Latest / Respec: Video Game Ramblings / GTA 6 leaks, Retro Retail, Gamescom preview, and the sorry fate of Deus Ex | Respec Ramblings

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GTA 6 leaks, Retro Retail, Gamescom preview, and the sorry fate of Deus Ex | Respec Ramblings · Respec: Video Game Ramblings

0:05
it's time for another edition of the respec ramblings
0:08
podcast i am in the eye of the storm i'm in extremely
0:11
bad weather on a 5g connection and it isn't working
0:14
tremendously well so there's been a few aborted
0:16
attempts here but i'm joined by the very patient
0:19
dave brains how you doing dude i'm feeling good
0:24
i'm feeling good um i could never be better good
0:28
i'm enjoying the The ambience, the bit of purple,
0:34
bit of red. Anytime I have something to say,
0:35
I'll just go like this. You'll know. But you've
0:38
actually got direct control over it. Yeah. They're
0:44
pretty good, man. Pretty good. Nice. Also joined,
0:48
represented this time by a familiar face, Mikhail
0:52
Madnani. How are you doing and what are you this
0:55
week? i'm doing good uh weather's a bit shit
1:00
over here and uh i have this uh i'm not using
1:03
the ac right now because it makes me feel sleepy
1:05
and i have a deadline in two hours so i'm kind
1:08
of like sweating it out in the pod and who am
1:10
i represented by this is a yamato figure from
1:13
one piece because breens is on the podcast this
1:16
is the only one piece merch i own why do you
1:20
own the one piece merch so I think it was, was
1:24
it Pirate Warriors 3 or something? That was like
1:26
the, I played that without having watched or
1:28
read anything because I like Warriors games.
1:31
And then after that, a lot of my friends watch
1:34
this a shitload. Like they keep posting about
1:37
it. And there was apparently some drama around
1:40
Yamato a few years ago or something. And they
1:43
added Yamato to Pirate Warriors 4. And when I
1:47
was on holiday in Singapore, I saw the figure
1:49
and I was like, yep, time to. pick it up cheap
1:51
so yeah that's why i have this is the only figure
1:54
and uh when i bought it i said i have to write
1:57
about a one piece game so i ended up reviewing
1:59
pirate warriors for for like nintendo insider
2:01
the switch to thing and i did use the figure
2:04
in the photo so yeah that's why i have this figure
2:07
it was in storage but i was like we're doing
2:08
the pod greens is gonna be here one piece yamato
2:13
is a fan favorite despite everything yeah is
2:17
there a good you'll have to get me to watch that
2:19
eventually the pirate as as mikhail says the
2:24
pirate warriors games are definitely up there
2:25
like i feel like uh pirate warriors 3 is like
2:29
the best traditional warriors game if you know
2:33
what i mean just like if you because a lot of
2:36
the licensed games they like to add their own
2:37
spin on it like dragon quest heroes or so fast
2:40
they like to add their own little thing uh is
2:43
pirate warriors 3 is just a warriors game just
2:46
loads of content loads of characters you know
2:49
The shit is dirt cheap on Switch also, and it
2:51
has everything, like all the DLC. I think you
2:54
can get it for like five quid or something, and
2:56
it's literally like 200 hours of shit to do.
2:58
Yeah, but weirdly enough, if you are a Japanese
3:02
nerd like many of us are, there was like, I want
3:06
to say, nearly a dozen WonderSwan games for One
3:10
Piece. Like, just absurd. I don't know why. Just
3:15
an absurd number. And there was also a Game Boy
3:17
game. There's a Game Boy game that was exclusive
3:20
to Japan that is literally like a strategy RPG,
3:23
turn -based, grid -based strategy. It's surprisingly
3:26
competent. Game Boy era strategy RPG sounds interesting
3:29
to me. I've got a soft spot for the one that's
3:31
won. They had really good versions of the old
3:34
Final Fantasy games back in the days when there
3:37
weren't any other versions. There was a long
3:38
time where they were the most modern versions
3:40
of those games available. And so I've got a bit
3:44
of a soft spot. I don't know where mine is. Probably
3:46
in the same box as my engage. My dead platform,
3:50
my dead handheld platform box. But yeah. Yeah,
3:54
maybe I should. I feel like I haven't given a
3:57
Warriors game a good shake probably since the
4:00
first Hyrule Warriors. I did play the other ones.
4:04
But that first one was the first time that I
4:06
was like, oh, I'm going to play Lotus. And it
4:08
had that map. And there was a period of my life
4:11
where I was really into the Empires games at
4:14
the main. fred where it's you know part strategy
4:17
game um but maybe i should give some a go maybe
4:20
as part of that it should be uh some one piece
4:23
bullshit the one piece lego is nice you should
4:26
play dynasty warriors origins that shit is fantastic
4:29
yeah i did play yeah i feel like the warriors
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games are perfect to like play one hour every
4:36
couple of days and you can do that for like a
4:39
year two years you know i was i was at a very
4:43
out game I was at a very certain stage of my
4:46
life where I would 1 ,000 achievement pretty
4:51
much every Warriors game that came out. And I
4:53
think it required you to be at a very specific
4:55
stage in your life where certainly you had a
4:57
lot less going on and you were just sort of dossing
5:01
and trying anything to not have to do university
5:04
work. And that was my... Missed the Wii U era.
5:09
It's earlier than that for me, I'm afraid. This
5:11
was all 360. 360 nonsense. But yeah, yeah, I
5:16
should keep those in a shade. Anyway, let's get
5:18
on to our main topic so we don't waste too much
5:21
time here because we're all very busy with prep
5:24
for what is going to be, I think, a busy couple
5:26
of weeks. So first thing this week to talk about,
5:29
there's a hell of a lot of Grand Theft Auto 6
5:32
gameplay leaking. It appears to be, well, it
5:35
appears to be a mix of older footage, but perhaps
5:38
some of it is more contemporary. It's quite difficult
5:40
to tell. Someone... connected to the game at
5:43
one point told me that some of the footage was
5:45
maybe a year or so old maybe a bit more um but
5:48
nevertheless uh it looks really bad have you
5:51
guys looked at any of the leaks or are you staying
5:53
away i've had a quick couple of peaks a little
5:57
a little little little peek through the barrel
6:00
um i will say one piece of gameplay just sort
6:03
of like got shoved into my feed and i looked
6:06
at it and for a good five six seconds i just
6:10
thought it was cyberpunk I think that's because
6:14
of the, the, the lighting kind of looks very
6:17
cyberpunk in a way. So I thought, I thought that
6:20
as well, but I was kind of skimming through it
6:22
because I was like, show me the radio stations.
6:24
I don't want to see this shit. Like I want to
6:25
know what music is going to be in the game. Yeah.
