Category: Episodes

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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Microsoft really wants to spend A LOT of money.

But that’s actually on brand for them, however. The odd part of this whole MS buying Activision thing is the decision of the UK to not let it go forward. And to dig a bit further, it’s their reasoning for it: the cloud.

It’s so kind of out there in that decision that it almost seems a bit suspect. Or at least that someone has an odd perception of cloud gaming to think this purchase would be bad for it. I mean, essentially they’re saying it’s perfectly fine for MS to buy Activision for physical games and mobile games and every kind of gaming you can think of EXCEPT…the cloud.

Huh?

And maybe I’m oversimplifying it or, more likely, don’t know exactly what I’m talking about, but it is still really strange. And this issue with the cloud part of things totally holds off MS from buying Activision at all.

I’m either/or on the decision here to purchase Activision. I don’t feel like it’ll affect me in any way and I don’t see it as having a negative impact for consumers. Maybe other companies, but, as we’ve said before, Sony seems to only be concerned over Call Of Duty and seems to be the only company I know of who are really pushing against this purchase.

Someone should buy Ubisoft and then finally make…you know, a Splinter Cell game. It has been 3,527 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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How realistic do you want your games?

I’m kind of torn on this a little bit. On the one hand, I’m completely fascinated with how ultra/hyper/photo realistic we can make a game look or play. On the other hand, I’m perfectly fine with a game looking, well…like a game. Something you don’t have to question when you see it that it’s a video game.

That isn’t to say I don’t want us to advance the tech and the tricks behind them, but, I dunno, maybe give me an ultra/hyper/photo realistic city builder, or a platformer.

Giving me all of that realism and making it a shooter, like with Unrecord (give it a google if you haven’t seen it yet), kinda puts me off of it. Fascinated as hell by the tech behind what I’m seeing but I think, for me, there’s a line in the realism of my video games, and it’s a combination of looking incredibly real and the kind of gameplay you’re going to mix with that.

Feel free to keep your ultra/hyper/photo realistic Splinter Cell game. Stealth games like that already get my anxiety going and I don’t need it to feel real. Not that I need to worry because, well, Ubisoft…it has been 3,520 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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Just as a heads up, there will be no new episode next weekend. We’ll be back in two weeks.

I’m really having a hard time coming up with something to talk about here in regards to the show. We went in so many different directions that it’s a little troublesome to focus on just one thing.

To sort of cover them all a little bit would be to say that we talked about retro gaming, but also retro storage as well. And we venture into the past during a time when we would spend thirty bucks or so…on a screensaver. We talk about RE4, emulation, and the Steam Deck. In fact, we talk about handhelds a lot given we got new ones from ASUS on the way as well as, possibly, from Sony too.

Speaking of Sony, we dive back into the whole Microsoft/Sony/Activision weird love/hate triangle going on there. Mostly thankful that we’ll be done talking about this after this month. Well, maybe not done, but at least it’ll be decided and none of the back and forth will matter after that.

We DID NOT talk about a new Splinter Cell game. Mostly because, well, Ubisoft…it has been 3,506 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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Gaming trends come and go. We’ve been around it long enough to see things come, go, and come back again. It’s history, as is everything really, and it repeats itself. Even with gaming.

Back when the Wii released it suddenly became motion control EVERYTHING. The Wii was massive for Nintendo and the other companies thought they could grab a bit of that gravy train as well. None of it lasted.

There was the Left 4 Dead formula. There’s the PUBG one too, that’s been copied and revamped numerous times in the form of Fortnite and Apex and likely countless others along with modes of games that borrow from some aspect or another of the style. There’s the 4v1 gameplay that started with Evolve (I think) and now sits firmly in the horror movie icon gaming genre now.

I don’t know when these things will die off or become obsolete or evolve themselves, but a time will come when that happens, and I don’t think it’ll be too far into the future. Within our lifetimes, easily. Either something will come to replace them or the novelty will wear off or, perhaps, the target demographic will…move out of the target demographic. And the next group won’t be there to replace them. Who knows?

Such is life.

The best part is, if you like the trend, something is there for you and if you can’t stand it, there’s something there for you too.

What there isn’t..is a new Splinter Cell game. Ubisoft…it has been 3,492 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 games we love and enjoy leave a mark. And sometimes, the people involved in making those games do as well. And when we lose those people, we lose a friend.

Lance Reddick may be known to you by many other characters he’s played in television and film, but for me, he was a character in Destiny. A character who has been with the game as long as I have – from the very beginning. Commander Zavala.

Lance passed away, unexpectedly, on Friday.

What follows is a poem a player wrote many many years ago when one of their Destiny friends passed away.

Praise the sun in memory of those whose light has been extinguished.

Remember the light they brought into this world,

Remember how it made yours brighter.

The battle with the Darkness is not only outside our walls,

But inside ourselves.

In this time of great loss and greater Darkness,

Remember that even the strongest of guardians can fall.

Not a failure, but merely the doom of life that we each carry over us,

At all times, the edge between Light and darkness.

Eyes up, Guardians.

For our friends and fellow warriors,

For those whom the Light was cut short,

For the protectors, for the ones who stood at your side,

For those who were the brightest of all.

Eyes up, Guardians.

In memory of Lance. Always our Commander.

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Is this near the third time in a row that I’ve brought up Suicide Squad?

Because it got delayed this week. And as much as I wish it was to retool and throw out all that live service game garbage, that will sadly not change at all. Apparently it’s for polish, but you can only shine something like that so much. The Calisto Protocol shined as bright as the sun in the looks department but it still fell short in sales and reviews.

I feel like the look of a game is the icing on the cake. There’s usually more cake than icing because the looks of a game can only carry it so far. If there’s no compelling gameplay or some sort of very well told story, then you’ve just got something nice to look at and not play.

