Your Xbox HOT TAKES - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: "Your Xbox HOT TAKES" – January 23, 2026

Episode Overview

In this Xbox-centric episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, the crew—Tim Gettys, Greg Miller, Blessing Adeoye, Andy Cortez, and Snowbike Mike—dive deep into the fallout from Xbox’s latest Developer Direct. The panel debates the wave of Xbox "hot takes" from listeners, examines the state of Xbox first-party studios compared to PlayStation, debates Game Pass value after recent price hikes, and looks to future tentpole releases. Banter, jokes, and some real talk about industry layoffs pepper the energetic, fast-moving discussion, exemplifying Kinda Funny’s signature blend of enthusiast analysis and comedic camaraderie.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Initial Impressions and Xbox Developer Direct Aftermath

• Panel Excitement: The crew unanimously agrees Xbox has a surprisingly strong upcoming game lineup, with particular hype for Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Playground Games’ new projects, and Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation.
  • Blessing: “I think, honestly, one of the strongest lineups from Xbox that I can recall in the last decade and a half.” [07:48]
• Cautious Optimism: Excitement is tempered by some skepticism of Xbox’s broader organizational direction and respect for the need to see promised games actually deliver.
  • Blessing: “I don’t know what Xbox is. I don’t know where Xbox is going.” [08:55]

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2. The Prospects of Xbox First-Party Studios

Obsidian & Playground vs. Insomniac

• Fan "Warm Take": Should Obsidian and Playground be viewed in the same tier as Insomniac?
  • Consensus: Playground Games is close, buoyed by Forza’s massive mainstream appeal, while Obsidian remains a reliable workhorse but not quite “elite” due to recent projects feeling a bit formulaic.
  • Greg: “If this delivers, it’s game of the year for me and definitely skyrockets into my top 10 of all time, probably.” (about Fable) [12:14]
  • Mike: “I think Obsidian puts out good to great game. Yes. I think Insomniac puts out great to beyond great games.” [18:36]
  • Blessing: “Obsidian just needs to slow down. Why do we need to put out so many RPGs?” [19:09]

Forza’s Genre-busting Success

• Forza’s Mainstream Shift: The crew observes Forza Horizon (especially 4 & 5) made racing games mass appeal again, giving Playground Games special status among Xbox studios.
  • Andy: “Making a racing game this successful is the equivalent of making like a fighting game.” [17:36]
  • Tim: “Forza Horizon is the only arcade-esque racer that's doing it on that level.” [22:46]

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3. Xbox vs PlayStation – Platform and Library Comparison

• Listener Hot Take: “No matter what the numbers say, Xbox has been far and away the better platform than PlayStation this console generation. And it's not even close.” [23:28]
  • Panel Response: The panel debates what “better” means—game quality, ecosystem, or value for typical consumers.
  • Blessing: “For me, I lean toward PlayStation or the games we just listed.” [25:21]
  • Mike: “If we’re going to go with ecosystem... you start to add in all of this stuff that would go, ‘Hey, blessing just gave you ten amazing [PlayStation] games.’... But, I have all this laundry list bless that you don't have.” [26:00]

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4. The Game Pass Value Proposition Amid Price Raises

• Rising Prices, Changing Value: Game Pass’s price hike (from $20 to $30) sparked debate whether it’s still a no-brainer, especially for different types of gamers (e.g., those who play one game vs many).
  • Tim: “I still don't understand that argument in looking at it and going, but they're coming to PlayStation.” [27:47]
  • Barrett: “If someone is taking longer to play through a game, three months, four months... they're thinking $90. Even without the four children.” [32:37]
  • Blessing: “For me, it’s the way I treat Netflix… I’m probably losing money on Netflix at this point.” [30:09]
• Ownership vs. Rental: The discussion surfaces nostalgia for “owning” games versus a flexible, rented, subscription-driven future.

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5. Upcoming First-Party & Third-Party Xbox Games

Predicted Heavy Hitters

• Forza Horizon 6 (May)
• Fable (Autumn, possibly delayed)
• Beast of Reincarnation (Summer)
• Kiln (Spring)
• Gears of War: E Day, Halo reboot (TBA)
• Panel Skepticism: Not all are expected to launch in 2026; several may slip, especially with GTA 6 on the horizon.
  • Mike: “The flip side... most likely those four games actually won’t come out this year. I think that would be more of the conversation.” [54:03]
  • Tim: “I will not be shocked when they say we're pushing [Fable] to this time period next year...” [55:35]

Next Big Things Beyond 2026

• Elder Scrolls 6, State of Decay 3, Clockwork Revolution, Blade, OD (Kojima), World’s Edge Strategy Game
• Cautious Realities: Bethesda’s flagship RPGs (Elder Scrolls, Fallout) are still years away. New IPs like Clockwork Revolution have potential but face uphill battles as non-legacy franchises.
  • Tim: “I think that is the next big game... Elder Scrolls has to be maybe not the forefront of it in terms of releases, but in terms of hype...” [60:20]

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6. Game Freak, Pokémon, and the “Let Them Cook” Debate

• Beast of Reincarnation as Showcase: Fans note the creativity when Game Freak gets time—prompting “what if” speculation about mainline Pokémon games.
  • Eric (listener): “This dev direct made me annoyed that the system we live in forces Game Freak into rushing Pokémon titles to market... given an appropriate amount of time, Game Freak is a competent developer.”
  • Mike: “Pokemon is almost Call of Duty, right? It is too big to fail. It is on this cycle that is hard to get off.” [47:23]
  • Blessing: “Number one with a bullet is Pokémon. Pokémon is the highest selling IP in terms of revenue... The only way you would see, I think a big change... would be if Pokemon games come out and they're truly, like, damaging to the brand, like embarrassingly bad.” [51:47]

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7. Xbox Games Going PlayStation: Admission of Defeat?

• Listener Hot Take: “The fact that they're openly stating from the outset that Fable, Forza, Beast and Kiln are coming to PlayStation 5 rings like a full admission of defeat.” [65:27]
  • Panel Rebuttal: Microsoft is happy to sell millions more units via PlayStation, and shareholders respond to profit above all.
  • Andy: “They're very happy about just money being more and more money being made, which definitely leads to less layoffs, right?” [66:33]

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8. Industry Layoffs & Xbox’s Role

• Hard Truths: Excitement about Xbox is now often tinged with anxiety about layoffs. Even well-received or successful games/studios aren’t immune.
  • Listener: “The excitement doesn't hit as well knowing one of these studios is gonna be shut down in the near future.” [66:48]
  • Mike: “You could release a game, it could sell well, or it might not... and that studio is like possibly going to be laid off and completely shut down... But Xbox has been on some bullshit though.” [67:17]
  • Blessing: “We had to zero in on somebody though... Xbox has been on some bullshit though.” [68:04]
  • Andy: “When Mike... mentioned we'll be four years out from [South of Midnight], I immediately started Googling South of Midnight sales because I'm worried about Compulsion.” [68:07]

Ending on a Note of Humanity

• Mike: “Layoffs suck. And fucking mega corporations suck. Okay? ...If we keep trying a little bit more, maybe one day we'll stand up and we'll fix this place. But until then, mega corporations chill the out, okay? You got a lot of money already. Just spread it out a little bit, give them a little extra love.” [70:23]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Blessing on Xbox’s identity: “I just don’t, I don’t know what Xbox is. I don’t know where Xbox is going.” [08:55]
• Andy on Playground Games' challenge: “Making a racing game this successful is the equivalent of making like a fighting game.” [17:36]
• Tim on Game Pass value: “If Xbox is giving you a reason every month, every two months to have it, are we not making more?” [29:20]
• Greg, reflecting player anticipation: “If this delivers, it's game of the year for me...” [12:14]
• Mike on creative output: “Obsidian just needs to slow down. Why do we need to put out so many RPGs?” [19:09]
• Mike, realism about layoffs: “Layoffs suck. And fucking mega corporations suck.” [70:23]

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Important Timestamps

• [07:42] – Blessing’s day-after thoughts on Xbox’s lineup
• [08:55] – Blessing: “I don’t know what Xbox is...”
• [11:51] – “Obsidian and Playground as the new Insomniac?”
• [17:36] – Andy on Playground’s racing game feat
• [25:21] – PlayStation vs. Xbox: best first-party games
• [27:47] – Game Pass price/value debate
• [47:23] – Pokémon, Game Freak, and creative constraints
• [53:47] – Feasibility of all major Xbox releases in 2026
• [60:20] – Elder Scrolls as next big Xbox tentpole
• [66:48] – Layoffs tainting excitement for new games

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Episode Flow & Tone

The episode is pure Kinda Funny: fast, funny, layered, and heartfelt—filled with rapid-fire jokes, competitive banter, honest reflection, and genuine concern for industry trends. The team balances skepticism with optimism, never taking themselves too seriously but never shying away from tough questions.

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For New & Returning Listeners

Whether you’re a seasoned Xbox aficionado or just catching up, this jam-packed episode gives you an honest snapshot of Xbox fandom in 2026: excited, wary, critical-yet-hopeful, and increasingly shaped by the realities of corporate gaming culture. If you care about where new Xbox games are headed—and how the industry’s changing for better and worse—this crew’s dynamic, in-depth discussion will get you up to speed.

Transcript

[Andy Cortez]

This is your fix.

[Stassi Schroeder]

I am your host, Stassi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three?

[Greg Miller]

Steven.

[Mike]

Because he's so evil, I do think he is misunderstood.

[Andy Cortez]

You see everyone face consequences.

[Blessing]

It's intoxicating.

[Stassi Schroeder]

The writers just know how to trick. Yeah, there's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies the official podcast January 6th and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies January 13th on Hulu and Hulu on Disney.

[Greg Miller]

Go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your first year on the annual plan. If you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows go to patreon.com kindafunny.

[Tim]

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Kinda Funny Games cast for Friday, January 23, 2020 26. I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30 aka New York Game Awards nominated aka leftover poppy blessing Eddie. Oh, yay.

[Blessing]

Junior two weeks from the fall off. It's a new J. Cole album.

[Tim]

Oh, thank you. I was like, I don't understand the reference.

[Blessing]

Very important.

[Tim]

Okay, thank you very much.

[Andy Cortez]

Fall off New Vegas, two weeks from

[Mike]

the fall off of Xbox hot take.

