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Episode 16 - Epic universe, Sony showcase, EA buyout, Microsoft Price Hikes, Mario 40th anniversary
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Epic universe, Sony showcase, EA buyout, Microsoft Price Hikes, Mario 40th anniversary
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Transcript
00:00:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hey everyone, it's Detroit Gamesters and we're back. It's been quite a bit of a hiatus we've had since the last one, but we're finally ready to kind of talk a little bit more about some exciting gaming news.
00:00:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, what's up everybody? I know it's been a while. You know, sorry, don't hate us. We've been busy in the summer. Things have been fun and ah we went on a vacation actually, so that kept us kind of busy. So I guess maybe we can tell everyone about some of the gaming related stuff that's kept us busy. so We did two things that I think were kind of out of like my normal wheelhouse.
00:00:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
So the Witcher concert. yeah And we went to Epic Universe in Orlando. Which is also dope. Yeah, which is pretty cool. So yeah, Arjun, what do you want to talk about first? Yeah, talk about the Witcher concert. This was to celebrate the Witcher 3 10-year anniversary.
00:00:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
So they've been kind of showcasing a lot in terms of merchandising for the Witcher 3. They released a special limited controller. for the Xbox, which I think is pretty cool. I got that for Shamir.
00:01:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
They also released a bunch of merchandise and like clothing, ah which was also at the concert that we visited in Michigan. So that was cool. And then they during the concert, they actually had the co-composers of the game debut for the very first time and tour for the very first time in Michigan. That was their very first attempt to tour around the world and play music while showing cutscenes of every chapter of the game, which I think was pretty neat the way they did. They it structured really well.
00:01:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
um And listening to the music live, it was so good that I honestly couldn't tell that it was actually being played live because while watching the cutscenes, it felt very immersive. um So I think it was a great way to kind of showcase the music, which I've honestly forgotten about because it really is, and don't know, it really hits pretty deep, I think. And it really adds a lot to the game that I didn't really remember before, you know?
00:01:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So this is my first time ever doing an experience like this. And I don't know, I think I was like a little on the fence. Like I know the Final Fantasy one came around a while back and I like Final Fantasy, but i don't like it as much as Witcher. so you know, I was like, yeah I don't know, am I going to be into all this orchestra stuff? So I skipped out on that.
00:02:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But man, I am so happy I went to The Witcher one. It is so much cooler in person than I would have ever imagined. Yeah, I think Archie did a really good job describing it. And man, like that's those songs just hit you. And like when you're hearing them in person, like, God, it's it just sounds so good.
00:02:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I remember like way back in the day, like I would listen to some like ah recordings of the actual like orchestra sessions with Halo, like when they were making like Halo 3. And was like, damn, the quality is so good. But like when you're there in person, it just like really blows you away.
00:02:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I thought that was dope. i actually thought like the way they kind of made a montage with the the like gaming clips, I thought that was pretty creative and it really added to it. And there was definitely times where I felt so hyped.
00:02:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like they were showing the Witcher short swords like, you know, flashing around and there was like fire everywhere. and then they had like the drums beating into some crazy music. And I was like, let's go, bro. Let's go. I'm ready to play this game right now. in The romantic scenes. They a couple of romantic scenes. Got hot and spicy up in there. a And yeah, they were like really cool about it too. Like I think the lady at the start of the concert was like, yeah, like this is a concert guys.
00:03:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
If you guys want to make some noise, go for it Yeah. it was kind of funny that she had mentioned that yeah to preface it. Well, I feel like a lot of times, like when you think of classical music, like music, you think of everyone just sitting peacefully, just like,
00:03:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
enjoying the moment and i think she was trying to encourage people like hey man like if you want want to be hyped if you want to nerd out like go for it yeah so so that was cool and a good mix of like like not to to hate on or or to generalize here but yeah obviously a lot of adults showed up um and there's a good mix of people dressed up in costumes and cosplaying versus people that were dressed up you know really fancy yeah man there was like people who were like looked like they were just coming to see a play. And i was like, dude, did you even play Witcher? Like, I don't know about that life.
00:04:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
I know that's funny. So, so that was cool. It was in the Fisher theater. And if anyone has not seen the Fisher theater, like that's an absolute gem of Detroit. Like you gotta go. Like they restored that place. looks amazing. And yeah, at the end there was some Witcher 4 music too.
00:04:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I was looking this up a little bit. I don't think it's been confirmed who is making all the Witcher 4 music. But the fact that they they showed us the co-composers for Witcher 3, they're playing the music live. The co-composers are also playing.
00:04:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then the Witcher 4 part comes on and they're still playing the music. And thematically, it just it just connects. And I don't know. I guess like I was kind of concerned about how disjointed the Witcher 4 would feel compared to Witcher 3. And don't know. Maybe I'm being too much of a like a fanboy. This is biased. But when I was sitting through the concert, I felt like it was a smooth transition. It was pretty smooth.
00:04:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, if you played all of Halo 4, like, music and cutscenes, and then you moved to Halo 4, like, from Halo 3 to Halo 4, it'd be so jarred, right? Or even God of War, because it's, like, totally different, you know, country.
00:05:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, man, when they were showing the Witcher 3 stuff, and then they went to Witcher 4, it just felt like a smooth-less transition. Yeah, I feel like, see, when we play games, or at least for me, when I play games, I'm so focused on the actual gameplay, sometimes I zone out with the music.
00:05:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so I feel like just watching... a cut scene for Witcher 4 and them playing music live really told a story. Like it really built up tension. It showed there was suspense that, you know, Siri is trying to fight this demon within this forest to save this girl that's being sacrificed.
00:05:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
And you feel it through the music. Oh yeah. But if I was playing that in Oh, it was so creepy too. Like when the music was blasting in front of you. Yeah. But if I were to be playing that, you know, live and then they're playing the music, I feel like the music gets drowned out often for me when I'm playing games because I am so focused on on that one thing, right? My attention span might you just focus on something else. So yeah, I feel like it does make up a good chunk of why people love this series.
00:05:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think going forward, I'm going to start listening to a lot of more of the music after I beat games and just to really experience it. Cause I know you do that a lot, Shamir, as you write your stories and you go out and you do things. Yeah. Sometimes I try and channel the vibe. So I've been listening a lot of lo-fi music, but yeah, I mix it up. Like I listened to Witcher 3, Orchestra,
00:06:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
orchestra Um, then I listened to a lot of Halo 3 ODST. That's a vibe I really like. Um, I listened to a little bit of like Zelda music, but you know, I think sometimes that's a little too distracting because it's like so recognizable that like pulls me out. yeah Um, but yeah, and, and I didn't even realize it, but listened to so much of like the Witcher music in the background while I've done my writing that I recognize a lot of the songs when they were playing them. was like, Oh, this is so cool. Which, you know, just a side note too, like,
00:06:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
ghost of yotai coming out there's a mode you can play with the lo-fi music yeah yeah i think i'm going to try that out and whether that changes my mood and way i play a game like remains to be seen but i think if that is successful i feel like more games should start doing that going forward yeah because again you want to give recognition to these people like that makes up a big part of why the game is i mean i feel like it must be making money like these concerts and stuff because I mean, I wouldn't think Detroit is like the biggest menu and it was, it was pretty packed it was pretty packed. I would say it was like 70% full at least. Yeah.
00:07:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah So definitely they made some good money off of that. So, uh, so that was pretty dope. And I think, uh, the PlayStation concerts coming up too. There's actually two coming up. So there's a PlayStation concert coming up and an avatar. The last airbender concert coming Yeah. I guess this is like a, like a, a calm more common thing now. Yeah. That seems to be despite a lot of traction.
00:07:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
This might be a carnal sin to admit, but I've never super gotten into Avatar. Oh my god. Like, I like Avatar, but I don't know. I guess I just, like, fell off somewhere, like, when they were on their way to the Earth Empire whatever. whatever Yeah. nothing Yeah, and then I just, I couldn't get back into it because, you know, i was like, man, I can't watch all these episodes again just to pick up where I left off.
00:08:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Carnal sin committed. I know. So, it so I guess like I'm not as hype about that one, but I mean, that's probably going to be amazing. Cause I'm going to remember the music was good. It's amazing. ah And I bet you that's going to be crazy busy.
00:08:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then the PlayStation concert, I think it's interesting because it's like multiple games, right? Like it's not just one thing. you're going to have like nice variety, right? Yeah. That's variety. I mean, that one was interested in. I think we're both busy that day. yeah Yeah. I mean, if I could make it happen, that'd be great, but we'll see. We'll see. We can take a look. Maybe all of you guys should go because, you know,
00:08:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's going to be hype for sure. so that was cool. And I guess the second thing in the in the real world that we've done, you know, not our online world, was Epic Universe.
00:08:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
So we actually just got back. So we wanted to time this podcast after we got back because really we wanted to talk a lot about Super Nintendo Land. And just the attractions and the theme parks in general.
00:08:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
But yeah, like I think the biggest thing for me that I was hyped for going into Epic Universe was Nintendo Land. And maybe we can just get straight into it. But like my general thoughts is that like amazing what they did. I think out of all five attractions within Epic Universe, this was the best in terms of layout, design, aesthetic, music, like the vibe of it.
00:09:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think it was geared a little more towards younger adult or kids and teens for sure. But it did feel nostalgic. theres There's three good rides there. um You have Mario Kart. You have the Mine Kart with Donkey Kong.
00:09:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then you have this little baby Yoshi ride, basically, which are all great. You know, there's a good diversification of it there. But I think the merchandise they were selling was good. i think the food that they had to accommodate alongside the park was okay. Wasn't anything super special.
00:09:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then I think overall, again, just seeing how happy everyone was and taking pictures and again, left to right, top to bottom. It's just, it really makes you feel part of literally a Super Mario game. Like not even the 3D games, it just like the 2D platforming games. i think they actual I think they absolutely killed it. like And it's like the small details. Like as soon as you get to the park, um you know, you everyone just rushes towards Super Nintendo Land and then you have the pipes going up and did the escalators are pipes. And then that's such a nice idea. and then you see a little green flashing lights and the music. And then as soon as you pop out,
00:10:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
you're in Peach's Castle, and I think it's Peach's Castle, right? Yeah. From Mario 64. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. it was and It's really the subtle things. Like, what blew me away was how they had the little picture frames just like they had in Mario 64. Yeah. And then when kids were going up and touching them, the screen would react with a little, like, shimmer, right? Like a little ripple. Just like the game Just like the game did. like, oh, that is such a nostalgic detail. that was a good thing. completely nailed that. And then you go from there to see...
00:10:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, the space and it's really like, honestly, it's, it's smaller than I expected, but it's just an overload with like music and like animatronics. It it really feels like i was in the super Mario bros movie. Like, yeah, they're just, allja just nailed it. I think, um, the donkey Kong ride was honestly one of my favorite and it's pretty inventive because, um, you know, you're on the, you think you're on the train tracks,
00:11:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
but you're not you're actually being held in place by a lever so at times there's like a break in the train track and you're like oh crap i'm gonna fall but you're good yeah to kind simulate like the old school donkey kong country games where you're platforming using the minecart and jumping from section to section they built it in such a way where it looks like the tracks are broken so you have the platform but then you're on this invisible or you're on a lever invisible track that's still pushing you through or you know taking you through so i think that was phenomenal honestly that was probably my favorite um i think my second favorite was probably the the mario kart ride uh what'd you think of that one that was interesting so it's more of like an ar type experience where you're sitting on a cart with three other people you're basically competing against other people because you're going at the same time and you have an ar glasses in front of you and you're basically getting weapons or items to shoot like you are in mario kart and yeah they did a good job in some sense and the cart is moving around it's like
00:12:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
turning you, spinning you side to side, but it was kind of slow. yeah um So it reminds me of the Men in Black ride at the other resort, but just not as fast. I think it could have been a little faster. It made me feel a little nauseated at times. It was just a little jarring. but um So I wasn't entirely sold on the ride, but as soon as we hit Rainbow Road, oh, man, dude.
00:12:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
As soon as I hit Rainbow Road, i was like, oh man, let's go, let's go. So the last section of the ride being, yeah, Rainbow Road, and everyone has a star, and you're just kind of going a little faster. I mean, the Bowser's Castle part of the ride was cool, but man, Rainbow Road just did it for me. So that was another thing. Coming into this Mario Kart section of the the park, you have Bowser's Castle, but you have a huge Bowser statue coming in. So reminds me of, I think, like the DS level of Mario Kart stages. So they did it just a get- a great job of the interior decoration coming in makes you really feel like you're part of that world.
00:13:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then again, just to kind of what piggyback off what you said, coming into the park, again, you see the picture frames, like what a smart idea to first show off that you're in Peach's Castle. yeah So I think some of those things hit really well. And then they had specific drinks and food. Oh yeah. you know And I like that. You know, I think um really, I feel like Universal took a lot of their learnings from Harry Potter and they just adapted it and then they go and they,
00:13:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
they realize what people love is all of like the, the extra details, right? Like when you have theme food, theme drinks, you know, and even the cues, like instead of just like sitting around waiting, like their cues felt like an experience because they felt like being a part of the video game. There was so much stuff going on.
00:13:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
Um, The cafeteria was nice. and again The Toad Cafe, yeah, that was that was pretty cool, man. Yeah, that was really good. But again, the food just kind of was let down. But it was great just to see everything. the food was super Instagrammable, instagramable but honestly, was nothing special. yeah um I think the the Donkey Kong float thing you got was pretty cool. That was really good. That was that was delicious. but And it came with a Donkey Kong mug to keep as a souvenir.
00:14:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
so you're basically paying for the mug but getting a drink for It's a float. And then, you know, just to kind of let people know we had the fast pass as well, which doing some of our research realized that like it would probably benefit us. And we honestly got to cut through so many lines. We did not have to wait. It was crazy expensive, but I think in hindsight it was worth it. yeah I think a normal ticket was $160. And then the fast pass, depending on when you get it is a different price. But when we bought it, it was two 60, I want to say, or two 20. And then our buddy bought it a ah week after us and he had to pay more.
00:14:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
So definitely get it early. And then we also stayed at one of the universal hotels. We got a really good deal off Expedia. So then we were able to show up an hour early. And even with that, man, it probably took us 11 hours to see the entire park. Yeah. Right.
00:14:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
But we did hit every aspect the We hit every aspect the park. So I guess like if any of you guys are ah thinking about going to Epic Universe, we heard some chatter online that, hey, don't go in the first year. It's not worth it. But honestly, I think it's 100% worth it.
00:15:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
going in your first, and even in the first year, if you're worried about being busy, the i think the FastPass is totally worth it because you're able to enjoy the amusement park without having to wait in all the lines. yeah And in the first month, this is kind of dumb, but you could you couldn't use the FastPass on three of the most popular rides, including the Donkey Kong ride.
00:15:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
They just changed it so you can actually use it on the Donkey Kong ride, which I think makes a huge difference. so i huge difference we We waited, what, 10 minutes? up Yeah, I mean, if I could go back 100%, I would do the Fast Pass again.
00:15:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
um i think it's unfortunate that you can only use the Fast Pass once per ride. Because if I could, would maybe have gone to some of the rides two or three times, yeahd like to honest. Well, I think like later, as Epic gets less busy, right like they'll probably do that. But right now, like everybody's going there. yeah And...
00:15:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
and God, we saved so much time. Like, almost felt bad. Like, yeah some of the people, I think at one point, the wait for Donkey Kong was like two hours or two and a half hours.
00:16:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's insane. Oh my God. It was, it was so bad. and then like your Fast Pass, you're there at like 20. Yeah. that It's like we're cutting front everyone. Oh man. and And so that, that kind of feels a little crappy, but, ah but honestly it does feel great too.
00:16:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah So that was Super Nintendo Land. So it just really just absolutely blown away. Like I have been, like thinking about this for a long time. I think God, even back in the pandemic, liked about it two through years yeah well like even or something like that. why um They it and we've been wanting to go. and then I was in Japan and I thought about going to Osaka um to Universal Studios Japan, but it was golden week. So just like crazy busy.
00:16:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
So it kind of worked out and really you guys got to go if you can. It's really going to, it's going to be so nostalgic. Yeah. And honestly using Expedia, we were able to get a good price on the resort itself. It was not expensive at all for three, four people.
00:16:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it was, what was it the Summer, endless summer? Endless, uh, dockside, endless summer. Yeah. yeah So that was not bad. And then. We flew Spirit, you know? and honestly, honestly, I haven't been on Spirit in a while and that was a comfortable ride. That was not bad.
00:17:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, like me and the the wifey, I don't know. Yeah, different story. you know But like, if it's just the boys, like, you know, we flew Spirit, bro. I perfectly fine with it and no problems. Yeah. Yeah, another thing that happened, you know, to preface what, you know, before we got there was that someone did pass away in one of the rides. I know, man, terrible. He was 32, which is crazy. Yeah, righty.
00:17:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
And i don't know. I think like I'm hearing a lot of stuff online where people like, oh, we had pre-existing medical conditions. But other people like, oh, the ride was screwed up. So don't know what happened. But a 32-year-old guy, he died like within the first few months. It's it's heartbreaking. It sucks. I'll say this.
00:17:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
And again, not to... take away anything from his death, but I'm sure this is a little more common than we think, but it gets swept under the rug often. This cannot be the first and only death ever at Universal Studios. Yeah. I think someone, actually, I was looking this up. i didn't realize it on like rip ride rocket or something. I think someone got really injured or died couple of years ago and they're actually taking that ride down. i don't i don't know if it's connected, but still, but yeah, like it must happen every so often. And yeah it is what it is. Just settle, you know, keep quiet.
