Community Mods and Future Hopes

Summer is the best. whether you're relaxing by a body of water, having a nice relaxing cookout, or just enjoying the fact that things are generally more relaxed, finding the right outfit shouldn't be too complicated If you're in the market for some comfortable clothes that also look great with any wardrobe and are built to last, Quintince has you covered. They've got a wide range of well made essentials that'll become everyday staples, whether you want to feel good hanging out or look good going out Quincez's one hundred percent European linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to throw on, and the summer upgrade your rotation needs, starting at do thirty four bucks each. You'll also find tees in a variety of cuts and fabrics, whether you like them soft and slim fit or heavier weight and relaxed Quince has plenty of loose breathable pieces to keep you cool on hot summer days, plus light sweaters and jackets for when it gets unexpectedly chilly when the sun goes down Everything at Quince is priced fifty percent to eighty percent less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen so you're paying for exceptional quality, not brand markup One of my greatest joys in life is a nice pair of shorts at the end of a long day, and Quince has some extremely comfortable bamboo jersey ones that have become my go to when it's time to go sit on the couch and do nothing Speaking of couch, quince isn't just clothes. You can also find furniture, bedding, jewelry, beauty and wellness products, and tons more all with the same high quality and low prices Go make your summer wardrobe easier. Head to quQinces dot com slash I and beyond for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's QuncE d. com slash G and beyond for free shipping and three hundred sixty five day returns Quints. com slash G and beyond Insurance isn't one size fits all And shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit That's why drivers have enjoyed prorogressives name your price tool for years With the name Y your prrice tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages Maybe you're picking out your very first policy. Or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? progressive. com and give the name Your Pice tool a try Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms Agressive casualty insurance Company and affiliates prrice and coverage match limited by state law Hello and beyond. Don't switch their dials. Don't change off this YouTube podcast or audio podcast because I'm hosting. It's Jada Griffin, hosted Beyond this week. Max is taking a well deserved break We're talking about PlaySation five, PlayStation six, GTA and how important it is for PlayStation, as well as a whole bunch of other mess. Let's get into it. Hello, everybody and beyond, I'm joined by my great friends and co host, Brian Altano. Yeah, when you said PlayStation five, PlayStation six, I thought you were just gonna keep counting onntil. I It' gonna mean an amazing intro. It's going go up to twenty. I mean, what reason does PlayStation have to stop at this point?one. Also joined by usually behind the camera or and behind all the ones and twoos that makes everything go, mrter Nick Maye. Hey, beyond Beyond So guys, it's been kind of a weird week for just news in general, not even just on the Playsttation side, but we're gonna kind of center around the Playsttation of it all just because apparently people don't like it when we talk about other things on our show because we exist in a vacuum. There was a comment last week that said this is one hundred twenty episodes in a row that you guys have mention Nintendo. So I just there it goes Bri. I want to I just want to make that number go to one hundred twenty one. No, you got you got to contextualize everything that happens not within a vacuum, but within the, you know, just the greater industry at large. And I think that like every single day we're having these conversations about where people are playing games, how they're playing their games, which systems they're buying them for which studios are making things and which ones aren't? And a lot of those sort of dotted lines have a lot of cars moving back and forth between lanes. So tough and out Well, speaking of cars, we know there's gonna to be a bunch of them in GTA six. So let's start there. That's an amazing segue. Wow. Thank you. You know, I'm taking inspiration from Brian they're great at these things. I'm just trying to like imitate just one percent of their power levels. That' great.. They're over nine thousand. I'm sitting here at like nine I have I have a running bit with Max when he does something like that where I go, I reach for the phone and I go, hello, is this the Academy Awards? Hey Max, it's for you. So I'm going to do that for you, Jada You get an honorary fake Academy Award call. I appreciate that. So GTA six news was kind of all over the place over the last week and a half or so We got a bunch of new images, they revealed the collector not collectors's edition but the ultimate edition versus the standard edition. what comes in those for those prices. Honestly, I don't understand why anybody would go with the standard versus the ultimate for when you're at this point of eighty to one hundred dollars twenty bucks is kind of like whatever at this point, especially for what you're getting, but you know obbviously, everybody's in their own financial situation. so I don't blame you for whatever you go with The biggest kind of thing that kind of well not the biggest, but one of the things that really stood out around PlayStations news was they had all of this announcement about Plays bestest on PlayStation five And then all of a sudden it got taken down and people are like Oh, are they not able to see this? What's going on with this? And we found out it was No, they just use the wrong image of a PlayStation five on their marketing. They used the one with a disk drive and because when Grant The Fhoto and Rockstar announced Hey, it's not coming with a disk this time around. It's the first GTA to not have a disc. Well I guess if you count The Game Boy like color or Game Boy. The cartridge space ones. Yeahah. Yeah, that one didn't come with a CD either but it's not a physical copy. We're not getting a physical copy for GTA six When it drops later this year And so but they showed a disk based Playsttation in the ad. So it was kind of mixed messaging. It's very funny Look, we've all been there. You got the angle, you got the timing, but you still lose the trade. In competitive gaming milliseconds aren't just a stat. They're the difference between a trophy and a GG next. That's why the team at Logitech G just changed the game again with the new Pro X two super strike This isn't just an upgrade, it's a total reimagining of the mouse click. It features the revolutionary hits technology that's haptic inductive trigger system. They've ditched traditional switches from magnetic sensors that give you an up to thirty millisecond advantage. Think about that, you are literally clicking faster than the speed of human reaction And the customization is insane. You can tune your actuation points across ten levels and even adjust the haptic intensity. whether you want a crisp, sharp snap or a hair trigger rapid fire, the super strike adapts to you Under the hood, you're looking at the Hero two sensor pushing a massive forty four thousand DPI and a blazing eight k polling rig. At just sixty one grams with ninety hours of battery life, it's built to outlast your longest grind. If you're serious about climbing the ranks in Valorant CS two or Apex, this is the weapon of choice for the world's best pros for a reason Stop playing fair and start playing faster. Go to logitechg. com and enter code beyond twenty five at check out to save twenty five percent off loogitech G products. Just a quick note, some exclusions apply and the promo is non stackable with other offers. Grab the super strike today, the winning click is finally here Starting or growing your own business can be intimidating and lonely at times Your to do list may feel endless with new tasks, and lists can easily begin to overrun your life. So finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything as a built in business partner can be a game changer. For millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and ten percent of all e commerce in the US from household names like Gymshark, Rare Beauty, and Heinz. to brands just getting started Shopify has hundreds of ready to use templates that can help you build a beautiful online store that matches your brands style And you can tackle all the important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments, to analytics and more No need to save multiple websites or try to figure out what platform is hosting the tool that you need. And if people haven't heard about your brand, you can get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you with easy to run email and social media campaigns to reach customers wherever they're scrolling or strolling startart your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing Sign up for your one dollar per month trial today at shhopify. com slash realM Go to shhopify. com slash realm That's shhopify dot com slash realm Yeah, no this is this has been u I'm not going I'm not going to justify it because I think that all of this is insane. And I'm going to I'll just say straight up and there's nothing shocking here. And I'm going to I'll just curtail it right now and say I'm part of the problem. Charging a hundred dollars for a digital only video game that you have shown no gameplay of. is an insane thing that no one else could even attempt to get away with. And Rxar is literally the only studio. I think maybe Nintendo could There I said it again. could get get away with it with like the Ocarina remake or something like that, right? a counter on right? every time I'll do it one hundred twenty times in this episode. No, there are very, very, very few people that have earned or studios that have earned that level of Tust I don't I don't know if I want to call it that Blind faith. You know, like as it no one else could do this. They they they released what was it? sixty three screenshots on the day of sixty six. Yeah, sixty six screenshots the day the preordders went live That's you, you know. Old school that is to be like, hey, I got you sixty six postcards, you know Mical J M just had a magazine that was just sixty six images. There are no words in this. Yeah no. just sixty six It's just a graphic novel. No any No UI. We have no idea what the pause menu looks like or you know, what it what's what it's going to look like when you whip out a cell phone in this game and input sheets or we don't know any any of that stuff. We know, you know, there's like little rumors and details about gameplay oriented things that we've seen on various websites. There's, you know,s there's talk of like you being able to switch between both characters, which is, you know, not new for the series or video games in general, obviously. But there's just a lot of questions that we have about this thing and no one really needs the answers apparently because they they're happy to just fork over the money and, you know This has been such a long awaited thing I think people are just like, I don't care. I know it's going to be good. I know it's