In-Game Chat

Just a quick note at the start here to say we’ll be running a replay next weekend.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited for a big game release and purchased that game on day one or before with a pre-order. But here we are and I am so happy to tell you about Star Wars Galactic Racer.

I talk about it a lot at the beginning of the show but it just fills me with joy (and some frustration but not the bad kind). Earlier in the day before we did the show I was playing and a random event came up. Turns out that event was the same as Road Rage but my Burnout games and I smiled the whole time!

Some former Burnout devs were involved in making this game and it’s not afraid to show off its roots in that way along with the sense of speed, takedowns, and just the arcade-y racing of it all. But it also doesn’t just rest on that as it brings in a roguelike aspect where you can modify your racer with randomly generated upgrades and parts. And every run is different with builds you work on with each Act in the story.
Then there’s the multiplayer which is a whole lot of fun! The games got legs beyond just the story but the story can be replayed using new parts and vehicles and different choices than the last run you made.

It’s a fantastic game, for me, and it’s so refreshing to be enjoying a game again that I was so very much looking forward to but was skeptical that they could get it right. Many have tried to catch that Burnout lighting in the bottle a second time – even other burnout devs have tried, but this one gets it right. Again though, it doesn’t just get it right, it adds more to it and expands beyond just the racing aspect of it.

An amazing effort for a brand new studio and their first game. But they will be riding this high for a while and I’m also certain we’ll be getting a sequel sooner rather than later.

What we won’t be getting is a new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,801 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 11,375 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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There’s a lot to tell you about from this past week. Most of it isn’t great. And that’s why I’d just rather not talk about it and tell you how excited I am about a game releasing THIS week.

Star Wars Galactic Racer didn’t need the Star Wars license to bring me on board but the more the merrier for whoever that does bring into the fold. Not saying the game could use the help but it’s a brand new studio and it’s their debut title. Having that big of a license on your first game is a pretty big deal and I hope it pays off. It’s a stacked month for game releases but this will be one I buy at some point this week.

The reviews have been outstanding for a game that’s only $50 in a world of $60-$80 titles. The reviews have only reinforced my excitement for the title. My only issue is where I will play the game – PC or console. Still sort of waiting on some PC specific reviews to see if my rig can handle it. I’m good either way though.

My reasoning for my excitement for this is that former Burnout developers from Criterion are working on this game and a lot of that DNA is evident in this title. I’ve been chasing that dragon ever since 2008 after the release of Burnout Paradise. Burnout fans have been yearning for something similar. Something close to what we got. We knew we’d never get ALL of it but even just a taste of what we had – the speed, the takedowns…were seemingly getting that with Galactic Racer.

You can bet my write up next week will be about my time spent with the game and I can’t wait to tell you about it.
While I’m enjoying that, I’ll still be counting the days since we had a Splinter Cell release. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,794 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 11,322 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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I guess we’re back to the bad news aspect again. Not that we ever really escaped it. But here we are again with blood at the feet of Microsoft.

It’s round two of their big Xbox Reset and that means cutting out another near 300 jobs. This time, however, it came with studio consolidation. It’s a pretty massive mix up of studios and it’ll be interesting to see how Activision handles Halo. At this point I’m fine with an overhaul and complete reboot of the franchise. I think the story lost me around Halo 4 maybe.

Nina Theory is a sad loss. For me, anyway. That they were working on a third for the Hellblade series and only needed a buyer (but got none), that one hurts. There’s still maybe a slim chance they find a home, but I’m not hopeful.

Meanwhile Bungie is trying to make good with players, I guess, by bringing back some content they originally took away. I guess players want that? They’d already cut a whole lot of people on the Destiny team to now say they’re gonna work on bringing back this old content. How long will that nostalgia last?

And we’re still waiting on another Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,787 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 11,303 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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I don’t know if this AI thing is gonna go away.

I actually don’t have a problem with AI when it’s used for solving, like, massive world issue problems. Use it to solve world hunger? Sure. Use it to develop new drugs or treatments for things? Absolutely.

