#405 | Waiting Like the Stalking Butler

41:50Colin Moriarty:It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash sacred. Go to Shopify.com slash sacred. That's Shopify.com slash sacred. We'll miss you. Devin McCarty wrote in and said, Sacred Gents, happy launch month to Saint Slayer. Barry has been kicking ass with his developer videos, and I feel surprisingly competent already before I get into this clearly well-built game. Who do you think will be the first of the platinum? you Barry someone from the sacred society with no kids have a great show um I could have been the first person to platinum because I was playing it before anyone else like I have the first trophy for beating the game on PSN but I am trying not to platinum it now basically we have two PS4 and PS5 versions I want to platinum one of them on stream I think like from beginning to end at some point so I'm trying to save that one and I don't want to like blow my load yet as it were the other one so i'm just kind of like i've played it so many times like i've beaten the game dozens of times that it's uh i don't want to just do it to get the trophies i kind of want to savor it it's the same reason i was thinking about this too i should have brought this up earlier dustin is i thought it'd be fun to do like at some point like a lily moe trophy stream where maybe i go for quite a while maybe this is something to do when you're when you're away actually is because i would kind of kind of be able to control because it would take a long time And just because I've saved old versions of our games that I didn't platinum.

43:22So I platinumed Tribreaker once. I platinumed Super Perils of Baking once. Habroxia once. Habroxia 2. And so on and so forth. And so there are these lingering whatever versions of them that I've not platinumed. And that could be a good way to promote our game, perhaps.

43:38Colin Moriarty:Has anyone ever, Colin, wouldn't it be cool to do a contest that's like you have to be on PSN profiles? the first person to get the platinum verified on PSN profiles wins the physical version of the game when it comes out or something yeah that's a nice idea I I don't I think that there are ways for more sophisticated games like higher end games to even see trophy data much more much more in depth than we're able to like I don't know what the back end I'm not even really sure what I can talk about with like what we're with how we access PlayStation and Nintendo and all that stuff. There's like a bunch of I didn't sign the contracts, but obviously our business did.

44:20So but like there's probably even ways to verify it via the PSN itself. But I don't know. I don't know how to do that stuff.

44:29Colin Moriarty:You know, there is a flaw, though, in that there are probably going to people that review it, the platinum. Right. And also. I don't want to get there. There are. We have a password system. in the game so you can start exploiting that once you start unlocking the passwords so there's going to be like really ideal good ways through the game the thing is is that and i we said this online i think on twitter i don't know if i said it here was that like i wanted a much harder trophy list the trophy list is live now as everyone knows we've been talking about this so it's not like a mystery but i wanted a list that was way harder um and was talked down from that so then as an ode to me and as a joke because I think I'm more of a glutton for punishment than I really am or I come off as one more than I really am Barry put in a password of Moriarty which makes you start with no like one life and like there's no options to get any more health or lives basically in the entire game but what I wanted to do was I wanted to do a deathless run trophy which even Shovel Knight has and I was even trying to push for a hitless run and it's like all right dude take it easy shovel night everyone always thought it was hard i you know shovel to get the platinum and shovel night you have to beat it without get without dying and i did that obviously but it's it's not as hard as you'd think because you can like just stop at the different stages and just reload saves if you want to and whatnot it's like the bioshock trophy for beating it with no vita or vita chambers it's like that's not nearly as hard as you think just save the game manually you can just save the game manually whenever you want just don't use the vita chamber and if you die don't reload from the vita chamber and then and then you'll get the uh the platinum for that so um yeah so i by the way i think someone already has the platinum that like has the game early so for at least the ps5 version i don't know about the ps4 version um really excited to have the game out april 20th i'll be promoting it more and more as we get forward i want people to definitely check this one out.

46:31I know that this game is going to be in the wheelhouse of many people and we're really proud of it. It's really fucking good. I will always have a special, I say this behind the scenes, I always have a special soft spot for Herboxia 2. It's just, I think it's the first time we made a game where it was like, this is fucking excellent. And I really, really feel that way about this game. Where I'm like, this is going to really, I think be impressive to the right audience of people in which it's aimed so excited to get out and i know barry's excited too now that it's april we're like all right like let's let's go so you can pre uh not pre-order i'm sorry strike that you can wish list the game on steam we have more i think 11 or 12 000 wish lists on steam now which is awesome uh psn for ps4 and ps5 if you buy the ps5 version you get the ps4 version for free and vice versa the xbox versions are now up for wish list xbox one Xbox Series X and S.

47:28Again, same thing. If you buy one, you get the other for free. And we're waiting to we I think we pass it on switch, but we're waiting to appear on the storefront. So we're everywhere. No switch to version, but maybe in the future. Very excited. Very, very excited. Adam Nix wrote in and said, hey, sacred crew. Just wanted to send a shout out to all my fellow LSM listening colleagues working the Artemis 2 mission over the next 10 days. Let's show the world what we can do when we put our minds to it. Godspeed, Reed, Victor, Christina and Jeremy. go Artemis 2. Adam, you'll be very happy to, you know, you and I have talked behind the scenes, but my friend, Mike Patelli, my good buddy that I bring up all the time, he's really, really in the space like I am.

48:08And I told him that there are people that listen to the show that work on Artemis, and he thought that was really cool. So it was serendipitous that you wrote in, because he'll probably hear that if he listens to this episode. Dude, how exciting, huh? Artemis 2? I watched the launch last yesterday yeah dustin you're not you're nonplussed here's the thing they're like

48:31Colin Moriarty:oh we're doing this to prepare to land on the moon and i'm kind of like didn't you already do the preparing yeah i mean that's a lot of people have been saying that but i'm just kidding by the way well yeah but well it's i mean there's there's something to be said about that we landed on the moon in the 60s yeah this is so apollo 8 if the apollo missions you know apollo 11 was the one that landed on the first one to land on the moon. Apollo 8 was the one that I think went to the moon and just went around it. You're testing things in stages, right? Like first you launch into low earth orbit. Then like you go to the moon and come back.

49:08Then you go to the moon and land and come back. Then you go to the moon and land and start building shit and come back. It is a little annoying, but I think they're testing things in sequence. Right. I saw it's funny though, because there is something that's like, yeah, why can't we just do it? And it's like, dude, that was so long ago. And that's what's so funny. The microprocessor didn't exist. That thing was full of like vacuum tubes and electric circuits. And it's like you and I saw someone say I have like an old TV from the 50s. And when people were asking, I was like, well, if you went and bought a new TV, is this what the TV you'd want?

49:38Or would you want like the beautiful new thing that will kind of do the same thing, but it's a totally different experience? It's so I was so nervous. spot. First of all, no one seems to give a shit, which is a bummer. I think that a lot of that is on NASA. Like, I don't think that they've done a first of all, Artemis has been much delayed. The launches were supposed to happen a couple years ago. And I just don't think they've done a good job of marketing it. It's especially interesting because the administration and the Republicans generally are extremely pro space. So they have an endemic advantage, right?

50:11And like having the right people in the right places to do all this. They just didn't, I don't think, messaged it, right? And it's But I was watching it and I was nervous, man, because I knew in my heart, first of all, there are a lot of people alive on that thing on top of that rocket. But also it's like it all rides on this. If this thing goes wrong. Artemis is fucked for years and we're probably not going to really execute on the plan, but because it's going well and. I don't want to say that the hard part's over, obviously, they haven't even left Earth or Earth orbit yet, but getting off the planet and landing on the planet, that's the crazy shit.

50:49Colin Moriarty:oh yeah i was watching a video of like the proposed like it's like a 3d rendering and i was like they're like showing the craft like flirt like flying towards earth i'm like i'm mad just imagine how horrifying i mean i guess all of it is absolutely horrifying but like imagine like you just went around the moon and it's like okay now we have to get back and we're going to just like fall down to earth with a parachute yeah it's wild the ocean these are true adventurers burn up these are adventures like in the in the in we don't have adventure like that anymore I like it's not we know we some a lot of underwater stuff will still is still to come but we know every inch of the earth you know some cool shit in the jungles and in the Amazon rainforest we haven't seen old ruins and shit but these are true like adventurers pioneers yeah it's amazing it's amazing love it yeah I wish I cared.

51:50Colin Moriarty:There was a point. There was a time. There was a time where I think I would have cared, but I don't know. Everything's like there's like a thin shield of like kind of cynicism with it now where I'm like, why are you going? Are you going to the moons to drop the Epstein drives off on the dark side of the moon where no one can find them? Right. You know, like it just kind of feels like, I don't know, like what does this do for me? Really? What does it do for me that we do? We're doing a thing that we did in the 60s again. It almost feels like nostalgia. It's like, oh, do you remember this? it's like mario the mario movie remember fucking wart yeah it's like it's like okay i guess i don't know moon member berries yeah moon member you gonna do anything about that crazy thing that kind of swept under the rug for a little bit yeah it is i it's so funny you said i don't know i was just thinking about that last night as i was falling asleep i'm like yeah no one's talking about it really anymore um crazy things move at pardon the pun light speed at these points but yeah for me i've always really loved space as i think everyone knows it's it's a fat an absolute fascination for me i'm so jealous of people that get to do this they work so hard to get there they're fighter pilots and engineers and specialists and it's like uh and i was thinking about this too i was talking about this with mike is because artemis 2 has been delayed so much this has kind of been just hanging over their heads the pilots or like the astronauts and it must be nice to just be like you know like can you imagine me like i'm doing this mega dangerous thing with a non-zero chance that i will die and it keeps getting pushed off and i just want to do it you know and like get it over with and there was like a slight malfunction i think as they were preparing everything yesterday with like a battery that made it seem like maybe they would have to just cut it and try again in the next few days but they they got they got it going and it and all worked out so but i was so nervous for them and so excited for them and they're technically it's so i mean everyone intuitively knows this i guess but like you're not aiming at the moon you're aiming where the moon is going to be right i mean the level of like mathematical precision it's like incredible dude like this is what we can do like this is this is like what we can do it's incredible when you think about it like and and like you're just trusting the gravity of the moon to catch you because otherwise you just fly past it if there's no gravity and you're gone bye forever um and then you're counting on it for just whip you around back to earth based on precise understanding of all of these disciplines it's crazy it's like it's just from that perspective it's like this isn't and this is what i'm saying like this is adventure this is this is true science this is pioneering this is awesome and if it goes well first of all they'll go further than even the apollo astronauts did which is interesting apollo 13 was the furthest anyone's ever been because they had a slingshot around the moon and that's what they're doing intentionally this time so they'll have gotten i think thousands of miles further than they did, which is crazy.

54:57So they'll be further than anyone's ever been from the planet where everything has ever happened. It's like... It's so incredible. It's crazy. And then Artemis 3 lands on the moon. And I was explaining this to Micah, and I think, I don't know how much you guys know about this, but like there's basically three approaches to space travel from here. We either go into low Earth orbit and start building everything there, which is very much like Battlestar Galactica and stuff like that. And the reason you do that is like you get everything up in space elevators, and then it's cheap because everything's floating.

55:31And so you don't have to like use fuel to get everything up. You just build it there and then shoot it off from there. You go to the moon, which is what we're doing. And you build a gateway there, which is what we're doing. We're building a space station around the moon. And then we're going to have a moon presence, a lunar presence. We'll mine water from the moon. We'll use that splitting that into hydrogen from fuel and then use water and all the rest. And then we'll send it to Mars. And the third option is just go from Earth to Mars, which is, I think, what Elon wants to do. A lot of people think the moon stuff is kind of a waste because it's like it's like wasting time and we don't really need to do that but i think the free fuel if we can figure that out in the water the endless amounts of water very very exciting stuff so so incredible dude and i as a space enthusiast i'm so frustrated because we should have probably done this shit no joke 30 to 40 years ago and we just stopped like if you it's funny i don't know how much you guys are interested in it probably not very but if you read about like where the minds were at of the people in nasa in the 60s and 70s they were like we'll be on mars in the 80s and which is crazy when you think about it it's like we'll build a moon base in the 70s we'll go to mars in the 80s and we'll have like venus arrow stats in like the 90s and 2000s and we have like none of it and we just stopped because it's extremely expensive.

56:55And, and the, one of the, one of the things that really, in my opinion, what I love about what Elon is doing, even though he's very controversial for many different reasons, is like the reusable rockets and getting the cost out of it. And he keeps saying that like in the, in the coming years, we'll have launches like every week. And it's like, dude, we're really becoming spacefaring. Like we're really doing it. Exciting shit, exciting shit. So congratulations, Adam. Great job to everyone that to any of you out there, others that work on Artemis and all the other space program stuff. You know, I love you.

57:29Nate 513 says, hello, CDC. Hope you're doing well today. Well, I recently resigned my job as a teacher of 12 years due to a lack of support and the well-being of my own mental health. I have some savings, so I'll be fine for a couple of months. Tell me what career should I pursue next? I leave it in your hands. Thanks for all you do and for spreading humor and light during these dark times. Dustin identify the next employment opportunity for Nate 513

57:54Colin Moriarty:please yeah I wish Nate gave us a little more background I mean we can assume that he has some kind of teaching degree he said he had lack of support and his mental health could become a private tutor you know that might be there might be some money in that yeah I couldn't imagine being a teacher man that stuff yeah it's really have you ever thought about like i think we've talked about this like what will we do if we weren't doing this but let's take it a step further you have to do something new and it's not related to your current field or like what you've been taught in so colin you can't go become a professor you can't do something in history like what do you do i'm thinking i'm Like, man, maybe like, could I be an electrician?

58:46Colin Moriarty:Like, would some of my tech? Probably not. Like, I like wiring is fine. I'd have to go to school. It'd be kind of scary. Yeah, I don't know. It's. You could be a gardener. Landscape. Oh, you've already done that, though. You have experience. Yeah, that would it would be. I do love botany and all those kinds of things, but I'm just not talented enough scientifically. to I'd have a lot to look. I've said this a million times. I don't take to things that don't come naturally to me. Like, I just don't like them, you know, so it's like writing and history and like the humanities come very naturally to me and I understand it.

59:27Science is a real math. It's a real. By the way, I love science, like to talk about it, to read about it, all that I'm saying like doing the science, doing the math. i don't think so i don't think so my friends no no no um yeah working coffee

59:46Colin Moriarty:oh yeah maybe coffee coffee roasting oh roasting something like that that'd be cool i think i would like yeah i'll start doing like restaurant i don't want to do a restaurant or something oh because i thought i've thought a long time ago like i used to even even as recently like in the last like four years i kind of thought about really sick of the fact that i can't find a good fucking breakfast sandwich around where i live and i'm just like maybe i'll just do it maybe i'll just like maybe i'll just do it just get just so i could get a bacon i could cheese with a reasonable because they don't just don't make that shit here yeah you gotta build it's actually bizarre to me that they don't do it you gotta open like a deli you know like a real yeah or something like that i remember like when i was a kid i would like i thought having a pizza place was the coolest thing so fucking funny but like if you get pizza delivery guys like this must be awesome yeah great insane but we ordered papa john's last week and uh which was good it was really good and but um i i don't know what's with these guys like the delivery people there are just certain places especially with pizza where no matter what you say about like contactless delivery and like no they'll just knock on the door and hand you the pizza directly because we ordered it late at night and and like it it just it riles the dogs up so i just say i'm like um knocking slash ringing scares our pups please just leave thank you or whatever in the notes and then i select contactless delivery and then pop pop pop pop come on yeah banging yeah like why are they yeah like they're like they're the fucking feds open up yeah i got your pizza i don't know man I always loved that like that fucking boutique bag it came in there's something about like getting the pizza out of that crazy like insulated bag it's like ooh this is like a it feels like NASA almost you know like a space fairy tale like what's in this nothing nothing comes like that everything comes with like a plastic bag loose you know it's all crap in comparison I like when you order a pizza and there's like another pizza in the bag that's for someone else you know and they're like and then and it's like oh it's a little it's a little it's like a little personal it's a little yeah it's a little treat yeah i like that little that little pizza table thing that like uh is in the middle to keep the box from oh yeah and as a kid you like try to put your pizza on it yeah it's a little table it's a little table that's what i was like oh man no experience is truly unique nope all right let's move on i'm deleting some of these because we are going too long with this all right let's get into the news of the day um just wanted to acknowledge this first and foremost this is an fyi we reported on this uh in january and it has nothing to do with playstation but it does have to do with sony and it's a big deal um this new press release from Sony reads, Tony, Sony and TCL sign definitive agreements for strategic partnership in the home entertainment field.

1:02:52So you guys might remember that in January, it was announced that TCL, which we talked about electronics holding limited company. Dustin, you were saying that they make good, good stuff, right? Is that what

1:03:03Colin Moriarty:they're starting to make better stuff? They are more known for budget, but in the last few years, I believe they've started making higher end. So this seems to be a move towards that end. they announced in january that they were going to create basically a what is now being referred to as a preparatory company along with sony tcl the electronics company would own 51 of the subsidiary subsidiary sony would own 49 of the subsidiary and basically what it means is that tcl is going to start making sony and bravia branded televisions and sony is going to shut down its entire television apparatus as a result.

