Kingmakers Launches in Early Access in Q1 2025

<v Speaker 1>You don't be bad. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's
<v Speaker 1>do this for December fifth, twenty twenty four. For the
<v Speaker 1>next hour or so, let me help you sort through
<v Speaker 1>the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live with
<v Speaker 1>me Jeff Grub Today, reviews are end for the latest
<v Speaker 1>JRPG on consoles and do we already know which game
<v Speaker 1>is going to win at the Game Awards. But first,
<v Speaker 1>please join me in welcoming today's co host of Game
<v Speaker 1>Mess Mornings. It's Jan, Oh, Joah, Jan. How are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>I am still doing incredibly Okay.
<v Speaker 1>Listen, I'm I think if we aim for okay, it's
<v Speaker 1>like you want to have that room above you for
<v Speaker 1>the good days. Right when the good days come, It's like, man.
<v Speaker 2>Totally that I'll welcome it all in. What I'm doing
<v Speaker 2>is this won't make sense, This doesn't make sense. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm min maxing my my feelings and my my overall
<v Speaker 2>well being that I'm going. I'm intending on being at
<v Speaker 2>the happiest and healthiest when I see all of y'all next.
<v Speaker 3>There you go, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>It's something to look forward to. It's always good to
<v Speaker 1>have something to anticipate, for sure. Yeah, I'm definitely at
<v Speaker 1>a moment where there's so much in the head that
<v Speaker 1>I'm juggling that I don't have time to like consider
<v Speaker 1>the self or anything like that. You know, you know
<v Speaker 1>what I mean? Jan you there too, I'm there.
<v Speaker 2>It's like we're a skeleton crew, just like a new
<v Speaker 2>Star Wars show, which is okay.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's okay. I'm I'm I have no qualms with
<v Speaker 1>it and enjoying and I am enjoying quite a bit
<v Speaker 1>of it. It's uh what it was actually hoping for,
<v Speaker 1>which is Star Wars, goonies, you know, Star Wars, you
<v Speaker 1>know ET basically ET, but Star Wars, and yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>got a lot of a lot of good freaks in there.
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm enjoying it.
<v Speaker 2>I I do enjoy d of pluck. It has an
<v Speaker 2>okay amount of it so far.
<v Speaker 3>It doesn't feel like it's going to be too much.
<v Speaker 3>Feel like, okay, it's.
<v Speaker 1>A kids show, but made with like a very like
<v Speaker 1>a different, definite film sensibility. I just wish I wish
<v Speaker 1>it was just a movie, though I definitely could tell already.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, I don't need this to be strung out
<v Speaker 1>the way it's already being strung out after two episodes.
<v Speaker 1>The two episode premiere they should have. I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>think they originally planned as a movie. This is Is
<v Speaker 1>this the one done by the Daniels.
<v Speaker 2>No, this is not the one done by the Daniels. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I don't even know if that's still in production.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, all right, maybe they're working on something else either. Either.
<v Speaker 1>I would like to see that happen.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god. If the Daniels did a Jar Jar.
<v Speaker 1>Show, the director, Oh, the Daniels directed an episode or two. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>so they this is not This is just like them
<v Speaker 1>directing an episode, but this is not their show. Okay. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm happy with it. Definitely glad that it feels like, hey, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I didn't have super high expectations and they're surpassing where
<v Speaker 1>I was at. So that's nice. Ah God, Jan this
<v Speaker 1>time next week.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, buddy, Yeah, Well the Game Awards.
<v Speaker 1>Game Awards will be done with GB at night and
<v Speaker 1>we will be yeah, doing a pre show for the
<v Speaker 1>Game Awards. I suppose we'll be getting set up at
<v Speaker 1>this point at this point next week, but uh, looking
<v Speaker 1>forward to it. Everybody should should tune in to the
<v Speaker 1>Game Spot pre show for the Game Awards. Give Bomb
<v Speaker 1>is helping out. We're gonna do our bit for King
<v Speaker 1>and Country, and I'm looking forward to it.
<v Speaker 2>A lot of hard work is being put into all
<v Speaker 2>of this. Folks, especially Jeff Backer, whole gang, even folks
<v Speaker 2>and names you don't know, are working very, very hard yep.
<v Speaker 1>So when it gets messed up, it's because we didn't
<v Speaker 1>work hard enough me. That's that's what That's what it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna blame Minati because Minati hasn't shown up to
<v Speaker 2>any of these things.
<v Speaker 1>I know, what's his deal?
<v Speaker 3>God does he work here?
<v Speaker 1>Doesn't seem like it? All right, Let's explain what we
<v Speaker 1>do here here 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 of a bona
<v Speaker 1>fide expert who will make me look smart. 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 on giant bomb dot com.
<v Speaker 1>You can also catch the show later with chapters and
<v Speaker 1>timestamps on YouTube. Hello YouTube all right, we have a
<v Speaker 1>lot to get into, so let's start the morning mess
<v Speaker 1>with fan I'm just gonna say, Fantasian Neo Dimension reviews
<v Speaker 1>are out eighty two on Metacritic. I'm sorry, Open Critic,
<v Speaker 1>it's got an eighty two. I think it's around the
<v Speaker 1>same spot on Metacritic. Some reviews came in from Ed
<v Speaker 1>Nightingale at Eurogamer, who gave it four stars. It says
<v Speaker 1>the cult classic mobile RPG finally gets its due for
<v Speaker 1>lovers of mechanics over story who can rise to the
<v Speaker 1>demands of its extreme challenge. A lot of Haiggs at
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo Life gave it a seven out of ten, saying
<v Speaker 1>Fantasian Neo Dimension is Hironobu, Sakagucci and Mistwalker at their
<v Speaker 1>boldest and bravest, culminating in a JRPG love letter that
<v Speaker 1>both the lights and frustrates. The stunning world and exploration
<v Speaker 1>are a true highlight, and the challenging and rewarding combat
<v Speaker 1>will enchant some, but it lacks some of the magic
<v Speaker 1>that the game is aiming for, and the pacing is uneven.
<v Speaker 1>Normal difficulty makes things more accessible for the curious, but
<v Speaker 1>make no mistake, this is an RPG for those who
<v Speaker 1>want to lose themselves in the mechanics, and then Lucas
<v Speaker 1>White at Shack News give it a six out of ten,
<v Speaker 1>seemingly taking issue with some mechanics, taking the time to
<v Speaker 1>farm elemental resistant accessories, equipment upgrades and stronger skills, setting
<v Speaker 1>up your party load out so at a just so
<v Speaker 1>at a save point, then watching your team get ragged
<v Speaker 1>all anyway, all while you're several levels above what the
<v Speaker 1>game says you need, completely overshadows the effort put into
<v Speaker 1>the careful, puzzle like design of each boss, which is
<v Speaker 1>a shame because if those fights weren't so egregiously overtuned
<v Speaker 1>and in such an unproductive way, the stuff actually holding
<v Speaker 1>up fantation systems would have really shined. The criticism from
<v Speaker 1>before clearly had an impact, but even with the adjustments,
<v Speaker 1>there's still moments where this game isn't fun at all
<v Speaker 1>to engage with on its given terms. Even everything else,
<v Speaker 1>even with everything else, from Yumatsu's thematically apt soundtrack to
<v Speaker 1>the super neat Diorama visuals, is hard to enjoy when
<v Speaker 1>your brain is bogged down by constant dread Fantasian neo
<v Speaker 1>dimensions a distinct vibe and a lot of cool ideas,
<v Speaker 1>but over commits to its idea of challenge such that
<v Speaker 1>it buries its own nuances under a pile of big numbers.
<v Speaker 1>This is one that, like, I know a lot of
<v Speaker 1>people are looking forward to, like finally trying it. You know,
<v Speaker 1>it's been out in one form or another as part
<v Speaker 1>of the release on Apple Arcade for quite some time.
<v Speaker 1>But now it's on the switch, it's on other consoles,
<v Speaker 1>it's here, and it's from you know here here Nobusakaguchi, right,
<v Speaker 1>that's you know that the Final Fantasy Guy. I think
<v Speaker 1>it also had other stuff going for it, like those
<v Speaker 1>diorama visuals. It does the like having actual little plastic
<v Speaker 1>sets that the characters are running around on. I think
<v Speaker 1>that's visually very interesting, and honestly, even after reading these reviews,
<v Speaker 1>I think this sounds like an interesting game. Jan I
<v Speaker 1>think there's like there's stuff going on in it.
