PS5 Prices Increasing in Some Regions

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to game Breaking News with me Jeff Grub,
<v Speaker 1>your host from GiantBomb dot com. Thank you for tuning in.
<v Speaker 1>In this episode, we're going to be talking about PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>five getting another price increase. We'll try to make it
<v Speaker 1>a good one for you. It will be because Emma
<v Speaker 1>Fife is on the show. Emma, how are you doing.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just great, Grub. I lost my mind over the weekend.
<v Speaker 3>Oh but I did go to a.
<v Speaker 2>Bernie Sanders and AOC fighting the Oligarchy rally Los Angeles,
<v Speaker 2>which was their biggest one yet, thirty six thousand people.
<v Speaker 2>All those numbers, and that might only be counting the
<v Speaker 2>people that actually were like in the perimeter, because there
<v Speaker 2>were a bunch of people that were on the outside
<v Speaker 2>as well.
<v Speaker 3>So yeah, that was rad.
<v Speaker 2>Joan Bias played and so like I truly felt like
<v Speaker 2>I was at a rally from the seventies in an
<v Speaker 2>amazing way. Yes, you're right, liberal games media strikes again,
<v Speaker 2>that's me.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but no, it was. It was awesome, and uh
<v Speaker 3>yeah it was it just like it was.
<v Speaker 2>It was so like chill like again, like people were
<v Speaker 2>obviously amped up, but like the vibes were very like
<v Speaker 2>peaceful and we're gonna yeah again. It was like very seventies,
<v Speaker 2>like give piece a chance, everybody singing. Imagine like this
<v Speaker 2>is truly what happened over the weekend. So that was
<v Speaker 2>pretty amazing. Yeah, and then Bernie went to Coachella, so
<v Speaker 2>that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, my understanding. Those you've got obsessed with something though. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I became a bit of a PopMart collector over the weekend.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know what that means.
<v Speaker 2>So PopMart is this, It's just a store that sells
<v Speaker 2>cute licensed stuff. So they have like a really cute
<v Speaker 2>line of DC Justice League figures. They have a line
<v Speaker 2>that they did with like powerpuff Girls. Again, it's like
<v Speaker 2>a lot of licensed things, but similar to a Sanrio,
<v Speaker 2>except that they didn't create these characters. They also have
<v Speaker 2>some just kind of mascot characters. They're not from anything else,
<v Speaker 2>person say, or they're from like I don't know, a
<v Speaker 2>like Chinese artist put them in a book kind of thing,
<v Speaker 2>and uh yeah, so I became irrevocably of Okay, so
<v Speaker 2>somebody in chat knows what I'm talking about, because there's
<v Speaker 2>I can't afford the Giant Chopper, and specifically it is
<v Speaker 2>the Giant Chopper.
<v Speaker 3>That is Labooboo, which is the creature that has blown up.
<v Speaker 2>The girls are going wild for Labooboo right now, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>and I say girls is an all encompassing term. That's
<v Speaker 2>so I spent my entire Friday trying to get No.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't entire Friday because I was working, Okay.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, this is Labuoboo, and yeah from Dynasty Warriors.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, different than Lubu from Dynasty Warriors.
<v Speaker 2>This is la Booboo and she is a little elf
<v Speaker 2>creature based on Nordic mythology by a uh Chinese artist.
<v Speaker 2>I'm blanking on the first name, but Loung is his
<v Speaker 2>last name. And the girl she is, she is the
<v Speaker 2>moment everyone is trying to get one of these. Uh.
<v Speaker 3>They sell out immediately.
<v Speaker 2>On Poshmark Poshmark, I mean they're on Poshmark, Tube, Pop,
<v Speaker 2>No Climax and Chat. I see you asking about Taykoko,
<v Speaker 2>and I've become completely obsessed with Tychoko. I literally bought
<v Speaker 2>a lanyard during a Pop Mart TikTok live stream last night.
<v Speaker 2>I bought some Blindebox lanyards that are in the Labuobu
<v Speaker 2>series because one of them is Tychoko.
<v Speaker 3>So Tychoko is also from the.
<v Speaker 2>Monsters series, and Taykoko is a little skeleton and it's
<v Speaker 2>like Labooboo's little boyfriend who she's constantly tormenting.
<v Speaker 3>It's bad, I've gone crazy.
<v Speaker 4>It's you know, it's like a a beanie baby sort
<v Speaker 4>of thing.
<v Speaker 3>It's totally a beautye baby thing all over again.
<v Speaker 2>Like that's the thing is that, like I want to
<v Speaker 2>get more, but I want to like show up at
<v Speaker 2>a pop mart vending machine which they call roboshops at
<v Speaker 2>the exact right time to just finally to just like
<v Speaker 2>find one. You know what it is though, It's like
<v Speaker 2>there's something fun about it because there is the like,
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, it's the like physical aspect of it
<v Speaker 2>and the fact that you can maybe come across them
<v Speaker 2>in the wild because it is that like beanie baby thing,
<v Speaker 2>and in a world where.
<v Speaker 3>So much is where so much is digital, this feels,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, this feels kind of fun.
<v Speaker 2>I got a Yes, I got a Pucky also, So
<v Speaker 2>this is Pucky also from their line. Pucky is like
<v Speaker 2>a little baby character, but this is Pucky in a
<v Speaker 2>cat costume.
<v Speaker 3>And I got this from the Robust shop. So, okay,
<v Speaker 3>I've lost it.
<v Speaker 1>I've totally lost it, but you caught me up because
<v Speaker 1>I definitely have seen some of these little fellows on
<v Speaker 1>my timelines here or there, and I just like was
<v Speaker 1>scrolling past it. Now when I see it, La Boo Boo,
<v Speaker 1>Is that the character's name?
<v Speaker 3>Boo Boo?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, what I'm seeing is a future uh uh a
<v Speaker 1>costume for Mike Manatti.
<v Speaker 4>Clearly they have the same exact.
<v Speaker 2>Right, Yeah, La Boo boo, this this little elf girl
<v Speaker 2>and Mike Manatti basically the same person.
<v Speaker 3>That's yes, little mischievous because you know.
<v Speaker 4>Cause and mischief do the Laboo bo does?
<v Speaker 1>They do? They ever, like dress up as like one
<v Speaker 1>of the licenses that they're doing stuff.
<v Speaker 3>With or what they haven't officially sold that.
<v Speaker 2>However, they do make clothes for Laboo bo so you know,
<v Speaker 2>we're just waiting for a uh you know, well, they
<v Speaker 2>do like figures.
<v Speaker 3>So for example, there's this whole Labooboo.
<v Speaker 2>Figure one piece line, which is what we were also
<v Speaker 2>talking about in chat with the Giant Tony Tony Chopper. Uh.
<v Speaker 2>But they you know have ones where it's like oh
<v Speaker 2>but obviously like Frankie is Taykoko, but everybody else is
<v Speaker 2>just like La Boo boo in different costumes.
<v Speaker 3>It's wild.
<v Speaker 4>I'm just what I'm learning.
<v Speaker 1>I got to keep this. I got to keep this
<v Speaker 1>away from my kids. That's the most important thing that
<v Speaker 1>I'm taking away from this conversation. Let's explain what we
<v Speaker 1>do here most weekdays. I Jeff Grubb will help piece
<v Speaker 1>your gaming life back together. That includes breaking jan did
<v Speaker 1>do you have?
<v Speaker 4>Oh my god, there you see everybody.
<v Speaker 1>I think, okay, I think that should pop up here
<v Speaker 1>on the thing here in a second, there you go, everybody.
<v Speaker 1>There's a little boo boo.
<v Speaker 3>Here's a boot it.
<v Speaker 1>All right? Uh yeah, I love that. Okay, you haven't
<v Speaker 1>started Blueprints. I thought you mentioned Blueprints.
<v Speaker 4>I did.
<v Speaker 3>I mentioned that my husband is playing.
<v Speaker 2>I had intended to start Blueprints this weekend, but then
<v Speaker 2>I lost my mind.
<v Speaker 3>But I'm back now.
