Game Pass Getting a Price Hike

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to game Mes Mornings with Me Jeff Grub,
<v Speaker 1>your host from giant bomb dot com.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for tuning in.
<v Speaker 1>In this episode, we're going to be talking about Microsoft
<v Speaker 1>wanting more of your money again again again, and the
<v Speaker 1>most Xbox three to sixty as series could return soon.
<v Speaker 2>It's gonna be.
<v Speaker 1>A good one because we have lex Luddi on the show. Lexi,
<v Speaker 1>how are you doing?
<v Speaker 3>Glub? I am so fucking tired. I arrived from Japan
<v Speaker 3>after a full day of traveling, more than a day
<v Speaker 3>of traveling, so I've been home for like less than
<v Speaker 3>twelve hours at this point. But I'm doing pretty good.
<v Speaker 3>Japan was busy. It was a lot. I did a
<v Speaker 3>lot of the touristy things. I'm glad I did a
<v Speaker 3>lot of the touristy things. Went to the Nintendo Museum
<v Speaker 3>as you can probably see.
<v Speaker 1>Great sure wow fans of it's this disc system shirt
<v Speaker 1>for people who are ye fans.
<v Speaker 3>I bought this on a virtual discs shirsh and mugs
<v Speaker 3>for both of them.
<v Speaker 2>Cool.
<v Speaker 3>That was the majority of the merch I bart because
<v Speaker 3>it's like it's funnier to own these ones, and they
<v Speaker 3>were out of we and we you stuff weirdly enough. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>and went to TGS for the first time. That was
<v Speaker 3>a lot of fun. That was extremely overwhelming. And went
<v Speaker 3>to the eight four TGS party, met some fighters, met
<v Speaker 3>them Gabe from eight to four. Yeah, those those people
<v Speaker 3>are awesome. Had a bunch of people recognize me from
<v Speaker 3>Giant Bomb stuff like, which was very weird. So that
<v Speaker 3>was cool. But yeah, it was a really good holiday.
<v Speaker 3>I'm feeling like reinvigorated to like cover video games. And
<v Speaker 3>the good news is, like the Sadian industry, it's it
<v Speaker 3>makes it easy to be enthusiastic about video games. Right now,
<v Speaker 3>let's go all.
<v Speaker 1>You know, blue skies and rainbows over here. It's just
<v Speaker 1>another but good stuff. Yeah you so you had a
<v Speaker 1>good trip. Did you have like and I understand you
<v Speaker 1>were there for Tokyo game shows, so you were doing work.
<v Speaker 1>But do you have any other works that you want
<v Speaker 1>to tell people about?
<v Speaker 3>Yes? I do. While I was gone. Right after I left,
<v Speaker 3>this arrived. If you can't see this, this is a
<v Speaker 3>really fucking big book. This is the latest lock on
<v Speaker 3>from Lost and Cult and I wrote a piece for this,
<v Speaker 3>which god, this book is heavy and yeah, you see there,
<v Speaker 3>I wrote this almost two years ago now, but I'm
<v Speaker 3>very glad that it is finally out there, and this
<v Speaker 3>is a piece on Birth of the Wild and myself
<v Speaker 3>and my own personal history with that game. I'm really
<v Speaker 3>proud of this piece. I'm really glad that it's out
<v Speaker 3>in the world. I will say, if you pick up
<v Speaker 3>this book, which you should, there is some incredible writers
<v Speaker 3>in there. There's some great interviews with different people who
<v Speaker 3>worked on Final Fantasy. There's a bunch of really cool
<v Speaker 3>ride in there. And if you want to read my section,
<v Speaker 3>I will warn you there's no content warning on my
<v Speaker 3>actual steff but the I'm going to issue a big
<v Speaker 3>old content warning on that for like mental health stuff,
<v Speaker 3>for eating disorder stuff, for gender dysphoyer stuff. It is
<v Speaker 3>not an easy read my section, but I've gotten some
<v Speaker 3>nice comments and feedback on it for the people that
<v Speaker 3>have reddish. But if you are going to be to
<v Speaker 3>just be aware of those things.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it's very cool, very proud of you.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to pick this thing up. I just I
<v Speaker 2>love the look of it always. It's so like just design.
<v Speaker 3>All of that, and like over five hundred and fifty
<v Speaker 3>pages of stuff that is.
<v Speaker 1>All that high quality yeah, they always get rid of
<v Speaker 1>like like you just flipping through there and like the
<v Speaker 1>burst the flashes of color as you like go from
<v Speaker 1>one one story to the next, and they all have
<v Speaker 1>their own feel. It's just it's enticing. Makes me want
<v Speaker 1>to hop into the book like that and just start reading.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but good enough that while I was gone, it
<v Speaker 3>alive to my parents' house and my dad has just
<v Speaker 3>been like leading random ones. Oh cool, and he's like,
<v Speaker 3>these are really good, like people can write some really
<v Speaker 3>good stuff about video games, And I'm like, yeah, wouldn't
<v Speaker 3>it be nice if everyone else knew that I want
<v Speaker 3>to get out of the way. At the end of
<v Speaker 3>the show instead of promoting my work I have around.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, fantastic, you want to get to that at the end,
<v Speaker 1>you're saying whatever you want to do that, I'll do that,
<v Speaker 1>all right, sounds good.
<v Speaker 2>Look win them over one at a time.
<v Speaker 1>Just send that book to random people and just let
<v Speaker 1>them casually pick it up like your dad did. That's
<v Speaker 1>the way we're going to do it, all right. Let's
<v Speaker 1>explain ourselves. We're Giant Bomb Video Game DUP. This is
<v Speaker 1>we're independent games media out here on our own. That
<v Speaker 1>means we only do this because of your help. You
<v Speaker 1>go to giant bomb dot com slash joy and become
<v Speaker 1>a premium member. That helps us do what we do
<v Speaker 1>over here, and your support goes a long way. The
<v Speaker 1>sport we have received has gone a long way. We
<v Speaker 1>are super thankful for everyone who has shown up for
<v Speaker 1>us so far. And if you want to join that
<v Speaker 1>and and kind of keep us going here in the future,
<v Speaker 1>we would really appreciate that. Once again, that's giant bomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com, slash Join Tip, become a premium member, you know,
<v Speaker 1>if you can't, if money's tight, if you want to
<v Speaker 1>save your money, we get that.
<v Speaker 2>Tell a friend. That's also a great way to help
<v Speaker 2>us grow.
<v Speaker 1>You know, we're doing the show you know Monday, Wednesday,
<v Speaker 1>Thursday and Friday. Tell them to tune in and then
<v Speaker 1>take it from there, and we would love to see
<v Speaker 1>some new people join the community as far as this
<v Speaker 1>show does go most weekdays, I Jeff Grub will help
<v Speaker 1>piece your gaming life back together. That includes breaking news
<v Speaker 1>and maybe even some of our own original reporting for
<v Speaker 1>all these topics. I'll get the input bay bona fide
<v Speaker 1>expert who will make me look smart. If you were
<v Speaker 1>watching live on Twitch welcome. You can always listen to
<v Speaker 1>the show later on podcast feeds by searching for game
<v Speaker 1>Mes Mornings, or find the RSS feed on giant bomb
<v Speaker 1>dot com. You can also catch the show later with
<v Speaker 1>chapters and timestamps on YouTube.
<v Speaker 2>Hello YouTube.
<v Speaker 1>All right, we have a lot of mining on so much,
<v Speaker 1>so let's start the morning mess with game Pass price
<v Speaker 1>hikes announced again again again will cost thirty dollars a
<v Speaker 1>month for Ultimate. This is from Eddie McCoo at game Spot.
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft has announced another Xbox Game Pass price hike. We
<v Speaker 1>can just call these the annual Call of Duty price
<v Speaker 1>hikes at this point now Lexi with the Ultimate tire
<v Speaker 1>going up to thirty dollars per month. Microsoft is making
<v Speaker 1>this change just ahead of Call of Duty Black Ops
<v Speaker 1>seven's release in November. It follows a price increase on
<v Speaker 1>Xbox consoles that was announced last week. God that was
<v Speaker 1>only a week ago. For now, however, you could still
<v Speaker 1>get a one month game Pass Ultimate subscription for twenty
<v Speaker 1>dollars at Amazon.
<v Speaker 2>That's not going to last soon. I think the price
<v Speaker 2>is going up like right now.
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft is making the price changes as part of a
<v Speaker 1>wider claim excuse me that it's giving people more more
<v Speaker 1>than before to.
<v Speaker 2>Help justify the price hike.
<v Speaker 1>We know not everyone wants the same thing in their
<v Speaker 1>Xbox experience, so we're doing you a favor, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>matting that part. So we're evolving game Passed to offer
<v Speaker 1>more flexibility, choice and value to all players. Microsoft liede
<v Speaker 1>new plan named Seeing Here. Here's the details. Xbox Game
<v Speaker 1>Pass Essentials ten dollars a month. That's the basically Xbox
<v Speaker 1>Live Gold. Right, it does have some games in there.
<v Speaker 1>There's games that are partly like it's around.
<v Speaker 2>It's just north of fifty, I believe, right.
<v Speaker 1>Then Xbox Game Pass Premium also not day one games,
<v Speaker 1>but quite a bit more.
<v Speaker 2>You get like north of two hundred games.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think it's one hundred two hundred games.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, something like that.
<v Speaker 1>And then Xbox game Pass Ultimate is thirty dollars a month.
<v Speaker 1>That that is day one games. They are adding some
<v Speaker 1>other stuff here, right, you know what we should.
<v Speaker 3>Just gluba, not including college.
<v Speaker 2>Not including Call of Duty, which seems notable.
