Forza Horizon 6 Announced, Set in Japan! - Kinda Funny Games Daily 09.25.25

Summary

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Kinda Funny Games Daily – September 25, 2025

Main Theme:
A jam-packed news day in video games, with Forza Horizon 6’s Japan reveal leading headlines, hands-on previews of anticipated Switch 2 titles (including Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment), early impressions of Yakuza Kiwami 3 and its Dark Ties mode, and the crew’s trademark banter and insightful industry takes. Hosted by Tim Gettys and Roger Pokorny.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Forza Horizon 6 Officially Set in Japan

[08:06–14:45]

• News: Forza Horizon 6 launches in 2026, set in Japan. Debuts on PC and Xbox, with a PlayStation 5 release coming post-launch.

  • Quoting Matt Booty: “This has been the most requested location since the very first game, and we can't wait to share more next year” [08:34].
  • Art director Don Arqueta and cultural consultant Kyoko Yamashita stress the complexity and authenticity of Tokyo City, blending urban regions with rural areas like Mount Fuji, plus returning seasonal changes.

• Significance:

  • The long-requested Japanese setting and technical advances (inspired by Horizon 5’s Hot Wheels DLC) make this “the most complex and intricately drivable area in a Horizon game yet.”
  • The PS5 release post-launch signals Microsoft’s ongoing multiplatform strategy, which the hosts dissect:
    • Tim: “They're clearly still trying to figure out what…strategy…” [09:58]
    • Roger: “We're at the point where we're just saying it. We're just announcing a first party Xbox game and we're also saying it'll come out [on PlayStation] afterwards” [09:46].

• Hype Levels & Personal Plans:

  • Roger is thrilled: “This is going to be the Forza Horizon that I fully sink my teeth into” [11:25].
  • Nostalgia and excitement over potential DLC (e.g., Fast & Furious Tokyo, Initial D, Speed Racer crossovers) [13:20–14:06].

• Industry Impact:

  • Tim contextualizes: “Forza Horizon 5: IGN's Game of the Year...So for the follow up to be the Japan one—so good!” [11:10].
  • Discussion on the franchise’s mastery of arcade and sim blending: “It is such a great blend of like old school arcade style racing games, but then also…a modern, fully featured video game…maybe the best blend of those things we've seen in a racing game, period.” [12:03]
  • Speculation on the future of Motorsport versus Horizon, pondering whether Motorsport may just become a Horizon mode [14:45].

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2. Hands-on: Hyrule Warriors – Age of Imprisonment

[16:31–25:15]

• Preview Segment: Tim’s demo impressions after playing two ten-minute slices.

  • Set during Zelda’s first time in the Depths, post–Tears of the Kingdom events.
  • Playable characters: Zelda (light arrows), Rauru (spear, Ultrahand abilities), Mineru (Zonai gadget combos and vehicle spawning). Each has distinct combat mechanics.

• What’s New and Standout:

  • “This one way more fascinated by. Because this is pure canon to the story. This is…in the world of Tears of the Kingdom.” [17:59]
  • On-the-fly character switching reminiscent of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, light puzzle-solving with each character separated performing different objectives [21:24].
  • The presentation and soundscape directly call back to recent mainline Zeldas: “It looks like Tears of the Kingdom. This is Zelda’s first time in the depths. Why did that get me so hype?” [20:08].

• Performance and Potential Concerns:

  • Ran smoothly in demo: “It felt totally fine…no problems performance wise” [23:32].
  • Skepticism on split-screen holding 60fps.
  • Critical outlook: Will depend on how well the puzzling/mechanical variety evolves, and the quality of the story and voice acting.

• Reception Forecast:

  • Tim predicts: “I think this will be the most well received of these games…85—no, maybe 80…82” on Metacritic [25:52].
  • Appeal: “There’s just a lot of clever stuff. And it’s fun playing a Zelda [where] the combat is cool. It just feels different” [23:00].

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3. Early Impressions: Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

[28:33–40:40]

• Switch 2 Ports Roundup:

  • Persona 3: Crisp and stable at 30fps [29:05].
  • Two Point Museum: Lackluster, no mouse controls, not recommended [29:33].
  • Sonic Cross Worlds Minecraft track: “It’s the best track in the whole game. This Minecraft track is incredible.” [30:03]
  • Kiwami 1 vs 2: Noticeable jump from 60fps to 30fps between them due to different engines; highlights future performance concerns for Yakuza on Switch 2 [32:17].

• Dark Ties Preview:

  • 15–20 min demo; prequel to Kiwami 3 starring Mine, an ousted business exec obsessed with joining the Yakuza after witnessing their loyalty.
  • His fighting style: ramped-up aggression with a unique “hearts/rage” meter [35:41].

• Kiwami 3 (Remake) Preview:

  • Kiryu as orphanage caretaker—“If you play that first 10 minutes…you’d be like, I understand Yakuza completely.” [38:27]
  • Two fighting styles: Dragon of Dojima (classic) and Ryukiyu (Okinawan weapons).
  • Modern quality-of-life: Instant fights, quick traversal via Segway (not present in Kiwami 1 & 2).
  • English dub only in 3 (not in 1 & 2)—seen as a loss for accessibility.

• Roger’s Take: Very positive on the remake and especially excited for Dark Ties; wants Kiwami 1/2 director’s cuts to bring them to the new technical standard [40:12].

• Tim: “Give it two years” for more remasters; sees the series’ evolution and Sega’s moves as fascinating [40:12].

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4. Industry & Platform News Highlights

Switch 2 Physical Media & Performance

[40:40–46:59]

• FFVII Remake integrate on Switch 2 will require a “game key card” and download, not pure physical cart.

  • Director Naoki Hamaguchi explains: “The biggest issue…is the loading speed. Because you compare that to the solid state drive…that’s the bigger issue rather than the memory or cost.” [42:39]

• Analysis:

  • While devs say speed is the constraint, Tim and Roger point out: For many releases, cost (and laziness) is often the real factor, and it hurts physical collectors.
    • “It's a massive turnoff…if you see the smaller games…game key cards…then you know it’s not the speeds…it just…you don't want to spend [to optimize]” [43:47].

• Performance Gripe on Switch 2 (“Shouldn’t Yakuza run at 60fps?”)

  • Roger: “Yakuza for sure should run well, specifically since the last ones ran 60fps.” [46:27]

Nintendo’s Mobile Move

[47:04–49:18]

• Surprise release: Fire Emblem Shadows, a social deduction/mobile Among Us-style game, shadow dropped.
• App seems “kind of fun” (per chat), but hosts are skeptical about its long-term appeal and Nintendo’s awkward fit in the mobile space (“Why now?...seven years since the last one...?” [49:34]).

007 First Light Casting:

[49:56–51:16]

• Gemma Chan joins as key MI6 academic.
• Hosts excited, noting “she enhances projects,” and express anticipation for installment.

Real-world News: Microsoft & Gaza Mass Surveillance

[52:05–53:43]

• Microsoft blocks Israeli military’s use of Azure for Palestinian civilian surveillance.
  • Hosts highlight how “pressure put, results happen” and call it an overdue but important move.

GTA RP Evolution:

[53:46–54:44]

• NoPixel (GTA V’s leading roleplay server) partners with Rockstar for official “NoPixel V.”

Industry Bits

• Splash Damage splits from Tencent, acquired by private equity (“Which is worse?” debate) [54:23].
• Monster Hunter Stories 1 & 2, Gungrave, and Twisted Reflection release news.
• Street Fighter 6 new character C. Viper coming soon.

