[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, spend more time in that world because they know how much people love those characters. I think in terms of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Taking a game and improving it and it truly being the best version of that game. That's what it got with Royal and that is why Michael Hyam gave it a 10, which is deserved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, like some of the appendices bonus content stuff from the DVDs would be in the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't even know that. I think so. I have a weird flashbulb memory of playing the game and seeing, you know, like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Elijah Wood, doing the behind the scenes thing. But this was the team that went to make Dead Space, or at least a lot of folks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Like Steve Papoustis and, uhm, Glenn Scoville- Scofield. Scofield. Scofield. Yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what I think a genuinely a really great Lord of the Rings game is?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it was the first LEGO game where they first started using the vocal stems from the movie. Okay. And it's just, it's just really funny and really cute.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I just googled it and I was like, oh, I recognize that box art. The white half of, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I uhm, man, I was actually taking a nap. I was out the night before I came in. I was taking a nap and then I just happened to roll over and pull up Twitter and I'm seeing like, all right, somebody got laid off and I was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's another person just, what? And then I'm just scrolling through and it's just like everyone, I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What is going on? And then that's when the, the other news hit that, uh, I think it was Jason Schreier's article about final shape being delayed. And that was, I was like, oh my God, I got, I gotta get out of bed right now. I gotta figure out what's going on. And we immediately went live to go see, but, uh, yeah, this is, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This has never happened before. Not like this. I mean, we've seen developers come and go, right? But, uh, this is a completely different animal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I thought that was it for any future content after Final Shape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, that's kind of what that told me. It's like, if you're not keeping him, then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are we just not gonna get any more big, annual expansion set pieces, right? Uh, is it just gonna be episodes? And this, this obviously led me to just start, you know, speculating like crazy, you know, into the, is Marathon the new baby? Is, is that the direction I'm just gonna go?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and you know, and I even put out a video on it, but I since took it down because I was trying to find who's the bad guy here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was like, maybe it's Marathon. Maybe that's taking all the attention away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just have to assume the worst at that, or at least initially I assume the worst. At this point, I really don't know. I really don't know what that future is. I don't want to get too ahead right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I will say normally this time of the year, like I'm already gearing up my first or second Destiny's Dying video, you know. I've got the same copypasta thumbnail and with the graph going down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's too real to even make that video this year, like it's just one of those things where, you know, I saw it probably as early as the final shape reveal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, whereas like last year when Lightfall was revealed, everybody was rushing to pre-order. Everybody was hyped. And you were coming off the, the high of, uh, of Witch Queen, you know, and, and then Lightfall being that Infinity War pitch. And so there was no convincing, there was no talking. I mean, everybody saw the trailer and everybody's like, I want it. But the final shape, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone was still very skeptical, uhm, even though there was some juicy stuff shown to us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone was still very skeptical. And then, you know, the landscape this past year, just so many other options, right? Even in September alone, so many other games to play. October really, really dipped. Uhm, I've actually, you know, enjoyed this past season. I've enjoyed even Festival of the Lost. Uhm, but, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a lot of people that have definitely dipped out of Destiny and they just kind of tune in to see what's happening, whether that's just like news, Twitter or twops, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would say the GDC, I mean, that's a great point, wife. Um, I've got, you know, friends that are, I mean, they, they love Destiny.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Love Destiny. And when I first saw the GDC panel, you know, we broke it down and I was like, okay, I see the business aspects. I understand that who Bungie was talking to, who their audience was, like they're trying to give you this, this flow chart essentially of how to, you know, run a live game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Majority of other people, when they see it, they, they immediately lost trust. A lot of my friends that were diehard Destiny fans when they saw it, they immediately lost trust in, in Bungie. And so it's, that's been kind of, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, what are the things contributing to the decline of Destiny? I, I, like Data says, so many things. I mean, so, so many options of games this past year. Uhm, you know, also, you know, you could say diminishing of loot and, you know, whether that's RNG or versus crafted weapons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you know, uh, you still have, you still have players that are saying the game's not hard enough, right? And then all of a sudden you have players that are like, the game's too hard, right? And so there's, there's a constant balance and, and, um, you know, but yeah, I would say that the player base is, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's fatigued in a lot of ways and there's a lot of contributing factors and it's really hard to just narrow it down on one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I'm always hyped for more content, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just looking though, I got chat here on the side and I'm like watching everybody and, and so I could definitely see the skepticism, uhm, from a lot of people. But as far as like what Final Shape's gonna bring, I think a lot of people, myself included, got baited into thinking that a new subclass was coming. Although,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's be frank, for Bungie to have given us a new subclass, you know, back to back, that would have been...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah. Uhm, but you know, I, at this point, where I'm at is, I'm finishing this out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I, I want to kill the witness. I am engaged with this story. I wish the story would have been, you know, not chopped up over so many seasons and, and, but you know, we go catch a by video and, and, you know, get on board with it before the launch of Final Shape. And then hopefully everybody knows what the hell is going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh man, dude, that's such a loaded one, right? You know, this is one of those things, like I, I visited this topic a while back and, and I just kind of conceded. I was like, I'm at the point where I'm, I'm out of ideas really, you know. Right, interesting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know, my PvP community right now is still like, down with airborne effectiveness, you know what I mean? Uhm. Well, you have a PvP community? There's a PvP community still playing this game? What? What? It's slightly bigger than the Gambit community.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just want to be, I just want to be wowed. And at this point, I don't really know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What WoW is at this point, you know, being 10 years at, uh, going into final shape. Like I'm not sure, but in the past, I didn't even know what WoW was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, we get surprised, like the whisper mission, right? Like, there are moments we've had, forsaken to, you know, where we've been wowed. Uhm, you know, someone brought up yesterday, they were like, I wish Witch Queen wasn't that standard bearer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But uhm, I think there was a lot of things that Witch Queen did right. I felt like scope wise, it, it was really good. And weapon crafting was a really big thing that Bungie brought to us. But for better or for worse, because there's still people that claim that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That ruined Destiny, not being an RNG based game. But at this point, I just concede, I give it to developers and I say, please wow us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Tuesday slash Wednesday, I was just convinced that, you know, we're gonna get the final shake.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Legitimately, it's gonna just look at Marathon to see how well it does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Still keep the lights on for Destiny, of course. Uhm, I know they've got other projects they're working on too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right, Destiny is what keeping the lights on, right. And, and, you know, how these other games do, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I, I don't know how much that's gonna play an effect on Destiny unless it's like, some, some monster blow up, like Marathon becomes the greatest game ever made, right? And then obviously there's gonna be a lot, there's obviously gonna be a shift to that. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, the episodes thing, you know, I don't know because it's not exactly like we're entering sequel territory. Uhm, you know, I, I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely a lot of promises. That was probably the thing that everyone was most skeptical about. I don't think anyone was really that skeptical about Final Shape, you know, being, being the ending that we hope it's, or we hope it's going to be, right? Uh, I think a lot of people were just very skeptical about episodes because people were just like, all right, it's just going to be a, a four month long season.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, so yeah, I think that's kind of where, where Bungie is now. I could be completely surprised. They could turn around and be like, no, we got another annual expansion. We're doing this alongside gummy bears and marathon, but good Lord. I mean, they're going to sleep. I mean, that's a lot happening in 2025.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just gonna say, like, uhm, there are a lot of people that are kinda sitting on the sidelines, and when they look at Destiny 2 right now, and they see everything they have to do to get into the game,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It makes them wary, right? Like it's almost like it scares them away. And so the only reason why I think I would want to D3 is, you know, it feels like everyone would have that fresh start.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, sure. Whatever that first start may be, but it even feels like a fresh start for a lot of people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So at the, at the time, right, like I was looking for that, that boogie man. Like what is the thing that's taking all the developers and all the attention away? And so Marathon was that easy target. And as someone who also plays PvP,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The biggest slap in our face was, hi, here's this, here's this new PV, you know, extraction looter shooter, but here's this essentially PVP game that's going to have dedicated servers, something which a lot of PVP players have been asking for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever technical issues that not be impossible inside of Destiny. Uhm, but you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just from what I've heard, you know, there was, there was a, essentially a, a play test of Marathon from some Torkov streamers and you know, they weren't necessarily, you know, that crazy about it, but it's also been pushed, you know, to me that it was a, it's a pre-alpha, right? And so, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, to put it under so much scrutiny is, is wrong, right? I probably shouldn't be doing that to it. And I have not played it. And, uh, yeah. And it's also been pushing me that, you know, that it's its own thing. It's its own entity. It's its own wheelhouse and that it's not actually taking Destiny developers away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to say one thing about Marathon. Sure, sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even though I've never really been, you know, crazy about extraction shooters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leading into Destiny, I don't think I really played any looter shooters. And so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If Bungie really does present something here that's, that's out there, you know, maybe they will convince someone like me to, to give Marathon a go. Um, now I do want to mention something here and Ralph, you can keep this in if you want. Um, it's been passed on to me that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No other extraction looter shooter has ever done. Uhm, and so, and I was, I pried, I was like, okay,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wish there was a middle ground though, because I feel like if I had to see the PlayStation symbols, that little graphic that they used one more time, I was like, some graphic designer made that and PlayStation's like, okay, well, we paid for it, we gotta use it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He is from the northeast of England, and so he will sound like this, because that's how we all talk, we all have like a weird accent where we mispronounce every vowel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The problem is when I moved to London and I worked for a TV company, uh, they were like, ooh, you can't have, you can't have an accent because people are not going to be able to understand you when we send the feed out. And so I took in the accents of people around me and I became.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, no, when they went past like the sun on the sand dunes and mirrored the journey shot, I was like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you watch season 3 with Aaron Paul and there was an- like, and this is- this is the first thing, like, first of all I went Watch Dogs and it went Payday and I was like, oh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In, in Westworld there was an app, I think it was called Rico?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was basically, if you were a criminal, it was basically Uber for crimes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it would give you crimes to do, and that's immediately what I pulled from it. Because even the aesthetic of that app was this, like the hacker take what's yours kind of stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, it wasn't, it wasn't, it went gold. It was the beta and they were like, okay, well it's playable, but we delaying it. Sorry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, EO Originals has a pretty good track record, like Steve Solitude, what was it, Yarny, Unraveled One.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well thought. So I'm intrigued by it. But for me, the highlight of the whole thing, Alan Wake 2. Oh my god.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, two protagonists, so you've got Alan and you've got Saga, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, and they're fully going for psychological horror. I'm so like, cause I replayed Alan Wake last year. I replayed Remastered and it was like, I still enjoyed it. It's still, I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the very first sentence he mentions Stephen King and that's when I knew that I was like, oh man, it's fine. Stephen King, Twin Peaks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The balancing is not quite there. I would say even when Control came out, the balancing was not quite there. And so...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and so they, they changed a lot with patches and, uh, different accessibility options and stuff, and so it was much easier to play and kind of a lot, felt a lot fairer, at least with Control, but with Remastered, there was still some bits where I was like, oh, if I wasn't so determined to beat this game, I'm gonna drop off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but I loved it. I'm very into the Remedy connected universe and all the weird stuff that they're doing. Northlight as an engine just looks...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lovely. Like, the tone of it looks...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The We Shop update video who directed it, which is, blew my mind every once in a while.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first, um, Final Fantasy VII remake trailer. Yep. Same thing. When you come up to cloud with a sword. Yeah. Like, I get what you mean about waiting for that moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was with Tam, and obviously Tam was super excited, but like, we haven't filmed this yet, so I don't know how our conversation is gonna go, but spot on this week is basically...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're concerned about Metal Gear Solid and it is, partly to what you said, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So for Konami, a video game, well, partly a video game company, what was the last meaningful big AAA video game they released? And it was eFootball.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who is even making it? Like they won't say, they just say development team. There is no name attached. I know that Konami moved away from.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having names attached to things, uhm, with Kojima, uhm, you know, obviously stripping him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean EA pulls in a billion per year in FIFA, right? So they, I mean, at least, and so Konami obviously.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have the pichinko machines, which is a huge, huge thing, but you know, they've diversified so much that I don't think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, if you look at recent games that Konami have released, it's all mobile in particular. Like you said earlier, Ralph, they're not a video game company at this point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a cooperative game designed by Emerson Matsuchi, illustrated by Marco Cicchetto.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh my god, there's even like a little thing of the box. Aww, this looks cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, that's, that's the one where it's, uhm, they fucking try and do the Doc Phoenix saga.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They just cannot, they cannot get to grips with the fact that that girl could eat a son. She eats planets, right? And then, and then in the fucking movies every time it's like, ooh, she's just, Jean's not feeling so good. She's a little bit evil. She ate a planet, ate 9 billion people. Like no, leave Jean alone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I will preface by saying I'm not a big Spider-Man fan, comic-wise or other, but this piece of the showcase for me was very overwhelming because I don't have the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The webs, the threads to kind of pull on and so for me, it was so overwhelming. There was so much that they were throwing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was just only in the moments where things were a little bit more focused, like in the actual combat section, or in the point where you see, like, character swapping, and then it kind of did the whole, like, throw everything at the wall thing, and I was just a bit like, oh, I don't know if I'm even following this, like, this feels like it would be more fun to play, but as a viewer, who is slightly more disengaged because I don't have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think with video games that you've got, like, there is places to breathe with a video game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I think just in terms of like showcasing it, it was like war. Just everything. Everything everywhere. All at once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Game pass thing. G-cloud. Yeah. People still using that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, genuinely, because at one point when I was at school, my German teacher said, if you get stuck on a word and you don't know the German for it, just say it in English, but with a German accent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a bad daughter. I recently cut my family off, uh, from my Netflix. What?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I was a good door, I would pay six dollars per household, but I'm not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I spend a lot of money every month on streaming services. I have...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All of them, which is quite scary, especially because in America there's a million. Uhm, but I also do use ExpressVPN because in my...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Neverending quest to consume content. Sometimes the things that I want to watch are not available in America. And as a British... Exile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a lot of BBC stuff that I wanna watch that I can't, so I use ExpressVPN.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but yeaah, so there are so many things on these online streaming services that are not available in every country, so I use ExpressVPN to get around that. Uhm, it's so, so easy, do it on my laptop, I just change the location and there I am. It's like I'm back in the UK watching Grand Designs with a glass of wine. Which is, I'm just doing it in America now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, okay, so Overwatch 2, Blizzcon 2019, first of all they announced, hey, it's Overwatch 2, this, and the real thing that the two hinged on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was the fact that there was gonna be a PvE mode called Hero Missions, uh, which is replayable, story-based missions. One of the key features, uh, was that, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Overwatch heroes have a number of abilities, a set amount of abilities in this mode.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There would be a talent tree, you could spec your character in a certain way, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tracer, for example, could have different ability. I think there was one where it was like every time she would blink, she would reload or something and you could build your heroes the way that you liked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, this mode was gonna launch with Overwatch 2, uh, Overwatch 2 has had a bit of a rocky road, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, they, the fact that there was this PvE mode.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bunch of balancing issues. This has been rough for Overwatch. It's still a really great handling game, I will say. It's still my comfort game. I still love Overwatch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then they changed the release date to be October 2022, but they said that the PvE hero missions would come later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We went to Blizzard, Tam and I, uh, last year and we talked to Aaron Keller and he was like, oh no, PvE will be coming as part of season pass content.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause obviously we moved to free to play with a battle pass system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, we were expecting it to launch in spring of this year. And yeah, we had the news last week that the mode has been canned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you, like, we had, so GameSpot, uh, Tam did an exclusive interview with Aaron Keller.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, a producer on the team whose name escapes me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but basically, I mean, it sounds, it's, it's the classic Blizzard thing of, hey, this isn't gonna work, we don't wanna release it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, Overwatch, as we know, came from the ashes of Titan. You know, they were like, this game isn't good enough, we're not gonna release it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they just felt like production wise, they could not invest the time and resources that the PVE needed for it to be good enough by their standards. And when, if you read the interview, they were like, yeah, each