<v Speaker 2>I'm like back to my sanity. Uh and Blueprints it's
<v Speaker 2>going to get started today. But I know that Gabe
<v Speaker 2>is loving it. He started it and he was basically saying, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>this is really interesting.
<v Speaker 3>This is fun. I'm not totally sure what the.
<v Speaker 2>Game play is yet, but the deeper he's gotten into it,
<v Speaker 2>the more he's been enthusiastic about it.
<v Speaker 4>So yeah, I'm Mike.
<v Speaker 1>Wait, my notes have fully gotten crazy now taking I
<v Speaker 1>was not taking many notes for a very long time.
<v Speaker 1>Forty hours. I had a few screenshots, and now I'm
<v Speaker 1>basically studying for an exam. That's basically what I'm doing now.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, yeah, fun stuff. All right, let's get into it.
<v Speaker 1>PS five prices have increased in some regions, but not
<v Speaker 1>the United States. This is from Georgiaang at game Spot.
<v Speaker 1>Let's just read what's happening first. Sony has a notes
<v Speaker 1>that it has raised prices for the digital and standard
<v Speaker 1>editions of the PS five console and select regions, but
<v Speaker 1>not in the United States. However, Sony has also decreased
<v Speaker 1>the price of the PS five disc drive attachment, which
<v Speaker 1>I bet it doesn't sell a ton of anyhow, The
<v Speaker 1>price changes are now in effect. In a statement, Sony
<v Speaker 1>said it was a tough decision to raise prices and
<v Speaker 1>it's not the first time. Sony first race prices back
<v Speaker 1>in twenty twenty two, with a backdrop of a challenging
<v Speaker 1>economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates. Sony
<v Speaker 1>Interactive Entertainment has made the tough decision to raise the
<v Speaker 1>recommended retail price of the PlayStation five console and select
<v Speaker 1>markets in Europe, Middle East Africa, as well as Australia
<v Speaker 1>and New Zealand. Here is how the price is breakdown.
<v Speaker 1>In Europe, the PS five Digital edition will go from
<v Speaker 1>four hundred and fifty euros up to five hundred euros.
<v Speaker 1>The standard version that comes with a disk drive, like
<v Speaker 1>the add on that's included that that's not going up
<v Speaker 1>in price at all in Europe, but the disk drive
<v Speaker 1>will go down from one hundred and twenty euros to
<v Speaker 1>eighty euros. In the UK, the digital edition is going
<v Speaker 1>up by forty pounds, from three hundred and ninety pounds
<v Speaker 1>to four hundred and thirty pounds. In Australia, the digital
<v Speaker 1>edition is going up seventy Australian dollars. The PS five
<v Speaker 1>standard with the disk drive is actually going up in Australia,
<v Speaker 1>but only by thirty dollars. And in New Zealand the
<v Speaker 1>digital edition is going up by sixty New Zealand dollars.
<v Speaker 1>And then the standard edition with the this dribe is
<v Speaker 1>increasing by fifty as well, so that means that will
<v Speaker 1>now be nine hundred and fifty New Zealand dollars. It is.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I think the initial reaction I had here was, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>what is what is going on? Why is it everywhere
<v Speaker 1>except for the United States? The United States is certainly
<v Speaker 1>one of the factors here in terms of the tariffs,
<v Speaker 1>and not the tariffs obviously aren't aren't being applied to
<v Speaker 1>these other countries. That's not what's happening, but it has.
<v Speaker 1>The tariffs have destabilized the global economy. And when they
<v Speaker 1>talk about you know, here's Daniel maud A hue Ga
<v Speaker 1>X on Twitter. I mean, I think he said it
<v Speaker 1>last night. As soon as I saw this, I'm like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he says, everyone is about to find out that the
<v Speaker 1>PS five price won't just increase because of tariffs. The
<v Speaker 1>knock on effect in terms of inflation, exchange rates, and
<v Speaker 1>macro trends are also impacting global prices. Even if one
<v Speaker 1>region is impacted, Sony may raise prices everywhere to offset losses.
<v Speaker 1>You know, things have become so unmoored from a stabilized
<v Speaker 1>global economy that these companies are like probably looking around,
<v Speaker 1>be like, we got to make as much money now
<v Speaker 1>as we can because we don't know what's going to happen.
<v Speaker 1>In one two years, things could be a lot worse.
<v Speaker 1>And they do have a guaranteed win here pretty soon, Emma.
<v Speaker 1>Right with grand theft Auto six, that's I think that's
<v Speaker 1>really the foundational thing here is Grand theft out of
<v Speaker 1>six is going to come there. They know there's been
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people waiting on the sideline. They're going
<v Speaker 1>to hit those people where it hurts, right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I saw your post about that yesterday and I yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that to me, that is a no brainer. Again, it's
<v Speaker 2>like we're looking at a destabilized global economy. Uh, as
<v Speaker 2>far as the US goes, and them not increasing prices here,
<v Speaker 2>I don't think that that's set in stone, you.
<v Speaker 4>Know, that's that's that's gonna happen, yep.
<v Speaker 3>For now.
<v Speaker 2>But they're they're basically increasing the prices in markets wherein
<v Speaker 2>they know what the sort of taxation, tariff, import fees.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, they know better what's happening in these countries, No.
<v Speaker 3>Better, what's happening exactly right now?
<v Speaker 2>You know, we're just kind of I feel like this
<v Speaker 2>is happening kind of across the board in terms of
<v Speaker 2>commerce in the US. Is there's a lot of things
<v Speaker 2>that you know, we're already set at a certain price
<v Speaker 2>because they've been in the US market for a long
<v Speaker 2>time and they're just.
<v Speaker 3>Riding it out right now until.
<v Speaker 2>They can make a decision. You know, the reason that
<v Speaker 2>we're unable to order Nintendo Switch tos is because they're
<v Speaker 2>not in the market yet, so they don't know what
<v Speaker 2>to set the market price at. All of these other
<v Speaker 2>things were already set at a certain market price, and
<v Speaker 2>they just don't know what they need to set the
<v Speaker 2>updated market price at.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they're right, they're anchored to their previous price, so
<v Speaker 1>they have to work from there. Well, Nintendo did announce
<v Speaker 1>a price right before those tariffs happened, so they have
<v Speaker 1>a little bit of anchor. But they probably feel like
<v Speaker 1>they can make some moves before they actually get that
<v Speaker 1>they launched, which is why they have not announced what's
<v Speaker 1>happened with pre orders yet, although that could literally happen
<v Speaker 1>at any second. Ema, we will have to kind of
<v Speaker 1>keep our eyes open. But yeah, I think that you're right.
<v Speaker 1>The play the PlayStation five price increase will come to
<v Speaker 1>the United States here pretty soon. They are just waiting
<v Speaker 1>for the dust to settle, and it's honestly, it just
<v Speaker 1>gets kicked up and gets kicked in our eyes every
<v Speaker 1>time it feels like things might start to calm down.
<v Speaker 1>So you know, we are here on Monday recording the
<v Speaker 1>show over the weekend or late on Friday, I think
<v Speaker 1>there was the announcement from someone. I think it was
<v Speaker 1>the Customs and Border Patrol, the organization that was like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>there will be an exemption on electronics and computers from
<v Speaker 1>China and everywhere will be exempt from these tariffs. So
<v Speaker 1>for one thing, when that was when that was announced, Emma,
<v Speaker 1>that should just put to the lie just how much
<v Speaker 1>this is about bringing us manufacturing here. Because if you
<v Speaker 1>make something in China, it was gonna have zero percent tariffs,
<v Speaker 1>but if you make it here and import the processor
<v Speaker 1>that you need, it would be one hundred and forty
<v Speaker 1>five percent tariffs. So clearly we knew all along. Obviously
<v Speaker 1>we know that's never he doesn't care about anyone else.
<v Speaker 1>He doesn't care about us manufacturing, doesn't care about any
<v Speaker 1>of that. We don't have to pretend that he does.
<v Speaker 1>But now it's just so blatantly obvious that that was
<v Speaker 1>a lie, and we can just move on from that.
