Go on then. What? It's the inaugural yearly game of the year voting things.
Why are you shaking your head? Come on, we can do better than that. No, no, no, this is
this is this is top quality media. Let's move on very quickly from this then. Well
no, because this is the whole subject matter. No, I mean from the intro. Every
year we sit down and go through what we are voting for in the game of the year
and then all the subsequent categories that follow. Is that true? Yes. Right. So
that's what we're doing then. Very well. So if anything that was a perfect intro
for it because people are engaged, they know what we're doing, it's simplistic,
easy to follow. Sure. Okay, let's get straight into it then. After some
difficulties logging in. Yep. We're here. Go on then. What, we start with bang on game of the year?
Well it's the first category isn't it? It's the first one that comes up. This is
gonna be, wait we can view them all. Yeah, game that goes, oh my god, it's loads.
Yeah, it starts with game of the year. So we have nominations Astro Bot.
Bellatro. Black myth Wukong. Elden Ring Shadow of the Earth tree. Final Fantasy
7 Rebirth and then Metaphor Refantasio. Fantasio? Fantasio? Now obviously I'm
voting Elden Ring because it's the only one on that list I've actually played.
However I know that there is ongoing drama of the idea that Elden Ring has
been put forward for game of the year considering it's a DLC. Yeah. To the point
where I think when I was talking to Sam that they're going to make a DLC of the
year category. Okay. Which me and Ash spoke about I think in the last episode
or the episode before. I believe I said that they should just make a DLC category
because Shadow of the Earth tree was fucking huge and you could almost have it
as a game in itself but it's a DLC. Yeah. I mean that is not a game of the
year because it wasn't a game. It was a DLC of a game that already
existed and already won. Did it win game of the year? No. No it didn't. Did it? I
can't remember. I swear it did last year no? No Elden Ring came out in like 2020, 2021.
Oh my god yeah it did. Oh no sorry 2022. Elden Ring game of...
Elden Ring wins game of the year at the 2023. Oh that's the game
developers choice awards. Yeah no. Hmm. Type in game of the year the last 10
years or something and see what comes up. Game of the year.
Winners and nominees so... Last year was Baldur's Gate no? Baldur's Gate was the
winner. Yep and then 2022 was Elden Ring. Oh there you go. And then 2021 it takes
two and 2020 was the last was part two. Fantastic games. Fantastic games.
Look at you letting me. Apparently 2019 didn't exist in this. So you got what you got.
Respect yeah pre-COVID. Yeah I mean. I know all the people that played
Black Myth Wukong are saying that it should be Black Myth Wukong. Obviously I'm
gonna go Elden Ring because it's just what I have played. Bellatro is one
that I've seen very good things heard good things from Jay because I spoke to
him at work about it and he's obsessed with it. I know Carl plays it as well
and he's he's except it's obsessed with it. That's meant to be a very very good
game. Another one-man-band indie game that's blowing everything out the water.
Astrobots I'm not interested in at all. So yeah and I can't speak much on
Final Fantasy and I know Ash played Metaphor. I think he said that that was
gonna be his game of the year. I think. I know he said Black Myth Wukong. I'll go
with Elden Ring anyway. Okay. Because that's just that's just how we have to go.
Best game direction is the same. So now we can get into the nitty and gritty of
it because now we've got Game of the Year out of the way now we can really
fucking and that's Shadow of the Oath for you again. Okay yeah.
It's difficult because you haven't played any of them. I don't feel right voting for something that I've no.
You've got no attachment to. No not no attachment to. It's not I don't know.
You've voted for the sake of it then aren't you? Awarded for outstanding creative vision and
innovation in game direction. Yeah I mean for that I'll go Elden Ring because it's
the only one I've like even seen shit of you know. Yeah and I feel like that's
such a immense world and everything that's thrown into it. Oh I didn't know there was a Hellblade 2.
Let's have a look. What is it? Best narrative. The thing is like you go through all of these
and you realize how little of these games we actually play. Of the big ones.
It's terrible. Animal Crossing, Pocket Camp Complete. It's terrible isn't it? Best narrative. Final Fantasy 7 rebirth,
Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth, Senua's Saga, Hellblade 2, Metaphor, Refantasio and then Silent Hill 2.
Again that's outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.
Again very difficult. I know that Hellblade, because I played that on
Game Pass and that was quite a... it's like the person that you're playing
she's like psychotic or it's like very mental health. Very in depth.
Yeah yeah yeah. I'm gonna vote for that just for the sake of it. Okay. Oh my god.
Best art direction. Oh my phone stopped loading. Best art direction. Okay.
There's one that you might like at the bottom. Neva. I know that looks very me. Neva. It does look very you.
Oh my page just crashed. Neva, Metaphor, Elden Ring, Black Myth, Wukong and Astro.
Elden Ring. I can't believe the DLC is being thrown into everything so far.
It's a bit strong isn't it? Well it's difficult. Are you gonna vote for that?
