a for reasons I'm not
<v Speaker 2>quite clear on. But I saw that. I'm like, Oh,
<v Speaker 2>where's that going to fit in the weapon triangle?
<v Speaker 1>Right exactly? How are they going to like I can
<v Speaker 1>imagine a character just focused around the gun. That Okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. I thought that
<v Speaker 1>was a good way to end that direct. We should
<v Speaker 1>get on with the show. So let's explain ourselves and
<v Speaker 1>what we do here. This is Giant Bomb. We're a
<v Speaker 1>small team of independent video game dufases who rely on
<v Speaker 1>your support to make cool stuff. We're out there doing
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<v Speaker 1>make that happen with you all behind us. You have
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<v Speaker 1>part of it. Giant bomb dot com slash join. As
<v Speaker 1>far as this show goes most weekdays, I Jeff Greb
<v Speaker 1>will help peace your gaming life together. That includes breaking
<v Speaker 1>news and maybe even some of our own original reporting.
<v Speaker 1>For all these topics, I'll get the input of a
<v Speaker 1>bona fide expert who will make me look smart. You
<v Speaker 1>are watching live on Twitch Welcome. You can always listen
<v Speaker 1>to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for
<v Speaker 1>game Mes Mornings, or find the RSS feed on GiantBomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com. You can also catch the show later with
<v Speaker 1>chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube, Sorry, little macho man,
<v Speaker 1>Randy Savage to get us started this morning? All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's get on on with it right here, yes, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Marvel's Venom reportedly still in active development, Wolverine targeting twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty six launch. This is from Alex Hopley at Game Reactor,
<v Speaker 1>Insomniac's next game might be joining the megaslate of twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty six releases, as a recent report points to Marvel's
<v Speaker 1>Wolverine still targeting next year for its launch. Also, the
<v Speaker 1>same report tells us that Marvel's Venom game is still
<v Speaker 1>in active development. The potential details of its protagonists also revealed.
<v Speaker 1>This report comes from MP First, which has spoken to
<v Speaker 1>a verified source about Marvel's Wolverine still being on track
<v Speaker 1>for twenty twenty six. We've not seen anything official for
<v Speaker 1>the game in years, but speculation points to it appearing
<v Speaker 1>at an upcoming PlayStation state of Play event. In regards
<v Speaker 1>to Venom, the game is reportedly still an active development
<v Speaker 1>and hasn't gone the way of the Spider Verse game
<v Speaker 1>Insomniac has been cooking up currently. It's suspected the game
<v Speaker 1>is in pre production, as Wolverine remains the priority. Speaking
<v Speaker 1>to other sources, MP First couldn't verify. Apparently, the game's
<v Speaker 1>protagonists could be Eddie Brock with a look much closer
<v Speaker 1>to his comic representation. Kletis Cassidy would return as Carnage too,
<v Speaker 1>with a more monstrous anti Venom also appearing in the game.
<v Speaker 1>All right, so a couple of things in the story
<v Speaker 1>Marvel's Wolverine still in twenty twenty six, we could start there.
<v Speaker 1>This sounds right to me. When I ask about it,
<v Speaker 1>I definitely hear like it's phrased me in such a
<v Speaker 1>way where it's like, yeah, they are they intend to
<v Speaker 1>get that game out in twenty twenty six, and I
<v Speaker 1>think they want to. And if they are ready to
<v Speaker 1>commit to that, I could see them bringing a trailer,
<v Speaker 1>a something to this next state of play that probably
<v Speaker 1>will happen before the end of the month, and say yeah,
<v Speaker 1>this is out next year, but they have a couple
<v Speaker 1>other games like they want to get out first for sure.
<v Speaker 1>That's like the God of War spin off. There's a
<v Speaker 1>couple other things, but that would be their big game
<v Speaker 1>for next year. And Sony at the very least does
<v Speaker 1>seem like they want to have bit one big first
<v Speaker 1>party game a year at least, maybe maybe two, and
<v Speaker 1>then some other ones that are like just slightly below
<v Speaker 1>that tier. But like Your Ghost to Yota, your Astrobot,
<v Speaker 1>and now this year where next year I should say,
<v Speaker 1>would be Marvel's Wolverine. Does that sound right to you?
<v Speaker 1>It's been quite some time since we first heard about
<v Speaker 1>this game, it feels like we're getting close to it
<v Speaker 1>being due.
<v Speaker 2>Well, we got Silk Song. What other white whales do
<v Speaker 2>we have to Yes, good point. Which ones are still
<v Speaker 2>out there that we have heard from in a while?
<v Speaker 1>Yep? Exactly?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean that sounds that sounds about right, because
<v Speaker 2>we haven't. I'm trying to think if I've heard of
<v Speaker 2>any major PlayStation five titles, like specifically PlayStation five titles
<v Speaker 2>in twenty twenty six. And yeah, there's definitely a very big,
<v Speaker 2>insomniac sized hole in the calendar so, and maybe I'm
<v Speaker 2>being a little cynical here, but for when it's coming out,
<v Speaker 2>I'm trying to think, like, ooh, what's a good quarter
<v Speaker 2>in the year where they don't have something else holding
<v Speaker 2>down the releases. Yep, So I'm gonna guess probably not
<v Speaker 2>Q one or Q two because of a certain juggernaut
<v Speaker 2>that we all know about. They don't want. I don't
<v Speaker 2>think even Insomniac wants to compete with that.
<v Speaker 1>Right again, definitely the Marvel Universe from Insomniac seems like
<v Speaker 1>I could stand up against a lot. Probably not GTA.
<v Speaker 1>You're right they will. That's why. Yeah, we'll probably get
<v Speaker 1>a twenty twenty six window if they say anything, and
<v Speaker 1>then they'll decide later how to position things once they
<v Speaker 1>really know when GTA six is coming out, Because I
<v Speaker 1>think everyone's sort of still skeptical about that release date
<v Speaker 1>that they have right now, which is May twenty sixth.
<v Speaker 1>I want to say, I think they're still skeptical of that,
<v Speaker 1>so we'll see. Oh yeah for sure. So you know,
<v Speaker 1>if that does hit on the on the twenty sixth
<v Speaker 1>of May, then I expect Wolverine to release in the fall.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, see, my my first thought is probably just
<v Speaker 2>like Ghost of Yota. If they want to make sure
<v Speaker 2>there's not a steep drop off in that quarter, they're
<v Speaker 2>probably gonna go with with Wolverine in that like a
<v Speaker 2>corresponding October maybe September released.
<v Speaker 1>Then there is the other game from Insomniac. Let's see here.
<v Speaker 1>It's sorry, just hit my standing desk and it almost
<v Speaker 1>knocked my camera over there. That would have been fun.
<v Speaker 1>The other game from Insomniac, make me see sick, Jeff,
<v Speaker 1>uh huh, Marvel's Venom. Marvel's Venom is that this would
<v Speaker 1>be a spin off of the Spider Man games. You
<v Speaker 1>got to play his venom in Spider Man two. It
<v Speaker 1>always seemed like, well, clearly, this will just be the
<v Speaker 1>next sort of expand alone game, similar to what happened
<v Speaker 1>with Miles Morales. They now to do this within them.
<v Speaker 1>They are taking their time to the point where it's
<v Speaker 1>like it might be even bigger than that, although Miles
<v Speaker 1>Morales was already a big enough game for sure, but
<v Speaker 1>this was one that was rumored for a long time,
<v Speaker 1>definitely seemed obvious. And then there was those Insomniac leaks
<v Speaker 1>where it was in there was like that was going
<v Speaker 1>to be the next game, actually before Wolverine even, and
<v Speaker 1>then when it became clear that that wasn't happening, I
<v Speaker 1>think there was a lot of guessing that this game
<v Speaker 1>might be canceled, done on the shelf. They're not doing
<v Speaker 1>anything with it really anymore. They've already done that with
<v Speaker 1>a couple other Spider Man projects. They have the X
<v Speaker 1>Men games that they're making years from now, apparently that
<v Speaker 1>they got to get to work on. So really, is
<v Speaker 1>this game happening? And it sounds like maybe, yeah, it
<v Speaker 1>is still happening, And I think that makes sense because
<v Speaker 1>they again, they've already done a lot of the work
<v Speaker 1>to get a character like that moving and working, and
<v Speaker 1>that's probably half the battle of making a fun game.
