2K is Preparing an Announcement for BioShock Franchise?

<v Speaker 1>He'll be don't be bad. Hey, everybody, welcome to Game
<v Speaker 1>Mess Mornings with Me Jeff Grubb, your host from giant
<v Speaker 1>bomb dot com. Thank you for tuning in. In this episode,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna be talking about how the biggest release of
<v Speaker 1>the year may be hiding inside of another game. It's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be a good one because we have Khalif Adams
<v Speaker 1>on the show. Ka, how are you doing, fam.
<v Speaker 2>So good to see you, so good to be rocking
<v Speaker 2>with you. Thank you so much for having me. And
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing well. I'm doing okay, trying to figure it out.
<v Speaker 2>Good to see you losing the hair by the day. Uh,
<v Speaker 2>me too, trying to figure it all out, but good, good, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I I yeah, it's been a minute like I have
<v Speaker 1>since I've talked to you. So yeah, it's good to
<v Speaker 1>have you on the show. How are things going in
<v Speaker 1>the Spawn on Me universe?
<v Speaker 2>So of me is great? Were in year eleven of
<v Speaker 2>the show, which is which is nuts? Uh, you know,
<v Speaker 2>trying to figure out out, you know, what the next
<v Speaker 2>step is for for what we want to do, trying
<v Speaker 2>to try to get some folks to help us build
<v Speaker 2>Spawne's again because that's super fun. And you know, getting
<v Speaker 2>ready getting ready for Summer Games Fest too. I think
<v Speaker 2>that's the big thing on the horizon right now, is
<v Speaker 2>just getting getting the ducks in order for for coverage
<v Speaker 2>on that show. But yeah, things decent, I bet yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I just always see hustling out there, always trying to
<v Speaker 1>make stuff happen. I always respect that. So Spawnee's is
<v Speaker 1>a very cool thing. I'm glad you're gonna try to
<v Speaker 1>do that again. Uh, Like at this point, Summer Game
<v Speaker 1>Fest is that a kind of thing where uh you'll
<v Speaker 1>get some like things lined up for something like the
<v Speaker 1>spawnees and spawn on me, but also maybe cover some
<v Speaker 1>games in some way. Like what do you hope to
<v Speaker 1>get out of a show like that?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, Spaani's is really interesting because it is one
<v Speaker 2>of those things where the show happens like basically in
<v Speaker 2>the next year. So it's like getting things in order
<v Speaker 2>for for what I try to do. Summer Games Fest
<v Speaker 2>is like multiple layers, especially now because I'm unemployed, so
<v Speaker 2>I'm like I'm hustling for work. I'm trying to network
<v Speaker 2>for the show. I'm pitching you know, developers to be
<v Speaker 2>a part of the show now to say like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>you know, our show is a really good space to
<v Speaker 2>you know, showcase your game and you know get a
<v Speaker 2>release date or you know, talk to a developer and
<v Speaker 2>bring those things on alongside kind of talking to sponsors
<v Speaker 2>and trying to get them on board. So you know,
<v Speaker 2>Summer Games Fest is a really good networking opportunity for me,
<v Speaker 2>especially because I get to see people who haven't seen
<v Speaker 2>it in a while and then also get a chance
<v Speaker 2>to like talk to them about like what games are
<v Speaker 2>they're making, and also covering games during the show too.
<v Speaker 2>So it's usually a pretty busy couple of days for me,
<v Speaker 2>but it usually winds up bearing a ton of good
<v Speaker 2>fruit for the rest of the year.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's it's interesting, like I've been paying a little
<v Speaker 1>bit more attention, like talking to some people from platforms
<v Speaker 1>like Twitch and stuff like that, and they mentioned like
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people who stream a lot have decided
<v Speaker 1>like it's just not even worth it to go to
<v Speaker 1>Summer Game Fest because they make more money stay at
<v Speaker 1>home and cover in it. It's like, yeah, I guess
<v Speaker 1>that makes a lot of sense, Like for me, I
<v Speaker 1>think for you and I like, it makes a lot
<v Speaker 1>of sense because connecting with people there's a lot of
<v Speaker 1>value in that for us, and it's been important for
<v Speaker 1>me for a variety of ways, but mostly the evidence
<v Speaker 1>of that is on the screen be at night. But
<v Speaker 1>even beyond that, it's good to get in front of
<v Speaker 1>people for a variety of reasons. But for this next
<v Speaker 1>crop of people who cover games, I think they're just thinking,
<v Speaker 1>we want the content, and it's easier to get the
<v Speaker 1>content on my computer at home. And I guess that
<v Speaker 1>makes a lot of sense. Like I said, so, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I wonder what the future of something like Summer Game
<v Speaker 1>Fest looks like. Is it even more of an industry
<v Speaker 1>event than it already is.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it's interesting because I was talking to
<v Speaker 2>somebody the other day and you know, we've been in
<v Speaker 2>the game for a minute now, so we actually understand
<v Speaker 2>what like E three was, you know, like we had
<v Speaker 2>been to multiple versions of it. We had been in
<v Speaker 2>spaces where you have to be able to connect with
<v Speaker 2>people and really get in front of them, and it
<v Speaker 2>just changes the way that the way you network happens.
<v Speaker 2>It just changes the way you think about all the
<v Speaker 2>kind of pieces. And I don't think that the next
<v Speaker 2>generation is kind of a generation that's coming up now
<v Speaker 2>has an avenue for that in the same way, and
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't really matter because they have their own legitimate
<v Speaker 2>platforms that they're using through their streaming channels and the
<v Speaker 2>ways that they're doing stuff. They have way more in
<v Speaker 2>some aspects, but also don't have that personal connection that
<v Speaker 2>usually gets us the spaces that we need to get
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<v Speaker 2>interesting balance for them. You know, you and I get
<v Speaker 2>a chance to straddle that line in the ways that
<v Speaker 2>we do our work. So it's nice to be able
<v Speaker 2>to kind of have both tools in your bag for
<v Speaker 2>people to do that stuff. So we'll see what they
<v Speaker 2>what they get the chance to do, and how that
<v Speaker 2>helps them in their careers.
<v Speaker 1>For us too exactly, I'll be keeping my eye on
<v Speaker 1>it for sure. All right, let's explain ourselves. Welcome to
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<v Speaker 1>mess with a report says that two K is preparing
<v Speaker 1>to announce not a new BioShock, but an old BioShock
<v Speaker 1>and some sort of remaster of the very first game.
<v Speaker 1>This comes from Caracas at MP First and again, this
<v Speaker 1>is a rumor, but let's talk it out here. Kyle
<v Speaker 1>According to information we've obtained, two K is preparing an
<v Speaker 1>announcement related to the BioShock franchise. While we don't know
<v Speaker 1>exactly when it will happen, some of the information suggest
<v Speaker 1>it will occur fairly soon, most likely before the end
<v Speaker 1>of summer. At this point, we don't know what the
<v Speaker 1>announcement will be about. It could be the reviewal of
<v Speaker 1>initial details about one of the projects announced several years ago,
<v Speaker 1>such as BioShock four or the upcoming Netflix movie. Some
<v Speaker 1>of the information we've come across also seems to suggest
<v Speaker 1>another possibility, a remake or a proper remaster of the
<v Speaker 1>original BioShock. Yeah. They kind of go on to explain
<v Speaker 1>a little bit more there, but really what's important is
<v Speaker 1>this is a possibility according to what they've received here,
<v Speaker 1>And I don't know. As soon as I heard them,
<v Speaker 1>like that feels right to me, con I'll say, why
<v Speaker 1>they are working on a new BioShock, right, we know
<v Speaker 1>that that is happening. It kind of feels like it's
<v Speaker 1>time to reintroduce a lot of gamers to the idea
<v Speaker 1>of what BioShock even is. Sure, there's a lot of
<v Speaker 1>us who played the game when it first came out,
<v Speaker 1>and it's had re releases since then, but there's a
<v Speaker 1>whole generation I think of people who have come into
<v Speaker 1>video games who missed that BioShock window, and maybe a
<v Speaker 1>re release is a good way to be like to
<v Speaker 1>set the table for a new BioShock game. So that's
<v Speaker 1>why that makes sense to me. How about you, how
<v Speaker 1>are you feeling this?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it makes a ton of sense. I think we're
<v Speaker 2>at that point of the BioShock ip that it you know,
<v Speaker 2>everything kind of has its moment where you get the
<v Speaker 2>first layers of it and then you get the remakes
<v Speaker 2>and then you get the remixes for stuff like that
<v Speaker 2>now and it feels like, yeah, it would make a
<v Speaker 2>ton of sense. I think what I would hope to
<v Speaker 2>see is that when people are thinking about remasters like this,
<v Speaker 2>they add some extra layers to things that give you
<v Speaker 2>a deeper cut, because it feels like the straight one
<v Speaker 2>to one isn't as exciting for I think a lot
<v Speaker 2>of people. But I think if you were to bring
<v Speaker 2>in some of those loss you know, the lost levels
<v Speaker 2>that didn't get pulled in or something else.
<v Speaker 1>That, or even like edit it a little bit to
<v Speaker 1>make it even more like right into the guts of
<v Speaker 1>what makes BioShock BioShock.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's the reason why I really love what they
<v Speaker 2>did with Dead Space, the most recent Dead Space remake,
<v Speaker 2>because they changed literally a major component of the way
<v Speaker 2>the game worked by adding new tech to it and
<v Speaker 2>doing some new things there. So it felt very very
<v Speaker 2>much like akin to what you originally played, but it
<v Speaker 2>also had this new layer to it that absolutely changed
<v Speaker 2>the way you played it, and it added some extra
<v Speaker 2>layers of things with sound and the ways they would
<v Speaker 2>spawn monsters and things like that. I want something like
<v Speaker 2>that for remakes and remasters going forward. Like I think
<v Speaker 2>the straight rip isn't as cool as what you could
<v Speaker 2>do with the extra time that you have and the
<v Speaker 2>extra resources and the extra tech that you have to
<v Speaker 2>build that stuff out. But I do think it's time
<v Speaker 2>to have some some formal version of the BioShock universe
<v Speaker 2>come back in a way before the new game drops,
<v Speaker 2>So that would be cool.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm like, it just makes like I said, makes
<v Speaker 1>sense because it also feels like it's time in a
<v Speaker 1>lot of other ways, even if New BioShock wasn't coming out.
