In short
Pricing and hardware shakeups in gaming, centered on GTA 6’s $80 base price and the “$80 ceiling,” plus discussion of console pricing, Steam Machine reviews, and Steam Next Fest demo highlights.
Guests
Justin Davis (IGN host/producer; co-discusses pricing strategy and Steam Machine appeal; shares Steam Deck/PC gaming preferences and Next Fest picks). Mark Medina (IGN contributor; focuses on GTA 6 pricing implications, digital/physical edition concerns, and console/Steam Machine audience fit).
Key claims
- GTA 6 will cost $80 (base) and analysts argue it’s the practical ceiling; even GTA won’t push higher.
- “Ultimate”/premium editions add digital extras and may lock access to certain in-game shops/buildings, creating a “closed doors” precedent.
- Physical GTA 6 copies may contain only a download slip (no disc), reducing used-game value and consumer choice.
- Steam Machine is well-designed but too expensive for its performance; audience is unclear versus PS5/Xbox and DIY PCs.
- Xbox Series S/X prices have risen again, making the value proposition worse.
Notable examples
- Comparisons to Nintendo $80 pricing (Fire Emblem) and other $80 titles (Mario Kart World).
- Digital extras vs “digital collector’s editions” and “upgrade to deluxe” prompts.
- Steam Next Fest demos: Re-story, Cozy Game Restoration, About Fishing, Corsair Cove, plus Arcane Eats and Desktop Explorer.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOGTA 6 Pricing Insights
0:00 to 0:48
Discussion on the pricing of GTA 6 and market implications.
“Lately, I've been using Quince more and more to find clothing that feels easy, comfortable, and still put together.”
GTA 6 Pricing Insights
0:54 to 1:08
Discussion on the pricing of GTA 6 and market implications.
“That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash GameScoop for free shipping and 365 day returns.”
GTA 6 Pricing Insights
1:24 to 1:51
Discussion on the pricing of GTA 6 and market implications.
“This is usually a pretty fun show, so this will be a test.”
Understanding Edition Pricing
1:51 to 3:48
Exploring the tiers of pricing for GTA 6 and consumer reactions.
“I think there was some speculation of like, would they do$70?”
The $80 Pricing Ceiling Analysis
3:48 to 7:48
Analysis of what GTA 6's pricing means for future game pricing trends.
“Almost didn't make it out this generation.”
Physical Copies and Download Codes
7:48 to 11:16
Debate over physical copies of games and the implications of download codes.
“That's why I reckon most publishers will, correctly, stick to a$70 base with$80 to$100 premium edition layered on top, early access, a few cosmetic perks and stuff.”
Consumer Impact of Digital Games
11:16 to 14:00
Discussing the ongoing shift towards digital games and its effect on consumers.
“But like if I were a consumer, I would probably pay the hundred bucks for it because it seems like it'll be worth it.”
The Shift to Digital Games and Consumer Expectations
14:00 to 19:32
Discussing the implications of physical game box purchases without discs and the digital download era.
“A lot of people will be buying these physical boxes for themselves and for gifts at Christmas.”
Exploring the Steam Machine: Pros and Cons
19:32 to 25:36
Analysis of the Steam Machine's design, performance, and market positioning amidst hardware constraints.
“We liked it, but most, most critics did not really not, not as much as me, not as us as IGN.”
The Evolution of Gaming Consoles and Market Trends
25:36 to 28:05
Examining the development of gaming consoles and the relevance of Steam Machines in today's market.
“I have an account with the Epic Games Store, so it's like I don't want to just be locked to Steam.”
Show all 27 chapters
The Evolution of Gaming Consoles
28:05 to 29:24
Discussing the transition from PC games to modern gaming consoles like PS5.
“Like unless it's an indie dev that just launched their game on Steam just because it's the easiest thing to do.”
The Evolution of Gaming Consoles
29:25 to 30:21
Discussing the transition from PC games to modern gaming consoles like PS5.
“When I'm traveling, I find that learning a few real phrases in the local language really changes the experience in a good way.”
Steam Next Fest Highlights
31:26 to 38:48
Sharing exciting demos and games showcased during Steam Next Fest.
“To lighten things up a little bit, Steam Next Fest continues, and Justin has some highlights from Steam Next Fest.”
Steam Next Fest Highlights
38:49 to 40:05
Sharing exciting demos and games showcased during Steam Next Fest.
“Well, I think the Steam summer sale is now going, so.”
Steam Next Fest Highlights
40:11 to 40:31
Sharing exciting demos and games showcased during Steam Next Fest.
“Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash gamescoop.”
Steam Next Fest Highlights
40:32 to 41:48
Sharing exciting demos and games showcased during Steam Next Fest.
“Starting or growing your own business can be intimidating and lonely at times.”
Bungie's Layoffs and Destiny's Future
42:00 to 45:55
Discussion of Bungie's recent layoffs and the uncertain future of Destiny.
“Over at PlayStation, huge, massive layoffs at Bungie.”
Xbox Price Increases and Console Market Analysis
45:55 to 50:58
Analysis of Xbox price increases and the implications for the gaming market.
“And just the regular-ass launch Xbox Series X with one terabyte is$800.”
Future of Game Consoles and Subscription Models
50:58 to 55:19
Exploration of potential subscription models for future game consoles and ownership concerns.
“actually it's going to be$19 a month for, you know, two or three years.”
Listener Check-In and Gaming on Tablets
56:52 to 58:03
The hosts discuss listener emails and recommend games for tablets.
“Listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address, gamescoop at IGN.com.”
Game Recommendations for Touchscreen Play
58:03 to 1:00:09
The hosts suggest various games that work well on tablets.
“Bloons is like the one where like, man, that game's so underrated and so good, and I played it a lot on my iPad.”
Video Game 20 Questions Begins
1:00:09 to 1:01:26
The hosts initiate a game of 20 Questions centered around video games.
“All right, that brings us to Video Game 20 Questions.”
Guessing the Video Game
1:01:26 to 1:04:14
The hosts ask questions to uncover the video game suggested by a listener.
“It's like 50 % the fish tacos and then 50 % everything else.”
Continuing the Game: In-depth Discussion
1:04:14 to 1:10:03
The hosts delve deeper into questions about the video game in 20 Questions.
“Was this game developed or published by Playtonic?”
Guessing Game: Identifying the Mystery Game
1:10:03 to 1:18:44
Participants engage in a guessing game to identify a mystery game through hints and questions.
“Let's figure out how you, when you attack, are you using, um, is it primarily melee?”
Revealing the Game: Toy Story 3
1:18:44 to 1:18:56
The mystery game is revealed to be Toy Story 3, surprising the players.
“I know that there's a well-liked, like, Toy Story, like, I think PS1 era, like, Toy Story tie-in game that people are secretly like, yeah, this game's all right.”
Discussion on Toy Story 3 and Game Nostalgia
1:18:56 to 1:20:16
The hosts discuss Toy Story 3 and reminisce about nostalgic games.
“The complete edition is coming this year.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Justin Davis:Lately, I've been using Quince more and more to find clothing that feels easy, comfortable, and still put together. It just makes getting dressed simpler. Stuff that looks sharp, feels good, and things I'll actually wear. For me, that's Quince. Quince linen pants and shirts are the perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your rotation, starting at just$34. Their tees are soft, and their lightweight cotton sweaters are perfect for cooler summer nights. Everything at Quince is priced 50-80 % less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup.
0:30Justin Davis:Quince goes way beyond clothing. Custom-of-folstered sofas, ceramic cookware, premium bedding. It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything. I recently picked up a weatherproof utility tote bag from Quince, and it has replaced the previous backpack I was using every day. The bag looks great and protects my stuff in any weather. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash gamescoop for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash GameScoop for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince dot com slash GameScoop.
1:07Justin Davis:What's up, everybody? Welcome to IGN GameScoop. I'm your host, Damon Hadfield, and joining me this week are Justin Davis. Scoop! And Mark Medina. I'm here, Damon. Thank you. Thank you for being here, Mark. We've got a great show for you this week. In spite of the fact that it's kind of bummer news to talk about this week, This is usually a pretty fun show, so this will be a test. Can we keep things fun and lighthearted in the light of kind of bummer news? Because we've got the Steam Machine out and reviews out. It's very expensive. We've got price hikes yet again for the Xbox. The Xbox is very, very expensive now.
