The Prototype - The Game Awards 2025 - Our Picks, Predictions, Hopes, And Fears! - ThisWeekInGeek

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, it's time for another special feature.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, hello, and welcome out to our prototype pre Game
Awards prediction. So we haven't done one of these in
the past because we've just sort of usually either had
a prototype nearing it where we maybe mentioned a few
things that we thought, or we wait until the actual
Game Awards happened and did a long, long show. We're

(01:03):
still gonna do a prototype on the Game Awards results.
You know, what do we think of it? You know,
discuss what you know, games were showing off any you know,
New World exclusive premieres, that sort of stuff. But there's
been enough hub up about what's going to be at

(01:23):
the awards show that we thought it's probably best if
we do a pre show, a prediction show where you
can sort of go over, you know, some things that
we believe should win. We'll sort of do a quick
comparison of you know, categories, do we think things should
be in there? That sort of stuff. Birdman is a way,
but the rest of us will play and that's Alex

(01:45):
the producer and I'm joined with Ken. How are you
doing today, buddy?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
All right, it's yeah. As we're recording this, this is
the week of Thanksgiving, so.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, we're getting it done. I had thought initially, I
was like, you know, what, do we record it next week?
Next week's busy? Do we record it later on in
the week that's Thanksgiving. Let's record it a little earlier
and this might come out during Thanksgiving, but we'll see.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, so this.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Way where we're we'll finish this. You can get your
your gobble gobble going. Uh that sounds bad, strike that
of it's early for me, it's early. It's it's early
for me, late for you. Let's get it going. Yeah,
I figured, you know, honestly, it's going to be pretty
loose with this. Uh. I as of this recording. You know,

(02:40):
the there have been all the nominations that I believe
one was pulled because they chose to pull themselves because
they said, we're not really we're not debut Indie.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
That was Megabank a Megabank the Dead specifically said I'm
not a debut ind f Off.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, I think it was. It was one of those
cases where the its got a lot of nominations because
how it works is the voting body can submit basically
anything and if enough votes get there, it gets in.
Pretty Much everybody that voted for it didn't realize that
this was a new studio creator or a new well
new entity. It's not a studio if it's one person,

(03:22):
but a new entity created by somebody who's developed many
games before or at least several. And for anybody that
wonders why would they do that, there's usually tax reasons,
you know, starting up a new entity getting tax credits
for it. It's the same reason that you'll see with
television shows and movies where instead of like unless it's

(03:43):
like a major project from one of the major studios,
a television show, you'll see at the end, you know,
if it's like let's say it's a show about vampires,
you know, it'll be like at the at the end,
it'll say production for you know, Biity season two or
bighty two, and then byit three, each season will be

(04:03):
created by a new entity, created solely to get new
tax credits.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
This is how yeah, this is how productions work with
tax credits and whatnot. Every production is its own individual
entity and business.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah. Exceptions to that being if you're from a giant
production company, so like you see, like your law and orders.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Even some even some of the big boys still do
it that way. Even the major studios still do it
as especially project is its own production.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Company exactly the ones that are established for launch. The
reason I mentioned is like Law and Order, like.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
If it's like legacy television ship.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, fred Wolf, if you see like one of those
like del or not Delenti Belisarius for like ncs, those
guys where they have their production houses, they're they're not
doing that because they're signing like three or four year
deals at a time, so and they're basically under the
same production house, and they're like holy own. But these

(05:06):
are billion dollar television enterprises. We're talking Whenever a brand
new TV show comes out the last like twenty years,
each season if it's a new show, will be done
that way. And that's a similar idea here. I don't
know if that's exactly why, but that is usually the
major reason why a very small studio or a single
person project or would be releasing games under different company

(05:27):
names every time.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, or or it would be like they moved states
here in the States, because each state has their own
different laws.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, reincorp corporation a lot of times for limited liability,
it's easier to reincorporate as a new entity entirely in
a new state, or there may be something like hey,
we have a new business ventures project thing. It's like, well,
if you're already a sole developer, you may as well
just start a new entity if they're offering you a credit. Yeah,

(06:00):
that sort of stuff. I don't think it's a matter
of the person trying to hide anything.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
No, it's just no, he's just simply like, look, this
is I. This is a different entity that I have
done this under.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
And I think it was one of those cases where
when this happened, people didn't know who actually developed it.
Like they didn't because I don't think his name was
out there in the opened.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, his name wasn't officially out there. He went by
a by a tag and he and he was like, okay,
I got it. No, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
No, because the worst thing would be is even though okay,
realistically he wrobbably wasn't going to win his category.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh yeah, no, he wasn't in the category.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
So that jumps into the hole like doing this is
actually good press for him in the long run.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
But it was good press, I'm not kidding, because he
sold another like million copies after.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well exactly exactly and on top of that if he
has to. Yeah, if he had won it, people in
the in the med industry would have figured out, like,
wait a minute, it would have been more controversial if
he won, and then people figured out, wait, this guy
has done a bunch of stuff already, so it was
better to stay on top of it, which is a
very smart move obviously, you know, business and clout and

(07:18):
all that sort of stuff. It's great. But anyway, so
I don't think as if this recording UH that Jeff
has announced the replacement, but they said he was going
to UH for nominations, it doesn't really matter. I don't
think anything else he puts in there.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
If he announced something, it'll probably be next week. Yeah,
I guess because all of all of California is on
vacation this week.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, So I don't think that necessarily anything he puts
in there is going to potentially win. But regardless, so
we're just gonna keep it set the way it's set.
Just that's just a preface before going in. UH. And
I did gather the winners from the Golden Joystick Awards
because that happened just a few days before this recording, and.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
They it's it's the Golden Joysticks. If you've watched the
Golden Joysticks, you know what goes on at the Golden Joysticks.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's. Yeah, it's like the Golden Globes. It's like the
foreign press. It's it is an industry award show. It is.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
It is actually all entirely fan voted.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, but it is still seen as an industry you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's it's it's an industry event.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
It's sort of the people's choice but not it's a
good barometer of where the.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Where the general public is.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, And I don't remember the exact voting percentage, but
with the Game Awards, I think it's it's somewhere up
to thirty percent of the.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Of depending on the category.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Of the Yeah, of the category, except for like the
one that is like the viewers like there is the
choice the viewer's choice award thing that runs right up
into the show. And that's like the one like favorite
fan category whatever that is. So that's fully chosen by
people voting, but generally less than a third or up
to a third or so of the fan vote is

(09:17):
weighted in the contribution. The rest is all done from
uh press and media, and then of course like whatever.
So this is a barometer of seeing where that goes.
So and sort of going through the list of what
won there this year, storytelling was claib scare. I can
see that. One thing to consider here is that some

(09:40):
of the more niche games that would maybe probably have
even better storytelling are not generally played by wide audiences.
What picked up, uh, you know the news with all
the Claire ob scare stuff, was you had you know,
a quote unquote indie or smaller title that was massively

(10:01):
picked up by the by general audiences. And you know,
I don't think I saw for this type of game.
You know that wasn't just like a game designed for streamers,
but to pick up the amount of viewership on YouTube, Twitch,
kick whatever you want to out there. This was at
the levels of like what Final Fantasy vin and you

(10:25):
know Persona and Fall guys and that we're getting during
the pandemic lockdown. Yeah, so it people that haven't played
an RPG in five years were playing this. Yeah, so
that's you know, pretty telling. It's not a bad choice
obviously best visual design Claire Obscure. I get where it

(10:50):
comes from. But at the same time, I think it
was a little limited by its budget. There's some moments
in the Claribscare and I love it. I love that game,
but there are some moments where it does look a
little like Unreal.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
You can see the seams, yeah, you can.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
See where it's like, Okay, there are moments where you're like, wow,
this is amazing, and then there's moments where you're like,
this doesn't look like it's like a pure asset from
from Unreal, but you can tell it wasn't hand crafted.
It was it was hand modified. It's the best way
to describe it. The characters have been hand crafted for
the most part. There's elements in the backgrounds in that.

(11:29):
But when you like, especially if you zoom in, like,
there's moments where it doesn't look as good as this
is a game that is best viewed zoomed out. Yes,
best multiplayer game was Peak. I've never even heard of that.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Okay, so it's basically another The whole concept is you
are just a bunch of like goofy explorers and you're
climbing a mountain.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay, that could be fun.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
And it's like it's multiplayer kind of friends slop is
what so streamer slop. It's definitely streamer slops. It's fun
to watch. It's fun to watch, and it has a
proximity voice chat, so it's really funny when you have
a buddy right next to you and they fall off

(12:18):
the mountain and you can hear their voice disappear.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Okay, So it has full situational audio. That's great. That's
that's really how you have to do it nowadays.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
And it's also done by the guys at Agrocrab who
did another Crabs Treasure.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Okay, I get it, Okay, I get the field and
I can picture it in my head.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah, they have a sense of humor to them.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Basically what I said, best remakery, Master Elder Schools for
Oblivion really Okay, that's what I'll say on that really.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Ever again, people like bees the games. We are not
one of those. No, but the people.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
But no, I don't thing w'e with like in the game,
but saying it's the best remaster when we had games
that performed, Okay, like that game barely plays better than
the actually probably plays worse than the original. Uh it's better,
it looks better visually. Yeah, but uh, this is a
year where we had like the.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
Hell Kingdom come Deliverance to probably plays better than.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, but like and like on the the remakes we've had,
like ones from We've had multiple from Square, We've had
multiple from UH from Atlas, like like the should we
smt uh Devil Summoner that played better.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
And you can uh and you can also count all
this switch to upgrades that we got.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, Like, there's there's a lot of there's a lot
out there that I think was probably better but not
necessarily more popular. Obviously it's and it's not me trying
to throw shade like it just look at it. Just
it doesn't play well. It looks good, it just doesn't
play well. So I guess I guess.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
It's because the underside of the everything under the hood
is still the same fucking game. Yeah, unfortunately, so it's
janky as hell.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
I mean, it played really well when you're in the
beginning and you're before you've left the cave. So when
I played it, I walked outside and went, nope, nope,
I'm not playing a game that has ten frames per
second on the lowest settings on my fifteen dollars computer. No,
thank you, We'll just wait for the months. Fuck you,

(14:37):
fuck you all the way home. No, thank you. You've
had twenty goddamn years to get that game right, so no,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
And it was running on Unreal and yeah, even then,
I would say it runs better than it should.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Okay, it's a technical feat that they got that. Bethesda
got a Bethesda game to run, So there we go. Uh,
maybe they'll get like Daggerfall to run fine, because that
ran on it like a calculator, So maybe that'll work.
Give us like Arena or that in the modern engine,

(15:16):
it should be fine. Actually maybe not because those games
were so huge. Being procedurally, I think those is it
Arena Daggerfaul, one of the two is like ten times
the size.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
Of I'm pretty sure Daggerfall.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Is because, like I mean, it's it's bland and boring.
Even people that love the franchise say that, but they're like,
it's the biggest game ever. Sure. Okay, anyway, best best
audio to sign go see? Ok I do agree, at
least I.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
See thee who hasn't played it. I still think Silent
Hill f is the best experience of stuff I've played.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
That's probably the biggest contender from what I've seen. But
we'll get into that when we see like the proper
nominees for the Game Awards. But as far as these
golden joysticks, fine, yeah, Best Game Expansion, Lives of P.
I can see that because that was basically a full
game there.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
It was a very good expansion.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
And I guess does night Rain not count? Maybe?

Speaker 3 (16:17):
I guess Night Rain is not DLC night Rain, that's right.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
I was thinking of the other one that was last
year's game. Yeah, what was it called? Again? It wasn't
like under Dark or something. That's that's a completely different
thing show. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Basically, the the lies of P expansion is that for
this year, as far as like size and quality, the
game is not for me. But I have actually enjoyed
watching people play it, so I'm like, it's it's cool.
I get it. Best Indie Game self Published. See, they
have a category best Indie Game self Published. Good, that's

(16:59):
at least that's step in the right direction. Hollow Night duh.
Yeah yeah, no, Best Indiegame blue Prints. Yeah, and and
I see that. I see the distinction because raw Fury publisher.
Raw Fury is an indie publisher, but they're not They're
not like Tiny, but they're also not like as far

(17:23):
as indie publishers go. Yeah, I would say I would
say they're they're smaller than they're smaller than some of
the other ones out there, but they're not.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
They're medium sized is what I would consider Raw Fiery
more medium level.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, Like like Devolver is probably the biggest of the
indie publishers left maybe and they've had to shrink down
what they've been publishing, like and there there are other collectives,
but like for the most part, a lot of them
either got gobbled up by other companies or they're very
niche and they published like some very small titles that

(18:09):
have the budgets so small that it's very rare that
they would actually you know, get noticed. I would say
that Raw Furies in that, like they're in like the
upper echelon of vindie publisher.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
At this point.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yes, yeah, because a lot of the other ones are
like literally the last two three years, they're either gone
or they're like they were gone gobbled up by a
bracer which is now gone, or they were.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Maybe out of existence.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Of existence, or are completely independent like again but are
only doing one or two small titles a year. So yeah,
that makes sense for that category. Studio of the Year
sand Fall makes sense because nobody's had nobody's had a
better year than them except for what it's yet to
be seen if Team Cherry has has that kind of

(18:59):
a year. But it's I think it's more of the success.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Story of it is the story of this year.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
It's one of those cases where it's more about the
story of the people that it isn't necessarily about the
studio itself yet. Yeah. Best sound Trail, Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, until like someone like No Clip does like
a massive documentary on.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
It, exactly. Uh, Best Soundtrack, claib Skier. That's it's.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
It's the only that's really annoying is that the Grammys
didn't nominate it.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, and we'll get into it, like when we look
at the categories and the main show, we'll we'll talk
about it more. But it's it makes sense why it's
their best Game Trailer. I'm actually surprised that isn't a
category in being seeing how much marketing there is in
the Game Awards itself. And I do think best Game Trailer,
I I would say GTA is probably the trailer too.

(20:03):
Is the right trailer for that at least? Like, yeah,
I don't think there was anything.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
I think I think nowadays in the gaming landscape, trailers
are less necessary to sell gamers.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, as far as hype, I think that this is
that was the one probably outside of the Final Fantasy
seven like proper reveal trailer in twenty nineteen. I can't
think of one in the last six to seven years
that people felt they needed to see, right, and GTA

(20:41):
is something people have needed to see for ten years. Yeah,
so like and thinking about it for the future, there's
not a lot that people need to see a mass effect.
They need to see a proper trailer for that. They
need to see because they it's especially with the goodwill

(21:01):
they've sort of lost over the years, they will need
to see what it looks and feels like.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yet, especially given EA's eventual buyout by the Saudis.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, it's probably going to be the last major project
that was worked on before that happens or even during
the transition. It'll be the last major game that's not
a Star Wars game that won't have had any other
undue influence on it. Yeah, because Disney, well you know Disney,
they won't allow anybody else's influence on how their games

(21:33):
are made. So you know, as long as they're working
on on, you know, the next Jedi game that won't
be touched Mass Effect. They've openly said won't be touched
because they know the studio depends on it, and EA
knows that.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
If they touch that, the Internet will explode.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
And it will actually get some backlash on their sports titles,
which are already under fire, so they they know those
are the two projects right now they can't have anything touched,
so you know, beyond that, we'll see. But I do
like that they do have a best trailer because that
GTA six trailer number two was really good. Like, yeah,

(22:16):
so anyway, best early access game was Repo.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Is another French slop game. Okay, it's just a horror
based friend slop.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Game instead of the ongoing best ongoing they have still playing.
I like that people are still playing after a while
whatever Mobile Pokemon go okay, I guess, I guess yeah,
still playing PC and console Minecraft makes sense. I noticed
that it's it's not necessarily a category for best like

(22:48):
game that has like the most support with expansions of that,
it's just what are people still like playing. It's this
is more like not your what is your primary game
you're playing on the go, it's what game do you
still go back to? You know at least a few
times a week? Is how I view that category. And
Minecraft and Pokemon go makes sense for that streamer's choice.

