Episode 4: 2023 TGA Winners & Annoucements

We are looking at all the winners and announcements from The Game Awards 2023.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fourth episode of Digital Downtime.

(00:05):
Shiboy Gilly here.
The Game Awards 2023.
Come and gone.
Very interesting night.
A lot of people have comments about the overall show's pacing and focus, which we will, trust
me, we will dive a little deeper in.

(00:26):
But the way I'm going to split this up is we're going to talk about all the winners
first and then we'll talk about all the announcements toppled off with my overall and final thoughts
about the show in general.
For this week's Have You Played This?

(00:48):
It's tied into what was kind of revealed at the Game Awards by one famous publisher slash
developer.
So stay tuned for that.
But yeah, let's talk the Game Awards in its entirety.

(01:24):
So let's get the big one out of the way first.
Game of the Year.
As I mentioned, the nominees in the very first episode, Alan Wake 2 by Remedy, Baldur's Gate

(01:44):
3 by Larian, Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac, Resident Evil 4 by Capcom, Super Mario's Wonder and
Tears of the Kingdom Boat by Nintendo.
And as predicted, no surprise here, Baldur's Gate 3 winning and well deserved.
I promise you all one day I will tackle this game when I feel like I have the time and

(02:13):
mental capacity to do so.
It might take a while, but we will play it.
So no surprise here.
And Baldur's Gate 3, I think if I remember correctly, ended up winning six awards.
But yes, no surprise here.
Like I said, the sleeper winner here could have been Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom
just because it's Zelda or Baldur's Gate 3 and Baldur's Gate 3 won.

(02:37):
So no surprise.
Congratulations to Larian Studios.
Next up is Player's Voice.
Baldur's Gate 3, Phantom Liberty, Genshin Impact, Spider-Man 2 and Tears of the Kingdom.
This was obviously one of the awards we did not talk about in the first episode because
it wasn't a thing then.
And there's like a multi-round voting process for the specific award.

(03:00):
The Player's Voice is obviously 100% just player voted.
I'm glad to see Phantom Liberty in here.
I really am.
And I'm also surprised to see Genshin Impact, but that kind of just shows the game's following
and how big it really is.

(03:21):
So there's that.
Obviously I'm not really attached to the gacha scene or mobile gaming or those vain games,
but there is strong player bases to them.
But once again, the winner, Baldur's Gate 3, no surprise.
Best game direction, Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, Wander, Tears of the

(03:46):
Kingdom, and I ended up going to Alan Wake 2.
So congrats Remedy on that.
Clearly a phenomenal direction from what I've seen.
And this is probably a game I will be tackling soon.
So congrats to Remedy on that one.
Best art direction, Alan Wake 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Lies of P, Super Mario Bros.

(04:07):
Wonder, Tears of the Kingdom.
I thought best art direction should have been either Hi-Fi Rush or Super Mario Bros.
Wonder, because I just think colorful, poppy visuals is what, you know, is the art style
that helps games remain prevalent in terms of like visuals and, you know, not dating
themselves let's say like five years from now, 10 years from now.

(04:29):
I was really high on Hi-Fi Rush on this one, but this also goes to Alan Wake 2.
I am not surprised, but yeah.
Score and music.
Now the side I'm looking at says, it went to Tears of the Kingdom, but if I remember

(04:53):
correctly, wasn't it FF16 that won this?
Am I tripping?
Yes.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I'm looking at PCGamer.com just for full disclosure of what I'm checking.
That one is incorrectly listed.

(05:14):
It was Final Fantasy XVI as the winner and well deserved against, well deserved again,
sorry, composer Masayoshi Soken.
Well deserved.
The other nominees included Alan Wake 2, Baller's Gate 3, Hi-Fi Rush, and Tears of Kingdom.
So PCGamer, I don't know, you're probably too big to listen to this podcast or even
know who the hell I am.

(05:35):
Fix your shit, right?
So I was like, wait, it was FF16.
So congrats to Square Enix and Masayoshi Soken.
Well deserved.
Best audio design, Alan Wake 2, Dead Space, Hi-Fi Rush, Spider-Man 2, RE4.
To me, it had to be one of the horror games.
I know Dead Space did a wonderful job, same with RE4 and Alan Wake 2, I guess.

(05:59):
But when we're looking at audio design, which is obviously different than the previous award
for scoring music, Hi-Fi Rush was very integral.
The audio design, because it was keyed literally to the core of the gameplay and how the game
functioned.
So, and that was the winner.
So shout out to Tango Gameworks.
I'm just glad Hi-Fi Rush won something.

(06:20):
And again, a title level play.
I know I say this a lot, but yeah, it will be something I play eventually.
I know it's on the shorter side too.
So congrats there to the team at Xbox.
Bethesda, Immortals Developers, Tango Gameworks.
Great left field game to bang off the year.

(06:42):
Something many players were not expecting, especially from the devs of Evil Within and
Ghost Warrior Tokyo.
So shout out to them.
Best performance.
We had Ben Starr, FF16, Cameron Monaghan for Jedi Survivor, Idris Elba for Phantom Liberty,

(07:03):
Melanie Liburd for Alan Wake 2, Neil Newbone, Baldur's Gate 3, and Yuri Lowenthal for Marvel
Spider-Man 2.
I know a lot of people were rooting for Ben Starr for his performance as Clive, FF16.
The winner was Neil Newbin, Baldur's Gate 3.
Again, like I said, probably much deserved.

(07:24):
This is one of the tighter categories.
I think I mentioned this in the first episode of Digital Downtime as well.
Shout out to Neil against Baldur's Gate 3.
You'll be hearing a lot of these awards being won.
So huge, huge, huge technical, not technical, huge feeding body of work by Larian Studios

(07:50):
for what is Baldur's Gate 3 from all fronts because they're almost nominated.
They won six awards, but they're almost nominated for every single category, which is kind of
wild to me.
So shout out to them.
Innovation and accessibility.
I don't know much because this is kind of a category you kind of have to play the games
to really figure out all the stuff they put in for accessibility features and whatnot.

(08:13):
So I could be a little ignorant here.
But we had Diablo 4, Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Mortal Kombat
1, Street Fighter 6.
The winner was Forza Motorsport.
So shout out to Turn 10 Studios and the team at Xbox.
But I do know Street Fighter 6 had a lot of accessibility issues along with Mortal Kombat

(08:39):
1, I believe as well.
They're trying to make fighting games more and more accessible, but shout out to Forza
Motorsport.
Games for impact.
Now, this nominee was interesting to me.
And if you caught my live stream of the game awards, it's not really an issue, but games

(09:00):
for impact.
It's like what defines an impactful game, right?
What's the criteria?
Are we looking at how accessible the game is?
What's direct social impact or commentary?
How it moves you?
What does games for impact really define?

