Category: Episodes

As a note, well…two notes, we won’t be doing a show next week and will return with a new episode the first Saturday in December. Secondly, there’s a point in the video portion of the show where I forgot to change the screen. Probably more entertaining really.

There actually was a decent amount of news worth talking about and should still be when we return in two weeks, but for this one, we just run down the current deals to be had and what to watch out for during the Black Friday sales. If I buy anything or not it’s always my favorite time of year to see some good discounts. Some are better than others and some years are better than others. As an overall assessment of this year’s deals – we’ve had better. Much better.

That isn’t to say it’s all at a loss here, but there’s been better and bigger discounts on far more items in the past than we’re seeing this year. Trust me, I know. I’ve been doing this whole thing back when you physically had to line up outside a store for the sales.

As is the case with this time of year, all of us at In-Game Chat (yeah, I know, it’s like just two of us at this point) are exceptionally thankful for every single one of you reading this and listening/watching the show. Be it live or after the fact. We’re here because of you and we cannot tell you how much it means to know you’re out there supporting us. We hope you have a fantastic holiday season and we’ll see you on December 6th.

Ubisoft, you just got a massive truck load of money from Tencent. You WON’T make another Splinter Cell, but you really should. It has been 4,479 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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It’s not black Friday yet but we already open the show talking about some great deals to be found out there. Well, currently if you have a Switch 2 and a Costco nearby, at least.

I don’t know what it is for me about finding deals, but as much as people love this time of year for all those holiday reasons I’m just as excited to find some amazing deals. I chase them down like some sort of gaming discount hunter on safari. Even better, it doesn’t even have to be gaming related for me to get me going. Could be anything from a pair of shoes to a big bundle of dishwashing detergent on some crazy sale.

But for here, we keep it as close to gaming as we can. And right now you can get good deals on Donkey Kong Banaza at Costco and a crazy deal on a PS5 at a base exchange if you’re military.

Next week’s episode will cover, hopefully, far more deals on games and gaming systems. And anything else that’s just too amazing of a deal to pass up.

As for the rest of the show, well, Valve had a lot to show and tell us about all their new toys except for what we’ll have to pay for them. I think they might get the Steam Machines right this time. Maybe even their VR too. Not sure yet on the controller, but who knows? And a lot of getting it right will have to do with whatever price they come up with as well. It is a REALLY bad time to be building/buying a PC currently.

Ubisoft, you were THIS close to making it happen. Then you got greedy. It has been 4,472 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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I’ve never felt so judged.

Actually, I’m kidding. I think going over my wishlist with someone else on air was fun, actually, and I learned how to “follow” a game instead of wishlist it.

That’s the whole first hour of the show. Going over my, currently, $6,000 wishlist on Steam. Also realized I had games there from well over ten years ago that I’ve still not purchased. Perhaps I’ll do a clean up of sorts today and get that trimmed down.

We got another delay for GTA6. Probably a lot of publishers/developers who let out a sigh of relief so they could better schedule when they’d be releasing their games. If the new date sticks to November 2026 then expect there to be VERY few releases for the holiday. Call Of Duty will come as usual but probably earlier in October. And for November you’ll see practically nothing and it’ll stay that way until February. Except for Nintendo. They don’t ever seem to care what they’re up against. They do their own thing and go their own way.

We still don’t know what kind of price we’ll be paying for that game either.

Ubisoft, it has been 4,465 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Destiny sure did a number on me as far as games are concerned. Or maybe I did it to myself.

It’s something that happens early in the show but it’s an admission to myself or a realization that Destiny has given me some type of gaming anxiety.

Recently Arc Raiders released and it’s gotten a lot of positive talk. It’s probably a bit Destiny-adjacent. Something with a little tiny bit of that DNA within it, and it doesn’t actually need all that much to begin with to pull me in. So there’s the pull of me giving it a try. If it works and grabs me I’d be excited to be a part of that conversation and maybe find something else fun to play on a consistent basis, but that’s also where I worry. That it does to me what Destiny did and that is honestly not a place I want to go back to. It consumed my gaming time. I passed over a LOT of games during that time. Or, at the very least, didn’t give a lot of games the time they deserved to really enjoy them. That’s not missing out, really – the games are still there for me now to go back to, and I have. I’ve also experienced a lot of other games because of my ban from Destiny.

Ultimately I think that ban was a good thing. The other night after the show I jumped into Discord with the old clan who were running something in the game and I was able to watch them and listen in. I missed it. But I didn’t miss what all of it had turned into for me. I just missed the group. I missed the fun of playing together like that.

I’m not looking for another Destiny. I’m just looking for a place where I can play with my friends again.

