Mike's Beef with Xbox - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: "Mike's Beef with Xbox" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: January 28, 2025
Duration: Approximately 81 minutes

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1. Introduction

The episode begins with the hosts engaging in light-hearted banter about their iconic Xbox jackets, setting a casual and friendly tone for the discussion. Blessing Adeoye Jr. and Andy Cortez humorously reminisce about the acquisition and occasional criticism of their merchandise, showcasing the camaraderie among the hosts.

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2. Mike's Beef with Xbox

a. Xbox's Strategic Shift Towards PC and Game Pass

Snowbike Mike initiates a deep dive into his growing concerns regarding Xbox's evolving business strategy. He acknowledges the positive aspects, such as Xbox's visionary business moves and the expansion of Game Pass, but expresses uncertainty about his personal investment in the ecosystem.

• [11:07] Mike: "I'm very happy and I'm impressed with the vision of what Xbox is doing business-wise."

However, Mike grapples with the dilemma of whether to continue investing in Xbox hardware or pivot towards other platforms like PlayStation or PC, especially as Xbox begins porting its first-party titles to PC.

• [11:37] Mike: "Am I invested still in this ecosystem where I should be buying the next generation of Xbox... or am I just a dedicated PC player?"

b. Concerns About Ecosystem Investment

Mike highlights the financial strain of continuously upgrading consoles and questions the value proposition of Xbox's shifting focus. He fears being too entrenched in the Xbox ecosystem, especially with significant investments already made.

• [12:13] Mike: "Am I too deep into the Xbox world that I can't get out of this because I've spent thousands upon thousands of dollars in this?"

c. Potential of Xbox Handheld vs. Competitors

The conversation shifts to the anticipation of Xbox's handheld device. Mike compares it to existing competitors like the Steam Deck and Rog Ally, pondering whether Xbox can offer a seamless, turnkey experience that rivals established handhelds.

• [14:01] Mike: "I think I might prefer getting an Xbox handheld just because I'm getting the OS. I'm booting right into that, most likely."

d. Future of Xbox Consoles and Path Forward

Mike speculates on Xbox's future, contemplating whether the next console might underperform in sales but achieve organizational success through services like Game Pass. The hosts discuss the possibility of Xbox transitioning towards a service-centric model rather than relying solely on hardware sales.

• [49:50] Mike: "I think that's what they're selling, setting themselves up."

• [49:52] Andy Cortez: "But it's going to be where their big success is."

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3. Audience and Listener Comments

Throughout the episode, the hosts interact with listener comments, addressing concerns and questions about Xbox's changing strategy. For instance, one listener named Nico expresses worry about Xbox's rapidly changing strategy and its impact on developers.

• [38:39] Listener Nico: "My worry is Xbox's rapidly changing strategy..."

Mike and the hosts engage with these comments, providing their perspectives and expanding on the implications of Xbox's moves.

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4. Game Previews and Discussions

a. Exoborn

Towards the latter part of the episode, the focus shifts to game previews, starting with Exoborn, developed by Shark Mob. Snowbike Mike shares his firsthand experience with the game, highlighting its unique features and his mixed feelings about the tactical extraction shooter genre.

• [53:48] Mike: "Exoborn is an open-world tactical extraction shooter with customizable exo suits and dynamic weather events."

He praises elements like the weather effects and exo suit mechanics but criticizes aspects such as glider maneuverability and repetitive gameplay loops.

• [62:50] Mike: "This one was one of the few games I've ever said in my mind, man, I should steam refund this right now."

b. Tokyo Extreme Racer

Blessing Adeoye Jr. introduces Tokyo Extreme Racer, a reboot of the classic street racing franchise developed by Genki. He delves into the game's mechanics, customization options, and narrative elements, expressing intrigue and optimism about its resurgence.

• [70:05] Blessing: "Tokyo Extreme Racer is set on Tokyo's extensive expressway system, offering a blend of racing and character-driven storytelling."

Despite appreciating the game's energy and customization features, Blessing points out areas needing improvement, such as character development and in-game engagement.

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5. Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the multifaceted discussions about Xbox's future and the featured game previews. They reiterate the importance of community feedback and express gratitude towards their listeners for their continued support.

• [81:04] Greg Miller: "Ladies, gentlemen, and Enbies, that's another episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast..."

The episode concludes with a humorous mishap involving Snowbike Mike losing his phone, reinforcing the show's lighthearted and personable atmosphere.

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Notable Quotes

• “Is it possible for the next Xbox console to be the least selling Xbox console of all time, but also at the same time for Xbox as an organization to be more successful than they have in the last two generations?”
  — Blessing Adeoye Jr. at [49:27]

• “Phil Spencer being like, it's not smart for us to keep our all of our games only on one console. It's not that’s not our future.”
  — Andy Cortez at [13:53]

• “The Xbox experience isn't there yet. I think Xbox is making competitive moves right now because they're in a position where they have to.”
  — Andy Cortez at [44:45]

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Final Thoughts

In this episode, "Mike's Beef with Xbox," the Kinda Funny Gamescast delves into the complexities of Xbox's evolving strategy and its implications for gamers like Snowbike Mike. The hosts provide a balanced perspective, acknowledging Xbox's strategic vision while critically examining the uncertainties that come with such significant shifts. Additionally, the game previews offer listeners insights into upcoming titles, fostering an engaging and informative discussion for both avid gamers and casual listeners.

Transcript

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Foreign.

[Greg Miller]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the kind of funny games cast for Tuesday, January 28th, 2025. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller, alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka the man in the Xbox jacket. Aka Magic the Gathering. Poppy blessing. Eddie. Oh, yay, Junior.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Good day, Greg.

[Greg Miller]

Good day. How are you?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm doing well. How are you doing?

[Greg Miller]

Good.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's good.

[Greg Miller]

I'm glad to see you rocking this Xbox coat.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I love this Xbox coat. Yeah, yeah, I love.

[Greg Miller]

Usually we give up the ground to Tim with the bomber jacket. You.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, no, I don't do that. No, no, no, no. I'm. I'm stealing jacket away from Tim. And also the day that we got these, because we all have the Xbox jackets, and I remember what.

[Snowbike Mike]

Except for Andy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Did Andy not get one?

[Andy Cortez]

Give it back to the city.

[Snowbike Mike]

Gave it to the city.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, yeah, you did.

[Andy Cortez]

Riding the lime scooters. Yeah. You know, I felt it slipping, and I was like, I can't. I can't risk grabbing. I can't risk my life for this. Because if I were to to have tried to rescue it, I would have taken a tumble into the city as well.

[Greg Miller]

How important is this free jacket for Xbox?

[Snowbike Mike]

Probably should have just been smarter, but, like, put the jacket on before riding the limestone. I already had jacket. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

We did this hanging, you know, and.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I remember when everybody was talking smack about this jacket, and people were like, like, we all got the jacket. And all y'all were like, oh, this jacket is not that good.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't say that.

[Snowbike Mike]

I didn't.

[Greg Miller]

I wasn't with you guys. I wasn't with you. I got there.

[Andy Cortez]

I think Tim was maybe the only one saying that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Was Tim the one saying that?

[Greg Miller]

Because I remember these are from Amazon, you know, made in a sweatshop for $13. Tim doesn't like.

[Snowbike Mike]

Because I really liked it.

[Andy Cortez]

I was like, man, this thing looks legitimately.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I was like, this is one of the coolest bomber jackets I think I'm gonna have in my collection.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Snowbike Mike]

Flexed on them.

[Greg Miller]

Damn. Look at that. Oh, he's wearing a third adventure shirt underneath it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Listeners, check out this video.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You guys listen.

[Greg Miller]

Next to him, of course, is the master of hype, Snowbike. Mike.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What up? Bless.

[Snowbike Mike]

Good to see you, big dog. Andy, my main man. How are you?

[Andy Cortez]

I'm doing great, Mike. I shaved my ear. My ears bleeding.

[Snowbike Mike]

You were shaving the inside of your ear.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, yeah. God damn it is.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. I saw. I saw a hair.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And I was like, use the electric.

[Greg Miller]

Razor or straight up plucking.

[Andy Cortez]

Them.

[Greg Miller]

I need to get in there. Yeah, look at it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Kevin, give me a bandit.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, there's a lot of. A lot of veins in the ears, you know, a lot of veins.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

It's gonna wear just a big cover over.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

They bleed like crazy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I see what we're doing there.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I shaved my ear.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

This time it's real.

[Greg Miller]

Was it your electric radio?

[Andy Cortez]

This time it's real.

[Snowbike Mike]

This time it's real.

[Andy Cortez]

There will be a wound there. No, it was. I bought some razors at a corner store.

[Snowbike Mike]

Huh.

[Greg Miller]

Just for the ears.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, I was shaving my neck, and then I was like, oh, there's a straight ear hair. You did this at the office just right now?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, a little while ago.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, Kevin's bringing me the band aid. I'm gonna put a bandaid on.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Kevin, can I.

[Snowbike Mike]

We shaving our ears?

[Greg Miller]

I mean, look at me. Look at right now. I'm overdue. And I got the one.

[Andy Cortez]

I can't really do the pluck, but this was an. In the moment.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, in moment. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

In the moment. Oh, I see a stray thing. Let me.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I've never, like, thought about plucking or shaving my ear. Do I. Do I have a hairy ears?

[Greg Miller]

You got a normal.

[Snowbike Mike]

Like, the random hair grown out of your forehead where you're like, holy. That giant haircut.

[Andy Cortez]

It looks like a spider sort of implanted web in you, and you just have, like a weird white kind of.

[Snowbike Mike]

Random ass hair somewhere.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, when you get old, my hairy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

In weird places that I just don't know.

[Snowbike Mike]

Keep an eye out. Keep an eye out. You got to check sometimes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, I've never checked in my ears. Or, like, I don't ever, like, touch.

[Snowbike Mike]

Your ear and go, oh, I can feel a little hair right there. And then you try to get toilet paper.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know.

[Snowbike Mike]

Oh, I'm telling you, it's an interesting feeling, too, when you yank the hair out of your ear. Interesting.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a weird.

[Snowbike Mike]

It is.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Snowbike Mike]

It's, like, kind of painful, but it's kind of good. Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

You like it?

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, it's like. Oh, it's like when you pull your nose hairs. Nobody likes it, but, like, at the same kind of. Kind of.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Kevin, can I pitch something? What if. What if we put, like, little compartments under here with coasters? Because I find that the coast. Well, because the problem is that, like, the coasters always disappear somewhere.

[Greg Miller]

The coasters go back behind the TVs. Here they come. Come in hot. Cover your drinks.

