Details on Ken Levine's NEW GAME: Judas!

Don't be bad. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do this from
March twenty seventh, twenty twenty four, for the next hour or so,
let me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live
with me Jeff Grubb. Today, the successor to one of the biggest game
of the Xbox three sixty generation is back, and Marvel is getting an Overwatch
clone. But first, please join me and welcome today's co host a Game
Mess Mornings. It's Lucy James. Everybody, Lucy, how are you doing?
B can? Oh? Oh no, we finally we finally defeated Lucy
everybody. We weren't trying, but we did it well. Cauz I did,
so we're talking about Judas. I did that trip, Yes you did.
Where'd you do that? Went to Boston? I went to I went
San Francisco to Boston Tuesday to Saturday, then Sunday to Thursday, I did
GDC. Thursday to Sunday, I did packs and then I got back in
back in Boston, and then I was back at work at nine am on
Monday because we're doing a shoot. And then next Friday, I'm going to
London, so I'm tired. Oh no, that's too much, Lucy.
That is way. It's good, It's good. I did some good,
cool stuff while I was up there. Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad,
and you know we're going to talk about you. Just excited to hear
your thoughts. You got to play it right. I'm one of only like
five people in the world who don't work on that game who can talk about
it, which is kind of nuts. That is exciting. All right,
Well we are going to ask you about that here in a little bit.
But yeah, how are how are you recovering? I mean, does it
count as recovering if you are already thinking about another trip coming up very soon?
Or are you recovering from Packs? No? I am kind of covered
from packs. PAX was a great show first this year because it wasn't like
loads of appointments. I would say GDC was the hot one because it was
we had to do day of the devs and then they had all the appointments.
I am on the road to recover from Packs. But tonight I'm going
to a gig, so I'm going to see Daddy Freyer tonight, so I'm
very excited. Okay, that'll be a good time. You know what,
Well up a little bit, and then this weekend is easton. I'm taking
Monday off. You are breaking up for me a little bit. I'm gonna
change the location of the server and see if that fixes. Oh okay,
you know what, it's already looking a little bit better. Okay, amazing.
Yeah, you were bouncing over the east coast. I'll have you go
over the west coast. There we go, just like last week, I
was bouncing over to the East coast. Uh huh, exactly. How are
you doing post packs? I'm doing okay. You know, I'm happy that
very few people were reported getting sick from packs. We all kind of came
home and we were all feeling pretty good, even though we were, you
know, constantly around other people, constantly hanging out, spending most nights,
you know, talking to other people and stuff like that. So I was
expecting, you know, someone's probably gonna get sick, but no, everyone's
feeling pretty good. And then PAX was really fun. It was nice.
I am realizing I'm like a little bit more sensitive to being around people than
I ever was before the pandemic, and I'm not necessarily like bouncing back one
d percent from that where I'm like, oh, I can handle being around
people for a very long time like I used to. It's like it's a
muscle that I've not built back up clearly. And but you know, that
doesn't mean it was not a good time. It was just like, oh,
this is something I'm realizing about myself. And I really enjoyed it.
It was great being there seeing everybody, but I was definitely wiped by the
time we were done getting to Sunday. Even I was like, yeah,
I'm not going to try to make anything happen today. I'm gonna happily try
to just go get on this plane and go home and go to sleep.
And that was nice. That was a good time. Yeah, I mean,
so the hotel we were saying at the check out late checkout was four,
really, tam Anda, Yeah, Tamina were flying back at five,
and I just messaged like, you won't see me. That's that's the way
to do it. Yeah, that's Sunday. I think we were all pretty
what. Mike went to cheers on this Sunday, So I love I love
that. My favorite thing was in the discord. I think you said,
did everybody know your name? And he said only only when I put my
credit card down. Yeah, I really enjoyed very very Dan. You left
it four year Oh, Jan, you said you were flying like you got
you car pooled with Gabby Abby, right, Yeah, he had a he
hadn't really flight. I think, yeah, it'd be at a nine am
flight, but he went earlier because Abby's flight was Oh man, okay,
well don't do that again, Jan. Yeah, I was happy to mosey
on over there in my in my time, it was fine. I did
think about, like checking my bag and maybe going back over to the pack
show floor one more time. I was like, you know, I got
a friend working on that Killer Clowns game. I'll check that out. Everyone
was checking out at the same time, so the line was just super long,
and I'm like, never mind, I'm gonna go. Yeah, all
right, let's explain what we do here. Oh no, I didn't because
I was gonna I was gonna check the bag, and then I was gonna
do it. But I now like that, and then I thought about doing
it. There's a there's a place at the airport. Apparently I couldn't find
it, so uh. And also I'm like, yeah, the airport an
airport massage seemed a little bit less lucks than then going to get the one
at that hotel. Uh, because it's like an airport massage. As as
a connoisseur of massages, I've gotten massages, get a message on Friday,
very excited. You inspired me. An airport massage will literally just be on
the chair and they'll just do that for twenty minutes and you'll pay so much
money for it and it won't That's that I kind of was. That's why
I decided, you know, I'm going to abandon this plan. I want
to do it for real. I don't want to like half ass it and
they be like, well, I just got a massage, even though I
wouldn't really count that. So yeah, all right, I'll make something happen.
Still, that'll be nice. Let's explain what we do here most weekdays,
I Jeff Garb, will help piece 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. If you were watching live on twitch welcome, you can
always listen to the show later on podcast feeds by searching for Game Best 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 out one. Yeah,
you know I'm trying to from the gut. I'm trying to get it
out. Hello YouTube, Let's start Where is it? BioShock successor Judas is
a procedurally generated roguelike. This is from Haley Williams at GameSpot. Bioshot creator
Ken Levine's Judas has been in development for almost ten years, and now his
studio Ghost Story Games is finally ready to show what it's been working on all
that time. Whilea is still a narrative driven first person shooter in the style
of the Bioshot games, it's also a procedurally generated rogue light set in a
dynamically shifting open world. Here's what we know so far. And instead of
reading Lucy, what do we know so far? I was gonna say,
I'm gonna have a word with Haley site in the i GN review at gen
interview. Is it like your conversation is in the like the story? So
I figured she would based post it on that, but yeah, I am,
I'm joker. Yeah, so it was friends for second Jeff Keeley and
Ryan McCaffrey from IGN who got to go and yeah, we went to the
studio and yeah, what do you what do you want to know? Okay,
first I want to know is Kim len was making Bioshot games. Then
they put out Infinite and didn't sell as well as everyone as two K needed
to for them to immediately start making Bioshot games again. Uh, they kind
of lowered the they cut a lot of from that studio. Kim Lobin was
saying, I'm gonna go do something different. Ten years later, he's back,
and he's back with a game that it's basically looks like BioShock. I
can tell it's different. I'm actually excited about some of the ways that it's
different. But just like that like storyline right there is a little bit weird
to me. Why did he return to BioShock? If you've got a chance
to talk to them and like how they explain why did they end up back
here? In so many ways? So in terms of actual studio stuff,
we did not really talk to Ken about that, but I can tell about
the fact that, like it was kind of ideas that they just didn't have
time or space were in infinite And then there was that infamous narrative lego talk
from GDC, which is very funny because that is like Ken's like link on
his Twitter profile is is the game Spot video for that one, which was
kind of fun and so narrative lego being the fact that and this is from
the GDC talk where a single play game, you know, there was not
really that much replay value that in terms of discovering new things upon replaying it,
yes, likely, yes you might replay it and you might find an
audiologue that you missed, or even a cut scene that you missed or something
secret. But in terms of the core narrative that is going to stay the
same, that same journey is going to say the same. And Ken has
made a few of those and he's kind of bemoan that, and so he
wanted to try this narrative lego approach where each kind of bit of the story
is like a lego brick, and the lego bricks can be made into something
else completely. And so the thing about Judas and that's kind of I would
say, the main the difference in it and how that's it's not just another
BioShock game. And also it has been very funny that people have misinterpreted,
like us saying it's not BioShock in space to all the tweets being like,
which is system shot, but it's it definitely borrows a lot from BioShock.
