The Xbox Developer Direct: Pass or Smash? Ft. Alejandro Segovia Xbox Direct

In this episode, our host Sebastion Mauldin is once again joined by today’s guest, Alejandro Segovia, a lifelong gamer, video game journalist and co-host of The X Button podcast.

There has been a lot of discourse about Xbox lacking first-party games. This has been the narrative for years now. This Xbox Developer Direct is supposed to be a deep dive into the first-party games coming out in early 2023.

Did this direct mark the beginning of the end of the drought of first party games? Did the games that were shown look like premier titles.

Sebastion and Alejandro dive into it and more on this episode of the Single Player Experience Podcast.

Check out Alejandro's website here, and follow him on Twitter!

Sebastion and The Single Player Experience Links:

Head to Discord to join the FREE Single Player Experience Discord Server! https://discord.gg/YeCwD6gtDv

For more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts.

Connect with Sebastion:

Write In Here: https://pronerdreport.com/contact/

What's up and welcome to the Single Player Experience.

As always, I'm your host Sebastian Malden, and in this episode we're doing things

a little bit different than the norm.

I'm not gonna give you a video game recommendation.

No.

We're going over everything that was announced in the recent Xbox

in Bethesda Developer Direct, and I say we because I have a special

guest joining me for this one.

We have Alejandro Segovia returning to make his second appearance on the

Single Player Experience podcast.

You remember Alejandro?

He's a host of the X Button podcast.

He's a video game journalist and he's a writer for the season game site,

as well as the critical corner.com.

As I said, Alejandro and I are just gonna give our overall

thoughts on the Xbox developer.

Is this the first step to Xbox?

Turning everything around with this narrative that they

don't have first party games?

Find out right after the intro DJ start the intro mane.

Like I said in the intro, we have a very special guest

returning to the podcast today.

He is a video game journalist for the critical coroner.com, and he's one

of the hosts of the X Button podcast.

This is Alejandro, the X button Segovia.

Hi everyone.

I'm back.

Yes.

It seemed like it's been a minute.

Not quite, like it's just, uh, a month ago when we first recorded . Yeah.

Just a little bit.

Just a little bit.

So am

I gonna become your like Andy Richter or something?

, yeah, for sure.

was gonna get coming back, uh, once in a while, but yeah, last time was

such, so much, so much fun getting to like, meet you that first time.

Mm-hmm.

. And then now you like coming into my show meeting Paul.

And eventually he'll also join you here whenever, like there's time

while he's in the middle of his move.

But yeah.

And back people.

I'm excited to talk about what we're gonna talk about today.

Yeah,

for sure.

For sure.

So Alejandro, you know, like I loved having you on the show, but I had

to have you back because we had some really big news that dropped today.

A lot of things that happened.

But before we get to the topic of the show, what have you been playing lately?

So, I have been playing a couple things.

Uh, I recently just finished the Plate, tail Requi.

Mm-hmm.

. That was like one of my, uh, One of my leftover games from like 2022.

That was actually one of my most exciting games, exciting

games for the fall of that year.

And there was just something about play till that having just played in

a sense at the va, like right before it came out, there was just something

about Requi that I could see, like the ways that it was better, but it just

wasn't compelling me to go back to it.

But my co-host, Paul, like actually went back to an incision and then he was

like praising a lot of things about it.

Like to high heaven.

I was like, well, I need to clear out my hard drive.

It's still installer so I don't wanna have to like reinstall it later.

So let's just plow through and finish it.

And I did that late last night at like 2:00 AM and boy, oh boy, that

game like left me torn in so many ways because as a story it's incredible.

Like, uh, we we're talking about it in like our pre-show, uh, before we start

recording, but, uh, it's just like that, that that game is just like, Mystery

porn to the best in, in the best way.

That I like is pretty me, that I love Las of, especially part two that I like

when games leave me reeling the ending of that game, like really stuck the

landing for me in a way that left me haunted and like really pressed that

I literally, when I went to bed, that was all I was dreaming of that ending.

It was, it was incredible.

But the game part of it disappointed me a little because

I am a big fan of stealth games.

I like how stealth was done in the first, uh, in, in the first play tale

game because it, it felt, it, it built on the theme that you're this 15 year

old girl with the little kid and you're trying to survive the French or whatever

inquisition this game is supposed to like be adapting to, and this one made you

more blood thirsty and wanted to make you like more, more of an actiony game.

And I felt that the gameplay mechanics were not balled significantly to like

really account for that until you're later in your upgrades and it, so it just made

the gameplay parts of it more of a slog.

than they were previously.

And things that would've been cooler in concept, like a more wider environment,

uh, just became slots to go through because there were, like, you had your

litany of enemies, ones that had the helmets, so you couldn't remove this

time like you did, like you could with certain tools in the first game.

And, uh, yeah, it, the gameplay just didn't do it for me, but

I'm glad that I finished it.

I'm just like, and it just confirms to me that the first game was better.

And another game that I am recently finished that technically I had

already finished, but I did all the D L C for it, especially from

the, from the break until now.

Uh, I went back to Assassins Cre Valhalla because I played Valhalla

for the first time last year and 123 hours later, like I really did

enjoy the main game, uh, of Valhalla.

And I know that's not like a very popular opinion, but Valhalla really

like, touched to me like the areas of Assassin Street that I really love.

that I know others don't.

This was like, I love First Civilization shit.

Like, that's like my jam.

And I feel like the way Bahala really like tied that narrative to the current

narrative of where the series was and like also like try to make sense of

the entire series overall was something that really, like, really comp compelled

me in a way that doesn't compel.

The people are just like, no, I like Assassin Street just

for the historical stuff.

So let me tell you, like if you just like historical stuff, the two of the DLC packs

rather with the Drut and Si of Paris are totally for you because they have no bear

on the, on the, on the story of that game.

And when I was playing this dlc, I tell you I was bored to tears

It was like that because that, that DLC was endless.

It was like gameplay wise, like it didn't add too much that could separate it

from just being adding another 20 hours into an already bloated game and then

like the final dlc Don of Ragner Rock.

I think it's cool in concepts seeing like them go wild because I like when Assassin

Street go, uh, assassin Street goes wild, but playing Don of Ragner Rock just.

made me sad because I'm like, I'm seeing what a potential immortal sequel could

have been that that had been, and, uh, that I focus on Norse mythology because

then the, the way Norse mythology is done and the main Valhalla campaign mm-hmm.

, it's interesting seeing like how that actually test to first civilization and

just through different perspectives and analyzing it, you could find it plausible.

Donor ragner rock is not plausible at all, so it's like, it doesn't feel like I'm

learning about the first civilization.

I'm just watch, I'm just playing a mythological game and that is cool,

but that's not assassin street for me.

So I finished, I was like, that was cool, but I was like, I spent what, 40

hours of my life trying to beat all this D l C and at the end if I'm like, I was

left myself questioning why I was doing other than just trying to complete it

and also trying to clear my heart, right?

Because recent games that are launching right now are like 90 gigs.

So I was like, if, and I didn't wanna like go back much later

and have to have to reinstall it.

So I was like, I'll just take d l and just play it now.

. If you're interested in playing vo, you'll see don't, I don't recommend that . Okay.

And I, and, and I, and I, and I did love that mean campaign.

I always tell people, oh yeah, I spent 123 hours with voa.

And someone asked me how many of those hours were fun.

I was like, 122 . Only one hour.

I remembered not enjoying.

And that tells a lot about how I weirdly got stuck into that game.

It felt like it was weird addiction.

Like, I don't know what it is about that one and the Odyssey

that were weird addictions.

Mm-hmm.

, they just wired, they, they're just wired in a specific way

for you to like, keep playing.

But right now also, I'm also playing, uh, for spoken.

Which, or, or

spoken.

Yeah.

You like, and I'll say this just for context, uh, I played

the demo back in December.

I hated that demo.

Um, the mechanics were not well-explained, or I may have missed it.

The H D R was broken.