You know what? Best art direction. I'm probably gonna go with Black Myth because I haven't
played Black Myth but I've seen a lot of Black Myth and it looked
absolutely fantastic and the depiction of the folklore and the bosses and
everything they looked really fucking interesting. Really really interesting
and all I've heard is really good things about it. I mean I could vote for Elden Ring
but at the same time I feel like it the DLC was great. It brought new enemies and
areas and things like that. However it wasn't it's no different to the
baseline game. Yeah. Obviously it is different but in terms of like the
direction and the narrative of it it is the same because obviously it's the same
fuck it's just an extension of that game. Yeah. So I will give it to Black Myth
just off of that basis. Best score and music? Best score and music. This has got to be
the worst. This has got to be the worst time for us to do. It's a bit rough isn't it?
You haven't fucking played any of these. Stick with us everybody. Fuck me. You haven't played any of these.
Oh my god. I'm just gonna skip the ones I haven't played. That's terrible isn't it? Best audio design.
You've got Astro Bot, Black Ops 6, Final Fantasy, Hellblade 2 again and Silent Hill 2.
Jesus Christ. Skip. Jesus Christ. Best performance. Best performance. Life is Strange Double Exposure,
Hannah's Hell, Final Fantasy you got Brianna White and you've got Humberly
Gonzales for Star Wars Outlaws, Luke Roberts for Silent Hill 2 and Melinda
No, Melina, Juergens for Senua's Saga, Hellblade 2. Fuck knows. Well, Star Wars Outlaws.
No, I went Star Wars Outlaws. Life is Strange. It's hard because obviously I haven't...
Life is Strange. Was that a new one? Yeah. God, terrible isn't it? It's terrible.
What have we got next? Innovation in Accessibility. Recognising software and or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, Dragon Age, The Vale Guard, Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown and Star Wars Outlaws. Very difficult.
If I took off my glasses and I didn't dye my hair ginger, they basically modelled her after me I reckon.
What in Star Wars Outlaws? A little bit. Yeah, but you're also very white. Oh yeah. No, not stained. I think it's literally just a fringe is all I'm seeing. That's all it takes. Anyone with a fringe, I'm like, oh, looks like me.
I wonder what you have to do to be put on that category. Just have stuff that fucking... Let me see what Diablo 4...
I might have to play Life is Strange because that's the one that I've gone back to Max, which was the original Life is Strange was about Max.
Here we go. The Accessibility review of Diablo 4.
Accessible screen reader, fully customizable mouse and keyboard controls, colourblind filter, text to speech options for chat, expanded difficulty settings, the cons, fast paced combat can be daunting, skill slot customisation, locked behind level progression.
Really? I didn't realise that those types of things would... Starting up the game, I was immediately given gameplay options, text to speech accessibility and visual support. A screen reader was available here as well as options for subtitle sizing, HUD scaling and colourblind customisation.
Subtitles were automatically turned on. After the cinematic intro played, I reached the title screen, then more accessibility opened up in the options menu of Diablo 4. This menu had individual tabs for graphics, sound, gameplay, controls and accessibility.
The accessibility tab has all the audio and visual support that I previously mentioned in a convenient space.
Oh okay, so it is basically like what settings does this game give you? Oh yeah, what have they put in to help people that are less able than your average?
Fuck it, I'll give it to Diablo then. Why not? Fair enough. We could do like a sub podcast about the ethics of voting for something that you didn't know. Games for impact. Close the distance. Indica. Never. Life is strange. Hellblade 2 again and Tales of Kinsera.
I have no idea about any of these games. I'm going to give that to Life is Strange just because I like them. That's my first one that I'm going to do. Honestly this time I've actually not been voting for it because I don't know.
This is one that I've spoken about before with best ongoing. Awarded to a game for outstanding development and ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time. I would like to know the age limits or what puts you...
You've got Destiny 2, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy...what's XIV? I don't fucking know. Hang on. X is 10 and V is 5. So 16 I think. 14. Oh it's Final Fantasy 14. Yeah, that's what it is. Terrible. Played that.
Fortnite and then Helldivers 2. Oh what are you saying? You're annoyed because Fortnite always wins it? No? Why does World of Warcraft not make it on any of that? You've got Destiny 2 there, you've got Diablo there, you've got Final Fantasy there.
So why does World of Warcraft not make that into best ongoing game? Diablo 4? Fuck me. It's only been out for not that long. Helldivers 2 and all. See can you really have Destiny 2 though? Because hasn't that died a death now? I'm pretty sure that's like...
Died a death for me 10 minutes after I bought it. I mean lots of people still play it but as far as I was aware it was like finito. I don't know. Yeah but people like to say that and then...like I'll never forget when you were trying to show me Dead by Daylight and you were like, oh thing is I might not be able to get in because this game is really dead and I don't think it's even going to be that much fun. And now it's found it's cult following. Exactly. I love that game. Yeah. I'm going to go Fortnite because it's the only one that I play. You've got Helldivers 2 as well. I mean fuck me.
I'd probably go Fortnite as well to be fair. Just because the amount of random shit they throw in there now. Oh next one. Community support. Best community support where it definitely isn't Helldivers 2. I'm going to give that to Poblisky. No man's sky all day. Really? They promise you cross play and they're giving it to us in next month.