00:18:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
but ah So I guess we could finish talking about some of the other places in Epic um because, I mean, it's not all suit Super Nintendo Land. And honestly, some of the other worlds are really good. yeah I've been thinking a lot about how I would rank my list.
00:18:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
um And I've been going back and forth about number two and number three. But honestly, I think I'd probably put number two as Harry Potter, ah the Ministry of Magic. And number three is the Isle of Bird, which is How to Train a Dragon.
00:18:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then my last one is Monsters. uh and well i have that higher for me yeah i i think i know why but uh you know i'll kind of explain my thoughts so i was personally overall disappointed with the ministry of magic for harry potter so um but i think that's a reflection of how good the other two parts are like you already have hogsmeade you already have diagon alley and the fact that they were still able to squeeze something that unique and good just is a testament to just the world building of Harry Potter and just how immersive it is. yeah Like I thought you would run out of juice completely by that point.
00:19:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
And somehow they had enough juice in there to make a whole nother land. So to, to emphasize kind of, or explain what we're talking about, you know, what they had for Harry Potter at Epic universe was more about the, the site itself.
00:19:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
The, the attraction they had for it was very minuscule in comparison to, It was a small area. Yeah, but they focused specifically on all these different shops, right? And and the plays. There was, I think, two plays.
00:19:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
There was one. Yeah, so have you ever watched Fantastic Beasts? No. So, well, honestly, you're not missing out on much. It wasn't great. um But i if I'm remembering correctly, it's set in Paris.
00:19:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I think the vibe they were going for was it's more of like a prequel and it's like set in Paris. And so instead of British Harry Potter, you get like French Harry Potter. And honestly, that was dope. Like, and That leads me to why I ranked it so high. Honestly, the food and drinks just blew me away. The drinks were amazing. So good. I mean, they had a butterbeer crepe, which was so good. That was actually real good. Mind-blowing. Best dessert I had there.
00:20:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then we had these drinks. i don't know what they were called, but it was like absinthe mixed with a limoncello. And, man, I am such a lightweight. I got kind of messed up off that. did, too. That was enough to get me pretty buzzed. But it was delicious.
00:20:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
And – And like you were saying, like, there's just a bunch of shops there. So it definitely kind of has that European vibe, you know, and everyone's just hanging out cafes. Well, one of our friends kind of said it reminded me of Paris without the actual, like.
00:20:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Any of the crime or dirt or things that. So it was kind of interesting for him to say that. Yeah. So, and it's like Harry Potter, you know, yeah um Paris and.
00:20:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
The nice thing is it's like themed food and drinks, right? So like you're not just like only able to get a baguette, right? Yeah. um So that blew me away. And then I think the ride was pretty good. i think most people say the ride is the best in all of you, like universal, to be honest. Like, I don't know if I would put it that high. wouldn't agree that. I mean, it's the Ministry of Magic ride.
00:21:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
And the cool thing is like you go through, what is it, the Flume Ox or whatever? Yeah. The Flume Gate, I forget what they're called. But then you have that like that green dust. which is cool. And then you enter and man, the queue is just mind blowing. Like it's the scale is insane. So they absolutely killed that.
00:21:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
But when you're actually doing the ride, like you're basically like, it's kind of a moving ride where like you're in one kind of big box and you're like moving through the area. And wait you're with and it's supposed to like encapsulate, like being in an elevator moving around, which I think is creative.
00:21:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think the coolest thing for me is, It just shows you how good tech is where like it was hard to see what was a digital effect and practical effect because it blurred so much together. um But other than that, like, I mean, I'd give it like an eight out of 10, maybe a nine out of 10, but it wasn't like mind blowing to me. To me, it was more mid. I'd give it like a six and a half, seven. Yeah. Like again, that ride, I'm glad we didn't have to wait three hours. Yeah. If I waited three hours, I'd be kind of upset. I'd be upset.
00:22:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. But I know a lot of people really like it. um I think if I saw that isolation, I would have been blown away. But there's other rides that do that better. Yeah. um And then I guess the last point was the play there was actually pretty good. was pretty good And, man, it was so mind-blowing because at one point, like, the whole stage just goes up. And you're, like, looking underneath the stage. Yeah, it was trying to simulate, like, you going in a basement or something. so I think um because in the movies he has his briefcase, they were, like, trying to, like,
00:22:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
show creatively what it was like entering the briefcase. So, man, they must have spent so much money on that stage. They did a good job. And then the people dancing. and So that thing that was awesome. So I think if you put the food and drinks aside, like, that would definitely be a number three for me. But just because I enjoyed the Butterbeer Crepe so much and that drink, like, I put that as number two. I guess I'm just a foodie and a fatty, but, oh, man, it was so good. The crepe was so amazing.
00:23:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so then number three for me, How to Train Your Dragon. You haven't watched those movies, right? have not watched the movies. Yeah. So I just binged them. I like them. I'm not crazy about them. Wait, you binged them as we came back?
00:23:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
No, no. I binged them before. Like just randomly. was like a complete coincidence. I think I was like the live action was coming up and, you know, me and the wife were bored. So feel like I might as well watch all three of them.
00:23:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they're good movies, you know. yeah I don't think they hit the same for me because, like, you know, I'm not high school. And I feel like I'm a little out of that age group, you know. But um it was good. it was They were well written.
00:23:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I can see why people love them. Like, i' would I'd give them an 8 out of 10. Like, I'd recommend you watch them. I think you'd like them. um But, man, the actual part, I also feel like they just killed it.
00:24:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, they had, like, the Vikings theme throughout. Like, you walk in. have these two statues and there's a fire in the mouth and um the food and drinks were awesome. And I like that. Like there's a lot of like alcohol options like you can get mead, you know.
00:24:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
um so they did a good job again at that track or park or section of the park. But I feel like the one thing I enjoyed the most there was really the play, which again was geared towards kids. They did a great job.
00:24:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
But the rides itself were just very bare bones. So yeah you had a ride where you're on a bow and you're just getting splashed with water and you're just shooting a bunch of like wooden targets. And then the other ride we went on, which you're basically simulating flying on a dragon was super short and it was not fast.
00:24:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
I guess I liked the water ride maybe because it was just so like hot in Orlando that it was nice cooling down. We didn't have to wait for it. But yeah, i didn't really care for the the wing glider and dude,
00:24:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's the only ride where the fast pass doesn't work. It doesn't make any sense because that ride is totally skippable. Yeah, it's so skippable. I think the yeah the roller coaster was pretty good. You know, it wasn't like amazing, right? Like it wasn't like velocicoaster or anything like that. yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I think it was it was good. I mean, the thing is like being from Michigan, like we went to Cedar Point at a young age. Yeah, for a level of.
00:25:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, so like we've been to Millennium, we've been to Dragster, and like that's like middle school, high school for us, you know? so I think for most people they haven't like done the most thrill seeking rides at a young age for, so if I was in middle school or high school, like I think that is the perfect poster to like work your way towards. Right. Like, um, and I thought it was well themed and everything. i thought it was cool. Yeah. But I, do yeah, I agree. It was very well themed.
00:25:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
Food was interesting. They this bread with macaroni stuffed macaroni. It was like, it's so viral. Yeah. So viral. And it was not, it is not like it lived up to the hype, but it was, it tasted okay. Like it was interesting, you know?
00:25:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
Um, Again, they had some really good drinking options. The bar they had there was super cool, classic, like Vikings-esque. Oh, yeah. I was just thinking, man, if they made a God of Warland, oh, dude, there's so much cool stuff you can do with all the Vikings themes. They would make me pay another $7 for a monster.
00:26:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
Viking-themed monster. I can't believe you spent $7 on that monster. You thought it would be something special. Insane. But no, that was so that was my third favorite. And then my last favorite, which I bet is probably your second favorite,
00:26:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
Was the the Monsters Land. it It was kind of small. And you really, you know, there's no big Monsters movies. But the one ride there was absolutely insane. Well, I guess there was two. But the one ride, the Frankenstein ride. oh my God. amazing So the the the sad thing, and we talked about this while were there, is.
00:26:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
they've been trying to greenlit new movies around Frankenstein, Werewolf, Dracula, like for many years. And for those that might remember, there was a mummy reboot with Tom Cruise and that was supposed to lead into the monster verse with all these other characters, but it never came to fruition.
00:26:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
The new mummy movie flopped. Like it just didn't go anywhere. So it's sad because they're really sitting on some really great IP and they've been retold in stories and books for a long time, decades ago. And it's just like,
00:27:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
they could definitely bring it back, but they don't have a good vision. So when we went on this ride, it was actually amazing because they were actually telling a very good story. It wasn't like Harry Potter, where it was a subsection of a, it almost felt like a subsection of a movie. They were like, oh, that's like a five minute yeah scene. It felt like a whole movie. Yeah. It felt like a whole movie. And I was like, wow, like Dracula's clearly been captured and he's trying to be let loose.
00:27:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
On top of that, Frankenstein was actually really the good guy here, but then he has to face off a werewolf. And it's like, he's such a, fascinating like movie idea like i feel like someone pitched that at some point in a universal meeting and somehow it got downgraded to being the ride yeah it's such a good ah idea because yeah like uh dr frankenstein is trying to control all the monsters yeah and then like there that sets up you know tension between like the frankenstein creation and dracula and man like I didn't think I would get like creeped out or scared in a dark ride. And I actually felt uncomfortable and I actually got creeped out and I was so surprised.
00:28:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I remember thinking in the back of my head, oh my God, if this ride got stuck here, I would not like that. Like i would feel uncomfortable. like, Dracula's in your face, and the werewolf is trying to kill you, and, and, like, the ambience, and, but like, they're playing, like, a bunch of lightning, and bunch of, like, fire, like, you, again, like you said, they did a great job of blending between digital assets versus the mechatronics or animatronics, so sometimes I couldn't tell. And, like, obviously, you know it's all fake, like, no, you're not in danger, but, like, still, like,
00:28:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
they just passed that threshold of verisimilitude where you're just like, oh man, like, oh yeah, this guy's creepy, dude. And on top of it all, they have found the right pace for the actual ride. It was long. It was like yeah multiple minutes and it was going super fast and you're still experiencing all this stuff coming at your face.
00:28:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
So i'm like, wow, hit on everything. and So that's why I think going back to the Harry Potter one, like, I just think that ah the the Monsters dark ride was just better, you know, and the tech was better. Everything was better. So,
00:29:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
Even though I think the Harry Potter ride, everyone's going to say it's better and they loved it because it's Harry Potter. I think objectively, at least for me, the right the quality of the ride, the story, the setting, everything. like The monsters ride just killed it. I think the lead up into the ride was better in Harry Potter, but the ride itself just killed it.
00:29:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
and we we had like At least for me, I had low expectations. I didn't know what to expect coming into the Dark Universe section. I was like, oh, look what's this? And we walk in, we're like, what? The whole time I was like, why did they even make this part of the park? This is pointless. Yeah, it was almost pointless. Like, what's going on here?
00:29:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
and And I guess, we ah you know, since we're talking about that, we can also talk about Hollow Weekends. Oh, yeah. Because there was some gaming-related stuff there. So ah there was a bunch of haunted houses there. There were like 10. We didn't realize how many there was. And I'm shocked because they hide the stuff near the but back entrances of the park.
00:30:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
And still amazing because at night, Okay, it's not as hot. B, a lot of the workers are dressed up as, like, really scary people. And the haunted houses are pretty big. Oh, yeah. You know, for the most part. so like And there's 10 of them. Yeah, there's 10 of them.
00:30:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Now, granted, i almost kind of wish we had the Fast Fest, but it's okay. We didn't get to everything. Man, this was, like, the first time in, like, I'm not going to lie, like, in 10 or 15 years where I legit felt like I was – I felt like I was part of the Halloween spirit. it was crazy.
00:30:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
And – Honestly, I feel like this has ruined Haunted Houses for me. Yeah. You know, because if someone hits me up, they're like, man, you want to Erebus? You want to somewhere? I'm going to be like, I don't know, man, because Halloween Weekends just killed it at Universal.
00:30:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
Just but from the top to the bottom, like the theming was amazing. Like the costumes were amazing. Yeah. And they had like specific food stalls that were set up for some of the movies. So they had like a Fallout section. They had a Five Nights at Freddy's section. And so they had both the Haunted House and the food stalls.
00:30:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
It was so creative, right? Yeah, it creative. And then, man, they go so – overboard they had a lot like a live concert that was like a rock concert so and then they had this thing called like club dread or something it was like a like ah a club like an outdoor club third club slash rave where dj's playing music he's dressed up as like some like haunted person i know a bunch of girls in costumes but they're like dancing on stage yeah dancing this is like the most provocative dancing i've ever seen Everyone's just kind of jamming on the middle of the park. you know. This is like in the middle Universal. And it's like it's set up so you have to walk by it because you're moving from like one section of the park to the next. Yeah. So you have to walk by it. So i was like, man, they really put in so much effort. So I can't even act like, oh, they're just like taking everyone's money and not caring.
00:31:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then even small details like they had this like light show at the end and they basically had like a barrier of mist and they were projecting light onto it. And it was kind of creepy and kind of cool. Yeah, was cool.
00:32:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
So they killed all that. Well, on top on top of all that, walking around the park, everyone's dressed up. And they I ah do feel for the workers because they have to keep doing the same thing in a small set. For hours. And they have to keep just going up to everyone and scaring them. Yeah, but that it felt great because, like, some of them tried to scare us. One of our friends got scared really bad. It was funny. it was hilarious. But it just, again, reminded me of my childhood. I'm like, this is what I remember Halloween's.
00:32:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
oh yeah and i don't get scared like that anymore but i'm like i don't know maybe starting we're going for it i'm gonna start a tradition maybe during the hollywood just watch some scary movies have the lights off man bye but i almost felt like i was inside of like um wednesday you know yeah yeah like that's how it felt and uh i guess we could talk real quickly about the two haunted houses there because they are video game related um five nights of five night freddy's and fallout um i mean honestly i was a little disappointed in both. yeah like They weren't scary, but I think it's because they were so busy there that they were just trying to move you along. yeah
00:32:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think thematically, they really did a great job. Especially the Fallout one. The Fallout one was all based off the TV show, but they basically told the story of the entire show through the different rooms where they were scaring you. Yeah, that's cool. And I know Five Nights at Freddy's is really like not even cult favorite. It's like really popular, oh yeah surprisingly. It's crazy popular. I think that was...
00:33:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
That one and Jason were like the busiest rides. Yeah. that I definitely wanted to go to Jason Terrifier. Couldn't get there. but yeah, we just were so tired by the end of it We were like, okay. But the fact that they're open till like two or three in the morning is insane. Insane.
00:33:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I love that people are doing this because honestly, this is a cash cow. Like there's so much money to be made there. Like give us these like actual like immersive, like real world experiences where like we can come and kind of like feel like we're in that world.
00:33:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And there's going to be all these people who are like enjoying the same thing, you might meet people, you know, and just hang out and stuff. And that's nice, bro. Like, you know, I feel like gamers are always looking for a connection, right? Because like sometimes the actual act of like gaming can be kind of isolated. Right. So I feel like they got to do more of this stuff. Yeah. Well, it's funny because that's kind of what happened. We're standing in line for,
00:34:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
Five Nights at Freddy's, we're watching a football game and the person behind us was like, hey, you're watching? And we just kept chatting with them and then it was just nice to talk to people. So, you know, it's really nice to kind of just get together with everyone. When you're kind of doing it isolated or on your own or you're watching things on your own like during Halloween, it might not be as fun, but when you have a lot of people, it just changes the mood. Yeah, and I mean, it's just like sky's the limit, you know, and I love that Universal is doing that because they're like, you know, what else could we have? You know, can you imagine like a,
00:34:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
like a Bethesda park. I mean, that's never going happen. Bethesda park, you know, you got a, some guy shooting arrows at people's ear ah arrows at their knees and, you know, big cockroaches everywhere. Yeah. Right.
00:34:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, ah and I guess like the last thing I was going to say is I think Pokemon is going to be like the next big frontier. And I was actually looking this up in universal in Japan that actually are having like Pokemon parades in the universal and like,
00:35:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
pokemon themed halloween and pokemon dessert so definitely i think that's going to be the next catch be and they're going to jump on that so i'm sure at some point universal is going to have a poke park although i wonder if nintendo is is gonna keep going down uh universal train and allow universal have like a poke park in the universal orlando or if they're just gonna really make their entirely own Pokemon park. Because they're kind of doing that. They're making that Kanto, whatever thing with But the thing is, that's harder because in the US, s at least, like, A, you have find just a huge section of land that you can then get permits to work on. If you partner with Universal... You don't really have all that experience, you know? You already have that working relationship, so... I mean, I don't think they're just... I hope not, you know, because I think the Universal-Nintendo collaboration is just a home run. yeah And I think if Nintendo let Universal do a Pokemon park,
00:35:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
that would that would be amazing yeah that that'd be killer but we also like we talked about we could see zelda too it's all that's getting a live action movie in two years oh yeah we've had breath of volunteers the kingdom we're probably going to get some remasters real soon and i think to synergize with that we'll also get yeah and the burn too so so i think that's going to be like the big future and i love the universal like nintendo pairing i wonder if at some point sony will jump into things but who knows uh so i think that kind of catches up with ah some of those things so i think that's why we're kind of late because we wanted to really talk about epic universe because we we're so excited about it uh maybe we can move on to some of the stuff we've been playing so arjun's actually been playing for once which is amazing to hear i'm finally uh forcing myself to set aside time now so but i'm just about just about 50 through uh doom uh sorry put in eternal i meant archaages i keep saying saying eternal
00:36:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
um So yeah, like interesting, like game is slowly picking up because as you advance through every chapter, you're normally getting a new weapon. I've now got the heavy class weapons, both the grenade launcher and the rocket launcher.
