Game Scoop! 822: Discouraging Nintendo Switch 2 News

Summary

Game Scoop! 822: Discouraging Nintendo Switch 2 News

Date: August 29, 2025
Host: Damon Hatfield
Guests: Sam Claiborne, Justin Davis, Mark Medina

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, the Game Scoop crew dives into the latest Gamescom reveals, including Lego Batman and Resident Evil: Requiem, and discusses some concerning news around Nintendo limiting Switch 2 development. They also share fresh hands-on impressions of sequels and remakes (like Metal Gear Solid Delta and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance), celebrate Hollow Knight: Silksong’s surprise release date, and, as ever, round things out with gaming trivia and plenty of friendly ribbing.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Gamescom Recap

[02:16–21:10]

• Personal Travel Adventures: Damon shares his near-miss experience with European train culture and airport sprints, leading to a group discussion on the oddities of public transport in Europe and the US.
• Lego Batman Hype:
  • Team celebrates the announcement—describes it as a "family friendly Arkham game" ([11:47], Mark Medina).
  • Discusses its tighter roster of playable characters compared to previous Lego games (“only seven, but each is more substantial”—[12:08], Mark).
  • Wonders about WB's strategy with Lego properties (expect LEGO Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones next, etc.).
  • Notable Quote: “It’s like a LEGO Batman parody of Arkham Asylum… so clever.” ([11:50], Sam)
• Resident Evil: Requiem –
  • Positive hands-on impressions, especially for the stalker enemy ("scary as heck"—[19:08], Damon).
  • Noted Capcom’s knack for modernizing while honoring legacy.
  • Applauded dual first-person/third-person gameplay.
  • Memorable moment: Remembering infamous Capcom box art blunders like Okami’s Wii IGN watermark ([22:28-22:46]).
• Hollow Knight: Silksong Release Date –
  • Release date (September 4) was a genuine Gamescom shocker ([23:10], Damon).
  • Discussion about its long development cycle, transition from planned DLC to full sequel.
  • The community jokes about old Wii U Kickstarter goals.
  • Sam plugs IGN’s comprehensive Hollow Knight guide with "an incredible interactive map" ([29:31], Sam).

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2. The Curious Case of Nintendo and Switch 2

[33:49–42:02]

• Digital Foundry Report: Nintendo is limiting supply of Switch 2 dev kits, encouraging some studios to keep making Switch 1 games and rely on backwards compatibility.
• Panel Analysis:
  • Mark suggests the root cause is production constraints, not a business strategy (“...Nintendo is having trouble sourcing and making as many Switch 2 dev kits as they would like”—[34:54], Mark).
  • All agree allocation seems tight, possibly to shield the system from poor early third-party ports.
  • Noted irony: Switch 2 is selling 75% faster than the original, but devs can’t get hardware ([34:19], Damon).
  • Notable Quote: “Maybe they want the dev kit to be handed over with guidelines... maybe dev kits are only in the hands of studios that sort of have a proven track record of being able to optimize for the hardware.” ([38:13], Mark)
  • The group laughs about tasting Switch cartridges and how "Switch 2 games taste gross—but in a different way.” ([41:43], Sam)

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3. What We're Playing

[47:00–66:00]

Metal Gear Solid Delta

• First Impressions: Sam and Mark experienced the intro ("suffered through the first hour"—[47:27], Mark), noting the iconic Kojima long cutscenes and stealth challenge curve.
• Panel consensus: The remake is faithful, but if you weren’t a fan before, this may not win you over.
• Nostalgia Factor: Mark highlights how much the PS2 original's mechanics wowed at the time (“You can injure your leg and you move slower...that was special back then”—[54:34], Mark).
• Sam’s Caution: “This game is not Mario 64. You cannot play this game and enjoy it unless you learned to have nostalgia for it.” ([50:19], Sam)

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

• Damon raves about the hand-drawn 2D visuals (“I was in awe just sitting on my couch”—[57:17], Damon).
• Lauds the level design and combo system, reminiscent of Streets of Rage 4.

Donkey Kong and Mafia

• Sam completed Donkey Kong and is deep into Mafia, awed by the latter’s visuals on PS5 ([58:32], Sam).

Gears (on PS5)

• Justin is impressed by its technical polish; a classic that “just feels like a modern game” ([62:55], Justin).

The Alters

• Mark’s pick: an indie surprise involving creating clones of yourself with branching backstories. Appreciates its exploration of ethical dilemmas (“Why are you the Yan that’s in charge? I should be the one that’s in charge”—[64:08], Mark).

Airpods & Lost Things

• Lighthearted aside about cats and lost AirPods, including Sam’s tale of finding a 1944 penny but never the missing pod ([44:44]).

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4. Hollow Knight: Silksong's Long Development

[23:27–36:05]

• Discussion on the transition from DLC to full sequel.
• Mark explains this was natural “re-scoping... it feels bigger and more substantive” ([25:52], Mark).
• Justin notes industry trend of sequels being derided as ‘glorified DLC’, but that’s “nonsense when you start with a great game” ([26:24], Justin).
• Sam describes IGN's updated interactive guides for the series ([29:31], Sam).

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5. Video Game 20 Questions

[67:39–73:44]

• After a series of deft questions and Red Herrings about Australia, the game is revealed as Dragon's Dogma 2.
• Amusing confusion over Capcom’s RPGs, and brief digression about mixing it up with Asura’s Wrath ([71:51], Mark).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lego Batman’s new direction:
  “It’s a LEGO Batman parody of Arkham Asylum… so clever.”
  – Sam, [11:50]
• On industry nostalgia:
  “Games age in different ways… one still feels like a 9 out of 10 twenty years later, the other one doesn’t necessarily… norms change.”
  – Mark, [55:34]
• On Nintendo’s dev kit policies:
  “Maybe they want the dev kit to be handed over with guidelines... maybe dev kits are only in the hands of studios that have a proven track record.”
  – Mark, [38:13]
• On Metal Gear Delta’s accessibility:
  “This game is not Mario 64...you cannot play this game and enjoy it unless you learned to have nostalgia for it.”
  – Sam, [50:19]
• Humor about lost AirPods:
  “I found a 1944 penny. That was just the end of the story. I never found the AirPod.”
  – Sam, [44:44]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:16 — Gamescom recap, European train misadventure
• 11:47 — Lego Batman hands-on impressions
• 19:08 — Resident Evil: Requiem preview reactions
• 23:10 — Hollow Knight: Silksong release date discussed
• 33:49–42:02 — Nintendo Switch 2 Dev Kit Reports and Backwards Compatibility debate
• 47:00–56:58 — Metal Gear Solid Delta hands-on, nostalgia, accessibility
• 57:04–58:32 — Shinobi: Art of Vengeance review
• 58:32–59:20 — Mafia on PS5 impressions
• 59:45–64:08 — The Alters exploration
• 67:39–73:44 — Video Game 20 Questions: Dragon's Dogma 2

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Tone and Language

The episode is candid, irreverent, and camaraderie-filled, with deep dives into industry trends, nostalgia-fueled debates, and plenty of side-jokes. The cast shares both constructive criticism and unabashed fan excitement—especially around retro gaming and sequels.

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Summary

Game Scoop! 822 delivers a jam-packed hour-plus of impressions from Gamescom, takes Nintendo to task over Switch 2 dev kit drama, dishes out retro love (and caution) to Metal Gear Solid Delta, and celebrates the indomitable anticipation surrounding Hollow Knight: Silksong. The crew’s blend of expertise, humor, and nostalgia is as strong as ever, with quotes and deep dives that make the latest industry news both accessible and fun—even for listeners who missed the live excitement.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

We are back with a report from Gamescom which means we'll be talking Lego Batman, Resident Evil Requiem, Hollow Knight, silksong and more. Plus Nintendo was reportedly discouraging developers from making Switch 2 games and we've been playing stuff like Metal Gear Solid Delta and Art of Vengeance. All coming up on gamescoop right after these messages. Putting off that dreamtrip because you're nervous about not speaking the language? Well, don't sweat it. Babbel's got your back. Start speaking a new language with confidence thanks to Babbel's conversation based technique that quickly teaches you useful words and phrases about the things you actually talk about in the real world. There's over a dozen languages available to learn at your own pace so you can achieve your goals with material tailored to your individual proficiency level, interests and time availability. Handcrafted by over 200 language experts, Babbel's lessons are voiced by real native speakers and built with science backed cognitive tools like Spaced Repetition and interactive features to fit any learning style. Babbel's tips and tools for learning a new language are approachable and accessible. It's like having a private tutor who in your pocket. It's that time of year again and Gamescom is coming up so I should probably use Babbel to brush up on my German. I love that it uses voice recognition to listen to my pronunciation and give feedback. I use Babbel and if you're looking to learn a new language, I think you'll dig it too. I want you to learn another language so I'm teaming up with Babel to gift you 55% off subscriptions, but only for our listeners at Babbel.com Gamescoop get up to 55% off at Babbel.com GamesCoop spelled B A B B E L.com Gamescoop Babbel.com GamescoOP rules and restrictions may apply. I'm NFL linebacker TJ Watt and this is my personal best. YPB by Abercrombie is the activewear I'm always wearing. That's why I reached out to co design their latest drop. I worked with designers to create high performance activewear that holds up to my toughest workouts. Shop YPB by Abercrombie in store, online and in the app because your personal best is greater than anything. What's up everybody? Welcome to IGN Games Group. I'm your host Damon Hatfield and joining me this week are Sam Claiborne. Good to be everybody, Justin Davis, Scoop and Mark Medina.