I am, however, looking for another Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it has been 4,458 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Long live the indies indeed.

That’s how I ended the last show post here before our little week vacation. And in that time I’ve played pretty much nothing but indie titles. Specifically Clover Pit and Ball X Pit.

These two games alone dominated not only my time gaming but my off time thinking about them. And both of them are less than $20 – even better when they’re bundled together.

Speaking of prices, we’re getting closer and closer to those cheap deals for the holiday seasons. I don’t know how cheap we’ll get them this year, but if you can, I’d hold off on buying pretty much anything right now gaming related unless it’s something like what I mentioned earlier or the deal is already pretty good with whatever you find. Console stuff will probably see the majority of discounts but, on rare occasions, you might find some good PC game deals.

None of this has ANYTHING to do with what we talked about on the show as mostly that was just a hodgepodge of different topics. Video game TV adaptations, good performers (Battlefield 6), bad performers (Bloodlines 2), naming conventions for games with countless sequels, Halo on PS5…

Let me say something about that – Halo released in 2001. It’s been rereleased and remade like 3 or 4 more times since then. If, in all that time, you haven’t played the first game somewhere, then you are probably not in the market to play it now. I get that new players MIGHT be drawn to this on their PS5, but to also not include the multiplayer at launch seems absolutely pointless in 2026 when this thing releases. I’m not hopeful for this release. I want it to do well, cause I’m never really on the side of things failing, but I can’t see this having ANY legs at all.

I could be wrong. I usually am.

Good job on Ubisoft and Netflix with the Splinter Cell animated series. Again I hope it spawns interest enough to actually make a new game in the series but, like before, I’m not hopeful. Ubisoft, it has been 4,451 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Show note: There’s no show next week. I failed to mention that until the VERY end of this episode. We’ll be back on October 25th.

I wouldn’t say that I’m worried about the future of my hobby. I don’t expect a crash like in the early 80s or whenever that was. I think I’m just concerned about the future of, perhaps, maintaining MY hobby. Cause ain’t none of this looking to get any cheaper.

We’ve spoken before about the console prices going up – twice from Microsoft this year already. But now to push out further into the future (not sure how far) to the next generation of systems from Microsoft and Sony. I can’t imagine paying close to or more than a thousand dollars for one. But I also can’t see how they pull off selling them for any cheaper, given the way things are now and where they are headed.

I’ve not even bothered to think about making any upgrades to my PC. I don’t know what parts are going for now but I do know that graphics cards are INSANELY overpriced. And the bang for your buck is just not proportional. The math barely worked when they were $800 for a 3080 or whatever and that was back something like five years ago.

The indies shall inherit the industry. Yeah, maybe. What they’ll likely do is keep pumping out original games or better versions of existing games to keep us playing on whatever system we own regardless of PC or console. Vampire Survivors, Clover Pit, Balatro, Among Us…the titles that run on all the platforms but don’t take the latest and greatest to run at all.

Because none of this is affordable. Video gaming was always a luxury expense, but never one that was completely out of reach. It’s getting harder and harder to say that, however. Hell, at this point some common commodities are shifting into luxury expenses the way prices are going.

All hail the generic store brand.

Long live the indies.

Ubisoft, it has been 4,437 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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I don’t know that I would call it a complaint, but saying we have too many video games sure seems like a good problem to have – for the player.

But having too much of anything is almost certainly going to, at least, end up being bad.

I don’t know when we might see the negatives for this and maybe we already are – I keep, as best I can, a running total of job losses in video games alone for the year. Now some of those come from mergers and buyouts but a lot just come from studios who release a game and then don’t make that money back so they have to cut staff and sometimes just close up shop altogether.

I’m not sure releasing fewer games would help the situation but it sure would give me more time to buy what I want and play it while waiting for the next thing (that’s a really funny joke if you know my buying/playing habits, but we’re talking in a general sense here). I know it would give more games more time to soak. Time to own the shelf space or the mind space of the players.

Breathing room. Not only for the game but the consumer as well.

I don’t know the result of this or when/if we ever see one. I worry that with all the games releasing and a fair chunk of them being very good titles, they’ll miss the boat. Studios releasing in an uncrowded space could make their money back but not currently it seems. And more failures to reach money goals means more layoffs and closures means less games.

Maybe there’s an ebb and flow to that. Maybe we’ve done this before and I just wasn’t paying attention. Maybe this is blown out of proportion. I just know you don’t hear us talking about playing the latest titles almost ever in the sense that we’ve played them. But, man, that’s a lot of job losses for the year so far.