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5. Notable Quotes & Moments

Forza Horizon 6

• On Japan as a setting:

  “We’re finally getting into Japan. It's actually happening. That's crazy.”
  – Tim Gettys [09:58]

• On multiplatform:

  “We're at the point where we're just saying it…an Xbox first-party [title]…will come out after launch [on PS5].”
  – Roger Pokorny [09:46]

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

• On demo excitement:

  “All this to say I left this even more excited about this entry than I was. And this is already the entry that I've been most excited for.”
  – Tim Gettys [22:21]

Yakuza Kiwami 3/Dark Ties

• On Dark Ties’ protagonist:

  “So then now this whole game is him trying to track down his entry point into the Yakuza …this is his origin story into the darkness of the underbelly of Japan.”
  – Roger Pokorny [35:41]

• On Kiwami 3 remake quality-of-life:

  “You press up on the D pad and you use a Segway…not available in Kiwami 1 and 2…It’s just weird that these games are like…Kiwami 3 is just such a perfect entry point and feels like it's connected to the newer Yakuza games.”
  – Roger Pokorny [39:12]

Physical vs Digital (Switch 2)

• On game key cards:

  “It really affects my interest in physical games on the Switch 2.”
  – Tim Gettys [42:39]

Lighter Moments

• On internal Kinda Funny needling:

  “It's not a secret that I don't respect Nick's opinions on anything because…”
  – Tim Gettys [02:45]

• On the beer run:

  “Mike messaged me…‘I'm picking up beers, I’ll see you in a little bit’…No, he's bringing beers. That's what's happening.”
  – Tim & Roger [04:28]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Forza Horizon 6 Details & Discussion: [08:06] – [14:45]
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Demo: [16:31] – [25:15]
• Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties Preview: [28:33] – [40:40]
• Switch 2 Physical Media & Performance: [40:40] – [46:59]
• Nintendo Mobile/Misc News: [47:04] – [49:18]
• 007 First Light Casting News: [49:56] – [51:16]
• Microsoft/Real-World News, GTA RP, Industry Updates: [52:05] – [55:47]

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Tone & Banter

Playful, irreverent, and packed with personal anecdotes and inside Kinda Funny jokes, but always bringing clear insight on the business, tech, and culture of gaming. Both hosts alternate between genuine hype (Forza in Japan, new Zelda canon), wishful thinking (Switch 2 performance, physical media), and hard critique (Nintendo’s hardware choices, lackluster ports), all while actively interacting with the live audience’s chat and superchats.

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Conclusion

This episode captures the current landscape of gaming: historic franchise expansions, the emergence of Japan as the hot new setting, hardware and platform evolutions (and their trade-offs), and the energetic pulse of the Kinda Funny team. Forza fans, Switch followers, and Yakuza-heads receive in-depth takes, while everyone else can enjoy being part of the ongoing cultural conversation in games.

Transcript

[A]

Stories include Forza Horizon 6 is officially set in Japan. Finally. I can't believe it's happening. We played the new Hyrule warriors game and Roger has played Yakuza Kiwami 3. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. What's up? And welcome to Kind of Funny Games daily for Thursday, September 25, 2025. Happy Hades2day to all who celebrate. Of course. I am Tim Geddes. I'm joined today by Roger Piccor.

[B]

Man, I'm so excited that all these embargos have dropped Hades two Crazy times Yote Kiwami three. Man, I love lying to the audience. Yesterday, yesterday, looking at them be like, I haven't been playing Yotei bro. Finish Yote.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm like, oh man, I can't wait to play Kiwami 3. Oh, I played Kwame 3 already. So I'm excited to talk to you all about it.

[A]

Yeah, I played Hyrule Warriors. Oh, that's cool. I played the hell out of Hades. Are you a Hades guy?

[B]

Yes. So I loved Hades one. I played it during the Pandemic after watching the no clip documentary.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I remember just binging through it and being like, man, this is not type of game. But it could be. And then I played it. Oh, it was my type of game. Fell in love with that. And then Hades 2, I played the technical test that they had back in the day when they first, first released and I beat that. And I was like, okay, cool. Not touching it, not touching any of the updates until the 1.0. And then of course the 1.0 comes at the most inopportune time for sure with Hollow Knight, with Yote, with everything. But I was like, you know what? I gotta put my money where my mouth is. And I booted it up on the switch too. And I'm like, holy. I. It's all I want to play now Yote in this. And it's like there's no room for anything else in my life.

[A]

Yeah. And there's silksong out there too. It's like, dude, it's not getting.

[B]

I'm going to be honest, I guess it's over for me. Like, I just, I'm at the place where I like, I need to. I need to have fun.

[A]

Well, maybe it won't be beat by this year, but I do think you have. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But then here's the. It's the weird balance of like, yeah, if I'm off for two months, I'm going to Forget everything. And then I'm.

[A]

Oh, yeah, that's the thing. Oh, well. How far are you?

[B]

I'm about 12 hours in.

[A]

Okay. Okay. Far enough.

[B]

Yeah. So that. But I'm like, if I go back into it two months from now and I'm like, I don't remember where I'm at.

[A]

I'm just going to just be done.

[B]

I'm just starting it.

[A]

Oh, I get that. Yeah. Which I think that you'll go a lot faster, though, because I do think that it's the type of game that you, like, do lock in in a weird way.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like the challenge kind of goes away because you're. I've been here.

[B]

Yeah. And I'm also in this weird denial phase right now where I'm in this place where I'm like, I'm pretty sure I'm going the right direction, but it's so hard that I'm hoping it's not the right direction. So I keep on putting it up. I'm like, no, this can't be right. Can't be right. Let me go back to 80s. I'm definitely right.

[A]

God, it's, it is a fantastic time for videos and for tv. Oh, my God. There's just, there's too much. Right.

[B]

I just have no room for tv, man. I know. Alien Earth is. I got to.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Peacemaker. That's the only thing I'm watching week to week.

[A]

I'm enjoying that. I'm having a good, good, good.

[B]

A lot of talk about. Was it Tim?

[A]

Oh, I, I, I mean, it's not a secret that I don't respect Nick's opinions on anything because they're just this.

[B]

No, let me tell you the funniest thing in the world. Yesterday, he walks over to me and we're talking about one battle after another. The new Thomas Anderson movie that's coming out this Friday apparently is like one of the best movies of the year. Maybe an all time classic. Literally a 95 or something like that on Metacritic, which is insane for. Everyone's loving this movie. Everybody's love this movie. He walks over to me and we're like, yeah, are you going to watch this? He's like, yeah, I might watch it. I hear it's not going to be that good. I'm like, what are you. Who are you hearing this from? I'm like, no, all the critics are saying that it's good. And he just looks at me and says, wait till I watch it.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Wait while I watch it.

[A]

My favorite thing. And this, this, like, I did not mean to turn this into just like venting about Nick, but he's not in the room and he deserves it, especially for what I'm about to say. Yesterday, Greg, a couple of days ago, Greg ordered Wolverine claws for the Wolverine reaction because he was hoping it was going to be there. And it was. It all worked out. It was great. Nick sees these claws and when Greg leaves yesterday, I forgot who was in the building.

[B]

It was me. I was there.

[A]

But I know he was talking to you, at you is probably more appropriate. He starts giving Greg shit for ordering the clause. And like, he's like, I bet he did. I bet he ordered the most expensive clause and he ordered it with express shipping and did all this stuff. And I'm like, you realize you're just talking shit about yourself. Like, this is what you do.

[B]

Yeah, thank you, Michael, about everything. Yeah.

[A]

I would never clock Greg as the person at kind of funny that wastes money that way. Yeah, it's Nick.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And he's just like, it's this Catholic guilt shit.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

This is amazing. Yeah.

[B]

I will be cracking open one during the review.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, I will be drinking. 11:00am My favorite Mike messaged me and he was just like, I'm picking up beers. I'm going to see you in a little bit. I'm like, the fuck are you talking about right now? Has to be a typo. No, he's bringing beers.

[A]

No, that's what's happening.

[B]

Everybody shout out.

[A]

Shout out to this. Shout out to us. And you know what? Shout out to you. It's a Thursday. This is kind of Funny Games daily. Each and every weekday we run you through the video game news that you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube and now Spotify and Apple podcast to get all of our shows ad free and a daily exclusive show for a chance to be part of this show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Just like JJ baseball 23 did saying paying the birthday tax just pre ordered Ghost of yote and playing Hades 2 all night. Just too many games y' all and I love it. Happy birthday and enjoy. What a birthday to have.

[B]

Oh, that's a beautiful.

[A]

You have so much great stuff to do.

[B]

Hell yeah. That's exciting.

[A]

A little housekeeping for you. We are an 11 person business. All about live talk shows today after games daily going to get a Ghost of Yote review. I am very excited. I'M not on this episode. I have not had time to play this, which is so upsetting. But it's like, how do people. We have to choose what games you're playing.

