It is the 10th of July, it is hotter than Satan's
taint, and you're listening to the Respec Ramblings
podcast for Respec .net. With me, Alex Donaldson,
and I'm joined this week by Tom Ory and by Mr.
Kurt McKean, a good old friend and colleague
of ours. How you doing, guys? Alright, I was
a bit taken back by your rude opening. Is that
what we are? Is that what we are? Well, it's...
It's unseasonably, unfairly hot. It is tainty
as well, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put this
top on and this colour is not good because it's
a colour where we can't podcast for too long
in this room with fans off because I will be
looking very gross by the end of it. But yeah,
how are you guys actually... Do you have fans?
Do you have air conditioning? Obviously, we're
British. I've got loads of fans. I'm the most
popular games journalist. We're not talking about
your only fans. Games media personality in the
UK. No fans up here. I've got a fan downstairs.
Window's open. I'm not wearing any pants, but
it doesn't matter. Is that the American version
of pants or British pants? I'll leave that for
you to decide, Tom. Podcasting Commando is, you
know, if we're establishing what this website
is perhaps about, you know, I think there's worse
things we could be associated with. And it shows,
you know, we're open. We're open people. We're
accepting of all kinds. So, yeah, I mean, Kirk,
how are you? What are you up to these days? Tell
folks a little bit about it. Obviously, I think
a lot of people who are listening to this are
coming at it from... um mine and tom's past history
so they'll know you from the work you did with
us and things like that but what are you up to
these days yeah so uh we were running a company
that did gaming coverage for mainstream sites
uh but google changes basically destroyed us
there which is excellent um but now we're doing
newsletters gaming .fi side with his head chat
um And we're talking to game devs, actors, and
all sorts of people and trying to get down to
their personalities. It's not just about the
stuff they make. It's more like getting to know
them and what makes them tick and trying to make
them cry. Trying to make them cry. Well, you
know, it's better than the usual way that media
makes game devs cry, which is usually by a bad
review. A bad review or by ringing them up and
going, have you heard that there's going to be
cuts? Yeah. Which just happened a bit this last
week. Yeah, yeah. Sounds like bullying. Are you
just bullying people? Yeah, but it's people I
know mostly, so it's fine. Fair enough. I mean,
that's what we were all about on VG back in the
day. Speaking of devs crying, though, I guess
let's roll into really the news topic of the
week, which is... difficult and shitty and awful
which is i think you'd have to have been living
under a rock to not know about it the absolutely
catastrophic cuts that are going to be happening
at xbox if you have missed it or you haven't
digested all of the details um the cliff notes
are xbox has announced they're going to be laying
off over 3 000 employees they're quoting 3 200
but that's a very rough top line number so it
might end up being a little bit more than that
might end up being a little bit less than that
but around 3200 um they're going to get rid of
1600 now and then more over the the next 12 months
um there's four studios that are leaving xbox
entirely um so compulsion games who made south
midnight and double fine obviously it's brutal
legend and stacking and all these games um will
go independent And Ninja Theory and Undead Labs
have new buyers, but we don't know who they are.
So it'd be interesting to see where they land.
And then there's just brutal cuts elsewhere.
25 % of Obsidian, Rebecca Valentine reported
on Kotaku. Around 50 % of id Software, Game Developer
and other places reported. Some really long time
names, you know, people who've worked at places
like Bethesda Game Studios for 20, 30 years.
Hundreds of people out at ZeniMax online. It's
pretty brutal. Kirk, what have you felt when
you've been watching all this go down? What's
your feeling been? It's just a fucking disaster,
isn't it? I mean, Spencer is responsible for
a lot of it. He's failed the company and then
Ash has come in to fail it even more by the looks
of it. She's in charge of federal jobs now, right?
as well which is very funny yes um yeah i don't
know it just feels like cultural dismantling
and the way they've dealt with id software for
example laying off the entire tech team if rumors
are to be believed and and just then they're
saying they want them to make their tentpole
games faster with half the resources and they've
put obsidian on fallout which is like a monkey's
paw sort of situation where it's what people
wanted but now they got half the team And they're
probably not as passionate about that project
as they would be about their own thing. And they've
got to work with Bethesda's engine, which is
going to create all sorts of problems because
it's obviously changed a lot since New Vegas
as well. So they've got to learn the tools. It's
just every direction of it is just bonkers. Challenging,
isn't it? Because the Fallout thing is a great
example of you get... I've seen a few different
reactions. One reaction has been, well, it's
about damn time. Microsoft should have told them
that they had to do that years ago. And you can
see the logic on that argument, but the argument
also becomes clearly this wasn't happening before
now because either Bethesda or Obsidian or both
didn't want to do it. And so now you've got these
devs doing something that they really didn't
originally intend to do. Tom, what's your thoughts
on the overall? It's just sad, isn't it, really?
You look at, like, I mean, we knew it was going
to be a lot of people affected. It just, everything
kind of leaked out, right? There was big stuff.
Then you look at, like, if you look at Id, for
example, who have been around for, what, five
years? I don't know, a long time. And you think
of them as, like, I guess how you think of like
when you're a kid, you think of your parents,
right? They're going to be around forever. Like
they're just there all the time, right? They're
like such a kind of staple of the games industry.
And you figured that they had like Microsoft
were talking about maybe suggesting that maybe
they're going to lean more heavily on owned software,
owned technology rather than licensed stuff.
And they have technology that the company is
like partly what it is because of the technology
it made. um and now that all seems to have been
like obviously still have it but the people that
made it well that team's gone so yeah it's just
sad that's happening and then you get thing like
studios like uh um undead labs who as far as
i could see were one of the few that had made
a successful kind of almost live servicey game
in uh State of Decay and 2 was really successful
3 was looking decent and it felt like given the
Xbox slate that was kind of like a reasonably
safe bet as a game that was going to do quite
well and that's been they've been cut loose Ninja
Theory they've made I mean they were allowed
I guess to make a fairly niche in Hellblade 2,
but then the new one looked like exactly the
kind of game that I guess people were saying,
well, you make a game like this, that was going
to maybe look like the kind of game Sony would
make, right? As a Sony first party game. And
they've gone. And obviously that's all because
they're not what Xbox see as the main IP, the
big halos, the gears, et cetera, the Forza kind
of games, which they're focusing on, the fallouts,
Elder Scrolls, et cetera. You kind of wonder,
like, they've got all this, their new plan, I
guess, is let's pump out more halos, pump out
more gears, pump out more fallout, etc. But these
games, some of these things they're cutting,
like, there's going to be a void for a while.
