Conflicting Rumors on the Xbox Console

Go be bad. It's the Internet. You're busy. Let's do this for
February seventh, twenty twenty four. For the next hour or so, let
me help you sort through the world of gaming on Game Mess Mornings Live with
me Jeff Grubb. Today, everyone is still losing their mind about Xbox software,
but what about Xbox hardware? And what classic Capcom franchise is Well return
next, but first please join me and welcoming today's co host to Game Mess
Mornings. It's Lucy James. Everybody, Lucy, how are you doing?
Good morning? Oh, how are you? I'm pretty good. I'm you
know, it was weird my my wife. My wife had a had a
weird job. Things she had to do at like ten pm to till midnight
last night, and so like threw off all the routines and everything. But
all things considered, everyone slept pretty well, kids did pretty good, and
we got going like normal this morning. So I'm actually so I'm feeling surprisingly
good. I did miss my walk this morning because the one kid was like,
she doesn't have school on Wednesday, so I had to come home,
and so I'm feeling a little bit off on that. I'm like I should
have done something else this morning instead of just sat on the computer and get
ready for the show. But other than that, feeling pretty good. I
also am just like kind of NonStop, still like a dragon, and it's
like I'm really enjoying it. But then more and more games pound up,
like, oh I wish I had time for that, wish I had time
for that. And now I'm like, because the Steam next fest, I'm
like actively looking for things to download. Why am I doing this to myself?
I'm not gonna have time for any of these things. But you should
get Children of the Sun. Okay, yeah, see that's the next thing.
Okay, Yeah, well that that one I have heard a lot about.
People have been recommending that one, and I'll definitely check that out.
Yes, absolutely, Children of the Sun is sick. Everyone should play that.
What is Children of the Sun? What is that? Again? To
be reductive? Very super hot, as in, you are a sniper,
you are taking out cult members, but you only have one bullet, so
you have to basically mark a path to hit every single one, and then
you shoot the bullet and when it hits it, when it hits someone you
don't, you can kind of control it a little bit when it moves if
you hit. When it hits someone, then you can change the trajectory completely
and you basically ping it around. It's awesome, leadable, sounds incredible.
Okay, I'm definitely going to be trying that out. Messed up because it's
all like this weird cult thing and you're taking out the cult. It's the
Devolve one, yes, so I would recommend it. Okay, definitely going
to try that out. Looking forward to that. Good. Think about a
lot of the Steam next Les demos. It seems like games are getting demos
because they're going to be out in a month or so. Yeah. Sure
that's not true for all a thousand games, but a lot of them it
is true. And most of them are like an hour long two So it's
lovely, a great time. Our buddy Jane, though, he's been uh
he's been playing at Pilatro, a poker roguelike deck building game, and uh,
he's been playing for more than an hour. Let's say it sounds like
he's been playing for like going on ten hours or something like that. He
just got started. Uh, so it's consumed him and I'm worried about him.
It's gonna be a problem. I love Oh, I don't know if
you can see, I don't know why the car as we've got we've got
a small cat. Hey, what are you doing? She's playing with the
annoying little ball that makes a little So if you hear that, that's what
that is. Don't to worry about I worry about that boy. But you
know he's fine. Yeah, and there's nothing to be done about it.
You just got to sit back and watch it, consume more's that's somebody else.
Uh all right, well you know what. Let's explain what we do
here on this show. Most weekdays, I, Jeff Grubbin, will help
piece your gaming life back together. That includes breaking news and maybe even some
of our own original reporting. For all these topics, I'll get the input
of a bona fide expert who will make me look smart. You were watching
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Hello YouTube. All right, we have a lot to get into,
so let's start the Morning Mess with conflicting rumors regarding the release of the next
Xbox. This comes from Jonas Maki at Game Reactor. Thanks to the leaked
documents from the FDC versus Activision Blizzard trials last fall, we know that Microsoft
has plans to launch a new Xbox in twenty twenty eight, but this hasn't
stopped insiders and leakers from running rampant, and there are now two rumors doing
the rounds in media, one stating that Microsoft will launch its next console in
twenty twenty six, another one that says it's coming later than twenty twenty eight.
The first rumor comes from Insider mag who claims to have some insight in
what Microsoft is doing. When visiting the latest episode of Colt Eastwood's podcast,
he said the next Xbox arrives in twenty twenty six, and that it will
have two skews, one traditional and more powerful and one being more like the
which with a doc connecting it to the TV while also doubling as a handheld
unit. There have been some rumors lately about a portable Xbox, so this
plays into that. Also. Twenty twenty six is something that I think we've
been hearing more and more about. Hang On, Kiddo, The person claiming
that the next Xbox has been delayed is Moore's Law is Dead, a self
proclaimed insider which who hasn't always been accurate in the past, who says that
Microsoft is currently considering Intel processes for the next Xbox and is therefore late with
preparations for their upcoming console as they don't have a deal set with AMD.
As a result, he says PlayStation six will likely arrive before the next Xbox,
and we know that the next PlayStation is kind of aiming for twenty twenty
eight currently. I will say, Lucy, when I like read through these
things, I'm not sure if I am down with what Moore's Law is Dead
is saying, because just because they haven't signed with AMD doesn't mean that they
they've run out of time to make a deal and figure something out with one
of these other companies or eventually with a MD. I think the handheld at
this point is starting to feel kind of inevitable for both Sony and Microsoft.
What do you think, Yeah, I think so. I mean, like
there's no way they'll love seeing the success of the Steam Deck and not gone,
oh, we could do that. And I mean they've both kind of
been involved in various ways. There was that what was that, Like Xbox
partnered with what was it, the Lenovo, that weird handheld thing. It
was just a game pass streaming device. Oh she worked with rock ally Like
for some reason, Microsoft are the ones we're sending like review units of that
out included for three months on that thing. I think, yeah, I
think maybe even with that Logitech G you're mentioning, I think that was also
it came a game pass a little bit. So for Microsoft, I think
they view it as these things if they ship with Windows, that's sort of
our end around there, and it makes it can make a lot of sense.