(23:08):
I guess that had to be voted on by streamers.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yep, And it's a peak.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Makes sense because they're gonna pick whatever makes them the
most money. Right now. Yeah, breakthrough schedule one. I don't
even know what that is.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
I do, I've heard of it, of it, I do
not know what it is.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Best gaming hardware was the.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
CPU the night.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
And I mean I guess so you normally you would
you would think a video card would be there or
a console, but well.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
The main thing with this this speak this out performed Intels,
which was the go to gaming CPU. Now this is
the go to gaming CPU.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
And and as far as sales, like you can can't
really you can't really put like a game system on there.
That like putting a game system like the switch to
would have been something that Spike TV would have done
back in the day. Oh we're best gaming hard where
it'd be like whatever the new thing that was advertising
is selling like it's so this is more like speaking, hey,

(24:17):
this is great if you get it, well, it's still
reasonably priced, and by reason price like it's it's still
more money than you'd want to spend, but still.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Like at six hundred dollars, seven hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Season, Yeah, but to its credit and knowing the platform
like I am. We're recording right now on a computer
that I have that has my rise in thirty six.
You know, like that CP is now six years old
and it's still literally still going as strong as it
ever has not for every gaming thing, like I can do.

(24:48):
I can do like seven twenty P gaming now on
a modern game, or like ten ADP with like double A,
or I can do four K with you know, uh
with like two D and s stuff. But like for
everyday use in that six years, this is the longest
I've ever used a CPU.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
And it's the thirty again. Back in early January, I
picked up picked up the highest chip set, the highest
I can get on the chip set that I have,
which is the thirty six hundred tchip set. So I
have a so you yeah, I have an AM for

(25:28):
rise in nine whatever it was and is the highest
end I could possibly get to.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
So if you're paying six hundred US for that or
somewhere in that realm for the rise of about three
hundred the ninety nine to fifty. I think it's probably
an am five platform. It. If you're buying that for
six hundred bucks, you're gonna get likely six to seven
years that you can ease properly game on without having

(25:54):
any issues. So I totally get it. They are still
the best value if you consider it on a year
by year cost base. This yeah, so yeah. Best game
adaptation Arcane. I have not watched Arcane, but I have
heard really good things about both seasons.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Okay, so season one, Season one is amazing, season two
there there are minor writing issues that I have with
season two, but season two is still a feast. Tokay, behold.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Best supporting performer Ben Star for Claire Obscure. Okay, it's
it's yeah, best lead performer Jennifer English as myel and Claire. Okay,
get it. We'll get into it when we get to
the nominations for the main show. PC Game of the Year.
I do like that that's still a category here, because

(26:44):
you know they have Hollow Night winning. I think PC
Game of the Year shouldn't just be the most popular
game it should be a game that is not on
other platforms, or at least not yet. So that's where
I draw a line here with like, because there are
there are speriences that either can only be experienced on PC,
whether through like the massive scaling of maybe how many

(27:08):
things on screen at the same time, like how many
people you're playing with, or sometimes it can be due
to the interface inputs or something that there should be
some reason like this seems bullshit to me because Hollow
Night's on everything, So I think it should be something
that's like, you know, maybe PC early access would be

(27:28):
a better category because basically any game on PC now
comes to every platform anyway, but generally, unless there's like
something really unique, all early access games are PC only
to start, So maybe that would be good for the
future console Game of the Year Go Cota. We'll see

(27:49):
critics choice award was DK Bonanza, so I guess that's
the one.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
DK Bananza was going to get something in this.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
And this was probably all the critics realizing that the
fans weren't going to vote for it, so they voted
for themselves Most Wanted Game GTA. That makes sense, Ultimate
Game of the Year, that is something that sounds very
much like it's right out of the Spike TV era,
the Ultimate Game of the Year. Claire obscurit. Yeah, that
makes sense, so that that that I see their their logic.

(28:21):
There wasn't anything like super egregious here. Maybe some interesting choices,
but that's about it, and I'll mention this. We'll go
through the the categories that are nominated for the Game
Awards from bottom to top, you know, top being the
most important one, and then at the end we have
a few categories that we or I put together that

(28:42):
was like, hey, I don't think that they fit there
in the regular show, but these are things that we
would like to talk about that sort of are more
of our personal choices where we can sort of pick anything.
So we'll start with the stuff that we honestly know
the least about for the most part, that's like the
esports stuff. So best Esports Team. The nominees areen Chi

(29:05):
League from League of Legends players, Energy or I guess
maybe it's just Energy Valorant players, Team Falcons for dot
to two, Team Liquid Liquid pH for mobile.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Mobile legal Legends.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Game okay, and then Team Vitality counter Strike two. Weirdly,
I thought counter Strike two was like twenty years old.
I didn't realize it's a newer game.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Well it it's technically is, but it's basically this, it's
a it's a reskinning.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah. So anyway, I have no idea who any of
these teams are. I put down. Yeah, we all put that.
We upstate because we're not going to place a pick
on something we really don't know. And it sounds bad
like it's a is an important aspect, But every time
I watch a YouTuber or a streamer talk about these categories,

(30:06):
they all glaze over it. Unless you're like super super
duper esports, you have no idea what's happening to sports.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Like I've got a buddy that's into league, but he
goes to the league stuff and he's actually he's actually
been hired by them to do cosplay and stuff.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
They have a problem of reaching a larger audience with
the way that they design their entire marketing. So it's
not a matter of us, you know, being like, it's
just we don't know and we haven't been told why
we should carest And to be perfectly frank, a lot
of Saudi money has been invested in esports. Yeah, and

(30:46):
you know, there was Chinese money at one point. There
was a lot of crypto bullshit being sponsored all these things.
So like we just went, nope, we raise our hands
and so nope, we'll we'll see what happens when they
sort the stuff out, fight ones, maybe we watch a
little more, or at least watch watch YouTubers that are
in the know. So like if that, you know, if

(31:07):
it has something to do with EVO in that, but
it's not. It's all it's all the games that we
don't play ourselves. So best Esports Athlete, brock Chovi, Forsaken, Kakeru,
Menard wooz woz woz Woo, whatever that is. Yeah, we're

(31:29):
all upstaining from that. So I'm gonna make.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
I've heard of Forsaken, but I don't ask me anything
else about him.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yeah, that's that's the thing. And so I'll mention that
while it's it is ken and I here Birdman has
for the most part filled out on our own internal form,
you know, And I'll mention if he's picked a category
but yeah he he.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Uh, unless they are cottery.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
But he put that in the notes, so it makes sense,
you know, you know, bird Man best Esports game, was
counter Strike two do to two League of Legends Mobile
Legends Bang Bang? That just sounds fake.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Okay, I'm sorry, So so that sounds so the Mobile
Legends Bang Bang is basically a simplified version of Legal.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Legends, okay, and Valorant Valerant means it.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Well. The thing with the Legal Legends mobile game, the
idea was to eventually port that to consoles, and that
hasn't happened yet.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Okay. I put down counter Strike two only because I
actually played the franchise before I played a bunch of
counter Strike.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
I mean, be fair. Valorant is just a reskinned counter Strike, Okay.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
I played like the original counter Strike. I played it
before probably half of our listeners were born. Yeah, that's
all I mean.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
I've played Counterstrike.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
I know. I played counter Strike when it was I
played counter Strike before Steam existed. When you had when
you had to mod your your actual half life files
by waiting like two hours to download the files from
the internet, and then you had to make a copy
of your of your installation folder so you wouldn't accidentally

(33:17):
delete your main files, and then you had to mod
it yourself. So did I played it then? So like
before everything old. It's even before they had the source
editions that came out and then like whatever it is now,
So like I've I've played it, I know what it is,
so that's why I put it there. Birdman put League
in all caps apparently, although I don't that's fair, okay,

(33:43):
So and then you put League as well, so obviously
League is at least from our side, I would assume
the choice. I know of League. I've played like ten
minutes of it, and I was like, I get it.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
I do not touch lead with.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
I played one time. I think it was when they
put a bunch of stuff on game pass.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Well you thought old school Call of Duty lobbies were toxic,
League is even worse.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah. I got into the game and I was like,
you know what, let me give it this try. And
I went, oh, this isn't for me. I get why
people like it, but no, and then I moved on.
I didn't even I was lucky enough to not hit
the toxicity.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
League is specifically designed to be toxic because because the
game actually has a internal percentage of a win loss,
and it will pair you with assholes as a result
of that win loss, you have to have, like I

(34:44):
think it's like a sixty loss ratio. Something really dumb.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, content creator of the year.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
It's always critical.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Kais I've heard of, but only because of stupid publicity stunts. Moist, Critical, Sacraamico,
and the Burnt Peanut, which I love that name. I'll
be honest, yes, but it was critical. Charlie's like, I've
not really watched a lot of stuff. I've seen things
in the periphery. Things pop up in my feed and

(35:20):
I'll watch it, and from what I've gathered.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Out of all the weirdo streamers out there, Charlie is
at least a decent human being for the most part.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Yeah, it started, it got popped up in my raidar
when he I think he turned off donations. He doesn't
want them anymore because he gets enough just from advertisements. Yeah,
and he was like it was I think he made
a comment about how it's toxic, like the parasocial stuff
is toxic with stock, with stalkers and everything. So I

(35:51):
was like, Okay, I get it. So that this guy
seems to have an okay head on his shoulders and
he seems humble enough that I'm like, I get it.
So I saw his name here and I'm like, I
picked him, and it looks like we all.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
That and a lot of people know him for the memes.
Oh that's he is a meme factory.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
And that's probably you know why it pops up in
everybody's feed at some point. If for anybody that maybe
is completely disconnected, doesn't know. If you picture guy with
long hair, kind of sleepy looking eyes, kind of sleepy
looking attitude, but funny memes, that's pretty much where you're
coming from. Most anticipated game, Uh, double o seven double

(36:29):
sevens there, because somebody must love it. It's gonna be
a fun game. Likely. I mean, we'll probably get a
chance to manvs.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
You know what you know? You say, hit Man devs
plus James Bond, You go, Okay, I know what I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
And I think, in my mind I could put it
in the most anticipated category for one reason only. I
believe looking at the list here, I think it's the
only game on the list that is a.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Completely actually oh yeah, because time engine.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, like like the Hitman engine, like the the engine
that they have made at IOI. I don't believe it's
based on anything else. I think it's completely custom.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
I do believe so.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Uh granted, data six is that's what you know, you
guys put I put my personal choice, which was Marvel's Wolverine,
because I'm really I will probably give GTA a chance,
and then, like every other GTA game since Vice City,
I will play it for ten minutes, blow a bunch
of stuff up, and then get bored and not want

(37:31):
to complete the story, which is unfortunate because I know
it's good, but I know I'm going to play Wolverine
in a flurry of a full week or something. Resident
Evil Requiem, I mean, most anticipated. It's an anticipated game,
but it's not.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Much for certain for certain people. Like a buddy buddy
Mine's a big Ari fan. He's super pumped for it.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Like, I totally get it. I just think it's pretty
obvious that this was always going to be GTA. Yeah,
it's the Witch. Are four most anticipated that games like
a couple.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Of years at least six years out.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Like and and well like if I look at stuff
that's actually coming out, you know, we have a general
idea that Wolverine is probably coming out in the fall,
but they might have to change things up because of
like because of of GTA. Uh. Double O seven is
interesting because we've seen a lot of the cut scenes.
We haven't seen how it plays, but it you know,

(38:35):
I can picture. Okay, this is them trying to do
an uncharted game in the Hitman engine. Yes, so cool. Uh,
we'll see what happens, but I think we already know
that this is probably going to be GTAH. Best multiplayer
is they have Arc Raiders Battlefield six elden Ring uh

(38:59):
which I rain peak, and Split Fiction. Spl I played
Split Fiction because I played it and like that is
a pure game that needs to be multiplayer to even
play it.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
You both put Our Raiders.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
For recency bias, and I believe the whole AI controversy
with our graders happened after voting closed.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
That makes sense. I think this there should be two
categories here. There should be best Local Multiplayer or co
op and then best online Multiplayer. Oh for sure, because
it but it's it's not Would.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
You be able to fill the categories every year like that?

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I think the last three or four years you should
be able to fill because this is where you could
put your your Mario Karts and your your your other
like sonic racing or your your your beat them up
platform ory type stuff. Like there's there's a bunch of
stuff in here that you could you could do, and
it's happening more and more. We're seeing more co op

(40:06):
games come back out, so maybe in the future they'll
have to split it up. But yeah, uh, our greats.
I if I had to make a prediction, it's proba.
I could be Baddlefield. Man. It all depends at some point,
like what the press likes, right, So it's probably it's
probably our graders unless they've unless they locked the votes

(40:29):
before controversy, Yeah, yeah, if.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
They If not, it's if Arc Raiders was locked before
the controversy, that's gonna win. If it was after, I
would probably say Peak or Battlefield six.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yeah. And it's funny because looking at these last couple,
you know, looking at a few of these categories, you know,
I see Our Raiders and I think, like, that's the game.
I remember we saw it. It was revealed either at
Summer Game Fester or the game where it's like four
or five years ago. That looks pretty awesome, And then
I just it's out now and I haven't had a

(41:09):
chance to play it.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah, but that came up, its release came up to
a lot with a lot of people and then it
just like blew up for a week, and then the
AI controversy happened, and then everyone dropped it like a
lead balloon.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Yeah. So best sports are Racing EA Sports FC twenty
six F one twenty five, which I have played. They
sent a review copy for us to consider for the
Holiday gift Guide. It's pretty good, honestly. I mean, it's
been a long time since I've played in that F
one game, but I'm having an okay time with it.
Marak Krt World Rematch. I don't know if Rematch is

(41:48):
getting a lot as much. I know, soccer is soccer, right,
so it's gonna be big outside of North America. But
I haven't heard a lot of buzz about it.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
I mean, it is, it's from the seafood devs. It's
basic basically, it's a fun is game as far as
I've seen.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
It's it's not like I mean, obviously EA Sports fcs
on here, but it's not PS, it's not one of
the others. It's it's it's not licensed. It's different. Uh.
And then Sonic Racing Cross Worlds. You and I both
put Sonic Mike Putt. I don't think he's played Sonic. Uh,
so that there's there's that.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
I'll be honest, Mario Kart. I would not give it
to Mario Kart at all because of how just.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Blah I play. I played three I've boned the games
this watch right. I played it three times, two times,
which was when my brother was visiting work in California
and he gave me a message. He's like, I'm bored
here in the hotel. You want to play some Mario Kart.
That's literally it. There hasn't been the drive to go
and there's not a lot to it. There has been

(43:00):
controversy with how it plays online.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
How it how they want, how the devs are forcing
people to play online is more and community.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
And Sonic Racing Cross Worlds is like they won't say
it openly, but I've been playing it. I'm like, oh,
it's a lot like Mario Kart eight.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
So it it's especially.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Especially with how robust their DLC plans were for this game.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, it's like what if Mario Kart eight was like
Smash Brothers with all of the DLC. Yeah, so it's like, oh.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
It also helps that it's cheaper than Mario Kart World.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
But yeah, well obviously. Yeah, it's cheaper, but no, but
it's a legit really good game.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Yeah, it's a good game.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
It's a good Uh, it's I I do honestly think
people some people, the casual viewer will be like, oh,
this is Mario Kark's went No. I honestly think it's
probably Sonic that's going to win this.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Best sim strategy game the Altars, which looked cool, but
I don't think a lot of people were playing or
talked about it.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
The problem with the Altars is ai shit again.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Final Fantasy Tactics Dress World Evolution three, said MYERSIV. Tempestizing,
which I really wanted to play, didn't get a chance to.
That's from the the people that made the old Command
of Concker games and the Command of Conquer and some
people from Blizzard that left so very much in that

(44:35):
like Command and Conquer style. It's the only RTS on here.
Two Point Museum. I can see two point getting it
because it has a lot of players worldwide. As much
as I would like to say, you know, Tactics, the
problem with Tactics is it's it's a very straight remake.

