Is PlayStation 6 ACTUALLY a Handheld?! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 07.20.26

14:53Andy Cortez:but the playstation portable arguably doesn't have a large screen and it can't dock to a tv like a nintendo switch to gain one might a future sony handheld change that sony does just pricing after its first beyond the living room uh living room hints warning us that the next playstation won't be cheap and of course the article goes on a very very good opinion piece

15:14Blessing Adeoye Jr.:over here from sean at the verge yeah this is an interesting one because of course it started of story number one not a news piece more of an opinion piece um because i find it fascinating and i think it kind of gives more of a ps i love you conversation between me and you as far as we're back come on we're back we're back they couldn't stop us they tried to um fucking janet janet garcia you know but like as far as what is next gen really i know we've talked about it broadly i think some of the things that this article points out are uh very interesting when you pull the pieces together for you do you think the ps6 could come out and be prior let's say do you think the ps6 could be what the switch is where you take it around you come home you dock it and you play it on your screen so you know again there's a lot of talk in this verge

15:58Andy Cortez:article and a lot of talk i read over the weekend about this and surrounding it i find it so hard to believe that you would call this the PlayStation 6. You know what I mean? Like, I think as we continue to move with these generations and the, you know, hits keep coming with RAM and memory and yada, yada, yada, that as we look at next gen, it has to be this conversation of, all right, how do we, again, monetize the people we already have? How do we push it forward but not break the bank? How do we do all these? And so it's like, I don't, I think it would be such a bullish move that if the PlayStation 6 was the PlayStation 6 and it's handheld.

16:37Andy Cortez:Like, I think that would, I don't think a handheld PlayStation 6 lives up to the moniker of PlayStation 6. I think this is originally rumor was, you know, a year ago, about maybe 18 months ago, was that they were working on a PlayStation 5 handheld before the PlayStation 6. that would be less powerful than a pro by a long shot, but a little bit on be on par with what a PlayStation 5 currently is, a base model. And I think when you do that, you go, okay, cool. I take these concessions in the handheld, and I understand why it doesn't look as good, why it isn't running as smoothly, why it isn't getting, you know, the bells and whistles of a pro.

17:12Andy Cortez:And so I still think that that makes the most sense is to launch a handheld that is a watered down PlayStation 5 somewhere in this mix of the family of systems. and then I don't think alongside it because then you really do piss off that fan base that's the core base that's going to buy it. You announce the PlayStation 6 or whatever you're calling the next PlayStation. I would worry, not worry, I guess that's not right. I would lob into this conversation the idea that maybe PlayStation does move away from numbers on this next one. Maybe they were going to call this the PlayStation 6 but they understand how exorbitantly expensive this is going to be and rather than alienate people into, well, there's never going to be an exclusive for that because people are going to never be able to get off this thing and you're not going to be able to get as many people.

17:56Andy Cortez:This is a whatever place, not even a PlayStation 5 Pro 2, a PlayStation whatever. PlayStation U. Sure, sure. That's great. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Excuse the audience. I just, I don't know if, and again, this is even more reading the room on. We all know, and what we keep getting told by these analysts is that memory and RAM prices, that stocks are never going to come down in price, right? so or coming down to where they were so maybe we never get back to that affordable playstation 6 but are you gonna blow your wad on here's the playstation 6 and piss off people and then not be able to have exclusives on it and then coming off of a playstation 5 generation that we've all been like whelmed by this has been the successor to the playstation 4 that's great but what are the true exclusive lineups what are we doing here has the first party delivered like do you I just don't think with the current market, you can make a PlayStation six and then wall garden, your best games over there and say, you have to own this machine.

18:56Andy Cortez:And I'm talking about not being able to play them on a PlayStation handle, a PlayStation five. Like I feel like this is where the market is dictating. PlayStation has to kill generations to a degree. And if you're going to kill generations, I don't think it makes sense to put a six on it. And I also think you get away with a lot more being like, listen, we know times are tough and that's why the PlayStation five is still here. it is all it's you know 899 or whatever but the handheld is going to be less than that but it's more than a playstation 5 but it's less than a pro but it's it's more if you we have the room we have the portal if you want just hey stream it and not own anything and great that'll work for you that's cheap there's nothing inside it then we have this version that is a playstation 5 you're carrying with you and your games are on the go then we have this playstation u that is the next like i don't know it's just where you're going with it is so hard right now because it is so

19:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:murky i think all the things that you're saying lead me to come back to the same conclusion that we're reading about in the article which is i think it could just be a portable thing because you're talking about how the market right now is dictating that you probably just get rid of generations because of the price of those those components i think at a certain point though like the branding dictates that you make something called the playstation 6 100 marketing dictates that you put out something called the playstation 6 to make your audience go that's the next step what you do when those things are at odds with each other of a PSX costs too much versus we got him this is our entire business plan is you find a way to make a more affordable PlayStation 6 and maybe you look at what is a problem as an opportunity to go all right but what do our fans really care about how do we redefine ourselves in a way that still keeps with the soul of what makes PlayStation PlayStation I think I think a big part of that soul is the games yeah you know i mean like we look at a company like nintendo and what they've been able to do with the handheld market and making the switch both a home console and then also a handheld console and why are people picking up the switch it's not because the power necessarily right it's because oh this is where i play nintendo games and so if i want to play dk bonanza or mario kart or any of these games i'm gonna buy a switch and the switch also happens to be a fantastic piece of hardware i think for playstation if you can make something that is let's say comparable to the power of the ps5 but it is something that you can take around it is a a piece of hardware that is sleek that feels like a step forward that doesn't necessarily have to be that infidelity but i think it just has to be that in terms of form factor and what it can do i think that there's a i think you you're able to extend where we're at now as far as like even if you even if you don't call it the playstation

21:31Andy Cortez:6 i think i i still think they would you and me are in line with a lot of it i think i don't think you need to call it the PlayStation 6 because I don't the PlayStation 6 when you signal that is going to speak to the mainstream and outside of that core audience they want to monetize right where if you're just going to say hey we've made a PlayStation 5 that you can carry with you and you can dock and do all these different things with and it's not as powerful as the pro but it's this and it's hopefully I guess maybe I was gonna say cheaper than the regular base model I guess it'd be more expensive I don't fucking know in this world anyways I don't think that is sexy enough to call a PlayStation 6 thing?

