The Xbox Ally Costs HOW MUCH? - Kinda Funny Games Daily 09.26.25

Summary

Kinda Funny Games Daily – Xbox Ally Costs HOW MUCH? (09.26.25)

Overview

On this September 26, 2025 episode, hosts Greg Miller and Tim Gettys, along with guest discussions and an extended cast, tackle another packed day in the gaming industry. The main focus is on the surprisingly high price of the new Asus Rog Xbox Ally X handheld, with deep dives into Nintendo exec changes, the evolving state of EA’s Skate, and Final Fantasy VII Remake’s future. The hosts keep it lively, personal, and interactive with their trademark mix of humor, industry insight, and community engagement.

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Key Discussion Points

1. (10:52) The Price of the Asus Rog Xbox Ally X: Sticker Shock and Context

• Announcement: Microsoft and Asus announced preorders for the Xbox Ally ($599) and the beefier Ally X ($999), both shipping October 16.
• Industry Context: The prices position these as luxury products on par with high-end gaming laptops, not traditional consoles.
• Main Concerns:
  • Console fans balk at paying $999—much more than a Switch 2 or a launch Xbox Series X.
  • For PC/hardware enthusiasts, the comparison shifts to MSI and Lenovo devices with similar feature sets.
  • Tim Gettys: “These are the exact prices that I’ve been saying this is going to end up at … that’s just what these things cost.” (14:12)

Insights & Reactions

• Tim (14:12): Not surprised by the pricing; considers it inevitable given hardware trends, tariffs, and Xbox’s history of recent price increases.
• Greg (17:25): Argues the window for sticker shock was unavoidable, and these handhelds are targeted at a subset of dedicated gamers, not the mass market.
• Luxury, Not Mainstream: Both hosts agree the Ally X is not intended as a mass-market product but as a “luxury tech product” aiming at enthusiasts.
• Market Impact: The true litmus test will be usability and reviews post-launch, not early unit sales. Tim predicts early supply shortages, not flop-level demand: “It’s going to sell out … even at the price that it’s at.” (23:34)
• “Just Works?” Skepticism: Tim is wary that Windows support for seamless handheld gaming may fall short of the “console-like” experience advertised. “If this doesn’t work … people will be upset.” (25:31)
• Hardware Iteration & Future-Proofing: Ongoing upgrades are likely, cautions Tim, drawing parallels to the Steam Deck OLED and upgrade cycles. (28:02)
• Value Proposition: Steam Deck may remain a better value; the Ally X’s main selling point is the Xbox ecosystem. But: “It’s not an Xbox console, it’s an Xbox PC.” (32:29)

Notable Quotes

• Tim Gettys (14:12): “These numbers are in line with what I expected … There might be $100 more on each SKU than possible. But with where we’re at with tariffs and everything, not surprised.”
• Greg Miller (21:35): “I don’t think either Asus or Xbox is looking at this going like this thing’s going to move 20 million units in the first year.”
• Tim Gettys (32:29): “It’s the promise of the Xbox ecosystem … but I think then comes the problem of it’s not an Xbox console, it’s an Xbox PC.”

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2. (39:03) Nintendo’s Doug Bowser Retires: Succession Plans and Strategy

• News: Doug Bowser to retire as President/COO of Nintendo of America at the end of 2025. Devin Prichard, a 19-year Nintendo veteran, will replace him.
• Impact: Bowser oversaw the late Switch boom and Switch 2 launch, as well as Nintendo’s push into parks and film.
• Kit & Krysta Insight: Tim highlights their deep-dive video, revealing Bowser’s “peacetime president” role and Nintendo’s orderly, succession-based leadership planning.
  • Nintendo leadership roles come with preset lines of succession—no surprises for those in the loop.
• Globalization Push: Bowser notably expanded Nintendo’s focus on Latin American localization and day-one releases—a major business move.
• Devin Prichard: Seen as a “rock the boat NOT” successor, expected to continue the quiet, steady approach rather than return to a “Reggie” era of public-facing personas.

Notable Quotes

• Tim Gettys (41:01): “Reggie very much was wartime president and his body was. Bowser very much peacetime president … through the lens of the Nintendo Switch and the success of the Switch.”
• Tim Gettys (44:09): “This push into Nintendo Latin America … and this push to worldwide day one releases … these are things that are so, so, so in the weeds, businessy, but can result in insane amounts of money and revenue and new customers.”
• Tim Gettys (46:54): “…There is a Nintendo voice and I don’t think that voice is Reggie anymore … They have a plan and they’re sticking to that plan.”

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3. (50:32) EA’s Skate: Player Reactions and “Fortnitification”

• Skate Early Access: Public now, but divides opinion.
• Community Feedback:
  • High-contrast visuals, “Fortnitification”, microtransactions, and character styles are controversial.
  • Developers acknowledge complaints, promise visual changes, and clarify: new gameplay features (tricks) will be free, only cosmetics are monetized.
• Upcoming Changes: Next update (2.28, due October 7) focuses on toning down visuals for a more grounded feel. Seasonal events (like “Skate-O-Ween”) and additional features are planned.
• Battle Pass: Optional, cosmetic-focused; Greg is enthusiastic about the evolving model and the Halloween theme.

Hosts' Takes

• Tim (51:42): Not a Skate fan, more into Tony Hawk—but intrigued by Skate’s social systems and ongoing iteration, though wary players are hungry for a “complete” product.
• Greg (53:01): Loves the new skate, appreciates the Fortnite-like customizations, continuous updates, and the “ownership” it fosters for players. Acknowledges it’s not the traditional Skate 4 some wanted.
• IGN’s 4/10 Review: Greg finds that score baffling given how good the core gameplay feels, but recognizes the culture/classic fans' letdown.

Notable Quotes

• Greg Miller (53:01): “That’s the ownership of it, of what I’m doing in there, right? … I love games criticism and I love understanding where people are coming from. But for me … it controls too well to be a four.”

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4. (56:51) Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3: Will It Deliver?

• Reassurance: Despite reports that Rebirth underperformed, director Naoki Hamaguchi confirms FFVII Remake Part 3 is greenlit and well-resourced.
• Rebirth’s Comeback: PC sales aided recovery after a weaker-than-awaited launch.
• Future-Proofing: The trilogy will complete across platforms, but exclusivity deals cloud the timeline.

Quotes

• Tim Gettys (58:46): “They keep going out of their way to affirm that … the trilogy of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is going to be on all systems.”
• Tim Gettys (58:02): “Slightly, I mean not in a real way, but I do think that it was very disheartening … to not sell as well as they needed it to.”

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5. (60:31) Quick Hits – “Wii News” and Notable Headlines

• Helldivers 3: No plans; Helldivers 2 is now an online platform, per Arrowhead CEO.
• Witcher 3’s Crossplay Update: Mod support for console slips to 2026.
• Twitch Adds New Features: Subscribers can now pause/rewind live streams.
• Borderlands 4 PC Users: Advised to wait 15 minutes for shader precompiling after latest update—a source of amusement for Greg.
• Pokemon TCG Pocket: Special packs to celebrate the game’s 1st anniversary.
• Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2: Still in progress per Konami.
• NBA 2K, Hotel Barcelona, Pac-Man World 2 Repack, and indie Possessors: New releases.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

The Human Side: Tim’s Author Moment

• Tim Gettys (02:28): “I was shocked last night … my name is on the short list. … I get to be in that. That’s pretty cool, dude.”
• Greg, on congratulating Tim: “Congratulations, Tim. That’s a big deal for you. I’m happy that’s happening.” (06:51)

Surprise Appearance: Troy Baker & Abdul

• Abdul calls in with Troy Baker from Kuwait to thank Greg for his influence: “You made me love gaming. I love your content and everything. … Thank you for interrupting whatever you’re doing right now.” (05:10)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:28: Show intro & banter, Tim’s writing accomplishment
• 10:52: The Roper Report: Xbox Ally pricing and industry context
• 14:07: In-depth price/value analysis
• 19:15: Comparing the Ally X to PS5 Pro and market expectations
• 24:21: Usability, “just works” concerns for the Ally X
• 31:55: Steam Deck vs. Ally X: pros and cons
• 39:03: Nintendo’s Doug Bowser retires, succession discussions
• 44:09: Doug Bowser’s legacy and the Latin America push
• 50:32: Skate discussion: feedback, changes, hosts’ opinions
• 56:51: Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 status
• 60:31: “Wii News” headlines and quick hits
• 64:57: Birthday super chats and community messages

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Final Notes & Community

• Large Listener Participation: Numerous community super chats interleaved, especially birthday wishes and reactions to the Ally X.
• Upcoming Milestone: Kinda Funny Games Daily hits 2000 episodes on October 6, with special events planned.

