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The Game Awards Recap, Ninja Gaiden’s Return, and The Witcher 4
66 Plays6 months ago
In Episode 106 of Unqualified Game Chat, Azario Lopez and Spencer dive into the highs and lows of the Game Awards 2024, discussing everything from cringy moments to game-changing announcements like Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, The Witcher 4, and Elden Ring’s co-op expansion. The duo also talk about their current gaming adventures, including Spencer’s terrifying dive into Alien: Rogue Incursion on PSVR2 and Azario’s ongoing attempts to crack the code of mobile gaming with Girls’ Frontline 2. Plus, reflections on gaming nostalgia and a hint at future projects for Noisy Pixel.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:10 Game Awards 2023: Initial Impressions
06:00 Spencer’s VR Adventures with Alien: Rogue Incursion
09:15 Azario’s Journey into Mobile Gaming (Girls’ Frontline 2)
12:40 Silent Hill 2 Remake and Bloober Team's Redemption
22:26 Game Awards Recap: Best and Worst Moments
26:29 Ninja Gaiden Ragebound Announcement
29:16 Koei Tecmo’s Ambitious 2025 Plans
34:02 The Witcher 4 Reveal Sparks Online Debate
37:40 Elden Ring’s Co-op Expansion, Night Rain
40:44 Excitement for The Outer Worlds 2
42:18 Clive Joins Tekken – A Strange Crossover
43:08 Randy Pitchford Announces Borderlands 4
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Banter
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 106 of Unqualified Game Chat. I am your host, Zara Lopez, and with me today is the very festive, very cuddly, very warm Spencer, the legacy. Hi, everyone. Hope you've all been well. Somebody's commented that I talk 90% of the time and it's true.
00:00:44
Speaker
It's true. I'm, I'm, I'm really like, it's just cause I don't know. You're, you're more of a leader ish kind of, I am the host. Your guest hosts every week. Just like, just like my idol.
00:01:00
Speaker
kiing day Just the guest host expertise. I will say to my to my defense, I have so much to say. That's true. And literally no one to talk about it with. And I get so excited for this weekly like digest of word vomit that I'm allowed to do on this show. Yeah. I don't mind at all. Yeah. And and Spencer's just the type to to appreciate a little bit of word vomit.
00:01:31
Speaker
You know, once in a while, when you get to hang with people who like, they are, they're on like the same wavelength.
Game Awards Commentary
00:01:36
Speaker
Like I watched the game awards with my friend Aiden and we were both like, Oh, we can both be like bitchy because we both know a lot about games. So we can be like snarky and we'll get each other's quips. It's like that where it's like, Oh, you know, you can, you do you don't have to hide your power level.
00:01:51
Speaker
i Have you ever been, have you ever covered an event like with you and a couple other writers and your guys are all in like a room or something, watching it, live watching it? youtube yeah i'll take ah I always hate when there's that one person though and you're trying to write and there's that one person that is just a little too excited, yeah for but you're not watching it. because like yeah Yeah, fuck. Shut up. Shut up. ah Crash Bandicoot was released in. yeah I got I got to have fine fluff. Give me fluff. Snops is for the game. in estate It's like three sentences underneath the YouTube. ah Yeah. The video description said I got it. A hundred words. um Yeah, that that's a.
00:02:40
Speaker
That's the, we'll get into it later today or later in this episode, but, um, that's going to be our premise for this episode is, uh, the game awards and, um, I think I guess what we've been doing, have you been, have you been up to anything?
00:02:56
Speaker
Uh, I beat Star Wars. Oh, well, congrats. That was fun. Are you an outlaw? I
Gaming Persona: People-Pleaser
00:03:03
Speaker
know. You see, I'm a, as Zario knows, I'm a chronic people pleaser. So every single, I finished the game with every crime syndicate ah being an excellent and no one disliked me at the end of the game. I had enough contracts and spent so many hours making sure that no one was mean to me.
00:03:22
Speaker
I have a friend like that where it's, but it's super frustrating to watch him play games like fallout three yeah because he's too good where he will never steal anything. He'll never like pick pocket people, even when he's like in a Even when he's like exploring things, he's like, Oh, I'm not going to touch that. It's, it's very frustrating to watch good guy gamers who followed like in GTA would like follow the the traffic lights. You're like, okay, it's green. I can go. And it's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm bad in terms of like, I need the characters to like me, but if I can get away with like stealing something or like what, uh, yeah, whatever. I'm like, Oh, this, my mind is gamified enough that I can be like, Oh, there's no consequence for this. So I can do this. So. Yeah. There, I remember doing as a, as a kid, a driver, I did the stop sign for, I was like, Oh, I'll just try to drive like, like a normal person. But also when vice city came out, I remember how, uh, cool it was that the cars didn't disappear as soon as they left the screen. So I spent one time two hours just parking cars in this one garage. Yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
But like not my garage, just a parking garage near the ball in that game. And I just like, you just hipping to do I did that with oblivion where the bodies wouldn't disappear. And I would like, so I'd fight someone in a room and kill them. And then I would move all the objects around and then I would let the ether and come back in and they would all spawn like just above. this because And I would do that so frequently because I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Yeah. When before online.
00:05:07
Speaker
I think gaming
Nostalgia vs. Modern Gaming
00:05:08
Speaker
just had a, uh, you had to find the fun sometimes. Yeah. And it was, you know, with games like driver and oblivion, we're like physics and shit where we're so big. I remember like GTA online. I never really played it, but I had a friend who did, and you could like, there was a swing set thing and in GTA four where if the swing hit your car, you would go flying. So everyone would like line up at the swing and like ever. There was so much shit you did for no reason, just cause it was funny. And like, that's.
00:05:37
Speaker
I but you wonder if that still happens. I don't know. Well, no, because kids have Fortnite now. Kids have like things that games that are constantly rewarding. There's no end game. You know, you don't need it. And they're like, oh, I have this whole world now to explore. You know, I can't I can only like imagine what. I don't know how when a kid today discovers that games aren't Um, just a, a circle. They're more linear. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there, there's, there and that, and that's my gamer brain is I can't really play games. I don't have an ending. It just, it, it.