You can't just go, actually, let's have a new
fallout next year, please. Like, it doesn't happen
like that, right? So it feels like they're kind
of gutting things. and then we go i don't know
what they're going to do to fill this gap where
there probably would have been all these other
little games coming out to like people would
have liked to maybe not have sold them amazingly
well but it felt like that showcase when it seems
like an absolute eternity ago now which was what
last month um was actually like we came off the
back of that and we're like yeah some good stuff
here right good stuff and then most of that stuff
it's now not even it's like an investor pitch
on it yeah it's so it's so bizarre to look back
at it now um but a lot of that stuff like i like
thought looked pretty good obviously state of
decay we talked about hellblade looked good um
and it's just like those things that exist hopefully
and hopefully the people that have that are picking
these things up will continue there was some
talk in the the the note wasn't there that the
xbox for out that there was continued Possibly
continue a bit of investment in them to get those
games published. So they've got runway. All four
studios have runway money. But this is actually
the thing that I would say is that I've seen
a lot of people saying, well, they've let them
go. They haven't shut them down. So that's really
good. And it is really good. But I don't think
anybody should be under the illusions that this
isn't a hard landing. Because like, so. You've
got two versions of this hard landing, right?
The harder one, without a shadow of a doubt,
is the one that Compulsion and Double Fine are
getting, where the situation therein is they
probably don't have any games that are close
to release, given how recently their recent games
came out. So that's why there's no third -party
buyer for those guys, because they haven't got
anything imminent. So if you're buying them,
you might be waiting two, three, four years for
a return on your investment. So Microsoft's giving
them some runoff money. to stand up projects
of their own. But the thing is, that runoff money
isn't going to fund Double Fine's next game.
What that runoff money is going to do is fund
Double Fine for a period of time. In that period
of time, Double Fine's going to have to try to
find a publisher or find investment, find a plan
to self -publish in order to actually continue
to operate. And if they don't find that by the
time whatever deal Microsoft has given them expires,
then... we could be in a situation in nine months,
in 12 months, where we're looking at more cuts
at those studios. So that's scary. And then the
other version, obviously, the Ninja Fury and
Undead Labs one is those guys have got games
that are, you know, sort of in the final stretch
that are within 12 months of shipping or so.
So that's obviously really attractive for whoever.
I don't know who it might be, a 2K, whoever,
who might come in and go, yeah, we'll publish
Day of Decay. But if that game is not... A hit
doesn't meet expectation, whatever. Who knows
what situation those studios will end up in.
So it's a really rocky departure. Mind you, a
rocky departure is better than the alternative.
And I do think, you know, there were a lot of
rumors. There was a lot of stuff said. And I
do think there's never smoke without fire. And
I think when a lot of that stuff was getting
reported, stuff was getting reported because
it was being looked at. and experimented with
so you know a good example is you know um christian
on the games business you know he was saying
he obviously reported that obsidian was in talks
and he said that ended up being not true at the
time that he reported it but the reason he reported
is he saw an internal document that was like
the document that was about how they were the
document about how they were going to pitch the
studios that they were selling to other people
and obsidian was on that document and so i think
they were going what are we going to do which
ones are we getting we'd have rich ones we're
keeping which speaks to the sort of crazy way
that microsoft has been operating or very last
minute right that it seems like the thing about
hellblade is well right it's not my sort of game
but hellblade 2 was the exact sort of game that
the xbox audience loves to show off in like clips
and stuff to show this is how powerful our system
is and that sort of thing It's like a rise son
of Rome, right? It's one of those games where
all those fanboys will share clips and be like,
look how powerful the Xbox Series X is. The fastest
and most powerful game console on the planet,
I believe, is the official terminology. Exactly.
And I mean, it might not be a big blockbuster,
but it does something for the brand in that way.
Well, I think it speaks to a changing of the
guard, right? Because something I, my understanding
was that State of Decay, for instance, was a
particular favorite of Phil's. And so to see
that go feels quite, his era is over. Although
that one being going is weird because Asha talked
about the sort of games she wanted and she talked
about games that were creating social experiences
and stuff like that. And State of Decay is exactly
that. So I would have thought they would have
wanted to have kept that. I was really surprised
by that because it just felt like we've seen
how bad Sony have been going after a live service.
game right that is successful step decay is not
it's not like destiny or anything but it is the
kind of game that they could have a long long
tail make good money off long term and it's just
i don't quite get why they've dropped that as
such but um it's the whole thing's bizarre like
i'm kind of surprised that the studios have have
been able to be sold off at all really because
you look we look at what happened with when perfect
dark got cancelled right and they failed because
of what ip issues ownership i guess of perfect
dark i mean we will we will see in terms of i
mean that was a funny one because again that
speaks to the difference in the eras so when
2k was trying to buy perfect dark my understanding
of that situation is that deal fell apart because
of the impositions that microsoft wanted to put
on the finished game after 2k had finished it
so for instance microsoft was like we'll sell
you perfect dark but we but i think it was something
along the lines of we'll sell you the game we'll
give you the leads the studio you can rescue
the studio and stuff but we want to keep the
ip or keep at hand on the ip maybe some sort
of you know first first refusal on exclusivity
of a sequel or something like that and the big
thing was they wanted to make sure that game
remained a day one game pass game. And if you're
2K, you look at that and go, well, where's our
money coming from then? And so then you end up
in a situation where 2K were like, this isn't
going to work for us, bye bye. Now, the one thing
that's already been said is that State of Decay
is not going to be on game pass day one. So whoever
they've sold... It's not a... requirement at
least i guess they could still they could they
could strike a game but still but the point is
i guess that was something that when they cancelled
perfect dark in the phil era they weren't willing
to entertain that idea and so perfect dark just
literally didn't get rescued as a direct result
of that it is my understanding of what happened
um whereas in this case they appear to be willing
to let stuff go same for like they've let compulsion
go with their ips so compulsion owned south of
midnight so that's one of the avenues that's
open to compulsion now right in this difficult
period of they need to find money they've got
this award -winning game can they find a way
to kickstart sales same for double fine you know
ps5 version of kiln whatever they're walking
away with their ip which is not something i think
they would have done before the funny thing is
though the um I'm not funny, but the notable
thing is we're looking at the impact and we're
looking at these studios and we're looking at
the number of jobs within Microsoft. But game
development is so decentralized now and game
publishing is so decentralized now. I worry about
the repercussions in a couple of months as contracts
wind down or contracts that have already wound
down at the end of this fiscal, the repercussions
of those not getting renewed comes through. And
you've already seen a bit of that in terms of
like the IO interactive. Yeah. But that's across
all departments. Like, you know, outsource PR,
outsource marketing, outsource localization,
translation, outsource distribution for consoles.
There will have been massive cuts in those areas
as well. And who knows how, one, how many jobs
are going to go. Two, how that is going to impact
the business. Jobs that aren't actually part
of that 3 ,200 that are technically outside Microsoft.
So they're technically not Microsoft's problem.
