Game Scoop! 828: Maybe Xbox Should Give Up On Hardware

Summary

Game Scoop! 828: Maybe Xbox Should Give Up On Hardware

Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Damon Hatfield
Guests: Justin Davis, Per Schneider, Sam Claiborne

---

Episode Overview

This episode tackles the fallout from Microsoft's massive Game Pass price hike, the swirling rumors about the future (or even the existence) of Xbox hardware, and whether Microsoft should just walk away from the console business to focus on publishing. The crew also dives into gaming history’s worst business decisions, debates contenders for the “Game of the Century” from the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii era, and wraps up with heated 20 Questions and some deep-dives into cereal nostalgia.

---

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Xbox Game Pass Price Hike & Hardware Future

Timestamps: 03:09–17:04, 19:33–26:24

• Microsoft Increases Game Pass Ultimate to $30/Month:
  The panel reacts to the $10/month jump, which brings the annual cost to $360. Sam Claiborne and Damon Hatfield express frustration and inclination to cancel.

  • Damon Hatfield [03:30]:

    "Game Pass Ultimate is now $30 a month. It’s too much. I’m gonna cancel."

  • Sam Claiborne [03:38]:

    "I cancel."

• Is the Value Still There?
  Per notes that while it’s still a good value for new releases and broad access, the economics start to look questionable compared to simply buying games, especially since you don't own access "forever" like with physical/digital purchases.

• Are We Nearing a Hardware-Free Future for Xbox?
  Justin and Per speculate about whether this move paves the way for a cloud- or app-based model. Fast internet users may already be on board, but hardware loyalty and reliability are still factors.

  • Justin Davis [04:44]:

    "The price point and everything is getting us ready for a post hardware future."

• Poor Messaging & Implementation:
  The sudden, sharp price hike and lack of a gradual, tiered rollout is criticized, especially compared to streaming market techniques used by Netflix and Disney+.

  • Per Schneider [07:42]:

    "There’s the reality of what happened and then there’s the inside baseball of... how it was messaged. Xbox is just like, nope, we’re just doing it."

• Subscriber Exodus Fears:
  The hosts discuss the risks of losing large numbers of subscribers at once and the market dangers of shock price hikes.

• Appealing Alternatives & Suggestions:
  The crew floats ideas like a “voucher” tier (choose 4-5 ‘Day One’ games per year for a cheaper sub, akin to Audible credits), to balance value and flexibility.

  • Ryan McCaffrey’s Suggestion [11:52]:

    "Have your ultimate tier with everything, but make that $20 tier—give people Game Pass and four/five vouchers for Day One games a year. People would plan and gamify their voucher use!"

• Microsoft’s Official Hardware Statement:
  After swirling rumors about hardware’s demise, Microsoft issues a statement affirming “active investment in our future first party consoles and devices” ([20:06]).

---

2. Should Xbox Just Become a Publisher?

Timestamps: 20:32–24:24

• Losing Retailer Support & Consumer Confidence:
  The panel discusses Xbox’s struggle to keep up—Costco and Samsung no longer stock the consoles, and exclusives often appear on PlayStation and Nintendo.

  • Per Schneider [20:39]:

    "Costco, Samsung don’t even stock their consoles anymore... Like, am I going to want to invest in the next one?"

• Publishing vs. Hardware: The Triple Dilemma:
  Sam lays out the three classic business strategies: sell a box and its exclusives (Nintendo/Sony), publish everywhere (Sega now), or run a subscription service (Game Pass). Microsoft is doing all THREE—possibly to its detriment.

  • Sam Claiborne [22:31]:

    "Microsoft is doing all freaking three. Maybe that’s not working because they need to focus on one of them."

• The Industry’s Trajectory:
  Consensus is that Xbox could succeed as a software publisher, but giving up hardware would cede ground to Nintendo and Sony. Game Pass needs “own-hardware” to differentiate itself.

---

3. Gaming’s Most Notorious Business Blunders

Timestamps: 27:00–36:32

• Question Prompt:
  Listener Tony from Irvine asks for examples of famous gaming business mistakes.

• Iconic Failures Discussed:

  • Sega Saturn Surprise Launch (Per) [27:46]:
    Retailers & devs unprepared, allowing Sony to undercut price—“it benefited no one.”

  • PS3 & 3DS Launch Pricing (Justin) [28:24]:
    Sony’s infamous “get a second job”—pricing hubris.

  • N64’s Use of Cartridges (Justin) [28:55]:
    Cost Nintendo major developers like Square, creating the PlayStation powerhouse.

  • Xbox One Reveal (Damon, Sam) [31:46]:
    Always-online, Kinect bundling, “downplaying games” in the initial reveal—alienating core gamers.

  • EA’s “Sense of Pride and Accomplishment” (Damon) [34:32]:
    Battlefront II’s grinding and microtransaction debacle; most downvoted Reddit comment.

  • Konami’s Split with Kojima & PT Cancellation.

  • Other Notables:
    Atari’s game glut, Wii U branding confusion, Wind Waker’s visual shift backlash.

    • Sam Claiborne [33:54]:

      "Xbox is still just this jumble of rectangles that's just trying to sell you stuff. It's so weird."

---

4. Game of the Century Watch: Best of the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii Generation

Timestamps: 36:32–55:15

• Fan Additions:
  Listener Joseph suggests The Sims as a key omission for 2000–2005 ([37:01]). Panel agrees it was a huge mainstream success.

• Roundtable Picks:

  • Red Dead Redemption (Justin) [37:40]:
    "Love GTAs, westerns, and exploring—RDR felt like living in a Leone movie."
  • Skyrim (Per) [38:52]:
    Defining open-world RPG, alive towns, and “decision echoes” that still shape the genre.
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum (Sam) [41:22]:
    "It’s exactly Metroid Prime, but with Batman."
  • Mass Effect 2 (Damon) [42:29]:
    Legendary writing and world-building, branching choices carried from the original.
  • Uncharted 2 (Per) [45:50]:
    The “blockbuster” explosion on PlayStation; perfect set-piece design.
  • Portal 2 (Justin) [48:29]:
    "A comedy game with impeccable puzzles. …Stands as an 11 out of 10."
  • Rock Band (Sam) [51:02]:
    The moment when room-scale social/party gaming peaked.
  • The Last of Us (Damon) [52:35]:
    Near-unanimous contender, though the team debates whether 1 or 2 is superior.
  • Borderlands 2 (Damon) [53:15]:
    "The looter shooter still unmatched."
  • Honorable Mentions:
    Gears of War, Mario Galaxy 2, DS classics, Fallout 3, Bioshock, Halo 3, GTA V, Summer of Arcade titles (Bionic Commando Rearmed, Shadow Complex, Pac-Man Championship Edition).

---

5. Xbox, Nostalgia & Retro Segment

Timestamps: 55:33–56:51

• Xbox Live Arcade’s Disappearance:
  The team bemoans the loss of Xbox Live Arcade, crediting it for so many indie/retro hits in the era. Calls for its return.

• Ghost of Yote Mini-Review:
  All hosts heap praise on the new game’s combat and aesthetic (Assassin’s Creed Shadows comparison, strong samurai vibes).

  • Justin Davis [56:24]:

    "It’s gorgeous... the combat and the feel of the character is so good."

---

6. Video Game 20 Questions: Donkey Kong 64

Timestamps: 60:14–69:22

• The Game: Donkey Kong 64
• Notable Clues: N64-exclusive, Rare-developed, animal protagonists, not conquer or Banjo.
• Classic Quotes:
  • Per Schneider [68:47]:

    "There’s a ROM of this game that adds a button to swap characters on the fly... it increases my score of this game by like two or three points."

  • Sam Claiborne [69:17]:

    "The show’s over. It’s Ferris Bueller. What are you still doing here? Go home."

---

7. Postshow Banter: Cereal, Kids, & American Snacks

Timestamps: 72:15–73:57

• The crew reminisces about the cultural chasm between American cereals and German "muesli," debating whether marshmallow cereals or Crave are more egregiously unhealthy.

---

Memorable Quotes

• Sam Claiborne [03:31]:

  "It's as much as the console. Like, what, for a year? $360 a year, Sam, about that."

• Per Schneider [13:18]:

  "They don’t make it easy to be an Xbox fan."

• Justin Davis [27:28]:

  "Very famous E3 conference... how to lend games to your friends."

• Damon Hatfield [31:46]:

  "Their whole presentation... downplaying the fact that it would play video games and it was more this, like, entertainment device..."

---

Timestamps: Must-Listen Segments

• 03:30–08:58: Game Pass price hike debate, subscription future
• 10:28–12:31: Alternative Game Pass models and value discussion
• 20:06–22:06: Xbox's "we're still making hardware" statement and skepticism
• 27:07–35:36: Worst business decisions in gaming history
• 36:32–55:15: "Game of the Century Watch" mega debate
• 60:14–69:22: 20 Questions: Donkey Kong 64

---

Episode Tone & Style

Lively, argumentative, nostalgic, and laced with signature Game Scoop humor and “scoop!” in-jokes. The IGN crew mixes deep games industry insight with banter, listener mail, and retro callbacks, making the show both informative and entertaining for diehards and casuals alike.

---

Conclusion

Game Scoop! 828 is a sweeping tour through current Xbox turbulence, the evolution and future of subscription models, and the pivotal moments that shaped the modern gaming landscape. Its retrospective on the “Game of the Century” candidates is a must-listen for anyone nostalgic for the console wars of the 2000s. The episode rolls through industry snark, smart analysis, and rare joviality—pun intended.