[Tim]

Whoa, whoa. That's the master of hype. Snow bike Mike, you still riding high on the Xbox?

[Mike]

I'm still riding. Really? I. I'm excited to hear your Xbox hot takes audience out there because I was riding in my car this morning, like, what they got to say. What they got to say. They just had a great showing.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Mike]

It's a 25th anniversary. You know, the game's coming. What do you really got to say? And we'll find out.

[Tim]

Was it a short trip to the office today?

[Mike]

No, it was a long one. I made it two exits away from work. You know, it's not a long drive, but I'm two exits away from work. What happens, Andy? I forgot that goddamn switch for party turned around. There I am getting all up.

[Andy Cortez]

Jesus.

[Tim]

Yeah, he walked in and he was like. He did the hello.

[Andy Cortez]

And we were all.

[Tim]

And Roger and me were like, he's uptight. What's he uptight about?

[Andy Cortez]

Then he.

[Tim]

And then Barrett called him out. Like, oh, man. He saw. Barrett saw him pull up. Sweet. He's like, I was wondering if you'd forget. He's like, I was fucking two oxygens away.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello, everybody. Good morning.

[Tim]

Rounding it out, it's the Hispanic heartthrob Texas treat Latino heat. Clicking heads and ripping them to shreds. The Globetrot and head shot in three point shooting. Rooting Tootin nitro rifle from Twitch tv. Andy Cortez.

[Blessing]

Hello.

[Andy Cortez]

Blessing and Greg up.

[Tim]

Damn, he's mad at Mike.

[Mike]

He's giving Mike, you up tight about you won last night. You went 2 and 0.

[Andy Cortez]

Why is a friend of mine rooting against my success?

[Tim]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't get it.

[Tim]

What were you playing?

[Mike]

Yeah, what were you playing?

[Andy Cortez]

We're back in Valerant.

[Tim]

Who's on that team?

[Blessing]

Good question.

[Tim]

Who's on that team?

[Andy Cortez]

Question.

[Blessing]

Who's on that Valerant team? Well, I'm sure Melissa with a Y.

[Andy Cortez]

If somebody checked an email from an invite that happened many moons ago, maybe over two years ago.

[Mike]

Sometimes you got to resend it.

[Andy Cortez]

Anyway, we had our valorant team. We're 02. We went two and two or we won the last two games yesterday. And Mike's sitting here right before the show starts. It goes, you got this fucking team. They're, you know, Andy's team is up six at two and I'm like, come on other team, do something. And then suddenly, you know, and sudd.

[Tim]

It's.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a tie game and it's a close game and I'm like, oh, here we go. Watch out, they're coming for you, Andy. And then they ended up winning boring ass matches. He was in my YouTube chat going, no competition here. This. These games are easy. They're too boring for them. Like, what is wrong with you?

[Mike]

No competition, no come.

[Blessing]

When he said rooting against you, I was thinking that he was streaming his reaction to your game. Just hating the whole time.

[Mike]

I'm a current ex girlfriend that's extremely envious and jealous because I just want to spend time with Andy and I want to play Valerie, current ex girlfriend. I'm not loud on that.

[Tim]

Breaks my brain.

[Mike]

So I just watch through the screen. I just go, maybe one day that will be me. You know, just. But don't worry, I'm assembling my own team right now. Wow. You can join the Snowbike Mike Superstars today. Reach out to me on X and or blue sky. That's BS Tim. If you would like to join the Snowbike Mike Superstars where one day we're going to battle Andy and his jabronis, the Val Frogs. And if we win, Andy has to come play with me from this point forward. That's the deal.

[Andy Cortez]

He put out the.

[Tim]

Agreed to this deal.

[Andy Cortez]

He put out the. No, I didn't and I will never. And he put out the call on Twitter and then Said I just want my best friend back. And it's like he's like the supervillain that's like I have to destroy everything on this planet to cure it. Yeah, like you're going to. You're going to the edge of the earth to make my life worse because you want your.

[Blessing]

That's not going to bring me back.

[Mike]

I'm going to win.

[Tim]

You agreed. He doesn't even like playing the game

[Mike]

he was playing.

[Blessing]

He would.

[Andy Cortez]

He would begrudgingly play by himself, Greg. Yeah, because Maddock and Washburn said that

[Mike]

he sucked and then I level them

[Andy Cortez]

and he didn't like the game. And then he would just be like, I just played fudgeing four matches of Valor. I'm just getting my ass. It's like, why are you playing?

[Tim]

Just, he wants to be with me. How he wants to play with you. He loves you.

[Mike]

He just won't let me play.

[Tim]

He doesn't have friends. Really hurt my feelings, you know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

You have an invite. Check your emails. Just search Valorant.

[Mike]

There's about seven different emails tied up. You have to hit me up on the right line.

[Andy Cortez]

It sounds like you don't want it bad enough

[Blessing]

here. I just dropped a really funny post from the Reddit.

[Mike]

Yeah, put it on while that happens.

[Tim]

Send Nuggie super chats and says, didn't a child call him out during a match?

[Mike]

Lol.

[Andy Cortez]

All right, everybody, we're gonna go in quiet. We're gonna go in quiet. Nobody make a sound, okay? And we're all like, yeah, okay, 12 year old, you're right. But nobody's gonna make a sound. And I'm on the other side of the map and I just hear one single shot goes off. Brim. Are you dumb? Cause Michael's playing Brimstone and we're in the discord. He's like this fucking kid, this fucking teenager checking me, man.

[Tim]

And now the image here from the subreddit. Mike and his best friend Andy. When Kiln releases and it's a ghost,

[Mike]

we're gonna be creating some pots. We're gonna be spinning some pots.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a very disturbing photo. I honestly thought that was a photoshop of Greg.

[Tim]

It did look like me.

[Andy Cortez]

I mean the hair, the straight hair looks like Greg.

[Tim]

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. People call me Patrick Swayze a lot if you didn't know everybody. This is the kind of funny games cast. Each and every day we run you through the biggest topics in video games. If you're watching live right now, I need your hot takes about Xbox coming off that direct. It could be about the games, it could be about the platform, it could be about anything. I have a locked and loaded list here of people who are ready to fire from the hip and I appreciate that. Remember of course if you love us, we couldn't do this without you. You should go be a Patreon producer. Patreon.com kindafunny Just like Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining for now, let's begin with what is and forever will be topic of the show.

[Andy Cortez]

Tats, tats, tats, tats, tats, tats tats.

[Tim]

Remember yesterday when Gary Widow was impressed by the graphic that we've had for seven years Never seen. The topic of the show is your Xbox hot takes. Of course yesterday we had a banger live reaction and Gamescast post show with all of us, Paris and Gary reacting and reviewing of course the Xbox developer direct where they talked about playground games, Fable, they talked about playground games Forza Horizon 6. They talked about game freaks, Beast of Reincarnation and they talked about double finds Kiln as is our tradition now a new one we've started recently when we do these big live reactions and do all the stuff we love to talk about, we then ask you for your hot takes over on social media. But more importantly patreon.com kind of funny where you can go sign up for a free account and be part of the show there. Of course if you're watching live right now, like I said, super chat in with yours. Maybe you missed them. You can still be a part of it here. Blessing before we dive into the takes, where are you at the day after we've settled? You woke up this morning.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Tim]

You didn't look at the news because it's just horrific every day. You thought about Xbox though. What did you think?

[Blessing]

I'm excited about the games.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

You know, I think the games that they have coming out this year are exciting. I'm very much looking forward to Fable, looking forward to Beef of Reincarnation or to Forza Horizon 6. Right. Like looking forward, forward to killing and seeing how that does and seeing what it plays like. It looks different. It looks interesting. I, I think the games that they have slated this year are really good and I think honestly one of the strongest lineups from Xbox that I can recall in the last decade and a half.

[Mike]

Right.

[Blessing]

Like I would, I would say that it seems that strong. That's how I feel about the games, how I feel about the organization of Xbox, the organization of Microsoft.

[Tim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

I'm still in a Place of like I don't. They had me with their vision at one point. Right. I really liked the idea of what Xbox was doing with everything's an Xbox play anywhere. All of it felt so forward looking and feature focused and we would talk about all the time on PS. Love your KHD about how man PlayStation is going to be in second place because Xbox is doing all the things you need to do to maneuver and shift and change with the business. That isn't my feeling anymore as far as kind of where we're just at in 2026, where I just don't, I don't know what Xbox is. I don't know where Xbox is going.

[Mike]

Right.

[Blessing]

There have been so many canceled projects. There have been so many shifts. There have been so many things that you know, Satya Nadella has come down and made decisions that Phil Spencer May had not made himself. There are things that I'm like, I don't know if I'm feeling this, but the games look really good.

[Tim]

Andy, what did you think about Xbox this morning when you woke up?

[Andy Cortez]

I thought about my excitement for Forza and Fable. I think my excitement for Fable has only grown since yesterday and just kind of thinking more about what the possibilities of that game can be and.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And how you're in a really good spot when you have a developer that could be putting out two game of the year contenders. And I didn't necessarily feel that way last year with, with Obsidian because I, I, we kind of know the quality Obsidian puts out and it's always very, very good to great and sometimes there will be an absolute goatee contender. But I think, you know, with Obsidian last year going wow, they have avowed and outer worlds. Like how awesome does that sound? And avowed underwhelmed me. And then outer worlds. I think I was just playing other stuff and didn't really find the time to get back to outer world. But I think this year it's like a definite step up in terms of not only what the games are but what we expect from them. And Forza always being this big force in the gaming industry and how it, it's kind of like the genre changer where even if you're not into driving games, you still play Forza.

[Tim]

Sure.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And with Fable being this game that seems to be making a lot of big promises. But I don't know if, I don't know if a company makes those promises without feeling confident anymore. I think there have been a lot of CD project Red Birds. Yeah, I think there have been a lot of disasters in the past that it's really. I think developers and publishers are a lot more cautious now to over promise on stuff like that for fear of backlash. And there was a lot of confidence in that Fable showcase yesterday to piggyback

[Blessing]

off your playground thing, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Back off.