[Justin Davis]

I'm here Damon welcome back.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you. Thank you. Yat. Good to be back. Sorry, I don't like being away from Scoop Nation for so long. Justin and I were in Germany for Gamescom and the schedules just didn't line up to do a game scoop there. However, we did do a next gen console watch with their. Over there with Max and Jada and I think it turned out great. So hopefully you check that out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I gotta check that out. Yeah. I'm glad you guys did that. I. I was really, really doing the game scoop. FOMO not being in Germany this year, but we'll do another German scoop.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Let's just. Let's just schedule it now. I'll just have Tanner put on our calendars for next year right now.

[Mark Medina]

Then we have to. Then we have to go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Let's do a Friday so we can have beers.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

That sounds great to me. We got a great show for you this week. We have the curious case of Nintendo reportedly trying to discourage developers from making Switch 2 games and having them make Switch 1 games instead. Get into that. Plus there's a bunch of stuff we've been playing. I know. Sam, can you finally talk about Metal Gear Solid Delta?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Although Mark and I have probably played the same amount of it, which is not. Not a whole lot, but, you know, not a ton for a virtuous mission.

[Damon Hatfield]

First. First impressions for whatever you thought of that hour long cutscene. That hour long plus.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it's longer than that. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I've been playing Shinobi Art of Vengeance and I love it. And I want to hear what Justin's been playing too. But first. Yeah. Gamescom Germany. It was a good show this year. We were there for. Man, I was there for a long time. I was there for like nine days, Justin.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh boy.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just barely made my flight home. Another five minutes, I would not have made my flight.

[Mark Medina]

Wow. Why?

[Damon Hatfield]

I got on the road. I got on the road.

[Sam Claiborne]

Closing the door.

[Justin Davis]

Huh?

[Sam Claiborne]

They were.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, I got on the wrong train and I was trying to do everything right. I bought my. So, you know, we're. We're in Cologne and then we fly out of Frankfurt. It's about an hour long train ride away usually. So I was trying to be good. I got my train ticket ahead of time. I'm at the train station early. I'm on my platform at the time and a train shows up. So I got on. I don't know why the wrong train would show up at that time. But anyway.

[Sam Claiborne]

How did you catch where the train was going wrong?

[Mark Medina]

A Train is on a track. How does it get off? Like, how does it.

[Justin Davis]

Did you just see your station go by? And you're like, hold on.

[Damon Hatfield]

It was just. It wasn't the express train. It was the slow train. That was. That was the thing. But, like, I got on and the. The ticket agent, like, scanned my ticket and she goes, because.

[Justin Davis]

Whatever that means.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, it's because you can use the ticket for any. Any train that's equal or lesser value. So she didn't tell me that I wasn't actually on the right train. She's like.

[Sam Claiborne]

She's like.

[Damon Hatfield]

She assumed that I knew what I was doing.

[Sam Claiborne]

What a deal.

[Damon Hatfield]

She assumed I knew what I was doing. And I was.

[Mark Medina]

How does.

[Damon Hatfield]

I was checking on Google Maps. So we were going in the direction of the airport. So, okay, everything's fine. But we were supposed to arrive at 11:50am which would be two hours before my flight. But 11:50 comes and we're not there. And I look on Google Maps, we're not even halfway there.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I start to be like. But I can see we're headed to. It says main station, which, you know, they also call Frankfurt airport the main station. So I hear. I hear him announce, we're going to arrive at 12:50, which will be one hour before my flight.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, that's not bad.

[Mark Medina]

Well, that's getting. It's an international fly.

[Damon Hatfield]

It is, yeah. It's one hour before your flight. And my boarding pass says they. I have to check my bags by 1250. So now I'm trying to think, okay, I think I can get to my gate, but are they going to let me check my bag? And then I'm playing through scenarios in my head of like, okay, if I can make my gate, I'll just abandon my luggage. It's just dirty clothes. I'll just abandon it so I don't miss my flights.

[Justin Davis]

The B roll. Yes. This was almost Damon. He was almost home alone.

[Damon Hatfield]

So anyway, when we finally arrive at the train station, 1250, it's. It's the main station, but it's not the main station. It's another station that's 15 miles away from the airport.

[Sam Claiborne]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

So now I'm trying to. It's one hour until my flight. I'm looking like, okay, do I try to get on another train? Do I take a taxi? It says a car would be a little bit faster. So I run outside. There's a taxi right there. Thank God. So I'm in the taxi, go to the airport. It's about 20 minutes. I have to pay with card. Cause I'm all out of cash. And the driver's like pulling out his card reader and getting his Bluetooth set up. So whatever that takes a second. Finally I get inside, I'm already checked in. So I just go to bag drop, scan my boarding pass, and yep, says, nope, too late. You cannot check in your bag.

[Mark Medina]

No, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I find an employee and I tell them like, this is my flight. And they're like, oh, yes, I'm sorry. So it's very. It's too late, I'm sorry. But she's like checking on her computer. She calls the gate and so she finally, she's like, okay, give me your luggage. I'm gonna take your luggage. But she says, I cannot guarantee you will make your flight. You should run. Yeah, yeah, so I did, I just booked it through the airport.

[Sam Claiborne]

And did you talk to them at the, like the security checkpoint? Just be like, I gotta get through here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's. So first you go through customs and thankfully there was literally no one there. So I just ran up, I give him my passport, he glances at it, stamps it, and I'm on my way. Then it's security and there was just one family in front of me, but they had some young kids who were.

[Sam Claiborne]

Kind of like, wow, you got lucky. Just with airport capacity.

[Damon Hatfield]

So that took a couple minutes. Finally I run through the duty free shop, run to my gate, and I arrived just as they're announcing their closing boarding.

[Mark Medina]

So, wow, there you go.

[Justin Davis]

Airport theory was in your favor. The, the theory being, I cannot believe you never actually have to show up early. You proved it right?

[Mark Medina]

Go ahead.

[Sam Claiborne]

The point I would have lost it and just been unable to do this would have been at the wrong train station.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Sam Claiborne]

That is the moment where I'm like, wait, the flight leaves when.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I would have just started looking for hotels at that point. Yeah, 100% I live here now.

[Mark Medina]

The American mind can't comprehend trains and train culture. Like, I'm still hung up on how does the express train around the slow train and end up on the same track faster.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does it, does it take a little country road for a while?

[Justin Davis]

It's just going so fast. It's phases through it.

[Mark Medina]

Like the one people give me a hard time because I don't really, you know, they're like, you're in Europe, take the train. I'm like, I'm. I'm an American and I'm scared of trains and I want to stick with airplanes and cars. That's what I know. And that's what I want to do. But the one time I took a train in Europe was half of. So we were on the right train, but half of the train detaches and then goes somewhere else.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow.

[Mark Medina]

On like one of the stops. So you need to be on, like, the first four cars. Because if you're in the back four cars. Yeah. They're gonna stop and go somewhere else. And like, you know, and like, I'm not a dummy. Like, I'm confident.

[Sam Claiborne]

We don't even have a word for that. But there they probably are, like, oh, yeah, you're on a split ski. Yeah. Split ski A, not split ski B. And you're just like, I don't have any context.

[Mark Medina]

And, you know, look, I don't speak the language right. So I'm sure that it's all marked on the, on the platform and everything, but just like, you know, you're just muddling through as best you can.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Anyway, I'm glad you made it. I'm glad you almost made it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I, I don't. I can't do it that way because of my train stress there. So I, I have to spend a night before I go to the airport, no matter where, because you can't fly out of. Of of flown. So you have. I always go to, like, Amsterdam and sound. It's going to burn a night here and then go. And it's really fun. Right.

[Justin Davis]

But yeah, I'm from.

[Sam Claiborne]

You gotta get home to your family. Yeah, I get it. You don't have the option.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I'm from a small town where it's like, you know, we have the Amtrak. So when I got the job at IGN and like, the BART system is so easy, but when you're like, new to the Bay Area, it is so complicated. My first, like, two weeks, I was stressed out all the time. And then years later, I would look and I'd see people stressed out and not know where to go on the bart and I'm just like amateurs.

[Mark Medina]

Well, do you help them?

[Sam Claiborne]

No, I mean, they just rob them.

[Justin Davis]

If they gotta learn how I do it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they think you're gonna rob them. So the, the, the, the, the thing with the BART station is that they don't. They still to this day do not just indicate the most simple thing. If you're in San Francisco, it does not say which trains go to the East Bay and the airport. Those are the two places where things end up. But now the destinations are so much further past those places. They're like San Jose and, you know.

[Justin Davis]

Fremont all the way to now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Antioch. Like nobody knows what those are. And it does not say. Only a few stations even say like East Bay trains. And it's like you just need to go one way or the other and you have no idea which way to go. So that's why I see San Francisco tourists just not figuring it out. You know, they're just like, which thing goes to the airport? Oh, it's called the, you know, the Milbury train or whatever.

[Justin Davis]

It's like there are express Barts that will skip stops and stuff like that. But it's like really hard to know which ones are which. I don't, I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are there not? Well, maybe in the East Bay now there are. Right. Because there's not enough tracks in the tunnel to do that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. All right. Train scoop. What's that series in Tokyo? It's like Dencha de Go. It's like a long running train sim series anyway.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's European train sim. Right. Is one of those series Learn it all.

[Damon Hatfield]

But Gamescom, lots of big games at Gamescom this year. But I think, I think the, the biggest game on IGN was LEGO Batman.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right.

[Mark Medina]

Everyone has a real affinity for those games. And like, you know, they were very, and I say this with love and affection. Someone that played a lot of them. There was a long era where they were very kind of disposable. Like they were literally releasing two or three of them every year. Right. And then TT games, you know, stopped doing that and they, they take a little bit more AAA approach and. Well, they took.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was their last one. The lego Star Wars 1 took a long time.