<v Speaker 1>But that that okay, computers, cell phones, you know, smartphones, tablets,
<v Speaker 1>all these things are going to be exempt.
<v Speaker 4>What about consoles?
<v Speaker 1>What about Well, we'll hang on, we'll wait and see,
<v Speaker 1>and then it's like we get to later in the
<v Speaker 1>weekend and okay, first we hear maybe those tariffs are
<v Speaker 1>temporary as well. That was Lutnik was on Fox News
<v Speaker 1>saying that apparently that pissed off a bunch of people
<v Speaker 1>in the White House. So they're still fighting amongst themselves
<v Speaker 1>about how they're going to do this. Trump is now
<v Speaker 1>also saying that they're going to be temporary. He's also
<v Speaker 1>saying that there's no such thing as any exemptions. Even
<v Speaker 1>though there's this exemption, does clarity exist. They've clarified the exemption.
<v Speaker 1>It does not include consoles. So the switch to PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>five are still going to be subject to all of
<v Speaker 1>these insane tariffs ten percent from Vietnam, Cambodia, and one
<v Speaker 1>hundred and forty five percent or whatever it's at now
<v Speaker 1>for China. So the dust is just simply not it's
<v Speaker 1>not even begun to settle. It whirling around.
<v Speaker 2>That's exactly I was gonna say. It's swirling around. We're
<v Speaker 2>in a we're in a dust storm. Still uh, maybe
<v Speaker 2>it's not completely blinding us, but it's still it's still
<v Speaker 2>in one of those little whirlwinds.
<v Speaker 1>I want to look away. That's I know that much.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's you know, I think that the
<v Speaker 2>solution here is that, yeah, Trump just needs to become
<v Speaker 2>a hardcore gamer and then he'll exempt consoles.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, that's that's the solution.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, that's really what it is. Like, let's let's
<v Speaker 3>be completely honest. Is he's like, oh, people need cell.
<v Speaker 2>Phones, so like, but he doesn't see consoles as like
<v Speaker 2>a thing that people need.
<v Speaker 1>And then I mean I think, you know, but you know,
<v Speaker 1>Apple donated a million dollars to his his you know,
<v Speaker 1>non election campaign or whatever like when he was brought
<v Speaker 1>into office, and a bunch of other companies like that did,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm sure that they are using that leverage they
<v Speaker 1>got from giving money to get an audience with him
<v Speaker 1>to get him to agree to come over with these exemptions.
<v Speaker 1>Even they can't get him to commit to him long term,
<v Speaker 1>which is you know, apparently what was happening inside the
<v Speaker 1>White House on Friday. So we need to start stabilizing
<v Speaker 1>things again. Let's commit to long term exemptions. Let's commit
<v Speaker 1>to just making decisions on all these things and just
<v Speaker 1>go out there and tell the market what they want
<v Speaker 1>to hear in a lot of ways. And he cannot
<v Speaker 1>get to Monday with that. He cannot make it past
<v Speaker 1>the weekend without throwing a king, throwing you know, wrench
<v Speaker 1>into the works and messing things up again. So if
<v Speaker 1>I am one of these companies having to decide the
<v Speaker 1>price of what my product is going to be, especially
<v Speaker 1>if I've already been selling it at a certain price
<v Speaker 1>for several years now, I'm just waiting a little bit
<v Speaker 1>longer until I get at any information, not all the
<v Speaker 1>information that's going to be impossible in this environment, but
<v Speaker 1>any information. And again, they can't wait forever because GTA
<v Speaker 1>six is coming, and they do want to raise the
<v Speaker 1>price before that because they have to have wins now,
<v Speaker 1>because the future is more uncertain than it's ever been.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I saw the you know, the University of
<v Speaker 1>Michigan does a consumer sentiment index. Em it's done it
<v Speaker 1>since the late seventies. I think it is at its
<v Speaker 1>lowest point ever. The confidence that the American consumer has
<v Speaker 1>in the American economy and in their own future is
<v Speaker 1>at the lowest point it has ever been. That includes
<v Speaker 1>two thousand and eight, that includes COVID, that includes you know,
<v Speaker 1>gas shortages in the late seventies. Like it is really bad.
<v Speaker 1>So like that, like that that should be an indicator
<v Speaker 1>that people are feeling super queasy, and of course they
<v Speaker 1>should be.
<v Speaker 4>Look around.
<v Speaker 1>The news is terrible. But if I'm a company trying
<v Speaker 1>to be like, Okay, well maybe we can like you know,
<v Speaker 1>have a good year this year and next year we'll
<v Speaker 1>have our some big games and they'll really hit dance
<v Speaker 1>like now you've got to make money now and hope
<v Speaker 1>you can then survive whatever happens next. It's rough.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, you know, it was like even on
<v Speaker 2>I saw people in chat talking about it earlier the
<v Speaker 2>well last week tonight. Last night, John Oliver did a
<v Speaker 2>whole you know, the main segment was on tariffs, and
<v Speaker 2>one of the big points that.
<v Speaker 3>They were bringing home about it was that.
<v Speaker 2>The confidence in the US in terms of being an
<v Speaker 2>economic partner in participating in the global economy, it's it's gone, like.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yes, I mean because I mean, like if we
<v Speaker 1>just like put it in playing terms of what the
<v Speaker 1>original tariffs were going to do, they were going to
<v Speaker 1>result in the deaths of thousands of people, if not
<v Speaker 1>more than that, in places like Cambodia and via places
<v Speaker 1>that are just kind of getting like especially Cambodia that
<v Speaker 1>is really just sort of getting its manufacturing up and running.
<v Speaker 1>They've assembled their entire economy to work with the United
<v Speaker 1>States and make stuff for us that will buy. And
<v Speaker 1>this has been very good for both countries. It's obviously
<v Speaker 1>going to always be an imbalance and we always actually
<v Speaker 1>benefit more than these countries we buy stuff for. But
<v Speaker 1>that's sort of the evil we've accepted to be. Like, well, slowly,
<v Speaker 1>over time, their lives will improve. We've even seen this
<v Speaker 1>with China and all this stuff, and then to pull
<v Speaker 1>the rug out from underneath them would have just absolutely
<v Speaker 1>killed thousands of people. And that was his idea. That
<v Speaker 1>was the whole thing, is I'm gonna hurt these people
<v Speaker 1>because the number that says USA on this side is
<v Speaker 1>lower than this country over here, like Cambodi's got a
<v Speaker 1>higher numbers. That drives me insane. It's like, oh my god,
<v Speaker 1>people don't deserve to die because you don't understand what
<v Speaker 1>you're looking at, So how can anyone trust us? Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's you just can't. So it is going to be
<v Speaker 1>a messy situation that will not just be unraveled when
<v Speaker 1>he changes his mind or gets distracted by something else.
<v Speaker 1>It has permanently wrought damage on the trust of this country.
<v Speaker 1>So back to PS five price increase. Yeah, I'm with you.
<v Speaker 1>It'll probably go to the United States here pretty soon.
<v Speaker 1>I think the switch to probably still will see something
<v Speaker 1>or very well could Xbox should go up in price.
<v Speaker 1>But everything's going to go up in price now. Inflation's
<v Speaker 1>going to come roaring back.
<v Speaker 3>It's going to come roaring back, as you say though,
<v Speaker 3>for the world.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, yeah, everyone's going to pay the price of this.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, everyone is going to pay the price.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. You know, if things were starting to calm down
<v Speaker 1>with inflation, they were starting to calm down with exchange
<v Speaker 1>rates a little bit, they were, they were bounced around
<v Speaker 1>for other reasons. But now all this stuff has completely
<v Speaker 1>thrown that stuff into chaos again. And so if you're
<v Speaker 1>Sony looking around like, okay, we have to do this
<v Speaker 1>now because we can get away with it now, and
<v Speaker 1>of course that's always how it goes.
<v Speaker 4>These companies do what they can get away with.
<v Speaker 1>Worth pointing out. I guess for now, the PS five
<v Speaker 1>Digital Edition in most of these countries now is actually
<v Speaker 1>more expensive or the same price as the switch to.