[B]

I will say this is the most excited I've been to talk about a video game this entire year.

[A]

The most excited I've ever seen you to play. To talk about playing a game. Was Animal. Well, are you more excited for this?

[B]

More excited.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

More excited. I'm more excited to talk about this with the group. Was Animal. Well, it was me and Andy and we had like. I think we. I don't what. This is like a whole group experience. I'm excited to see everyone's reactions to this because I've heard things but I haven't fully, like, cemented where it stands on.

[A]

Yeah, I'm excited. I have not heard anything. After gamescast, we're starting Tron in Review. We are reviewing, ranking and recapping Tron 1 from 1982. Have you ever seen Tron?

[B]

Not. Not Tron 1. No.

[A]

Yeah, it's. I can't wait.

[B]

I've seen clips and I'm like, I.

[A]

Can'T wait to talk about. Quick story that I'm. You know what? No, no, I'm. Save this for. For Tron in Review. Actually, no, I'm going to say it to you because you were going to appreciate it. TRON1, like, it's a movie. That's. There's a video game as well. The arcade game that has all the like the light cycles and the tank game and all that stuff. Right. Kind of came out the same time. It was like that was the whole marketing thing for. It's like we're in the future now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I in high school, in junior year, took a computer science class where the final was us making coding.

[B]

Oh, fun.

[A]

The light cycle game in Tron. And I don't think I ever have felt that level of success in my life since then. I was like, I did it. And then we watched Tron like as the. Like, like the. After the finals, we watched the movie and I was like, yeah, yeah, I did that.

[B]

Me. That's.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Oh, God, that's awesome. Cool. You know, if you're kind of funny, man. Actually the stream is going to be Hades too, with Mike and Andy. That should be fun. I can't wait to see Andy play this game. Because I want to see. I want to see what he does.

[B]

Yeah. You know, he's gonna go crazy.

[A]

He thinks different if you're kind of funny. Member today's Greg Way is 18 minutes of Greg's public 101 and a second Greg Way that's unboxing the Ghost of Yote PS5. Hey, thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Today, we're brought to you by Shady Rays and Factor, but we'll tell you all about that later. For now, time to start with what is and forever will be the Roper Report.

[B]

Baker's desert.

[A]

Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan. It's launching in 2026 for PC and Xbox. First PlayStation 5 after wow. This comes from Tom Phillips at IGN. Forza Horizon 6, the next entry in Microsoft's racing series, will be set in Japan and launch in 2026. Microsoft formally announced Forza Horizon 6 during their big Xbox Tokyo Game show broadcast and revealed it will release first for PC and Xbox before arriving on PlayStation 5. QUOTE Post launch the teams at Playground Games and Turn 10 have poured their hearts into Forza Horizon 6, bringing Japan to life like never before. This is a quote from Matt Booty, finally making the games reveal official. This has been the most requested location since the very first game, and we can't wait to share more next year. Playground Games art director Don Arqueta and cultural consultant Kyoko Yamashita spoke with IGN ahead of today's announcement, discussing the decision to finally send the series to Japan and how Forza Horizon 6 Tokyo City will probably be the most complex and intric space of drivable area in a Horizon game yet.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

An Xbox Wire blog post on the game's announcement goes into more detail on why Japan has been chosen now, specifically with Areta revealing that the recent technical advances has made the game possible. The beauty of Horizon Games is that each one gives us learnings and ways to make the next even bigger and better. As well as taking player feedback into account, we've also been able to lean into more practical things. For instance, the Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC has helped us develop new the elevated roads of Tokyo City in Forza Horizon 6. As evidenced from today's teaser, the game will mix Tokyo's urban environment with a sample of Japan's rural areas, including Mount Fuji. The series usual seasonal changes will also return. Arcada confirmed. Wow, we're here.

[B]

What is the most interesting part of the story to you? Because for me, we're at the point where we're just saying it. We're just saying PS6 after launch. Hey, we're just doing it. We're announcing a first party Xbox game and we're also saying it'll come out afterwards after launching.

[A]

Most interesting thing to me is we finally got Assassin's Creed in Japan. We're finally getting into Japan. It's like it's actually happening. That's crazy. Yeah. The. The multi console stuff. They're clearly still trying to figure out exactly what the. If there is a one size fits all strategy or if there's not. If maybe we're going to try something different. Major sales for Horizon 5 coming to PS5. Right. I do wonder like what would be the right way to maximize overall sales for the the game. But they clearly have other things at play that they're trying to push here. Whether it is hardware sales for the increasing increasingly priced console by the day. You know what I mean? I am personally a little surprised it's not just a day one. On top of that, the Switch two side of it, like Forza I thought would have been announced for Switch 2 already and it isn't like even five.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And yeah, it being in Japan I do think is a selling point for switch gamers and PlayStation gamers as well. So I think that if they do end up on Switch 2, I think it'll sell incredibly well there. I think it will sell incredibly well on PS5 and as Forza Horizon has kind of shown, it's going to sell well on Xbox and PC and be played the hell out of on Game Pass as well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Forza Horizon 51 IGN's Game of the year that is so important to like keep in context for where this franchise in this team is. So for the follow up to that to be the Japan one.

[B]

So good.

[A]

There's a lot of good vibes going into that.

[B]

Yeah. No, this is, this is so exciting. I am. I loved Forza Horizon 5. Didn't put as much time as I wanted to in it just because I had an Xbox Series S and it wasn't running as well as I wanted to. My PC setup. This is, this is going to be the one for me. This is going to be the Forza Horizon that I fully sink my teeth into. Whether it's on PlayStation after launch or if I just grit my teeth through it and play it on my Series S. But I'm very, very excited for this one And I love the cinematic. I think it's a great, great trailer. I love the little like lead up the teases of all where we've been and then we finally get to that moment where it shows the landscape. It's. It's a, it's a smart Little teaser right here.

[A]

Yeah, like it really is. And I mean it's just about to be, it's about to be so good, it's about to look so good. Like they're going to bring so much hype. Like for Horizon 5 was awesome. And I played so much of it on Xbox and then I played so much of it on PS5 a couple months ago. It's just a good time, man. It's one of those games that's just fun to live in and I, I really appreciate that. It's not a game that isn't worth playing unless you're gonna fully commit. It's just worth playing, period. Especially with game pass. It's like, why not give it a shot and see if it's for you. Like, it is such a great blend of like old school arcade style racing games, but then also it is a modern, fully featured video game and I think that it's maybe the best blend of those things that we've seen in a racing game, period.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

We continue to see way more of the like sim Gran Turismo type games. Right. And then we also see a lot of the more retro arcade style things coming out. Whether it's like indie games or constant remasters of burnout games or whatever that is. Like Horizon stands alone as like wow. No, this is legitimately a game of the year winning franchise.

[B]

Yeah. It's this perfect melding of both sides of it. And I love how silly they can get within this world. Whether it's the Hot Wheel stuff. I believe they did Lego stuff last the game before that.

[A]

If I'm not mistaken, at some point they did Lego. They Fast and Furious a long time ago.

[B]

Like they get so silly with the dlc and I, I just love that we're able to create this universe of. Hey, we can. You can get in there, you can tune your cards, you can get super simmy. Probably not as semi as some people want, but you know, enough for me to look at it and be like, I'm not touching that. Right. You can get semi with it. You can have just fun pick it up. Or you can go full on silly with it and just play Hot Wheels and bang the cars together and do dumb crazy stuff. So that in Japan, bro. Come on, come on. And we got to bring back Fast and Furious.

[A]

I got it.

[B]

We got to do the Tokyo perfect. You got to do it. Come on, come on.

[A]

But yeah, I'm excited to drift in Tokyo. Like that's going to be.

[B]

What if they do. What if they do A Speed Racer dlc.

[A]

I mean that'd be absolutely.

[B]

There's so many, there's so many ways you could go about this.

