Hello everybody and welcome back to the
triple jump podcast it’s a video game
podcast my name is Ben my name is Peter
and my name is Ashton good morning
gentle people hello good morning how are
we doing no I’m doing all right thanks
so good how are you how are you yeah I’m
all right actually uh we don’t because
it happened last night at the time of
recording uh we don’t have a specific
question about it so I thought maybe we
could hop in right now and talk about
the developer direct that Xbox slash
Bethesda did uh on Wednesday well I’ve
only looked at Hi-Fi rush I didn’t watch
the I’m not caught up yet on the whole
event it was only like 45 minutes long
yeah because I’m not that interested in
red four so I was like it’s probably I
was like I’m not gonna watch it live
because it’s probably going to be mostly
red four so I’ll just wait and see if
anything else and I will probably watch
the actual redfall stuff as well
eventually but I wasn’t desperate to see
it so right yeah Ashton you were you a
big fan of the presentation yeah I
watched it this morning and I was really
like just having a good time just
thought it was nice it was all like kind
of as if they were writing on the screen
like old school it kind of gave me like
old school PowerPoint presentation Vibes
yes but in the best way I really really
love a PowerPoint you do
um and yeah I thought it was really nice
and they got like chats from the devs
there wasn’t any like extra kind of like
snazzy unnecessary Guff it was just kind
of like here the devs yes I’m talking
about the gameplay mechanics it’s a
little fun fact about them underneath
their name how fun and cute aren’t we so
quirky and I was like yes you are I love
it
um lots of uh dot matrix printer sound
effects as well yeah yeah
noises I just thought it was nice it was
just a nice little show it was we only
saw a handful of games there which is
five games which is what we were we were
expecting Minecraft Legends uh you again
Ashton
I didn’t really wasn’t really that
interested and I don’t know if I I’ll
spend money on it but I was watching
they were talking about the PVP version
of the game and I was quite intrigued by
it they were like you can get in a team
of four go against another team of four
and you can like run and explore the
world they’re all procedure generates
every time it’s different well you are
our resident child so yeah anyone’s
gonna cover that game that’s to get you
in
um and you can like go off and play or
like go off and explore or try and get
new mounts or resources for your base or
you can stay at the base and just build
it up so people can’t get through
there’s like traps you can set you can
collect mobs that you can go and attack
the other base and you’ve got like 50
skeletons behind you that are coming to
attack
um I just thought it looked quite fun
um I don’t know how it plays like the
story mode itself but from that the PVP
version if I had three friends to play
with I’d be well up for giving that a go
um in online because I think it looks
quite fun yeah I liked the uh the look
of it as well obviously it’s got the
Minecraft aesthetic but I enjoy that
being applied to other genres there’s
also the baddies are called Pig lens and
I thought they were quite cute that’s
great they were like they will attack
you because they’re going to attack both
teams
they’re coming pieces they’re coming
they’re coming and I just thought they
were quite like ah if not friend why so
cute
try and pet one see let’s see what
happens can you pet the pig then yeah we
then had a discussion about Forza that
felt like it honestly it wouldn’t end
there was there was a lot of car
information in there if you if you’re
interested in thought so maybe go and
watch that a Hi-Fi Rush was the surprise
uh appearance it was announced being
developed by Tango Gameworks who
previously worked on The Evil Within and
is headed by Shinji mukami Resident Evil
uh Creator and survival horror Legend
and Hi-Fi Rush is not that no like a
combination of uh it looks a lot like
Sunset Overdrive yes
radio-ish jet set radio-ish with sort of
a combat stylings of metal hell singer
from last year where everything’s in
time to the beat they must have been
gutted when metal helsinger was
announced yeah but I guess it’s like so
aesthetically different and even genre
wise yeah
metal Helsing is meant to be quite
challenging and it looks like there’s a
lot of uh hello
someone really wants to get into the
building it looks like there’s a lot of
not accessibility as such but also yes
accessibility to make this game fun to
play because everything’s in time to the
beat the whole world moves to the beat
uh enemies attack to the beat QT easier
in time to the beat boss fights are in
time to them and I think they said that
like your combat will always be in time
of the beat but if you actively are in
time of the beat when we do button
presses your combat’s more but you get
for rewards yeah they said like you
won’t if if you like missed the B it’s
not like your attacks not gonna do any
damage or whatever it’s just like you
get bonus stuff if you’re on on the beat
and they Shadow dropped it no less yeah
slipping flipping ages and something
like that’s happened they said it’s
available right right now on Game Pass
so when you’re listening to this you can
go and play it and check it out it looks
really cool I’d I’d like to give it a go
it’s honestly the first game that’s been
released not that not that I’ve heard of
because the Starfield as well that has
made me like actually think I now
require an Xbox I know I can you can
play on Steam as well but uh you know
everything else that Microsoft have
released up to this point or it has been
an XBox exclusive I’ve been like okay
well you know that looks great but I’ll
wait until this this pile builds up
before I really want to get the other
platform but now that has been showing
off and been released and I’m like I
really want to play that that looks
really good so I’ve already downloaded
it on PC game pass to play tonight yeah
I might have to get on PC
the Elder Scrolls Online there was a big
old section about that they’re making
all of their expansions free for a time
yeah I think so and they’re introducing
their third class since launch like a
new one so right I think she was like
called an Arcana or something something
magicky I kind of tuned out a little bit
because uh I did give the Elder Scrolls
Online a go admittedly a long time ago
and I I bounced off it because I wanted
Skyrim with friends and that’s not
really what it was uh it was definitely
an MMO and it has a lot of players who
really like it it does like for an MMO
it looks like it’s pretty good but I
have a kind of a bit of a resentment for
Elder Scrolls Online just because I
think partly because it’s continuing to
do so well you see all those expansions
like elsewhere and Morrowind yeah man
imagine if those were single player yeah
I think because it’s doing so well
they’re like they’re not in any hurry to
bring out a single player game so it’s
potentially causing a longer delay for
the next Elder Scrolls but absolutely
well hopefully we get some Elder Scrolls
news soon the main event though was red
for which I believe is releasing on the
6th of May
2nd second second of May first week of
May uh is coming out and we’ve got a big
old uh look at the gameplay of that it’s
I have a lot of faith in
um okay okay thank you Arcane and I
really enjoyed death Loop and there was
a section in there where you’re where
clearly they’re playing on their own and
they’re doing some sort of side content
where they’re sneaking into uh thank you
a brewery that’s been overtaken by
vampires no no not actually
thank you uh yes and uh that looks like
proper Arcane it looks like you were
able to go up the ladder around the side
and go in where you wanted but the
actual sort of
almost uh left for dead back for blood
uh style gameplay wasn’t really doing
much for me and when they were in the
house there’s like a vampire who runs at
you and he’s he’s like running a
straight line and then just 90 degree
turns and then runs at you again I don’t
know how scary that’s gonna be no if
indeed it’s meant to be scary that’s why
it’s not at the moment it’s not for me I
mean like I say I will actually watch
that at some point but uh I wasn’t
wasn’t desperate to watch the events I
was like it’s gonna be redfall and I
don’t think redfall is the one for me or
even though I do historically I you know
Arcane have done some really good stuff
but yeah I’m quite excited for redfall
have been since they announced it and I
quite like the way it looked and the way
you can interact with her there’s like a
one of the characters makes like a jump
pad that other characters can use and um
it looked like there was a lot of ways
that you could help other players out so
as I can quite and focus on having
friends with you as well as a single
player which is nice and it’s coming to
game past day one as well so yeah it’s
more open than I was expecting as well
yeah quite a big open map rather than
the sort of linear approach we’re used
to with well at least my expectations
for redfall was it’s like left for dead
and so I thought you’d play through it
in a linear fashion but it seems you can
kind of just wander around and do side
stuff there’s like safe rooms and areas
you can like
um what’s the word
areas you can you can from vampires you
can um nests yeah but can you take you
can take the you can liberate them from
them right yes there’s sections that you
take yeah you’re taking back the city
right and also there are these nests
that you have to clear out that sounds
like they’re procedurally generated they
said they’re different every time you go
in and there’s a resource at the heart
of them or something like that it looks
like there’s a lot of stuff to do in
this game I don’t know if I’m hugely
excited for it but I think it looks way
more fun to play with people obviously
and I don’t know that I’m gonna have
people to play it that’s the thing I
just don’t play multiplayer really like
hardly ever
um unless we’re on couch uh you know if
I’m around your house or we’re streaming
that’s when I multiply do multiplayer
games sofa yeah exactly but um at home I
don’t I just don’t log on and play
multiplayer games so I don’t think I’m
gonna have that much opportunity to even
play this game okay well then we’ll play
it actually we’ll give it a go but that
was the uh the developer underscore
direct and I I liked it it was almost
state of play Nintendo direct-esque in
that it’s a very sort of truncated
experience highly produced beforehand
and it was not awkward in the slightest
which a lot of these conferences run the
risk of being uh so yeah I’d recommend
people go and watch it it’s only like 45
minutes long and there’s some good stuff
in there now though it’s time to talk
about this week’s sponsor each and every
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keep the lights on in here Dead Island 2
the spider is still not on holiday on
holiday it’s still on holiday the
longest holiday Everton’s house
um Ashton I believe you have the ad read
I do yeah so there’s a game coming out
tomorrow that some people might find a
bit scary okay a little bit spooky
especially if you suffer from celiac
disease and you can’t have gluten yeah
okay yeah I see it coming yeah and it
might have there’s little Ghoulies
running around their wheat protein and
you can’t chop off that limb top off
their limbs to stop them from giving you
tummy aches yes it’s of course bread
space rebake rebate
okay the rebate I didn’t see coming that
complete that was a left jab that caught
you it was yeah for that yeah bread
space the rebate is coming this week
this week I’ve heard this week I’ve
heard it’s got like quite a good special
edition that comes with some physical
goodies can you talk us through that the
toasty version the toasty version
exactly yeah yeah it comes with um a
helmet that’s made of bread yeah it does
you have to consume it exactly
um a steel book that’s just bread yep
there’s a bread book it’s like in inside
the steel book there’s just one nice
slice of bread
um a nice crisp white slice of bread
um it’s like a war button sandwich thing
yeah
and then like all of the like art is
just you know the the concept art of the
the wheat Ghoulies and stuff so it’s not
actually real though oh no that’s wrong
this one’s really snuck up on us though
Dead Space remake I knew it was coming
out in January but God it’s so now at
the time of release yeah it’s out uh we
don’t know if it’s any good actually or
if we’re getting a code even we would
have no idea we asked for one and they
said okay you’re on the list you’re on
the list that means nothing that could
mean absolutely anything that’s just
sort of like a Facebook like from from
happy birthday like means I’ve seen it I
acknowledge uh but no promises no we are
in fact sponsored by our wonderful
patrons over at patreon.com forward
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you got a question there yeah um it’s
from Nexus Polaris who says hey Ben
Ashton and also Pete off the tiny
variety hello I’ve recently been
downloading some meme games that’s like
multi-arcade uh what does it stand for
uh I have I did look it up and I forgot
but it means it’s like a it’s an arcade
emulator yeah that has like multiple
arcades all on it it’s just an arcade
emulator uh onto my steam Deck with such
Classics as Turtles arcade Simpsons
arcade Gauntlet Etc which arcade
cabinets would you personally have in
your home if given the space and chance
I’d personally go for Mortal Kombat 2
Area 51 Moonwalker and Marvel vs Capcom
2 thanks to Nostalgia make sure you
follow like And subscribe keys keys your
boy next EP we should say that the thank
you Nexus we should say that the main
emulator is perfectly legal because it
is an emulator however ROMs are a bit
more dicey unless you’re ripping your
do follow the law and don’t do crimes no
you can only use your name if you
already have all of the physical arcade
cabinets in your house you need to put
it from the magical device where it goes
on a conveyor you load your arcade
cabinet on its side on a conveyor belt
it passes through like an Acme machine
exactly and then it comes out as a
little USB stick that you copy the file
on and that’s how it works legal that’s
the only legal way to do it the only way
uh so I brought sort of two categories
of arcade games I’ve got um the kind of
the very old like 8-bit Classics and
then some stuff that I would play I’d be
more inclined to play now at an arcade
um even though it’s not what you
typically associate you know it’s not
your Pac-Man’s or your or your pongs no
it’s your whoa 3D Graphics bloody hell
interesting peripherals what hate that
so in the former category uh I’ve always
been quite a fan of
Galaga I say some people say Gallagher
I’ve never heard it Galaga
a lot of people say Gallagher because
it’s like Galaxy right again it’s in
space it’s just
a debate yeah it’s a debate it sounds
like beer advertised for women yeah it
does Galaga
um but uh I’d drink that yeah uh
apparently there’s a debate as to
whether it’s Gallagher or Galaga I most
people do say Gallagher but I’ve always
been Galaga for some reason hey let us
know in the comments is it Gallagher or
is it Gallagher yeah
um but I’ve always been a fan of that uh
first time I played that it was bundled
at the start of Tekken because it’s an
Amco arcade game Tekken one on PS1
started with Gala Gaga
um where you could uh if you if you beat
each round it would just keep ticking
over it would keep playing
um so uh that was that was a lot of fun
uh I also weirdly although it’s very
simple I’ve always really liked Frogger
don’t know why you know I don’t know I
particularly have latched onto Frogger
and not you know joust or Pac-Man or
something I don’t like Pac-Man that much
I’ll play one round of Pac-Man like
everyone will and then I’m done yeah
um but Frogger I find quite satisfying
um but then in the more kind of recent
category uh I would definitely in my
house have
um the proper like peripheral version of
Star Wars Episode One racer with the the
the the actual yes engine controls above
your head like this is pod race Anakin’s
Pod racer yeah uh I would probably have
a Tekken of some sort either Tekken 3 or
Tekken Tag those are my favorites and
they always start in the arcades before
they make it to uh make their way to
console
um and I really like Crazy Taxi as well
I like arcade driving games where it’s
got that weird reactive steering wheel
that spins by itself and yes uh pedals
yeah
um so I mean almost any driving game
would do to be honest but I think Crazy
Taxi has a nice kind of vibe to it so
probably probably that next question
what would you have in your house well
thanks for asking Peter
Peter I would like a Daytona
[Music]
so I could do a little driving game I
see people like someone I know has got
the full like driving setup like full
like steering wheel and the screen that
goes like round yeah pedals and for like
F1 simulation games and I I don’t want
any of that I just want little Daytona
with my little yeah the least
comfortable seat in the entire world
yeah it’s a fake seat belt that you just
pull around you for full immersion
um and I would also like a house of the
dead game because they’re fun and you
never really get that far into them so
you never really know what the story is
because you die very quickly yeah and
you don’t get to hear all the amazing
voices no exactly because she’s too busy
again we really want to be Sega we’d
love to be in the new house so love to
be in it if you need some voice actors
to go what was what was that noise
you’re still alive you must go and
Control the Chaos in the city if you
want that we can do that yeah that is
clearly our calling clearly our calling
yeah if we’re not busy doing Wells
interactive yes
it’s difficult to decide between the two
but uh I’ll talk about Wizards in a
minute
um and I would also just like I’d like
pinball and I’d like a pinball game one
time which flavor of pinball
well when we went to
um a bowling alley a little while ago me
and Peter’s wife Amy spent about 10
minutes someone had put a pound in a
pinball machine and they had left and
there were still pimples no the CSI was
the CSI yeah right okay and we spent
ages just playing pinball we had a great
time and I’m like okay I just want
pinball maybe I want a CSI pinball just
because it’s like you go in and they had
like a little like spinny thing like a
science where they spin like a
centrifuge yeah centrifuge thank you and
it had one of those in the middle of it
and it would spin your ball around and
sling it off and I was like I hadn’t
thought about like physical games I
would probably also have air hockey if
we’re including stuff like that I’d
rather man cave yeah yeah 100 a massive
one yeah because an air hockey table is
Big Air is good yeah it is good I’m
always scared I’m gonna get hurt my
fingers yeah I’ll get my teeth knocked
out not that it ever comes off the
ground but like I just feel like that’s
gonna come up and hit me in the face
yeah now that’s it yes real air hockey
thank you Ashton for asking thank you
Ashton for asking no problem I’ll uh
tell you the ones
uh I would have uh House of the Dead
four is the one specifically yes that’s
the one I like that’s the one with the
uzi because it was in a bowling alley
near uh where I grew up and me and my
friends used to play that quite a lot
right and it’s the one where you when
enemies uh grab you you have to like
shake the the uzi from side to side to
get them to get the zombies off
and it hurts your hand actually because
it’s getting the zombies off yeah
getting the zombies off hurts your hand
because it like pinches each side of
your thumb and your finger it’s like ah
and I always uh I always quite like that
when I always play house that has the
Dead four when I see it I know it’s not
the classic one but uh I enjoy that
enjoy it so I would like that one I
would also like Time Crisis too because
everybody loves Time Crisis and as far
as I’m concerned that’s the best one I
don’t really know a great deal about
time crazy I think this is generally
considered to be the best one everyone
loves not but I know anything about it
either but Guitar Hero arcade I can’t
play Guitar Hero but for the sake of not
having plastic peripherals all over the
living room it would almost be nice to
have a permanent Guitar Hero station set
up uh for people to play on uh The
Simpsons arcade is one I would also like
because I really like the Simpsons
arcade game and it’s one of those great
arcade titles where four players can
play on the same machine it’s got
buttons for each of the characters so
you all have to sort of squeeze in but
you can all play uh at the same time
which is which is fun and the last one
I’ve got written down here is the Fast
and Furious Superbikes which based on
two minutes of Googling may or may not
be the arcade machine I put lots of
pound coins into on a holiday when I was
a teenager we have the motorbike in it
like yeah you have to tilt there’s a few
that I like that but based on
screenshots I think it’s this one that I
played and it’s the first arcade game
where I managed to get my name on the
high score
um not very high but it was on there and
uh my name is three letters so it can
fit on all high scores which is really
good that’s useful
that’s the that’s the one that’s the
ones that I would like in my house
please those are good ones yes thank you
speaking of things we’d like to play
should we talk about things that we have
played this week that sounds like a new
and exciting thing this section that I
brand new sex I’ve never heard of I
think we’re calling it what we playing
okay
foreign
time to talk about the video games what
we have been playing over the past week
or so Peter what have you been playing
uh so principally mainly largely I’ve
been playing for largely
garageley uh I have been playing
forespoken
um but I won’t talk too much about that
because we’re going to do a little
review corner on it in just a moment but
uh I also streamed it as well so some of
you will have seen my kind of in the
moment reactions to some of it there and
I’ll talk about you know some there’ll
be some slightly more coherent thoughts
in review Corner I’ve also to be a bit
Coy I’ve been playing a game that I
can’t really talk about right now
um but uh all I’ll say is it’s it’s kind
of an indie thing so it’s not it’s not
like a mainstream upcoming game uh
spread space
uh so don’t don’t even try and guess
because you won’t uh but I’ll I won’t be
able to talk about that until like
sometime in February so uh sorry
um and uh I have played a little tiny
bit of the game that I’m going to be
streaming this coming week so on Monday
I’ll be streaming Silo Psy bill
um yeah sorry what it’s also an indie
game
um it’s this guy who has made it’s one
of those where they’ve done it in like a
PS1 rendering style which I love oh it’s
getting it’s quite trendy now to do that
lots of people are doing yeah
um and it’s clearly like heavily
inspired by Crash Bandicoot
um the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy you play
as like a mushroom boy it’s basically
the last of us really uh it’s nothing to
do with the Last of Us you are a
basically just a sentient mushroom
instead of a head and face you just have
a mushroom cap on a neck
um and you have to just platform through
these very clearly crash one inspired
levels that are
kind of very difficult at times and it’s
in a lovely retro style so I reached out
to the guy and said hey if you could
send me a code I’d love to cover your
game on on our Channel and uh it’s been
in Early Access for a very long time but
it’s only just been like fully released