(44:56):
There are quality of life updates, but yeah, it feels
nineteen ninety eight. It really does. It doesn't feel like even.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
As someone who played Tactic Soger first yeah and has
gone over, it's like, oh, Tactic Soger is just the
just the harsher version of this.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
And both are are hard unless you're hardcore. They're a
hard play in today's era when you have like brand
new takes on the idea like Unicorn Overlord or.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Even even the Firearm franchise, yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Or the fire Mbal franchise, or like even maybe some
of the more like unique takes like deal Field that
came out, Like there's there's stuff out there that does this,
like even the indie genre like Dark Ditch.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Hey, this is this is the grandfather of those games.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, like Advance Wars, like a lot of those stuff.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
I think I think the only thing that makes Eavily's
Chronicles stand out is because it's fully voice acted.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
It's fully voice acted. The story is pretty good.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
The story is widely considered one of the greatest. It's
that and the tactic and the sequel tactics of the Veins.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
That's the thing. I think people conflate the idea that
like it was so good for the time and unique
for the time. And then what they conflate with it
is how good the PSP and then A two were
and they think of it the same thing, but that's
not the same thing. Those were evolutions of the original.

(46:36):
And then this is just already master of the original
in widescreen with an easy mode, with.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
An easy mode and.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Fully voice acted. And it's needed because it is very
text heavy.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
It's all so text heavy.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
So this to me is a no brainer for SIVE.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
It's SIV. It's SIVE. I mean, it's even though it's
you know, it's early, it's early days for C seven.
In another year, SI seven is going to be amazing.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
And SIV always has legs for four or five years
at the time, so exactly, that's that's that's no problems.
It's a no brainer. Best family game. They have DK Bonanza,
Lego Party, Lego Voyagers. It's nice to see two Lego
games on there that aren't like that are completely original ideas.
Mario Kart World, Sonic Race and Cross World. Split Fiction. Uh,

(47:28):
as much as I think split Fiction is cool, there's
some trauma dumping in there that it's not going to
be the most kid family friendly. Yeah, it's it's a
good story. It's just it's not going to be for
like young kids.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
And as much as we love Lego, as much as
Lego Party is amazing and the Mario Party game we
all have wanted.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yes, ever it's really cool, it didn't get enough people
to play it, I don't think yet. So I think
it might have legs.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
I think it is because the people that have played it,
like myself and other people. We I'm literally when my
cousins come over for Thanksgiving, we're playing Lego Party.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah, Like it's like that is it's it's legit and
Lego Voyagers. That's the one that I think at a
Purna put out.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
It's like, yeah, it's the co op game.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
And it's like that's really cool. It's it's like split fiction.
But Lego Voyagers also cool. Didn't get enough marketing. It
is a cool game. Mark cart World, Nope. Not in
any other year, you know, Amara Kart would be bonanza. Yes,

(48:42):
And and it's if Sonic Racing wasn't nominated for If
Sonic Racing doesn't win the Sports game, it's a it's
a contender here, but this is this is the Nintendo
game win because you know, Bonanza is nominator for other stuff,
but this is the this is the Bonanza game to whip. Yes,

(49:03):
and we all basically said the same thing, like it's
it is, you know, this is the probably the most
fun first party title they've had in a few years
that is like family oriented.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
Yeah it As much as I have like minor issues
with DK Bananza, it's still just a fun game. It's
so much fun.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
And it's and it it pun intended, it goes full
monkey brain and it's just fun to smash everything.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Oh god. Yeah. And a robust post game as well,
so without spoiling anything.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Like even though even though the DLC is completely overpricedill.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Yeah, oh yeah, even even if you don't pay for
the DLC, just the main games post game, there's a
dozen more hours you can do in there if you
want to. Yeah. Best fighting game. Oh yeah, I should
say that. All three of us basically said the same
thing on that, So it would be very surprising if
anything but that wins. But we'll have to see best
fighting game. Uh two XKO Capcom Fighting Collection two. I

(50:16):
got a problem with that, son a. Collections of old
games don't count in my mind.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
Yeah, yeah, this, those are those are put into fill
out the category because.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
It was put there because because Seafu two doesn't exist.
I guess Fatal Fury, City of the Walls, Wortal Combat
Legacy Collection ain't no chance that's winning, even though it's cool.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Same thing with VA five Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
VA five, Revo that's an old game.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
What okay to be fair? Rev World Stage does add
the rollback net code and it's k okay.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
There's more to Revo World Stage then there is to
the Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection and Capcom Fighting Collection two. Yes,
those are you know, yes there's net Co but they're big,
like there should be a category for best compilation and
if you have that, they work in that category perfectly.

(51:22):
So it was really it's really down to two x
KO or Fatal Fury. I put Fatal Fury because it
even if the community isn't doesn't think it's as big.
It's it's the only big, big release of the year.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
I would argue two x KO is the bigger release because.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
League for for that as far as like the only.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Probably the only problem with two x KO is it's
still only PC.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
That and that's that's my thing because I think of
like worldwide, every platform who's playing, and it's basically fatal
for me.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
But I would say two XK. You can run that
on a potato for the most part.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Yeah, so we'll see you know, you put down, you
put that down. Birdman and I both selected fatal theory
because I'm also thinking of at this point of like
what do I think the critics will pick? And it
is one of those two. I mean, if Capcom Fighting wins, okay, but.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
I Mortal Combat wins f right off.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Yeah, best RPG. This one in some years has been
very hard. This is one of the ones where I
have played everything but a couple here so avowed Claire
Obscure Expression, thirty three, Kingdom Come, Deliverance to Outer Worlds,
to Mouster Hunter Wilds. I have played Monster Hunter Wilds
and no, there's.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Not they throw Monster Hunter in rpg every year. No
it's not it.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
It's not an RPG, Like Monster Hunter Stories is an
RPG and.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Your stories was in here.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Yeah, fine, next year, I can almost guarantee you that
Monster Hunter Stories three is going to be included, almost guaranteed.
And that's based on the budget. And like it looks
like like they they've gone full like Zeno Blade as
far as the quality increase goes, so that'll probably be here.
But this, like, I think it should be disqualified on

(53:32):
default because it's not the genre than it is. It's
not even as much of an action RPG. It's just
a it's just an action adventure title. Like it's like
a Zelda.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
They literally do it every single time and it's so annoying.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
So like and not to mention the performance taking that
out of account, I just I think it's a qualified
based on you know, does it have action RPG elements, Yes,
but it's not really like that. It's as much of
an RPG as got A Wars. Yeah, so having and
I haven't played Kingdom Come Deliverance too, but I know it's.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
The game is The game is fully out now like officially,
there's no no extra content, patches or whatnot, fully out.
It is very old school but fesda e yeah, but
doesn't fall apart.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
This is the obligatory European style. Are European PC rpg
that isn't euro Jake included having played at About is
a fun game. It is not a Game of the
Year game. It is a fun game with a cool,
decent story.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
It feels like about is one of those games that
is born to be a game pass game.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Yeah, it's the best way to describe it is it's
seventy five percent of what you would expect in a
full reach tail game. But of that seventy five percent
of a full retail game, it's an eighty percent game. Yeah,
it sounds weird, if you know what I'm saying. It's
an eight out of ten on top of the fact
that it's only about seventy five percent of the size

(55:13):
of the game that you would have expected. And that's
pretty much what I would say Obsidian does at this point.
And it's not just the game pass thing like they
all of their games, with the exceptions of the South
Park game.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
They are smart enough to keep their scopes small, yeah,
and grow to the point where they are another Bethesda
and their games are falling apart.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Their games usually launch in a working can you know,
without having major glitches. They don't crash like the Cup
like their colleagues do. With most of their games. They
put out usually a game every two to three years
at this point, and this time they did two in
the same year. If you had taken all of the

(56:05):
effort they put into Avowed and all the effort they
put into Outer Worlds too, and made one big, giant game.
It would have been great, but it probably wouldn't win
the RPG of the Year because of its competition this year.
So Outer Worlds two is interesting in that it is
a better game than Avowed overall. It is a bigger game,

(56:29):
with better budget, more going on. And yet when I
played it, I couldn't stop thinking that the story was
better in the first game. And that is a Honestly,
it's a rare. That's not something you usually would see
from Obsidian, BioWare, even Bethesda. Usually the stories tend to

(56:49):
get better with each iteration. For whatever reason, I think
maybe they played it safer because of Microsoft. Because I
don't know if people know, but the Utter World's won
was made. It was the last game they made before
the acquisition. They were actually acquired during production of the game,

(57:10):
when when like all the budget had been spent and
they had a separate publisher initially for the game.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
Yeah, because believe it was under two k's private division.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Yeah, And in playing this, this feels not that Microsoft
had their tendrils in them, but that they wanted to
appease Microsoft, and they're like, here's a game with a
story and everything included that will give the quirkiness that
you're expecting. And here it was like paint by numbers.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
It's uh, once again, feels like a game pass game.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
It was. It was clear this was chosen to be
a game pass game from the start. Avowed what felt
when I played. It was like they were like, can
you make us a Dragon Age game? Yes? And that
that's what it felt like. And this was like, can
you make us? Can you make us, you know, a

(58:06):
Fallout game that's colorful, because your last game was critically acclaimed,
it did well even though it had a lower budget,
So the budget is there. It is fun, but it
doesn't have the really like there were like some twisted,
biting satire moments and like some stuff that would come
out of nowhere and be really dark.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
It feels like some of the teeth got pulled out
of it exactly.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
That's what. It's still a very funk and if you
have game Pass, both of those games are great. What
they aren't is Claire Obscure Expedition thirty three. Yeah, they're
not that. If if you took Obscure out of this year.
Out of this list, it would have probably been Outer
Worlds too, because there was some controversy around about initially.

(58:56):
Do you remember all the press before it came out.
All the press was, oh, there's not enough weight to it.
People were complaining about how well it doesn't feel like Skyrim,
Like it was like, God, it's not supposed to be Skyrim.
So but the problem was.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
That I think a lot of people came back to
avowed later on in the year.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Yeah, and I noticed that, like during the summertime.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Had a nice reassessment during.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
The summertime, especially basically when people had extra time on
their hands, they started playing it, They're like, oh, it's
actually pretty good. It would have been it likely would
have been Outer Worlds two or Kingdom Come wins this.
It's pretty much a lock. Like, it doesn't matter that
it's nominated for Game of the Year. I think Claire
spear Win's best RPG period. Yes, Yes, Moving on the

(59:42):
best action adventure game, Death Stranding to got Indiana Jones,
Hollow Night, Silk Song, and Split Fiction. I can say
this definitively split Fiction is super fun, but it would
not have won this category. Didn't matter what was in here.
Hollow Night. Uh, I think it's too difficult, That's what

(01:00:03):
I was gonna say. I don't think you can win
because accessible.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
Yeah, Hollow Night, Silk Song is for is for action
adventure siccos.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
It's a fun, cool game. But if you noticed way
more more press and more public outcry over how difficult
it was that I've ever seen for a game of
the style, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
The game was specifically designed in a bubble one, it
was in a bubble two. It was as if you
had just finished Hollow Night at a level four five
years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Yeah, Ghost of Yote, I can say this. It is
a really good game. It I felt that elements of
the first game were better, but I felt that the
story was more organic in this game. But that and
there was a lot of fun stuff. But that being said,

(01:01:04):
because there's a freedom to this, and I know eventually
when it hits PC and you get a chance to
play it, you'll probably find this too. You have the
ability in the game to after you do the very
first part of the mission, it's like, where would you
like to go next? There's like two or three ways
you can go. I went the way that I thought
it was asking me to go yeah, and you know,

(01:01:26):
just the way my brain works, and I did it
and it was fun, but it was kind of the
blandest part of the game was the part of the
game that I played and I was like ooh, and
then going and playing it the other parts, I went oh.
After beating it, I was like, if I had gone
in this order instead, it would have made that first
part even more fun because unlocking the like the like

(01:01:48):
ninja powers like this, and doing all the stuff that
sneaks around and like like the more ninja aspect, not
the samurai aspect. If you do that ninja stuff first,
the first part of the game would have felt differently.
And also depending on the order you do, things in
the cut scenes changed slightly, so like beating.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
Certain areas a little more open.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Yeah, the first game was pretty linear. Yes the area
has opened up, and yeah, like you can do anything
you want, but like the story in this the story
still has to progress once you've completed everything, but the
order in which you complete it does change the way

(01:02:30):
the bad guys at NPCs and cut scenes play out.
So it's cool. Might put your you'll on it because
he's been playing it, but you know death Stranding.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
Death Stranding to the problem with Death Stranding Too is
Death Straining Too is a very artsy, fartsy game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
And I think people are turned off because they hated
the gameplay of the first one.

Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
Yes, even though the second one solves a lot of issues.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
With I just I haven't seen anybody talk about it,
play it, or like, it's just not in people's minds. Really,
this is here because it is in.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
If you are a Kojim Ahead, you have played, you
have played Death Straining Too. You like Death Straining Too,
But there are better games that came out this year.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Yeah, exactly, That's the point. So I put down Indiana Jones,
and I know you did as well, because I was
a big skeptic because I'm just not a fan of
first person perspective games for the most part, other than like, yes,
the occasional shooter that sort of thing, like I'll do
a little bit, but like I was like, I don't know,

(01:03:43):
and sometimes the machine game stuff can be a little
jank when it comes to like the Wolfenstein games. They
could be good, but there's always an element of jankiness.
And it's Bethesda. And then I played it and I went, oh,
shit pretty good and I ended up doing everything except

(01:04:04):
solving the final puzzle in the main part. Now there's
been an expansion out and YadA YadA, I get it. Yeah,
actually adventure game of of these games listed here. Uh,
part of me wants to say Gosiota should win, but
then but I do think that Indiana Jones is probably
gonna win, and it would be my pick because even

(01:04:25):
though it's based on an ip, it is more unique,
like two is just more Ghosts of of whatever. And
I mentioned it in my review. It's time for the
studio to move on and and not do I think.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
I think we did not want it. The one I
think Sucker Punch even probably can acknowledge that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Yeah, like, there's nothing more we can do before the
next game. If they announce it, if it's another you know,
Ghosts of whatever, and it's just another Samurai game, the
I can guarantee you the entire press thing will be
oh great, they've become movie soft. Yeah, and there were
already there was already a little bit of that you
know happening here. The only reason I think it did better,

(01:05:08):
you know, and there's there's gonna be people are like
a woman.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
It wasn't that we will we will see what happens
when it hits PC next year or the Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
The reason it did better and I think it fair
better than it even would have in criticism was everybody
was up in arms about you know, the about Shadows,
and then they're like, well, you just wait and see
till the OTA comes out. So there was hype going
into it because it's like everybody wanted to like show
up Movie Soft or whatever. And it turns out that

(01:05:42):
they're both good games and both in completely different ways.
But in playing it, I do I played both right.
I do feel that GOST had some of it's luster
pulled out from it because both of them, they're both
revenge stories and they're told in similar ways. Mm hmm,

(01:06:03):
so yeah. Best action game Battlefield six, Doom, Dark Ages
Haiti's two, Ninja Gaiden four Snoby Art of Vengeance. You
put down the Nja Goaden four, Uh, Mike put down Doom.
I put down Ninja Garden four. Doom is very close,

(01:06:23):
but Doom I also know pissed off Doom fans. It
was the Doom game for people that people that didn't
like the last couple of lasts.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
The last two Doom dooms. The thing with the first
Doom twenty sixteen was a little more heavy on Okay,
you gotta solve you should, you should solve problems using
certain weapons. The last Doom was completely no, you have

(01:06:58):
to use certain weapons.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Yeah, And it was so quick and moving and it's
it's it was for a certain type of game player.
This is the most accessible Doom has probably ever been ever,
like even going back to the PC in the nineties.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
This is this is more about It is a different
vibe than the last two Dooms, and as a result
that ticked off a lot of fans of twenty sixteen.
It also ticked off the fans of the last one.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
And yet like it's a good game, but I can
see why, Like there were some really fun aspects, like
the part where you're flying around in the dragon. Those
levels are fun. The party stuff where you're the giant mecha,
that's cool. There's a few cool elements with some puzzles solve.
It was a good play. But this was Doom the

(01:07:52):
game pass game, same as the same thing as the
as you know what we talked about previously with about
this felt like it was designed as as a game
pass game, not as something that would sustain ten million sales.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
Yeah, and as much as I love Hades to Ninja
Guide for.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
Platinum, Yeah, and it's.