<v Speaker 1>It's just like, yeah, I guess you could get away
<v Speaker 1>with actually straight up remaking BioShock. Now, we don't know
<v Speaker 1>if it's going to be a remake. Maybe it is
<v Speaker 1>just a really good remaster that would be fine as well.
<v Speaker 1>But they've done you know, things along those lines before,
<v Speaker 1>so I do think there's a potential here for this
<v Speaker 1>to be like one of those dead Space style remakes.
<v Speaker 1>And I think maybe the only scary thing there might
<v Speaker 1>be that that dead Space remake. You know, EA wasn't
<v Speaker 1>thrilled with it. I think they were happy with it,
<v Speaker 1>but maybe not just over the top thrilled with it.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, Okay, does something like that work? I
<v Speaker 1>still think for something like BioShock it could, although I
<v Speaker 1>will I will be curious to see the response, like
<v Speaker 1>is this something that a new generation or a new
<v Speaker 1>audience can can lock onto in a way. I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>Maybe it was a time and place thing.
<v Speaker 2>I really do this is one of those moments where
<v Speaker 2>I want the industry to do a little bit more
<v Speaker 2>digging on the analytics side of it, because I am
<v Speaker 2>the person who's like, oh, you know, the younger generations
<v Speaker 2>is going to care about that stuff. And then you
<v Speaker 2>see something like Indiana Jones pop up and do really
<v Speaker 2>good point, right, like I am the person who's like, well,
<v Speaker 2>does does that ip really resonate with an audience who
<v Speaker 2>didn't grow up with those things? And I keep getting
<v Speaker 2>told that I'm wrong by buying the sales numbers for
<v Speaker 2>those things. But I don't know if that's like all
<v Speaker 2>of us who have remembered those things in buying in,
<v Speaker 2>or if a new generation is actually caring about those
<v Speaker 2>things and pulling in. I would love to see some
<v Speaker 2>data that that kind of gives us a better insight
<v Speaker 2>on what that looks like, because then then that kind
<v Speaker 2>of moves the needle for a lot of different people,
<v Speaker 2>because then if it says yes, then you start pulling
<v Speaker 2>a bunch of stuff forward and you're like, oh, okay,
<v Speaker 2>we have an audience here who might care and it
<v Speaker 2>might do something with it. So yeah, I'd love to
<v Speaker 2>see some more data on that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's I think there's a possibility here where it
<v Speaker 1>actually is difficult to even figure out before it happens,
<v Speaker 1>you know, using data, if it can work, maybe or
<v Speaker 1>maybe they'll have to do it several times. But even then,
<v Speaker 1>at that point, it's like, every time one of these
<v Speaker 1>comes out, it changes the calculus right for the next one.
<v Speaker 1>Because are people like, well, I'm sick of all these
<v Speaker 1>remakes at a certain point. That does happen in every
<v Speaker 1>single one of these changes all the other variables, So
<v Speaker 1>it's probably really difficult to predict, so it's always going
<v Speaker 1>to be case by case. BioShock feels like one that is,
<v Speaker 1>you know, if we're going to get a lot of
<v Speaker 1>these remakes, BioShock clearly should be one of them. Like
<v Speaker 1>that makes a lot of sense.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, are you remaked out at this point? Are you still?
<v Speaker 1>I don't think I would be, you know, I I'll
<v Speaker 1>just not play it if I'm bothered by it, like
<v Speaker 1>you know, and I'm not. I haven't been bothered by
<v Speaker 1>it yet so far. Like you know, Oblivion, I thought
<v Speaker 1>that looked really awesome. I've played a little bit of it.
<v Speaker 1>I keep thinking like I would really like to play
<v Speaker 1>more of it. So that one is just appealing to me,
<v Speaker 1>just straight up appealing. Now, there's nothing about it that's
<v Speaker 1>pushing me away. How about you.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. I'm in that weird in between space.
<v Speaker 2>I'm team new for a lot of things. I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>give me new stuff, give me new stuff, of course. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and these are new things. They you know, the Oblivion
<v Speaker 2>one is an actual, like really good example of how
<v Speaker 2>you do a remake, right, Like you are changing a
<v Speaker 2>ton of stuff in terms of the visual fidelity in
<v Speaker 2>that space, and I think, you know, I'm also looking
<v Speaker 2>for a balance of old but also I'm looking forward to, say, like,
<v Speaker 2>what's the new thing that that has on the horizon
<v Speaker 2>that's really pushing the medium forward. So I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>I'm in a weird in between space. I keep saying
<v Speaker 2>that I don't want more, and then somebody drops something
<v Speaker 2>dope and I'm like, damn it, that's actually pretty good,
<v Speaker 2>Like ah, okay, I'll play that too because that feels fun.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, it's a weird in between space for me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I just feel like they, you know, they have
<v Speaker 1>to put a lot of work into whatever project they're
<v Speaker 1>doing to try to make their games stand out. And
<v Speaker 1>for a new game, it's like you got to do
<v Speaker 1>that for every aspect of it. But for a remake,
<v Speaker 1>it's like, we know this, some of the stuff works,
<v Speaker 1>so let's just put a ton of effort into some
<v Speaker 1>of these other things to make it really have a
<v Speaker 1>chance of you know, popping out, even though it already
<v Speaker 1>has that advantage. Of its name brand. So it's like
<v Speaker 1>I get the appeal for a lot of these companies
<v Speaker 1>to want to go back to remakes, and then for us,
<v Speaker 1>I get the appeal where it's like, hey, this is
<v Speaker 1>a known quantity in a lot of ways, and that
<v Speaker 1>makes it worth our time and our money maybe a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more at least in our brains. Yeah, for sure,
<v Speaker 1>Warhammer forty K. Space Marine two gets Siege Mode next month.
<v Speaker 1>Just interesting that they're continuing to support this game. It
<v Speaker 1>seems like it did very well for them. That the
<v Speaker 1>story just comes from Alex Hopley at Game Reactor, but
<v Speaker 1>let's go ahead and pair it up with the next
<v Speaker 1>story right away. Space Marine master Crafted Edition has been revealed,
<v Speaker 1>so they are also apparently yeah, they're remastering the original
<v Speaker 1>Space Marine and they're calling it the master Crafted Edition.
<v Speaker 1>It will have higher for and improved textures, four K resolution,
<v Speaker 1>improved character models, modernized control scheme and interface overhaul, and
<v Speaker 1>remastered audio. This is kind of like them playing out
<v Speaker 1>one of the scenarios that we're talking about in the
<v Speaker 1>last story right where it is that there was a
<v Speaker 1>new game that gave them reasons now to go back
<v Speaker 1>to this older game. And remaster that again. Clearly that
<v Speaker 1>is with the plan of long term support for Space
<v Speaker 1>Marine two, which I bet they expect to sell very
<v Speaker 1>well for a long time as it turns through sales
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that, and then also to set the
<v Speaker 1>table probably for Space Marine three because the second one
<v Speaker 1>did so well in sales wise. This is an example
<v Speaker 1>of like things working right. It's properly budgeted, properly managed,
<v Speaker 1>at least as far as we can tell. I don't
<v Speaker 1>have full insight to it. There were probably nightmares making
<v Speaker 1>this game. I don't know sure, but as far as
<v Speaker 1>we could tell, seems from the outside well managed, well budgeted,
<v Speaker 1>and now they have the opportunity to sort of make
<v Speaker 1>some other maneuvers to maximize the return on this game.
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, we're getting cool stuff with Space Marine.
<v Speaker 1>You feel about all this, I mean, this is great.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like Warhammer is one of those games that
<v Speaker 2>constantly stays in the rotation, you know, either for play
<v Speaker 2>or for sale. You know, like it feels like one
<v Speaker 2>of those I'm not going to ever say the game
<v Speaker 2>is safe, because all games are hard to come out,
<v Speaker 2>but I think in terms of audience, space, fandom and
<v Speaker 2>all that stuff. You already have a huge amount of
<v Speaker 2>folks who are bought into that world through the books,
<v Speaker 2>through all the pieces of it, and then when you
<v Speaker 2>drop a game, it feels like they have a pretty dedicated,
<v Speaker 2>you know, player base that they can say, we know
<v Speaker 2>about this amount of people are going to buy this thing,
<v Speaker 2>so it's good for them. This gives them even more
<v Speaker 2>space to kind of build on what they have, and
<v Speaker 2>I think the last game was great. I'm actually surprised
<v Speaker 2>that the siege mode wasn't in it earlier because it
<v Speaker 2>feels like it's it's perfect for that. But this is good,
<v Speaker 2>you know, this is this is one of those long
<v Speaker 2>tail moments right where they get a chance to say, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>we had this on our roadmap. We didn't tell you
<v Speaker 2>about it necessarily, or maybe they did, but it just fits.
<v Speaker 2>All those things kind of just fit in the way
<v Speaker 2>that the Space Marine Warhammer universe kind of touch. So
<v Speaker 2>it makes a ton of sense.
<v Speaker 1>This is a game from Saber. They also just put
<v Speaker 1>out Roadcraft, They have that Jurassic Park game. They are
<v Speaker 1>you know, reportedly and basically, you know, they confirmed in
<v Speaker 1>many ways to me, in a variety of ways into
<v Speaker 1>other people that they are still making that Nights of
<v Speaker 1>the Old Republic remake. That's a busy studio. Do you
<v Speaker 1>do you worry that that becomes too much of a
<v Speaker 1>content mill, like they are treating it too much like
<v Speaker 1>a business, because I don't know. For me, I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>I like a lot of these games, so I like that.