like the actual like proper version is
now available on Steam so I’ll play that
on uh on Monday properly I’ve not played
enough to really do a review corner on
it but uh it would be nice to do maybe A
Brief Review Corner next week so that’s
what I’ve been playing
um basically I haven’t really talked
about any of them in particular for
reasons because one will be spoken about
momentarily and the other two can’t
really say anything about right now so
that’s what we’ve been playing Ashton
well I’ve been a bit sad boy this week
so uh I’ve not really wanted to play
that much but when I am sad I play The
Sims and whatever Christmas I walked by
a house in Whitley Bay and I thought
this house looks silly so I took a
picture of it and I built in The Sims
wow and I’ve been and it’s like a series
of houses so there’s like four or five
houses so every time I’ve been sad this
week I’ve booted up the Sims and I’ve
like furnished one of the houses and
I’ve been like cool okay I’m done now I
don’t know what’s what’s in the houses
wow currently there’s I’ve done four out
of five and they all have different like
people who live there so one of them is
like a couple that like met in college
and he’s like a contractor and she’s
like a marketing person and they’re
really basic and their their house looks
like real do you get to give them back
stories yourself or I just yeah this is
backstories you’ve invented yeah okay
cool and the second one the basic trait
though yeah right yeah well I don’t I
haven’t actually made the Sims that go
in these houses I’ve just made the house
oh right I just made the Story Of My
Mind of like when I’ve been decorating
for it eventually but I would but I
don’t think I’ve actually got enough
that you can only have eight Sims in a
house and because it’s one
um I wouldn’t be able to have and then
the second house is a lesbian couple
with three kids
um and then the third house is like a
goth couple because their house is all
like edgy and black and it’s got like
sick furniture and stuff and then the
fourth house I built is like a show home
and currently it’s got like the same
picture in like every room because it’s
like they’ve been decorated but I
thought it was quite funny because when
I was decorating that one and this is
just to myself
um I was like oh it looks like the basic
girl because she saw the show home and
went this house is perfect yeah right
and then basically
yeah yeah from my house so that’s what I
did
um and then I’ve also played some plate
up because as I like that game and you
can make dumplings in it at the moment
because it’s Chinese New Year so we’re
making something it’s just temporary
well there was a turkey over Christmas
and I think that maybe you can still you
can continue to make those going forward
but they’ve introduced dumplings and it
keeps giving you the option to do
dumplings do you have a photo of the
silly house in Whitley Bay that we can
see
um I want to see how silly it is
set because I
that’s okay I might do I have a look
while Ben speaks yeah
um and then also the last thing I played
was some Jedi Fallen order and I got to
the final boss fight
um and and then I was like I’m fighting
this person and then I turned the game
off because I know I can’t do that right
now but I really I need to replay that
game again because I did actually try
and replay it recently but I didn’t go
all the way through but I don’t even
remember who the final boss was
um I don’t think so yeah well I know uh
yeah no I remember yeah but I haven’t
fought them yet
I don’t remember okay
what um yeah in that location yeah that
one that one that place bloody yeah this
game sounds great why don’t you why
haven’t we talked about this I’ve really
enjoyed playing it I think it’s quite
fun I enjoy having I like Kyle kestus I
don’t know why you guys don’t like him I
think he’s fine he’s just doing his best
it’s not good enough I don’t know
everyone hates him well you also don’t
know why you’re not like as much on the
bandwagon of disliking Frey from for
spoken eyes no no they’re just they’re
fine that’s what everyone’s mean to them
all the time I I mean I am in in that
team I don’t think the clips that we’re
like being crucified on Twitter are that
bad but like across the game I do
dislike her
um but but anyway I like cow casters and
um I am excited for the second game to
come out I quite like seeing the things
that have appearing and also the woman
who plays seer in
um
that I Fallen order is in for spoken
she played one of the judges oh yeah I
saw one during your stream I was like
hey I know that she’s in a few video
games with her actual face yeah she’s
got really recognizable it’s really
weird I didn’t think that trailer for a
Tom Clancy game as well I think I think
she’s in the um she’s in Suicide Squad
kill the Justice League yeah she’s
playing like yeah but you’re in full and
order you can’t be here what are you
doing here
I must admit when I did see that judge I
thought that she looked familiar but I
was like I can’t think I was like does
she perhaps remind me slightly of Whoopi
Goldberg
um but because she’s got similar hair in
the as as the judge well not I don’t
think Whoopi Goldberg has that hair now
but like the classic will be Goldberg in
her Peak movie career hairstyle is
similar to the judge I was like is that
it it’s not really that though I don’t
think it’s her but that’s it’ll be her
yeah yeah so that’s why I played this
week well that’s a good selection of
video games actually thank you you look
for that funny house I’m gonna look for
it oh I have here’s the picture of the
funny house so it’s like four houses it
looks like a SIMS house
yeah it’s funny so I built that in The
Sims there’s definitely at least one
basic person living yeah she lives on
the end yeah I mean in in Whitley Bay
yeah
uh I have played this week uh Persona
three ports below finally finished that
um I’ve basically got
I was trying to get as many trophies as
I could in my first playthrough there is
frustratingly a trophy for finishing the
uh the game with both a female and a
male protagonist so you do need to play
through the entire thing again right as
the from the other perspective and
that’s for another day quite frankly uh
but there’s also these ridiculously hard
Mega bosses in there which they’re which
are optional and they’re in all Persona
games but these ones are just like you
need to follow a guide because if you
and you have to it’s ridiculous right
because if you do too much damage to
this character or this this boss at a
certain in a certain amount of goes you
just get insta killed you have to have a
calculator and make sure that you only
do so much damage in so many goes and
then you can hit them with like a big
attack so that’s that’s actually it’s
ridiculous like there’s no way that’s
just part of the game that is a trophy
it’s an optional thing so basically I’ve
got a save file before right at the end
of my play through where I think I’m in
pretty much the best possible position
to tackle this boss but I just thought I
cannot be asked for this right now so
I’ve got like 85 of the Persona
compendium as well so I’m pretty close
to getting the platinum in that game
pending another playthrough which
shouldn’t be too hard if I just skip all
the dialogue
um but that’s that’s for another time
really enjoyed that game
um but you know go listen to our review
discussion from last week for a more
in-depth conversation about that and
also the stream because I streamed it uh
this week too so you can see it in
action if you want uh I played a game
from start to finish that I also can’t
talk about frustratingly and the
embargoes up on Monday which is really
annoying because otherwise it’s just
missed the cup for this podcast we would
have been able to talk about it here but
I will be streaming it on Tuesday and
then we’ll be talking about it in depth
next week in review Corners we’re
insufferable aren’t we um there’s just
too many games at the moment I did say
insufferable there it sounded like I
said unsung but I did say in I’ve not
played any games I’m not allowed to talk
about I’ve just play games that are out
would you like everyone would you like
one I’d love one okay maybe at some
point well we’ll see hey next time hey
it’s okay Peter’s got two to be fair and
well no one of them I can’t talk about
I’ve just not played enough of it to
talk about it we’re offered for spoken
yeah and also the one that I that I’m
not allowed you didn’t want to play it
so you know there will be there will be
the perfect game will come along I’m
sure anyway outside of that I had a a
little a little boys get together on
um the weekend just gone and James
Jenkins and uh Kieran Henry uh who is
the editor of this fine podcast I came
over and we played a couple of games uh
we did uh Gang Beasts we played uh uh
uh four guys no we didn’t play four guys
that’s something I played the other
night and I was rubbish at it uh but one
thing we did actually try because I
thought it would be absolutely horrible
it’s a whale’s interactive game that
I’ve had downloaded for ages and I
thought it was going to be one of their
worst ones it’s not it’s one of their
best ones in all the worst ways uh it’s
called Dark Knights with Poe and Monroe
oh my gosh I’ve got that on my steam
yeah it’s a spin-off from the
shape-shifting detective right and it’s
six chapters and they’re all linear
because I was afraid some of Wales
interactive’s earlier stuff was
just go and talk to all these characters
and try and progress the plot if you
want whereas I think the best ones are
where it funnels You Down linearly based
on the choices you make that is how this
plays and it is absolutely unhinged the
acting is horrible it makes no sense and
we stopped at episode three because we
thought you know who would love this
Ashton Matthews we need to wait until we
can all get together I love that game
and replay it from the beginning so we
can all play through it because my God I
took a couple of screenshots of just
like close-ups of character faces and
they’re they’re just like
it’s just unhinged in the best the most
Welles interactive way possible so we
need to play that something yeah because
it’s
terrible and I love it uh and that’s
pretty much all I played apart from four
guys which I did play uh earlier this
week with a couple of friends and I’m
not very good at that game so that was
that never mind well should we talk
about the thing that Peter wants to talk
about AKA forespoken in this week’s
review corner
[Music]
and we’re here welcome to the review
Corner Peter this time you are in the
hot seats talking about forespoken yes
uh the internet has I think it’s fair to
say not taken particularly kindly to the
uh to the to the initial showings or
forespoken yeah I don’t and and to a
certain extent I think people have kind
of put the cart before the horse really
and like they fair enough if you want to
make a judgment based on a demo that is
partly what a demo is for and you know
some people were playing the demo saying
I’m not sure about I think the combat
was one thing people were worried about
there are also people doing side by side
like stills from like earlier reveal
uh stuff and more recent stuff and
saying oh there’s been a visual
downgrade and yeah okay maybe those are
fair comparisons but there was
definitely an element of people jumping
on a bandwagon saying this game is trash
before they’d certainly before they
played the the actual game because it
was a chat that was happening before the
release uh and some of them I imagine
didn’t even play the demo and were
saying yeah this game’s trash
um someone made the point in the chat uh
of one of my streams recently saying
I imagine a certain subsect of those
people might be deciding that because of
just the nature of the protagonist
various attributes of the protagonist
other people for other reasons I’m sure
but uh I’ve gotten I’ve gotten into it
already I’m talking about I’m doing I’m
doing the the review already but you put
your car before your whole I have you
set me off sorry tell me tell me about
the game what’s happening uh well what’s
happening is that Square Enix sent as a
code thank you Square Enix I wouldn’t
say that first uh so you play as Frey
um she is a an orphan she was found in
the Holland Tunnel
um in uh New York I think I don’t test
me on my American geography but you’re
certainly in New York when the game
starts
um and she uh doesn’t know her parents
she was passed through a few foster
homes growing up and then just set out
onto the Mean Streets as soon soon as
she was able and the game opens with you
in court because you’ve been stealing
again you’ve got a bit of a record at
this point the judge is lenient and lets
you out and uh it’s fortunate that she
does because you’ve actually been saving
up a whole lot of cash there’s a big
sports bag full of a hundred dollar
bills that she’s been saving up and
she’s gonna get out of town and start a
new life for herself it’s a birthday
coming up she’s born around Christmas
time
um and she’s like a couple more days and
I’m gone unfortunately she’s um in some
she’s she’s got into some trouble with
the local gang uh who she’s been doing
some work for and they burn down the
apartment that she’s been it’s like an
abandoned Apartment that she’s been in
and all of the money Burns no so she is
basically sitting on a bridge or a big
sign
it looks like she’s thinking of
basically jumping off because she’s like
there’s nothing left for me now I’ve got
you know uh but she decides no no I
won’t and in that moment she her
attention is uh
kind of drawn by this kind of I I can’t
really remember what it was now but this
little flying thing like a bug or
something or a bird or shiny and uh as
she follows it she finds what she refers
to as a cuff
um it’s like a kind of a gauntlet thing
you’ll have seen it in the artwork uh
she pops it on and suddenly she’s in the
world of Athea oh okay
um and Athea is being as there’s a
there’s a kind of a corruption happening
that’s affecting various places
geographically and also the animals
within that and the people as well turns
them into zombies and basically most of
the residents are holed up in one city
um and the people who used to lead Athea
the various uh regions of it
um are kind of uh they’ve gone mad
basically they’ve gone they’ve gone a
bit evil and uh so you’re basically
moving through
um they’re called tunters they’re these
women with like magical powers and uh
you’ve got to basically save the world
so that’s the story okay
um it starts with a lot of mystery you
don’t know you can tell that like phrase
Origins are likely going to be explored
in the game and there’s probably going
to be some big reveals as the game goes
on I’ve not finished it yet I’ve played
probably five hours now I think
um and replayed the intro I’ve played
the intro twice because I streamed it
um but yeah so that’s the setting in the
story for the most part okay your cuff
talks to you sounds a bit like Hugh
Laurie
um and uh that’s where my biggest gripe
with the game begins really is with the
writing and the dialogue so going into
the game based on some of the stuff that
people were saying online the things I
was most worried about were
um the uh whether there had been some
sort of visual downgrade and like the
performance associated with that as well
you know whether it was going to chug if
you had it on to a higher setting and
also uh people a lot of people who
played the demo
um were saying to me that they weren’t
that into the uh combat and the controls
you played it didn’t you I did yeah how
did you find that in the demo I was just
left kind of feeling a bit flat about
all of it right including the the combat
but it may well have been just because
it it just yeah yeah
um so I went in thinking well if there
are going to be problems here those
might be the problems that I have and
actually surprisingly I think the game I
think it looks great
um I’ve got it on Ray tracing mode
um uh well I say great I mean it’s not
like it’s gonna not gonna win awards for
visuals of the Year sort of thing but I
think it looks looks good looks fine uh
I have had a little bit of a performance
issue uh in some areas where there’s a
lot of combat going on a lot of particle
effects and stuff it does seem to drop
some frames which is not good
um but yeah I certainly don’t think
there’s been a graphical downgrade even
if that is it at the expense of the
performance and I actually really like
the combat I think it’s you I think it’s
one of those games where you feel like a
badass without having to do very much
um so it’s kind of got a bit of a god of
war effect or a Spider-Man effect where
yeah you’re just even if you’re just
doing basic attacks the animation of
those attacks involves you flipping the
hell all over the place and you know uh
it can be quite easy to take down
certain enemies I am admittedly playing
it on
um story mode at home but when I
streamed it I had it on the default
balanced mode and that seemed relatively
straightforward as well it’s not a grind
the combat which is something I don’t
like in modern games where a single
enemy takes you know a couple of minutes
each to take down yeah so combat and
visuals I’m fine with but I have to
basically agree with what has now almost
become a bit of a meme online with the
uh the way this game is written I find
Frey just wholly unlikable or largely
unlikable I think to be fair some of the
clips that were going around to
demonstrate the uh how how kooky and
weird the writing was I don’t think
they’re some of the worst examples
actually I think the one where she’s
saying I I moved moved that with my
freaking mind and there’s one where her
and the cuff are doing impressions of
each other saying that’s what you sound
like both of those I think all right
they’re not great but they’re they’re
okay yeah I think it’s a bit unfair to
cruise Fire game based on those but
actually there are other things in the
game that are way more annoying she
swears constantly yeah
um I don’t mind a bit of swearing I do
swearing occasionally on stream when I
shouldn’t do people know that I’m not
like prudish in that sense that like all
swearing is bad but I think if you’re
just swearing all the time it kind of
just loses its Effectiveness right and
she sounds like a kind of angsty kid
who’s like her parents have gone out for
the night and so she’s gonna sit around
and say flip in the house because she
because she can so there’s that aspect I
don’t like
um and I also just so you can turn off
uh you can turn the combat chatter to a
minimum uh which I think a lot of people
are doing uh it’s not but it’s not the
frequency that bothers me it’s it’s the
actual content of it you know I don’t
mind if they’re going to talk a lot
through the game yeah um but it is just
this sort of like angst this it’s sort
of it’s it’s me me people are saying um
Iron Man has a lot to answer for you
know like the the kind of the Marvel
hero effect right okay where it’s like
yeah I mean just dangerous situation but
I’m just quipping all the way through
and Kieran are one of our editors told
me before I played the game that he
played the demo I think he played the
demo or he’s seen oh an hour of gameplay
was leaked wasn’t it before the game was
launched from the beginning and in the
opening uh segment of the game phrase
being beaten up by the the the criminal
gang that she’s run into and
it’s like really brutal like one of them
like properly like clocks her in the
head and I think her head smacks against
this concrete wall and she just like
looks back at them and says another
quippy thing like she’s just saying
stuff to pissed them off right and it’s
like I don’t care how Street wise and
like independent you are if you’re
getting laid into by three people who
are bashing your head against a concrete
wall you wouldn’t continue to go with
them but because she’s like hey this
light hero that you you really want to
you would love to be friends with in
real life because she’s so witty uh
that’s what she does so uh I I don’t
think I’m going to be playing much more
of the game I don’t think I’m going to
get through it because I still I’ve
given her her time for her character to
develop and she just continues to be
this kind of angsty teenager which is a
shame that is such a shame how do you
feel generally about the story not just
in terms of because as you alluded to I
imagine you’re uncovering some stuff
about uh phrase background yeah but
what you’re doing in athia and the world
there is is it is it interesting is is
the world interesting are the people
interesting it’s not like it’s not
uninteresting but it’s it’s not actually
that original
um I think it’s quite easy to pick up
like to just throw a bunch of sort of
fantasy tropes into a mix and then maybe
paint a semi-unique veneer on them and
say this is our interpretation of of
this thing but this thing is something
that you’ve actually seen quite a lot in
a lot of Fantasy games now I couldn’t
necessarily pick on this game in
particular for doing that because by
definition if I’m saying it’s a bit
samey and it’s a bit done then other
people have been doing it as well so
this isn’t like a sin that is uh unique
to this game but yeah it’s not it’s
nothing special really there’s a
corruption moving through the world you
know no that that’s something we’ve seen
before in games there are these like
powerful tunters who you go up against
and yeah all right there’s some Intrigue
around phrase backstory but if I’m not
like actually forming an attachment to
Frey as a character then I’m not exactly
going to be invested in finding out what
has happened to her in her past and
maybe just like somewhat interested into
like how she actually magically ended up
in this world to begin with and how
she’s going to get out but even then I
imagine it’s just gonna be not hand
waved away but just say you know this is
the magic system that happens in our
world and this is how you ended up here
and here’s how you get back so yeah it’s
it’s not got a really you it’s not got a
USP really as a story it’s nothing just
like particularly hooking me in and uh
unfortunately some things are pushing me
away including the writing so that’s a
real shame gameplay wise it’s fun I like
the combat and of course I’ve not even
touched on I mean I’ll I’ll wrap it up
now but there are there are uh the sort
of the things you would expect to have
in an open world fantasy RPG so there
are various map markers that you can go
and wander off the Beaten Track and do
all sorts of things collecting things
and working your way through clearing
enemies out of certain areas and all
that sort of thing there are sort of
Boss style creatures you can encounter
as you’re wandering along so you’ll just
be in the wilderness and they’ll be like
uh quite early on you’ll encounter this
giant deer that I found too tough to
defeat so it’s like okay I’ll come back
and do that later which is good gives
gives you a sense a reason to come back
and and to explore the world
um and there’s like various unique
things you can do to level your
character there are skill trees
um you can craft and upgrade items and
also
there’s this like nail mechanic where
she paints runes onto her nails okay
um and you collect the certain patterns
as you go around the world and so you
can apply one to one hand and one to
another and kind of combine them and you
know create your own sort of build and
they’ll just give you various upgrades
and abilities and stuff so that’s
something that yeah it’s pretty unique
yeah you’re painting your nails but
again like fundamentally it’s still just
attached this attachment kind of thing
yeah it’s it’s presented as nail art
which is an interesting take on it but
uh ultimately you’re just equipping a