<v Speaker 1>You'll need you'll but you will need one of these
<v Speaker 1>tiers to play online with Call of Duty.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, let's let's ride through here.
<v Speaker 1>For Game Pass Ultimate subscribers are now getting more Day
<v Speaker 1>one games than ever before. Along with access to Fortnite
<v Speaker 1>Crew and Ubisoft Plus Classics, members also get enhanced lay
<v Speaker 1>Cloud ca mane streaming quality up to fourteen forty p
<v Speaker 1>Fortnite Crew, which costs twelve dollars a month by itself,
<v Speaker 1>comes to game Pass Ultimate on November eighteenth. Fortnite Creue
<v Speaker 1>gives members the latest Fortnite Battle Pass, along with one
<v Speaker 1>thousand v Bucks each month each month in addition to
<v Speaker 1>other benefits. Ubisoft Plus Classics meanwhile cost sixteen dollars a
<v Speaker 1>month on its own. It includes a variety of Ubisoft
<v Speaker 1>games for PC, console and the cloud.
<v Speaker 2>It's going to be, you know, not necessarily.
<v Speaker 1>The oldest games. It'll just be games that are not
<v Speaker 1>like the newest, freshest releases. Another perk added to game
<v Speaker 1>Pass Ultimate is best quality streaming and shortest wait times
<v Speaker 1>for Xbox Cloud gaming. Additionally, you know, honestly like advertising
<v Speaker 1>that is insane because it was so painfully slow before that.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, like you're just kind of getting up to
<v Speaker 1>par at this point, but whatever.
<v Speaker 3>So I need to correck something. It is. Call of
<v Speaker 3>Duty is coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Game
<v Speaker 3>Pass Premium where they say game Xcox games will come
<v Speaker 3>within a year that does not include.
<v Speaker 1>Called Okay, so okay, So they're kind of warning people
<v Speaker 1>ahead of time, like don't get that, hopeing you'll get
<v Speaker 1>Call of Duty eventually.
<v Speaker 2>I guess all right. I was confused about that as well.
<v Speaker 1>Uh So the breakdown here is Game Pass Ultimate is
<v Speaker 1>they're trying to like get it up to thirty dollars
<v Speaker 1>a month, and then they're throwing at a bunch of
<v Speaker 1>a bunch.
<v Speaker 2>Of shit at the wall to sort of justify it.
<v Speaker 1>Call of Duty was going to be a big part
<v Speaker 1>of that equation for a lot of people.
<v Speaker 2>You'd be soft classics.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, I guess some more games in there's good
<v Speaker 1>is better than nothing.
<v Speaker 2>And then Fortnite Crewe.
<v Speaker 1>God, I think if you want Fortnite Crewe, you already
<v Speaker 1>know and you probably already have it. I suppose that
<v Speaker 1>is another value in there. But uh hey, thirty dollars
<v Speaker 1>a month, I'm out.
<v Speaker 2>I'm done. I was. I was.
<v Speaker 1>Momentum kept me with twenty dollars per month on the
<v Speaker 1>Xbox over there. I will just if I will occasionally
<v Speaker 1>get essential to play games online on the Xbox. If
<v Speaker 1>I were ever to need that again, although I can't
<v Speaker 1>imagine that I will.
<v Speaker 2>I'm done, I'm out. How about you?
<v Speaker 3>Let me tell you something anecdotally. I thought I had
<v Speaker 3>already canceled this, and I went to double check, and
<v Speaker 3>turns out the page to cancel your Xbox Game Pass
<v Speaker 3>subscription having a little bit of trouble loading right now
<v Speaker 3>for people, and turns out I hadn't, so I canceled it.
<v Speaker 3>But I said this on Blue Sky the last couple
<v Speaker 3>of weeks. It feels like Microsoft, especially, but a lot
<v Speaker 3>of companies, they have turned off the music at the
<v Speaker 3>party and they are waiting for people to go home,
<v Speaker 3>like it feels like I've had this conversation. I've been
<v Speaker 3>at Gamescom, I've been at TGS, and the conversation that
<v Speaker 3>keeps on coming out is, hey, I think Microsoft are done.
<v Speaker 3>Like they are done being interested in this space. They
<v Speaker 3>are done growing in this space. They have realized that
<v Speaker 3>the death grip that they have on services in this space,
<v Speaker 3>with stuff like Azure and stuff like their platforms, means
<v Speaker 3>that people who would depend on them are already so
<v Speaker 3>dependent on them that they couldn't leave if they wanted to,
<v Speaker 3>And they are now just focused on monetizing who is
<v Speaker 3>there as much as they can, and they're doing all
<v Speaker 3>that so that they can fuel their AI bullshit. There's
<v Speaker 3>all been pent up. So if I like am going along,
<v Speaker 3>let me know. But this is something I've been thinking
<v Speaker 3>a lot and I've been talking a lot about with
<v Speaker 3>folks with This is really fucking dangerous what's going on
<v Speaker 3>right now because Microsoft as a company is like de
<v Speaker 3>emphasizing diversifying and is instead going we are just investing
<v Speaker 3>all of our stuff into AI at a time where
<v Speaker 3>AI seems less stable and like it is a bubble
<v Speaker 3>more and more and more and more, and you are
<v Speaker 3>having a situation where they are investing billions and billions
<v Speaker 3>and billions of dollars into AI, something that people are
<v Speaker 3>very aware is becoming more and more of a speculative bubble.
<v Speaker 3>And if that bubble is to burst, which it most
<v Speaker 3>likely is as the services stop showing the they continue
<v Speaker 3>to not show the rewards that were promised. But if
<v Speaker 3>that bubble does finally burst, I think, like Sam Altman
<v Speaker 3>was out there saying, like we still need this many
<v Speaker 3>billions and trillions invested in it, and it's like to
<v Speaker 3>see what profit, Like when are we going to see
<v Speaker 3>money being made back off of this. You are going
<v Speaker 3>to have a lot of very big companies that are
<v Speaker 3>very ingrained in the games industry and saddled with a
<v Speaker 3>lot of dish. And I think that when this happens,
<v Speaker 3>you are going to see one people on the gaming
<v Speaker 3>side pay for a lot of that that money that
<v Speaker 3>needs to be paid back through layoffs. And two, if
<v Speaker 3>it gets bad enough, like Microsoft have invested more money
<v Speaker 3>in AI than like pretty much any company except for
<v Speaker 3>open AI, and there is a non zero percent chance
<v Speaker 3>that like Microsoft needs a bailout, which is something that
<v Speaker 3>you would think of as impossible years ago. But you
<v Speaker 3>also look at the way that Microsoft positions itself to
<v Speaker 3>the American government right now, which is, hey, were your friends,
<v Speaker 3>and we love working with you, and we're a good
<v Speaker 3>company to work with. And so if you had a
<v Speaker 3>situation where the American government bailed out Microsoft, I think
<v Speaker 3>that would be pretty bad for let's say, things like
<v Speaker 3>free speech and things like independence of thought, independence of
<v Speaker 3>like media. So not to come on here and be
<v Speaker 3>a doomer instantly from my trip back, but boy, things
<v Speaker 3>are in a real precarious situation and it affects more
<v Speaker 3>than just games right now. And I think that we
<v Speaker 3>are seeing the telltale signs in the game sector where
<v Speaker 3>Microsoft has basically decided like they don't want you buying
<v Speaker 3>an Xbox anymore. They don't want you buying that hardware
<v Speaker 3>they want to sell you call a juicy on other
<v Speaker 3>platform because it's easier for them to deal with on
<v Speaker 3>other platforms. And I think that we probably will see
<v Speaker 3>that next Xbox just from inertia built up, but straight up,
<v Speaker 3>I think it is going to be dreamcast levels of
<v Speaker 3>how long that thing is on the markesh. If I
<v Speaker 3>were like making my early prediction calling my shash whatever
<v Speaker 3>the next Xbox is if it comes down twenty twenty seven,
<v Speaker 3>I think that was the rumor. I think within eighteen months,
<v Speaker 3>Xbox will be saying, hey, we're no longer in the
<v Speaker 3>console business. Because every single person you talk to at Microsoft,
<v Speaker 3>outside of Microsoft, within the industry, their vibe is Microsoft
<v Speaker 3>are done with video games. They are ready for it
<v Speaker 3>to instead of be something that they invest in, it
<v Speaker 3>to be something that they make reoccurring money off of
<v Speaker 3>through established things like college usual every year. They do
<v Speaker 3>not want new things out of games, They do not
<v Speaker 3>want new ideas out of game games. And I think
<v Speaker 3>I said this on the show a couple of months back,
<v Speaker 3>but like, I fundamentally believe that at this point, Microsoft
<v Speaker 3>is an unhealthy actor in the games industry because the
<v Speaker 3>money that it provides and the services that it provides
<v Speaker 3>is not good money. It's not stable money. It is
<v Speaker 3>money that is being funneled back into AI things and
<v Speaker 3>projects that are only going to long term destabilize several
<v Speaker 3>other industries. And yeah, this is one of the canaries
<v Speaker 3>and the coal mines of many and I think we've
<v Speaker 3>seen a bunch of them where that be everything from
<v Speaker 3>as small as Rare had their forshieth anniversary and they
<v Speaker 3>got eight bit dough to make the controller, which, like,
<v Speaker 3>you think about Microsoft, think about how many special edition
<v Speaker 3>controllers they have done over the years. Think about Xbox
<v Speaker 3>Design Labs, all of the money that they've spent on
<v Speaker 3>that one of their like in internal companies turns forty
<v Speaker 3>years old, one of the most historic companies in video games,
<v Speaker 3>and they go a third party can make the special
<v Speaker 3>edition controller. We don't really care. What does that tell you?