So the thing was just as much whiteness that made the world so

ugly and was getting me like a headache that I just quickly dropped

it and my excitement dropped a lot.

. Then this past Sunday, like as we were leading towards the

reviews, and I wanna kind of like, before reviews hit, um mm-hmm.

I saw that they patched the demo, which it's for fun context, final Fantasy

15 back in like 2015 or 2016, also released a demo that they patched.

To me it's like, it's interesting that you're dedicating resources to patch a

demo when you have like the full game that you have to theoretically work.

And I fi I went back to it and played and played that demo and now that HDR was

broken and I could at least see things and got to play a little bit more with

the magic and realize, oh my God, this feels like infamous from soccer punch.

Mm-hmm.

, I was enjoying it way more to the point that I was like, okay.

Um, for season gaming one, the one website you forgot in the, in our introduction.

. My bad.

I'm so sorry.

Yes, , no worries.

Yeah.

Uh, so I had told him that I was gonna commit to review that game

and he had a heading into it.

I was like, started dreading it, but then after I played that demo was like, The

gameplay part, which usually is the most important part of the game I'm enjoying.

So I think it's not gonna be as bad e even if the dialogue can be really

cringy, especially some of the clips that started like does the start

popping, it's playing the game, especially in the first few hours.

I tell you, when you see the entire thing in context, the dialogue not that bad.

In fact, I'm just gonna declare it right now.

If people are having issues with this dialogue, I'm getting ready to like file a

complaint towards the M C U because what other, uh, because other than the some

f bombs that fray the charact that the main character throws here, none of the

dialogue that she says feels out of place.

From what I've seen from some MCU U characters, especially the quirky

ones like the Tony Starks, the, uh, the Antman, even the Peter Parkers.

In fact, I was talking with Paul with, with my co-host, Paul from

the bottom, that the initial section of that game, Paul, you're

in New York, if you were to like.

See how Fre deals with like some gang members that are like ganging up on

her and trying to steal, and how she in an ingenious way tries to like, uh,

whistle herself out of it and escape.

You would be hard pressed in.

I think that's feels like Spider-man almost.

So, so I feel like it's easier in the internet era that we are, that

everything can be taken like in out of context clips and all that

and you're just doing it to dunk.

I feel it's like doesn't really make justice to when you're actually seeing

the full thing that some cringey jokes that sometimes were in those clips

and, and, and some of those clips, sorry, were actually like setting up

amazing punchlines for later on that gar legit laughs out of me that I

was not expecting and me that I love a very kinetic, uh, kinetic movement

when you go into an open world game.

And me that I was also a big fan of infamous those magic powers.

I are scratching that itch for, for a game that I haven't played since like 2014.

Mm-hmm.

so.

I'm finding it way better than I thought it would be.

Is it great?

No, the visuals really lack lobster.

They, oh, the overall world has an interesting style to it and design,

but there's just something about the Luminous engine that, that, that the

Corona, that the Luminous team uses for this game that makes the thing

try to go for like a photorealist style, but the resolution is too low.

Especially like, I like playing in performance mode.

It's, it is running relatively smooth, uh, digital fan reports that sometimes

it can dip like in the 40 frames.

I'm like, I don't care about that.

Like, I'm not someone that's gonna be like, oh, this is at

50, 50 frames or 40 frames.

Like, that doesn't like really affect my enjoyment.

In fact, like I could still play 30 frames games.

Like look at Play Tail rack Room was a 30 frames per second game on console.

Yeah.

, I feel like the, the visuals is like, they don't hold up well when you're like

sometimes looking at characters or for example, phrase hair is like a pixelated

mess on, on the, on its performance mode.

But when you put it like in the quality mode, even the ray trace shadows

mode, it looks a little sharper, but it's just not quite there yet.

It doesn't feel like, even though this is like a Exogen only game,

it feels like a game from like last generation, which is weird.

But, uh, the particle effects when like the powers are flying, especially

when you see like the fire and it looks cool, it actually looks cool,

especially that there's this, the first big boss fight of this game is with the

big dragon in like a very misty place.

And the mist like mixing with the fire and the particles of like your

Earth, earth powers that are going against that can sometimes create some

like nice spectacle from a particle, from particle effects perspective.

It's just not that overall great looking game.

So, and maybe mileage may vary with the dialogue, but I tell you it's

like, Maybe I'm just so weak to cringe, or I'm just so tolerant.

But that's my thing.

I was like, the mcu, if you're like objective about it, it can be

cringey, but that's what makes it fun.

It feels like this kind of fun.

In fact, like if, if I would wanna typecast it a little bit, hearing fray,

uh, talk with her cuff, it would feel like I'm, I'm hearing re Riri Williams,

the, the Black Iron Man, the, the black female Ironman, talking to Jarvis.

It kind of has kind of like that, that kind of vibe.

If I would like, try to like, put it put like an, an analog, how it could be like

a Riri Williams was like this quippy and also black characters, so mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

I'm not dreading my time.

I'm enjoying the time.

The thing is that that space is coming soon, , and today a a shockingly

good game dropped out of nowhere.

And I, I want to say much or I don't wanna say much about it right now because I

wanna save that for like, the conversation we're gonna, we're about to have.

. So my plate is full right now.

It's kind, it's cuz it's kind of crazy because I even have Monster

Hunter Rice installed on my Xbox, but with Game Pass there.

So I'm like, God, it's January and I feel like I have all

this food that I have to eat.

What am, what am I gonna do?

Mm-hmm.

, I feel 2023 is absolutely like we, or like, like I mentioned to you Juan, you

guest it in my, in my show 23 3 Act, it, it, it actually start is starting

to feel like it's gonna live up to that.

Uh, it, this could be one of those like old time grade years.

It does just in like in the, in the amount of games.

Are gonna show up

. Sebastion: So yeah, it really does.

I, um, you know, I haven't gotten too deep into first spoken enough to

give my, like, solid review on it.

My early impressions have kind of been a little mixed, so to speak.

I, the dialogue to, to your point, doesn't bother me that much.

It mm-hmm.

, it reminds me of like a urban anime kind of vibe to me.

And you know,

by the way, by the way, of it all.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

, I feel that's where it's funny because the people in the world of Athe,

they're so traditionally medieval.

Mm-hmm.

. And when you contrast it with like phrase more like Urban New Yorkers style,

those clashes are actually legit funny.

Like the.

, the, the, the Upper East side joke like slayed me.

Mm-hmm.

, like . So like, I don't know if you, if if you're in that part that,

that, that, that the peasant tells you we're like in the rich part.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And, and, and then pre tells, oh, it's like the upper East side and then the

peasant is like, no, this is actually the north side, the north side of the town.

So parts of parts like that.

I was like, that is actually

funny.

. Yeah.

It, it does ha it is quippy.

And I, I like that.

Um, I don't necessarily know if the story is really like riveting me so far mm-hmm.

, but like I, you know, I'm only a couple hours into it, so, you

know.

Yeah.

I wouldn't call it riveting.

I'm, I'm calling it enjoyable.

Okay.

I think that, yeah, I, I think that's the way is like a, I have heard it

actually gets riveted in later on.

At least that's the gene Park, what I read from, uh, the Washington

Post Review by Gene Park.

Mm-hmm.

, which thankfully he didn't get laid off.

Yeah, for sure.

Like after what, after, after.

What happened LA yesterday that the launcher got destroyed there.

So like his review is the one that actually like made me feel, because.

My, my taste really aligned with him.

Mm-hmm.

a lot.

So like, getting to read his review, I was like, oh, okay.

He gets, uh, I least I understand where he's coming from because

he really enjoyed that game.

So, so yeah, it was like the, the clashing tones.

It's actually, it's so funny cuz uh, this was also the thing with

Stranger Paradise last year.

Mm-hmm.

, it, it felt like, um, when you first look at that game,

it just look cringey as hell.

Like when you're actually playing it, you realize that they understand that

it's cringey and it actually works.

Yeah.

And, and I feel like for Spoken is in that same way.

