Helldivers 2 Killzone DLC Receives Backlash From Greg Miller - Kinda Funny Games Daily 12.18.24

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily: Helldivers 2 Killzone DLC Receives Backlash

Episode Overview: In the December 18, 2024, episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily, hosts Greg "GameOverGreggy" Miller, Tim Gettys, and Blessing Adeoye Jr. delve into the latest developments in the gaming world. The primary focus centers around the controversial Helldivers 2 Killzone DLC, alongside other significant gaming news such as a new Marvel game reveal, impressive sales milestones for the Nintendo Switch and EA Sports College Football 25, the renewal of the animated series Secret Level, and a troubling incident involving the first Game Changers recipient.

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1. Helldivers 2 Killzone DLC Backlash

Discussion Highlights: Greg Miller expresses strong concerns regarding the newly released Killzone crossover DLC for Helldivers 2. The DLC, which includes Killzone-themed armor, assault rifles, banners, and player titles, has ignited controversy primarily due to its exorbitant pricing.

Key Points:

• High Pricing of DLC Items:
  • Armor Set: 500 super credits
  • Cape: 310 super credits
  • Helmet: 310 super credits
  • Assault Rifle: 615 super credits
• Limited Availability: Items are only available for five days post-release.
• Comparison to Premium War Bonds:
  • 1,000 super credits = $10 USD
  • The total cost for all Killzone items approaches $20 USD, nearly twice the price of a premium War Bond.
• Community Reaction: Accusations of "pay-to-win" have surfaced despite the items being cosmetic. The Helldivers subreddit is rife with dissatisfaction, arguing that a full-priced game like Helldivers 2 should adopt a more considerate monetization strategy.

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller [07:11]: “Wait, this kind of sucks. War bonds cost $10 and have stuff like this credits to buy more stuff, etc. This is being sold piecemeal. Buy everything here, it's about $20.”
• Tim Gettys [10:28]: “My gut tells me they reversed this. They reversed this just based on how Helldivers and the devs have handled Helldivers so far.”

Insights & Conclusions: The hosts agree that Helldivers 2 has historically enjoyed goodwill within its community, which makes the current backlash surprising. They speculate that Sony might reconsider the pricing strategy due to the established positive relationship with fans. However, there's skepticism about whether the company will adapt, given the prevalent trends in live-service games where monetization through microtransactions has become standard practice.

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2. Amy Hennig Reveals New Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra Details

Discussion Highlights: Amy Hennig, renowned for directing the first three Uncharted games, unveils new concept art and details for the upcoming Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra. Set to release in 2025, the game promises a fresh narrative that explores a younger Steve Rogers alongside a new Black Panther character.

Key Points:

• Narrative Focus: The story centers on a young Steve Rogers finding his footing and introduces a new Black Panther, diverging from the more seasoned portrayals in recent films.
• World-Building: The game is infused with World War II-era adventure film tropes, featuring intrigue, twists, and diverse characters.
• Art and Design: New concept art showcases the hidden jungles of Wakanda, emphasizing its isolationist stance but hinting at emerging conflicts that challenge this neutrality.

Notable Quotes:

• Amy Hennig [25:16]: “It led us to tap into all the things that I love, all of the wonderful tropes of World War II era adventure films, classic men on a mission movies.”

Insights & Conclusions: While the announcement has generated excitement, some skepticism remains regarding the feasibility of releasing such an ambitious project by 2025, given Amy Hennig's history with project cancellations post-Uncharted 3. Nevertheless, the blend of beloved Marvel characters with Hennig's storytelling prowess positions Rise of Hydra as a highly anticipated title, contingent on its successful development trajectory.

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3. Nintendo Switch and EA Sports College Football 25 Hit Sales Milestones

Discussion Highlights: Tim Gettys shares impressive sales milestones achieved by the Nintendo Switch and EA Sports' College Football 25. The Switch has surpassed the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 2 in the United States, while College Football 25 has become the best-selling sports game based on dollar sales.

Key Points:

• Nintendo Switch:
  • Sales Figures: 46.6 million units sold in the U.S., ranking second behind the Nintendo DS.
  • Comparison: PlayStation 2 has sold 160 million units worldwide, highlighting the Switch's strong performance domestically.
• EA Sports College Football 25:
  • Sales Achievement: Overtook Madden 07 and NBA 2K21 in dollar sales, positioning itself among the top 50 bestselling sports games ever.
  • Market Dominance: Currently the bestselling game of the year in the U.S., outpacing even Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys [33:41]: “Nintendo's console has surpassed the lifetime sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 in America.”
• Greg Miller [34:10]: “This was the perfect mix of what everybody wanted.”

Insights & Conclusions: The resurgence of College Football 25 after a decade signals a robust market appetite for authentic college sports simulations, especially with recent NCAA policy changes allowing athlete compensation and likeness rights. The success of the Nintendo Switch in the U.S. underscores its enduring popularity, possibly due to its versatile gaming ecosystem and strong first-party titles.

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4. Secret Level Renewed for Season Two on Prime Video

Discussion Highlights: Secret Level, an animated anthology series set within popular video game worlds, has been renewed for a second season on Prime Video. The series, produced by Amazon, MGM Studios, and Blur Studio, features original stories from titles like Dungeons and Dragons, Sifu, Mega Man, and more.

Key Points:

• Season One Reception: The first season received positive feedback for its high-quality animation and engaging storytelling across diverse game universes.
• New Episodes: Upcoming episodes continue to celebrate various game franchises, maintaining the show's commitment to showcasing different gaming narratives.
• Host Reactions:
  • Greg Miller [42:24]: “I love every single episode I've watched so far.”
  • Tim Gettys [43:21]: “I really like the Sifu one and enjoyed the overall concept.”

Notable Quotes:

• Greg Miller [42:24]: “I love every single episode I've watched so far. This team over at Blur is insanely talented.”
• Tim Gettys [43:21]: “I feel like Sifu was my favorite. Looking forward to more in Season Two.”

Insights & Conclusions: The renewal of Secret Level indicates strong viewership and appreciation for game-themed storytelling in animated formats. The hosts express enthusiasm for the show's ability to bring beloved game worlds to life, highlighting the potential for creative expansions in future seasons. Suggestions for additional game franchises reflect the community's desire for diverse and iconic game representations.

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5. Game Awards Recipient Faces Online Harassment

Discussion Highlights: Amir Satvant, the first recipient of the Game Changers Award at The Game Awards, has been subjected to a barrage of hateful and anti-Semitic comments online following his recognition. Satvant was honored for his efforts in assisting laid-off employees within the gaming industry to secure new employment.

Key Points:

• Award Achievement: Described as "career Santa Claus," Satvant has helped place nearly 3,000 individuals into new roles.
• Nature of Harassment: Accusations of fraud related to his role at Tencent, along with personal attacks on his family.
• Satvant's Response:
  • Clarified that his community work began prior to his tenure at Tencent.
  • Denied allegations of exploiting the community or being a fraud.
  • Emphasized the impact of his work and the unjust nature of the harassment.

Notable Quotes:

• Amir Satvant [50:04]: “This is the reward for two years of service.”
• Greg Miller [51:22]: “It's so unfortunate that we live in a world where we can't even celebrate this.”

Insights & Conclusions: The incident sheds light on the darker aspects of online communities, where achievements can swiftly attract unwarranted negativity and harassment. The hosts express solidarity with Satvant, emphasizing the importance of supporting community members who contribute positively. This situation underscores the need for better online behavior and the protection of individuals who make significant contributions to the gaming industry.

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6. Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond Fan Mod Launch

Discussion Highlights: The podcast highlights the upcoming launch trailer for the Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond fan mod, set to release on December 20th. This mod promises enhanced visuals, gameplay mechanics, and the inclusion of 36 Marvel and Capcom characters.