[Mark Medina]

Skywalker Saga.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And so that got delayed by Covid and stuff.

[Mark Medina]

Like a much bigger, you know, I guess they've all been open world, but like much bigger game. Retelling the story of all nine movies. And they pulled the camera down behind the shoulder and it's just more traditional. Like it's a more. It's not like a LEGO game is its weird own thing now. It's just a cool video game.

[Sam Claiborne]

They did space combat in that one. Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

There's some.

[Mark Medina]

A little bit. And so this is their first game since then. And like I think the angle that we took, which I completely agree with is like, look, this just feels like a family friendly Arkham game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Like, did you see the combat has.

[Sam Claiborne]

The stick to everybody. Batman combat. It's like, it's like a LEGO Batman parody of Arkham Asylum City, I guess. Which is so clever.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I don't even. I. The Lego stuff doesn't do much for me, but as someone who loves Arkham.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I cannot wait.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, there's. There's a lot of talk about, like. Like, the. One of the big negative points around this game is that it only has seven playable characters, whereas every other Lego game has had, you know, 300 playable characters. But to me. To me, that's like a very false. They were. They were palette swaps of each other. Like, every single droid was the same. Had the same power, and every single Sith user had the same power. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they move the same, and it's just a skin. Right. So, yeah, you're totally right. But this. They look like they're actually characters that are, like, built out with, like, traversal powers and stuff.

[Mark Medina]

Right. And so it doesn't. It doesn't bother me at all that there's only seven playable characters, because the other games functionally had, like, seven powers. But it's just, you know, 30 characters could do each of those seven powers.

[Justin Davis]

So also, like, that's. That's Star wars. And it's like, I get. Each movie has, like, a main character, but, like, this is Lego Batman. I just want to play as Batman.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Justin Davis]

Play anyone else?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they tried with Suicide Squad and Arkham, right? What was it called? Arkham Hero. What's it called?

[Mark Medina]

What's the game called?

[Justin Davis]

Suicide Squad.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wait, which one?

[Sam Claiborne]

No, you mean Gotham Knights.

[Justin Davis]

Gotham Knights. Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

To try. You play as everybody but that. We've played as everybody but Batman. Now it's time to get back to bat.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Look at how good this looks. It's gliding all around.

[Justin Davis]

It looks so fun. It looks. It looks like Arkham.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is. This is the inseries of Arkham. Exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. It's great.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So funny. I mean, I am worried that, like, Arkham does get, like, you know, complicated and interesting and, like, the powers become, like, really cool. And like, I. I hope this isn't, like, super dumbed down. The combat is kind of fun. Otherwise you're just doing it over and over again to press the button, which is like, not that great, but, you know, we'll see. The secrets alone look great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I mean, King Kingo and I are going to play the heck out of this game.

[Mark Medina]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I mean, I'm also. I'm also going to play with Kingo.

[Justin Davis]

I hope that's okay. Yeah. Come on, Matt. Matt Barry as Bane.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, I know.

[Justin Davis]

So excited.

[Sam Claiborne]

Very funny.

[Justin Davis]

I want to know the full, like, cast. I don't even know who, Yeah, I don't know who's playing Batman.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, there were rumors. So it's like they, they haven't actually been working on this game for, you know, like, like Skywalker Saga was years ago. Like, there were rumors they had a project canceled. And like, so they're owned by wb. Right. And so like the rumor was they were making like a Disney game or something, but like WB is just focusing in on their owned and operated. Like they own DC Comics, they own Lord of the Rings, they own Harry Potter. It's like, yeah, Game of Thrones. So we can probably imagine like, you know, after this, probably like a new LEGO Lord of the Rings. Like, I would just guess so.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, there's the Hobbit movies or, sorry, the Gollum movies coming out too. There's going to be some time. Well, there's, there's at least a sentence that Tolkien wrote about those two movies. That's what they can base it on.

[Justin Davis]

They'll make a whole movie.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, the entire two movies are literally like three paragraphs from the book.

[Damon Hatfield]

Part of me also hopes that their WB strategy is that, you know, they, they, they took, they learned their lessons from Suicide Squad and now with LEGO Batman and bringing back the Arkham gameplay, they can sort of train a younger generation of gamers on the next Arkham game, which hopefully they're actually working on now.

[Mark Medina]

Heck yeah, I'm into it. And like, I was so happy. Like, you know, sometimes you feel like, I mean, I knew these games are popular, but like, I really love the LEGO games and I was really excited about this announcement and so it made me feel good to see our analytics and our stats and just YouTube views and like, oh, yeah, this is crazy popular. It's not just me. So that, that felt good.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, I think would be great is there is a cartoon right after Batman in the, you know, the Animated Series. That was Batman beyond. And it was like set in the future. And it was a little corny because it was like about a teenage Batman in the future, like, whatever. But it was like, basically. And there's also been some other Batman set in the future, like, like Dark Knight Returns, for example. But like that stuff like cyberpunk Gotham would be the best open world. I think that would be so cool. And so like visiting Batman Arkham, but through like some train future escape to make it like Cyberpunk 2077 would be the coolest thing ever.

[Justin Davis]

Or they could just make a Lego Cyberpunk game. That would be cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

That'd be so funny.

[Justin Davis]

I'd take it. I mean, you're just calling people gonks. Never able to. Not allowed to cuss. Yeah, everyone's chums.

[Sam Claiborne]

I, I'd play that if you. If. The nice thing about getting LEGO games on a frequent basis when it was just basically, you know, good shovelware, was that you would get a lot of experimentation and LEGO versions of all these things. And they kept on coming out, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings and Poppet and everything back to back. And so, like, that's what we're not getting now. And so hopefully this could open up an era of, like, quality, you know, hey, if nobody else is going to make these open world games, this is probably a cheaper way to develop a Spider man, right? Like, Spider Man's probably really expensive compared to like making a LEGO version of Spider Man. Like, that's kind of a neat hack.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, but, but they have to. There can only be LEGO games for things that there are LEGO sets of. Right. Which I guess there is LEGO rules. Well, but there is LEGO Marvel sets. Except this, this is where it gets weird is like, again, WB makes the games and they don't. They own dc, they don't own Marvel. So it's like, again, I don't know how true this is, but that's always been. The rumor is that WBs focusing them in on like, look, we don't want you making a Marvel game. Like, we own dc.

[Sam Claiborne]

And so wait, Travelers Tales maybe is somehow related to wb, but they're.

[Mark Medina]

WB owns them.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're owned outright.

[Sam Claiborne]

So that, that's why you're saying, like, they basically are not gonna make other types of LEGO game anymore.

[Mark Medina]

That's the Scuttleback.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like Indiana Jones is like Paramount.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, Like, I don't know that that's ever been officially confirmed. But like the, the word on the street is that they're going to be focusing on like WB owned and operated.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, that's fine because WB has a lot.

[Mark Medina]

They have a lot. Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Which is, which is cool. But like, hopefully there's room for other companies to keep on making LEGO games too, you know?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. So like, you know. Yeah, like, so like they didn't make LEGO Horizon. There's a TT games and, and the lego. What's the LEGO Horizon? What's the other LEGO Voyages? Is that what it's called?

[Damon Hatfield]

There's also a party game one. There's the party one too.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right. Well, they made a lego, like, was it not Burnout, need for Speed or something.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. There was the racing game and that was two K made that. I played that actually. It was okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And then there's just like the. You were just mentioning that they're all kind of open world and I don't really think of them that way, but I don't know, I just thought Lego LEGO City Undercover was like their big open world game.

[Mark Medina]

They. They have their hub and spoke. So they have big sort of hub worlds and then you go into the individual levels. But those hub worlds have been getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's right. I played LEGO Star wars, so that's what my ass sets of.

[Damon Hatfield]

At least in the Skywalker Saga you can know you can just do free play. You're not playing a level, you're just running around the open areas.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

So, yeah, Lego Batman. We're excited for that one. In the Hatfield household, they finally showed something cool about Resident Evil Requiem. Yeah. Even though it wasn't on stage during the opening presentation, I didn't think.

[Sam Claiborne]

I thought it was good too. I thought actually our preview was the good thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

What I liked is that the previewers came away positive. And then the footage of the. Whatever, the stalker, that's like scary as heck.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. When it eats that zombie's head. What the heck.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that looks good.

[Mark Medina]

I don't understand how they're marketing this game. Like, the trailer that they showed is just like was nothing.

[Justin Davis]

A guy gets killed with a bag.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, they're kind of terrible. But then like. But obviously the gameplay, like that's what's important is like trailers are just, you know, industry scuttlebutt. Like, but. But you know, the gameplay looks great. You know, they've Capcom just. Just going from strength to strength, kind of understanding how to modernize the franchise while still play homage and like give people more of what they like. I don't mind. I mean, I'm curious to get your take. I think the first person, first, third person, like that seems smart to me. Like, let people play how they want.

[Sam Claiborne]

But did you see how the pre. Our previewer mentioned how they actually changed the framing of jump scares and stuff? I mean, that's all super smart. Like, that is cool. They're developing this to have two perspectives, which is like great.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I really care.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I don't. I don't care which perspective I play as I know everybody's like, no, it's scary as first person. I'm like, it's just. None of that really occurs to me, when I play a game, it's good.