I do think though, that they need to get to a point where
something is just an Xbox but also way handheld because people as much as I
really like these handheld devices, I don't even like Windows eleven, but I'm
willing to put up with it in a lot of cases because it means some
of these games are going to run better. But most people, I think,
are like, I don't want it to feel like a computer. I
do want to feel like a console. And that's where steam Deck has begun
to succeed. It feels very consolized in a lot of ways, But I
think that Xbox can't just sit back and like let the Windows space take care
of that for them. They might have to step up and do that,
especially if if I think Sony probably is looking into this as well. That
is one of the rumors around right now, is that they are looking into
doing this, and it kind of fels if only done one before. Huh
yeah, right, And it's I think both these companies would be very afraid
of doing something like the Vita again right where it's like the separate track and
it has to have its own games and needs its own support. That's very
difficult. It was kind of difficult for Nintendo. Even though Nintendo pulled it
off for years and years, Sony never was able to really make that make
sense for them. They were always like kind of taking resources away from their
console games, and you could tell the difference and the degraded difference on the
handheld games. But I think if they get to a point where it's like,
no, these things are the same ecosystem, then that really solves a
lot of those problems for them, And that is kind of what I think
makes it inevitable if it is going to be the same ecosystem. And the
the processors are getting to a point where they are efficient enough to make handheld
sort of like, yeah, you can do one of those. Now,
it's going to be about as powerful as an Xbox Series S. Then I
think they kind of have to do one because there's a proven large portion of
the market that want that way of gaming more than anything else because it's more
convenient for them. So, Lucy, my question would be, do you
think when we get to this next generation in let's say twenty twenty six to
twenty twenty eight, whenever these things start coming out, how likely would you
put it that it's going to be a home console and a handheld from either
Sony or Microsoft. Oh, I mean, I think it's probably pretty likely
at this stage. It makes sense. But also, god, it feels
very weird to be talking about the next generation already. It feels like we
just started this one. Yeah, I mean I definitely was like one percent
with that sentiment like last year, and then you know, these rumors did
start popping up about maybe Microsoft might do something as early as twenty twenty six,
and the PS five pro as well. That was kind of like set
this off a little bit because say, okay, well, what's Microsoft going
to do in response to the PS five Pro which does seem like it's actually
going to come out later this year, and so well, Microsoft's not going
to do anything. It's like they might be looking at taking another route.
It's like, oh my god, I guess that could mean that they could
jump ahead and do the next generation a little bit earlier than we were expecting.
Twenty twenty six would put it at like six years, and that's in
twenty twenty six is only two years from now, So these things are going
to happen. They are going to start solidifying here pretty soon, which is
again it's it's strange, it's weird. But for me, if these companies
had a handheld option, I think I would go with that over a home
console in many cases, because I would I play most of my games on
PC, and if the game is on PC, that's where I want to
play it. And then if I want to have an exclusive game on one
of these other consoles, I often were like, man, I wish I
could just play this on my Steam deck, and you know, I've set
it up so I can play I play my PlayStation games on an app that
streams it to my steam Deck, so I'm already kind of doing that.
It's just way more convenient for me as someone who just has a hard time
sitting at the TV away from family, away from from everyone else. So
I think I think that there is clearly a market, but are these companies
going to be able to make it make sense? Because I think the thing
we haven't said here is a handheld Xbox Series S equivalent, even in twenty
twenty six, is probably going to be very expensive and still probably very harsh
on battery life. So this thing is gonna have to have like a lot
of bells and whistles to kind of get it up the snuff and make it
makes sense as a handheld. What do you think that the top end price
could be for one of these? I suppose we're seeing the handout PC gaming
space. Some of them are like seven hundred dollars up to one thousand dollars.
Ye, But if you're looking at the shelf and you see a PS,
let's stick with Xbox and the Xbox Series X two and then the Xbox
SERIESES handout equivalent and they're both five hundred dollars, is that kind of hard
for them to sell to people? I would say so yes, especially because
and you know, both both companies are bringing the first party games to PC,
and so if you already have the Steam Deck, what's to say,
hey, just hold on to that and wait for a little bit longer.
And especially like if you have the home console that I don't know, like
is it even going to run all of the games that you want to play?
And is it going to be able to run God of War or you
know, if the PlayStation version, is the Xbox version going to be able
to run Fable at a quality that is good enough and worth that investment At
this point, I honestly don't know. I think at the end of the
day, people will pay what people are gonna pay, right. I feel
like both companies at this generation got pricing dead on, Like there wasn't you
know, I remember, like you know, Series X and S got announced
and no one really buckled at the at the price. Same with the PS
five, you know, as we've seen with previous generations, like there's usually
you know, both of them coming in around the same price. People gonna
pay. I think, what what was the Steam Deck? Like? I
think mine was six. I think like it started, it starts at like
four hundred for the model without an SSD around there, and then yeah,
the middle six fifty. Yeah that's right. Yeah, people will pay that.
But is it really going to be the best place to play? No,
it's always going to be the home console. So it's interesting. I
mean, I really want to know what the numbers have been like on the
PlayStation. The hot Yeah, I mean I think, you know, I
think it's sold out initially. I don't know if it's still selling out.
I wonder if i'd go into a target and find one. I'm sure people
in chat will let me know. But I mean, like to your point
about like, hey, what games will be compatible with it? And like
the best experience. Clearly, the best experience will still be on the home
console. But will there be examples of a new game coming out to the
next Xbox or the ps PS six and be like, well, actually,
this one doesn't run on the handheld that we're selling it selling to you right
now at the same time for a very similar price, Like that just wouldn't
be an option. I don't think that they I don't think that these companies
that are console companies could get away with that sort of confusion in the market.
The good news for them when it comes to that, though, I
think is when it comes to visuals and and fidelity, we have reached a
pretty decent plateau to the point where if they had to scale down every future
game for next gen consoles to also run on even something down to an Xbox
Series S like that, it's going to be challenging. It's definitely going to
be a thing that is going to be an overall limitter on what games are
what's possible. But I don't think it's like such a limit that it would
be unacceptable, and I think it's something these companies to be like, you
know what, you can do a lot with this stuff, and we know
that the limiting factor for most game developers is not the hardware limitations, even
when it comes to an Xbox Series S, it is budget and time.