[Snowbike Mike]

Cover your drinks, be moving at all times.

[Greg Miller]

Kevin doesn't understand how bright the light is. It's just coming in from the pitch black. There is coming.

[Snowbike Mike]

Hit him in the head. That was pretty good.

[Greg Miller]

Could have made it way worse if you didn't know everybody. This is the kind of Funny Games cast each and every week for four, sometimes five best friends gather on this table to talk about the biggest topics in video games. We do it each and every weekday, whether it be reviews, previews, or just topics we need to discuss. Like today's. Of course, if you like that, we'd love you to support us with the Kinda Funny membership. You can pick it up on patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames, Apple and Spotify. $10 gets you all of our content each and every month. That's more than 20 episodes a week. So what? 80 episodes a month ad free? And of course the ability to watch the afternoon podcast when we do them. And of course. Well, let me just give you a tease here.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Tease me.

[Greg Miller]

You can watch the afternoon podcast live as you record them like tomorrow's Aliens in Review.

[Snowbike Mike]

So pumped up and I'm going to.

[Greg Miller]

Tell you right now, watch it tonight. That's not going to. You don't want to miss that one.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh man, you don't want to miss it. Is it going to happen?

[Greg Miller]

Oh, you don't even know. This is the one. You don't know. Oh, this is the me and Nick thing you don't know about.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, luckily I won't be here.

[Greg Miller]

Where are you gonna be?

[Andy Cortez]

We gone somewhere.

[Greg Miller]

Wow, you're not an aliens in review Mr. Worldwide. I thought that's one of the reasons you moved it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Timmy.

[Andy Cortez]

Tim knew this.

[Greg Miller]

Okay, well, you don't tell me things now, man. Think about it. What a living nightmare it's gonna be for Tim tomorrow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Then is Tim even gonna be back?

[Andy Cortez]

That's the thing. That's the big question.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You know that little sick boy gonna.

[Greg Miller]

Be sick if Tim's not here tomorrow. I'm cashing in stars in the bank right here. And if he doesn't show up to play me, I can't help you. I can't help you.

[Andy Cortez]

That's an immediate forfeit.

[Greg Miller]

I get the star, right? Yeah, exactly. Of course. No bucks. Toss away. No big deal. You can get the Gamescast each and every weekday on YouTube.com kind of funny games and podcast services around the globe. And where you get it, please, no matter where you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I'm just thinking of if you did that like you cashed in while Tim's not here. And then I ask questions. You just get every wrong. It's like, all right, we're meeting.

[Greg Miller]

I don't know.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's like, I don't know. Yeah, he keeps a star.

[Greg Miller]

Like, subscribe, Share. Tell your friends and your family. Tell your auntie, your mama, your uncle.

[Snowbike Mike]

Come on, they got. They got Twitch Prom.

[Greg Miller]

Of course, if you're watching live right now, we need you to be YouTube super chatting YouTube.com kind of funny games to be a part of the show. What do you think of the topic we're addressing? And then the previews we're doing on the back half housekeeping for you, you already got today, of course, live talk shows. Because that's all kind of funny. Does Jerrica and I talked about Phil Spencer's commitment to the series s on kind of funny games daily. After this, it's the stream of Kingdom Hearts 2 with Mikey. If you're a kind of funny member, of course you can get today's Greg way about the people we didn't hire. And of course, thank you to our Patreon producers, Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs.

[Snowbike Mike]

What's up?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The people we didn't hire.

[Snowbike Mike]

Well, you should tune in and listen.

[Greg Miller]

You know, Are we allowed to talk about that?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Is he on?

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, you can talk about potentials that he. He thought, man, these might be a good fit. Maybe they went on to bigger and better things.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

But, like, what if one of those people is, like, they're not on to bigger and better things and they're listening. They're like, wait, I almost got hired by. By kf. I could have had that job.

[Snowbike Mike]

Ask Greg.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Now they're working at, like, I don't know, some like, mom pop shop that they don't like. They don't like. Like, the owner, he's an asshole.

[Greg Miller]

What kind of shop is it? Is it close?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

They sell rugs.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, rugs.

[Snowbike Mike]

Carpet.

[Greg Miller]

How does a rug store stay in business? You think that.

[Snowbike Mike]

How about the alpaca store? Can we talk about that really quick?

[Greg Miller]

I don't know.

[Snowbike Mike]

Store. You've never seen an alpaca store?

[Greg Miller]

No. Are they selling alpacas?

[Snowbike Mike]

Like, no, no. They sell, like, rugs and they sell dumb, like, alpaca statues. And you're like, how does the alpaca store stay in there? Nobody. Nobody's buying from the al. At every tourist town you've seen.

[Greg Miller]

Every tourist town you've seen.

[Snowbike Mike]

Kevin, can I get an amen on the alpaca store?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's true that they have one at.

[Snowbike Mike]

Tahoe, the Alas store.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

They will have those in like small winery towns.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's like a Santa Fe or something.

[Snowbike Mike]

Santa Fe, New Mexico, for sure. You know what I mean? A big Sir. California. They got one. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Greg Miller]

Is it.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

What's it called? Is it called the alpaca store? This is a brand.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah. They just sell out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I don't believe that. It's called something like Andy's Mountains.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yes, yes.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Snowbike Mike]

Just asking.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It doesn't sound like a real thing.

[Greg Miller]

Producers Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs Today we're brought to you by Better Help and Built, but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be topic of the show. Now, if you're a live chat person, you saw it happen before your eyes. Yeah, we had it up there. Mike's played Exoborn, Tokyo Extreme Racer. We're going to do two previews for you. We still are. Don't worry. We're still going to get into. We're going to talk about it. You've played Tokyo Extreme Racer, too? Yeah, we're going to talk about it. Don't worry about it. But there's been something brewing. Of course. We did Gamescast once a week for a long, long time. And then we said, you know what? Blow it up. Do it each and every day. It'll allow us to be nimble, to address things as they need to be addressed. Yesterday on kind of funny content, the one and only Snow. Mike. Mike, host of the X Cast, before Tim killed it against everybody's will, came out here and talked about Phil Spencer, all the things he said in these interviews with Destin, with Paris, with Danny. And at the end of the segment, I go, awesome. And are you excited about the Xbox's future? And Mike went, Can I say, when.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Me and you were talking about the Phil Spencer stuff and Paris was in the call, that was the exact question I was going to ask Paris before he disappeared.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. And a cowardly move.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

A cowardly move because he knew I was going to ask him. I was like, are you excited about Xbox Feature? So I'm happy we have Mike.

[Snowbike Mike]

Wow.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. So we asked that.

[Greg Miller]

We asked that to Mike and that was not. That wasn't what we were expecting. That's not how we thought that it.

[Andy Cortez]

Sounded like someone let air out of a tire.

[Greg Miller]

Exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

And then today for Jerrica, when we were talking about Phil Spencer, Mike came out. I asked him again. He kind of dodged, he kind of got around it. Or this is the, this is the alpaca store.

[Snowbike Mike]

The alpaca store. That's the shit. That's the type of shit they sell at the alpaca store.

[Greg Miller]

Coastco, you know, Kevin's just adding today, he has a similar thing and Mike said, I want to talk about that. We're doing at the end of the week we have. Similar to how we did last week, we did what's the predictor? Or you know, talk about the rest of the PlayStation 5's lifecycle. We're doing one of Xbox or whatever with Gary in Paris. But I feel like that's a different conversation than what we're having right now. Right now we as a family, as a company, as a community need to know what is Mike's beef with Xbox right now?

[Snowbike Mike]

Wow. Yeah. I mean, I think this is kind of like a venting session, like get it out, you know, because over the past couple of months, over the past year, Xbox has been in a different place. Xbox is moving a different direction and some of us are totally on board for that. We see the future of the business, we're happy for the business, we're happy with that. But also there's players out there, maybe similar to myself that have to make a decision, have to kind of start looking at the future of where do I stand as an Xbox player or just a gamer itself. And I'm a little worried about where I am right now. And so, you know, I want to start off by saying I am very happy and I'm impressed with the vision of what Xbox is doing business wise.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Snowbike Mike]

But as a player now, I've battled with this bless for the past couple of months.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Sounds like a breakup.

[Snowbike Mike]

Do I, am I invested still in this ecosystem where I should be buying the next generation of Xbox or with the moves that they've been making with their first party titles? Andy, should I move on to buy just a PlayStation? I can only buy so many consoles because as you know, my bank account is low. You know what I mean? So you can't just keep buying things. Or am I just a dedicated PC player? I also have to look myself.

[Greg Miller]

Don't do that.

[Snowbike Mike]

I have to look at myself and say, am I a dedicated PC player that gets the benefits of all the worlds because Xbox is going day and date, PlayStation is clearly showing their hand that they're going to start putting more and more first party titles on PC. Is that the best place?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

PC is an Xbox?

[Snowbike Mike]

But. Exactly. But my problem is blessed Is I have this worry that we're putting all these Xbox first party titles over on PlayStation. Should I just be buying that console? Am I too deep into the Xbox world that I can't get out of this because I've spent thousands upon thousands of dollars in this, Mike.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

If you'd asked me seven years ago, should I just buy a PlayStation, I would have said yes anyway. Yeah, like, I feel like this has been a thing that's been going on for a while. Not Xbox putting their games out on other platforms, but like.

[Andy Cortez]

But it's bigger than that. Bless. Because this isn't just, do I go to the other ecosystem which will eventually have my games? This is. Will I forfeit my Xbox Live name? Am I going to have to become a dualsense user? Like, it's. It's a culture change, but is it.

[Greg Miller]

Sacrificing your Xbox Live name because of the PC? You're gonna be still Snowbike, Mike. You're gonna still be using all the Xbox stuff over there.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, but I thought games come to Steam unless I'm using the Xbox app and using Game Pass, which sometimes doesn't provide enough value. Am I still using that Xbox? I mean, I do, I do.

[Andy Cortez]

I like how over the time it has become more and more clear and they are doing a. I would say a good job of just kind of being more and more transparent with it. Where when all these talks were first happening, it was like, oh, is there gonna. Is there maybe gonna be a game to come over? Oh, oh, they're kind of hinting at some stuff. And then now it's just. It's just Phil Spencer being like, it's not smart for us to keep our. All of our games only on one console. It's not. That's not the move for us. That's not our future. So I like that it's out there more. And I do think that, yes, your PC will now become your Xbox. Your PC will be the place where you are playing these Xbox exclusives. And buying the hardware for you would just be like an extra thing to kind of have an extra piece of hardware somewhere around in case the PC version releases and is broken as.

[Snowbike Mike]

Or.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, that never happens, you know?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, for sure.