<v Speaker 1>To me, this feels like a model of how you
<v Speaker 1>do things. But I bet most not everyone feels that way,
<v Speaker 1>And I bet I'm also overlooking some things that people
<v Speaker 1>would point out as criticisms. How do you feel about
<v Speaker 1>a studio like Saber that seems to be putting out
<v Speaker 1>a lot of like pretty good games.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, the hell I love their football game that
<v Speaker 2>they put out. That football game was pretty dope too
<v Speaker 2>that they.
<v Speaker 1>Put Which one was it?
<v Speaker 2>Saber? Oh gosh, I forgot had Kaepernick was in it?
<v Speaker 2>If I remember? Right?
<v Speaker 1>Oh right? They work with Kaepernick on that game, right, Okay?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. So like I like Saber a lot,
<v Speaker 2>Like they put out really goods wild. Yeah, it was
<v Speaker 2>super fun. It's like a super chill just like hang
<v Speaker 2>out on the couch kind of plaything. But but I
<v Speaker 2>haven't heard any really weird things about it out of
<v Speaker 2>Saber at all, Like it seems like everyone is doing
<v Speaker 2>fairly well in terms of development. Haven't heard any big
<v Speaker 2>rumblings like oh we're in development. Hell, you know, I
<v Speaker 2>haven't heard a lot of davs be really upset. And
<v Speaker 2>if the you know, publicly, at least you know, And
<v Speaker 2>it feels like they continue to put out really good, smart,
<v Speaker 2>smartly done, well well priced titles that feel like they
<v Speaker 2>are not trying to gouge you. They're like giving you
<v Speaker 2>an experience and then dip it and doing the next thing,
<v Speaker 2>and that's kind of great.
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 2>It's like I feel like there's a layer of folks
<v Speaker 2>who are in the industry who are kind of doing
<v Speaker 2>that and we don't really get them on nothing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a very thin layer, but it is there.
<v Speaker 2>There are folks in the space who are like getting
<v Speaker 2>those jobs done, and we don't necessarily gives them as
<v Speaker 2>much credit in that way. I feel like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>maybe a head's down kind of working through it, but
<v Speaker 2>I haven't heard anything really That's like Sabers has put
<v Speaker 2>out a game where people are like panned it universally, right,
<v Speaker 2>I haven't read that in a row way. So if
<v Speaker 2>they're chucking and doing it and making it happen, Like
<v Speaker 2>give them props for it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, people, they also have that truck game that they announced.
<v Speaker 1>They're they're they're super busy and and they're also but
<v Speaker 1>it's all projects that I at least have some curiosity about,
<v Speaker 1>curiosity about. And then like even like when they put
<v Speaker 1>out something that I mostly ignored. There was that Daisy
<v Speaker 1>or Not World war Z excuse me a few years ago,
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, well, you know that wasn't super my thing.
<v Speaker 1>I saw, I noticed some of its tech whatever. Well, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>the fine, I wasn't paying attention to that. But they
<v Speaker 1>took the tech from that game, and that's what they
<v Speaker 1>used to power the space Marine games, like with all
<v Speaker 1>of the Aliens or whatever, like piling all over one another.
<v Speaker 1>They did that with the Zombies and World war Z.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, okay, they're also like reusing their own
<v Speaker 1>tech analogy in multiple different ways. This is also a
<v Speaker 1>studio that has done some of the impossible ports. They
<v Speaker 1>did the Witcher port to the Switch. It's like they
<v Speaker 1>had this technical prowess as well. I'll say the one
<v Speaker 1>thing that I've just heard vaguely is that some people
<v Speaker 1>that work there. Think it's a bit soulless, and I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>I could see that if you have like an artist's heart,
<v Speaker 1>I could see you like go into a place like
<v Speaker 1>Saber and it not working for you. So I was
<v Speaker 1>like completely sympathetic to that. For me, you were met,
<v Speaker 1>you named, you nailed it with like that thin layer
<v Speaker 1>of people kind of making games that like where they
<v Speaker 1>can go from one project to the next. It doesn't
<v Speaker 1>seem like there's a lot of like micro transactions or
<v Speaker 1>live service. There's some DLC, there are some expansions, there's
<v Speaker 1>the setup for a sequel. It feels like Midway. To me,
<v Speaker 1>it feels like one of those like a claim or something,
<v Speaker 1>but better than a claim. It feels like one of
<v Speaker 1>these middle of the road publishers that we didn't appreciate
<v Speaker 1>until they were gone, where it's like, man, the industry
<v Speaker 1>was better off with them. And sure, maybe it was
<v Speaker 1>not this soulful place to make games, but the way
<v Speaker 1>it's machinery worked seem more interesting than a lot of
<v Speaker 1>other places. I don't know, does that sound right to you?
<v Speaker 2>No, it makes a ton of sense. I think there
<v Speaker 2>are I mean one of the things that I remember
<v Speaker 2>when before I actually got into the industry was just
<v Speaker 2>playing games. Was you know, whenever you would see you know,
<v Speaker 2>you boot up a game and you see the list
<v Speaker 2>of middleware companies that were doing things in that space
<v Speaker 2>and building things. Those are the folks who are like
<v Speaker 2>the pillars of video game industries, right, Those are the
<v Speaker 2>folks who are porting things, the folks who are working
<v Speaker 2>on middleware, you know, the digital extremes. I think is
<v Speaker 2>one of the companies that always has been in that
<v Speaker 2>space who's doing really interesting and smart work. You know,
<v Speaker 2>Iron Galaxy continues to do really really dope stuff in
<v Speaker 2>those spaces. Like there are a ton of different you know,
<v Speaker 2>those of those companies that are like really churning stuff
<v Speaker 2>out but doing really good work outside of the normal.
<v Speaker 2>You know, we're a big triple A or double A company,
<v Speaker 2>a studio that are really supporting what we play every day.
<v Speaker 2>And you got to give those folks some love and
<v Speaker 2>some some visibility because I also think it's a really
<v Speaker 2>good space to cut your teeth as a developer. You're
<v Speaker 2>working at one of these kinds of studios where it
<v Speaker 2>is a little bit potentially soulless and you don't necessarily
<v Speaker 2>get to have your name on the biggest thing on
<v Speaker 2>the planet, but you are learning all the tricks of
<v Speaker 2>the trade to keep you solvent as a developer in
<v Speaker 2>the space. So yeah, shout out to them for churning
<v Speaker 2>and making things out. Not churning, but like keeping keeping
<v Speaker 2>things moving in the ways that they need to to
<v Speaker 2>to be successful.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, it's I so wan a chat. It's like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>death Metal Dance, Like, yeah, it's okay. It is soulless.
<v Speaker 1>So he's worked on license game for a long time
<v Speaker 1>and again sympathetic to that. I would probably feel the
<v Speaker 1>same way. But externally, even when it's licensed games, it
<v Speaker 1>just it still feels like you are building other people's
<v Speaker 1>souls up a little bit. Mike Micah of Digital Eclipse
<v Speaker 1>has been tweeting and posting on Blue Sky about some
<v Speaker 1>of the work they did it a digital Digital Clips
<v Speaker 1>on game Boy Advance, some of these other handhelds where
<v Speaker 1>they were making a lot of license to move games
<v Speaker 1>and they you know, now it was handheld versions of
<v Speaker 1>these handheld or of these movie license games, and so
<v Speaker 1>they were getting away with a lot, which probably is
<v Speaker 1>not the case for a lot of license games these
<v Speaker 1>days because there's so much money involved. But for example,
<v Speaker 1>like the was it the Charlotte's Web game or a
<v Speaker 1>Babe Pig in the City. I think, yeah, Charlotte it was.
<v Speaker 1>It was Charlotte's Web and they they just made it
<v Speaker 1>like Prince of Persia to the point where they called
<v Speaker 1>it internally Pig of Persia. And it's like this really
<v Speaker 1>interesting two D platform er on the Game Boy Advance
<v Speaker 1>that it just happens to have a Charlotte's Web license
<v Speaker 1>to it. And it's like there are kids who played
<v Speaker 1>that and didn't know why they liked it so much
<v Speaker 1>because they probably had played a lot of other movie
<v Speaker 1>license games and hated them, but like this one, it's like,
<v Speaker 1>I think this is actually a fun game. They didn't
<v Speaker 1>really understand it, and it's because there was someone behind
<v Speaker 1>there trying to get away with what they could get
<v Speaker 1>away with while working within that ip. It's like you
<v Speaker 1>could you could still try to sneak some stuff into
<v Speaker 1>these big games, although I say that as an naive
<v Speaker 1>person on the outside, and I bet, I bet it's hard.
<v Speaker 2>Well, look I'll say this, and this may sound controversial,
<v Speaker 2>but look I'd rather be working solace and be employed
<v Speaker 2>than be unemployed and creative, like yeah, for real, for real,
<v Speaker 2>like in a real way. I think a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people forget that in the grand scheme because it is
<v Speaker 2>very much like it is a dream job for a
<v Speaker 2>lot of us to be able, Like I want to
<v Speaker 2>work in games. I want to do this stuff, and
<v Speaker 2>with a space that is so volatile right now, it
<v Speaker 2>is not bad to be at a space that is
<v Speaker 2>kind of under the radar putting out stuff continuously getting
<v Speaker 2>to work in that kind of stuff, as opposed to
<v Speaker 2>necessarily being on the big, you know, premiere project and
<v Speaker 2>that having its feet cut from underneath it. So like
<v Speaker 2>there's a value to that space in a real way
<v Speaker 2>for developers in multiple layers, not only from a junior
<v Speaker 2>and senior data space, but also from a you know,
<v Speaker 2>just getting into the space alone and learning about what
<v Speaker 2>the projects can be and how you can be a
<v Speaker 2>part of it and getting your and cutting your teeth
<v Speaker 2>in those ways. So yeah, there's value there for sure,
<v Speaker 2>for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Ah right, We're going to get to the rest of
<v Speaker 1>the headlines here in a second before we do actually,
<v Speaker 1>before we move off this story, Chan, can I get
<v Speaker 1>a space from you, please, Spice Bride, thank you, And
<v Speaker 1>now with that we're gonna go to a break. If
<v Speaker 1>you don't want breaks, you go to giant bomb dot
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<v Speaker 1>a member. Now, all right, we are back. I believe
<v Speaker 1>Jan you've faded out there at the second, so I
<v Speaker 1>think you counted me in there. But let's get on
<v Speaker 1>with the show. And also, I promise if you are
<v Speaker 1>watching live, he did say space in his good way.