going to be big. I know it's going to be the most detailed and realistic looking open world video game ever made. They have no competition in this space anymore. Nobody is making U you know, modern city based open world know crime driven video games, right? So They just have their own corner here and it is a gigantic corner. And again, no if Ubisoft tried this shit, people would be screaming they would be screaming at them I've seen them do this before, you know, like same with EA. there's all these like industry. what's the opposite of a darling you know? And so I don't know it's it's funny to me. I'm part of the problem because I'm I'm definitely going to preorder it before before the Um You know, so I can get the preorder bonuses and the Vice City pack and I can preload it. so I'm not, you know stuck looking at some server spinning on the PSN shop thing on laaunch day. St stillill could happen. But yeah, I'm gonna to put the hundred bucks down because there's stores in the game that you literally can't get into unless you pay that money. Like it's Costco, It's crazy Such a good analogy. I don't know if have they said I haven't lookooked fully into it. didid they say it's actual stores you can't get into or is it different inventories aren't available at certain stores. I know they said that there were certain shop names. Yeah, but Thataybe that's so you're probably right on. They made it sound like it's certain shop names. They also made it sound like it' one of them is tied to a mission and they did say there was an exclusive gameplay mission, which we have been theorizing it is the it's sort of like one of those like gang takedown headquarter type things. So you basically go to a compound, you do your F cry thing, you kill everybody and afterwards You get to you get all their clothes. You get to buy their clothes. I'm not sure how that works, but yeah, so you wont you won't be able to access that shop. There's tattoo shops, you won't be able to access. There's there was something about like customizing the inside of your rides. which I really hope that's not just exclusive to that to those people. But so I have a feeling what's going to happen is they're just going to build out this FOMO where you'll get if you do get the eighty dollars version of the game, maybe you don't know better or you're like, I don't need the extra stuff And you start poking around a little bit, then it's telling you there's certain things you can't do or you can't buy or access. you're going to spend that extra twenty bucks and There's that, you know. I personally would love to if I was in that situation, let me live in bliss of not knowing that it exists because if I can't see it, it doesn't exist. it's fine. I don't need it. I'm going to find super ironic if in a game about crime you walk up to a store and they're like, oh, sorry you can't come in here and you go, I okay. we to that Just wait for just to Brian's point about, you know, just like taking people down and taking their stuff. J wait for online to drop in a couple months later and just rob somebody else who has access to the stores and take their stuff. Nick that so by my car take their They' their clothes, theirre weapons. Yeah. we go. Now I get it. Yeah, I'm just going I'm going to run your jewels or whatever. No, I think it's I think it's hilarious that there you could like you could theoretically break out of jail in this game or get out of the jail legally and then survive a six star police chase against tanks and helicopters and like police boats. And then afterwards, you're like you lose your wanted level and you walk over to Costco and they're like Do you have a card? now You can't get in. Okay And you just go, all right, well, you know, I got to follow some rules in this world. Costco, the real gatekeepers of the world.s and goes, what are we without rules? And my menu pop up. He just shoots like sixteen cops outside of Costco, but he just doesn't go in and he's like I have my limits , premium members only Okaykay, I'm sorry. Yoes it's so crazy to me. And I mean There's also the stuff about the fine prrint about how you get one month of GTA plus, right for free. But it auto renews, at least on PlayStation. And so I don't know, headads up just at PSA, makeake sure you turn that off. That'll be the gift that keeps giving and you'll get your credit card bill and you will not be happy and Man, has Rockstar made a killing off of just sharp card cash in GTA five for the last thirteen years now at this point. They I can't even I didn't even look up the number because it's so astronomical of how much money they raake in each year just off of digital transactions for people buying money in GTA five So They've've they've definitely got that kind of Like you said, Brian earlier, they've got that corner of the market kind of just short up for them. It's all them. Following that, retailers have started warning about console shortages ahead of launch, which is Probably the worst thing in our current market that you could hear about the biggest game of the year that you if you don't have a console yet and you want to buy a console to buy it to play this new biggest best everything game. everybody is going to be playing hearing that you can't get you might, you know, there might be console shortages leading to it and also The fact that consoles are more expensive than they have ever been. That's That's the craziest. It is the weirdest thing. like there's a shortage. They're more expensive than they ever been and there's been and there's a shortage. usually is kind of had ends with themselves unless it's at launch for a brand new hardware. This is this is a This is a haunted generation. This is a haunted console generation built on the burial ground of twenty twenty. And I truly believe that likeike it was just not on the right foot out the door and it never actually recovered and it never really will. The Console shortages on a console that has gotten multiple price hikes That's in that's we are we are in we are in the part where you just have to hold on to everything you have. We're in the part where the Titanic has crashed and there's a couple lifeboats left and you were just out, you're out in the water and you're like grabbing driftood and stuff like that. Like I'm holding on to my my launch digital PS five Yeah like it is thousandousand dollars bill. because it is it's great. It's an appreciating asset, which is Right That is not how technology typically works. Oh, and then this we saw, you know I don't I don't think we're done with PS five price hikes. I don't want either. I don't want to jinx it, but we saw the preers for GTA go up and literally the next day, Xbox announced more price hikes for their system their third increase. their fourth price on the Xbox series S and X are now in are now in effect are going into effect relatively soon. Yeah. and Yeah, this is crazy to see three price hikes on a console and you know, Microsoft is already having an issue with moving consoles to begin with, PlayStation not so much But I have to you, wonder when does PlayStation do another price hike? We The last one we saw was in I want to say August of last year M. No, we had one on April this year. That's right. We had a price hike in April this year. August That was the previous one. That was the one that almost got me because I was they they were like you have a what was it like a week and a half or something to get the the PS five pro for hundred dollars cheaper than it will be in a week and a half. And I put it, I had it in my cart and I was like hovering over the button and I was like, no, don't do it. You don't need this. And now I really wish I did because I know I know it's going to be the best place to play GTA six. for at least, you know, at least until Yeahah until it gets to PC to PC. And you know, like Sony did take down that messaging, but there there is I mean, obviously like you can get into the weeds on whether you should play this on a series X or a PS five, right? If you have a base series series X or base PS five, whatever it is, you know, there's no mid generation console refresh for Xbox happening I don't I don't att least I don't think so Um, seemeems a little late for that. And for PS five, if you have a pro, then that's the obvious answer here. but I I feel like, you know, from there, it's just a matter of like, where do you where do you have confidence in the future of these ecosystems? Andll I'll say this on a PlayStation show and I'll probably get, you know, shit from Xbox fans on this, I got a series X on day one. I love that system. I I think Quick Rume is awesome. I think Game passass was awesome. I think there was like a whole bunch of stuff there that I was really into. I think the console design is better than PS five. I don't feel is you say the shape? Yeah, the shape. I don't feel confident right now in building out a library on on Xbox currently. And I've always been sort of like a Jack of all trades type of player. I will play games Rver I feel like playing them. And I regularly switch between consoles and PCs handhelds and I just love video games, you know? And I just don't I don't really feel like giving Xbox a hundred dollars right now for a digital game because I don't know I don't know if I'll be able to access that in five years or ten years. And so if we' if we're heading in in all digital direction, and look,'m not going to I'm not going to give Sony a free pass here. They just delisted like, what was it? like five hundred fifty one movies moovies, like peopleeople who bought like Terminator two, one of the know, probably top three best films ever made through PlayStation can no longer watch that.ike that's that's bullshit too. So let's call that where we see it, right? But I think that that all circles back to like where where people feel that the GTA six of all of it. is anti consumer in its current setup because you cannot You cannot buy a disk that you can trade in or that acts as a license or anything like that. You will only get a download code no matter what you do and that will be tied to your account. And if you can't get into that account, you're done. or for some od reason it gets deicit or whatever happens, right? I don't think that's as likely on the PlayStation side to be fair, but things can happen There's has there has been conversation I've seen about a disc coming later down the road for GTA six. So But the problem is I think Rockstar's counting on that. They're counting on people to double dip and double their sales because people are like, oh, I bought it digitally, but I want to have the physical copy. so I can play it whenever And there's no getting rid of your digital copy for any type of value after you've redeemed that code. So It is kind of Not ideal, I will say. I'm trying to be as peacey about this as possible But yeah, it is not ideal U there is just so many things around GTA six That is kindind of make or break for this generation for both studios. PlayStation is already in the lead when it comes to them versus Xbox and We see them. we talked about it either last week or the week prior where it kind of feels like they've been kind of resting on their laurels kind of you know, not fearing any competition like they did back in the PS three era And GTA six is kind of going to if they land this boat, this is could be or plane, you know, mixed metaphor data, there you go, land