And what I was telling Paul is that yeah, these ga these two

games don't seem different.

Ironic coming from Square Enix, the big difference was that Stringer of

Paradise only had one year to marinate.

Mm-hmm like it was revealed at E three and then by before, before

E three had to roll before summer games, us had to roll around the

next year, the game was already out.

We have known about for spoken since it was Project eight Yeah.

Back in June, 2020.

So there has been percolating for like three years.

So the more you have something to percolate and then you see stuff.

like this, that may seem off.

It feels like an easy punching bag, but I feel like the po it like it being

a punching bag doesn't give the game, uh, a game that I find pretty good.

Maybe it's okay.

I don't know, but it's kind of like not, it's not bad.

Like it really is not bad at all.

It's like, it's enjoyable.

Yeah, I can understand that completely.

Um, yeah.

It's, it's one of those things to where I'm like, I, I completely

see the complaints, but I also see the bright sides of it.

And I'm, I, you know, as I kind of play through it, I'll kind of give my

impressions in the weeks to come, but I, right now I haven't seen enough

to be just completely off-put by the

game.

Exactly.

It's just like, I'm, I'm liking it early on.

Mm-hmm.

, I, I got derailed today because I was gonna play it after,

before that shadow drop.

Yeah.

I, I understand it completely now real

quick.

Mm-hmm.

, have you noticed sometimes, like when it comes to like the review scene,

are you finding yourself sometimes, like at odds when it comes to a game

to like some ways that some ways a game can is like reviewed sometimes?

Mm.

So at sometimes like, like, like re especially in recent times because

I feel like I aligned more back in the day more with like the, what some

reviews we're seeing at certain games.

Mm-hmm.

that now that I'm playing them, uh, I feel like sometimes I'm liking games

that people don't really like or they seem that they're a little harsher.

And I don't know why that is.

I don't know if it's a generational thing.

I don't, if

so, I don't, I do think so, like, I think a lot of people who used

to be like dedicated reviewers are kind of aged up to be like editors now.

Mm-hmm.

are, and also like, they've aged up to be like, uh, like lead editors are

lead of teams and then now the people who are reviewing it are probably

on the younger side where mm-hmm.

we, uh, we've kind of been so, I don't want to use the word spoiled, but we've

kind of been so like accustomed to having good things, you know, like Yeah.

The best of the best things.

So yeah, we come from the Greg Miller era.

Yeah.

Like IgM, basically the call Maria era.

The, uh, , the Damon Hat fields, they wanna do like the ign, like mm-hmm

To me it's like, I feel like around that time I really connected with

what those guys were telling me.

That nowadays, now that I get the new people and I see some of those

reviews, I'm like, this doesn't compare like some very high scored games.

I didn't like some low scored games that they put, I actually do like, so I, I do

find it really interesting, but I think that's why it's so important to never

just like take a review at face value.

It's more important than never to really understand who is the one that's review.

that, that's a good point.

And yeah, that's a good point.

And to make sure like their tastes kind of aligned with what

you're, you're expecting mm-hmm.

. And you know, like if I see something by a different outlet, I kind of look

to see who reviewed that from that outlet and say like, okay, well, like

such and such really, like a lot of his games I really vibe with mm-hmm.

Are like, you know, like gr like for, you mentioned Greg Miller, like, I like

some of his takes on open world games.

Mm-hmm.

and cuz he and I can sort of like see eye to eye on like our, our taste

on open world games versus like, you know, like I love, uh, eye love.

I don't necessarily love like the, I don't see eye to eye when it

comes to like Nintendo things with Tim from kind of funny mm-hmm.

But like, I do see eye to eye when it comes to like, nuanced games

and being like a hallway, like straight traditional experience.

Mm-hmm.

. And I completely understand that.

Yeah.

I feel like Tim, when it comes to those games, he,

I, I actually really align with him and I rarely align with him.

usually.

So it's so funny that sometimes when you find like, the specific

like niches within, with, within some, within some people.

Mm-hmm.

. Like for example, like, I I would say like even for Greg, it's interesting

seeing him that the older he's gotten, he's gotten more into service games.

Like he really went to bat for Avengers in a way that, uh,

ironically mirrored my own . Yeah.

In a, in a way.

Because I was actually a big, uh, very similar to him.

I was a big Avengers fan.

R i p they are shouting that game off, at least.

Just the development, they announced it last week that that game's gonna be

killed as, so it's funny seeing how he has evolved because he was a story guy.

I was also a big story about it.

Stilled the story guy.

Mm-hmm.

so.

. Sebastion: Yeah.

Yeah.

I, you know, like our taste kind of grows as we grow older and then like

our sort of demands of what we want in video games change as we grow older too.

So it's, it's one of those things where like when certain games

come out and speak to you, they really speak to you sometimes too.

You know?

Do you know

what, what maybe you're more excited about some of the

things I read about for spoken.

Mm-hmm.

Mainlining.

It is only 15 hours.

Oh, that's really good.

That's amazing.

Thank you.

Because other, other, because one, like for review purpose, I'm glad that

I can get that done early because my next commitment will be Atomic Heart.

Yeah.

So I could have it, like, I can have that, like I have I'll,

and that's until February 1st.

Atomic Heart.

Mm-hmm.

. So I have, I will have enough time to maybe like, play through that space,

maybe play through Hogwarts legacy, like on my own leisure, but I haven't to

worry about like a deadline or anything.

So yeah, it's like, I'm, I'm weirdly get excited cuz this is, it is so funny.

Like something that you learn about Paul when you were in guest.

Mm-hmm.

Paul is a stickler for, I won a game to last me so long.

The thing is that I always make fun of him because he never finishes games.

In fact, I whipped him this year into like whenever we were gonna do a top

10, that he was actually like gonna have games that he finished because

the previous time that we did a top 10, he didn't finish most of these games.

In fact, he put, uh, as his number one game, a game that hadn't even come out

that year that his second game, Gar of the Galaxy game, that he didn't even

finish defaulted to his game of the year.

And he didn't really like it in the end.

He never finished it.

So I was like mm-hmm , like if we're gonna talk about, uh, putting things

in top 10, at least make sure you

finish it.

I, I could, I understand.

Um, cuz like, uh, like you can fall

apart if you Oh yeah, for sure.

If you don't finish it, like you don't, don't know if like a game

remains awesome, like throughout.

That's why I'm, I always like, to me.

and my, my top 10 that I make, uh, that I, that I made all those games

I beat, in fact, like one of them I beat down to the Wire, Kirby , because

that's the one that I was finishing.

And that one's was easy to finish and soon just such an enjoyable game.

Uh, he put Midnight Suns in and oh no, literally like, uh, he put

it in having me only played like 20 hours literally the week after.

He was like, I'm sick of it.

And then I started.

That is why I don't put unfinished games in a top 10, no matter how enjoyable

they are, because that's what happens

So.

Oh yeah, for sure.

I mean, to your point, I played, um, dying Light too and really

enjoyed the first half of that game.

Mm-hmm.

and Des despised the ba the back half of that game last year.

Mm-hmm.

. And if I only judged it on the first like 20 hours of that game, it might've

been in my top 10 for last year.

Mm-hmm.

, but like I, the backed half of that game just to me, becomes a completely

different supernatural experience that I wasn't on board with.

And I feel like kind of became a different game.

So I, I concur with that, that notion you kind of need to at least see

it all the way through to see if that story stays in line with what

you were expecting or if it falls

apart.

Yeah.

Which is why I always find funny that, uh, he, uh, he wants

games to last him for so long.

, I prefer, like, to me, I've always been, I don't like super short games

that, that, that, because remember back in the PS three era, we got so

many games that were 60 bucks that were like five, six hours long.

I remember four Unleash two was like that.

Mm-hmm.

, um, That I'm not vibing with, but gimme the 15 to 25 hour game.

I can understand.

I'll take that.

Mm-hmm.

maybe, unless you're really good.

The 35 hour one, I can vibe with like Rag Rock.

Mm-hmm.

is technically like a 35 game, like can't push.