22:06Andy Cortez:Because then you get people coming like, this looks worse than the Pro. Well, it's not.

22:09Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It's bad. My question is, what is sexy enough to call the PlayStation 6? Because I think power isn't enough to sell to people anymore. Sure. Especially when it's power for, what,$1 ,500? Yeah. I think you're going to lose people on that. I don't think a PlayStation 6 can traditionally be what we would expect a PlayStation 6 to be. I just don't think that's an option anymore. And so I think PlayStation is probably looking to the future and going, what can we call the PlayStation 6?

22:30Andy Cortez:Yeah.

22:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And I think that has to be something that is changing the identity a bit and i think that's where you get into the handheld thing and of course we talk about how does that work with the playstation 5 as far as like do you end up just putting out exclusives just for ps6 and leave behind playstation 5 probably not if you can just put out games for both of these systems at the same time yeah i don't know i don't know what that looks like but what i do know is that i think if you chart the course and go oh we made a playstation 6 it looks better than the playstation 5 pro i think a lot of people will be like what the fuck does that even mean sure i don't know like i mean sure you can have uh games that are optimized better you can have games that run at like smoother frame rates we can have a bit

23:09Andy Cortez:more of that my whole i the the argument for me not calling the handheld the playstation 6 and dockable just is dead in the water if it can be as powerful if not more powerful than the pro and i know we're like who cares you i think you care because it's such that a convoluted thing for somebody who is like, oh, the PlayStation 6 and it's a handheld. That's super cool. And then they buy it and like, wait, it doesn't look as good as the Pro. Well, no, the PlayStation 5 Pro is able to plug in and take advantage of all this letterboxing shit that I don't understand. But it's like, hey, it looks awesome, right?

23:41Andy Cortez:And it's like, if you're putting the 6 on it and you're asking for this premium price, I think the mainstream person walking in just has to assume that 6 is better than 5. And so if 6 is not better than 5, that's a problem for them. And I know like we're saying, who cares? I'm with you. I love the idea of PlayStation being like hey everybody we've hit the ceiling for the for the amount of money we put in the time we put in like the games look great they run great we're happy with this and we're this is what the playstation brand is for the inevitable future so now we're introducing this handheld that runs comparable in the lineup of what we're doing here yeah but i just don't think you put a six on it because i think that five is when less than six when do you think we'd eventually get a six then i mean i i i don't think that this gets in the way of a playstation 6 an actual thing i still think i i still believe the plan is to some degree what had been leaked or rumored or whatever before of they're working on a handheld if it sees light of day is a different question and then they're going to do the big playstation 6 or whatever and where do you when do you see the playstation 6 that's into the same question we're having i think a lot with um steam machines out there right where it's like man we announced this thing and components are only getting more expensive and we bought these components and we're just sitting on them but we have to sell them and if we make more whatever that conversation is same thing with xbox now different reasons with helix or whatever i mean i would imagine playstation 6 could be i'll say 2028 on shelves that fall i think you get another year i think you see it next year don't get me wrong these aren't things i want

25:09Blessing Adeoye Jr.:or things we need or whatever but that's the thing that i'm like does playstation want that like right now in the moment that we're having right now do you want to put out a playstation and six next year. I think that's where I get into the handheld.

25:21Andy Cortez:I said 28.

25:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Or sorry, eight.

25:23Andy Cortez:I keep thinking that we're in 2027. But even in two years. Well, it is already. Some call this spring of 27. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like in two years, I think we're still going to be in this moment, right? Here's the thing. You'll be in this moment, but I think that we will all be browbeaten by it. It will no longer be news that like, oh, my God, they're raising the price of this.

25:45Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and oh my god it's like like that for me it's less so the shock and more so is that good for the hardware like is that good for moving units if you're putting out a playstation 6 in 2028 for

25:57Andy Cortez:1300 1400 dollars yeah at least well multiple jumping off points there right my question immediately becomes is it good for the hardware is it good for the i mean in the in like in terms of selling as many units as possible absolutely not in terms of playstation making money off of this yes of course like i think again you come in with realistic expectations for what you're doing and we all know how many people are going to go not a fucking chance but then we also know how many people are going to go like i do only play my playstation and this will make everything look better and this is instant load times or whatever they're fucking selling it on mark certainly's looking at pictures of my eyes now making things look better you know i mean like there will be some reason that you go i might as well upgrade there will be enough of those people is it good for the hardware could be better my question is it is it good for the games and i think inevitably the answer there is no yeah because again what this is going to do is we are caught between hey there are however many million 95 million is that right playstation fives you know i don't i'm not the number guy there's a lot of playstation fives out there and those people a lot of those people are not going anywhere they aren't fucking doing it they aren't buying another goddamn thing right so they are locked in which means spider-man 3 right like no no let's make it run better on playstation 6 whatever the fuck that means but we need a playstation 5 version last of us 3 we do

27:17Blessing Adeoye Jr.:that place intergalactic that's where i come around to man you know what a great solution for that would be to be like hey let's even let's stick with the playstation 6 being the core console um power upgrade thing right hey let's delay the playstation 6 even further beyond 2028 and put out a handheld and let that cruise us because then we can have games that are playable on that handheld, come out for that handheld, advertise it, have that be a big hardware push for us and also have games still come out for the PlayStation 5 because like you mentioned, people have a PS5, right? And like, if anything, people have PS4 still, right?