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Each hero is gonna have 40 to 50 abilities. We're at 35 heroes now? Which is, you know, that's just growing and then they're adding it, they're trying to add new hero every other season.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I totally forgive them for that. There is still gonna be PvE content coming to Overwatch in Battle Pass, uh, like they have archives, they have a bunch of stuff, they have story arcs that they're gonna introduce, but yeaah, losing this mode I think was just very...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very rough, but I also think, in a way, the Overwatch community doesn't necessarily know what it wants because people were bitching about this mode when it got announced, they're bitching about it that they're not getting it. I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're working on something for, you know, if it was playable in 2019, when would they have started working on it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Continue working on it throughout a pandemic. Releasing Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2, bye!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By Blizzard's can at least is a success and that's great, like I love that game, but it keeps getting battered with like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it's, you know, as a, as a live service game, it's made some missteps. There have been issues with the store and microtransaction stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The esports scene, not necessarily, I mean, esports in general, kind of, imploding. Uhm, but you know, it's, it must fucking suck, and like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I'm disappointed just because I love Overwatch. Like, my desktop background right now is D.Va, still. Uhm, I have a bunch of Overwatch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Two diva prints right there. Uhm, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I mean, so at this point, we are six years into Overwatch franchise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even I, like, you know, dipping my toe in, I haven't played Life Weaver, I haven't even played Ramatra? Ramatra?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, like, I'm still very much in the first 30 heroes, I would say, 32. I can't even imagine what that experience is like for a brand new player.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because when everyone was figuring Overwatch out together back in 2016,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, there was 20 heroes, but it was, that's, that's manageable. And they were set in certain ways. It's like, okay, I know that you're damage here. I know you're attacking or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I- I wonder what that onboarding is gonna be like. Are they gonna introduce picks and bans? How do you...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How do you get a new player invested in a game like Overwatch who hasn't been there from the beginning when everything seems so overwhelming?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's, I think, I think PvE would have been a great way to do that, like get used to the heroes, understand, I think crucially in Overwatch is understanding what the other heroes can do, like listening out for specific voice lines. I really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying it's bad. That's just, that's just my, like, cry to myself. I mean, if I think about how much I used to play Overwatch, it was every day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Logan Paul song. Uhm, but now, you know, I mean...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've got a couple of groups we, we barely get together to play anymore. I played on kind of funny stream a few weeks ago. Um, I still boot it up every now and again. I'm like, oh yeah, this still feels great to play. It feels great to play, but it's like, it's, it's not got its hooks in me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was it Anna? No, that was, I can't remember the hero, like, maybe not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, after it was Echo. Oh my god, it was two years!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that was in a beta! That wasn't even in full game! That's wild.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is baffling to me that Blizzard is not doing that with Overwatch. Maybe they are, and maybe we'll hear about it at BlizzCon, but like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They are already creating Pixar-esque, like-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I need to be doing more. Like, where is the Overwatch animated show? Where is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm super bummed about it, like, and obviously not as bummed as the Team 4R feeling, and I hope this doesn't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something I would describe as being very beautiful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe someone who is unfamiliar with video games could look at it and appreciate on an artistic level. I would say something like Okami and the traditional uhm, kind of Japanese style.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, or if you're looking at, you know, something like Journey, you know. Hello, dog.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No one's gonna say I'm excited about Alan Wake, but Metal Gear was the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you think they'll ever, I mean, they tried it this year, didn't move ahead. Do you think they will ever try it again?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is there anything you can tease that you're particularly excited about?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yea, the LA studio, so I'll be, I'll be down the road in, uh, wherever it is. I don't know, LA's too big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Salacious Bee Crumb, Babu Frick, uh, Turgle, I mean I'm just naming Star Wars little freaks. Yep, that's okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a bit where you go to his office and there's an option to steal a bottle. So I did and I was like, oh, when's this going to pay off?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then there's a thing where it goes, cut two years later. Years!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was walking down by an orc and at this point Gollum is established in the slave pits. He does the candle man's bidding. He's like the pet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are points where you climb, and have you heard this? Where you climb the game and the camera turns.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When that prompt came up and I was like, ohhh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, uhm, did you guys, did you guys find that, uhm, so there was, there's a room, uh, and I've, I've replicated this in like a bunch of places, but if you are not on the same level as the AI, if you're on like a slight thing, they can't, they can't get you. So there was, there's a room where you go in and you're kind of on this, uhm, platform.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and there are two guards walking around and you have to use a rock to turn out the lights because that's seemingly the only thing that Gollum can do. Uhm, you go into the room and they see you straight away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I backed out of the room and I clung on the ledge so they couldn't see me. I waited for the alert meter to go down and then I was just, I went back in the room and they just-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so Giant Bomb has a new partnership with NZXT, so I have a new PC with a 4090 in it. Flawless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have that hair physics turned on, cause it's fucking...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're clearly, and I mean, you know, all this stuff about Embrace are gonna make loads of Lord of the Rings stuff, uhm, Amazon's obviously wanting to get in on the pie. It's like, is this the bar of quality that we can expect?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, the, I mean the death animation when an orc catches you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Poor richard producer was like, oh, it's Lord of the Rings, I'm still gonna play it. And we were dropping clips in and he was like, just, you know. Actually not. Actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Six years ago, May 23rd, my life changed forever with a little game called Overwatch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was always a very sort of solo experience for me and then in Overwatch I had, it was the first time I properly had like the crew where we would get together every night, we would play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know, I was living with an ex-pawner at the time and like, we would have two gaming laptops on the dining table. We had a WhatsApp group that was always popping off with like, hey,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's nine o'clock we get on, you know, and then everyone's in game, we're playing, we would stream it, we had like our own memes and it was, you know, I played with Tam and like, uh, Dave from work and my friends Kat and Pete.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then we, it was just like, it was the best of times and that was back when Overwatch was just free for all. Like you could have multiple characters of the same character in each match. Like you'd have one game where it would just be one Lucio and five Winston and it was just the most fun. And then I moved, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To play on PlayStation with a different group of lads and then I play on PC with another group. And so it's been a real.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Formative experience for me in terms of gaming with others and just, I've had so many good times, so many.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So many bants, and, uh, sad to see it in the state that it is, still a great game, but, uh, you know, it's like that fucking quote from The Office where it's like, you don't know the good days until they're gone. And I was like, aw man. It's one of those, oh that meme where it's like, one day you'll sign out of MSN for the last time. MSN substitute, that's like awesome, but what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm on Twitter at Lucy James Games, you can find me on GameSpot and Giant Bomb, and I don't really have anything else going on. I'm just excited to see you boys in person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey everybody, welcome to episode 16 of the Friends Per Second podcast. Thanks for joining us. Uh, it is just about the beginning of March 2023 and we got a lot to talk about. I am your host this week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jake Baldino, I'm joined as always by Mr. Skill Up, who is graciously hosting this video on his channel, but the podcast audio version is available everywhere, of course. Lucy James from Giant Bomb and GameSpot, how are you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am alive. That's what I said to you before the podcast. That's all I really got.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but last but certainly not least, uh, Gerard couldn't make it this week, but we are joined by Blessing Adioye Jr. How are you? I'm doing awesome. How's it going? You are, this is second time? Second time, correct? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Thank you so much for having me back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh man, uh, we do have a lot to talk about this week, so let's just, uh, jump into it. Uh, the big thing, the big story is Suicide Squad. Uh, this kind of popped off during a state of play that went down last week, uh, where Rocksteady showed off a bunch of gameplay and, uh, the takes were...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wild. From social media to downvotes on YouTube. Uh, it hasn't been received.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very well. Ralph, would you like to give the spark notes as to why? Uhm, well, I think