[Justin Davis]

Because if you play things like, like Fallout, right. Or Starfield, those games have third person modes, but it's kind of like fake third person. You're still playing in first person. They just kind of pull the camera out. So it's like if you see loot, you still have to like, weirdly aim at it. Like you are first person. The camera is just kind of pulled out and it looks awful when they run. So doing that, I, I saw that in our preview and I, I, I love that they are kind of just making two games sort of.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, all the best Resident Evils are third person. Like, they just are like, you know, that's four, two, remake three. Yeah, you have to go down the list until you get to 7 and 8.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, 7 and 8 is still also really good.

[Damon Hatfield]

I also, Yeah, I like seven and eight a lot as well.

[Justin Davis]

And they went back for eight and made it third person, but I never tried.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, this one, this game won the award for me for coolest booth of Gamescom.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it was a cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, they did a good.

[Damon Hatfield]

They built like a destroyed raccoon city or like a city hall or the sheriff's station.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, my gosh. Look at her.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, this is great. I like how it crawls up and over to here. That part's cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Finally something that has some, like, character. Not just like, you know, Ashley in a, in her office.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, this reminds me of the new alien show too. They use a lot of the same kind of pursuit stuff, although the aliens are a little bit.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, we can, we can talk about that a little bit later. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I hope this turns out well. I really, like, I was saying, I really like 7 and 8. 7 was kind of a revelation for the series, kind of a reinvention.

[Sam Claiborne]

And back to it's Revelations is actually.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, sorry, sorry, you're right, you're right, you're right.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, Capcom has not made a bad, I mean, game, but especially Resident Evil game in a very long time. So, yeah, they've earned my trust. I totally look at this and I'm like, yeah, this will be great.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Capcom's at the top of their game when they make a Resident Evil. Like, it's like pizza. Still pretty good. No matter what happens.

[Justin Davis]

It's like they set for six, like, people, People like five. But the series just got like, really actiony. And then six was like, oh, and they had so many good.

[Sam Claiborne]

They're fine.

[Justin Davis]

And then it's like seven was like, we're back. And then they've just been nothing but banger since.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember how Revelations had a typo on the spine? It was Revelatons.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, that's good. Capcom, man. Remember Okami for weep?

[Mark Medina]

Yep. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Jesus. Yeah. Talk about a box office box art mistake.

[Damon Hatfield]

If anyone out there doesn't know, Capcom shipped Okami for WWII with an IGN logo on the box.

[Mark Medina]

Like a watermark.

[Damon Hatfield]

A watermark? Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

On accident, they just take it and.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just grabbed an image from somewhere that had an IGN watermark on it. It's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm hoping for the Okami sequel it'll become canon and you have like, some kind of a commie outfit with the old IGN logo on it. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Once. Once you find out the reason for the watermark, you'll be ashamed of your words and deeds.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yep. There it is.

[Damon Hatfield]

And we finally got that release date for Hollow Knight. Silksong. Yeah. Sam, are you ready?

[Sam Claiborne]

Hell yeah, I'm ready. Are you kidding me?

[Damon Hatfield]

What is it? September 4th?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Almost here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Next week.

[Damon Hatfield]

A couple weeks away.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. So it's a sudden shock, really. I think everybody expected and wanted it to be kind of a. And it's out now, which it basically is.

[Justin Davis]

That's as close to almost out now as you can get. Two weeks away, it comes out.

[Sam Claiborne]

We still have barely seen the game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, a bunch of people played it at Gamescom.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

But they played two little sections, and.

[Justin Davis]

That demo's existed for. For years, so I don't even know how new it was.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it's secretive.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, and like, there's no way for it to really leak.

[Justin Davis]

So I'm a little too old for this game, but I'm excited for the people that are excited to play it.

[Mark Medina]

What?

[Damon Hatfield]

You're too old.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a Metroidvania callback?

[Justin Davis]

A little too old for this one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

This one looks. Looks a little too hard for me.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm.

[Justin Davis]

I hope my hands can do it.

[Sam Claiborne]

That it looks, you know, this much more colorful throughout the game. Like, I like. I like the vibe and, like, why that game was, you know, dark and gritty and one color palette. But I do like the idea also of Metroidvanias have very distinct areas. And I like it when you're, you know, you go to that lava tube and you realize later you can crack it open and swim. Like, it's awesome. Like, I love. That's my favorite about. Yeah, that's. It's a good part of that game.

[Justin Davis]

I'M just upset that they, the Kickstarters, they hit the $50,000 goal to get a Wii U release and then they canceled it. Like, I would.

[Sam Claiborne]

I want that I would.

[Justin Davis]

I would want a refund. Like, I was really excited to play this on my.

[Sam Claiborne]

Should have been done.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

It goes all the way back to Wii U. Is that true?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, that's the thing. And then they stopped because they were like, well, this thing sucks. And then they started on the Switch version because this game is coming to Switch one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hold on.

[Mark Medina]

Like, the original Hollow Knight came out on Switch?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

So Silksong was kickstarted and was gonna have a Wii U port.

[Justin Davis]

It was one of the stretch goals of the original.

[Mark Medina]

Of the original campaign? Like, of the.

[Justin Davis]

Of the original. No, no. Silksong.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

But was the original Hollow Knight on Wii U?

[Justin Davis]

I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, I just. I just. It just seems so random. Why. Why did they. Why was that a straight. They just couldn't think of any other stretch goals.

[Justin Davis]

Maybe we'll.

[Damon Hatfield]

We'll make a Wii U version.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nintendo give us 50,000.

[Justin Davis]

My Nintendo 3DS version.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, well, I don't know. I actually never played much of Hollow Knight at all, so. Me, I'll just check. I'm just gonna jump into Silksong.

[Sam Claiborne]

I got the answer here. Hollow Knight was not on Wii U.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

That doesn't answer the question.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why were they going, I can't answer that one.

[Mark Medina]

So I think. I think that the original Hollow Knight, like, you know, 10 years ago was on Kickstarter and then Silksong was originally going to be DLC for Hollow Knight.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that was the thing. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Before they're like, well, what if we just worked on it for like, you know, six years instead? Which, you know, sometimes people kind of look down on. You know, this feels like glorified DLC that they spun off into its own game. But like, I don't. I personally don't. It's like things get re scoped. Like, you know, they're making it and they're like, you know what? This feels bigger and more substantive than something that can be dlc. So we're just gonna make it a sequel or.

[Justin Davis]

I also.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's no chance it's gonna feel like small dlc. It's gonna be. No, it's gonna be way too long.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

I've never understood that argument as well. Like a lot of people called Spider Man 2 DLC or God of War. Ragn was like, I don't understand that it's a sequel. Like Mario 3 is not DLC to Mario 1. That, like, I don't get that.

[Mark Medina]

But there is something interesting. So, you know, it's. When we're talking about a sequel in the context of a video game or an interactive art form, it's like you can evolve or do interesting things with gameplay. Like, we have things that we want to do from a gameplay standpoint that we couldn't do or didn't do the last time around. But then it's also narratively like, it also has to be a sequel or sort of continue the world or continue the lore, continue the story. And so, like, sometimes the argument of, like, it just felt like more of the same. It's like, yeah, felt like more of the same of like one of the. One of the greatest games ever made. Like, you know, at least exactly like. And I'm pre anticipating maybe nobody's going to say that about Silk Song, but, like, I anticipate there's going to be an undercurrent of like, you know, this shouldn't have taken six years, seven years. Like, it still just feels very similar to Hollow Knight. Like, you know, and again, maybe that's not going to be what people say, but, like, it does look like it. It looks like more Hollow Knight, but, like, let this small team, let them cook, man.

[Sam Claiborne]

But I think you agree, if they would have put it out on Wii U, everybody would have been satisfied.

[Justin Davis]

Exactly. I would have dug it out. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I want that disc so bad now. I want that, that blue. That blue clamshell. Yeah. Wii U version.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

I also like Shrier's Report where they said there's no drama, there's no nothing. It's just. We just. We just worked on the game and we just took the time we needed to work on the game and. And it's done, so you can have it now.

[Mark Medina]

Well, and that's what I mean. It's like the Hollow Knight was such an overwhelming success and sold millions of copies and made them millions of dollars that, like, they could just take as long as they wanted. They're under no time pressure to get the game out. And like, they're a small team. And so all the animations, all the enemies, the world is handcrafted. Right. So you can imagine, like, how does a game like this take six or seven years? It's like if you're a tiny team and you show up and you're like, well, today I'm gonna make one sprite, you know, I'll make another one tomorrow. I'll make another one tomorrow. Like, it would take forever, right? It would take years.

[Justin Davis]

I. I also love how many games are delaying out of that window and they're all just saying we don't want to go up against the GTA of indie games.

[Mark Medina]

I think that's fake.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, me too. Yeah, I think I just. Goofing.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Oh yeah. 100.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's like respectful goofing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's goofing and I think it's. They say saw websites like IGN writing it up as news and they saw an opportunity to get a little credit.

[Justin Davis]

Because I. I saw one like yesterday and I was like, it's over. Like, you can't just keep doing this. It's like, yeah, weird.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll see if Borderlands moves then we'll know.

[Mark Medina]

I played a lot of Hollow Knight and I am very excited for Silksong, but I never beat the original. You know, I did the same thing I always did would do whereas I got like three fourths of the way through it and didn't finish it. And so, you know, I don't know, like, I don't know if my. I don't want to call it ocd, but like my. I don't. Whatever it is, like, it makes me want to go back and play the original rather than jump into the new one.

[Sam Claiborne]

You don't need to do this. But anybody else trying to get back into it, check out the guide that we are we've made. Because we've updated it so much recently, we made this incredible interactive map that we didn't have before. So that was nice. But the walkthrough is. Is as such we're adding these little like pathing maps so you can kind of see like by this point you should have followed this red line this far, which I think is like super cool. And so you can kind of find like, oh, I stopped. If you turn on your save and you're like, I'm here. Why am I here? You should be able to actually visibly look and see like, oh, this is the last thing I did. Then get back in the walker or whatever. But anyway, it's really exciting and people are using it. It's a very popular strategy. Guy.