1:03:39So this was announced as intended in January, and this is confirming that it's happening. They write in part, quote, under this partnership, Sony will establish a wholly owned subsidiary, the preparatory company, to assume its home entertainment business. And TCL will subscribe to a portion of the preparatory company shares, forming a joint venture, the new company with TCL holding 51 % and Sony holding 49 % of the shares. The new company will succeed to Sony's home entertainment business, which includes product development and design, manufacturing, sales and logistics and customer service for products such as consumer TVs, Bravia, B2B flat panel displays, B2B Bravia, B2B LED displays, business to business, projectors and home audio equipment such as home theater systems and audio components.

1:04:20The new company is expected to operate this integrated business globally. As part of this partnership, 100 % of the equity of Sony EMCS Malaysia, a subsidiary responsible for the manufacturer function of Sony's home entertainment products, will be transferred to TSL. Regarding Shanghai Suongguang Visual Products Co., also a subsidiary responsible for the manufacturing function of Sony's home entertainment products, the relevant parties expect to continue discussions regarding the transfer of all are parts of the equity and SSVE held by Sony China Limited to TCL. So what they're basically saying is Sony owns these production apparatuses for their televisions.

1:05:00Some of them will be signed over immediately to this new subsidiary. Those that are wrapped up with other ownership stakes in China will be figured out in the future. And then they go into like what it's all worth or whatever, like as far as its value is concerned. That has nothing to do with us, but I just thought it was interesting because Sony is divesting and becoming more of an entertainment company. It's what I've been saying for a long time now. I don't know if we have any thoughts, Dustin, especially you. I don't know if you have anything you want to say about this, but I assume it's a pretty big deal within electronics manufacture.

1:05:32But there's a part of me that's Sony kind of just hawking its name out now, which is kind of a bummer. I always felt like one of their advantages was their sophisticated electronics manufacture. But they want to get away from that. And they've wanted to get away from that for decades, to be perfectly honest. So that's happening. Will you buy one of these new Sony TVs? No.

1:05:52Colin Moriarty:No, I'm good. I haven't owned a Sony TV. I've never owned a Sony TV in the flat screen era. They're supposed to be really good. But I'm just either. I mean, right now I have a Samsung and it's fine. But LG has the market right now. Yeah. Yeah, I have an LG, too. and i don't really see a reason to replace it yeah i'm actually kind of surprised like there's like there was this weird thing that happened and to be fair this is probably still broadly true with most technology where like i feel like a lot of tvs like you'd get dead pixels and like you get burn in a lot more regularly like years ago than they happen now like i feel like i've had the same lgtv for a while and it's been serving me fairly well to the point where it's like oh this is kind of like in the 90s when like you'd get a tv and it would just work for fucking ever it's a little weird because i remember there was a brief period in the middle there where like your plasma screen would burn itself to death in like three years or like you get like a couple dead pixels over the over the course of like four or whatever i remember getting better i remember with um i remember being a kid and a few of my like more wealthy friends had projection tvs this was in like the late 80s early 90s or whatever into the mid 90s and i remember it being like a like it was a big deal to not play video games on them because they would burn in so easily or whatever um yeah because and even if you watch sports or something on them it would be good to like change the channel because of the score like not even the score bug but like the little logos and things that might stay because there weren't really score bugs at that time but the little things that might stay on the screen you have to be kind of mindful of um like if you're watching a fixed baseball game that yeah uses the same angle of like the the uh of home plate or whatever so um it's fun times yeah good times good times but i i had a sony tv i bought in 99 or 2000 like a tube tv and that was my only sony tv that i ever had and it was good i don't know what happened to it somewhere probably it probably isn't probably got thrown away at some point because people were so eager to get rid of those and then some people realized, oh, there's actually some value to some of these TVs.

1:08:09Significant value, actually, to some of them.

1:08:11Colin Moriarty:I remember the day we got rid of all three of our big tube, like, you know, the CRT TVs. Just left them out on the street. And I remember thinking, like, we should keep one of them. And then they were like, no, we're never going to use these again. And I was like, okay. And they were right, to be fair. They don't give a shit. but I was like I should have I should have fought for at least one of them it was it's funny you say that because yeah I lived in urban areas throughout the you know from the mid aughts into the early 20 teens when everyone was transferring from CRT to flat screen and so yeah you're living in a city you'd always see just TVs like on the street it's like one of those things because they were so impossible to get rid of and they're so fucking heavy they they're so the one I have right now I was like, I thought I think I might have done like permanent damage to myself trying to get that on my on whatever like stand I have it on now.

1:09:03It's like no wonder they were so expensive. They had to be manufactured and then they put on a goddamn boat and moved all the way over here. It's like like all the expense is probably in the fucking weight. Oh, yeah. All the shipping. Yeah. Crazy. Crazy shit. But yeah, so that's happening. if you're interested in Sony as a corporation. There also was some interesting news this morning that I woke up to that Sony has made a new acquisition, and this is a new acquisition via PlayStation or Sony Interactive Entertainment, so we should note it. It's a studio, but not really, so I wouldn't get too excited about it, and I think people are kind of overreacting to it one way or the other, but they write here in a press release, Sony Interactive Entertainment acquires Cinemersive Labs.

1:09:47I also think it's funny that they waited until April 2nd to announce this, although they could have announced it at any time, and I'm sure this was in the works for months. You want to be careful on that April 1st. Yeah. Right here. It's a very brief press release, by the way. It says, quote, at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company behind the PlayStation brand, we are continually exploring new ways to push the boundaries of visual computing and deliver richer, more immersive gameplay experiences. Today, we are pleased to announce that SIE has entered into an agreement to acquire Cinemersive Labs, a UK-based machine learning and computer vision company.

1:10:15Founded in 2022, Cinemersive Labs brings together a specialized team with deep expertise in computer vision and machine learning. Following the acquisition, the Cinemersive Labs will join SIE's visual computing group, BCG, and contribute to our broader efforts in advancing state-of-the-art visual computing within games. This includes applying machine learning to enhance gameplay visuals, improve rendering techniques, and unlock new levels of visual fidelity for players. So, this is not a studio per se, but rather a technologies group. I know that there's a lot of skepticism, and reasonably so, because Sony has made a lot of closures, and what happened?

1:10:49Colin Moriarty:no no finish your thing i do want to bring up something about this website for cinemars of labs okay yeah they they um people i think are reasonably skeptical because of sony's closure at bluepoint and what happened with london and neon coin all these different studios over the last couple of years and obviously the beleaguered nature of fire sprite and what's going on with bungie and so there's a lot going on within the internal family and i understand it's like oh great and and also the idea it's like when uh layoffs happen and then you hire new people and it's like okay like so but the business isn't going to wither away and nothing into nothing they have to continue to make investments so i understand from a broad perspective of like why are you doing this but on the other hand it's it's not a studio it's not a team making games and i actually think very similar to what happened with gaikai that technologies that are purchased and the companies and people that bring those technologies to fruition are probably a lot safer than the one at a game time apparatuses that sony buy buys that live or die based on a single product that sounds like these guys are going to contribute to everyone and i assume dustin it's pssr stuff that they're going to be contributing to i mean i don't know yeah you would think um because that all of like pssr and upscaling is machine learning based so welcome to the family yeah now uh chris what were you in immersive labs well so like i don't know if you've been website i have it i put in the chat for you guys if you want but there's like so all it's basically like a showcase of all these like uh images that have like i guess like presumably ai powered uh 3d renderings of them so it's like there's like a slideshow at the very beginning of like a bunch of different places if you scroll down one there's like a little video that kind of shows you like it's it's kind of like you know from the jungles of thailand uh to the glaciers of iceland And then at some point in at like at 36 seconds in, it goes humans.

1:12:45Colin Moriarty:And then afterwards it goes and beasts. And it just zooms in on like a like a chill monkey. It just feels like really mean spirited towards this fucking monkey is like he's not really like. It's not giving beast, you know, like I would put like some kind of crocodile or something. then it's this is chilling this is always this shit's always so interesting to me just because i'm always fascinated by especially things in in places i don't understand of like what is attractive about this like why does sony have to have this and how much did it cost and what's the argument for it you know um and and also i always think about this in the acquisitions too like how much how much the life-changing money for the people that founded this company generational wealth probably so i don't know we'll see what happens but i think people are overreacting to this yeah this technology isn't unique to them like if you have a a recent iphone you can set a picture to do a a parallax ai 3d version to be to be fair to them scrolling down even further like there is like an example of like they're like ai or like i i presume ai because that's what a lot of this is uh like vr like stepping into videos and stuff and like it is kind of interesting i just i just don't know what it means for games necessarily like i don't know what it would really do but i don't know it's still even even in this more interesting aspect of it it also still to me doesn't look wholly unique you know like i definitely feel like i've seen this type of technology before well i think it's very similar to gaikai it's like we're just buying we're going to skip ahead on this this vertical thing or whatever you know like we need this particular technology go acquire it and that jump started playstation now though they were on live and other things at that time too that were doing the same thing i think it's just them cutting to the chase or realizing that in some technological way that they're behind or they need this stuff and they and this is a shortcut that they can just buy so yeah we'll see what happens people know a lot more about this than i ever would and um the only thing I've ever seen or not ever seen, but the things I've seen recently about just, I think people are just hating on everything.

1:15:03It's like the, the company, I get it again, I get it, but the company is not going to stop existing or investing in what it needs to do. And sadly, this has probably been going on for this deal behind the scenes for far longer than, you know, in other words, the layoffs happened during the talks for the acquisition. That's just the way it goes. It sucks. That's the way it is. All right. A couple of games have gone gold that I wanted to note. The first is that Saros, George Saros has gone gold and will come out April 30th, which is five years to the date from when Returnal came to PlayStation 5.

1:15:39So nice little release date. We're very, very, we're four weeks away basically to the day. Now there is a two day early access period for Saros if you pre-order it and I think pay for a special edition, which I will definitely be doing. They definitely will get me there. So exciting. the game is done and ready to manufacture and publish. Kai wrote in and said, good day, gents. Colin, with your recent return to Returnal, and we can all answer this, what's the hype check on Saros and how do you expect it to perform? I have a funny feeling it's just not on that many people's radars. Otherwise, we'd see more people complaining online about the brown protagonist.

1:16:13I joke, but I've really not seen much talk about it at all. Have a great day and good luck with those collectibles. Dustin, where's your gut on Saros now that it's gone gold and we're four weeks away.

1:16:25Colin Moriarty:I feel a little disconnected, but not because of a lack of marketing, just because I've been disengaged because like you, Colin, with a lot of trailers, I'm in. I know this game is going to be great. I'm excited to play it. And I was saying this the other day that it is increasingly rare for me to be like highly anticipating a game for release day i think i had that with res evil 9 but when sorrow shows up i'm gonna be excited to play it that day but i'm not like there's just so much to play now too but i'm sure it will be excellent everything i've seen from it looks awesome so i'll be there now the early access i'm gonna have to get the physical copy so no early access for me yeah that's too bad maybe i i have no problem giving house mark and sony another ten dollars to play the game two days early it's fine with me maybe i will the early access is nice like if i want to make a video about it you get the early access then you can have a video out in like three or four days yeah so it might be worth that play for the love of the game though don't make everything into work i have to i have to challenge myself to do that all the time i mean you can do whatever you want but you know sometimes it's okay to just lean into something and if you want the physical copy and that that makes things inconvenient for your video so be it that's my opinion you want you want a copy i know you you want there's there's a golden window in order to release a video after release if you're not doing an embargo yeah that's true and so if you miss at least in my experience if you miss that window and you're like three days after i'm sure sony would give you a copy if you wanted to but it's it's i've made that my cutoff personally i know you haven't asked this of me but i've made a decision that i'm not going to pursue sony games for my channel well you don't have that many of them so you won't have to worry too much about that right right it's like what are you missing this year saros wolverine and tokan which you wouldn't play anyway so right that's it and marathon i mean marathon i guess he would have gotten early access to although I think Bungie might have done the PR by themselves for that um where are your thoughts Chris on Saros now that we're four weeks to the day out from when we're recording the game's incoming yeah I'm kind of where Dustin is like I'm excited I'm looking forward to it I'm not like itching to play it like I'm not scratching I'm not that Dave Chappelle I'm scratching his neck to shreds but I'm looking forward to it like I have no doubt but I'm going to enjoy it because I really did like Returnal.

1:18:59Colin Moriarty:Returnal just had like these little, I think Returnal from a gameplay perspective is nearly perfect, actually. Like I think there's like really not much you needed to do. I just think the structure of it needed some tweaking and like the finer points around it, the rougher edges needed to be maybe sanded down a little bit. Like I didn't give a shit about that house every single time I went to it. Like it just was not, this is not what I'm playing this for. Like I want my bullet hell. And it looks like they've streamlined a lot of things. It looks obviously a spiritual successor to Returnal. So like it looks like they've kept a lot of the same things moving forward.

1:19:31Colin Moriarty:And it looks hypnotic. I'm really excited about it. I think I might actually. When does when does Saros come out? When is April 30th? April 30th? I think I might before April 30th. I might run through Returnal again. Because I really do. I don't know. There is something about that game. That like I think I get nervous about going back to it. because I feel like I'll just be stuck in it for a while. It's excellent, dude. It's an excellent game. I'm still playing it. I wasn't even going to really talk about it during what we're playing because, I mean, I have it listed, but we've talked about it so much at this point.

1:20:06But yeah, I'm like, I agree with you. It is a fairly perfect third person shooter. It feels it's like Vanquish in a way. It doesn't feel like Vanquish necessarily, but the kinetic nature of it. And right. Yeah, obviously, you know, vanquishes a cover-based shooter it's it's radically different but just something exciting and fast about it and i was saying to brad on a summon sign that must have been where i was talking about it most in depth and in fact i talked about returnal really in depth on the most recent episode of summon sign if people want to get into it but um dude on ps5 pro it's a fucking oh yeah i think that thing is lightning fast and it it is it is wonderful to play.

1:20:49I'm in a mode. I've probably played it for 30 or 40 hours in this replay of mine as I'm trying to go after all the trophies and I beat it. I beat the third act, like the secret act and all the rest. And I did a lot of the Tower of Sisyphus and it's like, damn, this game fucking rules, dude. I should have said it earlier. I do want to stream the game at some point before we before Saros comes out as well. Maybe Tower of Sisyphus runs or something like that. See if I can get higher and higher, but it is a sublime game. It really, really fucking is. It's and Saros you're right Dustin I'm so glad you said it it's not for a lack of marketing whatever like they I've not paid attention to it by design I don't want to know right but yeah they have marketed it heavily I mean they keep showing things over and over and over again I don't think you're gonna see TV commercials for anything like that I'm just saying they are trying to show it and get it out there I am very curious my assumption is that returnal is probably somewhere in the 1.1 million or something range.

1:21:47So I don't know what they're going to expect from Saros or what the expectations are. And I saw that they said that it costs tens of millions of euros to make. So it's not the most expensive game. Finland's a fairly expensive place to make a game, but they're a small team. So I'll also say love the release timing of it. Like revealed last year. Ready to go now. Good shit. Good stuff. Keep that energy. And in development since 2022. And I think a lot of people are worried about Housemarque. And I.

1:22:21You don't know, like, know what people are saying or how, like, what feelings are behind the scenes, but it's unimaginable to me to think that they would close Housemarque, even if Saros didn't do well. That would be a bridge so far for me. That. Housemarque, like, deserves a lot more respect than that. Housemarque has been in PlayStation's trenches for a long time. And if you have the audacity to buy them during, you know, actually they bought them after Returnal came out. And then you let them make one game and then shut them down. Go fuck yourselves. You know, like you. So I just I don't believe like I don't think they're in any danger.

1:22:58I think they're too good. And I think Cyrus will do just fine. But I'm curious what people think, too. I did see one thing, though, that disappointed me. There's this idea that the runs are going to be shorter. this time and I'm like I don't know that you get it if that's what you think the problem was it wasn't that the runs were long it's that you didn't accomplish anything if you died you know other than getting some like weapon like permanent weapon upgrades and weapons you would find in the future and stuff make the runs really long and grueling I think that's fun but like make it so that I get something when I die like something happens I get some sort of it's easier or better than the next time that's what they need to figure out and I think that they have but I've stayed away from all that so Saros April 20 a game that comes Dwayne do we have a oh Izzy Smalls you asked about is Housemarque safe I should have read your question but I didn't next up is another game going gold which is Pragmata and they announce in Japanese via the Twitter account or the X account for Capcom Dev 1 that they have received gold master approval.

1:24:13And they made a little cute picture here where they put the team together on the floor and then they put the characters along with them, cartoonish characters. The game, as we know, actually got pushed up a week. I think it was supposed to come out April 24th and it's now coming out April 17th on PS5. Really, really excited about this. And this is a game that I am really in the dark about. Like, I really don't know very much about it. and that's by design it's funny guys i was thinking about this so at the playstation 5 reveal event in 2020 there were many games revealed and announced but you know what two of the games were i think this is this is timing is funny returnal and pragmata and pragmata is coming out right before Returnal sequel comes out, which I think is so funny.