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the suicide squad who a lot of people would argue right now are like overexposed. It's like, all right, you guys have had how many movies and like, what else are we doing with these guys? But the fact that Rocksteady's doing it and I still want to see it, I'm not tired of it just because I like their spin on things. Uh, like, so I'm just kind of like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just defensive where I'm like, I don't want this stuff to get in the way of a good story. Like I want to just play through a good thing. I don't want to hear Kevin Conroy's voice for the last time be like, Oracle, I need to grind three rare metals in order to unlock this next chess piece. Like it's just not what I'm about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like genres, it's like the, that formula just works better with some genres, I think. At least that's my preference, where like, I see Suicide Squad gameplay and it looks...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm happy to be proven wrong. And with a game involving the Arkhamverse and with Rocksteady, I will be like really happy to be proven wrong. And I'm open for it. Like I'm open to it. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so you can send us questions for this podcast. You write in at the very special email that only Ralph will ever remember. That's right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, we had a lot to choose through. It's been hard. Uh, so we're starting off light. We had to lighten it up after that heavy talk. This is from Pet Pumpkin Dev who asks, if you had to transition into a job unrelated to video games, what would it be? Uh, Lucy, you want to go first?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I kinda go to like what my fallback would be if like this all collapses tomorrow. I would like to use my video editing skills, like my trade, uh, to like edit wedding videos for people. I just feel like that's nice. Yeah. Uhm, it seems like a nice job. Uhm, I also, why are you laughing at me?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, that's the thing. Like I feel like that's the part of my job I like doing the most sometimes is just a big timeline in front of me on an editing program. And also if there was a job specifically to fix other people's shit,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love Frankensteining and fixing and video editing like the magic you can do to like fix things that are like just falling apart like a bad video or like a messed up edit or like poorly shot video.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was, that was a trip. That was, yeah. That's what I do. Probably video editor or I really like the jobs that also.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Benefit you, I guess. I am not athletic or a fitness person, but I would love to be a personal trainer. It seems great. I look at these fuckers on Peloton all day and I'm like, you get to just do this and it's a job and you have to work hard, but you also, your body is better for it. Good for you. That's great. That seems nice. And I would like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cool. That's cool. I'd wanna do that too. I've, I've thought about that. The only thing, especially cause like you see content creators make easy mistakes to avoid. Like every, on the daily. I feel like I just see everyday. We also make those.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolutely. We've been through it all. Yeah. The only thing I've always kind of held back from teaching is that I worry, not to get deep, but I worry that the landscape changes so quickly and so rapidly that by the time I got set up to actually teach or mentor somebody, I'd be old hat and like, I barely know what I'm talking about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next up, let's move on over to some video game talk. So just to rattle it off real quick, for those of you listening or watching at home, uh, the release list as of right now, the big thing is PlayStation VR 2.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, the big thing, you know, the main thing was call of the mountain and I'm not finished with it, but I like it. You know, in some ways it feels a little bit like baby's first VR game where it's like, look, ooh, ah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But once you get into it, it's got some, like, actual video game mechanics that I kinda dug.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I like putting together my tools. I like using different tools. I like kind of doing the Shadow of the Tomb Raider jump to pickaxe on cliff. To do that in VR is very satisfying. Uh, and it's just cool. The main character sounds like Nick Cage. It's really weird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it's hard for me though because I'm not a ride or die for Horizon. I, I, they're good. I just, I'm not like in love with them. So I come at it from that. So it's, it's no, but I think even in terms of,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I still feel like the only... Yeah, I don't want to get too into it. Yeah, I don't think... Nah, I don't think so. That's a long, complicated way of saying no. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're on the climb then. That's the one thing is that there's no challenge with, with the climbing in Horizon and I, not really, except for a couple of maneuvers where I wish it actually, cause it's very much ripped from the climb. It feels the same and I love that game. They made a second one too and I totally never played it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but I wish they added a little bit more of an element of challenge to it because you're right, you are climbing a lot. A lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The main case for gaming in VR still is, like, where it just translates the best is racing. When I first got the Oculus Rift, I did dirt rally, I think it was, and I was like, holy shit, this is where the magic is. And Gran Turismo 7 totally