<v Speaker 3>I have not checked out this newer release of it.
<v Speaker 2>I checked it out originally when it was on Apple Arcade,
<v Speaker 2>and I did enjoy my time there.
<v Speaker 1>Greb.
<v Speaker 2>I think we're kind of in this space where a
<v Speaker 2>lot of JRPGs are kind of attuned to looking to
<v Speaker 2>the two D two and a half D pixel look
<v Speaker 2>or going towards like a three D polygnal look, and
<v Speaker 2>I do enjoy that this has a distinct diorama look.
<v Speaker 2>On top of that, it was interesting how with the
<v Speaker 2>battle mechanics. I think it worked very well for a phone
<v Speaker 2>because you could you had to like arc your attacks
<v Speaker 2>kind of, but if you wanted to just skip all
<v Speaker 2>of the battles and save them to the very end,
<v Speaker 2>you could do that, which I thought was interesting. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>now in practice.
<v Speaker 3>It did get a little bit.
<v Speaker 2>Exhausting at some points because like, okay, well this was
<v Speaker 2>just a random encounter where I just didn't want to
<v Speaker 2>fight this one blob. Now I got to fight a
<v Speaker 2>series of like five five one five series of one
<v Speaker 2>blob encounters, and it was still interesting to say the least,
<v Speaker 2>especially with the pedigree behind the game. I definitely don't
<v Speaker 2>think it is going to be for up everyone's alley.
<v Speaker 2>I think leaning towards the mechanics and folks and these
<v Speaker 2>reviews really highlighting the mechanics heavy side of the game
<v Speaker 2>may pull more people in and push a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people out jerrpgs. They you know, those audiences will skew
<v Speaker 2>whether or not you want that heavy duty story that's
<v Speaker 2>going to grip you for like fifty to eighty hours,
<v Speaker 2>or you just want those mechanics of like grinding and
<v Speaker 2>all that jazz. And I think Fantasion I almost said
<v Speaker 2>Fantasy and Asian may do a better job at the
<v Speaker 2>ladder of mechanics wise.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And I you know, I think this is a
<v Speaker 1>year with a lot of RPGs. People have a lot
<v Speaker 1>of choice and a lot of g RPGs. Even Dragon
<v Speaker 1>Quest three HD two D just came out, So I
<v Speaker 1>think like there's two sides to that of people have
<v Speaker 1>games to play in this genre if they want something
<v Speaker 1>things that might even be you know, more refined in
<v Speaker 1>some ways. And you know, Dragon Quest threes still have
<v Speaker 1>some of its I won't call them rough edges, but
<v Speaker 1>original edges that came when the game was an nes
<v Speaker 1>Famicom game. But there's a lot of other options beyond
<v Speaker 1>that as well from earlier this year, and I think
<v Speaker 1>that that can maybe hurt this game a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>but I think there's a chance that's like, actually, this
<v Speaker 1>genre is just growing. People are happy to have one
<v Speaker 1>game and then they're like, man, I wish I had
<v Speaker 1>there was another one like that, and now here this
<v Speaker 1>is waiting for them. So I think there's a chance
<v Speaker 1>that this game sort of rides that wave a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>And I, you know, I always root for Saca. Gucci
<v Speaker 1>is someone who's not like a huge RPG fan. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I you know, always wanted Miss Walker to like really
<v Speaker 1>find their footing, and I think I think again, at
<v Speaker 1>the very least, it always feels like they're doing something
<v Speaker 1>interesting and at least a little bit different, and I
<v Speaker 1>think that's true here as well.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm waiting for the wave of indie JERRPG inspired
<v Speaker 2>games to flood the market where people are kind of
<v Speaker 2>like have have been influenced by the Persona series and
<v Speaker 2>really just want to fine tune elements of that to
<v Speaker 2>like their own game or whatever. I feel like there
<v Speaker 2>have been a couple indie JRPGs or JPG focused games
<v Speaker 2>that kind of ape the Ettrian Odyssey look, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>not the biggest fan of that where you're doing like
<v Speaker 2>the first person stuff and you just have the monsters
<v Speaker 2>in front of you. I kind of like just seeing
<v Speaker 2>the animations play out over and over again.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, but with.
<v Speaker 2>This very strong year of RPGs across the board grub
<v Speaker 2>and even last year with Balder's Gate Threat. I am
<v Speaker 2>interested to see the wave of inspiration and and the
<v Speaker 2>other games are gonna come out due to the success of.
<v Speaker 1>All Absolutely, yes, I think that, uh this it shows
<v Speaker 1>that there's ways to do these games in other ways,
<v Speaker 1>and that you can you don't have to be a
<v Speaker 1>specific brand name. You can come in and try something new.
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, I guess at a certain point Miss Walker
<v Speaker 1>and saka Gucci they're the brand name. But yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>still think something like this is good is going to
<v Speaker 1>show hey, there's a lot of space to try new
<v Speaker 1>stuff in this genre. And honestly, I hope this filters
<v Speaker 1>back up to like Squirre Innix and inspires them as well.
<v Speaker 1>Ye man, look at this guy painting one of the
<v Speaker 1>dioramash Isn't it so cool? It's I love this, I
<v Speaker 1>love this stuff. This is the kind of thing where
<v Speaker 1>you know, for audio listeners, we're looking at one of
<v Speaker 1>the modelers actually building the diorama set. Again, it's like
<v Speaker 1>a little actual physical thing that they filmed as the
<v Speaker 1>background and then they put sprites over on top of it.
<v Speaker 1>And I just love that idea. That alone makes me
<v Speaker 1>want to play it. And then watching this you know
<v Speaker 1>artist and actually do the work and hunch over it
<v Speaker 1>with a tiny little paintbrush makes me want to play
<v Speaker 1>it that much more because again, I just love this
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing, so very very cool.
<v Speaker 2>Woh did you know, Greb, that Path of the Goddess
<v Speaker 2>was also real dioramas.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't know that really. Oh dang, oh that's interesting.
<v Speaker 3>That's another game I gotta circle back to.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I like to quite a bit. I wish I
<v Speaker 1>would have spent more time with it, but I am
<v Speaker 1>running out of time for games this year. It's getting
<v Speaker 1>it's it's already out of hand, it's out of the box,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm behind. So I'm just gonna keep playing when
<v Speaker 1>I'm playing, all right, let's move along here. Former PlayStation
<v Speaker 1>Boss questions whether proprietary consoles make sense anymore. This is
<v Speaker 1>from Blair Marnell at GameSpot. Although he stepped down from
<v Speaker 1>his position as chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment in twenty nineteen,
<v Speaker 1>Sean Laydon hasn't been shy about sharing his views about
<v Speaker 1>the future of the gaming industry and the former PlayStation Boss,
<v Speaker 1>but believes that the ongoing colm of rival consoles between
<v Speaker 1>Sony and Microsoft should come to a close. During an
<v Speaker 1>interview with Eurogamer, Leiden likens the PlayStation and Xbox competition
<v Speaker 1>to the format wars between VHS and Sony's Beta Max
<v Speaker 1>decades earlier, which was won by the former before both
<v Speaker 1>formats became obsolete. With Xbox versus PlayStation, the Oli versus
<v Speaker 1>Fraser fight, this is now him in a quote, Frankly,
<v Speaker 1>we have to start interrogating what the purpose is of
<v Speaker 1>a proprietary of console and whether that can continue to
<v Speaker 1>be true when you have I just lost my place.
<v Speaker 1>I've jumped down a bunch of sponts there. Basically, he
<v Speaker 1>just goes on to say, like, yes, when you have
<v Speaker 1>competing formats, competing platforms, competing technologies, there comes a time
<v Speaker 1>when we all declare that the war is over, but
<v Speaker 1>the real competition will be on its content. And content
<v Speaker 1>should be the competition for publishers, not which hardware you
<v Speaker 1>get behind. I should be the competition for publishers. Or
<v Speaker 1>I think we're at a point where the consoles become
<v Speaker 1>irrelevant in the next if not the next generation, then
<v Speaker 1>the next generation after that definitely. I mean I think
<v Speaker 1>this is like putting words to a feeling that is
<v Speaker 1>already out there. Definitely, whenever we hear executives that these
<v Speaker 1>companies talk, it feels like this is what they're saying.