this boat. If they land this plane It basically will kind of centch the generation for them. However, if Xbox was to do something I don't know, amazing around GTA six bring people back in. it could be I is a mayaybe not a nullifier, but it would definitely close the gaps in the ranks between PlayStation NXbox Though right now, it's not seeming very likely as early reports are showing that GTA is preorddering at nearly eight times the rate compared to Xbox And u The GTS six is the top selling thing across all platforms right now digital storefronts for when it comes to preers. So It's up in the top. It's not like, hey, you know, sixty four people preorddered it on PlayStation. only eight got it on Xbox. It's the top of the charts everywhere for all sales. So it's kind of insane that it's already topping charts when we've got We're about to hit by the timee this episode' areir in July. We've got four months, four and a half months until this game theoretically releases november nineteenth Yeah. So There's a lot, there's a lot to go on. I think I think GTA six is going to be one of those games that is kind of is studied as we move further in generations. I think also It's I don't know how anybody, any company, I'm telling actually I'm going to rephrase this right now. I'm talking to all of the investors, shareholders, company executs next year. your sales are not going to reach what they did this year. So just set your expectations properly because it's one of those things where people feel like, o, number went up real big this year. We should go up even bigger next year not going to happen if G not here after GT is set. It's not the elephant in the room. it's the room. It's the building itself. It's It is like all encompassing and it's it's even like, I mean, it it's a threat to, you know, Wolverine It's a threat to any first party game that Sony's publishing. Like this will absolutely it's a threat to callall of duty and everything this this will cannibalize the entire industry in in ways I think we've never seen before. And I think that what makes things a little bit differently or different now is that the entry point to get in to play this game is higher than it's ever been. right? We're talking about two next gen consoles or three technically, if you come series S that have all seen significant price hikes and are only going up and up and up. And Jada, you had mentioned something about the you know the data of sort of anecdotally, we've seen internal data ourselves about the seven or eight to one higher sales on PS five to Xbox. And you mentioned like them having to do some sort of hem mary thing They they raise prices on consoles the next day, which is the opposite of what Like if if anything Yeah Yeah, right? So like had they had they, you know, taken one for the team or absorb the cost or whatever and been like, we're actually going to if they had said like Technically, they are right now the cheapest way to play GTA six on a series S. end. We have not seen the we've definitely not seen that gameplay and you won't see that gameplay until launch day is my op for sure. That will be deliberately cyberpunked. Like you you will not see that until the day. day that is out and you know, we're uploading capture and gamers are everywhere being like, look at this, this and this. You know, to be fair, I I think if they're putting it there, then then then it works or something. But they have, you know, Rockstar has shipped not the most ideal ports of games before. We saw that with the GTA trilogy a year or so ago that had to get basically reworked after launch. hadad a bunch of like AI upper as textures and stuff like that. But No this is, I mean until the PC version is where it's at, the PS five is going to be the place to play GTA six. And if you have a series X and obviously it's going to play there too. But I think it's going to be just By association, people will just associate GTA six with the PS five Yeah, it's going to cannibalize every other game out there. No one is going to be buying any indie games or or, you know, there no AAA game is going to go within look at September. Wit, you know what? takeake that back, Brian. We got Barbie. That's We got Godzilla coming in November. They're coming for the crown. They're going I kind of love that. I do too. Nick, where how do you where do you stand on just kind of everything in this GTA bubble Yeah, I've I find a couple of things interesting. likeike one, the hundred dollar thing I I'm interested to see who is going to copy that and put out their special edition at one hundred dollars and then see it not sell because it's not GTA Aecdotally, I was talking to a budd ofine And was like, Oh, are you going preorder GTA? Like which one are you gonna to get? And he goes, Oh, I don't have a PlayStation. I have an Xbox And he thought GTA was a PlayStation exclusive Oh And I asked him why and he wass like, Ohh, all the other games are like Paysttation games. it's on Xbox And he just assumed, o, it's going to come out like next year on Xbox U So I wonder how many people are like that that are not necessarily plugged in, but they're just, you know I play Xbox for two K call of duty Roblox, whatever, and then Oh I really want GTA, but I don't know if it's going come U I've also found the like marketing really strange on both ends where Nobody is claiming PlayStation or Xbox that the game is going to play better on their console It's just like ancillary things like Microsoft saying, oh, this is the only one that has like Doolbe support natively And TV and everything. Yeah whichich will look amazing if you have a home theater, that will look better Playstation, it's like oh, the controller yells at you I'm waiting to see My favorite thing that says this hits thirty FPS Yeah, right. That's nobody's going to let really sat until like launch. That's going to be that's our friends of at digital Fry are going have to basically unmask that slash any, you know reviewer review embargo, whatever that ends up looking like, I wouldn't be surprised if Review copies aren't sent out to basically anybody because this game does not need reviews or any of that type of marketing because it's basically kind of A done deal in the industry. Everybody's just already kind of handed the keys to Rockstar to say, here, hop in, drive around, have a good time. That's all we need So that's such a that's such a good point I feel like around this time with GTA five, we had that really long video with the voice overver telling you like here's the gameplay and stuff and I agree with Brian. I don't think we're going to really see gameplay on this until Either launch day or like a week before, because it's just strange I don't know if they'll get in the technical specifics of it because ultimately that doesn't benefit them you know? L it's one of those things where people are So used to just raw numbers, right? Like they're just like, I want four K, sixty FPS, yada, yada, yada which makes sense for a lot of games, but I think it's I mean, digital Fountry is already saying like that's basically a pipe dream for something like this. Like it's unreasonable for we're also seeing people who are already doing the kind of like Spider Man puddlegate thing where they're like comparing shots of in the original trailers versus the shots of the recent trailers you know, claiming downgrade and stuff like that. So there's a lot of nuances there U As for your friend, Nick, I think that that's that's a really good point because there's there are a lot of people and they don't listen to the show. If you're listening to the show or you're, you know, typing a comment right now, you're on IGNs YouTube, you're on YouTube watching stuff for video games in general period. You're plugged. Yeah, you're plugged in. You know, you know your stuff. And I think there's there's a lot of the and I don't want to be, you know, derogatory, but they call them ball and gun gamers, right? Like they just they just play, they just play the same. it's just like They play FIFA and NBA and Madden and you know other games Call ofy and Call of Duty and GTA, right? Maybe maybe you throw some apex in there or you know there there's a couple of other games that kind of hover in that area. Maybe throw a Roblox or a Fortnite in there too, obviously. But I think with people like that, they just go like, whoa They're making a new GTA Like it hasn't even dawned on them probably because to them GTA five was like a story mode thing that they maybe played a couple hours of and then it was just GTA online. And it it's like when you When you heard they were making Overwatch two or when you heard that Fortnite had like gone gold or whatever, and you're like, it's been out for years. L it's already it's a platform, right? Like why whyy is it getting a a numerical sequel or like a you know, like they were like a Pow worldorld is officially at one point zero. and you're like, what what was it all this time So yeah, I think people just associate GT with being like a platform now. so having a numbered seQel I think it's fascinating because it's that it's ultimately single player game first, right? Like this is people are preorddering a single player game. It'll get online eventually, but Part of me, despite all of the cynicism around all of this, that is really happy that millions of people are preorddering a story driven single player game in twenty twenty six because I'm kind of like, Yay they're not dead. We're still here, you know, whichich is crazy because it's like the route in which they're doing that is giving a hundred dollars hundred to a company that hasn't shown gameplay yet. but It is what it is, right? What can you do? You can talk circles around it and it's that and like the node mis conversion. It's like, yeah, there's there's justifiable controversy here. and then there's also reasons to just be like, it'll be fine. donon't worry about it Well, you know, speaking of circles, Bungie developer of Marathon, where you know, you usually run marathons in circles, right? That's kind of, I don't know. I'm really stretching for this one. Bungie like a bungie. Bungie recently, you know You know, you can't have good stuff in the industry at all the time. It feels like almost none of the time for us anymore at this point. They recently had some layoffs last week. two hundred ninety two plus employees was the last number I've seen, which roughly around a third of their team, I believe. I believe their team around eight fifty nine hundred before this. as well as studio head, Justin Truman stepping down. U this does not spell well for just bungie. We kind of, you know The writing has been a little on the wall everver since PlayStation bought them for three point six billion dollars, which I think a lot of us on this podcast at the time sayings like that is a lot of money for Bungie. Yeah It's pretty much just destiny at that point is what they were buying. Obviously they were buying for their expertise around the multiplayer and live service because they were trying to push whole life service era. PlayStation now is seeing, hey, Life serervice isn't really working for us. And so There was, you know contontract obligations where if, you know they weren't financially successful enough that they would start to lose kind of control towards Sony. So this is kind of one of those first steps It's going to be interesting to see where that goes Also