Ubisoft, it has been 4,423 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Surprise! Tariffs make things more expensive. I actually didn’t have to finish writing that. The whole smart document thing saw “tariffs make things…” and it completed the rest of it.

So yeah, now we’ve got the second price hike in 6 months for Microsoft consoles. We’re at a point where if you bought a Series X back in 2020 when they launched, you could sell it now five years later for a profit. And that’s even if you’ve used it for that long as well. Also amazingly, you could trade that in at a game store and now get FAR more for it than you would have 6 months ago.

It’s ridiculous. It’s also ridiculous with how much a console is going to cost. PS5’s were already up there and now the Xbox family is kinda surpassing it – in price mind you. Also, let me go back and point out that we’re nearing 6 years of these consoles being around. You look at ANY other time previous and tell me when you’ve seen the consoles GO UP in price where it isn’t a collectible but still on the shelves. Sure, they’ve released upgraded versions of these things with the Pro models and what not, but it’s never been like this before that I can remember.

And I won’t even bother to think what will happen when these companies start showing off their next generation of hardware. It feels like that is something on the horizon but I’m honestly hoping it is way down the line when we’re past this whole tariff thing and things have settled a bit. If it doesn’t, we’re probably looking at 800-1000 dollar consoles.

I don’t know if that’s the “sky is falling” mentality, but we’re already in the 650-750 range with what’s out there now and going beyond that with better hardware and stuff, the price will be significantly higher. If you want to get in now, you should. Do it before the price hike takes effect on October 3rd.

I saw another trailer for the Splinter Cell animated series for Netflix and I’m very excited for it. It won’t fill that void of having a new game in the series but it’s something to remind people it exists and hopefully resurges Ubisoft to get on the ball with whatever they’re working on. Ubisoft, it has been 4,416 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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We’d planned to bring you one of our first interviews in I don’t know how many years but some technical issues have pushed that through to next week.

We’ll be talking with Aaron Gwynaire about his new game NEYYAH.

As for today’s show, it’s a lot about Nintendo. Both with their Nintendo Direct held on Friday and a little something about their IP protection. We focus more on the direct, however.

I’m glad to see them supporting Mario for the 40th anniversary, although a massively overpriced port of two games wasn’t on my bingo card – however, given their recent releases of Switch 1 ports to Switch 2 with upgrades and making them SEVENTY DOLLARS, I shouldn’t be surprised.

Come to think of it, watching that direct and seeing some first party releases like Yoshi, Metroid, and others, I’m only now realizing that those will also come with a price tag of seventy or higher. And Nintendo doesn’t do discounts. Not anymore. What little they do is barely anything worth waiting for. And it’s likely I’ll move to buying their titles used much further down the road.

Not that it matters. My backlog is full of great things to play and as each week passes my PC gaming wish list keeps dropping in price with sale after sale. I’ll be fine for gaming. Just not…Nintendo gaming – though I have a full backlog there as well.

What I don’t have is Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it has been 4,409 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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It’s been a few weeks and in that time I seemed to have found some games to actually put some time into. Nothing new, of course, but given I haven’t played them yet, they’re new to me.

Recently I finished Astro’s Playroom. This was a pack-in title with the PS5. A console purchased in November of 2020. And it’s so very weird to go back and finish something that you hadn’t touched since January of 2021. There’s a few trophies from the game that scatter from November of 2020 to January 2021 and then a MASS of them all within the most recent weeks. And that’s the weird part. If it wasn’t pulling me in then, why now?

I don’t know. It’s over with and was a fun little title and pretty cool to get as a free download – we don’t really get a lot of those anymore with our console purchases – or at least we didn’t back then. We still don’t but the Switch 2 did have the option of getting it with Mario Kart World. And if you buy an Xbox I think it comes with a month free of Gamepass which is a massive library to pick from, so I guess it isn’t all bad there.

It was fun to find games again to play, and continue to play – not just a few moments of gaming and then be done with it. I’m hoping the streak will continue because I’ve got a lot more to look into or just to continue to play. With some new stuff on the horizon as well. Oh! Hey! The two Horizon games I haven’t played either.

Still no Splinter Cell game to play, yet. But next month we get an animated series. Sorry, Ubisoft, fine print says that doesn’t count. We want a brand new entry into the series. And it has been 4,402 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Just a note for the show – Labor Day is next week here so we won’t be back live until September the 6th.

With Gamescom come and gone we’re sort of set for the year on upcoming releases. I mean, there’s plenty of releases to come but I don’t see anything too surprising to show up that we didn’t already know about – except for where Nintendo stands. They do their own thing on their own time – and that only relates to first party titles.