[Blessing]

I think the way I feel about Playground this year is that they, I think can be what I wanted Obsidian to be last year. Where I kind of am with you as far as avowed, underwhelmed me and I would say Outer Worlds 2 also underwhelmed me. And I'm somebody who I'm always going to put respect on the Obsidian name. I think Obsidian, they're a legendary. I was going to say jrpg, but legendary RPG developers. But last year I feel like they put out two, eight out of tens. Even avowed to me is like, you know, I very quickly tapped out, was just not feeling it. Playground, I think between Forza and Fable, I feel like have the potential to put out the maybe number one and two on Game of the Year lists.

[Tim]

This guy Duro wrote in on patreon.com kind of funny. Just like you could for this episode for free with your free account to get all the quips and the updates and things. Instead, my warm take, we need to start talking about Obsidian and Playground being just as great as Insomniac and maybe even better. They don't miss.

[Blessing]

I mean, I think Playground, I don't know about it. I don't know if I would say Obsidian.

[Tim]

I. I think it's a fascinating question to get into the weeds of. All right, I'm with you and I. But even Playground Fable. I came home last night, I was talking to Jen right after we talked about how horrible everything is. And it was like, I'm like, that is literally that Fable presentation is somebody's like, what if we designed a game just for Greg Miller and we put it out here and like I was watching, it was like, this is exactly the kind of. That's what I'm wanting to play right now. It's why I started up Fable Anniversary Edition. It's why I started up the Witcher 3. Like, I'm looking for that kind of western open world rpg. But my problem with giving them the crown already is I. I won't believe it until I'm on sticks. Like, I just don't want to believe it till I'm on sticks. Forza. Yes. Forza Horizon 5 is incredible. Me and Ben love it. At dinner last night, I was like, ben, there's a new Forza Horizon. It's coming to Japan. He goes, what's Japan? And I was like, okay. Like, I was like, you know, Jen's like, it's like Pokemon. They make Pokemon. We're stoked about that. I get that. It's just, yeah, I need to see this and play this because I want to believe this is going to be. If this delivers, it's game of the year for me and definitely skyrockets into my top 10 of all time, probably. If it's this game, if it is what they showed here. To jump back to the Obsidian thing, this is a conversation I've had a lot. I feel here at the end of the year, as somebody who loves this Western rpg, loves that Bethesda RPG and Avowed, I forget what I gave it, like a seven or something to that effect. And then Outer Worlds I really enjoyed. But I enjoyed it for the minutia and mechanics, not the overarching thing. And it wasn't. I expected that to be. I said when we. I came away from sgf, this could be my game of the year. And it didn't. I think it ended up five or six. I forget. Barrett would know. It was deeper on my list than I would have expected. But Obsidian is a developer I show up for. If they're doing it, I'm stoked to play a 7.58 RPG for them. What. You know what I said about Avowed? I am going to drop everything on February teens when they drop the anniversary update. Because new game plus new races, bells and whistle fixes. Like, all right, is this going to tighten the screws on an experience I enjoyed but didn't love.

[Andy Cortez]

Andy, what's funny about that is I feel like the only thing about missed on for me was the NPCs and forming these bonds and relationships, caring about them.

[Tim]

Right?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. But everything else was just so Gameplay. Everything else was really, really damn good. I loved it. Making a decision that was. It's. It's never a binary thing. It's never. This is the clear cut, correct thing to do.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Because you're always going to piss somebody else off. And I really enjoyed that sort of take. Taking that angle with it. It's like they made such a solid rpg, but what makes an amazing RPG is having these, you know, companions. If you are building a kind of a companion type of RPG game where you're always walking out with your crew, that's the only thing they missed on for me. And it's like if they could just hit that, that would have been an all Timer for me and you, did

[Tim]

you not Outer worlds. You talked about it. Just not right place, right time.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I forget what I was playing around. I also think that it was suffering some performance issues at the. When it launched on PC. Shocker, right? PC game shaders cheated.

[Tim]

I generated them.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it was, it was one of those where it's like, whoa, why is it taking this much to run right now? This is kind of crazy. So I was like maybe give it a bit. But I think I was just busy with other stuff and never quite got back to it.

[Tim]

Okay. Okay.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think that's a warm take. You know, I think if you listen to a lot of Xbox podcasts, they already hold Obsidian in that regard. Playground games will be very fun to see this year. Let's just say Forza Horizon comes out and is that banger that the follow up to 5 is. Will it be finally nominated at the Game of the Year awards as the big six, right. Because yeah, Forza Horizon 5 got accolades from IGN, got a lot of love from a lot of outlets, but was not there on the big stage. Right. And that's kind of like I don't

[Blessing]

think it's ever going to happen.

[Mike]

Well, that's the pro. That's the thing we get into bless. Right. It's like when you talk about, oh, let's hold playground games, a team that's known for racing games before this up to the level of Insomniac, there's kind of like this Xbox tax, but like there's this racing game thing of like not many people out there in the giant open world or like I love racing games, this is my thing. Or I'm gonna give that a try. As opposed to Spider man, which is like I see Spider Man, I've seen the movies. Anyone and their mother would try that. Right? So like not a lot of people have been on board with playground games and they're kind of how great that development team already has been to give them their flowers that they deserve over the years that they've been making for Rising.

[Blessing]

How did the forces of games sell compared to other games? The Xbox catalog I would say pretty high because I, because I, I think the place where I push back in regards to. But they don't have like a Spider man thing is just that like Forza Horizon specifically is so easy to get into, so approachable, so many people play and buy it and that in those games also come out with a above 90 metacritic.

[Mike]

But you have like that since 4 and 5, right? We weren't talking about that in 2 and 3 because it just wasn't on the map.

[Blessing]

I feel like three is where that started for at least for me.

[Mike]

I think three is where we turn the engine on.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Mike]

It wasn't cooking. Where now people have that opinion that you're saying where it's like, oh, everyone's doing that. That started at four and five. That started like late four into five, if I'm being real with you.

[Blessing]

Yeah. But I think they're there. Like I don't think they need a Spiderman Fable. Honestly agree be that for them. But I think regardless, you erase Fable from the picture already. I look at Playground games as a top three developer at Xbox. Maybe top one if I really think about it.

[Mike]

How about. Okay, well, let's delete real quick.

[Andy Cortez]

Just as in the world. As of a week ago, forza rival sold 5 million copies only on PS5. That's fucking crazy. You know, like that's.

[Tim]

I think putting Xbox games on PlayStation is a failure.

[Andy Cortez]

I think making.

[Tim]

There are many defeating.

[Andy Cortez]

Making a racing game this successful is the equivalent of making like a fighting game. Yes. This.

[Tim]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

Like it's a genre that's like so specific and again, a genre that I would have never tried out if it weren't for Forza Horizon 4. And like the early days of game Pass and going, let me give this racing game a try. I haven't played a racing game since need for Speed Underground 2 and I've never given a shit. And it's like it became the mainstream

[Tim]

thing for me as one bullet point not to get in the way. I do think that's why Forza Horizon 6 I look at and I say it does have the stuff and the possibility to make the game awards game of the year. Because I think five cooked for so long and got so many people in, let alone these PlayStation people, that now you put it out. I wish it was day and date everywhere because I think you'd have an even bigger pop. But you get it there. I think people are going to come to this that don't care about racing and really understand it.

[Mike]

And so like Playground for me, I. I'm in that conversation. Playground has already been up there. Mine is more towards Obsidian, actually where your warm take comes in. For me, I think Obsidian is great. I think if you listen to a lot of Xbox podcasts, people have said they are the workhorse, they are the Insomniac.

[Tim]

Three games last year, I actually would

[Mike]

look at you and say, well, to me, I think. I think Insomniac is Higher than Obsidian. Because right now my opinion, I think Obsidian puts out good to great game. Yes. I think Insomniac puts. Puts out great to beyond great games. And I think there is a level that Obsidian is not quite there yet.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Mike]

Is the smaller projects. Maybe it's the smaller teams working on different projects, but there's not the. Hey, we have now changed the game. Like a Spider man is where Insomniac has earned that even before Spider Man. But like, I think Obsidian's not there.

[Blessing]

I warmed a hot take piggybacking off of that. Is that I think Obsidian just needs to slow down. Why do. Why do we need to put out so many RPGs?

[Mike]

I think the problem.

[Blessing]

One of the problems I had jumping from a Vow to Outer Worlds too, is that they felt like different flavors of a very, very similarly made thing. Which is cool. You have a bag, you have this thing that you're. That you're specialized in. But I want to look forward to an Obsidian rpg.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing]

Like, Greg brings up the Bethesda of it of, you know, you loving these Western RPGs or whatever. I'm in the same boat. I love Bethesda rpg. I love Of a. I love an Obsidian rpg. I loved Outer Worlds one. But I'm in this place now where I'm like, man, I've been there.

[Mike]

I've done that.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

And I've. I've felt that very strongly with that in Outer Worlds too.

[Mike]

The problem with that, right, is now we get into the game of when they make that great one. Now we're waiting for so long for the next one. Which is exciting. It is a. You choose which poison you want. Right. You can either make a great one and wait five years, or they have this interesting cadence now of like, we're making these smaller projects that come out in two to three, maybe just two. And we can get out there at a faster pace. Which some fans enjoy. Right. But yeah, I like this take. I think it is warm here. Playground. I would like to see get the credit that they deserve this year. If Forza comes out as a banger. Obsidian, that's my conversation. I don't know if they're there for me.

[Tim]

That's my take away from it too, right? Is that I think Obsidian is a workhorse for Xbox. Yes. I do not think they are at the. The level of Insomniac. If you were like, you're. We're doing the fantasy publisher. You can have one of these devs. I'm taking insomniac 10 out of 10 times. No offense to Obsidian, whose games I love Playground. I accept the argument, but I need to see Fable. I need to see what happens when you're not just doing the car game. You know what I mean? And can you deliver again on 4 to 6? Are we putting way too much credit on that? And if that'll deliver, which I think it will. And then what happens?

[Blessing]

I think the car game is what brings them to. Mike was going to ask where, you know, where do I put Playground? Just as far as developers, period.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I think I would say they're top 10 right now. Right now in the game. Top 10.

[Mike]

I like.

[Blessing]

And I think that's just with the car game.

[Mike]

But in your fantasy critic draft, you're not taking them over Insomniac.

[Blessing]

No, I am.

[Mike]

Okay. I like that.

[Blessing]

I am my fantasy. My fantasy critic.