[Damon Hatfield]

I saw the original. It's like recent all time peak concurrent on Steam.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's plan. Plan to prepare. Although even with that lead in that's all. That's not enough time quite to beat Hollow Knight. It's a big game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, were you on the last episode with when pair was on.

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes. No, I was, I was on the episode where he said all the same things I said about Donkey Kong but got none of the shit.

[Damon Hatfield]

So was that the episode then? That La Noire was 20 questions.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And he, he went on YouTube and apologized for saying only kangaroo games or whatever.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But I just, Yeah, I was trying to give you, I was giving you guys lots of hints and I was like, you knew it was an Australian developer. I was like, what's the most famous Australian game?

[Sam Claiborne]

I know. I got a lot of.

[Damon Hatfield]

I got a lot of. I'm actually saying Hollow Knight's probably the most famous.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Fair enough.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yep. I didn't know until after our La Noire conversation that either game was made in Australia.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was only after that that I saw, like Team Cherry be mentioned in the same breath, and I just had no idea.

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

It was Witcher 4 that they were planning.

[Damon Hatfield]

It was Witcher 4.

[Justin Davis]

It was Witcher 4.

[Damon Hatfield]

They were trying to get that on Switch 2. So Digital Foundation Andre's John Linneman says, we talked to a lot of devs at Gamescom this year and so many of them said the same things. They want to ship on Switch 2. They would love to do Switch 2 versions. They can't get the hardware. It's really difficult right now. Switch has sold more than 2 million, more than 2 million units in the US alone. And that's, that's selling at a pace 75% faster than the Switch one was. But Nintendo can't get dev kits out. What's, what's happening?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I, I mean dev kits are.

[Sam Claiborne]

Different than the actual two words install base. I think it is totally fine for Nintendo to push things on their old system still.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I mean we've had this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

System for eight weeks. Yeah, like it's gonna be fine. But they definitely want to push Switch one anything. I think they're just allowing people to do it more than anything.

[Mark Medina]

I don't know. I don't. I'm not sure I agree. I think, I imagine that if Nintendo could, they would like everyone on Earth making a Switch to game that would like to make a Switch but you.

[Sam Claiborne]

Know, that's not the case because PS4 games still get made. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

But to me, this report indicates that Nintendo is having some trouble sourcing and making as many Switch to dev kits as they would like. That's my takeaway from this is that like, you know, if someone, if some big developer, a small developer is like, we'd like a Switch to dev kit, like why wouldn't they just say, yeah sure, here you go. Unless they don't have as many as they would like to have.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, as you know, dev kits are just game systems that are slightly different color than the retail. So it's just a paint job.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, nothing's different.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, so I mean look, it's all speculation on our part but like that, that, that was, that was how I read this was like I didn't quite agree with the characterization of, you know, they're trying to push people to make Switch 1 games. I think it's like a consolation prize. Like, sorry, we don't have a Switch 2 dev kit we, we can give you but you know, you could always make your game for Switch 1. And then they're like, get out of here.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I don't know. I would want to know what it is about the dev kit that they, you know, what part of the dev kit can they not make? But they can make the actual Switch units. Is it because they don't, they just don't have time to go to every developer's office and lock that thing down. I mean like that you did ign.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, it's possible.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's up to Nintendo too. So they could be very well talking to developers that they're like, you could just make that game on the Switch one. Like we're going to save our dev kits for people that are doing this. Like maybe somebody pitched them on some kind of like port. They're like, we don't want that game and we're just hearing the sour grapes from it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I think, I think that they're definitely playing favorites 100.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, they used, they've done that from the start. That was the seal of quality. Right. Like they used to always do that the same thing.

[Justin Davis]

But yeah, I think, I think Justin could be right. Like where it's like they have eliminated and then. Yeah to agree with Sam that then they are just so, so they have a finite amount and they're giving them. Yeah. And we're only hearing from the people that don't get it.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, they're allocating them. Right. And these games, this is, this is not the same situation, but there's a, there's an analog here of like we get, we get copies of games to review sometimes and then they're like, oh, sorry, like we hardly have any review copies. Like, I'm sorry, you can only have one. The Guides team can't have one. That's other team can't have one. And then you talk to somebody else and you know, they're like, we got eight copies.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

It's like so like these favorites, like favorites. And an allocation of stuff like that does happen. And so, you know, Nintendo seems to me like, you know, they're putting dev kits in the hands of the people that they want to have have them.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. But I don't know, it's seeming like maybe Nintendo needs to provide a little bit more support for people making third party Switch two games because we, you know, coming out of Gamescom, Elden Ring is apparently a disaster in Switch.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

What is going on with that? Just don't show it.

[Justin Davis]

If you, I, I saw the, I saw the gameplay and I was like, this looks fine. And then he moved the camera and it's that like Unreal Engine Chug. I know, I know the game's not made in Unreal, but it's like, I was like, yeah, that's rough.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I mean, maybe they're like, we don't want to give out dev kits because people are screwing them up.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I mean, again, we don't, we don't work on the dev side. But maybe, maybe, maybe, I mean, you said that as a goof, Sam, but there might be some truth to like, maybe they want the dev kit to be handed over with like guidelines on here's the power of our console and how to optimize for it and how to work it, and here's the tools. And like, maybe, maybe dev kits are only in the hands of studios that sort of have a proven track record of being able to optimize for the hardware. Right. Yeah, because they don't want to. They don't want to make. They don't want to. Like, what I said at the top of this segment was like, why wouldn't they want everyone on earth that wants a dev kit have a dev kit. But maybe the answer is like, they don't want people making their console look bad if they don't know how to optimize for it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I don't know anything about developers, but the, the fact that Elden Ring is Like chugging. But cyberpunk seems to run fine and, and honestly Tears of the Kingdom seems, you know, that there's so much going on under the hood for that game.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's always confusing with the Switch though, because it was like, you know, Pokemon didn't run well. Like what like Tears of the Kingdom did, you know, like it doesn't make any sense. So like what devs make of these like weird adapted mobile processors? That. That's what a switch is like. It's just complicated. But you know what? I think the Switch launch is going pretty well for them right now. I don't think they should worry too much about Switch 2. There's great games for it, there's lots of like cool stuff and like it's selling like crazy. So yeah, they're doing something right.

[Mark Medina]

I don't. I also didn't like the news of like, oh, it's selling 75% faster than the original switches. I'm like, look, every single console sells every single one that they make for the first few months. So the all that says is they were able to make 75% more switch 2s, you know, in the console launch window.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well also there was a lot more.

[Sam Claiborne]

When remember that is a funny step.

[Damon Hatfield]

Coming into the Switch one. There wasn't as much demand because Wii U had been such a bummer. So it word of mouth, it's interest built over time.

[Mark Medina]

Right. So the only thing that matter, you know, oh, PS5 is outselling PS4 at the same time in its life frame. I mean that console's years old, so that's like a real thing now. But it only matters when like the console is in stock and available. Like you can just go buy it and then that's when like sales velocity matters. Because everything before that is only measuring like how many consoles could we make?

[Justin Davis]

Well yeah, because scalpers will buy if, if a million more switches had existed, they probably would have all sold, but.

[Sam Claiborne]

Which they sell through to scalpers, which.

[Mark Medina]

The Switch one is like it is available now. Like it didn't you know, they. They saturated. Like you can just go into any store and buy one. So.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mm.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know what? Nintendo also had the guts and the bravery to fulfill their, their most dedicated fans wishes and put out Zelda Breath of the Wild on Wii U. That's true. I think we could all learn from. In fact, I think that Lego Batman should be on Wii U. Yeah, why not?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

And Elden Ring, it can handle it. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

It isn't. It is insane to me that Breath of the Wild is a Wii U game.

[Justin Davis]

I forget.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just like Twilight Princess was a GameCube game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. Yeah, a cool GameCube game. That was backwards.

[Mark Medina]

I wonder if like, the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild is like, rare, expensive.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, one of the most desirable Wii U games ever is the large format collector's edition of that extremely rare Breath of the wild. $1,000.

[Mark Medina]

A quick Google search says no. The Wii U version of Breath of the wild is like 20 bucks.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. You want the collector's version?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, Switch to is doing well. Two million sold in the US alone. And Donkey Kong debuted at number three on the best selling games charts in July. And that's. It's, it's also banana. It's also the 20th best selling game of the year. And that's not accounting for digital sales. Do any of you have a physical copy?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right. So I think it's much higher than that. Yes, we all bought digital copies. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Funny, I switched two games. Taste. Taste gross. Like original Switch games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Different.

[Justin Davis]

I don't own any, so I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, we tested them. They taste really. It's a different.

[Mark Medina]

They're gross, but in a different way. They changed the tech.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. They changed the gross.

[Justin Davis]

It's still gross though, huh?

[Sam Claiborne]

Still gross.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Better. Tastes more like cherry.

[Justin Davis]

I have on a shelf behind me a whole row of like Switch 1 games. And none of them are in there because they're like separated between all the different Switch one cases. Like, some are in my wife's case, some are my. And, and it was at that point where I was like, I'm digital only when it comes to Switch games.

[Sam Claiborne]

I just, Yeah, I, I, we play so many games early that like, it's all digital now. But I, I have deep regrets for not having a physical collection for the Switch one especially. It's like, that's a cool system. That's, that's gonna be one that.