(09:22):
Can we define what games for impact really means?
I feel like the criteria here is very broad.
So that's the only thing for me that gets a bit confusing on, okay, so what is this
category really recognizing sort of thing?
But we did have a space for the unbound, a chance for Senar, Goodbye Volcano High, Chia,

(09:45):
Terra Nell and Venba.
Most of the games in this category every year are usually indie titles.
So obviously they're trying to push some sort of like social commentary or something along
those lines.
The winner was Chia.
And this game is pretty cheap right now on the PS5.
I know it's coming out on Steam next year.

(10:06):
So it might be something I pick up soon and just go through.
Obviously it's an exploration kind of lack of better words.
I hate using this term, but Breath of the Wild this game because there's been plenty
of exploration games before Breath of the Wild.
But shout out to Chia.
And the Game Awards helped me learn about the other nominee in this category, Venba,
which is like an Indian cooking game.

(10:27):
It's all a bit of insight when I was watching them live.
So I might be able to do something to check out too, you know, being an indie myself to
see what kind of message is conveyed in that game.
But yeah, shout out to Chia.
Very very cool.
Best ongoing with Apex Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, FFXIV, Fortnite, Genshin Impact.

(10:48):
Usually this category is reserved for multiplayer games as a, you know, continuously update.
So like seeing Apex here, FFXIV, Fortnite, Genshin, these are kind of your standard nominees
in this category.
Cyberpunk 2077, I don't know if it's more of an ongoing thing, I guess for them to push
out update 2.0 and now the recent update 2.1, which adds even more stuff.

(11:12):
And then Phantom Liberty as a whole, you know, it required a lot of ongoing development behind
the scenes.
And Cyberpunk did end up winning, which is a bit interesting to me.
But nevertheless, you know, I keep referring back to this first episode, I spoke high volumes
about what Phantom Liberty is in the state of the game now compared to like the 6 out

(11:35):
of 10 I gave the game, you know, three years ago at original release.
So I'm glad to see Cyberpunk win it because the game did come a long way.
Like I said, it's still not like I would have played through the base game again.
But just going through Phantom Liberty and doing it all and the ride that was.
Obviously, like if the core mechanics weren't fixed, I felt like Phantom Liberty wouldn't

(11:57):
have been that awesome of a ride.
Nevertheless, like obviously the story written and you know, Dogtown was cool.
But obviously the overall overall overhaul of the games mechanics and engine and perk
trees and everything made it a better experience.
So shout out to CD Projekt Red.
Obviously, it's not a trend that likes gaming, you know, where games are messy at launch

(12:21):
and then they get fixed over time and get this universal praise.
But you know, there are some instances where devs just completely dropped the game.
You know, they made their money, whatever, they move forward.
So I'm a bit of the middle of the line here.
Like I don't think they deserve the over praise because obviously the game should have been
better at launch, but I still will give respect for them to sticking to it and making it the

(12:45):
experience it is now.
So shout out CD Projekt Red.
Best community sport, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077 to Destiny 2, which is kind of a limo.
FFXIV and No Man's Sky.
Best community sports always usually the FFXIV, you know, winner automatic.

(13:07):
This year I went to Baldur's Gate 3 and let's not forget before Baldur's Gate 3 got officially
released this year, it wasn't early access for a while and you know, people were praising
it then and obviously Larian listened to feedback over the two years or however long it was
to publish the full release 1.0 to what it is today or what it was when it released in

(13:32):
August to all this universal acclaim.
So it makes sense to me.
Best independent game, we have Cocoon, Dave the Diver, Dredge, Sea of Stars and Viewfinder.
You know, it was funny all the controversy with Dave the Diver, which we touched upon
in the first episode as well.
But pretty strong year as I mentioned then as well.

(13:55):
You know, usually indie games get more of a focal point, but I think this year was just
so stacked with AAA games after AAA games.
They kind of got lost in the mix, but obviously Cocoon has been getting some recognition,
same with all the nominees here.
And the winner was Sea of Stars, which is what I was kind of expecting just for what
the game did and it's love for the 8-bit SNES RPG era love by Western Studio.

(14:24):
So for them to develop like an old school JRPG that has been beloved by hardcore fans
of the genre and stuff.
Good on them.
Well deserved.
Best debut indie game.
Obviously is reserved for games that are published or developed by first time developers.
So Cocoon and Dredge, Pizza Tower, Venbutton, Viewfinder.

(14:46):
This one was given to Cocoon and this game is something I've been keeping my eye on.
So we'll play it eventually for sure.
Best mobile game.
Like I said previously, I don't know jack shit, not really much of a mobile gamer.
I rarely even use my Switch in portable mode to be honest.
It's just not how I prefer my gaming.

(15:09):
But nevertheless, we had Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, Hello Kitty, Island Adventure, Honkai
Star Rail, Monster Hunter Now and Terra Nail.
The winner here is Honkai Star Rail.
And like I said, Hoyoverse developed both Honkai and Genshin if I am doing that correctly.

(15:31):
Yes, I believe so.
So both very popular.
So no surprise here with Honkai Star Rail winning.
Actually, it's a decent game.
So best VR Gran Turismo 7 Horizon Called the Mountain Humanity, Resident Evil Village VR
mode and snaps.
And this was a no brainer for me as well.

(15:52):
The only right choice here was Resident Evil Village VR mode and that was the winner.
So congrats Capcom.
Best action game.
We had Armored Core 6, Dead Island 2, Ghostrunner 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Remnant 2.
Like I said, I picked Armored Core 6 to win just because it really defines what an action

(16:12):
game is.
FromSoft were kind of just mastering that genre at this point and that was the winner.
So again, another non surprise.
Best action adventure.
We had Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, RE4, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Legend of Zelda,
Tears of the Kingdom.
Tears of the Kingdom won this simply because couldn't win Game of the Year this year.

(16:37):
They had to give them something.
I think I mentioned this would be my pick of the winner.
So really no big surprises so far in all these categories.
Best RPG.
I mean, you know, at this point, do I really have to even mention?
We had Baldur's Gate 3, FF16, Eliza P, Sea of Stars and Starfield.
I think all these games deserve to be here minus Starfield, but the old Starfield, like

(17:00):
I said, was disappointing.
I didn't live up to the major hype behind it.
It was still a solid, you know, like I said, 6.5, 7 out of 10 game and it is an RPG.
No doubt about that, nevertheless.
So you know, it got pointed to somewhere.
So you Starfield fans don't have to cry too hard.
It was at least recognized for something, some sort of nominee.

(17:22):
Obviously, the winner here is Baldur's Gate 3.
I'm glad to see Sea of Stars here.
Like I said, for an independent studio to be nominated against these heavy hitters.
Good job.
Also, shout out to Eliza P because I've been hearing great things about that.
Probably the best souls like Release of the Year.

(17:45):
Some people are saying it's Lord of the Fallen.
I think it's Eliza P for sure.
So shout out to Round 8 Studio to get nominated and to Sabatoa Studio for Sea of Stars.
But yes, Baldur's Gate 3, not a chance, right?
Best fighting game was also straightforward.
Like I said, you know, you had God of Rock, MK1, All-Star Brawl 2, Pocket Bravery and
Street Fighter 6.