27:51Blessing Adeoye Jr.:We're still in that transition phase of getting people off the PS4 onto the PS5. Let's batten down the hatchets? Batten down the hatches, hatches. Hatches, thank you. I was like, hatchet? let's batten down the hatches and also let's monetize our current fan base like they keep talking about or like they mentioned that one time um and i think the way you do that is by yeah continuing to put out a piece of hardware that speaks very strongly to what the current

28:19Andy Cortez:hardware is yes i think though what we're missing to a degree right is how risk-averse companies are and so the fact that this has worked for so long this rollout model yeah there is someone inside the room multiple people i'm sure going stop overthinking this and look at the iphone there's a new iphone every year why do we care put it out like let's just get the money from the people who will buy the next great thing and then worry about whatever the playstation new pro version people have to pay when we get to that point right like they want again to monetize the existing user base they want to keep dangling carrots in front of you to go buy the hardware to get to then understand why you need to get this version of the game to why you have to keep buying.

29:03Andy Cortez:Like there's a treadmill. They have all of us on as consumers and his fans. Yeah. And I just feel like not only, so there's the argument for the next big console to keep you going, keep you in blah, blah, blah. The argument, I think again, that comes back to this handheld thing that is both for my point against it to a degree is the PlayStation hybrid, console the PlayStation switch was call it for this one right yeah that will fail if PlayStation doesn't say this is the PlayStation 6 we are all in on this like the reason the switch is such a juggernaut crazy runaway success is Nintendo going like cool the Wii U and the DS lot we are making one thing it is this thing this is our console get in or get the fuck out and it was like well you knew you'd get all the Mario games and Zelda games and yada yada yada things on it right and you knew it'd be running as best as it possibly can on that right so i feel like if this was true that playstation's next console is lining up to be that that i guess in that respect i would buy it in terms of believe it that they're going to call it playstation 6 because it does need to be loud and clear this is playstation 6 this is the future of playstation this is what we are committed to yeah and i do not for a second believe those same people are going iphone every year and seeing them sell consoles and seeing 95 million whatever it is you like I don't believe they're like things are so drastically different we need to do this and take a step back in power and for what I would assume a handheld is going to run and stuff like that

30:36Blessing Adeoye Jr.:yeah I'm fascinated because I do think with AI technology and we talk about the pisser all the time and AI up sampling and all that stuff I think you could you could put out a relatively powerful handheld console and sure it's not going to be the PS5 pro yeah but it might be the PS5 yeah like I think there's a conversation there as far as how you can market that to make it feel like a next gen because I think really what it comes down to is when we think about the PlayStation 6 I think one of the main things that separates the PS5 from the PS6 is going oh there are things I can play on that that I can't play on this previous thing.

31:07Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Aside from that it's like the world's kind of your oyster as far as like the features and stuff the bells and whistles that you can put into a new piece of hardware to try and make it feel different and I I don't know how you balance that I guess. I don't know how you make a PlayStation 6 that like really you could play all these games on the playstation 5 you know i mean like we're just so foreign to that we're so foreign to that idea but outside of that particular thing i think a handheld a playstation switch playstation 6 would would excite me as a player and i think is actually a more exciting route to go for what this thing could be but i agree no i'm with you

31:43Andy Cortez:that a hey we are committed this is us playstation 6 is a hybrid yeah that is way more exciting than hey this is playstation 6 and it runs everything even better yeah like okay that's cool i will appreciate that but is it enough to make me upgrade no whereas this would be like oh this is actually very compelling right yeah and but i think i think the only path forward for playstation i shouldn't say that that's not true i would say if i'm there and i know how risk averse playstation is i would think the argument that will win out is we introduce the handheld as part of our already existing lineup and we keep that lineup going because then we are giving the player choice between base pro the remote play this thing and then eventually a playstation 6 that does it but i think then again you reset expectations for your level of success sure what if you call it the psp2 don't get me started come on come on zach super chatted to say i read that and i read that internally sony is calling it the sony handheld transitional transport redesign aka the shitter oh when you said i gotta go i gotta that's really bob says

32:49Blessing Adeoye Jr.:psp go to mark my words i don't think you put the go in it you know what i mean i barely think you call it psp 2 because that's even confusing but daniel logan game says it doesn't seem viable

33:01Andy Cortez:to delay the playstation 6 they can't justify redesigning the hardware and wait for it to be competitive wait i'm sorry redesigning the hardware and want it to be competitive to the market whenever it launches exactly true as well and that's the whole thing of like the way these timelines work and the way you start designing systems you get to that are we jumping or not like we if we're if we don't jump right now by the time we put this thing out it's going to be

33:23Blessing Adeoye Jr.:way fucking past time and i don't to be there i don't think this is a conversation that started today like when i'm thinking about the place we can handle we're talking about things that leaked a year and a half ago or whatever so i think these are things that are already in the works but also yeah how how does it fit into their plan and how much has the world changed since then like yeah there's only so much that they're able to adjust and change so you're right about that

33:42Andy Cortez:uh dexter says i hope you greg i hope you and tim had therapy before your next trailer reaction you remember this spider-man trailer last time tim just so bent out of shape giving me so much attitude oh yeah i mean yeah oh man don't believe his lies also blessed are you hyped for spider-man love you i am hyped for spider-man okay but again not like not like i can't like i'm gonna miss it because it's on vacation. I'll be in Canada on vacation when it comes out. Yeah. And I'm not like heartbroken. Like, it'll be hard.