1:25:05So something obviously went deeply wrong with this game. And I wonder if they'll talk about it once it's out and if it finds its audience, what what happened here? It was announced in 2020 for 2022. You guys might recall that. And then in 2021, it was delayed to 2023. And then in 2023, it was delayed indefinitely. And it seemed like it was even going to get canceled. And then at a state of play last year, perhaps the same state of play actually that saros was at it re-emerges with a 2026 release window and then they finally date it they did release that demo right and people liked it they might have something here with pragmata which comes out april 17th chris are you going to check out cafcom's newest

1:25:47Colin Moriarty:i want to but i feel like this is a game i'm going to get to later like i don't know i haven't played the demo yet and partially is i think it's like if i'm going to play this game i kind of want to like I do want to know if I like it but also I think what's so intriguing about is that I'd know so little about it and so it kind of feels like playing the demo is kind of robbing me of something but also like I should I don't know I feel I don't know how I feel about Pregmata yet I think I'll wait to see like what people say about it um see like what the general temperature is sometimes if it's I mean I like a divisive game too like Crimson Desert has been kind of like piquing my curiosity honestly just because of how varying the opinions are on that game yeah it's interesting we'll talk about that um but yeah this will probably be like a late like maybe like a later summer game for me i don't know i am intrigued by it but i'm just not not necessarily sold quite yet dustin pragmato april 17 will you find time for it yes absolutely this is one of my most anticipated games of the year i increasingly as i get older i am I love new games and I love games that are like games that I've played before but there is a yearning in me for something new uh something that I've not experienced before because it feels increasingly rare and Pragmata the uh the combat in this game is weird and I like it a lot there's a demo out if you haven't checked that out you can get a little taste of it I wonder how well it's going to execute throughout the whole game and maybe it's not perfect but there's so few teams trying something truly different that i highly respect it for that regardless so i'll be there day one for this game i think it's looks awesome plays awesome so very excited i wonder i wonder if we'll ever learn more about and maybe even see this what i would assume is a previous version of the game.

1:27:51Yeah. Because sometimes Capcom just disappears games. We always think about how I always think about deep down. Right. Like they just were like, like they just even stopped talking about it or acknowledging it. So weird. Did you play it? I played it. Yeah, I played it at Tokyo Game Show. And what I've told you, the story is I told the audience is like what I remember most about it is not even the gameplay. It's that there was like this Japanese woman manning the machine and she didn't speak any English, which is reasonable enough and I couldn't invert the controls and she was watching me play and like laughing at me so that was fun oh my god they like at TGS what you realize is like and again reasonably so they couldn't give a fuck at least during that era about western press like they weren't they didn't care like you you what would basically happen is like a Sony PR person or two would from America would usually go to TGS and like shepherd you around and you realized even they like weren't even like that no one even knew them really you know yeah TGS is so cool though very cool show all right next up is a little information perhaps about the future of the last of us this comes from our friends over at push square who write is that of the last of us three T's and Neil Druckmann's latest social post well I'll leave it up to you guys They write in part, quote, previously studio head Neil Druckmann has said there is probably one more chapter to the story, in quotes.

1:29:18And now he's added slightly more fuel to the fire in a casual Instagram post. Druckmann is cleaning out his garage recently and found his sketches all the way back from 2003 of a man, his surrogate daughter and a trek across a broken America. Clearly referencing the journey Joel and Ellie go to on The Last of Us, in The Last of Us, Druckmann adds, quote, been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead, end quote. that's all we really have to work on but people have been circulating this and I'm wondering what we think about this by the way news did also break in the last of us world that and I wasn't going to include this in the show by itself mostly because I feel like we know all this stuff already but that the director of the last of us online gave an interview where he talked about the game in a pretty in-depth way and people can go check that out if they want but he confirms basically things that we've talked about and I'm a little annoyed about like obviously this is the director so you want to hear from him directly and and it's awesome that he's talking about it but I everyone's like wow the game was almost done I'm like I told you that like I told you that a couple years ago the game was almost done like I told you and then he he confirmed he's like the game was 80 % done I'm like yeah I know so it's all right fine fair enough you hear it directly from the horse's mouth I appreciate that I'm not too upset about that but I feel like feel like Dustin we've talked about this like i say things and like i don't ever get credit oh like like just a little annoying and then people like he doesn't know anyone or anything like okay fair enough but he confirmed basically in his conversation on this podcast that the game was he says uh quote it was very very close to done end quote and that uh they were working on it for like seven years 2016 to 2023 he found out that the game was canceled a day before it was announced publicly that it was canceled.

1:31:09I think he's working on a spiritual successor to the game, actually. Oh, wow. And they like, I forget what it's called, but let me see here if I can find it. Yeah, and they're doing it out of Japan, I think, as well, which is interesting. Yeah, I don't know if I have any more information on it right now. But anyway, so all of that happened in the background. I just didn't really want to discuss that because I'm like, I feel like the audience, our audience knows this already because we've talked about it so extensively. So and he says also to throw in more context, and I think we all understand this as well, that the covid, the flood of covid money.

1:31:46About the assumption of online gaming and people staying inside, obviously the. The bad analysis of the situation, as we've discussed ad nauseum on this show at this point. So it was also victimized by that, but that's happening there as well. So a few things to talk about in the realm of The Last of Us. I don't know if anything is there that you want to pull out, Dustin. We'll start with you, I guess. I feel like The Last of Us Part 3 is an inevitability. I don't... I wouldn't be surprised if Intergalactic is pretty much... And again, I'm not reporting anything. We're looking at a game that's probably coming out in 2027.

1:32:21I assume they're just polishing it and finishing it now. I imagine his directorial duties are probably a little lighter now that the game has its direction and what it is. maybe he is you know spooling up the next script for the last of us part three that would be the least surprising thing in the world and i've said many times i think the last of us part two demands a third game i don't you could have gotten away with making it a one-off now that you gave it a sequel we need resolution in my opinion what do you think yeah worst case scenario what he means by this is while he has mostly stepped away from the show we do have a season three ahead uh that

1:33:01Colin Moriarty:Even though he has stepped away from show running it, he's still going to be involved, certainly, to some degree. Probably not the case. I think it's obvious based on, you know, the article mentions what he said before about, you know, there may be being more. There's certainly more. It's just a matter of when. I mean, these are insane, expensive, and take very long to make, these projects. so and i think it's i mean i think it's great that they're doing a new ip in between um because you don't want to just do the last of us for however i mean last of us part two came out in 2020 2020 and that that game was in development for a very long time as well so um i would expect to part three at some point.

1:33:54And I wonder too if he obviously runs Naughty Dog. It's a very complex thing. He's directing this game. He said he's producing their other game, right? Which I assume is maybe an Uncharted game or something. I don't know. And then maybe this has something to do with him getting pulled off of the HBO show or pulling himself off of it. It's like, you really are stretched thin. If we're going to start getting this other game going, I mean, what gives at some point. It's probably a very fraught life. And you only have so much creative energy, too. Chris, where do you think this all goes? The Last of Us Part 3?

1:34:30Is he just kind of shooting the shit here? I mean, Chris, I gotta say, he says again, been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead. Why especially those? It's gotta be the game.

1:34:47Colin Moriarty:well the thing for me is that when he the the key word to me there is a few because if it was just season three you know that wouldn't really make sense to speak about it in that way it seems to be like yeah season three could fit into what he's saying but it only fits into what he's saying under the context that there is something else to go along with it or maybe a couple of things to go along with it so like yeah i mean it would not surprise me if the last of us three was kind of an inevitable thing that that is going to happen my curiosity remains in the fact that like these games are not cheap to make um i think sony is becoming a little bit more risk averse as time goes on especially with their live service um initiative kind of crumbling um i wonder how they would look at a game like the last of us part three which will undoubtedly at the at a certain point reach like at the rate things are going you'd imagine like what like a 400 500 million dollars yeah i mean who even you could even say um so the timing is more interesting to me than the than the price even it's like how how you know right so i mean i look that and i think about some of the interviews i can't remember who said it but it was i colin will know will know this better than i or at least more encyclopedically uh that there was an interview that was given either by an ex sony person or like somebody that might have might have left um who said that um the bloated nature of this kind of game is kind of unsustainable do you remember who that was oh was it was it um why can i uh laden sean laden sean laden yeah yeah um so like that along with potentially 500 million dollars going into this thing i don't know like i wonder if they're thinking like is the last of us something that is so popular and so big that sells so well that we can do that kind of thing for it or are they thinking of or are they looking at it like that's just too i don't know man we should be a little bit leaner um we should do things a little bit more quickly and a little bit like like because the last of us is kind of locked into this position whether it wants to be or not of needing to blow people away from minute one like that game needs to look like a next generation title like when whenever it comes out and what does next generation even look like in a post in in post gta 6 um you know like that's a lot of pressure and undoubtedly a lot of money needing to go into it so i don't know i think the last of us part three is happening i just wonder how that squares with i i wonder how that squares with their their strategy i wonder how that squares with their aptitude for spending i don't know uh because they kind of feel a little bit opposed like you'd almost as a sony executive you'd almost want naughty dog to maybe be like hey can we can we get something spooled up in like maybe like three years that won't take that much time that doesn't have so many eyes on that doesn't have the pressure that the last of us has for cheaper and you know what i mean like i don't know um i'd be curious to see but i do think a last of us but i do think there is more last of us in in video games coming i just don't know when or what that would be even taking into account the cancellation of the last of us online which was catastrophic to the studio and a waste of time and money, they really do need to pick up the pace there.

1:38:23If not on the individual products on getting multiple games out. I mean, like Insomniac, for instance, also had a multiplayer game canceled. It wasn't as far along, obviously, but they've still managed to. And obviously, their directives are different. Their staffing is different, but it's just they got to start pulling their weight a little more. And so I do wonder if there will be like these more mid tier AAA games that come out. And then The Last of Us Part 3 is like the because it's not even the graphical fidelity of The Last of Us. That's important, although it is. It's like it's everything about it.

1:38:50That's really difficult to do. I always think about the and we've talked about it before the the the parking garage fight in The Last of Us Part two, which is like a half an hour sequence or whatever. It could even take longer where it's like so intricate and complicated and scripted that it's like this is hard. This is like really difficult to make something this compelling with all this enemy AI and behavior and they it's a good place to be if your game sell which they theirs do but it's hard to kind of replicate that over and over and over again and also surprise and delight people when you're always trying to surprise it surprise and delight them it might come off as try hard at some point it's gonna be difficult but i but i do think the game is necessary and i think that they will be happy they did it ultimately and i think you can wrap it up and be done with it and i would imagine we won't see that game until the early 2030s unless there's something deep in development that we don't know about right now all right we'll see what happens yeah i thought this was interesting news my friends um shift up the korean studio responsible for stellar blade as well as one of dustin's favorite games goddess of victory nikei they write here on their vr press release on their website shift up announces full integration of Unbound, studio led by Shinji Mikami.

1:40:15They write, quote, Shift Up announced that it has completed the acquisition of Japanese game developer Unbound Inc. by acquiring all of its shares. Unbound is a PC and console game development studio led by Shinji Mikami, who is known for his work on global hits such as the Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry, The Evil Within, and Okami, and a team of veteran developers. The team brings together those acclaimed experiences both in and outside of Japan, attracting significant attention from the global gaming industry. Currently, Unbound is developing original PC and console-based IP, targeting the global markets.

1:40:44And actually, they say IPs. I don't know if that's a typo or not, but that's interesting. They don't have anything that's announced yet, but maybe they have multiple things in development. They write, through this acquisition, ShiftUp has successfully integrated world-class development talent and expanded its new PC and console-based pipeline. Furthermore, the company plans to directly handle the publishing of Unbound's upcoming titles and gradually build its own global service capabilities. So they have some quotes here from the parties involved, including Mikami. People want to go check out the press release.

1:41:16Not very interesting. Typical stuff. This is fascinating. In an era of downsizing and M &A slowing down precipitously because of global forces, ShiftUp is making the aggressive move. Dustin one of the surprising things I was uh when I was reading about this I'm a little confused I don't know if you have any clarity on this as well and I wrote some notes about this is that they have that game Project Wishes which is now called Project Spirits that's supposed to come out next year that's being um I think self-published or published by Tencent Level Infinite Level Infinite itself owns 35 % of Shift Up.

1:41:59So they're working there. But I saw that Stellar Blade 2, or a Stellar Blade sequel, is being published by PlayStation. And they talk about that game like it's multi-platform, or at least that they're bringing Stellar Blade multi-platform. And yet, Stellar Blade came out in 2024 and still hasn't appeared anywhere but PS5 and PC. I just wonder what's going on behind the scenes with all these different deals. and they are such a mobile and eastern based studio or at least a minded studio that very similar to sony buying that company earlier and we were talking about the potential of them saying like we just need to kind of advance in this one area they seem to be doing the same thing which is giving themselves something that they can publish in the west so interesting deal wish

1:42:48Colin Moriarty:some of the best on this what do you think yeah so i was trying to remember the exact timeline of this because i do see an article it's saying that seller blade 2 may not be published by sony this is from wccf tech um i wonder if it could be a situation where as you were like saying that uh maybe they publish Stellar Blade 2 in the West kind of like they do with Neo, the whole Neo series right, where it's like Sonia only publishes that on the West side but in Japan I think that's just Koei Tekken. Yeah, right, that's right. So maybe it could be something like that but I think this is cool for Shinji Mikami just because he you know, there was Evil Within and then he was also part of the studio while it wasn't his game for was the rhythm game that Microsoft just shut down and brought back the rhythm game that Microsoft shut down.

1:43:54Colin Moriarty:Oh, Hi-Fi Rush. Hi-Fi Rush. Yeah. I guess I'm glad to see a smaller company like Shift Up partner with them because Shift Up doesn't feel like I mean, I'm I'm sure it's giant big business corporation shit still as you mentioned their own partially by Tencent but there is still a little bit more of an authentic feel to it and I mean Sellerblade was great yeah Sellerblade is a great game it really is it really is a great game I like Shift Up what do you think about this Chris the Koreans are getting a little aggressive buying Makami's new studio and by the way shout out to Makami who's got to be so rich this is like this i mean how many stakes of studios is this guy gonna own yeah it is i mean it's earned yeah you know he's provided a lot of uh a lot of iconic shit to this industry so like it makes sense but yeah i don't know it's it's uh it is interesting as you said just like the as as these types of things are slowing down to see this kind of thing happen uh in a way that doesn't feel i don't know it it feels different when something like this happens as opposed to, I think, the next thing that we're talking about being potentially happening.

1:45:13It doesn't feel like, I don't know, like depressing to see,

1:45:19Colin Moriarty:you know, acquisitions in this way. It's like, cool, like, yeah, Bakami should have a lot of rope. And so it's, I mean, I'm happy for him. I don't know what this really means ultimately. Like, I don't know what they're going to make. I haven't been paying that close attention to what my comedy has been trying to spool up or anything. I think this may be the first time I've ever even heard of Unbound and registered it in my head as a game studio. Yeah, we talked about it, I think, when it was... It wasn't so long ago, but when... I think we might have talked about it a few weeks ago, but I don't even remember at this point.

1:45:53Yeah.

1:45:54Colin Moriarty:It's not ringing any bells as I'm hearing it, but at the same time, it's like, look, man, this guy's rich. This guy's definitely gonna... He's a visionary dude. Working with the Stellar Blade people is fucking, it's just very funny. Like of all, if there was a game that I, or if there was a developer that I thought would have acquired Tsujibakami, I don't know if I would have bet that it would have been Shift Up. But it makes sense. They're doing fairly well over there. I don't know what the economics are like in Korea, but they're certainly, like, what do you, what would you imagine this? I guess there's no transparency here, right?

1:46:30Yeah, I wonder, because they haven't developed anything, like haven't released anything, I wonder if it's like, I'm not, well, actually shift up, I guess is publicly traded. And so maybe they would have to even be more transparent. And so it couldn't be this, but I wonder if it's kind of like a, a, a share swap or something where the money's paid out later, they're basically going to, with, you know, they're, they'll basically fund the game. We'll figure out, you know, cause you would imagine, I think what you're saying is like, what would an acquisition like this even be worth? And I would assume it would be like in a normal world, like tens of millions of dollars probably, but right.

1:47:01But they haven't made anything yet. And so maybe Mikami is just being like, we just need a steward. We need a patron. And I'm not really in need of money and we really just need stability. I don't know. Yeah, who the fucking really knows? The one thing that, well, I wanted to acknowledge this from Misanthropic Altruist, which is a great name, Misanthropic Altruist. What's up, studs? One of the most promising developers in the industry, ShiftUp, has acquired Shinji Mikami's new studio. The pairing of such talents is exciting news for hardcore gamers who are familiar with Mikami's pedigree and have experienced shift up stellar, excuse the pun, single player debut.

1:47:37Gentlemen, your thoughts? I do have one last thought I want to share, misanthropic altruist, which is I wonder where Mikami's head is at. I was reading through. I mean, we all intuitively know, I think what he's done. He was the director of Resident Evil one and Resident Evil four. He was the director of Dino Crisis and a bunch of other random ship, you know, during his Capcom days produced re2 re3 code veronica devil may cry phoenix right um dino crisis two and three beautiful joe and then of course he he so what's this is where things are fascinating because in the 90s and early 2000s he's with capcom and then they split off and do clover which is like a capcom subsidiary so that's his first time kind of spinning out and they make god hand infamous ijen review for god hand right i think ijen gave it a three or something like that and then he leaves and goes to platinum he directs vanquish i mean thank you for that we appreciate you and then he leaves there in 2010 so vanquish comes out and he founds tango tango immediately gets bought by bethesda as you guys might remember and then they start on evil within which comes out in 2014 and he was the director but here's what's interesting guys and this is where i was like hmm that's the last game he directed he's been producing ever since then and i wonder so like he produced the evil within two and ghost wire tokyo which i think is an excellent game and hi-fi rush but i wonder i just wonder like what it and i think they've said i think he is going to direct but i'm like yeah it's been a while yeah what's i'm not trying to i am not one to question makami of all people but i wonder where his head's at, what he wants to do.