<v Speaker 1>I heard, yeah. He's going to edit it in later
<v Speaker 1>for the audio list there, so enjoy that. That's going
<v Speaker 1>to be a special edition of this show. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's keep going. Here are greadors Fans think they have
<v Speaker 1>found a hidden release date. This is from Jamie Tugayev
<v Speaker 1>at Dual Shockers. Ever since the Arc Graders tech test
<v Speaker 1>two ended, players around the Rust Belt, which I guess
<v Speaker 1>is the map, have been showing signs of post raid withdrawal.
<v Speaker 1>Symptoms are vary, but a Discord community had an outbreak
<v Speaker 1>of high quality investigative behavior. Embark briefly pushed out an
<v Speaker 1>update well after the public preview it ended. Although it
<v Speaker 1>was accessible for less than ten minutes, that was enough
<v Speaker 1>time for some crafty raiders to dig around and find
<v Speaker 1>what might be a release date announcement. The potential easter
<v Speaker 1>egg was hidden inside the games disabled executable, As described
<v Speaker 1>on Reddit by user Cascerts, the base sixty four string
<v Speaker 1>on the top of the Pioneer game dot exx file
<v Speaker 1>links file. It links to a countdown ex make said
<v Speaker 1>that weird. Basically, the countdown goes up on June sixth
<v Speaker 1>h and hey, that's right around Summer game Fest, And
<v Speaker 1>that feels possibly like a time you would shadow drop
<v Speaker 1>a game like this, Right, that's possible.
<v Speaker 2>It makes a ton of sense. You know, like the
<v Speaker 2>fervor around the game is high. Everyone is really excited
<v Speaker 2>for it. You know, people are really waiting for that
<v Speaker 2>thing to come back. Like I have seen a lot
<v Speaker 2>of folks online with the withdrawal messages about yep yo
<v Speaker 2>open the gates. It's the little maybe let me think so, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it makes a ton of sense for them to drop
<v Speaker 2>this thing around Summer Games Fest, and it gives Keeley
<v Speaker 2>another good another good announcement to throw into a show, right,
<v Speaker 2>so it definitely makes the timing sound sound good. It
<v Speaker 2>is really interesting also just to see how people are
<v Speaker 2>continuing to go through, you know, data mining and going
<v Speaker 2>through just to go find something. I'm like, that also
<v Speaker 2>just feels weird, you know, just like how do you
<v Speaker 2>how do you keep yourself safe from getting yourself leaked
<v Speaker 2>like that?
<v Speaker 1>You just don't. I think you have to at this point.
<v Speaker 1>You have to accept it and maybe even lean into
<v Speaker 1>it because there's a potential like maybe they were aware
<v Speaker 1>that their community does this, and maybe that's one of
<v Speaker 1>the reasons they did it. Probably not because it was
<v Speaker 1>only up for ten minutes, right, so, but you know,
<v Speaker 1>at the end of the day, it all accomplishes the
<v Speaker 1>same thing, right, hype for the game and hype for
<v Speaker 1>whatever's happening around Summer game Fest. Now nothing's happening around
<v Speaker 1>Summer game Fest. Some people will be annoyed and there's
<v Speaker 1>just nothing they can do about that. That stanks. I
<v Speaker 1>get that. I promise they will still want to play
<v Speaker 1>the video game. Our graders look so cool to me.
<v Speaker 1>I still have not played it, but every time I
<v Speaker 1>see more gameplay, it's got this like nineteen seventies sci
<v Speaker 1>fi aesthetic. I just think, looks so awesome. And then
<v Speaker 1>the gameplay just looks really action filled surrounding that aesthetic.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm ready for it, and then all the positive
<v Speaker 1>buzz clearly is one of the reasons I'm getting excited
<v Speaker 1>for it. This is a game that, could you know,
<v Speaker 1>shadow drop around the time that the which To is launching,
<v Speaker 1>that wouldn't affect it. For sure. It's gonna be able
<v Speaker 1>to stay. It seems like one of these games it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be able to stand on its own, right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think whatever in Bark wants to do with
<v Speaker 2>this thing they can do at this point, like they
<v Speaker 2>have done the thing that you're supposed to do when
<v Speaker 2>you drop a kind of tech test right, this is
<v Speaker 2>the thing that you hope for as a as a developer,
<v Speaker 2>as a marketer in those spaces, to say, we have
<v Speaker 2>garnered enough good, good vibes around our thing that we
<v Speaker 2>can now do exactly what we want in our marketing
<v Speaker 2>plan or with the ways that we want to do it.
<v Speaker 2>So for them, they're in a really good spot. They
<v Speaker 2>could drop it tomorrow and they would freak out everybody
<v Speaker 2>on the planet who wants to play that game, and
<v Speaker 2>I think that they would be in a really good spot.
<v Speaker 2>I think the discussion now has also changed a little bit,
<v Speaker 2>at least from what I'm seeing on my feeds, has
<v Speaker 2>been the conversation about like pricing on it, Right, does
<v Speaker 2>it still continue to be in a fee to play space?
<v Speaker 2>Does it have a forty dollars price tag? What is
<v Speaker 2>the price tag going to be? Then that conversation changes again, right,
<v Speaker 2>if you know the prevailing understanding is that things like
<v Speaker 2>this go for you to play in and that does well,
<v Speaker 2>And then you know, if they do have a pricing
<v Speaker 2>scheme or a pricing model on it, that's that that
<v Speaker 2>is is for pay What does that look like in
<v Speaker 2>our play is going to be be down for that?
<v Speaker 2>So we'll see what they land on that.
<v Speaker 1>Uh Chat pointed out I think it was Ichivan Kasaka,
<v Speaker 1>and Chat pointed out that in Bark Studios actually launched
<v Speaker 1>the finals as a shadow drop at the game awards.
<v Speaker 1>I believe that was at the game wards. It was
<v Speaker 1>at least at least at Akiles thing. So they've done
<v Speaker 1>this before, and I'm saying they've done this before as
<v Speaker 1>if they're for sure going to do it. This could
<v Speaker 1>also just be an announcement for a release date later
<v Speaker 1>or other information, or it could just be a trailer.
<v Speaker 1>Who knows, a new tech test. It could be a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of things. Although I think you know that community
<v Speaker 1>seems pretty certain that the game is coming out soon.
<v Speaker 1>I think so they have other reasons to think that,
<v Speaker 1>I believe, all right, man, talking about communities believing in things.
<v Speaker 1>Here's one that might be hooked up on a severe
<v Speaker 1>amount of CopM. Star Wars Battlefront two is super popular
<v Speaker 1>again on Steam as fans petitioned for a third game.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Eddie mccoot game spot twenty seventeen. Star
<v Speaker 1>Wars Battlefront two from developer Dice is popular again, with
<v Speaker 1>player numbers jumping on Steam to near record levels would
<v Speaker 1>I would credit this. I want to credit it to
<v Speaker 1>and Or, but I think it's a combination of and
<v Speaker 1>Or and Revenge of the sixth hitting theaters at theaters
<v Speaker 1>around the same time, and really getting both of those
<v Speaker 1>audiences to both parts of the Star Wars audience excited
<v Speaker 1>at the same time. This is happening amidst a fan
<v Speaker 1>campaign for EA to make another entry in the popular,
<v Speaker 1>multimillion selling franchise. The game reached around ten thousand concurrent
<v Speaker 1>players on Steam in the past twenty four hours, which
<v Speaker 1>is just shy of its all time Pink peak concurrent
<v Speaker 1>record of ten thousand, five hundred, according to data from
<v Speaker 1>steam dB. Remember the game launched on Steam way later,
<v Speaker 1>so those were numbers for like you know, years later.
<v Speaker 1>See the game was hovering between one thousand, five hundred
<v Speaker 1>and three thousand peak concurrent players until mid April twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty five, when player numbers began urging for the eight
<v Speaker 1>year old game. In some ways, it feels like it's
<v Speaker 1>older than eight years right in otherwise I can't believe it.
<v Speaker 1>I can't believe it's already been eight years. But I
<v Speaker 1>like this game. I also have cravings to go back
<v Speaker 1>to it pretty frequently. It's one I wonder, I wonder
<v Speaker 1>if that works on the Steam Deck, because I wonder
<v Speaker 1>if the antich want work on there, probably it probably
<v Speaker 1>works on there. It's like that would be a fun
<v Speaker 1>one to have on there. That's me just thinking out loud,
<v Speaker 1>because I do I do want to play more of
<v Speaker 1>this game. I'm just I do not think anyone should
<v Speaker 1>get their hopes up for the possibility of a Battlefront three.
<v Speaker 1>What do you think?
<v Speaker 2>I am probably on the total opposite of the folks
<v Speaker 2>who want this game. I mean, it's great. I've had
<v Speaker 2>a fun time when I played it, and it was great.