Use it to make your game look better? No, thank you. Better yet, use it to replace clearly talented people who create? Absolutely not.

Look, I’m not an expert on AI philosophy or, really, I’m not an expert on anything. I just know that when we hear about it being used, it’s mostly to cut corners and save money. And that puts some game companies in a catch-22 situation. The cost of making these games are going up – mainly because of AI – and that’s putting a huge strain on these game makers to make their game.

And in some (most) cases, it’s nothing like that and the company is just greedy and values profit over everything else.
All of this comes from Level 5 games admitting they used AI in their showcase of new games. We cover it on the show with their excuses as to why and their resolution to change it, but it’s a tough sell when you’ve already crossed the line.

One of these days I’m just going to spend this time with my write up of the show and actually just talk about the fun I’m having playing games instead of the doom and gloom of the world of gaming.

Guess I won’t be writing about a new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,780 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 10,903 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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We’ve been away for like 2 weeks and there’s a LOT to cover. Two or three different game showcases from Nintendo, Sony, Konami, and even Blizzard just before we came on air.

There were more studio closures, Sony dropping a Kojima project only for Microsoft to quickly step in and take it on – I almost picture some kind of “In case Sony drops Kojima, break glass” situation that’s been in place for DECADES just waiting for the moment.

We got early Wolverine reviews and the game is perfectly fine but apparently not good enough amongst the ranks of its own kind. I’ll be skipping it waiting for a chunk of a sale. Not because of the reviews but it’s a single player solo game – it can wait on me for not wanting to plop down $70 right now. There is more to come to save up for and more pressing things my money needs to go to currently.

Although even with all we got from these past few weeks, we’re still without any information on a new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,773 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 10,744 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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Just as a reminder we won’t have a new show next weekend.

As for this show we spend it mostly talking about two things. Gamescom and GTA6.

To start with GTA6 was a pretty successful showcase. It left me coming away with more positives than negatives, but I still hope that mini-map gets some attention. All in all, it’s more GTA, and there’s not much else you could ask for except maybe a bigger map and we’re getting that. I’m still probably there on day one but we’ll see. It’s a heavy asking price so it’s really gonna depend on if I can throw that kind of money at a game at that time or not.

Gamescom’s big showcase, by comparison, felt like a dud. It suffers the same problem as all the other big game shows (organized and hosted by the same guy no less) – they’re just too long and overstuffed. By the time you get to the end of the show you’ve forgotten nearly everything that came before the last reveal save for a game or two that struck you personally. For me it was the Lego Skylines game. A city builder in the Lego world. Otherwise I don’t remember much from that presentation. But cutting it down to an hour and cutting back on how many you show in that hour might actually be helpful. Not only to us but to the people whose games are being shown.

But if any of these big shows ever got another Splinter Cell to show off – that I’d remember. Ubisoft…it’s been 4,759 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 10,618 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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At the beginning of this episode we have a wonderful interview with Katie & Micah. They’re a husband and wife team working on their first game together. The pull of which is styled on Roller Coaster Tycoon but for national parks. It’s a very indie title due to release sometime before the end of the year and you can currently wish list it now on Steam.

After that we talk about some updates from previous stories from last weekend and dive into those leaks of GTA6 and Microsoft decided not to disclose sales numbers anymore.

To expand upon both of those it’s really just two companies who want to keep information from the general public. The GTA leak is a result of that, apparently, and the Microsoft thing – well, that’s kind of a mystery as to why they want to do that. Because now you’ve removed yourself from representation at the table, so to speak.

Either way, it doesn’t matter much on both ends. GTA will eventually get released and we’ll enjoy it for ourselves and Microsoft will just keep doing what they’re doing without us knowing how successful or unsuccessful they were at doing it. There are plenty of other metrics to go on that can tell you if something was successful or not. It won’t be near as official but you can easily “read the room” of the internet for the most part.

Someone else who clearly has not read the room is Ubisoft. Because there are at least a dozen of us waiting for a new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft…it’s been 4,752 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 10,618 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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At the start of this episode I mentioned that AI and RAM prices and all that doom and gloom is still out there but that hopefully we could talk about other things. And we did.