<v Speaker 1>I think we look at the moves that companies make,
<v Speaker 1>like you know, PlayStation and certainly Microsoft, where it's like
<v Speaker 1>we are acquiring massive games that release on everything where
<v Speaker 1>they're putting their money tells us they are already moving
<v Speaker 1>past this competition. Yeah, and I think that's so this
<v Speaker 1>is probably going to continue to manifest over the next
<v Speaker 1>several years. Right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we're even seeing the sentiment with people actively working
<v Speaker 2>at the companies, right Greb. Like Phil Spencer has said
<v Speaker 2>multiple times now that not explicitly that they're deemphasizing the
<v Speaker 2>x Box itself, but there it is not their primary
<v Speaker 2>focus anymore, right, And I think that's where the I
<v Speaker 2>don't want to say the fight or the war is
<v Speaker 2>going to go into. But I think at this point
<v Speaker 2>a lot of folks have already settled on what their
<v Speaker 2>preferred box is, uh, And at this point the bigger
<v Speaker 2>fight will be on who is publishing these games and
<v Speaker 2>where these games are coming out to. PC gaming is
<v Speaker 2>becoming more accessible.
<v Speaker 1>And.
<v Speaker 2>We just see like the how the PlayStation, the PS
<v Speaker 2>five pro is just continuing to sell, and it even
<v Speaker 2>it seems even more likely grub that we will see
<v Speaker 2>a future in the near future of Xbox Game Pass
<v Speaker 2>coming out on other consoles, which which seems absolutely wild.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I think, you know, part of that is
<v Speaker 1>that's clearly what Microsoft wants, but it also just feels
<v Speaker 1>like that's where things are moving to a point where
<v Speaker 1>the old barriers that were in the way from these
<v Speaker 1>content holders and the or from these platform holders and
<v Speaker 1>the first party companies. You know, they're not like completely eroded,
<v Speaker 1>but they do feel like they're eroding. They feel like
<v Speaker 1>they are like the sort of dogmatic stance of we
<v Speaker 1>must protect our walled garden has definitely been like, Ah,
<v Speaker 1>there's people there that still feel that way, sure, but
<v Speaker 1>not everyone feels that way anymore. And there are differing
<v Speaker 1>opinions inside of even Sony PlayStation. You know, maybe they're
<v Speaker 1>not inside a Nintendo, but I don't think that he's
<v Speaker 1>talking about Nintendo here, So he's definitely talking about Sony
<v Speaker 1>and Microsoft, and we already know at Microsoft they fully
<v Speaker 1>feel that way. So on inside the platform holders, they're
<v Speaker 1>beginning to just like sort of be less, you know,
<v Speaker 1>very serious about protecting the walled garden. And then at
<v Speaker 1>the same time when they have to answer to investors
<v Speaker 1>and investors say where's the growth coming from, they're forced
<v Speaker 1>into a situation where they have to like say, oh, well, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we recognize the console space hasn't grown for us, but
<v Speaker 1>don't worry, we're going to do this in this and
<v Speaker 1>they sort of just find themselves saying out of their mouths,
<v Speaker 1>we're going to have our games everywhere. So it's just
<v Speaker 1>sort of coming to a natural conclusion at a certain point.
<v Speaker 1>I think that for people listening to the show, it's
<v Speaker 1>what we're used to, right What would you would you
<v Speaker 1>say anything to fans that might be feeling a little
<v Speaker 1>anxious about this change and whether this could hurt games
<v Speaker 1>in the long run, or do you think it's gonna
<v Speaker 1>help games.
<v Speaker 2>I honestly think it would help games where now it's
<v Speaker 2>gonna help certain games grub because it's it's definitely gonna
<v Speaker 2>help games like games as a service, multiplayer games where
<v Speaker 2>now that audience is even bigger, you cross platform becomes
<v Speaker 2>even more of a thing where you can interact with
<v Speaker 2>friends that are playing on completely different types of consoles
<v Speaker 2>or even PCs, and that'll be a thing. I think
<v Speaker 2>this will not hurt, but this will definitely put a
<v Speaker 2>damper on single player games perhaps.
<v Speaker 3>Where maybe.
<v Speaker 2>Say you bought into the Xbox ecosystem and maybe Sony
<v Speaker 2>isn't as ready to play ball to move games like
<v Speaker 2>God of War, Uncharted the Last of Us onto an Xbox,
<v Speaker 2>but they're still completely fine putting it onto PC because
<v Speaker 2>that isn't the direct competitor in terms of a console.
<v Speaker 2>And also like that launch is delayed a couple months.
<v Speaker 2>It normally isn't day and date with the PS five
<v Speaker 2>PS five Pro release, So I think I would feel
<v Speaker 2>slightly bad for those folks out there now. If you're
<v Speaker 2>you've bought into the PlayStation ecosystem from the get go,
<v Speaker 2>I think you shouldn't face any problems. And it's also funny,
<v Speaker 2>Grub that you mentioned Nintendo, because I feel like Nintendo
<v Speaker 2>is a complete outlier in all of these conversations.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, it's a completely different thing. I mean, you just
<v Speaker 1>you become a different thing when you have Pokemon and
<v Speaker 1>Mario and Animal Crossing that you can rely on Mario
<v Speaker 1>Kart on every single one of these consoles and a
<v Speaker 1>certain point becomes just you know, I think toy might
<v Speaker 1>sound like a pejorative, but it's like, no, no's it's
<v Speaker 1>it's in its own space over here, and it's its
<v Speaker 1>own experience, And yeah, you don't even think about it
<v Speaker 1>as much as it clearly is a competitor to these
<v Speaker 1>companies and it does take away some market space for them.
<v Speaker 1>They just are are doing very, very different things. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>when it comes back to Sony and Microsoft, though, I
<v Speaker 1>think that they are just realizing, you know, over the
<v Speaker 1>last several years, looking at the trajectory of console pricing
<v Speaker 1>and thinking, man, okay, we are getting away with now
<v Speaker 1>having a seven hundred dollars PS five pro it is
<v Speaker 1>is officially out at that price, and you know, there
<v Speaker 1>was a time when we tried to release you know,
<v Speaker 1>the six hundred dollars PS three, and that was a
<v Speaker 1>real problem. We had to really rethink everything. Okay, So
<v Speaker 1>now that price is above that and people are mostly
<v Speaker 1>accepting it. There was definitely some pushback. People do think
<v Speaker 1>it's too expensive, but there's a huge chunk of the
<v Speaker 1>audience that is showing up for it, and it's it's selling. However,
<v Speaker 1>well it's selling, that's fine to a certain extent, But
<v Speaker 1>do we like, is that gonna just keep happening? Is
<v Speaker 1>the price just gonna keep going up? Can? Because it's not.
<v Speaker 1>These things are going to get more expensive to make
<v Speaker 1>as you know, as process get more more complicated, as
<v Speaker 1>much as they come down and price like to make
<v Speaker 1>sure that they get enough return on investment for the
<v Speaker 1>visual fidelity to make it feel like a real leap,
<v Speaker 1>they always have to be on the cutting edge, and
<v Speaker 1>there's more and more competition to like get in line
<v Speaker 1>for those fabs that make these chips. They're gonna have
<v Speaker 1>to start selling consoles at some point in the future.
<v Speaker 1>For a thousand, one thousand dollars, is the pro going
<v Speaker 1>to be eleven twelve hundred dollars? Like, at a certain
<v Speaker 1>point that number gets just so big on its face
<v Speaker 1>that it is the big the biggest reason why you
<v Speaker 1>can't grow the console space because people who aren't already
<v Speaker 1>bought in will will not accept a price that high
<v Speaker 1>for yet another consumer electronics device when they're already spending
<v Speaker 1>that much on a smartphone and then the next thing
<v Speaker 1>on the list probably is a PC before it's gonna
<v Speaker 1>be something like that because they can use that as
<v Speaker 1>a utility. So I just think these companies are like
<v Speaker 1>recognizing we need to not tie our fate to the console,
<v Speaker 1>even when we are in a strong position like PlayStation right.
<v Speaker 3>I think.
<v Speaker 2>I think as soon as these companies untangle themselves from
<v Speaker 2>the console problem, that that laden is kind of highlighted here.