1:41Justin Davis:But first, GTA 6. We know how much that will cost. Finally, at long last, GTA 6 coming later this year in November, priced at$80. Yeah, I mean, I think... Yeah, I think it was. I think there was some speculation of like, would they do$70? Would they do 80? Maybe they would go nuts and go even higher. But like, realistically, when Nintendo's charging$80 for Fire Emblem Fortune's weave, it was probably pretty safe to assume that that GTA, the base edition of GTA would also be$80. Yeah. Yeah. Mario Kart World was also 80 bucks. Yeah, and ostensibly there'll probably be more content and things to do in GTA 6 than in Mario Kart World.
2:24Justin Davis:Just a few things. Some people thought maybe they'd go for$70 because they want to get as many people in there and into GTA Online as possible. But in the end, some analysts thought they could get away with charging$100. They went with$80. But I think that's interesting. One way to look at it is that that is the absolute ceiling. And even GTA does not dare to try and break the$80 ceiling. Yeah, they had or we talked about this on the show last week or two weeks ago of like the opposite could have also been true. If GTA was 70, no game would have been able to get away with 80 again. I don't know.
2:59I think it's fine. I mean, I think what you were alluding to a second ago, Mark, was that some people are a little bit, you know, there's some negative sentiment around the$100 edition, the ultimate edition, and that it gives you character customization and some vehicles and gives you access to some shops with cosmetic items and stuff like that for an additional$20. You get these digital in-game extras, and that's made people a little upset. I have seen people upset about it, but I've also seen a lot of people being like, it's a once-in-a-generation kind of game. Like,$100 is nothing. I'll spend that on Grand Theft Auto, because we don't know when we're going to get the next one.
3:40Justin Davis:I mean, it's more than a once-in-a-generation game because a new GTA skips last generation. It's a once-in-two-generations game. It really is. Almost didn't make it out this generation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think it bothers me either, not necessarily for that reason because it's generational, but just, you know, like, you know, I don't want to concern police anybody. Like, you know, I certainly don't need to defend Rockstar Games. They're big boys and girls. They'll be all right. but it's like it's just my personal perspective for me it just doesn't bother me because um it just doesn't seem that different like we've seen digital collector's editions often come with you know yeah you get an outfit and you get a new sealed and shield and you get a different sword and you get two different hairstyles and you know we're gonna charge you 10 bucks for that and like gta just feels like that that's what it feels like to me um but to paraphrase some of their arguments it's like well when it's a single player only game and there's certain shops that you can't go in that are just closed if you don't have this collector's edition that maybe it sets a little bit of a bad or weird precedent of you know what if i want to go get lucy's nails done and i can't because they only bought the base edition of the game but i don't i don't to me it doesn't feel that different than like the digital collector's edition in crimson desert or like i mean you know any video game basically yeah what what a lot of games do that I like, which is if you buy it for 80 bucks, that tab will still exist.
5:05Every time you launch the game, it'll show, you know, on, on PS five, I don't know what it looks like on Xbox, but on the bottom right, it'll be like upgrade to deluxe. So I think, I think it's totally fine to jump in, play 80 bucks, you know, pay your$80, get the game. And if you're like, you know what? Nah, I can't live without the extra thing. Then, then pay the 20 bucks and then you'll get access. It's not like, it's not like it's one or another and you've made that decision forever. Yeah, that's true. And I think, you know, GTA, you know, none of us have seen it and played it, but based off the description, it sounds like they integrated these digital extras into the game in a really diegetic way, right?
5:40Like it's not other games. Sometimes like you buy this digital collector's edition or, you know, ultimate edition, whatever you want to call it. And a thing pops up and says, you know, thank you for buying this edition of the game. Your cosmetic items have been sent to your stash, right? And then you go recruit, you could just get them from your stash. Whereas in GTA, they did something that's more clever and more cool, in my opinion, and smarter of like, you know, these shops and these NPCs and go customize your truck and go do this. You just can't enter those buildings if you don't have the ultimate edition.
6:10So on the one hand, it's more immersive and kind of more clever, but then that's part of what makes it feel worse that like there's these closed doors that you just can't go in if you don't have that addition compared to just something popping up and items appearing in your inventory feels like maybe that's a little bit easier to ignore you don't feel like you're you know
6:30Justin Davis:second class if you don't have that item yeah yeah i would agree with that some people are wondering now does this open up the floodgates for 80 games and there's a quote from reese elliott he's head of market analysis at alinea analytics this is a good quote but it's a little long, so bear with me here. He says, GTA 6 has more pricing power than any game on Earth, and it still didn't go above$80. If the biggest release in the industry's history looked at the ceiling and chose not to break it, that should tell everyone else the ceiling is real, and they'll smack their head on it. The danger is that publishers read GTA is$80 as a green light and push their own run-of-the-mill or new IP games to$80, when the lesson is the opposite.
7:08Justin Davis:Even GTA didn't think it could go higher. The handful of publishers who can charge$80 base share one trait, a captive price inelastic audience that won't shop around or wait for a discount. That's why Nintendo gets away with it. Its players are locked in. First party, famously discount averse. PlayStation could probably manage it on a marquee first party title. From Software has the brand strength to do it, even if they've historically priced more modestly than they could. Elden Ring is$80 on Switch though. Maybe the big yearly sports games as well. Final paragraph. Almost nobody else has that.
7:39Justin Davis:For everyone else, the maths is brutal. It's always adorable when British people say maths. is brutal and that raising your base to$80 just sheds the price-sensitive buyers you can't afford to lose in this economy. That's why I reckon most publishers will, correctly, stick to a$70 base with$80 to$100 premium edition layered on top, early access, a few cosmetic perks and stuff. That model lets the FOMO-prone superfans pay more for early access while everyone else pays$70 or waits for the inevitable discount. You capture the whales without raising the floor on the people most likely to walk. Yeah, I would agree with that.
8:12I mean, I would maybe sum that up as like, you know, it's not necessarily a signal of just, oh, every game is going to be$80 now. But it's a signal that, you know, yeah, like like this analyst said, you know, GTA has been, you know, it's got an unlimited budget and unlimited time and money to make whatever game they want to make. And they're charging 80 for it. So like that it makes the price comparisons to, you know, Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave look less favorable in the other direction. right when when these kind of um i certainly don't want to describe them as worse or lesser games but um you know smaller in scope games are are also trying to charge that price yeah yeah i mean i think people will speak with their wallets they always have we saw it with outer worlds 2 i believe that game was supposed to be 70 and then they changed it and made it 60 because they kind of saw that people weren't going to pay that for that game uh i i agree with justin that i think what they'll keep doing is something like sorrows which was 70 bucks or 80 if you want to pay it play it two days earlier just to give them that it's something xbox has been doing for a long time to kind of get rid of that uh day one on game pass thing where it's like if you pay 80 for forza you can you know play it five days early or something like that i think that's where they'll continue but if they want to go the the crazy route of paying 80 bucks they need to be okay with it selling fewer copies.
9:36I love the, uh, I love the hoops that these companies go through to like, you know, they call it like get the game, get access to the game on day negative three on day negative five. And it used to drive Dan Stapleton crazy. Like, like, no, your game is out. And they're like, no, it's not. It comes out next week. And he's like, no, it is out now you can download and buy it and play it. Like, so, but just the, the mental gymnastics of like, you're like it's not that everyone else is playing on day five they're playing on day one you're just playing on day negative five yeah well it also doesn't help that they call it early access so then when you play something like slay the spire 2 you're okay with a lot of the art being hand drawn or maybe there's a bug or there's no actual final boss because you're like oh it's fine it's early access but like when you get something like a forza people get confused because you're like oh i fell through the world and they're like well it's still an early access and it's like no it's not that kind of no i just have early access it's not in early access there is a difference yeah i do like maybe you're about to get into this statement but like with the stuff that they announced about gta like you know i'm not really like a digital extras kind of guy normally um but like i think it looks really cool like i really like all the retro stuff um all the callbacks to you know just classic vice city like it all seemed very well done and you know it made me I haven't decided which edition I'm going to get, but it may be more interested in that fancy edition than I would normally be.
