Remedy CEO Steps Down Following FBC: Firebreak’s “Weak Sales”

<v Speaker 1>Hey, everybody, welcome to Games Mornings with Me Jeff Grubb,
<v Speaker 1>your host from giant bomb dot com. Thank you for
<v Speaker 1>tuning in. In this episode, we're gonna be talking about
<v Speaker 1>surprise new content for one of the switches best games,
<v Speaker 1>and the weird return of a GTA knockoff. It's gonna
<v Speaker 1>be a good one because we have Sean Turbo Sean
<v Speaker 1>McDowell on the show.
<v Speaker 2>Sean, how are you doing a little tired?
<v Speaker 3>I've been a little busy, Jeff.
<v Speaker 2>You've got a lot going on.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, we got a lot going on playing for
<v Speaker 3>the Bombathon next week Monday at five pm Eastern, and
<v Speaker 3>we're getting a whole bunch of things set up. Jan's
<v Speaker 3>already out doing stuff. I'm filling in for Jan. Jan
<v Speaker 3>will never say this. Being Jan on your own sucks.
<v Speaker 3>That's why I'm here. But now I don't have a Jan,
<v Speaker 3>So now I'm very busy and very tired. But they'll
<v Speaker 3>find time to play some games. Jeff playing some more
<v Speaker 3>Pokemon Legends Aza last night and that game continues to
<v Speaker 3>be very fun, hopefully tonight, and put some more time
<v Speaker 3>in Ninja Guy in four because that is awesome, very fun.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, I want to spend some time with that,
<v Speaker 1>playing some other games that'll be out here soon that
<v Speaker 1>we could talk about. But then, yeah, Pokemon is really solid.
<v Speaker 1>Just they really found the fun there.
<v Speaker 3>We had a little tech hiccup during the BombCast, yes right,
<v Speaker 3>I feel like you didn't get much of a chance
<v Speaker 3>to talk about. How are you find NZA?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's it's a really well done sort of realization
<v Speaker 1>of what Pokemon could be other than just the core games.
<v Speaker 1>And I think that the creature design, you know, has
<v Speaker 1>always been the standout, and that's still front and center here.
<v Speaker 1>So it's it's fun to go capture those cute critters.
<v Speaker 1>And then I think that the real time combat with
<v Speaker 1>the with the meters and stuff, the cool downs, it
<v Speaker 1>just fits really well with that stuff makes it feel
<v Speaker 1>very dynamic and engaging. So and you know, it's shortcomings,
<v Speaker 1>it's visual shortcomings, those sacrifices I'm okay with.
<v Speaker 2>There's some stuff.
<v Speaker 1>Man, they can't even just do a little ambient oclusion
<v Speaker 1>on just some of these models, so it looks like
<v Speaker 1>they're standing on stuff.
<v Speaker 3>But what's a wild Yeah, it is the kind of
<v Speaker 3>thing where like you kind of have to know what
<v Speaker 3>to look for a little bit and when people are
<v Speaker 3>mentioning stuff like that yesterday, I'm like, I'm not saying
<v Speaker 3>you're wrong, but man, I didn't notice this. And then
<v Speaker 3>last time playing, I'm like, oh, I see, yeah, like
<v Speaker 3>the interstitial buildings between the main objectives are prey flat,
<v Speaker 3>and it's like I think about. I think it was oh,
<v Speaker 3>oh we had a tiny f I think yeah, okay, yep,
<v Speaker 3>probably restream me. I'm sorry about that. I think about
<v Speaker 3>I think it was May's Sonic Unleashed where they talked about,
<v Speaker 3>you know, we put a lot of time and effort
<v Speaker 3>into making these levels and that was probably a waste
<v Speaker 3>of time because people just zoom past because of Sonic Game,
<v Speaker 3>So you had to refocus on things that people would
<v Speaker 3>care about. And that's why Generations and then eventually Frontiers
<v Speaker 3>looked a lot different because it's stuff. If you're just
<v Speaker 3>going to zoom past. I feel like that's if you're
<v Speaker 3>going to be a studio coming off of horrible, horrible
<v Speaker 3>mismanagement and like trying to get your feet on the ground.
<v Speaker 3>I think they may a lot of smart development decisions
<v Speaker 3>with ZA and that's why it's looking It could look better,
<v Speaker 3>but hey, at least it's no scarlet and violet, and
<v Speaker 3>so yeah, it's I think it's looking and running good,
<v Speaker 3>especially on switch to, and I'm having a blast playing
<v Speaker 3>it because that that combat system, like you said, fixes
<v Speaker 3>a lot of problems that the turn based system does have.
<v Speaker 3>There's a room for the turn based system, but I'm
<v Speaker 3>I'm really happy that like like you said, like there's
<v Speaker 3>a reason to use a leer, like quick attack actually
<v Speaker 3>has more utility. It's it's cool. Yeah, yep, it's very cool.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think Pokemon will be fine if it doesn't get
<v Speaker 1>in its own way a lot of times, and that's
<v Speaker 1>what some of the recent games have been doing. And
<v Speaker 1>it's like, yeah, none of this stuff is on the
<v Speaker 1>level with a lot of other games in terms of visuals.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, and that's worth calling.
<v Speaker 1>Astell, but it's just if it's not getting in its
<v Speaker 1>own way, I'm gonna be able to get to the fun.
<v Speaker 2>And that's that's what matters to these games.
<v Speaker 1>The most part for me. All Right, let's explain ourselves.
<v Speaker 1>We're Giant Bomb Video Game Dufices. We're in dependent games media.
<v Speaker 1>We are out here because we have you at our backs.
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<v Speaker 1>way towards ensuring we can continue to do really cool
<v Speaker 1>stuff like that upcoming Bombitan, like we're planning to get
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<v Speaker 2>excuse me.
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<v Speaker 1>There's extra voicemails each week for voicemail dump truck things
<v Speaker 1>along those lines. As far as this show goes, most weekdays,
<v Speaker 1>I Jeff Grubb, will help piece your gaming life back together.
<v Speaker 1>That includes breaking news and maybe even some of our
<v Speaker 1>own original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the
<v Speaker 1>input of a bona fide expert who will make me
<v Speaker 1>look smart. If you are watching live on twitch welcome,
<v Speaker 1>You can always listen to the show later on podcast
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<v Speaker 1>catch the show later with chapters and timestamps on YouTube.
<v Speaker 1>Hello YouTube all right, we have a lot to get into,
<v Speaker 1>so let's start the morning mess with Appascatelo. He's got
<v Speaker 1>a new SIRCANA report for September twenty twenty five. Feels
<v Speaker 1>like we just did this because the last one was
<v Speaker 1>like a little bit of a longer reporting period, so
<v Speaker 1>it was actually just earlier this month. But this one's
<v Speaker 1>for September this time, and again, as always, these are
<v Speaker 1>US numbers that include some digital and almost all physical sales.
<v Speaker 2>Let's start here.
<v Speaker 1>Borderlands four led several hit new releases, helping deliver ten
<v Speaker 1>percent growth. That's the headline from matt US Video Game
<v Speaker 1>Markets September Spending Trends September twenty twenty five projected US
<v Speaker 1>total spending on video game hardware, content, and accessories grew
<v Speaker 1>ten percent versus a year ago to four point eight
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars. Several hit new releases, Nintendo switched to hardware,
<v Speaker 1>and non mobile subscriptions fueled the game US video game
<v Speaker 1>market for the last thirteen months. September twenty twenty five
<v Speaker 1>was the fifth consecutive month of year on year spending
<v Speaker 1>growth for the US video game market. I think you
<v Speaker 1>know what was worth pointing out Sean last year was
<v Speaker 1>kind of down on a year that was already down previously,
<v Speaker 1>Like it was like several years in a row of
<v Speaker 1>seeing that stuff, and some of the months were like, like.
<v Speaker 2>Way down last year.
<v Speaker 1>But it does feel like a small, steady, sustainable march
<v Speaker 1>back toward some kind of growth here. Or maybe it's
<v Speaker 1>just like things cost more and it's the same number
<v Speaker 1>of people buying things.
<v Speaker 2>Could that also be what's happening here?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think so. I think the slow march back
<v Speaker 3>to normalcy I is paying the neta hitting the nail
<v Speaker 3>on the head because the pandemic, you know, gigantic boost
<v Speaker 3>in hardware sales and everything. That's why we add so
<v Speaker 3>maybe these issues with studios overstaffing and everything like that,
<v Speaker 3>and not realizing, oh, this is not how things are
<v Speaker 3>always gonna be. Huh. We're kind of we're gonna mostly
<v Speaker 3>stamp out this virus that's keeping our one side playing
<v Speaker 3>video games, and we are going to get don't look
<v Speaker 3>outside too much, but to a relative normalcy relative and
<v Speaker 3>that's I think what we're seeing here is that slow
<v Speaker 3>slide back. But as long as it is a slower
<v Speaker 3>one back to sustainability, that would be okay. It is
<v Speaker 3>a different story on that development side of things, but
<v Speaker 3>with the hardware, it seems like PlayStation is still doing great.
<v Speaker 3>Nintendo seems to be doing really well with the switch
<v Speaker 3>to Xbox. Whole different story because they're trying to play
<v Speaker 3>a different field, but it seems like in general people
<v Speaker 3>are okay in that field.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it seems like as far as like how these
<v Speaker 1>games are selling. There are a ton of new games
<v Speaker 1>on the top twenty here, and this is the top
<v Speaker 1>twenty best selling games physical and full game digital from
<v Speaker 1>the Nintendo E Shop, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, And
<v Speaker 1>it does include a digital in a lot of cases,
<v Speaker 1>but in some cases it does not. We'll try to
<v Speaker 1>call that out. But Borderlands four was number one. That
<v Speaker 1>was its first month on the chart, and this is
<v Speaker 1>one that like always felt like it would be kind
<v Speaker 1>of quietly huge if it hit with the right.