Best community...recognising a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness inclusive of social media activity and game updates. Yeah they're constantly patching. Slash patches. So you've got No Man's Sky, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, Final Fantasy 11, 14 sorry and Baldur's Gate 3. No Man's Sky...why are you looking at me like that? Go on.
No Man's Sky has done nothing but support itself since it first came out. Yeah? In my opinion. No no no you can vote yeah. I'm just saying that it's wrong. No it's too late I've done it now. No Man's Sky is... What game you don't even play? Oh cool. I've sunk a hell of a lot of time into No Man's Sky and you know that.
Doesn't mean that the game is no good. I've just finished Callisto Protocol mate. Is it your third attempt or your fourth attempt now? I've just finished...I'm a bit...I'm a bit...
Best independent game for outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system. Animal Well, Bellatro, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Never or UFO 50. Bellatro just because I know how popular it is. Fair enough.
And the next one is best debut indie game. We're in a race now. Ah Mana Lords is on there. Mana Lords, Animal Well, Bellatro, Pacific Drive, The Plucky Squire. I know that Connor was talking a fair amount about Mana Lords and so was the other Connor.
And a load of people in the guild were talking about Mana Lords. I don't know if it was an indie game though. It's probably got to be Bellatro again isn't it? Fair enough. Just because...don't know. It's because I can.
Oh man. Best mobile game. There you go. Oh there it is. Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. Pokemon Pocket. Or AFK Journey or Bellatro or Wuthering Waves or Zenlust Zone Zero. Pokemon Pocket.
I'm not going to vote. Oh. Aren't you setting yourself apart? No. Because I don't...I don't know. I didn't enjoy Pokemon Pocket as much as I thought I was going to. No I thought it was a bit shit. Right.
But I know loads of people love it. Sheeple. You're a sheep. What we need is Ash next week to have played any more than us. He definitely has yeah. He's going to come through with actual... Thankfully though the next category is something we can both go with and that's best VR slash AR. Nice.
Right. Yeah I might have to skip that one. No I'll go for Arizona Sunshine Remake. Fuck it. Are you just clicking any old shit? I have no idea. Best action game. Batman Arkham Shadow. I wonder is that...that thing we were playing before?
No I've done that thing I forget we're on a pod. Michelle with the Oculus Rift thing. We played that Batman game. Yeah. It was quite good. Best action game. Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Black Myth Wukong, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade or Warhammer 4...Oh Space Marine 2.
Space Marine 2 is quite cool. Still haven't finished that. Nice. Oh bruv don't look at me. What do you mean? You're going to give me shade for not finishing a game. Yeah. You of all people. Yeah. How many games have you finished?
Less than you. Far less than me. How's Zelda going my dear? It's called Eeking It Out. How's Tears of the Kingdom treating you? That's the same game. I know. You were referring to. Oh right. Sorry. Oh right. You were just digging the...
Or how's the other Zelda game? What one? Where you actually play Zelda. I haven't bought it yet because we're moving house. Haven't even purchased it. Yeah but wouldn't you rather not have purchased something that you're not yet going to play rather than buy it and then 10 seconds later drop it?
Like you do. I mean you actually got like...there's probably just like a term for it. The Division 2 still hasn't downloaded on the PlayStation because there's no room. Yeah and you forgot that you...is that the one that you bought? Yeah you bought twice.
Yeah the one that I bought twice. Yeah that one because I forgot that I bought it. But I actually have it so I would have needed to buy it anyway. So you were so into it that you bought it twice and you still haven't played it. That's how much you wanted that game. Yeah. I forgot that you even bought it. It's a cool game man. Yeah that's why you played it. I'm just having fucking played it. No. No. So why has it got no storage then?
Because the PlayStation has fuck all storage and I got about a billion games on it. Mainly Baldur's Gate 3. It's taking up a lot of space. Oh is it? Yeah. Okay. It's in jeopardy there. What about Hogwarts Legacy or is that already gone? Hogwarts Legacy isn't on there. Oh. Concrete Genie is still on there though. Yeah and it will be forever. Yeah another game that you won't fucking finish. I don't think I can play it can I? Because you're not in the subscription anymore. No I am. I am. Are you? Yeah. But I thought it ran out. It did but then I had to start it again to play...
Space Marines I think. Wasn't it? No Elden Ring. It came off the... Elden Ring. The Elden Ring DLC I needed. Yeah but I thought you only did it for a month. Yeah but I never cancelled it. So I let it just keep going.
Yeah no yeah I didn't need it to play the DLC but I needed it in order to see everyone's little fucking little notes. Yeah. I was like well I want to be able to see everyone's notes so here's another nine quid or whatever it was. Yeah. Anyway best action game I'm gonna give it to Black Myth Wukong. Okay.
This is terrible. I don't know why I suggested that we do this on a fucking podcast. I really don't because this has got to be the most uninformed voting that we've ever done. You're voting for no shit and I'm just not voting for no shit. Yeah it's terrible isn't it. Best action slash adventure. Whee. There we go. The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. I'll give it to that. Fuck it. Why not? No idea about that game but why not? Best RPG.
Dragon's Dogma 2. That was meant to be a very good game. Again something that I never played. Ash played a lot of it. Connor played a lot of it. Elden Ring Shadow of the Earth Tree. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth and Metaphoric Fantasio. I'm obviously going to give that to Elden Ring. Yeah fair enough. Because it's such a good RPG.