---

[End of Summary]

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

Microsoft insists it's still committed to Xbox hardware. Plus, Game of the Century watch continues with the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii generation. All that and more coming up on IGN GamesCube after these messages A new era of power has arrived with the Alienware Area 51 gaming laptops, intentionally engineered to push more power to the CPU and GPU for maximum performance. Combined with Intel Core Ultra 9 processors merging CPU and NPU and integrated GPU into an AI optimized chip, it delivers fast, smart and seamless performance across everything you do. And with the new cryo chamber design, Airflow is focused exactly where it's needed most. Fused with Alienware's enhanced thermal solutions, it creates a higher power output without raising noise levels, allowing you to play with confidence even during the most demanding marathon gaming sessions. So no matter what you are playing, Alienware ensures every game runs precisely as its developers intended. A new era of power is here. All all you have to do is take it. Discover Area51 [e-mail] Area51 laptops One in five Americans have learned a new language on their bucket list. If that's you, make 2025 the year you finally check it off with Babbel, the language app that makes grammar fun and is actually worth your time. Learning a language with Babbel is all about small steps, big wins and progress. You can actually track and feel. Their bite sized lessons fit easily into your daily routine and are also easy to remember. Just 10 minutes a day is enough to start see real results. Their courses are designed by over 200 language experts, real human beings to teach you relevant words and phrases you'll actually use so you can start speaking with confidence in as little as three weeks. Babbel lets you practice real life conversation step by step, without the stress. You'll build the confidence to speak up when it matters, from ordering a coffee to chatting with new friends abroad. And Babbel is more than just lessons. They even offer a large collection of podcasts where Babbel experts reveal language secrets and offer an inside look at local cultures. I've used Babbel to brush up on my Spanish before traveling to Mexico and to learn a little Dutch on a visit to Amsterdam earlier this year. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 55% off your Babel subscription at babbel.com Gamescoop get up to 55% off at babbel.com GamesCoop spelled B A B B E L.com GamesCoop rules and restrictions may apply. What's up, everybody? Welcome to IGN gamescoop. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield joined in person here in the fancy studio by Justin Davis Scoop Per Schneider.

[Justin Davis]

Hello.

[Damon Hatfield]

My host and Sam Claiborne is also here.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm on my own fancy studio.

[Damon Hatfield]

Your studio is always fancy, but we got. We got an upgrade. It's like when you're flying and you get a free upgrade to business class or first class. That's what happened.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can tell. It's the game. Scoop logo looks that much sharper.

[Justin Davis]

We're in space. We had to unfortunately remove all the typewriters, but other than that, the studio is pretty good.

[Damon Hatfield]

We joke. We've seen the comments on YouTube.

[Justin Davis]

I don't.

[Damon Hatfield]

I honestly, I swear to you, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't hear it.

[Sam Claiborne]

And you. And we can't hear it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

So that's the weirdest.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nobody is typing. I don't. I honestly.

[Justin Davis]

When I walked into the studio, there was an Olympus typewriter right there.

[Damon Hatfield]

But we do have a great show for this week. We will continue our Game of the Century watch discussion by looking at the 360 PS3 and Wii generation. But first, man, we recorded earlier. We recorded before the news last week that they were. Xbox was raising the price of Game Pass ultimate just a little. No, just kidding. They raised it by 50.

[Per Schneider]

So much.

[Damon Hatfield]

They raised it by a lot. Game Pass ultimate is now $30 a month and it's too much. It's too much. I'm gonna cancel.

[Sam Claiborne]

I cancel.

[Justin Davis]

I was really tempted to cancel.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam canceled. I want to play Outer Worlds and Ninja Gaiden. But after that, that's it.

[Justin Davis]

That's why I didn't get. I'm like, no, October is looking really, really good. So I'm sticking with it. But yeah, at that point, I was just doing the math and I was thinking, what do I buy? What do. And I have a PlayStation 5 as well. Sometimes I get games for the PS5 and. Or the Switch too. And so I was doing the math. I'm like, I don't think I'm getting enough out of it in the end.

[Sam Claiborne]

No. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

And they try to justify it by saying we're adding more games, including 75 Day 1 games next year. It's like they're not giving us more time to play these games. Right? Like, so right now I'm playing Ghost of Yotei. Yeah, that's it. That's all I need. That's.

[Justin Davis]

I'm.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's all I'm playing. I'm not even playing anything on Game Pass right now. So it's like, I think for younger.

[Justin Davis]

People with no gray in their beards, they have a lot of time to play games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

And so then, then it makes sense again.

[Per Schneider]

I wonder how they know it's 75 games.

[Sam Claiborne]

I know. I still don't think it makes sense. This is. It's as much as the console. Like, what, for a year?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's $360 a year, Sam, about that.

[Justin Davis]

The consoles are not that cheap anymore.

[Per Schneider]

I mean, it's still even.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a good way to solve the problem.

[Per Schneider]

Even at $30. Even at $30 a month, it's still a good value for like, okay, like, every game of the year nominee almost is on the service. Like, Silksong was on there day one. Like Blueprint day one. Clar Obscure was on there day one. And like, I'm not a big Call of Duty guy, but like big AAA games like Call of Duty are on their day one. But where, where that. Where that math kind of falls apart a little bit is that, you know, for $360, how many of those games could you have purchased and then you have access to them forever compared to Game Pass of like, you're just renting the right to play them.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's a really good point. I didn't think about it this way too. Like, I've already played so many of these games that, like, it's even less of a good deal for me. Like, yes, the day one games are important. Next year I'd rather be able to select what day one games I play and pay less, for example. But I've already played so many games that, like, having a big library like at my fingertips is actually not appealing to me. Yeah, every. I just want.

[Per Schneider]

Very nice. I do get a little thrill every time I'm like, ooh, I have a hankering to play whatever Stardew Valley. Like, is it on Game Pass? Yes. Like, let's go. That feels good.

[Justin Davis]

Look, we're getting, I mean, the price point and everything is getting us ready for a post hardware future.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right?

[Justin Davis]

Like, there's. There's no question that someday either technology will be so powerful in small devices that you have something that will run your games as well as a standalone device could, like an xbox, namely your phone. I mean, they're getting pretty good or you don't need it because streaming is so fast and lag is so little in the future that you just boot up an app on your TV and that's all you need. We're not there yet.

[Per Schneider]

I like Xbox cloud a lot in my house, but I have fast. I have really fast reliable Internet.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I mean, I've wired Internet too, so it's pretty good. I still feel like there's like something dies inside of me when I'm playing a streaming game. Like, I want to have the hardware run it, but it's sort of outdated thinking. Right. Eventually we'll get to that future. And I think the price point for a company like Microsoft, the price point has to get high enough eventually for the Netflix of gaming to be as lucrative as selling hardware and all of that stuff and selling the games at the same time.

[Damon Hatfield]

But now the Netflix of gaming is considerably more expensive than Netflix.

[Per Schneider]

Not considerably.

[Damon Hatfield]

$10 more.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, well, a game is always more expensive than Netflix.

[Per Schneider]

There's definitely an element of like, they, you know, one of the most expensive acquisitions of all time ever. How many billions of dollars was it for Activision?

[Damon Hatfield]

Like, 69 billion.

[Per Schneider]

A lot. Like, you know, and then. So they paid $69 billion to acquire Activision, one of the biggest takeovers in the history of anything, not just video games. And then we're all surprised. Pikachu face. When Game Pass gets more expensive. It's. I guess, of course this was going to happen.

[Justin Davis]

Like, it's just a big jump like that. The difference here is, like, we are all used to getting that email in our inboxes going, paramount plus. Now, five bucks. I guarantee, like, every single service, if.

[Damon Hatfield]

They raise it a buck or two.

[Sam Claiborne]

I wouldn't.

[Damon Hatfield]

I would say, oh, that's annoying. Whatever, I'll just keep.

[Per Schneider]

And every year. Right. They could have done, like. So there is an element. We've talked about this on the show before. There's the reality of what happened and then there's the inside baseball of, like, how it happened and how it was messaged. And like Netflix says, if you're already a subscriber, your price isn't going to change. But for new subscribers, your cost is going up. And then of course, if you're already a subscriber, you're like. And then in a year or two, they'll be like, oh, yeah, your price is going up too. But like, you know, they like, ease you into things and like, Xbox is just like, nope, we're just doing it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, the worst thing that can happen is you lose a bunch of subscribers really fast. Right? That is the worst metric. That's so scary. And it's so much better to maintain people for a couple more months or Just of all the time. Right. Without them realizing they're renewing. That's the whole thing. I mean this just happened with, with Disney plus. Right. That's why Jimmy Kimmel is probably back on the air. That and a bunch of calls from Brad Pitt to the president of Disney or whatever. Right. But like it is because like it's so scary to see like we're putting all our eggs in the subscription basket and then all of a sudden a bunch of people flee from your subs. Great.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. It's crazy to not.

[Sam Claiborne]

Microsoft didn't reverse it and that they're just riding it out. Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Like the, the service going from 20 to 30 instead of 20 to 22. And then hey, new subscribers, you're going to pay 28 and then have a plan over the next like three years we're going to get the price to like 30 bucks.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like and a tier system. Right. Like you can make a tier. Everybody's like, wow, this is actually the best deal now I don't need to work. No, I know that. But it's crappy and it's like what if they gave people a tier system for what they wanted which is probably to play the big Xbox games for less than $360 a year.

[Justin Davis]

The reason I was surprised at this price hike at this point because you know, again, we are heading towards a sort of hardware free future for console gaming.

[Per Schneider]

I think at least Xbox in the pretty near future.

[Justin Davis]

I think eventually everything is going to be like who wants dedicated boxes? Like you don't run a DVD player anymore, you don't have a Blu Ray player anymore. Eventually these.

[Damon Hatfield]

I have my PS5. That is my Blu Ray player.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, but when are you going to, are you going to buy blu rays in 10 years? Of course not.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right. Maybe not in 10 years, but I am still right now.

[Justin Davis]

But, but what, what I'm surprised with is it feels like we're now in the time where it's all about building your subscription plan to be as big as possible so that you have a captive audience. I remember when I signed up for Xbox Live and it was a huge game changer for me and I started buying all my games on Xbox instead of PlayStation because remember, my friends were right. And so that obviously broke apart as the competition caught up with Microsoft on that front. But right now it feels like it should be the time where you get your subscriber base so big that they so addicted to having this library of games accessible, that convenience that it's harder for them to quit when the Hardware disappears eventually. But that's why this seems so odd to me.

[Per Schneider]

But whatever. There's this halo effect of if you're in the ecosystem and it's your just primary platform of choice, it's like you're also going to rent movies there. Like you're going to do other junk there. Right. And like once you lose that or once you lose like when the reverse can also be true of like they're in real trouble. Like real genuine, like can we still exist trouble if people don't feel like, like if I buy a game on Xbox, am I still going to have access to that game in a decade? Like if, if they lose consumer confidence and faith that the platform is going to be supported at all, then it could all kind of collapse pretty quickly.