6:29
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was the lighting
6:31
was the nighttime environments. Yeah. I mean,
6:35
it's, it's, it's, I guess the, it's weird actually,
6:38
because everyone associates vice city with that
6:40
neon. aesthetic but that's a 1980s aesthetic
6:45
um and aside from the nightclubs and stuff you
6:48
don't feel i don't i don't feel like that's necessarily
6:51
modern florida the way i think of modern florida
6:53
i think of modern florida and i think of i think
6:56
of ron desantis and crocodiles and and and hurricanes
7:00
um i'm not thinking of neon um but in all the
7:04
marketing and stuff for this even in the logo
7:06
right it's all that pinky purpley popping um
7:10
So it'd be interesting to see how much of the
7:13
game is stylized. I actually went back to GTA
7:16
5 and San Andreas quite recently. And what's
7:21
really fascinating about those games is that
7:24
I never realized until now is that San Andreas
7:28
is so much more stylized. San Andreas, when you're
7:32
in Los Santos, it's very orange. And then when
7:35
you go up to... um to san fiero is that right
7:40
it's the color palette changes the color palette
7:43
is different in the mountains and of course it's
7:45
it's darker and more um more weighted towards
7:49
the night time when you hit um las venturas vegas
7:52
um and then but just comparing los santos you
7:55
go from the san andreas version to the gta4 version
7:59
vg5 version sorry and you sort of the gta 5 version
8:03
is much more real feeling much more grounded
8:06
i guess and i wonder if they're gonna not do
8:11
that this time and go for something that is a
8:14
bit more visually poppy and the fact that you
8:17
say you you saw it and thought cyberpunk is suggested
8:21
that maybe that's the case yeah yeah however
8:26
having said that the daytime I think maybe it
8:30
could just be the lighting. Maybe daylight environments
8:32
look a bit more realistic, but there is, from
8:35
what we've seen of it, which is very, very little,
8:37
that it's the character animations that I'm really,
8:40
really impressed by. Like, even as, I can't remember
8:44
the main guy's name, as he just walks through
8:46
the house and climbs down a ladder. Jason? Jason
8:48
Elysia, right? Yeah? Right, right. yeah as a
8:54
as a as you see him like climb down a ladder
8:57
or walk through the house or or just the way
8:59
the clothes like move on his body as he moves
9:01
there is a real quality to it which is really
9:05
really unique i feel um it's it's almost the
9:09
sort of like scope and scale of stuff that you
9:11
saw in like the last of us part two but in a
9:14
much bigger game you know the animation thing
9:18
speaking of last of us part two the the one thing
9:21
which i was thinking is i saw some people say
9:23
that there were more leaks today and there are
9:26
people just like you know driving around a plane
9:28
or whatever and i feel like this has to be some
9:30
qa qc type person or something like how it reminds
9:34
me of the last of us 2 thing remember like during
9:36
covid or whatever someone just uploaded like
9:38
shit loads of the game out of context and stuff
9:41
so like how else is actual unedited gameplay
9:44
leaking it can't be from the netflix thing that
9:46
would have like all sorts of music and on top
9:49
i guess you think so yeah and i want to so okay
9:52
i want to squash something right now which is
9:54
i've seen um i've seen the suggestion made by
9:58
some media i saw that classic conspiracy where
10:02
someone was like you might notice that some big
10:05
outlets aren't reporting on the leaks that's
10:07
because they've been given access by rockstar
10:10
and they don't want to lose it but We aren't
10:14
under them. We, you know, are free from that.
10:18
And therefore we can report on the leaks in full,
10:20
right? That just ridiculous bollocks in itself
10:25
to anyone who thinks this is coming from media
10:28
is mental because the paperwork you will have
10:31
had to have signed to have got access is astronomical
10:35
by comparison. But also the key supplementary
10:39
point to that is. My understanding is that though
10:42
some media outlets have seen some of the game,
10:47
they've seen perhaps some of the content that's
10:49
going to be shown on Netflix, no one's playing
10:51
that game yet. Which means, yeah, as Mikhail
10:53
said, it does feel like it's probably come from
10:57
the QA side. And when I've had messages from
11:03
people who are perhaps a little bit connected
11:04
suggesting to me that like, oh yeah, this stuff
11:07
is a little bit older. Perhaps it's someone who's
11:12
recorded this and sat on it for ages and then
11:13
has gone, right, getting close to launch now.
11:16
It's now or never. I do think it's a shitty thing
11:18
to do, obviously. But for us, it's interesting.
11:21
Like you said, the animation stuff. I saw an
11:26
animation where Jason stabbed someone and their
11:28
reaction is clearly physics -driven reaction,
11:31
not a canned animation. It looked amazing. It
11:34
looked as good as a canned animation. I also
11:36
saw some really good physics on car crashes.
11:40
Yeah, I mean, I started to disengage a bit and
11:44
you are safe listening to this podcast. There
11:46
are no story spoilers here. But I started to
11:49
disengage a bit because some people were saying
11:51
the leaker was beginning to spoil story content
11:54
and had the ending or endings of the game and
11:58
all sorts. So I was like, whoa. But watching
12:01
it, what I did see is I was like, oh, I saw a
12:05
shot of Jason shooting a basketball hoop. And
12:08
when he shot the hoop, correctly like shot a
12:11
free pointer it was like i think it said focus
12:13
up so it's like okay so we've got skills um but
12:17
as i recall in five the skills were more just
12:21
like driving shooting stamina was there anything
12:24
else driving shooting stamina man i got i got
12:28
so anxious when he was doing the basketball stuff
12:30
because i literally just watched uncut gems a
12:33
few days ago And that like last third of that
12:35
movie, just insane stuff. So when they were over
12:38
here, I was like, no, I don't want to look at
12:39
basketball for a while. Uncut Gems is one of
12:43
those movies. It's one of those movies where
12:46
I would be astonished if that movie didn't have
12:50
a material effect on whoever was writing this
12:52
game. Every GTA, there's some movies that you
12:56
can point to. And I feel like this could end
12:58
up being the Uncut Gems game. Although when you
13:01
talk about diamonds and GTA, my favorite detail
13:03
in GTA 4 is like, a lot of people don't realize
13:06
this. The story of GTA 4, and this is what I
13:11
love about GTA stories. It's not necessarily
13:13
the overarching stories. It's a lot of the small,
13:15
minute detail. And the story of GTA 4 is all
13:20
tied together, whether that's Nico's story or
13:22
the Lost and Damned story or the Battle of the
13:25
Gate Tony story. They overlap, but... They don't
13:29
overlap completely. So it's like Glaston Dam
13:31
starts a little bit after Niko's story starts.
13:34
Gay Tony starts, you know, Gay Tony finishes
13:37
long after Niko's story's finished. But the entire
13:42
story of that game is tied together by this one
13:46
bag of diamonds. And you see that bag of diamonds
13:49
in the intro of the game in passing. They come
13:53
to New York on the same boat that Niko comes
13:55
to New York on. and although you never really
13:58
interact directly with that bag of diamonds it's
14:01
constantly flowing in and out of the story in
14:03
the background it's driving motivations for people
14:06
you're doing missions for everyone's after this
14:08
bag of ice and i love that the whole game is
14:10
tied together by this thing that the game doesn't
14:12
even explicitly talk about so i'm looking forward
14:14
to see that sort of stuff in in in in gta 6 but
14:19
i think it looks good surprise surprise yeah
14:24
i'm looking forward to it like this is that's
14:26
it doesn't sound like it doesn't sound like i'm
14:29
very excited but i don't typically get excited
14:32
for rockstar games whatsoever i did finish red
14:34
dead redemption 2 and i did enjoy it but like
14:37
it's one of the only rockstar games i've finished
14:39
since uh vice city admittedly there isn't that
14:42
many games between those but i'm not the necessarily
14:47
the biggest rockstar fan but uh you can rest
14:50
assured that they're going to be pushing systems
14:53
in new ways. They're going to be doing things
14:55
that other games are going to be replicating
14:56
for the next decade. I need to be on the ground
15:00
floor and see everything that gaming could potentially
15:02
be in the next generation if RAM prices come
15:05
down. Did you beat San Andreas? No, I didn't.
15:09
So just like small anecdote, when I played Vice
15:12
City as a whatever, as a kid, when I came, I
15:15
played it on PC because I didn't have a console
15:17
back then. and then i got san andreas because
15:20
everyone said it was better and at that point
15:22
in my life when i started the game it had all
15:24
the rap music and i was like fuck this i don't
15:26
like rap i don't like hip -hop i'm not playing
15:28
this and i never played san andreas until it
15:30
got ported to mobile like years later so now
15:34
i'm like now i'd say i'm more normal with music
15:37
and not like back in the metal days or whatever
15:40
you're primed and ready to go back to san andreas
15:42
for the return yeah why not so I still think
15:47
Vice City is the best one, though. I couldn't
15:50
disagree more. That is how I felt. I loved the
15:52
vibes. Really? Vice City is my least favorite
15:57
of the PS2 games. I would say, actually, weirdly,
16:02
my favorite is GTA 3. I think it has a lovely,
16:05
weird, ethereal, surreal, ghost town -y vibe
16:10
about that game just because of the tech, which
16:13
I really enjoy. And then San Andreas is really
16:15
special. But the thing I always used to say about
16:18
Vice City, and I think it's relevant to GTA 6,
16:23
is that Miami is topographically very boring.