I beat it like in 60 or 70 hour because I platinum on that game.

But it's because if I'm really enjoying it, like at least things that are, are

not required for me to finish the game, I, I'm willing to like, spend more

time with it, but for like a commitment to finish it, make the game shorter.

Yeah.

Like, I'm like, to me, like, uh, I, I'm, I don't subscribe to that mentality of

like, this game is only good because it spends so many time with it.

It's like to me like, uh, yes there's value in money, but

there's also value in time.

I prefer my time being more.

More respected, which is ironic.

I said when I spent like 123 hours in Assassin People Hall, big difference that

I was actually enjoying in that game.

That game was just an addiction.

But now I, like, I turned around with it, with that DLC that I felt

was like 40 hours wasted for me.

playing all of that.

So I feel like, uh, value your time.

People like . Yeah.

That, that from developers.

Yeah.

Sometimes I'd rather have a game that's so tight that I can replay.

I like, like we rewatch our favorite movies.

Mm-hmm.

, we don't need things to just be one.

And Dons like, I like, like being able to relive Avengers.

I

understand.

I I'm right there with you.

Like Avengers, the Dark Night of the Dark Night is probably one of my

favorite superhero movies of all time.

Oh yes.

Every time

that I saw it on tv, like I was on.

. Mm-hmm.

. Yep.

I'm watching it now.

Even with commercials.

For sure.

For sure.

I'm, I'm really with you.

I'm almost to the point now to where like, um, I'll play like Arkham City and

which is like a, it, it can be a longer experience, but like, I'll mainline

that story almost like in once a year.

Now it's,

it's like, it is like 10 hours, 10 to 12 hours just to mainline.

And that's so awesome because then the side content can keep

you like occupied with Aham

City.

It really can.

It really can.

So, Alejandro, let's get to the topic of the show.

Yes.

Today, Xbox Empathetic gave us a developer direct.

It was a, you know, a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be because like,

I didn't necessarily know what to expect, like meaning people, we, we knew that they

were going to show four games, but instead they gave us the five game treatment.

I, I really enjoyed that aspect.

So, Alejandro, what'd you think of the showcase overall?

So,

I, I, I feel like Microsoft did a really good job

at setting the expectation right.

mm-hmm.

because they haven't been able to sometimes manage

expectations well ahead of time.

Like for example, uh, the LA their last showcase did last year.

Uh, it wasn't until we were watching it that we knew that they were now

formatting that what we were gonna see was gonna cover the next 12 months.

Uh, so that, so that like limited the scope immediately and people

were not prepared for that.

Everyone went into that show like expecting to hear more about many of

the things that they had heard before and they were like in a damn, you do

damn a damn if you don situation at that time because they had Ren announced

so much that it's still not out.

So it's like, it was just always a danger where you don't have much,

man, you kind of want to keep excitement, but I feel like this one

was, uh, better than what they used to do before, which is inside Xbox.

Yeah.

Which is like where they, where they decided like this big room and had

like someone like interview the devs and sometimes they would go forever.

And, um, I feel like from a presentation standpoint, this,

this direct was like so well done.

I was like, they really did put.

Great money and effort into this, especially compared to when they did the

pandemic inside Xbox that felt like some people were making a joke that it was

like you were watching all Keta videos because of the really low quality camera

that they were like talking with each other when you were expect something to

be like, you're showcasing the games.

You want these games to be as prestigious they can.

And while I wasn't a huge fan of everything that was shown here, because

some those games are just not for me.

I'm excited about the possibility now of, because of all these studios that

they have that they can't really fit in in their entire showcase, especially if

their Microsoft, uh, the, the Microsoft Activation Blizzard acquisition happens,

which means they're gonna add even more.

This will be able to spread the wealth and with everything that

they have allows them to really also have nicer surprises because they

said, we're gonna go with the four.

And then it was like they said, the lowest minimum like requirement of

like, this is what it's gonna be in that allows you to like over-deliver.

And that's what they did with the fifth game said.

for sure, for sure.

I mean, it you, like you said, they kind of like under-delivered and then

really punched upwards and, and mm-hmm.

really hit us hard.

I

That's how you need to do it.

You absolutely.

We need to do it that

way.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

For like, so for reference, everyone, um, we got five games

that, that were delivered.

We had, let's see, Microsoft Legends High Five, rush and the Elder Scrolls online.

Mm-hmm.

, Neri and then Red Fall.

Mm-hmm.

. So out of Alejandro for, out of all those five games, which

one stood out to you the most?

Uh, the, from the five.

Mm-hmm.

, the one that was a surprise.

Rob Highrise High, high five.

High-Fi Rush.

Mm-hmm.

High-Fi Rush.

Yes.

Because it's from Tango GameWorks, the guys that made evil within one

and two and go Our Tokyo So different.

So d different and this game is like the complete pivot.

This is the going from Kill Some to Horizon.

This is the, this is the going from Titan full to Jedi Fallen Order.

This is the, uh, going from uncharted to the last of us.

Something that's like, so.

different from, from, from what they did.

And I would even say even more stark because this game is like quirky.

This game is like colorful.

It's like, it, it's such a unique combination and a throwback to

something like Reds, Jeter radio.

Mm-hmm.

and, and, and, and, and mixing.

Some devil may cry with rhythm, with like with rhythm based action.

End of this part.

It came out.

That was amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that shadow drop of like, Hey, and it's out today.

And I, I lost my mind.

Like I was, I was doing a live react, um, on the Pro report to

YouTube channel about it, and I was just like, I was lost my mind when

they said it was coming out today.

I was just like, this game looks absolutely dope.

And its because just

imagine, because, just imagine It's like, uh, Microsoft hasn't

had the chance to like, uh, reveal a new first party game in a while.

We just came from 2022, the biggest drought in Xbox history, and not only

did they finally showed something that looks genuinely new and so

on, like anything that's from Xbox.

Mm-hmm.

, they also dropped it Now.

We didn't have to wait more.

They, they, apex Legends does.

They really did.

Yeah.

They, they really did.

And, and on top of that, it being like, this shows the power of Game Pass.

Like what, what makes Game Pass such an attractive value?

Because like when you're really, like, when you start feeding that service

and you don't have to wait much.

And it's just be like, Hey, your game past subscription

just got slightly sweeter today.

You don't have to wait anymore.

Maybe just a few hours for the game to pop up there.

And, and then it to be immediately, immediately hard.

Because I thought when, when they were showing it, I was like, okay,

well maybe this is the June game.

Maybe something that's coming out next year or like later, later this year.

And having it now is like, thank you.

It is like, I'm like, you should be doing more of this.

You have 23 studios you shoot to theoretically with all you have, having

enough in the pipeline that you'll be able to, to shadow drop this instead

of having to wait how we, how we been.

So yeah, that was like the most impressive thing that I saw in this show.

And I, and I was actually coming into the show because I wanted to

see ful and what I saw with Red and, and then what I saw of Rat Fall.

I'm still mixed.

This is, it's, it's mixed, but more positive than last time than I saw it.

Mm-hmm.

at least I got to see a, a little bit more like, extended chunk

of how the game plays and looks.

I definitely, I'm, I'm seeing the death, the death loop, uh, inspirations

coming in, like especially with the shooting, I'm like, Def Loop is a

game that I feel like it's pretty good, but also slightly overrated.

Especially cuz that was a game that was like getting tens

from like ign and Game Spot.

Ah,

I love Def Loop man.

I love

Def Loop.

So, so, so the thing is that it's very enjoyable, but I didn't think it was

like a, it was probably a 10 out of 10 in 2021 . It may look more impressive when

everything that was around it, but when I look back more to it, I'm like, no, that

was actually a pretty good game that I feel like to me, like once the curtain,

like the, the, the smoke curtain fell for me and I understand what it really was.

The, the replayability of that game palmed for me, which I is what I love.

Mm-hmm.

about arcane games because it presents itself as a game

with infinite possibilities.

And then it turns out that there is only one possibility for you to end the game.

