Game Mess Mornings 08/04/23

Mummy bear, it's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do this for August
fourth, twenty twenty three. For the next hour or so, let me
help you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live with Me
Jeff Grab Today, a Pokemon Presents is incoming and boulders Gate three is impossibly
popular. But first please join me and welcome me today's co host to Game
Mess Mornings. It's Tamoor who's saying everybody, tam how are you doing for
Dregs Day? I am doing fantastic, Jeff. I am excited for Drag's
Day. As always, we got the dregs. I've looked through this,
uh this run show and let me tell you this. Some dregs in here,
some big drags in here. They're gonna get the energy up and we're
gonna have a nice time because, as you all know, we are yummy
like a gummy bear. We are yummy like a gummy bear. We made
it to Friday. That means, you know, it's it's it's shut the
fuck up Friday, it's flat fuck Friday. We're doing it all. We're
making it all happen today. Uh I it was listen, good week here
and Giant Bomb. I had a lot of fun. Glad to get back
in the swing of things. Uh, there are I mean, we say
it. There's too many video games, and the games are bigger than ever
I am. I'm afraid of Boulder Skate three. That's where I'm at.
I know you guys did that quick look. You guys did a good job
on that. I believe there was some love in there. Oh man,
if you have not seen that quick look, is it up? It is
a moment where, oh my god, we were not expecting. I love
the just like Genitals Off is like the thing we all do remember before breaking
content, genitals off. Genitals Off? But uh, yes, that that
game seems like it's going to have a lot of magical moments that just can
happen. You're like, oh my god, where it's come from? So
yeah, but I just it's so massive, overwhelming it and it's it's coming
at a time of year where there's a lot of other stuff happening. Like
I am like side I in my email every once in a while, like
I'm red Course six. Maybe something happening there or something going to happen.
Yeah, Scott By Soon it's gonna missen to be soon and then you know,
not long after that Starfield like we're in the realm of possibility of like
you know, Coats could show up at any moment, who knows. And
it's so it's like, yeah, lots of stuff, lots of big stuff
happening. But I think I'm going to give Balder's Gate three the college try.
That's where I'm at with that, where I'm actually want to give it
a real chance. I think you have to. So this is an approach
I tooked with Tears of the Kingdom, which I've fallen off of in a
major way. I have a lot of time thinking about that game, and
I've got some things to say about it, but I will not be saying
it yet. I approached that game knowing that I will not beat it.
I'll not finish it immediately. It's just a game I'm going to casually dip
in and out of. I think for a lot of people that is probably
a good way to think of Bother's Gate three, where you kind of like
jump in, play a bit, have some fun, and then if you
can come back for another session soon, great, If not, you just
give it a little bit of time. Like what is based on a Dungeons
and Dragons campaign. Yes, I think that if you're in a position where
you can play and I know you are, Jeff, on a steam Deck
or a rock Ally, that is even better. So I've played it on
both and it performs well. Okay, fantastic. This is literally literally the
question I've been asking and we've been looking to get answered. So to hear
you try it on both. Okay, I think steam Deck, even though
the rock ally is more powerful. I think the steam Deck occasionally having like
the touch pads I think will help. Yeah. Yeah, I've been playing
it primarily on the rock Ally. I will say the steam Deck version,
although it worked for me and it was running well, it is also quite
finicky and it seems like it's not as consistent with some people who are like
mine is not running particularly well. And I think direct extra eleven like when
it gives you that option VULK is the way to go. Yes, yeah,
the eleven, and it's also like switching some proton stuff. And but
I found the rog ally to be a little more consistent with it, and
especially like I have been playing in like one or two hour stretches because of
the physical makeup of that piece of hardware. It's less taxing on holding it
for a really long time. Yeah, if you have a Steam deck,
give it. I mean try it on both and see what happens. The
issue I have with the rog ally is when I'm playing it over speakers,
there's a lot of popping, so I have to put headphones in for that
one. Yeah, that's it seems like an ideal game for well, obviously
it looks great. Playing it on a BFPC is wonderful, But then having
those sessions where it's like, you know, I am going to play this
before bed and I'm just playing it on the handheld would be ideals. So
yeah, i mean get yourself that that Larry and account and let Steam saves
also work with it. It's just cross say, if you can play on
that, pick up on that so you can go for that. That's what
I'm gonna go for. All Right, Well let's get into this mess.
But before we do, let's explain what we do here. Most week days,
I Jeff Greb will help peace your gaming life back together. That includes
breaking news and maybe even some of our own original reporting. For all these
topics, I'll get the input of a Bona fide expert who will make me
look smart? You were watching live on twitch Welcome. You can always listen
to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for Game mess Mornings, or
find the RSS on giant bomb dot com. You can also catch the show
later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube. All right, we
have a lot to get into, so let's start dregs Day with a Pokemon
Presents live stream is confirmed for next week. This is from Jordan Midler at
VGC the Biggest Pokey Freak I know a new Pokemon Presents stream is taking place
next week. It's been confirmed Pokemon Presents We will return on August eight at
two pm UK nine am Easterns to six am Pacific, the Pokemon Company said
on Friday. A teaser for the streams shows the Pokemon Presents logo before it
is quickly replaced by a purple glitched version of the same logo. The broadcast
will be thirty five minutes long. It's currently unclear what we'll be shown as
part of the event, but we'll likely hear more about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's
upcoming DLC. What do you What do you want from Pokemon these days,
Tam, Hey, you know what I want from Pokemon these days? Nothing?
Well, good news, It's probably gonna be this DLC and then a
whole lot of I know, the thing I want most is like, whoa,
what happened there? And that was me? I banged my micro arm
with this remote control to the TV because the kid really wants to play video
games. Yeah, I think that. I just the thing that I want
most is something I probably won't get, which is like technical improvements, Like
that's the thing that I want most out of Pokemon games on the Switch especially,
is like improve the performance, fix up some of the weird shit,
Like it's gotten a little bit as far as I know, but like still
not particularly great. But yeah, of the thing is that they are probably
going to add is that content focus, which is you know, new Pokemon
maybe like some new quest or some shit like that. I don't know.