<v Speaker 1>Now have to like make all the content. I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>that's a lot of work, but you have something good.
<v Speaker 1>So when do you think we see this Venom game?
<v Speaker 1>If it's in pre production still.
<v Speaker 2>The funny thing is when at the top of the
<v Speaker 2>show you said something about a new PS five game,
<v Speaker 2>I will be honest, my first thought if it's not
<v Speaker 2>a twenty twenty six release, is are we looking at
<v Speaker 2>a PS six game? Maybe?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and it's not. I mean so anything after twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty six is definitely a possibility for a new PlayStation console. Now,
<v Speaker 1>they probably draw this this generation a little bit longer,
<v Speaker 1>so but yeah, you're right, this game comes comes out
<v Speaker 1>in twenty twenty eight.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm still annoyed that they're still releasing so many
<v Speaker 2>games on the PS four and the Xbox One, Like,
<v Speaker 2>did we ever transition fully into this generation transition?
<v Speaker 1>Don't know what generations are now.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I don't feel strongly about it at all, But
<v Speaker 2>not to bring the mood down, but do you think
<v Speaker 2>maybe they stalled because we lost Tony Todd?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's a possible, but I mean I think
<v Speaker 1>that the delay seemed to be happening before that, before
<v Speaker 1>Tony Todd passed away.
<v Speaker 2>So but I mean, not that they can't find anyone
<v Speaker 2>else as vent to be the choice of Venom, But
<v Speaker 2>I thought that was a I thought that was like
<v Speaker 2>kind of the big hook is that we have this
<v Speaker 2>really creepy, scary voice for UH to play Venom alongside well,
<v Speaker 2>alongside Peter Parker, but you know, alongside of potential Eddie
<v Speaker 2>brock yep.
<v Speaker 1>I yeah, I think that it's probably something we're like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>they'll have to go ahead and cast someone new. But
<v Speaker 1>I don't think that would delay the development at all.
<v Speaker 1>I think that was more just about them reorganizing their
<v Speaker 1>priorities and like and realizing, hey, we got to like
<v Speaker 1>make some X Men games, Like we have multiple X
<v Speaker 1>Men games and the pipeline, and you know these are
<v Speaker 1>we're talking about twenty thirty now and beyond, but they
<v Speaker 1>probably are like we want we don't want to like
<v Speaker 1>you know, Dilly Dowdell and take our time too much.
<v Speaker 1>So let's go ahead and be more focused and really
<v Speaker 1>just try to get these games out and not overwhelm ourselves.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, be understandable, and I'll be honest, Jeff. I felt
<v Speaker 2>kind of like Venom got like under in Spider Man two,
<v Speaker 2>Like all of the fights with Venom were in in
<v Speaker 2>like interior settings, even like venomized other characters, Like everything
<v Speaker 2>was like in these like small arenas, like where was
<v Speaker 2>the like the like the Sandman battle at the beginning,
<v Speaker 2>where you fight him across the entirety of New York City,
<v Speaker 2>Like why couldn't we do that with Venom? So I
<v Speaker 2>guess I would really look forward to a hypothetical Venom
<v Speaker 2>game where we got to rampage across New York. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>even when you played as Venom in that game, it
<v Speaker 2>didn't feel like you were playing as like you weren't
<v Speaker 2>like this force of nature rampaging across the city. You
<v Speaker 2>were just mostly mostly reckoned one office building.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I think that's why it always felt like a demo,
<v Speaker 1>a prototype for the game, because it just it felt
<v Speaker 1>like just kind of stuffed in there in a way
<v Speaker 1>that wasn't supernatural. Supernatural wasn't natural feeling. So, but hey,
<v Speaker 1>they're going to find a way to deliver on that, apparently,
<v Speaker 1>I guess as their next game after Wolverine. Uh, I
<v Speaker 1>guess how are you feeling about Let's talk about the
<v Speaker 1>Sony first party output overall, how are you feeling about it? Like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, Insomniac definitely had been carrying the torch there
<v Speaker 1>for a while there deliver delivering a lot of these games,
<v Speaker 1>even they are taking a little bit longer. Now are
<v Speaker 1>you happy with this? And then happy with Insomniac continuing
<v Speaker 1>to work on Marvel variations for the next you know,
<v Speaker 1>Tennis years.
<v Speaker 2>I I would love to see them try I would
<v Speaker 2>love to see them have the breathing room to try
<v Speaker 2>something out. But I kind of understand in this in
<v Speaker 2>the way things are right now, I understand if the
<v Speaker 2>best scenario, I as much as I would love to
<v Speaker 2>see variety, I would love more for everyone at Insomniac
<v Speaker 2>and Sucker Punch and Bungee in every other Sony studio,
<v Speaker 2>I would love more for them to have jobs in
<v Speaker 2>the next ten years. Yeah, so I think planning. I
<v Speaker 2>think for Insomniac specifically having doing Marvel games, that's that's
<v Speaker 2>more of a guarantee. There's no guarantee in the industry.
<v Speaker 2>I think Star Wars Outlaws prove that, but there but
<v Speaker 2>I think that's a much safer bet then say, you know,
<v Speaker 2>here's a totally new ip. Insomniac, make it and show
<v Speaker 2>us what you can do. I hate it. I hate
<v Speaker 2>that that's not really an option. That doesn't really feel
<v Speaker 2>like an option for them right now. But hey, Insomniac
<v Speaker 2>make a Wolverine game. That's that there's a reason we
<v Speaker 2>can't find joy in that too.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. Uh, you know, I think we get to this, uh,
<v Speaker 1>this state of play, we get a good look at
<v Speaker 1>Wolverine and then and then speculation can begin more on
<v Speaker 1>on what the X Men game is going to look
<v Speaker 1>like and what Venom's going to be. And in the meantime,
<v Speaker 1>it's like, Yeah, I don't think we're going to get
<v Speaker 1>a Ratchet and Clank again anytime soon, But I don't.
<v Speaker 1>I also don't think they're I don't think they're like
<v Speaker 1>done with it. I just think it's like a longer
<v Speaker 1>ways off than it might otherwise be if they didn't
<v Speaker 1>have these bigger games to work on.
<v Speaker 2>Was the last one ended on a on a cliffhanger,
<v Speaker 2>didn't it?
<v Speaker 1>Probably they usually do, I think so, yeah, or at
<v Speaker 1>least a tease for something next, I think is what
<v Speaker 1>I remember. That's a good game, man. The best games
<v Speaker 1>on PlayStation five Astrobot and Ratchet and Clay Rift apart,
<v Speaker 1>I did live apart. It's a good three D platforming
<v Speaker 1>console and they should own it over there at Sony.
<v Speaker 1>They should be proud of that, all right. Borderlands four
<v Speaker 1>peaks just under three hundred thousand concurrent players. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Jack Valentine at Dual Shockers Gearbox Software's latest entry
<v Speaker 1>in the Borderlands franchise. Borderlands four is, by all accounts,
<v Speaker 1>a return to form, and our review we said Borderlands
<v Speaker 1>four is undoubtedly my favorite Borderlands game to date. It
<v Speaker 1>is a culmination of everything that the franchise has learned
<v Speaker 1>thus far and then some. It's been a wonderful step
<v Speaker 1>forward for the franchise after the disappointment that was Borderlands three.