<v Speaker 2>Audience, and I think it did exactly that well.
<v Speaker 1>Also, I think maybe missing with our audience harder than
<v Speaker 1>a Borderlands has ever even missed before. Maybe maybe that's
<v Speaker 1>why it just felt like that really came and went.
<v Speaker 1>But I think that the average person out there probably
<v Speaker 1>is still like, oh yeah, Borderlands four, I love Borderlands.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I mean, I've weirdly only ever heard good things
<v Speaker 3>about Borderlands from a casual audience, like people who I
<v Speaker 3>talk to online, you know, like the Giant Bomb community
<v Speaker 3>and like you and Mike and everyone, all of our colleagues.
<v Speaker 3>I never hear people talk about border Lance. But then
<v Speaker 3>like my IRL friends who are more casual about things,
<v Speaker 3>do talk about how much they still love Borderlands two,
<v Speaker 3>and we'll like revisit it on their xboxes and stuff.
<v Speaker 3>So I'd imagine that's why Borderlands four would pop off,
<v Speaker 3>is because that the when we analyze these things, we
<v Speaker 3>always need remember that the quiet market is often the biggest.
<v Speaker 3>As we see with things like mobile you know, you
<v Speaker 3>don't necessarily hear people chattering about say Pokemon Go, but
<v Speaker 3>you know continues to be one of the biggest things
<v Speaker 3>in the world. Don't necessarily hear people talking about what's
<v Speaker 3>new in Minecraft or whatever. They're just putting out videos
<v Speaker 3>that do insanely well, and then that audience eats it
<v Speaker 3>up and keeps playing the games and stuff. I think
<v Speaker 3>it all feeds into Yeah, well we're seeing with Borderlands
<v Speaker 3>for topping the chart here.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so it says here from map Borderlands four was
<v Speaker 1>the best selling premium video game of September, debuting as
<v Speaker 1>the number three best selling game of twenty twenty five
<v Speaker 1>year to date. It was September's bestseller on both Xbox
<v Speaker 1>and aggregated PC storefront charts. Let's see here, Borderlands four
<v Speaker 1>generated the highest launch month dollar sales of any title
<v Speaker 1>in franchise history, nearly thirty percent higher than the previous
<v Speaker 1>best Borderlands three. Borderlands four was the first Borderlands title
<v Speaker 1>to launch as the best selling game of its release month.
<v Speaker 2>So it's like, yeah, this, you know.
<v Speaker 1>It's huge, it's this is a really good result. Thirty
<v Speaker 1>percent more than Borderlands three. So you know, I saw
<v Speaker 1>a ton of commercials for this game on TV that
<v Speaker 1>they really are going for that quiet audience that is
<v Speaker 1>not listening to anything that we're saying, not that we've
<v Speaker 1>even been saying that Borderlands four some we had a
<v Speaker 1>fun time playing that game.
<v Speaker 2>It was fine. It's just like it just came and went,
<v Speaker 2>that's all.
<v Speaker 3>And also doesn't help that in this audience, you know,
<v Speaker 3>some of the people being dinguses online about it have
<v Speaker 3>sort of poisoned perception of it, even if it may
<v Speaker 3>be a really good game. That also is hitting with
<v Speaker 3>a bigger audience.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like Randy Pitcher kind of becomes the story because
<v Speaker 1>that's a name that people recognize, and his behavior was
<v Speaker 1>certainly new worthy, unquestionable, and that's kind of that was
<v Speaker 1>a distraction for again our audience, and I'm sure they're
<v Speaker 1>actually in a lot of circles picture. It's probably better
<v Speaker 1>known than a lot of game developers. Even still, most
<v Speaker 1>people are showing up for the name Borderlands, and that
<v Speaker 1>clearly happened here. Let's see here more on the chart,
<v Speaker 1>NBA two K twenty six was back again at number two.
<v Speaker 2>It was on it was number one last month.
<v Speaker 1>But then we get EA Sports Football Club twenty six
<v Speaker 1>that was new number three. Gotta I think only had
<v Speaker 1>three ish fourish days on the chart and it ended
<v Speaker 1>up at number four. That is, I think it's a
<v Speaker 1>pretty good result for that game, especially compared to like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>it's only behind the massive soccer game, the you know,
<v Speaker 1>one of the perennial top five best sellers of the
<v Speaker 1>year in NBA two K, and then Borderlands four, which
<v Speaker 1>we were talking about, is the biggest Borderlands yet that's
<v Speaker 1>always kind of been pretty huge.
<v Speaker 2>What do you think about Ghost OTA's results here.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, any time that a game exclusive to one
<v Speaker 3>single platform charts decently well, that's a win because the
<v Speaker 3>target audience is so much smaller than something like a
<v Speaker 3>football club or like a Madden or any of these
<v Speaker 3>big games, you know, even Borland's four for that matter,
<v Speaker 3>anything that is multi platform going out to a ton
<v Speaker 3>of people, especially if it's not cross gen, because there
<v Speaker 3>are still plenty of people out there with the older
<v Speaker 3>systems or you know, like a pro Model or something
<v Speaker 3>like that. So the fact that you know, this PS
<v Speaker 3>five game did decently well is like, that's that's a
<v Speaker 3>good sign. That seems like, you know, in the future,
<v Speaker 3>maybe it is another one of those. It's kind of
<v Speaker 3>and I feel like the bar for Sony of like
<v Speaker 3>a success for them is one of those ten million
<v Speaker 3>sellers in the long run is kind of what it
<v Speaker 3>feels like they aim for with like Spider Man games
<v Speaker 3>and the various other ones like the Ghost games and stuff.
<v Speaker 3>So I don't know, as far as I can tell,
<v Speaker 3>that seems like a success, right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think so as well. And this was it
<v Speaker 1>came out October second. The chart went through October fourth,
<v Speaker 1>so second, third, fourth, three days. Yeah, I think that
<v Speaker 1>this is something that will be kind of in the
<v Speaker 1>same zone on next month's chart, and it seems like
<v Speaker 1>the game is probably doing just fine.
<v Speaker 2>A bunch more new games on here, though.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see here right behind that at number seven, Silent
<v Speaker 1>Hill f number eight, Sonic Racing, Cross Worlds, number nine,
<v Speaker 1>Final Fantasy Tactics, the Evilise Chronicles.
<v Speaker 2>Again, these are all new to the chart.
<v Speaker 1>Number twelve NHL to or you know, just NHL twenty six,
<v Speaker 1>not two K, which that series was still going. Number
<v Speaker 1>thirteen Digimond story Time Stranger, and number fourteen Super Mario
<v Speaker 1>Galaxy plus Super Mario Galaxy two. And that's just the
<v Speaker 1>physical versions of that game, which I expect to do
<v Speaker 1>significantly worse actually than the digital version of Super Mario
<v Speaker 1>Galaxy too, because I think a lot of people are
<v Speaker 1>just going to get that game since many people.
<v Speaker 2>Probably already played it in three D All Stars yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so uh.
<v Speaker 1>And then right behind Mario Galaxy, to kind of put
<v Speaker 1>into perspective, Minecraft is right there, and.
<v Speaker 3>That's usually Horizon like yeah, sock.
<v Speaker 1>Very familiar games, Donkey Young Bonanza number eighteen still yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Redegnant Redemption two is number twenty on this chart.
<v Speaker 3>I'm still in top twenty.
<v Speaker 2>Wow.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, it just Syat continued that it's always a
<v Speaker 1>little bit behind Grand Theft Auto, but it's not that
<v Speaker 1>far behind Grand Theft Auto in terms of just generating
<v Speaker 1>money every month. Silent Hill, if we've already heard good
<v Speaker 1>things from Konami on that one, right, that's like their
<v Speaker 1>fastest selling a Silent Hill game. Ever, so I think
<v Speaker 1>kind of comparing it to the other things around it
<v Speaker 1>is a little bit more difficult. It's like, no, we
<v Speaker 1>already know they're very happy with it. I'm sure they
<v Speaker 1>scoped out that game with its previous performance in mind,
<v Speaker 1>hoping for a breakout, and it really does seem like
<v Speaker 1>a breakout, although it's behind like Hell Divers two, a
<v Speaker 1>game that probably had some thing happened last month I
<v Speaker 1>can't remember. I know that game's finance popularity over again
<v Speaker 1>in many different.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe had a big expansion because I heard that they
<v Speaker 3>had a big update ironically that like I just heard
<v Speaker 3>secondhand on full nerd Will talking about this, but like
<v Speaker 3>apparently it ballooned in size and PC because they added
<v Speaker 3>support for hard drives and like so they needed like
<v Speaker 3>it had a bunch of like duplications of data that
<v Speaker 3>made it like one hundred.
<v Speaker 2>And fifty right, that's I did remember hearing about.
<v Speaker 3>This, Yes, yeah, so I don't know, maybe the heading
<v Speaker 3>eventure of major expansion that went alongside that major update. Yeah, oh,
<v Speaker 3>the Xbox the Xbox Port came out.
<v Speaker 2>Was that the Xbox Port was just that not that
<v Speaker 2>long ago. That's crazy.
<v Speaker 3>If it was at least recently, I can't remember it
<v Speaker 3>was like just one month ago, or if it was
<v Speaker 3>a little bit longer. But yeah, it's probably right. It's more.
<v Speaker 1>Time was so so rough to keep track of right now.
<v Speaker 1>It's like it feels like forever ago, but it probably
<v Speaker 1>almost certainly wasn't all right.
<v Speaker 2>Let's road some of these other notes from Matt on
<v Speaker 2>the results here.
