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Episode 13 - Xbox Layoffs, Ghost of Yotei, Donkey Kong, F1, Apple TV +, Squid Games
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Episode 13 - Xbox Layoffs, Ghost of Yotei, Donkey Kong, F1, Apple TV +, Squid Games
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Transcript
Return and European Adventure
00:00:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hey, hey everyone. It's the Detroit Gamesters and we're back for episode 13. What We've been gone for a couple of weeks. Shamir has been gone on a nice trip to Europe.
00:00:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Sorry everybody if I'm a little jet lagged on this recording. So I was actually out of country for like what two and a half weeks, yeah two weeks, something like that. Hung out in UK for a bit, went to Italy, just landed yesterday actually. So yeah, I'm still kind of
Xbox Layoffs Impact
00:00:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
tired. So, but I,
00:00:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
I really wanted to you know get a recording in over the weekend because there's been some pretty big news to talk about. I think in our last episode, we were making predictions about Xbox layout yeah xboxs layoffs and things like that. And the timing is so funny because we ended up uploading.
00:00:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
And by the time we uploaded, the Xbox layoffs came through. and it was just kind of funny timing how that worked out. Yeah. we were predicting everything and I definitely called it wrong because I was like, yeah, no, they're not going to cut studios. They're not going to cut any studios. And they, they went to town, bro. They were like, took the butcher out and just chopped things up. And I said they were going close some studios. I was, I definitely called, I think I said turn 10, but I was wrong on, what was the studio? So you definitely talked about Double Fine and then you were going on and on about Hellblade. And did I say initiative or no? I can't remember.
00:01:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
No, we never talked about the initiative. So that blindsided both of us. So I know normally we start off by talking about what we've been playing, but I think, you know, in the spirit of, to me how this is like the biggest news in a while. Maybe we can start off with that. yeah But yeah, what did you think about the layoffs? Anything that really came as a like a gut punch or a big surprise to you? I mean, I think, you know, first of all, there' is there's multiple things that happened. You had multiple people at Rare that have been at the studio for 20 to 30 years that just left, you know, because Everwild was canceled or whatever the project was called.
00:01:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
You had Phil basically come out and give this a very generic statement about how profit has never been better and the success of Microsoft and Microsoft gaming has been on a positive trajectory, yet we still had to let go of people.
00:02:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think this industry has just, as a tech company being so big, they probably look at it as a bit of bloat because... The rumors and the reports that have been coming out is that they're pivoting towards taking a lot of the money towards AI and it building um AI infrastructure.
00:02:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
In order to do that, they have to pull funding from gaming. And I think that's kind of sad. I mean, yet the initiative is completely closed down, which means that you know there's no more Square Enix or Crystal Dynamics involvement there.
00:02:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then you had Turn 10, which was working on Forza Motorsport and now is coming to just being a support studio for Forza Horizon. That's kind of what the reports are. And we don't know what happened to Contraband as well. So it's honestly... Oh, and the canceled project for... Blackbird. Yeah, but that's the online. Yeah, which is sad too because from...
00:02:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
everything I read and heard, there's, there was a lot of positive sentiment about how that project turned around internally and that they were making great progress on that game. And that game had been worked on multiple years, almost eight. And then all of a sudden they didn't even know up until the day of.
00:03:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
So i don't know if you feel the same way as me, because for me, I just, I felt like this was a massive gut punch. And in a way I was kind of really happy that I was going on vacation because I felt kind of recharged and rejuvenated. And i actually got the,
00:03:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, live life, you know, but man, there was a lot of projects I was really looking forward to. And it was just a huge gut punch for me. Especially for perfect dark. That was the one where, Oh my God, that one hurt.
Nostalgia for Perfect Dark
00:03:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because especially when I was younger growing up, I grew up on the original perfect dark, man. I was a kid, dude. I was like, seven eight years old playing on the nintendo 64 and oh man and i remember thinking oh man look i'm playing this rated m game oops right and you know blood there was silly and everything but still it was it was really fun for the time and then i even liked playing perfect art zero on the 360 you know and i think that was a game that showed some promise but it wasn't there right and like it's probably a seven out of ten game for the time still better than nothing yeah yeah and not terrible right
00:04:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I was really looking forward to like a proper rejuvenation of the franchise. I was thinking that, you know, this could potentially be like another pillar, right? Like if pulled off correctly, like now it's no longer just Gears, Forza, you know, maybe Fable if they bring it back successfully in Halo.
00:04:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
Now we also have Perfect Dark. I always kept talking about how we don't really have spy thriller games because, you know, you don't see a lot of Tom Clancy games anymore. Cyberpunk kind of filled that niche a little bit, but that was like very futuristic.
00:04:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I felt like Perfect Dark was there for like the perfect audience. It didn't really have much competition, had name recognition, would have been an exciting addition to the repertoire. I know Initiative is brand new, but you know Crystal Dynamics does have some weight behind them, right? So I thought that could round out some edges. And personally, I really, really liked.
Game Development Insights
00:04:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
what I saw from the showcase a year ago, but that really goes to show you how bad a vertical slice can, so how damaging a vertical slice can be. That's what it was, right? A vertical slice. And I know we talked about this before you left, and now it's been confirmed that essentially the demo, the way the demo was played, it had to be played perfectly.
00:05:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
So yeah they had to play in a way where the AI or the NPCs reacted in a specific way and you had to ah advance in a specific way. Cause if you didn't, it didn't play that way yeah and it wasn't good looking. So that's the nature of a vertical slice. And like, I kind of, as people have been talking about this a lot online, like now I'm starting to understand more what a vertical slice means. Like you make a vertical slice as a way of selling the vision of the game. Right. And like, this is,
00:05:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
what we want the game to look like and play like for the entirety of the game. Right now we can just get it at the 1% or 2% stage yeah you know in terms of the duration of the gameplay and this is it's going to look like. But there was promise.
00:05:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
But but it was it was super promising. yeah And I think almost everyone, I i mean a lot of people were worried that was a vertical slice, but everyone was praising Perfect Dark. I thought it, you know, had its own identity with the graphics and anything. So to me, that was just so depressing. That was, that was a real gut punch.
00:06:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, you know, not just for us, but like, I've been doing some more research into this since the layoffs. And, you know, I, listened to a lot of prominent people now within the games industry and they've gotten a lot of DMs from people that work at Microsoft gaming, a lot of developers.
00:06:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
And this is a shock to everyone everyone, even internally. And there's a lot of people internally saying F, Microsoft, screw Microsoft. So because this isn't the way you know, I'm always like gassing up Microsoft because i'm a huge Microsoft fanboy. But I mean, to me, like, I don't know if I give this what would give this one F two F's? Yes, because this is all the F's in the game to me like this is such a massive fail.
00:06:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
And to me, it's like it's it comes down to the management because especially after scale bound, right? Like, that's what I was thinking, you announced scale bound, you were in such a low point that was almost the death of Xbox, right?
00:06:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And people saw that slice of gameplay for scale bound. They saw the trailers. They were getting so high. yeah The name recognition was there. And then Phil had to take a massive L right.
00:07:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
And you would think that would burn a memory so deep inside of his conscious. that he would never, ever put himself in that situation again. And is this not scale blown 2.0? Yeah. Like I'll say this, like personally, it seems like Phil is a good person overall. He, there's so many stories about how Phil will call like YouTubers, influencers and check up on them, et cetera. There's like all these stories about him just personally being a good person, but he still has to answer. yeah i mean, that's what struggle with when it comes to Phil. Like,
00:07:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
there's so many things to like about him. Like even when he's like talking about games, like fallout, you know, someone nukes his land. He's trying to, he's such a gamer. He's trying to nuke them back. he's like us and And I love that about him. I love his enthusiasm. I do love a lot of the changes he's made for Xbox and the way he's kind of, you know,
00:07:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
has steered into Game Pass and, you know, trying to bring some, you know, name recognition and big franchises. But at the end of the day, man, it comes down to management, right? Like, yeah like that's literally the job of management to know that, hey, not every project is going to work out.
00:08:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
And our literal job is to be able to better predict like what, projects can mature and which projects need to be cut early. Yeah. And I think that's the thing. Like he's known now as the Microsoft gaming CEO, but in all reality, it really still think seems like he's more middle management and he's pandering to someone above him. And if they're pulling budget and they go, now you have to make this budget work.
00:08:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's kind of sad because ultimately then he doesn't have the final say on what gets to stay or what gets to evolve and what gets to flourish. so I feel like because he's a popular guy, like ah this is just my personal opinion, like Microsoft makes him the scapegoat. yeah Knowing that like he has enough love and community and cachet that he's going to be able to be the fall guy, but then still be in the industry and still be revered and respected and all those things.
00:08:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
but And put that put out the fire. So I don't know who's to blame, but all I can say is like, at some point it's the management, right? yeah Because, and it's not like I'm trying to create this divide, like, Hey, the managerial class sucks. The working you know class, you know, their works are hard.
00:09:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, the thing is when you're doing creative projects, like there's creatives and there's managers. Right. And you kind of need that balance and you can be a creative who is also good at managing. right Like for me, I know I can be very creative.
00:09:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm terrible at managing the process, planning ahead, you know, getting a timeline, sticking with a timeline, all those types of things. Right. That's another set of skills. Right. And.
00:09:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Anytime you're in any creative project like field, like, you know, there's a certain percentage of your projects, no matter how promising they sound, they're not going to go to fruition. Right. And literally your job is to be able to know what project needs extra time, extra funding, right. To make it more viable and which ones where you just need to cut it early. And,
00:09:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, it goes without saying in hindsight, God, they should have cut this a long, long time ago. And what are all the what ifs? Like if they had cut it a long time ago, diverted the funds to something else, you could have given it to someone who really needed it. Right? Yeah.
00:10:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, again, the way I look at it too, it's twofold. I still think Matt Booty should have been fired a long time ago, but it's neither here nor there now. I'm just putting that out there. But two, it's more of like people are now. And I think from what I'm hearing from the community like, hey, you know, we should speak with her. Well, it's like cancel your Game Pass subscription. I'm never going to tell anyone what to do with
Layoff Consequences and Comparisons
00:10:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
their money.
00:10:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I understand within the industry, have sympathy for the people losing their job because the industry I'm in is going through the same thing. I work for a quote unquote, basically tech company now, and that we're laying off people every month. In fact, we had layoffs last week again, where we cut a hundred and some jobs, but I'm, I'm okay. Look, I'll say this as a service that they provide. I love game pads.
00:10:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't want to get rid of it, even though they've laid off 8,000. I'm not going to get rid of game pads because there's so, so much there that's so promising. But I think for me now, like I was really,
00:10:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
very happy with Microsoft in in spite of them doing things that really bothered me or hurt me. You know, I was, I really felt some type of way after the hi-fi rush thing. You know, I really got upset after they fired, I forgot his name, but the guy from Halo Infinite. Chris.
00:11:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
Was it Joseph Staten? Oh, just the one that you like. yeah Yeah, yeah. I really like that guy. And so I was really upset at those things. But I think for me, this is like the biggest gut punch because I'm just like, again, i was like, we went through scale bound.
00:11:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And for me, perfect art was one of my hopes. most hype things because I love the original and it was something that fit a niche that's not being served anywhere else.
00:11:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that's why I think that cancellation just really hurt. And man, like what the initiative accomplished nothing, right? What did they do Well, so let me put this into perspective and give a comparison to here. So someone brought this up on Twitter. i think it was someone really prominent, but it was nice to see this and you can do the comparison here because I'm They brought up the fact that at Nintendo, right, smaller company focused primarily on games for the most part, their retention rate for employees there between the US and Japan offices is between 95 to 98%.
00:12:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
And most employees at least stay for a minimum of 10 years. Okay. And normally when Nintendo makes a game, for example, Metroid, we know that's not a great selling game. Metroid Dread sold like 2 million copies.
00:12:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
They don't fire people after a game sells only 2 million copies. They say, hey, we're happy we were able to give out this niche product and we want to continue making more of it. In fact, they do that generation after generation. But there's a reason why people come to Nintendo now and stay there. So ah ah one of the really prominent guys that worked on Silent Hill, I forgot his name, Japanese developer, ended up coming to Nintendo.
00:12:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
He helped make Luigi's Mansion 3 and guess what? That game sold 15 million copies and you don't hear from him ever anymore. Honestly, a lot of the big names are leaving Microsoft. right yeah like what Was it Shinji Mikami? Shinji Mikami.
00:12:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
guy just left from Rare. That was a big deal. and this is gonna happen more and more and to Now to compare this to Microsoft, Microsoft isn't just a gaming company. Because they're a tech company, you're often going to see instead of trying to save the developers, they're just going to let them go. yeah but the thing is like Microsoft is doing kind of what they do in Microsoft through Xbox. understand that it's all tech i understand this all tech Right. But technically this is in the creative space. Microsoft, like you're not in movies, you're not in television. Like this is new for you. Like i should, I know you've been, let me clarify. Like I know you've been in gaming for a long time, right. You're one of, in a way, and one of the OGs is just you know PC, right. yeah
00:13:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
But at the same time, like this is new for you in the sense that like your new boards, Hatchel, everybody, right? They're not necessarily managing very creative things. Most creative stuff you had was Surface and Microsoft. yeah ah ah Surface and Xbox. So like you do, you it's not a one for one transfer because I feel like how Microsoft works and this works well for Windows and AI and all those things, it's kind of a revolving door, right? And like that creates like urgency to rise to the top, make projects, work things like that.
00:13:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you can't really do that with creative things, right? Because I think when you're doing something that's more industrial office, those types of things, like if you make something that works well, people would like it and it will work. But in creative stuff, like you can make something that's good on paper and people might still not vibe with it.
00:14:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. And I think like an example is you look at Psychonauts, that game probably sold just as much as maybe what Metroid Dread sold, maybe a one to 2 million
Xbox's Strategic Challenges
00:14:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
copies. And we're lucky enough that Double Fine is still theyll exist.
00:14:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then you look at Hi-Fi Rush that sold only 1.1 or 1.4 million and they asked that one. So like, It would be nice if they just said, look, we like and that's a game of the not ah game that your nominee. or would did the yeah yeah and it's Honestly, like Hi-Fi Rush could have won a game of the year in a year that wasn't so stacked. Exactly. That year was stacked. That was twenty three uh yeah 23 yeah yeah which is a stack tier and who's going to be bald who's gay yeah right plus there was just zelda tears the kingdom etc or whatever but like yeah so i think you're right it's a revolving door and they're applying everything from microsoft into the xbox division and that's unfortunate yeah and yes we get that like development in the u.s is more expensive so in japan it's probably slightly cheaper to pay the developers but they're up everything yeah But it's all about satisfaction and engagement. They have their employees satisfied and engaged in the work they're doing. They give them creative freedom to make games. But when you give someone like the initiative a blank check and then you say, hey, you guys don't get together well.
00:15:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then now we just have to cut it. And we think you're all a failure. like That might not really be the case. And that's what I It's bad management decisions. You give one company a blank check. Then you go to other people and you're like, okay, you're going to make this on Xbox only, but then Xbox has a small user base.
00:15:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
But don't worry, we're not you know judging you by your sales volume. yeah But then because Xbox is a small niche, right you're not you know going on PlayStation. right Your Xbox PC ports are terrible. right And for a while, we weren't even doing Steam on everything. right Then why would these games sell well? Right. They're not going to sell well. Like if, you know, I'm not talking about this year, but in the past. Right.
00:16:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
So it's just a strange strategy. And in a way you're kind of setting up studios for failure. Right. So then the question becomes is what are they being measured on for success? We don't know at this point there, no longer, nor are they saying it. So i want to bring up something that's relevant to this. So Chris Drang, who I think is an analytics, uh,
00:16:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
expert in the video games industry, he posted recently how Game Pass is profitable even when factoring lost sales for first party games for Xbox. And then he tried to get some clarification from Microsoft.
00:16:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think this is interesting because I think it's all over the place, be quite honest, because if you're not factoring first party sales and you're really it's just doing third party plus marketing and deals, that doesn't really tell me a whole lot. It's not the full picture. How are you calculating something like opportunity cost? Exactly.