<v Speaker 2>I fear grub that we may be headed towards the
<v Speaker 2>future where the PS five pro or like the the
<v Speaker 2>mid light mid cycle relaunch of a console is no
<v Speaker 2>longer like five four years down the road, but now
<v Speaker 2>is like an annual release, right, much like the new iPhone,
<v Speaker 2>the new iPad, the twenty twenty five MacBook, right where
<v Speaker 2>there are incremental changes that may not be useful for everyone,
<v Speaker 2>but for those people that are kind of like on
<v Speaker 2>the cult of personality in terms of they want to
<v Speaker 2>be on the latest and greatest technology. Sony or Microsoft
<v Speaker 2>knows that they can get those people on the line
<v Speaker 2>and it becomes like the newest boutique electronic.
<v Speaker 3>Item, right yep.
<v Speaker 2>And there is that audience that is looking for that
<v Speaker 2>does buy the newest iPhone every single year, that will
<v Speaker 2>upgrade their iPad every single year. In maybe PlayStation Xbox,
<v Speaker 2>it has been looking at that definitely has been looking
<v Speaker 2>at that and wants a piece of that pie.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I think so. And it's you know, a lot
<v Speaker 1>of people are interested in video games, it's just there.
<v Speaker 1>You know, the next generation has found ways to get
<v Speaker 1>outside of the console ecosystem, and while they recognize that,
<v Speaker 1>it's an option and many of them enjoy coming into
<v Speaker 1>that space, if the consoles disappeared, they would keep playing
<v Speaker 1>games in a number of different ways, including their smartphones
<v Speaker 1>and tablets in PC and you know, I think it
<v Speaker 1>would be a much bigger shock to someone like me. So,
<v Speaker 1>but you know, that's the future you got if the
<v Speaker 1>growth comes from the people who are going to have
<v Speaker 1>more money as their careers get started, and they have
<v Speaker 1>a different idea of what video games can look like.
<v Speaker 1>So you kind of have to just you have to
<v Speaker 1>begin shifting now to get out ahead of that. And again,
<v Speaker 1>that seems like what Microsoft's been doing for years now.
<v Speaker 1>Whether how successful it is is still yet to be determined.
<v Speaker 1>I think there's definitely been some missteps there, but that's
<v Speaker 1>what they're trying to do. And now Sony's like, oh yeah, god,
<v Speaker 1>we got to be doing the same. And I think
<v Speaker 1>that inevitably leads to a situation where we you know,
<v Speaker 1>the consoles don't go away, but they're deemphasized. And that's
<v Speaker 1>what it feels like is happening right now. Last thing
<v Speaker 1>on this we talk about. We've talked about like the
<v Speaker 1>end of consoles many times before in history. I think
<v Speaker 1>the last time it was like kind of really being
<v Speaker 1>talked about was twenty eleven twenty twelve leading into the
<v Speaker 1>lawe of the Xbox One and the PS four, and
<v Speaker 1>then both those things did very well, especially the PS four,
<v Speaker 1>but the x Xbox One also did really well, and
<v Speaker 1>that proved us wrong. And it's like, oh man, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>we were like, yeah, mobile gaming grew, but it was
<v Speaker 1>became another option. So I listen, there's always a chance
<v Speaker 1>a couple of years from now we look back and
<v Speaker 1>it's like, oh, okay, seeah, sure, all the evidence at
<v Speaker 1>the time said that things, these things are going to
<v Speaker 1>be demphasized, but look at this, they figured out consoles.
<v Speaker 1>I suppose that could happen. It's just hard to see
<v Speaker 1>that path right now.
<v Speaker 2>That's all just where I see, like lifestyles are headed grub,
<v Speaker 2>where adding another device to someone's life may be a
<v Speaker 2>little bit difficult to negotiate. Yep, yeah, who knows. Maybe
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna see Uncharted turn into like a Temple run.
<v Speaker 1>Listen, without a doubt, that's what we really need. A
<v Speaker 1>subway surfers uncharted and put put that half tuck shirt
<v Speaker 1>in that game right now.
<v Speaker 2>Please, Subway surfers, krados.
<v Speaker 1>Come all right, Uh, We're gonna take a quick break,
<v Speaker 1>will we come right, We're going to talk about that
<v Speaker 1>Kingmakers game, the one with the guy the truck and
<v Speaker 1>the medieval times and a gun. It's coming out soon.
<v Speaker 1>We'll talk about that right after this. Wait up jam.
<v Speaker 1>We got more news. Kingmakers launches in early access in
<v Speaker 1>Q one twenty twenty five. This is a quick one
<v Speaker 1>from sal Ramano at Kamatsu. Medieval third person shooters slash
<v Speaker 1>strategy game Kingmakers will launch in early Access for PC
<v Speaker 1>via Steam in Q one twenty twenty five. Publisher Tiny
<v Speaker 1>Build and developer Redemption Road Games announced the game has
<v Speaker 1>achieved more than one million wish lists on Steam. This
<v Speaker 1>is the one. I think it was at Summer Game
<v Speaker 1>Fest where we saw the trailer and it was a
<v Speaker 1>guy in a truck, like a pickup truck, driving around
<v Speaker 1>a bunch of medieval chuckleheads on horses with spears and
<v Speaker 1>swords and armor, and he had a machine gun and
<v Speaker 1>he was shooting them all. And that is a video game.
<v Speaker 1>And I've been been looking forward to that one for
<v Speaker 1>a very long time, and I was kind of hoping,
<v Speaker 1>you know, it would follow like the ki Lee arc
<v Speaker 1>here and it would like get announced at one of
<v Speaker 1>his shows previously and then land here at the Game Awards.
<v Speaker 1>It is a shadow drop like that would have been awesome.
<v Speaker 1>We go home and play that thing right away. I'll
<v Speaker 1>accept Q one twenty twenty five early access though that
<v Speaker 1>that sounds like a good time. This this feels like
<v Speaker 1>a game that could take over the world in a
<v Speaker 1>lot of ways, right.
<v Speaker 2>Grab it as the fools err and for me to
<v Speaker 2>keep coming up with questions in my head of like, well,
<v Speaker 2>how would they do this?
<v Speaker 3>Why is this real? Well? How h concerned? How is he?
<v Speaker 2>What if he runs out of AMMO? Is he going
<v Speaker 2>to make new Ammo? And then I'm thinking about from
<v Speaker 2>the night's perspective of like how terrifying is this that
<v Speaker 2>you're already like maybe.
<v Speaker 1>There's like a little portal in the back of the
<v Speaker 1>pickup truck that transports more Ammo from the future right
<v Speaker 1>like that, it's just like it's a button and his
<v Speaker 1>Ziggy in the future, his his quantum leap Ziggy is like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>here's more Ammo and like there's not enough energy to
<v Speaker 1>like send him back or maybe he's like doing an
<v Speaker 1>important job. There was too many knights in armor and
<v Speaker 1>he's like got to go call the herd like deer.
<v Speaker 2>I it looks like because I'm rewatching the trailer here
<v Speaker 2>he warps back to the future and then a cat
<v Speaker 2>spaceship robot is dumping money at him.
<v Speaker 3>That's I mean, yeah, perfect, yeah. Uh this may also
<v Speaker 3>be co op grubs.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's I mean, it's gotta be right. It's like, right,
<v Speaker 1>this is the kind of game that if it has
<v Speaker 1>four player co op, it'll be a I think it'll
<v Speaker 1>be a massive hit on on Twitch. Also, this the
<v Speaker 1>way this trailer does begin, and it looks like a
<v Speaker 1>total war game and and like there's even like and
<v Speaker 1>then the pickup truck just comes out of nowhere. It
<v Speaker 1>starts running over all these guys. That is uh, god,
<v Speaker 1>I love video games. He just gets out of that
<v Speaker 1>handgun man.
<v Speaker 3>This is good. It is good. Games are good. Huh.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, games, games can be really really good. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>looking forward to that. Q one twenty twenty five. Kingdwcom
<v Speaker 1>Deliverance to release date has been moved forward amidst a
<v Speaker 1>crowded release schedule. This is from Georgieng at game Spot.
<v Speaker 1>Warhorse Studios has announced that Kingdom Come Deliverance two's release
<v Speaker 1>date has been moved forward to February fourth, twenty twenty five. Additionally,
<v Speaker 1>a new story trailer will drop today December fifth, as
<v Speaker 1>well as the PC and console version details and a
<v Speaker 1>new update video. Public relations manager Kobe stoles Zwilin revealed
<v Speaker 1>the new release date and that the new story trailer
<v Speaker 1>will premiere on today. Yeah, it's a PC the PC
<v Speaker 1>gaming shows today. That's right. They're doing their thing. They
<v Speaker 1>try to do that around the game awards. Yeah, this
<v Speaker 1>is one of these games that's like, oh yeah, that's
<v Speaker 1>also coming out in February, a month jam packed with games.