[Justin Davis]

The reason they did this is obviously it's not working. Like the monetization model is not working for them. They did a bunch of experiments if you paid attention. Right. It's the oh you get day one games but now they're day minus two games that you can pay extra for.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like they were trying all these different things or you know, a Supreme edition where you pay extra and they were trying to make this work from a, just from a revenue and profit perspective. And I bet it just didn't at that price point. Adding games like Call of Duty with a raised expectations that everything Microsoft now owns has to be day one. I think the model just wasn't working and they had to do something really, really drastic.

[Damon Hatfield]

It also comes right before Call of Duty.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

And there was that report recently I think was Bloomberg that last year they estimated they lost $300 million by. By launching Call of Duty day and day into Game Pass. Yeah right. Real thing they're trying to stop the bleeding there. Ryan McCaffrey had a really good idea that he shared on next gen console Watch this week like have your, your, your premium, your ultimate tier. $30 for everything. 75 day one games. But make that 20 tier you get Game Pass but then you get like a four or five vouchers. You can choose which day one games you get to spend throughout the year. That'd be much a player friendly way to handle audible.

[Justin Davis]

If you buy audiobooks you get that right.

[Per Schneider]

Where one voucher a month.

[Justin Davis]

Right. Like which in the end like I.

[Damon Hatfield]

Said also gamify like gamers love that stuff. They'd be like planning. There'd be a whole subreddit dedicated what.

[Per Schneider]

Are you going to spend your voucher on this month?

[Justin Davis]

Like and I, and I think it would work Especially well with Microsoft because they have cloud streaming and they could let you try a game for 10 minutes. Right. And so that sort of joy of discovery that you have with having access to all these games where you go, like, I don't know if Silksong's for me, but it's part of my subscription plan. Let me try it out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like you could still have that with limited streams with like 10 minutes or even like an hour try out.

[Sam Claiborne]

What you said is that what we're all saying is implying that it's felt like a really too good of a deal for the past couple of years. And we have been saying it's a really good deal. Right, but that's what, that's like. The little bit of positivity that people are granting Xbox all the time is like, well, Game Pass seems like a really good deal and that's squandered like that.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. But now what? It is insane. I mean, that's the thing, right? It's like Xbox is my console of choice this generation. I like the controller more, I like the hardware, I like Game Pass more. Like, I love it, you know, but man, like, they don't make it easy to be an Xbox fan. And like, even at $30, like, whatever. $30 means different things to different people. But like pound for pound, the games that are on the surface, it's probably still a good value and that's probably their rationale for raising the price. But it's just, it's such sticker shock. It's just, it's very hard to get over ordinarily.

[Justin Davis]

Buy 10 games a year for your Xbox, then it's a good deal, right? Yeah, depending on the price point of those deals.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, we ran.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, you see, save half of the. Half the money. So. But then people are screaming at their old timey radios next to their typewriters right now that you can just subscribe for a month and play the new games for 30 bucks, which is cheaper than buying the games that still does exist.

[Damon Hatfield]

Unless it's Silksong they want to play.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Per Schneider]

But.

[Sam Claiborne]

But this month is a good example of like, you know, there's a bunch of things coming on top of like there's like on top of one after another. If you did pay 30 bucks for this month, you'd get, what is it? A keeper and Outer Worlds and Ninja Garden four else you guide. Like that's. That's pretty cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

It's funny. It's like three games. I'm on the fence about like Keeper I definitely want to play, but I was sort of on the fence about outer worlds too. Do I have enough time to play it and all of that. And so I. I like, I'm staying subscribed. If it's 30 bucks for me to try all these all three games, that's fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

And that's what Damon was just saying. But. But there's not a hook like that every month, so you really do have to monitor it. I have in the habit of trimming all of my subscription services. I didn't care for so long, and now I'm like, I haven't watched something on Netflix for six months. What am I doing? Yeah, you know, like, I'm. I'm sick of that now.

[Justin Davis]

I got rid of stuff like, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It'S teaching me to do that.

[Justin Davis]

You know, I got rid of AMC Plus. I canceled PS plus at one point when it went up in price. And then I'm like, man, I had to re.

[Per Schneider]

Add.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I. I should probably cancel PS plus too. I don't know. The last time I played something on.

[Justin Davis]

There, it just renewed for me today.

[Per Schneider]

I'm like, oh, yeah? Well, mine pings the annual renewal. That's 180 bucks or whatever it is. I'm just like.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then I forget to cancel completely. Conversely, Nintendo will hit me for like, whatever. They're 55 bucks a year for the family plan. And I'm just like, I guess so. I don't care. I want to be able to that level. And I was just going to say Xbox live launched at 50 bucks a month or a year.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, Nintendo's additions to Nintendo Switch Online. Bubsy is coming to bumpsy for super nes.

[Per Schneider]

That's.

[Justin Davis]

You should get money back for playing Bubsy. It's just not like a bridge too far.

[Per Schneider]

There's definitely an element like PlayStation in my opinion, is not having a great generation. Right. They're releasing games very few and far between. Just sort of a slow release cadence and the console's expensive and yada yada. And by them just like sitting still and not messing up. It's like they're still winning. They're winning by just like, you know, letting Xbox flounder and not manage to figure out their business model.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, like, they may have released my game of the year, Ghost of Yoshi.

[Per Schneider]

I love it.

[Damon Hatfield]

But like, that's it.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Whereas you look at Xbox just this month, you got in four out of. But then, you know, Doom, the Dark Ages avowed indie. Well, yeah, that was late last year, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're having an incredible year. Also, the Oblivion, the indie dlc.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, we need to stop the podcast for a second because Pear, the joke is that Bubsy says a bridge to fur.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, a bridge to fur. Well, I was saying that it's just my accent.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, can we get this back on the rails now?

[Justin Davis]

Very good. Thank you.

[Damon Hatfield]

If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no bs. Here's why you should say yes to making the switch and getting Premium Wireless for 15 bucks a month. Isn't that right, Seth? I don't know about you, but my local cell phone provider always has signs.

[Sam Claiborne]

Out in front that says, get 45.

[Justin Davis]

New phones for $1. When you sign up with eight new lines for free. And then you go in there and.

[Damon Hatfield]

They'Re like, yeah, here's your dollar. And then there's also this delivery fee, and then there's state taxes, and then it comes out to being exactly how much you were paying before and then even more because they tacked on another.

[Justin Davis]

One for, like, the phone.

[Damon Hatfield]

But that is not going to happen with Mint Mobile. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your ex existing contacts. If I were in the market for a new wireless plan, I'd be looking into Mint Mobile. So, ready to say yes to saying no? Make the [e-mail] Gamescoop that's mint mobile.com Gamescoop Upfront payment of 45 required, equivalent to 15amonth limited time. New customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 30 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. I like to eat healthy. And I really like the idea of starting my day by getting a bunch of healthy nutrients into my body first thing. That's why I started recently drinking an AG1 health drink first thing in the morning. AG1 is a multivitamin, probiotics and a superfood, all wrapped up in a tasty drink that becomes your morning ritual. It's clinically shown to support gut health and fill in common nutrient gaps. With five probiotic strains and more than 75 vitamins and minerals, it feels much more substantial than the multivitamin I used to take. It's super easy to mix up a glass of AG1 along with my morning coffee and I can confirm it tastes way better than the other green juices I've tried. The regular flavor is slightly sweet with notes of vanilla and AG1 also comes in citrus, berry and tropical flavors. AG1 has fit well into my morning routine and if you're health conscious I think it will do the same for you. Head to drinkag1.com gamescoop to get a free welcome kit including a bottle of vitamin D and free AG1 travel packs when you first subscribe. That's drink ag1.com Gamescoop well per you mentioned this no hardware future. The hardwareless future. Cause that's actually what was a rumor was swirling about Xbox last week when they were having their terrible no good bad week. An insider. An insider. Which is one of the most annoying things about video game news.

[Per Schneider]

Reporting insider with air quotes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just some random person on Reddit or YouTube is like I'm an insider and I heard this happen. They're claiming that the the new the response was so bad to the game pass price hike that now they were reconsidering whether or not they would even continue with hardware and have a next gen console. But that forced Microsoft's hand. They released a statement on Sunday. The statement was on Sunday to who was this? To Windows Central. They said we are actively investing in our future first party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, well that you know, there you have it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

That, that sort of. That's not the Xbox Rog X Ally X Xbox X approach that they're taking. Right where that is first party hardware. So it's not like we will have hardware but it's built by Dell. Right. Like this is them actually saying we're still going to have.

[Damon Hatfield]

They say they are.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

But whenever the day comes that they announced that next gen hardware like they just, they have their work cut out for them.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Because now it's two generations in a row they've just been completely stomped. Well Costco, Samsung don't even stock their consoles anymore.

[Per Schneider]

I mean that's kind of what I mean about consumer confidence. Like I'm an Xbox guy. Like I really like my Xbox. It's like when the next one comes out it's like, like am I going to want to buy it? Like am I going to want to invest in it? Like it really like it's hard to dig yourself out of that.

[Justin Davis]

Well, it depends on what's on it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like I always, I mean you buy Xbox for the Power, but the PS5 Pro is more powerful now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

So I think we need to know, is the Xbox going to arrive when all the other hardware is feeling a little long in the tooth? Then you're not going to be able to resist and jump on it. And then the question, like, will every Xbox franchise come to other platforms? Which is, you know, we're seeing Forza Horizon doing really, really well on PlayStation 5, right. Like, what will it look like? Will 6 come within a year as well?

[Damon Hatfield]

That's what it makes me think.

[Justin Davis]

Debut.

[Damon Hatfield]

At the same time they're having such success, like we were saying, with their software releases finally. That makes me think, well, maybe, maybe they should. Maybe they should just become a publisher.

[Sam Claiborne]

But this was the topic of next gen console watch this week, right. We were just.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, it's tangentially related. It's all.

[Sam Claiborne]

Last week is that it was. I can't remember we had this conversation. Yeah, we were good.

[Justin Davis]

There are also rumors that PS5 will be hybrid handhelds.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like Sony's been messing around with a little portal and streaming to it and all of that. And we'll see what happens there. If everybody now has hybrid handhelds, maybe Microsoft's like, well, let's keep developing our standalone home consoles and see.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, Sam, our next gen angle is all about how. Why Xbox does need hardware. And it's because they've. Their whole value proposition is game pass. They have to have their own. Like, they can't just be like game pass for PC. That can't be what game pass becomes.