<v Speaker 1>EA Sports FC twenty six debut is the third best
<v Speaker 1>selling game in September full game dollar sales and the
<v Speaker 1>fifteenth best seller of twenty twenty five year to date.
<v Speaker 1>It ranked among the top seven best selling games across
<v Speaker 1>each of the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo and aggregated PC
<v Speaker 1>storefront charts. Let's see NBA two K twenty six became
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty five's best selling game year to date, supplanting
<v Speaker 1>Monster Hunter Wilds. So I means that game is already
<v Speaker 1>at like ten million copies sold plus because we know,
<v Speaker 1>we know Wilds was kind of slowing down pretty hardcore.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe that's around ten eleven million copies, although that's worldwide,
<v Speaker 1>isn't it?
<v Speaker 2>So that this is just United States.
<v Speaker 1>Helldivers two was the fourth best selling game of September
<v Speaker 1>on Xbox platforms. There you go, after debuting third during
<v Speaker 1>its August launch month, So it's just the second month
<v Speaker 1>of that. Hell Divers two ranked as the sixth best
<v Speaker 1>selling game over all in September and was the ninth
<v Speaker 1>It was nineteenth for twenty twenty five year to date period.
<v Speaker 2>That's impressive. And then let's go over to hardware.
<v Speaker 1>September spending on video game hardware increased by twenty four
<v Speaker 1>percent when compared to a year ago, reaching three hundred
<v Speaker 1>and twenty four million dollars. Nintend To Switch two sales
<v Speaker 1>were able again. We're again able to offset the double
<v Speaker 1>digit year on year percentage declines seen across PlayStation five,
<v Speaker 1>Xbox series and the original Switch. Nintendo Switch to was
<v Speaker 1>the best selling video game hardware in both units and
<v Speaker 1>dollar sales, not surprising, and twenty twenty five year to
<v Speaker 1>date period with PlayStation five ranking second across those measures
<v Speaker 1>and time periods. Yeah, the other consoles continue to kind
<v Speaker 1>of you know, plummet. It's it is that time of
<v Speaker 1>the of their generation certainly where they're on the other
<v Speaker 1>side of the bell curve. Maybe things are dropping or
<v Speaker 1>continue to drop faster than maybe they normally would, but
<v Speaker 1>they're this generation was also pretty front heavy, so maybe
<v Speaker 1>that makes some sense.
<v Speaker 2>Switch To definitely living up to.
<v Speaker 1>Its side of the bargain though, right It like people are, hey,
<v Speaker 1>let's wait for switch To to kind of see if
<v Speaker 1>that can really reinvigorate video game sales in the United
<v Speaker 1>States and elsewhere, and it's done what it can on
<v Speaker 1>that front, right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. As far as I Intel, I don't know what
<v Speaker 3>would you say is the like mark of the switch
<v Speaker 3>To doing well because it is like a sequel system
<v Speaker 3>though sometimes don't do as well if there is a
<v Speaker 3>long established history of it. So I think, like, even
<v Speaker 3>if it's in the ballpark of keeping pace with the
<v Speaker 3>Switch one. I know, I know it had an explosive
<v Speaker 3>launch out the gate because people are excited, but at
<v Speaker 3>least if it can like sort of stay within a
<v Speaker 3>certain range, then seen as a success.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yes, I think so. I think that's uh, I
<v Speaker 1>think you nailed it that. If it stays within the
<v Speaker 1>ballpark of Switch one in terms of pace of sale,
<v Speaker 1>then that is a really good sign for the Switch too.
<v Speaker 2>And so far it's been.
<v Speaker 1>Well well ahead of PlayStation four, let alone Switch, which
<v Speaker 1>was way behind PlayStation four in terms of rate of sale.
<v Speaker 1>Now and that's that's beyond that initial sales period that
<v Speaker 1>does include like the next sort of gasp, at least
<v Speaker 1>according to when we had Matt on earlier this month,
<v Speaker 1>he explained that that's like, oh no, we have a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more information here.
<v Speaker 2>We can say this is.
<v Speaker 1>Not just about a lot of excitement right on day
<v Speaker 1>one still, though holiday will be the you will tell
<v Speaker 1>a lot more of the story.
<v Speaker 2>But I think already it's clearly.
<v Speaker 1>Doing better than like a three DS versus a DS
<v Speaker 1>or something like that.
<v Speaker 3>That's what I was thinking of it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so that's that's a good sign for the system.
<v Speaker 1>And then you know, it does seem like like I
<v Speaker 1>think seeing that like EA Football Club was also in
<v Speaker 1>the top ten on Switch and Switch to it's like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>some of these third party games can also sell on
<v Speaker 1>the system. It's not going to be every single one,
<v Speaker 1>but it will provide some sort of safe ground to
<v Speaker 1>go to for some of these third party publishers.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and this holiday is going to be very safe
<v Speaker 3>for them because they have a Pokemon game, and it's
<v Speaker 3>not just they have the game, it's the new bundled game.
<v Speaker 3>It's replacing Mario Karts. So they are going to sell
<v Speaker 3>a lot of five hundred dollars systems this holiday season,
<v Speaker 3>and so I think that's going to give them a
<v Speaker 3>huge boost. And by spacing that out Mario Kart earlier
<v Speaker 3>in the year and then Pokemon at the end of
<v Speaker 3>the year, I think that's keeping the momentum and maybe
<v Speaker 3>switching out the bundle game more often than they did
<v Speaker 3>with the Switch one because Switch one, as we always say,
<v Speaker 3>it was like the Mario Kard eight holiday Bundle, was
<v Speaker 3>just the thing. That's kind of just what they always did.
<v Speaker 3>They didn't necessarily get a ton outside of that, but
<v Speaker 3>they keep putting in a big game that a lot
<v Speaker 3>of people want, and it is you know, they're still
<v Speaker 3>like basically selling those games for fifty bucks and then
<v Speaker 3>people are getting a quote unquote deal, you know, like
<v Speaker 3>a ten or twenty dollars discount by buying it with
<v Speaker 3>the system, right, I think Nintendo is still going to
<v Speaker 3>be happy with that. It's not just possing out one
<v Speaker 3>of their games that could be selling more.
<v Speaker 2>I agree.
<v Speaker 1>Last thing I think I'm going to point out here,
<v Speaker 1>accessories spending fell tembercent in September to one hundred and
<v Speaker 1>ninety seven million. This is controllers, you know, extra thanks
<v Speaker 1>for your systems. Game pads were the big reason.
<v Speaker 2>For the decline.
<v Speaker 1>According to Matt Piscatella, I think September will probably.
<v Speaker 2>Like mark a real lull for live service shooters and
<v Speaker 2>stuff like that.
<v Speaker 1>And we are going to get right on the other
<v Speaker 1>side of that immediately with Battlefield six launching, and during
<v Speaker 1>the next period, the next reporting period, and then Arc
<v Speaker 1>Raiders I think immediately right after this, controller sales are
<v Speaker 1>going to bounce back up, which I think these games
<v Speaker 1>are kind of the primary seller of those kinds of devices,
<v Speaker 1>all right, you know, other than like a new console launching.
<v Speaker 1>Ntennant s whitch Tow is massive for selling controllers. Let's
<v Speaker 1>do this next story here. Powerwash Simulator. Two reviews are in.
<v Speaker 1>It has an eighty four on Open Critic, which is
<v Speaker 1>a shame because Mike has it in Fantasy Critic, He's
<v Speaker 1>going to catch up. Mark Delaney at GameSpot gave it
<v Speaker 1>a seven out of ten and said Powerwash sim was
<v Speaker 1>a breakout hit in twenty twenty one, and the sequel
<v Speaker 1>is a reminder of how that happened, though sometimes it
<v Speaker 1>feels like it's just punching in for work. Kieran Verbruges
<v Speaker 1>at Well Played says or gave it an eight out
<v Speaker 1>of ten I should say, and says it's not particularly
<v Speaker 1>ambitious of it. It's not a particularly ambitious follow up,
<v Speaker 1>but Powerwash Simulator to earns its sequel status through effective
<v Speaker 1>upgrades and thoughtful improvements across the board. It's a big
<v Speaker 1>uptick in looks, feel and play, and still the most
<v Speaker 1>fun you can have doing a chore. We're gonna play
<v Speaker 1>this on upf on Friday, everybody, so looking forward to that,
<v Speaker 1>although we might.
<v Speaker 2>Throw in some other games as well. I like Powerwash
<v Speaker 2>Simulator a lot.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't get into it as much as Dan did,
<v Speaker 1>who was like, oh, yeah, no, this is totally like
<v Speaker 1>my zen out game where I can listen to a
<v Speaker 1>podcast and just play it through the whole thing. Like No,
<v Speaker 1>I had fun playing with friends and then I kind
<v Speaker 1>of didn't need to check it out anymore.
<v Speaker 2>How about you, you powerwashed simulator guy.
<v Speaker 3>Nah, it doesn't really do anything for me because it
<v Speaker 3>is just that, you know, doing the job thing. I
<v Speaker 3>know a lot. I know a lot of people who
<v Speaker 3>got really into it, and it is they're like zen
<v Speaker 3>zoning out, do someone else, put someone else on in
<v Speaker 3>the background kind of game. I think that's cool. There's
<v Speaker 3>certainly a space for that. It's just that thanks to handhelds,
<v Speaker 3>I do that with so many other games already. Like
<v Speaker 3>if I mail a lull of an RPG, that's usually
<v Speaker 3>the type of thing I do. Or you know, some
<v Speaker 3>some more ARCADI games like Vampire Survivors or something like that.
<v Speaker 3>That's that's usually the space that I'm trading all that in.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, I can see this one doing pretty well
<v Speaker 3>again in one of those long tail of games because
<v Speaker 3>people I have fitty for the first one.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, I agree.