Key Points:

• Visual and Gameplay Enhancements: The mod boasts improved cell shading, vibrant character portrayals, and dynamic combos.
• Community Support: The creators have garnered over 20 million players, reflecting the passionate fan base.
• Launch Information: Scheduled for PS5 and PC in 2025, with physical releases anticipated through Fan Gamer.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gettys [53:18]: “Are you ready? True believers, the impossible has happened.”
• Greg Miller [54:26]: “How awesome.”

Insights & Conclusions: The enthusiastic reception of the Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond mod demonstrates the enduring popularity of crossover fighting games and the potential for fan-driven projects to rejuvenate classic franchises. The hosts commend the developers for their dedication and creativity, encouraging listeners to support and engage with the mod’s release.

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Closing Remarks:

The episode wraps up with acknowledgments of positive community interactions and upcoming segments, including a Games Cast bracket and a session on Magic the Gathering. The hosts encourage listeners to engage via comments and social media, fostering a sense of community and ongoing dialogue around the discussed topics.

Final Quotes:

• Greg Miller [57:57]: “Happy holidays to the audience out there. Thank you for watching and listening.”
• Tim Gettys [58:13]: “We'll find out.”

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Overall Summary: This episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily offers a comprehensive look into current gaming trends and controversies, highlighting the community's responses and the hosts' insights. From the heated reactions to Helldivers 2's DLC pricing to the promising future of Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra, the discussion underscores the dynamic and often contentious nature of the gaming industry. The episode also pays tribute to individuals like Amir Satvant, stressing the importance of community support amidst challenges. With engaging conversations and meaningful commentary, the hosts provide valuable perspectives for both avid gamers and casual listeners.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Dutch Bros. Big smiles, rocking tunes and epic drinks. Dutch Bros. Is all about you choose from a variety of customizable handcrafted beverages like our Rebel energy drinks, coffees, teas and more. Download the Dutch Bros app for a free medium drink. Plus find your nearest shop, order ahead and start earning rewards offer valid for new app users only. Free medium drink Reward upon registration 14 day expiration terms apply.

[B]

See DutchBros.com Today's stories include Greg Miller is angry at Helldivers 2. Amy Henig reveals a new look at her Marvel game and Switch and college football hit new sales milestones. Congratulations, Mike. We'll have all this and more because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. What's up? And welcome back to Kind of Funny Games daily for Wednesday, December 18, 2024. Of course I am Tim Geddes. I'm joined today by the Master hype Snow Bike. Mike.

[A]

Tim Gettys, Happy holidays to you and yours and all of the audience out.

[B]

There to you as well. Mike, how are you doing? You, you excited for the, the break coming up?

[A]

Tim I'm, you know, I'm a little lost. You know what I mean? I like being here at work. I like being around my family and friends. But I'm excited. You never know what a snowbike bike adventure will, will happen. And with a week and half off or so, yeah, I'm going to get out there. I'm going to go get lost.

[B]

It's in the name snow bike M. You know what I mean? I feel like these are, this is your season. Adventures abound.

[A]

It's still early, right? If you are a tree, a true ski fan like I am skiing snowboards, winter sports fan. You know that like early December isn't quite prime time yet, right? It's getting going. The holidays kind of push the families and early skiers out there. But really you wait till like January, February, that's when you really rip, right? So that's what I wanted.

[B]

I'm going for, for my 10 year anniversary with GIA in February, which is crazy. We're going to Salt Lake City.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Which I mean I'm kind of excited for because I've only been there once and it was just for a layover. So it was just like a plane landed. Now I was just at the airport. I'm looking out of these beautiful mountains, of course. And then I, I was on my way to New York.

[A]

We talking Salt Lake City proper. You gonna get up in the mountain range?

[B]

I think it's, I mean I don't know. I ain't playing. You know what I mean? I'm just coming along for the ride. All right.

[A]

I.

[B]

But I imagine we're going to the city itself.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But beautiful, surrounded by mountains. Yeah, but have you been there before?

[A]

I have.

[B]

I have.

[A]

I've been there twice now. A couple of road trips. That's where you kind of stop. You can stop in Windover, Nevada, which is right on the border of Utah and Nevada, or you go into the city proper and you go hang out. So I've been to the city twice. Spent an extra day there to walk around Utah Jazz. I mean, come on. You get to see the big stadium, beautiful Park City, Utah.

[B]

Right. Story that I need to tell you. All right. The reason that we're going to Salt Lake City, of course. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

[A]

Oh, I don't see the Utah.

[B]

The best housewife show of all time. There's this. This one. I want to say character.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

This one woman. A real person.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right. She. She was accused of giving blowies for jazz tickets. This was a big plot line in, like, season two.

[A]

Damn, that's crazy.

[B]

For jazz tickets. Now, that came up. That phrase came up a hundred times during the season. Right. And the entire time, Gia was. Was cracking up at it because it's a very funny thing to. To hear. Wild one. It wasn't until the reunion where they were, like, talking about all that, G realized that jazz tickets meant a basketball game.

[A]

Oh, she thought it was a jazz.

[B]

She thought it was for a jazz concert.

[A]

Hey, still lit.

[B]

Still.

[A]

Both lit.

[B]

Still.

[A]

Both lit. Totally fine with that. Well, that's great, Tim, that you guys got that planned. Are you taking a. Is it a driver? Is it a fly?

[B]

Oh, we're flying.

[A]

Because you know what? Still calling. You can hear the howl out there, Tim.

[B]

I do hear it.

[A]

Is it Wolf, Lake Tahoe calling your name? You know what I mean? When will you go to Wolf?

[B]

We got to do that. Me, you, Joey, and G. Got to figure that out. A quick little Tahoe trip.

[A]

It's probably a little summertime, you know, I mean, we added on to a summertime concert series out there. We'll have a great time, but. Yeah, Tim, I'm excited for the break. I'm loving it. I'm having fun. Of course, for many of you out there, I'm playing Titanfall 2 Campaign for the first ever time.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

And, Tim, I'm excited to tell you I experienced it.

[B]

Does it live up to the hype?

[A]

It's sick. Yeah, Tim. When they do the time swap and you do the two levels at once and you're jumping back and forth. Tim. It's lit. Yeah, that's lit.

[B]

Yeah. Timefall 2. Dude, where's number three? Everybody, this is Kind of Funny Games Daily. Each and every weekday we run you through all the video game news that you need to know about live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free. Watch us record them live and you can get a daily exclusive show. Greg Way for a chance to be part of this show YouTube Super Chat. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube Super Chats as we go. Just like Benny be good did. Saying yay Mike. A lot of Mike fans out there.

[A]

Thank you. Hey, happy holidays. I got a haircut.

[B]

Yeah Mike, I, you know I've obviously we're prepping for Kind of funny day 2025, 10 year anniversary. Lots going on. Obviously a lot of nostalgic look backs at the last 10 years and when we. Any way you cut it, when you look at the last two years, it's all about one man. Oh, Snow Bike Mike, the face of kind of funny man. You, you are the energy. You are kind of funny at this point. I really, I appreciate that about you.

[A]

You're amazing to say that Tim. Thank you. It's a, it's a group effort. It's a whole lot of fun. I get to share it every day with my best friend Andy. You know I'm thinking about you. I'm thinking about you every day. Also shout out to the Reddit. Someone wrote out there, they were like yo, couple years back they played Mario together. Can I get a, can I get a tweet? And Greg Miller was the first person to reply with our let's play of that Mario game us. What a time. What a great time it was.

[B]

What a great time. Remember we are an 11 person business all about live talk shows today after you get games daily you're going to get the games cast that is going to be resurrecting one dead IP bracket with Bless and Mike. Bless and Mike have been brewing an energy the last couple weeks and they're, they're going to keep that going. So it's going to be a great come too.

[A]

Tim. Oh yeah, we're hearing whispers. There's more lists.

[B]

Oh there.

[A]

And we're going to react to some lists. More lists are coming the stream after.

[B]

That will be magic the gathering. Which is more blessed Mike I have.

[A]

A backpack full of magic cards. I mean like a large backpack full of magic cards. So yeah, we're on a magic kick right now. We want to bring it into 2025 and beyond. We want to learn how to play commander together as a group. So yeah, stick around for some whole a lot of fun.

