Game Scoop! 844: God of War Goes Back to the Beginning

Summary

Game Scoop! 844: God of War Goes Back to the Beginning

Date: February 14, 2026
Host: Daemon Hatfield
Panel: Sam Claiborne, Justin Davis, Nick Limone
Podcast Network: IGN / Geek Media

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of Game Scoop! delivers a thorough breakdown of the major reveals from the PlayStation State of Play held the previous day, with a strong emphasis on the big announcements from classic franchises like God of War, Castlevania, and Metal Gear Solid. The IGN crew dives into retro gaming, industry trends, listener mail, and of course, some nostalgia-laced trivia.

The show is brimming with excitement, sharp insights, playful banter, and the classic Game Scoop! camaraderie—making it a compelling listen for gaming fans, whether you want the latest news or thoughtful takes on why old franchises still matter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. PlayStation State of Play Recap

• State of Play was over an hour, jam-packed with announcements, showing off Sony’s intent to deliver big for 2026. (01:56)
• Major announcements included a new God of War, a fresh Castlevania, returns from Konami and Capcom, legacy revivals like Legacy of Kain, and unexpected drops.

Notable Banter:

• The crew jokes about how the podcast “manifested” the Castlevania return:
  “Tons of games, tons of surprises. New God of War, New Castlevania. Oh my gosh, we made it happen.” —Daemon Hatfield (01:56)

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2. Highlight: New God of War Trilogy Remake

• Sony Santa Monica is remaking the original God of War trilogy.

• Panel surprised the main studio is handling the remake instead of outsourcing.
  “Sometimes these remakes are to get your arms around new tech…” —Justin (57:46)

• Discussion about whether the remake will modernize the gameplay or remain faithful to the originals.

• Debate on Mature Content: Panel debates whether former controversial content (like sex minigames) will remain:
  “They are in so much trouble if they remove it or if they dance [around it].” —Justin (62:12)

• The panel observes this is an odd “reversal”—modern God of War grew up, but now we’re revisiting “old-school” Kratos.

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3. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Announcement

• 2D action-platformer developed by Evil Empire (Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) & with input from Motion Twin (Dead Cells).
  “It’s absolutely perfect… part of Dead Cells and the rogue Prince of Persia all making a Castlevania game.” —Daemon (09:14)
• Map design and Metroidvania roots: Team notes the term “Metroidvania” isn’t used, but the genre is clear.
• Art style praised as an evolution beyond pixel art, more vibrant and stylized than even Bloodstained.
• New traversal mechanics (whip as grappling hook, environmental puzzles).
• Hype level: “This is now tied for Wolverine for most anticipated game for me this year.” —Sam (15:19)

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4. Konami’s Comeback

• Feels like an old-school E3 with both Capcom and Konami back-to-back.

• Beyond Castlevania, Konami is remastering classic Metal Gear and surprising with new (and niche) projects.

• Metal Gear Solid Master Collection 2: Finally frees MGS4 from PS3 exclusivity.
  “It’s completely crazy that Metal Gear Solid 4 has just been in purgatory for so long.” —Justin (24:49)

• Surprise inclusion of Ghost Babel (GB Color cult classic).

• New IPs like Darwin’s Paradox and Rev Noir (original JRPG), indicating a genuine return to game development.

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5. Listener Mail: “How Do I Start with Castlevania?”

• Recommendations for newcomers: Symphony of the Night (not on Steam, but can “figure it out”), then Aria of Sorrow.
  “Symphony of the Night is the best Castlevania and one of the best video games ever.” —Daemon (18:07)
• 7 primary Metroidvania-style Castlevania games; play in any order, but Symphony → Aria is recommended.
• Bonus advice for exploring linear originals and using save states.
• Recap of which bundles to buy for classic or Metroidvania experiences.

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6. Other Highlights & Game Announcements

Legacy of Kain Returns

• Defiance remaster and a new 2D side-scroller, Ascendance.
• Discussion on the genre’s decline and nostalgia for third-person action-platformers.
  “This type of game’s just gone now.” —Justin (33:12)

Silent Hill Townfall

• New approach, set in Scotland, leans on body horror and psychological horror with experimental presentation.
• Praise for Konami signaling they’re “taking games seriously again.”

Brigandine and Niche Tactics Return

• Brigandine series returns; highlight on deep mechanics and retro fans.

Surprise Drops and Shadow Drops

• God of War: Sons of Sparta 2D brawler shadow-dropped during State of Play; panel debates pros and cons of shadow drops, especially regarding reviews and consumer protection.
  “Sometimes not getting advance copies is a signal they’re trying to shield critics… but not always.” —Justin (65:35)

Pokemon Pinball Machine

• Sam visited Stern Pinball’s factory; details the impressive new machine with RPG/collection mechanics.
• “It couldn’t be a better theme and game match.” —Sam (70:35)

Smaller Announcements & Updates

• Beast of Reincarnation (by Game Freak) looks better than any previous Game Freak work.
  “This looks so much better than Pokémon…” —Sam (42:47)
• Rayman 30th from Digital Eclipse out now with lots of documentary material.

John Wick Game

• Sifu-style action teased, with hopes for improvisational gameplay, but panel is skeptical of the developer (Saber Interactive).
• Discussion on whether the John Wick IP missed its moment.

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7. Trivia & Listener Interaction

Valentine’s Cards & Mailbag

• Fans sent retro Super Mario Bros. Valentine’s and gifts.
• Four video game 20 Questions choices, each linked to Daemon’s very first (2006) episode.

20 Questions Game

• The panel stumbles with clues but enjoys the nostalgia.
• The answer: TMNT (2007, Ubisoft); panel explores the confusion around multi-plat releases, comic/movie tie-ins, and the fading memory of the 2007 TMNT animated movie/game.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Tons of games, tons of surprises. New God of War, New Castlevania. Oh my gosh, we made it happen.” —Daemon (01:56)
• “I think this is a Metroidvania.” —Nick (15:44)
• “It looks so good. I’m just so pleased that we made this happen.” —Daemon, on new Castlevania (16:03)
• “It’s completely crazy that Metal Gear Solid 4 has just been in purgatory for so long.” —Justin (24:49)
• “Sometimes these remakes are to get your arms around new tech…” —Justin, on GoW Remake projects (57:46)
• “They are in so much trouble if they remove [the sex minigame] or dance.” —Justin, on handling mature content in remakes (62:12)
• “It couldn’t be a better theme and game match.” —Sam, on Pokémon Pinball (70:35)
• “This looks so much better than Pokémon…What are we doing?” —Sam, on Beast of Reincarnation (42:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• State of Play Reactions Begin: 01:56
• Castlevania Announcement & Reaction: 08:52 – 16:17
• Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Announced: 24:03 – 27:30
• Konami’s Broader Comeback & New IPs: 30:08 – 34:56
• Listener Mail: Castlevania Recommendations: 16:14 – 20:58
• Legacy of Kain & Third-Person Platformers: 31:27 – 34:33
• God of War Trilogy Remake Discussion: 57:29 – 62:32
• Shadow Drop Debate: 65:31 – 67:41
• Pokemon Pinball Deep Dive: 68:40 – 73:48
• 20 Questions Game: 74:30 – 91:20

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Conclusion & Panel Wrap Up

The team unanimously agrees: this was one of Sony’s best State of Play events in years (67:41–68:22). Japanese dev revivals, big IP returns, and a swelling late-year release calendar mark 2026 as an exciting year for games.

• “As a revival of Japanese game interests, it’s a 10 out of 10 for me.” —Sam (67:56)
• “It’s impressive they can hold my interest for over an hour…” —Daemon (68:10)

Sam closes with a field report from the Stern pinball factory (Pokemon!), the team laughs off some lost trivia, and Daemon encourages listeners to consider applying to host for IGN.

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For New Listeners & Superfans Alike

This episode is bursting with excitement, nostalgia, and candid takes on the industry’s direction—Game Scoop! at its best, blending news, deep knowledge, and warm camaraderie.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hey, it's great to be here.

[A]

Justin Davis, Scoop and Nick Limone.

[C]

I'm back baby.

[A]

We got a great show for you this week. We had a really big PlayStation state of play yesterday. Really literally very big. It was over an hour long, tons of games, tons of surprises. I think it was a pretty good show this time around. So there's so much to talk about. New God of War, New Castlevania. Oh my gosh, we Made it happen. Remember? We were just talking about this not too many episodes ago. Someone wrote in, why isn't Konami bringing back Castlevania? I'm going to take credit for it.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, we've been asking for 18 or 19 years on this show.

[A]

We made it happen.

[D]

What can we. What can we manifest next? I want. I want a new F0.

[B]

Yeah. I'm Chrono Trigger.

[A]

But the biggest priority should be burger time, though, don't you think, Sam?

[D]

Obviously.

[B]

That's a good point. Although it didn't work out last time.

[C]

I'm gonna say Kingdom Hearts.

[A]

Yeah. Finally get that Kingdom Hearts four out the door. Let's just jump in. But first, they opened up with Kina Scars of Cosmorum. So sequel to Kina. What is it? Bridge of Something. Bridge of Spirits. Bridge of Spirits, which I never played, but I always heard good things. Should I play this game? Did anyone play it first? Keenan.

[C]

I think it'd be great to play while the kids are watching. It feels like a nice. Like. Or maybe watch while the kids are playing.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

No, I thought. I thought the sequel looked great, and I actually had the exact same thought as you, Damon. I saw the new one. I'm like, oh, my God, this looks rad. And then it made me feel. Not guilty, but it made me feel like I should go back and check out the original. Because, like, it didn't. The original didn't really make too much of a mark on me when I was watching. Watching marketing material for it. But I never. Yeah, I never went through it.

[B]

I think it's a little simplistic. Like, it's more.

[A]

Maybe good for.

[B]

Yeah, it's Hughes younger. It's more like, you know, even younger than Ratchet and Clank. And Ratchet and Clank has trouble keeping my attention because it's a little easy sometimes, but it's.

[D]

It's.

[B]

It was a. It had, you know, a good art style, and it's very beautiful. And this. This looks like it doubles down on that, right? Like, it just looks great.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I think that's my biggest criticism of the first game. Kind of simple. But this one, based on what I'm seeing here, it looks like they're starting to add a little bit of pizzazz, a little bit of spice to the combat and whatnot. So I'm very curious to see if this adds the challenge I was looking for.

[D]

It made me think of beyond good and evil. I could see that just from this vibes perspective. Like, I don't know that it's the same kind of tonally, but like, you know, the BO staff combat and whatnot.

[A]

You got a cool like peacock horse.

[D]

Cool sick wolf.

[B]

Maybe a lot of wolves in games recently.

[A]

A lot of 2D side scrolling games also recently, Sam.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

We'll be getting to.

[B]

This is not one of them.

[A]

I'm not mad about it. No. And Keenan is not one of them. If you happen to be listening to this and did not see the footage. Scars of Kasmora is not a 2D side scrolling game. Looks very cool though. I think that's coming this year. PS5 and PC for now.

[B]

I'm surprised that that's getting a sequel. By the way. It's not like it made a splash and then continued to be a buz. Like it just made a splash and went away. So that's great. Good for them.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, like I said, I, I, I, I frequently hear good things about keno people.

[B]

Like family friendly game.

[A]

Yeah. We got to see Resident Evil Requiem again. And I'm, I'm, I'm well past the point where I need to see anything more.

[C]

There's still too much. There's still too much.

[B]

I like the ending of that trailer. Oh my gosh.