<v Speaker 1>I think I always wonder like how seqls like this work,
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, oh, you know, is this the kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing where you just keep adding more content? Is
<v Speaker 1>it like a go to simula or three situation where
<v Speaker 1>you try to add in a bunch of different crazy
<v Speaker 1>stuff to like just make it feel like a jam
<v Speaker 1>packed package with a high value. It's probably seems like
<v Speaker 1>they're going that route of like, let's just add a
<v Speaker 1>bunch of stuff and then make the game look even
<v Speaker 1>nicer than the first game did, which actually could go
<v Speaker 1>a long way. If you're gonna do this game, you
<v Speaker 1>just kind of stare at. I think the improved visuals
<v Speaker 1>will probably be something I will notice and be thankful for.
<v Speaker 2>All Right, we're gonna take a quick break.
<v Speaker 1>When we come back, plenty more headlines and including Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>updating a game. Surprisingly, we'll talk about that and more.
<v Speaker 1>If you want to skip out on these ads, there
<v Speaker 1>is a premium version of the audio show and video
<v Speaker 1>show available if you go to GiantBomb dot com, slash
<v Speaker 1>join and become a premium member.
<v Speaker 2>We will be right back.
<v Speaker 3>Can you hear that, folks?
<v Speaker 4>It's oh god, it's coming down the pike.
<v Speaker 3>It's the Giant Bambathon. My goodness, folks.
<v Speaker 4>We are one week away or less depending on when
<v Speaker 4>you're hearing this. That's right, The Giant Bambathon is coming
<v Speaker 4>your way live from the East Coast, five pm Eastern
<v Speaker 4>on Monday, October twenty seventh to five pm Eastern on Tuesday,
<v Speaker 4>October twenty eighth.
<v Speaker 2>Take Tuesday off.
<v Speaker 3>Listen.
<v Speaker 4>We had to do this on a Monday night. We
<v Speaker 4>know it's during the week. Take Tuesday off, Take it off. Now,
<v Speaker 4>get your requests and that's right, twenty four hours of
<v Speaker 4>local multiplayer, Shenanigans, gimmicks, fun, hullablu, all this, s uff
<v Speaker 4>Pyro Valley, who know no Pyro. We had the confetti
<v Speaker 4>cannon last time, and work well, we're gonna have a
<v Speaker 4>lot of fun, folks.
<v Speaker 3>It's gonna be the.
<v Speaker 2>Five owners of Giant Bomb.
<v Speaker 3>You know who we are.
<v Speaker 4>And we also have Chuck and Sean flying out to
<v Speaker 4>join the festivities.
<v Speaker 3>That's right.
<v Speaker 4>Remember Monday at five pm and to Tuesday at five pm.
<v Speaker 4>Take Tuesday off work. We're gonna be there live on
<v Speaker 4>Twitch on YouTube. Check us out. It's gonna be a
<v Speaker 4>lot of fun and uh we'll make it worth your while.
<v Speaker 2>We got some incentives.
<v Speaker 3>We got we got some stuff you might like to see.
<v Speaker 3>I got things.
<v Speaker 4>I'm biting my tongue on. I'd like to say some
<v Speaker 4>of these incentives, but you'll have to tune in Monday night,
<v Speaker 4>five pm Eastern be there, the Giant Bambathon.
<v Speaker 1>It's Game as Mornings. We're back, Jeff Grubb, Turbo Sean,
<v Speaker 1>We're hanging out. Talk about video games real quick before
<v Speaker 1>we get into the next headline. I did check open
<v Speaker 1>critic again. Once Upon a Katamari reviews are out as well.
<v Speaker 1>That is an eighty one. Shack News gave it a
<v Speaker 1>seven out of ten. Let's see here PlayStation Universe is
<v Speaker 1>Joe Richard's of it a nine point five out of
<v Speaker 1>tendance is Once Upon a Katamari feels like a confident
<v Speaker 1>step back into the series after having a crack at
<v Speaker 1>some remasters and feels like a game that perfectly follows
<v Speaker 1>up on what those remasters set out to do. Everything
<v Speaker 1>we all love about Katamari is still here and absolutely kicking.
<v Speaker 2>Let's see You've got an eight point five from Neil
<v Speaker 2>Ronaghan at Nintendo World Report.
<v Speaker 1>It says it's even better that the one on Nintendo
<v Speaker 1>Switch feels like the third game in a trilogy with
<v Speaker 1>the two original PlayStation two games.
<v Speaker 2>That are also available in HD on the system.
<v Speaker 1>Once Upon a Katamori is a full fledged, refreshed entry
<v Speaker 1>in a series that hasn't had this kind of a
<v Speaker 1>shot in the arm since HDTVs were a thing, here's
<v Speaker 1>hoping we get more consistent drip of Katamari following this
<v Speaker 1>charming entry that largely understands why the first ones were
<v Speaker 1>such call hits.
<v Speaker 2>Hey, that sounds about right. I'm ready to show up
<v Speaker 2>for this game.
<v Speaker 1>And this is like where this series ends up right
<v Speaker 1>on the in terms of the number on an open critic.
<v Speaker 1>What I just want to hear is it it's Katamari
<v Speaker 1>and delivers on that. I'll play some more of that
<v Speaker 1>for sure.
<v Speaker 3>Hell yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I did play
<v Speaker 3>a good amount of Rolling Live when that hit Apple Arcade.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, like I said when I talked about
<v Speaker 3>on the BombCast, that's that's a game where you know,
<v Speaker 3>play on your phone, your iPad or your Apple TV,
<v Speaker 3>whatever the case may be, but you just play with
<v Speaker 3>a normal controller. Like you know, I just slapped the
<v Speaker 3>ape to Ultimate Mobile on my phone and it does
<v Speaker 3>kind of just feel like Katamari, and Katamari feels good.
<v Speaker 3>And so this game is that that game, being a
<v Speaker 3>mobile game, was structured a little bit more bite size
<v Speaker 3>and challenge based, and this is just more Katamari. You know,
<v Speaker 3>going through a levels escalating of to doing ridiculous stuff.
<v Speaker 3>That's what I want to see, That's what I want
<v Speaker 3>to hear, And it sounds like they're doing a good
<v Speaker 3>job with this one. So I'm pretty excited because I
<v Speaker 3>love that series.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, yep, me too.
<v Speaker 1>I just like remember being all right seeing the reviews
<v Speaker 1>and be like, I love what this sounds like. I
<v Speaker 1>still don't fully grasp, like what is making us so special?
<v Speaker 1>So I'm going to get it myself. It's like one
<v Speaker 1>of the reasons I got a PS two. I just
<v Speaker 1>I love that game. All right, let's move on here.
<v Speaker 1>Two years after release, Nintendo is updating Pickman four with
<v Speaker 1>new content, including a photo mode. This is from Andy
<v Speaker 1>Robinson at VGC. More than two years after its release,
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo's updating Pickman four, releasing in November. A free Pickman
<v Speaker 1>four update will introduce new decore Pickman hidden in each map,
<v Speaker 1>which could be transferred to the mobile game Pickmen Bloom
<v Speaker 1>to core Pickman, originally seen in the Pickman Bloom smart
<v Speaker 1>device app. These curious Pickmen are marching the right to
<v Speaker 1>Pickman four. Decor Pickman, as the name implies, are Pickman
<v Speaker 1>that don some form of decoration found in the world.
<v Speaker 1>You may see them wearing something like a wind up toy,
<v Speaker 1>a doughnut, a snow hat, and much more so, they're
<v Speaker 1>like they're shinies. This is this is a shiny I
<v Speaker 1>think I actually don't understand shiny's.
<v Speaker 3>But just alternately colored okay.
<v Speaker 2>Well, alternately clothed Pickman then is what you can get here.
<v Speaker 3>This sounds a lot like Pokemon Home Support coming to
<v Speaker 3>the Pickman series. That's interesting.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, It's like just sounds like a tiny little thing,
<v Speaker 1>and for some reason, Pickman Bloom continues to just chug along,
<v Speaker 1>like Nintendo still puts out press releases about that thing
<v Speaker 1>all the time. I like Pickman Bloom. I've not touched
<v Speaker 1>it in a long time, but I liked it. And
<v Speaker 1>if that's the reason they come back and duel just
<v Speaker 1>a tiny bit more with Pickman four, I'm all for it.
<v Speaker 2>Let's see what else they have here.
<v Speaker 1>The field camera take stylish photos of your character, your squad,
<v Speaker 1>and whatever you like with this new features just the
<v Speaker 1>camera mode and new creature activity levels. Move at your
<v Speaker 1>own pace and enjoy the new relaxed mode or creatures
<v Speaker 1>won't attack unless you attack them or kick things up
<v Speaker 1>a notch in the Fiery Fierce mode these modes, and
<v Speaker 1>that's like a higher difficulty. Basically, these modes can be
<v Speaker 1>selected when starting a new game or changed at any
<v Speaker 1>point after from the game's settings.
<v Speaker 2>They love descriptive difficult, healthy levels.
<v Speaker 1>That this is similar to what they had in a
<v Speaker 1>in Kirby right where it was like like wild Woods
<v Speaker 1>mode and then and then relaxed mode, was the easy
<v Speaker 1>mode or something like that, a breezing mode I think
<v Speaker 1>it was.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and they can't just call it. Hey, I'm a
<v Speaker 3>parent playing the game with my kids. Yes, difficulty, so
<v Speaker 3>I called it a little.