[B]

Remember, if you're a kind of funny member, you get today's Greg Way. Thank you to our Patreon producers Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by heart. Electric still wakes the deep aura frames and Marvel Snap. But we' you about that later. For now, let's begin with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some news. Six stories today, a baker's dozen story number one, Hell Diver Twos. I want to let you know Mike that I I thought you were hosting today. And you know how every once in a while Kevin slips a banana into the script. I was going to put a couple skibbities in there.

[A]

I would have probably thrown it out there. That's right.

[B]

Helldivers 2 Helldiver 2. Sorry. Hell divers Twos Kill Zone crossover has already sparked an outcry over the super high cost of items. This comes from Wesley in pool at ign. Hell Divers Twos. It's really hard to do the double plural stuff. Yeah, yeah. Kill Zone crossover, confirmed and released today December 18th has already sparked backlash over the cost of its items. Part 1 of the Helldivers 2 in Kill Zone crossover includes a Killzone themed armor set, assault rifle, banner cape and player title. Amid excitement that Sony has remembered the Killzone franchise exists over a decade since the launch of the last game in Gorilla's first person shooter series are complaints about the cost of these items. The new armor cost 500 super credits. The new Cape 310. The new helmet 310 and the most egregious of all, the assault rifle cost 615 super credits. Oh, and all these items are only available for five days before they're rotated of the store. Putting these prices into context. I like that.

[A]

That's your take on you better buy this right now.

[B]

A thousand of These credits cost $10 real dollars in the in game store. One of Helldiver 2's premium war bonds costs thousand super credits. Which means that if you want all the killzone items, you're looking at just shy of twice the price of the premium War Bond. Now there will be Hell Divers two players who have super credit saved up after nearly a year of playing the game. And it's worth noting that you can unlock 300 super credits in war bonds with your medals or find them out looting in gameplay. But the fact remains that these items are also being sold for real world money, and the pricing is unlike anything fans have seen so far in Helldivers 2. Meanwhile, the killzone Assault rifle has sparked renewed pay to win accusations from some in the game's community. Despite it being considered a bit of a downgrade compared to already available guns, the Helldivers subreddit is already littered with complaints, many of which point out that Helldivers 2 is not a free game and so should take a different approach to monetization. Greg Miller, a young man, tweets out, wait, this kind of sucks. War bonds cost $10 and have stuff like this credits to buy more stuff, etc. This is being sold piecemeal. Buy everything here, it's about $20. There's another kill zone drop coming in five days and you assume that's $20 as well. So you're spending $40. You're getting far less than a $10 war bond. Then somebody tweets at Greg the price of skins and bundles in every game and Gregus says, right, except for this game which I'm talking about. And then in our slack Greg said, so the thing to note here is that the rumor slash leak of all this killzone stuff had is the war Bone, the war bond, the $10 battle passes you buy in game Today, half of the Killzone content was added to the store not as a war bond about piecemeal for about $20. That's just repeating stuff. The audience is losing their minds at four times the price, blaming Sony etc, I don't know why that was there.

[A]

But yeah, you know we're coming to a realization here. It's a big moment, right? Hell divers2 has built up a lot of goodwill. A lot of people have enjoyed what they have brought, how they have added in content for free, the war bonds being pretty cheap, how you can also earn enough credits to buy more war bonds and kind of stay on this endless cycle without having to really spend a lot of money like you see in other live service games. And today that changes. Yeah, today might be the day where Hell Divers looks at you and says, hey Fortnite, does it. Call of Duty does it? Can we do it? And now you, the audience have to pick and choose what you want to do here.

[B]

My gut tells me they reversed this. They reversed this just based on how Hell Divers and the devs have handled Hell divers so far. Like I do. I do think that this gets reversed. Am I crazy to say that?

[A]

A. No, Tim. Like I said, they have a lot of goodwill. They got a lot of love going on for this property and this team right now that I think the right move is to reverse this and trying to figure it all out on the opposite side, someone who is really ingrained in the live service world. Right. This isn't anything different. Right. You go to Call of duty, it's $20 per skin pack. You go to Fortnite, they're selling a Snoop dog pack for $32. Now, of course, all of that varies with how much items and cosmetics you get in that. But like, this is the way of the world when we talk about live service microtransaction games. This isn't anything crazy. This is right online with everything else.

[B]

But isn't it crazy because those are free to play games?

[A]

No, I think a number of full price titles have sold things like that.

[B]

That I'm not at these prices.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah. From when you think I need education here?

[A]

No, I mean I.

[B]

Call of Duty, War Zone, Free to play Call of Duty, not free to play.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

Does Call of Duty have this level of.

[A]

Yeah, Call of Duty has skins just like this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But like you get. You feel better because you're in War Zone for free. But yeah, you're buying skins just like this. It's just I think you've come so far with the goodwill of this game that it might be shocking to many. Right. Because you think, oh, it's a 40 title, it's excused from any sort of microtransactions. That's not true. We've lived in a world where that is not true. We are now in 2024, where we've now latched onto the thought of only free to play titles can sell me stuff.

[B]

Well, no, no, it's the pricing that I think is a bit egregious here and now. I mean, infamously, last year I learned about Fortnite's prices. I had no idea. And that blew my mind. It is upsetting. It is ridiculous how high these things are priced and how shady it is that they hide it behind some fucking fake currency. You know what I mean? With some hard to decipher math you got to do to figure out how much actual money you're spending. All that shady as hell. And I get it is the way things are, but it's still worth pointing out shady as hell, right?

[A]

Yeah. The money wise when they hide the Number behind some fake paywall. Totally. I agree with that. That that's kind of crazy. Now I got to do math. You're breaking it down by the half. So I got to buy two different bundles. That always sucks, right? But like here's the moment, right? This team has already, this community has already once caused a big uproar with the PlayStation automatic sign ins, right? Where they were like, no, we don't want to keep doing that. You got to change that. And they've changed their ways. They've listened to you, they've gone on the path to try to keep the positivity. This is also a game that is now nine months into its making. It does not have the big audience like it used to. Right. There's a large audience for this game, but it's not changing the world audience like it was back in February. So will the audience get loud enough that can cause a stir to change this? I mean, yes, they can do that, but I don't know. We're going to find out in the next week if they change that.

[B]

Yeah, we will.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Again, I, I don't think that it's a guarantee that they do, but I think that they're, the conversations are being had and that there is a chance that they come out with a hey, we fucked up type statement and refund. People change this. I don't know what that looks like, but I think that there is a chance. Having said that, there's also a chance they don't. And this is just the way things are and going forward, they're just going to keep doing this. And this is their new standard of hey man, $40 titles can also have this because that is the ecosystem that we've created with these ongoing live service shooter games.

[A]

Got to pay the bills, we got to keep the money coming in, right? You want us to keep this live and in action, we're going to have to continue to keep turning a profit somehow. You know, you have a.

[B]

Shouldn't that be the $10 war bonds?

[A]

Well, the $10 war bonds is one thing, right? But now you have crossover events, right? And that's that kind of thing where if you were to get behind the curtain and really see the marketing and the, the business side of things, they'd go, well, this is our moment, right? If there's ever a moment where we could charge for something that's not the. Just the war bond, it's these crossovers, right? And now it's the first one to stay, hey, this is going to Be the future. Right? Because you think of all the different Sony IP that they could bring into this. All of the different fun sci fi alien IP that they could bring into this. It's got the player base.

[B]

The chat is seems very. At least the screen I'm looking at right now is people very much just being like, hey, if you don't want this, don't buy it. Like they're putting it out there. You don't have to. It seems like a luxury thing.

[A]

So you've talked about this with every other game. Why is Helldivers different? I understand that it's.

[B]

I think there's good reasons why though. It's, it's there. There's the goodwill, which is a good reason. You know, so far they haven't been shitty like everyone else. Yeah, of course the price of it being a $40 title and, and also just like it. I don't know. Hell, diverse is different than a Fortnite or call it.