Even from a cold CEO perspective as well, it's
like all of this industry knowledge that's just
going to leave the industry now and go to private
sector jobs outside of the games industry. It's
like, what a fucking waste, man. It's a huge,
huge, as it always is when we get these sort
of cuts, it's a huge loss because the amount
of knowledge and expertise we lose as an industry
is a massive bummer. They certainly had this
recently, right? They gutted Bungie, right? And
like, at the same time, they're saying, let's
keep making live service games. But the studio
they spent a fortune on to make live service
games has been stripped back massively. It's
all like, I get that maybe the thing that they
were currently doing maybe wasn't making the
money they wanted or whatever. But those people
have done stuff that most studios dream of doing,
right? Which is... making a hugely successful
live service game, and then most of them are
gone. It's hard to make sense of it other than
from a let's cut the money now to save us some
money in our next yearly report. It's a stock
game, isn't it? At the end of the day, they're
not thinking like a company that sells products.
They're thinking like someone is beholden to
their shareholders. I was literally told that
there was an amount. of cents on the dollar where
basically they were looking at studios and and
things like that and going well if you're not
returning more than x amount on every dollar
spent that's not enough you've got to either
change or go and so this is what's happened with
id tech right like i said this on another on
when i went on on chris drink show on the game
business but i said about you can see a world
in which um in which id becomes a jewel in microsoft's
crown but the way the spencer era worked was
there was no real rush to integrate and something
i've been told is part of that is because of
the success of minecraft like the the minecraft
uh moyang acquisition left moyang alone and that
was so successful made so much money off that
they were like well this is the this is the the
way you do it And actually, I've been told that
LinkedIn, when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn and
did it in a very hands -off way, the reason that
was so hands -off was literally because Microsoft
as a broader organization had learned from the
Minecraft thing. But then they applied that to
all these other game studios. And you can see
a world where idTech becomes the de facto engine
for a lot of Microsoft games. And if you end
up in that world, idTech, the return on the dollar
it gives you, will be way higher. And it would
be worth keeping all those guys. They acquired
Bethesda, and Bethesda had a lot of this inter
-department stuff going on already, right? They
had Arkane helping on the Wolfenstein games.
Id would come in and show studios how to do guns,
and they could have learned from that and applied
it across their whole portfolio, but they didn't,
so... yeah and it just and obviously there are
then the there's the the loss of all the people
and stuff like that which is a real bummer but
also there's the video game fan losses so it's
like we learned this week that id had pitched
a perfect dark game and a doom multiplayer game
and uh there was a original ip as well and it's
like oh um and life is pain certainly for people
who like perfect dark um and you know if you
liked avowed sounds like avowed 2 is dead Again,
just a real bummer. We'll never get another Pentament,
that's for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are
the sort of projects that just feels like there's
a lot of missed opportunity within Microsoft.
I think that's what we look at now. Like, you
know, Pentament is a game that works as a portfolio
play, and the portfolio play is... When you want
lots of different types of games and lots of,
you know, lots of scale and lots of variety.
And actually, I think that's what this ultimately
is, is this is the ultimate admission that Game
Pass has failed. Because it's literally them
going, throwing their hands up and going, we
don't need these smaller games because we're
no longer trying to get people to subscribe to
a service. Do you think all of this is Game Pass
or Call of Duty though? Or a mix of both? I think
it's inevitably going to be a mix. I think the
thing about Call of Duty is the catalogue business
for Call of Duty is so big that even though they
had a really bad year with last year's game,
it was still a hugely profitable chunk of the
business. They just put one and two to PC as
well, didn't they? Well, this is what I mean.
Yeah, it's that. And back catalogue is where
I think they failed a lot on, like, I don't know,
how you don't do like a very... cheap and dirty
um like banjo kazooie double pack for the switch
i just do not understand because i reckon you'd
sell a million two million units um just doing
that and it's never been something they've considered
but i think it's also because they've had their
eye on the prize longer term as opposed to so
the idea of yeah we could do a banjo two pack
and that would that would make rare profitable
for two years maybe They're not interested in
two years. They're thinking about longer term
because Microsoft, the whole thing is they want
to have growth every year, year on year on year
on year. And doing something that only gives
you a bump for two years is less relevant than
plowing loads of resources into an ever wild,
hoping you've got the next, the next Minecraft
on your hands. So your thieves must have done
gangbusters though, right? Because they've survived
all this with, you know, ever wild being in development
hell for however long. Yeah. I mean, they, They
had some cuts before, right? But also, I think,
yeah, Sea of Thieves is the example of, I don't
think you can come out and make noise about how
you're doing a Sea of Thieves movie and using
it as one of the prime examples of what your
goal is and then cut loads of people from Rare.
Although people tend to forget, like, you know,
Rare is the studio behind Sea of Thieves. But
you look in those credits, loads of other studios
help on Sea of Thieves. It's not just a rare
game anymore. Sea of Thieves definitely like,
it feels like it's in a like, not maintenance
or something, but kind of a, it feels like they're
gearing up for something else rather than that.
That's in like, let's just put out some updates,
keep the fan base happy while we do something
else type mode at the moment, right? Well, it
feels to me like, you look at what they're doing,
like the new update that they're doing is sort
of giving players... Creation tools. And what
I see when I see that is we're handing Sea of
Thieves to the players so you can make UGC and
they're going to make Sea of Thieves 2. Or Robloxify
and all that shit. Maybe, but I think it's more
likely they're going to do a sequel. So you've
got to think that's an Xbox One game. There's
a lot of lessons they've learned. There's a lot
of tech stuff they probably can't do on the engine
as it is. So the time's probably come for them
to do another one. But before you do another
one, why not give the players ownership to keep
that player base up for UGC? Anyway, it's a real
bummer. And I think the true cost isn't quite,
you know, shown yet. So we'll have to see how
things shake out over the coming weeks. It's
a bummer to be just starting out on this website
and be having the conversation to be about stuff
like this, though, that's for sure. There was
a guy at Xbox who was laid off. He was there
for like 37 years. And he was the guy who made
the backcom part for Xbox, which was one of the
biggest announcements. And he's just... And he
was not just a 37 -year Xbox veteran, but a 37
-year Microsoft veteran. If you look at the stuff
this guy had worked on, it's amazing he didn't
get transferred to another department. But I
guess part of the problem is when you've been
somewhere for 37 years, you're probably very,
very expensive. It proves it's a fucking spreadsheet
game though, doesn't it? They've just looked
at you like cold statistically and gone, it's
like you said, pennies on the dollar. I think
big companies are always like that, right? It's
not about individual contribution or anything.
It's about like, what can we do to make this
number happen based on these other numbers? Yeah,
we've been there. We've been there. But yeah,
it is a numbers game, but I just worry that sometimes
they're cutting their nose off to spite their
face. Sometimes they're not seeing the wood for
the trees. But the other thing I'd say is it's
like, I don't love everything that Asher is doing,
obviously, and there's just horrific consequences
for the industry at large in terms of the talent
leaving and stuff like that. But what I will
say is this is... all this is a reaction to everything
that went wrong and the colossal overreach of
the Phil era. Absolutely. You don't got to hand
it to her though. No, absolutely not. I mean,
we'll see. I mean, and yes, there is the irony,
as you mentioned, this insane, cruel irony at
the very end. So Asha Sharma, the Xbox CEO, was
named, I think yesterday, just right after all
the layouts, as an advisor to the US Federal
Reserve. on a panel that deals with jobs and
productivity. That panel's whole job, its whole
goal, its primary goal, is to lower unemployment
and make America more productive. And they've
put her on that right after she's committed to
laying off 3 ,200 people. The majority of them
are probably in America. It's insane, isn't it?