00:36:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they do this thing where like, as you traverse through the map, and it's pretty obvious that you have to constantly backtrack. If you want to find open areas, secret areas, stuff like that. But anytime you hit a, ah you you get through one milestone of defeating a set of enemies, and then you come back to backtrack, then they hope have a whole new set of enemies.
00:37:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
Now, one thing I like that they kind of did here is to make it a challenge is one of the enemies are normally marked with like a little blue indicator. And if you don't defeat them, it keeps spawning a bunch of enemies. So like they force you to kind of defeat that one first and then kind of go through the rest like a barrage.
00:37:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
um And then on top of all of that, it's like they have certain areas designated now to like upgrade your weapons, which think the upgrade system is very simplistic. It's nothing crazy. i think they did it better. Like i actually have to, I don't know why i feel like i have to compare this to like when I play God of War Ragnarok because God of War Ragnarok's like upgrade system for an action game was kind of all over the place. And I don't feel they did a great job.
00:37:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
But with Doom, it actually feels great because you can do melee weapons, you have runes, and then you have your actual core weapons that you can upgrade. And some of them synergize really well together, uh, melee with your weapons. Like you can, sometimes you lose the effect of a gun because if you melee and interrupt in between, but then there's an upgrade that says that doesn't happen. So it's like, okay, they found different ways to really combine all of this in terms of story, super, super bland. And just like, I honestly, when people said it was all right, it was like, okay, there's something there. No, this is like really bad. Like can't get over this. Do you hear what I'm saying? We're like,
00:38:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm happy they're going in that direction, but it almost makes me wonder if they would have been better off not doing this story. But I'm like overall happy they are doing this story. It's weird because they probably thought, oh, it's a prequel game. It's canon, but this is the right time to try a story because it's not really the third game.
00:38:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
But really, I see this as a third game, like the third like a sequel, not a prequel. So I do feel like that probably is affecting some of the sales because word of mouth was probably weak. yeah Because, oh, I can't get over the fact that they're like,
00:38:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
he might be stronger than the doomsday. Is the doomsday just a god? yeah Like, I just don't understand. He's not a god. heless He's basically a god. And if he is a god in this storyline... He basically kills god.
00:39:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm pretty sure in, like, Doom Eternal, i haven't played the whole story, but I looked it up. like This is ridiculous. Yeah, because but if I'm remembering, basically, like, god, the creator, becomes the devil...
00:39:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
And he's like the Prince of Darkness, and you basically kill him in the See, this is a ridiculous thing. So like, yeah, you're way overpowered. So then if you expect me as a prequel to have played the second game first to then know that, give me a quick like recap at the beginning of the game.
00:39:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because to me, I'm playing this as if this is his first venture ever into hell, and it's not. It is. ah technical Well, it technically is, but like you, it's like you're starting backwards. what you I guess I get what you mean. I mean, i it didn't feel like that to me because I played all of them, you know, but maybe if you just jump from the first one straight to this, then you're just like, whoa. Yeah, it's like jarring.
00:39:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
But for me, because I already played the first and second, I just missed the DLC for the second. i was like, okay, I already know this guy is basically a god. He's so powerful. So for me, there was no tension, right? Because I knew that, like,
00:40:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
you can kill any I was like, the Doom player is going to kill every single thing and it's just a matter of time. And then do they ever explain, like, I'm still in the point the story where they haven't explained where did he come from? where he Like, who is he? Where is he from? What universe?
00:40:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
how Does he actually have powers or is he just physically a brute? like I mean, they do explain a lot of the stuff in Doom Eternal and then the the DLC. But again, if this is a prequel, you have to merge that in. You can't expect that someone to have played the second game before a prequel.
00:40:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I guess if it bothers you... Because canonically, it's not... ah give what I think if it bothers you, like then I can get get it yeah But for me, I just knew he was so powerful. was yeah, that's okay. Do I really need to know why he's so powerful?
00:40:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
Nah, he's just a god. Okay, to your point as a fan, if that's the case and you've played the first two, then why go through the extra effort of adding all these cutscenes? I think you're right. I think you, as someone who's played the first two games, just want to get straight into it So let the Lord be in like the cards and the background stuff.
00:41:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, think for them, it's like they're moving towards something, right? Like I think this is like a half step, you know, and they're trying to build up in a direction where they're able to have that like gripping story, you know, but you can only tell so much of a gripping story in here because there's no stakes, you know, like, six you know, that he's going to win, right?
00:41:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that's the problem with every prequel because you already know yeah that there's no danger because you know he survives, right? And the whole time, the whole stakes they're trying to make is, oh, is this demon prince so strong that the dean demon doomsayer is not going to be able to beat him? But you already know he beats him, right? you And so I get what you mean where it makes the story kind of superfluous, yeah right? Yeah, yeah.
00:41:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
that's Which is why I like Halo ODST and Halo Reach. It's because they're telling a different story. They're very side stories and they're side stories. And then you go, oh, now there's tension for these characters. but That's the problem, right? Because like then you're not going to have the same main character. I feel like this is a problem for prequels everywhere. Yeah, this this is a problem. and I can't really think of a prequel series that did things very well.
00:42:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, personally, I know this, everyone is going hate me for this. They're probably be unsubscribed, but I really liked the prequel of Star Wars. Oh my God. Unsubscribe people. Please. so Please. I hope you don't know if we have subscribers, but honestly, like i really liked the prequel trilogy, but it's because like,
00:42:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
You have to have completely different characters that stand on their own. And that's just really hard to do. It's really hard. I also have one last thing is most likely, if I had to guess, they'll probably do DLC for dark ages. Oh yeah.
00:42:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if I had to guess, they'll probably bridge the gap between dark ages and into the first game potentially. Right. I would assume why not do this. I think there's a huge time jump. Yeah. So then, okay. If that's the case, I'm sure I'll, I'll still, I'll be part of dark ages, but then by the time the DLC ends, I'll be like, Oh, and this is how he started in doom 2016.
00:42:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
twenty sixteen So, We'll see how that ends up going. But um overall, I'm going to beat the game. It's worth playing because it's just enjoyable and fun frenetic. But this strategy is like, whatever. So right now I'm at like a 7 for the game.
00:43:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. Yeah, I mean, I'd give it like an 8, 5. five I really like the game. That's because I just love Doom's gameplay. Like, I think when when I'm like like tapped in and I'm like just...
00:43:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
plugged into like doom that feeling you get like that dopamine hit you get when you're just like destroying these monsters and you're just like moving from one monster to another like i don't think there's any game that hits it like it's almost like it really is like addictive like kind of feels like a drug because it takes you a while to learn how to be good yeah but as soon as you're in that flow state like yeah once you learn the reflex it's just like weird balance between like being like like high drive, like adrenaline, but also it's kind of like peaceful.
00:43:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Then it's this weird, like flow state that I don't think any other game has done it for me because you know, you can't mess up, but you're also so good at what you're doing that you're just like effortlessly gliding through. it Yeah. They found a way where it's clear that when you need to like bulldoze your way, you have to like get in their face, the enemy's face. You gotta be aggressive. But then when they're surrounding you, you have to actually get out and move and start on the, get on the run because then they swarm you. Oh yeah. And then when they're hitting you from behind, you're dead. Yeah. So like, it's a good balance. So they go,
00:44:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Go in, and then pull out. Go in, pull out. And it's like, okay. No, diddy. That was kind of weird when you that. But overall, that's my impression. I'm going play because the gameplay is still satisfying. You should beat it, man. And then, i don't know, maybe you can actually play Doom Eternal too. I think out of the three, Doom is still my favorite, the original.
00:44:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
um I think the best gameplay is probably Doom Eternal. So probably my rankings are Doom 2016, then Doom Eternal, then Dark Ages, is the thing that most people say. But for me, like it's not...
00:44:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
that drastic of a drop-off, the difference is like between a 9.5 to an 8.5. I think they're all good games. It's just like different relatives of good. yeah so One is great, maybe one is good. Okay, sure. If you to use great versus good.
00:45:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
but ah ah According to all the gaming sites, good is a 7. Oh, yeah. That's true. um Okay. I guess I can tell everyone about what I've been playing. so I have been jumping back and forth between Hollow Knight, Silksong, and Borderlands 4.
00:45:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
So Hollow Knight Silksong, when I first started playing it, I really didn't understand what the hype was about. And I was like, yeah, I don't know why everyone's going on and on about the game. I'm fairly far in.
00:45:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
i think I'm near the end of Act 1. Not there yet, but I like two sub-levels and then I'm done with it. Okay. So overall impressions, I get why people like it. I still think it's overhyped. Um, but I definitely get why people like it outside of Metroid dread, which, you know, I think the Metroidvanias are probably going to be the best, like Metroid and Castlevania are going to be the best Metroidvanias. Yeah. But i would say right underneath it for me is Ori. And then right underneath Ori is, um, Hollow Knight.
00:46:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
Um, Hollow Knight is so much better than I expected. um I think the beginning for me really dragged because it was artificially difficult because you can't move quickly.
00:46:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so the whole game is about your placement. And then it gets really frustrating because if your character overlaps even like a nanometer with another character, you get damaged, which is really annoying because you can't really move that quickly.
00:46:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
So a lot of it is your pre-placement before you attack. And it's just like a different way of playing. It feels a lot slower and more methodical. And I just was not about that. Like, you know, for me, it's like you go from like Black Myth Wukong to like Hollow Knight. And it just feels like, oh my God, I need to move faster.
00:46:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I liked Ori better because, you know, later you're like moving quickly in Ori. You're stringing stuff. Now i'm I'm far enough in that I got the ability to dash. And I think that is a game changer for me. Like when you're able to dash and then kind of glide slowly.
00:47:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
um I think that really changes the flow of the gameplay and it actually opens it up to more variety. Because otherwise i was like, I don't get why people say this game is hard because you can literally cheese every insect.
00:47:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like you literally piss it off, you run away, and then you just do the same frame where you Hit it, back up. Hit it, back up. So I was like, it's just slow and methodical. And like I'm like a robot.
00:47:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's not really giving me any creativity in how to challenge or defeat the monsters, right? But later, I think as you get some of those other abilities, like you have a little bit more creative flexibility in how you attack the monsters.
00:47:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
um But overall, like it's not like have a huge repertoire of different attack moves. It's really just like an attack forward and then like a jump attack and an attack up.
00:47:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that part's a little stale. The monster variety is good. So I think from a gameplay perspective, those things are good. ah Probably I'd give this game like an 8.5 as well.
00:48:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
um Maybe an 8. I'll probably beat it. It's just, it's a surprisingly meaty game. And I think originally when I started playing it, I was like, yeah, I don't know if I'd pay more than like 20, 30 bucks for this.
00:48:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
But now that I'm far enough in, like, yeah, I think this game is worth 40 50 bucks which is because you paid 20 bucks for it well i paid nothing ball game ba well game pass well you paid some i paid something but i would have had game pass regardless yeah you know um but imagine a first-time user they could pay 15 bucks right now yeah i mean if you're buying this for 15 20 bucks like yeah that's an absolute steal because i think the actual value of the game like you can argue this is worth 50 bucks right crazy yeah uh so i think that's why it I feel like the low price actually made it really go viral.
00:48:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
But again, I think from like the actual standpoint of the game, like there's a lot to like about like Hollow Knight Silksong, but I'm just not sold about it the same way everybody else is.
00:49:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, and and I think maybe that opinion will change when I have more flexibility my like ah attack patterns. But right now, like it it just gets a little repetitive to like, you know, stand there, wait until he's like two inches from me, then strike, then walk away, strike, walk away, strike, walk away. Like, like am I playing a PS2 game? like Right, right. Yeah, I mean, to talk about this little tangentially again is, you know, the developers of Hell is Us, which is an indie game that just came out, basically said that, you know, it was very callous of the Hollow Knight developers to release their game and quote unquote shadow drop it, which
00:49:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
In my opinion, this wasn't Shadow Drop. This was announced two weeks before it was released. a Shadow Drop to me truly is the day of you announce it. And they basically said that like it's unfair that the GTA of indie games could do something like this because it's unfair for them to then be able to release a game that's not going to do as well or just get completely overshadowed. i mean, personally, even though though you're describing the game the way you are, I'll clearly it has a following from the first one. So yeah, of course people are probably going to buy that over. I mean, I get what Hell is Us is saying. And that does feel kind of unfair because like if you're looking at your marketing competitors, market competitors like to try and plan your release date around an unknown.
00:50:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. That kind of sucks. You know, like it is kind of the GTA of indie games, but at the same time, like they earned that, you know, like it's not like hollow night was a known commodity right before it came out.
00:50:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if Hell is Us was, you know, not the talks back, but if it was on the same quality level and it devolved the same cult following, right? yeah People wouldn't be saying, oh man, like it's getting overshadowed.
00:50:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
They would say, oh man, like we just got oblivion and clear obscure at the same time. exactly Right. So it does suck. I, I empathize in the feel bad for the team because yeah, like if you're indie and this is not your best project, but like you're learning right to just get,
00:50:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, that dropped right there. Yeah, that sucks. You also had a couple of warning signs. Yeah. Because Microsoft did kind of show off that it was going to be out on the ROG Xbox LX.
00:51:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So you knew it was going to be around these three month window. Yeah, you kind of knew that But i I mean, I get it. Like, I would be pretty pissed if I released my game and I'm like the in-game darling for the month.
00:51:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then Two days later, I found out Hollow Light's old song is coming out in two weeks. I'd be captain. They also kind of mentioned, like, oh, if we had known earlier, we would have tried to plan and maybe move our release date. But you know what?
00:51:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't even know if that would have made a difference, even if you moved it up a one month, two weeks, three weeks. I mean, I do think it would have made some of a difference. Like, I think there is an argument to be made with them. But, like, I mean, that's just the nature of the industry. You know, like, if you're not going up against Hollow Knight, like,
00:51:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, you're going up against all the games that are getting jam-packed to avoid GTA 6. So that's another thing. So Bloomberg just wrote a pretty big article about how we have, we're oversaturated with video games now in 2025. Like there's just too many games that get released too often. And even Hell is Less developers said, you used to be able to release a game during the August timeframe with no competition 10 years ago.
00:52:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you can't do that because it's constantly flooded. Yeah, I think every single month there's like something, yeah you know? So it's like, to me, like, again... It's one thing to talk about that say it, but no matter when you release your there's always going to be something else right around the corner.
00:52:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
Ghost of Yota, Borderlands, like Borderlands literally in September, all these different games. There's always going be one big game of the month to like steal away the consumer's dollars. And I mean, i feel bad for the team.
00:52:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, from what I'm hearing about how it was, it was pretty creative game. You know, a lot of people really liked it, but I mean, that's just the the nature of the be beast that you're in, you know?
00:52:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
Sometimes you get lucky with your release dates. yeah Sometimes you get screwed or screwed, you know? And it's a risk. Anytime you release a game, no matter when it is, you can plan as much as you want. The risk of creating a game with as an unknown IP, hoping that it's going to make you a bunch of money, that's a huge gamble.
00:52:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I don't know if studios can do this, but I feel like that's why a lot of times, like, you've got have your next creative project, like, cocked and ready to go. You know? It's like, okay, I'm moving into the and moving into the final phase of polishing up, like,
00:53:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
who can I move from this project to like the pre-development phase, the pre-planning phase. So it's just like a smooth transition. And I think the studios that really succeed, they know how to do that. which Like Obsidian, insomniac Insomniac, it's like, you know that, Hey, this project is winding up.
00:53:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah So let's not do the thing where we like fire a hundred people and then rehire a hundred people just because we have not planned our pre-development cycle, right? Like line it up. So as you're,
00:53:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know, ramping down ramping down on one, you're ramping up at the same time because if not, then you're going to be in this in-between zone where you have to let people create the vision of the game so other people can make together.
00:53:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which is funny because that's what we saw with Halo, right? Yeah. And that's why they were constantly in disarray. That's why I was upset at um Microsoft for canceling not to pick at old wounds like Bethesda Online because it's like,
00:54:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
that was how you do it. It's like you're you know winding down, maybe not, but you know, like shifting focus away from Elder Scrolls like online, like you're still releasing like crazy update after crazy update and arguably they're actually speeding things up.
00:54:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I would imagine it's built on a bunch of old assets. So like now you can shift some of the workers off of that to your next project. It's already like a year into like pre-development, if not more, right?
00:54:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
The concept has been there for years. That's how you smoothly transition from one project to another. Yeah, 100%. So as opposed to other people, it's like, oh, I got this great idea for Everwild. And then it's just like stuck in pre-development for years because like you have a good concept, you have a good pitch, but you haven't actually pre-developed. You haven't done any of the world building, the gameplay mechanics, none of that stuff. You just have a pitch, you know? yeah And then what happens is people take this pitch and they make a cool trailer off of it, but they actually haven't
00:55:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
fleshed anything out and this it's like uh what's it called it's called a scope creep so then you go hey i have a great idea that's core and then it keeps growing and growing and growing it's like you need to eventually prove it out yeah with a demo or a prototype because if you don't do that guess what you're you're not gonna what's feasible and to like release and then you get like this then you don't know where to chop and then i think that's like what's killing like the video game industry because this is just my speculation speculation you know But back when it was like PS1, PS2, maybe even PS3, like projects weren't that expensive. They weren't that resource intensive. They didn't take that long to do. So if your timeline wasn't like 100% set, it was fine because it was like y'all just figuring it out and doing what's good and what's fun. But now like,
00:55:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
the expectations have risen so high that like good is no longer good. Like, you know, you're seeing games that are getting like sevens now that used to get nines. Like people were like, Hey, why are you giving ghost of Yota an eight?
