Category: Episodes

Brooks was here.

I guess a lot can happen in two weeks. We hardly touched on anything that really came about during those two weeks but we did give some time to Starfield. And we’ll likely give it more time in the weeks to come.

In other news, I’m in an interesting position as far as my gaming habits are concerned. I somehow got banned from Destiny 2. I’ve filed an appeal as it is the only action I can actually take in the matter, but I’m sort of stuck. I knew that at some point in the future I would be done with the game. That point was only about a year away really, and it was unknown as to just how it all would end and if I might continue on depending on what was offered after this whole saga wraps up. But now, well, it feels kind of weird not having that available to me anymore. In some ways freeing and in some ways lost.

Yes, I know we’re talking about a video game. That’s part of why I’m not in some sort of rage or sadness over it. If it’s done, it’s done. If they reinstate my account, also good. Not sure I’ll come back if they do, but that all depends on time, I guess. For now, the world’s my oyster with video games, and there’s a ton out there for me to experience.

I will miss it, though. Not so much the game, but playing it with my clan. I think all games that invite teamwork can, over time, build a community and within that community grows relationships and bonds. Helpful strangers become years-long friendships. Moments remembered. Milestones achieved. Over a long enough amount of time, that all becomes a bond. Destiny 2 encouraged that, almost in spite of how horrible a job it did within the game itself. And that brings me back to the community that was born of it. So if there’s sadness or rage, it comes from the loss of that aspect. Not from NOT playing the game. But from missing playing and talking about the game with my friends.

There’s no interesting segue to the signature close of this show post. I can’t and honestly don’t want to connect the two. It’s simply been 3,653 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.

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I love Max Payne 1 & 2. Absolutely love them. The first was fantastic and the second took it exactly where it needed to go and pulled it off near flawlessly. Then came Max Payne 3.

I just finished that before doing this episode and while I’m not sure the setting and story were Max Payne worthy – the dialogue was spot on near perfection. Just one liner after one liner to the point I wanted a soundboard so I could play a random clip of dialogue from the game to convey whatever I might be feeling at the current moment.

I’ve been having a run on noir-style games at the moment with Max Payne 3 and doing a replay of The Wolf Among Us. Not sure where I’ll go next but the next season of Destiny is right around the corner. For better or worse.

Then comes Starfield.

To quote Max Payne – Time was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

Speaking of time – Ubisoft, it has been 3,632 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.

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The backlog is on the fire and we are cooking!

I don’t know why that was the first line to come to mind, but…there it is. Point being, I’ve been going back into some old games recently and enjoying them very much. Mostly, I don’t remember playing some of these games. Max Payne 3 I have a few memories of and sometimes during my playthrough it’ll trigger and I’ll have a momentary flash of recognition. It doesn’t last long.

Same with Wolf Among Us. I have one distinct memory of that early on in Episode 1 and…that’s it. Some parts of it seem like a memory or a confusion between other games, but nothing has stuck, really. And the same goes for LA Noire. Near a total blank there and I actually wrote a review of the game way back in 2013. Or earlier.

It’s fun to revisit old games that you enjoyed. And even more so when your memory is so shot you sort of experience them again for the first time – a second time. Then again, there’s plenty over the years I haven’t played and I’m looking forward to those as well (I’m looking at you Control & Titanfall 2).

But I’m absolutely not looking at Red Dead Redemption’s Switch/PS4 port.

Speaking of old games – Ubisoft, it has been 3,625 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.

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For a brief moment in the show (probably not too brief knowing how I ramble) we talk about the next thing from Nintendo. And right there live on the show I’m thinking about it. Or at least, analyzing HOW I think about a new console from Nintendo. Mainly given my history of their new systems.

I realized that most likely beginning with the Gamecube, I’ve kept the big N from being compared to the other two, Microsoft & Sony. I mean, even then I was comparing but I think it was during that system’s lifetime and what we knew was coming next where I just sort of kept them separate. From the design of their systems to their libraries of games – it’s just a different world from what’s going on in Xbox land and PlayStation world. And Nintendo (and probably the other two) all kind of look at it that way as well.