just hot off the presses literally, I want to say, it was within two hours ago IOI interactive or IO interactive, excuse me, they put out a post that their're losing some they're going to be losing some staffing. haaven't seen any numbers or anything on that, but that's around their new project project fantasy. where they unfortunately lost some a relationship with one of their external partners. And this was Project Fantasy was supposed to be a game, a world, a whole IP, a big thing that they were trying to really push the studio forward which, after the big success of Bond I was all in for. I was Yeah let me see IO Cook with some actual money on something that they own and control because we've seen what they've done with Hitman over the last decade madeade Hitman one of those most recognizable things. I remember playing Hitman on the PS two and the PS three era and it was like, this is cool. this is fine. Not a franchise I would like highly recommend to everybody like always. It's not one of those top of the head franchises, but comeome the PS F Aer of with hitmen It's I'm hard pressed not to recommend that game to people. They've really turn turn that series around or the franchise just around, not in quality, but just big that franchise is because it's always been a quality franchise. It's just now it is so much better, so much deeper. there's so much more to do in these games, and it's really just attracted a new audience and become its own thing. And I'm so happy for them on that It is a bummer that they lost this external partner Who knows if they'll pick up another external partner for this down the road? But you know, the industry, you do good You lose some staff. You do bad, you lose some staff. It's Full circle. see, there you go a segue went right back. Yeah, this is this is a studio that makes high quality critically acclaimed games that sell well And you would think that that would be good enough But it's not good enough anymore. No, allegedly the funding that collapsed on Project Fantasy was coming from Xbox. that was reported by Jason Sreyer right before we started recording today. And it's yeah, I mean, there who knows what's going on over there it's a bummer because they IO is losing staff and then still retaining creative control of this project and they'll have to find somebody else to fund it and bring it to the finish line, which is I don't know. it's's it's just it's just a bummer. It's the amount of talent loss this generation, the amount of work Um creativity and passion that has gone into projects that have never seen the may never see the light of day or do see the light of day and aren't aren't enough to you know, keep the studio afloat as a bummer. And then you know, the the bungee thing is like they had It's it's just another sort of gravestone in Sony's push for, you know massive multiplayer games this generation, not panning out. in the way they wanted it to. And it's like we've seen almost all of those stories have been have been failures at this point, right Yeah, for a summer So it's a bummer to see Destiny go. I put thousands of hours between Destiny one and two and I'm just going to say, Nick, I know you're a huge a huge destiny person. Yeah. I' I've even read a lot of the lore books and stuff but Yeah know, I just say it is something that like in the last couple years with the game, it's like, oh, man, they got to do something new to this. It's you can we do so much of the same. But I did not expect it to ever just get kind of shut down like it did Yeah Like it still exists, but J's nothing new coming to it, and that's really weird for a live service game. on Hopefully, Destiny comes back one day, but it's a huge bumber to see that and also just like, a game that Not too long ago was like a kind of like illar in like games where it's like oh well, here's Destiny This is a hu hu hoots how to with millions of people playing it. And now it's just kind of Sony buys it and it goes away. We had a dedicated Destiny podcast at IGN, you know, our team O our team chat. ye Yeah, which was you know, every single week a bunch of people talked about that game for an hour or more because there was so much to do and so much to say and so much to look forward to. And I remember going on work trips with IGN folks who would seven o'clock at a team dinner be like got to go and like ten of them would run out and go to a hotel room and go to like, you know a raid. Yeah, raid. They'd go to like a big, a big event. It was a big it was a big thing. It was a big social thing for people too. And then, you know, I think what happened was the people who played it for years like you Nick were kind of like, I feel like I've seen it all and done it all. I'm not really sure what I'm still doing here. And then people who hadn't played it yet, we're sort of a little sort of offput by someome of the people who are leaving the game and also just the overwhelming amount of stuff like coming in on the ground floor or something like that years in And then concurrently, Marathon didn't resonate with big audiences the way I think they expected it to. And so you have You have two projects at the exact same time that aren't bringing in Money. or fans or audience or anything really. and Um, you know, something's got to give. So it's it's like Yeah, it's different than the IO situation, right? but still sad in its own way I'm hoping that Marathon gets back on track. They do have a PVE mode that's coming pretty soon. I believe it's coming in the midseason. If it's not already out, I haven't been playing Marathon. so Let me know in the comments if it's already out because I might actually boot it up and try it for that because I might actually dig a PVE experience in this world. I just have gone I just don't gel well with extraction shooters. And to Nick to your point, you know, don't D don't fear and for all those people out there who were you know, championing Destiny three Bungie brought Marathon back after thirty years. just so when we're all in retirement homes, playing games, Bungie might just bring back Destiny three. We might get it then. just might take them a long time. There's still a mobile game to play, so you know, that's true. That's true.. Speaking of mobile games, PlayStation six is supposedly going to be going beyond the living room. is one of Sony's latest headlines. So you hear this and, you know, sorry to mrter one hundred and twenty in the comments section, but it's sounding like it's going to be kind of a Nintendo switch Nintendo Switch to experience. Obviously we've had portal for a while and I love my portal. I don't know what we're going to do beyond this portal and what it's going to do to be different than A switch and not just be like, Hey, we're copying Nintendo's homework as PlayStation Xbox have done in the past We all remember the Wii generation and then we got Connect and PS Mve One of those things succeeded. And it was the first one out the gate. So I'm hoping that Sony has more in store than it just being, hey, you know, you can Player portal Your game's on your portal just in your living room now and it's a stronger handheld and Who knows if that's going to be included with the PS six? And I don't even want to think about what those prices will be, but we will have a poll on what we think the PS six prices are going to be that we'll talk about in a little bit after the segment. But yeah, this is kind of a I think Sony, you know, seeing what Nintendo is doing right and what's working well for them and trying to imitate percentage of that I I don't mind the idea of my PlayStation six going beyond the living room, but I also need more than than what I you know, would get out of just a switchified version of the PS six Now what if what if by them saying beyond the living room, it's u how the PS three was where you could print stuff from it and it's essentially. Theyre like, you know, I thought you' go with like we're being invited. We're every PS six is gonna to open with just like an image of us that you hang in your living room. There there you go. Beause we're on the Beyond podcast. So it's going beyond we're all there. You have to look at us every time It's also the thumbnail and wallpaper it pops up on your PS six when you boot up, it's just our faces. that you'll be able to print up to sixty six Grand Theft Auto six screenshots on your PS six. You know, I mean, obviously we have a lot of questions about this. I think that people need to start getting Um not comfortable, but they have to start getting used to the idea of seeing a thousand dollars price tag next to a video game console because Sony is already knocking on that door with the PS five proro. It is it is about as close as you can get. And if the PS six is going to be more powerful Absolutely. Now, the other question is like we've been chasing sort of diminishing returns with video game tech for a really long time now. and I think Uh, you know, the switch is sort of a sweet spot in terms of power where it's it's getting a lot of Um current generation games and you know, they're not running as best as they would on a PS five proro or on a high end gaming PC or something like that. It's kind of good enough for most people.. That said, I don't really see PlayStation just straight up making like a dockable PS six that you can also bring on the road. I think there's a little wiggle room in these in this. I think there's some gray area in these comments. and I do think it's going to hover more closer to a portal shaped thing or a dedicated handheld can play some of these games in like a reduced capacity, right? But then you're looking at you're looking at buying two systems And the appeal of the switch is that you get a console and a handheld at the same time. and buying a thousand dollars PS six and then also a you know seven hundred and fifty dollars PS six affordable or whatever That's a lot of fucking money. It's a lot. So muchs money. It's a lot. And I love handheld. I love the idea of I loved the Vita so much. I loved it so much. I love the PSP. I love the PSP Go. I'm a huge fan PlayStation gettingting back into that world and doing handheld stuff again. I think I think that like it that is a way that people are playing games more more than ever now. I think that people love to have a sort of second screen experience, whether it be on a mo mobile device or a switch or you know St steam deck, there's all these other ways that you can access video games now. And I think Sony should try it. I think it's awesome. I am worried about the prices because I don't all of these like AI data centers and all this you know, people having to generate a cheeseburger on a menu without taking a picture of it and all the other slop that it's causing our video game consoles to get more and more expensive. All of that pretty bad right now and I do really worry about the long tail of the games industry Because thousand dollars consoles ain't it? Like it's not gonna to get You're going to lose a lot of people and a lot of people are just going to be like, I'm not this this This medium is too expensive for me and I'm out Video games have always been a luxury item, but it's been one of the more affordable luxury items especially as time goes on because you can buy the older version of consoles where prices have gone down and it's cheaper and there's still good stuff to play. We still go back and play a lot of retro