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Summary

This episode delivers a packed, in-depth analysis of the new Xbox Ally handheld’s high price, Nintendo’s executive shifts, and Skate’s divisive new direction—always filtered through Kinda Funny’s blend of sarcastic humor, real-world tech/business know-how, and audience love. Whether you’re here for industry news, snappy takes, or the feeling of being among friends, this installment captures everything that makes Kinda Funny Games Daily essential listening for gaming news.

Transcript

[Tim Gettys]

Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other. When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a 4 liter jug. When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, come on.

[Tim Gettys]

They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia trip planner to collaborate on all the details of their trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool.

[Abdul]

Whatever.

[Tim Gettys]

You were made to outdo your holidays. We were made to to help organize the competition.

[Greg Miller]

Expedia made to travel today in the nerdy news, you need to know about Nintendo's Doug Bowser retires. We finally know how much the Xbox ally costs and skates getting a new look. We'll have all this and more because this is Kinda Funny Games Daily. What's up everybody? Welcome to Kinda Funny Games daily for Friday, September 26, 2025. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30 A K A the second best baby blues in San Francisco. AKA the soon to be father at Tim Gettys.

[Tim Gettys]

I am also the New York Times quoted correct. Yeah, I'm also the lock on. More than quoted.

[Greg Miller]

Published, published author. Whoa.

[Tim Gettys]

Here Lock on, issue six is finally out. Lock on. An incredible series of. It's a gaming journal is what they call them. I've had some of them that are more magazine esque format. But then this is like a hardcover. Real hardcover. Hold this, Greg. That is home premium. Right?

[Greg Miller]

Information. Super, super nice Gaming journal giants return to the indie heyday with Behemoth and this jaunt through the absurd imaginative. So wait. Yeah, I'm confused. I know Lock on.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And I know Lost in Cult. So what do you. What's up to here?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, so they do this series.

[Greg Miller]

Our writers, Tim Gettys.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

That's followed by the filthy Lucy James.

[Tim Gettys]

The coolest thing it is, it is art from Yoshitaka Amano who is like the Final Fantasy artist. Exclusive art made just for this, which is very, very cool. Yeah, I think this version of it is sold out.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

But you can get the like soft cover and I think there's even hard covers that aren't like this fancy one. But they. In addition to this very Final Fantasy focused issue, they have other ones that focus on kind of different topics. But there's also essays about a ton of different video games in this, which is cool. But real quick, this little. I don't know what they call it.

[Greg Miller]

Sleeve jacket. It's not a jacket. A band.

[Tim Gettys]

It's nice though. It's a little band around the book. I was looking at it and yeah, I. I Was shocked last night after being very excited to find my name and, like, words in the book. But then looking at this when I was showing G, it made me look really cool. Yeah. My name is on the, like, short list. Like, we got writers Alexa Ray Korea, Tim Gettys, Lucy James, Aiden Mower, Chelsea Reed and Ben Starr and more. I'm like, I get to be in that. That's pretty cool, dude.

[Greg Miller]

Congratulations. Pretty freaking cool. I like that a lot. I mean, Ben Starr and Lucy, they suck, but it's awesome otherwise. That's really neat.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Congratulations. I love that for you.

[Tim Gettys]

Hold on, I want to.

[Greg Miller]

I'm going to open it up and slide it off. We're taking the magical band off. Taking the magical mystery tour.

[Tim Gettys]

I am. Page 72.

[Greg Miller]

What did you write about? What? Tell me about fantasy 10. So, but, like, what was your take? Just like, yo, Final fantasy. Final Fantasy 10 was cool. Or what's like this.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Pretty when you read it. Because I wrote this.

[Greg Miller]

This usually happens the other way, but I'm getting a FaceTime from Troy Baker.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh, God.

[Greg Miller]

Troy Baker. It's Greg Miller. How are you? I'm on Games Daily. So are you now.

[Abdul]

Okay, so, first of all, the world had enough of you when it was shirtless Spider Man. We don't need anything with you and Wolverine, Please, if you truly love gaming, just don't. Liam McIntyre is enough. We don't need more of you and that.

[Greg Miller]

Okay? No, it's not okay, Troy. All right. Didn't hurt people. Didn't hurt your feelings. Didn't it hurt your feelings when people were saying you were in too many video games? Give me this.

[Abdul]

Yeah, no, you are in too many. You've been in two, and that's two too many. That's not the reason why.

[Greg Miller]

That's accurate. I traveled.

[Abdul]

I traveled halfway around the world to be with some of the kindest, most hospitable people. I'm in Kuwait right now, okay. And a gentleman walked up to me and I was like, great, another fan.

[Tim Gettys]

Right?

[Abdul]

Of course.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Abdul]

Turns out he goes, I'm a huge fan. I was like, thank you. Because not of you. I don't even know who you are. I'm a massive fan of Greg Miller and I tried to get security to get him away, but they wouldn't. But this guy, I don't know if you remember or not, but he was a huge fan at ignorance. And then when you struck out on your own, he was one of the first best friends on the kind of funny Patreon.

[Greg Miller]

No.

[Abdul]

Yeah, dude. And I traveled to PlayStation Experience back in 2015 just to get a signature and I waited 5.5hours just to see you, man.

[Greg Miller]

Well, that was a waste of five hours. Let's not lie right there. That was a. But I. Okay, well, as long as. As long as you cared about it.

[Abdul]

You made me love gaming. I love. I love your content and everything. And I just want to say thank you and Troy was kind enough to give you a call and give me the chance to tell you this.

[Greg Miller]

I love that so much. Is your name Abdul?

[Abdul]

Abdul.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. All right. Yeah.

[Abdul]

You enough dude that whenever someone says something kind, you, you deserve to know about it. I love what you guys do. You know that. So I wanted that with you. So thank you for interrupting whatever you're doing right now.

[Greg Miller]

Troy, it's not all right. Tim's a published author.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm a published author, Troy. I wrote about Final Fantasy in a book.

[Abdul]

That's not your greatest accomplishment. No, your greatest accomplishment.

[Tim Gettys]

You're right. You're right.

[Abdul]

Talk about that later. Congratulations, Tim Gettys.

[Tim Gettys]

Thank you very much, Troy. Thank you very much. You know, I want to let you know, I think it happened the last time I saw you.

[Abdul]

I think it happened because you saw me.

[Tim Gettys]

I think so too.

[Abdul]

Or probably because you saw my wife. Very little to do with you and had very much to do with your wife.

[Tim Gettys]

Good energies. Yes.

[Greg Miller]

I have fun. We love you, Troy. Love you, Abdul.

[Tim Gettys]

I love that. That was awesome. Everything about that was awesome. Very cool. Last. I just want to show you real quick. There's a custom art here too.

[Greg Miller]

Awesome, dude.

[Tim Gettys]

For the. For two. Zanarkand.

[Greg Miller]

Can I read this?

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. Not right now.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

It's like words by Tim Gettys and then art by Alili Buika. But anyway, very, very cool.

[Greg Miller]

Very cool. Tim, congratulations.

[Tim Gettys]

Thank you, thank you. I'm very, very stoked about this. And it's weird to write something years ago and then have it like now be here.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And then rereading it. I'm just like. I'm so me.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I just read it like, that's my voice.

[Greg Miller]

I love that. I love that. Congratulations, Tim. That's a big deal for you. I'm happy that's happening. But there's a lot of things happening in video game news and we're going to go through it all because this, it's kinda funny. Games Daily, each and every weekday on a variety of platforms, we run you through the nerdy video game news you need to know about live on Twitch TV. Kindafunnygames.YouTube.com kindafunnygames and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, we'd love you to pick up the Kinda Funny membership over on patreon.com kinda funny, YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple and Spotify, you can toss us 10 bucks and get all of our content ad free. That's more than 80 episodes a month. And of course, get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller, in a series I call Greg Way, where I podcast to you for 15 to 20 minutes all by my lonesome, adding up to four hours of exclusive shows each and every month. Plus you get good karma for supporting a small business. We couldn't do this without the Kinda Funny membership. And you. However, if you're a cheapskate or have no bucks tossed our way, no big deal, you can get everything for free. YouTube.com kinda funnygames all the podcast services. Twitch. You know how to do it. If you're on Twitch and you have Amazon prime, remember that you have Twitch Prime, a free subscription to give away each and every 30 days. They don't remind you. Maybe you're not on Twitch, you never are, but you have Amazon Prime. You're listening on your podcast right now. Remember? Why not just link them and give it to us? And then remind yourself every 30 days and help pay it forward. Because Jeff Bezos, he doesn't need that seven bucks. But we do. All right, thanks. Good. Of course, remember, if you're watching live, be part of the show. YouTube super chat on YouTube.com kindafunnygames with your questions, your comments, your concerns. Some housekeeping for you. Monday, Sep. No, October. Yeah, I fucked it all. Monday, October 6th is kinda funny games daily 2000. That's right. Our little daily news program is turning 2000. Its 2000th episode will be Monday, October 6th. We're gonna have a super sized show with surprises, guests and shenanigans. We're aiming at three hours of content for you. So you want to be here live. Twitch TV, kindafunnygames, YouTube, kind of funny games, podcast services around The Globe. Monday, October 6th. We'll start at the normal time and then we'll get wild with it.