And with that in mind, we're just going to ask you, if you're
going to put a game on our system, it also needs to run a
run on this thing as well. And there can be some obviously, there
could be some caveats to that, some peach features in the game might not
work the way you expect, but overall, if a game comes out on
our platform and it's drawn on the handheld. I think by twenty twenty six
that would be pretty aggressive to to enforce something like that. I just don't
think it's out of the realm of possibility. And for these companies that are
looking at okay, how do we differentiate differentiate ourselves going forward? Uh,
they're gonna do something like this is like the obvious way of doing that,
because the way it is now PS five Xbox Series X being so similar.
I don't think it's gonna be like that forever. I think we're gonna get
very quickly here. PS six is probably gonna be very much like the PS
five, and I think Xbox, to differentiate themselves will probably take a completely
different path with the next Xbox hardware and trying to make something that makes a
lot more sense, and that in that case they could do something like go
to arm and use a mobile processor to make a handheld make even more sense
and then figure out backward compatibility from there. Cloud the cloud, the cloud
is always always an option, you know, the cloud. I guess the
last thing about this before we move on, Lucy, is that, Hey,
you know we're coming off a conversation. We're still in the midst of
a conversation about hey, Microsoft's gonna be putting games like a Vout or all
these games that have been mentioned. I don't think of Vout's been mentioned,
but like Indiana Jones is going to go to PlayStation six and Starfield and stuff
like that, and that has led some people to be like, hey,
they we could be in a place where there will be no more Xbox hardware
as it stands today. What do you think. Do you think in the
next you know, twenty twenty six to twenty twenty eight, whatever it is,
there will be a next gen of Xbox hardware? Yes, I think
so. I mean, I think that's the thing everyone is kind of freaking
out about, like Xbox leaving the console space and blah blah blah. It's
like, I don't think they're going to do that immediately. Be interesting to
see, I don't know ten years time, fifteen years time, but it
would be very weird for an Xbox with no Box. Yes, so I
agree. I think that as it stands today, there's just no way that
they don't continue mostly down the path that they're already on in terms of hey,
Xbox is a console that you buy to play game on Yeah, but
I mean at the same time, like we've seen, you know, certain
Samsung TVs have game Pass you just attach a TV to it the cloud.
Everything that they're doing there, I think that is absolutely and also like they're
not going to be putting game Pass on PlayStation. They still need an Xbox
owned device to run that subscription service. So I don't think they're going anywhere
soon. Maybe I don't know. We'll see what happens in ten fifteen years,
but I think that will be another expos right, sure. Yeah,
I think that they are looking at ways to transform themselves over the next ten
to fifteen years, and they are start trying to start to figure out that
process now. But that does not mean abandoning everything that they've done so far.
Capcom Survey asks players if they will want to see sequels or remakes of
lapsed series enfranchises. This is from Chriscoing at VGC and you. Capcom Survey
asks players if they want to see sequels or remix of certain certain games that
have gone by and haven't been around lately. The Super Electronics or excuse me,
the Super Elections survey, which is found on the publisher Capcom Town website
asks ten questions about various aspects of Capcom. One of the questions is are
there any Capcom game series, including spinoff games, that you would like to
see get a sequel or a new game. The following twenty options are given.
I'll give some highlights here, Dark Stalkers, Okami Ani Musha, Dino
Crisis, Devil May Cry, Breath of Fire, Ghost and Goblins, Lost
Planet, Mega Man, things like that. Now, these companies ask questions
like this pretty frequently, but Capcom is one publisher that has said over and
over that they are looking to bring more of their classic franchises back, and
they're also a publisher that has successfully done that repeatedly. Now, when you
look at this list, what stands out to you, Lucy as the one
you would want to come back the most, and maybe the one you think
is most likely to come back. Oh come, I'm so fun. I
no, I mean, look, I don't even know why they bothered putting
Resident Evil on this, right. I think they just did that out of
a force of habit, Like yeah, come on, No, that's the
thing. I don't even think I would actually want a new or call me,
I don't know what I mean lightning in a bottle and also lightning and
a handheld spin off bowl. But I don't know. I think I just
said it. They would be cool to see Dino Crisis back. Hey,
I one second, Sorry, I've got a cat, I've got a yall
at Yeah, no problem. I will say that of these games, like
the one I have heard rumored to me is Dino Crisis is something that they're
thinking about doing, or it's something that they are doing. The problem is
I heard that rumor before Exo Primal, and then I saw Exo Problem,
Like is this what I was getting like tip off about? And so I
was like unsure. But there's still a chance that they are making some Dino
Crisis game and it's just been a couple of years and we'll actually start to
see it soon. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Yeah,
And I think that would be really cool. And I'm genuinely surprised with like
kind of the resurgence of Jurassic Park movies and those becoming enormously successful that they
did. They went like, hey, the kids are like in the dinosaurs
again, guys, maybe we no. The other one would definitely be a
Devil Maye Cry five ripped, so you know, like that's the team that
worked on that is well, it's it's no sound. So he is now
on Dragon Too, right, he probably does go back to Devil may Cry
after Dragons Dragons Sogma too, right? Is that what you think? I
hope? So, I mean, I I haven't really been keeping on top
of Dragon Songma. I don't know what that kind of if they have any
kind of live service plan for it after because online component. But I wonder
if after he will finish that and then he'll he'll go back onto d MC,
which would be which would be great. So I think Last Planet though,
damn, Like yeah, that's like one'd be interesting. I think that
they could totally make it work, and I bet there would be a surprising
amount of nostalgia for lost Lost Planet. Uh. And I think, you
know, with Capcom to give it the real a real shot and treat it
as well as it treats resident evil games, then I think it could even
work for me. I think the like I would love to see Dark Stalkers
back. I think fighting games are just in such a strong place right now.