11:03I am part of the crew that it's a once in a generation game. I'll pay a hundred bucks. I mean, I understand that I also work for IGN on the guides team. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what I pay. But like if I were a consumer, I would probably pay the hundred bucks for it because it seems like it'll be worth it. If you want to do that whole like time, you know, dollars per hour thing, which I hate, but some people do. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, how many like how many millions would Rockstar make a billion dollars if they said, no, the hundred dollar edition gets to play the game three days early.
11:39Like everyone on the planet would have played it, paid it. Right. Yeah. Yes. What? And we actually don't know for sure if that's still not a thing or not. It could be. I guess we'll find out. because there's this weird thing that a lot of people uh i i'm seeing on social media where they're saying and i know we're going to talk about the prices of the consoles and stuff a little bit later but um they're saying we you should buy the xbox version because the xbox version will get a day early because on xbox is very easy to just go to new zealand uh change your console to new zealand you get a whole 24 hours early and so that is you know for streamers and stuff like that that want to be there day one, it could be a thing.
12:21But, Mark, it's going to play best on PS5. That's what I heard.
12:24Justin Davis:I heard, and then it went away, and then it came back. Well, that leads into our next topic, because I think it's one of the signs that the biggest game of all time will not be available on a disc. Yes. If you buy the physical edition, what you're buying is an empty game case that has a download slip inside, which is, I mean, you know, Alamike 2 did that. It's not completely unprecedented. It is sad on a couple of different levels. Like just on a consumer, like look, yes, we work for IGN, but we're also video game fans and video game players first. And like that means that you can't sell the game used for what it's worth.
13:05Like that download code gets redeemed. And so it completely nukes any used game sales for GTA 6, which, you know, feels pretty bad. Like that's removing consumer choice. Like part of the thing about video games is that it's a fungible asset that like you can turn back into money if you want to. And like, to be clear, take two, it does not care. Game stop is pissed. Take two is glad that every copy you have to buy from them. Yeah. Why just like, you know, gamers should just feel bad, right? Like a physical video game that has a disc inside is worth more than a physical video game that doesn't. And not just because of the disc, but because you can turn that game back into cash if you wanted to or needed to.
13:47Justin Davis:Like so many people, I haven't bought a physical game in a long time. But I was surprised because GTA is about as mass market, as mainstream, as any video game could possibly be. And it will reach a lot of people in retail spots, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Costco. A lot of people will be buying these physical boxes for themselves and for gifts at Christmas. and I think a lot of them will be surprised to not find a disc inside. Yeah, I mean, the fact that it has to be downloaded, look, every year this becomes less and less of a thing, but we've been talking on GameScoop for like a decade. Not everybody has fast internet in their home, still to this day.
14:24And so for most video games, it probably doesn't matter that much because, Damon, to your point, anyone that's buying and playing AAA games, they're online enough to know there's going to be a day one patch or I have to download it or I have to do this or that. But like GTA is so mainstream and so mass market that it's kind of like, you know, it's the biggest thing on the planet. And so for the one thing of like they need maximal reach, right, that like that every single copy of the game, we don't know how many gigabytes it's going to be, but, you know, 100 or a ton, like they're all going to have to be downloaded by every user.
15:00That's intense. Yeah. that's why they've already announced the preload date because just like silksong which crashed the steam store they know that the servers are for for playstation xbox are are gonna go crazy i i saw a lot of discussions about this and i agree like not having a disc is is a bummer that's it's removing choice like we mentioned before um game preservation it's always a weird sticky thing because the person I saw made the post said, take any game, take Cyberpunk, and put it in your PS5. And don't have it hooked up to the internet and explain to me how that's game preservation.
15:37You're getting a broken day one version of the game that's completely messed up, right? You need those patches. And so owning that game physically isn't game preservation when it is required to have the internet to be able to play the real version of Cyberpunk. so unless you already have the patches downloaded and that's also you picked an example of a game that was shit at launch like what about a game that was like you know functional at launch and didn't you know didn't need you know years worth of patches yeah i mean every game gets patches sure yeah yeah not always well in spite of everything we're talking about i am getting
16:16Justin Davis:excited for gta 6 i hell yeah i'm not the biggest fan of gta 5 but i love vice city and everything everything is, is getting me really stoked for six. No, I completely, I mean, even just from a, I am a GTA guy and I'm an open world guy. I really liked four and five. Um, uh, but like, even if you're not, even if it's not your thing, just from a, I talked about it a little bit earlier, just from like a cultural commentary level of like, they have like, there's, there's no other piece of commercial art on the planet that they had unlimited time and unlimited money to make whatever they wanted just to make this thing.
16:51Like no movie has ever been like that. No other game has ever been like that. Just unlimited budget. Like, and that fascinates me so much just from a, just from a creative pursuit standpoint. Even if, you know, even if, even if like, you know, the story that they're telling or whatever, the type of gameplay doesn't appeal to you. Like, I'm just, I'm just fascinated by it as a, as just a piece of, just as a thing that exists. I also oh sorry go ahead I love cultural moments and this you know Pokemon Go was a cultural moment, Barbenheimer and then every time there's console releases those are cultural moments and this is one we're getting one this year and that's always exciting yeah it's so fun like you know we just like the monoculture and this is probably for the best that there is not a monoculture anymore whatever you're into you know you can find a little community of people that are into the same thing.
17:44But it's still nice when there's something. It's just hype. It feels like this kind of old school thing. And also, I mean, the game was handmade. The game was not made with AI, right? Like this big handcrafted world where every single object in every single store and home and all the dashboards on the cars and just all that stuff was made by people. I don't know, man. It might be kind of like the last of its kind.
18:10Justin Davis:Yeah. I do kind of miss, maybe this is the boomer in me, but I do kind of miss the monoculture. It's like, yeah, a celebrity will pass away and everybody's sad. And I'm like, I've literally never heard of this person before in my entire life. How is this possible? Anyway. Yeah. I like, I mean, midnight launches, all that stuff, right? Like, you know, look, it is nostalgia. Like we're not like, it's better that you don't need to go to a midnight launch and that you can just preload and download the game and play it like undeniably. But like that doesn't mean that there wasn't, you know, something that was lost in the transition.
18:43Yeah. Yep. I get a lot of TikToks where it's like buying a PS2 on launch day. And it's like people have that footage of them sitting in line and or going to the Halo 3 release date. I'm like, yeah, I did that launch. And I'm like, man, me too. I worked at it was called Game Crazy, but it was it was part of Hollywood video type deal before they all went down. and I worked there when Halo 3 and GTA 4 came out.
19:10Justin Davis:And those were really fun times. We used to cover them on IGN. I think it was Halo 3 as we went down to the GameStop at Union Square in San Francisco. Cover the midnight launches. Bring back midnight launches. Yeah. Yeah.
19:31Justin Davis:Okay. Let's move on to the Steam Machine. Our review is out this week. we gave it an eight out of 10. We liked it, but most, most critics did not really not, not as much as me, not as us as IGN. I just refer to myself as IGN. Now, is that normal? Just, just considering just the machine itself. It is a very, um, it's a very like appealing. It's very well designed and it's cool. It's so small and it works well, but that price is like, whoof. Yeah. And it leaves me wondering who the audience really is because it's about the same level of power as a PS5, but more expensive than a PS5. Yeah. I mean, a little bit slightly less powerful than a PS5.
20:11Yeah. It's somewhere between a Switch 2 and a PS5. Yeah. I mean, the whole promise and premise of the Steam machine was, you know, it is a PC, plays PC games, and you can install your own software on it and your own operating system on it. But giving you a more console-like experience of it's portable and you can plug it into a television or a monitor and it'll just go right. And it's small and quiet. Um, but then that's so undercut by, you know, we're in this hardware component crisis and then this device value even said it, it's like, you know,$300 more. So they didn't say this exact quote, but like they implied that it's caught, it costs about 300 more than they really wanted it to.
20:49And so that's a bummer. And you have to take that into consideration when you're, when you're a consumer. So who's it for? I mean, you're exactly right, Damon. Like it's, uh, it's, it's not for the hardcore because they'll just build their own PC or buy a more powerful one for$1 ,500 or whatever, but it's not really for the casual audience either because they're probably better served buying a game console instead. Yeah. It's for the people who want to play PC games and want that on their entertainment center and not a big mid ATX RGB thing, heating up your living room. Computers are hot. There is an underrated, and that's something that we talked about in our review, of the small form factor and the vents.