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Straight up, same thing, right? Like you just, you just, it's like as soon as you start driving, it's like anyone can just get into it. If you can kind of know how to drive a car, at least in a video game, like you're like, okay, I look around, here's the mirrors. Like it just, it's such a natural thing where still a shooter or like a combat game in VR isn't totally natural. Driving in VR is, in my opinion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It also empowers, uh, other modes, like, and I mean, it would be good for Forza as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the like car viewer mode where you get to just like walk around the car and look at it because the developer is like, especially polyphony digital. They're so crazy about the detail and getting everything right where normally I go, that's cool. And like I click on it. I'll like spin around the car and go, cool. Nice job, everybody.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Experiencing it in VR, you really actually can like, I was clicking on cars I know I would never see in real life and I'm like, I wanna, I wanna see this up close and like walk around it and like check it out. And I love that. Like I actually was a surprise that like that was like a secondary really powerful feature that came from it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But here it like tones it back down. Whereas Village is a little more intense, a little more action-y. Uh, it makes it way harder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I didn't get to that yet, but from the beginning, even just like the early, like the first run and gun attack, like when they're all chasing you and you just have to survive until the cutscene, that was agonizing. From me scrambling to try and reload to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has some, it has some weird stuff like that where there's a lot of things that Ethan does in the first person camera mode in game where he'll like look down at his leg and like pull a knife out of it or something. And you know, if like you're leaning over a little bit or it's not always lined up right, like they don't always have the perspective right. So sometimes it's like you're clipping through his.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Arm or whatever, but it, it really was something else and I think people should definitely not, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't write that one off. Even if you played 7 in VR and you were like, alright, cool. Like this one, I was really blown away by.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a question. Uh. What happened to that cool robot? There was like the one who was cool. He was like a Nathan Fillion robot. Kate Six?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like he's the only, like this is my headcanon, but it's like he's the only robot in the whole Destiny world that had sex. Like he just gives off that vibe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, I have put a handful of hours into it. Blessing. You said you're almost finished with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nice. I, I'm happy because I, sometimes I have to like drag myself into these games, like Souls-like games. They don't come natural to me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm very bad at them. I like, I like diving into them and like learning why people like them or why this specific one works. Elden Ring did click with me, uh, but this one I was like, oh, I can't, I don't want to do another one. Like I like, I just, I don't seek these games out. I don't like getting my ass beat like that. Like that's just not my idea of a good time. Uh, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It hooked me pretty quickly. Uh, it was really, it was the challenge of the first boss, but getting it. And then from there I was off to the races and I was like, Ooh, I like this. Uh, it rewards people who, if you're more of a dodge person, if you're quick to always hit dodge out of the way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's good for that because circle button is essentially the, the parry type move. Uh, and it's really satisfying. It is definitely, it feels like they were like, okay, we made a dark souls. Now let's make like a kind of Sekiro. And now I'm like, okay, well, I wonder what their Elden ring is going to be like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I meant to do it 100%. And you're lucky with it. I don't think you have any, like, iframes with it. At least as far as I can tell. I'm not sure. Yeah, I don't think you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's cool though you do a cool little round off spinny kick if your equipment level is down, which you mentioned the choreography and it's from the different weapon types.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's impressive stuff. I think, uh, I think people are going to be happy with it. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next up, uh, some other, like, kinda random things you guys have been playing. I wanna hear about Final Fantasy 16.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm really excited. Thank you. The preview cycle worked. It worked. I'm hyped. It's like I, I just always show up for Final Fantasy mainline games, but after hearing it described more and hearing more about the combat, I am like, this one seems like it's for me. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They need to, they need to do that. Yeah, represent me, dammit. Let's talk about Hitman Freelancer. Lucy, you wrote this down? You've been spending some time in the updated Hitman new mode?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love the series and now I'm, now I have another reason to replay them. Uh, next up on the list we got something that is not a game, it's called Dice. Lucy, you are at Dice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Lucy, if like, so is it more, so if it's a more developer focused thing, like if you're a budding game developer, should you go to this? Is this like a place to meet people and hand out a business card or your resume?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just wanna meet the guy who made Flappy Bird. I hope he's there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, let's move on over to, uh, the Q&A, the next Q&A question from a listener or viewer, not a user, I gotta write this time, uh, is from Andrew. Andrew says, uh, hello guys, my question is, uh, if you could make Nintendo's next console,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What would you make? Would you go down a more powerful switch route or would you do something completely different? What features would you like to incorporate?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll start. I like Nintendo's insistence on always having like a weird quirk or a weird spin, so I'd probably do a bunch of drugs and just come up with some weird ass thing for it, but I will say whatever they do,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would very much like for them to keep the flexibility of the Switch. I love being able to dock and go handheld. I find that invaluable. For me, that's a big selling point of the Switch. It's part of the fun. Uh, and I just, I just want them to keep doing that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's move on over to another topic, side topic, uh, blessing actually comes to us with a pretty special video, uh, that, uh, him and his team put out on kind of funny games. It is called specifically, uh, we need to fix black hair in video games. Uh, it's a special version of the blessing show. Uh, we highly recommend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's got everything, like it's got developer interviews.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You interview regular old people, uh, it's got social reactions, it's got history, it's got context within game development, it's got real social issues, it covers everything and I'm almost at this point, like, any issue, any topic, I want it to be explained to me and presented to me like this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We recommend checking that out, but I think where to start.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, when did this topic first hit you? Like, when did you first get hit in the face? Like, what was the first game where you went to create a character and you were like, wait a minute, why is there no hair like mine?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sweet. Alright, well, we got our final segment here, uh, this week in the way back, uh, usually hosted by Gerard, but he's not here. Shout out to Gerard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking of him, uh, we'll probably talk about it more in the next episode, but uh, I'm going to be at PAX East. Gerard is also going to be at PAX East. Gerard is hosting a cool event on Sunday. He's putting on a live performance, so go check out his socials.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so let's jump into this week in the way back or the games of our lives. Uhm, I'll go first. 12 years ago, uh, in 2011, Fight Night Champion released. And this is significant to me because it's technically the last Fight Night game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Analog sticks and directional movement of bodies and also just really really good visuals and details to the characters where you see their faces get swollen, you'd see them get bruised and you'd see their posture change and that was almost like an indicator as to your characters like endurance and health.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And stuff and it was just such a creative series and I really love it. Uh, some developers, uh, the game is on the tip of my tongue, but some developers are trying to bring it back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just that style of boxing game, cause EA clearly doesn't have any interest anymore. Uh, shout out to them, but Fight Night Champion's mine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well with that, with that Lookdown Memory Lane, that's another episode of the Friends Per Second Podcast. We're here every other week, so be sure to check us out. Blessing, thank you so much for being our special guest today, filling in for us. Uh, where can the people find you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hit it for sure. Also, uh, Lucy, where can the folks find you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I'm joking. I'm Jake Valdino. You can find me on the internet, game ranks, whatever. Enjoy your destinies. Tie your shoes and go to bed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, I don't honestly think that we have, we would have on, on, on creative matters, we would have argued once during the whole thing. Like, like it, it just so much a shared vision.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, that, uh, it, it, it feels that, that by this kind of an approach, uh, we can, we can for sure get more done, uh, uh, than one person would. And, and, and the great thing I think with me and Kyle is that we care about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, so, so just kind of like pushing certain things forward and catching certain things, we have a wider spread between us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Coming out of Alan Wake 1, it just felt like everybody had moved away from single player story games. Like it, it felt like it needs to be open world, it needs to be multiplayer, uh, all of those things. And, and, uh, yeah, even like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what had happened at Microsoft Studios was our kind of like first address to go and pitch the sequel as we had done the first game with them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And after that, like with Mikael Kasurinen, who is the game director on Control, the whole franchise, we created a pitch for Alan Wake 2 that was kind of a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It had some of the ideas that Control embraced on the design side, coming from Mixu really, uh, is, you know, the superpowers and the kind of a hub-like structure of it, uh, and, and,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Turned into control. And, and, and after then, like coming out of control,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So focused in creating this and getting it done and kind of like, as always, like things are coming together in this kind of a scramble of chaos.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean the story has changed quite a lot through the years on different concepts and, and, and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But maybe because of that thinking along the way, uh, when going into this, I, I did have a very strong vision of, of the story that I wanted to tell. A lot of the details were missing in, in, on, on different levels, but, but, but certain kind of like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it's the normal actual iteration process of diving deeper. I got Tyler Burton Smith.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and, and he's more focused on film and TV and has been for, for few last years, but I love collaborating with him and, and, uh, I called him up and, and we spent several weeks, uh, workshopping the details of the story.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll openly kind of reveal things that didn't go into the game now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because of the Nightingale scene at the beginning of the game, and this is supposed to be these twisted echoes, uh, the, the character I'm playing ends up, well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's not here, he's in the states in LA and, and, and so kind of like we were looking for these modular things that, that he could just take and write while we are focusing on the bigger story. So Tyler Reed and, and yeah, they, they, they are hilarious. I love them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We started out, uh, uh, here and, and I'm a Finn and, and so like, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and all of our games have been set in the US, so, so been drawing very much inspirations out of that. But then, like, there are these