It has one specific pattern and that to me was what I like lowered it.

Because initially I was on board with definitely, I was like, I like

how displays, I'm liking the vibe.

This has a very golden eye vibe, which by the way, golden Eye.

Friday Pass it's Friday and also Intenza search online.

So it, it was like it had that kind of vibe.

So I really like that of Death Loop.

But this feels like it will take the mechanics that I really like from Death

Loop because they really nailed that because previous King is maybe not

the best gameplay wise because they had a little bit of sluggish to it.

But the immersive sim element of it is what carry those games and the immersive

si element lowered in Death Loop.

But it became a more fun game to play in the moment.

What if Red Bull is the perfect amalgamation of those two?

Because it felt, it, it felt like it was like there, there are more, even

though you can do co-op in this game, they felt like the way that we're

showcasing as like you can have like your slow moments as you're going inside

houses and seeing the environmental storytelling of like the bleeding

text and the things that you can find.

And on top of like the Gunplay looking so much like the one

that worked from Death Loop.

Maybe it will be the best of both worlds.

So, that made me more excited except how it looked like

it had a little bit of yank.

Mm-hmm.

robotic animation sometimes.

And I was like, and this is supposed to come out in May.

Hmm.

It may not be quite a looker, but I'm more positive.

And here's the thing.

Our point of entry for this game is gonna be so low.

It's on Game Pass.

So it's like, at the very least, like the commitment, it will be easier to swallow.

For Death Loop.

You really have to pay for PLA full, full prize because it was a PS five.

Yeah, that, that, that is something, the point

of entry is also like dirt low.

But like I, uh, I'm like you, I have my reservations and I think my reservation

isn't the way it looks because like, I don't think this game looks great by

any of the means of the imagination, but like, I don't also think arcane

Austin games all, like any of the games look great from that studio.

I think they are stylish.

I think they have a art style to them, but I don't think it's a art

style that people would go like, that's a showcase that mm-hmm.

that's the game I'm gonna use to showcase my console with.

But like, nah, not

even close.

No.

Like, absolutely not.

No.

The one that you would use to showcase a console is for Motorsport.

Oh yeah, for sure.

And we'll get to that in a second.

But like, uh, uh, red fall to me, I think what kind of like stood out as, as like

some question marks here is like they were showing some different things in the game,

such as like some of the side missions and such like that during the, the showcase,

the loot, like colored glut.

Yeah.

Some of that made me feel like we're gonna see some repetition,

like out of the gameplay.

Like we might, they might have like six different types of missions

and then you're just like doing those same six missions types all

over again and again and again.

And like, it's almost like you, you remember Saints Row from this year?

Did you ever get a chance to play

that?

Yeah, I did.

I did.

I did play and finish it.

Uh, yeah.

One of the bigger disapp, one of the bigger disappointments of that was funny.

It was a disappointment, but I.

It was so fun.

It, it was so funny.

I had

some moments that I enjoyed as well, but what, what I'm kind of

hinting at here is like, you know how like in Saints Row you had like

maybe six different mission types?

Mm-hmm.

, I like side mission types.

That's kind of the vibe I get.

Not necessarily, but I think it'll be higher quality than Saints Row.

But I get like that kind of, that kind of vibe from the side missions.

But I also get like left for dead, very left for dead elements of this game, which

kind of makes me feel like this to me is gonna be a better co-op experience than

it is gonna be a single player experience.

Yes.

You know, I would hope that they've, they, they've, they managed

the balance because 70 of elements that they showed were you by yourself.

Mm-hmm.

. And I was like, okay.

And, and I was like, okay.

It's like if I wanted to really play this by myself, I can see a lot of

the things that I do like from arcane, kind of shining just as a, as an

experience that I played by myself.

But the fact that it's, it has that option for co-op.

I really wanna see how that, how that works.

Because obviously Death Loop was the first foray into multiplayer,

but that was more like a one V one.

PVP thing, like, like pvp thing.

That was, which by the way, I have like , I want, I stream launch day, death loop.

And Paul invaded me and I didn't know that Paul invaded me and I told him what?

Yeah.

And so nonchalantly.

Mm-hmm.

. Um, and I only, I only realized it was him because he texted me because he showcased,

he, he, he screenshotted my stream.

And then I was like, wait, that was you.

That's funny.

That's funny because, because I killed, because as Juliana was

like running backwards, I was like, why is Juliana running backwards,

shotgun, shotgun, and kill?

And that was him because he said he wanted to, uh, he wanted to have that,

that fun moment where he was gonna kill me on stream and it would be funny.

Mm-hmm.

. But it's so funny, it backfired on him.

. Oh man.

That's funny.

Yeah.

That was so funny.

But, uh, I'm, I, the good thing is that it's coming in May.

Mm-hmm.

. My thing is that, Especially with the Force of Motorsport not getting a date.

That was shocking.

After, after initially seeing Yes, they said, uh, in last showcase spring

2023 and they removed the spring thing.

I'm like, Starfield ain coming this first half.

I'd be shocked because where do you put it?

I, I'm like, I think maybe Starfield drops in in June or June or

July and then maybe fors a motorsport is the big fall game for them.

Yeah.

Or

maybe both.

Yeah.

I mean, when we really think about it, like they're not

strangers to doing like two games in the fall, halo, infinite,

and, um, and fors a, um, horizon.

We're both like Fallish games, you know?

And you would even make the argument big mistake because, uh, Haer

release in undercut for Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And, uh, did, did, like fora could have carried that fault for them.

They had already released psychos like a month or two before.

They already had like a few game pass.

Robs also in their.

, uh, they only wanted Halo there because they wanted to hit that anniversary.

Mm-hmm.

. And it's so sad looking back now that all their attempts to try to hit that

anniversary came to bite them in the, in, in the butt because they really

did, that game collapsed afterwards because they didn't have a plan.

And then we got the news of all the Lays happening on Microsoft and the

single player part of Halo Infinite suffering a lot from those layoffs.

I'm like, what even is the future of Halo anymore?

I'm like, very CREs falling with in regards to that

series in, in, uh, over here.

But, um, because I don't, I wouldn't think that for and motor sports

would be like the, uh, the main, uh, because I feel for the horizon

has more appeal than motor sport.

It does, it has more, more like popular appeal and like more like Yeah.

Mainstream appeal than for,

so if a, if a for Horizon five could have like

carried the end of 2021 for them.

I don't think just a for Motorsport could, because I feel like it's

appeal is a little bit more niche.

, uh, because it's a little bit more hardcore, even not, even though

not as hardcore as Grant Teresa, I would say a game that I, it's like

I always find Sony impenetrable.

Mm-hmm.

, uh, even though this is, is always so pretty, uh, mean, my big question is, I

feel hell Blade should be ready by now because Hell Blade was the game that

they showcase the Xbox Series X with when it, when they revealed the console

back in Game Wars 2019 Pre pandemic.

When the, when, when at Keli show.

It was like, yeah, we're announcing the next console here, and then

immediately after here's the demo.

Like, like, like, like a visual, like intro for hell play two.

And then we got the da, the gameplay demo in 2021.

That lu look incredible.

I'm like, that's been like four years in development.

Maybe five if you like.

Think whenever they bought Ninja Theory, uh, ninja Theory, it feels like that could

be one that they could insert in the fall.

And how like the two like.

The burger and fries, . Oh.

Is that you need your two servings.

So you do.

I'm gonna be real with you though.

Like, I, I'm so scared that like they are just gonna have a wave of like,

slew of games that they're just gonna launch on one on top of each other

and not give any room to breathe.

I would almost, even if that game is ready by fall, I'd almost push that

back towards like that February slot.

Mm-hmm.

of like video games.

Cuz you know, February has become the new fall season of games

as Yeah.

It's so funny like that.

That's literally how it, how it is now.

It's like mm-hmm.

now it feels like you actually look forward to January to March.

Yeah.

That's like, that's like that those are the moments where before they were

like, you wanna be lucky if you would get something in January, February?