[Tim Gettys]

And that shirt will go on sale.

[Greg Miller]

It will be. Yes, if you're an audio listener. I'm wearing an amazing shirt called KF Games Daily 2000. It looks just like the WrestleMania 2000 logo, which I love.

[Tim Gettys]

So good color comics.

[Greg Miller]

It's French dip, right?

[Tim Gettys]

No, no. This would have been campfire.

[Greg Miller]

Campfire. I confuse it all the time. I know both of them. I could spot them and talk to them. But when it comes to who did the what, now I lose it all the time. Remember? Of course, we're an 11 person business. All about live talk shows. Today after kind of Funny Games Daily you're gonna get a gamescast where we're running through every game coming out in October. It's our monthly preview segment and I can't wait for it. After games cast is kind of funny Game Showdown. You gotta wonder if the lock on people regret having you write in it when I could have written in it. Of course, as the man who led team Blue to his third championship in a row. Of course, the man who won the Nick Scarpino championship, the man who has the only star so far in Game Showdown. I'm on quite the tear and I have this great beard now.

[Tim Gettys]

But I was thinking maybe for this on Final Fantasy.

[Greg Miller]

Overrated. One word period said, why did this fucking game get this many sequels? We get it. And you can't even come up with a new name. Sid. Every time. For Game Showdown though, I was thinking about growing my beard back after Game Showdown. Of course it's going to be a stream. It's a special one. It's baby steps. Race to the top. Kinda funny versus Giant Bomb. We will see if we can ever beat Giant Bomb at a video game. If you're a kinda funny member. Today's Greg Ways 15 minutes about turning down video game reviews I'm passionate about. Thank you to our Patreon producers Karl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Today we're brought to you by Shady Raisin Factor. We'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be the Roper Report. Time for some new six items on the Roper Report.

[Tim Gettys]

Does it?

[Greg Miller]

Let's start with your wallet. The Asus Xbox ally X costs US$999. This is Sean Hollister over at the Verge. Of course, super chatters. I need to know, are you buying this? And mainly if you were thinking if you were on the fence about getting an Xbox Ally. Are you in? Are you out now? Did the price change? Anything? I need that kind of information on Super Chat. Thank you so much. But we go to Shaun over the Verge. Today Microsoft and Asus are officially opening pre orders for the Rog Xbox Ally and Rog Xbox Ally X at 599 and 999 respectively in the United States of America. They both ship October 16th. There's a few different ways to look at those prices. If you're used to console pricing, Microsoft's first Xbox handhelds are not cheap. Even the vanilla white Xbox Ally costs $150 more than a Switch 2, which itself was criticized for price. And it costs $100 more than a far more powerful Xbox Series X did at launch in the us Microsoft's new Xbox price hike notwithstanding, in Europe and the uk, the weaker of the two allies cost the same as an Xbox Series X. But you can't play that Xbox in a passenger seat. And if you're a PC gamer or want to be, things look a little bit rosier. These Xbox handhelds will be the first with a new build of Windows that hides the desktop and Explorer shell, frees up gobs of memory for your game, and hopefully lets you navigate slowly by controller. Handhelds have unfortunately not been get I'm sorry, have unfortunately been getting pricier and pricier. Anyhow, to the point, flagship ones now cost as much as gaming laptops. At 999, the Xbox Ally X might compare well to the 999 MSI Claw 8 AI plus or the 1350 Lenovo Legion Go 2 that offers the same AMD Z2 Extreme chip you'll find here. Particularly because my colleagues and I agree the new Allies have one of the most comfortable designs we've ever held. Parentheses in summary, prongs rock. Just know you're getting a wildcard if you opt into the 599 ally as it contains a never before seen Ryzen Z2 a processor that's much more like the chip in the Steam deck. Instead of 8 Zen 5 CPU cores and 16 rDNA 3.5 GPU cores designed to run between 15 and 35 watt TDP, you're getting 4 Zen 2 CPU cores and 8 rDNA 2 GPU cores designed to run between 620 watts for lower performance gaming. Timothy yes, you and I love handheld gaming enthusiast period. You are the tech guy. I am. I want it to work and I want my games on the go. I have been very vocal about how much I'm excited for the Xbox Ally X and the Xbox Ally for people getting into it. This new form factor that I got to hold at SGF I love. I of course already am a staunch proponent of the ROG Ally X. It is one that I have here and use nearly every day. It has replaced just about my remote. Unless I'm playing like Ghost, it's going to be my my remote device. It's what I'm doing. It's What I'm taking on the plane unless I'm doing something switch, yada yada, yada, yada. You are the tech guy though. So I'm more interested right now at this jump of our conversation of do these prices surprise you?

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Does it stack up well? Like where, where are you at? As somebody who follows this kind of stuff?

[Tim Gettys]

These are the exact prices that I've been saying this is going to end up at. And that does not make me Nostradamus this. That's just what these things cost. Like we have standards at this point for what this level of hardware is going to cost. Yeah. I'm not saying that it's a market viable product at that price. I do think that like it is kind of crazy. However it is because the market has been speaking. People are buying these handhelds and I think that this one is because of the marketing that is going to get the extra marketing from Xbox.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

I do think it's going to end up selling relatively well compared to what I think a lot of people's gut instinct would be of, like, who the fuck is this for? Who would ever buy this? I don't think it's for everybody at all. I also think that the prices are incredibly high. So that's the kind of trouble here is these numbers are in line with what I expected. There might be $100 more on each SKU than possible. But with where we're at with tariffs and everything, not surprised. Especially when you look at the hardware side on Xbox and how they've been increasing their prices. Like this is just where we're at in the world. So if it was any cheaper, it would be like, all right, Microsoft are really shooting themselves in the foot because you can't subsidize that much or else you're going. They will lose money on this. I think.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

With where they're at now, it's going to be, I think, a more interesting conversation of looking at how many millions of units are we talking about here? Are we talking about millions of units? And beyond that, I think it's the concept of how much of a foothold is the portable gaming PC market going to start to take on gaming as a whole? And I do think that we are still very small, but it's going to continue to grow. And the point being made about these prices being more similar to gaming laptops, I do think that that is the way to look at this is it is a different style of gaming laptop and I think that that market is going to be very disrupted by these systems as they mature and as they get more mainstream marketing and mainstream, mainstream placement in Best Buys and the places that casual consumers are going to buy these things because remember, the Steam Deck is only available on Steam. So so far the market leader in this space is by design a niche product. So what's going to happen as we're in this place now where we do have the competition between all of the, the Raj stuff, but we have Lenovo, we have msi, we have a lot of others that are doing really interesting things. But I do think the interesting things of each one at this point are just trying to find a foothold in their own place in the industry of being able to see and touching the fence of like how much can we get away with, how often can we update these things? How, how up to date do these SKUs need to be? Or are we gonna kind of treat it more like console generations, like we're seeing Steam Deck do? So again, a lot of words that I'm saying here, but these prices don't surprise me and I think that Xbox has made a lot of good calls for this despite also making a lot of really boneheaded decisions overall when it comes to how they've talked about this and setting expectations for what.

[Greg Miller]

I think that's an interesting call out. If you're not paying attention, maybe just hear this kicked around every so often. They announced the price and released pre orders yesterday. This thing comes out October 16th. That's 21 days away. Yeah, for the longest time there's been this wait, what the fuck? Wait, you can't get these yet. What is the price? And yada yada, yada. I wonder how much of that is. They know sticker shock is going to exist no matter what. How much of it also was riding the tariffs of seeing where we're going to net out. How far can we get before we have to make the actual call here? And what it is I'm with you of. We've had this conversation lots of times about where it's going to price and what it's going to be. The prices don't surprise me. Kevin already threw it up over on Amazon right now. If you were trying to buy an Ally x, you're spending $1,300 for the the LX that I have here, that's already out, right? If you went to the the Rog site, you could get it for 800 in quotes, but it's sold out. You have to notify me. So I think it's like there's A markup on demand there. So an 800 however old system this is to then where we are with a brand new one, a different controller feel. All this Xbox business locked into and stuff. I think you're it makes sense for what they're doing and why they're doing it. But I don't think you're wrong about anything you said. Right. I think you're being very level headed. I'm so I saw our chat popping off. Oh, this is dead on arrival. It's this that the other. I don't get that vibe at all. I don't think Xbox or Asus is betting the farm on this. This isn't they this. I think you could take right now the conversation we're about to have and grab our PlayStation 5 Pro conversation and bring it in and just find and replace because it is the thing of like who needs this? Who's it for? There's an audience that this is for. There's an audience that's going to want this. You could build one of the one over here from Zeke Speak. No, I'm sorry. Gary says for that price you could build one yourself. Well, not a gaming handheld. I mean the laptop, sure, but this is like a different thing and it's like. But you wouldn't like convenience and ease is what they're everyone's going for and what Xbox is pushing for this.