I would be very cool if they could go back to that franchise and
do something new there and then and then yeah, I mean for Mikey's sake,
I'll say Mega Man, do a new Mega Man game. That'd be
pretty cool too, yeah, Or do it do a really upsettingly realistic remake
of Mega Man one? Do that too? That'd be that'd up upsettingly what
repay up suddenly realistic remake of Mega Man one. That's what he said,
was like, go just like, uh, just a grown man in the
Mega Man suit base, basically the cover art of of the Mega Man game,
but even more realistic than that, even weirder. That's that's what I
want. Uh, let's see the The survey then asks, is there a
game you would like to see completely remade with the latest technology, including characters,
design, and story direction. Uh. This section gives the following nine
options. Annie Musha one through three, Ace Attorney one through three, Commando
Rival Schools, uh Nijo, Rochecho no Koseki, Final Fight, Breath of
Fire one through three, Gargoyle's Quest one and two, and Mega Man one
and one through three. Clearly, you know new games something Capcom definitely is
looking at. But there they have a huge apparatus to remake their games with
the are engine. Uh, of these Ani Musha one through three, three
seems almost kind of likely at this point. Uh, you know they'll do
Dino. Maybe they'll do dinal Crisis first and then you know, as they're
like, they'll probably do several more Resident Evils then and then wrap back around
to some that's not Resident Evil and not Dynal Crisis at that point. And
I think it could be on a Musha, but didn't everyone Everyone thought that
that a new game was that Path of the Goddess was a new one Musha
when it was revealed it you remember the name because you knew I wouldn't,
Yes, Path of the Goddess. That's right. It has some other precursor
name to that. It does have a precursor name that I don't Yeah,
but I remember the Goddess. Uh. Yeah, that definitely has Ani Musha
vibes. I don't know if it's actually related to it, but it definitely
looks a lot like it. So we'll see, all right. Some Nintendo
news, the Tato president says, we are always researching and developing new hardware
and software. This is from my Nintendo news. Basically, there is the
Q and a portion with investors and with analysts that happened as part of Nintendo's
financial earnings habits with every company's financial earnings, and one of the things going
going into this financial report that people were wondering speculated about is maybe this is
when Nintendo finally starts talking about its next gen hardware. That did not happen
straight up anywhere in the in their documentation, and when asked about it that
they were coy and they're like, hey, our main business is the switch.
Still they were asked a little bit more about it, and basically for
Akawa told investors that making consoles is Nintendo's the best strategy and they're so they're
they're definitely looking at it. But all he would say is we are always
looking or we're always researching developing new hardware and software. That's the most he
would give. So this is what else is he going to say? Like,
we're never looking at anything else, right, But it's like, well,
I think the other thing that he could say, in some people's opinion
Lucy is oh, well, yeah, we're making switch to some people want
him to just come up right, and it's uh, this has caused a
lot of people to worry that wealth. They're being this sort of tight lift
about it. Maybe we don't even get a switch to this year. Uh
does that seems extreme to me? Lucy? Is that how you do you
interpret that that that way in any way? No, No, I this
is just a very pr primed answer to stop people, to stop him from
answering a question about a switch to because they are not ready to announce it
yet, and like, yeah, I mean they're always researching and developing new
hardware and software. You're never going to hear a president say no, we're
not looking at anything. We're just you know, we're doubling down on everything
we're doing. We're not going to change, we're not looking at the landscape.
Like You're not gonna hear them say that. This is yeah, pa
of the course answer at this point. And I think it's the stock answer
for a reason, probably because the next earnings report will be the annual report,
because their fiscal year ends at the end of March, and they'll have
to be like, hey, here's what happened last year, and now here's
what we expect for the entire next financial year. And they're gonna have to
explain it if projections. If those projections are through the fucking roof, they're
going to have to say something then. So I think this is all part
of their expected plan. They're like, Hey, we're not going to mention
it now, We're going to have to mention it next time, So we'll
mention it then and either we will have already had a trailer or some event
to talk about it, or we will then go into that very quickly after
talking about it in the next earn inter report. Even if it even if
it doesn't come out this calendar year, it's you know, very likely could
come out by the end of next March. So it's like it's very likely
going to be in that next financial fort and we'll just hear about it then.
So of course they're not going to rush it, especially when they feel
like they probably are going to keep selling a lot of switches and a lot
of software there. You know, they sold one one billion pieces of software
on the switch like about a year ago, and now they've since then they
sold another two hundred million pieces of software on the switch. It's at one
point two billion pieces of software. That is not something that they're trying to
disrupt anytime soon. Yeah, and then, of course, Nintendo president was
asked about pow World during the earnings Q and A. This is from Chris
Scully and at VGC. Nintendo president Shuntaro for Ukawa has come on the ongoing
debate over Powerworld and its alleged similarities to the Pokemon series. Since launching into
early access on PC and Xbox last month, Power World has become a huge
breakout success. By February first, it had sold twelve million copies on Steam
and had seven million players on Xbox. However, the survival game's success ignited
discourse around perceived similarities between its characters and character designs and those of the Pokemon
games, with many accusing of plagiarism. According to Reuters, for Okawa was
asked about the Power World situation at a Q and A following into those's latest
financial results briefing. While for Okawa didn't specifically cast dispersions on Powerworld itself,
he reportedly replied, we will take appropriate action against those that are fringe on
our intellectual property rights. It's just yeah again, what else, what do
you say? But also just like he's like, we will fuck you up.
If you come at us. We will just go so hard at you,
and I think the unset sentence there is we don't know if this game
violated our intellectual property right, but if they did, it will die.
It will die by our by our hands. We will check yes again,
like what else do we expect them to say, Lucy exactly. That's the
thing at this point. And it was like, you know, when everyone
was kind of popping off about Power World, and why hasn't Nintendo responded?
Why hasn't the Pokemon company responded? And we talked about it. It's because
you can't respond hastily with something like this because anything you can say, anything
you will say. Anything you say canon will be used against you in the
court of law. And if they are making public statements, they've got to
make sure they are iron clad. That has already absolutely gone through a round
of lawyers. He's not going to comment on anything else about it until you
know the lawyers have done their job and kind of made their decision, because
that's the thing. They have to make, that decision on whether or not
it's even worth taking them to court if they do decide to do that,
because yeah, if they lose, then it looks terrible for a Nintendo on
the Pokemon company. I mean, and it could have ramifications like that that
would clear a path for games that are maybe even closer in terms of copyright.