thing that you found in the world so uh
depends how jaded you are I suppose as
to whether you think that counts as
unique or not yeah
um so is there a group of players that
that you would recommend this game to
that might enjoy it or is it just
generally across the board maybe just
avoid this one to me to use a slightly
dated comparison the things that I like
about this game and the things I I
dislike about this game map on quite
well to Dragon’s Dogma okay um in the
it’s got a a nice open fantasy world
which is quite pretty at times
um and the combat is very fun I really
like the combat in Dragon’s Dogma but
what I didn’t like in Dragon’s Dogma was
your protagonist was actually mute so
it’s a different problem but it’s it’s
someone you can’t really form a an
attachment to
um and the story was kind of complex and
it felt maybe a little bit bloated at
times so if you happen to like Dragon’s
Dogma for for kind of all that it was
like Wars and all then I imagine you
might like this game you know in spite
of its flaws
um I don’t know why that game in
particular like I think maybe just the
setting I guess is is why I formed that
kind of comparison in my mind as I
played but uh yeah I think if you like
that game maybe give for spoken ago and
uh as always the best thing to do is to
maybe find some footage online someone
who’s playing the first hour or so and
just have a look at that and try and
find my judgment based on that
um but yeah probably not for me I don’t
think I’m going to finish it I’ve given
it a good go
um but you know there’s a lot coming out
end of January early February so uh it
might have to take a back seat now
unfortunately okay well it’s available
right now on PlayStation 5 and PC as
well yeah it is so uh a couple of
options there so uh fingers crossed some
of you out there it will be for you but
uh not not quite for me unfortunately it
was one of the ones I was looking
forward to this year
um at the tail end of 2022 but uh it’s
not had the best Star unfortunately
that’s a shame yeah it’s a shame
wonderful well thanks Ben thank you
Peter should we go back to the podcast
let’s do it okay thanks Peter thanks
Peter thanks Peter Ashton would you like
to ask a question I would this comes
from bartek triple bap I finally
finished Xeno gears with a clear
conscience I can say that completely
understand the cult around it and
worship what a philosophical and
emotional Journey best of all one hero
has a name like me as you can guess he
is super handsome charismatic and humble
so the question for all you for all of
triple jump and walruses is how do you
feel when a character in a game has your
name your weeb bartek I did a quick
Google and I think the character is
called Bart I think I don’t know yeah so
I was like oh is that code called bar
Tech
um and uh I think they’re Bartholomew
short for Bart or at least there is a
Bart somewhere in the franchise I don’t
know I’m not sure but uh so we were all
trying to think of characters who have
our names I didn’t bother thinking
because I know there isn’t any okay it’s
really hard to Google characters yeah
it’s really hard yeah because you your
mind goes completely blank there are a
few but outside of actual existing
licensed properties like Star Wars or
Marvel and all that kind of stuff that
happen to have games around them there
are very few original video game
characters with our names as well as far
as we could tell there’ll be people who
can offer up examples I’m sure and
there’s perhaps like the odd NPC in
Fallout because they all have like you
know non-fantasy names so you do get you
your Benz and your Peters and your Johns
and yeah those were the best though
because you would go on to the Fallout
wiki and Google Ben and the three
characters there’s like there’s a photo
of the character and it’s a charred
skeleton yeah mine was as well pin
cushion Peter it’s a skeleton with like
six axes in his back up a mountain
um but what I came up with other than
Marvel characters so Peter Parker and
Peter Quill
um was Pete from bully uh well I’d say I
came up with it was it you Ashton
someone suggested
Alex someone did
um so I do remember Pete from bully but
I mean I didn’t feel any like
particular connection or disconnection
to him and I think broadly to answer the
question uh how do I feel when a
character in a game has my name I don’t
think it actually affects me that much I
don’t think I get like any more into it
or less you know people have always well
not always but occasionally like said oh
Peter Parker to me like if we’re talking
about Spider-Man or whatever and I don’t
sort of feel like oh yeah he’s got the
same name as me that’s really cool it’s
just uh it’s just it’s just his name I
think perhaps if I had a more unusual
name not that there are that many pizzas
but there are a fair few
um then perhaps if suddenly you
encountered someone like oh wow like
this person’s actually got my name like
if an Ashton came along particularly a
female Ashton you would you might think
like oh this is kind of interesting how
exciting I don’t want to speak for you
but like you know it’s like an unusual
it would be an unusual thing for you
people feel the same to me as it did
when I was a child when everyone would
go and get personalized keyrings with
their names on it and I’d look for a and
I’d be like
it’s like Alex or Ashley and I’m like no
no that’s not my name and then
eventually when they were like Ashton’s
appearing I was like oh my God Ashton’s
fight I couldn’t finally have it they’re
all written in blue yeah
[Music]
yeah
um so but yeah I don’t
I don’t think it really necessarily
makes me feel more immersed or connected
to a character I’m I’m just in it for
how they’re written and whether they say
silly things or not
I think if I saw a character I’d be
really excited uh if they were like
here’s the main character of this game
she’s called Ashton I’d be like oh my
God oh my God I think I’d be excited
yeah I need that game
um but yeah it’s never really happened
to me because I have a stupid name
um
but if I if I can name my own character
like if I can name my protagonist I
still don’t give it my name no I don’t
I’ll pick a completely random name or
like give it a stupid name rather than
giving it my name because most of the
time I’m if I’m playing an RPG where
it’s like my character is created
normally I will give that character a
name that is not mine because it’s not
me playing it’s like I’m pretending to
be someone else
um because yeah they always have stupid
like I also think it’s funny if you’re
going into a story game and it’s like hi
buttface thank you for coming to my
rescue like that’s funny thing just
saying hi Ashton thanks for coming to my
rescue but um I do like if I saw a
character with my name I’d be as excited
as bartek was about seeing character
with his name I just think it’s neat I
know that you guys have got basic names
so you’ve probably seen people with your
name all the time but I’ve only never
met one other Ashton when I was a child
um I don’t know when I was like a
teenager a child moving across the
street from me who was called Ashton and
I’d never met anyone else with my name
and then suddenly there’s a woman down
the street shouting my name at her son
and I was like
who’s shouting my name like what is
happening and I’m look I’m like coming
out the door like yes me me hello and
then she like grabs this kid Ashton
sorry my son is also named Ashton and I
was like what are the chances of that
and then one time we’re both in the
local doctor surgery and then she said I
said my name and the woman was like
to do and I was like that’s crazy yeah
yeah I have a boy name
uh yeah I’m
there’s only one
real character that I could find uh
based on the suggestion of our team uh
that that is that actually has my name
that isn’t a licensed character there’s
a Pokemon Ranger Guardian science
character called Ben apparently right
um or there’s all the Ben 10 games of
which there are many uh Ben Drowned the
Creepypasta from Majora’s mouth oh yeah
yeah uh sorry Margera’s mask uh Ben
quadinaros from Star Wars Episodes
really quadraneros yeah I don’t know if
we trust Peter with pronunciation
it might just be a typo I think it’s
quadrin arrows or arrows yeah there’s
Ben in there uh he’s an alien man he’s
in Star Wars Episode One racer but the
main one is Ben Paul from The Walking
Dead Season one The Telltale Game who’s
like the high school student who’s a bit
of a coward and keeps he means well but
keeps making mistakes to put everyone in
danger and uh yeah he kind of pisses me
off I didn’t think anything of the fact
that he had my name Beyond oh cool he’s
got my name that’s cool but did you
think like when you were saying in
Fallout one it was quite
your name
I think that’s like if you came across
that skeleton and it was like Ben above
its head do you not like you’d probably
laugh at that because it had your name
maybe so maybe so yeah but the way that
you like if you just saw a skeleton with
a bunch of axes in its back you probably
wouldn’t laugh but because it’s called
pin pincushion Pete and because your
name is Peter it’s then funny because
yeah maybe by your name possibly I think
it’d be I’ve in a way I’d find it funny
if it was just called Pete or Peter if
it’s like pinkish and Peter at that that
like gives immediately gives it a whole
personality that I don’t know associate
with me Chad and Ben but if I just found
a child skeleton that said Ben or Peter
my mind might initially go oh it’s like
if I was dead that’s me I’m dead I love
the fact that you know what I get more
excited when I see my friends names and
games in particular Borderlands 2 where
there’s a tiny loader bot and there’s
wanted posters all over the game for
Jimmy
she’s amazing uh considering James
Jenkins is someone who we know well in
real life so whenever I see the Jimmy
Jenkins post is I get a real kick out of
those I think they’re hilarious yeah
um but Peter you’re the only one out of
the three of us that could probably
speak to what it’s like to play a game
where a protagonist actually has your
name and they’re saying your name when
when they say hey Peter do you go yes
every time
oh sorry what are the chances well uh
Spyro the Dragon was nearly called Pete
the Dragon
um which I don’t know if maybe if he’d
been called Pete the Dragon I might have
in a way sort of like resisted that game
oh really because it might have been a
bit weird that like they’re always
saying my name and like if people found
out that I really liked Pete the Dragon
hi I’m Peter and I love Pete yeah they
might have thought right okay you big
baby feed the dragon yeah and you’ve
embroidered an r on the end exactly so I
think yeah I might have thought like oh
people will think I just like him
because he’s called Pete so it’s
probably just as well that they didn’t
call him that otherwise uh well they
also would have got in legal trouble I
think they changed it because of Pete’s
Dragon it was like a film called Pete’s
Dragon I was gonna say I think yeah I’ve
heard of that well there we are we don’t
really care is there is yeah
we’ve ever made a real connection with
them but Ashton would care a lot yeah I
would Jimmy Jenkins is gaming royalty
quite frankly well it’s time to move on
to something a little unusual
um a little bit uh of Monica in my life
it’s a weird news time
it’s weird news time time for some weird
video game news if you want to submit
weird video game news to us of course
send it to us on Twitter and Facebook
there’s a post that goes out at the
start of the week There’s a chance yours
could be picked and you get a shout out
right here in the weird news section if
you want to guarantee a shout out in the
weird news section though you need to go
to patreon.com
support us at a certainty and become a
podcast producer just like Nathan gy
Goliath Nexus Polaris Duncan Wilson
Nicole Hansen Ellie Nicholas Erica
Hutchinson Melody l1a Katie Garrett and
Gabrielle Philippine thank you thank you
producers Peter what’s your weird name
I’ve got a weird news here that was
submitted by Conor
mcahi
uh I think it’s Conroy milk that’s
easier to pronounce
um it’s according to Kotaku oh
I just rejected cookies and it closed
the tab uh hang on if you won’t have my
cookies you won’t get me at my article
uh War Thunder players are once again
posting military documents on forums oh
I don’t know if it’s going to be in this
article but I saw on Twitter that
someone had been asked like in there
like their security do they play War
Thunder and they were like no someone
was a referee for one of their friends
who was getting a job at the US
government yeah some sort of military so
they rang them up and they’re asking
yeah like are they reliable and uh
what’s the all these things do they play
do they play War Thunder no uh yeah
right but why has that reputation been
earned please well yeah this is an
update to a story we’ve covered in the
past
um but here we go
uh maybe they should change the game’s
slogan to Can’t Stop won’t stop says
Luke Plunkett brilliant good one Luke
good job Luke
you may remember that one of the
funniest stories of 2022 according to
Luke it was so funny was the way the
players of War Thunder and arcade online
shooter featuring real military vehicles
just kept on posting military documents
in the game’s forums not as acts of
Espionage but to win arguments about
specs
the last time we checked on the it
checked in on these guys it was some
tank players who despite ban after ban
just kept on sharing detailed classified
information on currently operational
main battle tanks and their armaments so
these are people who have access to
those documents because of their
position I guess or their their job or
maybe they’ve found them like in another
Forum with bad means unless it means and
they’re arguing about like this Tank’s
better than that tank and they say I’ll
prove it to you and they post this
document that should not be posted on
the internet why does this tank not have
a higher armor rating than this tank
yeah look here’s evidence as to why
here’s how you would destroy the tank in
an actual military situation yes here’s
its weak spot uh this week we’ve seen a
similar thing happen only now it’s about
fighter aircraft as massively op report
earlier this week a player shared
military documents relating to the F-16
in fighter jet in order to win an
argument the problem is that those
documents while not designated as
classified military documentation like
the tank guys stuff was still restricted
material quote under the jurisdiction of
the international traffic in arms relate
regulations itar a state department in a
state department enforced law that
limits disclosure and transmission of
U.S weapons data and information to
foreign individuals including
Distribution on the internet so not
classified but still not the kind of
thing you should be posting in a video
game forum then just a day later someone
else was at it again this time a
different user posted excerpts from over
a dozen weapon system manuals for the
f-15e again these weren’t classified
indeed they were for systems old enough
that they had been
indeed they were for all the indeed they
were for systems old enough that they
had been Declassified
but like I’ve already said just because
something isn’t classified doesn’t mean
you can freely post it on the internet
forums where anyone in the world can see
them so they were deleted as well I said
this last year but I will say it again
now the fact that a video games forums
have become one of the greatest opsec
hazards of the Modern Age just because
some dudes want to argue over a weapon
statistics it’s very funny thanks Luke
that’s now the funniest story of 2020
yeah it is next year when it happens
again again remember the funniest story
of 2022 and the people were
playing Dr
classified this time slightly less funny
yeah it’s still pretty funny though I
have some weird news it comes from RB at
our underscore b84 on Twitter from
kataki by Zack’s bison real soldiers use
Metal Gear Solid tactic to defeat
military robot I think Solid Snake and
Metal Gear sort of create a hideo Kojima
would approve of this tactic
there’s a lot of graph in this article
so I am going to skip past bits okay
um cardboard boxes are very useful you
can use them to move stuff create large
elaborate faults out of them and uh
probably other things too Webster’s
Dictionary defines cardboard box as
place where cat lives yes but did you
know that you can use a cardboard box to
hide from a highly Advanced military
robot it’s true even if it sounds like
something straight up a video game and
then it explains what metal gear solid
is and how in that game you can hide
under a box from enemies yeah and that’s
basically all you need to know never
really worked for me they would always
just kick the box over yeah saw me
moving or something
um it turns out this tactic actually
works in real life against AI powered
robot which Yes sounds like a metal gear
solid thing but it’s actually something
exists in the real life world in our
real life world The Economist defense
editor Shashank Joshi post an Excel from
an upcoming book about artificial
intelligence in the military and it’s
the author of the book Paul share it has
a story about the US military user group
of Marines improve an AI robot’s human
detection algorithm to do so Marines
walked around the robot for a few days
while Engineers use a data to improve
the AI but eventually someone decided to
flip things and asked the soldiers to
try and defeat the AI defeat the AI
robot instead of helping it
then there’s some excerpts from a book
taken just in a picture good
um
the eight Marines parked the AI robot in
the middle of a traffic circle and
played a game whoever could reach the
robot from a long distance away without
being detected one all eight Marines
were able to do so some did cartwheels
throwing off the robots at detection
algorithm I’d love to see that yeah
another pretended to be a tree yeah you
have to hide your Hydra Wilson while you
do them yeah another pretended to be a
tree using branches and slowly moving
towards the robot smiling the whole time
but perhaps the best tactic used by the
Marines was hiding under a cardboard box
apparently two different Marines shared
a single cardboard box and hid under it
while moving towards the robot you could
hear them giggling the whole time said a
person in the book referred to as Phil
as explained in the book The AI system
was trained to spot humans walking and
running not people doing somersaults or
hiding in boxes so it’s fairly simple
and childish tactics worked and fooled
the AI meanwhile any average person
would be would have been easily spotted
a would have easily spotted a moving box
or a flipping Soldier showcasing a major
issue with the AI in its Reliance on
previous data and algorithms
soldiersivated robot AI using cardboard
boxes and silly gymnastics moves silly
domestic moves sounds like a plot point
for Metal Gear Solid game just one more
thing Kojima predicted I guess yeah yeah
do you think when they were tasked with
you know get past this AI robot do you
think either one of them was actually a
metal gear solid fan perhaps I don’t
know what snake does get in a box the
future of warfare is uh it’s gonna be
funny yeah that’s what I’ve learned
today it’s going to be the funniest
Warfare of 2010 the next war will be the
funniest War yeah we’ll look back on it
and guys I would like to the funniest
have been there and just seen this
cardboard box with like two giggling
grown men like hiding underneath it or
the man just hiding a tree smiling the
whole way
my weird news comes courtesy of at Lloyd
w90 on Twitter thank you at Lloyd’s w90
on Twitter and uh I think this is a
kataku triple triple whammy triple
whammy yes thank you uh some people may
have seen this as a uh something of a
I’m something of a collector myself uh
it was quite hard quite hard to look at
a lot of people are very upset about
this Pokemon fan says US Customs
destroyed four thousand dollar classic
game
an original sealed copy of Pokemon
Yellow reportedly worth nearly four
thousand dollars was ruined by U.S
customs and border control after its
seal was not only cracked but its case
broken and the front of the Box sliced
clean off in a wanton display of
aggression against Collectibles the
owner claims uh that owner who goes by
the master of unlocking told Kotaku he
was disappointed to see such senseless
damage it’s Jill yeah we’re just see
such senseless Damage Done to the now
ruined collector’s item there’s a auto
playing video that’s taking up half the
screen oh you clicked on the video I
didn’t I tried to close it I hate
websites
the master of unlocking’s friend night
dive Studio CEO Stephen kick Mr kick
tweeted a picture showing the ruined
Pokemon yellow copy on January the 19th
uh don’t worry it cannot display a video
but it won’t embed an image that we need
to see that’s pivotal to the article
let’s have a look slice the front off
yeah I’ll show you it’s real they’ve
here we are already minced it look at
the state of that they just they’ve
cracked the the grading case open and
then just sliced the front of the
why the game
or something I don’t know they didn’t
study the blade very well that’s for
sure A friend of mine received this
sealed and graded original copy of
Pokemon Yellow kick said U.S customs
broke the acrylic case ripped and
discarded the seal and sliced the front
of the Box off maybe they weren’t fans
of water games
I think yes water games is an
independent company that grades and
certifies games for collectors there we
are there’s the clarification uh chances
are you’ll encounter water games if
you’re looking for high quality mint
copies of old games the company was
responsible for grading and certifying
the master of unlocking’s copy giving it
an A plus rating and a score of 9.2 I
don’t know if it’s gonna get that
anymore according to what A Game’s
website the game is in exceptional
condition and worth three thousand eight
hundred dollars or it was until U.S
customs came through and decimated the
certification well I do know that if he
traded in the yellow cartridge at CeX
it’d maybe get 15 pounds cash okay so
that’s you’ve not lost everything it’s
not total loss it’s not a total loss uh
so either they hated the battery inside
the cartridge or they thought it it had
contained drugs or something can U.S
customs just destroy things without
recourse asked another Tweeter with many
others demanding consequences against
the Ancients when we learned when will
you learn uh it goes on and on there’s
there’s all sorts of sources there it’s
worth a read if you want to feel a bit
upset and angry about it and you think
classic game being destroyed do you
think you can get compensations and you
can get four Grands it wasn’t sure I was
looking into this apparently the
insurance tends not to cover what
happens in customs which is kind of
shocking and and usually when people
have problems with Customs it’s sort of
like the Spider-Man meme where they’re
both pointing at each other yeah but
it’s customs and then the the Postal
Service who are responsible for it
they’re like where’s therefore where’s
therefore yeah you go around in circles
and you don’t get anything the only safe
way to get your games is to drive to the
headquarters and get it yourself and
then drive back no matter how far away
it is you must drive yeah or make knives
illegal and then no one can cut them
open or can we just get rid of Customs
just let people Ferry whatever they like
we ain’t nothing but mammals let us just
walk across into another country let me
get on a plane with a gun just let me
let me go to Europe with no passport and
let me just go between the free travel
is basically what I’m saying yeah you