<v Speaker 1>We're not the only ones that feel this way either. Currently,
<v Speaker 1>the game has a mighty rating on Open Critic of
<v Speaker 1>ninety seven percent or with ninety seven percent of critics
<v Speaker 1>recommending the game with an average score of eighty five.
<v Speaker 1>At first glance, that doesn't seem too impressive compared to
<v Speaker 1>its predecessors, which has an average score of eighty one.
<v Speaker 1>There's a catch there, It's only recommended by seventy eight
<v Speaker 1>percent of critics in that case. Also, there's a huge
<v Speaker 1>difference between eighty one and eighty five on Open Critic.
<v Speaker 1>Either way, the game launched and was kind of like
<v Speaker 1>shot right up the Steam charts, even though it does
<v Speaker 1>have a lot of issues on PC. It got up
<v Speaker 1>to nearly three hundred thousand concurrent players on Steam, which
<v Speaker 1>is a big number. That's a very big number. It's
<v Speaker 1>not as big as Hollow Night Silk Song. People might
<v Speaker 1>remember the five hundred thousand the other day. That's an anomaly.
<v Speaker 1>Three hundred thousand for a big, new massive game is
<v Speaker 1>still very huge, and the game I'm sure is doing
<v Speaker 1>probably even better on consoles where it's not having any
<v Speaker 1>problems or having fewer problems. I guess I should say
<v Speaker 1>I have not played that version. Yeah, Waderlands Force seems
<v Speaker 1>like it's hitting its marks at the very least right.
<v Speaker 1>It's maybe doing things by the numbers, but it's the
<v Speaker 1>right numbers.
<v Speaker 2>I did see somebody, I can't remember who it was,
<v Speaker 2>but I saw somebody say that all of these games
<v Speaker 2>are getting delayed because of silks Song. There were no
<v Speaker 2>games getting delayed because of Borderlands four, And I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like Gearboxes, it's very confident that Borderlands four
<v Speaker 2>can compete with Silk Song. I don't think they think
<v Speaker 2>their audiences overlap at all between the two of them.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I mean the people, the Borderlands fans were
<v Speaker 2>gonna show out no matter what I think. And I
<v Speaker 2>think they also know that performance issues, I mean, performance
<v Speaker 2>issues suck and are not something that we should let
<v Speaker 2>go at all, but they can be they can be
<v Speaker 2>fixed and if you really like the content of the game.
<v Speaker 2>And I do agree Borderlands three, I don't think it landed.
<v Speaker 2>The joke didn't. The joke wasn't funny, So I think
<v Speaker 2>if they but but you know, the people who love that,
<v Speaker 2>who love gearboxes out, but they're going to show out
<v Speaker 2>no matter what.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. And it's like, you know, there is a wider audience.
<v Speaker 1>There's like, yeah, there's the Borderlands audience that has shown up,
<v Speaker 1>and then there's a wider audience of people who's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>my friend's playing that and I want to play that
<v Speaker 1>with and I had a good time doing that, and
<v Speaker 1>it sounds like this game is a good fit for
<v Speaker 1>those people. In terms of what I played of it,
<v Speaker 1>it was very much like delivering on the design ethos
<v Speaker 1>of let's give people some fun shooting to do some
<v Speaker 1>fun light easy objectives, some quick ways to get there
<v Speaker 1>and make that feel fun as well, and then get
<v Speaker 1>out of their way so they can talk to their
<v Speaker 1>friends while they're playing. And it's like, yeah, that's Borderlands
<v Speaker 1>four exactly.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, don't come on, Jeff, don't don't you think that
<v Speaker 2>everybody is coming in because they watched that fabulous Borderlands movie.
<v Speaker 1>Well, of course, all the.
<v Speaker 2>New fans coming in because they saw that movie and
<v Speaker 2>just wanted to see the game where it came from the.
<v Speaker 1>Kate Blanchett effect. Of course, yes, I uh yeah, listen,
<v Speaker 1>I watched that movie in theaters. It was physically painful.
<v Speaker 1>I recommend it. People should do the same.
<v Speaker 2>It is.
<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah. I think that Borderlands four is going to
<v Speaker 1>be one of those games that like we look back to, like,
<v Speaker 1>oh yeah, that was really huge. A lot of people
<v Speaker 1>played that game, and in the meantime, hopefully they can
<v Speaker 1>update it on PC because it was it was running terribly.
<v Speaker 1>It was running like dog do do?
<v Speaker 2>Uh?
<v Speaker 1>Now they are paying attention to some feedback over there
<v Speaker 1>at Gearbox. Borderlands four might be getting FOV sliders on
<v Speaker 1>console after a flood of complaints from gamers. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Ethan Gotch at Kotaku. Why doesn't Borderlands four have
<v Speaker 1>an FOV slider on console? Well, this was like originally,
<v Speaker 1>like people were like definitely complaining about this, being like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>I am getting a little motion stick. Actually I'd like
<v Speaker 1>to be able to control my FOV. A lot of
<v Speaker 1>games do have this on console these days, not always
<v Speaker 1>Traditionally that's been a PC setting for sure, because you're
<v Speaker 1>sitting so close to the screen, people want to adjust that. Well,
<v Speaker 1>they did say that they're like, hey, we're promising to
<v Speaker 1>like look into this. Vault Hunters. It announced on Twitter
<v Speaker 1>we have heard your feedback on FOV sliders on console.
<v Speaker 1>The team is currently exploring how to bring these sliders
<v Speaker 1>to both Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation five versions.
<v Speaker 1>We will continue to read your feedback and prioritize game
<v Speaker 1>updates with your experience in mind. Banks all. So that's
<v Speaker 1>that's a good thing that they're like a little bit
<v Speaker 1>of positive feedback immediately and they're or like negative feedback
<v Speaker 1>and they're going to respond to that. Like why haven't
<v Speaker 1>they said anything about the PC performance though? Is my thing?
<v Speaker 1>It's like FOV slider great PC performance is definitely a
<v Speaker 1>bigger deal.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it is.
<v Speaker 1>I feel like, do you get the sense of like
<v Speaker 1>that like the PC performance and like just unreal engine
<v Speaker 1>like causing problems is something that these developers don't have
<v Speaker 1>a good grasp on, so they're not sure what to say.
<v Speaker 2>I think that's part of it. I mean, I think
<v Speaker 2>adding an FOV slider to I mean developers correct me
<v Speaker 2>if I'm wrong. That's a smaller fix, I would say
<v Speaker 2>overall than having to do whatever, having to like patch
<v Speaker 2>up the leaking ship. That is the PC version. Like
<v Speaker 2>I know, I said, like a few minutes ago, like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>PC things can be fixed. It's going to be a
<v Speaker 2>while before they're fixed. And I don't blame anybody for
<v Speaker 2>saying for jumping off the ship at this point, but
<v Speaker 2>yeah I did. By the way, I do always adjust
<v Speaker 2>my field of view sliders because I will get major
<v Speaker 2>ly c sick if I don't have the correct field
<v Speaker 2>of view, Like if it's too close, if it's too far,
<v Speaker 2>I'm out. I get a migraine.
<v Speaker 1>Now, of course, you know the like, why aren't they
<v Speaker 1>say thing about PC performance? Well, that's you know that
<v Speaker 1>the team hasn't say anything. Brandy Pitchford has over here.
<v Speaker 1>This is a quote from PC games in Gearboxy or
<v Speaker 1>Randy Pitcherd has responded on Twitter by offering potential fixes
<v Speaker 1>for the first person shooter games launch weekend to try
<v Speaker 1>and help players out. Consistently across multiple posts, he states
<v Speaker 1>that some older rigs simply won't be able to run
<v Speaker 1>the game. Here's the quote. Buckle up. Borderlands four is
<v Speaker 1>a premium game game made for premium gamers. Just as
<v Speaker 1>Borderlands four cannot run on a PlayStation four it cannot
<v Speaker 1>be expected to run on two old PC hardware. He
<v Speaker 1>had some more to say there, though, but that's where
<v Speaker 1>he starts.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I don't live too far away from Randy.