You can absolutely tell this is the creator of BioShock. There's a moment at
the very beginning of the game, because the very beginning of the game is
very linear, and we played like five hours of it is linear for a
bit, and then all that kind of narrative lego stuff starts coming into place
some where you get your first power. It's in your left hand, it's
the fire one. And then you go out and you see these two robots,
and the robots the kind of the enemies, because it's not splices,
it's the fact that humanity literally can't be trusted to do stuff for itself because
this is the last hope for humanity because a plague, and this was done
before Covid has wiped out all of Earth, so robots have to have to
take care of everything was robot cooks and nannies and everything. And you get
your firepower, and there's two of them standing in a pool of oil,
and I was just like, oh that is immediately you know the ven and
Bioshokra. You get the electricity power and they're standing in water. The one
thing that it didn't have is that it didn't say at least from what I
can remember, because I feel like I would have made a note about it.
I don't think anyone said is it's someone new which would have fit,
which is like the thing you hear when you get to Rapture, you hear
it when you get to Columbia. So yes, uh that's and then in
terms of the actual way that the game is constructed, it is pseudo procedurally
generated. Right, So the ship that you're on, the Mayflower, has
these different biomes, just like how they they have different regions like Fort Frolic
or whatever in Rapture, right, or you know there's that that was the
like the like the fishing Fisherman district or something like the Arbury in or whatever.
There's different biomes on the Mayflower and you ride a giant dog robot called
Scuttle to get there, and those are the ones that are procedurally generated.
The game. They're talking about the fact that like not only is the narrative
kind of reactionary and changes up a bit, but they want to kind of
monitor what the player is doing, and so if they know just that you're
crouching a lot, they'll throw in like harder stealth encounters for you. And
this is the thing, so this is pre preview. They really want to
stress that, and I totally get it because it is so it's still early,
like it's been development for a long time, but so much about it
needs to be tweaked and balanced. And yeah, the game will be reactive
and throw you different kinds of combat encounters, which I thought it was really
caol, like different puzzle things, and then yeah, the cool like narrative
stuff that we go to see. And that's the saying, I don't have
a concept. I don't have a grasp on how much this is going to
impact the wider story. There are these big there's the Big Three. There's
a Tom, Hope, and Nef and they are kind of being instilled as
the the shepherds of humanity or I guess like the people to guide those on
the ship. They each want different things and they will get you to do
it. So if you do I was doing bunch of Hopes missions and then
you can. So for example, there was there was a weapon that I
was going for. I was like an upgrade I was going for, So
I pinned it and then Nef came and said, Hey, if you start
doing my missions, I'll give you that weapon. So that was just at
the very beginning where they just start to like t eat, like pull at
you to try and convince you to go to their side, and yeah,
yeah. But then it also manifests in the middle of battle because like I
was in a room and supertense firefight, and because it's a rogue light,
every level only has one health station. There's no health mechanic. I was
looking at bins. I could not stop looking in bins to get food.
There's one like AMMO station. There's one hacking component station in time, and
so I went and I was desperately needing AMMO and I went up to it.
I was in the middle of this firefight and Tom was really pissed off,
so he broke it right in front of me. But sometimes Hope will
come in and like mount a turret and then like help you out inmbol.
Sometimes they'll lock you in a room. Sometimes they'll unlock doors for you,
and so I'm just like, I really want to see how deep that goes.
I really want to see how much you can mess with it. I
want to see if you can. I want to see you can kill one
of the other ones. I want to see if you can, you know,
like get together with the other one against another one. Like I it's
yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, it sounds promising in terms of the
systems. That's definitely what I I remember playing BioShock Infinite and I remember coming
out being like that is a game that plays pretty okay, And then I
thought at the time, I was like, the story did not do much
for me, and then and then since then, like that the way it
aged, I think back on it and think it's a pretty cowardly game.
It's like, you know, I kind of can't think of a harsher thing
to say about a game, but I do mean that the way I think
about that story, and I'm like, what would I want from something that
goes back to that formula. I do want something that, you know,
if you all are going to tell the story whatever, but I think if
you're going to have introduce the systems, I know the narrative legos is something
you've talked about for a long time, But what does that actually mean?
If that means I have dynamic relationships with these different characters and these things can
be pieced together and new in different ways that have meaning to my actions,
I'm excited. I'm like you, I want to know how deep does that
go? What what are the results of that? What are the ramifications of
any one choice? Or is it very you know? And I suppose if
it's kind of like a Telltale game where it's like, hey, you know,
things are changing the background, but you kind of can't really tell.
If the sort of facade is strong enough out front that I still feel ownership
over my story, I still think that's also an improvement. But if it's
like deep and there are a lot of changes and it is very systematic,
that would be fantastic because that is the thing that I'm most attracted to in
games right now. And then you know the Rogue Light elements, you know,
I know he said it's not necessarily a Rogue Light game, but it
is. It borrows stuff from that. So when you die, you were
you have a chance to like rework your character and try different builds. I
guess did you did you see any of that? How does that work?
Yeah? So I'm sorry. My cat is going bananas behind me. So
that's what that noises if you came out, but you can't hear it.