[Greg Miller]

Please.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's a weird spot, but you're it. This is the future for you now, Mike.

[Snowbike Mike]

Is the handheld enough?

[Greg Miller]

Absolutely.

[Snowbike Mike]

Is the handheld the thing that keeps me in this going? I'm gonna buy that, right? Steam deck, Steam decks. This is the problem.

[Greg Miller]

Absolutely not. You know all characters and everything else aside, right? Like, I'm so excited for the Xbox Handheld. By the time the Xbox Handheld gets here, it will be lapped by whatever the next Steam Deck is, whatever the next Rog Ally is, whatever the. Like the. We were talking or the things yesterday in the headlines and this, that the other. And Paris came on, he was like, xbox is going to go make an os, Steam os. They're going to be all over these things. It's like, if I can get that experience on those handhelds already, why would I care about the Xbox Handheld? It's too little, too late. I think by the time, theoretically we'd get to it. Because Phil says it's years away, right? In this destined interview, like, Xbox is in making so many of the right moves, but they're not making the right moves to make you go, oh, I can't wait for the next Xbox. The next Xbox gets exciting again for somebody like me that wants it turnkey. I go, oh, the rumor was what? Yeah, yesterday. Again, not the rumor, I guess, but the prediction from Paris on the show was the next Xbox will also be able to have another operating system or whatever. Like, you know what I mean? So if you're booting launchers for anything, epic games store, Steam, whatever, it's going to be on the Xbox. For me, as somebody who just wants shit to work, that's exciting, that's really cool. But like, at that point, how good are the PCs going to be? We talked about this yesterday, right? Like, I have a. I'm traveling this weekend. I got review codes I need to go through. So I. The. Our friends at Razer didn't send me one for advertising purposes. Just like, oh, I said, hey, can I get help? And they sent me the Blade 18 laptop out there, right? That thing is so fucking impressive. I was playing games on it at my desk yesterday and like, you've all heard me bitch about the widescreen monitor I use that doesn't have hdr. And so to boot this thing up, play Cryptical Path, which I've been playing on Steam Deck, and see how much faster it loads on this thing. It's one of those, like, God damn. Like, I can. That's a very impressive machine that I'm probably gonna end up begging and begging not to be a loader. Just let me keep it. Cause it's better than my PC at home. And to Mike's point, like, I booted. I'm waiting on codes. I booted up Starfield on it yesterday. And to sit there and be like, I know, Ha ha ha. But like to boot it. As somebody who's put so many hours into Starfield and look at me like, God damn, look at the detail. Look at how good this army looks on this fucking PC. This laptop. It's like, what is the point of having an Xbox Series X when this looks that great? It could do all the things you're talking about.

[Andy Cortez]

I think as long as things start to get more friendly with the Xbox Game Pass app and Steam. Once those start to get, we start to see a lot more integrations where it's not on Steam Deck. Right now I have to kind of do some roundabout ways to get the Xbox game Pass app to work on my thing. It's not the end of the world, but it's definitely not user friendly. And that's something I would recommend.

[Greg Miller]

It's the point to me, right? This is my whole thing where I was asking you about it and I'm like, until it's load the app and do the thing, I don't want to fuck with it. I'd rather ask about getting a laptop to travel with to make sure I have a better experience than what the deck would be when so many of our review codes are not optimized for Steam Deck.

[Andy Cortez]

That's where the Rog Ally would kind of come into place or come into play. Where the Rog Ally would work like a PC where you could just open up the Game Pass PC app or you can open up Steam and you have all your games there. And it's a more powerful piece of hardware, but a little bit less, I guess, streamlined, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's my thing is like, that's where I think an Xbox Handheld comes in and gets really exciting to me because I own a Steam Deck. Just got an Rog Ally last week. I booted up. It boots right into Windows and I'm like, okay, I'm going to have to watch some YouTube videos to figure out how to set up. I would love for this to boot up right into an OS as opposed to booting up right into like, you know, something where I'm going to have to like, figure out how to get, you know, get the games I want to play and make it easy to get to those games or whatever. If it was just an Xbox handheld with an Xbox os. I think I'm at the point where even though the Rog Ally, even if we're calling the Rog Ally like the top of the line as far as what it brings, as far as power, right, it's more powerful than A Steam deck, let's say in this scenario it's more powerful than an Xbox handheld. I think I still lean toward, actually I think I might prefer getting an Xbox handheld just because I'm getting the os. I'm booting right into that, most likely. And then also I know that the Xbox games that are going to be supporting this ecosystem are going to be optimized for this thing and I think that's exciting. As somebody who I am looking at the Xbox, you know, studios that they have and I'm like we're getting to a point now where I am looking forward to a bunch of games from these studios. Like we talked about the first half of this year and what's probably going to be the second half of this year as far as oh wait, Xbox Game Studios has the stuff and I'm excited for south of Midnight and Avowed and all these games. I think one thing to bring into this conversation, I've noticed it from hearing you talk, hearing Greg talk even right of you guys talking about why should I care about the next Xbox? And that still sounds anti what Xbox has been establishing as what they are marketing as Xbox. I don't view there being a next Xbox. I think there might be a new Xbox hardware or a new Microsoft hardware, but I don't think they're looking to get to sell 100, 100 million units of the next Xbox. Like you know, whatever it is, right? Like I think it is, hey, no, we are looking for a user base. So if Mike is playing on PC, we are happy with that as long as he's playing Xbox. And I think that's the thing that matters way more is like I'm excited about the ecosystem. I'm excited about getting an Xbox handheld. If we get to a place where Xbox has like the little streaming stick like little Xbox Roku thing that costs $50, $100 like as long as we keep, keep building on that. For me as a, as a player I'm like yo, this sounds like the best case scenario.

[Greg Miller]

Smokin Joe's 420 super chats and says Normandies need an entry, entry level priced console still. And that is still a real conversation. It's why the Xbox series S is so successful, why they can't abandon it. And yeah, what you would hope the Xbox Handheld would do if it was here is a very cheap way to get in and you can plug it into your screen and it does this and opens up that gateway to we get you as a user and then if you are committed enough to go, oh wait, these can look better on a PC or an Xbox, whatever. You invest that money on that hardware to still stay in the Xbox ecosystem.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, bless. I'm with you with the games. Right. I think there's, there's a two part conversation going on here. I'm all in on the games. I believe in the first party studios. I liked where they're going. Some games won't speak to me, but sure, there are a lot of games that do. And I like the idea of game pass giving me those day and dates. But the issue is, is we're halfway through a console life cycle right now and we are unclear of what is next. Is it a true console? Is it just a handheld? Where will he look at me and just say, hey, we built a PC? It's like, well, I already have a PC so I guess I'm looking at it now. It's like, am I making that jump of I'm going to commit to buying an Xbox console the next generation around or is this the time of hey, I have alternate paths of my PC, they're going to start streaming on my tv. Do I believe in that? Am I moving away from that console? And I feel like right now with the uncertainty of I don't see it in front of me yet, I don't know where I stand on buying the next. I can't say I'm confident in buying.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

The next console, but I think that's fine though, right? Right. Like I don't think they care about, well, you buying the next console.

[Snowbike Mike]

But I'm worried because I keep investing in the platform. Right? Like is this time to be start buying stuff in PlayStation? Should I be upgrading my Steam library and just buying on the Steam instead of buying games on the Xbox proper platform?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That sounds like such an exciting problem to have as a, as a player. Because like, Mike, if you're telling me that like your issue right now, right. Your beef is, oh man, am I going to have to buy a PlayStation and play PlayStation and Xbox games? We're living in the best case scenario because that's what, that's the world I want to live in. If we can get Nintendo in that too and I don't have to buy any other things like that sounds like the dream.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, but I don't have that library built up, right? So like when I jump over the PlayStation, I don't have that library already pre installed and built up. I feel like games still come over. So now when you're like, oh Mike, we're having just a Blast on Monster Hunter Worlds. And I'm like, I had that on Xbox. And it's like, okay, can't. Should I rebuy this again? I have a problem.

[Greg Miller]

Well, we're going to be playing wilds, right? And that's cross platform. So you're fine?

[Snowbike Mike]

Well, yeah, of course. I'm just bringing up those like older titles. All of a sudden you jump on.

[Greg Miller]

You are such a different gamer than me. You have such a different experience than me. Does that happen a lot to you? And I also. Would you like, would that have. Are you. You're not like where I was at 13 where I'm trading all my stuff in if tomorrow. I was like, hey, we're all playing that Aliens multiplayer game that we played for a while and enjoyed. I forget the name of it.

[Snowbike Mike]

We go back to a fair amount of games.

[Greg Miller]

Well, you still have your system to jump into, right?

[Snowbike Mike]

But like it's on PC now is what I. I'm noticing. I'm moving towards PC a lot more.

[Greg Miller]

You still have your Xbox.

[Snowbike Mike]

It's. It's starting to collect dust. I'm worried. I think that's, that's the moment inside of me of like, I think it's a very big positive like bless brought up of like now having those Xbox titles anywhere in this ecosystem built in of you can play anywhere. Now I am moving towards of like, well, I am just a PC gamer now, right? Like I'm not looking over towards that console because I have all of my experiences, all my friends list everything there where this could just be my new place to play.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So you don't see yourself sticking with the Xbox ecosystem even on PC. Like you don't like Xbox app.

[Snowbike Mike]

I rarely use the Xbox app. Only if I want to really take the benefits of Game Pass then I would use the Xbox app. But I would say 90, I would say 99% of the time the first click I always do on my PC is the Steam.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I'm the same way. But you know, opening it recently when I was downloading Ninja Gaiden 2, the sort of re release on Game Pass. One thing I really love about the Xbox, they got that time to beat. You could sort games by time to beat, which is really cool. We need more of that. And also the future of Xbox would be super bright if I could buy an elite to fucking custom mod shop or whatever the hell thing without the little black handles. I'm tired of the grip. Get rid of the grips. The damn rubbers keep falling off, man.

[Greg Miller]

Feels better without a rubber.

[Andy Cortez]

It does sure does.

[Snowbike Mike]

I can't tell you how many times I've just torn through those controllers. My, my controller at home right now.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

They'Re gonna say you tore through rubber. He said it.