[A]

But it's not. That's the issue. It's like, yeah, you're excusing it because of the 40 title, but you know, in the past decade that hasn't been true. Especially. I know that we're getting into microtransactions and cosmetics, but it's been dlc, it's been all of this before. So it's not like it's something new, but it's the priced in this world.

[B]

We've lived in this world. But like the, the price of $5 for skins or something like that. You know what I mean?

[A]

I mean, but that's changed over the past five to seven years now where it's like it's not $5 anymore. It is 10 to 20. God, that's insane. Like that is the new rule of the way. And for a team like this, right. They could put that out for five. If this was $5 only. I don't think this audience is uproaring.

[B]

Right. They would go, okay, it's the price that's wild here. I mean, Greg's talking about potentially $40. That's the price of the game for like now. Okay, let's, let's take a step back and let's actually just talk about what this is. Mike, you play these games all the time. You also buy things, the audience for this type of stuff. Do you think $40, what do you think for this, that price point for what you're getting here for this game?

[A]

Absolutely not. $20 is too much. From what I've experienced in all the other games, $20 is too much. Right? Because the issue is, is with Killzone, they don't have as many knickknacks as the other guns, right? Doesn't have gun charms. It doesn't have backpacks, it doesn't have shoes, it doesn't have multiple cosmetics. Right. Like you have to add in all of this.

[B]

You know what else didn't have shoes.

[A]

I'm just telling you. It's funny because somebody, Elden Lord says Mike's the wrong person to ask, but it's like I am the person because I buy all of these and I see every single different market and what they do. Right? And the problem is you're selling $20 for one skin, one gun, and three little tiny things that really don't make a difference, right? So really we're buying it for the skin and the gun.

[B]

You're buying it for kills.

[A]

This should have been $10 dollars, point blank period. When you looked at this, this should have been $10. Both of them together should have been 20. Half the price of the game. So you 40 people who are bringing that up can just say, hey, it's half the price. Sorry about that. $10 you would have bought. You would have bought this without batting an eye. $20 isn't enough because they don't have enough of the knickknacks like everything else to just start jamming in. Right? Because now you're your lizard brain that everybody has when you see that cosmetic pack and it's nine items, but three of them are gun stickers that you're never going to use. One's a gun charm that you're like, I don't even think I'll see that in the game. Three are gun skins, two are skins for your actual characters. And you go, yeah, I'll buy that for $20 to $30. Right. Like, that's how the new world works. The issue is, is Hell Divers doesn't have that. So when they put out something like this for $20, it's not going to look that flashy on a tweet when there's five items and three of them are super small because they know it doesn't really matter.

[B]

Yeah, it's not good.

[A]

It's the way of the world. And the issue is, is you always say, vote with your wallets. Dear hell divers2community, if you don't like this, you better stand up and not buy this. The problem is there's going to be people who don't care. They're going to say, I love Hell Divers too. I want to Support the devs or I just want this skin pack because I love kill zone. Here's $20. So we live in a world where you get to choose, you get to make the decisions, but that's how business is going to work. They want every dollar that you get and they're going to come up with fun, innovative ways to do this. And maybe you say, mike, that's not fun. I don't like that. Well, guess what? For them and our business side of things, this is great. This is money making, Barry.

[B]

It's going to be interesting. I. I'm very interested a week from now where this actual story lies. Noah super chats in saying regarding Hell Divers. I don't mind the price for crossover stuff. What I don't like is paywalling. The armor set with great bonuses and a new weapon.

[A]

That's the problem, is that we're getting to pay to win. Right. The issue is it's like Hell Divers isn't Call of Duty. Isn't Fortnite where all of these guns are included? Right. You're buying gun skins most of the time or you can unlock the gun later on down the road. These guns are like very part of the game. Gary is going to be much better than I am with this. But the catch is as well is you could say pay to win, but we're fighting AI bots. So who am I really winning against? The NPC robot over there or you? Because we're not in competition.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So how is that pay to win? What are we really worried about?

[B]

God, video games. Bad.

[A]

What are we worried about?

[B]

Games are so stupid. What you really think about it? What are we doing with our lives? Why are we here?

[A]

What a wild situation. What a great game. Nine months of goodwill built up. Nine months of just taking over the world. Now we're here, right? And we're on the decline, right? And we're trying to get players back in with a big new update, bringing in a new enemy type. We want to bring back that energy and you just smack the community in the mouth with this. And now, as they've seen, they're not happy about it. This team does have to make a move. If they want to keep that, they have to make a move. If not, they're going to sell this. They're going to pretend like it never happened. We'll put our blinders on and we'll just hope that four months down the road we can do this again and again. They're going to do it a lot. That's how this goes I can't wait.

[C]

For the Knack update.

[B]

It's going to be good.

[C]

It's going to bring me back.

[B]

Yeah. CJ splits on says we're also ignoring the ton of free content. They just put out new factions, planets, gameplay, missions, etc.

[A]

We brought it up earlier. How do you want this game to continue? Right. Like I understand that it was a 40 title, we're all happy. But if it's a live service game and it's going to survive for a year to two years, three years as you want it to be, we gotta.

[B]

Help that out again. I don't think that there's even like sides here between me and you all.

[A]

No, there's not.

[B]

It's more just the pricing. Yeah, that's. It's just not okay. $40. $40 for my understanding of what you're getting here and you explaining it is like the amount of like they're just adding a bunch of that nobody wants because really they just want the two main things.

[A]

So I want.

[B]

That's. Man, these prices are. That's. I understand. Like, oh, hey, it costs money to make the games. That's all very, very true. That needs to be built into the season passes. That needs to be built into like the things that have some type of affordable understanding of like yeah, this is the cost of these type of games as they continue to be ever evolving live games. This is bullshit, dude.

[A]

The issue is, is there's probably people inside that room that are like, this is probably a good 5 to $10 set. We can get away with that. People will nod their heads and be fine with it. And of course then there's the greed of corporate and they're like, no, let's make it 20 because if we do 20 times X, we get this. If you put me at 5 or 10, we only get this. We could get that. And they're like, oh, we have to do that clearly. And that's the problem. But this, if you sold this at $5, nobody would bat an eyelash. If you sold this at 10, you might get a little bit of an uptick, but this would sell just fine. You hit 20, you're at 20. Now you go, hey, that's too much money. Even stomach Mike is telling you that's too much money. You, that's where I'm always surprised at. That's where I want to get in real quick.

[B]

Caleb says, I don't see how this is bullshit. It went away. But essentially saying you could just not buy it. I totally.

[A]

We talk about it.

[B]

Yeah, you could Just not buy it. But there, there has to be some level of understanding of the people that are making this stuff. They need. The conversations are being had and there's a level of respect to your community, especially when you have that goodwill that like, yeah, people are going to be very upset when you put out these things with egregious prices. Like, that's the bullshit. Like the bullshit's. You got to call it out of Just like, there's no way that they stand by this being like, this is the value of this. This is what this is worth. It's just not. We all know it. I know you know it. It's not worth this. And they know they can get it. That's a different conversation. That's bullshit though, that there's a level of like back and forth of investment from consumers to product of like. And I don't know, I get really upset about this because we run a business and I think about the way that we price things and think about those things and we talk about that shit constantly. And there's been so many times where it's just like, that's way too expensive. We should not be doing that. Let's bring it down or whatever it is.

[C]

Like, sorry, I think it was. CJ Splits on. In the chat, said that you can buy the things individually.

[A]

Thanks, man. That's what I was gonna bring up. So, like, here's the catch, Tim.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You could be caught up on the 20 thing, but you got to also understand you might only want the skin, you might only want the gun. You can still buy it individually. There's a lot of games that don't do that.

[B]

I mean. Okay, so that's a positive, right? Absolutely.

[A]

Well, you'd have to go back to the quote here of like how much that is. Right. So it's. I don't. Where are we at? I'm trying to find the bridge.

[B]

What's the thing that matters most here? The skin.