Best fighting. I don't play fighting games at all. This is awful. Genuinely when we did the Patreon and I was like I wonder what we could do in a normal episode. I was like fucking hell yeah. I really thought like this would be sweet because I remember the last couple of times we've done this. Yeah. It was decent because we played most of the games that were popping up.
But Shadow of the Earth Tree is the only fucking game that either of us have touched. I thought you played Grand Blue Fantasy. Yeah not that one though. Oh. Onwards we go. I'm going to give it a multi versus anyway.
Best family. The best game. Appropriate family play irrespective of genre or platform. Astro Bot. Princess Peach Showtime. Super Mario Party Jamboree. Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom or The Plucky Squire. I mean Astro Bot is very family play I'm pretty sure. It's very good for family shit.
There's only one player on Echoes of Wisdom. Maybe it's not but I'm pretty sure. Well I'm giving it to that. What Mario Party. No to Astro Bot. Oh right. I'm not going to vote on that. You voted on any of it. Some of them yeah.
Best sim slash strategy. Fucking skip straight past that. I give it a man of lords. Best sports slash racing. Fuck me. Fuck me. I'll give it a FIFA why not. Best multiplayer. Best multiplayer. Here we go. Here we fucking go.
So you say here we go. Black Ops 6. Helldivers 2. Tekken 8. Super Mario Party Jamboree. Warhammer 40,000. Space Marine 2. You know what I would actually give it to? What? I would give that to Helldivers 2.
Okay. Because. That was cool. Helldivers 2 was fucking sick. What happened with that when that game released was something that I think hasn't happened in the gaming world for a very long time. The next one's good. The next one's good. We've finally found our purpose.
You see what I mean? Helldivers 2 had. It was like when Fortnite first came out and you were playing like the first OG players of that. Just fucking chaos and it was all everyone was talking about. It was fantastic.
Best adaption. Adaptation. Arcane versus Fallout. Tomb Raider the Legend of Lara Croft. Where can we watch that? On Netflix.
Oh, let's look at that.
Oh, best adaptation. Arcane, Fallout, Knuckles, Like a Dragon, Yakuza and Tomb Raider the Legend of Lara Croft. The two of them. We have watched Arcane and we have watched Fallout. Arcane for me, I think. Is that the recency effect though? Is that because we've just finished? Well, we've never played League of Legends either. No, but. But it did give me. I feel like I could go and play League of Legends and not understand League of Legends, but the characters that would pop up.
I would know a handful of them and get a backstory of it. I've already rewatched Arcane. I've not rewatched Fallout. But Fallout was very good as well. It was very good, but I think Arcane was better. Fallout captured. I think Arcane was better. Yeah, but Fallout captured that game style. That was almost comedic.
Apocalyptic humor, but without being humorous. That makes sense. Like just just weird acceptance of the world going to absolute shit. And yeah, you might walk past a couple of skulls on the way to get a can of beans. It's fine. Don't worry about it.
Yeah, I mean. Go Arcane.
Well, no, go with what you feel. No, because we've just finished Arcane and that has got to be one of the best things that I've ever watched in my life. Yeah, it's fantastic. I really want to watch Tomb Raider though, because what Arcane has done is frosted me into the anime world.
And like now I want to get hold of more fucking graphic novels because they're very nice to read and visually they look really fucking stunning. And off the back of watching Arcane, I watched Blue Eyed Samurai. And that was really fucking good.
Really good. So yeah, now it's like Tomb Raider does one and then you've got the war, the Rohirrim in five days.
And that's animated. It's just sick. Stuff like that is really fucking cool. So let's vote Arcane. I like that.
Most anticipated game. Here you go.
Here you go, you little sausage.
Death Stranding 2 on the Reach. Oh, on the beach, sorry. Ghost of Yotai. Grand Theft Auto 6. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Monster Hunter Wilds.
Grand Theft Auto 6 all day. If I was to put that in and then Ghost of Yotai is a very close fucking second edition of Ghost of Tsushima. But Grand Theft Auto 6.
I'm really hoping that when they do the game awards that we get maybe like another trailer of GTA 6. Yeah, because it's been over a year since it's fucking announcement, since it was put into the fucking into the real world space.
That's fucking crazy. Rockstar actually admitted that. Yep, here it is. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I don't think that that is scheduled to be coming out in like 2025. So next year. I don't think that that's coming out until 2026.
What was that? Wasn't there a fable thing as well that literally went dead? Yeah, fable where they got a trailer years ago and it showed virtually nothing. And then we got another trailer where it looked really fucking cool. But again, zero gameplay.
But then we did see snippets of gameplay on a, was it a one of those Let's Plays or something like that? You know, where they show loads of different games and shit like that. I think we did see like a little snippet
of some, or maybe we didn't. No, that does ring a bell. I feel like we did, but we were really fucking minimal.
So yeah, Grand Theft Auto 6 is, the world's going to collapse with that. Oh, here we go. Content creator of the year. Becky Jones.