<v Speaker 1>You just go smack them upside the head for us,
<v Speaker 1>just like, shut up, Randy, what are you doing right?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I will drive up to Gearbox HQ. I will
<v Speaker 2>knock on the door, and I will go in there
<v Speaker 2>and I will slap him across the face with a
<v Speaker 2>glove for being quite so wretched to gamers. What he's
<v Speaker 2>being condescending more than a little bit here, Randy Pitchford.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, he's being randy about it. If you're trying to
<v Speaker 1>drive a monster truck with a leaf blower's motor, you're
<v Speaker 1>going to be disappointed.
<v Speaker 2>I think people see that one, yep.
<v Speaker 1>I think people are just going to be like, look,
<v Speaker 1>my GPU was a higher end or like a middle
<v Speaker 1>of the road, but higher end middle of the road,
<v Speaker 1>seven hundred dollars like three or four years ago. What
<v Speaker 1>are you talking about? It should still run just fine
<v Speaker 1>on there now. All of this is crazy, though, Like
<v Speaker 1>his position here is crazy. I have a fifty eighty
<v Speaker 1>one of the top of the line GPUs and the
<v Speaker 1>game was running terribly. We had to go to Ultra
<v Speaker 1>performance on DLSS to get near sixty frames per second,
<v Speaker 1>or at least Actually I went into performance and that
<v Speaker 1>was still like forty five to fifty frames per second.
<v Speaker 1>I'm assuming ultra performance gets above sixty, but that's you
<v Speaker 1>are sacrificing a lot of image quality with ultra performance
<v Speaker 1>in DLSS. And it's this is the thing that people hate, Rachel.
<v Speaker 1>Is this idea that developers instead of treating DLSS as
<v Speaker 1>a cherry on top to get extra frames for your
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and sixty five Hurtz refresh monitor, instead of
<v Speaker 1>treating it like something like that. Instead it is a
<v Speaker 1>way just to get the sixty frames per second in
<v Speaker 1>the first place. And it's like, oh, gamers do not
<v Speaker 1>like this, as like the DLSS is our optimization instead
<v Speaker 1>of optimization plus DLSS.
<v Speaker 2>What's the gearbucks for? Correct me if I'm wrong. It's
<v Speaker 2>seventy dollars.
<v Speaker 1>Right the game? Yeah, No, I think it's seventy. I
<v Speaker 1>think that's seventy.
<v Speaker 2>Every seventy dollars for something that seventy dollars is a
<v Speaker 2>lot to ask for something that's only going to run
<v Speaker 2>on well, that well, assuming Randy Pitchford's thesis is correct,
<v Speaker 2>which I don't, but if we assume it is something
<v Speaker 2>that will only run on premium rigs, and so, like,
<v Speaker 2>how much disposable income does Randy Pitchford think we have
<v Speaker 2>in this economy? Like first like that, and then first
<v Speaker 2>of all, let's that's like the money issue side of things.
<v Speaker 2>But on the other hand, that's not how optimization works
<v Speaker 2>at all. It's like it doesn't matter how you know, yes,
<v Speaker 2>you could have a really powerful rig, but that doesn't
<v Speaker 2>necessarily mean the game is going to run well even
<v Speaker 2>on a really powerful rig.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And like, I think the optimization is clearly the
<v Speaker 1>culprit here because this check continues to point out it's
<v Speaker 1>on Xbox Series S, which has a less powerful GPU,
<v Speaker 1>and there are a lot of PCs out there with
<v Speaker 1>equivalent GPUs to the Xbox Series S that are really
<v Speaker 1>struggling with this game. It is a PC performance optimization issue,
<v Speaker 1>and Gearbox should just do something about it. I get that,
<v Speaker 1>it's like you could prioritize the console that is probably
<v Speaker 1>still the bulk of the sales for a game like this,
<v Speaker 1>but come on.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think we should take Randy Pitchford's like words
<v Speaker 2>as like that's how everybody gearbox feels about PC gaming, Like.
<v Speaker 1>Oh oh sure, yes, yeah, for sure.
<v Speaker 2>Oh dear, you don't have you don't have a powerful rig,
<v Speaker 2>how dare you. I don't think that's how everybody a
<v Speaker 2>gearbox feels about it. I think Randy's just being Randy.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Hopefully though, uh he could
<v Speaker 1>stop speaking for them. I think that'd be great too. Yeah. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>all right, let's keep moving here. Actually, know what, let's
<v Speaker 1>take a break. We're gonna take a break. We're gonna
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna go to our ad. We'll come right back
<v Speaker 1>with plenty more headlines after this. If you want to
<v Speaker 1>skip out on this, you go to giant bomb dot
<v Speaker 1>com slash join, become a premium member, get the atre
<v Speaker 1>version of the show. We'll be right back coming.
<v Speaker 2>To you live from Giant Bomb. It's the Character Issues Podcast.
<v Speaker 3>The Character Issues Podcast is a podcast where we are
<v Speaker 3>making the definitive scientific list of the greatest video game
<v Speaker 3>characters of all time. Every episode, I am joined by
<v Speaker 3>host Leah Haydos me Hi Hello, Hi, Hello, Hello, and
<v Speaker 3>Rich Davison Hello from across the Pond. As we discuss
<v Speaker 3>rank and basically give you the definitive guide of who
<v Speaker 3>are the greatest video game characters of all time. We
<v Speaker 3>currently have over seventy episodes out and I know what
<v Speaker 3>you're thinking. I don't want to go back and listen
<v Speaker 3>to all of those episodes. So here's a few facts
<v Speaker 3>to catch you up on any in joke lore so
<v Speaker 3>you can jump in right now.
<v Speaker 1>We have an unhealthy relationship with the character Voldo from
<v Speaker 1>Seulcualaba Rich.
<v Speaker 2>Really hates the Scandinavian.
<v Speaker 3>The most important spot is the number sixty nine spot.
<v Speaker 2>Every twenty three episodes we have a rerank of Palooza.
<v Speaker 3>The second number one important spot is again not the
<v Speaker 3>top spot, it's the bottom spot, which is perennially going
<v Speaker 3>to be Chad Lee.
<v Speaker 1>From Found fusand and seven Remake and Reverse.
<v Speaker 2>I'm so funny, Like, seriously, guys, you don't even know.
<v Speaker 3>So if after hearing all of those wonderful facts about
<v Speaker 3>our podcast, you're still interested, you can go to any
<v Speaker 3>of your podcast services and search for the Character Issues podcasts.
<v Speaker 1>And it will be there.
<v Speaker 3>You can also follow us on Blue Sky at the
<v Speaker 3>Character Issues podcast or send us an email at Character
<v Speaker 3>Issues podcasts at gmail dot com. Thank you everybody for listening,
<v Speaker 3>and thank you Giant Bomb for allowing us to advertise
<v Speaker 3>on your wonderful podcast about video games. We look forward
<v Speaker 3>to talking to all.
<v Speaker 1>Of you soon. All Right, we're back. Uh, let's get
<v Speaker 1>into Game mess Mornings over here with me Jeff Grubb
<v Speaker 1>and Rachel Kaser and an another new headline. Leaked Battlefield
<v Speaker 1>six skin has some players wanting to send EA a message.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Blair mart Now at GameSpot. Battlefield six
<v Speaker 1>has largely largely been well received during its beta test,
<v Speaker 1>but some players have been very adamant that the game
<v Speaker 1>should avoid the fortnightification that the Cole of Duty franchise
<v Speaker 1>has embraced. Battlefield Studios head Vince Sampella has previously said
<v Speaker 1>that Battlefield six will stay true to Battlefield. However, a
<v Speaker 1>leaked Battlefield skin a six skin has some players eager
<v Speaker 1>to send EA a message that they won't welcome similar
<v Speaker 1>outfits in the game. The lime green on black look
<v Speaker 1>isn't nearly as cartoonish as the Beavis and butt Head
<v Speaker 1>or American Dad skins. It is like a military operator,
<v Speaker 1>but one that is like gussied up for sure?