[Per Schneider]

I think it's cloud.

[Justin Davis]

Why not on PlayStation and Switch 2?

[Damon Hatfield]

And I don't think they'll allow that.

[Sam Claiborne]

But so.

[Justin Davis]

Well, if the hardware is gone, they'll allow it. They let, they let UB do it, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, maybe there's three. Our whole careers there's been three ways to sell games. The one has been you put out a box and then you put out games to sell that box. That's a strategy, right? Another strategy is publish your software on a bunch of platforms. That's another strategy. Dreamcast went into Sega doing that. Right. And then there's the strategy now of subscription services, which is like another way to play games and buy them. Microsoft is doing all freaking three. Like, maybe that's not working because they need to focus on one of them. And like, if you think about it, there is a future in which they could take all their toys and go home and say, we're putting out a console and every company that we have is going to make exclusives for our console. And they would sell a billion consoles because they own Bethesda and they own Activision. And if they really wanted to sell Xboxes, they still have that option. And I'm pretty sure that that makes them feel real good that they have that option.

[Per Schneider]

They betrayed their own. You know, they're kind of like, they own Call of Duty and they own Skyrim and they own this stuff and they own Minecraft. And then they still put it on every other platform, which sort of, you know, a lack of confidence in their own kind of vision. Like we said it when that. When that. When that acquisition closed, if this were happening the other way with Sony acquiring him, there is no chance any of that stuff would be appearing on Xbox. Right. They'd be like.

[Sam Claiborne]

And we see that with Nintendo. Right. And when we were talking about this in our next gen console Watch planning meeting, I was mentioning that Nintendo briefly, really got into iPhone stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they're like, they just put out.

[Justin Davis]

Fire Emblem, Social deduction game.

[Per Schneider]

Really?

[Sam Claiborne]

But they actively pulled stuff. Yeah, they're doing a new Fire Emblem. Yeah. But they actively stopped putting Mario and stuff on there. And like, we thought they were gonna do all this stuff, but they're like, you know, we got a system that we can do this on. We can sell these for 50 bucks over and over again every generation.

[Justin Davis]

But what you're seeing, the other strategy you didn't mention is Nintendo's strange strategy and kind of cool strategy of creating a shell for something, Right. Like you're buying a virtual boy shell. They own that design, the experience, whatever, nostalgia. But they wouldn't need a Switch two for that strategy. That could literally be a phone sitting in that thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right. I know, it's weird, right? Probably better if it was a phone. It'd be lighter on your face.

[Justin Davis]

That's right. Well, I mean, you're just. You're kneeling at it, right. You're not wearing it.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's unclear with the cardboard one, because I think you're supposed to hold it up with the controllers on the side.

[Justin Davis]

The cardboard one you have to hold in front of your head and then your thumbs up. You're using the controllers like this.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wait, is that true?

[Justin Davis]

It is true. It's hilarious. It's like you're wearing giant glasses because.

[Sam Claiborne]

They made that up for Labo already. And Labo has like little novelty temporary games. You play that way. Right.

[Justin Davis]

But yeah, it is not the preferred way to play for them either, because they want to charge you 100 bucks for an empty shell.

[Sam Claiborne]

The fun thing to do with virtual Boy that people that, that never had a Virtual Boy, which is literally a vomit won't know about is that you can put it on your face and lie back on your bed and position pillows just right to play it comfortably like that. And you could just hook up an IV and then you could just play Wario Land for the rest of your life.

[Justin Davis]

Sam, there's nothing fun about Virtual Boy.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm sorry.

[Justin Davis]

I love Nintendo, but like 15 minutes and I get a headache.

[Damon Hatfield]

14 games to be released over time.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what the idea is for. Yeah, it's a cap of morphine and nutrients.

[Justin Davis]

But maybe, maybe some of that was the refresh. Some of it was the refresh of the original display as well. I always assumed it was. That everything was just red.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, it's not. There's no refresh. LCD screens have like amazing refresh comparatively.

[Justin Davis]

So why do you get a headache with Virtual Boy? I don't mean you, I mean every person.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know, it's shooting red light into your eyes. Separately, it ain't great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, okay. In any case, Microsoft, like we said, even though they're having a really great year as a software publisher, they're just for years now, it seems like they're only ever two or three months away from the next big catastrophe. Yeah, the next big rake that they step on. As Ryan McCaffrey, let's check in with listeners.

[Per Schneider]

Hey listeners.

[Damon Hatfield]

Listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address [e-mail] Just like Tony from Irvine did.

[Per Schneider]

Well, hold on.

[Sam Claiborne]

Regular.

[Justin Davis]

What kind of style Tony is that Tony from Irvine. Regular old Tony.

[Damon Hatfield]

Regular ass Tony from Irvine.

[Per Schneider]

Got it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Question for you. With the outrage from the community about the Xbox price hikes, that got me thinking about other questionable business decisions from developers.

[Per Schneider]

Oh, there's been some good ones.

[Damon Hatfield]

Some that come to mind in the past yearish are digital key cards from Nintendo. And then how Sony handled Concord got me thinking. What are some other notable times companies made questionable business decisions that put the company up or the community up in arms? And how'd they play out? Did they end up helping in the long run or did they stick around and we just got used to them? I would love to hear learn more history on these types of situations.

[Justin Davis]

I Mean very famous E3 conference where Microsoft came up with the idea on how to lend games to your friends?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, no, this year PlayStation did this.

[Justin Davis]

Oh PlayStation, yeah, yeah. And then Microsoft reacted to it and said this is how you do it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Aggressive. A public facing dunk. I've ever Seen Sony take on Xbox.

[Per Schneider]

Some console wars, old school console wars kind of stuff. No, there was like, this is, I don't know how much of a deep cut there is, but the example that came to mind to me was Sega surprise launching the Sega Saturn early. And you know, surprise, the Saturn's out now. It's not coming out this fall. But like, none of their development partners were ready with software. And then that allowed Sony to be like, our console is going to be a hundred dollars cheaper in like three months, so just wait and get a PlayStation instead. And it benefited no one. Like, retailers weren't ready, no one was ready. And then it like changed the trajectory of that company. I mean, I don't know, this adder might not have worked anyway, but like.

[Justin Davis]

And then the launch pricing for the 3Ds and the PlayStation 3, right. Like Nintendo gave you an apology pack for Everybody who bought 3Ds for too much money.

[Damon Hatfield]

What was the original price?

[Justin Davis]

I don't remember. It was 9,000, 9,000? No, it was, it was like they dropped it by like 50 bucks, I think. And then you got a bunch of free soup in yes. Games. And then Sony doubled down and said, well, you know, they, they had this.

[Damon Hatfield]

They'll get a job.

[Per Schneider]

You'll want to get a second job.

[Justin Davis]

I gotta get a second job.

[Per Schneider]

US$599.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Per Schneider]

Giant enemy Crab there.

[Justin Davis]

And I, I would also include the Nintendo 64, which was, they had amazing games and great graphics and all of that, but they misread the market and it lost them some of the biggest licensees. Were paying lots of money. Square with Final Fantasy was a huge moneymaker during the Supanes days. And Square went to a competitor and Nintendo's decision created the PlayStation in many ways.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like they probably would have gotten Tomb Raider on their machine and everything else.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I can walk it back from there. So the Super Nintendo was a hugely controversial system. People don't remember this really, but it's because parents really wanted their kids to be able to play their damn NES games on it. And it was in the news and it was every apparently. And Nintendo at the time had like weird excuses and stuff for it, but it was totally possible to put a, you know, an adapter or a chip or something to play an NES came into Super NES. Like it was 100% a decision to get people just to suck it up and buy the new system. And that was a classic one. And then, you know, famously, Atari made the interesting decision to just put out like just one shitty game after another. For its entire life cycle until people five years into it were like, like, this sucks. This thing sucks.

[Justin Davis]

You also remember the video games, Remember the hardware iterations. Atari kept on redesigning the console and doing a new one and a new one and a new one.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was after they crashed the market because they were just trying to get back into it. But by 1983, they just put out a really bad Pac man and a really bad ET game and a really bad series of other arcade ports. And people were like, screw this.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And competitors like Intellivision, Coleco kept making better sports games as well.

[Per Schneider]

And.

[Justin Davis]

And Atari was sort of caught flat footed there. I mean, it feels like every company in the history of gaming has done some stuff. Nintendo created a machine called the Wii U. Yeah, I don't know if you know about that. One day.

[Damon Hatfield]

I've never heard of it.

[Justin Davis]

Few people know about it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Sounds like an accessory for the Wii.

[Justin Davis]

It's. You don't want to tell your friend that you own a Wii U. Like it's not. It's brand, it's confusing. And then everybody's like, it's so cool. I can take games with my.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, no, no.

[Justin Davis]

Disconnected.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Playdate's still clean, right? They got a clean record.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

The play date's fine.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

The playdate has not stepped on a rake.

[Justin Davis]

Playdate is perfect.

[Per Schneider]

It's got Root Bear.

[Sam Claiborne]

They should make a little stepping on rake game for it where you crank that rake up into people's faces.

[Justin Davis]

Sega tried to get at Nintendo by, by pushing that. Their handhelds didn't have color for the longest time, if you remember back then. But like that didn't work. Everybody just loved Tetris on the game.

[Per Schneider]

Nobody cared.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, and the battery life was so bad.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. You can paint on your Wii, uh, and play board games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

All these things.

[Justin Davis]

I have a few more.

[Sam Claiborne]

So little of this came to fruition with the Wii U stuff they're showing here.

[Damon Hatfield]

You know, I have a few more recent examples. So like Xbox is actually. No, this has happened a few times. The Xbox One reveal, the whole reveal of the console.

[Justin Davis]

I'll remember it.

[Per Schneider]

So have you ever seen an avatar's foot? Bam.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, that one. Okuro Tsunoda had his twisty feet.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that's when they. The Kinect, it was going to be always online. It was connecting be bundled with the Kinect had to be always online. You couldn't sell or trade your games. And their whole presentation where they're revealing the Xbox One, they're really downplaying the fact that it would play video games and it was more this, like, entertainment device that would be in the center of your entertainment console. You'd plug your cable TV into it.

[Sam Claiborne]

And you use Connect to operate Xbox on. Yeah, on Xbox.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then, like, executives were, like, hostile towards fans who were like, you know, who were bothered by the fact that he had to be online all the time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Had to have one of them said, Adam Orth.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is that his name?