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
Even platinum at the worst, is still platinum.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Yeah, and you know what, there's some jank with it.
You'll see prominent YouTubers be like, oh, this is no
like this is the first Ninja Kaidan game where pretty
much anybody can beat it, Like, like there is there's accessibility.
If you keep it on the normal mode, it's probably
still a little bit easier than like there's a Guiden
two for instance, But yeah, uh, if you put it

(01:08:39):
on easier, you've put on some accessibility options. Unless you're
like where even you can even have it like where
you can't die if you really want to, you can
do you can. There is no excuse for not being
able to complete the game, like you can't use it's
too hard. You can't use that as an excuse anymore. So,
regardless of your difficulty setting, I'm believe even if you

(01:09:00):
put it on like the can't die easiest mode whatever,
if you do the challenge missions throughout it, you can
still die because it turns off those modes when you're
doing challenges, but just to get from beginning to end,
you can experience it. It's a fun, ridiculous story. There's
pretty interesting bosses. It's super buttery smooth like when you
play it on PC or any console, it just feels cool.

(01:09:26):
It feels like a game from twenty years ago, but
not in a bad way like it it's in its
own world. It just works really well. It's super fun.
It is probably the best action game looking at this list.
Shnoby's Art of Vengeance is also good. But as much
as I like Shanobys Art of Vengeance, I think Nis

(01:09:49):
a Guide in Rage Pound was better than Art of
Vengeance personally, And it wasn't nominated because.

Speaker 3 (01:09:55):
You and many other people.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
Because the only reason it's here is because they didn't
want to have two Ninja guiding games on the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:03):
Same category, exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
So, because when I saw this, I was like, wait,
should know me are at Avenge So I'm like, that's
a good game. But Rage Bound is a great game,
so what's yeah? Why is that? Oh? Guiden four is there,
and it's like, yeah, and Guiding four is better than
than Rage Bound. It's just even taking into account that
they are different styles it is a better game, so

(01:10:29):
I would be very surprised. Doom could win, Haites could win,
Battlefield won't win.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
Nope, sadly, but.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
I really do think it's probably a Ninja guide and
that's gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
Yeah, if anything is good, If anything kind of stands
out in terms of what's on the list and that
wasn't nominated for anything else, and kind of like, Okay,
this really stands out, especially given the passing of the

(01:11:02):
original creator of the series.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
I wouldn't be surprised before four dropped too. Yeah, I
wouldn't be surprised if the game wins. Whoever accepts that
they do like a.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
Memorial, a little dedication to him, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Because it was his idea. You know, he's like, you
want to talk about people from the like G four era,
Spike TV, you know, little little misogynistic personality, but little
misogynistic but not in a like not meant to be
a creepy or evil ways, like just that he's that
era of Bravado. He's from the era of like I

(01:11:43):
make the best like quotes like I make the best
games ever. Everybody wants to be, you know, worshiped by games,
like I'm a god. Like that's the idea. That was
the personality cultivating.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Him and Herada were the two kings of that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:55):
Yeah, like from yeah, like whereas you've had people like
Rashi and you had people like Kojima being like more humble,
but like cool guy humble. They were like it wasn't
even they were art house, yeah yeah, whereas these guys
were like doing the rock star thing are on him,
and like you had some people like in that era,

(01:12:18):
you had American developers like Cliffs and Ski or like
the best way to describe actually, the best way to
describe him is like John Romero, you know, after a
few drinks, That's basically that was. That was basically what
he was, Like John Romero, if he had a couple
of drinks and just let him, let him go and talk.

(01:12:39):
Like if you put two of them in the same
room together, it would have been you know, insanity back
in the Spike TV. So yeah, we'll see. I do
think it's probably it's probably gonna win, but Doom could win,
but it's probably gonna be the cha guy, Best VR
or AR game, Alien Rogue, Incursion, Arc and Age, ghost Town,

(01:13:00):
Marvel's Deadpool. At midnight walk, I put Midnight Walk because
I played Midnight Walk, just not in VR.

Speaker 3 (01:13:07):
Yeah, Rogan Cursion simply because what if you think of
alien VR game, that's what you get with it, Rogan Curagon.
As far as I saw, it's like, oh, this is
exactly the game I would want if I'm playing an
Alien VR game, I want to get scared the absolute

(01:13:27):
crap out of me.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
Well, the reason I put it my poot was if
I've played a game in the category, I should probably
give it preference, even though you know I didn't play
any other ones, and I have the you know I
have the Quest too, but I mean I haven't turned
it on in like a year, so that tells you something.

Speaker 3 (01:13:46):
And spoilers the quest. There's gonna be more Quest threes
out because I'm seeing like one hundred dollars discounts for
the for the holidays. Akay, the price it was originally.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Exactly actly best mobile game, Destiny Rising, Persona five, Fantom
x Sonic, Rumble Boy, Here we Go, Yeah, pretty pretty Derby,
and then Worthing Waves. I put Persona five only because

(01:14:19):
I hadn't heard of the others or played the others.
Mike put Persona because he loves persona. You put pretty
derby because you actually know what's going on.

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
Yeah, it's the Horse Girl game.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
Fair enough. We'll move on from there. Best Debut Indie Game.
This is where we we mentioned we're going to talk
about indies. Categories for indies, we have best Debut Indie
and Best Independent Game. I think there should be actually
a couple of categories. I think best Debut Indie Game.

(01:14:53):
You could change this, uh, and you could make it.
This should be the best self published game category. Yeah,
best best independently self published game is one, and then
the other one for best independent game. You could switch

(01:15:13):
it to ah, best Indie publisher game. So published by
an indie publisher, it should be best independent game, you know,
by publisher and best Indie self published game, and the
other argument can be made. Or if you wanted to
switch it around best Debut Indie should that shouldn't necessarily exist.

(01:15:37):
You could give an a he could give an award
to you know, Hey, here here's a you know, an
award for a Spotlight award. This is this. Here's an
award given to a.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
Brand new you can you can rename it but mean
the same thing.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
Yeah, you could have an indie Spotlight, you know, best
Indie Spotlight Award, and you give that to somebody who
you're like, look at this is an indie Like what
are two people? Look what they did? I think there
should be a category of best Indie Game, and you
specifically make the best Indie game under under let's say,

(01:16:15):
five million dollar budget, but like you'd think you could
do under one million, but that's very difficult to do
unless it's a solo publisher anymore. So what you do
is you make it best Indie Game, uh, you know,
and and you set the category under fifty employees. Yeah,

(01:16:35):
you know, best best or or you do you know, yeah,
best best Indie game under ten employees, and then best
Indie Game under fifty employees. You could do it that way,
like ye, And people are like, well, it's yeah, because
the argument can be made that, you know, Claire Obscure,
you know, has you know less than forty employees. Totally no,

(01:16:55):
but they they did farm out a lot of the
final touches to like one hundred other people, you know,
with a with like a QA firm and that. So
you have to tie budget to it. You have to
tie budget in size. It's not even necessarily if it's
self published or whatever, Yeah, you have to go.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
Publishing doesn't necessarily matter anymore, especially in this environment.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
Yeah, but budget does, so you just do You could
do best best Indie game, you know, under.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
Below threshold.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Yeah, so let's say below two million dollars because because
we just know that it has to be. Generally now
you have for a game, unless it's some guy made
it in this basement, generally you have between one and
two million dollars for an indie title nowadays because you
get venture capital funding. So if it was like best
Indie Game, you could even do like best Indie Game

(01:17:48):
self funded, which could be like people, there are ways
to do this. So that's a discussion probably for a
long another time. But best debut Indie game with blueprint? Uh,
Claire Obscure? Uh? Was it Despilote? Uh? Dispatch Dispatch Megabok,
which is and we don't know what's going to put

(01:18:11):
in there, But it doesn't really matter because you know,
I put down Claire Obscure, But I do think I
put that down because I played it. But I do
think that it's it's either going to be Blueprints or Dispatch,
and it's really going to depend on the way the
wind blows.

Speaker 3 (01:18:32):
I think recency bias is going to give it to Dispatch.
Blueprints came out so early this year that I think
it's people have kind of forgotten about it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Blueprints is probably more in the spirit of what this
debut indie should be.

Speaker 3 (01:18:56):
Dispatch, I think is the best kind of.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
It's probably the best debut inn D from a smaller team,
Like I don't think like Clairesciers here is because it
is they're the first thing. But it's in a very
much the same situation as Clear Obscure, and that whereas
Claribscrere was was for the most part former Ubisoft devs,
Dispatch is former tell Tale Telltale. Yeah, so if you

(01:19:24):
take that out of account, if you talk about like
people that haven't worked.

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):
For a major and like a lot of the people
on Dispatch, these were second generation Telltale devs. So these
are people that came in after Walking Dead season one,
after yeah, some of their earlier titles.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
Because the earliest guys they've they went off and they
they ended up working for was Skybound, Yes, Skybound. Uh So,
like they're the ones that made the Expanse game most recently,
and I think some of those people ended up making
the other game, the Star Trek one. But yeah, like

(01:20:01):
so so that you have the senior devs that went
off the Skybound and then and then the younger junior
devs went here, and then I guess technically Telltale still
exists with the Skeleton or something.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
Tell Tale still exists because there's contracts that they still
need to fulfill technically.

Speaker 2 (01:20:18):
Yeah, so beyond that, you know, Blueprints. Yeah, it's gonna
be either like I don't I don't win, I haven't listened.
I think it's gonna be I think it's a coin
toss at this point. It's either clear obscure on the

(01:20:40):
one side or the other side of the coin. Is
really even almost another coin toss between Blueprints and Dispatch.
I think if it's critics that are weighted higher, it'll
probably be Blue Blueprints that wins, because Dispatch has more
chances to win and get attention otherwise.

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
Well, the problem is this is the one category Dispatch
was eligible for. Yeah, and that's another controversy in and
of itself that has happened this year.

Speaker 2 (01:21:12):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens. Best independent game Absolum
ballocks Pit, which is the only thing that Devolver has
nominated anywhere in this year.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
Yes, it's one of the only things they have published
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
I think it was. It was the only game they
showed off at Summer Games Fest. Yeah, and that was
a I was like, huh, they only have one game ready.
That was interesting. It turned out pretty good. But blue
Princes is here, so Blueprints see, because Claire Secure could
either win both or win one. I think Blueprints is

(01:21:52):
going to win one of these categories, but I don't
think Yes, yeah, and then Claire obscure hate these two.
Haites two is good, but I have a problem with
early access games in that I almost think that to
win these categories, it should be a game that you know,
just came out all at once.

Speaker 3 (01:22:14):
Well, here's the thing with here's the thing with Haites two,
Haities two. The big thing about Haites two one. It's
launched on Nintendo switch to to the everything is officially out,
and they pushed the patch before voting ended. So the

(01:22:38):
patch fixes a lot of the story issues people had
and whatnot. Okay, I personally had no issues with the story,
but I went in knowing, Okay, this is a timey
whiny mixing story. We're messing with time. Of course, stuff's
going to be screwy. So I kind of just let

(01:23:01):
it go with my initial playthrough and it's like, you
know what, I'm fine with how it ended. There are
there are I've seen the added bits that they added,
and it's like, yeah, no, those are those are nice
additions to it. It's not. It's not something that completely

(01:23:26):
changes my opinion on the way. Okay, and it might
it might force some people because some people were had
issues with some of the player agency of the original.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
Ending fair and Hall of Nite. Silk Sock is here
like in most other years you'd think of Behavis or
or Halla Nite. But I have a feeling it won't
be bollocks Pit. It's just nominated so they can put
it on their things. Think it was nominated an absolute.

Speaker 3 (01:24:00):
And it's not a slum either. But even though as
is a good game and it's till, isn't it technically
early access? I forget.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
Probably I think debut in they should go to blueprints.
But it could also win in the best independent game.
It depends on how close to the letter of the
of you know, the intent that you're gonna go with.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
Here okay, just for personal correction, Appsolom is not early access.

Speaker 2 (01:24:35):
Okay, fair, Claire Obscure could win. Both Blueprints could win.
Both Blueprints is listed in both dispatches on the listen
to one. There's gonna be contentions around whatever wins here,
and you both put Hades two. I put Claire Obscure,
But I do think Blueprints could win here.

Speaker 3 (01:24:55):
I will not be mad if Blueprints wins. Yeah, but
like I would like Haitiestew to come out with something
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:06):
Yeah, there'll be something there. We'll see, well, well, we'll
have to see best community support. Baldersgate three, Final Fantasy fourteen, Fortnite,
hell Divers two, Nomenska. I put down Balldersgate. Mike put
down Bouldersgate. You put f fourteen. The reason I put
that was they had like some big content drops for
it for free.

Speaker 3 (01:25:25):
That's fair. I mean, like again, A fourteen is always
has some community support. Yeah, I don't think it's winning
ongoing game, however, simply because their big content drop wasn't
as highly well received.

Speaker 2 (01:25:43):
Yeah, And the way I see it as community support
to me is not just like patches or how they interact.
It is a lot of times like what what do
they give the what do they what value do they add?
And I think Baldersgate has added out of all these
the best free content updates that don't require like advertisements
or anything like Fortnite's Fortnite has great community support. They

(01:26:05):
have a lot of things they put in there, but
it's it is still part of a big marketing machine.
Balder's Gate. You gave them your money, and a year
or two later they're like, hey, here's some free stuff,
and like like big, I think they said it's the
last one that they're doing. But they gave like a
whole bunch of subclasses, a bunch of stuff. They had,
like new voice recording line, like they put a they

(01:26:27):
put like a full not a full expansion, but like
a significant chunk that could almost be considered like.

Speaker 3 (01:26:32):
They have a whole epilogue.

Speaker 2 (01:26:34):
Yeah, it's it's almost like they made a Game of
the Year edition two years later and they gave it
to everybody for free, and they're like, hey, we're not
working on our next game fully, but here you go.
So that's why I put it in there for best ongoing,
which is the next one you got f F fourteen Fortnite,
Hell Divers, two, Marvel Rivals, no med Sky. I put
fourteen because I see a lot of people for the

(01:26:56):
most part like like the game, but also like when
it comes to MMOs nowadays, with full blown expansions, it's
pretty much the only one that consistently hits for the
most part nowadays.

Speaker 3 (01:27:09):
Only. The reason why I didn't give it Ongoing Games
simply was because of the reception of the latest expansion
was not as positive as previous.

Speaker 2 (01:27:20):
That's fair, and I haven't played Rivals, so that's why
I didn't put it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:24):
Yeah, Rivals is easily the most It's the most fun
in the most that I've I fell off the train,
but I know a lot of people that are still
on that train.

Speaker 2 (01:27:40):
And that's fair. And I know Birdman plays it a bit,
so that's why he put it. Games for impact, that's
usually the one that's like either Sometimes it can be
the company donates a lot of the proceeds, or it's
made by you know, funded by a cause, or it
happen to have a big social commentary in there, or
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
How major social commentary. The reason why I specifically chose
Consume Me is it involves a lot of Essay.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
And Okay stuff like that, So yeah, I did. I
didn't even know what that was or play it. But
the other one was listed were, uh uh, that's Belote,
Lost Records, Bloom and Rage, South of Midnight, and Wander
Stop Wonder of these games I played h Bloom and
Rage and South of Midnight and South Midnight has like

(01:28:33):
trauma dumping, but like it's handled pretty well, but it's
kind of yeah, it's kind of like on the nose
like it's it's it's very much like you can predict
how everything's gonna go. Yeah, is the best way to
put it. It's it's very TV movie esque and how
it's presented. It's a good fun game, but again that's
it's another it feels like a game pass game Lost Records.

(01:28:57):
The reason I put that might put that because he
saw the stuff and I had talked to about but
I put it because it's not just like, oh, it's
the people that made life is strange. So I love it. It's
in playing the story. It has, you know, the trauma dump,
and you're going through your history and learning things, but
it's not Everything isn't packaged up in a nice tidy bow.