<v Speaker 2>I am being selfish when I say this, and i't
<v Speaker 2>want everyone to understand that this is a selfish want
<v Speaker 2>because I want all dev resources on Battlefield whatever, the
<v Speaker 2>Battlefield game, that's kind of that's what we're going for sure,
<v Speaker 2>everything on that. I don't care about these old games
<v Speaker 2>getting getting new, new new releases. I don't want a
<v Speaker 2>new version of what every going to Battlefield right now
<v Speaker 2>and making that thing good, because that's what I need
<v Speaker 2>right now. I need. I need a good Battlefield game.
<v Speaker 2>But Battlefront two was a lot of fun, like it
<v Speaker 2>is one of those games that when you think about
<v Speaker 2>the perfect kind of mashup of an IP with with uh,
<v Speaker 2>you know, player player expectations and a good bass layer
<v Speaker 2>of gameplay like Battlefront two is really cool. I do
<v Speaker 2>think it does kind of give the conversation around what's
<v Speaker 2>a dead game a good look at, which I think
<v Speaker 2>is great. I think anytime the community kind of surprises
<v Speaker 2>you with new infro and new want or new kind
<v Speaker 2>of connection to things that that were older and stuff
<v Speaker 2>that people didn't play or played a while ago, it's
<v Speaker 2>always nice to be able to see. And I hope
<v Speaker 2>that they have some ability to kind of pluck in
<v Speaker 2>se like what was the secret sauce hero it wasn't
<v Speaker 2>and or was it an another connection to an external
<v Speaker 2>thing that happened that then made people want to come
<v Speaker 2>back in. So I hope that people can find out
<v Speaker 2>what that connective tissue is and and and and poke
<v Speaker 2>at that, because I think that's a really important thing
<v Speaker 2>moving forward.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we have seen EA be a publisher that can
<v Speaker 1>be swayed in the past. Now these are over long timelines,
<v Speaker 1>and maybe their internal sentiment about responding to fan campaigns
<v Speaker 1>changes from day to day, let alone year to year.
<v Speaker 1>But you know, Skate four they are making that they
<v Speaker 1>are making hashtag skate that still hasn't come out, and
<v Speaker 1>that was in response to a social media campaign, although
<v Speaker 1>I think Skate three and some others had some pretty
<v Speaker 1>decent player numbers and spikes similar to this at the time.
<v Speaker 1>But do you think that this does change the conversation
<v Speaker 1>at all inside of EA? And I'm talking like one
<v Speaker 1>percent here, ka, Like, do you think that they see
<v Speaker 1>this spike and it go, you know, it triples its
<v Speaker 1>concurrent players. Is that a data point that someone can
<v Speaker 1>take to someone else internally to make the argument that
<v Speaker 1>maybe we should be considering a Battlefront three at some
<v Speaker 1>point down the line, obviously after Battlefield, because you're right,
<v Speaker 1>they are all hands on deck for that. Or is
<v Speaker 1>this just something that they don't even it doesn't move
<v Speaker 1>the needle at all.
<v Speaker 2>I think if I would have seen some marketing behind it,
<v Speaker 2>Like it's hard to see what happens when you have
<v Speaker 2>a game that's been gone for a while and then
<v Speaker 2>people start to play it again. I haven't heard anything
<v Speaker 2>about them doing something that would financially benefit in a
<v Speaker 2>way that he cares about to say, let's push it
<v Speaker 2>like it hasn't been part of a Steam sale yet,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm probably sure it will be right like, they'll they'll, they'll,
<v Speaker 2>they'll drop it so that they can potentially move the
<v Speaker 2>player base even further up. But I think right now
<v Speaker 2>it's a little bit of it is it is the
<v Speaker 2>the you know, what's my neighbor playing? Are they playing
<v Speaker 2>something fun kind of moment? Right? And if they are,
<v Speaker 2>that's a good that's a good telltale sign for them
<v Speaker 2>to say, Okay, there may be some juice here. But
<v Speaker 2>I think you have to get even bigger numbers than
<v Speaker 2>what they're seeing now. And I think you would have
<v Speaker 2>to have some layer of financial support to say, oh,
<v Speaker 2>it's cool that people are playing it, but are they
<v Speaker 2>willing to spend money on it? And I think that's
<v Speaker 2>the thing that they would have to see for that
<v Speaker 2>for that to go in a different I do think again,
<v Speaker 2>it gives them good data, right, It does make them
<v Speaker 2>understand that there's some space there that they can do
<v Speaker 2>some stuff. If they were really smart, they would to
<v Speaker 2>to to kind of poke at that to see where
<v Speaker 2>they would go. Drop drop a character that you had
<v Speaker 2>on the back burner that had gotten on the cutting
<v Speaker 2>room floor and see if people do anything with it,
<v Speaker 2>like see if people buy it, like drop it for
<v Speaker 2>super cheap like a dollar, and then see if people
<v Speaker 2>go and cop it, and see if they if they
<v Speaker 2>buy it, and see if that moves the needle there
<v Speaker 2>if they actually play it, even see if they ask
<v Speaker 2>you play right, Because that's the thing is, like you
<v Speaker 2>have to give those folks some ability to say, you know,
<v Speaker 2>this is actually doing something financially for us, and if
<v Speaker 2>they can, then that that makes more sense. But who knows?
<v Speaker 2>Who knows? Like you're you're in the spot on about
<v Speaker 2>the skate stuff, right. I think that's one of those
<v Speaker 2>conversations that when you saw those discussions come up, everybody
<v Speaker 2>knew that they wanted it, but they didn't expect it
<v Speaker 2>to happen. So we could be in the outlier space
<v Speaker 2>and say, oh, we saw it come in, but we didn't.
<v Speaker 2>We didn't believe in the same ways that they did.
<v Speaker 2>So who knows? That would be cool if you did, though.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that this is a a organic bubbling
<v Speaker 1>of positive Star Wars sentiment inside of a larger bubble
<v Speaker 1>that still is kind of leaden and held down and
<v Speaker 1>unexcited or like flat out sick of Star Wars in
<v Speaker 1>a lot of ways. And this doesn't like undo that.
<v Speaker 1>You know, the difference between this and skate was, you know,
<v Speaker 1>skateboarding was still cool. You know, it could be disassociated
<v Speaker 1>from skates So when skate was like, hey, can we
<v Speaker 1>come back to the party when people are like and
<v Speaker 1>then and that was like again organic from people like
<v Speaker 1>Pewdie Pie putting out a Skate three video and it
<v Speaker 1>just blowing up, and then a bunch of kids trying
<v Speaker 1>out Skate three for the first time. That feels very different,
<v Speaker 1>like overall in terms of the excitement for the idea
<v Speaker 1>of a skate game as opposed to being like, Okay, yeah, sure,
<v Speaker 1>these people who like this Star Wars game are coming
<v Speaker 1>back to the Star Wars game. Can we justify a
<v Speaker 1>massive investment? And at that point we have to get
<v Speaker 1>that mainstream audience. I don't know if the mainstream audience
<v Speaker 1>it's just ready to rush back to Star Wars yet. Look,
<v Speaker 1>it feels unlikely at this point.
<v Speaker 2>Look, if there's any game that I want y'all to
<v Speaker 2>do that with Internet, listen to me. If there's any
<v Speaker 2>game that you can do that with, do NBA Live please?
<v Speaker 3>I need a new NBA Live game occur, I can
<v Speaker 3>go play that thing, go make a new so they
<v Speaker 3>can make a new basketball game for for for you.
<v Speaker 1>I got a SA NBA Street and I was, uh,
<v Speaker 1>I was almost there with you. But I'll take it.
<v Speaker 2>I'll take I mean, I'll take Street even more like yes,
<v Speaker 2>Street Street, I'll be I'll be out in the street if.
<v Speaker 1>Exactly first March. Yeah, all right, this this next one
<v Speaker 1>is wild. Let's get through it all together here. Oh wait,
<v Speaker 1>did I read this last part here? Oh yeah. Someone
<v Speaker 1>who used to work on Star Wars before we move
<v Speaker 1>on on the Battlefront games was on Reddit. His name's
<v Speaker 1>Matt's hellga holme. Uh. He responded to someone saying, hey,
<v Speaker 1>would you people want to come back and work on
<v Speaker 1>a Star Wars Battlefront game again? And it's like many
<v Speaker 1>of us would. I would. I talk to my friends
<v Speaker 1>they would. Basically, there's this idea of and he says,
<v Speaker 1>you're getting the gang back together. Man boy. That's a
<v Speaker 1>big sort of like a bone throat of that audience.
<v Speaker 1>So you know that the whole conversation we just had, Kyle,
<v Speaker 1>what this feels like is a little flame on that fire,
<v Speaker 1>and maybe this does sort of burst up and get
<v Speaker 1>EA's attention. It doesn't feel like it has yet, but
<v Speaker 1>maybe something like this could fuel that. So let's let's
<v Speaker 1>see how this develops. Yeah, all right, the dark pac
<v Speaker 1>Man Metroid Venus secretly has what I can only describe
<v Speaker 1>as pac Man Championship Edition three hidden inside of it.
<v Speaker 1>This comes from Michael McWherter at Polygon. Shot at the Polygon,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, happy you to see my own worse still
<v Speaker 1>has a job, and I bet it's got to be
<v Speaker 1>tough over there. So just shouts out to Michael, who
<v Speaker 1>I've been who's you know? Byeline I've been reading for
<v Speaker 1>years and years and years. He just screams video game
<v Speaker 1>news to me. I'm just glad he's still working. But boy,
<v Speaker 1>poly God just breaks my heart every time I think
<v Speaker 1>about it. Bandy Namco's bold new take on pac Man,
<v Speaker 1>the two D action platformer known as Shadow Labyrinth, has
<v Speaker 1>a secret. Despite me in a grim sci fi Metroid
<v Speaker 1>inspired game that looks nothing like a traditional pac Man sequel,
<v Speaker 1>there's actual real pac Man gameplay in here. A new
<v Speaker 1>trailer for Shadow Labyrinth reveals the Maze, a portion of
<v Speaker 1>the game that had that shorthand purpose excuse me that
<v Speaker 1>the portion of the game for shorthand purposes looks a
<v Speaker 1>hell of a lot like Pacman Championshiphip Edition three. All right,
<v Speaker 1>struggle to get through that, but basically saying, this portion
<v Speaker 1>of the game looks like Pacman Championship Edition three, which
<v Speaker 1>people don't know was an Xbox Live arcade series that
<v Speaker 1>was this Neon spruced up version of pac Man that
<v Speaker 1>had a lot of leaderboard chasing, and I played it
<v Speaker 1>a ton Boy, one of my favorite Xbox three sixty games,
<v Speaker 1>pac Man Championship Edition d X two or whatever it was.