(18:06):
Obviously, Street Fighter 6 had to win this or I would have been throwing hands myself.
Get it.
I would have been throwing hands.
Best fighting game.
Yeah, that's my dad joke for the episode.
I'll stop.
Shout out Capcom.
Best family game.
Disney, Illusion Island, Party Animals, Pikmin 4, Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros.
Wonder.
Again, another category that's usually essentially just saying best Nintendo game.

(18:29):
I thought Party Animals should have been the winner here.
But of course, there's a lot of controversy around the game not having local co-op and
getting review bombed on Steam and whatnot.
And you know, it just didn't grab the attention that I thought it would in terms of the streaming
creators of land space and just overall, you know, like I know it's hard to recreate that

(18:51):
Among Us hype magic that once bestowed upon us back in 2020.
But I thought maybe Party Animals would have been able to capture at least half of that
essence.
But it didn't.
So the winner here was Super Mario Bros.
Wonder.
You know, obviously the co-op mode is probably a lot of fun and whatnot.

(19:12):
Just would have thought it would have been Party Animals.
Best sim strategy.
City Skylines wars and one plus two reboot camps, City Skylines 2, Company of Heroes
3, Fire Emblem and Gage, Pikmin 4.
I think I voted for engage.
I don't remember correctly now what we went through in the first episode of running this
category specifically.
So I thought it would have been engage or City Skylines 2.

(19:36):
End up being Pikmin 4 and I know Pikmin 4.
It's a strong title with the beloved, beloved loyal fan base behind it.
So shout out to Pikmin.
Best sports racing.
I think I voted for esports, FU24 because that's the only one I really play.
But besides that, we have F123, Forza Motorsport, Outwheels on NH2, Cree Motorfest, the Cree,

(19:58):
the Cree Motorfest.
So essentially four racing games in FIFA.
Forza Motorsport was the winner.
So shout out to Turn 10 Studios again for their second award of the night.
Best multiplayer.
We had Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo 4, Party Animals, Street Fighter 6, Super Mario Bros.
I thought that's what had gone to Street Fighter 6 or Party Animals.
It ended up going to Baldur's Gate 3.

(20:19):
And I guess the reasoning behind it is because there is co-op in the game.
I'm not stupid to that.
But obviously, depending on what your friends or your co-op members, what their playthroughs
are like and the interactions they have with certain NPCs and their backgrounds.
Like I said, from my knowledge, right?

(20:40):
Can change your whole entire experience.
So it makes sense to give it to Baldur's Gate 3 because it's probably just such a unique
experience with your friends, right?
Best adaptation.
Like I said, another strong category.
Castlevania Nocturne, Gran Turismo, Last of Us, Super Mario Bros. and Twisted Metal.
To no surprise, Last of Us was the winner.

(21:00):
Most anticipated game was also not surprising because I mean you had Hades 2 in here like
a Dragon Infinite, Wild Star Wars, Outlaws, and Tekken 8.
Just like to Hades, obviously very beloved game for the first one.
But it is an indie title.
Same thing with like a Dragon of disrespect, but most anticipated.
You never really hear like who's it being like, you know, the most best selling or largest

(21:23):
impact game of the year, right?
So Star Wars, Outlaws, while it looks promising to me and many others, just Ubisoft and Massive's
track record can be a little can be a little worrisome.
So and then Tekken 8 again.
I'm very hyped for it.
I'm looking forward to playing it.
But you know, the fighting game community as a whole across the board, you know, not

(21:47):
as big as we think compared to like the realm of gaming as a whole.
So that only leaves us with FF7 Rebirth and that was what won.
And it's just because FF7 is one of the most beloved games of all time and obviously probably
one of the most major if not the most major JRPG ever made.

(22:09):
So obviously, you know, they're doing the trilogy for FF7, the remakes and rebirth looks does
look pretty crazy.
I'm not gonna lie.
So for me, this is pretty unanimous that it won.
So there you go.
The rest is content creator of the year, best esports game, best esports athlete, best esports
team, best esports coach, best esports event, which we don't have to go through in much

(22:32):
detail about content creator of the year was Ironmouse, best esports game was Valorant,
best esports athlete was Faker, best esports team was JD Gaming, best esports coach was
Potter and the best esports event was the League of Legends World Championship.
So yeah, that was the winner.
Those are my brief thoughts on them.
Nothing really too out of the gate for me here aside from best multiplayer, but I understand

(22:57):
why.
Best sim strategy, maybe best family as well.
But in terms of the major awards, I think we predicted them all right.
So yeah, those are the other winners.
Now next we will be talking about all the announcements, which is gonna definitely take
a lot more time here.
So sit back and relax and we'll try to try not to drag this on too long.

(23:23):
All right.
So let's talk about all the announcements, which essentially what the game awards is,
and we'll touch more about this later.
I remember reading a statistic saying that only 30 minutes out of the three and a half
hour show was focused on the actual awards themselves.

(23:47):
So interesting statistic there, but essentially the game awards now or has been for a while
kind of just a winter version of E3.
So the announcements is a big part, the big reveals and whatnot.
And it's what most people, to be honest, really tune in for.

(24:07):
The awards really more or less don't mean a lot because you got to enjoy whatever games
you want to play.
Your enjoyment for a game is always subjective.
So remember that.
I don't know why people get so caught up with the winners and losers.
I just like discussing them because it's fun to me, like what I predict and whatnot.
And for the most part, nothing was a surprise in terms of the winners.

(24:32):
Let's get into these chunky amount of reveals and world premieres for the Game Awards 2023.
A lot went on.
The pre-show kicked off with the Brothers, Tale of Two Sons remake.
I don't know, like, just really needed a remake or whatnot, but it looks all right.

(24:54):
No, I played the game before, so this is something I'm gonna skip over.
But it is coming out.
Forgot early 2024 sometime.
So that's what kicked off the pre-show.
Next was Pony Island 2.
This is from the inscription creator, Daniel Mullins.
And it features a mix of a first person open world, the 2D within a game that mixes multiple

(25:19):
formats from old school pixel gameplay.
Slightly for 2025 or 2026, the trailer kinda kept us on our toes of when it was gonna release.
But it looked pretty interesting.
Next is Derives the Golden Idol, which is the sequel to the Case of the Golden Idol.
This is a game I have yet to play, but I wanna play.

(25:39):
I saw the boy Ceeze aka Ceeze in the third play.
If you're not familiar with who Ceeze is, one of the goated people within the content
creation space for gaming.
So always find out some of these more unknown or overlooked indie titles from him.
So yeah, The Rise of Golden Idols coming to Netflix games, Xbox, Flixitition, Nintendo,

(26:05):
Switch, and PC.
So it's interesting to see the games that Netflix Games is incorporating into their
catalog.
It looks interesting, so there's that.
Next was Usual June, the next game from Fingy, the studio behind Night in the Woods and Tunic.
The trailer showed the character June, hence the title of the game Usual June, which is

(26:32):
being followed by Mysterious Ghosts.
Looks like a cool art style.
I'm not sure about the gameplay, but this will be launching in 2025.
Harmonium the musical, musical adventure game from the Odd Gentlemen made to be accessible
to the deaf.
The game is fully subtitled and everyone in the game speaks in sign language along with
the singing.
This will be coming on the game pass in Netflix games as well.