00:55:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
And you know, you're saying it's better than ghost of Shishima in every way. how is this going? And it's like, well, every year the bar gets raised. like So, That's why a game now that's a seven would have been a 10 five years ago. right So that's a part of it. And then now the development cycle is harder. yeah And so like you're spending so much time in different phases that unless you have like a good vision on like how you're going to move between projects, like you're screwed, man. And your game is going to go from three years to like six years. Yeah. And on top of it, you almost have to like plan a game that has that much.
00:56:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
development time to have to be a sequel. Like if go, okay, if I'm investing six years into a game, like for example, like God of War 2018, 2019, whenever it came out, they're like, they knew that they put so much time and effort into bringing that back. They're like, oh, we're just going to reuse, not the assets, but reuse this platform. I mean, like if the writers have finished the whole game, like shouldn't they start on the second game as everyone is building the first game? Yeah, exactly. And like, but compare that to now in the example you gave, Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 all came out two years apart.
00:57:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
But somehow, here's the craziest thing. This was a PS3 era. You Uncharted 1, which was good, but it wasn't fleshed out. It felt like a prototype. Uncharted 2 was the most amazing game I had ever played. Because I feel like what happened is, and this is totally my speculation, but like having done some creative work, I feel like At a certain point in your project, you have to decide, am I going back and fixing everything that I know is wrong? or or am I just going to deliver it and then do it for the next one? yeah So I feel like that's what they must have done. They're like, right, we're almost done. We're 60% through. But honestly, like we should have made the combat better in this way. have done the storytelling in this way.
00:57:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
let's already have that envision for uncharted 2 and then uncharted 3 which is why like the jump from 1 to 2 felt so substantial they just took it to a whole new level and then 2 to 3 is also a pretty big jump because like you're learning through the process of creating right and so that's why for me i have not been able to polish value anything because by the time i get 50 of the way through my novel i've learned so much about myself as a writer and also the universe I'm creating, I'm like, crap, I want to restart. yeah you know And then I restart, and i'm like, oh, this is objectively better.
00:58:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then it's like I'm always only getting to 40%, maybe 70%. And then by the time, I've grown so much. And I think that's what that's happening to these studios. Yeah, that's what happens. And they can't they can't finish because they want to go back and touch up so much more. They can't.
00:58:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah so yeah but So anyways, we went on total aside. But ah going back to Hollow Knight, I'll keep playing it. There's just so much stuff on the horizon that I think Hollow Knight, And this sounds crazy to say, but Hollow Knight's my chill game to play.
00:58:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I don't know. I just feel like it I die a lot. Like it is hard. Like, don't get me wrong. Like I'm having a hard time, but it also feels kind of like Zen to me. Like, you know, as opposed to like when I'm playing like Lies of P, like I'm just dialed in all the way, you know? um And then I got into Borderlands 4.
00:58:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, you know, I've never been into Borderlands, and I actually really like Borderlands 4. You know, it nonenny it feels to me like like Destiny, but like kind of a better Destiny, you know? Especially because the new movement mechanics.
00:59:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
the The movement is amazing, and the guns feel so good. They feel so different. And then when you activate a power, it feels just like you're using a Destiny ability. That's so funny. I have the class, which basically makes me feel like a hunter, you know? Because I have like the ninja, like blades and stuff.
00:59:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, oh man, like, They did a great job, you know. um I mean, the story's laughable, right, of, like, but what do you expect, you know. And it's kind of kiddy-ish at times, but what do you expect, you know.
00:59:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I think what they needed to nail the gameplay system, the loop progression, like, I think they did a great job. so senator How many hours are you in? Maybe five hours. Oh, that's actually a lot, right.
00:59:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
Three hours. Yeah, it's a decent amount. Like, I think I like games like that, and I'm able to finish games where, I can just sit down, and play for like 45 minutes, yeah and then just go. you know It's like, oh go track this random person and kill him. OK, might as well. Boom, boom, boom, boom. That's a game where I actually like the little checklist of things to do. yeah That's what everyone is saying. And so and I think a part of it is just how like, lewd progression is nice because a lot of games, like you'll get a new gun and it'll just be like some sort of stat difference. And it doesn't actually like give you this feedback that, oh, I'm using a different gun. But like, you know, with Borderlands, like when you get a gun that actually
01:00:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
like shoots way differently than another, like you immediately feel it. It completely changes the flow. so that's Are you noticing the performance issues that people are seeing? there's some.
01:00:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's not as bad as I thought it would be. like There's some like frame rate drops and hitches and stuff like that, but I guess I just have... There's been so many games i have let me down Borderlands doesn't seem that bad. that's out of them because but you know like For instance, like I played Black Myth Wukong and everyone loved that game, but the performance was really sucks sometimes. Right.
01:00:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And, uh, and for that one, if the performance drops, I'm dying. But in borderlands, if the performance drops, I'm fine, you know? So, so I don't mind. So, so that's been a good experience.
01:01:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Uh, I guess, uh, we can move on to some of the stuff we've been watching before we get into the big news. Cause there's a lot of big news to talk about. So I want to make sure we dedicate a lot of time for that. Um, so I think the main,
01:01:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
thing I want to chat with you about is Alien's Earth. Yeah. Watched it all on the plane, and I know you just caught up too. Is that your impression? Yeah, that's my Wendy's talking to Alien. Yeah. So this one, I have a lot of mixed feelings about. There's a lot of things I really like and a lot of things I do not like. Yeah, same. And so it's like if some of the parts are like a 10 out for me or a 9, yeah, like a 9 and other parts are like a 6, it averages out somewhere in the middle for me. Yeah, yeah, same. Like a 7, 7 and a half. Yeah, I think, like, the showrunner, the director, what's his name, Noah Haley? I have no idea. think it was pretty popular, famous.
01:01:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
They did a good job highlighting these aliens, like, legitimately. Like, they made them feel very interesting. Obviously, the Eyeball is probably, like, the most one. Stole the complete show, bro. Everyone I've talked to who's watched Aliens Earth, they yeah think the Eyeball is just the creepiest, coolest invention. Yeah, and it's, like, it's funny because it's called Aliens.
01:02:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it's like, you would think it's be just about the xenomorph and the facehugger, but no, like it's about a bunch of aliens. And so again, I didn't realize, I guess the show really isn't canonical. So whatever they're doing with it. Yeah. It's like maybe its own thing, but I'm okay with that. They've been telling the alien story for decades now.
01:02:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think in terms of writing, like the main character, like she is really portraying a child. She really is a child, but she's like the oldest of all the children. And I liked the way the, all the synths were portraying themselves.
01:02:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
because they're still learning. Right. And I liked the people from Yutani, especially the chief security officer who's like trying to like write the ship. He's trying to, he's like, my life's work is all the stuff we captured in deep space.
01:02:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm going to get it back. And then by the end of it, I was just like, not satisfied with it because it's like, okay, you like, as a sense, you've decided you're going to take over. You're just going to do your own thing. you're going to coexist with some of the aliens, but,
01:03:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
You just lock everyone up and that's it. Yeah. It just felt anticlimactic for a way. where like And I think if I'm trying to understand what went wrong, like the show was kind of giving me these like unspoken expectations and making these promises that like there would be a big payoff and there wasn't.
01:03:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like the eyeball thing really didn't go anywhere. yeah right then Yeah. Spoilers. But like he goes into like a dead body and, but it doesn't line up because At a certain point, like the the boy genius is like, oh my God, what if the eyeball goes into a person? How smart will it be? What if I have a conversation with them?
01:03:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
So you are thinking that's going to happen and you're wondering, oh, is he going to feed one of his lackeys to this thing? But then that never happens. But when you think about it, the eyeball thing did go into a human.
01:03:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
In the flashback. Yeah, and he couldn't talk. And he was the stupidest thing. Yeah, it was feral. And he was just like, I'm going to try and bite the xenomorph. Yeah, it was like dumb. and I was like, okay, the xenomorph is made of steel. You're a human being. How would you ever do damage to it with your teeth? Yeah. like I was like, and but then the show is promising me that like, oh my God, if this eyeball goes into a human, it it is game over.
01:04:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
It is cataclysmic. And the way they try to prove it to him is like, hi Pi. 3.14. What comes after 4? And then it's like, okay, all right, that's that's cool. Maybe we'd get like this badass conversation at the end, which I was hoping for.
01:04:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then it doesn't line up with the flashbacks. It's just poor writing. writing so then So even though I thought the eyeball thing was so cool, so cool and but they had all this foreshadowing, they let it went nowhere.
01:04:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
And that was one of the most interesting like threads of the whole story. unless Unless if you do do a season two, it has to start immediately as it being the antagonist. You cannot build it up after five episodes of season two starting and be like finally, I'm the mastermind.
01:04:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, and then I didn't also think the well kind of the payoff between the synths and the boy genius was good because it's like what we're basically seeing is like the boy genius is bad. The synths are, you know, taking, being taken advantage of.
01:05:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so, you know, normally what you would expect is like a big payoff where you're like, Hey, you always tweeted us like this. And now you see where the ones in control, right? That's what the story was trying to sell. It's like a really like time and true like thing, right?
01:05:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like rising up, right? But this one didn't work because to me, the boy genius is right. you know like The synths should not be trusted at all. So like you're telling two different stories.
01:05:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
You're telling the story of the synths being untrustworthy like a Terminator. yeah And then you're telling the story of the synths being humans who are taking being taken advantage of and they need to rise up.
01:05:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
and those entity crisis And those are clashing. right and so because that like And I get the point that you want us to have that dissonance, but it just makes the ending... so anticlimactic.
01:06:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then the physical thing, the best thing you can come up with is just leaving them in a cage. I guess thematically, Oh, we've caged you. Yeah. Like that's so simplistic. like oh And then there's another big reveal. So it's like on top of all of it, he comes into the little cage where he has all them locked up or he thinks he has them locked up. They unlock that door and they're like, come and tell us the story. john He goes, well, when I was young and had, you know, I had my father, I was my synth basically took care of him and,
01:06:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
He took me away and then you find out the synth is this bald headed dude who's this like that. And I like that. And then anti-comactic because you think he's just going to pound everyone to dust. And then just like that one, he's like, nope. yeah So that's the thing. It's like power scaling. And I think so many play people do this wrong, but it's like that instantly kills the tension. And so the there was so much tension built into that show because I was like, uh,
01:06:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
I know she killed one of the alien, the xenomorphs, but i don't know. The xenomorphs are still really dangerous. So there's like a danger element. Then laterally it became the most obedient puppy. Yeah. Like dogs are not as obedient as the xenomorph.
01:07:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Like that was weird. I was like, what? So she has complete control of the dog, like the xenomorph. Yeah. And then she has complete control of all the tech, including the synth who they built up to be dangerous.
01:07:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So there's no real climactic control. battle at the end she's just like just like speeding through yeah she was just basically uh gripping with the fact on what decision to make whether to support her brother whether to support them but it was so stupid because like well that's the thing she basically kept thinking oh i should just do what the rich boy wonder smart wonder boy dude wants me to do and then finally realizes like he's not a good guy it's like You were blindly following them. And I get it. You're a kid. But then but you have like no capacity for self-reflection. Like, yeah, this was poor decision making on my fault. Well, they also try to show that like she's no longer a kid. So even though she has, she's a kid in ah and a, in a synth body, they also kept saying how, Hey, you're not a kid anymore. You're an adult. And she finally accepts that She goes, I am an adult, even though is, which I think is like ah a good, you know, character arc. Yeah. But she's not though, because like you don't actually see her acting like an adult.
01:08:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so it's like, oh, now she thinks she's an adult, but and that's so supposed to be the character arc, but she's still an adult. but She's still a child. her mind And so it would be one thing if she realizes, oh, no, like I need to be an adult because I'm an adult body, right? And then she starts acting like an adult.
01:08:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if anything, she acts even more childish. yeah So I get, like, maybe the show is trying to make a point of this, like this is what the show is selling. But, like, because of that, it's just, like, Not a really fulfilling ending. Yeah. And she she did feel a little one dimensional. Like not completely. But because of that arc. It's just one dimensional. And it's so stupid to me. That like.
01:08:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
She is. Like the show sets her up. To be a really like. Thoughtful person. When all the other kids are stupid. And impulsive. Yeah. And then all of a sudden. Like she sees her friend.
01:09:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
Not even friend. Another Sith. Just killing everybody. Yeah. And she's like. Why did you tase her? Yeah. It's like. yeah What? And I'm just saying the show is showing that like. Oh. she was like projecting and like, oh, she thought she was in danger because now the person she loved, you know, her brother would, you know, try and hurt a sin.
01:09:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, oh, would my brother try and hurt me? Yeah. That's such a stupid thing. This brother will never try and hurt you. Yeah. Right. And um let's, let's go back to that too. So when you said earlier about the, the boy wonder boy genius, he's like talking to the, the eye and he's like, well, if I put you in a human body, like this could be crazy.
01:09:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
And he literally has a guard in the room. And he goes, no, I can't put you in someone smart because that that might be a problem. So what does he do? He goes to look for the brother of all people. You think the brother was the dumbest person there?
01:09:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
He's literally a medic. You have to be smart to be a medic. And you think, because he made some dumb decisions that he's just aloof? You couldn't take anyone else? Also, why would you do that? Like, you literally have guards that will do anything you want. Getting guard. You are like a super trillionaire.
01:10:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's just so idiotic. And he's like, I get the show is trying to subvert expectations. Like that's the whole show. But like, dude, you cannot set expectations and subvert all of them.
01:10:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
He's a boy genius, but you make him an idiot. yeah She is like a man, woman, child, well woman, child, but then like, you can't decide on what she is. And I know that's what you're selling, but like at a certain time, subverting all of those expectations will like annoy your audience. Cause it's like, dude, like,
01:10:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
You're building things up and there's no payoff. Like it just feels anticlimactic. I almost like kind of wiped out the last episode from my mind. Like leading up to everything up to so episode seven was good. And again, the promise of the eye potentially going into a human and talking, right? Conversating.
01:10:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
But after that, once episode eight came, I like, just totally. mean, what else do I to Because like, I'm not scared of the xenomorph. right? Yeah. All I'm going to see is the synth taking over the world, which is a story I've honestly read a million times. Well, yeah that's not the whole thing, right? So now we know that the new predator Badlands movie that's coming out in November, Yutani corporation goes to that planet where the predator is. So maybe they do a full tie in. I don't know if it's a,
01:11:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
huge time skip or not but yutani is clearly part of the but that doesn't really fix the problem because it's like now you're just like setting up a random opponent you know yeah and you're not actually fixing the problems from your first show right yeah but ah my my point is like are they creating a bigger universe right i don't know but that's the thing you know it's like it's like the halo thing like hey this isn't working let's make the banished yeah oh this isn't working you know it's like you you got rid of the threat in aliens earth by making the xenomorph a puppy you know and so like what am I watching Aliens Earth for? Because the xenomorph is the whole draw and it's a puppy.
01:11:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. And again, maybe a little controversial that he went with a different antagonist and this eye thing. But like I said, if they're going to do a second season, if it gets greenlit, they have to start immediately with the eye being the actual antagonist. And it can't just be this thing that comes in very late into the second season. Otherwise the payoff, like you said, season one, is just horrible.
01:12:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. I have no idea who the antagonist is going to be. So I'm i'm really... really curious to see wait where the second season will go because I have no idea where they can go. They can literally go in so many different directions.
01:12:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't even know what they're to do. Also, how would that alien monster know what Pi is? Like even if you say Pi, 3.14, like how would you just, how does it just know that? Especially if because it was in deep space and never and experienced any other. So I think like what it's trying to get across is like the fundamental understanding of what a circle is supposed to be.
01:12:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like that is something that any advanced civilization would know because in order for them to have really any physics or anything, they would have to have discovered mathematics. Sure.
01:12:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
So like they're basically saying that like the one constant across the entire like universe would have to be mathematics because in order to do anything, you have to learn math, which is actually kind of clever. Yeah, it's kind of clever. But then at the same time, like why would this sheep,
01:13:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
b know what a circle is. yeah why would i know what a never call it a circle. Yeah, exactly. You know, like... That's one. And then when even if you arbitrarily set 3.14, how can you then expect me to be no executive? It's so arbitrary. You cannot convince me To a foreign species. The sheep is smart enough to be able to translate circle into the circle and then think of its own mathematics and know what...
01:13:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
Pi is and then know what the numbers are and that's how smart the sheep is. Yeah, but when the I went into a human being it was so it was so stupid. you tried to bite the animal Yeah Yeah
01:13:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
anyway Are you telling me the sheep's brain? was high It has a high IQ than the human and then maybe that makes it because the human was just a mechanic, but like I like hey don't eat off a keigs room there's like a what well i So that's what I mean. Like, what are you doing? and So this Aliens of Earth is just a show of highs and lows. It really is. It's worth watching, but just highs and lows. Yeah. high So, okay. I mean, ah and do you want to just move on to some of the breaking news?
01:14:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah Yeah. All right. So I guess we can start off with the one that just broke right now. It might not be the the most interesting things to talk about, but it's the newest. EA gets bought out. So what was it? $50 billion?
01:14:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, something like that. 55 billion is what they're, 56 billion is what they're looking at. But ah a group or a collection of different investors, ah they're going private essentially.
01:14:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if part of it includes the Saudi government, Jared Kushner's group, or a group that he owns, and then another third firm, investment firm. Yeah. How do you feel about it? Yeah, man, I don't know. It could go either way. A lot of times when you privatize a bunch of companies, a lot of them just suck the money out of those companies and then they leave them high and dry.
01:14:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
Now with EA, and you have to assume that like, and we talked about this earlier, is that if Saudi is actually doing this and trying to diversify their assets, it's because they think that they're not going to have their oil one day and they want to sustain a company EA, especially we're putting in $30 billion. I mean, the Saudi government is thinking long-term, dude. They're like getting the US sports.