<v Speaker 2>Is I guess the most looking at it here. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it's yeah, yeah, it is basically just like tactical gear
<v Speaker 2>that looks like it's just been like spray painted.
<v Speaker 1>A little right, right, someone did a little customization work
<v Speaker 1>or whatever. Well, uh, fans aren't happy with that even
<v Speaker 1>And this is I'm not too surprised about this. There
<v Speaker 1>was a question on the Battlefield subreddit around the time
<v Speaker 1>of one of the Alphas or the betas, and they
<v Speaker 1>were like, hey, like what level of weird skin would
<v Speaker 1>you be okay with? And it like went up to
<v Speaker 1>like thirteen or fourteen on this like chart on the spectrum,
<v Speaker 1>and that was like cartoon characters on at number fourteen,
<v Speaker 1>and number like five was a playing closed CIA officer
<v Speaker 1>or something like that, and then like one, two and
<v Speaker 1>three were all like mostly military people. But maybe they
<v Speaker 1>started to get a little bit like, oh, here's an
<v Speaker 1>extra chochkey on something, and everyone was like, one, I
<v Speaker 1>don't want anything beyond the standard military looking dude you
<v Speaker 1>can possibly imagine, And there was a huge way of
<v Speaker 1>support from that from that community. Now that doesn't that
<v Speaker 1>doesn't seem feasible, that doesn't seem likely that that's the
<v Speaker 1>way they're going to go. So EA and Dice are
<v Speaker 1>gonna have to walk this line of trying to put
<v Speaker 1>these things out there and keep this fan base happy,
<v Speaker 1>but also seems like these are the people that would
<v Speaker 1>never buy a skin, so like like you can't really
<v Speaker 1>worry about them too much. You sort of have to
<v Speaker 1>be like, no, we got this whole other side of
<v Speaker 1>the audience that does care about this. I think what
<v Speaker 1>people are settling on from the Battlefield community is can
<v Speaker 1>we have a toggle to turn off seeing other people's skins?
<v Speaker 1>And do you think that's something EA and Dice would
<v Speaker 1>consider or or is that like, oh, that defeats the
<v Speaker 1>purpose of people spending twenty dollars on one of these things.
<v Speaker 2>I think that kind of defeats the purpose to because
<v Speaker 2>you you, this is a first person game. If you
<v Speaker 2>buy a skin, you're buying it so that other people
<v Speaker 2>can see you. Yes, I mean, I don't know. I
<v Speaker 2>would caution anyone against getting too upset over the skin.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it could very well be just like a
<v Speaker 2>leftover thing that somebody found it. It may not actually
<v Speaker 2>ever turn up in the game. But on the other hand,
<v Speaker 2>I also understand if Battlefield being more grounded, being a
<v Speaker 2>bit more a bit less call of duty. That's kind
<v Speaker 2>of its whole thing. And I don't I think if
<v Speaker 2>EA tries to go that route, they might try for
<v Speaker 2>like what's the what's the metaphor of the frog and
<v Speaker 2>the boiling water?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, they'll.
<v Speaker 2>Start with the like really grounded, cool military.
<v Speaker 1>Skins and yeah, good point.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe like a year down the line, they'll be like,
<v Speaker 2>by the way, here's a uh you know, here's the
<v Speaker 2>like slightly fleshier skin.
<v Speaker 1>Here's a here's a free one that is a little
<v Speaker 1>bit more outlandish for Christmas. And it's like, okay, like
<v Speaker 1>this like this' it's things, but it's free. Maybe some
<v Speaker 1>people start using it. You're right, I think that it's
<v Speaker 1>exactly the frog in the water slow being boiled, where
<v Speaker 1>they can turn this up like one little step at
<v Speaker 1>a time, and if there's too much pushback, they sort
<v Speaker 1>of just take a break. They they're like they have
<v Speaker 1>some other like very standard military fatigues waiting in the wings,
<v Speaker 1>like here here's some more of that, and then when
<v Speaker 1>it dies down, you try again. I don't think they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna ever get to SpongeBob and Beavis and butt heead No,
<v Speaker 1>I love.
<v Speaker 2>That so, but on the other hand, I think fans
<v Speaker 2>should be careful about saying, oh, don't become Fortnite. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know about that. I don't know if you want
<v Speaker 2>to tell the company that, because Fortnite's really profitable and
<v Speaker 2>they and that's where the new audience is Fortnite roeblocks,
<v Speaker 2>and those are the people that they really want playing Battlefield,
<v Speaker 2>So be careful about telling them to not do the
<v Speaker 2>thing that's going to make them money.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's like.
<v Speaker 2>That's gonna work out as well as you think it's
<v Speaker 2>going to.
<v Speaker 1>I agree, And I think that they have made it
<v Speaker 1>clear that they have huge, huge goals for this Battlefield game.
<v Speaker 1>They've talked about one hundred million players or whatever. And
<v Speaker 1>if you're talking about an audience that big, you are
<v Speaker 1>talking about an audience big enough to sell skins too,
<v Speaker 1>and they will be accommodating of all kinds of different skins.
<v Speaker 1>So they've already talked about moving and growing beyond the
<v Speaker 1>core Battlefield audience that would be that would typically show
<v Speaker 1>up for this game. So but at the same time,
<v Speaker 1>you know, you want that positive word of mouth, and
<v Speaker 1>so I think they do it very slowly. So it's
<v Speaker 1>a very slow frog boil and in the meantime, they'll
<v Speaker 1>try to see what they can get away with with
<v Speaker 1>the stuff like this that is mostly inoffensive but slightly outlandish,
<v Speaker 1>and then they'll see what the feedbacks like. So this
<v Speaker 1>sort of community effort to be like, hey, let EA
<v Speaker 1>know that you don't want anything worse than this. That
<v Speaker 1>is one option right now to say you're like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>voice your opinion, criticize the company. You're allowed to. They're
<v Speaker 1>allowed to try. They're allowed to try to sell you stuff,
<v Speaker 1>and you're allowed to be like, hey, this sucks and
<v Speaker 1>we'll see what EA ends up doing.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, it's totally valid, but I'm just saying, like,
<v Speaker 2>don't use words like oh, don't become Fortnite yes when
<v Speaker 2>it That is tricky because the company will be like, well,
<v Speaker 2>why can't we have Fortnite money?
<v Speaker 1>Huh. They definitely want Fortnite money. They something investors understand,
<v Speaker 1>all right. Nintendo's latest Amibo figures push the boundaries of
<v Speaker 1>size and price. This is from Andy Robinson at VGC.
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo's next wave of Ambo toys will be the company's
<v Speaker 1>largest and most expensive figures to date. Announced on Friday,
<v Speaker 1>Metroid Prime four Beyond Kirby air Riders, the Super Mario
<v Speaker 1>Galaxy are each getting their own unique amoebo releases. Most
<v Speaker 1>notable are the Kirby figures, which, at fifty dollars each,
<v Speaker 1>are the most expensive amoebo to date. Typically, Ambo figures
<v Speaker 1>cost between twenty to thirty dollars in the US, and
<v Speaker 1>at launch a decade ago, they were closer to fifteen. However,
<v Speaker 1>the Kirby amibo are unique in that they include both
<v Speaker 1>a rider figure and a machine to which they can
<v Speaker 1>be attached, which with the drivers being interchangeable, This functionality
<v Speaker 1>will also carry over the game when different combinations are scanned.