<v Speaker 1>We'll talk about like what's all coming in February here
<v Speaker 1>in a second. But I don't know. This one was
<v Speaker 1>always kind of like on the bubble for me. I
<v Speaker 1>definitely got weirdness from the developers in the first game,
<v Speaker 1>not so much weirdness that I would never check out
<v Speaker 1>another one of their games or anything like that. I
<v Speaker 1>don't blame anyone who does, and I don't blame anyone
<v Speaker 1>thinks I'm overacting whatever if I feel how you want
<v Speaker 1>to feel. But I was like, Okay, listen, I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to give you another chance, especially if you like. Because
<v Speaker 1>I criticized the first game, I think there's a chance
<v Speaker 1>they could have listened to that criticism and made this
<v Speaker 1>game even better, and I want to see for myself.
<v Speaker 1>But it's also like down on a list of like,
<v Speaker 1>oh well, I'm going to play that after Monster one hundred,
<v Speaker 1>Wilds of course, and other things coming out that month.
<v Speaker 3>How about for you same exact boat grub.
<v Speaker 2>It felt like there was a lot of weird funk
<v Speaker 2>around the original game, and the people that got very
<v Speaker 2>very weird about it kind of rode way too hard
<v Speaker 2>for the game, and it did feel like the developers
<v Speaker 2>were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, y'all need to
<v Speaker 2>calm down over there. But the people that weren't very
<v Speaker 2>weird about the game did actually enjoy it, and I
<v Speaker 2>would hope that the developers took into consideration the people
<v Speaker 2>that were being very weird on the Internet and the
<v Speaker 2>people that had legitimate qualms with a game. But oh boy, grub,
<v Speaker 2>I just see the games that are highlighted here for
<v Speaker 2>February release, and I would do any and everything to
<v Speaker 2>get out of the way of all of those.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, so Warhorse Studios presumably move the release date forward
<v Speaker 1>in order to avoid February twenty twenty five's other big releases.
<v Speaker 1>These include Assassin's Creed Shadows on February fourteenth, Avowed on
<v Speaker 1>February eighteenth, and Monster Hunter Wilds on February twenty eighth.
<v Speaker 1>And now, honestly, that's just like the three big ones.
<v Speaker 1>There's others that are like on Kingdom Come Deliverance twos
<v Speaker 1>level I think already as well. So, yeah, it's a
<v Speaker 1>month where people are going to be playing a lot
<v Speaker 1>of games, be very busy, and yeah, like I think
<v Speaker 1>this one has a chance to do. Like it's it's
<v Speaker 1>writing that genre of perennial PC hit on Steam right
<v Speaker 1>where hey, this is sort of like a sky Rim
<v Speaker 1>and it's got a modding scene and I like just
<v Speaker 1>getting lost in these adventures and then I'll keep playing
<v Speaker 1>it because I'll mod it into all kinds of crazy
<v Speaker 1>stuff to it. That kind of game can do well
<v Speaker 1>at any point, but moving it up a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>getting out of the way of some of these games,
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna help, Right. Do you think it's gonna do enough?
<v Speaker 2>I think it'll have its dedicated audience. I just don't
<v Speaker 2>know how much new excitement it's gonna be able to
<v Speaker 2>garner given this heavy competition. Because I also feel bad
<v Speaker 2>for Assassin's Creed Shadows Grub because I just think about
<v Speaker 2>Ubisoft and like the current situation. We chatted about it yesterday,
<v Speaker 2>But Monster Hunter Wilde's is going to be a jug
<v Speaker 2>or not I.
<v Speaker 1>Mean, and like that window and like the sort of
<v Speaker 1>sentiment you know, earned or not fair or not around
<v Speaker 1>Assassin's Creed Shadows and then the exact opposite sentiment for
<v Speaker 1>something like Yakuza a a Yakusu pirate in Hawaii or
<v Speaker 1>whatever it's called. Yeah, Like that's like people adore that
<v Speaker 1>and they want to they and it's kind a growing
<v Speaker 1>audience of people who adore it, and it's okay. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I think a lot of the positive sentiment could be
<v Speaker 1>around that versus something like Assassin's Great Shadows. Yeah. Civilization
<v Speaker 1>seven also coming out in February. Story about that here
<v Speaker 1>in a little bit. Yeah, it's just gonna be a very,
<v Speaker 1>very busy month. I don't think I don't think that
<v Speaker 1>means this game has no chance. It definitely does. And
<v Speaker 1>I think moving up is a good idea, get out
<v Speaker 1>ahead of all these before everyone else is playing something else.
<v Speaker 2>If it's in a position to be able to be
<v Speaker 2>moved forward, then by all means, do it so you
<v Speaker 2>can get out of the way or try and build
<v Speaker 2>some hype before any of these games obliterate people's lives.
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmm, yeah, unless like the thing I fear about
<v Speaker 2>when a game does get moved forward is is it
<v Speaker 2>necessarily ready to be released, has it passed whatever SERTs
<v Speaker 2>that it needs to be done, or is it going
<v Speaker 2>to launch in such a state that it hampers public
<v Speaker 2>perception of the game.
<v Speaker 1>It also always makes me wonder like how the first
<v Speaker 1>day get chosen in the first place. And yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>honestly I wish we had more insight into all of
<v Speaker 1>the various ways that that these companies do make decisions
<v Speaker 1>about when something will come out or not. And it's okay,
<v Speaker 1>so then what were the pressures that made you change.
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't just these these games coming out. I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>it was, but it's okay, So what do you lose
<v Speaker 1>anything like where you are you missing on the optimal window?
<v Speaker 1>Do you feel better about the middle of the month
<v Speaker 1>because that's when more people have money or something like that.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, but yeah, Hey, the game's got to
<v Speaker 1>get done to get to come out, and now they
<v Speaker 1>got to get done a week earlier. It's not impossible.
<v Speaker 1>Obviously they fel the creer and they're not the only
<v Speaker 1>game that did this. I think there was an I
<v Speaker 1>think was it Assassin's Screen Shadows. Something else did move
<v Speaker 1>from later in the month to earlier in the month.
<v Speaker 1>So other games are already doing this because they're they're
<v Speaker 1>worried about February, even bigger games than this.
<v Speaker 3>I think that was like a dragon.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe we may like a dragon. That sounds right. It
<v Speaker 1>was it was like a dragon. Thank you? All right,
<v Speaker 1>let's get to the next story here. EVERCAID manufacturer announces
<v Speaker 1>partnership with S n K. This is from Chris Cully
<v Speaker 1>and at VGC Evricade manufacturer Blaze Entertainment has announced a
<v Speaker 1>new partnership with the S and K Corporation. The deal
<v Speaker 1>will see Blaze releasing officially licensed products from the history
<v Speaker 1>of the Neo Geo video gaming system in twenty twenty
<v Speaker 1>five and twenty twenty six. Although Blaze's announcement doesn't directly
<v Speaker 1>specify that this means Neo Geo games will arrive on
<v Speaker 1>Evercade products, it did release a short teaser video showing
<v Speaker 1>that showing the Neo Geo startup sequence with an Evercade
<v Speaker 1>logo included. The Evercade line of products consists of handhelds, consoles,
<v Speaker 1>and arcade cabinets which specialize in playing retro games. Mike
<v Speaker 1>and Tam just got those countertop arcade ones from Evercade.
<v Speaker 1>Mike got the Mega Man one, Tam got the street
<v Speaker 1>Fighter one. They both seem pretty happy with it. I
<v Speaker 1>think these things are cool, and god, I man, I
<v Speaker 1>like the Neo Geo. I think Neo Geo games are
<v Speaker 1>real cool. So this is this is neat to me,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm like, I'm glad that the space of bespoke,
<v Speaker 1>you know, a hardware, you know, boutique hardware can continue
<v Speaker 1>to exist and do new things. When it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>did everyone get the nas Many and that's all they're
<v Speaker 1>gonna do? It's like, no, no, there's a market for
<v Speaker 1>all this stuff way deeper than that, including an Evercade
<v Speaker 1>machine with Neogo stuff on it.