Kaseo 100%. Because I don't see, I don't know the other ones, but I have loads of clips of him on TikTok. He just looks like people I went to school with. And he's fantastically funny. Best eSports game. Counter Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Mobile Legends, Bang Bang, Valorant.
I'd give it to League just off the back of Arcane. Why not? Best eSports athlete. I've no idea because I don't fucking, what, can I skip that? I'll skip that one. Best eSports team. Again, don't follow any of it.
Fucking hell, they look interesting. Wait, no, look at the bottom. Liquid. Yeah. Isn't that? Team Liquid for Dota though. Oh, is it? It's who I voted for. Oh, sorry, right. I didn't see the games underneath.
Let me submit my votes. Vote cast for this round. What do you mean round? What's your favourite game of the year? Players' voices 100% voted award across three rounds. Oh, right. So which is your photo? You said that's so quiet. Oh, sorry.
So this is, oh, that's a bit loud. So this, this particular one we're about to vote for is a three round one based on it's 100% fan voted award across three rounds. So the first, the first round we're on round two out of three.
Oh my God. You're just trying to read it out. I was paraphrasing it. Okay, sorry. No, it's all good. It's all good. Basically, yes, I'm not going to vote in it because I haven't played any of them. Power World's in there. Is that actually? Oh, yeah, so it is. So what, so what is this? It's just. Don't know. What is it? I was halfway through explaining it and someone started taking piss.
Oh, cool. Cool. Which is your favourite game of the year? It's 100% fan voted award across three rounds and the winner will be announced on December 12th. And who's in it?
Well, I'll let you read those. Okay. Black Miff Wukong, Elden Ring Shadow of the Earth Tree, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Genshin Impact, Helldivers 2, Metaphori Fantasio, Power World, Stellar Blade, Wuthering Waves,
Endless Zone Zero. Well, I'm going to give it to Shadow of the Earth Tree. I almost gave it to Power World. But Power World's a bit of a fad, I think. Oh, can you give it to.
Well, you got to vote five. I've no idea. Let's vote for Power World. Round three. No. Oh, Helldivers 2. Mine just says Black Miff. Fuck it.
That one. Submit.
There you go. I think that was it. And then round three of that particular vote opens tomorrow.
Well, there you have it, guys. There's the most uninformed useless fucking pick of Game of the Year awards and all the other categories that go alongside it by two people that have played none of the games that were involved in any of it.
So therefore we have nothing we can talk about, no opinions, no anything about basically all of those games. What would be your Game of the Year?
So it would be Shadow of the Earth Tree, but it just shouldn't be Game of the Year because it's a DLC. Yeah, fair enough. But at the same time, it's very difficult to.
Yeah, it's a tough one because you'll have some DLCs like Callisto Protocol, for example, just finished that.
We know there's a DLC on that to continue from on onwards from that story.
I can almost guarantee you that that DLC will be what, two, maybe three hours long, and then that's it.
So you then come out with a DLC category, you'll then have something like that in there and then Shadow of the Earth Tree, where it's like a 60, 70 hour DLC with all of this shit.
Like, how do you, I just don't get how you measure up from that. But at the same time, I suppose you've got it now with the likes of Bellatro and then Black Mith Wukong in the same categories.
And I know that they've got vastly different depths and lengths to them. Very, very tough, very tough.
But also, we just haven't played that many games this year. But I feel like. Is that because we just can't fucking don't want to buy them?
It's been a very, very stressful year, a very, very rough year trying to buy a house and all the other bollocks thrown on top of it.
It's been very, very fucking tough, tough titties. Also, I feel like gaming as a whole is just mega expensive now. It's not as easy to like, like when fucking Dragon Stogma come out.
There's what came out alongside that as well. What the fuck came out? There was another game that came out alongside that because I remember contemplating buying both of them and I didn't end up buying either of them.
Flick Black on the pods. It was on there, I think. Yeah, it's a funny one. I think this year has gone very quickly as well. Very, very quickly.
We need like lift music. We need something to fucking lift us up. This is fucking terrible. My game of the year. Go on, what is yours?
No, I don't have one. I'll be honest. I don't have one. I think that obviously. What? No, just we've got nothing in us. I know. I'm fighting for my fucking life. I won't lie.
Any. Yeah, it's a struggle. Not because I'm just so tired. Yeah, no, I don't know. I really don't know. This is quite embarrassing really.
We're floundering. Quick, play the music. I'm trying to flick through to see and I can't fucking. I don't know. It's probably because it's too late because obviously Nintendo have redone and I'm crossing Pocket Camp.
But only came out on December 3rd. Well, they actually released a day early on December 2nd because they could like that. But it's fucking incredible. Like genuinely. I know.
Obviously it came out in 2017 and everyone was really excited because it was at that time. Obviously this is pre New Horizons, which wasn't until March 2020.
So obviously switches come out everyone screaming for a new Animal Crossing game and they're just not getting one.
And then it came and I think that kind of didn't help because what then happened was obviously all the news is running with.
Oh my God. Nintendo is bringing out Animal Crossing. It's a mobile game. It's going to be amazing.
And then it came out and was just very, very grindy and extremely pay to win. Why didn't they? Why didn't they carry on with Animal Crossing?