(26:56):
We saw Windblown, latest creation from Motion Twin, the creator of Dead Cells.
The teaser trailer does not show any gameplay, but it introduces one of the characters, the
world and a four-boating cyclone set to hit early access on PC in 2024.
We saw Thrasher, described as a mind-melting cosmic eraser and an essential audiovisual

(27:18):
experience from Drool, the studio behind the 2016 cult hit Thumper.
The trailer showed off some of the game's side-deleg gameplay and hinted at a 2024 release
window.
Next, we saw a partnership between two of the more bigger, well, bigger two independent
games, Dave the Diver and Dredge, based on your definition of what's indie.

(27:42):
Two unexpected hits coming together.
The creatures and the characters from the Horror Fisher game are coming to Dave the
Diver on December 15th.
Let me just check my calendar here.
So that will be the same day as this podcast will be released.
So if you're interested in that, make sure to check it out.

(28:02):
We saw Exodus for the first reveal during the main show.
We have Matthew McConaughey come out for this.
New sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, which is a studio made up of former Bioware
developers.
And to me, the game looked very Mass Effect-y.
The trailer introduced the main character, known as the Traveler, and introduced the

(28:23):
game's time dilation mechanics, which they also showed gameplay.
And that mechanics is going to play into both the gameplay and storytelling.
So when they first showed it, I was like, this looks very Mass Effect-y.
Later to find out it's from former Bioware veterans.
So that makes sense to me.
A big get with Matthew McConaughey.
So I'm interested, keep my eyes on that.

(28:44):
Nothing about the release date or anything there.
So the surprise news, we had God of War Ragnarok Valhalla announced as a free downloadable
content for God of War Ragnarok, which is set to be a free roguelike mode where Kato's
travels with Mimir to a mysterious island filled with monsters.
And the mode will be available on December 12th.

(29:07):
So when this podcast is released, it will be already out for three days.
So I still got to go through the base game.
But the fact that they're going to have a free roguelike mode for a AAA game is very
intriguing to me.
And you know, before I actually this a long time ago with the Returnal, I want to see

(29:29):
more AAA studios attack the roguelike genre.
And now we get a free mode for it.
It's very interesting indeed and a good surprise.
We saw a big walk, cooperative multiplayer adventure about teamwork and walking where
players will band together to solve puzzles and make new discoveries.

(29:51):
Developed by House House, who released Untitled Goose Game and scheduled to launch 2025.
Game looks very quirky and fun.
Next we have one of Xbox's heavy hitters, Hellblade 2, Sonoma's Saga, followed by a
performance of the original song for the game, Hellung.

(30:13):
New trailer for Hellblade 2 is shown, which is obviously Ninja Theory's next project.
Got to see a bit more of the game, multiple locations, enemies, and some gameplay.
Finally the combat.
And it's set as scheduled for release in 2024, nothing more specific beyond that.
But the game does look pretty crazy.

(30:34):
Everything that was shown was captured on the Series X, not the PC.
So I really hope this is something very big for the team over at Xbox.
Because the amount of love and hype and time and promotion and giving to the title, I'm
hoping it will be.
And Ninja Theory does deserve that, so I just hope it delivers.

(30:54):
Now one of my favorite announcements for the entire night, we saw No Rest for the Wicked.
And next game from Moon Studios, who are the creators of the Ori franchise.
And this is Moon Studios take on a Diablo S game for the lack of better words.
Yes, it is an action RPG.

(31:14):
Clearly has more of a darker tone than their previous projects, based on the violence and
gore.
It follows a kingdom whose king has recently died, which plunges the world into chaos.
The game will offer single player and four player co-op, as most ARPGs do.
And more information will be shared during the Wicked Inside Digital Showcase on March
1st.

(31:35):
My dumbass originally thought that March 1st was the release date, and I was like, wow,
that's like right around the corner.
That's crazy.
But it's not, it's a digital showcase.
And it will be also, I saw saying that it will be releasing on PS5, so this won't be,
you know, given Ori was exclusively to Xbox and PC originally, before going over to the

(31:57):
Switch and whatnot.
I thought this would have been like another Xbox title, but it will be multiplat, but
nevertheless it looks fucking sick.
If there's any game I talk about during this whole announcement segment from the Game Awards,
please please check out.
No rest for the Wicked, an ARPG from the Ori devs.

(32:20):
Next we saw Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, a new Dragon Ball game in the Budokai Tenkachi style
of arena combat.
Briefshalers showed Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and more Dragon Balls well known characters
battling out.
I'm always in for some new Budokai Tenkachi.
Looked visually sick.

(32:42):
No more details given on the release date or whatnot, but it will be coming out to the
Xbox Series X, PS5, and PC.
We saw Casting of Frank Stone, which is a joint venture development, I guess, from Behavior
Interactive and Supermassive Games.
Obviously, Behavior Interactive, the Dead by Daylight devs and Supermassive Games is responsible

(33:03):
for Until Dawn, Decorrie, etc.
It's a narrative horror game set in the wider universe of Dead by Daylight, and the trailer
showed off some of the choices players will make through the story.
As confirmed, a 2024 release window for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
So we'll see how that will be.
Next we have a game from Square.

(33:24):
When they showed it, I thought it was going to be a new Dragon Quest.
And then before my buddy Dave corrected me saying it looked like a new Mana game.
And indeed, it is Visions of Mana.
Square Enix bringing back a storied Mana RPG franchise with Visions of Mana.
All new entry due for release in 2024 showed off the game's many characters, locations,

(33:47):
and a few enemies, including the fan favorite Rabbites.
It will be releasing in 2024 as well for the PS5 and PS4, surprisingly, Xbox Series X,
PS4, and PC.
Now for a very big reveal, we got to see OD, which I'm guessing will be Overdose, but
who knows what that title could mean.

(34:12):
But this was putting the rumors to rest.
The long-rumored collaboration between longtime developer and storytelling GO, Hideo Kojima,
and Xbox Game Studios finally revealed in a bizarre trailer with multiple people reciting

(34:32):
the same speech in different ways.
Jordan Peele was also revealed to be collaborating on the project, and Kojima mentioned that
there will be more and more maybe I guess horror minds, creative dubbing them as the
Avengers working on the title.
I don't know what the fuck this is going to be, but it looks interesting.

(34:54):
But Jeff, I don't think Kojima needed like 10 minutes on stage to explain this, and I'll
explain that later why.
But Kojima and Xbox.
So another big reveal for Xbox following Hellblade 2.
It's good for them.
Saw Fortnite Rocket Racing, which is already been out.

(35:15):
Go play it.
FF7 Rebirth.
We saw live performance of the song from upcoming Rebirth.
A new trailer was shown, and there's an extended version of the trailer that wasn't shown at
the Game Awards.
This is worth checking out, especially for FF7 fans.
A lot of things going on in that trailer, let me tell you.
And then there's also Apex Legends collaboration coming out in June.