<v Speaker 2>I grab you know the market that these Evercade machines
<v Speaker 2>really appeal to. M hmm, people building sets for oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>for podcasts, for shows.
<v Speaker 1>They're very handsome.
<v Speaker 3>These are great.
<v Speaker 2>Looking machines to take up a good chunk of space,
<v Speaker 2>the idol animations or like the attraction track mode to
<v Speaker 2>just have on in the background.
<v Speaker 3>Ye oh boy, yep.
<v Speaker 1>I uh And just seeing this, you know, the the
<v Speaker 1>the s and K, the Neo Geo boot up thing
<v Speaker 1>of the Max three thirty Mega Pro gear spec, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>makes me feel a certain way. So I would love
<v Speaker 1>to have this plane in the background of a video
<v Speaker 1>for sure. I think that'd be very cool.
<v Speaker 3>Nikki.
<v Speaker 2>You ask if you can have one, but do you
<v Speaker 2>actually want one?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? Man, the Neo Neogo is a thing that I
<v Speaker 1>never saw as a kid, only ever read about. And
<v Speaker 1>then when you read about it, you're like, oh, this
<v Speaker 1>is why I've never seen one. They're you know, eight
<v Speaker 1>hundred dollars in all the games are super expensive. It
<v Speaker 1>was just it was this mythical thing and eventually, you know,
<v Speaker 1>you move past to the get into three D games,
<v Speaker 1>and then you find out they're still making like Neo
<v Speaker 1>Geo and and Arcade S and K Neo Geo games
<v Speaker 1>that are still based on that same technology. Like years later.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, oh, man, okay, there's just this whole other
<v Speaker 1>world that S and K lives in. Uh and they're
<v Speaker 1>not going to upgrade their their specs all that much.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, it was. It was a weird thing. I
<v Speaker 1>wish I would have had one at the time, But
<v Speaker 1>now I'm making up for it. I'll just go buy
<v Speaker 1>some retro stuff and put it on emulators, all right,
<v Speaker 1>folm Stars next season will be it's last. This is
<v Speaker 1>some Square nick or I'm sorry. Square Enix announce that
<v Speaker 1>this is where Chris Scully and at VGC again. The
<v Speaker 1>next season of score inix is free to play game
<v Speaker 1>Phone Stars will be its last, and a message posted
<v Speaker 1>on its official website scuorey innox is confirmed that the
<v Speaker 1>party goes on. Season that's the proper noun, Party goes On,
<v Speaker 1>which starts on December thirteenth and last until January seventeenth,
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five, will be the final new season of content.
<v Speaker 1>The game will continue to run, however, with Scoring NX,
<v Speaker 1>making the previous seasons available again for players to work
<v Speaker 1>through if they miss them before. In this concluding update,
<v Speaker 1>expansions will be introduced to enhance gameplay, such as the
<v Speaker 1>ability to customize shots of each character, and new enhancement
<v Speaker 1>elements such as prism gems, all aimed at ensuring players
<v Speaker 1>can continue to enjoy the game for the foreseeable future.
<v Speaker 1>So not going offline, but kind of maybe doing the
<v Speaker 1>animal crossing thing where it's like, we're just gonna run
<v Speaker 1>through these seasons going forward in rotation, over and over
<v Speaker 1>to kind of keep things feeling fresh for people who
<v Speaker 1>kind of just show up. I still never played Film Stars, cruh.
<v Speaker 1>I know. I'm so sorry chant to do this to you, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I will ever played this At Summer Game Fest.
<v Speaker 3>I enjoyed. Yeah, I had with it.
<v Speaker 2>I think it's interesting, grub how this kind of never
<v Speaker 2>found it's it's footing in one of building a popular audience.
<v Speaker 2>Because Platoon freakishly popular, right.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, massive but massively popular.
<v Speaker 2>It is locked down to the switch Film Stars. You're
<v Speaker 2>on PC, you're on the PlayStation, you have a greater reach.
<v Speaker 1>Right.
<v Speaker 2>I'm also surprised that this never wound up striking a
<v Speaker 2>chord with the people that became very become very obsessive
<v Speaker 2>with the with any type of video game character that is, uh,
<v Speaker 2>maybe be perceived as attractive and it's a bummer, But
<v Speaker 2>at the same time, it just never felt like Square
<v Speaker 2>was one hundred percent getting behind it. Now I'm gonna
<v Speaker 2>miss well. I guess it's still gonna be around, so
<v Speaker 2>I can still go to Bath Vegas. But maybe we should.
<v Speaker 2>We should get the gang together and foam up.
<v Speaker 1>I would foam up. I would I would definitely uh
<v Speaker 1>rock a foam party with y'all in Foam Stars. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna keep operating, maybe, but maybe we could play
<v Speaker 1>during this this final new season. The party goes on.
<v Speaker 1>Apparently the party does not go on, though apparently it's
<v Speaker 1>gonna end. Uh Yeah, I I never had anything against
<v Speaker 1>film stars. It's just one of those ones where it's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I don't I don't have time for that at the
<v Speaker 1>time it came out. Maybe we'll circle back around if
<v Speaker 1>it blows up. And it didn't quite blow up, But
<v Speaker 1>it is definitely interesting that it has lasted for infinitely
<v Speaker 1>longer than Concord right. It's like, man, it's hard to
<v Speaker 1>place these bets, you know, not this Maybe that they
<v Speaker 1>they had equal or a similar amount of engagement. I
<v Speaker 1>bet this had more engagement than Concord. It must have.
<v Speaker 1>But you know, this is still one that they kept
<v Speaker 1>going and it will it will have a history when
<v Speaker 1>we look back. Like, yeah, film Stars came out. It
<v Speaker 1>was a multiplayer game. People played it online for a
<v Speaker 1>while and then and then it went away. Sure, and
<v Speaker 1>again it's not going away yet, so we'll see.
<v Speaker 3>H correction, never came out on PC.
<v Speaker 1>Never came out on PC. Really, Yeah, maybe that's one
<v Speaker 1>of the reasons I didn't play it. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Also, apparently there are near skins and foam stars.
<v Speaker 1>There's near skins in everything, all right, there's near skins.
<v Speaker 1>There was near skins, near skins in my cheerios this morning.
<v Speaker 1>They put they put that stuff in everything. It's crazy.
<v Speaker 2>Yoko Taro, get out of here, Yo Kataro, do your thing.
<v Speaker 1>Man, you can get paid, and I have no problem
<v Speaker 1>with that. All right, We're moving on to this next story.
<v Speaker 1>For Raxis hadn't expected Civilization six's success on Switch. This
<v Speaker 1>is from Milana Haggs at Nintendo Life Civilization seven is
<v Speaker 1>just a few months away from launch. We still have
<v Speaker 1>to pinch ourselves when saying that. And as you might expect,
<v Speaker 1>the success of Civilation six on on Switch has influenced
<v Speaker 1>a few of the design decisions for that game. What
<v Speaker 1>you might not expect, how however, is that Forraxis didn't
<v Speaker 1>expect just how successful the game would be on the
<v Speaker 1>hybrid console. Speaking to Christopher dring Over at Games Industry
<v Speaker 1>Dot Biz Shout Out to Drink, executive producer Dennis Shirk
<v Speaker 1>noticed that PC players, their core player base, were double dipping.
<v Speaker 1>We found that a lot of our PC players were
<v Speaker 1>getting the game on switch because they could take their
<v Speaker 1>game with them. One of the chief concerns with the
<v Speaker 1>switch version was the handheld aspect. We were like, are
<v Speaker 1>people going to play it for that long on a handheld?
<v Speaker 1>And the answer was yes, yes they will. Because of
<v Speaker 1>the port's success, Forraxis has implemented a save transfer system
<v Speaker 1>for SIEV seven, meaning that players who picked the game
<v Speaker 1>up on Switch in another console can easily take their
<v Speaker 1>campaign anywhere with them. Praxis is working with Behavior Interactive,
<v Speaker 1>who has worked on various Disney games over the year
<v Speaker 1>as years as well as the interactive adventure Silent Hill Ascension,
<v Speaker 1>and most famously Dead by Daylight. To bring Civilization seven
<v Speaker 1>to the Switch, and because of the simultaneous launch, the
<v Speaker 1>team has had to change its approach development for the
<v Speaker 1>first time. For the first time, every single asset, we've
<v Speaker 1>been creating a lodds level of detail by the shovelfull,
<v Speaker 1>because we need multiple levels of Lodds for something like
<v Speaker 1>that to work on Switch. Yeah, my understanding is CIV
<v Speaker 1>six was a really huge hit on the Switch, to
<v Speaker 1>the point where it's one of those games that Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>often always features on the E Shop, especially if there's
<v Speaker 1>a sale for it, because I think once that thing
<v Speaker 1>gets down to like fifteen dollars, people just swarm to
<v Speaker 1>it on the Switch. And I actually I did get
<v Speaker 1>it on the Switch and played I think one playthrough,
<v Speaker 1>and it worked really well. It's not a bad port.