want free travel in Europe there’s a
break I want borderless travel in Europe
and I want to be able to sort of go
wherever I want Madness I want to be
able to stand in the line that says
everyone else and not stand in a
separate line where we have to get I
won’t I don’t want to be in the sad line
anymore I want to be in the fast moving
nice line well I want blue passports so
you’ve already got them so yeah anyway
that’s how Pokemon Yellow was destroyed
the end let’s have another question
yeah it’s from uh Amelia underscore01
thank you Amelia heyabap what game do
you wish became a series or a series
that got cut short that you would like
to see another installment off uh love
from Amelia kiss kiss Thank You Amelia
sorry for being so rude there
um
so I have got some of both um you know a
game that never had any sequels or one
that did have some and should come back
uh well I’ll get Beyond Good and Evil
and Haven out the way they both ended on
Cliffhangers that may never be resolved
Haven won’t ever be resolved uh although
it was a Biblical allegory so maybe I
just need to read the Bible to find out
what happened the next chapter’s been
waiting for you for thousands of years
yeah
um it was written just in a cave uh like
in in Bethlehem or something yes that’s
where they wrote it yeah in that cave in
Bethlehem yeah
um Bible cave you know those two go
without saying I’m sure
um but so I’ve got games here that never
had a sequel talked about it earlier
actually bully or in the UK canis Canon
edit because we weren’t allowed to call
it bully
um but for some reason they picked the
slogan of the school in Latin rather
than they could have just called it
bullworth Academy that would have been a
much better name but no but that was a
really good game Rockstar
GTA style thing but in school and
there’s been talk for a long time about
maybe they’re doing a sequel it might be
a university or I might just be back at
a school again who’s to say but nothing
official at the moment
um Diddy Kong Racing very underrated
cart racer and I would have loved to
play more of that there was I think a
Donkey Kong racer or some kind of
spiritual successor on like the DS or
something I don’t know my Nintendo very
well but it was mostly instead of all
the like unique colorful characters
there was like conquer and banjo that
was some of their first appearances I
think and it was like a tortoise and a
badger
um in the spiritual sequel it was mostly
just the Donkey Kong family you know
like what they called Funky Kong and
girly Kong Grandma Kong yes that all
those ones king King Kong yeah
um so that’s less exciting give me that
interesting roster
um and then uh now onto some series that
should come back tombi tomber only had
two games everyone’s clamoring for a
sequel in the tombi community they’ll
never get it
um I think Whoopi Camp who developed it
would sort of close down or absorbed or
something after the second game even
though I think there was an intention to
make a third game
um if they do a third one they should
only print uh 3 000 copies yeah and
they’ll go on eBay for hundreds of
dollars imagine how much money they
would make just like that it’s like the
first two yeah
um time Splitters of course which should
be coming back apparently maybe
um and at least they’ve got a good
Innings with three games
um whereas only two of them are worth
playing though that’s true yeah
um and then likewise Dino Crisis did
actually have several games and the
reason that Dana crisis died out or went
extinct
was because there was a dip in quality
so I’m told I’ve not played the third
Diner crisis but apparently it was a
it’s on a downward trajectory but if
Capcom had just treated Diner crisis
like they’ve treated Resident Evil and
powered through some of the Duds and if
it was you know still being made today
the way that Resident Evil is being made
imagine what we’d have imagine the
quality
um there’s still hope as well that that
will come back or at least get one of
the Capcom like re engine remakes
um so fingers crossed but those are some
that I would like to see more of
excellent Ashton there was only one game
that I think got the short end of the
stick and set itself or in the history
of gaming but no not in the history of a
game just that I can think of right
um and my brain’s not that big so
they’re probably there’s like
um and there’s only one game that I
could think of that I was like man this
game really got shafted and does that it
deserved to at least have the prospect
of getting a sequel but it was told no
pretty much immediately after released
um as Guardians of the Galaxy
um I think it was a really good game
after I got through the bit where I
didn’t like it for a while and they
actually said they’re not doing a sequel
to that I didn’t know that I also was
not aware I Googled it because I was
like I thought I’d heard news about this
but I think they said that they had
outwardly canceled making a sequel of it
because they were so unhappy with how
badly it performed yeah even though they
sold millions of copies and won awards
yeah can you imagine to me until you
said that I thought well that’s a shoe
interesting yeah
I thought so too but I Googled it and it
said I believe you if you yeah well it’s
it’s flipping Square Enix isn’t it and
it’s a western studio and who knows what
the license well yeah you don’t want to
touch Marvel again so it said
um because Marble’s gone as a Galaxy
developer idos Montreal has reportedly
canceled their new game
so I think you know they’ve kind of set
themselves up to be able to make a
sequel and have a really interesting
story but they will they’ll never get
that sad face it’s very sad face and I
like the first game a lot yeah ah never
mind uh mine are uh Guardians of the
Galaxy
[Music]
um and also I’d like another Demon Souls
please yeah I know there’s a lot of Dark
Souls out there bloodborne bloodborne
well yeah I mean another bloodborne too
that’s a very good point actually yeah I
mean they’re they are functionally
similar games but I mean I’d like had
like a direct sequel to them please have
like a Demon Souls 2 that like a
bloodborne too I would like all of them
please thank you very much and the other
one which is a bit of an outlier uh not
the greatest received game in the world
but one that we’ve talked about quite
highly on this show before especially in
terms of its presentation was very nice
and also it has a very intriguing story
and that’s the order 1886. yeah I nearly
put that down yeah I think it’s a real
shame because that game ends on a
cliffhanger and I was really gripped by
the story of that game and very
intrigued by the alternative history
world that they created it’s just a
shame that it was bug and not hugely
inspired yeah gameplay wise and also I
think as we’ve spoken about before that
studio has since been purchased by one
of the big companies maybe meta Maybe
like a mobile game conglomerate I’m not
entirely sure anyway they’re they’re not
ready at dawn is the studio then they
won’t be allowed anywhere near anymore
however I think Sony still owns the IP
so they could give it it’s funny that
you mentioned that because this morning
I was looking to see if they’d finally
announce the PS plus games for next
month which they have not but someone
was predicting that that game would be
next month’s it was part of next month’s
PS plus it’s weird that you’ve said that
because I was like why they sometimes do
that before they uh like well more
before they release sequels rather than
announce sequels normally it’s the games
that are already it could be it could be
a test the waters kind of thing you know
how to yeah but it was a prediction that
someone had made people will be annoyed
by that because it’s a it’s a very old
game at this point and it’s it’s not
even it’s not very expensive the joke at
the time because it was uh it was the
forespoken of its day uh was that well
it’s not worth but I’m not buying it
until it’s 18 pounds and 86
I’m not buying it until it’s Force
pounds and Oaken Pence for Spinners uh
it’s yeah it’s it’s way cheaper than 18
86 now so but it’s that was a good game
that I liked and uh I would I would love
to see it followed up I’m actually
surprised that it’s not available for
free on one of the tiers of um is it not
well maybe it is but the fact like if
they’re going to add it to plus like
typically it might be an extra premium
situation yeah it could be I don’t know
yeah Lucky them
um wouldn’t know not in that club so no
no me neither can’t get any they won’t
let me in because because I won’t pay
for it
uh is it time to move on yeah to the big
discussion
[Music]
it’s big discussion time time for the
big video game discussion this week
comes courtesy of Conroy milk Mr Milk
who says greetings Bap last week Crystal
Dynamics announced that they would be
ending development for Marvel’s Avengers
this continues the trend of live service
games having their support ended before
they’ve been able to reach their full
potential see other examples such as
Anthem and babylon’s fall why do you
think many of these games have seen a
lack of success and do you think the
industry will now move away from live
service games as the majority of them
don’t seem to live up to expectations
cheers Conroy milk good Alexa up here
okay from a Kotaku article late last
week Square Enix announced that that
it’s beleaguered 2020 live service game
Marvel’s Avengers will no longer receive
new content or major updates after March
the 31st and all official support for
the game will end on September the 30th
2023 with digital sales ending on that
date too while you’ll still be able to
play it offline and online with friends
after these dates it’s effectively game
over for the troubled online action game
they’re kind of just making it into a
game that people might actually want to
play now what by turning off I mean the
servers are staying on you can play with
just your friend or you’re on your own
or you can play on your own but it’s
worse on your own apart from the bits
that God I remember we would you
remember when we covered it when it came
out yeah and I was really keen on like
the first couple of hours that I played
as was everybody else like hey this
isn’t actually anywhere near as bad and
then it became like after a couple of
hours the missions were no longer linear
first person narrative focused it
suddenly became this sort of bland
here’s the here’s the world map where do
you want to go to do this this day this
weekly Quest where you get dropped in a
bland environment and have to do really
tedious A to B objectives which are
apparently missions you level up you I
don’t know anyway it was really exciting
for a while and I was super excited for
that game and I’m sorry to see that it’s
died uh but I can’t say that I’m
surprised yeah it’s weird though because
like so Conroy milk says you know uh
where is it um why do you think many of
these games have seen a lack of success
and do you think the industry will move
forward from live service games I’ve
I’ve wanted the industry to move forward
from live service games for a long time
but the fact that they keep continuing
to make them makes me think that like is
it just me am I well not just me but is
you know am I in the minority here not
liking live service games the fact that
they continue to make them makes me
think they must be popular yeah and
therefore I’m always surprised I think
it’s weird when like another live
service game comes out it just falls on
its ass like Anthem as well is another
good example and then it’s you know they
sort of it’s sort of brushed under the
carpet and they move on and say right
we’re doing new projects now and I’m I’m
like well yeah yeah that’s what I
thought would happen and then you
continue to keep making these games so I
think it’s the same thing we were
talking about last week in like one mine
will be different yeah mine will be
better it’s that it’s it’s such a huge
gamble every time because the the dollar
sign possibilities are pretty much
endless that I think most
let’s say for example speaking
completely out of our asses that there’s
a boardroom full of Executives who don’t
know anything about video games but they
like making money yeah and they see that
fortnite apparently generated 5.8
billion dollars in Revenue in 2021 we
don’t know profit but you have to assume
that it’s a fair chunk of that’s profit
um they want that they want a piece of
that pie but they either have to develop
a game that is premium like Marvel’s
Avengers was at launch like Anthem was
at launched like babylon’s 4 was at
launch or they have to push all their
chips in and make it free to play where
there’s no guarantees yeah it’s it’s a
risk reward thing where the risk I think
most casual observers would say is
probably far greater than the chance of
reward but even the chance of that
reward is seemingly enough for these
guys to just go yeah
we’re Sony we’re developing 12 live
service games by the end of 2025.
yeah so and especially if you can like
Snap up a Marvel you know the Avengers
license you’re thinking like this is
going to print money yeah so maybe that
is partly uh an incentivizer an
incentive if you uh you might be
thinking oh do we take that risk do we
do a free to play do we do a premium
then perhaps oh Marvel oh we can stick
that on it people will pay for that and
that is what sends you down that path as
opposed to the free to play if Avengers
can’t do it and if Crystal Dynamics
can’t do Avengers it can do it yes it
just makes sense uh then you know it
just shows what a risk it doesn’t help
that it wasn’t the best game in the
world no uh but you know it’s those
those that’s a big Studio a very
talented studio and that’s a huge IP
should have done well yeah the only live
service game I’ve ever like enjoyed and
thought do you know what this I can see
why people love this game is Destiny 2
and obviously they put a lot of effort
into those games and they’re kind of
constantly changing the only thing I
don’t like about Destiny 2 is that like
if you take some time off you miss a
significant chunk of of Law and story
that you hadn’t have to just catch up in
and like
blank just text pages that come up when
you load them that’s one of the things I
don’t like about live service games I
don’t think it’s the case for all of
them some of them don’t like have like a
narrative threading through in that
sense so it doesn’t really matter but
yeah for those that do that is one of
the reasons I’m like I don’t want to
feel like I have to attend class you
know yeah
um it also feeds into the biggest issue
that I think a lot of like a lot of new
live service games have or even existing
live service games is that and we’ve
said it before on this podcast their
very purpose is to be the only game that
you ever yeah they want you to log in
every single day and if you don’t you
miss out on story you miss out on daily
rewards other players will get ahead of
you and they will tell you that like the
game will manipulate you and try and
make you feel bad for missing for
missing school you know whatever not
going and that’s why there’s only a
handful maybe two or three kings of this
genre and everybody else who has a go
stands no chance because if you’re your
entire model is to be the only game that
everybody that anybody plays forever you
can’t play multiple of those and it
doesn’t matter if you’re good it’s you
can’t you can’t attract everybody to
your to your game
for one maybe two live service games if
they’re playing them religiously yeah so
to try and flood the market and have
your own success or not even flood the
market just to try and have your own
success is is highly unlikely uh because
it’s such even though it’s not a
particularly it feels like it’s a really
busy genre in a busy space but it’s not
really there aren’t that many games in
it it’s just because of the nature of
what they are there can only be one or
two really popular ones yeah I think
that’s that’s it really isn’t it that’s
why they continue to be made and why
this won’t necessarily spell the end of
live server well it won’t it’s about the
end of live service games Sony it
because yeah doing that many uh because
these people in perhaps in a boardroom
can you know they’ve got dollar signs in
their eyes is they see how much
something like fortnite is making
they’re like we’re gonna do that and
then the reason that it pretty
consistently is going to be a flop when
you make one of these games is because
there’s just not room in it’s a you know
it’s a one-horse uh race in a sense or
maybe two or three horses at best yeah
yeah and even those that have had
success in the past are starting to drop
away I’m sure Call of Duty Warzone still
has millions of players but I know that
it’s it’s got to be down significantly
from the pandemic for multiple reasons
obviously people don’t have as much time
but as someone who played a lot of war
zone I can’t flip and stand anymore it’s
just not that fun anymore the new map
isn’t the big war zone 2.0 from from
anecdotally from what I’ve heard has not
landed with core players as well as they
had hoped and
so it’s really hot even if you do have
that established audience it’s hard to
keep them yeah really hard also you need
to put a lot of work in to keep these
games entertaining like you can’t just
be like well we’ve made the game now
we’ll do periodic updates maybe a bit of
content later on but we’ve done it now
we can move on to the next thing if
you’ve released this game you’re gonna
have to keep putting things out you know
weekly events monthly events season
events you have to keep thinking of new
things to add to your game to keep
people coming back because people aren’t
they’re going to get bored they’re gonna
like that’s not the same but Disney
Dream like Valley I’ve now finished
everything now and I can’t do anything
until the next like game comes out yeah
Animal Crossing like you kind of you
finish what you need to do you’re like
well I don’t have anything else to do
now suppose I’ll turn the clock forward
to Halloween yeah exactly any cool stuff
to wait
um but you know these things are things
you have to keep constantly doing which
is a lot of work for these devs and a
lot of work for these like Story teams
obviously they’ve got like probably a
road map of where it’s that’s going to
go but there’s only like a certain
amount of time Destiny 2 basically keep
Reinventing the game every couple of
years to kind of make it brand new
experience like the new is it the witch
queen that came out last year is that
coming out soon I don’t know there’s
like a new seasons but they’re
substantial enough that they add
an entire like almost an entire game to
the game itself Destiny 2 is massive
like the the size that you need to
install for that game is absolutely huge
because there’s like four games inside
of it because they kind of periodically
make brand new game content for it but
that’s the thing they just haven’t got
the time or the money when your game’s
not making any money like Avengers
wasn’t because I didn’t know anyone who
was still playing it
um to keep making it if you’re not
making that money then of course you’re
just gonna bin it off and work on
something that you can make a brand
spanking new amount of money yeah that’s
true that’s just happened with it’s not
live service in the same sense but the
uh that crash Crash Bandicoot Runner
game crash on the run it was like a
mobile game apparently when that launch
in its first 24 hours it it performed
better than any other like for like game
in in history like a mobile Runner game
so there’s like a Mario one Mario on the
run or something as well they perform
better than that uh perform better than
Temple Run is it cool what’s that temple
one called yeah
I think Temple Run was like the first
one that came out and then yeah so it
looked it had a really good it had a
strong start they’ve just closed it down
after like a year because I think it’s
it’s that maintenance like if you’re not
constantly Reinventing it and they were
for a time they were like adding bosses
and stuff I never played it but I was
following like you know I used to see on
Twitter and stuff and uh I I imagine
that perhaps they’ve just thought well
it’s not going to continue to make money
unless we keep injecting new levels new
bosses and and all that stuff so you
have to continue to spend money to make
money from the from that product yeah so
it’s a tricky model it’s like it’s not
the same level as Marvel Avengers but
project Mako though
every week There’s Something New
happening like it’s like a new way of
getting extra lives or there’s like an
event happening where you can like spend
these other kind of tickets on a
separate like makeover that’s happening
all month long or whatever there’s
always something different whenever I
load the app it’s like today’s a new
thing I mean they’re reused some like
some of the content happens every kind
kind of month or so but it’s like still
new content and every time I go and it’s
like oh something new to focus on get
it’s not that it’s it’s not that new of
a genre now no but it’s still very
exciting I think to a lot of big
Publishers and even you know smaller
developers as well because it’s so far
outside of the traditional model of
video games where you invest a certain
amount of money to ship a game and then
beyond perhaps a couple of patches and
some support you know just to make sure
things are okay after launch maybe some
DLC uh that’s it that’s the game it goes
out and you sell it and some eventually
the sales dry up and that’s the end of
it you’ve made your money from you’re
gonna make from that game and this is a
format where they can potentially if it
goes well make money indefinitely from
this game yes you do have to you know
sync development costs in constantly but
if your game’s doing well enough then
you can easily offset that but I don’t
think
we’ve seen the last of live service
games not only because Sony have
committed to them for a while and some
of those may be canceled but it’s they
seem confident if they said we’ve got 12
and they’re coming out by 2025. uh I
think it’s going to be a case of
it the the the chance of making
unlimited money is too alluring and it
doesn’t seem like anyone has their heads
screwed on straight enough to go a lot
of big companies are failing at this
yeah maybe we should back off I think
it’s going to be a case of each big
company has a go gets burned and then
backs way off maybe they’ll never do one
again or it’ll be a while before they do
it again but there’ll be some other big
publisher or developer who haven’t yet
made theirs well we’ll try we’ll have a
go yeah we’ll we’ll have a go but yeah
we will we’ll have to see I’m I mean I
don’t think any of us are really that
bigger fans of live service games now uh
but their presence is undeniable and
they will be around for a while I think
unfortunately for better or worse I
suppose
well
make sure you let us know what you think
of everything we’ve discussed today what
do you think of first spoken have you
played it how do you pronounce Gallagher
we discovered that there might be a
third pronunciation yeah in between uh
when we
pause between sections
yeah yeah with the galaxian Apparently
with the emphasis on another part of the
uh of the word well Peter’s gonna tell
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goodbye bye-bye
Marvel’s Avengers – What Does End Of Support Mean For Live Service Games
Hello everybody and welcome back to the
triple jump podcast it’s a video game
podcast my name is Ben my name is Peter
and my name is Ashton good morning
gentle people hello good morning how are
we doing no I’m doing all right thanks
so good how are you how are you yeah I’m
all right actually uh we don’t because