[A]

This? Well, one, the skin, because it's the kill zone crossover. So that should be matters most for it seems like what the audience is mad about. It's also the gun as well. So it's a skin and gun that you have to have. If those two come out to $10, you're in. That's not how much it's going to be, though. Yeah, those are the three of those things.

[B]

That's what we're talking about though. They're just adding that to your point. Nobody wants.

[C]

CJ let us know in the chat how much it was. I think CJ just bought just the skin.

[A]

How much it is now. Also, CJ has to buy X amount of credits because, you know, we can't just sell $400. So now he has 400. That's the, that he doesn't. That's the, that he doesn't need is right.

[B]

Moving on to story number two. Here Amy Henig reveals new Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra details and concept art. This comes from Jordan Midler at vgc. Amy Henig has shown off new concept art from Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra and discuss some new details. Rise of Hydra was revealed during an Unreal Engine showcase at GDC in March and stars Drew Moreland as Captain America and Khari Payton as Black Panther. With a release set for sometime in 2025. Quote it led us to do a bunch of interesting things, one of which was to not only tell a story with a young Steve Rogers who's still trying to find his feet as opposed to the more seasoned guy that we've seen in a lot of the films. It also let us introduce a new Black Panther of 1943. The development team Skydance Games is being led by Amy Henig, the director of the first three Uncharted games. It led us to tap into all the things that I love, all of the wonderful tropes of World War II era adventure films, classic men on a mission movies and all of that. There's a lot of intrigue in our story, a lot of twists and turns, fascinating characters and interesting locations. Henig also debuted a new Banana concept art.

[A]

Keep going, keep going. Oh, someone hit you with banana, man. I took that as real things. I was like, oh, that's what they titled the concept art is what I thought.

[C]

You brought it up. It was your own doing.

[B]

It was my own doing.

[A]

I wouldn't do that.

[B]

I love that. You just thought banana was in there. You're like, okay.

[A]

That's what they titled the concept. That's great.

[B]

Very cool.

[A]

I'm not gonna ask questions.

[B]

That was great. That was great. Barrett Heading also debuted new concept art from the game which shows a glimpse at the jungles of Wakanda in Marvel 1940. 43. Wakanda at this point in time is hidden away from the outside world and protected by this impenetrable jungle. She explains they are non interventionist, but events transpire that pull them into the conflict. They have to protect their interests. The world is getting smaller. No satellites yet, but there will be soon. You can shoot down planes that maybe want to fly over Wakanda. But how long can you stay in the shadows? Everything being said sounds incredible.

[A]

Sounds so cool.

[B]

It sounds awesome.

[A]

Get real. You read that and it's like, I'm like, oh, man, this sounds like it's gonna be a really good time.

[B]

Amy Hennig charted 1, 2, and 3. They're making this game. Kyrie Payton as Black Panther. The images or the clip. We saw how good that looks. I don't believe this game's real, Mike. I don't believe we're seeing this game next year. Are you kidding me? And look, I know I got my hater hater mode on with this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I just don't believe it. I simply don't believe it. Barrett, am I crazy?

[C]

No, you're not. And it's just because Amy Heddick is not directed a game that has actually come out since Uncharted 3, which is like an insane thing to say.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Unless I'm forgetting something. She's just had project after project canceled. So it just. I feel like it's less of like a hater mode and more just like apprehension mode.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Because I want this more than anything. Yeah, this. This sounds like a Tim Getty's ass game. I just don't believe it, Mike.

[A]

Don't believe that it will be next year. Just don't believe at all. Like Barrett said, it will cross the finish line.

[B]

I don't believe there's a chance it's next year.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Be on that. I think that there's a chance that it doesn't ever have come out as a video game potentially. This is a short film, maybe a kind of long film. You know what I mean?

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The medium film. God, that cape looks cool.

[A]

For all the game.

[C]

I want to believe in Skydance and actually letting her come out with a video game. Unlike ea.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. So I don't know, but I mean, look, we've already seen more than I thought we would.

[A]

This looks crazy, but.

[B]

Yeah, just us being here, them talking about concept art to Entertainment Weekly. Not filling me with hope for a 2025, even though they're still saying 2025. But.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, but Entertainment Weekly, Marvel, Amy, like, it's all just like the perfect blend of like. Yeah, that's the perfect little article they're gonna write up. Get the hype generated again. Will it be 2025? You know, Tim, and probably it's not in the games industry and how things work here. So, yeah, it looks good. You just gotta cross your fingers for all gamers out there that we do see this. You would love to see a game like this. This is what the gamers want, especially with the Marvel ip. This is the type of game that I want out of that.

[B]

Me too.

[A]

Yeah, I'm hoping for something great here and I hope that does come see the light of day.

[B]

Oh, 1943.

[C]

It needs a better name.

[B]

It does. It really does.

[A]

You don't think they'll change the name?

[B]

I don't think the theme comes out. So the series of trailers they Release under the 1943 Rise of Hydra name is pretty dope. But yeah. Anyway, here's. Here's hoping everybody. Before we get to story number three though, I want to give you guys a real quick word from our sponsors. This episode's brought to you by Heart Electric. Heart Electric is an upcoming four team arena shooter with a fresh twist. I'll think it outplay your opponents to ultimately come out on top in the battle for life sustaining energy. Made by developers from the Battlefield series and Helldivers 2 Hard Electric is all about eliminating three other teams by dropping their energy to zero while keeping your team's energy supply high. How you keep yourself in play is up to your own scheming. Take a direct approach and steal energy from other teams bases or complete assignments while staying out of the spotlight. When one team takes the lead, do you communicate with the other teams and form a temporary truce? Or do you take advantage of the panic to launch a sneaky assault on the Weakest Link? Heart Electric's winter playtest is going down January 18th starting at noon eastern time. Sign up through Steam to not miss the chance to try the next big FPS Heart Electric if you're ready to feel the pulse and beats, the odds jump into heart Electric on January 18th, visit bit ly heartelectrick to sign up and feel the pulse still wakes. The Deep is a first person narrative horror game from the genre Masters at the Chinese Room. Featuring an all star cast of Scottish actors, it combines grounded storytelling with unknowable horror for a truly unique and terrifying adventure. Set at Christmas 1975. You play as Cos McCleary, a family man running from the police by taking a job on the Berradie oil rig. But the holiday cheer turns to festive fear as something incomprehensible comes aboard and starts wiping out everything in its path. With your escape routes cut off and no way to contact the mainland, your only hope is to run and hide as you make your way across the collapsing rig. Navigate pitch black corridors, crawl through tight underwater spaces and try not to make a sound during tense stealth sections. Whatever you are afraid of Still Wakes the Deep has something that will freak you out to celebrate the festive season. Still Wakes the deep is currently 35% off on Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5. Buy today and add some horror to your holidays. This episode's brought to you by Aura Frames. Let's be honest, what most people really want for the holidays is to see their favorite people more often. That's why this year the best gift that you can give besides plane tickets is an Aura Digital Picture Frame. Ara frames are incredibly smart and easy to use, allowing you to upload unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone to the frame. Plus, you can order the frame online and preload it with photos and videos using the Aura app. So it's ready to go right out of the box. Greg, Kevin and a ton of people here at Kinda Funny are obsessed with their Aura frames. It takes about two minutes to set up a frame using the Aura app. That means you'll be able to easily add all of the photos of the new memories you make this holiday season. Save on the perfect gift by visiting araframes.com to get $35 off our best selling Carver Matte frames by using promo code Kindafunny at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code kindafunny. This deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. Our frames.com promo code kinda Funny this episode's brought to you by Marvel Snap. Y'all know Marvel Snap completely took over my life when it burst on the scene two years ago. I love it so much that I even mentioned Marvel Snap in my own wedding vows because to this day my wife Gia is so obsessed that she has not missed a single day of completing her challenges. Marvel Snap is an award winning collectible card game that combines deep strategy, a unique snapping mechanic, and your favorite Marvel characters with thousands of unique card art variants created by renowned artists to collect and use. New cards are released every week, new seasons every month, and frequent events keep the game fresh and exciting. Each game only takes about three minutes, so you can get in and out wherever you are. And with more than 270 cards in Marvel snap with over 2000,000 unique art variants, you'll always find some new fun. Art is central to Marvel Snap. They have partnered with over 300 renowned artists to create all of the unique art in the game and it's always cool to see the new designs. Download the Marvel Snap app now available on the App Store, Google Play and steam. Or visit marvelsnap.com to learn more. And we're back with story number three. Nintendo Switch and EA Sports College Football 25 hit huge U.S. sales milestones. This comes from Tom Ivan at BGC. Nintendo Switch and EA Sports College football 25 have reached massive sales milestones in the U.S. i love that both of those are being talked about.