I generally I like the Pokemon games still, but I don't stick with them
for extended periods of time, Like, yeah, these all these Pokemon I
look at them, I'm like, you know, that's cool, those the
old ones, I think I'm I think I'm in the same thinking with with
Pokemon these days where I I don't really harbor anything, you know, ill
will against them or anything like that, and when I play them, I'm
usually fine. I like the Legends a lot, but even that I didn't
stick with. So yeah, I'm just not sticking with these games for very
long. But you know, going back to the thing of like wanting to
have those technical improvements, that's something that early on the word was, or
the implication from the Pokemon company was that's what they would do with Scarlet and
Violet. I don't think I believe them anymore. I don't ever expect them
to really do much to actually fix quote unquote Scarlet and Violet and give it,
like, you know, a solid thirty frames per second across the board.
I think the game is what it is, and they they are,
like you said, just gonna make new content because that's the thing that the
people that show up for these Pokemon presents actually care about. Let me ask
you a question. This is gonna sound a bit dumb, but I've got
a terrible memory, so maybe you actually remember it. Has there been a
game on Switch from Nintendo where they've like actively stayed on top of and for
a let's say a long term period, have updated it on a feature and
technical perspective. Is there any game which they've done that way? Yeah?
I not really they've done I don't think so there's been Oh, splatoons are
good, like but yeah, but okay, no, but like content,
like, is there any game whether like, hey, we improve the performance
on this one. Hey you know, we've you know, tweaked it so
you can now do this you right, this feature now. The kinds of
things they have done are like add stuff slowly over time to their sports games
as part of like their marketing plan in terms of you know, all being
like, okay, a year later, we have this new update out of
nowhere that fixes a bunch of problems that people have with the game. There
hasn't been much of that. Uh, they're not not really so yeah,
yeah, I think it's just about it. No, That's what I was
gonna say. I wonder, like Nintendo doesn't think about that, Pokemon companies
the same. I wonder if there's like a perception around constantly updating your games
that is different from you know, Nintendo approach to everyone else where. It
feels like if you're constantly updating your games, what you're saying about that game.
I don't know. There's got to be some sort of like ethos or
thinking behind why they don't. It comes down to resources and yeah, like
also, like a lot of their games launched fine, yeah, good.
Pokemon is the one exception, like even the most ridiculous games or somehow rock
solid for the most part, with like because of the Kingdom being one example
of that. That game should break constantly, but it seems to be largely
right solid, and it's you know where it is the word the frame rate
drops and it's like, oh, it would be nice if they could optimize
this even further. It's clear they optimize it as much as they could,
and this is it's just pushing up against the physical limitations of what the switch
can do. And so it's easy to forgive something like that, Pokemon being
very difficult to forgive, although a lot of people have yeah, well before
we like, yeah, I know, the Pokemon fans are gonna be like,
I can't believe they're talking about Pokemon. The only thing they're talking about
is fucking resolutions. This shit, Like I don't want it, but I
want to see what this means. I hope they do the thing where it's
like, treat it like a major Fortnite event where it's like, you know,
oh no, the glitches have taken over the Pokemon Island. All the
Pokemon are corrupt. You have to go around and purchase the Pokemon of the
dark Energy because if you don't this peak, you will consume the entire world.
Oh no, well, I like that. I would. I would
appreciate that they should just lean into it hard. They just they should have
like one Pokemon go Giganta Max or Giganta Max and it's the only one,
and it's like Godzilla on the island, the way Bowser is in Mario DLC.
He's like approaching a giant Bowser's size Pikachu coming and you need to get
a squad together before the peak giant Pikachu gets to the island and you can
only use that squad to fight, and if you don't win, you get
wiped and you have to start all over again. Uh yeah, I love
and I'd like the idea of it's like Mario gets big and turns another cats
suit in that and Bowser's fury just a giant Pikachu shooting fat bolts of lightning,
just thick lights. That's what I want. It's it's the fat Pikachu
from the first Genel Pokemon, and it's come back and it's like vengeance,
like I was replaced. Now I've returned my furious home building for decades down
and here I am at revenge. I went nuclear. You guys would not
watching. And then it turns into a Kojima game. Fantastic. I love
it. I love it all right. Boulders Gate three is twenty twenty three
second biggest Steam launched so far. This comes from Jordan Midlery of VGC.
Newly released RPG boulders Gate three has enjoyed the second biggest Steam launch of twenty
twenty three so far. The game, which has been in early access for
years, was officially released on Thursday on Steam, where it saw peak concurrent
players account of four hundred and twenty seven thousand according to independent steam tracker steam
dB, and apparently according Lexie and Chat, just crossed five hundred thousand concurrents
right now. So that's like a it must be popular across like Europe and
Asia as well, yeah, because I mean that's where people are playing games
right now. So five hundred thousand very good. While impressive, it's still
a long way off of twenty twenty three's biggest Steam released to date, Hogwarts
Legacy, which saw a peak concurrent player account of eight hundred and seventy nine
thousand, three hundred and eight during its launch period. But real cutting five
hundred thousand concurrent players for any game is amazing. It is a huge,
huge number. Most games come out and don't do that. That's that's just
it's a gigantic Badski three was develop by Larry, who previously helmed pathbeck Style
two. Uh def any original sin too. I don't think they weren't pathbaxtile
to what's going on over there with Jordan or was that them as well?
A playable single player, a multiplayer RPG. It's it's very popular, it's
getting good reviews. You you've played how many hours tam So I played?
I believe it was six hours in the early access, many many many years
ago. And then basically I started, I played seven or eight hours starting
from scratch, and now I'm going to restart again because like I've got a
little better understanding, and I realized the character I made is quite boring.
It's a rogue character. Which is a character I always make, and then
once you start playing, you realize, oh man, there's so much going
in this game when I picked the most boring character. So my plan is
to remake a character and make patches. The Hyena from the Souls series.
Yeah, because there's a there's a there's ability called shove, which is you
can just push yeah off like sides of cliffs, which is a patch's classic.