16:26
It's a very flat place. The road structures are
16:30
defined by the coastlines and stuff. So it's
16:34
a less interesting map. So what's probably coming
16:38
back to 6 really exciting about 6 to me... Don't
16:41
get me wrong. I wish 6 had been what I'd wanted,
16:44
which I wanted a Las Venturas game that sort
16:47
of riffs on those casino, you know, vibes, you
16:52
know, of gangsters trying to hold on to a piece
16:55
of Vegas in an era after all that's been taken
16:58
away. But if you're going back to Vice City,
17:01
the interesting thing is if you're doing that
17:03
with the GTA 5 scale or bigger, Miami is only
17:06
a chunk of the map and you can get into some
17:08
areas that are more topographically interesting.
17:10
Also, the other thing is, if you're doing Florida,
17:13
I don't know, I haven't seen this on any leaks
17:17
or anything, but I think it would be criminal
17:18
if you don't have a Disneyland parody. Like,
17:24
what is Florida if not the place you go to go
17:27
to Disney and go to Universal? And I feel like
17:31
you should be able to go to the parks and do
17:33
mini games in the parks and things like that.
17:36
Maybe it's only one park rather than six like
17:39
they've got in real life or whatever. But I really
17:41
hope there's a theme park. Yeah. I'm excited.
17:45
I can't wait for this Netflix thing. It's going
17:46
to be real fun watching it on my phone from a
17:49
pub in Cologne. Exciting. Exciting. I was going
17:54
to say, everyone's going to be gathered around
17:56
in the Corconium, gathered around whoever's got
17:57
the biggest phone screen, cheering. Yeah, I don't
18:01
know what I'm going to do. I don't know if I'm
18:02
going to watch it live. I don't know if I'm going
18:04
to watch it live or if I'm going to... I wonder
18:07
if there'll be any bars in Cologne, given that
18:10
Gamescom is on, that will put that on their TVs.
18:14
The Korkonians got TVs. All they need is someone
18:16
to do a USB. It's possible. Yeah, it's possible.
18:21
I might go and ask the Korkonians if they can
18:22
do that. I might go on Tuesday morning. I might
18:26
go and say to them. anyway anyway so yeah so
18:31
there's some leaks out there if you want to see
18:33
some GTA 6 obviously it's being copyright struck
18:37
but I would advise a great deal of caution an
18:40
abundance of caution just in case there's any
18:43
issues with the spoiler stuff I think you don't
18:46
want that story spoiled so yeah so we will talk
18:50
I mean next week And the week after, I'm sure
18:53
we'll be talking a lot of GTA as stuff is revealed.
18:56
So we will get to that. Next story for this week,
18:59
though. Computer Exchange, CEX, are launching
19:04
some retro stores, which are currently being
19:06
dubbed REX, which would be Retro Exchange, Rex.
19:11
Very interesting. I mean, let's say the first
19:13
thing, if you're one of those people who pronounces
19:15
CEX as sex, you don't deserve to live. It's not
19:20
funny. And it's computer exchange. And computer
19:25
is said computer, not seputer or whatever. But
19:30
yeah, computer exchange. They have a pretty good
19:34
retro thing going on already. They've slowly
19:37
over the years begun to take stuff one platform
19:40
at a time. But I think the most interesting thing
19:44
I heard about this. and this is similar to what
19:47
some retro gaming YouTubers have heard, is that
19:50
they will sell all regions. So current CEX only
19:54
takes PAL mostly. I have seen the odd Japanese
19:58
Super Nintendo and stuff in a CEX store, but
20:01
I think that has been someone in the store taking
20:04
the initiative and accepting the trade and putting
20:06
it on the system as a PAL one. But usually they
20:10
don't take non -UK stuff or non -European stuff.
20:15
So that potentially opens up a really big new
20:18
market for the sale and trade of like Japan imports
20:21
and US imports. Like if you want a copy of Final
20:26
Fantasy Tactics on PS1 at the minute, it's eBay
20:29
or like some very specialist, often very expensive
20:32
retro stores. Not the CX isn't expensive for
20:35
retro stuff. But you might be able to now go
20:37
into High Street in time and get that. There's
20:40
two stores in the offing. One is quite close
20:43
to some of us, which is going to be in Birmingham,
20:45
next door to the existing CX, which is in a slightly
20:50
tastier bit of town, the further you get away
20:55
from the ball ring. But it's safe enough. And
20:59
we will check it out. But I think it's pretty
21:01
cool. Would you... Do you guys buy retro from
21:05
shops or do you just try and do the eBay thrifting
21:08
thing? I, yeah, if it's, if it's going to be
21:12
a retro, I want, I'd like to get an eBay cheap,
21:15
cheap deal if possible. You know, um, there's
21:20
so many retro games I love, but it's, it just,
21:24
as time has gone on, it feels so much more difficult
21:26
to find these games. What I feel like is an acceptable
21:28
price. you know uh i mean if i'm going to be
21:32
paying what i would have paid back in the day
21:34
for a brand new copy i would really like it to
21:36
be up to the quality of that brand new copy and
21:38
cex uh i think it was bitsocket that started
21:42
it initially with cex did the the sorry bitsocket
21:45
did the cex watch hashtag where they would just
21:48
post whatever the most expensive games were at
21:51
the time and that hashtag i think you can still
21:54
look it up on on even blue sky and it has like
21:58
copies of like Grandia or like Suikoden or whatever
22:02
just hundreds of pounds but on the other hand
22:05
you get all of CEX's retro stuff that they've
22:09
got across their variety of stores put it in
22:11
one place I think that's a much more interesting
22:14
proposition you could actually instead of looking
22:17
at like oh great this CEX has one Japanese NES
22:21
game which is rare instead of that You can just
22:24
go into one place and maybe pick up a system
22:26
and a game and et cetera, et cetera. That's much
22:30
more appealing, in my opinion. And I do feel
22:33
like, especially now that physical media is kind
22:36
of disappearing, having a store which embraces
22:40
the older stuff is even more important. And I
22:42
think CEX is going to have to get used to embracing
22:45
the older stuff in the next couple of years.
22:48
Well, I think it's... I think it goes back to
22:50
eBay's... comment I haven't used eBay in a while
22:56
but I have like been asking friends in Japan
22:58
to get me like specific games which I want over
23:01
there because you can buy a lot of games quite
23:03
cheap over there and I think the analog pocket
23:06
which I've gotten it lets you like play with
23:09
English translations even if you buy the Japanese
23:11
cartridges so those work out better for me I
23:15
think I like I tried putting a few of my cartridges
23:18
into that and it just told me you need to clean
23:20
the cartridges. And I was like, not done that
23:23
in like fucking billion years or whatever. But
23:25
yeah, like it's just getting stuff from Japan
23:27
seems like the play because I got Chrono Trigger
23:30
Super Famicom like dirt cheap and like light
23:32
new condition. I think I paid 10 USD for that
23:36
and it would have cost me like what's 500 if
23:38
I wanted the US version. Screw that. I did pay
23:40
$500 for a boxed good condition. chrono trigger
23:46
from the us so uh i i i yeah i uh i'm part of
23:54
the problem um i do think the retro market thankfully
23:57
if one thing comes out of all the industry's
24:00
obsession with remasters and remakes and stuff
24:03
it's that um the it's helping to bring the market
24:08
down so so if for instance let's say in the next
24:13
two years there's a hd 2d do -over of chrono
24:19
trigger let's say that that happens and it's
24:22
good then you would see in reaction to that prices
24:26
of old chrono trigger come down a bit and even
24:30
more so if so like when sonic origins came out
24:33
you could see the prices of mega drive versions
24:36
of some of those old games come down um so that's
24:39
good because it means the collectors can collect
24:41
And the people who want to play the game can
24:43
just play the damn game at a reasonable price.
24:46
But nevertheless, I mean, CEX Watch is real.