[A]

So many ways to make me happy.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Specifically, people drop an initial D. Like, yeah, man. Like, give me speedy speed, boy. Like, this is about to be awesome. And also I think it's cool that this announcement happened at tgs. Like we, you know, Microsoft the last couple years has been showing up at Tokyo Game show, which is very, very cool because that's not how things used to be. And I feel like the last couple years has been more focused on some of their partners. Whether it's like the Persona stuff, metaphor, Refantasio that like those games. But yeah, Forza Microsoft Game Studios team. Right. Like making this announcement there, it's kind of kismet and like just works really nicely. So, yeah, very happy about.

[B]

Duro asked a question which I think is interesting. How long before Motorsport Sport is just a mode in Horizon? I think that's, that's, that's very interesting to me of like the Motorsport slash, Horizon split. Now we had a lot of layoffs on the motorsport team. I. I don't think we're going to get 1, 1, 1, 1. I think there's going to be a world where we just get Horizon Horizon, Horizon. Maybe a motorsport down the line.

[A]

Yeah. Which I mean, you know, I'm definitely speaking out of turn here. I don't necessarily think that's even the worst thing though.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, because I feel like with those games you can just release one and then maybe support it like with DLC and with like updates and stuff like DLC or something. Yeah, yeah. Because you are speaking to a smaller audience when it comes to the sim games. However, they're a dedicated audience that needs to be fed. They're hungry, you know. Yeah. You look at even like Gran Turismo. It's like, it's, it's a smaller audience. It's still gig enormous. Right.

[B]

So they announced yesterday like 100 million players. 10 million, what was it?

[A]

100 million over, over every. Every single entry. But like, still. Yeah, that is huge. Let's see, we got a super chat from Rance Cox saying birthday tax for my brother Dustin. His birthday was yesterday and from a nephew, Ian, whose birthday is today. Little dude has to hold out a day because he didn't want to share a day with his dad. There we go. Well, birthday to your family. Rance Cox kebab says, I'd love Bulma's Reynolds from Dragon Ball Number one.

[B]

Some anime. Anime Stuff going on there. That's fun.

[A]

Cool. Let's move on to story number two. Oh, are we really 24 minutes into this episode, Raj? Did we really spend 24 minutes talking about we're having a good time?

[B]

We're only 16 because of the fall, like the breaking. We could have done longer.

[A]

We could have.

[B]

We should just chug a beer, right?

[A]

Do you guys have to talk about Nick? Let us know in the super chats, please.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Story number two. I got to play Hyrule Warriors. Age of imprisonment.

[B]

I'm so excited to hear everything about it.

[A]

Yeah, man. It. I got to play 20 minutes. I got to play a 10 minute demo twice. God bless Nintendo. You know what I mean?

[B]

You know what I mean? Jesus.

[A]

So here's the thing, though. I really, really loved my time with this game.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

As limited as it was. But here's we. Y' all have listened to us for a long time. You know that I am not a Dynasty warriors guy. I'm not a Musso guy, but I am interested in the concept of it. I like the idea of the fun of the button mashing and the butt rock remix of all the music that we love and the recent kind of like IP versions. You know, the Persona Strikers, the Fire Emblem warriors, then the multiple Zelda, the Hyrule Warriors. Right. I've dabbled with all the Zelda ones. I've played all of them, each one as they come out for like an hour. And then I fall off for one reason or another. And the biggest reason to fall off was the performance of the last one of Age of Calamity because I was very interested in that. Using the Breath of the Wild art style. Like, I was like, all right, cool. That is definitely a selling point to me. Love that world and the characters and everything about those games. So I'm interested. But the performance was like, hey, this is. It's not keeping me interested enough. And the gameplay is whatever it is. So I didn't really care. This one way more fascinated by. Because this is pure canon to the story. This is.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

In the world of Tears of the Kingdom. And this is when Zelda is sent back in time.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My demo was her first time in the depths.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And you start off and it's you. It's with Rauru. There's three playable characters I got to play as Zelda, Rauru and Minoru, I think her name is. She's the, like Zone eye inventor that ended up making the big Meki Zone I thing. And all three gameplay styles were very different. Than each other. All fun. So Zelda is kind of what you would expect, some magicy stuff, but really it's the light arrows that you're. You're playing with. Raru has a spear and was using the ultra hand abilities from Tears of the Kingdom. And then Minaru was using all the Zonai devices in a bunch of different ways. So each of the different combos of attacks combination combining X and Y different like.

[B]

Like amounts of spawning new Zonai devices.

[A]

Exactly. So I think it was like xxxyy. She spawns like a car. Like a tank type thing. You're in the car and then you like roll over hordes of enemies and like it's just satisfying man. Like it really is. Again, you guys know what Museau's are. But it's taking the like side scroller beat em up 2D style but translating it to 3D hordes of enemies coming at you. And you were just doing a bunch of over the top ass attacks. Like some basic, basic, basic A meter grows and then all of a sudden you're doing a super. Right. But the cool thing about this one for me is it being canon. Obviously I'm invested in a way.

[B]

Last one not canon.

[A]

The last one was canon but it was like alt canon in some ways. And like I. I don't know, I never beat it.

[B]

So I'm not sure officially like this is not.

[A]

Oh, this is canon.

[B]

No, this is 100 canon.

[A]

100 can. Okay, well I mean who knows? Who knows what?

[B]

Yeah, because I thought just seeing the last one I was like oh, that has to be canon. And the fact that it's an old canon. Weird thing is I not speaking out.

[A]

Of turn here for sure.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

For my understanding is some of the things are. But there's some things like some characters is like they can't be here. That wouldn't make sense. So it's like I don't know. But let us know chat what we're talking about here. But they are saying that this one compared to the last one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And I mean this being the place in time and you being Zelda, like Link not being here because he's in the future. Like yeah, that's I think a little more telling of like they're trying to do something here. But in addition the story in the canon. Because like I care a lot. I don't really care a lot when it comes to that. But what I do care about is the look and sound of this being Tears of the Kingdom. Like when you get an item, it does the doodle doodle do the exact same sound effect from Tears of the Kingdom? The menu looks like Tears of the Kingdom. Like all of this stuff. I'm like, this is Tears of the Kingdom. And yeah, it's like, oh, this is eldest first time in the depths. Why did that get me so high? But what's great is you can on the fly switch between the three characters.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you're fighting as one. Oh, you just on the fly switch over to the other.

[B]

So are you spawning as a new.

[A]

Character or, you know, all three are in the battle with you at once and when you spawn to them, it's like transition. It's like Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Like you're. It's transferring you over to them, which is cool. And in the very. So I did the 10 minute demo and it kind of ends with this, with a boss. And then after I beat that, the demo like did the thanks for playing. And I had to start again. And then the Nintendo reps were pretty much just like, hey, skip all the cutscenes. Just go as fast as you can. Like get to where you were. Like, let's see how far you can get. And I'm like, this is unnecessary pressure, but okay, let's go. And so I did that. I was running through and I got to this part where you're. You're in the depths and you're trying to like get through a door. And of course there's three things you need to step on to like unlock this door or whatever, but they're all down different paths. And so I am running down one and there's like a command function. So it's like I can yell at the other guys to go to the other ones. Right. So I'm running facing a horde of enemies on this bridge, let's just say, while Rauru and Minor are doing the other ones. And as I beat the horde of enemies in front of me and I get on the. The like button or whatever it is I need to do or open the chest or whatever the hell the goal is, I can then switch characters and they're already where they need to be on the other thing. So it's like light puzzling. It's not. It wasn't rocket science, but it was satisfying and it was stuff that like, I just didn't expect.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

From this early in the game there, and I'm like, if they expand on this, like, there could be a lot more engagement from the player than just button mashing, as cool, flashy things happen. Which is kind of what? I wrote this off based on my experience with these games so far in totality. So, yeah. All this to say I left this even more excited about this entry than I was. And this is already the entry that I've been most excited for, so it's a good place to be. I walked out of this entirely being like, Barrett needs to play this. Like, Barrett cares about this Zelda world too much. Like, they're getting so much. Right. In the limited time I had, the different character abilities are just cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, really, really cool. You have different abilities that are using the Zonai batteries. Just like Tears of the Kingdom. Like, there's just, like, a lot of clever stuff. And it is. It's fun playing a Zelda Tears and Breath of the Wild game where, like, the combat is cool. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, it just feels different.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Doesn't feel perfect, but it feels different. I'm excited. This guy.