(35:41):
I mean, anyway, so talking about left field stuff, didn't have Apex Legends and FF7 and
Square and Respawn working together in my Game Awards bingo card.
But yeah, the FF7 trailer teases something about an iconic character with an iconic moment.

(36:06):
Keep it at that.
We saw Tales of Kedzara, a Metroid-style action game made by Surgeon Studios, part of the
EA Originals program.
EA Originals, obviously, it's a publishing team by EA looking to highlight smaller games.
It takes two, a way out, a few other games.

(36:33):
So a very cool little project for EA focusing some indie titles to get that showcasing.
The game follows a mystery surrounding his father and involving the God of Death, among
others.
The game is set to launch April 23rd on Xbox, PlayStation, the Switch, and PC.
And it's going to tackle grief.
And obviously, the individual presenting was very emotional talking about his own grief

(36:56):
and life.
So something to keep your eye on right here.
Tales of Kedzara, Zao, Z-A-U.
We saw another game from Don't Nod, Lost Records, Bloom and Rage.
Don't Nod's been doing a lot of shit.
The game follows Swan, Nora, Autumn, and Kat, four high school friends who reunite 27 years

(37:17):
after promising never to speak again.
At this point, I'm not really sure how my interest level peaks for Don't Nod games,
but they're always showing something.
So if that's part of your bucket interest pool, check it out.
In terms of a very another surprising reveal, we saw Marvel's Blade.

(37:38):
And we know Marvel's been getting their feet wet.
Not their feet wet.
Have been getting their feet wet in the gaming sphere.
Obviously, we have Marvel's Spider-Man on the PlayStation by Insomniac.
Insomniac also is working on Marvel's The Wolverine.
We know they have a collaboration with EA working on an Iron Man game and a Black Panther
game.

(37:58):
And now we have Marvel's Blade, which is made from Arkane Lion, responsible for Death's
Loop and the Dishonored series, not Arkane Austin, who's responsible for Redfall and
Prey.
So I think it's in the right Arkane Studios hands.
The brief teaser show Blade in a barbershare before gunshots and other noise outside interrupts

(38:21):
his appointment.
There's no release window and there was no clear Xbox marketing around this either, which
is making people wonder online.
And people always, I feel like have this repeated thing about, oh, is this game going to be
exclusive to Xbox?
They're doing it with Starfield.
They were doing it with other things.
And to me, I don't know any reason why Xbox would allow Bethesda and Arkane Lion to make

(38:49):
this multiplat since they own them.
So expect this to be a PC and Xbox exclusive and day one games pass, because that's kind
of the whole point of Microsoft and Xbox acquiring all these studios.
And it would make sense so that Xbox has their own flagship kind of Marvel superhero game

(39:09):
as PlayStation has both Spider-Man and Wolverine eventually.
So very excited for this.
Was not expecting this to be announced at all.
Gives me hope that it's Arkane Lion working on the title and not Arkane Austin.
And it's also going to be a third person game, which I think is their first venture, if I'm
not mistaken, considering that Dishonored and Deathloop are both FPSs.

(39:30):
So first person perspective, at least.
It's not really just a straight up shooter, but you get what I was saying.
Very excited about that.
Mecha Break.
Mecha Battle Game developed by SeedSide Games.
3v3, 6v6, Battle Royale modes.
Yep.

(39:52):
Armored Core style PvP game.
See how that goes.
Salt Pallia, which is a cozy life sim, which I feel like I've been seeing a lot this year
and just a trend in the past couple years.
Coming to Nintendo Switch on December 14th, so today.
Let's check it out if you want to.

(40:12):
Light No Fire.
This game from No Man's Sky Creator Hello Games.
The teaser trailer, which is supposedly all in game footage, shows a group of four players
traveling across a challenging world, both on foot and flying on a winged beast.
Multiple biomes are shown from snowy mountains to red deserts to lush green fields.
No release window, but could be an interesting title.

(40:36):
See how Stormgate debuted a new story and gameplay trailer during the Game Awards.
New character in the game called Wars, who will be voiced by Shangai and Barbie star
Simulou, who also came out to present and announce this announcement.
So we'll see how Stormgate is.
I know it's made by ex Blizzard devs.

(40:57):
I know it's been kind of getting a little bit of a slightly mixed response based on
the early playtesting and whatnot.
But I hope Frost Giants studios pull it off because there used to be a bigger fish in
the RTS scene.
It could be this.
So Elphette, Valentine, get added to Guilty Gear Strive right now.

(41:23):
Final Fantasy 16 DLC.
There will be two stories matches coming out for FFXVI.
Echoes of the Fallen, Rising Tide.
Echoes of the Fallen is now available and it sees Clavin and company stand up to what
the trailer calls an iconoclastic defense system, whereas the bigger Rising Tide is
going to be more chunkier expansion, which is set to release in spring 2024.

(41:47):
So a lot coming out for FFXVI.
Maybe something I should pick up.
Who knows?
The show closed off with Monster Hunter Wilds, the next installment of the Monster Hunter
franchise.
Obviously by Capcom, the brief teaser showed a hunting riding showed a hunter.
Sorry, sorry.
Riding a monster through a pack of traveling creatures who are also learning larger monsters

(42:11):
to them.
The game is scheduled for Xbox Series X, S, PlayStation 5 and PC in 2025.
And not really announced.
Not really mentioned during the show, but you know, Baldur's Gate 3, as we mentioned
earlier in this episode, one game of the year, many other awards got released instantly on

(42:33):
Xbox X Series S. So instantly out.
Also I'm using gamespot.com to check these out.
So I'd like to show my sources of what I can memorize all this stuff off, but they did
not mention the finals anywhere here.
So the finals got released during the game awards.

(42:58):
They showed a trailer and it got silently dropped.
So I did play the beta of that and we'll be checking it out.
But probably by next podcast time, you'll hear my thoughts on the game.
Apparently there is a lot of buggy stuff going on, but don't want to forget about the finals
made by Embark Studios, right?
Let me just check Steam real quick.

(43:19):
I think I have that right.
Which is a former X dev, X dev, holy shit, X dice devs, you know, battlefield.
And you do get those vibes when you play the game.
So yeah, that was all the announcements.

(43:42):
What were you guys the most hyped for?
For me, I'm just scrolling through this again.
Should not miss anything, Marvel's Blade is one that's interesting to me.
FF7, Rebirth, of course.
OD, Dragon Ball, No Arrest for the Wicked is still up there for me, Hell's Blade 2.