And there's also like a I can't remember, it's like dark there's a
version of the Dark Passenger as a personality trait where every time you see someone
you have violent tendencies in your head. That so I'm just going to combine
that into making patches and playing patches. Uh that that's that's beautiful. I
I just I did select Asterion, a starian who's like the first guy on
there, like, hey, the created characters that we made for you,
and he's like an elf rogue or something like that. And I think what
I'm gonna do is we we're trying to do this for the multiplayer mode for
UPF today. They I'll create a character for multiplayer and just kind of mess
around with that instead, and that will like kind of be my multiplayer character.
But yes, this game is just more popular than imagined. It really
could be. It is, and I think it goes to show that publishers
don't know what they're doing, like because there's a world in which, like
you know, BioWare and Butts, they're still making RPGs like they used to
and aren't like leaning into what we've got to make all our stuff online multiplayer
shooters let you play with your friends. Clearly, there is a thirst for
these kinds of games and it's and someone has like is feeding this audience and
it's getting rewarded for it with one of the biggest releases of twenty twenty three,
a year filled with great games, people are showing up for this.
Do you think this is a lesson that could be learned or do you think
it's a kind of a one off special thing. I don't think it's a
one off special thing. I also feel like I wish it was a lesson
that could be learned. I want it to be a lesson that could be
learned. But I think there's enough considerations, realistic considerations, that someone in
a publisher's position would be able to arguing against it, or like at least
temper the kind of lesson that is being learned because is it a case of,
you know, is this a unique thing that happened, or is it
a case of like the fact that these games don't exist as much anymore and
a lot of publishers have moved away from them now means that this is as
popular as it is. So if if a lot of publishers see this now
and they flock to bringing back major RPGs, then probably not going to hit
the same levels of success as Bald's Gate three, because there'll be a Diamond
dozen by that point. Everyone will have one a little bit. Yeah,
yeah, exactly, so I think balds Gate, especially in Bald's Gate three,
it's this perfect intersection of a brand that has a lot of nostalgia but
also has a lot of name recognition and also has a lot of kind of
word of mouth, like people who will advocate for it and be like,
oh, this this is a series from the old days that you know,
is like really good and super heavy RPG stuff. Larry and are really really
good about, you know, how they are messaging around games and also making
games that are very very enjoyable to play. Like between this and Divinity,
like they have hit their stride. I feel like they are to like these
kind of RPGs what from Soft is to their own games. It's like they
are like they figured out their thing and they're just like exceptionally good at it.
And then on top of that, it's just like the timing of it,
like it came out, you know, at a time when people wanted
it, there wasn't a lot of it. And also you know, people
are just hanging about waiting for big games. I mean, I mean they
think about, like, what is this based on Dungeons and dragons never been
more popular than it is, right, Yeah, So it's like between that
stuff worked in its favor as well, Yeah, people playing it during the
pandemic as a way to kind of connect and the popularity of stuff like Critical
Role and that kind of stuff dn D and the DND movie, which is
good and like it could not be more popular. So it just so happens
fituitously, like they release the most DND game that has ever been made.
Yeah, so I feel like the lesson to be learned is, yes,
stop making ship that is generic and give people a me single player rpg and
like this kind of stuff that they want, But at the same time,
there's a very good chance that if you don't have something unique about your game,
if you just make a generic RPG of this ILK, you probably will
get left behind. And and like if if they like I mean, by
the way, is making a new dragon mass Effect and dragon Age and in
that dragon Age was it's going to be a single player RPG after they debated
making a multiplayer once. So it's like they are in right direction. Yeah,
so I feel like Baldle's Gate three is gonna provide a very very fertile
ground for games like dragon Age and Mass Effect when it when it times.
I also like I think the like it's not maybe not a major portion of
it, but like the ease of getting into PC gaming currently because this is
just PC right, Like this is not a major console factor in yeas of
getting into PC gaming with a lot of like you know, buying computers that
are pre built bars very good, not like the old dells. While you'll
buy it and you'll be like you're trying to open a calculator. Get fucked.
Now, it's like you buy a pre build and it's like top of
the line, it's a gaming PC. And then like playing on cloud stuff,
and then also these handheld devices, like it's more consumer friendly to get
into PC. So it's playing a game like this is no longer no longer
has major barriers. This is the kind of thing that only PC nerds will
be able to do. Previous Yeah, PC gaming is at a place where
it's like, I think what happened is like that a lot of the console
games since like the Xbox three six years started coming to PC and people are
like, oh, I could just play both games with a controller on my
PC. And then suddenly they're like, well, I'm on PC and there's
all these other games here. I guess I'll try them. And then a
computer ass RPG comes out and it's like, yeah, of course I'll try
this. There's no there's nothing scary about trying Boulders game three. I think
you're right, those barriers have come down. Think Minto and Chat also points
out kind of what I was thinking and where it's like those D and D
podcast I listened to a handful of them, or I have in the past.
I don't listen to many anymore, but I have in the past,
and I'm like, I've never really played dungeons and Dragons. This feels like
a safe, confined, well polished way for me to get a similar experience
without having to do the effort of getting a bunch of people together to like
kind of teach me how to have fun playing D and D. So I
think a lot of people might be feeling that as well. The other side
of this is early access. This game was an early access for what three
years. That is to me, early access has always obviously been a good
thing. I think after this and after Haites, I hope more and more
studios and even big publishers consider early access. Just refine your game over years,
sell it to people during that time, and then when you go to
one point zero, you can still have this big launch day, as is
evidenced by this game right here. Like the people weren't like, oh I
played in early access, I don't know, I'm not going to check it
out like everyone just jumped in. Still yeah. The caveat I have that
from a personal perspective is like there's two types of games that come out the
games, especially on early access, where there's early access games that feel like
genuine and there's early access that I feel exploitative. It's like some games.
Like the reason this worked was because that original version, the early access version
that they put out was a banger, like you could play it wasn't complete,
but you played it and you're like, oh, this is really good.