[Mike]

If I was to say we're fake fan, you have first pick to pick a studio that will be underneath you based on like.

[Blessing]

Based on critical reception.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah. Every single time.

[Mike]

I like that.

[Blessing]

Yeah. But also, like, you should hear how I talk about Insomnia.

[Tim]

I know.

[Mike]

I. I love that you do that. Bless. I want more people to think of Playground like that and I think they are turning to that. With the 4 and 5 thing that you and I just talked about. It's like I think more people are getting on board and seeing that and I kind of. I had a fun one for you yesterday that I didn't bring up. That was like Mike's hot take. But I think Forza Horizon has done to racing games what need for Speed was Underground back in the day that made them so popular and to a general audience that everyone plays. I don't think there's been a racing game since Underground 2 to Forza Rise and that has been a. The mass appeal is there. Every person is down with this. I think there's been some stars, but I. I think those are the two here. That was kind of my one. I smiled at you yesterday. I wanted to say to you. Oh yeah, because like, I think that's how it's been.

[Blessing]

I mean, I'm excited that this year there's this game coming up called Screamer. I don't know if you've seen the trailer for this, but it's an anime style racing game that has a bunch of different modes and story and it's supposed to be more laid back and arcade and I've been. You know, we love Burnout here.

[Tim]

Oh yeah, we do.

[Blessing]

Such a big Burnout fan all the time. I'm asking for burnout. Forza Horizon feels like it's cornered the market in such a way where it's like nobody else is able to kind of do it on that level. And I feel like they're the only, I guess, arcade style racing game that feels like they're able to actually dominate and go hard and do all that stuff. So I get excited for a game like Screamer coming up. But I think you're right. Yeah, like Forza Horizon is the only, the only arcade esque racer that's doing it. Like Forza Horizon.

[Tim]

Foxy sees super chats in the middle of this conversation, says not enough respect gets put on Obsidian. They should get flowers for knowing the scope of their games and sticking to it. It's hard to Dr. Drop a single good game in a year, let alone two great ones. And again, you could argue three with grounded obviously last year as well. But again it's that argument of what are you giving these games? I think, yeah, they're that seven to eight window is where they are. I want them to be 8.5 to 9, which is where I feel insomniac is in that conversation.

[Mike]

They're in that conversation. They get a lot of love from a lot of different outlets and podcasts. But it is cool to see the general audience now really start to attach themselves to Obsidian in the name. We haven't seen that in a long time. Since New Vegas.

[Tim]

Sure. And then Tim Kaine going back there, see what that brings in the future. But for now, I had marked that one for Andy because it was in line with what he was talking about. I had marked one earlier in line for bless. Okay, based on your comments to start the show, Rich of course went to patreon.com kind of funny with a free account and said no matter what the numbers say, Xbox has been far and away the Better platform than PlayStation this console generation. And it's not even close.

[Blessing]

In what ways is that all they say?

[Tim]

That's all they say. They're throwing their hot takes out. I would imagine they mean in first party production. What Xbox Game Studios are putting out versus what PlayStation is putting out, what we just how they're communicating. I'm filling in gaps.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah, yeah. But as an experiment.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing]

Well, what would we say are the best five Xbox exclusives this generation or Xbox published games doesn't have to be exclusive.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. It's so hard to say exclusive now.

[Tim]

Yeah, yeah. But what's coming from Xbox game studio?

[Blessing]

Yeah, versus five from PlayStation.

[Tim]

Sure.

[Blessing]

I think that's the easiest way to. Because PlayStation. I would say God of War. Ragnarok.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Spider Man 2.

[Andy Cortez]

Last of Us Part 2.

[Blessing]

That was last gen. Oh, yeah, yeah. Returnal. At least I would say returnal.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim]

No, no, for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure, for sure. Yote.

[Blessing]

Yote.

[Tim]

Okay, we're brainstorming games.

[Blessing]

That's raining too. I'll toss out there.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Ratcheting Clank. Demon Souls maybe.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

I think it's more of an acquired taste. But Astrobot, it's in me. It's. Oh, look how long it took us to say Astrobot.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Kind of funny.

[Tim]

The game that defines kind of funny.

[Blessing]

Yeah. What would we say for Xbox?

[Tim]

People are really up about Indiana Jones. Forza Doom, the Dark Ages. You know, I'm gonna come out and say Starfield, even though I know. Don't get me wrong, I'm just saying. We're saying, we're saying. I. What else? I mean that's where you get into outer worlds. Two you get into about. It's like. And so then the question, the question

[Blessing]

then is what are y' all picking between those two lists? Because for me, I. I lean toward PlayStation or the games we just listed.

[Tim]

No matter what the numbers say, Xbox has been the far and away Better platform than PlayStation. This console generation, it's not even close. So he. They are rich is saying when you're platform.

[Andy Cortez]

When you say platform though, that you know, I can play those awesome Xbox games on PlayStation.

[Mike]

Well, you added the whole ecosystem. Yeah, that' the thing. It's like they've made this move now to play anywhere your cloud save going with you for play anywhere. The whole breakdown. You have PC gaming, you have game pass, you have game pass third party deals. Right. You have all of these add on things that like if we're going to go with ecosystem.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Mike]

You start to add in all of this stuff that would go, hey, blessing just gave you ten amazing games. And the only counterpoint to that is like, well, I have good games. Some great, some, but good. But then I have all this laundry list bless that you don't have. And bless is like, yeah, well I'm here for the games on here because you can play on PC and the

[Andy Cortez]

Xbox and I have only got so

[Mike]

much time pick a lane here. What your argument is.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

And then also I also think about interface as well. And nothing has frustrated me more this generation for Xbox than booting up an Xbox and just navigating everything.

[Mike]

I mean that just comes down to personal preference. Oh, wait, we. Because I'M on the flip side of that night. I've had that argument before where I try to stay that bear.

[Andy Cortez]

It's familiar.

[Mike]

It's just. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I mean, I hate every interface. Give it.

[Andy Cortez]

Give an iPhone user an Android and they're not going to know what to do.

[Tim]

Yeah. Let me bring this into the conversation then. Okay. Because I think we're talking about Game Pass. We're talking about platform, obviously. It's been a year for Game Pass. Red Eyed Eagles put it on Patreon. Xbox seems to be on a good run with the release of some bangers and what looks like some more bangers after the direct yesterday. However, I can't see how there's an any entry point or benefit into Game Pass with the current price cost for the different tiers. It seems that waiting for the PlayStation 5 versions are the best way to play these games. I'll start. I don't understand this argument. I just don't. I understand Game pass went up $10 and I understand that pissed people off and a lot of people left. It went from 20 to 30. Right. Mike, help me out here.

[Mike]

That's right, 20 to 30.

[Tim]

Wasn't it doubled?

[Mike]

Yeah, no, I think it's at 30. Right.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Tim]

Yeah. And I understand $10 is more and I understand that gets to $30, which is very close to $60. I understand the girl math, gamer math, we'd all do about it how you.

[Andy Cortez]

But it'd be one thing if everything was real cheap in the world right now. I just not.

[Tim]

I still don't understand that argument in looking at it and going, but they're coming to PlayStation. It's like, okay, so I guess the argument we're making as I try, I'm doing good faith. I'm not doing a bit of. I'm doing the good faith argument that you don't have an Xbox already or you don't have a PC or like, so you're talking about the $60. $70 is cheaper than buying the thing. But like if you have the Xbox, if you have the PC, the cloud,

[Greg Miller]

you know what I mean?

[Tim]

Like, what are we talking about? Because it's. Yeah, I want to play Fable. When that comes around, I will buy one month of Game Pass for $30 rather than $70 on PlayStation, you get to keep it.

[Blessing]

Though I do think that's a big difference there of, okay, I own this

[Tim]

thing for one and that's. That's a great wrinkle that I just don't think about because for me at least. And I. This is where the inverse of people always like, oh, you don't understand what it's like to be a normal person. They usually mean money. I don't understand time where games for me aren't a marathon. They are a fucking sprint. Finish this. Get as much as you can out to talk about it by embargo. So that is a worthwhile point. But even then, I guess I don't know how long a. I'm a father of four. I play one hour of games a night. I don't understand how. How long you sit with a game in that argument then. But I would still. Yeah, okay, so this actually helps me. This actually helps my take because I'm still thinking of, well, you subscribe for multiple months and you get all these other games. But if I'm a father of four who gets one hour, I think a

[Blessing]

lot of people, we see the statistics all the time of like, most people are only playing a couple games a year. And then if you're a gamer, you're playing more than that. But I like, I think we're way outside of the norm of like, but here's my. So many games.

[Tim]

But here's my counter. My counter argument to that. Again, it's just the fact that that's makes sense for that father of four playing. That father of four is not watching me live on YouTube right now. That father of four is not on Patreon submitting this question. We are talking about a group of gamers, right, who saw all those games last night and probably go, I want to try three or the four. I want to try multiple things. I don't. So, like, again, for the Xbox business, if Xbox is giving you a reason every month, every two months to have it, are we not making more? But again, then we get into how much you're spending. We get into, you buy the physical. You know, you trade it in, you get money. Like, I get it. I just feel like I don't know for me, personally, and this is the problem of the value of your dollar, the value of your time is such a different argument where, like, the $10 increase, I would look at it, and I do think me, as an outsider would look at it and go, still cheaper than 80 bucks.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I think it might be. For me, it's the way I treat Netflix, where I am subbed to Netflix, and I look at my. The shows that I've watched in the last, like two months, and I've only watched his and hers and Stranger Things and, like, the values there. Look at all the shows And TV shows and movies and all the stuff that I have access to. Like if I go dollars and cents, the amount I paid versus the amount I get, the amount I get is way over the amount I paid.

[Tim]

But what are you using?

[Blessing]

What am I using it for? Like, I'm probably losing money on Netflix at this point.

[Tim]

Yeah. Anybody else?

[Mike]

We read it one more time for me, Greg.

[Tim]

Sure. Xbox seems to be on a good run with the release of some bangers and what looks like some more bangers. After the direct yesterday, however, I can't see how there's any entry point or benefit into game pass. With the current price cost for the different tiers. It seems that waiting for the PlayStation 5 versions are the best way to play these games.

[Mike]

Okay. Yeah. I mean it's interesting that Xbox and the game pass price has risen to a point now where we're having a really in depth conversation. When they started it was that sweet

[Andy Cortez]

deal of like such a no brainer.