<v Speaker 2>Different exactly, that's one percent what it is.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, this my kids liked Pickman, but it was maybe
<v Speaker 1>a bit too uh intense in some circumstances where it's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>they you know, they don't fully understand the idea of
<v Speaker 1>an invisible sphere in which the influence of this enemy
<v Speaker 1>character will be will draw agro like that's something that's
<v Speaker 1>like just a little bit advanced for them, although they
<v Speaker 1>were getting the idea like letting them explore that world
<v Speaker 1>at their own pace and not get attacked unless they
<v Speaker 1>attack something else.
<v Speaker 2>That's that's cool. Uh, It doesn't sound like much, though.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Do you think do you feel like maybe they were
<v Speaker 1>planning more for this and like, ah, no, let's like
<v Speaker 1>cut those plans and just focus on Pickment five, or
<v Speaker 1>like what are they trying to get that with this stuff?
<v Speaker 3>Well, we also have you know, the CG short was
<v Speaker 3>a Pickman thing, and then there was dating Pickman four,
<v Speaker 3>So maybe there's something else Pickman related coming up, maybe
<v Speaker 3>whether that's a Pickman five announcement in like six months,
<v Speaker 3>and they just want to remind people, hey, Pickman exists,
<v Speaker 3>or if it is, you know, that's going to be
<v Speaker 3>another movie from them, whatever the case may be. Clearly
<v Speaker 3>they want people to at least remember Pickman for some reason.
<v Speaker 3>I think whatever that may be, we'll see that within
<v Speaker 3>the next year or so.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think that Pickman is an active, like ongoing concern
<v Speaker 1>for them, where they're like, hey, Pimento are.
<v Speaker 3>A concern, Jeff, did you see that short?
<v Speaker 1>Yes, they definitely are. There's still a threat. They're out
<v Speaker 1>there doing their thing. Yeah, it's that last game was
<v Speaker 1>the best selling Pickman by far. It did really well,
<v Speaker 1>especially in Japan. It did extremely well, and we've see
<v Speaker 1>Nintendo like when when that happens to them, I think
<v Speaker 1>that is a sign that it's worth not just doing
<v Speaker 1>more Pickman games, but more with Pickman. So I think
<v Speaker 1>you might be right that they might have just any
<v Speaker 1>number of other things, none not necessarily ready to go,
<v Speaker 1>but in the works, and so when they are picking
<v Speaker 1>like tasks, or like when they're like when they have
<v Speaker 1>a little bit of extra time that they could spin
<v Speaker 1>on a game, like hey, go back do something with
<v Speaker 1>Pickman four, just so we can make sure that we're
<v Speaker 1>fresh and ready to go to go to work on
<v Speaker 1>those games or whatever, or can keep it in people's minds.
<v Speaker 1>I think they want people on the Switch to to
<v Speaker 1>be thinking of Pickman four as a relatively new game still,
<v Speaker 1>which is fair because it's fantastic and if you haven't
<v Speaker 1>played it, it'll probably be really great on the Switch too.
<v Speaker 3>It's also it kind of is relatively new. It's what
<v Speaker 3>two years old at this point, so it's like they
<v Speaker 3>can still maybe just want to see some more sales
<v Speaker 3>from that game.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, that it could be that simple, and the I
<v Speaker 1>you know that, I don't think that game needs visual
<v Speaker 1>updates because it ran well and Switch one, I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>if anything it just runs even better on switch to
<v Speaker 1>sixty game, I think, so, yeah, okay, and I would.
<v Speaker 3>Assume, yeah, I would assume it's just ten eighty sixty
<v Speaker 3>on the switch to now.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I thing about.
<v Speaker 3>Having, you know, just a more powerful version of the
<v Speaker 3>same thing is that, hey, dynamic resolution frame rates are
<v Speaker 3>right fixed. Now, that's that's good because ten eighty sixty
<v Speaker 3>is all most people are going to want, even if
<v Speaker 3>it could get more.
<v Speaker 1>Uh people, yes, zac he like he thinks it's nine
<v Speaker 1>hundred piece, so like, yeah, and it was okay, it
<v Speaker 1>was thirty fps on switch one.
<v Speaker 3>Never mind. Do you think I update this game as
<v Speaker 3>app Yeah, I'm doing over here.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, come on, you're just wasting our time, Nintendo. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>then I guess I'm surprised that that's not announced as
<v Speaker 1>part of this. Uh so, although maybe it does run
<v Speaker 1>at sixty on switch to just like naturally because they
<v Speaker 1>maybe they unlocked it.
<v Speaker 3>But they don't really do that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's what.
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, even if it's was something that was
<v Speaker 1>happening just because they because the switch too is more powerful,
<v Speaker 1>I still think they would want to like codify that
<v Speaker 1>as part of this update and make that a big deal.
<v Speaker 1>So true, they didn't say anything. It looks like it's
<v Speaker 1>still thirty frames per second. Okay, yeah, that's that sounds
<v Speaker 1>like Nintendo. I would love them to continue updating this
<v Speaker 1>game then and maybe doing more, because that really was
<v Speaker 1>my favorite game that year, even that's a year with
<v Speaker 1>Tears of the Kingdom.
<v Speaker 2>I really like Pickman for a ton.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, God, I want to excuse to replay it,
<v Speaker 1>So I want them to do just a little bit
<v Speaker 1>more and give me that excuse.
<v Speaker 3>You really just did throw current ball at that game
<v Speaker 3>of a year, didn't you.
<v Speaker 2>That?
<v Speaker 1>Myself included, I was like, you were doing once I
<v Speaker 1>was up on stable.
<v Speaker 3>Once figured it out. Yeah, but yeah, I was like.
<v Speaker 2>I think I'm doing this, and I was really happy.
<v Speaker 1>Remedy CEO steps down two weeks after it issued a
<v Speaker 1>profit warning due to FBC firebreaks quote week sales. This
<v Speaker 1>is from Chris Scullion at VGC. Remedy Entertainment has announced
<v Speaker 1>that CEO Tarot Vertala has left his role with immediate effect.
<v Speaker 1>In a statement to investors, the company explained that Vertala
<v Speaker 1>and the board of directors had utually agreed that Taro
<v Speaker 1>Vertala will step down from his position. This is a quote,
<v Speaker 1>that's why it sounds like this as the company's CEO
<v Speaker 1>with immediate effect. Vertala was appointed CEO in August twenty
<v Speaker 1>sixteen and will now continue at the service of the
<v Speaker 1>company during a transition period where he will help with
<v Speaker 1>the handover of duties to the new CEO. Remedy co
<v Speaker 1>founder Marcus Mackey has been appointed as the interim CEO
<v Speaker 1>until a permanent replacement can be found. And then basically
<v Speaker 1>there's a note here with like Maki's thanking them and yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's just the normal pleasantries.
<v Speaker 2>I think, like we can probably say.
<v Speaker 1>This is almost entirely due to FBC Firebreak coming along
<v Speaker 1>at like the end of a series of games from
<v Speaker 1>Remedy that were that varied from well received to very
<v Speaker 1>well received, like from like a Game of the Year
<v Speaker 1>contenders to like, oh no, that's just a solid good game,
<v Speaker 1>like that's what they were putting out, and none of
<v Speaker 1>them really seemed like they broke out in terms of sales.
<v Speaker 1>And then I do think the Allen Wake two decision
<v Speaker 1>to lock it down to Epic Games not in the
<v Speaker 1>way that a lot of other games did, where it
<v Speaker 1>was like, no Epic is publishing this game, so it's
<v Speaker 1>never going to be on Steam. I think that was
<v Speaker 1>kind of a fatal flaw for that game's chances. Even
<v Speaker 1>though of course they got money upfront from Epic, they
<v Speaker 1>paid for the game, like they published it, at least
<v Speaker 1>paid for a lot of it still feels like that
<v Speaker 1>was a flawed decision. And then FBC Firebreak kind of
<v Speaker 1>comes out the end there being like, here's our chance
<v Speaker 1>to like put out something that can make regular money,
<v Speaker 1>can draw an audience. We're going to put it out
<v Speaker 1>on game Pass and I think PlayStation Plus.
<v Speaker 2>I think it was on.
<v Speaker 1>Both, and it just sort of it just ran into
<v Speaker 1>a brick wall, which is not too shocking for games
<v Speaker 1>like that these days, these multiplayer games where people have
<v Speaker 1>a million options, it's like you have to have to
<v Speaker 1>have a certain combination of factors to get people's attention
<v Speaker 1>and make it make them think that the game will
<v Speaker 1>be worthy of their time, and FBC just seemed to
<v Speaker 1>miss the mark on all of those things. And so yeah,
<v Speaker 1>this kind of feels like, all right, we need to
<v Speaker 1>change directions and someone needs to take the fall here,
<v Speaker 1>and we need to show our investors that we are
<v Speaker 1>taking accountability.
<v Speaker 2>But what do you think the future of Remedy is though.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, that is an excellent question, Jeff. Yeah, because they
<v Speaker 3>I pulled up their Wikipedia to be like, what what
<v Speaker 3>have they been doing for the past decade or so?
<v Speaker 3>Because you mentioned like they do have games that range
<v Speaker 3>from like a really solid to like game of the
<v Speaker 3>year containers, I'm like, does Quantum Break? It has kind
<v Speaker 3>of been like a series of ups and downs though,
<v Speaker 3>like Quatum Quantum Break was mixed, but then obviously control
<v Speaker 3>was really good and they helped them Crossfire X, which
<v Speaker 3>I realized that game's gone. It has been for a
<v Speaker 3>long time because it got shut down within a year.