01:15:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're getting into, you know, video gaming. Like they're thinking like, 40, 50 years out because oil is not going to be any less popular anytime soon. So, which is the one nice thing I will say, like for as much hate as the Saudi government gets, right? Which you know I don't blame them, you know, entirely.
01:15:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
um But, you know, it's nice to actually have someone who's thinking longterm, like they're not like looking at a tech company that's just trying to squeeze out a profit for a year to make, you know, some people happy. Like, yeah you know, the Saudi government is not going to take money away from oil.
01:15:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
which is like super lucrative to like sudden a video game that they're just going to try and you know, make it a thing for a year. Yeah. Which is not the case, but obviously this will lead to a couple of things. One is at some point in time, I'm sure there'll be restructures, layoffs, et cetera. So first, just in general, those are,
01:16:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
side effects of like a deal like this. The second is like, will this make EA who was already really into the whole microtransaction trend since the last decade, really go even harder and make a bunch their games free to play?
01:16:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like there's already been comments about how the Saudi government thinks that a lot of the free to play games are the most enticing to them. So they could now turn FIFA, they can now turn all the EA sports games. Everything is free to play. one of the big things this is revolving around, like, is Battlefield.
01:16:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
There's no, it cannot be a coincidence that Battlefield is popping off. We're hearing rumors about banfield Battlefield's plans to annualize. And now of a sudden we get $50 billion. dollars Yeah. like I, $55 million, dollars like, I think the Saudi government were was like, hey, man, like, we are going to basically have the Call of Duty, like, competitor. Yeah. And, like, what incentive did EA have to privatize?
01:16:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
You know, like, unless they needed money, and why would they need that much money? It must be because they're trying to make a big move, right? I think they're really going to try and, like, they're just going to copy what Activision is doing with Call of Duty, annualize it, because I think So EA has been like so annoyed at the Call Duty success. They probably think Battlefield is just as good and it's just, you know, bad timing or a shame that it's never, you know, been able to keep up.
01:17:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think right now, i don't know if this is true. I think most of the internet will say it is. They're smelling weakness with Call of Duty. And now they're like, this is when we get our market share. This is when we double down.
01:17:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
On top of all that, you're not beholden to shareholders anymore. And honestly, Maybe this is not a bad thing. If you get annualized Battlefield that's high quality for the most part. Now, most of the previews recently said that single player was not good.
01:17:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
Really? Yeah. There's been reports. I did not know that. i was actually looking forward to that. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. i mean, jeff was the name as Jeff and a couple other people said, hey, we're basically hearing like we played it a bit.
01:18:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think this is going to be the weakest aspect of the game. But put that aside, i think you're going now get Battlefield for years to come. i think you're going to get FIFA. Or not FIFA, but whatever they call it now, the new soccer I mean, they're making it for years come. But I think they're going to try and move into those like moneymakers. and I mean, I have mixed feelings. like Do I like how spread out Battlefield has been? No. you know Because...
01:18:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
um if one of those The problem is if one of those games fail, then you are waiting like 10 years for a good battlefield. It's like the Halo problem. One game fails, you're waiting 10 years. yeah So then you always have to be good.
01:18:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
and it's if i just don't trust EA or Activision to always be good. you know ah like Can you imagine if you had to wait like four or five years for Call Duty Modern Warfare 3?
01:18:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then you have to wait another four or five years. I mean, I'm already going through that big years. Yeah. But that's the thing. Like when you get annualized, like if one fails, okay, next one, let's go. So that's good.
01:19:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
But at the same time, like it's not sustainable because after like four years of that, people are like burnt out. I think the best is like a two year cycle. Honestly. Yeah, probably.
01:19:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
i mean, again, the other the other thing is, will this move i'll allow you to still be a little creative? So like Hazelight Studios and ah BioWare, are they going to be able to continue making games or will they be able to open new studios? didn't even think about it, bro. You know they're about to axe BioWare. Yeah, like BioWare I think would be axe. Did I not say? I know.
01:19:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
Did I not say? I give you credit. I mean, I'm still holding out hope because i love BioWare and I hope they use that money to infuse and just let buyor Bioware do Bioware.
01:19:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think if you just let Bioware do Bioware without all the BS, I think Bioware is not going to be a like towards the consistency of Obsidian, but I think they can get back to their glory days. like possible i i i mean and I don't think people agree with me, but I think Dragon Age Veilguard was not a perfect game, but it was a good game.
01:20:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it could have been a very good game if the development cycle just was not messed up for it from the start. But after you've reimagined a product like 10 times, like there's no way going feel cohesive. yeah And so I think if they just didn't force them to do Anthem and they just let Dubai or Dubai or things, like they would have done good.
01:20:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
So i they have a chance where they'll let them play it out. But I guess, you know, over under, like, do you think they released Mass Effect? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think ah they would release Mass Effect and they would accept.
01:20:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm going to go that they don't this one. You think so? Yeah. I don't know, man, because there's already a TV show in the works. Is there? Yeah. So I just think, like, at this point, like, the the name recognition is so important. Like,
01:20:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
it's more valuable to keep the name recognition alive than just ax it, you know? Because, like, here's the thing. Like, if you ax it, then, like, it's been so long since Mass Effect.
01:21:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
We're in a new generation of gamers. If you miss that, and then you what are going to do? You're going to bring it back, like, 30 years later, you know? Then people going to think it's a fossil. But, like, if you release Mass Effect, even if it fails, right, like, you still so relevant have relevance.
01:21:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then you could still consider doing another project. yeah Otherwise, if you shelf Mass Effect now, like you are accepting that Mass Effect is not going to a thing for a very long time. Yeah, that's also true.
01:21:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so it's just like weird zone that they're in. would love to so see them sell the IP to Microsoft or something. Yeah, I don't know if Microsoft will do a good job of it. That's also true.
01:21:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
Maybe give it to Larian. Yeah, maybe. But Larian, I mean, it's not their type of game play. But... Yeah, I mean, I got mixed feelings about EA getting bought out. We'll see, you know, how it pans out. I just think it's interesting that the price they're paying for EA is very similar to Activision, Blizzard. I know, it's insane. Right? And, i mean, there's obviously inflation, but still, like, that's really close. It's really And it's honestly more than what I would expected. I was not expecting, like, that much. Yeah, I was not either. I guess maybe...
01:22:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, I do know FIFA now, EA, soccer, or whatever. Yeah, EA. Whatever it's called. they They make, I think it's FC. FC, FC. Football, no, something. Football club, football club.
01:22:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. I know it makes crazy money, but like, are we talking Call of Duty and Candy Crush money? Because man, Call of Duty and Candy Crush... Makes so much money. Yeah. it's i It's maybe you've close to that.
01:22:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's like top 10 now for the last two years, but it's not number one or two. That's crazy to me. Yeah. so So that's that. I guess Battlefield 2. I thought the showcase was really good. um I'm honestly just waiting on the reviews.
01:22:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I think it's ironic because I was waiting on the reviews because I was worried that the Battlefield campaign looked really good to me. but it would actually be terrible. And then I would be disappointed because I really want to play a good battlefield campaign. Like I miss bad company too. I had a blast with that. Like I just really want a good battlefield campaign.
01:23:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
the way Most people think that they'll be able to come into is the last good story. They think it's the last good one or the last. Yeah. Okay. So I'm not in the minority. You're not, but that means that was a very, was a while. Well, it feels so nice to not be in the minority for one of my opinions.
01:23:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that's why i don't have any faith that they can finally read it. Because that game was purely a single player game, right? Or was was there multiplayer to it? I think it might have just been single player.
01:23:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh man, you're so right. That means it's falling in Yeah, it's falling in slot. But I think if the campaign is not great, I don't know if I buy Battlefield. The same. Because the thing is...
01:23:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm probably not going to play it a lot, you know, and then I'm just going to sit there and I'm going feel guilty about it, you know, least if the campaign is decent, like an eight out of 10 experience, maybe a seven out of 10 that I don't feel as bad.
01:24:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
Otherwise, I'm just wondering, do I wait until it's eventually on Game Pass? yeah and You know, because eventually it'll get on PS Plus and Game Pass, right? So we'll see what the reviews are like, but I'm a lot more likely to buy it than I was, um you know, before the showcase. Okay.
01:24:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah Okay, I guess other things to talk about. What do you want to do? You want to do Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo next? Start with ah Nintendo next. I knew it. I knew you'd want to talk about Nintendo.
01:24:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I guess we could talk about Mario 40th? Yeah, Mario foria So there was a ah special Nintendo Direct in September that was rumored for some time. came to fruition and the first thing they started off was the Mario fortieth anniversary and part of that was like a special part of the Direct. They've done this before I think for like the Mario 35th anniversary or something like that um as well so it's not uncommon to see them do it.
01:24:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
So they have this little special like banner now it says Super Mario Bros 40th and part of that somewhat disappointing somewhat exciting is like they announced a couple of different things related to Mario right so You're getting a compilation of Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 coming in as a on physical for Switch 1, but can also be played on Switch 2 with an update that gives an upres boost as well as, I think, FPS boost to 4K docked 1080p handheld.
01:25:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
It remains to be seen how the pointer and is going to work on Super Mario Galaxy 2 because there was that was used a lot more for that game. So in handheld mode, I have no idea how that's going to work. um Apparently the game has already been ah broken street date by a lot of retailers, so it's out like we're literally today.
01:25:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
People have gotten it already, so they're playing it. um They announced a new Yoshi game, another 2D platformer. Looks interesting, but like kind of looks like the last one, woolly worn a Woolly Yarn or something, which honestly didn't get great reviews, and I'm kind of disappointed that they didn't make like a 3D adventure Yoshi game, but it is what it is. That comes out next spring, I want to say.
01:25:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
um There's an update to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Most of what they showcased was multiplayer-only updates, and they're saying there's more to come, but I have a feeling that where they're really not going to add a lot to the single-player modes, so it's hard to know.
01:26:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if they're already showcasing off just multiplayer, that must be the big caveat here, kind of just like how Super Mario Party had the multiplayer updates only for Switch 2. um And then they announced a sequel to the Super Mario Bros. movie, which is out next year, and it's based off of Super Mario Galaxy.
01:26:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
So that I found really interesting. And I'm almost wondering, like they said they're adding some new, slightly new content to the Super Mario Galaxy games where there's like this book that Rosalina looks through and they've added new chapters to it.
01:26:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
And maybe the game ties into the movie or maybe there's somewhat little separately, but it's almost like, are they teasing a Super Mario Galaxy 3? I don't think they would ever do that, but it was a little disappointing that they didn't really announce a new Mario game, new mainline 3D Mario or even 2D Mario game.
01:26:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. I think for me, um I think I was a little disappointed walking away from it I know you were pretty excited about it overall. I think you like Mario a lot more than me and you've probably paid a lot of the Mario spinoffs when I haven't. But for me, really, I've just been playing like mainline 2D and 3D games. So that's why i was like, I mean, I don't know if I'm really interested in any of these announcements. I think the new Mario movie is awesome, right?
01:27:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
But at the same time, like, you know, I could have probably got that news anywhere, you know? um I think from the 2D perspective, Mario Wonder was so good. Like, I don't think I need a 2D Mario game anytime soon.
01:27:33
Shameer Mehdikhan
So really, I'm just waiting for that new 3D Mario game. Like, it's it's great that we're getting Galaxy 2. Like, that's phenomenal. I would have liked that it was included in that Mario pack that came out, but whatever, you know? Which is disappointing. I mean, I'll say this, like,
01:27:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Arguably, a lot of people think that the Galaxy games are better than Mario Odyssey. um And this is some sort of emulation. So it's not like a full-on remake or even remaster. um So well again, remains to be seen how it actually plays because you have to use pointer controls.
01:28:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
But my like thing is, like I do miss these games. They were abandoned on the Wii for a long time. And I think... it's nice that you're like getting them on newer consoles. yeah people It's still...
01:28:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
like out there. yeah People can still play it. you know It's not gate locked to the Wii. And like look, there was the ability to play it on the Wii U, but most people didn't buy the Wii U, right? So I guess like my point is if they've done a good job at least emulating and porting this game over, I think this might bide some time for them.
01:28:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
But honestly, they probably can't go more than one or two years without announcing the next big Mario game. And if, unfortunately, five years go by, I'm going to be pretty disappointed if we don't get anything else because we went all the last generation with one Mario game. I have no idea when the next one's going to come, but i mean they spent a lot of time on Donkey Kong.
01:28:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
They did, and that's the most unfortunate part. so it might be It might honestly be a while until we get another 3D Mario, and so maybe that's why they're doing this. like Maybe it's intentional. i think They might have been sitting on these for a long time, and they're just doing this so people feel like they're getting that 3D Mario scratch.
01:29:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
like you know I think so, and honestly, like tangentially related to this is that there's been so many rumors about remasters of zelda twilight princess and wind waker again and funny enough next year think like zelda's 30th anniversary oh my god they're totally gonna do twilight princess next year didn't even think about it so it's like another thing to buy time before the next zelda game comes up which i don't think will come out for another five years too i guess that's the new thing to do halo's gonna be doing it halo's doing it that's what everyone's gonna be doing so it's like I mean, again, don't get me wrong. There's always a new generation of people that haven't played these games or a generation that's gotten much older has had kids and they're like we want to... Yeah, the tech has changed. I mean, I think if the game fundamentally looks very different, you know, then people are like, okay, I'm up for this, you know? And you touch pain. But if it's just like Last of Us 86, you know?
01:29:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
it That game, don't speak that People like, do I need to go from 3K to 4K to not 8K? Yeah, okay exactly. So, yeah, I mean, overall... I was excited to play to know that I could get to play Galaxy again, but $70 for this game is absurd. I think at most $50 would have been palpable, like $25 per game, but they're charging you $40 per game separately. I don't know if I would get it because I bought the pack in the Switch, and then I'm like, do I really want to pay $70 just to play Galaxy 2?
01:30:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, you can buy it separately on the eShop channel for $40. it before Just $40 for the Galaxy 2? Yeah. Oh, man. So it might be worth it because in my opinion, Galaxy 2 was the best one of the two.
01:30:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
And you you can play with Yoshi. i don't know. As you can see, Mario and Yoshi. I guess another unpopular opinion. I didn't really like Galaxy 1 that much. Maybe because I was playing on the Switch, but the whole time I was just thinking, I would rather play this on the Wii. These controls are not the same. So I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see how it plays on the Switch 2. If the controls are much better...
01:31:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, like for sure I'm going get it. I guess the other thing to talk about from that was the announcement of Metroid 4 release Oh yeah, that's another big thing. I did not expect to come then. It was really strange because in the middle of the direct, they just drop a trailer. It's a minute and like 20 seconds.
01:31:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
Barely any big announcements. They show off the fact that there's like an open segment now to the game that connects all the zones. So you have a motorcycle and you can just ride around from like zone to zone.
01:31:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then they're just like December 4th. And I'm like, wow. yeah And they spent more time on it, on Mario stuff. I think they're going to have a Metroid showcase. Yeah. So they're, they're probably two or three weeks before. Yeah. Their MO has always been like up to a month before, you know?
01:31:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm sure November. I think I'm getting the cadence. It's like, you do the showcase for what's coming. Then you give a little sizzle reel for, you know, the next thing. And then the next thing comes, you do a showcase for it. Then you show the next thing.
01:31:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
I got to hand it to a Nintendo review. they've spaced things out pretty well. If you think about it, we went from Mario World to Donkey Kong to Kirby.
01:32:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
Kirby. And then from there, we're going to be getting Pokemon. Pokemon. Oh, no, Pokemon's first. And then you're going because that's October. yeah And then November is Kirby. And then you're going to go into Hades 2 and then Metroid. And November, you're also getting Zelda.
01:32:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
how the Calamity Hyrule Wars Age of Imprisonment yeah so that's actually pretty good spacing out and it's like month to month to month so it's kind of crazy I wonder what they'll have for next year because it seems kind of stacked for the first six months well so another interesting thing was like i think this was leaked from Japan but like the back of the artwork for Metroid Prime 4 was potentially leaked of the case you know how you have the back of the case and it's kind of interesting how Nintendo is classifying the metro game they're calling it fpa so fps is a first person shooter action yeah they're calling it a first person action game and i'm like huh that's interesting that's kind of fair though because i guess they just invented that genre yeah it is kind of fair though i will say so what else goes in there uh mirror's edge yeah maybe this yeah that's first person action that's the actual first person action yeah you don't see games like that often right yeah um so yeah i just found that interesting like
01:33:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
So yeah, it was an all it was a good direct. There were some real chunky or meat to, bones to it. But um overall, I think I'm still excited for the several months. Yeah. I'm pretty excited for Pokemon coming up. i I think you obviously you saw this because you like Pokemon more than me. The fact that you can mega evolve multiple Pokemon in your party. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then you can use like mega power moves.
01:33:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think that was a nice little wrinkle. Yeah, I do too. Now there's been some contention about this because you got two Mon catching games coming out this month or in October. One is Pokemon Legends EA and the other is Digimon Time Stranger.
01:33:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
Digimon. Why did Digimon do this? Well, so this is funny. Digimon hasn't had a story game in over 10 years. And initially released on the PS Vita and then got ported over, I think to PS, uh, sorry, a PC afterwards. And they tried to upgrade it a bit, but it was very archaic and old. And now it's clear that they've taken a lot of inspiration inspiration from sword and shield and Scarlet and Violet for their new game. They've had a demo all for the last month and people actually just reading through some forms. Again, this is a very minority of people.
01:34:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
To me, what I'm seeing is the sentiment is more people are hyped for the Digimon game than the Pokemon game. The one thing I'm worried about is there was new previews that came out for Legends the yesterday or two days ago. And Nintendo's owing only allowing people to play the game for one hour. And it's the same section, which is the city.