00:16:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
How would you ever know, hey, this game could have sold 10 million, right but we were on Game Pass, we sold 3 million, it covered our development costs and but grew grew the base by 5%. five percent yeah like Is that a success?
00:16:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
Or is it just, if you factor in the opportunity cost, it's still a massive failure. Yeah, because if I were to do that as a first party game, if let's say Game Pass subscription or subscribers go up by 2 million in a single year, like let's say this year, are they then chunking that up between multiple developers? Say, well, we did it because these five studios are all, who's getting the success? And so that's the thing that makes no sense because it's like you know either you have this holistic approach where you're like, okay, we're all in this together.
00:17:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know We're not going to cut. And so you know maybe some people are carrying a lot of weight. Some people are carrying a little weight. But really you're just trying to make the most compelling library, right?
00:17:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's one way, right? But when you do it this way, it's kind of confusing. And I feel like – kind of bears some resemblance to me to what Netflix does and prime video, right? Like they will cut shows that seem kind of popular after just a season or two. And you're just like, what happened? Yeah. That happens a lot too. you know Yeah. And you know, I guess, and then you get a little worried. You're like, should I even invest in this TV show? Should even invest in this gaming franchise?
00:17:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
which you if you're just going to cut it, which are Netflix, et cetera. Like, yeah. And again, they have to figure out how they want to not only measure success going forward, but being honest on a friend. So I like that Phil it comes to all the developers. Like, look, you guys have a future here, especially when they took in Activision. We were like, we're going to do great things.
00:18:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if he was more upfront and a little stern about the fact that we're like, hey guys, but we're go have to have lean. We're going to have to make sure we save money. He could have this wouldn't have been as big of a blow. Right. And like as someone who's an aspiring creative myself, I have a couple of novels I've been working on. right And we were actually just talking about this. you know like I have one novel that's finished. That's a YA.
00:18:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think that's the most commercially viable. And I really enjoyed writing that story. And it's one of my favorite stories. right But it's not my favorite story. My favorite story is living nightmares, right? Because I just think it's such a cool niche of a story, but that is not very viable as a product. It's a very challenging thing to deliver. I've rewritten it a million times. I just don't think I have all of the tools in my toolkit yet to write it. right Now, if Phil Spencer came up to me and was like, Hey, do whatever you want. We got you. I'm going to work on living nightmares. I'm going to try to make that dream come true.
00:19:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
right and then if later you're like oh actually you should have maybe done something that was more viable why didn't you tell me from the yeah start why didn't you tell me why this so like and it's not like you have to be a shill and just like make something that you know is gonna sell is gonna sell right like no like you can make a project you kind of get a sense okay this is my audience you know like i kind of have a sense of how viable this is and what the metrics will be how much time i will spend you know like you kind of have a sense of that right a sense and then you have a sense of what's your passion project like pentamint is a passion project yeah that's a passion project right and like but like if all of a sudden phil's like hey why don't you make pentamint into this crazy 3d game that's been making five years right like
00:19:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know if you had carte blanche maybe you're like oh why not yeah but if you did it then you'd be like do i really want to you know spend that much time i'm like no i'm not gonna do that you're gonna make outer worlds too so so i think in a way like and it sucks because it's like not phil being the bad guy but it's like good intentions that's sour yeah good intentions and he probably didn't want that for his teams it's just that when push comes to the shove he's also now they know going forward these developers they can't really trust Phil, right? In the sense that they're not going to say no to him on anything. They'll just say, okay, you want us to make a new game?
00:20:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
We just finished it off we just this sold Outer Worlds 2. What do you want us to do next? And he goes, make whatever you want. They go, okay, but make sure are you sure you want us to do that? Or do you want us to focus on something? Because that's what I'm going
Microsoft's Shift to Safe Franchises
00:20:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
to be asking. I'm not going to like, oh okay, there's a blank check. I'm going to like, you tell me because I don't want to get fired in three years. Well, I also get the feeling because Microsoft is saying, hey,
00:20:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
We are reprioritizing our resources. I think they're trying to go into safe harbor. I think they're seeing what's happening with Ubisoft, other companies, and they're like, hey, we got to play it safe. This stuff is really unpredictable. yeah And they're probably just going to make a bunch of fallouts.
00:20:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're probably going to go to the safe harbor. Sky or Oblivion. Yeah, they're going to look at their franchises that have the most name recognition and they're probably going multiple studios working on multiple things and they're just going to try and play it safe until they feel like they have a very strong foundation and a strong base.
00:21:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because like that's the only way I'm starting to make sense of some of these ideas because it's like some of these decisions like you look at what some of these teams have done and these have been successful teams and they still got the axe right like turn 10 how long has turn 10 been holding up microsoft yeah okay how many forzas have they released yes horizon is selling super well but motorsport has carried Xbox for such a long time. And okay, fine. You make one Motorsport that maybe didn't sell as well.
00:21:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
Maybe it was a Game Pass effect. Maybe not. I mean, there was some controversy. But it deserves some grace of it. Yeah, but it's like, give them some grace. Like, out of all of the studios who carried you, Motorsport has always carried you.
00:22:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it gave you the ability to really make Horizon a thing because one and two weren't selling like hotcakes. They were selling, but they weren't. It was really three picked out then, four, then five, right? And so like if you didn't have Forza Motorsport, you know, as the backbone for a long time,
00:22:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
A, would Microsoft be here, you know, and also would Horizon been able to flourish, right? Because, like, you're taking it for granted. Like, to me, like, Halo and Gears, like, definitely Halo first, then Gears, you know, carry things.
00:22:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I think a lot of times people sleep on the revalence relevance of Forza Motorsport and racing games because they're like oh, it's racing game. Yeah. But man, for a long time, do you remember those years when all we had was Forza Motorsport 5 and then 6 and 7? There's nothing else being released, right? Which maybe they have too high of the too much confidence in the fact that Fable will become their next, so it'll be Fable and Horizon.
00:22:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
But it's not even out yet. you're goingnna cut half your team. Yeah. Half your team your team. And after that team was carrying you for such a long time. Yeah. Right? And it's like, and they made a little pivot.
00:23:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, like you're thinking these people can't pivot back and make a Forza Motorsport 8 or 9 and be a successful. Why not? Why don't you trust them? And so that's rough. And then I think I was reading somewhere and you might want to fact check me on this, but Elder Scrolls Online has made like a billion dollars. Damn.
00:23:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like an insane amount of revenue. And like, listen, these guys are, happy have made you that much money? And honestly, what have you done for them? yeah I know I'm sounding kind of harsh, but okay, maybe you were able to you know give them a stage so more people were paying attention to them.
00:23:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
But really, like they kind of did this on their own, right? At least to me, it seems like they did it on their own. And they were just grinding and working and building up Elkscroll online.
00:23:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And look, this game, as far as I can tell, this project they had was in pre-production for a while. They had their ideas, right? They pitched it. Phil absolutely loved it Everyone who came up you know came across it loved it. I was reading some things about what it was going to be like.
00:24:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
Sounded really cool, right? And they wanted three years after they made a billion dollars. And they just, it's not like, you know, this was the initiative and, you know,
00:24:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
Rare spending like seven years yeah and what what did it result in? These guys hadn't even started really. you know They just got through pre-production, pitched, And now they wanted three years to make a game. Not a ridiculous half-catch. You make a billion dollars. You cut their game.
00:24:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
What? Yeah, it's interesting because like I was just listening to Mr. Maddie Play's podcast not too long ago. And they have someone that's on their show regularly. His name is Hogue. I think he's like a lawyer. And I think he's like one of like Sacred Symbol's lawyers or something. of that And his brother worked for...
00:24:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
for them who was making project blackbird or whatever it's called and he said the sentiment within the studio was that most of the people now now that the project has been canceled just want to leave the company and not work on games going for like that was like a passion project yeah for them for years Absolute gut punch. And for what?
00:25:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like you think that like you're just going to keep giving people the same things again and again and you're going to go to your safe harbors and that's going to actually think that they're also banking on the fact that they'll have attrition. Like now that they've canceled a bunch of projects, I think they want they want people to leave on their own.
00:25:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think they go, this has always s slowed down. I mean... Hey, that's, that's my, view honestly, that makes sense. And it makes sense. That makes sense. I mean, that's how you get people cut, but it's like you're in a place right now where you, you're not really anticipating your thinking about the problems of tomorrow. You're only thinking about the problems of today today and you're thinking, okay, I need to slim down.
00:25:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
This is what I have to hit. So we're going to do it and we're going to make the difficult decisions to plan for tomorrow. But by doing that, you're going to create future problems for yourself yeah that you wouldn't have had to deal with. yeah So it to me, it's just not a smart tactic.
00:26:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think we're not going to really see like the direct effects of this immediately, right? Because a lot of these things were down the line. But really, we're going to see the effects in three four years, right? yeah Because that's how long a lot of these games would have taken. And it's just really sad to me.
00:26:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
Perfect Dark is the biggest hit for me. And I was going to say this earlier, but I forgot. especially because they're not going to resurrect perfect dark. They're not going to touch it. Right. They're going to call it radioactive. Right. And,
00:26:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're going to pour all this money into it. We're never going to touch it again. So then in that franchise to me, that memory is dead. dead Right. And Microsoft is going to sit on this forever. It's not like Microsoft is going to let another team actually make this correctly. just They just ruined the franchise. Yeah.
00:26:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so that hurts. Right. Yeah. And so that's why for me, that's the worst possible thing. Right. yeah I think the ESO one really sucks. Right. that That would be my number two.
00:26:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
And the number three, I think axing, you know, you know half of forza that sucks right not because you know force is not really my game but like man have some respect for your people right like they carried you for so long right um maybe it's not like forza motorsport online or whatever it was a massive failure just it wasn't as good right i mean we saw forza horizon sell like two million copies on playstation 5 as soon as it released which is like okay it's like getting you know when someone has a wife And then you trade it in for someone younger, right? Jeez!
00:27:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
Jeez! Maybe be a bad analogy, but right? It's like Forza Horizon is like the hot new thing, and you forgot about Forza Motorsport that was carrying you for so long. Like, come on, man. Your high school love.
00:27:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Right? This messed up. Your high school love got older, and now you're 19-year-old model. Like, yeah. Yeah, and I think, like, it's not to say that Xbox doesn't have any promising projects still upcoming. We got Gears, we got Fable. And that shoe's going to stacked.
00:27:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, we got, I mean, there's supposedly, I think they're already working on a sequel to Indiana Jones. Yeah. And there's still things like Blade. I think that's going to deliver. So there's a lot of very promising things. I don't know why. i think it's some legal court case or something in in France. I forget what, but it was revealed that the budget for a Blade is 100 million euros or something like that. Okay. Well, I think the development isn't as over there as well. Yeah, it's cheaper for it.
00:28:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah ah So there's a lot to look forward to, but man, that those really hit hard. I think for me, the rare Everwild thing doesn't hit as hard, right? Because honestly, for a long time, i was like, why is this not being canceled?
00:28:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I was honestly thinking it was canceled until Phil was like oh yeah, no it's coming along. It's going good. Yeah. months before. But I feel like if Phil had never said that yeah he doesn't and then they just said we said we canceled Everwild, I think no one would have been surprised. No one would have been surprised.
00:28:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so that's why that one doesn't hit his heart. I just feel bad for Phil because it's like, okay, where's the disconnect in this agency? Well, because I think at the like literally six months ago is when he stated that. I think he believed at the time nothing no one was going to get cut. I don't think he knew, right? Like, I'll be honest with you. I actually think he probably didn't know. I feel so bad for Phil. You what saying?
00:29:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
What he wakes up the same day we wake up and he finds out the studio's got to cut this. yes I that's not happening. Probably a month or two months or three months before, but yeah, not too much earlier than that. And I think the other thing is, do I care that a bunch of prominent people from where you're left now? Probably not because I don't specifically, because like, again, they just did all they did was see that things. And I'm like, yeah I was already over that. They couldn't even go back to some of their prime IP that they had made. it So to me, like, I think I was a little more affected by that.
00:29:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, i kind of grew up with Rare, so I did, you know, really enjoy a lot of their older games. Yeah, I did But it's just, like, the fact that, like, a lot of these old veteran presences are leaving, right? And it's just, like, it's an ominous sign, right? Like, it's like... It's an end of an era. You know, at end of an era. Like, a lot of these, like...
00:29:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, think about it this way. Rare was the first one to make Donkey Kong 64, basically the precursor to Donkey Kong Bonanza. How crazy was is that? You had that team make up that game? I know, right? now make that a spiritual successor that Switch 2 is enjoying?
00:30:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, crazy stuff that that talent there. So, I mean, I think whether you're hating on Xbox or you're the biggest Xbox fan, I mean, there's no other way of saying...
Management Criticism and Frustrations
00:30:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
You can be happy for the future games, but yeah like this is a massive failure. know And this is management doing just an absolutely terrible job.
00:30:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
time and job And really, you should cut these projects early. yeah you know And if you cut these projects early, then you probably could have invested better in something else. And I know this is like kind of the hindsight is obvious thing. But the reason i really am stressing it, this is not the first time it's happened. no right And it's like, if this was the first time this happened, I'd be like, okay, we all make mistakes.
00:30:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
Right. But like after scale bound, right. It's like, come on now. Like you made a point saying that we have learned and we're not going to do this again. And like, I don't want to say this doesn't hit close to home.
00:30:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
I some again sympathize with, and it's not just game developers. Shimmer, you I sympathize with those people.
00:31:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
I am not going to stop my Xbox game pass subscription. Maybe next year when it ends, I'll reconsider. There's still products for me to enjoy.
Tech Industry Layoffs
00:31:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
they just need to get their shit together and and at the end of the day there's still games to look forward to in this industry but as i sympathize because again i work in a similar field and my i myself am scared for these types of things happen and because i'm seeing it so because it's kind of scary because then you're just like i'm waiting it like no matter like how good i am i'm just waiting for you know i don't know if something's gonna drop because i am being led in the wrong direction and it just kind of sucks when like you're working as hard as you can
00:31:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then you get caught and your life gets ruined because it was something was being pointed in the wrong way. Well, especially when you have middle management telling you, hey, everything is great. Like keep doing what you're doing. And then all of a sudden they're like, you have no longer access to your computer. Stay home.
00:31:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
don't imagine I mean, that's like the way they do these cuts nowadays is insane. It's wow. Like how jarring is that? So I'll give a quick example here. I know it's not video game related, but so this just happened at work for me. Like last week, there's this team of program managers, 138 employees.
00:32:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
They got an email saying you guys are all eliminated and we're rehiring for only 80 positions rather than the 138. You can reapply if you want. By the way, you have to stay home. You're All your email access is disabled.
00:32:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
Your badges is disabled. If you don't want to reapply, you can get a severance package and that's And you have two weeks to figure this out. I'm like, who this is the most creative way to buyer people. It's just a weird time, dude. And I think I was actually reading an article that my cousin sent me that in 2025 so far, we've had the most layoffs.
00:32:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like it's just been a crazy amount of layoffs. More so than the last two years. I think so. Yeah. Because tech is just like cutting everywhere. Right. And so... And if if it truly is, if it's because AI, everyone's chasing this AI trend, that's sad because it's like, I get it. It can be transformative, but it might, I think we're trying to streamline way too much stuff too quickly right now, not understanding the impacts of it.
00:33:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, You can't replace creativity. Yeah. So, and I guess this is going to be like a really random example, but talking about my Europe trip, right.
AI's Role and Limitations
00:33:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, when I was in Italy, right. So many of this stuff was like person to person interaction. Right. And so like, really, we're getting taxis. We're talking to tour, like, you know, tour guides who are like kind of doing some of our, you know, outings and things like that.
00:33:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
a sense from them you know like where to eat where to drink like i'm so used to just pulling up a yelp in america and doing things and pulling up an eater article and saying but like i couldn't really do that there's how to trust google reviews i feel like i didn't get the best information from there so it was a lot of just like hearing from someone right then you know i was just thinking about it and i was like hey like we're making this self-driving push right okay that's great okay but like for some of these things, do we really want to go all AI? Because, like, if I was in a foreign country and I was trying to feel comfortable with the place and it was just AI, like, you know I mean?