But I could NOT pass up talking about the week that was for Saber and their situation with AI use. They got called out for it. Not from gamers by the way, no. This call came from inside the house. Or, at least, someone who used to be inside the house. The head writer for one of their games brought up the fact that she was fired and replaced by ChatGPT.

What follows seems an almost text book lesson in how NOT to respond to something like this. We cover the whole situation, but you can easily look it all up yourself. And, maybe, try to avoid buying anything Saber in the future.

Outside of that is a discussion as to what could, so far, be on this year’s game of the year contender list. Going on vibes alone, there’s not much. Going on sales, there’s also not much but you’d see games like Mecha Chameleon or Big Walk on that list and other games of the sort – not something I disagree with but the triple A games are lacking so far this year.

There’s still a lot of year left to go, however.

One game that won’t make that list is, you guessed it, Splinter Cell. Ubisoft…it’s been 4,745 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 10,608 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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We’re back and in the two weeks away…nothing has changed. In fact, it’s only gotten worse but what do you expect from an AI world taking in all the ram (and water).

PlayStation tells us it has enough ram for systems through the end of the year and more so during the release of GTA6 but Samsung has said we’re gonna be in the funk for the foreseeable future. Also, both Nvidia and AMD are raising their GPU prices this month. With Microsoft increasing the Xbox price in the UK and Europe.

Speaking of GTA6, the boss of Take-Two Interactive says we’re getting the game at a STEAL for $80/$100. He’s kinda right, if I’m honest. We’ve said before but that’s a game you could put an outrageous price on (kinda is already) and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the kind of numbers it would generate. Still, the way he put it came off like some over the top movie villain. Then again, he’s a CEO, so…

EA would really like the cut of that guy’s jib, given what their CEO walked away with from the success of Battlefield 6. I mean, AFTER they laid off a good number of people first.

Given the way these companies are handled it’s no wonder we’re still waiting on another Splinter Cell game. At this rate it’ll release for a console no one can really afford. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,738 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 9,128 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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Not the busiest of weeks for news, especially compared to previous weeks, but I guess it isn’t all bad.
On my end, we might be getting another shot at someone making a Burnout game. However they’ve tried before and missed the mark so we’ll have to wait and see how this next attempt shakes out.

We don’t have detailed pre-order data for GTA6, but we do know it’s been number one on PlayStation for a while now. Given that, I could probably bet money there will be server issues on one or both of the consoles it’s releasing for on that day. That many people trying to download and play that one game is bound to clog some pipes.

It sure would be nice to get some news on Splinter Cell, but I’ll take that Ghost Recon news next month so long as it’s better than what they previously released. Wildlands was great, I’m talking about the game that came after that. Ubisoft, it’s been 4,724 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 8,701 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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So we finally have a week that isn’t dominated by bad news. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still there. From more layoffs to more physical media options being lost to the expectations that our RAM pricing issues will only get worse.

But let’s focus on the good for a bit at least. Summer Games Done Quick raised over TWO MILLION dollars for charity and that’s just an absolutely wonderful thing to share. I’m not sure where it stands among previous efforts but it doesn’t matter. Anything raised when there was none before is always a good thing.

In the “captain obvious” segment of the news we heard that analysts predict a slump in console sales on the horizon. Given the fact console prices keep increasing this didn’t really take a particularly strong set of mind powers to foresee. We again state, as we have for a while now, the best time to buy was yesterday. The second best time is today. This advice will now continue to be the case until sometime in 2028 or further.

And Ubisoft made the news but not for good reason as there have been more layoffs after the VERY successful launch of the Black Flag remake. They still have not yet released Splinter Cell.

Ubisoft, it’s been 4,717 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 8,527 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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I don’t know how many more times I can start these things by saying we have more bad news but…

We have more bad news. Likely by now you know most of it. The gaming world has been dominated by the news from both Sony and Microsoft.

On the Microsoft side, it’s the layoffs. The big “reset”. We’d known cuts were coming and we expected it to be bad. We didn’t know how bad but it didn’t matter. Whatever we thought wasn’t near what actually happened.