She's a big Levine fan. Yeah, she's a big bash of So I
did see the I did see the rogue Light framing. I will not spoil
it. This is other thing that I'm pretty sure that, like Ken in
the studio, we're fine talking about it, but weirdly, like FPS and
IGN and Keiley all opted not to talk about this separately, Like we did
not have a conversation with IGN about it where we didn't want to spoil this
framing because I think it is just really cool. And so basically there was
this other storyline and that's where the Rogue Light stuff comes in. You get
put in this very specific place, and what you can do is you don't
necessarily lose everything when you die. I was I was actually looking forward to
dying because the way that the story will progress in the other place was really
cool. And so at the very at the very beginning, I'm pretty sure
you just you just start over, and then the more times you die,
the more you kind of start unlocking as you go back in and do another
run, And so there's a point where all the things that you carry kind
of gets converted to a kind of currency. I believe it's been two weeks
and that I have no memory anymore. I've got the memory of a sith,
but I'm pretty sure that's how it shakes out. And then what you
can do is basically like you can start with you can start with one of
the abilities unlocked, or you can start with or you can you can permanently
unlock a new ability slot, or you can permanently unlock like more health and
stuff. And so it's it's a really cool way of kind of frame that
the way that they've done it, and it does kind of make you feel
excited to die, which is the best compliment I can possibly give a rogue
light. Also, there is a there's an overworld map which is really cool,
which you have to there's a really because otherwise your your ship, your
your boy, your dog scuttle hey hey hey fight nice. Yeah, they're
flight in the morning. So in the morning and in the morning on the
overworld map, you're taking your dog and you can go to different biomes and
there are different missions there and whatever. But Dog needs fuel and that kind
of stops you from thinking and like trying to over extend before you're ready.
And I really like that kind of like resource management part of it. Obviously,
things need to be balanced, Like certainly it's not in a place where
you could say, oh, yeah, yeah, the balance is totally right.
The economy of the game is totally right. But it definitely did maybe
double like think twice about where I was going and what I was doing when
I was prioritizing, and so they're all the and yeah, like very systems
driven game. I would say at this point, I really want to see
where more of the narrative goes. They're already like the wild narrative beats in
terms of just like memorable things that will stick with me. And again like
I'm not going to spoil what those are, but there were some really really
cool moments. And also I saw someone in the chat. Someone in the
chat asked me what shoes Jeff Keeley was wearing. And I've failed you because
I didn't check. And I will, I will, I'll be better man,
all right, Yes, do better in the future, That's right,
okay, so then the you know, the finer points. Did you hear
a time frame for when we can expect to beginning this game? Would you
play it on where are they promising to release it? That sort of thing?
No timeframe. I did play it on a PC build stop it.
God, they are being such a menaces today. No, yeah, no
timeframe. I played on PC because it's still a development. Hacking. I
did see someone in the chat right, what is Oh my god, does
someone make a gift of jam rolling? Yes? So Pickle Giraft makes those
animated Blake Club videos and in one of the middle one of the scenes that
he played Jan doing his role right through the middle of the thing, and
it's fantastic. It's so per God, that is incredible. Yes, it's
very good. We need that. Yeah, so hacking, how does that
work? Picking? Okay? So in Invitoshark, it's pipes, it's pipe
dreams. Yes, maybe it's a pipe dream. Heaven is a hot and
this it is? If this then that, oh it's really cool. Oh
that's fun. So you that could feel more like hacking. Give me it
is? It really is? Like if you hit it was it was mapped
to why at this point. So I would hit on an enemy and then
time slows and then on one on one thing on the controller. It would
be the like the target, Well no it wasn't the target. Oh yeah,
so it would be one thing. We'd like select this and like if
and then that that would be. So if you are the robot, go
and I don't know, explode, go and socialize with another robot, go
and leak oil, go and explode goes shut down. It was really cool.
But those little hacking modules you have to kind of like craft by because
it's no there's no circuits values of anymore anymore. You are actually like gathering
kind of resources and building and like fabricating things. So if you remember in
I think kind of similar to how it was in Prey Ish would the little
machine where you kind of you chuck all your recyclables in and then it spits
out something else. But the hacking stuff was really cool. And the thing
is is that the game knows when you're not really hacking, because the Big
Three will try and like convince you to do it. They're like, hey,
notice you haven't been hacking for a while. I notice I notice you
haven't been using your abilities as much anymore, and so I think it's cool.
Yeah, I mean, if it's a more systems driven BioShock, I
think, and it sounds like that's what they're going for. That sounds exciting
to me. I do wonder because BioShock is such a BioShock infinite, especially
such a sterile game, such a such a here's what it is, here's
here's this world with all these people and they are just mannequins that decorate the
setting basically, and then occasionally they will attack you if there are your enemy,
and that's it. That's all there is to it. So the idea
that there is more going on here and that the enemy, So I mean,
I think. I try to think back to my review. I think
the main point of my criticism of the game, even though I gave it
like I think, I gave like an eighty nine out of one hundred,
but my main point of criticism was like it did feel like a dead world.
It felt like there wasn't going on. It felt like your actions didn't
have consequences, and that the game had no idea how you felt about what
was going on in there. So this game being specifically about that and having
multiple ways of expressing that I'm interested. I want to see we probably don't
get that. I know you didn't get a timeframe. Probably don't get this
game until at least twenty twenty five. Do you think it could go beyond
that? Do you think we're not going to I mean any sense? I
don't know. I honestly don't know. Like I don't want to be that.
I don't want to put a I don't want to be a headline.
Jeff't be a headline. I can appreciate that one specifically. All right,
let's move along here. Marvel Rivals leak claims new details and images. This
is from Grant Taylor Hill at Gaming Insider Gaming. But I do believe that
we got a confirmation here. Let's take a look here. I'm gonna bring
this up on Twitter for myself. Yes, Marvel Rivals is the new game
from net Ease and is in development as an Overwatch style Marvel shooter. In
the reports, it was said that the company is making a sixty six third
person shooter with a roster of fighters made up of some of Marvel's most recognizable
characters, hero shirt hero shooter style hero shits. They have now confirmed the
game. I will see if I can bring up this trailer so everyone can
watch it. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I find
this a little uninspired, and yet I occasionally find myself liking these kinds of
hokey branded games that like take on another game. It's like, hey,
we could do I mean, we talked about that Sonic Toys party game that's
like, it's Sonic but fall guys. Yeah, why not so Marvel but
Overwatch with third person camera because you want to be able to see all the
cosmetics and the characters you're getting. I could see that. I suppose people
are hearing net ease and there's an assumption that this might be a mobile game.
I think it's the it's actually gonna be quite the opposite. It is
a triple A ish console and PC release. For me, I'm like,
does that mean it's going to be like a sixty dollars game and then also
have micro transactions? Because then I'm like, I don't know if I want
to deal with that, But I suppose we'll find out. When you hear,
you know your love language Overwatch Matt mashed up with Superheroes. How do
you feel about it, Lucy? I don't give a shit about Marvel anymore.
No, no, hang on, wait was that a destructible environment?
I'm just watching the Black Panther bit. Yeah, okay, so he put
it down that like bridge that was cool. I you know, for me,
it is too little too late on both the IP and the gameplay.