21:33It's actually the B-rolls matched up perfectly. The way that this thing vents out hot air is – my PS5, it cannot go in my entertainment center. It overheats and turns off. It has to sit outside of it. And the Steam Machine is kind of custom-built to – you actually can put it in there. It'll be fine. Go into a little cubbyhole. And so some of the arguments of like, you know, you could build a computer that's way more powerful for less money and who cares if it's a tower, just put it next to your entertainment center. I'm like, that doesn't, that's a little bit disingenuous because, yes, like, yes, that is true, right?
22:10Like, you can build a more powerful computer for the same amount or for less money, but it will be bigger and that does matter. Like, not everybody wants that in their living room. yeah my house is set up in a way where the big ugly electronics are in the offices and the living room is like the aesthetic you know we watch movies there and stuff but it's got the the entertainment center and stuff and i i don't want a giant rgb giant computer in my sitting in my living room it i don't i don't want that yeah i mean this thing is 1050 dollars what a bummer without a controller. Without a controller.
22:50It's wild. Luckily, you can use any controller, but it won't be a Steam controller. And that's for the 512 gig. Yeah, the smaller model, but$1 ,350 for the version with more storage and no controller. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot. Hey, that was a GameStar controller. I want one of those, too. That thing looks awesome. Eric Song's always talking about how good they are. Yeah, he likes them a lot.
23:15Justin Davis:I love my Steam Deck. I use my Steam Deck every day. It's not like a huge runaway success. I think they sold like 5 million units, but it's like a modest success for Valve that isn't traditionally a hardware company, and I think people that own their Steam Decks really like them. But this I don't really see taking off like that. There's an element of like, look, hopefully this hardware component crisis isn't going to last forever. I hope this isn't just the new normal for the rest of our life, but it's certainly going to last like the next year or two or three. And so, like, I think I mean, whatever, everyone's entitled to like or not like whatever they want.
23:55And everyone's score is their own. And I read some other reviews and, you know, the positive reviews and the negative reviews were both well justified. But I think some of the more negative takes on the steam machine are a little bit in denial about like, dude, like sticks of RAM costs like three hundred and fifty dollars now. like this is just this is just what like you know the ps5 pro is 900 and you know like the ps6 and helix and all these game consoles like this is just what things cost now and you don't have to like it but that's it's become the new normal and and i don't really i mean that's that's kind of it like that's kind of just the my whole the whole statement yeah i there was something you said earlier that i i was gonna somewhat question but without having done any research which is that you can build a pc that is more capable and cheaper or around this price and i actually don't know if that's true because ram and hard drives are crazy expensive yes not at all in this form factor but if you don't oh definitely not this form factor i'm talking about even if you didn't care about form factor to build something like this jackie did it i mean it's not it's not like it's not like a one-to-one the exact same components and exact same power and price but like for roughly the same price you can build something that's like this but it just doesn't look like this sure yeah yeah so you know that was her justification for the eight which i thought was well argued but um you know we were we were we were definitely one of the higher reviews most hardware reviewers say look this thing's too expensive and too uh weak for what you get for your money yeah i would i would mostly agree with that neither of you are getting one no no because i'm a big fan of steam os as well but like i use my steam deck exclusively for indies and stuff like that like and when i even say indies i i don't even mean i mean like card games you know slay the spire bellachro vampire survivors like i've been playing a lot of risk of rain 2 and i don't even really like risk of rain 2 on steam deck because you have to do too much like that's more of a traditional shooter and i i don't like that i'll play megabonk because i don't have to i don't have to pull the trigger so i'm just using the sticks um so no and then especially with steam os 3.8 which makes it where you can turn any computer into a steam machine yeah i don't see an appeal for for this little guy and i know i'm aware with the steam machine you can install again it's a pc you can install whatever you want on it but i also decided i'm not getting one because it is steam os out of the box and i i what i decided i'm going to do instead is my gaming pc is too old to use it as a 1070 in it and so it's like it's finally like i'm like oh and so i decided i'm just going to bite the bullet and buy an actual gaming pc instead because the windows um like i need to be able to install battle.net and lord of the rings online and install other stuff and not be 100 locked into steam even if even if 90 of my pc gaming is going to be in steam yeah yep i'm the i'm the same way uh you try to launch because i i have a gaming pc hooked up to this tv it's got a 5070 ti it's a very capable computer and i was like what if because they just announced 3.8 and i was like what if i turn that into a steam machine like i just turn it on and it just boots up right into steam that sounds great uh but then like yeah we don't especially being at IGN, we get PC codes for Ubisoft Connect and GOG and stuff like that.
27:28I have an account with the Epic Games Store, so it's like I don't want to just be locked to Steam. Even though, same, 90 % of my PC games are on Steam.
27:39Justin Davis:In the late 90s and early 2000s, there was this console announced called The Phantom. Mark, you may not even be aware of this. It was called The Phantom, and it was a Steam machine back then. It promised to be a box that you'd put, hook it on your TV, easy to set up, and it would play PC games like a console on your TV. And I was so excited for this thing because back then there were all sorts of PC games that didn't come to console. There were just PC games. But today that's not the case. Like unless it's an indie dev that just launched their game on Steam just because it's the easiest thing to do.
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28:16Justin Davis:Every game, you can just buy a PS5. It's cheaper. and every game, every AAA, third-party game you can play, plus the exclusives. So that's why I don't think it makes any sense. And a lot of games have controller support, like Slay the Spire 2 and stuff like that. Oh, there it is. There it is. I was so excited for this thing. What an appropriate name for a console like this. But it wasn't atrocious at the time. It's like, this is what game consoles, this Xbox 360 era. It was rad. I do remember when they did their big push for Steam Machines. where it was, it was the first time around. Anybody could make, yeah.
28:51Yeah. Whereas like anybody can make one and they were, they, they, you know, they were called that. Uh, but what I was going to say is like, when I watched Bo's review of the steam controller, he was like, I have this game that I think it was crusader Kings or whatever. He's like, and it needs a master keyboard. I tried playing it with the steam controller and it was awful. And I agree. Like, so that's where I also find the thing where I'm like, what exclusive steam games do I need that you'd still have to use a controller for. Yeah, I don't know. There he is. There's a handsome man.
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31:25All right.
31:26Justin Davis:To lighten things up a little bit, Steam Next Fest continues, and Justin has some highlights from Steam Next Fest. yeah dude it's my it's one of my favorite times of the year uh there's just demos of a bunch of really cool games um you know what okay one two that i think you'll like damon there's one called re-story where uh when i say there's two games there's two games that are about you know restoring and cleaning up uh kind of old electronics um cool and this one that we're looking at is called re-story and it's sort of like japanese themed i think it's in tokyo and i think it's like um day.
32:02Like I think it's like kind of historical and people bring in these old electronics and then you sort of clean them up and dust them off. And, um, the other one is called cozy game restoration and on the nose, but okay. Yeah. And cozy game restoration is the same where you're kind of taking old, like someone will hand you like a Sega Genesis cart and then you have to like really carefully peel like stickers off of it and kind of like uh you know yeah you're seeing the footage here just like these are these are scratching a similar because they had to come up with like fake games right yeah and so you're you're cleaning these games up and getting the crud off them with q-tips and stuff like that and it's it's scratching a similar itch as like a uh what do you call like a power wash simulator like that same vibe of like you know i really enjoyed both of these demos because, um, you know, work is a little bit stressful.
32:58And so it's fun and satisfying to just sort of like clean. Right. Um, and there actually is one more that is similar. Uh, oh my God, I forgot the name of it now. Uh, I, I, I want to play that restoration game. I followed two, uh, companies on Tik TOK.
33:18Justin Davis:It's the actual Atari logo they got on there. Oh yeah. uh the last one oh my god i feel so rude because i want to shout out these games because they're all indies but someone made basically it's it's like a 2d power wash simulator and i can't remember the name of it now but it's top down and 2d and then you run around and you know clean up parks and clean up things and that one was really cool but the other game i wanted to shout out was um it's called about fishing um and it has this kind of like retro ps1 maybe like late ps1 early ps2 era 3d graphics and it is a fishing game like the main thing you're doing in the demo is like you know you're going around and you're catching fish but it's very kind of like twin peaks like there's like a mystery and like everything is kind of weird and unsettling and you're meeting these npcs and talking to them and um you know kind of kind of trying to solve this like central mystery that's in the game um so it's really cool like the demo is really cool like my steam wish list just keeps getting longer and longer and longer as I'm like, all of these games are just so neat.