<v Speaker 1>It turns out, you know, I was a you know,
<v Speaker 1>part of it was like, I think they learned a
<v Speaker 1>lot from Civilization Revolution that I played a ton of
<v Speaker 1>on Xbox three sixty and then on the DS, and
<v Speaker 1>I love that, and it's like, oh yeah, a lot.
<v Speaker 1>This game can clearly just work on console and it
<v Speaker 1>has even on the switch, and so that has led
<v Speaker 1>them to, Hey, this game which seven coming out, or
<v Speaker 1>Civilization seven is coming out and it's going to launch
<v Speaker 1>on the Switch at the same time as PC, which
<v Speaker 1>is very strange to me.
<v Speaker 2>Still, it turns out grub a lot of people like
<v Speaker 2>playing games on the switch. Specifically, it's funny that you
<v Speaker 2>highlighted people playing on PC will transfer their save to
<v Speaker 2>the switch.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, in my head, maybe that's.
<v Speaker 2>Just because of the bubble we live in, like well,
<v Speaker 2>Steam Deck dog, but I get you know, not everyone
<v Speaker 2>has a Steam deck yep.
<v Speaker 1>Man Dring is leaving Games Interstry jp IS announced that
<v Speaker 1>this like just a little bit ago, ten minutes ago,
<v Speaker 1>a small piece of news. I'm leaving Games Industry dep
<v Speaker 1>Is at the end of the month. It's been quite
<v Speaker 1>the eight year journey. I love the industry, I love
<v Speaker 1>business media, and I will be back in twenty twenty five,
<v Speaker 1>although what that looks like is to be worked out.
<v Speaker 1>I guess James Bachelor is also leaving Games Industry dep Is.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe they're gonna start their own thing. I hope they do.
<v Speaker 1>Love Dring, love James Bachelor, Very good boys. Uh. Dring
<v Speaker 1>was in line for the Nintendo Pop up shop at
<v Speaker 1>packs and I was like, man, I would love to
<v Speaker 1>get a sweater. He's like, I'll just get it for
<v Speaker 1>you and paypeback later. And he got the sweater and
<v Speaker 1>it's nice, very nice mine. That's out the drink, very nice,
<v Speaker 1>gent good boys. All right. The final thing here, I
<v Speaker 1>thought this was fun VGC who did this kind of
<v Speaker 1>took all the Game Awards nominees and was like, here's
<v Speaker 1>who would win each category if Metacritic determined who would win.
<v Speaker 1>And I kind of want to see how we feel
<v Speaker 1>about it. So this comes from Chris Sculling at VGC. He's,
<v Speaker 1>you know, let's just we'll hop into it. Here the
<v Speaker 1>Game Awards twenty twenty four winners, if they were decided
<v Speaker 1>by Metacritic. Let's I'll work, but we'll work our way up.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see. Best Adaptation would be Arcane, which is a
<v Speaker 1>TV show. Yeah right, probably I know that second season
<v Speaker 1>people aren't a huge fan of it, but I bet
<v Speaker 1>it still has a good chance of winning Best Art
<v Speaker 1>Direction Astrobot. Interesting, Yeah, that's nothing. That's like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>the highest Metacritic of any game this year. I think, actually,
<v Speaker 1>so if it's nominated in a category it would automatically
<v Speaker 1>win this way. I think this is one where it's like,
<v Speaker 1>I bet it doesn't win art direction. Nah, all right,
<v Speaker 1>that's probably that's probably metaphor or something like that.
<v Speaker 2>I'd have to pull up the other nineties to confer.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, best narrative would be metaphor Refontasio. Okay, I'll
<v Speaker 1>take that, I think so, I think there's a strong
<v Speaker 1>chance for that Best VR as Guards raft to Best
<v Speaker 1>Mobile Game, Billatro.
<v Speaker 2>I was gonna say that Batman Arkham game grub is
<v Speaker 2>very good.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I checked it out.
<v Speaker 1>It's got to be nominated, so I and yes, uh,
<v Speaker 1>I think the while as Guards a rat two did
<v Speaker 1>get got a few tens ig and gave it a ten.
<v Speaker 1>I bet Batman recency bias and it being probably just
<v Speaker 1>as good as Asguard's Wrath to all things considered, that
<v Speaker 1>probably puts it over the top. Uh yeah, Bilatro for
<v Speaker 1>Best Mobile Game, I think that's a lock for the
<v Speaker 1>people kinds of people who are voting. I think it's
<v Speaker 1>a lock, by the way, if we vote, if they're
<v Speaker 1>a final vote, I don't remember the best Sports you know,
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry. Best Multiplayer Game Tech and eight. Yeah, that
<v Speaker 1>sounds right. Best Sports slash Racing Game w w E
<v Speaker 1>two K twenty four.
<v Speaker 2>I think one of those football games might take take
<v Speaker 2>over that category.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah maybe, Yeah, college football probably wins that one. Best
<v Speaker 1>SIM slash strategy Game Unicorn Overlord.
<v Speaker 2>Again, I forget what else is in that category, but sure, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think there's there's a possibility. Yes, Best Family Game Astrobot,
<v Speaker 1>I think that. I think that's possible. Yeah, because I
<v Speaker 1>think the other like the Nintendo is the Nintendo category,
<v Speaker 1>and I think the Nintendo games nominated are week maybe
<v Speaker 1>like with Super Mario Party Jamboree nominated, maybe maybe that
<v Speaker 1>has a chance. But I bet astrobuckets that Best Fighting
<v Speaker 1>Game Tech and eight, I mean yeah, yep. Best RPG
<v Speaker 1>elden Ring Shadow of the Tree.
<v Speaker 2>No, I have no qualms with DLC being nominated, but
<v Speaker 2>not in this category.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I think it me. You know, I don't
<v Speaker 1>think it's gonna win this category. No, I'm good. You know.
<v Speaker 1>In elan Ring, you know, definitely an RPG, you got
<v Speaker 1>a character sheet and all that stuff, but it's also yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's also an action adventure, as a vin Verrez points
<v Speaker 1>out in chats, like there's definitely some a fudginess there,
<v Speaker 1>but I mean, I think there's so many other RPGs
<v Speaker 1>that actually will just like when people say, hey, what's
<v Speaker 1>the best rpg, eld Ering's not coming up on that
<v Speaker 1>list this year, very like in the first couple of answers,
<v Speaker 1>the first three or four answers.
<v Speaker 2>So it is like the last thing I'm thinking of
<v Speaker 2>in terms of RPGs for this year, especially.
<v Speaker 1>Yep Man Shadow the retrieved very good though best action
<v Speaker 1>slash adventure game Astrobot.
<v Speaker 2>I feel like you, Dan and Minatti are completely fine
<v Speaker 2>with this projected outcome.
<v Speaker 1>Crub I feel good about that. Yes, Best Action game,
<v Speaker 1>Call of Duty Black Ops six. I think there's a
<v Speaker 1>chance it wins that. Yeah, it could could. Yeah again,
<v Speaker 1>I think I think it seems to be doing very
<v Speaker 1>well with the kinds of people who vote in this
<v Speaker 1>in this sort of thing. Best Debut Indie game Blatro,
<v Speaker 1>that's a lot of hands down, Yes, Best Independent Game
<v Speaker 1>UFO fifty. Sure. I don't think Blatro must not be
<v Speaker 1>nominated there because I think it's got a yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>higher Metacritic than that. And then Game of the Year Astrobot,
<v Speaker 1>I I think so. I think it's probably the favorite,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't think it's a lock. I I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>I'm I think Patro is gonna win Game of the Year.
<v Speaker 1>I think so yo.
<v Speaker 3>I am so ready for it, Grub, so ready for it.
<v Speaker 1>Because I think a lot of these other big games
<v Speaker 1>might cannibalize it a little bit, and there's gonna be
<v Speaker 1>a Blatro block that will show up for it real hard.