Marvel does not have the hitting power that it once did. Overwatch and similar
games do not have the hitting and staying powers they once did. I I
don't nothing. Wow, it looks super Overwatch. Oh my god. Yeah.
I mean there's a bit where Iron Man stood in the sky and is
floating in the sky and he literally does a farr and I don't think.
Yeah, I know the similarities between the character, but surely they are invoking
that. Yeah, you know, I think I'm just at the age and
sensibility now where you know that was it Kim Katrall who just said, like,
I don't I don't ever want to be in a place where I'm doing
something that I don't enjoy. And it could and it could be fun,
and it could be you know, like really good. I just it just
does not appeal to me the stage of my life. I definitely moved on
from Overwatch. I've moved on from Marvel. If I'm going to have an
ongoing game that is going to be the game that I returned to every time,
I want it to be something different. I think at this point,
I think, if you know a thousand plus hours of Overwatch, I,
yeah, you did, It's it's could be completely different. But like they're
certainly invoking Overwatch at this point. Yeah, oh yeah, they are so
okay for audio listeners. Imagine Overwatch, but someone modeled in Marvel characters that
and then it's a third person camera. Uh, that is exactly what it
looks like. I'm actually a little surprised how how Overwatch coded it really is.
I get why why a developer does that? Right, you go with
what works, what has worked before, and you kind of just slap on
the stuff that you have the IP for. That's probably a relatively inexpensive way
to make a game that you have to pay a lot of licensing fees at
Disney for the things that are are like new here. I yes, in
destructible environments, we did hear about that in the reporting. Uh, black
panther did turn into a giant black panther in this and he basically charged the
bridge and knocked it down. Apparently Magneto's also in here. He has the
ability to destroy environments as well. I bet the Incredible Hawk might have the
same ability to destroy stuff with his big fists or whatever. I don't know
that. You know, that's sound. You know, we see iron Man
actually blowing up some towers here, so yeah, that's cool, that's a
neat thing. I just don't know if I'm gonna think I'm with you.
I I like the idea of more games for my piece, just trying stuff
that has already worked. That's fine. When I say I like that,
that doesn't mean I'm like necessarily excited to show up on day one for this.
I think I'm with you. I want something that is going to challenge
me and be interesting. They're different, and I think we're I think I'm
where I'm in a holding pattern when it comes to online multiplayer PvP games.
I think for PvE, I am very happy that we have Hell Divers two.
I'll tune in for that, and I'm like when it comes to PvP,
I'm like, eh, I need something that is going to be the
next new thing. You know, we've been through so many faith is now
with Halo and Call of Duty and Overwatch and pubgu and now Extraction Shooters,
which I never got got into really, and it's like, okay, well,
what's going to be after Extraction Shooters? I know none of these developers
seem to know, and I think we're all kind of waiting around see if
they're going to come up with something that's going to get everyone excited again.
And this isn't it, This is far from it. This is the very
safe bet that all said it's maybe not for us. Do you think this
has a chance of catching on in a way that some of these other like
narrative driven, live service destiny like games have not. I think so.
I mean I think there's always and the thing, I don't want it to
seem like I'm not rooting for this game. I root for all games.
Yeah. I think this will definitely appeal to kind of the younger folks who
maybe overwatches a little. I don't want to say like over Watch is a
little mature for them, because really Overwatch at its core is cartoony. But
you know, like you every kid I've ever spoken to who I'm like,
oh, you play over Watch, They're like, no, I've played Fortnite,
and you know, I maybe it will heel to those kids too,
where it's like I want to I'm gonna this is my gateway, this is
my gateway to something like Valerie. Maybe I don't know. I'm really just
lumping in multiplayer games with each other there, but I don't I don't know.
I mean, are the kids that's still into Marvel. I think it's
got a chance of bouncing back once that dead Pool movie comes out, but
right now it feels like it's that low tide for sure. Yeah, you
know, tell you what that X Men ninety seven show, you know I
need to ask. I'm waiting till it all comes out, and then I'm
gonna So I watch the first two episodes, and based on seeing those highly
recommended to everyone, whether you've phone off the Marvel train or not, you
know this it's just super well done. So I'm like, oh, you
know, I'm kind of in the mood to mess around with like some mutants.
Maybe. So if I'm feeling that way, I guess I could assume
the kids are probably like ready and rare and to go many of them.
Still, I'm sure I'm very excited about superheroes. Yeah, all right,
you know what, We're gonna take a quick break and we get back.
We've got a lot more headlines, including a bunch of stuff from Phil Spencer
doing an interview over at Polygon. And then developers aren't sure about the PS
five Pro. We'll talk about that right after this. All Right, we
are back, and that headline is even developers aren't sure of the point of
a PS five Pro. This is from Alex Hopley at Game Reactor. Even
though we're nearly four full years into the console generation, you'd be forgiven for
feeling like the PS five and Xbox Series X slash s launched last week.
Apart from the shortages, another reason why it feels like the console generation has
had little impact is because a lot of major games have still launched on PS
four and Xbox One, and yet Sony is still reportedly planning on releasing the
PS five Pro this year, something that has baffled general consumers and seemingly developers.
Two. Speaking on a new episode of Games Industry Dot Business a microcast,
Christopher Dring shout out to Dring spoke about the developers yep, absolutely,
I spoke about the developer response to a PS five pro. A couple of
companies said. This isn't going to grow the market. It's not going to
move the needle, said Dring. And he's talking about his time at GDC
talking to developers. This generation doesn't even seem to have gotten started really,
let alone feel the need for a mid generation update. How about we just
get some original next generation software up and spinning. Sony apparently still has some
reasonable expectations for the new console, as it is likely to come with some
new hardware features that can make your games run a bit better for those who
are happy with the current PS five's performance, Though it does beg the question
of why this upgrade exists. Lucy, let's start there, then, why
do you think this thing exists? Like, is it something that you want?
Are you excited about a PS five pro? Because I'm like, you
know, I always like new stuff. So I'm like in the middle where
I'm like, I'll probably get it, but I was not asking for it.
Yeah I don't, Yeah, I don't. Necessarily I'm not in the
market for one right now. I've spoken a lot in the past about how
this generation, in particular, I have moved away from consoles and I am
focusing more on on my PC. Like my PC is last generation, absolutely
is the best bit of hardware that I own. It has everything on it
and now it's it's going to be having Sony stuff on it. So you
know, for me personally, as a use case, I am not really
interested in a PS five pro am. I am I you know, will
there be those sickos who are out there and be like, yeah, I'll
get more of these frames or I'll get faster loading times. We kind of
reached this point in the in the generation where loading times aren't any consideration.