<v Speaker 1>The core gameplay of Shadow Labyrinth has players controlling a
<v Speaker 1>mysterious warrior named Swordsman Number eight, who is accompanied by
<v Speaker 1>pac Man or a shaped something shaped like pac Man
<v Speaker 1>a named Puck, battling to become the apex predator of
<v Speaker 1>an alien planet. At a certain point. In Shadow Labyrinth,
<v Speaker 1>you'll play honest to goodness pac Man May's levels and
<v Speaker 1>draw inspiration from the Championship Edition line of Pellet and
<v Speaker 1>ghost chomping games. It's hard to see if this like
<v Speaker 1>we'll have the full leaderboard experience, although maybe it will.
<v Speaker 1>Seems like this could be one of those things. Once
<v Speaker 1>you beat the game, this becomes its own mode from
<v Speaker 1>the menu or something like that. That's what I'm hoping
<v Speaker 1>for that makes me more likely to play this game.
<v Speaker 1>Although I do keep hearing interesting things about Shadow Labyrinth.
<v Speaker 1>People seem to like it, and I was surprised by that.
<v Speaker 1>For me, it's like, this is the weirdest thing I
<v Speaker 1>could possibly imagine for pac Men to go into. So
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't even embracing myself for the possibility it could
<v Speaker 1>be interesting. So what do you think about all this?
<v Speaker 2>I've missed this. I totally missed all of this. I
<v Speaker 2>just pulled up the trailer for it and I'm like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>this looks kind of dope.
<v Speaker 1>Do you know what this is related to? No? That
<v Speaker 1>is it the Amazon show chat the one from the Love,
<v Speaker 1>Death and Robots guy, Oh, Tim Millery, the Deadpool guy,
<v Speaker 1>Well right, and he made that one for Amazon's secret level,
<v Speaker 1>and it had all it had all of these different
<v Speaker 1>short films based on a bunch of different video game franchises.
<v Speaker 1>I think they had Mega Man and stuff like that
<v Speaker 1>in there. Well one of them was pac Man and
<v Speaker 1>it was this. It was like the setup for this show.
<v Speaker 4>That makes total sense now, But it's even stranger right,
<v Speaker 4>because it's like, Yeah, this version of pac Man tied
<v Speaker 4>into this Amazon show that has a short film for
<v Speaker 4>a bunch of weird kind of game tie ins that
<v Speaker 4>don't always make a lot of sense.
<v Speaker 1>Not that I'm complaining. I like that part about it, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but okay, so then we're gonna take that and turn
<v Speaker 1>it into a Metroid Vena where you play as this
<v Speaker 1>other character who's followed around by this pac Man assistant.
<v Speaker 1>It's bizarre, and I guess the more I describe it,
<v Speaker 1>the more I need to play it for myself.
<v Speaker 2>I me at this point too, because I'm looking at again,
<v Speaker 2>I'm was looking at the trailer and I was like, Oh,
<v Speaker 2>this looks kind of dope, Like I wouldn't I wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>mind playing something this and if it has a level
<v Speaker 2>like that, which again goes back to a game that
<v Speaker 2>I loved, I'm totally down for this. That looks that
<v Speaker 2>looks super cool.
<v Speaker 1>I like that. I'm hopeful that this kind of it's
<v Speaker 1>one of those situations where you know, what was the
<v Speaker 1>Geometry Wars that was making to another game before it
<v Speaker 1>kind of broke out on its own. I hope this
<v Speaker 1>is like the reintroduction of pac Man Championship Edition. We
<v Speaker 1>get a taste here, and then they like release a
<v Speaker 1>XBLA equivalent right now where it's a game that's you know,
<v Speaker 1>fifteen bucks and people could just play it.
<v Speaker 2>However, they want need more score mounter of games. Anyway,
<v Speaker 2>I need more of those in my life because those
<v Speaker 2>that's my jam. I love those for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah it was. I think the astrobot's speed running levels
<v Speaker 1>are fantastic. But I'm like, I also want the score
<v Speaker 1>chasing ones, not just the local the shortest time. Give
<v Speaker 1>me the one where it's like, here's five minutes of
<v Speaker 1>Pacman Championship Edition, how many points can you possibly get?
<v Speaker 1>And uh yeah, I'll do that for hours and hours.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, this is good. I like this, Okay, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Monolith Soft says procedurally generated assets in Zeno Blake Chronicles
<v Speaker 1>three reduced man hours considerably. This Chris Scullion at VGC.
<v Speaker 1>Let's read here from Chris. A trio of Monolith Soft
<v Speaker 1>developers have said that using procedural asset generation made it
<v Speaker 1>a lot easier to make Xeno Blade Chronicles threes vast
<v Speaker 1>world map. In an interview with Japanese publication CG World
<v Speaker 1>map A map model designer Yoichi Asuzuki, support engineer Masihiro
<v Speaker 1>Heros and programmer Takashi Shibahara discussed the studio's gradual inclusion
<v Speaker 1>of procedural generation tools in software like Kudini into its
<v Speaker 1>development process. I am mostly bringing this upc so that
<v Speaker 1>we can explain that people should not be frightened by
<v Speaker 1>this headline, because this is this is them talking about
<v Speaker 1>procedural generation and not like AI. That's not necessarily what
<v Speaker 1>they're saying. What they're what they're talking about here is
<v Speaker 1>a tool like speed tree or their own personal tools
<v Speaker 1>to quickly make a vast terrain based on a model
<v Speaker 1>set that is still designed by them. I think there's
<v Speaker 1>this idea that, like, when we use AI tools, we
<v Speaker 1>are turning over some part of the creative process to
<v Speaker 1>a machine that doesn't understand our our artistic goals intrinsically,
<v Speaker 1>and I think I agree with that. I think that's right.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's the correct criticism of AI tools. Procedurally
<v Speaker 1>generated tools are different. They are like Rube Goldberg machines
<v Speaker 1>designed by an artist to output a specific style and
<v Speaker 1>aesthetic and idea that is inherently part of the artistic
<v Speaker 1>mode of there. So I'm a big fan of a
<v Speaker 1>procedural generation in games. I don't think every game needs that.
<v Speaker 1>I know that a lot of people like I want
<v Speaker 1>my levels to feel authored. I get that this is
<v Speaker 1>still authorship in a different way, But I get what
<v Speaker 1>people are The distinction that they're making I understand. But
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a good thing that developers are finding
<v Speaker 1>more ways to make bigger worlds faster, because we don't
<v Speaker 1>need them spending thousands of person hours working on making
<v Speaker 1>these levels right because at this point that is not
<v Speaker 1>going to make your game stand out or more fun, right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean Proggen has been in the space for
<v Speaker 2>a long time now. I think I think now, like
<v Speaker 2>you said, it is butting up against the idea of
<v Speaker 2>what uh inerative AI is and how those things are
<v Speaker 2>very different. I want people to think of procedural generation
<v Speaker 2>as no Man sky planets, right as opposed to what
<v Speaker 2>you see in the kind of AI slop spaces that
<v Speaker 2>you see online. Very very different. Necessary for a lot
<v Speaker 2>of development teams to be able to do what they
<v Speaker 2>do at scale, and it makes a ton of sense
<v Speaker 2>for them to use that technology for what they're building.
<v Speaker 2>I think the thing that is interesting too is when
<v Speaker 2>you get a chance to see a little bit behind
<v Speaker 2>the curtain of what is happening when you do a
<v Speaker 2>procedurally generated world or a level, or what changes and
<v Speaker 2>what kind of transforms. It's actually one of those things
<v Speaker 2>that's really good for games like roguelikes because you're constantly
<v Speaker 2>going into spaces and everything is changing, giving you a
<v Speaker 2>new experience every time you load in those genre relies
<v Speaker 2>on that, yes, literally, right, So it's like it's one
<v Speaker 2>of those things that this is a good time to
<v Speaker 2>level up your game knowledge, to game dev knowledge, to
<v Speaker 2>be able to understand what things are as opposed to
<v Speaker 2>you know.
<v Speaker 1>And why you enjoy it, right, Yeah, because I can
<v Speaker 1>improve your enjoyment once you kind of have a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of an understanding here, which I think most of
<v Speaker 1>our audience listening right now cop almost certainly does, right.
<v Speaker 1>But it's like we're just filling in a few pockets
<v Speaker 1>here and there.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, totally totally makes sense. And everybody who's who's Who's rocking,
<v Speaker 2>they definitely should know what it is. And yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>have been using it for years, You've been using it
<v Speaker 2>without even.
<v Speaker 1>Know for the most part, I mean the first, like
<v Speaker 1>the original Rogue itself, right, that was procedural generation or
<v Speaker 1>form of it right?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely? Uh okay, just a couple more headlines to get
<v Speaker 1>through here. Game Boy Nintendo switch Online adds Gradius, Interstellar Assault,
<v Speaker 1>Kirby Starstacker, Survival Kids, and the Sword of Hope. This
<v Speaker 1>is from Salamano. Kamatsu really just reconfirms that list there.