<v Speaker 1>The switch to got announced and was looking kind of
<v Speaker 1>rough in comparison because it was more expensive than a
<v Speaker 1>PS five Digital edition. Well now the PS five Digital
<v Speaker 1>Edition is is more expensive, and then like even with
<v Speaker 1>the Mario Kart World Bundle, that's the same price as
<v Speaker 1>the digital edition now, so it's like, Okay, Nintendo maybe
<v Speaker 1>benefits a little bit, but I think people already feel
<v Speaker 1>like that's expensive and they're having a hard time just
<v Speaker 1>to find that and PS five being you know, getting
<v Speaker 1>a price increase won't necessarily make them feel better, all right,
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, we talked about this. Unlike smartphones, Nintendo switch
<v Speaker 1>to and other video game consoles won't be exempt from
<v Speaker 1>Trump tariffs. This is from Jordan Miller at VGC. US
<v Speaker 1>President Donald Trump has announced that smartphones, computers, and other
<v Speaker 1>devices will be exempt from his tariffs, but video game
<v Speaker 1>consoles liked a nintend switch to, will not, and a
<v Speaker 1>notice published over the weekend US Customs and Border Patrols
<v Speaker 1>said that specific goods would be exempt from Trump's ten
<v Speaker 1>percent global tariffs on most countries and his Chinese import
<v Speaker 1>tax which is set to set to send tech prices
<v Speaker 1>skyrocketing due to the large number of components manufactured in
<v Speaker 1>China and the assembly of products themselves. It was estimated
<v Speaker 1>that new smartphones laptops would increase in price by hundreds
<v Speaker 1>of dollars, but the new exemptions have lessened the potential
<v Speaker 1>impact of these products. I you know, once again, you know,
<v Speaker 1>we're kind of just gonna have to wait and see
<v Speaker 1>what happens with all this. But I think this is
<v Speaker 1>just a perfect example of how unclear messaging makes everything
<v Speaker 1>so much worse. I mean, people were messaging me all
<v Speaker 1>weekend or tagging me on social media saying, hey, look
<v Speaker 1>is this good news? Are the consoles going to be exempt?
<v Speaker 1>It's like, I don't know, We'll just where it's gonna
<v Speaker 1>wait and we're gonna find out more. And I was
<v Speaker 1>expecting the worst, and here we are. What do you
<v Speaker 1>think Nintendo does next? Do you think that they can
<v Speaker 1>just come out and start selling it at four hundred
<v Speaker 1>and fifty dollars in five hundred with Mario Kartworld, keep
<v Speaker 1>it at a similar price, try to get all the
<v Speaker 1>systems from Vietnam that they can, and reintroduce pre orders
<v Speaker 1>here this week or are we still waiting for a while.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I think that that is likely what they
<v Speaker 2>will attempt.
<v Speaker 1>To do.
<v Speaker 2>Because you know, obviously again it's like we have all
<v Speaker 2>the stories about the stock that's coming from Vietnam, where
<v Speaker 2>there's going to be a lesser teris it. I don't know, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, ultimately Nintendo wants to be able to move
<v Speaker 2>product in the US. It is a giant market, and
<v Speaker 2>so if they can basically put aside a certain amount
<v Speaker 2>of stock of the console that they can then pre
<v Speaker 2>order to the US, so they know that they can
<v Speaker 2>solid at that price point and they're not going to
<v Speaker 2>take a loss on it because it was you know,
<v Speaker 2>manufactured within this exemption period. Yeah, I mean I think
<v Speaker 2>that that is likely what's going to happen.
<v Speaker 3>I just think that in.
<v Speaker 2>Terms of those pre orders coming up, uh, it's going
<v Speaker 2>to be a limited stock, so it's going to be
<v Speaker 2>extremely difficult to get one of those consoles and then
<v Speaker 2>you know, then then you know, reassess for release.
<v Speaker 1>Yep. I think I think that they'll probably right have
<v Speaker 1>to just make a move here pretty soon, try to
<v Speaker 1>try to like I don't know, hope against hope that Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that they see a stabilization here and that things kind
<v Speaker 1>of just revert back to what they were because you said, I, well,
<v Speaker 1>we tried a bunch of stuff, and now you know,
<v Speaker 1>I got all the deals I wanted, so we're going
<v Speaker 1>back and I won. Hey, everybody, aren't you sick of
<v Speaker 1>winning already? I think he could do that move, and
<v Speaker 1>I think they're hoping for that, but they just don't know.
<v Speaker 1>So maybe they just pull the trigger on pre orders
<v Speaker 1>as is right now, and then if you know, tariffs
<v Speaker 1>on Vietnam go back up like they're set to do
<v Speaker 1>after that ninety day pause, they will then have to
<v Speaker 1>raise prices at that point. But in the meantime, I
<v Speaker 1>think they're like, let's just go with it, because we do.
<v Speaker 1>They do have quite a few switch tos in America
<v Speaker 1>right now. They are shipping a lot from Vietnam at
<v Speaker 1>a ten percent tariff, so they'll lose money on those,
<v Speaker 1>but I think they're ready to do that, and then
<v Speaker 1>you know, from from there, I think they will just
<v Speaker 1>have to be more ready and more on their toes
<v Speaker 1>and ready to respond depending on what happens next. And
<v Speaker 1>that's yeah, that's rough stuff, all right. Let's take a
<v Speaker 1>quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about the
<v Speaker 1>other news, including Marathon getting its gameplay reveal and how
<v Speaker 1>everyone's feeling about that. We'll talk about that right after this.
<v Speaker 1>All right, let's get back into it. Me and Emma
<v Speaker 1>are still talking about the news, including Marathon gameplay revealed.
<v Speaker 1>Marathon is a new extraction shooter from Bungie, launching on
<v Speaker 1>September twenty third, and alpha signups are open now. Bunchie
<v Speaker 1>showed off gameplay over the weekend on Saturday, and it
<v Speaker 1>looks promising. The game putrid a new unique art style
<v Speaker 1>and fast paced skill based combat, but it's high difficulty
<v Speaker 1>and gear loss upon death may deter casual players. The
<v Speaker 1>game will be a premium product with seasonal content updates
<v Speaker 1>including new weapons, mods, runners, and cosmetics.
<v Speaker 4>Concerns remain about the game's price.
<v Speaker 1>We'll talk about that more in a second, but first
<v Speaker 1>potential for mainstream success is a question mark as well
<v Speaker 1>because of Bunchie's history with live service games and PvP balancing.
<v Speaker 1>And this game is very much about you know. It's
<v Speaker 1>pvpve it's an extraction shooter. You go into the world
<v Speaker 1>with a team of three. It's you know, and I
<v Speaker 1>think it's six three player teams. You're all going after
<v Speaker 1>loot and trying to get as much as you can,
<v Speaker 1>and the players that could survive and actually extract get
<v Speaker 1>to keep to their stuff, cash that in or do
<v Speaker 1>whatever they're going to do with it, and then use
<v Speaker 1>those resources to go into the next you know, it's
<v Speaker 1>a compound interest game. We have a lot of compound
<v Speaker 1>compound interest games where it's like, oh, I've had some success,
<v Speaker 1>and now I can use that success to have even
<v Speaker 1>more success in the next round. I am interested in this,
<v Speaker 1>but I also mostly interested because I think Bungie still
<v Speaker 1>makes the best feeling shooters, So I want to play
<v Speaker 1>their new shooter and we'll see if extraction can work
<v Speaker 1>for me.
<v Speaker 4>I really have not you know, this is a genre
<v Speaker 4>I've not really touched much.
<v Speaker 1>And it's because it doesn't sound appealing to me, Emma.
<v Speaker 1>But I bet if I get in there with a
<v Speaker 1>crew of people, and you know, I'm playing it with
<v Speaker 1>some friends every Friday night or something like that, I
<v Speaker 1>bet I would be into it.
<v Speaker 4>These games are very popular, But how are you feeling
<v Speaker 4>about it?
<v Speaker 1>What do you think the chances for success for marathon
<v Speaker 1>are standing at right now?