[A]

We have to put them together.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Nintendo's console has surpassed the lifetime sales of Sony's PlayStation 2.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Nintendo's console has surpassed the lifetime sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 in America. In America, but still. Holy shit.

[A]

Still crazy.

[B]

While EA's college football title has become the best selling sports game ever based on dollar sales. What?

[A]

Say that one more time.

[B]

EA's college football title has become the best selling sports game ever based on dollar sales. Wow. There's no way that's true, is there, Mike?

[A]

I mean, Tim, it was 10 years. It's 10 years away and we all wanted it.

[B]

All right?

[C]

Nintendo's nominated for best sports game somehow.

[B]

That'S according to Matt Piscatella, executive director of video games at market research firm Circana. With its 46.6 million units sold life to date, Switch now ranks second in all time units sold across all video game hardware platforms in the US in the US trailing only the Nintendo DS. He wrote on Blue Sky. Sony recently confirmed that 160 million PS2 consoles have been sold worldwide since its launch in 2000. Have you been keeping up with this, Mike? PS2 sales numbers that they're just massive.

[A]

That'S all I know.

[B]

I'm endlessly fascinated with this because every couple years they'll like put out a new update and there's just a couple million more.

[A]

Readjust a little bit.

[B]

And it's always just very funny. But it seems like this is it. We have a final, final count because. Okay, I forget who it was. Was it Sean Layden potentially put out a picture of the final PS2 ever produced and it had a number on it. So we know how they were actually out there. So yeah, very, very interesting stuff here. And yeah, Bear, thank you for pulling this up. We have PS2 lifetime worldwide at 160 million DS behind that at 154. Switch behind that at 146. So we'll see where, where everything nets out at the end and the surpassing.

[C]

Is specifically for us.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. Shinobu S says the photos of is fake from Reddit. So maybe that, maybe that is incorrect. Sony recently confirmed that 160 million PS2 consoles have been sold. I already read this part. In October, EA Sports College 25 overtook dollar sales of Madden 07 to become the bestselling American football game of all time. And in November, it surpassed the dollar sales of the previous bestselling sports game, NBA 2K21. Piscatella also said EA Sports College Football 25 now ranks among the top 50 bestselling track video games of all time in dollar sales. Oh my God. It's currently the bestselling game of the year in the US ahead of Call of Duty Black Ops 6, which topped the sales chart for the second month running in November. All right, what? Like obviously sports games are huge and I feel like, you know, the joke is like, oh, you only play Call of Duty and Madden, whatever. That represents a large, large group of people playing video games. Right.

[A]

Always remember that.

[B]

And they bought, they buy year after year after year after year. I am just pretty shocked that this is the one. And it's important to note highest dollar count. So it's not units. How much was this game? Not this game, but the new game.

[A]

I believe the new game was 70. You can price check me on that one, but I believe it was next gen title. It was $70 for college football.

[B]

So that'll do something. It's been 10 years since this last one here, so a lot of, a lot of things going into this. But are you surprised, Mike?

[A]

No, because it's us here. So we're not really including FIFA in the worldwide stuff. Right. So like it is going to go up against Madden as the US best sales here. So no, I think this is exactly what it was supposed to be. Right. Ten years afterwards. We want college football to come back. College football has had the best season of football in quite some time from a viewer's perspective. So there's just this giant fervor of I'm interested, I want to be a part of this. I think it was the perfect mix of what everybody wanted. Yeah, this doesn't blow my mind because of how popular it was when it did drop and how much college football's had a great year this year. Just seems like the perfect mix of this was going to happen.

[B]

I, I am surprised and I know college football is huge, but this, I don't know, man.

[A]

They came back after 10 years. We, we asked for it, we got. Everyone loves Madden. Don't get me wrong, we love Madden, but we always loved back in the day when you had the choice of college football and Madden. You loved being your favorite college teams you loved playing those characters in Road to Glory Dynasty mode and then bringing them into Madden going forward with it. Right. It was this perfect blend. But also it was a lot of the same. It was just kind of copy and paste, whether it's college teams or Madden teams. And then we went away from college football because we had the NCAA crackdown. We couldn't pay those kids. EA probably couldn't just keep producing two football games that were fine. Right. That's the issue. And so now we're back where we have these nil deals. Kids are getting paid. We can put their names on the jerseys, you can have their likeness. Right. And you have, I mean, just a bunch of stars this year that people want. We have a Manning kid down in Texas. Right. Georgia and Alabama aren't the dominant forces as they once were. They're still very good, but they're not dominant. We have Travis Hunter playing both sides of the ball. He's everywhere. He's on YouTube, he's on tick Tock. He's now the Heisman winner. Right. Like there's just so much in real life college football that blends into the game. That's just this perfect mix of we wanted this and it's back. So it's good.

[B]

It was the perfect mix for this year. Yeah. What happens next year?

[A]

That's where we got to talk about it, Tim. Because that's where I'm most fascinated. Is this an annual title? I mean, of course you would think, but at the same time, Right. Is that the right move? I think next year having an annual title is the right call. Right. You get to bring in all the quality that you just brought in that game over the past X amount of months. Right. Because of course I was mad at it, that it was lacking some of the features and some of the things that I would consider taking it to that next level when it first launched. And it's added all of that and more here towards the back end. So you would think that they're going to build an even better product for this following year. Right. But after that, is this an annual title? Are we really going to put out two American football games a year? Will EA ever move to that dream of, hey, we're going to do every two years and just give you roster updates. This is a solid product. Here you have it. We'll just update the roster next fall with all the new kids. You'll be good, right? Doubtful. We know that. I think that's a pipe dream. But like, is this really gonna just go head to head With Madden every single year. Now, when does that stop? Because it's already stopped once we've proven that that's probably not the right business decision. I. I really am fascinated more of like, is this an annual title is right?

[B]

Yeah, man.

[A]

But with how well these numbers, with how well it's telling, it's like, yeah, Mike, of course it's going to be an annual title. But where is that four years from now, five years from now? Yeah, that's why it brings me to this, Tim. What if we brought back NCAA basketball? Okay, let's ride the high of what we're experiencing with football and let's bring it to March Madness with some NCAA football. Now, ea, you backed out of NBA Live. Okay, we backed out of NBA Live because NBA 2K stole our lunch money. And that. You know, they did, they did. But we could come back and hit him with some NCAA basketball.

[B]

Now, jokes aside, is that the move?

[A]

No, it wouldn't. It wouldn't sell as hard as this. It would sell and it would probably very be very popular for a year. But I don't think it's as big as college football. Absolutely not.

[C]

That's the move.

[B]

Yeah. Gotta go to the street. Gotta do it.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know, Tim. I mean, it's a huge accomplishment. You got to give them all their flowers, right? That is insane sales. To have that in the US as the number $1amount, like, that's crazy stuff, right?

[B]

Wild.

[A]

It's a great game. NCAA football was something we all asked for since 2014 when it stopped. You're paying them kids now. It's a good game. It's a great alternative to Madden. If you're you loved man but you're burnt out on the same 30 teams so you want to jump over and play with your favorite college team. It's all perfect. But where's that in five years? Let's see.