(44:05):
This is also missing, come on GameSpot.
You're missing another one.
Okay, Riders of the Ronin was also shown by Team Ninja, you know, Ninja Gaiden and Neo
devs and whatnot.
They're open world like Samurai, kind of Gose Shima-esque, but obviously gonna be way harder,

(44:25):
more tight game coming out in March, I believe.
So let me just check out another site here to see every single announcement.
Okay, I felt like something's got missed.
Just to recap, for 2023, Balls of the Gate 3 for Xbox out, finals out, Warhammer 40,000

(44:50):
Rogue Trader out now, FF16X for the Fallen out now, Ark Survival Ascended out now, Go
to Gear Strive, Character DLC like a Fortnite, Avatar, Valhalla will be out by the time this
podcast is out, 1.0 for Ready or Not, Dave the Diver Dredge, Alia and a few other games,

(45:12):
excuse me.
2024, obviously Apex Legends Final Fantasy 7 collab January 9th, oh yeah, Prince of Persia
Lost Crown, January 18th, Persona 3 Reload, February 2nd, 2024, Suicide Squad Kill the
Justice League, February 2nd, 2024, and I wanted to touch a little bit more base on

(45:33):
Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League.
The live action servicing elements is still making me kind of mad about it and I know
the game's just getting universally crapped on now, but the more and more I see of it,
the more and more I see it being like a true Rocksteady game, obviously they made the Batman
Arkham series and it's a beloved franchise.

(45:54):
The more and more I see the gameplay of Suicide Squad, it looks interesting to me, but we'll
just see how that goes, but that's February 2nd, Helldivers 2 February 8th, Banishers
Ghost of New Eden February 13th, Skull and Bones February 16th, doesn't get pushed back
again.
February 28th is Brothers of Taylor's Tucson remake, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth February 29th,

(46:18):
Rise of the Ronin, sorry, there you go, that's what I was mentioning about the PS5 Exclusive
by Team Ninja, Open World Samurai S-game March 22nd, we had Black Myth Wukong as well, don't
forget about that one, another Souls-like S-game in the folklore of Wukong, looks interesting

(46:39):
to me as well, August 20th is 2024, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 September 9th, 2024,
so I gotta play the first one, and as being a third person shooter lover, I'm sure I'll
like it, Final Fantasy I've Seen Rise and Tide early 2024, Metaphor Riefantazio by Atlas,

(46:59):
also an action game coming out late 2024, Storm Gate early access mid 2024, and a few
other titles, so I knew I was missing, I knew GameSpoil was missing, I guess I said the
biggest announcement, so these other titles weren't, appear to be big for them, but a

(47:22):
lot going on there, let me just recollect my thoughts here, this is the ones I'm really
hyped for, obviously I will be checking out that Ragnarok Valhalla DLC, I don't think
you even need to play the core game to access the roguelike mode, but I should probably
play it through regardless, so I am interested in that, I will be playing the finals as well,

(47:45):
and I'll give my thoughts on that, next podcast I promise, FNa3 Reload will be on the game
pass for every second, Suicide Squad I gotta look at as well, Helldiver 2 looks interesting
to be a third person co-op shooter, anything third person I use to keep my eye on, so we
will be keeping our eye on that, FF7 Rebirth is obviously the big chunky title, it's gonna

(48:09):
be the biggest one, the biggest releases in quarter 1 2024, Rise of Ronin again, something
I'm keeping my eye on, I'm not gonna lie, the audio was kind of scuffed during what
they were presenting at the game awards, and visually just the game overall didn't look
as crazy as I thought it would be, given the studio behind it, but usually their gameplay
is what carries the Team Ninja games, and if they can kind of nail the open world game,

(48:32):
to me what it seems like Rise of Ronin will be is like a hardcore version of Ghost of
Tsushima, that is yet to remain seen if that's what it will really be, but yes I'm interested,
Black Myth Wukong, interested in that, Warhammer 40,000, Space Marine 2, also interested in
that, Final Fantasy 16, I gotta play it, maybe I'll be interested in DLCs once I get through

(48:54):
it, Metaphor, Re-Fantazio, the action RPG, Statlis, interested in that, Hellblade 2,
Visions of Mana, interested in those two as well, 2025 we had Monster Hunter Wilds, I
am guilty of not really playing Monster Hunter World or Rise, even after being told many

(49:19):
times to check it out, it seems like a big time sink, right?
Time is a currency that I really value nowadays, hence why I started this podcast, trying to
push in a bunch of streams and stuff, because I just don't have time, it's not on my side,
but maybe I'll check out Rise, it's better to get through, or quicker to get through

(49:44):
than World is, but yeah that could be cool, and then the games without really the states,
obviously Rise of Golden Idol I'm interested in, gotta play the first one, No Rest for the
Wicked is still very up for me, and then, oh yeah also, shit man, these sites aren't

(50:05):
doing this shit properly man, Stagg had a really interesting trailer where they showed
five games, and if you've been gaming a long time like myself, essentially they're taking
a bunch of games from the Genesis and Dreamcast era, and in one trailer they showed a remake
for Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Golden Axe, like five complete

(50:32):
remakes in one trailer, and said they had more in development, so they didn't give a
definitive release date, but I'm really hoping like a couple of them come out next year 2024,
or maybe they'll just release all five as a package, could you imagine they just release
all five as a package, cause you know all of these games are a little shorter in length,
you know Golden Axe, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage, but if they

(50:55):
released all five remakes in one package, could you imagine, and then did it like another
pack like that, and just kept doing that, I think would be awesome for nostalgic gamers
such as myself, and just getting it shown, giving a modern touch to all of them, and
introducing it to new audiences, but a lot of questions yet to be remained seen on how

(51:17):
Sega approaches these games from a gameplay standpoint, and how they modernize them, I
know Jet Set Radio needs a modernization for sure, but visually they look sick, so how
could I ever forget about that, so yes very excited for what Sega is doing as well, we'll
be keeping a close eye on that, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero as well, OD for sure, anything

(51:37):
with Kojima, Marvel's Blade, probably not gonna see that game like forever, but interested
in that as well, so there's a lot, there's a lot, if I had to give my big three takeaways,
I would probably say No Rest for the Wicked, Marvel's Blade, and the Sega Remakes, my top

(52:02):
three, those are the top three things that I really want you to see from all these announcements,
probably gonna be those, but a lot was shown for a variety of genres and fans, so if they
had something you did not like, I don't know what to tell you, obviously looking here we
had a lack of presence from Nintendo, so I'm sure they'll be cooking their own Direct pretty

(52:29):
soon, especially with the rumors of new hardware coming out in 2024, so Nintendo fans don't
lose hope yet, very strong year for Nintendo anyways this year, regardless, Super Mario
Bros. Wonder, To the Kingdom, Super Mario RPG, Fire Emblem Engage, Pikmin 4, among many,

(52:51):
many, many other titles exclusively released this year, so they definitely went out with
the bang, so they'll be cooking something soon, I also think PlayStation is kind of,
they must be cooking something, because to have really just Rises their own in here present,
with the definitive release date for March 22nd, and then some FF16 expansions, and obviously

(53:19):
FF7 Rebirth is what Sony really riding on to carry them for a strong quarter one 2024,
the exclusivity seems like it's not gonna be uber long on FF7 Rebirth, from what I've
been hearing and searing, hearing and seeing and buzzing within the industry, but aside
from that there hasn't been much cooking giving all the development, developmental teams and