<v Speaker 2>So looking at it again, it is not my kind
<v Speaker 2>of game. It's not my genre. Good luck to them.
<v Speaker 3>It looks cool. I like the art style, so at
<v Speaker 3>least that.
<v Speaker 2>Is putting you in a place where it just doesn't
<v Speaker 2>look like a you know, black and brown and tan,
<v Speaker 2>low color grading call of duty, so that at least
<v Speaker 2>gives it, in my mind, a chance to attract attention
<v Speaker 2>and have people decide, oh, okay, we're gonna try this
<v Speaker 2>game out.
<v Speaker 3>However, I do think that it is a.
<v Speaker 2>It's a mistake in this day and age to have
<v Speaker 2>a high level of difficulty.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm not saying like, oh, we should make games
<v Speaker 3>easy so everybody can play. That's not what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 2>What I mean is that there needs to be adaptability
<v Speaker 2>so that you can attract more casual players, because I
<v Speaker 2>feel like that is something that Bungee has even struggled
<v Speaker 2>with in the past in terms of having these big launches,
<v Speaker 2>because their games look cool and they feel good to play,
<v Speaker 2>so people show up, but then they end up in
<v Speaker 2>a position wherein oh the now, only a hardcore collection
<v Speaker 2>of people pick around for it. And again I'm not like,
<v Speaker 2>I'm not trying to say you need to make this
<v Speaker 2>game for everyone. I just think that there needs to
<v Speaker 2>be some level of being able to retain players who
<v Speaker 2>are interested and get into it, but you don't want
<v Speaker 2>them to get to a level where it's more frustration
<v Speaker 2>than fun.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I am trying to, like look at the Steam concurrent
<v Speaker 1>players right now, because I agree with everything you're saying
<v Speaker 1>that there are so many barriers to me seeing the
<v Speaker 1>enjoyment in an extraction shooter. Now, I am someone who
<v Speaker 1>has often enjoyed pushing through barriers or having a game
<v Speaker 1>that pushes against me and forces me to play in
<v Speaker 1>new ways.
<v Speaker 4>So I don't think that's inherently a problem.
<v Speaker 1>But you know, I think when we throw out a
<v Speaker 1>lot of stuff like the Eldering night Rain is a
<v Speaker 1>multiplayer focused game, and even that other one that they're doing,
<v Speaker 1>the dust Bloods, that's multiplayer focused, and people are like, well,
<v Speaker 1>that's a mistake, and it's like, well, you know, multiplayer
<v Speaker 1>games are the most played games. They just are. They
<v Speaker 1>just are by far the most played games. Look. I
<v Speaker 1>mean you can look at Steam. Multiplayer games always have
<v Speaker 1>more players than a traditional game, and that's not just
<v Speaker 1>like you know, oh, concurrence, but definitely concurrence also they
<v Speaker 1>sell better. And now that has gone up and down
<v Speaker 1>and fluctuated over the years, but traditionally it's been very
<v Speaker 1>true that multiplayer games tend to sell better. So there's
<v Speaker 1>an audience out there for multiplayer games, and it's maybe
<v Speaker 1>not the audience that always tunes into this show. It's
<v Speaker 1>definitely not the kind of thing. I'm not catering to
<v Speaker 1>that audience. There are people who do, so it's not
<v Speaker 1>the first thing I think of, But I'm like, okay, well,
<v Speaker 1>then what about extraction shooters specifically? And I'm like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I don't is Escape from Tarkoff even on Steam.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know if it is. I don't think it is.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it is. I don't think it is.
<v Speaker 1>So that's not going to show up on the most
<v Speaker 1>play games, but that's sort of the one that sort
<v Speaker 1>of dominates that genre. Still. There's also you know, the
<v Speaker 1>Hunt Showdown, you know that is on Steam, but that
<v Speaker 1>doesn't have like one hundred thousand concurrens or something like that.
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna find to hear Hunt Showdown eighteen ninety six,
<v Speaker 1>you know, it tops out at about twenty five thousand
<v Speaker 1>concurrent players, which is you know, far away from the
<v Speaker 1>top fifty, let alone the top the top ten. So
<v Speaker 1>it's like, you know, okay, a battlefield game coming out
<v Speaker 1>and being not having a single player campaign, Okay, that
<v Speaker 1>makes sense because you don't Those games have get to
<v Speaker 1>get hundreds of thousands of concurrent players sometimes and they
<v Speaker 1>can kind of push through any of these things where
<v Speaker 1>it's like, oh that's niche or whatever, it's not something
<v Speaker 1>I want to play. It's like, well, there are a
<v Speaker 1>lot of people who do want to play it. I
<v Speaker 1>don't think extraction has had that moment yet where where
<v Speaker 1>it's like it's had It's Fortnite or it's Call of
<v Speaker 1>Duty or it's Halo to sort of bring it to everybody. Now,
<v Speaker 1>Marathon could be that, And if it is, I do
<v Speaker 1>think there's obviously something to this style of play. Developers
<v Speaker 1>seem to like it a lot. I think that's why
<v Speaker 1>they keep making Extraction modes. But in this moment, it's
<v Speaker 1>just so much easier to see all the ways this
<v Speaker 1>won't work than how it will. But of course I think, Emma,
<v Speaker 1>if it is fun to shoot things in Marathon because
<v Speaker 1>it's a bungee game, I think that's going to go
<v Speaker 1>a very long way to getting it over the top, right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think so.
<v Speaker 2>I guess also that it's a lot of discussing happening
<v Speaker 2>in chat right now. Is the reality that this is
<v Speaker 2>not a free to play and obviously we saw how
<v Speaker 2>well that went with Concord.
<v Speaker 3>Not the same.
<v Speaker 2>Kind of game at its core, per se, except that
<v Speaker 2>they're both shooting mcshoot shoots.
<v Speaker 3>So I guess I.
<v Speaker 2>Do wonder if it is going to attract enough attention
<v Speaker 2>while asking people to pay money to play it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So, I mean that's the other conversation here. Marathon
<v Speaker 1>won't be full price. A bunch of says it will
<v Speaker 1>be a quote premium title, so it's not going to
<v Speaker 1>be free to play. This is from Evan Campbell at GameSpot.
<v Speaker 1>Even after a reveal showcase over the weekend, there was
<v Speaker 1>confusion about one crucial aspect regarding Marathon, the game's price point.
<v Speaker 1>Developer Bungie has clarified that the Extraction Shooter won't be
<v Speaker 1>a quote full price title. However, the entry the entry
<v Speaker 1>cost still hasn't been detailed, with that info apparently arriving
<v Speaker 1>in the summer. Originally, GameSpot's Marathon preview noted that the
<v Speaker 1>game would be full price. Since Bungie has referred to
<v Speaker 1>the shooter as a premium title on Twitter, Warrior sixty
<v Speaker 1>four shared those details before the official Marathon account stepped
<v Speaker 1>in to spell out the current pricing situation for Marathon. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>it's described as a premium experience, but it won't carry
<v Speaker 1>a premium price tag. Think seventy dollars what the entry
<v Speaker 1>costs will ultimately be for the game. We'll have to
<v Speaker 1>wait for a few months though, So it's coming out
<v Speaker 1>in September. I think, you know, at one point it
<v Speaker 1>did it leaked or maybe it was speculator, or maybe
<v Speaker 1>it showed up on a store a forty dollars price tag,
<v Speaker 1>and I just think everyone can't help but go like Concord, right.
<v Speaker 4>And yeah, it's definitely like that is.
<v Speaker 1>The bad taste that's still in Sony's mouth for sure.
<v Speaker 1>The owners of Bungee got in a lot of people's mouths.
<v Speaker 1>And I think if we look around at the market,
<v Speaker 1>if you are one of these people making one of
<v Speaker 1>these games, Emma, like even a battlefield, yeah, you gotta
<v Speaker 1>be like, maybe we got to find a way to
<v Speaker 1>get this free to play. I guess so hard to
<v Speaker 1>compete with Fortnite so hard to compete with so many
<v Speaker 1>these other games that are you're free or so old
<v Speaker 1>that everyone just already has them in their stands.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I mean.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, how do you make the Fortnite model work
<v Speaker 3>in other games?