(01:29:24):
It feels very real, and so that's why I put
out of all the out of these games, I'd only
played two of them, and one of them felt much
more realistic than the other and more and less like.
South of Midnight is presented in a hollywood esque aspect.
Lost Records, Bloom and Rage is presented as if you're

(01:29:44):
reading a novel like It's it's more it feels more personal. Okay,
but yeah, consume me. I'll have to check it out. Yeah.
Innovation and accessibility, Assassa's Creed Shadows, Adam Fall, Doom, The
Dark Ages, EA Sports FC twenty six, and South of Midnight.

(01:30:08):
I put South of Midnight because it's one of the
first Microsoft titles that had a lot of that stuff
in it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:13):
South of Midon. I want to give South of Midnight
it's props. It is the best in terms of the
Microsoft accessibility stuff easily.

Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
Yeah, Doom had stuff, but it's it's not innovative in
how it didn't It's not.

Speaker 3 (01:30:31):
As robust as what South of mid Knight did.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
And Assassin's Creen Shadows has a lot, but it's it's
not just the best successible game, it's innovation in accessibility.
The one that did the most I think out of
all this was South of Midnight for the genre and
for the studio, and it's going to probably set the
standard for their studio game for.

Speaker 3 (01:30:55):
Microsoft going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:30:56):
Yeah, best performance this was gonna be hard Ben Star,
Charlie Cox, Eric Ishi, Jennifer English, Kannatsu Kato, and Troy Baker.
I'll go in saying that I didn't play Silent Hill.

Speaker 3 (01:31:19):
So it is a battle. In my personal opinion, it
is a battle between Kannatsukado and Jennifer English.

Speaker 2 (01:31:29):
Likely, Yeah, it is the two of them.

Speaker 3 (01:31:32):
I appreciate that knats Ocado got nominated instead of her
English VA.

Speaker 2 (01:31:39):
Yeah, so Mike put it down because he played the game.
You put down Jennifer English. I put down erk Ishi
because and here's my logic behind it. I think everybody
here put in great performances.

Speaker 3 (01:31:57):
It is a great performances all across the board. Ben
Ben gets even more credit because he was pretty much
the voice director of the entire thing.

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
Yeah. I think in a situation where Jennifer English wasn't there,
you would be higher on the list. Yes, Charlie is
there because he's a name.

Speaker 3 (01:32:23):
Yeah, spoilers even even even Charlie is admitted I'm just
there because.

Speaker 2 (01:32:27):
I'm yeah spoilers. He's in twenty percent of the game.
Uh so maybe more. I won't spoil entirely, but like.

Speaker 3 (01:32:37):
And like he's even he's even admitted I give more
credit to the motion capture actor, the French actor that
he did the role over my performance.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
See, I feel you probably should have put Okay, he's
here because of his name and he did a good performance,
but I feel you could have swapped him out with
pretty much any other actor from the game. Uh baby, Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:33:11):
I mean, for a for a fun I would say ska.

Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
Yeah, that would be in waging, which.

Speaker 3 (01:33:20):
Also gives which also gives credit to uh the actor
that is the actor that did Gustave, who is the
same person.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
Oh wow? Yeah? Because I mean you could put what's
this what's his name in there? I'm trying a blank.
Why am I drawing a blank? Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:33:44):
What character?

Speaker 2 (01:33:45):
Uh? Mister mocap?

Speaker 3 (01:33:48):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
Oh and yes, sorry, Andy serkis of the praying part
of that. You could put him in there. And in fact,
I think if he had done the mocap he probably
would have been nominated because his voice acting is fantastic.
But he's the interview saying that this is it was
actually a really weird experience because every other video game
he's ever done, he's also done.

Speaker 3 (01:34:07):
The mo cap, done the mocap.

Speaker 2 (01:34:08):
Yeah, so he didn't and I thought he did. So
he's that good. He was good enough to make his
voice match the mo cap.

Speaker 3 (01:34:16):
Yeah. Andy Serkis is a master craftsman, and he will
never get the accolades he deserves, just period.

Speaker 2 (01:34:25):
Yeah, and I think the problem will.

Speaker 3 (01:34:27):
Be considered one of the greatest actors that ever lived.

Speaker 2 (01:34:30):
See right now, right now, we're still at a point
where games are listing best performance only I know at
some point they had like best actor and best actress.
They tried doing that, and then now they don't want that,
they want best performance. But I do think that there
should be two categories nowadays. There should be best performance,
best leading performance, and best Supporting performance, because then you
could have had he would have been listed in that category.

(01:34:52):
That's where you could have had Charlie Cox, because he's
not the main character. Even if the advertising, you know, spoilers,
he's not the main character. The of the game advertising.

Speaker 3 (01:35:02):
Shows it's pretty clear even early on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
Yeah, the character is the teaser trailers showed him as
the main character, but he wasn't. But the full trailers don't,
so don't worry about that. I put down Eric. Is
My reasoning behind this is, Uh, Jennifer English does a
great job. Ben Star does a great job. They're part
of a larger ensemble cast and it's arguable as to

(01:35:26):
who the main star is depending on the chapter and
where you are in the game.

Speaker 3 (01:35:31):
You want to focus on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:33):
Eric happens to be in every single moment of your tape.

Speaker 3 (01:35:38):
That is true. Also, and also she did the mo
cap but she did that butt naked mocap too.

Speaker 2 (01:35:45):
Yeah. So if you if you look at everybody here
as far as the most lines having to.

Speaker 3 (01:35:53):
Deliver it, I would love to see Erica win. She's amazing.
But you want larious, but you won't great performer.

Speaker 2 (01:36:02):
It's gonna be Jennifer.

Speaker 3 (01:36:04):
It's Jen English.

Speaker 2 (01:36:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:36:07):
And if it's if you know, if you have played
clear Upscure, you go, oh, it's Jenny.

Speaker 2 (01:36:14):
If it's not her, it will be a you will.
You might even see audible gasps from the audience if
they pick somebody else. But if they have to pick
somebody else, like I feel like Ben would accept it.
And be nice and then after the show is over
he would go on social media and talk about how
he should know one. Yeah, I think they're not giving

(01:36:38):
it taccato. Uh, Troy is not going to get it
for this. If jen doesn't win, if Erica wins, I
and the press would understand. I think people would get
very mad in the Twitter sphere, yes, because because a
lot of people didn't a lot of people didn't play

(01:36:58):
the game. They just refuse to play on the grounds
of she's not hot enough, as you know in quotes,
the the the the.

Speaker 3 (01:37:08):
Game, and the gamers don't like controversy. Like Eric she
is a non she's non buying, which doesn't help matters either.

Speaker 2 (01:37:18):
So there's that as But as far as peer performances,
while I do think Jennifer lys is gonna win, having
played both under the guise of having to hold a
whole game down herself, it was Erica did a really
good job and I think you know, when when it
hits PC and you get a chance to play it,
she's probably the best part of the game and it

(01:37:41):
was that well done.

Speaker 3 (01:37:42):
I mean, i've i've she does a podcast with Lana
Pierce on her channel and uh, She's also friends with
Ben as well, So.

Speaker 2 (01:37:53):
Like pretty much of anybody that wins there, they're all
going to be happy for each other.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
It's one of those they're all going to be happy
for everyone's going to be happy for each other. It's
as much as I love Cato and I think her
performance is fun, no.

Speaker 2 (01:38:07):
If if we see her in the audience, she's winning
because they're not flying some of these people.

Speaker 3 (01:38:12):
Hell no.

Speaker 2 (01:38:12):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:38:13):
But also one of the other performances that I think
should have gotten nominated instead of maybe Charlie Cox would
be the actress for Pauline.

Speaker 2 (01:38:28):
Yeah, So that's what I mean. It's like, I think
we're almost at a point where we need two categories,
Best lead performance and best supporting Best Audio Design. Battlefield
six Claire Obscure, dest Stranding got Silent Hill. I put
Gostiota because again, having played it the this isn't best music,

(01:38:50):
this is best used sound design, of sound design, staging everything,
and Silent Hill has a chance, obviously, And you guys
both put that. Obviously, horror games are always going to
be high up on that list.

Speaker 3 (01:39:06):
Yes, but like legitimately I played it with headphones on
and I got I was getting the creeped out by
just the way the audio is designed in the environment.
And also and also to be fair on Xbox, it
has Adobe. Uh, it has Adobe Audio support, like so

(01:39:31):
if you have a Adobe based audio like, you're gonna
get great for surround.

Speaker 2 (01:39:39):
But also if I read that, they do have a
profile and it specifically if you paid for that license
for the headphone. So yes, it has it has proper space,
which is something that is even.

Speaker 3 (01:39:52):
Especially especially with something like Silent Hill f where a
lot of it is about spacing and it's special like
with the combat spacing is a huge part of it.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
And that's a step above what Sony hasn't even the
Sony stuff, like their proprietary is better than what base
Xbox supports usually for headphones. So if you pay that
ten bucks whatever it is for the license on your
actual body.

Speaker 3 (01:40:21):
By the time when you're listening to this this it's
probably on sale for ten bucks. Normally it's twenty Yeah,
it's on sale.

Speaker 2 (01:40:29):
For ten yeah. Generally a couple times a year they
put it on sale and it's good for I think
two or three consoles. So if you have.

Speaker 3 (01:40:36):
It's good for if you buy it on an Xbox console.
It is good for your console, It is good for
your PC that stays with your Microsoft account.

Speaker 2 (01:40:46):
Yeah, it's like it's up to I think it's either
three or five depending on what deal they do. It's
either three or five devices. And so I have it
on my PC that I have for gaming in the
living room, I have it for the PC in my
bedroom for just listening to music and TV, and then
I have it on my series as I used to
have it on my AX. But between those three, I
think I might have one more that I can license

(01:41:08):
it to. UH there's a DTSX one, but no games
actually used dts X. It's just basically if you watch
four K Blu rays, but the atmost one is worth
is really worth it, especially for Windows, because if you
turn it on at most, you don't have to negotiate
with it. If you have surround sound speakers or headphones,
it will if you plug.

Speaker 3 (01:41:29):
Headphones automatically switch.

Speaker 2 (01:41:30):
Yeah, if you plug headphones in, or if you use
Bluetooth headphones, it'll switch from UH from surround sound to
the stereo version of at most and back and forth.
And you never like turning off your TV or turning
it doesn't matter it auto negotiates, whereas Windows is notoriously
terrible for that on its own. So anyway, I would

(01:41:53):
say this the best audio is I might be the
hardest category. Okay, every single game here, Battlefield is no
for that, claib Skier, Death Stranding, Ghosts, and and these
are literally the perfect games to pick for this category
and the hardest to pick. It could be anything.

Speaker 3 (01:42:10):
Yeah, unlike the next category.

Speaker 2 (01:42:13):
Yeah, best music, uh, death Stranding too, It's gonna I mean,
it'll have it's interesting music, go toote, good atmospheric music,
and especially if you change the modes, like there's the
moment where it makes it like low fi pop music,

(01:42:37):
Like there's a bunch of stuff you can do with it. It's
great stuff. Hades too obviously music Holli of Night Silk Song.
I don't know if that, if that, if that should
really be nominated compared to the others, but like sure
it's claib Scare, It's it's just going to win it.
Like there, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:42:55):
Hours and ten minutes of music.

Speaker 2 (01:42:59):
It's final fanta say seven levels of how much music
was written.

Speaker 3 (01:43:02):
For it with another hour and a half if you
count the extra album that they gave.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
For free basically Final Fantasy seven Rebirth amount of music. Yeah,
and also just as compelling some.

Speaker 3 (01:43:19):
Of the some of the most beautiful tracks I've heard
in a video game in years.

Speaker 2 (01:43:25):
Yeah, it's in the top three soundtracks of the last
ten to fifteen years.

Speaker 3 (01:43:30):
And every and like a buddy of mine just started
playing it and he was like, holy shit, this soundtrack's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:43:37):
So like there's and I tell him, like, every single
time you go to a new area, it's different, and
it's also amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:43:47):
If it doesn't win, I don't actually, I don't think
it's possible. Out of every category, every it is swept.

Speaker 3 (01:43:55):
It has swept everything. Every time it has been nominated
for scoring music, it is swept. I'm still mad at
the Grammys for not nominating it, because what the hell's
wrong with you?

Speaker 2 (01:44:06):
Like, I mean, remember at the Summer Game Fest they
even had like one of the songs performed from it,
Like yeah, and that was and it'd only been out
for a month or two at that point.

Speaker 3 (01:44:16):
Hell the hell the opening sequence lives on its music.

Speaker 2 (01:44:20):
Yeah, uh so, yeah, not much more we could say
there it it just it kind of has to win,
Like there's no other.

Speaker 3 (01:44:29):
As much as I love Haiti and like I love
the Hades two soundtrack. The Hades two soundtracks amazing, same
thing with Silk Song. It's Claire obscure.

Speaker 2 (01:44:39):
Yeah, so yeah, Like if this was if this was
a Final Fantasy you know year, you'd have a run
for its money. Or if this was like I'm trying
to think of anything else that.

Speaker 3 (01:44:52):
Could come out, maybe a Persona Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:44:55):
Okay, if if Persona six and Final Fantasy seven or
Final Fantasy seven teen were coming out, you would have
You'd be like, oh my god, what are we gonna do?
Because it's that like you you know that those soundtracks
should be there, or if like potentially even like Xeno
Blade or something like Matsuda doesn't have an album out

(01:45:16):
this year essentially, so like there's not really but you're right,
Persona's Persona six would be something that could give it
a run for its money if it came out. So
but there isn't like this is this is It's year
for soundtrack, best art direction, Uh, claib Skier, Death Stranding,
Go Tot Hades Halla Night. I put down Claib Scar

(01:45:38):
because I think they did the most with what they
had budgetary wise, and it has out of all of these,
the most unique look. The reason I say that is
Hades two is building upon the design of Hades one.

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
I'd argue every single character gets a redesign, redesigned from
how and somehow they made them hotter.

Speaker 2 (01:46:02):
Okay, there's that. I didn't say character design or hotness.
I said like it's art direction.

Speaker 3 (01:46:09):
Yes, it's still art direct. It is clear to lose.
As much as I said Hades two would win this,
it's clears.

Speaker 2 (01:46:16):
To lose because Hollow Night against the same thing. Like
you look at it, you go, you know what it is.
It doesn't do anything unexpected or different, death stranding. Every
single one of these is a sequel, if you notice,
except for one. So it's clear obscure, and it does

(01:46:37):
especially when you when it zoomed in, it looks a
certain way. Where this wins are some of the cut
scenes which are are really good, but it's specifically the overworld.
If you once you get to the overworld and traversal,
and especially once you get the ability to travel over
water or in air, it's it. It's the like diorama

(01:47:02):
E sort of look of it that gives it the
it's feel. So Mike put down Hall of Nite, but
he also hasn't played I don't think any of those
except for death Stranding. But honestly, death Stranding it's artsy fartsy,
but it doesn't necessarily have the best arc direction for
like just on a, it's a very subjective capa.

Speaker 3 (01:47:22):
The only reason why we got Death Strainding two is
because death is because Death Stranding one sold so well.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
Yeah, exactly, and I think this is only sold in
the same time period a quarter of what the previous
one did. Best narrative clare obscure death stranding. I'm sorry,
but like before we even get to the rest, death Stranding,
Kajima games can't have best narrative because chaos does not
equal narrative.

Speaker 3 (01:47:51):
No, no, no, no, here's the thing. There are two
different types of chaos. You have Kojima chaos and then
you have Nomora chaos. We'd rather have I'd rather have
Kojima chaos than Nomura case.

Speaker 2 (01:48:08):
We should just have a separate category for you know,
most narrative nonsense and then just have those two go
out of it, because like the best best narrative, I
should say best narrative is not the same as most
interesting narrative. If you wanted to go with most interesting,
Kajima usually gets into that category no problem. Like des
Strandings has one of the most interesting narratives out there.

(01:48:30):
Ghosts of Yote is a storyline paint by numbers. You
don't it's not the best narrative. It's a really good story,
but it's not the best narrative.

Speaker 3 (01:48:38):
Cand of delivery. To everything I've heard about it, it is
very positive about its story. It has some really cool
elements to it, but it's just not played by enough people.

Speaker 2 (01:48:56):
Yeah, Silent Hill F you put that, Mic put Stranding,
I put Clare obscure.