24:49
I think some of that now, when I've seen that
24:51
hashtag over the last six months, it's felt like
24:53
it's been more about hardware. Like, hey, here's
24:55
a Steam Deck for £900. Which obviously has to
25:00
do with all the component shortage stuff. It's,
25:05
yeah, I'm interested. I think, you know, more
25:07
access to retro. And obviously, CX, I think,
25:10
what's the warranty? Is it a year? Is it two
25:12
years? Like, as I recall, the warranty is pretty
25:16
generous. On hardware, I think it's different.
25:20
I'm not sure. I would have said 60 days off the
25:23
top of my head, but I don't know. No, five -year
25:25
warranty on all items purchased covering hardware.
25:30
Five years. It covers games, consoles, phones,
25:35
electronics, and discs. Five years from the purchase
25:37
date, including... What's not covered, removal
25:43
batteries, projector bulbs, clothing. I didn't
25:46
know CEX even sold clothing, but with how they
25:48
still sell, I'm not sure I'd want to buy any
25:50
clothing from there. And damage, obviously, it's
25:53
physical damage, liquid damage, software modification
25:54
like routing or jailbreaking, they won't cover.
25:57
But that means if you want to go and buy... I'll
26:00
give you a really good example, right? Which
26:01
is when the Switch 2 was coming out, I had this
26:07
stupid idea about Nintendo where Nintendo was
26:12
not going to send out Switch 2 units until the
26:15
day it came out. And so that led to conversations
26:17
in the media about what are we going to do instead?
26:19
And instead we did, I was like, I had this idea.
26:24
I was like, it'd be really funny. to do a review
26:25
of the Virtual Boy, but the headline and stuff
26:27
doesn't cop on. It's the Virtual Boy. It's only
26:29
when you click through and open it. It's just
26:31
like, Nintendo's new handout, new portable, hybrid,
26:36
reviewed. And then you click it, and it's not
26:38
the Switch 2, it's the Virtual Boy. So I bought
26:40
a Virtual Boy, and I bought that on eBay, and
26:43
it was extremely, extremely expensive. By the
26:46
time I bought the machine, it was a bundle of
26:48
the machine and a few games. It was a very good
26:50
condition one. But it was a lot of money. It
26:53
was not an impulse purchase. And I had no warranty.
26:57
I had no recourse. If that had arrived and it
26:59
had been fucked, I just would have been in the
27:01
mind with eBay Resolution Center. Whereas if
27:05
that was CX, REX, whatever, you would have five
27:09
-year cover. So that, I've got to be honest though,
27:13
with the age of these things, if I was them,
27:15
if I'm selling a Game Boy, I don't really want
27:17
to give a five -year warranty on that. like so
27:20
maybe they will change that as they do more retro
27:23
business um yeah i'd like to some of the other
27:27
thing i heard like say is i heard scuttlebutt
27:30
in the arcade nerd community of which i am part
27:34
that they might even look into selling arcade
27:36
machines which would be really interesting because
27:40
that's a funny old market and if it keeps a few
27:42
machines safe from being binned that's good um
27:45
and for me i would be really interested if they
27:48
like sold CRT TVs and stuff. Good TVs for old
27:53
gaming. Cause that, that sort of thing is hard
27:55
to come by. So if you can, if you can do that,
27:58
but I, I'm intrigued by it. Um, and I will definitely
28:01
check the store out. And I think when, when that
28:03
opens, I think that's natural respect video blog
28:08
material. So I have to get my ass up there, um,
28:12
and try not to get dragged into the Lego store.
28:17
But yeah, it's good for the market. I wonder
28:20
how big that can be. Because CEX is everywhere,
28:23
right? They've even got... It's that most surreal
28:24
thing as a Brit is being in New York and seeing
28:27
a CEX. Like, it feels... Yeah, it's all possible.
28:36
But it could... And of course, founded by ex
28:40
-game journalists. Including one Charlie Brooker,
28:46
I believe. I believe. I believe that was one
28:49
of Charlie Brooker's first post -video games
28:51
journalism exploits was helping to set up CEX.
28:55
Anyway, so there's that. And then I've left us
28:59
a little bit of blank space without a specific
29:03
news topic just to discuss. So we're obviously
29:07
recording this at the end of this week. Next
29:09
week is Gamescom. So by the time... this time
29:14
next week opening night live will have happened
29:16
people will be at the show seeing stuff obviously
29:19
I know you guys aren't going this year but I'm
29:21
just wondering what are you expecting to see
29:24
what are you hoping to see you know what are
29:27
the dreams what are the things that you think
29:30
are definitely happening go Final Fantasy would
29:36
be nice I'd like to see more Final Fantasy honestly
29:40
I'm at this point where I'm overcome with fear
29:46
about the future of the video game industry.
29:49
So as a result, I'm only looking forward to the
29:52
things that I actually know are going to come
29:54
out. Hey, Final Fantasy looks good. That's going
29:57
to come out. So that's good. Anything else? You
30:01
know. I'm going to have the most boring answer
30:05
to this. I want the PS5 port of Forza Horizon
30:08
6 so I can just... continue playing that on another
30:12
system because i literally have that installed
30:14
on whatever it's on right now i even use the
30:16
the cloud gaming to play it on the android handheld
30:19
which i have now i just like mucking around in
30:22
the world so give it to me on another device
30:24
and i don't know like gamescom seems like a good
30:27
place to have age of empires 2 for switch to
30:30
like you know those kinds of things that's probably
30:33
traditionally i don't know what else would probably
30:35
happen Traditionally, Germany is where you, back
30:39
in the day when they made it, Gamescom was where
30:42
you announced Command & Conquer stuff. You know,
30:45
it's a very traditional place to do RTS. I'm
30:47
pretty sure Microsoft did their big splashes
30:50
for Halo Wars at Gamescom. I'm curious about
30:55
Forza Horizon 6 on PlayStation because it's like,
30:57
with this weird thing of where Xbox is optically,
31:00
do they want to make a big deal or do they just
31:02
want to push that out quite quietly, almost shadow
31:04
drop it? This version of Xbox, the Asha Sharma
31:08
era of Xbox, seems so obsessed with optics. I
31:13
wonder if they're like, well, we don't want to
31:15
put that in our Gamescom broadcast. I assume
31:17
they are doing a traditional broadcast. I assume
31:22
there is one. Or we don't want to put that in
31:24
opening night live with the Gamescom organisation
31:26
and Geoff Keighley. Because we don't want to
31:29
draw attention to it. Or are they focused on
31:32
trying to sell it and make as much money as possible?
31:35
And with where they're at, I just genuinely don't
31:37
know the answer. There's so many weird, embarrassing
31:39
things going on with them as well, like that
31:40
bloody knock -off Lego Xbox building set where
31:45
you build a Psychonauts diorama inside it. And
31:48
obviously that's been announced and it's coming
31:49
out after Double Fine's been... removed from
31:52
there but yeah i mean speaking of xbox i'm very
31:54
keen to see more fable feel like gamescom is
31:56
a natural place for fable because it's a it's
31:59
a it's a european developed game um geographically
32:04
if not if not beyond that and uh so you show
32:08
that there and also it's getting bloody close
32:10
now to coming out so i expect you know i expect
32:14
we'll see some more gameplay at last maybe there
32:16
was that one deep dive video but we still don't
32:20
know so little about the story we don't know
32:22
like so much we don't know about that game so
32:25
I'm quite keen to see that obviously we know
32:27
it's been confirmed Witcher 4 how are you guys
32:29
feeling about Witcher 4 like you do you care
32:31
about Witcher we're not Witcher 4 sorry well
32:35
obviously they're not showing Witcher 4 they're
32:38
showing Witcher 3 Shadows of the Past whatever
32:41
it's called which is a prequel to Witcher 4 so
32:44
it is inherently about Witcher 4 at the end of
32:46
the day don't give me that it's about Witcher
32:47
4 It's going to tell you things about Witcher
32:49
4. Yeah. Mikael, you want to take this one? Yeah,
32:56
sure. I love The Witcher 3. I don't know what
32:59
to expect from this DLC yet. My brain is kind
33:03
of like working in the other way where I'm hoping
33:06
they do a shadow dropper, announce the Switch
33:08
2 version of The Witcher 3. So it'll give me
33:10
the kick I need to actually replay that thing.