00:34:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, how am I going to feel comfortable with, like, hey, yeah, people are normal in this country. They're, like, not going to try and kill me and kidnap me. And these places that they're telling me to go to are great, you know? Like, it's one thing if, like, you meet someone, you get a sense of their body language, what they're about. Like, all right, you you say this bar is good. You think this restaurant's good. Yeah, I'll go Like an AI is never going to make you feel that way. yeah Right. Like, so like at its core, like AI is going to be ah ah a very helpful tool, but it's not a full replacement.
00:34:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think what I'm afraid is going to happen. And I'm kind of seeing it is people are going to get overhyped about it and use it more as a replacement tool until they find what can't be replaced. And then they have to backtrack and then it's like a pendulum swing. Right. And so, and that's, that's going to happen. And it's just going to suck for a lot of people. Right. Because,
00:34:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah And maybe that's how progress works. Maybe you're only going to know what's absolutely mandatory right until you cut it and then you realize it. And then you go back to what worked. And that's how most of these companies operate. So Microsoft will probably go on another hiring spree a couple years from now and they'll hire a bunch of people back. And that's just how it is.
00:35:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
And people won't, not that people won't complain. they'll just take it, whatever opportunities they can get. And that's just how the industry is. yeah It sucks. And it's like a lot of random situations. Like, okay, let's say you're in a self-driving car, right?
00:35:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then there's an accident that happens or like something, not even you, like just next to you or like some weird situation happens where like someone is banging on your window. If there's an actual person, you can kind of empathize. you can be like, oh my God, what's going on? You can figure shit out together.
00:35:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
if it's an AI, you know, you're going to talk to this AI like, oh my God, there's a guy walking around with a gun, you know? As you were like, oh, call 911, can I offer you anything else? It's like, no, we're going to We're going to die. So there's just some certain intangible or unpredictable things, right, that you just can't replace everything with AI.
00:35:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I agree. So, but anyways, you know, that was kind of the gut punch for me. But I think after like a couple of weeks, you know, I was able to digest it, you know, i was on my vacation. So that was good.
00:36:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was able to gain quite a bit actually, probably because there was so much public transport, right? Cause I was on a bunch of trains and play Odyssey. Me and me my wife were talking about, we probably use every form of transportation, planes, trains, ferries, like really you got to write like when you're in Europe.
ASUS ROG Gaming Experience
00:36:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I brought my Asus ROG with me. I wanted to talk about that for a little bit because I think I've been kind of down on the ROG for a bit. And I was like, the updates are really annoying. Windows experience kind of sucks.
00:36:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it did kind of suck because I had to like prep my device like before I went and I had to like update all this stuff and It's like not super straightforward. don't know if you find it straightforward, but you have to update in like multiple places. yeah Like there's Windows update, but then ROG has its separate updates in Armory Crate.
00:36:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's like so confusing. and And then sometimes it's like an update to the BIOS and it looks all freaky. So it's like not a straightforward process. And then some of the external things, like first for whatever reason, I'm having a hard time logging into Steam now. you know Blizzard's always running in the background, eating stuff up. you know so So those things are still kind of wonky.
00:37:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
But i actually had a really good experience with Xbox Game Pass on my ASUS ROG, and I just wanted to talk about that for a bit because maybe i'm just stupid but i didn't and i Probably, yeah, but I didn't realize you can just set your ROG as an offline device.
00:37:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then basically, most of the games on PC Game Pass, you just have to load them up one time. And then after that, you can just log into them right away, just like it was like a Switch. But for Holland, does that last for... I don't know. I haven't looked it up. Like, maybe it's 30 days or something. Oh, it's not bad at all. And then you can, like... And I guess there's a certain amount of times you can set one of your PC devices as an offline device. I think it's, like, three or four times a year something like that. Don't quote me.
00:37:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
But anyways, i so I did that. So then I had to download all these games. And then I had to set them all. you know, I had to load them all up. which also made me go over my data cap. So I got kind of, I got in trouble for that because i had to download everything, know, on two devices basically.
00:38:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I already downloaded everything on my Xbox and then I downloaded it on IRG. So it was a whole process. It took me like half a day to get this all figured out. But then afterwards, man, they're so nice. You know, I was sitting on the plane and, you know, even if the battery life sucks, like the r ROG charger was fine. Right. And I just plugged it in and played.
00:38:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I was able to beat all of Dishonored. Wait, you were on like a economy? I was on economy, yeah. And I thought it was fine, yeah. Well, had the ability to plug in, there was like an outlet. for Yeah. I mean, don't know it's just a Delta thing, but we normally fly Delta because, you know, Detroit's the hub.
00:38:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
And in between the Delta seats at the bottom, there's like a plug-in. And, you know, a lot of times it's really hard to plug things into that. But for whatever reason, the ACES RG charger just plugs in perfect.
00:38:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
i don't know if the design there is just a happy coincidence. But the way the distribution works out, so it actually stays plugged in. Okay. What power profile were you playing at? What, TDP? 30W? 30W, yeah. Wow, so you're playing at the max. I was playing it max, and I played Dishonored 1, and it ran like butter. It was so nice. 120, max settings. It was an old game, but on a device like that, looked great. So I beat the whole thing. was not that long. was like maybe 10 hours.
00:39:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then I started playing Dishonored 2 as well. I had to tweak some stuff for it. but it still like worked out pretty well. I feel like it's actually a pretty smooth experience. And then I was trying to really get into Shadow of Mordor. And I know you've recommended to that to me before and I ah didn't really get into it.
00:39:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it was a really good experience at first. It runs really well on the device. And honestly, the story's kind of really cool. It's about Celebrimbor stuff. Like, oh my God. I love Celebrimbor. like the biggest Lord the Rings fan. And I was like, man, I should have gotten into this earlier.
00:39:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
But that does not work well. like And it's like, I feel like for, maybe it's an EA thing, or maybe it's like a... Oh, you're not talking about game performance, you're talking about just logging into the game. Logging in.
00:40:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I should explain that. Just the whole experience. It's just really annoying, because like for some things, like like for instance, like Crash Bandicoot, right? I wanted to play that, and for whatever reason, like the same data doesn't go through, even though it's supposed to, because it's on Blizzard, right?
00:40:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I played on my Xbox a bit, and I tried to play it on Asus RG, data didn't come through, even though Blizzard. And on Diablo it does, and it's a newer game, but whatever. So that worked terribly.
00:40:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that's annoying because you have to have Blizzard in the background. I know it was a tangent, but then on Shadow of Mordor, even though I didn't really have to log, like, activate the EA, like, you know, account and website and all those things, it was always trying to reach to the global server.
00:40:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I just could not play the game. And I think a lot of these games, like, you know, Assassin's Creed, and I haven't tried it, but I suspect, like, a lot of times when you log into these games, and like, it tries to, like, check into the database to, like,
00:41:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
see your progress or something like that.
Game Selection Dilemmas
00:41:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it just blocks the game. So because of that, I just could not play it on the plane. And so i was like, all right, whatever. I got pissed off. Well, how many hours of the game should be ShadowMoney? Maybe only an hour or two.
00:41:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Maybe like two, three hours. For that to have made an impression on you with only two, hours, it's pretty good. It was great, yeah. The story was very interesting in the beginning. Do you plan to finish it? Maybe. i mean, the thing is like, and I guess more stuff to talk about, I'm actually in between like five games right now. So I don't know I'm to beat.
00:41:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because I got kind of far into Dishonored 2. So maybe I'll beat that. I just have to re-download it on my Xbox. Then I've been playing some Call Duty World War II because sometimes I'm just like super basic and I just want to shoot something. So then Call Duty is perfect.
00:41:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, why don't you finish Dishonored 2 on your rock when you go to sleep? Like just lay down, play it. and Yeah, maybe I'll do that. I mean, it seems like it's like at a like a larger game, but. it's really good honestly i don't know why i never got into it yeah i never got i want to check it out i'll i'll say you one of these things the thing is like i thought it was going to be too much like stealth and you know i'm not about that you know like i said i never got metal gear solid because of that But honestly, I've just played Dishonored like I'm a madman and just kill everything. Throwing knives. And the thing is actually you're like kind of penalized for killing everything because there's like a chaos meter.
00:42:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
And basically it's low chaos, meaning you didn't kill a bunch of people. But it's if you kill everybody, it causes like a rat plague because it's like, you know, the middle of the bubonic plague. Yeah. So there's like a bunch more rats that come and like eat all the people you kill. That's actually funny. And actually like has real world consequences on the story and stuff. That's interesting. And then you get like a high chaos ending.
00:42:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
So it's kind of interesting. So in a it's like, you know, how you can play good guy, bad guy. And this, you can, if you play stealth, you kill less people. So it's kind of the good ending. And if you kill everybody because you're very aggressive, then get the bad ending.
00:42:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
in a way this is the main arcane studio yeah it's the main arcane yeah and i think dishonored made them famous right so yeah and i played one it was pretty good but was kind old and clunky and then i made i played dishonored 2 and man it's a glow up like oh this is so funny you said this what i want to talk about in general but every single time most creators for developers make a game that have a fundamentally good idea. It's the second game that always just expands on it.
00:43:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
Just like Death Stranding 2, everyone said that's amazing. Uncharted 2. Well, I thought that way about Horizon. For Horizon 1, I was like, I like the idea, the setting is cool, but I don't know about story and all the gameplay elements and stuff. And I played 2 and I was like, okay, they don't have the best storytellers in the world, but man, this game looks amazing, it plays amazing. They absolutely delivered on the idea of the fantasy of being in that world.
00:43:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it was amazing, right? And so the same thing in Death's Honor 2. I was like, oh man, I love the setting. The gameplay is so much better, smoother. The fights are so much more visceral. Same thing for huge the Lord of the Rings game. You were just talking about Shadow of War Shadow of Mordor. The second one was even more acclaimed.
00:44:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which, not to rant on Xbox the whole time, but sometimes that's why, you know, Hi-Fi Rush comes out, you don't just cancel because Hi-Fi Rush 2 can actually deliver. Probably would have been even better. Right? Because, and it doesn't always happen, but if you have a good team and they were just trying to, like, figure some stuff out, and like you know,
00:44:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
No, they get it. yeah And it's interesting how that happens with games because that doesn't always happen with books and movies. I know. like the funnyni Sometimes, like, everyone's like, okay, the first one was the best. Yeah, right I agree.
00:44:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So it's it is, well, because, like, movies sometimes feel self-contained even when you're making multiple movies. yeah But some examples are there like Terminator 1 to 2 was even better. They just grew on that. But then as a game, when you make a game, you use the base foundation to make the second game and you just say, already have gameplay ideas. Let's just tweak it because we thought about doing this. We couldn't get it in. That's why I i have a feeling Cyberpunk 2 will be even better than 1. And you're also getting a lot of feedback.
00:44:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then I feel like that feedback is more constructive. like I think with movies like Maybe this is just my personal opinion, but like we're not always able to give the most helpful feedback. like We can be like, oh, that movie sucks or it's good, right? Yeah. But with video games, we can have a more detailed conversation as a consumer and be like, yeah, that game was pretty good, but like this was clunky.
00:45:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're also using the same technology. So in a movie, just ah ah as apples apples comparison as much as I can, you might have a different director make the second movie, and then it'd be completely different and off-tone. Yeah, and the thing is, like in the game, you could have been like, hey, I wanted to do this, but my physics simulation couldn't handle it. And now I have better tech, so now you can actually do this.
00:45:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which is why something like Donkey Kong Bonanza, even though it isn't a sequel, it's a spiritual successor to not only Donkey Kong 64, but basically it's made by the same team that made Odyssey, so it feels like a sequel to it. Yeah, but then you you couldn't have done that 2017, right? Yeah, you couldn't have done that. And with movies, it's not necessarily the same, right? Because, like, I mean, yeah, you can make an argument between practical and CG effects, but it's not the the same level of difference. There's been two parts to Dune so far, right? Like, I feel like Dune Part 2 wasn't really any better. I don't think it was necessarily better, yeah yeah. So, again, I don't think there's a lot of examples of, like, the second one being better than the first one. And I think, like, a lot of authors, too,
00:46:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
like when you're writing a book and a lot of the movies we watch come from books, right? Like agents are not just going to sign you. And cause everyone's going to be like, oh yeah, I have a seven book series. yeah But then most people are not going to finish that. Right. So most of the time, like you need to have a compelling first project that can be standalone.
00:46:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if people are interested in it and they dig it, then you can further expand the story. Like, you know, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Drome, right? Like it was a relatively, you know, contained story.
00:46:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, you know. Yeah, for her to have done that seven and times was kind of crazy. yeah But if you think about it like if she only released the first one, like it relatively stands alone, right? Like, of course there's enough hooks there because like, you know, it's not like the whole Voldemort story is complete, yeah right? So then you can have more. It's a journey, right?
00:47:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
throughout seven books not that not that each time it was a different era in the hogwarts castle you know so so i just kind of feel like with a book and then i feel like by extension a movie right because the movies are normally coming from the books like you have to make sure you deliver the first yeah right and so that's why lot of times it feels like a more complete pressure and i feel like with gaming like it is a more like drawn out iterative iterative with a lot of variables you know the process is way more complicated. And they leave it open. Like, even though movies can be open-ended, games, when you make a story, you know that if it sells well, why not make a sequel? Because you reduce the development time and cost.
00:47:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
You're like, okay, people loved it. the first Like, Gears of War 1, 2, and 3. They were made between two years apart, right? The fact that they just slightly improved the game, i was happy with the fact that, you know. And I guess now I think about it, too. Like, with a book, like, you can write the same book in the 50s, the 80s, the 2000s. It has a different audience, so that's why the books look different, right? yeah with the movie you can you can make a different movie you know but it's not to the same extent as like a game made in 2000 versus 2010 versus 2020 right so I just think like and I know we've been on kind of a tangent but it's just kind of interesting you know how that's worked out yeah so with you know Dishonored 2 you know really I'm having a blast with it so probably I will finish that one
00:48:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
shadow of mordor it might take me a little bit longer to get into it get back to it i should say then uh i just started playing assassin's creed shadow today actually on what system i'm on the xbox so i picked it up on amazon for 50 bucks so i was like yeah that's worth it yeah i mean it'd be interesting i would want to know your opinion this versus when ghost or yota comes out yeah yeah i mean i thought about it i was like hey it's kind of close you know like for me because if i beat this you know i'll probably beat it like you know, almost right before it goes to Yotai comes out because it's a pretty game, not big
Assassin's Creed and Other Game Impressions
00:48:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
game. you know, I'll give you my early impressions. I'm only like maybe an hour into the game. actually really like it so far.
00:49:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Um, I think probably a part of it is i'm just super biased and I really like, you know, all the Japanese samurai stuff. And, you know, Nobunaga is like one of the coolest stories, you know, and like, you know, uh, it's kind of the establishment and the reunification and all that stuff. Like, it's so cool. Right.
00:49:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I feel like, you know, the developers kind of get it, did a good job. It's like, okay, what's a really interesting time period. And they just went for it, you know? And you know, the fact that they they have like Yasuke or whatever, you know, the black samurai, like, actually don't think it's that weird, you know? yeah Um, I think it's fine. I mean, like, I liked Afro samurai, you know, so like, I don't think it's that weird to really focus on him. Um, him.
00:49:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think the gameplay is really good. It's nothing... It's an Assassin's Creed game. yeah But I think for me, when I played like Odyssey and Valhalla, they just seemed so bloated and so... Not complicated, but there was just like a lot of stuff going on and move moving parts.
00:49:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
I wouldn't even say overwhelming because like there's other games that are more complicated. It just felt like there was too much going on. And like I just wanted something a little less... Like a little less, you know, just little more simplified, right? like And so far I haven't felt that way with Assassin's Creed, you know, or Shadows.
00:50:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm probably going focus on that game a bit more. And then Call Duty World War II has actually, you know, been kind of fun to play. because it feels so different than the new ones. And it's kind of crazy that it's not even that old of a game. It's like seven, eight years old.
00:50:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it's so much more tactical, right? Like you can't just run in. I didn't even realize this, but you have health packs. You don't have regenerating health. So literally you get like shot once or twice, half your health is gone and you have to like hide and it's way more cover based.