And it occurred to me that I’m never actually interested in the design of a PS or an Xbox. I’m interested in what’s inside them and their power, but never the look. And it’s a bit different with Nintendo. Their form factor (even more so now that they’ll likely stick to a portable device) is crucially important. Maybe more so than the innards of the machine itself. We know it’ll be improved over the current Switch, but it will hardly matter how much. We’re just waiting for the gimmick. Motion controls for the Wii, portability for the Switch. So what’s next? Guts be damned – how does the system look and feel in my hands?

Speaking of what’s next – Ubisoft, it has been 3,618 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.

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Sometimes…there’s just nothing to talk about. This is normal for this time of the year. There’s a few of these here and there throughout the year where, well, really nothing is happening. Nothing newsworthy at the moment anyway. Kind of a lull in releases as well.

So we look at our back catalog and, for me, that’s been Red Dead Redemption 2. And while I want more of that, say a third game maybe, we already know Rockstar is working on GTA6. When what they should be working on…is Bully 2.

I say that without ever having played the first game. I only know from the reception the game received to the revival years later and yet again years after that. It’s cyclical but a TON of people look back fondly on that game and wonder if/when we might get another.

Probably never. But Rockstar has surprised me before. Table Tennis, anyone?

Speaking of ‘probably never’ – Ubisoft, it has been 3,618 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.

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A Long Time Ago…

However many years ago it was when Jedi Fallen Order released. I’ve finally jumped into the game and well, not a lot to complain about from a ever how many years old game but there are some issues. Mainly the map.

I mention this on the show but the level of confusion early on is not so much the getting to a place on a planet but getting BACK from that place. The different paths to take weren’t too bad early on because I didn’t have the abilities to really do any of the branching but as I got more into the game, I’ve opened up paths that have confused me more than giving me a shortcut or new pathways to explore. At this point, I’m actually glad to see a path that moves the story along rather than something that has a collectible or whatever.

Also, the Wookies are nightmare fuel in that game. I hope the sequel did a better job with them.

In other news, well, there isn’t much. Mostly more of the Microsoft/Activision thing and this deal made with Sony for Call Of Duty to stay multi-platform. But really, it was a slow week gaming news wise. Which is fine. There’s always a few lulls during the year between news, releases, and whatever else. This happens to be one of those for the time being. We’ll see what happens next week.

Speaking of waiting for things to happen – Ubisoft, it has been 3,611 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.

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At long last, that poor dead horse can finally stop being beaten.

Microsoft is now in the clear for buying Activision. This is likely to happen on Monday at some point or that week anyway. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens from here on out. I mean, Microsoft will still buy more studios (but nothing like this, not 67 BILLION dollars) and they will likely buy them within the year, but this is the big one. The biggest one, really. It’s historic the money being spent here and what’s happening.

While the conversation of courts and stuff will die down, new ones will come about in regards to what will happen with the games of Activision/Blizzard as well as the people there. We’re all expecting Gamepass to explode with more content (I think it’ll be minimal for the most part), it’s likely going to mean that going forward whatever was planned from these studios/publishers will show up on Gamepass and may actually be exclusive – unless deals were already in place.

It’s a bit odd to think that 67 Billion was spent on this deal and the top two game names that come to mind are Call Of Duty and Diablo. I mean, there’s WAY more than that, but it really feels like they spent that much money just to have those two franchises. As big as they are, I suppose.

Anyway, this horse is dead. Bring on the next one.

Oh hey, here’s another dead horse. Ubisoft, it has been 3,604 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.

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Over the past two weeks I’ve been giving my Xbox console some more love than I usually do. It’s on the big TV and there’s Gamepass so there’s bound to be something worth playing or a lot of somethings, actually.

Turns out while there were a few games there worth my time, I ended up going back to Red Dead Redemption 2. The last save state for that game was from 2018 and for whatever reason this time the game stuck with me and I’ve been moving forward in it daily. Even made it finally to Chapter 3.