I don't even think graphics are a consideration, and maybe maybe there's something in
there that the developers can't do on current on current hardware, for sure,
there's always going to be that. But for me, I can't immediately think
of it use case where this is going to greatly improve my life. I
touch would have had no issues with my PlayStation five, No overheating, no
low times, even even storage wise. I'm fine. It's quiet. The
one thing I think, and we've talked about this sung on they yet they're
growling again. I say let them fight personally, when the when the when
the clocks changed, I moved that feeding time, and it's but no,
I think the big thing and we kind of know why Sony is putting this
out, like they don't have any software. I mean this year, this
year is a dry ass year for Sony and yeah, yeah, the the
chapped ass is over there and they're like, we got to do something,
and so why not put out the hardware. I listen, I when I
read the sentence, why does this upgrade exist? Like you know, you
do have to put yourself in Sony shoes, like they will be able to
move things around in terms of market understanding of what hardware is and how much
it should cost. And I think this thing comes out and they charge their
most die hard audience more money once again. And that's where you know console
gaming is right now. It is we I always tell the story when we
talk about getting new hardware, especially Midge and refreshes. But let's just go
over it again. There was a time where you had a PS two and
you had it out for six, seven, eight years, and then you
lower the price to one hundred and fifty maybe even one hundred dollars, and
people all over the world will be like, oh my god, I can
afford this thing now. It's got a huge library. I'll be able to
get the FIFA game every year. This is great, I'm gonna buy it
now. And those people do not do that. That audience is not there
for console gaming anymore. They play games on their mobile devices and they're never
going to buy a console, no matter how cheap it gets. So this
idea of like a long tail into reaching new audiences lowering the price of your
console has gone away, and so instead you got you have to rely on
the same set of gamers, the same audience, and that means finding new
ways to get money out of those same people, and that means new refreshes,
something Nintendo's done for a long time. Sony's clearly like, looking at
hey, we have die hard fans and they want to give us more money,
and they will justify it in any way possible. So let's give them
a reason to show up and spend more money. And then at the same
time, we can, you know, set expectations for what the PS six
is going to be. So they are like, hey, PS five is
five hundred dollars, and now here is a PS five pro that's going to
be five fifty six hundred dollars. Maybe more and it's going to be,
you know, really impressive with all these technical features. So now when the
next generation comes around, it's like you're used to being six hundred. That
gives them a platform to either start at six hundred or even go even higher
with the generation after that. So I think all of those reasons are why
Sony does that. On top of like I think, you know, this
is them taking advantage of improved yields. It keeps them at the front of
the line with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSMC and AMD, so that when
they already go with PS six, it's like we've already built up some new
fabrication facilities and things like that. There's a bunch of technical and business reasons
why they do this, and very few of those reasons intersect with anyone asking
for it, or especially developers asking for it. So I believe developers when
they say, we don't know why this exists. It's not for us,
and it's probably just gonna be a little bit of a headache because it's what
more skew to develop for. And there's gonna be some games that like,
yeah, I guess we'll take advantage of like we have ray tracing already.
This could do ray tracing better, so that's nice, But a lot of
games are still gonna be like, well, listen, we're just we're on
console. We're not gonna worry about ray tracing. It just hurts performance.
And even if the PS five Pro could do it better, the vast,
vast majority of people playing this game are still not going to be using rate
racing. So yeah, it's a weird situation. And I think it would
make more sense if Sony even had like one big game to watch it with.
But yeah, who knows. But I mean, I mean, maybe,
hey, that's the thing right from maybe let's just say from twenty five
onwards, Sony sorted its shit out. Yeah, and there you're going to
have at least one bang Out one a release from their first party studios every
year going forward, and they finally have the catalog. You justify purchasing a
PlayStation five because right now, if someone came to me and said which console
should I buy or what should I buy? I would tell them to go
all and on PC. Yeah. Yeah, I mean you're gonna have more
options on PC from this generation. Yep. Yeah, I mean, especially
if you're like willing to get a steam deck or an Asis Roger. Yeah,
you have so many more options there, all right. The Last of
Us is Pedro Pascal is reportedly done with season two already. This is from
Levi Winslow at Kataku season two of HBOS. The Last of Us currently filming
in the Canadian province of British Columbia, and Pedro Pascal, who plays post
apocalypse Dad Joel Miller has reportedly finished all of his parts just one month after
filming began. Plenty of time now to hit the golf course, right,
he really swung in there and swung right back out right? Oh boy?
Oh wait wait wait wait wait refuted allegedly Okay, h HBO has refuted okay,
telling Ijian theos, suggesting otherwise we're not accurate. It gets the inside
is Patreon page. Wait is this? Can you be a professional, like
the profession creating news, scoops and stories? A professional? Wow? This
guy's got four thousand Patreon? Who is this? Man? Man, I'm
in the wrong business. Okay, oh he just like this? Is this
like a blind items? Pedro Pascal isn't done filming the last of the season
two after all. HBO says. HBO basically says the rumor told ig In
the rumor is not accurate. A rumors surrounding the Stars filming schedule originated from
reliable insider Daniel Wright Richman, who shared the update on his Patreon page.
His report said Pascal has had wrapped shooting, while stating that the filming for
the rest of the season wasn't expected to conclude until August twenty twenty four.
Okay, you know, we'll try to skirt around the specific spoilers here,
I guess. But I did think that was like they wouldn't jump immediately to
that. That thought like the end of season two kind of thing. So
I was expecting him to stick around for more of it, although I get
that that would not be in line with how it worked in the game.
But it's like, you know, they are going to make season two of
this show, and they're gonna want to make a handful of more season.
I don't think they jump immediately to doing that big thing, the big exit
for the character. So yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll see
how it plays out. But the very least I bet he does finish filming
before everyone else. Regardless the part of the story was like he finished so
that he could go work on Fantastic Four, which he is already contracted to
do. He's gonna be read Richard's in that movie, So maybe the very
least I watch it, but only for him. Right, Maybe he's done
for now and returns later this season for more filming. They probably don't mean
pickups because that would not necessarily be accurate to the spirit of the story.
So I don't know, we'll see. I was asking about the guy's patron
because I'm like, it means I know that you have one and like a
bunch of folks, but it's like I never I never considered like movie people
would have them. Yeah, I don't know why. I was just assume
Patreon is like game stuff, right, I mean, it is a little
strange, but I mean I guess people are that hot and heavy for because
like, you know, my Patreon. I don't ever put any scoops exclusive
to the Patreon or something like that. It's just about, hey, support
the podcast or whatever. And I guess I'm surprised that there's still people that
are that interested in movie scoops. I suppose, but I don't know.