It's like already polished, and I can see what they're going for and
they're going to carry on work at the same with Hades, Like Hades was
like the core game that they released very good. There's there's a whole like
gluttony of early access games that are like we put this dog shit together and
now help us like make it better. And it's like I don't I don't
want to do that, and I think I think yes if if the answer
there is your game still has to be good, Yeah, absolutely, that
is still going to be key. But it's like I can see a world.
And this came up on games de sides last night, so the someone
to Chat mentioned this and like, what like that Knights of the Old Republic
game that is seems like it might be in development. How as it got
moved from developer to developer over under the Embracer group label over there. Imagine
they just put that in early access for a couple of years while they tried
to figure out some of that stuff, Like we already know that that game
has some pretty decent mechanics underneath everything, and it's like, you don't want
to worry about story spoilers because we've all played the story before everyone's aware of
them. Or if you want to avoid you just continue avoiding them. I
think putting something like that, given a couple of years to get it refined,
get it to a point where it is like this, please just do
that, I think it's the right answer for a lot of games. I
mean, yeah, I think that would be great. But I think convincing
yes license holders an IP holders that early access is a valuable thing is very
different, because it's like, oh, we're gonna put out this game.
It's not gonna be done, but we're gonna work on it and people we're
gonna up. Don't worry about people saying this sucks, because that's the point.
And then if you're in charge of Stallwar's IP, you're not doing that.
Yeah, I know, I don't want that. I think it's probably
something that gets picked up by like the Warhammer IP holders, like we'll be
like, yeah, we will do that. But Star Wars YEA three I
think should prove to a lot of people who are hesitant before that it can
work. I think you're still right. Disney's gonna be like, no,
thank you, no thank you. We're not doing that. All right,
Let's keep going here. Balds Gate three devs want to stay independent because it
keeps it more creative. This comes from George Yang at game Spot. Balder's
Gate three developer. Larian Studios wants to stay independent and its founders have no
plans to sell the studio anytime soon. In an interview with Bloomberg, Larian
Studios founder Swin Vink said the prospect of being acquired by a large company was
flattering. Here's the quote. The strength of this company is that I'm very
invested in the gameplay, and I also make the ultimate decisions. We could
do things and service and the service of the games we're making. This was
a response to a rumored list on social media detailing which studios Microso was allegedly
considering acquiring. Among the list were Larrying Studios and Sega, as well as
a bunch of others. Microsoft is also busy trying to finalize Activision, Blizzard
and all that stuff. This, I mean this sounds right, because if
you are having your like breakout moment like you mentioned from software, I think
that's a very good analog for Larrying studios, Like Larrying studios working in their
wheelhouse, completely dominating the space, redefining what that looks like, and then
having a huge breakout success after I was several very successful games before this,
but this is a breakout success. They can kind of write their own checks,
they can write their own future. They could do what they want.
They're probably not going to give that up, right, No. I mean
also, like, as we're pointing out that Microsoft, that list of studios
that Microsoft was looking at, Quiet had every studio and I'm pretty sure,
I'm pretty sure I was on that list. Quired me at some point,
Like that's just normal. I saw that. Might that makes sense, Yeah,
that's that makes sense. But yeah, I feel like this is the
smart play, but it's also a play that can only be made by a
company that is successful. Yeah, it has a vision, and they've got
a bunch of extremely successful games behind them. I don't want to oversell how
the impact of that, you know, because they are also like they are
still a relatively small team compared to the likes of Microsoft, EA, that
kind of stuff, but they have put a lot of time and effort into
becoming the developer that they are, which is a relatively small team that is
punching so above its weight that it's wild. And I feel like, if
you've done the work to get to that point, you want to preserve the
working environment, the ethos, the workflows, the kind of thing that you've
got going, the magic that you have and you have created to get that
to that point, instead of like allowing a big company to come in and
just like start stick in their fingers and potentially ruin the source. You know,
these days, most big companies, especially in Microsoft, they have an
approach which is like we're not going to touch you. We'll just give you
money, which is a better scenario than previously. But I think for a
studio like Larry and which is I mean now at the top of their game,
it makes perfect sense to just stay independent, let themselves call the shots.
And Swend We've interviewed him a bunch of times on game spots and he
does not feel like one of those you know, executives that is just like
in an ivory tower looking down at his developers. Right, No, no,
no, he's kee making the games. Yeah, he is in the
thick of it, he wants to say in some stuff like you know,
he's he understands, like he talks to his other developers, and he seems
very very well adjusted for the leader of a studio, which is rarely these
days. So I think everyone had that team unless where like you know,
who knows what could be happening behind closed doors. But like, I think
everyone that team would also probably agree that, like, let's keep we've got
a good thing going. Let's not break up the band just yet, Let's
not introduce any new singers or bass players to this, Like, let's just
keep how we're going for now. And I think that's the right move for
them. I think so too, although if I if I am like a
company like Microsoft, it's like, man, I could go get larry In
and make them make a Fallout game. That would be real nice. But
yeah, I think I think Larian's gonna be doing their own thing for at
least a couple more games, Like they'll probably sell to someone eventually. The
eventually that juice runs out and you're like, yeah, we'll sell them that
way. We have that financial financial security and we'll keep making games the way
we were before. But I don't expect that to happen until at least you
know, they'll do with do many original sand three, they'll probably come.
They're definitely going to do a Fallow Up the boulders Gate. There's just no
way after this game. That's that's my major question now, like do they
continue with I was gonna say their own IP but like the games that they
want to make and put their own stamp on, or do they because right
now, you know, there's every IP holder is looking at them as being
like, we need them to make up one of our games, like it
does Do we have a situation when Marvel comes knocking and says like, hey,
we'd love you to make the next Guardians of the Galaxy game or whatever,
or like we'd love you to make a Doctor Strange game RPG? Could
you do that? Is that something they do or are they like, now
we like this extremely nerdy RPG ship, like we're going to stick to this
because there is that's the kind of half step between like having creative vision and
being acquired by someone else working with a license IP holder where you have some
of that creative vision but you also have this, you know, IP holder,
who's like, do it this way because we need it this way.