00:50:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
So in a way, like it feels like a, like it obviously feels like Call Duty, but it feels really, It's pretty different just because there's no regenerating health. so So that's been kind of fun. So I feel like that's plenty to keep me busy. And then I'm picking up Donkey Kong Bonanza, right? So that's going to keep me busy for a while.
00:51:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
I've been playing – well, I finally beat Ninja Gaiden Black 2. Thank God this game took me forever. I've been playing like 30 minutes. I know. We were just talking about this earlier before our podcast and how brutal the ending
Ninja Gaiden's Challenge and Evolution
00:51:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
was you. And I played it on like the normal difficulty, which is actually easier than what normal used to be when the game released. But the last three chapters was insane because I went from two bosses in like chapter 15 to like the three or four in chapter 16 to five or six in chapter 17. And it just wouldn't end. And I was getting so tired. i was like, dude, like, I'm thank God I had a lot of health items because by then I was giving up to the point like I'm not even trying to dodge anymore. i just want to hit, hit, hit, get hit. hit hit hit get hit hit hit hit get hit
00:51:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
like i'm done parrying and blocking I like it was, that was that generation though, right? Like, I feel like nowadays you don't see games that have that, like that crazy of a ramp up, right? Because it's supposed to be like a better smoothie experience be for, uh,
00:51:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
for people, but now it's like, if you beat this game, it's a badge of honor. Yeah, and it's quote-unquote normal difficulty. And it's like, with like Dark Souls and Bloodborne and all those games, like they're hard from the get-go, but like I feel like a lot of games from the 360 PS3 generation, like they would kind of ramp up ramp up over time, and then in the end, it's like... like They're like, hey, if you really want to beat the 10th level, you're going to have to prove it to us Yeah. you remember with, like, a game like Resistance 2, like, I remember it was like, oh, it's not bad. Yeah, and then the end.
00:52:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then in the end, it's like ja pause every possible alien is going, and I want to say I was, like, going up, like, some staircase or something like that and it was just so many aliens and I was like alright so this whole time you're just like oh we'll throw two aliens three aliens four aliens and I was like just send everything in yeah yeah but the one thing I like to resist too is then the way they pay it off for you is like oh they give you bunch of alien powers and then you just just blow through everything and it's like okay like There's a payoff to it. With Ninja Gaiden, I can imagine. throw everything out of you. And then you versus a boss that's so massive at the end. You're like, dude. And it has two forms. And you're like, what is it? The second form is the best. It's so insane. Yeah. This thing is massive. It looks like the thing from that one Dragon Ball Z movie. I can't even remember what the thing was called. And it's just zipping through. It's like, boom, boom. And I'm like, okay.
00:53:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, insane. Too much. But I enjoyed it for what it is. I hope remember when I was playing that guy. I actually didn't think that guy was the hardest. I thought the the bad guy who resurrects like 50 times. Oh my god. I thought his fight was way more annoying. and and and And they shoot in something at the end of the story, which I didn't like, is that when he comes back a second and third time, you actually, not have pity for him, but you're like, you understand his death, that he tried what you he did what he could do, and then you take a sword, and then like pay respects to him, even though he was my enemy. It's like, where did this come from? You hated this guy. You tried to kill your dad. i know And by the way, the game ends without you knowing what happened to your dad.
00:53:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
like you I actually forgot about his dad, to be honest. I forgot that was even a part of the story. like That story is just so ridiculous. It's just meant for you to get from like room one to room two to room two. That's what it is. and That's just that generation and that type of game. you know It's like, let's just...
00:54:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
make it like the okay i'm not gonna lie this game looks so damn beautiful in unreal engine 5 like i can't stop looking at this game and some of the women i'm not gonna lie there's a little a little too much of fan service in this game this is like the original so stellar blade yeah original self-made right but i i would say this and i hope they've changed this up now in terms of design because it's been two decades i hope ninja game 4 isn't like this i don't think it will be because this isn't a core ninja game it's also platinum games you know Well, they're also introducing difficulty options now in Ninja Gaiden 4. So I'm looking forward to that and actually playing it. I hope it's like a lengthy game. But again, it gives me the option to play my own comfort.
00:54:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
So again, I know I've said this before. I want to get into Liza Pina now that there's difficulty options. And people are enjoying it for what it is. But I just want to enjoy Ninja Gaiden 4.
Mario & Luigi RPG Appreciation
00:54:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
I like the gameplay. I like doing the... I don't get what you mean.
00:54:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
After a while, sometimes like you just don't want a crazy challenge. Yeah, I just don't want a challenge. like you know do the I normally play everything on hard mode. But like when I was playing Dishonored and even Call Duty World War II, I was like, yeah, going to play the normal mode.
00:55:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
And even with Shadows, I don't have to beat every game on hard mode because at a certain point it just gets exhausting. Yeah, exactly. So beat it, played it, had fun. Now I've been deciding between two games, so I just picked up Donkey Kong Bonanza, but because I started Mario and Luigi Superstars Saga just before, think I'm going to try to get through it. It's 17-hour game. So I don't know anything about that game, like. So this is the precursor to Mario and Luigi Brothership.
00:55:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
So this is the very first one that came out Game Boy Advance. This was like the very first attempt 20 years ago. So it plays very similarly, but this game, because it's so much older, Brothership streamlined the controls.
00:55:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
So people have complained that for the one on Switch, you can no longer press B to have Luigi jump. It's all just designated to one button now. But in this game, it's difficult because you have to...
00:55:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
be aware of both characters jumping by pressing A and B while you're traversing the world. And it makes it somewhat difficult because then you have multiple actions you can do like high jumps, spin jumps, and then you have to press multiple buttons. So it gets, I'm not gonna lie, this game's little cumbersome.
00:56:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if I can't, play it for the next couple of hours without it being a pain, I might switch to Donkey Kong Bonanza. But I like the feel this game is interesting for that era. And it's a true RPG. It's not complex RPG, but there's mechanics there.
00:56:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
There's a nice story. It's really like, it's really funny. not It's not something with it that I would have expected from Mario. Like quirky funny? Yeah, quirky funny. I'm like, there's a good dialogue. There's good cheesy dialogue in here. And I love that, especially for a Mario and Luigi game. And it looks, that art, it list looks so beautiful.
00:56:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
So what made you decide to play this one? like as opposed to Because I just wanted to get an idea of why people were complaining about the new one. I'm like, okay, so let me go back to the first one and just see how it is. And there's there's multiple. For those that don't know, there's like seven iterations of this game from GBA all the way to the 3DS. There's multiple. But the same game?
00:57:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
Not the same game. They made like five sequels. but How have I never known about any of these games? So my goal is to play all of them one day. want to start with this one. Do they like sell well or are they just kind of like niche? No, think most of them have sold at max one to two million copies. And I think Brothership is probably the highest selling at two million about.
00:57:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
So again, another thing with Nintendo is that they've let this freaking series go on for that long. with Yeah, they didn't just kill it. So I'll see if I finish this. If after five hours or so, I'm just not feeling it, I will switch to Donkey Kong Bonanza.
00:57:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I am digging the vibe here a bit. It's nice to just play every night, 30, 40 minutes. And it's not like a Final Fantasy RPG. It's not like I'm playing game, there's so to remember. It's not like something so dense. Yeah, I don't have to manage a bunch of inventory and assets. It's just like, okay, have fun with the story. Yeah, sometimes after a long day, that's all you want, right? Yeah.
00:57:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, okay.
Donkey Kong Bonanza Insights
00:57:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I mean, I guess that brings up Donkey Kong Bonanza, right? Like, we've talked a little bit about it, but... What's the open critic on that one? I think a lot of people have been getting a Mario Odyssey, I think, was at 97. Really? Critically, this game hasn't been um as good, but the crazier thing is that lot of the pundits are saying that this is better than Odyssey. How does that work out, huh?
00:58:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
I know. This is, like, weird. Well, I know, like, sometimes we can't always, like, do an apples-to-apples comparison, like, between generations because, like, obviously, like, a game can be, like, a 10 out of 10, like, 20 years ago, and, like, now it's, like, a 5 out of 10, right? Because, like, you know, things change. But, yeah, that's kind of weird because – i was like, i would thought this game would have scored like a 95 or 96. I felt like everyone was giving a 10 out of 10. Like, yeah what were people criticizing the game for? Some small things were like, the bo for most of it, the bosses are just a little too easy. The post game is amazing and it ramps up. wasn't
00:58:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
Odyssey's was kind of easy too? They were, but somehow the beginning of this game is even easier than Odyssey. Oh, I see. And then there are performance issues. Because you're destroying so much that like there's going to be dips. But it still runs at 60, but because it uses a double buffer V-Sync, when there are dips, it doesn't use VRR. It goes straight to 30 FPS, so it can be all a little jarring. So jarring, yeah. those are the only two things. But for the most part, everyone's saying the postgame is so amazing, actually, for this game. And there's some people are directly comparing to Breath of the Wild. yeah Like, it's kind of insane. And it's a 20-hour game, which is more girthy than, lol, than Mario Odyssey. And the one comparison you can directly make is this made by the same team that made Odyssey. And that's only...
00:59:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
By the way, I know this is long, but eight years, I get that. But if it's the same team, the apples to apples comparison, I think it can make is they've used not only new technology to create this because they started out the on Switch 1, they switched over to Switch 2, and they've shown some direct footage on how it looked on Switch 1 versus Switch 2. Is it a pretty significant difference? Yes, significant difference.
00:59:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
A lot more foliage, a lot more going on in the background. So it's like, okay, glad that they that. I feel like that probably made the development time go up because I would imagine for a while, Nintendo was probably thinking, hey can we make it switch one and switch two and then eventually they're like no we have to just make it switch two only yeah and also you have to think about like you know how much time is it going to take in pre-production and things like that right because yeah donkey kong has been there for a while right and it like has a lot of similarities to mario but in a way you are resurrecting a franchise right and like we've had two d
01:00:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
Donkey Kong and like the Wii U and Switch era, but no Donkey Kong for a long time. And the fact that you were able to take that franchise and elevate it to such a high level that now you're comparing it to Zelda. I mean, this is a massive success for Nintendo because now you're just like,
01:00:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
built a new pillar for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. And this is what I love about Nintendo, right? Like, you know, you built your pillow there. Like now you're also building a pillar with Metro. Like this is what you do. Right. So we should have seen the writing a little bit because in the last five years you had Nintendo make this donkey Kong land at universal.
01:00:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
They redesigned donkey Kong and the new super Mario Bros game. then what else did they did? One other thing with donkey Kong, but like they've been doing so much that it should have, And Donkey Kong played such a big role in the movie, right? Yeah, such a big role.
01:00:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm not trying to say it's obvious that, hey, they were making a new game about Donkey Kong, but they've been they've been marketing ah lot better. And I also think that, like, based on, like, what they've released in the past, well I don't know if this game will have long legs like Odyssey. Like, Odyssey sold about 30 million units or slightly north of that.
01:01:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
i mean, I don't think it's going to sell 30 million, ah I think it also depends on, you know, how, like, what other games are there, right? So for me right now, if you're getting a Switch 2, it's a no-brainer. Mario Kart is great, but come on, Mario Kart's been Mario Kart for a while. If you need a new game to really show you why you got a Switch 2, you're going to get Donkey Kong. The other games are all going to be on Switch 1. I almost wondered if this should have been the tie-in pack-in game for the bundle. Because again, we know that about 5 million units of the Switch 2 have been sold. We don't know how much of that were the bundle, but We can surmise maybe at least 3 million plus. I'm just guessing here.
01:01:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if that many units of Mario Kart were sold and you're charging, you would think Donkey Kong Bonanza would have been the $80 game. Like it's kind of nuts that Mario Kart is the one. Yeah, I think maybe they weren't thinking, you know, people would love Donkey Kong this much, right? Because, you know...
01:02:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
For that to be the main $80 game, like that is a lot that you're putting on the shoulders of can kind of a new franchise. Yeah, new franchise. Is that a new franchise? yeah franchise right So I think maybe they don't want to take that risk because Nintendo likes to play it safe more than anyone else, right?
01:02:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
they were still charging $70 for this, which is still lot. Yeah. so Which is how much they charge for Tears of the Kingdom. Right. So, so in a way it's kind of a win-win for them. Right. Especially if they thought originally it's going be switch one game.
01:02:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, but no, I mean, this is what I have to give Nintendo credit for. Right. And, you know, to me, like sometimes it becomes a little tricky to keep track of like, what's an alive or dead franchise for Nintendo because we're like super smash, right. Because everybody's in there. Right. But yeah, like some of those franchises, like if you don't think about super smash, like they're kind of dead. Right. Like,
01:02:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, I mean, there might be some action going on, but not a ton. Like, you know, what's going on with Star Fox? Yeah. Right. I haven't seen it long ago. Nothing for a long time. And then with Kirby, I know they, they, they had a game on the switch. Right. But like, and it did well, 5 million units sold. Yeah. But it's not like you're getting a ton of action there. Yeah. What's going on with Icarus. icarus right What's going on with Captain Falcon.
01:03:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So a lot of those, there's a lot of things that like we still talk about and think about, but really there kind of have been like dead or quiet franchises for a while. And so I never thought about it, but like, yeah, Donkey Kong's been kind of a quiet franchise for a long time, but it hasn't necessarily felt that way, right? Because of Mario.
01:03:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I think this is just a genius thing. Yeah, I think it was genius. And I have a feeling the next thing they're going to try and make a big pillar is Yoshi, not Yoshi, Kirby, right? Yeah, and I feel like they started with Kirby. Like, there was three to four Kirby games on the Switch, one, and I actually didn't realize that until a couple months ago, and I'm like, wow, like...
01:03:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think probably some of our our viewers are probably going to think, hey, you know, our listeners are going to be like, no, Kirby's always been a big thing. When I say big, like, you know, for Nintendo, like you define it in a different way, you know, like 5 million for Xbox or PlayStation is is huge, right? Or good. Xbox especially, PlayStation, eh.
01:04:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But for Nintendo, like when you're looking at games that are selling 30 to what, 50 or 60 million, you know, that's that's a map. Those are the big hits for them, right? Yeah. And so to me, like, you know, Kirby's been successful, right? But like, and this made a lot of money in people, you know, by, know, different, you know, plushies and stuff like that.
01:04:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I feel like, you know, they're trying to make that into a 10 or $20 million, dollars right? ah ah twenty A 10 or 20 million units sold franchise. Yeah, I agree. It's funny, they're not, this are not major spoilers here. But so for those that play Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom,
01:04:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think the opening scene is that you're jumping off and from the sky and you're like kind of like arms and legs spread open and you're like falling down right to the ground. There's a scene in the beginning of Donkey Kong where Donkey Kong does the same thing. and i this swear and And I saw some people commenting online. They're calling it Tears of the Kongdom.
01:05:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
I like that. It's called Tears of the Kingdom. And I'm like legit. And I looked at the scene. I'm like, yo, this is Tears of the Kongdom. but no That's what I love about Nintendo too because that's what people loved about Tears of the Kingdom. like they They think about like some sort of way of manipulating physics to make like a fun gameplay element, and then they just let people go wild with
Nintendo's Creative Strategies
01:05:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
it.
01:05:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if it messes up the game, the gameplay stutters, or there's frame rate issues, they'll try and do their best to fix it, but They just want you to have fun. yeah They don't want to like hold you up too much. You know, they really want you to be creative.
01:05:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
There's not a lot of games that just let you be creative. no And that's one of the reasons I love Halo, right? Like growing up, because like Halo lets you be creative, right? You either approach it with like a sticky grenade or you can like, you know, you watch these videos that like Mint Blitz does and like the ways he kills people. It's like the most random, crazy thing, right? or Because you let people be creative.