34:10Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I don't want to be spoiled, but. Yeah, I think I'm excited because it is way more of a, what do they call it? On the ground Spider-Man. Yeah. Like, it's broke, depressed Peter Parker, which is that aspect I'm excited for. That aspect I'm definitely excited for. But I think maybe it's just been, we've gotten so many Tom Holland Spider-Man movies that I'm kind of like, oh yeah, another one. Yeah. Okay, fair enough. I like Punisher, though. I love Jon Bernthal, so. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something.

34:34Andy Cortez:Oxyus ox Pope gets the final super shout on this one and says the closest handheld to a PlayStation five power wise. There is, is GDP win, which is over 2 ,500. There you go. There you go. Everybody, believe it or not, Xbox is back in the news, but before then I'll remind you that we couldn't do this show kind of funny games daily and our entire suite of live streaming content without your support. You can pick up a kind of funny membership on patrion.com slash kind of funny youtube.com slash kind of funny games. Apple and Spotify. Of course, you'd get everything we do ad-free. You'd get an exclusive show called Gregway.

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38:13Andy Cortez:And we're back with story number two. Xbox Studio leaders reportedly detest Game Pass, arguing it destroyed the value of their$40 plus games now available for pennies. This is Alessio over at WCCF Tech. Following the mass Xbox layoffs, parentheses, 3 ,200 employees to be cut by July 2027, not to mention all the co-dev partners and vendors, developers and analysts started looking into what happened for the division to reach such a low point. And the failure of Game Pass came up in most conversations, especially when a new report revealed that the subscriber base actually decreased from 34 to 30 million.

38:51Andy Cortez:Moon Studios CEO Thomas Maller, for instance, opined that they never delivered the big hits a subscription service would need. Anyway, the big question mark is now pertaining to the future of Game Pass. To this end, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the Schreier guy, one take Schreier, shared some interesting details in the latest episode, episode 313, of the Triple Click podcast. Schreier believes Game Pass won't die, but Xbox will likely have to remove day one availability for many of its biggest games because it doesn't make sense financially. They have already started doing so with Call of Duty, after all, and it wouldn't be surprising to see other games join that exclusion category.

39:29Andy Cortez:Moreover, Schreier shared that several leaders of Xbox-owned studios hate Game Pass for devaluing their games. Quote I think they keep it going But at some point They're just going to remove day one sales Because that makes no sense anymore So Matty to your point earlier You take a game like South of Midnight That's a game that was not exactly Critically acclaimed or anything But the people who really loved it Really spoke to them And that's a game that costs$40 to buy But on Game Pass You can get it for what $15 a month,$20 a month whatever it was at that point when the game was released. And so not only is that kind of this put this load on it that I can't really support as being part of the subscription service, trying to grow the subscription, it also is being completely devalued to the point where people might be like, why would I spend$40 on this when I could just get it on Game Pass service for quote unquote free or for my monthly subscription charge?

40:27Andy Cortez:And that I think happened to a lot of games. And there are a lot of people out there in studio leadership within Xbox who absolutely detest Game Pass and think it has just destroyed their value of their games. Think it has taken away from the value of all games in general just as a service and just has contributed to a lot of just... It's been a detriment to the games industry and those people's views because of how it devalues games. And so Netflix, I think, is a little bit different just because the stuff that is getting put on Netflix cannot be bought separately. You cannot go buy Electric State or whatever, end quote.

41:01Andy Cortez:quote he did a good job reading a quote that was like a podcast it's always tough yeah yeah you know how it is but ding ding ding ding ding yeah jason's right yeah as always usual i don't know

41:12Blessing Adeoye Jr.:i'm sure he's been wrong about something he likes the jet so yeah i'm not talking to all the xbox studio leaders but i feel like i've heard this should i call them yeah sure yeah that's how he feels about xbox game pass but like not i in general in the industry from like people who make games i've read the sentiment a lot of like all game pass devalues games and like even when i've heard that i'm not necessarily all the way agreed but i get i get where the sentiment comes from and i think now that we're here and even now that i think about like xbox portfolio and i think to a game like keeper last year keeper was in my top 10 video games of last year but i feel like people don't look at that in the same way they might look at a um i'm gonna give it a lofty comparison and i'm not saying that it should be this but like in a way that they look like a journey yeah or a way that they look at like other i guess artsy indie games that you look at and go oh i'm gonna pay the 30 for this or i'm gonna pay like the 20 to 40 for this because this is art that i get to experience and all that i feel like keeper kind of got lost in the shuffle maybe partly because of the value aspect of yeah oh it's on game pass i'll get to it eventually i don't see

42:14Andy Cortez:it as a thing that i need to spend the 30 on no i think you're 100 right on that and i think it's something jason or the article brought up i forget it was jason himself uh but talking about they just didn't have the biggest hits on this and i think that's really what happened in missing the mark on game pass and what it could have been and what it would have been and yada yada yada is the fact that they got into this conversation as we've seen through all the reporting a lot of it from jason about coming to studios like double fine coming things like compulsion make a game that wins awards and we can put on game pass and that's great you don't have to worry about selling things but then the games that you would think are the ones that are going to sell people on a game pass subscription just weren't hitting right like we can argue to a blue in the face about halo infinite but it didn't have the impact of halo 3 or when the halo 2 in the world stopped right we're toss out starfield the game of course i love but isn't perfect and a lot of people did not like it all right like you're talking about the first party xbox teams that are coming out and are missing the big ones and so then you have smaller games both from xbox studios and from game pass partnerships that again were really fueling the indie market and an indie boom that are coming that but it is then giving game pass this identity of cool that's where i go for disposable games games it's a friday night and i'm in between big releases and i want to play something i jump on i do three hours of something on game pass i leave i never play it again i don't buy dlc i don't do this yada yada yeah and that devalued everything that then went into it because yeah nobody's looking at that being it i think jason's on the money that if i'm asha the next step on this cleanse of trying to get to sustainability because sati nadella is on top of me is going to be yeah get all of our big games that people care about off of game pass that's got to be a windowed thing of i don't again we'll get into how clear the message would actually be but it'll be a a year later it'll be on game pass something to that effect or maybe because i correct me on the wrong chat playstation they have no yeah i know this the playstation has no verbiage on like god of war ragnarok god of war 2018 is now on playstation plus but ragnarok will join a year after release no yeah they just do it and people are like excited when it happens so that's what you move to on this so you get people to go buy a 70 maybe 80 game is game just game pass then just become playstation