What do you mean? Well, they just stopped, didn't they? No. What do you mean? Which one?
What? New Horizons? Yeah, that's what they do. This is what I'm saying.
This is where I think it's I think the culture that's that's a good example of like the culture changing in the sense that I don't know.
Go back to like 2005 or six and it comes out on the DS. Obviously it goes back to GameCube as well. Animal Crossing.
But I come in at that point and you wouldn't you wouldn't be screaming for more from a DS cartridge.
This is what we get. Then come in New Leaf and I mean, there's other ones in between this as well with the Wii and whatever.
But New Leaf on 3DS, they then did add shit to it. Come in the creation of amiibos and whatever.
And excuse me, the ability to communicate from device to device, visit friends and whatnot.
I mean, you could do that anyway, but like it was more, you know, it's getting a bit more traction.
It's getting more meaty. And again, on the Wii, it was far more you were getting into that culture of like you're getting home from school.
You meet up your mate on online and playing like that.
And then, yeah, I think that when when it came to the Switch, you know, the New Horizons, it they are kind of just doing what they've always done.
But people want it to carry on in the sense that they kind of go, this is the game we've made, have at it.
But this business of, oh, here's a new drop of here's new events, here's new, you know, in game items or challenges or whatever.
But then they were like, OK, we're done now. But no one it was like no one was ready for them to be done, but they were done.
And I think, yeah, it's that like it's difficult because I do I did want them to carry on. It would have been nice.
Like even if they just do something, even just like the anniversary cake, just keep going. It's not that hard.
They don't even change the shit on the holidays either.
No, it's exactly the same. You get the exact same items.
I just don't I don't understand where that makes any business sense.
Because everyone will moan and then they'll buy the next one.
So it doesn't really matter. They don't actually lose out.
Yeah, but at the same time, if there's if there's nothing going on in terms of the next one, which is where there isn't.
Yeah, but in a gaming industry, you can't just sit there and go, well, you never know.
You can because they have. It's worked for the last 20 years.
Yeah, but a lot changes in 20 years as well. And gaming as a whole has.
So I think potentially going off of what I've just said, I would hazard a very, very big guess that they weren't expecting it to have to for people to want that, because this is what they've done.
You get what you get. Yeah, it's not.
It wasn't it wasn't previously a game that had regular updates and expansions and shit like that.
That's not what they did. That's not what they ever did with it.
So in the sense of you have like the happy home designer thing where you you get to like that came in.
I don't know, maybe about 10 years ago and then added on and then they added it on to the horizons as well, where you get like you know it's a DLC and you get your island and you're
you know, you make kind of like, I don't know, it's like a designer part of it.
But yeah, I don't know.
I'm kind of I don't I do get it. You know, like when you when you someone doesn't anticipate what something's going to be until it happens.
So during during covid when Animal Crossing was fucking.
Which wasn't their plan, but yeah.
Huge. I know it wasn't their plan.
There was no updates or anything that was thrown into it.
Yeah, yeah. They were bringing in new shit.
It went all the way up to 2.0, I think.
Right. And they said, look, 2.0 is going to be your last big update.
But then where are the resources going into from that then?
Something else. Well, as I say, so with Pocket Camp, that ran from 2017 to last week.
And as I say, it was it was ultimately quite I felt a disappointing game.
You know, and it was like, in my opinion, like a good crack at trying to bring Animal Crossing in a mobile game format, but it just felt shit.
I had a role. I always said I'd rather have paid for it and it not be like this than have it free to play and it be like this because it was just too harsh.
And it was too what you got for, you know, like when you buy like V-Bucks or Roblox, whatever, like that kind of shit in game currency.
Yeah, it was ridiculous.
It was ridiculous. Like this kind of shit that you would get for 20 quid was nothing.
Basically nothing, in my opinion. And and yeah, but then what they've done, they've basically they announced it a couple of months ago saying like, look, we're going to shut this down.
The online service is going to be completely gone.
But we're going to create this game that is an offline game and it is complete and you can transfer all your shit apart from paid stuff.
And it's the fucking dream. It is honestly the dream that they really have.
This is what it should have if it had been like this because at the moment it's an introductory price of eight ninety nine and I think at the end of January it's going to go up to like nineteen ninety nine,
which I'll be interested to see how like and obviously I have no concept of how many people have downloaded it or whatever.
But oh, man, it's exactly what exactly what I like is so nice.
Do you think it would you think there's ever a possibility of it being very successful as an offline version and then them taking it back online?
I don't think so. No, you don't think they're bother. No, I don't think so.
It's hard because like there's some things basically what the only interaction you used to have with friends was that they could help you out.
So like, I don't know, there was this little thing that you could get into. They'd help you into that.
They might you could send each other gifts each day. But like it wasn't gifts that you could choose.
It was something even that was fucking annoying. It was something you couldn't see what it was, nor could you use it yourself.
You had to send it to somebody and then some things you could only send them once you sent them five things, but you can only send one thing a day.
It's just fucking long. And now it's it's different.
So you have like a card so you can like add friends, but there's no there's no actual human interaction.
Your character will go into their game and they might they can still ask for help into that quarry thing.