[C]

That I, I wish I didn't see that in the trailer. I wish they would have saved that for the, for the game.

[A]

But I don't know what was revealed. Like what did they reveal? And if anyone doesn't want to know.

[B]

Just they show, you know, because Raccoon City was nuked. They show the mansion after it was nuked.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

They show the mansion or. I don't, I don't remember seeing the mansion. It's the police station.

[A]

Yeah, they do show the inside the police station.

[C]

It's, it's Leon walking into the, you know, the place that kind of started his whole situation and it was like a full circle moment, which is kind of, it kind of rules. Not this particular shot, but there's another one later on. And then he also drives by the gas station that RE2 remake starts at and I believe his vehicle is still there. His like Jeep that he was driving.

[B]

And then he like kicks the heads off of a thousand zombies.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But when he's in the police station, do you think it's in the present time of the game? So Raccoon City has like been rebuilt, but they just didn't redo the police station.

[D]

It doesn't matter.

[C]

Yeah, I would imagine that it's like in a quarantine area. So there's a Part of the original Raccoon City. And then they probably built on the outskirts of it, is my assumption. Maybe it's like a Chernobyl type situation or something.

[B]

I think this game is going to explain the nuke and not. I don't think it was a nuke, actually. I think it was just a big bomb. But there is a big crater. Right. I think it's going to explain all that and explore that space, which the games have never really done, which I'm really excited for.

[A]

Apparently they confirmed another returning character, but it's not someone I'm familiar with.

[C]

It's Sherry Birkin.

[A]

Yeah, who's. Who's that?

[C]

She's the little girl in re2 remake. That Claire. And she's the daughter of. I forget her name.

[B]

You lead her to the very end of the game and save her.

[D]

Right.

[A]

I remember that now. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it looks. It looks fantastic. What else can we say at this point? Just. Just give us the game.

[D]

Yep.

[C]

Also, that looked like a Crimson head there from Re 1. See, all these things I wish I didn't see, man.

[B]

Now everybody is going to complain in the comments that we brought them to them, but we didn't bring these to you. Capcom did.

[A]

Yep, yep. That's true. Someone said in the comments, this is just. This is. This is just a fan comment. Someone said, I got a bad feeling Leon's not making it out of this one.

[D]

Oh, that's an interesting fan theory.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't know, but everybody has died and come back in Resident Evil. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If he dies in this game, he'll be in the next one anyway.

[D]

Completely irrelevant. Like, whether he dies or doesn't die has no bearing on whether Leon appears in future Resident Evil.

[C]

That just makes me. Me think, though, that they are going to be like, you know what? He is dead and gone. Ethan. Oh, well, hold on.

[B]

Yeah, Spoilers for.

[C]

Spoilers for Resident Evil village for like 10 seconds, real quick. Yeah, okay. Ethan dies at the end of that game and they're like, all right, we'll move it on. Well, again, he wasn't much of a character.

[B]

Ethan was already dead. Is the spoiler there.

[C]

Yeah, very true.

[B]

He's become a complete replicant of himself. Right?

[C]

He got, like, snapped away. He got Thanos snapped, though, right?

[A]

Is that true? I gotta play. I don't even rem.

[C]

He like, disintegrates or whatever. Right? I don't remember what happens at the end of that.

[B]

Man is made of mold.

[A]

Moldy man.

[B]

Before we get too far into this, I wanted to point out that this is the beginning of a Capcom segment and then there is a Konami segment. And it was like getting a Capcom and Konami press conference from E3 in like 2008.

[D]

Yeah, it was both of them.

[B]

And boy, getting a Konami one. What is happening? We willed that into existence too.

[D]

Yep.

[B]

Not just Castlevania, but the idea of Konami being a developer and like, lo and behold, like when we start talking about these games like they're developing them, it's crazy.

[A]

Well, not all of them, no, but.

[B]

But some of them. And the team that restored all of those Castlevania games worked on the Castlevania game, which is like, that means they played a bunch of Castle.

[D]

And the Castlevania game is also the Prince of Persia developer, which I didn't know. I didn't. I didn't clock that until afterward. I didn't actually realize that till this morning. Evil Empire Development Studios. Who made Prince of Persia? What was the subtitle the 2D wrote?

[C]

Prince of Persia.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And then Motion Twin is Dead Cells and it says they're in an advisory position.

[D]

Like what a perfect fit.

[A]

Yeah, it's absolutely perfect. The Dead cells and return to Castlevania, part of Dead Cells and the rogue Prince of Persia all making a Castlevania game.

[D]

Look at the map.

[A]

It's exactly what I said would be a perfect scenario for this. And here it is. Oh my gosh.

[C]

Oh, there are numbers. I wasn't sure if I saw numbers when I first saw this. There are numbers.

[B]

Oh my God. That fire attacked us in previous games.

[D]

They show.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

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[B]

The longest part of the process, I'm.

[D]

Thinking, is going to be staying on.

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[D]

Dude. Like, when I watched this on the stream, I didn't necessarily like Vibe with the visual style. But then when I watched it back and looked more closely, I am absolutely on board. Like, it looks really sick.

[B]

Well, there just isn't a better choice to replace pixels than a stylized, you know, hand drawn look because they get to use a 3D, you know, which is what we didn't like about the previous Castlevania games is that they were 3D 2D and, you know, and so this, I think, does a good job at getting at the next stage that we can get to in Castlevania.

[C]

It's.

[A]

You're playing as Trevor Belmont's heir, but which is a little confusing because in the trailer they say, Trevor Belmont.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I know you see a glimpse of him as an old man. So I, I think they're also. It's a clever way of leaning into the anime or I'm the anime series from Netflix, because it does look like she is wearing a variant of like Richter's outfit to some extent. So I'm very curious to see what the lore is behind this. And also how good is this little 40th logo? I love it.

[B]

Oh my God, it's so good. I mean, just the Belmont's Curse is such a good name. It's such a good callback. And just seeing the Castlevania typeface that's used for it, it's just like, yeah. Oh my God, they just yield everything.

[C]

You know what the art style reminds me of though, is it reminds me quite a bit of Bloodstained Ritual of the Night quite a bit. And just. It's nice that it seems like they're kind of leaning into the Koji Igarashi, like, art style that he came up with for that, which is.

[B]

It is more. At least it's more flat and detailed and sharp and. And cel shaded. Right. Like there is that.

[D]

Yeah, that's exactly because I was worried. I don't think that bloodstained and this is just a personal preference thing, but like, that didn't do it for me, that style of 2D. And I think this is more stylized and more. I don't even know the. I don't know if cell shaded is like the word. Like.

[C]

Cell shaded.

[D]

Yeah, like, whatever. Whatever the right terminology is. Like, I like. I just, I think it looks gorgeous. I'm into it. You saw big creepy Bosses. I don't know, man. Like, I'm.

[C]

I'm so on board the stylization too. Of one of the bosses really stood out to me. There's one that looks like a religious painting where it has like a. Like a halo around its head, which I'm like, what a cool idea for a video game to have like a saint like figure that you have to fight. And it's really neat looking.

[A]

Have you. Have you covered up that her whip is also used for traversal?

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

She's like slingshotting herself around.

[B]

Yeah, it's a freaking grappling whip. It's so good. It's so smart. And they show a few other traversal things. One of them kind of X rays the walls, which was like so perfect because that's what you do with these games. You want to walk around every single seam and find the broken walls and stuff. Oh my gosh.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

This is now tied for Wolverine, like for most anticipated game for me and coming this year.

[A]

That's so good. But here's the thing. They didn't say the words roguelike or. I mean obviously they're not going to say Metroidvania.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's a little unclear. Is it linear? Like three is.

[D]

No, but they showed a map. Like they can't say the word Metroidvania, but what they can show is a map. And so I think that that to me is the tell.

[C]

Yeah, I think this is a Metroidvania.

[A]

I went to the official website and they use the word biomes.

[D]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

That's like Metroid.

[A]

Yep. You think so? Okay.

[C]

Yeah, it's a search action game. That's what the kids are calling it now.

[B]

Oh God, that's so boring.

[A]

It looks so good. I'm just so pleased that we made this happen. Yeah, I'm so glad.

[B]

Thanks for listening, Konami.

[D]

Everyone just say thanks. Game scoop.

[A]

So we actually have an email on this very topic here. Cool. Let's check in with the listeners.

[D]

Hey, listeners.

[A]

Listeners, Remember you can always reach us at the email address Gamescoop. Just like Ali from Singapore did they say. I've been a big fan of the show since the Pandemic and listened to every episode since. Now that a new Castlevania game was announced, I wanted to ask something I've been meaning to ask for a while. I've been getting more interested in Metroidvanias recently. Soon realized it's become one of my favorite genres. However, I have to admit I've never actually played any Castlevania game. I searched Steam and was immediately confused about the number of games in the series. I thought it was more like four or five games. Anyway, I know the GameCube crew are big fans of Castlevania, so I thought it would be fun to ask and hear from you about how to start the series. Which game should I play and. Or Skip? Are there different versions? Basically. What do you recommend?

[D]

What this.

[C]

So what they start with Mirror Fate. I'm joking. I'm joking.

[D]

There's. There's seven Metroidvania Castlevanias. Right. And like so Symphony of the Night was first and then there were three on the Game Boy advance and then three on the ds. Do I have. Is that. That's correct. And there's a million Castlevania games but out of the ones that are non linear, you're exploring a map and getting ability. You know the Metroid style ones. Those are the seven.

[B]

Yeah. And you. You don't need to tie them together. They are tied together, but you don't need to play them that way. And I think if you go by scores, that's helpful. But you really should play Symphony of the Night first. It is the prototype for the rest of them and it has very funny gamer memes in it that you'll. You'll notice while you're playing that you'll pick up on like Miserable Pile of Secrets and stuff like that. And then you'll be primed to play the follow ups. But the follow ups don't immediately become good. There's a Circle of the Moon game that's like okay, stuff like that. It's Ar of Sorrow that skip two.

[D]

After that AR is probably the best one.

[B]

And if you just play those two right. Right in a row with each other, like you get it at that point you can go a bunch of different directions but like do that and check back in with us.

[A]

I'd say it is true that Symphony Night. Symphony of the Night is the best Castlevania and one of the best video games ever made. However, it's not available on Steam. If Ollie is trying to look for a game on Steam.

[D]

Is that really true? That can't be right.

[C]

You can only play it as part of the PlayStation. Like the bundle that comes with Rondo of Blood, which is also an excellent game but not a Metroidvania. I mean if you're playing on PC, you could probably, probably figure it out, man.

[A]

Probably some way.

[C]

If only there was some way.

[B]

If you skip to Aria, you will notice that your sprite's kind of big in it because it was a Game Boy game.

[D]

Right.

[B]

But from there that there's a. You're going to get that in a collection, probably. And then the other games in that collection are probably all amazing too. I will correct the panel here. There was a Metroidvania before Symphony of the Night and It was Castlevania 2 Simon's quest. And it's not great.

[A]

It's impenetrable is what it is. Good music, but at the same time very cool.

[B]

It's very cool. My other thing I was going to recommend is. So if you're playing the Metroidvania type games, the Castlevania core games, now it is fun to go back and play Castlevania 1 and 3 because those games reference those games a lot. You can see that they came from basically platformy arcade games, which have exquisite music still to this day. You're not gonna find bugs that just stick in your ear that well. Those games are just perfect.

[C]

You're gonna hear bloody tears over and over for like three hours in your head. It's amazing.

[A]

That's why I was gonna say for.

[B]

All names now, which is weird.