The next big gaming thing we’re looking at next will be the Game Awards. That overly long advertisement for games with an award or two thrown in for good measure. But that’s in December.

Right now, we’re getting into the “-ber” months, and my usual situation there is that whatever you might want, if you can wait, might be better bought at a discount come November or December. It fluctuates as far as what you might be interested in and if it’s worth waiting for a discount. For instance, I’m looking forward to Ball X Pit. I don’t know the price yet on that title, but it’s not likely something I’ll sit on. You probably have a few games like that as well.

In the meantime, I’ll continue looking for a game to hold me over for a while. I’ll try again today to see what grabs me and go from there.

Maybe I’ll go back to an old Splinter Cell game considering there’s no risk of getting burned out on that title before a new one is released. Ubisoft, it has been 4,388 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 3,563 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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It’s not unlike us from time to time to sort of stray off topic for a little bit. And by “us”, I mean “me”. And that’s the case early in this episode and throughout as I try and remember the very first comic book I ever read. At some point I’m going to have to go digging. I’m pretty sure I still have the issue and would know it when I see it.

But now I’m doing the same thing here as I did on the show. So let me try to stick to gaming for a moment if only to say that I really haven’t branched out and played very much. Still kind of in limbo for now as to what to sink my teeth into. It’ll come to me eventually. And it’s not something I’m bothered by. Just like the comic book, I’ll know it when I see it…or feel it as it were. God knows my backlog is SCREAMING for attention.

It would have been nice maybe to have that Dragon Age remaster. Given the nostalgia of the previous 3 right now are the only things keeping that franchise in any kind of positive memory considering what Veilguard did to it. I never played it so I don’t know and I hardly played those previous 3 but I kind of would like to revisit them and see if it holds my attention. Our tastes, in all sorts of ways, change over time and I’m curious if now I could actually get into the series. I sort of did with the second one but not near enough to remember anything. And it was all the way back on the 360, I think.

Something will eventually fall into my lap and you’ll hear me gush over it week after week, it just takes some time.

Speaking of time, Ubisoft, it has been 4,381 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 3,563 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Still haven’t found a game to hold my attention in recent weeks and now, seemingly, months it feels like.

I have a lot of quick games I play. Little things that I can spend however much time I want with them and back out whenever. But nothing on a story driven basis or anything like that to really keep me coming back and advancing.

Avowed was on a really good path at doing that for me but it was just so big. Eventually the size of that game and my need to explore everything I could in every map just broke me down to a gaming exhaustion.

So I’m looking for something to hold me but not something to engulf me, you know? The Battlefield 6 beta looked kind of fun while watching streams but I don’t know how well I work with mouse/keyboard controls just yet. Typing this is better than it used to be but I’m still mistyping keys on the regular here while I do this. Although…Avowed would be a good way to test out how that’s working for me since that was the game I was playing when it started to become an issue.

What I don’t want is another live service game to get into and what’s strange is that WB Games, after failing spectacularly with it a year ago, seems to want to give me just that. I mean, there could be a way to make that work, but it was a pretty big fail for them and it’s just strange how they want to try again so soon. Even with the same intellectual property.

At this point, I might actually take a live service Splinter Cell, if that’s the only way I could get one. Ubisoft, it has been 4,374 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 3,563 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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Another quick note to let you know we will NOT be doing a show next weekend.

This week however was more just chatting and rambling. Which, I get it, is most of what we do anyway. It’s been a minute for me since I have settled on a game to play. Got a good ways through Avowed, made some progress in Doom The Dark Ages, went through the main story of Clair Obscure, and put some time in with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, but for the most part it’s just been me dipping my toe into a game here or a game there. Something that doesn’t require a multiple play commitment. I can be in and out of it and move on if I want.

Outside of a few exceptions of games built, literally, to do just that, I guess I’m trying to find my next multiple play commitment. That is, something that holds me and keeps me coming back to it so I can advance the story and finish the game. I lost that with Avowed, Doom, and Mirage. Getting into them significantly but ultimately getting burned out on them before finishing. Or, in Mirage’s case, just not being gripped by the story.

Of course, my backlog overfloweth. There’s a number of games on my PC and console that I could probably jump into and find what I’m looking for. That’s pretty much my weekend now where gaming is concerned – looking. Browsing. This is something I am extremely good at – wasting time window shopping. However, every now and again, something stands out. Something grabs my eye or attention and sometimes that something can be pretty good.

So the search continues.

Maybe I could go back and play an old Splinter Cell. Sure as hell won’t be playing a NEW Splinter Cell anytime soon. Ubisoft, it has been 4,360 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 3,563 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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