[Snowbike Mike]

And so, yeah, that's the, the fun, exciting part of my world right now with Xbox changing and evolving. You kind of look at it as a player of like, where do I go? Bless. Should I be just jumping on a PlayStation console so I can get the best of both worlds? Should I stick on PC knowing that PlayStation games are coming over there as well? Xbox is there day and date. You can take advantage of the Xbox app and I just kind of move away from the console. It's hard to believe that because since 13 years old I've been buying the original Xbox and the Xbox 360.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Do you think we can get with PC? Because I think I fully understand what you're talking about now. Right. As far as like, ecosystem and reasons to stay there.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Because I think I always view the solution to that is, well, your ecosystem is still on PC. Right. But it, I think the Xbox experience isn't there yet. To be like, this is my home on PC. I'm with you that as soon as I boot up my PC for a video game, I'm automatically going to Steam. And like Steam has such a chokehold on like the PC gaming experience that it's tough to think that like Xbox is going to be able to keep up as far as like giving me, I guess, a home in that way on PC. Do you think there's what, what do you think it'll take for them to get there? Do you think they can get there to make Mike go, oh, I don't need an Xbox console. I have a PlayStation and I have my p. An Xbox. Like, you know, I am an Xbox player on PC. I'm not even worrying about Steam at this point.

[Snowbike Mike]

I think it's got to be the improvements to the Xbox PC app, which they've been doing. I, I got to give them credit for that. But it's not perfect. It still needs time and it's still growing on that. But it is of course the first party output. You have to prove to me that the first party output is there so I can continue to hold on to a getting more and more expensive game pass subscription and going back to that all the time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Right.

[Snowbike Mike]

I think the first reaction is I go to Steam. I look at the thousands of games that released that day. Oh, there's one from Xbox and 30 from other third party developers that I can Just buy and I.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, my.

[Snowbike Mike]

Gosh, who's let that happen?

[Andy Cortez]

You're going to browse that on stream. You got to turn off like the. The not safe for work filter.

[Snowbike Mike]

Well, you just can't hover over it. You know what I mean? You can see the thumbnail, but you can't. Don't hover over.

[Andy Cortez]

I. I'll say, though, that the question that bus is asking of you, Mike, of the Xbox, like, will that Xbox PC app ever overtake the Steam app for you?

[Greg Miller]

No.

[Snowbike Mike]

No, I don't think it will.

[Greg Miller]

And it's a bad thing, though.

[Andy Cortez]

No, I don't think so either. But I think it's the same thing, that Epic Game Store, you know, that's the same sort of hurdle they've been trying to overcome for a long time. And after being.

[Greg Miller]

Talking about a storefront I never opened.

[Andy Cortez]

Dude, after being at Summer Game Fest and talking to like a couple Epic folks and being like, what? What is it that you want to see? And I'm just like, honestly, once the Steam Deck came along, that was like any sort of last hope for me to open the Epic Game Store. Unless the game is exclusive there.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Or, you know, I. I think Epic does a great job of putting some games for free that are awesome for people who don't have money to be buying a whole bunch of games. But maybe they have the Epic, you know, the app open or whatever, and then there that the weekly offerings or the monthly offerings, here are these free games. That's great. I love that shit. But it's just like, it's so hard to pull me away from that same ecosystem as somebody who's only been playing on Steam PC games since like 2020, the start of the pandemic. Like, that's not that long.

[Greg Miller]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

And so you got to imagine the people from 2012, 2015, like, there's no shot you have of sort of stealing them. So that's why I feel like you need to have. When I open up Steam, I need to see Xbox game pass as a game in that list to click on that, and then up pops on the window all the game pass offerings. Because I feel like that's the. It's sort of like if it's not there, it's out of sight, out of mind for me. I need it to be right there in order for me to go, oh, what's up with the store? Let me click on this. As opposed to clinking up another app, which sounds like the most lazy shit ever. But that's just the Reality of how I operate on my PC.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, Mike, I think what I'm understanding now about your predicament is that you are a man without a home or you're becoming a man without your home. Right? Like, people are coming in, there are.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm not going to move in, by the way.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

PlayStation and Steam are gentrifying your Xbox home. And like, when you look down the barrel of three, four years from now, I totally understand your feeling of, okay, well, yeah, like, Xbox might be on PC, but when you boot up your PC, you're playing Steam. Okay, well, if I'm going to play on, on a, on a console, like, am I going to buy the next Xbox console or am I going to buy the one that has, like, PlayStation, PlayStation games and Xbox games? And, you know, I do understand the feeling of, I have lived here all my life. You know, I have owned this. I have owned this, this property. Like, I grew up here. And now y'all are coming through and fucking, I don't know, big tech corporation wants to build a. A big office here, and you are forcing me to move out because I look at my home and it's like, do I want to keep putting money into this home when I can save money and go over here? Like, that's the exact, that's the exact predicament that you're in right now. And I totally understand where you're coming from.

[Snowbike Mike]

I'm not ready to take the jump either. Bless. Yeah, I love that console. I love that ecosystem. I like pressing the button here in the ding, jumping in, seeing the homepage and navigating just like I would, knowing everything. And it's just like, where, in five years, where am I going to be on this? Is it smart to be continuing to invest in this, or should I just become a game pass guy every now and then? I get it on Game Pass, I'll jump in and play a couple games, but I'm investing all my money into Steam or over on PlayStation. I'm just buying games there.

[Andy Cortez]

I turn that some on. I'm like, where's the Apple TV app? Where's the Netflix? It's just my, my media machine started severance last night. Season two, by the way, finally started season two. No spoilers, but, like, watch episode one. All right, we're off to.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

We're back. We're back.

[Andy Cortez]

We're off to a fiery start.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I tell you my dream scenario? Right? As somebody who of course came up, you know, played Nintendo and then play a lot of PlayStation, right? Like, and I'm to this day my home consoles, probably my PlayStation 5, followed by my Nintendo Switch, followed by Steam, which I've been playing a lot on Steam lately. Played first Berserker Kazan on Steam. I might play the whole thing.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, interesting. What drew you to Steam for it?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Say again? Sorry?

[Greg Miller]

What drew you to Steam for it?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, because the demo isn't.

[Greg Miller]

It was everywhere though, right?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Oh, is it?

[Andy Cortez]

Demo is on PlayStation. But check this out. This is one of those things the mind share.

[Greg Miller]

The demos are on.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, I had, I had the, you know the homie Jason who's always often in our chance chats. I was like, I'm not seeing this demo on, on PS5. And I remember posting about this years ago.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Where click. You go to the thing. You have to click the three dots to then go to the demo. Why the isn't it the first thing you're seeing? So that's another thing, another complaint.

[Greg Miller]

I mean that complaint exists and persists. And last night when I was like, all right, Mike told me to get back on Silent Hill. I download Silent Hill with my portal, right? And it's like, cool. It downloads the Silent Hill bonus content. I'm like, what the. Delete. Go in, delete. And then I got home or I did it from home to do it to the work on. Same fucking thing. I'm like, God damn.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

If I'm actually doing the power rankings right now. Steam is actually above Nintendo. I'm using my Steam way more than I'm using my Nintendo Switch. When the Switch 2 comes out, that'll change. That might end up my number one. But like, you know, it is PS5, Steam, Nintendo and then my Xbox is just collecting dust. My dream, let's say three or four years from now is that it is gonna be me with my PlayStation console. I'm gonna have my, my PC for like if I want to play like, you know, if I wanna play in that fidelity, if I wanna get into that play on my widescreen, maybe play on my Steam deck a little bit. Of course my Switch two is gonna be Switch two in. But then I do want an Xbox handheld where it is like, all right, cool. I'm booting up an Xbox os. I'm playing my game pass stuff. Like that's my dream ecosystem right there of like my multi platform. I'm playing everything and everything has its own purpose. I don't know if that does much for you, Mike, as far as a man looking for a home. But like, yeah, I don't know how that hits for you, Greg. As far as where do you see right now?

[Greg Miller]

I'm so excited for where we're at and where we're going. And of course it's because, you know, my home, the PlayStation didn't abandon me. Like Mike's home abandoned him. You know, they kicked him out. He's a man with no country. He's over there, he's big boss. No, for me, like, obviously, as somebody who time is as long as anybody's listening to me or known me, it's been dominated by PlayStation because that was my beat to report on, right? Like, that's just inevitably been that way. So nowadays when people come through and like, oh, do you want review code for this game? And I'm like, yeah. And I look at the game and I'm like, give it to me on Steam. Does it run on deck? Give me Steam deck code. I love that, that like I'm finding those reasons to use these things I've bought, right? Like that was my big moment. I'll never forget sitting at a kitchen table hovering on by the Steam deck and Jen's like, just buy it. And I'm like, but what if I don't use it? Like I'm going to be so mad if I spend 800, whatever it was 900 on this stupid thing because I bought the biggest one if I get this and I never fucking use it. And so the fact that I use it for games independently on it, I do so much cloud streaming on it for Starfield. Like, I love that ecosystem. I love the fact that I use it. I love that that is my PC. I have a tower at home that we've had for kind of funny stuff and Y Y and if I need to do something hardcore on it, I'll do it. But having the deck there and like being able to plug it in, which I rarely ever do but have in the past, like, I love that that can just be my PC. I'm excited for whatever the Deck 2 technically would be. Right. I know we did the OLED in the middle there, but whatever the next iteration of that would be, how powerful it can be, what the battery could be like, I will be a day one buyer of that. I will. I will buy that and be excited for it. I do hope in this. So anyways, right now, before I get this feature right, PlayStation 5 would still be number one. I would say Deck is right behind it where it is. Like, I'm playing a lot of PC stuff, I use my PC a lot. And then behind that would probably be the Xbox. Yeah. Because of again Starfield obsession, little things. And also looking at this year, where this year's going, like with avowed. Like I'm going to put a lot of hours into that, right? We talk about all these things that are supposed to come this year, whether it be Outer Worlds 2, whether it be Fable. Like they're, they're speaking my language south of Midnight. Like these are games I want to play, you know, would I play them on the PC? I'm not against it. I want to transfer the save back and forth. But then we're into what Andy was talking about and what I've talked to Andy about. Of like, well, is the game pass gonna work? Is it gonna be weird with the deck, right? That again with the loaner laptop, it's like, okay, this opens up stuff I can play with and try that and see if I like that ecosystem more. But even that is exciting to me. Of cool. I have a Razer laptop out there that is awesome and everybody seems impressed with it. I don't know what any of the specs mean, right? 4080, awesome, great, whatever. But it's like that's turnkey right now, right? There's nothing I need to do to it. So that's fantastic. That's what I want. I wanted to be able to game and play and have a dedicated space and have the screen. It's gonna be great on a plane. Awesome. That's an exciting thing. And the thought of, well, that save then works on Steam. I mean, come on, what an amazing. And I know this is so stupid, but for me, Greg the PlayStation guy, what an amazing platform Steam is of cloud syncing saves your things over there. This is going. I play it on my deck, I put it on the big machine, I put it over with you. Right. It's what I hope that Xbox figures out with them, right? Of like, okay, cool. How do we make the saves transfer even easier? Because again, Xbox is cool of the game pass PC. I can get my Starfield thing and kick it over to Xbox and do it to the cloud. That's an amazing ecosystem as well. Like I have so much variety and choice right now that I am playing on more systems than ever. Like that's new to me and I feel like I'm flourishing in that. Whereas in the past it's been PlayStation 5 code. I don't have it fine. Fucking Xbox, I guess. And I play. But you know, we talked about it yesterday, I think on gamescast, like our year end wrap up and yours was just like cool. It's Hellblade, right? And my. Mine was Starfield followed by Hellblade. And like that was really all I play. There may be Dungeons of Hinterburg too, but it's like even that I think I got a Steam code for because I wanted it on the fucking go. So, like I'm eating. I'm so happy with everything. The switch to coming out and like the rumors of an Ocarina remake. Fuck yeah. New Mario Kart. Fuck yeah. I'm going to be all about these things. So it's like I love the diversification and to look into the future of what that means for me. I love what you're talking about. Of I think of what the future would look like and my hope would be it would be whatever the PlayStation is because I'm still trophy and I'm still getting my single player games there. Whatever the next Steam Deck is because I think it's such an impressive machine and I want my games on the go and I think it's amazing. And then Paris put the honey in my ear yesterday. And so my hope would be that then it is this Xbox that is Xbox and is able to run Steam. And I am sending. I'm doing Steam Deck stuff and I'm sending my save over there and I'm off to the races and happy.