<v Speaker 1>Uh you know, I know what Gradius is. I'm I
<v Speaker 1>remember what Kirby Starstacker is, although I think I only
<v Speaker 1>played it briefly. It's one of those simple block dropping games,
<v Speaker 1>puzzle games, Survival Kids. I'm like this, why do I
<v Speaker 1>Why is that name ringing a bell? Even though I
<v Speaker 1>know I didn't play anything like that on the Game Boy.
<v Speaker 1>Because this is an ongoing series that now has a
<v Speaker 1>new one that's coming on switch To at launch. That's
<v Speaker 1>crazy and it's I guess it's a Lord of the
<v Speaker 1>Flies like adventure game where you a bunch of kids
<v Speaker 1>who are trying to survive. I suppose the name says
<v Speaker 1>I'm interested in like maybe going back to this Game
<v Speaker 1>Boy version so I can be a little bit more
<v Speaker 1>prepared for what the switch To versions doing, Just like
<v Speaker 1>compare contrast, So I think that's cool. And then the
<v Speaker 1>sort of hope. I can't remember what that is. I
<v Speaker 1>looked it up last night. I've already forgotten, so let's
<v Speaker 1>look it up.
<v Speaker 2>Of hope GD sword that gives you hope?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's oh yeah, that's right. It's a it's a
<v Speaker 1>kim COO game. It's a kim Go RPG.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>I think, oh yeah, this is like surprisingly ambitious for
<v Speaker 1>the game boy. I think it's not kind of how
<v Speaker 1>people describe it, but yeah, cool. Uh. How do you
<v Speaker 1>feel about Nintendo switch onlines game selection? You know, they
<v Speaker 1>update it somewhat frequently, but I guess that's me just
<v Speaker 1>being conditioned. In all reality, it's like, man, we get
<v Speaker 1>a couple of games every couple of months.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's basically that, like, yeah, nothing, nothing, nothing profound
<v Speaker 2>to share on that they continue to churn out and
<v Speaker 2>drop things when when they have their cadence, and you know,
<v Speaker 2>it sounds like people are excited about what they what
<v Speaker 2>they usually get in that package.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think, you know, I do get excited about
<v Speaker 1>these games still, although I have fifty different ways to
<v Speaker 1>play any of these games whenever I want, right, But
<v Speaker 1>there's something about the serendipity of a game dropping that
<v Speaker 1>I was thinking about playing and now knowing that a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of other people are playing it. It's you know,
<v Speaker 1>watching a movie on TNT is different than loading up
<v Speaker 1>the DVD of it, right, It's like it's on TV
<v Speaker 1>and it feels like, oh, the universe has selected this
<v Speaker 1>for me in this moment. Obviously that's a stupid thought
<v Speaker 1>that that's how it feels to me. And something similar
<v Speaker 1>happens when when a game drops on nso, so you know,
<v Speaker 1>that's part of me being in the Nintendo ecosystem and
<v Speaker 1>thinking about that stuff. And it's not going to affect
<v Speaker 1>everyone the same way for sure. Yeah. Yeah, last story here.
<v Speaker 1>Elden Ring live action film officially announced. There was that rumor.
<v Speaker 1>Turns out the rumor was correct. This comes from Salamono
<v Speaker 1>Kamatsu again. Vandy Namco and A twenty four have announced
<v Speaker 1>a live action film adaptation of from software developer video
<v Speaker 1>game elden Ring. It will be written and directed by
<v Speaker 1>Alex Garland and produced by Peter Rice alongside Andrew McDonald,
<v Speaker 1>Alan Yeah do let's say, Alan Reich from DNA, and
<v Speaker 1>George R. R. Martin and Vince garadis. Let's see here,
<v Speaker 1>Alex Garland did Annihilation, right, he also did Civil War
<v Speaker 1>most recently. Boy, I really kind of want to see
<v Speaker 1>what this is going to look like. What are you
<v Speaker 1>expect in here?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I'm The funny thing was as soon as
<v Speaker 2>I saw the A twenty four was connected to it,
<v Speaker 2>that immediately was the thing that got me really excited,
<v Speaker 2>because they put out for me, they put out nothing
<v Speaker 2>but bangers, so it's always good to see them attached
<v Speaker 2>to a project. And seeing Alex in that mix too,
<v Speaker 2>that gives me some some good guidance that I feel
<v Speaker 2>like he's a person who can take a story and
<v Speaker 2>really run with it in a good comprehensive way. Like
<v Speaker 2>I think he also finds like good pockets of story
<v Speaker 2>to be able to surface that you might not necessarily
<v Speaker 2>have seen in a larger scoped story and a large
<v Speaker 2>scoped kind of narrative. So that's great to be able
<v Speaker 2>to see that those two folks are kind of working
<v Speaker 2>together and in that space. And you know, George, George
<v Speaker 2>being in the mix always makes everybody excited.
<v Speaker 1>Just from jumps exactly. They could just put that name
<v Speaker 1>up there on the Marquee and it'll make a difference.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's automatic money for them to have people have
<v Speaker 2>eyes on it. So, yeah, this is gonna be a
<v Speaker 2>lot of fun. If they they can get this through
<v Speaker 2>and get this new production and make it happen like
<v Speaker 2>this will be a really fun thing for fans to
<v Speaker 2>be able to go through. I do think this will
<v Speaker 2>have another zeitgeist moment when this happens for the folks
<v Speaker 2>who are big fans of eld and Ring. Plus Night
<v Speaker 2>Rain coming out fairly soon, like lots of good news
<v Speaker 2>for Elder and Ring fans coming forward. That's dope.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. A twenty four is the key for me because
<v Speaker 1>it's like, Okay, what I need from an Elder and
<v Speaker 1>Ring movie, And you know, obviously I want it to
<v Speaker 1>be great on all fronts, but what I really need
<v Speaker 1>from it is to look shit hot. I just needed
<v Speaker 1>to look awesome. I need to look like just so
<v Speaker 1>well shot and well considered, well constructed in every facet
<v Speaker 1>of its design and the way that the camera actually
<v Speaker 1>shoots the action. A twenty four sort of prioritizes that,
<v Speaker 1>or at least it seems to based on its output.
<v Speaker 1>I think if you make the if you make an
<v Speaker 1>Eldering movie that looks like another A twenty four joint
<v Speaker 1>Green Knight, Like You're You're, You're most of the way there,
<v Speaker 1>You're like ninety five percent of the way there. If
<v Speaker 1>Eldering is kind of indistinguishable in an aesthetic style from
<v Speaker 1>the Green Night, I'm gonna be excited just based on that.
<v Speaker 1>And then if they get like some of the vibe
<v Speaker 1>of the storytelling right. I don't know how important it
<v Speaker 1>is to get any of the specifics like down pat
<v Speaker 1>but if they can get the vibe across again, I
<v Speaker 1>think that that'll be very important for me. Whether that
<v Speaker 1>turns it into a major hit, I don't know. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know what A twenty four's expectations are. This is
<v Speaker 1>a deal with Bandy Namco, who has not necessarily licensed
<v Speaker 1>out a ton of movies for big Hollywood productions, which
<v Speaker 1>is prob I'll be why these two entities make some
<v Speaker 1>sense together, but I don't know. To me, Cop Eldering
<v Speaker 1>does feel like it could have been a franchise that
<v Speaker 1>demanded attention from like a Universal or a Disney or
<v Speaker 1>something like that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I feel it feels like it's this is a
<v Speaker 2>nice kind of like dip toe in the water kind
<v Speaker 2>of situation for both Bandai and for A twenty four
<v Speaker 2>to kind of do more game related stuff. Like the
<v Speaker 2>game that I played most recently that I feel would
<v Speaker 2>be perfect for a movie adaptation would be Claire Obscure
<v Speaker 2>thirty three. Yeah, like that game would be stupid on
<v Speaker 2>a big screen and seeing how that thing would would work.
<v Speaker 2>But I think, you know, this will be one of
<v Speaker 2>those moments where they don't have to do much right,
<v Speaker 2>Like you have to get the visuals right. You have
<v Speaker 2>to get the scale right because Masters and elder Ring
<v Speaker 2>are massive. If you get that right, that just feels
<v Speaker 2>very cinematic in and of itself. But I feel like
<v Speaker 2>the first time you sit down next to a bonfire
<v Speaker 2>and you do your rest moment like that'll that'll be
<v Speaker 2>the thing that freaks everybody out in the in the
<v Speaker 2>in the theaters, and everybody will cheer and be excited
<v Speaker 2>for it. So I don't think you have to do
<v Speaker 2>a ton for fan service, but you have to get
<v Speaker 2>the visuals right, like you talked about, and if you
<v Speaker 2>do that, then you're in a good spot.
<v Speaker 1>I think you put Turtle Pope in there and you're good,
<v Speaker 1>and you put the Pope hat on a giant tortoise.
<v Speaker 1>And that's like enough fan service for everybody walking pot.
<v Speaker 1>Okay you no, you're right, those two things. That's what
<v Speaker 1>we need.
<v Speaker 2>You're right.
<v Speaker 1>Okay. Before we move on from this kind, I get
<v Speaker 1>to the pole question. Uh, the most important, you know,
<v Speaker 1>thing that I need answered about this is who does
<v Speaker 1>Jack Black play?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? God, he has to play the pot?
<v Speaker 1>He does? Actually, actually, you're not wrong. It wouldn't be good.
<v Speaker 1>It would add that's actually not bad. I like, I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>of course we're joking here. I'm like, no, as soon
<v Speaker 1>as he said that, that's so good, let's make that hot.
<v Speaker 2>If he doesn't play the pot, then is wrong, Like
<v Speaker 2>you've messed up the movie. He has to play the pot.