[A]

For all. If you want to. If you want to play Castlevania, buy the books on Steam. And if you want to do a. A Metroidvania one, get the Dominus Collection, which is the DS games. Or if you just want to. If you. If it's Belmont's curse that's got you interested, get the Castlevania Anniversary collection, which includes one Castlevania's 1, 2, 3, 4 bloodlines and the Game Boy games. And that's just sort of an introduction to what Castlevania is. And all the music and the vibes.

[B]

And all 1, 3 and 4 are linear action games that again are arcade style, even have scores and everything. When you play them now, you will have an advantage that we only had once Game Genie existed. Because they're difficult games, they're fun and you can beat them without Game Genie. That's not what I'm saying. But they are more fun now if you save states and just see everything because they're just full of pixel art and great music and just things like experience the music as a museum style. That is a challenge to yourself.

[A]

Anyway, super awesome that we've got new Castlevania to look forward to. And I did just mention that, of course you can always reach us at the email address gamescoop.com or you can reach us the the old and like the way you would reach someone in the time of the Belmonts. We have two mail items this week. First of all, we had a very, very nice something sent in the mail Here from our friend. Where's the card?

[B]

Here.

[A]

We have a friend named Justin McDaniel. Justin McDaniel just wrote in to say he's like a very, very big fan of the show and he sent a kingly gift along with. With his message here. That was very, very nice. And we want to say thank you very much to that. It's very, very kind of you. We also have a valentine out there in scoop nation. Let me grab our valentine. One second.

[D]

Oh, boy.

[B]

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Damon has run away.

[D]

We don't heard a large crowd.

[C]

Was it. What was the kingly gift? He said there is a kingly gift. Did he not show it?

[B]

Yeah, we're not going to talk about.

[D]

It on the show.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Okay. We have a valentine here. This is from.

[B]

We don't want to encourage generosity, Nick.

[C]

No, I. Bring on the generosity. I'm kidding.

[A]

Let's see. This is from Ryan. Dear Megacops, just in time for Valentine's Day, I have included your vintage Super Mario Brothers cards just as Mark suggested several episodes back. Yes, this is a shameless gimmick to try to get you to choose my 20 questions recommendation, but also a heartfelt thanks for being the only video game podcast out there today.

[B]

They're the Valentine's cards.

[A]

They are.

[B]

Oh, I remember those.

[D]

Yeah, they don't like schools are not allowed. At least my kids school is not allowed to do Valentine gift exchanges anymore. But they still did them in girl Scouts and so you get that like, my kids got crocs themed Valentine's and then each one had a little pun in it. Does it have a pun on it?

[A]

No, it's just I want you to be my Valentine.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

So cool. It's Mario 2 era.

[D]

Yeah. It looks like it's got that little, what, a little mushroom the cloud guy?

[C]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a thing Mario would say.

[A]

This one's Sam's nice. Sam's Federal crime to open that to a super Valentine.

[D]

Whoa.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

That one's a little.

[B]

I actually looked these up, I think last year as designs, and my wife and I were looking at them. They're so cute.

[A]

Justin's Go for it. Valentine.

[D]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah, so that's. That's definitely Mario too. And Mario would have been like hitting a turn up in the. In the stock art for that.

[C]

Oh, my gosh.

[A]

You're the tops.

[C]

Valentine climb iconic line. I love it.

[A]

Sketch race. We have one for Mark too.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

Very, very nice. Yes, we will be your valentine. Yeah.

[B]

Glasses. So cool. What A cool era. That was when Mario was more recognizable than Mickey Mouse.

[A]

Ryan also provides four possibilities for video game 20 questions, and they're all good. So when the time comes, I'll let you pick which one we can go. What number we go with.

[D]

Got it.

[A]

Getting back to the show. Oh, yeah. So it was the Karami show for a minute there. Karami wants to make it known that they're back. Yeah. And I'm here for it. I'm okay with that. They have announced the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection 2, which frees Metal Gear Solid 4 from its PlayStation 3 prison.

[B]

Yeah, that didn't seem easy either, to clean up that game. That's like 30 hours of cutscenes or something.

[D]

No, I'm always very fascinated and it's come up on scoop many times over the years about great classic video games that are just inexplicably trapped on an old platform that never got updated or ported or up res. And it's insane. It's completely crazy that metal gear solid 4 has just been in purgatory for so long. And so, you know, it's really rad to have it back. Even though, you know, look like I don't. I don't.

[B]

I don't.

[D]

I don't know. Nobody needs to replay Metal Gear Solid four. Sorry. But like, but you know, I'm happy to see it. You know, happy to see it more accessible.

[C]

You're not wrong. But also, I am kind of curious to see if anything gets like, relegated to bonus features or something, because, like, one thing that. And this is again, me just being an ungrateful jerk. And I think it's very cool that it's coming, but like, the whole installing a disc thing of Snake just smoking. I'm curious if they're going to relegate that to a bonus feature or if it's just going to be missing from the release, because in that case it would kind of be lost media. And I think it's a really cool part of the experience, if not an annoying one.

[B]

So I have two things about these games. One, I think Metal Gear Solid 4 is very accessible and playable compared to any previous Metal Gear game. And so, you know, it's kind of like a Metal Gear Solid for people that don't know anything about Metal Gear Solid. And it's fine. I will say that Peace Walker is as if you only like metal gear solid 5. Peace Walker is the other one. That game has the fold and recovery system. It has, like, you steal stuff and it's really fun. You infiltrate it's a great game and it looks like it was cleaned up really nice in this collection.

[C]

Yeah, no, Peace Walker's an excellent game and honestly kind of mandatory story wise if you want to really understand what's happening in Ground Zeros and the Phantom Pain. But yeah, very, very stoked to see this finally get a release. And did you guys also see that it has a little. A little something something too that they didn't even talk about in the PlayStation State of Play. It comes packed with a Metal Gear Solid Ghost Babble or Ghost Baby.

[B]

Yeah, what is that? I saw that in the snapshot at the end of that. I remember the name.

[C]

The Game Boy color game.

[D]

Isn't that the Game Boy color game? Yeah.

[C]

And it's one of the best like Game Boy games that's currently like just like in the top. It's frequently in the top tens, top hundreds, whatever of Metal Gear. So if you've never played it, highly, highly recommend. It's beautiful. Very, very fun.

[B]

What type of game is it?

[C]

It's just like the original Metal Gear.

[D]

It's like a top down, you know, metal like, like Metal Gear on the NES was.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, well that makes sense because like you could like that game. You know, the NES port wasn't very good, but it was a PC game, right?

[D]

Msx, MSX game.

[B]

Yeah. Oh yeah, that's right. MSX game. And so the MSX game when properly translated probably made a lot more sense. So if they spent time on a top down Metal Gear for the Game Boy in that era, I bet it's pretty good.

[C]

It's very good. I'm very stoked more people will get to play it as part of the Master Collection, Volume 2. I just think it's so weird. They didn't even talk about it. They just showed it in a png.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, that's weird.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But Damon, if you haven't played Peace Walker, totally accessible, great five light game.

[C]

You'Re in for a treat.

[A]

Yeah, I haven't played four or Peace Walker actually, so definitely look forward to checking that out. And then this game, this interesting game, Darwin's Paradox, finally got a release date that's coming April 2nd. And this looks to be like kind of like a. Kind of like a cinematic platformer inside. Like where you're an octopus on an alien planet, I think. Yeah, it does look cute. It's a little bit random that Konami's publishing it.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

But I also think it looks cool.

[D]

So I have a funny. So it's like as I was watching the state of play from my house. I was also like, you know, answering email and answering Slack and had the state of play on my other monitor. And for some reason, I thought we were still in the Metal Gear segment, and I thought that it was like a 2D octopus metal gear game. And I was like, what? Yeah, because of this.

[A]

Because of how it's like, some kind of connection.

[D]

Yeah. But I missed that, like, you know, because we're watching the footage of the octopuses in the box and, you know, it's a Metal Gear parody. But I thought that that was, like, real.

[A]

And I didn't.

[D]

I did not understand what was going on. But the game looks very, very cool and very cute. And then it looks like it made me think of Octodad, which I liked.

[C]

Oh, I love Octodad. But this little Metal Gear homage looks like it's part of the demo that's playable today, the day of recording, which makes me think that it's actually not in Darwin's paradox as a whole, but just like a fun little. Fun little thing for you to check out. So I will definitely check that out.

[D]

Reminds me of the era of, like, Xbox Live Arcade games.

[B]

Yeah, totally.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Tactical octopus action cracked me up too.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

And then, Nick, is Silent Hill Townfall doing anything for anything for you?

[C]

Oh, it's doing a lot for me. I've loved Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill F. I adored. Give me some more. Very curious to see. I just learned that this is, like, set in a town in, I think, Scotland.

[A]

Scotland. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. So very curious to see that perspective on it along with. Based on what I'm seeing and my very little knowledge of the overall situation, it looks like it has to do with a cancer patient. And, like, there's a lot of, like, syringes, imagery, and a lot of things like that. And it looks like it's borrowing quite a bit, too, from. Not borrowing from. But it's interesting that in the span of a year, we've seen two games that use a little Game Boy camera thing to spotlight the horror. I'm thinking of routine, which finally came out this past year. And this looks to do something pretty similar to that, which is a very scary way of doing things.

[A]

Yeah, it was cool that they held this whole Konami segment. They went to Konami's, like, studio in. In Tokyo, and Konami seems to be making a statement. Right. That they're.

[B]

This portable television is, like, the coolest thing ever. Just what Nick was just saying. It's really.

[C]

It's so pretty.

[A]

They seem to be making a statement that they're taking video games seriously again. And that's great.

[B]

Yeah, it's. It's exactly what we wanted.

[A]

It's so crazy that they're doing it.

[B]

I just can't believe we talked about this exact vision for this. It's so, so crazy.

[C]

And they're still making a. They're making a wholly original JRPG called Rev Noir, which is, like, cool.

[B]

Didn't look bad, right? That's pretty good.

[C]

It looked really pretty. But I'm like, I'm just glad they're making something new.

[B]

What's Konami's history with RPGs? Because that's not my era in which I play.

[D]

Suikoden.

[A]

Yeah, Suikoden.

[B]

Suikoden.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

So I know there's another one. I was just thinking about this yesterday, but now Justin would know.

[D]

Lost to me, Suikoden is the Konami.

[C]

That's the big one.

[D]

Yeah, that's the big one. You know, they didn't do Wild Arm.

[B]

Is that what it's called?

[A]

That was the one I was thinking of.

[D]

Is that Konami, too? I didn't know that. I didn't remember that. Now we just need Capcom to bring back Breath of Fire.

[C]

Wild Arms is Media vision different.

[B]

Different.

[A]

It's not related to Capcom at all.

[C]

No, no.

[A]

I'm sorry, Konami. Okay. Anyway, There are lots of surprises in this state of play. For instance, we got not one, but two new Legacy of Kane games. I guess one of them is a remaster, but still.

[D]

Yeah, it's the first new Legacy of Kane game in. I don't, what, 20 years or more?

[A]

Well, that one wasn't even in the state of play. Which is weird.

[C]

The 2D one, right? Because I was like, wait, did I miss that? I, like, blank out and forget this one. It looks cool. It looks pretty.

[D]

It does look cool.

[A]

So the remaster that was in the state of play is Legacy of Kane Defiance, which I never played. Is this like a PS2 era? Legacy of Kane?

[D]

I didn't ever play that one either. These.

[B]

These are what the kids call action exploration games. Right? What were they? What was the term?