33:13
and i can also get some articles out of it and
33:15
then i'll play the new dlc whenever that comes
33:18
out but as for witcher 3 itself i love that like
33:20
i i recently interviewed i did an interview where
33:23
i asked about you know like i was listening to
33:25
some of the soundtrack and the skellig music
33:27
is so good and i'm like you haven't released
33:29
all of it like that's that's what i love about
33:32
some of my interviews like i just get to ask
33:34
the most random specific bullshit that probably
33:36
10 people in the world care about but yeah i
33:39
want this stuff to happen so yeah i don't know
33:41
like the the dlc i'm i'm actually curious how
33:46
they like you do you think it's going to be one
33:48
of those things where they also sell it standalone
33:50
i don't you know like so many because i'm sure
33:56
they can reissue it no i get that i get that
34:00
i get that i get the point you know like you
34:02
you have like such a huge audience to get that
34:04
but i also feel like given triple a games right
34:07
now they surely are planning for the witcher
34:09
4 to be a game you can play directly like i had
34:12
i have still not played witcher 1 and 2 but i've
34:14
played hundreds of hours of witcher 3 so surely
34:17
they got a plan for the witcher 4 to be a standalone
34:20
thing which is like ground zeros like you could
34:23
play ground zeros and then play i well this is
34:27
ground zeros is yeah so i was gonna say like
34:29
this is obviously it's dlc for witcher 3 But
34:33
I'm sure it will function like Blood & Wine did,
34:36
where they will have a bundle, which includes
34:39
the main game, and they'll sell it for relatively
34:42
cheap. It'll only be £5 more than the cost of
34:46
buying the DLC if you already own the game. And
34:48
they'll have a button on the menu that takes
34:50
you straight into the DLC where Geralt is an
34:53
appropriate level and everything is set for you
34:56
to have a good start. That was what they did
34:59
for Blood & Wine. Worked great for Blood & Wine.
35:03
um and i expect that again i don't expect them
35:06
to release it standalone but we talked about
35:09
ground zeros and that's where i'm curious is
35:11
usually this stuff happens the other way around
35:14
and i actually wrote an article relatively recently
35:18
in my euro gamer days where i talked about dead
35:21
rising to case zero and i made the case for really
35:27
good like epic like prologues Like Case Zero
35:31
was like five bucks, I think, five, six bucks.
35:34
And you could totally get like six, seven hours
35:36
of fun out of it. And it was rad. And it actually
35:39
helped to sell Dead Rising 2 a great deal. And
35:43
the funny thing is that came from Capcom being
35:46
aware. They saw the metrics for how well the
35:48
Dead Rising 1 demo did and went, we could probably
35:51
charge for something like this. But they built
35:53
a really cool prologue. And Ground Zeroes is
35:56
the other example of that, except they charged
35:57
even more. What was that, 20, 30 quid? And, you
36:01
know, effortlessly replayable. It was 40 US.
36:04
That was like... 30, yeah. Yeah, I mean, but
36:07
it was incredibly replayable. And yes, it was
36:10
just a glorified demo, really. But this can't
36:13
be that because The Witcher 4 is a different
36:17
game and a different engine, different everything.
36:19
So that begs the question, what this is going
36:22
to be like? Because I don't think this is just
36:24
going to feel like DLC for The Witcher 3. Like,
36:28
I know things about The Witcher 4 where I'm like,
36:31
well, maybe they could bring those sort of systems
36:34
into The Witcher 3 to sort of trial how they're
36:37
going to work. And so that's the sort of thing
36:42
where I'm like, I guess the example, the closest
36:46
example I can think of, I'm sure there's better
36:48
examples. I'm sure people on Discord will tell
36:50
me that. But the closest example I can think
36:52
of is Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrate. And
36:57
that Yuffie chapter and how that Yuffie chapter
36:59
basically introduced the synergy attacks because
37:05
Yuffie and someone basically had that system
37:07
under a different name. And also, you know, introduced
37:12
how Yuffie would control. And so I'm sort of
37:14
like, can they accomplish something like that
37:16
in the, because I think the one thing you can't
37:19
do is after 10 years, just go, here's more Witcher
37:21
3. I think you've got to have something a little
37:24
more. So I would imagine that's where that's
37:28
going, right? Do you think it's going to be in
37:31
the new engine or in the old engine? Because
37:33
Witcher 4 is UE5, right? This is what I mean.
37:35
This is DLC for the Witcher 3. So it's in that
37:40
engine. That's what I mean. But I wonder if they're
37:42
going to backport some of their ideas to sort
37:46
of tease. And they are doing like, you know,
37:48
I'm not spoiling anything and I'm not breaking,
37:50
you know, they've talked publicly about. They've
37:54
got a demo. I saw someone who works there like
37:56
on his Instagram feed. I've gone to the office
37:58
today to watch our new demo. And the way CD Projekt
38:01
tends to do demos is you sit in a room for 40
38:04
minutes and watch someone play. But the fact
38:07
they're willing to do that suggests that there's
38:08
more to it than a simple DLC as well. So yeah,
38:12
be very, very, very interesting. Interesting
38:15
that I can't wait to games. Common of a small
38:17
thing is I assume. The vibe that I get is that
38:21
they're revealing new locations for Crazy Taxi
38:23
everywhere. So they revealed Crazy Taxi and then
38:26
at Summer Games Fest they revealed the West Coast
38:29
appropriately. So I'm like, if there's a European
38:32
city, I would assume it would be revealed there.
38:37
I can't remember because what were the levels
38:40
in Crazy Taxi 3? Because it seems like they are...
38:44
Was it 3 or was it 4? I can't remember. with
38:49
three and four is minimal there was one where
38:53
you literally where you i've not one of them
38:56
a single game you've not played oh my god great
38:59
game one of them was the it was the xbox not
39:02
even simpsons road rage nope no i haven't i any
39:07
of them playable like on back compat or like
39:09
pc or do i have to yeah yeah there's xpla games
39:12
that you can play on series x okay i probably
39:15
get one of those then So actually, all the levels
39:18
in... So this is actually an interesting thing
39:20
in general. I've been on Steam as well, actually.
39:22
Yeah. Crazy Taxi 3 had three levels, but they
39:28
were all US, West Coast, Small Apple, Glitter
39:31
Oasis, San Francisco, New York, Vegas. So I wonder
39:38
if... This is called World Tour, so maybe that's
39:41
a chance for them to do something completely
39:42
new. They got to go to Paris, right? It's just
39:48
everyone does it, but they got to. They got to.
39:50
Parisian taxi drivers is the original crazy taxi.
39:56
There you go. If you haven't traveled from Charles
39:59
de Gaulle. London, Tokyo, you know, the hits.
40:03
That's what I mean. It's like I wouldn't be surprised
40:05
to see a Tokyo level at TGS. And so I'm hoping
40:08
we see a little bit more of that here. What else?
40:13
I feel like that's a really boring selection
40:14
of things. What could I... Yeah. Rome, Sydney.
40:22
Yeah. I'd want to see some more Alien. I'd want
40:27
to see some more Alien. It's funny. I feel a
40:30
little bit... Yes. Well, there's... So actually,
40:34
let's address this. There's a rumor that's been
40:36
going around where... I think it was Nate the
40:39
Hate who said, oh, there's a... there's a xbox
40:44
game that's a sequel unexpected sequel and a
40:47
sequel to a relatively recent game um i don't
40:51
know what that could be but my gut would say
40:54
ori like sequel to a recent a recent xbox game
40:59
that actually deserves a sequel that would be
41:02
relatively surprising that could have been developed
41:04
in relatively short order That feels like that's
41:08
the right IP for that. I don't know. Is there
41:10
anything else from Xbox that fits that description?