Maybe now, oh, I don't know. I remember frequenting the marvel leaks
reddits and everything, and yeah, sure it was hugely popular, I guess,
and probably still very popular. I'm sure there's a cottage industry behind all
of it. Listening, I guess in my stupid head, I was like,
there is no way people are this obsessed about like gay as obsessed as
we are about gaming about other things, and that is really stupid, and
that maybe proves that I've lived in tunnel vision. All right, let's get
this Phil Spencer stuff. We talked a little bit about how Phil Spencer was
mentioneding wanting a handheld that works like an Xbox. There was a lot more
or from that interview. Xbox is Phil Spencer reflects on recent mass layoffs.
This is from Eddie mccoot game Spot. Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer has defended
and explained Microsoft's recent decision to lay off nineteen hundred people from the Xbox division.
He told Polygon that Xbox is a business, and like many other businesses,
Spencer's job is to make profits. Sometimes that means having people laying people
off now to grow in the future. He said, I don't have any
luxury of not having to run a profitable business, a profitable, growing business
inside of Microsoft, and we are that today, but just across the industry,
I reflect on friends of mine in the industry that have been displaced and
lost their jobs, and how just I don't I don't want this industry to
be a place where people can't with confidence build a career, he said.
Spencer went on to say that the video game industry is projected to be smaller
in twenty twenty five in terms of players and dollars spent. Big publicly traded
companies need to make moves that give investors confidence that profits are coming, and
that can mean cutting jobs to get there. I mean, this is like,
yeah, this is the reason that these things happen, whether or not
that's a good reason or not, whether it's actually short sighted. I think
that was always the real conversation. We get that investors want to feel good
about their profits, and so the one way to have more profits is to
pay fewer people. That's like pretty obvious on its face. Everyone understood that.
The sort of the question is like, you know, these are the
people that made the games in the first place, that made those profits initially,
they are the ones being punished because of a lack of foresight. And
then on top of that, what are you going to do when a couple
of years when the industry is growing probably relatively relatively rapidly again and you don't
have enough people to make the games to keep up with that. It's just
that's the questions that people I think really have. Do you think that this
answer was satisfactory? How do you feel about it? No, you laid
off nineteen hundred people, Phil, Yeah, like, ugh, yeah,
you can't bring up the I reflect on friends and then follow end your sentence
with and for the people who did this. Yeah, yeah, I don't
know. I mean, he's had a few weeks to craft a better narrative
with pr than this, and it's not Yeah, it's really not really a
satisfactory answer. When you come to discuss the human cost. You know,
you've got people like Span from Larry and going up on stage and saying the
quiet part out loud, and yeah, the fact that you know, people
should be caring, caring for their caring for their employees, caring for the
people who make the games, like holding onto institutional knowledge, making sure that
people I don't know feel secure in their work. Because when they do,
they'll do their jobs a lot better. And so yeah, sure, I
guess you answer to stakeholders, right whatever, I mean, it sucks,
I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna move to I'm gonna move to Wales. Yeah,
famously no capitalism. Well that's right. You know they don't allow it
there, Communist Whales. Yeah they Yeah, he answers. Was gonna try
and say comrade in like a Welsh accent. Uh, he answers the stakeholders.
But really, I mean it's you know, what is the punishment there?
It's you know, I get it, like if it was was it
growing, he could be uh displaced and he could be fired from his position.
Sure, but it's like, man, why is it like the gap?
It's like, okay, either that happens or I cut n ten o
their jobs? Is there no other way to figure these things out? Is
there no cut to? You know? And maybe they are primarily paid through
bonuses and through stock options, and the stock goes down, that's them actually
getting a pay cut. But it just does none of it feels great.
And despite his plane spoken this here the plane language, which you know,
I often do appreciate doesn't do anything to sort of ease the hurt this time
around. It just feels like very cold and calculated and attached, and feels
detached, And I suppose you have to be to do that job. That
doesn't make it any less worthy of criticism. Phil then went on to say
how gen Z is changing Xbox's exclusivity strategy the saucer from Eddie at GameSpot.
It's those damn zoomers. Microsoft recently announced plans to bring some of its games
to PlayStation and Switch, and this decision was seemingly based in part on research
about gen Z habits. He told Polygon that young people want everything everywhere,
and Xbox is adapting to that. This notion that Xbox can only be this
one device that plugs into a television isn't something we see in the gen Z
research, because nothing else is like that for them. Some of them will
have an iPhone, some of them will have Android, but all the games
and everything is the same. I could still get to TikTok on both of
them, at least for now, although theirs stuff is available wherever they want.
So for Xbox, our brand pitp pivot as we attract and maintain relevance
with a younger audience. Is Xbox a place where I can find the great
games I want to? The announcement that games like Pentiment, Grounded, High
five Russian se if these would lead to PlayStation Switch generated a good amount of
discussion and debate. For his part, Spencer said, this decision is for
the better of Xbox. I know some things get weaponized. There's some evil
in the backgrounds, a background that's making us do things. Phil hates exclusives
and that's why we like PlayStation at Switch. Now. Every decision we make
is to make Xbox stronger in the long run. It doesn't mean everyone's going
to agree with every decision we make, but it is fundamental for how we
make decisions. I appreciate this point of view to a certain extent because gen
z is and younger gamers are coming up in a world where it's like,
I think that their attachment to consoles is way less than what my generation had.
And do you see that thing where there was like a lot of gen
z don't know how to work a laptop, Yeah, like a traditional PC
because they are so used to app yes driven devices, right, and so
it's so interesting but also right, exactly. So if you talk to like
playing Minecraft with them, like Minecraft was everywhere and I played it on my
phone or a tablet, and then maybe on a console, maybe on a
PC, but almost certainly on a phone or a tablet, and then it
was just ubiquitous and I and then Roadblocks kind of got to this a similar
point, and I think that's driving a lot of their understanding of what games
should be like and so that they don't no, you know, I just
want to play it on the on the device that I have. It should
be it should be readily available, and if it's not, it doesn't even
exist to them. So I appreciate that. But at the same time,
it's like man consoles had this unique special relationship where hey, you have to
get into our ecosystem to to get these exclusives, and that made those games
feel more important, made the box feel more important, and it I think
it created the opportunity for more games to exist, to like be these big
marks, Key Standout, Triple A, the blockbusters, because you could justify
them by selling the console with them, and it's like, oh, are
you giving that stuff up to go after an audience that actually, when all
is said and done, still might not care because they do already have Minecraft
and Roadblocks and all these other things, and when they do move on to
other stuff, they might just move on to the Fortnites and the Call of
Duty's I suppose they move on to Call of Duty. That's good for Microsoft
now, but they're going to move on to things that are already there,
and you're gonna make all these changes and it actually won't affect all that much
in the end. That's what it feels like, is like the likely scenario
here to me, where it's like Xbox makes all these changes to adapt to
an audience that probably won't ever really care about Xbox. I don't know,
what do you think? Yeah, it feels so weird, and it kind
of it feels maybe I'm reflecting on age and stuff recently, or maybe it's
just because I'm off the back of two three really cool shows if you see
Day that, if you count Day of the devs right, and like,
I just think a future where all we play is Minecraft or Roadblocks or Fortnite
really sad. And I'm not saying that there's not innovation in those games,
and I'm not saying that they're not worthy of success. And I'm not discounting
people's enjoyment of those games, but I've just spent over a week looking at
a bunch of cool fucking shit and like, I really hope that, like
I don't know, we still keep having and then saying like, yeah,
the same games have been at the top of the charts for four years and
years and years, like look at GTA five for example. I came out
like depressingly long amount of time ago. Yeah, and it feels like,
why are we spending all this oxygen talking about those games and ecosystems when we
could be championing the cool new ideas. And I guess in terms of like
we are the people who are entrenched in it, and so for us it's
like, yeah, we will see something like I don't know, Harold Halibut,
you know, but if you talk to the average kid on the street,
especially one who only operates in Fortnite and roadblocks, are gonna have no
idea about any cool, cool shit like that, And so it kind of
feels weird anyway. And so in terms of gen z and like apps and
whatever, I can totally understand why they are not going to be tied to
an Xbox but man, like Nintendo has some incredible studying power, like ye,
I wonder, I wonder how much you know Phil and well formerly Jim
Ryan will just kiss the day that they're Their brand is not as seemingly secure
as Nintendo when it comes to resonating with younger audiences, because like my,
all the kids that I know, it's not like, do you have Xbox
at home? It's like, no, we have Switch, yep switch,
we have Pokemon, and then everything else sort of filters down from there and
it's like, yeah, I mean, you only have so many Pokemons.