34:24Justin Davis:I see what you mean about the PlayStation 1 art style. It's obviously much, it's like higher fidelity, but it's very jagged polygons. And it's got that weird strobing thing that they used to do. It's hit me in the feels right now. Well, that's very in right now, right? Like we saw pixel art, like pixel art was gone. It was dead. And then as these kids that grew up with pixel art got into their 30s, you know, in forties and 20, you know, started making art of their own pixel art made a comeback. And now we're seeing the same with this PS one and PS two aesthetic as like kids that were eight when that was contemporary or now adults and are making commercial art.
34:59And now we're seeing it make a comeback. Um, and then I also want to shout out Corsair Cove, um, which is basically, it's like a pirate city builder, like pirate town builder, but what's cool about it. There's nothing that cool or special about it, except that like the pirate villages you make are really cool and vertical and these cool little like jagged mountains. And then you have to like build, you know, bridges that go from one area to the other. And so just the space that you're kind of building on is really, really neat. If you're watching the show, you're going to see a cool moment in the trailer here because I just watched it before the show.
35:37Like watch your town kind of like build up. You can just like place things on the side of cliffs and stuff like that. and i just think that's neat it looks like mad max like where they just kind of you know the water you know the water level dropped and so they just kind of built towns around the things that are left yeah i like it i just like the ramshackle you know sort of like uh you know pirates of the caribbean ramshackle pirate chaotic pirate town is just like a really cool aesthetic and that that's what really appeals to me about this game and this demo i actually haven't played yet but it's on my two playlist and it looked really cool.
36:16Then it comes from publisher hooded horse who has never made a video game that I didn't like. Nice. I have two. Okay. I played a black jacket. I don't know if that was necessarily a next best game.
36:28Justin Davis:I've been singing the phrases of black jacket. I love it. I played it during next best. Yeah. It's great. The full game is out. Oh, that's right. Okay. I think I just got confused because I saw I was, It was recommended to me during Next Fest, but it's a blackjack roguelike game with stellar voice acting. Yeah, it's very, very good. We're talking about you're playing blackjack in hell against people and having these conversations while you play and learning about your relationships with them. It's really, really good. But it's got that kind of like Slay the Spire stuff where it's like you're playing blackjack or you're playing blackjack, but then it'll have like this card exhaust or this card does this and whatever.
37:09it's very fun very fun so not an xfs game but a game people should uh check out yes the other one was arcane eats if you're a fan of slay the spire it's very much kind of in the same vein where it's it's kind of a cutie you're running a cafe and the people that they hurt you because they're complaining because their food took too long but other than that it's the same as slay the spire except for you're usually battling three enemies instead of just one uh and it's very much it's different enough from slay the spire for it to feel fresh and new but samey enough to know exactly what you're going into the the moment you start playing it it was very very fun that looks that was that was a good one this looks great i missed this one i have one more okay um there's a game called desktop explorer where uh it's sort of like a point and click adventure game and it's another one where there's a mystery you're trying to solve and it's kind of like psychological horror themed, but you're, you're using clues in the operating system, like, you know, opening the file explorer and finding some file and then finding a note that leads you to a website.
38:15And then the websites, you know, uh, uh, like really old and like nineties looking because this is like, like a windows 95 or maybe even older, like windows 3.1 like interface and oh that screen saver yeah so it's just it it's really really cool um and so uh that was another one that really stood out to me that is cool how long is next fest going it's over yeah it's over and so some of the demos are still there well they're coming like it's up to the developer right some are like you know next fest is over we're taking our demo down and then some and making them still available.
38:52Justin Davis:Got it. Well, I think the Steam summer sale is now going, so. Lord. Yeah. Brace yourselves.
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41:56Justin Davis:Bad news for both PlayStation and Xbox today. Yeah. Over at PlayStation, huge, massive layoffs at Bungie. This is not something we need to get super into We're not really a Destiny crew here But a couple interesting things Sony only bought Bungie four years ago Paid$3.6 billion Now already winding down Destiny I think they laid off most of the Destiny team The small team is still working on Marathon Which also is not, by all accounts, is a good game But has not been a huge hit Yeah, seeing the Destiny team basically shuttered was the biggest surprise to me. I thought it was going to be, you know, yeah, we have a smaller team now, blah, blah, blah.
42:38And it's like, nope, we, if you were to read this, you would assume that there will never be a Destiny 3, which is wild to me, wild. Yeah. Considering how successful Destiny 2 was. Marathon, yeah, it's tough because there's the new season starting and they're coming out with a PVE mode that I'm very excited about. It's kind of barred off from the rest of the PVP mode, but like they're doing things, I don't know. They're trying. I mean, you know, marathon is in, um, and this isn't going to sound like it. I do mean it as a positive, not a negative. Like they're clearly in a little bit of like desperation mode.
43:16Um, and so what I, what I mean about that being a positive is like, you know, they're taking big swings, right? They're like the game, they're like, let's try a PVE mode. It reminds me, and I, I saw this comparison online, so I can't take full credit for it, but like Fortnite didn't start as a battle royale game, right? It started as Fortnite saved the world. And then they're like, let's try a battle royale mode. And like, you know, if Marathon, you know, with with Destiny, the engine was famous for like being so inflexible that it was just almost impossible for the Bungie team to like make changes.
43:50Like, you know, they had to like rebuild the entire game to like, you know, move the location of like one item. And just like it was just really, really hard for them to build and iterate and try things. And so if they fixed that and got it right with Marathon, if they're able to kind of pivot and like, let's try a PVE mode, let's try this mode, let's try that mode. Like that actually is really encouraging and exciting to me. And like, I hope that they're given enough runway and time to sort of like see what sticks and see what the audience responds well to. Yeah. But what a management failure To buy this company for three point some billion dollars You're right, it's not been that many years, Damon To just flounder and then say, oops, I'm bad Especially since it's Bungie One of the most notable studios of all time The creator of Halo I think they're the greatest FPS developer ever
44:45Justin Davis:In terms of gunplay, I think they're completely unmatched in terms of the feel of their gunplay. Yep, I totally agree with that. But I feel like Bungie's whole history, I feel like there's never that very long a period where they aren't on their heels or something. Because they're independent in the 90s, they make Marathon, they get bought by Microsoft to bring Halo to Xbox, then they spend a long tenure at Xbox, but then they want out. I don't know what the story is. They were burnt out, they're unhappy under Xbox, whatever, they spin out, they're independent again, they make Destiny, then they make a deal with Activision.
45:19Justin Davis:It's a 10-year deal, but they dissolve that deal five years in. And then they publish Destiny 2 themselves. And then there's all this workplace harassment issue. That whole thing. And then they get purchased by Sony, and then four years later, got it. I don't know. A long-running developer that just seems to always be running into some kind of problem. Yeah. But speaking of Microsoft, over on their side, they have raised the price of Xbox again. For the third time, I think, in just over a year. So let me throw some crazy numbers out there now. A 512 gig Xbox Series S is now$500. Yeah. Yikes. And just the regular-ass launch Xbox Series X with one terabyte is$800.
46:07Justin Davis:I thought it was$750. Is it$800? That's the digital edition. That's the digital. Oh. Yeah. It's$800 now. That's crazy. What is this world? that we live in. When you, when you, when we talk about, when you look at this, you look at the Steam Deck, Switch 2 price goes up, PlayStation 5 price goes up, you start to think, is it over? Are video games over? Or maybe it's just time to reset while they sort this all out, let's all just play retro games for a while. Maybe we're just gonna play retro games for a while. Dude, I'm good. I like, I'll stick, I'm in, I'm in Factorio, man, just getting my conveyor belts.