01:05:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
Or literally they created Forge in Halo 3, right? And that was like literally creativity. Yeah, you let people be creative, right? And so some games really just grow well on that and it's like, you can't forget that. Right. And I think like, that's one of the things Halo has forgotten a little bit. Like people love your games because you let people just be creative. Right. yeah But like Nintendo knows their audience and they know that that's what people want. Right. And they're finding a way to do it with other franchises. Like how do we make Donkey Kong a more creative and immersive and engaged experience? Right. And so, so that's great. And, you know, and I feel like Nintendo needed that, you know, because now the conversation has changed so much, right? Like,
01:06:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
switch two is already selling amazing right but there was a little bit of bad blood right because people think about the price and stuff and you know you give people enough hits you know and that's going to die down a little bit more yeah you know it's still going to be upsetting and it's going to be unfortunate that some people are not going to be able to afford a switch to right like especially kids and you know especially with the economy you know and that's quite unfortunate so i don't want to take that away but i feel like you know, a lot of the conversation around Nintendo won't be as negative, right? Like, you got this, and if you get at least one or two more hits, which they're going to have in the next year, right?
Ghost of Tsushima Comparison
01:07:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, they had to have a game that was system selling, right? A system seller, and this is it.
01:07:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
And for those that are being left behind, look, when they eventually upgrade, I'm not just saying, like, hey, oh get a job. where When you eventually upgrade a Switch 2, this will be your reason for it, right? Yeah, and I think especially with, like, this Nintendo and the Switch, I get it. Like, it really sucks, like,
01:07:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know if I was an eight year old kid, nine year old kid, and like, I'm really asking my parents and you know, my parents might be in a difficult position and they're trying their hardest to give it to me, but they can't, you know, the games are so much more expensive. That sucks. At least with game pass, right?
01:07:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, you know you still play those Xbox games and stream on your phone. With Sony, eventually those games go on sale. And they do eventually end up on PlayStation Plus, right? But Nintendo, there's no way around it. And, it's like, it's targeting kids and who are going to target parents. So I get how it's kind of scummy and it sucks.
01:07:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, again, you know, that's kind of Nintendo's business. And that's how they've always been, right? Nintendo's a bit greedy, right? I don't know. and disney does the same thing right they're like kind of the gaming world yeah they charge you premium to enjoy some of the most popular content it's like don't you want to make it more accessible we want the most but i mean they are giving you people that it's a part of people's childhood it's an integral part right like how many parents really have to sacrifice to be able to take their kids to disney but then at the same time like that becomes a very integral experience for them. Right. yeah And that's how Nintendo is with so many people growing up. Right. Yeah.
01:08:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, uh, I guess, know switching gears a bit, haha, uh, a couple other things to talk about. cause do feel like there's been a good amount of news. there was a ghost of Yotai state of play. Yeah. What'd you think about that? was a little bit underwhelmed.
01:08:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'll be honest with you. So the first state of play earlier this year got me hyped for it. Just showing that brief trailer, but this just, you know, it just seems more of the same. Like they're iterating on the game.
01:08:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
Some of the gameplay looks a little more fluid. And the story overall all is just you getting revenge. So I don't know. I just felt like even like when I looked at the 15 minute direct for Donkey Kong Bonanza, not to go back to it. And then I looked at this. I'm like, man, Nintendo did a way better job showcasing their game versus this.
01:09:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
So to go back to Ghost of Yotai, I'm getting it for sure when it comes out October. And I think I'm going to, I haven't played Ghost of Tsushima, but i'm going to start with this first, honestly, just for the fact that like we talk about sequels normally end up being better.
01:09:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
So maybe they just didn't show it off well. But other than that, I think some extra unique things they've added, which is the grappling hook. kind of thing to grapple on to traverse and the fact that now you can swap between weapons pretty quickly while fighting plus the gun as well other than that we know the boss battles will be there one cool thing i liked is they added a new mode a lo-fi mode or lo-fi mode wherever you want to call where the director samurai shampoo has curated music and you can literally play it while traveling and traversing but not fighting I mean, you know I pre-ordered the game today. And yeah, I'm so basic. As soon as I was like lo-fi mode yeah oh fine with that director, i was like, you sold me.
01:09:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah Because i love that. listen to lo-fi all the time. I love Samurai Champloo. I love the Nujube song from Samurai Champloo. And that in a game, I know, right? Rest in peace. That, that sold me, you know, right away. I'm that basic.
01:10:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which I saw some people complain. They're like, why would you put a mode like this in this game? and I think it's perfectly fine. Like you can turn it off. you It's your choice. I mean, I get it too, because I was thinking about it too. And I was like, you know, it's a revenge story. And so that's kind of more like dark and doesn't maybe fit totally with Lofi.
01:10:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I was like, yeah, but who am I kidding? Like, I'm just going to enjoy it. You know, like if I even even playing like 20 percent of the game with that music in the background, like I'll be happy. Well, that's what I'm saying. So they're not saying that that music is going to play when you're having big times. It's just really just traversing and adventuring.
01:10:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm like, OK, with that. if If I'm traversing from place to place and the beams big enough, I'd rather it's none other than just the wind howling. trying something different and it's just a mode not like that's the whole game so and they're gonna have the black and white kurosawa mode yeah which i'm not gonna plan you know i mean you know Not for me, but like but you know for me, you know I'm more into the lo-fi thing, but other people are going to love the Kurosawa thing because he's very famous, right? So just the fact that they're including those options is great.
01:11:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I guess... oh They also didn't talk about the fact of multiplayer is coming back, so I don't know. I mean, a lot of people loved it. It's very successful for them. Yeah, I guess maybe you had a you know different you know takeaway from you. I think when I first saw Ghost of Yotai, i was like, I don't know...
01:11:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
This kind of sounds like an Assassin's Creed origin story of revenge and tracking people down. I don't know, new character, new plays, kind of weird. And so like I was excited for but I wasn't like crazy hyped.
01:11:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
But for me, you know, after like the new stuff, I feel like I've gotten enough that like my hype factor is up. I've pre-ordered it I agree with you about a lot of the concerns you're having. And I think like, to me, this goes back to why, even though I love Ghost of Tsushima, like, I don't think it's a masterpiece. I think people gas that game up way too much.
01:12:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
mean, I think a lot of people online talk about it like it's an, an easy 10 out of 10 if not a 9 out of 10 the game was an 8.5 I mean the Metacritic was an 8.5 yeah and I think the Metacritic was spot on because the gameplay like it doesn't actually give you that much freedom and flexibility right because it was really frustrating to me that I had to change dances you know to fight everyone and I can understand like how that juggling can add another layer of tension and make things fun.
01:12:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I like the way Doom, for instance, handles it because in Doom, like ah most of the enemies will have ah specific weapon that shreds them or is really effective against them, especially in Eternal, right?
01:12:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you can still get by without doing that, right? Like for instance, there's a Chalco Demon in like Doom Eternal and if you... you know, shoot like a bullet into him and he explodes, super easy way to kill him, right?
01:12:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if you're in the middle of a crazy fight and there's so much going on and that thing is annoying the heck out you can still kill it, right? You might have to overpower it with a big gun, right? But you can still kill it, right? But the reason I...
01:13:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
I didn't like ending Ghost of Tsushima as much is because I felt like I had to play the game the way the developers made me want to play the game because if I try to use a different short storage stance, it's just not viable at all, right? And then Doom Eternal, like, it is viable. It's just so the difference between being an average player and an next expert player.
01:13:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I think that's the difference for this game. and Unless I'm mistaken, it looks like the difference is there's no longer stances. You have different weapons, and each weapon is more effective against certain enemy types. My thing is, does it actually change the way the game works, right? Because, like for instance, like if I had a heavy in the original game, right and I had to use like some sort of stance that was like more hard-hitting, right?
01:13:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
I still had to switch to that stance to fight that guy and then now if there's a shield guy have to switch to a different stance. Now instead of switching stances am I just switching a weapon yes but doing the exact same thing? Well you're not switching stances, you're switching weapons but they show that it's very fast and agile to swap it you. So it's kind of like how God of War 3 was. right like You can switch between them quickly but in God of War 3 it was fun because you could chain the different yeah weapons in a specific way to take you from being an average player to an expert player. And i think you be able to do that here. That's how I like it when it's implemented, right?
01:14:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
oh But my fear is that this is the same gameplay but re-skip. yeah Instead of giving me a different stance, you're making the sword model look different. yeah and have different animations but it's the same thing yeah but if i can switch between the different weapons in a specific way of comboing in a certain way that will take me from being an average player to or an expert player like then i'm incentivized to experiment be creative to learn yeah and so that is i think that's what they didn't do a good job of demonstrating in the state of play and i only saw one section in the video you should re-watch it but i think you can do that
01:14:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I'm not going to be excited. That's what you can do because they didn't do a good job demonstrating. Yeah, exactly. that's fine That game is going to be polished. But if if it is like that, I will actually enjoy this game more. That's why I've been holding off on Tsushima because I remember when you told me about the exact concern, I'm like, I don't want to play the game like that. like that doesn't That's why I don't like it. And then, yeah, you can like kind of expand into like being stealthy versus being actiony. But like I didn't really feel like it was that substantially different when I use like one tool over the other.
01:15:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
And honestly, like, I felt like I didn't need to be skilled at that game. I could just approach everyone with like the same technique, which was use this dance for this person, run away, you know, wait for a second and then come back.
01:15:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it was like, it was like brainless. It was like, I didn't really have to put an effort in like other games. I feel like I have to really master, you know, the tool set. in order to do well and get by. But with that game, i was like, no, I'm just going to like space myself away from everyone and just use the right stance.
01:15:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if they're giving me a hard time, just run away and come back. So like in a way, like I just was able to like land my way it through the game and, you know some people might say you're playing the game wrong but like to me like again that's why the difference between like an eight and a half game and a nine and half game right right like i mean that tells me that the game is very strong for even if the gameplay was like that normally gameplay is king for you to still get that high of a rating like so well yeah because so that's why when i first started playing ghost of shishima i was like man i don't know why people are guessing this game up so much like i'm not feeling and i stopped and i didn't play for years and i was like
01:16:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
I do not know why people love this game. And then i I forced myself to get back into it because I got like the DLC or whatever. And I think think I got like the legendary Iki Island. I was like, okay, i spent all this money. I should play it.
01:16:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then I got a little bit back farther in the story, and i was like okay, I can see why people like it. Because the main story got more fleshed out. Now these side characters came in. The side character stories were really cool.
01:16:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
And actually, if you did some of them and you unlocked, like, the other techniques, like, I think there was, like, a fire technique or stuff, there were substantial changes to how you played the game. Like, you know, I think you had, like, a different air bow, different, like...
01:17:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
like technique with the sword that were like you had to do these legendary quests and it almost felt like a movie and then i was like okay i get it i can see why it's all of the stuff outside of the beaten path it's everything in combination together with the artistic style of the game and how you traverse and the wind i get it now but still like i was like you know i still don't feel like that Gameplay that's sword combat is really that much better than like Assassin's Creed. Like honestly, like i kind of like playing Assassin's Creed more.
01:17:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's just like my personal opinion. So that's why like, i I'm hoping that you know this game makes that better. right And again, it might sound like I'm hard on the game, but like to me, an 8.5 game is still very good. right So even if they deliver another 8.5, or even now they make it look a 9 game, like that's going to be terrific. right And I think also for me, like when Ghost of Tsushima first came out, I was still kind of salty that they weren't making another Sucker Punch. Not another, what's called? Infamous, right?
01:18:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so maybe that's why I was a little biased. But now I just kind of accepted the fact that they're not going to make another Infamous.
Game Release Strategies
01:18:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
so Yeah, I mean, I don't think they'll go back to Infamous. I enjoyed 1 2, and I liked the third one. Did I want more after that?
01:18:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
Look, they looked at it from a financial perspective, and like said, they just didn't sell well, right? And Sony's more acclimated to that aspect, not like Nintendo. Now I like that they branched out. They are making a ghost of Tsushima movie directed by the person who made John Wick.
01:18:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah Chad. that's a perfect. Stella Husky. Perfect combination. And that's what people are saying. Like that's the perfect person to pick for this type of, the actions are going to be gory. We don't have that many great samurai stories and movies, right? Like, you know, know it just so happened. Assassin's Creed shadow came out this year, but like, other than that, like what's really going on in the samurai space. Right. Like,
01:18:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, I feel like that was really popping off in the 2000s, right? Like even in anime, you had like Samurai 7, Samurai Champloo, right? And that's been kind of a niche, right? So I feel like that's why of Tsushima just hit at the perfect time.
01:19:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
it was It wasn't talking about Tokyo and Kyoto, right? So that was really cool as other parts of Japanese history. So I think that's why was such a success for them. So, you know, I'm excited for Ghost of Yota. I think that might actually be like my most excited game going into the fall. Yeah.
01:19:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
also just want to give a little shout out to soccer punch too now they've been consistent we got two games on the ps4 from them and now one on the ps5 like and first light was an expansion to infamous second son but it was like a pretty sizable one too yeah so like honestly like gonna spend 10 years like three games that's like really good i also they were making the slide games too before that right it's not like they weren't They were still pretty good on PS2. Spy 1 through 3, Infamous 1, 2, then Infamous 2nd Sons of the Beast. Did they make Sly 4? they did not. That was Sanzaru.
01:19:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
But what I will say too is like, I think Ghost of Tsushima, the first one, right? Ghost of Tsushima, yeah, they sold about, I think, 9 to 10 million units. That's huge, yeah. huge and again for something I don't know if i mentioned this but the multiplayer aspect of this thing it hasn't been announced whether that's coming back I know a lot of people loved it it was a cooperative mode and it was just like mini side missions kind of thing it wasn't a live service game I don't think it's going to come back because if you think about it if development has become harder in the PS5 than the PS4. And yeah they had to release this years after. it was at least a year, maybe two years. About a year after. the Yeah. you know
01:20:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that means that they weren't able to get all that in for the original release of the game, right? So like what makes you think that like they're going to be able to make it for the PS5? maybe you know maybe if they already have the backbone they could do it but i just don't get that feeling i don't either they would have announced it already it's like the same thing with last of us when last us came out they had a multiplayer mode and when part two came was like what about factions and then they never said anything for years i have a feeling this probably won't and i'm okay if it doesn't it's not like i i'd rather i enjoy more single-player games now so i'm okay with that i just wanted to point that out so
01:21:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So, and I guess in other kind of Xbox, Sony-related news, Helldivers 2 is now coming on the Xbox. sure So, I did not expect that. I didn't either.
01:21:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
I just thought for sure, like, this was a game that was set in stone PC PlayStation. But it's funny because this game has been announced for August 26th, which is the exact day Gears of War Reload is coming on PlayStation. right? But why is Sony doing that? Like, it's just so strange to me. Like, do they do this, like, on are they trying to...
01:21:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
dull the attention Xbox is getting by doing the opposite. light Yeah, do they not want people? You're giving us a Gears? Well, we can give you Helldivers.
01:21:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
Microsoft, you're not doing anything special. You're just giving us Gears. We have Helldivers we can give you. It's like it's no big deal. You give us Halo, oh we'll just release some other game on the same day for you guys because we can just hand them out like they're nothing. We're the Ape Escape.
01:21:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, so it kind of feels like, know, you're like devaluing gears. But at the same time, if you devalue the importance of your competitors game coming to you.
01:22:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
won't you sell less of the competitors game so sony gets a 30 cut of every game that they sell on their platform so it's like why would you want to diminish this let them get their problem you get your small cut you didn't need to develop the game at all you didn't anything for them they made the game it's just a strange decision it weird by that day i don't know if it's them being petty or what unless it was a pure coincidence right like they both planned it and both just and div mean that day but you can move that i like one, two days, one week apart.
01:22:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think it's cool because when they announced it, they had the halo music in the background and they show master chief like, that's a nice little touch that out of all things, they first thought that like the master chief halo touch be added. I mean, it makes sense because mean,
01:22:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
the idea is basically odst right like yeah it's odst basic they look like odst i know um i mean i actually would consider playing the game just to see how it looks with mastery but i'm thinking about it i don't know if i will yeah i mean we're talking about the like you know i own it but only on steam and so i don't really play on my laptop it's kind of old so i would play on my rog and it hasn't been the best experience for me on the rog so and i was I was being too cheap to just pay for PlayStation Plus, so I didn't buy on the PlayStation. So all said, you know I might buy it on the Xbox again if it comes out.
01:23:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's $40, so it's not super expensive. And honestly, if that went on sale for like $30 or something, $45, it's not bad. I mean, they have made a lot of updates since the game out. It's been over a year. So like there's a lot more factions and stuff and enemy types.