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, the wilderness and, and, and, you know, light and dark, which is a big thing about kind of seasonal change in Finland, like, like wintertime is pitch black and summer is all light.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's suddenly not a cliché of like, like what kind of a, you know, this, this kind of a comedy figure of, of a Finnish man, say. And, and drawing from that to Ahti, in some ways, uh, these elements, and Ahti was so well received, like, like such positive,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Honestly, even Saga's character, I am obviously old gods, then like having a Nordic origin point and Nordic background and on Saga's side, like she says early on that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so, so even there, I felt that that kind of like we can, we can bring it close to home in, in.


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[Assistant] So, so yeaah, yeaah. Anyway, like I feel now, and, and, and we can say this looking forward, before somebody now tells me, you need to stop, this is enough, this is now too much. Well, I, I, I think we'll have more finished stuff. Yes, definitely.


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[Assistant] Yeah, obviously it kind of going back to, you know, original Alan Wake inspirations as Stephen King and all, obviously an amusement park is, is kind of your, your horror


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[Assistant] That's always part of it and part of the fun of it, kind of analysing it.


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[Assistant] But then at the same time, we wanted to have another playable character. We wanted to have Saga with no prior knowledge of any of this and, and, and, and for new players and


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[Assistant] And even old players coming into this new experience and world of this game while like, she's learning, she's discovering and so are the players. I really, really like, honestly think


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[Assistant] Well, that that's for everybody to say how he succeeded was that that.


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[Assistant] It goes in some ways all the way back to Max Payne and kind of there wanting to create a believable world, like with the constraints that we had back then. And because it's a modern world, it just always felt that


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[Assistant] Sets that are one to one to our digital locations, like the writer's room or the hotel or the talk show studio.


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[Assistant] And, and, and shoot live action there. And, and then a big discussion for us was like, how do we put that into the critical path?


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[Assistant] So that it's actually kind of stylized in a way that it seamlessly goes from gameplay into this kind of a scene and, you know, Alan Wake needs to be confused as the player is confused and struggling with that.


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[Assistant] And just kind of like really, really building something bigger and, and, and, and more ambitious with that.


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[Assistant] Once again, but, but I, I've been so happy with, with that whole side and, and yes, it's fragmented, but we basically had a full


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[Assistant] I wanted a musical and, and, and because this is...


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[Assistant] An Alanway game, I, I, I knew it has to be Old Gods of Asgard. And, and, uh,


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[Assistant] Alan Wake, one story and then what is the setup for this.


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[Assistant] Uh, it became clear that, okay, that, that's how we do it, that it's kind of a, this, this halfway state between worlds that he slips into and, and we're, we're kind of watching


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[Assistant] First of all, like, all of this is, like, goes back to, we had the stage fight scene in Alan Wake 1, and that, like, turned out to be, you know, a fan favourite in many ways, and going back to that idea, and then


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[Assistant] The Astray Maze in Control and everybody went crazy about it and it just felt like, well, how do we come back to this idea but in a different way? Well, we are doing several of them in a way in this game but like, uh, figuring that out and,


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[Assistant] I knew, I knew that, that like Matt is a great singer and, and, and so Alan Wake can sing in this. And, and, and, and then like, like us finding, uh, David Heywood.


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[Assistant] You know, we have crazy stuff, not the same stuff, but in a, I feel similarly mashed up, really far into pop culture references kind of thing, and I felt that, well, yeah, like I got some confidence out of that feeling that, well, we are,


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[Assistant] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Friends Per Second Podcast. I am Lucy Shames. Joining me, Shilop.


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[Assistant] We are very, very sad because we are all here in LA.