There are only so many minecrafts. Uh so you talk about there's over a
thousand fucking Pokemons and they make it more. They're gonna make more. That's
a threat, yeah, they it's these things do take up oxygen, and
people want to glom onto the thing that is popular so that they can be
part of the conversation, and so that naturally it feels like we are always
headed in the direction of fewer, bigger things as opposed to the gaming world
that I grew up in, where it was here are two thousand games on
this thing, and they're all kind of relatively the same level of popularity.
And you have twenty to fifty of them and the guy next door had a
different twenty to fifty of them and isn't that crazy? And it's like yeah,
And then over time games get more complicated to make the risk gets higher.
People's time becomes more precious because there's more distractions, so they're taking less
risks and choosing what to play. And so it's like all these factors are
pushing us towards a world where there are fewer options, and yet gaming has
always changed. That's the thing about game like video games is it is a
volatile place where the thing that worked yesterday will not necessarily work tomorrow. And
so I do kind of like think that we're probably not at the end of
gaming, right, like, oh, here it is. We've we went
through all of these these ups and downs to get to a point where there
are a handful of live service games. Oh no, And for the record,
like, I'm absolutely not saying that, right. I think I'm just
exasperated by the fact that all of the oxygen is always taken up by these
big games and it feels like and because we're in a place and this is
fantastic where tools to make games are so much more readily available to everyone.
It is this constant bombardment of new games stuff that keeps getting it doesn't it
doesn't get the chance to thrive that maybe deserves it. And you know that's
because you know, in terms of press, there's not that not that many
of us left, and so yeah, it's it's just it's just weird.
And maybe it's just because I've been doing this for so long and I'm just
like, oh god, I physically don't have any me to talk about Fortnite
anymore. Yeah, I mean, and that's the you know, I was
like more trying to just convince myself or not at the end here, because
it's like when I look at all the factors, when I look at all
the evidence before me, it's like, oh man, you know, mobile
gaming, it happened quick like they were just like it's Candy Crush, Saga
and it's a handful of other things. Uh, but they are just the
same games at the top, always forever and nothing's ever gonna change there.
Yeah, And it's uh and so when I'm like, oh, is that
gonna happen with the game set up that I'm accustomed to, And it feels
like that's what's happening. And I'm like, hmm, but it's not necessarily
just because that innovation always seems to pop up and surprise someone, and the
next biggest thing in the world comes out of nowhere and takes over. Then
suddenly everyone's like, well, now we're chasing that. And I just think,
right now we're at a bad point where uh uh. The industry is
hung over from some some really high years and you know, huge console sales
after the start of the new generation, where everyone was like rushing out to
get those things and and a lot of money was just happening almost on a
happenstance. It was like you were just making a ton of money because you
were video games and they didn't have to innovate all that much, and so
that those muscles sort of atrophied a little bit, I think from a lot
of these big companies, and now that they're in a world where it's like
to compete, you're gonna have to stand out again or or just play it
safe. They're like, well, we're gonna play it safe because we don't
we're afraid to take any risks, and it's expensive, so yeah, we'll
see feel like exhausting just to be a fan of games. Now, yeah,
a little bit, because like every single time we saw it with that
Marvel Nets game, where it was like the thing that they linked to in
the tweet where they had their trailer was a discord, and I was like,
I don't have to join a discord just to be excited about a game,
Like, I don't. I don't need to have constant I don't know,
it just kinda feels weird. I don't mean I don't need a personal
relationship with every game. Yeah, yeah, I just sometimes want to drop
in like oh, open up Steam, like, hey, that looks cool,
I'll try it. Yep. I mean, I think the good news
maybe for us here is that we are getting to the point, as you
mentioned the democratization of tools, where we are going to enter an area ero
where indie games are a lot of smaller teams making games that look kind of
like PS two GameCube and Xbox games where they're going to be ten to twelve
hours long single player adventures that look as good as those games did, but
you know, probably like HD and better in a lot of ways. It's
like, man, that you know, the big companies aren't going to make
those anymore. I am glad we're entering an era where I think it's going
to be easier than ever for these teams to do that kind of thing,
and so they'll exist. They just won't be the biggest thing in the world
like they once were. I will accept that trade off. Last couple of
things here from the Phil Spencer interview, he mentioned that he wants to allow
the Epic Game Store and maybe other stores onto the Xbox console. Hey cool,
that's a great idea. I Steam would be fantastic on there. I
don't know if that's what he's talking about. I know they have a pretty
good relationship with Epic though, so I think that's why he started with Epic.
This feels like a conversation that he's probably been having with good old Tim
Sweeney for quite some time. Coming to fruition here can they? Do you
think they text? Oh? Yes, definitely, Tim Sweet is definitely a
text there. What do you think of group chat with Phil and Timween?
Get is Tim bitching and moaning about about Tim Apple and and you Peel got
to being like, yeah, man, I know, I get it.
Yeah, dude, Yeah, you're definitely right. I understand how you feel,
and he's got like humor them constantly, and that's what that is imagined.
Gabe is in the group chat, but silent. Yeah every message,
yes, one hundred percent. Oh my god, you nailed it. Uh.