<v Speaker 2>Because I have a bunch of friends who are deeply
<v Speaker 2>into Fortnite, they're also deeply into purchasing Fortnite skins. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>so it's finding ways to make those in game transactions
<v Speaker 2>feel worth.
<v Speaker 3>It is kind of the key to.
<v Speaker 2>Finding the way to make your premium game free to play.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it is, you know, and I don't have experience
<v Speaker 1>with extraction. Christian I know in chat who I know
<v Speaker 1>loves Extraction Shooter says he's never played a free to
<v Speaker 1>play extraction shooter that has worked. I can imagine that,
<v Speaker 1>like balancing the in game economy, you know, separate from
<v Speaker 1>your real world spending is crucial to making that feel fun.
<v Speaker 1>That's the stuff that does appeal to me, like risk reward,
<v Speaker 1>being in the moment being like I have a lot
<v Speaker 1>of stuff. Should I just be prioritizing surviving now? Or
<v Speaker 1>I see a big shiny thing over there, I want
<v Speaker 1>to go get that as soon as you tell me, well, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you can go get that, but someone on the other
<v Speaker 1>side of that hill it's probably waiting for you, and
<v Speaker 1>they probably spend one hundred dollars to get stuff. You know,
<v Speaker 1>obviously it doesn't have to be paid to win, but
<v Speaker 1>if if they like look cooler to me. And that's
<v Speaker 1>one of the things I'm getting out of out of
<v Speaker 1>like doing all this work and trying to extract. That
<v Speaker 1>can also poison the well of feeling good about the
<v Speaker 1>extraction loops.
<v Speaker 4>So it's got to be difficult to make this make sense.
<v Speaker 1>Gotcha game, gotcha game, Just wi fus, that's always the answer.
<v Speaker 1>We'll see. I think it looks cool and I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>try it. I want an extraction shooter. I want to
<v Speaker 1>like have an experience with one. I think I'll just
<v Speaker 1>save it for this one. This will be the one
<v Speaker 1>I actually go in with. All right, let's update on
<v Speaker 1>Oblivion and the shadow drop. Last week, I think it
<v Speaker 1>was last week on this show, am I.
<v Speaker 3>We were talking about it.
<v Speaker 1>We were talking about it, like, yeah, yeah, it should
<v Speaker 1>shadow drop at any moment, you know. I'll give people
<v Speaker 1>a week now, the week of April twenty first, So basically,
<v Speaker 1>the last week of this month, next week, essentially, so
<v Speaker 1>that it should shadow drop then, which I think, you know,
<v Speaker 1>other people have said, but I've gotten separate confirmation that
<v Speaker 1>that's going to be the case. So shadow drop last
<v Speaker 1>week of the month. I'm man, I am. I'm getting
<v Speaker 1>excited for this one, although I imagine I'll still be
<v Speaker 1>playing Blueprints by then. I'm like, I'm going to spend
<v Speaker 1>the rest of this month, the rest of this month
<v Speaker 1>playing Blueprints, and then hopefully I can wrap it up
<v Speaker 1>and be ready for Oblivion. We'll see.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, yeah, I'm excited about this.
<v Speaker 1>We still, I mean, they have still not like announced
<v Speaker 1>any events, right for Microsoft. They announced something for for June,
<v Speaker 1>for the Summer Game Fest.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, but I don't know, I don't know where this
<v Speaker 4>show is.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I believe too that basically like what what Microsoft
<v Speaker 2>Xbox was saying for Summer Game Fest was that they
<v Speaker 2>were only doing the press conference. And yeah, but still,
<v Speaker 2>but that that'll be after Okabe drops.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that'll be long after Oblivion drops.
<v Speaker 4>That's right, So yeah, we'll see. This will have to
<v Speaker 4>be something else.
<v Speaker 1>I guess people have heard maybe there's an Xbox event
<v Speaker 1>happening on the twenty third I just haven't seen that anywhere,
<v Speaker 1>so I don't know. But yeah, hey, next week, let's
<v Speaker 1>get let's get down. I'm ready to go back to oblivion. Uh.
<v Speaker 1>Mafia the Old Country release date revealed on Steam. This
<v Speaker 1>is from Insider Gaming. The release date for Mafia the
<v Speaker 1>Old Old Country has seemingly been revealed in a blog
<v Speaker 1>post published on Steam a short while ago. It looks
<v Speaker 1>as though the game will be released on August eighth,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five. Previously, the game only had a window
<v Speaker 1>of twenty twenty five, so this narrows it down. Mafia
<v Speaker 1>the Old Country was first teased in August at Gamescom's
<v Speaker 1>Opening Night Live ceremony. They fuller trailer dropping in December
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty four at the Game Awards. Take two could
<v Speaker 1>have a stacked released release slate lineup now with Mafia
<v Speaker 1>the Old Country, Orderlance four, which I think is actually
<v Speaker 1>coming up the same day as Marathon, which is a
<v Speaker 1>little weird, and GTA six all dropping within mere months
<v Speaker 1>of each other. Yeah, you ever spend any time with
<v Speaker 1>the Mafia games? I tried the first couple and just
<v Speaker 1>never could get into them.
<v Speaker 2>No.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, is this like The Godfather?
<v Speaker 1>The game Yeah, it is like Godfather the game, which
<v Speaker 1>is action not that bad. You know, it's an open
<v Speaker 1>world crime game. They try to add a little different
<v Speaker 1>the flavor on top to be a GTA without being GTA,
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I think they're all right, but they've
<v Speaker 1>never been great, I think, and I've always wanted them
<v Speaker 1>to be like kind of just get up that next level.
<v Speaker 4>I hope this one does it.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, this is one that they I think they
<v Speaker 1>kind of made in response to In this they being
<v Speaker 1>Hangar thirteen the studio in response to their last game
<v Speaker 1>getting canceled several years ago during the pandemic. They were
<v Speaker 1>working on like a shooter with like magical powers and
<v Speaker 1>stuff like that. And I think that we're gonna scrap
<v Speaker 1>that go back to Mafia, and here we are. It
<v Speaker 1>feels like kind of a quick turnaround. But I have
<v Speaker 1>no idea what development. Maybe they were working on this
<v Speaker 1>in conjunction with that and it had been in the
<v Speaker 1>works for years and now they're ready to go.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, or they just turned that into this and in
<v Speaker 2>this Mafia you will be able to do wizard spells.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, I'm down there.
<v Speaker 2>It is.
<v Speaker 1>Warlock Mafia. Yeah, let's actually just it would be a
<v Speaker 1>shame if I were to finstrate you magically through this window. Yes, yep,
<v Speaker 1>I would. I would definitely be excited about that. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Take two's lineup does look pretty good. They are if
<v Speaker 1>they have Mafia, Borderlands four. Yes, Borderlands four and GTA
<v Speaker 1>six really all dropping within months, although I continue to
<v Speaker 1>think it's like, well, you know, they have those other
<v Speaker 1>two games, so if they feel like they have to
<v Speaker 1>delay GTA six, they won't hesitate. But I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It feels like they're gonna have all this and it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be a big year for them, So we'll see.
<v Speaker 1>Are you a Borderlands person as well at all? Have
<v Speaker 1>you ever played a Borderlands because I've only played the
<v Speaker 1>first one and I'm like kind of in the mood
<v Speaker 1>for this one.
<v Speaker 2>Played Tails from the Borderlands, Oh like telltale thing.
<v Speaker 1>It's honestly probably the best one. So yeah, right totally
<v Speaker 1>and final check GT six. I mean, I know we
<v Speaker 1>were just talking about for the PlayStation price increased thing,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm leaning more toward it coming out.
<v Speaker 2>This year me too, now I think Halladay no, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Drop November December.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, they would give themselves that amount of runway
<v Speaker 2>I think what they would love is to drop it
<v Speaker 2>in the summer, but they're going to give themselves as
<v Speaker 2>much leeway as they can whilst still dropping at a
<v Speaker 2>big season. So I think it's going to be the
<v Speaker 2>hottest gift of.