It could solidify and protect those games going forward. Whereas it stands now,
a cease and desist from Nintendo still holds a lot of has teeth because
well, then they could follow up with the lawsuit and who knows what the
fuck happens then. And the reality is we have a pretty good idea of
what happens then, but Nintendo's does not want to create further precedent to be
like, hey, these game is closest Power World is protected, and whether
how close Power World is whatever, We can argue about that, but that's
definitely one of the things holding them back. That's you know, I mean,
yeah, go ahead. The other thing about it is that they if
rooms is to be believed, and I'm sorry, the cat is in her
little cat tunnel. She's freaking out. So if that's that's that noise,
If the rumors is to be believed, and we are on the uh,
we're on the eve of a Nintendo director, they're going to announce the switch
to That's what they want people to focus on. If they do not want
people to focus on the fact that Nintendo is being big, bad lawyer lawyer
Nintendo again, so they will wait until the press cycle allows for an opportunity
moment if they are deciding to go down this way, like look at look
at the way Taylor Swift. This is the second time I've made a really
labored Tailor Swift comparison this week. Here for it, let's go, let's
make it happen. Announces a new album at the Grammys, wins whatever Grammy
she won, but then I'm not swiftly, I'm not a swifty Do not
put me in there. But then the next day that's when she sues that
guy who has that tracker for her private jet trying to use. I didn't
hear about that, Lucy. I did hear about the album and the Grammy,
but I didn't hear about her suing him. I didn't. Funny how
that works? Interesting? And so yeah, it's I don't know. I
feel like it's a similar, similar kind of game with something like Nintendo.
I don't get she did a thirteen minute flight. What the fuck is that
about? Thirteen minutes? Get on a like, I get, I get
it. She's very famous public safety whatever. Thirteen minutes, thirteen minutes?
Where did from? Where to? Where? Do we know? Is there
a tracker out there? I can look into to see what where she's going
on a tracker. But it's the same kid who was doing Elons and Elon's
private June stuff too, So I don't get why she bothers with sueing anybody.
She's an NSA agent. Just haven't fucking killed. That's just the best
way to do it for her. All Right, We're going to take a
break, everybody. When we get back, a lot more news to get
into. We will talk about all of it right after this. All right,
we're back, and I have a headline for you. A Vowed team
is actively working on making combat more impactful, says director. This comes from
Michael Kripe at IGN. Obsidian Entertainment has responded to criticism revolving around its upcoming
fantasy RPG, Avowed, saying that there is still work to be done before
players try the experience for themselves. This update on one of Xbox Game Studio's
most anticipated titles comes from the Drop to Frames podcast, which recently invited Avowed
game director Carrie Patel on to talk about how development is going. She says
it's been interesting to work on a vowed while periodically unveilling slivers of content to
the public. However, as fans get to peak behind the curtain and critique
what they see, she hopes they realize that these demos are represent somewhat dated
builds. About has only shown up at events a handful of times, with
one recent example being a gameplay focused demo that appeared at the Xbox Developer direct
in January. We're getting to show more and more, but all of that
is while the game is still in progress, obviously, Patel explained. One
of the heartening things has been seeing fans call out some of the things that
we are actively working on, like the sense of hitting and impacts as you're
attacking enemies. It's like, Yep, what you all saw was still a
few weeks behind where we were even when that footage was released, just because
of the nature of the way these things are put together, and the team's
been working on that specifically, Lucy like, when I hear something like this,
I'm like, yeah, I know that developers always know better than us,
but why then do trailers get shown that maybe don't put the game in
the best light. I think, I think we probably know, but what
do you think happens there? I mean, it'd be interested to know how
long in advance they knew that they would have to have something like this.
You know, back in the day, you would have a developer make a
vertical slice for a demo or something, and that would take I'm away from
resourcing for a time, away and resource away from you know, actually developing
the rest of the game. Like you want that vertical slice to be representative
of the game, but at the same time, it's also something that you
are aiming to And so I don't know why things out of the way they
do. I mean, that's the thing, like game development is not just
like we'll do all this to do all this. It's not doing this in
anyway, right yeah, yeah, And so that's probably just the reason why.
I just the way that things all come together. It's very refreshing of
them to be saying this though, like to say, like this is what
it looked like a few weeks ago. We were actively working on it.
And I think as well, because about had a very interesting showing, I
don't think it was the best showing I think a lot of it looked a
little stilted. I mean, especially when it came to the I thought the
conversation story stuff that they showed off was kind of difficult to understand in context,
and so I think the combat though, I looked at it and I
was like, yeah, I mean to be reductive, I'm getting Skyrim vibes.
They're passing at each other, I'm getting Scaram vibes. But like,
that was twenty eleven, and you expect something with a little bit more game
feel. You want that the activity, you want that feeling of crunch when
you hit something, and a lot of people kind of said, yeah,
it does look a little static. So it is nice to be like,
it's nice for Patel to be able to say, what people are commenting on
is the stuff we're already fixing. I think that's really key. And so
I don't think it was a bad showing for About at all. I'm really
interested to see the next showing of About because hopefully all this stuff will have
been worked on. And also, I guess it's kind of nice or the
fan base to look at stuff and be like, I don't know, I
feel like I made a little bit of a difference. You know, I
think that's cool too. Yeah, you don't you don't want you don't want
fans to be designing and changing everything completely, Like you still want to develop
this vision invested, You want them invested. Yeah, absolutely. I'll say,
like when I've asked about this sort of thing in the past, about
hey, these assets that show up in these shows, what's the lead time
on them? And it's like it really is anywhere from two months to six
months. These things could take a very long time, and they are very
distracting for the team. They take away from primary development of actually making the
game, even if it is just a video, not a demo that you're
gonna be playing yourself, and so hearing it's a few weeks old and maybe
you know, maybe that means about eight weeks. Maybe it does just mean
a few weeks. Well, you know, let's take patl at her word
here, it's a few weeks old. Is that like okay? Is that
something they could change in that time? And it's a well, you know,
we have seen in documentaries about games getting made. I think a God
of War is an example where hey, they're like they were making that game
for a very long time, and they, in their opinion, the game
did not become fun until the last few weeks before they were about to release
the game. And it's like that that is one a terrifying proposition to me,
to be like spending millions of hundreds of millions of dollars making something and
you're not sure if it's fun until the very last minute before you're about to
release it. But I think it does speak to some things can improve drastically
in the last ten percent of building something. In games, it doesn't seem
like that should be the case. It's like it should be fun right away,
and especially if it's something that you're showing off. But you said it,
Lucy. Game game development is not linear. It comes at it from
all sides, and the bill that you're able to show off may not have
everything. I think we are also in this conversation giving them somewhat the benefit
of the doubt here, being like, hey, okay that we are this
is not the final product. We will assess it and judge it at that
time. If you're telling me that this is something that you're aware of and
you want to improve, I believe you, But then it better be visibly
improved. The next time we see it, and then of course by the
time we're actually playing it. That said, I was never too bothered by
Skyrim combat. I don't think like I give people that thinks it's floaty and
waitless, and if that bothers you, hey, more power to you.