And then let's see PS five players will soon be able to show others
how to beat games. Uh, there's those features of like here's like a
guide of how to do this thing, and developers, I think we're supposed
to make those videos themselves and you would get it in the PS five UX
And now what's gonna happen a special company that does that right, right,
So, but what they're gonna do now is, uh, PlayStation is going
to have like you know, it's always recording your stuff, and if you
opt in, it'll record how you beat something. And they'll like, hey,
we might use this as an example that other people can get to through
the PlayStation five ux. Would that be okay? And they're going to start
just showing you other people's gameplay so you can beat stuff. And I'm like,
oh, that's that's a clever use of all this you know, video
recording and AI stuff where it's like you know, you know where it is.
You could sort of just have a machine fill in the blank of like,
here's that section of the game, here's someone having in trouble with that
section of the game, press a button. We could show you that recording
because we have fifty examples of it. Here's the one that people thumbs up
the most. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I'm turning that
off. Yeah, I mean I would not use it an either. Yes,
I would not use it either. Support your local guides, right is
everyone. They do incredible work. They do a ton of work, some
of the hardest working people out there. Finally, Game Informer is now offering
a standalone subscription. I think before you always had to go and do like
a game stop and get the power Up rewards membership, and that's how you
did it. Now you could just go get a year's worth it issues,
which I think is ten issues for twenty dollars and it's man, that is
pretty cool, and then you get two years for thirty five dollars. I
subscribed right away right away. Yeah, me too, very excited about it.
But it's also, like they did say, because it's just in the
US for now, which is kind of a shame. But I think that
is awesome and I love the team over there, so making it happen in
the US is just a hard one because like, the US is such a
sprawling country that it's really hard to make a magazine make sense as opposed as
opposed to like the UK, where it's like there's still a lot of periodicals
in the UK, is my understanding, and they have mostly died in the
United States because actually getting these things out to people is cost prohibitive. So
the fact they're able to make this make sense largely probably because they already have
the infrastructure there from doing it for so long. I'm glad they're able to
take advantage of this. And for people wondering, the money from the subscription
isn't going to game Stop and it's going to Game Informer to fund the magazine
so that they're gonna be able to do more with with this stuff. And
I think that's great. So shout out to the Game Informer for making that
happen. I did anyone's just announced a new hero I don't know, you
tell me it's in the in the chat from Don CABSA all right venture,
thank you, Jesse venture he ventures here and they're burrowing their way to the
paddle field. Meet our newest damage heroes. See if I can aaddlefield making
their way to the battlefield not to not to announced. Okay, I thought
you said to the paddlefield. I was like, my mouth doesn't work.
Oh this is the game played deeps live. God, I am so out
of Overwatch right now? Man, how does Venture look to you? Though?
Exciting? Charge, make shock? Yeah, I mean I mean drill
drill, drill dash. Okay, Borrowing that's cool. This is this is
like, this is like walking into a bar and seeing an X. Yes
that was someone new. Okay, okay, so yeah she can burrow underground.
So it's Splatoon. That's cool. All right, Well, there you
go. Ventures and Overwatch starting limited time trial March twenty eight through the twenty
earth through the thirty first, So try it out for your weekend. All
right, let's get to the poll question. I got that right here.
Actually, act you will. I get that set up, Lucy, Why
don't you tell people where they can find you, what you have going on
and all that good stuff? Hello, apparently you can find me losing my
voice. So this week Tam and I so friends with Second Podcast. We
have impressions on Judas and also a ninth Actually I think it's closer to an
hour and forty five minute interview with Ken. It's over on the skill Up
YouTube channel Tam and I also did a conversation about Judas. That's one Game
Spot, but it's obviously all the information is from the FPS stuff episode of
Jeff Jeff' Bizarre Adventure coming out tomorrow, two of our favorite episodes ever.
One of them is a bottle episode about an Italian restaurant. And it was
such a good time. That sounds like a good time, Yeah, it's
really It's really good. And then the rest of this week I'm recording some
pilot stuff at Game Spot. Then I'm getting a massage on Friday, guys,
because my back is wrecked. So I will be for your back strength
when you work out, you'd like. I've been doing a lot of cattlebell
swings and I this is probably the best my back has felt this year in
my entire life. I'm feeling pretty good about it. Jeff. Can I
just say, yeah, it is so sweet that you think I work out
well? Of course you do. Come on, Look sometimes I take a
sprightly walk to the bus when I'm running late. Oh, wow, okay,
man, listen, let's not work that hard. Geez. Well,
it's but it's But I have definitely noticed recently just because everything has been so
there have been so many releases and I've had to do so much hashtag gaming
that my back everything feels like oh yeah, I and I feel I'm in
pain right now. I'm in pain. So I need to start doing some
yoga, pilates, some weights to kind of build that back up. I
understand. All right, we have the poll question, let's get to it.
Are you okay that Larian studios next game isn't going to be Boulder's Gate
for no. We had four percent of respondents, all all of whom work
at Wizards of the Coast I'm assuming, and then ninety six percent said yes,
it's not too surprising. But this is I mean, we talk about
why they're doing this, where they say, hey, it's not about Wizards
of the Coast, and like, I'm sure they're happy to not have to
work with Wizards of the Coast anymore. But the real reason, obviously is
this, people trust Larian Studios. Why wouldn't you bet on yourself at this
point? So of course they're going to I think this is very exciting.
I think it's cool. I think it's cool, all right, Yes,
I think I just think they're neat new pole question, which one are you
more excited for? Judas from Kim Evien or BioShock four, which is apparently
still happening. So well, yeah, it didn't, didn't two k post
like a little chef. Yeah, they reminded people what's happening. Yes,
basically, so BioShock four still happening. You can also vote neither's that's an
option as well. We will talk about that on Game Miss Mornings on Giant
Bomb tomorrow, which, Jane, I think I'm going to have someone actually
from Game Informer on the show tomorrow because I'll figure to get them on here
and talk about them the subscription or something, so you can have the day
off if you want, Buddy, I think that's gonna happen, like,
let you know. But yes, we'll have that tomorrow on Game Mess Mornings,
so that that's happening at the normal time. Later today on Giant Bomb,
speaking of, we will have Blake Club at three pm Eastern. If
you're used to it's starting at two thirty. It's now starting half an hour
later. At three, so tune in for that. As Lucy mentioned,
there's a new Jeff Jeffs. We will have voicemail dumb Truck. This week,
we will have UPF I'm probably gonna play a bunch of games on there,
and then I'm like, either this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon, I might
try to find some time for some Dragon's Dogma two on the website, so
look out for it, all right, Lucy, thank you so much for
spending today talking with me about video games. I really appreciate it. Yeah,
I'd love doing this show like this is the only thing that would get
me out at seven thirty in the morning. Well, which is a smart
for It does mean a lot to thank you all for watching. You're the
best audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one, take
care of yourself, and goodbye.