<v Speaker 3>What does that tell you about the state of Microsoft
<v Speaker 3>and Xbox. They are uninterested in the video game industry anymore.
<v Speaker 3>Sagionnedela has his new toy and the sixty nine billion
<v Speaker 3>that they spent. At the time, it seemed like, Oh,
<v Speaker 3>that's because they really care about the games industry. What
<v Speaker 3>it actually was was, Hey, Microsoft really wants to make
<v Speaker 3>sure that they have passive income in the game sector,
<v Speaker 3>and now that they have that passive income, they're done
<v Speaker 3>trying to get any other type of active income. And
<v Speaker 3>that's how it feels right now.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that when we are looking at Microsoft,
<v Speaker 1>it's a company that is just terrified as sticking its
<v Speaker 1>head out into the game space anymore. It's done it
<v Speaker 1>a bunch of times, and it's gotten whacked on the
<v Speaker 1>head a bunch of times when it's done that, and
<v Speaker 1>it's and I think, you know, I get the sense
<v Speaker 1>that the acquisition of Activision was Phil Spencer striking while
<v Speaker 1>the iron was hot and being like, I can get
<v Speaker 1>Satia's attention with this, and this can feel like a
<v Speaker 1>big play where like, we do have money sitting in
<v Speaker 1>the bank, we can move here. And while he was
<v Speaker 1>doing that, Ai popped off and it was like, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>this is the kind of thing that Satia really gets
<v Speaker 1>horny for. And so we kind of have to just
<v Speaker 1>step back and do what we can with what we have.
<v Speaker 1>And and then I think they are as they step back,
<v Speaker 1>it's like, oh no, you are seeding more and more
<v Speaker 1>of of Microsoft's interest here and they and you're not.
<v Speaker 1>You're never You're never going to get it back, like
<v Speaker 1>they're never going to return back to the Xbox of old.
<v Speaker 1>It's just going to be Okay, what survives this call
<v Speaker 1>and and you know that's going to be obvious. It's
<v Speaker 1>going to be called Duty Minecraft. It's not going to
<v Speaker 1>be the Xbox hardware division that that. I mean clearly
<v Speaker 1>they are screaming at us not to buy one of
<v Speaker 1>those things.
<v Speaker 2>So so.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you're gonna say I gotta say because I've
<v Speaker 3>seen it in the comments a little bit when I like,
<v Speaker 3>you mentioned the BDS boycott every time we bring up Xbox,
<v Speaker 3>which is still ongoing, and people have been pretty negative
<v Speaker 3>around the Xbox brand, and there is still YouTube comments
<v Speaker 3>being like, I can't believe they're so biased against Xbox
<v Speaker 3>and this isn't biased against Xbox, this is Hey, I
<v Speaker 3>genuinely think Microsoft is doing some real permanent damage to
<v Speaker 3>an industry that I love, and I think you need
<v Speaker 3>to be aware of it. Ish, I think you need
<v Speaker 3>to be aware that what is happening at Microsoft right
<v Speaker 3>now is like tantamount to destruction of culture and destruction
<v Speaker 3>of the art form. And it's not good for any
<v Speaker 3>of us that they are carrying on like this and
<v Speaker 3>giving them a free pass in the name of like
<v Speaker 3>not playing into fanboy Wars or some shit like thath.
<v Speaker 3>That's not our job. We're reporters. Our job is to
<v Speaker 3>call out these companies when they do bullshit, and this
<v Speaker 3>is bullshit that harms everyone that likes video games, everyone
<v Speaker 3>that plays video games, everyone that wants video games to
<v Speaker 3>exist in ten years fucking time.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you know there there there are a lot
<v Speaker 1>of other companies, even like companies that are involved in
<v Speaker 1>gaming that have some form of BDS call against them,
<v Speaker 1>you know, Disney to a certain extent. We don't bring
<v Speaker 1>that up every time, and I would. I would explain
<v Speaker 1>that there's a difference here in that Microsoft spent seventy
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars to buy one of the biggest companies of
<v Speaker 1>on top of doing that multiple times for several other
<v Speaker 1>big publishers. They own a significant market share, a significant
<v Speaker 1>piece of the pie of video games is all them, So.
<v Speaker 2>We have to be more scrutiny.
<v Speaker 1>We have to scrutinize them more than anyone else at
<v Speaker 1>a certain point, and they are laying out a case
<v Speaker 1>in front of us.
<v Speaker 2>For reasons why that scrutiny is necessary.
<v Speaker 1>They they do feel like they I mean, they're turning
<v Speaker 1>off the light, they're turning off the music at the
<v Speaker 1>end of the party and it's over right.
<v Speaker 2>That feels like we're at the end of something.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, so that goes of course eas Selling
<v Speaker 1>to Saudi Arabia is a huge part of the Boy I.
<v Speaker 3>Feel great about. I feel so good about. That was
<v Speaker 3>a great fucking news story to wake up to in Japan. Boy,
<v Speaker 3>waking up in the morning and seeing that felt awesome.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>But like the other conversation that I've had being at
<v Speaker 3>these events, being at games, being at TGS, I gotta
<v Speaker 3>be And maybe this is because I'm one of the
<v Speaker 3>most fucking stubborn people in the world. Like the heat,
<v Speaker 3>death of the world, will of the universe will come
<v Speaker 3>and I will still be being like this space for
<v Speaker 3>an independent games media. But like I am certain that
<v Speaker 3>no matter how much these companies, these billion dollar companies
<v Speaker 3>try to fuck up the games industry. We are still
<v Speaker 3>going to get awesome video games because you talk to
<v Speaker 3>developers at these events, and these people are fucking stick
<v Speaker 3>those they need to create. They are artists, They need
<v Speaker 3>to create. They need to keep on making games like this.
<v Speaker 3>They need to within the art form that they love.
<v Speaker 3>Video games will continue to exist. The types of video
<v Speaker 3>games that you like will continue to exist, maybe in
<v Speaker 3>different forms with much smaller budgets, but those sickos will
<v Speaker 3>still keep making their video games. And I gotta be
<v Speaker 3>hopeful that there are people in this industry. I think
<v Speaker 3>there are because I've taken meetings with smaller publishers who
<v Speaker 3>are like we have realized that we need to make
<v Speaker 3>the publishing outlets that we want, publishing outlets that aren't
<v Speaker 3>billion dollar outlets. They are outlets that are making art
<v Speaker 3>that we like because we Likeish. I talked to eleven
<v Speaker 3>Bit Studios at Games Calm and they were very much
<v Speaker 3>so from the point of view, like, hey, we're Polish
<v Speaker 3>and we want the Polish industry to be alive and healthy.
<v Speaker 3>So we started a publishing label specifically to start in
<v Speaker 3>Poland and to slowly grow out from there, but to
<v Speaker 3>focus on making shorter games that are cool and are
<v Speaker 3>interesting and don't need to make a billion dollars each
<v Speaker 3>time because we like cool shit. And those are the
<v Speaker 3>meetings that give me hope for the industry continuing to
<v Speaker 3>go on. And I got to hope that there is
<v Speaker 3>a lot more companies like that.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, and you know, and in a lot of ways,
<v Speaker 1>nothing new.
<v Speaker 2>You know, Microsoft has been.
<v Speaker 1>Afraid of making video games for more than a decade now,
<v Speaker 1>like quite a bit more than a decade. All throughout
<v Speaker 1>Xbox One. They they just didn't seem to care. They
<v Speaker 1>didn't think making video games was the answer. Something I
<v Speaker 1>would say back then. And then you know, it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>game pass, maybe that changes that. And if it did,
<v Speaker 1>it changed it briefly for half of development, development cycling
<v Speaker 1>by the end. By the time they got to the
<v Speaker 1>end of making some of these games, like a Perfect Dark,
<v Speaker 1>it was like, no, this is in it either. We
<v Speaker 1>don't like making games that we just this feels bad
<v Speaker 1>to like take a creative risk like this.
<v Speaker 2>And what good are you.
<v Speaker 1>To me as someone who's into video games if that
<v Speaker 1>is your position that making video games is not a
<v Speaker 1>worthwhile investment and instead it's a bunch of other bullshit
<v Speaker 1>and nickel and diming people who you've already got in
<v Speaker 1>your pockets.
<v Speaker 2>It sucks, all right, We should keep moving here.
<v Speaker 1>It looks like Prototype could be coming back after a
<v Speaker 1>Steam update added new credits. This is from Jordan Midler
<v Speaker 1>at VGC. An update to the Steam version of Prototype
<v Speaker 1>has added new credits and references to Ubisoft Connect, which
<v Speaker 1>could point to a re release.
<v Speaker 2>Of the game.
<v Speaker 1>The surprise update has added references to ubisft Connect version
<v Speaker 1>of the game, something that doesn't currently publicly exist, suggesting
<v Speaker 1>the game could be re released on modern platforms. The
<v Speaker 1>update also adds credits for Iron Galaxy, the prolific studio
<v Speaker 1>behind several notable ports, including the switch versions of The
<v Speaker 1>Elder Scrolls five, Skyrim, Diablo three, and Overwatch. As pointed
<v Speaker 1>out by users on the game subreddit, the update was
<v Speaker 1>noticed after it broke the popular Prototype mod Prototype fix,
<v Speaker 1>which is designed to fix some of the issues encountered
<v Speaker 1>when running the game on modern PCs. A new test
<v Speaker 1>map has also been discovered within the PC version of
<v Speaker 1>the game. Well More new credits have since been discovered,
<v Speaker 1>largely attributed to other activision studios. So like that test
<v Speaker 1>map is like the Prototype character running up a wall
<v Speaker 1>and it's made of different materials, and it sounds like
<v Speaker 1>that they fix some of the sound effects or improve
<v Speaker 1>them and stuff like that. So when you're running up
<v Speaker 1>a glass building or whatever, it sounds different than a
<v Speaker 1>brick building. And that feels like the kind of work
<v Speaker 1>that Iron Galaxy might be doing.