If you wrote that in a comedy sketch, it'd be
too on the nose, I think. Yeah, yeah. It's like
proper brass eye stuff, isn't it? But yeah. So
from one story, we talked about Xbox. Let's quickly
talk about Sony. Obviously, the news last week
before the site had officially launched was about
Sony announcing that they're going to be discontinuing
the production of PlayStation game discs or certifying
new ones. So there'll be a cutoff. Is it 2028,
the cutoff? I think so. Early January, 2028,
I think. So basically any game out after that
date, you won't be able to get a physical version.
You'll just be able to get a code in a box or
a digital download. The reaction to this has
been pretty visceral, I would say. They can't
tweet anymore, can they? No. And there's a petition
which is over, which I think is pushing towards
a quarter of a million signatures. I guess my
question is, is this totally a losing battle?
Do you think? Yes. Yeah, it is. It's done. This
was done ages ago. They shut the factories down,
didn't they? They're not reversing it because
I don't see how, like, this is a, like, to be
clear, like, I'm, I haven't bought an actual
game on a disc for a long time. I'm not against
ownership and having collections. And I feel
sorry for everybody that wants game preservation
and having physical discs and collecting stuff
and putting it on their shelves. But from a,
is this going to affect me point of view? It
isn't, probably, because I just don't. Like,
I own probably about six games. Literally, my
house has six games and three of those, four
of those are PGR games. So I don't have, like,
a massive desire to collect. I've never collected
stuff. What I do think is bad is that, like,
I'm me, a 40 -year -old man, but as a kid, I
used to buy games all the time. because I traded
everything because I didn't have enough money
to buy and keep games so I literally would go
and trade not just games I'd trade everything
and like had a PlayStation trade that in for
an N64 had an N64 trade that in for another PlayStation
because I got bored and wanted a PlayStation
back etc and I think if you are like that audience
that is relying on that to just to experience
more stuff and just jump from one thing to the
other it's a massive shame that that's going
to be no longer an option but i don't think there's
any coming back from it like i think this essentially
has been happening for well over a decade probably
the build up to this act that like i think there
was like we've already had consoles released
this generation but don't have disk drives in
them right um and i can't see i i i fully expected
the next consoles not to have a disk drive at
all I think most people probably would have thought
that, if they thought, maybe they hoped they
might, or the option to have one, but I think
it was inevitable that this was happening. I
can't see, I mean, this is all at Sony now, Xbox
are clearly going to do the same thing. You don't
think that a short -sighted Xbox desperate to
score points is going to do it? I don't think
they'd include it, but a disc drive add -on,
for instance. I think an add -on maybe, but then
they've got to commit to making the stuff, right?
And I just don't think it's worth it for them
particularly. And then Nintendo, I think obviously,
I think Nintendo is slightly different in that
their audience is slightly different. And like,
maybe it's just a naive way of seeing it, but
I still think like a Switch game is a birthday
present, a Christmas present, right? A lot of
people buy their kids or their family members.
like a switch game for christmas right whatever
and if that disappears like it's already hard
enough to buy kids stuff as it is because all
the things we had as kids are gone right you
can't buy them a bloody film because everything's
on netflix or disney or whatever um but yeah
i think nintendo would probably see stick around
with physical stuff for a while i can't see even
then you said nintendo stick around physical
stuff for a while like nintendo put out the hyper
mainstream animal crossing -esque pokemon spin
-off and it wasn't on the cart. Do we know if
carts are cheaper to produce than Blu -rays?
No, discs are way cheaper. But was it a game
key thing? It's a game key card. But the reason
you do a game key card on Nintendo is because,
yeah, and this comes to Kirk's question as well.
So fabricating discs is way cheaper than consoles.
I mean, that was true in the 90s. That is why
that was the deciding factor. for Hironobu Sakaguchi
deciding to do Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation.
Although the load times and the CG movies and
all this stuff was of interest, the thing that
he's on the record saying, the thing that convinced
him was when Sony was like, oh, by the way, it's
X number of cents per disc, whereas a Nintendo
cart was X number of dollars. There's also the
funny thing with Nintendo of, I think this is
still true. It's definitely true in the past.
But I'm pretty sure it's still true that all
Switch cards, all of them, are all made in Japan
by Nintendo. And this was always the case going
back to the 90s. So if you're Ubisoft, you can't
make your own Switch cards, fabricate them in
a factory in China, then ship them. You have
to buy the cards off Nintendo at the cost Nintendo
sets, and they ain't cheap. And so the reason
game key cards exist is because obviously when
you buy those cards, you also pay more for the
data size on the card. So if you buy a key card
and if you ship your game on a key card instead,
you can pay much less because you only need a
cart that's like got 12 gigabytes of space just
to hold the base data. You can still trade that
though, right? That game can still be sold. Which
I think is like maybe the audience for this isn't
as big as I think it is, but I think there's
a big difference between like as much as it's
kind of a middle ground, I guess. You're not
getting the... game preservation angle that you'd
get of like which i think has been gone for a
while to be fair right things that rarely ship
with everything complete on a disc and that's
it right there's billion patches for everything
but at least with the key card stuff game key
you can then go to your local game store and
go i'll give you 20 quid for this but he's not
that new game store yeah that's true the the
the online local game store that only dare to
buy switch games from now on but um i think there's
gone i was just gonna say in an ideal world like
the savings that they're making on not having
to make the boxes for the games and stuff would
come to the customers but that's not going to
happen is it they're still going to be 70 quid
and they're going to stay that price and for
a year or more you know so look at nintendo games
they don't really go down in price not for a
long time yeah i mean nintendo it lives in a
different world to be fair i mean the preservation
angle i will say that's something i feel quite
strongly about and the funny thing with the preservation
element is that what it means is i hope that
consoles get cracked way sooner to give you a
specific example right if you want to play the
fucked up version of cyberpunk 2077 from launch
you can go and buy a playstation 4 disc or an
xbox disc at computer exchange disconnect your
console from the internet and play that version
of the game. It's a time capsule. But if you
obviously got a digital version on PC without
doing piracy, there's no way to play that version
anymore. And that's one thing that we'll be heading
towards. And the only way you avoid that is by
having the games able, having consoles cracked
enough that games can be dumped. And a really
good example actually is Elden Ring, right? Where...