00:06:18
Speaker
It gives me anxiety a little bit like yeah, even if it's really far out like something like final fantasy 14 where you're like eventually there'll be an ending I'm like, okay I can as long as there's like an ending at the end of the road even if the roads are really far I can pretend I'll get there But yeah, like the only thing I can really play like online unlimited is like I'll play for night with my brother um But like most things with battle passes and shit. I'm just like oh I don't feel anything I don't I don't feel when you beat a game you're like yeah I beat it nice I'm trying to play a mobile game and this is the first mobile game that I've ever played since um maybe maybe Final Fantasy record keeper I put a lot of time
00:07:02
Speaker
Yeah. Brave Exvius. I kind of play a little bit, but this one is girls frontline too.
Mobile Games Appeal
00:07:08
Speaker
What's that? It's the sequel to girls frontline one. Um, yeah, this, this game, uh, it's, it's as SRPG and I don't know. I, uh, I saw it on Twitter.
00:07:26
Speaker
And I was thinking about covering it further um because our readers seem to be into it. And so I've been playing it every day since launch. It's been out for about nine days now. And I know that because of the daily logins. But anyway, ah I have no idea what's going on.
00:07:43
Speaker
I'm honestly being so open every night, logging in and playing for like maybe 30 minutes to an hour, trying to figure out what actually people like about mobile games. yeah And I'm coming in with an open mind. I play Pokemon Go. I know that style of mobile game, yeah but but these gacha games are are very particular in that.
00:08:05
Speaker
i I want to extend the question to our readers and listeners. like what What keeps you playing these games when it seems like everything is for ah characters? like I think that's what does it, the characters. I think it's like, because like I played a lot of One Piece, Treasure Cruise.
00:08:28
Speaker
On the phone and I would be pulled in because I go. Oh, there's a new kata query That's cool art and I wouldn't really spend money ah But I'd like I'd save all my gems or whatever and I'd be like, oh there now I can get gear 5 Luffy So I think at least with an established franchise it's like that and then with not established stuff I think it's probably the rarity where you're like, oh no one has this combined with I'm assuming in in the game you're talking about I'm sure there's lots of photos of attractive anime women. So I'm sure that goes one way to some more, some more attractive than others. Yeah. that's top ten list the noisy pixel Yeah. The most attractive girls frontline to characters. I see people putting down real money for this game too. I have not put any real money into it. Um,
00:09:19
Speaker
i I get enough pulls, i get i don't I'm trying. i want him i want to hit ah I want to hit a ah groove where I'm like, oh shit, I know how to play mobile games now. But at this point, I really don't. And and I'm willing to accept that. i I'm trying. I'm trying. um You're giving it a go. That's all you can do.
Exploring Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis
00:09:40
Speaker
Well, dude, you yeah have you played Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis or whatever? Played a little bit of it, yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
That game is getting nuts. The story in the Final Fantasy seven, like first, like, uh, first soldier area. Dude. Uh, they're, they're going into some Final Fantasy seven lore right now with a young Sephiroth. I saw that cool CG scene of him.
00:10:10
Speaker
Dude, and he has like the ribbon on his, uh, uh, his blade, um, was it? Misominate. Misominate. Yeah. Fuck dude. Uh, nuts.
00:10:21
Speaker
That's great. They talk about how Jenova is messing with Sephiroth's mind. So you see Sephiroth within Jill and and like going on missions, but like having the same side effects that say like Cloud was having during this like. was like oh Yeah. Yeah. What's her name? Uh, Lucrezia. Um, like you, you see the scenes where Jenova is making, um, is pretending to be Lucrezia and, and making like Sephiroth call her mom and
00:10:57
Speaker
And there's this new girl, Alyssa, that looks just like Lucrezia, but it's not. Dude, it's fucking nuts. It's fucking nuts. It's fucking nuts. If you told 12-year-old Spencer there'd be this much lore, it's added. Yeah, it goes deep.
00:11:14
Speaker
It answers like questions I never had, but like I'm glad that I know them now. like yeah just Just having that context of like knowing Sephiroth struggled at one point and so is so nice. It's so nice to know. like You're right. young Young Azario and Spencer would just love to, to know that, that about just the snippets and crisis core of like nice Sephiroth. I was like, wow, this is so cool back in the day. So like now all this shit, it's like, Holy moly. Yeah. Like, Oh my God, I'm working with Sephiroth. Yeah. So good. So good. Um, so yeah, I'm playing, I'm, I'm playing through, um, girls frontline too, but nice. It's good. I'm glad you beat outlaws.
00:11:58
Speaker
I am too. i'm i'm ah in up I started the Silent Hill 2 remake. Oh, nice. Quite good so far. I like the original, so that's cool. IGN Japan gave it a game of the year. Wow. That's pretty big. Especially because Bloober did it and people weren't sure about Bloober, but they So far, it seems that they've done a good job. I've never played another blueberry. Oh, I played some of the Blair Witch. That was fun. I liked that. Yes. People are really mean to them for some reason. I don't know if they pissed off the the gaming community or something, but yeah, I don't, I don't follow. So far they're cool with me. Yeah. I'm like down layers of fear was so fine. I didn't know what layers of fear is that germa clip where the little kid runs into the wall and that's scary. That was very funny.
00:12:47
Speaker
Oh, wait, there's a scary one where you're in a hall and the baby like runs. Yeah, it was that like it was the way it was laid out was so funny. He was stuck in like a loop and it kept happening. That's awesome. Yeah, but that's all I know about that. But I played the Blair Witch game and I liked I liked that. That was that was an interesting game. Yeah. And I'm enjoying so too. I played the Blair Witch in VR. That's one of the few VR games that I played. And it was a game. Hell yeah.
00:13:17
Speaker
I don't really like VR. There's one more thing I might be able to talk about, but on air, I'm checking an embargo so that I can see if I can talk about it. Well, you're looking at that. I'll talk about something that's coming out in 20 minutes now. So you'll be so I got to play the hidden ones. um An upcoming Tencent published like a ah PC mobile game.