<v Speaker 3>Now it was just one of the lumble verse expertise.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, that's say, that's some real shit right there.
<v Speaker 1>I think that this sounds like the kind of thing
<v Speaker 1>that would happen. We are like overdue for Prototype to
<v Speaker 1>kind of come back in one way or another.
<v Speaker 2>But yeah, at this point, would the surprise.
<v Speaker 3>You No, Jamie Hahen Twitch chat mentions that Prototype greater
<v Speaker 3>than Infamous. I super agree. Haven't played Infamous like the
<v Speaker 3>first Infamous I played last year on twitch stream. That
<v Speaker 3>game has not. That game sucks now, it's really rough.
<v Speaker 3>Every character in that seems like they were there on
<v Speaker 3>January sixth. Yeah, like Colma, Yeah, Colemagra's whole character arc
<v Speaker 3>is I want to get my dick wesh, that's it.
<v Speaker 3>That's his only characteristic. Yeah. But yeah, like I'm I'm
<v Speaker 3>I'm curious to see what a next gen version of
<v Speaker 3>Prototype would play like Hulk Ultimate Destruction is still fucking awesome.
<v Speaker 3>I don't think we will see a new Prototype because
<v Speaker 3>that is an Activision property, and I don't think that
<v Speaker 3>they are in the habish of making new video games
<v Speaker 3>that aren't called Call of Duty or World of Warcraft anymore.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, I think we will continue to see a
<v Speaker 3>bunch of remakes like this, and sure, sure why not?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Did it?
<v Speaker 1>Did a new Killer Instinct ever get announced? Because like,
<v Speaker 1>Iron Galaxy feels like the studio that would take that
<v Speaker 1>on for Microsoft. And I know there was a rumor
<v Speaker 1>a long time ago. I heard it the some evidence
<v Speaker 1>that Microsoft was curious about it, but they couldn't find
<v Speaker 1>a studio. That's back when Iron Galaxy was busy with
<v Speaker 1>Rumble Verse. I feel like that time in his past.
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft wouldn't be interested in that anymore and insteads like, well, hey,
<v Speaker 1>Iron Galaxy, come pitch us on stuff. Well you want
<v Speaker 1>to do something new, fuck you go remake some video
<v Speaker 1>games for us that we know has a have a
<v Speaker 1>certain audience to them.
<v Speaker 3>That was gonna be My counterpoint was like, do you
<v Speaker 3>think Microsoft is like, hey, we want a new fighting
<v Speaker 3>game right now? Like, do you think any anyone do
<v Speaker 3>you think feel like Sadi and Nadella is approvingsh of
<v Speaker 3>like oh yeah, a new FGC fighting game only on Xbox.
<v Speaker 2>No, No, unlikely.
<v Speaker 1>I yes, I really like the prototype games, at least
<v Speaker 1>that you know.
<v Speaker 2>I played most most of the first one. It's kind
<v Speaker 2>of the one I played a lot of and I.
<v Speaker 1>Thought it was It just feels like the most three
<v Speaker 1>sixty ash shit ever where it's It is stupid in
<v Speaker 1>a good way, and I would welcome it back a
<v Speaker 1>little prize to the activision would go and do this
<v Speaker 1>effort to get this stuff back. But I guess you
<v Speaker 1>know they've had success repeatedly now bringing back franchises. Maybe
<v Speaker 1>they're gonna try to shift it up from some of
<v Speaker 1>their old platforming stuff things like this instead, and again
<v Speaker 1>I welcome it. All right, let's take a break. We
<v Speaker 1>are going to come right back, get to more headlines.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to skip out on this, you can
<v Speaker 1>do so on the premium audio version of the show,
<v Speaker 1>the premium video version of the show by going to
<v Speaker 1>giant bomb dot com slash join become a premium member.
<v Speaker 2>But you didn't do that, so we'll be right back,
<v Speaker 2>all right.
<v Speaker 1>We are back. We've got plenty more to talk about.
<v Speaker 1>EA says there will be no immediate changes to its
<v Speaker 1>workforce following leveraged buyout. This is from Sophie McAvoy at
<v Speaker 1>Games Industry.
<v Speaker 2>Dop is just what.
<v Speaker 1>Every girl wants to hear, right there's no immediate changes
<v Speaker 1>come into your workforce and the headlines mostly the story here.
<v Speaker 1>People have been wondering, Hey, what's the future for the
<v Speaker 1>jobs and our jobs at EA now that we are
<v Speaker 1>being acquired and taken private by a Saudi Arabian investment
<v Speaker 1>firm as well as other like Silver Lake and Jared Kushner.
<v Speaker 1>And the reason that they could say there's no immediate
<v Speaker 1>changes right now is because there is no real plan
<v Speaker 1>other than we have to service twenty billion dollars in
<v Speaker 1>debt that has now been saddled on ya, you know,
<v Speaker 1>through g JP.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not sure if you yeah, I'm not sure if
<v Speaker 3>you saw has been labeled like what was it BUSS
<v Speaker 3>or B minus?
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I mean it's it's a junk bond. So yes,
<v Speaker 1>it's it's a b I think it's so. Debt for
<v Speaker 1>a company can be serviced in a bunch of different ways.
<v Speaker 1>In this case, JP Morgan is putting up that twenty
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars, but they intend to then sell that debt
<v Speaker 1>to a bunch of others through high interest rate loans
<v Speaker 1>or high interest rate Yeah, high interest rate payments.
<v Speaker 2>Because this is a it's rated, which is.
<v Speaker 1>Essentially saying to everyone who would invest in this, there
<v Speaker 1>is a strong chance that you won't get all of
<v Speaker 1>your money back here.
<v Speaker 2>So there's high risk.
<v Speaker 3>And why wouldn't they get all that money back Glove.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because the twenty billion dollars. I mean, just think
<v Speaker 1>about what happened Toys r Us. This is what's now
<v Speaker 1>happening to EA. Now, the good news again, I've said
<v Speaker 1>this before, EA is much more profitable than Toys r
<v Speaker 1>Us was. Toys r Us was struggling against Amazon. Now
<v Speaker 1>that does not mean Toys r Us was a failing company.
<v Speaker 1>It failed because of the debt, and that could happen here.
<v Speaker 2>The point is the reason it's.
<v Speaker 1>More likely today that for that failure to happen than
<v Speaker 1>it was when we were talking about this on the
<v Speaker 1>BombCast yesterday is because of that B rating. That means
<v Speaker 1>that the interest rates will be much higher. So EA
<v Speaker 1>is gonna have to pay even more than we are
<v Speaker 1>originally thinking it's gonna be bad, and how do you how.
<v Speaker 2>Do you pay for this? SLEXI?
<v Speaker 1>You cut jobs, You cut jobs and let AAI do
<v Speaker 1>the work, or at least that's what you tell yourselves
<v Speaker 1>so that you can justify that.
<v Speaker 2>And who's going to get bonus payments?
<v Speaker 1>All the people that put this deal together, fucking Jed
<v Speaker 1>Jared Kushner. I guarantee it's going to get a huge
<v Speaker 1>bonus pay multiple times out of this deal. They will
<v Speaker 1>extract the value out of the company and then and
<v Speaker 1>then watch it triple and die.
<v Speaker 3>I think he has gone a little bit under the
<v Speaker 3>radar with the other big names attached to this, because
<v Speaker 3>there's some real fucking assholes attached to this. But special
<v Speaker 3>shout out to Human Android Andrew Wilson, who like got
<v Speaker 3>a lot of shit over the years as like a
<v Speaker 3>pretty bad CEO and a pretty robotic presence in the
<v Speaker 3>games media. The idea of putting this deal together and
<v Speaker 3>then getting out in front of your staff and saying
<v Speaker 3>that there'll be no immediate changes, The idea of saying
<v Speaker 3>that you're still dedicated to making these video games, The
<v Speaker 3>idea that you wouldn't fucking resign in shame the second
<v Speaker 3>this happened, and that you're going to stay there a
<v Speaker 3>little bit longer to make sure that your golden parachutes
<v Speaker 3>is even more golden. Fucked you go to hell? You
<v Speaker 3>mean absolute asshole?
<v Speaker 1>Did his job though, right Like like his job he works,
<v Speaker 1>who does he work for? He works for the investors,
<v Speaker 1>and who's he making money for?
<v Speaker 2>Here?
<v Speaker 1>He is making money for the investors. The system is
<v Speaker 1>working as intended. The twenty five percent return on that
<v Speaker 1>stock price, that's huge. That's big stuff. Making video games.
<v Speaker 1>Taking care of your employees, that's a sucker's job. He's
<v Speaker 1>not interested in any of that. That's not what he's
<v Speaker 1>there there to do. That's the system. That's what That's
<v Speaker 1>how it would work at every single company. Something has
<v Speaker 1>to be done about the system. We have to change this. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>the incentives he pushed this in this direction. They're winning
<v Speaker 1>the game that they set up. It's what do we
<v Speaker 1>do about it. We don't go and try to beat
<v Speaker 1>this game. There is no winning this game. It will
<v Speaker 1>always end up here every single time.