46:45$800 for the regular Series X. that's that you know if you want to be able to put discs in it and like so but then that makes me think like the ps5 being 650 it's like yeah but for how long yeah yeah exactly yeah oh yeah they'll
46:59Justin Davis:definitely i mean the ps5 pro is now 900 yeah yeah which when you look at a value proposition right you'd compare the pro to the series x one terabyte digital because the ps5 pro is digital with the option to make it discs but i'm not gonna just give it to that but it's two terabytes this one's only one terabyte for the moment like look and i'm xbox first in my house i don't even i'm not even sure my ps5 is hooked up right now like i'm playing everything on xbox um but there is absolutely no reason to buy to buy this console the fact that it is it is it is 150 dollars more than the equivalent ps5 is is absolutely untenable like there's no reason there's no reason to buy it And that makes me sad as an Xbox fan.
47:50Like, you know, I want to root for them and I want them to do well.
47:53Justin Davis:Anyone who wants to play Gears of War E-Day already has an Xbox. So. Yeah. I mean, I understand that it's like needs must, right? Like if they're taking a bath on each console sold, they're doing what they have to do. But like they have to know. Like they're not dummies. Like they know that by doing this, like Xbox hardware sales are going to fall to a trickle, right? But they're already in a trickle. that's the crazy thing so i guess their rationale is like you know they'd rather sell that many fewer consoles than sell consoles at a loss or at that much of a loss i think what was always kind of strange to me is i thought okay well they're maybe they're just kind of washing their hands of the series platform and gearing up for helix but now there's so many rumors swirling that helix and ps6 are are much farther out than people think that they are well i think people were thinking that Helix was next year.
48:45And I'm not sure that that's the case anymore. I mean, they said 2027, but that may be changing. Yeah, maybe that's changed. Yeah. I mean, you know, the thing the thing about PlayStation, this is, you know, when you're in last place traditionally, and this is coming true with Xbox, you need to move first to launch the new console generation. You need to reset the board and have new, more powerful hardware and get a chance to, like, you know, excite your core fan base. Whereas if you're in first place, you want to slow down the console generations and you're in no rush. And so, you know, there's no PS six buzz yet.
49:18Whereas Xbox is kind of trying to get things going. so if Xbox delays the project helix, can they hold on for the two years or whatever, it'll take them to get a new console out the door. Yeah. I, I've also read a lot about them changing the strategy of what the helix ends up being, because when you think about it, the helix was supposed to be a hybrid pc xbox right but the steam machine just showed what a pc console type of deal is and and it's far weaker than what the the new platform should be and so the helix is set up right now to be a 2500 machine easily in my opinion so uh i they can't do that.
50:05They can't launch it for$2 ,500. That thing will sell a million in its life. So that's crazy. Yeah, maybe. I have a, I have a iPhone. What is it? Pro max, whatever the nice one is called. And you know, that phone was a thousand dollars, but it wasn't a thousand dollars. What it was, was like, you know,$18 a month on my phone bill for two years. Right. And that is what game consoles are going to be now is you buy PS, PSN pro and you buy a Xbox game pass. And then your console is, is leased, you know, to you of it's added to your bill. You know, it's a subscription, you know, you're paying for your subscription and then you get the console for free and then you pay it off over three years, two to three years.
50:51That's, that's how they're going to work. And that's how the console is going to be$1 ,200. The PS six is going to be$1 ,200, but it's not actually it's going to be$19 a month for, you know, two or three years. That's, I think that's in our article with the Xbox stuff is that they're doing the Xbox access stuff where you can finance it. They are, but they're not quite doing it the way that a phone contract works right now. They're allowing you to get the console on layaway. They're just doing the Klarna. Yeah, they're doing the Klarna. So I don't think it's going to be a never ending subscription.
51:24I think that you buy the console bundled with a Game Pass subscription and then it's one you know,$30 a month subscription or 40, and then you pay that for three years or whatever. That's how I think it's going to work. Yeah. It's going to work like your phone bill works. I, yeah, it's, I think it's tough because it's like, it, that is how phones work and people just have accepted that. That's how cars work. Very few people own their cars. Um, they, you know, everyone's, most people are, I think a lot of people are making car payments. I mean, we did, but they, that's what I mean. Yeah. They don't own them.
51:59That's what I'm saying. It's like, you don't own your phone. I don't own my cars. They're owned by other things, but I own my consoles. And now we're going to live in a world where I also don't own my consoles. Like, it starts getting a little crazy. Yeah. To be clear, I'm not defending, like, I think this is terrible. I just want to be explicit. Like, but I think it's bad, but I do think that that's like the future we're heading to. And like, you'll have the option. Like, look, if you're Mr. money bags and you want to buy your PSX for$1 ,200, feel free in the same way you can buy out your phone, but just most people choose not to, right?
52:29Yeah, I did do it for my, I have the 17 Pro Max and it was the first time I ever did it. I was like, how much is it? And I think it was like$1 ,400 and I was just like, screw it. I just bought it because I was like, I don't want to deal with it. And my last phone lasted me five years. So my plan is that this one is going to last me another five years, I hope.
52:51Justin Davis:This is r slash true off my chest It's really starting to feel like The alien universe, Weyland-Yutani Like just five corporations that own everything And we're completely beholden to them It is crazy how the 1970s and 1980s Like understood that like Oh, the corporation The multinational corporation Is going to be more powerful than like the government It's that chart that's always existed, right? Where it's like you have all these Chillions of different companies but it's all a pyramid and you find out that you know pepsi owns the shampoo that you're using you know you just don't know it and so that's that's where we're at well this quote from microsoft says in the in the past several months uh storage and memory prices have increased by more than two and a half x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027 yeah i do like and in the same way you know we don't need to carry water for rockstar we also don't need to carry water for Xbox, but I do, I do like these statements.
53:49I do like that they're being transparent about like, you know, they're not sugarcoating it. Right. They're like, you know, like we're chart, like it's, it's costing us double to make this thing. Like, you know, so that, that, that kind of transparency is, um, you know, at least respected and, um, welcome from me. Yeah. My advice is to hold onto your hardware. Two years ago, my series X broke cause I've had it since launch and it started doing that thing you know how sometimes when like like mainly when we were kids you had a controller and it was like it would only work if you held the controller a certain way like the wire you know like you'd have to like hold it back or like maybe a power cord would only sit a certain way or it didn't work my series x started doing that with my with my hdmi it had to be tilted upwards and i think putting something under it made it where it eventually just broke it and now i don't own a series x that's probably a pretty pretty much can't probably a fairly easy fix if you would have like pulled the back off that thing and like messed with the hdmi port a little um someone get my hammer yeah but i do take an error apart i do remember game consoles we do in some ways we have it nice now like everything's just a lot more reliable like that shit used to break constantly like my ps1 my version of that story is my playstation one famously the little laser that would read the discs would get old and And so mine only worked when I kept my PS one upside down.
55:13Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or like your regular Nintendo, you'd put it down. Like the little lip would break on the motherboard. So you'd have to put the game, you'd push the game down and then put another game into it to hold it down. Yep. Don't blow on your carts though.
55:29Justin Davis:That doesn't work. Oh, there was a glitch in the matrix. Yeah, there was, they changed something. Yeah. I'm AI this episode. It's just a Justin bot. Like, what would he say about the Xbox right now? So far, they're nailing it. This is why RAM prices are so high, though. Yeah.
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56:44Justin Davis:This is sick! Avatar Fire and Ash, now streaming on Disney +, rated PG-13. Let's check in with the listeners. Hey, listeners. Listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address, gamescoop at IGN.com. Just like Glenn Kirby and Barnsley, Mary Old England did. Okay, thank you, man. Take a drink of water. Very old England. I bet he says maths. I didn't understand the maths thing. Is that a thing English people say? That's what they say. They say maths plural? Instead of math. Yeah. Huh. Yeah. Okay. It's adorable. Yeah. Glenn says, I have recently been purchasing some games to play on my tablet.
57:24It's like you're playing games on a tablet? Get out of here. Okay. All right.