It just never bothered me all that much. I'm coming to this game kind
of hoping I'm gonna get interesting dialogue trees and I'm able to have conversations that
lead to interesting gameplay moments. And if the combat is if the meinlee combat
is kind of okay, and then the magic is really good, I think
I'm gonna be pretty set with a vowed Yeah, I'll be doing the magic
anyway. Yeah. Well, Stealth's Auto with spells stealth Archer at the build
that everyone just kind of ends up doing. Yep, all I played stealth
Archer again. This is my fifth play through. I'm still doing that again.
What the hell stealth autism? Oh yeah, that's just make a game
where it's like you could be anything and then somehow you always end up being
a stealth Archer. That's that's a million dollar idea right there. Visual concept
Austin has reportedly been hit with layoffs. This comes from Sophie McAvoy at Games
Industry up is. Two K Games has reportedly laid off an unknown number of
developers at Visual Concepts Austin. Concepts Austin, as reported by game developer.
Former art manager Brad Bowling posted the news on LinkedIn, sharing that himself and
a group of very talented developers had been let go from the company. I
had a great time over the past couple of years working with some of the
finest game dovs in the industry, Bowling said. Over the past twenty three
twenty three years of making game art, I have seen some downturns, but
nothing like this. Former associate software engineer Sidney A. F also posted on
LinkedIn that they had been laid off, along with several other amazing colleagues.
Games Industry dot biz has reached out to two K Games for more clarification.
This marks the second round of layoffs for Visual Concepts Austin last September. Employees
in multiple departments, including production, design and QA were affected. As reported
by game developer Visual Concepts Austin. By the way, everybody they have worked
on NBA, two K and a bunch of other games obviously that Visual Concepts
works on overall visual concepts. I think is I was gonna say Orlando,
but I actually I think that's timber On, who works on the Madden games.
I'm conflating the two. Is it just an Austin This one's in Austin.
Do they not have another one? I'm not sure, honestly, I'm
not positive. Yeah. So well, listen, this keeps happening, not
not too surprising. I think the thing to keep in mind here is we
see the big numbers from these massive studios, but the reality is the small
these smaller teams having you know, a handfield full of people laid off here
and there. That's also starting to add up very quickly to being like this
is really looking pretty rough for jobs in the industry and the ability to make
new games and take risks, and as as Bowling said, it's never been
like this. You know, I wonder if that, like, if that's
true across the board, or if it's like for this particular slice of people
that work on like sports games, being like, hey, well, you
know, we have a pretty good idea of what these games are going to
do, and we're going to stick with it and so it was easy to
predict even through like the two thousand and eight financial crisis. I would imagine
that they probably like, no, the sports games are going to keep selling.
They probably did fine, and now the uncertainty has even come for that.
I think that does speak to an industry that is in maybe more turmoil
than we're even get giving it credit for. I don't know, how do
you feel, loosey? I mean, I don't know. I think I
hope things will just kind of start to even out. I think, you
know, end of financial year, That's what I'm hoping for, because as
well like awful for the people who've lost their jobs, all for the people
who have survivors guilt and now are picking up the pieces. It's just such
a miserable, miserable time for everyone, and I'm just it's it's super sad,
Like we have this conversation every day. It feels like every day.
I'm yeah, just hoping it ends soon, yep, and it probably won't.
That's the reality is where you're going to probably go through this whole year
and it's gonna get worse before it gets better. It feels like right now
what it means for you as a gamer. If you're listening to this show,
I think you probably have a deeper interest than just like, how,
hey, what does this mean for me? But if that is your primary
concern, I get that it probably does mean like there will be fewer games
that will be interesting from big companies going forward for the next couple of years.
It's going to be the stuff you recognize in terms of sequels, and
then stuff you recognize in terms of IP licensing, and even then feels like
we're probably gonna have pretty slim pickings from that. And hey, if you
are looking for a way to counter that in your life, go start paying
more attention to the indie gaming space. There are so many games happening there
that if you could put more money in that space and provide more of a
way for people to make a living doing that, that is maybe one of
the ways that we counter this. All right. That Final Fantasy seven Rebirth
demo is available now, people are playing it. This is from Michael Murphy
at Destructoid. If you want to jump dive into cloud in company's post mid
Guard Adventures early, you're in luck. And that's that the state of play
yesterday. Final Fantasy seven Rebirth is getting a demo and it's out. Now,
your progress does carry over to the final game? I do because I
think this does put you kind of near the beginning, right, I haven't
touched the demo, so I'm not sure. I assume it. Okay,
I'll get you access to the first chapter. Okay, there we wait?