That would be that would be interesting. This is a lot of this is
like a foking a road that a lot of major developers reach at some point.
Like I think of Platinum when like they made banging games and eventually they
were like we got a channing out somebody's straight ass license games for a while.
Yep, It's like that fork of the road is real. I'm I'm
looking forward to seeing how this video handles it, but for now, I'm
just gonna enjoy Bolder's Gate three and not be like, hey, what are
you doing next? What are you doing next? Which is I'm always guilty
of. I'm always thinking about them, all right. One billion Switch games
have been sold. This is from Eddie McCoo at game Spot. As part
of Nintendo's latest financial briefing, the company updated its list of the top selling
Switch games of all time, and Mario Kart eight Deluxe continues to reign supreme.
Nintendo Olscar firm that more than one billion Switch games have now been sold
since the system arrived in twenty seventeen. Mario Kart eight Deluxe of course the
top selling game. There's whole bunch of top selling games. This is the
first Nintendo system to surpass more than one billion games sold, I believe.
Yes, the Nintendo DS had nine hundred forty eight point seven six million games
sold for it, and the we had nine hundred twenty one point eight five
million, and those were the closest. And for you know, Nintendo,
though, that was great, that was really good. Getting across the billion
was difficult for them because they've always not always but and for most of the
recent consoles have lacked call of duty games like Battlefield A lot the big first
person shooters that sell a ton, and the annual sports games that also sell
a ton don't always come to their systems, and that's also been true for
the Switch. And yet the Switch just powering across the billion behind the strength
of obviously Mario Kart eight, but like a game like Two Tears of the
Kingdom coming out and selling nearly nineteen million copies in two two months like that,
they are just mostly still doing it on the strength of their own games
and then a ton of very very popular indie games and a handful of third
party support. But that's a barrier they've never gotten across before, so the
Switch really kind of does feel like their most successful system ever in a lot
of ways, perfect time for rumors of a success in to a pit.
Yeah yeah, yeah, man, I mean switch to those rumors keep you
know, bubbling up right now, The talk is eight inch screen sounds like
something that that's being discussed in a five hundred and twelve gigabytes of internal storage
and it's again that sounds about right. This thing is almost certainly going to
have switch in the name, right, Like, yeah, it has to,
But then I don't know, Like the Wu had we in the name.
Yeah, was the supers and yeah, yeah they did. Yeah,
if they did super Switch, that would be so I would love that.
But I feel I feel like in this day and age is a marketing nightmare.
But yeah, I don't it all have Switch in the name. I
wouldn't be surprised if they just went switched to like honestly, like Nintendo doesn't
traditionally do the number in the name of a piece of hardware, but if
anything called for it, it was it would probably be the game or the
platform that has a billion game sold, just to make sure that people know
it's a successor it's a better one, or the new switch the Apple style
or switch to the better switch. Yeah, I think I think it's a
difficult one. But I think after the we you was this that weird thing
where it's like the people don't really understand it and it can't switched too,
like you said, does make a lot of sense. Why if they do
come combination, we switch where it is we switch? Yeah, that's uh,
just a lifestyle everybody. So I weren't doing it, Okay, let's
move along here. Damn. Every time I feel like you're on the show,
something happens with Kojima and I do you manifest? This is he's my
He is my boy's animal. He knows that drags Day has come in.
He's like, let me give let me give him a homie something, Let
me give him something. Uh. Hideo Kajima explains why he rewrote Death Strandy
two from scratch after the pandemics say I wanted too because I'm Hideo Kajima,
I do shit. Okay, this is from Chris Scully and a VGC.
Hideo Kajima has explained that he had to completely rewrite Death Strandy two due to
the COVID nineteen pandemic. After the first trailer for the game was shown at
the Game Awards twenty twenty two, Coajima spoke on stage and revealed that he
had to rewrite the game story, but was vague as to the reasons for
this. I had the story written before the pandemic, but after experience the
pandemic, I just rewrote the whole story from scratch, he said. At
the time, I also didn't want to predict more of the future, so
I rewrote it now. In an interview with Japanese entertainment news sites Natalie Uh
guess the name of the site, Cojima gives more information on the impact of
the pandemic that the pandemic had on the interpretation of the story. Before the
pandemic, I'd actually already conceived the narrative for Death Stranding two, Kojima said,
Uh wait, what, asked the interviewer, Japanese pop Star, You
guys, I don't know. Nachi pop Star was writing for Natalie, but
Death Stranding came out. Came out right on the brink of COVID nineteen.
I was under the impression that DEAs Stranding two's plot was developed with the pandemic
in mine, not exactly, Kojima replied. However, when the pandemic did
strike, it led us to restructure the entire script and death stranding. We
championed the act, We championed the act of connection. But as the pandemic
took hold, digital connections like remote work gained prominence. I also realized that
digital connections alone couldn't satisfy human needs we are inherently explores, he added.
Right now we're dealing with seclusion and division, and the world is undergoing significant
transformations. We can't rewind to our pre pandemic reality, so we've had had
to reassess the conception of connection in destrating to the interpretation of strand evolves.
You'll notice at the end of the teaser trailer a message says that should we
have connected, That's the crux of what we're trying to articulate in the sequel.
You can I can like already like imagine how that manifests. Here's what
Kajima does. He just like researches a bunch of stuff and reads a lot
and watches movies all the time, and then those ideas get manifested in his
games, and he expresses them, and he's just he's a good sponge for
that stuff. He is Okay, he is the most empowered Wikipedia rita in
the world exactly. And also, if you think about it, he's Alan
Wake. Everything he writes, Yeah comes the boss Man is Alan Wig.
I think a lot of that is just like, yeah, he he reads
the whipped articles that I think make his hair stand on edge on his arms.
And the reason it does that, it's because he could tell like,
oh, we are moving in this direction and that's true, and then he
puts in his game and it does come true. Because I think it's actually
just he's got a good beat on that stuff. Now, of course he's
His writing is also completely absurd, but that just actually makes it fun.