41:15
What the hell is going on with Killer Instinct?
41:18
Yeah, that's sad. That makes me sad. I would
41:22
love to have a new Killer Instinct. Why haven't
41:24
they ported that thing over? Just port that stuff.
41:28
Yeah, it's a sad, sorry state of affairs. Then
41:37
again, I don't think platform holders really
41:39
want to do fighting games. You know, you look
41:45
at Tokon, which doesn't appear... Tokon? Tokon?
41:48
Doesn't appear to be doing the business for Sony,
41:51
and that's got the Marvel. That's what I was
41:52
thinking. That's got the Marvel IP, right? There's
41:56
a review of that on the site as well. Yeah, it's...
42:00
There is an argument for let other people make
42:05
fighting games, and you look at... Capcom and
42:06
Street Fighter. Street Fighter is successful,
42:08
but it's not that successful and Capcom are grinding
42:11
it out. And I had a really interesting interview
42:15
with those guys at Summer Games Fest, the Street
42:16
Fighter guys, because it's like a funny year
42:19
for them where they stopped doing World Tour
42:21
content, but they're still charging the same
42:23
amount of money for the new characters as they
42:26
would when those characters also included, you
42:29
know, a couple of hours of new single player
42:30
content for World Tour. It wasn't the best single
42:32
player content, but nevertheless, someone had
42:34
to build it. someone has to be paid to build
42:35
it they're now charging the same amount and i
42:38
was like so how are you giving that value back
42:40
to players and they were like uh and i was and
42:44
you know that's all yeah well they couldn't really
42:48
answer that question in a in a in a in an adequate
42:51
way but i guess the reading between the lines
42:55
you do there is this game is doing well but it's
42:58
perhaps not doing it well enough to continue
43:01
with that we need to find a little bit more profit
43:03
margin and not no you know people you know what
43:05
you brought up makes sense because i think whenever
43:09
capcom releases their financials and like people
43:11
like look at the numbers without any context
43:14
and say oh look like this game is doing well
43:16
like dmc sold 10 million when it's all like two
43:18
dollar bundles i think what people have been
43:20
missing is besides monster hunter wilds not selling
43:23
at whatever price street fighters kind of cratered
43:26
legs wise it's not like It's not where it was
43:29
before. And they do quite a big, they do quite
43:33
a lot of discounts and it's like they had a Switch
43:35
2 version. Switch 2 is a new platform. And I
43:38
feel like, like you said, Street Fighter is not
43:39
doing as much as like everyone would want from
43:43
it. Don't be wrong. I know for a fact, it's like
43:45
in terms of legs, it's the best performing Street
43:48
Fighter they've ever had in terms of its legs
43:50
are better than 4 and better than 5. But... I
43:53
think you're in a world also where people for
43:55
service games, they're looking at Fortnite and
43:57
stuff and going like, how can we be that? And
44:01
I'm not saying you're going to get Fortnite numbers
44:02
for a Street Fighter game, but it's probably
44:06
a little bit... I do think the Switch 2 uplift
44:08
for Street Fighter was probably smaller than
44:10
they had hoped. But the flip side is every recent
44:13
new character release, they've broken concurrent
44:15
records, not just for themselves, but for fighting
44:18
games, period, on Steam, which speaks to... I
44:24
guess there is an argument that perhaps the newcomers
44:29
coming in is going off, but the people who are
44:32
playing are sticking the hell around now. And
44:36
that's why I think part of what all is going
44:39
on with that game is I think we're probably going
44:43
to get a Super next year, is my guess. Maybe
44:47
even the end of this year, a Super Street Fighter.
44:49
bundle with a big update and all that sort of
44:51
stuff because that's how you get new people back
44:53
in through the doors again but nevertheless to
44:55
come back around to Killer Instinct I just think
44:58
it's not a very attractive genre for first parties
45:00
especially for Microsoft who you know the whole
45:04
stated mission of the new regime is we're going
45:07
to make less games but put loads of resources
45:10
into our big shit and Killer Instinct is not
45:13
that so Killer Instinct goes the same way as
45:16
you know I don't know. Anything they've cut,
45:21
really. It goes the same way as The Outer Worlds.
45:26
And you make Fallout instead. Yeah. You take
45:32
all that Killer Instinct multiplayer expertise
45:34
and put them on Halo. What? What's happened?
45:39
Nintendo Switch 2 price increase in the UK confirmed.
45:43
Breaking news. This is a breaking podcast news.
45:47
How much is it going to do? £24 in the UK. It's
45:52
going up to £419. What a weird number. Just do
45:56
£450 or something. No, don't tell them that.
46:00
Shut up. Don't let them have the extra pound,
46:03
for God's sake. Jesus. Wait, no, £419. I was
46:07
like, why not £425 or something? What is £419?
46:10
Is it like £419 .99? Or just £419? Yeah, £419
46:15
.99. Did they raise the controllers and stuff
46:19
or just the console? It's just the console from
46:21
what I've seen. I'm not too sure, but yeah. It
46:24
had to happen. It had to happen. Credit to Nintendo.
46:27
They have held out as long as they could in the
46:30
sense that they raised the price. Every other
46:34
console supplier did it. And they raised the
46:36
price in a back -channel way by taking Mario
46:39
Kart away really early on. They held out as long.
46:44
So Sony, I think the question mark now is...
46:46
and i'm deeply curious about this can sony get
46:50
to grand theft auto 6 launch without doing another
46:54
hike because microsoft did a bigger hike and
46:58
i think they did a bigger that microsoft did
47:00
a bigger hike and i think that well i say i think
47:03
it was intimated to me from people there that
47:06
part of the reason why that leap for xbox was
47:08
so big was they were like let's do a bigger leap
47:11
and then hopefully we won't have to do another
47:14
one you know we've got more road where Sony did
47:17
a smaller jump earlier in the year but as the
47:21
prices keep going up and up and up they're running
47:22
out of road can they make it to November the
47:25
what is it November the 19th without that price
47:29
I think it depends I think it depends on whether
47:31
they were planning on doing GTA 6 bundles like
47:34
they did with GTA 5 and Red Dead because they're
47:37
going to include a code with it and how much
47:40
is GTA 6 in the UK 70 quid 75 so if you add that
47:45
to the because usually when you do a bundle it
47:47
costs you a bit less than buying the game separately
47:50
so they might like take a hit on that and like
47:53
just add the value and be like okay we'll make
47:55
like 20 more and hopefully that covers the ram
47:58
in our bundles and they'll probably have those
48:00
as the main bundles like so that everyone is
48:03
just quote -unquote forced to buy a gta bundle
48:05
even if they don't want one they probably have
48:08
to do stuff like that and i don't know what they'll
48:10
do with the Like, you know, the Wolverine thing
48:12
they did, like the console bundles they went
48:14
up like yesterday or something. That shit sold
48:16
out in like two minutes. I couldn't even get
48:18
those yellow plates and I'm desperate for just
48:20
some plates so I can stop showing the stupid
48:22
white PS5 on the camera here. They're hideous
48:25
though, those Wolverine plates, I think. They're
48:29
awful. I just want some other color. Like, I'm
48:32
sick of this. I've got the black ones on my Pro.
48:35
That was mine. I didn't even know they did those.