[Andy Cortez]

Like right now we're in a situation and I think because of the.

[Greg Miller]

I would switch to.

[Andy Cortez]

I think because of the, the line of our work. Right. Just the nature of what we do. I love kind of trying to be ahead of the curve and hopping into these early access games and giving my thoughts and opinions so people can, you know, either be guided and, you know, maybe, oh, I like Andy's taste in games. Maybe this is something that's worth checking out. Whatever. But right now, there's a beta for a game right now. Little game called 33 Immortals. You ever hear that game?

[Greg Miller]

I've heard of it.

[Andy Cortez]

Thunder Lotus Games, formerly made Spiritfarer. 33 Immortals. Is that 33 player action. Roguelite. That is just a bunch of people raiding bosses, all sorts of stuff. And it's currently in beta on the Xbox Insider program and the Epic Store. No Steam. The odds of me giving that a chance, probably next to zero, right? Yeah, because I just don't really have those. The.

[Greg Miller]

The.

[Andy Cortez]

Those aren't kind of within my reach. Like I opening up the Epic game Store does not sound like something I want to do for this. And I probably don't know my password and I think my password is through my PlayStation Network account and I Just like ah, if it was on Steam, easy, easy download. I'm just not there right now with the Epic games.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I learned when we were streaming the Fortnite, like Valerant mode, that's when I learned that I had a second. Or no, it was when we were playing. Oh yeah, it was a Valorant mode. That's when I learned I had a second Epic account. Everybody, I was like, what did this?

[Snowbike Mike]

Everybody's got two. Just got to have two.

[Andy Cortez]

Sometimes you have three.

[Greg Miller]

I want to give you some super chats before we, before we get out of this because I still want the previews. Mike, I sent you. Where'd you go? Vegas.

[Snowbike Mike]

I went to Vegas.

[Greg Miller]

Fucking Jesus over here. Okay. Koba in a super chat says, isn't it unwise for Xbox to be asking for potentially three SKUs when Xbox game sales are lowest waste for devs. I don't agree. I think the SKU thing is interesting and like we're talking about the S, but I think as soon as they say cool, the S is just gonna be the cloud machine from here on out. Like the, you know, old stuff obviously, but clouded up there. I think again, you're just trying to give people, whether it be the S, the handheld, the X, whatever the new thing would be, just try to give them entry points into this, let alone again, this screen is a fucking Xbox, which I think is brilliant. It worked on my cousin who, you know, got an Xbox game pass and is super into it. Why not, right? Shay Slay says here it's called Sheepskin gifts and Alpaca 2.

[Snowbike Mike]

Thank you. What are they selling there?

[Greg Miller]

Nico says, my worry is Xbox's rapidly changing strategy. Yesterday, Bless asked why do people keep asking Phil the same questions about red lines is because the answers change every six months. Months, which I do not agree with. I do not think it's. Every six months Phil's changing an answer on if it's going to be exclusive, if it's not, if it's. If it's the whatever.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think there was. I think Mike doesn't agree a little bit.

[Snowbike Mike]

I mean I, I agree with that. Yes. I think it's become clearer over time. There was a little bit of murky water at the beginning. Right. I think it's just a big ship to turn and it, yeah, it feels so rapid because you are four generations deep into an ecosystem and now we are really moving and saying like, well, all these games that used to be exclusive that we used to sell the console on, they're everywhere now. So it's kind of like a, a whiplash of sorts to try to go through right here. But it is happening. I think they have stayed true to their word of what is going on right now. You get kind of muddied waters of like, well, where Starfield. Like why not just say all these games are going to go? Like that's all you have to say. I don't know why we hold it back and keep our cards close to our chest when you've shown that like these will happen. Halo is coming to PlayStation one day. Gears of War will come to PlayStation one day. Yeah, we just haven't heard that and it still feels whiplash.

[Andy Cortez]

I think that last statement he said was kind of all you needed to hear of. What I said at the beginning of the show is it's not in our best interest to keep to, to 100% say that a game will not go somewhere else. Like that's not in our business plan. That's not smart business for us. Where yeah, I kind of agree where like I don't know, I felt like a year ago that it was like no, no, no, you buy Bethesda to sell your console. You don't put those games elsewhere. Like you buy that stuff to make you. To bolster your hardware and make people want to buy an Xbox. And now it just seems like you.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Say that because I feel like that comes from people like that comes from the audience. But like I don't think they ever went. We bought, we bought Bethesda to only put their games on our console.

[Andy Cortez]

It may have been the way that they were slowly drip feeding what games were going elsewhere. Yeah, it may have been the way that when hi Fi Rush goes multi platform we're like oh there. So it's going to be these types of games. I see Xbox. And it wasn't just those type of games. It was always planned to be everything. But I think they wanted to not just blunt force hit us across the head with everything's up for, for grabs. You know, I think they wanted to kind of slowly drip it out.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think the one, the one flack I will give because I think, I think a lot of it is, you know, we've talked about this for years and years and I think it has been the back and forth of like a group of audience being like everything's going to go everywhere. And then the other group audience. Yeah being like, hey, you buy Bethesda, you're doing that to sell consoles or whatever. And like it's to what we talked about yesterday as far as the fan and audience investment that they have in Xbox. Because it is like the. Almost like the. Not to mean. Say this in a mean way. Right. But like the last place mentality of, oh man, I've been here and I've invested in this and I got to fight for it and I got to be involved and I got to make the business decisions for Phil Spencer, all that stuff. Right. And so we're overly engaged with it to say all that. Right. I do think around this time last year where there were the reports of certain games. Was it last year, two years ago? I don't remember at this point, but certain games coming to Xbox, there was like two or three games. I think it was a hi Fi Rush sea of thieves conversation.

[Snowbike Mike]

Thieves grounded. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And I think it was Sarah Bond, Phil Spencer and like Matt Booty sat down and they did the podcast and we were like, oh, it's a podcast. It was like that scenario.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And I think during that it did feel like they were toeing the line as far as, oh yeah, these games are going to come to Xbox. But then I had to go back and watch it verbatim. It did feel like they were saving room for, oh, but like these games aren't going to come to Xbox. I don't know if they ever said it verbatim, but it felt like, you.

[Andy Cortez]

Mean are going to go to PlayStation.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Or sorry, aren't going to go to PlayStation. Sorry, sorry. But it felt like there was like a turn at some point where it was, oh, actually, yeah, these games are coming to PlayStation. And I think that's the one piece of like where that didn't line up with like, you know, the words and reactions didn't necessarily line up. But I think that might have just been the one off scenario of like, oh man, maybe I shouldn't have spoke on those. Or. And like, I think we've talked about this as well. Satya, Nadella and Microsoft from the top coming down and being like, oh no, there's, there's no red lines. Like everything has to be able to come to PlayStation or other platforms so we can make this money. It felt like that almost got taken out of their hands.

[Greg Miller]

That is all correct. And so I actually want to go back to Nico's comment here where I was like, I don't think it changes every six months in that context. It does. And I know that I'm splitting hairs here. My interpretation was more the flip. And I read into your comment a flip of it's exclusive. It's not. I would. The way I would phrase everything we just talked about and how we talked about it yesterday was that the message keeps evolving, that Xbox's business model keeps evolving and Phil has to keep doing that. So the thing he said about, okay, these are. I saw somebody shout out, you know, when they got Bethesda, but new Bethesda IPs would be exclusive or something to that effect. That is a changing thing. And yes, I stand down in that I was incorrect. I was reading it a different way. I meant the fact that it evolves. But I understand. And yes to that respect, yes, it evolves, yes, it changes. You are correct. I had another one. I wanted to get in here before we get to an ad break. Here we go. Street Shadow says, I see a lot of people say we want one console or PC only world. But what. But what does that do to competition and how to generate new ideas? And how does that generate new ideas? It's true. But again, even when we say that, I don't see it being. We are getting down to one thing. We are talking about the next Xbox being two things in one possibly. Right. Maybe this is just a pipe dream. We are talking about getting an OS onto this competing oss. We are talking about the Rog versus the Steam Deck. Like, I think even as we go to one, if we went to one platform, everything's PC, you'd still have people making different things and working on ecosystems and different operating systems to try to be the best place to play.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I think people are working with like a narrow view of what competition is because it's not like Xbox is going anywhere, at least for now. Right. Like, I think Xbox still exists in that space as far as hardware.

[Snowbike Mike]

Right.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Like you, like you mentioned Steam deck, Rod, Rog, Ally. PlayStation. It's our technically, it's Rog. I talked to a PR person who doesn't work there anymore and they're like, technically it is Rog. We don't say Rog. We don't say Raj Rog. But like you have all these different pieces of hardware. Nintendo's like, you know, doing their thing, right? PlayStation doing their own thing. And I do think that the moves that Xbox, Xbox is making, I think are going to leave PlayStation in a place and not just the Xbox thing, right. But like, I think PlayStation in general are in a. In between a rock and a hard place of PlayStation can't be PlayStation Forever in the way that they're operating currently, 100% because of the amount of money it takes to make games, because of how long it takes to make these games that are more demanding as far as Fidelity, Scope, all these things, right? How much difficult is to, like, how much more difficult it gets every generation to make a fucking video game, right? Like that isn't going to stand. And so like, yeah, like, I think the competition part of it is happening. Xbox is making competitive moves right now because they're in a position where they have to. That is going to ripple over to PlayStation where they have to go. They're gonna have to look around and go, shit, we're being left in the dust.