games. There's a lot of players out there that only play retro games Sony in a a recent Q and A with Hideyaki Nishino. said that considering consumer behavior Oh he was asked, consonsidering consumer behavior, could you update us on your current thinking regarding hardware pricing and profitability for the next generation platform? Is it reasonable to assume that your pricing will continue to prioritize profitability of the hardware as it does today And his response was I'm going to kind of summarize and skip around in this quote of definitely go to IGN and read the full article. But as for pricing, it's not realistic for us to absorb all component cost increases, and we have already implemented some price increases outside Japan. At present, however, sales are proceeding as planned, and we do not believe this has led to a decline in customer demand As a principle, we do not intend to sell hardware at significant losses So That's telling me as things get more expensive, for them to make, it's gonna get more expensive for us to buy. There's more details in there about them monitoring the market and continue to evaluate their approach. So it's not a end all, be all kind of thing where're like, nope, goes higher, number goes up, our number goes up, your number goes up. but it is something that they are paying attention to And but they're not very intent on, you know, helping out the consumer when it comes to saving money. becausecause all consoles have always been sold at a loss. The way companies have made money since the beginning of video game consoles has been through software. software and peripherals. It's never been the hardware. They've always taken a hundred plus dollar hit usually for most outside in Nintendo. I think Nintendo's the only one that has traditionally sold some consoles at either flat or small profit. Yeah, like breaking even or making twenty five bucks or whatever. Yeah. Nothing notothing that's driving these companies to be driving Nintendo to be the juggernaut it is in the industry today. So something to keep in mind as Conssole shortages are apparently happening and price increases are going. A year ago, I would say, hey, hold off for a generation refresh or hold off for a discount I mean, now you've kind got to wait for a discount for to go on sale like via some sort of big Black Friday deal by It's, you know, I'm kind of happy I got my console at launch now because it is u Nick said earlier, it's an appreciating asset S I've been expecting all of these manufacturers to have like What is it with phones where, you know, if you do a two year contract, you get the phone for significantly cheaper free Yeah and yeah. PlayStation and Microsoft have these subscription services that cheap U So I've just been waiting them to like put out something in that Xbox did that in the past. They did like the sereries X where you bought, I think it was like two or three years of Xbox gold or It was like whatever Gaming Pass premium was at that time, whatever they were calling it. And I think it was a like two to like three year contract of you paying the subscription cost and you got the Xbox for basically nothing included in that cost. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them mirror phone companies like that, Nick. I think it's honestly probably The best route for them to go to try and shore up some extra sales, especially ahead of GTA But you know, this train has it's almost left the station And speaking of trains, Nick, you had a developer interview of what do we have coming up? Yeah, so I got to sit down with the lead producer and director of Dense Attack, which is a game where you essentially skateboard a train around Japan And it's super crazy. it deffinitely invokes that like jetset radio, crazy taxi, like dreamcast, early PS two era, back when games were super cool even the music and stuff, it's like There are people that wrote music in old all those like Sga games from the Dreamcast era are like writing music in this and it's just It's super rad, so I got to talk to the directors, so yeah, let's go to that. Hi, Diva. It's Rachel. And Jordan, yeah, hi,Quick question. Why are you not spending your Venmo balance? Yeah, we're concerned. You can like buy stuff with it. you love buying stuff And earn cash backack on eligible purchases. You love purchasing eligible things. So the money your friend sent you yesterday, that's today's Ramen or rideeshare or eye patches. The skincare kind not the pyrokine. Spin with VenMo, then you can earn cash backack with VMo dash. VMostash bundal terms and exclusions apply. m's a hundredllarsash per month. see terms of Vinmoot me s slash terms Iid ification required to use VM bal. Getting to a great idea is hard in college. nonsensical essays, cringe inducing presentations, and seemingly unsolvable problem sets then First thought becomes a final thesis Jumbled slides transform into a polished keynote, and that midterm assignment gets a lot less mid, because the road of G ideas is littered with bad ones. You just have to keep going until something clicks Great ideas start on Mac. Find out more on apppple d. com slash collollege. Beyond and hello everyone. My name is Nick and I'm here with Angel, lead producer and David, game director of one of the most stylish and unique looking games I've seen all year. Welcome. Thank you very much It nice to be here. Awesome. suuper glad you guys could join today. All right, so let's just get into it For those who don't know, what is dense attack? Dense attack in a N still is like a skateboarding game, very Tony Haogk style but with Japanese trains, which is probably the surprising aspect of it. So you basically control this Japanese train and move through basasically all of Japan to different levels doing all Sort of cool tricks with your train and meeting cool gangs and Yeah, I think that's mostly it. Yeah, when I first saw this, it was like skateboarding the trains I am sold And then two minutes into the game, I'm like, all right, this is totally Super rad So let's actually talk about that Dense Attack feels like a love letter of the early two thousands era of like that hyper stylish, super unique kind of game, you know, your crazy taxies, Tony Hawks, Jets at radio What games influenced its unique look and style you basically nailed it the influence as you said. So basically it has this Yuk spirit veryer seega coded, dream casera cooded blue skies, very energetic feel, unique We kind of wanted to bring back that magic, that arcade magic that we had back then with a very immediate in your face style that basically brought joy out of the screen, right? made it really pop up. So yeah, those were basically your influences, segarating arcade games, Y a radi of course left a huge impression. And also like kind of more modern intuations of those looks. We've seen like for example, we took a lot of references also in Hacker Rush, which was incredibly amazing in terms of visual. also Boma cyberfk and we kind of try to get all the school references and bring up the formula to this present day standards for on one hand and on the other hand, with a little bit of of course, our own touch so that it feels unique still if if referencing older styles. Yeah, I would say you guys nailed that look and also the feel like I love that it just kind of starts. like it feels like that in the best way possible, that sort of like dreamcast era game where I turn on and we're just off of the races and you know, it's I You did a great job at that. It's super fun. Thank you Thanks a lot. That was one of the things that we really wanted to like like jump into the controller and you're already doing incredible stuff. And even though throughout the game, there's like lots of new stuff that that you keep learning. those first minutes on the controller need to I don't know feel just like Acady intense and living you with a the eager to play more Yeah, its it's super intuitive in that in a minute I was like, all right, I get the fundamentals here. And I'm already like excited to see more and stuff. And so like that's super rad. Let's talk about the music. game The music in the game is incredible. So can you tell me more about how that came together? It was a bit magic, to be honest. Like on our side, it felt that it wasn't like it couldn't be real was the lineup that we got So since the beginning, we knew that the soundtack was very important. It always is in these sort of games. And I think when you are chasing these sort of Um How to say it like this mode in which you are very much connected with the game and fing everything like through the game, but through the screen and also you have to feel it through your eers. So we knew that the sound that was really important I think that bit since the beginning, Telops was the name that we wanted for this as the main composer. Since day oneon, there was this great connection with him. We were very much aligned in what in how we envisioned the game sounding And that was the start and then of course the lineup of other composers. so we have and one and S BLo also very great artist working a lot of songs, but then we have some Nice collapse like I don't know, Alsperala was voed Marines Paton two, we also have I don't know, a bit. I think we got people from basically all of the games that were references to us. like Persa five, Sonic, Eents at Radio with Richard Jacks, like we We always want to go back to those Yeah, Santal said it was kind kind of magical. L like T was able to lead a very incredibly talented team. and whenever a name came around, he was like, oh yeah, might know this guy or also the guys at Kit Katana with this kind of record may, Oh maybe why dot try Mioshi? I was like at first it was like really Mioshi from Sega Yeah, why not try it It suddly came together like, hey guys, we resembly An incredible team. You want to take back and Well, we sended some footage of the game and And yeah, you like the the bet gettinget bigger and I mean yeah, it like sort of happened Yeah, that's one thing that really stuck out to me. Like obviously there's so much in this game that just in the first man you're like, whoa, but it was The music, it didn't feel like it was like this homage to that era of game, it really felt like This was plucked out of two thousand out and then it's like, The soundtrack is just perfect and it just kind of moves everything along in such a great place. So awwesome job on that one. that really stuck out to me I Was there a specific moment in your life that kind of helped you want to make this game because it's so different from anything else that I've seen. I think it was kind of a long time coming for a few of us. Like we both Anzo myself and other members of the team used to skate a lot and that leaves an impact. We also played a lot of skate based games like Tony Hawk was was incredible for its moment was like super groundbreaking. we sunk up a lot of hours then. And we also used a backpack throughout Japan, the Japan brave passass for quite a few occasions like north to south, south to north and you know, taking like all the loc on lines and enjoying like like all the incredible intricate network of Japanese trains which is kind of magical also and And yeah, this idea just came together and kind of fused two very important things for us, like the feeling of skating, etcetera, with the feeling of exploration and appreciation for trains. When with