[Justin Davis]

It's just like Breath of the Wild digitally. So if I ever want to play it, I have to go find it.

[Mark Medina]

That's the worst.

[Justin Davis]

I hate that. I don't own. Apparently I don't. I learned this last year or when The Fallout season one show comes out. Came out. I didn't own Fallout 4 for PS5. I had to find the disc and put it in my PS5.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, if those games are loose too, like, they disappear, man. They're tiny.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. They're so small.

[Mark Medina]

The reverse can also be true of like dozens of times. I'm like, oh, this game's on sale. I should buy it. And then I check, and I'm like, I already owned it. I just didn't. I didn't know that it was already in my library. Like, I can't keep straight what I own on what console?

[Sam Claiborne]

Speaking of lost things, you know AirPods are the best cat toy ever made, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because when the cat knocks the case off of the cabinet and then it explodes and the airpods go everywhere, that's. It's extra fun for the cat. And then from there, they can chew off the little ear part. So it's just, like, the best thing that's ever been made for cats.

[Justin Davis]

I have a. I have an AirTag case for my AirPods because I kept losing them, so then I could just. I could just look at this.

[Sam Claiborne]

But they are. They do natively function as that, though. They're just called an Apple item.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, but, like, I could. I could, like, never. I don't know. The syncing was never working. But the air tag works really good.

[Sam Claiborne]

So the newer ones have. They track by. I'm going somewhere with this. I promise you. They track by the individual pods, too, so if you lose one in your house. So that happened. Cat knocked it off the. The shelf. In the middle of the night, it exploded. And, you know, I run a tight ship. The house is very clean. Got wood floors everywhere, and it's gone. And I'm just like, oh, maybe the cat carried away. He's not much of a carrier. So I opened up the. The floor registers where the vent, the vents are. Like, it got that far. Like, I'd done floor sweeps everywhere and everything, and. And for some reason, it didn't show up on the. The Apple identification radar just lost its power enough or whatever. Thought the cat might have ate it, Whatever. So that was all happening, and I went into the register and got in there, and it's like, oh, it's not too bad in here, but there's some artifacts. And I found a 1944 penny.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was just the end of the story. I never found the AirPod.

[Mark Medina]

And you. And you found two Nintendo Switch cards that were just loose.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's terrible, but I'm still looking for that AirPod. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened.

[Justin Davis]

I washed my AirPods like, six times, and they still worked. And it. It. Well, they didn't work after the sixth time, but for the first five times, they still worked.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Your license agreement clearly says, don't wash these more than five times.

[Mark Medina]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I now know the lim.

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, let's share what we've been playing. Metal Gear Solid Delta. Is it out now?

[Justin Davis]

It's out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. It not only has been out, but it's been out twice. It's got two release dates.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, that's right, because there's like an.

[Justin Davis]

Early every game now, man.

[Sam Claiborne]

Every game is on that, that train now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like I said, I never played the original and I have, I have Delta, but I have not started yet.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam. Mark, what do you think, man?

[Sam Claiborne]

What I want to hear, I want to hear Mark's impressions.

[Justin Davis]

I, I mean I don't have many. I, I, I suffered through the first hour. God, all the comments are gonna kill me. I suffered through the first hour. I thought the front flips out of the plane were hilarious, but after that it's just.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah, those are funny.

[Justin Davis]

It's just all talking and then so it's like you get the backpack and then it's like another flip flop. 45 minutes of the boss talking. I've never seen Godzilla. What's it like?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not very believable that he hasn't seen Godzilla. She has deeper cuts later, but it is weird when she's like, well, he's a. He's a big lizard. He actually means well. But he's like. So he means well, huh? But he's a big lizard.

[Justin Davis]

The Kojima ism of like him just repeating every. That first cut scene where. Where it's like the actual cut scene of the. Of the major or whatever. Like, telling Cris. It's like, there's a Cuban missile crisis. So there's a Cuban missile crisis. I'm like, dude, dude, show and don't tell, like, I do not need this dialogue twice anyways.

[Sam Claiborne]

You used to not be able to skip the dialogue one stretch at a time. So that's like a big upgrade to be able to do the thing you do in Mass Effect where they're like. But then I. And the planet.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And the queen, she. Okay, see you later.

[Justin Davis]

I do that in cyberpunk all the time. But in cyberpunk, it's hilarious because you can read it. Because you can absorb it. Yeah, you can read it faster, but the animations, like, are still baked in. So it's like you push it. They'll like, stand up from their chair and like, walk away. And you're like, where, Wait, where'd they go anyways?

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I see it. And Mass Effect, you know, I guess Mass Effect does it too. It skips to the next line. Then you know, it's a.

[Justin Davis]

No, no, this is like, it just fast forwards it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah, that's funny. That's very cyberpunk, though. Like watching a videotape.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, but yeah, I. I played the first, like, hour and I was like, this is just. This is. This isn't for me. And I was talking to one of my co workers, Ronnie, and. And his thoughts were like, yeah, if you didn't play the original, you may not like this one. And then one of our other co workers, Brian Malkowicz, his wife is a huge Metal Gear fan, and she said the same thing. She. I thought she would just be like, no, it's perfect. And she's like, no, like, if you didn't like the original, you probably. Probably won't like this. And. And so sure enough, I. I It. Not for me. It's. I'm not huge on stealth games already, especially stealth games that have, like, no give, which this one seems to have. You really have to, like, lay there and just, like, learn patterns and stuff like that. And it's just.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they tell you not to ever hurt anybody and be totally silent, but really the way that you play it is by tranquilizing everybody. And, yeah, they don't really hint at that, so it's kind of hard to figure that out. And then if you're. You know, once you get to a point where you don't need to tranquilize people, you can do all kinds of other stuff, too. And it's. You got to build to that. This game is not Mario 64. Like, you cannot play this game and enjoy it. I learned to have nostalgia for it.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. And that.

[Sam Claiborne]

So that's fine. But, like, it's fine to have games out there that are so crazy, and I think it's the right choice. Yeah. That's so funny. The alligators, you go slash their tails, and then the alligators, like, oh. And then they. Then they turn into a can of meat.

[Justin Davis]

I. I was confused where it was like, this is a. This is a mission that you can't get caught by anyone.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's all nice.

[Justin Davis]

And then. And then I get caught immediately, and I just. And then I just kill them. And I'm like, okay. Turns out it just affects, like, your ranking at the end, which I'm like, I couldn't care less about. I guess there's, like, a European, like, invasion. I don't know what it's called, but it's like, after you beat the game, then there's an actual. Like, you have to beat it in five hours. Never getting caught. Never get. And I'm like, holy smokes. I could. You could lock me on an island for two years and I would never get through that.

[Damon Hatfield]

Lamar, you like Death Stranding?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Which both games open up with a lot of talking also.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, I know. Except for one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not the problem.

[Justin Davis]

One of them's, like, fun, and the other one's just, like, military nonsense.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, that's a good point. Yeah. Death Stranding is like, no matter what nonsense is happening, it's, like, really visually interesting. It's like, oh, they're walking through goop. Or there's, like, a person made out of gold. Or there's, like, you know, a puppet running around on a track above you, yelling and repeating all everybody's lines. Like, that's all fine. That's Fine. But this is like seriously, like, gritty, muddy, you know, footage of the Cuban Missile Crisis for a very long time. And then. And, and then they just talk and then Snake repeats everything. And then, then, then the other big cut scenes are, of course, the radio stuff, right? So it's like, you know, boss calls and boss talks to you. Every time you save the game, boss is going to summarize the movie to you. And again, yes, you can skip all this. It's just like, I'm not. I'm not saying this is bad. This is not me saying this is bad. I'm just trying to explain, like, it's different than death stranding.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay?

[Sam Claiborne]

Death stranding is not like that.

[Justin Davis]

You know, I've heard I should go back and play five. I hear five.

[Damon Hatfield]

Five, yeah. Sam, you famously love five.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's so good. And. And I also like Peace Walker, which is right between these two, but so playable. And I. I mean, four is like, again, like a stealth game you can play through. The. The issue with this game, the problem that people will run into just trying to play it, is that it's going to look good. There's some updated controls. You're going to get through that. You'll be like, wow, everybody was right. These cutscenes are really goofy. They're talking now. I'm going to play. But then you play and you're like, I'm just getting caught a lot. And it's not fun. But if you don't want to get caught and you actually want to play the game right, you have to just sit there and wait and just vibe out. And it's not that fun. So it gets fun. There's parts that get there, but it's just. It's not. The game doesn't help you get to those parts. So, again, nothing wrong with that. Everything's cool about this game. I think the remake is really amazing looking. That's cool. But, like, I just can't recommend it to people. And I feel bad about that. Like, I'm like, I. I really want. I wish, Damon, you could know exactly how to play all Metal Gear games, then play this and then be like, oh, yeah, I could skip all that stuff. But that's not how it works. It doesn't feel that way. You. You get in the bushes, you put in your camo, you're kind of like shooting at people, and your darts are falling a little low. Then they hit a tree, and then everybody is up in your face. Got to use your super CQC karate chops and Then everything's like. Then they start calling for backup. It's just, it's just. It gets. It's not the stuff that's Kojima interesting is not very accessible. Boss fights are really cool. You got to play them over and over again to figure them out. You got to use a strategy guide if you don't.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just, It's. It's. It's just a big mess. And like, I'm so happy it exists, you know?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I, I saw a blue sky thread of, of people saying, like, why does this exist? And I, I do think that Metal Gear 3 was like, mostly playable through backward compatibility and stuff like that. But I, I don't know. I like games where it's like, it exists. So that way people can play a native 4K 60fps version of one of their favorite games of all time. And so it's like, to me, that, that, that is why the game exists. It doesn't exist to bring new people into the Metal Gear franchise because do they plan on doing this for 1, 2 and spin offs and 4? Like, probably not. So, like.