<v Speaker 1>Players can scan their amibo to create an in game
<v Speaker 1>rider and air Ride machine CABO and train it as
<v Speaker 1>a figure player, which will gain figure player levels with use. Okay, yeah, cool,
<v Speaker 1>they are all that feels like working backward from How
<v Speaker 1>can we raise the prices of these things here? Let's
<v Speaker 1>add a couple of funk like functions to this thing.
<v Speaker 1>Let's make it big so we can justify the fifty
<v Speaker 1>dollars price tag, because hey, tariffs are making these things
<v Speaker 1>expensive to ship to the United States. There I get
<v Speaker 1>the sense, Rachel that like a lot of these prices
<v Speaker 1>are closer in line with like what what people in
<v Speaker 1>like places like Canada and Australia see. And as usual,
<v Speaker 1>there has been a lot of backlash here because the
<v Speaker 1>United States is especially whiny when it comes to price increases.
<v Speaker 1>I've said this before. It's why these companies kind of
<v Speaker 1>give us a little bit more of kids glove treatment
<v Speaker 1>with our price increases and everywhere else it has to
<v Speaker 1>bear the burden of like, well, even if you do complain,
<v Speaker 1>we're not going to hear you. Canada, get out of here,
<v Speaker 1>and so but it's it's coming for us now, and
<v Speaker 1>it it's like, oh, people, there there is this backlash.
<v Speaker 1>People are mad at Nintendo about its current price. And
<v Speaker 1>we have another story here in a second we'll get to.
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know, what do you think when you
<v Speaker 1>see a fifty dollar Amibo games used to be fifty dollars?
<v Speaker 2>I know, and my first thought is like I can't.
<v Speaker 2>I really feel like ambo has sort of outgrown like
<v Speaker 2>the purpose they originally had, Like it was originally something
<v Speaker 2>that you used a Mibo you get like a cute
<v Speaker 2>little like I have some of mine back here, and
<v Speaker 2>you'd get something cute in the game and now it's
<v Speaker 2>a I am almost surprised that ambo have stuck around
<v Speaker 2>as long as they have, so somebody is buying them.
<v Speaker 2>Nintendo wouldn't make a big play like this if somebody
<v Speaker 2>weren't buying them, And I wonder if it isn't. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>the intended audience is not the US buyers. Maybe that's
<v Speaker 2>why they're so confident in offering this price, like, well,
<v Speaker 2>we know people, you know, the the sales in the
<v Speaker 2>US are going to go down. Maybe because the Japanese
<v Speaker 2>audience is going to buy them instead.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's you know, Kirby's a character
<v Speaker 1>that they know has a lot of juice with merchandise,
<v Speaker 1>so that I think they are. They're also confident they
<v Speaker 1>can get away with a lot.
<v Speaker 2>Here, my voice got really loud for a second.
<v Speaker 1>They're sorry, Oh that's all good. You know, let's stick
<v Speaker 1>with this this theme here and get to this next story.
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo's Switch Mario Galaxy Collection collection will retail for seventy dollars.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Andy Robinson at VGC. Nintendo's just announced
<v Speaker 1>Super Mario Galaxy Switch collection will retail for seventy dollars.
<v Speaker 1>It has been confirmed that means the two games collection
<v Speaker 1>will cost ten dollars more than Nintendo's last anniversary collection,
<v Speaker 1>Super Mario three D all Stars, which included three titles
<v Speaker 1>and was only on sale for a year for those
<v Speaker 1>who already owned three D all Stars, which includes the
<v Speaker 1>first Mario Galaxy game. Nintendo's confirmed that it will sell
<v Speaker 1>Galaxy and Galaxy To individually for forty dollars each. Now,
<v Speaker 1>at the same time, it does seem like they're doing
<v Speaker 1>a bit more I hesitate to say quite a bit more,
<v Speaker 1>but definitely a noticeable amount more for this version of
<v Speaker 1>the port, where they're increasing resolution and adding some other
<v Speaker 1>quality of life quality of life things, and it just
<v Speaker 1>overall looks like a better package. Now, I don't I
<v Speaker 1>don't know if it's a forty dollars better package where
<v Speaker 1>it's like, oh my god, this is this game is
<v Speaker 1>very old and you are making some improvements. But forty
<v Speaker 1>dollars for it and seventy dollars for both, that price
<v Speaker 1>is high. They are also over at Nintendo seeing a
<v Speaker 1>backlash to this as well. And yeah, I mean these
<v Speaker 1>prices are astronomical. They are much higher than I would
<v Speaker 1>have guessed for these games.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you can usually count on Nintendo. Nintendo never lowers
<v Speaker 2>their prices, but oftentimes they're not necessarily as as high
<v Speaker 2>as other places.
<v Speaker 1>To begin, they they hadn't been right until this generation
<v Speaker 1>with the Switch to where it's like it seems like
<v Speaker 1>at every opportunity they are going to the maximum. They
<v Speaker 1>are like, let's push the envelope of what we can
<v Speaker 1>get away with in terms of price. You know, they're
<v Speaker 1>the first one with an eighty dollars game, really Mario
<v Speaker 1>Kart World, and the Switch to was you know, it's
<v Speaker 1>five hundred dollars with that game included, and that was
<v Speaker 1>a little bit more. I think some people were at
<v Speaker 1>least hoping for. I think the thing here is this
<v Speaker 1>game these this game will sell at this price. People
<v Speaker 1>will show up to buy this game at this price.
<v Speaker 1>So what is Nintendo to do other than release it
<v Speaker 1>at that price because that's what you're supposed to do.
<v Speaker 1>And until Nintendo begins to see a detrimental effect on
<v Speaker 1>its top line sales, I don't think it. I don't
<v Speaker 1>think it changes this course. For as much as people
<v Speaker 1>might be complaining right now, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I mean got to keep in mind that even Nintendo
<v Speaker 2>is not immune to the market effect. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 2>sometimes you know, like to say, like, oh, Nintendo will
<v Speaker 2>put out any Trek and people will buy it in droves.
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, I remember the WEU So that was something
<v Speaker 2>that people didn't turn out to buy in droves because
<v Speaker 2>it was a console that really didn't have a purpose
<v Speaker 2>in the generation at which it was released. So, by
<v Speaker 2>the way, side note, I love how I'm getting so
<v Speaker 2>many Kirby and Metro to mebo's. They can't make a
<v Speaker 2>band at a three ambo. I need to complete my collection.
<v Speaker 1>They don't have the technology to do that yet.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's too honestly, bringing adding a third one to
<v Speaker 2>this would just cause a singularity and then we would
<v Speaker 2>all die.
<v Speaker 1>Uh huh, I yeah, I do get this. Like there,
<v Speaker 1>I did see some switch twos on the shelf the
<v Speaker 1>other day or yesterday that I was at Meyer and
<v Speaker 1>switch toes were there, and that is the most anecdotal evidence.
<v Speaker 1>But I you know, there's some like stirring of hey,
<v Speaker 1>is the switch are the switch to sales slowing down
<v Speaker 1>a little bit there on the tail end? Now, that
<v Speaker 1>wasn't in any of the numbers. When we talked to
<v Speaker 1>Matt Piscatel on the show two weeks ago, was it, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>about two weeks ago he's he pointed out that the
<v Speaker 1>Switch twos sales are ahead of the PS four, which
<v Speaker 1>so it's the fastest ever so far, and it's way
<v Speaker 1>ahead of the Switch one seventy five excuse me, seventy
<v Speaker 1>five percent ahead of where the which one was at.
<v Speaker 1>So according to the numbers, at least so far that
<v Speaker 1>those early adopters really showed up. But there is this
<v Speaker 1>second test that we keep talking about with Matt, where
<v Speaker 1>the holiday is going to come here and that will
<v Speaker 1>be slightly more casual audience members that will be families,
<v Speaker 1>And will they balk at these prices? I gotta say, Rachel,
<v Speaker 1>my guess is, for the most part, no, I don't
<v Speaker 1>think they're going to balk at it. I think they are.