the idea came, it was like c all together, you know, it's like, o the train making skate tricks, but of course it's throughout Japan going from south to north, exploring, meeting cool people. So yeah, it kind of reflects Bast experiences of us That's awesome So we got a lot of devs that listen and watch beyond. so the next question is a bit more development heavy. What was the trickiest hurdle to overcoming in like during development? And then are there any like Fun bugs or just crazy things that occurred during development that you're like, we gotta put this in the game Oh man, there have been some some tricky tricky mechanics and fun bugs. I think the the The main challenge was how We make this game as fast as we think it needs to be to put you in the zone and make you feel like you are best Denopaker in the world while at the same time not being like too overwhelming on the game pattern on the visuals. That's also why I've mentioned that this concept of trains and Japan and T ex came all together. Also the visual style came with it, like this idea of having Um, f sayated not too high polyversion of Japan so you don't have much noise on the image because yeah, if you've played the game, you know how fast it is. you really need to take some decisions real fast Um, So I think that was a challenge also building this very long levels that you move through incredibly fast without things breaking U and on the backside There are a few. There's one where you could just go flying and flying and flying to infinity because you know you're defying gravity constantly. So it was a big challenge to make sure that It wasn't too easy to just like fly away and not on a track and just keep falling forever. U So so yeah. yeah, that has been a recurrent one. Also scale, right? And so since you move so fast levels started becoming like so huge that we had like an immense amount of geometry that you would basically fly through it in a couple of minutes and it was insane. like the scale and the answer. we had like to make a lot of optimization passes throughout development, especially towards the end I was thinking, I almost forgot because it was so long ago when we started this, but it's funny that the train inside the engine is actually twenty centimeters tall becausecause when we started with a regular size train we got to the limit of unreal in terms of like the number of units you were moving. So we had to basically scale everything down. So I think in reality, like in unreal measurements, maybe one level is only like one hundred meters even if it should be like kilometers, you know Yeah I was wondering that while playing. Im like, how big are these maps? Like if I just got a bir's eye view, it must be ginormous. so Itowing. prettyivic U So speaking of going fast Doing a ton of tricks. Going super fast this game What mechanic do you feel is most important to master? For me, I think manually Like there's there's of course like a heavy combo aspect in the game, especially if you want to push your scores U so like if you really want to make some numbers, you need to master manling It means like when you're landing, you press up or down or even some diagonals so that do manimal. and then you start building combo. You do a lot of tricks in the air, you land, there's kind of a risk versus benefit that you need to put a lot of tricks in the air, but still we get a clean landing so that get you max out your points once you start kind of getting into that you you really get the jice of the scores. So if you really want to get like high scores like manually I think it it's basic U to get your scores up What do you think? Anwell Yeah, ye I also think that's the moment when the game kind of and locks itself and you start like seeing the whole potential of the compo system. I Internally we also I think since day one, we were aware that this game was like this unique and kind of crazy concept. and we didn't want it to feel like a gimmick, you know, So okay, so it's just likeike a skate game but with a train, so we kind of pced ourselves into adding new stuff. So we always try to keep the surprises coming, It world kind of as its own mechanics U I think My surprise to some players how late in the game the tutorial for double drifting arrives, which was one of the things that made it last. You can do it earlier but it's not just to you until later in the game. And that's because we had so many ideas that we wanted to push into the game. And I think Yeah. It's pretty fun also I think to come back to some of the first levels of the game onnce you've completed the game and you have like all these knowledge and you sometometimes see the levels in a new with a new layer, you know? So o now there's so much I can do that I wasn't aware of when I started do game. and I think that that's pretty fun. That's one thing I love about especially like skate games is going back to older levels and then going, all right, well now I've kind of mastered the mechanics and I can do so much more than I could a couple of hours ago Let's explore and have more fun So it's super cool that you can do that here Yeah Yeah like that's one hundred percent something we were chasing. Yeah Yeah, like we know replayability in in these games is a must. So so yeah, we took that into into account when we designed redesign kind of iterated each level That is so like Dreamcast era, early PS two like I was there. I love that Okay, so without getting into too many spoilers here Is there a level that you and the team are super proud of and you're really excited to see everyone play Oh There are a few, there are a few U I guess the way we canot spoil some of the boss fights, which might be the most exciting ones I think talking about stuff that we've spoiled in the previous trailer, like in the released date announcement, there was a Kaizu kind of Godzilla monster chasing you. He makes a few appearances here and there. I think those are very, very exciting when they come around As Anntel said, there are a few boss fights which haven't been revealed later in the game that I think that will sururprise people And for me at least, I think the three, four last levels of the game I think it shows that we have been designing levels for a long time And and we really put a lot of effort into those like into brringing a climax to the story that was up to everything and kept surprising you up until you know, like the very, very, very end of the game, even if you' like unlocked all the mechanics, et cetera. and Yeah, I think those Those are really good Awesome. Yeah, agree Agree. Yeah. I also think they convey really good this sense of accomplishment. I remember when we were designing those last I would say three levels, which are very intense in terms of mechanics, they are a bit lengthier than regular levels. And it's funny because when we were testing those internally Everyone was, you know, it was a challenge compared to some of the other levels. but everyone was like, but don't change anything. Like I like it's a bit more difficult. I like it's a bit more challenging because it makes you feel like you know the story is ending and that you' ending on a high note So yeah, those are really cool I do like the challenge in this game. likeike even the tutorial, you could fail a lot and It it's very good at kind of guiding and like this is how you're supposed to play the game And then once you get it, it does feel really good. and So I do appreciate that it isn't one of those games that I can just kind of force my way through it, I have to actually learn the mechanics, I understand it, and then I have more fun with it U All right What are you hoping players obsessed with over this game I was gonna say like when we released the demo, we could not stop watching people try to break the records on the treat parks and it was mesmerizing. It was like, oh you could do that. So there are a lot of things that of course you put it there so that they can do stuff and they did all and Lank the first I don't know, the first couple of days and then as the days went on, you saw how they were like breaking stuff or breaking design or using stuff in a way that you hadn't imagined that it could. And Yeah, kind of I kind of like loved that that aspect of like very gameplay center. Also We haven't, I think We've introduced kind of the storyline. We've introduced a few of the characters, also the boss characters, but we kind of haven't spoiled a lot of the story because we wanted want people to really come into it with fresh pair of eyes and ears And I really hope we would put a lot, a lot of effort into making the characters charismatic, fresh, really cool, and with solid stories and relationships between them. So yeah, I really want And to people kind of feel attached to them You know speaking of the story and the characters, what is the biggest like Obviously, it's very anime looking What are like some animes or other games that really inspired those characters in the story? I think in terms of games, the persona series has been like Yeahah, one of the big inspirations, not only in character design, but also in overall like visual design, the UIs, the way persona place with colors is amazing and it has so much style and it's not I guess think is not obvious. you know, it's Like I think it has created this new visual A I' Gt that wasn't there before the persona series, and it has been a huute inspiration for us And then in terms of alime like So many. I remember Joros even in terms of characters, like Hving this idea of the game getting craziy and crazy and these characters that has have their own, let's say toys as bosses. I think that that took a lot from Jeorge also a lot of Um mean I can't remember the name the bitat of the studio Oh the studio Gively sorry. I could't remember the name. Yeah I gu there are a few b bos fes that take from there. There's also a lot of in terms of animation, studio trigger and And in terms of like sh and anime Fr Dragon Ball to one piece Everything that it's in between has been a huge inspiration Whenever we talked about characters like this would behave like this guy in that scene, you remember? and yeah, huge huge anime fans at the officer. It was quite easy to you know to try and convey what you wanted to do in a certain scene or with a certain dialogue between characters. It's awesome. And it definitely shows becausecause it doesn't feel like it's just, oh, we went with an anime look. It's oh, we are fans of anime and poulling from What we love about that All right, final question here and this is kind of a silly one, but I think it's pretty fine Thomas Tank Engine, CJA from GTA get Med basically every game on steam What are some famous characters you'd love to see the community add into this game Th us of course, of course. that would be a dream as a fan of the series, especially like the first seasons that were narrated by Ringo Star I still watch those from time to se with the kids. So that of course would be great What else? So what else? U Of course we we would love to see like kind of official trains and people from everywhere bringing their favorites because here in Catalonia there's a running gag about like kind of the remcel service which is kind of cool in the exterior, but unfortunately it gets ' like the service is down every now and then people are like asking us like, o, you got to put that train, the local train in the game. We