[Tim Gettys]

I agree with you overall in the comparisons that you're trying to make in terms of luxury products when it comes to PS5 Pro and these devices. But I think the difference is to me and look the PS5 Pro has and now that we are almost a year into it existing a slew of problems that are unacceptable. When you really look at the fact that some of the things that it's supposed to enhance and solve it is making worse and causing even new problems. And that's not across the board but there are way too many cases of that being the situation that is incredibly not acceptable for a premium luxury version of an already incredibly expensive product. Then we look at this side though with Xbox with where they're at with the concept of their OS and the way that they are trying to change what Windows Gaming is to Xbox Gaming and redefining Xbox overall. I do think that this is more of a step than a half step. Even if it is in a direction that doesn't seem like the hallway to go down. If that makes sense. No, 100% because I know that a lot of people like they should just make their own hardware. It's like this clearly is a statement that that's not what they're doing. This is they are partnering with others and they are looking at their software ecosystem as how do we get it on, on as much hardware as possible and what are the right decisions to make that can allow us to just have these games be played as opposed to needing to focus on so much R and D hardware development, coming up with the price and coming up with all that stuff. Here they're partnering it and Asus has to shoulder a lot of those decisions and a lot of kind of the market strategy of where these things are going to go, how they're going to compete with like minded products. And then Microsoft NextBox can help promote that in their showcases and you know, remind the core gamers that are watching video game commercials back to back to back to back. Yeah, hey, here's this cool way that you can play these things. If that speaks to you, it's not going to speak to everybody. But of course, undeniably the PC gaming space is growing by the day and the desire to play console quality, PC quality games in handheld form I think is well past the. It's for little kids on road trips and is now like, oh, that is a core way that gamers play games. Yeah, I think that is going to continue to be the truth.

[Greg Miller]

Well, I think, you know, you say a lot of stuff there that I agree with and I'm on the same page with. I think again it's not so much that I view this as a half step as much as I view it as I don't think either Asus or Xbox is looking at this going like this thing's going to move 20 million units in the first year, you know what I mean? I don't think they have those level of expectations. I think that they both know that ASUS especially like this is what we do. We know what the success of the ally is already. You put the Xbox branding on it, it'll bring in more people and more eyes. But I don't think it's going to go supernova and I'm sure Xbox knows that they have a hill to climb here.

[Tim Gettys]

And so that's the funny thing is like 20 million, right? No, that, that'd be very, very, very stupid of them if that were the, the sales goals they're looking at. But 3 million, like that's a lot that, that is especially at the price we're talking about. But like that is a lot of money. But I think that there's a lot of more riding on this than other situations that are similar, like the Legion Go for example and the various versions of the Legion systems because of how much Xbox is putting into it from the Xbox side of things.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So I think that there's so many questions about this of like it just working. I think there's going to be so many people's first time with the gaming handheld ever. Like they've waited this long, they've been interested in the Steam Deck, but they're console people now. Xbox is doing one. There's going to be so many people that are getting their hands on this for the very first time. Are the prongs going to be the right move? I imagine they are for those gamers, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Is it going to play so much Retiton on the way back from New York or whatever And I was feeling it in my hands like I'm looking forward to the grips.

[Tim Gettys]

I'm very excited. But yeah, that's the thing is like they are still a unknown because yeah, people have got hands on it a PAX or a gamescom or whatever. But like what's the extended play of this and like for something that is portable, like do those things get in the way in any way of moving them around or whatever? Again, I don't think they're going to. I. I think that this is a good move forward for these things especially something to differentiate it from so many different handheld systems that we've had already.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But at the end of the day, the conversation around the success of this, I don't think in the early days is going to be based around sales because I do expect it's going to sell out. That's just where this is at. I don't think that these things are going to be able to. I don't think they're going to be able to keep up with supply for this even at the price that it's at. I don't think it's like going to be like getting the we back in the day. But I do think it's going to be just like yours is right now, like not available on Amazon directly. I get some hey, you got to wait for this type shit or spend a premium, right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

So I think that the real thing is going to be the more critical actual reviews of what this does and doesn't do. And I think there's going to be more focus on that in a. In the public eye than there has been for the majority of these systems besides probably the Steam Deck and this.

[Greg Miller]

Back to it again of like what you're talking about the Steam deck changed the game I think on handheld gaming. And it. Because it was Steam and because it was Valve and all this different stuff. Right. But that didn't go quote unquote mainstream. And again I go back to this New York trip I just did to see Fallout 76, which I can't talk about yet, but I will. But in that Microsoft Experience store, right. It was the wraparound banner of this thing play anywhere. And it was, you know, an animated. At one point I went to Claire Obscure. I tried each a photo but it went too fast. But it was like they, you know it's coming in and they had a demo unit and they had it like they, they're getting to the streets. And when this actually launches, I do expect to see the commercial during NFL I was like, I want to say NBA. I was like, they're not playing right now NFL games, right. Of like, hey, this is what's happening. And do I think that a lot of people know, oh, that's interesting and go to look at it. Holy shit. Fuck. $1,000 or what was it? US$599. Like that's a lot. I don't know about that, blah, blah, blah. But I don't know. I don't think you're gonna convince. You're going. I don't know if there's so many different layers of convincing people to do this and I don't think you're trying to get somebody to go from nothing to having it.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

More that I want my, my games that I like playing Madden, I like playing this. I'd like to be able to play that on the go, you know, in the same way.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I mean and again like I think that all of that is hopefully this works the way it needs to. And like I do have a lot of faith in it. Like I do think that they are making the right moves. But I, I'm still trepidatious about it. I'm not sure that it's gonna hit the way that they needed to. Mainly because of what you're saying about the eyes on this, the marketing on this. Like it. This is going to be a way more mainstream presented product and that is then going to get way more mainstream critical thoughts and reactions. And again, if this doesn't work, if it doesn't just work and guess what? It's not going to just work. People can be upset, you know, and then, then it's the level of like the people that are more in this already know what they're Talking about comparing it to other similar products that in some ways might be half the price, you know, and in some ways might be 50% more when you look at some of the Legion products. And I think that the big question is going to be where is the value proposition? Like is it worth buying a Steam Deck for half the price?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

An older model because it's good enough and it plays the games or is this the step up from the years old at this point Steam Deck that is going to make the difference? I'm very excited. Like I'm happy.

[Greg Miller]

I can't wait to get my hands.

[Tim Gettys]

On it and focused on and yeah, and I love this. I love luxury tech products. That's what this is.

[Greg Miller]

No. A thousand percent. Yeah, yeah. But I mean I love this one so much I can't wait to see what the next version of it is. Running a simple OS that's supposedly designed to bring all my storefronts together and blah blah, blah, like it's music to my ears of what I want to see what it's like when we get it. Zeke speaks super chats though and goes, my big fear is future proof. Will Microsoft keep supporting it? I don't think that's. Let me talk for a second. You tell me where I'm wrong. I don't think that's a concern. Like I guess your future proofing concern would be are they supporting their new OS thing but if they got that working to the degree that it's supposed to have everything together. Yeah, there might, there's going to be clunkiness five years in, but it would still be going. It would just be a five year old PC. I don't, I don't think, I don't have concern that Xbox is about to launch this and then two years from now go fuck man. Xbox planning where is a disaster. We're taking that away. So now we're back to having Xbox games and PC games and saves. Don't move between them and stuff like that.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, that stuff. Definitely not in terms of future proofing. I mean again I, I do think they're testing the fence still with all this stuff of like how often are we going to get upgrades for these? I, I think that the safe bet would be once every two years we're going to get an upgraded version of this thing.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But I think the. So future proof, it's like. No, it's not like.

[Greg Miller]

No, not at all.

[Tim Gettys]

It will be a new one.

[Greg Miller]

This brings in Rumble Pack. Who says birthday tax. Happy birthday. My biggest worry about The Allies longevity. I'd hate to drop a band on the Ally X only to have Ragh drop a better one in a year or two. And that was my whole thing with the Steam Deck. I loved my Steam Deck. And then they dropped the OLED Steam Deck a year later and I was like, I don't play my Steam Deck enough to justify that thing. Then I was like, I'll wait for Steam Deck 2. And I've been waiting forever. And then the Rog came out.

[Tim Gettys]

You're still gonna be waiting.

[Greg Miller]

Got the Rog. And I was like, holy shit, this is great. And now this Xbox One. But what does that mean for where Steam Deck 2 fits in or the next giant thing?