44:27Blessing Adeoye Jr.:plus extra yeah that's so whack yeah but like yeah i i think this was a a fascinating experiment because in a way if i'm back in 2018 if i'm phil spencer i kind of understand the bet of oh we want to have these smaller games to continually have a drip feed of content for Game Pass. I just think the bet was bad, right? Like, when I think about other subscription services. Bets are gameables, yeah. And I look at Apple TV Plus, for example, not that that's like the premier streaming service, but guess what? They have a show every month that I'm like, fuck, I got to watch this. I got a sub for Pluribus or Ted Lasso or Severance or Widow's Bay.

45:08Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I look at Netflix and Netflix, of course, being the main one. oh man i got a sub for stranger things or xy like there's enough almost must watch tv on those platforms that had me subscribed that had me coming back and i think one i don't think they had that for xbox game pass and then also video games are just inherently different from tv shows as far as bandwidth and how much you're able to consume a tv widow's bay i can watch in a weekend starfield no i gotta that takes me weeks if i had a if i wasn't working in a games media might take me a couple months might take me a year to get through so it's just a whole different thing that i just don't i i think game pass is the proof that this just cannot work in video games as far as having a netflix of video games in my opinion it'd be interesting and i mean this is

45:57Andy Cortez:impossible yeah well i don't know whatever but like in a different reality if this hadn't happened the way it happened and then somebody introduced basically like indie pass that was like we're kind of funny and we are we've had a hell of a four years we're getting 10 different games into this indie subscription service and we're going to add indies as we go you know what i mean like i i think the balling live but like hey here are smaller games again we're setting your expectations because xbox's expectations they set were you are getting everything from xbox first party studios and we will rival playstation so you're thinking of the last of us and you're thinking of a non uncharted yeah spider-man exactly not just naughty dog games but you're thinking of like oh my god these amazing experiences and i just don't think xbox has been able to deliver that yeah and i

46:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:think even if they delivered that a little bit the filling in filling the in-betweens with the smaller games i just don't think works for how big of a thing xbox game pass needed to be because to your indie pass thing i think that'd be neat but you'd also i think have to speak to such a particular audience because for for when you think about it right when i bring up a a keeper or i think of a pentiment or i think of like some of the successes that have come out of xbox game pass or xbox first party from that smaller side that's not speaking to the call of duty crowd you know what i mean like that's speaking to us that's speaking to me that's speaking to you that's speaking to the people watching and guess what like that is a small piece of the pie when you talk about the amount of people you want to come into a game pass when you're talking about wanting to hit 70 million 100 million you're not going to hit 100 million with keeper i'm sorry no i love

47:30Andy Cortez:keeper into the indie past slash what you could do and how you could do like i i play date jumps to mind of course play date the handheld that got made by panic that has the crank on the side right and then they do seasons of content season uh the season here's the truly unique bit play date isn't just an empty ecosystem once you set up play date you'll start to receive two brand new games every week for 12 weeks there's 24 games and a lot of genre like again play date don't I'm wrong. It didn't set the world on fire. It isn't going to do numbers that fucking Microsoft would care about, but like they come out and they set your expectations.

48:01Andy Cortez:You know what you're getting and you're bought in on a different way of like there'd be something fucking sound. I like this, uh, street shadow, super chat journey versus keeper comes down to how they were positioned. Journey was positioned as a big deal. It won game of the years, but keeper and these other titles going to game pass from the start, just get lost in the ocean of too much content. Yeah. Also true. I think that's a thousand percent on the money of people coming out and being like, here comes keeper. And it's like, okay it's a lighthouse or whatever and it's tim but it's not there's too much shit going on and no one's sitting there from xbox on top banging the drum and getting tim on stuff and doing things of like here we go and like an interview here and there as one thing but like pentiment i've not

48:40Blessing Adeoye Jr.:played as much pentiment pentiment looks like it's it'd be extremely my ship and i look at a game like that and i'm like man this should have got more renown or more fanfare right and i wonder how that would have done if it was like a we just put this out on steam we put this out we put this out everywhere yeah yeah and like not even on game pass we just treated this like a regular game release i wonder what the story would have been for pentiment there epic open world comes in

49:01Andy Cortez:with a contrarian opinion which i appreciate game pass gave me the opportunity the opportunity to play games i would never buy sure it may devalue games but a lot of the games i played i was never going to buy including first party games i will just play less game and i think that again speaks to what you're talking about with okay cool like what is this going to do going for what were the real ramifications what were the real gamers or were the real buyers here what was the real money to be made from here in terms of you go back and it's a bet it's it's a chance but and to your point it's not netflix this isn't something where you come in and consume something and whatever like in the grand scheme of things obviously for epic open world the games you weren't going to play sure but let's just see and right now you're saying i'll just play less games sure but stick with me will you buy more games and i'm just talking about one maybe two more and is that that's more valuable to a developer and to an xbox and a playstation right it would turn out then you popping in and doing this it's hard to say everyone's a different use case where it would actually shake out but clearly it didn't work and now we live with these ramifications yeah let's move on to story number three valve promises no steam machine exclusives after months of fan speculation about half-life 3 this is john walker over at kotaku valve is made clear that it has no interest in creating games that are exclusive to the steam machine bloomberg quotes valve engineer pierre loop giraffe no giraffe giraffe giraffe giraffe Giraffa.