Speaker 3 (01:49:02):
It's it's a It is a competition between Silent Hill
F and in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:49:08):
Claibskar takes a little bit to get its storyline together
and then it has some deeper meaning and interesting stuff
with it. But where it in most years, where it
might put people off, is what I just call being French.
It's it's so like when I beat the game and

(01:49:28):
I sat down, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:49:29):
Super French, especially as it concludes.

Speaker 2 (01:49:33):
Like when I watched I played the different endings, I
went back and did it and I sat down, and
my first very first thought was it's so infinitely French,
and then and then that's that's literally what I sent
the message to people. I was like, this is the
frenchiest French I've ever frenched, and I feel like if

(01:49:53):
you're not used to that or not understanding of that,
you might look at it and go, this story is
so sad that I don't know if I like it,
and it's it's I know that There's been sayings about
like how you can describe certain storytelling and certain art
from and and movies and stuff from different countries. Good

(01:50:15):
way is like the French is sad and melancholic. H
German storytelling is usually uh, it is usually like it'll
have sort of a mean twist to it with its sadness,
and then Russian storytelling is defeatist and like questioning why

(01:50:38):
did I bother? That's generally how it how it is.
Where whereas this fit like you don't see a lot
like games made in France for the world usually don't
follow the storytelling methods and tropes that are.

Speaker 3 (01:50:54):
To be fair the infinitely the only two devs that
you can that are French are you' Bisoft and David Cage.

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
Yeah, as far as like large yeah, large scale ones obviously,
and and they still make their stuff for the international audience,
so they don't do that. This felt like, this felt
like regular French art, so oh yeah, I get.

Speaker 3 (01:51:18):
It, and this is it's it is a Japanese, Japanese
adjacent style, but French.

Speaker 2 (01:51:31):
Yeah. Whereas and if your people are like, well, wait
a minute, I play a lot of French games, like no,
the vast majority of French games that you play are
made in Quebec, which is French Canadian, and they don't
follow the same mentality at all. The French Canadian mentality
is still somewhat separate from like the rest of Canada.
But it is that the reason why French.

Speaker 3 (01:51:55):
Yeah, there's a reason why French people don't call French
Canadians French. French.

Speaker 2 (01:52:01):
Yeah, the French Canadians are an island none to themselves.
And it's like they will they will make things with
a very western like North America mindset. It just happens
to be French. There might have some there might be
some frenchisms within it. Whereas games made like this is
a France game like this and this is the French

(01:52:23):
story that ends in a French way, and it's it's
meant to make your heart rip apart. That's so, that's
what it is. I think it's gonna win a Bermann
put death Stranding. You've been silently left. It could be anything,
but it's probably it's probably clear obscure for the simple
fact that the vast majority of people have never played
a game like this, but it could. The only thing

(01:52:44):
that could put people off is if the voting public.
We'll see if they think it's too dour. But I
don't think it is. I think it's more like it's melancholic.
It's people like it's so sad. It's not sad. It's melancholic,
and people don't understand necessarily the meaning of that word. Right,

(01:53:04):
So it's it's sad but the right it's the storyline
ends up being sad, but because it needs to be,
not because it wants to make you feel sad. It
needs to be because that's life. Yeah. Uh. And then
best adaptation This one's this is the bullshit category. Uh,

(01:53:29):
Minecraft Movie, Devil May Cry, The Last of Us Season two,
Splitter Cell, Death Watch Until Dawn.

Speaker 3 (01:53:36):
The only thing that's actually good out of this is
Last of Us season two. Yeah, and even then that's controversial.

Speaker 2 (01:53:45):
Yeah, there's controversy involved in this, but it's like, I
guess Fallout didn't count. Biggest Fallout came out? Was it
the year before that?

Speaker 3 (01:53:53):
Fallout technically was the year before?

Speaker 2 (01:53:55):
Yeah, but for whatever reason, even though it was eligible,
it wasn't. Did We didn't get Sonic three in here,
even though that should be the clear winner based on
box office critical.

Speaker 3 (01:54:07):
And let's be honest, Sonic three was the better thing
out of all of these.

Speaker 2 (01:54:12):
Until Dawn, nobody liked, until don Uh, Splitter Cell, death Watch, nobody.

Speaker 3 (01:54:16):
Watched Devil May Cry. People hate because it's fan fiction.

Speaker 2 (01:54:22):
The fucking Minecraft movie is probably gonna win.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
Oh my god, just shoot me.

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
You know why? You know what? Because I think I
think political as much as I think the Last of
Us Part two or Last of Us Season two. Yeah,
they won't. The reason Minecraft is gonna win is because
they want He wants Jeff wants Jack Black to be there.
And what does Jack Black have? Two weeks after that,

(01:54:48):
after the Game Awards, he has the Anaconda movie coming out.
So what's gonna happen? Is is it Universal or whomever
is putting out Anaconda is going to pay money advertise sony. Okay,
there's gonna be a goddamn trailer at the showcase, you know,
in between at some point they're gonna show it off.

Speaker 3 (01:55:10):
Yeah, they are for a final trailer.

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
And what's gonna happen is Jack's gonna come out. There's
gonna be a Muppet segment with Jack, and there's gonna
be a Muppet anaconda.

Speaker 3 (01:55:24):
You know, I can see it happening. I can fucking
see it happening.

Speaker 2 (01:55:30):
And what's gonna happen is the Minecraft movie will win
and Jack will accept it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:36):
Yeah. Look, look, the Minecraft Movie is not a god awful.

Speaker 2 (01:55:47):
People made the experience awful.

Speaker 3 (01:55:49):
The people made the experience awful. And then on top
of it, I don't think the movie is a cohesive movie.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
It's not. It's not a He's an adaptation.

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
So my issue with the Minecraft Movie is it feels
like there are scenes missing from it, Like there are
scenes on the cutting room floor that make the movie
make no fucking sense.

Speaker 2 (01:56:16):
Probably, man, So we'll see what happened.

Speaker 3 (01:56:18):
I'm the one that sat through that peak the movie,
like I set through it in the like at night.
Oh no, yeah, well I didn't have any I didn't
have crazy chicken jockey bullshit, which is the reason why
I saw it at ten at night.

Speaker 2 (01:56:39):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens. It's probably gonna be there. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:56:45):
I would like Last of Us to win because that's
the only thing that's actually good. But Minecraft will probably win.

Speaker 2 (01:56:51):
Yeah, best game direction, Claire obscure desk stranding, Cocote Hades
and Mike put desk stranding. You put expedition, I've put expedition.
This is the only thing that Kajima could win.

Speaker 3 (01:57:08):
He could win, but he shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:57:11):
Yeah, Yota is good, but I did. Unless you want
to consider direction just being able to properly make a
gigantic game work, you know, like maybe maybe the best
producer maybe game Maybe best game production should be a
category of like getting the project together, because gosi Ota

(01:57:33):
was a is a massive project. That is, it was
executed perfectly, zero hitching, no frame rate issues. Uh, there
were no broken quests. Everything just fucking worked, and that
that is a rarity nowadays for a game that size,
for a true Triple A title. But at the same time,
you know, split Fiction could win. You know, just Fairs

(01:57:57):
is good, but but not this year. Not with this competition. No,
same with Hades.

Speaker 3 (01:58:07):
Well, the argument against Hades two is how kind of
uh weird the one launch.

Speaker 2 (01:58:17):
If you have to release, if you have to release
a major story patch to update it and to fix things,
you shouldn't be nominated for Best Game Direction.

Speaker 3 (01:58:25):
Well. Also also that story patch was way too quick
for them to truly be like they It's not been
planned for. It not to have been planned because they
basically I think they went one point zero on purpose

(01:58:46):
because they needed to get the switch to launch.

Speaker 2 (01:58:50):
Probably that wouldn't surprise me because looking at the stuff,
Claire obscure.

Speaker 3 (01:58:57):
It's Claire obscure.

Speaker 2 (01:58:59):
It is going to win if you if.

Speaker 3 (01:59:00):
You look, if you hear any interview with the director
of that game, you understand, Yeah, this is a visionary
this is like it was his vision, but what I
executed it.

Speaker 2 (01:59:15):
What I think will happen here, though, is because Death
Stranding is not winning Game of the Year, I could
see this being manipulated to give Kojima an award for
Best Direction as a consolation price for your game not selling.

Speaker 3 (01:59:31):
Look, I look, Kojima winning fine, but I it's clear,
it's clear.

Speaker 2 (01:59:41):
Yeah, but it's definitely it's one of those two. But again,
like Yota could possibly win if if it wasn't that,
it's there's nothing to me the innovative.

Speaker 3 (01:59:54):
Yeah yeah, the word game direction does not constitute what Ghostta.

Speaker 2 (01:59:59):
Was as far as like a amazing whole project. The
problem here is He's Jeff has gotten rid of the
categories from back in the day where they listed best
game on each console. It is the best PlayStation game
of the year period. Yes, you know, it doesn't mean

(02:00:21):
that it's not you know, it is best game of
the year material. It's just and best you know direction.
But like I feel like we would be better served
having best Nintendo game, best blah blah blah over again.
But yeah, well it's probably gonna be.

Speaker 3 (02:00:35):
The problem is that the problem is that Microsoft is
so inconsistent in what they released.

Speaker 2 (02:00:40):
Well exactly best the best Xbox game would probably end
up being a third.

Speaker 3 (02:00:44):
Party exactly, and then people would be pissed at that.

Speaker 2 (02:00:50):
So the final thing here, Game of the Year Claibs Gear,
Death Stranding Bonanza, it won't win, Hey, these two, it
won't win Holladay when Kingdom Come. When it won, Kingdom
Comes should not have been nominated for best game of
the year at all.

Speaker 3 (02:01:08):
I would argue there needed to be some kind of European.

Speaker 2 (02:01:15):
Vote for Game of the year. Looking at this Kingdom, Come.

Speaker 3 (02:01:20):
People love Kingdom. Come Deliverance too. Man, there are games
are kind of game.

Speaker 2 (02:01:26):
What I'm surprised more at with the RPGs was that
Trails of the Sky wasn't nominated, not for Game of
the Year, but specifically going back to RPG why I
don't think.

Speaker 3 (02:01:37):
I don't think it was on a lot of people's.

Speaker 2 (02:01:41):
Radar because it got like an eighty nine or ninety
on Metacritic and Open Critic.

Speaker 3 (02:01:46):
So yeah, but like in terms of ones people talked
about in like true the circles that of media that
Jeff has conglomerated, Yeah, to do it the voting body,
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (02:02:02):
Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't a persona, It wasn't a
metaphor level, although you know it got enough buzz and
sold well enough that I can see perhaps I mean they've.

Speaker 3 (02:02:16):
Already green lighted, it's already happening. Yeah, they've said Sky two.

Speaker 2 (02:02:19):
Is happening, so so we'll see and it's apparently companying
like next year, so we'll see what happens because they
were obviously doing them back to back because it's the
same engine. It's just the story is extended, right, So
but yeah, so from this it's CLAIREB. Scar Mike put
Donkey Kong because he just freaking loves it, but it
won't win.

Speaker 3 (02:02:36):
I do love Donkey Kong, don't get me wrong. Dog
Jung Donkey Jong's finale, the last like two hours of
that game. Yeah, spic tacking.

Speaker 2 (02:02:45):
Yeah, without spoiling it for people. It you think it
might start to get stale, it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (02:02:52):
Nope.

Speaker 2 (02:02:54):
So so yeah, it's claireb Skirit. So, I mean, we've
all got that down except for Mike. We've this is
sort of a general idea of.

Speaker 3 (02:03:04):
And I don't think Mike I. As much as we
would love to push Mike to play clear obscure, it's
not his kind of game.

Speaker 2 (02:03:10):
He hasn't played. I mean, some of the pairing maybe
would be a little bit like his stuff. But he's
been trying to play Persona for Golden for four years
and it hasn't started yet.

Speaker 3 (02:03:22):
By the time, yeah, the new one will be.

Speaker 2 (02:03:26):
Out, So we're not throwing him under the bus. It's
just getting getting him to play an RPG if there
if there isn't a black Cat, and it's not happening
at least not not in any sense of urgency. Uh,
it has to have a black Cat or Red thirteen
or he's not playing it immediately. And even when when

(02:03:47):
Final Fantasy seven Rebirth was out and I played it
for review and he got it after and he was
playing it during the summertime, I kept getting text messages
to be like, am I at the end yet? And
I'm like, no, no, I'm not am I at the end.
I was like where are you? And he's like here.
I'm like, dude, you're twenty percent and he goes, no,
you're lying, Like, I'm not fucking lying. The game's a
hundred hours. What he goes? Why he goes?

Speaker 3 (02:04:12):
At least the one good thing about Claire up Scaries
is shorter.

Speaker 2 (02:04:17):
And with Final Fantasy seven Reworth. Here's something crazy. I
don't even remember if I mentioned it in my review.
When I played it, I couldn't figure out how to
use the Chokobos to go into Cosmo Canyon, so I
didn't realize there was an entire open world area I
was supposed to explore there. So I went I was like, Oh,

(02:04:40):
this is a small area and it's like you can
jump down there. I was like, oh, is it like
to get like a hidden chest or something. No, okay,
I'll move on. So I moved on. I moved on,
went did the story till like not till the end,
like till before you're supposed to sail up at the end.
And then I was like, well, maybe I should go
back and collect those that chest or two that I
missed from that launching plat. And then I figured out

(02:05:01):
how to launch across it because remember I had it
for review before the game was really anything. Yeah, so
I did.

Speaker 3 (02:05:07):
There were no.

Speaker 2 (02:05:08):
Guides online, and unlike other companies that sometimes create like
a Discord forum, there was nowhere to ask and I
was like, play it. And then I figured out how
to launch myself off and I went, oh, no, there's
an entire area that I missed with like a lot
of story, like a lot of story. And I only
realized that when I went and I looked at my

(02:05:28):
because you can't see your trophies before it launches. When
a trophy pops up, you can look at that trophy,
but then you can't see any of the offline stuff.
Until they've enabled the trophies. So I didn't know what
I was missing. But then I looked and I was like,
wait a minute. I had figured out how I was
supposed to do. Basically, I had logically figured out how

(02:05:50):
I was gonna fight Gilgamesh. I'm like, and it's I
was thinking, well, you have to collect everything first. I'm like, okay, wait,
I don't what am I missing. I'm like, I'm missing
like ten percent of the game. That founded like, oh no,
so like he wasn't even there, like he he he
asked me how am I near the end of the
game when he had just completed Juna, and I was like, dude, dude,

(02:06:16):
and he goes so after I get he was like,
after I get this Rover and I go acroud, like
you're at like thirty percent. So like, and he ended
up liking him. He's like it's so long. I'm like, yeah,
isn't that great? He's like, so like there's a very
different mentality. And yet if it had been Fallout four, uh,
he would have been able to put like two hundred

(02:06:38):
hours in, so like it. There's certain types of games
that affect us differently, and for me, like that lush
environment with the storytelling that that was my thing. I
hated the themughal stuff. But other than that, and and
the the catching of the fucking Chokomo's with the minigames,
fuck that. But beyond that, like, if he's trimmed out,

(02:06:58):
maybe you could try him not maybe ten percent of
that game and it would have been perfect. But anyway,
that aside, he's not going to play Clear Obscure. He
might watch a bit, and he might like the he
would like the storytelling bits. I think he'll probably watch
that and get a feel for it because it'll help
design some story stuff. But yeah, it's probably not for him,

(02:07:20):
even if he acknowledges that it's you know, a very
beautiful game.

Speaker 3 (02:07:24):
And to be fair, a majority of Clear Obscure is
built for RPG siccos.

Speaker 2 (02:07:31):
Yeah, RPG sickos and getting people that are interested in
Soul's games to try a turn based game. Yes. So,
like my brother is like super good at like hard
heart heart ass games. I would never play. Yeah, And
he was like this, he goes, oh, even on the
harder stufficulty, He's like, this game's pretty easy. And he goes,

(02:07:54):
there's only one hard fight. And I was like Simon,
and he's like, yeah, because he went he went up
against the rest like some of the other super browsts,
and he's like that was it was a little challenging.
And then I I said a message, I said, so
have you beaten have you beaten the yet? He goes, no,
there's one. There's only one part I'm having a trouble
at and H'm like, is it, Simon? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:08:14):
Everyone, everyone, everyone. I actually just saw a short of
someone running into di'mon and chats like going, no, no, don't.