00:13:42
Speaker
um And so I was at an event on Sunday in LA. Well, it was, it was Sunday to Monday. The event was on Monday, but I got there on Sunday and, um, I was talking to some of the, um, the writers, um, the other journalists, the writers that were there. It was a couple of content creators, but, um,
Sonic Movies: Adult vs. Child Perspectives
00:14:05
Speaker
We're just talking, you know, like it's, you don't know these people. So you try to keep the conversation as light as possible. But, uh, I was like, I, I mentioned, Oh yeah, the, the Sonic three movies coming out, but, uh, I've never, okay. I was like, I've never seen any any of the other ones. And I was like, actually, I've never seen super Mario brother, the super Mario brothers movies. And I made the mistake of saying,
00:14:30
Speaker
Um, it just feels weird. It just always seemed weird to me that I'm 35 and watching these movies for kids. And this guy who was clearly older than me set, said, uh, well, Sonic one and two are really great movies. And then he went on to explain to me how they are really great movies. And I, hell yeah. Fight the flight brother.
00:14:54
Speaker
I was like, fuck, why did I open up this kid? Like, you don't have to explain to me why Sonic is cool. I get it. I know that rock he really felt the need to, to one admit that he's watched the two movies, but to like defend, like yeah he didn't have to defend it, but I was very adorable the way that he approached we get yeah the defending, um,
00:15:21
Speaker
I've never seen the movies though. I don't, I don't know. I don't think I don't as they go. Like the first so second great. Everyone says rocks. I can't, I want to see tomorrow. I hope. Yeah. I know what happens though. Who cares? It's still cool. Sonic runs fast, fast, but seeing them fast is still bad-ass.
00:15:44
Speaker
i well I don't think, okay, so I think Sonic will be an eventual movie that I watch. I don't think I'll ever watch the Super Mario Brothers movie. Yeah, it's it's okay. it's not It's nothing amazing. I i saw it in theaters. so the
00:16:00
Speaker
My friends and I all went, we were like, let's go see the Mario movie. Did you dress up? No, but we were like, we were all like, we came out of it and we were like, that could have been so much worse. So we were all like, uh, it's no sonic, but a jump high five. We went, whoa, clap.
00:16:21
Speaker
yeah i would be as ah As a veteran of the second Nintendo wars on the Sega side, I'm not going to act like the Mario movies great, but the Sonic movies are great.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think nostalgia is getting, uh, taking its control on everybody where they're, they're making you think things like the Mario Brothers movie, the first one, um, was good. Well, it's bad, but it's entertaining. It is a, it is a fascinating movie to watch. I kind of remember liking it as a kid. It has a lot of charm. Like it's very strange, but it has a lot of weird charm to it.
00:16:59
Speaker
There is always like the characters like the John Linkizamo plays, his character that he played Luigi. There's also like cartoon characters like Mad Max and um just like cool, cool characters that I remember seeing and being like, oh, I want to be like like that guy. And Luigi, John Linkizamo's Luigi was like, oh, fuck, that guy's cool. Was your Black Panther. Yeah, like I was like Luigi forever.
00:17:27
Speaker
I wanted, I just like the the kind of hip style that he brought to it, you know, it was very like- He's your mama's Luigi. Yeah, it was very like, I don't know. yeah I kind of, I mean, I expressed that personality trait already to me now, so you could probably see that those are the people that I looked up to.
00:17:50
Speaker
But typically the the people that I thought were cool in movies were either guys like that, characters like that, or ah like the bullies that were just like. like fifth tened yeah He's says he's under misunderstood. Misunderstood is not misunderstood. I bet he didn't kiss his mom. Well.
00:18:11
Speaker
Marty didn't want to. Marty wasn't feeling it. And you can also tell that I that i grew up going like, whoa, Marty McFly, Luke Skywalker, Aladdin, wow. like Marty McFly was pretty cool. Marty McFly rocks. I have the best lives there. Marty McFly was pretty cool.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, Ghostbusters, cool to me. Yeah, Egon. Egon's number one. Yeah, bill mur Bill Murray. Like, I would always want to... I could be him. I i could see myself as him. But that's what I'm... So that's the character that I'm talking about. It's like that Bill Murray character where, like, kind of kind of rude, but you like him. You know, I like Egon. I was like, he's intelligent. Oh, he's so smart. He's so smart. I want to be like that. I want to know more about ghosts.
00:18:54
Speaker
yeah We have stuff to talk about, though. True. Real quick, though, I did check the embargo. We're good. Oh, shit. Yeah. Oh, what is it? Playing alien rogue incursion on my PS VR, too. Oh, it's really scary. It's scary. Are you an alien game in VR?
00:19:10
Speaker
Are you in VR? Do you feel immersed? I barely ever got to use my PSVR too, but i'm every time I do, I'm like, this rocks. This is so sick. um It's so scary. It's like you really do feel like you're you're just warped into space and it's really dark and and you hear with like the 3D audio and
Immersive Horror Gaming on PSVR2
00:19:30
Speaker
shit. the the xenomorphs and it popped out. And like every time I yell out like, Oh shit. Oh, whoa. Like I'm sure everyone in this house is like, what's happening? What's the premise of that game? Like, what's your goal? You're um at the beginning, you're trying to find ah people on this planet.
00:19:50
Speaker
and there's xenomorphs and you're looking for these people but you keep getting stuck it's like metroidvania in terms of like oh you're you need to find a key and you find this and the whole time you're being like hunted by xenomorphs but you there's panic rooms you can go to that are save rooms and you have different weapons but i don't know it's something that i can play scary games and watch scary movies all day long but uh the second they're like this close to me And, like, I can't, like, look away peripherally, even though I don't don't even look away in horror movies, so I don't know. But the fact that, like, I don't know, it it does trick your brain into being like, this is real. There's real xenomorphs trying to kill me. Yeah, I hate whenever I have played VR and I take them off and it's night to day. Yeah. like that That always freaks me out.