[Tim Gettys]

I do think that on the non Steam side, I expect all of them are going to continue iterating until they find their, their, their core product that they might be able to just be happy with and like maybe then come out with the OLED version instead of like a full new generation type transition. But yeah, it's, it's going to be a very interesting time for them in terms of the future proofing of Xbox and all that. Like, I think the bigger question is not so much about the support, it's about the like, can they get it right? Like do they get it right to begin with and continue to support it there? Like this Windows gaming situation is a lofty promise. That's. I think that the words are very nice. They're very nice. I just don't have faith that it's going to work the way that they're saying it's going to and that the way people expect it to. And I hope that I'm wrong about that. I just feel like this is kind of a cart before the horse situation in some ways of the way that this has rolled out and like the price, getting the price now and all that stuff doesn't give me faith that all this stuff is kind of like locked away. In the same way that Apple is selling phones that were now last year's phone and now this year's phone. We're waiting for the Siri AI upgrade stuff and it's like so much of the like value proposition and new shiny stuff of these phones is this new AI stuff. And it's still not here. It's coming. Yeah, but it's still not here. And it's like, okay, cool. Like I believe the words, but I don't.

[Greg Miller]

So the question stole from my mouth from Duro there.

[Tim Gettys]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. So where does this Heston's come from? Tim The Ally X Greg has right there has it figured out already. Are you talking about the interface and having it all work that way flawlessly?

[Tim Gettys]

Okay, yes, I'm talking about all of that stuff and being able to figure out the like Steam deck, having the different. The Proton experimentals and having to sway and all that stuff. Like can't be doing that if it's. If it's just supposed to function like an Xbox does. Yeah, like those little things are the difference between buying a product on a website that specifically sells that thing and going to a Microsoft store.

[Greg Miller]

Here's where I jump in. Right as somebody uses this one. I've never had to do the Proton or any of that jazz over here. This one does just do that right up into a Steam game or I pop into an Xbox game or whatever.

[Tim Gettys]

And yeah, but then I'm sure there's a ton of examples where it doesn't. And if that happens, then what do you do? That to me is like part of the thing there. I think it's more the not believing it is how the Windows experience is going to. Just when you boot this thing up, you go into the games you can play on all the different storefronts and all that shit and how it works. Saving back and forth. We'll see.

[Greg Miller]

Irk the Imp says I think the bigger success for Microsoft will be if this version of handheld Windows is more widely accepted on more devices. Of course.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly.

[Greg Miller]

And that's what I think they want. Of course there was a new story on Games Daily a couple weeks ago. Right. That people had already through whatever update, figured out a way to get it on to their already existing allies with that Xbox things. But obviously there's hoops to jump through. But clearly I think Xbox wants to launch this. This be the thing and then would love to put it on all sorts of systems and you assume do back in magic to be able to save it the way they want to save it.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And then our final one on this. Well, no, actually too and I'm putting you on the spot here because this is in your neck of the woods. Hold my hand. Norman super chats and says what does this really offer that a cheaper Steam deck OLED doesn't?

[Tim Gettys]

I mean it's. It's the promise of the Xbox ecosystem. And I think that that again is a heavy tax to pay for an ecosystem right now that you either care about or you don't. And I think if you're on the PC side of things, you're probably on Steam and Steam's done A very good job of keeping you there and doing great things. But to our point that we keep making, I think that this is more targeted towards an Xbox console player. So it is a completely different proposition of like who this is for. But I think then comes the problem of it's not an Xbox console, it's an Xbox PC.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And does Xbox PC have the stuff?

[Greg Miller]

But this is more powerful than a Steam Deck. Ola. Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But that doesn't mean anything if it's not optimized. And that's the thing is like having things be like Steam Deck optimized and all of that. It's like will Windows be able to get that buy in from enough of the developers and will it work and all of that. Like that is a huge question. And again, I, I the more groups that are being forced to do this because there's products that they're all trying to sell, that's going to be good for everybody.

[Greg Miller]

Sure. Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Of course be more emphasis on making sure that it does just work. But again, it has to just work. If it doesn't, what's the point of these products? They're then just niche products and that's fine. And that's where we're at currently. And like if that just maintains. Hey, a lot of people are incredibly happy with these things.

[Greg Miller]

And our final comment on this one before we move on comes from Phil. Phil Super Chats and says I spent $950 on an Alienware laptop 15 years ago. If you can't afford this, PC gaming isn't for you. There's nothing wrong with that. I ordered, says Phil. A little bit of Randy Pitchford in there, but it is the idea, yeah. Of like what's going on with all this stuff.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it's hard to talk about pricing on products like this because at the end of the day you can't just give things away. It'd be nice if this was $300 would be incredibly competitive. Right. That's not reality in any way, shape or form. Things have a hard cost. The hard cost of these is not going to go down anytime soon. Having said that, there are a ton of options out there and go back to the question of like, what makes this better than Steam Deck. It's like the beauty of video games right now is we are meeting in the middle, across the board, everywhere. So it's like, yeah, there isn't necessarily going to be that big of a difference because all games are now being able to be played at incredibly low end systems. You can build a dope ass PC for $1,000. You could build an even better one for $3,000, but you're playing the same games.

[Greg Miller]

Fair enough, Tim. We're move on to story number two right after I remind you about our two sponsors. Because this is Kind of Funny Games Daily and we couldn't do it without their support or yours. If you pick up a Kind of Funny membership, you get all of our shows ad free. You get your daily dose of me, and you get good karma for supporting a small business. But right now you're not using your membership benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Shady Rays. You know that moment? The one when you realize you left your favorite sunglasses at the beach or on the roof of your car or in that gas station miles away? We've all been there. Nick Scarpino once left a pair of sunglasses in Vegas and I've never heard the end of it. It wasn't my fault. But now they're Shady Rays. They've changed the game. These sunglasses are made for real life. Seriously good looking, polarized, durable and not stupidly expensive. And here's the wild part. 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You can choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options and for the first time ever, try Asian inspired meals with bold flavors influenced by China, Thailand and more. Eat smart@ Factor meals.com kindafunny50 off and use the code kinda funny50OFF to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. That again is code [e-mail] for 50% off your first box plus FREE breakfast for one year. Get delicious ready to eat meals delivered with Factor offer only valid for new Factor customers with the code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase number two on the Roper Report Nintendo's Doug Bowser Retires we read from the official press release Nintendo of America Incorporated to announced today announced that Doug Bowser will retire as President and Chief operating officer on December 31, 2025 after more than a decade in multiple leadership positions. He will be succeeded by Devin Pritchard, a 19 year veteran of the video game industry and long standing member of the NOA leadership team. Then we go on a bunch of different stuff about that, but that's the big part for right now. Bowser's distinguished tenure includes delivering on the promise of the Nintendo Switch System to change the way people play video games and bring new experiences to a broad range of consumers. Earlier, he expanded on that mission when he oversaw the launch of Nintendo Switch 2 in the Americas and helped establish the system as the best selling video game console of all time in its initial sales period. Also during his time with Nintendo, the company saw a significant expansion into entertainment ventures such as theme parks and films, all with the goal of giving more people more opportunities to engage with Nintendo's characters and worlds. One of my earliest video game experiences was playing the arcade version of Donkey Kong, said Bowser. Since that time, all things Nintendo have continued to be a passion for both me and my family. Leading Nintendo of America has been the honor of a lifetime and I am proud of what our team has accomplished in both business results and the experience we've created for consumers. Now it's time for the next generation of leadership and Devin's track record speaks for itself. She is an exceptional leader and her promotion is a testament to her strong performance and strategic contributions to the company's growth. I have full confidence that she will guide the company to even greater heights. Prichard has held executive positions in marketing, business affairs and publisher relations and currently serves as NOA's executive vice president of Revenue Marketing and consumer experiencing. Putting Nintendo fans at the top of her agenda, Prichard plans to build on many experiences that allow consumers to connect with Nintendo characters and worlds, from video games to entertainment to retail experiences. You might all say, I've never heard of this Devin Pritchard person. You clearly didn't watch our Nintendo Switch 2 launch stream because she opened up the Switch 2 version SF store. We were there, we Talked to tour. She came and talked to me. I had no idea who she was.

[Tim Gettys]

Now I do, but now it's like.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, followed her on LinkedIn last night.

[Tim Gettys]

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. But you know who we do know?

[Greg Miller]

Doug Bowser.

[Tim Gettys]

Doug Bowser. Congratulations to Doug Bowser. This for retiring. That is awesome. And before I even get into anything, I want to start by saying that everybody should check out Kitten Krista's video on this. We know them too, Kitten Krista. If you don't know our former Nintendo employees, they worked in marketing over there for I want to say a decade. And we've known them very, very well from kind of funny, from ign, from just the general space. They hosted Nintendo Minute which was they were very front facing Nintendo personalities. They were also awesome people, good friends of ours and I think have an incredibly unique and valuable perspective on Nintendo because they were inside. So all the WNDs, the weird Nintendo decisions we constantly talk about, what are they?

[Greg Miller]

They have some insights.