There was also Flight Sim. This was something I built my PC for but never got around to playing on PC but thought I would give it a try on console. It blew me away and now, more than ever, I’d finally like to play it on PC.

Speaking of PCs and consoles, we kind of have that discussion here again. And I notice as time goes on the line gets thinner and thinner when it comes to needing to own a console to play certain games. With Sony jumping in to publish on PC, there seems to be only Nintendo left.

Although the mod/emulator community have certainly helped to thin that line as well.

But I’ll play Splinter Cell wherever they decide to release it. If they ever do. Ubisoft, it has been 3,597 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.

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I really wish they’d spread this out.

I’m speaking mainly of all the reveals, updates, expansions…just all the announcements. Spread out that stuff, please. It’s like overeating at a restaurant or a movie that goes on WAY too long. I know it’s an odd thing to hear, but I’m not asking them to cut back (as helpful as that might be), I’m just asking them to spread it out over the course of the summer or even the month.

It is amazing to see all the games being announced, but it’s overwhelming. By the time I’m done watching the 90 minute presentation, I’ve forgotten about most of the games shown off. This is followed by another 60 to 90 minute presentation. And I’m writing this on a Sunday morning, with 2 more shows today and more coming this week. It’s just…it’s a lot.

And really, I’m only saying this because of ALL the games that kind of fall through the cracks here. Lots of interesting looking games, but they’re either buried under other interesting looking games or aren’t scheduled for release until much later. And, sometimes even worse, they get released now or in the next few days and are buried again under all these other announcements and shows.

I know it sounds like old-man-complaining here, but it’s more about everything being done within a week when there’s a month or two where it can be spread out.

Even still, it is nice to see so many games on the horizon or sooner. And by that I just mean the amount of different types of games to cover all kinds of genres and interests. It doesn’t matter what type of games you like, there is easily something (or multiple somethings) coming soon for you.

This is the part where I continue to count how many days since Ubisoft released a new Splinter Cell game. Keep in mind they are working on what’s been called a remake of the first game and we might actually see that show up this week. But, if it isn’t new, we’re still going to be counting the days. And for now it has been 3,569 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.

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What do we call this now?

I guess we’re in the E3 season, but we can’t really call it that anymore since E3 is all but dead at this point.

So the new game announcement season? I don’t know what to call it but someone with much more creativity than me will figure it out. And it’ll be simple as hell and staring us in the face the entire time. Whatever it’ll be called, we just got our first taste of it with Sony’s PlayStation Showcase.

It was…okay. I mean, they showed off a lot of new games but how many of those are going to be selling PS5’s? Very few of them we saw were exclusives to the system and even some of them coming from first party studios were also getting PC releases (mostly the live service games we saw). Other than that it was a lot of multiplatform games and Spider-Man. And Spidey didn’t feel like it was moving the needle into killer app territory.

Sony does seem to be putting in a lot of work into the live service game category. Now, I know those will have a PC release as well as a console release and may even get multiplatform releases on the Switch and Xbox, but this wasn’t a move I was expecting from Sony. There were, at the very least, 3 different live service game announcements all from Sony, two or more maybe from first party studios. And I’m not including Destiny in that mix. It remains to be seen how they’ll market those. Free to play? Subscription service? Will we see some sort of Sony storefront on PC or maybe a PC PlayStation Plus, perhaps?

We’ll find out in time, of course, but all in all, it was kind of a weak showing from Sony. Because while there were a lot of games, it was hardly a handful that Sony could claim as their own and point to for a reason to buy their system. Not that I’ve got much faith in Microsoft either, but that’s coming in the next few days and, well, they’ve got Starfield so…yeah.

None of them, however, have Splinter Cell because it has been 3,562 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.

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Freedom isn’t free.

The new Zelda game is just running rampant across the internet, gaming news, reviews, whatever…it’s all over the place and a LOT of people are playing and enjoying it. I’m highly tempted to join them, except, and this is weird, I’m kind of intimidated by it.