I think it makes it more like what Paul Verhoeven right where it's like Paul
Verhoven's trying to make it grounded down to earth movies, but everything he says
it's true and it's going to come true. Yeah. This is the thing
that I always like, I enjoy about Kajima's writing and people are like,
oh, so bad, why did you do this? It's like, do
you want the idea of forming connection to be told? In the most boring
way that everyone does all the time. Or do you want some batshit wild
circumstances and context to tell you this story that eventually becomes about connecting. That's
what I want. The second one. I don't need to be like you
should meet someone on in a meat cute in a cafe again, and I
don't get shure about that. Like I want big whale and oil and by
the end of it, I want to be like learning the lesson and somehow
it's like that's what I want from him. I want to be thinking about,
like what does this have to do with Moby Dick, And I'm like,
I want to start thinking about like, oh shit, this this does
make sense now, That's what I want. Absolutely. Then the thing is
like, consistently, you will never play a story the way Kajima and his
team because the number of writers work on it. Tell a story I like
it or not, that's a different thing. But when you leave, you
definitely will say no one. I've never had a story told to me like
that. It's ridiculous. I am never played middle Gear Solid too, and
I think it's time, dude, I'll get Solid two is so good.
I still play it every now and by the time you reach the end,
you're going to be like, what is going on? And I was this
game made all the way back then? Yep, I think I gotta make
that happen at the Stranded movie is currently in the works, could you recently
said he'll be heavily involved in its production, but won't be in the director's
chair. God damn it. I want to see that. I want to
see him direct a movie so bad. But uh yeah, that's this is
obviously where he was always going. Where it's like, we are at my
own studio, make it our nip. We are going to try to make
movies based on that stuff as well. He said that from the beginning with
this new yeah yeah, Death Running was supposed to have like an anime adout
Hey Shanny, He's like, I want to make action figures. I want
to make it all like he's he was into. He was very clear about
wanting to merchandise and franchise a lot of his stuff. Yes, I'm adapt
it all right, let's I'm wanna jump ahead here to two hours of Assassin's
Creed Jade footage have leaked online. This is from Jordan Miller of BGC.
Over two hours of footage from Assassin's Creed Jade has appeared online. The footage,
which was brief briefly on YouTube before it being taken down, is now
circulating online and it shows large portions of the mobile only Assassin's Creed Adventure.
Dam have you have you seen this? Have you missed it? Did it?
I'm gonna I'll put it up on the on the thing right now.
It just it does just straight up look like an Assassin's Creed. Uh It's
it's I'm like, I guess that's what they always said it would be.
But it's just like a kind of surprising to me, like, oh yeah,
this actually looks better than even like an Xbox three sixty year PlayStation three
kind of looks about equivalent to like early PS four games. Uh yes.
The footage also includes a surprising cameo from Cassandra, the lead, the female
lead from Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Assassin's Creed Jade, which is currently in beta
testing, is a free to play game set to be published by ten cents
level Infinite Division. After you be Soft announced a major strategic partnership with the
Chinese company last year. The game promises to offer a huge open world to
explore, where they get their quoted as saying explore the path of Zia.
In Assassin's Creed, Code named Jade is set in the third century BC,
during the time of one of the first first unified dynasties in China. It's
a listen. I think this is impressive. Damn, I don't think I'll
ever play this. We'll play it because I, for my sins, have
a long history with Assassin's Creed. I've enjoyed many entries in that franchise.
I feel like they've become bloated to the point of being frustrating, which is
why I'm excited for Mirage in a big way. I still dabble in all
the Assassin's Creed. I'll play a little bit just to see what it is.
And if it's one of those this is an open world. We've got
way too much stuff to do and none of it is mostly good, so
I play that. If it's one of those, I'm out. If it's
something a little more focused, I'm definitely in. I hope this is a
little more focused, in which case I would enjoy that way more. But
we'll see. Well, let me I mean, let me ask, then,
as someone who has a history of sin with Assassin's Creed, does this
make sense as a like a free to play game, Like can you imagine
how that would work? That is the tricky part of it, So the
free to play part of it. At the moment they said free to play,
I was like, oh God, there we go. There is a
world where you know, they they create a standard Assassin's Creed game in the
model of a one of the newer ones, which is basically an RPG focus
thing where everyone's got levels, there's weapons and they have different effects and that
kind of stuff, and then monetize the crap out of like you know,
like charms and weapons and outfits and upgrade shortcuts and et cetera, et cetera.
I felt like that might have some limitedness, given that if it's a
traditional Assassin's Creed game, it will end up you run out of the story.
And the only way that is like long term viable is if you have
a repeatable gameplay experience. Right, So either it must mean that this is
like mission based or some sort of rogue element to it, but that isn't
immediately evident in the footage or anything that I said so far, it looks
just like Assassin's Creed, Like right, it just looks like an Assassin's Creed
game. Yeah, I mean this could be like the game player you could
be seen here. It could be like a rogue like side of thing ware
this lad dies or this person dies. It's it's a fresh start and a
different wall than that kind of thing. Or it could just be like this
is one of many missions that you do repeatedly as part of dailies or whatever
it may be. But you can see in this footage, Like for people
who aren't watching, they can just imagine something like Odyssey Origins, which is,
you know, open a world and it's gone numbers over their head.
Yeah, every enemy's got a number of their head and you are damaged.
Numbers are coming out of it, which is the thing that I don't want
in Assassin's Creed games. But like there's various monetization routes in that framework of
game design. Yeah, I wonder if it's they they'll have a feature like
brotherhood where you like you're sending off you're a fellow Assassin's Creed assassin members after
your missions. Like I could see that being like yeah, I mean that's
going to take a day, but if you want to speed it up,
you could just pay to speed it up. Like that's the kind of thing
that would have would fit with Assassin's kind of also like we're building up the
Assassin's Brotherhood in China and you need to you can take a companion or with
you on a mission, and then like has you need to? It just
turns into gingch and impact. It's like, yeah, has a recruit you've
pulled Cassandra. Good for you. Cassandra will now give you some advice and
how to build the Assassin's Brotherhood hair because she's done it in ancient Greece or
whatever. Yeah, you're right. I think it's gonna be ginching. You're
right. That's it's probably gonna be a lot of that. Okay, now
that starts to makes sense. I'm cure. I've always been curious about this
one. I'm it's cool to see it. Even if it's great, I
just don't I hate seeing my battery drain on my phone, and games just
destroy your battery. So it's like I usually don't play games on my phone,
but I'll pay. This is something that people end up liking great.