<v Speaker 3>So before I left for Japan, I we watched The
<v Speaker 3>Big Short for the first time since it came out
<v Speaker 3>and since I rewatched that I have felt like fucking
<v Speaker 3>the main guy in that just like watching the entire
<v Speaker 3>system and hearing these testimonials and hearing these people brag
<v Speaker 3>about how they are like conning the like fucking lay
<v Speaker 3>person and making so much money off of them and
<v Speaker 3>deconstructing the fucking industry that they are meant to be
<v Speaker 3>the leadership of and stripping it for parts, and holy shit,
<v Speaker 3>I feel like Anthony Bourdain after he went to like
<v Speaker 3>Gaza where he's like, I want to beat fucking what's
<v Speaker 3>his name to death with my bare hands. Yeah, I like,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, this might sound bad, but boy, I'm
<v Speaker 3>fucking angry right now. I am, like, legit so angry
<v Speaker 3>at the state of the world, at the people out
<v Speaker 3>of running this shit, at the people that are deconstructing
<v Speaker 3>the hobby that I love, the hobby that I've found
<v Speaker 3>so much joy in that I know is so capable
<v Speaker 3>of so many great fucking things. You look at the
<v Speaker 3>video games that are coming out right now. There are
<v Speaker 3>so many fucking incredible video games. There are art forms
<v Speaker 3>that would die to have this level of creativity and
<v Speaker 3>this level of high production values, and like genuinely like
<v Speaker 3>emotional and affecting and like distructive and different ash inish,
<v Speaker 3>and we are pissing that all away because at some
<v Speaker 3>point we let the fucking people with the money books
<v Speaker 3>in and they took control of the industry. They can
<v Speaker 3>took control of the whole fucking thing. And I genuinely
<v Speaker 3>think that, like, if I log on to blue Sky
<v Speaker 3>on Twitter and I see one more fucking person give
<v Speaker 3>out about how woke is ruining video games, I'm gonna
<v Speaker 3>lose my fucking shit. Holy shit, holy shit, motherfuckers. They
<v Speaker 3>are fucking robbing you blind, right underneath you. They are
<v Speaker 3>stripping your the industry that you claim you love, that
<v Speaker 3>you're obsessed over, attacking people over and defec ending with
<v Speaker 3>your light wing bullshit, because they realize that if they
<v Speaker 3>make you angry enough, they can get you to like
<v Speaker 3>look at the jangling keys that they are shaking, and
<v Speaker 3>they can just love you blind. And Yeah, this sucks,
<v Speaker 3>This fucking sucks. I think everyone involved in this deal
<v Speaker 3>genuinely deserves to be like regarded as a fucking monster.
<v Speaker 3>Not from the point of view of like, oh, we're
<v Speaker 3>gonna get less video games. That sucks. That sucks for
<v Speaker 3>the industry, but they are going to fucking ruin so
<v Speaker 3>many lives with this.
<v Speaker 2>Yep. It is.
<v Speaker 1>I can imagine people tuning into this show and hearing
<v Speaker 1>us do our thing here, Lexi, and it sounds familiar,
<v Speaker 1>and it sounds like despair, and it is. And I
<v Speaker 1>have made a decision recently, like we got to offer
<v Speaker 1>up something alternative. We have to like kind of point
<v Speaker 1>people in the direction of, like, what do we think
<v Speaker 1>can be done?
<v Speaker 2>Now?
<v Speaker 1>The sad thing is a lot of a lot of
<v Speaker 1>these a lot of these things, not a lot we
<v Speaker 1>can do. But there is one specific thing that would
<v Speaker 1>be put a dent in all of this and could
<v Speaker 1>kind of bring things back into a balance a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>and that is taxing billionaires. This will be the thing
<v Speaker 1>I will just be bringing up forever now, over and
<v Speaker 1>over again. This is the if you want something to
<v Speaker 1>be done, if you want if you're sick of complaining
<v Speaker 1>and you want to do something going forward, we have
<v Speaker 1>to support people who are willing to tax wealth. Taxing
<v Speaker 1>billionaires can just they can then they can play their games,
<v Speaker 1>and then they still have to play our game, which
<v Speaker 1>is taxing billionaires and doing something about wealth inequality.
<v Speaker 2>And if that is it's the one thing. It's the
<v Speaker 2>only thing.
<v Speaker 1>And if if in that case, if they want to
<v Speaker 1>go ahead and steal the wealth from these companies and
<v Speaker 1>destroy something that has existed for a long time and
<v Speaker 1>produced works of art that are worthy of conversation and
<v Speaker 1>worthy of our time, fine, but we're going to get
<v Speaker 1>that money back on the in the end. And people
<v Speaker 1>will point out all the reasons why taxing wealth is challenging,
<v Speaker 1>and I don't like that's the reason to do it.
<v Speaker 2>We do tough things all the time. Let's do it toughly.
<v Speaker 3>That's why we fucking elected you. If it's if we
<v Speaker 3>were electing you to do easy shit, we wouldn't need
<v Speaker 3>to elect you. Motherfucker. Do your job. Instead of getting
<v Speaker 3>out there on blue sky and being like, well, they're
<v Speaker 3>sending the troops into fucking, uh fucking wherever. What if
<v Speaker 3>we just like got good healthcare, motherfucker. You have something
<v Speaker 3>to do right now, Just do it. You have your
<v Speaker 3>job to do, you have your mandas.
<v Speaker 2>Keep going here.
<v Speaker 1>EA was reportedly looking to sell off Mass Effect developer
<v Speaker 1>before Saudi acquisition.
<v Speaker 2>This from Jake Valentine at Dual Shockers.
<v Speaker 1>Yesterday came news of EA's deal with it came countless questions.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, came with it came countless.
<v Speaker 1>Questions, one of which it was about the future of
<v Speaker 1>not just electronic arts, but the developers and properties under
<v Speaker 1>that umbrella. Fans were already worried about what this means
<v Speaker 1>for the future of Mass Effect and in that series
<v Speaker 1>and the developer. After twenty seventeens, Mass Effect and Dramata flopped,
<v Speaker 1>Developer by Away made the decision to let the franchise
<v Speaker 1>take a break for a few years. Several years later, however,
<v Speaker 1>came the news that a new entry in the series
<v Speaker 1>was in development, presumably taking place directly after the events
<v Speaker 1>of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Trilogy itself was remastered.
<v Speaker 1>Blah blah blah. A new report from Insider Gaming details
<v Speaker 1>that Ia reportedly looked to sell the studio, presumably following
<v Speaker 1>the release of Dragon Age the Veilguard. Obviously that didn't
<v Speaker 1>come to fruition, but it paints an ugly picture about
<v Speaker 1>the future of the iconic developer. Yeah, that feels like
<v Speaker 1>one where like they were trying to avoid the really
<v Speaker 1>bad pr that probably would have done a small dent
<v Speaker 1>in their stock price.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, you can't even figure out how to handle BioWare
<v Speaker 1>that this is a high profile failure, so hey, can
<v Speaker 1>we just sell them to somebody and make some money
<v Speaker 1>and then investors will be happy about that. And here
<v Speaker 1>we are like this kind of solves that problem for them,
<v Speaker 1>although I don't I just don't think any of this
<v Speaker 1>is good news for the future of Buyoware. That feels
<v Speaker 1>like a game the rife for a idiot who doesn't
<v Speaker 1>know what he's talking about to walk in the room, like,
<v Speaker 1>can't we save money by giving a lot of this
<v Speaker 1>development over to AI?
<v Speaker 3>More than that, this is something I talked a little
<v Speaker 3>bit about on Blue Sky and just looking at the
<v Speaker 3>cultural IP that Saudi Arabia and the Kushners now own,
<v Speaker 3>you know, a like Kushner's that the what's his company
<v Speaker 3>called again, It's slipped my mind.
<v Speaker 2>His is Affinity Partners.
<v Speaker 3>Affinity Partners and is essentially like a financial branch of
<v Speaker 3>Donald Trump's personal wealth, like it is part of his
<v Speaker 3>ecosystem and it is designed to help make him deals
<v Speaker 3>that will financially benefit him. And it is also yea
<v Speaker 3>is now owned by PIFF, which is the Saudi government.
<v Speaker 3>And you look at the IP that they now own,
<v Speaker 3>and you consider the things that those two extremely conservative
<v Speaker 3>groups want out of its creative arsh what it wants
<v Speaker 3>out of its media. We are going to see levels
<v Speaker 3>of sport washing and military bravado and bullshit that we
<v Speaker 3>have as a industry truly unprepared for. I do not
<v Speaker 3>people think that people are prepared for like the level
<v Speaker 3>of you know, I bet Medal of Honor gets bought
<v Speaker 3>back in some form if this all goes through as
<v Speaker 3>some AI bullshit, and I bet new Medal of Honor
<v Speaker 3>has a very different tone than old Medal of Honor
<v Speaker 3>and has some very different things to say about war.
<v Speaker 3>I think that like new mass Effect, if it ever
<v Speaker 3>does show up, is not what Mass Effect once was.
<v Speaker 3>It is not telling the stories that it once was.
<v Speaker 3>And moreover, I think that if like the people who
<v Speaker 3>now own EA look at what Mass Effect is look
<v Speaker 3>at like, hey, this is our storyboards, this is where
<v Speaker 3>we're going with the game, They're gonna look at that
<v Speaker 3>and go, yeah, we're we don't want this company anymore
<v Speaker 3>because we don't fancy telling stories that even go near
<v Speaker 3>any of this stuff. And right, so, yeah, I think
<v Speaker 3>there's like the chances of a new Mass Effect actually
<v Speaker 3>getting out were pretty low as it was like they
<v Speaker 3>had an uphill climb as it was. And I don't
<v Speaker 3>I don't think they last more than six months. I
<v Speaker 3>don't think they get past the keys being handed over,
<v Speaker 3>like I think BioWare has gone before the keys get
<v Speaker 3>handed over and the company goes fully private.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, I think that there is excuse me,
<v Speaker 1>there's a chance that you know, when they when they
<v Speaker 1>gather up all these ips, they just look grounded, like, hey,
<v Speaker 1>we could make a movie based on mass Effect and
<v Speaker 1>some of the other stuff, and so maybe we do
<v Speaker 1>want a game like someone could sort of like fool
<v Speaker 1>them once and get that stuff done and kind of
<v Speaker 1>keep things going under those guys.