[B]

Let's see, everybody. Story number four, Secret Level renewed for season two at Prime Video. This comes from Rosie Cordero at Deadline. Prime Videos renewed its freshman animated series Secret Level for a second season. Additional new episodes from season one were released on the streamer today from Amazon, MGM Studios and Blur Studio. Secret Level is an adult animated anthology series featuring original stories set within the worlds of popular video games. Season one includes Dungeons and Dragons, Sifu, New World, Unreal Tournament, Warhammer, Pac Man, Crossfire, Armored Core, the Outer Worlds, Mega Man In Honor of Kings, to name a few. From the creatives behind Love, Death and Robots. Each of the episodes is a celebration of games and gamers. Mike, have you watched any of season one yet?

[A]

Tim, I'm. I'm six episodes in. I love it.

[B]

Love it. Okay.

[A]

Have you watched any?

[B]

I've watched Sifu, Mega man and Pac Man.

[A]

Okay, so you're picking and choosing which I like. Little grab baggies, right? Yeah, no, I've gone from one to six. And I love every single episode I've watched so far. This team over at Blur is insanely talented. We already knew that. But they really put on in some of these and I. I haven't had a bad one yet. I've enjoyed every single one. I know there's some complaints about certain ones or maybe you wanted more, Right? The Sifu one I'm looking at when I hear the audience. But like, for me, the casual viewer who can turn this on and just be wowed that I'm taken to this video game world and have it on the screen and be so incredibly beautiful with the awesome animation and then the small little stories that are packed into 10 to 15 minutes, I'm sold. I love it. D D was great, right? Warhammer. Unbelievable. Warhammer's a must watch. The Unreal Tournament is a blast.

[B]

That's my next one.

[A]

Okay. I mean, and let's just say this new world might not be your thing, but if you don't chuckle a little bit and smile at the new world of Turn them one. Are you. Come on, where's your heart? Because it's just cute. It's fun. Tim. It's dumb. It's a great time. So I haven't had a bad one yet, but of course, now I am circling into Pac Man, Crossfire, Armored Core, Outer Worlds, Mega man, and Onward on this second half. So we'll be exciting to see if I have a bad one yet. I haven't had one.

[B]

Yeah. I actually really like the Sifu one. I obviously would have much preferred a long, full last thing, but it being like, I thought that they did a good job of getting the concept across in a very short run time. I watched it with Gia. She enjoyed it. She understood. She got what they were putting down. I'm like, all right, cool. They kind of did their job there. For what I think Secret level is trying to do, I'm excited it's getting a season two. I. I feel like so far from the quality of the ones I've watched, Sifu was my favorite. And the other ones I was a little bit more like. I could have definitely used more for Mega man and Pac Man. Now that the. We know it's based on a game coming out. Like that's kind of cool and interesting. But I still would have wanted something maybe a little bit different for a Pac man short film. Whatever. But yeah. Excited that we're Getting a Season 2. Love death and Robots. I feel similarly about where I love it as an idea, but I don't think that it always hits. But when it hits, it's good, man. Yeah. So I love the getting a second shot of this.

[A]

Congratulations. That's great.

[B]

Yeah. I hope that it we get new IP that like we. We care about. Because I look at this list and I'm like personally I only really care about a couple of them.

[A]

Tell me what. Tell me some that are that you would want for season two. Because now the fun one is like what did they miss? What do you want? What are your dream episodes?

[B]

Well, okay, let's look at this. Mega Man. Clearly they're okay working with Capcom. I have Animusha top of mind. So I'm gonna say that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Devil May cr. I mean we're getting the whole Netflix anime, but that'd be sick. Resident Evil. I think they could do something fun.

[A]

Monster Hunter would be sick in that world.

[B]

I like ton of Capcom stuff there.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Keep it going. Give us. I feel like is there any square here? No, but Final Fantasy would be awesome. Like I feel like there's so many possibilities of like I would personally love them to see them actually do a story based in one of the Final Fantasy world. Like Final Fantasy 9 getting a shorter 8. Actually I think 8 would be freaking awesome for this. And it's a. A game that I don't necessarily think we're ever going to go back to Final Fantasy, but it does have a fan base. So that'd be cool.

[A]

I mean I. It's fun because now you can just cherry pick all your favorite stuff. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Team up with Kojima and give me some crazy death stranding spin off. Like I love that idea. I'd love to see Halo and some Xbox. Love with Gears maybe. Right. Like you have two ips that are great on that. That would be fantastic.

[B]

Remember when they did this for Halo?

[A]

Correct.

[B]

What was that legacy?

[A]

I don't remember what it was called. They. Yes. Where they did the little.

[B]

The anthology of A whole bunch of. Some of those were so good, man. So good.

[A]

Halo, man. I had one just on my mind. But yeah, there's just so many now you get the cherry pick. I wonder what it's like the selection process or who comes to them. Who do they go to what's that fun back and forth of how do we select what's next?

[B]

Well, clearly Nintendo said no, right? You look at this, they're like, no, no, no.

[C]

We will Never get a 3D animated Legend of Zelda. You have to watch that live action.

[B]

Yeah, man. Smash Brothers, though, like, come on.

[C]

Which is definitely a name to say out loud from the chat. Said Portal, Portal, Portal episode.

[A]

Portal would be fantastic, dude.

[B]

I mean, real cool. You just bringing that up, reminding me. Give me one second. Mike, talk for a second.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, that's the fun part that I'm looking forward to is where's the weird stuff? I like the weird as well, Barrett.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Like, I bring up Halo and if we're going to go weird and an Xbox, give me Brute force, right? Like, give me something fun with crazy characters that like, you don't think about and you're like, oh, like, yeah, make that fun and exciting, right? Somebody brings up Titanfall in the chat, right? Like, team up with respawn and let's have a conversation. Shucks. Bring me Apex Legends. I don't care. Let's have some fun.

[B]

That'd be cool. I just want to give a shout out to Portal no Escape, which was a live action short film made 13 years ago by Dan Trachtenberg, who is the director of 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was awesome. And pray that everybody freaking loves the. The Predator movie. Oh. From 2022 and I. It's seven minutes. I think it is one of the greatest short films I've ever seen. It is in credible. They take the idea of Portal and they just do it, right?

[A]

Heck yeah.

[B]

Like, you need to check this out.

[A]

I will. It's fun. It's because I played a really great Portal fan. Made little mini campaign at the start of the year in January called Portal Revolution, which was a lot of Fun. You download Portal 2, add this mod pack on. That was just a fan made campaign.

[C]

Portal Reloaded.

[A]

No, mine is Revolution, I believe. Yeah, check that one out. I'll look at my Steam page, but I had a blast with this one, Tim. It was a great way to just get more Portal games in my life here on the set, you know, 2024. I want more Portal always in my life. Right?

[B]

Zeo VGM says. How about that Nathan Fillion uncharted short film that was also spectacular. Like, they nailed Uncharted in a way that I. I just. I'm baffled by.

[C]

Didn't realize they made another one.

[A]

Yeah, I played. I played this. I highly recommend it. It's fun. It's great. It's more portal. I always want more portal in my life. Please go check that out. It was. It was well worth my time.