[Greg Miller]

With every fiber of my being, I believe if Xbox can weather what they're in right now and not even the storm, just Financial World 2025 as we see everything happening, right, if you can weather this and have this vision, you are, there's going to be a day where it is suddenly a flip where it is like, oh, place. What is PlayStation doing? And it is that they are still so archaic and they are still their box and their exclusives and da, da, da. You will get to a point where this cloud strategy, every screen is an Xbox. We're partnering with PC, we're talking to Steam, we're using os. Like, you are going to have a day where that suddenly I feel like that clicks into place and you do. Look at PlayStation Go, oh, you're fucked. You didn't do it fast enough. Now they are going to PC with older games. Clearly there's a pipeline. Clearly, if when this would get to that point, they could flip a switch, for lack of a better term, and be like, cool, yes, our exclusives are coming to PC day and date. But even then it would be the thing of cool. Hopefully my Xbox thing that boots on the side can do it. Right? Because that's what you're talking about. You're talking about if what Paris is talking about, of having a dual booting Xbox that suddenly I can play Spider man on my Xbox. You know, I mean, like, that's an exciting proposition. When PlayStation would have to inevitably give up the ground or open up streaming or do whatever they do, then your Xbox would be doing that as well. Which is a very fascinating conversation.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, I'm really excited to see what the next generation sell is. Right. We were sold this generation on the most powerful hardware available. Oh, there's a second skew to get into more people's homes. And what is this one? Is it just a handheld? Because we are. Greg, I'm right on board with Xbox, with the ecosystem in that cell of every screen can have your games, all of your purchases but what, what are you selling me Next one? What is this going to look like? Will people get up and go, I'm excited to buy that or will they go, I don't really need that so.

[Greg Miller]

And there will be a lot of. There will be so many people who don't need that.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

But then there are so many people like me and even less than me in terms of their connection to video games who would be like, oh, awesome. That gives me all of that and all of this. And yeah, it's not the best, is not the worst, but it's like Even the Razer 18 laptop out there that I'm having a great time with. Right. And I'm excited to get really hands on with on this trip. It's awesome. Right now I think about having that in like the three year commitment to it in three years. The memory card or this graphics card and all this stuff is outdated and it's not running games flawlessly. I'd be like, oh, I don't have the desire to do this. It's why I'm talking about the Steam Deck. I'm excited for Steam Deck 2. Sell me that so I have a better Steam Deck experience where I could go and have a better PC experience right now. There's always gonna be people like me who just want it to work in turnkey. Final one before ad break. Bubby Kai super chat and says Mike, picture the next Xbox. A beautiful spherical rectangularish thing with a button press and chime in all its glory. Playing your Steam library and Xbox library whispering in your ear, your home.

[Snowbike Mike]

I love it. I'm very excited to see if that's the sell right. Of like, are they really going to approach us in, you know, whatever years from now? Let's just say five for fun. Five years from now. Phil gets on stage with Sarah Bond and the team and they go, we've created a box that does both and you have the freedom now to choose. You can do whatever you want. Go do it. Okay. Is that just not a PC? Should I just not be buying pieces? NZXT is just selling PCs by the Wayside that are the exact same as this. Is that really going to be that much cheaper than an NZXT pre built computer?

[Greg Miller]

Well, but it would run Xbox natively, right?

[Snowbike Mike]

Well, Xbox app on PC is already doing.

[Greg Miller]

You already don't like that? You don't like that.

[Snowbike Mike]

Well, that's what I'm getting at. It's like are you just not selling a PC now? And are people really that excited about.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Can I ask you a question, tell me, do you think it is possible for the next Xbox console to be the least selling Xbox console of all time, but also at the same time for Xbox as an organization to be more successful than they have in the last two generations?

[Snowbike Mike]

I think that's what they're selling, setting themselves up.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, I think that's what they're going for.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah, I think that that is.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I think we have to prepare for the next console to just not sell as much.

[Andy Cortez]

That's 100%.

[Greg Miller]

100%.

[Andy Cortez]

But it'll be like you're mentioning from a user base, from an install base, from a We had this many daily active users on the Xbox game Pass app or whatever it may be that that's going to be where their big success is.

[Greg Miller]

All right, well, speaking of a big success, we are kind of funny and we've been here for 10 years doing live talk shows all day long and we couldn't do without your support. Please head over to patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple and Spotify and pick up the Kinda funny membership where $10 gets you all of our shows ad free, the ability to watch the afternoon podcast like Aliens in Review tomorrow when Andy won't be here, and of course, a daily dose of Me in a series we call Greg Way. But right now you're not using your membership benefits. So here's a word from our sponsor.

[E]

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[Snowbike Mike]

I lost my phone.

[Greg Miller]

Mike's phone is trapped under the clear desk. It started simply as blessing. Give me your phone to get my phone out. Then Nick came out with a metal pole and knocked it way deeper. And now it's just stuck in there.

[Snowbike Mike]

There it is. There goes my phone.

[Andy Cortez]

It's. It's stuck in between the desk and the glass.

[Snowbike Mike]

We'll worry about that after.

[Greg Miller]

We'll get it out. Right?

[Snowbike Mike]

Let's have some fun.

[Greg Miller]

Right now. I need to hear about Exo Born Mike. You went to Lovely Las Vegas, Nevada.

[Snowbike Mike]

I did. And I got to go to the HyperX arena, which I'm very excited to talk about because that was my first time ever in there. And so we heard about it a.

[Andy Cortez]

Lot last time we were there.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah. Big, big passion.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Snowbike Mike]

For esports. So it was very cool to be there. But let's talk about Exoborn, a new open world tactical extraction shooter coming your way very, very soon.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, look at this.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Beautiful.

[Greg Miller]

Thank you, Nick.

[Snowbike Mike]

That's my guy. I won't ever do that again. It's like a mic stand.

[Greg Miller]

C stamps.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it looks like. It looks like Eliza P weapon.

[Snowbike Mike]

So yes. Exoborn, developed by Shark Mob. Their previous titles that you may know about of course is Vampire Masquerade, Blood Hunt, which was the 3v3 battle royale with the vampires. Very, very fun. But this is their new title coming your way. This is an open world tactical extraction shooter. Third person fully customizable exo suits that you're currently seeing. You'll have a glider and a grapple hook to help mobility around this big open world. And it's set in a post apocalyptic US torn apart by weather. So you'll have random weather events throughout each and every one of your matches that I'll talk about. It's on UE5 so it looks very good. It's coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. There's a play test hitting February 12th through the 17th, so make sure to keep an eye out for that one to jump into the fun.

[Greg Miller]

When's it coming out? Do they have a date?

[Snowbike Mike]

No date. No date yet. This is a premium title. There was no price tag on this yet either as they look to see what they want to put it at. But let's talk about the game. Tactical Extraction Shooters. You guys have heard this word many of times. This is kind of the new hotness alongside battle royales that the first person shooter and third person shooter worlds have been seeing a lot in. On the PC side and Xbox and PlayStation side, I would say a lot of people seeing this, but this one is bringing something a little bit different when it comes to moment to moment gameplay with the weather effects. So every time you jump into a match, there are tornadoes that are flying around. There could be fire tornadoes, there's dense fog, there's rain, there's poison gas, there's high winds that all play in to different moment to moments when you're playing this game. Right. So like if you need to go somewhere faster and you want to kind of move around the map a little bit, you jump into a tornado, get that lift glide somewhere else. Right. If it rains, your glider actually will be dampened and you won't be able to fly and move like you were before. So there's some really fun moves into this. The dense fog I was really impressed with. It is really dense to the point where you can barely see in front of you. And it does add a layer of like, oh, this is intense and I'm scared and I'm nervous.

[Greg Miller]

Everything you're saying and Showing me right now is getting me. I like what I'm seeing. But my question is you call it tactical. Like how? Like is it, it's not running gun or is it like I get shot once and I'm down or what's happening?

[Snowbike Mike]

No, you're not gonna be shot once and die. But this is on the more hardcore side of things, which is like when you go in there, you are going to be fighting NPC bots as well that will be guarding certain loot caches, different artifacts that are kind of like the high prized value items out there. But there will also be other teams. Right. And so in the. So the cool part about this is there's three maps at the beginning. You slow. It's like kind of an easier map. We were playing on the much harder map at the end of the day, we played about seven hours. And the NPCs at the beginning, beginning map, you could probably just run right through. Unless you're really missing it or you kind of get stuck in a bad spot. You won't have any problem with the NPCs most of the time when you get to the harder difficulty, that's when it's like, oh, the NPCs will actually take you down and become a problem if you're not on your P's and Q's there.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Snowbike Mike]

Plus the addition of other teams looking for you and looking for loot. This is more on the hardcore side. I don't think this is a jump in and like you're going to have an easy fun time. This is. You should probably be ready to rock and roll with your team at all times for sure.

[Greg Miller]

Did you enjoy it?

[Snowbike Mike]

I did. Surprisingly, I've never been a big fan of tactical extraction shooters. I had more fun with this than I've had with other titles in the past. I'm still not fully sold on this genre at all. So that's the issue is I'm just not a guy who enjoys the drop into the map. So the, the interesting one about Exoborn is when you drop in, you get 20 minutes. You have 20 minutes to go loot around the map. Of course there are numbers of different kind of loots, right? There's just the bandages, the batteries, the basic supplies that you're going to either scrap or are used for crafting. Then on top of that there are the high value items, whether that be guarded by a bunch of NPCs or what they're calling these artifacts. And so the artifacts are like a loot box that have A number of high value pieces of loot inside of them. So in the 20 minutes, your goal is to run around this map, loot as much as you can. That risk reward is always what they talk about in these kind of games. And then extract out.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Snowbike Mike]

If you stay over 20 minutes, you will now be pinged on the whole map. Everyone will see your location at all times and they'll know where you're at so they can get after you. Also, if you get one of the high value items, which are the artifacts, you will also be pinged on the map and people can track you as well. So the cool part is we can always find you and come after you. Which I think led to some really fun engagements with me and my team of. I always push a team of, let's go find a gunfight, let's find an engagement. So let's go to these high value areas. Let's get after it. Oh, that one's moving. Let's go track that team and get after them and get involved in a gunfight. Because I felt like most of the time when you are just low key scavenging and trying to keep it simple, it's a slow burn, there's not much excitement going on. The NPCs aren't providing that much of a threat. Where it never felt exciting or fun to be involved. And it was like, oh, that was 20 minutes of us collecting a bunch of scrap metal that I really don't need or care about.