And I should say, before someone shouts at me,
obviously I know there's no way on PC because
you can back up your Steam data, game file data,
and use piracy to boot it. But I mean, there's
no natural way. You can't just put a disk in
in that way. And Outer Ring is also a really
good example where, God, they were changing and
iterating that game so much in the run -up to
launch that... I had to scrap guides that I'd
written during the review period because the
stuff I'd written was irrelevant because they'd
patched the game. They were moving NPCs around
and shit, weren't they? It was crazy. But again,
that base version of Elden Ring is on the disc
and you can totally go and experience that if
that's what you desire. So on that front, the
preservation thing, it bums me out a bit. I think
another good example is when Rockstar made those
remasters of the old GTA games. They cut music
out. You know, there was a lot of problems with
like artwork and, you know, weird textures and
stuff. And they replaced the old versions with
those games, you know, and it's not the original
game, is it? No, but at least in that case, you've
got the original game on disc. That's the sort
of, it's today's original games. Like GTA 6 is
the, again, GTA 6 is an example of like, that
is a digital only game. And if Rockstar lands
in a situation where there's something offensive
and it's more offensive than they thought and
they patch it out or they run into a rights issue
with a billboard or with a weapon, that was one
of the things in those remasters is that those
old GTAs came out in an era when the weapon companies
didn't pay attention to video games. So if you
had an Uzi, you literally had an Uzi one -to
-one. And now these days, everything's got to
be slightly weird. to avoid getting sued. And
they had to replace all the weapons in Vice City
for the remastering. So if something like that
happens to GTA 6, what will happen is a patch
will come down and then everyone will have that
version again. But I suppose that's small potatoes
compared to the cash element, like you say, of
games. Do you think Rockstar had been talking
to Sony about this disless future for a while
and that gave them the... going out to say, look,
we're not launching on disc. I reckon they've
just seen that CX has got about 800 copies of
GTA 4 in it. And they've gone, we're not getting
any money off those. Yeah. So I know that I know
they get a lot of their stuff. They get people
in via the online stuff as I write. But I don't
know if all of it to me feels like they just
want complete, not Rockstar as such, but the
platform holders just want control, complete
control. everything they sell right i mean they
did this before didn't there were those you remember
those online codes we used to get in the box
you have to you have to put a code in you only
get one and yeah i remember yeah they gave the
online pass yeah yeah i bought a pre -owned copy
of one of the ufc games and got at home and the
code was invalid i was like for fuck's sake can't
we play the game it's crazy i just paid like
20 well you could play right but you couldn't
play online right yeah but that was that was
what i was wanting to play you know yeah yeah
yeah yeah i um yeah weird Well, that segues us
nicely, though, because from publishers having
or company console makers having absolute control
to a console maker doing something that they
have no control over. And that is the news of
this week that the Nintendo Switch will be discontinued
in Europe in early 2027. So not even a long way
away in like six months. It'll still be sold.
But basically, you know, once they've. reached
that point they won't be manufacturing anymore
so once the stock that is out in Europe and Europe
by the way in this definition is anyone that
works through Nintendo of Europe so that's the
UK even though we're not in the EU or whether
we are in Europe geographically of course and
maybe that's Australia as well I'm not quite
sure it is often the case that Australia runs
through the European offices it's basically nintendo
hasn't said why they're doing this but because
it's eu only um it's pretty clear that this is
due to there's some new eu legislation which
you're going to notice in all your electronic
devices which is that any battery powered device
that takes like a lithium ion battery or whatever
has to have easily replaceable batteries like
a consumer has to be able to buy a battery a
new one take the back off with minimal nonsense
without voiding their warranty and put a new
battery in. Which is good, right? This is a good
thing. On my last phone, my battery swelled up
and that's it. It's fucked, right? And I couldn't
do anything about it. It's out of warranty. That's
it. I could have spent a fortune buying a new
battery, but because it's not just an off -the
-shelf, like, easy thing, it wasn't worth it.
But yeah, I mean, I've disliked built -in batteries
for a while because... Like the PlayStation controllers,
right? Like I've had multiple of those just die
on me. I've had multiple. I've had one. Is it
the Elite controller? It's the Elite controller,
right? It has a built -in battery. Not one of
my early ones. Those died eventually. In my house,
that gets used a lot. So maybe it's unfair to
say that those died. But that would have been
fixed. I just would have had to whip out the
battery and put an ear in. So it's a good thing
that this is happening. I don't have anything
else to say on it. It's just I'm happy that things
can be fixed. I think it's an arbiter of things
to come, right? It's like you said, everyone
is going to have to abide by these rules. So
you're going to see it hit other products. Actually,
there's a Switch 2 revision coming to Europe.
It's obviously going to be the same machine,
but the only difference is going to be it's going
to have been retooled to allow the battery to
be swapped. But Nintendo has obviously decided
it's not worth doing that revision for the...
for the 10 year old 10 year old 10 is that right
i think so i don't know 10 it is 10 next in february
or something it's 10 in february i think that
sounds about right yeah it was it was around
that time of year wasn't it just reminders of
our own mortality yes um but yeah little story
but i think interesting um little sign of things
to come and hey some good some good like governmental
legislation like this is the thing we're talking
about the death of the disc and ownership and
stuff like that and not feeling like you're renting
games you've got this stop killing games thing
moving through the european um commission and
maybe the commission could come up with something
that actually forces action on the part of publishers
and platform holders like this is forcing action
um it's not all bendy bananas apparently Do you
think they could come up with some sort of way
to trade digital games? Is that something they
could do? Well, I think they could come up with
anything they wanted to. And would they ever
want to do that? Absolutely bloody not. The thing
is, why would they be wanting to? Because the
scenario is, I've got a digital game. I could
sell it back to Sony or whatever, right? And
then they give me half the price. And then to
someone else, that digital code. is essentially
worth the same as it always would have done.
So they could sell it to someone else for full
price, but then they've just given me 30 quid
that they didn't really have to do. I don't think
there's any way that's happening. What I will
say is where we can get a bit better is like,
I do think like Switch 2 is like, and actually
it's on the Switch 1 as well, isn't it? But the
virtual cartridge stuff, where in a family account
situation, you can pass those virtual cartridges
back and forth. And you can pass them back and
forth between consoles. It's really good. And
hopefully more of them are better at that. So
Microsoft are pretty good about that as well
in terms of, you know, you log into your account
on any Xbox and one quick online authentication,
you've got access to everything. But that obviously
is no substitute for selling your games back.
Was it the PS3 that had it where you could have
like five accounts on the same? like because
i'm sure i did it with a few friends would like
have our accounts on each of those playstations
you just have access to your whole library so
the police coming around they they they got rid
of that pretty quick when it comes to ps4 gen
so yeah yeah it's um it's an interesting one
moving on um just a quick you know obviously
we launched the site this week um so there's
been a lot going on um But just, you know, some
quick little highlights. Tom, you reviewed Assassin's
Creed Black Flag Resynced. Do you want to give
folk a bit of a quick summary of your thoughts?
So, yeah. So I think Black Flag is, I don't know
if it's considered the fan favorite Assassin's
Creed game, but it's definitely up there as like
the one people go from the older school ones
before they went all like vast RPGs. style right
like we've got the witcher but in assassin's
creed style um i think it's the one that people
go i love that's the one i love it's like amazing
the assassin's creed game that everyone should
play so i guess that's why they went for this
one first as a remaster remake rather than going
one two etc i've never i'd never played bat flag
i mean i say never played i probably did because
i played everything but i never played it much
like i'd got burnt out pretty much on Assassin's
Creed games after. I think even though this is
officially called 4, I think there were probably
at least 6 before this, right? There were other
ones that weren't titled with numbers and stuff.