<v Speaker 2>Is that there is every chance that they does.
<v Speaker 3>Jeff as well, they don't do that with Mass Effect
<v Speaker 3>because you think of who the owners are now. The
<v Speaker 3>thing that they're going to want to turn into a
<v Speaker 3>movie is Battlefield, because you look at the story set
<v Speaker 3>up for the new Battlefield, which is, hey, America versus
<v Speaker 3>mysterious forces across the world who are somehow threatening American independence,
<v Speaker 3>and they go, that's the story we want to tell
<v Speaker 3>in our current political climate, because that's the story that
<v Speaker 3>rallies people to our side. It's the fucking James Bond
<v Speaker 3>thing that you talked about of James Bond was developed,
<v Speaker 3>was created when the British Empire was shrinking and English
<v Speaker 3>people needed to project that the British Empire was still important.
<v Speaker 3>The American empire is fucking shrinking at the moment, and
<v Speaker 3>the American corporations that need to project that America is
<v Speaker 3>still important. And now you have business yeah, yeah, Now
<v Speaker 3>you have the leaders or the brother of the leader
<v Speaker 3>of the American regime or not, but the law son
<v Speaker 3>in law and owning one of those companies. And there
<v Speaker 3>is no way in hell that they don't see that
<v Speaker 3>as a way to like create media that boosts American
<v Speaker 3>morale in the way that they want to boost ish
<v Speaker 3>And so yeah, I think you're gonna like, if we're lucky,
<v Speaker 3>EYA doesn't make any more fucking video games. If we're unlucky,
<v Speaker 3>they become a fucking arm of propaganda.
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmm yep.
<v Speaker 1>And we've already seen Saudi Arabia be willing to help
<v Speaker 1>with stuff like that, and we're like owning S and
<v Speaker 1>K and kind of just throwing some stuff into that
<v Speaker 1>game they've interfered. I don't think that that is a road.
<v Speaker 1>They stop walking down there. It just gets word.
<v Speaker 3>They're not a light touch owner. They are not especially.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, especially in this case.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think, all right, let's keep going here. The
<v Speaker 1>Silent Hill remake materializes out of the fog enters full production.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Claire Jackson at Kotaku. Silent Hill is
<v Speaker 1>a sind it once more. Following Bluebird Team's well received
<v Speaker 1>remake of Silent Hill to last year, the studios confirmed
<v Speaker 1>that a remake of the series's nineteen ninety nine debut,
<v Speaker 1>Silent Hill, has entered full production.
<v Speaker 2>So we kind of knew this was coming.
<v Speaker 1>They have finished Kronos and now they are moving on
<v Speaker 1>to this, and I think most people are happy to
<v Speaker 1>hear it at this point, even Kronos not being like
<v Speaker 1>a slam like a slam dunk or anything like that.
<v Speaker 1>It's a game that people generally are like, yeah, this
<v Speaker 1>is still an upper trajector if you take yeah, if
<v Speaker 1>you take Silent Hill two out of it, it still
<v Speaker 1>feels better than what they were doing before, and that's
<v Speaker 1>kind of what people want to see from this team.
<v Speaker 3>I beat that game. I actually super like that game.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, a lot of people do.
<v Speaker 3>It's really solid. It is kind of what I want
<v Speaker 3>out of horror stuff, which is one like different and
<v Speaker 3>two also it feels workmenlike and craftsmanlike. It's like, we
<v Speaker 3>know what we're doing. We are going to make one
<v Speaker 3>of these. It is going to have this tone. The
<v Speaker 3>other thing that I really appreciate it is that it
<v Speaker 3>is inherently Polish. It is very very steeped in the
<v Speaker 3>country and the politics of post World War two Poland,
<v Speaker 3>and it is all about that, and it's something that
<v Speaker 3>you wouldn't see. It is in a way that like
<v Speaker 3>Silent Hill, feels like something that is inherently made by
<v Speaker 3>Japanese people and their sensibilities. This is something that feels
<v Speaker 3>like it is stem steeped in Polish sensibilities and Polish politics,
<v Speaker 3>and I think that's really cool. I would love to
<v Speaker 3>see more lighting from Polish people aren't like what they
<v Speaker 3>think of that game. I would love to see some
<v Speaker 3>perspectives on that. But yeah, I think that they're the
<v Speaker 3>people to do these remakes. I think that these remakes
<v Speaker 3>have been This remake has benefited them as a studio
<v Speaker 3>as much as it's benefiting Gnami, and I think that
<v Speaker 3>like they they are definitely becoming more equipped to tell
<v Speaker 3>the stories that they wanted to tell from the beginning.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, all right, up next, the foremost requested Xbox
<v Speaker 1>franchise revivals.
<v Speaker 2>This is from Eric Frederickson at Game Spot.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just this is such a silly thing because this
<v Speaker 1>is a Phil Spencer out there kind of talking about this.
<v Speaker 2>Let's let's go through it.
<v Speaker 1>With so many studios under one umbrella, Microsoft has one
<v Speaker 1>of the biggest back catalogs and game franchises in the industry,
<v Speaker 1>if not the biggest, and yet certain titles stand out
<v Speaker 1>among the countless many. In an interview with Igen Japan,
<v Speaker 1>Xbox Boss Phil Spencer talked about some of the most
<v Speaker 1>requested revivals among a variety of other topics. Spencer noted
<v Speaker 1>in an interview that the most highly requested titles from
<v Speaker 1>Microsoft back Microsoft's back catalog are Japanese RPG's Blue Dragon
<v Speaker 1>and Lost Odyssey. In Western titles Crimson Skies and Megassault.
<v Speaker 3>Why good news, We're never going to see any of
<v Speaker 3>them again. You are never going to hear from them again.
<v Speaker 2>Why is he still do this?
<v Speaker 1>I like, well, why go out there and still be
<v Speaker 1>the clown putting on the show being like, Hey, it's
<v Speaker 1>we're good. Just everyone sit tight, everything's about to begin.
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna get all your dreams and the gamers. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's baffling to me that that just at a certain
<v Speaker 1>point stop talking, go make the games. If you're making
<v Speaker 1>the games, and then put the stuff out and then
<v Speaker 1>then we'll believe you.
<v Speaker 2>This just feels sick at this point.
<v Speaker 3>Going to TGS. That TGS fucking live stream was one
<v Speaker 3>of the worst live streams I've ever seen from the
<v Speaker 3>point of view of like, you clearly are doing this
<v Speaker 3>out of obligation and you have no interest. There was
<v Speaker 3>one game there that the Japanese market would actually give
<v Speaker 3>a shit about, and I was a Ninja Guiden four
<v Speaker 3>and every other game that you saw at that show
<v Speaker 3>was like nobody in Japan gives a flying fuck about
<v Speaker 3>this shit. They do not care about Call of Duty.
<v Speaker 3>They maybe you have some PC Japanese gamers who like
<v Speaker 3>Flight Simulator, but it is not like a big part
<v Speaker 3>of the market. I think Microsoft getting out there is
<v Speaker 3>still being like, oh big in Japan, We're making a
<v Speaker 3>play for Japan. Is like almost at this point, it
<v Speaker 3>seems like a self flagellation ritual. Like Phil Spencer must
<v Speaker 3>just enjoy the embarrassment because they had big fucking posters
<v Speaker 3>up at TGS with that this is an Xbox campaign,
<v Speaker 3>and holy shit, man, that country does not give a
<v Speaker 3>crap about Xbox games. The idea of getting out there
<v Speaker 3>and being like, yeah, I would love to bring back
<v Speaker 3>Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. No, you fucking wouldn't. You
<v Speaker 3>have no interest in doing business with Saka Gucci again,
<v Speaker 3>You have no interest in like spending money on getting
<v Speaker 3>one of those games off the ground and making a big,
<v Speaker 3>expensive RPG. Again, you don't stop lying to us.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I've heard rumors about Crimson Sky specifically, that seems
<v Speaker 1>you know, that was a long time ago, and I
<v Speaker 1>always chalked that up to sure, maybe people bring that up.
<v Speaker 1>But at this point, like after the latest round of
<v Speaker 1>layoffs and canceling projects, there's no way they're still making that.
<v Speaker 2>There's no wayment they're doing any of these things.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I just if I were him, I would
<v Speaker 1>just be like, look, we'll let our games speak for themselves.
<v Speaker 1>Like I guest, he's got to still be rah rah
<v Speaker 1>rah and go to town do that stuff, but be
<v Speaker 1>rah rah rah about things that people can actually believe
<v Speaker 1>in at this point because I just don't believe anything
<v Speaker 1>is saying about this sort of thing anymore. It feels
<v Speaker 1>and it feels especially weird to still be doing this
<v Speaker 1>same sort of trick that he's done a million times before,
<v Speaker 1>as if nothing's changed. And I get he's not talking
<v Speaker 1>to us, He's talking to people that are going to
<v Speaker 1>spend one thousand dollars on the Xbox Roger l I X,
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>We still hear it, and I'm sick of it.
<v Speaker 1>Amazon's relaunch reimagined Luna game platforms, starting with an AI
<v Speaker 1>powered Snoop Dogg party game, just what everyone wants to hear.
<v Speaker 2>Let's go.