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[Assistant] We went to the game awards, uh, we, uh, we're gonna do a bunch of stuff all together, but sadly, uh, Jake couldn't make it.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and so we're gonna be chatting about what it's actually like to go to the game awards. Uhm, and our, of course, end of year highlights because holidays, they are coming. Yeah.


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[Assistant] Uh, if you watch the first ever episode of Rounds per Second, or you've seen GameSpot on Giant Bomb on his own Twitch streams, you'll know the wonderful Tomohisane, who's joining us.


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[Assistant] Uh, so yeaah, we've been in town, uh, Tam and I've been here since Tuesday, uh, Ralph you came in Wednesday, Gerard you live here, you live here. Uhm, it was your first game awards, Ralph. It was actually. What was it like, cause you've done obviously a bunch of E3s and like big game awards, game events, how did this one compare?


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[Assistant] I love it and it's back open to the public, uh, for the first time in a couple years.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but I thought like pacing wise, I think this is the best the show has ever been. I feel like they definitely improved the balance. Still, you know, always gonna say it shouldn't rattle through some of the categories like that.


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[Assistant] The only time I can remember the Oscars playing someone off is Olivia Colman. And she just went, fuck off, no. Like she was having none of it, so.


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[Assistant] We're talking about, you know, making sure people get the time on stage.


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[Assistant] Other, other key moments, I guess. So key moment for you, Michael Matson. Yeah, I'm like, I love Michael Matson. I didn't realize, I, I saw him, he was in our row.


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[Assistant] What other moments were there that really stuck out to you? We'll talk about the moment at the end of this segment.


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[Assistant] I was stoked for the Judas trailer, uh, uh, Ken Levine, uh, Ghost Story games, new one. Yeah. Hades 2 man. Hades 2!


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, let's talk about the, uh, the rewards themselves, because Elden Ring did obviously walk away with Game of the Year, Game Direction, uhm. Did anyone hear?


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[Assistant] Are there any games that you thought, I mean, the big one, Vampire Survivors, were completely robbed. Oh my god, robbed. What won that, what won that one? That was Stray.


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[Assistant] I'm like the Kermit. Right. Yeah. Uhm, no, I mean...


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[Assistant] I will say I think in Forbidden West they did much better with characters and like actually having side characters that you would care about.


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[Assistant] Going up against Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, games which are very similar in the fact that they have big open world to rely on discovery and the player to fill with their own story and then they, you know, you're up against Horizon which is very story driven and it just didn't hit those highs, so uhm.


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[Assistant] One of the highest, uh, trafficking videos on our YouTube channel is the Ghost of Tsushima, uh, PlayStation thing. Brackets with flute.


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[Assistant] Oh my good god. So we were sat in the audience, we weren't sat next to either of you, and we were just like, who's that?


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[Assistant] Uh, cause we'd, we'd seen FromSoft like walking around and we're like, okay, I didn't recognize this kid being there. He obviously didn't look like anyone. Some people thought he was Sonny from God of War. So the guy plays Atreus. And I was like, no.


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[Assistant] Well they, they were on it, like they turned it off SO quickly.


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[Assistant] I'm hosting so I'm meant to be keeping us all on time and I'm not cause I'm just having a nice chat with my buds. But earlier today we got up very early because we were up very late.


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[Assistant] To go to Sony Santa Monica to chat with Eric Williams, director of God of War Ragnarok. And this was very cool for us, I think. You organized this. Props to you.


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[Assistant] It was a really fun chat, and surprisingly, we talk very little about the game.


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[Assistant] No, so, uh, we had a really great chat with him about just his leadership style, how he got to where he is, how, you know, that he, one thing I loved about it is that he just kept calling out the people that he worked with, like, by name, everyone's role, very cool chat, um, and also, yeah, their office is sick.


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[Assistant] Things like knowledge and then you use that as a touch point and it's just, that's how you. Yeah, I mean.


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[Assistant] I was playing widescreen, and so a bunch of people were like, try not widescreen, do windowed, you know, uhm, but I'm just, uh, I'm a sensitive gal. Sure, sure, absolutely. I don't know, I just get motion sick sometimes.


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[Assistant] I didn't enjoy the game. My tweets were fairly innocuous, they were just like...


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[Assistant] No, no, sorry, that's January, Resident Evil's motion. And I was playing it and I was like, any...


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[Assistant] Tension was completely ruined by the fact that the game stuttered so badly that every time a scare was coming I would know because the framerate would just go uuuh.


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[Assistant] But also every encounter with every enemy feels unfair. Because some of them are deliberately designed to be unfair.


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[Assistant] They look so good! And actually I felt bad because I tweeted that out and someone was like, oh you're damning with faint praise there. And I was like, did not mean to, that was a genuine compliment. And then the person who did the facial scanning like found my tweet and was like, thank you so much, it really means a lot. Like we tried really hard and then I was like.


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[Assistant] Our highlights of the year. So we got like what, 20 minutes? 30 minutes? 30 minutes? Okay. Alright. We're doing good. Look at us. On time. For once.


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[Assistant] Talk to us. Uh, I mean, this year has been a very strange one. I don't know where to start with what have your highlights been. I mean...


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[Assistant] But honestly I think one of my gaming highlights from this year was playing Plague Tale for the first time. Because I missed it when it first came out and I just, I...


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[Assistant] And I just really enjoyed it and I, I'm morbidly curious about the black thing and all that and the black death and all that kind of stuff. And then, you know, just the way that the rats are implemented, the family kind of story at the heart of it all and evil. Um, what do you want to call it? Not like Illuminati, but the uh, Inquisition? Inquisition-y boys.


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[Assistant] 2022, the year of, the year of the church. Uh, Pentament, Swingtail, Requiem. Um, but no, so I, yeah, I really enjoyed playing that this year. I will say I fell off my ongoing games.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but I will say one of my absolute favorite days gaming was when the old Overwatch crew, so myself, Tam, uh, Simon, Joe, Krupa,


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[Assistant] Some current, former IGN folks and then Gary, uhm, we just got together and played like,


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[Assistant] Crap load of Overwatch, it's like, and this was the day of the Overwatch 1 servers, and it was weirdly emotional.


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[Assistant] The fucking jungle book. Uh, the Star Trek he was in. Uhm, dark towers.


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[Assistant] Also, I think just being more stuff back in person. Yeah, totally.


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[Assistant] You know, Michael Hyam, who we used to work with, who's over at FanBite, Linkshell, he... I trust Michael. Right. And so I trust YoshiP.


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[Assistant] Alright, we don't have much time left, so 16 is mine. What's your thing for 2023? What's your 2023 gaming resolution? It was Final Fantasy.


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[Assistant] Both of those. I think Elden Ring was special for me in a lot of ways. Uhm, I just really enjoyed it. It felt like a really fun, invigorating time to be interested in games, working in games, uh, media. It was huge. It was...


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[Assistant] One of those games where you'd come to work everyday and be like, did you see this? Did you do this? Like texting friends all the time and I, uhm, loved every minute, even when I was getting my ass kicked.


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[Assistant] Okay. Well, thank you all everyone who's been watching and listening throughout the year. It means the world to us and we can't wait to show you what we've got in store for 2023.


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[Assistant] Yeah, oh yeah. Probably first or second week of January.


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[Assistant] They have a pork pie over there? Yeaah, I think that's a pork. Well, the Australian one's beef, right?


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[Assistant] Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome to episode seven of the Friends Per Second podcast. It is lovely to have you back. We appreciate you. It's also lovely to have back Lucy, who has just returned from a holiday in Iceland.


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[Assistant] Whoa, who goes to holidays in Iceland except Vikings, right? That's a weird place to go.


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[Assistant] That is, that's the thing. You will notice that Jake is not here today. And the reason is because he's on holidays in Iceland. Just as Lucy left Iceland, Jake arrived. I feel like we then need to just keep it going, this constant chain where we just keep going.


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[Assistant] There's no echoing, you sound magnificent as always. Filling in for Jake Baldino this week is a very special guest, someone that we are very, very happy to have along. We've been trying to get him onto the podcast since day dot


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[Assistant] Uh, even before the podcast was a thing, we're like, we're getting Gene on the podcast. It's happening. Uh, it is, I am of course speaking about Gene Park. He is, are you the only, no, you're not the only person reporting games at Washington Post. There's at least one other person I know of.