But it won't actually be you saying yes, like prior it was you clicking to say, yeah, I'll help you.
Whereas now it's automatic. Gifting is completely gone. It's like a NPC gift once a day, I think.
But the trade off of that to have it actually be an enjoyable game is like genuinely.
It's still enjoyable for you, yeah. It's infinitely more enjoyable.
Well, because it's offline. No, because of because they've reduced.
So like because there's now no longer any in-app purchasing prior to this, like when it was an online game,
you have these things, well, the fortune cookies basically, and you can buy one or you can buy five.
And if you buy five, you get an extra little stamp that allows you once you get ten, you can redeem something of your choice.
And it's not down to luck. You get to pick something from a cookie and everyone's got their own fucking cookie.
There's like hundreds of different cookies and they're all different themes and whatnot.
And prior to this, it was 50 leaf tickets for one cookie and 250 leaf tickets for five cookies.
But you're if you're buying them in that, obviously, it's still 250 either way.
But you get this extra stamp if you buy five at once.
And 50 tickets, so 20 tickets was 99p. I'm pretty sure.
So the maths of that are kind of be asked to do.
And you might get five of the same thing and they're all a fucking mug or like an ugly jumper.
Like the luck was shocking. It was absolutely shit.
And you can't sell any of that stuff for leaf tickets.
No, no, leaf tickets are so hard to get.
Yeah, so I basically hoarded my leaf tickets for seven years and I didn't really pay it much.
I genuinely haven't paid it much over those seven years.
Other than the initial download, getting pissed off, might revisit every now and then.
Last month, fucking incredible. Best time of my life.
Because you know that thing a bit like how after Liam Payne died and everyone's listening to One Direction again.
It was like because I knew it was ending, it was like I'll go on and let's have a little go there.
And it was it was the most alive that app has been in forever.
And everyone was adding people and like on Reddit, it was like, oh, I've got loads of gifts to give away.
And like we were coming back and it was and it was really, really lovely.
And of course, everyone's then really sad that it's ending.
It closed on I think the 29th of November and I was at work and someone sent me a gift at two fifty nine and it closed at three p.m.
And I was in the middle of an aisle. I was quickly trying to try to open it, but I did miss it.
So I never know what that last gift was.
But yeah, and then as I say, they they they let everyone know, like, look, we're going to so that on the third, everyone has it.
We're actually going to release it early.
Like it did come out on the second. So it was only like three days without it.
And it's just as I say, they've smashed it. They have really, really, really done really well with it.
But yeah, and then like I think it's I can see myself carrying on with it.
If you know what I mean, like Pokemon Pocket, I very, very quickly like I haven't opened a pack in like some.
Yeah, because you've got to click through about 20 different windows to go and do something.
And you know what we've said before, what we've said before about pushy tutorials, like unskippable tutorials.
Get fucked. I'll work it out myself. I don't need you to walk me through opening a fucking packet.
That was the point of adding it to the thing is going to go in there anyway.
There's no option for me to not add it to my little thing.
I don't want to have to don't flick through the entire catalog of the cards and then make me so.
So you opened a pack, got your cards out and then you you'd see all the cards and then it would come up, show you all the cards again.
And then it would show you all the cards in the catalog.
And then you'd have to click through the catalog and then you could go back to doing it.
And then you've got to open up another window because something else has popped up.
And then there's five different text bubbles there that you've got to flick through.
Then you've got to let load up for 0.5 of a second first.
And then you can click through them all.
People love that game, but that instantly turned me off.
We sat here, didn't we?
Did you not just vote for it?
Yeah, because I didn't know anything.
Oh, fucking hell.
Yeah, forced tutorials like that, man.
And I feel like you only really get that kind of shit in a mobile game because it's a lot easier to just fucking click through it.
So it's like, right, well, it's easier for these guys to click through this tutorial.
So let's just ramp it up by 10 times what it normally should be.
Yeah.
Fuck me.
And that's it. I think I like, you know how I don't know, go back to when we were at school and you always had like all these different mobile games on the go.
And it's just like that's not like that anymore.
I feel like they're all so fucking annoying.
Like even if you see an advert for one that looks really cool, you just know it's going to have a fuckload of adverts and piss you off.
And you're going to end up not playing it.
Mobile games are.
I'd rather they just be paid.
Yeah, I get a mobile game that isn't paid is specifically designed to grab you by the balls and then just fucking throw adverts at you.
Throw adverts and make you spend money.
That is what they're for.
And then and then they they are designed in a way to enable you to hit a certain point and have loads and loads of fun.
And then all the fun stops behind a paywall.
Everything.
It's like it's like with with Pokemon Pocket, the amount of people, including myself, that open up those first couple of packs and get some seriously cool stuff.
You're telling me that the fucking developers of that game aren't just coding that in to entice you in your fucking.
I've got this, this and this.
How sick is this game?
Because it fucking touches on your brain.
You got shit.
This game's fucking look, I've already got this.
And then it gives you a little percentage value next to how rare it is.
Oh, my God, I got this card. There's no point. No, no. 2% rare.
My first pack.
Yeah, of course you fucking did.
Well done.
I am.