[Mike]

Oh my God. $10 a month.

[Tim]

Of course.

[Mike]

Yeah, you said let. Forget it. Oh, we're running the deal $1 for three months. Yeah, I'm on. Now you got me. Right. It's like all of these subscription services were very much like that when they first came out and you first signed up. Now as money's gotten tighter, you've been with them for years on years, you've seen things come and go. We now start to have a lot more conversations of like, hold up now, should I be canceling this? Should I be on and off of this? Right. And you still have that conversation back and forth, Greg. And you said it. Well, it's like, well, what does it mean to you?

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Mike]

Are you just going to buy it straight up? And that's why you're. The way you're gaming. There's going to be a lot of families out there. There's a lot of people that might prefer the game pass method of I want 120 games because I would rather Shotgun Blast and try a bunch of things than be committed to one title.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Mike]

I think a blockbuster back in the day for me and my family was a huge one.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Mike]

Gamestop going in and trading in all those shitty games. I don't know, it's really up to you. But the $30 price point is getting to a questionable level there.

[Tim]

But to be clear, I saw somebody. Oh man. A rare bad take from Greg. Well, first off, I have bad takes all the time. But secondly, like, no, I'm not like ironclad in this. And again, I appreciate the Feedback and the talking me through it. Because it's. It's. You can only envision how you play games and that.

[Andy Cortez]

And so you're seeing 30 versus 70.

[Tim]

That's for me where I'm like, I just know. But I. Keeping a game and doing stuff. Ownership, a collection. That's shit.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't.

[Barrett]

And then also with. We're talking about time. If someone is taking longer to play through. Through a game, three months, four months. They're not thinking $30, they're thinking $90. That's all I have the time for. Even without the four children. Just people also just living life even without children. Like thinking about that time investment as well. That's. That's the prices they start thinking about.

[Tim]

And see, I double. Back to your point. Bless of these so many subscriptions, right? I'm the king of. Oh, man. Pluribus severance, Apple. Great. As soon as that shit's done, I cancel Apple. Yeah, I. Apple is. I come for a specific thing and I am not subscribed otherwise. I think for Peacock too. When my show got canceled, I was like, fuck you. You know what I mean? I'll come back for whatever I specifically need.

[Blessing]

I think to myself with video games, at least before I started working this job where I think I always have kind of the promise to myself of Fallout 4, I'm gonna play the hell out of this game and one day I'll platinum it. And I can't really have that promise myself If I'm paying $30 for one month of it and then bouncing out and I don't have that game. Like there are all the. There are so many different games. I'm like, oh, I'm eventually going to come back around to this. And I think not having that ownership kind of mentally, at least for a lot of people, might not make that worth it.

[Tim]

That makes sense.

[Mike]

And waiting for the PS5 version like that say, what console do you own? Some people have them all. Some people are only on PS5. Right. And that is your avenue. Or you might have a PC, you might want to be trying cloud gaming and dipping your toe into that. There's so many ways of going into this.

[Tim]

And again, right. You saw last year, me and the Rog Ally even before the X comes around. Like that was such a big deal for me. That Xbox game anywhere. That's what it's all about. I want that on the system to look great. I want it over here. I had a strange one the other day. As everybody who's been following me knows, my wife has officially banned the Rog ally from the bedroom. Too goddamn loud, right? So like when I started. When I started the Witcher again, right, I started it on Switch. It's got cross saved so that I could kick it down on my PlayStation 5 or whatever. Redacted came through the other day. Hey, who wants codes for redacted? I requested a Switch 2 version of it over a PlayStation over the thing because I was like, I want it with me and I don't want a little bit of latency or whatever and

[Andy Cortez]

let me use this fucking thing for once.

[Tim]

Switch is so quiet.

[Andy Cortez]

I love this.

[Tim]

So nice. I've been using them a lot. Don't worry about that. I've been using him a lot. Just like a lot of you have been using your Patreon kind of funny benefits and YouTube benefits. I screwed it up where I was going. But Apple and Spotify, if you didn't know we have a kind of funny membership, we couldn't do our amazing jobs without it. So you head over to patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple or Spotify. You toss us 10 bucks and we toss you more than 80 episodes of content ad free each and every month. Plus your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a podcast series we call Greg way. That's 15 to 20 minutes in my car every morning. And you get good karma for supporting an 11 year old 11 person small business. But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors.

[Greg Miller]

This episode is brought to you by boot.dev. if you're listening to this show, there's a solid chance that you 1 like video games and 2 at some point in your life have been interested in learning software development. Boot.dev combines those things because they know that the smartest way to learn is to never get bored. It takes your coding from beginner to expert the fun way through a hands on RPG like experience. If you're ready to put in the time it takes like Kevin is my

[Blessing]

favorite feature is that you could find a solution that works but then afterwards you can hit solution and see the way that they were trying to teach you to do it.

[Barrett]

That's really cool.

[Greg Miller]

Curriculum designed for builders with gamers sensibilities in mind. Boot.dev welcomes you to the most captivating way to learn to code. You can learn backend web development from start to finish in Python, SQL and go. Bored learners quit. Smart learners never get bored. That's why you'll learn by doing what you'd actually be doing at a job building real projects. Go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan. There's no better time to give your coding dreams a chance, just like Kevin's doing. Again, go to boot.dev and use code kinda funny to get 25% off your entire first year on the annual plan.

[Tim]

From the co writer of Rogue One comes See you in hell, a new Hollywood satire.

[Mike]

Kind of like the studio, except you'd never get away with this on television. Starring Shannon Woodward.

[Stassi Schroeder]

You seriously need to see a shrink or something before you get arrested for

[Mike]

dicky waving Thomas Sadarsky.

[Stassi Schroeder]

I don't have imposter syndrome.

[Blessing]

You should John Cryer.

[Tim]

You think I don't know bullshit when I hear it?

[Mike]

I represent Sean Hannity and John Boyega.

[Andy Cortez]

I was in Star wars and Pacific Rim.

[Stassi Schroeder]

The second one Wherever.

[Mike]

See you in hell.

[Tim]

Wherever you get your podcasts and at cuinhell tv. Hey you. Join us in person for our live in review of Howard the Duck. That's right, Howard the Duck joins MCU in Review. Wednesday, January 28th at 7:30pm p.m. at Cobbs Comedy Club for SF Sketch Fest. You can come watch me do all the podcasts within a podcast you love andyou'll be going. Nick will be shopping for paints during it, but everybody else will be there too for you to come hang out and see. All you have to do is go over to kinda funny.com sketchfest right now to get your tickets before they sell out because come and watching a bunch of people talk about a very old Howard the Duck movie is really selling tickets fast.

[Stassi Schroeder]

Spring is here and there's a whole new way to chai at Starbucks that's made perfect for you. Choose your sweetness. Dial it up or keep things light. Add a touch of pistachio, a hint of strawberry or vanilla, or make it a spring classic with lavender. Because this season there's endless ways to chai at Starbucks.

[Tim]

Andy Hey, Taylor wrote in with a hot take.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello Taylor. And said what you got to say.

[Tim]

Forza, Fable and Beast of Reincarnation will be in the kind of funny top 10. 20, 26.

[Greg Miller]

All three.

[Tim]

All three.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, that is a hot take because Piece of Reincarnation first off has to be really, really good and it has to have buy in from a lot of people kind of funny. And that's like two gigantic hills that I don't know are super easy to sort of summit. I just said mountain you don't really summit a hill, do you?

[Mike]

Climb up it?

[Tim]

Okay, there's a big one by the farmer's market Ben always wants to climb.

[Andy Cortez]

At what point is the hill of mountain?

[Blessing]

See, here we go. The thing over there, is that a hill or a mountain?

[Andy Cortez]

Hill.

[Mike]

The peak. It feels too big to call a hill, though.

[Tim]

Yeah. I would have said mountain, though.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

This mountain I like. I want, like, the frosted tips.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Whatever they're called.

[Tim]

You see it? It's a mountain.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Blessing]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow, wow, wow.

[Tim]

That thick over there.

[Blessing]

I get it, though, because you're like.

[Tim]

I don't know what to call you, too. I do, too. I get it.

[Mike]

100ft of elevation, you become a mountain. Okay, 100 because, like, you got to start thinking elevation, hill, or mountain. How big is the hill to you? Is it over a hundred vertical feet?

[Blessing]

Couldn't tell you what 100 elevation is. Right.

[Mike]

You know what I mean?

[Andy Cortez]

Also, I had this conversation last night that I think we gotta go. I think we have to fix the Roman numerals, because, you know, seven is VII. Yeah. And nine is IX. Yep. Eight should be IIX and not V. 111. You can't. That's too many.

[Blessing]

It's always one before at one point.

[Andy Cortez]

But why do you need three? Like, that's. That's four letters.

[Blessing]

I was going to I 13.

[Mike]

I thought you were going nine to be four. Because I prefer nine to be four ones afterwards.

[Tim]

Okay, so I'm on Reddit, and they're quoting the U.S. geological Service. There are no official definitions for generic terms as applied to geographic features, but on the specific matter, the U.S. board of Geographic Names once stated that the difference between a hill and a mountain was 1,000ft of local relief. But this was a ban in the early 70s. Broad agreement of such questions is essentially impossible. Impossible. Which is why there's no official feature classification.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I was going to say, I

[Barrett]

feel like 100ft might be too small.

[Mike]

Too small. Probably small.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Barrett]

Because I'm thinking about roller coasters.

[Tim]

Right.

[Barrett]

Like, Top Thrill Dragster at cedar point. That's 420.

[Andy Cortez]

And that's like. That's a roller coaster.

[Barrett]

If you're getting past roller coaster height, I think then we can start talking.

[Andy Cortez]

Joe, mom says this is how we lost Pluto.

[Tim]

Hot take.