[C]

You just Search action. Search action. See, I. I don't really have a. Like, I. I'm happy for the people that this is for. Very stoked for you because I know you. You're the fans of this series have been clamoring for this. But what I think is more fascinating. The most fascinating thing about this re release is that it is a definitive, all in one museum curio piece that has an unreleased version of the game and like it has cut content reintegrated in the game. And I think every game should do that. Like, that's obviously a crazy thing to request, but it's so cool that fans of this series get to experience these things that were just things that you would read in the margins of Game Pro at some point, you know.

[B]

Well, that's like the Digital Eclipse approach, right?

[C]

That's exactly.

[A]

Which we can talk about Digital Eclipse in a moment too. But.

[D]

And I think, well, I just can't, you know, I, I didn't get a chance to look it up before the show. Like I, you know, I like the Legacy of Kane franchise. I've played most of them. Defiance, this was like the final one, right? I believe I saying with a question mark, like, I think this is the last one. And so it's a weird place. The point I'm making is it's a weird place to like start with, you know, remasters and remakes. Like why? Or did they already remake and remaster and re release the older Legacy of.

[C]

King games they remastered?

[A]

That was just like last year or something fairly recently.

[D]

All right, well that explains that.

[C]

Soul Reaper and Legacy of King one, I believe.

[A]

Yeah, those are the ones. I played the first Legacy of Kain and then Soul Reaver, but then I didn't continue with the franchise after that.

[B]

It looks a little bit like Darksiders ended up being a spiritual successor to these, which I didn't realize they're kind of third person.

[D]

I don't know. They're this type of game that's just gone now. Right? That was, it used to be every game was like a third person combat platformer like Beyond Good and Evil or Prince of Persia. And like Legacy of Kain was like Jak and Daxter. Yeah, Jak and Daxter. Sly Cooper, you know, and Legacy of Kane was like a more RPGish kind of, you know, story forward take on that. And they were, they were rad. They were awesome. But then, you know, I guess maybe I'm part of the problem because like everybody else, I never, I never played the last one.

[A]

And then outside of the state of play, they announced Legacy of Kane Ascendance. And this is the new to another 2D side scrolling action game which looks cool. Although the developer is, doesn't have a lot of pedigree.

[D]

It's.

[A]

It's called Bitbot Media, which is. Seems to be like a multimedia outfit that they've done some graphic novels, they have some licensed Terminator, officially licensed Terminator T shirts that they sell and then they've got a couple games. One, one game is like a compliment to a Synthwave artist's new album. So it's like, it's just kind of a strange question mark of a developer.

[B]

Yeah, maybe they're super fans of Kane.

[D]

Yeah, maybe. Yeah, man. Sorry, I completely missed that. Legacy of kane. Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered existed and came out. Looks like December 24th. I wish listing now.

[A]

They announced a new. A new game in a series that I'd never heard of, even though I'm a big fan of tactics RPG games, I guess. Justin or Nick, have you ever played a Brigandine game?

[C]

Yes, I played the first Brigandine on. I think it was a PS1 game, if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, I saw that. I was like, what the heck? I haven't heard of. I haven't thought of Brigandine in forever.

[B]

Who's the developer?

[A]

I don't know. It's being published by nis, who does all the Disgaea games.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, Great. Cool.

[A]

So, I mean, I don't know, it looks cool. The official tagline here, or part of the description from the press release was for a more classic brigandine experience, turn to mission mode, which lets you take the role of one of 24 different factions, each with their own win conditions. So that's interesting. A lot of times tactics RPG's, different battles from battle to battle will have different win conditions, but here they have all these different factions that have their own win conditions.

[B]

Yeah, that's cool.

[D]

This was me in the, in last week's Nintendo thing when culdcept was being talked about. I like that these, these developer showcases can have one game that there's like 11 sickos in the country that like, you know, absolutely love and then nobody else knows what's going on.

[C]

Like they, they talked about Culdcept during the Nintendo direct.

[D]

They announced.

[B]

They.

[D]

They announced a complete up remake of the first one and a new one.

[A]

All right.

[C]

My wish list.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

Dead or Alive six, last round. Sure. This is like what, it's like a definitive edition of Dead or Live six.

[B]

Yeah. And then like a little wink at the end, right?

[A]

Yeah. There's a free to play version that has I think just four fighters. It's basically like a, like a demo.

[D]

And what, they announced a new one too, right?

[C]

A new one.

[A]

They didn't call it dead 7, but.

[D]

Yeah, which is obviously a little bit strange. You know, Itagaki is not with us anymore and so it's just a. I don't know, like, it's fine. You know, these. These franchises in this IP has a right to kind of continue existing. But as the. The original wave of game developers continue getting older and some of them are not with us anymore, it's. It can be kind of a strange. A strange feeling sometimes.

[C]

His passion for the physics and the ninjas are still shining through.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

My wife popped into my office because she had a question.

[A]

Right at that moment.

[D]

Yeah, right at that moment. And she's like, I swear.

[B]

Well, it brings back like I thought that extreme vege volleyball would just be a thing our whole lives and now it's been like 25 years since there's been a.

[A]

Is that true? I think maybe it's still going at least.

[C]

I think they made one semi recently.

[A]

I think they did make one fairly recent. And play Asia can hook you up, Sam.

[C]

Okay, I'll get one for you in Japan.

[B]

Okay, that sounds good. Go to book off and get me the latest stream. Beach volleyball.

[A]

This state of play was so long and there were so many games. I wrote down a game here that I don't even remember what it was. What was Crimson Moon.

[C]

I think that's. Was this the. Yeah, this was the one that was a. It was the third person action platforming looking game. I was like, this looks like a. Like this one.

[B]

Not the chicken.

[C]

It's like two knights that are fighting, like.

[A]

Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. I was like, it'd be like a co op.

[B]

It did look a little bit lo fi, didn't it?

[D]

No, I don't know. It looks.

[C]

It looks nice.

[A]

I thought cartoony though. I thought this was Lords of the Fallen two at first.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[C]

I thought this was a Darksiders game.

[B]

After these setups, once they show the gameplay, it looks love. It doesn't look like this stuff.

[D]

Well, I mean, I know what you mean about it doesn't look lo fi. It just looks old school. Like in its gameplay style. Yeah, like it just. It's just like what you're talking about before. It's like a style of game that we just don't really get as much anymore. Yeah.

[C]

Like a Maximo army of Zen or Ghost and Glow. Ghost and Glory. There you go.

[A]

Yeah, it does. Yeah. It does seem to be like a cooperative game. So, you know, if it's a cooperative action melee fantasy game, sure looks interesting coming this year.

[B]

Yeah, maybe it's just like. It took two. It takes two.

[A]

I don't think it's gonna be like.

[B]

It could be about a messy divorce or whatever.

[C]

One is a demon and one's an angel. Who knows?

[A]

It's just like they're just like Paula Abdul and MC Scatter.

[B]

I love that cat. Yes, online shopping is quite literally at our fingertips, but that doesn't mean it's always simple to buy. Whether it's trying to remember one of a million different logins so you can actually place your order, or getting almost all the way through checkout before realizing your card is nowhere near you, there are many hiccups that can get between you and placing that order. Which is why it's such a relief when you see that purple pay button that has all of your information saved, making checkout as simple as a tap of your screen. That iconic purple shop pay button is why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet, meaning less carts going abandoned and more sales going to you. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Thrive Cosmetics, Gymshark and Allbirds to brands just getting started. And they're not just great at converting sales. If people haven't heard about your brand yet, Shopify can help you find your customers with easy to run email and social media campaigns. And they have world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. Tackle all of those important tasks from one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com realm go to shopify.com realm that's shopify.com realm this episode.

[A]

Is brought to you by FX's Love Story. John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bassett join host Evan Ross Katz on the official podcast for FX's new series Love Story, John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette and go behind the scenes with cast and special guests featuring Sarah Pidgeon, Paul Anthony Kelly, Grace Gummer and Naomi Watts.

[D]

FX's love story John F. Kennedy Jr.

[A]

And Carolyn Bessette Wherever you listen to podcasts, we got a release date for Beast of Reincarnation, the Pokemon game that Pokemon fans wish they could have gotten. Yeah, it's coming out August 4th.

[D]

It's completely insane. I mean, you know, and we know, like we talked about it when that game was announced, like Game Freak, they've always made other games. Like they've not always been exclusively a Pokemon studio, but it just feels particularly weird and Raw right now, given sort of the iffy state that the last few Pokemon Mainline games have come out in.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The one thing that's driving me a little bit crazy about that game is that everybody's tail becomes a plant and then talks to other things. And that's just from Avatar, and we don't need to encourage more Avatar.

[A]

Yeah. This is a. This is a huge question mark. It's very, very interesting. The game looks cool, but, man, Game Freak has not pulled off anything at this scale ever before.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

So we'll see. We'll find out. August 4th.

[B]

I love the mechs in the game. Like, that's kind of selling me on it more than anything else. I love the little. The ATST is everywhere, and there's like a big mech graveyard at one point. It looks cool.

[C]

Reminds me a lot of Nier. So I'm. I'm interested in it.

[B]

This game just. I know you made a quick joke about this, but, like, this looks so much better than Pokemon. Looks like. I know. What. What are we doing?

[A]

Like, someone said in the comments that Game Freak has never made a game that looks better than a GameCube game.

[B]

Before.

[A]

And now they're making this.

[C]

Hold on, hold on. They made Drill Dozer, which is beautiful.

[D]

Drill Dozer is pretty dope.

[A]

I've actually never played Drill Dozer.

[D]

Oh, man, you would love it, Damon.

[A]

That's not a Mr. Driller game, I guess. No, that was a Mr. Driller game.

[D]

No, I think about Drill Dozer all the time. That game's great.

[A]

Okay, I'll check it out. And then Sam mentioned Digital Eclipse, and we're getting. We got a new Digital Eclipse game that's out today, I think.

[D]

Today? Yeah. Rayman 30th.

[A]

Yeah, Rayman. I've never played any Rayman.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

But I don't care to play any Mortal Kombats. And that was one of the best things I've experienced in the past year. So I'm really excited just to see what this. And I think Rayman looks really playable. I've never played it.

[A]

I don't get digital Digital Eclipse releases to play the games. I get it for the documentary material.

[B]

Yeah. The Game Boy port blew my mind. I couldn't believe the footage of that.

[D]

The original Rayman came out in 95. I don't know if it was literally a PS1 launch game, but it was in that launch window or launch year, and it was hard. Like, this is something that people kind of like poo poo now thinking about it. But, like, There is a genuine like Sony did not want 2D games on the PS1 for like a few years and Konami had to really fight to make and release Symphony of the Night. And you know, and Rayman, the original Rayman is a gorgeous 2D platformer and you know, and it looks like, I mean I'll just leave it at that. Like you know, they moved to 3D after that and would never go back.

[B]

I thought this was always made with polygons. I was amazed to see that it's drawn with pixels.

[D]

Yep.

[C]

Good game.

[B]

Yeah, I missed it entirely.

[D]

I've never played the original Rayman.

[A]

Yeah, this is probably my evening ahead of me once I get the game.

[B]

Why didn't this get ported to Super Nintendo?

[D]

I don't know. I mean I remember like I know the music was like really good. So you know, maybe there was something about the CD stereo sound, you know, was too tricky to sort of, you know, they couldn't do midis for the 16 bit consoles.

[B]

But it looks like it.

[A]

God, Earthworm Jim is like the vibes I get from it.