<v Speaker 3>The twenty twenty five holiday season.
<v Speaker 1>Yeap. Yeah. And it's like, you know, we're not so
<v Speaker 1>close that they have to say something soon, but some
<v Speaker 1>the summer announcement season will be here soon, and I
<v Speaker 1>hope that they up at that point they just straight
<v Speaker 1>up say a date, but at least like a month,
<v Speaker 1>just say a month, that'd be nice.
<v Speaker 2>I just got so excited thinking that maybe there would
<v Speaker 2>be something around GT sex at Summer Game FESTI this year.
<v Speaker 4>I got, Yeah, it's not impossible.
<v Speaker 3>I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think they would be at Kiwi's thing, but
<v Speaker 1>I think they would. Maybe they could run something in
<v Speaker 1>conjunction off to the side at a hotel room or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>That's definitely something that they might do.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they could just come bring GT six to.
<v Speaker 2>Us, Yeah, play it.
<v Speaker 1>It's rock stars, So they probably be like, no, you
<v Speaker 1>come to us, but yeah, that's that's true. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's see here, and then a new prototype game is
<v Speaker 1>in the works. A playtester claims, we'll see. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know if I believe this one, but let's read the rumor.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Insider Gaming as well. A new prototype
<v Speaker 1>game is reportedly in development. And that's not like prototype
<v Speaker 1>is in an unfinished idea. Prototype is in that franchise
<v Speaker 1>that was like the Monster Superhero open world action game from.
<v Speaker 3>The X sixty.
<v Speaker 1>According to a user on Reddit by the name of
<v Speaker 1>big B, they were given details about a new game
<v Speaker 1>in the series as part of a recent focus group session.
<v Speaker 1>The user claims that the game will see Alex Mercer
<v Speaker 1>return as its protagonists. We all who can forget Alex Mercer? Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>just all the kids clamoring for the return of Alex Mercer.
<v Speaker 1>Gameplay will reportedly feature shape shifting and transforming into other
<v Speaker 1>people in order to infiltrate areas. Lastly, it will be
<v Speaker 1>based in New York City. Insider Gaming reached out to
<v Speaker 1>big B regarding these claims and was told the following
<v Speaker 1>It was a UGUB survey which asked me to sign
<v Speaker 1>an NDA and confirm that I will not disclose the contents,
<v Speaker 1>which is exactly what they're doing here. It then confirmed
<v Speaker 1>a series of features that it could a series of
<v Speaker 1>features that upcoming games will include, and how popular this
<v Speaker 1>was with me percentage wise. It was not a play test,
<v Speaker 1>but did specify that these features were already planned as
<v Speaker 1>part of upcoming games. Okay, I mean yeah, but I
<v Speaker 1>don't think there's any reason to assume that, or to
<v Speaker 1>like just take the survey at its word that say, hey,
<v Speaker 1>imagine a prototype game that's using these features, that's really
<v Speaker 1>coming and it's going to have these features. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>they could just be prototype, could be a stand in,
<v Speaker 1>they could be same prototype when they actually mean something
<v Speaker 1>else totally.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, if it's just a survey, it's like Sony
<v Speaker 2>surveying there on and saying.
<v Speaker 3>What do you like about the switch too?
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's like, yes, Sony's not gonna make the
<v Speaker 2>switch too, but they're gonna make their own handheld.
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 2>It could be that they're, oh making something in the
<v Speaker 2>vein of a proto type but it's not necessarily another
<v Speaker 2>proto type game.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, it looks like it was relatively well reviewed.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they're they're all right, they're all right, they're okay games. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but I just it doesn't make it like a huge
<v Speaker 1>amount of sense to me, because it's like these feel
<v Speaker 1>like the kinds of games that don't get made anymore.
<v Speaker 1>They are a certain level of of like you know,
<v Speaker 1>B tier in terms of attention getting that that feels
<v Speaker 1>like the kinds of things that publishers are afraid to
<v Speaker 1>make these days. And so it's like, really, Prototype is
<v Speaker 1>the one that's coming back, Huh, There's like there feels
<v Speaker 1>like there's a lot of games that would come back
<v Speaker 1>before that that would make a lot more sense. And
<v Speaker 1>like who's even making this? I think the studio that
<v Speaker 1>was responsible for the Prototype games isn't a going concern anymore.
<v Speaker 1>So does someone just really like who even owns the property?
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, but it just like love it so much,
<v Speaker 1>like we got to get more of this. This is
<v Speaker 1>the key. I just don't see how this ends up
<v Speaker 1>really happening.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, looking, I'm just I'm trying to look into basically,
<v Speaker 2>like how well these games did, and Prototype two quickly
<v Speaker 2>comes up with information that like, even though it did
<v Speaker 2>perform well in its release months, it was too large
<v Speaker 2>of an investment for them to have made any significant
<v Speaker 2>returns on it. Apparently, So yeah, I'm with you, Like
<v Speaker 2>I guarantee you that there are people who are prototype.
<v Speaker 3>Freaks out there.
<v Speaker 2>There's there's people who love every single game, but this
<v Speaker 2>is not a game that I been here as like,
<v Speaker 2>oh you know this is kind of like a cult classic.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah it is.
<v Speaker 1>It was like so when the chat said a little
<v Speaker 1>bit ago, it was that game you beat after renting
<v Speaker 1>for Blockbuster and you return it and you're like that
<v Speaker 1>was fun and you don't really ever think about it
<v Speaker 1>all that much again, like it's maybe it's a maybe
<v Speaker 1>a little bit better than that. It's a little bit
<v Speaker 1>it's not completely forgettable, but it was pretty generic and
<v Speaker 1>and yeah, so it just it just feels extremely weird.
<v Speaker 1>But apparently it's it's Activision, so Microsoft owns it, right,
<v Speaker 1>and they owned a lot of IP so I think
<v Speaker 1>the same thing still stands of Okay, you're gonna get
<v Speaker 1>a team together because that original team isn't there. They're
<v Speaker 1>not like waiting around begging to do more, to do
<v Speaker 1>more prototype, so they're like you have to be like,
<v Speaker 1>we have this IP, we got to go find a
<v Speaker 1>team to make a game based on this IP. What
<v Speaker 1>what I could see happen is like a prototype collection
<v Speaker 1>or HD re release from a little like an external
<v Speaker 1>team that comes in and say, hey, we can, like,
<v Speaker 1>you know, upres some of your games and re release them.
<v Speaker 1>But I bet that those games are already backward compatible
<v Speaker 1>and running just fine. So I don't know if there's
<v Speaker 1>even that much demand for.
<v Speaker 4>That even so.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm just I'm not buying this one. I think
<v Speaker 1>that's where I'm putting my money.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, this seems unlikely.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's this was the spiritual successor to Hawk
<v Speaker 1>Ultimate Destruction. Let's get a new one of those first.
<v Speaker 1>That would be great. That's what I really want.
<v Speaker 2>That's a licensed character with a built in audience, So
<v Speaker 2>that seems way more likely.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. And if they just call it Haulk Ultimate Destruction two,
<v Speaker 1>like a sequel to that Xbox and GameCube game, I
<v Speaker 1>would be like, that's got a built in audience too,
<v Speaker 1>of old man like those games, all right. Zelda's Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>Switch two port finally lets you repair equipment as long
<v Speaker 1>as you use the mobile app. This is from Andy
<v Speaker 1>Robinson at VGC. Nintendo Switch tows the Legend of Zelda,
<v Speaker 1>Breath of the Wild and Tiers of the Kingdom ports
<v Speaker 1>look set to fix fix Andy, I Got a Problem
<v Speaker 1>with You, one of the two games most divisive features
<v Speaker 1>via its mobile app connectivity. As part of its big
<v Speaker 1>Switch to reveal earlier this month, Nintendo announced that Tears
<v Speaker 1>of the Kingdom and Breadth of the Wild will both
<v Speaker 1>get switched to additions, as well as a new app
<v Speaker 1>called zelden Notes, which.