48:39
Yeah, it's quite nice because all my other devices
48:43
are black. So it's just like all the analog consoles,
48:46
the Polymega, the Series X. I do have a white
48:50
Series S here, though. I'm not at home. And here
48:53
there's a white Series S. But yeah, it does depend
48:57
on bundles, I suppose. But even then, you've
49:00
got to have supply of normal consoles. So if
49:04
you're deeply curious, I mean, anyway, so what
49:06
was it, four? 429. Basically, it's gone to 419
49:14
.99 for the base Switch 2. Have they bothered
49:19
to put up the Switch 1 as part of this or are
49:22
they just not bothering because obviously they're
49:24
sort of discontinuing it in Europe anyway? Yeah,
49:28
I think they haven't bothered from what I've
49:29
seen. I wonder if there's even any Switch 1 stock
49:32
left in Europe because they're obviously not
49:35
making them anymore. Well, things continue to
49:39
be a shit show um okay briefly just want to touch
49:46
on some other quick topics um there are there's
49:50
a review on the site for about the lego pokemon
49:53
sets um they are interesting they are imperfect
49:57
um i won't talk about it in too much detail because
50:00
there's an article on the site and there'll actually
50:02
be a video version of the article on the youtube
50:03
channel quite soon but um they're interesting
50:06
they're obviously the whole big thing is they've
50:09
got the smart brick gimmick and the smart brick
50:12
gimmick was pretty crap for Star Wars it's a
50:17
bit better for Pokemon but it's still got some
50:19
problems also just wanted to shout out some other
50:21
bits on the site there's an Oblivion Switch 2
50:26
playtest on RPG site There's a Neo3 interview
50:30
on RPGsite and an FFXIV interview, as Mikhail
50:32
mentioned earlier, on RPGsite. Here on Respec,
50:35
there's a great Servant of the Lake review from
50:37
Rebecca, and there's going to be a great piece
50:41
about fan expectation and fan reactions online
50:46
in relation to all that, to Gamescom, which we're
50:50
about to have from Tom talking about how people
50:53
perhaps should think about reacting. uh in the
50:57
coming week there's also a review from andy as
51:00
i mentioned earlier of marvel talk on fighting
51:03
souls on the site um and lastly as always we've
51:09
got to finish up with a quick look into the past
51:13
to make you feel old um not that many this week
51:17
i think it's funny you can always see in a calendar
51:20
when you look back um because you can sort of
51:24
see when trade shows were because there's less
51:28
out because people don't tend to put out games
51:30
in the middle of trade shows. But five years
51:33
old this week, Humankind, which did either of
51:35
you guys play that? This was Sega's civilization
51:39
killer. I wanted to play this, but I never got
51:45
around to it. I bought it, but didn't play it.
51:49
It's a funny one, this game, because they talk
51:51
the talk big time. I had some great interviews
51:53
and stuff with those guys in the run -up to launch,
51:55
but the final thing was just a bit ropey. But
51:59
then there's a fascinating thing that's happened
52:02
in connection to all that, which is basically
52:05
that I think Firaxis panicked about the pre -release
52:10
buzz around that game and also games like Old
52:12
World and stuff. And so they dramatically altered...
52:16
did a really dramatically different design of
52:19
Civ 7, almost in response. And then by the time
52:22
you get to Civ 7's release, you realize they
52:24
didn't need to do that. People would have been
52:25
happier with just another Civ because actually
52:27
all these ideas didn't quite come off. So Humankind
52:30
in particular was the one with the, you don't
52:32
have one Civ, you pick as you wind through. And
52:35
the idea is, I sit here as a British person,
52:39
a mixed race British person, and my... My mix
52:44
is, forget the black side, just the British side
52:46
is a jumble of Roman and Viking and Celtic and
52:53
all the rest. And the idea, they would try and
52:55
make that happen in the way you've snaked through
52:57
progression of a Civ game. And Fraxis ran to
53:01
copy that and they didn't really need to. But
53:03
it's decent and it's worth a look if you see
53:07
it on the sale. Metroid Prime, Federation Force.
53:12
I can't believe this was 10 years ago. It feels
53:14
like it was about three or four years ago. But
53:17
was that an E3 or was that Summer Games Fest?
53:19
It would have been E3, I guess, right? One of
53:22
the last E3s? Where that was revealed? Was that
53:27
an E3 one? It might have been, but it wasn't.
53:29
Was it? No, sorry. I was thinking about Blast
53:32
Ball. I was thinking about Blast Ball that was
53:35
announced at the same time. Actually, don't.
53:37
Was Federation Force shortly after that? I actually
53:40
can't remember. I don't know, I just remember
53:41
it was the 4. It must have been in Direct Era.
53:44
I just remember, it must have been E3, because
53:46
I remember playing it, and the place in which
53:48
I remember playing it feels very E3 to me. And
53:51
also, Nintendo doesn't typically do Summer Games
53:53
Fest, but I remember just sitting on a sofa and
53:56
playing two rounds of it and thinking, this is
53:58
fucking miserable. I remember looking across
54:03
the table, I think, to Alex Seedhouse, who runs
54:06
Nintendo Insider, and just being like, this is
54:09
dogs. It did have a tease for Metroid Prime 4
54:14
in it, which obviously we finally got fulfilled
54:17
last year. Was it this year? Last year, this
54:19
year? I don't remember. End of last year. Yeah.
54:25
So, yeah, that's 10 years old, which I find difficult
54:28
to believe. 25 years old. This probably doesn't
54:34
really register with a lot of people, but it
54:36
might do because it did with me. Extreme G3.
54:40
The third one? I just remember that because I
54:43
remember it was like one of those big PS2 GameCube.
54:48
It's like, oh, it's so fast. And it came out
54:50
on GameCube in a pre -F0 GX era. But also, I
54:56
wanted to bring this one up because it's 25 years
54:57
since this game came out. I think it's quite
54:59
good. One of the good, one of the acclaimed games
55:01
is actually really good. But what's happened
55:04
to good, like, high -speed sci -fi racing games,
55:08
man? Extreme G's gone, Wipeout's gone, F -Zero's
55:11
in the bin. Like, what's going on? I'm wondering.
55:16
I mean, it's silence for retro, you know, races.
55:21
I mean, there are one or two revivals, but hopefully
55:23
this is the generation when Nintendo gives F
55:26
-Zero a shake. And the last two for this section,
55:30
Devil May Cry, 25 years old, which... what a
55:37
game that first game is that classic Capcom thing
55:42
which had happened a couple of times of it started
55:44
out as something else of course started out as
55:47
Resident Evil 4 do either of you guys have particularly
55:51
fond memories of that first one I wasn't on the
55:56
PlayStation enough Mikhail save me well you're
55:58
not a PlayStation boy uh it's so to be even funnier
56:02
is uh it was on ps2 right i never owned a ps2
56:06
never owned a ps3 so i borrowed a ps3 to play
56:09
gta 5 because that was the game i wanted it for
56:12
that's what made me buy a ps4 as well and to
56:15
be honest if i didn't need a if i didn't need
56:16
a ps5 for work i would have waited for i i waited
56:20
for ff7 for that one but yeah like devil may
56:22
cry i only played it when they did that uh remaster
56:25
collection and i played it on switch one And
56:29
then it just reminded me how much I hate fixed
56:31
camera angles in action games. And it made me,
56:34
it just told me like, it just told, yeah, I'm
56:38
one of those people who's like Bayonetta 1 and
56:40
2 are better than DMC 1, 2, 3, 4, but DMC 5.
56:44
is i like that a lot more than the others and
56:47
it also reminded me like when i replayed them
56:50
again recently that i think bayonetta 2 was kind
56:53
of shit like bayonetta 1 and i even like three
56:55
more i didn't like i don't know what happened
56:57
with two i just don't enjoy i don't i don't enjoy
57:00
replaying it i think it was good for the time
57:02
i just don't enjoy it anymore is that like the
57:05
is that like the wii u curse was that was that
57:09
was that the way you want his yeah it was I've
57:14
actually, I've thought about this in depth, actually.
57:17
I feel like if you just want character action
57:21
combat done well, Bayonetta 1 is the game. Bayonetta
57:25
2, however, it is like, it's a set piece roller
57:29
coaster. And the combat gets dumbed down. In
57:33
exchange, you get more ridiculous set pieces.
57:36
What do you think of 3, though? I like 3 a lot,
57:38
even though it's kind of like all over the place.