it happened last night at the time of
recording uh we don’t have a specific
question about it so I thought maybe we
could hop in right now and talk about
the developer direct that Xbox slash
Bethesda did uh on Wednesday well I’ve
only looked at Hi-Fi rush I didn’t watch
the I’m not caught up yet on the whole
event it was only like 45 minutes long
yeah because I’m not that interested in
red four so I was like it’s probably I
was like I’m not gonna watch it live
because it’s probably going to be mostly
red four so I’ll just wait and see if
anything else and I will probably watch
the actual redfall stuff as well
eventually but I wasn’t desperate to see
it so right yeah Ashton you were you a
big fan of the presentation yeah I
watched it this morning and I was really
like just having a good time just
thought it was nice it was all like kind
of as if they were writing on the screen
like old school it kind of gave me like
old school PowerPoint presentation Vibes
yes but in the best way I really really
love a PowerPoint you do
um and yeah I thought it was really nice
and they got like chats from the devs
there wasn’t any like extra kind of like
snazzy unnecessary Guff it was just kind
of like here the devs yes I’m talking
about the gameplay mechanics it’s a
little fun fact about them underneath
their name how fun and cute aren’t we so
quirky and I was like yes you are I love
it
um lots of uh dot matrix printer sound
effects as well yeah yeah
noises I just thought it was nice it was
just a nice little show it was we only
saw a handful of games there which is
five games which is what we were we were
expecting Minecraft Legends uh you again
Ashton
I didn’t really wasn’t really that
interested and I don’t know if I I’ll
spend money on it but I was watching
they were talking about the PVP version
of the game and I was quite intrigued by
it they were like you can get in a team
of four go against another team of four
and you can like run and explore the
world they’re all procedure generates
every time it’s different well you are
our resident child so yeah anyone’s
gonna cover that game that’s to get you
in
um and you can like go off and play or
like go off and explore or try and get
new mounts or resources for your base or
you can stay at the base and just build
it up so people can’t get through
there’s like traps you can set you can
collect mobs that you can go and attack
the other base and you’ve got like 50
skeletons behind you that are coming to
attack
um I just thought it looked quite fun
um I don’t know how it plays like the
story mode itself but from that the PVP
version if I had three friends to play
with I’d be well up for giving that a go
um in online because I think it looks
quite fun yeah I liked the uh the look
of it as well obviously it’s got the
Minecraft aesthetic but I enjoy that
being applied to other genres there’s
also the baddies are called Pig lens and
I thought they were quite cute that’s
great they were like they will attack
you because they’re going to attack both
teams
they’re coming pieces they’re coming
they’re coming and I just thought they
were quite like ah if not friend why so
cute
try and pet one see let’s see what
happens can you pet the pig then yeah we
then had a discussion about Forza that
felt like it honestly it wouldn’t end
there was there was a lot of car
information in there if you if you’re
interested in thought so maybe go and
watch that a Hi-Fi Rush was the surprise
uh appearance it was announced being
developed by Tango Gameworks who
previously worked on The Evil Within and
is headed by Shinji mukami Resident Evil
uh Creator and survival horror Legend
and Hi-Fi Rush is not that no like a
combination of uh it looks a lot like
Sunset Overdrive yes
radio-ish jet set radio-ish with sort of
a combat stylings of metal hell singer
from last year where everything’s in
time to the beat they must have been
gutted when metal helsinger was
announced yeah but I guess it’s like so
aesthetically different and even genre
wise yeah
metal Helsing is meant to be quite
challenging and it looks like there’s a
lot of uh hello
someone really wants to get into the
building it looks like there’s a lot of
not accessibility as such but also yes
accessibility to make this game fun to
play because everything’s in time to the
beat the whole world moves to the beat
uh enemies attack to the beat QT easier
in time to the beat boss fights are in
time to them and I think they said that
like your combat will always be in time
of the beat but if you actively are in
time of the beat when we do button
presses your combat’s more but you get
for rewards yeah they said like you
won’t if if you like missed the B it’s
not like your attacks not gonna do any
damage or whatever it’s just like you
get bonus stuff if you’re on on the beat
and they Shadow dropped it no less yeah
slipping flipping ages and something
like that’s happened they said it’s
available right right now on Game Pass
so when you’re listening to this you can
go and play it and check it out it looks
really cool I’d I’d like to give it a go
it’s honestly the first game that’s been
released not that not that I’ve heard of
because the Starfield as well that has
made me like actually think I now
require an Xbox I know I can you can
play on Steam as well but uh you know
everything else that Microsoft have
released up to this point or it has been
an XBox exclusive I’ve been like okay
well you know that looks great but I’ll
wait until this this pile builds up
before I really want to get the other
platform but now that has been showing
off and been released and I’m like I
really want to play that that looks
really good so I’ve already downloaded
it on PC game pass to play tonight yeah
I might have to get on PC
the Elder Scrolls Online there was a big
old section about that they’re making
all of their expansions free for a time
yeah I think so and they’re introducing
their third class since launch like a
new one so right I think she was like
called an Arcana or something something
magicky I kind of tuned out a little bit
because uh I did give the Elder Scrolls
Online a go admittedly a long time ago
and I I bounced off it because I wanted
Skyrim with friends and that’s not
really what it was uh it was definitely
an MMO and it has a lot of players who
really like it it does like for an MMO
it looks like it’s pretty good but I
have a kind of a bit of a resentment for
Elder Scrolls Online just because I
think partly because it’s continuing to
do so well you see all those expansions
like elsewhere and Morrowind yeah man
imagine if those were single player yeah
I think because it’s doing so well
they’re like they’re not in any hurry to
bring out a single player game so it’s
potentially causing a longer delay for
the next Elder Scrolls but absolutely
well hopefully we get some Elder Scrolls
news soon the main event though was red
for which I believe is releasing on the
6th of May
2nd second second of May first week of
May uh is coming out and we’ve got a big
old uh look at the gameplay of that it’s
I have a lot of faith in
um okay okay thank you Arcane and I
really enjoyed death Loop and there was
a section in there where you’re where
clearly they’re playing on their own and
they’re doing some sort of side content
where they’re sneaking into uh thank you
a brewery that’s been overtaken by
vampires no no not actually
thank you uh yes and uh that looks like
proper Arcane it looks like you were
able to go up the ladder around the side
and go in where you wanted but the
actual sort of
almost uh left for dead back for blood
uh style gameplay wasn’t really doing
much for me and when they were in the
house there’s like a vampire who runs at
you and he’s he’s like running a
straight line and then just 90 degree
turns and then runs at you again I don’t
know how scary that’s gonna be no if
indeed it’s meant to be scary that’s why
it’s not at the moment it’s not for me I
mean like I say I will actually watch
that at some point but uh I wasn’t
wasn’t desperate to watch the events I
was like it’s gonna be redfall and I
don’t think redfall is the one for me or
even though I do historically I you know
Arcane have done some really good stuff
but yeah I’m quite excited for redfall
have been since they announced it and I
quite like the way it looked and the way
you can interact with her there’s like a
one of the characters makes like a jump
pad that other characters can use and um
it looked like there was a lot of ways
that you could help other players out so
as I can quite and focus on having
friends with you as well as a single
player which is nice and it’s coming to
game past day one as well so yeah it’s
more open than I was expecting as well
yeah quite a big open map rather than
the sort of linear approach we’re used
to with well at least my expectations
for redfall was it’s like left for dead
and so I thought you’d play through it
in a linear fashion but it seems you can
kind of just wander around and do side
stuff there’s like safe rooms and areas
you can like
um what’s the word
areas you can you can from vampires you
can um nests yeah but can you take you
can take the you can liberate them from
them right yes there’s sections that you
take yeah you’re taking back the city
right and also there are these nests
that you have to clear out that sounds
like they’re procedurally generated they
said they’re different every time you go
in and there’s a resource at the heart
of them or something like that it looks
like there’s a lot of stuff to do in
this game I don’t know if I’m hugely
excited for it but I think it looks way
more fun to play with people obviously
and I don’t know that I’m gonna have
people to play it that’s the thing I
just don’t play multiplayer really like
hardly ever
um unless we’re on couch uh you know if
I’m around your house or we’re streaming
that’s when I multiply do multiplayer
games sofa yeah exactly but um at home I
don’t I just don’t log on and play
multiplayer games so I don’t think I’m
gonna have that much opportunity to even
play this game okay well then we’ll play
it actually we’ll give it a go but that
was the uh the developer underscore
direct and I I liked it it was almost
state of play Nintendo direct-esque in
that it’s a very sort of truncated
experience highly produced beforehand
and it was not awkward in the slightest
which a lot of these conferences run the
risk of being uh so yeah I’d recommend
people go and watch it it’s only like 45
minutes long and there’s some good stuff
in there now though it’s time to talk
about this week’s sponsor each and every
week we are sponsored by a very real
video gamer Jason sponsor that helps us
keep the lights on in here Dead Island 2
the spider is still not on holiday on
holiday it’s still on holiday the
longest holiday Everton’s house
um Ashton I believe you have the ad read
I do yeah so there’s a game coming out
tomorrow that some people might find a
bit scary okay a little bit spooky
especially if you suffer from celiac
disease and you can’t have gluten yeah
okay yeah I see it coming yeah and it
might have there’s little Ghoulies
running around their wheat protein and
you can’t chop off that limb top off
their limbs to stop them from giving you
tummy aches yes it’s of course bread
space rebake rebate
okay the rebate I didn’t see coming that
complete that was a left jab that caught
you it was yeah for that yeah bread
space the rebate is coming this week
this week I’ve heard this week I’ve
heard it’s got like quite a good special
edition that comes with some physical
goodies can you talk us through that the
toasty version the toasty version
exactly yeah yeah it comes with um a
helmet that’s made of bread yeah it does
you have to consume it exactly
um a steel book that’s just bread yep
there’s a bread book it’s like in inside
the steel book there’s just one nice
slice of bread
um a nice crisp white slice of bread
um it’s like a war button sandwich thing
yeah
and then like all of the like art is
just you know the the concept art of the
the wheat Ghoulies and stuff so it’s not
actually real though oh no that’s wrong
this one’s really snuck up on us though
Dead Space remake I knew it was coming
out in January but God it’s so now at
the time of release yeah it’s out uh we
don’t know if it’s any good actually or
if we’re getting a code even we would
have no idea we asked for one and they
said okay you’re on the list you’re on
the list that means nothing that could
mean absolutely anything that’s just
sort of like a Facebook like from from
happy birthday like means I’ve seen it I
acknowledge uh but no promises no we are
in fact sponsored by our wonderful
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you got a question there yeah um it’s
from Nexus Polaris who says hey Ben
Ashton and also Pete off the tiny
variety hello I’ve recently been
downloading some meme games that’s like
multi-arcade uh what does it stand for
uh I have I did look it up and I forgot
but it means it’s like a it’s an arcade
emulator yeah that has like multiple
arcades all on it it’s just an arcade
emulator uh onto my steam Deck with such
Classics as Turtles arcade Simpsons
arcade Gauntlet Etc which arcade
cabinets would you personally have in
your home if given the space and chance
I’d personally go for Mortal Kombat 2
Area 51 Moonwalker and Marvel vs Capcom
2 thanks to Nostalgia make sure you
follow like And subscribe keys keys your
boy next EP we should say that the thank
you Nexus we should say that the main
emulator is perfectly legal because it
is an emulator however ROMs are a bit
more dicey unless you’re ripping your
do follow the law and don’t do crimes no
you can only use your name if you
already have all of the physical arcade
cabinets in your house you need to put
it from the magical device where it goes
on a conveyor you load your arcade
cabinet on its side on a conveyor belt
it passes through like an Acme machine
exactly and then it comes out as a
little USB stick that you copy the file
on and that’s how it works legal that’s
the only legal way to do it the only way
uh so I brought sort of two categories
of arcade games I’ve got um the kind of
the very old like 8-bit Classics and
then some stuff that I would play I’d be
more inclined to play now at an arcade
um even though it’s not what you
typically associate you know it’s not
your Pac-Man’s or your or your pongs no
it’s your whoa 3D Graphics bloody hell
interesting peripherals what hate that
so in the former category uh I’ve always
been quite a fan of
Galaga I say some people say Gallagher
I’ve never heard it Galaga
a lot of people say Gallagher because
it’s like Galaxy right again it’s in
space it’s just
a debate yeah it’s a debate it sounds
like beer advertised for women yeah it
does Galaga
um but uh I’d drink that yeah uh
apparently there’s a debate as to
whether it’s Gallagher or Galaga I most
people do say Gallagher but I’ve always
been Galaga for some reason hey let us
know in the comments is it Gallagher or
is it Gallagher yeah
um but I’ve always been a fan of that uh
first time I played that it was bundled
at the start of Tekken because it’s an
Amco arcade game Tekken one on PS1
started with Gala Gaga
um where you could uh if you if you beat
each round it would just keep ticking
over it would keep playing
um so uh that was that was a lot of fun
uh I also weirdly although it’s very
simple I’ve always really liked Frogger
don’t know why you know I don’t know I
particularly have latched onto Frogger
and not you know joust or Pac-Man or
something I don’t like Pac-Man that much
I’ll play one round of Pac-Man like
everyone will and then I’m done yeah
um but Frogger I find quite satisfying
um but then in the more kind of recent
category uh I would definitely in my
house have
um the proper like peripheral version of
Star Wars Episode One racer with the the
the the actual yes engine controls above
your head like this is pod race Anakin’s
Pod racer yeah uh I would probably have
a Tekken of some sort either Tekken 3 or
Tekken Tag those are my favorites and
they always start in the arcades before
they make it to uh make their way to
console
um and I really like Crazy Taxi as well
I like arcade driving games where it’s
got that weird reactive steering wheel
that spins by itself and yes uh pedals
yeah
um so I mean almost any driving game
would do to be honest but I think Crazy
Taxi has a nice kind of vibe to it so
probably probably that next question
what would you have in your house well
thanks for asking Peter
Peter I would like a Daytona
[Music]
so I could do a little driving game I
see people like someone I know has got
the full like driving setup like full
like steering wheel and the screen that
goes like round yeah pedals and for like
F1 simulation games and I I don’t want
any of that I just want little Daytona
with my little yeah the least
comfortable seat in the entire world
yeah it’s a fake seat belt that you just
pull around you for full immersion
um and I would also like a house of the
dead game because they’re fun and you
never really get that far into them so
you never really know what the story is
because you die very quickly yeah and
you don’t get to hear all the amazing
voices no exactly because she’s too busy
again we really want to be Sega we’d
love to be in the new house so love to
be in it if you need some voice actors
to go what was what was that noise
you’re still alive you must go and
Control the Chaos in the city if you
want that we can do that yeah that is
clearly our calling clearly our calling
yeah if we’re not busy doing Wells
interactive yes
it’s difficult to decide between the two
but uh I’ll talk about Wizards in a
minute
um and I would also just like I’d like
pinball and I’d like a pinball game one
time which flavor of pinball
well when we went to
um a bowling alley a little while ago me
and Peter’s wife Amy spent about 10
minutes someone had put a pound in a
pinball machine and they had left and
there were still pimples no the CSI was
the CSI yeah right okay and we spent
ages just playing pinball we had a great
time and I’m like okay I just want
pinball maybe I want a CSI pinball just
because it’s like you go in and they had
like a little like spinny thing like a
science where they spin like a
centrifuge yeah centrifuge thank you and
it had one of those in the middle of it
and it would spin your ball around and
sling it off and I was like I hadn’t
thought about like physical games I
would probably also have air hockey if
we’re including stuff like that I’d
rather man cave yeah yeah 100 a massive
one yeah because an air hockey table is
Big Air is good yeah it is good I’m
always scared I’m gonna get hurt my
fingers yeah I’ll get my teeth knocked
out not that it ever comes off the
ground but like I just feel like that’s
gonna come up and hit me in the face
yeah now that’s it yes real air hockey
thank you Ashton for asking thank you
Ashton for asking no problem I’ll uh
tell you the ones
uh I would have uh House of the Dead
four is the one specifically yes that’s
the one I like that’s the one with the
uzi because it was in a bowling alley
near uh where I grew up and me and my
friends used to play that quite a lot
right and it’s the one where you when
enemies uh grab you you have to like
shake the the uzi from side to side to
get them to get the zombies off
and it hurts your hand actually because
it’s getting the zombies off yeah
getting the zombies off hurts your hand
because it like pinches each side of
your thumb and your finger it’s like ah
and I always uh I always quite like that
when I always play house that has the
Dead four when I see it I know it’s not
the classic one but uh I enjoy that
enjoy it so I would like that one I
would also like Time Crisis too because
everybody loves Time Crisis and as far
as I’m concerned that’s the best one I
don’t really know a great deal about
time crazy I think this is generally
considered to be the best one everyone
loves not but I know anything about it
either but Guitar Hero arcade I can’t
play Guitar Hero but for the sake of not
having plastic peripherals all over the
living room it would almost be nice to
have a permanent Guitar Hero station set
up uh for people to play on uh The
Simpsons arcade is one I would also like
because I really like the Simpsons
arcade game and it’s one of those great
arcade titles where four players can
play on the same machine it’s got
buttons for each of the characters so
you all have to sort of squeeze in but
you can all play uh at the same time
which is which is fun and the last one
I’ve got written down here is the Fast
and Furious Superbikes which based on
two minutes of Googling may or may not
be the arcade machine I put lots of
pound coins into on a holiday when I was
a teenager we have the motorbike in it
like yeah you have to tilt there’s a few
that I like that but based on
screenshots I think it’s this one that I
played and it’s the first arcade game
where I managed to get my name on the
high score
um not very high but it was on there and
uh my name is three letters so it can
fit on all high scores which is really
good that’s useful
that’s the that’s the one that’s the
ones that I would like in my house
please those are good ones yes thank you
speaking of things we’d like to play
should we talk about things that we have
played this week that sounds like a new
and exciting thing this section that I
brand new sex I’ve never heard of I
think we’re calling it what we playing
okay
foreign
time to talk about the video games what
we have been playing over the past week
or so Peter what have you been playing
uh so principally mainly largely I’ve
been playing for largely
garageley uh I have been playing
forespoken
um but I won’t talk too much about that
because we’re going to do a little
review corner on it in just a moment but
uh I also streamed it as well so some of
you will have seen my kind of in the
moment reactions to some of it there and
I’ll talk about you know some there’ll
be some slightly more coherent thoughts
in review Corner I’ve also to be a bit
Coy I’ve been playing a game that I
can’t really talk about right now
um but uh all I’ll say is it’s it’s kind
of an indie thing so it’s not it’s not
like a mainstream upcoming game uh
spread space
uh so don’t don’t even try and guess
because you won’t uh but I’ll I won’t be
able to talk about that until like
sometime in February so uh sorry
um and uh I have played a little tiny
bit of the game that I’m going to be
streaming this coming week so on Monday
I’ll be streaming Silo Psy bill
um yeah sorry what it’s also an indie
game
um it’s this guy who has made it’s one
of those where they’ve done it in like a
PS1 rendering style which I love oh it’s
getting it’s quite trendy now to do that
lots of people are doing yeah
um and it’s clearly like heavily
inspired by Crash Bandicoot
um the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy you play
as like a mushroom boy it’s basically
the last of us really uh it’s nothing to
do with the Last of Us you are a
basically just a sentient mushroom
instead of a head and face you just have
a mushroom cap on a neck
um and you have to just platform through
these very clearly crash one inspired
levels that are
kind of very difficult at times and it’s
in a lovely retro style so I reached out
to the guy and said hey if you could
send me a code I’d love to cover your
game on on our Channel and uh it’s been
in Early Access for a very long time but
it’s only just been like fully released
like the actual like proper version is
now available on Steam so I’ll play that
on uh on Monday properly I’ve not played
enough to really do a review corner on
it but uh it would be nice to do maybe A
Brief Review Corner next week so that’s
what I’ve been playing
um basically I haven’t really talked
about any of them in particular for