So the crossing game had two tiers of monthly subscriptions as well.
They brought in, of course, and I didn't know that for a long time because obviously I wasn't playing it.
Never deleted it like, but you know, a bit like Diablo immortal.
There's nothing worse than when you can.
I love how we just moment.
There's nothing worse when you open it and it goes, oh, sorry, you download some shit.
Oh, my God.
You bet. I'm fucking shutting that back down.
My phone can't handle it. OK, I just want to download it once.
Download that game, download the entire game.
And then it's like, oh, yeah, you've got to download all of these assets.
And then one by one, you have to download them one by one.
Just give me the entire game.
Good luck.
Give me the entire game.
And yeah, so that's what it kept doing over, you know, X amount of months, years probably.
And then, yeah, so whatever possessed me, I was like, no, fuck it.
I'll just download it.
Let's see what we got.
This is probably like three or four months ago now.
And yes, so they've got these two tiers of subscription.
And it's like shit. I don't even understand because I've not been playing it.
And anyway, they had this like trial one, which I hadn't obviously used, I hadn't played it.
And I think it was maybe like 70p or something like that for a month.
And as it was, I didn't really hang on and play it because it was it was like the shit tier as well.
If it had just been all there was, you wouldn't think it's shit. But when it's going, oh, sorry, you're not on that one.
Oh, my God. Like I thought it was going to be an actual trial.
No, it was a trial of that.
The mid or low tier, whatever.
But anyway, what they've done now is incorporate that into the game.
So there is no longer, you know, it's just available to you.
And it was like having, oh, my God, it was mad.
You basically get this little helper.
So while you're not on the app, they are and they'll do it for you.
Incredible. I don't even have to fucking lift a finger, basically.
And I was like, that's what you like. Why?
Why they couldn't have just done this in the first place?
I cannot. I bet they're fucking kicking themselves.
I really think they must be because that's all anyone wanted.
That you would have had people that would have paid, but they whatever possessed them.
They thought that it was a good idea. At the end of the day, fine.
They've got, you know, they had seven years out of it, but there's no way, you know,
that they didn't plan this overnight.
So let's say for the last year, would you say, I don't know, year or eight,
that they've been planning this to happen?
Yeah, because you would have had all the same assets and everything.
You've only got to change a couple of bits. Yeah.
And I don't know. I just think like, oh, my God, it's such a better direction to be in.
If it's going to get bigger and it's going to get more advanced, you know,
your phones can do a hell of a lot more. Yeah.
Just fucking make them paid. I don't want your fucking ads.
I just want pay. I'll pay a bit and we'll crack on rather than all of this.
Don't pretend that it's going to be a free to play game because we all know it's not.
Be like Diablo. I mean, again, if they'd have just let you pay,
we would probably still be playing it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Quite possibly, especially with the fact that it was amazing.
It was cross play with the PC as well.
It was all complete, completely fucking cross, cross save, cross play, cross everything.
Because didn't someone work it out and it was something like 80 grand?
Yeah, it was a lot of money. If you want to do it.
Because it was the masks, wasn't it?
It was the mask things that you needed to to get the gems and things like that.
And yeah, someone had worked out that for you to have fully maxed out gear,
you'd need to spend a shit ton of money.
And yeah, if that was if that was a pay because then obviously like Diablo 4 come out,
not interested in whatsoever.
I bought it, played it, got the mountain well for it.
That's all I really bought it for.
And it's a fun game.
But at the same time, but like everyone was hyping up.
And for ages, I couldn't understand it and was getting loads of people to explain it to me
because I could not work my head, get my head around the fact, the season thing.
Every season you make a character do that season.
And then at the end of it, it all gets wiped clean.
And that character gets put on a legacy server or whatever where you can still play it.
But it can't interact with the with the next season and is effectively made redundant.
And when I first spoke to people about it, I was saying I was like, that sounds fucking shit.
That sounds awful.
And everyone was on, oh, no, it's the best thing ever.
You love it. It makes you play a blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then what happened?
It come out. Everyone played it.
Everyone fucking hated it because it sounds ridiculous.
Here's a character that you can sink 100 hours into all this fun, cool stuff that you can do for this season.
And then what's going to happen at the end of this season?
You'll never play that character again.
Start again and then again and then again and again.
Fuck that. Fuck that.
So stupid.
But people still must like it because it's still an active game.
Yeah, Diablo, I'm always just all.
Oh, I know. Great.
So intuitive as well to play on a phone.
I preferred playing that on my phone than I did on the laptop.
Yeah, it was cool. Played so well.
I actually still haven't deleted it.
It's taken up 12 gig on my phone.
I think I think I fucking I'm pretty sure I still got it at all.
Every time I go to delete, I'm like, oh, I can't.
I haven't played it because it's again because you click it and it goes, oh,
sorry, baby, you have to download everything again.
So I don't know what the fuck 12 gig on my phone actually is because none of it's on there.
Oh, God, I got a numb leg.
No, I don't. I did delete it.
I did delete it.
Took that step in the healing journey of Diablo Immortal.
Anyway, thanks for listening to this.
Yeah, whatever this was.
Great. Sorry.
Right. See you later, everyone.
Lots of love.