There were yearly as well at that point, weren't
there? There was a lot of them, right? And I
kind of stopped playing after, I think maybe
the one before 3 came out. And then I picked
up again with Origins and stuff. So this is like...
a chance to see whether it was actually worth
like why people love it and it's clear it's obvious
why people love it because it's a it's kind of
it gives you the kind of uh large scale kind
of feel of an open world adventure without all
the bollocks that goes into modern open world
games like it's it's a lot of just floating about
in a boat and having just seeing where you go
dropping off an island seeing what's there doing
a few fun little quests and stuff but you're
not overwhelmed with stuff to do there's not
a million different bars you've got to try and
max out and level up and everything else and
they've done i can't say how it compares to the
original outside of what i've seen has changed
but the combat is like it feels like how i kind
of remember saturn's creed games being but it
isn't like it's a lot um it feels if i think
it's like back then it was super simple like
it was super like everything was trying to be
arkham right that arkham style like everything's
like a quick counter counter counter counter
and it felt a bit sort of like uh routine and
sort of like you're just performing like a little
dance around all these people and they're dying
resist feels a bit more like involved there's
more to the combat um the ship stuff is is great
like it's like you get the sense that you're
doing stuff without actually having like it's
it's quite simple like it's not like it's not
a simulation of running a pirate ship or anything
and you manage to be in control off the boat
and all the combat as well with all the cannons
everything else that feel like too much it's
just a fun fun game that doesn't sort of drown
in all the other stuff which i think that's how
assassin's creed games used to be before you
got the classic like the meme -y like here's
a picture of the Assassin's Creed map and it's
just icons right and it's just every Ubisoft
game is just climb the tower to reveal the icons
type stuff this feels from an era before that
slightly where it's still not a small game like
to do everything in this you're looking at probably
I don't know 25 -30 hours or something probably
to see a lot of it all of the main stuff plus
they added some new side stuff and they've added
some new end missions and stuff um but it's just
a kind of game that it feels like it's the right
mix of like slightly sort of linear adventuring
with a bit of questing and stuff around around
to get you from place to place which i think
for me works if you want that bigger more open
feel like literally there's so much stuff to
do you're you're never going to get bored this
isn't that but i think uh it's just a it's a
fun game looks amazing as well like i played
on the ps5 pro it looks great um there was a
bit i saw a bit of chatter about how like the
original still looks amazing so why bother updating
it it does look good if you look at it in the
right way but it doesn't look as good as this
like this is like it's the same i had similar
feelings to when they updated the last of us
for ps5 because the last of us is good looking
game but the remake looked like proper great
right and it made sense because they had the
tv show and stuff get it up to date so people
can jump in modern experience of that game this
is similar in that this is like the game that
most people remember with some tweaks but it
just looks significantly better i mean for me
i don't know what i'd love to know like the costings
around this versus a completely new assassin's
creed game because it feels like they could just
mine this for a while now right like remake one
remake two three could have a proper job done
just don't do it leave it alone but i think there's
there's this i've got an article coming might
be out by the time this goes live about why i
love remakes and i think there's a lot of like
scope in it like people don't like it remakes
as such because i guess they'd rather something
new is being made or they don't want the original
touch but i think as long as the original exists
we talked about this earlier with like ownership
of games and what they can do if it never gets
released but in this case i could go back and
play this on a ps4 and that's the original version
by all the ps3 even um repeat but it exists But
then this new version is there if you want it.
And I think a lot of people do. Like, from what
I've seen, this is tracking to do really well.
And I think I'd be very much up for, like, this,
but done for the other older Assassin's Creed
games. Because I think people have got slightly
tired of the new Assassin's Creed formula. I
don't think... I wasn't mega into Mirage. It
was like a... Like, it was fine, but I didn't
love it. Forgettable. Very forgettable. And I
think this just feels like it's... has more of
a, like, the tone, I think, is much more fun.
Better written than most Assassin's Creed as
well. I do think it's funny that they replaced
all the modern bullshit. I don't know if you
remember from the original, those first -person,
like, puzzle sections. Yeah. They replaced that
with some shit in this where you're just carrying
a chest around in this, like, weird... This weird,
like, black, blobby cyber person from, like,
a 90s CGI TV show or something. Yeah. and it's
like fine but I mean to be honest it's just like
I quite liked the modern day stuff the old Assassin's
Creed games yeah I get I get why they've redone
it because if you come into this without having
played like because this was what the sixth game
or something in Assassin's Creed series at that
point you're not going to get that it wouldn't
make any sense just throwing it out there but
I do think there's a lot of like remakes I could
see being a big it's already quite a big thing
but some of these studios that are like publishers
that are struggling to make money essentially
make good enough profits like if there's a if
these things are considerably cheaper to make
than the next big assassin's creed why wouldn't
you go back and do do this to the other ones
because i think the audience would be keen for
it even if the online commentary is maybe a bit
more negative well look at night dive they've
made a whole business out of touching up games
and they do a fucking amazing job of it and then
blue point until sony killed them was doing good
stuff there as well so yeah that sounds that
sounds good i might have to give that a go because
i think i was i did i do remember playing it
but i don't think i played it that much and i
think it was because the third one annoyed me
so much i was sort of i'd fallen out of love
with assassin's creed at the time that Black
Flag being the fourth. Even though it was good,
it didn't bring me back in. I also remember that
was a good year for action adventure games because
that was our GTA 5 year. That was Last of Us
1 year. So I'll have to give that a go. I should
say I've been playing. I haven't had a chance
to write it up because it's been so busy, but
I will write it up. Rhythm Heaven on Switch.
It's actually on Switch 1 as well, isn't it?
But yeah, that new one is lovely. Those games
are all the same. They're all like really lovely
8 out of 10s. So there's another really lovely
8 out of 10. Yeah, so there's that. Recommend
people check out Tom playing Elden Ring, an Elden
Ring piece on the YouTube channel. Don't bother.
How are you getting on, Tom? All right. The main
takeaway is I swear a lot. like far more like
I showed this I thought before I show it to everyone
else I show my son right because he's like me
in that he's obsessed like he plays a lot of
games right like obviously he does because he's
my son and he idolizes me so he's like plays
everything I was like watch this video what do
you think you shouldn't you're not allowed to
play it because it's an 18 or whatever but watch
it whatever and I'm like literally swearing like
all the time and now my daughter who watched
it who's only five constantly says bollocks all
the time now she just comes out and says bollocks
and then she'll go something like you can't say
the s word and then she'll say i'll say what's
the s word and she'll say bollocks like she has
no she has no clue but she says it all the time
and the next episode actually is far worse like
the amount of swearing in that is unbelievable
but yeah like i i've never gone with those games
really are you better or worse than miller though
probably better minnow was always actually reasonably
good he just made it seem like he he wasn't whereas
i'm like at the point where i've decided like
i literally can't learn how to do these play
these games properly and i i'm thinking about
playing it again for the next episode i already
can't remember what the controls are to be honest
like i'll have to do a little little run around
before before i start recording Go for a range
build, man. Make it easier for yourself. We'll
see how it goes. I've read nothing about it other
than I was being told that I should use flasks.