I feel like February has had a, a history of something releasing some games there.

Mm-hmm.

even by re dating back to like, I remember in 2009 that's when kills on two Launched.

Yeah.

Even kills on three, uh, horizons.

Sierra darn launched there.

Uh, January, once in a blue moon would get the.

, the Mass Effect two launch in January.

Mm-hmm.

, then Capcom started feeding us in January for like a good, for,

for like a good little while.

R e seven, uh, R two remake, uh, monster Hunter World.

We're like the January games and people are, it's starting to wake

up to the fact that sometimes it's.

People just want something new.

And then if you are like the one, the one game that's launching and

that dead month that is January, you're gonna be so successful.

Yeah.

Now everyone cut on.

Look.

How many games launched this January

For sure.

For sure.

It's almost like, you know, like January in the fall, I mean, February

in the fall or kind of like that, that like triple A, this is the launch

season and now like the Indies sort of ruled the summer, so to speak.

Yeah.

But like I am, I am, I I'm like you though.

I think like hell Blade could be ready.

This, um, this mm-hmm.

like fall, but even still, I'd move that thing to Spring and, and then I'd have

possibly hell Blade and Fable to launch in

2023, you know?

Yeah.

The thing is that we need to hear about Fable.

Like we do Fable.

Was it.

, we started hear hearing rumors that they, they could be unsubstantiated.

That apparently is that that thing was travel, which at this point,

like how many times I've heard of just a Microsoft developed thing

that's in travel, which is so sad.

Uh, to me it all depends on when Starfield launches because it's

in the days that we got here.

So obviously we Minecraft legends.

Mm-hmm.

uh, which was the thing that started off the show, which not my game.

I did, yeah.

I did enjoy Dungeons because I did like Diablo and I felt like

they did a good kid Diablo.

And it was a game but was back in 2020.

So it launched when we were in lockdown.

So it felt like a good mindless game to play around the time.

And, uh, I believe

that's April 18th, right?

Yeah, April 18th.

Mm-hmm.

. And then a month later you get, uh, you get, you get red fall 10

days before tears of the kingdom.

So they only have 10 days to like make a mark before tears of the

kingdom becomes the insufferable.

Uh, insufferable game that everyone's gonna be talking

about and prai to high heaven.

I already tell you, or we, we talked about this in our, uh, in our top 10

most anticipated games of 2023, which you can listen to now on over in DX

Bottom podcast with Sebastian there.

Um, that I feel like, especially the way people have treated Breath of the

Wild, this think that's gonna swallow a lot and Suicide Squad is the only

thing that's left in that month.

And I feel like, especially with the recent screenshot that got leaked,

that looked like it was gonna be like a live servicing, my assignment of that

game plummeted like to zero, especially after seeing how Gotham Nights went.

So, Yeah.

And,

and, and it has like Marvels Avengers kind of vibes to it now.

Mm-hmm.

and no one wants that.

But yeah.

I, you know, going back to this showcase, we had, you know, red Fall, we had

High-Fi, uh, for Motorsport, which by the way, we were talking about a second

ago, like, I completely agree with you.

For Motorsport, to me, has to, it has to somehow do the impossible.

And that's like real end non-car enthusiast because like mm-hmm.

this game is a super niche game, especially on the Motorsport side

of things where, like you, that only normally appeals to like the hardest of

hardcore, like car enthusiasts, other

outside.

And to be fair, there's many, like, those games have so millions,

and obviously it has game passes.

It's just that it's, I I wouldn't put it that as a game to like hinge your fall.

No.

Especially, especially, especially in a theoretical fall that

launches with Spider-Man two over in the PlayStation side.

Mm-hmm.

, which that game's gonna sell a ton.

like Spider-Man, like the Marvel, Spiderman 2018, such a huge seller.

Mix it and, and then mix in, uh, what Youma call it, uh, miles Morales,

like, especially if it hits and I believe like we're, we're talking that,

and, and I feel like it will because in Soak is actually really good.

Mm-hmm.

at, uh, what call it, uh, at knowing to get their dates.

Mm-hmm.

like, like if you remember, even with like RIF apart, um, they made sure to not

say when they initially they were like, we're gonna be in the launch window.

Okay.

The launch window, usually first six months, our date is June.

We got to June Rift apart was there.

And then even with Spiderman 2018, they said, we're not gonna wait, we're in 2018.

And they were like, no, we're in September 4th, 2020, uh, or September

7th, whichever, whichever those days was.

Uh, and they hit it.

Insomnia.

It is rare for them to really delay because I know that there's people

who are like, will Spider-Man make it?

It's like, , look at em.

So next Tracker record.

It will.

They're gonna make me . Yeah.

They're gonna make it.

As a matter of fact, like play session is gonna be on them like,

and say like, Hey, do whatever it takes you're gonna hit this day.

But like mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

I, you know, to your point though, like for a Motorsport versus Spider-Man two

versus, uh, like Nintendo, Nintendo's gonna have something in the fall.

Like it, like it could be Metro, it could be a new like mainland Mario game.

Mm-hmm.

, they're going to have something in the fall as well.

Yeah.

Especially

remember the Mario movies out in like two months.

Yeah.

So be insane if they don't like really synergize, but it's, Nintendo,

Nintendo never makes anything that you would, they would make sense

because they just like doing their, they just like doing their own thing.

Weird Nintendo decisions basically.

Yeah.

But like, even if they like poured Mario Galaxy too over like to the switch.

Mm-hmm.

And that's like one of their fall things.

That is, that is so

like the.

Asinine thing I could ever think of.

Like, why are you living of Galaxy too?

Like if you got Galaxy weren't working, like Galaxy Two should be able to work.

Like they're theoretically, but they love, like I'm, I'm still like

with Wet before, it's like mm-hmm.

me and my relationship with my n Antenna and them like holding back, uh, both

Win Waker and Toilet Princess mm-hmm.

from the Switch.

It is like a perpetual case of blue balls for me.

with that . So, so, um, so yeah, it's like, it, it maybe who, who knows?

And that's the thing, like when Nintendo's, like, they're always

so diligent and even when it feels like they're gonna have an

empty fall, then suddenly comes the Nintendo direct that mm-hmm.

just launches it.

. Yeah.

Like, and then suddenly their fold is like stacked.

In fact, like I mentioned last year, probably Nintendo had like

the best year for any of the third par of the first parties when it

comes to like a consistent cadence.

Mm-hmm.

of like big releases, like all year round, maybe I didn't play all of them, but then

when I listened and saw everything that they posted, I was like, . God damn, they

fed you if you're on switch, they fed you.

If you're willing to like, look at all of that.

Even the, the very last game they fed you with Pokemon was kind of broken.

But a lot of people think it's the best Pokemon game even despite that.

Yeah, I know you were one . Yeah, for sure.

So for sure.

I feel like Microsoft, like needs, they always launched with

two, I feel like a two punch.

It's probably what they need.

It all depends on what Starfield launches.

I feel.

If they try to launch Starfield in June, the same month that Street

Fighter comes out, Diablo four comes out, final fantasy 16 comes out.

It's like, unless you're feeling real, real confident that that game is gonna

become like a vacuum to itself, that everything around this should, like fear.

Starfield, the last showcase of Starfield, the one that I finally

gave, I did not think it was a banger.

I didn't, I was like, I, I enjoyed it from premise, but as

a, the world's gonna stop here.

I'm like, you need to show me a little bit more.

Is that because.

Especially as your, your, your reputation is not as sterling as it could be,

especially following fall 76, which I mentioned to you on our crossover episode.

It's like, not really their fault because that was made by the sub team,

but they actually took the brunt.

Mm-hmm.

of like the criticism.

Uh, this is like, uh, if we, if this was like the next game following

Sky him, I could believe it.

But Follow Four also happened there and Follow Four wasn't that impressive.

No.

Even though it was pretty a good game.

So, so that's why like, uh, like they're doing a showcase.