01:23:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
Might be worth playing it now, actually. um I'm sure the community has kind of dropped. But, like, once Xbox comes out... Yeah, it's dropped, but hasn't died, you know? It's just interesting to me because I'm just wondering what made Sony decide to do this. The question was it Sony? Like, I don't know.
01:23:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Well, because they're not a first-party studio, right? Is it Arrowhead? Arrowhead. And they've already, I think, announced that their next game is not going to be exclusive. They're going multi-platform in their next game. So I don't, i think, not to say there's bad blood, there's tension there clearly between the studio and Sony. They were already pissed that Sony was requiring PSN accounts for regions that didn't support it and they couldn't get their game to multiple, to other regions and people.
01:24:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I think something's going on in there clearly. And so they've made a for Sony's hand. I just think that's probably why Yeah, that makes me curious too about like the future of Death Stranding 2, right?
Neil Druckmann's Career Shift
01:24:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh, that game's going come to Xbox. Right? Because the first one did. I guess it's just a matter of when, it's matter when. And trust me, if I'm Kojima, you want as many people as possible enjoy that game.
01:24:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
that's not That's not a thing now that you need to gate to Sony because you have to survive. This first game did get an honor. And the thing is, I think most people, you know, developers, they just want as many people to play their game, right? So like if at any point possible, they can release on multiple platforms, they will, they right?
01:24:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think that's just how most people feel. And second, it's probably not very hard to switch between the PS5 and the Xbox as compared to the 360 and PS3. And really like, yeah, you have like 20 or 30 million people on Xbox. So it's like, no, it's not a ton.
01:25:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if you think about it, like there is a subset of that population that are very hardcore gamers. right like They are people who have stuck with Xbox because they love Xbox games. They're probably into more hardcore games like shooters, RPGs, things like that. It's probably like the same 2-3 million people on Xbox who are buying up a lot of the same stuff. right i mean Honestly, if you can get just 10% of that player base, that's like 2 million people. Why not? That's like 100 million, right?
01:25:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. That's what I'd be aiming for and get it on PC as well. And then you add all of those extra features on PC, like ultra wide support and all that in FSR and or DLSS, bro, like that will be enough for him to satisfy himself. Cause I don't know if he'll make a third part and I can see finally pivoting to something new.
01:25:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
He's also been, Kojima himself has also proclaimed he wants to start making films eventually before he stops with this process. He's in his sixties, so he's old or getting older So I could see pivoting to that. And we don't know what OD is. We don't know if that's been canceled now with Xbox, et cetera, but yeah, I forgot about that one. Yeah.
01:26:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
we We'll, we'll see. I'm just from what I'm hearing with, you know, with Death Stranding, think that's good too. But yeah, this is all around been interesting. So I think Helldiver is coming to Xbox. I didn't expect this. I would have said a year ago that would never happen. And yeah.
01:26:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
um I mean, I had a feeling that like it might because there was a lot of noise around Xbox people who wanted it. It seemed like, you know, everyone was like, why can't we just bring everyone together? Like,
01:26:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
I feel like Helldivers was one of the rare moments in gaming when it was just like positivity all around. And even when there was some of that negativity because of the PSN accounts and stuff like that, like it was able to get kind of get flipped, right? Yeah, but it's funny, Helldivers 1 didn't come to Xbox. So it's so funny that you're just introducing the second part of a game to an ecosystem that's never had the first.
01:26:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
But honestly, like, i don't know if you heard about it, but I don't think I ever heard of Helldivers 1. I don't, I didn't really know about it. So maybe I just, it's just, it's just top down. It's not a third person behind the back. Maybe that's why I didn't like know about it because you know, that's not really a genre I pay much attention to it's not for me.
01:27:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
but it's literally the same and it's really fun. Yeah. It just wasn't big, you know? So, oh yeah, there are some other news that definitely want to talk about is Neil Druckmann for show.
01:27:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
the The OG gangsta, The Last of Us, he ain't going to be producing season three or writing or directing any episodes. Not to say that he directed a lot on season two. He actually only helped direct one episode. i didn't even know that.
01:27:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
and And I did confirm that the other writer, did that lady, I'm forgetting her name with the blonde hair. She is the co-writer of the game as well. Oh, okay. So I did confirm that. So she's been doing more of the heavy lifting, but Neil said specifically, this has kind of taken, not a toll, but he can't win. Is that Amy? Yeah, Amy.
01:27:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh, I thought she was working on that Captain America game. No, not Amy. Sorry. The co-writer of Last of Us. I'm already forgetting her name. That's fine. You see her in the interviews when you're listening to the show. But the main thing is that with Neil, he basically said that he needs to be able to manage his responsibilities as the studio head and a co-writer of her mu Intergalactic. intergalac So, you know, four years in, the game could come out in another year, two years. Especially if he's really going to focus off his attention on it.
01:28:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
And he's also serving as a producer on a second game that the studio has been working on. He specifically mentioned that they're giving a chance to like younger members of their studio and new people that haven't really been able to really write and direct their own game before. And he's just helping them out on a day-to-day basis. So I don't think that would be Last of Us 3. I don't think Sony would allow the reins of something that big to go into a relatively new person's head. Yeah, I think it's Uncharted spinoff.
01:28:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
probably that makes sense that makes the most sense like unless someone wants to bring back jack and dax around doubt it but i think it's uncharted spin-off it makes sense because they were definitely working on it internally with studio bend or so yeah and then they probably brought it in-house and now they're letting people just tool with it yeah and that's a game that you can take five or ten years yeah i mean i don't know how i really feel about you know druckman like just focusing on games now, like, I think it's fine, right?
01:29:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I imagine with a TV show, he's probably kind of given his input earlier. Like, I would think they already have a lot of the script done for the third season, so it's just a matter of filming it. Just filming it. So I think that's fine. I think, you know, you don't want to get too distracted or have too much on your plate, right? Like look at George RR Martin, like the guy is working on so many things showss games related to the game of Thrones, right? That like, he's not able to finish the wins of winter, you know, and everyone's upset about him for that.
01:29:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I think it's, it's probably a good thing overall. Is there going to be a drop off to the quality of season three? I don't think so. Cause again, i not he only directed one episode and I think the, the original writer, he still has the other co-writer. I think the story is what it is. Like, I think, you know, it's not like,
01:30:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know someone screwed up on season two like i just think it was inevitable like people love last of us one so much more than last of us two yeah right well i also think that one episode he directed on season two actually ended up being the best episode it was episode six i think which was near the end when that was but in that so it's like okay fine maybe season three does and doesn't end up being as good as season one which is fine but it's not like season two was the thing is like better would you rather have the next game have more attention from Neil Druckmann and therefore be better? Or would you rather have a better Last of Us Season 3?
01:30:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like the the show? No, absolutely not. I would rather have a better new game Maybe it was a hypothetical question. I don't even think i don't think any of his fan base would want that either. Probably not. They've already played through it. And now they just added an update to Last of Us Part 2 called Chronological Month. Actually, i don't know if messaged you about that, but after I found out about that, i was like, oh man.
01:30:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was actually tempted. To play it again. that This is why i waited 10 years to play the game. I haven't played it yet. I'm not going to lie. I was actually tempted to play it again.
01:31:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because was like, man, I remember like the story felt really confusing for me when I felt played Last of Us Part II, especially since I didn't beat the first one before. played like half of it. And now i'm like, oh, man, if I if i played it chronological, would I just have a totally different feel of this game? I don't know. But here here's the thing.
01:31:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
You gave me so much shit for not playing games for years. And then you get an update. You're telling me. Wait, you get update five years later. You're like, oh, you never know. I wait for updates like this. Okay, you're telling me within the first year of Last of Us 2 coming out, you knew That there was going to be 10 releases and a chronological vote coming out. In the back of my head, I'm like, I know five years from now we're getting a big deal. The reason that surprises me is like, I don't think, I think after you've been gaming for like at least, I you feel like I've been gaming for like two decades, God, right?
01:31:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, I feel like your top 10 is pretty cemented, right? And it's kind of hard for anything to break into your top 10. But like for me, the fact that like, probably would put last of us, you know, and tears of the kingdom in there. Right. Like that's a huge deal, right? Like it's not often that a game has that profound of an effect.
01:32:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
So i was like, man, you really got to play this, you know? I mean, I'm probably one of the few people who'd like last of us two better, but that was mostly because I never beat the first one. So last of us two was like my first proper last of us experience.
01:32:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Not beat, but you did play the last of us part one first still. you did. Yeah. Played half of it. You borrowed from Sayid and I remember how far you No, no, no, no, no. Not Last of Us. What I did was I went to Redbox, okay? And I rented the game for a weekend and I tried to play as much as could for weekend. Yeah, that's what was.
01:32:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
i got up to the part right before they got hit by a car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was halfway. Yeah, maybe that was the halfway mark. But then I also think that because... I was trying to make the most of my money, right? I played so much of it and made myself miserable, right? Like forcing myself to beat this red box rental in three days. And I couldn't because the game was kind of hard too, that I just had a sour taste in my mind about Last of Us.
01:33:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I remember that. And then I played Last of Us 2, and I was like, oh my god, this game is amazing, what's wrong with me? And then I went back and played Last of Us Remastered. Yeah, I remember that was during the pandemic, because you were so in love.
01:33:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
First, you were like, this game, don't know what people are talking about. And then as you beat Last of Us Part 2, you were like, this is amazing. Oh, know, I totally flipped on that one. so But no, I probably won't replay it just because I have a lot of other stuff on my plate. But honestly, if there's another quiet season for me and I'm kind of bored, maybe.
01:33:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know Yeah, fair enough. Okay, and I guess like a couple of other things, just rounding things out. I wanted to just briefly mention the Virtuous Layoffs. i don't know if you heard about that. Yeah, I have.
01:33:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I get, you know, why they would cut people. Like, maybe they were, like, done with some projects and stuff like that. Maybe. And that's why downsizing. But it just felt like weird timing, you know, I was like, man, like, Virtuous has been, like, kind of been on a tear, right?
01:34:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
They have, but you have to realize Virtuous is huge. So they have multiple studios under them. And the specific studio that got cut, I don't know if they worked on Oblivion or not. I don't think they did.
01:34:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
So this is kind of par for the course. They're just downsizing. They're just downsizing because they have like 2,000 employees or something like that. that's crazy yeah i guess i always just pictured virtuos is like it's like two three hundred yeah that's what i thought and i was like how are they doing all the things that they're doing yeah and i never realized but you know kind of crazy to think that they they are these independent teams that like just contract out and help other teams make their games like certain affinity too and they're just absolutely massive yeah it's absolutely massive and who would know and so i think that's what's changed within the video game industry is that
01:34:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's not viable to start your own studio hoping you're getting millions of dollars in seeding and funding. So what now companies have cropped up in the last 15 years, basically contracting and consulting companies. And they say, we can contract six months of work. for you Yeah, well, we can contract six months or one year of work for you, or we can get you to the finish line.
01:35:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then Microsoft, because they're so known for especially the Halo Studios, we'll cut a bunch of people and we'll get we'll save 100 million bucks, just get them to the rest of the finish line and get them integrated. And that's, and now Virtuos, I will say has done such a great job because they've done Oblivion. They're doing Metal Gear.
01:35:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
They've helped on so many other games in the last two years. I'm i'm already forgetting i off the top my head, but they seem like they've kind of got their shit together. It's kind of crazy. And like, there was rumors that Virtuos was working on a ton of games the last three years. And everyone's like, there's just no way they've not output anything. And now they're outputting an insane amount of stuff. It's like interesting how like,
01:35:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
it They just become like the the problem fixers. Yeah. Right? Like, that's just really fascinating. They were also, I think, working with Sony on game. And I'm forgetting what now. Other than Metal Gear. Were they the people who were working on... No, they're not the people who were working on Knights of the Old Republic. That's someone else. No, that's not that. That's Saber Interactive, right? Yeah, that's Saber Interactive. Yeah.
01:36:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I don't know. But I mean, I guess at first I was kind of really surprised to hear that. But you know this is good. This is why i talked to you about it because you're plugged into things better than me. And you know I had no idea they were that massive. That's crazy.
01:36:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
so yeah They've also worked on like Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mortal Kombat 1. They have like three people that are like, if they have teams of like three, four people. Each of them are like involved in every game. They could. And they're also working on Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.3. Oh my God. Which I don't know if you just saw the trailer for.
01:36:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're
TV and Movie Highlights
01:36:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
adding new cars, new quests to get the cars and a whole bunch of quality of life improvements. So the fact that Virtuos is the one that just like, again, it came in and CG Project was like, yeah, here, take our tool set and just add some quick updates. Like, that's crazy. crazy Yeah.
01:36:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, all cool stuff. Uh, I guess a couple other things for us to talk about. i know we've been really focusing on a lot of games. I was thinking maybe we could talk about some TV shows or movies yeah we've watched.
01:37:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Let's do any other gaming news you think is worth covering. think we covered it highlights. So I think, uh, you know, especially since i was traveling a lot, you know, I brought my iPad along with me and I just watched a whole bunch of stuff.
01:37:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
And really I was watching a lot of stuff on Apple TV. and Oh, so I can't make one correction. Um, Virtuos actually employs 4,200 people across the world. Oh my god. So they only laid off 200. And not saying that's a good thing. just saying that in context to... I mean, the context is really important for that one because... God. And all across, there's lot. Half a percent? They're headquartered in Singapore.
01:37:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
But just yeah, this is even crazier. So they have probably a lot of people there, but they have people contracted all across the world. So crazy stuff. Well, I know nothing about that. Fortune 100 massive. It's Microsoft, like 20,000 people. So like that's like a fifth of all of Activision and Blizzard. I didn't realize they grew that big. Man, they're massive. All right.
01:37:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
Anyways, yeah, i was just talking about my experience with Apple TV. Because man, like I didn't realize how how much stuff they had. And like, it's actually a lot of really good stuff.
01:38:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, you know, I finished watching Slow House, Slow Horses. don't if you've ever heard of that one. It's kind of like the like the big, one of the big TV shows that has like four seasons.
01:38:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's a British show. It's about like spies and stuff. So kind of has like a James Bond vibe. But the interesting thing is it's like all of the screw ups and all the rejects and all the fuck ups, you know.
01:38:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
And how terrible they are they get basically, in they they don't get kicked out of the equivalent of the FBI. They get put into the slow horses because they're slow, right?
01:38:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And basically these people, they're just trying to make their life miserable until they quit. But it's just them basically trying to be FBI agents, but they suck at their jobs. And then one person has to clean up their mess.
01:38:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
So it's it's actually really funny. And it's like, it's kind of like, you know, a lot of British shows have like this like different type of humor, right? It's like kind of dry humor. It's not like, you know, people just like saying ridiculous things, you know, it's just kind of clever and witty.
01:39:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I actually enjoyed the show. I think it's a lot of, lot of plot armor, a lot of plot holes, things like that, you know, but I will give it to them. Like sometimes like, Big characters will die out of nowhere. You wouldn't expect it. So, you know, you know it's kind of a weird show for me because its it's not a show I would think I would fall in love with because I could think about, like, this thing where it could have been better with the writing or this or that.
01:39:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
But it's just really fun. So, i like, had a blast. And I finished three seasons while I was away. again, like, each season is only, like, six episodes. It's not that bad. It's not bad. So I finished all of that. I started watching the new season of Foundation.
01:39:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
i don't know if you... Someone started, yet okay. Well, season three is amazing. I think Aijian gave it a 9 out of 10. And I've only seen the first episode and a half. But, man, it is really good.
01:39:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, CGI looks amazing. Like, just the scale, everything. The story seems promising. There's tension. Yeah. The pacing is fairly good. like God, like Foundation is a really good show, and I feel like no one is ever talking about this show.
01:40:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I'll have to check it out. so I remember telling about the premise of this show, and like I definitely want to. Yeah, Foundation is truly a show that gets better with each season. like I feel like in the first season...
01:40:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
It just felt like I was sitting in a lecture room. You know, there just like a lot of over explaining about some like complicated stuff. And it was it's kind of hard to get through the first season until like near the end. And then like things started coming together.