[Sam Claiborne]

He said.

[Damon Hatfield]

He, like tweeted out them. Get over it.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, no, it was. It's that sort of art of pissing off the community is almost lost. Thank you. Thank you, Borderlands.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you, Randy.

[Justin Davis]

Still working on that one.

[Sam Claiborne]

All this, the hubris is what causes us, right? It's always after the Xbox 360.

[Damon Hatfield]

After the PS2.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, after the PS2. And then of course after the Wii U. Like, it's funny, it's built up so much. And that happened with Sega a little bit too, after the Genesis, Right. They just never really found their ground.

[Damon Hatfield]

They have a successful generation. They go, we can do anything we want. They'll eat it up.

[Per Schneider]

If you're a younger gamer, you've only seen Xbox on the back foot, and it's hard to, you know, it's easy to forget that the Xbox 360 was the biggest thing. And it was. And it was really good. Like, it deserved. Like it was deservedly in the top spot.

[Justin Davis]

People are so used to some of the quality of life stuff in the Xbox 360, if you hit the jewel on your controller, a menu would instantly appear and let you do stuff like.

[Per Schneider]

Your friends and like, there's an operating system in a console that was all.

[Justin Davis]

New so fast, whereas in every other system it was. It had to be done in software in the game, or it was really, really slow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember Blades? Yeah. The best operating system they'd ever had. It's so much worse still. Xbox is still just this jumble of rectangles that's just trying to sell you stuff. It's so weird.

[Per Schneider]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't really like the current Xbox interface. Star Wars Battlefront 2, even before release, it was in early access and they had these pay to win loot boxes that people didn't like. And then even if.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was also ea, right? EA had already pissed people off with.

[Justin Davis]

Mass effect and SimCity had to be always on and then crashed on day one and nobody could play it.

[Damon Hatfield]

But with Battlefront ii, they had these hero characters that were locked. You had to grind to get them. And it would take like 40 hours to grind to unlock something like Darth Vader.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. It is the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.

[Damon Hatfield]

If I remember right, I have the comment here. So people were complaining about it on Reddit and EA's community team responded by saying it was intended to give players a sense of pride and accomplishment. And at least as of 2017, that was the most downvoted comment on all of Reddit.

[Justin Davis]

Really? That's amazing. That's. Horse armor, obviously was a big one too, but. Oh, sweet children, if only we had known. Paying for, like, shoes now.

[Per Schneider]

Well, the irony is that horse armor is now like, the preferred way to do. Oh, it's only cosmetic. Great. Like, I love that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

A couple more quick ones. I don't know if you remember this one. Street Fighter Cross Tekken. That's the one. The game, the disc shipped with paid DLC on the disc. Once you bought the game, you had the disc that drives people. You had to pay extra to unlock the DLC characters.

[Per Schneider]

I think there were other games. I think there were unlock codes. It was like a conspiracy theory of like, is this DLC just unlocking something else?

[Justin Davis]

It was an entire.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it still is for a while.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Usually true.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then Konami is very public, split with Kojima and then canceling pt and that was ugly. Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I also remember when Nintendo showed this cool Zelda game demo and everybody was hyped up and said GameCube is going to be the best ever. And then they showed Wind Waker and an entire one entire Internet lost its collective mind. Everybody was so mad.

[Damon Hatfield]

I liked Wind Waker the moment I saw it.

[Justin Davis]

Everybody likes it now for sure.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. But it was a controversy for a long time.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was sold this demo, though, you know, like, look at it. It's like. That's not what you're getting, though.

[Per Schneider]

Nope.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then that Twilight Princess tried so hard to get back to this. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

This looks so bad.

[Per Schneider]

It looks funny now. Right?

[Justin Davis]

There's a Wii U one too, where Link fights the Gohma, like the spider as well, which was never made into a game. So Nintendo's done this. Nintendo's done this a few times.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Some.

[Damon Hatfield]

Look at some classic video game controversies. Okay. Game of the Century Watch. Last time we were looking at the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube generation. So the nominees that we've mentioned so far, per. Just to catch up, up to speed. We did Perfect Dark because we were including late N64 games. Anything after 2000. Perfect Dark, Metroid Prime, Half Life 2 Knights of the Old Republic, Shadow of The Colossus, Resident Evil 4, Castlevania, Aria of Sorrow, World of Warcraft, Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy 10, Halo 2, and GTA San Andreas.

[Justin Davis]

Good stuff.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Joseph wrote in to say you guys covered pretty much everything from 2000 to 2005, but forgot the Sims.

[Per Schneider]

Ah.

[Damon Hatfield]

And.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, yeah, that's a good.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's a blind spot for me. I don't play the Sims and I also. I don't know, I think it's a pretty casual audience. I don't know what the overlap is between the Sims and Halo 2.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, Sims 1, 2 and 3 was that generation.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

And now 4 has been every generation since.

[Justin Davis]

It'll be for 10 more years.

[Sam Claiborne]

Three Pets was like a GameCube release.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. You know, until Rene arrives. Sims is great. So that's a very. I'd say it's a valid, worthy late addition.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Beginning into this 360ps3we generation pair. I know you came prepared. What's your first pick?

[Justin Davis]

My first pick is Red Dead Redemption.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Justin Davis]

That was such a. I love Grand Theft Auto. I love open world games in general. I love Westerns. I grew up watching them with my dad. He would let me stay up late on Saturday nights and Germany Westerns would be at like 10:15 in the evening on a Saturday. And because Western's gonna be long, those.

[Damon Hatfield]

Old Westerns are children television.

[Justin Davis]

You had to show up at a certain, certain time, otherwise it was gone.

[Per Schneider]

Y.

[Justin Davis]

And so I watched all the old Ford Westerns, Leonis Spaghetti Westerns, all of that with my dad. And playing this game was like going right back to that era. And I just love the sort of. The pacing. I like games where I get to explore and like Red Dead was like all of that. And then there's a bad part to it. Like, you know, I think RDR2 is better. There's Mexico in this game that slows everything down. But then it ends so well, that whole prologue. So good.

[Per Schneider]

Good.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's got a really good story. John Marsden's great. Then they also did, you know, the End of Nightmare part of it too.

[Per Schneider]

Which is probably the best dlc.

[Damon Hatfield]

Great. Amazing, great gunplay. We showed a little bit of it earlier.

[Sam Claiborne]

The.

[Damon Hatfield]

The dead eye, like the slow motion stuff is really good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Total Clint Eastwood moment there. Right. Like with a multi shot.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's on my shirt list. Justin, how about you?

[Per Schneider]

My first pick would be Skyrim The Elder Scrolls 5. I almost said 4. Nope, it's 5. No. I don't know. I kind of don't even know where to start, Right. Like, a really unmatched sense of exploration. There's a reason that Skyrim is still around and still getting played 15 years later. Well, that reason is that it's so moddable, but, like, no, I mean, there's trade offs, right? Like, there's an argument to be made that Morrowind to Oblivion to Skyrim is sort of like dumbing down each step of the way. But I think that it makes the game really accessible and really, you know, I thought that the combat system, like, people give it a hard time for being very basic, just sort of like swinging your sword. But my memory of that game is like, I had a lot of fun with the options for my character build. Like, I can be stealthy and I can use a bow and arrow or I can be. I was always like, I was sword and board for a while on that game, and then I was sword in one hand and magic in the other hand for a while.

[Justin Davis]

No, I mean, the towns are alive, right? Like, the people do their own things and you can disrupt them in doing so.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's.

[Justin Davis]

It really was.

[Per Schneider]

It's a little bit hard. I mean, I made the same comment with some of the games. I was talking about the first game of the quarter, game of the century Watch. But, like, a lot of the stuff that was so amazing in Skyrim is more common now, but it felt less common and felt like a bigger deal when this was coming out. That, like, there's an actual economy in the game world and you can steal from people and then the characters will react to you if they catch you doing that. And, you know, you could be thrown in jail and then break out of jail. Like, you know, this is very sort of bog standard open world RPG stuff, but, you know, it's like that now because Skyrim set the tone that's still being, you know, followed and often not lived up to 15 years later. People want, like, this, the feeling of, like, people want to recapture that feeling of being in that world for the very first time. And every Elder Scrolls game has that moment where it lets you loose. You're out of the prologue and the tutorial. It's like, oh, man, what? Like, do it north, south, east or west. I can go wherever I want, do whatever I want. Like, Elder Scrolls games still do it better than almost any other game. And so it is hard. It is one of those things. Like, I tried to go back to Skyrim and like, you kind of can't go back again. Like, it was. It was of its Time. But, like, yeah. So, you know. But it's definitely earned its place on sort of the video game Mount Rushmore, for sure.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I would agree. That's on my short list as well. All right, Sam, your first pick.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll do Arkham Asylum.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, that's on my list too. We're all in agreement here.

[Justin Davis]

God love it.

[Sam Claiborne]

So good. I'm not trying to troll people, but I legit think that Arkham City sucks. So, like, I think that Asylum is a really, really great Metroid game. And Arkham City ruined everything I liked about it. Wow.

[Justin Davis]

I like City as well. But Asylum is so compact.

[Sam Claiborne]

At least City has, like, cool moments and good combat and stuff still.

[Justin Davis]

But the flying around is cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

The reason for it being set in Arkham is so cool. And it takes place over this one evening, and the glimpses you get into the Batman universe are all part of the setting. It is exactly Metroid Prime. That is why Metroid prime works.

[Justin Davis]

It's the second best Metroid prime game so far.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. It's like, can you put Batman on an alien planet? Probably not. This works just as well. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I totally agree. It's my favorite Arkham game because of the die hard rule. It just works better to keep it contained in one basic area.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love this game.

[Per Schneider]

Oh, man. So good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. I think my first pick would be Mass Effect 2.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Ooh.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Generation big game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Some of the best writing and, like, characters in all of gaming. And, like, the structure of it, how. It's a suicide squad. You're going on a suicide mission, you have to build your team, and then you go on the loyalty quest.

[Per Schneider]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

That determines who survives in the end. It's just such a.

[Justin Davis]

Like a cool, clever samurai.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That works too. Yeah, it's good.