<v Speaker 3>Will be part of nin app That's Right.
<v Speaker 1>The app will allow players to navigate and leave notes
<v Speaker 1>on an interactive game map, share creations and tiers of
<v Speaker 1>the Kingdom, unlock achievements, and more. The zelden Notes app
<v Speaker 1>also allows switch to players to roll a random daily bonus,
<v Speaker 1>which can be stored and used in game. This includes
<v Speaker 1>generic items like meals and health boots boosts, but as
<v Speaker 1>spotted by Zeltic, one of the rewards is an equipment repair.
<v Speaker 1>This will repair any items that have decayed or been
<v Speaker 1>used to the point where they're about to break, so
<v Speaker 1>you can actually repair them. And to this, I say,
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo or cowards, and they should have never done this.
<v Speaker 1>Stick to your guns. I just I'm disappointed in them.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, but it's kind of a funny way to
<v Speaker 1>bring repairing into the into Zelda. Though in the app.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and very Nintendo to be like you need to
<v Speaker 2>also integrate with our other online thing even though we
<v Speaker 2>just learned what the internet is thirty days ago. Uh yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 2>but my question is how does the repair happen?
<v Speaker 3>Like, how do how do repair? Do you have to?
<v Speaker 2>Is this where I spend my Nintendo Gold coins for
<v Speaker 2>buying games.
<v Speaker 1>In the shop, like you know, uh huh, it's it
<v Speaker 1>seems like, yeah, you just roll, like you'll open those
<v Speaker 1>Zelda Notes app get a random thing each day, and
<v Speaker 1>then you just I think probably there's probably you know
<v Speaker 1>how when.
<v Speaker 4>You bring in a mebo into Zelda where it's like one.
<v Speaker 1>Of the powers I wonder for, it'll be like that,
<v Speaker 1>like now one of the powers will be like the
<v Speaker 1>zelden notes interaction. So we're ready for you do the
<v Speaker 1>Zelda notes thing. Maybe you've an NFC the phone to
<v Speaker 1>your switch to I don't know, I'm kind of guessing
<v Speaker 1>at this point. Obviously it'll be linked to your phone's
<v Speaker 1>in character, but you know, they'll have some solution. I
<v Speaker 1>think it's probably gonna be it's probably gonna feel cheap
<v Speaker 1>and janky because it's uh and those are always kind
<v Speaker 1>of terrible for this, you know, smart glass generation.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean I think that again, your your weapons.
<v Speaker 3>It would be one thing if.
<v Speaker 2>One of the points of the game was weapon scarcity,
<v Speaker 2>but that's simply not a thing.
<v Speaker 1>No, oh no, it's just like it's just like Halo.
<v Speaker 1>You run out of bullets in your gun, you drop
<v Speaker 1>your gun, you pick up another gun.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's uh, and it's meant to kind of keep
<v Speaker 1>you engaged with the combat and the environment, and it's good.
<v Speaker 1>Weapon degradation is actually good. Yeah, but again everyone feels
<v Speaker 1>that way. This is not going to solve their issues
<v Speaker 1>with that. So it's no, it's not, No.
<v Speaker 3>This is annoying.
<v Speaker 2>If they really cared about weapon degradation and not creating
<v Speaker 2>some little integration for their new Zelda Notes app, they
<v Speaker 2>would just make it an option in the game to
<v Speaker 2>switch weapon degradation off.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yep, totally. It's it's definitely part of the balance
<v Speaker 1>and part of the the loop. And so yeah, they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna they're gonna keep it here and it'll I don't
<v Speaker 1>know if it'll be in the next one. I bet
<v Speaker 1>they'll rethink a lot of things and at that point
<v Speaker 1>maybe they'll have a different kind of loop, but it
<v Speaker 1>really worked in these two games. All right. There was
<v Speaker 1>one other thing, Uh, Matt Piscatella, right before we started,
<v Speaker 1>just kind of shared some tidbits, you know, the empty MPD.
<v Speaker 1>The Circana Report as it's called now, will come out
<v Speaker 1>next week. But in the meantime, he's got a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of an update on Assassin's Creed Shadows, which he
<v Speaker 1>says has been the best selling video game in the
<v Speaker 1>United States for each of its first three weeks in
<v Speaker 1>the market, according to Sircana's retail tracking service, and that's
<v Speaker 1>based on dollar sales, so it's doing pretty good. That's, uh,
<v Speaker 1>probably what they wanted to hear.
<v Speaker 3>I'm happy for you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, they they've got so many messes and
<v Speaker 1>they're all responsible.
<v Speaker 4>They're responsible for.
<v Speaker 1>All of them. They made it. They made a pretty
<v Speaker 1>good game, Assassin's Creed Shadows. Yeah, pretty solid. So I
<v Speaker 1>think it's the the game that a lot of Assassin's
<v Speaker 1>Creed fans were actually asking for as well, So I
<v Speaker 1>think that they'll be happy with us. I agree. All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's let's wrap things up. We got a pull question
<v Speaker 1>to get to. Uh, I have it here, let me
<v Speaker 1>get it. Oh, that's the game a wrap. Sorry everybody,
<v Speaker 1>let me go Giant bomb dot com slash at Giant
<v Speaker 1>Bomb and then you guys can go or no, that's
<v Speaker 1>YouTube dot com. I can't see the pull on the discord, Jans,
<v Speaker 1>so let me just get it here Giant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because everything Oh yeah, Jan said everything on his
<v Speaker 2>computer's frozen except obs oh fun.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, well at least that's still working. I got it here.
<v Speaker 1>Do you expect a switch to price increase? Now? I
<v Speaker 1>think we asked that at the end of last week.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see here. Forty nine percent said yes, twenty six
<v Speaker 1>percent said yes but a smaller one, and twenty five
<v Speaker 1>percent said no. I feel like we might have already
<v Speaker 1>answered that one as well, so maybe the new one
<v Speaker 1>didn't get posted. Well, have a new poll question, and
<v Speaker 1>that's going to be are you excited about Bungie's Marathon?
<v Speaker 1>Yes or no? We'll get that answered on Game Breaking
<v Speaker 1>News on Wednesday while we get ready for that. M fIF,
<v Speaker 1>why don't you tell people where they can find you
<v Speaker 1>on the internet, what you have going on and all
<v Speaker 1>that good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, well, you can certainly find me at my
<v Speaker 2>local PopMart, robostore, at the one that is an actual
<v Speaker 2>brick and mortar store at a mall that's not as
<v Speaker 2>close but not so far from me.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe you could even find me at the Century City.
<v Speaker 2>Roboshop if I get really ambitious and want to make the.
<v Speaker 3>Drive over there.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, I'm I'm at MFI Fun Blue Sky and
<v Speaker 2>on Instagram and the Fife on TikTok where I posted
<v Speaker 2>some unboxing videos and just explain, you know, a big
<v Speaker 2>explanation about the recent deterioration of my mental faculties.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, it comes for us, all all right, let's
<v Speaker 1>see here, Like I said, the new pool question that'll
<v Speaker 1>go up on YouTube dot com slash at Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 1>Just go to the community to tab you can vote there.
<v Speaker 1>We'll get the results. Talk about on Game Breaking News
<v Speaker 1>on Wednesday. Today, the schedules getting kind of flipped around
<v Speaker 1>a little bit. I think Jam might be having something.
<v Speaker 1>We'll see if his computer is going to break or not.
<v Speaker 1>And then let's see tomorrow we'll have the Bomb Cast.
<v Speaker 1>We will have a return of Blight Club on Wednesday, Voicemail,
<v Speaker 1>Donald Truck will be on Thursday. We'll be running a
<v Speaker 1>upf on Friday. Looking forward to all of that and
<v Speaker 1>more this week. In the time Emma Fi, thank you
<v Speaker 1>for hanging out with me and talking about video games.
<v Speaker 1>I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 3>You're very welcome.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you all for watching, Thank you all for listening.
<v Speaker 1>You're the best audience in gaming. Until next time, have
<v Speaker 1>a good one, take care of yourself. Goodbye,