01:34:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
And it's like, I'm worried now that there's nothing else besides the city in this game. But the thing is, even if Pokemon Z comes up and it's a six out of 10. It will sell. It will sell yeah so many more millions. It's going to be like the best selling games.
01:34:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I fully believe that... I just don't get it. Why did you want? Why? you're Why go in the same month? Yeah, it's kind crazy. Just pick any other month. I think we were just talking about, hey, you know, you just just release when you're ready, bro.
01:35:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, you never you you never know. like, dude, this is like your one competitor since the beginning of time. and Honestly, I actually see it the other way. I actually think that because they've known the release date for Zaha for some time, this is more of like a confidence thing.
01:35:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, they know that whether they copied a lot or not from Pokemon for this upcoming release, I think they're more confident that it's going to be seen slightly better, ah ah you know, public like through the media, even though it doesn't sell well. Yeah, I could see it maybe scoring well better. And let's say it scores better.
01:35:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
Will it randomly go viral? Maybe. Small chance, but... and There's always a chance that people will be like, hey, no, Pokemon Zaw is a, you know, disappointment. Go play Digimon. Yeah.
01:35:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
But Pokemon is so popular, you know, the odds of that. Like, I can see, okay, Call Duty Black Hop 7, people will go, man, don't play Black Hop 7, go play Battlefield, and people will do it.
01:36:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
But Pokemon is Pokemon. Yeah. It's funny. I already have one friend that said they're not getting Legends off because of how upset they are about the fact that, A, the game is $70, but it's only in the city.
01:36:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
B, they've already announced DLC before the game is out. okay it's i think it's such a stupid movie 30 dlc we don't even know what it is stupid i don't know what they're smoking and then three they're locking behind the mega evolutions for uh gray ninja del fox and um what's the third though grab that grass starter morty you same but the third grass starter but behind multiplayer rain seasons seasons one two and three so would he buy it if it was cheaper Yeah, he said he would have considered it it was cheaper, but because the barrier to entry is so high, he's like, at this point, he's like, I'm not.
01:36:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And getting Digimon. If it's exp expensive, that's fair. But it's not like you're hurting the Pokemon company. No, he's not. you know You're just depriving yourself. He is, but because he has a choice now, he's going with Digimon.
01:37:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay, that's fair. I think if that's the case, if it's like a money thing, that's fair. You know, if you're like, hey, times are hard. I don't have that much money to spend. I'd rather experience something new like Digimon than just like,
01:37:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
play Pokemon again when this Pokemon game is not going to be as good as the other ones. 100% valid argument. But if you're like, no, like, I'm upset with Pokemon, so I'm going to boycott them, you know.
01:37:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Maybe for other people, i don't understand, but, like, Pokemon does not get. Yeah, it never does. And I think it's fair, though, too, to, like, say, like, let me try something different for once. And if he's disappointed with Digimon, I'm sure he'll come around.
01:37:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
The only annoying thing is Pokemon is going to be the same price, whether you buy it now, months from now, or year from now. Which is annoying, be honest. Which again goes to show you the power of Pokemon, like the fact that they can sell their games at whatever price, whatever they want. People will buy in the tens of millions.
01:37:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
and And it's crazier that it's like there's a hype, there's a ah period of hype for any type of Pokemon game that comes out. So between now and February 28th of 2026, if you don't play between that time period,
01:38:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
they're announcing their next game on February 28th of 2026 for the 30th anniversary, which means whatever game comes out next year is going to be, the marketing for that is going to be insane. And then will be out of the... I just think if Digimon had the chance, right, to go when they wanted to go,
01:38:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
the best time would have been three months after Scarlet and Violet came out. agree. That was the time. you know that but this is People were so negative at that time. And there was no hope because Switch 2 wasn't out yet.
01:38:32
Shameer Mehdikhan
So you didn't know if you would ever be able to play Scarlet and Violet in a normal way. Like now, yeah, Scarlet and Violet. kind of sucked, but like I don't think people are upset as much as they used to be because at least they can play it now on Switch too.
01:38:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
This is a problem with Bamco because they always gave all the Digimon games prior to such a low budget that finally, there it's clear through the production of of the demo that they've finally given them more money, but they probably still didn't give them enough to develop it faster. And more and it's like, that's on them. And they didn't market, like capitalize on that situation. So you got to kind of blame their publishers too for that.
01:39:07
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you know what? At the end of the day, I'm kind of excited. i hope they both do good. If they get even low 80s, I'm going get both. Well, I already got a Legend Z. I have a period. But I'll get Digimon too that's like low 80s. But even if it's high 70s, I'll wait for a sale and I'll get it because this looks arguably better. And I've always been a sentimentally like a Digimon fan since was kid.
01:39:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I liked Digimon more than Pokemon growing up. But yeah I just kind of gave up on Digimon, honestly. Like I think after the third... show. I just kind of gave up on it. Which is fair. By the way, they're coinciding the release of this Digimon game with the new Digimon show for the very first time in like years.
01:39:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. Is it like really weird? Because I feel like weird the Digimon shows got really weird. Yeah, there's something called like Digibreaker. I figure forgot what it's called. It's something weird. This is the same problem Yogi O had. It's like at a certain point, the solution is not just to go weirder and yeah like you gotta reel it back in at a certain point like we don't what is it like yugioh five dragons or whatever five bees at a certain point oh my god at a certain point gotta reel it in you know i like how that's the first question i have to ask about did you like did it get weirder it did and then because i'm just like because i feel like the third season was like the good like the right balance like
01:40:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
with kind of like real world, techy, edgy, and then like, you know, like the Digi world. But then it's like, if you get weirder than that, you've lost people. Yeah, you've lost people. That's why I'm on Yu-Gi-Oh! Like you went so off the radar.
01:40:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
and was like I feel like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was like as ah like how kind of different as it could be. And then after that, i was just like, ah you lost people. Yeah, you lost people. Yeah. We'll see how that goes. I'll be curious to know how the show is. But at least like from an animation perspective, it actually it looks good for once.
01:40:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
So the question is the concept. We'll see how how it ends happening. And I guess we can spend a little bit of time on this. Not a ton because the game's not out yet. But ah Hades 2, I'm pretty sure. Now, you can double check after. But I'm pretty sure it's Switch 2 console exclusive.
01:41:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's going to come out on everything else. And I think it's ah kind of in like a beta form in other places. But, man, that's kind of nice addition. The fact that it's just lined up right for the start of the the generation. Yeah.
01:41:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
Honestly, I was originally going to wait until I could play it on the Xbox, but now I'm kind of tempted to just buy one to Switch 2. yeah And it's I don't think even think it's full price. I think it's like 50, 60 bucks, which is awesome. Yeah, it's good.
01:41:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, IGN just reviewed it. They gave it a 10 out of 10. Yeah. And ah animation is great. It plays well. You beat the first one. so So Hades is one of those games where I think when I'm hearing about a bunch of chatter online and everyone's like, oh my God, this is like the next coming of Christ. Like it's amazing.
01:41:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
I'm like, all right, calm down, guys. Maybe get little jelly. I'm like, no one loves work that same way. And then I played Hades, and I was like, I don't know, in the beginning. and then I kept playing. i was like, God, this game's addictive.
01:41:58
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I don't know if it lived up to the hype because the hype was pretty ridiculous, but Hades is one of those games where people hyped it up for me to get into it, and that's the only reason I got into it.
01:42:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I am so happy they because I would have missed that, and that was 100% So it's one of those rare instances where I was satisfied even though it was super hyped.
01:42:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah Okay. Yeah. that'll be interesting. I'm, I want to play it, but because it's a roguelite, like I'm just like, I know it takes time and I know it's not like actually as hard as this other roguelite game. I hate roguelites. I really do. But Hades, I mean,
01:42:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
Hades is like such a good roguelike. Yeah. if it If they found a good balance where you're not constantly dying and stuff. Okay. Like I'd consider it. The nice thing about Hades is even if you have a wipe run, you know, you can get these like crazy abilities from like the other gods and you're like, okay, I never thought it would be cool to be like the Aphrodite, like champion, like a love god, but like you get some crazy power ups and you're like, oh, this is kind of cool.
01:43:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then sometimes you even do better. than if you were like, oh, I'm going be Zeus and just electrocute everybody. Okay, so that's interesting. Yeah, I'm going to really pay attention to this one, and yeah, maybe I will check this one out too. Yeah, no, you should, honestly. I was i was pleasantly surprised. like It's nice when a game is overhyped and you play it and you're pleasantly surprised. yeah Yeah, that's for sure.
01:43:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, okay, moving on to some other stuff. I kind of want talk about the Sony stuff. Really? ah You want to really quickly talk about the Hideo Kojima stream? Just like a minute. Sure, sure. I mean, I don't have too much to talk about with that.
01:43:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
OD looks super creepy, but again, i don't really know what to make of the game. Yeah, so like, okay, so OD knock is what it's called, but a couple of things. One is it's probably going to be an Xbox exclusive. He announced this partnership with Xbox about two years ago.
01:43:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
It looks like it's going to be episodic, so the first episode it is it's directed by Hideo and it's called Knock. So the title the game is called Just O.D. The first episode most likely going Knock.
01:44:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then after that, he's getting other famous directors and people in the movie industry to direct their own episodes after. So the next one would be by Jordan Peele. And then he would direct another episode and then so on and so on. So he's clearly created like some framework that everyone can kind of come in. So it's almost like he's making a TV series.
01:44:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Right? Like just like there's season one and you have multiple episodes. It's like, Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Game 4, Game 5. Or like level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, level 5. It's a really fascinating idea. Yeah, it's kind of fascinating.
01:44:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
I just don't like the horror genre that much. Yeah, don't either. So I'm like, man, if this was the same thing but sci-fi, oh, I would have loved it. you know Man, this is Detroit Become Human-esque. For people who love horror, like this is amazing.
01:44:50
Shameer Mehdikhan
my but yeah but i don't know if that sells well you know i mean resident evil sells well this is definitely a market for that but that's an action game still at the end of the day you know yeah i don't know what this is gonna be like yeah so we'll see um and then they talked a little more about fuzzin they released the first um artwork for it and it's really weird it's like a guy's face which is obscured but he's got a weird half like jacket where like it's just like weird looking he's got a gun in his hand and it says it has the weirdest tagline i've ever seen it's like feel the game or something what what is it oh i'm looking it up right now yeah what is this right there here here comes the feeling yeah it comes it's like some random like what does that mean and he didn't even explain it during the stream you know yeah i i think some people are gonna get like super hyped and you know try and speculate but like like if really like like
01:45:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
I initially when they announced that like, oh, this is gonna be the next coming of Metal Gear and it's gonna be better, but I don't know. Now, granted, there is a player right there with a gun in his hand and it's tactical espionage, but he could just go balls crazy and just do something so totally different.
01:45:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
I know this works for Hideo Kojima, but why can't you just tell us? Yeah. It's a third-person action-adventure game. Yeah, just say it. And we will have some information to show you when we're ready.
01:46:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
And just wait four years until you have some information. you're ready. I get it. This is viral. This totally works. Everyone's going to speculate and they love speculating, but it's like, yeah, dude, just tell me the genre.
01:46:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Goodbye. Work on it. yeah And then we'll talk later. You know, it's like, And if you can't decide what the genre is, just call it a third-person or first-person action game. Yeah, exactly. Make it generic as hell.
01:46:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
um Now, he did say that whatever technology they're using for this game is, like, state-of-the-art, so he did re-emphasize that. So he did not say they're using Decima Engine this time, but he's saying it's something brand new, totally not seen in the industry.
01:46:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, again, I'll be curious to see how it ends up looking and comes out. Decima 2? Yeah, maybe, like, a next-generation Decima Engine, which is what Capcom did with their... That makes sense, you know, because... I mean, they've been using Desma since PS4. Yeah. Or maybe even earlier. PS4.
01:46:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, I mean, Capcom did that with the Resident Evil engine. They called it Resident Evil Next or something when they made their upgrade to their engine. But yes, there was that. And then the last thing was they announced so two more things. One was ah they're making an anime for Death Stranding, um but it's not based on Sam Porter. It bridges. It's based on some other characters within the story.
01:47:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they also just gave a slight update on the A24 live action movie that they want to... not completely retell Death Stranding as is, it's going to be different than like the game.
01:47:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
They don't think it's worth retelling the exact same story. So those updates. Yeah. I'm excited for that stuff. I don't know. You know, I don't like Death Stranding so much, but I think for people who love Death Stranding and, you know, love a lot of Hideo Kojima's works, you know, they're just gonna, this is amazing news all around. Yeah. I think the biggest takeaway I took from this is that he, him, he himself and his,
01:47:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
studio now basically said when we first came up with the new Kojima production studio, our goal was like a three-phase thing. Start a new IP, then get involved in a whole bunch of entertainment, like manga, anime, movies.
01:48:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then in the third phase, which will come after, um, he said basically Death Stranding 2, which was create some unique stories that we've never been able to tell before. So like, it's clear that him and his studio, but very small studio want to branch out into a bunch of multi- i mean, they probably have like a decent amount of money that they're sitting on. So now they're like, we can experiment a little bit more. So I like that. I mean, I'm always going to reward creativity. It's just his work is not normally in the genre I like, yeah you know?
01:48:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think if it's the genre you like, like this is amazing, you know? Oh, and they're also branding with someone really popular to make their own sock keep or Death Stranding. Like in Japan, it was pretty cool. I mean, I'll probably pick that up. Yeah, that was cool. It looked, the bottle and the box was pretty cool.
01:48:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
All right. ah So finishing up with some stuff, we can talk about Sony. So what do you think of the Sony showcase? um I think for the most part, like not good. Like I'd give it a B minus.
01:48:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
and Really? i was not expecting that. I had a totally different reaction. i mean I thought they killed it. I think the two things that stuck out to me were Soros, which is coming out March 2026. I was like, okay. So then as soon as they said that, I'm like, they're going to show Wolverine's coming out fall 2026. And I was right.
01:49:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Now, Wolverine looked amazing. But let me talk about Soros a little bit first. Main character's name is Arjun DeVraj. Yo, let's go Arjun for all you. You're not going to give it an A just for that. But you can kind of tell gameplay in terms of movement looks very similar to Returnal.
01:49:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
um Honestly, the model did not look that good. like Between that versus like the pre-rendered cutscenes from earlier this year, I'm like, ooh, kind of not good. But they did emphasize again, when you die, you'll come back stronger. So I think they realized that Returnal, before while it was loved by many, it wasn't accessible to many.
01:49:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
It was just too hard. And so I think hopefully this game, while they might not have difficulty options, if it makes it easier as you play the game to actually get through, i will pick it up because literally the setup looks exactly the same to Returnal. There's no real main story. It's not like this linear story-driven game. It's just like level to level and you're just in and out and you're weaving through. So it doesn't speak to me that much. I know you liked Returnal, but... so I liked Returnal. um I don't know if they're going to fix the parts of Returnal I wasn't the biggest fan of.
01:50:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I wanted more storytelling. i i really did like the whole cryptic way the story was told and it's like have the piece things together and you walk away and you're like what was the story even you know and you're and you're like did i even finish the game yeah and so so there's that part of it i think some people love that type of storytelling just not for me i like the more traditional like epic you know almost like hollywood-esque yeah god of war-esque yeah and It's not like it's not doable in a roguelike because there was the God god a god of War, Valhalla, Ragnarok, and that kind of had more of an epic like narrative conclusion. like
01:50:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know And you could kind of see like a cathartic ending you know ah by the end. So it's doable in the genre. So I would like that type level of storytelling. you know That's where I would want the team to go towards.
01:51:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think they already nailed the combat. like I don't know how you can make the combat for this better. you know I think if they make the die and repeat you know cycle better, you know ah more approachable, that's great. you know They should definitely do that.
01:51:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think I just saw more of what I liked from Returnal. The gameplay looked great. It looked very similar to Returnal. And sometimes I'm like, if you just replace the character model with her, then you were playing Returnal 2.
01:51:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
you know And that's not necessarily a knock. you know I think there's a part of it there I'm relieved that I'm getting more of what I liked. I just, I just wish they would, you know, have me, I don't know if it's bad to say, but more coherent storytelling or more traditional storytelling.
01:51:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think because I had such low expectations for Soros, getting that gameplay and getting as much of the gameplay as I got. And as soon as I got, I did not expect that. like I didn't think I was going to hear anything about Soros until next year. Maybe it would be end of next year if not delayed.
01:52:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
So this completely surprised me. Well, to be fair, in February this year, they did say we'd see gameplay this year. oh Maybe I'm just stupid. Yeah, so... Well, they're actually good on their word.
01:52:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
They're good on their word. Yeah, and but as soon as they said that February, i immediately knew it was a 2026 game, but just didn't know when. Yeah, you never know. and you might And the thing is, Sony always has like that one-two combo. So I was thinking...
01:52:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh, it's going to be Neo in the first half, and then the second half is going to be Saros. Yeah, that's kind of what i And so now it's actually, no, Saros is in the first half, we're getting Wolverine. So to me, it feels like an extra treat.
01:52:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, but that's and I was like so thoroughly surprised. I'm like, okay. Returnal came out what, in or twenty twenty one damn so five years by the time this one game comes up that's actually surprising they were actually able to output i don't want to quick but they found a new idea they kind of almost again i don't want to say reskin because we'll see how this game actually is when it comes out but the new concept yeah kudos to them they actually delivered it yeah yeah and i think five years is for a triple a project that's considered a good time right now ah which is crazy to me yeah uh wolverine blew me away yeah um i
01:53:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was thinking with the news of Wolverine, like, hey, the creative director left. He went frigging the friggin Perfect Dark Studio and they got canceled. was like, OK, the guy left because Wolverine was, you know, a mess.