So I googled what a flask was. That's the level
of my knowledge of this game. So we'll see how
we go. We'll grow as we go along. And maybe by
this time in three years when I finish it, I'll
be really good. Maybe. Can't wait for the Melania
fight. That was fun. Yeah, I'm looking forward
to it. That's the funny thing about Elden Ring.
It's far more than the other Souls games. There
does come a point when you turn the corner and
it clicks. So we'll have to see if that point
ever comes for you, Tom Lloyd. You're just miserable
for the whole time. I should say, there's a couple
of cool articles on our sister site, on RPG site.
We obviously weren't fully operating, so we didn't
do the Blood of the Dawnwalker preview, but there's
a pretty good write -up on that on RPG. There's
also this lovely interview with an independent
Japanese dev who's done almost a solo game called
Veritas Tales, Witch of the Dark Castle. This
is a guy who used to work at Capcom, used to
work at Vanillaware. But it's like a digital
version of a physical game book. So, you know,
you get a game book and you just flip through
it and there'd be maps and you'd have a column
down the side where you'd write in your character
stats, sort of like an RPG in book form. He's
made that in a digital form for PC. It's really
interesting. So I recommend have a read of that
interview. And there's a huge backlog of stuff
on Respec because we... We're posting stuff long
before we launched. I feel like oftentimes when
we do this section, we'll just be highlighting
a few things, but this week there's way too much
to highlight. What have you been playing, Kirk,
before we quickly do our last section? I've been
playing Assassin's Creed, Black Flag remake.
It's alright. And I've been playing shitloads
of Night Rain, to be honest. Just doing all the
deep -hilled night stuff. I got five wins in
a row the other day. I was well chuffed. But
I've gotten the reads of, like, making proper
sweaty builds in that game, and it's very good.
I've got this guy, Raider. I'm trading damage
with all the bosses and just, like, standing
and banging with them, and it feels great. I
should go back to that. I haven't been back since
the DLC came out. Yeah, see, that's what got
me back into it. Until now, I haven't touched
the DLC, and the new bosses are quite cool. And
then you've got the amped up versions of the
old bosses as well, which are really cool. Yeah,
it's worth checking out. Are you two looking
forward to it? Is it Dustbloods? Is it Dustbloods?
Fucking can't wait for it. Because that's an
online Souls night, right? Yeah, I mean, what
makes me excited about it is I remember Miyazaki
saying that the original multiplayer in the Souls
games was inspired by him breaking down on a
hill. covered in snow and then two people just
driving up behind him and pushing him up a hill
and it was like two strangers cooperating with
me in that way made me want to implement multiplayer
in a similar way and i just want to know what
kind of mad thing he's done here with multiplayer
because they've got they've got these systems
in it where everyone's got like you know like
werewolves among us everyone's got like their
own objective or whatever so someone will be
like you've got to team up with this player and
then another one will be like you've got to assassinate
this player Or you've got to kill this boss.
So everyone's got conflicting objectives or cooperative
objectives as well. And it would just be cool
to see how those things interact with that formula.
Yeah, I'm very excited. Also because that's being
published by Nintendo, I'm curious about how
his sensibility interacts with the Nintendo side
producer, the thoughts they will bring to the
table, the Nintendo attitude. Yeah, I can't wait.
The game chat. Can I be like a knight in the
game chat? My face change, but it lip sync to
a undead knight or something. I wouldn't even
notice the difference if it did. We will see.
I'm sure we'll learn a bit more about that relatively
soon. It feels like the time will come. We'll
be coming up for that to happen. And I'm very,
very, that'll be a game that probably gets its
own Nintendo Direct, like a standalone Direct.
I will probably watch it like six times to devour
every detail. It's funny how every console gets
their FromSoft game, don't they? They're like,
I'll have one. Then I'll have one. And they're
all just blood one. Xbox doesn't get one. Was
Sekiro not Xbox time exclusive? No. I think it
was on everything. The last time Xbox had a FromSoftware
exclusive was, I'm sure, what was it called?
Ninja Blade? Ninja Blade was good. Yeah, like
it was a Ninja Gaiden knockoff. Ninja Blade 2.
Did they do a sequel? I'm sure there was a sequel.
Was there? Can I imagine that? I remember reviewing
the first one. It was good. Good game though,
Ninja Blade. Underrated. Obviously no Miyazaki
involvement, but nevertheless. It was a good
Ninja Theory. That and didn't From Software do
Enchanted Arms? launch xbox 360 jrpg where one
of the characters is the most offensively stereotypical
gay people you've ever seen in your life um like
that character could not exist in the form he
exists in that game today wasn't from stuff behind
tenshu as well or am i yeah yeah that because
sekiro was like a spiritual successor yeah i
loved those games yeah that'd be cool to make
a new one yeah and so We're going to finish off
with what will be a regular little drop, which
is our retro respective. Hey, hey. Where we just,
we're going to make everyone feel a little bit
old, or at least those of you who are old feel
a little bit old. Where we just talk about things
that happened and games that came out on this
week in the past on, you know, significant anniversaries.
So in the last week, Pokemon Go turned 10 years
old. which is crazy. I mean, were you on VG 24
-7 Kirk when that was starting out or was it
only later? Only later, right? I just remember
when it was an assignment coming in and very
few other people covered it and we were like,
yeah, we're going to go for this. I remember
us being all over it, yeah. I don't play it anymore,
but I saw they did a big event in Times Square
this week where they sort of recreated the first
advert for the game in real life. And they had
Mewtwo on the billboards in Times Square and
stuff. And I did feel a pang of nostalgia for
walking around. I got in my car and drove to
places to meet friends, to walk around parks,
to do specific events and stuff. I never got
the appeal of it until I went to a Monster Hunter
Now event in Tokyo. And I was just walking around
with loads. And the Japanese people are obviously
really into Monster Hunter. And there's just
people everywhere in their phones and chatting.
And the atmosphere is really cool. And if it's
been like that around here, maybe I'd have got
into it. But, you know, I live in Link. I caught
a Bulbasaur at a National Trust once. Nice. That's
it. That's my experience of Pokemon Go. Well,
thanks for that insight. we've also got um i
think this is a great one um 20 years old uh
prey i think i reviewed that that's because you
are pretty sure but that was obviously a human
head joint um may that studio uh like rest in
peace good game got the portals cool looking
portal i just remember What about the intro to
that game? Fear the Reaper. Is it Fear the Reaper?
Yeah. Don't Fear the Reaper. Don't Fear the Reaper?