1:49:19And if he still has the, it's not the chops. He has like infinite chops. It's like directing a game, a AAA game in this era is different than directing a game during the PS3 era. I mean, Evil Within was a PS3 game. It came to PS4, but. So just something to consider. After all of those churn, that churn of games, it's actually been somewhat quiet. So it could be a guy that's bursting at the seams ready to come out. You know, I don't know. Yeah. Exciting stuff, though. Happy for him. all right this is the story you were alluding to chris it comes from video games chronicle and it's been making the rounds recently in other venues as well but they write here disney may be interested in acquiring epic games at some point it's claimed they write disney may be considering an attempt to acquire epic games in the future with senior executives reportedly divided on whether to pursue it according to a veteran tech reporter disney and epic have a long-standing working relationship they write the latter has contributed unreal engine technology to various Disney theme park rides and Star Wars movies, for example, while Fortnite has played home to numerous Disney season collaborations and live events, including Marvel and Star Wars themed ones.

1:50:25Back in February of 2024, the Walt Disney Company also announced that it was making a$1.5 billion investment to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, which would include the creation of a new persistent games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite. This could one day extend to acquiring Epic outright, according to tech journalist and former Verge deputy editor Alex Heath, who recently appeared on podcast The Town with Matt Bologna, to discuss a number of tech topics, including the current state of Epic Games, which reported last week that it was laying off more than a thousand employees.

1:50:52After Baloney said he heard rumors that Disney wanted to buy Epic Games at some point, Heath stated that he knew of some senior members at Disney who were considering such a move. He said, quote, I know for a fact there are senior executives in Disney who want to buy Epic and are just waiting for that moment. And then there's others who think it's a bad idea, end quote. Baloney also claimed that new Disney CEO Josh DeMauro, who took over from Bob Iger earlier this month, wasn't keen on Disney's$1 billion deal with Sora company OpenAI, which fell through last week, but was, quote, 500 % behind this Epic Games relationship that Disney has, where they're developing an open world experience within Fortnite.

1:51:26Heath stated then that were Epic Games ever to be open to being acquired, Disney would be the most natural home for it for a lot of reasons. This is a quote. For park integration, can you imagine a Fortnite park to all the open world, you know, integrating Disney IP into it, which they've already announced and also Disney's gaming platform. And I can see that. At the same time, you have to understand Epic is a founder controlled company. So Tim Sweeney, the founder, has full voting stock control and can make unilateral decisions. And it's really up to him. They go into it a little bit more about Fortnite and the nature of the game and all the rest.

1:51:57I find that a lot less interesting. We can focus on the acquisition, though. And Chris, it sounds like you had a guttural reaction to the idea of Disney purchasing Epic. I wonder what you think.

1:52:05Colin Moriarty:Well, dude, it's just I remember being in college and seeing like a like a I don't remember if it was a chart or a tree or it was like that kind of infographic or whatever of like all the companies and who who they're owned by and like how few like mega corporations there are that kind of own like a lot of other things and like you know it's like oh these two companies although they compete are owned by the same you know what i mean and as that was in college and i remember being like dan there's really not that many and now it just feels like oh my god i can't even imagine what that chart would look like now Disney buying yet another thing like I understand like from a from a purely myopic standpoint from the perspective of like a Disney fan looking for an FN whatever I guess it does make sense there is a lot of the natural home I guess that does make sense to me it's like yeah you work together a lot like it makes I get it um but my soul hears it and i'm just like oh my god disney's gonna buy another thing like they're gonna own something else and it's going to be another enormous thing how much does it i don't know the issue that i have with this ultimately is like competition in the space is good but competition yields a winner and then once there's a winner there is no competition so like there's kind of like an inherent kind of flaw to this entire system where like i just don't know i i don't know i'm not a fan of like this idea that like everything's just gonna fold is there's gonna to be three companies that own everything at some point it's just like it's i don't know it's depressing yeah it is um it is depressing and and i don't know i don't know what to say about it really what are your thoughts dustin i could see why disney would be interested i mean that that article citing the podcast mentions like fortnight park in disney um and in addition like epic or unreal engine is used not only for games but for film stuff um yeah so i'm sure that that's something that would also be appealing to disney same time to think about how much at this point the entire games industry relies on epic maybe not the entire but many many games now run off of unreal engine and so the thought of disney owning that isn't really ideal i think i'm with chris too where it's like come on man like can't we just have like why do the biggest companies in gaming need to be owned by even bigger companies that aren't really involved in our space overall so yeah a fortnight theme park that seems like a really risky decision yeah it does like just because fortnight with all these layoffs it felt like fortnight for a while was like that's the the golden goose that it's like oh fortnight they're of course they're doing well they've been doing well for so long now but as we talked about last week where they're like oh we gotta increase the price to pay the bills around here and then lay off a thousand people.

1:55:17Colin Moriarty:It's like, wow, this is kind of great. Fortnite's still massively huge for sure, but to see the road get a little rocky, very interesting. It is interesting. It is just strange. I do think to devil's advocate though, I do think a Fortnite theme park is probably not a bad idea. I think kids would probably be like, I want to go and then the parents would go and then they'd find something that they you know what i mean parents already play for a night with their kids a lot more than i than i thought they would um i see that a lot and so like i could see them and it's all it's already a hodgepodge anyway of like all sorts of shit it's probably a good idea you could probably easily make a shit ton of money doing that um maybe even grow the ip even beyond the people who just play um theme park enthusiasts all that kind of thing get some good word of mouth going i don't know it's probably a good idea maybe not for now it might have been a good idea like well i don't know there really is no good time for it right because 2019 probably 2019 in my mind is like 2020 that's like that's a great time for it but also there's a major pandemic that would have completely fucked it entirely so the timing and the circumstances of it just seem kind of like not right particularly great um especially with all those layoffs and presumably fortnight being at least more beleaguered than it used to be although undoubtedly still huge my my concern with the fort like if you could have a fortnight park appear in disney disney world right now right you're it's it's maybe a little late for the peak but it would do insanely well yeah but chug get the chug jug dude yeah chug jug you're you're riding on one of those llamas on a you know little cart ride i could see it my concern is that a park would take years to make and then with fortnight already being rocky it's like well where's fortnight gonna be when the park's actually built and ideally those parks would be you know around for decades to come um yeah so it's kind of like dude they did um universal built all that stuff around their their like monster universe and they like totally canned all the monster stuff i think the parks are supposed to be pretty sick still but it's just funny that it's like oh they couldn't they couldn't get the movie thing right fucking universal but they got the park thing right so it's funny it is insane i think i think ultimately like i think how i feel about it is like if it if it were news coming out today right like 20 early 2026 or i guess mid 2026 now um the fortnight theme park is going to open in a couple months we've been building it for you know a couple years now right if it was opening this year even at the time that fortnight is kind of failing i would have been like oh okay but to start something like that now like i don't know like that's gonna you're gonna see the the that come to fruition maybe

1:58:2220 29 at the earliest 2030 i don't know i don't know about that i don't know man i just the constant m &a and russian russian nesting dolls as it were yeah it's very unattractive to me it's like a fucking scooby-doo villain every time there's like but there's like a million masks

1:58:46Colin Moriarty:and you're just like are you serious oh it's oh it's enron again i i love that mask that thing of sting the wrestler when he takes their gif of him when he has the mask on he takes off his mask and it's just him like his face painted like underneath it it's a good thing it's like it's that shit's so funny man hate it hate it we'll see what happens i think epic is i've said this before, I think Epic has a problem just in that their game is huge and they're seeing a decline in it, but it's still the biggest thing. You've got to figure it out. You've created such a phenomenon that it should be permanent.

1:59:19If you botch it, that's on you because these are advantages that companies would murder for. And I also want to say, as I said last week, no one asked Tim Sweeney to spend all this money on all this lawfare. I understand he thinks he's doing the right thing. And in some ways, he probably is doing the right thing. And he took on some really, really big companies, much bigger that would eat Epic for breakfast. And I understand that that comes at a cost, but no one asked you to do that. You did that. And didn't he do that in part because of like he had to split the money with Apple and Google for Fortnite or whatever?

1:59:57I wonder if you took the Fortnite revenue. I mean, again, it's it's fighting. it's procedural fight, but whatever the fortnight revenue was, right. And you cut 30 % off of it and you give that away. Would that money be, would that in some be more or less than the bill of the lawfare? I don't know. It's a lot of money. All right. This one's interesting. This is going to require a lot of reading. I don't know if you guys read this entire article, but this is fucking insane. This has to do with Mind's Eye. I can't get enough of this game. I platinum did, obviously, so I'm deeply familiar with it.

2:00:36This comes from Gamesbeat, which is a website we do not cite very much anymore. I feel like they've kind of fallen off. but Dean Takahashi wrote a story called Why Build a Rocket Boy Moved to Self-Publishing for Mind's Eye and it's an interview with Mark Gerhard Mark Gerhard is the CEO and CTO of Build a Rocket Boy Build a Rocket Boy is the Scotland-based studio founded in part by Leslie Benzies who was the producer for a long time for Rockstar North and everyone knows the whole story so this game came out it was a complete disaster this article this interview is fucking awesome and it's so funny and it's crazy it's crazy to the point where and i'll read you guys we're going to read a lot of this yeah where i'm like what are they are they serious with like so all right so because if they are they must be and this is what's so funny about all right so

2:01:31there's a bunch of it when i say quote reading this i'm quoting mark gerhardt all right and And then the reading interstitially is Dean's writing. So quote, and this is about them self-publishing. IO Interactive obviously was the publisher of Mind's Eye. I think they were eager as fuck to get away from this game. So everyone agreed to part ways. He says, quote, we're very excited about this next chapter. We know we had without doubt the worst launch in history. All right. So that fucking rules. And obviously there's many reasons for that. we are planning to relaunch our game now that the inner interference has stopped the game is being very well reviewed the sales are increasing organically doubling almost weekly all of that's very positive we like being able to control our own destiny as an independent studio we want to be close to our players we want to be listening to the community and evolving the game in an organic way um at the time so he i wouldn't even read that part because there's a there's a reference to like his interview he did last fall with IGN where he was talking about all this shit that was going on with the game.

2:02:38So he goes later and talks about the return rate for the game. So people were claiming that they were getting like wide refunds outside of Steam. Steam refunds are very common, but on PlayStation and Xbox, they're really uncommon. You typically can't get refunded unless something is truly wrong with the game or there's like a confluence of issues. A lot of people asking there's something seriously wrong with it. Typically you would you can get a refund i think dustin you might remember this if like you don't open the package or whatever so like you download it but never play it there's like a bunch of shit yeah but anyway he had said and this is interesting because we don't get a lot of insight into this usually dean takahashi writes the game was once described as the world's most refunded game gerhard said that returns on xbox were about 2.2 percent and playstation was 3.2 percent within the norms for many games now i wanted to stop here this is interesting because that's um not within the norm of any game on PlayStation.

2:03:35Outside of Cyberpunk, maybe, or like notable bombs, like no one's getting refunds on PlayStation. It's notoriously impossible to get refunded on PlayStation. So 3.2 % is in no way. Three out of 100 is in no way normal for that platform. It's probably normal for Steam. So I just wanted to point that out. And he called, by the way, the idea that they were the most refunded game, quote, just a negative or malicious narrative that was amplified. Dean Takashi says, as for the conspiracy and espionage that he pointed out to employees. So this is, I can't believe, I can't believe that this is still going on.

2:04:14Gerhard said, quote, obviously we were kind of caught flat footed on that. We didn't counter the negative narrative. We weren't sophisticated enough to have done that, but we're aware we've called that out. Some of the negativity has been orchestrated around this, and thankfully, as a result, it stopped. We've got very strong evidence of this and conducted quite thorough investigations over the months since launch. We've identified parties involved, and it's now with the authorities both UK and US to deal with. I can confirm that they're assisting us with this investigation, but it's also in their hands now.

2:04:46Leave them to do what they do, make their arrests or any announcements in due course. I think we're not saying for anything further at this stage on that. we'll just let the natural course of justice take its path. Dean writes, I noted that there was astonished commentary on the internet that the company seemed to be blaming external parties for the game's failure. At the same time, they were known bugs in the game at launch. There's a chance players won't give the company the benefit of the doubt when it comes to believing the investigation has merit. Gerhard noted the bugs that caused the game to crash, quote unquote, is on us.

2:05:17Quote, we own that as a leadership team and as a studio, I can say having done in total 72 games in my life. I've never worked on a game that was completely bug free. It's always a judgment as to whether you are proud or when it's good enough. You obviously work tirelessly to make sure you don't have any showstoppers. But Gerhard said he believes it is important to get the improved game in the hands of players and then learn from the community. That's what the company is doing. Quote, we've obviously listened to that feedback and continue to invest in the game. So, you know, without doubt, it gets better month on month or update after update.

2:05:48But without doubt, there was a concerted effort. Some people had their hands on the scale and deliberately tried to shape a negative narrative around the product. So it didn't get a fair chance. It didn't get to find its community. It didn't get a chance to be iterated on as would be typical with these things. End quote. The only other interesting stuff in here is that two things that they think user generated content is going to revive the game. I think that's a fucking fat chance and that everywhere, which is really the game that was built using the same tools that MindsEye was built in and was supposed to be the game they were going to release is still apparently in development.

2:06:22what are these people talking about mine's eye is awful I'm sorry the ritual network this is where it comes from

2:06:31Colin Moriarty:the ritual network comes from this story oh my god I really don't understand what they're saying I wish Dean pushed back a little bit harder like what are you talking about like your game is terrible it's terrible it's a terrible game it's a cool idea. Fun. I would say that the location's fun and interesting, but take it from me. I beat it. Platinum. It's, it's a bad game. It, it. So what are they suggesting? I don't need, I just can't wrap my mind around this. I can't believe that they're doubling and tripling and quadrupling down on this. Instead of just saying the game is bad. It's just bad.

2:07:16It's just a bad game.

2:07:19Colin Moriarty:dude this article is awesome i love the there's a there's a user under the user generated content thing he uh he writes uh gerhard told games beat that he's excited about mind's eyes multiplayer update and a new mission dubbed blacklist which introduces a female playable character and then afterwards it says we're also using that to share some of the evidence of the sabotage with the community yeah i saw that as well it's so stupid what does that mean the multiplayer mode is going to be about the sabotage what does that mean so this is amazing i i know what you're saying god like it would have been it would have been good of like dean to push back uh i mean i've got love or really anything for dean takahashi but i love that i kind of love that he just let him you know because these are this is kind of golden we're using that to share some of the evidence of the sabotage with the community in reference to the female playable character and the multiplayer mode i don't know what that means i don't know that i really am i have no hope of understanding what that means it's it's it's i think also he said something about did he oh god oh he gerhard didn't say what the sales of mines i have been except to say they have been quote unquote very modest uh where's the money where's the money coming from it says at the top of this that they had 151 million dollars in investment to make this game and i also saw i was this was this real 150 million dollars is the new five dollars i guess Dude, they had 800 people at the studio at one point, according to this article, which was down to 240 or is down to 240 now, which is still crazy and is aiming to get down to below 100.

2:09:11So they had some weird idea of what was happening here and they wasted a lot of people's money or a lot of someone's money, perhaps.

2:09:19Colin Moriarty:I wonder what the fuck I saw in this man. like that is the most mysterious part of this to me honestly still because it's not like it wasn't obvious you know what this was like i don't know it just seems like the writing was on the wall for this for like pretty early so like i just i don't know what io makes good shit and so for them to be just like yeah let's do this and it's their only other published game that's like not theirs. It's a weird, just odd and odd choice. This whole thing is weird. It's a, I'm so glad I played it. Cause it's like, it's just one of those. Yeah. You have to, you almost have to play it to believe it.

2:10:02It's, it's bad.

2:10:04Colin Moriarty:I would pick it up for like stupid dirt cheap. Yeah. I wonder what it costs now. PSN. Yeah. I don't know. It's gotta be like five bucks for me. Let's see. $59.99. Ain't no way. Or physical copy,$19 on Amazon. Still too much. It's$59.99. And then you can play the unpatched version. Oh, that's true. Yeah. You can play the default version 1.0, mind's eye. That's got to be a legendary. That's a legendary thing. That's like, what is it? Launch PS4 Cyberpunk unpatched. it's crazy, man. Just absolutely crazy. So funny. I wanted to share that with everyone. Now it's a good, it's a good read. Go read it.

2:10:56Gamesbeat.com. Why build a, why build a rocket boy move to self publishing for mind's eye. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. All right, guys, let's wrap up the news with a new PlayStation plus games for April for the month we're in. These will begin to be available for all PS plus subscribers at any level. Essential extra or premium on April 7th. so you have time to still download the old games which are PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, and Slime Rancher 2 as well as the Gold Road for Elder Scrolls Online. So the games this month, my friends, let me see and get my notes here.