01:53:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
And if you then Perfect Dark was a mess, maybe the whole team has been a mess the whole time and they just didn't have the right people. But man, that gameplay just delivered. It looks good. it almost looked a little too hyper-violent for me. It was super hyper-violent. I was like, man, I normally gore in my video games, but this is really gore. Like a claw to the brain jiggling.
01:53:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
yeah yeah I'm happy they did it. I'm happy they went there. what you need. know Because that's what you need for Wolverine, but damn, I did not expect that. like That escalated quickly. That just went there right away. yeah No hesitation.
01:54:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
So what I found interesting was as soon as they showed the trailer for Wolverine, then they did this behind-the-scenes five-minute thing. And the first thing that stuck out to me was the director of the game, which I don't know if most people like realize who it was.
01:54:22
Shameer Mehdikhan
He was the original director for resistance. Oh, I didn't know. So for you, I know you talked about like, Hey, they lost their director. It was in shambles. They put the right now, the right person after they lost their initial director, they put the right person on. That's the thing. Insomniac has so much talent. Yeah.
01:54:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which is why a Ted Price said, as he retired this past year, said, we have the right people on our games, and I'm confident that everything will get released the way it's supposed to be, and we're not really facing any problems anymore. So he said it very vaguely, but they probably are clicking on all cylinders now. Did they go through potential reboot in this game? Yeah, they probably did two years ago, but at the end of the day, I think they're going to get to the finish line. I wonder what made them reboot.
01:54:59
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I wonder too, too. I'm very curious. like What was it that they weren't happy about? like Was it they were just weren't gory enough? No, I think they had the tech down quite early in the game, the blood tech, because that was leaked when all the files got leaked.
01:55:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I think my guess at was probably between an open world versus semi-linear or linear game. Yeah, that makes sense. That's what Agumon is basically struggling with. Yeah, and I think this is not going to be an open world game. We saw clips where...
01:55:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
Wolverine's running on a rooftop in Madripoor. So it's probably going to be these like slightly big extended sequences. Kind of maybe like God of War Ragnarok where you're kind of going back and forth traversing. I'd be okay with that. Honestly, I don't want another Spider-Man. Because Spider-Man makes sense. You're in New York City. But Wolverine, what would you do? You would try and pigeonhole him and into like a random city. Like, oh, let's just make him in Las Vegas. And then, yeah, you'd be... And I think they already announced like two at least two locations in this game. One was Madripoor.
01:55:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
One was... canada i think and then there was a third uh location i would rather do that like i would rather have wolverine in the style of uncharted yeah like you know that kind of like you know it can be a little more space statue just like uncharted 4 was getting more space now but that's what i would much rather yeah i'd rather have that and look if you look at god of worth that game was still a 30-hour game yeah like they can really still pad it out as long as they tell a good story now What I thought was unique was they showed off a couple of things like Mystique is in the game. yeah Shocking because the leaks had said that Jean Grey was in the game initially. So who knows if they scrapped her.
01:56:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
um Also, ah sentinel was in the game. That was crazy at the end. And then let's see what else. They showed Omega Red. was wow, okay. And honestly, the graphics have definitely improved. Like from Spider-Man 2, it's like almost drawing like how much better, again, realistic it looks. Oh, yeah.
01:56:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
like And it's like Spider-Man 2 just came out, right? That's yeah two years years ago. yeah And so for this to be... that big of an improvement? Already? Yeah, man, again, Insomniac just delivers. very surprised. Insomniac, I mean, I shouldn't jinx some, but they don't miss.
01:57:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they found a seemingly a good actor to portray Logan. I think he was in Spartacus at the end. Wasn't he the actor? Oh, I don't know I have to look it up. I think. And then on top of it, um the art cover, like the artwork is so badass. It's all yellow, blends in with a suit.
01:57:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's got the, you know, claws coming out. so I think Wolverine's going to be a massive hit. And I think it's probably going to be one of the biggest like massive hits of this genre. So do you think that the rated M nature of the game is going to impact sales at all?
01:57:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Oh, yes. I actually don't think so. I don't think it's going to sell as well as Spider-Man. I actually think it'll sell just as good or better. Like, if you have a game... I think you are discrediting how popular Spider-Man is. No, I'm not. I think Wolverine is just as popular. I feel like... Well, that's a big take.
01:57:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I know. Okay, tell me one Wolverine movie that's made half as much as a Spider-Man movie. I mean, okay. But I can tell you there's been more Wolverine movies than Spider-Man movies in the last, like, decade and a half.
01:58:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
it's But that's probably a sign of them not being able to do it justice. Also true. But I think every X-Men movie is really showcased that Wolverine has always been the biggest appeal. So I feel like even though there was X-Men movies, there's really Wolverine movies, right?
01:58:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
I agree with you on that. I think like the other thing too is like capitalizing on the height of Wolverine and Deadpool. And on top of it, like you know that when a game comes out, even if it's rated M, people will find a way to play it. like And the example going to throw out there is GTA. Yeah, I was going to say same thing. Grand Theft Auto.
01:58:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
So... You make a good point with that, but Spider-Man, right? I think if you're thinking comics, Spider-Man and Wolverine are very popular. And most comic book heads will probably think, oh, they're just as big.
01:58:40
Shameer Mehdikhan
But when you look at lay people who are not into, you know, comics, they will know both. But Spider-Man is just way bigger, dude. I don't know, man. Dude, Spider-Man is pulling two billion of movies. Okay, so now. How many people do you see dressed up as Wolverine? How many people do you see dressed up as Spider-Man?
01:58:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
I don't know, man. But, okay, you're right about that. That's a good point. but So, so the the real question would be, like, if we could compare a teen Wolverine to a mature Wolverine. Yeah.
01:59:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
But, i first off, I think Spider-Man, even though Wolverine is a huge franchise, Spider-Man's bigger. So, like, you even if they were both teens, you might disagree, but I just don't think, like, Wolverine can sell as much because of that.
01:59:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I do think the mature rating will hurt it slightly, but we just won't know. but The reason why... I think there's very young kids who should not be buying games. Oh, that's a whole other story. But right? So there's six-year-olds who are like playing Spider-Man, right?
01:59:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so sometimes parents might let that pass. But I think it's going to be hard to let a six-year-old play Wolverine. unless And nor do I think six-year-olds should play Wolverine. Unless you're the 35-year-old parent of the six-year-old that wants to buy it would you want okay would you how old would your kids have to be to play that kind of go up um they have to be like above 13 but they to watch the game i would feel like my kid needs to be in high school i'd be like my kid i mean i was playing gears of war at a young age so i know i sound like a hypocrite a hypocrite
02:00:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
But if the Gears of War chainsaw was as graphic as the Wolverine. Oh, come on. was graphic. But, dude, what do you mean? It was like this, like, artificial ocean of blood. But you're sawing people in half. Yeah, but, like, now it's, like, so realistic, right?
02:00:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, I just think that, like. so So my thing is. Well, here's the thing. you're The indicator you're using for popularity is purely the movie. Like, there are other indicators of both of these, like, characters, right? Like, whether it's comics, merchandise, bunch of other things that go with it. But I agree, like, the movies are a big indicator.
02:00:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think you'd be asked if you ask me the question in 1995 or 2000, I'd say they're probably equally popular. But there's just been so much focus on Spider-Man that they've but Sony has milked this franchise so much that they just spread it out. And I think Spider-Man is more relatable to more people but because Spider-Man, like a lot of younger people relate more to Spider-Man than they would Wolverine. I think Wolverine is more relatable to older people.
02:01:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, i agree. But um yeah, it's he's more nuanced. Yeah, you know he's little complicated, but like Spider-Man is like just like, there's a Spider-Man TV show on Disney Plus for four-year-olds. Yeah, like that is ridiculous.
02:01:27
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, you're right. No, you're right. like Kids probably look up to Spider-Man more right now than they do Wolverine, but I also think that the potential for Wolverine is much higher in terms of popularity for this generation, only because I think it is leading into an X-Men game as a sequel.
02:01:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
So with Spider-Man, it did not lead to an Avengers game. right We just got Spider-Man 2. We know we're also getting just a Spider-Man 3. If we go from Wolverine to X-Men, oh my god, I think that opens the floodgates to be probably like one of the best probably superhero games to come out then. you know We'll see. It remains to be seen.
02:02:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
Because the last two Avenger games that came out were horrible. right I think I'm very excited for it. And I think it's more tantalizing of a prospect. So if they had to go down one direction, i would say please go down the Wolverine direction.
02:02:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
But I mean... Dude, if you look at how much Spider-Man sells, it's just absurd. I know. It's just like when you look up how much Pokemon sells, you're just like, Jesus Christ.
02:02:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like Spider-Man 2 right now, two years later, is still in the top 20 in MPD. Right? So it's it's selling great. it's If I had to guess, it's probably between 10 to 20 million units sold right now, I'm sure. i think if Wolverine sells 10 million, we're going to be happy for it. Yeah.
02:02:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think so if Spider-Man sells 10 million, they were like, that's not That's a fail. Yeah. But anyways, I think we talked about that a lot. All I'm saying is this game looks sick of fuck.
02:02:53
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. No, I'm excited. It looks way better than I expected. yeah So, I mean, it's definitely going to the top of my charts for next year. Yeah, because it's funny because I know you were saying the last couple years, like, oh, what you mean that hasn't?
02:03:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I'm not excited. Like, you were like, yeah, like, this is cool, probably a cool idea, but you weren't, like, hyped, but now seeing it. and Oh, I saw it. I was like, oh, they totally delivered. I mean, i love Logan, you know, and so Wolverine is hard to nail because you have to commit, you know, and it's hard to commit. Like Logan was was dark, yeah you know, but you have to go there.
02:03:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
And so I wasn't sure if Insomniac would commit because they've never made anything that dark before. Well, they have. Resistance was pretty dark. But not that dark. I mean, not like, okay, when you say dark, you're talking about literally like slicing people's faces, but in resistance, you are killing. Sure.
02:03:38
Shameer Mehdikhan
Okay. So I don't mean dark in terms of gore. I mean, dark in terms of hopelessness. Resistance for sure. But like resistance happened in a happy, ended in a happy note.
02:03:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Well, did it? Yeah. They defeated the aliens. In Resistance 3, they learned how to friggin' stop them, and then they transmitted on radio and everyone else, and they're like, oh, we're all gonna do the same thing now. And they never actually showed that they were all successes, but like it ended on a happy note, but like a lot of Logan stories, they don't end on a happy note. They end on an anticlimactic note. Because he's an anti-villain, right?
02:04:19
Shameer Mehdikhan
No, I wouldn't say he's an anti-villain. Isn't Kratos an anti-villain? Yeah, he is. Or not anti-Hero. Anti-Hero. Anti-Hero. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Maybe you can. Maybe you could say he's an anti-Hero, I guess. And so because of that, like, his stories are always complicated. And, like, at the end of, like, a Logan story, like, it's cathartic. It's an ending. But it's not like he is happy.
02:04:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
Well, yeah. They said it the best in the trailer. He's not a great narrator because his memory is constantly, like, he doesn't remember shit that it constantly happens. And I think that adds to that. But yeah, maybe you're right. But still, I still think Resistance was dark.
02:04:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
It was. but Compared to your conventional shooter, was one of the darkest. Definitely. So it's not like they don't have any forte in that. Yeah, I guess I'll give you that. I didn't think about that. But the Resistance resistance guy is really the right guy. They're the right I've just been thinking more like, you know, Ratchet and Clank.
02:05:13
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. You know, and then Spider-Man. was like, those are like really lighthearted. Yeah, those are very lighthearted. Even when Spider-Man, when it got there, it was just a bunch of criminals escaping a prison. Yeah. so so So that's cool. So I think that's the main stuff with the Shoddy Showcase. I guess that can also tie us into Ghost of Yotai. I think Ghost of Yotai, the reviews are saying pretty much what I expected them to say. Yeah. which You know, it's the a revenge story, and we've had so many of them. So it's like... Yeah, and I feel like the buzz around the game has been kind of quiet. Maybe that's just me. And I'm sure people are going to be excited for it, and they're just going to sell millions. But the first game that came out, like, it was something very new for Sony.
02:05:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I feel like it caught on fire. i don't know. i don't know. feel like Hollow Knight is drowning out? No, it's not that. It's just like, a no even since Ghost of Utah was announced this past year, like, at the Game Awards show last year or whatever, I don't know. i just haven't... do You think it's because it's a woman?
02:06:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
thanks so i mean that's a part of it i mean there's a big like anti-woke thing and she's not woke but she's a woman so then some people are gonna be like don't know not playing this game inherently you made it woke and it's like females can want revenge too yeah i know it's like come on guys so we'll see how else do i think it's kind of weird that like i haven't played the game but like samurais are very strong you know so you know is a woman going to be able to over par a sumo wrestler like a samurai who could kill a sumo wrestler i don't know i have to play the game and see you know that's why i felt like assassin's creed shadow it was like you know it feels weird to compliment them but it was like a good balance between the samurai who is so strong and then she's a ninja you know and you're like you know and i know there's like very strong women but like dude like some of those samurais are massive they're massive and when they're like covered in armor you know are you gonna yeah hurt them and um
02:07:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think a couple of reviews that I've read so far and have said this is by far Sucker Punch's best game ever. So i'm like, okay, I can believe that because InfoMess was good, but they weren't great. yeah And I think Ghost of Tsushima, again, somewhat controversial. Like it scored well, fared well, but you know, you kind of said the best, like what was the real appeal here? So so I think GameSpot, like they gave it a seven.
02:07:28
Shameer Mehdikhan
And I actually agree with the reviewer. Like, the things he pointed out, and he like, oh, yeah, Ghost of Yota is better because this got better, this got better. I was like, this is what I've been saying, you know? I don't know if I'd give it a 7, like Ghost of Shishinima, but it's not a 10, you know? I never saw it as a 10 either. but i never haven't played all of it either.
02:07:46
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, yeah, no, I just, now that the reviews are out, the the Legends mode should be coming out a little later. i don't know when. Yeah, yeah. I would think that people would be like more excited about it. Like it just seems like the reviews came out and people were like, Oh, it's what I expected. You know, yeah it's like one of those things where i like, I'm not disappointed.
02:08:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's not like beyond what I expected. And maybe it's just a reflection of how the internet has become where either people want things to be terrible so they can make like 50 videos about, Oh my God, this is crash and burn failure. Like it's either woke or greed that destroyed everything.
02:08:23
Shameer Mehdikhan
Or they'll say, oh my god, this is amazing. And then they use that as a tool to talk crap about everyone else. Like, oh my god, everyone should be sucker punched. No one else can be sucker punched because it's not cool. extremes, yeah. you know And it's like, no, this is just like, they said this is what they're going to do.
02:08:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they did it. I think the only, no, i don't want to say disappointing because again, scope creep. We talk about how games constantly grow large. And to outdo yourselves, you need time. I think if this game came out like two years after Ghost of Tsushima and it wasn't this quality, I'd like, oh my god, they really pushed themselves super hard it to do in two years.
02:08:56
Shameer Mehdikhan
But to then see it come out five years later, it's like... There's nothing I see in Ghost of Yotai that blows me away. I'm like, wow, this is like a true advancement of technology. You could have made Ghost of Yotai five years ago just in worse graphics. Yeah, and the only thing they added that takes um advantage of the PS5 is there's flashbacks cutscenes where you go from being adult whatever her name is the main character to being a young version immediately like a good and then you play as the you know it's like when i went from um horizon to horizon i was like oh my god i can tell the difference yeah that was so much richer the monsters are so much more detailed there's so much more variety in the monsters like this is a clear massive jump yeah and then when i went from like god of war um to god of war ragunov like similar like
02:09:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
It wasn't like as massive of a jump, but I was like, okay, the play areas are much bigger. Yeah, the players are bigger. But it wasn't like, oh, wow. and And I think that's just a reflection of how good God of War was to begin with. yeah And with Ghost, I'm not seeing like this massive jump up. like It is an improvement, right?
02:10:04
Shameer Mehdikhan
But again, there's there's nothing that seems like it couldn't have been done years ago. Yeah, I agree. And Witcher, this is just based off of a tech demo, but you look at Witcher 4 and you're like, okay, how can Witcher expand?
02:10:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. And then you see how they're explaining the townspeople and the tech behind the town and all all that stuff. And you're like, oh my God, yeah this is crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. So I agree. I mean, like you can never win it all, but they've pumped out a sequel and I'm sure if I had to guess, they'll do a major expansion for this game too. Oh, absolutely. Like Iki Island.
02:10:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then we' they'll go silent again for another five years. I wonder if they make another ghost. Honestly, I hope they don't. I would be okay with them going to a new franchise. Well, i I guess the question is, do you want them move to a different genre? Like, they've been doing action games for so long in the superheroes genre. It's like, I almost what wish they kind did something little different now.
02:10:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I just think that's like the bread and butter of Sony, though. It's like some sort of third-person action. So I don't see them going back to Infamous. I would love for them to do that. But they'll probably, i i think what Sony is trying to do is having multiple teams, right? So they'll probably just make like a sucker punch, A-team and B-team.
02:11:12
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, and it seems like now, going forward, every game that their studios make lasts for two generations. So Ghost of Tsushima, PS4, PS5, Last of Us, PS4, PS5, and PS3, and so on and so forth. So I feel like whatever game they come out after with this, like from them, it'll be a PS6, PS7 type of series. there'll be a new starter. And it'll be a new starter. Just like now, Heretic Profit. That's technically Naughty Dog's new IP for PS5, technically.