[Per Schneider]

Well, and you know. Yeah. Sound like a broken record. Like, this idea that's less new now, but, like, your choices from the first game carried over like, it was insane. Yeah. It was completely nuts that it would read your save game and, like, characters that you were close with or characters that were alive or dead or, like, moral choices you'd made were reactive and included in the sequel. Like, that was unbelievable.

[Justin Davis]

And it.

[Per Schneider]

It.

[Justin Davis]

It had such a unique look too.

[Per Schneider]

Right.

[Justin Davis]

Like, you could, like, a lot of things start to look the same in the sci fi genre, but this one, like, Mass Effect, just after the first game, like, you felt like you lived in this universe and you knew it and, like, that you knew the alien creatures and the lore.

[Per Schneider]

The lore is so good. Like, Just the reason why, you know, like, just with the. I'm such a fake fan, I can't remember their name. The. The Mass Effect relays, I guess that's what they're called. Right? Like. Like the reason why only certain pockets of space are explored and the rest is unexplored. Like I thought. I thought the world design and alien design and politics of how they interacted with each other was just so, so great. And the combat was really improved too. It was much better than what was in One.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Especially kind of the mixture of magic skills with your attacks. Like, it felt really good to just run around and kick butt in the game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like, all the rough edges of the first one were rounded off. But this is the first one that came from ea, right? The first one was Microsoft.

[Per Schneider]

Is that true?

[Damon Hatfield]

And I think this was EA.

[Per Schneider]

I think EA and BioWare.

[Justin Davis]

Maybe we don't remember.

[Per Schneider]

No one can remember.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. And the orange overlay stuff, the holographic stuff, like every. I mean, it's such a cool world. And the music.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's weird how they took all the characters from the first game and made you a duplicate of them and then kind of introduced those characters again, only as side quest characters. Like, there was like. Like a different Krogan who's exactly the same as the first Krogan. A different Asari. Is that what they're called?

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, they did. So, you know, the choice. I praise the game for respecting your choices, but it did have some narrative side effects of like, you know, weird stuff with who your companions were gonna be. But I mean, it's still. I mean, it totally works.

[Justin Davis]

It tricked you into feeling like you had impact. It's. It's a little bit like the Walking Dead game, right? Like Telltale.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think the romance was fun in this, you know, now there's a lot of games that have like, like these romance choices and it's part of things like this basically started that, you know, like, it just like. And it was complicated and everybody had a different situation and like, you know, to get. It wasn't just like, it wasn't gamified in like the same way that like, you know, Stardew Valley is where like everybody has six gifts. They just different. It's like there was. There was like, I believe, a romance scene with the secretary that you had to work really hard to get to work through the whole game on. That might have been three, but. But the point is, is that the. The romance was very silly.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. I'm a space racist. Are you A space racist too. All right, let's go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is that Ashley?

[Per Schneider]

I think so.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think that's right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it was whoever you saved, Kaiden or Ashley.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, let's. Let's teach you one more. Pick pair.

[Sam Claiborne]

So.

[Justin Davis]

I love a lot of the Nintendo games that came out of in this generation. We obviously just got a re release of a double pack of the ones that debuted in this generation. But I'm going to have to go back to PlayStation one more time. And that's Uncharted 2. Yeah, I think Uncharted 2 as a sort of game concept, everybody was going open world and choice and stuff. And this one was. It was firmly linear, story driven, but in a way that just felt like, I don't know, it felt like the acting, the way everything was unfolding and building was just so much better than every other game. Like Uncharted 2 still is one of my favorites in the series. Right. Obviously they get more advanced later and have some mini exploration areas. But Uncharted 2 set pieces are freaking amazing. Gets bogged down a little bit with the shooting and he is a mass murderer. The game never earns the sort of like, why are we killing so many people? But man, it felt like playing Indiana Jones for the really, for the very first time.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're doing it because they want your treasure pair. They want your treasure.

[Justin Davis]

I know that's not okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's why that's not okay. They're not Nazis in this game.

[Damon Hatfield]

And that was. It was a time when the Tomb Raider franchise was kind of like down because before the reboot and it was after, you know, there was like Revelations, the Lara Croft Chronicles or all that stuff.

[Sam Claiborne]

It.

[Justin Davis]

And like it's just sort of. Everybody was experimenting with sort of the, you know, emerging mechanics, like, you know, trying to create a different experience for different players, for every different player. And this game is like, nope. Yeah, you know, it is scripted, but it's like the best scripting you can get in a game.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, it's not like Uncharted 2 is not that revolutionary. Right. But the triple A, like summer movie blockbuster, but as a video game, like it just did it perfectly.

[Justin Davis]

You know what we take for granted too is this game's cutscenes are while you walk. Right. Like the dialogue is natural as you explore. And a lot of games would have ground you to a halt, switch to a pre rendered sequence or something. This just does it in game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Red Dead did that too. And if you got far away from somebody on a horse, they would Start shouting instead of just talking. Yeah, so like everything was recorded twice, which is like insane.

[Justin Davis]

That's amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

This was the generation when PlayStation earned its reputation as being like the premier AAA prestige.

[Per Schneider]

They're still making this game. I mean, kind of making it. Well, no, they're more open world open now. But yeah, third person action three shook.

[Sam Claiborne]

Out to be my favorite just because I like the set pieces better. But obviously the whole trilogy. One is pretty janky now, but two and three are pretty great.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, two is amazing.

[Per Schneider]

Okay, Justin, is this the right. Because Portal 2. This generation. Portal 2 is this generation. Then it's got to be Portal 2.

[Damon Hatfield]

Same year as Skyrim.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. You know, Portal is incredible, right? And spawned a whole generation of memes and kind of gamer culture stuff. And then they followed it up. Like they followed up a 10 out of 10 game with another 10 out of 10 game.

[Damon Hatfield]

11 out of 10. 10 off the charts.

[Per Schneider]

11 out of 10 off the charts. I think it's. It's very funny, you know, like what an interesting comment. Like it's a comedy game, which there's not that many of. But also the puzzles are really smart and really clever and how not to get too like navel gazy. But like how do you design a puzzle that like you feel really smart and it's hard and the puzzle doesn't solve itself. You have to work at it. But then this game still has to be completable and beatable by the masses. Right. And like that is not an easy thing to do. And the game keeps introducing new concepts as you go. It introduces. I mean, I haven't played it in a long time, so I can't remember. Yeah, I can't remember the terminology now, but like the bouncy paint and like the other things that it introduces, like it feels like it just is a boundless well of like. Like I would just play these portal rooms, you know, forever. I'd just be happy to never stop while playing it.

[Justin Davis]

I was always struck, like I went from. From being amazed, like feeling good that I solved a puzzle and feeling really special and going like nobody else will be able to figure this out. To how did they test this and design this? Because they give you so much freedom. And then it all culminates in what I think is one of the best ending sequences of any game. It's just like when you get to that last moment, which I'm not gonna spoil here, because you should really play this game, it feels like they had that idea and then created a game.

[Per Schneider]

And then it sets you up. Like, if you do play through the game, they kind of foreshadow it. They're planting the seed of like, you know, there's way. I won't spoil it either, but way. Earlier in the game, Cave Johnson has voiceover dialogue about moondust and how the portal walls are made of moon dust. And you're like, oh, these guys that made this game are very, very smart.

[Justin Davis]

It's like an unusual suspect moment where I went like, oh, my God. And then I laughed out loud.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, yeah, it's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Plus there's that single player campaign, then.

[Per Schneider]

The whole co op campaign part of the same game.

[Unidentified Advertiser/Guest]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And then they were about to tie it together with Half Life and then. No, we haven't gotten anything since. Nope, Nope.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, there's Half Life, Alex, but the VR game. Okay. Sam, your next pick.

[Sam Claiborne]

My next pick. I mean, this is really tough. So I'm going to go with Rock Band.

[Justin Davis]

Wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

There you go.

[Justin Davis]

Totally forgot.

[Sam Claiborne]

So that I think, you know, out of all the music games, Rock Band, you know, brought back more instruments, stuff like that. Like Guitar Hero is fine, but like it was the room of friends playing Rock Band era that. It's kind of like that Pokemon Go moment where it's like everybody was having fun doing something in the world together and it just. Wii Sports is a little bit like that too, for a while. Right. Like, that's important stuff. You know, it's important to have these, like big cultural moments about games. But what's really funny about this is it's related to some of the things we're talking about that there was so much happening within Rock Band and releasing songs for Rock band rock band 2 and stuff that like the Portal theme song was just released as maybe free, but it might have been paid, like content like you pay for pay for that song. Add to the game. Stephen Colbert, as on the Colbert Report, had a song called you're Right Behind Me Now. I'm right behind you Now. Charlene just released it in Rock Band.

[Per Schneider]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

I forgot about that.

[Per Schneider]

Every week there'd be a drop of like, like, here's the 12 new songs in Rock Band this week.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And you could decide, like, is this Is my crew gonna like this? You didn't have to like the songs, but are the people that you play Rock Band with. And I played Rock Band with friends. Like, like a lot of friends. Like every Friday, you know, like, it was crazy.

[Justin Davis]

Every party for a while had a setup. Our office had a permanent setup. It was just everywhere. Yeah, that's A good one.

[Damon Hatfield]

That is a really good one. Okay. There's. You guys hit almost every game that I want to hit on. I want to end on two. The first one. I don't know what else needs to be said about the last of us.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, the last of us is the other one. I was gonna go there next. Yeah. I just like two better because one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my gosh.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh no.

[Justin Davis]

Oh man. I feel like two gameplay wise is such a nice step up, whereas one is a more compact, good story.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

I guess I see your point there. Yeah. I mean I just prefer this Arkham issue. I feel like the first one is such a great story that didn't really need a follow up. And the second one is just. It's a feel bad story. Like nothing good comes out of that entire story.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, it's.

[Justin Davis]

Well, one is such a happy story.

[Per Schneider]

Well, a little bit more traditional action adventure kind of like.

[Damon Hatfield]

So yeah, Last of us. And then I would actually throw in Borderlands 2.

[Justin Davis]

That was great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like the big looter shooters.

[Per Schneider]

They have not done it better.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't think anyone has done it that.

[Justin Davis]

No, that was incredible. Like as a four player game, we kept going back to and it. It started it. It started every developer trying their luck at a game like this. I mean, I would toss in Mario Galaxy 2, right. Like this is the generation that gave us Twilight Princess and two Mario Galaxy games. Nonsense. Until three gets announced next year, of course, to coincide with a movie.