<v Speaker 2>That's it.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's good stuff. All right, So good. That does
<v Speaker 1>it for the headlines. Let's get over to that pole question,
<v Speaker 1>which I have snuck sneaked away over here, Yeah, hidden
<v Speaker 1>away over here. Let me refresh. All right, this is
<v Speaker 1>from yesterday's show. Did you ever use PlayStation Stars? Twenty
<v Speaker 1>six percent said yes, twenty nine percent said no, So
<v Speaker 1>it's actually pretty close for people who were aware of
<v Speaker 1>what PlayStation Stars was. And then forty five percent said
<v Speaker 1>what the hell is that most people do not know,
<v Speaker 1>well not most people, with almost half of the respondents
<v Speaker 1>had no idea what PlayStation Stars even was, and that
<v Speaker 1>this is a savvy audience, right right, Kyle. So twenty
<v Speaker 1>nine percent just saying no, I never used PlayStation Stars
<v Speaker 1>and then the other half saying I did not know
<v Speaker 1>what that is. That's probably why they shut it down.
<v Speaker 2>Did you hear this?
<v Speaker 1>They shut down PlayStation Stars to the loyalty program. Did
<v Speaker 1>you ever use it?
<v Speaker 2>Yesterday? I did? I did yesterday. It was funny because
<v Speaker 2>I was talking crap about it because I'm I'm I'm
<v Speaker 2>a weird person on the planet who's like, I'm tired
<v Speaker 2>of trophy's and achievements. I'm like, get rid of all
<v Speaker 2>of it, mey Sam, Because I'm like, look, if you're
<v Speaker 2>going to do something like this, it has to provide
<v Speaker 2>direct value. I talked a bunch of crap online and
<v Speaker 2>open it up, and I was like, oh wait a minute,
<v Speaker 2>these twenty nine thousand points that I have that didn't
<v Speaker 2>do anything.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, I can get ten dollars off a a A
<v Speaker 3>PSN card. Okay, nice, yep, that's nice.
<v Speaker 2>Like, oh right, those things kind of work. But I think,
<v Speaker 2>you know, these are the things that I worry about
<v Speaker 2>for the next space. I think not worry about. I'm
<v Speaker 2>hoping for if you're going to do these things again,
<v Speaker 2>which I think will happen in the next generation of consoles,
<v Speaker 2>next generation of hardware. That stuff you have to figure
<v Speaker 2>out what the value is that gives direct things to
<v Speaker 2>players in a way that they care about. If you
<v Speaker 2>can do that, then you're automatically in such a much
<v Speaker 2>better space and places start stuff. I think they went
<v Speaker 2>too future forward with the here's the digital chotch key
<v Speaker 2>thing that you can get, as opposed to saying, oh, well,
<v Speaker 2>we've implemented and pushed forward to like no, you can
<v Speaker 2>help pay for your next game with this, yep. And
<v Speaker 2>if you can do that and incentivize those things, then
<v Speaker 2>you're in a much better space. So yeah, I like
<v Speaker 2>to open that thing. I'm in the app a lot
<v Speaker 2>to like pull down things that I've captured, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>hardly ever touching anything they had to do with PlayStation Stars,
<v Speaker 2>So makes sense for it to go away and hopefully
<v Speaker 2>they can revamp it and redo something else for the future.
<v Speaker 2>But also like make trophies feel like they're doing something
<v Speaker 2>for you make all those things feel like they're important
<v Speaker 2>and give you some value. That's just besides, Yo, I
<v Speaker 2>did this thing in this game, like that would be cool.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I wonder if, like they as they were launching it,
<v Speaker 1>they're like, wait to do we want to put it
<v Speaker 1>forward that this is a great way for you, like
<v Speaker 1>this audience to save money, because I think they probably
<v Speaker 1>were realizing as they were launching PlayStation Stars. Probably one
<v Speaker 1>of the reasons that that launch was so subdued is
<v Speaker 1>that the kinds of people that this will create more
<v Speaker 1>loyalty with are the kinds of people who already have
<v Speaker 1>a ton of loyalty to PlayStation, mostly because they've already
<v Speaker 1>bought a lot of games on PlayStation, so they are
<v Speaker 1>locked into that platform, and so it's like, we already
<v Speaker 1>have them lockdown. Why are we doing all this extra
<v Speaker 1>work to lock them down even further? It seems like
<v Speaker 1>misplaced resources. I wonder if that's kind of one of
<v Speaker 1>the motivations here as well.
<v Speaker 2>Probably. I mean, I think if you if you look
<v Speaker 2>at the conversation around game Pass, that's their their tagline, right,
<v Speaker 2>Their tagline is literally just like we're giving you stuff
<v Speaker 2>for air quote free, right, you know, you're getting stuff
<v Speaker 2>for things like in that space. I think the problem
<v Speaker 2>with PlayStation Plus is that they don't push that conversation
<v Speaker 2>as much, and therefore it winds up happening that any
<v Speaker 2>kind of other reward program that they wind up doing
<v Speaker 2>feels a little bit less than even what you're getting
<v Speaker 2>on the Microsoft side, and even within their own ecosystem
<v Speaker 2>of what they're trying to push forward. So I think
<v Speaker 2>the you know, the digital layer of you know, you
<v Speaker 2>get a small version it feels like Astrobot the mini game,
<v Speaker 2>as opposed to something that feels more and more important
<v Speaker 2>and more kind of like I need to be doing
<v Speaker 2>this or I need to be paying attention to us
<v Speaker 2>and tracking it. So hoping that they go back to
<v Speaker 2>drawing over with that stuff and do something, do something
<v Speaker 2>really really fun with it for sure.
<v Speaker 1>All right, I got a new poll question. We'll get
<v Speaker 1>to that here in a second. Before we do that,
<v Speaker 1>Polief Adams, why don't you tell people where they can
<v Speaker 1>find you on the internet, what you have going on
<v Speaker 1>and all of that good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>First, I want to say thank you for having me. Second,
<v Speaker 2>I want to say I'm so proud of 'all for
<v Speaker 2>going independent. It is not easy. I'm so excited for y'all.
<v Speaker 2>Please go go support the team. You can go check
<v Speaker 2>out my stuff on spawn on Me, Spawn on Me
<v Speaker 2>podcasts with Collie Fadams and Hi, I'm Collie Fadams. You
<v Speaker 2>can do that on any podcast platform. Check us out
<v Speaker 2>on YouTube especially. We're trying to grow that to ten
<v Speaker 2>thousand subscribers before at the end of the year. We're
<v Speaker 2>almost around sixty two hundred or so, and we're definitely
<v Speaker 2>looking for more folks to kind of tap in with
<v Speaker 2>the work we're doing on the podcast and on Spotify
<v Speaker 2>as well, because that's where you get a chance to
<v Speaker 2>see most of our video episodes. Also coming very soon
<v Speaker 2>a new show with me and Parisilly called The Positivity Pedlers.
<v Speaker 2>We're still pushing that, getting that ready to go. That'll
<v Speaker 2>be on Patreon as well. We'll be linking to that
<v Speaker 2>when it goes live. And again, Summer Gamefest is going
<v Speaker 2>to be coming up very very shortly. We'll be doing
<v Speaker 2>a ton of coverage there with meet Cam Hawkins and
<v Speaker 2>some other folks rolling around in LA doing our thing,
<v Speaker 2>and please please support the work that's happening. Again, the
<v Speaker 2>conversation right Independent Media is very important and we are
<v Speaker 2>part of that conversation as well, So please come rock
<v Speaker 2>with us and share the good news and ride with
<v Speaker 2>us in Icago. So thanks again and appreciate y'all.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, thank you. Ky. Everyone should check out spawn on me.
<v Speaker 1>It's a good listen. All right, new poll question, do
<v Speaker 1>you want a Star Wars Battlefront three? Very easy question
<v Speaker 1>to say yes too, but let's see yes or no
<v Speaker 1>your options. Will get the results of that poll tomorrow
<v Speaker 1>or excuse me, no Tuesday Wednesday, because we are taking
<v Speaker 1>Monday off for Memorial Day and that's really just we're
<v Speaker 1>not gonna be doing any content. Still, SGF planning over
<v Speaker 1>here for sure on that Monday. So yeah, we'll get
<v Speaker 1>the results of this next week here on Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 1>Speaking of Giant Bomb, later today, we're gonna have our
<v Speaker 1>unprofessional Friday return with It's not called Mister Mosquito, It's
<v Speaker 1>Mosquito War or something like that. It's Mister Mosquito meets Evolved.
<v Speaker 1>It's a four v one asymmetrical multiplayer game where four
<v Speaker 1>mosquitoes try to annoy one person. Five of Giant Bomb
<v Speaker 1>are going to be on that, so look out for that.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's two pm. Eastern time. I believe, right, Jan,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know he can correct me if I'm wrong
<v Speaker 1>on that. We might move get to three for okay,
<v Speaker 1>so three pm, that's right. We moved it so we
<v Speaker 1>could could accommodate schedules. All right, that'll be happening here
<v Speaker 1>in a little bit and then we'll be back next
<v Speaker 1>week with plenty of stuff as well. There's also some
<v Speaker 1>quick looks still going up, things like that. We'll get
<v Speaker 1>those done and in your feed very soon. All right.
<v Speaker 1>Khalif Adams, thank you so much for hanging out with
<v Speaker 1>me today and talking about video games. Man, I really
<v Speaker 1>appreciate it.
<v Speaker 2>Love you, Fame Go Nix.
<v Speaker 1>We got this tonight.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to cry again, but excited and again
<v Speaker 2>love you and the rest of the Giant Bomb community Again,
<v Speaker 2>y'all are some of the best folks on the planet.
<v Speaker 2>You've always have been treating me, treating me kindly, and
<v Speaker 2>it's always good to be able to rock with you
<v Speaker 2>on any show. We got to get you on Spawn
<v Speaker 2>of Me soon that come talking and.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, let's get back on there. That would be great.
<v Speaker 1>Love you two con thanks as always for coming on
<v Speaker 1>the show. Thank you everybody for listening and watching at home.
<v Speaker 1>Until next time, have a good one, take care of
<v Speaker 1>yourself and goodbye. You're the best audience in gaming. Yotile,
<v Speaker 1>don't be ba