2:11:30Lords of the Fallen is the big one. Came out in 2023 from Hexworks and CI Games. The sequel comes out this year, right? I'm pretty sure it does. I think, did you?

2:11:41Colin Moriarty:I don't know if it's this year. It might, I'll check. Next year. Next year. I think so. I don't know. Did you, did either of you play this game? This is not a, not a game for me, but no, I, I don't even remember. When, when, when was this? When did this come out? 23, 23 for a large of the fallen one. Yeah, I don't think I played this. I think they do. Maybe they still have like an extensive demo or trial version of this game. And I played a little bit of it. I know this game, they did like a 2.0. that severely improved the game for a lot of people. That's right. And a lot of people really like this game.

2:12:22Colin Moriarty:So it seems like it could be a good get. Yeah. The next one up is Tomb Raider 1 through 3 remastered. So 1, 2, and 3 remastered in a package that was released by Aspire in 2024. That includes Tomb Raider 1 from 1996, the PS1 game, also Saturn game. Tomb Raider 2 from 1997, which was also a PS1 and PC game. And then Tomb Raider 3 from 1998, PS1 and PC. these are supposed to be pretty good I think there was problems with the trophies on PS5 where they like had a weird thing where there's like maybe only one platinum for the three games I don't really know but I'll definitely be adding that to my list that's a game that I would probably have actually bought at some point so and then Dustin this one's for you Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream from Bandai Namco is available for you I'm sure you'll be checking that out dude Sword Art Online I think a lot of anime fans hate sword art online because it's like the normie of normie anime.

2:13:20Oh, really? Is that so it's like the most high level. But no, that's not the right way to put it. The most accessible, the most permeated.

2:13:30Colin Moriarty:I watched the first season of the show, not all of it, but there's like two halves of it. And it was OK. It gets weird, though. And I'll just tell you, OK, this is Google AI when I searched. to find this plot thread.

2:13:47Colin Moriarty:Shiguwa Kiruga develops romantic feelings for her cousin slash adopted brother. These feelings stem from confusion after learning they are not biological siblings. It's worse than I remember. So I'm out. It's worse. I can't do it, man. I can't do it. Can't do it, man. Sorry. All right. Sword Art Online. Chris, you'll be checking that out, I'm sure. Tomb Raider seems like a pretty good thing, though. I mean, it's a decent month. Trying to be objective. Lords of the Fallen's not for me. Sword Art's not for me, but whatever. I think it's a little weak, but only because Tomb Raider 1 and 3 Remastered is like, it's really good, but it's also like, you're like 14, you're probably not.

2:14:37Colin Moriarty:You're going to play this and you're going to be like, this plays like shit. because it is it is improved from the ps1 but like not as much as you would imagine for something you know it's not a remake it's a remaster so i don't know it's it's not the worst and i wouldn't even necessarily call it bad i would just kind of call this like just acceptable you know like there's there's a wide array of things like all of these all of these games all three of these games appeal to a completely different audience i would imagine so you got variety covered it's not a ton of games although I guess you could argue there's three games in Tomb Raider but it's fine.

2:15:14Colin Moriarty:It's a fine month. I'm not really going to complain about it. All right. That's all we have for the news my friends. All right my friends. Let's get into what we're playing. Let's see here. I guess I'll just go first and get out of the way. I'm still playing Returnal. Talked about it extensively on Summon Sign. We definitely did a spoiler cast and review discussion I feel like back in the day for it as well. I haven't listened to it ever but I'm sure it exists from 2021. Again just playing in preparation for Saros. We talked about it a lot earlier in the show. I will say that I am closer to the platinum.

2:15:44I was getting a little frustrated. I was wondering if I was going to do it or not. What I really wanted to do was just beat that third secret act. And as I was saying on the show last week, to get that third act, you have to find these sunstones and then do a secret ending by just beating the boss again. And so I did all that. So I got that. And then I've serendipitously found three or I've completed three of the six biomes in terms of finding everything. So I only have to find everything in biome or only in quotes biome uh three five and six so and two is really the most notorious one so i got that one which is good so i think i'm going to continue on i'm thinking that i'm probably going to try to play starfield and thus i'm going to try to wrap this up or have it wrapped up by the time that that comes out next week and um if not then i probably will just walk away from it but it's been a great experience and then i've just been playing saint Slayer, Spear of Sacrilege as well.

2:16:36The upcoming Lillimo game from the studio I co-own and really excited about that. So please do wishlist it. Look forward to it. Comes out April 20th. Far out. So that's what I'm doing. Dustin, let's go to you next. It says here you're playing Crimson Desert Marathon Raccoon Croc. I spelled it wrong. It's Racoin. Racoin and Croc. And so end with Marathon and then we can move into Chris.

2:16:59Colin Moriarty:Okay. I am still playing Crimson Desert but I have gotten a lot lighter on it part of my reasoning is that they are patching this game on almost weekly basis and I'm starting to get a little fatigued with it I'm not saying it's bad I've already went over my complaints uh last week and what's funny is I don't know if it was last week it was definitely in the video I did I listed out a bunch of complaints and they have already fixed them specifically i had a lot of complaints in how the glide worked in the game and um yeah it's completely changed they increase the amount of they decrease the amount of stamina that the glide uses um and they've just been changing things constantly so part of me is like if i'm not feeling as motivated to play this right now if i wait certainly i will have a better experience which is normally the case for almost any game that comes out but in this case it is significantly been upgraded since launch so yeah i'll still be playing a little bit here and there uh the other game other two games i want to mention uh before marathon is recoin so this just came out on steam uh they've already announced that it will be coming to consoles you can look forward to that uh and this is i hate saying a Bellatro like because Bellatro is just a roguelike game but poker in this case this is a roguelike coin pusher game so some of you may remember from arcades where there's the coin pusher games that you put coins in and there's like a a platform that moves back and forth and that's what this game is but being that it does have the roguelike elements there are like specialized coins that you put into the coin pusher that have different effects you have different items that you buy that give you overall buffs if you get combos a wheel will spin and sometimes like coins will shoot everywhere uh i got a coin the other day or when i was playing this morning that like makes all the coins around it big uh there's coins there's like coins that can um have negative status effects and it's pretty fun if you like i i mentioned earlier with mario movie like keys jingling type game or like the brain rot uh vampire survivors type where you're like number go up feels good this is a great game for that i feel like i've only really scratched the surface of this because i just i think i played it a little bit tuesday and a little bit today and I'm only on the first level.

2:19:46Colin Moriarty:But if you like this kind of game, you're going to want to keep your eye on it for the console release. The other game, the ending to the saga is Croc Legend of the Gobbles Platinum Edition because I went and bought the digital version. And also speaking of that, the other final update, I got the check in the mail today. I got my$68. Good, good for you. Back from Rocket Games. Saga over. So it's over. I bought the digital version. Maybe it's not over. You'll deposit it and it'll bounce or something. I did the mobile deposit. So I'll have to check in on that in a few days. So Croc Legend of the Gobbles.

2:20:29Colin Moriarty:This is a game I grew up with on PC. And I remember playing this with a Microsoft Sidewinder controller. Oh, my God. It's fucking horrible. It's a fucking horrible controller. and also crock of this era has tank controls yeah one of the really creative things that they did for this release is that it still has the tank controls if you play on the d-pad much like if you were playing on the playstation one or you know pc controller whatever so you can still play that way but it has more remastered modern controls for the sticks nice the other thing that i really appreciate is that it has the master chief collection press on the touchpad and you can swap between the remastered and the modern graphics but more interestingly you can customize your level of remastered graphics you can turn the new models on and off you can change the textures to old or remastered oh uh and you can also turn the lighting remaster on and off so you can kind of customize your experience on how remastered you want it so i've been playing with original models original textures but with the enhanced lighting uh which is kind of like it puts it in a this looks how i remember it looking even though clearly it didn't look anywhere near that good and crock is not an amazing game uh i i don't know if it's even considered a great game it's it's perfectly fine this was during the area era where people were figuring out how 3d platformers even worked and so it's short level based you go you got to collect the six gobos in each level i think there are six specialized uh like glowing orbs or they're not coins but like crystals that you need to collect you get all those you can go into the bonus room at the end which has the six gabo in it and so i've just been slowly working through this game and i'm gonna get the platinum in it for the platinum edition it's pretty achievable i appreciate that for the platinum they have speed run challenges in it for each level but they're not part of the platinum and that's nice so i think you just need to go 100 each level and I think you have to beat every boss without taking damage, which I've already done two of them so far.

2:23:07Colin Moriarty:So as far as remasters goes, this is an excellent little package. Another little nitpick that I found really funny as someone who has worked in video production. They have these interviews in the package, like video interviews with the developers of the original game, which is really cool. no one decided it would be a good idea to mic these people up sounds like they're just using the camera audio nice for these and i'm like they look good good outside of that they look great they look perfectly adequate no no mic come on man come on that's that's rookie rookie shit right there so uh but it has like the typical remaster collection stuff it's got the artwork it's got the promo material stuff like that so overall really nice package for those that remember and love this game i can't recommend it if you don't have memories of this game for the most part or you have an affinity for early 3d platformers but what they put together is quite nice and i believe it's on sale for 50 off right now so check it out if you're interested last but not least marathon and I don't want to overdo this for the audience because I think Chris and I are have been talking about this game so much.

2:24:29Colin Moriarty:Yes, too much. In the last week, I have learned so much about this game and it has deeply made me appreciate it so much more. In particular, if some of you watched our marathon stream, we played the third level Outpost. And during it, I had no idea what was going on. Like I had played that map one other time, but it was mainly because John Pork himself was guiding us along. I've taken the time to learn this map and it is not that I've played a ton of extraction shooters, but of those I've played, this is the coolest map of any extraction shooter. and one of the coolest multiplayer maps I feel like I've ever played because it has a very particular not that it doesn't have like a storyline but it has very particular mechanics in it um and to go over it briefly in the outside of the map uh there are keys and there is a a giant building in the center called the pinwheel and in order to get into the pinwheel you need to find certain sets of keys.

2:25:36Colin Moriarty:There's also a special key that you may remember John Pork found in our stream that takes you into a secret entrance into Pinwheel. There's also another secret entrance. And so there's a really interesting flow in the map where it's like everyone starts and everyone's looking for these keys to get into Pinwheel. Once you get into Pinwheel, there are also other kinds of challenges. But where the interesting dynamics comes in is that you may be the first one to unlock Pinwheel. but when you do that it alerts everyone's screen in the game and says security breach and that's when everyone knows like ah okay pinwheels open so you can get in if someone else did that so there's a lot of interesting dynamics like once you get up in there if you're the first team it's like okay we gotta be careful because not only are there really tough ai up here but anyone could show up but if you take a secret entrance no one knows not not that no one knows someone could see you go up there but it gives you the security of like okay not everyone's alerted no one can just walk in here so this map is amazing i've spent so much time either in solos or chris and brad and i were running it the other day and it makes me so excited to do the cryo archive tomorrow because that's kind of the really tough mechanics heavy raid like map and I shouldn't be surprised because it is Bungie the raids in Destiny and Destiny 2 are the best content in the game completely different from the rest of the game and so the fact that they incorporated those mechanics even into just the basic maps of this is so cool so I'm loving Marathon I'm addicted to it I play it every night if no one wants to play with me I play by myself so that's how good it is brad kind of unreliable in terms of a teammate i'm not gonna lie wow what is that supposed to mean i send him so there's a i tweeted about this there's a picture of jeff keely staring and i've started to just send him that picture with no context and i also send it to brandon and brad sometimes he'll be like um i'm deep in zelda right now oh my god oh yeah but then i'm getting ready for bed and i'm seeing him hop on overwatch with lock and ben oh i'm like that's the tough thing yeah it's tough i need you to change your commitment off of overwatch and i need the commitment to beat a marathon brad yeah overwatch it's like come on man come on come on man what are you doing that's great that's like the i i love brad he's he's an a plus player for us and of games he's got great taste generally he's diverse in his taste he plays a lot of different things that overwatch shit's a little questionable to me

2:28:37it's gonna be real oh man it's gonna be real uh teach their own though i just i i'll just be honest with you that that song about overwatch ruined it for me forever even though it has nothing that was a living tombstone yeah that's so funny he did he did our original uh start tank theme really yeah hmm interesting um so is that all you have to say about it a little uh yeah

2:29:06Colin Moriarty:because i know chris has yeah chris go on stuff to say that's my that's my 13 minutes approximately it's all i can give you yeah i don't want to belabor the point too much like it's it's yeah I agree. I think I just. I think it's a sublime video game. I think like it. I continue to learn more about it over 100 and something hours in. It's ridiculous. And it's it makes it all the more embarrassing to me whenever people dismiss it because I'm just like you're fake. You know what I mean? Like it comes across like people being like Titanfall 2 is like whatever. That's what it comes across. Like to me, it's just like, oh, man, you don't know ball, man.

2:29:45Colin Moriarty:it's embarrassing for you to be voicing these opinions with with your lack of knowledge of ball so i don't know i think it's great i'm excited about the cryo archive stream tomorrow i'm gonna run it tonight um re-familiarize myself with it because even i was on pinwheel and there was some stuff that dustin was pointing out that i was like or like oh we need to go here and i'm like oh fuck i didn't even know that so definitely got to do some research uh going into cryo because there's a lot to understand but it's all very it's I don't know it's very satisfying to play and it's very satisfying to learn there are some things they they they showcased or not showcase that's the wrong word Joe Ziegler the director tweeted I think yesterday at the time of recording about some balance changes that they're going to do they're going to be buffing the recon class which is good that class needs some oomph they're buffing Vandal also which like I don't know that's like the double jump character and I'm like she's kind of strong I don't know they're gonna nerf they're they're looking at nerfing sniper rifles and nerfing the bubble shields which has been kind of a problem on cryo because like it's very tight corridor so if you have a bubble shield you're kind of like you're kind of just waiting for whoever's the first person to run in there with a shotgun and then and then you're just and then it's you know you got to give yourself up to the lord at that point but i'm having a great time with marathon i'm it's it's kind of entered my obvious rotation of just like this is this is my new routine now and i streamed yesterday and i was getting trapped like it was so bad it was like colin actually showed up for like the you dropped me uh one of what do they call the twitch primes yeah twitch primes i always try to make sure that someone one of my friends gets those because they they're free you know yeah but i was streaming for i streamed for about five hours and the first two and a half hours was like just dude loss after loss after loss and i was like oh my god maybe i'm never gonna play this game again fuck this and then uh i got myself onto a team john pork and uh friend of mine greg we jumped on and just dude just having a team to communicate with is just like night and day because then we were just on a on a consistent run of just like not losing once for the remainder of like the five hours and it's just like off and it just it hits man it just feels so good but that's really all i have to say about it we'll we'll talk more about it tomorrow obviously when we stream it and then that's that's gonna be it it's getting a little long in the tooth i get it sure i understand but until there's a big update or something and until there's like something to talk about and i'm sure there's gonna be minor balance changes throughout the seasons and all that but like definitely when season two pops up i'll talk about it again but playing that i've been getting i've been getting to resident evil requiem in the time that i'm not like hopelessly addicted to marathon which is like a problem for me it's just like i i get peeled away because like i'll play resident evil for like 15 minutes and i'll get into a flow state and then i'll get a i'll get a dm it's like hey you want to run some outposts i'm like ah yeah you're you're kind of never on so yeah kind of i guess uh but i don't know resident resident evil 9 is weird i like it a lot i think it's really good but i'm noticing something in resident evil games where like i think and i don't know maybe i'm maybe this is just me but i kind of feel like the first half of resident evil games are always like stronger yeah they kind of later halves i don't know if I I don't know if that's like a universal opinion or if it's like a popular or if it's like a hot take or whatever but I'm in like a I'll put it this way like I'm I'm in an environment right now in Resident Evil 9 I'm in a play space that makes me feel like I'm not playing Resident Evil exactly like it doesn't feel right like I like the dilapidated buildings and like the the kind of old i don't know like the the ornate police station and like the the dark dingy kind of hallways and i'm in a place that's like very much not that right now to avoid spoiler talk or whatever but like it just doesn't i don't know i'm not i'm not as pulled forward into it as i was in the early beginning half uh but i'm pretty close to the fucking end at this point so i'll probably get to it i'll probably finish it by the time we convene again i like it it's not my favorite resident evil it's up there i think i think i like four two and village a little bit more but i think it sits firmly within that five because the highs are really good like there's like there's it does play immaculately um it feels good to move through the spaces i like although I although I think there's a pacing issue and I think it is like it is a game that kind of wants to have its cake and eat it too and it's a little disjointed it's not disjointed in like a bad way it's kind of disjointed in a way that's like that makes me feel like there's a lot of variety in it um but yeah that's that's really it I'm also playing like a couple of other things I'm playing like Mega Man X and and shit like that um sometimes just in bed I have because I have an analog pocket that i only recently remembered that i had i found it in like a like a what is it a cat uh my tv nightstand that i uh or the tv stand in like a drawer that i rarely open i'm like oh my god my fucking analog pocket i forgot i forgot i bought this and like sealed it away so i've been playing um one of the mega man uh one of the mega man game boy games i can't remember which one exactly but i've been that's been my like nighttime routine kind of when i'm in bed because I can't reliably stream Marathon to my...