Mm-hmm.

they mentioned when they announced the one that we saw today, that

Starkville is gonna get, have their very dedicated showcase.

I bet it's gonna have the same format.

Uh, it now picture this.

What if like, what just happened right now with High, with, with

high, high Five Rush is what they do.

Oh, just Shadow Drop Starfield that day.

Oh my goodness.

The balls on them.

What?

Just think about it.

Just, just kind of think, uh oh.

Because technically they could.

, Sebastion: they could, uh,

yeah, I've been saying I would be, yeah.

I would be so shocked if they're, well, but I, I wonder if like, how they

dropped the, this, this game today.

They're gonna study their reaction to that.

Because I'll tell you, my Twitter timeline was like blowing up, blowing

up over this game because what a great, uh, perfect storm for, uh, for

being able to have like such a unique looking game and have it there right

now.

Oh, it's so good.

That would be so cool.

I mm-hmm.

. And, you know, Bethesda has had a history of like shadow dropping

release dates because they kind of did, um, um, fallout four.

Like that you remember?

Yeah.

They revealed it.

Yeah.

They revealed that game three months later, like three or four months

later, the game was gonna be out.

Mm-hmm.

. That's what, and that's the thing, that's what made that thing hype

with Starfield is like, unfortunately they made the big mistake of

revealing Starfield back in 2018.

So that game has been like percolating in the, in, in the

public consciousness for so long.

And back in then it was a multi-platform game.

So then it had to go through the process of that.

being removed from a, from a multi-platform becoming Anex exclusive.

So why would be like a way to really, uh, hit it would have to like, be like,

uh, we're gonna really give you the next deep dive and then launch it immediately.

There are rumors, uh, Ainsley from my editor-in-chief over at Season Gaming.

He has like, connections with the Xbox people.

He has heard rumblings that, that the showcase is in February.

Okay.

That's the thing is, yeah.

No, not too far for, for like Starfield.

Then I, I don't know where I saw this.

Apparently there's like rumblings that there's gonna be like a media, uh,

there's, there's gonna be like a media preview thing over, uh, over in March.

Mm-hmm.

so people can contest Bethe game.

So in the case, like my dream scenario, if like they're gonna shadow drop

it right then is like, I feel like it's gonna be very relatively soon.

My thing is that when I look at this release dates, I'm

like, . There's nothing in March.

No, there's, yeah.

Yeah.

So March is technically Jedi survivor and rest evil for mo month for me, that

to me, is exciting for itself because those are my, for my number one and my

number three most anticipated games of the year, um, I feel they could theoretically

launch it there if they want to.

Kind of like, because your picture, whatever they showcase this time compared

to like what they showed last year, it's actually real impressive then on that.

Impressive.

It's like, and now you don't have to wait too long and, and, and then

that's like the media will get to get, go preview the game and then you're

short left, or that you guys get it.

Mm-hmm.

, Sebastion: I, yeah, I'm

Even if they said, hey, it'll be like, it'll be available one week.

Mm-hmm.

and then like the media gets it for that one week and then next thing

you know, the hype on it, the hype train keeps building and building

and building, you know, like, yeah.

People would love that.

Especially if it's like one week, like, like, oh my goodness.

Like I lose my mind.

I'd be like, oh, I gotta get ready, like, I gotta hurry up and beat shit.

I saw a survivor at that point,

you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just think about it.

Just think how disruptive today was.

Like for me it was like, it's like, it, it's so, like, this is what

a bomb feels like when it drops

Like this feels like, because it's like you, like I was planning on

doing force spoken all day today.

Mm-hmm.

then that dropped, and that's all I played before we started

recording.

So he was, so, we'll get to that in a minute.

Um, but I, I got a question for you.

Like, they also showed off, um, the sort of like the, the grand deluxe pack

for Elder Scrolls online where like all the, all the content and everything

like that, it's available for you for limited time, all the DLCs available.

Are you enticed to actually play the game?

When they say limited time?

That lowered my excitement because I was like, I would've, because I, I haven't

really been, been, uh, keeping up with how they're actually supporting this.

Like I did.

I, I like, I, I don't know because I know that.

This is one of the few Thethe games that are still multi-platform.

There's a PS five version for it.

Obviously a lot of those expansions you can buy them a la carte and I don't

know, I haven't known if they in Game Pass if you're, if just, if you get

this game on Game Pass, if all of that is just gonna be there as part of your

subscription, but my understanding

it's just the base game on Game Pass and then you still have to

buy like the D Cs very similar to like, um, Forza, um, like Forza Horizon.

You still have to buy the Hype Wheels set mm-hmm.

. But you like, you still get the base game for On Game Pass.

Yeah.

So when I saw how many expansions there were mm-hmm.

, I'm like, that is a lot of game.

This game has literally like escaped me.

Yeah.

At this point, just when I think, because think about it this way, like I have

been like debating of trying to do, because I have a oblivion save mm-hmm.

like on my serious ass that I'm still, I have been chipping away at it over

like the past year, just kind of slowly going through it because I never beat it.

Um, Follow three and New Vegas.

I never beat even, uh, Skyrim.

I never beat either, so I'm like, they're just thinking about trying

to see if I, there's a way for me to finish any of those four games even

before Starfield, or maybe after, because I like re I like playing

previous entries of at studios work.

Mm-hmm.

, I see this and I'm like, in what?

In in what world?

Well, I had the commitment to cls, especially when all of that was listed.

Mm-hmm.

. I was like, um, this is cool.

This is really cool that you've supported this game for so long.

Especially because this was also a middling launch back in like 2014.

This game wasn't that well received, but this was more,

this is not our live service.

This was an mmo.

Mm-hmm.

. So they have really supported it like an MMO should, and technically

I own the game on PS five.

I bought it for like five bucks in one sale, . So that's been

just sitting there percolating.

Uh, fall four is the only one that of those games that I've beaten

and because I beat it right in the moment that it launched when

it was at the side guys in 2015.

So, I think it's cool.

And paper, what they're doing with elders girls online is just like for,

to me personally, with everything that I have to play, that limited time thing.

No chance.

Yeah.

No chance.

If they had said, Hey, if you're hearing Game pass all of this

that's here, we're giving it to you.

Mm-hmm.

, if that's how, how, if that's how it was actually worded instead of the

whole limited, limited time thing, which I actually want to go re-watch this

student and make sure to hear exactly what we're like, what made that so

cool or like what they were gonna offer you to, maybe that would've re tilted.

But I feel like conceptually, other than Minecraft, Donius, that

was like my least exciting thing about what they were showing here.

Same, it's, uh, but, uh, I'm just glad that to see some principles

seeing that they're supporting it.

Yeah.

I have to, it's like I need to make sure that Microsoft is committing mm-hmm.

to like these projects that they absorbed and took over when

they, when they bought Thethe.

I

am too.

Um, like to your point, I'm not an MMO person at all.

Like I, that's not my genre of games.

And, and I really, I wasn't one of the people who like really

fell in love with Sky Room.

I loved EL scores, oblivion.

I got ever trophy in that game.

But like Sky Room was nothing.

That wasn't a game that like spoke to me on a personal phone.

You sure?

Terrific.

Eh, that never game, never got trophies.

They had achievements.

Achievements.

You know what I mean?

Yes.

You know what I mean?

Like I was like before Yeah.

Saving your budget because that's a game that never got patched for trophies.

Yeah.

Because it was so early . Yeah.

But yeah, especially back in the three sixties, I believe was so big that was

like such a massive like game, especially the early on in the people don't realize.

, how better are they?

Have it now.

Remember the early days of the 360 when there was barely any game?

Yeah, that was,

and then that launched

That was like one of the games that I was just like playing daily because it

was one of the only choices, especially as a r PPG at that time-frame.

So yeah, I, I am not gonna probably jump into Elders Girls online for,

as a motorsport is again, that I might check out at launch, but I

doubt I'd put more than eight, eight

hours into that game.

Yeah.

Dad usually that those games are like, I wanna see how good this looks on my tv.

Exactly.

That's usually how, like how I look at those games.