<v Speaker 1>Really download it anymore, I mean you can't like download
<v Speaker 1>it new. I should say, okay and no idea.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but then Alan Way Too happens. But then FBC
<v Speaker 3>fire Break happens. It's like, wow, that's a weird series
<v Speaker 3>of pendulum swings there. Like you said, the Epic X
<v Speaker 3>exclusivity is always going to hurt a game that like
<v Speaker 3>that that sparks that that was that was twisting on
<v Speaker 3>Knife and me a little bit because I'm like, that's
<v Speaker 3>what killed rumbule Verse, Like that was an epic game,
<v Speaker 3>and so they were like, well, it's only gonna be
<v Speaker 3>on the Epic Store, and that game would have been
<v Speaker 3>biggest on PC, and it was not on the biggest
<v Speaker 3>platform on PC Steam, And so anytime that we still
<v Speaker 3>do that going to hurt sales is going to hurt
<v Speaker 3>mind share and market share, and you just can't do
<v Speaker 3>that anymore. So, Yeah, this seems like a weird series
<v Speaker 3>of gloves that maybe I don't know me he didn't
<v Speaker 3>need to happen. That PC Firebreak always struck me as
<v Speaker 3>an odd voice for me game. It never made sense
<v Speaker 3>to me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, It's like when I played it, I was like, no,
<v Speaker 1>there's something here. But I also see all the reasons
<v Speaker 1>why this this kind of game is is difficult.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I don't see all the reasons.
<v Speaker 1>If I did, I would be a rich person telling
<v Speaker 1>people how to market their game. I saw some things
<v Speaker 1>where it was like, okay, you know a games like
<v Speaker 1>this seemed to do really well based on their characters,
<v Speaker 1>and this is this feels a little bit more generic,
<v Speaker 1>and that seemed like a challenge to me. And then
<v Speaker 1>exactly why it seemed to like get zero traction with people,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not exactly sure, but it didn't. And and that
<v Speaker 1>it just like for them, I think they were hoping, Okay, well,
<v Speaker 1>then maybe game Pass and PlayStation Plus can sort of
<v Speaker 1>close the loop because once people play, they might get
<v Speaker 1>into it, and it's like, yeah, I think people enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>it for a weekend, and no one is making these
<v Speaker 1>games to be popping off for one weekend like that
<v Speaker 1>can never work.
<v Speaker 3>So, as someone who's not really into remedies games, when
<v Speaker 3>FPC Firebreak popped up in whatever presentation and I assume
<v Speaker 3>it's Xbox, I just looked at him like, this looks
<v Speaker 3>so generic. Oh this is oh yeah, yeah FPC, like
<v Speaker 3>this is the a remedy thing that but wow, it
<v Speaker 3>just looks like so many of these are games, And
<v Speaker 3>I imagine that would have an impact on when you
<v Speaker 3>have a game like that, you know, like a multiplayer game,
<v Speaker 3>you need the casual audience to take note. And if
<v Speaker 3>you're not standing out in a way that you know,
<v Speaker 3>it's going to draw people away from other games or
<v Speaker 3>at least really really capture that core audience, go to
<v Speaker 3>sign yourself up for failures. So I you did say
<v Speaker 3>sort of at the top, like what's the future of
<v Speaker 3>remedy And I hope it's leaning into the things that
<v Speaker 3>they're good at. I know that can be hard to fund,
<v Speaker 3>and that's why they do projects like these is to
<v Speaker 3>you know, help pay the bills. It's very much like
<v Speaker 3>a Platinum game situation. You do the license games, they
<v Speaker 3>can pay for the Passion project. I hope that they
<v Speaker 3>can go back to doing like Alan Wake three and
<v Speaker 3>something like that, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yep, I agree, and I think that I can't
<v Speaker 1>think of anything else for them to do, so I
<v Speaker 1>hope that's the plan and what works of like just
<v Speaker 1>going back and making a remedy ass remedy game. And
<v Speaker 1>I do think that they are primed for one of
<v Speaker 1>them to really break out. And it's like I think
<v Speaker 1>it probably would have been Allen Wake to a little
<v Speaker 1>bit more had it been on Steam. And of course,
<v Speaker 1>you know, people pointed out rightfully, so Epic published the game.
<v Speaker 1>That means that got made because Epic got involved, So
<v Speaker 1>Epic keeping an exclusive was sort of non negotiable at
<v Speaker 1>a certain point.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure, Oh yeah, to be clear, that's Epic stupidity. Yes,
<v Speaker 3>this is the way that very clear they should not
<v Speaker 3>be doing that.
<v Speaker 1>But anyways, rightly, yeah, and it it doesn't even have
<v Speaker 1>the effect that they wanted to have in terms of
<v Speaker 1>effort of use Epic Store.
<v Speaker 2>So it's frustrating.
<v Speaker 1>So it's like, Okay, I hope that they can just
<v Speaker 1>go back and like the next control game is a
<v Speaker 1>huge hit for them, because.
<v Speaker 2>That's what they do well.
<v Speaker 1>They're kind of the only ones in there in this
<v Speaker 1>space is continuing to make games in that exact way,
<v Speaker 1>and it's it would be a shame if they had
<v Speaker 1>to stop doing that because they made some mistakes in
<v Speaker 1>some other areas and their good games didn't have the
<v Speaker 1>best chance to succeed.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, all right.
<v Speaker 1>Trial studio Ubisoft read Links is laying off up to
<v Speaker 1>sixty staff as it refocuses on small screens.
<v Speaker 2>This is from Chris Sculling at VGC.
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft is preparing to layoff sixty staff at red Links.
<v Speaker 1>A statement posted on the red Links website says that
<v Speaker 1>Ubisoft has announced a restructuring proposal for the Finland based
<v Speaker 1>studio as quote part of the company's global efforts to simplify, simplify,
<v Speaker 1>reduce costs, and ensure a stronger prioritization and efficiency across
<v Speaker 1>the company's worldwide studio network.
<v Speaker 2>Go to hell with that, The.
<v Speaker 1>Statement says that Ubisoft and negotiate the proposals with its
<v Speaker 1>staff in collective negotiations before making a decision. That's just
<v Speaker 1>like going through the bureaucracy of the local laws before
<v Speaker 1>enacting these layoffs.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>So Ubiso says that this shift and focus would let
<v Speaker 1>Red Links better optimize its resources and position itself for
<v Speaker 1>sustainable success. And of course that is the shift to
<v Speaker 1>specializing in small screens, meaning mobile games, including two announced
<v Speaker 1>mobile games the studio is currently leading development on. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>this feels like the state of you besoft right if
<v Speaker 1>you are not part of that vanguard vantage whatever the
<v Speaker 1>new studio name was for the team that is going
<v Speaker 1>to oversee let's see, it was the Tom Clancy Shooter,
<v Speaker 1>a Ghost Recon and then Far Cry and then Assassin's Creed.
<v Speaker 1>Those are like the three that are in the safe
<v Speaker 1>zone of getting a lot of attention. And then the
<v Speaker 1>question has been like, what's happening with everything else? And
<v Speaker 1>I think this is what's happening with everything else.
<v Speaker 2>You are either going.
<v Speaker 1>To make something small and light and like less risk,
<v Speaker 1>like a mobile game, and or you are probably just
<v Speaker 1>gonna get laid off. And those those are the two
<v Speaker 1>things and that seems like exactly what happened here, which
<v Speaker 1>is a shame because those Trials games, even the bad ones,
<v Speaker 1>are good, Like even the bad ones are a ton
<v Speaker 1>of fun, and I just every time one comes out,
<v Speaker 1>it's like it finds an audience, It has, you know,
<v Speaker 1>hundreds of thousands of players of people on those leader boards,
<v Speaker 1>and it's like, can't we just find a world where
<v Speaker 1>those continue to make sense? But it's certainly not under
<v Speaker 1>you be soft because very few things make sense to
<v Speaker 1>that publisher right now.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, you'd be softests all over the freaking board.
<v Speaker 3>They can have some really good single player games and
<v Speaker 3>then they still get caught up in trying to chase
<v Speaker 3>multiplayer trends and stuff like that, like we saw with
<v Speaker 3>how was there Call of Duty clone called the X
<v Speaker 3>Defiant Defiant? Yeah, yeah, like they don't some one s
<v Speaker 3>sometware not making good decisions. Maybe there's a couple obvious
<v Speaker 3>finger pointing that we can do. But yeah, hey, thank
<v Speaker 3>god mobile games are stable and everybody always does successful
<v Speaker 3>on mobile, right. No, there's a reason that all the
<v Speaker 3>big mobile games all look the same. It's because everybody
<v Speaker 3>wants their wife who catches sims and not much else
<v Speaker 3>does well, like card games and stuff. Sure, otherwise it's
<v Speaker 3>existing ip coming over like Call of Duty and stuff.
<v Speaker 3>They'll still hit with that audience because it's the people
<v Speaker 3>who are going to play it on their PS four
<v Speaker 3>are playing on their phone. And so what's what's going
<v Speaker 3>to be the approach here? We are they hoping to
<v Speaker 3>have happen? Are they going to make a Bejeweled game
<v Speaker 3>or something that's as I think I can think of
<v Speaker 3>that could be like sustainable here, unless they're trying to
<v Speaker 3>adapt something else and they need more like all hands
<v Speaker 3>on deck for that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that's uh.
<v Speaker 1>I think you're mostly right that this is it's not
<v Speaker 1>very much about like, oh, what kind of game are
<v Speaker 1>they going to get to make?
<v Speaker 2>It's like, no, this is the only game.
<v Speaker 1>We're going to be the only scale of game that
<v Speaker 1>we're going to budget you out for. If you want
<v Speaker 1>to make a game, it's got to be a mobile
<v Speaker 1>game because you can prototype that for you know, a
<v Speaker 1>few tens of thousands of dollars with a handful of employees,
<v Speaker 1>and then then we could scale it up if we
<v Speaker 1>like your idea, if we test it out, we're supposed
<v Speaker 1>to another Trials game. It's like they know the budget
<v Speaker 1>for that it's big, and then they also know the
<v Speaker 1>potential return for the most part, and it's smaller than
<v Speaker 1>the lottery ticket of.