Speaker 2 (02:08:26):
That is a that is a poor choice if you're
not ready. And like I ended up having to I
had cheesed it by having to uh, I had I
got the uh the accessory that is the I think
it's the luck one, the one that's like the casino
one where yeah, it ran, it'll it randomly does like
up to four double or four times the damage or

(02:08:47):
it can do like almost nothing. And I had that
nice So I ended up doing like, yeah, I did
like twelve million damage for the one hit that I
didn't that's the only way I was. My My brother
beat him without using me of that, and I was
like what and he's like that sucked because I was
here for like a half hour and I.

Speaker 3 (02:09:04):
Was like, what, there's a buddy I watched he played
the entire game zero zero defense.

Speaker 2 (02:09:16):
Oh good lord, don't get hit the true soul's experience.
But yeah, like like there's ways to you could. I
love that, you can break it however you wanted. But yeah,
like it's yeah, that's that is what it is. It's
it's a bit of a janky system, but it's there.
So yeah, I mean it's probably gonna win and should

(02:09:36):
win the Game of the Year. It really should. Yeah,
and not just as a great game, but obviously as
a statement to for you know, it's like, hey, look
what can be done for you know, under fifty million.

Speaker 3 (02:09:48):
Dollars a reasonable budget?

Speaker 2 (02:09:51):
Under fifty million. You know, realistically, could you have made
this game for less money? Yes? Would it have taken
longer and would yes? And would the staff had they
would have had to scale back their staff, they would
have had to probably put in more hours than they
wanted to admit for less pay. But this was able

(02:10:16):
to be done at a comfortable pace where everybody was
paid well and still come in under a fifty million
dollar budget. Ye. So that's good. Now. The last categories
that I added for us are part of the main show,
just for our own you know, sort of custom categories

(02:10:38):
I put down. You know, favorite game which I put
which can be distinctly different from the best game, and
I put or a game that affected you the most emotional,
because sometimes you may admit that the best game was
something else, but like, hey, here's the game that here's
the game that hit me the most. Cybert down player
ob secure, because it was the one that made me

(02:11:00):
think the most. I had the most dreams and thoughts
afterwards of the story and what it means and the
concepts and everything. Mike put Assassin's Creen Shadows. He really
did enjoy that a lot more than he was expected.

Speaker 3 (02:11:12):
Yeah, I honestly, for me, it's Hades two. I epso
facto easily Hades two I have sunk. Let me just
double check. I've officially sunk one hundred and seventy two
point four hours.

Speaker 2 (02:11:29):
Well there you go.

Speaker 3 (02:11:30):
So's then, and that doesn't count for what I am
already sinking into the switch to version.

Speaker 2 (02:11:41):
I put down. Another category was most disappointed game. And
I put down doesn't mean terrible, just the thing that
disappointed you the most, because a game can be mediocre
or even it can be a great game but be
completely different than what you thought it was going to be,
and then you didn't like it because of that. So
I put down Shadow Laborate. That was the pack game
it was. It looked exciting and interesting and it ended

(02:12:05):
up being not just hard, poorly thought out, poorly performing.
Everything was just off, like it felt like a demo,
and I was like, oh, this is this is sucky
and that became sort of everybody's thought. It had good trailers,
had good ideas, it had the most interesting or one
of the most interesting episodes of that TV show that

(02:12:26):
Amazon Prime put on last year, and it just of.

Speaker 3 (02:12:31):
Which we're getting more of that probably next year.

Speaker 2 (02:12:33):
Yeah, and it just sort of fizzled out and it
was like, ah, like so like, there are other games
that I found were disappointing or were bad, but it
wasn't that this was just really bad. It was kind
of blay. It's just it really was a letdown from
the potential of what it was presenting itself. As Birdman
put MK Legacy Collection because it looked fantastic and then

(02:12:56):
performed like shit.

Speaker 3 (02:12:58):
Yep. For me, it's the Mario Party Jamboree upgrade for
switch to, which is a complete waste of fucking money.

Speaker 2 (02:13:07):
Yeah, that doesn't spris me. It's like actually upgrade.

Speaker 3 (02:13:14):
Yeah, but like what's even worse about Jamboree is that
it doesn't even upgrade the base game.

Speaker 2 (02:13:21):
Yeah, it's just a yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (02:13:24):
It's this extra content that gets the four K resolution
and all that stuff. The base game gets none of
those upgradeses it Just that's what makes it worse.

Speaker 2 (02:13:36):
It just adds a new launcher within the game, that's
all it is.

Speaker 3 (02:13:40):
Yeah. That that, to me is the biggest middle finger,
is that not even the base game gets any upgrades.
It's just the new content.

Speaker 2 (02:13:49):
At least Bowser's fury when they when they put that out,
you know, they added that mode to the game, but
then the main game itself already had enhancements. Yes, so
this isn't even that. I put down a category for
best remaster or compilation, which is something we mentioned that
really should be a category, and I put or port.

(02:14:11):
So when I say remaster, you know remaster or compilation
of remasters that could be you know, I wouldn't count
like the HG two D games as that those are
new games of old. Those those are remakes, not remasters, right,
So a remaster compilation would be like the MK collection,

(02:14:33):
or a port would be when you take a game
without doing a full remake, but you're porting it to
a new platform with you know, some enhanced visuals, but
you haven't ultimately changed the fundamental feel of the game.
So I put down for that the writer remastered. That

(02:14:54):
is the SMT game that was released on Switch to
another platforms as well, But it was a faithful part
of the original PS two game but felt modern, worked
with modern controls, zero hitches, buttery smooth, you know, good

(02:15:17):
voice acting, it's pretty much excellent. Birdman put Metal your
Solid Delta and he put the Capcom Fight Collection to
because he couldn't pick between them. But those are prime
examples except see it's funny Delta. I would almost say
is a remake, But then it's also not like it is,
isn't It's like it's so pure of a remake that

(02:15:38):
it almost borderlines on just being a port. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:15:44):
I chose Cheers of the Kingdom switched to upgrade because
it's a completely different fucking game.

Speaker 2 (02:15:51):
Yeah, It's it's not just a like, it's not just
a like FPS bump.

Speaker 3 (02:15:59):
The FPS bump and the resolution bump make it feel
like a completely different game.

Speaker 2 (02:16:05):
And there's some like little tweaks to some of the
way that things are rendered to.

Speaker 3 (02:16:09):
Yeah, but like it really does feel like a completely
different game. The next someone, and this is from someone
that completed Tears of the Kingdom, there you.

Speaker 2 (02:16:18):
Go exactly, and as somebody who didn't play those and
didn't like them. When the system came out and I
had the opportunity to try the upgrades, I went, you
know what, let's give it a go, and it did
feel a lot better, even for me who didn't care
for the original games. The other category I've got here,

(02:16:39):
we've got one more best double A game, So best
double A or best like seven out of ten swimming
and sevens. You know, not gonna be for everybody, but like,
you know what, this is a solid game. There's not
been a lot of those in recent years. A good
prime example of one that got decent praise. But it's
like a double A game that might fly under the radar.

(02:17:01):
But if if you got it for Christmas, people would
probably still like it would be like uh, you know,
the pac Man World games or repack like the repack
stuff or like it's a good example. It could be
something even like yeah, I'm not talking like just remakes

(02:17:22):
or repact it's got to be something with a decent
budget put in, but not ever even attempting to approach
triple A.

Speaker 3 (02:17:30):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:17:32):
So I like like a Kunitsagami is a good example
of like via considered that I put the Like a
Dragon Pirate Accusa, and I couldn't pick between that one
and Mafia the Old Country. Like a Dragon, I think
didn't get a lot of love at least the Award
Show or anything because it came out so early in
the year. It was super duper fun, but again on

(02:17:55):
a smaller budget, smaller scale, and in a very similar.

Speaker 3 (02:17:59):
Budget, reusing a lot of assets like the franchise has
done for me.

Speaker 2 (02:18:04):
Yeah, so there is. That's why I put down you know,
two things every because as much as I like that,
I do think this is a category that's perfect for
something like Mafia the Old Country. Now two K would
say that Mafia is a triple A game. It's not.
It's it's not at all, but it is a pristine
example of what a really good double A title is.

(02:18:25):
And so That's why I put Mafia hare. I wanted
to give it some highlight. Birdman put down MechWarrior five
clans the DLC for that expansion. I guess that counts
because the game itself is a double A game and
then it has a you know, a double A expansion,
So that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (02:18:43):
I did Dear me I was, which is a small
like our hour and a half experience from the folks
that Arc System works, is completely dialogue free. It is
just a visual experience and it is a great little

(02:19:05):
game to pick up on for your switch to good.

Speaker 2 (02:19:08):
And I should probably prefacely say an indie game is
not necessarily considered a double A title, ye, but it
can be. Most indie games are not in the in
this case, you know, it has to be something that's elevated,
which is something like what you've mentioned there. Double A
is that stuff that sits in between the super high

(02:19:29):
budgets of Triple A.

Speaker 3 (02:19:31):
And this is a this is a small team at
Arcsis doing something that is just meat.

Speaker 2 (02:19:40):
If you're wondering, you know, what would be the upper
tier of what you consider double A clear obscure is
a double A title? Yes, So if that that explains
you know, I think.

Speaker 3 (02:19:50):
Clear obscure is the upper echelon of that.

Speaker 2 (02:19:53):
Yes, I would say, I would say a double A
title is something that costs more than ten million dollars
but less than eighty million to make in the in
today's budgets, somewhere in that realm averaging probably at that
fifty million to sixty million mark. Yeah, now it can

(02:20:14):
be less, it can be. It's also a visual representation
of how does it feel, you know, what's the scale.
But for the most part, it's that that sort of thing.
So like you'd find things in here, like those pac
Man games. You'd find things like a Sonic title. Like
I don't consider Sonic Frontiers a triple A game, and

(02:20:37):
I don't think a lot of Sega would like to.
It's not budgetary wise or anything, or like even I
would say, oh, what's weird? I would say, until like
a Dragon, the first six Yakuza games or not triple A, Yes,

(02:21:03):
they were double A titles, and then the last two
Infinite Wealth, and like a Dragon, they they were larger
in scope, more things, even it's hard to believe as
it was, more things are involved, and they did increase
the budgets those are Triple A, so you know that
that's a good good example. I would guess like basically,

(02:21:23):
if if it has less than one hundred million dollars
budget and has you know less than you know, less
than fifty hours of gameplay for a single player game,
it's probably a double A title. Other examples of double
A titles would be avowed. Yes, I would say the
Outer Worlds two is is walk in that line? Yeah,

(02:21:47):
but yeah, anyway, And the last category of customers that
I put here was best retro style game, which could
be an art or gameplay style, and I put that's
the time between schenobe Art Events and Ninja Gaiden rage
Bound because as much as one is bet is I
would say subjectively better than the other. They both were

(02:22:08):
prime examples of what a an IP for you know,
double or Triple A can do when given a small
budget like these games didn't cost more than five million
apiece total including marketing. Right, Mike put the money more
Frompower Angers Reada's rewind, and he put down December. He

(02:22:30):
double checked the date and he put it down December
twenty twenty four because it counts because it was after
the it was after you know, the cutoff for this
would normally have been and then you put on here Chenoby.

Speaker 3 (02:22:41):
Yeah, Chenoby was such a fun game to play through it,
even though it doesn't get any benefits from switch To,
it was it was just fine to play on switch To.

Speaker 2 (02:22:57):
Yeah, it's a we're kind of back in the year
of the Ninja again and they both felt good and that,
you know, so.

Speaker 3 (02:23:04):
It's also the Also the vo and Shinobi is just great.

Speaker 2 (02:23:07):
Oh yeah, exactly. So.

Speaker 3 (02:23:09):
I mean you got Sung Wong Chow as the villain.

Speaker 2 (02:23:15):
And I guess the only other thing we have here
to talk about before we wrap up is I put
down you know, do we have any thoughts on like
what celebrities you think will be at the show? I
already mentioned I think Jack Black's gonna be there. I'm
pretty sure that's a lock. Yeah, he's making the rounds
right now to promote, you know, to promote an so

(02:23:37):
it seems he's do we Do you think we have
an al Pacino having a moment again? I think that's
going to be avoided. I think I don't know if
we're going to have a director come out and advertise
a movie, it's possible, probably something for Fallout to season two.

(02:23:58):
Maybe do you think I know some other.

Speaker 3 (02:24:02):
Problems FA Season two is dropping the week after the
week up.

Speaker 2 (02:24:07):
So it wouldn't surprise. Oh wait, and that's Amazon and
this isn't isn't this in the Amazon like theater?

Speaker 3 (02:24:15):
I think so? But it's also streaming on Prime. So yeah, yeah,
there's going to be a thing.

Speaker 2 (02:24:21):
So expect I forget what's her name plays Lucy, and
expect h Walton probably to be there. Yeah, unless they're
stuck doing Yeah, I guess they're done filming. So something they're.

Speaker 3 (02:24:34):
Doing, they'll probably they'll probably show like the opening scene
or something from season two.

Speaker 2 (02:24:39):
Yeah, so have them there, you know what, it's possible
have them there to advertise it and then have them
advertise you know, they're like introduced a trailer for like
a remastered version of New Vegas or something. Yeah, so
have them Jack Black likely very I honestly think it's

(02:25:01):
very likely. As far as celebrities that aren't voice actors,
it's possible that we have another game that gets announced,
like a bigger title that happens to have uh, you know,
a famous actor come out and do you know, do
a quick speech. We'll see, uh, Kajima is going to
be there obviously, so if he has anybody with him,

(02:25:23):
we'll see what happens. I'm not sure if there's any
other major celebrities I could see that being there, unless
you know, unless there's some big.

Speaker 3 (02:25:33):
Time unless they're associating with some major new game.

Speaker 2 (02:25:38):
Yeah, like unless unless we're getting like some big you know,
release info for I don't know, like Lazarus, or if
the bioshow, or like.

Speaker 3 (02:25:47):
Some act some big actors in GA.

Speaker 2 (02:25:49):
Six, yeah exactly, like like yeah, for instance, if if
they they might have the voice actors of the GTA
six people come and you'd be like, all right, here's
the cast of GTA six to introduce something. Yeah, yeah, da,
Or if BioShock gets shown off, they haven't really announced
if there's anybody famous in that one yet. So if

(02:26:10):
one of the games that has already been you know,
announced but hasn't had anything shown yet shows up, they
might have a voice actor come out and be like, hey,
it's Ray Romano in in in BioShock. What that'd be weird.

Speaker 3 (02:26:29):
In terms of the But going into the next thing,
which is the Games and World premieres, I think Persona
six is gonna get teased.

Speaker 2 (02:26:38):
I would hope, So if not, we'll get some big
full gameplay showing of four, because that's that's the next
one coming. So I think it's one of those two.
Either we get a title reveal with a song for
six and that I think f F seven Part three
gets its title revealed. I don't. I don't think we're

(02:26:59):
gonna get a trailers.

Speaker 3 (02:27:01):
It'll be a title drop.

Speaker 2 (02:27:03):
It'll be a title drop, or I'm trying to think
they've introduced basically every playable character, even if you haven't
played as them yet. I think unless they're introducing new people,
So I don't know from part three. I'm thinking of
where things end up and who's in it.

Speaker 3 (02:27:23):
I show, you might show Vincent gameplay. If you're going
to show gameplay.

Speaker 2 (02:27:29):
Maybe yeah, either you'd have that or the only thing
I could think of that would be worth it, if
they're going to show or do a complete tease and
not just have it be Sephroth or not have it
just be Zach saying something. It would be interesting if
it's just all dark and they have like a trailer

(02:27:51):
that just has like lights coming on and all this,
and you hear like this, like horrifying sounds and it
sort of zooms out and you realize you're looking at
one of the weapons that and and you know, and
you have like sit or somebody say hold on, kid,
and then it's just like you see like the high
wind flying off into the distance or something like to

(02:28:12):
show that it's all gonna be about airships and shit.
If they do anything, it would be at tease like that,
or or it would be like instead of showing the meteor,
they'd be like you just be like people talking with
a black screen. They'd be like, what the hell is that?
And it zooms out and it's just like the Northern
Crater with the force field on it or something like.