reasons because one will be spoken about
momentarily and the other two can’t
really say anything about right now so
that’s what we’ve been playing Ashton
well I’ve been a bit sad boy this week
so uh I’ve not really wanted to play
that much but when I am sad I play The
Sims and whatever Christmas I walked by
a house in Whitley Bay and I thought
this house looks silly so I took a
picture of it and I built in The Sims
wow and I’ve been and it’s like a series
of houses so there’s like four or five
houses so every time I’ve been sad this
week I’ve booted up the Sims and I’ve
like furnished one of the houses and
I’ve been like cool okay I’m done now I
don’t know what’s what’s in the houses
wow currently there’s I’ve done four out
of five and they all have different like
people who live there so one of them is
like a couple that like met in college
and he’s like a contractor and she’s
like a marketing person and they’re
really basic and their their house looks
like real do you get to give them back
stories yourself or I just yeah this is
backstories you’ve invented yeah okay
cool and the second one the basic trait
though yeah right yeah well I don’t I
haven’t actually made the Sims that go
in these houses I’ve just made the house
oh right I just made the Story Of My
Mind of like when I’ve been decorating
for it eventually but I would but I
don’t think I’ve actually got enough
that you can only have eight Sims in a
house and because it’s one
um I wouldn’t be able to have and then
the second house is a lesbian couple
with three kids
um and then the third house is like a
goth couple because their house is all
like edgy and black and it’s got like
sick furniture and stuff and then the
fourth house I built is like a show home
and currently it’s got like the same
picture in like every room because it’s
like they’ve been decorated but I
thought it was quite funny because when
I was decorating that one and this is
just to myself
um I was like oh it looks like the basic
girl because she saw the show home and
went this house is perfect yeah right
and then basically
yeah yeah from my house so that’s what I
did
um and then I’ve also played some plate
up because as I like that game and you
can make dumplings in it at the moment
because it’s Chinese New Year so we’re
making something it’s just temporary
well there was a turkey over Christmas
and I think that maybe you can still you
can continue to make those going forward
but they’ve introduced dumplings and it
keeps giving you the option to do
dumplings do you have a photo of the
silly house in Whitley Bay that we can
see
um I want to see how silly it is
set because I
that’s okay I might do I have a look
while Ben speaks yeah
um and then also the last thing I played
was some Jedi Fallen order and I got to
the final boss fight
um and and then I was like I’m fighting
this person and then I turned the game
off because I know I can’t do that right
now but I really I need to replay that
game again because I did actually try
and replay it recently but I didn’t go
all the way through but I don’t even
remember who the final boss was
um I don’t think so yeah well I know uh
yeah no I remember yeah but I haven’t
fought them yet
I don’t remember okay
what um yeah in that location yeah that
one that one that place bloody yeah this
game sounds great why don’t you why
haven’t we talked about this I’ve really
enjoyed playing it I think it’s quite
fun I enjoy having I like Kyle kestus I
don’t know why you guys don’t like him I
think he’s fine he’s just doing his best
it’s not good enough I don’t know
everyone hates him well you also don’t
know why you’re not like as much on the
bandwagon of disliking Frey from for
spoken eyes no no they’re just they’re
fine that’s what everyone’s mean to them
all the time I I mean I am in in that
team I don’t think the clips that we’re
like being crucified on Twitter are that
bad but like across the game I do
dislike her
um but but anyway I like cow casters and
um I am excited for the second game to
come out I quite like seeing the things
that have appearing and also the woman
who plays seer in
um
that I Fallen order is in for spoken
she played one of the judges oh yeah I
saw one during your stream I was like
hey I know that she’s in a few video
games with her actual face yeah she’s
got really recognizable it’s really
weird I didn’t think that trailer for a
Tom Clancy game as well I think I think
she’s in the um she’s in Suicide Squad
kill the Justice League yeah she’s
playing like yeah but you’re in full and
order you can’t be here what are you
doing here
I must admit when I did see that judge I
thought that she looked familiar but I
was like I can’t think I was like does
she perhaps remind me slightly of Whoopi
Goldberg
um but because she’s got similar hair in
the as as the judge well not I don’t
think Whoopi Goldberg has that hair now
but like the classic will be Goldberg in
her Peak movie career hairstyle is
similar to the judge I was like is that
it it’s not really that though I don’t
think it’s her but that’s it’ll be her
yeah yeah so that’s why I played this
week well that’s a good selection of
video games actually thank you you look
for that funny house I’m gonna look for
it oh I have here’s the picture of the
funny house so it’s like four houses it
looks like a SIMS house
yeah it’s funny so I built that in The
Sims there’s definitely at least one
basic person living yeah she lives on
the end yeah I mean in in Whitley Bay
yeah
uh I have played this week uh Persona
three ports below finally finished that
um I’ve basically got
I was trying to get as many trophies as
I could in my first playthrough there is
frustratingly a trophy for finishing the
uh the game with both a female and a
male protagonist so you do need to play
through the entire thing again right as
the from the other perspective and
that’s for another day quite frankly uh
but there’s also these ridiculously hard
Mega bosses in there which they’re which
are optional and they’re in all Persona
games but these ones are just like you
need to follow a guide because if you
and you have to it’s ridiculous right
because if you do too much damage to
this character or this this boss at a
certain in a certain amount of goes you
just get insta killed you have to have a
calculator and make sure that you only
do so much damage in so many goes and
then you can hit them with like a big
attack so that’s that’s actually it’s
ridiculous like there’s no way that’s
just part of the game that is a trophy
it’s an optional thing so basically I’ve
got a save file before right at the end
of my play through where I think I’m in
pretty much the best possible position
to tackle this boss but I just thought I
cannot be asked for this right now so
I’ve got like 85 of the Persona
compendium as well so I’m pretty close
to getting the platinum in that game
pending another playthrough which
shouldn’t be too hard if I just skip all
the dialogue
um but that’s that’s for another time
really enjoyed that game
um but you know go listen to our review
discussion from last week for a more
in-depth conversation about that and
also the stream because I streamed it uh
this week too so you can see it in
action if you want uh I played a game
from start to finish that I also can’t
talk about frustratingly and the
embargoes up on Monday which is really
annoying because otherwise it’s just
missed the cup for this podcast we would
have been able to talk about it here but
I will be streaming it on Tuesday and
then we’ll be talking about it in depth
next week in review Corners we’re
insufferable aren’t we um there’s just
too many games at the moment I did say
insufferable there it sounded like I
said unsung but I did say in I’ve not
played any games I’m not allowed to talk
about I’ve just play games that are out
would you like everyone would you like
one I’d love one okay maybe at some
point well we’ll see hey next time hey
it’s okay Peter’s got two to be fair and
well no one of them I can’t talk about
I’ve just not played enough of it to
talk about it we’re offered for spoken
yeah and also the one that I that I’m
not allowed you didn’t want to play it
so you know there will be there will be
the perfect game will come along I’m
sure anyway outside of that I had a a
little a little boys get together on
um the weekend just gone and James
Jenkins and uh Kieran Henry uh who is
the editor of this fine podcast I came
over and we played a couple of games uh
we did uh Gang Beasts we played uh uh
uh four guys no we didn’t play four guys
that’s something I played the other
night and I was rubbish at it uh but one
thing we did actually try because I
thought it would be absolutely horrible
it’s a whale’s interactive game that
I’ve had downloaded for ages and I
thought it was going to be one of their
worst ones it’s not it’s one of their
best ones in all the worst ways uh it’s
called Dark Knights with Poe and Monroe
oh my gosh I’ve got that on my steam
yeah it’s a spin-off from the
shape-shifting detective right and it’s
six chapters and they’re all linear
because I was afraid some of Wales
interactive’s earlier stuff was
just go and talk to all these characters
and try and progress the plot if you
want whereas I think the best ones are
where it funnels You Down linearly based
on the choices you make that is how this
plays and it is absolutely unhinged the
acting is horrible it makes no sense and
we stopped at episode three because we
thought you know who would love this
Ashton Matthews we need to wait until we
can all get together I love that game
and replay it from the beginning so we
can all play through it because my God I
took a couple of screenshots of just
like close-ups of character faces and
they’re they’re just like
it’s just unhinged in the best the most
Welles interactive way possible so we
need to play that something yeah because
it’s
terrible and I love it uh and that’s
pretty much all I played apart from four
guys which I did play uh earlier this
week with a couple of friends and I’m
not very good at that game so that was
that never mind well should we talk
about the thing that Peter wants to talk
about AKA forespoken in this week’s
review corner
[Music]
and we’re here welcome to the review
Corner Peter this time you are in the
hot seats talking about forespoken yes
uh the internet has I think it’s fair to
say not taken particularly kindly to the
uh to the to the initial showings or
forespoken yeah I don’t and and to a
certain extent I think people have kind
of put the cart before the horse really
and like they fair enough if you want to
make a judgment based on a demo that is
partly what a demo is for and you know
some people were playing the demo saying
I’m not sure about I think the combat
was one thing people were worried about
there are also people doing side by side
like stills from like earlier reveal
uh stuff and more recent stuff and
saying oh there’s been a visual
downgrade and yeah okay maybe those are
fair comparisons but there was
definitely an element of people jumping
on a bandwagon saying this game is trash
before they’d certainly before they
played the the actual game because it
was a chat that was happening before the
release uh and some of them I imagine
didn’t even play the demo and were
saying yeah this game’s trash
um someone made the point in the chat uh
of one of my streams recently saying
I imagine a certain subsect of those
people might be deciding that because of
just the nature of the protagonist
various attributes of the protagonist
other people for other reasons I’m sure
but uh I’ve gotten I’ve gotten into it
already I’m talking about I’m doing I’m
doing the the review already but you put
your car before your whole I have you
set me off sorry tell me tell me about
the game what’s happening uh well what’s
happening is that Square Enix sent as a
code thank you Square Enix I wouldn’t
say that first uh so you play as Frey
um she is a an orphan she was found in
the Holland Tunnel
um in uh New York I think I don’t test
me on my American geography but you’re
certainly in New York when the game
starts
um and she uh doesn’t know her parents
she was passed through a few foster
homes growing up and then just set out
onto the Mean Streets as soon soon as
she was able and the game opens with you
in court because you’ve been stealing
again you’ve got a bit of a record at
this point the judge is lenient and lets
you out and uh it’s fortunate that she
does because you’ve actually been saving
up a whole lot of cash there’s a big
sports bag full of a hundred dollar
bills that she’s been saving up and
she’s gonna get out of town and start a
new life for herself it’s a birthday
coming up she’s born around Christmas
time
um and she’s like a couple more days and
I’m gone unfortunately she’s um in some
she’s she’s got into some trouble with
the local gang uh who she’s been doing
some work for and they burn down the
apartment that she’s been it’s like an
abandoned Apartment that she’s been in
and all of the money Burns no so she is
basically sitting on a bridge or a big
sign
it looks like she’s thinking of
basically jumping off because she’s like
there’s nothing left for me now I’ve got
you know uh but she decides no no I
won’t and in that moment she her
attention is uh
kind of drawn by this kind of I I can’t
really remember what it was now but this
little flying thing like a bug or
something or a bird or shiny and uh as
she follows it she finds what she refers
to as a cuff
um it’s like a kind of a gauntlet thing
you’ll have seen it in the artwork uh
she pops it on and suddenly she’s in the
world of Athea oh okay
um and Athea is being as there’s a
there’s a kind of a corruption happening
that’s affecting various places
geographically and also the animals
within that and the people as well turns
them into zombies and basically most of
the residents are holed up in one city
um and the people who used to lead Athea
the various uh regions of it
um are kind of uh they’ve gone mad
basically they’ve gone they’ve gone a
bit evil and uh so you’re basically
moving through
um they’re called tunters they’re these
women with like magical powers and uh
you’ve got to basically save the world
so that’s the story okay
um it starts with a lot of mystery you
don’t know you can tell that like phrase
Origins are likely going to be explored
in the game and there’s probably going
to be some big reveals as the game goes
on I’ve not finished it yet I’ve played
probably five hours now I think
um and replayed the intro I’ve played
the intro twice because I streamed it
um but yeah so that’s the setting in the
story for the most part okay your cuff
talks to you sounds a bit like Hugh
Laurie
um and uh that’s where my biggest gripe
with the game begins really is with the
writing and the dialogue so going into
the game based on some of the stuff that
people were saying online the things I
was most worried about were
um the uh whether there had been some
sort of visual downgrade and like the
performance associated with that as well
you know whether it was going to chug if
you had it on to a higher setting and
also uh people a lot of people who
played the demo
um were saying to me that they weren’t
that into the uh combat and the controls
you played it didn’t you I did yeah how
did you find that in the demo I was just
left kind of feeling a bit flat about
all of it right including the the combat
but it may well have been just because
it it just yeah yeah
um so I went in thinking well if there
are going to be problems here those
might be the problems that I have and
actually surprisingly I think the game I
think it looks great
um I’ve got it on Ray tracing mode
um uh well I say great I mean it’s not
like it’s gonna not gonna win awards for
visuals of the Year sort of thing but I
think it looks looks good looks fine uh
I have had a little bit of a performance
issue uh in some areas where there’s a
lot of combat going on a lot of particle
effects and stuff it does seem to drop
some frames which is not good
um but yeah I certainly don’t think
there’s been a graphical downgrade even
if that is it at the expense of the
performance and I actually really like
the combat I think it’s you I think it’s
one of those games where you feel like a
badass without having to do very much
um so it’s kind of got a bit of a god of
war effect or a Spider-Man effect where
yeah you’re just even if you’re just
doing basic attacks the animation of
those attacks involves you flipping the
hell all over the place and you know uh
it can be quite easy to take down
certain enemies I am admittedly playing
it on
um story mode at home but when I
streamed it I had it on the default
balanced mode and that seemed relatively
straightforward as well it’s not a grind
the combat which is something I don’t
like in modern games where a single
enemy takes you know a couple of minutes
each to take down yeah so combat and
visuals I’m fine with but I have to
basically agree with what has now almost
become a bit of a meme online with the
uh the way this game is written I find
Frey just wholly unlikable or largely
unlikable I think to be fair some of the
clips that were going around to
demonstrate the uh how how kooky and
weird the writing was I don’t think
they’re some of the worst examples
actually I think the one where she’s
saying I I moved moved that with my
freaking mind and there’s one where her
and the cuff are doing impressions of
each other saying that’s what you sound
like both of those I think all right
they’re not great but they’re they’re
okay yeah I think it’s a bit unfair to
cruise Fire game based on those but
actually there are other things in the
game that are way more annoying she
swears constantly yeah
um I don’t mind a bit of swearing I do
swearing occasionally on stream when I
shouldn’t do people know that I’m not
like prudish in that sense that like all
swearing is bad but I think if you’re
just swearing all the time it kind of
just loses its Effectiveness right and
she sounds like a kind of angsty kid
who’s like her parents have gone out for
the night and so she’s gonna sit around
and say flip in the house because she
because she can so there’s that aspect I
don’t like
um and I also just so you can turn off
uh you can turn the combat chatter to a
minimum uh which I think a lot of people
are doing uh it’s not but it’s not the
frequency that bothers me it’s it’s the
actual content of it you know I don’t
mind if they’re going to talk a lot
through the game yeah um but it is just
this sort of like angst this it’s sort
of it’s it’s me me people are saying um
Iron Man has a lot to answer for you
know like the the kind of the Marvel
hero effect right okay where it’s like
yeah I mean just dangerous situation but
I’m just quipping all the way through
and Kieran are one of our editors told
me before I played the game that he
played the demo I think he played the
demo or he’s seen oh an hour of gameplay
was leaked wasn’t it before the game was
launched from the beginning and in the
opening uh segment of the game phrase
being beaten up by the the the criminal
gang that she’s run into and
it’s like really brutal like one of them
like properly like clocks her in the
head and I think her head smacks against
this concrete wall and she just like
looks back at them and says another
quippy thing like she’s just saying
stuff to pissed them off right and it’s
like I don’t care how Street wise and
like independent you are if you’re
getting laid into by three people who
are bashing your head against a concrete
wall you wouldn’t continue to go with
them but because she’s like hey this
light hero that you you really want to
you would love to be friends with in
real life because she’s so witty uh
that’s what she does so uh I I don’t
think I’m going to be playing much more
of the game I don’t think I’m going to
get through it because I still I’ve
given her her time for her character to
develop and she just continues to be
this kind of angsty teenager which is a
shame that is such a shame how do you
feel generally about the story not just
in terms of because as you alluded to I
imagine you’re uncovering some stuff
about uh phrase background yeah but
what you’re doing in athia and the world
there is is it is it interesting is is
the world interesting are the people
interesting it’s not like it’s not
uninteresting but it’s it’s not actually
that original
um I think it’s quite easy to pick up
like to just throw a bunch of sort of
fantasy tropes into a mix and then maybe
paint a semi-unique veneer on them and
say this is our interpretation of of
this thing but this thing is something
that you’ve actually seen quite a lot in
a lot of Fantasy games now I couldn’t
necessarily pick on this game in
particular for doing that because by
definition if I’m saying it’s a bit
samey and it’s a bit done then other
people have been doing it as well so
this isn’t like a sin that is uh unique
to this game but yeah it’s not it’s
nothing special really there’s a
corruption moving through the world you
know no that that’s something we’ve seen
before in games there are these like
powerful tunters who you go up against
and yeah all right there’s some Intrigue
around phrase backstory but if I’m not
like actually forming an attachment to
Frey as a character then I’m not exactly
going to be invested in finding out what
has happened to her in her past and
maybe just like somewhat interested into
like how she actually magically ended up
in this world to begin with and how
she’s going to get out but even then I
imagine it’s just gonna be not hand
waved away but just say you know this is
the magic system that happens in our
world and this is how you ended up here
and here’s how you get back so yeah it’s
it’s not got a really you it’s not got a
USP really as a story it’s nothing just
like particularly hooking me in and uh
unfortunately some things are pushing me
away including the writing so that’s a
real shame gameplay wise it’s fun I like
the combat and of course I’ve not even
touched on I mean I’ll I’ll wrap it up
now but there are there are uh the sort
of the things you would expect to have
in an open world fantasy RPG so there
are various map markers that you can go
and wander off the Beaten Track and do
all sorts of things collecting things
and working your way through clearing
enemies out of certain areas and all
that sort of thing there are sort of
Boss style creatures you can encounter
as you’re wandering along so you’ll just
be in the wilderness and they’ll be like
uh quite early on you’ll encounter this
giant deer that I found too tough to
defeat so it’s like okay I’ll come back
and do that later which is good gives
gives you a sense a reason to come back
and and to explore the world
um and there’s like various unique
things you can do to level your
character there are skill trees
um you can craft and upgrade items and
also
there’s this like nail mechanic where
she paints runes onto her nails okay
um and you collect the certain patterns
as you go around the world and so you
can apply one to one hand and one to
another and kind of combine them and you
know create your own sort of build and
they’ll just give you various upgrades
and abilities and stuff so that’s
something that yeah it’s pretty unique
yeah you’re painting your nails but
again like fundamentally it’s still just
attached this attachment kind of thing
yeah it’s it’s presented as nail art
which is an interesting take on it but
uh ultimately you’re just equipping a
thing that you found in the world so uh
depends how jaded you are I suppose as
to whether you think that counts as
unique or not yeah
um so is there a group of players that
that you would recommend this game to
that might enjoy it or is it just
generally across the board maybe just
avoid this one to me to use a slightly