<v Speaker 1>This is from Michael McWherter at Polygon. Amazon's cloud gaming
<v Speaker 1>platform is getting a big rethink. That's in quotes in
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five the game. The company announced Wednesday, promising
<v Speaker 1>a completely redesigned and reimagined Amazon Luna that combines innovative
<v Speaker 1>social party games with amazing blockbusters.
<v Speaker 2>That's a quote.
<v Speaker 1>In addition to streaming hits like Hogwarts, Legacy, Indiana Jones
<v Speaker 1>and The Great Circle and Kingdom Come Deliverance too, the
<v Speaker 1>new Luna will include Game Night, a collection of family
<v Speaker 1>friendly social party games. Game Night will offer familiar favorites
<v Speaker 1>like Angry Bar, It's Exploiting.
<v Speaker 2>Kittens, Ticket to Ride, and Clue. It will also in.
<v Speaker 1>Developed by Amazon, including launch title Courtroom Chaos starring snoop Dog,
<v Speaker 1>which Amazon describes as a human built AI powered improv
<v Speaker 1>courtroom game where players invent outrageous characters, excuse me, spin
<v Speaker 1>wild stories, and do whatever it takes to defend their
<v Speaker 1>testimonies before judge.
<v Speaker 2>Snoop Dog, I have to play this. I gotta see this.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe you know we were talking about like video game
<v Speaker 3>industry will continue because it's passion that maybe we should
<v Speaker 3>all just go home.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, this is Look, I guess does everyone know what
<v Speaker 1>Amazon Luna even was. It was Amazon's Google Google Stadia
<v Speaker 1>with a slightly more sane business model where it wasn't
<v Speaker 1>necessarily about subscribe and then also buy the games stadium
<v Speaker 1>just made no sense. Amazon lun is a little bit
<v Speaker 1>more just like just buy the game and then you
<v Speaker 1>can stream it on Amazon Lune, I think, And it's
<v Speaker 1>like you don't have to buy a console. Look, if
<v Speaker 1>I'm running this cloud platform, I get that, like the
<v Speaker 1>only ground you can go to is like the most
<v Speaker 1>casual audience, the one that it would not buy a console.
<v Speaker 1>But if they're not buying a console, how moved are
<v Speaker 1>they going to be by any of this stuff? I
<v Speaker 1>suppose if you get a streaming hit or something like that,
<v Speaker 1>like a hit that's like very popular on Twitch, maybe
<v Speaker 1>that catches on people go, Okay, where do I play this?
<v Speaker 2>Oh?
<v Speaker 1>I can click this one button here on Twitch that's
<v Speaker 1>going to connect me to Amazon Luna.
<v Speaker 2>But this game sounds terrible, and there are like there's
<v Speaker 2>like an indie.
<v Speaker 1>Version of this, like a court Like I think there's
<v Speaker 1>a game where you play as socks, like sock puppets,
<v Speaker 1>and you have to like go into courtroom and kind
<v Speaker 1>of put on your case and stuff like that. And
<v Speaker 1>there is no AI Snoop Dogg, which to me sounds
<v Speaker 1>like a step up.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, sounds like a nightmare over there.
<v Speaker 1>What do you think I'd rather not think about it? Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I'd rather just they stop, I I do. I kind
<v Speaker 1>of just need to see this for myself. I'm morbidly curious.
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna have to play the Snoop Dogg as.
<v Speaker 3>I'm gonna wind up on your fucking top ten list.
<v Speaker 3>Don't lie.
<v Speaker 1>I know you probably probably yes. Is there a are
<v Speaker 1>there physics based objects in there?
<v Speaker 2>Then I'll be into it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>Fall Out seventy six ads Walton Goggins the Ghoul, or
<v Speaker 1>I guess Walton Goggins is the Ghoul in big New
<v Speaker 1>Vegas inspired update. This is from bro Biovanni col Antonio
<v Speaker 1>should be Giovanni col Antonio at Polygon. Fallout seventy six
<v Speaker 1>is getting its largest update since twenty twenty this December
<v Speaker 1>with Burning Springs. The new expansion to Bethesda's MMO takes
<v Speaker 1>players to Ohio.
<v Speaker 2>Is that like Yellow Springs?
<v Speaker 1>Reference Ohio for a new suite of content inspired by
<v Speaker 1>Fallout three in New Vegas. It will also tie into
<v Speaker 1>Amazon's Fallout series just in time for season two by
<v Speaker 1>adding the Goul to the game, fully voiced by Walton
<v Speaker 1>Goggins Fallout Vegas. Fallout seventy six does feel like one
<v Speaker 1>that is has made it work. I don't know if
<v Speaker 1>we ever get another one of these like this again
<v Speaker 1>from a company like Bethesda under Microsoft, where they like
<v Speaker 1>sort of brute force their way to a success with
<v Speaker 1>the game after having a rough launch. But they've come
<v Speaker 1>full circle here and they're delivering probably exactly what that
<v Speaker 1>audience wants, fun stuff related to the TV show that
<v Speaker 1>they like.
<v Speaker 3>Right, Yeah, I have a friend who recently got back
<v Speaker 3>into Fallout seventy six and was like, this is after
<v Speaker 3>all of that updates, they really have, Like this is
<v Speaker 3>just a solid Fallout game. It is probably like more
<v Speaker 3>of what you want from a Fallout game than even
<v Speaker 3>Fallout four. Was Like, they have added more role playing
<v Speaker 3>in Tuish than Fallout four had in a lot of ways,
<v Speaker 3>because at what at some point when you have a
<v Speaker 3>live service game, adding role role playing elements is the
<v Speaker 3>thing that you do. You've added everything else, And like,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, I'm glad Fallout seventy six exists. I
<v Speaker 3>think it now has the opposite problem of there's maybe
<v Speaker 3>too much content for me to get into wish, But boy,
<v Speaker 3>I wish there was a new Fallout New Vegas to
<v Speaker 3>play going along with that new season, or maybe a remaster,
<v Speaker 3>And that doesn't seem like that's near anytime soon. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, it feels like we are going to have to
<v Speaker 1>kind of continue to be in a holding pattern on
<v Speaker 1>anything else Fallout. Who was it Virtuos who did the Oblivion? Okay,
<v Speaker 1>so you know that's I think they had layoffs after
<v Speaker 1>they did Oblivion and micro metal Gear Solid Delta, which
<v Speaker 1>is virtual.
<v Speaker 3>See, yeah, I wrote about this. I wrote about this
<v Speaker 3>before it became a news story, and then it became
<v Speaker 3>a news story, and I was like, I wrote about
<v Speaker 3>there's a no noticed now that Virtuos was. Yeah, it
<v Speaker 3>was one of the companies that was like heavily affected
<v Speaker 3>by Microsoft stopping a bunch of contract projects. And the
<v Speaker 3>way that that was explained to me was, even though
<v Speaker 3>virtuals is very big and it has there's a lot
<v Speaker 3>of demand for its work, if a project that it
<v Speaker 3>is working on at this very moment gets canceled, you
<v Speaker 3>can't just fill that in. You can fill in things
<v Speaker 3>that are six, ten, twelve months away, because there's lots
<v Speaker 3>of people that will want you to work on stuff
<v Speaker 3>in twelve months. Most people don't have stuff that they
<v Speaker 3>want you to work on right now because they have
<v Speaker 3>already made their partnerships. So they wound up with a
<v Speaker 3>lot of employees with nothing that they could work on,
<v Speaker 3>nothing that they could be assigned to, and their only
<v Speaker 3>realistic option was to lay them off quietly. And so yes, Virtuos,
<v Speaker 3>it wasn't like oh, Oblivion underperformed and they had to
<v Speaker 3>do layoffs. Like No, that did fine for them. They
<v Speaker 3>got paid for that, that was a good contract. They
<v Speaker 3>had other contracts that they were working on and those
<v Speaker 3>got canceled along with get games and or work that
<v Speaker 3>they were supporting on other games that were canceled as
<v Speaker 3>part of thatsh like. I would not be surprised if
<v Speaker 3>Virtuos was one of the support studios on Perfect Dark
<v Speaker 3>or something. But when that stuff fell through, they suddenly
<v Speaker 3>had just a big hole in the spreadsheet and they
<v Speaker 3>had to lay people off.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, all right, that's going to do it. For the headlines,
<v Speaker 1>we have a poll question from earlier this week that.
<v Speaker 2>We should catch up on. Let's go ahead and get
<v Speaker 2>the results right now. I'm going to refresh the page
<v Speaker 2>make sure.
<v Speaker 1>We have the most up to date results for have
<v Speaker 1>you ever played Parasite eve?
<v Speaker 2>That was the question.
<v Speaker 1>Your options were yes or no, and thirty six percent
<v Speaker 1>said yes, sixty four percent said no.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's that's highly high. That's with four thousand votes. Now.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, a pull like this is always going to
<v Speaker 1>be self selecting. People who don't care about about Parasite
<v Speaker 1>will just skip the question entirely, but still thirty six
<v Speaker 1>percent is higher than I would have expected. I think
<v Speaker 1>that does say that, like, hey, the people that are
<v Speaker 1>doing that spiritual success or you're probably walking into a
<v Speaker 1>welcoming space of people who are looking to get more
<v Speaker 1>of that, because you know, you don't get the thirty
<v Speaker 1>six percent of four thousand people voting at a poll
<v Speaker 1>like this without having people going back to Parasite even
<v Speaker 1>be like I'm gonna go try that game relatively recently,
<v Speaker 1>And I think that just speaks to interest in different
<v Speaker 1>kinds of JRPGs and different kinds of RPGs in general.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I'm curious to see you like count how
<v Speaker 1>that shows up for that game. All Right, we have
<v Speaker 1>a new poll question. We'll get to that here in
<v Speaker 1>a second. Before we do that, LEXI, why don't you
<v Speaker 1>remind people about where they can find you on the internet.