[Greg Miller]

Are you bringing this stuff back to a home base? And then what are you?

[Snowbike Mike]

So at the end of 20 minutes you will come back and so because of the exo rigs, your three exo suits, there's available, you can upgrade those. You can of course grab new weapons. You can upgrade your weapons with different attachments.

[Andy Cortez]

And there are extraction points that you.

[Snowbike Mike]

Would all over the place.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Snowbike Mike]

On each map. So the three exo suits go like this. There's the Kodiak, the Viper and the Kestrel. The Kodiak is your big heavier tank that you'll see during my gameplay. It's equipped with a shield, you'll have ground pound. The Viper is a close quarter kind of Life Steel 1. It has a beacon that can recon around you and kind of ping different enemies. And then you'll have a blade. So when you kind of go in and jump out really fast. And then of course the Kestrel is repositioning height advantage where you can actually fly and hover around the map on that stuff. And so the big catch here is all the loot that you get. You'll come out and you can craft new pieces of armor. You can craft upgrades to your armor. So we notice later on in the map there was this big toxic gas cloud around one of the high value targets. And every time we'd go in it would corrode our armor. We'd get down to like zero health and we'd die in the gas cloud before we could get the artifact and extract out. And I said well how do we do this? And they said well look in your upgrade menu. You'll see there's different pieces of armor that you can put on your exosuit that will help you with that. So really you're playing the loot game to get to these different pieces of. Hey, armor attachments. Oh, I want my weapon to have a silencer, an extended mag. It's the generic tactical shoot tactical extraction shooter. So I think most of the fans out there are listening. They'll probably know this game by now. But if you're new, that's how the cycle of an extraction shooter looks in.

[Andy Cortez]

No pun intended. The cycle cycle. Another game that sort of came and.

[Snowbike Mike]

Went and so you have a third person perspective. You will go into first person when you aim down sights. All the guns felt good. There's a sniper rifle, there's an lmg, there's an smg. The gunplay felt good. I had no problem with any of the gunplay. Especially when you add on attachments. You can definitely tell if you have a blue rarity gun compared to a purple rarity gun and so on and so forth. Just like every other video game you've played. Some of the things that I really liked self reds. I love being able you, you know you go down in this and you can actually pack revive kits that you can use on yourself, on your teammates. I really, really enjoyed the three maps. I find in tactical extraction shooters when you only have one map, I get really bored with this. So I liked that there was three different maps that all kind of brought a three different varieties. The first map very open. A large scale map that you kind of get your feet wet in. The next one is kind of more city like so you'll have buildings to run around with but still pretty large. And then the third map is a very small tight map called the Pit I believe. And you just jump in this pit and you will see everybody. I mean you're engaging with everyone and anyone. So that was really, really cool on that one. Some of the things I didn't like, I Didn't like the glider maneuverability. It's very much a glide and not a move with it. I think I'm so accustomed like a Zelda that really lets you fly with this. This is. You're not going hundreds of feet forward. You're just not just kind of gliding down and then moving from there. The exo rigs are interesting. The. The weather's the big draw here.

[Greg Miller]

But was it cool? Did you like it?

[Snowbike Mike]

At the end of the day it is cool. It was fun. I would try it again but I don't think this is the one.

[Greg Miller]

This strikes me as a great stream.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

This seems like a really good stream we could do. And almost like when we got into once human. Remember that watch like two or three days.

[Andy Cortez]

About to bring that one up too. There's another one. One's human which surprisingly has 25000 people playing right now. It's Dean, which is kind of surprising. But you and I also previewed a game a couple months ago called Arc Raiders.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And if you could check assets. Kevin. Because I put through a link on an assets Arc Raiders. Another similar story. Sci fi, futuristic third person PvE VP and like the children yearn for. For the division. I just want.

[Greg Miller]

Come on.

[Andy Cortez]

Like. Because here's the thing. I. I feel like these games are becoming sort of a dime a dozen nowadays because there is less development time in letting the players make the content. There's less development time there as opposed to the division where it's mission structure, mission base.

[Greg Miller]

See what's happening?

[Andy Cortez]

We're telling your story progression. New boss move on to this part. Story cutscene, new boss raid this. Like I think developers are going more for this because they could still show off visuals and cool gunplay.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

While the Those sort of emergent gameplay moments. Are you running across another squad? You having that? You know, me and Mike had this moment in when we demoed the Arc Raiders game where it's like, oh, like we thought we were alone. We hear another squad moving and it's like those moments are cool. Don't get me wrong. Anytime I experience that it's a lot of laughs and it's stuff that you could talk about forever because it's like, oh my gosh. The. You know when Mike is like Andy, you have the shot taken and I.

[Snowbike Mike]

Snipe his head off.

[Andy Cortez]

What a great moment. You take his loot. But it. It doesn't take too long for those moments to lose their excitement. And I really just want. I. I just want a. You know, a Division 3 I just want that.

[Greg Miller]

You're not getting it. I bet.

[Snowbike Mike]

I, I.

[Andy Cortez]

No, never. And I just like these games kind of keep coming out. And we, we played the cycle. We had some great streams in the cycle, but you got to a point where it's like, okay, what's next? What am I supposed to do next in this game other than keep on running into, you know, trying to make content out of other people in the world? What if I just want to play a game with a mission structure?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

One, I'm jealous that you guys got to play Arc Raiders. And, like, because this is one where I remember the game awards, like, debut of it. And I thought the debut trailer looked really cool. And I remember, like a year later we were doing predictions or whatever. I was like, oh, we'll see Arc Raiders. And everybody's like, what the fuck is Arc Raiders? But then also. So this is the same. The same dev that did the finals. Yeah. And I want to know, like, what do they got over there as far as, like, the visual visuals team? Because there's something about their games that look just, like, really good. Oh, yeah, it might be AI, I don't know. But, like, they got something over this game.

[Andy Cortez]

This game looked fantastic in practice. I can't say much for Exoborn because we've only seen the video that Mike provided here for us, which some of it looked good, some of it did not look great. And I know that, you know, UE5, you know, it's still kind of early for a lot of newer developers, so they're still trying to kind of figure out what works best with. With that engine. But I don't know, man. It's so discouraging for me to play a lot of games that the movement, the locomotion, the shooting feels awesome, but I just can't see myself spending more than 15 hours in your game, you know, 100. We had a lot of fun with the Arc Raiders demo, but of course.

[Snowbike Mike]

They'Re speaking to us. They're speaking to a different audience. Right there. There's an audience.

[Greg Miller]

They love Andy to be the audience.

[Snowbike Mike]

Exactly. There's an audience for Escape for Tarkov fans. Right. They love the Extraction shooters and we're not really that audience, but, like, how big is that audience? Are they trying to get new players in? And I do think, like, when we played Arc Raiders, it was visually like, oh, this is cool. I really liked the setting that they had, but there was nothing drawing me in as a new player to, like, get me excited where, like, when I played Exoborn at least it had the grapple hook and the, the flights with the glider and they had the crazy weather. I think that was their draw. Both of these, right? It's like, who is this speaking to? Because it is that, like, when I play these, I do want the division. We're getting the division light here and it's not quite theirs, right?

[Andy Cortez]

I wanna, I wanna just level up with my friends and progress and, you know, I think there's a lot of fun to be had in games like these sort of PvE VP games where it's all about the risk reward. Do I want to go out with good gear and risk losing it to another squad, or should I leave it back and just make this run? It's a different loop entirely, right? Like, I'm asking for.

[Greg Miller]

Choose your own loop, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I'm asking for a different video game at this point. But. But I just like, there's so many of these games coming out and I, I just, I get sort of discouraged with each and every one of them because I end up playing 5ish hours in them and go, okay, I'm good. I can't see myself being in here too.

[Snowbike Mike]

So, like, what are those things that need to happen for these games? Right? That. Because we want something different. But like, for these games, how do. What do they need to succeed? Right? And I think we see a lot of them just go to PC only and it's like, oh, you got to go to console as well and try to get a larger audience. I do think a lot of them got to be free to play. But like, what is the monetization tactic there to justify not charging $40? Or is $40 enough? Or will we see the back? That's crazy. Like, I can't do that. Right? And so every time we see these games, I'm always wondering, like, what are we doing right? Like, what's the game plan here? What is the thought process going into this? And what, what are you bringing new? Or how do you get the audience to really attach it to?

[Andy Cortez]

Now, Arc Raiders, the devs had a fantastic response to why is your game not free to play? Why are you charging 40 bucks for it? And they said, well, we want to make content that serves the gameplay and not waste our time making content trying to make money.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You know, as opposed to, like, here's our game. It's a free to play game. All right, Dev team, go make stuff that'll go make trinkets that'll make us money. Go make battle pass stuff. Go make cosmetics That'll make us money as opposed to go make stuff for the video game that kind of serves the, you know, the gameplay. I, which is a great response but I just.

[Greg Miller]

They pay for it and will it actually work? And will it?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Greg Miller]

That's the same thing. Looking at Exoborn, like I'm saying it looks like a fun stream, a fun 2 stream but I don't see it being something that finds an audience that's connected with.

[Snowbike Mike]

If that's your cup of tea, right? Like if you are into the Extraction shooters and like this is something you're excited about, you have Arc Raiders, you have Exoborn, new games coming into that that you can try. Maybe you like the mechanics, maybe they have a good end game set, right. But like for us it's just like the casual audience, right? You attach yourselves onto like things that you see in other games that you're like I'd like to try that or like oh I love just cause you're telling me there's a tornado in there that I'll get excited to see three times and then be good with. Like that's kind of the catch of like when I see a game like this I'm like that's going to be fun for me and Andy and the boys to play five times maximum. And then unless somehow I become obsessed with the loop and I finally see the code, I'm probably never going back to this because it's just not my cup of tea.

[Greg Miller]

Well, Blessing, is Tokyo Extreme Racer your cup of tea?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It is, yeah. I played an hour and a half of it yesterday. This is one of those ones where it's blown up.