[B]

Two questions. Yeah, Well, I guess one question and the other one's silly. First one, how did it run? Like. Like, did it.

[A]

Did it.

[B]

You see any issues with 60fps? What was the.

[A]

No, I. None at all. Yeah, it felt totally fine.

[B]

You think your eyes.

[A]

Yeah, it's like, I. I can't say that. I was just looking at it, so it's like, I don't have eyes like that that could. Like. I would say yes, though. Like, I. It felt there was no problems performance wise.

[B]

Handheld. You're playing it.

[A]

I was playing it on insanely big tv, like, two feet away from me. But, yeah, no, it looked. It looks fine. It looks.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, but. And it ran. I'd say great. So I am very interested in it, though, because there's split screen. I didn't see that. There's no way.

[B]

No way that's 60fps. You're gonna have Framerbell looking at that. So.

[A]

I don't know about all of that, but, yeah, again, this is the one I am most interested in. I. I don't know how much time I'm gonna spend in it. Like, it would really have to level up some of the puzzle things. I was just saying in order for me to really see this through to the end or have the story stuff, like, really deliver. And from what we saw so far, like, with the voice acting and just like, the story, I'm like, I'm in. It's compelling. Raru's still a hot dude.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Goat Man. So, yeah.

[B]

Now the second question. Should Mike draft this? Oh, no, no, wait, no. Does Paris already have this one. He might already have this one. I'm not sure he might already have this one.

[A]

But I mean I.

[B]

Again, he's gonna perform well.

[A]

Do you think that that's the thing is I. I think for many reasons this is going to be the most well received of these games. Okay. Because I think they built up to this. We're at a point that the Switch 2 can handle the performance of this in a way the Switch one couldn't. Following up on tears and it being canon and having that story, there's like goodwill there and interesting characters where it's not just link.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, which I know is going to be a turn off to some.

[B]

People but like turn on to a lot.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So I think that this is going to do well critically. I don't remember how the other ones did. I think Age of Calamity did pretty well actually.

[B]

You're listening, Mike.

[A]

But move. Yeah.

[B]

I can't say you should actually do.

[A]

It, but you know what did Age of Calamity get on Metacritic? Let's see. Meta Critic. Hope it than 78. You know, I mean I think this will do better than that. I think this will be 85. No def. No, no, no. Maybe 80. 82.

[B]

82.

[A]

82.

[B]

82 solid.

[A]

82.

[B]

82 solid. Two more points than Pac Man. Repack World 2.

[A]

Get repacked everybody. Juan writes Insane birthday tax. I'm in my prom at 49. Been gaming since the days of Intellivision. Thanks for all you do. Love you guys. Happy birthday, Juan. 49. That's awesome.

[B]

Yeah. Thank you for hanging out with us.

[A]

Enjoy games, man. Enjoy them.

[B]

They're only getting better.

[A]

They're here. You know what else is here? Ads.

[C]

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[A]

And we're back with story number three. It's a big one. Roger previews Yakuza Kiwami 3 plus dark ties plus a whole bunch more.

[B]

Whole bunch.

[A]

How many goddamn games you play there?

[B]

Oh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Technically.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Tell me about them.

[A]

Where do you want to start?

[B]

Let's. Let's start with. Let's start with. Do we want to start with. Let's not start with Yakuza Kiwami 3 because I think that's like. That's the one, that's the big. That's the big one. And Dark Ties, those are the big ones. Let's go. Really quick rapid fire. Of all the games that I played really quick, I played some Switch 2 stuff. The ports that they're going over there, Persona 3, clearly 30 FPS, but absolutely worth. Worth it in terms of a port. It looks good. It looks very crisp. Actually runs at pretty solid 30fps. That's gonna be a really great way to play that game. So hell yeah to that two point museum. Pretty disappointed in this one. Didn't look great. Again, we're playing on the screen. We didn't play handheld. Just on, on a. On a monitor right there. Didn't look great. And also no mouse controls, which really sucks, especially for a game like that with management. It feels like.

[A]

That is weird.

[B]

It's so weird that they were. I was like, hey, is this going to be a launch that. No, not at launch. And they wouldn't say anything else. That was that. So very weird. I wouldn't recommend that unless they add mouse controls, imo. Then I also played the Sonic Cross Worlds Minecraft tracker. Tim, let me tell you what this is. The onins. It's the best track in the whole game. It's so good. This Minecraft track is incredible.

[A]

Why?

[B]

Because it. It literally is like all of Minecraft. So you drive through and then it's like, okay, like you're in the, like, the normal world or whatever, and you drive through the Nether Portal and then you're in the underground with, like, the lava and all this stuff happening. And then by the ending of it, it's like a remix of the first main part of the track and the creeper explodes and then it, like, starts changing the whole level and you're flying. It's like, genuinely impressive right there. Like, it's. It's really cool. It's inventive. And it changes in a way that I don't think a lot of the other tracks do in Crossworld. It's a very dynamic track, so it actually gave me a little bit of hope for these DLC levels. I want them to feel this cool and big.

[A]

Is your girl getting one?

[B]

Who?

[A]

Hakunimiku. Excuse me, Is that her name?

[B]

No, she does not have her own track now. She has her own character. But, yeah, not. Not.

[A]

Not even voice.

[B]

There's three Minecraft characters. Okay, There's Alex and then there's. Yeah, I wish. But then it's. It's. Man, I was. It's. What an insane fever dream of a video game. Because every time you hit a boost, Steve or any of the character, the Minecraft characters get up, turn around, look at the camera and start emoting. And it is that mix with Hatsune Miku in the front and then fucking tails next to me. I was like, this is. This is insanity. This is the fortnight ification of video games. And we've gone too far. But now we've gone so far that we've come back. And this is amazing. So I'm. I'm very.

[A]

Now they're speaking to you. Yeah, now they're speaking to this. Literally as we're watching your boy Ichibon here. It's like, all right. Yeah, we're going too far into Raj territory.

[B]

Yeah, it's incredible stuff. I did not play as Ichimon. I'm gonna. I'm. I'm edging myself waiting for that moment.

[A]

Jesus.

[B]

Jesus Christ. And then I played Kwami 1 and 2 which are being ported over to the Switch 2. Kind of a surprising moment cuz I didn't realize I never played Kwame 2. So I played Kwame 1 on the Switch 2 and it's like, okay, it looks about what I. I remembered of Yakuza 0.60fps. It looks solid. You know, I'm not a huge fan of the image quality of it. I had that issue with Yakuza 0 director's cut when we played it in New York and I still stand by that in Kwami 1. It just doesn't look as crisp as I want it to sometimes. And then I switch over to kiwami2 and I totally forgot about this. It's a different engine. So the game runs way worse than kiwami1. And by worse, I mean 60fps to 30fps.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Which is a huge difference. Especially when you're. You're literally. These games are coming up together, right? So I expected them to kind of be on. On par. Kiwami 2 is running on the newer Dragon engine which has been used since Yakuza 6 onwards and currently is being used. A version of it is being used in like all of the new games that they make put out. So not a great omen for like the future of Yakuza coming to switch to. Of like. Oh no. We had 60 FPS here, here. And now we're just going to get to 30fps. It was motion Blur City. It ran. It felt fine when you're playing and you're actually like fighting, but it's just not. I want these games to be 60fps. I think that's very important for me at the very least. But. But I mean it's on par with where the PS4 versions of it. There were also 30fps, so I guess that's fine. But man, I was expecting a little bit more.

[A]

It looked better the way you set that up. I thought you're gonna be like it's different engine and it runs better.

[B]

No, no, it did not.

[A]

It did not.