[C]

Yeah, it's like Earthworm Jim but you know, where you can actually step.

[A]

Oh my God.

[B]

I know. Everything's so round in that game.

[A]

So true, true. It's so true. We got an update on Mina the Hollower, which is nice. Still no release date. Remember this was supposed to be out on Halloween day last year.

[C]

Don't remind me.

[A]

I know. Then a few weeks before it was just delayed indefinitely. Now it shows up in the state of play. It says it's coming this spring.

[D]

Yeah, but still not with a release date. Just spring. So it's weird, it's. I don't know man. Like I don't want to be like, let me preface. Like this is a dark horse for like a Game of the year candidate for me. Like I absolutely can't wait. I think it looks incredible. I think so much time has passed between this and Shovel Knight that people forget that like Shovel Knight is an all timer, right? Like one of the greatest ever. And this is like their next big AAA project. So the. But like, like something clearly went sideways with Mina. Like they went dark on it for years and years and years. They re revealed it. Hey, it's finally coming out in October. And then they're like oh nope, nevermind. Like and now, and now when they re reveal it, it still doesn't have a release date. It's still just spring. So like it's, it's, it's a little bit. I want to believe but I just. I hope. I just. It's more like fingers crossed. I hope that, like, it turns out to be as good as it looks.

[A]

I mean, they put out a demo for it on the switch last October, and it was. It's good, right, Sam?

[B]

It's so good, and it's hard as hell.

[C]

There's a new Demo out on PlayStation.

[A]

Is it new content? Okay.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

I just also don't want to play because if this genuinely is in spring, then please just let me have it. Yacht club games, they're down the street for me. Let me see if I can go march on over and see what's up.

[A]

It looks really, really good. Okay. During the state of play, I laughed out loud when they revealed the Chicken man game.

[B]

Yeah, me too.

[A]

Project Windlass. Is that what this one is? Yeah, I mean, it looks like Black Myth Wukong, except instead of a monkey man, you're a chicken man.

[D]

And the developer is the pubg team. It's crafting.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[C]

Craft in Montreal. Right.

[A]

Studio set up from a former Far Cry guy who's the game director.

[D]

Yeah, Craft in Montreal. I also think it's funny. It tickles me that it's being made in Montreal.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's based on a Korean book series, I think, but I. So I couldn't get a sense of. Is it tongue in cheek or are we supposed to take it seriously?

[C]

Take it seriously.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's a serious chicken.

[C]

It's been described as the Korean Lord of the Rings.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

The book series, at least.

[D]

Damon just can't.

[A]

Yeah, it's like, I don't. I. Sorry. If I'm supposed to take it seriously, I'm gonna have to do it.

[B]

Look, I'll fully admit that everything in Lord of the Rings is goofy and silly. Like, hobbits are ridiculous. So this chicken man is just as ridiculous as those. Those little Shirelings.

[C]

I think it's like Dynasty Warrior moment combat, but it seems like there's a lot more exploration and, like, open world esque stuff you can do as well, which is what I always kind of wanted from Dynasty warriors. Apart from mindlessly killing thousands of people. Not mindlessly. Strategically.

[A]

It looks good. It looks good. I'll play it, but I cannot promise to take it seriously.

[B]

And what's it called? Unwinded. What?

[A]

It's called Project Windless.

[B]

Windless. Dewinded. Dewindified.

[A]

And that's an allusion to the fact that chickens can't fly.

[B]

Or this chicken can't fly because he's Got big, buff man muscles.

[D]

I completely didn't clock the joke about chickens can't fly. That didn't land with me until just.

[B]

We've all played Zelda. Chickens can fly and they can fly with you while hanging under them. They're so good at flying.

[C]

Well, I mean, that's why they're so buff. Dude.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you think you get to carry around a much bigger character as this chicken in this game?

[A]

We got an update on Star Wars Galactic Racer. How are we feeling about this one? I like that there's a story mode, like a campaign. It looks like.

[B]

Yeah, it looks. I can't wait to play it because I can't tell if it's fun looking or not. It kind of looks like clunky and like star. Like, that's good. That could be a cool thing for sure.

[D]

I don't think McClunky's in this one.

[A]

I know what you mean, Sam. This is former Criterion devs who were like, you know, when they were at the top of their game, they're like kind of like playground games level of like, you know, racing fidelity. And I don't, I don't get a sense of that from this.

[B]

Yeah, not quite.

[A]

But it does look fun. If it's just a fun Star wars racer, it doesn't have to be at the level of Horizon, you know, Horizon Forza Horizon six.

[B]

You know, I'm not, not excited to use a double negative. I think I want to play this game, but it doesn't have a sheen to it. I think it's a little bit missing in some parts. And then like, yeah, it just looks like. I don't know, when they keep on showing, we're just going to get in trouble with racing fans for Star wars now because these don't look like fun things to race, but then people are going to be like, well, on Tatooine, you must understand that part of Tatooine culture is racing the station wagon of Tatooine, which happens to be.

[A]

Speaking of Star Wars, I liked it.

[C]

I thought it looked great.

[A]

I thought it looked great as a little segue. I. I've been watching the second season of Light and Magic, which is only three. Only three episodes. And I know it's not new. I just never watched it before.

[B]

Yeah, you.

[A]

Did you watch some, Sam?

[B]

Well, I watched. I thought I watched all of it, but I'm not sure now with you said a season. I don't know if I did.

[A]

Yeah, well, it's three episodes. It's three episodes. They call it Season two. But it's just.

[B]

What era does it cover?

[A]

They go through the 90s, and then they do. They focus on the. The prequels.

[D]

Oh, no, I never saw those yesterday.

[B]

The last one I saw was Jurassic Park.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

So it picks up right there. It talks about how during the 90s, they were helping everyone, all these other directors, incorporate CGI into their films. And they did Twister and Casper and whatever that George Clooney Big Wave Boat movie was. Was that movie. They actually spent a lot of time.

[B]

Western Commander.

[A]

No, no.

[C]

Perfect Storm.

[B]

Perfect Storm, yeah.

[A]

And then they get to the prequels, and of course, they spend a lot of time on, you know, how he was developing. He had to create these digital cameras to film those movies. They just didn't exist when they set out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's interesting. They spend the whole first episode talking about Phantom Menace, and then they open with the second episode talking about the backlash to Santa Mint.

[B]

Oh, really interesting.

[A]

And they have Ahmad Best on there and just talking about.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The backlash to Jar Jar and all that. And it's just. It's just an interesting reminder that, like, at a place like Lewis Film, there's just so many incredibly talented people that work on these films. And, like, the people that made Jar Jar are really, really talented, but it's not their fault that he was annoying af.

[D]

Yeah. Right.

[A]

It's just that it's all really good.

[B]

I mean, in the documentary, there's a part where George Lucas comes in and says, can you make him annoying, af?

[D]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Literally.

[A]

I mean, yes, sir. It's not even a joke. He really. He's like. He was like, I want this to be a goofy, slapstick character.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And then he tries to say, you know, when the. When A New Hope came out, people didn't like C3PO. And the director of the documentary even calls him out and was like, I don't think anyone ever had a problem. And then he's like, oh, no, it was the Ewoks. It was the Ewoks.

[B]

That's right. Oh, that's weird. What a weird thing.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, you remember when that came out, everybody hated R2.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, getting back to it. We're running long 007, first light. Kind of like Resident Evil Requiem. It's just. You've shown this game many times. It looks great. Let's just. Let's just get to the game.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah, I'm really. I think. I think they're operating on really, like a kind of a. A next level of facial animation in this game. And I'm sorry, I feel bad to jump to another game right as Marion brings up B roll.

[B]

But oh, this game looks great.

[A]

I don't have a lot more to say about.

[B]

Can't wait.

[A]

First Light just looks good. But we're getting this John Wick game.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Which I don't know. It's Saber Interactive. That's the. I don't know about it from me.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

What's. Everyone's okay. At the same time, let's everyone say your favorite Saber Interactive game.

[C]

They may cry this. Right.

[A]

They make. They're supposedly working on the Kotor remake.

[D]

I mean, I don't know, like. And maybe, maybe this is just wishful. Like, I don't know that this is the game we're actually getting. But like, watching this footage made me think that like, you know, a higher budget, something that really puts an emphasis on like hand to hand combat and kind of like technical, like a SIFU like experience, but with a bigger budget and with like, you know, with Keanu Reeves and more set pieces. Like, again, like, I don't know that that's the game this actually is. But like, that's the vibe that they're presenting with this CG trailer. And like, that would be pretty sick.

[C]

They show a little bit of gameplay after the CG trailer and it does. That's what I said. As soon as I said it, I was like, this looks kind of like sifu. And I could see that really playing to John Wick's strengths. But like me, I love John Wick movies. Don't get me wrong, I love my action. I think it is just pure artistry in terms of stunt action coordination and blocking. And that's why I watch these movies. But I think the biggest sin that all of the movies commit is they demystify John Wick with every release because that's what made the first one so special. It's like, who is he? We. He's the Baba Yaga. We never got to see him in his prime. Prime. And it seems like this might be in his Baba Yaga days. And I don't really want to see that. I just leave him be a mystery.

[B]

I think it'd be interesting if it was kind of like the Bond game. Like, I'd like to see a mixed format of figuring out how to infiltrate places and fight and shoot. Right. Because John Wick shoots a lot. So I don't want to do hand to hand combat all the time. I would like there to be that. But then that just becomes like, if you do it the wrong way, you become Kane and Lynch. Right. Which is kind of generic brawl through a cinematic scene thing, which is like not terrible.

[D]

Yeah. You know.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah. I have two, two thoughts on this. When it comes to like the combat in this game, in the movies, John Wick improvises. You know, he didn't plan to kill someone with a pencil. It's just like that's what was right there. So, Will, if the game actually offers you the freedom to improvise and use the environment and whatever, rather than being, you know, okay, well, now it's just like quick time events, like, now pick up the pencil because that's what you have to do in the game, you know.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Could be cool if you actually have the ability to improvise and use things that are around you. But also, I wonder if this game has just missed the boat on the John Wick, you know, interest out there.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Because they had that TV show that was. I don't think anyone even watched that. But then Ballerina was actually good and no one went to see it.

[D]

So I don't know. Also, I think Keanu reeves is like 60.

[B]

Right.

[D]

So it's like, you know, maybe, maybe they're gonna, you know, pull out a John Wick 5. Like they're gonna bring back the films. But it's like this sort of Android, like this sort of digital double version of like, we're going to keep making the video games forever. It's like that's just going to be the way that things go now and IP gets extended.

[B]

I mean, maybe this is the reason they're able to make this game now is he finally has a moment to be like, okay, I just want to do some voice acting for a month.

[C]

Yeah, I liked it when I did it for Cyberpunk. Let's do that again.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, Soros. That continues to look good to me. We know that's coming soon. I don't think there's a lot to say there. Marvel Token, we got a release date on that that's coming August 6th.

[B]

Big deal.

[A]

That's great. I like that. We got a lot of release years for this year and also some dates. So the release calendar is starting to fill up later in the year.

[B]

We need Nintendo to do that now.

[A]

And that all brings us to this pair of God of War announcements. So God of War trilogy remake, there's a lot of excitement out there for this. I think that's great. I think it's great to revisit these games. I just think it's a little Bit strange from Sony Santa Monica because they took God of War into a whole different direction and kind of like. What's the word? They added more layers to Kratos.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And now it just seems a little bit different to like, it seems like to go back.

[B]

Well, I don't know if you were going to say this, but they did subvert the kind of stereotypes of Kratos in these games.