50:31Andy Cortez:Giraffa. As saying, the company considers... Giraffa? What would you do there? Griffay? Griffay? Griffay? Giraffa? Giraffa. Too much on the... I got Pierre Loop going. I was all set there. You know what I mean? As saying, the company considers, quote, having the whole PC catalog as our launch exclusive, end quote. Although how exactly you'd create a game that's exclusive to a Linux-driven open system is perhaps more the point. The question has been, would Valve attempt to push the recently released Steam Machine with a tie-in game to encourage interest? Did it intend to use one of its huge properties to help sell the Steam Machine?

51:06Andy Cortez:In a similar way, how it had created Half-Life Alyx with the intention of helping to sell its second attempt at VR, the Valve Index. Quote, restricting people, restricting where people can play a game, I don't think is a great model, at least for us, he told Bloomberg. we're much more interested in having the whole PC catalog as our launch exclusive. Of course, it's worth pointing out that valve has never created anything as an exclusive, given the mega corpse lifelong support of open systems and third party access. Valves push for Linux as its core operating system has also been a huge part of its history.

51:40Andy Cortez:And even half life Alex was launched working on almost every rival VR headset. Cool. No shocker there. Yeah. Yeah. I think the more is where the fuck's Half-Life 3. You know what I mean? A lot of people put on their fantasy critic thinking they might get an easy point, you know, shock the world there. Still got to happen. Could it? A lot of year left. A lot of year left.

52:01Blessing Adeoye Jr.:No, there's not.

52:02Andy Cortez:No, there's not. There's not. My only hope now is a shadow drop of Game Awards.

52:06Blessing Adeoye Jr.:No, we got to stop dreaming. And even then, like, do people turn that around in time to get a review out before the end of the year?

52:13Andy Cortez:God damn it, bitch. No, they would. Half-Life 3, you'd be all about that.

52:16Blessing Adeoye Jr.:What if it's a really long game, though? It will be. Here's the thing. I, in my heart, believe that Half-Life 3 is being worked on. Yeah. But we got to stop. We got to stop with the Half-Life 3. Think about the words you're saying. You're saying the words Half-Life 3. We've been talking about Half-Life 3 for how long?

52:39Andy Cortez:Long time.

52:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Has it almost been 20 years? Is it almost the 20th year anniversary of us being like, oh, the next one's going to be Half-Life 3?

52:47Andy Cortez:Yeah.

52:47Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Why do we keep talking about a game called Half-Life 3? And actually predicting it and putting on a fantasy critics. Oh, Valve's going to make it. Oh, they make games sometimes. Sometimes. Half-Life 3?

53:04Andy Cortez:Dr. Dre is also going to release Detox. You went to Beast of the Reincarnation. Yeah. The preview's up, but I haven't had a chance to watch it, right? Yeah. How was it? Pretty good. Okay, cool. I liked it a lot. Okay, good.

53:13Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Did you get on your fantasy critic? I haven't with my fantasy critic. I knew it was a game, but when I did it. I think it's going to do good for you. I mean, I can't win this year. I got too many. It's not going to be like, I don't think it'll be a 90 by any means, but I think they can get you in those 80s. Okay. Yeah.

53:25Andy Cortez:I'll take it.

53:27Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Half-Life 3?

53:29Andy Cortez:Number four of the Roper Report. It will be 20 years since Half-Life 2, episode two next year for 2027.

53:37Blessing Adeoye Jr.:When have they ever made a three? They haven't. They haven't. They've never gotten to three. They don't count to three.

53:44Andy Cortez:They don't need to.

53:44Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Half-Life 3? Half-Life 3?

53:47Andy Cortez:They're counting G's. They don't need to count to three. Number four. Claire Obscure star Jennifer English exits Tides of Annihilation over health concerns. This is Andy Robinson at VGC. Award-winning games actress Jennifer English has announced that she will no longer be starring in the upcoming fantasy action game Tides of Annihilation due to health concerns. Announced last year in a PlayStation State of Play livestream, Tides of Annihilation takes place in a fantasy version of London in which protagonist Gwendolyn, originally played by English, fights to save her sister and restore the world.

54:17Andy Cortez:In a statement published on social media this weekend, the game's BAFTA-winning Claire Obscure and Baldur's Gate 3 actress said she has now made the decision to step away from the project after deciding that she had taken on too many commitments. Quote, I'm really grateful to have been part of Tides of Annihilation since the game's inception and to have worked with such a lovely team. Recently, I found myself needing to slow down and reassess the commitments I've taken on. After careful thought, I've realized I need to take time to rest and properly look after my mental and physical health With that in mind, I've made the difficult yet personally necessary decision to step away from the project as it moves into its next phase End quote The English, no sorry, English, said she will continue to work with Tides of Annihilation developer Eclipse Glow Games as an advisor And claimed that she had introduced the studio to, quote, a very talented actor who I believe is a wonderful fit for Gwen I wish the entire team nothing but success and I'll be cheering them on as they continue bringing the game to life she wrote.

55:16Andy Cortez:In its own statement China based Eclipse Glow said it respected Jennifer's decision to focus on her health and confirmed that it had found a new actor to play as protagonist. Quote earlier in June Jennifer informed us that she would no longer be able to continue in the role. While we were of course saddened by her decision we completely understood and respected Jennifer in prioritizing her well-being. we are also truly grateful for the care and responsibilities she showed throughout this process end quote the studio confirmed that with jennifer's support and recommendation together with recommendations from other members of the voice cast it is cast a new actor

55:51Blessing Adeoye Jr.:blessing is it andy i i know i don't think he's voicing jennifer english is the former role but of course shout out to jennifer english of course you know looking out for your physical mental health that's an important thing and i know it's probably really tough to step away from a role especially from a game like Tides of Annihilation that looks like it's going to be a big thing. But also, of course, if you're listening, you don't know Jennifer English. Baldur's Gate 3, she was Shadowheart. Claire of Scared, she was Miel. She was also a voice in Elden Ring. And that's where I look at Tides of Annihilation and go damn, sucks that you're not going to be in the game of the year conversation.