00:20:38
Speaker
um When is this, is this a review that you're playing? Yeah, I haven't written the review yet. Um, cause I was going to play this weekend, but, uh, with the holidays, I had both family holiday things in a row each day. So I've only been starting lately and, uh, that review will probably be up end of this week, early next week, but so far, you know, it's, it's impressive. It it feels like a, not a tech demo. It feels like an actual game on VR, which is always a positive, uh,
00:21:08
Speaker
especially with something like alien. It takes place between one and two. So it's neat. It really is like very freaky though. is it is it a Is it skill-based? is it right Yeah. like you You have to like go like this to pull out your machine gun. Oh, fuck yeah. And then like you have to put your hand here or else it goes flying upwards when you shoot, which i took me a minute to figure out because I was like, why is this so crazy? I was like, oh, it told me literally to hold it. Or you like go to your waist for your pistol and you go like here and inject health. It's really cool, but it's really ah frightening. I know. That's super cool. Have you died?
00:21:46
Speaker
I have not died, but I've gotten really close and I part of it. Oh, I haven't dies. I'm super cautious. The second I hear like, yeah, yeah, I pulled the guy. Yeah. I get the fuck out of here. already But, yeah, no, it's, uh, it's an interesting game. I'm, uh, I'm hoping more games like that come to PSVR too. Cause I want to play half way now and no one has that damn adapter. So.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, I don't foresee myself getting too deep into VR in the future. But if, if that's, if that's my holiday VR game by your recommendation, then that's, then that's it. I'm going to be watching nods for auto on Christmas. So I feel like I got to see that. Yeah.
00:22:32
Speaker
Oh, and that's so insane that it's a Christmas movie. But if, if, i if I just carry, if I just carry this, uh, horror kind of yeah a wrap Christmas, spooky Christmas, spooky Christmas. Um, let's talk about the game
Game Awards Overview
00:22:50
Speaker
awards. We were supposed to talk about it last week, but as, as Spencer had mentioned,
00:22:54
Speaker
He had family issues, not issues, not issues, up that issue were issues all family, hangouts, family, lots of family shit going on for the holidays. Um, so I apologize for doing something. I think I was doing something too. I think you were just like, you had a lot of work to do and we can nail down a time. I guess we can say it on here. Um, we are, we're starting a newsletter magazine monthly thing for noisy pixel and We'll talk more about it when it, the first issue is going to come out this at the end of the month. And, uh, I'm really excited about it. It's, uh, yeah, we cover a lot, we cover a lot of games on noisy pixel that not a lot of people do. And I'm trying to figure out ways to showcase that in more consumable.
00:23:44
Speaker
means like people don't like seeing ads every time they they scroll through something. and And this is, I don't know, I'm hoping that it turns into something more, but we'll see. We'll see what happens. um Let's talk about the game awards. Let's do it. The stage is set. Jeff Keeley walks out. The Muppets are up.
00:24:03
Speaker
the light The lights go down, the lights dim, spotlight on Jeff, and he says, you're welcome to the crowd. He says, what can I say, except you're welcome. And it shows the most games. Tim and Sam Lake break out. and It was a, okay, just just a ah show, just as a show, what would you say? I would say it was a little bit front loaded.
00:24:32
Speaker
But overall, it was it was fine. There was no like shick hydro man moment. there There was nothing where I was like, oh, this sucks. There was a couple of like awards where I was like, that's not what I would have.
00:24:48
Speaker
guest by the Harrison Ford thing was weird. That was like my friend and I were both like, oh, he's old. It was like a weird moment. Oh, man. On top of that, though, they like kind of messed up the. I don't know, they kind of messed up his prompter, too. It was just. And the award that he gave out was like a voice actor award performer, I think.
00:25:17
Speaker
like Come on. He's fucking Harrison Ford. Like give him a, give him a bit. Don't have that man. He doesn't need to get up. I don't, he doesn't need to give it a war. You can just come out and be like, Indiana drones in the great circles. Cool. Anyway, see you later. Like he didn't need to, you need to make him do that. The poor man. Yeah. It's a,
00:25:41
Speaker
But maybe he gets residuals from Indiana Jones at the Great Circle. That's true. That might be true. He needs to make that ah a couple of dollars back from that game, but everyone's buying it on Game Pass, so I don't know if they have like ah firm numbers on. Oh, it's on Game Pass. Yeah, that'll do it. I reviewed it. It's a game.
00:26:05
Speaker
I'm excited for it to come to PlayStation. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're going to have. I think you're going to have a fun time in it with it, especially after all of the updates and how they fit. Yeah. The outlaws experience of the outreach experience. I like that. I can now play the optimal version and have no idea what critics are talking about. um OK, so let's get to the announcement. I would say that, though, the show was OK. Couple of weird couple of weird.
00:26:33
Speaker
stuff, interactions, but it's always, it's cringy. It's, it's gaming. You know, when you talk for a living sooner or later, you're going to say something that doesn't hit, you know, and then you got to be able to bomb to learn what works, you know? Oh, yes. this is is this um So on that announcements time, uh, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja,
00:26:56
Speaker
Guy did rage bound bound is the the name. This is not by Koei Takamo proper Ninja ah um Ninja Theory or Team Ninja. Team Ninja. Sorry. That's a Setsuna people. yeah oh good Team Ninja. ah It's made by the blasphemous guys. Yeah. and You can tell visually.
00:27:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think it works. I agree. um The key art is made by David, who does a lot of key art. He does some art for us. um He's going to be doing some more stuff for us in 2025. So it's always nice to see like him.
00:27:44
Speaker
Uh, right. I don't know, putting out stuff in these, these cool games, you know, working on these cool projects. And then I just, we just talked to him on the side, like we're in a school where normal do you see cool people succeed. you know Yeah. Yeah. I'm rooting for, for all of these people and.