<v Speaker 2>A mobile game. Even though we both know that the
<v Speaker 2>game they make is not going.
<v Speaker 1>To be in the top ten on iTunes, is mobile
<v Speaker 1>store or anything like that. Those have been the same,
<v Speaker 1>you know, fifteen games cycling in and out for the
<v Speaker 1>last twelve years.
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, you're right, this just feels like them being like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>let's really reduce what this studio is capable of.
<v Speaker 1>And that means all you have the capacity to make
<v Speaker 1>is a mobile game.
<v Speaker 3>You really haven't used an iOS device a very long time,
<v Speaker 3>have you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, when I still look up a chart, it's still
<v Speaker 1>sometimes called the iTunes.
<v Speaker 5>Chart, but it's like, yes, it's just the app store story. Anyways,
<v Speaker 5>all right, let's hit these last couple of stories. Scarface
<v Speaker 5>the World is Yours PC re released.
<v Speaker 1>Announced, Salamano at Gamatsu. Yeah, it's weird, there's more going on.
<v Speaker 1>I think this story continues to pop off. Hong Kong
<v Speaker 1>based publisher EC Digital Entertainment will re release the PC
<v Speaker 1>version of open world action adventure games Scarface the World
<v Speaker 1>Is Yours on Steam and Epic Game Store. The company
<v Speaker 1>announced the Epic Games version is available now for thirty dollars,
<v Speaker 1>though its early release was unintentionally push live due to
<v Speaker 1>technical issues during the back end configuration. EC Digital Entertainment
<v Speaker 1>said in a note on Steam, we want to clarify
<v Speaker 1>that our intended long term release platforms include Steam, and
<v Speaker 1>we're now accelerating our efforts to finalize this version. EC
<v Speaker 1>Digital Entertainment said, as such, you may notice that the
<v Speaker 1>current steampage includes placeholder content.
<v Speaker 2>This will be updated leading up to the official release.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, yeah, Scarface the World is Yours first launch back
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and seven for a bunch of different platforms.
<v Speaker 2>There is like some other stuff going on here.
<v Speaker 1>Twitter user at underscore silent Underscore said I created the
<v Speaker 1>silent patch modification for the PC version of Scarface the
<v Speaker 1>World Is Yours, and notes that the Epic Game Store
<v Speaker 1>version that was released early appears to ship with that
<v Speaker 1>silent patch and another modification called fusion Fix pre installed.
<v Speaker 1>While not strictly necessary because of life, I guess neither
<v Speaker 1>creator was contacted about the release in advance, and that
<v Speaker 1>has led some other people to be like, hey, do you, Hey,
<v Speaker 1>Universal Pictures, do you do you know about this?
<v Speaker 2>Like, are you you know, did you like give the
<v Speaker 2>thumbs up to this?
<v Speaker 1>And there's some question about the providence of that, of
<v Speaker 1>like whether or not this game is fully on the
<v Speaker 1>up and up with.
<v Speaker 2>The rights owners. It's a weird one. What do you
<v Speaker 2>think is happening here?
<v Speaker 3>I think someone's trying to get away with something that
<v Speaker 3>they're not letting a dad no, that they're taking the
<v Speaker 3>car out tonight. This is such a weird story because
<v Speaker 3>first of all, technically mods are like they're such a
<v Speaker 3>gray area because yeah, if you're modding game, the rights
<v Speaker 3>holder still owns any like copyrighted assets to the game,
<v Speaker 3>and so like they's just like not really illegal precedent
<v Speaker 3>for mods. I think I think it's kind of just like, well,
<v Speaker 3>get aft if like the people who own it decide
<v Speaker 3>that you don't own this or whatever. Granted everybody's just
<v Speaker 3>been chill about it of like, hey, the community made
<v Speaker 3>this thing be cool at the very least, like reach
<v Speaker 3>out to people, sounds like. And again, the story is
<v Speaker 3>still updating. I've seen in the chat there's like conflicting
<v Speaker 3>reports almost of like well, maybe one of the authors
<v Speaker 3>of one of these models is contacted or something like that.
<v Speaker 3>So maybe one was one wasn't or something like that.
<v Speaker 3>Either way, the fact that one would say that they
<v Speaker 3>weren't is this is coming in hot and messy, is
<v Speaker 3>what's happening here. Not to mention, I'm looking at the
<v Speaker 3>Steam page and under the AI generated content disclosure, they
<v Speaker 3>do say certain elements in the game were improved using
<v Speaker 3>AI assisted techniques. Cool. Cool than the kind of things
<v Speaker 3>that means.
<v Speaker 2>This definitely screams that too.
<v Speaker 1>It's like this definitely sense and the kind of thing
<v Speaker 1>where someone's like, hey, we could just use these tools
<v Speaker 1>upgrade this thing real fast and put it out. Let's
<v Speaker 1>test it out on this game. Oh, this looks good enough,
<v Speaker 1>sell this, and then we'll contact the rights holders. I'm
<v Speaker 1>sure they'll be happy to hear that we're doing it.
<v Speaker 1>But one of the people who worked on the mod says,
<v Speaker 1>I know that the holder of the Scarface license wasn't
<v Speaker 1>willing to re release the game, so.
<v Speaker 2>This is suspect.
<v Speaker 1>It's like, okay, I do tend to trust mod moders
<v Speaker 1>to a certain extent about like, I'm these are the
<v Speaker 1>people who are obsessed with these games, like they're spending
<v Speaker 1>all this time doing that stuff. I bet they have
<v Speaker 1>a certain insight, although of course there's always seen drama too,
<v Speaker 1>so who knows.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe there's a lot more to that story.
<v Speaker 3>Just reach out and they do just know this because
<v Speaker 3>they've reached out at one point.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>It's a strange beast, and I think we'll probably find
<v Speaker 1>out more. It's still listed on Steam, It's still listed
<v Speaker 1>on Epic Game Store. I think, like looking at it,
<v Speaker 1>I think you can just buy it on Epic right
<v Speaker 1>now and start playing it. It says buy now, and
<v Speaker 1>that option is not available on Steam. So yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>guess people can go try this for themselves and report back.
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't a great game to begin with, right Scarface?
<v Speaker 3>Ah, I never played this one. I actually didn't, no idea,
<v Speaker 3>and let me see, Scarface. Is this the one that
<v Speaker 3>because people liked one of those licensed games from back
<v Speaker 3>in the day, but was a Godfather.
<v Speaker 1>No, maybe Godfather's the bad one and Scarface was the
<v Speaker 1>okay one.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, that might be the case. I do not remember.
<v Speaker 3>By way, you can't just buy it on Epic. Apparently
<v Speaker 3>Epic will just take your money.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, okay. I And then also ec Digital. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know if I've ever heard that name before or
<v Speaker 1>know anything else that they've done. So yeah, this definitely
<v Speaker 1>seems like it's worthy of more investigation. Not that like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>I will protect the rights holders whatever, I'll go play
<v Speaker 1>this right now in epic.
<v Speaker 2>I don't give a shit.
<v Speaker 1>Just an interesting thing to see happen in a world
<v Speaker 1>where it's like these things are usually so locked down.
<v Speaker 1>To see someone kind of just coming in and you're like, hey, China,
<v Speaker 1>don't care, We're gonna do our thing. Hell Yah, all right, God,
<v Speaker 1>this this story just keeps popping up over and over again.
<v Speaker 2>But this is new information.
<v Speaker 1>The next Xbox Console is a premium system which shares
<v Speaker 1>some of the quote thinking behind the Rog Xbox Ally
<v Speaker 1>Sarah Bond says yeah from Chris Scullion at VGC. Xbox
<v Speaker 1>President President, Sarah Bond suggested that the new Xbox console
<v Speaker 1>will share some of the thinking behind the recent recently
<v Speaker 1>released a sus Rog Xbox Ally and ally X handhelds.
<v Speaker 1>In an interview with Mashable, it was put to Bond
<v Speaker 1>that the next Xbox console is rumored to be a
<v Speaker 1>hybrid system capable of playing both Xbox console games and
<v Speaker 1>PC games. Well, Bond wouldn't be drawn into confirming or
<v Speaker 1>denying this. Her reply did suggest that the next Xbox
<v Speaker 1>system will have a high price point and will share
<v Speaker 1>at least some of the things in common with the.
<v Speaker 2>Rog Xbox ally devices. Well, I can tell well, I
<v Speaker 2>could tell you.
<v Speaker 1>You're right that the next our next gen A console
<v Speaker 1>is going to be very premium, very high end curated experience.
<v Speaker 1>Bond replied, You're starting to see some of the thinking
<v Speaker 1>that we have in this handheld. But I don't want
<v Speaker 1>to give it all away. I mean, what else could
<v Speaker 1>it be other than well than the fact that it's
<v Speaker 1>going to be a PC with a front end on it, Like,
<v Speaker 1>could it be anything else?
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, what do you think?
<v Speaker 3>I can't imagine what else it would be, especially Yeah, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>I may maybe we overuse this quote bo When Sarah
<v Speaker 3>said that it would be like the biggest generational leap,
<v Speaker 3>we all assume them, Well, yeah, because at least one
<v Speaker 3>skew will be a high end PC, that'll be Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that was the same assumption Xbox Series two xwere the
<v Speaker 3>hell are you going to call that thing? We assume
<v Speaker 3>that's going to be a very powerful PC that I
<v Speaker 3>campower for like one thousand dollars, twelve hundred dollars something
<v Speaker 3>like that, you know, like a mid range to upper
<v Speaker 3>mid range for a PC, but like insanely powerful for
<v Speaker 3>a console. I can't imagine whilse they would do or
<v Speaker 3>that if she's saying like it has someone thinking of
<v Speaker 3>the rock ally well, the thinking there, assuming that she's
<v Speaker 3>only referring to the things that people would see as
<v Speaker 3>good because there's a lot of bad.