56:22Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Because Jennifer English is part of that. You put Jennifer English in your game, you're a 10 out of 10. That's not enough. She's got to be a voice. she's got the magic touch you put her in the game it's a game of the year contender and probably winner it could be a contender still but it won't be a contender for 2026 i guarantee that put put that on the fucking nobody thinks this game has come out in 2026 yeah i forget who it was i think it was tim that was kind of holding out open and he drafted it it got counterpicked so i didn't have the oh it got counterpicked so we can't even drop it this is coming late 27 if they're still doing if they're still in like major like voice actors are still involved type of shit yeah this and coming soon.

57:03Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Yeah, I didn't have the heart to tell him. There's zero chance we're seeing Todd's Anilation this year. But I think he knows in his heart of hearts, and he just, he's got it picked on his thing. He's got it picked. Somebody was asking if I knew that she voiced somebody in Marathon. And here's the thing. Marathon actually has a really banger cast of voice actors in it. And look out for the end of the year. We might see it. Damn, look at that. They're putting out the thing tomorrow, the new PVE experimental mode. A lot of people, even before tomorrow, A lot of people fuck with Marathon. Yeah, I'm one of those people.

57:34Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I think Marathon's fantastic.

57:36Andy Cortez:Marathon winning game of the year would be humongous news. The biggest news possibly of the year. And that's saying something for this fucking year, folks. But, blessing, if I wanted smaller news, say the tiniest news I need to know about, where would I go?

57:50Blessing Adeoye Jr.:You'd go to our last news story, the We News Channel, where we cover all the small news items you need to know about.

57:58Andy Cortez:Number five, We News. Kingdom Hearts Missing Link. the cancelled Kingdom Hearts 4 prologue has had its opening cinematic allegedly leaked.

58:06Blessing Adeoye Jr.:It was a big thing. I woke up this morning, it was all people talking about Kingdom Hearts missing Link this, missing Link that. I'm missing Link from Legend of Zelda. Where's the Ocarina of Time release date?

58:15Andy Cortez:There it is. That's what I'm talking about. Show us the fucking game. Show us the game. From Call of Duty on Twitter, director Peter Berg revealed today at Fanatics Fest that the Call of Duty movie is set in the Modern Warfare universe. Say that again? The Modern Warfare universe. There you go. Fuck you. I never fuck you I never fuck with you that way You're Rafa Hey man There's a lot of words there There was a lot of words I nailed the first two words And that third one popped up I'm like ah shit You usually don't let it slide You tried a lot I know And then you landed on that Well it's like I feel I of course everyone Am horribly embarrassed To mispronounce someone's name Yeah I want to give everyone the shine It's the whole fucking core Of being Greg Miller Is I don't want the spotlight I want to give it to the developers So when I fuck up your name I could keep going every time Nine times out of ten and y 'all don't have the article in front of you, you don't know what the fucking name is and you're not going to remember.

59:02Andy Cortez:I'm proud of you for trying. But I try to stop and get it right. I'm definitely proud of you for trying

59:05Blessing Adeoye Jr.:and being like, I'm going to get this. This is the fact, you landed on a place so far away from where it was. What? Let's be sure.

59:11Andy Cortez:I can't spell giraffe. You know what I mean? I see a G, an R, and an I. I'm like, we're in giraffe territory. We're in giraffe territory. What do you want me to do? Modern warfare. Modern warfare. You see, I kept getting served on Instagram because I just watched Obsession. I watched it before you. Like you, I watched it. And then the actress from that, she streamed during this when she couldn't make any money. And then now she's at Fanatics Fest and she was on the Call of Duty panel and then fans gave her Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 boxed and raided and all that stuff. Oh, cool. She's all about that Call of Duty.

59:48Andy Cortez:Is she in the movie or is she just there because she liked Call of Duty? No, she was just there, I think, for Call of Duty. What is Fanatics Fest? So Fanatics, if you don't know, is a company that makes T-shirts and then everything else now. And so they do this like Fanatics Fest where they bring together like all the brands, like all the sports people. Because I saw a bunch of wrestling people.

1:00:05Blessing Adeoye Jr.:And then I saw Justin Bieber was performing. And then I saw Cleo Thomas. I'm like, what is this? What's happening?

1:00:11Andy Cortez:Fair enough. Cool. From Insider Gaming, Edge of Attorney developer Midgar has shut down. That sucks. Monochrome roguelike platformer Gen Addy adds PS5, Xbox. I don't know. That's like such a... This is like when Kevin puts banana in there. He's like, I'm just saying words now. I would have gone. Monochrome, roguelite, platformer, Genaddy adds PS5, Xbox Series. See, I don't know if I'm right. I would have said Gennady. Genaddy. Gennady. Gennady. Gennady. Gennady. Gennady. Gennady. Gennady. This actually looks pretty cool. I would say this game does look actually pretty cool. You know, I look at this, you know what?

1:00:48Andy Cortez:I think this is no insult, but this would have been a great PSP mini. This has got that kind of vibe. We have minis. Remember that? It also looks like some of my nightmares as well. You know, something about that art set. It kind of gives Wario Land a little bit. Also, chat hates fanatics. Just a heads up. Oh, yeah.

1:01:09Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Well, they had a fest this weekend, y 'all.