How did wait? Why does the story so your progress carries over to the
final game? And then also there was no mention on where the safe progress
would carry over? It does? Yeah, it does, right? I
thought it does, right, Yes, I think people have been playing it
and confirmed that it does. Yeah, okay, there we go. H
and the five basically seven Rebirth. It's out February twenty eighth, so you
could get kind of started on it now and in three weeks basically be playing
it for real. Progress doesn't trans specifically transfer. You can just skip the
demo portions full game. Okay, Okay, that makes sense. That's where
that's where the confusion was from. Okay, so it's just going to be
an option for everybody. Interesting. Have you gonna check out the demo at
all? Oh? Yeah? Maybe it's so it's a bit where it's the
bit that I played when I was in I did the event in like September,
and there's a bit where Stephan Roth is like, oh, you're panting,
little puppy, and I was like, oh my god. I did
not watch the trailer. I was doing a podcast essum when this event was
happening, but I did see that clip and like, let's like, you
just said those words, and I feel like people aren't they deliver it.
I don't feel like people weren't prepared for what just what you just said,
because it is exactly what happens. It is Cepharov in Cloud in battle and
like looks over at Cloud and it's like like you look at you, You're
practically panting, and then Cloud's like, I'm just excited, looks at him
like such a puppy. Oh my god. That was a bit of like
American dialogue someone says someone said something like oh I got a soldier. Can
I touch your sword? Yeah? Oh h. It has the same energy
as like those side of the website ads for Ebony where it's like, oh
Lord, I want to be your queen tonight, and it's like that's I
think basically what Cepharrov was saying to Cloud. It is one of the most
sexually charged exchanges I've seen in anything in my entire life, Lucy. I
had to sit down after watching that. I always to see the rest of
it. God knows where they gotta go anyway. Bomb basically seven rebirth out
February twenty eighth. New PS five update will make your controller louder and your
console demmer. This is from Darren bond uset game Spot. A new PS
five update is coming, and once it exits the beta of testing, users
can expect a few quality of life upgrades for their console. The big feature
and the next firmware update include includes several enhancements for the duel sense of controllers,
as well as Sony aiming to improve the speaker in microphone functionality. According
to Sony, the controller speakers will be capable of higher volume sound for more
clarity. Meanwhile, the built in microphone is getting improved noise cancelation features a
courtesy of new AI machine learning models. Sony says background noise from button presses
and game audio will be suppressed once the update has been installed. One of
the most unhinged things that it's ever happened in the history of video games,
Lucy is the PlayStation's five launching with a controller that has a microphone built in
that is just turned on by default. Just crazy, but also my default,
and it captures your audio when you unlock a trophy. Yeah right.
It's just a weird choice all around. And so like the first thing I
always do whenever I'm playing an online game on PS five is like, oh,
We've got to turn all this off immediately. Yeah, and then a
demo console. Those lights are pretty bright, but it hasn't really bothered me.
I supposed to blue light though, that will bother some people, especially
if it's like in your bedroom or something like that. I can I guess
see that? Uh, and then let's see here. Yeah. Final two
stories. IGN staff announced a new union amid a hectic media landscape. This
is from Zack Swysen and Kotaku Today. Editorial and creative workers at the popular
video game and entertainment site IGN announced that they are unionizing with the News Guild
CWA. Launched in nineteen ninety six as the Imagined Games Network, IGN was
originally five different websites covering different consoles and online games. Eventually, the sites
were housed under one consolidated brand and began to cover more than just games,
including comics, movies, and TV shows. In twenty thirteen, IgM was
purchased by media companies IF Davis. The website has since grown into the biggest
video game outlet in the world and one of the most popular entertainment sites on
the Internet, with over four hundred and seventy monthly million monthly visitors in December
twenty twenty three. Alone and the staff who are responsible for that success are
now forming a union. On February sixth, the IG and staff officially announced
the IGN Creators Guild, a new union made up of just over eighty writers,
editors and content creators. They are looking for support. They have a
new People can go sign a document and support of them if you go find
their Twitter feed. But hey, congratulations to these guys over at IgM.
Well done. I think this is a impressive thing to do at such a
big company, So shout out to everyone that made it happen. Hell yeah,
IGN and the staff over there. And finally, Skull and Bones has
released nearly thirty trailers over seven years. This is from Zach Swyse at the
Katakues. Ubisofts off delayed open world online Pirate video game is almost here.
To celebrate that fact, the game got a fancy new launch trailer, as
you might expect for a game originally scheduled to release or to launch less than
a year after the after Obama left the White House. This is the first
trailer not even close in two days. Skullo Mownes will finally be playable for
all when it launches to open Bait on February eighth, and then a little
over a week later it will be officially released for everybody. And that's after
a decade of development, promotion, and delays. It was originally meant to
be out in twenty eighteen, but it missed that. Jesus, that's just
a weird, wild thing to talk about. I interviewed hang on way,
wait what year I interviewed. I interviewed them at E three, the first
year they were there, and it was the original creative director, and I
was like, I think they've had three or something. Ye, Jillian,
they like behind closed doors and I was like, even I think I was
trying to get in there to see it and I couldn't make it happen.
And that feels like a life ago in the life because it was. It
is twenty twenty four. Now if people are keeping track, and twenty eighteen
is six years ago. Thirty fumbles, yes, thirty trailers. I mean,
when you really think about it, this was the game that was supposed
to come out like after Hey, Assassine s Creed four, people love the
Pirates stuff, Let's just make a game all about that. It's people love
the Pirates. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. You should put
that out pretty soon. Probably be pretty easy because you already have all this
tech. And now it's twenty twenty four. Like Assassin's s Creed four was
twenty thirteen, right something like that. It was no, you know what,
it was twenty thirteen because it was a the PS four version was a
launch time title. Yeah, so that's what we're talking about, like ten
years after like having this notion occurred to them, excuse me, it is
finally coming out. What what do you expect from Skull and Bones at this
point, Lucy, I really worry that we're going to see the suicide squad
effect in this where it is going to be a bunch of design decisions to
create a live service game on an already outdated model that is not going to
be executed well enough to keep people engaged. I again, similar situation.