<v Speaker 1>Tell them once more about that book? So did you
<v Speaker 1>do you still have your rant? Feel free to do
<v Speaker 1>that now go to town.
<v Speaker 3>Last and culled lock on check it out volume six.
<v Speaker 3>You can find me on Blue Sky at Lexloody do xyz.
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to quickly talk about something that I've had
<v Speaker 3>a lot of conversations with at Games Common TGS, and
<v Speaker 3>that is review coverage and codes. I've talked to so
<v Speaker 3>many pure and developers who are like, hey, we are
<v Speaker 3>really struggling to get coverage of our games right now.
<v Speaker 3>We are really struggling to get people games media to
<v Speaker 3>cover all games in a real fashion and it is
<v Speaker 3>affecting things. And let me tell you that almost made
<v Speaker 3>my mind explode because in the last month, I have
<v Speaker 3>had so many times where I have tried and tried
<v Speaker 3>and tried to get codes for coverage on either start
<v Speaker 3>Menu or Rewinder or pitching to other outlets as a freelancer,
<v Speaker 3>and I have been stonewalled. I've been told we don't
<v Speaker 3>have codes to send out right now, we don't have
<v Speaker 3>the ability to send out right now. And the reason
<v Speaker 3>that this has happened, and I've talked to our people
<v Speaker 3>about it, is publishers only want big hits right now
<v Speaker 3>when it comes to news beats, they only want stuff
<v Speaker 3>like Game and Former cover pages or IGN main spreads.
<v Speaker 3>They are not interested in the smaller hits.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, that's the list, by the way of
<v Speaker 1>the big things that they care about. It's like IG
<v Speaker 1>and Game Informer.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, and so boy I when Game and Former
<v Speaker 3>went away, it would have been real interesting to see
<v Speaker 3>what they would have done if it hadn't come back.
<v Speaker 3>But right now, games media can't stand out or doesn't
<v Speaker 3>stand out because it is essentially just issuing press releases.
<v Speaker 3>And like, that's what video game news is right now,
<v Speaker 3>is issuing press releases. And when it comes to sponsored
<v Speaker 3>content and streaming content, influencers have them beat. And what
<v Speaker 3>games media needs is to be able to stand out
<v Speaker 3>in some way for it to continue to grow. And
<v Speaker 3>I genuinely think that the way forward for games media
<v Speaker 3>is curation as a hey, this is what we think
<v Speaker 3>is good. This is stuff that we can recommend you.
<v Speaker 3>We can cut through the noise, we can tell you
<v Speaker 3>if that you were interested in this game. And games
<v Speaker 3>media acts as a curator by getting access to things
<v Speaker 3>for review, and right now a lot of games media
<v Speaker 3>isn't getting access to things for review. You saw this
<v Speaker 3>Borderlands for it had like Foshey reviews at release, and
<v Speaker 3>most of those were very selective codes that were sent
<v Speaker 3>out to outlets that Gearbox you would probably would probably
<v Speaker 3>give a good review. And I think that this is
<v Speaker 3>unbelievably short sighted by publishers. And it's something that PRE
<v Speaker 3>also knows because PRE understand that if games media doesn't exist, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>they don't exist. If there is no games media, there
<v Speaker 3>is no need for public relations or press relations. And
<v Speaker 3>so you have a situation where I am fucking begging,
<v Speaker 3>I am begging publishers to make codes available to smaller outlets,
<v Speaker 3>because right now you have Game Informer, and you have IGN,
<v Speaker 3>and you have a lot of other websites that are
<v Speaker 3>struggling and slowly shrinking or being bash or changing in
<v Speaker 3>some ways, and you have no one who is being
<v Speaker 3>grown from the ground up to fill in their spash
<v Speaker 3>in thirty years time. There is no outlet that is
<v Speaker 3>being given the support that Game Informer was given thirty
<v Speaker 3>years ago to build that baseline of content, to build
<v Speaker 3>that baseline of writers and in built knowledge and expertise.
<v Speaker 3>And unless game publishers and pure and developers make it
<v Speaker 3>codes and review codes accessible to smaller outlets to grow
<v Speaker 3>the next Game Informer, you will not have any curators.
<v Speaker 3>You will not have anyone who are able to direct
<v Speaker 3>people towards your content. And the only way that a
<v Speaker 3>game will ever get big again is if it has
<v Speaker 3>a big fucking Markus campaign, you will not have people
<v Speaker 3>being able to find games organically. And I genuinely believe this.
<v Speaker 3>I genuinely think that like games Media can Act and
<v Speaker 3>Daniel Dwyers out doing this with no clip to and
<v Speaker 3>indie games, they're doing a great job at highlighting some
<v Speaker 3>really cool stuff. I think that other outlets could be
<v Speaker 3>doing a way better job at it. But I think
<v Speaker 3>that if you want to start somewhere, you sat by
<v Speaker 3>sending smaller outlets review codes. You sat by understanding that
<v Speaker 3>not every review is going to be a positive review,
<v Speaker 3>and that is a good thing because that means that
<v Speaker 3>developers can look at those reviews and they can get feedback.
<v Speaker 3>The other big conversation that I had at all of
<v Speaker 3>these events with developers will start for feedback. Developers go
<v Speaker 3>to Japan because they specifically want to get Japanese feedback.
<v Speaker 3>They want to get feedback from a different segment of
<v Speaker 3>the market to where they are based. You of European
<v Speaker 3>developers going over there because they're like, we can't get
<v Speaker 3>opinions from Japanese people easily in Europe, and they every
<v Speaker 3>time I played a game at game at games Carmo
<v Speaker 3>TGS I had someone asking me, so, what did you think?
<v Speaker 3>And that's because they wanted feedback. They wanted to know
<v Speaker 3>how to make their games better because they love making
<v Speaker 3>video games. And if you have reviews, and if you
<v Speaker 3>have really good and critical and thoughtful reviews, you will
<v Speaker 3>be able to make better video games based on that feedback.
<v Speaker 3>And if you don't have that kind of stuff, if
<v Speaker 3>you don't have an healthy games press, then you have
<v Speaker 3>shit like the Silent Hill review that ran early because
<v Speaker 3>someone wasn't explained what an embargo was. And yeah, that's
<v Speaker 3>my rant. Make review codes accessible to smaller outlets, cheap
<v Speaker 3>games media live because it makes games better. And yeah,
<v Speaker 3>fucking support independent media.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, publishers, listen to your PR people. They know what
<v Speaker 1>they're talking about, and they usually have our back in
<v Speaker 1>the city. You're right, it is coming from the publisher
<v Speaker 1>side of things.
<v Speaker 2>All right, New pole question, have you ever played Prototype?
<v Speaker 2>Yes or no? Interested about this one?
<v Speaker 1>I bet this one is all so a fairly high
<v Speaker 1>split of people who have at least played a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of Prototype one or two. We'll get the results
<v Speaker 1>of this talk about on Games Morning's here on Giant
<v Speaker 1>Bomb tomorrow. Speaking of Giant bomb. Let's see today it's Wednesday.
<v Speaker 1>That means we return with Blake Club. It's back a
<v Speaker 1>new season. Dan Reiker will be hopping into his game.
<v Speaker 1>He doesn't know what it is, but you're gonna get
<v Speaker 1>to see the debut of his new outfit and his game.
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna be a good one.
<v Speaker 3>Everybody question, is he gonna look cool?
<v Speaker 1>He's gonna he's gonna look He's gonna look cool. He's
<v Speaker 1>gonna look cool. Yeah, that's the word.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I am.
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking forward to if that's at two pm Easter
<v Speaker 1>and everybody so about two hours from now.
<v Speaker 2>You know, we also have You want.
<v Speaker 3>To know what I watched on my flight for thirteen hours.
<v Speaker 3>At a thirteen hour flight, I watched the three episodes
<v Speaker 3>of Mike's BA Light Club back to back to back
<v Speaker 3>to back. And I'm sure I look like a fucking
<v Speaker 3>crazy person to the person sitting next to me, but
<v Speaker 3>stuck that person they were watching Howie Potter, don't give
<v Speaker 3>a show?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, go to hell. Yeah gross quick looks, go to
<v Speaker 2>you take quick look.
<v Speaker 1>Will be happening. If it's not up now, it'll be
<v Speaker 1>up soon. Final Fantasy Tactics. I think we're gonna make
<v Speaker 1>some stuff happen there. Yeah, a lot more happening on
<v Speaker 1>the website. We'll be back with dumb Truck tomorrow. Mike's
<v Speaker 1>gonna play some Super Mario Galaxy two on the website
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow evening. So yeah, lots happening here on Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 1>I will try to conquer the man breaker on the site.
<v Speaker 1>At some point, we'll see it's getting close to breaking me.
<v Speaker 1>But I got really, I got right there at the end.
<v Speaker 1>I just got to do it again and make that
<v Speaker 1>last couple of steps. We'll see, all right, I think
<v Speaker 1>all that out of the way, we can wrap up
<v Speaker 1>the show. LEXI, thank you so much for hanging out
<v Speaker 1>with me today and talking about video games as always.
<v Speaker 2>I really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I'm so glad that we could do this
<v Speaker 3>in coordinating shirts as well.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, good thinking. Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad
<v Speaker 2>we were able to make that happen.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you all for watching and listening. You're the best
<v Speaker 1>audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one,
<v Speaker 1>take care of yourself, and goodbye.
<v Speaker 3>Oops bim bom bim bim
<v Speaker 2>Alrights