00:28:01
Speaker
I don't know. Blasphemous is a dope game. Um, I don't know if Ninja Gaiden translates to the souls like genre too much. i I would want it to stay away from that. Yeah. Just cause like the speed of Ninja Gaiden feels like it's contradicts the over Ninja Gaiden needs to be a little arcadey. It needs, there has to, it has to be challenging and very skill-based, but there also has to, there also has to be that level of arcade, like disbelief. It's you're, you're not, this isn't reality. This isn't a, you know, this is throwing out an info and hopping, swallowing and like, yeah, there's gotta be some silliness moving around super fast. And I think, uh,
00:28:46
Speaker
I don't know. I'm excited to see what I'm excited to see. It does look like a cool throwback kind of. And if so and of somebody, if this leads to more. Yeah. That's what I want. That'd be nice.
00:29:01
Speaker
That's what I want. Um, I'd even say looking at what Omega force is kind of doing with, um, dynasty warriors origins. Uh, I would say the whole of Koei Tecmo for, for what, what it looks like they're aiming for in 2025. Um, seems to be a lot different than what we're used to. Um, they got out fairy tale too, but they didn't say shit about it. Um,
00:29:31
Speaker
it just came and went. But it seems like their 2025 lineup is like, this is they're trying to redefine themselves it seems, especially with origin, especially with this, it seems like they're in a ah moment of ah ah Revival and I I'm excited to see what there's no excuses, you know, it's not we're not pat we're not COVID You know, it's not like oh shit this started development during COVID, you know yeah like That's why we saw all those remakes and remasters and all this shit because that was already readily available to these yeah these companies so there's no excuses anymore like These teams need to stop developing for ps4 and switch Yeah oh man
00:30:16
Speaker
they need, they absolutely need to, um, like fairy tale two was developed for switch. And that, I think that really hurt any notable difference in the first and to the first and second one. I don't know. It just sucks. But it was a PS five pro when barely anything has been PS five exclusive. Like, yeah, it's crazy. It's yeah. This generation feels like a wash in a way. Cause it's just like,
00:30:44
Speaker
Nothing was developed for it. And then you you eat your words because even then something like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is revealed and during the game awards they announced that um Rebirth was going to get a PC release yeah next year and they show the screenshots compared to PS5 Pro and it's like fuck.
00:31:05
Speaker
why Why did I even buy a pro if you're saying, hey, get this graphical upgrade? Oh, but the PC is going to be better a few months later, you asshole. yeah I don't know, man. I don't know. That kind of sucked. This console generation is weird. It's in a weird spot of like, it can't get that much higher visually, but it like, but they're still trying. So it's, I don't know. It's very odd.
Graphics: Style vs. Realism
00:31:30
Speaker
I think I don't give a shit about ah graphics. I'll tell you that right now. I agree. I i care about load times.
00:31:37
Speaker
I hear a lot of times and for graphics, I'll take a nice style over like vivid realism any day. Yeah. I'll take a look any day. Yeah. Get I, oh, dude, playing through Sariva remastered was like a fucking godsend. Even shadows of the damned. I was considering putting shadows of the damned hella remastered on my top five. Wow. Just, just because I want my top five to be games that I personally look fondly on. And yeah, that's, that's one game that I'm like, fuck, I'm really happy. I played that this year.
00:32:06
Speaker
yeah there so much change over So much fun to play. Um, but, uh, yeah, I don't give a shit about graphics. Yeah, same. Did you see the trailer for a new Pac-Man, uh, adventure game wow shadow labyrinth? Looks very weird.
00:32:28
Speaker
very bizarre band. Yeah. You know, you know, we said I feel like this year we've said ah make smaller projects. Yeah. This is a smaller project. And you know what? I'll never say it's like a bad thing that it looks weird.
00:32:45
Speaker
It's sure looks but strange, but like Try strange you like again. You got a bomb sometimes if you're trying new things so yeah, I don't know I'm i'm curious for sure Yeah, it it looks fine. Don't as long as it's not like bomber man act zero shit then We're good Yeah, they're they're really stretching it though with what they could do with pac-man. I think yeah, I I think you could have just left it, you know? you did Yeah. Cause until like the end, you're like, Oh, Pac-Man. Do we need Pac-Man? Yeah. Maybe we do. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe gaming needs Pac-Man. It's yeah. Cause like it it's, ah it's the icon of like my parents' generation of like,
00:33:35
Speaker
Like my dad was like, Oh, we went to a hotel when I was a kid. And he was like, Whoa, Ms. Pac-Man, I'm good at this. And he like, he doesn't play games. So it's, he's like their Mario or Sonic or it's like, yeah Oh, I know that. So my dad really loves it. My dad really loves showing off playing Galaga. He's really good at Galaga. That's a good one. he has a games Yeah, he's pretty good at it too. like yeah ah It's pretty good. Um,
00:34:03
Speaker
Miss Pac-Man is something I like to show off to too. Cause I I'm oddly good at that game as well. Yeah. And it's cause I had one of those collections as a kid. Yeah. I was glad I had a Sega collection. And so I was like, I was good at like, uh, golden acts and altered beasts. Like all these games are, it's just like random shit, a hundred percent. They didn't used to like do stuff too much with those back then either. They would just put them all on a PS2 disc, right? And like, say, here's it. eight Sonic, eight Sonic games that you can play for 20 bucks. I had the sega smash pack on my dreamcast and I got to play all the revenge of shadow B easy shining force one.
00:34:44
Speaker
um Sorry. Uh, let's get back to the gaming, the game awards. We had a developer slow cap, um, or slow clap. Uh, they developed Sifu. I don't know. They announced a rematch soccer game. It seems like it's like, uh, the Mario strikers a little bit. Yeah. Um, big on sports games, but our Katie ones are always more fun. Yeah. Uh, like what's that car one that stupid cars and the ball.
00:35:16
Speaker
Oh, I get it. Rocket League. Rocket League. Yeah. the The spiritual successor to Carmageddon. Yeah. I saw where you were going with it. I was like, okay, I'm just a hipster. I'm just a hipster. What was that game? That that was similar to Chrono. Ah, yes. Steve stars. Yes.
00:35:39
Speaker
i It looked fine. Yeah, like fine. Look for rematch. They have a beta and go pre-register some game that that was announced to that um caused a stir. We'll call it a stir. The Witcher four.