This game has been in development for so long, is it really going to
recoup costs? No? Ubisoft also really need this to be a hit,
and I wonder that. Yeah. I mean, like Star Wars Outlaws and
Assassin's Creed Red is also going to be this year and that will hopefully offset
the two of them because they are going to be massive. But I mean,
Skull and Bones is either going to be Like I didn't even realize it
was out. What is it next week? Yeah? Well wait, the
open beta is tomorrow, like the OA. This is a job, like
my job, and I didn't even know that. That's Yeah, that's messed
up, Like just that. I'm like really on me, Like that's not
something. I mean, I think they're kind of I think they're being a
little bit cheekey with this one, like, hey, maybe we're gonna put
that game out, and then I like, have you, okay, have
you received an email about Skull Bones Skull and Bones because I don't think I
have. Maybe maybe you have, but I don't not. Personally, that's
the thing. People think that that's not my job a game, so I
don't do a lot of like I do a lot of chatting to publishers nerves,
but I don't do like the news stuff. No, so I haven't
well, but I guess I should go track down a code for this so
we can play Scull and Bones. Oh my god, I'm so surprised that
like it. Why was this not in the PlayStation direct like bones, like
your PlayStation and you like, can we have Skull and Bones and this again?
At a certain point you gotta be like, no, you've burned us
too many times, like we showed it and said it was coming out then
and then it Wasn't you make us look like jackasses? So I think like
Ubisoft probably knows that they've used up all the goodwill with publishers. Listen.
At this point feels like with scumbones, they are let's just get this out
and get it behind us. But if they are treating it that way,
he look, Kenny, they should have just done that, just get it
out and get get it behind them, like several delays ago. I just
kind of don't know what they're thinking with this one. God, we're playing
Hell Divers too for UPF this week, but like, man, maybe we
should try to get SCALLM Bones in there somewhere, But we have so much
shit happening. I don't know everybody. We will place scallm bones on this
website though. We will make that happens a threat. That's a threat to
you all. All right, ste does it for the news. I have
a pull question. I'm going to get that up so we can talk about
that. In the meantime, Lucy wanted to tell people what we have going
on where they can find you all that good stuff. I that's that's jelly
Bean for those asking. Jelly Bean, Peanut butter and jelly Bean like good
cat names. Anyway, Hi, Yeah, what am I doing? Game
Spot and Giant bumb We are back with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Baby. So
we started Diamond's Unbreakable last week and then we are continuing with that with our
good fantasy Bipatch twelve next week. I am working on I Find a Fantasy
video that's not going to go out for a couple of weeks, so no
point telling you about that. Spot on is this week, we're probably going
to be talking about Xbox and I'm at Dice next week. Oh, I'm
gonna be in Vegas, Baby, talking to I don't know, commiserating with
a lot of people. Probably, yeah, probably, geez ad yeah,
industry stuff. Hopefully it is a chance for everybody to get together and kind
of support each other as well. All Right, The poll question I have
here from Monday, actually it's are you concerned about your digital Xbox purchases going
away? Fifty four say no, forty six percent say yes, Hey,
good news for Xbox. More most people are not worried. The bad news
is forty six percent of people being worried that the digital purchase are going to
go away because of a slippery slope concern about their decisions they're making. Now,
that's a lot of people that is kind of maybe an unsustainable amount of
people that have anxiety about your platform. Which will explain, Hey, that
business update that they have planned for next week, maybe for Valentine's Day is
a gift to us all will clarify this and maybe be able to put people's
concerns to rest. But as it stands right now, a lot of people
very worried about the future of their games. All right, and then a
new poll question which we will post up and have here for you on Games
Mornings tomorrow. Here on Giant Bomb is which Capcom franchise would you want them
to bring back? Most? I can only have five options on YouTube polls,
so those are Putkam on the pole right now. So I put in
Darkstalkers, Imisia, Dino Crisis, Dead Rising, and Okami. Hell yeah,
there you go. So those are your options. Everybody will talk about
that. Like I said on Game lest morning's here on Giant Bomb tomorrow.
Speaking of Giant Bomb, Uh, it's a blake club. You're not gonna
want to miss. That's all I can say. That's all I can said
everybody, But you're not gonna want to miss this Blake club. All right,
Yeah, let's just let's just get there. It's that's going to be
at two thirty pm Eastern today, That is in about two and a half
hours. Mike still playing Mortal Combat Mythology sub Zero. Mike mcwanchie will be
back on there and you're just not gonna want to miss it. Uh.
And then uh, Power BombCast will be doing that. I think we're doing
that live. That's later today, and the voicemailt Dump Truk will be tomorrow.
You're not gonna want to miss that one either, because you'll have a
little bit of update on uh catch me if you Dan, so, which
I'm so happy that that's the name that we want. It's really good.
I'm like, it was so fun to like be on the break and come
back and like this thing was joked about, conceived of execute it on names,
and then it's all happened and I get back, it's like now it's
basically ready to go. Just impressive work from everybody involved. So well,
I missed it and then I just see in slack and that's the thing.
You got to imagine what it's like being in a slack with Don Reikert when
he just put I'm at the airport and I don't know where I'm going,
but I didn't have the context. I was like, Dan, are you
okay? Do you need me to text Bunk? Like it's good, say,
like you know, Dan's like, I don't know how to live my
life. I'm a grown man child. And it's just like, no,
he's fine. You could send him to anywhere and he'll figure it out.
And based on what I've heard from from Jan and from Dan talking about the
trip and Jan is editing the video that you'll get at the beginning of the
episode, hopefully after the train blog. Yes, the train block. Uh,
the it just sounds like he did a lot and it's it's very variable,
so I'm also very excited, all right. Uh. And then there's
more happening, like I said, hell divers to for upf and then BombCast
revengeance this week. Lucy, you're gonna be on this. Yeah, John
mind, would you mind sending me a calendarte? What about that? I'm
gonna make sure that is on my calendar. And then Jane says, what
was that when we joked about the train block? Nothing? Jan, you
don't worry your pretty little head about it. Train gang. Lucy, thank
you so much for spending time with me talking about video games today. I
really appreciate it. I'm gonna go make a big coffee. Thank you all
for listening. I consider taking the train from Cleveland to Boston for paxis.
My MIT's stall like I'm in the process of like figuring out travel right now,
and I'm like I could make that. I'll see, I'll see.
Thank you for watching everybody. Until next time, have a good one,
take care of yourself, and goodbye. I Yeah, pucks East Baby,