[Tim Gettys]

Right. And so thank you very much for bringing this up, Kev. But yeah, they have this video here that's everything you need to know about the new Nintendo president. And it was a 35 minute video. I watched the entire thing last night and I highly recommend it because the information you're getting there feels a bit more backed by real life stuff, experience and facts of how Nintendo works then a kind of the whole, hey, retiring sounds bad, why is this happening, you know, all that type of stuff. Okay. And so I definitely would ask all of you guys to go support them and check it out. But just to parrot some of the talking points that they did have, some I found very interesting. This, they are not surprised by this at all.

[Greg Miller]

Really.

[Tim Gettys]

It felt like, like they knew the who. They didn't know the when. Okay. But they knew the when was coming soon.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

And some of the things they said that were very interesting were when you talk about presidents like government, Lincoln, there is, you know, the wartime presidents and the peacetime president.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

And Reggie very much was wartime president and his body was Bowser very much peacetime president. And you think about that through the lens of the Nintendo Switch and the success of the Switch.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

But then when you get into that time that Reggie retired, the pandemic happens. We're still needing to get to the Switch 2. We're getting Nintendo kind of blowing up in a much more, even more global fashion and adding on the amusement parks and a billion dollar movie franchise and all of that. Right. But something that the, the kid and Krista didn't talk about. But from being around Doug more than a handful of times at this point at the different Nintendo events because Nintendo's been doing a lot, whether it's opening the San Francisco store, launching the Switch 2, launching all of these different things, the movies, the theme parks. It's like, like Doug's been making the rounds and being very front facing. Not publicly if that makes sense. It's like it is, it's more like he is the face or was the face to media but not so much to the public in the way that Reggie was like the face of Nintendo America period.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

But that now it's like, all right, cool. It was part of the plan to have him retire and pass it on to Devin. Now what's interesting there is Nintendo has a very clear succession line where all the major roles from the top have led to.

[Greg Miller]

Are led to this role.

[Tim Gettys]

They, they have. It's not like there's one path that goes up but that there's a set amount of like the, the top level positions.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

They are required to internally publicly announce their successor.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Tim Gettys]

So it's like known information that who's next and I don't know how many lines it goes down. It sounds like there's some people that might have up to four lines of succession. So I'm like, that's just a very interesting fact that we wouldn't know. But them being on the inside, they like, like even Kit was on a. He was going to be the successor to somebody that they named that I'm not, I'm not familiar with. But so yeah, like Nintendo functions that way and other businesses do that sometimes, but Nintendo does. So I just think that's interesting that like they are not surprised by this because they literally knew it was going to be Devin.

[Greg Miller]

Got it. That's, that's not bizarre. That's cool. Yeah. Think about that. You know what I mean?

[Tim Gettys]

And so then another fascinating thing is they were able to talk about the experience of working with Doug Bowser and the experience of working with Devin and they had nothing but nice things to say about both of them. Oh completely. And it also kind of fed into we're still in the peacetime. Like this very much is not a rock the boat. They don't expect Devin to be public facing like Reggie was. They think it's going to continue in line with what Doug Bowser's been doing, which is be the face but more onto the media side more on the, the big events. And sorry, one thing I want to say that the kid and Krista didn't bring up but being able to talk to Doug and see him at all these different events. Something that I've continuously heard him pushing him personally pushing is Latin America. And this push into Nintendo Latin America, having that be one of their bigger verticals that they focus on. Make sure that their games are being localized. Day one.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

And this push to like world worldwide day one releases. Right. Simultaneous releases which they've been working towards for decades at this point but adding a huge, huge, huge section of the world of Latin America. Whenever like even at the San Francisco store opening like they're talking about that of like, like we're, we're so excited when this console launches. It's also going to be there. It's like these are things that are so, so, so in the weeds. Businessy, businessy. But like can result in insane amounts of money and revenue and new customers and not even new customers like serving the customers that are there. So I say all that to be like we might look at Doug Bowser's six year run as, as boring. He's not Reggie.

[Greg Miller]

I was gonna say if he, if it looked boring it's only because he wasn't Reggie. Like what a shadow to be cast from Reggie and the Reginator and he's got Muppets and he's shooting lasers out of his eyes and he's like, like a meme and he's this and he's that. My body is ready. Like yeah. No one could follow Reggie. Right.

[Tim Gettys]

Exactly. And I also don't think Nintendo wants someone to follow Reggie. And it sounds like Kid and Krista agree with that and have more information than I do about that. But it very much there's more moves than just Devin becoming the new Nintendo of American President because there's also here this. Where's the name Satora Shibata who they also are aware of. This is somebody that has bounced around. There was they were at Nintendo Japan then they eventually went to Nintendo Europe. It sounds like they might have like backed out, not retired but like just been not doing it for a while and now they're back here and it sounds like it's going to be almost like the liaison working with Devin got it to make it more of a worldwide thing because again remember Nintendo of America is not Nintendo. They're not the ones in power this ncl. Right. That's where the power lies. And America is a huge portion of what Nintendo is in the market that they are serving. So obviously it is most likely the second most important territory and they have second most power when it comes to decisions and all of that. But I do think that this is a very clear move that you're starting to see of. Just like this was all part of the plan. Nintendo has a plan. And it was a very fascinating. Listen, you should all check it out. And something that I really, really respect about them is, I mean first off, they're great people. They're awesome. They don't just fucking say shit. They actually know what they're talking about.

[Greg Miller]

Kid started a Pokemon game.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he did. He looks so good as I forget the professor's name, but he's so cool. But they have the perspective of being at Nintendo which is so different than our perspective of being at ign.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

Two sides of a very different coin. Almost like very crazy stuff. But that also means that they drink the Kool Aid. They, they, they know the taste of the Kool Aid in, in a way that we have only looked at the Kool Aid.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Tim Gettys]

And it's funny even listening him here. It's like God, the way that they're talking about it, there is a Nintendo voice and I don't think that voice is Reggie anymore. And the way they respect that and we're in a system that they. It sounds like respected to an extent. They left. You know what I mean? I don't wanna. I hope I'm being clear the point I'm trying to make here. I think it's very interesting that Nintendo functions. The WNDs are not just a thing that we see from the outside. It is a by design. They have a plan and they're sticking to that plan.

[Greg Miller]

Got it. Interesting. Kyle, super chats to say Kit and Krista accurately predicted this. Love them. Like kind of funny. They are on Patreon and are a good following. Worth your support. They have valuable insight on Nintendo and those WNDs. And then I saw over here pop off from Kenjr61 Gamescast with them win.

[Tim Gettys]

Got to make it happen. Chris has been on Games Daily before, but yeah, we should definitely get them on at some point. Turo. Professor Turo. Yeah. Yes.

[Greg Miller]

Remember what happens the crater.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Come on now that's a game y' all can't wait to review. Zah. But I digress. Number three on the rope report skates look is changing and we have some season pass details. Super chat. What are you feeling on skate? Are you playing? Are you not? Are you hating it? What's going on with it? Let me know. Levi Winslow over at GameSpot reports EA's new skate is finally playable for everyone. Via early access Free early access Although the skateboarding feels good, most players don't love the fortnightification or the copious microtransactions and sim esque looking character models of the iconic skate sim. The developers at Full Circle have heard these complaints about the high contrast visuals and with the imminent launch of season one will address the game's look to feel more grounded and lived in. In a lengthy X post which I'm calling out is also a blog post over on their page, Full Circle reiterated that the look of the game is evolving, referencing an Aug. 15 blog where the team promised the skates aesthetic would improve to add quote even more detail and personality. Full Circle revealed what this detail and personality will start to look like when season one drops on October 7th. Kev if you scroll down there's a playable like transition. Yeah hit that one. This is where they're comparing contrasting what they're doing. The change is part of update 2.28. Arriving on the same day as season one gives Sand Van Stardam a more grounded and lived in feeling. What Full Circle showed off was a drop in contrast, washing the world in a golden glow. The team said that this is San Van at golden hour. Quote While this is only step one of what will be an ongoing development of the game's visuals, we want to give you a sneak peek today they posted, and once this Update releases on October 7th, we want your feedback so we can keep improving and iterating. That's in the immediate future. Looking ahead into December and beyond Seasons two and three and beyond Beyond Beyond Beyond. We'll introduce new content such as customization items, legacy game modes from the Skate franchise, challenges, seasonal events like Skate O Ween and seven Ply, Maple Harvest and Party voice chat alongside quality of life improvements and additions. That does include new tricks, with season two adding impossible and improved hand plants, while season three brings dark slides and improved foot plants. That's sick. What's really sick though is that you don't have to pay for them. Yes, seasons one, two and three will always introduce some microtransactions, particularly thanks to the imminent inclusion of the Skate Pass. However, when new Tricks drop, your wallet stays closed. Quote you will never have to pay for new tricks, full Circle reiterated. As we add new tricks to skate, you have access to them as soon as they come to the game. An update may be required and they'll become part of challenges to keep help keep up your skill. Once added, a trick will never go away. Timothy, have you jumped into skate at all?