[B]

Story number five the Game Awards First Game Changers recipient responds to hateful and disturbing comments accusing him of fraud this comes from Ed Nightingale at Eurogamer. Amir Satvant was the recipient of the first Game Changers Award at the Game Awards last week, but has since received countless hateful messages, disturbing comments and anti semitic remarks about his wife. God, Stop. Sabat received the award for his work helping laid off employees across the games industry to find new work. The award was host Jeff Keeley's way of addressing the significant and unprecedented industry wide layoffs, which he admitted the show struggles to address in a constructive way. Savit has helped to place nearly 3,000 people into jobs and was described at the award show as career Santa Claus. Yet since last week he's been subjected to abuse online due to his current work at Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent. Over the past four days I've received countless hateful messages targeting me personally alongside hundreds more on YouTube and Twitter, he wrote in a LinkedIn post. People have made disturbing comments about my family. I'm only not sharing those comments because they are disgusting, but I will share some other sample comments. My wife and me have been targeted with anti semitic slurs. Several videos mocked my comments, suggesting I sound autistic, riffing on it for their audience's amusement. Due to his work as a business developer director at Tencent, Sapphire has been accused of being some sort of agent or plant exploiting the community or that he's a fraud, he wrote. However, he explained that his community work began in November 2022 before he started at Tencent in August 2023. Before this he worked for Amazon, but again his community work was separate. God, this is just ridiculous. They were going ridiculous. Tim I didn't slash don't work on mergers or acquisitions at ten or Amazon. This stems from one innocent, erroneous mention of what I do in a Level Infinite article since corrected to show I only work on investments. He also has never laid employees off. They simply didn't mention Tencent at TGA because that had nothing to do with this community and they wanted to focus on how we drove this ourselves. I've been accused of creating jailworthy fraud and mocked for just making one spreadsheet people enter info into, usually by people who spent all of 8 seconds looking at our site with no understanding of the work we do or the impact we've had had. We have 15 resources across five different resource homes. And there's a lot of depth to our community, as any of you who have used it know. He surmised this can happen to you too, when you sacrifice over 2, 000 hours of your time to help the industry. This is the reward for two years of service. Finishing the post, he said he would now return to our mission of positive public service. Yeah, keep it there. Yeah, keep your head up, homie.

[A]

Keep bringing the good out into the world. This one sucked him. Because this happened immediately. I mean, as fast as we were celebrating this and clapping, people were online just bringing this down.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it is so unfortunate that we live in a world where we can't even celebrate this. We can't say, hey, this guy's trying his best to help out and do a good deed. And we should be celebrating that. Helping it out. People should be going over, what resources can we add to this to help you a little bit further? No, we just immediately went on, just started throwing things. And the best is whenever you'd read these, someone would follow up, was like, do you have any sort of source or information to this? Dead silence. Like, that's great. That's great. We're just gonna tweet about this all day long.

[B]

It's disgusting. But again, let's focus on the positive here. Great work being done. Amazing speech of the game Awards. Very important moment, and I feel like at the end of the day, that is what wins out. Having said that, it sucks and it's brutal for this man and his family to have to deal with this. People don't understand how horrible targeted hate can feel. And until it happens to you, you get an understanding and then it changes everything of, like, how you navigate life and deal with people. This man, he does not deserve this.

[A]

Keep your head up. If you're someone in his circle, make sure you're always there patting them on the back, helping them out, pumping them up. If you're here in our community and you love what this man has done, go out there, celebrate it on Twitter. Give him a little thumbs up. Give him some love. That sucks. This sucks.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And, yeah, that's one of those where you get a bunch of this, Tim. And that's where you shut down down.

[B]

Right.

[A]

People can shut down easily. Be like, no more of this. That I'm never going to do this again.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And walk away. And then all of this goodwill, everything that this man's bringing to help others get jobs and help them get back on their feet is all gone.

[B]

Yep. I don't even want to do the segue right now, but let's go to Wii News.

[A]

Take me to. We know. Take me to weed news.

[B]

Marvel versus Capcom Infinite and beyond. The fan mod launches December 20th. Bear, can we actually watch? Watch this. Brain 13 super chat. It's saying y'all should watch the launch trailer for NBC Infinite and Beyond. Max dude and his dev team did insane work to fix the way the game feels. Very excited.

[A]

And it launches on December 20th.

[B]

That's what they're saying.

[A]

Damn, that's exciting.

[B]

Let's check it out.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Are you ready? True believers, the impossible has happened.

[A]

Let's let our fists do the talk. Which of us stands for justice? Let's fight us. Don't miss out on the enjoyment of a lifetime. Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond.

[B]

Oh, my God, the music's so good.

[A]

It's so cool looking.

[B]

Dude, they did a great job with the look of this game.

[A]

Yeah, it looks great.

[C]

Yeah, they brought like the 3D, like, cell shading back, right?

[B]

Like Venom's the right color.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Featuring 36 Marvel and Capcom characters.

[B]

Oh, my, my God. And I forgot how, dude.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

Bring life into your characters.

[A]

And combos with visuals never seen before. How awesome.

[B]

It's awesome.

[A]

It's amazing. There's people out there that love things like that and they're like, you know what? We're going to go above and beyond.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Want to keep this?

[B]

This.

[A]

I'm gonna do this. That's cool.

[B]

Very, very, very cool. How much longer do we have in the trailer? Oh, it's like four minutes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, cool. Yeah, we can cut out here, but so, so cool. Go check this out. Go support the work they're doing over there because it's very, very awesome stuff.

[A]

Sick.

[B]

Shout out to Maximilian, dude. One of the the best people on the Internet.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, he's great.

[B]

Marvel rival surpasses 20 million players. Wow.

[A]

It's cooking something, Tim.

[B]

They're cooking, baby.

[A]

See what happens, man, this thing is massive right now.

[B]

Lost Soul aside. Launches on PS5 and PC in 2025. 9 Soul Switch physical coming in 2025 from Fan Gamer. And that's it for we need some love. That's it for we news. Super chatting here. We got Mara writing in saying no one. Tell Tim the path of exile has 200 skins. Love you guys. So excited for KFJ 2025. Thanks. We're excited.

[A]

Kind of expensive stuff, but that, you know, that's benefiting the indie devs. You're supporting those small indie devs of purchases like that. But, yeah, there's some expensive stuff on that storefront.

[B]

But, like, is that 200? Is that the type of level where they're like, yo, we understand you're just doing this because you're trying to support us. Yeah.

[A]

When we're talking to Stan, that's exactly what that is. Like, there are certain levels to Path of Exile that is simply to say, hey, I love your game and I want to support this indie studio that is building this game.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And that is what you're doing it for.

[B]

I find that.

[A]

It's not the. It's not that. Oh, every single skin is 200. That's not. No, that's not how it is.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. With Tencent as the parent company. Like, yeah. Path of Exile.

[A]

A Path of Exile. Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Wow. Give them some money, then. Why? They asked in the community. Give them some money. Give us some goddamn money then.

[B]

Paul McG says, I never like to my own horn, but I passed my Irish driving test today. So shout out to me, toot. Hell yeah, Paul, man.

[A]

Nothing more exciting than a driving test. You know what I mean? You only get to do more exciting. You know, just that fear that. That. That feeling of like, oh, am I gonna crash into somebody? Am I looking at all my parallel park? Oh, what a great time.

[B]

What a great time.

[A]

What a great time.

[B]

I love you so much, Mike. Let's see what we got wrong today. Going to your wrong here. This is nothing wrong, but Tundra boy says some WE news. Nintendo's launched its Switch year and review tool, enabling players to view and share their gaming highlights. Yeah, that's sick.

[A]

Everybody should be doing that yet, Tim.

[B]

No.

[C]

I discovered what my most played game was on switch this year. 40 hours in Nintendo World Champions NES Edition.

[B]

Yes. 40 hours, Barrett. That's awesome.

[A]

Sickness.

[C]

I have a speed running sickness in my brain, y'all.

[B]

You do, man. That's so funny.

[C]

I will say, you know, I've already been working on my top 10 list, and I did. It's not on my list, but I did think about it for a while of putting that on my top 10, because that's awesome.

[B]

I mean, I. I enjoyed it, too. Yeah. But I definitely not know. 40 hours. That's crazy. And that's it. That's all we have there, Mike.

[A]

Happy holidays to the audience out there. Thank you for watching and listening. Of course. Get loud in the comments. We love to hear your thoughts on today's news stories. Of course. Are you buying the skin? Are you not buying the skin? Will they change it? Will they make a battle pass like Tim brought up and just completely drop the 20 sales charge.

[B]

We'll find out. We'll find out.

[A]

Exciting, but great day of content coming your way. Me and Blessing have a great bracket. Coming up on Games Cast that you don't want to miss out. And then we're gonna play Magic the Gathering. If you love magic, if you love cardboard, you don't want to miss out.

[B]

You love cardboard. Everybody stay tuned. Yeah. It's gonna be a great gamescast, a great stream. Thank you so much for hanging out with us on this beautiful Wednesday way. Until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve.