Day 0 Update #538 - SmashPad's Summer Game Release Preview

In this episode of the Day 0 Update: We talk about the Ghost of Yokei State of Play, the drama between Krafton and Unknown World's former leadership, and a preview of game releases for the summer. All this and more, up next!

Full show notes can be found ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Welcome to Day 0 update for July13th, 2025.
I'm your host, Chris Eloji. I'm Brandon Perkins.
And I'm Janet Victorio. And yeah, we've got not so much
of A busy week this week of news.
Couple of interesting things that have happened.
The last was Part 2 remastered got an updates.

(00:40):
We got the The Ghost of Yote state of play that happened to
show us more of what that game is going to be.
Yep. We got Nintendo taking away
another thing now that people liked about their storefront,
and then we got updates on the weird craft in Subnautica 2
stuff that we talked about last week.

(01:02):
Yeah, it just gets weirder. And things have evolved and
gotten weird and we'll end here with the Summer Release Preview.
Probably should have done this acouple weeks ago but we just had
too much news the last few weeksso we got time now.
Yep. And there's still a ton of stuff

(01:23):
to come, so we'll get to that here at the end of the show.
But before we do that, we'll talk about we've been playing
and I will kick it off here as Ihave been playing a good amount
of college football. 26, the newest in the EA Sports college
football series that I would saylargely is similar to the

(01:46):
previous game. It feels like a more polished
version of that, but it still has a lot of the the bugs and
such that I talked about the review for last year's game.
There's still a good amount of that and aspects of it that I
just don't really like. So like the, the, the big new

(02:08):
thing here is that's the road toglory mode has a new beginning
to its before you just make a character and decide whether
they were going to be, you know,like a, an elite level player, a
good player, one that has to kind of work their way up the

(02:29):
starting job or a walk on at a school and kind of reinforcing
that a bit. They let you play in high school
for your final year. You don't play the games
necessarily like you would in like the last few NCAA Football
games or those kind of had almost zero personality to them.

(02:53):
Here. The, the way that they do this
is they give you kind of challenges.
You only get like 5 challenges to pick from.
You need to do four of them and if you were to do them well and
you know, finish out the drive as a touchdown, that would add

(03:13):
to your what they call the tape score.
Just essentially just your tape of highlights version of that
that you would send to schools, that kind of thing.
Once you make your player, you pick 10 schools that are the
ones you're most interested in joining.

(03:35):
And so, yeah, you're kind of doing that.
You can also import schools to this mode to plays your high
school mode. So I kind of looked at what's
was there and found a Mountain Dew University School.
And it's like, I'll just pick this because this is a really
dumb thing to have here. And it's, you know, a very

(03:58):
bright Greenfield in a lot of ways.
And like, that can come with specific players on the team as
well as different stats for the type of school it is.
I think if you were to use that as a legit university, you would
have more effects that way. But you just use it as the the

(04:21):
high school was just kind of a way to go.
But yeah, you pick these four challenges each game, though
they do skip some weeks. And when you finish it, you'll
start getting, you know, offers of scholarships to certain
schools. I'm pretty sure it does nothing

(04:42):
to tell you which schools have sent you scholarships unless you
are, like, writing it down or taking screenshots of each one
that pops up because there's points where you can remove
schools and put new ones on. It's like, well, I don't
remember which ones gave me them, and it does not.
I don't think I liked any of them in any way as far as I

(05:06):
could see. So yeah, like by the end of the
season, you literally cut it down to the top three and you do
a hat ceremony that you might have seen some high school kids
do to pick who announced who they're, you know, which school
they're going to. It broke for me on that mode on

(05:29):
that screen or just says press Xto stand up and no amount of
holding or pushing the button was working.
I do, you know, close the game and reload it again.
And it finally worked. And even still, it seemed like a
delayed inputs that I was just hitting a bunch of buttons.
So I don't know if I was on the magic combo that worked or

(05:52):
something, or just it needed to retry it again.
Started up picking UNC. But throughout the the season,
you'll get, you know, coaches talking to you, texting you,
saying like, hey, you know, we're interested in you.
And they'll give you like one ofthose challenge drives to do,

(06:14):
which I got one from the coach from Marshall, who literally all
it was was for a passing touchdown.
So nothing really complicated, but there was some that are more
complicated like, you know, complete passes on the run
throat, you know, complete passes between the hashes, some

(06:35):
that are gameplay based. One required me to change
playmakers on plays and that never seemed to work.
I don't know, I, I was playing with the, the classic passing
system or the, the simplified passing system.
So I don't know if that's just not available for that and it
did not know how to deal with that.
Alex was telling me it was like hold left L2 down and flick the

(06:58):
right stick and it did not seem to do anything.
I also had players occasionally were trying to motion and would
just get stuck in place and would not move.
When I got to the actual collegeteam, none of these issues
really persisted. They don't force any of that and

(07:18):
it just kind of makes that part of the game part of that mode.
Just seemed like a really dumb execution on AI.
You know, an idea that's they already do beside where you just
pick, you know, whether you havean elite athletes, you know,
what level of athlete you have, you can potentially improve from

(07:38):
where you start. But otherwise, it's just like,
this is all a bunch of extra fluff that really doesn't add
anything to the game. It's just a means of making it
feel like it's more organic. And it really doesn't need to
have that, especially for how many games you're playing.
It's like, I think feel like it's six between 6:00 and 8:00.

(08:03):
They skip games at a certain point, skip weeks when you go to
advance. So I don't remember how many.
And you don't really even get a chance to see like your stats or
how how you did really just get like the score and a meter of
like what rating prospect you are, which mine always stayed
right around three stars becauseI picked AI think the the third

(08:30):
one where you're kind of a a small time guy that's going to
work their way up the depth chart kind of thing.
So yeah, yeah, it, it doesn't feel like a, a mode that needs
to be there. Just adds extra time before you
get to the games that matter. And so, yeah, I went to UNC and

(08:52):
funny if the the actual coach. So they have actual coaches in
this game, both head coaches andcoordinators, offensive and
defensive coordinators in this game.
Bill Parson, Bill Belichick is the coach of UNC.
He decided to leave the NFL and go to UNC for some reason, but
he is not in the game so much like often imagine he was not

(09:16):
part of the the licensed coach is there and he is still not
licensed for this game. So you end up with this where
there's a a different coach who's who's there.
But the The funny thing is that his son is the defensive
coordinator and he's in the game.
So his son was willing to take the money for whatever it cost

(09:40):
for that, but his dad did not. So it was funny to see that kind
of thing. But yeah, so I was I think third
string when I started there, managed to make it up to second
string by the end of the first season and then during the my
second season. So yeah, going through that high
school thing, you skip 2025 the the 2025 season and they can

(10:05):
they give you a hot, you know, updates on that stuff.
You can see all the the rankingsand results of games and all
that, but you feel kind of really isolated from that stuff.
So yeah, where I'm at, I got through to the the 2027 season
as the backup and I eventually worked my way up to being the

(10:26):
starter despite my team startingat 4 and O and then losing one
game. And I basically got my coach's
trust points up to the point where I could challenge by the
time we were four and O. And then it did not start the
challenge until after we lost a game.

(10:48):
And then from there I could do it to essentially take over in
such an such an absurd way because, you know, you're
benching this junior for losing one game, of which the first
season I was there, we were seven and five.
It was like, you're already doing better than expected and

(11:09):
benching for my player, who, youknow, is a true freshman at this
point and all that. So yeah, it's just an absurd
situation. But I've managed to play a
handful of games past that whereI've won all of them.
The the big change they've also made is that the wear and tear

(11:30):
system from last year's game kind of didn't really work.
It didn't feel like you had your, you know, bumps and
bruises and whatnot kind of building up over over the course
of the game was basically unlessyou got some real big hit that
would cause an injury, you were just perfectly fine.

(11:53):
Whereas here those things actually start building up and
it'll show you, you know, your stats that are being
deteriorated. So being a quarterback, my guy
was constant getting beat up because I would wait till the
last second to try to throw the ball.
Constantly getting creamed by, you know, a defensive lineman or

(12:15):
whatever when I was throwing theball away or trying to get a
pass off or something. And so that definitely affected
some of my ability to complete passes and, you know, run out of
the pocket and that kind of stuff.
That was neat. I've not played much with the

(12:37):
the dynasty mode to kind of see how that affects the the full
teams proper, but it does seem like it does have the intended
effect this time around versus last year.
So that's nice. But yeah, it still has some of
the same issues as last year's game with the road to glory.

(12:58):
And I assume it's the same in Dynasty where it tries to
generate stories based on other games that are going on and it
will occasionally bug out and show the the wrong description
for what the outcome of the gameis.
Where I had one where Oregon beat Ohio State's in a game, it
was like Ohio State set a recordbeating Ohio State's.

(13:19):
I was like oh this is not how that should be showing up.
I've seen that a few times. There's also just some feels
like some weird logic with the some of the top tier teams kind

(13:40):
of ending up with a lot of losses.
But I think it's part of the simulation stuff.
I haven't seen enough to see if that's a consistent problem or
not. But yeah, it's just a little bit
weird. They've also improved the thing
where if you were looking at like the the award finals list,

(14:00):
you could not tell what stats they had to see why they were,
you know, a top ranked player onthis list.
They do have that now. The little sidebar menu can
actually show the stats for the season.
You can also pull up a player page of stats now.
I think that was one of my issues with last year's games.
You couldn't really see how a player is like evolved and all

(14:24):
that. So that's another change.
And other than that, there's notreally a ton else that's
changed. It feels like a just a more
polished game. One of the funny things they did
is they have a bunch of licensedmusic in this game and on the
the menus it's all been essentially redone by the one of

(14:51):
the in house marching band they use for the music.
So there's versions of like Industry Baby by Little Nos X
and Shibuzis. I figured the a bar song
something like that. I forgot that that song's name
is but. Got it right.
It's called a bar song. That's literally what it's

(15:12):
called. Yeah, And I was like here in
this, and it's sounded a bit like a little Nasac song, like
the heck is this? And I pull up the the EA tracks
and it's like, oh, it is. It's industry Baby, but by the
EA Sports college football marching band.
And it's like they did all covers of those songs.
I assume they're actually licensed, but they do that for

(15:36):
the menu music. So it made you know, trying to
stream the game much easier because all I had to do was just
turn off the music for in the onthe field stuff.
They do play actual music there.They do have like the big intro
videos as all Metallica on it, stuff like that.

(15:59):
So there is some actual music inthere, but otherwise it was
pretty seamless as far as, you know, uploading a video to
YouTube or that. And yeah, I'm trying to think
what else? Dynasty mode, I played some of
that. Recruiting seems basically the
same. Maybe the the logic's a bit
better, but it's still kind of avery tedious experience.

(16:23):
Set that all up and giving out the the hours points that you
have for each player and all that.
So that really hasn't changed. I feel like the the playing
experience is still pretty good.Feels just more polished to have
less players just kind of flopping around there.

(16:46):
You get some of that still. I posted a video in the the
discord that was my like my returner, my kick returner got
tackled and then he stopped animating like he was planking.
But the guy that tackled him that was under him started
celebrating in a way. It looked like he was spanking

(17:06):
his butt while under him. There's a lot of weird, some of
that weird stuff happening there.
But there's less flopping players around.
And it seems like they fixed some of the issues with like the
the defensive backs tipping passes while they're physically
not looking at the ball, just able to see out of, you know,

(17:28):
their computer vision, that kindof stuff they've improved on.
But there's still some ways you can see like players are kind of
acting on information that they shouldn't really have as far as
taking down passes and all that stuff.
But otherwise it all works as a more cohesive experience than

(17:51):
the first game. I'd barely touch Ultimate Team
because it seems pretty much thesame.
And that is kind of rent its course on me of being
interesting, especially with thedeluxe edition that's I got a
code for that didn't really seemlike it was giving you much

(18:15):
extra stuff. Maybe getting that like the the
day before. I don't know.
There's some potential issues with that.
But yeah, when I've jumped in, I've done some weird thing where
you can't buy certain packs. You have to buy.
It's like a almost like a an order you have to do things in.

(18:37):
There's a base pack you have to spend real money on.
But then you get the ability to unlock more packs with the, the,
the currency you earn in the game kind of stuff.
And it's like, this is kind of scummy the way it looks on my
end. But yeah, it's more of that they
haven't really added any new modes or any major features.

(18:59):
Just seems like they've polisheda lot of it and improved a lot
of it's just the road to glory mode kind of is very tedious for
the first couple hours before you get to the actual college
game. I'm I'm sure I could just have
skipped a bunch of that stuff, but they should just offer an
option right away. Be like skip this crap, just

(19:21):
move on and just do the thing you're already going to do
anyway like last year's game. But yeah, that's college
football 26 so far. We've put some more time into
it, but that's what I've seen sofar.
Also played some Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 + 4.
Not much of it. I've only gotten to the the

(19:42):
second map of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3.
It seems like a fine collection.Controls pretty decently.
The playing with an Xbox controller just feels wrong I'm
playing the the game pass version but other than that I'll
get past it yeah this this just kind of continues to reinforce

(20:07):
my thoughts pre launch that you know simplifying the Tony Hawks
pro skater 4 kind of just goes against what I would want out of
this election that they should have just done the.
The Crash Bandicoot and Spyro Collection trilogy collection
for this with 1-2 and three and then do 4 THUG and THUG two,

(20:31):
however you want to do with those games, but kind of
splitting off three with four here.
And it feels like they've definitely gone cheap in some
areas where it seems like the soundtrack, whereas the the
first collection had I think allbut three songs from the
original soundtrack and I think also like 30 some more

(20:55):
additional to it. Here, they've only brought back
end of the original songs from three and four and have instead
replaced the rest with new songs.
Some are different songs from the band that's wasn't in the
that whose song was in the original game.

(21:17):
Some are like a re recording of a song probably do I assume due
to, you know, music publisher fuckery, that kind of stuff.
But yeah, there's not a ton thatI've heard so far that has been
hugely interesting on the soundtrack.

(21:39):
I've not looked at it yet to seewhat all is on there.
Been a few songs have been nice to see, like Ace of Spades is in
there. I think there's one from one of
the original games there. But I believe some of the other
stuff like Alien Ant Farm song is not on there.

(22:02):
ACDC is not on there, which isn't a huge surprise.
But also this is published by, you know, Activision and
Microsoft. They could have afforded it.
Not that big of a deal. But yeah, you kind of lose out
on that stuff. Yeah, Bam Margera is an
unlockable skater. You can get it pretty get him

(22:22):
pretty quickly if you want him. He basically just go in and
create a a custom skater and that unlocks a challenge
completion that gives you 5000 bucks, which is what you need in
the shop to unlock him. Michelangelo from TMNT,
particularly from the the most recent movie is in there.

(22:45):
And I think there's one other person in there that I don't
recognize, but yeah, that's someof the new stuff or some of the
the notable stuff there. But yeah, playing through the
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 collection, I recommend doing
the tutorial because it you get some bonus stuff there and a

(23:05):
troph and a trophier achievements out of it.
And it shows kind of how the, all the the different controls
kind of work together because they have, you know, all the
stuff that was in three, but also things from 4 added in in
there. So you got the the spine

(23:26):
transfers and the stitching and some of that other stuff to it.
But yeah, it, it looks pretty good.
It runs pretty well. I look forward to playing some
more of that. But yeah, I'm not really super
enthused on it. But yeah, there's that.

(23:47):
I played some Worms Armageddon Anniversary Edition.
I got a code for this and did a stream.
Mainly because they added some new games to it or new old
games. They added the Mega Drive
version of Worms and the Super Nintendo version of Worms.
I believe these are both the PALversions of it and the there's a

(24:13):
Game Boy Color version of Worms Armageddon that I think is was
in the original collection because you get a trophy for
playing the handheld game as it calls it that wasn't in there.
And then there's a Game Boy Advanced version of Worms World
Party, which is essentially the third game in that series.
It was interesting playing thoseold games to see like what Worms

(24:38):
was on platforms that were not the the mainline platforms for
those games. Like the Mega Drive version of
Worms really not doesn't distinguish between the
different teams to have worms that look exactly like and
you're just supposed to know which ones which by the names or
something, but they're all usingthe same font.

(25:01):
Whereas in the Super Nintendo version, the enemy worms have a
different colored name to them, so it makes it much easier to
tell the difference between them.
Otherwise, those two versions are very much identical.
But it was interesting. Like that was the whole thing.
So I was basically just doing like a a quick match that just

(25:26):
had me play both sides. They're trying to figure out
like which one was not. One of my team mates in the Mega
Drive version was a interesting experiment.
But yeah, that was kind of the the worst of the versions I've
played a year. Superintendent one worked just
fine as is. You could easily tell which
worms were not the ones you weresupposed to attack as a pretty

(25:52):
decent arsenal of weapons there.It's just the the method of
accessing that stuff is a littlebit weird, but it does have
rewind to it. So if you made mistakes or
whatever, you could, you know, fix that.
And then I played the the Game Boy Color version of Worms
Armageddon, which worked pretty well other than it being, you

(26:15):
know, a Game Boy Color version where it's fairly low
resolution. You can't really see that much
of the environment around you. That still worked out pretty
well. And then there's the the Game
Boy Advance version of Worms World Party, which seemed kind
of busted, did the same kind of quick match thing.

(26:41):
So it just had me on one team against an AI team.
So that was pretty easy to set up there.
But the AI team often did not know what to do.
So they would just sit there andwaste their turn and just end it
without doing anything. Even if I was in clear sight of
them, if they're just on the thewrong kind of generated terrain

(27:03):
they had no idea how to deal with that was like, oh, this is
not a great version of this game.
Also, being a Game Boy Advance game, it's constantly making
weird noises in the as a soundtrack because that's how a
lot of Game Boy Advance games, if they didn't have any idea

(27:23):
what the soundtrack should be, which worm soundtracks are
already weird because you often got, you know, worms saying
weird things often. And this one actually has, you
know, a little bit of voice audio here, but not really, you
know, audible audio, just terps and such.

(27:45):
But yeah, the, the AI worms justdid not work particularly well.
So I ended up winning pretty easily on that.
And then I played a regular match of Armageddon, just a
quick match, and it threw me against the Royals with the
Queen, Prince Charles and PrinceAndrew.
And I was like, Oh no, we got Prince Andrew in a game who was.

(28:10):
You can look up his wiki page and see how many controversies
he. Has.
Oh, there's so many. So that was funny to see.
And then the Prince of Persia, just in case you wanted to be
reminded that Ubisoft, you know,published the game back then, so
they threw in some references tothe Ubisoft properties in there.

(28:31):
So amongst these Royals was Prince of Persia and they killed
me pretty easily because I did not have the controls as easily
accessible as they were in the emulator games.
That's sort of the, you know, the the main version of Worms
Armageddon that you're playing there.
So it's a it's been up res pretty well.

(28:53):
This is a digital clips collection too, so they've got
some decent amount of video stuff in there.
It's not as well executed as like in depth as like their, you
know, master collections and allthat, even the Atari 50
collection, but it's got a decent history of the the Worms

(29:14):
franchise. Just weird to have that kind of
thing for this franchise when it's mainly focusing on one of
the games versus having, you know, Worms, Worms Armageddon,
Worms World Party, like A at least a handful of different
games. It seems to just be the one
Worms Armageddon. It has online play, ranked

(29:37):
matchmaking and all that kind ofstuff.
So you can have all that kind offun there as well as local play
if you want that. So yeah, it's got a lot of fun
stuff there. But yeah, that's up now on
everything pretty much at this point.
And the last thing I've been playing is American Truck
Simulator as they had the new DLC adding Iowa to the game.

(29:59):
I managed to get 5 of the city'sdone so far for the the event
they have for the DLCS launch. So yeah, been enjoying that a
lot and that's pretty much what I've been doing.
So how about you Brandon? What have you been?
Doing well. I finished Deus Ex a few a

(30:22):
couple nights ago and tried to go ahead and get all three
endings because there's, you know, you can pretty easily get
all three of them. Once you've gotten to that point
in the game, it's just a matter of what sequence of tasks that
you need to perform in order forit to get them.
And I do need to remind people this is the game that the

(30:42):
version of the game I played is Deus Ex the Conspiracy, the one
that's for the PS2 that was put out on PS Plus.
So I played it on my PS-5 and the game that that particular
adaptation is actually very highly regarded because it
actually managed to take the sort of honestly kind of complex

(31:05):
mechanics that come with a type of, you know, a full simulation
game of that caliber and made itvery accessible for console
players. There are definitely some areas
where they kind of had to eitherlike cut corners or they decided
to add some new stuff. Some of the like graphics in

(31:29):
particular are not as good on that version as they were on the
original PC version because likeI said, this was originally PS2
and still kind of struggling at that time.
We're trying to mimic the graphics you can get on APC and
a console at that time to a certain extent anyway.

(31:50):
But the, the game ended up beinglike really fun and ended up
like being incredibly honestly really easy to figure out how to
play. You know, the, the that first,
you know, once you go through like the training thing, which I
absolutely recommend anybody who's playing this game the
first time to go through the training area just to figure out

(32:12):
how to play the game after that and you're sort of thrown into
the field. It's actually pretty easy to
figure out like what you need todo.
Although I would recommend just just because this is an old ass
game, don't automatically assumethat the AI is going to be
really stupid, because funny enough, the AI can be

(32:34):
surprisingly smart for a game that is 25 years old.
That's not to say you also can'tfind ways to exploit it either,
but yeah, that game was fantastic and also got really,
really uncomfortable further on.I got in it because all the
conspiracy shit sort of starts to fall in and the game
literally ends like in Area 51. It's crazy.

(32:58):
But after I finished that, I started playing and we'll be
reviewing the remaster, the 25thanniversary remaster of System
Shock 2. I played the original System
Shock 2 on the PC back in the day.
And as I've said numerous times before, that game is still

(33:19):
fantastic. But the UI has not aged well at
all. And a lot of it has to do with
the simple fact that unless you got much like with what I said
with Deus Ex, unless you like gothrough like the training stuff
to find out how to play the game, this game is going to be
extremely like opaque to you andhow and when you're playing it,

(33:43):
for one thing. And this is just like this will
always be my one big pet peeve with this game more than
anything else. And honestly, this goes for a
lot of games that are like it that damn inventory system that
they've got, you know how like in Resident Evil or, or, you
know, all those like survival horror games where you'll have
like a like a an inventory that is only so big.

(34:10):
So you can only fit so many things in it at once.
And you're constantly having to drop stuff in order to get other
stuff or moving stuff around to make space.
Yeah, that that's in this game. And it can be incredibly
annoying, especially if you don't go in there and like move
around some stuff on the, the control bindings, especially

(34:34):
when it comes to things like shifting between weapons or
trying to get stuff out of your inventory mid combat, stuff like
that. But other than that, if you, if
you ever wanted to, if when people, well, let me put this
when people too, they're right. Because pretty much everything
that you encounter in System Shock and Bioshock, Irrational

(34:59):
Games did it first with System Shop 2.
The vending machines that have the voice having a wrench as
your primary melee weapon. The hacking mini game where you
need to like including vending machines where you need to like
connect stuff in order to get itfunctioning successfully.
Or you know, hacking into like security systems and moving

(35:21):
around like turret systems and stuff like that.
All that started in this game also some thematic similarities
as well. Also that whole thing of like
having the the I guess the respawning station that you have
to find in order to more or lesssave your progress or be able to

(35:44):
like come back to an area that'snot as distant as it was.
Yeah, that game that also started in this game as well.
So yeah, but there is, you know,like I, I mentioned the UI
graphics wise, a lot of it has surprisingly held up pretty

(36:06):
well. Like it's still very blocky, but
as far as like character graphics and stuff, the for
whatever reason, that kind of low Poly design has seemed to
have aged oddly well over the years in comparison to like a
lot of other games. And I'm not sure if it's
because, you know, indie game orindie developers have sort of

(36:27):
embraced the whole low Poly thing now that you know, that's
easier to get a hold of, but it still manages to hold up really
well. Also, this game can be
legitimately scary. Even the even despite the fact
that this game is like 25 years old.
Legitimately. If you remembered how in

(36:50):
Bioshock, every time you were going around a corner and you
would hear like an enemy just sort of howling down a hallway
or just creeping around the corner and you just know they're
coming or you can see their shadows or anything like that.
System Shock, that too did all of that first as well.
And if you also remembered what happened, if you ended up
tripping the alarm, which ended up attracting all the enemies in

(37:13):
the world to you. Yeah, that happens here, too.
And there's not really a limit on them in any of this game.
There are basically infinite enemies that can be spawned if
you're not careful. And keep in mind stuff like, you
know, ammo is, is a commodity inthis game, especially when it

(37:38):
comes to having to buy it because, you know, stuff in this
game costs nanites, which are essentially your your currency
in this game. And that currency is used for
not just for vending machines, but for a bunch of other stuff
too, Like when you're wanting tohack into stuff that cost

(37:59):
nanites, if you want to use one of the surgical tables so you
can restore all of your health, that cost nanites.
And then of course, there's another thing about this game
that I am so glad they decided to get rid of when Irrational
decided to start Bioshock, whichis the degradation system.
Because with the with the exception of the wrench, all of

(38:24):
the weapons in this game degradeover time and will eventually
break. And you will need to repair
them. And not only do you need to
repair them, but you will also need to get these, I forget what
they're called, I guess they're called like weapon restorers or
something so that you can bring the quality back up to

(38:44):
serviceable or whatever. Because otherwise it'll just
break really quickly as again. But I will say also when it
comes to like trying to like realize where you are in this
game, there is a map in this game that you can use and you

(39:04):
can find. But it can be kind of unless you
know how the controls work really well and are able to like
RE, you know, redo like the bindings and stuff.
So it's a bit more applicable toplay on a console.
You're going to have to work a little bit to find it.

(39:25):
Basically, you have to bring up inventory.
Then you have to play and keep in mind, I'm playing this on
PS-5, you have to bring up inventory.
Then you got to press press L2 acouple of times and that will
eventually bring you to it. But you know, other than that, I
mean, the game really does stillhold up in a lot of ways.

(39:46):
It's just that, you know, we've we've moved past the point now
where both the tech and the the control schemes have evolved to
the and streamline to the point that you don't really need this
level of complexity in your control schemes anymore.
So this game is kind of a relic of that.

(40:08):
But yeah, that's basically what I've been playing.
How about you, Daniel? Yeah, what about you, Daniel?
Yeah, what I've been playing hasn't been that far from what
Chris is playing. I am also playing EA Sports
College Football 26. I am reviewing it for another
another site. So it's interesting hearing
Christos Dodds who did review itfor us last year.

(40:29):
But yeah, I guess I'm I'm more on the other side.
I am actually really, really enjoying this release.
I haven't seen too much on the side of bugs, although I have
definitely seen a few. As far as what I'm playing the
most, it's really Road to Glory.That's pretty much what I've
enjoyed the most going back to last year.
And yeah, I decided to make my player based on Cody Rhodes, the

(40:55):
wrestler in the WWE who people call the quarterback.
So I had him start off in Georgia, where he was born.
And yeah, like what? Whatever, whatever city there.
I went with the Renegades. And you know, like Chris
mentioned, all it really does ismake it seem a little bit
longer, but I actually am reallyenjoying this, this aspect, you

(41:16):
know, aside from like what little you do with actual games
because I think it's like what, 3 or 4 games?
It's not, it's not even really too many.
You really have to, you know, perform well in order to impress
coaches and their recruiting programs.
And one of the main things you do is you want to keep a top 25

(41:37):
sets of colleges that you want to be able to commit to.
And you're the way you play on the field really depends on
whether or not you get these offers.
And then when you get the offers, you don't actually have
to accept them. If anything, choosing to commit
early pretty much like keeps youon the list and there's no

(41:58):
reason for them to revoke their offer.
But at the same time, it's really interesting seeing how
things end up going. So in regards to like some of
the practice or the tape that you have to submit to these
colleges, as Chris mentioned, you have to pick through a bunch
of practice mini games dependingon what they're looking for.
And yeah, like, there are definitely some problems,

(42:21):
especially for me in regards to doing a lot of the new stuff.
Like one thing that I particularly struggled with was
the option game, being able to the reread the defenders and,
you know, choosing which option,whether to keep the ball
yourself, pitch to the Roger Seaver, a pitch to the running
back to get in touchdown. Like that's something I struggle
with. There's also a new passing

(42:42):
mechanic, which honestly I'm liking, but at the same time I'm
not really finding it that much different from the traditional
pocket passing we've seen in thepast.
The placement that was introduced either last year or
two years ago in Madden is something that I'm not a fan of,
but I do like this more revampedpassing game.
So yeah, when it comes to those like you want to pick the pick

(43:05):
the mini games that you like thebest.
That way you can score the highest and that's what's really
going to impact the colleges that pick you.
Ultimately, my choices were between San Jose State, my
actual, actual alma matter, Georgia, which is obviously
always been a superpower in college football, as well as
Ohio State. And I always favored Georgia

(43:26):
because that's where that's where Cody Rhodes is from.
But my performance on the field and in practice never really got
there until the the very last week.
And the reason why I got there was because I actually lowered
the difficulty. So it made things significantly
easier. And yeah, they're not going to
punish you for that. So at the end of the day, it

(43:47):
also made my experience better. So when it comes to the actual
signing day or when you when youwhen you want to pick your
college, you know, they go to the high school gym, it'll look
at the top three caps that you're going to choose who to
commit to. And you have the option of like
faking out the audience and things like that, which you can
actually get a trophy for. But yeah, that's also right.

(44:08):
Ran into one of my first issues with with bugs like I Cody would
instead of from this chair in order to in order to pick a cap.
So I had to actually reset the game in order to make that work.
Ultimately it did, but obviouslythat was annoying thing.
So yeah, I think that all three colleges, but eventually chose
Georgia, which actually sort of was a mistake because, you know,

(44:29):
obviously Georgia is a superpower.
I am only a three star recruit and I had to grind my way
through practice. And the main way I did that was
by picking like my favorite gameout of the three that they
offered. One was the option game one was,
you know, just typical. I believe it's five on five
where you just try to try to throw to the open receiver.

(44:52):
And then the other one is like like 5 on six or five on 7 where
you want to be able to still throw the open receiver and
scores many touchdowns, but it'sharder because you're at a
you're at a disadvantage with, with with more defenders on the
field. And yeah, like I, I continually
did well on those. And I didn't actually start my
first game until the SEC Championship, which was like the

(45:14):
qualifier in order to get into the College Football Playoff.
And actually, no, I did not evenplay the SEC Championship.
My favorite first game was actually the Orange Bowl.
And yeah, I ended up finally starting in in the College
Football Playoff after beating out two other quarterbacks who
you have to go back to like the the high school mode or not

(45:36):
really the high school mode, but, you know, go back to
playing these certain mini gamesand doing better.
The cool thing was that, you know, you were able to see like
what score you had to get in order to, you know, get the head
start on the other two guys are facing.
And I'm not gonna lie, I cheateda little bit.
You know, you had the you have the option to restart at any

(45:56):
time. So if you weren't doing so well
and you're on your last rap, youcan go ahead and restart.
So I definitely cheese that a little bit.
And yeah, I def I ended up starting in the last two games
during my red shirt season, winning both of those, throwing
8 touchdowns each. And then all of a sudden the the
following year came in, it was 2027, Georgia was led to another

(46:17):
undefeated season and we won it all.
So yeah, that was a pretty cool experience.
I eventually used a transfer portal to get to San Jose State
for my sophomore season, and I'mstill playing that.
But yeah, I've also been playingthe game a little bit
differently. Last year I platinum the game.
The game actually has a fairly easy platinum.
The hardest thing you have, there's only 16 trophies and the

(46:38):
hardest thing you have to do is win a few online games.
And my last trophy is to move myself from recruit to freshman
in the road to the College Football Playoff mode, which is
easier said than done. I think part of my success last
year was, you know, just playingearly and all of a sudden
getting the luck of the draw by going against people with bad
Internet Internet. And, you know, if you sign off

(47:00):
the game for any reason, you'll lose.
And I think that's what happenedto my employees before.
So I'm definitely having a harder time with it now.
It's my last trophy in order to get the platinum.
And yeah, I'm definitely grinding my grinding my way
through it. I have three games left and I
think I have to win two of them.So it'll be easier said than
done, especially since I tend touse teams in the NWC or just

(47:22):
just teams in the Bay Area. Obviously I'm using my automatic
in San Jose State, I'm using Stanford, I'm using Cal and like
9. Neither of those are, you know,
huge. None of them are like, you know,
top 25 teams in college footballright now.
So it's definitely a struggle, especially when when all your
opponents are always using Georgia or in Texas or whatever

(47:43):
it may be. But yeah, I've definitely had my
fun with it so far. And one, one thing that I'm
really liking is the fact that they've really just improved the
football aspect. Chris talked a lot about Polish
and yeah, it's, it's it's come along way.
One of my biggest pet peeves in regards to modern EA Sports

(48:05):
football games, especially with the Frostbite engine, is that
interceptions were just happening too often.
Often times you see players intercepting footballs that they
weren't even looking at. They've pretty much done away
with that now. On defense, you can choose to
play the ball versus playing theplayer.
And you know, sometimes that canlead to success.

(48:26):
Sometimes that can lead to a mistake.
But it's, it's, it's definitely better.
Like on offense, I feel like I do have a better shot when I'm
taking chances down the field, whereas before I was a little
bit more passive and didn't do it because they always ended up
in interceptions. So now that you know, we're able
to place the ball in better areas and on defense, you'll

(48:48):
know whether or not you actuallyhave you actually have range to
get it. That really matters.
At the same time, I'm I'm reallyenjoying the running game.
The the the animation with the offensive line hitting opposing
defenders is a little bit easierto read.
I don't know if it's because thegame is a little bit slower in
that regard, but yeah, I'm, I'm,I'm definitely enjoying the
running game a little more on the defensive side.

(49:10):
I already talked about, you know, how interceptions are a
little bit harder to come by. At the same time, I do think
defence is a little rough as well.
Defence has been like my hard point when playing online.
There's few people are just beating me down the field a lot,
way more than I'm used to. So I'm definitely seeing the
difficulties there. But yeah, I'm, I'm really
enjoying the game. I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to

(49:32):
playing somebody that I actuallyknow.
And yeah, I have one more trophyto the platinum and hopefully I
get there. And again, I'm, I do have my
review going up front of the site, but that's neither here
nor there. Aside from that, I'm also
playing Tony Hawk's Postgator 3 and 4.
I have not played too much of it.

(49:53):
Main reason being, of course, I've been playing college
football. But yeah, I've been really
enjoying the game so far. As I mentioned in the past, I've
never actually played the original games, so it's pretty
cool just seeing the different kinds of courses and how how
they sort of like relate back tonot not only the original

(50:14):
releases, but you know, going back to one and two.
Like they aren't the same, but they definitely have a lot of
similarities. Like the first level is the
hanger, the second level is the school.
And yeah, they definitely have similar similarities to their.
I am having some troubles with the controls again, like the
main reason being when I play Tony Hawk during my childhood,

(50:36):
I'm I primarily played on on theGameboy Advance, which you know,
as we know is not the PlayStation or N64 controller.
So it's a little bit different in that regard.
But Tony Hawk on the on the Gameboy advance was actually a
really, really good game. I don't know if you guys got a
chance to try it there, but the controls were great.
The music was there. It's very much the same with
with these. It's it's cool seeing all of the

(50:58):
other skaters who are here. I enjoy the fact that every
skater sort of has their summaryof like how they've gotten to
that point in the game. You have both old and new, You
know, not not only Tony Hawk, but skating was pretty big when
I was in middle school. I remember buying tech decks and
stuff like that. And I was one of those people

(51:20):
who Tony Hawk wasn't my favoriteskater, my skate, my favorite
skaters were actually Rodney Mullen and Bucky Lasik.
And they're both they're both still in the game.
They both have like what they look like now.
So that's that's pretty cool. It's also cool seeing Riley Hawk
in here. And I was also really impressed
to see Marjalinda Doll. She is a Filipino Olympic
skateboarder. So it's awesome seeing like, you

(51:42):
know, somebody from the Philippines actually become main
character in this game, and that's pretty awesome.
You know, definitely one for thediversity crowd.
But yeah, aside from that, I've also been putting more time into
Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D remake. Really enjoying it so far.
I think I talked about it last week where I was definitely

(52:04):
having some trouble, especially in the pyramid.
I've gone through that now. At the same time, I also dropped
the game down to Jackie quest mode, which makes it easier in
the sense where you can't die. So every time you're the enemies
hit you, you can oh, you can getall the way down to 1 HP and
nothing bad can happen from there.

(52:25):
So you might as well just attack, attack, attack.
And you know, I'm just trying togo through the motions.
I'm not really trying to, you know, be hardcore into this
playing at Sam. This is just a game that I want
to be able to get done before One and two come out this fall.
So yeah, really enjoying it so far.
As I've mentioned last week, this is probably like the best
looking HD 2D remaster we've seen so far.

(52:46):
And I'm looking to looking forward to seeing what they've
done with One and Two, especially since those were
those were games that I actuallydid play and I didn't enjoy them
so much. So I'm looking forward to seeing
how they actually improved that experience.
But yeah, that's been about it for me.
All right, so yeah, let's get tosome news here.
First up, we have a new PS Plus game catalog lineup for July

(53:11):
that will be mostly going live here on Tuesday the 15th.
But yeah, they had a little bonus thing here, I guess as
part of the 15th anniversary of PS Plus, they put up the first
game here for PS5PS4, Cyberpunk 2077.

(53:33):
That went up on July 9th when they announced this stuff so
people could check it out early.So yeah, that's the the newest
of the CD project Red games. Pretty solid game and all that.
So there you. Go Yeah, and now you know it.

(53:53):
The game itself is basically about as close as to the
original vision for the game as it's probably going to get right
now. And honestly, the game's all the
better for it. So, you know, absolutely give it
a shot. It is 100% worth it now.
Yeah, let's see Next up here forPS-5 abiotic factor.

(54:13):
This is a half life style like Co-op open world survival
crafting kind of game. Yeah, very much like a group of
scientists that have been stuck in their big, you know, bunker
lab, whatever complex thing witha bunch of weird supernatural

(54:35):
stuff going on and all that. So, yeah, you got to deal with
that. Yeah, that'll, that'll be neat.
That is going to be available onJuly 22nd when it launches.
So that's one to check out. Let's see for PS-5 banishers,
Ghosts of New Eden, this is the Don't Knob game.

(54:58):
Yep. Very much their take on, let's
say, God of War 2018. Yeah.
Set in yeah, this is America 1695.
Yep. So pre American Revolution.

(55:18):
So you have your Scottish, your Scottish player or guy that is a
Banisher Ghost Hunters, essentially, he was working with
his at least like I don't have wife or or whatever.
But yeah, somebody that is very dear to you, you're sort of been

(55:41):
brought over to America to deal with some issues going over
here. And let's say things happen and
you kind of have some issues of your own and decide to move on
and deal with more and more people's ghost issues.
You kind of deals with some verymessed up things that happen.

(56:05):
Yeah, I'm not going to spoil toomuch here, but definitely has
the the vibes of the God of War stuff most recently as you're
working with Antia and doing a lot of combats and all that.
Yeah, it is really well done. The story's good and all that,

(56:26):
it's just one of those games that stayed under the radar.
So if you like your games like that, that is 1 to check out.
Now that it's going to be available on PS Plus Extra and
Premium on Tuesday, let's see for PS-5 and PS4 Bluey the video
game. This is the the first big Bluey

(56:47):
game. I play this on Game Pass and it
is a pretty easy, it should be pretty easy trophy lists,
assuming it's the same thing. It's basically like 4 playable
episodes of the show that are more, you know, pretty basic
like kids television stuff to them.

(57:11):
You're going to, you know, different locations.
There's playgrounds, there's a aCreek and a beach location.
I think the house is the 4th onehas a little mini game so you
can play, but not really too much else going on with the with

(57:32):
that game trophy wise. So if you need something pretty
easy and mindless to play, that's one to do it.
Yep. Let's see for PS-5 at Planet
Zoo, the console edition. So yeah, the the developers of
Planet Coaster kind of taking those ideas and making one just
focus on building a zoo. Yeah, I've heard good things

(57:56):
about this, so I'm curious to check that one out for PS-5 and
PS4. Risk of Rain too.
This is, you know, the first game was a very good Rogue
Lights action game kind of thingthat was had a bit of a
different vibe to it because youwere.