[B]

It was. Oh yeah. It was just a lot of motion blur. I hope they fixed that. It was just a little bit tough. So those are all the things. Oh, and then I played Virtua Fighter 5 Revo. No, that game's already out. That's that's the. That's the one that's already okay. Then they have a story mode and then they were like, hey, yeah, it's a story mode where you can fight against a bunch of NPCs and then you'll like rank up and rank up. And then it's like a brand new thing we're doing here. And like all of these fighters are like based off of the data of like professional fighters, which I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. And then I'm playing it and then I just went on a 15 win streak and it was like the easiest thing in the world. And I was like, is this supposed to get harder? And like, yeah. And I'm like, okay. Like, it was just a very confusing situation. So, yeah, I. Gamer. Yeah. I've never played virtual fighter in my life. I don't know. I'm pressing circle the entire time, just beating everybody. So something was a little off there. But so those are all the games that I played. Moving on to the actual meat of the bone, here is Yakuza, Kwami 3 and Dark Ties. I'm going to start off with Dark Ties. Dark Ties is its own video game that is being attached to Yakuza 3. It is a prequel to Yakuza 3. Kwame, where you play as mine, who is the antagonist of Yakuza 3. I've not played Yakuza 3, so this is all new news to me. But it was a very exciting. Played about 15 to 20 minutes of it, the little intro sequence. Let me give you the pitch on this guy.

[A]

Pitch me out.

[B]

Mine is a corporate executive in Japan and he's a traditional businessman. No shadiness or anything like that. He's just really rich. He's the top of this company and he gets basically ousted by his company and his board kind of succession style for just people power hungry. And they just take him out. And then he's out of his own company. He's a lot of money still, a lot of power and influence, but he doesn't have any loyalty. He's walking down the street one day, he sees Daigo, who is the head of one of the clans in Yakuza. And he just is watching and he sees this guy get attacked and he sees all of this, the Yakuza part of Daigo's Yakuza, like risk their lives and give up their lives for Daigo. And he sees this and he's like, like, oh, I want that. So then he becomes obsessed with joining the Yakuza. So then now this Whole game is him trying to track down his entry point into the Yakuza. So he finds this guy who is like, who's part of the Yakuza that is. Was in prison, who's like, kind of at the lowest totem pole. And he like, follows this guy and then he's like, hey, I'm gonna give you a million dollars if you, like, let me give me an in and you, like, help me be part of the Yakuza. And this is his origin story into the darkness of the underbelly of Japan.

[A]

That's pretty cool.

[B]

It's really sick. And again, we only played 15 to 20 minutes of it, and it was. It was some cool stuff. I mean, it's. It's exactly what you expect. I mean, he's running around, he's punching people. His combat style, they say that he has. They. They do the thing with like, he has two fighting styles. He only has one, but they. They have a thing where if you see on the top left corner, he has these hearts. Basically, it's like kind of his rage meter. So if you fill it up, he then goes like kind of Super Saiyan, and he's. His punches hit a little bit harder. It doesn't really feel like the second style. That's the second style. They're stretching it a little bit. But his first style is pretty cool. It's kind of based off of kickboxing. And he has a lot of grappling moves and he's jumping on people and he's flipping off of them. So it was. It was unique for. For Yakuza. And I like how they're always able to put these spins on stuff.

[A]

So I know you're newer to this entire franchise, but at this point, you are all in.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You haven't played them all yet. Are you planning to as they re. Release them? Are you going to play through them? Have all of them done?

[B]

Yes, I'm going to play. I'm a weird play because I have not finished 2. Or. Or. Or, yeah, I've started to. I have not finished two. So do I play two and then try to fit three into it? Because this game's coming out in February, so it's like. It's a tough turnaround, but I'm definitely going to play Dark Ties and then probably boot up Yakuza 3 and see how far I go into it. So then Dark Ties is its own thing. Yakuza Kwami 3 is of course a remake of Yakuza 3. Again, I have not played Yakuza 3. So I can't talk to the. The contrast and the differences behind it. But the whole pitch here is that Kiryu is now a adoptive father and running an orphanage, which, I don't know if you knew that that. That's kind of where the story takes you, but he runs the Morning Glory Orphanage. He has an adoptive daughter, he has a bunch of kids that he is taking care of, and he's retired from the Yakuza life, as he does all the time. And his house is getting foreclosed on and they're trying to. They're trying to, you know, evict them. So then he has to go to Aki Okinawa and talk to the head of the. The Yakuza that runs this, you know, landlord agency or whatever, and then he has to fight them. And then now, then he realizes, oh, that person that I was fighting was actually not that bad. But then these other Yakuza are really bad, so I gotta fight those people. And that was the end of the demo. So it was a very. It was a very contained, but short and focused Yakuza experience. I feel like if you play that first 10 minutes of what I played, you'd be like, I understand Yakuza completely. Yeah, it was. Felt good. It looked good. I was playing on a PS5 Pro, not a Switch 2. I don't know if they've announced Switch 2 at all, but PS5 Pro look good, ran fine, played good. Two different fighting styles. He has one that is the. He has the. The Dragon of Dojima style, which is what you expect. And then he has the Ryukiyu style, which is based off of Okinawan fighting styles, which has a lot of items.

[A]

So he basically becomes like a two Karate Kid too.

[B]

Oh, is that what he does?

[A]

They go to Okinawa and they learn.

[B]

Oh, I didn't know that. But did he use, like, weapons in that movie? I mean, because he's using. He's. Yeah, if you see right here, he's using a lot of weapons. He also becomes like Captain America. At one point, I used a. A finisher move where he, like, jumps up in the air and throws a. A shield in the guy's face like Captain America. So that was pretty cool. The thing that I want to get to with all this, I'm having a great time with it. I'm excited for these games. I'm especially excited for Dark Ties. We're in a weird place when it comes to the kiwami games again. Kwami 1 and 2 are all. Are remade Yakuza games. And now Kwami 3 has added a lot of quality of life improvements from the Yakuza games of the last few years. Infinite wealth and so on and so forth. So we have the ability to have a. What is it right here? It is the. Oh, the Street Surfer Mark zero, where you're able to press up on your D pad and you're able to use. What do you call those? The. I always forget the names of it. It's. It's like the thing that Paul Blart uses around the mall. Segway. Segway. A segue. You. You. You press up on the D pad and you use a segue. And that is like a really good quality of life improvement. Not available in Kiwami 1 and 2. And then also the game is really focused and like, when you go into a fight, like, the fight immediately starts and you're able to, like, there's no, like, buffer period. You have a buffer period still in Kwami 2. So it's just weird that these games are like. Kwame3 is just such a. Like a perfect, like, entry point and feels like it's connected to the newer yakuza games. And Kwami 1 or 2 are still stuck in the past, but also the remakes. So I almost want them to do a Kwame 1 and 2 director's cut, which I think is almost too far, but also not too far.

[A]

Give it two years.

[B]

Yeah, they will do it, but it's. We're just in this weird, weird place. So, yeah, I had a good time. I talked a lot about Yakuza and I'm very excited for February because this game is going to be really good.

[A]

Yeah. Hell yeah, dude.

[B]

Hell yeah. Oh, yeah. And dubs, that's. That's a big thing is that there are dubs for the English voice acting in three, but not in one and two. So that's kind of upsetting, I think, for a lot of people that want to play 1 and 2. They are dubbed people and that's just the only way they're going to play these games. So not being available kind of sucks.