dated comparison the things that I like
about this game and the things I I
dislike about this game map on quite
well to Dragon’s Dogma okay um in the
it’s got a a nice open fantasy world
which is quite pretty at times
um and the combat is very fun I really
like the combat in Dragon’s Dogma but
what I didn’t like in Dragon’s Dogma was
your protagonist was actually mute so
it’s a different problem but it’s it’s
someone you can’t really form a an
attachment to
um and the story was kind of complex and
it felt maybe a little bit bloated at
times so if you happen to like Dragon’s
Dogma for for kind of all that it was
like Wars and all then I imagine you
might like this game you know in spite
of its flaws
um I don’t know why that game in
particular like I think maybe just the
setting I guess is is why I formed that
kind of comparison in my mind as I
played but uh yeah I think if you like
that game maybe give for spoken ago and
uh as always the best thing to do is to
maybe find some footage online someone
who’s playing the first hour or so and
just have a look at that and try and
find my judgment based on that
um but yeah probably not for me I don’t
think I’m going to finish it I’ve given
it a good go
um but you know there’s a lot coming out
end of January early February so uh it
might have to take a back seat now
unfortunately okay well it’s available
right now on PlayStation 5 and PC as
well yeah it is so uh a couple of
options there so uh fingers crossed some
of you out there it will be for you but
uh not not quite for me unfortunately it
was one of the ones I was looking
forward to this year
um at the tail end of 2022 but uh it’s
not had the best Star unfortunately
that’s a shame yeah it’s a shame
wonderful well thanks Ben thank you
Peter should we go back to the podcast
let’s do it okay thanks Peter thanks
Peter thanks Peter Ashton would you like
to ask a question I would this comes
from bartek triple bap I finally
finished Xeno gears with a clear
conscience I can say that completely
understand the cult around it and
worship what a philosophical and
emotional Journey best of all one hero
has a name like me as you can guess he
is super handsome charismatic and humble
so the question for all you for all of
triple jump and walruses is how do you
feel when a character in a game has your
name your weeb bartek I did a quick
Google and I think the character is
called Bart I think I don’t know yeah so
I was like oh is that code called bar
Tech
um and uh I think they’re Bartholomew
short for Bart or at least there is a
Bart somewhere in the franchise I don’t
know I’m not sure but uh so we were all
trying to think of characters who have
our names I didn’t bother thinking
because I know there isn’t any okay it’s
really hard to Google characters yeah
it’s really hard yeah because you your
mind goes completely blank there are a
few but outside of actual existing
licensed properties like Star Wars or
Marvel and all that kind of stuff that
happen to have games around them there
are very few original video game
characters with our names as well as far
as we could tell there’ll be people who
can offer up examples I’m sure and
there’s perhaps like the odd NPC in
Fallout because they all have like you
know non-fantasy names so you do get you
your Benz and your Peters and your Johns
and yeah those were the best though
because you would go on to the Fallout
wiki and Google Ben and the three
characters there’s like there’s a photo
of the character and it’s a charred
skeleton yeah mine was as well pin
cushion Peter it’s a skeleton with like
six axes in his back up a mountain
um but what I came up with other than
Marvel characters so Peter Parker and
Peter Quill
um was Pete from bully uh well I’d say I
came up with it was it you Ashton
someone suggested
Alex someone did
um so I do remember Pete from bully but
I mean I didn’t feel any like
particular connection or disconnection
to him and I think broadly to answer the
question uh how do I feel when a
character in a game has my name I don’t
think it actually affects me that much I
don’t think I get like any more into it
or less you know people have always well
not always but occasionally like said oh
Peter Parker to me like if we’re talking
about Spider-Man or whatever and I don’t
sort of feel like oh yeah he’s got the
same name as me that’s really cool it’s
just uh it’s just it’s just his name I
think perhaps if I had a more unusual
name not that there are that many pizzas
but there are a fair few
um then perhaps if suddenly you
encountered someone like oh wow like
this person’s actually got my name like
if an Ashton came along particularly a
female Ashton you would you might think
like oh this is kind of interesting how
exciting I don’t want to speak for you
but like you know it’s like an unusual
it would be an unusual thing for you
people feel the same to me as it did
when I was a child when everyone would
go and get personalized keyrings with
their names on it and I’d look for a and
I’d be like
it’s like Alex or Ashley and I’m like no
no that’s not my name and then
eventually when they were like Ashton’s
appearing I was like oh my God Ashton’s
fight I couldn’t finally have it they’re
all written in blue yeah
[Music]
yeah
um so but yeah I don’t
I don’t think it really necessarily
makes me feel more immersed or connected
to a character I’m I’m just in it for
how they’re written and whether they say
silly things or not
I think if I saw a character I’d be
really excited uh if they were like
here’s the main character of this game
she’s called Ashton I’d be like oh my
God oh my God I think I’d be excited
yeah I need that game
um but yeah it’s never really happened
to me because I have a stupid name
um
but if I if I can name my own character
like if I can name my protagonist I
still don’t give it my name no I don’t
I’ll pick a completely random name or
like give it a stupid name rather than
giving it my name because most of the
time I’m if I’m playing an RPG where
it’s like my character is created
normally I will give that character a
name that is not mine because it’s not
me playing it’s like I’m pretending to
be someone else
um because yeah they always have stupid
like I also think it’s funny if you’re
going into a story game and it’s like hi
buttface thank you for coming to my
rescue like that’s funny thing just
saying hi Ashton thanks for coming to my
rescue but um I do like if I saw a
character with my name I’d be as excited
as bartek was about seeing character
with his name I just think it’s neat I
know that you guys have got basic names
so you’ve probably seen people with your
name all the time but I’ve only never
met one other Ashton when I was a child
um I don’t know when I was like a
teenager a child moving across the
street from me who was called Ashton and
I’d never met anyone else with my name
and then suddenly there’s a woman down
the street shouting my name at her son
and I was like
who’s shouting my name like what is
happening and I’m look I’m like coming
out the door like yes me me hello and
then she like grabs this kid Ashton
sorry my son is also named Ashton and I
was like what are the chances of that
and then one time we’re both in the
local doctor surgery and then she said I
said my name and the woman was like
to do and I was like that’s crazy yeah
yeah I have a boy name
uh yeah I’m
there’s only one
real character that I could find uh
based on the suggestion of our team uh
that that is that actually has my name
that isn’t a licensed character there’s
a Pokemon Ranger Guardian science
character called Ben apparently right
um or there’s all the Ben 10 games of
which there are many uh Ben Drowned the
Creepypasta from Majora’s mouth oh yeah
yeah uh sorry Margera’s mask uh Ben
quadinaros from Star Wars Episodes
really quadraneros yeah I don’t know if
we trust Peter with pronunciation
it might just be a typo I think it’s
quadrin arrows or arrows yeah there’s
Ben in there uh he’s an alien man he’s
in Star Wars Episode One racer but the
main one is Ben Paul from The Walking
Dead Season one The Telltale Game who’s
like the high school student who’s a bit
of a coward and keeps he means well but
keeps making mistakes to put everyone in
danger and uh yeah he kind of pisses me
off I didn’t think anything of the fact
that he had my name Beyond oh cool he’s
got my name that’s cool but did you
think like when you were saying in
Fallout one it was quite
your name
I think that’s like if you came across
that skeleton and it was like Ben above
its head do you not like you’d probably
laugh at that because it had your name
maybe so maybe so yeah but the way that
you like if you just saw a skeleton with
a bunch of axes in its back you probably
wouldn’t laugh but because it’s called
pin pincushion Pete and because your
name is Peter it’s then funny because
yeah maybe by your name possibly I think
it’d be I’ve in a way I’d find it funny
if it was just called Pete or Peter if
it’s like pinkish and Peter at that that
like gives immediately gives it a whole
personality that I don’t know associate
with me Chad and Ben but if I just found
a child skeleton that said Ben or Peter
my mind might initially go oh it’s like
if I was dead that’s me I’m dead I love
the fact that you know what I get more
excited when I see my friends names and
games in particular Borderlands 2 where
there’s a tiny loader bot and there’s
wanted posters all over the game for
Jimmy
she’s amazing uh considering James
Jenkins is someone who we know well in
real life so whenever I see the Jimmy
Jenkins post is I get a real kick out of
those I think they’re hilarious yeah
um but Peter you’re the only one out of
the three of us that could probably
speak to what it’s like to play a game
where a protagonist actually has your
name and they’re saying your name when
when they say hey Peter do you go yes
every time
oh sorry what are the chances well uh
Spyro the Dragon was nearly called Pete
the Dragon
um which I don’t know if maybe if he’d
been called Pete the Dragon I might have
in a way sort of like resisted that game
oh really because it might have been a
bit weird that like they’re always
saying my name and like if people found
out that I really liked Pete the Dragon
hi I’m Peter and I love Pete yeah they
might have thought right okay you big
baby feed the dragon yeah and you’ve
embroidered an r on the end exactly so I
think yeah I might have thought like oh
people will think I just like him
because he’s called Pete so it’s
probably just as well that they didn’t
call him that otherwise uh well they
also would have got in legal trouble I
think they changed it because of Pete’s
Dragon it was like a film called Pete’s
Dragon I was gonna say I think yeah I’ve
heard of that well there we are we don’t
really care is there is yeah
we’ve ever made a real connection with
them but Ashton would care a lot yeah I
would Jimmy Jenkins is gaming royalty
quite frankly well it’s time to move on
to something a little unusual
um a little bit uh of Monica in my life
it’s a weird news time
it’s weird news time time for some weird
video game news if you want to submit
weird video game news to us of course
send it to us on Twitter and Facebook
there’s a post that goes out at the
start of the week There’s a chance yours
could be picked and you get a shout out
right here in the weird news section if
you want to guarantee a shout out in the
weird news section though you need to go
to patreon.com
support us at a certainty and become a
podcast producer just like Nathan gy
Goliath Nexus Polaris Duncan Wilson
Nicole Hansen Ellie Nicholas Erica
Hutchinson Melody l1a Katie Garrett and
Gabrielle Philippine thank you thank you
producers Peter what’s your weird name
I’ve got a weird news here that was
submitted by Conor
mcahi
uh I think it’s Conroy milk that’s
easier to pronounce
um it’s according to Kotaku oh
I just rejected cookies and it closed
the tab uh hang on if you won’t have my
cookies you won’t get me at my article
uh War Thunder players are once again
posting military documents on forums oh
I don’t know if it’s going to be in this
article but I saw on Twitter that
someone had been asked like in there
like their security do they play War
Thunder and they were like no someone
was a referee for one of their friends
who was getting a job at the US
government yeah some sort of military so
they rang them up and they’re asking
yeah like are they reliable and uh
what’s the all these things do they play
do they play War Thunder no uh yeah
right but why has that reputation been
earned please well yeah this is an
update to a story we’ve covered in the
past
um but here we go
uh maybe they should change the game’s
slogan to Can’t Stop won’t stop says
Luke Plunkett brilliant good one Luke
good job Luke
you may remember that one of the
funniest stories of 2022 according to
Luke it was so funny was the way the
players of War Thunder and arcade online
shooter featuring real military vehicles
just kept on posting military documents
in the game’s forums not as acts of
Espionage but to win arguments about
specs
the last time we checked on the it
checked in on these guys it was some
tank players who despite ban after ban
just kept on sharing detailed classified
information on currently operational
main battle tanks and their armaments so
these are people who have access to
those documents because of their
position I guess or their their job or
maybe they’ve found them like in another
Forum with bad means unless it means and
they’re arguing about like this Tank’s
better than that tank and they say I’ll
prove it to you and they post this
document that should not be posted on
the internet why does this tank not have
a higher armor rating than this tank
yeah look here’s evidence as to why
here’s how you would destroy the tank in
an actual military situation yes here’s
its weak spot uh this week we’ve seen a
similar thing happen only now it’s about
fighter aircraft as massively op report
earlier this week a player shared
military documents relating to the F-16
in fighter jet in order to win an
argument the problem is that those
documents while not designated as
classified military documentation like
the tank guys stuff was still restricted
material quote under the jurisdiction of
the international traffic in arms relate
regulations itar a state department in a
state department enforced law that
limits disclosure and transmission of
U.S weapons data and information to
foreign individuals including
Distribution on the internet so not
classified but still not the kind of
thing you should be posting in a video
game forum then just a day later someone
else was at it again this time a
different user posted excerpts from over
a dozen weapon system manuals for the
f-15e again these weren’t classified
indeed they were for systems old enough
that they had been
indeed they were for all the indeed they
were for systems old enough that they
had been Declassified
but like I’ve already said just because
something isn’t classified doesn’t mean
you can freely post it on the internet
forums where anyone in the world can see
them so they were deleted as well I said
this last year but I will say it again
now the fact that a video games forums
have become one of the greatest opsec
hazards of the Modern Age just because
some dudes want to argue over a weapon
statistics it’s very funny thanks Luke
that’s now the funniest story of 2020
yeah it is next year when it happens
again again remember the funniest story
of 2022 and the people were
playing Dr
classified this time slightly less funny
yeah it’s still pretty funny though I
have some weird news it comes from RB at
our underscore b84 on Twitter from
kataki by Zack’s bison real soldiers use
Metal Gear Solid tactic to defeat
military robot I think Solid Snake and
Metal Gear sort of create a hideo Kojima
would approve of this tactic
there’s a lot of graph in this article
so I am going to skip past bits okay
um cardboard boxes are very useful you
can use them to move stuff create large
elaborate faults out of them and uh
probably other things too Webster’s
Dictionary defines cardboard box as
place where cat lives yes but did you
know that you can use a cardboard box to
hide from a highly Advanced military
robot it’s true even if it sounds like
something straight up a video game and
then it explains what metal gear solid
is and how in that game you can hide
under a box from enemies yeah and that’s
basically all you need to know never
really worked for me they would always
just kick the box over yeah saw me
moving or something
um it turns out this tactic actually
works in real life against AI powered
robot which Yes sounds like a metal gear
solid thing but it’s actually something
exists in the real life world in our
real life world The Economist defense
editor Shashank Joshi post an Excel from
an upcoming book about artificial
intelligence in the military and it’s
the author of the book Paul share it has
a story about the US military user group
of Marines improve an AI robot’s human
detection algorithm to do so Marines
walked around the robot for a few days
while Engineers use a data to improve
the AI but eventually someone decided to
flip things and asked the soldiers to
try and defeat the AI defeat the AI
robot instead of helping it
then there’s some excerpts from a book
taken just in a picture good
um
the eight Marines parked the AI robot in
the middle of a traffic circle and
played a game whoever could reach the
robot from a long distance away without
being detected one all eight Marines
were able to do so some did cartwheels
throwing off the robots at detection
algorithm I’d love to see that yeah
another pretended to be a tree yeah you
have to hide your Hydra Wilson while you
do them yeah another pretended to be a
tree using branches and slowly moving
towards the robot smiling the whole time
but perhaps the best tactic used by the
Marines was hiding under a cardboard box
apparently two different Marines shared
a single cardboard box and hid under it
while moving towards the robot you could
hear them giggling the whole time said a
person in the book referred to as Phil
as explained in the book The AI system
was trained to spot humans walking and
running not people doing somersaults or
hiding in boxes so it’s fairly simple
and childish tactics worked and fooled
the AI meanwhile any average person
would be would have been easily spotted
a would have easily spotted a moving box
or a flipping Soldier showcasing a major
issue with the AI in its Reliance on
previous data and algorithms
soldiersivated robot AI using cardboard
boxes and silly gymnastics moves silly
domestic moves sounds like a plot point
for Metal Gear Solid game just one more
thing Kojima predicted I guess yeah yeah
do you think when they were tasked with
you know get past this AI robot do you
think either one of them was actually a
metal gear solid fan perhaps I don’t
know what snake does get in a box the
future of warfare is uh it’s gonna be
funny yeah that’s what I’ve learned
today it’s going to be the funniest
Warfare of 2010 the next war will be the
funniest War yeah we’ll look back on it
and guys I would like to the funniest
have been there and just seen this
cardboard box with like two giggling
grown men like hiding underneath it or
the man just hiding a tree smiling the
whole way
my weird news comes courtesy of at Lloyd
w90 on Twitter thank you at Lloyd’s w90
on Twitter and uh I think this is a
kataku triple triple whammy triple
whammy yes thank you uh some people may
have seen this as a uh something of a
I’m something of a collector myself uh
it was quite hard quite hard to look at
a lot of people are very upset about
this Pokemon fan says US Customs
destroyed four thousand dollar classic
game
an original sealed copy of Pokemon
Yellow reportedly worth nearly four
thousand dollars was ruined by U.S
customs and border control after its
seal was not only cracked but its case
broken and the front of the Box sliced
clean off in a wanton display of
aggression against Collectibles the
owner claims uh that owner who goes by
the master of unlocking told Kotaku he
was disappointed to see such senseless
damage it’s Jill yeah we’re just see
such senseless Damage Done to the now
ruined collector’s item there’s a auto
playing video that’s taking up half the
screen oh you clicked on the video I
didn’t I tried to close it I hate
websites
the master of unlocking’s friend night
dive Studio CEO Stephen kick Mr kick
tweeted a picture showing the ruined
Pokemon yellow copy on January the 19th
uh don’t worry it cannot display a video
but it won’t embed an image that we need
to see that’s pivotal to the article
let’s have a look slice the front off
yeah I’ll show you it’s real they’ve
here we are already minced it look at
the state of that they just they’ve
cracked the the grading case open and
then just sliced the front of the
why the game
or something I don’t know they didn’t
study the blade very well that’s for
sure A friend of mine received this
sealed and graded original copy of
Pokemon Yellow kick said U.S customs
broke the acrylic case ripped and
discarded the seal and sliced the front
of the Box off maybe they weren’t fans
of water games
I think yes water games is an
independent company that grades and
certifies games for collectors there we
are there’s the clarification uh chances
are you’ll encounter water games if
you’re looking for high quality mint
copies of old games the company was
responsible for grading and certifying
the master of unlocking’s copy giving it
an A plus rating and a score of 9.2 I
don’t know if it’s gonna get that
anymore according to what A Game’s
website the game is in exceptional
condition and worth three thousand eight
hundred dollars or it was until U.S
customs came through and decimated the
certification well I do know that if he
traded in the yellow cartridge at CeX
it’d maybe get 15 pounds cash okay so
that’s you’ve not lost everything it’s
not total loss it’s not a total loss uh
so either they hated the battery inside
the cartridge or they thought it it had
contained drugs or something can U.S
customs just destroy things without
recourse asked another Tweeter with many
others demanding consequences against
the Ancients when we learned when will
you learn uh it goes on and on there’s
there’s all sorts of sources there it’s
worth a read if you want to feel a bit
upset and angry about it and you think
classic game being destroyed do you
think you can get compensations and you
can get four Grands it wasn’t sure I was
looking into this apparently the
insurance tends not to cover what
happens in customs which is kind of
shocking and and usually when people
have problems with Customs it’s sort of
like the Spider-Man meme where they’re
both pointing at each other yeah but
it’s customs and then the the Postal
Service who are responsible for it
they’re like where’s therefore where’s
therefore yeah you go around in circles
and you don’t get anything the only safe
way to get your games is to drive to the
headquarters and get it yourself and
then drive back no matter how far away
it is you must drive yeah or make knives
illegal and then no one can cut them
open or can we just get rid of Customs
just let people Ferry whatever they like
we ain’t nothing but mammals let us just
walk across into another country let me
get on a plane with a gun just let me
let me go to Europe with no passport and
let me just go between the free travel
is basically what I’m saying yeah you
want free travel in Europe there’s a
break I want borderless travel in Europe
and I want to be able to sort of go
wherever I want Madness I want to be
able to stand in the line that says
everyone else and not stand in a
separate line where we have to get I
won’t I don’t want to be in the sad line
anymore I want to be in the fast moving