<v Speaker 1>I think they're going to show me like, yeah, man, shit,
<v Speaker 1>this is just what things cost. Now.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that's kind of I think that's going
<v Speaker 2>to be how it is. But I do I do
<v Speaker 2>think that Nintendo, if this is really something that people
<v Speaker 2>can't afford and are not going to, you know, work
<v Speaker 2>into their increasingly strict budgets, then Nintendo will feel the
<v Speaker 2>effects of that. I know. I mean, we might joke
<v Speaker 2>about it, but Nintendo isn't invulnerable. If it turns out
<v Speaker 2>that seventy dollars is more than people are willing to
<v Speaker 2>pay for a Super Mario Galaxy collection, then you know
<v Speaker 2>they will see that will be reflected in their sales.
<v Speaker 2>And if it isn't, then you know, what are we
<v Speaker 2>really complaining about here? Like I don't like to say like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>the market is always right, it isn't. But at the
<v Speaker 2>same time, if if you know, like five million people
<v Speaker 2>show up, but launch day five million, Yeah, if five
<v Speaker 2>million people show up at launch day for to play
<v Speaker 2>Super Mario Galaxy two on the switch to, then I
<v Speaker 2>mean that's then that's just what people are willing to pay.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. And yet I do think we do see that
<v Speaker 1>there's a little bit of a you know, problem in
<v Speaker 1>the armor with Nintendo in terms of, uh, the game
<v Speaker 1>key cards, cause I do think that those have mostly failed.
<v Speaker 1>I think that and you know, at more anecdotal evidence.
<v Speaker 1>I was at Meyer yesterday. I saw those two switch
<v Speaker 1>tos on the shelf. I looked up at the game selection.
<v Speaker 1>Now a game selection for the switch at Meyer, which
<v Speaker 1>is like a local Midwest kind of like a Walmart.
<v Speaker 1>They're the election of games for the switch to there
<v Speaker 1>was pretty robust. There was a lot of games and
<v Speaker 1>some Switch one games as well, and that's that's compared
<v Speaker 1>to the Xbox and the PlayStation five, which each had
<v Speaker 1>like three to five games, and it was like Call
<v Speaker 1>of Duty, n CAA Football, and Doom and like one
<v Speaker 1>or two other things that are like for that very
<v Speaker 1>very broad audience. Nintendo I had it like way more.
<v Speaker 1>But I only saw one game key card on the
<v Speaker 1>shelf at Meyer and it was for Street Fighter six,
<v Speaker 1>and I think I think that was a game key card.
<v Speaker 1>The rest were switched two games that were first party
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo games that weren't game key cards, and then a
<v Speaker 1>lot of Switch one games that had a lot of
<v Speaker 1>third party stuff, but obviously none of those were game
<v Speaker 1>key cards. So I think like there is the places
<v Speaker 1>areas where Nintendo is not getting away with everything that's
<v Speaker 1>trying to get away with and they are going to
<v Speaker 1>have to adjust. It just doesn't feel like for the
<v Speaker 1>most part overall, pricing has been that hurdle. We'll see
<v Speaker 1>if that changes this holiday.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And I will say like for me, the big
<v Speaker 2>moment of like, oh really, Nintendo was the Virtual Boy
<v Speaker 2>shaped switchtock for one hundred dollars, which is only going
<v Speaker 2>to be able to play fourteen games total. Like, to me,
<v Speaker 2>that's that's the big thing of Nintendo being like, really,
<v Speaker 2>this is that, that's what you choose to do with
<v Speaker 2>the money, Nintendo. This is what at one hundred dollars
<v Speaker 2>for the pleasure of playing games that I believe people
<v Speaker 2>said gave them headaches when they were originally launched. It's
<v Speaker 2>I didn't play an original Virtual Boy, but no one day. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that that was the moment where I was like, I mean, honestly,
<v Speaker 2>it wasn't the Amibo. It was the Virtual Boy where
<v Speaker 2>I was like, really, Nintendo.
<v Speaker 1>Yep uh. The Virtual Boy is is just so instant
<v Speaker 1>that one feels like them almost trolling everybody. It does
<v Speaker 1>like we are Nintendo.
<v Speaker 2>But the fact they brought Koizumi sad out to market
<v Speaker 2>that the man who could sell the man who could
<v Speaker 2>sell sand in the desert.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah huh, it's uh. I was just like, okay, I hear,
<v Speaker 1>I'll pay whatever, And of course they're like, yeah you will.
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna pay whatever for this. That's one hundred dollars.
<v Speaker 1>Please that things still not on sale in the United States, right,
<v Speaker 1>everybody tell me when it isn't, so I need to
<v Speaker 1>I need to prove that I am the true sucker
<v Speaker 1>and the biggest mark here. Square Enix confirms entire Final
<v Speaker 1>Fantasy seven trilogy will come to Switch to. This is,
<v Speaker 1>you know, not too surprising, but this just wanted to
<v Speaker 1>like get this out there that They did confirm that
<v Speaker 1>in addition to Final Fantasy seven remake, Integrate coming to
<v Speaker 1>switch to on January twenty second, I guess it's also
<v Speaker 1>coming to Xbox that day. Excuse me. They've said that, Hey,
<v Speaker 1>the Remax trilogy going forward will also always be on
<v Speaker 1>switch to an Xbox Series, x N S and Xbox
<v Speaker 1>on PC as well as the other platforms where already
<v Speaker 1>was So that means probably Rebirth not too long from now,
<v Speaker 1>and then the third game again we talked about that.
<v Speaker 1>I talked about this last time, Your Reunion whatever it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be called, that will probably launch on all
<v Speaker 1>of these platforms at the same time, would be my guess. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it does feel like we are fully in the Square Enix. Hey,
<v Speaker 1>our game has just come out everywhere. We're done with
<v Speaker 1>the PlayStation exclusivity thing, and that's probably a good thing
<v Speaker 1>for them, right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, probably with as much retrenching as they've had to
<v Speaker 2>do in the last like three years or so. Then yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I think costing themselves to the PlayStation. I think they've
<v Speaker 2>finally seen that that, or at least most recently, they
<v Speaker 2>have not seen a huge return on that. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean a device that's in that many people's hands. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>they want to get Final Fantasy on that because they
<v Speaker 2>need Final Fantasy, Devin Remake, Reunion, rebirth, recreation, whatever number
<v Speaker 2>three is going to be called. They need that in
<v Speaker 2>as many hands as possible.
<v Speaker 1>And then just a quick update before we get out
<v Speaker 1>of the headlines. Pilatro's biggest update yet is taking longer
<v Speaker 1>than expected. Basically, developer Local Thunk said that he's working slowly,
<v Speaker 1>but he also kind of wants to take his time
<v Speaker 1>because otherwise he would have to crunch to get out
<v Speaker 1>this year. So he's made the decision just delay till
<v Speaker 1>next year. And this is one of those ones where
<v Speaker 1>it's like, hey, the fans like, yeah, please take it easy.
<v Speaker 1>We don't care. We want you to just take care
<v Speaker 1>of yourself. Thank you so much for this amazing game.
<v Speaker 1>And this is Blantro Rachel feels like a game that
<v Speaker 1>is going to be with us forever. It is, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>I hope so Sudoku and crosswords now it's just going
<v Speaker 1>to be there forever for everybody. So yeah, pace yourself
<v Speaker 1>local thunk. I think that's probably the right move here, right, Oh.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely. And I see this all the time with fans.
<v Speaker 2>Whenever somebody announces a delay. I almost think sometimes we're
<v Speaker 2>too nice, which isn't something I usually say about gamers,
<v Speaker 2>but like, huh, whenever somebody announces that, the first like
<v Speaker 2>twenty or so replies are from other gamers being like,
<v Speaker 2>take your time, get it out to you, get get
<v Speaker 2>it out to us when you can, King, Queen, monarch, whoever,
<v Speaker 2>and just please just take your time. We'd rather it
<v Speaker 2>be late than be bad or you know that well.