In 2025 there were about 5500 jobs lost in the gaming industry. Just two weeks ago the number for 2026 was over 4500 jobs lost but after the Microsoft cuts, we’re at over 8000 jobs lost this year.

And it’s not over.

On the Sony side of things it’s the decision to stop producing physical discs for first and third party PlayStation titles beginning in 2028. This will likely spread across other gaming platforms as well. Sony took the hit for making the announcement but it’s almost a given that Microsoft and Nintendo will follow.

The future for physical media is bleak.

The future for video gaming is bleak.

The future for PC gaming/building is bleak.

And it’s not over.

Ubisoft, Splinter Cell will not save you, even though it’s been 4,710 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 8,312 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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Before we get to the (bad) news this week, a reminder that we’ll be off next weekend due to the holiday.

Also, a massive thank you to all of you who helped us reach our goal covering our server costs for the year. We appreciate that more than you know and we can’t begin to express what it means to us. Seriously, thank you.

Now for the bad news. This was a week packed full of what normally would be pretty amazing news but it’s just all bad because of…everything.

In any other reality the Steam Machines release would have been a pretty big deal of good news but the prices threw water on that fire pretty quick. And it only made people look even closer into it to find more limitations than anything else – specifically because of how much you’re paying for the thing. The higher the price the more you need to know what you’re buying.

Staying in alternate realities, the pre-order for GTA6 would be massive! But we have no numbers yet on what that is and the price, ultimate edition, along with the whole “no physical” editions has turned the whole thing a bit sour to some folks.

While also being in the dark timeline, Xbox console prices are increasing a THIRD time. Six whole years into this generation this SHOULD NOT be happening, but it is. And it’s only going to get worse.

Then there’s the job losses. Which, as you’ll see below, has now increased and will increase again. Last year, in total, we had about 5,300 job losses and we’re very close to hitting that mark THIS year.

It’s bleak. And hope does not seem to be on the horizon.

But at least that new Star Wars racer plays like Burnout.

Ubisoft…it’s been 4,696 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 4,658 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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And the bad news just keeps rolling on.

To start with, after the wonderful help and generosity with the help of our hosting costs – our host decided to increase our costs. If you are able to help, and I get that we’re living in times right now where helping, financially, is difficult, we appreciate even the least little bit. It’s all laid out in the post just below this one on our website. So, again, thank you.

As for the other bad news, Microsoft is currently in the reaping part of that whole phrase/verse/proverb. And it really sucks. We keep a running tally of job losses at the end of each of these posts and that number is about to go WAY up. Nothing has happened yet but it’s likely to in the weeks to come.

And it’s happening with Bungie & Sony as well.

I’m not sure what the good news could be or any kind of silver lining in all of this is, but I don’t think it’s going to stop or slow down any time soon. There’s a whole ripple effect that’s going on with a near perfect storm of economic issues, RAM issues because of AI (and the economy), and game/console development issues because of the RAM and the economy.

As much as I harp on Ubisoft for never releasing another Splinter Cell – it won’t save them. I get now why they are just, seemingly, going with a remake. It’s been…it’s been 4,689 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.

Also, there’s been 3,895 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

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By now, you know the drill. And it’s a little annoying to have to do this again but as my luck would always have it, our hosting costs went up.

It went from $155 to $191. Odd ass numbers, I know but I’m being as transparent as possible on this cause it means so much to me the generosity and trust you show us.

We had an amazing response last week and were pretty much covered at that point until Monday when Dreamhost emailed me about the price increase.

Again, as before, we appreciate you listening to the show, downloading the audio, watching on YouTube and Twitch. You’re the reason we’re still doing this now in our 20th year. And, also, again, the situation here is not a make or break one. We’re going to cover the funds for hosting, but if help is out there we appreciate whatever you can do.

Again, we want to thank you for your continued support every single year and for however you can help us here. We don’t have merch to offer or anything like that for your donation, but we’ll be forever thankful for whatever you can donate.

And even if you can’t, we’re good. We promise. Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you for your support and for listening.

-Scott