nice line well I want blue passports so
you’ve already got them so yeah anyway
that’s how Pokemon Yellow was destroyed
the end let’s have another question
yeah it’s from uh Amelia underscore01
thank you Amelia heyabap what game do
you wish became a series or a series
that got cut short that you would like
to see another installment off uh love
from Amelia kiss kiss Thank You Amelia
sorry for being so rude there
um
so I have got some of both um you know a
game that never had any sequels or one
that did have some and should come back
uh well I’ll get Beyond Good and Evil
and Haven out the way they both ended on
Cliffhangers that may never be resolved
Haven won’t ever be resolved uh although
it was a Biblical allegory so maybe I
just need to read the Bible to find out
what happened the next chapter’s been
waiting for you for thousands of years
yeah
um it was written just in a cave uh like
in in Bethlehem or something yes that’s
where they wrote it yeah in that cave in
Bethlehem yeah
um Bible cave you know those two go
without saying I’m sure
um but so I’ve got games here that never
had a sequel talked about it earlier
actually bully or in the UK canis Canon
edit because we weren’t allowed to call
it bully
um but for some reason they picked the
slogan of the school in Latin rather
than they could have just called it
bullworth Academy that would have been a
much better name but no but that was a
really good game Rockstar
GTA style thing but in school and
there’s been talk for a long time about
maybe they’re doing a sequel it might be
a university or I might just be back at
a school again who’s to say but nothing
official at the moment
um Diddy Kong Racing very underrated
cart racer and I would have loved to
play more of that there was I think a
Donkey Kong racer or some kind of
spiritual successor on like the DS or
something I don’t know my Nintendo very
well but it was mostly instead of all
the like unique colorful characters
there was like conquer and banjo that
was some of their first appearances I
think and it was like a tortoise and a
badger
um in the spiritual sequel it was mostly
just the Donkey Kong family you know
like what they called Funky Kong and
girly Kong Grandma Kong yes that all
those ones king King Kong yeah
um so that’s less exciting give me that
interesting roster
um and then uh now onto some series that
should come back tombi tomber only had
two games everyone’s clamoring for a
sequel in the tombi community they’ll
never get it
um I think Whoopi Camp who developed it
would sort of close down or absorbed or
something after the second game even
though I think there was an intention to
make a third game
um if they do a third one they should
only print uh 3 000 copies yeah and
they’ll go on eBay for hundreds of
dollars imagine how much money they
would make just like that it’s like the
first two yeah
um time Splitters of course which should
be coming back apparently maybe
um and at least they’ve got a good
Innings with three games
um whereas only two of them are worth
playing though that’s true yeah
um and then likewise Dino Crisis did
actually have several games and the
reason that Dana crisis died out or went
extinct
was because there was a dip in quality
so I’m told I’ve not played the third
Diner crisis but apparently it was a
it’s on a downward trajectory but if
Capcom had just treated Diner crisis
like they’ve treated Resident Evil and
powered through some of the Duds and if
it was you know still being made today
the way that Resident Evil is being made
imagine what we’d have imagine the
quality
um there’s still hope as well that that
will come back or at least get one of
the Capcom like re engine remakes
um so fingers crossed but those are some
that I would like to see more of
excellent Ashton there was only one game
that I think got the short end of the
stick and set itself or in the history
of gaming but no not in the history of a
game just that I can think of right
um and my brain’s not that big so
they’re probably there’s like
um and there’s only one game that I
could think of that I was like man this
game really got shafted and does that it
deserved to at least have the prospect
of getting a sequel but it was told no
pretty much immediately after released
um as Guardians of the Galaxy
um I think it was a really good game
after I got through the bit where I
didn’t like it for a while and they
actually said they’re not doing a sequel
to that I didn’t know that I also was
not aware I Googled it because I was
like I thought I’d heard news about this
but I think they said that they had
outwardly canceled making a sequel of it
because they were so unhappy with how
badly it performed yeah even though they
sold millions of copies and won awards
yeah can you imagine to me until you
said that I thought well that’s a shoe
interesting yeah
I thought so too but I Googled it and it
said I believe you if you yeah well it’s
it’s flipping Square Enix isn’t it and
it’s a western studio and who knows what
the license well yeah you don’t want to
touch Marvel again so it said
um because Marble’s gone as a Galaxy
developer idos Montreal has reportedly
canceled their new game
so I think you know they’ve kind of set
themselves up to be able to make a
sequel and have a really interesting
story but they will they’ll never get
that sad face it’s very sad face and I
like the first game a lot yeah ah never
mind uh mine are uh Guardians of the
Galaxy
[Music]
um and also I’d like another Demon Souls
please yeah I know there’s a lot of Dark
Souls out there bloodborne bloodborne
well yeah I mean another bloodborne too
that’s a very good point actually yeah I
mean they’re they are functionally
similar games but I mean I’d like had
like a direct sequel to them please have
like a Demon Souls 2 that like a
bloodborne too I would like all of them
please thank you very much and the other
one which is a bit of an outlier uh not
the greatest received game in the world
but one that we’ve talked about quite
highly on this show before especially in
terms of its presentation was very nice
and also it has a very intriguing story
and that’s the order 1886. yeah I nearly
put that down yeah I think it’s a real
shame because that game ends on a
cliffhanger and I was really gripped by
the story of that game and very
intrigued by the alternative history
world that they created it’s just a
shame that it was bug and not hugely
inspired yeah gameplay wise and also I
think as we’ve spoken about before that
studio has since been purchased by one
of the big companies maybe meta Maybe
like a mobile game conglomerate I’m not
entirely sure anyway they’re they’re not
ready at dawn is the studio then they
won’t be allowed anywhere near anymore
however I think Sony still owns the IP
so they could give it it’s funny that
you mentioned that because this morning
I was looking to see if they’d finally
announce the PS plus games for next
month which they have not but someone
was predicting that that game would be
next month’s it was part of next month’s
PS plus it’s weird that you’ve said that
because I was like why they sometimes do
that before they uh like well more
before they release sequels rather than
announce sequels normally it’s the games
that are already it could be it could be
a test the waters kind of thing you know
how to yeah but it was a prediction that
someone had made people will be annoyed
by that because it’s a it’s a very old
game at this point and it’s it’s not
even it’s not very expensive the joke at
the time because it was uh it was the
forespoken of its day uh was that well
it’s not worth but I’m not buying it
until it’s 18 pounds and 86
I’m not buying it until it’s Force
pounds and Oaken Pence for Spinners uh
it’s yeah it’s it’s way cheaper than 18
86 now so but it’s that was a good game
that I liked and uh I would I would love
to see it followed up I’m actually
surprised that it’s not available for
free on one of the tiers of um is it not
well maybe it is but the fact like if
they’re going to add it to plus like
typically it might be an extra premium
situation yeah it could be I don’t know
yeah Lucky them
um wouldn’t know not in that club so no
no me neither can’t get any they won’t
let me in because because I won’t pay
for it
uh is it time to move on yeah to the big
discussion
[Music]
it’s big discussion time time for the
big video game discussion this week
comes courtesy of Conroy milk Mr Milk
who says greetings Bap last week Crystal
Dynamics announced that they would be
ending development for Marvel’s Avengers
this continues the trend of live service
games having their support ended before
they’ve been able to reach their full
potential see other examples such as
Anthem and babylon’s fall why do you
think many of these games have seen a
lack of success and do you think the
industry will now move away from live
service games as the majority of them
don’t seem to live up to expectations
cheers Conroy milk good Alexa up here
okay from a Kotaku article late last
week Square Enix announced that that
it’s beleaguered 2020 live service game
Marvel’s Avengers will no longer receive
new content or major updates after March
the 31st and all official support for
the game will end on September the 30th
2023 with digital sales ending on that
date too while you’ll still be able to
play it offline and online with friends
after these dates it’s effectively game
over for the troubled online action game
they’re kind of just making it into a
game that people might actually want to
play now what by turning off I mean the
servers are staying on you can play with
just your friend or you’re on your own
or you can play on your own but it’s
worse on your own apart from the bits
that God I remember we would you
remember when we covered it when it came
out yeah and I was really keen on like
the first couple of hours that I played
as was everybody else like hey this
isn’t actually anywhere near as bad and
then it became like after a couple of
hours the missions were no longer linear
first person narrative focused it
suddenly became this sort of bland
here’s the here’s the world map where do
you want to go to do this this day this
weekly Quest where you get dropped in a
bland environment and have to do really
tedious A to B objectives which are
apparently missions you level up you I
don’t know anyway it was really exciting
for a while and I was super excited for
that game and I’m sorry to see that it’s
died uh but I can’t say that I’m
surprised yeah it’s weird though because
like so Conroy milk says you know uh
where is it um why do you think many of
these games have seen a lack of success
and do you think the industry will move
forward from live service games I’ve
I’ve wanted the industry to move forward
from live service games for a long time
but the fact that they keep continuing
to make them makes me think that like is
it just me am I well not just me but is
you know am I in the minority here not
liking live service games the fact that
they continue to make them makes me
think they must be popular yeah and
therefore I’m always surprised I think
it’s weird when like another live
service game comes out it just falls on
its ass like Anthem as well is another
good example and then it’s you know they
sort of it’s sort of brushed under the
carpet and they move on and say right
we’re doing new projects now and I’m I’m
like well yeah yeah that’s what I
thought would happen and then you
continue to keep making these games so I
think it’s the same thing we were
talking about last week in like one mine
will be different yeah mine will be
better it’s that it’s it’s such a huge
gamble every time because the the dollar
sign possibilities are pretty much
endless that I think most
let’s say for example speaking
completely out of our asses that there’s
a boardroom full of Executives who don’t
know anything about video games but they
like making money yeah and they see that
fortnite apparently generated 5.8
billion dollars in Revenue in 2021 we
don’t know profit but you have to assume
that it’s a fair chunk of that’s profit
um they want that they want a piece of
that pie but they either have to develop
a game that is premium like Marvel’s
Avengers was at launch like Anthem was
at launched like babylon’s 4 was at
launch or they have to push all their
chips in and make it free to play where
there’s no guarantees yeah it’s it’s a
risk reward thing where the risk I think
most casual observers would say is
probably far greater than the chance of
reward but even the chance of that
reward is seemingly enough for these
guys to just go yeah
we’re Sony we’re developing 12 live
service games by the end of 2025.
yeah so and especially if you can like
Snap up a Marvel you know the Avengers
license you’re thinking like this is
going to print money yeah so maybe that
is partly uh an incentivizer an
incentive if you uh you might be
thinking oh do we take that risk do we
do a free to play do we do a premium
then perhaps oh Marvel oh we can stick
that on it people will pay for that and
that is what sends you down that path as
opposed to the free to play if Avengers
can’t do it and if Crystal Dynamics
can’t do Avengers it can do it yes it
just makes sense uh then you know it
just shows what a risk it doesn’t help
that it wasn’t the best game in the
world no uh but you know it’s those
those that’s a big Studio a very
talented studio and that’s a huge IP
should have done well yeah the only live
service game I’ve ever like enjoyed and
thought do you know what this I can see
why people love this game is Destiny 2
and obviously they put a lot of effort
into those games and they’re kind of
constantly changing the only thing I
don’t like about Destiny 2 is that like
if you take some time off you miss a
significant chunk of of Law and story
that you hadn’t have to just catch up in
and like
blank just text pages that come up when
you load them that’s one of the things I
don’t like about live service games I
don’t think it’s the case for all of
them some of them don’t like have like a
narrative threading through in that
sense so it doesn’t really matter but
yeah for those that do that is one of
the reasons I’m like I don’t want to
feel like I have to attend class you
know yeah
um it also feeds into the biggest issue
that I think a lot of like a lot of new
live service games have or even existing
live service games is that and we’ve
said it before on this podcast their
very purpose is to be the only game that
you ever yeah they want you to log in
every single day and if you don’t you
miss out on story you miss out on daily
rewards other players will get ahead of
you and they will tell you that like the
game will manipulate you and try and
make you feel bad for missing for
missing school you know whatever not
going and that’s why there’s only a
handful maybe two or three kings of this
genre and everybody else who has a go
stands no chance because if you’re your
entire model is to be the only game that
everybody that anybody plays forever you
can’t play multiple of those and it
doesn’t matter if you’re good it’s you
can’t you can’t attract everybody to
your to your game
for one maybe two live service games if
they’re playing them religiously yeah so
to try and flood the market and have
your own success or not even flood the
market just to try and have your own
success is is highly unlikely uh because
it’s such even though it’s not a
particularly it feels like it’s a really
busy genre in a busy space but it’s not
really there aren’t that many games in
it it’s just because of the nature of
what they are there can only be one or
two really popular ones yeah I think
that’s that’s it really isn’t it that’s
why they continue to be made and why
this won’t necessarily spell the end of
live server well it won’t it’s about the
end of live service games Sony it
because yeah doing that many uh because
these people in perhaps in a boardroom
can you know they’ve got dollar signs in
their eyes is they see how much
something like fortnite is making
they’re like we’re gonna do that and
then the reason that it pretty
consistently is going to be a flop when
you make one of these games is because
there’s just not room in it’s a you know
it’s a one-horse uh race in a sense or
maybe two or three horses at best yeah
yeah and even those that have had
success in the past are starting to drop
away I’m sure Call of Duty Warzone still
has millions of players but I know that
it’s it’s got to be down significantly
from the pandemic for multiple reasons
obviously people don’t have as much time
but as someone who played a lot of war
zone I can’t flip and stand anymore it’s
just not that fun anymore the new map
isn’t the big war zone 2.0 from from
anecdotally from what I’ve heard has not
landed with core players as well as they
had hoped and
so it’s really hot even if you do have
that established audience it’s hard to
keep them yeah really hard also you need
to put a lot of work in to keep these
games entertaining like you can’t just
be like well we’ve made the game now
we’ll do periodic updates maybe a bit of
content later on but we’ve done it now
we can move on to the next thing if
you’ve released this game you’re gonna
have to keep putting things out you know
weekly events monthly events season
events you have to keep thinking of new
things to add to your game to keep
people coming back because people aren’t
they’re going to get bored they’re gonna
like that’s not the same but Disney
Dream like Valley I’ve now finished
everything now and I can’t do anything
until the next like game comes out yeah
Animal Crossing like you kind of you
finish what you need to do you’re like
well I don’t have anything else to do
now suppose I’ll turn the clock forward
to Halloween yeah exactly any cool stuff
to wait
um but you know these things are things
you have to keep constantly doing which
is a lot of work for these devs and a
lot of work for these like Story teams
obviously they’ve got like probably a
road map of where it’s that’s going to
go but there’s only like a certain
amount of time Destiny 2 basically keep
Reinventing the game every couple of
years to kind of make it brand new
experience like the new is it the witch
queen that came out last year is that
coming out soon I don’t know there’s
like a new seasons but they’re
substantial enough that they add
an entire like almost an entire game to
the game itself Destiny 2 is massive
like the the size that you need to
install for that game is absolutely huge
because there’s like four games inside
of it because they kind of periodically
make brand new game content for it but
that’s the thing they just haven’t got
the time or the money when your game’s
not making any money like Avengers
wasn’t because I didn’t know anyone who
was still playing it
um to keep making it if you’re not
making that money then of course you’re
just gonna bin it off and work on
something that you can make a brand
spanking new amount of money yeah that’s
true that’s just happened with it’s not
live service in the same sense but the
uh that crash Crash Bandicoot Runner
game crash on the run it was like a
mobile game apparently when that launch
in its first 24 hours it it performed
better than any other like for like game
in in history like a mobile Runner game
so there’s like a Mario one Mario on the
run or something as well they perform
better than that uh perform better than
Temple Run is it cool what’s that temple
one called yeah
I think Temple Run was like the first
one that came out and then yeah so it
looked it had a really good it had a
strong start they’ve just closed it down
after like a year because I think it’s
it’s that maintenance like if you’re not
constantly Reinventing it and they were
for a time they were like adding bosses
and stuff I never played it but I was
following like you know I used to see on
Twitter and stuff and uh I I imagine
that perhaps they’ve just thought well
it’s not going to continue to make money
unless we keep injecting new levels new
bosses and and all that stuff so you
have to continue to spend money to make
money from the from that product yeah so
it’s a tricky model it’s like it’s not
the same level as Marvel Avengers but
project Mako though
every week There’s Something New
happening like it’s like a new way of
getting extra lives or there’s like an
event happening where you can like spend
these other kind of tickets on a
separate like makeover that’s happening
all month long or whatever there’s
always something different whenever I
load the app it’s like today’s a new
thing I mean they’re reused some like
some of the content happens every kind
kind of month or so but it’s like still
new content and every time I go and it’s
like oh something new to focus on get
it’s not that it’s it’s not that new of
a genre now no but it’s still very
exciting I think to a lot of big
Publishers and even you know smaller
developers as well because it’s so far
outside of the traditional model of
video games where you invest a certain
amount of money to ship a game and then
beyond perhaps a couple of patches and
some support you know just to make sure
things are okay after launch maybe some
DLC uh that’s it that’s the game it goes
out and you sell it and some eventually
the sales dry up and that’s the end of
it you’ve made your money from you’re
gonna make from that game and this is a
format where they can potentially if it
goes well make money indefinitely from
this game yes you do have to you know
sync development costs in constantly but
if your game’s doing well enough then
you can easily offset that but I don’t
think
we’ve seen the last of live service
games not only because Sony have
committed to them for a while and some
of those may be canceled but it’s they
seem confident if they said we’ve got 12
and they’re coming out by 2025. uh I
think it’s going to be a case of
it the the the chance of making
unlimited money is too alluring and it
doesn’t seem like anyone has their heads
screwed on straight enough to go a lot
of big companies are failing at this
yeah maybe we should back off I think
it’s going to be a case of each big
company has a go gets burned and then
backs way off maybe they’ll never do one
again or it’ll be a while before they do
it again but there’ll be some other big
publisher or developer who haven’t yet
made theirs well we’ll try we’ll have a
go yeah we’ll we’ll have a go but yeah
we will we’ll have to see I’m I mean I
don’t think any of us are really that
bigger fans of live service games now uh
but their presence is undeniable and
they will be around for a while I think
unfortunately for better or worse I
suppose
well
make sure you let us know what you think
of everything we’ve discussed today what
do you think of first spoken have you
played it how do you pronounce Gallagher
we discovered that there might be a
third pronunciation yeah in between uh
when we
pause between sections
yeah yeah with the galaxian Apparently
with the emphasis on another part of the
uh of the word well Peter’s gonna tell
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PlayStation Plus so if you want to
figure it all out but you haven’t got to
go around on all the websites and figure
out what’s happening and when it’s
happening I’ve done that for you don’t
even worry about it let me worry about
it uh should be coming up maybe this
weekend probably next week I think
they’re releasing PS Plus on Wednesday
which is the first of February which has
been really annoying
so um it should be coming out if not now
by Wednesday at least soon
if you wouldn’t mind
just enough time Ashton talk about this
week’s sponsor once again
spooky for the celiacs it is of course
bread space the rebate
listening slash watching and we will see
you next week
goodbye bye-bye
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