01:40:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
But season two, you could definitely see the upward trajectory. And by all means, it looks like season three is having an even... better, you know, upward trajectory. So honestly, Foundation is kind of like one of my favorite shows right now.
01:40:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I'm really excited for the whole show. It's one of those things where it's coming out every week, which is really annoying, but whatever. So then I saw that. I started watching this show called Your Friends and Neighbors.
01:41:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
Finished the first season of that too. That was a good show as well. Have you heard of any of these? No. Yeah, i see, the thing is, like, a lot of these things just went under the rabow radar, but, like, that show is hilarious, and it's about this guy who's rich, loses his money with a divorce, so now he's stealing all of his friend's shit.
01:41:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
<unk>ve I've seen an episode of this. It's so funny. Did you see the episode where they're playing basketball at that rich friend's house, and someone, like, breaks their leg? Yeah, yeah. that was hilarious so good and then i didn't realize this but like the girl in the show that he's like hooking up with uh she was on g4 tv or whatever like oh i think her name was olivia munn oh yeah yeah yeah she's been in a lot of movies yeah i didn't realize that and i was like oh my god yeah she wasn't she an x-man as uh she was yeah i think she was an x-man it was a future dates of past yeah yeah and she was a freaking
01:41:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
Was it Mystique? Not Mystique. But anyways, yeah, she's in that show too. And I was like, oh, wow, that's kind of an interesting connection to the gaming world. But no, I finished that show. That was hilarious. That was good.
01:42:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
I've been watching Stick. That show has been hilarious. So it's kind of nice that you have that balance of like, oh, okay. You have like really funny shows that are actually well written. Then you have a lot of amazing sci-fi you know, Silo, Foundation, Severance, even though it's not been my thing.
01:42:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that's been nice. So yeah, honestly, I've really just been watching a lot of Apple TV. And I think like that's one that really goes under the radar. Like people haven't really been realizing how good it is because like they've just been stacking up these hits quietly.
01:42:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. I mean, I haven't like – the All these shows on Apple TV, like they're being very selective. And again, I like that. It's just, I don't know. I still don't have like this inkling to want to purchase the service to start watching them. Because I feel like because they're so under the radar, I'm like, oh, maybe they're not good. But they really so niche and under the radar. like No one even talks about them.
01:42:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
But honestly, I would say Netflix to me is like the best in terms of their content. And marketing. Apple TV, yeah. Apple TV does not market them. Apple TV doesn't really market those, which is crazy to me because half the world has an iPhone. I know.
01:43:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
But honestly, Apple TV might be like my second favorite platform right now. I'm surprised. It was Prime Video, but then I just feel like Prime Video just cancels too much stuff. Yeah. Just blow all over the place.
01:43:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So that's been a good experience for me. And then I saw Sandman season two. Have you seen any of Sandman? I've seen Sandman like the first three episodes of season one. So i haven't finished season one.
01:43:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, okay. Sam and... don't know, it's like a weird show. yeah I really like the show, and I feel like I shouldn't like it, but I just end up really enjoying it, you know?
01:43:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
And like season two, like it's it's kind of obvious how things are headed where they're headed, and you're just like, okay, dude, like how could you not see how things are going to turn out for you? like Have a little bit of foresight, like you've lived like forever, how can you not even...
01:43:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
predict what's very clearly what's going to happen to you but in a way it just works and I don't know if it's like I feel like it's the actor honestly or maybe it's the writing but really I feel like it's the actor just sells it so well where you're just like yeah this guy is like human but like really not human yeah and it's kind of interesting an interpretation of what a godlike figure would be because it's like you know god like you know humans are created in god's image but like you could tell that like because you're not mortal there are these things that are just like kind of obvious that you should understand that you just do not understand and it's just for some reason it just works in sandman
01:44:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I have a good experience with it. I'm looking forward to the next season. Well, i should clarify. Okay, I should clarify. Because it's another one of the stupid, annoying things Netflix does where it's a part one, part two.
01:44:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh, part one, part two. So I guess, yeah, this is probably... They're doing that again to retain viewership. God, they always do it. It's so annoying. They're doing it, by the way, for Stranger Things season three. They're doing almost a three-part thing where it's... Three, isn't it like six now? It wasn't.
01:45:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
What season is it? Season five. So season five, part one is Thanksgiving. Season five, part two is Christmas. And season five finale is New Year's Eve.
01:45:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
So dumb. So it's like they're doing this to get people that can keep their membership. Yeah. yeah So other than the Stranger Things, yeah,
Squid Games Season 3 Analysis
01:45:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
I just find that funny. I started watching and or season one. I want to say what the hype is about this show.
01:45:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like I watched the first three episodes and I know season two is out, but I just started watching season one and I'm like first episode like, there's nothing really special here, but season or episode four finally got me hyped up a little bit. And I liked the fact like, so it's really well known that the budget for this show has been really expensive and they have some famous people in the show too.
01:45:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
the scars guards, dad and stuff like that. But like, I don't know. I feel like they did a great job with the CG CGI. It actually looks good. Like really good. I just... I don't think the story's there for me just yet. And maybe it evolves over time. There's like 12 episodes in season one.
01:46:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I don't know how many in season two. mean, season two got amazing reviews, right? Like, Dennis was like of the best Star Wars stories or something like that. Yeah. And I don't know. Maybe season one's still slightly higher... highly reviewed than season two. It's just... It's taking a little long for me to hit.
01:46:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
It doesn't seem anything unique. You know, I felt like... You know, I think a lot of what you're describing is how I felt about Andor and that's why i couldn't finish it. Like, I wasn't even able to finish the first episode and I think... yeah Really, I was just so burned out of Star Wars, you know? And it was like, you know, I feel like I've just seen so many of those rebel stories, you know, in the same planets.
01:46:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was like, I just can't. Nothing changes because we have the movies, the canonically, the movies. And this is canonical too. It's just, we know what happens. yeah So anything in between doesn't really matter. So because of that, I was like, I think the reason why I'm still able to enjoy like Fallen Order and stuff like that is because, know,
01:46:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
It actually feels like it's stakes and it's like kind of, you know, separate a little of them enough from the movies that I feel like it's its own and involved story and it has Jedis and everything. and And so that's why I don't feel like the same burnout, you know, especially since there hasn't been a lot of great Star Wars games lately.
01:47:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But yeah, I just could not do another... tv show or movie ah of of star wars like i just feel like after mandalorian was like this is just so much you know yeah i never finished mandalorian and i don't know i don't think acolyte was good didn't watch it i do want to finish this though i just want to give this a chance so my goal is to like get through it and then after that i have you know just a ton of other shows watch so ive i i've been watching that And i actually watched Jurassic World and Superman. So I won't give any sp spoilers here and I'll wait till you watch the movie so we can discuss it further. But I think what I'll say overall from a high level, Jurassic World was just a fun romp, like a bunch of scares.
01:47:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, hey, this is as a kid, I'd be like, oh my God, like, look at these monsters. This is just super hype because the thrill of it and there's not much to the story. Do you feel like it was better than the last few Jurassic worlds?
01:48:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Definitely felt like it was slightly better than the last one. But I think the first Jurassic world or whatever that one was called. That was actually pretty good. That was pretty good. i would say this was worse than that. Yeah. For me, I feel like with the Jurassic world trilogy, like the first one was clearly the best. Yeah. And then it's like a big fall off.
01:48:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then from, I actually liked the third one a little better. And the second one was my least favorite. Same. And what I'll say is this, they didn't, it doesn't seem like they set this movie up for sequels, which is okay. It's like self-contained. But I thought it was just supposed to be the start of a new series or chapter. I don't know. I think this is based off on another book, but I don't know if that they're doing that.
01:48:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
Regardless to say the way they set this movie up, there's no like crazy cliffhangers or anything. So it's just like, I kind of liked it that they didn't set up the way, even if they make a sequel. I felt like this was perfectly fine. I don't know what there is about dinosaurs and why I am this way.
01:48:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
But even though I know I'm getting the same repackaged stuff with Jurassic Park and Jurassic World again and again and again, I still am excited to see Jurassic Park and Jurassic World again and again and again.
01:49:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, sure, I am too. Again, it's for the thrill, which is what I said It's thrill. Like, there's just something inherently about seeing... inherently fascinating when it's seeing like people having to deal with massive dinosaurs and and it's it's a spectacle to it it looks good the cgi is good the jump scares are great but other than that honestly this is just slightly better than the second jurassic world so it's nothing special so i'm actually yeah i'm actually looking forward to watching that i wasn't able to watch it because you know i was out of the country but definitely i'm probably going to watch it before our next podcast yeah and then we'll talk about it and then superman just again high level like
01:49:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
i you actually hyped on this one I was hyped to watch it. And I think there were some good moments in here. There's definitely different than man of steel from Zack Snyder. Like Zack Snyder's man. It was very bleak. Right. And it's like, everything is just ending. The world is, it was literally like the world is ending.
01:49:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that's not to say they don't have these elements in this movie. This Superman is supposed to cater to a bigger audience because it's supposed to be a happy-go-lucky person. And he has his own problems and and things he has to face throughout here. And I think they did a decent job of just going off the bat like, this is Superman.
01:50:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But honestly, still, for me, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is my favorite. Really? Yeah, I still like that slightly better. Do you feel like that's a sentiment a lot of people have or like people really split on it? no i think we were split i actually think more people are going to end up liking this one again it's not bad at all i enjoyed it for what it was so i give it an eight out of ten and we'll talk about it yeah i wasn't sure how it'd work out like i think it's james come right like i think you know he's it's kind of a mixed bag you know like sometimes you get some guardian of the galaxy movies you really like them and then other times you get like suicide squad and
01:50:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
Honestly, I really didn't like the Suicide Squad that he made, and I know a lot of people do, but I didn't like it at all. so This is more aligned to Guardians, and you get some of that Guardians jank in here, like those jokes, but other than that, it just had a good cohesive story.
01:50:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's not like Suicide Squad was all place. So remind me, is this the start of like a new DC universe basically? Yeah. This was the first movie of many. And they have multiple phases and they're trying to keep it tightly under wraps. So they said they're working on a project that they think is so secretive and so good that they don't want to reveal it right now because they don't want anyone to copy it.
01:51:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I'm like, whoa i don't know and then what james and when they're saying anyone they must be talking about marvel right like who else are you talking about and james gonna basically said that if you watch peacemaker season two which is coming out later this year you'll have and a slight idea of where this whole world is going towards interesting so i feel like dc is now becoming the marvel of the while marvel is continues to do God knows what. Well, I guess we'll find out, you know, with Fantastic Four. Yeah. Probably on our next podcast we can talk about it. Yeah.
01:51:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, man, I do feel like we've been having some, like, big movies coming out. It's a good summer. Yeah, it's been a good summer. I really enjoyed the Lilo and Stitch, you know, remake. Yeah. F1, we saw that. You saw those two movies. I'll catch up. And then from there, we got Fantastic Four to look forward to. 28 years later, i enjoyed that movie. So, you know, i don't think it's been like 10 out of 10 movies. You know, there hasn't been any movies that blown me blew me away. so nostalia I think it's a lot of like 7s and 8s. But like it's actually been...
01:52:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know satisfying. There's been a good amount of spectacle. I mean, almost all those movies you mentioned are um nostalgia. Superman, Jurassic. Oh my god, you're so right. Fantastic. 28 years later. They have infected.
01:52:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
my nostalgic millennial mind this is the year of nostalgia all the soldiers yeah i feel like the other generations are probably looking at the movie theaters and like what is does this ish and then everyone who's our age is like oh my god what in the world they're bringing everything back like f1's the only one that's not nostalgic it's something new which also by the way produced by apple Yeah, yeah. I said, Apple is is becoming a surprisingly dominant form, yes right? And I think F1 is like their first big success, right?
01:53:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
When it comes to movies, because they made Argyle and Napoleon. I i don't think those did very good. So I thought those were good. I mean, I liked F1. I don't know. I don't think talked about it. You know, I think like halfway through the story just felt a little unbelievable to me because it just got a little way too convoluted. Right. And a little too complicated in the third act.
01:53:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
But up until then, like it almost felt like you were watching a a ah true story. Yeah. And I love the dramatization, like Brad Pitt kind of, was meant for this role yeah just like he does this role really well it almost makes me think of like the the cowboy b-bop spike role like it like a older like chisel you know like A little worn down, but funny. little realistic, but not too cynical.
01:53:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's like this like fine balance. He like strikes very well. Yeah, I just think like this whole this thing is slightly overplayed. like He's pretty old in general. And for him to in other movies, yeah, he hooks up with every girl. There's always a girl in every movie.
01:53:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
like, you don't need... What is the cutoff age with the Hollywood stars? It's like when you get to Harrison Ford's age at like 80, that you stop...
01:54:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, banging the women in the movies. it's like, you know, like, at a it's little weird. Yeah. And then again, just like his outside personal problems, like not to bring that in here, but like, he's still a kind of scumbag and in the real world. So like to his kids and obviously his wife. So it's just like, okay, I enjoy the movie, but knowing like who he is outside of the world, even though I don't know him, it's like, dude, mean, i get what you mean. It gets a little complicated because, uh, even like, don't know if I should not bring this up, but like Kevin Spacey, you know, like, you know,
01:54:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
How do you kind of reconcile that in your head? Because it's like, yeah, I loved a lot of his work, but it's like, you know, it's not even like I'm trying to cancel the guy, like, you know, based off of the testimony and stuff. Like, eh, it's kind of questionable, scummy stuff, right?
01:54:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
I wasn't there. I don't know what happened, but it seems questionable to me. but it's like like, now that you had that reputation, like, you know, if Kevin Spacey made a movie, you know what would that look like? yeah and How would people feel about it don't know. So, I feel like it's a little different because Kevin Spacey will lean more into the villain role and Brad Pitt will just be like, I'm to do Brad Pitt. People love me.
01:55:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
So. And then Squid Games season three. Oh yes. I know you wanted to talk to me about that actually. So I actually was happy and I was fine with Squid Games. You know, don't, if I don't think we've had a chance to talk about Squid Games season three.
01:55:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. You know, I don't think I walked away from that season disappointed. I wasn't either. And I think, you know, I don't know what people gave it as reviews. if It was a seven or an eight. But like, the thing is like, let's be honest, what did you expect from Squid Game? It's an inherently ridiculous premise. Yeah. Like, how can you end this inherently ridiculous premise in any other way? You know, like, it's... It's ridiculous. That's what it is, ending, right? It's how do you end it?
01:55:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, Money High, same problem. It started off so great because the idea was so unique, right? Like, the way they started it. And they're like, how do you end it? All stories must come to an end. And these aren't, like, some weird fantastical, like, anything can happen. Like, legitimate, they try to ground it And for Squid Games, their grounding was like, you either die or you survive and win.
01:56:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they had to show it in six episodes. They didn't have a whole lot time. the thing the show made a name for itself by being ridiculous. Like, okay, who is actually building this on an island with a gigantic robot? You know how expensive that would be? And then it spins around like, there's no billionaires that are spending this money on this.
01:56:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
there's Even if somebody wanted to watch people die... No one is going to pay that much money to build a robot to shoot him down instantly. Well, then to blow up the whole island and then come to America and start all over again. Like, it's hilarious. it's just like It's just a ridiculous premise, you know? And it's like, you know, for some things that are just so ridiculous, like you can't make them realistic and gritty because it just, it's just not the show's tone. But if you, if you started watching a Squid Games, right.
01:57:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
And you accepted that these childhood games are not being played. and this ridiculously overly expensive thing that would never happen. Right. Like what are you expecting from the ending? But what I did like is the underlying tone. So like first for what's his name? Lady G I forgot the main here. Four, five, six.
01:57:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
He's like right before he dies, he, you know, he puts the baby on and goes like humans, aren't horses. Humans are. And he goes, dot, dot, dot. And it's left for the audience to fill in that blank. So I like that. Cause it's like, what are humans? Right. And then to see the, the,
01:57:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
The dichotomy between him and the the new owner, the guy that's but the masked man, whatever his name is, saying he went through the same situation with the older guy and then he took the option of killing everyone and then becoming the next person, right? The next villain.