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[Assistant] Sure. I started it all there at, uh, at Washington Post. Uh, someone that we really greatly admire, does fantastic coverage. He and I have never once agreed on a video game. I think basically if I like it, then he hates it. If he hates it, I'm going to love it. That's generally how it goes.


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[Assistant] So yeah, the, I guess the other thing, uh, that I guess also probably mentioned, um, is that, you know, Gene, you have been going through something.


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[Assistant] Very rough and I guess wanted to sort of acknowledge that at the start of the podcast as well.


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[Assistant] You had a diagnosis of cancer, and that was really heartbreaking for us to hear. We're really sorry to hear that, but we know that you're in treatment and that's going, and we just wanted to check in to see how that's going and how you're feeling.


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[Assistant] That's right. But with the, with the, with the pickup trick, it is hashtag gone sexual after that. So that's how we get that in there as well. All caps. All caps. So, uh, look, uh, Jean, uh, wonderfully here that you're feeling better. That's awesome. Thank you very much for this incredible tip. Uh, we're going to put it to good use. I'm sure.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and we're glad that you're here today because we have heaps of console nonsense to talk about. It's been a huge week for ridiculous console wars drama.


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[Assistant] Right? And we don't like the console wars, obviously. It's lame, but it's funny. It's funny when the brands start fighting, right? When people on Twitter are being console war idiots, you're like, shut the fuck up. But when the brands start fighting amongst themselves, then we're like, hell yeah, man. It's on like Donkey Kong. And that has been.


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[Assistant] What's gone down this week when uhm, well for a variety of things, but the thing that happened just before we started recording was that Jim Ryan issued a rare statement in relation to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft.


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[Assistant] We love you, Phil. Good job, Phil. What good thing has Phil said or done now, right? But when it's Jim Ryan, you're like, uh-oh, this is what's he said now. Again, we have to reiterate, because I know what the console


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[Assistant] For sure, for sure. So, uh, the exact statement for, um, uh, from Jim Ryan was, uh, and it's actually, it escapes me now. I'll see if I can pull up the thread.


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[Assistant] Uh, yeaah, so obviously this happens because recently, um, Phil Spencer sent, apparently, this is not confirmed, but apparently Phil Spencer sent a letter to Jim saying that Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation for several more years after the acquisition goes through, if it goes through.


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[Assistant] Uh, and then we get this little clap back from Jim, uh, saying, Hey, well, that doesn't really work for us. Uh, so, uh, Oh, right off the top, Gerard, what do you think of all this? How, how, what do you think of Jim's response and how it's all going down? What's your take? Oh man.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, I think, I think in, I mean, I think, actually, Gene, what's your take on this? What do you think, man?


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[Assistant] I don't know if I'm wrong about this, but I do recall one of the filings to one of the regulatory bodies globally.


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[Assistant] Saying, Xbox essentially said, we would, we don't want COD, we don't want COD to become exclusive because the dollars and cents don't line up. Okay, that's not our plan, uh, it's unlikely that it would shift, like, we basically can't make up our money through an exclusive deal versus the loss of revenue that we would have.


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[Assistant] I'm taking away from PlayStation. Okay. I definitely remember that was a thing that one of the filings said.


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[Assistant] Now fast forward, you've got a situation where


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[Assistant] Phil's basically saying, well, it is going to become an exclusive and it's going to happen inside of six years because the existing agreement is three years. And then Phil's talked about another three years on top of that. So.


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[Assistant] You sort of can't have it both ways, like either you are going to make it an exclusive and that's what you've told Jim Ryan that you would do, or you're not going to make an exclusive because the dollars and cents don't line up, which is what your industry, your regulatory filings have said. So if Jim is sort of calling out.


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[Assistant] Sure. Do you think- Oh. Sorry, go on. No, you go.


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[Assistant] Yeah, yeah. Because, I mean, at it's core, it is... Okay, look.


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[Assistant] If you really want to suspend and you want to look at this at a very intellectual macro level, you might say that Sony's exclusivity deals all happened on an even footing whereby


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[Assistant] There is a, there is a, there is a platform for competition and Xbox could have secured those deals had they positioned correctly, paid enough money, whatever else.


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[Assistant] They're, you know, they are different, sure. At the same time, Japan has essentially been


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[Assistant] That's gonna influence people's consoles purchase decision, we think. We're not so okay with that. As they pay to extend the Final Fantasy 7 remake exclusive window. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's, it's ridiculous obviously, but you're right. I think, Gene, I think you're absolutely correct. Where it's like, Jim's a businessman.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Yeah. But do you guys actually think, I mean, I guess we haven't really spoken. Do you think Microsoft should acquire Activision Blizzard? I mean, is this making us rethink that, uh, that, that equation? Is that, is it giving us pause? Like any, any thoughts on that?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I agree. I mean, look, I think in an ideal world, I probably wouldn't want Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard. I think that level of industry consolidation, especially after Bethesda. I think we were talking to Jeff Keighley the other week and he's basically like, oh, Bethesda plus Activision Blizzard.


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[Assistant] That's essentially half an E3 right there. And he was right. That used to be an entire hall. They've acquired a massive chunk of the games industry and that sort of consolidation is concerning.


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[Assistant] Uh, and that's that it goes across the board as well, but you know, cause obviously Sony are on their own buying spree, but they don't have anywhere near the same purse strings that Microsoft does. It's a completely different equation. They're buying this for nearly $70 billion.


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[Assistant] Obviously it gives you pause and you think, well, ideally they wouldn't do that, but there are serious cultural challenges at Activision Blizzard. Uh, if this improves those, then you know, better the devil, you know, than the devil you don't.


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[Assistant] And, uh, you know, that's that, but yeah, I mean, look, do you guys think then it's within Sony's rights to demand, uh, a clause that says cod stays non-exclusive, like stays, uh, in our multi-platform forever? Do you think that's fair or unfair?


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[Assistant] How do you like them apples? Uh, and I think that's where the conversation is, is going to continue and whatever else. But, uh, what's your bet? Do you reckon this move is going to go through or not? Like what odds did you put on it? Yes. I think it's going to go through.


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[Assistant] We're all clapping. The mics are muting. We're all clapping. God damn you microphones. The stupid technology robs us of, robs Lucy of the applause she needs. Thank you, thank you.


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[Assistant] Uhm, look, that wasn't the only, uh, Sony news this week, because obviously there was a lot of capital D discourse about The Last of Us Part 1, which dropped. It feels like a long time ago that it dropped, but it was like, what, six days ago now? Even though it feels like six months plus.


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[Assistant] Um, so obviously we had a chat about this before on the podcast and we questioned whether or not that game is going to earn its $70 price tag.


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[Assistant] Whether this is, whether this was needed, you know, it was kind of like cool, it's still a great game and they've done a pretty good job with this remake slash remaster, but you probably didn't need to do this, I think was the general consensus.


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[Assistant] I think outside of the commentariat, uh, there's general agreement that the semi-dollar price tag is way too high. Uh, when I uploaded my video for that, that was like one of the most disliked videos I've done in years because I was like,


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, yeah, because I was like, look, I recommend this.


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[Assistant] That people, a lot of people don't feel is a remake, they think it's more of a remaster, it doesn't go far enough.


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[Assistant] So I guess wanted to sort of check in with you guys now, cause first of all, have we all played it? Gene, I know you have.


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[Assistant] But you can still contribute to the conversation in the sense that it's the same game, you know, like it's still the same game. Okay, not quite. There are some notable changes, I think. But uhm, but obviously a lot of people feel not far enough. So let's just check in. Do we feel as though this game has earned that $70 price tag? Loose, what's your take?


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[Assistant] Mmm, sure. So Gene, I know you are a massive Last of Us 1 and 2 fan, uh, and I know you've, have you actually finished this, have you finished part one twice now? Did you tell me? I've played it four times already now.


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[Assistant] You're right. And so do you, so in your mind then it, it does deserve that $70 price. For someone like me.


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[Assistant] It's like literally I've got Robocop, Godfather, Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, it's all there man. I guess that was sort of the point that I was making in my video as well, which is, you know, we don't really have these conversations when it comes to


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[Assistant] music and movies. We're just, we're like, yeah, I'm going to buy it again and it's going to look slightly better.