So to me, like right now all Ice are on the next showcase, which

we're already know it's in the works, which is the Starfield one.

Whatever they end up doing that a shadow drop or a release soon is

like, that's gonna tell the tale.

Um, I would say like knowing that Ford's, uh, it's not just coming in

2023 and they were willing to lay it as after they're being one of the

promised ones for this 12 month period.

If Starfield needs the time.

. I don't care if you take dl.

Yeah, I don't either give it mm-hmm.

just give it like, like if it requires for, uh, for Starfield to like be

pushed and be like the big fall.

Yes.

Optically, it's like you're pushing like the ball further and Yeah.

You have to like give it a full year delay.

Here's the thing, like no care, don't care.

No one's gonna carry if the game banks mm-hmm.

if the game absolutely like, becomes like an actual monument, monumental release for

them, it's like, it's gonna be worth it.

Don't, like, I don't want, like, if the game is technically ready and if it can

be ready in launch now if they find a nice window, which to me is getting like

narrower and narrower now, especially now that Red Bull is there, like red

already stook the claim of May because that's what I thought was gonna be

like a perfect starfield release there.

It was like, may I only think of the, the two games, one of

them I don't really care about.

The other one's gonna be baked Zelda.

That could have been one.

They gave it to Red Bull.

So I'm like, okay, word two now like.

, and I think they would want Redford to come out first

before Starfield, but who knows?

It's like they can play Today's Shadow Drop makes me think that

they can really play music musical chairs in different ways now.

Mm-hmm.

. But, but yeah, I want that game to be ready.

So I don't think like, especially because they have been very

vocal about, like yeah.

The situation of like what happened with cyberpunk, how that was so disruptive to

how people, uh, uh, of people rethinking how they're gonna release games,

that if that game is a broken mass.

Oh,

oh, we'll never, we'll never forget it.

We won't.

No.

Like we won't never forget it.

Like it is, it is that old adage, you know, where like, you know, that you

always remember a broken game, but like a good game stays a good forever.

You know that mm-hmm.

that, that basically that saying Yeah.

The, the Miyamoto The Miyamoto game is like a, like a, a

a delayed game is eventually good.

Uh, pa uh, and, and then, uh, a bad game, a broken game is forever bad.

Yeah.

Or something like that.

Yeah.

And uh, obviously this day and age, especially in the age of patches, that

is not a hundred percent true, but the stink of the initial impression sometimes.

Remains.

Yeah, for sure.

Like it, it's crazy.

Like, for example, cyber punk researched last year.

Mm-hmm.

and with an amazing nitrogen port.

And the anime really like researched again.

A lot of people are still like, I still remember when you launched

that broken p os back in 2020.

Yeah.

That's, that, that will always

linger.

And, and you know, it's not quite as bad as this, but like people are talking

bad about like, for spoken right now.

Can you imagine if for Spoken, got the glow up like cyberpunk is getting right

now to where like it also has like maybe a cool anime tie in and like mm-hmm.

, they really do a lot of hard work in, in fixing a lot of the issues with

the game that a lot of people have.

Then this it, you know, like it still has that lingering like

launch day experience though.

Mm-hmm.

. So it's like, it, it will never be the same again.

Even how even if it's like a aaa, like 10 outta 10 experience in three years,

it'll never be the same, you know?

Yeah.

And that's why I always say that, uh, that's the one thing

I hate about modern gaming is like Reliance is like the live service model

or just thinking it doesn't matter.

It'll eventually get good.

I'm like, No, look at the graveyard.

Yeah.

Like Avenger was right there.

I mean, it just, he just got put into the sacrificial, in the sacrificial

altar and just got, got like beheaded in, in the altar of like, there was a

game that no eventually will get good.

It never got there.

Mm-hmm.

like, it, it really never got there.

And uh, obviously Starfield is not a live service, so usually those games tend to

be like, maybe it's different, but I feel like especially with this, Starfield has

the extra, uh, it, it has an extra, how can I say, lens on it of everyone, like

looking more, uh, like looking at that game in a more, with a more critical eye.

Because now it's Microsoft, like Bankrolling, they got mm-hmm.

. They, they, they, they're, they're putting, this is gonna be a marquee game.

It's like, can they release like a traditional Bethesda game

knowing that you have daddy, Microsoft giving you the money.

Yeah, gimme an

excuse.

Uh, yeah.

Yeah.

And to your point, like, you know, it's not just that it is the fact that

it has the weight of like the entire Xbox catalog on it because like,

what have we been saying about Xbox?

You know, like where are the triple A games and then where

are the first party games?

And then not only that, it's like, where are the new, where Yeah.

Where the new games and then mm-hmm.

when, and then, you know, recently there was, you know, kind of funny

kind of story that movement of like, when was the last time an Xbox game was

nominated for a game of the year war?

Like, and then when I look, when I really

look back at the last decade,

. Sebastion: Yeah.

It's been very dry, so I'm like mm-hmm.

. It has so huge, it has so big hefty like expectations on his shoulders

to like fix all those problems.

Like every single one of those questions, like where have,

where are the triple A games?

Where are the first

party games?

So you wanna know what was the last time that it won was nominated, like

in that game of the year conversation.

When was it?

2012 Hill four.

Wow.

That is insane.

Yeah, because then when I think about like 2013,

like what did Xbox have that year?

Nothing in 2013.

And then in 2014, nothing, like, not even Sony had anything that year 2014 was dry.

That was like the shadow mortar Dragon h uh, south Park the year.

Mm-hmm.

. Then 2015, Xbox had nothing.

PlayStation at least had blood born.

Mm-hmm 2016.

Xbox had nothing.

PlayStation had uncharted 4 20 17.

Xbox had nothing.

PlayStation had Horizon that year, but that was breath of the wild year.

Yeah.

2018.

Xbox had nothing.

uh, God of war 2018 was there 2019.

Xbox had nothing.

, uh, that surrounding was kinda like what was in the talk 2020.

Mm-hmm.

nothing then 2021 Death Loop.

But it wasn't even their game.

. No,

no.

So I'm like, it's, it's been so long and you know, like both

of us want Xbox to do well.

We want there to be like a, uh, a synergy to where all three of the major, you

know, game develop, uh, game consoles are doing well, but like, you gotta give us

something, you know, you gotta mm-hmm.

you gotta give us something to actually play with.

Yeah.

Yeah.

To me specifically, uh, because I think you and I are similar, that we probably,

like, we main on PlayStation, right?

Yeah.

Like, that's like our main, that that's our main console.

Like, I want Xbox to do well because even those Nintendos, as successful as they

are, because they're in such different wavelengths than the other, than the other

ones, it can make, it can make PlayStation feel like they're being successful by

their own, not, not even caring about like Nintendo's success because they're

like in different parallel tracks.

Xbox is in their same track.

Yeah.

So when a really good Xbox is like really putting the heat,

that's when we know PlayStation.

Then we'll Elevate will not rest in their, in their role laurels and they're

gonna elevate like, love it or not like, because I absolutely have been

hating just having to follow the story.

This, this entire past year, the way my Sony acted with the Microsoft,

uh, trying to acquire activation, like the things that they've been

saying, like freaking Jim Bryan flying to Brussels to cry about it.

Basically . Uh, and, and, and just like some of the things, like the

comments that they've been mentioned is like, call of Duty is irreplaceable.

Call of Duty is like this unique thing.

And I'm like, , you're putting too much effort in a third party game when you

have all these like studios that have been like giving you quality game of the

year content, like Oh yeah, for sure.

That you own.

And the way that they have been, they have been like, uh, what's the, this

biblical terms, like the whoever like the, like scratches their, their,

their clothes or something like , like, like, like Torres, they're potentially

losing this like shooter and all that.

Mm-hmm.

. I'm like, it's just been so embarrassing.

But it really does tell you, it's like they're feeling the heat.

Mm-hmm.

, they absolutely feeling the heat.

And Microsoft for some reason takes that game away from it, even though

they have promised it many times.