57:41
I like 3 more than 2 still. I don't know. I kind
57:45
of struggled through three, but I think it could
57:47
also possibly potentially been like the performance
57:50
putting me off, you know? I mean, you can play
57:52
it on Switch 2 and all. Yeah, I finished it on
57:55
Switch 2, but it was such a big gap from when
57:57
I started that I couldn't remember most of what
58:00
I did. But the story was weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
58:10
one is still my favourite one. there's there's
58:13
a magic in that there's a magic in that team
58:15
it's well it's in that there's a magic in that
58:18
period right there's that and there's vanquish
58:20
and and there was some there was some fairy dust
58:23
there for a little while speaking fairy dust
58:26
my last uh game actually it's a pair of games
58:29
two games same series came out on the same day
58:33
in different years um they they picked a day
58:37
and they they stuck to it Deus Ex Human Revolution,
58:40
15 years old, and Mankind Divided, 10 years old.
58:46
Really bums me out to think about these games
58:48
because I think they're absolutely brilliant.
58:55
Now, Mankind Divided is only half a game, but
58:57
that's another problem. Half's a bit unkind.
59:00
It's probably two -thirds. I really, really,
59:06
really love those games. And I just don't understand
59:09
how we're not in a world where they're still
59:11
making them. I don't understand anything that
59:15
happened with Square Enix's Western Divisions.
59:18
They made quite good games consistently and then
59:22
got thrown to the shitter for like 320 million.
59:26
I just don't understand any of that, any of what
59:29
happened there. And I assume, I genuinely don't
59:31
know because I don't keep up with the Canadian.
59:34
dev community very much. But I assume there's
59:36
nothing going on with this now. I assume that
59:38
what is left of Eidos Montreal is just grinding
59:41
out on the Tomb Raider games that are coming
59:44
out. And obviously Eidos Montreal, they're doing
59:50
most of the legwork on Grounded as well, Grounded
59:54
2 with Obsidian. But it's just a bummer. Especially
59:58
I look at Mankind Divided and I'm like... that's
1:00:01
got to be one of the bigger bag fumbles because
1:00:03
they built such a good um base with human revolution
1:00:09
and that felt like the sort of base that you
1:00:12
could have a really big second game off but then
1:00:16
the second game they had devs building like shitty
1:00:21
i don't say shitty it's quality it's fine but
1:00:24
it's irrelevant like no one talks about the roguelike
1:00:27
mode they did for that game right where I don't
1:00:30
remember fully what it was, but there was a mode
1:00:36
that was completely outside the story mode where
1:00:39
you would basically do tiny, tiny bite -sized
1:00:41
missions. And I feel like they even had... The
1:00:43
idea was, as I recall it, that it was going to
1:00:46
be game service -ish stuff of like, oh, this
1:00:50
is something we can update. We can keep releasing
1:00:52
levels for it. And I just look at between that
1:00:55
and... executive producer level people from square
1:00:58
enix meddling at idus which i know happened from
1:01:02
people who i know who worked on the game you
1:01:04
know you know one thing that the the most memorable
1:01:06
part of mankind divided is that was the game
1:01:08
where they did that augment your pre -order where
1:01:11
you can pay more to get it early and everyone
1:01:13
tore them a new one but now every single game
1:01:15
just has that by default like no one bats and
1:01:18
i it's just paying like that was another thing
1:01:21
is the worst yeah yeah it was it was but i feel
1:01:25
like it's just it's awful with like sports games
1:01:28
now which are like a week early forza does this
1:01:31
as well i guess i guess this is microsoft's way
1:01:33
of monetizing the game pass user base because
1:01:36
people aren't paying for games so you got to
1:01:38
make them pay for something and no one goes back
1:01:40
to play those horizon expansions like everyone
1:01:42
just pays to play early like they did it for
1:01:45
halo campaign evolved as well so that that is
1:01:48
that's just funny that is the thing about it's
1:01:51
like there was a lot of that around because with
1:01:53
human revolution they had a they had a really
1:01:57
solid base from which they could they could grow
1:02:02
and it felt like that was exactly the sort of
1:02:04
game where you could have a really explosive
1:02:06
sequel but to put it another way human revolution
1:02:10
felt like it could have been a witcher 2 and
1:02:13
if you let a studio cook after a game like that
1:02:15
you can get a witcher for it but instead of letting
1:02:17
the studio cook they meddled they crowbarred
1:02:21
in loads of really shitty um anti -consumer pre
1:02:25
-order stuff modes that weren't needed and if
1:02:28
they just let that team make a really good immersive
1:02:31
sim and actually finish the game because mankind
1:02:35
divided has a really weird thing going on where
1:02:37
the example i'd use is if i'm trying to think
1:02:40
of an appropriate example say ocarina of time
1:02:42
right you go around you do all the dungeons and
1:02:46
then you and then you go back to the Temple of
1:02:50
Time, and then Ganon kidnaps Zelda, and then
1:02:55
that kicks you into the endgame. And so you could
1:02:58
almost view Act 1 of Ocarina of Time is the kid
1:03:02
stuff, Act 2 is the adult Link doing the dungeons,
1:03:04
and then Act 3 is the end, where you do the final
1:03:09
dungeon and all the final stuff, mop -up, etc.
1:03:12
Mankind Divided is like a game that ends after
1:03:14
the second act. Or it's like if in Mass Effect
1:03:17
2, you recruited everyone and then when you're
1:03:20
ready to, and then you have one last boss before
1:03:23
you go through the Omega 4 relay and then the
1:03:26
game ends and you don't actually go through the
1:03:28
Omega 4 relay. It's like, see you next time.
1:03:30
That's what Mankind Divided's ending is like.
1:03:32
It's crazy. But it's really sad because the game
1:03:35
up to that point is really, really good. And
1:03:38
that really impacted the scores, which really
1:03:40
impacted the perception, which really impacted
1:03:42
the whole thing. It's a great shame. I look back
1:03:46
15 years from Human Revolution, like I say, 10
1:03:49
since Mankind Divided. Not all the talent, but
1:03:52
much of the talent that made those games has
1:03:53
scattered to the winds. It does feel like another
1:03:56
one of those games isn't going to happen anytime
1:03:58
soon. And it's just a total bummer. One last
1:04:02
thing on this topic I will say. Hbomberguy, the
1:04:05
YouTuber, has a truly, truly excellent essay
1:04:10
on Human Revolution about why... it's special
1:04:13
even though it's sort of messed up at the same
1:04:15
time because it is a bit of a messy game um yeah
1:04:19
but 10 and 10 and 10 and 15 years old those pair
1:04:23
which does make me feel old because those are
1:04:24
both games i reviewed also i don't know there
1:04:28
must have been another game and i've got a feeling
1:04:30
that the answer is going to be like mist did
1:04:31
it or something like that but the director's
1:04:33
cut of human revolution on wii u and they later
1:04:36
ported all this stuff to other platforms one
1:04:38
of the first games i remember to have like dvd
1:04:40
commentary stuff where you could turn it on and
1:04:42
it was like icons you could walk up to in the
1:04:44
world and interact with it and then you'd hear
1:04:48
the voice of the director tell you about how
1:04:50
they made that bit of the game which i think
1:04:52
is a really cool feature that i'd like to see
1:04:54
more of you can probably tell if you're on video
1:04:57
at least i think on audio you're not gonna be
1:04:58
able to tell any difference because that's the
1:05:00
magic of audio but if you're on the video version
1:05:02
you can probably tell this has been a bit of
1:05:03
a chaotic week in terms of the connection working
1:05:07
and stuff like that and tom is probably going
1:05:08
to say that everything's broken because he wasn't
1:05:10
here um which is not true because he doesn't
1:05:13
he's he's not the glue that holds us together
1:05:16
technically just emotionally um but yeah we're
1:05:20
gonna cut it there uh very very abruptly um brains
1:05:24
thank you very much finger guns mikhail thank
1:05:29
you dude yeah Yeah. I feel like you're going
1:05:34
to have so much more. I am. I am. Well, you know,
1:05:39
it'll be fine. But yeah, we will be back next
1:05:42
week with I Will Be At Home, not with this terrible
1:05:46
connection. So we will have a more traditional
1:05:48
episode. Until next time, everyone. See ya.