[Tim Gettys]

I have not. I Infamously, am not a skate guy. I am a Tony Hawk guy. And people can be both. Both. I'm not one of those people. It just isn't what it is. I appreciate the hell out of skate. I'm very interested in this version of the game and its rollout plan and its continued rollout plan. Here it is funny where it seems like some people are enjoying it, but overall, it's kind of missing the mark, which is not a surprise because the early access stuff and like, I think people for this type of game would Are looking for and expecting here's a game, you know, and especially with the weight for it all. So that's the bigger problem for this to be here. Here it is. It's early access, and it looks this way, but it's gonna look that way. It's like, I don't know. None of this feels like confident, you know, and. And I think that the. The foundation there, it's like, again, people are enjoying it. I've seen a lot of social media posts about people doing weird memey stuff, but that's enjoying it, right? It's like there's. There's fun to be had here, but I don't think that there's necessarily the level of quality that hardcore skate fans have been waiting for. So it's kind of like, all right, they're eaten, but is it just some. Some sugar?

[Greg Miller]

As somebody who adores this game and loves it and can't stop playing it and wants to play it all the time, I think the biggest thing is that it's not skate for. For better or worse. And that's what you have. You have this vocal. And I don't know if they're the minority or the majority. I mean, I know what it was. Two million players in the first whatever. And, like, it's the login queues on the weekends. I was in. I was 1,000, 138,300, whatever in line. Like, it's doing fine in terms of player counts, but I think you're seeing a lot of people who are angry with it not being Skate four. And this isn't. This isn't skate culture and it isn't this. And like, they're calling out the fortnightification. And I've heard. Seen a lot of people like, this is skate Disneyland and people being upset about that. Right. Like, I get that. I understand that. Right. Even Rumble Pack here, the game is rad. The aesthetic is so corporate. It hurts. Totally understand that viewpoint of it. As somebody who loved skate beforehand, but loved Skating in skate and like the skate culture part of it. I was never part of a skate culture, so anything like that. This, I fucking love it. Like I think again, it controls so well. I like Fortnite. I like that my character looks like a fortnighty version of Greg Miller on a Ghostbusters board that I've now unlocked that I got the cool caution tape top for my grip tape in the back. I got the purple slime look and I got green wheels. So like, like it's a Ghostbusters over here. Ghostbusters News, you know, reshared my post about it.

[Tim Gettys]

Oh but like you joke around, but.

[Greg Miller]

That'S the ownership of it, of what I'm doing in there, right? And then running and going into the game and actually doing it and it being right now that I'm playing and it could be a last night, you know, I was waiting for Jen to get home and it was like I popped in for. I was like, all right, this is going to be 15 or 30 minutes. That's good enough or whatever. And then it's the other ones where I've played all the other night. I played for like four hours straight of it. What's going on? And yeah, it's early access. And yeah, it's going but like it's giving me what I want out of a skate. But I totally understand if you were waiting for skate for how it is not hitting what you want it to do. But I think every time I come on the worlds are populated, my friends list is populated. People are playing and they're playing more than me. They've already committed to it. So like I get so excited about. I like the early access nature of it because I do like the idea that they're going to be able to change and add stuff and in a year where are we going to be? As a big Halloween fan, I'm obviously pumped for the first one to be skate o ween right October 7th. Can't fucking wait, Tim, you know what I mean? But it's like, you know, they talk about the battle pass as well coming up. It's like the battle pass for sure. I'm throwing down on day one because I can't get enough of this.

[Tim Gettys]

Hey, that's awesome.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

They found you.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Sword by first name says I like the skating and skate. This is a super chat. I want more reasons to skate. Feels like at the moment there is just hope you'll jump in with friends and mess around again. I think it's motivation for everybody and different motivations for everybody. For me jumping into skate and going out. I want to go bust out these challenges. I want to get those points. I want to. Right now I'm, you know, unlocking all the stuff to get to whatever it is. The fifth box in the one area so I can get the skeleton sweatshirt. Right. And this is all in game currency. This isn't me spending money. Even though you could go spend money. And I have spent money. I bought a. I bought a plain vans gray sweatshirt because I think that looks more like me than the other ones they had. But again, as this evolves and change and goes and you have a closet full of shit, like, I'm down. But I look at it and it's like I've been fascinated and I. I put on the. The review schedule for not next week, but the week after Greg's review when I have even more time with it. But some of the scores and stuff it's been. I love games criticism and I love understanding where people are coming from. But for me to, like, I know IGN gave it a four. Gave it a four on early access. And like, for me personally, that, like, that's that. And this is no shade. I read the review. I understand the reasons, but it's a bewildering one of like, it controls too well to be a four. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you're having fun doing the challenge. I understand being disappointed by skate culture not liking this. I don't agree that you're being beaten over the head with microtransactions. Yes, there is a store and you can go be the grim reaper if you want to be a weirdo like that or buy a van sweatshirt because you want to look a little bit cooler. But like, they're. You're unlocking a lot of stuff out of these boxes. Is it the stuff you want? I don't know. You also, I think, and this is somebody who is not great at skate. I'm not by any means like a professional. Like, I'm getting tokens to unlock the free boxes all the time. So I. It's a push and pull, but I understand again, it not being the skate you want. So it's going to be an interesting conversation, but more interesting to see how it evolves. And we have to go. But October 7th. I'm fucking stoked. Can't wait. Let's move on to number store story number four. I apologize. Don't worry about Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 despite sales. This is Vicky Blake over at IGN. Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 Director Naoki Naoki Tamaguchi Tamagotchi has assured fans that despite Square Enix admitting last year that Rebirth quote unquote did not meet expectations, the second part of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy has been doing very well on both PC and PlayStation 5. And the team has been able to channel that success into a high quality third installment. The second entry, Final Fan this is a quote, sorry quote. The second entry, Final Fantasy 7. Rebirth has been doing very well on both PS5 and PC, he told Automaton. I know some fans have expressed concerns, but please rest assured we'll be able to deliver a proper high quality third installment. The concern revolved around the suggestion that the scope of Part three might have been scaled back as a result of Rebirth disappointing profits. But Rebirth has enjoyed a comeback of sorts after debuting strongly on PC and Steam. Tim, were you ever concerned?

[Tim Gettys]

Slightly, I mean not in a real way, but I do think that it was very disheartening for a game as massive in scale and as high quality of execution as it pulled off to not sell as well as they needed it to. And again, this is a couple years ago where we, we saw a very ambitious Square releasing Final Fantasy 16 and Rebirth within what was it like six months of each other? Seven months? Something like that? Both PlayStation 5 exclusives. Not that far into the PlayStation 5's life cycle. Just a lot of things against those games selling well to begin with. Right. You then get that second kind of PC boost, the semi slight PS5 Focus of PS5 Pro Focus. But I don't think that really moved too many units. Although Rebirth I do think is one of the better examples of games enhancements really being a benefit on the PS5 Pro over the PS5. But yeah, now that we are gearing up for the January release of remake, the first one on Switch 2 and other console and Xbox. Right. I imagine Rebirth will be a year later than that just with how these.

[Greg Miller]

Kind of agreements goes.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, I keep saying this but part three obviously we're waiting on a name. We're waiting for, for a lot of things here. But like I really, really wonder where the deal lies. We still don't know like was it all three games need to be exclusive for X amount of time? Because clearly that's the case for them releasing on PC and then the other consoles. For the third one, is it going to be simultaneous release? Like I, I know that'd be what Square wants, but are we too far gone from that? I just don't know. Very interested in what that looks like, but they continue to say and I. Hamaguchi's been on this amazing press tour right now. I don't really know why. Maybe it's just like for the previews of seven integrate on.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

At Gamescom and TGS and all that stuff. But we're getting so much just like amazing little drops of. Of hints at this or just like information coming out. And I love that they. He keeps going out of his way to affirm that like, yeah, the trilogy of this. Of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is going to be on all systems. Like they keep saying that. So it's like Rebirth is coming to switch even though they're focusing on remake right now. And I think overall this franchise is going to be fine. This trilogy is going to be going to be fine. But yeah, definitely not a great start. The fact that we don't actually have numbers for the sales of the game, that's not great, right? Because you'd hope that a game as revered as that, and again, with a budget that freaking large, sure. But they're able to pull off some magic. Man, I can't believe how quickly Rebirth came out after remake for a game that for a very long time sounded like it was an absolute development. Hell yeah. And felt like a unicorn project that would never see the light of day. And you know, I have to take the opportunity to bring a Metroid prime for after, you know, we're a couple months away. I'm very interested. Can they pull off a final Fantastic Seven remake or not?

[Greg Miller]

We shall see. But Tim, if they can pull off that move, that'd be big news.

[Tim Gettys]

What?