[Sam Claiborne]

But like I tried hard to bring. That's. That's the Wii game. But I tried to bring in like a DS game and I can't come.

[Per Schneider]

Up with one that I'd bring in my.

[Justin Davis]

Like, might we include DS in that generation? There's a lot on ds.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think it is probably that generation, but yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it is. Yeah. It's like scribble knots maybe. Like that was a big one.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's is good.

[Per Schneider]

My honorable mention speed round would be Gears of War. Like, you know, shooters were one thing and then Gears of War came out and shooters were a different thing thing after that. So, you know, and the multiplayer. I spent many, many, many hours.

[Justin Davis]

This generation has so many, so many giant hits. Like there's just a lot on those machines.

[Sam Claiborne]

I know I have, I have honorable mentions. One of my honorable mentions is not BioShock, but somebody should have mentioned BioShock.

[Justin Davis]

That one too.

[Sam Claiborne]

We messed up Fallout 3, which I think is Bethesda's best game. Which one?

[Justin Davis]

Fallout three.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. Yeah, I just like it better. I personally like it better than Spiderman GTA.

[Justin Davis]

We didn't really say GTA.

[Sam Claiborne]

5 GTA.

[Justin Davis]

5 GTA feels like it's on every console, but.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then Halo 3, which I think is. I mean, we talked about Halo a lot last week, but boy, what a game. And then Damon, I think we just have to. Just because this is game Scoop mentioned Bionic Commando rearmed the summer of. What was it called?

[Damon Hatfield]

Summer of Arcade.

[Sam Claiborne]

Summer Arcade.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Good times.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, Shadow Complex. There's so many good games in that generation.

[Damon Hatfield]

Pacman Championship Edition.

[Justin Davis]

Pacman Championship Edition. That's amazing.

[Damon Hatfield]

Even that Castlevania game. Sam, the multiplayer Castlevania game was awesome.

[Sam Claiborne]

The one that zoomed in and out.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. What a weird game.

[Sam Claiborne]

That one was crazy.

[Justin Davis]

Trauma Center. I'm just kidding.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, actually, DS has several Castlevanias. I love Ecclesia. And that's true. Several Zelda stuff.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I mean, Spirit Tracks is pretty cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's what Xbox could do to win back some. Some favor with his fans. Bring back Xbox Live or bring back. Yeah, just Xbox Live Arcade. Call it Xbox Live Arcade again. I don't know why that ever had to go away. So in case you couldn't tell, I love this game. It has nearly limitless replayability since you're always trying to beat your friends. Scores. The retro arcade gameplay is perfect. The presentation is fantastic, and more ghosts mean more fun. In other words, get this game as soon as you can. For more on Pac Man DX, head over to IGN.com all right, I wanted to get Pair's thoughts on Ghost of Yote, but we're running out of time, so just give us thumbs up, thumbs down.

[Justin Davis]

Love it.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Oh, my God, it's so. It's so pretty. And I played Assassin's Creed Shadows. I feel like they're different. Apart from the similarities with the story, they feel very, very different. It's just like the combat and the feel of the character is so good.

[Per Schneider]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

Like, oh, man. Yeah, it's. It's gorgeous.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I'm still playing it.

[Justin Davis]

I love just walking around playing Shamisen. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like a badass, I'm putting it. Yeah. That looks really cool when you stride.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And the songs are good, too. They're kind of good catching songs. I'm still playing it three hours a night. And I'm playing other games right now. I just. I just make sure to get in my yote.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Every. Everything that she does just looks so cool.

[Justin Davis]

The standoffs, like, the way that feels. Right. Like, we brought up Arkham Asylum and the Arkham Games have such good combat. Like it feels good when you punch somebody. This is the sword version of that, right? Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

If your cat could talk, they'd tell you they want a litter upgrade. If you're not buying single ply toilet paper for yourself, why are you giving your cat outdated kitty litter? Litter make their bathroom experience better for both of you. With Pretty Litter, it's soft on their paws, stays fresher longer, and it's easy to maintain. Not just a Pretty Litter Pretty Litter is nice on the eyes, but it's so much more than that. Pretty Litter helps monitor your cat's health, detecting abnormalities in your cat's urine by testing acidity and alkalinity levels and showing the visible presence of blood. Pretty Litter ships free right to my door. It's non toxic and household friendly. Plus it's low dust, controls odors, and lasts for up to one month. That odor control is no joke by the way. The previous brand of cat litter I used was also low odor, but Pretty Litter makes odor virtually nonexistent. Pretty Litter's non clumping formula traps odor and moisture. It's ultra absorbent. Both me and my cat Same like Pretty Litter a lot. At a glance I can see that Same is looking healthy. Oh, Same is Gray with a white belly and her name is Japanese for shark. Pretty Litter helps keep your house smelling fresh and clean. Try it for yourself right now. Save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy at Pretty Litter.com GamesCube that's PrettyLitter.com GamesCoop to save 20% on your first order AND get a free cat toy. Prettylitter.com GamesCoop Pretty Litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases. A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details.

[Unidentified Advertiser/Guest]

If you've shopped online, it's extremely likely that you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes the process from I think I'm ready to buy to I can't wait till it gets here. So incredibly easy. That's Shopify and there's a reason so many businesses sell with it because Shopify makes it easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. It gives you a leg up from the very beginning with hundreds of beautiful ready to go templates to express your brand style so you don't have to spend time coding a website. Shopify allows you to tackle all the important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. Plus, they have built in marketing and email tools to help find and keep new customers so you can easily spread your brand's word. And did I mention that iconic purple shop pay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world? It's the reason why Shopify has the best, best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already know it, love it, and actually use it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com realm. Go to shopify.com realm shopify.com realm.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, Ghost of Yote. That brings us to video game 20 questions. And our suggestion this week comes from Alex C. In central New York. And Alex C. Says unless the archives are incomplete, no redacted has ever been featured on 20 questions. I am shocked. Oh, I'd recommend remedying this with my personal favorite, redacted.

[Per Schneider]

What are the. What are the redacted words?

[Justin Davis]

Almost Moba.

[Per Schneider]

Shmup. Yeah. Okay. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s or 90s?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

If you were to go to a bar daemon you personally and you met somebody there and you would say, do you want to come over to my place and play this game? What would be your percentage? Your. Your success percentage at. At going home?

[Damon Hatfield]

That's not a yes or no.

[Sam Claiborne]

S.B. yes or no.

[Justin Davis]

Would it be. Would your success chance be very, very low?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes. Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. That's what I'm trying to get. So it's not pushmo.

[Per Schneider]

Nope. Not pushmo.

[Damon Hatfield]

If I asked a woman that I'd. She'd be very. She'd be like, please stop talking to me.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. Yeah, that's okay.

[Per Schneider]

But what if it was a cool looking dude?

[Damon Hatfield]

He might. I might have success with the goal I can do.

[Justin Davis]

So it's not Rock Band.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. No, not Rock Band.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not rock band 20 years ago.

[Justin Davis]

I'm trying to figure out, like, if it's a genre you haven't featured yet. And I have not listened to everything.

[Damon Hatfield]

Literally anyone would be weirded out if I went into a bar and asked if they wanted to come home and play this game.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, good, good.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what. There was a line. There was a line on Gen V the other week that was like, like we could they're like talking about going on a date to two characters. And then they're like, well, maybe we could just go back and play League of Legends. I'm like, that's not how League of Legions work.

[Per Schneider]

Do you see the Days of our Lives?

[Damon Hatfield]

I heard about it. Xenoblade.

[Per Schneider]

There's the soap opera, right? Like just the daytime choice. I have to leave. Do you want to go back into my apartment? You can play Xenoblade Chronicles while you wait. And she's like, okay.

[Justin Davis]

Out of all games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Out of all games.

[Per Schneider]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's exactly. What was the first question that you got, Justin?

[Per Schneider]

70S, 80s or 90s. And the answer was yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it's.

[Justin Davis]

It's old, which is a. I mean, it's. It's not going to be a moba.

[Per Schneider]

Do you. Do you pilot a ship or vehicle in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, it's not.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did this originally come out as an arcade game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, is. Is it a puzzle game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. That's five.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this a console exclusive? Yes.

[Per Schneider]

Was it exclusive to a Nintendo console?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Justin Davis]

70S, 80s, or 90s. So we're talking about 80s or 90s.

[Sam Claiborne]

I had to have come out on a cartridge because it wasn't a.

[Per Schneider]

Was it Exclusive to the NES?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Per Schneider]

Oh, SNES.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Justin Davis]

70S, 80s and 90s. You got one more.

[Per Schneider]

I mean, this handheld. N64.

[Damon Hatfield]

N64. That's 10.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Pew. I got briefly worried that it was Mario Teaches typing.

[Per Schneider]

Yep. We would have been hoes.

[Justin Davis]

Have you guys ever had a racing game on the show in 20 questions?

[Per Schneider]

Nobody knows.

[Sam Claiborne]

We've never even heard of nobody know what? We just racing it. What are you talking about?

[Justin Davis]

I was hoping it was going to be typing of the did, but were.

[Sam Claiborne]

There racing games in the Nintendo 64?

[Justin Davis]

Beetle adventure races, wave race, F0X.

[Per Schneider]

So N64 exclusive. Do we know? I don't think we know really much. And it didn't come out in arcades. That's all we know.

[Damon Hatfield]

You don't pilot a vehicle and Damon.

[Per Schneider]

Cannot use it to pick up men or women.

[Justin Davis]

No, cannot.

[Damon Hatfield]

Probably not.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does this game have. Are the characters generally voice acted in this game?

[Justin Davis]

N64.

[Sam Claiborne]

I know. That's why I make it school.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Do you consider. What. Do you consider Banjo Kazooie to be voice acted?

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess I'll give you answer.

[Damon Hatfield]

I guess I give you a freebie.

[Justin Davis]

Banjo Kazooie. Is they good voice? This is a bad question. You gotta rephrase it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, we'll drop the question. But like perfect. Dark is fully voice acted. All those other games have a bunch of grunts.

[Per Schneider]

Was this game made in Japan?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Per Schneider]

Ooh. N64 exclusive. Not made in Japan. I don't know what to do with that. I mean, I guess it could be a rare game.

[Justin Davis]

It could be. I guess you're right. It's not that it's a genre we haven't covered. It could be a developer.