<v Speaker 2>And also usually this is something like I'd rather you
<v Speaker 2>take your time than crunch, which that's a good sentiment,
<v Speaker 2>but sometimes I'm like, you know, you don't have to
<v Speaker 2>say that to the big corporations. Very likely they're delaying
<v Speaker 2>it so that the game releases in a more favorable
<v Speaker 2>financial quarter, not necessarily because they care that the game
<v Speaker 2>needs to be perfect for you, but in Balatro's case,
<v Speaker 2>I absolutely believe that's what local Thunk wants is for
<v Speaker 2>the new update to be perfect and everything the fans want,
<v Speaker 2>and also he wants to he they want to have
<v Speaker 2>a life and have a good work life balance and
<v Speaker 2>good mental health. So I think he is a good
<v Speaker 2>person to use that sentiment on.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah for sure kind of in there and like
<v Speaker 1>Local Thunk apparently like really develop the game by just
<v Speaker 1>making a bunch of if then statements. That has got
<v Speaker 1>to be so crazy to like get in there and
<v Speaker 1>make changes to all of that. Yeah, I'm like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>take your time, don't kill yourself trying to figure that
<v Speaker 1>game out. All right. That does over the headlines, we
<v Speaker 1>do not have a pull question. We have the Bomb
<v Speaker 1>twelve from last Friday that we did. People should be
<v Speaker 1>able to find the link to the form for the
<v Speaker 1>new Bomb twelve this week on giant bomb dot com.
<v Speaker 1>I posted the blog post about the last Bomb twelve
<v Speaker 1>in there at the bottom is that link to the
<v Speaker 1>new form. Go ahead and fill it out if you
<v Speaker 1>know what your game is for this week already. If
<v Speaker 1>you want to wait till Thursday, I'll close it sometimes
<v Speaker 1>sometime on Thursday evening, so until then you have a
<v Speaker 1>chance to go in there and make your voice heard.
<v Speaker 1>We have a new pole question. We'll get to that
<v Speaker 1>in a second. Before we do, though, Rachel Kaser, why
<v Speaker 1>don't you tell people where they can find you on
<v Speaker 1>the internet, what you have going on and all of
<v Speaker 1>that good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I'm on PTO, so I would normally I would say, well,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to say this anyway. You can find my
<v Speaker 2>written work at gamesbet dot com, and you know you
<v Speaker 2>should go check us out. We are also like Giant
<v Speaker 2>Bomb and independent games media publication, and we have a
<v Speaker 2>subscription service if anyone is interested in that. But to
<v Speaker 2>read the stories, you won't. It's free. Ninety nine percent
<v Speaker 2>of the stories on games beat it are free. I
<v Speaker 2>know there's been some confusion about that, but you don't
<v Speaker 2>have to pay to read the vast majority. If you
<v Speaker 2>don't need to sign up to read your own articles, audience,
<v Speaker 2>do just enter your email. You don't need to pay.
<v Speaker 1>I did figure this out, and now I'm reading my articles,
<v Speaker 1>thank you very much.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, so uh so, I won't necessarily have anything
<v Speaker 2>new there this week, but I will. I am regularly
<v Speaker 2>updating my TikTok where I talk about uh game game
<v Speaker 2>releases and uh, well that's the on the games Beat TikTok.
<v Speaker 2>I have so many tiktoks it's confusing. I talk about
<v Speaker 2>gaming news daily and on my third channel, I also
<v Speaker 2>talk about the Golden Girls and dungeons and dragons and
<v Speaker 2>weird stuff like that. I even posted a clip from
<v Speaker 2>the show on on my third TikTok account where basically
<v Speaker 2>you are sitting there watching me talk about golden girls
<v Speaker 2>with this look on your face, like, Jen, why did
<v Speaker 2>you bring this up?
<v Speaker 1>She's gonna keep talking for the rest of the show.
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't have it any other way. Uh, what is
<v Speaker 1>the what's the what's the name of that TikTok? Where
<v Speaker 1>can people find it?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? Yeah, sorry? There the TikTok is. Well, we have
<v Speaker 2>the games Beat TikTok, which is just at games Beat,
<v Speaker 2>and we have my TikTok which is at Grace of Athena,
<v Speaker 2>and then we have my other TikTok which is at
<v Speaker 2>Rachel g Kser. So basically, if you just search the
<v Speaker 2>name Rachel Kaser on TikTok, you'll find my TikTok account
<v Speaker 2>and my secondary one probably and if you search games
<v Speaker 2>Beat you'll find games Beat on TikTok. And I'm also
<v Speaker 2>updating all of my other social media accounts regularly, and
<v Speaker 2>I'm getting back into my tumbler, so i should be
<v Speaker 2>having out some new Perry Mason posts soon.
<v Speaker 1>I have a I have a similar TikTok to your
<v Speaker 1>Golden Girls one. It's all about mash Star Alan Alda.
<v Speaker 1>It's called all the News That's fit the print.
<v Speaker 2>That's a I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to
<v Speaker 2>follow this.
<v Speaker 1>Because that's joke. Yeah, that's a that's a stolen joke.
<v Speaker 1>There you go, everybody, all right. Uh, we have a
<v Speaker 1>new poll question, what game do you want most from
<v Speaker 1>Insomniac after Wolverine, Venom, New Spider Man, X Men, or
<v Speaker 1>a new Ratchet and Clink. Those are your options. You
<v Speaker 1>can vote, we'll get the results. We'll talk about it
<v Speaker 1>on Games Mornings here on Wednesday. On Giant Bomb. Speaking
<v Speaker 1>of Giant Bomb, we're gonna do some some like getting
<v Speaker 1>in the goods the website today and our streaming set up.
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna do a test. Let's see here what time
<v Speaker 1>we're doing that jam. We're doing that at two pm.
<v Speaker 1>We're doing some chunk testing. So hang out with us.
<v Speaker 1>I know hate you're like, oh, what happened to Riven?
<v Speaker 1>Well we beat Riven? Why aren't you watching? What's your problem? Yeah? Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we'll beat Proud. Thank you. It was a lot of fun.
<v Speaker 1>It's good to just like kind of shout ideas at
<v Speaker 1>Mike and then force him to do it. Riven was
<v Speaker 1>a lot of fun. We're gonna get back to missed,
<v Speaker 1>but I think the plan is after this week, take
<v Speaker 1>some time for Spooky season to play some spooky games
<v Speaker 1>in that slot. I think a seventh guest will be
<v Speaker 1>what we do next, and then, yeah, I know I'm
<v Speaker 1>looking forward to I'm want to try the VR one
<v Speaker 1>apparently that's pretty decent tonight eight pm Mega Man Monday
<v Speaker 1>evening gaming at Mike's at night. That'll yeah, eight pm
<v Speaker 1>Eastern show up for that. I don't know what he's playing,
<v Speaker 1>but we'll figure it out and then BombCast tomorrow. Tune
<v Speaker 1>in for that. We'll see y'all for that show with
<v Speaker 1>the regular crew and the me time. I think that's
<v Speaker 1>gonna do it for us. Rachel, thank you so much
<v Speaker 1>for hanging out with me today and talking about video games.
<v Speaker 1>I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you. For inviting me. I always love coming on everybody.
<v Speaker 2>A giant bomb is always so nice pleasant.
<v Speaker 1>Well they're nice to me, Yeah, that's that's that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Uh no, thank you Rachel, Thank you everybody for listening
<v Speaker 1>and watching. You are the best audience in gaming. Until
<v Speaker 1>next time, have a good one, take care of yourself
<v Speaker 1>and goodbye.