01:57:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
But this time four five, six didn't do that. i didn't follow in his footsteps and instead decided to sacrifice himself. So I'm like, okay, there's something here because even after he did that, the games aren't stopping, you know, that wasn't going to say, but it was just like the idea of it. Like there are people that will oppose it and say like, yeah. something more So the thing was like in a, in a show like that, like,
01:58:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
you You know, the victory is on two point you know points. And like a lot of times in the conventional storytelling, like they're going to happen at the same time. Like there's the ideological battle, yeah right? And then there's the actual battle in the real world, you know, with the real world elements and who's going to actually walk out alive.
01:58:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
and victorious, right? And a lot of times that happens at the same time, but in Squid Games, the artistic choice they decided to do was make it separate, right? And what they're trying to do is like the side story, you know, with like the police officer hiring those people, going to the island and shutting it down.
01:58:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
That was supposed to be like one victory. And then the other victory was supposed to be his ideological victory. And I think it goes to show you the strong writing of the show and the main character and how well it was portrayed.
01:58:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
that even though I knew that as he was, know, spoilers, he was just falling and he was dying with the baby, right? Like it's not actually going to change anything. But when he did that, it just felt so cathartic. Yeah, it was cathartic.
01:59:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
It felt like a victory. And maybe it's because we live in an age where we always feel like the, you know, 1% of the 1% is always winning and we never do, right? But it just felt like such a cathartic moment to me, even though my mind is registering like,
01:59:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hey, what changed? yeah Nothing changed. Right. But it just felt like, you know, it was, it was the ending that should, we should have expected, you know, we just didn't want. So I liked that.
01:59:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, if I have any gripe with the show, it's that like the other ending was a little messy handed, right. Because it didn't really feel cathartic in the same way. He's like, really, what did his team accomplish? yeah They didn't accomplish anything.
01:59:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
They just blew up the place because they got close enough to it. But like it's not like the other team of you know people had to overcome something crazy. and because of that, they were able to win, right?
01:59:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
It was really because everyone on the boat was stupid except for one guy who made a phone call. And if he had actually just made that phone call instantly, you know, it could have maybe ended differently. But for whatever reason, he decided to do it a little bit late in the police station after he already had conversation for a long time. So because of that, like that kind of dragged down, you know, that, you know, story arc.
02:00:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so I think if there was any criticism I had, like they could have. made that like feel like more of a victory but you know it probably would have ended in the same way you know i think that was like one of the major gripes i had but no i was actually still happy with the story because honestly after season one you know i was like what are you gonna do with the story and like i couldn't imagine writing a season two or season three so like the fact that they were able to like you know, squeeze anything more out of that ridiculous premise and actually leave me with a cathartic emotional experience. Like, wow.
02:00:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So writing good. I think i have to give a lot of credit and shout out to the cast. Each season, the cast was really good. And the way they act out, like season three for the father that actually is the, um, father to the baby His acting was so good. So this is why people love Korean drop like movies and their shows. like God, the actors are so amazing. So good. like You actually think that like this person is experiencing this thing or their fights. like This person is actually going to kill this person.
02:01:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're actually getting beat up. like God, they're amazing actors. Yeah, and like the dude the two dudes that were taking the drugs or... like All of it is just like spot. That's the thing. Like, it's such a ridiculous premise, but because the characters, the actors just deliver. Yeah. No matter how ridiculous of a situation they're in. They believe it. They just find a way of making it believable. Like, yeah even if you have like the security officer or whatever, who's kind of an idiot and he shot a poly called earlier or done this different.
02:01:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, he's just so believable in the scenes where he's acting like a drunk or an idiot or you in the site and stuff like that. Like, he just sells it. Yeah. Every single one of them. So, and then that's a ton, your other point about like, where could they have gone after season one? Like I would have been fine they just ended it. It was a great thing. Look, this shoot, the show blew up higher and better and bigger than not better, but bigger than a stranger thing. So that's more watched than that.
02:02:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
But what I will say is that the fact that he found a way to be like, okay, I'm going to find an arc for this person because in season three, they immediately started with, he basically has PTSD. Everyone basically failed the mission in part one of C or season two.
02:02:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
And he looks at that one guy, he's like, because of you, like, we fucked up. And then he basically has no reason to live. And after he kills him, he goes, oh, my reason is to protect this baby. yeah And for them to do that, like, two episodes, and then be like, this is what you need to do to make up for all your sins or whatever. And it was, like, sufficiently dark enough. Like, they didn't, like, just cop out. Like, they actually delivered in, like, season three, where, like,
02:02:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
It got dark. yeah Our hero actually became villainous and they didn't shy away. They didn't back away. yeah you know And the thing is like shows will make certain promises and if or anything will make promises. And if you don't follow through with the promise to the audience, you're going to lose them. They're going to really angry with you because why did you promise that?
02:03:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so to like bring a mother and a son into the games at the same time is a promise that was and a certain expectation.
Character and Story Development Challenges
02:03:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they double down on it you know, because if you didn't double down and you,
02:03:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
You had that story end in a way where like it didn't really matter that they were related. People be like, why did you do this? yeah why Why aren't they just strangers? But the fact that they doubled down made it such an integral part of the story. And it was dark.
02:03:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
So dark. I was like, the that hangs are so i know that was so dark. And that's why I was like, oh, God, like I really enjoyed season three. They really delivered. Well, she also imparts this huge thing to him. like, hey, like the one thing now you should do is take care of this baby because the mother just killed her. So she's coming to her leg is, her ankles rubbed up. She goes, you should take care of her. And then when he sees her,
02:03:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
dead. And he's like, okay, this is my purpose now. Because she's gone. No one's there to protect the baby. They didn't shy away. Like, if she had killed her son and didn't die, yeah right? Then there's no... Then people would be like, okay, this is an unbelievable world. yeah And then, like, the...
02:04:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
We all have to believe in like this certain like trick of imagination and falsehood that like this is real even though it's not real. Right. And as soon as something absolutely ridiculous like that happens, like ridiculous in the sense that this would never, ever happen between people.
02:04:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Right. Then it makes the people seem fake. Yeah. You can have an unbelievable world. But if your people feel real, then it's OK. People are fine with it. And so that's why like, it's not often that someone commits to a character committing suicide, right? Because that's, that can really affect a lot of people.
02:04:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
But in that story, they committed to it, right? And it's not like, in a way, like 13 Reasons Why or something like after you saw that, you're just like, oh, this is so dark, but like, Can I be angry at this person?
02:04:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, like, oh, God, I would just never want to be in that situation. Right. And so it's like it brings up such a complicated web of emotions. Right. Because like you don't know how to feel. You don't know. Like, is it pity? Is it anger? Is it like you should have never went there? It's just like it's all these emotions. But really in that story, it just is like, you know, in this world.
02:05:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
I get it. This is why this world sucks. Which is funny because, again, the way the first season started was, hey, it's just these weird, unique games. I don't know what's going on. To everyone's dying and it's there's, like, yeah no hope, right?
02:05:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
But for me, like, I don't know if you felt this way, but, like, in season one, like, I started skipping a little bit, you know, through some of the games because I was like, okay, everyone's probably going die and, like, why should I care, you know?
02:05:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
It was just me. But in season three, like, As the numbers went down, I wanted to see it because I was just like, oh my god. It was less about who's going to die and it was more about is this character going to do this?
02:05:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
which And that's like really good writing. That's good because the way they started off season 3, episode 2 was the... the tranny the person that is helping you know the the old lady and the lady with the baby she gets stabbed by the husband right and i'm like that's when i knew i was like okay then who else is gonna die and then every episode is do do do do not but like that's that's what i gotta to give it to them because like you know the characters are fleshed out enough and the actors are good so good that like you really
02:06:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
feel yourself in the character's shoes and you're just like oh my god are they gonna do it's like but why do people like dexter because you feel like you put yourself in dexter's shoes you can empathize you can understand and the whole time you're just like is is dexter gonna do it yeah is he gonna cross that line that we all know you shouldn't but like how am i gonna feel because like i can empathize with dexter he's not all black you know And it's hard because then we have to under put black and white together and make it gray. And I feel like that's like that richness in the story, telling that like people love those complicated, conflicted people, in complicated, conflicted situations.
02:07:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
And like, man, Squid Games really delivers on that. Yeah, it does. And you know, i'll say this for the the people that have like crapped on like season two of Squid Games. And just to make a parallel, you season four, part one, it's the same problem. You get a first half of the story and you don't see where they're trying to drive towards.
02:07:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then of course it's going to be crap because are like, why are they making all these decisions? And then when you finally see it put together, it's like, okay, honestly, could season three have existed on its own without two? Probably not because you have to establish all those people first, that cast that became a family before they can all die and mean something. so And the thing is like a lot of times, like, especially when I'm writing, like I'm just trying to get like from point A to point B. Cause I'm like, oh, this crazy thing is going to happen at the end or at this part.
02:07:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I just have to find a way of getting my characters from this place to this place. Right. And I think that's why a lot of movies, like they are TV shows, they sag in the middle yeah because like people start off with a cool idea in the beginning. It's the setting is really cool. And the ending, you know, it's going to be emotional, but how do we get there is the hardest thing. it's boring and it's hard because you really have to focus on the characters and their interactions and their motivations and their triumphs and failures.
02:08:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that's the core of writing that's really hard. And I think that's why season two sagged because we already knew who the villain was and the masked man was being a contestant and the contestants themselves didn't know, but we as the audience knew. And that broke yeah a bit of the immersion, the intention. it was just like Shakespeare, like the cosmic irony and stuff. We were just waiting for it to happen because we knew it was going to happen. So we were like, pass it.
02:08:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Right. Like we didn't really feel like a part of yeah the storytelling, but in the third season, it's more active because you don't know what's going to happen. yeah And you're just like, Oh my God, like, are these characters going to do it? Are they going to get to that but level? Like we know how this is supposed to end, but is there a way it won't end that way? Right. And so, you know, that's why, again, I really thought that season three delivered.
02:08:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
I just think it's shame that like half of that story to me was really well done. Like everything within the Island. Right. And I just, I do feel like where it was let down was like the team on the boat. Yeah. That went on too long. like That was too long, too obvious.
02:09:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
like and And I hate it when like, and for that one, I really did feel like the writers who were, when they were writing that, it was like, how do we get this from point A to point B? Like, we know that these characters have to show up at this Island in this damage situation with these weaknesses. So how do i get them there?
02:09:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Not too early, not too late, but at the perfect time. So it's basically how do we do it this? And so that's why it just felt like pointless. And a lot of times in order to do that, you just have to make some character stupid. well would i' Like you have to make some character. Because I like the detective and i'll be honest there was no resolution to this thing about his brother because all they did as a, in between was, Hey,
02:09:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
The masked man found all the money. He puts it on a credit card for the baby, gives the baby to his brother, and he puts the other the rest of the money on the other card and gives it to 456's daughter. It's like, is he trying to atone for something? So there were they there's no resolution to the character arc? like you gave us an expectation that there was going to be some reveal about why he became who he became yeah and like I mean they kind of teased it a little bit yeah and he had a daughter and a wife and then like he had to make this you know decide to kill everyone and he he did and then the main character did it so I get that but like between the brothers like there was a lot of promises of how that would eventually go or end and we wanted to see what would happen and they just got the ball they also in season one teased that his brother had a family before he became this person what happened to the family the baby his daughter and the wife
02:10:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah so I'd love to know why he turned into it. And it's just such a shame that like you know that that part of the story just didn't get the same attention. yeah know And I just feel like they juggling a lot of different things. So maybe maybe in order to play out 456's story, they couldn't flesh out this person.
02:10:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you know, it's the same thing with Money Heist. They had, what was the two main brothers? What were their names? I forgot their names. But after the show ended, they did a spinoff of the older brother to then finally Berlin to finally flesh him And I'm sure that because there's already rumors that they might do spinoffs of squid games. So I could see it. I think so. I think so.
02:11:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think that would make sense. And I think you're going to get some more conflict resolution between the brothers because that's just not the story's not done there. yes i done And so, but I think like if, if I had one thing I would have done differently with that, like i would have,
02:11:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
tried to make the whole journey to the island on that boat a little yeah more believable and not like everyone here an Constantly failing. because I don't know what island Everyone is like such an idiot, right? And it's like that's the only reason why you haven't gone to the island. That whole team just shot up literally by one dude.
02:11:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know what saying like yeah so so i think that was kind of dumb you know and then like you know there was a north korea spice you know story which have some resolution but like the thing is like a lot of times what happens is like you'll have multiple stories that are seemingly running in parallel but then eventually they will intersect intersect in interesting ways her story did didn't really intersect right yeah not at all and so it just seemed like we were watching spin-off to squid games at the same time were actually watching squid game season three and then we were watching another story that was not a spin-off that was supposed to be an integral part of the season that just never got there yeah so that thread there's so many threads because she's like at the end
02:12:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
oh, my daughter might still be alive. I'm going to, was a China or something? It's like, but okay, like what, what is it? You saved some dude that whose daughter daughter was supposedly terminally ill, but then was saved. And now you're going to search for your daughter. And why do we care?
02:12:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, it was just a complete, that was a complete spinoff. Yeah. And by the way, she almost committed suicide until she saw four or five, six. yeah So the only way it wasn't a spinoff is like, you know, slight indirect, you know, things like, oh, you know,
02:12:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah Yeah, that was basically it. And then like interaction with the boat. Was I supposed to care about this person, the spy? Like, why would I care? Yeah, I mean, if you think about those, like the only two points it interacted. It was like her seeing the baby. Yeah. And then the the boat situation with the the father being able to escape because the other people coming in.
02:13:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, then that was a complete side story. Yeah. I'm like, I don't care about this one. So I think that's what really dragged down school. Well, if there's a third part, which is she kills the other lieutenant. And like, what was that? but Like, that's something you just invented. Yeah. You invented that. invented a character for her to take out, you know, to give her something to do.
02:13:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. To make her like another hero almost. But like, how do we know there's not like 50 lieutenants? Yeah. You know? So what was the meaning? And I'm sure they were. Unless I was missing something and maybe he was, I guess he was the second in line, but like when the third in line or fourth in line, just be able to do the same thing. And coincidentally, he's from North Korea too.
02:13:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, okay. So I think those are the things that drag down the story. Yeah. But like the things that did well, like it delivered on it way better than I expected. yeah And the story actually went somewhere where I was like, oh, I'm actually happy they did a season two and three. yeah and too So, you know, overall, I would consider it a success.
02:14:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
I would say that this is interesting. The writer did say he considered two outcomes for the ending. One was him dying of player four, five, six. The other was would be alive and he would just end up being with his daughter at the end. He would make it back home to America.
02:14:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so they decided to he just went with his ending. So yeah, think it's better. Yeah. I mean, I think this one is definitely something that sits with you, you know, and it leaves a more lasting impact. Right. So I think that's stronger in that, you know, perspective.
02:14:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know But I think, like, I, again, wish all the other side stories were done well, because, like, then we would have gotten a cathartic ending across the board. Yeah, I agree. And they did say this was interesting, how the billionaires were like, oh, we never had the same person win twice.
02:14:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they were like, he could have, you know, but he decided not to. there there was, again, the messaging, the powerful messaging right now So, all right.
Upcoming Releases and Reflections
02:14:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
right Well, I think that covers up most of what we've we've seen, right? yeah I guess ah ah last couple of things to close on. What are you looking forward to ah from now until our next podcast? That's a good question. I think there's a bit of a lull for July. I mean, we have some good games to play. I think we're all with Donkey Kong and just some of the stuff we've been looking at and some shows to catch up on. I'm looking forward to Fantastic Four, to be honest. I've been hearing some interesting things on Twitter for this week. People have already seen it.
02:15:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think it'll probably be just as good as Superman. I don't think it's going any better, but i think it'll be just as good. as so Yeah, I mean, i mean i'm just I'm also looking forward to Fantastic Four. I'm not like super hyped on it, but I'm just waiting for the movie, and I feel like properly course-corrects Marvel.
02:15:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
right So we'll see if it's this one. Wu-Chang is coming out on Game Pass. I have been kind of interested in that one, so we'll see. But really, I'm just catching up on my backlog and maybe dipping into...
02:15:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Donkey Kong. So yeah, we'll see how goes. Sounds about right. All right. See everyone. All right. Peace out, everyone.