[Mike]

So, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Anyway, back to Beast of Reincarnation. I think the game looks awesome, but it still has to. It has to be awesome. It has to be very, very good. Where? I think what we saw from Fable seems a lot more there. I have a lot More certainty that that game can be really, really great. At least eights and nines and something like forts, I feel like, is such a given. I think, like, if I, If I were to go to Vegas and look at the betting odds at MGM grand, like Forza would be, you're making a

[Mike]

fraction of your money back.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I'll bet a hundred dollars and make a hundred and two dollars because that game is like such a dead set. It's probably gonna be up there.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

But Beast of Reincarnation, I think there's too many questions for not only what the game is trying to do, for what the developer is and who. What they're known for. And I think it's a. Obviously a very, you know, they're. They're swinging for the fences and hopefully they, you know, they can, they can land it. But I just don't know if we have enough people here that will try it. However, that being said, like I was mentioning yesterday, I think it's an interesting one because it's. Because it's Game Freak. And I think people like Tim would give it more of a shot where. If this were any other developer, if they were. If this was from software, if this was some other developer, I don't think Tim would give it a shot. But it's. It's Game freak. It's the Pokemon devs. What is this? What are the Pokemon devs that are so known for Nintendo games going to do with this genre? I think more people would be curious to go, oh, wow. I want to see exactly what they're doing here and maybe it hooks them in.

[Blessing]

Yeah. My worry about it is that it's going to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

[Tim]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing]

In the same way that I can't. I don't know why, I can't help myself, but to compare this game to Stellar Blade in my brain, where Stellar Blade, of course, took inspiration from other action games, whether it be Nier, whether it be like Sekiro with the pairing or whatever. And it's taking these different things and puts it all into a game that is very fun and very good. And I forget if that was on my top 10. If I had to guess, I'd probably guess it was like either lower or not on it. But it's a game that I'd play again. Right.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, I love.

[Blessing]

So, you know, if, like, if Stellar Blade came out today, I'd play it again. Why not?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

I feel like that's where I'm. I fear Beast of Reincarnation might end up there, right? Like where it is. Oh, I don't remember the story really, but you know, combat was fun enough. I like the environments, you know, they had the vibes. Reminded me of X Game. And you know, I like controlling the Wolf or whatever.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

But I don't know if that's enough to get it to that, you know, that top 10 in a year.

[Andy Cortez]

Like, it's one of those weird sort of situations where stellar Blade's action and cool moments in combat outweighed me not giving a damn about the story to where I still go. I really love that game. I think that game is so damn good. Whereas last year, something like Ninja Gaiden 4. And I know I'm in the minority on this, that Ninja Gaiden 4 was like, I enjoy the combat, but not enough to overlook how much I don't enjoy everything else about this video game. And it's always like that kind of push and pull. But if this game can. If this game can land a couple of cool story moments that are super memorable. When people talk about, I always think about my enjoyment of Ghost of Sushi, man. It's like, man, I think about four moments that will always be so memorable to me. If they can land really memorable story beats while having awesome gameplay and mechanics and cool abilities, I think it'll be a really, really damn good video game.

[Blessing]

Oh, go for it, Barrett.

[Barrett]

One thing I wanted to add earlier. You say y' all were saying this is a big swing for this company even considering the non Pokemon games that they have already made. Right. Like they. There are plenty of game freak non Pokemon games that have come out and have been very okay, seemingly from the reaction and this being such a big swing outside of even their Pokemon stuff, I think there's just like a lot of big questions on how memorable this is going to be, how good it actually plays, versus, like how promising it looks.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Tim]

Here's what I know. Yeah, they believe in this game enough to make their whole office green. You know what I mean? They got on the walls making it look like you're in the forest. They got conference rooms. They believe they do the franchise. Yeah, I'm super excited for this one. Again, watching the demo, like, I feel the same questions everybody does. I think it looks fun to play. I look at that, I go flat 8. You know what I mean? What are you. Are you higher than the Mikey?

[Mike]

No, I'm lower than that.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[Mike]

This one gives me a wo long fallen dynasty vibes. This feels like this will be another one of Those games that comes out in the action RPG genre that just kind of comes out and it's like, yeah, I was fine. You're like, all right, that sounds good.

[Blessing]

My. I think another word I have is combat. When the hit, when the sticks get into your hands. Like, there's one of the boss fights they showed earlier with, like, one of the big bosses, and they're doing the telegraph moves where you see where, like, the vines are coming. Yeah, like, that didn't look like that was that. That didn't look like it would feel as good as I'd want it to be in combat. Like, there's something about that coming out and the dodge being so short where I see myself. I put myself in the. In, like, you know, playing the game, and I'm like, I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

I. I don't know. I disagree. That's the stuff that I love. And there was also the moment where she's fighting. The autonomous looks stiff, and it's the Sekiro. Ding, ding, ding, ding. And I'm like, oh, I want that. I want that feeling.

[Tim]

See, I look at that. I'm like, oh, that looks like the boss battles I play and enjoy. Not the souls, not the, you know, this memorize and fight a guy for eight hours kind of thing. Like, I look at that. I'm like, oh, that looks like a fun action rpg.

[Blessing]

I think for me, I like it in theory. It's the. There's something about it that just looks stiff to me. And maybe it's the way that it's telegraphing. Maybe it's. I can't tell what it is, but something about it, I'm like, I don't know.

[Tim]

We'll wait and see, I guess. It's coming up. Let's continue on. This Game Freak conversation with Eric, who wrote in with a hot take this dev direct made me annoyed that the system we live in forces Game Freak into rushing Pokemon titles to market. Beast of Reincarnation looks awesome, full of creativity and the design magic that Game Freak is known for. But it also proves that given an appropriate amount of time, Game Freak is a competent developer that can make visually impressive games. Armed with that knowledge and knowing that Pokemon is too big of a franchise to little kids to genuinely fail, parentheses if kids demand Pokemon like they always do, what recourse do we as fans have to show Nintendo that the slop they're releasing as quote, unquote, good enough is no longer good enough? How do we incentivize Nintendo and the Pokemon company into actually letting Game Freak cook. How do you do it, Mike? Change the world.

[Mike]

I mean, it's fun because Blessing brought up a great topic, right? It was you, Blessing, with the podcast that you watched and listened to about Pokemon's history and Nintendo Post games. Listen to that. I think that's a great topic and conversation. But, like, Pokemon is almost Call of Duty, right? It is too big to fail. It is on this cycle that is hard to get off. Fans might demand, hey, I want this, I need this. I want to see this. But guess what? The hamster wheel is rolling. And, like, you are not stopping that. Even if you think you're going to protest it for a year and somehow the sales plummet, they're going to come back the next year and do that, right? It's like, how do I do that? I don't know, right? I'm just generic, Mike, right? If I was in the studio, I'd be like, yeah, like, we got to try to do something different. And it's. The only way to win back for the fans is small increments, right? It's going to be small steps moving towards what you want that you think should be better, right? Whether it be a little bit of voice acting to start it off, right? Whether it be, hey, how do we get this running a little bit better when it comes out day one? Hey, how do we work on the fidelity? But, like, as Blessing brought up with that podcast, there are cards to sell, there are cartoons to make, there are fans to satiate the machine. You are not slowing this down.

[Tim]

It is.

[Mike]

It's Call of Duty, right? It's like, this has to happen. And unfortunately, like, when you make that much money, you build the business around that, and the business is expected to bring in this much money. It's got to keep going.

[Andy Cortez]

I think I love Pokemon too much to. To fully go. Like, I am boycotting. And I know that that's. That's a me problem. I'm. I am a big cause of. And my mentality is a big cause of why these games keep on doing well. Because this game would have. The games have to be monumental pieces of shit to. For me to go, okay.

[Tim]

I'm like, I'm not doing now.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm. Now I'm fully, fully out. And they could put out a 5 out of 10 and. And then I'll still have those moments of Pokemon magic where I go, God, I just. I. It's hard to. To quit you. It's. It's hard to hate you because you're still filling me with, you know, the nostalgia and the joy. And, you know, I think a lot of also what was happening during, you know, Scarlet and Violet and how abysmal that looked and ran, I think a lot of that was like, I'm also just sad because of the pandemic and just so many lost years of life and what's going on and, and like, oh, but I'm. I'm. Here's my brief moment of respite and I'm in this Pokemon world. And if it were the biggest piece of shit game that was crashing every second, that I'd be like, all right, this game sucks. Enough is enough. But it's like, it still got me along. And it's sad that that's where I'm at, where I'm like, hey, minimal, whatever you're doing is like enough for me.

[Tim]

And that's the. And that's why it won't change. It won't change until everybody votes their wallets and stay up, steps back. And that's just not gonna happen. And I think this is, you know, as the voice of the new Pokemon generation. This was always my argument with Tim where he would get so excited about these Pokemon games. I'm like, but aren't you always let down by them? Like, aren't you always upset with what they do? And it was that idea of like, like, it's Call of Duty and like we were talking about yesterday, right? It's Madden. You have nine months, seven months to make the next one. So these are like glacial changes of like what you're actually getting and if it'll actually start answering those questions. But no matter what, even if they put voice acting into this next one, Gen 10, right. It would still be behind the curve in so many different ways.

[Andy Cortez]

There would have to be some sinister, awful stories coming out of from Game Freak for me to be like, all right, I'm boycotting this. I can't, I can't, you know. Oh my. They found 20 bodies in a refrigerator there. Wow, what's happening?

[Blessing]

We're boycotting brought up the sales for the different Pokemon games that have come out. Baird, if you can look up highest grossing entertainment IP and bring up the Wikipedia article, because number one with a bullet is Pokemon. Yes, Pokemon is the highest selling IP in terms of revenue. And when you look at the breakdown, and this is just loosely from Wikipedia, of course, my teacher teachers taught me, you can't trust Wikipedia 100%. But when you break down some of that revenue, retail sales leads at $103.6 billion, you have mobile games coming in at $10.23 billion. You have box office at $1.16 billion. You have home video at $40 million. And apparently you have jet aircraft delivery sales for $3 million, for a total of 115 billion total. Estimated revenue in the second highest is Mickey Mouse at friends down to 61 billion.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's unbelievable.

[Blessing]

The only way you would see, I think a big change or big, I guess, quote unquote, Winnie the Pooh good

[Andy Cortez]

for winning the Pooh.

[Tim]

Yeah, Winnie.

[Blessing]

Who's up there?

[Andy Cortez]

Wow. Oh, but also long. It's one of those, like you're a compiler. You've been around for so long, since 1924.