<v Speaker 1>But we'll see.
<v Speaker 2>I I one think so. And it's just so wild
<v Speaker 2>to me, Grub that Bolotro has taken over the world
<v Speaker 2>after playing the demo of it earlier this year.
<v Speaker 1>Yea, I remember you. I remember you playing the demo and
<v Speaker 1>bringing it up on the BombCast. I'm like, oh, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna go get this right now, and then immediately been like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>this is gonna take over everything.
<v Speaker 2>If if Blatro wins, I hope that Keeley just drops
<v Speaker 2>a bunch of cards from the sky, just start.
<v Speaker 1>Pelting people with full decks of cards. Yeah, that'd be great.
<v Speaker 1>Game Awards is next week, you know. I it's half
<v Speaker 1>about the winners, not even that much about the winners.
<v Speaker 1>It'll be about new games. There'll be a lot of
<v Speaker 1>fun stuff to talk about. We'll do that on our
<v Speaker 1>shows later we'll have our pre show that we're helping
<v Speaker 1>out game spot with I Love GB at night, you know,
<v Speaker 1>the day before that five pm Pacific time. Tune in
<v Speaker 1>for all that stuff. But yeah, that time of year.
<v Speaker 1>Look out for our game of the Year stuff later
<v Speaker 1>this month. All right, that does it for the headlines.
<v Speaker 1>Let's get over to the poll question, which I have
<v Speaker 1>right here, and let me refresh this and then vote myself.
<v Speaker 1>Did you play ex Defiant?
<v Speaker 3>I did?
<v Speaker 1>I did play Extifiant, and I am one of sixteen
<v Speaker 1>percent of respondents. Eighty four percent said no, they did
<v Speaker 1>not try X Defiant. Did you ever get around to try?
<v Speaker 1>In xt to five chan, no, Like that gets the
<v Speaker 1>biggest thing with this game. It's it was such an
<v Speaker 1>easy one to be like, that's just a you be
<v Speaker 1>so skalled duty. I don't need to play that, and
<v Speaker 1>it's just so easy to skip. And if you people
<v Speaker 1>you can't even get people to try your game when
<v Speaker 1>it's free, that's such an uphill battle, and I think
<v Speaker 1>that's that's kind of what X Defiant faced from the beginning. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you're solid, solid snake us says Ubisoft, refusing to put
<v Speaker 1>it on Steam. Also did not help. Yeah, that's very true.
<v Speaker 1>They've they've explicitly stated they are reversing that a position
<v Speaker 1>once again. And you know, these companies go back and forth,
<v Speaker 1>but most recently after Star Wars, they're like, we all
<v Speaker 1>our games coming down on Steam again. Don't worry. We're sorry.
<v Speaker 2>We're sorry, We're sorry, We're sorry.
<v Speaker 1>So maybe this game would have had a much different
<v Speaker 1>chance had it launched on there. I think it would
<v Speaker 1>have been much better off had they launched it on
<v Speaker 1>Steam from the get go.
<v Speaker 2>What does the Ubisoft have to gain to keeping people
<v Speaker 2>on their launcher.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know, they just get a better cut, right.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's that's all. And it's and while I
<v Speaker 1>appreciate that there's a value to being able to build
<v Speaker 1>an audience that wants to buy games on your platform,
<v Speaker 1>and it's probably worth about thirty percent, it's probably worth
<v Speaker 1>that much. I know a lot of developers who used
<v Speaker 1>to sell games before Steam on PC and they still
<v Speaker 1>sell games now, but they do it on Steam and
<v Speaker 1>they're like, the amount of work we had to do
<v Speaker 1>to like sell a game to people was insane. All
<v Speaker 1>that stuff, the customer support, all these different things that
<v Speaker 1>Steam just takes care of for you is easily worth
<v Speaker 1>that amount of money. It's easily worth that it was.
<v Speaker 1>The profit margins are much better. But you know a
<v Speaker 1>lot of people don't look at it that way, and
<v Speaker 1>huge corporations are not. They're like, no, that's thirty percent.
<v Speaker 1>We could we sell it ourselves. We'll get the whole thing.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, all right, we got a new new Poole
<v Speaker 1>question coming at you here in a second, while we
<v Speaker 1>get that prepped and ready, Janichoa, let's go over everything
<v Speaker 1>one more time. What we got going on next week, all.
<v Speaker 2>That stuff for the rest of this week Grub. Later
<v Speaker 2>today we will have an episode of the Voicemail Dump Truck.
<v Speaker 2>Tomorrow another episode of Game Mess Mornings and Fingy's Crossed.
<v Speaker 2>We will have another episode of Blake Club where Lucy
<v Speaker 2>will don the Kong suit. Next week is gonna be
<v Speaker 2>a little funky folks Grub.
<v Speaker 3>Game Mess on.
<v Speaker 1>Monday, Game Mess on Monday Am. I definitely asked if
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to do a game Mess from the studio
<v Speaker 1>later in the week, and I'm like, kind of, but
<v Speaker 1>I think that'd be too insane, so probably not everybody.
<v Speaker 1>It would be fun, and there's days where like we
<v Speaker 1>can easily could do it, especially like Friday, like there
<v Speaker 1>was a late start with other stuff that day. So
<v Speaker 1>maybe we'll do it. Maybe we'll commit to a Monday
<v Speaker 1>and a Friday and in between that who knows. But
<v Speaker 1>Friday we'll have to get some stuff set up anyhow,
<v Speaker 1>So maybe we'll just do that as a test run
<v Speaker 1>and uh do it live. I don't know, we'll see, ye,
<v Speaker 1>no problem.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna try and pre record a bomb cast so
<v Speaker 2>you don't miss it on Tuesday. But then Wednesday, grub
<v Speaker 2>Giant Bomb at night, five pm Pacific Standard time. We
<v Speaker 2>have brought the couch down yet again. We have filled
<v Speaker 2>it up a bunch of fun segments lined up for y'all.
<v Speaker 2>Shenanigan's abound, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yep.
<v Speaker 3>I I just hope y'all will remember me.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, I hope you will remember me too. We you know,
<v Speaker 1>I think that this year's gone sideways for video games
<v Speaker 1>in a lot of way. And I think I think
<v Speaker 1>when we go into GB at night, I think there's
<v Speaker 1>some things we can do to satiate the gods that
<v Speaker 1>have undone us in a lot of ways. So tune in, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and see, so we were gonna we're gonna make it
<v Speaker 1>happen for y'all.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the industry is just like erupting all over the place, Grub,
<v Speaker 2>and I feel like we just need to calm calm
<v Speaker 2>it down and just like some and just gather together
<v Speaker 2>and do that.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just something blood red and just sacrifice it and
<v Speaker 1>uh get these demons off our back. So tune in
<v Speaker 1>for GB at night, everybody.
<v Speaker 2>So then the following day, Grub, we will uh be
<v Speaker 2>a part of the Game Spot pre show, the countdown
<v Speaker 2>to the Game Awards. A lot of fun segments there
<v Speaker 2>as well, planned out sandwiches maybe perhaps trivia, perhaps, interviews
<v Speaker 2>perhaps and.
<v Speaker 1>Then a talk over well yeah from some from some
<v Speaker 1>look from locations unknown. Well it'll be a good time though.
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking forward to that. All right, New Pool question,
<v Speaker 1>do you own some kind of home arcade machine, an
<v Speaker 1>arcade one up, evercade, et cetera, or you know a
<v Speaker 1>shoot arcade cabinet? Yes or no? Vote on that. We'll
<v Speaker 1>get the results on Game Es Mornings, care on Giant
<v Speaker 1>Bomb tomorrow. All right, anything else jan that we should
<v Speaker 1>get to before we wrap up.
<v Speaker 3>I believe that is it, folks.
<v Speaker 2>It's gonna be a hectic week next week, but please
<v Speaker 2>stay stick with us.
<v Speaker 3>It'll be fun none the less.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, Well, have a good time, all right, everybody, Thanks
<v Speaker 1>for tuning in, Thank you for listening and watching Jane o'how,
<v Speaker 1>Thank you so much for hanging out with me today
<v Speaker 1>and talk about video games.
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate that it's the only way to start a Thursday.
<v Speaker 1>You're the best audience in gaming. Everybody. Until next time,
<v Speaker 1>have a good one, take care of yourself, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>Jeff Grell. Blah blah blah.