00:35:54
Speaker
I have no clue why the fuck that started a stir. Oh, one of the main characters from the games is now the main character after most of the endings of the third game suggested she would be the main character. It's nonsense. It's true. I tried to form this in a tweet because honestly, I didn't after the game awards, I did not check Twitter for like three days. um My personal my personal Twitter. So when I checked it on Sunday,
00:36:21
Speaker
ah I'm like, holy shit. Like people are just like mad that, uh, what, what was her name? Siri. Um, that she's a, that she's the lead. But I was like, Gerard was the reason I never fucking played the Witcher because I had to play as a, yeah, dude, I don't know. We're going to play. marie I was scratching with him.
00:36:42
Speaker
I don't want to play 80 hours looking at some guy's ass while I'm running it around to in asless chaps who who and then I have to Mack on these women and it's maing it's the worst, the absolute worst. um but now Now I'm more interested in, uh, the Witcher, the Witcher franchise. low and takes all sorts All they had to do was make a, uh, female main lead.
00:37:15
Speaker
i yeah I'm completely fine. Like I love the Witcher three. It made me read some of the books and I own all of them. They're back there. Um, I will say the reason I never played the Witcher three is because I'm a hipster though. Yeah. Yeah. that it It has a little to do with the ah male female thing, but also because it got so cool. It got so Yeah, yeah, yeah. It got so big that I was like, yeah, I don't need to play it. It's really good. Like I know everyone says it's the best game ever. It's actually genuinely a great game. It's so cool. You read the books too? I've read two of them and I have the rest of them. I need to get back to it. But I did that after the games because I was like, wow, this world's cool. Geralt's cool. Ciri's cool. Yennefer's cool. So I mean,
00:38:03
Speaker
I'm excited. I will. I know there aren't they also doing the Witcher one remake CD project grads. So like every suppose that was like announced a while ago, isn't it? yeah that was announced a long time So what you're wanting for. You know what? That's cool. I'm excited. I maybe I'll start from a one year. Yeah, I'll start from one and I'll just make my way.
00:38:21
Speaker
through through the adventure. Yeah. Cause one and two are like old, old now. Yeah. So it's, it's tough to go back. So I, how old are they? Is it like mistled or like 2011, like 20,000? Not like PC early nineties PC.
00:38:38
Speaker
Um, I just don't like, like when won two thousand and seven so like when I played Fallout three for the first time, I had no idea what the previous fallouts were like. And then no like, I see that it's a series that has escaped to me my entire life. And I imagine that that was like what the Witcher was like.
00:38:56
Speaker
I recommend to anyone in that position, go back to, I played Fallout 1 this year. I think it was during our podcast break, so I never talked about it. But, Witcher 1, or Fallout 1, fucking rocks. Great game. I highly recommend. i It's a game where I was able to convince the main villain that he sucked and he should kill himself, and he did.
00:39:16
Speaker
Oh, that's insane role playing. That's crazy. Your little mind games, huh? Yeah. I walked up. I was like, you're playing field. He's like, what? I was like, here's proof. You suck, dude. And he was like, Oh my God. I was like, you should probably just die. And he's like, that's so true. That worked. It's cool. Like there's so many moments like that. Just goofy shit. I highly recommend for you.
00:39:39
Speaker
Um, so I, I'm a, I'm, if we were yang name, I'm a yay for the Witcher
Witcher 4 Anticipation
00:39:44
Speaker
four. I think yay. Yeah. I don't understand why people are upset about this. Uh, just to be upset. Yeah. This is fun now. I think, um, Elvin ring.
00:39:57
Speaker
standalone called night rain. It's a three player co-op a game coming in 2025. You know what? This screams cash grab. I was going to say screams. I can have a friend carry me through a soul's game since his co-op I've never synced enough to be really good at them. So yeah, you know,
00:40:23
Speaker
I just feel like they're like, Oh, we have all these assets. We need to make our money back. We didn't make enough money. Uh, let's, uh, let's, uh, do a co-op. Let's, let's, let's, he's a big souls guy and he was like, that's a boss from dark souls three. Is this gonna do this and this story? And I was like, Oh, okay.
00:40:45
Speaker
Mark was freaking out too, and we were watching the the show live. He was like, yes. And I was like, I know nothing about this. He guessed it from like the water. He was like, this is a FromSoft game. And I was like, what the fuck, dude? You're psycho. over I'm excited. I'm excited. I'll check it out. I still need to play Elden Ring. I own it, but I now get around to it. I bought it to get prepared for the DLC, but I still suck at it.
00:41:16
Speaker
I just need to like, I probably talked before I need to like synchronize with souls games better. Like I always play them and I feel like I never get fully into like the flow. You know, when you come back to a game that you played half of and you're like, what the fuck am I doing? yeah I always feel like that. So I feel like if I can just break that seal and like get a hundred percent into it, the farthest I got in one was demon souls when I reviewed it and it was great. But I feel like I just need to sit down and be like, okay, I'm playing bloodborne no matter what. And then just,
00:41:45
Speaker
Go all in. I feel like Bloodborne's the one that I put the most time into. is It seems the coolest. visual Yeah, it's definitely the coolest. Next on the announcements, the Outer Worlds 2. Oh, that was another break game during the break. if flew that It's a good game. It's a good game. it's good I liked it. I liked the DLC.
00:42:09
Speaker
i liked i liked ah I liked the freedom. I liked that DLC. Where's the kind of like a mystery, like a hotel. Yeah. That was fun. That's fun. Um, good game. Really good writing. yeah I'm looking forward to the second one. I'm looking forward to it now that obsidian has some dollars. Yeah, that'll be very nice. Yeah. they Maybe after this, they, they give a city and then do a new follow game. I mean,
00:42:38
Speaker
i mean know We got another announcement from Bandai for Clive Rossville joining Tekken 8. I don't want Tifa, but that's still cool. Kind of a bummer summer. If Soulcalibur was still a thing, he should be in that because he's a big sword and then make sure to put Tifa in Tekken. Yeah, he's definitely a Soulcalibur character.