57:29Justin Davis:I'm going to edit that out. Okay. I've recently been purchasing some games to play on my tablet when on my break at work with the caveat that they must play well using the touchscreen I've purchased Blotro, Slay the Spire, Into the Breach and Stardew Valley, which are all games I already play on my Switch I've also purchased Gambonanza, that's the chess roguelite, Geometry Dash and the amazing Bad North Haven't heard of that one And I was wondering if you guys could recommend any games that you can purchase and own outright, no ads, etc So Justin, I'm going to assume he's saying tablets, he doesn't have an iPad and doesn't have Apple Arcade available uh i mean it's interesting i would not actually characterize the tablet version of stardew valley drove me crazy so um uh oh gosh off the top of my head i mean balloons td6 is very very good on ipad i probably played a hundred of hours of that on an ipad before i switched i got the steam version um you know minecraft is actually very playable on tablets i would say vampire survivors is very good on on a tablet um i mean this is old school but like if you know like monument valley were really good puzzle games back in the day on on tablets uh i played through it sounds insane but like the classic uh isometric rpgs like uh baldur's gate and baldur's gate 2 and planescape torment all the all the tablet ports of those were extremely well done like the the modern version, like the enhanced editions that you can still download and play today on PC and other platforms, they were redone first for tablets, and the touch controls are really good on them.
59:10I don't know. Those are some off the top of my head. Bloons is like the one where like, man, that game's so underrated and so good, and I played it a lot on my iPad.
59:19Justin Davis:Speaking of Tower Defense, there's a million Kingdom Rush games, and they're all good. They're all basically the same quality. You can't go wrong with any of the Kingdom Rush. And then if you like Slay the Spire, I would recommend Monster Train 2. It's great. Yeah. Great roguelike card game. Both 1 and 2 are great, but 2 contains the entirety of Monster 1 inside of it, so just go with that one. I like the one free-to-play game. I was going to say the one free-to-play game I've gotten hooked on. Not true. There's been many over the years, but the one that's been consistent in my life is Battle Cats.
59:50I go through phases of, you know, like I'll be really into the Battle Cats for two or three months and then kind of fall off it. But then I don't delete my account. When I come back, all my cats are still just waiting for me.
1:00:02Justin Davis:Mark, do you play any tablet games? No, not at all. Nope. Okay. Well, there's a battle. There it is. It's so good. Look at those little guys go. They're going to get the base.
1:00:29Justin Davis:All right, that brings us to Video Game 20 Questions. Our suggestion this week comes from Joel in San Diego, who says, what is going on, Omega Cops? For 20 Questions, I wanted to propose a gem I only recently discovered in the redacted genre. But what is the genre? Oh, it's what... Oh, almost got me. Almost got me. And with that, let the questioning begin. Don't screw me on this, Mark. there's it's it's so rare that i'm on the show and sam's not that like i have a very rare chance to increase my win loss ratio got it okay no i got this this is sounds easy okay hold on i need to pull up some info okay i got the info ready okay fire away uh man san diego by the way if there was one city on earth i'd like you could live anywhere you could live on the earth i would I'd probably pick San Diego.
1:01:23Really? Anywhere? I think so. I'm not knocking San Diego. I'm just. Yeah, like beach vibes. Legoland? Legoland. Fish tacos, man. It's like 50 % the fish tacos and then 50 % everything else.
1:01:39Justin Davis:Legoland has a new indoor roller coaster. It's called the Galactic Coaster. It's closest analog at Disneyland is Space Mountain. I dare say Galactic Coaster is better than Space Mountain. Whoa. Them fighting worlds. It's really, really good. It's really good. Anyway. Yeah. I heard you were just there, and I heard it was very expensive. If you want to skip the lines. Do all the fancy stuff. It's expensive. Oh, Lord. Okay, okay, okay. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s, or 90s? No. Hidden gem in a very specific category. I feel like we should. Wait, did he say hidden gem? Or just a gem? He just said a gem.
1:02:16Oh, okay. A gem in redacted. In a redacted genre. In a redacted genre. There's so many genres that it's terrifying to try to nail down what genre it could be Is this a puzzle, platformer, role-playing game? Yes Puzzle, platformer, role-playing game Puzzle, platformer, role-playing game Okay, I mean, is it a platformer? Yes There we go Sick Okay Let's see Did this game come out? Is this game exclusive to a platform? no uh is this game 2d no that's five i think it's a hat in time could be a hat in time what was that really good 2d platformer i know it's not that because it's 3d the one that came out a few years ago pizza pizza tower did you play pizza yeah yeah yeah the wario type game yeah game was sick um okay but 3d 3d platformer did not come out in the 70s 80s or 90s so you know you got you got hat and time you got ukulele you got um you got corn kids have you
1:03:27Justin Davis:ever heard of corn kids damon no that's a that's a platformer yeah there's a there's this growing movement there's fewer of them than i would like but more than i would expect of um i guess you would call them like super mario 64 likes like that era of like chunky 3d graphics but you know But that's just kind of like pure 3D platforming. Is this game part of a series?
1:03:55Yeah, I guess you would say yes. Because that makes me think it's Yooka-Laylee. Yeah, because there's only one, but then there's like all these spinoffs. There's not one. There's at least two. Is there two? I thought the other one was just replay-ly whatever. No, they made a 2D one. they made a 2d1 and now they're making the kart racer 2.5 they're 2.5 d1 they're just going through all the genres that game was really clever because you could go to the final boss like right at the beginning of the game you could try the final level but it's this long gauntlet and it's really hard and impossible and as you're playing through the game and playing through the levels what you're doing is earning more lives and more tries to complete the final level so you can decide whenever you're ready like i have 12 lives now maybe that's enough to get through the final level and you can just keep building up the number of lives you have.
1:04:44Got it. Um, okay. Uh, I mean, let's just go for it. Was this game developed or published by Playtonic? Nope. Ah, not ukulele. And hat and time. I, I'm, I think it's a one off one and done. Great game though. What about Bubsy 4D? That's the new one. There are the Bubsy's. Or what's that other developer Demon Turf? They made that. Yeah. Yeah. The school ones. Yeah. Demon School, Demon Turf. I forget what the new one's called. I don't remember either. Yeah. Is this is an indie game? No. No.
1:05:31Let's see. OK, but not exclusive. So, yes, I guess it's part of a series. not indie 3d platformer um not exclusive to a console so we're not it's not like it's like you know mario or like something or ratchet or yeah yeah yeah not any of the like really obvious ones platformer yeah yeah this is uh did this game come out within the last 15 years did it come out in in what year what year is it did it 2021 let me ask what i'm actually asking did this game come out after i started working at ign which was july 2011 no okay okay so we're in the early 2000s so we're 2000 to 2011 well 2000 to 2011 june that i mean i know that's a very justin specific clue but mark hopefully that still helps us get placed in a specific era yeah yeah i mean okay so so now we're looking at i don't know yeah ps2 ps3 but not it's not like jack and dax or any of those because those are all those are all ps2 exclusives.
1:06:58Sly Cooper, PS2 exclusive, PlayStation exclusives. And Ratchet, you're right. Banjo, Nut, and Bolts, or whatever. What about iNinja? That was a cool 3D platformer from that era. I don't even know what that is. iNinja. Did this game come out on the GameCube? No. That's 10. Okay. We still have a lot of questions. Psychonauts, did that come out on the GameCube? It could be Psychonauts 1
1:07:32It's true And it's on everything And it's technically Double Fine is not indie Was this game made in the United States? Hold please Let's see
1:07:44Justin Davis:Yes, it was I feel like you would know that Double Fine is in San Francisco They were right down the street Yeah, but you can't play that game with Damon Because you just never know Yeah Okay, so there was Part of a series But not on the GameCube Because then I was like, okay, maybe it's like Prince of Persia or something But a lot of those games came out on the GameCube Yeah, yeah Psychonauts might have come out on the GameCube I honestly don't even know Hmm
1:08:23made in america i feel like i just need to know more about the game because i'm just yeah that's what we're doing here i know that's the entire game i mean if only we knew more about it i meant what you do in the actual game i mean what you do in the actual game Ask some questions. I'm trying to think of any. Hold on.
1:08:56Ask more things about what you do. What about like Spyro? Was there multi-platform Spyro games back then? Shit. That's true. Did Spyro ever come to like Xbox? I don't know. I don't know if they were PS2 exclusives. Yeah, probably. Or PS1 exclusives. Well, so they were PS1 exclusives, but then they do like the Crash Bandicoot thing and then go multi-platform later. Yeah. With like Activision picked them up. Okay. Okay. So Activision has Crash as well. So let's go with, was this game published by Activision? No. Rip. Shoot. I mean, if, if there's no reason it can't be Psychonauts, by the way, he did say, yes, it was developed in the United States.
1:09:43Yep. yeah. Okay.
1:09:51I'm not, I don't know. How many questions do we have Damon? You've asked 12. Okay. I mean, was this game developed by double fine?