[Blessing]

Like it's free agent now. Yeah, anybody can make a Winnie the Pooh. But I think the only thing that would really cause for change would be a. If Pokemon games come out and they're truly like, damaging to the brand, like embarrassingly bad. And I think Scarlet and Violet scratched the surface of that. And you look at Pokemon ZA and you look at the releases they did for Switch 2 and they run better. Of course, a lot of that is just the hardware of the Switch 2, but, you know, I think we got that incremental. All right, we can't do that again. Like, we can't buck it up that bad again. If enough people are like, yo, this voice acting is fucking embarrassing, or a lot about it. I could see there being some movement on that, but really it is just the way the weighing the scales of. All right, as game freak, what time do we have? You know, what are the things that

[Andy Cortez]

we need to do?

[Blessing]

What does, like, what does this conversation look like as far as what Pokemon needs to be on the video game side? And it's always going to be determined on what it does for the brand and how it kind of ripples, ripples effects into everything else going on.

[Andy Cortez]

They would. They would need to. In the similar vein to getting like, was it white 2 and black 2 when they just kind of like made sequels to those? Yeah, like we would need to get of Scarlet and Violet 2 where it's like, hey, actually we put in another year and a half of development on Scarlet and Violet and added voice acting and added a new realm and kind of like improved a lot of things. But yeah, I just. I just don't know if they have the time. I. It really all just comes down to time.

[Tim]

Plumbers Snowback Mike says Forza and Fable are both looking hot. How can both those games, a Halo reboot and a new Gears of War all be Coming out this year. Where have these games been? Maybe they've been held off from release until the game pass hike. That's conspiracy shit at the end. No, not at all.

[Mike]

I like the tinfoil hat on that one. That's some conspiracy theory shit.

[Tim]

As a reminder, Kiln in the spring, Forza in May, Beasts of Reincarnation in summer, Fable in the autumn, Gears E Day somewhere, Halo campaign somewhere. Then of course, as you're always so quick, keep going. You got Diablo. Overwatch is doing shit.

[Mike]

World of Warcraft, Sea of Thieves will probably have something. Elder Scrolls Online will have something. Guess what? They have a lot of things going on. It is easy to point to the big four and go, how could you do that? Realistically, Microsoft and Xbox probably have about 12 to 15 project that they're going to hit you with each and every year throughout that. Right. And it's crazy to think about that. The flip side of it is most likely those four games actually won't come out this year. I think that would be more of the conversation I would have with you of like, you say these four and I. I'm a big ride or die of like, you know, I like to be in this little bubble of Mike of like I'm here to talk about the positives. Like bubble Xbox 25 years. We're celebrating the hardware, we're celebrating the memories, the fun. We got four big games coming out, plus all the extra stuff. Like this is such an awesome year to just celebrate Xbox and the memories and the good times. Like, that's wicked. And if it lands, it's going to be so dope. In all honesty, with GTA 6 looming in November, like there is a high chance Gears probably slips or if Forza. I mean if playground games and Fable needs more time because we saw that a lot of it looked good. There was some moments where you go, what? When was this build last made here? I hope they're still working on that. This could easily go, hey, we need a game of the year contender here with Fable. Let's give them six more months and we all would go. So, yeah, okay, that sounds right. So like, more than likely you won't get all four of those games. In a great world, you would get those four games.

[Tim]

Yeah. Christopher Burnett, super chat. It said Gears of War E day won't come out this year. Microsoft has Forza, Beast, Halo, Fable and more between May and October. I want Fable so fucking badly. I will not hold my breath. Fable is the one that I think looks amazing. And if I get that in October. Hell yeah. With the giant pumpkins around his. Hell, yeah. But like, I will also not be shocked when they say we're pushing it to this time period next year, which I think it would clean the fuck up if you, if you could drop Fable in January or February or March somewhere in there, that's a great time. And honestly, January, February, that would be a. Drop it right there. That'd be a great time period.

[Andy Cortez]

And just to be clear, it didn't

[Barrett]

get a date yesterday, right? They said like an autumn.

[Tim]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. That's why.

[Mike]

So you think somewhere in that, like late summer, early fall for autumn. Right. Of like when you hear that and it's exciting, that game could probably slip the four of them. How do they make it work every single year? If you look back from third party, when you bring up Beasts of Reincarnation, right? Like, they balance so much on game pass. Third party promotions that are bringing onto the game pass that they celebrate, plus the first party stuff. They can easily do this and some things will get overshadowed, some things will be forgotten about. Or really, in all honesty, gamers just want games. They're going to be excited. They're going to celebrate the ones that they want. Game pass. People are going to pick and try different things. Like they can drop all four of these. Nothing. Everything will be fine as. As they go.

[Tim]

We're obviously talking about these games, these four games this year. But let's talk about beyond that. Thank you. Adam wrote in on Patreon and said, I really loved this direct. Probably Xbox's best so far. My question for everyone is, after Fable comes out, what's the next big game from Xbox for us to be excited about?

[Mike]

You already know it. All these boys know it. Say it.

[Tim]

Elder Scrolls.

[Mike]

No. No.

[Blessing]

Halo multiplayer.

[Mike]

No. You know it. Look at, look at Clockwork Orange

[Andy Cortez]

Revolution.

[Mike]

You're excited for it.

[Blessing]

I'm so excited for Clockwork.

[Tim]

Very excited for Clockwork Revolution. It looks really cool. Is that the next big game? Is that the one's gonna move?

[Mike]

How dare you.

[Tim]

You. I love it and I want it real bad too.

[Blessing]

But I'm saying, did you not see that trailer?

[Tim]

I saw this.

[Blessing]

10 minutes long.

[Tim]

It was a great SGF trailer that I am excited to hear and see in some fashion again. This SGF and probably the next SGF after that. I'm stoked about all of those. But Coco Monster writes in and says, overall, I'm very happy with the showcase. The new games look amazing. However, maybe I'm delulu But every time Xbox releases a direct showcase and it doesn't Contain Elder Scrolls 6 or the next Fallout, I get more and more disappointed. Am I wrong to think those will be talked about soon? Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

Are you wrong to think they'll be talked about soon? They'll be talked about soon.

[Mike]

Fallout. You're wrong about Fallout.

[Tim]

So Fallout so far away. Unless they're fucking smart and are just having someone else make another Fallout. But they aren't.

[Mike]

I mean, let's not count the remasters. Let's just talk about the real next Fallout, right? Like Fallout way too far away. Elder Scrolls, right? Like, let's be real really quick. This next summer, next year, next summer. Right.

[Tim]

27.

[Mike]

27.

[Tim]

2027.

[Mike]

You could see at the summer game festival a teaser for that.

[Tim]

Sure.

[Mike]

You could definitely see. You could see in your mind of like we could get another. Because you get an animated teaser because it's, let's say less three to four years out. 20, 29, 30. What I want get a teaser for that.

[Andy Cortez]

I think it's 2029.

[Blessing]

I want them to do this the way they did Fallout 4. Give me the trailer. The re reveal in summer. Drop it that fall. I don't want to see another trailer and then not see you for three years.

[Mike]

I don't know if we can do that because they already showed you that. They already showed this game six years ago, whatever it is. And we've been. We've been just holding on to it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. I mean it'll be 8. Cyberpunk to the same thing though. Cyberpunk showed off that teaser in 2013 and was like, hey, the Witcher devs are working on a cyberpunk game and it didn't show it off again until like five years later or whatever. Like I. I think that I. In my mind, they're not really worried about trying to make people remember. They're working on a. Like, we'll get little news snippets here and there from Todd Howard going, yes, we're still working on, you know, enjoy these Fallout remasters that just came out or whatever. Yes, we are still working on, you know, Skyrim 2 or whatever. Elder Scrolls 6.

[Mike]

I think this time around they have a little bit more to prove though, right? It's not like A wow, like first time thing. It is now like, hey, Baldur's Gate 3 has come out. Starfield was not the game that it needed to be. Like, this team has a little more to prove here and it might be, hey, we're going to show you a lot More than just a, hey, here's the big blowout. It comes out in four months from now. It is more we got to get the fans back on our side because as of right now, they continue to point and go, you're not up to date, you're not here with the rest of us. Get up there. And I think they got to prove a little bit now.

[Tim]

I think there's that locked into it. But I think it, the, the reason I pair these questions is because I think that is the next big game. I think Clockwork looks awesome and I can't wait to play it. It's a new ip. It's going to be an uphill battle. Only so many people play it. I think when you talk about that next wave of big Xbox games, Elder Scrolls has to be maybe not the forefront of it in terms of releases, but in terms of hype in terms of things. And I also think it goes an interesting way. Yes. I think, I don't think they're going to take the Fallout 4 method and summer fall. I think you get dips on this. And I think one of the reasons you do is because Xbox is trying to justify to Microsoft why they purchased all of these things. And I think as Satya Nadella looks down at them and goes like, what the fuck's going on? Why aren't you generating more money? Blah, blah, blah. You can pop in when you need it the most. In Elder Scrolls 6 teaser trailer to see the hype from us and then hopefully the hype in a stock price as well of people seeing an uptick in that. Even though I know it's hard for Xbox to move Microsoft stock.

[Blessing]

But this is what I'll, I'll give, right?

[Tim]

Please.

[Blessing]

And you know, the state of video game hardware is in such a weird place right now with RAM price, no ram, but let's say we get next generation Xbox hardware device I Premium, premium

[Tim]

machine that'll run PC. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Remember that one controller they showed off like three, four years ago that was like a new Xbox controller and it just never looked.

[Blessing]

Oh, did you dream this? No, I don't remember this at all.

[Mike]

Dream this.

[Andy Cortez]

It's got. It has like a, it has like a, like a half. It's a very PS3 boomerang as a very specific look to it that I was like, finally they're read. They're remaking the Xbox controller. This is a Sarah Bond post, I believe. I say three years ago, maybe it was more like 2ish years.

[Tim]

There was a rumor recently about a one that was like, it'll connect to the cloud or whatever for no Latent.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, no, they showed off like a new body style and I've just. And I feel like everything was put on the back burner because of.

[Tim]

It's wearing pants because of.

[Andy Cortez]

Is that what.

[Tim]

That's what somebody says?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. It does have a weird kind of like look on the. On the handles of it. Yeah.

[Tim]

But.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I know I'm not crazy, but I'm just waiting for this damn controller.

[Blessing]

Well, I was gonna say is that. I think at the reveal of that next premium Xbox hardware, that's where we get an Elder Scroll 6 trailer and that becomes the.