(53:44):
IPs PlayStation has, so I'm interested to see what their 2024 and 2025 roadmap looks
like, I think Wolverine will be a 2025 title, but where's Factions, where's Gorilla's next
game, where's Ghost of the Seamless 2, maybe they're doing too much of the open world samurai

(54:08):
shit because they have Ghost of the Seam already and it seems like that's gonna get a sequel
and then they have Rise of the Ronin, and FF7 Rebirth also open world, and I've talked
about this before, I think maybe Sony is trying to trap themselves, kind of in this third
person storytelling open world environment, we will see, we will see for sure, but out

(54:34):
of the big three obviously Nintendo didn't have a presence, Sony had expected a presence,
but I think surprisingly Microsoft cooked finally, How Blade 2 looks awesome, O.D. finally
showing Kojima's game is awesome and having Jordan Peele, part of it's pretty big, looks
very interesting to me, Arkane working on Blade, also pretty crazy, and then obviously

(55:02):
they keep pushing the game past forward and they're gonna have FF3 on it and probably
X amount of other titles as well, so kind of my thoughts, kind of what I expected, well
not expected but a lot was shown, a lot of surprising stuff, but I think obviously if

(55:30):
you're a big Nintendo Sony guy you might have been like okay I want a little bit more, and
obviously there's been games, I feel really bad for the Silksong fans, I'm one of them,
just never get anything, but yeah, that's kind of it for the announcements, I'm just
gonna scroll down here and see some of the comments, people still asking if Blade will

(55:51):
be an Xbox exclusive, I don't know why it wouldn't be, people are sort of excited for
Monster Hunter, people complaining about Arkane making Blade, not knowing this is two different
studios, some guy said a whole lot of nothing, I don't know if that's true, let's see, Arkane

(56:24):
Lion has never made a good game, Xbox hasn't had an exclusive 2015, they went third party
2017, this guy said Arkane Lion never made a good game when they literally made the Dishonored
series and you know obviously Death's Loop was a bit more mixed, but people always forget
it's two studios man, alright, anyways, that's for the announcements, let's talk about the

(56:54):
show overall now, so a couple things I wanted to talk about, first and foremost, and Jeff's
already kind of addressed this, but I think the winners, the award recipients, need more

(57:15):
time to talk, and I say this because right off the rip when I saw the best narrative
award, presented by Christopher Judge aka The Voice of Kratos, and it was won by Alan
Wake II and Sam Lake, obviously very emotional and very happy to win best narrative in a

(57:36):
very stacked narrative year, spoke for maybe about under a minute and then they started
playing the music for him and I've been seeing the video footages from the award saying,
you know, the teleprompter saying please wrap it up and stuff like that, and you know I
get it, it's so that the show isn't like 6 hours long, because it's still been like

(57:58):
3 and a half, it's pretty long, and it's to keep the flow of it, and I know Jeff Keighley
relies on his advertisements heavy for the show to happen every year, so obviously it's
going to be very ad focused and very announcement focused because that's what brings in the
viewers, but since it's called the Game Award, we should probably focus a little bit more

(58:19):
on the games, right?
I understand, you've quoted this to me and you have expectations by people that you want
to kind of deliver and whatnot, but my suggestion is maybe we should have a limit on the presenters
side of things as well, because I swear to God Christopher Judge was up there cracking
jokes saying his speech last year was longer than the COD campaign, it's probably true,

(58:44):
but he still talked for like 3 or 4 minutes man, like you're just here to present an award,
you know maybe just make a joke like hey my speech last year was longer than the COD
campaign, ha ha ha, and then be like alright here's the nominees, right?
Poor Sam Lake, and it happened time and time again, Anthony Mackie came out, and no disrespect
to Anthony Mackie, okay Clarence from 8 Mile, okay Falcon, you know, and apparently did

(59:08):
good in Twisted Meadows as well, no disrespect to you, but this man was up here like 5 minutes
doing like a stand up bit, like just present the award, okay?
And this was a criticized heavy on Twitter and I'm glad it was because it is at the end
of the day still the awards show, right?

(59:32):
Not the game announcements 2023, it's the game awards, TGA stands for the game awards
not the game announcements, which you couldn't know the difference if you watched the show,
but please if we're gonna have a limit on the winners award recipients and their speeches
for the sake of timeliness and flow of the show, let's just do it both ways, okay?

(59:56):
I think it should be about a minute the presenter has, right, to talk, obviously you show your
video packages for each of the nominees and then you just present the, then you just announce
the winner, I think a minute is fair, and then about 2 to 3 minutes for this award recipient,
doesn't mean they have to, you know, take up the whole 2 to 3 minutes, but at least
give them minimum 2, right, before you start playing that music, because a lot of sweat,

(01:00:20):
blood and tear going to video game development, we've been noticing that between, you know,
a long time it takes studios to come out with games nowadays, in between games, and it was
a tough year for the gaming industry as a whole with all the layoffs, mentioned in the
last episode just with Naughty Dog, you know, such a beloved and, you know, powerful and
probably profitable studio, still facing, employee still facing hardships and layoffs,

(01:00:45):
and I think it was what, like 5000 plus people in the gaming industry that got laid off this
year, so let's give the recipients some time, hey?
To really relish in their achievements, what they were able to put together, because as
gamers, like I said, the game awards might just be mostly for the announcements, and

(01:01:06):
Jeff knows that, and that's what he focuses on, but for these devs, this game award show
is the biggest showcase for them to receive an award, for their game to get, you know,
more eyes on it, like I said, that's why indie devs hope to get their game shown here, because
it's the best platform for them to be seen, even like a team like Remedy and Alan Wake

(01:01:33):
2, I'm glad one, like best narrative and best game direction, and they had that performance,
and I'm glad they had all that, because I think the game only sold like 200,000 copies
first month, which is like, what the fuck?
So and I mentioned this in the very first episode of Digital Down Time as well, the
game awards are going to exist in this format, it's not going to exist at all, especially

(01:01:55):
at this, you know, at this like caliber for it to be this grand, right, because Jeff does
need his advertisements and his announcements to bring in the viewers and bring in the money,
but please, if we're going to limit the award recipients' time, we should limit the presenters'
time as well for the sake of making the show even more seamless and tight knit and more

(01:02:18):
focused, right?
And as much as I love Kojima, I think he's awesome, I love Metal Gear Solid, I love Death
Stranding, I love his narrative mind, he didn't need 10 minutes to talk there, right?
Show the trailer, have Kojima come out, because it's always great to see him, have him talk
briefly about the game, have Jordan Peele come out and say they're collabing and there's

(01:02:39):
going to be more creative minds in the game, boom, it could be like a two to three minute
segment, okay?
So there's just things like that, the kind of, you know, you can call them nitpicky,
but I just think if it's called the Game Awards, there should be some sort of focus on the
awards aspect of it as well.
But a shout out to all the winners, like I mentioned earlier, nothing was surprising

(01:03:02):
to me for the most part.
Rhythm Evil 4 didn't win anything, just to think of note, just something I kept notable
while watching the awards, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2, I think, despite being up for like six
categories, did not win anything as well.
Obviously Spider-Man 2 would have been a great winner in the action adventure category any

(01:03:24):
other year, but since Baldur's Gate 3 was going to be Game of the Year winner, there's
really no choice but for Zelda to win Best Action Adventure.
So now, let's talk about Have You Played This?