2:35:34Colin Moriarty:I would never play Marathon on a Steam Deck, but it's not really viable for nighttime stuff. We had some inquiries from the audience about Marathon, but we've already talked about it pretty extensively. I feel like they would just be redundant, so I'm deleting those. Oh, was it the one about the... Did you want to read them? There was one that I thought was kind of cool, or that would have been good to... Which one was it? oh the the gist is a titty twist oh okay cool yeah we can do this one well the first one i'll read them both then why not just because the first one is is uh okay whatever it's really more giving you your your plaudits sucking duck for quack wrote in and said howdy boys chris and this one's for you i was unsure about marathon last year during the closed alpha test i put i i played and wasn't super impressed then all the controversy started with the stolen art and art graders launched in october and introduced a ton of people including myself to the genre casual friendly with great art design a great original score and an addictive gameplay loop kept me hooked the lead up to the launch of marathon made the game look much better and after you guys played it on stream i decided to pick it up and i am in fact hooked this game fondles the scrotum like very few ever have and i think colin might actually enjoy this with a seasoned crew to show him the ways of tau seti love the show you guys keep being you so we've gotten a lot of messages over time of and thank you for the sucking duck for quack of you guys specifically turning and that stream being a place where people found the game um yeah which is cool something worth pointing out that i saw the other day that's just so crazy so when they revealed marathon and they had all those you know the streamers and stuff out to play it go if you're playing marathon now go back and look at the first gameplay of marathon it looks like ass compared to now and i'm it sucks because i think that that was a lot of people's first and maybe only impression with that game yeah and the fact that they turned at least visually the visual specifically the fact they went from that to what came out on launch day is absolutely insane that they did that in what six months maybe a little longer i'm remember how long the delay was it was a short period of time it was originally september it was originally like early september of last year and then obviously march so yeah about six months night and day the other thing oh this is the one chris for you the gist is a titty twist wrote in and said hey all this is mainly for chris but everyone can jump in as well chris especially talks about how he wanted wants games to be shorter he can't get excited about a hundred hour experience.

2:38:10Well, I would estimate that he has put in well above that into marathon now, so I am kind of confused. I'm sure Destiny was the same. Maybe it's just 100 single player game, 100 hour single player games to each their own, but it just seems like kind of duplicitous. It's a weird word to use to argue games need to be shorter and then go play a single game for so long. Not an attack, just an observation. Chris?

2:38:31Colin Moriarty:Yeah. So I don't know, man. I think there's a difference between a game that you can spend hundreds of hours in versus a game that demands that you spend 100 hours in to see the end of it the thing about multiplayer games to me is that like what's good about a multiplayer game is the gameplay loop of it like you're getting the loop like and it's a complete chapter like from the beginning of a round of like team deathmatch or whatever to the end that's a complete that's a chapter like that's it like that's the story of the game for you for that day It might be a story of complete loss. It might be a story of unrelenting victory.

2:39:10Colin Moriarty:You have those stories, but they're yours. And they're not narrative. They're not pre-scripted. They're not the same every time. And granted, there are some single-player games that I could play for. I mean, Skyrim is one that I've played for probably over 100 hours, I think. Because there's a dynamism to it. And not every time I play it, it's something a little bit different. but then there are some games that I feel like they're like they're 30 40 hours but like they don't really I don't know they don't show you a lot of new stuff like they don't introduce a lot of new things to you and even by the time it's done you're kind of like well I think I've seen everything I've I could see from it I have runs on marathons still to this day and and this goes with a lot of good multiplayer games where no run is the same like no pvp game is the same because you're you're not fighting pre-scripted ai that are designed for you to overcome them you're fighting other people you know who are using their own like manipulative tactics and like doing their like there's a satisfaction that comes from beating another player in a multiplayer setting where like they're not limited by like a scope of programming that hits in such a way that killing an AI kind of can't do for me and so I just think it's I just think it's different um I know what you're saying like it's just like it's crazy to spend that much time in a single game and I get it but I don't know man a lot of long games are kind of rigid too and it's like it's the same story every single time you know you can't you replay Assassin's Creed it's going to be assassin's creed again yeah i feel like it's kind of disingenuous to compare and contrast what you're saying about campaigns a campaign and a multiplayer experience are just two wildly different things in my opinion and i think they're a game they're a game like i've played returnal for 125 hours yeah and that's that's a single player game but there is no real campaign you play it over and over and over and over and over again that's what what's what you do it's it's the difference between playing the game of baseball for 500 hours over the course of like however many years right it's the difference between playing the game of baseball for 500 hours and watching the same baseball movie for 500 hours you know like i i don't know i don't know what you're getting out of watching the same movie for 500 hours or the same story play out exactly the same versus like playing the actual game where the joy is in the mechanics and it is in the the state of play and it is it's not about like a story that's being like superimposed onto it i generally story is like a very distant thing for me in video games because i think about like my favorite like i think about like tetris or shadow of the colossus even like that shadow of the colossus has a story but like it's it's very like it's very understated it's kind of underneath everything and like it kind of loops around at the end you're like oh how cool and how how revelatory but like it's really about the game and it's it's about the way that it feels to move through the space the way that it feels to play and i've always been a gameplay first guy there's if a game has shit gameplay um there's very little that that game can do to save it for me even if it's got a great story red dead 2 is probably like the best example of that like of a game that like i would probably hate this gameplay without without this immaculate storytelling going on but those games are few and far between like i can i think that's literally the only one that i could think of where like because last of us 2 plays really great that's a story heavy game but the gameplay is really fucking good for sure um and so i don't know different strokes but like i do think it's a little bit that's a crazy comparison i think finally i wanted to shout this out guys and i think this might be a game you're keeping an eye out as well on as well cream lord wrote in said hey boys just curious if mouse pi for hire is on your radar comes out in a few weeks seems like a game colin and chris would enjoy i learned recently that troy breaker baker voices the protagonist which is pretty cool seems like a mixture of doom and bioshock with all the hand-drawn animation in a very unique setting and tone this game comes from Fumi games, which I think is their intro game.

2:43:34April 16th, it looks excellent. I'm all over this game. It looks absolutely astonishingly good. And it's a matter of it's tough, man, because we have so the next day is Pragmata. Starfield is next week. Again, I probably won't end up beating Starfield immediately or anywhere close to it because of all the games are coming out. Then you have Saros the week after that. So I don't know. But this is a game I'll definitely buy day one and to show them support it's 30 bucks and yeah it comes out April 16th it looks awesome so if you haven't seen mouse pi for hire check it out it's a hand-drawn rubber hose animation black and white it's beautiful yeah it's really I'm I'm really

2:44:15Colin Moriarty:stoked about it like I remember when I first saw it I remember being like this is a great idea um very very very excited it looks like they've expanded it a great deal too like it looks like it's more than uh more than what it what it was in that initial i can't remember if it was like a teaser or a trailer like what the whatever the fuck i saw it in some weird like really really early capacity many many years back and uh it's looking great i love that style so much like it's so and they did it in a smart way like it's obviously there's no this game without cuphead you know obviously absolutely but it doesn't feel like a ripoff you know like they're they are doing their own thing with it there's like different problems that require different solutions like you you can't make another cuphead you can't make another like rubber hose a 1930 style animation side stroller ever again really without just like oh you're just you're cuphead but i think this is like different like this is like this is its own thing to the point where like now you couldn't do this again with first person shooters because like oh you're just mouse pi for hire like you're just trying to do that you know it's uh it looks looks great i was gonna say it reminds me i'll put in the chat of this game um that was like the huge ripoff of cuphead and then i think they like kind of i don't know did they i don't know like what if it seems like everyone hates it mostly negative but like it's to what you're saying like you you got to do something inspired by something but it's got to be radically different because these guys were trying to do some bootleg ass yeah it's like some bootleg ass version of cuphead wow i didn't realize it was this shameless i thought it was like wow dude and the reviews are saying it's not bad just because of the shameless you know style but it's actually just bad that's a bummer that's crazy it's like come up with your own ideas you know like as far as it's cool to be inspired by something to make an ode to something to wear that on your sleeve.

2:46:20I love that kind of stuff. But like to just make a bootleg version of the thing with no, with so few differentiators, I think is a little strange.

2:46:29Colin Moriarty:I mean, I think that's what mouse is. I think that's what this game is. Like it's very clearly inspired by Cuphead, but it's not, it's actually doing something new and interesting. I never, I genuinely never thought in my life I would see a rubber hose, like 1930s 2D animated first person shooter. Like that's kind of, like that's amazing that that exists. I'm looking forward to it. I'm actually really, it might be my most anticipated game this month, honestly. Yeah, I think I would give that to Saros, but yeah, probably and Pragmata too. So yeah, maybe number three for me, but it's still good.

2:47:02It's a busy month. It is a busy month. All right. That's all we have for what we're playing. So let's get into listener inquiries and wrap this bad boy up. Six questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas from the audience over on Patreon. Patreon.com slash last day media. One of the perks you get over there is to submit your inquiries to all the shows in our network, including Sacred Symbols. Use the thread in the news feed that's published each week. It'll go live on Wednesday afternoon, Eastern time and deleted Thursdays right before we record. So you have about 24 hours to get your inquiry in.

2:47:31Shad Vegas wrote in, said, hey guys, this one is for Colin. I wanted to push back on the statement last week on one of the shows that gaming has always been for the rich or something in that vein. I don't know if anyone ever said that. As a teacher in a very income diverse school, the students that talk about gaming the most are almost always on the free lunch list. Poor families can entertain their kids for much longer stints by getting them a copy of a huge game like Persona, since they can't afford vacations or other entertainment. A lot of times I hear kids saying their parents use income tax refunds to get a few games and or a new console.

2:48:01With the uptick in gaming costs, I do see the shift to the purchasing dynamics of gamers on the lower end of the income spectrum. Just wanted to share my anecdotes after 10 years of teaching. I'd love to hear some thoughts. Thanks for a great show. I don't know that anyone said gaming has always been for the rich because that's not true at all but gaming has always cost money and has not been penetrable at the highest rungs by the working or poor classes in the West really ever that's what makes console gaming I think so attractive PCs in the 80s were thousands of dollars for good PCs like at the time radically unaffordable.

2:48:44That's why things like Atari 2600 and later the NES, SNES master system, Genesis were also attractive. And even, even some of the random stuff that would come out that didn't necessarily do well, like turbo graphics, all of these things were, um, were affordable. I do worry a little bit about the, and this is what I wanted to get into shot about what you're writing was. I do worry a little bit about access to these things. And I wonder where this is all going to go. I am and Dustin, we'll go to you first. I feel like a lot of people think this pricing thing will be solved ultimately by at least some people think by streaming.

2:49:20I know this is one of the things that Jaffe thinks and this is something that a lot of people are heavily investing in the idea of offloading compute completely to the companies from which you would subscribe, gain licenses to their games. I just don't feel like that's necessarily a great solution for the companies. You're offloading all the compute, but also all the power use and all of the, it's a very complicated and expensive ordeal that I don't think works out very well. But there's no doubt that at the lower end of the, of the gaming sphere, which is usually the console space that it has been affordable to the working class and poor people for many years, and things might be getting out of hand for them.

2:50:02I wonder if you have any reflections on this. I I know you grew up, I mean, your parents weren't loaded and you had old consoles and things of this nature. So you grew up the same way. I'm not going to say my parents, I grew up middle class. I mean, I didn't grow up poor by any stretch of the imagination, but we had access to some good games or whatever. And it was always the richer kids that had like the huge game collections or whatever. It wasn't until I was, you know, in middle school and high school and can make some of my own money that I started expanding my own gaming reach. But anyway, do you have any thoughts you want to share on this?

2:50:30Colin Moriarty:Yeah. so as you mentioned like my parents there were ups and downs growing up like my parents had a really good were really good at hiding from me that money was tight like I learned years later that my dad my dad an extensive cd collection and I remember hearing afterwards like him selling all of his like not like expensive rare but like the stuff that people would buy like his Iron Maiden and Metallica collections, like just to get groceries at one point. So with that being said, I always had some access to gaming pretty much my whole life. One Christmas during this period of like real financial uncertainty for my family, it's the Christmas that I got an NES with like a box of games because I think my parents were able to get it from a family member that didn't want it anymore um or like later on with the playstation 2 i got it it probably was like two or three years after it came out and it was used and i think that they got it for a discount because my uncle worked at gamestop so um all that being said is that getting a new games new consoles stuff like that is expensive and always has been to some degree uh but there there are other ways like i mentioned before used stuff another reason why physical games are very important is for that tier or whatever you want to call it of gaming of um you know lower priced budget options so i'm curious about what this price increase will do for the used market of ps5s like i wonder how much this will affect like people selling the like the gen one the fat ps5 if we is it considered the fat ps5 now because the other ones yeah slim sure yeah so i'm sure it will have a you know effect on that as well but there's certainly still deals to be had um i like getting like a used ps4 i think is still going to be an option and it's disappointing like i remember being a kid and seeing my classmates that had ps2s and we're talking about new games i remember at one point there was a kid that was like yeah i got the new harry potter game um i got it from the tooth fairy and i was like are you are you fucking kidding me i got a dollar uh to some that's a lot like holly talked about told me about getting a quarter from the tooth fairy you got fucking harry potter quidditch world championship on ps2 from the tooth fairy what are we what am i doing wrong here that's crazy so the tooth fairy man she was always a cheap bitch yeah absolutely so yeah i get it um And it's frustrating.

2:53:39Colin Moriarty:But as long... I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this at this point other than I hope that they can figure it out. There's been reports of the last week that Google figured out some kind of RAM compression thing. And so that's potentially maybe going to major affect this shortage. But I don't know if that's just fluff. and also yeah and also didn't something happen with altman and a huge tranche of of components that they were gonna oh they're like not making good yeah and then like one of the major manufacturer's stock started dropping because of it and yeah this is what i was saying i mean it's so funny man because this is exactly what tom was saying i mean moore's laws is uh he was like he's like there are companies buying this shit to not even use it or just trying to seize the control of the stock so no one else can get it and worry about it later.

2:54:37So it's all very unnatural. Yeah.

2:54:42Colin Moriarty:Oh, God. Isn't AI great? Yeah, it's wonderful. It's the thing we're all asking for. So I hope that they can give it to us more and more. That was what was so funny about seeing Sora close. Chris was they were losing a million dollars every day. Cool. Very sick. Very cool. Very cool. very cool dude i've had the i've had the pro ai upgrade up my ass for the last couple days because i've been posting uh some some videos on like uh tiktok and instagram just making fun of it and it's uh it's an interesting group of people undoubtedly there will be some in like the comments of this video oh my god they're there yeah they are they they do i don't know man the worst is seeing like supposed artists um going to bat for ai it's like you're yeah you've lost the fucking plot my friend yeah you're washed well part of it is like well it's like the i don't care i'm an artist and it's like the democratization of art and i want everyone to be an artist i'm like why why would you want everyone to be an artist you think everyone's capable of exhibiting that level of skill of talent why would you even want like it doesn't even it doesn't make sense anyway yeah um what do you think about the access to games for for younger and and poor more working class and even lower middle class people that might not gain access.

2:55:58I honestly, I got to say, and we'll get into this in the next inquiry a little bit, is I feel like I'm not so worried about these people because access to games is greater for them by orders of magnitude than it was when I was. There was no such thing called as a free game. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a free game until the advent of the internet really. So just that you have access to, you can just play Fortnite forever and never pay for it.

2:56:25Colin Moriarty:so yeah yeah it's tricky like in in some ways it's more inaccessible in some ways it it's the most accessible it's ever been even just like as far as like needing to play like if you really cared about it if you really cared about like older games on older hardware you'd have to go out and find the machine and you know now things are just kind of getting ported and fucking crock has a ps5 version you know um that's something that didn't really happen you know for for for a while so i don't know i'm in the middle of it like i i do kind of understand because i remember a lot of my consoles were i was fortunate in in some ways because like we would get our i remember getting my xbox from the px which is like a uh it's a um what do you even call it like kind of like a department store like a grocery store like just a general kind of yeah it's a general department store on military basis and so they would have like some weird i think it was like there's like no taxes on it or something and so that made it that lowered the floor a little bit especially on like a big piece of electronic uh hardware that usually had like a crazy tax thing associated with it um i had a lot of hand-me-down consoles early on my ps1 and and NES were not mine.

2:57:44Colin Moriarty:I think my NES was my aunt, my aunts, and then, or my NES was my aunts, and then I think my PS1 was my sister's. So, like, I just had a lot of access early on, but, like, we definitely didn't... You know, we weren't first in line on launch day for new consoles, generally. I remember the first console I got on launch was, I think, the Switch. I think. Because I remember like, oh, I can do this now. Like, I was like making money. And I was like, oh yeah, all right. And I got on Amazon, my day one. And it was like, it was cool. It was like a nice moment. But is it too inaccessible? I don't I don't know because you can get them on your phone too and everybody has a phone yeah that's what I'm saying like because you kind of have to so it's like it is I don't know I'm really kind of in the middle of a lot of this because I see what people are talking about things are getting way fucking too expensive um but there's a lot of people still on ps4 still who don't necessarily care about performance either and that's like how much is a ps4 now it's got to be insanely insanely cheap especially there's there's got to be ps4s that people don't give a shit about that you can just get your hands on.