Open world games are a wonderful concept. Giving the player the freedom to do whatever they want in the game. Even more so in Zelda with the construction/build aspect. Except that large open world games kind of make me a bit nervous. When it’s vastly open as with Zelda or maybe Elden Ring, I get a bit overwhelmed by my options and tend to turn off the game. Maybe it’s the thought of starting the journey that gets me, I’m not sure, but with no sign pointing me to a direction I tend to feel lost.

In fact, thinking about it now, I’m almost sure it’s the start that gets me. That small bump in the road of where to go and what to do, the lack of restraints keeping me from doing whatever I want without following the main story line, it’s all a bit jarring at the outset – for me.

But Zelda, like Elden Ring, is really REALLY big. And I haven’t played either of these games, I just know the incredible size of their maps and I know how I play open world, well…ANY game, for that matter. I cover every possible inch I am able. Which can also be a point of concern when starting out one of these things knowing how I approach them. The last Zelda game I played (at least up to the final boss) was Wind Waker. And I know the time that took me and how much I explored.

But I loved it. And I’m sure, once I eventually get started and settled into it, I’ll be just as in love with this Zelda game as that one. I’m looking forward to it, even if it’s with a little hesitation knowing what I’m getting myself into.

Speaking of looking forward to things I love…Ubisoft, it has been 3,548 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.

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A PC in every port(able).

A year ago if you told me that a year from then we’d have competing PC handhelds, I don’t think I would have believed you. When the Steam Deck launched I didn’t see or hear of any competitors around the corner for Valve. It was just them.

A year (and some months) later and we’ve got our second one about to hit the store shelves. And I think there’s about 2 or 3 more just on the horizon to be released. And better yet, they all have something to offer that’s different from each other. They aren’t carbon copies of any one system and they all do what they do in different ways. And better still, none of them, for the most part, seem to really be skimping on how they deliver a really good gaming experience on their device. At least from the reviews and previews of what’s available.

And really, all this means is that over the coming years you’re going to hear of improvements and updates to the existing hardware and better releases of the next version of every one of these that stick around long enough (and are successful enough) to make. This is great news for any of us interested in these PC gaming handhelds.

More so, if you never jumped into the PC gaming space because of what it took to build or just outright buy your own machine, a lot of these are a great secondary choice of doing just that. Although I’d argue that some of the pricing on these devices could warrant a better desktop PC than a handheld (even a laptop in some cases), but that’s totally up to you on that.

It’s already great that I have a Steam Deck where I can play a portable (but old) Splinter Cell. Still, Ubisoft, I’d really like a new one to play on-the-go. It has been 3,541 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.

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Redfall. More like Redfail…

That’s a bad joke. There’s really no reason for dogpiling on the game at this point. The whole thing is bad and you don’t have to look for very long to see that in the reviews.

But I am ALL KINDS of curious as to how it got here. From a studio that has had its share of successes and back to back to back at that – what went wrong?

How did it get through testing? How did it get through any sort of Microsoft quality assurance or whatever they may have. How do you have a game from this studio slip through the cracks like this? It doesn’t feel rushed. This doesn’t seem like a game that was running on hype or anticipation, so I can’t figure they wanted to get it released as soon as possible.

Quality control is my big question here. Especially given the video reviews I’ve seen of how badly it controls, and how sparse the areas are of enemies at times. Look, it’s not the biggest failure of a game. I’m quite sure there’s some real champs that outshine this particular game, but it’s usually from a first-time studio. Not a company that’s put out bangers time and time again.

I don’t know if we’ll ever know the real reason, but I do hope they are able to fix this or do something to get this game to the polished shine they’d like it to be. I’d love another success story like Hello Games with No Man’s Sky. I hope we get that.

But I really, REALLY, want to know how we got here to begin with.

This is normally where I connect what was written above to something about Splinter Cell, but I’m not able to find that bridge at the moment. So yeah, blah blah blah… Ubisoft, it has been 3,534 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.

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