02:11:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Right, so... that's a good point. I never thought of it that way, but it'll get a sequel to it. And now Spider-Man is getting, I would think kind of phased out. I mean, they'll make a Spider-Man three, but that'll be kind of, I can see that be 2028. think that is going to be cross generational between PS five, PS six.
02:11:54
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then we're going to go into the PS six with like, um, Wolverine moving forward with X-Men. Yeah. you know, that will be the face of it, which will just go social. Insomniac's freaking crazy. Yeah. Um,
02:12:05
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, okay. And then last person to talk about is Microsoft. I kind of felt like they were the least interesting talk about. Yeah, they showed up at TGS. yeah Yeah, they showed off Forza Horizon 6.
02:12:18
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yep. Microsoft Flight Sim with Japan vocales. Also interesting. Don't know if it's going to really do well. but Not really going to move the needle, but fine. It's um fun that's also coming PlayStation 5. Okay.
02:12:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's interesting to me that they announced... hey, this is coming out on Xbox and PC, and then later on PS5. Oh, Forza and Resonance. Yeah, for Forza. And it's like, oh, so that's just so it's not day and date. I think we may have talked about that.
02:12:47
Shameer Mehdikhan
ah But we don't know how long they're to wait. If I had to guess, maybe four six months. They did that with Indiana Jones. Yeah, and mean, personally, I think waiting a year is kind of better. That's just me. Yeah, agree. You know, double dipping, because I think,
02:13:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
There are people who, and probably myself included, like if there's a game I really wanted and I didn't want to wait a year or a year and a half, like I would just buy it. you know that But that's our economy.
02:13:14
Shameer Mehdikhan
So Xbox doesn't sell well in Japan at all. And if you really want that user base to actually like play the game, you got to release it quick enough. True, but for Forza,
02:13:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
Forza 5 sold so well. In the US. Yeah, but so objectively, like 2 million sales. Yeah, but then if you're going to reveal the game, why i reveal it to Gems? I think it's just... I don't think they're planning on selling much in Japan. I think they're just doing that because, you know, it's set in Japan...
02:13:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, but it was dumb for them to not reveal Gamescom than a month before. Like, if you know your bread and butter, still it's going to sell better over here. yeah Why not show would agree with you on that. They should have shown it off at Gamescom because that's where most people are paying attention. Like, ah showing it off now kind of got overshadowed. it's overshadowed. But it's also like the new Microsoft where, like, they don't care. And really, I think what's more important for them is good news, bad news sandwich.
02:14:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
Right? So then you always feel ambivalent about that, right? it's So it's no surprise. As soon as we hear about Forza Horizon 6, we have Xbox price increases, right? And so that's that's them. But I think, yes, Forza Horizon 6 will get more Xboxes sold in Japan.
02:14:31
Shameer Mehdikhan
But with these price increases too, like, who are you kidding? Like, you're not going to sell that many more Xboxes. This is a game that's meant for the Western audience, right? Yeah.
02:14:42
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, and I think even if you made people wait like 12 months, I think the game will still sell like crazy. So that's what I would do. ah Other games like Indiana Jones, I think it makes a difference. I think Starfield, it might make a difference, you know, whether it's like six months or 12 months, but Forza or Halo, really Forza, Halo or Gears, it doesn't matter.
02:15:01
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. You know, they're just too big. This is so funny, just a renaissance, like this revival of those franchises. And like they lost their identity. And they're like, we were doing this for so long. Now we don't know what these franchises should be. now so Watch when no one gets delayed and messes up their trifecta. That's what I can see.
02:15:16
Shameer Mehdikhan
So there's that. ah The price hikes are crazy. That is insane. I don't know how Sony is not also increasing their prices. They did in the US. Yeah. sure some But just by 50. Yeah.
02:15:30
Shameer Mehdikhan
Which is crazy to me because ah Microsoft has increased by well-up. 200 or is it 150 now? 150 or something. Insane. That's nuts. And so Sony, even if they're selling at the same price, they're outselling you like two and a half to one. Right. yeah And so it's like, have a consol you have no competitor.
02:15:48
Shameer Mehdikhan
Your competitors are leaving the door open for you to increase your price. Yeah. yeah I mean, we basically consoles worth 800 bucks at this point. So tells me that, When the next generation of consoles come out, like looking at probably 700 minimum, if not more. Oh yeah. Which is utterly insane. Cause like we were. If the Switch 2 is $450.
02:16:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Right. This is definitely going to $699. $699, $799. generation ago paid $400 for a PS4 and an Xbox One.
02:16:20
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's so insane. Yeah. And now to pay double that. and And rising. And rising. Dude, it's kind of nuts. like No one wants to talk about it but tariffs. It's so funny. like All the games media, no one is talking about like how this is tariffs. And it's like, dude, you can be honest about it. like Everyone gets everything made in Vietnam. It's not even just a China thing. It's China and Vietnam. you know And tariffs suck.
02:16:45
Shameer Mehdikhan
And like they can't really move them. They want to, but they can't because to maintain their profit margin, they can't make it cheaper like over here. So they're just going to pass on the cost of the consumer. the consumers Because for some things, like, it'll make sense to move your workflow to America.
02:17:00
Shameer Mehdikhan
For other things, it'll make sense to move into a different, like, yeah subset. or Or even, like, diversify your product, you know, or that's what phones are doing, right? But video games, I think, is the one example where, like, you can't get around it. It has to pass to the consumer because it's not technically an essential. It's kind of a luxury good. It's kind a luxury And you sell 100 million. And it's based off a generational model that's eight years, you know, roughly, and has to be planned in advance. It's only profitable with massive economies of scale, right?
02:17:35
Shameer Mehdikhan
And because of that, it has to be made overseas, right? So I think that's why we're not seeing like the tariff direct effect in other places, but we're seeing it and in console prices, right? Well, yeah, we're not seeing it elsewhere because they're all moving like it's a production. Yeah.
02:17:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
or like Apple, like they didn't release, uh, you know increase the cost of their iPhones because they were already scamming the heck out of people with their iPhones. So like, even if the production costs went up by double, like they're only spending like a hundred, like $200 to make the iPhones. I'm like, it makes no difference.
02:18:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
And they're just going to make that money up in services. So, you know, like, and so' like other companies are not getting like slaughtered by it, but like, For video game consoles, like if you're already selling at a loss. Which they normally do. Which you have to do that to make it up in software. Like what other company is selling at a loss at those scales and having a product that lasts for eight years? Yeah.
02:18:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
No one else. no There's no other example because everyone else is built on making your product obsolete in two years. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's funny, but a console generation is like card.
02:18:41
Shameer Mehdikhan
a car is meant to last like eight to 10 years. yeah And it's, that's why so many people are having a hard time developing. And look at how much rewards those cars have gone. And so, and look at how many people are trying to switch out of the the car cycle to now like, oh, one year, two year cars. Let's get leases. It's funny because a car depreciates over that span of time, like even within eight years or two years, but that's exactly what happens to console. They depreciate. and then you go, wait a minute, five years later, we're increasing the price even more. So now you're inflating not only your product,
02:19:11
Shameer Mehdikhan
But you're causing an issue where most people cannot literally afford it. People buy it three to four years into a cycle because then they go, it's 100, 200 bucks off. They go, wait a minute. Now went up 100, 200 bucks off. Oh my God, they must just hope this. Yeah, they can't afford it. I wonder if they're going to get into the the world of just leasing.
02:19:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah, I mean, Xbox started it. Remember a year and a half ago two years ago? They have the program now where you can lease their console, pay what, quarterly or monthly or something? It didn't catch on, but they started it.
02:19:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
and But i think like in this economy, it makes more sense. And i i I feel like Microsoft is not the one to make that happen, right? Like, it has to be Sony or Nintendo. Because, like, if people are like, oh, the Xbox is too expensive, they're not going to buy the Xbox.
02:19:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
If the Nintendo Switch is too expensive, they will put it on a credit card. yeah they'll but right They'll put it on a firm, right? Like, it will be bought, right? One way or another. Like, if your kids are begging for Mario and Pokemon, like, you're not going to listen to them beg for Mario and Pokemon for eight years. Yeah, are you're going to get them.
02:20:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
You're eventually going to make it happen, right? and so And so because of that, like the leasing option, like um I feel like that's going to just blow up. I do too. Financing, lease, all those type of things. They'll probably be like just like an Apple card. They'll be selling card, Nintendo card.
02:20:24
Shameer Mehdikhan
Speaking of Hideo Kojima's partnering with Yahoo to make his own credit card. Of course. This guy, bro. yeah That was one thing announced at the stream. Surprised he didn't make an NFT. Remember when those were a thing?
02:20:36
Shameer Mehdikhan
God, it was like, crash hard. uh and then i guess the last thing to talk about would be the rog ally price did you expect that yeah i did i mean people thought 950 and 550 but and then people like like in their dreams wanted it to be 750 and i saw something about 850 like there was some leak someone took a picture they were like 850 i was like 850 that's killer yeah if it was 850 i'd be like oh my god because the rog ally The one right now, not the RG Ally, what is it? Ally X? Ally X. No, is that what they call it? Yeah.
02:21:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
Is it just the ROG X, the old one? The enhancement the ROG Ally No, the one you had that you sold. What was it called? Yeah, the Ally X. Okay, yeah. um So that one, isn't that like a thousand dollars now? Yeah. No, when I bought it, it was 900, but it went up to a thousand this past year. Right.
02:21:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So was expected. It's, you know. Yeah. So it would have been so unlikely for the new product to be cheaper in this economy than the old product, which is already overpriced. And then Lenovo already jumped the gun and then yeah made their console so expensive. So then this seems cheap. Yeah.
02:21:44
Shameer Mehdikhan
The $1,000 though, that's kind of killer. It's kind of killer. I just think like a thousand is just like this, like mind numbing number. yeahs know Cause if you had even made it 899, then I don't think that hits as hard. yeah Because people are oh, $8.99, it's less than $1,000, right?
02:22:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
it It just doesn't hit the same for some reason. Like $7.99, $8.99, oh, you know. When you jump from $7.99 to $8.99, it doesn't feel as bad. If you jump from $8.99 to $1,000, it feels bad.
02:22:15
Shameer Mehdikhan
I feel like that jump is worse than like $1,000 $1,100. There's something about that number that psychologically just gets you. Yeah, I mean, look, it's going to be dead on right. one's going buy it.
02:22:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
Only the hardcore part. It's selling, though. I mean, is it? Yeah, I think that I wouldn't be surprised if the Ally X is selling. Yeah, I'm not surprised because that has the best part there. So if you're going to get it, you go all I think like I was reading some stuff saying that like the quantity might be low, but it's probably because it's just low quantities. Yeah, why to begin yeah exactly. Because they don't, they probably weren't anticipating a lot of people. But you know what? It's crazy because the rich in this economy are just rich. And like,
02:22:51
Shameer Mehdikhan
there's They're actually spending the most amount of money right now. They're propping up our GDP. they our content i was reading somewhere that a lot of the car companies are just surviving because of people buying expensive luxury cars.
02:23:02
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. Like the whole market is shifting towards that. Yeah. It's ridiculous. It's just top heavy. It's top heavy. And I think 45 to 50% of consumer spending is coming from people that ah own 10% or more of the wealth within the country. So it's mainly the people that are richer that are propping us up.
02:23:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. I wonder how many Ally X's... I wonder if they will ever announce... Oh, hell no. They'll never announce the number. Hell no. You're crazy? They don't even announce the Xbox hardware numbers anymore. I know. That's so true. I just want to know. I just want to know. Is it 500 that we sold or 600? Yeah, it's probably... No, it's probably going to be more than that. It'll be like maybe 20,000 or 50,000.
02:23:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
But just remember, the Steam Deck in several years only sold like 3 million units Crazy. I would have guessed 15. Yeah, I would have guessed the same 15, but like... a female So, yeah, I mean, look, it is what it is. If they get to 1 million sold, oh that would be an insane success.
02:23:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
I think they're hoping for that because of the Xbox branding attached to it. and Because that have they have more loyalty than Asus, right? So if you call it the Xbox LX, people are like, okay. But then when you see the sticker shock, you're like, what?
02:24:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
So I'm not going to buy it. When it was $850, I considered because I was thinking, okay, I just sold my Switch to switch OLED. And okay, I'll try and sell my original Ally. Maybe I'll get $300 for it. Okay, I'm getting $450, $500. Okay, another $400. That's not the worst thing.
02:24:26
Shameer Mehdikhan
I was trying to stretch the numbers, justify it in my mind, right? But now if it's all the way to $1,000, I'm like, there's better ways for me to spend that money. Yeah, I mean, I'm still considering.
02:24:37
Shameer Mehdikhan
I mean, now I might wait um because I'm like, $1,000. I liked actually my Ally X because I was playing games on it on a daily basis. And it was easy. That For me, like, you know me, I like to sleep early a lot now.
02:24:49
Shameer Mehdikhan
And like, I get in bed in just 30 minutes, like, dude, I was actually like knocking out games. Like, so, Jennifer. So, for you, it might be worth it. Yeah, like, it might be. Plus, you sold your old one. And I sold my old one. And you most of the money back. Yeah, i got almost all the money back. you technically are are really getting a full upgrade. Yeah, I really am.
02:25:06
Shameer Mehdikhan
So it's like, I think for your case, it might be worth it. If I was in your shoes and I had the ally X and I sold it, got most of my money back, I would buy it. Yeah. But when you're jumping from an ally, which I bought for 400, I got it on sale.
02:25:21
Shameer Mehdikhan
And then now if I'm selling it for 300, like that jump is just painful. It's just painful. Yeah. i agree. And it just doesn't seem like it's worth it because yeah, the battery life is better. It's better optimized, but,
02:25:34
Shameer Mehdikhan
is is it worth it for like 20% better improvement and double the battery? i can just strap on a battery pack and call it a day. Yeah, exactly. If it was able to play games natively, Xbox, then it's a different story. If it was able to play native games and it came with a dock and it was basically a Switch, yeah right? Then yeah it would have been worth than at that point, I'd probably sell Xbox. Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't be playing yeah games on the Xbox anymore.
02:25:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
Or if, If Microsoft announced right now that every future game that is released on the Xbox is Xbox Play Anywhere, then I'd be like, oh, okay. Then I'd be far more likely to play.
02:26:09
Shameer Mehdikhan
Like, I just got Assassin's Creed. I was thinking, yeah, I'd love to play this. You know, I can't even play it unless I'm streaming. Like, and this is a new game. Like, what microsoft says is create is a huge franchise why couldn't you make this play anywhere i think they made some of them play anywhere it's the old ones it's like the very old ones and it's like we really need to get to the point where we trust that every future game big release has to be playing that's so that's the big thing that can curb the whole native play thing so if everyone gets a pc version which most games already do you have to incentivize the third party publisher i give them extra money would i be annoyed that like my old
02:26:43
Shameer Mehdikhan
library of Xbox games can't be played. Yeah. Sure. But then you sell me on and be like, oh, you can stream your old games and every new game going forward is Xbox Play. Yeah, that's all I need.
02:26:55
Shameer Mehdikhan
Then it's like much easier to sell. Because then I get two copies of the game basically. Yeah. And then I can swap between my TV versus... Yeah, and no one's buying the Xbox PC version anyway. Yeah, no one was. So this would at least get them into the ecosystem.
02:27:08
Shameer Mehdikhan
So, I mean, I think the problem is Microsoft does not think it can convince developers. to get the Xbox PC. And they're probably scared that if they threaten, hey, you cannot sell on the Xbox unless you make an Xbox PC, all of a sudden Sony has 200 exclusives.
02:27:25
Shameer Mehdikhan
That's probably their fear, right? That's their fear. don't know. I think for the major games, you know, everyone would do it. Yeah, yeah, I agree that with that too. and don't know. It remains to be seen. But yeah, no, I mean, it's one of those things where, again, the only enticing thing about this right now is that it has ah dedicated AI hardware um on the, topsca say yeah, to allow for upscale, which won't even be available launch until I think January or something. Oh, seriously.
02:27:52
Shameer Mehdikhan
And the thing is, although I love how they've optimized windows, that is eventually going to come out on the ones. It's already in preview for a windows. Probably me in a year.
02:28:03
Shameer Mehdikhan
So yeah, within a year, you'll get it for everything else. They already said that it's going to come to Legion co. So we'll see, you know, maybe I'll reward myself at some point. yeah yeah you know I think you should. if If I go to the store and then I feel in my hands and it's just absolutely amazing. Yeah, then do it.
02:28:17
Shameer Mehdikhan
But then when I think of the value proposition, like, yeah, like that was like our trip to our Orlando, right? but think about it. If you you end up using that thing for the next three to four years. Yeah.
02:28:29
Shameer Mehdikhan
Is it even going to be usable for three or to four years, right? Because if the new Xbox comes out and then it's handheld. True. That's another thing. See, that's why I wish they were more clear on their messaging.
02:28:39
Shameer Mehdikhan
It's like they don't want to um destroy the sales for this going forward. But if you then announce a handheld three years from now, I'd so pissed. because i'm like I'd be so upset if I bought this now at $1,000. And then in 2028, you're releasing a handheld. That's fine. I'd be pretty upset. Because we already know PlayStation making handheld. Yeah.
02:28:57
Shameer Mehdikhan
If it was five years, I think that's enough to use. Yeah, that's enough. Four, I'd be unhappy, but okay. But three does not feel like very much. Yeah. And like Sony, if Sony's handheld comes out and you can play PlayStation 5 and six games, like I'd be happy with that.
02:29:10
Shameer Mehdikhan
Yeah. So, cool, cool. I think that just about wraps it up. Unless there's something else you want to talk about? No. All right. All right. all right Catch you guys later. See you guys next time. Peace. Peace.