[A]

Dang. Move on to story number four. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Director says players should accept Switch 2 game key cards because the issue speed, not cost. This comes from Chris Scullion at BGC. The director of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy says Switch 2 players should accept game key cards and that they're likely here to stay because cost and storage aren't the main issues they solve. 7 Remake integrates releasing on Switch 2 on January 22, 2026. But some fans were disappointed to see that the physical version of the game will be a game key card. In an interview with JP Games, Naoki Hamaguchi, who co directed Final Fantasy 7 Remake and directed Rebirth and is directing the as yet untitled final game in the remake trilogy, was asked about the decision to release Remake integrate on game Keycard and whether he was aware of the player criticism of of the format. He replied that he was aware of the concern, but explained that while some players believe game key cards are used by publishers to save money on cheaper cards or get more than 64 gigabytes of storage, the main reason they're used is due to the speed limitations of having the full game on the cartridge. I've heard the same. I've heard the reaction that the various Nintendo gamers have had towards the game key card. I understand where they're coming from definitely. I can see the things that they are maybe annoyed with, maybe why they don't like it and I get that, I really do. But certainly among developers the discussion about game key card formats perhaps a little bit different to what the fans maybe expect. It's always I think looked at in terms of the memory restrictions and that is an issue. That's not something we can ignore the fact that the standard cartridge has a smaller memory and we have to work around that. But I think perhaps the biggest issue for developers, certainly for people like us who make high end HD games, is the loading speed. Because you compare that to the solid state drive and the speed you can get from loading from that, it's going to be inferior to that. It just has to be. That's the way the media works physically. So that's the bigger issue really in terms of making games, making high end games for the Switch 2 and what it allows, obviously by doing a semi download version of the game, you can then use the SSD and rely on that for smoother loading. So that's perhaps the bigger issue in terms of being a developer. Hamaguchi stressed that because the Switch 2's internal storage loads data faster than cartridges, high end games are likely to continue to be released on game key cards going forward. And he hopes players will eventually understand the main reason for this is performance based rather than cost based. Very this is an interesting one. There's a lot of lot of little things here. I do think that the like headline and the takeaway even in the article kind of like sound a lot harsher than the actual words being said because I do think that it this is in context of a game like Final Fantasy 7 remake that we already know. I mean it's a known quantity that's huge. Right. And has so much going for it already that it's not like we'll see though how much these words actually line up with Square Enix just looking at them because that's, that's what we're talking about here for smaller games. Because I bet that games that do not need that stuff are still going to be game key cards and that sucks because it is them being cheap and a bunch of, and a bunch of words on the box art that I don't want. I hate this stuff. It's just one of those dumb little like monkey's paw situations of this whole thing. But yeah, it's not going away and that really sucks because it really affects my interest in physical games on the switch too.

[B]

Yeah, it's a massive turnoff and yeah, it's frustrating. That's a great call, a call out, Tim. Especially if when you see the smaller games, if they're game key cards, then you know, okay, well it's not the speeds, it's not the size of it, just that you just don't want to have to spend X amount of money optimizing it. But I also think this is a genuine concern and that's also, that's the.

[A]

Thing is like this is also true, but it just doesn't affect all the games that we've already seen.

[B]

Exactly. Yeah. I think the first time when, first time we heard about this or really like had that confirmed was the Outlaws stuff. Stuff when a developer, Ubisoft was talking about it, I was like, oh, that makes a lot of sense because yeah, it absolutely does. I think a lot of people I saw somebody in chat say well Cyberpunk says hi. And I get that. Totally understand that that's a very high end video game. Right. You know, comparatively to, to Final Fantasy. But it's just different engines, different ways that you produce video games. And you know, I, I'm not a game developer. I'm not going to say, oh, Cyberpunk do it, Anyone could do it, right? I think that's kind of a, that's kind of a wild thing to say. Especially we don't know the back end of how these games work. So yeah, I, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Anybody that's saying, hey, it's the speed, it's the size of it, I'm sure that it would take, maybe they can make it happen, but it would probably take a lot, a lot of time and money to make that. To make that worthwhile.

[A]

Yeah. And like I get that so much of it, specifically what I'm saying is just a little baby bitching about stuff.

[B]

But it makes sense.

[A]

But I just. I'm so upset. I'm so mad about the switches. Switch 2's third party support and. And all these like dumb weird caveats that it's like. Like y' all should not have done this, man. The dev kit should have been out sooner. There needs to be way more quality control of these ports. Like they are shooting themselves in a foot and it's all out of stupid ass pride and ego. Like that's all that it is. And whatever. They're gonna be fine. The Switch 2 is gonna sell millions upon millions. It's all of the stuff's great. Cool. They could have had it all. They really could have had it all. And it just frustrates me that there's.

[B]

Just so many things, so many physical side of it. What is the.

[A]

The main thing that the physical side is such a small part of it. However, it is unden that Nintendo fans buy physical games. You look at the sales of physical games at game stores at Gamestop, it's Nintendo games selling people like collecting them. People like supporting these games and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Guess what? It's going to sell incredibly well on the Switch too. A physical copy of it like is going to be sold less because of this news. How much? I don't think it's really going to affect that much. Like really. But it's the chip damage of this problem. But then also these like these Yakuza games, they should be running fucking perfectly.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Whatever you just said about the 30 and 60 of which Kwame had that. Which had that.

[B]

They should be.

[A]

What are we talking about here? Like, and it's especially frustrating when Outlaws comes out and is awesome. When WWE 2K20 whatever comes out and it's awesome. It can happen. It's not the hardware. It is not that it can't work.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Cyberpunk.

[B]

Yes, exactly. But I will also Say WWE is 80 gigabytes or so. Right? Like it is. Yeah, there's always those trade offs. But sure, I completely agree with you. And also yeah, Yakuza for sure should run well. Specifically since the last ones ran 60fps.

[A]

On series S. Yeah. 8bit Louis says time to move on, Tim. Embrace the digital world, bro. No one's embraced the digital world more than me. I just also like collecting physical stuff. And I also know that I am in a great position that I get to do Whatever the fuck I want. I buy digital games. I buy physical games. Like, I do that all the time. And I have both. There's so many people that will not do that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And Nintendo fans specifically, they're special types of in the head. And I know that I'm one of them. Story number five, Nintendo's first new mobile game in years is a surprise Fire Emblem spinoff. This comes from Andy Robinson. Everything about this is funny. Nintendo's announced and released its first new mobile game in several years, Fire Emblem Shadows. Available on smart devices from today, Shadows is described as a series spinoff that introduces new style of battles featuring role playing and social deduction. One of the three allies participating. Participating in each battle secretly, a treacherous Disciple of Shadow. Players choose to take on the role of either a Disciple of Light, aiming to find their way through the labyrinth, or a Disciple of Shadow. After the initial battle, players vote to determine who they believe is the Disciple of Shadow. And the outcome of the vote affects whether the next battle is more favorable or more challenging. Whether the Disciples of Light can correctly discover the traitor or the Disciple of Shadow can successfully deceive the others holds the key to how the next battle unfolds. It's Among Us. But it's Fire Emblem on mobile.

[B]

Bizarre.

[A]

It is bizarre. Fire Emblem heroes. Mega, big hit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Major money maker for them. So not the biggest surprise. But Among Us, it's a little weird, you know, it's a little weird. Like taking Fire Emblem and Among Us. Not necessarily my first pick of like, this makes sense. Like when they did it with Death Note, it's like, makes sense. Yeah. It's like, that's not necessarily. Oh, a Death Note game. I'm like, what's that going to look like? It looks like Among Us, I'm like, like, huh. That actually kind of weirdly works.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

With this, it's like, I don't get it. But a lot of social stuff. A lot of. A lot of like support conversations and all of that. Yeah. So like.

[B]

And it has combat too, which is.

[A]

Yeah. So interesting.

[B]

So how are you? I just am confused by this. Are you just on a voice call with your friends and you're yelling at them and you're walking around like. I'm just confused with the social aspect, the suction aspect of it.

[A]

No idea, man.

[B]

It's just kind of. You're in lobbies and then you just kind of the. Oh, that person didn't really do much damage to the bad guys, so I guess he's bad.

[A]

There's only three people Robin in the chat says, I played a little bit of it. It's kind of fun, but might get sweaty once people lean in more. But NATO says, unfortunately the game is really bad.

[B]

Weird.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, well, that's.

[A]

I mean, I think the weirdest thing here is Nintendo drop in a shadow dropped mobile game.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like what wnds. But like, I definitely would have bet on Nintendo kind of being more out of the mobile game scene.

[B]

Then why is that?

[A]

I mean, just because they haven't done one in. Yeah, seven years or so. Right. Like, it's been a long time.

[B]

Who's developing this? Who develops this?

[A]

It's a great question.

[B]

I wonder if this is just a pitch situation of they're like, hey, we have this thing. And you know, they're like, I don't care. It's fucking. I don't care. Fire emblem. Yeah, sure, why not? Maybe we'll make some of $10 million. Maybe it'll just be a flop. Who cares?