[Greg Miller]

But if I wanted a big Super Chat, where would I go?

[Tim Gettys]

You go to our last story, the WE News Channel.

[Greg Miller]

No, no, you go to the big super chat, big five super chats and says, please save this transition for we news birthday tax turning 30 tomorrow. Thanks for being a great community, keeping me informed. We're happy to big. But Tim, Big Super Chat was just so big. If I wanted something smaller, say where the tiniest news are, where would I go?

[Tim Gettys]

I wasn't listening to at all. Go to our last story, the WE News Channel, where we cover all the small news items you need to know about number six.

[Greg Miller]

The Wii News includes number five. IGN had an article Arrowhead CEO Shams Georgiani lifted the curtain a little bit this week in a series of messages on the game's Discord server where he explained, the studio has, quote, no plans for Helldivers 3, just Helldivers 2 for as long as it can go End quote. Before telling folks to quote think Runescape to get an idea of how that would work. I love that fucking game is a platform right there. Go for it. Helldivers 2. Dustin Bailey over at GamesRadar plus writes. After 10 years of support, CD Projekt Red announced in May that it will have one last update in mind for the Witcher 3. This update, scheduled to land in 2025, would bring cross platform mod support and allow console players to finally enjoy the benefits of modding. The patch is still coming, but unfortunately fans will have to wait a bit longer before they get their hands on it. Originally planned to introduce crossplay and monster PlayStation 5 Series X later this year, the rollout is now shifting to 2026. Twitch Turbo and channel subscribers can now pause, rewind and catch up on eligible streams.

[Tim Gettys]

Very fucking cool.

[Greg Miller]

On Twitch. And if you have. If you're on Twitch or you want to go to Twitch, use your Amazon Prime.

[Tim Gettys]

Do we have eligible streams? I have no idea.

[Greg Miller]

Someone rewind right now.

[Tim Gettys]

But that's great. Good for them.

[Greg Miller]

That is definitely looking over there.

[Tim Gettys]

One of the major advantages.

[Greg Miller]

Alex, 1342, can you rewind? I see you live right now. Can you rewind? Rewind. You do. We're rewinding. Everybody's rewinding.

[Tim Gettys]

You rewind, everyone.

[Greg Miller]

Everybody rewind. Go back to the Troy Baker call. IGN reports Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox has asked PC gamers to wait 15 minutes for shaders to compile in the background while playing after some said this week's update had caused increased stuttering. You might think I'm making fun of PC gamers, but as you know, I am one of you now. I got this. I got the razor blades. 16. I'm just making fun of Borderlands that cannot get out of its goddamn house without stepping on a rake.

[Tim Gettys]

It's wild, man. Fifteen minutes, you know.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, it happened to be on stream yesterday. Middler over at VGC says the next set of Pokemon TCG Pocket cards will include a special card in every pack to celebrate the one year anniversary of the game. The new cards will be available in the game from September 30, October 30, and will mimic high class last pack of real Pokemon trading cards, each of which includes a special card. You stopped doing this right here to throw it down yet?

[Tim Gettys]

I had to stop, man. A lot of this sounds tempting. I need to just block it out. Yep, can't do it.

[Greg Miller]

Chris Scullion over at VGC reports Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 2 is still moving forward properly. Konami says Great. A whole lot of hope for that.

[Tim Gettys]

Have you. Did you actually see them talk about.

[Greg Miller]

I did the best I could.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah. I was just skimming through it. I'm just like, yeah, we're trying. Yeah, definitely. That's. But the definitely thing, eh, we're not telling you what it is. It's like, all right, cool.

[Greg Miller]

NBA bounces out now on consoles and PC. Hotel Barcelona. The Roguelite reinvention by cult Japanese game directors Suda51 and Swirly is out now on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation. Pac Man World 2 Repack is out today. And then Possessors is releasing PlayStation 5 and PC on November 11th. I believe this is newsworthy because Blessing just dropped it in Fantasy Critic thinking it wasn't going to come out. And now they've done dated it. So we'll see how that goes. As Mike and Roger continue to steal the thing.

[Tim Gettys]

That's what they're doing.

[Greg Miller]

They're terrorizing a discord. A person just made a fun little thing and they've got to take it too serious. And it's. It's. No one at Kind of Funny's ever taken something too far. And it's sad to see this happen. I don't know where they learned it. The cheating. They're lying. It's embarrassing. We move on to super chats. You can super chat to be part of the show. Like I said YouTube.comguy to fun. No, no. YouTube.com kind of funny games. That's where you go to be part of games. Daily Propaganda Panda says got married last Saturday and start my honeymoon cruise tomorrow. It's a great week. Congratulations, Propaganda Panda. I hope you enjoy the cruise. I watched the documentary about the cruise ship. They got all poopy.

[Tim Gettys]

Yeah, thanks.

[Greg Miller]

No, thanks.

[Tim Gettys]

I saw the trailer for that. I'm good.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Gettys]

I mean that in a positive way. Like, that was a great trailer. Great.

[Greg Miller]

That was worth so everything I needed to see.

[Tim Gettys]

Just seeing that.

[Greg Miller]

Roger Picorni himself super chats and says this is a test for Kind of Funny Games Daily 2000 and Get Hype. Hell yeah, Roger. And Roger is busy planning that show. Blessing to a degree as well, but mainly Roger, you know, I mean, Roger's here Blessing. Nobody knows. Nobody knows where he went. Sky super chats and says sending in my birthday tax early. I turned 30 on October 1st, but I'll be in Florida all next week at Universal Studios in Disney World. Love, kind of funny. Thanks for bringing joy to my life.

[Tim Gettys]

Have fun.

[Greg Miller]

Happy birthday to you. A lot of people are having birthdays. A calm Greek No, a comm geek. Like economy geek, I guess. Early birthday tax. I'm turning 40 this weekend. Thank you for all the amazing content and getting me through a tough couple of years.

[Tim Gettys]

You see that. That stat that went around recently that I have not verified anyway whatsoever that the top 10 most frequent birthdays of all time and nine of them are in September. Weird.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, it's not.

[Tim Gettys]

Think about it. Oh, I know.

[Greg Miller]

My son's born October 8th. Think about it.

[Tim Gettys]

Think about it, everybody. Think about it.

[Greg Miller]

Mr. Hawks, 182 said just a few bucks because Greg mentioned Fallout 76 and I want to know what happened in New York. Oh, you'll find out, Mr. Hawks. Don't you worry. Don't you worry, Paris. Lily's gonna come talk to me about it too. Tim's gonna host and just stare at us while we talk about it.

[Tim Gettys]

Nerd out.

[Greg Miller]

Braxton Gregory says 23rd birthday tax. Thank you Kind of funny for inspiring my life and career from IGN to kind of funny. It's been a joy to watch. Like Greg did. I work for my college newspaper, striving for journalism excellence. Keep up the great work. Great for you, Braxton. I hope you're at Mizzou, otherwise get fucked. But happy birthday. Here we go. CR balls 10 says birthday tax. Turning 36 today. Thanks for all the amazing content through the years. Shout out to G Spot and be whole.

[Tim Gettys]

Happy birthday, Mr. Balls.

[Greg Miller]

We miss you. Bless wherever you are. Oh, Corey, I missed this one earlier. Said I went from wanting the X to wanting the non X. It's overpriced, but I know I'll use it. Congrats, Tim. Just pony up the bucks, get the.

[Tim Gettys]

X. Yeah, my thing is I without having touched these myself, I don't think that the lower priced one is going to be a good value. I think either commit higher or get a different product. And again, I'm talking out of my ass, but I got an educated ass.

[Greg Miller]

He's got an educated ass. I've seen is time to jump into this. The you're wr. Oh, no. Okay, Nitro Super. Remember, if you get something wrong, the show Kind of funny dot com, you're wrong. Nitro says Blessing still has possessors in the kind of funny fantasy critic. So there you go. All is well, I guess. Unless he cheated into something else, who knows? There's a super chat there that came through late, Mr. Nice Guy. Rye. I love you guys. When's the shirt available? It's gonna be available on October 6th when we do kind of funny games daily 2000 over six, but for now, this episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily is done. However, the programming that's live here on Kinda Funny is not done. Of course you can keep watch. Gamescast is up next with our October preview. Every game coming out in October after that's gonna be Kind of Funny Game Showdown. And then it's gonna be a stream of which I've already forgotten. They're doing something.

[Tim Gettys]

Baby steps.

[Greg Miller]

Baby steps. Giant bomb. I blocked it out because I'm sick of this fucking team losing. Mainly Mike knows, but then he doesn't train the other guys and he just goes and does it. Who knows? For now, everybody remember we couldn't do this without your support. YouTube.com kind of funny games patreon.com kind of funny Apple SP I pick up a membership, toss a few bucks and say good job. If you missed anything that's coming up, catch on YouTube.com kind of funny games or podcast services around the globe. And no until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.