[A]

They were a little bit subversive.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And now they're just going back to the old ways, which I don't think is necessarily bad. I'm just surprised.

[D]

Well, I'm surprised Santa Monica's making it and you know, whatever. Like there's been. They're probably working on multiple titles, you know, sometimes, and this is purely me speculating, but sometimes these remakes are like, like the Oblivion remake. The rumor is that, you know, that's Bethesda getting their arms around Unreal Engine because, you know, maybe they're going to be moving to Unreal Engine. So do a remake first. So it's like, you know, whatever they're doing for God of War next. Or maybe it's not even God of War, whatever third person action adventure game. Like sometimes a remake is like safe and easy ground with which to get your arms around new tech. But. But that was like. Seeing that the Santa Monica team was doing it surprised me, I guess is the. Is my point.

[B]

They could have BNC divisions within one team.

[D]

That's true.

[C]

But like to point to the Oblivion remake though, that was mostly virtuous, right. Which is a like owned by Microsoft or owned by Bethesda. So it wasn't the core of like Bethesda team actively doing development. The fact that it is Sony Santa Monica, or at least from what we've seen so far, again, this game just seems like somebody thought today to put together an animated CG trailer. Hey, by the way, we're making a remake of the trilogy we just started, so don't worry about it. My concern and I guess maybe interest is is this going to be a Final Fantasy 7 remake situation where they completely turn the gameplay of the game.

[B]

Like, I think it's too retro of a series to do that too. I don't think they'd want to do that.

[A]

Less retro than Final Fantasy VII.

[C]

Would they make a 3D action game though, like a 3D action brawler for a PlayStation 5, PlayStation 6? Or is it going to be an.

[D]

I think it's going to be. I mean, I guess I didn't even. It didn't even cross my Mind, I assumed that yeah, it's absolutely going to be a ground up remake because those original games had fixed camera angles and pre rendered backgrounds.

[B]

I think it'll just be a nice looking version of an action platformer game.

[D]

I don't know. I didn't assume that. I assumed it was going to be like a full on 3D. You know, we're redoing the game.

[B]

I think in this context the remake means that they're going to use a different engine and not just up resin it. They're going to like make everything play the same but look really good. I just don't see like why they would not do that.

[D]

I mean we also, I mean I, I had to just double check that this was true. Like Ragnarok came out in 2022. So you know, through over three and a half years ago, almost four years ago, that game came out. So it's like they're, they're clear, they.

[A]

Don'T have anything to show of this yet. So it does like make you wonder what have they been working on this whole time?

[B]

Yeah, which I don't. That's why I think it can't be a Final Fantasy VII level thing. Cause I think this is just like get this out the door so we can work on this other thing.

[C]

Well, I thought that they were doing like a Cory Barlog like Sci Fi game was what I had heard.

[B]

And if that's happening then there's no way they're spending all this time and effort to like do this God of War instead of a God of War sequel, which would be like the natural thing to do.

[D]

That was the rumor and to be clear, like none of this was ever confirmed. But the rumor was that one team was working on the next God of War and then another team was working, Cory Barlog's team was working on something new, you know, a new ip. And so then who knows? Like how does this remake fit into any of that? Like, hard to, hard to say.

[B]

I really like title screen teases. So like I know that drives people crazy, but I do like that this exists. But in this one case I do wish we had had, you know, the lightest wireframe of like what, what this was going to look like. But it sounds like we're not going to get that.

[C]

It sounds like they may, they might not know right now.

[B]

Maybe.

[A]

I mean. Yeah. Anyway, I'm very interested to see how this shakes out. Just there's also some questions raising around this. Whereas the, the Dead or Alive series seems to be fully embracing what people like about that series all along. There's some elements of the old God of War games that it'll just be interesting to see.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

If they want to include that. Because like I can. There's, there's sex minigames is what I'm alluding to.

[D]

I mean we talked about this a minute ago. Like a lot of the new modern God of War is like letting go of an evolving past. What came before. And like what came before is fun. Like it came out in the era that it came out. Right. But like they made a statement that like, you know, we're, we're taking it, we're giving a more mature.

[A]

It's almost like we're growing up Kratos and the franchise, but now they're like reverting.

[D]

Yep.

[C]

Well, I think it's also fair to be like, yeah, he was a stupid 20 year old in his Greek days and of like he outgrew that sort of behavior. But the depiction is a different conversation.

[D]

You know, these are, these are smart developers and Sony is a very smart publisher. But they really have, you know, like let's talk about the sex minigame for a second. Like they are in so much trouble if they remove it or if they dance.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, they're just, it's.

[C]

They're just dancing. Dude.

[A]

They should just keep it, just keep it in there. It's in the original game. Just keep it in there. And then there's this another 2D side scrolling game based on an existing franchise, Sons of Sparta. And this was the big shadow drop.

[D]

Yeah, it's real.

[A]

There's just so many of these things. Terminator 2D. No, fate and man, the Prince of Persia went 2D and in two different ways.

[B]

Yeah, this is out now and I didn't get to get a chance to play it unfortunately yet.

[D]

So yeah, it just, it shadow dropped and I haven't had a chance to check it out yet either.

[C]

I, I think I would have been a little bit more excited about this if this didn't drop in the same presentation as Castlevania. I personally I don't really like the art style of this.

[A]

Who made this one?

[C]

It's cool.

[D]

The characters don't look great, but Mega Cat was Mega Cat.

[C]

Ah, okay.

[D]

So I think that, I mean look, I think the pixel art looks gorgeous and I think the animation is really fluid and pretty. Like you know, but I'm also like, I'm an easy mark of just like, you know, high fidelity pixel art. I'm like, okay, like I'm on board, but I don't like the. My. My sort of bugbear with this one is like Kratos, his character model. And I get it because it's a prequel and he's young and he's not the God of war yet, but he just looks kind of skinny and like, I just. I don't. I don't like. I. That. That bugs me about this. I think that. I think that he should have made him a chicken. Yeah, he looks kind of skinny and not very powerful.

[A]

Mega Cat responsible for such hits as backyard soccer, backyard football, gumball, and trick or treat Land. Backyard baseball. Yeah. So.

[D]

Okay, well, backyard baseball is pretty sick actually. But like, you know, I don't know. We'll see it. Shadow Drop.

[C]

So I'll play it at some point, but it's not high on my priority list. I do like the little 2026 and then it's available today. That's a nice little touch. Yeah.

[A]

We got an email about this game from Pete in Vancouver, who says, like others, following yesterday's state of play, I felt immensely excited with the Shadow Drop of God of War, Sons of Sparta, but then got to thinking, could an increase in Shadow Drops become problematic for consumers? Game reviews like that which IGN provide, are services for consumers. For example, the recent review of Mario Tennis Fever has informed me that while it is a game I certainly want to play, the $70 price tag might be too steep for myself. By not allowing sufficient time to review, could we see developers cashing in on the excitement of Shadow Drops and start to use it as a tactic for selling more copies of games that might not review so well? This isn't to say that the new God of War doesn't look great. It does. But when they are charging for the experience, is there a responsibility to allow time for review? I feel differently about God of War, Valhalla, for example, that was free to play, so its Shadow Drop was no harm if I didn't enjoy it. There's also the added complication of whether a Shadow Drops game carries more anticipation, like Silksong, which other indie devs criticized for encroaching on the preplanned releases of their games. I'd be interested to know what the panel thinks. Love the show. Which is the perfect start to my Friday evening every week. Yeah, Shadow Drops problematic. This is a.

[D]

This is a. This is a nuanced topic and it's a little bit a slightly sensitive one. Like the. We have to be a little bit careful because sometimes it is a signal when we're not given a game or getting a chance to screen a movie or screen a television show early. It can sometimes be a signal that the PR team or the developer or publisher is trying to shield critics from that game and trying to hide negative opinion before the product comes out. But that's not always true, right? Like sometimes it doesn't mean anything and it's just not aligned with their launch planning and things of that nature. So I would describe it as a sometimes bad news thing and probably rarely, if ever a good news thing. But it doesn't have to mean anything.

[B]

So often it's DLC in a surprise and a DLC forum and that becomes an impulse buy because you're already hyped by the marketing of the event. So it's like, it's just really. I think of Shadow Drops as usually being tied to these newsy events. Right. And then there's ones that aren't, which is just like this game came out of nowhere and we're announcing it and it's out today. That's a little bit more to skip the review process, I think. But in these cases, I just think it's become an expectation. There's a one more thing. There's a world premiere. There's, you know, it's just, you're going through the motions and like this little bite sized exciting thing is usually a little game or a little DLC that's out today.

[D]

There's, there's, you know, like oblivion was Shadow dropped? You know, so I guess there's some nuance here between sort of access be to access to a product being withheld by critics, you know, versus Shadow dropping. I do, even though I'm the one that introduced the segment saying that like I do, I do think that those are very different situations and very different things. The Shadow Drop is like, you know what like hi Fi Rush was Shadow dropped a great success several years back. Right. So, you know, you the, the. If I put on my PR hat for a second, the PR perspective would prop. Where did Damon go?

[A]

Where did I go?

[C]

He got Shadow dropped.

[D]

He's in the Shadow Realm.

[A]

Let me look at my camera. Okay, so that all comes to the question. Was this a good PlayStation state of play? I think yes.

[B]

Hell yeah.

[C]

Yes, yes. Although no Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.

[B]

So I'm sad just as a show and as a revival of Japanese, you know, game interests and stuff like that. It's a 10 out of 10 for me.

[A]

No Wolverine and no. What's the other one? Interstellar.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, that's the Other one that's kind of.

[A]

Yeah, that's the other one that's kind of floating around out there. But I thought it was a very good show. And it's impressive that they can hold my interest for longer than an hour, showing game after game after game with tons of games that I want to play.

[B]

I mean, this is Sony we're talking about. They have the best selling system. They should be doing this every single time they do one of these. It's really. It's really a stark contrast to some previous ones, and I hope they're. They're finding their footing.

[A]

It's good.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, real quick, Sam. You went to Chicago and played a new Pokemon pinball game.

[B]

Yeah. So the Pokemon company worked with Stern Pinball to do a big. That's a big license for Stern to get. Right. They do Marvel, they do Star wars, they do these things. But, like, you know, to do this is a big deal. They did it for pinball fans. They did a kind of an Attack from Mars Medieval Madness layout. It's designed half by the two designers. One of them made Monster Bash and Lord of the Rings, two of the best games ever made, have this kind of setup with characters and shots and stuff like that. But the Pokemon stuff is what I can talk about most on this show. You have a phone app from your Stern Insider connected that you scan every time you play, no matter where you play. And as you unlock and catch Pokemon, you fill out a Pokedex on your phone. There's 182 Pokemon to start with, so that's super smart, Right. You can go to arcades and bars wherever you're at every time you play. If you catch a new Pokemon, you're filling out your Pokedex, and it's really cool. Like, that's a really good thing. So the game feels great. It feels very Pokemon. They did a great job with that. But that collection aspect is really fun because you have to do a few things. You have to hit in the pop bumpers, the tall grass, to really make Pokemon appear. But as you're playing, you're doing other stuff. But then a Pokemon appears, just like in the game. It's like a random encounter, right? And then you have to do. You have to hit a Pokedex target. Then you have to hit a capture ball. And like. So it has a cool sequence like that. There's also a sequence for battling, which you have to. You. You have the. The four Kanto starters automatically when you start, you have. That's including Pikachu. When I say four, because Pikachu is only a starter in yellow. And with Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Chart Charmander. So you, what you do is when you're battling like a Pokemon will pop up depending on what zone you're in. Be like an insect Pokemon and you're just hitting it by hitting shots on the play field. They light up with the attack type you're doing. So like purple shots, it's just the whole play field. Anything purple is a poison attack, Anything green is a grass attack.