2:58:57Colin Moriarty:I don't know. I'm in the middle. Yeah, I think it behooves the game companies to spread the field as much as possible. That's what they're trying to do, to have a whole gamut of pricing options that you can explore. We talk about that all the time. MSRP going even higher than they are now to things that are free. Shit, man. Maybe you can even make money playing some of these games with ad sharing and all sorts. and obviously the people that contribute to these games just goes all the way back to second life and people making millions of dollars making their own shit in those games and i know that that was a major complaint with fortnight i think it was with fortnight i know roblox has a whole general user generated content thing but doesn't fortnight to have a user generated content thing because i think yeah yeah because i think people at epic were saying like we're paying out enormous amounts of money like to these people um and i'm pretty sure on roblox they were saying what there's like a thousand people that have made millions of dollars on it or something so it's it's cool i mean so the access is good it's there this is why i was arguing that sony it's how catastrophic it is that sony's raising the prices of the console that they you know that they have to because they know that things are becoming more and more inaccessible and i would never say otherwise i don't think that you have like a god-given right to a video game i think some people talk about them like that i just think it's good for video games to be accessible to people.

3:00:21But I don't think you have like, you know, fucking you're not like born out of the womb and you're like, I have a right to a Nintendo and shit. It's like, no, that's not really the way it works. Josh wrote in and said, hi, Sacred Crew. Did you see the recent comments from John Romero stating that the current video game industry feels crashier compared to the industry leading into the crash of 1983? Do you guys think he's being hyperbolic or could you be on to something? Thanks for everything you guys do. John Romero understands video games at a level that I would never understand, presume to understand video games.

3:00:54And is an OG, an amazing game developer. Obviously has a tumultuous record, but he and Carmack were instrumental in the genre. We three of us all love. In fact, we were talking a lot about on the show, which is the first person shooter. And so I don't question him from that perspective. I just want to talk about a grander thing about the video game crash of 1983. It's that I really want people to go read about it because I think people don't understand why it happened, what happened, how bad it was, and that it could never happen like that again in video games. So to give you, and I went and looked it up because I want to make sure because I remember the stat from a long time ago when I wrote about this at IGN.

3:01:39Sales of home video games in 1982 were$3.2 billion. By 1985, it was$100 million. And indeed, cumulative global spending on games would not exceed what it was in 1982 until the 90s. So that level of failure is absolutely catastrophic. Again,$3.2 billion in 82, 100 million in cumulative game sales. It's so funny. It's like nothing in 1985. Nintendo saved the situation because they understood at that time that what was happening was that there was no cost control. And so people were flooding the market with games that took weeks to make. And there were so many options. And this is where the Nintendo seal of quality.

3:02:36Everyone knows where this all comes from. The game and the games industry will never happen to the games industry. It's not possible. I don't know why people throw around this idea that the game industry will crash like it did in 1983. I'm like, the game industry might suffer or fail or whatever. Not for the reasons it did in 1983. It's not even... The games industry wipes its ass with as much money as they were making in 1982. And most of the money is being made on free-to-play games from Wales and all these things and single-player hits that come out like Crimson Desert and Resident and evil and all the rest.

3:03:09There's nothing stopping that train. The way you digest and absorb those games might change. It probably will, but nothing stopping that train. It's different. Games are part of culture now. They were, you have to understand in the early 80s, people didn't know if these things were permanent. It seemed like it was a fad. And so when they went away, everyone's like, oh, that's another toy that no one gives a fuck about anymore. Time to move on. That's not video games in 2026. that's not even video games in 1995 so no he's not right at all and the industry is not crashier because there will be no crash people will lose unfortunately lose their jobs and the money will go up and up and up and up and up that's what will happen so just wanted to throw that out there do you guys know anything or have you ever read or anything about the crash of 83 or any and you have any interest in it yeah i mean i i'm trying to remember if i read if it's from console war the uh blake harris book talks about it a lot but uh yeah dude what's crazy about that time too

3:04:21Colin Moriarty:is that like atari like you could just come in and like make an atari game like just on your own right like imagine just someone like i'm going to make and produce a playstation game without PlayStation involved at all. You know, or something like that. Like, so Wild West back then. Yeah, there was the idea of, it's funny, the idea of publishing didn't really exist until late in the Atari era. Because it was assumed that you would just make the machine and then make the games. It's like making a toy and then making like vehicles for the toys and play sets for the toys. Like another company doesn't do that.

3:04:58So I think it was, it was actually Activision and then others that were that were like no we'll just make the games and cut out the middleman and then everyone realized they can do it and i've made a fun of it on the show a million times like quaker oats had a fucking video game developer like everyone was like getting in on making these things and famously these games were made in four six eight weeks this is why this is why that all went down bad it's not there's no quality problem anymore there's never going to be a quality problem some game we talk about mind's eye mind's eye was awful they're always going to be awful games or enchanted portals wherever the fuck the game was we were talking about before cuphead it's just that like those aren't the standard but like et was the standard actually right and so i i just think people talk about the crash and don't really get it and maybe even john romero would know a lot more about it than i did from the being there at the time i wasn't even born i just don't think people understand how catastrophic it was and how and how we owe everything to nintendo

3:06:03Colin Moriarty:100 yeah i don't know maybe i mean he is saying it feels crashier and maybe that's because there's so much more on the line like there is a lot more money now in game like undoubtedly the the amount of money lost in the games industry probably dwarfs the amount of money that was lost in the 80s comparatively the only difference is there's so much more of it left yes that's true so i i do think like there is a perspective there where it's just like yeah it probably is pretty tumultuous for people in the trenches in comparison back then where it's just like ah whatever you know it's bad but uh there's a fad anyway it's like for for an existing industry that uh presumes it's here for the long haul um you could see something that is essentially a the word crash is also pretty heavily loaded like a crash can mean a lot of different things i think and i do think on some level in some way shape or form i think a crash is probably possible i just don't think it'll be in the same way it'll be like a completely different almost hard to imagine way you know like it wouldn't be the the blueprint of 1983 it would be i don't know probably

3:07:21we were talking about in in the 80s how like et was the standard you could technically make the argument that

3:07:31Colin Moriarty:et is the standard again the only difference is by by the nature of like how many of them come out like from you know the uh what are those developers that put out the trophy games oh like the shovelware yeah the guys that got delisted yeah like you could make an argument on a sheer volume perspective that like they are the standard actually technically like there's fewer and fewer triple a games coming out as regularly as they used to um that gap is being filled by like jumping sushi or fucking tongue tongue tongue so whores mighty adventure like italian brain rot fighting so there is like there are elements of it it's just that those games don't make up the lion's share of what people are paying attention to.

3:08:15Colin Moriarty:Right. They don't matter. Right. They don't matter. There's a lot more of them than there ever have been. They don't matter to the same degree. I think they do matter in some way. Like Sony should fuck. I don't know what the fuck they're doing. I don't know why these are allowed. There seems like they're doing something behind the scenes. Like they do. They are starting to delist stuff. I don't know why it took them so long, but that's what's confusing to me. It's like you're pretty late to this. Well, did I did I bring up? Did we bring up the show? Did we bring up on the show? Gran Charismo. What the fuck is that?

3:08:45No, I don't. All right. Hold on a second. I'll look it up. Charismo. Yeah, I'm shunning to you. This is a game that came to PC and Switch like a couple of years ago. And here I put in the link in the chat. It's coming to PSN. And I'm like, is anyone awake? Wow. Is anyone awake? You're letting a game on your store called Gran Charismo. I don't know that you probably could sue for that because it sounds a lot like it's the same thing it's a racing game that sounds just like it I mean obviously I think there would be a suit there you don't have to necessarily do that but you don't have to publish the game is anyone awake what the fuck dude this is crazy fucking weird dude like there's just like things where I'm like I don't know what you guys think you're doing but you need to figure it out I'll help you if you want it will be the i'll tell you right now it'll be the easiest professional job i ever had um here i'll help you guys oh no grand charisma no we don't need to publish that next i i'm looking at the developer app will look at this website look at this website for app will

3:10:00Colin Moriarty:holy fuck oh geez app app will a p p w i l l dot co slash about one slash oh man like the ai generated assets there with like the dice sucks and uh man dude i saw like a local plumber commercial yesterday when i was watching espn and it was like all ai slot it was like i saw sucks there's a banner there's a banner outside of a bar i used to go to with uh an ai tony soprano like having beers i'm not even joking i'm like what the fuck is this it's this is insane it just all looks the same like i don't this is this is the major problem with ai and again they'll solve this too but like it all the cartoony looks all it's like the um yassifications like they all look the same the cartoony look all looks the same um What happened to the general, man?

3:10:54We got to bring back mascots like that. The general was hand animated at 30 frames a second.

3:11:04Colin Moriarty:No, but that takes skill, Colin. We don't want skill. We want completely unskilled labor in everything. The Empire man, the Empire direct man. His little cartoon visage. Car Fox, even. i have so little consideration in my heart for the people who are like going like really really behind ai like it really is like i see i see the comments sometimes and i'm just like that's like a roach might as well have back flipped on the on the on the keyboard and type this okay have fun have fun being a pseudo sentient animal person yeah it's weird like i i don't

3:11:43I don't know how to put this. It's like I feel one of my major frustrations, Chris, is. Again, it's like I don't want to sound mean or whatever. It's just like I feel like there's so many people out there that have so much more to lose because of this than I do. Right. No one seems to care. You know, it's like, why do I care? We'll be fine. I'm worried about you you your humanity your ability to make a living your ability to express yourself learn a skill do all those things and it's like if I can't make you care it's like leading a horse to water right see I totally agree with you there because the NFT stuff I just had complete disdain for it I'm like obviously obviously this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard in my fucking life obviously you guys are wasting enormous amounts of money obviously this is going to blow up in your face it's fun to talk about for a minute but we just have to it's like i always say just wait and and we all we had to do was wait this is like a much more aggressive problem that has much more deleterious effects that's so much grander and it's not so easy to poke fun at because you have to get into the spiritual nature of it about i don't know i i honestly i don't mean again i don't mean to be a dickhead but i honestly think it's a conversation that for a lot of people not for a lot of people but for a group of people like it's actually too sophisticated for them so they just buy in it's like yeah i'm trying to ask you about your differentiation as a human you don't understand that me type me artist

3:13:26Colin Moriarty:unga bunga me type prompt me art artist now dude i yeah no i mean whatever we we've we've talked about it a lot me picasso yeah it's like okay all right you're right though it is sick sick so it is cyclical it is it's circular and um it's so funny that you bring that me picasso because i saw i'm not even gonna get into it fucking whatever who cares i know yeah you don't do you care what do i care yeah have fun it's yeah it's fine that's the way i feel about a lot of issues these days where I'm like, I don't know why I care about this and you don't. But OK, good luck. Chelsea Cutler wrote in, said, hey, guys, are there any Life is Strange fans in the LSM family?

3:14:11The new one recently came out and has an 85 on Metacritic. Not seen anyone talk about it on any of the shows, so I'm assuming no one is invested in the series at all. Life is Strange is still pretty popular. So isn't it kind of strange that not one person on the staff is interested? That is kind of strange. I it's been 11 years I guess since the original Life is Strange came out and that was a don't not game this this I think it has bounced between what three different studios and I'm pretty sure deck nine is the studio now that does does it don't not has moved on to its own shit so I have the original Life is Strange and wasn't it episodic Dustin yep yeah and then the second season came out in 2018 and 2019 spread out episodically again.

3:14:57And there was that before the storm interstitial, which I think was attached to the first one. And then there was, do you guys remember this? The awesome adventures of Captain Spirit. I do remember that. Yeah. So that came out in 2018. And then I think things transferred over to deck nine at that point. And because I think don't not did the Captain Spirit game, Life is Strange 2, and Square Enix is still on board for all of this as well. And what's interesting is that they still are like, this is one of the few Western games that they publish. like they even canceled as we said outriders too like they don't they don't do anything in the west anymore but true colors comes out 21 double exposure 24 and then reunion in 26 and it does seem to be being well received but it does seem like no one gives a shit and it makes me wonder why square and it sticks with it it must be as chelsea is saying it sells better than we think but yeah it doesn't seem like anyone in our space we're not in our space in our ecos in our not even in our ecosystem in our company seem to care about this game have either of you played any of the life is strange games you did doesn't yeah i played the first episode of the first one can't do it man too too gay man is that what you're doing it's so cringy and it's not just that

3:16:09Colin Moriarty:i know the characters are maybe supposed to be a little cringy because they're teenagers but I couldn't handle it I also I really hate when references are too on the nose and the main character's last name is Caulfield I think, wait, what is her name? Max, I think Max Caulfield, I'm like, we get it Holden Caulfield We understand From the Lord of the Rings From the Lord of the Rings I remember I played it and I wrote down some notes about it and I actually found my note and I wrote her last name is Caulfield I get it and like some of the dialogue like don't mess with mac bitches yeah there's like a lord of it like a part where there's like a lord of the rings my precious joke oh yeah I do remember that that would that one hurt that one hurt I wrote down I have no idea what this context maybe a life is strange fan can point it out I wrote quote do not analyze me I pay people for that i was like what does that mean for a teenager to say yeah you have a psycho analyst you have a do you have a stylist i don't know uh here's another line we're gonna kick the world's ass geez yeah it's tricky it's weird because it's like on one hand on one hand it is cringy on another hand it is authentic like it is like supposed to like i don't know i'm weird about i don't know how i feel about that game really like i played the first entire game and i thought like yeah okay it's fine um i actually thought the life is strange 2 was actually pretty good from what i remember i don't remember much about it now it was years and years and years ago that i played it but i remember playing through the entire thing and having a pretty good time um i played that with the person i was dating at the time so that might be part of it it's like a fun it is it is kind of fun to go through those games and make choices um cooperatively um that's i played just right become human as well but yeah i don't know i maybe if if it's a thing if it's a thing people want to be covered i don't i'm probably the least resistant to playing it i just don't know i just didn't i don't even think i knew it was out you have fun with that i'll do it um shout out i remember when uh when they did the first reveal it was either the first reveal our trailer for life is strange true colors and they're like so and so has the power of empathy and it was like oh they the super a woman the woman's superpowers empathy that's crazy how about accountability i i played i think i played a little bit of that one i remember being like ah this one's not really i don't know even more so than the other ones i just kind of was bored by that one um i didn't really stick it through but what is this new one what is it called reunion life is strange reunion yeah god forbid and by the way i was looking this up just to be clear so life is strange and life is strange 2 and adventures of captain spirit where don't nod before the storm true colors double exposure and reunion or deck nine and actually i'm pretty sure ryan clements who i used to co-host my first playstation podcast with a long time ago podcast beyond with for years.

3:19:33He worked as a writer on those at least maybe one or two of those before he moved on to he works on Valorant. All right. So yeah, Chelsea, I mean, it is it is weird that there is no combination of us that plays any of these games because usually there's someone in the family that plays everything. I don't know. We need a visual novel player or an adventure player, I guess.

3:19:59Colin Moriarty:Oh, they're older. Okay, so it's like sequential last I was gonna say last of us Life is Strange the first game was about certain characters the second game was about a different set I thought it would be another and they seem to be going that way but this looks like the Life is Strange one cast I guess okay I don't even I don't presume to know the continuity

3:20:24I don't know maybe Life is Strange though 40 bucks I'll tell you hmm $40 game

3:20:33Colin Moriarty:oh 40 bucks I'm not going to get 200 hours out of Life is Strange I don't know about that I hope not something's fucking deeply wrong with you yeah Chris can't read he's struggling here sounding everything out KB wrote in said hey gents couple of weeks ago Colin you mentioned you've been going back and forth with someone who was involved behind the scenes on fair games it's been about three years since the game was revealed in roughly a year since the Project Hearts Alpha playtest. My question is this. Can you confirm whether this game still even exists in any recognizable form or has it morphed into something else entirely?

3:21:09Because if the ethos is anything like what we saw in the reveal trailer, punk-looking teenagers robbing the rich, then respectfully, those at Haven might want to start polishing resumes. At that point, the writing isn't just on the wall. It's painted in bright letters and 50-inch font. 50-inch font's not that big. You know? What do you think about it? You're thinking about an op font of 50 ,000. Yeah. so um i do have an update for you on this so i i got a i got an email from a person and this is the person that talked to me about the original um playtest of project hearts so there is some update worth noting and this is what the person told me said well i won't read it verbatim so it's to protect identities although i like are you You're not going to know this person based on the writing.

3:21:58So the packet. So you. All right. So let's start here when you and you guys know this. When you enter a like a beta or an alpha or something, it typically stays in your download list. Sometimes these things are removed, but not usually like PT was removed. But usually it just stays there forever. And this person had gone to look at the Project Hearts package recently, and it's been renamed. And it now says Espresso. originally the the it was just stock art of a of an ace car or i think it was or an ace of hearts was specifically the uh the logo and now it's a cup of coffee or cups of coffee um and when it's opened it still allows you to open it you can download the package or this person can download the package and still open it it brings you to a test screen which says thank you for checking out the game it has haven's logo and it says the network is currently offline um there's so that's enough information to conclude.