(02:28:32):
There's there's something you could do with it, but I
think it would probably be I think it would probably
be a black screen with just like hints of the
music in the background and then a few people talking
randomly where you're hearing like lines from the game, and
then it just shows the title. Yeah. FF nine is

(02:28:57):
still possible. It's I mean, the game's being done years.

Speaker 3 (02:29:03):
The rumor is it's it's a dead project. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:29:07):
I don't know if they would ever scrap that project though,
like you know what I mean, Like, unless they had
to write it off, and they would at that point,
we would have had it reported on. Yeah, So I
think they're holding on to it because they're not sure
when F seven gets finished.

Speaker 3 (02:29:23):
Maybe, but like I'm wondering, it's like, why go through
all the trouble of the anniversary for f F nine
and not do anything.

Speaker 2 (02:29:34):
Especially when all they did was release a remastered version
of the song. Yeah, they put the song out, put
a YouTube video for the song and that was it.
I was like, what the fuck was that?

Speaker 3 (02:29:46):
And then and then some merchandise and that was about it.

Speaker 2 (02:29:50):
So I have a feeling because GTA got.

Speaker 3 (02:29:54):
Push maybe, but I I would think, like do something
crazy like shadow drop it or something like that, maybe insane.

Speaker 2 (02:30:08):
If f F seven isn't getting a Fall of next
year release, then they're waiting for March March or I
don't think they're gonna wait all the way to the
Fall of twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (02:30:20):
I think f F seven three is not is going
to get They were planning on the fall but GJA
got pushed, or they're going to push it to early
before end of fiscal year.

Speaker 2 (02:30:35):
So like summer in February, like the last one February
or March, yes, twenty twenty, twenty twenty seven. Yeah, if
they do that, they can take advantage of the thirtieth
even though it's not the same date, the thirtieth year
anniversary of the game, So they can do that, and
then I think if they do that, we get f
F nine in the summer or fall beforehand. I think

(02:31:01):
that they won't want to wait until after f F
seven to release nine, because there'll be a a the
hype will be gone. I feel like I feel like
Rebirth weirdly did better because sixteen came out within the
same like, within a full twelve month calendar year of it.

(02:31:24):
Even though sixteen ultimately didn't sell the way that they
expected and there were issues with the design, it's not
Yoship's problem. It's just fundamentally it's not what Final Fantasy
fans wanted. It's a similar situation to thirteen all over again,
but just in different ways. But I feel like that

(02:31:45):
raised the hype for seven part two. Yes, so I
think that releasing nine while people are hype for any
Final Fantasy right now would be good, and then you
have you know, seven or something. I don't think as
much as I'd love to see it, I don't think
we're getting like a Chrono Trigger remaster or two D.
I do think the.

Speaker 3 (02:32:06):
Chrono trigger button hasn't been pressed yet.

Speaker 2 (02:32:11):
I think they're waiting for seven to finish.

Speaker 3 (02:32:14):
They want seven to finish.

Speaker 2 (02:32:16):
And they want to have that out the door, and
they want seventeen.

Speaker 3 (02:32:19):
They impressed the button.

Speaker 2 (02:32:20):
I think they want seventeen to start pre production because
they know it's going to take a while they want
which apparently they haven't started yet. That's the rumors that
they haven't even been looking at it. And it's like
you got to start, motherfuckers, because it's going to be
like seven years, so it's.

Speaker 3 (02:32:36):
Going to be a next it's going to be a
next gen game.

Speaker 2 (02:32:39):
Yeah. So I think what's gonna happen is I think
we're gonna get in this next little little bit at
the show. You might get nine shown. If you don't
get seven, has to have something here. If it doesn't
have anything, I'll be very surprised, not even like a title.

(02:33:02):
You either have to have seven, you have to have nine,
or you have to have Kingdom Hearts because otherwise Square
has nothing planned. So it's it's they've already said they've
scaled back other projects. It's too soon for a Star
Ocean unless they're remastering, you know, the other games and
the third game people didn't like and h Grandia. They

(02:33:23):
published Grandia three, but the rest of the Grandi games
are game arts, and I think they're somewhat owned by Sony,
so who knows. They don't have other big properties unless
they're going to show Dragon Quest twelve, which has had
development delays and issues.

Speaker 3 (02:33:40):
We got seven, could they could show twelve?

Speaker 2 (02:33:43):
They could, they could do, and they already had the
title released like three years ago, four years ago.

Speaker 3 (02:33:48):
Well, well, the problem with the problem that happened with
twelve is they the entire franchise change producers.

Speaker 2 (02:33:56):
Yeah, and they that whole thing about we're going to
make a darker or to make a.

Speaker 3 (02:34:00):
Dark night, and that has been at least over a
year plus since that happened. So yeah, and we'll probably
see something.

Speaker 2 (02:34:10):
Ugi Horri is focused six months. Ugi Horri, well, he
apparently the work he did on the concept and basic
stuff he finished for twelve like three or four years ago, back.

Speaker 3 (02:34:22):
When Tom's work has been complete on that way.

Speaker 2 (02:34:27):
It was like a couple of years before he passed. Yeah,
he had worked on it. He had already like sand Land,
and the stuff was worked on after he finished his
work that he was doing for for twelve and Uji
Horri did the same thing. They worked together. They did
what they always did, which was they collaborated at the beginning,
they had it ready and they set it off to
the team. And Ugi Horri his whole thing has been

(02:34:49):
overseeing the HG two D stuff and then as well
as seven, which is done by an outside studio, but
like his job has just been overseeing the trilogy. So
it's possible we see four announced or five or what
might be easier and more likely is I have a
feeling that the team that's doing seven is probably going
to do eight, and then we might see that Yujihori announces,

(02:35:14):
you know, four, five, and six as a trilogy being
worked on. If not, now that would be nice. But
outside of square things that we could see there, we
haven't seen the final gameplay of Lazarus yet, which is
I think the that's the old biowork or sorry BioShock team.
We haven't seen BioShock four, which has been in development

(02:35:37):
four like five six years now.

Speaker 3 (02:35:40):
Well, apparently they they are starting over on that okay
terms of the story, because one of they got a finish,
somewhat finished idea on what the game is and the
producers did not like it.

Speaker 2 (02:36:01):
Okay, we'll see from there. We'll probably see Prince of
Persia or something else. Bubi Soft has had nothing to
show in a while, so it's time. I know.

Speaker 3 (02:36:11):
Obviously people Uby shows if Ubi shows something cool, but
I'm not holding my breath. Given the fact that they're
in financial flux.

Speaker 2 (02:36:20):
They're gonna show stands of time because the rumor is
it's coming up ja yes, yea.

Speaker 3 (02:36:26):
Beyond that, there's major leaks that stands the time is
getting revealed at Game Awards.

Speaker 2 (02:36:32):
So yeah, so I can see that. We probably won't
see an update on any of the Splinter Cell or
any of that Tom Clans hell no, because now they
have that new management company, it's gonna be handling it.
So we'll see. It'll be a year or two till
Lisa that like there's they have a bunch of dormant properties.
We'll see what happens. It is always possible that we
see a new Rayman or Rapids game, so we'll see

(02:36:54):
if they have anything there.

Speaker 3 (02:36:56):
As far as we don't necessarily know what Montpelier is doing,
but they also were heavily attacked with cuts, so I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:37:07):
Yeah, we'll see. I want to see Exodus the game
from Arctype. The Old the like biggest conglomeration of old
BioWare people that actually moved on together because everybody else,
like you had like one or two key people go
to all these different companies and every one of their
games failed, but like the core group that did, like

(02:37:28):
the Knights of the Old Republic, the Dragon Age team
mass Effect one into part Way into two. All of
those people, they're all at ARC type and Exodus has
been showing more and more gameplay and it's like, I
think it's time to finally show it. I would assume
it's coming out next year maybe, I'd hope. So, so

(02:37:49):
you got that. As far as like other premieres, I'd
like to see an update on the Star Wars Eclipse
from David Cage. Who knows. But as far as like
brand new surprises, if there's anybody that has surprises to show,
I don't think it's Sony Right now with their they're

(02:38:11):
still struggling to come out.

Speaker 3 (02:38:12):
Of there anything.

Speaker 2 (02:38:13):
Maybe Nintendo and they, I don't know, They've always had
like stand offish sort of thing with with the Jeff
Fest and anything to do with them. So like somebody
will be there.

Speaker 3 (02:38:26):
At least at least since Reggie left.

Speaker 2 (02:38:29):
So yeah, so I mean Doug Bowser is retiring, right
or is he already retired or or.

Speaker 3 (02:38:38):
Is Doug is Doug is left or is.

Speaker 2 (02:38:42):
Leaving in January. I think either Doug will be there
or or his replacement will be there to accept the
whatever awards Bonanza gets, not Mario Karr, but whatever awards
Bonanza gets, just like last year, if you remember, I
think Doug Bowser.

Speaker 3 (02:38:58):
Was well that's that's a that's a Nintendo thing. Like
Nintendo doesn't like dealing. Nintendo specifically doesn't like having their
developers get poached, so they are very careful.

Speaker 2 (02:39:10):
Yeah. I was gonna say, like the Nintendo Japan doesn't
like it. So what they do is they send this,
they send the president of the US division to accept awards.
So or if Shagiro can't be there, ye, because like
he'll like Chagaro will be there. If he's already there
to market something else, well.

Speaker 3 (02:39:26):
He's he's probably on the set of Zeldas, so yeah,
maybe not.

Speaker 2 (02:39:31):
So, you know, yeah, exactly, so it maybe Doug or
his replacement will be there. Last year. If you remember
when they won awards, it was at the pre show
he accepted that he was conned or not the pre
show like it was like at the very beginning, you know.

Speaker 3 (02:39:44):
Like yeah, very early on, and then he left.

Speaker 2 (02:39:47):
Yeah, so we'll see. As far as other studios, mass
Effect would be nice to see something there. They said
they had nothing at end seven day and they're like, oh,
we'll keep an eye, like it's got to be something
from some of these studios. But as far as like
surprises like completely out of the there's always a couple.
There's always two or three that we've that did that

(02:40:08):
did not. At least he always, you know, he gets
one or two of the studios maybe three that have
zero that you have no idea and it's just out
of left field. And if I'm looking at thinking of
the studios that could do that, it's possible Sony, but
I think they're still struggling to get out of their
their life service issues, so I'm thinking and Microsoft might

(02:40:32):
be willing to give them something. But they just like
they just blew off.

Speaker 3 (02:40:36):
Some Microsoft had a massive purge, so.

Speaker 2 (02:40:39):
And they just blew out their third party partner deal
thing which had a few announcements like before the show.
It doesn't make sense why they did it there but obligations,
I guess. So I'm thinking it might be something from Ubisoft,
but more than likely it'll be something from Koe Techmo
because they seem to always have, if not one of

(02:40:59):
their own properties, they always have a deal with Sony
or Microsoft for something new.

Speaker 3 (02:41:04):
Well well, also, Coe Tecmo is a co developer on
the fire Emblem games. Yeah, and they have been for
the last couple.

Speaker 2 (02:41:15):
So it's possible we see a Namco title, but maybe
maybe not. It's not usually as much of their jam
unless it's like you know, Elden Ring two or something
that their.

Speaker 3 (02:41:26):
Partner, unless it's from soft relating.

Speaker 2 (02:41:28):
Yeah, so I think Coe Techmo could be showing off
a double Air triple A title. Capcom is going to
be right now all in on Resident Evil unless they
also have like a Dino crisis, but probably not. And
and they're also thinking of like Pregmata Konami might have
something another but for them, the surprise would like the.

Speaker 3 (02:41:52):
If Konami is going to announce anything, it would be
an MGS collection.

Speaker 2 (02:41:57):
Either be an MGS collection or in partnership with Sony
that that they're redoing MGS four, or it would be
that they're doing another Silent.

Speaker 3 (02:42:05):
Hill, a new Silent Hill project or something.

Speaker 2 (02:42:09):
Yeah. Or the big surprise would be if we saw
Castlevania of some sort.

Speaker 3 (02:42:15):
Oh, that'd be crazy, if.

Speaker 2 (02:42:17):
Not a traditional one like you know, logo pop up
or something that they're working on a big budget one
again or something, or.

Speaker 3 (02:42:23):
Just like sub or just like subcontract out to do
like a retro one.

Speaker 2 (02:42:29):
Yeah, so it's possible. I think we're going to see
something from Atari, whether that be their own properties or
another Digital Eclipse style thing. Night Dive will have something small,
but as far as big, big, big stuff, probably Koe
more more likely than any of those, If not Square.

(02:42:51):
A lot of the studios are being a little more
conservative over there in Japan, so probably not much there
from Western studios, whatever's left of Embrace or probably nothing.
It's possible though that we end up seeing something from
Saber because remember they did the big split and they

(02:43:13):
took a bunch of studios with them, and I believe
in the split taking some I believe they got the
rights to Kotor to remake from Aspire, so it is
possible we see something from them. I think there's not

(02:43:33):
a big chance we see much from the American studios.
We might see like some some surprising like ones with
like investment firms or something that invested from Like we're
not seeing a lot of the Chinese ones right now.
We're not seeing a lot of the ones from you know, like, yeah,
we're not seeing a lot of that stuff. So it

(02:43:55):
would be interesting to see.

Speaker 3 (02:43:57):
Another thing that Another definite thing is probably Oyo's new game.

Speaker 2 (02:44:02):
Yeah, we'll see some stuff like that. But I think
as far as like big publishers, I think Coe is
the one that we'll probably see something new from.

Speaker 3 (02:44:11):
Yeah, and that's Coyle. Coyle probably have something.

Speaker 2 (02:44:15):
So yeah, and that's probably it. I mean that's without
going into you know, minute details of things, that's probably
going to do it. So that's that's going to be
our you know, prototype long winded preview show for the
Game Awards.

Speaker 3 (02:44:29):
It we don't talk more than a less than an hour.

Speaker 2 (02:44:38):
Well at this way, we can get it over because
it's also you know, sort of like a bit of
a roundup of what our thoughts were on the games
for the whole year, but also you know, going into
predictions because then now after this, we'll come back in
a couple of weeks when when the actual Game Awards
have finished and we can talk about the results and
talk and mostly focus on what was showing on maybe

(02:44:59):
what wasn't shown without having to get too into the
nitty gritty of our thought process because we already didn't
hear for a couple of hours. So that's gonna do
it right here for the prototype at this Week in Geek.
We'll be back actually fairly soon with our Holiday Gift
guide and all of our other holiday programming, and be

(02:45:20):
sure to check into part two of this whenever. It
should be a day or two after the Game Awards finishes,
and after that we'll pretty much be on break. But yeah,
we'll be back next time right here at this Week
in Geek. Boone dot boom.

Speaker 4 (02:45:33):
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boo
boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boom boom boom
boom boom boom boom boom boom boo boom boom boo
boom boom boo boo boo boo boo boom boo boom
boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boo boo
boo boo boo boo boo boo boom boom boom boom

(02:45:56):
boom boom boom boom boom boo boo boo boo boo boo.

Speaker 1 (02:46:02):
At no point in your rambling incoherent response were you
even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.

Speaker 5 (02:46:13):
Thanks for listening to this episode of This Week in
Geek Hungry. For more, check out our website. If this
weekn geek dot Net, You can subscribe to the podcast,
browse our Twitter and Instagram, and leave your.

Speaker 2 (02:46:23):
Thoughts on today's topics.

Speaker 5 (02:46:25):
If you'd like to give us some feedback, send us
an email at Feedback at This Week in Geek dot Net.
Tune in next time, and remember.

Speaker 3 (02:46:32):
Lower your shields and surrender your listenership.

Speaker 2 (02:46:35):
We would be on a if you would join us.
Thank you for your cooperation. Good night,

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The Prototype - The Game Awards 2025 - Our Picks, Predictions, Hopes, And Fears!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Prototype - The Game Awards 2025 - Our Picks, Predictions, Hopes, And Fears!