(58:16):
It's just like shooting enemies and collecting currency and loot
and all that until you kind of wanted to escape to the next
area. But depending on how long you
stayed the the difficulty got more challenging and all that.
So this kind of has the same thing, but instead of it being
2D, it's fully 3D. They're kind of going around

(58:38):
these 3D areas to, you know, take out enemies, bosses and
such and like new gear and all that.
You can play with like with three more people.
I think for four person crew, two or three or four people, I
forget. But yeah, it's a it's a pretty

(58:59):
fun game. Let's see, for PS-5 and PS4
Tropico 6, the newest of the Tropico games, they're just
pretty basic, like island management games of a banana,
Banana Republic kind of dictatorship kind of thing going

(59:21):
on there. Yep, that's basically the whole
like point of those games as you're basically a like a
military dictator for like some random South American company
country. And you're like essentially
trying to both keep protect yourpower, but also trying to be a

(59:45):
good leader at the same time. Which as you find with games
like as in reality a very delicate balance and generally
not one that is always going to go well.
Yeah. So, yeah, there's that.
And then for PS-5 and New World,a Ternum, Yeah, this is sort of

(01:00:05):
a local single player version ofNew World, the MMO.
Yep. Action RPG and all that.
So yeah, that'll be it. Will be checked out here on
Tuesday. And that's it for PS Plus Extra.
For premium people, they are adding up Twisted Metal 3 and

(01:00:26):
Twisted Metal 4. IE the part where the series
basically jumped the shark. Yeah, or they had different
developers. Yeah, and but technically I
would probably more say it jumpsthe shark when they did the the
Twisted Metal RC version where you were playing little RC cars

(01:00:47):
instead of the actual. I would say that's where they
don't jump the shark. But yeah, the seeds of its
destruction was already sown in these two games.
Yeah, because you got Signal Track made the first two games
and then sort of had his spew with Sony and left.
Yeah. Or they were sold to GT

(01:01:07):
Interactive, I guess. Yeah.
So they were unable to develop more games.
So yeah. But the Yeah, 989 Studios worked
on those games and kind of just made more Twisted Metal, which
was fine for those. Yeah, I'm trying to see what's

(01:01:28):
Yeah, they made small brawl for the PS1.
That was in 2001. So that was after the years
after the OR a year after the PS2 launched, it went made-up
PS1 game That is kind of wild tosee Yeah.

(01:01:49):
While the while the the main devs of the original series made
Twisted Metal Black because. Yeah, the the Twisted Metal devs
left GT Interactive to form Incognito and decide to go back
to Sony and work on Twisted Metal Black.
So that's like a neat bit of history.

(01:02:12):
But yeah, the the second season of the show is launching on
Peacock at the end of this month, so you'll be able to
check that out and play these two games, see how much they
enjoy compared too slow. There you go.
Pretty solid month there. Yeah.

(01:02:34):
Anything you're interested in, Brandon?
Well, obviously I, I wouldn't hurt to play Cyberpunk again and
I'm kind of happy that now everybody can really, you know,
on doing PS Plus now can actually like play the game as a
lot closer to like what it was originally intended to be rather

(01:02:56):
than the honestly the hot mess that it was when it was first
released. It's like the, it is
legitimately like night and day.You really cannot, you can't
cannot believe it. There are so many new features
that they added so many new aspects to the gameplay.
And if you ever get, you know, if you ever want to pay out the

(01:03:19):
cash to get that, to get the expansion, do it because it's
freaking amazing. But probably also going to do
banishers as well because that'slike the one don't nod game I
haven't played yet and I want toget to it.
And I might give New World A tournament a try.

(01:03:40):
But I've also been told that even though it's a single player
version of the MMO game, it still has a lot of the awful
shit that that game as an MMO still has, that it can be kind
of repetitive. But it's also got that sort of
addictive quality to it that like a lot of these MMO's are

(01:04:01):
specifically designed to that you kind of have find it hard to
turn away. And yeah, that's, that's about
it. I'm not interested in the
Twisted Metal games. I've I played all those years
ago and they were those then three and four were absolutely
terrible. So.
Yeah, how about you? Dinner.
Yeah, it's a it's a it's a pretty so so month for me.

(01:04:22):
I didn't even like see cyberpunk.
I guess it goes cuz it was top of the page and I was just
scrolling. So that's pretty cool.
I've had this like since the Xbox series X launch and it
wasn't really for it. And while that was considered
the least buggy version, I did have a bug that was just game
killing. So yeah, the fact that it's on

(01:04:42):
PlayStation Now definitely helps, especially since a lot of
people don't really want to playXbox anymore.
So yeah, I might I might be ableto dive back in there.
Banishers does seem interesting for the same reasons that
Brandon mentioned. We do have a review on the site
from Miles, who gave it a 3 1/2,but the fact that it's 25 hours
doesn't really give me much desire to play it.

(01:05:05):
And yeah, I want to play Bluey, Chris said.
Why? So I'll, I'll just end it up
that, oh wait, new rule to turn on.
I did play during Summer Game Fest and I really, really liked
what I played. I just don't want to come to
time to it. That's yeah.
Yeah, so there you go. Let's see here.
Yeah, Naughty Dog kind of out ofnow nowhere announced new update

(01:05:30):
for The Last of Us Part 2 remastered that adds A
chronological mode called chronological experience that
seems to have some extra unlocksout of it and trophies.
So if you either need another reason to play it or somehow the

(01:05:52):
the way that the the campaign isstructured was a bit too hard
for you to keep up with what wasgoing on.
Which from what I've heard is not really a huge issue for most
people. This just seems like them adding
a, a new thing that you can do structures the campaign so that
it kind of plays through chronologically.

(01:06:17):
So yeah, that's, that's neat. I guess they're also adding some
more stuff for the no return mode mentioned here.
They added that, yeah. Nathan Drake costume for Joel
and a Sam Drake costume for Tommy.
So that's kind of a a fun littlething there.

(01:06:38):
Yeah, they're unlocked for completing the narrative and
chronological and areusable and no return so.
Yeah, also, I mean, The Last of Us Part 2 was just a great game.
Yeah, I mean, it was, I mean, itwas, it was genuinely engaging.
It was, it was very brutal at times, like no question.
But yeah, that game was legitimately amazing.

(01:07:02):
Yeah, it's but also the the way it's set up as one of those
contentious things the people, some people didn't like I.
Guess it. Gives them a little bit more
reason to maybe replay it or something.
I. Don't know.
Yeah, maybe. Yeah, there you go.

(01:07:23):
Another reason to play the last was Part 2.
Yep. Let's see, we got a new dates
here for Time Flies, an indie game that's got announced, I
think at a day of the devs last year.
I think, I forget exactly when it was revealed, but this comes

(01:07:44):
from an indie studio called I think Playables who made yeah,
they made the game Kids, which is a neat little game.
This is like another game in that kind of vibe of it's a
black and white adventure game. I guess you're kind of this fly,

(01:08:06):
I guess that's buzzing around a house to complete a checklist.
I've not already seen enough of this game to know exactly sort
of how depth that is. But I imagine it seems like it
might be just a little bit of different little bits of
gameplay versus maybe being likethe a version of like Untitled

(01:08:27):
Goose Game. But yeah, OK.
They say here the life expectancy is about 60 seconds.
So I guess you're just going around to do things for a
minute's worth of gameplay. So it kind of be a version of
minutes, which was a cool littlegame that was very much a Zelda

(01:08:48):
style game. But what if you only had 60
seconds to try to unlock the next thing you need to do?
But what if you are flying house?
He needs to do stuff. So that's neat.
That's a neat idea for a game. So and that'll be out here in a
couple weeks and that looks likeit's going to be a fun time.

(01:09:08):
It'll be out on PS-5 and switch and PC so on a variety of
platforms there. All right, let's see here.
We got another game coming out shortly after that in about a
month from now on August 12th. It is rah rah boom.
This is a side scrolling beat them up but features instead of

(01:09:31):
like soldiers I guess that seemslike features cheerleaders of
sorts. Why not?
They called like ninja cheerleaders Yeah you can play
with up to 4 total people yeah you're on a future earth overrun
by rogue AI. Battle waves of enemies and

(01:09:54):
upgrade your ninja cheerleader skills as you beat them up,
shoot them up and smash through the chaos.
So that looks like that's going to be pretty neat.
That is on PS5PS4, Xbox Series X&S, Xbox One and PC.
It'll be out August 12th. So yeah, that looks like it's
going to be a a fun one. So there's that.

(01:10:15):
And then we got a state of play for Ghost of Yote, which will be
out October 2nd. We got a bunch of gameplay
there. That looks really neat.
They were showing off a bunch ofthat stuff here.
Particularly it seems like the the big thing is that because

(01:10:37):
your character is not necessarily a samurai like at
least with a, a code of honor sorts to stick to 1 weapon, you
kind of use a variety of weaponsto take out enemies, you know
like Spears and there's like claw weapon you have.

(01:10:58):
Yeah. That looks really neat.
And I think you eventually get like a Tanegashima rifle at some
point. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, set a few 100 years after
the the first game. Yeah.
Yeah, there's a lot more self stuff going on here, but also
you kind of are able to just getinto it with enemies more

(01:11:21):
easily. Yeah, you have a horse you can
ride around with, but also befriend a wolf that can help
you out, picking out enemies andall that.
So yeah, that looks pretty nice.It seems like at night you can
build a camp and kind of cook food and rest up and merchants

(01:11:46):
might show up and offer you somethings.
Yep. If you need that kind of stuff
looks really nice and they also started talking about some of
the other like themed modes in this game.
So like the the first game they had a Kurosawa mode that was

(01:12:09):
black and whites and had a few other changes for that.
Yep. They talk about here very much
being they turn up the winds anda few other things for that
mode. There's also a Pikachu Mikke
mode with that kind of, I think the camera zoomed in more and

(01:12:34):
has extra mud and blood and all that kind of stuff going on.
Yep. Bra, that's pretty neat.
And then also shot off a Shanitra, adding more chill
music to the game in a the Bibleof Samurai Champloo kind of

(01:12:55):
stuff as you're exploring the world and all that.
That is pretty cool to see. So yeah, that looks really nice.
Yeah. Kind of a lot of what they
showed here. They also announced some branded
PS Five stuff here. We're going to have two

(01:13:16):
different versions of the PS-5 has a limited edition bundle
that has sort of a gold version of this and what they call it
Kinsugi art on it. And then, yeah, then they have a
a black version of that. That is what they call the black

(01:13:37):
limited edition. The Dual Sense has its own
design for this. And the the neat thing is they
kind of score the plastic on there that has like a battle
damage on it that looks pretty neat from what I saw that if you
don't want to buy a whole new PS-5 or whatever, they are

(01:14:01):
selling the the plates for the the PS-5 slim and the PS-5 Pro
for those so that you can get that.
I think that's just for the goldversion.
And yeah, you can also just get the the dual sense with that R
on it. So they mentioned here how that
stuff's available, the PS-5 consoles.

(01:14:24):
Let's see. Yeah, the Gold 1 is globally at
select retailers and the PlayStation Direct, the console
covers are at PlayStation Directand select retailers outside of
those regions. And the Dual Sense will be
available at available globally at select retailers and

(01:14:46):
PlayStation Direct. So it seems like the console for
the the Black limited edition bundle is just going to be on
PlayStation Direct and the BlackDual Sense will also be only on
PlayStation Direct, but some select retailers in Japan.
So yeah, I assume they'll post dates when those pre-orders will

(01:15:07):
be available for that stuff. But yeah, the game will be on
October 2nd and yeah, it's looking nice.
I'm not check out any of this extra accessory stuff, but yeah.
Yeah, this is arguably Playstation's biggest release of
the year. I'm definitely excited for it.
Oh yeah, I will you though, I did not really care for this

(01:15:30):
direct nor do I really care for the limited edition plates or,
you know, special edition consoles.
Granted I have I have a 35th anniversary, you know, PS-5
slim, so I'm very happy with that design.
This I don't know it it just looks like some white was just
throwing some splatter at it andthey they they they they called
it a day. So I don't I'm I'm I'm not crazy

(01:15:52):
about it. I do think the mountain 1 is a
little bit nicer with the map, but I do think like if they just
went more Kurosawa like the controller, it would be a little
bit better. But I'm also not a fan of the
controller except for the the actual dual sense button.
The the sides just look I don't know, it just looks dirty to me.
But yeah, like, As for what we saw out of the state of play, I

(01:16:13):
don't know. I just wasn't really crazy about
it, especially after coming off of Assassin's Creed Shadows.
You know, I'm not going to say that game was better than
Sushima, but it definitely like looked better looking.
I mean, like, just just just obviously this is on the not a
finished product yet. So it's there.
And at the same time, like a lotof what they're trying to do

(01:16:33):
looks like stuff that Assassin'sCreed already did.
And this is a game that's already been compared to it.
I do, I do know and think that ultimately, like this will trump
the game as far as gameplay goes.
But yeah, the main thing I'm interested in is seeing just how
much more enjoyable it is to explore that that open world.
And yeah, like the main reason why, you know, Assassin's Creed

(01:16:56):
just struggles is to because it's overly bloated.
Whereas Sushima, even though it had a lot of the same stuff, it
just felt more centralized and getting to where you want to be
was fairly simple. Whereas here it looks like
they're opening up up a little more.
And I don't know if that's a good thing, but yeah, we'll see
what the heroin is all about here.

(01:17:18):
I'm, I'm, I'm definitely interested in seeing what she is
all about. She is not really like they're,
they're calling her a mercenary,but like, not like not a killer
and things like that. So I don't know.
It's it's, it's weird to see where they're going with the
plot, but I'm, I'm definitely going to pop on to this day in
one. But I will say like I I probably
shouldn't have watched this because if anything it turned me
off. Yeah.

(01:17:40):
So yeah, how would you, Brandon?Yeah, like much like what what
Dan was saying about the the deluxe stuff, this game looks
amazing and I really cannot waitto play it genuinely, and I
can't wait for it to become a massive financial success and

(01:18:02):
prove all the doubters wrong. Yeah.
Because that's the world we livein now and I have to care about
their opinions for some reason. Yeah, see ya.
That's not too far off. That's less than three months
away, so yeah, that'll be fun tocheck out.

(01:18:23):
Yeah, I saw people on Twitter whining about how they killed
off Gin for this and it's like, dude, that was 300 years ago.
They didn't kill him off. He just lived his life.
This is what's his face from Assassin's Creed 2, where you
need to see his attire fucking. And they could go back to him at

(01:18:44):
some point, but for now, this isa different game with a new
person. And he seems pretty cool,
especially the the woman that isthat was her model and
performance capture person, EricIshi.
She was posting on Blue Sky about how excited she was for

(01:19:07):
the game. She didn't know there was going
to be like a Wattana Bay mode inthis.
And she talked how much Sam Red Champloo mentor.
So yeah, she's very much excitedto play her own game.
So that's cool for her. So yeah, that's a that's cool.
We got some more news here. Docker to Heart of Shore Noble

(01:19:30):
is coming to PS-5 later this year.
Yep. They talked about there being,
yeah, they're going to have enhancements on the PS-5 Pro.
The PS-5 will utilize the dual senses, haptic feedback and
adaptive triggers, which that seems like a good place for that
because that game seems like thesort of game that should have

(01:19:53):
things they're doing with the the triggers for jammed guns and
all that kind of stuff. Yeah, they don't have a date,
just said late 2025 for that. So that'll probably, you know,
near the end of the year for that.
So yeah, that's neat. Yep, pretty neat.

(01:20:13):
Let's see, honest hold on. I was looking at the the release
list. Yeah, that is pretty cool.
I am kind of excited to be able to play that game on console,
but I also know that it's probably going to be buggy as
all hell, but that's just part of the charm, so.

(01:20:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's that.
Let's see. And the last thing I have a date
for here is that Nintendo is ending their Switch game
vouchers. If you remember those do not
work on the Switch to at least for Switch to games.
If you have vouchers left or want to buy, vouchers will have

(01:20:57):
to be for whatever Switch games are remaining because you
cannot. The last dates that you'll be
able to buy them is by January 30th, 2026, and they're
available for one year from thatdate, so they'll be usable until
January 30th, 2027. So if you're banking on games to

(01:21:17):
get it seems like the ones you would want to do for this is
Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon was a Pokémon Legend.
ZA doesn't seem like the two andyou just do the upgrade, I
assume, or that's to the Switch to version.
So it'll be an extra 20 bucks, which I don't know how much

(01:21:41):
you're saving on top of that, but yeah, that's kind of where
you're going with that. You should be buying $260 games
for 100 bucks and then paying the 10 bucks.
So you'd essentially be saying 10 bucks total on each game.

(01:22:02):
You'd essentially be paying 60 bucks instead of 70 for the
Switch 2 versions. So you're technically coming out
ahead. It's just very annoying, as much
as regular Switch games would be.
But yeah, that's kind of where that is for the time being.
So yeah, there you go. All right, let's see.

(01:22:23):
Yeah, Last up Next up here, Microsoft had a big oopsie on PC
Game Pass. They added Call of Duty World
War 2, the Game Pass for consoleand PC, and it turns out
Activision not really bothering updating the server software on
any of their PC games for the almost 20 years at this point.

(01:22:47):
Because it's Activision. Yeah, meant that when they added
this game to game Pass, people found out that there is an
unpatched RCE exploit in the game that would open them up to
potentially getting hacked by people that are, you know, have
infested the the PC version servers as a remote control

(01:23:12):
exploits. They'll be able to, you know,
get onto your PC and start downloading whatever stuff they
would need to do to take over the whole thing.
So you have the the Call of Dutyupdates accounts update posted
on the evening of July 4th Call of Duty World War 2 on PC

(01:23:33):
Microsoft stores brought offlinewhile we investigate reports of
an issue. They not talked about what's the
issue is. But yeah, this is definitely a
big issue and definitely going to be a way to get in, you know,

(01:23:53):
interfere with their plans to put all the old Call of Duty
games on Game Pass, especially with PC versions.
I believe just about all of themthat's Activision has not been
constantly updating with new contents, which was just the
past few years worth are all full of this stuff.

(01:24:13):
So yeah, they're going to have to like the only way you could
avoid this stuff with players using fan made servers which
they don't actively support. But the the official servers are
all full of hackers and shit. So yeah, that's great.

(01:24:37):
So yeah, more fun of Microsoft dealing with the bullshit that
Activision Blizzard left for them.
The Next up here we'll get to the the crafting issues.
Yep, here we go. So they delayed Subnautica 2 to
2026 particularly, saying that it needed more time to be ready

(01:25:01):
for its early access launch, Which they've claimed they've
made the decision prior to changing the leadership last
week, which might have been partof that.
I can imagine the three guys that were in charge of the
studio tried to push back and we're showing the door as a
result, yeah. Crafton said the delay was based

(01:25:25):
solely on its commitment to complete and to delivering the
best possible experience for players and not influenced by
any contractual or financial considerations, which is
potentially due to a potential purchase agreement that alleged
a there was a $250 million bonusthat was planned if the studio

(01:25:45):
hit certain revenue targets by this year.
I was been talking about that asa potential reason to get rid of
the the main guys and delete delay the game.
Yeah. Which, sure, that's the the way
it's supposed to work out. It's, it seems like that is
likely a sort of late acquisition deal where you

(01:26:09):
essentially get most of the money up front and then you get
the the rest of it after a few years, at which point the, you
know, the people running the studio that would be getting
paid would be allowed to, you know, move on to other ventures
or stay on or something. But yeah, then we had a

(01:26:31):
statement from Crafton. So we're following up on the,
you know, the Internet chatter of what happened with the
leadership changes. They said the absence of core
leadership resulted in repeated confusion and direction, leading
to their decision to delay the release of 2026.
Sang Subnautica 2 was originallyplanned for an early access

(01:26:52):
launch 4, but the timeline has since been significantly
delayed. Crafted made multiple requests
to Charlie and Max to resume their roles as game director and
technical director, respectively, but both declined
to do so in particularly. In particular, following the
failure of Moon Breaker, Craftonasked Charlie himself the

(01:27:13):
development of Subnautica 2. However, instead of
participating in the game development, he chose to focus
on a personal film project. They also confirmed or continued
to craft in believes that the absence of core leadership
resulted in repeated confusion and direction and significant
delays in the overall project schedule.
We are deeply disappointed by the former leadership's conduct

(01:27:35):
and above all, we feel a profound sense of betrayal by
their failure to honor the trustplace to them by our fans.
That's a lot of drama added intothere.
To uphold our commitment to provide you possible gaming
experience, we made a difficult decision or a difficult yet
necessary decision to change theexecutive leadership.

(01:27:56):
Yeah. They also addressed a $250
million earn out detailed in thepurchase agreements.
See in addition to the additional 500 million, the
initial 500 million purchase price.
We allocated approximately 90% of the up to $250 million earn
out compensation to the three former executives with the
expectation that they would demonstrate leadership and

(01:28:18):
involvement in the development of Subnautica 2.
Preston is committed to fair equitable compensation for all
remaining unknown employees who have continuously and tirelessly
contributed to Subnautica 2's development.
We believe that the dedication and effort of this team are at
the very hardest Subnautica's ongoing evolution and we
reaffirm our commitment to provide the rewards they were

(01:28:40):
promised. Ng out the the former Co
founders basically contradicted this the the claims in this
statement and subsequently filedlawsuit against them.
Yes, Let me see here. Yeah.
Hours later, Charlie Cleveland took to Reddit to announce that

(01:29:02):
he and his peers are suing. Yeah, they're being filed.
This lawsuit is being filed for breach of contract, but the
specific complaint is currently under seal.
Probably until the, you know, any sort of court case starts
here. The details should eventually
become at least mostly public. You all deserve the full story.

(01:29:23):
Suing A multibillion dollar company is a painful, in a
painful, public and possibly protracted way.
Was certainly not on my bucket list.
But this needs to be made right.The not a has been my work, my
life's work, and I would never really never willingly abandon
it or the amazing team that has poured their hearts into it.
I said that the current early access build are Yeah, the the

(01:29:49):
founders know the game is ready for early access, but we thought
this was going to be our decision to make, at least for
now, that decision is captain's hands, Yeah.
So yeah, they. They claim it was pretty much
ready to go. But yeah, the Crafton claims
it's not and that they had to get rid of the leadership to
make sure the game releases in astate that is what they want.

(01:30:14):
But potentially having this payouts be an issue now,
especially with the claims they've made about the the
founders not being actively involved in developments has
caused this big lawsuit. So yeah, we'll see how that goes
because that's going to be really pretty messy, so.

(01:30:34):
Oh, it's, it's going to be so messy.
The discovery period alone is going to air out some really
dirty laundry, I suppose. Yeah.
And so, yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a weird
mess, especially with how Subnautica was delayed with that

(01:30:56):
information being known. Like it's going to be
interesting seeing how the lawyers like, try to find a ways
to make whatever argument of thecase work.
But yeah, this sucks. Yeah.
Yeah. Better be real shitty to know
the state of your game and have your publisher essentially just

(01:31:19):
come in and override you over a claim that the the game isn't as
ready as you seem to believe it is.
So yeah, we'll see how this endsup turning out, but probably
going to be a while before we hear anything more as the the
lawyers and such go over all thedetails of this.
They could easily just come to some sort of settlement

(01:31:40):
agreement and we never hear anything else going on here.
But yeah, there you go. And the last up for our stories
here, the ZAG AFTRA Interactive Media video game agreements deal
has been officially ratified by the members to officially end of

(01:32:03):
the strike. 95.04% of the union has agreed, approved of this
deal. So yeah, that is great to see.
Yeah, it'll see pay pay rises ata rate of 15.17% as it goes into
effect, with an additional 3% increase over the next three

(01:32:26):
years starting in November. The maximum overtime rate for
over scale performers is now based on a double scale.
Health and retirement contributions to the AFTRA
raised from 16.5 to 17%, followed by another increase to
17.5% next October in 2026, as well as safety guard rails and

(01:32:53):
gains around AI that place. So that's good to see how people
can get back to work and doing the the cool stuff that they
love to do. So there you go.
Yeah. So that's good.
Good. That that that that's that
strike is finally ending officially.

(01:33:13):
I'm glad that they got most of what they were looking for.
And yeah, hopefully, yeah. I mean, I say hopefully, but let
let's be honest, we're going to have more AI related issues are
going to be coming up. So I would not be surprised if
this is not the end of the story.
Yeah, those will be other companies and actors that aren't

(01:33:37):
in the union that'll be dealing with issues, but at least for
the people covered by this is some good news.
So yeah, I guess going to do it for the show.
We'll get to the summer release preview, which covers July,
August and September. We'll skip over the the July

(01:33:57):
stuff that has already come out because that's already out.
So let's see starting on the 15th that'll be on Tuesday, we
have Eden 0, the the Konami published game from the creator
of fairy tale that yeah, will bean action RPG anime game with

(01:34:26):
all the fun stuff that comes with that.
There's that's that is on let's see PlayStation, Xbox switch one
and two and PC or no, that's PS-5, Xbox, PC.
That's yes, look at the wrong one also got Neverwinter Nights
2 enhanced edition. It's coming to console PS-5 Xbox

(01:34:48):
switching PC so people can checkout that classic PC RPG.
Let's see and then also ready orcoming to PS-5 and Xbox.
That is a game that has plenty of controversy to it because it
is essentially a first person shooter, technical first person

(01:35:13):
shooter. You're playing a SWAT team
dealing with, you know, active shooter situations.
And I believe there is a school shooting as one of the missions.
That was also one of those things that people were.
Not happy to see. This kind of game.
But also you're playing the partof the cops in this so.

(01:35:34):
Yeah. Part, you know, cop propaganda.
They got their way, I guess to actually be competent in these
matters that they often aren't. Who is that?
Let's see there is on the 17th agame called Anomaly Collapse for
the Switch that looks pretty nice.

(01:35:58):
Yeah, it's a it's a rogue light kind of game that looks Yeah,
it's got yeah, that came out on PC last year.
It's a rogue lights tactics game.
Almost got like a Darkest Dungeons kind of battle system
there. That looks neat.

(01:36:18):
And we also have Donkey Kong Bonanza out on the Switch too.
Yep. That's probably going to be like
the big first party Nintendo release other than Mario Kart
World, and honestly, it looks incredibly fun so.
Yeah, yeah. So there's that.

(01:36:40):
Yeah, comes out next week. We'll see what the reviews say.
Well, this week, yeah. Also on that day, contending
with Donkey Kong Bonanza is Golden Tea Arcade Classics.
Yep. On PlayStation, Xbox, switching,
PC, people will be able to play these Golden Tea games, old ones
at least. That's a, that's one of those

(01:37:02):
franchises that there's a lot more entries in it than you
might expect because they just kept putting out ones because it
kept doing so well. But these are all the old kind
of rotoscoped FNB versions of these games from back in the
90s. So yeah, that's, that's a neat

(01:37:23):
looking collection. I'm here to check that one out.
Then the last one for this week is Shadow Labyrinth on the 18th.
That is Bandai Damco's Metroidy game that conveniently also has
Pac-Man in it. Yep.
Does not feel like a game that should have Pac-Man in it, but

(01:37:44):
then it does. It's kind of a yeah, floating
yellow orb that hangs out behindyour character called Puck.
Was what the original Pac-Man name was Puck, Man.
Yep. But then they realized that
people could. Very easily modified the piggy.
Yeah, the P to become Fuck man. Yep.

(01:38:06):
And they said, what if we call him something else?
And that's how you got Pac-Man. Oh yeah, this looks like a
pretty interesting game. And yeah, that'll be out the on
the 18th for pretty much everything.
The next week we have Luto on the 22nd, which is a

(01:38:28):
psychological horror game on thePS-5, Xbox and PC that looks
neat. This Monument Valley 3 on that
day as well. The 22nd for PlayStation, Xbox,
switching PC. The mobile puzzle game that is
well done. People on consoles can check it

(01:38:49):
out. And then Wild Gate is also out
on the 22nd. That's the the Co-op multiplayer
first person shooter, spaceship combat game kind of thing that
has a nice style to it at least.I don't know if the gameplay
turns out will turn out to be very good, but we'll see.
Next week on the 23rd, Wheel World will be out on PS-5, Xbox

(01:39:14):
and PC, and that looks like a really neat game, sort of an
open world cycling game where you have like a spirit in your
bike, I think it is. Yeah.
I forget what that thing does, but I assume it does something.
But yeah, has a really nice style to it that's one of an

(01:39:34):
apparent interactive games, so that'll be cool to see.
Then also on the 23rd switch to gets WWE2K25 for what possibly
will be the worst version of that game or so because the
creative wrestlers, for whateverreason, they've not made that
cross-platform. So the characters and such that

(01:40:00):
the people making that will be solely dependent on people on
those platforms making them versus, you know, people on any
platform benefiting from people making, you know, their own
versions of mule wrestlers or fucked up things you can
imagine. Yeah, they'll, they'll just be

(01:40:22):
switched to only creations. This also includes, forget this,
this one includes the island. Yeah, it does include the
island. So there's that little social
world, I guess that's basically just a branding exercise.
So there you go. That's on the 23rd and then the

(01:40:43):
4th, the longest name game here,Super Mario Party Jamboree,
which two edition plus Jamboree TV.
We'll be out on the Switch too. So that'll have an upgrade for
the game for the the Wii or the Switch game.
And it adds some new Jamboree TVmode to it that will have some

(01:41:08):
extra mini games and such based on mouse control, camera stuff
for multiplayer, things that youcan do.
It'll look better, run better, all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, that'll be a thing that you can check out.
And then let's see also the 24thWu Chong Fallen Feathers for

(01:41:29):
PS-5, Xbox and PC. So that kind of Chinese souls
like game that has been burgeoning sub genre of the past
few years. So that'll be a new one of
those. Let's see what else 25th no
sleep for economy dot tape AI The somnium files new game in

(01:41:54):
that series that's will be on switch switch to in PC then also
the switch to version of wild hearts S is going to be out
switch. They put out a demo and from
what I've heard that game runs like shit on the switch to.
Yep. Which it doesn't run great on
the other console, so didn't really necessarily have much of

(01:42:19):
a chance, but we'll see if the the final release runs any
better. But that is a neat Monster
Hunter clone because there's no new Monster Hunter on the switch
to yet. So this is your main one other
than playing, you know, Monster Hunter Rise, which will run very

(01:42:40):
well on the switch to but probably could use an updates
can help it run a little bit better.
But yeah, it's the end of that week and then the the last week
of the month there's on the 29thAchilles survivor.
This is a Vampire Survivors likekind of game, but I believe it's
based on, you know, Spartans andthat kind of stuff.

(01:43:03):
Yep. Which looks really nice.
Yeah. Following the Trojan War 80's,
the God of the underworld resurrected Achilles to use them
in a conflict against the other gods.
And so, yeah, you're doing all that kind of stuff there.
That looks pretty neat. So I'm curious to check that one
out. Yeah, it's PlayStation Five,
PS4, Xbox Series X&S, Xbox One, PCPC versions, I think in early

(01:43:29):
access right now. So it'll be in one, you know, by
then. And Switch version will be out
later this year. We'll see.
That's also on the 29th. Tales of the Shire aid the Lord
of the Rings game. We'll hopefully finally be out.
That's like 2 weeks away so I hope they don't delete again.
Yeah. But yeah, that's PS-5, Xbox
switching PC so you can finally get the The Chill Hobbit game.

(01:43:56):
Let's see. And then, yeah, there's a Nine
Years of Shadows for PS-5 and Xbox 31st.
Yep. Which is a Metroid and a game
that looks really nice. I think it's been on PC for a
couple of years, yeah, PC and Switch, and then now it's coming
to PS5PS4, Xbox Series X&S and Xbox One, so that one's looking

(01:44:19):
pretty nice. And then yeah, there's Eartheon,
which is a Genesis schmop that was kick started a few years ago
that's finally coming out. And yeah, it'll run on a
Genesis. And also you can get
PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PCversions as well with soundtrack

(01:44:42):
done by Yuzo Kashiro. So yeah, lots of good music
there. Then also on that day, Ninja
Gaiden rage bound from the the studio that made yeah, the game
kitchen. I forget what the their other
game was Blasphemous. It's that studio.

(01:45:05):
Yep. We also have a soundtrack that's
been worked on by a bunch of guest composers as well as some
of the original games, so that seems like it should be a pretty
good game. It has looked good whenever it's
been shown, so there you go for that one.
Spy Drops is also out on switching PC on the 31st.

(01:45:29):
This is a Metal Gear Solid stylegame, and I mean the original
PS1 game. They're very much making their
homage to that. Yeah, that looks that looks
pretty nice. So that'll be 1 to check out.
Let me see in the last one here for the month earlier.

(01:45:53):
Yep. So that'll be available.
And yeah, what are you looking forward to this month?
Honestly, if I had a switch to I'd be looking forward to Donkey
Kong with an answer, but I don'thave one yet so that'll have to
wait. Obviously.
I'm already playing System Shot 2 right now and I will have my

(01:46:15):
review ready for when it's readyto go.
Wildgate actually looks pretty interesting and I kind of hope
it ends up working well because it looks fascinating and it
looks fun to play. And yeah, probably Ninja Gaiden
Ragebound as well, because I've played both the Blasphemous

(01:46:36):
games and loved them and I want to play more of the stuff that
that that studios putting out. Plus it just looks rad as hell.
Yeah, how about you? Dinner.
Yeah, I mean, like, obviously we'll have to.
The month is already out. Really enjoying college
football. 26 real quick about Mecca break I I met the PR

(01:46:58):
coordinator for that during summer game fest so that's
definitely on my radar. I haven't just given it a chance
yet though. 20 Hawks post area 3and 4.
I'm also playing Patapon one andtwo.
Replay totally crossed my mind, but considering we got
remastered for those few a few years ago, it's not really high
on my list. Obviously I'm looking forward to
Doctor con Bonanza. Funny story, this morning I

(01:47:20):
actually watched the Target during my daily walk, and it's
about a mile and a half away from here.
I walked there, I saw that the Target there had two Switch twos
left. And it's been reported that a
bunch of Targets and their demo kiosks have Doctor Kung Bonanza
and mine didn't. It was just a trailer.
So I was a bit disappointed. But yeah, I got my walk in

(01:47:42):
whatever. Shadow Labyrinth is a game that
I'm very interested in. I unfortunately couldn't make an
appointment during Summer Game Festival.
I'll definitely keep an eye on those reviews.
Monument Valley 3 looks cool, although I've never played any
of the other two. Wheelworld.
They also played during summer game fest.

(01:48:02):
No summer game fest? I played during GDC and I
enjoyed that a lot. There's also Mario party
Jamboree switch 2 edition. I'm really loving what you can
do with the mouse controls, so this is definitely a game that
I'll enjoy. No Sleeper Konami Dante from AI
Insomnium Files is definitely onmy radar, but it's not something
that I want to get right away. Tales of the Shire also looks

(01:48:23):
nice. Another game that I played at
Summer Game Fest last year. But yeah, like the the last two
that I'm really interested in are Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound.
I am definitely going to get my hands on on that and day one and
Time Flies also looks really, really fun.
So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing more of that coverage.
Overall, July is a really strongmonth.
But yeah, like if I were to justnarrow the wall down, I'm

(01:48:45):
already playing college footballin Tony Hawk and then there's
going to be Donkey Kong. And then you got to go all the
way down to like, you know, you know, maybe Wheel World and
Ninja Gaiden and Time Fly as faras my day one.
But it's definitely a really strong month.
And there is no there is no shortage of stuff to play.
Yeah, yeah. For me, I already have college

(01:49:06):
football. I was about to buy it before I
got a code, so I have credit to spend on other stuff.
So that might end up going towards Golden T, Arcade
Classics and Shadow Labyrinth for this week, but I'll also be
getting Donkey Kong Bonanza for that.
And then yeah, maybe getting Wheel World later this month and

(01:49:28):
maybe Achilles Survivor, though I think I will probably end up
getting a code for that later this month.
So yeah, some nice stuff there. Maybe stuff I would get like
Time Flies, maybe Ninja Gaiden when they go on sale later this
year. Oh yeah, some nice stuff there.

(01:49:49):
August is similarly busy as July, but not right away.
The only one only games at the beginning of the month is Wander
Stars. On the first we're switching PC
which is a turn based RPG. A lot of anime style to it.
That looks pretty neat from whatI've seen here.

(01:50:10):
So the name keeps making me think it's a mobile game, and I
feel like there's been mobile games with similar names to that
in the way I'm like, oh, they'rebringing that to consoles now.
It's like, oh wait, no, it's notthat.
So there's that. In the 5th, we've got Demon

(01:50:30):
Slayer, Kametsu no Yaiba, Kino, Kami Chronicles 2.
They're making another one of those games, kind of a action
adventure fighting game kind of thing.
Yeah, for PlayStation, Xbox switching PC as another cyber to
connect two game. So that's one you can check out
in August. Also out is Turbo Kid, which is

(01:50:54):
a a weird game. So it is a Metroidy game based
on the movie that came out, a handful of your Turbo Kid, which
is I think, like a an indie movie kind of thing that
probably nobody's heard about. But this game looks pretty nice.

(01:51:18):
Yeah. Like a very gory Metroidy game
we play as a Turbo kid. So yeah, where's that?
Let's see on the 7th there's Gratius Origins, another Panami
collection, hopefully a good onefor PS-5, Xbox switching PC.
That'll be looking pretty nice. It has, yes.

(01:51:40):
Salamander 3 Gratius and a number of different versions of
that Salamander, which was Life Force in North America.
And there's also the Japanese version of life Force started to
bring the changes that they did in North America to Japan.
And there's Gratius 2GO for no Yabbo, which came out here under

(01:52:04):
the name Vulcan Venture. This is one of those series that
just they changed the names a lot because nobody gave a shit
about what a Salamander is or Gratius was at that point.
There's Gratius 3 Densetsu Kara Shinwa AI don't think came over
to the West. This will be your first chance

(01:52:26):
to check it out officially and then the Salamander 2, the
Japanese version with all the kind of stuff you would expect
to be in here with quick saves and quick loads, rewind, easy
modes, invincible modes, training modes, rankings, all

(01:52:46):
that kind of stuff. So that looks neat for your
retro stuff. Also on the 7th 4 year retro,
the two remake for switching PC.Though I guess at this point
probably should be a heads up that Forever Entertainment's
working on this and the the mostrecent was the the other thing

(01:53:10):
they just put out from Mission 3Remake has AI in it on some
really terrible looking AI upraised art that did not
understand what's it was upraising so.
Yeah. I assume this probably has
something like that in it, so you may end up wanting to skip

(01:53:30):
this or wait until there's more information on if it's using
that or not. But I believe that is the the
best game in the series from what fans have to say.
So be a shame to ruin that with that shit because I think Square
Enix is the one that owns the rights to that or is a Sega like

(01:53:53):
it's Sega. So yeah, they they're not giving
a shit enough about these games to do them right.
Bites the fans in the ass, so there you go.
Also on the 7th is Ritual of Raven.
You want your cozy starting valley like game but featuring
witches. That's what this seems to be.

(01:54:16):
Yeah. Switching PC, so that's one you
can check out. I come from team 17.
So there you go. And then on the last game of the
week on the 8th Mafia, the Old Country, which is looking like a
nice looking game. Yeah, it's story focused or
campaign focused game, so Yep, no multiplayer or anything like

(01:54:40):
that. So I believe it's also launching
at 50 bucks, so you don't have to pay time for that game if
you're into it. So that's one of the checkouts
yeah let's see 12th there's rah rah boom, we talked about that
earlier. Nice looking game.
Senua Saga Hellblade 2 comes to the PS-5.
I don't know that that one's going to do very well, but

(01:55:01):
there's that as well as the remaster of the first game for
PS-5 S People that own the original on PS4 can check that
out. Then on the 14th Dragon Drive
for the switch to Nintendo's first original game.
I guess 3V3 wheelchair basketball game, essentially

(01:55:25):
using both joy cons as mouses asmice, which seems like a neat
idea. I don't know how it's playing
it, but that'll be available. It's 20 bucks for that.
Also the 14th there's Madden NFL26 so you can check that out.
That'll be on the Switch too as well for your football
entertainment. Also the 14th is Midnight Murder

(01:55:49):
Club PS-5 and PC that was in early access earlier this year
and is hitting one point O on August 18th.
It's a Sony game published with Velan Studios, who made a bunch
of different things, and they may knockout City and Party Cart

(01:56:10):
live, the little RC car racing game thing.
So that looks like that's a neatone of those games.
Let's see what else on the 15th.There's Bendy Lone Wolf.
Yep, which is a new game in thatkind of spooky game series.
Yep. That'll be on PlayStation, Xbox,

(01:56:33):
switching PC also on the 15th isoff the formerly like you know,
fan made game that took a lot ofinfluence from Earthbound but
does its own bunch of weird metastuff.

(01:56:55):
And you could potentially consider this an influence on
Undertale. They have a prologue on Steam
now if you want to check it out.It'll be on switching PC on 18th
so that looks really interesting.
Yeah, definitely. I'm probably going to look into
this myself. Yeah, let's see for the

(01:57:16):
following week, Delta Force on the 19th for PS-5 and Xbox.
This is a game in the vein of like a Battlefield or Call of
Duty, but kind of doing its own thing.
One that I've heard is maybe building up some momentum.
People are starting to like it, maybe thinking it's going to

(01:57:39):
build the gap that Battlefield is left for the last handful of
years, so see how that one goes.But also on the 19th is sort of
the seat from Giant Squid, very much another one of those games,
but that'll be on PlayStation Plus Extra at lunch.
So I'm looking forward to that one.

(01:58:02):
On the 20th Black Myth would call and comes to Xbox as a
conspiracy that it was a PlayStation exclusive that Sony
didn't pay for but Xbox thinks it was.
And then all that weird shit finally finally ends.
I hope but I don't know people will finally play it on an Xbox

(01:58:22):
and then on 21st discountee willbe out.
It's like discount with AY on it.
This is a a management game where you're managing a like
wholesale store. Yep.
PS-5 Xbox switching PC looks really neat.

(01:58:44):
Yeah they have a demo out now onsteam.
You can play the the first part of the game.
Yep. Also on the 21st is Grit and
Valor 1949 Roblades RTS game coming to PS-5, PSVR 2, Xbox
Switch in PCVR so that's one youcan check out.

(01:59:06):
Also on the 21st is another level 5 game.
There's second one of the year Ithink in a Zuma 11 Victory Rd.
This one's been in the works fora while.
Oh yeah. We put out a couple of demos or
betas or whatever earlier this year.
It'll be coming to everything PlayStation, Xbox, Switch,
Switch to and PC with cross playand cross save support.

(01:59:32):
So yeah, maybe they'll have another hit with that like
fantasy life. I has been.
And then on the 22nd, the last game of the week is Dying Light
to the beast, PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
That's was supposed to be an expansion for Dying Light too,
but kind of turn into its own thing.

(01:59:52):
So there's that to check out. And then and we still got
another handful games here. Gears of War Reloaded on the 6,
the remaster of the remaster they did 10 years ago with the
first game in the series. People can check that one out.
Helldivers 2 comes to Xbox. Yep.
On the 26th so people on Xbox can check that out.

(02:00:15):
Also the 26th is space adventurecobra The Awakening.
Yeah, that is a yeah, that is a name I have not heard in a long
ass time. Yeah, if you don't know that
it's a 70s anime. Well, 70s, early 80s.
Yeah, yeah, the Mongo 78. Yeah, and it was in shown and

(02:00:35):
jumped by the way. Yeah, and this game covers the
first 12 episodes of the anime series.
Yep. So you can go in blind or watch
those to see what this is going to be.
But yeah, this is has a really nice look to it seems like a
side scrolling action platformer.

(02:00:56):
We're doing a bunch of cool looking stuff from what it looks
like. Yeah.
Well, yeah, that's one you can check out.
Yeah, I actually like Space Adventure Cobra.
I first like got exposed to that.
I think a lot of people, the waya lot of my generation was, it

(02:01:19):
showed up in like this music video on MTV by.
Kind of I. Forgetting what it was called
Hymn God, I'm completely blanking on it and it sucks
because it was actually a reallygood song and I liked it, but I

(02:01:41):
cannot remember who the musicianwas.
But yeah, it's it's it is, it islike one of the most anime of
all animes you will ever see. Like that is that is like the
the only way I can describe it. Yeah, so yeah, there's a there's

(02:02:03):
a game for you. Check out.
Kind of surprising there's a game based on an anime that old,
but probably pretty cheap. Let's see Story of Seasons Grand
Bazaar coming to Switch, switch to in PC on August 27th.
So there'll be another one of these games.

(02:02:24):
As. Rune Factory just came out on
the switch to at the launch, so there'll be another one if you
need your your farming in actionstuff.
So there's that. Let's see what else here.
The 28th new long title game here from Nintendo Kirby in the

(02:02:44):
Forgotten Land, Nintendo Switch to Edition plus Star Crawl will
be out on the Switch to Yeah, essentially adding a new
expansion to the game. Yep.
That I believe is a $20 expansion for it.
So if you don't own that game already, it's $20 or an $80
game. But yeah, that base game is

(02:03:08):
really good. I need to finish it up here
before this comes out, so that'll be one of my things I
need to play more of. Also the 28th there's the
Nightling, which is like a 3D action adventure platformer
game. Yep.
Coming to PS-5, Xbox switching PC, that looks pretty nice.
We also have on the 28th, Metal Gear Delta Sneak Eater finally

(02:03:32):
comes out. Yeah.
PS-5, Xbox and PC. Essentially a modern upgrade of
the three. Yep.
It seemed like they've mostly used the the same game as like a
framework and just builds up thevisuals and all that around it.

(02:03:52):
So there's that. Also the 28th super robot wars.
Why, if you like your mech anime, there's probably a bunch
of that in this is a strategy RPG game.
I'm trying to see if they have alist of Oh yeah, here's all the
featured series. Ray Dean the brave combat LER V

(02:04:15):
or a battler dunbine the new story of aura battler dunbine
heavy metal game the mobile suitZeta Gundam mobile suit Gundam
Charles counter attack MMSV mobile suit Gundam or mobile
fighter G Gundam Gundam wing endless waltz mobile suit Gundam

(02:04:35):
C destiny mobile suit Gundam thewitch from mercury season 1.
Yep. Malcolm Kaiser versus Great
Darkness General Getter Robot Getter Robo arc just Prince
Macross Delta Macross Delta Passionate walk here, told Gaius
Lelouch of the rebellion EmperorGaius Lelouch of the

(02:05:00):
resurrection has a a semi colon in the middle of resurrection
because why not? That's just a Japanese thing.
Godzilla, singular points and SSSS, Dina Zenon.
Oh yeah, a bunch of mech anime if you need that.
Yeah, I'm sure anybody out therewho doesn't know mech anime you

(02:05:22):
probably thought you just spoke a bunch of gibberish, but rest
assured I understood every word he said.
Yeah, if you're not ready for that one, the the last one that
just came out goes on sale for pretty good prices on all the
platforms that it's on. So that's when you can check out
and get ready. Let's see then.

(02:05:43):
Yeah, Bartlett is also out on the 28th PS Five switching PC.
This is basically what if somebody finally decide to make
a Persona game, but not in the the Atlas style.
Yeah, it's a school life RPG game, but dealing with people

(02:06:05):
are the students being involved in their what they call the
cross reality. Virtual reality known as Johari
is used for everything from finding basic information and
making purchases to serving as asocial networking and messaging.
And it goes bad, causes what they call what they call
glitches and all that. So yeah, it seems like a lot of

(02:06:28):
the Persona stuff, but made by different companies, so.
Yeah, I mean, if it works, I'll definitely be interested.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean both Brendan and I
have tried for URP GS for years and they never hit.
I hope this one does, but they didn't have the best track
record. Yeah.
Let me end the the month here onthe 29th with Aside finally

(02:06:53):
coming out. Finally got.
May 30th and got to lead a few more months.
Yeah. So that should hopefully be out.
I I want this game to be good sobadly.
Yeah, after all the work that that dude has gone through, you
know, I want him to have a win here.

(02:07:13):
Yeah, and then we have another month here that ends with a
ninja game with Shinobi Art of Vengeance as you get us a new
shinobi game from. Yeah, this is Lizard Cube,
makers of the Streets of Rage 4 doing a new thing with should

(02:07:35):
not be for PlayStation, Xbox, switch and PC.
There's that and then one last game that just doesn't have a
date yet, but we know it's supposed to be August, the Rogue
Prince of Persia. So it's be coming out of early
access in to one point O sometime this month.
So that's the the last one there.
So yeah, Brandon, what are you interested in here?

(02:07:59):
Let's say Mafia, the old countrydefinitely looks interesting.
Wonder stars I might take a lookat that off is definitely
something I want to look at. Let's see, I've already played

(02:08:19):
Hell divers too. Obviously the nightling looks
kind of neat. Varlet if again if they managed
to pull it off I would be interested and also lost sole
aside just because I want to seehow that game turns out.
Yeah, how about your dinner? August also looks pretty
stacked, but you know, as you mentioned, not really that much

(02:08:42):
at the top. Although I will say Wander Stars
looks good. I learned about that game a few
days ago, you guys know, and then Demon Slayer, you know,
kind of Chronicles 2, played that one at SGF.
That preview was actually our most viewed article of the year
because Demon Slayer is just that big of a fandom.
And yeah, like these games are kind of a a guilty pleasure,

(02:09:05):
like, you know, there there's nothing special about them, but
it's always cool just going through those anime scenes over
and over again. And that's definitely A1 I'll
keep an eye on, but I probably won't get that one day one.
So as far as day one purchases, I'm going to go all the way down
to the middle of the month and I'll talk about Madden.
For all the reasons you would expect.
I am a football junkie. So Madden, I'm all not an
automatically going to buy Dragon Drive looks pretty cool,

(02:09:27):
although I've heard that it's really, really tiring.
And then from there we take a few days and sort of the sea is
probably one of them one of my marquee towels of the year just
because of of how much it looks like journey.
That one looks great. And then you got to go a little
bit further down to Metal Gear Solid built a snake eater like I

(02:09:53):
wonder how that'll be like this is a game that looked amazing
when they first showed it, but the later trailers in my opinion
haven't been all that nice, at least visually.
I do want to go back to Caribbean, the forgotten last
try out the star across the world, but I don't know if
that's going to be a deal one purchase for me.
We talked about Violet just now,as Brandon mentioned, I really
hope lost all the side ends up being cool.

(02:10:15):
I really see that game having its main problem being like it's
probably too close to APS 2 game, and if that's going to be
the main reason why it, you know, gets the scores it does,
then I would call that a success.
So I would hope this game, you know, souls at least, you know,
have decently and then, yeah, ending the month with another
ninja game and tsunami art of art of vengeance.
This is also another game I played at SGF and I, I enjoyed

(02:10:35):
the heck out of it. Although I will say that it's
going to be a little bit divisive because that game is
more of a Metroidvania than it is close to the original
Shinobi, just because it's more about melee and just combining
your attacks that way. Whereas the original Shinobi
games were really were really all about throwing shuriken.
Yeah, it's another stacked month.
Not as much, but at the same time, like I need a little bit

(02:10:56):
of a break. So still looking forward to it
all. Yeah, for me probably some more
the the older stuff for this month.
Karate's Origins looks pretty neat, so I might check that out.
Or maybe I'll just wait because the Konami Retro collections
tend to go on sale for big discounts after a year or so,

(02:11:20):
but I might be interested in checking that one out.
Yeah, Dragon Drive I'm kind of morbidly curious about, but I'm
not really committed to making that a big multiplayer thing I
want to play off. Looks really neat, might check
that one out. Sort of the sea I'm excited for.

(02:11:41):
I'll be checking that on PlayStation Plus.
Yeah. Yeah, Discount Team IP1 I also
check out as well. And yeah, Kirby in the Forgotten
Land I'm excited for, so I'll behopefully ready for that one.
And yeah, I think that might be it for the most part for the

(02:12:01):
month. But yeah, some nice stuff there.
And September is later, you know, two months out and not as
many dates have been finalized for that yet.
But we start here on the 3rd with a Hirogami that's been
announced during the Summer GameFest during that PlayStation

(02:12:25):
State of Play where they anotherband and Amco game that'll be
coming out. Yeah, September 3rd for PS-5 and
PC. That looks pretty nice with the
style too and all that. So that looks nice.
Hell is Us is on the 4th for PS-5 and Xbox and PC.
That is a big third person action adventure game with some

(02:12:50):
nice looking stuff to it. Yeah, definitely one of those
games I've been keeping an eye on.
Like this is one of those thingsthat's right up my alley just
because of how odd it is. Yeah, then we got on the 5th,
Damon X Machina Titanic Scion for PS-5 Xbox switch to in PC

(02:13:10):
for your Mecca action game. This is one of those kind of
things. Also on the 5th we got
Everybody's Golf Hotshots for PS-5 switching PC, the new game
in the series being handled by somebody other than Clap Hans
and Band and Amco publishing it.And also we know that's there's

(02:13:31):
AI in use for it, so people havenot been happy to find that out.
So yeah, that one's kind of up in the air.
Let me see here. Also on the 5th, there's NBA2K26
for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 1 and Switch 2 and PC.
The Switch 2 version will be on par with the PS-5 and Xbox

(02:13:54):
Series X&S versions with all thethe new content that they're
adding to that. And there was some confusion
over that, but I think it was people seeing the the official
site for the game that was that.They hadn't updated their FAQ on
that stuff yet. Yeah.
But yeah, that'll be on par withthe others.

(02:14:16):
Let's see. Also on the fifth shoot in
order. This is a new game.
Azutaka. Kodaka.
Yeah, with all the potential, good and bad, that comes with
his games. So there you go.
Also on the 5th there is Terminator 2D, No fate.

(02:14:37):
So Speaking of old properties that are randomly getting games,
Terminator 2 game based on the movie?
Yeah, you play Sarah Connor and the T800 through various
missions trying to take on the T1000 and put a stop to Skynet's
plans. Very weird to have that be a

(02:14:59):
whole thing. But that is a great movie, so
they can do some justice to that.
So that is an interesting thing.And yeah, this that's a studio
that has done beat them up stuffbefore, so we'll see how they do
on a side scrolling shooter kindof thing.
Yeah, it looks really nice, at least in the art that they, the

(02:15:24):
stuff they put out. It looks like what if, what if
somebody made a Super Nintendo game for this, but with all the
increased quality that you get from a modern version of that.
So, yeah, yeah, let me take a little break here until the 12th

(02:15:44):
for Borderlands 4, which will beon PS-5, Xbox, Switch 2 and PC.
People are pretty positively excited about that as yeah,
we've seen some gameplay and stuff talking about that.
It looks like they're making some good improvements on that.

(02:16:05):
Hopefully the writing matches upwith that from what they've
talked about that being a big focus for them to improve on the
the writing over Borderlands 3 was.
But they're also taking influence from like Destiny and
some other games in this genre that's have really good
movements options for, you know,double jumps and get pack jumps

(02:16:31):
and all that kind of stuff. So that looks neat. 17th here.
We got Deep Rock Galactic survivors hitting one point O on
PCI. Played a good bit of that on my
Steam Deck and that's been a lotof fun for a vampire like so
they're doing some good work there.
So I'm curious to see what that looks like.

(02:16:52):
At one point O on the 19th we got Toa in the guardians of the
sacred tree. That's another band and Amco
game they've got coming out herein the next few months.
The rug light action game that has a really nice look to it.
So that's showing off pretty well.

(02:17:13):
Also in the 19th trails in the sky first chapter.
So the the remake of the first game in the Sky series.
Yep. Trilogy is happening.
Yes, it is. For a little trilogy that kind
of has been mostly inaccessible for a quite a while.

(02:17:35):
Even the PC versions kind of outdated a bit what it is
because it was basically a straight port of the PC or PSP
version and it's like it works enough on modern PCs but you
might have to just be careful with certain things.
There's that. Then the 25th Silent Hill F

(02:17:58):
releases as this new era of positivity about Silent Hill
games is happening as people arecautiously optimistic about new
games. So that's one that looks pretty
neat. Also on the 25th the complete
opposite experience Sonic racingcross worlds it's coming to yeah

(02:18:22):
PlayStation, Xbox switching PC. The yes they this is going to be
a Sonic focused cast for the launch on the crossover
characters that you've seen are on DLC, even though the second
ones are ones that will be coming with DLC post launch

(02:18:43):
Minecraft SpongeBob all that stuff is post launch.
So that stuff is despite the waythey've been promoting it, it is
not necessarily there going to be there at launch.
And the stuff they're adding forpre-order bonuses is Sonic
unleashed Sonic the werehog going to be available there at

(02:19:04):
launch. Switch to versions coming later
at some point. Looks like the digital deluxe
edition add Sonic prime character.
So if you're fully submerged into the Sonic ecosystem of
contents, you will know this stuff here.
For everybody else, it's just going to look like a bunch of

(02:19:25):
Sonic characters. Yep.
So there's that 26th Atelier Rezzlerianna, the Red Alchemist
and the Wine the White Guardiansfor PlayStation switching PC.
Another one of those action RPGsbut with a lot more like, chill
vibes to them, I guess. Yeah, like Quietly big series

(02:19:50):
for Coy Tecmo and the developer Guest.
So there's any one of those coming outs.
And then, you know, we end the month here with Alien Rogue
Edition for PS-5 and PC. This is essentially A2D version
of the VR game. They.
Put out last year. So yeah, that looks like it
should be a pretty fun time. Final Fantasy Tactics, The Evil

(02:20:15):
E Chronicles that finally happens.
Yep. The kind of weird product that
that is because it essentially includes the the original game
and the the PSP game that kind of merged together with.
So you have the the original game with like a better, better

(02:20:38):
story to it, globalization and all that.
But they also have a a newer version that adds some new
content to it and new localization and all that.
So with a new art filter over itlooks like, it looks like one of

(02:20:58):
those things to not make stuff look pixely in a way that's
really annoying when people turnthat on.
But yeah, that's one that peoplehave been looking forward to as
it's been rumoured for a long time some new version of fine
advanced tactics. So that'll finally be out.
And then the last one here is a TBA, supposed to be out sometime

(02:21:19):
in September, but Hotel Barcelona doesn't have a
specific date yet as PS-5, Xbox and PC.
And that is a what they call a 2.5 D slasher film parodic
action game from White Isles Incthat is Sweary 65 Studio.

(02:21:41):
He's also working with Sudo 51 on this game, and it very much
feels like a game that both of those two would work on with all
their vibes pushed together. Yeah.
Yeah, I believe it's kind of a amaturity kind of game do it, or
at least I think so. It might just be like a a beat
em up kind of thing, but got a really nice look to it and all

(02:22:04):
that and it's very weird and yeah, it looks really nice.
It's out in September at some point.
So yeah, that's your September. Yep.
Brandon, what are you looking forward to here?
First and foremost, Hell is US. Absolutely.
That game, as soon as I saw it, it was immediately on my radar.
Just because it's just, it's, it's so different like that.

(02:22:28):
That's really the cool thing about it is it's very original.
Like obviously like gameplay wise it's not terribly original,
but like the actual world and setting and writing is just very
original and I just love how weird it looks.
Also Borderlands 4 because I love the Borderlands 3IN spite

(02:22:48):
of the terrible writing, I thought it was a lot of fun and
I want to get back into that world again.
And obviously, and Dan Rep can can vouch from here on this
Trails in the Sky first chapter because I don't have to explain
why, but I might look at Silent Hill F maybe later on, probably

(02:23:12):
in October once the horror season comes in.
And also definitely like Final Fantasy Tactics because I kind
of missed out on those games thefirst time around because I
really wasn't much of A tactics person.
But I definitely want to play this now.
Yeah, how about your dinner? Yeah, Hirogami looks really fun.

(02:23:36):
I'm hoping we get a code for that, but if not, whatever.
And then everybody, everybody has Golf Hotshots.
I'm a huge fan of that series. This one looks way lower budget
and it doesn't surprise me considering Sony doesn't care
and pretty much just licensed not to ban Dynamico, but I'm
hopeful for it. Again, this is all something
something that I hope to get a code for NBA 2K26 just because

(02:23:57):
I'm a sicko. I I eventually do want to jump
jump back into it. I've I've honestly fallen off
the series just because they've really gone off the deep end
with the microtransaction modes,but it it it still is the best
basketball game available shoe 10 order looks really
interesting, although it might be just a little too out there
for what I want to do and like Kodak has already had a hit with

(02:24:18):
100 line and I'm not expecting the same here because that would
be crazy. But yeah, that's definitely one
to keep an eye on. And then the 19th that that that
is stacked. Obviously, like there's chosen
the sky first chapter. I'll talk about that in a little
bit. But to and the garden to the
sacred tree was probably one of the biggest surprises that I
that I played during summer gamefest.

(02:24:39):
I'm not big on Road lights at all, but this one was one that I
really enjoyed. We only had about 15 minutes to
play that game and I enjoyed like every second of it.
Like you actually end up controlling 2 characters, one
being a sword user, one being a magic user, and he has to pay
too much. Like you use them In Sync as you
just go through all of these Haiti's like levels in order to

(02:25:00):
get to the end. And yeah, I was able to beat the
boss and as soon as I beat the boss, the demo was over.
So I'm looking forward to hopefully getting my hands on
that one. Sonic Racing cross worlds also
looks awesome. Also play that during Summer
Game fest. And you know, coming off of
Mario Kart World, I'm I'm prettysure like this one will hit in
different ways. I really enjoy the fact that it

(02:25:21):
does cross worlds on the one once you get to the final race
in each Grand Prix. So yeah, that was going to be
really full of action. And I think this one has cosplay
as well. So that'll be cool.
And then believe it or not, I'm just not really that big into
final pitch to tactics. But then again, I haven't really
given it it's full try. So I don't know how much time
I'll have considering Trails is going to be a big one.

(02:25:42):
But yeah, there's that. And then Atelier, Rizzo,
Rihanna, I think you mentioned it's a action game.
It's it's it's not. I think they've added a little
bit more elements to make it feel that way.
But ultimately it's still a turnbased game.
And one of the reasons why I'm just not into the series, it's
just because the the potion and crafting is just too much for
me. Raisa did a solid job at really

(02:26:04):
simplifying the whole method, but it's still like overly
complicated for my own taste. And it's really unfortunate
because this is a series that I really want to try to get into.
But yeah, just taking it back tothe 19th and chosen the sky
first chapter at this next to Exhibition 33 was probably my
most anticipated game of the year.
Everything is looking like it's hitting on on on on all the

(02:26:25):
right levels. The the visuals that have been
redone. The battle system looks like
it's taken a page out of the Trails to Daybreak games to have
both a turn based and action element.
This is probably the best, the best protagonist in the entire
series with Estelle and I'm hoping it looks like I don't

(02:26:47):
know if it's the case, but I'm, I'm hoping that it did.
This game is fully voiced because they do have a hell of a
voice cast and it would be a waste to just voice just a few
scenes. I'm not saying I want every NPC
saying something, but I definitely want all of the
cutscenes to be fully voiced because it would really add to
the atmosphere of this game because the one it was able to
do in 2D, you know, going 10 years back and the fact that it

(02:27:07):
hasn't really age too much, is that just a testament to its
quality? And I'm hoping first chapter can
really just bring all this back and really bring I don't I don't
know about bringing this game tothe mainstream, but you know,
the whole thing about Falcon making this a a worldwide effort
is definitely something to take note of.

(02:27:28):
Publisher is different. It's gung ho doing it.
We we we have an off and on relationship with them.
But, you know, if it doesn't work out and buying a day one,
absolutely, yeah, it just sucks as it's coming out in the same
day as total in the gardens of the sacred Trees.
So it'll be interesting just trying to move the weeks around
in order to get, you know, both our content finished as well as,

(02:27:48):
you know, enjoying what we want to play.
I also do want to quickly highlight Hotel Barcelona.
I played that game during GDC. And yeah, it's, it's both hard
and stylistic and in all the best ways.
I just don't think I'll have a whole lot of time for it with
everything coming out that monthand, you know, all those months
prior. Yeah for me probably Hiragami is

(02:28:12):
a nice one to start off the month.
Might also check out that Terminator game because that
just seems like a a very silly thing to put out in 2025, but
looks neat nonetheless. I might check out Borderlands 4,
but I also might just wait on that for a sale or something.
I have deep broccolactic in. Deep Broccolactic Survivor in

(02:28:35):
early access have that for launch.
Let me check out one that what new stuff they're going to add
for that 1.0 launch. So that'll be fun.
And yeah, toe in the Guardians of the Sacred tree looks really
nice. So I'll probably be checking
that one out at some point. And maybe Final Fantasy Tactics.

(02:28:56):
I've played that originally on the PS1 and kind of fell off of
it after a few missions because it just kind of got harder than
I was expecting initially and just kind of was like this is
not how hard this should be. Either I'm too dumb or the game
is too hard for me. I've enjoyed games in this the

(02:29:18):
genre before and beating some ofthem.
So I don't think it's necessarily a case of it's not
my genre, it's just like I like other ones better.
Even kind of like to find a Fantasy Tactics to advance a bit
more for my recall of that game.I wish at some point they're
going to have to put those gamesout at some point because.

(02:29:40):
Yeah. Seems like there's a sizeable
audience that likes that more than tactics and they're very
annoying about it so. Yeah.
That's an audience they would probably like to sell sell to
and make them put their money where their mouth is.
So yeah, that could be nice. But yeah, Hotel Barcelona would
be nice to see. I really like Sweary Suit 51

(02:30:06):
style for what they want to makein games, and this one looks
like it could be pretty cool. So yeah, that's going to do it
for the preview. Thank you to Brandon Danner for
joining us this week. Always.
No worries. We got a lot of time ahead of us

(02:30:27):
for all these games come out, but yeah, we'll end the show
here and come back next week with a new sled.
So yeah, we got some things going on.
This week's going to be a busy week, as I mentioned Donkey Kong
Bonanza. Oh yeah, is.
Out this week, Golden T arcade classic Shadow Labyrinth.

(02:30:51):
The nice games are coming out here.
Yeah, we'll be talking about thethe new things we're playing
next week. And yeah, thank you all for
tuning in. If you enjoy the show for let
friends and family know they should check out the podcast and
select strangers that are also excited about games coming up.
Seriously. Yeah, there's a lot of them.

(02:31:12):
So yeah, thank you all for tuning in.
Hope you have a good week ahead.We will see you next time.
Have a good one. Bye, see.
Ya.