3:22:53And this person gives me some more information that this person has kind of drawn the conclusion that there's a test ongoing based on some of this stuff under a different name with maybe different people invited. I can't speak to that for sure, but that's like what the person told me. Then that's the person that originally told me about project hearts. So it sounds like they're maybe reconfiguring and reworking it. Clearly they're doing something with it, but the studio seems to have a death sentence. I mean, I don't, I don't know. I think even if fair games was radically different, I still don't know that it would get a fair shake.

3:23:24I think people are just... That game itself has become kind of a joke to people. Itself. And some people are just so upset about the Sony games as a service situation that I think... There's just not... There's going to be few fair chances. I mean, look what happened to Marathon. I'm not saying Marathon is like the most attractive game in the world, but I think people enjoy reveling in the destruction of things. and Sony's a good target in that space right now. So I just don't think there's any win condition. Like I would be mortified if I worked at Haven personally because I feel like it's got to be over.

3:23:57And I feel like they've known that forever. You almost feel like they're on borrowed time. Like I can't believe Jade Raymond and the director both left last year. I think actually like a year ago. So I would imagine now it could be that they have information from the top or they're like one of Herman's favorites and they're not going anywhere and they might even get a chance to do something else or maybe they'll cancel the game or try to I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do, but. Not looking good, as I said before, I think I read somewhere. Someone said something very simple, which was like Sony cannot release fair games.

3:24:30And that really stuck with me. Because how how would they do it? Who's going to pay for it? I think the idea was cool. But talking to the person that played the hearts play test and just looking at the aesthetic of the game, what it's like, and what the nature of the market is, especially compared to when that game was revealed. I'm not seeing it. Just not seeing it. All right. Let's see. Two more. Missing plug-in wrote in. It said, greetings flickery and grainy gentlemen from the land of the College World Series Ruben Sandwiches and 311. Do you guys know what town he's talking about? No. Omaha, Nebraska.

3:25:13Oh, of course. Am I missing something? Or was the PSSR 2 system update never acknowledged on the podcast? For the love of all that is sacred, please help out all of those new PS5 Pro owners who just spent short of a grand to make the most of their new system. Navigate to settings, then screen and video, then video output, and turn on the toggle Enhance PSSR Image Quality. This will allow any game utilizing PSSR to now use PSSR 2, and the upgrades to image quality can be transformative. Say goodbye to Silent Hill F's Shimmer and Grass. For whatever reason, Sony did not establish this by default.

3:25:43While some games will automatically use this new version via patch or whitelisting. This toggle allows all games to use it. No patch required. Thanks for the great show as always. Unless this episode once again ends without mentioning the PSSR2 system update. Thank you for writing a missing plugin. I could have sworn that when Requiem came out, we talked about it.

3:25:59Colin Moriarty:This is slightly different. What do we miss? What am I missing here? Well, so the, well, did we talk about like the toggle? No, maybe we didn't talk about that. No. Yeah. So, I mean, he, missing plugin lays it out here that there is this thing where you can go and apply PSSR 2 to older PS5 Pro enhanced games that use PSSR that haven't been patched with PSSR 2. It's funny because he mentions Silent Hill F. I think that is a game that got a patch for PSSR 2, but I'm not positive about that. But he is right that if you want to take advantage of this, you do need to go and toggle it. I saw some of the Digital Foundry stuff on this and certainly in most cases, nearly every case did make the games look significantly better overall and it makes sense to me why it's a toggle and not just automatically on because there is some level that they can't, I guess, with a toggle like that they haven't gone and tested every PSSR game to see how what the end result is and so to just put that on without a developer you know without the the user knowing that there could be issues and then it's like someone goes to the developer and be like hey why does this look worse now all of a sudden because this toggle was automatically on so i think it makes sense but i haven't tried it out myself just because i haven't gone back to any of those games but it is a good thing for ps5 pro owners to know that you're probably going to want to turn that on yeah i didn't i guess i didn't realize it was a toggle i just assumed it was out requiem was the first game that would use it the update was firmware and that was it so that's why it didn't it was no conspiracy missing plugin um i don't think i've turned that toggle on so i guess i have to do it yeah well you haven't needed to because you haven't needed i don't know I haven't gone back to any of those games.

3:28:06Colin Moriarty:Like it's weird because there's a problem now. I think it was silent Hill two, which is one of the games that needed it the most. They took PSSR out of it because of the problems it had. And now it's like, man, you could have, now that this update is here, it's like people want that update for silent Hill two. So it can use PSSR two. So I think Alan Wake is another example. Like Colin, this might be, I mean, your plate's very full right now. Yeah. Alan Wake two. I still never beat. I was going to say, does it does the PSSR to make Silent Hill F fun? Thank you for writing a missing plugin.

3:28:46Jameis Hayne wrote in. Seems like I'm saying something inappropriate, but I don't know if I am or not. Jameis, maybe Jameis Hayne. Hey, CDC, for this PlayStation generation, I purchased all my hardware plus accessories and most of my software from PlayStation Direct, especially first party games. I found PS Direct to be very good at having items arrive on launch day with a lot of transparency about when you're going to be billed and tracking data. Having free release date shipping included with your PS Plus Essential subscription made it a no-brainer as well as feeling like you're supporting Sony directly.

3:29:15I didn't know that. That's a cool thing with PS Plus. The last game posted for purchase seems to be... I'm sorry, wait, I skipped one. As of April 1st, there is still no physical pre-order for Saros, nothing for Wolverine either. The last game posted for purchase seems to be 007 First Light Legacy Edition. I put in my pre-order at Best Buy, which is no big deal, but it does seem strange and I've seen no other reporting on this either. My question is, do you think Sony is quietly sunsetting PS Direct like they did the shop late last year? Or at least a sign of them trying to ramp down on physical game production?

3:29:43Thanks as always. First of all, I've used PlayStation Direct with great success as well. Not for games because I don't buy individual games, but I bought, I think I bought one of the PS5s from there that I have. My PS5 Pro, multiple controllers, PSVR 2. and things come well shipped quickly, no complaints there. And yeah, like supporting Sony, if that's what you care about, it's cool. I'm not necessarily super concerned about that personally, but. First of all, yeah, they are going to try to ramp down physical game production, but they want to sell physical games still. And maybe the game just went gold, so they might not.

3:30:19Now, that's not really a great explanation because if you're saying 007 First Light is on there, well, First Light is definitely not gold, but that might have something to do with it. What I wanted to ask you guys, though, or two things is, number one, one, do you guys have experience with PlayStation Direct? And number two, I assume we're all on the same page that them abandoning direct sale like that would be absolutely stupid. And there's just no way that they're, I mean, I really hope that's not what they're doing. It doesn't make any sense. You would think that you would want to get everyone possible to buy from you directly.

3:30:50Cut out the middlemen. You don't need the middlemen anymore. They don't have to play nice anymore. By the way, that's what stopped PlayStation Direct from being a bigger thing and a more prominent thing earlier in PlayStation's ecosystem or lifestyle. lifecycle is because in those various commerce ecosystems, you have to play nice. You don't want to undercut each other, but that's no longer a problem. So Chris, let's go to you first. PlayStation Direct, have you bought anything from them? Have you had good experiences? And yeah, going from there. Yeah.

3:31:15Colin Moriarty:I mean, I've definitely got machines. I think my PS5 and PS5 Pro, I think I might've gotten. I know for sure the PS5 Pro I got. And I think the PS5, was the ps5 originally like you could only get it through them or was that like before i can't remember oh you know what that sounds familiar what is was there a thing where there's a pre-order to them first that sounds right like you like they had pre-orders first and then you could get them from other retailers right because i feel like i remember that being the only reason because i normally would have just been like i don't know i'll just do amazon or whatever like because i've been doing that's how i've been doing most that's how i got my switch that's how i got my xbox one x or whatever it's got i got my ps4 pro i'm pretty sure um if i'm remembering correctly so i didn't start using it until ps5 but even then i'm like i don't get physical games really i i have some experience with it it's all been pretty okay although i although i do have to say i i must mention when i originally got my ps5 it's not necessarily their fault oh they put they put that shit in the wrong fucking building right i forgot about that that's right and i had to break into the building across the street and steal my package from someone else's doorstep that's so funny i forgot about that they had something really expensive and cool um that's that's so that's quite frankly 33 of my experience with playstation direct because I've only gotten the PS5, the PS5 Pro, and I think the, uh, the anniversary, 30th anniversary controller.

3:32:54Colin Moriarty:Oh, okay. From them. So, I mean, it's, it's not something I interact with all that often, but it's a, it's a cool thing that exists. And I also, yeah, I think they would be incredibly stupid to phase that out. I don't know what the story is about Saros not being there. It's a little odd, but, uh, a sign of them, a sign of like Wolverine not being there is like fine. but Saros being there is not being there. It's kind of, that is an eyebrow race. Cause it's like, what are you waiting for? First light is there. Yeah. You wonder like there could be a million different, not a million, but there could be a bunch of reasons why it's like, maybe we, they underproduced and they have to give those to their retail partners to spread the field.

3:33:33Colin Moriarty:Yeah. They might not take pre-orders until things are made or like guaranteed in some way just to be careful. I don't know. I don't know. It is a little weird. I mean, I think they want to sell you Saros, however they can sell you Sarah. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't look into it too conspiratorially, although I do agree that they would obviously want to sell it to you digitally. Dustin, what's your experience with PlayStation Direct? Have you specifically bought games from them? And by the way, Chris, you said you had never bought anything from them until PS5. I went and looked it up. PlayStation Direct launched in 2019.

3:34:01So we that would have been our first opportunity. So it's still kind of new and nascent. Yeah, that's a lot of our first experiences. But Dustin, what's your experience with PlayStation Direct?

3:34:09Colin Moriarty:Yeah, I bought my PS5, my launch PS5 from them. came on launch day in the morning, which was pretty sick. And I think I've got a DualSense edge from them. Maybe at some point, maybe when they had the anniversary one. And overall, I think it's been really great. I'm looking as a recommendation. We were talking about the PlayStation 5 price increase and affordability in gaming. They sell refurbished consoles on PlayStation Direct. And if you're going to get a refurb, the rule for me is that you always get it from the manufacturer because they usually have the best quality control standards. And you can get the the fat boy PS5 for$399 as a refurbished from them.

3:34:57So crazy that that's how much it costs. But at the same time, it's the cheapest option, you know.

3:35:01Colin Moriarty:Yep. So they also have the slim and stuff like that for more. But so overall, it's been a good service. why Soros isn't on there yet. I really don't know. We have seen recently, particularly with Requiem and a few other games over the years where people are showing up in stores to buy these games and they don't have them. So it could be that they're still trying to figure out how many physical games are needed in this era still. It is surprising and weird. I don't really know what's up with that. One other interesting thing from this store, just as a recommendation, if you are a hardcore PlayStation Direct buyer, do not buy the storage from them.

3:35:52Colin Moriarty:I'm looking. I know that storage prices are high right now, but they're OK. Let's see the WD Black internal SSD that's PlayStation branded. The one terabyte is four hundred and fifty nine dollars. you can get that exact same drive on Amazon for$282. Good. So I'm laughing. If you want the eight terabyte version from PlayStation direct, it's$2 ,729. Terabytes. You don't need that. Fuck. Are you doing? Jesus Christ. Were you telling every game that ever existed? Yeah. But by the way, Saros, interestingly is on Amazon to pre-order. So not surprising, I guess, but. so it's something something interesting that's interesting uh feedback but yeah playstation direct has been good and i'll continue to rely on them i think mostly for hardware especially because i just don't buy software um you know physically anymore so all right my friends that's all we have this episode's over it's time to go appreciate you guys being here with me today it was good to see both of you let's go around the horn and say goodbye chris goodbye to you be well any plans for you the rest of the day um i don't know probably make myself some lunch i'll think i'll say i think i'll save some cryo runs for later tonight because i dude i i didn't mention it at the show i think i might have mentioned it on a stream or something but like i have a weird nat problem right now and i don't really understand where it could possibly because there's no like obvious you know when there's this when there's something like this it's like usually like an obvious like oh they're more around here right none none of that is it one know is it a sink maybe no i mean i did the thing that you're supposed to do like i boiling water down all the drains i did that multiple times no i really have no earthly idea and it's not that there's so many of them it's just that there are like enough yeah they're around you know what i mean it's just like i notice one every so often and i'm like what the fuck is going on because there's no obvious like i don't got food laying around or nothing right right i know exactly yeah so i really don't get it it's it's a little frustrating so i'm gonna probably go go get some I don't know gnat traps or something I think I saw something about like yeah there's one right fucking I'm so sick of this I'm so sick of it yeah you gotta but I gotta what is ask AI it'll help you I think I think I saw like something like apple cider vinegar and something else so I'm gonna go to the store and whip up a little oh soap yeah yeah apple cider vinegar and I think like dish soap I think specifically Ajax or something works better I don't know who the fuck cares who knows but like probably gonna go concoct myself a little little home alone kevin mccallister trap for these naps uh hopefully exterminate them i'm just like confused really because i just there's no obvious place yeah that's annoying so we used to in my place in san francisco i used to get ants every year when it started raining and we lived like i you know i like living in clean environs and it's just like they just would come and there's nothing you do about it then you have to get those uh tarot traps like the little liquid traps and they like you just open it and just walk in and you're just like what just get out of here like what are you here for?

3:39:03There's nothing here for you.

3:39:04Colin Moriarty:Yeah. You're just literally flying around. And what's really frustrating about Nats is like, they're not even like a formidable adversary. You know, like a fly at least has like that sense where it's just like you, you try to swat it and then it flies. So it's somehow knows like that. You're trying to like, there's something about it where it's like, it's, it's, it's erratic. Like it's hard to hit or like a roach where they scurry around and they're like dirty and disgusting. It's like, all right, this is a, these are formidable adversaries. Nats are like, you could grab one out of the air and smear it slowly.

3:39:32Colin Moriarty:and like they have no defense at all like they're like they're i'm kind of astonished that like they're just their sheer lack of survivability they'll fly into your fucking drink and drown immediately which is the most frustrating part of all this really you know it's just like i can't have an open drink right yeah it sucks it's gross and it's like what the fuck is this it's annoying so i gotta sort that shit out but yeah go to the store whip up a little homebrew trap and then set it and then just do some cryo runs uh excited to lose all of my stuff at the lose everything factory as people are calling it so that's my day very good well it's good to see you dustin be well goodbye to you anything to say before we go um well after that like right after we finish i have to record an ad and i really need to go mow the lawn it's been raining on and off here so and it's been warm and sunny in between and the days that's been nice uh i can't like i'm it's one of the days i have to take holly to pittsburgh or we're recording i'm looking i'm like 76 degrees yeah now's the time it's nice i have to do it now because it's supposed to rain for the rest of the weekend here so i think a lawn mowing is in order which not look forward to because it's going to activate my allergies.

3:40:54Colin Moriarty:I know it. I'm going to be sniffly the rest of the night. Not good. You should wear a hazmat suit out there. You know what they say about April showers, my friends. It's very exciting. It's a very important part of the process. All right. Well, it's good to see you guys. Good to be here with you and good to be here with all of you out there as well. I hope you guys are having a good life. It's April now. We're in the second quarter of 2026, which marches inexorably on. I don't know. Maybe it's hot. It's 83 degrees and it's humid, so it's going to feel more like it's in the 90s probably, but maybe try to bring the dogs for a walk.

3:41:31And yeah, that's basically it. I don't know. Take a nap maybe later tonight. I'm a little tired. Play more Returnal. Hang around. See Micah. That's it. Guys, be well. everyone out there be well we'll see you next time patreon.com slash last day media for early ad free access last day media dot store for merch till next time goodbye see ya take care guys sacred symbols a playstation podcast is a product and trademark of last stand media and colin's last stand llc and is proudly recorded in the usa the show was conceived by is written by and is directed by me, Colin Moriarty. My co-hosts are Chris Raygun Maldonado and Dustin Furman.

3:42:17The show is produced by executive producer Dustin Furman. All of Last Stand's theme music is by my best friend, Ramon Narvaez. As you know, all of Last Stand's shows, including Sacred Symbols, are fan-funded on Patreon at patreon.com slash laststandmedia. The following names are at the producer level on Patreon, our highest tier, and we're grateful for your thoughtful and kind contributions to our independent endeavor. Thank you. Aaron Betke, Aaron Temple, Adam Refriended, Albion, Alex Cabrera, Alex Gates, Alex LaPierre, Alex Monez, Alan Tiniak, Alan Tremblay, Alan Einer, Anthony Akire, Anthony Vazquez, Anton K., Antonio C., Asak Paredes, Austin Riley, Betty Ann Moriarty, Bjorn Campbell, Blackjack, Boots, Brad Cooley, Brad Lohman, Brandon Runniger, Brian Williamson, Cannonball Jones, Captain Verde, Carlos Algaret, Chad Lewis, Chris Galvin, Chris Morton, Chris Ritchie, Christopher Devayo, Christopher Moore, Christopher Morgan, Cody Benin, Conrad Pennyfarthing, Corey Beacom, Dan Nolan, Dan Root, Daniel D 'Amour, Daryl E.

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3:45:47Colin Moriarty:How many discounts does USAA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here. multi-vehicle discount safe driver discount new vehicle discount storage discount like how many discounts will you stack up tap the banner or visit usaa.com auto discounts restrictions apply