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[Assistant] Oh, that's not worth seven dollars. You know, even though it looks, and again, I made the point of the video where the li- the visual leap between this and the previous one is gigantic. And the visual leap that we get from the new version of Lord of the Rings is like a little bit better if you're really squint, you know?


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[Assistant] And the color grade, which a lot of people don't like. But what do you guys think that this exists in this medium and not others?


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[Assistant] I think that's a really good point. I totally agree with that. I haven't even really considered that, but uhm, no, I totally agree. Uhm, I think as well, well, I mean, sort of a separate point, but I mean,


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[Assistant] Current positioning in the market, because I think that they're having some struggles. I think, uh,


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[Assistant] Phil Spencer is very good at PR. I think Jim Ryan is really, really bad at it, right? Uh, what do you guys think about this sort of, what impact will this have on PlayStation's brand overall, do you think?


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[Assistant] Sure, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, for me, look, playing through it again.


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[Assistant] It didn't really change my perspective on 2, it kind of just reinforced it in many ways because I realised that number 1 has


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[Assistant] I think it's ultimately quite a beautiful story despite its darkness, you know, and I think that it's like the firefly thing is like when you're lost in the darkness, look for the light. I think that was the essence of one and that's what made it bearable. Uh, and I think two completely loses that. And so that's why,


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[Assistant] I really didn't enjoy that time and going back and playing one again, I was reminded of oh, there is this subtle beauty that kind of


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[Assistant] Yeah, that, that was always, it's always very special. Uhm, and similarly, there's this real sort of swashbuckling quality to number one. You know, like the sort of adventures that they're going on. They have this sort of rollercoaster kind of vibe to them versus two is I think much more of a, like a trudge through.


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[Assistant] The jungle, like you have to sort of hack away at it with a machete every inch feels so hard fought.


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[Assistant] But a little, a little bit lighter, but for everybody else, it's the same PS5 only now it's more expensive.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and, uh, and that's that. But look, we obviously have, uh, been talking about Sony plenty and we've been having a bit of a dig here and there. What say we have a bit of a dig at Microsoft? Just to keep it fair and balanced.


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[Assistant] You're welcome. It was a rough week for, uh, Xbox in the context of their flagship, uh, IP, which is Halo, obviously.


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[Assistant] It fits into a more narrow niche of the video game space versus something like Halo, which you imagine everyone is going to play and talk about. It's going to dominate the scene, whatever else. But Halo Infinite, uh, had a rocky, had a fantastic launch, I would say.


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[Assistant] Uh, and then a very rocky post launch period, owing to some technical issues, but also mainly to do with, um,


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[Assistant] The, the online site where it's a live service.


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[Assistant] We were sort of promised lots of content that would flow. Uh, that certainly wasn't the case. We're now in Season 2, uh, and there's been very few new maps or modes. Uh, in addition, there was plenty of missing content, um, for the multiplayer. So, missing content on the, on the, on the single-player stuff as well, mind you. Uh, Campaign Co-op is still not available, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This week things got worse because 343 issued an update and the headline offerings were number one.


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[Assistant] Forge is coming, that's the map creation tool, that's coming towards the end of the year, and it does look pretty cool. So that's nice, that's great.


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[Assistant] Number two, the current season is being extended until March of next year, meaning season two will be a total of 10 months long. That is crazy in the world of live services. You can make a whole human being.


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[Assistant] Destiny will have put out essentially almost four seasons in that same amount of time to Halo's 1. Uh, and most games really that are operating a live service are doing at that sort of cadence. Uh, and the big one is that couch co-op.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's been cancelled. It's been promised, uh, repeatedly. It was promised as a mainstay non-negotiable feature after Halo 5 and everyone was so pissed off about it.


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[Assistant] Even though that works, 343 have announced that it is, um, unofficially canceled and they will not push that feature. So, did I miss anything in that? Gene, did you think, did I get it all?


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[Assistant] That's it, it's all the bad news. Uh, so I guess it's just a moment to sort of check in on how we're feeling about Halo Infinite 3, 4, 3, et cetera. Uhm, I mean first of all, we all played Halo Infinite, yes? Has anyone here not played it? I played it. Cool. I played for a couple hours.


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[Assistant] Yeah, right. Sure, sure, sure. Have our thoughts on the, uh, the launch of the game, have those thoughts changed or do we, do we still feel the same way we did, you know, when it first came out or what's that?


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[Assistant] That was my next question really, like how big a deal is couch co-op actually? Cause obviously, you know, it drops and everyone has their feelings about it, but is it, is it, is it fake outrage and inverted commas to complain about this or is couch co-op still a really big deal in 2022?


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[Assistant] I think the obvious byproduct of all of this is that, uh, hashtag fire three four three I or industries was trending on Twitter when all this went down and people are basically like, we've had enough. It's time to move on to a different developer that three four three have had their shots.


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[Assistant] And it's time to give another developer a chance at this IP, potentially one of the Activision studios if that deal goes through because you've got plenty of studios in that, uh, in that bucket that know how to make a good shooter.


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[Assistant] Uh, what do you guys think about that discourse? Do you think it's harsh? Do you think it's fair? Do you think, uh, 343 have had their shot? Uh, what do you guys think? Luce, will you kick us off?


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[Assistant] What do you think man, do you think 343 have had their shot or need more time or what do you reckon?


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[Assistant] So, yeaah, that's a really good, that's a really good angle on it. Jane, what do you think, man?


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[Assistant] That's right, these little weird spinoffs. Yeah. Surprised there hasn't been like a card battler at this point, so.


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[Assistant] They have new content drops on the rig in various ways. They're not as ambitiously live service as, you know, your Destinies and your Apex, your Fortnite, whatever, but they are very much in that mold. And so it hasn't been this huge leap for 343 to step into the world of Halo Infinite.


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[Assistant] And as, as brutal as it is, I, I do think that 343 have nailed that gameplay side of it. Full credit to that. I do think this is one of the best feeling shooters on the market. Uh, and they crushed that component of it, but Halo 4,


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[Assistant] I think there would be a space within that for 343 to help with that live service delivery.


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[Assistant] You know, to help maintain the game and whatever else. But also, I'd like to see them try another IP at this point, because they-


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[Assistant] They just have never hit a home run with Halo and it's like I look at Guerrilla Games and the home run they were able to hit with Horizon when they were set free so to speak. So, you know, maybe Summer 343 supports another studio


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[Assistant] Uh, Halo is essentially as the very cool. Lucy's question at the very start of this, I think was the most emblematic of all of it. Can you really still call it the flagship? The fact that you have to ask that at all about Halo is just, it shows where this is at right now. So I think some, some big changes need a big time.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's it. To have removed, yeah, to have released that multiplayer early really says, hey, we've got, we've got everything really under control on the multiplayer side. And it's like, cool. And they certainly, it felt like they did, but we just had no idea how much they in fact did not have it under control when it comes to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean look, an Apex right now is averaging about 450,000, Destiny is about 150,000, uh, I mean, you know, Halo is not, Halo, I mean, Splitgate is averaging about 1500 right now. So Splitgate is about a third as popular as Halo.


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[Assistant] And obviously we can't ignore the Xbox, uh, audience. We can't ignore the Game Pass audience. Of course, absolutely sure. Those, those warp the numbers.


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[Assistant] But the steam numbers are going to be roughly indicative of overall popularity because Apex is also available on Xbox. It's free to play there as well. And it's still got, you know, and it's that's also available on the origin launcher and it was well before it was available on steam. So those arguments, you know, you pick them apart and it just is a real bummer. Hopefully Xbox.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, okay. Right, right, right. Sure, sure, sure. So with that, we should probably segue into another conversation now free of live service and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The like is, uh, indie label Devolver Digital. They're not really about all that stuff. They're just about making cool ass or publishing cool ass games for like 20 bucks a pop that are always surprisingly good.


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[Assistant] And we have one of the co-founders here today. His name is Graham Struthers. Um, when I say today, here today, he's kind of not here. He's actually in Long Beach, California. He's, this was funny. We recorded this.