(01:03:46):
This week's segment.
And I mentioned earlier it's going to touch base while we're showing the Game Awards,
and it will.
Have You Played This is going to be just a collection of what Sega's shown this week.
So they showed five remakes, Street of Rage, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Golden
Axe.
Now, when I was really young, I remember playing Streets of Rage with arcade machines.

(01:04:11):
I haven't got a chance to play Streets of Rage 4 yet.
Same thing with Shinobi.
I think Shinobi was on the Genesis, the 2D one.
I did play that as well, but don't remember much of it because I was like three, four
years old at the time.
But I have played Streets of Rage, I've played Shinobi, I played Jet Set Radio.

(01:04:33):
Not during the Dreamcast era, I actually never owned the Dreamcast.
But I played it off Steam.
I want to say 2021, but I'm just going to get the exact date for you.
Because I have my game organized in terms of like beaten, unbeaten.
Yes, last played January 27, 2021.

(01:04:53):
Got through the entire game in around six and a half hours, so not very long.
And when I was mentioning that Sega is remaking it, I'm glad they are.
Because the art style on Jet Set Radio is really sick already.
So if they just like make that modern HD 4K or whatever you want to call it, it's going
to just look fucking sick.
But if there's any game that needs modernization for its controls, it's definitely Jet Set

(01:05:17):
Radio because the controls on that are whew.
So I'm going to say, but yeah.
And then we have Crazy Taxi, again, something I played deeply.
The arcade machines also played a shitload of it on the PS2.
And then Golden Axe.
This is probably the one title I actually haven't played.

(01:05:39):
I think I played the one on the Gameboy Advance.
It's like a side scrolling beat em up hack and slash kind of game.
It wasn't the Gameboy Advance, right?
Or am I tripping?
Sega Smash Pack.
So I did play Golden Axe.
But all five of these titles, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden

(01:06:02):
Axe is for this week's have you play this just because this was not something I was
expecting Sega to announce.
If you haven't played any of these titles, you can find ways Jet Set Radio is going to
probably be your easiest in terms of you can find it on Steam.

(01:06:22):
Jet Set Radio Future is also a great title.
So if you don't, if you do own a series X, I believe Jet Set Radio Future is one of the
Xbox original Xbox compatible backwards titles.
You can just try to find a hard copy and slide it in your console.
You can also find Crazy Taxi.
There's so many Sega collections and Genesis collections and they're done so many it's

(01:06:44):
hard to keep track of.
I'm sure you can find all five games and all five are great.
Like I said, Streets of Rage and Golden Axe are both like 2D beat em up, completely different
settings and atmospheres.
Shinobi is more like a 2D action side scroller platformer.
Kind of in a not a Metroidvania sense, but more so just straight up like a 2D action

(01:07:06):
platformer.
Jet Set Radio is just like, you know, I don't even know how to describe it.
Just like a kind of like open sandbox 3D platformer type of, I guess, sports high visual toward
the game.
It's a sick man, but I really do hope they modernize the controls in this remake.

(01:07:29):
Crazy Taxi, Crazy Taxi, you smell me?
Just bona fide classic.
You can just play that game hours and hours on end for fun.
So yeah, go play some Sega games for have you played this?
I'm specifically focusing on these five just because we saw the remakes for in a very,
very surprising trailer for me at least.

(01:07:51):
So I know for installers of people like kids like myself, I know I was about like six or
seven years old when the Dreamcast came out probably.
That kind of grew up with these games on the arcades and then know about them.
And obviously some of the older gamers, boomer gamers, very excited about some of these.
I saw what this face.

(01:08:18):
I saw whole carnage and it's a segment involving Sega and how excited he is for the titles.
Maximillian and the rest of Yo-Yo video games excited.
So obviously that's going to be the demographic that's going to be very excited for these
titles for sure.
But I hope Sega finds this way to introducing them to new players as well.

(01:08:42):
So very excited about those.
Yeah, but that's going to be the five titles.
Probably the only time you'll see five titles and have you played this or this week's have
you played this segment?
But I appreciate everyone for checking out the episodes.
This is the fourth one.
So already a month in doing digital downtime.

(01:09:05):
So it's been great.
The people that hear me or whatever platform is obviously we're on Apple, Spotify and YouTube,
but we're on a plethora of other podcasting sites.
So if you use Podbean or whatever else, I don't know.

(01:09:25):
It goes on a bunch of podcast directories.
So wherever you're listening on, I appreciate it.
As always, if you're looking for me and my individual handles, it's Gilly.
G-I-L-L-I-E-P-G on whatever Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch.

(01:09:48):
Terms of digital downtime.
You can find digital downtime on YouTube.
You can also find it on digital down pod at digital down pod on Twitter and then digital
downtime podcast at gmail.com.
As always, you know, if you're looking for any, if you're looking to sponsor something,

(01:10:12):
you're looking to be a guest on the show of any other comments or concerns, you can reach
out on the email or the Twitter, probably the two best places.
That was the Game Awards 2023.
Overall essentially no surprises with most of the winners, but some very surprising game
announcements.

(01:10:34):
As a whole, it's just been a wonderful, wonderful year as gaming.
And like I said, if you do not believe that sentiment, you definitely aren't opening up
or expanding your horizon in games.
That's all I got to say.
You know what I mean?
And 2024 is looking even crazier, regardless of what platform you game on.

(01:10:57):
A whole array of multi-platform games look wonderful.
PlayStation has some things cooking, but they must have more cooking in the back, back pot
somewhere.
Nintendo is always steadily cooking.
And you know, Xbox is a strategy of acquiring X amount of game studios for X amount of years.

(01:11:19):
And finally, they started showing some dividends.
So I hope 2024 is a strong year for them.
I really do.
And you know, I think whether you like Wefton RPGs or JRPGs, platformers, action games,
FPSs, you know, for the most part, there's something for everyone.

(01:11:45):
And I'm glad the game awards exists for a platform for these games to get shown, especially
the more indie, smaller ones.
But yeah, we need to fix the pacing in terms of the presenters and the award recipients.

(01:12:05):
So once you fix that, fix that, Jeff, give a little bit more time to the awards themselves
that are running through like five winners in like a minute.
Right.
I understand it.
Advertisements for the money, announcements for the viewership.
But you already recognized it.
So yeah.
But as always, I'm your host, I'm your host, Prince Gill, okay, Gillie, okay, your boy,

(01:12:32):
Shmuelmy.
Thank you for being here.
And we will see you next week, as usual, every Friday, right here on Digital Downtime.
Thank you very much.