I’ll reference two games that exemplify this: Papers Please and Obra Dinn. Obra Dinn actually looks pretty cool, but still, it’s not on par, visually, with something like Suicide Squad or Calisto. Regardless, both Papers Please and Obra Dinn have very compelling gameplay and a good story to go along with them. Suicide Squad seems to have none of this.

And I’ll totally eat my words if this thing releases and somehow hooks me, but I don’t see it happening.

A new Splinter Cell would hook the hell out of me. Ubisoft…it has been 3,477 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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That new Suicide Squad game is possibly going to live up to its name. I mean, that kind of game hasn’t had much luck recently and given most of the response to it we’ve seen, it’s nearly DOA.

I’ve ranted and raved about this before in previous shows and show posts, but the same can be said again now, except…without speculation. We were shown gameplay of the new Suicide Squad game from Rocksteady and it’s a big let down for a lot of people. I don’t know of anyone who saw that and got excited, but I’m sure they’re out there. Even people who aren’t excited about this are likely to play it.

Rocksteady hasn’t really stumbled that bad with their Batman games. Sure, there’s some nitpicks to make on a few of them, but they’ve overall received positive feedback. I can’t remember a time we were shown new gameplay from them before and had this kind of a reaction though.

This game began development in a time before Games As A Service was even a term. As well before a time when most people disliked them. And originally, we don’t know what they were developing but at some point, it was all scrapped and started over from scratch and now we’ve seen what all that work has resulted in and we aren’t happy.

But we’ll play it. We might get a refund on it or return it or take it outside and shoot it, but we’ll play it. As though we need actual confirmation of what we’re all pretty sure of at this point.

It sucks.

And while we’re being certain of things, Ubisoft…it has certainly been 3,462 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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Where do we go from here?

There may come a time when you ask me what I’ve been playing and I will NOT say Destiny.

I don’t know what the plans are for that game once they wrap it all up sometime next year, but part of me doesn’t care. Part of me thinks that when this saga ends after ten plus years, so does mine with it. I’m sure there’s something up Bungie’s sleeve to keep us all engaged and continuing to play the game, but even if they do, I don’t know that I’ll follow that pied piper any longer.

I’m not sad about it or anything. I’m not looking forward to it, either. There’s really nothing there other than an opportunity to jump off the wagon. But not knowing what’s to come makes all of this rather moot. They could easily create another game that buries its hooks into me, or they go a different direction into something I have absolutely no interest in.

Only time will tell in that regard because, to be honest with you, I’ve never been here before with something like this. I finish games all the time and have completed numerous ones. Never like this, however. I’d say the closest might be City Of Heroes, but that game died before it was really finished. And Destiny…is something different.

Again, there’s no fear here or anything more than curiosity of what’s to come. Both on their part and on mine as well.

Speaking of curiosity, Ubisoft…it has been 3,455 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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Apparently lately my time in gaming keeps reminding me of old lines from…things. Last week was Alan Moore and this week is Emerson.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

This was how I felt after finally completing God Of War Ragnarok.

You see, I’m often left wondering after I finish a game like that if the story had held more weight or had more of an impact if I prioritized it rather than all the side stuff on offer during the journey. But that’s usually when I felt let down after I’ve finished a game and there was nothing in that way of Ragnarok. This game’s ending was absolutely more about the journey itself than the final moments of the story. In fact, you could not have had those final moments be what they are in this story without everything coming before it. And I don’t even mean in this title alone but in the two games that make up this story.

Still, I wonder. This isn’t a negative to the game or even a nitpick. It’s just me wondering how much more satisfying it could have been if I had put more focus on the main story campaign.

In the end, my conclusion was that I got exactly what I wanted out of the game, doing it in whatever way I chose to do it. And, furthermore, you will too, I believe. We all experience things in our own way and there’s no right or wrong about that…usually.

As for these two God Of War games, it was an amazing journey. And you absolutely must experience the first game to get the full weight of the second. Both are well worth your time and money. Although I will say, for those of you who may not play these kinds of games or games at all who happen to be reading this or listening to the shows each week. Find some YouTube videos of the two games and watch them. You’ll get the gist and I’m almost certain you’ll enjoy it just as much as I did.

No show next week, we’ll return in two weeks. Speaking of no shows, Ubisoft…it has been 3,441 (bad) 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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There’s that old line from “The Killing Joke” – “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve let a game get under my skin, but in the wrong ways. The kind that frustrates you to no end or just…changes your whole attitude.

Marvel Snap is doing that currently and I’ve been trying my hardest to find out what triggers the change and how I can better respond to it or eliminate it altogether. The first option, obviously, is to stop playing the game. However, I really enjoy this game, so I’d like to find a better solution. So far, just muting the other player is actually doing a great job at keeping me calm. Or at least brings down the anger level of wanting to chuck my very expensive phone across the room.

I don’t like feeling that way, and nearly 99% of games that I play will not have that effect on me. But I can tell Marvel Snap is doing that and it reminds me that I’ve been there before. I can’t remember what game it might have been but this isn’t a new sensation for me. It’s a horrible feeling and sort of makes me reevaluate not only the game I’m playing but my emotions in general.

Is there a game you absolutely avoid because you know how it’ll make you feel? I’m sure we all have at least one. Be it a feeling of anger, or sadness, or anxiety, frustration – some games are meant to elicit an emotion of some kind. But then there’s the games that…I don’t know, they change your state of being or mind. A completely different person emerges.

This isn’t only with games, of course. It can be with anything competitive or not even that, really.

Speaking of bad days, Ubisoft…it has been 3,434 (bad) 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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