Happy for you, one of the best schmupps of all time is finally coming
to PC. This is from Stephen T. Wright at game Spot. If
you're a fan of Shoot him Up Schmups, go back there. If you're
a fan of Shoot him Up or Schmup games, you're probably familiar with Radiant
Silver Gun. Developed by legendary studio Treasure. The game is famous for its
high difficulty, it's color based scoring system, and for the fact that it
was only available on the Sega Saturn for many years, very very very expensive
after a while, as it Steam page reveals, Radiant Silver Gun Gun is
coming to PC soon. Though the page doesn't have a firm release date,
the trailer that we do have, which i'll show here in a second,
does say August eighteenth. That would be very very soon. You were you
ever Radiant Silver Gun fan, Treasure fan Shoot him Up fan time. I
was an Ikaruga guy too, yeah, but Radiant Silver Gun I think I
did not play mainly because of the restrictions that you mentioned that it was on
sat and like prohibitively expensive to get that console or that game afterwards, and
I just did not do the emulation part of it. I guess I could
have at some point. I think it came out somewhere. I think is
it on Switch now I want to say I can't. Maybe it came out
somewhere recently. I've been meaning to get it and I'm like, well,
now I'll just get it on Steam. Yeah. I've still play a schmup
in a really long time, unless you spend the rules of what a schmup
isn't think of, you know, like Cophead as a schmup or something like
that, which it can be at times. It has like those kind of
gameplay sections, but neuro Automata has some schmucke stuff. Yeah, exactly,
I've not played a honest to god schmup in a real long time, and
generally I don't I didn't really play a lot of them. I played Like
It Could Go is the main one that I just repeatedly played over and over
again. And if you count Rez as a potentially as a show up,
that it might be one as well. But yeah, I I it's a
genre that I would love to get more into, but I think I have
a limited interest in like the narrative list schmups, so it would have to
have like a story or have some sort of importance in the history of games
or the genre for me to be super into it, which is raised Silver
Gun definitely has. That's the like Beat them ups have had a moment over
the last couple of years, and it's like they've like figured out like,
well, they came from the arcades and obvious, so the Streets of Rage
two and Streets Lists series, which was for consoles, but it was mostly
coming from the arcade and it had a lot of arcade sensibilities and that caused
it to sort of stagnate at a time, and then it went away for
a long time. And now the genre is back in a big way as
a lot of other developers are like, no, we can figure out how
to make this work as like a replayable game that has value as a purchase
instead of as an arcade game. And it's like, I wonder if the
same thing could happen with Schmumps and like, yeah, just kind of building
a narrative or something like that. I think maybe that's a good start.
Honestly, I'll let the professionals handle it, but I hope that they can
figure it out. But I am going to check out Radiant Silver gunn Steam.
I'm going to play because, like you said, I played a lot
Ikaruga. I know this is the other really big one from Treasure in terms
of shoot him up, shoot him up. So yeah, I'll check this
out. I hope it's radiant silver fun. Lego animal Crossing sets are coming
next year. Lego Insider claims this is from Chris Scullion at VGC. The
next big video games series to get the Lego toy treatment maybe animal Crossing,
according to new reports. The claim was originally posted on Instagram by Lego leaker
Extra Bricks leg Go go uh, and it was then backed up by YouTuber
brick Clicker. I'll brick clicker, I'll click your bricks. It relates to
five sets which have been discovered on brick Merge, a site which runs a
bot that discovers new Lego sets as soon as they're listed. Although brick Merge
simply lists sets by their product numbers, which run from seven seven zero four
six to blah blah blah and provides no further information, it's since been claimed
by leakers such as Extra Bricks Lego Go that they're animal crossing sets and then
they're going to go for fifteen dollars, twenty thirty dollars, forty dollars,
and seventy five dollars respectively. These five sets merge sounds like the worst like
block change shit claim. Yeah, Like isn't the worst brick merge Yeah.
It sets will be released in March twenty twenty four, and that the character
minifigs will have special molded heads like the Lego Sonic and Saga and Simpson's minifigs
instead of say standard Lego heads. This makes sense. I can see how
they do this where it's like, what is something that has a broad appeal
that we can turn into Lego? That's so? So what is something built
around obsessing over collecting characters and bringing them to your island? And it is
this ip like this is the number one I want to make friends want them
on my island. I I'm sorry, just all Lexi and chats and a
blotching company invited me onto a yacht today. That's gotta be like, I
assume that you're on the yacht now, it's got to be like a timeshare
thing right where they get you on the yacht and then you're you have to
like sit in a room with a projector while they do a presentation right before
you have many fun? Is a man not entitled to the sweat of their
brow? And then before you know, you're in rapture. And here's why
we're on but investing in game stop. Yeah, I think Animal Crossing lego
sets, that's cool. I want Zelda and stuff. I want Animal Crossing
too, don't get me wrong, But I hope they keep keep at this
so that we kind of sport of everything. One day they're gonna announce the
Pokemon one and it's gonna be over for these hos. Like everyone's gonna be
on that. Like it's gonna be you know, that's the big red button
Pokemon lego. It's just gonna it's it's like unlimited and unstoppable. Yeah,
just a big Pikachu set. It's gonna be eight hundred and fifty dollars and
people are every They're gonna sell it instantly, absolutely right. Uh. Japanese
charts for the physical game sales last week, Pickman four maintained its dominance as
Switcher passes thirty million units sold from Ali Reynolds at Nintendo Life. This week's
Japanese charts are in courtesy of for Midzu, and it's Nintendo's own Pickman four
out in the lead again with an additional one hundred and fifteen thousand, six
hundred ninety seven physical units solds that doesn't include digital. So far Pickman four
has sold five hundred thousand copies in Japan alone, and again that's physical only.