00:43:06
Speaker
he's not he doesn't He doesn't scream Tekken. You're absolutely right saying that. I definitely agree. Um, Randy Pitchford, uh, came out, uh, on stage and did a little dance, uh, did some magic, loan made a little love. Uh, and then he announced borderlands four. Snorterlands bore. Oh, I was like, when is this going to be over? When is this man going to stop talking? I said, Oh, this is P break time. Uh, I never played borderlands.
00:43:41
Speaker
I played two in Tails. Tails was good, two was okay, but they were both. The thing is, the world and characters were really annoying. They all talk in 2012 memes. It's like, two had some okay parts and Tails was actually good. And then I i tried pre-sequel and I was like, this is...
00:44:02
Speaker
this writing is killing me. So I never played another one. I think that's what happened to Tiny Tina. Like they don't know who they're writing for anymore. No, I mean, they don't know the big group that loves it. So maybe them, but dude, do they love the games or do they love like just the world? I feel like they love the looter shooter aspect.
00:44:21
Speaker
I feel. Yeah. and And when role players really get into the those like defined roles, they they do get go a little hard. I know some I know some overly. I don't know. Theatrical Borderlands fans. Oh, OK. They're not always that fun to hang around with like i like GTA role players. They're like way too. Yeah. Yeah. Are the they take it look they take it very seriously, but um the that loop The thing about Borderlands 4 is you cannot just do what you've already did because luder shoot the looter shooter genre has evolved so pop significantly significantly um from ah from what it was. And if if they do like a Shenmue 3 where they make it a direct fucking sequel from Shenmue 2, I feel like that will be the end of the
00:45:18
Speaker
whatever Borderlands is trying to do, like you need to evolve. You can still do unique things. You can still do what you do best in class, but you need to have those systems match the expectations of gamers that love that today. It's a balancing act. And and I would never know what to start with that kind of game development. I would never know where to start. It'd be challenging. I'm at awe to the people who can do it.
00:45:40
Speaker
who I will say I love Shenmue 3, so i'm umm and I'm an outlier. but I'm more saying for the Shenmue 3, it just did... It's like a lost Dreamcast game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and And love it or hate it for it, you know? It's it's a fine game.
00:46:01
Speaker
As a game, a virtual fighter returns for a new project. Man, I guess Sega is going to enter the fighting game space. It's, it's lucrative right now. Fighters are back. They are speaking up when they, when it first showed like the bird on the wire. And it was like, where you got go to, I was like, should move forward by where you could go to custody for like one second. I thought that my heart was a flutter and then it was virtual fighter. And I was like, okay, that's fine. Put real in it.
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah, dude, like I yeah yeah i want more 3d fighters. I need more like Tekken fighters because that space is totally i am buters Yeah, there's gonna be there's no soul caliber on the horizon. I really wish there was Yeah, I don't I don't know like again I I don't know. I I just think that I the the creativity aspect of these games on paper. They can probably pitch them, but these studios are looking for a return. They need, they need, um, they need to know that they're making their money back now. And I think they're just getting more and more picky. Yeah. it's win's name Um, and speaking of that, I think is the perfect time to announce a new, uh, Odi Musha is on its way. Very cool.
00:47:28
Speaker
that's like one of the first x five year old stuff That was one of the first Xbox games that I've ever played. I think it was like exclusive when it first came out, right? It was like an Xbox game. Very cool. I mean that and like, wow, we're eating so good with like Del May Cry and like evolution.
00:47:47
Speaker
I don't know when I fell off on it though. Like, I think it was when they brought that French actor in and I was like, Oh, I know him from the movies. And that's not an Onimusha man. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. its ah It did fall. I did fall off with it. So if the sales stopped, it was probably my fault. Yeah. You were, you were the one that tipped the balance of the scale. Yeah. once you meeting there like No more Onimusha. Uh, did you ever get into it?
00:48:14
Speaker
I played them a little bit, but I mostly knew from like Tats and Okover's Capcom had had a character from it. Oh, yeah. Mostly stuff like that, where I always wanted to get deeper into it, but never had the opportunity. I played, my big PS2 Capcom game was Viewtiful Joe. That was my... Never gonna see another one of those. Never gonna see another one of those. although
00:48:38
Speaker
clovers like clovers clovers is back. Yes. We'll get it. We'll get it. Oh, let's get there. Fuck it. No, let's get there now. Uh, clovers came out. Uh, Hideki Kama Kamiya came out in, uh, Oh, Kami sequel, his new development studio. So clovers that that's kind of just the same name as his other studio, right? Yeah. Clover overver to clovers.
00:49:05
Speaker
Smart. Yeah. Smart. a very what a What an interesting turn of events.
00:49:16
Speaker
The great thing about the, get okay, so, so Tukyo Games kind of did it with the Danganronpa team where they just said, see you later Spike Chunsoft, we're going to start our own studio. But I learned that these new studios, they don't actually develop the games in house. They outsource development to other developers and then they just kind of talk, you know, they, they'll write the scenarios or the, but it's a whole like,
00:49:45
Speaker
ecosystem, I think Clovers is actually also a development studio though. Yeah, isn't it like a branch of Capcom again? i Yeah, I do believe that they have their own in-house development team that if you can get your team all on the same page of like using, and this is why Halo is using Unreal 5 now, because there's a shit ton of halo five are Unreal 5 developers out there.
00:50:11
Speaker
But um if you can get all your development team on the same wavelengths, God, you're going to get some great games. Yeah. You can get some creative fucking games. Very creative.
00:50:21
Speaker
so You know, yep maybe people, and people are talking shit on, on platinum games, like closing down or something. Like people are saying that, yeah, they're saying that they're in trouble right now. Um, especially with this Okami thing. And just like, uh, there's, I think there's a sequel to astral chain in development, but not, and I'm thinking like, no, platinum games is going to be fine. You'll be fine. Yeah.
00:50:48
Speaker
The bottom's always like back and forth kind of between like an OK game and a great game. So they'll put out another banger and then it'll all be back to normal. I can only imagine they're just ah they're just contracting a bunch of little projects. Yeah, I would say probably. Because they've done that before. They did like a Korra or Avatar game once and stuff like that in between their big stuff. like yeah Makes sense.