[D]

That's so clever.

[B]

Yeah. And if neither of those work on an insect type, then you need to switch your Pokemon out. You do that and then they're all like fire types from Charmander and then you just torch that bug Pokemon. So you know, it's like it's taking all these elements of Pokemon and then you have to have good ball control and you have to understand the layout. Like it couldn't, it couldn't be a better theme and game match. I'm really impressed with this. Like usually you have these overwrought like we're going to make Jaws into a pinball machine. But nobody knows enough about Jaws to make that into an easy to understand pinball machine with all the modes and everything. But this game, like if you play Pokemon, there's a lot more easy to understand stuff. I don't know what else do you guys want to know about it? It's pretty interesting.

[A]

Is this the first Pokemon pinball game?

[B]

It is, yeah. It's actually the first Nintendo involved pinball machine since the two Super Mario Brothers games from Gotlib in the early 90s. So that's a big deal in itself. There's of course been Pokemon spin off games and ticket redemption stuff in Coin Op, but this is the only one they're gonna sell.

[D]

So many of these.

[A]

Yeah, there's a few like burger and pizza joints near us that have recent pinball machines. And if this appears one day Kingo will flip his lid.

[B]

Yeah, I think the approachability because they use the Pokemon art and everything and I talked to them a lot about this. They really had to be careful and, and usually we want custom. We drew art for this game and it's all unique and it's not using Clipart for this. The Clipart really works because it feels like a Pokemon game and everything's licensed so carefully.

[D]

You touched on this earlier, Sam. But the system for logging into pinball machines using the Stern app is so clever. It uses a reverse QR code where every other QR code I've ever Seen in my life is you're scanning the QR code with your phone. But on the Stern. How you log in on Stern machines is this little camera on the machine and the QR code is on your phone. And so you hold the QR code up to that camera and then you're logged into the pinball machine and like that. That's so clever and fast and it just works and I don't know, I love it.

[B]

So they push updates too because of that connected nature which tracks your scores and achievements and stuff too. They have this always online. So they've been doing a thing with the John Wick machine where there's like bounties and people will go to the arcade and do those for the weekend. And the D and D has some things that happen each week, the D.

[D]

And D. So it's like they've been getting more and more sophisticated. It started with achievements and trophies and badges that you collect in the app. And then the D and D machine was the first one I played where there's missions and your character levels up and earns XP game to game. And now they're just pushing it even farther with Pokemon.

[B]

This is an RPG too, right. So it is going to have that same idea. And then the. You get to save all these credentials and stuff, but also they get to update the game in the background. They said they're going to add more Pokemon. So that's really cool. Cool, yeah. Good stuff. Okay, I just want to say real quick.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I have to go to the Stern factory. It was amazing. Like we're talking about like a NASA sized building that you could stack four or five cargo containers into the ceiling. It's so huge.

[D]

Huge.

[B]

And they have a line where they're making in America parts assembly pinball machines from scratch. And it is like seeing a ford factory in 1930. Right. Like, it's crazy looking and it's all based on old EM technology with computers and all this other stuff now. It's crazy. It was a cool, absolute pleasure and thanks to Stern for having me out there. I hope you all get to go there at some point because they love ign. They would have anybody do a tour there, there.

[A]

It's just awesome to see a company like this thriving today.

[B]

Yeah. And they just built this factory. There's two other pinball factories right next to them right now.

[D]

What?

[B]

What a crazy industry.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

All right.

[A]

No, no, not at all. All that brings us to video game 20 questions. And again, our suggestions come from our valentine Ryan, who added a little. There's a layer to this. Here he has four suggestions and he says each of these four games were discussed on Damon's very first episode of Game Scoop, which was episode two. Not on episode one.

[B]

I just listened to this. This will be easy for me.

[D]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[A]

Why would you listen to that?

[B]

I'm just kidding. I did.

[A]

So that's a little bit of a hint. You know, that would have been. That would have been June of 2006.

[B]

Yeah. So you weren't talking about God of War Ragnarok on that episode, or was I?

[D]

June 2006. So we're like oblivion. We're like dead rising.

[C]

360 has just hit the scene.

[D]

Yep. Maybe not oblivion yet. Maybe we're still a year.

[B]

But we do get to choose a game still.

[A]

Yeah. So 1, 2, 3 or 4? You can pick.

[D]

Ah, okay. I mean, I think game. I think game one.

[C]

Yeah, that's fine with me.

[D]

It also doesn't matter at all because we have no. Yeah, let's do it.

[A]

Okay. Let me. There's one sort of thing I have to look up about this game.

[B]

I just. If we don't get this, then I knew we should have picked nobody.

[D]

Look at Damon's glasses. That might. We might. I'm gonna.

[B]

That's great.

[C]

So this one's probably gonna be a 70s, 80s or 90s game. Probably.

[B]

I mean, statistically, was there more shovelware in the 2000-2006 range than there was all games combined until that point? Probably because that was after the iPhone came out.

[A]

Okay, let the questioning begin.

[D]

Was this game new released within the last. I don't know, let's say two years from, like when you discussed it on game scoop in 2006.

[A]

Okay. Was this game released within two years of when it was?

[D]

Yeah. Was it. Was it a newish game?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Oh, okay, great. So PS2.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

360. PS3. GameCube.

[D]

Could be BioShock.

[C]

Xbox.

[D]

Could be Gears of War.

[B]

Was this an exclusive?

[A]

No.

[C]

Multi plat. Is this game made in Japan?

[A]

Nope.

[D]

I think it's BioShock. I'm going out on a limb when.

[C]

This game would have been 360 ERA. That's like 2007.

[D]

It could have been 2006. I don't know, man. That's like a round. Like, I don't. Okay, maybe you're right.

[B]

Did this have a version of this on PS2?

[A]

Yep.

[D]

Okay. Not BioShock. What was the answer to Japan?

[C]

No.

[D]

Okay. Was this game developed or published by Activision or ea?

[A]

No. That's Five.

[B]

Does this game have sequels?

[A]

This game.

[B]

Oh, if he doesn't know. That's a whole clue unto itself. If you can't just say a game.

[A]

Of the sequels, I don't think this game.

[D]

What is. Does that mean? It is Dragon Quest.

[C]

Rocket Slime.

[D]

DQ Rocket Slime is sick. Yeah, yeah. Burnout Paradise. That's sad. Yeah, it's the last. It's the last. Is this game the last of its lineage?

[A]

Wait.

[D]

Is this game a sequel?

[A]

No.

[D]

What?

[B]

Okay, sounds like a spin off.

[D]

Yeah, it's a spin off of some kind.

[B]

Is this game, you know, focus around violence?

[A]

Yes.

[D]

Could be. So. Could be so calm.

[B]

Is it focused on multiplayer?

[A]

Not every. Not every version. Some versions.

[B]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

We're focused on.

[D]

Maybe it's a Lego game. Maybe it's like LEGO non violent.

[C]

Lego Star Wars.

[D]

Yeah, I was gonna. I can't remember. Can't quite remember. Yeah, Lego Star wars or something.

[B]

Is this based on a license?

[A]

Yes, that's 10. That's 10.

[C]

PS2 based on violence, based on a license.

[B]

Is it a sci Fi license?

[A]

Hold on, hold on.

[D]

God.

[A]

On the multiplayer thing, I'm confused. Some versions have it and some don't. Okay, okay, that's.

[D]

That's it.

[A]

That's all I can say about that. Okay. Is it a sci Fi license? No.

[C]

Is this a military game?

[A]

No.

[D]

Wait, wait, hold on. So there was, you know, Damon, I don't want a metagame too much. We were just talking about the Godfather on Slack the other day. So PS2 games, you know, not made in Japan. Multi platform games based off a license. It's violent.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, you know, Godfather is this. Or Scarface was on the PS2.

[C]

The world is yours. Yep. No multiplayer, though, in those games.

[B]

Is this based on a cinematic franchise?

[A]

This franchise has appeared in cinemas.

[B]

Maybe it's Lord of the Rings.

[D]

Yeah. Could be a Lord of the Rings game.

[B]

Is this a fantasy series?

[A]

No.

[D]

Oh, boy.

[B]

Striking out.

[D]

I mean, the Godfather technically is a book, so David answering that way could have like.

[C]

But he said that the versions of this game had multiplayer and those ones didn't.

[D]

I also think that's a 360 game anyway, if I'm remembering right. Gosh, I don't know. Like, what are we too. Are we too early for, like, Escape from Butcher Bay? But I. I'm getting my, like, years mixed up. Which I know that's single player.

[C]

That would have been. That would have been Xbox. So.

[B]

Yes, this is what I think it was on PS2.

[C]

I think it was on PC.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

This game was on PS2. We already confirmed that.

[D]

Yeah, it was. The original was an Xbox exclusive, wasn't it? Yeah.

[B]

And it's sci fi. I definitely had that.

[D]

No, it's not. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, it's not sci fi, not fantasy, which is.

[B]

That's actually really complicated. We could probably get this by just figuring out if this is this anime.

[D]

For example, what about like Jet Li.

[C]

Or like the one or something? They had to have made like the one game.

[B]

I would say that's cinematic.

[D]

Yeah, without question.

[B]

I think this had a TV series too.

[D]

Wasn't there also like true crime? Streets of la, Streets of New York. Is that a thing I just made up? That's not. Is it true crime or is it something else?

[B]

We can just ask the crime question. This is based on.

[D]

Yeah. Is this like a. Is this like a real word? Real world Earth crime game?

[A]

No, that's 15.

[C]

Not a real world crime game based on violence.

[D]

But wait, hold on. So it's not real world crime, but it's not sci fi and it's not fantasy and it's not military. But it's violent.

[B]

I love it. Maybe anime.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, maybe you're right about that. Although I don't know. I can't think about ninja. Yeah, it could be ninja game. Could be historical violence based off a license.

[B]

Kingdom Come type stuff.

[C]

Soldier of Fortune.

[B]

Maybe it's just comic book stuff, but.

[D]

Or it could be World War II. Although that's military.

[B]

I don't think superhero counts as fantasy or sci fi.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Crackdown.

[D]

Yeah, it has to be from the generation before Crackdown.

[B]

Maybe it's just Spider Man 2 or something.

[D]

Yeah, that's true. Like, yeah, a PS2 like Spider Man 2 on the PS2 is centered around violence though.

[B]

Cracking people's heads against the ground constantly in it.

[D]

Or. Or maybe it's horror themed horror. I mean, I can't think.

[C]

Oh, there was like an Evil Dead game on the PS2 where you play as Ash.

[A]

I. I can clarify a previous question. You asked if it was based on cinema and I said this franchise has appeared in cinemas. Actually, this game is based on a specific movie.

[B]

Huh.

[D]

There was a. There was a fight club game.

[C]

Oh yeah, you can unlock Abe Lincoln.

[B]

We didn't eliminate that with crime.

[D]

I don't know. I mean, it's not crime in the way that, like the Godfather is crime.

[B]

Sure it is. It's an illegal fight club.

[D]

But the fight club game is just a fighting game, right? Yeah, it completely, completely missed. Missed the point. And that's also a book and a movie. So, you know, and there is a.

[B]

Movie for this game. So they brought.

[D]

I bet, I bet it's. I think it might be Fight Club.