[Greg Miller]

Everybody's talking about the numbers it's putting up on steam.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So it's in early access currently. Yeah, it's one of those games that, you know, we had one of the news stories on K about how it's doing very good numbers for esteem concurrence and I heard about it earlier this month, watched the trailer and was like, oh this looks really cool. And then as it came out, I think late last week was getting blue sky posts from people being like yo, you should check this out, this might be a Blessing game. And I was like, oh, I usually don't hear that about a racing game. So like this is one that I'm going to check out. Oh, you got my stream. But yeah, so Tokyo Extreme Racer. I learned this last night while playing. So I played an hour and a half as I was playing one of the things that struck me was one. I knew Tokyo Extreme Racer was a thing already. What I didn't realize is that this was part of the same franchise. For some reason, I thought this was a separate, brand new Tokyo Extreme Racer. Because the franchise of Tokyo Extreme Racer hasn't been around at least as heavily in a while. The franchise looks to have started in 1994 with a game called Shutoko Battle. The first Tokyo Extreme racer game was 1999. And then like the last couple of entries have been mobile entries. There was one 2017 that was another Shiitoku battle. And then in 2011 there was a different mobile entry again, that Shitoko Battle thing. But between like, you know, I guess 1994 till now, there have been a bunch of different Tokyo Extreme Racers all under development by the developer Genki, which is the same developer that is making this brand new one, which I think feels almost like a reboot for the series. So it's out now in Early Access in my hour and a half of playing it. I'm very intrigued and I like what they're going for.

[Greg Miller]

What are they going for? Is this a street racer? Is it?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. So it is. The whole game takes place on. There's a name for it. I think it's like the Shuto Highway. I'm looking for it in my notes here. But the game takes place on the expressway system in Tokyo. Right. I guess it's one of the largest ones in the world. And so the fun thing about this is you get put into the game. You start off in your garage, of course you buy a car. It's the typical racing game thing of you spend money on, like, do you want the Toyota, the Nissan or this other one. And of course, my first car was a Toyota Solara 1997 with the Miata. Oh, you went through the Miata? But yeah, a guy. I picked a Toyota. It takes you to the garage, you can tune it, do whatever. And then they put you on the expressway. And it is. You drive until you find a rival. And then you challenge the rival by blinking your lights at. Yeah. And then immediately. Exactly.

[Greg Miller]

Now the Shooto to Andy on 19th all the time.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So the Shooto Expressway is what it's called. I found in my notes. What's interesting about the races is you go like toward like, you know, down the track on the. On the expressway. And you see on the top of the screen there are two health bars. Is your health bar and then your opponent's health bar. Basically, there are a couple ways to win. One, the more you pull away ahead of your opponent, the more their health bar will go down. You can also bash into your opponent.

[Snowbike Mike]

Oh, I'd be bashing.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. If you bash into their opponent, that'll take down their health bar as well. So it's a more of like a. Interestingly like competitive.

[Andy Cortez]

Fascinating.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Racing game in a, in a, in a, in a different way.

[Greg Miller]

Fighting game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah, like a little bit. But yeah, it really is about like the one on one, you know, head to head experiences of racing. What then happens is after a few races, if you look to the bottom right of the screen, you can see the car icon with the four like health bars around it. Those are your wheel tires.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

So each of your tires have their own health bar. And once your tire health bars get low enough, you then have to go back to your garage to then heal the health bar. Yeah. To reset them. And then while you're in there, there's a ton of different menus. You can go and you can tune your car, which I don't do because I don't like tuning cars. But you can also customize your car, which it seems like the customization experience seems to be pretty good from what I've experienced so far. There's also skill trees and like a lot of stuff going on. There's also a menu for like lore of characters that you've. You've raced against.

[Snowbike Mike]

Cinderella Past Midnight.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. So here's the thing, right. Because I didn't even get to this yet. When you first, you know, get put into the game before even going around and racing you, then you start off in this visual novel sequence where you talk to a character. The character is a faceless character. It's kind of like just like a black silhouette. Yes. Of a girl. And her name is Cinderella Past Midnight.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Sick.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. And I forget exactly what she says, but she basically is like, oh, you're here as a racer and they're setting up the story of you as the street racer trying to make a name on the streets.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. It's how in Karate Kid the whole world revolves around karate.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

It's the most important, important thing on the planet.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And like the music is bumping and like we'll get in a conversation because like Mike also played it and I want to get my thoughts in, but like the music is bumping. I actually, I absolutely love the sound.

[Greg Miller]

That's cool. I'm not even a racing game.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

There's character to it, Right. Like you get put into when you're doing the written, like, you know, you get, you do the races come Back. And after you do enough of the races, you then get another visual novel cut scene. I like a lot of what they're doing here. I think this game is neat. I think this game has a good energy to it. I found the races fun, even though if I'm getting into critiques of it, I think the game, when you are getting to the flow of, all right, I finished this race. Now I'm looking for the next race. It can get a bit boring because it is you driving down the expressway until you finally reach a person that's ahead of you that you haven't raced yet, and then blink your thing and then, all right, cool. You do another race. All right, Nicole. Now I'm going to race, or now I'm going to drive and see if I can find another person. And that process, I think, takes a little bit. And there's not really much to do in between that process. Until you go back to the garage, you do all the shit you are.

[Andy Cortez]

Visual attacks, replenish your health bar and stuff.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Critical hits.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

You are unlocking parts of the expressway as you go. And so, like, once I hop back into the garage and I realize I unlock a new part of the expressway, I then drop in that part of the expressway, and there are more racers to find there. So it seems like they want you to jump out and jump in pretty often. But my other beef with it, my beef with this game so far, my biggest critique with this game is, like I mentioned, they have the story, they have the lore sections. My problem is that everybody's faceless. You're not seeing actual character arc, and most of the characters don't have actual names.

[Andy Cortez]

Is that an early Access thing?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

That's what I hope.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, how Hades had a bunch of placeholder art.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I really hope that it is placeholder art. And that is an early Access thing. Because when you go into the lore, you'll have, like, there's factions of different racers. One of the factions is named the Challengers. You go into the lore and it's like, Challenger 1, Challenger 2, Challenger 3, 4, and 5. And each of them have, like, a paragraph of Challenger 1. He's a shy guy that works in the auto shop from Mario. He's a shy dude that works in the auto shop, but he's not great with the ladies. Until one day he met a girl that shared the passion of racing. And, like, they build out these Lauren characters, but they don't have names and they don't have faces. And, like, my biggest wish, My biggest wish for this Game is that when you challenge somebody on the road you would see like a key art of their character.

[Greg Miller]

Art. Sure.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And it is just one sentence of let's race or like you know, all right, first to the finish line or something like that.

[Andy Cortez]

It really heard you've been tearing up the streets. Bless.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Yeah. Like because we're halfway there. We're so close. And that I think would push it over to the top of oh this like yeah. I think anime out of it. Make some anime out of it because like I think the lore stuff is cool but you can't do the lore stuff with these characters and not let me see their faces.

[Andy Cortez]

What was a stylistic racer that came out year two years ago for Speed?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I forget the name of it but one of the.

[Andy Cortez]

It was like a very. A much different looking sort of video Anime kind of. Yeah.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Mike, what did you think of it?

[Snowbike Mike]

You want to know what I called my racer?

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

No.

[Greg Miller]

Mike. Mike.

[Snowbike Mike]

Prince Adam.

[Greg Miller]

Oh.

[Snowbike Mike]

Because he's a beast.

[Greg Miller]

Ah.

[Snowbike Mike]

From Beauty and the Beast. Get the out of here. I know it's crazy.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

Come on.

[Greg Miller]

I love you like this game.

[Snowbike Mike]

I hated this game.

[Andy Cortez]

Nice. Nice.

[Snowbike Mike]

I played this game for an hour and I just did not like this at all. You know. Sold to me a little bit as like need for Speed Underground, you know, Midnight Club Dub edition. And I think what drew me to those games back in the day was that just killer soundtrack and this one does not have that for me. I do not like the soundtrack.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

And to interrupt you there, right. Because me and me and Mike talked about a little bit about it, you know on this in the office and Mike had mentioned that he wasn't feeling it and to that I totally understood. I was like oh dude. Like if like I I could see exactly why somebody wouldn't feel this cuz I didn't feel it I think until the last 30 minutes. It's when you mentioned the soundtrack where I was like what? Yeah, the soundtrack soundtrack. That's my favorite part.

[Snowbike Mike]

Hated it. I the soundtrack wasn't bumping for me. And that's really what's driving you moment to moment, right. It's like you drive down this highway that is empty. There's not much going on. I can't turn around if I miss another driver. Like blessing said, right. This is very much a game of like take a race, maybe take two, bounce back to the hub screen. Then you upgrade you back back, you bounce back onto the highway where racers are. Because I was just driving Greg in a straight line. I'd race one person, blow their doors off. It would take another two minutes to get to the next person. You're like, all right, well you're just too good.

[Greg Miller]

You're just too good.

[Snowbike Mike]

I get to the next person. It'd be a very basic race. I'm looking for more of like, hey, here's the street race. There's six of us now in a line and we're going to go for this. It felt like every time all the races were the identical situation. I pull up, flash my lights, I fly off the starting line. Either they beat me or I beat them. It's like a 30 second race at most and then I have to keep driving and do the same thing, rinse and repeat. So yeah, I just didn't love the moment to moment gameplay on this one. I like the car customization that you can get lost in. Yeah, I enjoyed going over there and painting my car with different decals that they have. They got a good extensive library of like you can really get in on the painting and make it fun. Similar back in the day when we would go NBA 2K and you can like layer different things on the courts and on the jerseys. I really appreciated that one with that. But yeah, this one, oddly enough was one of the few games I've ever said in my mind, man, I should steam refund this right now.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Snowbike Mike]

Yeah. And I, I usually don't do that.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

I love, I love seeing Kevin struggle with my. Because like for some reason whenever I click off the game, the game just minimizes immediately. And whenever it minimizes, you see my computer background which is Heihachi fighting Sonic's hedgehog.

[Snowbike Mike]

That's cool.

[Andy Cortez]

Good match.

[Blessing Adeoye Jr.]

It's a really good match. But Midway three, you also switch over to like. Oh, to Virtua Fighter. Yeah, yeah, I played Virtua Fighter Revo last night. I wasn't feeling it. And then at the end I played Magic the Gathering.

[Greg Miller]

Ladies, gentlemen and Enbies. That's another episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast. Remember, we're here each and every weekday with live talk shows revolving, revolving around video games. If you like that, pick up a Kind of Funny membership to support our 11 person small business. Patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple and Spotify. Of course, the fun isn't ending right now. We are live while Mike plays Kingdom Hearts 2.

[Snowbike Mike]

And I got some beef. I have more beef.

[Andy Cortez]

More beef.

[Snowbike Mike]

You don't want to miss out on Kingdom Hearts 2. I'm calling someone out.

[Andy Cortez]

Get your belly full of beef.

[Snowbike Mike]

Be there.

[Greg Miller]

Until next time, everybody. It's been our pleasure to serve you Beef.

[E]

Beef.

[Snowbike Mike]

Beef.