[Mark Medina]

It'S interesting seeing the discourse and even our review, you know, from Michael Hyam, it's an excellent review, but like, he talks about this as well. Of like, I played metal gear solid three when it came out and I was 19 years old and it blew my mind just like. And I thought the story was like the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life. And like, it does things like, like, you know, you have health, but there's also an injury system of like, you can injure your leg and you're going to move slower. And like, none of that feels great. Yes, none of that. You can get hungry. Like, none of that feels that special now. But that was very special back in like, you know, the PS2, PS3 era. Like, you know, like you're hungry and your stomach growls and that alerts the guard. Like, you know, that's not a big deal anymore. But that was a much bigger deal back then.

[Justin Davis]

And so you could shoot their radio and then if they catch you, they go to radio and then they're like, what? My radio doesn't work?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's like, that's so cool. And the details that make it this game, like, that's what's cool about it. It's just, it's. It. It. It's not an accessible game, so you can't see all that stuff and enjoy it in a remake.

[Mark Medina]

And games age in different ways where, like, there are two Games that could have both been nine out of tens in the era in which they came out, but one still feels like a 9 out of 1020 years later and the other one doesn't necessarily. It doesn't mean the game is worse or wasn't as good back then, but just like norms change and expectations for you know, how a game should play and feel also change. And I haven't, I haven't played the remake, but I. I loved Metal Gear Solid three when it was new. Like I. It really, like, I think about it kind of a lot.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think you would really like playing through this again because it will. It's like riding a bike, right? Like it'll come back.

[Mark Medina]

Yep, yep, yep. That's cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know what, like, the Final Fantasy comparison is interesting because, like, it's kind of hard to play the original Final Fantasy 7 now. And like the remake is so different that you're not even getting the same experience anyway. But that's kind of like the leap that games make so to make them playable and fun now. And that's what I think metal gear solid 5 is. It's like, it's the leap to make a Metal Gear game, like, really playable and accessible and fun for everybody. And like, I'll tell you one thing, the Fulton system makes both that and Peace Walker really fun because you're always collecting, you're doing all this like, cool stuff to like build something out in this game when you're like, you don't really have a good impetus to like leave everybody alone until maybe do like a second playthrough or do a piece playthrough or whatever. Like you really should just go. Just knock everybody out and run through them, you know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, well, I'll check it out at some point. I've been playing shinobi. What's that, Mark?

[Justin Davis]

There's a lot to play right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know. Yeah, there's a lot to play. I've been playing Shinobi Art of Vengeance.

[Sam Claiborne]

And I love it.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's so good. This is. It's from the team that did Streets.

[Sam Claiborne]

Of Rage 4, which I gave it a 9. Right? A really high score.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think we gave it an 8 8. But I'm really loving it so far. It is so gorgeous. It's all hand drawn 2D animation. It looks so good. There's an early level that takes place in a fireworks festival and there's always like, you know, a moonlit background with all these fireworks going on while you're just, you know, hacking and slashing your way through the level. It was, I was like, I was in awe. I was in awe. Just sitting on my couch playing this game. It's absolutely one of the best looking games of the year.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I can't wait to play it.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's fantastic. It's just so cool. We've got a new shinobi and a new Ninja Gaiden. An old school Ninja Gaiden. Right now they're both great and one of them is this beautiful hand drawn 2D art. One is pixel art. That looks really good. It's an embarrassment of riches for fans of ninjas and old school hack and slash games.

[Justin Davis]

You're the ninja.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. So it's super fun. It's, it's level based, but the levels are really big and they sprawl out in all different directions and there's lots of secrets to find. Sam.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nice.

[Damon Hatfield]

So like the first time I finish a level, it'll say I'm like, I, I did. I found like 20% in there. So there's lots in there and there's just, there's lots of like big set pieces that you'll encounter along each level. They've really put a lot of thought into it. It's great. And it also is very streets of Rage 4, like where there's a combo system and the more you rack up your combos, you start doing more and more damage. It's good.

[Sam Claiborne]

I have two quick ones. I beat Donkey Kong. So I'm in the post game now and I'm probably stopping there. Whatever.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

But, so I'm glad I got through all that. And then I, I'm still playing Mafia and just like you, I just kind of stop sometimes and like, and just marvel at how good that game looks like. It'll be like a sunset thing and you're just driving across Sicily and it looks legit. Unbelievable. I, I, I cannot believe how good it looks on PS5. And I'm very much enjoying it still. You know, it's telling a good mafia story just like they do. And it's, you know, it's, it ain't a Grand Theft Auto. You know, there's there, you're just playing through a story. Normally I don't like stuff like that, but it's just the setting is really cool and like the time period and the interactions between characters, it's just, it's cool, it's a cool game.

[Justin Davis]

I want to play it, but I want to wait for the free ride mode to come out, which comes out in like a month or so. I'm not exactly what. I'm not exactly sure what it changes, but yeah, like it seems cool. And it's one of those things where it's like if this is something people were clamoring for, I'd rather just wait for it to exist. So I'm playing the like most complete version of the game. I guess so. But man, I do, I do want to play that game for sure.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I need to check it out. Anything else anyone wants to shout out?

[Justin Davis]

I could do a quick one. I started playing Gears on PS5.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh yeah, man, it.

[Justin Davis]

So the cut scenes are like. You're like, okay, these are 10 year old. These, these, you know, most. Even though the game's much older than 10 years old, this is a. A remaster for the most part of Ultimate Edition. And so the cutscenes look like that, but the gameplay, they're like, they're.

[Sam Claiborne]

They're up res, but they're wooden kind of. That's kind of what Metal Gear is like.

[Justin Davis]

They just look kind of older.

[Sam Claiborne]

They still have to like pantomime the old Void though, right? Yeah, both those games do the same thing. Well, it's really interesting.

[Justin Davis]

This is far less of a remake than, than, than Metal Gear. This is very much just Ultimate Edition. And my guess is that they wanted to be able to sell it to PS5 people and they didn't want to sell a 10 year old game. So then they called it Reloaded and bumped it up to 4k. That's like. Because like Xbox people got this game for free if you already owned Ultimate Edition.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

And so I don't think that they were super, like super worried about fully remaking it, and they definitely didn't. But I think it looks great and I think it plays phenomenally. Like, I turned off the camera shake because it is way too hardcore in the original game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Luckily those weird shooter series where like the first game is kind of the best one in it. Yeah, I mean, I know people like two and three and stuff. I think one is the best campaign probably.

[Justin Davis]

I also like four One.

[Mark Medina]

One is like. One is like borderline a horror game. It's a similar. It's a similar Resident Evil. Right. Where they become more action oriented as they go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, well.

[Justin Davis]

And it's like, I don't know, cover. Cover shooters just didn't really exist before this, like in this way where it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, I love the Blind. Super so good.

[Justin Davis]

Well, and it's like super sticky. Right. Like you start to get this six sense where you're like, I know, I'm close enough to stick to that cover and you push the button and sure enough, he just kind of slides and gets magnetized to it. It just becomes this like, six sen. I was playing it and I thought, I don't know why, because I don't really care about, like, Xbox controller versus PS5 controller. Like this. This is the first Xbox game because I play Forza and. And Sea of Thieves and. And Grounded. This is the first Xbox game where I'm like, this feels weird playing this on a dual sense versus versus a Xbox series X controller. But it plays great. The. The, you know, the triggers work great. Like when you're in a troika, it, like, you have to really pull down the right trigger because it's like, you know, you're firing a chain gun. All the comms come through the speaker. Like it. They. They did a good job. For the, for the PS4.

[Sam Claiborne]

You read the scripts. So you know that Miranda got sick of those.

[Justin Davis]

I did, I did, yeah. I read the VO and I was like, yeah, I. And that makes sense because, like, I play Battlefield 6. I played one round and instantly turned off the adaptive triggers because I was like, sometimes I don't. Like, sometimes I don't want to turn.

[Damon Hatfield]

Them off in return.

[Justin Davis]

Yep, sometimes you don't want it. So. But yeah, I'm playing through it. I have not played this game in, like, over 10 years, and I like it a lot. And it runs really, really good. Like, it just feels like a modern game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Both helped modernize the cog tag situation.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Guides for this. So we have a good new cog tag guide video and good new cog tag pages. So if you're going to play along, get that Achievo. It's easy to do now.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool, cool.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I started playing the altars, which is really cool. Like, it was just a whim. Like, I picked it up. It's on Game Pass. It's on PC and Xbox too. I'm playing in a Game Pass version. So it's a survival crafting game kind of where you're going out and gathering up resources and. And you're on an alien planet and you're going back to your ship and you're trying to, like, repair your ship. But the game's big twist is that you can clone yourself, but you can sort of go into, like, a mind map and then you see decisions that you made in your life. Like, you know, my mom's sick. Should I stay and take care of her? Or should I go off to college and like, you know, I'm dating this girl, but, like, she's holding my career back. Do I keep dating her? Do I do that? And, like, you can go into this mind map and you clone versions of yourself that made different choices. And so then it's like, you know, one of you becomes a doctor and another version of you became a mechanic. And so you can bring forward these different kinds of cloned versions of yourself. And there's like, what, six or seven of you by the end of the game. I have three right now. And like, it.

[Sam Claiborne]

It.