Just say, you gotta like add another two hundred and fifty thousand at
least digital sales in Japan for that, and then that that's already almost a
million in one country for Pickman four. That's just bonkers success for that for
that franchise, a series that I don't think has sold more than three million
copies before. Clearly it's going to do that. Yeah. Else Where,
there's some newcomers in terms of game releases, not souman A twentieth Century Summer
Vacation coming in at number two, Crime Machina or Crimachana for Switch and PS
five at positions six and ten, respectively. The Western launch of Crimacana will
follow on October twenty fourth, and Disney Illusion Island debuted at number seven with
a total seveny one hundred and seventy two copies sold. And speaking of hardware,
the Switch O led was on top. Play Station five was right behind
that, but overall the big thank news series. Switch is at thirty million
consoles sold in Japan alone. Console sales for Switch in Japan have sped up.
Actually they're up sixty percent, like sixty six percent year over year,
which is a massive A lot of that comes down to Zelda obviously, but
it's not just sell. But yeah, the Switch more successful than ever and
in Japan and that then of course, what you said, it's like a
perfect time to launch Switch to right, It's it's weirdy. This is why
Nintino keeps like pushing it off and you know kind of laxadaisically is going to
be like, no, we'll just launch the follow up late next year.
We're no rush, all right. You know what this last story, Linux
surpasses Mac amongst steam gamers. This is about hey, steam deck is actually
making a dent on that because that runs Linux. So it kind of interesting,
I thought, but not too surprising either, right, Yeah, I
mean I have nothing to say to Linux uses. Yeah, the streets of
the feat. No, I just I just like, not my head,
I respect you, I fear you stay at my head, don't I don't
approve of your lifestyle for myself, enjoy your linuxing over there, they definitely
will enjoy it. Accuses though, absolutely pulling their pants down and like yeah
in public and running away and then like giving them spirlies and that kind of
us. They don't even know what's happening. They're completely oblivious. All right,
I gotta pull question from yesterday. Let's see here. Do you resent
Shadow the Hedgehog? Yes? Or no? I mean I would refresh this
real quick because I think there were some more votes. Yeah, there we
go, five hundred votes. Thirty five percent of you resent Shadow the Hedgehog.
Only sixty five percent or I'm sorry, sixty five percent of you do
not say? Okay, fair enough. I'm not gonna kink shame. You
gotta gotta do what you gotta do. This this came from out the story
yesterday where they said at second they're not going to put Shadow the Hedgehog into
like the classic style games because he's only a New Sonic games. I'm like,
okay, that's weird, but all right, fair enough. I love
the framing gun framing of I love the framing of this looks like it's a
information that has been published by me at the bottom. All right, yeah,
the whole imagine sonic but edgy and has guns. Know where that came
from, but it's had quite a divisive impact on the Sonic fendom. Yeah,
and it's it's He's way more popular than I ever thought he would because
it's me. It's like, it's just silly, but kids love him,
kids love show. So yeah, Uh, we have a new poll question
we're gonna put up on the YouTube channel. It's at YouTube dot com Slash
Giant Bombs Slash community. You just hit the community tab. You can find
it there. But before we talk about that, Tam, what do we
have happening? What do you got going on next week? Whatever? Tell
people about what's going on. Oh man, there's a new Jeff Jeff's out
upf is happening today? Are you doing Baldo's Kate and Baldos Kate three?
I think it's the plan. There's a chance it could be Fortnite, but
I think we're gonna be bald Jan's getting set up for that, so that
should be funny. You do it? Multiplayers is the idea? Yeah,
So that's the rest of this week, which is today. I guess next
week, Uh, mutual stuff, Bomb Costs will have I don't know what
else. It's weird because like we're talking about a lot of things and I
can't remember the timeline on some of them is and whether we talk publicly about
them. But let's just say people should be excited because there's a lot of
care things coming. We're working on making sure that they are core things coming,
and a lot of that takes. It takes a lot of time and
effort to line the ducks up to get that done properly, but everyone will
be treated to a variety of fun new and existing content. Yep, it's
we're exactly we're working on the timeline in TAM's right. It takes it takes
some time, but it's we found our social position where we can reset up
some stuff and get going again. It's very exciting what we're gonna say.
Yeah, well, I was also going to say evils this weekend, So
that's going to be a big deal and maybe we'll try to do something with
that next week. Turbo Sean is competing again. He might go against Foodos,
so try to watch it. He's going against FOODO and good luck.
Jean Lucy, Jean Luca is also competing. I don't think he's playing foodo
though. Sean, it was funny because he's like what people who don't know
fighting games are like, well, maybe you'll win, And then you tell
someone who does know fighting games, I'm fighting fudo and TAM's like, you're
this guy is a clinical scientist of a fighting game, but he has he
has no time for nonsense. This is like decimates you. It moves on
with his life. I love it, and good look to Jean Luke as
well. All Right, the one thing I'll butt you is on Monday,
I'm planning to do a Mortal Kombat stream where I'm going to start playing through
the stories of nine, ten, and eleven in preparation for Mortal Kombat one.
Uh, people come hang out with me. But I'll be doing that
after after Game Mess Mornings. A little bit after Game Mess Mornings, we
have a meeting, but after that in the afternoon on Monday, So look
out for that. Yes, so the new poll, let's take a look
here. I am going to ask you, are you checking out boulders Gate
three? Yes? I love I love the previous boulders Gates. Yes,
I am a D and D fan, Yes, I want to romance a
bear and no. Those are your options. You can get that again on
the YouTube community page. Vote for that. We'll discuss it on Monday.
Jibomb dot com, Tam, thank you so much for taking your time to
talk with me today about video games. I appreciate it. Man, thank
you for having me. I love doing the show, I miss it when
I can't, and I'm excited to be back next week, hopefully borrowing any
catastrophic changes in my life or schedule. We love having you here. I
love having you here. The audience love having you. You're the best audience
of gaming. Until next time, have a good one, take care of
yourself. Goodbye.