thought like, well, it would be great if like people would mod, you know, like like their different trains, the local trains, et cetera. So we can see also some cool looking trains from everywhere. Of course it's a train that you could suitx like the Final Fantasy sixteen. But it would be amazing too. there are tons of references if you look here and there It would be quoter to seeing mod it in the game And there you have it. Thanks a ton for hanging out and letting everyone know about your game. It's pretty awesome. It looks super cool. You should definitely play it if you're watching this Dense Attack releases on july fifteenth on Xbox PC Switch two, and most importantly for this show, PS five. Go check it out, Beyond. And that was our interview with Dension attack. I I've got to play a little bit of this. I've played through like, I think the first world. Everything Nick was talking about This game is fantastic. It's caught me off guard, I knew vaguely what to expect going into it, but it is so much more. then you can anticipate, I guess when it comes to this game. So U Yeah, this is going to this is definitely one to keep an eye out on. Speaking of little indie games, it's time for a new brand Yeah Speaking of indie games, it's a time it's oh my goodness. I in theper rail please. Wait, hold on Is this the Academy Awards? Yeah. You w want to talk to Jada Wow, bigiggest fumble on the air. Yes. getet a trophy for something, partarticipation awwards, y'all.. It's time for a brand new month of gaming. Jump into the humble June choice Bundle and score an amazing lineup of titles. Right now, you can grab Octopath Traveler two, the Rift Breaker, Life Estrangeed, Double Exposure, Indica, Citizen Sleeper two Starward vector which is the saagline for Citizen Sleeper two, construction simulator, hell cllock and over looting. This month's charity is It Gets Better, a nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ youth around the globe. Head to humumblebundle dot com through july sixth to start playing today And if you want to try out that bundle for just fififteen cents Make sure you join the IGN Discord that I run. I've been giving out codes all week this week. Be sure to join. We'll have the description in our podcast description. So be sure to join that. come say hi, hang out with us. We're in there chatting every week. And I'm giving out game codes and codes for humble. so really see the drawback or the negative on this. That. suuper fun. U I did want to before we kind of we're going to talk about some of the games we've been playing, but before I did want to do a quick little just news roundup for a few other things. We had a CapcOom showcase that I wanted to highlight because there was some good stuff in there, things that I think that I'm going to be excited for, thingsings I know Brian's going to be excited for. probablyrob at least one thing in there that Nicks excited for We got some updates to ourer Monster Hunter Stories three. There's a new side story coming around Rudy, who's like the long last descendant of Navi Ru, which if you've watched youve played the older monster Hunter story games, you know who Navi Ru is or if you watch the anime, you know who Navvir Ru is. Monster Hunter Wild's Ascendants didn't give us whole lot, but we know we're getting Elder Dragons, master ranks, and there's going to be some new updates. that their update for this Capcom spotlight could have been an email, but that's fine. Monster Hunter News is Monster Hunter News and I'm always happy to hear that Dragons's Dogma two, Dark Arisen is getting a new expansion that's dropping later this year There's going to be a new story in a whole new Northern area, new challenges. There's going to be an update coming earlier before that gives you extra save slots. So if you're like me and you hate having singular save slots in an RPG, they're fixing that. also more skills, whole bunch of other stuff, that's looking really cool. I might actually dive back into Dragon's Dogma The big thing that I know Brian is probably hyped about. I don't know if he's going either of us are going to be able to experience it or not, but Resident Evil is getting a thirtieth anniversary exhibit in Shibuya Beam in Tokyo running this october thirtieth to december twenty fourth. Dam. And it's going to have immersive exhibits that bring the games to life and there's advanance tickets are going to be going up through a lottery system starting early July. So I don't know when exactly those exact dates are right now. they weren't there when I was making notes for this section, but This episode publs in j July first, so probably if you're onene of our listeners in Japan or you're gonna be visiting Japan later this year Definitely keep an eye out for that because that looks like it's going to be a really cool thing And then finally, there's a Resident Evil Symphony, which was originally Japan only, but they're doing a world tour and those tickets are on sale now. So definitely check that out if you love the music of Resident Evil. Brian, I' I am not in a position to go to Japan later this year and it makes me so sad to not go and celebrate thirty years of resident evil. I know. We should be there. There should be I am so envious to the people who get to go to this because that Resinil is one of my favorite franchises of all time. It makes me so happy that it's arguably doing better than ever right now. Like I mean, it is it is in such a good spot For a thirty year old franchise, it is firing on all cylinders. You know, like you're getting a museum exhibit cylinders on the show, Brian. N cooking on all cylinders, that's. Yeah,'s it's just, you know, we're getting we're getting remakes of classic games. We're getting brand new games with classic characters. They're just doing it right. And I don't know. we should talk about the most important news of the day real quick. bothoth of you U This is a headline that was on IGN today that made me very happy Resin evvil I director, Hideki Kama itches newew Leon sequel about his retirement and it sounds very different to Resinvil Requiem. He is joking about making a game where Leon is just chilling out and retired. And I love it so much. I don't know how that works if he's just like, you know, you're working out in his home garage gym or whatever or like he's, you know, he backflips into a frying pan while making eggs for breakfast I just want I want to spend more time with with Leon really. So anything I can do to do that, I'm in. I don't care if he's if he's old orre young or retired, just Give us more Leon. justust wandering around the Porture dealership. He's Leon, you know It's gonna be him with his kids. me I'm going to have a shooting gallery with Nerf guns. It's gonna be partnership with Nerf. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be it's all we want. We just you want more time with Leon, please, please. I Leon. I would like a game where he's just basically going to like flea markets and selling stuff. All the stuff that was left in his attache cases after run It's just save files. like, oh, you had twenty herbs saved Yeah, he moves to a small a small town in like Northern California and he just goes thrifting and like the merchant somehow works at every single oneand. It's just what are you buying and what are you selling Good to see you old friend. Like Yeahah, thats that's all I want. You go bidding war between the merchant and the Duke. just. I like the Duke like the Duke runs a food truck outside of the goodwill, you know, that the merchant works at. That's I think we I think that's the pitch. That's because then you get You get and like he you would have Leon D Like he would still have the same player movement. and just do really fast, quick turns and stuff like that. But instead of holding a gun, he's just got his wallet and his phone credit card for the cit, which is just yes. There we go That's's that's the Leon thrifting retirement game of our dreams. You know what? I think honestly, Brian, I think I would love a cozy resident evil game. Give me a resident evvilame. Why not? Everything else is getting cozy game treatments. Wh not? What you know's what it would need. I mean, if they're pitching a game about his retirement, joking or not, this is what I want This is exactly what I want. I love that whereere's everyone going? Bingo? Yeah, Leon like literally going to Bingo would be great The number of just dad jokes and one line puns that we would get from Leon in this retirement game would be just Unrivaled, right? Unrivaled Do it Do it like put him in like a small like Sen Mu shaped city, right? where he can just go he can go bowling and stuff like that. and there's like TEs and like, you know, there's dating and all that. justust take all the take all the zombies out and all the horrible things. and just let him enjoy a nice peaceful retirement. He's earned it L bookstoreed by Dadjer Yeah Like Nick, we did thing on the show, you pulled like all the all the receipts on how much money this guy has spent. So he's clearly Like he literally. Yeah, he's got he's got, you know, Re expensive watches, suits and L after you save the president's daughter, you kind of get set for probablyope you would hope you'd be set for quite a while You would think so. they put him they made him go back to work in requi him because it's expensive taste. you know, the people living outside their means, even though he's making making millions. still living outside his means. Yeah, we never found out they never they never told us who he's engaged to or married to, right? becausecauseuse like we saw the wedding band, but I've got a photo mode though, so there you go Yeah, that's true Uh foollowing up other the last little bits, there is a new Oni Musha demo out. Definitely go play it. It seems like it's the I haven't played it yet, but I believe it's the same one that I got to play at Gamescom last year, which is just fantastic. It's I cannot wait for this to drop. It's not too far away I love me some good action games and this definitely fos that bill. Capcom has been on a tear for their action games just this year between Requium, Pragmata and now this one, it's Unreal just how much how good Onimusha. It's technically Ari engine Yeah And this one is this year, right? O my misreembering this one it' next year. I can't rem it's this this year? Yeah So yeah, I want to I cannot wait for this new Aim Micha game. It is going to be fantastic. I just want to see I want to see your gameplay uploaded. I just want to see you take down bosses because I definitely will be uploading some some gameplay for this one. Yeah, this one's dropping looks like september twenty fifth. So Yeah, this feels like a Christmas break pllatinum for you one of those like you'll crush through the game on the hardest difficulty and go back and back clean up over the holidays Or you'll do it all in one run, who knows You'll see awesome. Wellll see, I haven't I haven't platin owned any of the Oni Musha games when they like remastered the older ones. I haven't gone back and done those platums yet. so I might do that before September so I can Be ready and prepped for this one And then the final little bit out of the Capcom spotlight that I know Nick is excited for. We got a new street fighter movie teaser. It's pretty much the same trailer teaser trailer we got before, but there's a little bit more action in there. Nick what