[A]

Story number six. Gemma Chan joins the cast of 007 First Light. That's kind of cool. Jordan Midler at VGC reports Gemma Chan's joined the cast of 007 First Light. In a trailer shown off during Xbox's Tokyo game show broadcast, the Eternals, crazy rich Asians and Sherlock actor has been announced to be playing Selena Tan. Dr. Selena Tan, played by Gemma Chan, is a brilliant and passionate academic with a background in psychology. Why does this read like a dating profile? And game theory, whose role at MI6 is critical in Bond's journey to earning the Double o status in 007 first light. Joining the world of James Bond in video games has been such an exciting experience. Selena Tan is a fascinating character and I can't wait for players to meet her. Bringing Selena to life in First Light has been an absolute privilege. The game's coming out March 27, 2026.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

I really with her. Yeah, I like her a lot. She enhances projects. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So this good. This is good.

[B]

It's a good. It's a good on the Tim.

[A]

It's good.

[B]

It's a good. I'm excited. Yeah, I'm excited for this game. That's the media. I'm just excited for this game. I want to play it. I'm gonna play it on the switch to 10fps.

[A]

There's. There's a lot to break down about Roger Pokorny, but something that does surprise.

[B]

Me that I just want to play.

[A]

Is the games you choose to play on Switch. When I know who you are.

[B]

Yeah. Here's the issue is that.

[A]

Love the idea of BDSM stuff. No.

[B]

A little bit. Hey, no, I like. I like the idea. The idea of playing these games on Switch. It was like, what if they play amazing. I'm not actually going to play every game on Switch. If I can, I'll get a code on both. Right. But I. I just want this. These game. Every game to play on Switch. To every single game. I just want to be able to bring this everywhere because it's just. It's so much slimmer than my. My Steam deck.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And I don't like my Steam deck.

[A]

And also it's a bigger screen. You forget that.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's nicer. I just need. You know what I need? I need the kill switch because it's just my hands are hurting.

[A]

Do you?

[B]

Yeah, I do.

[A]

I held mics and I hate it.

[B]

No, that's not a kill switch. He got it. He got. He spent like a hundred dollars on the bad one. Yeah, of course. It's not good.

[A]

Fucking Mike. Laughing at Mike.

[B]

No. Laughing at somebody. I don't know. Probably Mike.

[A]

Probably Mike. Story number seven. This is a required reading slash important real world news. Microsoft blocks Israel's use of its technology and mass surveillance of Palestinians. This comes from Harry Davis and Yuval Abraham at the Guardian. Microsoft's terminated the Israeli military's access to technology it used to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank. The Guardian can reveal. Microsoft told Israeli officials late last week that Unit 8200, the military's elite spy agency, had violated the company's terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure Cloud platform. Sources familiar with the situation said the decision to cut off Unit 8200's ability to use some of its technology results directly from an investigation published by the Guardian last month. It revealed how Azure was being used to store and process the trope of Palestinian communications in a mass surveillance program. The Guard's Detailed has a detailed article breaking down the specifics of the story that you should definitely check out.

[B]

So yeah, yeah, everyone should check it out. Way too late. But I'm happy that it happened and I'm happy that they're doing it. But like, yeah, the fact that it took them this long to realize that this was violating the terms of serv.

[A]

No, they knew this.

[B]

They knew this was happening.

[A]

Hey, but it happened. Yeah, right? This is such a huge step and, like, important. And then admitting it and acting on it. Good. Let's keep this up. And again this is another pressure on them holding. Yeah when there's pressure put results happen. So we've seen that multiple times the last couple of weeks. So keep it up world. That's big news.

[B]

I don't really want to transition we news channel Everybody.

[A]

Who from IGN popular Grand Theft Auto 5 roleplay server no Pixels collaborating with Rockstar Games for an official evolution of the role playing service called no Pixel V the no Pixel Twitter account confirmed the news today with the trailer teasing Rockstar backed roleplay support for GTA 5.

[B]

Cool. Don't they own no Pixel now? I'm not mistaken.

[A]

That sounds right.

[B]

So I think that's why people are like oh what if this is like what's going to taste of what GTA 6 is going to look like? So yeah, I mean it's interesting that it's coming out right now right before GTA 6. But yeah, cool.

[A]

Splash Damage got acquired by private equity investors and breaks apart from 10 cents.

[B]

Which is worse, 10 cent or private private equity? You know what I mean?

[A]

It's like a 10 cent probably right? Because, well, 10 cents a known evil private equity. We don't know.

[B]

Yeah, you never know. It's probably, probably, definitely, probably evil. But also you never know the level of evil.

[A]

The chat's saying they don't know. They don't own it.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Gungrave Gore Blood Heat is announced for Xbox Series PS5 and PC Monster New Stories and Stories 2 are coming to Xbox One on November. November 14th.

[B]

Sick, sick dude. Like dude. I mean well, the captain literally said like hey yeah, let's not support next the older Xbox stuff that shot us in the foot. So clearly a lot of people are playing this stuff on Xbox One.

[A]

Fix it now. See, Viper is coming to Street Fighter 6 on October 15 and she has roomy's hair from K Pop Demon Hunters on purpose. It must be Monster Under Stories and Monster Stories 2 are coming to Xbox One November 14th. New so good I had to read it twice.

[B]

Hey.

[A]

Monster Hunter Stories 3. That's why I uploaded up Twisted Reflection launches March 13th on Xbox Series PS5, Switch 2 and PC. And Konami announced the release date for Fox Hunt, a new online multiplayer experience. Coming to Snake Eater Delta free update October 30th. It heightens the iconic tactical espionage action with hide and seek gameplay where up to 12 players must rely on environmental stealth and survival skills to be the last one standing.

[B]

We will be playing this game on stream if there's not something else better and cooler to play. But we gotta play it. We gotta try it out.

[A]

Feliciash says, Tim, she was a character in Street Fighter 4. So no roomy copied her. I know she was a character Street Fighter 4, but she didn't have that hair in Street Fighter 4. Hair was. No, I'm pretty sure.

[B]

And if I'm wrong, no way to find out.

[A]

No, I'm not. Yeah, there's nothing.

[B]

There's no way to find out.

[A]

No way to look.

[B]

Form to fill out.

[A]

Good.

[B]

JCAT in the chat says Rockstar bought 5M, which is the modding framework for.

[A]

Rock for the chat saying that she did, I choose not to believe you. Okay, Roger, where do you stand?

[B]

I'm always on your team, Tim.

[A]

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

[B]

Always on your team.

[A]

I really, really, really appreciate it.

[B]

Team.

[A]

Yeah. Norman. Vade Bonure. Super chats. Insane context for yesterday's Gran Turismo sales news. Gran Turismo hit 90 million in December 2022, meaning the series has sold 10 million units since nine months after. After GT7 came out.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's huge.

[A]

Huge. Let's get to your wrong. We're done with We News.

[B]

Bye. Bye.

[A]

Brad says Ms. News for Forza. The Xbox Wire article also said they'll talk about Horizon 6 early next year, so we'll probably get that developer direct. Yeah, that time. Pretty cool.

[B]

Is nice.

[A]

Kebab says Segways couldn't appear in Yakuza 1 and 2 as their use in Japan is restricted to tours in government designated zones for safety reasons. So it's weird. In the remake of three, this is likely why Ichiban can use them in Infinite wealth, which is set outside of.

[B]

Japan, if I'm not mistaken. Kiryu can use it in Japan when you go to Japan as well. But I might be wrong. But also, who gives a. Just let me just press up on the D pad and just go. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin.

[A]

Who cares?

[B]

But thank you.

[A]

And that's it. Everybody cool. What a day.

[B]

What a day.

[A]

Barrett's here. How are you, Barrett? Oh, Barrett's walking. He was in the darkness. I couldn't see his face. I'm good. He's good. He's good, everybody. He's good. We're all good. We're about to do great stuff. Is God Ghost.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

I was gonna say God of War. Everybody, please let me know. Is Ghost of Yote good? That's what I was trying to get to. Is it great? Is it amazing? Or is it mediocre? I don't know. I really don't know. I doubt that part. But, you know, I just don't know. They're about to review it on Gamescast.

[B]

We will get drunk, all of us.

[A]

Will get drunk on this Sapporo.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Brought to you by Ghost of Yot.

[B]

Yeah. Not sponsored, but please sponsor us. I love Sapporo. I will chill for Sapporo any day.

[A]

Until next time. Bye. That was good.