[Mike]

The Hellblade or the Fable of it until we. We wait and wait for it. Yeah.

[Blessing]

That becomes like, you know, the Avengers movie of whatever that. And then Halo. Oh, yes, I do remember. This is from the. Yeah, the court document. Ah, this was the Xbox court documents. There's.

[Andy Cortez]

There's a. There's a Reddit post from two years ago that says. So what happened to that leak Xbox controller that's supposed to launch in May 2024? And here I am two years later wondering the same damn thing.

[Tim]

Yeah. Direct to cloud. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I really. I really think that every. All the bad that happened with just layoffs and the hardware pulling back and Xbox everything's an expo. I think all that stuff was like, actually, that's a crazy.

[Blessing]

I erased that from my brain.

[Tim]

God.

[Andy Cortez]

I want. I just want to back paddles standardly. Like just give me back paddles.

[Mike]

Yeah, back paddles on everything. I mean, Fallout and Elder Scrolls is the whole conversation, but what's next? Yeah. Clockwork Revolution is going to be your next big game next year, right? Like sure. Fable or Gears Push.

[Andy Cortez]

That'll be the next one.

[Mike]

Like Clockwork is your next big one. State of the K3 Somewhere in the next year to year after that. And that will be a big one. Your hope. Undead Labs had some problems here. Studio doesn't seem to be the greatest spot, but the game, when you think about the future of that state of the K3, what state of the K2 was to state the K1 state of K3 should really be pushing this game in the survival, crafting, shared world with your friends genre and I, I think that one will be a banger. That one will be good too.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn, I had a dream that game got canceled.

[Tim]

I could see it. You never know what's next.

[Blessing]

From Rare

[Mike]

is that Sea of Thieves now they've reset, right? You've. You've finally canceled Ever Wild and it's like now it's time to look. But like Sea of Thieves is like what's happening?

[Blessing]

Blade Chat is saying Blade from Arcane.

[Mike]

Blade. Blade is a big deal because it is the Marvel ip. It's a character that people love, right? It is arcane with that pedigree. Right? So like you're hoping for big things.

[Blessing]

Kojima od.

[Mike]

OD is a great partnership right there as well. Blast for sure. You never know what small things you'll get from a Mojang or a double fine as well. Compulsion now finishing south of Midnight. They're going to be four years out when you start to look at it. Four to five, right? The Age of Empires world, World's Edge team. Like my big dream is they team up with a Starcraft or a Warcraft. You know, it's easy to think Xbox. Only think that you also have all of Blizzard and Activision here. That means yearly Call of Duties will continue to be the thing, right? And we know one great Call of Duty could be the big title for the year for them and that will carry what they need to do. Warcraft. World of Warcraft is still around. There's that Starcraft talk, right? Of like, is there a first person Starcraft shooter in the mix of this? That would be big. But like I'd love to see World's Edge team up with them and make an rts. And also like somebody give some love back to that MOBA that is Heroes of the Storm. Who knows?

[Tim]

Our final hot take for now comes from Derek. While this was a great showing of games I'm very excited to play, the fact that they're openly stating from the outset that Fable, Forza, Beast and Kiln are coming to PlayStation 5 rings like a full admission of defeat. Not saying that's really a bad thing. On the contrary, I applaud the honesty and forthrightness. However, I can't help but think that shareholders will take notice and accuse Microsoft of ceding ground to Sony.

[Blessing]

How long are we going to do this for, homie?

[Mike]

Welcome to 2026.

[Tim]

How long are we going to do this for? I'm sure the shareholders are so upset that the fucking Xbox games are the best selling games on PlayStation.

[Mike]

Read that. Forza Horizons.

[Tim]

Yeah, exactly. No, no, no, no, no. Derek, you're reading it the wrong way.

[Mike]

They're very.

[Tim]

They're happy that people are buying the games. They're investing millions of dollars in making

[Andy Cortez]

five extra million units sold for Forza at full price on PlayStation. At full price.

[Mike]

At full price. Not game Pass.

[Blessing]

It looks such like. I woke up from coma. I woke up from coma the day before. The developer direct, man.

[Tim]

Congratulations, Greg, on launching this. I didn't. I was listening to beyond the other day.

[Andy Cortez]

Anyway.

[Tim]

No, we're laughing.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, they're very happy about just money being more and more money being made, which definitely leads to less layoffs, right?

[Mike]

Please.

[Tim]

And on that note, we bring our hot takes to an end.

[Mike]

No, give me more, Greg. I love being here. One more?

[Tim]

You want one more? Hold on. I had one about layoff here. Parentheses 1 says the excitement doesn't hit as well as. I'm sorry, the excitement doesn't hit as well. Knowing one of these studios is gonna be shut down in the near future. I remember when they shadow dropped hi Fi Rush. The world was on fire and the game did well. But that meant nothing to daddy Microsoft, they're great.

[Blessing]

Asking for.

[Tim]

It's hard to be excited about the Xbox brand now.

[Mike]

I mean, yeah, we can point to Xbox. We can point to Sony, Nintendo, everybody and their mothers all doing layoffs. All studio closers. It sucks that this is the world that we live in that you could release a game, it could sell well, or it might not sell well and that studio is like possibly going to be laid off and completely shut down. Indie dev teams, indie games all fear this every single day. So it's not just a Xbox only. I know we put our eyes on the. I do think we got trillion dollar company.

[Blessing]

But like we had to zero in on somebody though. We can't just keep saying everybody's doing okay.

[Mike]

But especially for a company that has

[Andy Cortez]

bought so much of the industry.

[Mike]

Ubisoft just released half of their team and cut Prince of Persia, a game of the year contender.

[Blessing]

But we can't go. Oh, man. Xbox is having all these layoffs, but everybody's having layoffs. Let's get mad at everybody. We should. I think you're right. Like, spiritually, you're absolutely right.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

But Xbox has been on some bullshit though.

[Andy Cortez]

When. When Mike a little while ago mentioned we'll be four years out from south of Midnight, I immediately started Googling south of Midnight sales because I'm worried about compulsion. Yeah, I mean, half of those teams

[Blessing]

I'm thinking about, even like with them

[Barrett]

working on a Blade game. Is Arcane still around to release that

[Blessing]

Blade game in two or three years?

[Tim]

I mean, let's talk about yesterday. Double Fine. I love Double Fine. Well known how much we love Double Fine. Andy, we're going to dinner with him.

[Andy Cortez]

Can't wait.

[Tim]

Mike's coming for. But it's like, again, I don't expect Kiln to do well. I expect Kiln to find an audience. And then we're back to the same conversation we have over and over again of Microsoft at the top coming down on Phil. Make more money, do more things. I believe that Phil's team brought in Double Fine to make really cool, artistic games. But now that they're trying to make as much money as they can on AI as Microsoft, what does that mean when Kiln comes out? And as Mike said, it's fun for a weekend. We. We play it for a weekend, and then nobody's playing.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm. I'm way less concerned about that because I. I think that I. I think Double Fine's been around long enough. And, no, let's not put every worker on this Kiln game. I think they look at the numbers and go, hey, this wasn't the biggest success. But. But you also didn't spend X amount of money on it. So, whatever, you're still working.

[Tim]

I think they look, that wasn't a big success. And then we look at the Keeper that wasn't that big of a success. And then, I don't know Psychonauts 2 sales or anything, but I think it did fine.

[Barrett]

But it's also like, yeah, just because, you know, not a lot of people were on this one project. You have to think about Microsoft looking down at Xbox, looking down at these studios. It's not just the project cost. It's a. Oh, how much is it to operate this studio at its entirety?

[Blessing]

I still think there's, like, something to. At least they're putting out projects. The fact that they put out two games in the last six months, they're making some money compared to all these other studios that are making no money. I also think that, like, I'm not too worried about Double Fine because they. If they do get closed down, I think Tim Shaver just opens up a studio and rehires all those same people.

[Tim]

So I'd like to think that. Yeah, I'd like to think that, but I worry about how much money's out there for it, rather. Tim Shaver.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, there's a lot. There's a lot of money out there for that.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Tim]

For a new Fortnite clone.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Tim]

You happy with the show now, Mike? And on a sour note, worried about Tim Schaefer.

[Mike]

You wanted one more, Mike? Layoffs suck. And fucking mega corporations suck. Okay? Fucking help each other out, and let's try to be better to one another. That's all. I ask you each and every day, wake up, put your socks on, put your undies on, put your pants on and say to yourself, I'm going to try to be a little bit better today. I'm gonna try and go make somebody smile. I'm gonna try to make the world a little bit of a better place. And I know that's a lot to ask. I know you said yourself, Snowbike Mike but I'm just Rudy over at the grocery store. I can't do much. I know, I've been there. I am that. And we're all trying. So if we keep trying a little bit more, maybe one day we'll stand up and we'll fix this place. But until then, mega corporations chill the out, okay? You got a lot of money already. Just spread it out a little bit, give them a little extra love you

[Andy Cortez]

much like at 11:47 talking about being better, messages were leaked to me from to Roger Picordian. We can't be leaking messages where a

[Blessing]

message says I'll be a lead off tomorrow.

[Andy Cortez]

It says hi, I know I've been a little bitch today. Will you grab my juicy Juicy.

[Tim]

Ladies and gentlemen and enbies. That's another episode of the kind of Funny Games casting the tape. Your final one for the week. But our live programming on our live talk show network isn't over. It's about to be party mode here on Twitch TV kindafunnygames and YouTube.com kindafunnygames if you're watching later of course or listening later check it out on YouTube like subscribe share ring the bell. If you have Amazon prime you have Twitch prime and it gives you a free 30 day subscription. We'd love you to give to Kinda funny games. It doesn't matter if you're never there. You can just come do it and set a reminder and do it every 30 days cause they don't remind you of course. Pick up a kinda funny membership patreon.com kinda funny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple Spotify that gets you all the shows ad free gets your ability to see me each and every day with 15 to 20 minutes of Greg Way. And of course gets you good karma for supporting 11 person 11 year old small business. For now it's party mode. So until next time it's been our pleasure to serve you.

[Mike]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Tim]

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[Mike]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Tim]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Tim]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Tim]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Tim]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Tim]

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[Stassi Schroeder]

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[Andy Cortez]

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