I don't know. I don't know music. You don't want
to Fear the Reaper, do you? Fear the Reaper?
I want to Fear the Reaper. Do I want to Fear
the Reaper? I don't know. The song is telling
you to not, so. Yeah. Don't Fear the Reaper.
Yeah. Right. That's why I've been going wrong
all these years. Fearing it. But anyway. bloody
good game um hey we talked about it earlier that
was an id tech game that was an id tech 4 game
um and yeah the use of the portals was really
clever and the spirit yeah in my mind it like
exists to say in the same space as darkness i
don't know if that came out yeah 100 100 i agree
like they think character models are quite similar
yeah and like the main guy It was a year later
than Darkness. It was a year later than Darkness.
And they were both published by 2K. So there
was an element of the 2K portfolio at that point.
Both really good. I remember Prey being one of
those really early 360 showcase games. Like,
look at what this console can do. And that era
when Microsoft enjoyed de facto exclusives. You
know, like it wasn't on PlayStation because it
was a PC game and it was easy to port to Xbox.
They just ported it to Xbox, right? Something
that Microsoft could no longer rely on. But hey,
pray 20 years old, which is fucked. Also, hey,
Game Within a Game, which I love. And it had
like a Pac -Man knockoff, didn't it? In the bar
at the start that you could play on the arcade
machine. Yeah, it's a great bit of world building
that whole intro was really. And then you don't
go back to Earth for the whole game, do you?
Nope. That's the only bit on Earth. And I'll
forever, you know, be sad that we never got to
see Human Head's version of Prey 2. Not that
the Prey that we got, the reboot, wasn't good.
Yeah, but Arkane was saddled with that name.
They didn't want that. You know, that was Bethesda
just saying, we've got a name. You're having
it. And it backfired on them, unfortunately.
Yes, unfortunately. Which we'll find out the
fate of. arcane in the coming months i think
um other ones uh last couple uh castlevania 2
badminton revenge so that's the game boy castlevania
2 um that's 35 years old i remember that game
being good i remember the the game boy castlevania
2 being an action game more than the nes one
where it was full of esoteric annoying puzzles
that were impossible to figure out about a guidebook
Yeah. Game Boy was shit. No, mate. I think we
should make you play some Game Boy games at some
stage. I hated the Game Boy. They're even worse
now. I've got one over there. I've got one over
there. Rubbish. Great machine. One of the greatest
machines of all time. Home to the best game of
all time. Which is what? Tetris. I had a machine
with just Tetris on it. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it was a Game Boy game first. And lastly,
we've got Virtua Fighter 5, which is 20, which
I cannot believe. That new Virtua Fighter looks
really good. So that's why I thought this could
lead. Because I saw it and it's really interesting
because it's a Shenmue game, really. Yeah, I
like the way that, like, the parries are, like,
really natural and stuff. It's not just, like,
he's in a guard stance and then they punch his
guard stance. You're actually moving the hands
and stuff. That's always been the Virtua Fighter
way. It's always looked more visceral and real
than a Street Fighter or a Tekken. But I just
wonder, like, I saw them at Summer Games Fest,
right? And it was a fascinating, like... You
get all sorts of appointments. Some appointments
you go and you sit down and you play the game.
Some appointments someone talks to you for a
bit, then you sit down. Some appointments you
don't play a game, but you watch a really lush
presentation. You know, Resident Evil, Veronica,
they had a really lush presentation and then
the director answered a few questions for 15
minutes. But this virtual appointment was a 90
-minute PowerPoint. And just a very casual chat
back and forth. And it was myself. Someone from
GamesRadar and the YouTuber, fighting game YouTuber,
RPG YouTuber, Maximilian. And the three of us
just spoke to these guys. But I was like fascinated
because I asked them about competitive stuff.
And they were like, yeah, you know, we're not
really worried about that. Like we'll release
the game and then people will decide if they
think it's competitive or not. If it's competitively
balanced, which I've never heard a fighting game
producer say anything like that before in my
life. And I don't know if this is because it's
RGG doing it and they're approaching it more
from that Yakuza angle. Cinematic, yeah. Because
they are doing that cinematic story which makes
the Street Fighter World Tour stuff look like
child's play. Is that a proper adventure? Yeah,
that's what I mean. It's got four protagonists.
Because I thought that's what Street Fighter
was going to have. But it felt a bit more like...
I don't know how to describe the world tour.
More like an online portal, wasn't it? World
tour was a training ground to teach you how to
play the game, really. Whereas this is more of
a, like I said, they've got four different protagonists,
so you're switching back and forth perspectives.
And I like the idea, a bit like world tour, but
the problem with world tour is you can't, Street
Fighter is just so iconic, you can't do too much
to Chun -Li or whoever. I like the idea that
all the old, well, not all, but the old Virtua
Fighter characters that are in this game are
like legends. A lot of them haven't been seen
for five, ten years. A lot of them are in hiding,
stuff like that. And so the way they're going
to come into the story is probably going to be
really exciting. So, yeah. But 20 years for VF5
today, which is a great fighting game, and obviously
has only just recently had a re -release. So
I recommend it to anyone who's interested. But
it's a Virtua Fighter game, so you do basically
need a PhD to play it. I think that's probably
going to do it for this week, gents. I think
we've taken enough of people's time. Obviously,
if you want to hear a bit more from us, our patrons
get the lock -in, which is our after -hours extra
podcast where we just shoot the shit some more
very, very casually. You can back us on Patreon.
You can head to respect .net and hit the Patreon
link at the top of the site, or you can go to
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you to get our uh get our stuff or join our discord
server stuff is all available in there all those
links are in the header of the site kirk you
got anything you want to plug not really check
out fires out chat gaming my what kelp scalp
hair hair You can't fuck yourself. Look at the
state of your life. There's more here than on
yours. Mate, I could grow better hair than you
if I wanted to. Go on then. I fucking will, mate.
Challenge. I'm in denial. Actually, it's coming
to blows now. Is it cheating if you go to Turkey,
though? I would say it's a good commitment if
you did that. I might just become a hat guy now.
Well, if you want to see more of Kirk's beautiful
scalp, you can hit up Firezied Gaming for some
great... They are good interviews, to be fair,
mate. They're enjoyable how it's not a promotional
cycle for a specific game. I hope you get some
Japanese devs at some point because that's...
Yeah, that would be nice. I do have an article
coming out on Eurogamer this weekend, I think,
as well. It's 1 ,300 words about ladders, if
you're interested. That sounds interesting, but
I can't condone reading Eurogamer, unfortunately.
Tom, you can't go ladders. You write about fucking
plumbing issues and shit. That's a different
side business, isn't it? That's my newsletter,
Low Poly Mess. I've been enjoying it. It's like
the Ravens of a Mudman. Well, it is the ravings
of a mountain. It is. And on that note, thank
you for joining me, guys. And thank you for listening,
everyone. Say goodbye, Kirk. Goodbye, Kirk. Say
goodbye, Tom. See ya. And it's bye from me too.
See ya, everyone.