[B]

What?

[C]

Is this a fighting game?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Was Fight Club a fighting game?

[C]

Yeah, it was.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay. May I maybe potentially burn a question, but it would 100% confirm this.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Is Abraham Lincoln an unlockable character in this game?

[A]

No.

[C]

Fred Durst is also unlockable, I believe.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes, too.

[D]

Do we have one question and a guess.

[A]

2. Two questions and a guess.

[D]

Licensed fighting game. Movie based fighting game.

[A]

Meaning there's a lot of fighting in. In the game?

[D]

Well, no, we asked if it was a fighting game.

[A]

Yeah, there's a lot of fighting. Fighting.

[D]

What? What?

[B]

Remember Justin, To Damon's credit, and I think Justin's right here, but he did say that there's some versions of this don't have multiplayer.

[D]

Yeah. But I'm still stuck on, like, is it a fighting game? Yes. Oh, there's lots of fighting in it. Fighting game is a genre.

[C]

A lot of games have fighting.

[B]

We're looking at the Warriors, Right.

[A]

I think you'll see that I. I think you'll see that I answered it.

[B]

Probably.

[D]

It probably is the Warriors. Warriors. But I would not call the Warriors a fighting game.

[C]

It's a brawler.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I know. It was a rock star game.

[D]

Yeah. Not so. Not made. Not made in Japan. Yeah, it probably is the Warriors.

[C]

It was.

[B]

I would call gang activity, real world crime. So I don't know.

[C]

Maybe we're wrong.

[D]

I bet it's the Warriors. I don't know how to narrow it down further without.

[B]

No, but that doesn't make sense with what he said about they're having, you know, this. It's based on any movie. But there's other things. I really think it's a superhero thing.

[D]

Oh, man. I mean, so if that's true, then, you know, I don't know. Marvel versus Capcom. Like, there's all kinds of weird.

[B]

It's not one of those, though. It's more of a brawler from that. That period. Like, maybe it was like.

[D]

It's got a lot of, you know, a lot of fighting in it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You will be ashamed of your words and deeds.

[B]

But maybe it's that Wolverine. It's that Wolverine game.

[C]

X Men Origins. Wolverine. Well, that was. Oh, There was a PS2 version, but I believe it was a 360 game, so that would have been late.

[B]

Something like that.

[D]

There was.

[B]

Do we just get rid of the comic book thing? Is this based on a Comic book.

[D]

There was. Hold on. There was. There were. There was Matrix. There was Enter the Matrix and Matrix.

[B]

That's sci fi.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No question.

[D]

There was. There was a 50 cent game.

[B]

Blood in the Sand. Yeah. It could be that Max Pain.

[D]

That's not based off a license.

[B]

Well, it is now, right? Hasn't there been a Max Pay movie now?

[D]

Yeah, I mean there was like. We're in the era. They were in the era of like. Of like Simpsons. You know, like Simpsons hit and run.

[B]

100%. The Simpsons Movie game does exist.

[D]

Then there's the Simpson. There was a Futurama movie game or Futurama game too. Not a movie game though.

[C]

I kind of like Sam's approach of if this is a comic book. I think that's a. A broad enough.

[D]

All right.

[C]

Is this a comic. Is this a comic book thing?

[A]

Yes, it's a comic book thing.

[C]

Great. Great.

[D]

Wow. So maybe it is. So wait, this. We have just have to guess.

[A]

Remember, there's one question left.

[B]

There's a Hulk game that was just about smashing, but I don't think that was tied to the.

[D]

I think it's probably. There is Hulk ultimate. Just like the two.

[B]

Like not tied to a movie though.

[D]

Yeah, you. We should have gotten on the comic book.

[B]

What about just Iron Man?

[D]

I don't know.

[C]

Iron man game.

[B]

Yes, there is.

[C]

That was until 360.

[B]

Oh yeah. There's a Wii one.

[D]

I think that the two highly regarded PS2 era comic book games are Spider Man 2 and Hulk Ultimate Destruction are the two that people remember and talk about.

[C]

But none of those would have had multiplayer.

[B]

And they're not based on the movie. Right. Is Spider Man 2 based on the movie?

[C]

Spider Man 2 is based on the movie.

[D]

Is it?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

So multiplayer means it could be. What was that top down franchise that was kind of like Diablo of Marvel characters?

[B]

That's confusing with the spider man thing. It doesn't.

[C]

Oh, Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

[D]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance. That's what I was trying to think of.

[B]

Based on the movie. We're just not getting it. We're something. We miss something.

[C]

We have two questions. We have a question and a guess.

[D]

One question and a guess. I mean one of those games could have had some weird multiplayer mode in it. I don't know.

[B]

I don't think so.

[D]

I never.

[B]

I think we introduced the hack and then lose.

[D]

Okay. Have we mentioned the name of this game?

[A]

No.

[C]

Okay. Based on a comic book.

[B]

Well, what were comic book movies that were in the PlayStation 2 era? That's not too bad. We can get that.

[D]

Well, yeah, but also in movies.

[B]

Spider Man.

[A]

There was a movie.

[B]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Comic book movies. I'm saying. Yeah. What were the comic book movies of this era? What was the one, the Todd McFarlane one.

[D]

Like Spawn.

[B]

Not Spawn. Dark. The Darkness or something like that.

[D]

What about, what about like Ninja Turtles? That's a comic book in a movie, 100%.

[B]

I don't think the early 2000s had a movie, though. I don't know. But I don't remember it being.

[C]

No, there was no early 2000s Ninja Turtles. Iron man was 2004. So it has to be around that era. What was pop.

[D]

It not being crime, but being violent. What about, I don't know, is it.

[C]

The Punisher for Xbox? I think they had a PS2 port and you very violent.

[B]

That existed. But was there a Punisher movie then?

[C]

There was a Punisher, the one with.

[D]

Thomas Jane or whatever.

[B]

Obscure. Could it really be that?

[D]

That could be it. I, I mean, go for it if you want. Like the other thing I was gonna say is like, it could be a Godzilla. Something they're always up to. Up to something on the video game side, but I doubt it.

[B]

Comics, though. I think it's what, you know, Batman. Oh, what about Batman?

[D]

It's too early for Arkham. I mean, there was obviously other.

[B]

Yeah, there was a Batman.

[C]

What's the rise of Sun Tzu?

[B]

No. What was the first Batman movie of the trilogy with the Heathlet.

[D]

Batman Begins.

[B]

Batman Begins had a tie in video game where you just drive around and hit people as Batman.

[D]

It could be a Batman Begins tie in game. I'm going to go pick either that or Punisher.

[C]

I don't believe that the Batman. Like personally, I'm saying I don't believe that the Batman Begins game would have had a multiplayer mode.

[B]

And you think Punisher did.

[C]

But I could, I don't know, I could see it having a multiplayer because it feels like it's a bad game. But I just, I, I played a lot of it.

[D]

Go for it. I, I, I think, Nick, I think we're gonna, I think if we're, if there's a tiebreaker, I'm gonna vote Punisher and then accept my fate if it's Batman Begins.

[B]

And you really think, think this Punisher game came to PS2? There was a movie that anybody knew about and cared about and they would have talked about it in game screen.

[C]

Yeah, it's one of those movies that aired on FX non stop.

[D]

Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Is it a Punisher?

[A]

It Is not funny enough. You mentioned Marvel Ultimate Alliance. That was option number three. No, this game. Everyone seems to have forgotten the 2007 film TMNT.

[D]

Oh, we did talk about Ninja Turtles 2007, though.

[C]

I thought we were 2006.

[B]

We were talking about it ahead.

[A]

It's within two years.

[C]

We were full.

[A]

I don't think. I didn't think.

[B]

You're a fool.

[A]

From Ubisoft. From Ubisoft. It came out to literally everything. And some versions have cooperative and some.

[B]

Which makes sense for TMNT.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. RIP.

[C]

I was stuck on it being pre 2006. I don't know why. Because people never talk about games that haven't come out yet. Damon, come on.

[B]

I didn't. I definitely don't remember it being a movie. So then it would have been hard for me to get to the game.

[A]

That would have been the Michael Bay one or. No, not to the Michael Bay movie.

[D]

I don't even know what movie that is. I can't. Like, what is it? I don't remember.

[C]

I remember the poster. Oh, it's an animated movie.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Was this the one that ended up being like Smash Brothers?

[A]

Remember?

[B]

There's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Smash Brothers type?

[A]

It's not that one. This one's just a brawler.

[D]

Oh, I remember. Yeah, I do remember this movie.

[A]

It was actually has DNA from the Prince of Persia, Sands of Time in.

[C]

Has that same, like, PS2 blurriness from the Prince of Persia, Sands of Time. Yeah, man.

[D]

Hard, hard game.

[A]

Nicely attempt your. Your four options here would have been you had TMNT and then the Darkness, which you also mentioned.

[B]

We were really in the 2006 zone there.

[A]

Marvel ultimate alliance or Castlevania. Portrait of Ruin.

[B]

Yeah, I would love that one.

[D]

We would have gotten all three of those.

[B]

We would have 100. We did. We did get them. In the course of this episode.

[A]

Some fun facts about the Godfather game, which I was recently researching. I never played it, but I know it was actually pretty well received.

[D]

Yeah, terrible.

[A]

And I never knew this. Like, the game has like. Like Marlon Brando recorded lines from it, even though he was very ill at the time. And I don't think they could use much. And James Kahn is in it and the guy who played or Abigoda is in it. Like, they had all these actors from the movie, except they couldn't get Al Pacino, even though Al Pacino is in the Scarface game. So I don't know. I don't know what happened.

[B]

Maybe he had a contract. He'd be only in one video game.

[D]

I don't know.

[B]

One video game for life.

[A]

I think the Godfather game is supposed to turn out better than the Scarface game.

[D]

Yeah. Anyway, I really like the Godfather.

[B]

Did you play it on Wii? No, because our review really talks up the waggle controls for it, which I thought was a moment in time.

[C]

Please strangle people with the WWII remote.

[B]

Oh, 100%. It was like, it's so fun shiving people with the Wii controller. It's like you could tell there's this little window where Wii control us. We owners were like, it's more fun even though it looks bad.

[D]

I'm on the Godfather Wikipedia page now and there's a whole section on Francis Ford Coppola's reaction to the game. He was not impressed.

[A]

I don't think they even floated to buy him before they made it. They just made it.

[C]

So, yeah, it's fine. He makes mid wine. What does he know about video games?

[B]

Wow. Wow, Sophia. Cans are pretty convenient.

[A]

Thank you for your suggestions and your Valentine's cards. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, you can email them to me at the email address gamescoopgn.com I have to leave you with some important messages before we go. Viewers, listeners, do you have what it takes to host videos for ign? Can you do what I do? Can you talk about video games on camera? Well, we are looking for new voices who love games, movies, pop culture and more. In all seriousness, IGN is looking for a new host. So if you have a strong on camera presence, if you can read from a teleprompter, that's important. And know your way around the world of video games and entertainment. We want to hear from you. Head to audition.ign.com for more details. Again, this is real. Oh, if the noid wants to apply or dodge, that's fine.

[C]

Let's grill.

[A]

But that's all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Sam. Thank you to Marion, who's working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out.

[B]

Play it.

[D]

Sa.

[A]

Sa.

[D]

Sam.

[B]

It's a two hour scoop.

[D]

You got all that weird. You got. You have all that weird sex stuff behind you.

[A]

Yeah, but I'm not. I'm not worried about that.

[D]

I got it.