[Mark Medina]

That's already interesting from a gameplay standpoint. But what really, like, makes the game special, I think, is that it's not just like, you know, clone the mechanic version of you or clone the doctor version of you, but, like, it really, really digs into the ethics of, like, you know, different versions of you will fight and they'll refuse to work. They'll be like, no. Or it's like, why did you. Like, we're on this hostile alien planet. Like, I don't want to be here. I didn't ask to exist. And like, they all rebel against, like, well, why? Your name's Yan. It's like, why are you the yawn that's in charge? I should be the one that's in charge. And like, you know, sometimes they fight with each other, sometimes they get along. And, like, you have to, like, it's got an almost like, quantic dreamlike conversation system where, like, you. There's these levels of, like, their aggression level is increasing or, like, their rebelliousness level is decre based off the choices that you make for yourself. And so, And. And then. And then the. The gameplay loop, it's like you're going out and gathering resources in this world and building little mining outposts and trying to gather up enough resources so that you can, you know, you can. You can escape this alien planet. This super cool.

[Justin Davis]

This does sounds cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'd never even heard of it, but it sounds cool.

[Mark Medina]

Was it.

[Sam Claiborne]

How did it slip past everybody?

[Mark Medina]

I mean, so. So we reviewed it. Dan Stapleton reviewed it. He gave it Nate. You know, it's. It's. It's great. I mean, I have. I have nothing negative. I'm like, what? I get the sense. I'm near the end of act one right now, so, you know, I'll report back.

[Justin Davis]

I also love that, like, I don't know if it was the first game to do it, but I love how many games use that, like, Fallout Shelter view now, because that looked so much like Fallout Shelter.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah. I have a Quick, quick extracurricular question.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. It has to be quick, though.

[Sam Claiborne]

I know, I know. So Sinners saw it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really cool movie.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was fun. I remember you said two things about oops, all vampires. And then I think, I think that you said that that was a movie where like the post credit scene is like super important. Like the whole movie is in that scene or something. Is that the one that you were talking about? That? Yeah, Yeah, I love that.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, it's really, really important context.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think that came back to me when I watched it when I was like, oh, that's good. And then I was going to ask you was, is that. Is the post credits part of Donkey Kong Bonanza as important as Sinners?

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, kind of. I know it's a joke question, but also kind of.

[Sam Claiborne]

So you went through all the encores and did everything?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, no. So I've not finished all that. No, I thought you just meant. I thought you meant the post game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I was wondering because, like in the, in that post game, like, is that like it's building towards a story moment? Right? It's like, yeah, Pauline still needs to do this thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, no, I think I did two of the encores, but that's all I've done.

[Mark Medina]

The. The spoiler free answer is that the resort reward and result of that is very disappointing.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. Well, okay, that's not like Sinners then. And that answers my question.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, very good.

[Mark Medina]

So the post game in Donkey Kong is really meaty and so substantive. But yes, it feels like it's built. Feels like it's building up to something that does not. That does not pay off.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, good. Good to know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, I wanted to talk about Alien Earth, but we're running long in time and I've got to pick up the kids from school. So let's put a pin in that. We'll put a pin on that. I am. I'm enjoying it, but I have a big asterisk that I want to put on that. But we'll talk about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll have one more episode by next.

[Damon Hatfield]

Week under our belts. That's true. So that brings us to video game 20 questions. And our suggestion this week comes from Julie. And that's all the information you have about Julie. So with that, let the questioning begin.

[Mark Medina]

We don't even know if it's a ZX Spectrum game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this game developed in Australia, the United States, Europe or Canada?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, Japan, we're good.

[Mark Medina]

Probably. Unless it's Black Myth.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Was this Game made in the 70s, 80s or 90s?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, it probably is. Black Myth Wukong.

[Sam Claiborne]

Black Myth 2 Kong was Blacksmith 2 Kong.

[Justin Davis]

I can't believe it. Oh, come on, Justin. That can't be the first time you've heard that.

[Mark Medina]

That's the first time I've heard that.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it's pretty clever.

[Justin Davis]

It's a good one. It's a good one.

[Mark Medina]

Can you play this game on the switch?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, okay. Is this game part of the. Did it come out during this current res. You know, generation?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, okay. Cool. Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

It's looking like Black Myth Wukong.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this a console exclusive?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, that's five.

[Justin Davis]

That's just because it just became an Xbox game as well.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also.

[Justin Davis]

Have. Were this a week ago.

[Sam Claiborne]

This is great.

[Mark Medina]

Does this game. Does this game have. Does this game have swords in it?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Could be Black Myth.

[Sam Claiborne]

Could be.

[Justin Davis]

I'm just stuck on this now. I can't think of any other game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, in Black Myth, you play as the.

[Justin Davis]

The destined one.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are you the Monkey King in it?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, man, we're so close.

[Mark Medina]

Is it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm sorry, that wasn't a question. I was asking Mark that question. Oh, I was gonna ask if you're. If you're a human in the game, but go ahead.

[Justin Davis]

No, you're the destined one in the game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Do we move it too fast? Is this either an open world RPG or a Souls like?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, it could be Elden Ring.

[Justin Davis]

It could be. Is it open world RPG and a.

[Mark Medina]

Souls Elden Rings cross gen, Right?

[Justin Davis]

It sure is. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

But so that counts as current gen. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Well, because it came out during this.

[Sam Claiborne]

Generation, the switch version isn't out yet, so that counts. Right.

[Mark Medina]

So Made in Maiden. Well, most likely made in Japan.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does this game have a sequel or a spin off?

[Damon Hatfield]

This game does not have a sequel or a spin off.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so it sounds like it's Night Rain.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no, but that wouldn't be a Souls like. Or I guess it's kind of.

[Mark Medina]

It's kind of a Souls like.

[Justin Davis]

It's still a Souls like for sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because it doesn't have a spin off, but it is itself a spin off.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this game itself a spin off?

[Damon Hatfield]

Not a spin off. And that's 10, so it could be.

[Sam Claiborne]

So confused now.

[Justin Davis]

Wait, is that where we're at?

[Mark Medina]

Damon's Intonation? My takeaway is that the game itself is a sequel and it does not have any sequels.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's.

[Mark Medina]

That's the way that I.

[Sam Claiborne]

But it's not a Spin off. It's a direct sequel. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

He said the game. The game is not a spin off. He said it does not have sequels.

[Justin Davis]

I'd like to know if it's an open world RPG or a souls like, because that's okay.

[Mark Medina]

Go for it. Okay.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Is this Dragon's Dogma too?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Is this a Souls like.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

I don't want to go down that.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just an open ass world.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, could be.

[Mark Medina]

I think it's Dragon style.

[Justin Davis]

It could be Dragon's Dogma too.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. It's gotta be.

[Justin Davis]

There's nothing else. Is this game made by Capcom?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. It probably is.

[Mark Medina]

Does this game. What do they call? Pawns?

[Justin Davis]

Does this game have a pawn system?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. Dragons. Nicely job.

[Mark Medina]

Nice.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

If we find out that this game was made in Australia, we're in big trouble.

[Justin Davis]

The comments. Comments. A lot of actually.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I. I wanna. I have a confession to make. This makes me such a fake gamer, but for a long time I got the original Dragon's Dogma and Asura's Wrath mixed up. Like I just couldn't remember which game was which.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then I was seeing the game.

[Mark Medina]

Well, like, I was so confused when they revealed Dragon's Dogma 2, I'm like, what? Like, I don't understand. Like, kept picturing a sewer's wrath. I'm like, I don't get it at all. And then I.

[Justin Davis]

Doesn't look anything like the first one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I played a little bit of this game.

[Justin Davis]

I like it. I like it a lot. Never played the first one.

[Damon Hatfield]

I like the first one too. Nicely. Job Jag is Dogma 2. Thank you for the suggestion, Julie. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address, gamescoopgn.com and let's see, what important messaging do I have for you today. I need Scoop Nation to know if you're looking for something to play right now that helps support a great cause, head over to Humble and grab the Gamescom IGN bundle. It's available now through September 10th and includes Bomb Rush, Cyberfunk, Homeworld 3, Anton Blast, Victory, Heat Rally, and Valheim. It's a $234 value for just 18 bucks. Proceeds go to DonorsChoose, a nonprofit that connects teachers in high need, community communities with donors who want to help. Head to humble.com today to grab yours. And be sure to check out the summer sale that's going on now until September 4th. And that's all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you Sam. Thank you Justin. Thank you Mark. Thank you to Jobert working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop and round this episode of Game Soup was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield and Gilbert Adienza. Technical direction is handled by Gilbert Atienza. Technical production is by Marianne Franzen and Amir Akib. Audio engineering is by Amir Akib and post production editing is by yours truly, Damon Hatfield. Graphic design is by Nicole Kagempen. Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network.

[Mark Medina]

New season, new chaos in college football.

[Sam Claiborne]

Big stage, big opportunity.

[Damon Hatfield]

This Labor Day weekend, wildness lives on.

[Mark Medina]

ABC, ESPN and the all new ESPN app.

[Sam Claiborne]

What a way to start.

[Mark Medina]

Featuring top 10 teams like Clemson, Notre.

[Damon Hatfield]

Dame, Alabama and LSU. And Bill Belichick's debut at North Carolina.

[Justin Davis]

It's so special, these teams collide.

[Damon Hatfield]

Don't miss a lineup filled with electric matchups. Welcome back to College Football Kickoff Week presented by Modelo.

[Mark Medina]

Labor Day weekend on ESPN and abc.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also available to stream on the all new ESPN app.

[Justin Davis]

Trip Planner by Expedia.

[Mark Medina]

You were made to outdo your holiday.

[Justin Davis]

Your hammocking and your pooling. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.