1:09:59Justin Davis:No.
1:10:03Okay. Let's figure out how you, when you attack, are you using, um, is it primarily melee? Um, maybe you don't attack. Maybe it's like Monkey Ball, although that was obviously on GameCube. But, you know, something like that. Like a Kula World or like a Marble Blast Ultra.
1:10:27Justin Davis:Yeah, I don't know. I haven't personally played this game. I don't know. I am aware of this game, but haven't played it myself.
1:10:42Platformer. What about like What about like It's a stretch to call it a platformer But what about like a jet set Like a jet set radio I don't know I guess I would call it I don't know what I would call that game Yeah I think you could call it I think you could What would you call Tony Hawk Is Tony Hawk a platformer No Uh Were they making 3D Rayman games back then? Although this was developed in the United States, and the Rayman games were probably still made in France back then. Yeah, the United States one is... I guess it could be a Sonic game. Yeah, except they were made in Japan. Yep. And they were probably platform exclusives back then if they were on the Dreamcast, late era Dreamcast game.
1:11:45Well, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are on GameCube. Damon, is this a first-person game? No. I thought I had a flash of inspo, and I thought it was Mirror's Edge. Oh, that would have been good. That would have been sick, right? Platformer of that era, not on the GameCube probably. Mirror's Edge. Next question. Are you sure it's not Mirror's Edge? Yeah, just say it is. Yep, you got it. The show could have been over. Yeah. The Ape Escape games were exclusive to the PlayStation, right? The PlayStation, yeah. 2011. That doesn't necessarily, I'm picturing like PS, like it could be, it spans generations. It doesn't have to be PS2.
1:12:37It can be like PS3 PS3, Wii And Yeah, maybe that's what's tripping me up Maybe this is like a Wii What about Is this a Is this a Lego game? No, that's 15 God And the series is Oh, I just said is it part of Does this game have Yeah, I guess so Yeah Is there a game in development for this series right now that's just like not out yet? Yes. Yes? Okay. But it's not Spyro. Unless Spyro wasn't published by Activision back then, but I can't imagine. Well, Spyro was. I also don't even know which one it would be. Spyro 1, 2, and 3 are PS1 games. and then they obviously kept making them, but I'm not. The PS2-era Spyro games are not to be spoken of.
1:13:41Justin Davis:You've got three questions and a guess. Since you're down a man, I'll say there's one common question you always ask that you have not asked yet. Have we mentioned this game? Have we mentioned the game? That's not the question I mean. That's not the question. Oh. What is the common question? Does your character wear a hat? That's not a common. Now we have to start asking questions to find out what the common question is. What's a common question that we ask that we haven't even asked yet? I mean, sometimes we ask if multiplayer is prominently featured. I don't even know. I don't even know. Damon, you're twisting us up.
1:14:20Yeah.
1:14:24There's one in development that hasn't come out yet that's part of this series that's totally tripping me up because I'm trying to think of every game that's coming out now. I don't know if I'd call it a platformer, but there's like Tomb Raider. Yeah, it's Tomb Raider. 100%. It's got to be. And that might trip Damon up with like if there's punching or kicking in it. Yeah. What does that face mean? I wouldn't know the answer to that question. I know she's shooting her dual guns all the time, but you might be kicking raptors in the face in Tomb Raider. I don't know. I can't remember. punching your butler, locking him in the fridge.
1:15:02That must have been the Tomb Raider I haven't played. Yeah, because I think it's like, as far as platformers go, we have Tomb Raider, we have Spyro. We do ask if you play as a human. Maybe that's the question. A kami? Yeah. Although that's a game. No, that was a Wii game. Also, it's super Japanese. oh yeah you're right but tomb raider does this and we have two three questions and a guess yes do you play as a human no no no you do not maybe that is your hint you do not play as a human absolutely not understood maybe you play as a bandicoot or or a purple dragon or a dragon or uh it was not exclusive to a console so it's not like conquer yeah
1:16:05it's not 90s though is it does it not help us at all to ask if it's like a mascot platformer I don't think I think we know it is because you play as some weird animal Or a zombie are zombies humans or a vampire I don't okay okay okay okay we can pull this out we can do it I'm not sure how do you I know we're not allowed I'm gonna look something up on my computer but it's not related Wow. No, I'm looking up. Top 10 platformers in 2010. I'm looking up. Does Spyro walk on two legs?
1:16:51No, he's a young dragon who runs primarily on all four legs. Do you walk on two legs in this game? Yes. Okay. Shoot. So, no, that's super. That's helpful. That means it could be a PS2 era Crash Bandicoot game, maybe. Although I think they were all published by Activision. I feel like they were published by Activision. I also don't know any crashes that are in development. Two-legged animal. That means it's an anthropomorphic animal. Like it's not a, like Sonic's not a real hedgehog. He's like a boy that's a hedgehog. Like Hello Kitty is a human girl.
1:17:26Yeah. One question, one guess. I feel like we have to, I feel like we have to do the, have we, have we mentioned the game? Have we mentioned this game? No.
1:17:43We're screwed, bro. Should I just reveal it? Sorry, Justin. It's all my fault. I mean, we mentioned a lot of games. So many. So it's like, what are we missing? I know this is sometimes a question, but are we going to be pissed off?
1:18:04Justin Davis:I'll just, since you just have a wild guess to make, I'll reveal the redacted, and it's related to the question you usually ask. Craig in San Diego said, I want to propose a gem I only recently discovered in the licensed movie tie-in genre. Licensed? If you can guess it off that. God. That, no. No, that actually doesn't help me. I mean, we asked if it was a Lego game, which we're all licensed. Yeah. No, that doesn't help. All right. Are you ready? Yep. Yes. Toy Story 3. Oh, what? I never got that. Oh, never. That was nowhere close. That's the game. Got it. I've never even seen this game. I know that there's a well-liked, like, Toy Story, like, I think PS1 era, like, Toy Story tie-in game that people are secretly like, yeah, this game's all right.
1:18:55Never heard of Toy Story 3.
1:18:57Justin Davis:The complete edition is coming this year. From Digital Eclipse. Yeah. The Toy Story Complete Edition is coming this October Of Toy Story 3 I didn't even think about like I mean we said no GameCube But like Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom Probably would have been a good guess But not GameCube Yeah so your question about is it mostly melee I don't know I don't know if there's any combat at all What's Woody doing This looks cool It's supposed to be good I mean Craig says it's a gym We gave it a 7.5 Anthony Gallegos gave it a 7.5 I miss Anthony. Now he's making some Nautica 2. Is that true? That's the journey.
1:19:37He's at the studio, I believe. He's like the design director for it.
1:19:40Justin Davis:Well, nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion, Joel in San Diego, viewers, listeners. If you have your own suggestions for Video Game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address, gamescoop at IGN.com. And that's all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Justin. Thank you to Same, who was keeping me company this whole time here. for those following along at home in the life the life of Damon my daughter graduated preschool today so checkpoint we have no kids in preschool anymore we have kids in public school now so that's exciting yo ho ho it's a pirate's life for me this weekend my name is Damon this is IGN GameScoop what does that mean I know what that means
1:20:33Thank you.
1:21:01Thank you.
1:21:33Thank you.
1:22:08Thank you.
1:22:55Justin Davis:Is it just the three of us? Yep. Sam is in Italy. And Nick Limon was unavailable Pear was unavailable But I thought Mark wasn't allowed to be on GameScoop anymore I decide Whether or not Mark can be on GameScoop As long as Mark stays in my good graces, we're all good Wait, who banned me? The audience? Or is it Sam for me telling him That I don't give a fuck about Elder Scrolls Sam's parting words out the door Was, don't let Mark be on GameScoop I mean, to be fair That's his parting words every week Why do you keep bringing him on? Okay. What's up, everybody? Welcome to I-GinQ. Whoa. The new shot is just really throwing me off my game.
1:23:36You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's OmniShade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia. Engineered for whatever.
From the publisher
Welcome back to IGN Game Scoop!, the ONLY video game podcast! This week your Omega Cops -- Daemon Hatfield, Justin Davis, and Mark Medina -- are discussing Xbox, Grand Theft Auto VI, Steam Machine, Bungie, and more. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions.
The song at the end is by Daemon and is called "Cave Stories."
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