1:01:13Andy Cortez:This is out in Q4, 2026. Gin Addy. Gin Addy. We're just going to call it Gin. G-E-N-N-A-D-Y. Natural Gin. is a dynamic roadlight platform where you must fight your way through shifting corridors filled with, oh Jesus, katonic creatures and death only makes you stronger all wrapped in legendary absurdity and classic animation inspired by the era of Earthworm Jim and that's it, that's the game for you play the demo right now, no pants required and that's it for Wii News we venture into the one and only kind of funny super chat to see what people are saying

1:01:51Andy Cortez:Demon Hacker I don't totally understand Demon Hacker says Come on Blessing Metroid Dread came out Half-Life 3 is a piece of shit

1:02:00Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Half-Life 3 That's not what they're saying Half-Life 3 is POS Is I don't know I guess I can only read that It's a piece of shit Okay It's just Saying the words Half-Life 3 out loud I just don't You get mad I get mad and I think it's happening. I think it'll happen one day, but we just got to stop being like, oh, it'll happen this year.

1:02:22Andy Cortez:You got to make those predictions. Otherwise, they never happen. Skat Ho says birthday tax. Thank you guys for making my weekdays a little brighter. Happy birthday to you, Skat Ho. Happy birthday. Oh, see, Aaron Lime is in here talking about the Wii News as if we wouldn't have the Wii News, but then Aaron Lime is spoiling.

1:02:39Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I'm tired of y 'all doubting me.

1:02:40Andy Cortez:You know what I mean? What's the point? What is Blessing ever done to be doubted?

1:02:43Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Same.

1:02:44Andy Cortez:but Mobisque says Bless, thank you for letting me know about Dench Attack completed the game yesterday and there's only one word I can use on how I feel about the game that word is incredible, my new favorite indie game and new 2026 game of the year, 10 out of 10

1:02:57Blessing Adeoye Jr.:hell yeah, I was beating the drum on Dench Attack like at the very beginning of the year because they put out a demo, and I've not gotten to play any of it, I've been we have a review up, we have a review up everybody else is on their review, Barrett Platinum'd it oh, congratulations Barrett I 100 %ed it on Switch because that's where I was playing it for review Loved it so much and then looked at the trophy List for PlayStation and I was like you know what I can 100 % this again Bought it on PlayStation And yeah I got the plat in just a couple days Hell yeah super angry walrus says Densh attack is now on game pass So I wish I could have played it I've been in an X hole As y 'all have known so Xenoblade Chronicles Take it over I'm about 50 hours Into that video game one day I'll finish it

1:03:42Andy Cortez:everybody go check out the games cast where they review Denture Deck Alex says with a super chat Greg where'd you get that awesome cup I got this Diddy Kong cup at the Nintendo store it was Ben's for a long time then he decided he didn't like it so now I'm using it as a coffee mug it breaks my heart you know he's over the monkeys no he's all about Star Fox now he's really good at it we turned the corner where he can actually play Star Fox on his own I was like damn have you tried

1:04:06Blessing Adeoye Jr.:to give him a DK64 I haven't yet I think that'll that'll do it cool

1:04:13Andy Cortez:Billy the Pizza calls us the boys from Illinois. I like that. Nice. I just give me the boys from Illinois if we want to say it wrong. No, no, no. I'm just saying maybe that's what they were thinking. You know what I mean? But like spell the end of Illinois with an E to make it like noise. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. That's cool.

1:04:31Blessing Adeoye Jr.:I almost called a dance team that when I was in college. I started a dance crew. And yeah, Illinois felt too on the nose.

1:04:38Andy Cortez:Sure. Fair enough. Adam two times super chat and says well in the UK they go back to school in September PS I'm flying out in two weeks and got a week long ticket for kind of funny 100 I cannot wait to see it and explore SF Adam two times you're going back to school early you're not you're not allowed to come the week you're skipping in August I'm going to make you do it here kind of funny we'll have a little desk set up for you over there they add up two times desk Kevin will teach you carburetors oh that was like a good laugh from Baird and they're off mic. Cletus says, as a fellow Midwesterner, even fucking May isn't spring sometimes.

1:05:15Andy Cortez:And you're preaching the truth. You know what I mean? Thank you, Cletus. DJ says, hi, Greg and bless. This is going towards sending Tim to Chicago or Cleveland in February. That's really good. Send him in March.

1:05:30Blessing Adeoye Jr.:Show him March. Show him April. Yeah. Show him April 2nd. He'll be shocked at what he sees.

1:05:36Andy Cortez:He'll understand why we We are the way we are. Yeah. Why we're so hardened to the world. And that's it. Everybody, that's another episode of kind of funny games daily in the books. But our programming day is far from over. After this, we're going into the games cast. We're going to talk about fixing me. Blessing had an idea. We'll see where it goes after that. Have you done any thought about that? I did. I put some bullet points for you. But I also think it's going to be a pretty free flowing conversation. And I chat. I'll need to know what's broken about me. So get out your fucking tasks, your lists, everything you've made in the sauna.

1:06:07Andy Cortez:about how much you hate me and what I'm wrong about. After that, they're going to play Enshrouded. While they're playing Enshrouded, we will be reacting to the Avengers. Oh, there's a game showdown today, too. There's a game showdown. Is it the first of them? It's the first of them, yeah. Who wants to be a millionaire? Who wants to be a millionaire? Very good. Video game edition. Very good. Very, very, very good. Very fun episode. Yeah, so that's going to be there. Then it'll be the Enshrouded stream. Then you can come back to YouTube.com slash kind of funny games and of course podcast services to watch or listen to our reaction to the Avenger Doomsday trailer.

1:06:36Andy Cortez:Then I go and get on a plane for Redacted. Until then, though, and next time, and get the membership, it's been a pleasure to serve you. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra.

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