was new in this trailer? Yeah, we're seeing a Gy played by Cody Rhodes talking a lot more. So it seems like he might be like the comic relief Akama played by Roman Reigns, does something finally. so that's cool. And then they also put out two posters, one that had like The good guys and the villains, I noticed that Blanca is a villain in this. so I thought that was a little interesting But it's I'm so excited for this movie. I can't wait I saw I saw something over Eva weeekend where I think it was the Street fighter movie. they created playmats that was recreating from with the actors, recreating the iconic Moment thirty seven And I saw Justin Wong just saying, don't ask me to sign this. So that moment will forever live on in the hearts of the FGC community. I'm You know what, Brian, we went and saw Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat was a lot of fun. I know Max did you didn't go see Mortal Kombat It was me and Max I got to see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But have you seen Mortal Kombat I still haven't seen it? No. Okay. I need to fix that. No, I did see this new trailer before Jackass Best and Last overver the weekend, which was a very fun time in the theaters. Also, Eric Andre is in both of those movies so that's That's some good connective tissue. And I didn't I was reading up on it afterwards, and I didn't realize that he had initially campaigned to play Blanca. Which I would have loved that. Jason MMo is a perfect fit for that character, but man, I don't know, man. I feel like a world where Eric Andre' Blan is is a slightly better movie to me. Like I will take it either way though.. This looks like a blast I'm was very I'm a big street fighter fan, and I wasn't really sold on this one. I know it's going to be a very fun movie. basasically like the original live action street fire movie. It's going to be a very fun movie. I don't think it's going to be amazing. I'm not going to see it because I think it's going to be an amazing movie just like I didn't go see Mortal Combat expecting it to be an amazing movie. And I was pleasantly surprised with Mortal Combat too. I thought it was a lot of fun and a great service for fans of the game and people trying to get people interested in Mortal comombat. I think it succeed on both of those fronts. And if the Street Fighter movie does the same all for it. I think that's I think it's I think it's I think it's a win in the book for CapCOom who hasn't missed on many things lately. So That's great. Also for fighting in fans that listen to the show, please check out our very own Mitell Salzman, helped us win a fighting game tournament that he's going to be playing again the next layer in I believe it's August And so yeah, definitely check that out. We've got that video up on our channel as well Let's kind of jump into what we've been playing. Nick, what have you been playing besides some denta attacks Yeah I've been playing a lot of Minia of the Holler and that game is just It's so good. It definitely deserves the ten that IGN gave it I love that it doesn't hold your hand at all. And You know, the comat and gameplay like you can You know, I may or may not have some of the, u the cheat's enabled to make it a little bit easier. but I love that You want to sw, bro. Yeah, you know I just love the exploring. like it doesn't tell me where to go or anything and I'm just I'm going go south and then I just find cool stuff and It has just been It's so good. The dialogue is super fun Like even looking in a mirror is really cool. Like everything about it, every time I pick up the game I find something new I like and I go, oh my Godd, what a great game It's definitely in my like top three of the year Yeah, same . Yeah this game's been fantastic. Brian. I know mean and you played the crap out of this game right around launch This is this is easy up there. This is one of those games. I don't think I will actually platinum, Brian. because I picked it up on PlayStation. I don't think it's one of those on the pllatinum. and it's mostly because it has like a four hour speedrun trophy and I'm just not a speedrunner at heart. I may see everything take my own time till I, you know, hit the retirement camp still playing this game kind of player, but yeah, this game is fantastic. I think it took me twenty six hours to roll credits on this game and I did What was it? like eighty seven percent of the stuff you can do in this game and U I'll go back and clean up the rest of it. But yeah, this is this is this is easily same thing as you Nick. this is easily in my top three this year. mayaybe even top two up there with Requiem. sameame. And it's just it's so special. and I don't know if we really talked about it on this show much, but like This is a this is like a top down action Half Lynx A awaken, half bloodborne. that I am just obsessed with. I think that they they made They made like an old school Game Boy color game in HD with some of the best soundtrack I've ever heard. and it's incredibly deep. Like if you're just looking at screenshots or just watching some gameplay video, I don't think it really does it justice. I don't really think that explains just how much there is to do in this game, how many like really cool RPG elements and side stories and side quests and boss fights are amazing in this game. It just really is the gift that keeps giving and I think it's like it's like twenty bucks or something like that. And it's just crazy. I love it so much. It made me so happy that it's sold, what is it? as the last time I looked, I think it was like four hundred, five hundred, six hundred thousand copies. and Yeah, this I've always said this deserves to do like Hollow Kight numbers, right? Like this is this should be this year's Hollownight. So the more I can do to evangelize this game, please go play it. It is so good Last report was three weeks ago at over five hundred thousandalf of. Awesome. As of three weeks ago. So who knows where it's at as of now? It's could be probably an extra one hundred or two thousand past that at this point Yeah, Mina, great. absolutely love this game. Brian, what about you what you've been playing? Weirdly, I got right back into Tetris effffect connected youard that game I I have not played that in so long. Yeah. is this the one that has the VR as well? It's got the VR. Yeahah, but I u my my kid at one point in the last two or three months became awesome at Tetris. And it's funny because when I first used to handle their control Tetris, she thought it was like a castle building game. And I was like, you're not supposed to I love it. Yeah, you're not supposed to just build structures until the screen fills up and you win, That's actually losing. Mbe there should be. Maybe it should be about that though. Yeah. And so I watched her kind of like bounce around to a couple of different Tetris games that we own and I realized that I didn't have I didn't have Tetris effect connected like downloaded. And I booted it back up and it is just it is just the best Tetris game ever made. L it is just completely sublime. It is one of those g things where you just lock into it and the outside world sort of dissipates. And I really love the way it handles visuals and music. like it's got, you know, it's got equal parts Luminees as it does like classic Game Boy Tetris and It's just sort of surreal. And the longer you play it h the Levels sort of start melting into each other and you go through three or four of them in a row and each one has its own sort of bespoke theme and song. And it's got this really cool mechanic called zone. and once the zone thing fills up basically goes in a bullet time and you start stacking all of these lines and they all disappear when the zone meter runs out and you rack up a bunch of points and do it again. And it's just it's one of those like sort of infinite endless really inspired takes on one of the best game franchises ever made. And like there are a lot of really bad tetris games. There's a lot of really forgettable ones. There's a lot of ones that add mechanics that I just don't really care about But it is such a cathartic experience to play one that's this great. And it' been a couple of years since I played it initially because this is you what six or seven years old at this point, mayaybe older And yeah, I just I love this game. I think it's really smart. I think it's it was on sale recently for like twenty bucks. So I you know, it was a no brainer to get it again And yeah, if you somehow skip this game, and you want a really good puzzle game to play, Tetrra Evec connected, one of the best ever. Awesome. High praise from Brian and he knows his he knows his puzzle games. U All right, u myself, I've been playing a new release little indie called Ayssis. and it's like Ayss us I think that is how it' spelled This is a FPS rogue like, where you essentially Yeah crash land on this island and your only way through is going through taking this u forget what the nautical term is for it, but you take this device down into the cave system and you're going through all these different biomes. The first biome curiously swaps randomly between runs. So this one's the cave layout that we're stlling on screen here. There's also one where you're venturing through like an abandoned submarine and you just kind of move through different regions. you get different abilities and elements that you combine to your your weapons main fire, your weapons alternate fire, and then you have a ability that you can you can also choose from So like it start you start you out with like a standard like Almost like a mini gun assault rifle kind of kind of weapon where the normal fire is like a normal assault rifle and then the other one is more of a mini gun that overheats. and they give you grenades. a starter one. I've unlocked a couple of other weapons so far, like a harpoon gun, a Tesla gun, a shotgun. I've got like little turrets I can drop out that shoot enemies for me This has been a lot of fun. I've only like maybe four or five runs into it. I just booted it up and started playing it But this one has definitely got its hooks in me and the bosses are challenging. There's one boss that has like water effects that push and move you around. So you're trying to dodge the effects that push and move you while also dodging the damaging attacks. It's just a lot of stuff to kind of manage platform wise for it inside of these boss fights. And I think that's kind of a sweet spot. I think that, you know, somebody like Nick who really enjoys, you know, raids and stuff and destiny those that's kind of K kindind of up your alley. I think this is something you'd really like, Nick. This one is Like I said, just came out. I think it's like thirty bucks, so it's not super pricey. It's crossplay on all platforms which is great So you can play with all your friends everywhere. But yeah, this is one I've been reccently turned on to and I am really, really digging it. so I'm really hoping to get some more time with this one later this weekend, this weekend Jada, you said FPS Rogueite, I immediately looked up and was like, yes, because I know we were both obsessed with Dead zone roogue Should I should I buy this game I think you I think you'll probably really like this one and we can play co op, Brian. Awesome. We finally get to play some co op with you, bro. Awesome Yeah, I'm totally in. I'm this looks very, very exciting