00:51:12
Speaker
We got your back platinum. Don't worry. We got to start, start working with ah clovers on a beautiful Joe devil joe and God
Naughty Dog's New Game Announcement
00:51:20
Speaker
hand, please. please new Wonderful one on one. Put it out there. yeah That'd be neat.
00:51:24
Speaker
um Did you watch the trailer for mafia, the old country? I did. I liked the, I've only played mafia one definitive and that was great. So fun. I have two and three, I think I should play them, but do it, do it you i in. It's an incredible, it's it reminds me of like the, uh, Oh, I said it earlier, the driver series. Like it reminds me of like store it's story based, like GTAE kind of, but A little more grounded, I think. Yeah. Less like satire, more like down to earth. Yeah. I still like my games to feel like a video game and GTA five for me for GTA five. Didn't feel like a video game to me. Felt a little like maybe a queasy. Yeah.
00:52:17
Speaker
yeah Yeah. This one, this one just looks fun. And you're right. That's when I first experienced all three of them back to back was the definitive edition. Yeah. It was fun. Yeah. I should get to two and three at some point because ah I quite enjoyed one. Um, one of the biggest announcements, I think how they ended the entire, uh, show kind of a naughty dog revealed intergalactic, the heretic profit.
00:52:46
Speaker
It's crazy to get under wraps. It's not Jak and Daxter. It's true, but nothing, nothing ever will be. I was kind of hoping that it would, that she would land on the planet or go to the planet and she would jump down and be like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. And there'd be like super stylistic Jak and Daxter. Yeah, this is a little too serious. Jak, who's that?
00:53:11
Speaker
That'd be a cool moment. But, uh, it Jack's just silent pro tag. Yeah. Jack's back to Jack one. Jack is is like trips on a precursor orb. It wasn't. I love that you just said precursor orb. Uh, I thought, that I thought it looked cool. I thought the, the, I thought the trailer was a little weird. Um,
00:53:39
Speaker
It was just like this cinematic reveal trailer that you always get. Yeah. And what it was like Akira, like the entire trailer. Yeah, like it was like scenes from a it was like yeah one to one with some of the scenes from Akira. And so that's cool nod. I don't know about Neil Druckmann, though. um That's it. Yeah, I. I saw we all known Johnny in it.
00:54:06
Speaker
And I'm tired of actors being in games. Like he's a good actor and everything. I'm nothing against him. I just like, it was like with Death Stranding where I was like, that's just Norman Reedus. That's just Leah Cido. Like I can't, like.
00:54:22
Speaker
Games, ah everything's more like mocap now. So I'm able to just be like, oh, that's just that actor. But like, I would like to not immediately recognize. Dude, it was like, yeah, they didn't even like say anything of him. He was kind of just in the background. Yeah.
00:54:38
Speaker
And I was like, Oh yeah, I had a lunch next to that guy in LA once. Like, and we talked about, yeah, it was just out of vegetarian, this place called veggie girl. We just, I was eating and he was sitting in the booth next to me and I was like, Oh, are you from a Silicon Valley? And he's like, yeah. And we just talked for like 10 seconds and then we ate our food. But yeah the fact that I've even seen him in real life and seeing him there, it's like, not is this a game, the fucking video game?
00:55:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean like otherwise it looks fine and like i I'm happy Naughty Dog's doing something new Yeah remastering last of us one again Yeah in action game at that like it looks like it's going to be like Jack and Dexter like action and I and I can only hope that they lean into that a little more like, yeah, tell a light story guys. Like, yeah, be even more fun. Like uncharted. So fun. Yeah. I suppose because it's like pulpy, but it's fun. Amy heading. Love you.
00:55:39
Speaker
Love you. Love you. Soul Reaver, playing Soul Reaver and just like with the context, that like playing it as as a kid, I wrote this in my review, but playing as a kid didn't know a word about, a didn't know who Amy was, but ah now playing it with that context. So nice. You're like, Oh yeah. Like I feel close. like I feel like I understand. I don't know.
00:56:03
Speaker
i I think Naughty Dog fucked up by not keeping her in there. Amy, I wish Star Wars 1313 came out. I wish I could have experienced that. Yeah, she's great. i i'm I'm optimistically curious about this game, though. I think it should be neat. And again, I'm just happy they're doing something new.
00:56:26
Speaker
Oh yeah. But ah what, what you were saying before, it does look fun. Like the game does look like it doesn't take itself too seriously with the, like the eye rolls and the, the, the product place for spoken. Yeah, it's not. Yeah. It's not, uh, I dunno. Oh, we haven't seen much of it. I'm not, um' I'm holding my, uh, my judgment. So I really haven't seen enough to like judge beyond like, Oh, I'm interested. That looks interesting. Fine. Like,
00:56:56
Speaker
And with that, we closed out the show. Extra long show to make up for last week. for all year There you go. That's for the real ones. Um, but we have a lot of fun stuff coming to the website and to just noisy pixel in general, if, if things continue to be positive, uh, which fingers crossed they are, but.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if we're going to do another episode before the end of the year. Oh yeah. Cause next week is Christmas. Yeah. We kind of take and the the industry kind of takes two weeks off during this time. Everyone just takes the vacation. So I think we will too. Oh yeah. Christmas and then new year's day. So yeah, going not until the eighth. Yeah. Unless we get freaky or something and want to really, and really miss each other, but I don't see see that happening. I'll just message each other. Yeah. Uh, well, actually I, we, we are going to have an ACE bonanza special on the YouTube channel. We are going to put that up. So, so that's going to be fun to forget to look at the videos. What I have plugged up you soon. It'll be come up to your subscription box. It'll be right there in front of your fucking faces. Um, we'll have to fucking watch it. Oh, well, everyone have a great holiday. Happy new year. And, uh, thank you. Thank you for everything. Sleep tight, everyone.
00:58:17
Speaker
Bye!
00:58:32
Speaker
pixel