[Per Schneider]

Maybe we've never. Maybe we've never had a rare game on you.

[Justin Davis]

You've done like. Like you must have had a rare game. Come on.

[Per Schneider]

Nobody knows.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this game designed by rare?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Per Schneider]

Oh my God.

[Justin Davis]

N64 area so era. We have Mickey Speedway.

[Per Schneider]

I was just going to say that everyone always forgets about Mickey Speedway.

[Justin Davis]

Banjo Kazui. Banjo Tui Conquers bad for a day.

[Sam Claiborne]

Perfect Dark.

[Per Schneider]

Perfect Dark.

[Justin Davis]

Damon, is the game one of the games that I mentioned?

[Per Schneider]

No. Don't wait. The answer is obviously yes. Don't waste the question on that.

[Justin Davis]

There's more.

[Per Schneider]

Well, sort of.

[Justin Davis]

You listed. I will not ask this question then.

[Sam Claiborne]

Does this game have multiplayer as a major component of it?

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean.

[Justin Davis]

Okay, that's.

[Damon Hatfield]

Can you explain what you mean by a major component?

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, can you play a co op for example, through this whole game? No.

[Justin Davis]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right.

[Justin Davis]

This is helpful. I mean we know it's not a racer because we're not piloting.

[Per Schneider]

Yep. We're not piloting anything. We did ask that. I forgot about that.

[Justin Davis]

Do you in this game do you play as an animal or two?

[Per Schneider]

Two.

[Damon Hatfield]

An animal or two.

[Justin Davis]

An animal or two?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or more?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Per Schneider]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Per Schneider]

So what? So it's either Conqueror or Banjo?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Per Schneider]

Do you play as a bear and bird in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. That's 15.

[Per Schneider]

What is conqueror?

[Sam Claiborne]

Squirrel. As a squirrel.

[Justin Davis]

Conquer is a squirrel.

[Per Schneider]

Do you play as a foul mouth squirrel in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Shit.

[Justin Davis]

Oh my God.

[Per Schneider]

No man.

[Justin Davis]

I was just do stuff like Jet Force Gemini.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Per Schneider]

Well wait, you're not an animal in Jet Force Gemini.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're a. Just a human.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can play as a dog in it.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. Or the dog. Well, I was goofing around. I thought it was conquer. Now I don't know.

[Justin Davis]

Well it can't be Mickey Speedway usa cuz you're piloting a vehicle.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. And it can't be Diddy Kong Racing cuz you're piloting a vehicle.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you ever have Gold Blast Blast.

[Per Schneider]

Core is a. Oh, could be Donkey Kong. Could be Donkey Kong 64.

[Justin Davis]

Oh my God.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, that's pretty. That's pretty true. Sam. Don't yonkey Donk.

[Justin Davis]

Yonkey.

[Per Schneider]

Okay. I mean, do you play as an ape family in this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Per Schneider]

Is it Donkey Kong 64?

[Damon Hatfield]

Donkey Kong 64.

[Per Schneider]

Some of them are found family. To be fair, I don't know that they're all related, but Diddy's honky.

[Justin Davis]

It's a good thing you asked this question now, because we haven't gotten this on Nintendo Switch Online yet, and it's gotta be imminent.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right?

[Per Schneider]

They're also. I know they're not all apes. Before the comments come after me, I know that Diddy Kong has. Yeah. Has a tail.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. I thought, what differentiates monkeys and apes?

[Per Schneider]

I don't know, man.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, but that's an easy way to identify what's what.

[Per Schneider]

Right. I like that. Diddy is a completely different species, and they're like, oh, it's his nephew. Don't worry about it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I've never played.

[Sam Claiborne]

And there's still Donkey Kong Jr. Out there somewhere.

[Justin Davis]

So I'm a. I'm like sort of a. I remember playing it, being annoyed, but always convincing myself that I liked it. And now I'm really curious to go back and experience it again because I was annoyed at the collectathon part of it. And I replayed Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie on Nintendo Switch Online. And I updated our guides and everything, too. They're so good. Incredible. And Banjo Tooie, now that you don't have frame rate drops and stuff, it is like. It's a genuinely good game.

[Per Schneider]

And this one completely changes it.

[Justin Davis]

Rare, rare. Bit off too much here. It does slow down. The open world is not great.

[Per Schneider]

Like, tickets. What's the character swapping like? You, like. You gotta run back. You see a blue collectible, and you have a banana, and then you have to run back and swap characters. And not only did they do that, but they deliberately designed it to be annoying. Like, you'd open a door as one character, and then another character's bananas would be behind the door.

[Justin Davis]

And so you, like, constantly. You constantly see things that you can't get, which is sort of a misunderstanding from Metroid where you go like, ooh. Or Zelda. One day, I can hit that hookshot target.

[Damon Hatfield]

Right?

[Justin Davis]

And in this game, you're like, oh, God, it's yellow bananas. I know what to do with them, but I don't have that.

[Per Schneider]

So there's. I don't know if I can talk about. I mean, there's nobody else listening. There's nobody left. I'll just say it. There's a ROM of this game that adds in Like a button where you can swap characters on the fly. Oh really? And it legitimately, like, honest to God, like it increases my score of this game by like two to three points.

[Justin Davis]

Really?

[Per Schneider]

Like it makes the game really good where like you can just swap. You know, you hit a shoulder button and it swaps. Swaps a different character in real time.

[Justin Davis]

I just realized there's nobody. Everybody dropped off because the games. The game's guest.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah. The show's. The show's over. It's Ferris Bueller. What are you still doing here? Go home.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, hopefully I've trained them to stick around for the post credits scene.

[Justin Davis]

That's right. I really want to play this again because I want to be proven wrong after Banjo Tooie and I was like, oh, maybe Banjo Tui wasn't that good. And then I played it again like, man, this is. Is excellent. It's a nine out of 10 for me. And like I want to go back and see what I didn't get. If this is still a six. Because it's a six in my book from what I remember.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, we gave it a 9, which is probably Cas Messina doing that one.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And that was, it was sort of like. I think if you talk to him now he'll be like, yeah, I don't think so.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, I botched that one.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. We were all really hyped and excited for this game and there are some really see genuinely good things in this game. We just got. I mean we just got the Overworld in Donkey Kong Bonanza as a. The empty level with some. No. With some generally cool challenges in it. But yeah, yeah, I want to play Nintendo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Come on nicely job. Thank you for the suggestion. Alex C in Central New York. Okay viewers, listen.

[Per Schneider]

If you're.

[Damon Hatfield]

If you're looking for something to play right now, the help support a great cause. Head over to Humble live now through November 4th. Grab eight incredible games for just 14.99 including Atomic Heart V Rising System Shop Shock, Story of Seasons, Pioneers of Olive Town, Crypt Master Pharaoh, A New Era Hotel Renovator and Caravan Sandwich.

[Justin Davis]

This is a really good bundle this Caravan Sandwich.

[Per Schneider]

The.

[Damon Hatfield]

The sandwich is inter capped, Justin.

[Per Schneider]

Okay. Okay, thanks.

[Damon Hatfield]

Every purchase supports the Whale and Dolphin Conservation leading global charity dedicated to protecting whales and dolphins through research, rescue and advocacy. By joining in, you're not just building your library. You're helping create a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free. And that is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you to both Justin and Per for joining me here in the studio. Thank you to Sam for joining us remotely. Sam, you just got. You just gotta come down next time.

[Sam Claiborne]

I love Los Angeles.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you, Gilbert and everyone working behind the scenes to get the gremlins out of the system so we actually record this episode. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Type, type, type, type, type, type.

[Damon Hatfield]

This episode of Game Scoop was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield and Gilbert Adienza. Technical direction is handled by Gilbert Atienza. Technical production is by Marianne Franzen and Amira Keeb. Audio engineering is by Amir Aqib 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.

[Justin Davis]

So it was. We've never had a Donkey Kong game is what it was.

[Damon Hatfield]

Donkey Kong country or Duncan 64.

[Sam Claiborne]

It just tastes more apple y than apple. It tastes like Apple Jacks, which I'm sure Paris never had.

[Damon Hatfield]

The cereal.

[Justin Davis]

Yes, I have, because I had little American kids.

[Sam Claiborne]

You let them have cereal? Yeah, not just muesli.

[Justin Davis]

I tried all of them. They didn't actually. I vicariously through them and bought all the marshmallow ones and they're like, man, these aren't that great.

[Damon Hatfield]

We can't buy the marshmallows anymore because the kids only eat the marshmallow.

[Per Schneider]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Sam Claiborne]

No more lucky storms here.

[Per Schneider]

Yeah, they ruined it for themselves. There was.

[Justin Davis]

There was one cereal Aki was. Aki was underweight because he, you know, he just never stopped running as a kid. And so they told us, oh yeah, get some cereal with a lot of sugar. So we got Craze and Crave is basically just chocolate.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's like a. It's like a sn. A candy snack mix.

[Per Schneider]

Crave cereal. I can picture the box.

[Justin Davis]

R a V E cereal.

[Damon Hatfield]

I've never seen this.

[Justin Davis]

Well, I. I do think they basically said, yeah, maybe this is not good to give to you.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a yes. It says it was launched in the uk.

[Justin Davis]

No, it was here too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, I can hear you, Jamie.

[Sam Claiborne]

Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Per Schneider]

But now we want you to feel it.

[Justin Davis]

Cue the emu music.

[Damon Hatfield]

Lim Save yourself money today.

[Per Schneider]

Increase your wealth.

[Justin Davis]

Customize and save.

[Sam Claiborne]

We save.

[Per Schneider]

That may have been too much feeling.

[Damon Hatfield]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts. It's okay not to be perfect with finances.

[Justin Davis]

Experian is your big financial friend and here to help.

[Damon Hatfield]

Did you know you can get matched.

[Justin Davis]

With credit cards on the app?

[Damon Hatfield]

Some cards are labeled no Ding Decline.

[Justin Davis]

Which means if you're not approved, they.

[Damon Hatfield]

Won'T hurt your credit scores. Download the Experian app for free today. Applying for no Ding Decline cards won't.

[Justin Davis]

Hurt your credit scores.

[Damon Hatfield]

If you aren't initially approved, initial approval.

[Justin Davis]

Will result in a hard inquiry which may impact your credit scores.

[Per Schneider]

Experian.