<v Speaker 1>I can't thinking, is we're gonna tryge you one thousand
<v Speaker 1>dollars or more?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't imagine what else she would
<v Speaker 3>be talking about there. She wants to talk about good things,
<v Speaker 3>So presumably, yeah, it's gonna be a PC, and they're
<v Speaker 3>gonna really like hone in that Xbox app shell or
<v Speaker 3>the operating system. And if they're saying that, you know,
<v Speaker 3>in the AMD report or whatever, that will have backwards
<v Speaker 3>compatibility again, really hope that means that they're coming up
<v Speaker 3>with a compatibility layer kind of like you know protoun
<v Speaker 3>looks for the Steam Deck or something like that, because
<v Speaker 3>you can't rely on quote unquote backwards compatibility being well,
<v Speaker 3>the games that are on the Xbox ec app are
<v Speaker 3>compatible with this new Xbox, Like that's not gonna fly,
<v Speaker 3>so they really need to store They're shit out and
<v Speaker 3>is the short version of it yep.
<v Speaker 2>I uh.
<v Speaker 1>I will see what the thinking actually turns out to
<v Speaker 1>be and and you know, we I will continue to
<v Speaker 1>talk about the story, although I feel like the you know,
<v Speaker 1>how relevant Xbox is going to be to actual people
<v Speaker 1>going forward?
<v Speaker 2>It is an open question.
<v Speaker 1>But you know, the Xbox is a place where people
<v Speaker 1>can sell video games, and this will affect how people decide.
<v Speaker 2>To sell video games in the future.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm going to continue to be curious about it
<v Speaker 1>from that perspective. And h and then just to see,
<v Speaker 1>you know, this company that's spent seventy billion dollars acquiring Activision,
<v Speaker 1>what is their appetite for building hardware for this audience anymore?
<v Speaker 1>I hope it doesn't go fully away, just because that
<v Speaker 1>shows a certain a certain level of dedication to making
<v Speaker 1>games for those people.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm one of those people. So yeah, I want
<v Speaker 2>to see that.
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know, I wonder if a lot of
<v Speaker 1>this is just talk for now, and once that console
<v Speaker 1>is out it will be I don't.
<v Speaker 2>Know, forgotten, like a Steam machine.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know, like how important is it going to
<v Speaker 1>be for them next Xbox or the rog Aller, the
<v Speaker 1>next Xbox, Yeah, just because like like how important is
<v Speaker 1>it going to be to them?
<v Speaker 2>Really? Like their business model is to sell Call of Duty.
<v Speaker 3>Everywhere, So like if that next console doesn't hit, they
<v Speaker 3>are out of the hardware market as far as I'm concerned.
<v Speaker 3>In May, you'll have Xbox branded things like the rog
<v Speaker 3>ally rog Xbox l I x right.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yes, no, Asus is actually in the name. It's
<v Speaker 2>rog Xbox LIX.
<v Speaker 3>That's the trick there. But I imagine that would be
<v Speaker 3>the only thing Microsoft does moving forward, and they will
<v Speaker 3>not have something that they just call the Xbox moving forward,
<v Speaker 3>which is kind of what their strategy is in the
<v Speaker 3>first place. But that's also not a great sign if
<v Speaker 3>someone who has bought a ton of these studios doesn't
<v Speaker 3>have the console anymore anymore that they were using as
<v Speaker 3>their game pass delivery service because streaming still is not
<v Speaker 3>there yet PC. You know, you're not getting everyone on
<v Speaker 3>PC game pass, so you kind of need the console
<v Speaker 3>to like round out that strategy. If they don't have that, woof.
<v Speaker 2>All right, let's get to the poll question. This one's
<v Speaker 2>from Monday.
<v Speaker 3>Hold. Hold, let's see if we have audio on the
<v Speaker 3>scene this time. Hang on, I think I got I
<v Speaker 3>think I got it.
<v Speaker 2>Test one two? Everybody, can you hear me? I'm here still.
<v Speaker 3>No, I tried. No, no idea why it didn't work.
<v Speaker 2>That's crazy, Okay, fine on sanffis that he did not?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, all right, that's really bizarre. We're gonna, you know what,
<v Speaker 1>we should just rebuild that scene from scratch. Okay, are
<v Speaker 1>you interested in one of those DS style handheld emulator devices?
<v Speaker 2>Three point five thousand people voted did you see the
<v Speaker 2>results of this? Sean?
<v Speaker 3>I did, and we had up on screen for a
<v Speaker 3>little bit. It was forty seven percent yes and fifty
<v Speaker 3>three no.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's shocking to me, But I guess man. The
<v Speaker 1>DS was very popular, wasn't it. Everyone had one of
<v Speaker 1>those things. The three DS continue to also be very popular.
<v Speaker 1>Not everyone had one, but a lot of people did.
<v Speaker 1>And there's like probably a lot of games on there
<v Speaker 1>that people think about, Oh, I can't play that any
<v Speaker 1>other way other than to get the DS back out,
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I'm gonna get a new thing. Maybe that'd
<v Speaker 1>be great so I can go back to play those
<v Speaker 1>Pokemon games or you know, there was a lot of
<v Speaker 1>like standout hits on those devices.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it seems high.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, well it's hard to get a DS in
<v Speaker 3>good shape, yes, and also a lot of DS hardware
<v Speaker 3>is not that good. So, like, especially something like the
<v Speaker 3>Ay and Thor, which has dual O LED screens, it's
<v Speaker 3>gonna be appealing to a lot of people who are
<v Speaker 3>used to just newer, better display technology. And also you
<v Speaker 3>can run all your Emulaid stuff and everything for roughly
<v Speaker 3>the price of what a new three DSXL is going
<v Speaker 3>for nowadays, since they've gone up a little bit, they're
<v Speaker 3>around like they're around like the two third to two seventy,
<v Speaker 3>like it settles around two fifty, which is where the
<v Speaker 3>Thor comes in in the first place. So even one
<v Speaker 3>of those premium DS clones people are looking at, especially
<v Speaker 3>the cheaper ones that are going to coming out like
<v Speaker 3>a hundred bucks by brand new and not to worry
<v Speaker 3>about being brashed to hell by little Timmy on the
<v Speaker 3>second end market or whatever. Yeah, I get it. I
<v Speaker 3>can see why that would be appealing.
<v Speaker 2>I am going to probably end up getting one of these.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure yet which one still though, So and
<v Speaker 1>the thor is still a bit expensive in general for me,
<v Speaker 1>especially since I already have three DS's laying around two
<v Speaker 1>DS's in a regular in an original DS that I use,
<v Speaker 1>So I'm gonna like trying to wait until I feel
<v Speaker 1>really good about it. But yes, still I don't know
<v Speaker 1>almost half a respondents saying that they're at least interested
<v Speaker 1>in one. We'll see if any one of these companies
<v Speaker 1>can really capitalize on that. I hope that the experience
<v Speaker 1>really gets nailed down, because the thing people are going
<v Speaker 1>to get annoy advice if they have to like try
<v Speaker 1>to do a lot themselves. Although Android at this point
<v Speaker 1>you could probably just get RetroArch up and running and
<v Speaker 1>it'll take out the rest.
<v Speaker 3>There's foks of the DS emulators and three DS emulators
<v Speaker 3>that do just native dual screen support.
<v Speaker 1>Now, so okay, that's fantastic. EI here, all right, very
<v Speaker 1>very cool. All right, we have a new pole question
<v Speaker 1>we'll get to here in a second. First, shown, where
<v Speaker 1>can people find you on the internet? What do you
<v Speaker 1>have going on? All that good stuff.
<v Speaker 3>In this seat, doing a whole bunch of stuff in
<v Speaker 3>a very busy week. And then out there on the
<v Speaker 3>East Coast, Giant bombit on Monday, five pm Eastern Mike,
<v Speaker 3>and we're going for twenty four hours, So make sure
<v Speaker 3>I hang out with us there. Make sure I keep
<v Speaker 3>it locked on Giant Bomb for the rest of the
<v Speaker 3>week because we are doing all the normal shows. You're
<v Speaker 3>gonna get your Game of Mornings, You're gonna get your UPFS,
<v Speaker 3>dump trucks, your Dan getting blighted layer today. All the
<v Speaker 3>stars are here.
<v Speaker 2>It's gonna be good and it's gonna be fantastic.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, all right, let's see here new poll question. Did
<v Speaker 1>you play Remedies b C fire Break?
<v Speaker 2>Yes or no? I did? I will answer Yester this.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't play a lot of it, but I typically
<v Speaker 1>played some and I thought it was okay but not.
<v Speaker 1>I also saw why it wasn't winning over a lot
<v Speaker 1>of people. But let's be let's see what the results
<v Speaker 1>for this one are. We'll talk about it on the
<v Speaker 1>show tomorrow here on Giant Bomb. As Sean said, plenty
<v Speaker 1>of stuff happening today. Definitely hang out or get ready
<v Speaker 1>to hang out with us for the bomba don next week.
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, though, I think we should wrap the
<v Speaker 1>show up and say Sean, thank you so much for
<v Speaker 1>hanging out with me today and talking about video games. Man,
<v Speaker 1>I really appreciate it. A fun time, Jeff, thank you
<v Speaker 1>all for watching and listening. Might do a this is
<v Speaker 1>the run here very soon. I'm checking with Dan as
<v Speaker 1>soon as I get off the first run. This is
<v Speaker 1>going to be it, This is this is it. Really
<v Speaker 1>we're going to get a first try. Of course, until
<v Speaker 1>next time, have a good one, take care of yourself
<v Speaker 1>and goodbye.